Favourite comic-book quotes

There are two quotes that just stick in my mind, and I just don't know why. I think it's either because they are funny, or they convey a lot in a few words. I recall reading a preface by Stephen Donaldson(?) about writing short stories and he said that they were harder to get right than longer tomes. His point being that with 600 pages you could scatter-gun enough words around that eventually a reader would find something they like; whereas with a short story each word is precious and has to be picked with care. I think he's right to some extent, although maybe he views the reader as slightly more forgiving of wasted time than they are. Anyway, I am amused by a short phrase that goes a long way.

Okay ... those quotes (prepare to be surprised at either my lack of recall, or troubled by my ability to recall(!)).

The first (I'm flying solo here - no reference to Google/Wiki-anything) is from the Uncanny X-Men. I'm guessing at issue 189. Not sure of the writer - possibly Claremont, or was this during his n-year hiatus? Definitely drawn by JRJR. Probably inked by Dan Green? Pah. Memory. Anyway ... there's a scene, fairly close in the story arc to "Trial of Magneto" where Kitty/Kate/Katherine Pryde is approached in her high school/college by a group demanding to know if she is a 'mutie' as they suspect. Pryde rounds on the leader of the group, retorting, "Gee Phil, I dunno. Are you a nigger?"  ("Phil" is black, obv)

I like it for it's reference to the parallel issue (throughout the X-Men the notion of an ostracised minority is equated most closely to Jews, but the morality is aligned to any such group) and the bravado. Consider that Elvis Costello's "Oliver's Army", playing around the same time, was not permitted airtime on a majority of US stations due to the aforementioned 'n' word - putting this in a Comic Code approved 'kids' story is the way to go. And simply that it's funny, direct, and exactly what she would say.


The second quote comes from (possibly) my all time favourite short series: the simply sublime 'Elektra:Assassin' by Miller and Sienkiewicz. In the opening issue, a heavily drugged Elektra is replaying key events in her past, and thinks back to a 'happier' (you need to read it to understand why it isn't) time in her childhood with her father. He is talking to her about her happy, smiling face, and says, "You are a cat. A big, Cheshire cat." The punchline comes in the (Elektra) narrative at the foot of the panel: "He reads me a story. It makes no sense."

I love that. As I said above - so much conveyed in so few words. And us mathematicians love the work of Dodgson of course :-))     <--- Cheshire cat smile.


"They smile at me until a smile back at them."

After 6 years, I've bothered to find the appropriate images:

The Final Falling Four

Following up on my last post, these are the final four films that are not part of my 'Top 50'. I guess that means I have my 50. Surely something is wrong here.

• Death in a French Garden (which is superb; larconic, sexy, funny, embarrassing, and very very French)
• Freebie and The Bean (the first 'buddy' cop movie ... Alan Arkin and James Caan on top form)
• In Which We Serve (Noel Coward's moving tribute, beautifully contrasting pre-war England with the dreadful loss of wartime)
• LA Story (Do Wa Diddy Diddy ... sometimes there is no meaning)

This means I have no Steve Martin in my 50 ... no Roxanne, LA Story, Man with Two Brains, All of Me, Lucky Guy, ... sheesh. I have no taste.

P.S. Yes - I do keep updating that other list!