#pleece

[transitiontolife]

Am eepy, cannot go to eep. Unproductive really

[mutalieju]

Finished Paul Jenkins run of Hellblazer on this reread.

It's... Okay? It has some great moments for sure (Constantine shitting out his alcoholism and guilt in a public toilet to make a clone of himself was great, the issue about John being an unreliable narrator was good... in general lot of the single issue stories are good like the one where john spirals because he accidentally killed his girlfriend's pet fish and hallucinates plane crashes etc, catastrophizing about it. )

Sean Phillip's art is good, Warren Pleece's less so, not enough gross and interesting visuals, no trippy disturbing imagery for the most part. Some of the stuff a more... experimental artist could have done more with. I feel like Pleece's caricaturish art style especially really undersold some of the body horror for example with the ghost with a hole in her head etc.

Dani is underutilized and underwritten, unfortunately. Jenkins does approach the racist aspects of british national identity in an earlier issue with the black woman who is not welcome in the fantasyland of british folklore but then it just doesn't come up with Dani at all until they visit her family in the US.

Underutilizing Dani is one of jenkins's main sins in this run tbh...

Just in general Jenkins has the tendency to play it safe so it doesn't take any big swings. Like lot of the time when white writers have talked about racism in Hellblazer it has been Bad but at least it was trying, even if it fell on its face. Jenkins on the other hand loves to play with concepts like royal bloodlines having mythical properties without stopping to consider the implications, all the while having supposedly sympathetic characters throwing slightly racist jokes around.

The same thing with female characters too. Apart from its nasty treatment of Ellie (which is bad!) the misogyny tends to be more subtle and come in the form of sidelining female characters, especially when it revisits older storylines.

It's still certainly better than most new 52 stuff John has been involved in. I liked how Jenkins wrote John's relationships with kids and how his guilt over Astra influences them. I really liked him becoming a godfather and being horrified by the responsibility.

I liked some arcs. I think Critical Mass is still my favourite of his.

It's nice to tie up the Astra stuff for sure and I enjoy the tone of the arc where it's hopeless most of the time including at the end despite handing out John a massive victory and bringing the Newcastle thing to a close.

As far as the supporting cast goes I enjoyed the guy who was addicted to personalities and summoning famous dead people to get possessed by them and also the epileptic grandma.

The run ends pretty weakly with a literal deus ex machina and while I think it works well especially as a setup for the next writer to take over it's not really earned.

[witchblade]

struggling to relisten to tma because he always says Pleece instead of Police

[seaweedstarshine]

“It's a... wall? I... I don't understand.” “Of course you don't. You're only human. You can't even see it properly. This... view... it's your mind trying to cope with a visual it doesn't have the capacity to fathom. You want in on the Time War? Well, tough... it's Time-Locked!”

Panel redraw [X] from The Eleventh Doctor Year Two #4, (aka one of the best ever Doctor Who stories).

[rars]

what fictional characters should i draw today

[smashpages]

Warren Pleece returns to Dark Horse for ‘a dystopian eco-noir thriller’

The creator of ‘Incognegro’ will write and draw a new graphic novel for the Berger Books imprint.

[kaithonks]

So I’ve had some Thoughts about Sunny Luna Travelling Oracle by Warren Pleece

You know, I picked this one up from the library thinking this would be my break. A little reading away from disappointment of... well, the world. But then you know the world happened, and well, I probably couldn't have timed reading this any better. Or worst. My feelings are still mixed on that.

But let me get something out of the way first. All art, including comics, are inherently political in some way or another. Yes, you can practice escapism through it, but there are still messages and beliefs in the art. And while I personally think Sunny Luna Travelling Oracle could be more subtle to be more effective, recent events have shown sometimes subtle is not the way to go. But what got me with Sunny Luna was the coloring. Most of the story is in a yellow gray tone, reminiscence of old film, or a constant dust storm. There are few exceptions to this. The start, and then a few places in the middle and end. I don't really want to spoil, as I am currently recommended people read this. But it's a visual cue to the readers that Esta, our protagonist, is going through something.

I'm not fond of how these experiences are explained in the book; it feels like the story runs out of time, but I do think there are enough hints to it that I'm not too annoyed by it. And the rushing does sort of work against the story, as Esta is racing against the clock to warn her mentor of something, but the mentor decides this is the best time for a lore dumb. That feels like a nitpick though, as I do think enough of the comic has good foreshadowing for it.

The dusty color over most of the story does a good job of lending to an atmosphere of disaster despite how everything seems to be generally fine in Esta's world. But what is interesting is the colored section has strange and disturbing imagery, but because it's in color, it feels more normal. This is all important to the theming of the story.

On that note, I will always be on board with a story that advocates for reading, especially a comic book. Comics hold a special place, as their combination of art and words can make them easier for some people learning the language. There is overlap between picture books and a comic, obviously. But the comic's value often gets a little diminished because of that accessibility. These are board statements, and not everyone is going to find a comic easier to read. Personally, audiobooks are the best for me in terms of comprehension. But setting back to Sunny Luna, it makes a few direct literary references, with those being the novels Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. And while I could love to go into the importance of these two stories about worth, morality, and identity being mentioned here, I also want to mention Charlotte Bronte's poem "The Wood". (There is a Keats poem too, but that is for another time)

Now poetry is not my strong suit, but I have a fascination with its twisting on the English language to convey themes (this mostly coming out of my love-hate relationship with Gertrude Stein), but what I love about who Sunny uses this poem is how it breaks up its stanzas. It only uses stanzas 2—4, with two and three each getting their own panel. 2 is accompanied by an outdoor shot, as the poem describes an outdoor seen. Stanza 3's panel cuts to Esta and Wanda, her sort of mentor, with it showing Esta is reading to want. Now here is what is interesting: Stanza 4 gets broken up with the first part being a close-up of Esta and Wanda, then second, As Esta gets to "The Knife of Treachery," there is a closeup of Esta looking around nervously. So the visual ties to the poem are delicious, and I find the new break in the poem interesting as it creates a new space in reading as the poem gets to the darker visuals.

