From rfernand@chuma.cas.usf.edu Mon Jul  7 12:55:38 1997
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 12:35:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Fernandez 
To: rfernand@chuma.cas.usf.edu
Subject: getdoc.xp?recnum=1192915&server=db95q4&CONTEXT=868293745.11645&hitnum=8


   [1] [Previous] [2][Next] [3][Current Results] [4][Get Thread]
   [5][Author Profile] [6][Post] [7][Post] [8][Reply] [9][LINK] [LINK] 
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  Article 9 of 12

Subject:      [10]Attack! : Generation Ecch!
From:         [11]"No guru, no method, no teacher" 
Date:         1995/10/24
Message-Id:   <46hqq8$760@sulla.cyberstore.ca>
Newsgroups:   rec.arts.comics.info,rec.arts.comics.misc
[12][More Headers]


Attack of the Killer Comix Reviews!             no. 16

***********************************************************

Generation Ecch! : The Backlash Starts Here
by Jason Cohen and Michael Krugman
comix by Evan Dorkin

Admit it. You've flipped through this at Waldenbooks, wanting to buy it
for the Dorkin strips, but not wanting to blow eleven bucks on a book that
really sucks. Well, good news. It's doesn't suck.

In fact, it's pretty funny, and at times, insightful. At first glance, it
seems like it's merely another trashing of Generation X ("you lazy
bastards, get a job!"), and the authors do poke plenty of fun at it and
its tastes, but they take the time to examine what's going on and why it's
happening.

The book takes on lots of media targets: television, movies (find out why
John Hughes is the most influential Gen-X filmmaker), fiction (apparently
American Psycho (!) is the best Gen-X novel), the upsurge of interest in
marijuana, music, and politics. It doesn't spray everything with
machine-gun satire, but only tears into the deserving victims.

Most interesting to all of you would probably be the chapter on comics.
You'll probably wince at the suggestion that reading comic books is
indicative of the arrested adolescence of Generation X. But Spider-Man is
a genuine Gen-X super-hero. "Petey has grown up, but he's not really a
grown-up. He has all the trappings of responsibility, but at night he gets
dressed up and goes out swinging." And the Marvel mutants are metaphoric.
"The fact that their inability to fit in stems from flawed genetics makes
their plight distinctly [Gen-X]: It's all their parents fault!"

But it's not all spandex. Like alternative music, we like our alternative
comix. The authors mention the "pornographically surreal" Yummy Fur, the
"loopy" Why I Hate Saturn, the "fifties retro" Eightball, and the
"savagely frank" Dirty Plotte. Hate is praised as "a viciously funny
slacker satire". And Love and Rockets is called "one of the finest novels
of the late twentieth century"!

There a few errors that long-time super-hero fans will quibble with. The
Mutant Control Act was enacted in an alternate future, not during the
Reagan years. Peter Parker didn't start working for the Daily Bugle until
after he became Spider-Man, and he wasn't actually working in the
laboratory (as is implied), but merely watching an experiment when he was
bitten. Etcetera. But who cares?

Overall, the book is very funny, and hits the target more often than not.
Dorkin is as hilarious as ever; his comix are a perfect compliment to the
text. In a few places, the book does fall flat. The fiction parody, for
example, is a bit dull. But it's well worth reading. ($11.00,
Fireside/Simon & Schuster, Rockefeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the
Americas, New York, NY 10020)


***********************************************************

Attack of the Killer Comix Reviews is posted on rec.arts.comics.misc,
rec.arts.comics.info, and any other appropriate newsgroups whenever I feel
like it. Feedback is welcome and encouraged.

Comics and zines and stuff sent to me will be reviewed here. Send me
e-mail and I'll give you my new address. If you sent me something and
have not received a review or a response, please notify me.

I've started an Attack mailing list. To have these reviews pop up in your
mailbox, simply send me a message asking to be put on the list. The
e-mail address you want them sent to must be in the header of the message.


Robert Fernandez                                  [13]rfernand@chuma.cas.usf.ed
u
Chief Bodhisattva in Dogbert's New Ruling Class
coming soon: 

   [15][LINK] [LINK] 
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   [16][Previous] [17][Next] [18][Current Results] [19][Get Thread]
   [20][Author Profile] [21][Post] [22][Post] [23][Reply] 
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   [24]Home   [25]Power Search   [26]Post to Usenet   [27]Ask DN Wizard  
   [28]Help
   [29]Give us feedback!  |  [30]Advertising Info  |  [31]Press Releases
    |  [32]Jobs  |  [33]Policy Stuff
   Copyright © 1995-97 [34]Deja News, Inc. All rights reserved.