Comic Books, Though, Are Just Always on Topic

Quote of the day’s gotta be: “Outside of Christ typology and vampirism, no other genre features resurrection as a common convention more than the superhero genre.” So a bunch of comic books pros got together to debate whether bringing all those heroes (and bad guys) back to life renders all those death stories meaningless. And, it turns out, there’s actually going to be a symposium on “issues of mortality in comics,” where “papers utilizing the thanatological works of Ernest Becker or Elizabeth Kubler-Ross are especially encouraged.” Which should be interesting, since comic book fans probably don’t actually get to the acceptance stage anymore—at this point, it’s pretty much expected that when a significant character dies, they’ll be coming back soon. Heck, readers seemed to get upset that DC didn’t bring Hal Jordan back to life fast enough to suit their tastes…

6 October 2005 | uncategorized |

Interview Roundup

• My longstanding hostility to Paulo Coelho is a matter of public record, so it’s not going to surprise any of you that I think his latest interview, with the AP’s Angela Doland, strikes me as being just as insipid as the previous ones–and as his books. At least this time around, the story buries the usual sobbing about how the Coelho isn’t as big in America as he is in Europe, focusing instead on how the guy whose latest novel had a combined international print run of 8 million copies tries to live a simple life–while spending four months of the year in France, another four in Brazil, and the rest making publicity appearances around the world as four assistants answer his fan mail.

• Bruce Sterling has a long conversation with a writer from a fan site for J.G. Ballard, “the first science-fiction writer I ever read who really blew my mind.”

• Speaking of long conversations, here’s Robert Birnbaum and Stuart Dybek.

• And the 92nd St. Y continues to post interesting material to its blog—recent items include short interviews with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who’s going to appear on Oct. 16th with Barbara Ehrenreich, and Ken Follett, who just seems to enjoy talking about thrillers.

• Oh, one more, because it’s sui generis: Alan Moore asks Brian Eno questions.

6 October 2005 | interviews |