It’s that time of the week when I direct everyone over to see the latest issue of Rich Johnston’s Lying in the Gutters.

Now, this is Rich’s column, so I won’t repeat everything here, I will however talk about a couple of things I found interesting.

Sicko Socko

Apparently Rich got a lot of complaints about this post, but I have to say, I back him up all the way. I’m not saying it is bad to give money to comic creators in need, in fact I support, and donate money to the Hero Initiative, I have also been pimping out the upcoming Josh Mendez benefit book on this blog. I share his concern for regular US citizens who do not have a large fan base to appeal to for help. I have spoken with several US residents, who find it insulting when you ask them why they don’t have a Universal Health care system (the ignorant ones anyway), they seem to think it is the first step down the road to communism, God forbid! I lived in England till I was 26, where we had the NHS. The NHS wasn’t the greatest, but it was a shared expense, funded by National Insurance contributions. I now live in Canada. The system here is a little different: everyone who works has to pay about $50 a month for their medical coverage, which is a tiny bit more expensive than paying National Health contributions. Everyone gets medical care then, no matter whether they can afford to pay for it or not; it is sort of an honour system, as it is not deducted at source of pay like NI. It is essentially the same system, but the quality of service is infinitely better than that of the NHS. The system in the US is disgusting, it just increases the rich/poor divide, because the rich can afford good medical insurance, but the poor can’t even receive medical treatment in most hospitals.

Matt fraction

Interesting news from Rich that Matt is going to become the sole writer of Uncanny. I suspected as much when he joined Brubaker on the title, but is nice to see it confirmed. Matt is a great writer, and it is awesome to see him doing so well. I just hope this doesn’t mean he won’t go back and do more Cassanova

P.S. Who is the evil genius who stuck Fraction and Remender together on Punisher War Journal? I salute your choice!

Joe Simon is a grumpy old get

Who’d have thought that Joe Simon would have such a mouth on him! He seems a bit of a curmudgeonly old bugger. I remember he came out and had a go at Ed Brubaker a while back for giving the new Cap a gun. You can get away with that sort of thing when you are comic book royalty, but surely there is a nicer way to conduct these things. Couldn’t he have contacted Gerard and told him there were some discrepancies?? The poor guy, it must feel pretty crappy to have that said about you by such a legendary figure. I found Gerard’s response was very measured and polite though. Well done to him!

The Dark Knight Review

I wasn’t going to comment on this, because I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but Rich tells me that they received complaints about the review. Seriously???? How can you complain about someone else’s opinion on a movie or comic? That is insanely stupid. If you ever find yourself emailing me about a bad review I have given to a comic or movie, do me a favour: go and stick your head in the oven first. How is one person’s opinion any more valid than anyone else’s? The world would be a very mundane place if we all liked the same things.

The Flash + LOSH

I was talking about this yesterday. These two things are definitely connected, trust me. Shooter will come off the Legion, and Geoff Johns will come on at some point. The appearance of the Legion in that recent Superman arc was probably the most interested people have been in them since DnA wrote them. Mark My words, next year, look out for Geoff Johns on The Flash and the Legion of Superheros!!!!!

Obama vs. Goatse

Rich pulled the link, for obvious reasons. Who hasn’t seen Goatse before though. If you were stupid enough to click the link, then you shouldn’t be allowed to use a computer in the first place My concern is this though: If Alex Ross always uses his friends and family as models, how did this end up looking like….. I’ll leave it at that

[Update]

I just read that someone suggested the Rich was being racist with his link. This is so fucking stupid it hurts! Assuming that people may find something racist, when it really isn’t, is actually quite insulting to the person (or group of people) that you have made the assumption on behalf of. This is the sort of mentality you see on the US news stations a lot. I have heard people on the news say that they plan to vote for Barack Obama BECAUSE he is Black, and they want to show that they aren’t racist. These people are just as racist as those people that are not going to vote for him for the same reason. Middle America: Just because you vote for the Black guy it doesn’t mean you stop being a racist. You accomplish this through your every day actions. vote for Barack Obama because you like what he has to say, and because you believe his message. Any other reason is just a wasted vote.

Sorry about the rant, but that just got on my tits!

[/Update]

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