Comments on: Saturday in the Comfort Zone

By: Saturday’s Comfort Zone Wrapup | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:20:21 +0000

[...] part one, part two, and part three. I really had intended, when I first outlined this, to keep it to one or [...]

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:09:44 +0000

Quigley Down Under always convinced me it was like the third in a series– when it’s the only one. So I guess we’ll never see Quigley, Quigley Rides Again, or the fourth one, Quigley in Space. (The fourth one is always in space.)

By: Dan Bailey

Dan Bailey — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:22:45 +0000

Man, I referred to “comfort-food comics” (particularly in reference, in my case, to Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes) at least a couple of years ago in a Classics forum post … I want credit & I want it now!

(Kidding, of course. The concept is not exactly unique.)

By: Greg Hatcher

Greg Hatcher — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:48:07 +0000

I also went from Floppies to trades, then back again with the current Palmiotti/Gray series – for exactly the same fear that a drop in sales might lead to corruption…

I worry about this too. My compromise is to always buy the trades NEW from my retailer, rather than scooping them up remaindered or used on Amazon, on the premise that it will still show as a Jonah Hex sale to DC.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:39:23 +0000

Always loved Jonah Hex. The Tim Truman/Joe Lansdale Vertigo run is actually at the top of my list though. Partly down to a long time love for Tim Truman’s artwork…

Never read the future Hex series… I vaguely remember a crossover in Supreman with a flying metal horse shaped thing and thought “what??”

I also went from Floppies to trades, then back again with the current Palmiotti/Gray series – for exactly the same fear that a drop in sales might lead to corruption…

By: Edo Bosnar

Edo Bosnar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:05:38 +0000

You didn’t actually mention it, although you included an image of the poster, and I fully agree with the choice: The Warriors. A cult movie to be sure, but also one that is so easy to watch. Again and again.
Not much of a Western fan, in any media, but I do agree that there is something about those made-for-TV Western movies that is quite soothing. The “comfort food” description is perfect. My personal favorite TV comfort food is anything Star Trek (except Enterprise). I love catching a rerun aired late at night after a long, tiring day at work – it’s like a bedtime story.
As for movies, one that occurred to me because I just watched it the other night on TV is Fletch (as well as its sequel). Yes, I know, they’re really silly, over-the-top at places and for god’s sake it’s Chevy f-in’ Chase, but they hit all the right formulaic notes that make them perfect comfort movies, ideal for watching on one of those awful rainy Sunday afternoons or late at night or when you’re too sick to think. Also, Fletch seems to have aged better than, say, Beverly Hills Cop (which I also watched again a few months ago), which came out at about the same time but was about a gazillion times more popular.
By the way, I found it amusing that Julie finds home-improvement programming so soothing. For my wife, it’s any type of culinary show.

By: sgt rawk

sgt rawk — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:59:47 +0000

Love Jonah Hex. Gray & Palmiotti’s modern take on it suits me right down to the ground, but Hell and damnation if Jonah Hex wasn’t one of the coolest characters ever to draw a four-color breath.

Can’t wait for the movie but fear it will be shitty.

Underappreciated Western Character? Scalphunter. Easy. That’s a Vertigo series right there.

By: FunkyGreenJerusalem

FunkyGreenJerusalem — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:14:32 +0000

It’s funny, my idea of a good Western are Sergio Leone’s films and Clint Eastwood’s westerns – the post-modern Westerns, to be wanky about it, are where it’s at for me – from the visual splendor of Once Upon A Time In The West, through the horror of High Plains Drifter, to the last word on the west with Unforgiven… what those two haven’t said about the West, I don’t want to hear!

My comfort films are more along the lines of Wes Anderson films, I [Heart] Huckabees, and anything along those lines.

And then there’s the odd one of us who has only read the Vertigo stuff and can’t believe that a Jonah Hex movie that isn’t a horror/western zombie movie will be any good whatsoever

You should get that Showcase and see how it’s done.
Once you get past the hilarious use of a stump that resembles him distracting the bad guys in the first story, it’s all good from there.
(Seriously, Hex sneaks up on one side of the house, but they get distracted by a stump that looks like him on the other – he doesn’t even put his hat on top of it or anything, it’s just a stump that looks like him.)

