Hellboy In Hell in 2012

As Bleeding Cool states, Hellboy In Hell has been a long time coming.  Look for my next Week(s) In Dork for a more in-depth discussion of the latest Mignola mini, The Fury, but for now lets just bask in the Epic Potential of the art above.  And yeah, Mignola is back on art duties.  That right there makes Hellboy In Hell the most anticipated comic (maybe pop culture event) of next year.  Can't get here quick enough.

--Brad

FROM THE LONGBOXES: Amazing Spider-Man #30-35 by JMS & JRJr – Part III

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

One of the best things about J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Amazing Spider-Man (at least up to the point I stopped reading, which was when JRJr left the book and Mike Deodato came on as artist) was his characterization of Peter Parker. JMS had a firm hold on what makes this character tick.  Despite being older, Peter is still a person who takes very seriously his responsibility to his family (Aunt May and, though she is gone at this point, Mary Jane) as well as his responsibility, as Spider-Man, to the populace at large.  This does not mean his exploits as Spider-Man are not nerve-wracking.  This is why Spidey has always been a wise-cracker, spewing ridiculous jokes to cover up the fear he feels. It’s a common defense mechanism and one that has been a part of this character from the start.  And JMS’s dialogue smoothly fits into this aspect of the character. 

JMS also has Peter moving forward in his civilian life, having him become a science teacher at his old high school, as another way for him to give back to the community.  This is a natural extension of the Spider-Man template set forth by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko back in the early sixties where they had him graduate high school, move on to college, and have evolving relationships with the likes of Betty Brant and Gwen Stacy. Again, it fits the character and is a nice way of “showing” readers who Peter Parker/Spider-Man is rather than telling us through some dull expository caption boxes.  It’s a subtle bit of storytelling that too few writers in comics miss out on, even today.

The pacing of this story is also excellent.  There’s an ebb and flow to the narrative that allows readers to enjoy the story and experience the emotional crescendos when they arrive.  One of the best bits of writing advice I’ve gotten came from the DVD commentary by JMS for the final episode of season one of Babylon 5.  He discussed how one should have a quiet moment prior to a major disruption in the narrative – whether it be an emotional disruption or an alien attack or whatever – in order to make that emotional instance resonate with the audience.  And JMS deftly weaves the quiet moments with the “big” ones in this storyline. 

Straczynski also sets things up nicely.  He doesn’t have any resolutions come out of left field.  The way Spider-Man defeats Morlun is reached through a natural progression of events, none of which feels forced or hackneyed.  The way Morlun goes on about feeding on a pure totemistic host, and Ezekiel’s surprise arrival that catches the villain off-guard and bloodies his nose – offering Peter an opportunity to study what manner of creature Morlun is – all make sense and feel like the events they are (the villain monologuing, Ezekiel helping Peter) before you realize that they have secondary consequences (the opportunity for Peter to survive this primal force).  It’s wonderful storytelling.

And that brings me to another aspect JMS brought to his initial storyline.  He incorporated Peter’s scientific background when he had Peter take Morlun’s blood and analyze it for a possible way of defeating him.  This is something I have rarely seen utilized in Spider-Man comics.  It was refreshing.  This has always been a cornerstone of the character, and yet it is hardly used within the stories.  Peter’s webs were originally created by him, a scientific breakthrough that he tried to sell to some scientists way back in issue # 18 – a deal that fell through when they discovered the webs dissolved in minutes. 

Yeah, editors have made his webs organic – actually an extension of Peter and emanating from his wrists – and I can’t say where the “continuity” stands on this aspect right now, and I’d rather not think about that.  Ugh.

Bringing this aspect back into the book, accentuated by Peter’s decision to become a science teacher at his former high school, was something I greatly appreciated.

And John Romita, Jr’s artwork has never looked as good, in my opinion.  He draws a lithe, ballet-like Spider-Man who is wiry and able to contort his body in a manner reminiscent of a spider and, again, a body type that hearkens back to Steve Ditko’s seminal work. 

