Bleedman Goes Too Far?

[ZariusTwo]

Recently, Bleedman, a fan favourate artsit whose work on the now legendary Powerpuff Dojinshi has many wondering why CN or any studio has'nt hired him to produce and animate his own cartoons, has become the subject of much debate after the events of his current side story project "Grim Tales". During the story, Grim and Mandy apparantly are the ones to cause 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and many other recent real life tragedies, as opposed to fictional ones.

Here is his response

I felt a bit nervous when I started making these pages. And I can truly understand if I have made some people very upset over it .But at least hear me out..

I too am entitled to express my point of view.

I was just trying to find ways how I can relate the concept of the characters with our real world.

I guess we'll start off with Mandy. What I love about Mandy as a character is that she sees the real world, not some idealistic “only good and justice prevails freedom for all and love is everything screwed up”wonderland.

Although she's just a fictitous cartoon character, for me she's someone I can trully relate in our world.

You can’t really blame Mandy for what she did, she’s only doing her job as the Grim Reaper, sure she made the plans. But that’s what every Grim Reaper should do (remember the movie Final Destination) At the same time Mandy is a reincarnation of all evil, her existence is the source of humanity’s darkest and most cruel essence. While Billy on the other hand and is a representation and a source of man’s stupidity .And because mankind welcomes both evil and stupidity so willingly Mandy is able to carry out her plans.

In short, Mandy simply presented her ideas to mankind and mankind simply accepted it with open arms.

( Because we am dumb and bad humans.)

And as for the natural disasters she came up,

let’s just say she had an appointment with Mother Nature.

These things happen because I believe there is a Billy and a Mandy in all of us, we can be stupid and evil, and with it comes our bestest friend, The Grim Reaper.

We have no one but ourselves to blame.

A couple of themes I want to point out is…

”Will humanity ever learn?” …I guess not.

Is Mother Earth pissed ? I guess so.

That’s what I like about comics, add a pinch of idea based from our real world.

To help remind us of things and never ever forget.

Things like our wounds, and I’m talking not just America’s wounds, I’m also talking about Iraq , Indonesia , Sri Lanka

and every other country that’s facing hell.

So please look at it not just in your own nation’s perspective ,

but through other countries as well.

Try to look at the wounds through the eyes of the

whole world you self-centered bastards.

The wounds are painful and have yet to heal , well it shouldn’t.

Cause it’s only through these wounds that you can become Hard-ass.

It's the only thing that makes you stronger.

Pain and suffering is part of life, it's what my pappy taught me.

These things happen and will continue to happen so

you better get used to it and face it you bunch of wuss.

The images I used were not intended as a mockery or a tribute,

but a slap in your face to remind you that life is not all sugarpuffs and candycorns.

Life can be cruel, very ,very cruel. Life’s a bitch, and so is Death.

If you feel offended, angry or pissed right now….well ,you should be.

If you feel the urge to email me concerning this issue do so.

Emails, hatemails, flamemails. You have every right to.

Ok I was just kidding about the

“ Especially if you’re a wuss who whines a lot” thing on the warning page.

Seriously, speak up.

If you have something to say about these pages positive or negative, or that

I’m a heartless dick, say it. You wanna make a political issue out of this ,knock yourselves out.

Please comment and spare your 2 cents.

God bless America.

Allah bless Iraq.

P.S.

I took a big risk making these pages, and if I so seriously give a horse **** about my reputation just so people can love me and praise me I wouldn’t bother posting this in the first place. But I don’t, so hate me, flame me.

However, I still give a damn about respecting other people’s feelings and opinions.

So I want to apologize to everyone I offended.

I’ll be posting a poll on Deviant art whether these pages should stay or not.

Technically the grim tales storyline can go on without it.

If Majority says to have them removed then so be it.

You people decide.

Bleedman Snafu Sprite

[iris]

Try to look at the wounds through the eyes of the

whole world you self-centered bastards.
The problem is, I only have my own eyes to see. I am not the world. Neither is Bleedman.

It's the artist's job to create the perspective. If the art doesn't create that window, telling people to do it for themselves is pointless.

[Brodie]

Where's this from?

[ZariusTwo]

Where's this from?


Bleedman's site. I should have linked it.

[DrSpengler]

I looked all over Snafu and couldn't find a thing. Could you post a direct link?

[Peanut]

So then you didn't put it in your follow-up?

Anyways, big deal. They made a movie about 9/11, they'll probably make a movie about Katrina. If that's not already making those disasters a joke, I don't know what is. The same thing happened with Columbine, "Oh, touchy subject!" when the jokes about it came out, and now no one gives a sh*t. People joke about WWII, despite the fact that it was f*cking horiffic. People will get over it.

The only problem with 9/11 and Katrina is that they were recent, and it effected a good deal of people within the US who had nothing to do with it, quite different from stuff like WWII and Vietnam that took place half way across the world.

Didn't the US just release some kind of statement that they lost a ton of troops over this course of the "War on Terrorisim"? Do you see people getting up in arms about jokes made about that war? I don't, at least not on the level that people get all up in arms about 9/11 or Katrina.

