Early Morning Ramblings

I think I've been able to figure out where my attraction to red heads comes from:

Even though it's not a kid's movie, I distinctly remember watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit quite a few times as a kid. I remember the shoe getting dropped in the bucket of dip (one of the most disturbing things I can recall watching) and the ending when Judge Doom reveals that he's a toon and he starts shrieking.
I think I need to re watch it...

And here's a bar scene from another movie that I watched quite a bit when I was a kid:

The Great Mouse Detective is friggin' awesome, probably my favorite Disney movie. I think it's kind of over looked too, more people should see it. I mean, Vincent Price is a giant evil rat! And he sings! How could you not want to watch it?

Oh and how about this (from another underrated movie):


It's really kind of amazing to think that stuff like this would never fly now. I thought I was sheltered as a kid, but I think it's so much worse now. Or maybe with shows like Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life I just had it too good. Sometimes I can't believe I miss the 90s, it's really pathetic.

So what train of thought brought this on? Well, I was reading today about how one of my favorite books, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel being banned from libraries, particularly in Utah, for it's frank sexual content. Not worse than you find in most books really but because Fun Home is presented in comic form (I hate the term "graphic novel") it was felt that kids could see it and be ruined forever by a few panels of nudity and lesbian sex. I think it's more homophobia than anything, mixed with the still lingering shreds of "comics are for kids" bullshit. Which, if the people complaining had actually bothered to read Fun Home would find that it's an incredible work of literature as well as a shockingly personal work of art. But it's been branded pornography, which really pisses me off. Sigh.

What else have I been reading? Well, It Rhymes With Lust, considered by many to be the first "graphic novel". (The cover calls it a picture novel.) Printed in 1950 but quickly sunk without it's publisher bothering to market it, it was re-printed a few years ago by Dark Horse. Is it worth a read? Well the writing is pure pulp, and I love that stuff but some people might be turned off by the flowery dialouge or the over dramatic plot, which I just funny. The real reason to check it out is Matt Baker's incredible black and white artwork. Baker was one of the few sucessful African American artists working in comics at the time and he drew females better than just about anyone during that period. (And after the comic's code, no one was drawing females like that at all!)
I've got Will Eisner's A Contract With God coming in the mail, which should be an interesing read.
I was trying to think last night what my favorite comics were (excluding webcomics) and I came up with a short list:

1. The Preacher Series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
2. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
3. Kraven's Last Hunt by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck
4. Yes, Alan Moore's Watchmen. Sigh. Is it cliche to put it here? Oh well, despite over exposure, it's still an awesome book.
5. Johnny the Homocidal Maniac by Johnen Vasquez
6. I Feel Sick by Johnen Vasquez
7. Milk and Cheese by Evan Dorkin (Seriously, if you haven't read any M and C comics yet, go check them out NOW!)
8. Frank Miller's Sin City
9. The Long Hallowen by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
10. The Killing Joke by Alan Moore

Too chliched? Eh, I'm working on it. I'm not too big on superhero comics, although I do love Batman and Kraven's Last Hunt (a Spiderman story) is friggin' incredible. I need some good recomendations though, if you guys have any.

As for webcomics I did recently discover Everydaycute which I like way more than I should. Despite my addiction to grisley horror movies and comics I still harbor a sickening love of the cute. I openly admit it, I am not proud.

But anyways, I am about to fall asleep at my keyboard. So goodnight to anyone that happens to be reading.