AN HISTORICAL NOTE:  Initially, Jack Kirby was tapped to draw Spider-Man and he finished five pages of an initial story.  But Stan Lee discarded that and chose to have Ditko draw the book.  He obviously made the right choice.  I don’t know the reasoning, but it seems to me that Kirby’s blocky style really would not fit with the character of Peter Parker – a teenage bookworm with a slight physical frame – whereas Ditko’s lithe artwork was a perfect match for the young hero. 

JRJr knows how to draw comics, especially action-packed ones like Spider-Man.  And he does not disappoint here.  When Spidey first faces Morlun, the double-page spread we get from JRJr is fantastic, a whirlwind of these two larger-than-life characters pummeling each other.  It’s a collage of images without panel borders that gets across the frenetic pace of the battle.  It really is a masterfully drawn spread that showcases the unique properties of comics storytelling. 

But, though this may not be his strong suit, JRJr can also evoke emotion from the quieter moments of the story.  It’s these moments that help punctuate the action and give it the emotional tenor necessary in a story like this.  Thankfully, JRJr is not afraid to let these softer moments breathe within the larger narrative.  He understands, better than a lot of artists, how to tell a comic story effectively and give readers a full and satisfying experience.  Having a veteran of his stature, who can also hit deadlines, on this book with JMS was a good move on Marvel’s part. It really elevated the first half of Straczynski’s tenure as writer on Amazing Spider-Man and is a major reason why this first storyline won the 2002 Eisner award for best serialized story.

And finally – JMS went there.  He finally had Aunt May discover that her nephew is Spider-Man.  And the way JMS handled that was brilliant. 

But that’s best saved for another time.

-chris

To read more of Chris’s thoughts or to check out his short prose and comic work, go to www.warrior27.com, the online home for the comics/prose anthology, Warrior27, created by Chris and by Dan Fleming – with contributions from Matthew J. Constantine (half of In the Mouth of Dorkness), among others.

FROM THE LONGBOXES: Amazing Spider-Man #30-35 by JMS & JRJr – Part II

NOTE:  SPOILERS AHEAD!  BIG TIME!

First go read part I, then come back.

Okay. 

Peter, bloodied and severely bruised, goes to Ezekiel to accept the offer of sanctuary this enigmatic businessman with eerily similar spider powers had proffered earlier.  But it is too late.  Morlun has touched Spidey and can now track him no matter where he hides.  And, despite having extra-normal powers  – or maybe for that very reason – Ezekiel declines to assist Peter in his battle with Morlun.  If he did that, Morlun would be able to latch onto his scent, as he’s done to Peter, and he would come after Ezekiel next to leech him of his own totemistic powers.  Ezekiel has too much to lose.  He can’t forsake all he’s amassed for a fool’s errand. 

So Spider-Man returns to the maw of destruction created by Morlun, and he must save a young child from this primal force of nature before going on the attack with his fists and his webbing.   Nothing stops Morlun, and Peter realizes he needs to get some breathing room.  But he stays within his enemy’s field of vision so that Morlun will remain fixed on the prize and not go after anyone else. 

But first, in a nice touch by JMS, Peter calls the school to tell them he won’t be in.  Too often, questions within the hero’s private lives (such as why would Clark Kent not be missed from the Daily Planet if he was off in space for weeks at a time as Superman) are never confronted, let alone answered.  Having Peter do this in the middle of a battle not only firmly establishes this new status quo in Peter’s life, but it is also another example of JMS exhibiting Peter’s conscientiousness, which is a hallmark of the character. 

Then the battle continues, with Morlun devastating Spider-Man in his relentless onslaught.  Hardly able to move, after Morlun smashes him into a building with a lamppost, Spider-Man snags the bumper of a car with his webbing and lets it drag him along the paved road in order to get away, if only for a moment.  Once he’s put some distance between himself and Morlun, Peter takes a moment to call Aunt May and tell her how much he loves her.  He realizes it may be the last opportunity he has to do this.

And then Morlun is on him again, driving Spidey toward the docks.

But out of nowhere, Ezekiel knocks Morlun down from behind.  With the enemy momentarily confused, Spidey and Ezekiel pour it on, bloodying Morlun’s nose before he regains his edge and sucks the energy from Ezekiel, who falls into the bay.  Morlun, having quenched a bit of his thirst, leaves Spider-Man to look for his friend, content in the certainty that he will feed on him soon enough.  And he returns to his aide, Dexter – a human liaison who wished to be close to power and has been helping Morlun make his way through New York – in order to prepare for the final battle.

