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Underground > Comic Books >

The Other Side

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Phex: Dorset Doom

16:56 / 11.02.07

That's generally when feeling cheated is said to have been invented. Frankly I expect a lot less nonsense from the voices inside rifles.

18:13 / 11.02.07

There is reason to treat the rifle's parting shot as a quotation, smart guy. Quotations by hallucinations in Aaron & Stewarts' "The Other Side":

"Where man is not, nature is baron," "A dead body revenges not injuries," and "The cut worm forgives the plow." - William Blake, quoted by a leech

Quoth the rifle:
"I have not yet begun to fight." - John Paul Jones
"Give me liberty or give me death." - Patrick Henry
"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!" -- William Shakespeare
"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (It is sweet and proper to die for the fatherland) -- Horace
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" -- Jesus Christ

And then John Lydon. If these are hallucinations, Everett has picked up a pretty broad set of cultural referents for a farmboy, but I suppose that's not impossible. It is impossible that Everett had ever heard Lydon say that, though. I think, inasmuch as I have a point, it's that the hallucinations indicate some sort of broader persective than the viewpoints of any individual character, and maybe that's worth looking at. Or maybe you'd rather examine the latest Batman issues for elements of Morrison's eschatology.

18:41 / 11.02.07

nature is baron

Aheh. "barren"

18:54 / 11.02.07

There's also the rifle's "Kill Someone, kill yourself, be a man, be a man" which is another Johnny Rotten reference, this time quoting from the Sex Pistols' "Belsen Was a Gas."

I always think back to Lennon and Morrisey in Hitler's wardrobe from Morrison's "New Adventures of Hitler"...

15:04 / 19.04.07

....And we've just been nominated as Best Limited Series in the 2007 Eisners.

My first Eisner Award nomination (Seven Soldiers won Best Series last year but since that was a huge group effort I can't really lay claim to that one). I'm all a-tingle!

15:26 / 19.04.07

congrats, Cameron! very cool news indeed.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:55 / 19.04.07

Excellent! When will the winners be announced?

madfigs #32, now with wasabi

16:56 / 19.04.07

The awards are given out at the San Diego Comic-Con, looks like July 27th this year. There's a full list of nominees up on the con website.

I think you guys have a pretty good shot at this one, good luck!

13:53 / 17.05.07

the trade of this is coming out next week, methinks. I'm a'gettin' it.

14:42 / 22.05.07

this week!

Wizard writes:

>> The Other Side is a surreal miniseries based in part off the writings of Gustav Hasford, the man whose writings provided the basis for portions of “Full Metal Jacket.” Hasford is also the late cousin of writer Jason Aaron, who currently pens Scalped for Vertigo. This book was nominated for an Eisner, man! What else is it going to take for you to check it out? A candy bar taped to the inside cover?

(they also mention Cameron's trip to Vietnam to do research for the book in the piece, and then proceed to make a bunch of typical Wizard-type jokes like 'you don't see Jim Lee or Frank Cho going to swimsuit competitions for 'research,' do ya?)

19:25 / 22.05.07

Oh, Wizard.

I got my comp copies of the trade a few days ago and at the risk of sounding like a hype machine, it's really something. Usually these days trades are just cheap repackagings but they've gone the extra mile here - the book design is really gorgeous and the supplemental section (20 pages) is full of things that *I* didn't even know would be in there. And it's a paltry $12.99 US.

Hope anyone that hasn't already picked it up gives it a try...

17:30 / 28.05.07

Picked it up! about to read it --

I'm curious, Cameron -- I guess it was a conscious decision to have the pages be more like a newsprint-style -- was that to evoke old war comics of the past? Just wondering what went into that design choice. I like it but part of me wishes the art was shining in glossier slicker page glory.

18:27 / 28.05.07

It is a fine package and one that contrasts conciderably with Phonogram where much of the extra content has been reserved for the serialised form rather than the collection.

