The Age of Selfishness, How to Fake a Moon Landing, and Kidz

Hey everyone out there, Dan here aka the Comic

Concierge and welcome to another installment

of my graphic thoughts videos where I pick out

three graphic novels pre -paper bags or manga

and give you my thoughts and opinions on them.

As always, I won't be getting into any major

spoilers, but if you're at all worried, let you

know that there'll be timestamps down below for

you to check out so you won't have to be worried

about getting spoiled at all regarding the books

I talk about today. And when I do these videos,

I do see if there's any connecting themes or

anything like that with the books. And today's

a bit of a cheat because I actually have two

books from the same creator. I just kind of ended

up working out that way. But let's get into the

books I'll be talking about today. The first

book we have is The Age of Selfishness. Next

up is How to Fake a Moon Landing. And lastly,

we have Kids from Ablaze Comics. So as you can

see, there are three different books, two very

similar, one that is kind of off the beaten path.

But I thought it'd be fun because the first two

books I'm going to talk about are, I won't say

serious, but dealing with non -fiction items.

And I thought I'd finish up with this a little

bit more of a palette cleanser in a way to keep

it. keep the variety going. So let's look at

the first book, which is The Age of Selfishness

or the first full title, Anne Rand Morality and

the Financial Crisis. And this is written and

drawn by Darrell Cunningham. And again, he does

the writing, he does the art, he does everything,

including obviously most of the research. And

as the title would indicate, and as the cover

would indicate, this is all about Anne Rand.

First third maybe even a little bit more is all

about that all about her life Where she came

from where her books came from whatever? Influences

were and then as a book continues after she passes

and then gets into a who did she impact? You

know what? what types of political structures

are still influenced by her work and what are

some things we can tie to. Obviously with the

title, you know, talking about the financial

crisis, it does link, you know, the belief system

that Anne Rand helped construct with her works

like Atlas Strug and how that led to potentially

this idea of absolute individualism and that

belief structure kind of basically not thinking

about the greater good or the whole and why that

leading that in the sense of how people deal

with our finances could lead to unnecessary negative

repercussions. So this is very pointed in its

belief system or its opinion towards Anne Rand.

And there's a lot of people that do clearly like

her work and it does get into how influential

she was like the part about her life. There are

certain I would say assign some certain editorializing

a bit with some of the choices she makes, basically

putting out some of the hypocrisy she grew up

with and sense of how when she was born in Russia,

she came over to the United States and she often

talks about how it's all about what you can do,

bringing yourself up with your own bootstraps,

but then putting out that in a large part when

she came over here. Other family members really

help her get established throughout the throughout

the way and things like that being very pointed

to saying like despite the fact that and And

ran believes this her actions were this that

wasn't the majority of it though I did go into

that a little bit also gets into their relationship

with her husband and how that's really it's really

kind of almost soap opera ask as things go on

with adultery and almost like approved adultery

with you know, basically the having multiple

partners and things that she dealt with, and

she clearly had a life that was perhaps a little

bit different, but what you always saw is that

a lot of people really clowned on to... her thought

process and her books, even if they weren't necessarily

politically acclaimed. A lot of her books were

then basted by critics when they first came out.

But some people saw something in what she was

saying, including like Alan Greenspan is a big

part of this book, even during her life, because

they were kind of friends. They created this

own social group where they, you know, that was

based into the philosophy that Anne Rand of preaching.

You could say cult -like in a way, in the sense

of it was a small group with really similar belief

system that utilized their root setting to kind

of form their own beliefs and some of the things

they would. do as well, like I mentioned, where

Anne Rand begins a relationship with one of the

members' husbands, even though he's married.

And it's very messy. It's dealing a lot with

that. But that is just, I think, setting the

stage, getting you understanding of who Anne

Rand was. So if you don't know who she is, you

have an idea of that. So after that, then I think

that's where the bulk of the story gets into.

So you kind of understand her philosophy, where

it came from, you know, and the people that she

influenced. Again, someone like Alan Greenspan

is someone who's hugely important. and as of

right now dealing with the Federal Reserve and

making that direct link to. his time with Anne

Rand and how it's impacted the way he operates

on a daily basis, because we forget that Alan

Greenspan has a lot of power as an individual.

