Only found the channel recently after looking for a good comics TH-cam channel for a bit, and I'm so happy to have finally found one. Keep doing great work!!!!
IMO, comics need titles like this. Bombastic over-the-top nonsense with barrel chested Chads punching out tanks and girls with absurd comical boobs. Gore, dark magic, violence... pure fun and fantasy. No idea or expression should be excluded or strive to adhere to someone's subjective, fickle tastes. Someone drew that art. Cynically motivated or not-- immature or not-- a visual idea appeared in someone's brain and we can see it now. IMO, that's akin to magic. It should be embraced and celebrated even if it doesn't meet our tastes or standards. Why do you presume you're "punching down"?
Same question I asked myself... I've have always considered Tarot to be a high concept, special intrest comic. I have only had limited exposure to the series, but it's like looking at expensive, intentionally garish art.
All I can say is good on them for keeping this book going this many years. Where so many fall by the wayside, they keep moving forward. And they have a healthy female audience for their books! Maybe some of the bigger companies could take a lesson from them. You don't have to be preachy to get sales.
After watching this, here's my takeaway. I have no intention of reading this book. Like, at all. However, I think I can understand this book's purposes and that while it isn't of my own interest, I think I can still respect it to a degree. I admire the dedication and genuine passion the creators have for this book and what influenced it even in spite of any naysayers. That, to me, is commendable.
@@patrickrobles1036 Yep, when it comes to something trashy that’s still somehow good, authenticity is key for two reasons: 1)It keeps the output consistent, which is vital because… 2)If the note warbles the reader will tell right away and jump ship.
It's a series that I occasionally looked at years ago (not enough money to spend at comic shops, still love comics though). I liked it, not just for the obvious reasons, but at the same time, if you asked me to explain why I liked it I would have been unable to do it. Thank you for finally putting into words what I couldn't have done years ago.
I bought the first 100 or so issues of Tarot and would still be buying it if my budget allowed. The title is light fantasy that portrays the Wiccan religion in a positive manner. My only true gripe with it is that it has very little to do with the real world. I don't recall very many "normal," real-world people ever appearing in the book, and I feel this limits it a bit. But that's me. Jim and Holly are a great couple and, as you say, are living their best life. Good for them.
I’ve read and collected Tarot for almost the entire run. My favorite aspects of Tarot are the character and monster designs. When they’re good, they’re insanely creative and fun. When they’re bad, oh man are they terrible (the female werewolf having a human body and only werewolf head), but usually still fun. Additionally, the stories are usually fun and I do enjoy the strong female characters. All in all, I’m always excited to get my new issue of Tarot. Also, Pooka the winged kitty is precious.
I have read issues of this, just out of a sort of morbid curiosity, and my biggest critique is that it is insanely rushed. Yes, over the top, but also things happen so fast that there's really zero time to breath and any character development is just impossible. A lot gets said in speech ballons, but mostly what we're shown is cheescake. Like you said, it is pin up posters, not really sequential art. Also Ghita is quite the book. There's some things to discuss there.
Serious question, not sarcasm, because I don't know about this. Does that mean Tolkien would have said something like, "Saruman and the orcs destroying the forest to fuel the war effort is applicable to our rapid growth in industry", or something like that? Though it makes sense to say "metaphor" also.
@@TitularHeroine He always viewed Middle-Earth as an other world first and foremost. Any critic that mentioned his stories representing a real-world event he always rejected. He mostly hated. allegories applied to his writing
As "Fauve," Holly didn't just draw and paint covers for Carnal Comics - her first published pro work was drawing full-length bio and fantasy stories for the first few issues of the X-rated line, including drawing the interiors AND covers for issues on Sarah-Jane Hamilton and others --
Well that is fascinating. Its a comic, or indeed area I have any real knowledge of, nor if I'm honest desire to check out. That doesn't stop this being an insightful and well considered video as ever.
