Comics

Michel Fiffe just completed a monster retrospective of Keith Giffen. It’s in 6 parts, each a couple hours long. I have never seen someone so lovingly comb through an artist’s entire printed career. Where he found all these books, I do not know but the man loves Keith Giffen and has a lot of knowledge to impart about the man. The series stars here with part 1. But he is continuing on his channel with more deep dives into other artists such as Steve Lightle, Paris Collin and Ernie Colon. Go check out his youtube page!

More Comics

I picked up the O’Neil / Azrael Deluxe Edition and oh my! does it look good! To me, this is what the street level superhero genre should look like! Just look at the slick storytelling and character design in these images! Some sequences from the book are even used in the DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics as exemplary interpretations of a comic script. I tip my hat to the inks and colours, the whole team!

You can bet I’ll be studying these drawings to improve my own!

I really hope they also reprint the ongoing Azrael series!

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Character Design

This guy did a full analysis of every movie Batman suit and there is tons to learn from this about visual character design.

Saint of the Week

St Dumas, who features in the Azrael book, is a saint that O’Neil concocted. But St Vincent de Paul isn’t.

St Vincent de Paul is a 17th century saint whose most fervent desire was to be with the poor. But he kept being sent to the rich by his Bishop and, bound by a vow of obedience, would comply but eventually would end up “escaping” to serve the poor. Isnpired by this Vincent’s zeal for the poor some of the rich he had served followed in his example which led to the creation of a charity for the care of the sick and the poor. St Vincent made it fashionable in his day for the rich to care for the poor, not just by giving them money but by caring for them directly. It became so popular that even when the plague tore through communities, there was never any shortage of volunteers to stay by the bedside of the dying. Even those who died in service to the sick, were easily replaced by new enthusiastic volunteers.

In the 19th century a charity was revived with St Vincent as its patron. They bring food to the needy, assist with housing crises, operate non-profit thrift stores and advocate for social/political reform where they can. If you or a friend is in need of some help, search to see if the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is in your area and call them. If you are not among the blessed poor, consider donating or volunteering to SSVP. The charity accepts non-catholic volunteers.

I’ve been on a humours kick lately. Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics suggests that cartooning your characters isn’t just for the visual design but the design of their personality. For instance, the Fantastic Four are based (intentionally or not) on the four elements. But I had set aside the idea of doing this in my stories as I didn’t find exactly the archetypal framework I wanted. Plus, most of the frameworks out there lacked juice. Myer Briggs is too clinical. Jungian seems overused. Astrology, using it poses too high a risk of affronting the tradition of my ancestors.

But them Comics Odyssey co-host revealed his framework for his comic; generational theory. This was something I’d never come across before and it resurrected my desire to again look for the right framework for me.

In researching medieval stuff for my Spirit-Girl comics, I stumbled across the humours. Which is a medical theory originating from the 5th century BCE in ancient Greece and came to be commonly in use in the Middle Ages. the theory is holsitics and divides the personality and health of a person into four types - sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic - each tied to a different bodily fluid and temperament.

So I found it! I’ll be inspiring myself from this framework to write my comics! I’m enjoying learning about this. And have also found it personally helpful.

Which medieval personality type are you? Take this quiz to find out! I scored as a Melancholic with a strong showing in Phlegmatic as my secondary mode.

You can read more about the humours here.

Miscellany

Early 20th century footage of NHL hockey games. I get a kick out of the announcers. “It’s officially on! A nice, gentle game full of cracked skulls and tangled limbs!”

See if you can spot the goalie wearing a newsie hat.

Saint of the Week - St Thérèse de Lisieux

In her diary Thérèse wrote of her first time seeing the ocean as a child:

In English

That evening, at the hour when the sun seems to bathe in the immensity of the waves, casting in front of itself a luminous trail, I went with Pauline [Thérèse’s sister] to a deserted rock. I contemplated for a long time that golden path which she told me was the image of grace illuminating, here below, the path of faithful souls. Then I imagined my heart in the middle of that trail, like a small, light boat with a graceful white sail, and I resolved never to turn it away from the gaze of Jesus, so that it might sail peacefully and swiftly toward the shore of heaven.

This is what I mean when I speak of the Mythic dimension entering our mundane one. If one’s imagination can be trained to ignore dimissals, one can see in the mundane, the golden path to a greater reality. Thérèse was a child when she had this experience. It is this sort of imagination I aspire to have.

Pocket Dimension is a feature at Comics Odyssey wherein I share inspiration which recharges my creative battery (like how Green Lantern charges his power ring from a battery he stores in a pocket dimension). Let’s get into it!

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Art

This dude drew a huge map containing the entirety of the Summa by Thomas Aquinas. It will blow your mind. This is a huge undertaking. You have to see it to believe it.

