Yeah, there’s a psychology dissertation to be had in reading the full run of Cerebus, from its whimsical Conan/comic book parody beginning to full-on misogynistic-rambling-in-tiny-cramped-handwriting conclusion.
I wanted to add a favorite story from Sir Peter Hall’s autobiography about the play Amadeus:
Having read Emily Anderson’s translations of Mozart’s letters, I can indeed report that his correspondence with his cousin can be entertainingly foul at times.
Who is PAD?
Peter David. He’s a comic book writer notable for an excellent run on The Incredible Hulk in the 90s.
[April 1 hijack]
Other products The Who have shilled for:
Heinz Baked Beans
Odorono (deodorant)
Charles Atlas
Medac (acne cream)
Jaguar
Premier Drums
Rotosound Strings
Coca Cola
John Mason’s Cars
All on the same album!
[/hijack]
I had a Jewish friend who had a quote by Kipling on his desk. When I mentioned to him that Kipling was a vile anti-Semite, he was shocked and looked it up himself. Down came the quote…
Thanks, Skald.
As well as short, with an overwhelming bias against anyone over 5’8". I went to school at a campus designed by him and I banged my head on low ceilings and corners more than once. Little bastard.
Harlan Ellison. Arguably one of America’s best writers of short fiction, but a Class A jerk with a soul full of petty maliciousness. He held a grudge against Gene Roddenberry for decades because Roddenberry supposedly debauched Ellison’s sacred script for The City on the Edge of Forever, and the script wasn’t all that great. He’s famous for missing deadlines. The Last Dangerous Visions became one of the biggest jokes of the publishing world, a kind of literary Flying Dutchman. Still, he refuses to admit it’ll never get published and all the writers who contributed to that ill-fated project basically got screwed. He has been known to seek vengeance for even the smallest of grudges, he lied about the Nixon administration suppressing one of his books, and yet he has the gall to pass severe moral judgment on and savagely attack virtually anyone who catches his attention or crosses his path.
I still like his fiction, though.
Miles Davis makes Ellison look like a sensitive New Age guy, but I still like his music.
PAD, the ‘DIAF’ thing is only the most recent. What really turned me off him as a person was reading about his feud with John Byrne, where he was acting like as much of a jackass as Byrne, bringing other people into it, bringing it up in inappropriate contexts, etc - and given my opinion of Byrne, that’s saying something.
Willingham insulted fans over their reaction to Stephanie Brown’s death - and I’m not talking about the ‘Every writer and editor involved must die’ idiots, but just the people who came to really like Steph and were saddened by her death. He can also be rather condescending about his politics - to his credit, he doesn’t drag it into his books as much as some writers (Winick, Millar, Miller), but when he does, it positively drips with ‘those liberals are idiots’.
Ross is the worst kind of fan - ‘the characters I like are the only ones who should exist, and only the exact take on them I grew up with’ - and being a pro, has a much easier time being heard by a LOT of people. He’s also jammed his foot so far in his mouth when dealing with some other creators, it’s a wonder he can talk - the most recent one I can think of is talking about Geoff Johns ‘saving’ Obsidian from Marc Andreyko by bringing him into JSA - a comment that Johns was quick to distance himself from. While he wasn’t specific on what he was saving Obsidian from, the only way that Andreyko’s version differed significantly from other recent takes was being revealed as gay…well, there’s a good reason Johns didn’t want anyone to think he thought he was saving Obsidian.
This just in: Harlan Ellison Sues Paramount – Alleges Unpaid Merchandising Royalties – TrekMovie.com
Jeez. No wonder the little twerp had a heart attack. Talk about your Type A personality …
I’m actually sort of the opposite on Ross - I think his work is really lame, but the guy himself cracks me up. I can’t read his fanboy rants without picturing them coming out of Rusty Brown.
In addition to the above, I remember some comments he made around the time of Green Lantern: Rebirth indicating that he and those nutbar Hal Jordan fans (H.E.A.T., right?) had won some sort of victory with the miniseries. Johns was quick to distance himself from that nonsense, too.
And at one point Ross said that anybody who didn’t draw Spider-Man like John Romita did is an asshole. I’m not kidding. He retracted his statement a few days later.
Actors at least aren’t all forced into the genius=shitheel stereotype. Musicians, painters, etc., get excused anything because that’s “what it takes” and “the price of art.” This of course devalues the talent of the truly decent humans among them.
Yep, the nutty Jordanites are HEAT. (Hal’s Emerald Advancement Team - what a pompous forced acronym.)
And I suspect Geoff is developing a kneejerk ‘Alex’s opinions are his own, please don’t assume I agree with him’ reaction every time Ross says his name. >_>
‘Hi, Geoff!’ ‘Alex’s opinions are his own…’ ‘Whut?’ ‘… Nothing. Hi, Alex.’
Obsidian’s homosexuality was canon (or at least heavily suggested) before Marc brought him into the ‘Manhunter’ supporting cast – the big difference was that the shadowy angst-pot actually got to have a healthy, mostly happy relationship with another guy on-panel. Fun stuff. But I agree that this was probably what Ross was referring to; he’s gone on before about making characters like Obsidian gay to appease the PC masses or something like that. Not that the comment makes any real sense anyway – JSA and Manhunter ran concurrently and Obsidian was in both.