This week I have been putting together a story on Cult Movies. It was prompted by the Anchor Bay box set- 12 'cult movies', including, "The Man Who Fell to Earth", "C.H.U.D.", and "Heathers". I started thinking about the nature of 'cult'. Most genres are defined by content- Western, Science Fiction, Horror. but it seems to me that it 'cult' is one of the few categories defined almost solely by the audience.

So my cult movies in this box set include Heathers and The Man Who Fell to Earth, but I do not fall into the cult of "Fitzcarraldo", "Class of 1984", or "Night of the Living Dorks". "Blade Runner" used to be a 'cult movie' for me, but now it is regarded as a classic, and has been absorbed into the mainstream. The audience changed, so it's cult status changed as well.

This idea of 'cult' seems to work for books too.

Books that are my 'Cult Books' include "Geek Love", "The Wasp Factory", and "Raw Shark Texts". These are great books, well conceived and written, but the kind of books that I only pass on to people with very like minded taste. They are odd, under-the radar reads.

I wonder if there is such a thing as a cult comic, peculiar comics, with a passionate loyal audience. Comics that fly under the radar. Well, most comics don't fall into the 'mainstream', for a start. When I think about the comic book equivalent of Geek Love or Heathers I can think on only a few examples- Yummy Fur, Eightball, and the work of Fletcher Hanks. I thought of including artists like Jim Woodring and Basil Wolverton, but there work is well known, and doesn't seem to be 'cult'. Even Yummy Fur and Eightball have been optioned for movies, and seemed to have broken out of 'cult status', at least in the comic book community. They are revered.

As I type this Kim Poirier is in the studio space taping the 'throws' to this weekend's HypaSpace. I have the headphones on, and I'm listening to Norman Orenstein's soundtrack to RoboCop Prime Directives.

Beverage- coffee- Dark Continental, black.