As evidenced by this picture I recently received from my good friend and sticker source, Series 3 Baby Nightsoil stickers are printed and on their way. Series 3 features such subjects as Hank Williams, James Brown, tigers, pandas, non-panda bears, the Big Chicken, and Macho King Randy Squirrel at the foot of the pyramids of endless sacrifice. As usual, quality is high and supply is limited.
Atlanta’s Synchronicity Theatre will be presenting Carson Kreitzer’s Lasso of Truth, a play about Wonder Woman and her creator William Moulton Marston. The play will run from September 26-October 19, 2014 at the Synchronicity Theatre’s new location at Peachtree Pointe 1545 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. The World’s Second Greatest Detective asked Matt Myers, one of the actors performing in the production.
WXL: Briefly describe your role in Lasso of Truth.
MATT MYERS: I play Guy, who is the owner of a comic store in the 90s. He’s an artist himself, having learned to draw partially from reading Wonder Woman comics, and partially from going to the Rhode Island School of Design. He’s minding his own business one day, when in walks a girl bent on owning the first appearance of Wonder Woman (All-Star Comics #8), and thus his life is changed forever.
It’s a really interesting take on Wonder Woman’s origins and some pretty cool storytelling elements in there. And I get to play a comic shop owner who is not like Comic-Book Guy on the Simpsons.
WXL: What are some of the differences between theatre and comic books as story-telling mediums?
MATT: The luxury of comic books is that you can accentuate things with closeups and angles and using the visual language of comics to convey information very quickly. No closeups in theatre, unless we run at the audience suddenly, or angle changes unless we move the stage. I’m only half joking on that. But theatre has its own conventions to fall back on. Music, sound design, lighting; that can make it a more visceral experience. Both mediums have their own ways of letting you into the minds of the characters, thought-bubbles versus soliloquy. Comics are (generally) a one reader at a time experience, while everyone is experiencing theatre together, so both offer there own types of intimacy with an audience. Honestly, I think they’re more similar than different, though, just from pacing and the types of stories we tell and the types of people who are drawn to them.
WXL: Personally I’ve grown very attached to Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s work on Wonder Woman and feel nervous about the Finches taking over the title. Azzarello and Chiang had Wonder Woman standing nearly outside of the DC universe and the Finches intend to tie the title more closely with events with the DC universe as whole. Likewise Wonder Woman will make her first appearance on the silver screen in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Do you prefer Wonder Woman as a stand alone character or as part of the larger DC universe? How do you see her involvement with the larger DC universe affect her and her strength as a character?
MATT: For total transparency, I haven’t really read Wonder Woman since John Byrne rebooted her, and before that, George Perez. Guess I’m dating myself there.
We were discussing at rehearsal the other night why Wonder Woman is a difficult character to write. She’s not only Iconic, but Symbolic. So you can tinker around with the iconic characters (and Lord knows they have) but her symbolism and significance makes it hard to do as much with her. Folks get ticky when you deviate too far from form with her. Look no further than David Finch saying they weren’t focusing on the feminism of Wonder Woman. Folks get upset. Even folks who may not have read Wonder Woman recently or ever. She’s that important, Symbolically. And someone has to keep that torch lit.
So all of that to say, I think it’s important that there’s a Wonder Woman in the DC universe and that the other characters show her reverence. It’s a small but important thing. If Batman and Superman treat her as their equal and not like an equivalent to Aquaman (sorry, Aquaman fans) or the JLA admin (sorry, Flash fans), it’s better for the character. There is no other female character in comics with her kind of cache and power. Still, I understand wanting to give her some distance from the rest of the universe because that frees her up from some of that baggage.
WXL: When the New 52 launched in September 2011, Azzarello and Chiang received a lot of flack for changing Wonder Woman’s origin from daughter of clay to daughter of Zeus. Many critics felt a certain degree of her essence came from her fatherless origins. Having worked with the character’s real life origins and Marston’s own challenges to gender meaning for Lasso of Truth, how important is this detail of Wonder Woman’s origin to you?