Owen’s Substack

So, I illustrated the entire Summa Theologica

Hello. I have been somewhat absent from posting here since I released my last book, at the start of December…

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3 months ago · 647 likes · 32 comments · Owen Cyclops

Culture

I enjoyed how the article (linked below) from recalibrated my perspective of the 20th century and placed it in a larger context. Particularly intriguing to me is the idea of decadeology being an anomolous phenomenon. That is, the decades as having self-contained identities with its own fashion churn is unique to the 20th century. Strauss-Howe nerds may want to compare notes and see what refinements to their theory might need to be made to encompass this 20th century anomalousness.

This is of particular interest to me as I seek to refine my reasons for setting my comics in the 1980s.

Steam Calliope Scherzos

Why I Won't Miss the 20th Century Illusion of Unending Cultural Progress

You’re reading Steam Calliope Scherzos, a blog that screws around with media ecology and non-structuralist semiotics…

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2 months ago · 48 likes · 9 comments · Kerwin

The ideas in the article reminded me of this video discussing the “Satanic transcendentals”. They discuss - among other things - how Fashion is opposed to Beauty. One being aimed at novelty, the other orientated towards the eternal. This explains your grandmother’s shag carpeting. The poor lady was seduced by the Devil!

Music

Angine de Poitrine’s success continues to surprise. They’ve released Vol 2 with a few pieces I hadn’t heard before. And their tune Fabienk is being used as bumper music for a sportsnet hockey show(???!!!). Microtonoal mathrock has gone mainstream. Keep your antennas up friends, the cracks are fast becoming fault lines.

Saint of the Week

St Benedict whom I call the Saint of “not letting it get to your head”.

“So it chanced that his nurse borrowed of a neighbour a sieve to cleanse wheat, which being left carelessly upon the table was found broken in two pieces. Therefore on her return finding it broke, she began to weep bitterly because it was only lent her. But the religious and pious boy, Benedict, seeing his nurse lament was moved with compassion, and taking with him the two pieces of the broken sieve, with tears he gave himself to prayer, which no sooner ended, but he found the sieve whole, and found not any sign that it had been broken. Then presently he restored the sieve which had been broken, whole to his nurse, to her exceeding comfort. This matter was divulged unto all that lived thereabout, and so much admired by all, that the inhabitants of that place caused the sieve to be hanged up in the Church porch.

But Benedict more desirous to suffer afflictions than covetous of praise; and rather willing to undergo labours for the honour of God, than to be extolled with the favours of this world, fled secretly from his nurse to a remote place in the desert.”

“People are really excited about a good thing I did as a child. Better flee to the desert and live in a cave for three years so it doesn’t go to my head!” - St Benedict probably

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1000+ Subscribers!

First up, we just passed 1000 subscribers to Comics Odyssey. I am surprised, puzzled and grateful. Thank you to the early subscribers who saw something here worth sticking around for and welcome to the new subscribers. Say hello in the comments and tell us a bit about yourselves.

Books - Lives of Lichens

As I’ve discussed in the notes feed before, I’m quite fascinated by lichens. I will be going on about them in an upcoming article. For now I just want to point to this wonderful book about the lives of lichens. I do like all the biological information about lichens but not as much as I love the photos and factoids about them. It reminds me of my collection of animal cards I had growing up. I’m tempted to pull the trigger on some ebay listings selling those old cards. I have to consider storage before doing that.

Comics

I’ve been slowing down on buying trades and have again become a Wednesday Warrior (showing up every week on new comic book day). I can’t say I’m finding a lot on the shelves that excites me, but I keep looking and hoping. I will be reviewing the new Firestorm book so keep an eye out for that.I do like “Is Ted Ok?”. I also picked up the origin of Silver Surfer facsimile edition (1968). I tend to gravitate towards the classics. My thinking is even if I don’t like the story, they inherently hold some historical value, so they are never a complete bummer. But I was impressed with this Silver Surfer story. It’s a grandiose, tragic and epic tale of hope and self sacrifice. The thematic exploration is a bit blunt but in a way that’s part of the charm. It reads as a guided tour of cosmic history. There are also some amazing panels to look at!

I also loved that they included the original ads in the reprint. Ads for learning Karate and forbidden martial arts, ads for exploding pens, smoke bombs, spy cameras. Some of these 60s kids must have grown up to become super spy ninjas!

Miscellany

I can’t recommend enough Martin Shaw’s best selling book “Liturgies of the Wild”.

But this time the inspiration comes from an interview he did with Paul Vanderklay.

In it he tells the story of a famous writer. One ofthis writer’s friends came to a book signing and said to the famous writer: “I knew you before you were famous”. To which the writer replies “and you’ll know me after too”.

