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Underground > Comic Books >

Reading comic-books can make you vomit

  
 
Sebastian
20:23 / 24.10.02


The image above from Ultimate War by Millar and Bachalo, previewed in Wizard #135, has turned on not only the sensitivity of a reader but also has turned his stomach upside down. You may read his full letter -presumably written after recovery his digestive indisposition- adressed to Millar and and Marvel's EIC at Newsarama.

I have been reading comic books for 22 years. I have read about planets being blown up killing billions, a man beating cancer while his wife is trapped in Middle Eastern countries during the Gulf War and even about Hitler’s brain being transplanted into the body of a super hero. But seeing that image of the Brooklyn Bridge being blown nearly made me vomit. It is an image that will forever be burned into my brain, not because it is so well rendered, but because I have never seen mainstream comics act this insensitively.

I don't know about any of you, but I sware I could never see with much comfort any type of graphic depiction of anybody's brain being transplanted into anybody's body -just to think of certain intense scenes of the film Hannibal makes me tremble-, and believe me I have assisted the tough type of brain surgery in the past.

My point is: comics are not for everyone, and they were never intended to be so. But now we do have to admit that history itself, the evolution of the medium, and actually evolution of all mediums, will necessarily bring some readers in and push some others out. And if you've been reading comics for 22 years, then you probably already know that they can make you vomit.

Because, you know, I was thinking that some people may find themselves actually drawn into comic books out of curiosity, precisely because they may want to see how are these topics so directly related to actual tragic events being handled, which perspective is being brought, and also to check if they stay on the same level of the super-eternal-soldier 140 minute ultra-violent-action film, or if they actually plounge towards something else the medium is more apt and able to. And I'd love to know about how teens are relating to this type of things in comic books.

So yes, every building that now is blown-up in a comic book has an entirely different dimension in the mind of the reader compared to the same reader's own mind one year ago, but it also happens that some may responsibly not want to see or read anything related to it, which is fine, but we also have to bear in mind that others may take the same responsibility in the matter by exploring the many aspects of world events as they are paraphrased in graphic mediums.

Whatya think??
 
 
Spatula Clarke
22:21 / 24.10.02
I'd just like to point out that "every building that now is blown-up in a comic book has an entirely different dimension in the mind of the reader compared to the same reader's own mind one year ago," only applies to those readers who are ignorant of any world events in the last century and only started paying attention to events outside of their own, comfy little worldviews 13 months ago.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
23:18 / 24.10.02
Sweet Jesus. It's as if Millar's in a race with himself to make the most embarassing comic of all time...
 
 
Sebastian
23:59 / 24.10.02
only applies to those readers who are ignorant of any world events in the last century and only started paying attention to events outside of their own, comfy little worldviews 13 months ago.

Yeah, go figure, I can hardly imagine people paying attention to comic-books in countries where buildings are being blown-out. We do live in very different and disproportionate worlds.

It's as if Millar's in a race with himself to make the most embarassing comic of all time...

I also thought something like that, but can't yet decide on what line the embarrasment will be. Have ya seen the previews to Ults #7?
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
00:31 / 25.10.02
But surely you don't have to *live* in a country where buildings are being destroyed to be aware that it is happening elsewhere?
 
 
The Falcon
00:34 / 25.10.02
Sweet Jesus. It's as if Millar's in a race with himself to make the most embarassing comic of all time...

How? 'Cos of an exploding bridge? My fanboy-speculation sense is ringing - nice phraseology, though.

So fuck - another crying babyman. I've finally bitten the bullet and ordered Ultimates, after having read the first 6 online - because they made me think like this: WOW! FUCK! REALLY?! SHIT! BOOM! ACE!
 
 
The Falcon
01:12 / 25.10.02
I'd just like to point out that "every building that now is blown-up in a comic book has an entirely different dimension in the mind of the reader compared to the same reader's own mind one year ago," only applies to those readers who are ignorant of any world events in the last century and only started paying attention to events outside of their own, comfy little worldviews 13 months ago.