By: jazzbo

jazzbo — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:07:47 +0000

I actually just read the entire run of Hex (the Jonah Hex in the future series) last winter, and found it pretty enjoyable. I’ve just gotten into the Jonah Hex character since his new series started, though, so maybe if I had been reading his original western run I wouldn’t have liked it. I prefer him as a western character, for sure, but I thought the future stuff worked, too.

By: s1rude

s1rude — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:09:46 +0000

Another vote for Raimi's The Quick and the Dead as pure awesome that goes down smooth whenever needed. The entire set-up is what I think of as "comic book", with the players and director putting their all into it in a way not often seen for a pulp/genre piece. Also, Sharon Stone at the peak of her sultriness, Hackman in a role that allowed him to flex his Lex Luthor and Little Bill chops and pre-fame Crowe and DiCaprio. I think I need to watch it right now. Also, the best western book on the stands today, IMO, is Dynamite's Lone Ranger. Manages to capture the feel and pacing of an old western with gorgeous art and less avenging of sexual assault than Jonah Hex (at least as evidenced by the issues I've sampled over the years).

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:18:08 +0000

My personal “comfort” movies are … Lost in Translation

Really? Excellent movie, no doubt, but comforting? Seems too melancholy to comforting to me.

By: stealthwise

stealthwise — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:37:54 +0000

I was buying Hex month to month for the first year or so, but dropped it as I didn’t find it to be all that engaging on a monthly basis. I would always put it off to the side compared to other books I was getting at the time. Then i read the last several trades and want to go back in time and slap myself for daring to drop it and risk, no matter how small the risk that my one lost sale would contribute to the overall, this series being cancelled. Pure Western awesomeness.

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:00:25 +0000

I agree; westerns are perfect comfort food movies, whether you’ve seen them before or not, as you’re always familiar with the general situation, the setting and, in most cases, the characters (in broad terms).

My personal “comfort” movies are Almost Famous, Spinal Tap, Lost in Translation, Star Trek 2-4 and the original Star Wars Movies. Can soothe any fever

By: Greg Hatcher

Greg Hatcher — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:58:03 +0000

I seem to remember Tom Selleck doing a couple of Quigley movies, western, I think. Am I wrong?

Just the one. It's actually Julie's favorite Western, though I like it a lot too.

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:12:15 +0000

I seem to remember Tom Selleck doing a couple of Quigley movies, western, I think.

Am I wrong?

By: Da Fug

Da Fug — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:09:28 +0000

And then there’s the odd one of us who has only read the Vertigo stuff and can’t believe that a Jonah Hex movie that isn’t a horror/western zombie movie will be any good whatsoever. But then again, I have to be in certain mood to even handle watching westerns in the first place.

By: Greg Hatcher

Greg Hatcher — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:33:40 +0000

I just wish DC would put out more Showcase volumes of Jonah Hex.

Don’t we all. Bat Lash was nice and all, and certainly deserves its rep as a classic, but… damn it, Hex is what I really want more of.

By: Perry Holley

Perry Holley — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:29:38 +0000

I just wish DC would put out more Showcase volumes of Jonah Hex.

By: Greg Hatcher

Greg Hatcher — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:07:59 +0000

Ha! Well, you’re in luck, because I thought “comfort-food” entertainment WAS a pretty good idea for a column, actually. Or even a series of them. We’ll be coming back to this for the next couple of weeks. Doing it by genre…. modern action-adventure, fantasy/horror, and superheroes are the three upcoming ones I’ve got outlined right now.

By: danjack

danjack — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:00:02 +0000

i really like Sam Raimi’s ‘Quick & the Dead’. Its one of my ‘comfort movies’. Hey! That might be a great idea for a column, whether movies or comics [or anything else for that matter].
Something that you’ve read countless times, but can always go back to.
i just rediscovered the 1st four Dark Tower books by S King, and man are they really good.
DFTBA