The Lightning Rod: Austen Interview Gen. Discussion
Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:51 pm
Ok here are my two cents. I hope I don't regret this hehe..
When Chuck Austen first got on the xbooks I did enjoy his first few stories. However that quickly changed, and I began to not enjoy them so much.
Though, I do think that it was horrible that Austen got threats, that people called him a racists, or any of those things. Fans who did that definitely went too far. Personal attacks like that are not good.
Sometimes I think a lot of this is just group behavior. This happens when you get a lot of people together. Almost every message board is the same. Sometimes they might start off really positive, but just from my observation they all turn out at the same place.
People like to criticize. Fans also seem to love to hate things that they are supposed to be fans of. I noticed this a long time ago.
But using ridicule to get people to stop hating doesn't seem to help either. Calling fans who complain a lot "losers" or implying they have no lives doesn't seem to help much. I don't know if labels like troll or troll behavior help much either. Like a lot of you said its a complicated matter.
I mean I get aggrevated with "haters" also. I post on the Jean Grey Message Board. Most of the posters there loved New X-men and Jean Grey's portrayal but a very extremely vocal minority who hated Grant Morrison's run made it unbearable sometimes to post there or to try and share excitment for the book.
I mean I see how fans of Chuck Austen would have to get very upset after a while.
Like others pointed out its just not xfan or a couple of boards who have members who absolutley did not like Austen's run.
I know I've criticised Austen's work before and I kinda felt like I was looked on as a troll.
So I think it gets out of hand on both sides. I see how big time fans of Austen can get so tired of it all, but I see hate everywhere on internet comic boards. When it comes to X-men boards there is a whole lot of hate for Grant Morrison.
It is seemingly never ending.
I tried to find something to appreciate about Austen's work on Uncanny and then came his "She Lies with Angels" story and there is where I quit reading.
I know it was said that the editors came up with the idea of the story. But if I ever could ask Austen one question it would be Why did he portray Kentuckians like he did?
I mean we can debate a lot of things about Austen's work... such as did he really write weak females or did he really not like Religion or whatever else it was that people kept saying about him and his run....
But one thing that seems plain is that he wrote some nasty stereotypes in the "She Lies With Angels" story arc.
I know I got flack when I posted about it when the arc came out but I just don't understand why he used those stereotypes. I do not know why he portrayed people from Kentucky as these backwater dumb racists hicks.
Most media images of Appalachian people are of these horrible stereotypes. I was hoping that when I learned that Austen was taking the Xmen to KY that we'd see a different side to the area that what we normally do in most media interpretations.
I didn't buy the whole arc, but i was half expecting an incest joke or reference. That is another big stereotype about East Kentucky.... that a lot of incest goes and marrying of cousins and that sort of thing.
:-
So in the end, though I did not enjoy a lot of Austen's Uncanny work, it was the She Lies with Angels story that really had me not a fan...
Mike
When Chuck Austen first got on the xbooks I did enjoy his first few stories. However that quickly changed, and I began to not enjoy them so much.
Though, I do think that it was horrible that Austen got threats, that people called him a racists, or any of those things. Fans who did that definitely went too far. Personal attacks like that are not good.
Sometimes I think a lot of this is just group behavior. This happens when you get a lot of people together. Almost every message board is the same. Sometimes they might start off really positive, but just from my observation they all turn out at the same place.
People like to criticize. Fans also seem to love to hate things that they are supposed to be fans of. I noticed this a long time ago.
But using ridicule to get people to stop hating doesn't seem to help either. Calling fans who complain a lot "losers" or implying they have no lives doesn't seem to help much. I don't know if labels like troll or troll behavior help much either. Like a lot of you said its a complicated matter.
I mean I get aggrevated with "haters" also. I post on the Jean Grey Message Board. Most of the posters there loved New X-men and Jean Grey's portrayal but a very extremely vocal minority who hated Grant Morrison's run made it unbearable sometimes to post there or to try and share excitment for the book.
I mean I see how fans of Chuck Austen would have to get very upset after a while.
Like others pointed out its just not xfan or a couple of boards who have members who absolutley did not like Austen's run.
I know I've criticised Austen's work before and I kinda felt like I was looked on as a troll.
So I think it gets out of hand on both sides. I see how big time fans of Austen can get so tired of it all, but I see hate everywhere on internet comic boards. When it comes to X-men boards there is a whole lot of hate for Grant Morrison.
It is seemingly never ending.
I tried to find something to appreciate about Austen's work on Uncanny and then came his "She Lies with Angels" story and there is where I quit reading.
I know it was said that the editors came up with the idea of the story. But if I ever could ask Austen one question it would be Why did he portray Kentuckians like he did?
I mean we can debate a lot of things about Austen's work... such as did he really write weak females or did he really not like Religion or whatever else it was that people kept saying about him and his run....
But one thing that seems plain is that he wrote some nasty stereotypes in the "She Lies With Angels" story arc.
I know I got flack when I posted about it when the arc came out but I just don't understand why he used those stereotypes. I do not know why he portrayed people from Kentucky as these backwater dumb racists hicks.
Most media images of Appalachian people are of these horrible stereotypes. I was hoping that when I learned that Austen was taking the Xmen to KY that we'd see a different side to the area that what we normally do in most media interpretations.
I didn't buy the whole arc, but i was half expecting an incest joke or reference. That is another big stereotype about East Kentucky.... that a lot of incest goes and marrying of cousins and that sort of thing.
:-
So in the end, though I did not enjoy a lot of Austen's Uncanny work, it was the She Lies with Angels story that really had me not a fan...
Mike