But this altercation gives Peter something he hadn’t had before.  He takes the bloodied timber from the dock and examines it at home.  In so doing, he discovers that Morlun’s cells are made up of an amalgam of every kind of animal cell – the purest forms of DNA Peter’s ever seen.  That is why Morlun needs to feed on a pure totemistic life-form, so that he can recharge those cells before they break down. 

And that’s the key for Peter.  He needs to dilute the purity of his Spider powers.  To do that, he considers seriously Ezekiel’s earlier question:  “Which came first, the radiation or the power?”  Which is to say, did the radiation give the spider the power with which Peter was infected, or did the spider already have that totemistic power and inject Peter with it when it knew the radiation was going to kill it?

So, Peter injects himself with that same radiation, in order to dilute his totemistic purity and give Morlun something poisonous to feed on instead.  And when Morlun tries to take Peter’s spider force, he burns with the radiation.  Spider-Man now has a weapon, and with every punch he pours more radiation into Morlun – weakening him, changing him, making him vulnerable. 

As Peter pounds on Morlun, he realizes that just defeating him isn’t enough.  Morlun is a primal force that cannot be stopped in any conventional manner.  Only through such an extreme scenario as this one, in which Peter injects himself with a near-lethal dose of radiation, is there any hope of defeating him. 

Peter realizes Morlun must die.  But can he do it?

And then Dexter, Morlun’s aide, comes out of the shadows and shoots him, wrenching the decision away from Peter.  Part of Dexter’s services to Morlun included providing sustenance for the centuries-old vampiric being.  It may have made Dexter feel important at first, but it hurt – a lot – and the toll it took on him was overwhelming.  So, seeing his opportunity to be free, Dexter takes it.

And we, and Peter, will never know if he would have made that ultimate choice.  It is a question that will haunt Peter for a long time, and it’s a perfect, emotional ending for this initial story from JMS and JRJr. 

Except that this wasn’t the end.  There still needs to be a cliffhanger, a reason for readers to come back and buy the next issue.  There has to be the denouement.  And JMS provided one helluva denouement.

When Peter had called Aunt May earlier to tell her he loved her, she had offered to pick up his clothes and take them to the cleaners.  But, with Morlun on his trail, he didn’t have time to answer then. 

So Aunt May decides to go to Peter’s and pick up his clothes – always wanting to do for her nephew, it makes complete sense.  Peter is sleeping, and had taken no time to put away his tattered costume when he arrived home earlier.  He is so exhausted from his battle with Morlun, that his spider sense does not warn him of Aunt May’s arrival. 

And she sees his bloodied body and his Spider-Man costume, and realization hits her like a lightning bolt from a clear sky. 

But that story is reserved for another day.

-chris

To read more of Chris’s thoughts or to check out his short prose and comic work, go to www.warrior27.com, the online home for the comics/prose anthology, Warrior27, created by Chris and by Dan Fleming – with contributions from Matthew J. Constantine (half of In the Mouth of Dorkness), among others.

Comic Review: Conan: Cimmeria

    First let me say that I really don’t understand the love for Richard Corben.  I often see him lauded as an amazing force in comics and a great master, but I’ve always found his work to be kind of weird and ugly, and generally not appropriate for whatever it’s attached to.  Now, that said, I feel like he kind of dialed it back a notch in this volume, and its use only during flashbacks makes it compliment Giorello’s work.  Also, the coloring in this volume is much better than in the previous, and makes it feel less cartoony.

WTF, Corben?

    As far as the story goes, I like this volume.  The old adage, ‘you can’t go home again’ rings true for Conan as he returns to his homeland to find that it hasn’t changed so much, but he certainly has.  With his more worldly experience, he sees his home as less pure and idealized.  He is really becoming an adult, and faces the choice of settling down or returning to the world as a sort of new man.

    Along the way, we hear various tales of Conan’s grandfather, Connacht, a man who was very important to young Conan.  He too had ventured beyond the borders of Cimmeria, into the greater world, and it had changed him as well.  But Connacht’s journey was very different, and his choices different as well.