MATT: Hmm, that’s an interesting question. Never really thought about it. But you know, since you brought it up, I think it is important to the character that she didn’t have a male authority figure. It keeps her from having to kowtow to a man, for anyone to have sovereign over her. Zeus is the big boss and all the mythological guys have to bow to him, but Hippolyta seemed a bit more of a guiding force, rather than a vindictive one. In theory, I preferred their relationship. Granted, all of these characters could be much different now than I’m remembering them, as the characters continue to evolve whether I read them or don’t, but I imagine they’ve stayed similar. Wonder Woman bows to no man.
WXL: Do you believe Marston’s ideas are still present in the character of Wonder Woman?
MATT: Absolutely. She is the standard-bearer for female superheroes. In any incarnation of her, they always have her strength, fortitude and force of will. These are key to her. He wanted to show that strength and femininity are not at odds with each other and she does that.
WXL: Which DC Comics superhero do you believe is best suited to play Hamlet?
MATT: I guess the obvious answer is Batman. The death of a loved one causes them to become single-mindedly focused on vengeance, taking their own sanity into doubt at times, and using cunning to defeat the wrongdoers. Maybe Green Arrow? Both of those guys can dwell in the dark places that Hamlet has to go. I guess that makes Claudius Ra’s Al Ghul.
Ooh, I would add that Essential Theatre did a show called Bat-Hamlet a few years ago, that focused on exactly that.It seemed to lend itself more to the Adam West Batman but it followed the train of thought you’re talking about.
WXL: What are you reading?
MATT: I’m reading She-Hulk, Nightcrawler, Afterlife with Archie, Astro City, and Saga. I go in and out of reading Walking Dead and Invincible and have lately mulled over catching back up on Fables. It’s hard for me to keep up with single issues so I mostly do trades these days.
I think both of these pieces came out pretty well, each creating a distinct scene. In the top one, I hear a soundtrack that crosses the soundtrack of Silence of the Lambs- that bit where the Buffalo peacocks- and Edward Elgar’s Pomp of Circumstance march, livening up the percussion crew Mickey Hart employed to score Apocalypse Now, perhaps with bass powerful enough to shake lava out of distance volcanoes despite being a distance fatally far from the ears of someone who might sympathize with your screams. It would be a party. Le génie de Mal, my dear friends. Or as the Lizard King, not a far cry from the Macho King, once said: “This place has everything. Pills, girls, grass. C’mon, I’ll show you.”
This one’s shooting more for a tranquility in passing, the half-smile from a stranger that feels like a Valium or when you hear a violin played underground- this music would be much softer, but no less intense- David Borden meeting up with Francisco Tarrega in a zen garden in the year 5000 where the lines between analog and digital, man and woman, life and death have been blurred so harmoniously that prayers and giggles set an unpredictable beat- so unpredictable anyone can follow along.
This first picture was done as a birthday present, a wolf-bat visiting upon the home of the birthday boy in question. The birthday party itself was pleasant and included a nice spread of grilled meat action and traditional sides. As far as I know, no bat penis was served, but there were hot dogs and while the presence of such exotic fare as chiropteral phallus muscle would surprise me, it is not beyond the realm of reasonable ingredients. I myself had a delicious burger, expertly seasoned and grilled. During the time I was at the party, the music played predominantly was Madonna.
This second drawing features some of the staff from Slice of Brookhaven, a friendly pizzeria and bar located in Brookhaven, which neighbors Atlanta. The staff there is very pleasant and the pizza is top notch. I host pub trivia there every Tuesday at 8pm and encourage you to come by. I always ask a DC Comics question and I think I put together a pretty good trivia DJ set list. I struggled at first with the musical demands of the trivia host because I was hung up by some of preconceived notions on transforming a space with music- I was born to score alien weddings, robot pornography, and non-consensual ketamine dosings, so adjusting those artistic sensibilities to fit the trivia vibe took a few tries. Eventually I stopped worrying and learned to love classic rock, but I assure you I’ve retained some of the spirit of the fringe. Hopefully I’ll do a few more panda portraits at the restaurant. I like the look of the place and after all is said and done, if an artist truly wants to celebrate the beauty of life, surely their themes address the sophisticated psychic power imbued in pizza. The staff all wear red shirts, which makes them easy to identify but lowers their chances of survival should they be sent out on a mission by Captain James Tiberius Kirk. That’s the cost to be the boss, I suppose.