If you look over the last, you know, few decades

of what he was able to do, positive or negative,

depending upon your point of view, we often point

to people like the president, senators, and things

like that, but those roles, especially ones that

are necessarily always elected directly by constituents

sometimes are not necessarily as focused on as

much and I think this kind of gets into that

again gets into a big piece of the financial

structure here. Looking at the art side with

this being a comic the art is purposely simple

and similar with this book and the next book

where it's not necessarily about trying to impress

you with a expressive art style here. There's

enough there. Really, like, if you look at this

cover, this image is pretty consistent with the

art throughout the book. A lot of general grids,

the page layouts are pretty straightforward because

it's all about conveying information, getting

you comfortable moving. One step to the next

and considering this is probably a book that's

going to Potentially appeal to an audience that

is outside your normal comic book audience. I

think they're Daryl Cunningham is probably aware

of that. So he's not going to try to You know

do anything that is beyond the norm with your

general page design He wants to make it very

clear very easy to read. So there's you know,

it's a very welcoming to new readers So again,

this is probably a great book if you want to

get someone who's no I can never read comics

I don't like anything about comics if they are

into Politics or finances or something like that?

They probably would like this and you know, if

you're a huge and Rand fan, would you like this?

Probably not because it is very critical of her

belief system It's not hiding the fact that it

finds problematic elements of what she believed

and the downfall of that mindset of the individual

over all else You know thinking taxes are illegal

that government should be doing is basically

the military and everything else should be left

the individual themselves A big part of that

potentially with Anne Rand is because growing

up in Russia, she saw just the destruction a

government could cause and what it could do when

it would overstep its reach. One would assume

she you know in her life said that wasn't where

her belief system came from I think this makes

the argument that it'd be impossible for not

not to influence her in any way But I was rather

captivated by this and I've never read any and

ran books. I just never had the Thought process.

I've read a lot about here. I've watched a lot

about here I've heard a lot of people spout why

they love her work and why to influence them

in many ways I know many people with friends

of mine that are huge fans of her work I I can't

say I'm a fan of her work or not a fan of her

work Like I mentioned, I've never read it myself,

but I feel this did give me a better understanding

of who she was and why she operated and why she

is such an important figure. Like her work or

not, you can't deny her influence has only grown.

As I mentioned, her books were not critically

acclaimed. They tried to make movies off them.

Those weren't very successful. They've tried

to make movies again, actually, I think the last

decade or so, and those were awful. There's a

lot of legal legality regarding the rights of

her books too. It's kind of all over the place.

It's kind of funny when you, I guess not funny,

the right word, ironic. in a way, when you look

at the struggles that there have been trying

to make products or make movies based upon her

work. how you've had people just try to do it

because if they don't make the movie they're

going to lose their rights and you get really

awful awful movies even people I think who believe

in her system and like the books probably watch

those movies and you know either not know they

exist or be rather embarrassed by them but ultimately

them but the important part is this book itself

I did feel like I also had a better understanding

of things like the financial crisis within this

okay like a good documentary is it being 100

% you know is the viewpoint here Pointed is it

trying to get both sides? I think it does a good

job at least providing context of understanding

why these individuals did it And again, it is

very critical of it and personally. I don't necessarily

have an issue with that I don't think art by

any means needs to Necessarily be both sides

argument or something like that Sometimes there

are not both sides or you know arts not designed

to always kind of feel you feel that you're comfortable

in your word view World view it should in some

ways help challenge that you know to be honest

is this challenge my word view not really it's

probably much more geared towards my line of

thinking, but at the same time, it was getting

into information I wasn't aware of. So I guess

it's easier for me to say that when you're reading

something that is something you agree with against

something that you don't. But if you are a huge

Ayn Rand fan and would recommend anything that

would be on the other side, I would be open to

read it. Like I said, I like to read pretty much

anything. It doesn't necessarily have to be a

comic book. I would be up to anything. Let me

know in the comment section below. But yeah,

I would I think this is certainly going to appeal

to a certain audience per se. This is you care

less about finances. You care less about that

piece. You're probably not going to enjoy the

later half, but I think the just the part about

Anne Rand would be in her life is universally

appealing just because despite the fact some

people may not agree with her take on life. She

did leave was interesting, was fascinating to

read by. So maybe just read that piece and then.

ease in and see if you continue to like it and

maybe by the end you'll find out the fact that

maybe you're into this much more than you realize.

All right let's get to the next book i'm going

to be talking about and that's How to Fake a

Moon Landing and now this is not a guide to how

Stanley Kubrick directed the moon landing but

it gets into the conspiracy theories that exist

a little bit but it really gets into the really

the anti -science movement that has been existing

for some time now. And I know we live in a, being

this on YouTube, YouTube is full of a lot of

different conspiracy videos about pretty much

everything. Like I'm sure there's a conspiracy

video about how I'm not actually a human being

or something like that. There's everything from

dinosaurs aren't real to flat earth, whatever,

whatever you have, you know, for those that like.

like reading Department of Truth in the way it

takes on conspiracies. This is not silly like

this. This is, again, a piece of nonfiction.

The art style is very similar to the last book.