I was aware of Tarot but never curious about the interiors. I do admit that around 3:50 or so, the woman whose body is the literal Earth is one of those ideas so cool that I wish I'd thought of it. I'm a fan of both Lord of the Rings and Conan. And while I've never read Ghita of Alizar, I was reading Thorne's Lann in Heavy Metal at an age when I probably shouldn't have been. Thank you, Mr. The Parts! You are adorable and therefore adored. Edit: As a "C" I feel underrepresented. I might stage a protest. 😂😂 jk of course
I found Tarot on the pages of Wizard magazine, that made me feel curious about the content of the comic. Hope some day you talk about Femforce, the longevity of AC comics publications it's still a mistery to me.
It's so terrible, to see men attracted to comics just because there are really really REALLY hot goth girls in the cover My conscience: Why did you clicked in this video? ... To support the great work by Strange Brain Parts My conscience: You didn't even noticed it was by him, did you? Not by a second
This is so interesting. The idea of looking at a comic series that does have an audience but the reason why may be unclear and dissecting that. If you can, please make more videos like this 🥰
Fantastic Video!! Minor note , Jim Balent's earlier published work (before CatWoman), was FROM THE DARKNESS (under its first b+w publisher)as well as comic covers for the black and white independent of the 1980s.But ,yes CatWoman was his first published work for a major mainstream company. It is not out character for his work ,even the earliest feature his favored body type to draw,and good for him ---I am certainly not complaining!! I've only seen three issues of the black rose. I don't have money for comics currently, but it looks like a fun comic and a lot of main stream comics now take themselves way to seriously! It should exist for people who want it and I do not think it is sexist! At worst,it's silly -it hurts no one! Also, AC's FemForce often had beautiful covers. Comics/Manga are a medium not the message or should I say only one kind of message. They can be thoughtful ,serious well illustrated literature or silly and cartoony and do stories in any genre there is a buying audience for...Anyway , YOU did a GREAT VIDEO!!!!! I look forward to checking out your others!
Ghita of Alizar by Frank Thorne is currently available in print from directly from the publisher Hermes Press at its website as a black and white complete hardcover collection and oversize editions.
Read a few issues and it should be noted that Tarot has a large number of female and male readers. You may be missing the point in that this is well drawn escapist fun. Just sit back, switch off and enjoy.
Great video but I have some conservations about the way you describe LOTR and Conan. While it is possible to read the former as symbolic of the industrialization of warfare, Tolkien actually spoke out against a lot fo interpretations that related the series to recent events like the World Wars. Conan on the other hand has been read by many as having themes of existentialism and nihilism.
Love the clinical approach to undeniably prurient material, it allows for the exploration of an intriguing question, because, while nothing succeeds like success, in an era of “porn on demand” what is the appeal of a salacious comic book and why is it lasting so long?
I got a lot of entertainment out of Tarot without ever reading it, thanks to Chris Sims mocking it. I do have the phrase "You have to get out of here. Your vagina is haunted!" burned into my brain as a consequence. I do in fact have to respect their hustle despite that.
I have nothing bad to say about Jim Balent or Holly G! (Spoken to them at conventions many times) and was an avid reader of Catwoman in the 90’s (does anyone else remember there was a hidden cat on every cover in that period!) I just don’t understand this arc
In general, I feel like the best examples of "cheesecake" comics and art in general, ironically tends to come from the hands of female artists. Amanda Conner is the most famous example of that. Same with a lot of French comic creators. And just look at Trina Robbins, the designer of Vampirella.
Yeah, "pulp trash" makes one think that the most philosophical thing the author of this video has read is All-Star Batman. Someone needs to pick up a book. The kind that only has words in it.
@@heitorsantoslima9289 I did perhaps take that a bit far. But it's pretty low calling Conan "pulp trash". That makes me think that someone has only read the comics and perhaps needs to read some of Robert E. Howard's actual work before referring to it as "trash."
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” “I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.”
