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U.S.Agent: American Zealot
May. 28th, 2021 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superboyprime
"Gangsta rap, launched most notably with Cypress Hill and N.W.A., exploited the artistic acceptance of militant themes and imagery that made Chuck D.’s political protest acceptable to argue for the artistic merit of sophomoric, homophobic and misogynistic content directed not toward an oppressor class but toward each other. [...] Calling anybody, even [BET founder Robert Johnson], Hitler would be unfair. Hitler, after all, didn’t teach Germans to hate themselves. Mr. Johnson is certainly no Hitler, though he might have been the guy passing out the Nazi arm bands. Black America has been wearing its own version of Nazi arm bands—Ebonics, the idiotic sagging pants, a distinct cultural lexicon regardless of what region of the nation you visit—for more than a generation, now." - Christopher Priest
From U.S.Agent: American Zealout #1-5...
( Read more... )
John Walker: U.S. Agent #5
Apr. 28th, 2021 10:00 amcyberghostface
"John Walker is not a super hero. No matter how hard he wants to be a super hero, he’s really not. And that’s the whole point of John Walker. The whole point of a guy like John Walker is to point out just how much strength of character and nobility and self-sacrifice it takes to actually be called a hero in the Marvel Universe." -- Christopher Priest
( Scans under the cut... )
John Walker: U.S. Agent #4
Mar. 31st, 2021 09:30 amcyberghostface
"The challenge to writing a character like Captain America, or, for that matter, Superman, is building tension and conflict within an ostensibly perfect individual. Most human beings, even the best among us, are simply not built that way. Even the best of us try and fail. But there is nobility in our trying, so our best leaders will always inspire us to try, regardless of the circumstances.
"The kind of hope Cap or Supes offers us is palatable but more easily consumed by younger people who have experienced less of the disappointment and rejection most of us encounter as we grow up. John Walker offers hope to the real world of our adult struggle." -- Christopher Priest
( Scans under the cut... )
John Walker: U.S. Agent #3
Feb. 24th, 2021 02:45 pmcyberghostface
"Once upon a time we'd have elections. Somebody would win, the rest of us would take a seat for four years, and that was that. Roads still got built, schools still got funded, government functioned. It is a darkly sinister time now where conflicting views of patriotism are defended by offensive language and the threat of violence.
We are all American zealots. There are many competing visions of America, with each constituency working overtime to impose its vision on the whole. But, instead of our ideas competing in the forum of American opinion, we are openly hostile to one another. This misses the point of the value proposition of America: a quilt of voices, faces, cultures, values, and ideas.
Our American Zealot storyline is pretty obvious: there are three main characters representing three distinctly different Americas, with each character fighting to impose their view on the whole. The challenge to a writer is to present these views fairly and, ideally, without bias if that's possible. The idea is to promote discussion and learn how to agree to disagree." -- Christopher Priest
( Scans under the cut... )
John Walker: U.S. Agent #2
Feb. 1st, 2021 02:30 pmcyberghostface
"John Walker is not Archie Bunker, but he ain’t Steve Rogers, either. Much like myself, John Walker fails the Steve Rogers test, but it ain’t for any lack of trying. He is Everyman, hefting Captain America’s shield while demonstrably lacking Cap’s strength of character. He means well, but at the end of the day he’s just Rocky Balboa working the suit." -- Christopher Priest
Warning for suicide
( Scans under the cut... )
John Walker: U.S. Agent #2
Dec. 23rd, 2020 10:45 amcyberghostface
“I wonder what the difference is between, say, John Walker and Dave Chappelle.
People pay a lot of money to go sit in a theater and watch Dave smoke, which no characters can do in comics anymore because somebody somewhere actually thinks comic books are read exclusively by children. There's a lot of decisions being made for the industry by people who are not in the industry but who have influence on or control over the industry.
It's a lot like my Aunt Ruby lecturing me on how to replace the ABS module on my car.
Dave Chappelle is going to be Dave Chappelle. He is going to offend somebody. But, ironically, the people in his audience seem to accept that; that's the social contract when you go to see Dave. If you're thin-skinned, if you take a comedian seriously, you really should find other entertainment for the evening.” — Christopher Priest
Warning for suicide
( Scans under the cut... )
John Walker: U.S. Agent #1
Nov. 4th, 2020 06:00 pmcyberghostface
“The basic key to John Walker is the fact he is not Steve Rogers. U.S. Agent dresses like Captain America but is, in fact, not Captain America. The whole point of the character is to help better define who Captain America is, or more pointedly, who or what Cap is not.
Walker is impatient, fast-tempered, judgmental, cynical; a deeply flawed mirror of the impeccable warrior Cap represents. Within those flaws lies his humanity, a kind of Bruce Willis willingness to inject himself into perilous situations simply because it is the right thing to do.