If this artist had instead made his characters create that huge Hurricane in Indonesia, do you think people would have cared? No, they wouldn't have. All they care about is b*tching about something that "effected" them, even if it didn't.

My point, if people are going to get so touchy about this kind of stuff, stop picking certain things to complain about. Terrible things happen everywhere, just because it happened in your country doesn't mean you need to get pissed off everytime it's brought up, while at the same time making jokes about other people dying and suffering.

[Raph's Girl]

I looked all over Snafu and couldn't find a thing. Could you post a direct link?

Here's the direct link: I love the PPG story the best (poor Dee Dee) out of all of Bleedman's work. Im, apperantly, slightly behind in the Grimm one...and apperantly the PPG one (geesh...why didn't anybody tell me there were new issues?!)

http://grim.snafu-comics.com/

[iris]

I'm still getting over my 9/11 PTSD. But I don't think this was a big deal.

[DrSpengler]

Here's the direct link: I love the PPG story the best (poor Dee Dee) out of all of Bleedman's work. Im, apperantly, slightly behind in the Grimm one...and apperantly the PPG one (geesh...why didn't anybody tell me there were new issues?!)

http://grim.snafu-comics.com/

Nah, I dont see anything. Maybe he DID take it down?

[iris]

Here are the two "controversial" pages...

Plans (http://grim.snafu-comics.com/?strip_id=30)
Death's Back (http://grim.snafu-comics.com/?strip_id=31)

The second has that little manifesto as a note at the bottom.

[Anarky]

The problem is, I only have my own eyes to see. I am not the world. Neither is Bleedman.

But you have a brain. And technology to see more than just black and white. For the first time in history, everyone can afford to be an individualist and independent of general media-generated images and yet everyone decides to still blindly follow Fox News and people alike. Of course, you're not the world, but it's, as some commercial put it, at your fingertips. Get educated, stop listening to the television and you'll notice a whole new world. But no, arguments like yours still appear here and there and makes it look as if the internet's just there for YouTube and YTMND.

Sure, ignorance is bliss, but it shouldn't be. And we have the chance to change that.

You just prove Bleedman (who said some very true things in that post) right when he says:
Try to look at the wounds through the eyes of the

whole world you self-centered bastards.

It's the artist's job to create the perspective. If the art doesn't create that window, telling people to do it for themselves is pointless.

What if he wants you to explore that window? Not everything's served on a silver plate these days. Most things are quite complicated actually, but that phenomenon's called "life". All people would have to do is get off their asses and do some actual research work. It's so much easier today than it ever was before. The truth will be hard to swallow at first, but you'll get used to the fact that this place is not a happy-pappy-wonderland.

[Mecha Cow]

Personally I'm not really upset by this, though I could understand that some people would be. I like comics to be free of real-life drama, but if he wants to make a statement that's his right. I do think there are more subtle ways to do it, and I don't really understand the point of throwing the 'THE WORLD IS NOT PERFECT YOU BLIND FOOL' cliche in people's faces. Oh well, the art is nice at least.

[Dr. Doom]

Hell, I wouldn't put it past Mandy to do that stuff.

All I know is Doom wouldn't be crying. -=Glares at Marvel=-

[Sewer Bull]

Well... I don't see anything wrong in the 9/11 reference. You may like it or not, but the burning towers became a very significant and powerful symbol almost immediately - just like Verdun, Auschwitz or Vietnam. They are going to appear in popculture now and then (check out "Smoke kills (http://www.antimult.ru/antimults/antitoons/#id14)" for instance) - and no one can help that... Bleedman wanted to use the burning WTC as a strong symbol that everyone would get - well, that's his right to choose his own means of expression. Licentia poetica is sacred. By using the WTC, he shows how evil Mandy really is. The fact she masterminded the whole 9/11 attacks makes her bigger and more interesting in Grim's eyes. And that's why they tied a knot and had kids. Self-explanatory. And quite OK for me... so far.

BUT!

I really don't like the whole Bleedman's manifesto under the second page iris has posted in here. It highly irritated me with its frigging pomposity, the author built up the whole ideology to justify his artistic choices - that wasn't really needed, he could have left it without any comments at all. Unfortunately, that declaration, allegedly explaining why he decided to refer to 9/11, is completely irrelevant to the comic itself:


Things like our wounds, and I’m talking not just America’s wounds, I’m also talking about Iraq , Indonesia , Sri Lanka and every other country that’s facing hell. So please look at it not just in your own nation’s perspective, but through other countries as well. Try to look at the wounds through the eyes of the whole world you self-centered bastards.


This extract could be well summed up by using four words only: "In your face, dickheads". But what for, exactly?

