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cool people who read comics

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rizla mission

10:07 / 27.09.01

I turned on a music show on Channel 4 last night, and witnessed none other than The RZA wandering around Forbidden Planet, London holding forth about the joys of comics.

All right! Beats the hell out of Kevin Smith..

Can someone confirm that I didn't dream this to make myself feel like less of a geek?

bio k9

11:07 / 27.09.01

If I remember correctly I saw an "interview" with him inside one of the Marvel newsstand magazines (Marvel Knights maybe). And there was that Rings of the Wu Tang comic.

Glen Danzig is also a comic fan. Not sure if anyone considers him cool though.

Ronald Thomas Clontle

11:22 / 27.09.01

Hey, what about US? I thought WE were 'cool people who read comics'?

uncle retrospective

11:28 / 27.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Flux = Rad:
Hey, what about US? I thought WE were 'cool people who read comics'?

But some of us are far cooler that others

deja_vroom

11:47 / 27.09.01

I am cool as a glass mantis, man.
And I read comics (well, once in a while)
respect my authori-tah.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:49 / 27.09.01

You can tell by their lyrics that the Wu are almost all mad comics heads. They go around calling themselves 'Johnny Blaze' and 'Tony Starks' fer chrissakes. In fact there's loads of comics references in lots of hip-hop records - seems to be a big thing.

bio k9

11:56 / 27.09.01

Xzibit
Nelly
Kool Kieth
Wu Tang

others?

sleazenation

12:16 / 27.09.01

crap indie band of the early 90s Halo james...

oh you said 'cool'.

How about Umberto Eco

moriarty

12:35 / 27.09.01

Margaret Atwood
Robertson Davies
John Updike
Orson Welles
Marshall Mcluhan
John Steinbeck

deletia

12:43 / 27.09.01

And shall we start listing cool people who *don't* read comics?

moriarty

12:47 / 27.09.01

I would, but all the cool kids are the ones reading comics. It would make a short list, Haus.

DaveBCooper

13:19 / 27.09.01

Harlan Ellison
Tori Amos
Stephen King
Simon Pegg
Martin Amis (at least in the past)
Jerry Seinfeld
Michael Chabon

And if their writing of introductions to TPBs is an indicator :
Claire Danes
Alanis Morrissette
Patrick Stewart

... okay, I'm out. Someone else.

DBC

sleazenation

13:23 / 27.09.01

hang on a sec, since when did jerry seinfeld qualify as 'cool' ?

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:39 / 27.09.01

Dunno, but how many times do I have to tell you people, Martin Amis is the worst thing in the world. Worse than war, hate, death or Travis.

Annunnaki-9

13:41 / 27.09.01

Thomas Pynchon. Many references to comics in "Gravity's Rainbow," but then, there are many references to just about everything in "Gravity's Rainbow."

Seth

13:43 / 27.09.01

Richey James Edwards - big 2000AD, Shade Changing Man fan.

I miss Shade...

deletia

13:45 / 27.09.01

I miss Shade. Shade was lovely. Want more Shade.

deletia

13:50 / 27.09.01

Nonetheless, we are already in the realm of people who have read comics, or who read comics occasionally, or who read a particular comic, or are asked to read a comic in order to contribute a foreword. Not exactly the same as having a 10-comics-a-week habit.

Plus, you people have some *fucking* weird ideas about what constitutes cool. Amis? Alanis Morissette? Jerry Seinfeld? Stephen King? Oy vey...

Point being, why the need for validation?

Seth

14:23 / 27.09.01

quote:Originally posted by The Haus of Willow:
Point being, why the need for validation?

I think it's because we love a medium that is critically spat on by anyone not directly involved, artistically raped by film and television, and generally still seen as infantile.

It's a cause for celebration when someone at least slightly well known is doing their bit for making the medium more accepted.

BMF

14:54 / 27.09.01

quote: expressionless:
I think it's because we love a medium that is critically spat on by anyone not directly involved, artistically raped by film and television, and generally still seen as infantile.

It's a cause for celebration when someone at least slightly well known is doing their bit for making the medium more accepted.

Exactly.
*applauds a lot*

moriarty

14:58 / 27.09.01

In some ways I feel the same as you, Haus. As I was posting my picks I wondered if I was just being insecure about my love for comics and felt a need to validate it with namedropping. The truth is I've never given a damn about people who can't tell the difference between a medium and its content.

I enjoy digging up obscure comics fans just to explore the way this neglected little part of pop culture has affected the thoughts and imagination of those artists I respect. Sometimes I forget that almost everyone in the Western world who buys a paper has read, and still reads, comics. It's nice to see a reminder every now and then.

And the show goes on...

