how not to think about comics (or anything else)

so prove me a know-nothing philistine quack

(yah i mean k3nn3th sm!th obv)

wh4+ r u t@|k1|\|g 480uT?

i am talking about k3nn3th sm!th's DR4M4S OF THE M!ND column, which ran in the comics journal in the late 80s and early 90s: it wz v.hi-falutin in its claims for itself and its superior grasp of the value and essence of art, very (i thought) tediously written and unclear - or anyway abstract - content-wise, and whenever readers complained abt it (= often), the editorial reponse seemed to be HAHA WE KNEW YOU'D SAY THAT IT JUST SHOWS HOW LAME YOU ARE

it's possible i am the only person living on ilc who remembers it

perhaps i shd just make this "comics journal: CoD" :(

i would kink to k.smith's website but i am not keen on his arriving here QUITE yet

haha kink = link

Philosophers are kinky. Pseudo-philosophers, not as much.

That's all I got, sorry Mark.

Good timing! He's back in the Journal — the column is now called "Time Out of Joint" — and according to someone over at the TCJ message board, he gets paid in ad space. Is this what TCJ was revamped to make room for? Oy!

!

so what is the tcj like these days? i enjoyed rereading its angry late-80s defences of old-fashioned journalistic ethics and practice, given the times we live in now - it's kind of a reverse version of "low-determines-high" viz that if you let standards slip on how ads shape editorial in [insert name of feeble long-forgotten quasi-indie late-80s title here], pretty soon the NYT will follow suit!!

Haha I remember it all too well but the Friends Of K3n Sm1th have conspired to have my ILX work access blocked so I could not chip in.

As I understand it the story is that he is one of GG's old teachers or tutors who made such an impression on the young Gary that he gets an intellectual bye for evermore. I am sure I remember one TCJ letters column where GG calls him the most intelligent man in America! Mark S. is right about the impenetrability - not because the issues raised were particularly 'difficult', I did once very closely read one of the columns and understood it fine, it was just that the style was *so* excessively wordy and boring.

I think someone should type out chunks of a "Dramas Ov Thee Mind" and submit it to Chuck Eddy with the words "The Streets Review" at the top.

I don't think much has changed in terms of tone/philosophy at TCJ, but I only buy it on the rare occasion when I'm feeling flush and the current issue happens to have interview subjects I'm interested in. I try to keep up with their goings-on via the messageboard, but as Kim Thompson has noted over there, "The plural of anus is messageboard." There's been a format change to more pages/squarebound/better paper/higher price and an alleged frequency change to 9/year. I'd like to get the new issue, but the local Books A Million has stopped carrying it. Dirk Deppey seems to have brought some new energy and I'd like to read it on a regular basis, but I've got, like, bills n' shit to pay and I don't have much room for $10 magazines in my life.

Tom, that's a beer-spitting good idea.

it is IMPOSSIBLE to take Ken Smith at all seriously once you have seen his ultra-sappy pontilistic fantasy artwork - i bet there's some on his website.

Groth has always had a weakness for pseudo-intellectual elitist blowhards and cultural conservatives - Smith, Burne Hogarth, Harlan Ellison, R. Crumb etc

I was at the '86 Dallas con and happened across a Burne Hogarth "chalk talk" on anatomy. I didn't understand a fucking word he said, other than the easy ones like "the" and "and". Here's my heresy of the day: I've always found his comics work sterile and soulless. His best work was as an educator.