Firstly, the guy suggests in his comic that Mandy is all responsible for the 9/11 attacks and that it turned Grim on. And then he gives his readers a preposterous babbling about "the need to look through the eyes of other countries" in his comment, yet he barely made any reference to them in the comic. Maybe he wanted to show his American readers that the rest of the world doesn't care as much about 9/11 as they think it does - and treats it as an event that happened far, far away and bears almost no significance for an average European/African/Asian. Or that the great tsunami was as big deal as 9/11 or Katrina. Maybe. But at the same time, he exposes the burning towers as the most dominating element on those pages and implies that this fact is of much importance for the further events taking place in his comic. So actually he's as Americano-centric as his readers that he blames for being so.

To conclude - Bleedman's comment doesn't go along well with those two 'controversial' pages. In fact, it actually makes them really controversial.

[Kid A]

I don't think the basic intention of that stip was as noble, as he claims it to be. But I don't think it is that tasteless either. It is satire. And this means it hasn't to be political correct, but to attack. And it doesn't mean to be considerate of other people's world picture, but to go on confrontation with it. Some of you seem to don't understand that.
To me the comic showed that disproportion of the comic figures's world to ours as a hint for the existance of different world views. I think something like this was the authors intention when I understood that declaration correctly.

[iris]

But you have a brain. And technology to see more than just black and white. For the first time in history, everyone can afford to be an individualist and independent of general media-generated images and yet everyone decides to still blindly follow Fox News and people alike. Of course, you're not the world, but it's, as some commercial put it, at your fingertips. Get educated, stop listening to the television and you'll notice a whole new world. But no, arguments like yours still appear here and there and makes it look as if the internet's just there for YouTube and YTMND.
I totally agree, at least for those of us with uncensored access to the Internet. Why do you think it says "STAY INFORMED" in my sig? (Granted, it also says that Jon is God's righteous gift to Earth, but hopefully people know that's facetious.)

I strongly support thinking for yourself. But if you expect everyone take the Initiative to think for themselves, outside of their preconceived notions and indocrination, you're always going to be disappointed. They're not going to do it... because people like to be secure inside their boxes. That's a fact of life just as much as things being "quite complicated."

If you're an artist like Bleedman who wants people to see the bigger picture, then it falls on you to provoke people to do that. If you don't get the reaction you want, don't bitch about it. You failed. Try again.

If these pages were satire, they're ineffective. I think they weren't satire at all. All I got out of them was, 'little Mandy is so totally evil!' ...which works FINE for the story. But then Bleedman added the footnote.

These things happen because I believe there is a Billy and a Mandy in all of us, we can be stupid and evil, and with it comes our bestest friend, The Grim Reaper.

We have no one but ourselves to blame.

A couple of themes I want to point out is…

”Will humanity ever learn?” …I guess not.

Is Mother Earth pissed ? I guess so.

That’s what I like about comics, add a pinch of idea based from our real world.

To help remind us of things and never ever forget.

Things like our wounds, and I’m talking not just America’s wounds, I’m also talking about Iraq , Indonesia , Sri Lanka

and every other country that’s facing hell..
Noble, but how did Bleedman suggest exploring any of those themes, or show us that all mankind has a foot in hell? It didn't happen-- in fact, instead of helping all people take responsibility for being "stupid and evil," the responsibility is abruptly placed in Mandy's hands, while Mandy shows no sign of still being part of the human race, which in turn is Grim's fault for trying to exert his free will against the Hourglass of Fate. See, it's not humanity's fault, it's just fate! :p

So what ends up standing out from this manifesto is just, like Sewer Bull said, "In your face, dickheads."

[KROW]

Um... Correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't it the Grim Reaper who takes your spirit to the afterlife and not an ephereal being who causes actual death, let alone plans it?

[iris]

I think you're right, KROW, but this Grim Reaper seems to be a little different.

[Dr. Doom]

From watching the show, Grim seems to work in the sense that he causes people to die directly (even though the PPG doujinshi seems to negate that wth his appearance). This is probably a way for CN to avoid showing death itself, whereas they seem to be fine referencing it in various ways (as an imminent occurance or a previous one, as with zombies and such). At least, that's just one possibility.

[DrSpengler]

Yes, in the Grim Adventures Universe, Grim just harvests the souls and whisks them away to the afterlife (or delivers them bonus years for good health).

The one who causes all the disasters and Chaos is Eris, the evil goddess of Discord with the golden apple.


So yeah, Bleedman needs to watch the cartoon more often.

[ZariusTwo]

But the point of fanfiction is that the authors don't care about the tone and characters of the show.:lol:

He's either neglected Eris on purpose, or there's a story he's not telling us. All the better, there has'nt been one inch of development on that show since Skarr transfered from Evil Con Carne.

...Although his Atomic Betty manga will probably dry up, who the hell even watches the show?

[Dr. Doom]

It's not even on here anymore. It was terribly short lived.

[BartAllen]

Meh, another lame fan comic trying to stir the pot. again.. meh.

[ZariusTwo]

Meh, another lame fan comic trying to stir the pot. again.. meh.

...It's not in any way "lame", his entire work, art and story> almost all of the s*ite on Cartoon Network and is one of the few good fanfics out there