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arbre_rieur (arbre_rieur) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-05-31 19:47:00

Entry tags:

creator: bill willingham, creator: matthew sturges, publisher: vertigo comics, title: fables

The Great Fables Crossover, Parts 5 and 6

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	neuhallidae 2009-06-01 01:05 am UTC (link)
	I think the last two panels are my favorites. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dorksidefiker 2009-06-01 10:03 am UTC (link)
	Agreed. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-06-01 02:16 am UTC (link)
	One of the librarians is a redhead in glasses, Babs would be either very proud or appalled. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sinisterlink 2009-06-01 02:51 am UTC (link)
	She apparently doesn't like unicorns either. Poor thing. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	xammax 2009-06-01 10:46 am UTC (link)
	Ywah but shes Bat trained... she would have snapped its neck with her bare hands, ripped the horn out and drove it into the Unicorns heart. The only way to kill one. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jlbarnett 2009-06-01 06:31 am UTC (link)
	How exactly does organizing things so it's easy to find what you're looking for relating to crushing genres. I would think it actually makes them easier to find and thus encourages them. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	thandrak 2009-06-01 06:32 am UTC (link)
	Once you label something, you control it. Names have power! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arilou_skiff 2009-06-01 07:44 am UTC (link)
	Isn't the point though that without these labels there are no genrés in the first place? A genré is after all a form of classification, and hence a label. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thandrak 2009-06-01 07:59 am UTC (link)
	A genre is roughly natural. A librarian takes that natural shape and puts it in a box, is what the story seems to be saying. Like a butterfly on a pin. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-06-01 04:07 pm UTC (link)
	Consider the difference between the relatively straightforward alphabetical order, and the Dewey decimal system... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

<-- cataloger in training

ceru
2009-06-01 05:36 pm UTC (link)

....ay ay ay.

Alphabetical order of what? Fiction books? In Dewey, fiction pretty much all goes in the same place--800s, sorted maybe language and national origin; stuff is otherwise probably only sorted by author's last name or the main entry otherwise. Most libraries I've seen using Dewey don't even bother to use the DDC on the fiction stuff, because there's no point--and they separate from the rest of the fiction (mystery, romance, western, graphic novels, etc) because genre readers like that. It saves a lot of hunting. DDC doesn't have any kind of genre provision. Neither does the Library of Congress Classification. The closest you're likely to get is the use of LOC Subject Headings, which have a little bit of provision for genre, but it's frankly overkill to use them.

Classification is all about organizing the non-fiction, which constitutes the bulk of most published material, including what's held in most libraries. Trust me, when you come looking for, say, books on Java, you'll be glad they're not interfiled with every other book in the collection, alphabetical under the author's name.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: <-- cataloger in training

icon_uk
2009-06-01 05:47 pm UTC (link)

Ummmm good stuff, but not what I meant (and I did enough time in the school library in my day to know)

I was comparing the notion of a straightforward, widely known notion like "alphaetical order", which sorts without classification, and the Dewey Decimal system, which catalogues far more, for wont of a better term, ruthlessly, and is in no way obvious to a passing observer.

By stringently controlling the classification of the genres rather than a looser categorisation, the genre's have less freedom and wither away

(Reply to this) (Parent)

thandrak
2009-06-01 06:31 am UTC (link)

Crush the genres...

I think last issue and this issue, the resolution has become more and more clear. There's only one place where you can find a raft of new fairy tales these days. Only one place that can _laugh_ at Revise. Only one place where genre is not only broken, but nullified.

Where you can find a boy and a magic genie next to a girl with a magic wand next to a shadowy avenger of the night next to a survivor of the end of the world next to a man from the future sent back to right that which is wrong next to a girl unable to make meaningful human contact next to an aging man who is seeking to raise the next generation and pass what he's learned on to them next to a stern man who doesn't understand entirely how the world's changed since he was young and doesn't really want to accept it next to a father and son reunited creating a family they never knew.

... and that's just between one set of covers. Next to them is a story of the survival of one man in the Holocaust told through metaphor. Next to that is a fairy tale. Next to that is a musing on what it means to grow up and be a man and a father, next to that is a story of how glorious the world is, next to that is a vampire romance, next to that is a story of how war is glorious... and next to that is a story of how war is hell, and next to that is a warning that we are all on a road to a dystopian future, and next to that is... well.

Hell.

You've all got those comics, don't you?

It's been twenty five years since Optimus Prime first graced newsstand shelves. That's the official launching of Transformers. (The entire story behind the toys comes from Marvel staff, as do their names.)