Here’s another batch of panda artifacts that I’ve been working on. In the first one, I’m trying out a couple of things. I’ve filled the eye sockets with a red that equally romantic and demonic. Additionally I’ve added some patterns on the face, inspired by the many Dios Los Muertos faces I’ve seen recently, and then I colored the flesh, which I usually leave white, an orange, in hopes of evoking fond tiger spirits.
In this picture, I’m nonchalantly drawing parallels between flowers, hair, and stars. I’m trying to generate a feeling of repetition without actually using repetition, like varying a phrase in music. Nothing heavy.
The color schemes here are taken from Disney’s interpretations of beloved childhood shoe-gazers Winnie the Pooh and his jackass friend Eeyore.
This is a picture of Kiwan and Jennie from Billion Dollar Baby, an Atlanta-based musical duo that I met at Wonder Root. One of the first things I noticed about Kiwan was his jewelry, which he wears every day. Those of you who follow this blog will understand why I was immediately attracted to it. Jennie and I were interviewed simultaneously a few weeks back. I’m not sure when it will become available, but I’ll likely let you know. You should keep your eyes and ears peeled for Billion Dollar Baby.
A friend of mine suggested several popular figures for me to depict as pandas. Among her suggestions was NYC mayoral candidate and sexting champion Anthony Weiner, depicted here with his incredibly supportive wife Huma Abedin. If you are interested in seeing more of Weiner, you may want to check out these graphic images of his penis. If you are not interested in seeing his penis, I strongly suggest you don’t click on that link and click on this link instead. While drawing the disgraced politician, the Flaming Lips’ “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” came on and it got me thinking about the Flaming Lips, no strangers to sharing pictures of weiners, and I came up with a little play on the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.
(to the tune of “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song”)
If you could use a digital camera to take a picture of your dick,
would you do it?
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH, YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH
If you could share it with your base on the internet,
would you do it?
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH, YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH
If you could write explicit messages to women who aren’t yr. wife,
would you do it?
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH, YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH
If you came thinking about me and wanted to tell me about it,
would you do it?
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH, YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH
And so we cannot know ourselves or what we’d really do
With all your power
With all your power
What would you do?
If you tell the public that you’ve cleaned up your act,
would you do it?
NO NO NO NO, NO NO NO NO
If you could treat the Palestinians with a small amount of respect,
would you do it?
NO NO NO NO, NO NO NO NO
Are you crazy?
with all your power
wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah
Here’s another panda series. It’s a small one based on a few male recording artists who make pretty different music. The series starts with a picture inspired by Robin Thicke and friends’ somewhat tacky video “Blurred Lines.” For the hashtag, I used Futura Condensed Medium and it looks pretty close to me. If you know which font was actually used, I welcome correct answers or even speculation in the comments section.
Next we have a musician of significantly more talent and humanity, one of country music’s greatest, and a damn good story-teller Hank Williams, Sr.
The last in this series, at least for now, is Mr. Dynamite himself the Minister of the New New Super Heavy Funk Mr. Please Please Please The Hardest Working Man in Show Business besides Ron Jeremy Soul Brother Numero Uno James Joseph Brown, Jr. 
If there are any figures from history or pop culture you’d like to see depicted as pandas, you can email me at: waynexiaolong@gmail.com
Thriller Panda
Thriller Panda, dancing with zombies
Panda, serving the servants
Panda (1913-1938-197?)
Wayne Xiao Long (小龙) 