    This volume feels a bit like a rest and reflection.  My hope is that it is a calm before a storm, and that the next volume will be all the stronger for it.  Another little treat in this volume is the brief adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s poem Cimmeria.  Very cool.

Conan: Volume 7: Cimmeria
Author: Timothy Truman
Artists:  Tomas Giorello, Richard Corben, and Jose Villarrubia
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
ISBN:  978-1-59582-283-3
Pages:  192

-Matt

The Womanthology and the Future

I just read this article about the new Womanthology, and I found it fascinating.  I see a growth in independent cinema and publishing with the ubiquitous nature of digital technology.  More people are able to reach their targeted audience because of self publishing, especially digitally, and through the internet.  It's kind of amazing, and I don't really have a good handle on it.  But I think I like it.  I think, in the long run, this is a good thing.  Different, yes.  I don't think it will spell the end of books, but I do think books will change, become more precious, like vinyl records.  Anyway, I kind of wandered off topic.  What I'm trying to say is that I think this is a really amazing thing, and I can't wait to see where it leads.  As a writer myself (and one with a particular style and content that doesn't appeal to a wide audience), I'm very interested in how projects like this work, succeed or fail. 

-Matt

FROM THE LONGBOXES: Amazing Spider-Man #30-35 by JMS & JRJr – PART I

In 2001, Marvel decided to make a big splash with their books and re-energize a number of titles.  These included New X-Men from Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely, Daredevil from Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, and Amazing Spider-Man from J. Michael Straczynski & John Romita, Jr.  It was a great time to be reading comics, and, for me, this was the first time since John Byrne was working regularly for them that I took any notice of Marvel comics.  I mean, come on – Grant Morrison did Animal Man and Bendis did Torso, and I loved those books.  How could I not pay attention?

But, for me, the biggest news was that JMS was going to be writing Amazing Spider-Man.  This was huge.  I love Babylon 5, and, for my money, it is the best science fiction television show ever to hit the airwaves.  The evolution of characters, the laying down of story seeds in the first season that payoff two or three or four seasons later, the big ideas coupled with fully realized alien races and political intrigue – JMS kept me excited and wanting more throughout the entire five seasons of this seminal science fiction show.

So when he was hired for Spidey, I was all in.

And the first storyline, encompassing issues 30-35 and entitled “Coming Home,” did not disappoint and ended up winning the Eisner award for best serialized story that year.

In interviews, I remember JMS stating he wanted to stay away from the typical Spider-Man villains and create new characters for his run.  And he dropped everyone into the deep end of the pool with the first issue when he introduced Ezekiel. 

A successful businessman – something we don’t discover until shortly after we first meet him – Ezekiel knows an awful lot about Spider-Man, including his origin, his powers, and who it is beneath the mask.  Ezekiel also has very similar powers to those of Spidery.  And, to top it all off, he tells Pete that maybe everything he believed about his life as Spider-Man is wrong. 

Ezekiel claims that Peter’s transition into Spider-Man isn’t merely a random occurrence.  He asks Peter, as the two of them stand atop the Empire State Building:

“Did the radiation enable the spider to give you these powers? 
Or was the spider trying to give you those powers before the radiation killed it?”
And Peter’s mind is blown.  This puts everything he’s believed since that fateful day into question, and Peter doesn’t know what to think.  And then, Ezekiel is gone.

A few days later, Ezekiel finds Peter at his new job, science teacher at his old high school.  He invites Peter for pizza to discuss what he thinks he knows about his powers.  Ezekiel tells Peter about these totemistic forces that used to walk the earth, race memories that still haunt our DNA.  These forces could bridge the gap between humans and other species.  Ezekiel claims that Spider-Man is one of these totemistic forces.  As he explains, you can judge a hero (or man) by his enemies.  One type of hero attracts the same type of enemy, and in the case of Spidey, he’s attracted a lot of totemistic pretenders – Doctor Octopus, the Vulture, the Rhino, the Lizard, and the Scorpion, to name a few of his rogues.  