Oddly enough both this and Phonogram were among the few miniseries I actually picked up last year. With Phonogram I enjoyed the endnotes as much if not slightly more than the overt narrative. I haven't read the extra materials in The Other Side trade yet, I may well do so if/when my local library gets a copy, but I have no plan to buy the collection in addition to the serialised version of the series.

But yeah, I guess it does pose questions as to what extent extra material should be used to sell a series in its original publication cycle in an attempt to assure its rapid collection and to what extent extra material is being used to attempt to sweeten the pot for a different and overlapping market. Or maybe it's all down to different marketing strategies, with DC comissioning series and rapid collection pre-publication while smaller publishers have to wait on the sales figures first...

02:51 / 29.05.07

>>>m curious, Cameron -- I guess it was a conscious decision to have the pages be more like a newsprint-style -- was that to evoke old war comics of the past? Just wondering what went into that design choice.<<<

Our brilliant colourist Dave McCaig came up with the idea of having the panel borders coloured that faint yellow-brown to evoke the old war comics, as you correctly guess. The actual paper stock is thin and, unfortunately, sort of flimsy not for creative purpose but financial - to keep the costs down and ensure a $12.99 price tag we have to settle for cheaper paper. I'd have loved a more robust paper stock but if the cheap price gets the book in more hands then I'm down with it.

uncle retrospective

04:57 / 29.05.07

Wow, this didn't come out in Dublin because it sold out before it hit the shelves! My LCS sold out on pre orders! Hope it come out this week, can't wait.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

10:28 / 29.05.07

Pre-ordered from Amazon.ca (which still has it as not yet released for some odd reason).

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:11 / 11.08.07

Well, after a brief poverty-enforced hiatus from buying comics, which meant I never got more than the first two, I finally grabbed a copy of the trade and have read it through. Absolutely fantastic work, Cameron, from both you and Mr Aaron. The last page gave me the shivers, and it was bloody hot that day, I can tell you.

As I am fond of saying, I know bugger all about art, except whether I think it tells the story, but you seem to have done an excellent job at transferring your usual "cartoony" style to something more realistic, without losing any of the things I liked about it in the first place. Basically, I liked it a lot.

Also very interesting reading your Vietnam diaries- it would appear you ain't a bad writer, either. What else can you do?

17:13 / 11.08.07

>>>Also very interesting reading your Vietnam diaries- it would appear you ain't a bad writer, either. What else can you do?<<<

Punch through inch-thick Titanium and make the hardest heart melt with my singing voice.

Glad you liked the book Stoat, thanks for picking it up.

17:14 / 11.08.07

Also, to hijack my own plug thread with another plug, if you are interested in reading more of my writing check out my webcomic, Sin Titulo, at Transmission X.

uncle retrospective

19:20 / 11.08.07

Love the web comic Cam but please don leave us hanging like my fav web comic. The wait on that is killing me.

15:26 / 13.08.07

Sleazenation: "Or maybe it's all down to different marketing strategies, with DC comissioning series and rapid collection pre-publication while smaller publishers have to wait on the sales figures first..."

Worth remembering with Image that it doesn't quite have the support that a DC book has. If Phonogram ever hit a point where the singles weren't making back enough money, it'd be cancelled, pretty much full stop. We *have* to sell singles, so we try and encourage people to do so.

Also worth remembering control and artistic intent. With Image you have complete control over the comic, and can do whatever you want with those 32 pages. If Jason and Mr Stewart wanted to put much back matter in the singles you'd have to fight battles with editorial and higher management, not least to do with having to lose adverts, etc. In a real way, we go for the back matter because we *want* to go for the back matter. Even if we didn't think it made much financial sense to do so, we think it's fun to treat singles as singular pop objects (if only because it's running contrary to industry wisdom).

Er... more directly on topic: I don't believe I've written in this thread before, but the Other Side was pretty much my favourite miniseries of last year and fantastic work. Just read the first of Aaron's Scalped trades in San Diego, and his voice - and writing - is just as powerful.

KG

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

15:56 / 13.08.07

Annnnd Amazon.ca has somehow shoved back delivery from mid-August to late-September. Gaah. I look forward to reading this someday...

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