Saturday Waffling (March 26th, 2016)
Happy to have Last War in Albion back. It’s a hard project, and there are days I really don’t know how believable it is that it will reach a state that can be called “finished,” but my do I love it when things come together in it.
Last Tournament in Albion also proceeds apace. Here’s the bracket after round one. Some impressive upsets there; I remain gutted that Alan Moore’s A Disease of Language, containing what are probably the two works of his to have most influenced me, got ousted by yet another BBC series with a dodgy sewer monster. And speaking of Neil Gaiman, a stunner as Coraline is ousted in a coin-toss finish by a Kieron Gillen work I might as well have sixteen-seeded, except I threw a Steve Moore novel on that I thought was even more obscure. That’s The New Games Journalism, his manifesto for what games criticism should be.
Yes, you read that right. Coraline got ousted by aesthetics in video game journalism.
Also intriguing is the Fossil Angels vs Pop Magic! matchup, which ended with a narrow victory for Beard over Bald, and the surprisingly brutality of the first round to Warren Ellis, who was unable to get anything save for Transmetropolitan into the second round. He often did well – 45% for Nextwave against Animal Man, 43% for Gun Machine against Supergods, and 42% for Planetary against The Wicked and the Divine – but came up short save for his 65/35 drubbing of Grant Morrison’s anti-Invisibles, The Filth.
Anyway, second round match-ups have probably begun over on Twitter by now. Both today and tomorrow will have on-topic Moore vs Moorison matches; today pairing Morrison’s 2000 AD superhero strip Zenith against Moore’s Warrior strip Miracleman, tomorrow an all-Superman battle. There’s some really weird ones like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vs Phonogram and Young Avengers vs Swamp Thing. And next week’s got Watchmen vs Promethea and the discovery of whether Kieron Gillen can knock out “The Doctor’s Wife” in a battle of the things it would really be an indictment of The Last War in Albion if won.
Complain about things in comments. Other than me, I mean.
March 26, 2016 @ 9:57 am
Glad to see Last War in Albion back.
Since I’m still not on Twitter, you get my choices for LTIA over here even if they don’t count in the voting.
British Classics: V for Vendetta over Bojeffries Saga; as much as I enjoy Bojeffries this one really isn’t a fight. Halo Jones over Violent Cases/ Mr. Punch; although it’s not one I feel strongly about- they’re both good but not a-list in my mind. LOEG over Phonogram; they’re pretty evenly matched on quality in my mind but I’m more fond of LOEG and I’m advancing Gillen/ McKelvie in the other two fights they’re in. Zenith over Miracleman (Moore/ Various), I still feel the “various” is a little TOO various and Zenith is still a personal favorite.
American Superheroes: Sandman over Hellblazer (Ennis); no contest in my mind. Animal Man over Hellblazer (Delano); I enjoy Delano’s run more than Ennis’s but Animal Man remains one of the great mindf***s I’ve ever seen in comics, at least for me. I still vividly remember hitting the “I can see you” page and snapping my head around to see who was behind me. All-Star Superman over Whatever Happened…; I wouldn’t argue with anybody who wants to call Moore’s story one of the two best Superman stories ever but it’s up against my choice for #1. Young Avengers over Swamp Thing; although I do need to pull the Swampy HC’s off the shelf and re-read the whole run after your comments last week. I’m actually not sure I’ve ever sat down and read the whole run at once.
Literary Comics: These matchups are all just hell to choose. Promethea over Watchmen; in part because I think Watchmen is slightly overrated. It’s one of the best and most important comics ever, but too many people leave out the “one of”. Transmetropolitan over the Invisibles; if it wasn’t an election year I would probably go the other way but Transmet is on my mind. Plus I want Ellis in the Sweet 16. WicDiv over We3, but once again a hell of a choice. From Hell over Preacher, because I think From Hell qualifies as “literary” more than Preacher.
Non-Comics: Gaiman runs the table for me; partly due to still having not read several of the works, and partly because it amuses me. I’m also wondering why Blake wasn’t seeded anywhere in this category.
March 26, 2016 @ 10:44 am
I’ve never taken to Twitter so I’m watching this from the sidelines, cheering on The Invisibles and Promethea. I agree with Eric Gimlin re Watchmen. I couldn’t convincingly describe it as overrated and wouldn’t be so presumptuous but its acquired popular image (via all those “POW! Comics aren’t just for kids anymore!” articles) as the go-to graphic novel for people who don’t like comics has always been puzzling to me.
March 27, 2016 @ 1:31 pm
I may have mentioned this before, but I’m reminded of a line in the House to Astonish podcast.
“The thing about Alan Moore is that you can find something he wrote incredibly overrated and still think it’s very, very good. It just doesn’t actually cure cancer.”
March 26, 2016 @ 11:37 am
Yeah yeah right Round 2 has some interesting fights going on but can we just talk about the possiblity of a Promethea vs. The Invisibles fight in Round 3? More than any other Moore/Morrison match-up, that could get BLOODY.
March 26, 2016 @ 6:39 pm
Oh, yeah. Promethea vs The Invisibles really would be the fight at the heart of the war. But it would also seem fitting if they didn’t actually get to go one on one, in its own way. I actually think they’re underdogs in their respective battles; and somehow having the possibility of a head to head fight but then having it not happen would also fit the war perfectly in its own way.
I do find myself wanting either both or neither to advance now; I don’t want to see one advance without directly facing the other.
March 27, 2016 @ 5:38 pm
My guess is that Promethea vs Invisibles is more likely than any other of the three possible matchups there, but that the two matchups where one advances and the other doesn’t are collectively more likely.
My personal bet (and how I’d vote) is that we’ll get a Promethea/Transmet match there.
March 26, 2016 @ 12:17 pm
My complaint is that The Last Tournament seems to be heading to a big Moore/Gaiman showdown – I can see V for Vendetta/Watchmen/Sandman/American Gods or The Doctor’s Wife fighting in the semi-finals, which is a little predictable for me.
I hope I’m wrong and there are yet some surprises ahead of us (and there might be, particularly in the Literary Comics, maybe American Superheroes Divisions). And of course there are some interesting fights in Round 2, so I’m excited about that.
March 26, 2016 @ 5:28 pm
I have writer’s block.
So I’m trying to work on something completely different in the spirit of the season: A passion play set in the world of LoEG.
So now I’m being tormented by the minutiae of Christianity.
March 26, 2016 @ 5:37 pm
Sad, but not even a tiny little bit surprised, that 1602 dropped out so early.
(Shrug. I’m a sucker for alternate versions of existing characters. That’s one of my things.)
March 26, 2016 @ 11:19 pm
Not “should be”! “Should include”!
March 28, 2016 @ 1:45 am
Huh, a bad mood you had 10 years ago…