I'm supposed to come up with intelligent discourse for the blog while Joe is away, but I'm not in the mood. Instead, I will leave you with Joe's most recent offerings and this really, really Not Safe For Work link to a site of funny comic book reviews.
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When I saw "Samantha Brown! You Have To Get Out Of Here. YOUR VAGINA IS HAUNTED!” I almost peed myself laughing.
The thing is, the "haunted vagina" line may have been intended as funny.
I've seen previous issues of Tarot, and my first glance at the titular (heh heh) heroine brought one name to mind: Russ Meyer.
Back in college, my friends all loved Russ Meyer movies more than I did. I've seen only three -- "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!", "The Seven Minutes," and "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." I've caught bits and pieces of others.
Meyer's movies CAN be pretty funny, and I admire the way he creates his own alternative fun-house universe. But the joke wears thin. I guffawed at "Pussycat" for about 30 minutes. But after that, I came to the realization that I was, for the first time, bored out of my brains while looking at large-breasted women frolicking about on screen.
"Tarot" struck me as entertainment in the same vein. If you understand that the author INTENDS to write arch, over-the-top dialog, then that "haunted vagina" line really is the kind of thing that Meyer (or screenwriter Roger Ebert!) might have concocted.
Neither Meyer's films nor the Tarot comics ever struck me as erotic. "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" is about as sexy as a bucket of used engine oil. Although the comic's artist is quite good -- I forget his name -- he favors a gaudy, over-lit look. I prefer mystery and atomosphere.
Two questions:
1. Can comics be sexy? Alan Moore and his ladyfriend Melinda Grebbie did a series called "Lost Girls" which he, with refreshing candor, describes as pornography. At the same time, it's supposed to "thinking persons'" porn. The story concerns the dalliances of Alice (of Wonderland) Dorothy (of Oz) and Wendy (of Neverland) -- and some, uh, animals. It's all very arty.
Being a Moore fan, I really wanted to like it. But the thing's a yawner.
Look, no-one fantasizes about Dorothy. (We're talking about a Dorothy sufficiently grown up to get past all worries about pedophilia.) She's an ordinary farm girl.
It's like fantasizing about a Big Mac. Why fantasize? Why not just head into a McDonalds and buy one?
We fantasize about the unobtainable, becasue we think that through it, we may attain transcendence.
Now, "The Road to Oz" contains an exquisite line drawing of Polychrome (a beauteous rainbow demi-deity) kissing the even more beauteous Princess Ozma. THAT's transcendence. This image had an effect on me when I first saw it, even though, at the time, I was maybe seen years old. It struck me as sexy before I even knew what sex was.
That illustration suggests a direction that Moore perhaps should have explored.
So what's my idea of a sexy comic book character? Vampirella.
But ONLY as drawn by Jose Gonzales. He turned her into such a complex, fascinating character! The expressions on her face conveyed more than the wretched dialogue ballons ever did. She was elegant, mysterious, conflicted and sophisticated. That was the key to her appeal.
The later version of the character (as seen in the 1990s revival) was garbage.
2. "Tarot" has quite a few female, and even feminist fans. I'm not sure why. Twenty years ago, the mere sight of all that boobage would have triggered the Standard Feminist Rant.
("Don't you know how many young girls suffer from body image issues?" Oh, stuff it. I never looked like Fabio, even back in the day, but you never heard me whine about it. And no, that's NOT a different situation.)
I think Tarot buys forgiveness from feminists by including a lot of pseudo-wiccan imagery and dialogue. Apparently, as long as you include a few buzzwords -- the Goddess, Blessed Be, Merry Meet and all the rest of that withcy-poo crap -- you can pretend that your porn ain't porn.
"The Road to Oz" contains an exquisite line drawing of Polychrome (a beauteous rainbow demi-deity) kissing the even more beauteous Princess Ozma. THAT's transcendence.
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Wow, Joseph...that takes me back! "Back in the day" I took my copy of that book and had that image copied onto transfer paper and ironed it onto a tank top. I wore that shirt for ages until the image was about worn off. I probably still have the shirt somewhere.
Zee, we both mis-recalled that image. Ozma kisses Dorothy. A page later, she takes Polly by the hand.
Well, actually, Joseph, I didn't want to clarify that the image I copied was from the back of the book, was in full color, and yes, was with Dorothy. I couldn't remember if the version on the back of the book varied from the one inside, and the book is packed away at the moment so I couldn't go check! The one I copied was their heads only, and there was a kind of "sun burst" design surrounding them.
Is that the same one as the one inside the book? Whichever... it was a lovely blast from the past to remember!
Did you see "Return to Oz?" I loved Fairuza Balk as Dorothy, and I thought they did a fabulous job with both the blending of two books into one, and the execution of the atmosphere and magical characters. But, of course, they had to blend books two and three...there is no way they'd have followed #2 with Tip as the main character....only to have him discover he's really a princess!
Zee, "The Land of Oz" has the scariest ending of all time. I hated it when I was young.
Now, I think the parody of feminism -- the bit about General Jinjur -- is hilarious. And I think a modern adaptation would work well.
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