Category: Comics

Conceptual Continuity, Comic Book Edition

You may wonder: what’s the source for “Metal Man Has Won His Wings“, off Mystery Disc? Biffy has the lowdown:

Frank Zappa’s notes on the song, prepared in 1984, tell us that:
“In our spare time we made what we thought were ‘rock & roll’ records. In this example, Vliet was ‘singing’ in the hallway outside the studio (our vocal booth) while the band played in the other room. The lyrics were derived from a comic book pinned to the bulletin board near the door.”

That comic book was called “Metal Men”, inside it was an ad for a comic called “Hawkman” and as it turns out Frank Zappa later became friends with its author, Jack Kirby. Electro-flyer!

Tintin: Key To Modern Literature

Tom McCarthy is to Hergé (creator of Tintin) what Ben Watson is to Frank Zappa:

Hergé’s writing, he would have us believe, presents a human tableau worthy of Balzac involving situations ‘managed with all the subtlety normally attributed to Jane Austen or Henry James’; his world is a place where ‘Molière-style social comedy runs effortlessly into Dumas-style adventure with Conradian boxed narratives throughout which…volleys of Rabelaisian obscenities echo and boom.’

Some people…

American Splendor, Again

Yesterday we watched American Splendor once again (previous reportage here). It’s really become one of my favorite movies — quaint, funny, slightly surreal and featuring an excellent Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar who, as it turns out, has a blog (last updated October 28 ’03!). In the film there’s some footage of Pekar on the David Letterman show, where he appeared several times, and was generally treated as an amusing freakazoid weirdo. Might YouTube have a clip? Sure enough, and in it Letterman’s being an ass:

Bonus clip from the movie: Toby explains the importance of the 80s comedy “Revenge Of The Nerds” to Harvey.

Weirdo Cards

If you’re wondering what Dr Sharl and I have been up to lately, wonder no more — introducing: weirdocards dot com! Sure, it’s an eCards service, but one with a twist. Our cards tackle such elusive topics as androgynous gnomes, Outcast Smurfs, Cheese, Slime, Liberated Girls, noses and much more.

Feel free to give the site a whirl, click around, send some cards and let us know what you think. Oh, and did I mention there’s some Zappa there too? :)