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Seno's Soapbox
#5: The State of the Comic Page Address
<sigh> It's after 11 PM, and I gotta get up early tomorrow, and study for an exam, and work on a project . . . But ya know what? Fuck it. I'm tired of all the shit I've been juggling lately. I thought about watching some TV shows I've tape recently --
Aside #1: So when exactly did TV get good again? Enterprise seems like it'll be good (but maybe that's just because Voyager was so heart-breakingly bad), I'm told Alias looks bad-ass, Fox and WB got into a hell of a bidding-war trying to get the rights to Smallville, and Undeclared is an idea way past its time. Now add to that all the stuff I already watch like Friends (that premiere sure was a cock tease) and some of the WB dramas (OK, so I have a problem), and you end up with a whole heck of a lot of pretty enjoyable programming.
-- but I figured I'd just rant about something
and maybe blow off some steam.
So I was wondering, what the hell
do you people see in Dragonball Z anyway? That damn show has
been around for years now, and I just can't for the life of me figure out
why. It sure looks like it ought to be good: it's got a bunch of
guys who look like bad mofo's, know kung fu, and generally whoop ass.
But they DON'T DO A DAMN THING, except
sit there, grit their teeth, and yell at each other for twenty minutes.
It's the animated equivalent of professional wrestling --
Aside #2: Ok, so it actually really reminds me of Thundercats from the 80's. Remember that one? About the feline/human warriors with cool weapons and cool vehicles who also never did much of anything? I never got its appeal either.
-- and yet it maintains an amazing level of popularity.
The scary thing is that years from now its probably going to be remembered
as fondly as The Transformers or G.I. Joe. I'd be tempted
to think that maybe I'm just too old to get it if it wasn't for the fact
that I still love cartoons.
So where the hell did that little
outburst come from you ask? Fair question. I really started
to try and figure the show out about two weeks ago when The Daily Texan's
comic page started publishing a bunch of weird, fighting comic strips done
in a manga-derived art style. At the risk of sounding like a pompous,
little bitch, I've got to admit that they don't really do anything for
me.
And it's not like I have anything
against manga; Mike Woodson's Irritability and Ying Di's Salt
the Earth are quite good in my personal estimation. But those
other combat oriented ones . . . I dunno; maybe, given time, these Dragonball
Z wanna-be's will improve in quality, but I ain't holding my breath.
In the meantime, there are a couple
of reasons for celebration. First, something old: bill & erik
is back, and with Signs of the Apocalypse apparently done (Dave,
we hardly knew ye!) it's unquestionably the page's best comic. What
really appeals to me is it's large cast of unique and remarkably well-done
supporting characters, ranging from Cobra Commander to Rex Allen Bays (Private
Eye!) to Big Satan the biker. You heard it here first, people: Mac
Blake is the next Matt Groening.
And now something new: Kyle Whitacre's
Apt.
#201 is awesome! Like OFF CAMPUS, it features a bunch of co-ed's
living together, but it's much more farcical than my stuff. My only
complaint thus far is that it doesn't run very often. Definitely
a classic in the making, though.
Other honorable mentions include:
--Josh By'Gosh's
Wheelchair
Ninja: I'm really glad Josh settled on some regular characters and
a permanent format; it's improved what was an already good strip.
--Nick Christiny's
Cause
for Delay continues in its role as the comic page's bastion of unrepentant
liberal thinking. Nick's not at all afraid to push people's buttons;
you gotta love that.
--Maureen
Welch's Boobtown, Lungbutter, and Kung-fu Kitty are
all definitely deserving of greater recognition. I've always believed
that attempting to do stories without a regular cast is creative suicide,
but she makes it work. Very impressive.
--Eric Salinas's
Something
Celeste mystifies me. The characters used to star in something
called Common Ground by Paige Zuniga at a time when Salinas drew
another strip altogether (I can't recall the name of it). I'm not
really sure what the deal is, but Something Celeste does tend to
be a pretty enjoyable strip (although I have to say that I find the current
storyline about a homicidal stick-figure to be rather retarded).
All in all, it's a pretty solid line-up
with a wide variety of stuff going on. You can't really ask for more
than that, and I'm very much looking forward to meeting some of these creators
at the upcoming bi-annual Signing Day extravaganza in the West Mall.
And I hope to see you there as well.
Seno
10/03/01
Today's Question: At some point in the future when I actually get some free time, I'm thinking about doing a Soapbox article, just for shits and giggles, where I would cast actors and actresses in a hypothetical OFF CAMPUS film. If anybody has some suggestions, I'd love to hear'em.
Good Shit: Well, those TV shows I mentioned above are a good start. Also, be sure to check out Marvel Comics' new "adult's only" MAX line. They've been very good thus far.