After their pizza, Ezekiel invites Peter to his office building.  He offers Peter sanctuary in a specially built panic room where he can hide from the evil that is coming to hunt him down.  Peter declines, worried that whoever may be after him would put innocents in danger in order to draw him out.  And, having battled numerous enemies through the years as Spider-Man, he feels no need to run and hide.  He’s done this before.  He will do it again.  And he always comes out on top.   

AN ASIDE:
I loved this new perspective JMS took with regard to Spider-Man’s powers and origin.  There was an outcry from loyal Spidey fans who denigrated such a reworking of Peter Parker’s story – and many posited a strong argument that this new idea took away the strength of the character, i.e. a forlorn teenager accidentally endowed with great power who must come to terms with his new reality and realize that with such power comes great responsibility.  The randomness of the spider bite plays into this depiction of the character very strongly, and I can understand how some might perceive this as undermining the character.  But, for me, I always took Ezekiel’s story with a heavy grain of salt, intrigued by this notion but content to believe it was only a possibility and nothing more.

But I digress

The evil coming to hunt down and feed on Spider-Man is the other major character JMS introduces in this first story arc, Morlun.  A vampiric creature who feeds on the life-force of those who have totemistic powers, Morlun believes, as Ezekiel does, that Spider-Man is one of these totemistic forces.  It has been a long time, possibly centuries, since Morlun fed on a pure totemistic force.  So he is determined to capture Spider-Man.  And he is a badass.  With inhuman strength on a level that allows him to effortlessly shake off Spider-Man’s strongest punches, unyielding stamina, and the ability to track his prey anywhere once he’s come in to contact with them, Morlun does not stop for anything.  This is something Spidey learns very quickly, when Morlun uses Spider-Man as a rag doll in their initial confrontation.

Worn down and fearing for his life, Peter goes back to Ezekiel.  He is ready to take the sanctuary now.  But it is too late.  Morlun has touched Peter.  He can track him anywhere, sensing him even within a full-proof hideaway such as Ezekiel constructed.  Sanctuary is no longer an option. 

It is at this point, that things look bleakest for our hero.

To be continued …

-chris

To read more of Chris’s thoughts or to check out his short prose and comic work, go to www.warrior27.com, the online home for the comics/prose anthology, Warrior27, created by Chris and by Dan Fleming – with contributions from Matthew J. Constantine (half of In the Mouth of Dorkness), among others.

Trailer: The Walking Dead Season 2

Is this an official trailer or fan made?  Not exactly sure, but I am definitely excited to see the second season of  The Walking Dead.  I might not have been over the moon by the first season's climax but that show got enough right.  Frankly, I just want to see what the heck happened to Merle Dixon.  Emmy4Rooker!

Dork Art: Muppet Lantern Corps!

From artist Abby Mebberson comes this beautiful mashup of The Muppets and the Green Lantern Corps.  Withoutadoubt, my favorite is Red Lantern Animal.  That dude will mess you up.

--Brad

PLUTO by Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka part 4

As an emotional experience, PLUTO falls flat.  Naoki Urasawa set up a science fiction universe within which the murder mystery of the seven most advanced robots on Earth takes place.  It’s a fast-paced thriller that propels its audience along masterfully, setting up a finale that promises to be breathtaking and awesome. 

And Urasawa circumvents readers’ expectations by having Atom (aka Astro Boy) defeat Pluto with love.  Intellectually, it’s a joy to experience.  But emotionally, it is a complete let-down.

I imagine, for many, this resolution seems to come out of nowhere.  On first glance, it feels as if we have been cheated.  Like Perry Mason, where the audience was never able to solve the mystery, because there was always a key bit of evidence they were never privy to, and so it always felt like a cheat when Mason revealed why his client was innocent.  But, if one is able to get past that initial shock and, for some, that feeling of anger, in order to examine the story as a whole, it becomes obvious this is where Urasawa was leading us all along. 

Although I was disappointed when the big battle turned on a dime with Pluto’s emotional reaction, I wasn’t all that surprised with how Urasawa resolved this story.  I knew love was going to play a big part in this because of one major plot point – Professor Tenma remarks on at least three occasions of how one can awaken a robot whose AI is overwhelmed: 

“I knew there was a way to make it wake up though . . . By destroying the balance . . . anger . . . sadness . . . hatred . . . it just required throwing things off balance.”

