Neil Gaiman - S/D

It's not the seeking as much as the getting - the levels of self-absorption apparent in the recent Guardian interview are more relevant to sic's joke, which has been thoroughly beaten to death by now.

I kind of want Tuomas to watch The Wright Way and read the Ben Elton thread now.

Must start 'Explain these clusterfuck threads to Tuomas' thread on secret board ILILX.

Or possibly on the higher-traffic IHILX.

Tuo, you're a beloved poster and a cherished member of the ilx community. You should read the Amanda Palmer thread, starting maybe a year back into it, and next time it pops up, join in the discourse.

i will never, ever understand US ilxors' fascination with some C-list goth of negligible fame and less interest

Or Amanda Palmer.

for many people a really special fingernail clipping makes a huge difference

so this is happening
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/12/joseph-gordon-levitt-sandman-movie

still skeptical

Not sure why, but I can't imagine this going well at all.

Sandman is unfilmable, and WB is a joke of a company with no respect for its IP. Wouldn't be surprised if the final product (which probably still won't happen) resembles Constantine.

oh wow there's a producer attached to a Sandman movie for the first time ever

surely the Wachowskis will line up for this crapfest

brett ratner or gtfo imo

Still think the only way this might work is as a TV series. Chuck Lorre, anyone?

David Goyer, stop working

Still think the only way this might work is as a TV series

you'll note the current version of this non-movie is called Prelude

Deeply ambivalent about this.

If they wind up doing Preludes & Nocturnes, I can see them really playing up the videogame-y quest aspect of Morpheus tracking down his tools. V unlikely to see 24 Hour Diner Meltdown in a movie that's likely to be PG-13. I feel exactly the same about this as I did about adaptations of Watchmen, From Hell, Hellblazer, etc.: No.

If it were me I'd find a way to jump straight to A Doll's House, P&N is the worst book of the series.

Fingers crossed for an appearance by Keanu Reeves as John Constantine.

(and a cameo from Ben Affleck as Batman, obviously)

Miley Cyrus as Death, plz

(Actually, she might not make a terrible Delirium.)

That would be pretty brilliant.

xp, Death becomes her

there's no real sexy goth hippie equivalent these days is there

http://thematerialsleuth.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/die-antwoord-4.jpg

just heavier on the creepy and the afrikaner accent than you would've expected, can totally see WB taking that tact

gah what is that

be nice, i like yolandi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolandi_Visser

The writing in issue one of Overture is pretty damn bad. Maybe Sandman was always bad? Haven't re-read it for maybe ten years.

Sandman doesn't really bear a lot of re-reading ime. It's construction was p novel at the time - all these seemingly disconnected strands weaving in and out - but it's not really something with a lot of depth and a lot of the art is terrible.

let me add to that - the art is really, really terrible

I've been re-reading Sandman for the first time in 20 years and it's better than I remember. His over-writing has dated better than Alan Moore's over-writing. It's still terribly precious. But the bad stuff isn't as bad as I thought it would be. And A Doll's House is still terrific fun.

His over-writing has dated better than Alan Moore's over-writing.

Oh come now, Moore>>>>>>>>Gaiman.

No, I agree with you! Gaiman is third-tier compared to Moore. I'm thinking more of things like the text panels in Swamp Thing, which are atrocious. Although I suppose Gaiman gets away with a lot of indulgence for me, because I'd rather look at a paragraph of Todd Klein than a paragraph of John Costanza.

Re: Overture - I don't want to rep for it as a great work of comics or anything, but it's a lot more fun than Century or Neonomicon.

I'm getting back into reading Sandman and forgot how enjoyable it is.

Not a huge comics fan but after a few years of Alan Moore devotion I eventually got fed up of his constant literary eulogising and cthulu references. Maybe it was the latest crappy League albums but they were like a curates egg in a way. Will always rep for his best stuff but he's fallible,you know? And sandman is a lot of fun in its way. I've only read Prologue,Dolls House and I'm onot Seasons of Most now.

You shouldn't skip the shorts in between.

let me add to that - the art is really, really terrible

― Raccoon Tanuki

Got miles better and more consistent roughly halfway through the run, thankfully.

[Sandman doesn't really bear a lot of re-reading ime. It's construction was p novel at the time - all these seemingly disconnected strands weaving in and out - but it's not really something with a lot of depth and a lot of the art is terrible.

been re-reading the entire run recently, including the books I haven't read since they were initially published in monthly comics form, and this is still pretty much how I feel. For every "oh that's clever" mythological recontextualization conceit there's a ton of precious gothic mopey posing or hamfisted repetition of themes/plot points and omg some of the art is SO BAD. Hempel, P. Craig Russell and a handful of others acquit themselves well but man there is a lot of just sloppy scratchy poorly colored bullshit. Story-wise one of the things I find annoying about it is how mechanical and fatalistic it is - there are rules, and things various beings have to do, and that's just the way it is, and then it happens, and then it's over. The lack of agency on the part of so many characters, while obviously clearly rooted in some of the mythological traditions Gaiman is so fond of pillaging, also makes any real emotional engagement with the material difficult. It's very clockwork. I kinda don't give a shit about any of them except for Hob Gadling, maybe the only genuinely relatable/realistic character in the whole thing.

It is interesting to me that while this is the work that established him, judging from my personal anecdotal experience and the various other ilx threads, he managed to become a kind of cutesy goth cottage industry with a variety of points of entry for both comics and non-comics fans alike.

Has gaiman done anything worthwhile in years? Last efforts of his I tried were that rubbish Batman funeral nonsense and the first issue of Sandman Overture, which I couldn't be arsed going on with. Prosewise, Anansi Boys was enough for me to bail.

His short prose stories are still often good.

Anansi boys is a terrible pun. Book was ok.

The YA one about the pond (?) was forgettable. Downhill all the way after the first chapter.

I've just bought the Norse Mythology thing cheap on Amazon, am hoping that's better.

I am really enjoying his current adaptation of american gods with russell and hampton. Didnt read the book tho.

russell and hampton

?

P. Craig Russell and Scott Hampton are the main two artists on the comic adaptation of American Gods. They are also using some guest artists on some of the interlude sections like Walt Simonson.

Haven't read the novel, but I have seen the first season of the TV show and after reading the first 5 issues of the comic. I liked both enough that I'm looking for a paperback at the used book stores though.

I remember liking the book but am having trouble finding the time or enthusiasm to read it again.

Nowadays I think most folks know him because of the novels and the adaptations and the Twitter account, whereas Sandman is just a "weird comic he used to to do"

My partner and most of my family have read Neverwhere, I didn't much enjoy it but they all *loved* it

I've just been re-reading Sandman too, I'm at A Game of You, which iirc is where it starts to get boring

He's not to my taste, but I wouldn't underestimate the pull of someone who writes reasonably well-written, accessible, female-reader friendly adult genre fiction - he doesn't have a ton of competition there