This is the same youtuber that called Norman Rockwell "racist artist" becouse he didn't know the diference between him and George Lincoln Rockwell. Not to mention his cringe rant video against Geoff John's Ghost Machine Studio before a single book was even published.
Everything in moderation. Nothing wrong with half-naked women with big boobs, but having every female character like that on every single page for dozens of issues will wear out the appeal eventually. This was the case for me, they wore out the sex appeal early by being so explicit and you were left with the story itself which was subpar with a confusing panel layout.
The best issues of the series involve Azure, Tarot major Villain of the series. That's when Balent really reigns himself in and doesn't really go too nuts on the porn aspects of the series.
A lot of people over-zealously defending Conan here. Not to undersell author Robert E. Howard's enduring achievement, but philosophy in the original Conan stories never got much beyond "primitive = authentic and good". A sort of vague anti-intellectualism which posits that "civilized" people and cultures are decadent and deceitful. That civilization is essentially a tool for the weak to use words instead of "honest" steel to impose their will. Anything more definite than that, like the explicit Nietzsche nod in the 1982 film, were added by other authors. But then the entire legacy of Conan is entangled with other authors who profited off of Howard's creation with "posthumous collaborations", re-writes and sequels for decades after Howard's untimely death. In the end despite it's actual merit and far-reaching influence Howard certainly THOUGHT he was writing "pulp trash". According to Howard the reason he invented the Hyborian Age in the first place was so that he wouldn't have to do the research necessary to write good historical fiction because he didn't have the time.
Tarot witch of the black rose deals with esoterisism, the wiccan faith, body dysmorphia and elements of horror, as well as copious amonts of chesecake. It is not adeep an profound series , but i feel that you are selling it somewhat short.
What about 70s comics focused on black/asian representation? Seems to me "representation" has been a thing for a long time. After civil rights and black representation in fiction became discussed topics. As well as pushes for female representation. Tarot seems like female representation as did Wonder woman in her initial appearance.
I envy the creators of this comic living out their fantasies together. Pretty sweet relationship.
I love this channel because you talk about things others wouldn’t.
As someone without a local comic shop, this channel has been great. I’ve found out about so many great things
same here. my "local" comic shop is 50miles (80.5 km) away.
All the comic shops in my area have closed down and been closed for several years.
Only found the channel recently after looking for a good comics TH-cam channel for a bit, and I'm so happy to have finally found one. Keep doing great work!!!!
Keep it up good sir
I may have missed it being specifically mentioned, but Golightly and Balent are married in addition to being business and collaborative partners.
I think he said they were partners: I don't think any mention of their marriage was made
Or being the inspirations for these characters. Making the series a self insert fan fiction type series.
@@IrishKyokushin That part was mentioned.
IMO, comics need titles like this. Bombastic over-the-top nonsense with barrel chested Chads punching out tanks and girls with absurd comical boobs. Gore, dark magic, violence... pure fun and fantasy. No idea or expression should be excluded or strive to adhere to someone's subjective, fickle tastes. Someone drew that art. Cynically motivated or not-- immature or not-- a visual idea appeared in someone's brain and we can see it now. IMO, that's akin to magic. It should be embraced and celebrated even if it doesn't meet our tastes or standards. Why do you presume you're "punching down"?
Same question I asked myself...
I've have always considered Tarot to be a high concept, special intrest comic. I have only had limited exposure to the series, but it's like looking at expensive, intentionally garish art.
I see your point, that last part in particular surprisingly invoked Alan Moore to me.
All I can say is good on them for keeping this book going this many years. Where so many fall by the wayside, they keep moving forward. And they have a healthy female audience for their books! Maybe some of the bigger companies could take a lesson from them. You don't have to be preachy to get sales.
I always wondered what goes on in comics like this. THANK YOU for this video!
After watching this, here's my takeaway.
I have no intention of reading this book. Like, at all. However, I think I can understand this book's purposes and that while it isn't of my own interest, I think I can still respect it to a degree.