Dorothy Parker
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Federico Fellini
Elvis Presley
Alice Cooper
The Beatles

Ronald Thomas Clontle

15:03 / 27.09.01

I'm going back to what I said at the beginning of this thread... aren't WE great exemplars of cool comics fans? I think that if more people knew people like us, a lot more people would be jumping on the comic-reading bandwagon. I know that I've gotten a lot of really cool people into comics over the past year, being very matter-of-fact about my love of folks like Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Adrian Tomine, etc... The worst stigma comics has going for it is the fans, and people like us can actively change that...

moriarty

15:35 / 27.09.01

My roommate collects songs that mention the Lexus, I collect ones that mention Hockey or superheroes. I have yet to find one that has hockey and superheroes together. Keep in mind that I haven't included any band that references a character it would be easy to glean from sources to other mediums (REM's Superman, Prince's Batman) or share a name (Black Sabbath's Iron Man), or if I did it's only because I know the band got their inspiration straight from the source.

LL Cool J
AC/DC
PWEI
David Bowie
Blondie
Duran Duran
Henry Rollins
Anthrax
Monster Magnet
XTC
Devo
Love and Rockets
The Kinks
Public Enemy
Del The Funkee Homo Sapien
Ramones
Weezer
Thompson Twins

[ 27-09-2001: Message edited by: moriarty ]

Not Here Still

17:53 / 27.09.01

Grant Morrison
Alan Moore
Peter Milligan
Mark Millar

They're all comics readers, I think...

As for PWEI, they actually wrote a song or two about it.. "Alan Moore knows the score" indeed.

Isn't the RZA's Bobby Digital side project all comics based?

And, although her music's a bit crap to say the least, I saw this whole interview with Sharleen Spiteri where all she did was plug Neil Gaiman, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.

Nearly went out and bought a Texas album in amazement. Got over it though. Quickly

reidcourchie

18:20 / 27.09.01

Jonathan Ross
Lenny Henry

Cool in this case being subjective, perhaps confused with celebrity or micro-celebrity.

I must admit I can't see patrick Stewart reading comics for anything other than promotional reasons or research.

ghadis

18:40 / 27.09.01

Not that long ago is saw 'Nigel' (ex) of Eastenders sweating around Gosh for some back issues of 'Heavy Metal'

No doubt to visually impose the image of some semi-clad babarian bint over the memory of Debbie who he lost in a car crash some time ago.

Call him a wanker if you want but i'd do the same.

bio k9

18:50 / 27.09.01

quote:Originally posted by moriarty:
I collect ones that mention Hockey or superheroes.

Dr. Octagon (Dr. Octagon, from Dr. Octagonecologyst): "With Reed Richards/ Looking at the Thing's naked pictures"

Xzibit (X, from Restless): "I'm concrete/ like Benjamin Grim"

Nelly (I heard this one on the radio): "More man than Stan Lee".

ghadis

19:06 / 27.09.01

Also...

For anyone that has been following Prince Williams' decent into university life through the British Tabloids recently there was a photogram of Wills walking to school with his books.

And in amongst his 'How to win Friends and Influence People, 'The Collected Work of Nancy Friday' and 'Cunt' by Stewart Home..

Was...

A copy of 'Strangers in Paradise'

aaaahhhhh

DONT LAUGH YOU BASTARDS...HE'S ONE OF US!!!

reidcourchie

19:10 / 27.09.01

Moriarty I think Fifty Mission Cap by the Tragically Hip mentions hockey, in fact I think a couple of their songs do.

DrDee

19:12 / 27.09.01

Stephen Jay Gould

Oh, and Sumo wrestler Akebono

And Nicolas Cage is a committed comics fan - only I'm not so sure his cool rating is up these days.

moriarty

02:13 / 28.09.01

quote:Originally posted by reidcourchie:
Moriarty I think Fifty Mission Cap by the Tragically Hip mentions hockey, in fact I think a couple of their songs do.

Such talk is better suited for this thread.

And thanks. But don't forget that I'm Canadian and love hockey. The Hip has not escaped my quest.

DaveBCooper

07:36 / 28.09.01

Pleased to see reactions to my suggestions...

I was assuming that we were interpreting 'cool' in the inevitable subjective way, so I put in people whose work I find of interest (for whatever reason)... but if there's a more objective OED-type definition, I'm open to it.

Which is to say : bring it on.

DBC

rizla mission

07:46 / 28.09.01

quote:Originally posted by expressionless:
Richey James Edwards - big 2000AD, Shade Changing Man fan.

Wow. I never knew that.

Slightly deranged minds think alike.

The RZA interview was great though .. it was kind of a buzz seeing one of the coolest guys on earth wandering around one of the geekiest places on earth. I kind of wanted him to start a fight with some fanboys, but he was far too friendly. Though he did do a bit of kung-fu with the carboard Buffy stand-up thingy.

reidcourchie

08:49 / 28.09.01

Didn't realise you where Canadian sorry. See in Britain nobody's heard of the Hip. I'll stop now.

Jimmy Turncoat

08:49 / 28.09.01

quote: A copy of 'Strangers in Paradise'

Surely not? Is this for real or am I missing some weird element of sarcasm. Wonder if he's ever read The Invisibles, seeing as he gets mentioned in it a couple of times and that. Quite an odd thought.

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