Reading Copy

Likely, the PDF download of public domain books that Google is now offering will ruffle some feathers.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Joel Johnson has made available a copy of Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work. The 22 Panels piece was created by Wood as a reminider to himself (and eventually other artist) — to cut down on un-necessary effort when drawing the work.

Having spent part of my youth reading and collecting comics, it’s interesting seeing this piece — and recognizing the countless panels I have seen in countless comics.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Citing a need to see a better, healthier approach to the way sex is addressed in Western culture, author Alan Moore (Watchmen, V For Vendetta, and From Hell) has, along with his fiancee Melinda Gebbie, come forth with a new, three-part graphic novel. In Lost Girls, Moore and Gebbie explore the characters of Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz), Alice (from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and Wendy (from Peter Pan), from a sexualized point of view, rather than a fantastical one.

 Not surprisingly, the idea has received its share of criticism, and has apparently owners of the Peter Pan copyright have even considered suing. The series apparently delves into some arguably questionable moral areas of sex, and some have questioned whether the authors’ intentions were as pure as they claim in its creation.

 According to Moore, though, the questionable attitudes lie not with Lost Girls, but with society’s current attitudes toward sexuality:

“I think if you were to sever that connection between arousal and shame, you might actually come up with something liberating and socially useful. It might be healthier for us, and lead to a situation such as they enjoy in Holland, Denmark, or Spain, where they have pornography all over the place—quite hardcore pornography—but they do not have anywhere the incidence of sex crimes.”

Regardless of whether or not I agree with/support the views and ideas expressed in its pages, I will be interested to check out Lost Girls, if only because I loved V for Vendetta so darn much.  

Popularity: 26% [?]