Shaw draws our awareness to the fleeting nature of his current success and directly addresses the listener (I paraphrase): “The reward of an artist isn’t fame and commercial success. It’s going for a walk and being struck with an idea. If in your creative journey you have that, cherish it, because you’ve already been gifted the reward of your pursuit.”

Another tidbit he dropped in the interview is a sort of anti-cynicism medicine. I admit that when it comes to politics, I’ve more or less completely given up. In part it’s for my own mental health, and in part it’s a cynical move. But I’m aware that cynicism is a poison for the heart. I was glad for Shaw’s reminder that “If a murderer can come to change his heart by coming into contact with a story, why couldn’t it happen to a politician?” (again I paraphrase).

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He’s talking about people with terribly hardened hearts coming to a metanoia - a complete change of heart, a repentance - simply by reading the story of Jesus. If we can observe that happening to violent criminals but shut ourselves off to the possibility of it happening to a politician (yes, even that one you especially dislike), then we are ignoring reality. Hope > cynicism.

I’ve no intentions of embroiling myself in political matters, especially not through Comics Odyssey. But Shaw’s reminder has helped me shift my attitude about it. And I feel better because of it.

Music

Apparently Journey’s experiencing a minor resurgence from being included in a popular video game soundtrack. Nice to see the new generation appreciating this 80s classic. I mean, listen to that clean crystalline voice!

As a kid who was a teen in the 1990s, I should have been cynical towards the previous decade’s music and aesthetic. The cultural trend among my peers was against polish. Grime-less production was seen as cheesy excess. I mean, the music genre that defined the decade was a synonym for filth. I never entirely bought into that attitude of cynicism against care and craft.

I more or less skipped the entire 90s musical offerings (Sonic Youth being an exception and a bit of Nine Inch Nails closer to adulthood). My older brother loved 80s rock (Boston, ZZ Top, Journey, etc) so I had a fondness for and familiarity with that sound. I spent the 90s disconnected from pop culture, spending my time mining the three previous decades for inspiration instead. I also loved the artwork on the 80s album covers much more than what the 90s had to offer. To my perspective the 80s all seemed very slick, epic and exciting. The 90s sound and fashion reflected my adolescent cynicism, nihilism and depression too closely for comfort.

This Pocket Dimension seems to have a theme doesn’t it?

Which brings us to…

Saint of the Week

Not that much is known about the particulars of St Jude’s life beyond that he was a disciple of Jesus. For several centuries, he was known as the “Forgotten Saint” a title given in part because of the confusion between his name and that of Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Christ.

St Jude is the saint of “hope in the face of the impossible”. I can’t think of a more fitting saint for our time in history.

So what gives you hope these days?

Comics

I’ve completed the DC Finest volume 1 of Suicide Squad collecting John Ostrander’s work on this team which connects with Firestorm and the wider DC Universe. This hits the perfect sweet spot between keeping the story focused within its own domain while connecting it to the DC Universe at large. Task Force X (Suicide Squad) fits real nicely in a niche between the cracks of the DCU.

It also manages to somehow do very high stakes but keep everything tidy in its own corner of the DC world. Impressive stuff!

I was also surprised at the overtly Christian themes explored in some of these stories. How times have changed.

Music

Going back to the 80s due to researching colour schemes (discussed here). I found a band I’d heard of but never listened to before; the Fixx. Nothing mind blowing but they seem to have put together a solid collection of boppers.

The 80s produced the most proper, normie looking rock stars from all of rock history. Look at these guys, all dressed up for a job interview at Radio Shack.

Appearances

I appeared on the Bros Krynn substack to talk about the process of making comics. Unfortunately I guess streaming platforms hate my microphone so the audio is a bit wonky. But our conversation is worth the ear strain in my opinion.

Bros Krynn’s Newsletter

The Ultimate Odyssey into Comic Book Development, Production & Creation w/Ulysses the Great

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a month ago · 1 like · The Brothers Krynn

Saint of the Week - St Nectan

In every Pocket Dimension post, I drop a short writeup of a Saint I find fascinating.

This week is St Nectan. I call this one the “Foxglove Saint”.

Nectan lived in the solitude of a remote valley where he helped a swineherd recover his lost pigs and in turn was given a gift of two cows. The milk and butter from these two cows sustained Nectan in his ascetic life. Nectan's cows were stolen and after finding them he attempted to convert the two robbers to the Christian faith. In return, he was attacked by the robbers who cut off his head. He then picked his head up and walked back to his favourite well before collapsing and dying.

