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BTW, the new Stray Bullets.....

The Natural Way

12:22 / 07.02.02

....is in the stores NOW.

Haven't read it yet - just thought you guys should know.

sleazenation

12:53 / 07.02.02

Yep. Got it.

At last some more background on joey's formative years and why he was so fixated on janice all the way back in issue one... maybe one day we'll find out what happened next... and actually see harry

Haus Of Pain

08:44 / 09.02.02

Nation, why the desperate urge for exposition. Stray Bullets moves at a lovely, leisurely pace, let's not hurry it.

I have a suspicion that something far more interesting is going on in the boot of that car than simply a trigger for Joey's psychotic episode.

Ginny's corpse anyone?

As for the latest issue... It's the fucking shit! You can shove all your DK2s right up your arse Mr Fanboy.

[ 09-02-2002: Message edited by: Hindermate ]

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

02:28 / 11.02.02

I can't see buying this as a regular comic...I buy the hardcovers as they come out after buying a single issue and saying, "What the fuck?"

When he gets a story arc done, do you gather your single issues up and read them en masse?

bio k9

05:47 / 11.02.02

Edited because I misunderstood that Hindermate was saying Ginny was the corpse in issue #1. Im retarded.

Carry on.

[ 11-02-2002: Message edited by: Bio K9 ]

sleazenation

07:10 / 11.02.02

Hey Bio - not convinced that the kid from issue 14 is Joey, but even if it were, how does that preclude ginny from being the girl in the trunk from issue one (set all the way in 1997)

bio k9

08:23 / 11.02.02

As for the kid in #14, Rose is his mother and they call him "Joey"...

Also in #14, Beth tries to get Scott with the cig lighter...like shed heard you could burn someones eye out or something. Nice.

sleazenation

08:49 / 11.02.02

er.... that still doesn't explain why it can't be ginny in the back of the car in issue one (there is still no evidence to prove it is yet either, but...)

Haus Of Pain

14:46 / 12.02.02

quote:When he gets a story arc done, do you gather your single issues up and read them en masse?

It's always a good idea to reread Stray Bullets in it's entirity when an arc is completed. Gets things in perspective.

sleazenation

16:14 / 12.02.02

Is it?

Stary bullets takes the form of independent, though linked stories. The 'arcs' of the collections rarely exhibit any of the thematic or temporal unities observed in most arc storylines. All the tales in the arcs have in common with each other is their rather arbitary publishing history - how is that any different to reading it in its episodic format?

Haus Of Pain

16:34 / 12.02.02

Gonna have to get a little mundane on your arse, Sleaze.

1) Because it's easy to forget how the characters relate to each other.

2) Because the latest release/arc may shed some light on past events.

3) The juxtaposition and/or re-contextualisation of arcs may invest said arcs with greater meaning.

4) A million and other reasons pertaining to the fact that Stray Bullets is over 600 pages long.

Come on, I really don't need to tell you this stuff.

sleazenation

17:02 / 12.02.02

Hindermate, I think you misunderstand me-

my point isn't that re-reading stray bullets is a bad idea simply that the 'arc' sized collections don't really serve any thematic purpose since they, unlike most other collections the tales they collects do not form a unified story. They are more like anthologies than graphic novels

Haus Of Pain

17:09 / 12.02.02

Hmm, hard to say until it's complete. As I have said above, the seperate arcs certainly inform each other.

I would contend that Stray Bullets is simply a protracted non-linear narrative, just like a ten-hour version of Pulp-Fiction.

sleazenation

17:22 / 12.02.02

Its not the 'arcs' that inform each other, its the individual stories and frequently stories that appear in different arcs inform more strongly on stories in other 'arcs'
than those that are collected with them.

quote:Originally posted by Hindermate:

I would contend that Stray Bullets is simply a protracted non-linear narrative, just like a ten-hour version of Pulp-Fiction.

That's Exactly what I'm saying - the narrative is so disjointed down to its seperate narrative components (the issue length stories) that to place them in orders of collected 'arcs' of unrelated stories is simply arbitrary rather than thematic. If we accept that stray bullets is a disjointed, non-linear narrative then there is no 'correct ' order to read it in.

Haus Of Pain

17:30 / 12.02.02

True enough, although there may be a satisfying order to read it in.

While I understand your motivations, methinks you throw around the adjective "unrelated" too much. Lapham's seperate stories certainly have more in common than simple Wittgensteinian family resemblence.

[ 12-02-2002: Message edited by: Hindermate ]

Haus Of Pain

17:52 / 12.02.02

Er, are you talking about Orson?

Well if we're discussing favourite episodes mine has to be the one where Orson dies.

videodrome

18:00 / 12.02.02

Thanks, Hindermate. Hadn't read that one yet.

bio k9

18:43 / 12.02.02

Yeah, well, everyone dies. There be spoilers in this thread, methinks.

I think I'll dig the issues out later and read them in the order they take place since they all have dates and locations at the beginning of the story. Or maybe not. Maybe after the series is finished.

Haus Of Pain

19:52 / 12.02.02

Er, sorry about that Videodrome but if you're going to join in a thread devoted to a particular comic you've got expect a few spoilers.

Sorry, mate!

videodrome

20:42 / 12.02.02

No worries Hindermate. Serves me right for waiting ten months or so till I have a stack of issues and then reading as a block. Got the new issue last week but have a dozen before it to read (maybe more). I should know better than to even scan (all I meant to do) a thread for something I haven't read.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

00:56 / 13.02.02

I just read the second hardcover and it held together perfectly as a separate novel, especially since it had been so long since I read the first one.

I think as a series of comics it doesn't come together s a whole, but does when collected. But that's just me.

Haus Of Pain

15:53 / 14.02.02

That's an expensive way to be Rose. I like the comics just fine.

mondo a-go-go

21:58 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Solitaire Rose:
I think as a series of comics it doesn't come together s a whole, but does when collected.

it's kinda not supposed to come together as whole in the comics. they're supposed to be able to stand alone. and i think that works, you can read each issue without having to know what when on before. it's not like there's a consistant, chronological timeline; the over-arching story jumps all over the decades. all you really need to grasp the concept of each individual story is a basic knowledge of the popular culture of the time in which it is set.

has anyone else seen lapham's stuff for the matrix website?

oh, and maria lapham fucking rocks. she's really cool.

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