John Walker is a guy who tries hard. He's Joe Lunchbucket, All-American. He's worth rooting for.” - Christopher Priest
( Scans under the cut... )
BATMAN #431: "The Wall."
Sep. 19th, 2020 01:07 amstarwolf_oakleyFor Batman Day, here is 1989's Batman #431, "The Wall." Written by Chrisopher Priest. Art by Jim Aparo.
Mostly a "standard" Batman mystery, with an interesting tie into Bruce's origin story. It is also the first appearance of Master Kirigi.
Batman is in a bad place in this issue.
( 'I didn't question your motives.' 'Perhaps you should have.' )
Mostly a "standard" Batman mystery, with an interesting tie into Bruce's origin story. It is also the first appearance of Master Kirigi.
Batman is in a bad place in this issue.
( 'I didn't question your motives.' 'Perhaps you should have.' )
laughing_tree
I consider most any human relationship I’m in as terminal or at least ephemeral. This foolishness about “I will always love you;” relationships end. They either end at death – which is the best we can hope for – or, most often, they end over some stupid argument. But they end. It is only our varying measure of hubris that convinces us these connections will endure forever or, even if they do, that we won’t abuse them.
Love is an amazing gift but most of us take love for granted (hey– call your mom!) because love rarely presents itself in the way, shape, form or even the person we imagine it will. Fewer and fewer of us are willing to take the plunge. Oh, sure, we all make friends but that’s a relative concept because most of my new friends cannot penetrate as deeply as the friends I grew up with. And I’ve been deeply hurt and astonishingly betrayed by friends I’ve known my entire life.
So, now, imagine you’re an extraterrestrial whose normal biological function is characterized as “evil” or “satanic” by the paranoid, bigoted, primitive civilization you suddenly find yourself thrust into. Sure, Vampi could, I guess, lock herself in a closet for the rest of her life, but everybody needs somebody. But loving someone makes you vulnerable to them, and human relationships are far too often like the children’s game “Operation,” where you’re trying to remove the Funny Bone without setting off the buzzer. What’s a poor, single, blood-drinking alien girl to do?
-- Christopher J. Priest
( Read more... )
laughing_tree
Sampling a bunch of Vampi stories from varying runs, I realized there really is no overarching master continuity for the character the way, say, the Fantastic Four has. There are fits and starts and then new beginnings, including this one. As a result, Vampirella seemed to me to be rather disconnected from most life on earth, with only fleeting connections to friends and family. That kind of isolation can’t be healthy.
I remember reading a Rolling Stone interview with Springsteen way back during Born in The USA where Springsteen said something about how everyone needs human connection, something to the effect of, “Without community, we’d all go crazy and kill ourselves.”
I think the fleeting nature of Vampirella’s connections to community must make life very difficult for her. It would also make her extremely reluctant to trust, to even begin forming connections, because she knows sooner or later a new writer will come along and shake up the Etch A Sketch again.
-- Christopher J. Priest
( Read more... )
laughing_tree
The whole alternate Deathstroke business in the run-up to the finale was fun; a tried-and-perhaps-tired trope that nevertheless felt fresh to me at least. With Alt-Deathstroke, I was allowed to write Deathstroke the way the character should be written if we actually took him seriously -a ruthless, heartless, despicable killer. Now, I don’t know if that Deathstroke could sustain his own book, but it was my plan for our Slade to lose his life (again) in their climactic battle, and for Alt to become the official Deathstroke of the DCU. But, nnoooo, the House of Nice... -- Christopher J. Priest
( Read more... )
laughing_tree
We had to constantly prove to other editors that Deathstroke was an actual threat, that he wasn’t just a bowling pin for their guy to knock down. So, for example, when the Superman people were having a fit about Deathstroke beating him, we - by which, of course, I mean Alex [Antone, editor] - had to educate them on who Deathstroke is. He’s not a stooge who brains you with a baseball bat.
And, speaking of bats, don’t get me started on the whole “Deathstroke can’t know Batman’s secret identity in spite of the fact he has traditionally always known Batman’s secret identify” thumb wrestle. Sheesh.
If Deathstroke is, more or less, a twisted dark mirror image of Batman to whatever extent, that would and should make him one of the most dangerous people in the DCU. I (by which of course I mean Alex) really shouldn’t have had to constantly explain that to other editors. It’s the core principle of the character: 'Cap Will Find A Way.' 'Deathstroke Can Kill Anybody In The G*d*mned DCU.'