Exactly. This (the letter) is really fucking stupid, and has got me annoyed.
 
 
Sebastian
01:34 / 25.10.02
But surely you don't have to *live* in a country where buildings are being destroyed to be aware that it is happening elsewhere?

Good point. But let me tell you, if buildings were falling on your head you would behave as autistically as our vomiting chap above. But of course, his sort of autism appears a definitely more exasperating.

On the other hand, western civilisation and its overpowering geopolitics are fairly well set so that you can live in perfectly dull peace, beauty, and autism in some select cities or countries, with only having to afford a single vomit in 22 years due to a single page panel of a comic book. You are not even forced to watch the oh-so-dull-enforcing CNN. Then you die of cancer.
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
01:58 / 25.10.02
"Sweet Jesus. It's as if Millar's in a race with himself to make the most embarassing comic of all time..." -Flux

Please 'splain. I think I know what you're talking about, but I'm not sure that I agree. Not even taking into account the fact that it's kinda on the side of disingenuous to judge any comic by a single frame taken out of context.

Just for the record, the Hank and Janet row from the last issue made me much more uneasy + queasy than the image above does.
 
 
Vadrice
02:27 / 25.10.02
Comics a chided for NOT at least trying to push the envelope these days. 's bound to turn some people off, and make for some SPECTACULAR mistakes.

Or as we (actually never) say in the Magick, happy suprises.
 
 
The Natural Way
08:21 / 25.10.02
Millar's desire to be "topical" is a bit embarrassing, but, as Dunc points out, Millar's stuff rocks. I mean, let's not be hypocritcal here, if you read the Ultimates (or loads of superhero comics), yr into BigGunDicks and Millar knows this. He just has the biggest guns and the most Hollywood approach is all. And, if any of you have been reading UXM recently (which is, I have to say, turning into a really good comic), well....the atmosphere when Blob and the rest of the brotherhood learn of Magneto's survival... The guy can't come back and make a squeal, he has to do something BAD, really bad...something shocking.

Millar is channeling that war current and, yes, I am uncomfortable w/ it; he is a bit thick and The Ultimates IS a guilty pleasure (not to mention an inexcusably late one) and I am troubled by it, but it answers one of the needs superhero comics are supposed to be all about...and...arrgh....God, I'm a big kid, but I just love it...

I hate attempting to justify my Millar-love, 'cause somewhere along the way I have to admit to the utterly retarded sides of my personality. Though, I suspect we spend an awful lot of time focussing on the negative - must get my thoughts in order and compose a decent, less confused, post about whatruncelikesaboutMillarstuff...
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
11:14 / 25.10.02
I don't know - Millar seems like he's trying WAY too hard now, that he knows he's got to put in ridiculous, crass, and offensive things in his comics because he knows that once people start focusing on the actual substance of his work, they'd all jump ship cos his comics are vacuous, poorly constructed, and lacking in characters. He's turning into the Howard Stern of superhero comics, and he'll end up the same bored hack that Stern has become as his shtick has worn thin over the years.
 
 
The Natural Way
11:24 / 25.10.02
But I don't agree that his comics are vacuous, poorly constructed and lacking in characters. I KNOW what all his characters are about (some really shine off the page), and I love the pace and feel of his books. This isn't going to turn into another one of those "there's not enough fights" Millar-threads, is it?
 
 
Sebastian
11:25 / 25.10.02
The Ultimates IS a guilty pleasure

Well, that's interesting then. We should explore that. I was thinking, what if The Ultimates would have just been a perfect re-launch of the traditional Avengers, or something in the line of Ult. Spider-Man which I find sort of more addressed to teens? Because Ultimate Spider-Man can hardly be a guilty pleasure for anyone.

the Hank and Janet row from the last issue made me much more uneasy + queasy than the image above does.

