Examples of Adult Comics to Send to Bill Maher?

Laer Carroll

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I just posted a reply to Bill Maher's condemnation of comics fans on his last Friday's show. You can see his comments on the following YouTube video. My reply is at the following link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgInmHHO0m4
https://laercarroll.com/2019/01/28/to-bill-maher-subject-comics-kids-grown-ups/

I want to go beyond that reply and send him a half dozen or so examples of comics, probably in the form of graphic novels. I'm a comics fan from as early as the mid-1950s, so I have some ideas. I'd like more.

I want examples that have literary worth beyond uncomplicated good-guy-fights-bad-guy. Hand to hand. In neon-colored skin-tight costumes. With capes or in high heels!

I'm looking for works that have literary worth. In other words, they should have COMPLEX REALISTIC CHARACTERS. INTERESTING LOCATIONS. ACTION BEYOND just fights - though I'm not ruling out battles of some kind, large or small.

If you decide to do the same I suggest you do what I plan to do.

  • Send them packaged so they are clearly from some legitimate vendor such as Amazon, Marvel or DC, or My Comic Shop. NOT some package wrapped in brown paper that might look as if it contained feces!
  • Send them to his agent or publicist. Their info is at THIS link.
Can you give me some help?
 

Kjbartolotta

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Oh, dear. Rutu Modan's The Property. Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home by Nicole Georges. Any zine or book by a zine author, really, they're fabulous people and deserve support. Stitches by David Small. Love and Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers. Lil comic called Persepolis. March by John f*cking Lewis. And so on.
 
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shadowsminder

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That video clip was painful. Does Maher (dressing as if he misses the 20th century while commenting on the maturity of others' fashion) feel the same about all speculative literature writers, readers, and viewers? A few of his remarks has me wondering if he would react the same to a stack of award-winning SFF novels from recent years.

By the way, here's a list of the 2018 Hugo nominees for Best Graphic Story.

Monstress, Volume 2: The Blood, written by Marjorie M. Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
Saga, Volume 7, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
Bitch Planet, Volume 2: President Bitch, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Valentine De Landro and Taki Soma, colored by Kelly Fitzpatrick, lettered by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
Black Bolt, Volume 1: Hard Time, written by Saladin Ahmed, illustrated by Christian Ward, lettered by Clayton Cowles (Marvel)
Paper Girls, Volume 3, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Cliff Chiang, colored by Matthew Wilson, lettered by Jared Fletcher (Image Comics)
My Favorite Thing is Monsters, written and illustrated by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)

I'm not sure if any of these are what you want to consider. Definitions of "literary" and opinions about "good writing" vary. Discussing whether or not a work is good enough to make a reader's life valuable is a challenge, too. More than anything, I'm posting for reference on what's loved.

I do have doubts a random package wouldn't simply be dispersed in secret to his staff... but, actually, that might be a nice gesture. The superhero fans who certainly exist on his staff have to put up with his public statement that they should die. Free graphic novels would be a nice show of support.
 
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Kylabelle

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Sailor Twain: Or: The Mermaid in the Hudson by Mark Siegel
 

Lakey

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Why waste the energy? Maher is a performer. He says things not because he believes them, but because he believes they will generate controversy and get people talking about his show. And look - it worked!

Here are the two possible things that will happen if you send him comics: (a) he ignores you entirely; (b) he follows up with a segment about how a bunch of whiny nerds got in his face with two or three examples trying to prove he was wrong, he must have really hit a nerve haha amirite? I think (a) is more likely but the odds on (b) are not terribly long.

Here is what certainly won’t happen: He follows up with a segment admitting he was wrong and highlighting all of the excellent comics out there aimed at adults and telling mature and diverse stories.

I wouldn’t waste the effort, really. You would be playing right into his hand.

:e2coffee:
 
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D. E. Wyatt

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This is going to be a waste of time. Maher has made it abundantly clear he's already made up his mind, and isn't going to change it for anything. AFAIK he hasn't even deigned to comment when people pointed out the fact he appeared in the Iron Man films (so I guess comics and comic movies DO matter when there's a paycheck involved, eh?)

He's a political dinosaur who hasn't been relevant since the 90s. I've seen more meaningful social observation from comics than anything that has dribbled out of his mouth in the last 20 years, and is just trying to stir crap up in an effort to show he's still important.
 

Chris P

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Agree with Lakey and D E Wyatt: Maher has long ago passed the point of any interest for me.

However, if you want some good non-superhero, non-zombie comics to read, anything by Craig Thompson (Blankets, Habibi, Goodbye Chunky Rice) are tops, Maus as mentioned above, March by John Lewis, Lighter than my Shadow by Catie Green, and Jules Feiffer's Kill My Mother trilogy is delightfully noir.
 
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dpaterso

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Yeah it's a nice thought, sending him comics (some excellent suggestions above).

But even if this wasn't just a trick to garner attention, is there really any possibility of changing such a narrow viewpoint?

-Derek