It does what's necessary. There's a good humor

to it. It's funny. It's informative. It's never

dry. There's a lot of information here. But what

it does, it breaks down a lot of the misconceptions

that exist. right now, again, starting with the

moon landing. And where did that idea of the

moon landing being fake come from? Where did

that conspiracy been unearthed? Like, what was

the starting point of it? And it goes through

kind of that and where it comes from, but also

the problematic nature of that conspiracy theory,

and why it doesn't hold water, really, once you

really get beyond just the... general talking

points, kind of going through a lot of the talking

points people tend to bring up, like the lack

of stars, why is the flag moving? All these pieces

and then trying to debunk them. Is this going

to change someone's mind that is steadfast that

the moon landing was fake? Probably not because

I think again it gets into this book itself Like

how those belief systems are it's so entrenched

in individuals that it's beyond the idea of science

or knowledge It's it's again a belief system

despite the fact that science is not based upon

that space upon fact. It's based upon What's

in reality? It's like science is real if you

believe it or not And I think it touches upon

that the moon landing is just one piece of it

and then it transitions to other things like

evolution climate change fracking pretty much

all the key points that you get into. It does

not talk about dinosaurs being fake or anything

like that. Maybe that'll be in the second volume,

but... similar to the Anne Rand book and I didn't

initially talk about with the Anne Rand book

that the humor that's there and I think they

both do have a good sense of humor because when

you do have a book like this it can get rather

dry like an informational dump but I thought

that especially with the art it does have that

cartoonish style you have bits and pieces where

you know it utilizes the medium to do some good

visual gags to kind of keep your interest going

so you're never bored with it and if you are

interested in This information like I do think

if there's one negative to this I there are not

a number of videos or other resources that touch

upon similar information is this bringing anything

necessarily new to the party or approaching breaking

down these misperceptions and a different way

than it hasn't been done before not necessarily

it is very comprehensive though. I will give

it that. It's a nice tight little package. And

this did come out a number of years ago. This

did come out seven years ago. So it was on the

forefront of looking at the problematic nature

of the anti -science movement. and the impact

it can have. Again with the last book, this is

very pointed in its criticism. This is not designed

to kind of make everyone feel comfortable. There's

no question beyond the first few pages of where

this leans. Some people might have some issues

with that because it's not trying to pander to

what they believe and saying that their belief

system is just as legitimate. No, it's pretty

much saying you think the moon landing is fake.

that's not based this in reality and this is

why. So which I think is important because sometimes

there are not two sides to an argument. There's

one side. It's like gravity exists. You might

not believe gravity exists, but the fact that

you're not floating off the planet is proof that

it exists. So we don't need to have that conversation

of why your point of view is legitimate. And

so I know a lot of people, there's that saying,

you know, all opinions are valid. I don't necessarily

agree with that. I think opinions need to have.

Evidence to back them up even if it's criticism

of art or something based in science if you're

going to Spout an opinion you need some sort

of objective truth to strengthen it in a way

Sometimes, you know, I'm not I'm guilty of not

doing that when I give reviews again But I do

think if you're going to spout an opinion Having

opinions not not enough. You need to be able

to back it up with some sort of bit of information

that might be subjective. I mean, art is again

subjective. Like I like the art style of this

book. Some people may not because it's still

simple. There's no, you know, objective truth

there. That is something that is very subjective.

But this again is trying to define what are those

objective truths and why are they being ignored

by a large amount of people? And what is the

who who's benefiting from that is ultimately

the question. Who's benefiting from this mindset?

And it's very pointed at who that is and why

that's problematic for the rest of us. Alright,

next up is a completely different book. Let's

have a nice little palette cleanser, a nice fun

book. Although I say fun, and this is pretty

dreary at times. There are some dark moments

in its kids. And this is from a Blaze comics.

This is written by Arlene Dacodrie. I apologize

if I pronounced that incorrectly. Artwork by

Jocelyn Jorrit. Letters by Carlos N. Mangle and...

Also, Sandra Temafronte. And this again comes

from Ablaze Comics. My apologies for any mispronunciations

there. I will put in the comment section below

the actual wording. So if you actually want to

know what those names are, and if I send them

in correctly, you can check that out there. But

looking at Kids, what is this book about? And

this book exists in a... I guess you could call

it a dystopian future, a zombie future, and focuses

on kids that are existing now. They don't necessarily

have any parents. They've kind of all come together

and are trying to survive. And this does feel

much like in the vein of those classic 80s kids

movies, The Goonies, Spielberg E .T., but maybe

with a little bit more modern sensibility, and

it's a bit darker. Like this one, if you read

this. If you gave it to a kid, I don't know if

they would, it would necessarily be fully appropriate

because there's language, there's blood here,

there's death. It would probably be rated like.

Maybe a hard PG -13, because that's really dependent

upon it. But it may not be appropriate for probably

anyone under the age of 13, I guess, depending

upon the kid. Kids are different. Maybe check

it out yourself and see if they would like it.