There are also some more purely visual references, mostly to Alice in Wonderland. Sunny Luna uses all their references not for show but for it's theming of literature's importance for passing culture and messages. To learn and see outside our small personal worlds.

Art, reading, books, and comics are political because even when used for escapism, it is giving you a new experience. Away to broaden the horizons and think more critically about your world. Art has a story and a message, and Sunny Luna Travelling Oracle maybe wasn't the reminder of that I wanted at this time, but needed none the less.

[ginge1962]

The Best of Tharg's Terror Tales from the pages of 2000AD with a cover by Frazer Irving.

This is another of those free supplements from various issues of the Judge Dredd Megazine.

[graphicpolicy]

Exclusive: Berger Books and Dark Horse announce The Sunny-Luna Traveling Oracle from Warren Pleece

Exclusive: Berger Books and Dark Horse announce The Sunny-Luna Traveling Oracle from Warren Pleece #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

The newest offering from legendary editor Karen Berger’s Berger Books at Dark Horse Comics comes from acclaimed illustrator and storyteller Warren Pleece, presenting readers a dystopian eco-noir thriller about power, escape, creation, and the mark we leave on the world. The 128-page (6.625” x 9”) science fiction mystery graphic novel The Sunny-Luna Travelling Oracle arrives in April of 2024. In…

[jjujunjune]

im doing a model of sif's dagger, and can't tell if i Have Good Opinions. help pleece

here in the reference you can see its like if a straight dagger was kinda. bent to the side. but i feel like it looks kinda odd straight on (or from its profile, i guess?)

my personal favorite is #1, its shape makes the blade's curve reach further out from the user's hand, allowing for more reach with slashes, without having to awkwardly bend the wrist. 2 does this too, but i felt the point curved in too much, making stabbing harder. But iunno.

[momosweetpeach]

MORE ANASTASIA AU PLS OH I BEG PRETTY PLEECE W/ SPRINKLES ON TOP

I was drawing some more stuff just yesterday lolol. It's a matter of wrangling my focus in long enough to do it, and I also need to give the film itself a rewatch. But we shall sseeeee

[gothycollie]

Trick and treat pleec c:

You get Apogee & Perigee on vinyl!

[fresh2definitely]

can anyone recommend horror movies with good soundtracks preferably ambient 😎 also preferably also good to decent (NOT DANIEL ISN'T REAL) pleece and thank yew

[witchblade]

if you go to the pleece with this ill deny every word

[rars]

*leans on my side with a gay little poss* open for lotsa art requests from that meme 😏

[salamanderinspace]

Books I've read so far this year. A couple DNFs on here but mostly I've been finishing them. Still working on HoL.

All fours by Miranda july I'm telling the truth but I'm lying - Bassey ikpi The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (Montague Siblings #1) - Mackenzi Lee Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon Consent by Jill cement Two or Three Things I Know for Sure - Dorothy Allison bunny - mona awad Little & Lion - Brandy Colbert House of leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski Berserk deluxe edition Volume 14 The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall Berserk deluxe edition Volume 13 Big Swiss - jen beagin Berserk deluxe edition Volume 12 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 11 Slaughterhouse five - Kurt Vonnegut Berserk deluxe edition Volume 10 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 9 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 8 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 7 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 6 The Sluts - Dennis Cooper I used to like you until… - Kat Timpf Dead in Long Beach California - Venita Blackburn Berserk deluxe edition Volume 5 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 4 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 3 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 2 Berserk deluxe edition Volume 1 Scorpio - Liberty Phi - OH editions Pulp by Robin Talley Yotsuba& #1 - kiyohiko azuma Aquicorn Cove by Kay O'Neill A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine Isola #1 - Isola, Vol. 1 - Brenden Fletcher Infidel - Pornsak Pichetshote Goldie Vance #1 (Goldie Vance #1) - Hope Larson Incognegro #1 - Mat Johnson, Warren Pleece My Alcoholic Escape from Reality - Kabi Nagata My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness - Kabi Nagata Giant Days, Vol. 6 - John Allison Bone #0 - Rose - Jeff Smith Giant Days, Vol. 5 - John Allison Giant Days, Vol. 4 - John Allison Giant Days, Vol. 3 - John Allison Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask by R.L. Stine Guantanamo Voices - Sarah Mirk Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy - Gerald Corey Trick Mirror - Jia Tolentino The Bloodless Princes - Charlotte Bond Mister Miracle - Tom King Karmen by Guillem March Zodiac by Ai Weiwei Astro City, Vol. 1: Life in the Big City - Kurt Busiek Catwoman: Far from Gotham - Joelle Jones Giant Days, Vol. 2 - John Allison Giant Days, Vol. 1 - John Allison The Chancellor and the Citadel by Maria Capelle Frantz Fat by Regina Hofer Catwoman, Vol. 1: Copycats - Joelle Jones Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Dog Songs - Mary Oliver Lost Souls - Poppy Z. Brite Fire Water World - Adrian C. Louis The bear and the nightingale by Katherine Arden