I admire the dedication and genuine passion the creators have for this book and what influenced it even in spite of any naysayers. That, to me, is commendable.
Authenticity coupled with middling competence is often enough for success in underserved subcultures.
@@patrickrobles1036 Yep, when it comes to something trashy that’s still somehow good, authenticity is key for two reasons:
1)It keeps the output consistent, which is vital because…
2)If the note warbles the reader will tell right away and jump ship.
It's a series that I occasionally looked at years ago (not enough money to spend at comic shops, still love comics though). I liked it, not just for the obvious reasons, but at the same time, if you asked me to explain why I liked it I would have been unable to do it.
Thank you for finally putting into words what I couldn't have done years ago.
I bought the first 100 or so issues of Tarot and would still be buying it if my budget allowed. The title is light fantasy that portrays the Wiccan religion in a positive manner. My only true gripe with it is that it has very little to do with the real world. I don't recall very many "normal," real-world people ever appearing in the book, and I feel this limits it a bit. But that's me. Jim and Holly are a great couple and, as you say, are living their best life. Good for them.
Very poor and unfortunate misunderstanding of Conan.
100% Clearly never read any of Howard's stories
Damn...Never thought I'd see anyone talk about Tarot.
I'm in that weird Venn Diagram of 90's Catwoman and Archie readers so Jim Balent and Holly G! can do no wrong.
I can't describe how happy I was when THAT panel showed up at the end of the video.
SaManThA! GET oUT of H3re! YOUR VAGINA IS HAUNTED!!!!!
What a trip! Remember stocking these books when I worked at the shop.
I’ve read and collected Tarot for almost the entire run. My favorite aspects of Tarot are the character and monster designs. When they’re good, they’re insanely creative and fun. When they’re bad, oh man are they terrible (the female werewolf having a human body and only werewolf head), but usually still fun.
Additionally, the stories are usually fun and I do enjoy the strong female characters. All in all, I’m always excited to get my new issue of Tarot. Also, Pooka the winged kitty is precious.
I am a tarot reader.
In every meaning of the sentence.
I'm liking the video already before watching it ! I love this series
Empowered is the classier version of this.
I have read issues of this, just out of a sort of morbid curiosity, and my biggest critique is that it is insanely rushed. Yes, over the top, but also things happen so fast that there's really zero time to breath and any character development is just impossible. A lot gets said in speech ballons, but mostly what we're shown is cheescake. Like you said, it is pin up posters, not really sequential art. Also Ghita is quite the book. There's some things to discuss there.
Ghita of Aliizar is Frank Thorne's Masterpiece !😀
Props man! Always big braining the materials that may not require that, LOL!
Great pick. I've never been a read but I've seen the book for years and wondered how it stuck around for so long.
J R R Tolkien notoriously hated metaphors and consciously avoided them. He preferred "applicability".
Serious question, not sarcasm, because I don't know about this. Does that mean Tolkien would have said something like, "Saruman and the orcs destroying the forest to fuel the war effort is applicable to our rapid growth in industry", or something like that? Though it makes sense to say "metaphor" also.
@@TitularHeroine
He always viewed Middle-Earth as an other world first and foremost. Any critic that mentioned his stories representing a real-world event he always rejected.
He mostly hated. allegories applied to his writing
As "Fauve," Holly didn't just draw and paint covers for Carnal Comics - her first published pro work was drawing full-length bio and fantasy stories for the first few issues of the X-rated line, including drawing the interiors AND covers for issues on Sarah-Jane Hamilton and others --
nothing wrong w/a lil fan service.
Most of these types of comics last for less than ten issues, let alone ten pages. I'm surprised to see one go for more than a hundred issues.
I always wondered what happened to Balent. He was a big name in the 90s. Kinda weird he went from doing Batman to this… but to each his own.
Well that is fascinating. Its a comic, or indeed area I have any real knowledge of, nor if I'm honest desire to check out. That doesn't stop this being an insightful and well considered video as ever.
