Alan Moore's Light of Thy Countenance

[UnboxingTreasures]

Has anybody read this?

 

I had to stop after the first page.

 

I think instead of a "Mature Audiences" label there should be something more along the lines of "Literary Geniuses Only."

 

Sheesh...

[helionaut]

I didn't know it was out. I'll certainly be reading it.

[UnboxingTreasures]

Nobody read this yet?

[WOXL]

I ordered it through DCBS but I'm on monthly shipping so it'll be a couple more weeks before I get it

 

I'll pop in with comments after I get it though.

 

-Bob

[Comicopolis]

Alan Moore is never easy reading, which is always a good thing!

[DKB]

Has anybody read this?

 

I had to stop after the first page.

 

I think instead of a "Mature Audiences" label there should be something more along the lines of "Literary Geniuses Only."

 

Sheesh...

 

I picked it up at the store and had the same opinion. No thanks.

 

Promethea was a hideously boring book for the same reason.

[Comicopolis]

Has anybody read this?

 

I had to stop after the first page.

 

I think instead of a "Mature Audiences" label there should be something more along the lines of "Literary Geniuses Only."

 

Sheesh...

 

I picked it up at the store and had the same opinion. No thanks.

 

Promethea was a hideously boring book for the same reason.

 

Promethea was great for about the first 12 issues and then it got far too esoteric for me. Tom Strong is better.

[ChemEng]

Has anybody read this?

 

I had to stop after the first page.

 

I think instead of a "Mature Audiences" label there should be something more along the lines of "Literary Geniuses Only."

 

Sheesh...

 

Apparantly I ordered it too because it's on my DCBS shipping list.

 

I was probably drinking again while putting together my list, it makes me a little bit 'over-zealous' with picking up new items. I may or may not have ordered a replica of Captain Kirk's chair also, but I'm kind scared to check...

[ChemEng]

Just read this, it sucked. After the first couple of pages, I got the point, and then it just dragged on. For those who haven't read it, it's essentially a poem that someone put lousy pictures too that really didn't add much.

[WOXL]

I got around to reading this and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I work in optical communications so seeing the history of TV told in graphic form was a thrill. And yeah, probably means I'm a bit biased towards liking the story

 

The first few pages were tough going and Moore's use of big, fancy words was really distracting and made me want to put the book down. I stuck with it and the book was much easier going after the book dispenses of Maureen and starts telling the story from the perspective of the TV deity. What a cool idea too. I'm sure it's been told before, but I really dig the idea of a technological god created by man telling its life story. The brief history lesson in the center of the book was interesting and I learned a few things. I never knew TV broadcasting was shut off in Britain during WW2.

 

The book doesn't really say anything original. People have been hammering "TV is the opiate for the masses" since probably the second after the very first broadcast. Yep, we get it. TV bad. Whatever. However, the way Moore frames this as being from the perspective of the TV god makes the book feel fresh. Some quotes from the TV deity:

 

On average you spend four hours a day at your devotions; love struck eyes fixed on my incandescent mask. In all this planet's history has any god enjoyed such dedication?

 

My sacred codex is the TV guide: never before in man's experience have such a multitude all thought the same things at one time, laughed in such frightful unison or wept with such absurd simultaneity.

 

Bring me your old, your prisoners and your insane that they may hear my voice along the echoing corridors of night and be at one with this communion, this glorious rape where, stupefied, the victims chew potato chips throughout there violation.

 

The art was mostly effective as well. There were a couple pages that really seemed to enhance the words, like the one with the family on a couch with various documentary-style views behind them. This was adapted from a fully text piece so the art isn't as essential as in a normal comic but does enhance the work in places.

 

Like most of Moore's work, I think this will get better with each subsequent reading. It was tough going in spots but I really like how this old stale story was told in a fresh manner. Moore's text was vicious near the end and, coupled with the deity angle, really hit the "TV is evil" point home in an interesting way.

 

-Bob