Ex Machina #1, Fables #1

So here we go - our first conversation - you can pretty much bet all of our posts on the actual books we are reading are gonna go like this - we tend to wander (although to be fair we tried hard to stay on topic for this first one. .) Any way - I dont have much of an intro other than that - i'll let our words speak for themselves .. Oh - and in a later post in the week i'll explain what all the <cock>'s are about :) -- So without further ado - let's do it.

 

(download)
THOS:
3:53

Ex Machina
go

JOB:
3:54
I liked Ex Machina

THOS:
3:54
yes
an interesting start
my guess is  - if we had read it when it was first published it would have resounded more with us
when did #1 come out?

JOB:
3:54
I think the whole one-tower thing probably came off as a little pandering when the thing came out 5 years ago or so
it just finished with #50, so it's been about 5 years, i think

THOS:
3:55
04 according to wikipedia

JOB:
3:55
fucking wikipedia
I like that it's overtly political, but not as a platform for one party or another necessarily

THOS:
3:56
yeah - a little nitpick but did the black guy have to have dreadlocks?

JOB:
3:56
it came off a little less preachy than West Wing for instance (realizing that you love west wing and I don't) :)
progressive black guys had dreadlocks in 2002, i guess

THOS:
3:57
lets just make him crippled in a wheel chair and smart with computers if we're gonna have a stereotypical sidekick

JOB:
3:57
heheheh
for that role, we have Kremlin, who's kinda awesome

THOS:
3:57
heh - yeah - that and the police lt. -

JOB:
3:57
right.  it's set up right from the start to be a TNT show

THOS:
3:58
although - does EVERY fiesty reporter in comics have to be a gal?
granted - we are one issue in - but she has "lois lane" stamped on her as far as im concerned

JOB:
3:58
heh
or His Girl Friday, if you've seen that movie

THOS:
3:58
.. now your just trying to look smart for the blog

JOB:
3:59
feisty male reporters just look like assholes, so maybe one tries to avoid that
fine, edit that out if you like.  but i've seen a movie made before 1950
like six or seven of them
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Girl_Friday )

THOS:
3:59
heheheh

JOB:
4:00
can Iuse another big word?
aptronym
when your name reflects your job or personality

THOS:
4:00
overall a good 1st issue - set up a lot of stuff - but gave us enough backstory to not be left in the dark

JOB:
4:00
Like Journal

THOS:
4:00
an interesting thing that you rarely see in comics - they actually did his origin in 2 pages or less
didnt drag it out-

JOB:
4:00
hehe.  yeah, you pretty much get the idea

THOS:
4:01
he grabed some crazy thing in the water - and boom - talks to machines

JOB:
4:01
in 50 years, that'll all be compressed into one paragraph on teh splash page that nobody reads anyway, so you might as well not dwell on it

THOS:
4:01
yeah
<cock>
Fables

JOB:
4:02
are we editing out <cock> or explaining it?

THOS:
4:02
im interested in hearing your thoughts
I think we should explain it
I dont want it edited
a) there’s a reason behind it
b) it makes us look hip and edgy

JOB:
4:02
you edit too much cock, and you're no better than hotel porn

THOS:
4:02
...

JOB:
4:03
don't pretend like you don't know what i'm talking about

THOS:
4:03
 heh
so
again
<cock>
Fables

JOB:
4:03
right
Fables

THOS:
4:03
your thougts?
thoughts
fuck it – I’m spell checking this before I post it

JOB:
4:03
again, it's a good set up.  To me, it came off a little too.... 
like a parody, like Hoodwink'd

THOS:
4:04
I can see that

JOB:
4:04
let's run all this fable shit out there right away, so we can get past it
which is as good a way to start as any, I guess
but I questioned why I needed to have it all explained right up front
they didn't dwell on it too much, though, and you get the idea that there's a lot more to it than just the 8 or 9 characters you meet in #1

THOS:
4:05
bare in mind Fables started in 02

JOB:
4:05
yeah, you can really tell the difference in the way the book is put together, I thought

THOS:
4:05
so really before all the parodying of the Shrek movies, hoodwink'd etc.

JOB:
4:06
yeah, I suppose

THOS:
4:06
I’m just sayin - don't hold that against it

JOB:
4:06
no I don't.  it was an interesting setup

THOS:
4:06
I love that Prince Charming is a leach

JOB:
4:06
yeah, that's pretty awesome

THOS:
4:07
"dont ask about the dwarves"
I hope we get THAT story soon

JOB:
4:07
heheh.  was that supposed to be Little Boy Blue of the hornblowing fame?