But I do think it is more so written towards

the adult to impact the kids in us all, especially

with those that have grown up with those type

of movies. I think one of the things that's been

successful at is the way it does write the kids

dialogues, because I've written a lot of books

that you have a lot of kids communicating and

it just feels false. It feels like This is Lingo

that was outdated 20 years ago. These do not

feel like actual kids. Either they're way above

their age, they're way too wise, or it just feels

very generic. I thought the fact that these are

all kids altogether, I think that did work out

well. And I did really love the art style here.

I actually was really surprised because in the

back of this edition, there are... Draft pages

that show like the pencils for this and I did

not expect that to be honest because it does

have a very digital look to it But it was originally

in pencils and then I don't know if it stayed

in pencils and transition to something else But

I do originally it did start with pencils and

the coloring does feel very digital It does have

that digital look which would be you know I think

it works for this definitely feel like in like

the moving animated cells Which in turn I think

makes sense because a big part of this is again

that love affair with those types of movies when

you actually have a character called Spielberg

and he's about making movies and that's where

that name comes from. It might be a bit forced

but I think it certainly is a reference that

fits and I did like the coloring in the sense

of there are bits and pieces in which you see

the actual footage of the movies that they're

making and how it was able to kind of get that

VHS look. on the page, I thought was pretty impressive.

And two, I think that what was maybe one of the

best strengths of the cartooning was how the

character designs help inform personality of

characters. It did that really well. So just

by looking at the individual, looking at the

kid, you had an idea of who they were, what they

were like, and then it kind of added to the depth.

If I had one problem though, so much of this

is just them trying to survive. Things get a

little messy with when a young girl and her sister

in a wheelchair show up because they're trying

to get to Pittsburgh. with their family and it

causes some some conflict because you have kind

of the main boy who uh is the leader quote unquote

or at least he's the one that tries to drive

what everyone's doing and he takes issue with

her and i just felt like his character felt a

little bit all over the place in a way and he

makes a lot of decisions that i felt weren't

as earned. There's a turn that he makes and I

didn't feel like it felt natural with what the

story was doing in a way. The way they approached

it I thought they would really round it out a

little bit more and really give more reasoning

to the things he was doing, but I felt like that

was something they left a little bit too much

on the cutting room floor. They could have developed

that further and when he is basically doing things

that's going to risk the lives of other individuals

in a very severe way. That wasn't the only other

takeaway outside of that. I did like the dynamic

with the kids It does feel very heavily influenced

from things like zombie land like you have these

kids that are spouting rules and again very much

in that that type of vein so It does feel heavily

influenced from other properties, but that immaculation

of all those different things does, I think,

give out something a bit original. It's a very

fast -paced comic. I went through this rather

quickly. This is the first volume, five issues

or so. So it was not a lot of dialogue. But one

of the other strengths of the cartooning, too,

was if you're going to call out Spielberg, a

strong visual storyteller, not just in your cartooning

and in character design, but how you set the

stage, like how you're how you're telling the

story through camera angles, things like that.

And it does that similar to how Spielberg, when

he would have a movie based on kids, that the

camera angles would always be through their perspective

a great deal. Like you're always seeing things

through their eyes. So you're on the same level

as them. This did a lot of that as well. And

it does get, like I said, rather dark. Like I

didn't really get to enjoy all these different

characters. And I was willing to go places that

maybe I didn't necessarily expect it to, which

is why I... would be concerned maybe to give

this to actual kids because it, not necessarily

that there aren't kids movies that deal with

death, but the death theory can be a bit brutal

in a way. To me, it definitely is taking the...

way that adults would become deranged in the

sense of a zombie movie, like how someone who's

normal may become rather evil or do things that

are morally repulsive and saying that kids should

probably be no different in that, which I thought

was a bit refreshing. It didn't necessarily show

that these kids, that innocence that they have

has been removed. But at times you do see it,

which makes it all the more tragic. So I didn't

know what to expect with this book. I read it

when it was an issue and ended up really liking

it a lot. And I wanted to return to it, read

it all in one sitting. And it does read much

better as a graphic novel compared to when it

was an issue. So, you know, don't dismiss it

because you hate zombies or because you are sick

of this stuff being future or maybe you're not

really into ablaze comics. It's not, you know,

a huge publisher. But if everything I've read

by them, this is by far the favorite book that.

they did. So I don't necessarily have a favorite

book. I usually try to finish this up with the

book I enjoyed the most. These are very different

books. I mean, this was much more enjoyable,

much more entertaining. But I thought in the

sense of a fulfilling read, the other books were

probably more probably Anne Rand book was the

one that I thought really had me thinking the

most out of everything I read this week. So anyway,

so that's it for me for this week. Just remember

that comics are for everyone. The key is finding

the right one until next time. Keep reading.