tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243012679315072030.post4330385863497908533..comments2024-03-13T06:04:12.643+00:00Comments on Thoughts Of A Workshy Fop: Ampney Crucis Investigates... Vile Bodies (2000AD #1611-1616, #1666-1671) NSFWvaralys the darkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17032083859598898676noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243012679315072030.post-26061634244332153722015-06-28T20:30:24.019+01:002015-06-28T20:30:24.019+01:00Yeah, it's interesting that in just two storyl...Yeah, it's interesting that in just two storylines they've filled in enough details about the Eldrtich Abominations that you are fascinated to find out more about them, how they have intefered in humanity existance, like did Ampney's monster somehow help cause WWI just so it could feed? We know it's one of the top monsters of the heirarchy as just an image of it makes War Child break apart, I hope they explore more about the uber-lamprey in later storylines.<br /><br />Eddie Cromwell is a cool dude. I like that he and Ampney have a friendship across class lines, and that they'd obviously die for each other.<br /><br />Full frontal MALE nudity? Madam, I have Standards! :D<br /><br />This book (and collected version of Devlin Waugh) has definitely made me appreciate painted art again. Though I hope my tumblr posts from TOXIC show how and why I soured on it back in the day. Actually what I now like about painted art is that it feels a very UK specific type of comic art, for some reason I've rarely read a US comic that utilises the media (only Bill Sienkiewicz's "Stray Toasters" springs to mind, I'll have to cover that one day). I think it's because UK artists don't split their workload between an inker, penciller and colourist very often so you get a more auteurist art approach for better or worse.<br /><br />I hope there is more Ampney Crucis to come (and would be much appreciated, thanks!), I love a Lovecraftian horror series, and setting it during the period Mr. HP was writing his Eldritch stories was a stroke of meta-genius.varalys the darkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17032083859598898676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243012679315072030.post-40377844993576658042015-06-28T19:56:10.764+01:002015-06-28T19:56:10.764+01:00Part of the reason why I like this series is that ...Part of the reason why I like this series is that it's such a perfect metaphor for the awful, almost super-real or preternatural nature of World War One. In a way it would be <i>better</i> if we could blame some eldritch abomination for the whole ghastly affair. Ampney's basically someone who once saw how horrible life can be and can't stop seeing it afterwards, so he has to use the rest of his life to help people in trouble because he can't not see the horribleness.<br /><br />If Eddie Cromwell is stereotypically working class he might be intended to remind readers of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's Chancellor, who was the working-class son of a blacksmith. He helped to de-establish the Catholic church. Or he could be a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, the regicide. Definitely a subversive name anyway :-D<br /><br />I'm glad you liked my gift. Simon Davis' art is very good. Doesn't matter whether or not it's painted. It's the right medium for <i>him</i>. Equally, that doesn't mean that paint is necessarily the right medium for anyone else. Someone criticised Davis in the latest <i>2000 AD</i> and I was very cross, because I reckon they were blaming him for faults in the story. Or maybe they were just used to Masssimo Belardinelli drawing <i>Sláine</i> and doing movement/motion lines round everything. It's good that you can see that paint can be used to convey movement just as well as inks.<br /><br />The WWI monster sucks the skin off men and dumps them back on the ground as empty husks. That's a very effective metaphor, and in an SFF comic it doesn't come across as heavy-handed, because that's what SFF is like.<br /><br />Calliope is the muse of epic verse, and Morpheus' girlfriend (in Neil Gaiman's <i>Sandman</i> anyway).<br /><br />I have nothing to add to that image either, except that that lady has what I believe is traditionally referred to as a 'swan-like' neck. Only she's probably a bee. Or a flower.<br /><br />Redvers has daisies growing out of his chest. Seems oddly prosaic. Mind you, I bet daisies gave Ampney flashbacks for a long time afterwards. I think that this first story is basically about bad masculine forces (war, guns, force, male agents of the government) versus bad feminine forces (a giant plant-vagina thing, absolute maternal control that allows nobody to think independently). I could be wrong, though.<br /><br />Disappointed that you didn't scan the picture of full-frontal male nudity :-D<br /><br />It's scary to think that Ampney Crucis' monster is somehow even more horrifying than war itself.<br /><br />If more Ampney Crucis TPBs are published I'll buy them and give them to you after I've read them.Lucy McGoughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11343777122050849475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243012679315072030.post-82003663590045301182015-06-25T09:08:23.921+01:002015-06-25T09:08:23.921+01:00That second story it was hard to find a panel with...That second story it was hard to find a panel without boobs in it. The boobs in story one were entirely gratuitous though...varalys the darkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17032083859598898676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243012679315072030.post-62755946433144001232015-06-25T08:47:44.817+01:002015-06-25T08:47:44.817+01:00thats awesome art! and lots of boobs as well :Dthats awesome art! and lots of boobs as well :DG.noreply@blogger.com