Me too, definitely. I think this was discussed in the issue 6 thread, and I still find that narrative piece sort of disjointedly violent and rather vacuous in the context of this book and of comic-books in general. No sneaky guilty pleasure here.
 
 
The Natural Way
11:26 / 25.10.02
And I really don't think we've got the measure of Millar yet. Swamp Thing was very different from UXM, The Ultimates and The Authority. In places, it was fantastic - a brilliant horror comic. Let's wait and see - I don't think he's turned into the one-trick Ennispony yet.
 
 
mr Squiggle
12:11 / 25.10.02
Yeah whatever, Miller & his fans or lack there of dosent interest me much. Bachalo used to but hasnt for a while, so Ill talk about him instead. These Tim Hunter covers show he still has a great sense of design:
hunter17
hunter18
hunter19

The few covers he did for Shade were some of my favorites. Id love to see him try something sequential in an experimental painted/collage style. If only there was an Epic Illustrated type outlet to pay him to try it out, like Sienkiewicz did before Stray Toasters.
 
 
Sebastian
13:26 / 25.10.02
Can anybody here report some other sort of extreme or rare autonomic reactions while reading a comic-book?

I once noticed I was holding my breath for about two panels while reading a porn-violent-necrophiliac spanish comic, a very poor thing both narratively, graphically, and editorially, that auto-indulged in gratuitously coagulating all that may eventually disturb your auntie and children.

I've also seen non-comic book readers of strong moral and catholic breed look at them with strange facial gestures of distaste and dissaproval (which are autonomic) while examining both the hypercurve-exagerated bodies of Liefeld-like women and the over-muscled torsoes and limbs and necks of super-humans. But never concerned with events of massive destruction.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
14:03 / 25.10.02
The guy really is an idiot, making a comment about how there are people that are dying in this comic, thought it's unclear how many. So even in comic-book world you can kill anyone you like, just so long as they're not Americans. Killing imaginary Americans is beyond the pale.
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
17:08 / 25.10.02
Thanks for reminding me about Swamp Thing, runce. Has Millar done any other stories of that length that actually had a real ending? Because, while the bulk of his run on ST reveled in grimy depravity, the story actually had a more or less happy ending. Sparks of hope in the face of hopelessness. Redemption of misanthropy, of "evil". I think we would see more of this in finite Millar works, but it seems that he gets cut off too soon. So we just see the depravity w/none of the redemption. Whatever. Just a hypothesis.

Also: the closest that I can recall a comic ever coming to producing an extreme autonomic reaction in me was a Henriette Valium story in Zero Zero. I like it a lot now, but it's so freaking bizarre that it repulsed me the first time I read it. Kind of like the first time I ever heard Captain Beefheart.
 
 
bio k9
18:28 / 25.10.02
He's turning into the Howard Stern of superhero comics, and he'll end up the same bored hack that Stern has become as his shtick has worn thin over the years.

Strippers and retards!
 
 
glassonion
13:31 / 27.10.02
uspidey should be a wee bit of a guilty pleasure. Couple issues ago there was a sequence where someone fell off a building and it went on for four pages. that to me is bad writing, laziness and poor value in terms of ideas per-pound [or buck]. I don't feel guilty about reading Millar though. as far as i can remember comics have always had broken buildings and dead babies [off screen, kids are reading] but fuck they're only drawings. no-one's really getting hurt. millar knows he's writing pulp literature, an honesty i admire. violence in his books is generally employed to make you feel disappointed in the characters who've resorted to it first, sorry for the ones who have to respond to it. his get-out twists generally short-circuit the need for further bloodshed rather than contribute to it. his politics and behaviour 'cept for hawksmoor, fury stark n thor when they're being idealistic, rarely seem to be millar's own and the frequent crassness of the opinions other characters utter is there to realistically represent the crass and stupid opinions people have in life. there's a bit in one of his robohunters where killer wardroids dress some poor copper up as the queen mum and hang him upside down outside the police station in bloomers an L plate. it's brillo. trust.
 
  
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