Creates a Character Named Rorschach...

...is surprised people have differing opinions on character

After spending way too long on my Death of the Author video, I decided to make a quickie palate cleanser as soon as possible—

If you’re subscribed to the TMFS channel, hopefully you got a notification. You may have also gotten notified about a live-stream yesterday afternoon…

Big Announcement

An old friend from film school, Casey Coleman, reached out to me to ask if he could help with TMFS. I have been planning on live streaming some old movies, and this seemed like a good opportunity to create a fun, interactive element to TMFS. We’re calling it Public Domain Theater.

So, this Thursday (Halloween), we’re going to watch Night of the Living Dead together. We’ll be offering a running commentary as we go, discussing film technique and history. You can join us, too! And if you can’t make it live, the stream will be available later on YouTube.

On Alan Moore

If the headline of today’s piece isn’t familiar to you, here’s a very abbreviated rundown. Alan Moore is renowned comic book writer, probably most famous for creating the classic Watchmen, and in the process, inventing what we now call the “graphic novel.”¹

One of the characters is named Rorschach, a complex anti-hero. Fans love him, which kind of drive Moore crazy. The reason I was thinking of it is because I came across this comic today—

Now, I have gone on record saying that the Death of the Author is stupid. But Moore literally named the character after a test that shows images which are specifically designed to be interpreted many different ways.

If there was ever a time to disregard the author’s intentions, this seems to be it. If you want. Or don’t. Who am I to say?

And a Thank You!

Last but not least for this post, I want to extend gratitude to

The Brothers Krynn

for plugging my Halloween video in their latest recommendation post. They write great analyses for their newsletter, so it’s an honor to be mentioned by them.

And since we were talking about comics, you should read their post about the Death of Superman. Strangely, it’s the first comic book I ever read as a kid, and I still remember it fondly.

Day of Doomsday - Analyzing The Death of Superman - The Boldest and Most Horrifying of all Superhero Comics Ever Written by Dan

1. A term I hate, because it betokens insecurity on the part of the comics industry, as though novels are inherently superior to comic books.