Jim Lee was a major artistic influence in the work of any wannabe comic book artist back in the early/mid 1990s, when he was mosty an artist. He started on Uncanny X-Men, I believe, and then moved on to the (then) new spin-off book, X-Men.

He was one of the hotshot younger comic book artists on the scene, one of the "rebels" who left The Big Two (Marvel, DC) to form Image Comics. He also formed Wildstorm Entertainment, his studio or wahtever. I'm really out of touch with the comics world...

Anyway, Jim Lee was a favourite comic book artist of mine. I remember copying from his artworks until I developed my own style of drawing.

Its tough to talk about "game", "challenge", "play" ect. because these things all mean different things in different contexts. Personally, I don't care whether or not you call something a game, I care about the play experience, which I think is term people can agree about more easily. The old challenge carries the sort of comic book teleology you discuss, its all about foward causation and problem solving, not reflection and resolution.

So my concern with September 12th wasn't the challenge per se, because the game was balanced to that the challenge curves into an asymptote against the goal of eliminating terrorism by force. Rather, my concern was what that challenge implied about the world outside the system which created that challenge, the message in other words. So I think we're on the same page.

I'm trying to apply that reimagined notion of challenge to storyworld design, a freeware title I'm aiming to complete by September, called Pack Appeal, will put the player into the role of a new kid who is cajoled by the cool table into messing with an alienated jewish kid called "Grendal". Instead of making it challenging in the old sense, where you've got to figure out how to fuck with this kid, its challenging in what it makes you think about yourself and the social realities at large, after several re-plays. So maybe the thing'll escalate and you'll end up killing the Grendal in self-defense, thats challenging in a whole different kind of way.

Challenge has nothing to do with what I'm talking about here.

At the very least, a game that acknowledged there were opinions to be had would be nice.

I watched Jarhead last night (pre-street) and was struck how it walked a fine line between support and critique. I came away from it with an anti-war message, but I suspect someone from the other side of the political fence might not.

A game with that sort of narrative subtlety would be a treat to play.

I did a post on September 12th last year. Check it out if you'd like.

Loved your thoughts about comicbooks. I've pretty much given up on superhero comics. But now my thoughts are going to be occupied wondering if Bruce Wayne ever started a homeless shelter or sponsored a bill for a guaranteed income. Thanks.

Good post, Johnny. I like your point on "cowboy colloquialisms."

Does Bruce Wayne ever lie awake at night, wondering which of the workers he just laid off is going to find a magical ring in the dumpster and use it to massacre hundreds? Other writers have touched on this, of course, but it's still a valid question.

Who are these other writers? I'd really like to read them.

I don't know if anyone's covered that situation exactly. But Frank Millar's later work on Batman comments on the vigilante relationship with the media--do they reduce crime directly, or through intimidation? Practically everything Ellis has done as far as superhero work is a vicious parody of the "fascist policeman" genre. Watchmen is all about heroes that have to face their role in the problem as well as the solution (although I think it cops out a little in the end). Those are just the easy answers from a distant observer of comics.

I've actually been trying to hunt down places where I've read about this today. If I can find them, I'll put up a link with posts.

Or a post with links, maybe. Only I know for sure.