Arts & Entertainment Back off, Sherlock! The notorious Banksy is best left unidentified, .__.. 7 mid-July, after foolishly wasting one year of their resources on an asinine investigation, British newspaper The Mail on Sunday believes they have uncovered the identity of the famous socially-minded guerilla graffiti artist known as Banksy. After speaking with assumed friends, family, colleagues and enemies for 365 whole days they have managed to produce one photo and information about a man by the name of Robin Gunningham, who they presume to be Banksy. It’s too bad they couldn’t have conducted this claimed “exhaustive yearlong investigation” to actually accomplish something important instead of exploring a trivial possibility. But no, instead they set out to blow the cover of an artist + who, in my opinion, is better left anonymous. What Banksy does is illegal. It’s graffiti, but it’s genius. _ It is not your typical scribbled scrawl. Since his style is so distinctive, part of his intrigue is the chance and surprise of finding a new work of his as a mere passerby. If he is - uncovered, his ability to produce his artwork on the London streets will likely be hampered. That’s assuming the city is going to waste as many resources on impeding him as The Mail on Sunday has. Confining this artist to only studio - works will undoubtedly minimize the power and importance of his statements. Part of the impact of what Banksy does is that he is unknown; he is what his statements are. Even he himself has stated “Nobody ever listened to me until they didn’t know _ who I was.” People are not influenced by the way he looks, _ his press statements, or his personal life, leaving his art to _ be appreciated for what it is. It’s unfortunate that there are now allegations that his childhood discredits his statements, claiming he is from a middle-class family and attended an » almost £10,000 a year public school. I don’t believe that because of a privileged upbringing he is in any way unable of expressing a genuine social conscience, especially since a social conscience is defined as an attitude of sensitivity and not an experience of injustice. What does discredit his assertions though is the fact that he regularly sells pieces to the likes of the Jolie-Pitts for upwards of $500,000. Another aspect that many have failed to address is the possibility that Banksy is in fact more than one person. There is speculation that due to the sheer breadth of some of his pieces and the speed at which they are completed, there are likely a few people involved in their production. It is also likely that he has accomplices of sorts to help with distracting attention, photographing, and orchestrating the more blatant daytime works, like when he put his own version of the Mona Lisa with a yellow smiley face right over the original in the Louvre. There is also brand new speculation that The Mail has confused the real Banksy with a reality TV hip-hop dancer named Banxy. Now that would be an embarrassing mistake! Banksy’s works are known for espousing anti- establishment views, and for making a social statement. The image on a London street of a Royal Guard urinating on the cement wall, or when he snuck into the elephant cage at the London Zoo and painted prisoner-inspired “five tick” tallies on the wall are examples of this. To learn more about Banksy and the hilarity and sheer genius of his work, pick up his autobiographical coffee table book Banksy Wall and Piece. In the meantime, let’s just hope that we’ve got more unadulterated Banksy to look forward to. A new reason to extend your bathroom break By Kris Watrich I; you’ve ever announced “Baby, no, seriously, it’s a really good movie!” as you prepare the DVD player to roll through all 131 minutes of Conan the Barbarian extended version, prepare yourself to say it again...because Conan has returned. While it’s only in the written format (for the time being), it still begins with its usual “Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.” Nerds rejoice; the lips of mortal men will once again whisper that sentence. Someone has pissed in the mulled wine, and it’s time for some good old fashion decapitation. The original six volumes of the Dark Horse series are now available in graphic novel format. Gone are the mediocre artworks and the predictable story lines of chance encounter, defeat monster, save wench then refuse the iz crown type story lines that graced the pages of the original series. Critically acclaimed scribe Kurt Busiek spins the yarns masterfully; never have Conan’s melancholies and mirth been truer to the vision of his creator and original iiber nerd, Robert E. Howard. Unlike the traditional pencil, ink and colour steps of comic art, colorist Dave Stewart paints over the rough pencil sketches of artist Cary Nord. This groundbreaking style gives birth to something new, something so real and lifelike you'll want to go out and buy a 1970s Econoline van and get the images airbrushed on the side...or at least I did. This incarnation of Conan is possible thanks to Dark Horse Comics orchestrating the greatest coup d’étate in comic book history back in 2003. Marvel Comics had let the license on Conan Barbarian lapse, and there to scoop up the popular character and take him back to his roots was Dark Horse. The new Dark Horse series has so much of what some might call “street cred” that a recall was declared for issue 24, due to the riot of complaints the naked titty (that’s Cimmerian for breast) on the cover incited. So, dust off your copies of Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, crack an ice cold Dr. Pepper and enjoy the days of high adventure.