Comic Book Resources

You know, ironically I was just wondering what he was up to, and then this article on CBR popped out. Sweet stuff.

This is the best news I have had all day. This guy makes great comics.

Johanna Draper Carlson has an early review up here:
http://comicsworthreading.com/2008/05/12/too-cool-to-be-forgotten-recommended/

sounds like a really cool concept -- can't wait to pick it up later this summer!

It could be good, I suppose, but the whole idea of going back to the 1980s sounds really stupid. I guess since most comic creators have their (presumably) young characters make '80s references all the time, at least Robinson is actually setting something in the '80s, where his characters can reference Pretty in Pink all the time and not sound weird. I imagine the execution, as usual, is all that matters, but the conceit sounds dumb.

Greg: are there any specific creators/series you had in mind? I can't think of any off the top of my head. Not enough to make that sort of generalization, anyway.

But in all seriousness, I graduated high school in '98 and I was still very familiar with eighties culture, particularly things like Pretty in Pink and Duran Duran. I wasn't an enthusiast, but they were not foreign. It might not be the same for people younger than me, but I suspect that certain relics of the '80s will remain a part of youth culture for a while.

Besides some of the set dressing, it doesn't sound like the 80s will be the focus of the story. It sounds more like going back and making decisions differently with an older head on your shoulders. I think that story idea has lots of potential and the decade in which it is set is just the one Robinson is most familiar with. It would be a pretty dumb story if it is just an inventory of the 80s ("hey, a rubik's cube I remember these things!") as opposed to a well-told story that happens to be set in the 80s. I have faith that the setting won't be more important than the characters.

Yes, the story could have taken place in just about any time period. It's very much character-driven.

S

**MINOR SPOILERS from interview with Robinson***

The thing that sounded most interesting was that the main character actually LIKES his present day life, and has to suffer through much of the crap he slogged through in high school for fear of disturbing the time line. That's something I can get on board with.

I was happy to see the news about this. 'Tricked' is one of my all-time favorites (didn't read BOP yet).

P.S., just now I noticed that the cover looks like a pack of cigarettes...

Robinson played with this idea in Box Office Poison (One of my top 10 runs), and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does this go-round.

Shaun: In these reviews I went over some pop culture references, but there are others. It sounds from Johanna's review that it isn't obsessed with the '80s, which is nice. It should be good, even if there is a bit of '80s nostalgia in it.

Greg, I'm not sure if you don't understand your own argument or if I don't understand your argument.

In your reviews, you only talked about pop culture references that pre-date the age of the character making the reference. But in Alex Robinsin's new comic, the character is middle-aged - old enough to have lived through the '80s and make such references.

Now you seem to have a problem with creators having a nostalgic obsession with the '80s. But in your reviews one of your examples is a reference of a show from the '70s.

Do you just not like pop culture references that pre-date the '90s?

Corey: That's what I meant. Instead of characters who don't remember the '80s, at least in this book we have a character actually living in the decade. I don't like any creators having any nostalgic obsession with anything, but if you're going to, at least set the book in that time period. I don't mind any pop culture references, but it often seems as if the creators make them based on their own personal experiences and not whether the character would actually make them. If you're going to have characters make pop culture references, they should be realistic ones.

Anyway, as others have pointed out, the time period of the book doesn't have much to do with it, so it's all probably a moot point anyway! If the book is more character-driven and less cultural nostalgia, it doesn't really matter when it's set. I'm not as jazzed by the central conceit, which is too "Peggy Sue Got Married" for me, but it's probably going to be a good comic.

I can certainly appreciate the desire to see any references come from the characters first, instead of the writers. I'm sure there are more modern cultural references. I seem to remember people complaining about such references in the early issues of The Ultimates and possibly Ultimate Spider-Man because they felt it dated the comic. So, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

But I can't really understand not liking creators having nostalgic obsessions over anything, which is a larger issue than making pop culture references (although it can certainly encompass that).

I could argue that DC Comics' series of Crisis events is essentially a nostalgic obsession with its own history. Super-hero comics in general today could be seen as more often than not a nostalgic obsession with super-hero comics either of the late 1930s/early 1940s or the 1960s. Or both.

Robert Kirkman has come right out and said on more than one occasion that Invincible is basically a love letter to the super-hero comics he grew up with. His Walking Dead is a nostalgic obsession with zombie movies with the twist of "what if the movie didn't end?". Just reading the letters page enforces that, as maybe half of that content deals with readers recommending various zombie movies or asking what Kirkman thought of some zombie movie, and Kirkman then responding.

Heck, a majority of Will Eisner's entire career consists of his nostalgic obsession with New York City. Jack Kirby probably has a healthy percentage of that, too.

I understand it can be a bad thing. I've seen that happen. But I've also seen it be a good thing. I think it comes down to the individual creator and how he or she expresses and/or translates the particular nostalgic obsession(s).

What the heck was wrong with "Peggy Sue Got Married"? I mean, at least you got to see Nicolas Cage being a complete dork.

And I think what Greg is referring to is where you have stuff like characters from Superbad and Juno referencing Ghostbusters and Thundercats, respectively. I don't know that this book will really be too nostalgic at all anyways, so the point might be moot.

I don't care if it's the untold story of Cable vs. Sabretooth guest starring Ghost Rider. It's new Alex Robinson. It will probably be very good.