goldust40

Bryant and Fuje were both terrific artists and storytellers. Great stuff.

Book is sold. Thanks all!

Taking offers. Keen to sell.

For sale, just one book this evening - Mister Mystery 2 CGC 9.4, Spokane copy. Tied for highest graded with one other copy. Price includes insured boxed shipping to any destination. First I'll take it gets the book. Returns within two weeks of receiving the package. PayPal preferred, as well as bank transfer. This title, like a lot of PCH, has been doing rather well these past few months. $2800. (The diagonal crease that's visible in the scan is on the slab - it's only visible if a light is shone directly on it).

While I admire your idealism and hope there's a far-off day akin to Gene Roddenberry's vision of humanity in Star Trek where we don't draw tribal lines, that's not how human beings work circa 2018. Or are likely to even circa 2500. Roddenberry thought there might've been a chance by the 23rd century. We'll just have to wait...

What is so pioneering about this film, dammit?? There's been plenty of black cinema before, some of it excellent, some of it less so. So there's been a dearth of action heroes (but not a complete absence) who are of African descent? Great, let's have loads more, and could we leave the politics out of it next time? I would like to know how a genre film of limited artistic ambition will open doors in terms of culturally varied films being made when there are already a vast amount of them already. Once again, you're turning a super-hero film into a cause celebre and a political catalyst for something, but you're not sure what it is.

I really wasn't aware that Coates's run on the character was such a quantum leap for the franchise - sales figures don't seem to back this up and it was cancelled. If it was such a hit, why are they relaunching it again? (And can you imagine a hardline polemicist like West (who is somewhat opposed to Coates's neoliberalism) would've done with Cage? It wouldn't have been entertaining.) As for Snipes, I imagine he would've done a good job as it sounds like it was a pet project for him. But that option ended over two decades ago.

I always liked the Black Panther character, especially the McGregor / Graham stories from Jungle Action (amongst others). The thing about super-hero comics is that they are meant to be universal in their appeal - Spider-Man connects with the angsty teenager in all of us. However at least part of T'Challa's interest comes from his status as a royal, which is intriguing but not something that should necessarily be that significant for those who are not as politicized as Cornel West, for example. If we're going to talk about black kids not just following but identifying with a character because of his racial background then that is purely about tribalism, and not about taking an artistic interest in the inner narrative a character should have in order to have a film made about him. In the Avengers Boseman portrayed a solid enough character, but in his own film he was a bland icon engulfed by drab polemic masquerading as humour. What did we learn about him, other than he was a supporting character in his own film, taking second place to a political conundrum that most of the audience would be thoroughly conversant with? Super-hero films are not real cinema as such - they are fun, lightweight slabs of formulaic entertainment that are not there to edify and be artistically developed at the same time. At least BP, which is no different regarding this, dispensed with any claims to subtext by bashing us over the head with its message.

Yes, I hate that predictable trope. Drives me mad.

I've never heard of any "black superhero fans" talk about the Black Panther in that way prior to the announcement of the film's release. Certainly not on any comic-related site. And as for those outside our nerdy little bubble, I doubt anyone would've heard of the character before the film's release in any case. I certainly don't recall any concerted campaign for the film to be made over the years from anyone. And Snipes maybe black but he's also an actor. There's megabucks in spandex, don't you know. Either way you're confusing "culture" with populism. You're also denying agency with African-Americans, implying that their culture is homogeneous and monolithic, which is ludicrous, and yes, populist. There may be a connection, but it's built on hype (you said it yourself). The fact that you were happy to denounce me as unfeeling due to being critical about the project does say it all, really.

It's become a cause celebre. People are afraid to say anything negative about it, and that is what I consider to be the main issue. Plus commercial success doesn't equate with artistic quality. Maybe FF is right - if enough people buy into the message, then for them, it's a good film. For me, it means that politics has won. It becomes significant about the politics due to the politics. And as for nuance, sorry, but there really wasn't any. If this film truly is groundbreaking because for the first time in an event movie the villain delivered a screed about "white man imperialist / supremacist, oppressed black man must have revenge" then so be it, it's groundbreaking. But it doesn't mean it's any good. And whether it's good or not is more or less an irrelevance. In this respect, Black Panther is certainly unique. I have never witnessed such brazen, aggressive hype about any other film in living memory. No other film has had such an intense social media presence - most of the marketing has come from internet campaigns that had nothing to do with official marketing. It's almost Orwellian in its absurdity.

I doubt I've ever read such a condescending, pompous, and ludicrously silly post on these boards. To say that I lack empathy because I considered a film weak and half-baked, and that the themes and issues cack-handedly brought up in the film suffered due to this is just absurd and really very stupid. And it's 1.3 billion, by the way, including the diaspora. If you think that my being dismissive of another slice of wish-fulfillment due to the way it plays fast and loose with identity politics makes me wrong, then so be it. And the fact that you consider such concepts as powerful or groundbreaking merely tells me that you have bought into the hype in such a prosaic, high-school manner - all people of African descent are crying out for a hero who can make them forget the reality of their situation?? Do you realize just how patronizing that is for someone of African descent to read that?? Like they've all been waiting for this film to save them. And did you just say "realistic politics"? Err, I think we're confusing fantasy with reality here. In the real world, you see, there is nuance, and individualism, and a multiplicity of cultures, not grade school simplistic tubthumping. You've bought into the same old tedious binary nonsense like an over-eager student. When I went to see the film (with an extremely partisan audience) I saw the death of pop culture. A mature filmmaker would've taken such themes and turned them into something dramatic and sophisticated. Instead we got the same formula as always with a few twists and you claim that this is an incredible step forward?? The fact that you have stated that I lack empathy because I didn't share your opinion on a film means that you have been successfully duped, and says far more about you than it does about me. I remember being livid about the horrors of the black experience in films such as 12 Years A Slave (as one example). The fact that I refuse to accept the dumbed-down message in a genre fantasy film is my right and doesn't give you permission to make such childish declamations. Now go to your room - the adults are talking.

And $10!

Amen!!

This is rapidly becoming one of my favorite threads.

Probably my favorite cover of the run.

stop gothin around you guys! I'm an old goth at heart...must be why I like PCH so much...

The endless void is pretty fab, it has to be said.

Wolverton's space horror was unique in its remorseless bleakness and was way ahead of its time. Awesome stories.

Sorry. Completely missed that.

Price?

Went to the DC Comics Exhibition yesterday as it happens. Very impressive, with vast amounts of film props / costumes / Batmobiles / video presentations, etc. Plus loads of highly impressive original art pages. Got to meet the man in charge of the show, which was originally set up in Paris - clearly a fan. Apparently our very own Paris Fred was going to turn up in the evening for the gala party, but I couldn't stick around. Worth a look if you're in London.

Got very decent copies of both of those books, but not near that shape. Stunning books.

Such a funky cover and being a Church copy is probably what did it. Yep, Church mania and not a book you see often.