The Swipe Volume 1 Chapter 32
Lincolnshire was a revelation to us, a sign that this country is still full of beautiful surprises. The return to work was harsh, accompanied by strange weather, autumnal vibes mixed with summer sunshine. But the nights are definitely starting to draw in. I’m getting up in the dark again, which never ceases to be a struggle. The last of the tomatoes are harvested, stubbornly refusing to ripen. Green chutney it is, then. We’ll spend the weekend getting our little greenhouse prepped for autumn seed planting while tidying and cutting back ready for the cold times to come. Nearly spooky season.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
Surface Detail, an Iain M. Banks Culture novel which seems to have slipped through the cracks. I thought I’d read them all, but this one is deeply unfamiliar. A treatise on the far reaches of belief and faith, it’s typically baroque, violent and twisty. The pacing is not as frantic as in some of Iain’s earlier work, but I’m happy to swim about in the wild depths of his imagination.
Rob is watching…
A brilliant documentary on Colin Hay, leader of Men At Work. There is far more to the guy than Down Under. Hopefully this film will start to redress the balance.
Rob is listening…
To Handle With Care by The Travelling Wilburys. Not intentionally. It just seems to crop up on every playlist TLC and I run through Spotify. We really need to expand our horizons.
Rob is eating…
Lincolnshire sausages and cheese, of course.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
How Handle With Care by The Travelling Wilburys crops up on so many Spotify playlists. Honestly, how can a chugging flat-footed boogie by an 80s supergroup who are mostly dead be so popular?
A pleasant reminder this week of a great chunk of genre madness which turned up with little fuss in 2001 and sadly seems difficult to find nowadays. The Brotherhood Of The Wolf is kinda steampunk, kinda action, kinda horror. Everyone involved leans seriously into the inherent ridiculousness of the concept, playing it completely straight—the only way to roll when the story involves werewolves and a conspiracy with the Vatican at its heart. Do try and check it out!
Investigating The Brotherhood Of The Wolf
A clear-eyed and brutal examination of the economics of working as a comic-book creator. Let’s be frank—it’s not an easy gig, and you’d have to be very lucky and very popular to earn rock-star money from it. For the majority, it’s a life which boils down to long hours, very hard work and a thin pay packet. I’m full of admiration for everyone choosing The Ninth Art as their vocation. They really are in it for the love of the game.
Did you know up to a certain point in the 1950s, it was common practice to stroll into a movie theatre whenever you liked, start watching a film in the middle and leave once it had rolled around to the point where you came in? One film-maker and one film put a stop to all that. Care to guess who?
Jimmy Buffett died recently. He was commonly thought of as a sweet drunken goofball, celebrating a blissed-out semi-retirement as a beach bum with a taste for sticky beach drinks. There was, of course, a lot more to him. Jimmy was a talented and admired singer-songwriter who understood that good living meant doing good. Michael Marshall Smith tells us more.
On the subject of admired songwriting drunks, Niko Stratis examines the life and wild times of Warren Zevon. His songs were dispatches from the dark end of the street, dealing with monsters both literal and metaphorical. Warren himself was a creature of the night and carried his demons in plain sight. He was Mr. Bad Example, and Niko shows us how you can admire the man’s art without following in his footsteps.
Heaven Helps The One Who Leaves
I could not be happier to see Star Trek: The Animated Series get the love it so properly deserves. Scripted by Original Series writers like Dorothy Fontana, voiced by the live-action cast, the show used animation as a way to really push the budget in terms of special effects and sheer bonkers spectacle. The legacy is being celebrated in a set of new short films. Full disclosure—TAS was my first exposure to the Star Trek Universe, and probably explains my life as a Trekkie.
The Mice is a remarkable, long-running comic series in which Earth has been invaded and turned into a factory. The humans left alive are just annoyances, mice in the workings. It’s a simple idea which has grown and matured into a story of real depth and impact. John Freeman at DownTheTubes talks to creator Roger Mason about the long history of the book.
You can read the first two chapters for free right now. Go get some.
Chuck Palahniuk looks at the hidden stories behind tales we think we know. This item hits hard for me, full of truth, insight and wisdom. And yes, I had no idea about World War Z either.
Lots of comics links in this week’s chapter. No, I will not apologise. You lot have had it easy for a while. In the aftermath of the inevitable but still shocking death of a fan-favourite in 2000AD last week, let’s talk about another character in the Dreddiverse who deserves as much love and admiration as she can handle. Any strip featuring Judge Cassandra Anderson is a go-to for me. I’d love to see a team-up between her and another supporting character who should be treated with respect—Strontium Dog’s Durham Red. Now that’s a strip any red-blooded comic fan would enjoy.
Last up, an interview with American cartoonist Ros Chast. Her dry humour and skewed perspective give her work real charm. Folks like Jason Chatfield and the team behind The American Bystander are schooling me in a world of comics I never knew existed. I’m happy to take my medicine when it’s this much fun.
We Outro with certified old-school banger, arguably the best British hip-hop track ever, remastered to celebrate the anniversary of Roots Manuva’s entry into the game. The video is a lot of fun and takes a turn I didn’t see coming. All together now…
See you in seven, true believers.