Following this incident, one of the robbers went completely mad, tearing at his own flesh. The other went blind. On his hands and knees, through the fog of blindness, he found the trail of blood St Nectan’s neck left behind and followed it, his vision returning to him as he approached St Nectan’s body. He buried St Nectan with great reverence and repented.

Local tradition says that wherever the blood from Nectan's severed head fell, foxgloves grew.

First, I appeared for a short interview on a substack about Public Domain Superheroes. You can watch it here.

Public Domain Super Heroes Newsletter!

Chatting With Ulysses About Spirit Girl, Comics and Spoilers!

Ulysses creates an ongoing comic called Spirit Girl and co-hosts a podcast about all things comic book with Henry Brown (Machine Trooper) every week…

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a month ago · 1 like · PDSH Newsletter and Ulysses

Books

• Liturgies of the Wild by Martin Shaw.

Martin is a mythographer and writer. You can read all about his accolades here. What interests me is his book, Liturgies of the Wild.

”Shaw invites readers to rediscover the ancient stories that shape the human soul — and to encounter Christ as the ultimate, transforming story providing a road to wholeness, maturity and connection.”

One passage which particularly struck me was in chapter 10, “On Dream”.

He tells a myth story about a man who has a couple dreams which after some struggle, eventually lead him to the finding of a golden treasure. He gives this gold to a priest to rebuild the town’s dilapidated church. The priest is so preoccupied with the practicalities of the decline of his church that he didn’t think to pay attention to something so frivolous as a lowly man’s dream. Especially that the dreamer hadn’t been to church in some time due to his dreams leading him into some far off adventures.

Martin Shaw goes on to commentate:

“I think Christianity has often forgotten that it is a dream, to its own peril. When threaded to political power it often engenders the will rather than the wonder. The law almost entirely over the spirit. Christianity is a dream in which the best of us are encouraged to emerge. A dream that challenges and inspires us. A dream in which God speaks directly to us.”

Music

A lot of Gregorian chant lately.

In the last Pocket Dimension I shared my love of ambient music. As far as I’m concerned, Gregorian Chant is the original ambient music. It’s purpose being to create a container for quiet contemplation. There is quite a bit online to find but Harpa Dei tops the list for me. They are a brother and three sisters. They go deep on the research too. They do not break from tradition recklessly but also do not slavishly follow it. For instance, they have several videos wherein in addition to singing in the traditional Latin, they translate to multiple languages as well.

Here’s an example where they sing the Maranatha chant in 12 different languages. The reverent repetition with variations is perfect for setting a good tone for the day in the morning. This one may not be strictly Gregorian Chant from a musical definition perspective. But the voices are extraordinarily enchanting nonetheless.

But in general I tend to be more attracted to the mournful pieces. Such as this one.

(Mostly) Defunct NHL Hockey Teams

Spinning out of my world building project I’ve been looking at NHL team logo designs that died off. I don’t have the time or desire to watch hockey games anymore. Plus I don’t have a TV. But I do enjoy still have a hockey nerve in me especially when I hear about yet another hot climate American city getting a new team while my beloved Maritime provinces don’t.

Let’s look at a few of the old (mostly) defunct hockey team logos I find to be top tier design. They differ a great deal from the snarling animal logos that trended later. But these very simple designs are clever and highly memorable. Read more about the history of NHL team logos here and let me know your favourites that I didn’t include here.

I have to mention the California Golden Seals. With the ugliest logo to ever be in the NHL. Team and logo mercifully defunct.

Saint of the Week

I’ve been fascinated with the lives of the saints for several years now. I intend to drop a short write up of a saint I find interesting in each “Pocket Dimension” newsletter.

This week is St Cuthbert (c. 634 – 20 March 687). Bear in my mind I have no formal education in patristics or whatever. These are just my musings.

I call this guy the Saint of “putting up with stubborn people”. Known as an affable guy, he was the bishop of a very small diocese and was tasked with bringing the Celtic tradition (though living in Northumbria) in line with the roman. The men under him balked and argued at Cuthbert’s instructions. But the next day he would give them the same instructions as if the argument never happened.

Here’s a story about St Cuthbert I especially like.

While visiting another monastic community he was known to slip outside in the middle of the night and return in the morning. A fellow monk wanted to find out what he did, so one night he followed him from a distance. He discovered that Cuthbert waded into the sea up to his neck. When morning came he returned, knelt on the beach, and prayed. While he did so, “two otters bounded out of the water, stretched themselves out before him, warmed his feet with their breath, and tried to dry him with their fur. They finished, received his blessing, and slipped back to their watery home”.

St Cuthbert prayed under the night sky, immersed in water. Is the story fact or legend? I’m not a forensic investigator. I have no interest in conducting an autopsy on a story.

I recommend you go read more about this man.

God bless! See you in the next one!

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