HEYDAY OF THE BLOOD

As I mentioned before, this week at the Powell's Books website, their blog is being taken over by contributors to Portland Noir.

My piece went up today, and in it, I describe why comics, why Portland, and why I named a dog "Blanket."

"There is always a societal schism in crime stories, whether it's one that is implicitly stated or not. There is the basic divide between those who stay on the side of the law and those who step across the line to do crime. There is also the class separation of those who have something worth stealing and those who are going to steal it. While the two sides of the professional comic book world get along and are really more complicated in their nuances than a have-and-have-not distinction would imply, there are two faces to the professional coin, two types of creators in our industry. Just as our character in our Portland Noir story, "Gone Doggy Gone," points out, there are indie comics creators doing their own thing for sometimes little reward and there are the guys who work in superhero comics, usually earning more steady paychecks doing work-for-hire. Don't take that as a value judgment, the art form would not be what it is without both types of creator, and as is implied in the story, each side often envies the other.Don't take that as a value judgment, the art form would not be what it is without both types of creator, and as is implied in the story, each side often envies the other. It's only the amazing few who can jump back and forth between the two sides."

Read the whole thing here.

Hopefully Craig Thompson and Steve Lieber will forgive me.

Current Soundtrack: The Trash Can Sinatras, In the Music