I was aware of Tarot but never curious about the interiors. I do admit that around 3:50 or so, the woman whose body is the literal Earth is one of those ideas so cool that I wish I'd thought of it.
I'm a fan of both Lord of the Rings and Conan. And while I've never read Ghita of Alizar, I was reading Thorne's Lann in Heavy Metal at an age when I probably shouldn't have been.
Thank you, Mr. The Parts! You are adorable and therefore adored.
Edit: As a "C" I feel underrepresented. I might stage a protest. 😂😂 jk of course
I found Tarot on the pages of Wizard magazine, that made me feel curious about the content of the comic. Hope some day you talk about Femforce, the longevity of AC comics publications it's still a mistery to me.
How I love seeing my name in the credits. Cheers!
It's so terrible, to see men attracted to comics just because there are really really REALLY hot goth girls in the cover
My conscience: Why did you clicked in this video?
... To support the great work by Strange Brain Parts
My conscience: You didn't even noticed it was by him, did you?
Not by a second
This is so interesting. The idea of looking at a comic series that does have an audience but the reason why may be unclear and dissecting that. If you can, please make more videos like this 🥰
"existential aneurysm" is my new favourite phrase!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Fantastic Video!! Minor note , Jim Balent's earlier published work (before CatWoman), was FROM THE DARKNESS (under its first b+w publisher)as well as comic covers for the black and white independent of the 1980s.But ,yes CatWoman was his first published work for a major mainstream company. It is not out character for his work ,even the earliest feature his
favored body type to draw,and good for him ---I am certainly not complaining!! I've only seen three issues of the black rose. I don't have money for comics currently, but it looks like a fun comic and a lot of main stream comics now take themselves way to seriously! It should exist for people who want it and I do not think it is sexist! At worst,it's silly -it hurts no one! Also, AC's FemForce often had beautiful covers. Comics/Manga are a medium not the message or should I say only one kind of message. They can be thoughtful ,serious well illustrated literature or silly and cartoony and do stories in any genre there is a buying audience for...Anyway , YOU did a GREAT VIDEO!!!!! I look forward to checking out your others!
I meant to say ,"Comics/Manga are a medium not the message or should I say NOT only one kind of message."
You really took one for the team with this one, didn't you?
Thanks you.
I wish whoever has the rights to Ghita would put it back in print. I’ve wanted a copy for years.
Ghita of Alizar by Frank Thorne is currently available in print from directly from the publisher Hermes Press at its website as a black and white complete hardcover collection and oversize editions.
Read a few issues and it should be noted that Tarot has a large number of female and male readers. You may be missing the point in that this is well drawn escapist fun. Just sit back, switch off and enjoy.
You can't fault an audience for wanting to meaningfully engage with a work
0:44 what does lowest common denominator refer to ?
Whatever would piss you off most
@wolvertox311 huh?
Another great video. Feel educated on something I'd no idea existed.
I bought a few issues of Tarot, and it's the very definition of OK.
It would be nice to see a video on Lady Death and its early beginnings all the way up to current 👍
This is really one of the best comics analysis channels on TH-cam.
I'm doing my part, are you?
Great video but I have some conservations about the way you describe LOTR and Conan. While it is possible to read the former as symbolic of the industrialization of warfare, Tolkien actually spoke out against a lot fo interpretations that related the series to recent events like the World Wars. Conan on the other hand has been read by many as having themes of existentialism and nihilism.
Love the clinical approach to undeniably prurient material, it allows for the exploration of an intriguing question, because, while nothing succeeds like success, in an era of “porn on demand” what is the appeal of a salacious comic book and why is it lasting so long?
I got a lot of entertainment out of Tarot without ever reading it, thanks to Chris Sims mocking it. I do have the phrase "You have to get out of here. Your vagina is haunted!" burned into my brain as a consequence. I do in fact have to respect their hustle despite that.
