PART ONE: COMICS PERSONALITY TYPEName: Bryan Lee O'Malley
Age: Twenty-Nine
Sign: PISCES
Introverted or extroverted?
Mostly introverted, but gradually learning how to deal with people.
What are your top 5 procrastination tools?
Internet, internet, internet, cats, eating.
What gets your juices flowing?
I don't know. My juices are fickle. I like to be in a nice even temper. That seems to work. If I'm feeling too emotional in any way, I can't function. I guess I'm a robot.
PART TWO: COMICS CONSUMER
What kind of comics do you like to read?
I mostly read manga. My favourite thing is to buy old, untranslated manga from the 70s and 80s. Of course, I also keep up with the latest "indie comics" and lit-graphic-novels, etcetera.
What kind of comics do you dislike?
I think I dislike current superhero comics. What I've seen of them, anyway. I like some of the artists a lot, some of the writers a lot, but the combination of the stiff photorealist art and the stiff computer letters just leaves me so cold. Give me just a little bit of humanism, please. (The whole editorial-mandate system turns me off, too, I think. Pretty much everything about them turns me off. The paper they're printed on turns me off.)
When were you first introduced to comics?
My dad had a collection of old Classics Illustrated, and my cousins had old superhero comics in their closets, and at some point we also got a huge bag of old Archie digests from the cousins, which were undoubtedly an influence.
What were some of your first comics?
I personally first had Transformers #19 - that was the first one I remember buying. I still own it, it's in my basement with all the other Transformers comics of my youth. I later traded comics with other kids in the fifth grade. I strongly recollect acquiring (and later trading away, weep) the X-MEN VS FANTASTIC FOUR miniseries, and I have a strong association with the Fall of the Mutants arc in the main X-Men title.
What is your favorite animated movie?
It used to be ALADDIN when I was a kid, but I don't know anymore. I don't really have one. Animation is not something that particularly lights my fire.
What is your favorite anime series?
I have no favourite. The most enjoyable one that I watched in the past couple years was THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA. I haven't watched the ones from my youth in a long time. FLCL, I guess - I bought the box set last year when I realized I had the money for it.
PART THREE: COMICS CREATOR
What kind of comics do you make?
Whatever kind I want!
When did you first start making comics?
I have been making comics ever since I was very very young, without any real lull. Telling stories with pictures has always been my deal.
What are your favorite comic artists right now?
When I need some comics juice, I keep turning to Tezuka, early Rumiko Takahashi, and a couple of Japanese fellows who aren't really translated - Mochiru Hoshisato (LIVING GAME, in scanlations someplace) and Yuichi Hasegawa (MAPS, I have no idea). I found those two in a used manga store originally. Another one I'm into is CHI'S SWEET HOME by the brilliant Kanata Konami.
- Mood:
heart burn
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Comments
Those Transformer books (and those X-Men arcs) are about exactly when and where I got into comics, too. That and Groo. Lovely, lovely Groo.
ALex.
If you can get your hands on all four discs at once, I highly recommend watching it in broadcast order. (1, 2, 3, 8, 4, 10, 9, 11, 14, 5, 13, 12, 6, 7.) Although admittedly splitting the island two-parter is just cruel.
(The American release is in chronological order, except the first episode is the original first episode.)
"(The American release is in chronological order, except the first episode is the original first episode.)"
Or maybe I'm already there. Heh.
Thanks again.
Alex.
Guess that's a do-over
Great series though. I bought the FLCL box set last year too. I should send away for the t-shirt one of these days.
It's interesting - you said that animation isn't something that "lights your fire," but your work is full of life and movement, and I could easily see it being animated.
Isn't the next Miyazaki coming out about the "Goldfish Princess" or something like that?
Ah! Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponyo_on_t
Interesting stuff.
EDIT: That reminds me, I still have some old untranslated manga somewhere - I ended up getting some of Dark Horse's early manga translations, too. Good stuff.
Edited at 2008-07-15 02:15 pm (UTC)
All the subtlety and style tends to get washed out when things get translated to animation.
I do think he should check out the Beck anime though. I think it actually improved upon the manga a ton. It's the same story but told a little more stylishly and you get to actually hear the music!
I can understand the comics vs. animation idea. I think that both can do things that the other can't. I think comics win out a little more essentially because of the experiences that reading one can offer. Maybe it's just me, but I find it easier to become immersed in a comic than an animation. (I still enjoy animation a lot, though.)
It's hard to believe it's already been 8 years since I first watched it. (The series boosted my already-existing desire for a Vespa, and my LJ had FLCL userpics for the longest time...)
Since you like old manga series, are you familiar with Kimagure Orange Road? It never got translated. (The anime did, but whatever.)
I remember downloading it one day I was looking for a complete Manga to download, instead of just individual chapters. The art seemed retro enough, but had a charm to it; once I read the summary, though, it stroke me as the kind of thing I'd read.
It was hard to stop reading it after the first few chapters. I still have it in my portable hard disk, just because.
Because the whole "dad left me comics, cousins left me a ton of Archies" deal is very similar to my first introduction to comic BOOKS.
But then I remembered that I've been reading Heathcliff since I was 3 years old... which was also the first comic I ever drew.
Is it all inclusive? Or do you differentiate?
I was obsessed with Garfield collections when I was pretty little, and Peanuts when I was a little older, and calvin & Hobbes, and then I was obsessed with the Little Nemo collections I found at the library. They were kind of parallel to the comic books and manga.