This is both cute and entertaining (and proof positive of my jibber-jabber)
"Two Great Things That Go Great Together TM" Dept.:
LEGO bricks and UK comic book creators.
From left to right: Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and Alan Moore.
Those of you who aren't already chuckling quite hard may well be asking "But Joe, who are these fellows and why have they created such a furor-ry?" This is a reasonable question, and its answer (as well as some rather highly referenced and gushy praise on my part) is under the cut.
Neil Gaiman is best known for his 75 issue series THE SANDMAN for DC/Vertigo but just recently completed the also-peachy-keen 1602 for Marvel comics. He is a NY Times List Bestelling author and a very reasonable fellow who's work (which I quite enjoy, although I find it a bit "twee" at times) speaks for itself and his blog is here
Grant Morrison has done extensive work for both DC Comics and Marvel and is best known for his ground-breaking conspiracy series THE INVISIBLES which is aknowledged as one of the primary sources (some Morrison fans would say plagerized source ) for the Wachoski Brothers' movie THE MATRIX (and as soon as its creators stepped away from Grant's work - as they did in chapters two and three - the whole damned thing fell apart), and a critically adored run on the X-MEN ( check this out , and this , which is continued here , and this ). Grant's work (which I quite like, tho I find it self-consciously WEIRD at times- much like one of the kids in High School who'd try to be "random" to keep people from knowing how unhappy and un-aware they were of themselves, much like Ally Sheedy in THE BREAKFAST CLUB) speaks for itself . His blog is here (although it doesn't seem to have been updated in two years) , and he seems to have a second one here , although to find out what he's like I recommend this interview and this one at SEQUENTIAL TART (whch is a wonderful resource for any female readers looking at this and wondering what comics today may have to offer *them*).
Alan Moore is the best writer that comics have ever seen - period. Besides being the core member of THE SINISTER DUCKS with David J of BAUHAUS and LOVE AND ROCKETS (and if Krista is reading this, she may have just went OoO ), over the past 25 years he is responsible for a WEALTH of very good material, including the ground-breaking SWAMP THING series, the seminal superhero graphic novel THE WATCHMEN , two series of LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN , and my personal favourite FROM HELL (the latter two being INFINATELY better than their movie adaptations - check out this extensive FROM HELL discussion, and the annotation notes for the LEAGUE OF EXTRORDINARY GENTLEMEN), Crowley-esque Magickal "Performance Art" pieces, and many others. (Moore hates computers but an excellent interviews with him can be found here, and here, and here, and for the longest time he was who I wanted to be when I grew up (and, as such, may still be that guy).
Clicking on any of their names will bring you to their AMAZON listings and a resultant CRAPLOAD of very good comic book work (any bookstorewith a Graphic Novel section or comic book shop worthy of the name should have something of each of theirs in stock as well). The fact that all three have had their work critically examined and in some cases extensively annotated for easier understanding is no co-incidence.
For more LEGO comic book and superhero nuttiness please feel free to click here .
All of this stuff makes me very very happy (and you folks were beginning to think I was ALL armchair politics and nothing else!).
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