By the way, what were some books that made you think about writing? It seems like you have a lot of knowledge on the matter.
Its pretty darn good imo.
14:21 this panel made crack up
I have nothing bad to say about Jim Balent or Holly G! (Spoken to them at conventions many times) and was an avid reader of Catwoman in the 90’s (does anyone else remember there was a hidden cat on every cover in that period!) I just don’t understand this arc
Great video
In general, I feel like the best examples of "cheesecake" comics and art in general, ironically tends to come from the hands of female artists. Amanda Conner is the most famous example of that. Same with a lot of French comic creators. And just look at Trina Robbins, the designer of Vampirella.
Trina Robbins designed Vampirella?
Do a video on good bad girl comics since it seems related this this
That misreading of Conan, a series known to have ties with philosophical barbarism and Nietzsche is quite a letdown.
Yeah, "pulp trash" makes one think that the most philosophical thing the author of this video has read is All-Star Batman. Someone needs to pick up a book. The kind that only has words in it.
@TheJohno95 I wouldn't go that far.
@@heitorsantoslima9289 I did perhaps take that a bit far. But it's pretty low calling Conan "pulp trash". That makes me think that someone has only read the comics and perhaps needs to read some of Robert E. Howard's actual work before referring to it as "trash."
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.”
“I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.”
This is the same youtuber that called Norman Rockwell "racist artist" becouse he didn't know the diference between him and George Lincoln Rockwell. Not to mention his cringe rant video against Geoff John's Ghost Machine Studio before a single book was even published.
Everything in moderation. Nothing wrong with half-naked women with big boobs, but having every female character like that on every single page for dozens of issues will wear out the appeal eventually.
This was the case for me, they wore out the sex appeal early by being so explicit and you were left with the story itself which was subpar with a confusing panel layout.
The best issues of the series involve Azure, Tarot major Villain of the series. That's when Balent really reigns himself in and doesn't really go too nuts on the porn aspects of the series.
Hell Yeah..
7:58 Got a laught out of me
if anyone wants to make a comic book like that, i can draw... 👀
A lot of people over-zealously defending Conan here. Not to undersell author Robert E. Howard's enduring achievement, but philosophy in the original Conan stories never got much beyond "primitive = authentic and good". A sort of vague anti-intellectualism which posits that "civilized" people and cultures are decadent and deceitful. That civilization is essentially a tool for the weak to use words instead of "honest" steel to impose their will.
Anything more definite than that, like the explicit Nietzsche nod in the 1982 film, were added by other authors. But then the entire legacy of Conan is entangled with other authors who profited off of Howard's creation with "posthumous collaborations", re-writes and sequels for decades after Howard's untimely death.
In the end despite it's actual merit and far-reaching influence Howard certainly THOUGHT he was writing "pulp trash". According to Howard the reason he invented the Hyborian Age in the first place was so that he wouldn't have to do the research necessary to write good historical fiction because he didn't have the time.
Tarot witch of the black rose deals with esoterisism, the wiccan faith, body dysmorphia and elements of horror, as well as copious amonts of chesecake. It is not adeep an profound series , but i feel that you are selling it somewhat short.
Jim Balentino
Based tarot video?
The grave digger still "hard" at work, lol
What's even the point of covering g a comic if you have to censor so much of the content ?
I have no respect for trash.
Conan "pulp trash"?! Really?!!
I feel nostalgic for the old days when you could either pick or leave this comic in the stand and not think about “representation”
Not sure what representation has to do with this comic.
What about 70s comics focused on black/asian representation? Seems to me "representation" has been a thing for a long time. After civil rights and black representation in fiction became discussed topics. As well as pushes for female representation. Tarot seems like female representation as did Wonder woman in her initial appearance.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616 6:10
@@noneofyourbusiness46166:10
@@leroypreston2973 How is a woman existing in softcore pornography supposed to be remarkable in the same way one of the first female superheroes was?