Journey Into Mystery 640: MANCHESTER GODS - "Steel, Steam & Holy Concrete"

[jlroberson]

So far Kieron Gillen's MANCHESTER GODS is not disappointing. Meet the very interesting Master Wilson, whose every word articulates exactly what my problem with fantasy has been for years, including, as good as it was, SANDMAN. In many ways, what Gillen describes here is exactly its mindset. Here we have a god that doesn't care about tradition and believes in improvement. I like.





Hopefully this balances out in some way my BIG DAVE post. First Manchester's Hardest Man, now Manchester's Shiniest Revolutionary.
Brits: Is Manchester really as interesting as it's made out to be?


PS if interested: LULU book 1 is now complete and you can read chapters 2-3 online free here.)

Comments

[tsunamiwombat]

The Fundamental flaw I see in his reasoning is that urbanization in and of itself lead to a great deal of suffering, leading to a cultural rebellion against urban society we can view in such great writers as Dickens and Tolkien. Notice everything is giving off huge amounts of smog and pollution.

This is one of those "neither side is right" stories.

[jlroberson]

Or more like "both sides have some points, but neither is entirely right."

[md84]

And that smog and pollution, if left unchecked, ultimately leads to urbanization's own downfall. Giving nature the opportunity to reclaim its territory. At least until another city is built.

[biod]

It's like this guy spontaniously came into being for the sole purpose of giving Midieval Stasis the finger...
I love it.

[nyadnar17]

I completely agree. This new guy could be a complete tool, but as of these few pages I am on board 110%

[flidgetjerome]

Is Manchester really as interesting as it's made out to be?

Disclaimer, I'm a Londoner and it's a truism that everything past the Green Belt is like "Here be Dragons" to me - but the thing that strikes me about this is Manchester isn't our only city with a big manufacturing history like this. If Gillen is going to go down this path all it makes me do is immediately start wondering what the gods of Birmingham look like and how much offence they'd like to take to the idea that Manchester was the first modern city.

[causticlad]

Birmingham rose very shortly after, but Manchester is generally acknowledged as the first industrial city.

TBH, though, I'd have gone for Birmingham as more emblematic of Master Wilson's thesis. It did rise *quite* closely behind Manchester and it has other points in its favour. In particular, many of the most emblematic inventions of the Revolution were from Birmingham -- much more so than Manchester -- and furthermore the near-revolution that set Britain on the path to proper democracy stemmed from the Birmingham Political Union and the Days of May.

[morwen]

The Manchester God already created a Birmingham God, and apparently also Newcastle and Liverpool Gods. As a Midlander, I don't think that's unreasonable. It doesn't have to be true, it's symbolic, innit.

[captainbellman]

Another thing: without Manchester, we wouldn't have "The Guardian", which while having many faults is Britain's top-tier newspaper.

I mean, it employs Nancy Banks-Smith, Gary Younge and Steve Bell, to name but a few. This must surely make up for employing Charlie Brooker.

[hyperactivator]

Welcome to Ank-Morpork!

[whitesycamore]

Brits: Is Manchester really as interesting as it's made out to be?

The only thing I really remember of Manchester is dancing around to The Supremes while rolling on MDMA.

And I saw a lot of shaved-head, tattooed-neck types, but I also remember those types whooping with Mancunian pride and rushing out to the dance floor when "This Charming Man" came on.

So no, I didn't really experience the grit of the industrial north. The night-life is quite good though, if you don't mind waiting in line for hours.

[greenmask]

Where did you go to find lines? Perhaps I just had good guides.

[greenmask]

Ooooooohh

Now this is up my grotty cobbled alley.

Manchester is probably my favourite city, I guess, if I have to have one. It's big but it doesn't feel TOO big, and it has trams. It's the only place I've gone to non-pre-teen gigs so there's that fondness, and the only place I've ever walked alone at night without getting yelled at. Which is pretty amazing, now I think of it.

[whitesycamore]

As a midlander, I have to say that I've noticed street harassment gets worse the further south you go.

Stereotypes of civility in the home counties be damned!

[greenmask]

That said, I'm not shocked that Gillen has a thing for Manchester, being writer of Phonogram.

[endis_ni]

Hang on, who's saying that Britain is fundamentally rural? Certainly for England, only 1 out of 9 people still lives in the countryside.

[causticlad]

J.R.R. Tolkien, for one. William Morris (and really, the entire Arts & Crafts movement) for another. Until quite recently the major artistic response to Britain's urbanization was that it was a tremendous mistake. "Dark Satanic Mills" and all that.

[morwen]

Well, LOCOG, apparently.

[morwen]

If you want to know who Master Wilson is, here's his Wikipedia article. A great man, sorely missed.

[causticlad]

Ah! Clever! I had guessed that Gillen was going for "Will's son" i.e., William Shakespeare -- given that Shakespeare often gets credit as being the first modern Englishman.

[pyynk]

Hah! And that's why Kieron Gillen is awesome.

[arilou_skiff]

I'd argue about Manchester being the birthplace of urbanism (even modern dito).

[morwen]

The beauty is, it doesn't matter.

Tony Wilson himself said, misquoting John Ford, on 24 Hour Party People:

"If it's a choice between the truth and the legend, print the legend."

[crinos]

Got to say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the concept of an Urban druid. It kind of reminds me of the Glasswalkers from Werewolf the Apocalypse, whereas most of the Garou were against urbanization, the Glass Walkers just saw it as an evolution of nature and a brand new ecosystem to play with.

[dorksidefiker]

Clearly, I've been spending too long on Tumblr because I just spent a few moments looking for a "like" button.

[leoboiko]

I wanted to include the part about don’t having much time, but couldn't down-scale the text very well.

[shadowpsykie]

hello there skull cock :D

[icon_uk]

This is the sort of thing Diana Wynne-Jones would ave written about. In "Archer's Goon", she introduces the concept of modern elementals, a group of beings who all "farm" various aspects of modern life; one "farms" finance , another law and order, another crime, another drains, and so on...