Brandon Graham's Blog, page 218
July 24, 2015
July 23, 2015
My pal Emily Carroll drew this fantastic picture of Moontoone...
My pal Emily Carroll drew this fantastic picture of Moontoone and Sunshine from my Warheads comic.
Emily isssssssss the best.
July 22, 2015
How Not To Discuss Porn comics
The end result is a piece writing about a porn comic complaining about the ways in which it doesn’t ascribe to a feminist ethic because the sex is too uncomfortable, the body is objectified too much, and that the visual jokes involving 9/11 are in poor taste.
I think this illustrates while these modes of criticism should be in the toolkit, they aren’t always the best ways to examine all works of art.
Telling us that a porn comic is in poor taste, or has suspect sexual politics is not a particularly illuminating perspective, and in fact, it leads to a misunderstanding about how porn functions. By trying to attach porn to a rubric of what is fair or proper, you basically end up in a space of saying that porn is wrong–or that the fucked up things that turn us on, are wrong–which is a dishonest conversation.
Porn exists primarily to get people off. And while it’s valid to say “hey there’s a lot of people who are into this kind of fantasy, and there aren’t porn that represent that”–I don’t think you can roll into someone else’s fantasy and judge it good or bad. Obviously we have some exceptions as a society, particularly when it comes to viewing porn depicting children for instance–but it is not as if that prohibition has stopped pedophilia, or child porn. This is all a digression. But the point is just that porn doesn’t exist to be moral or right, unless morality or right get you off.
If we want to talk about porn or erotic comics, rather than attempt to reconcile the inherent problems that arise from the depiction of sexual fantasy–a more useful approach particularly if we’re trying to reconcile artist’s porn and non-porn work, is to discuss the work by its aesthetics, and techniques. That leads to a better understanding of the work, because fundamentally what you’re asking, when you’re looking at Brandon Graham’s porn work is how do we get from this to that(his non-porn work). And the answer to that question, as illustrated in the HU piece, is not in the shared morality of the works–because there isn’t one. The endpoint of this analysis is confusion. But if you examine the techniques for storytelling, and the progression of form and line–you can more accurately place the work within the context of the totality of Graham’s entire work.
It is precisely this kind of analysis that forces artists to draw porn under pseudonyms. Because to draw porn you have to feel secure that you can explore these sometimes fucked up things that also turn us or others on.
One of the things I actually like about Multiple Warheads is that it has this complicated porn comic root–and I like that no matter how far out it gets, it will always have this porn comic past–which mirrors Graham’s own history as an artist. I don’t like the idea that one is more legit than the other–and I think an analysis that focuses on form allows for a more egalitarian and total view of artist progression. Basically any line of thinking that is going to end at shaming someone for the porn they’ve made is not one I share. I find that kind of viewpoint intensely hypocritical. And I’d love to see how perfect and moral the things that turn you on are.
Final note: Brandon’s the homie, has got me work blah blah–so conflict of interest. But I wanted to talk about this idea of porn vs. legit work, and the idea that as a critic you should be flexible in the tools you apply when talking about art.
I like Sarah’s review of a review– conversations are a good thing I think.
deedylovescake:
So I finally got a copy of hchomgoblin and...
So I finally got a copy of hchomgoblin and royalboiler‘s Arclight (thankyouloveyou beardedruckus) and now I am kind of obsessed with this red goose and her weird little fingers and arms and holy cow just…
Also damn Arclight is hecka beautiful, everyone go get it!!
heheh this is great
July 21, 2015
Brandon, really looking forward to Prophet Earthwar? Any indication for release date?
Yeah, I think we’ll have it in the next previews –and on shelves in about 4 months.
hchomgoblin:
This is my late addition to Inquisitors Week. I’ll...
This is my late addition to Inquisitors Week. I’ll compound several missed days into one post, so I don’t clog your dashboards.
I’ve already drawn this character in more or less the same outfit, with more or less the same haircuts, but you know I’ll seize any excuse to do it again.
Yo! Why didnt you make a spine design on island? Kinds fucks up my graham area in the shelf
We didn’t know how it would be bound until after I did the cover–maybe #3 will have something on the spine.
Isn't your recent assertion that there are no good Silver Surfer comics since Moebius a tad dismissive of Mike Allred, or are you just like "fuck that guy unless I'm interviewing/appearing on a panel with him because I'm the hypest shit ever *high five*"?
Sooo what I said in typing to my pal Stokoe. This was based on an old conversation we had when he was working on a SS fan comic. We would joke about how many times he’d been deceived by thinking a SS comic was gonna be great and then it wasn’t.
What I meant by “read one since” was not that I haven’t read a good Silver Surfer comic since the Moebius one but that I haven’t really read any. sooo that statement was maybe a tad dismissive of modern Silver surfer comics.
I wouldn’t dig too deep into it– I’m not exactly subtle if I don’t like someone’s work. I think Allred is a really cool guy & cartoonist– I feel like his work is steeped in nostalgia and plumbing the depths of his thoughts on the universe– I’m much more interested in the later. I wish him the best on it but I suspect (especially without him writing it) that it’s not my scene.
hchomage:
lizsketch:
Pre-Orders for the Rule of Three zine are...
Pre-Orders for the Rule of Three zine are NOW OPEN! You can purchase your copy here. Click the read more below for more zine specifications and pricing.
On another note, we already did Day 3 of inquisitorsweek with our Day 1 character sheets. So we’re releasing the cover and a teaser image of one of the interior spreads today! We hope you enjoy them.cover art: lizsketch, interior illustrations: carrieliarts + lizsketch, writing: merelymeer
Look at how awesome this is. I will be buying one.
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