-- Christopher J. Priest
( Read more... )
laughing_tree
I was, and am now, wholly unconcerned about his likeability. Supervillains are asses. Fans need to be reminded of that fact. I don’t think they deserve to be liked. More important, I am using Marv [Wolfman] and George [Perez] as my reference: this is who the man is.
DC is run by extremely nice people. That’s not blowing smoke — seriously, it’s like they all went through some kind of training in How To Be Polite And Get Along. What I remember from Old School Marvel was intense fiefdoms and cliques, and you had to remember whose territory you were intruding on and how to play by those rules.
DC feels more like Gene Roddenberry’s utopian view of the future, where kindness, forethought, and patience are the rules of the day. How does Deathstroke function in that kind of environment? I mean, I had Slade kill Power Girl’s dog in issue #17, and that was a major push. So far as I am concerned Slade, not Bruce, is Damian Wayne’s father. I mean, I get why DC made the call they did, and Damian is not *my* multi-million-dollar I.P. to gamble with, but I lobbied hard for another, in my opinion, more daring choice that would have shaken things up, enraged fans, and launched dozens of exciting stories.
-- Christopher J. Priest
( Read more... )
laughing_tree
Maybe if “Deathstroke” was published under their Black Label there’d be more flex in terms of what the character could be. This was my real motive for AltStroke. Since we were about to take our bow, I thought I’d like to write the character the way he should, in my view, actually be portrayed: as a totally ruthless, unlikeable bitch. And Damian IS his son (Laughs). Now, could AltStroke sustain his own monthly title? I actually think yes in the short term, not in the longer term because eventually he’d either kill everybody or kill himself or we’d fall into the cliché of constantly contriving reasons he wouldn’t. -- Christopher J. Priet
( Read more... )
laughing_tree
Vampi looks and behaves a certain way, so the world jumps to conclusions about her motives and goals. Those conclusions are all but universally incorrect, but that’s where drama and conflict live. So she becomes a metaphor for what we see now, outside our window.
When I moved into my house, one of my neighbors saw me wearing a durag (a nylon wave cap designed to smooth African American hair) and thought I was a gang banger. So the word went out, up and down the block, that a gang member had moved in. And not long after, a neighbor lady was standing on my lawn, shouting at my house, “Why don’t you just MOVE!” It was beyond stupid, but this is the world we live in. Now, just imagine if I had fangs and wore a thong. That’s the book I’m writing.
-- Christopher J. Priest
( Read more... )
Marvel Comics #1000
Sep. 25th, 2019 12:26 amlaughing_tree
There's so many threads in this mystery, so many different parts of Marvel you'll find secret connections. There's a lot of synchronicities and echoes in this, and threads between all of that, the big board. And I think what's going to happen is that readers, they won't have to go back and check the entire history of Marvel, but they're going to want to. -- Al Ewing
( Read more... )
Tags:
- creator: al ewing,
- creator: alan davis,
- creator: brian stelfreeze,
- creator: cafu,
- creator: cameron stewart,
- creator: carlos pacheco,
- creator: chris weston,
- creator: christian ward,
- creator: christopher priest/james owsley,
- creator: daniel acuna,
- creator: dustin weaver,
- creator: ed mcguinness,
- creator: eduardo risso,
- creator: gabriel hardman,
- creator: j. michael straczynski,
- creator: jesus saiz,
- creator: joe bennett,
- creator: jonathan hickman,
- creator: kieron gillen,
- creator: klaus janson,
- creator: kurt busiek,
- creator: leonard kirk,
- creator: mark buckingham,
- creator: mike deodato,
- creator: neil gaiman,
- creator: patrick zircher,
- creator: paul azaceta,
- creator: phil noto,
- creator: ron garney,
- creator: steve epting,
- publisher: marvel comics
laughing_tree
I’ve blatantly patterned Jericho after Jack Kirby’s Fourth World demigod Lightray, including the white suit and flight capability. Jericho is an angel of light, perhaps the one pure thing Deathstroke ever did. But the darkness is there inside him and he knows it. He’s like an alcoholic who lives with a disease that could plunge him into darkness if he ever lets his guard down. -- Christopher J. Priest
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laughing_tree
My main frustration with Deathstroke has been reader reluctance to engage the series because so many of them assume the book is about slashing and killing. Now, to be fair, until uh, last month, I assumed the HBO series Six Feet Under was about zombies and didn’t watch it. Deathstroke is no more about hacking and slashing than Six Feet Under is about zombies. Both series are about dysfunctional families and the lengths to which they go in order to support and love one another.
DC Comics could not maintain nor would I wish to write a book singularly focused on a two-dimensional mustache-twirling baddie who tries and fails to kill the Super Friends every month, yet I’ve met a lot of fans who have arrived late in the game expressing surprise that our series has so much substance to it.
-- Christopher J. Priest
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