It's been 70 since Superman took his first leap.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	thandrak 2009-06-01 06:35 am UTC (link)
	I think they count as fables by now, don't you? God knows, if Science Fiction does... (Okay, I lost the last sentence. Such is life.) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arbre_rieur 2009-06-01 11:17 pm UTC (link)
	Apparently, in the Fables world, superheroes count as their own genre. Science fiction makes mention of his younger brother, Superhero, having died and been reborn more times than anyone can count. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thandrak
2009-06-02 04:41 am UTC (link)

... and that's just between one set of covers. Next to them is a story of the survival of one man in the Holocaust told through metaphor. Next to that is a fairy tale. Next to that is a musing on what it means to grow up and be a man and a father, next to that is a story of how glorious the world is, next to that is a vampire romance, next to that is a story of how war is glorious... and next to that is a story of how war is hell, and next to that is a warning that we are all on a road to a dystopian future, and next to that is... well.

Maus. Bone. Superman: Secret Identity. Astro City. I, Vampire. Captain America (vol 1, 1943), Sgt. Rock. Martha Washington.
Graphic Novels is a filing location in the library, but not everything in it is a superhero story.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

arbre_rieur
2009-06-01 11:18 pm UTC (link)

"Where you can find a boy and a magic genie next to a girl with a magic wand next to a shadowy avenger of the night next to a survivor of the end of the world next to a man from the future sent back to right that which is wrong next to a girl unable to make meaningful human contact next to an aging man who is seeking to raise the next generation and pass what he's learned on to them next to a stern man who doesn't understand entirely how the world's changed since he was young and doesn't really want to accept it next to a father and son reunited creating a family they never knew."

Okay, are you talking about a specific title? I've been racking my brain trying to figure it out...

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thandrak 2009-06-02 04:38 am UTC (link)
	Thunderbolt. Stargirl. Obsidian. Kingdom Come Superman. Black Lightning's daughter. Flash I. Green Lantern I. Wildcat I and III. JSA. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-06-01 06:54 am UTC (link)
	This is one of the most twee, preening examples of self-indulgence I've read. I used to BUY Fables, too. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ghosty732 2009-06-01 09:22 am UTC (link)
	The crossover doesn't exist. Fables just skips over 3 issues in its numbering. That is what I'm telling myself, anyway. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	cmdr_zoom 2009-06-01 09:46 am UTC (link)
	Willingham, self-indulgent? Would you like me to pretend to be shocked? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	arbre_rieur 2009-06-01 03:27 pm UTC (link)
	Then you'll be happy to know that none of the above scans come from an issue of Fables. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	thandrak 2009-06-01 12:27 pm UTC (link)
	Interesting point: Bigby has become a _cartoon_ elephant. He can easily fit into the trunk of the car now, of course... but... a _cartoon_ elephant? Isn't that odd? (Reply to this)

ceru
2009-06-01 05:46 pm UTC (link)

Do you think Willingham is actually aware that modern librarians don't think of themselves as the arbiters of taste (haven't for several generations), and are the most consistent and vocal champions in the fucking United States of free speech, freedom of access to published material, literacy, and, oh yes, comics and graphic novels? I can't tell if this is intentionally or unintentionally mean-spirited and absurd.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

besamim
2009-06-01 06:35 pm UTC (link)

Intentional or not, it's definitely a combination of two common librarian stereotypes: librarian as mean ol' battleaxe lady always shushing people and hoarding information, and librarian as sexy geek-temptress.

As a librarian who is male and who in his entire career has neither shushed anyone nor kept anyone from accessing needed information, I'm afraid I don't conform to those stereotypes. Except for being geeky and sexy. ;-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	arbre_rieur 2009-06-01 11:14 pm UTC (link)
	Or maybe this isn't intended to be commentary on librarians in general anymore than Kevin Thorne is intended to be a commentary that writers in general are pretentious gits with over-inflated senses of self and god complexes. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashez2ashes 2009-06-01 07:55 pm UTC (link)
	Whose the final villian this time? TV tropes? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	darklorelei 2009-06-01 10:23 pm UTC (link)
	NONE SHALL SURVIVE! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	arbre_rieur 2009-06-01 11:15 pm UTC (link)
	Kevin Thorne, writer of the universe. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	goodfellow_puck 2009-06-02 01:19 am UTC (link)
	Whoa, that colorist needs to dial back the saturation in that opening scene lest I lose my retinas. (Reply to this)