THOS:
4:07
yeah I think so

JOB:
4:07
I have to be honest, I don't know fairy tales all that well
so hopefully it won't get too obscure

THOS:
4:08
if I remember correctly I don’t think so
cheer up - this could be one of those books that keeps sending you to wikipedia - I know how you love that

JOB:
4:08
well, I do kind of appreciate the effort that goes into that
doesn't make it any easier though

THOS:
4:09
as far as art goes - nothing spectacular from either book - but that’s not necessarily a bad thing

JOB:
4:09
I really liked the look of Ex Machina
I think i'd read that the artist (who's the artist?) used live models a lot

THOS:
4:09
it could just be that I was reading it on the ipod - but it seemed kind of dark
I did like how they differentiated him talking to machines and humans
rarely do you get to see a letterer showcase their talent

JOB:
4:11
yes.  they also did a good job with the coloring separating the different time periods

THOS:
4:11
yeah - I don’t know - I hope every book isn’t like that -
jumping back and forth in time
a guy can only read so many Tarantino comic books

JOB:
4:11
I usually don't like that, but it seemed to be more with a purpose than just to fuck with a reader

THOS:
4:12
yeah

JOB:
4:12
you get the bits of the story you need as you need them

THOS:
4:12
oh - we should mention the language

JOB:
4:12
English?

THOS:
4:12
not that I was against it - just caught me off guard

JOB:
4:12
really?  I didn't even notice, I guess

THOS:
4:12
seemed like there were more shits and fucks etc  thrown in simply because they could
maybe I’m just a prude

JOB:
4:13
hehe.  a side of you we don't see too often
I guess I read a lot of vertigo and other mature reader type books, so I didn't even flinch
but if you're used to the marvel-style #$@@ whitewashing, I could see it being jarring

THOS:
4:13
yeah - unless its "The Boys" I don’t really see swearing in the books I read

JOB:
4:14
Alan Moore said mature readers labels were just an excuse for "tits and innards"
should've probably added "f-bombs" to the list

THOS:
4:14
although it'd be awesome to see Cyclops blurt out a "FUCK!" once in a while
(you know he's got it in him)

JOB:
4:14
hehe.  I will look for that if they ever let Warren Ellis off the leash at marvel
the art for Fables was maybe supposed to look .... fable-y?

THOS:
4:15
I think so

JOB:
4:15
just going from memory, it seemed kind of chicken-scratchy
sketched out, I should say

THOS:
4:15
as it goes on  - the artist really branches out
does some awesome border work framing pages etc

JOB:
4:16
ah
how far have you read on that?

THOS:
4:16
it should be noted that although we are reading Fables from #1 i've actually read the first 30 or so
so i'm biased
but I read them as they came out
so 6 years ago

JOB:
4:16
yeah, I read the first couple arcs of Ex Machina when they were new too, but I never kept up

THOS:
4:17
no 6 yrs is EM -- fables I read in 02
8 yrs ago
fuck im old

JOB:
4:17
heh
kids these days, with their baggy pants and their hippety-hop music

THOS:
4:17
they just don't understand
no wait
that's parents
oh now I really dated myself

JOB:
4:18
so are we ending with a letter grade or something definitive?

THOS:
4:18
yeah I think so

JOB:
4:18
how about

THOS:
4:18
A = Dark Knight

JOB:
4:18
"diseases or maladies I would rather have than miss the next issue" ?
A = sniffles
through F = ass cancer
i'm too lazy to come up with any more than that, though

THOS:
4:19
heh
I was gonna just grade it on past books

JOB:
4:20
yeah, you're probably right
don't want to offend any ass cancer survivors
so A is Dark Knight.  fair enough
can F be the last two or three years of JLA?

THOS:
4:21
Heh
yeah

JOB:
4:21
regardless of your signposts, I'd put both of them at a B

THOS:
4:22
yeah'
id say thats fair too -
Ex Machina = B with a lot of potential for awesome
Fables = solid B
(I know that it has potential)

JOB:
4:23
ok.  sounds good

THOS:
4:23
wait
b's for both
but I want to lower the bar for F

JOB:
4:23
ok

THOS:
4:23
id put JLA at a D
Youngblood = F

JOB:
4:23
heheheh

THOS:
4:23
(yeah I went there)

JOB:
4:24
I haven't read youngblood since I was in high school

THOS:
4:24
me either - but damnit i'm still pissed that I shelled out hard cash and stood in line for it

JOB:
4:24
heh.  ok. fine
actually that's probably about right, cuz what the hell are you doing reading things that you're rating an F?

THOS:
4:25
heh - exactly

JOB:
4:25
are signing off on this then?

THOS:
4:25
yeah - I think that’s a good first post
even though its 6 hours late - that's my bad

JOB:
4:26
you'll do better next week
are you posting it?

THOS:

done.