Comments on: You’ll All Be Sorry

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Jan. 6, 2009: Plenty of seats

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:40:19 +0000

[...] [Review] You’ll All Be Sorry Link: Johanna Draper Carlson [...]

By: Beau Smith

Beau Smith — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:03:32 +0000

I look forward to the book. That Gail is a good time read girl.

Beau

By: Gail

Gail — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:37:27 +0000

Yeah, but it’s still the problem of ‘explaining’ comedy, which I’m still loathe to do, as I think it’s a fun-destroyer at the best of times. The best commedy commentary tracks are the ones where they completely ignore the film and talk about something else, in my opinion. ;)

By: Hsifeng

Hsifeng — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:27:41 +0000

Johanna Says: “I was thinking notes because I wasn’t sure how many of your current fans remembered Bill Jemas at all, for example, let alone the specific references. Some of the mentions really taxed my memory, and I would have appreciated the help in recalling the details of the industry 8-10 years ago.”

That’s the impression I got too. You didn’t seem to be wishing for “self-referential (and self-REVerential) stuff” at all. :)

By: James Schee

James Schee — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:41:45 +0000

Interesting, I may look up some of those “free” samples to see what these were like. So I can decide if its something I’d like.

During that time frame I’d just got online, and hadn’t really gotten off AOL for a comics online community.

It might be fun to see and perhaps remember what was going on in comics and online during that times.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:25:54 +0000

I was thinking notes because I wasn’t sure how many of your current fans remembered Bill Jemas at all, for example, let alone the specific references. Some of the mentions really taxed my memory, and I would have appreciated the help in recalling the details of the industry 8-10 years ago.

Perhaps the outside margin runoff was an odd printing error… but since I saw similar spacing problems *inside* some of the text pieces themselves, I don’t think that explains all the issues I had with the layout. Thank you for your generous offer, but it’s not necessary. If it’s just my copy, then I’ll treasure it all the more for being “special”. :)

By: Gail

Gail — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:59:58 +0000

Oh, and my favorite ‘Condensed Comic Classic’ was Adam Hughes. Nice to see people being able to poke fun at themselves like that!

By: Gail

Gail — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:44:20 +0000

Heh.

Well, we thought about doing notes for each column but I have to admit I found the idea slightly nauseating. I hate that self-referential (and self-REVerential) stuff and particularly don’t feel it suits comedy well. But we can simply disagree on what serves the funny and what doesn’t.

I thought Nat did an heroic job making the book fun to read and each piece is so clearly distinct that I find it has a nice, organic separation between the pieces. I’ve seen the yabs pieces in the flat pieces of text format you describe and frankly, it sucked to look at and read (this was for an earlier attempt at the book). I’m glad Nat chose a more distinctive approach for each column, although I do understand that it’s a lot of stuff crammed in there.

What I am disturbed about is the problems you have with page run-off. I have a couple hundred copies, and while I haven’t looked through every one, I haven’t seen this printing error you mention (which is a pet peeve of mine, as well). I’d be happy to send you a replacement copy, Johanna, and I’m sorry you apparently got a futzy one. You still have my email, right? Send me your address and I’ll ship out a fresh copy post-haste, with my apologies. But I think what you’re describing is an anomaly (unless I’m completely missing it, but I’ve read several copies and haven’t seen that problem).

I think the book is great fun (and I have to say, we did aim for a low price point rather than a deluxe binding–I hate the idea of gouging people who wanted this material) and Nat did a wonderful job on a difficult project. It’s something readers have been asking for forever, and all warts should be attributed directly to me and not to Nat or his fine company.

As always, I love your reviews even when we disagree.

Best wishes and send me your address for a corrected copy! :)

Gail