And every time Tenma brings this up, he always uses the same, or similar, emotions to describe how to destroy the balance of the robot’s AI.  And these emotions are all NEGATIVE emotions.  But love is also a strong emotion, and the fact that Tenma never uses it as an example foreshadowed heavily that love as an “imbalancer” would be utilized.

Readers are also aware of Pluto’s dichotomous psyche – a result of his initial creation as part of a greenification project for Persia, which became subverted by Abullah’s when he decided to make Pluto this almost unstoppable weapon.  His rampage against the advanced robots of the world is one part of his psych.  But he also paints lush fields of flowers.  This, we discover, when Uran, unknowingly – for us and for her – runs into Pluto in his “other” form.  Having this dichotomy means there is “still good” in him (if I may be allowed a call-back to Star Wars) and means Atom’s overwhelming sense of love would have an effect on him.

We also learn that, when Atom is awoken from his coma at the end of volume 7, he “began emitting strange brain waves . . .”   We are also told that “When a robot as sophisticated as Atom awakens, it triggers a reaction in the AI of every advanced robot in the world.”  So, the fact that Pluto has such an emotional reaction when he comes close to Atom in battle makes sense.  Again, it was laid out by Urasawa, setting up the climax nicely.

Lastly, the big question would be:  where did this strong sense of love come from?  Tenma had to awaken Atom by introducing a strong emotional imbalance.  He took the memory chip of Gesicht, which he got from Gesicht’s wife Helena, and implanted that into Atom’s AI.  Tenma believed that Gesicht’s final emotion, as he was killed, would be the stimulus to awaken Atom, and he was right. 

Where Tenma was mistaken, was in the belief that the final emotion of Gesicht would be anger or hatred at dying.  But, as we have come to learn through the story – and particularly in the flashback to when Gesicht and his wife adopted a robot that was going to the scrap heap – Gesicht wanted nothing more than to be a family man.  He embodied love.  And, as Atom relates to Helena when he visits her just before going to find Pluto (in a scene where Helena, before turning around to see Atom, believes that her husband has returned, because Gesicht has now become part of Atom), Gesicht was always thinking of his wife, and was thinking of her and the love he had for her just as he was dying.  This was the sentiment introduced into Atom to create the emotional imbalance necessary to awaken him. 

Urasawa set everything up for the climax to PLUTO from the beginning. Like any good storyteller, he seeded things throughout the narrative that appeared to be minor points but would come to bear as the final pages approached.  Naoki Urasawa crafted an impressive story that holds together very well, and I appreciate very much his willingness to circumvent reader expectations and not take the easy way out. 

But, at this point, I don’t know if it succeeds on a purely emotional level – which isn’t as important to me as whether its structure holds up under scrutiny.  I guess I will have to read it again and see how it stands the test of time.

-chris      

To read more of Chris’s thoughts or to check out his short prose and comic work, go to www.warrior27.com, the online home for the comics/prose anthology, Warrior27, created by Chris and by Dan Fleming – with contributions from Matthew J. Constantine (half of In the Mouth of Dorkness), among others.

Dork Art: Hellboy & Friends!

Finally finished reading the first issue of the latest Hellboy mini-series, The Fury and it has me jazzed for all things Mignola.  Started trolling Dark Horse Comics and discovered some really great art for the upcoming Hellboy/BPRD trades and single issues.  Love, love, love the above Francesco Francavilla cover for the Abe Sapien mini-series The Devil Does Not Jest penned by Mignola with James Harren interiors.  But check out this other great stuff.

--Brad

Matt’s Week in Dork! (6/26-7/2)

    It’s been a busy and very weird week.  Honestly, the last few weeks have been kind of crappy for this Dork, but with plenty of silver lining.  Up first, the films of the week.

Megamind:  Clever, occasionally cute, and a good deal of fun, Megamind isn’t amazing, but it’s worth a watch.  The voice work is good.  It plays well with big comic book myths, especially the Superman type.  And I kind of like it’s meditation on the need of an adversary to define oneself.  Check it out. 

Doctor Who Revenge of the Cybermen:  The long awaited return of the Cybermen has the Doctor and Sarah Jane facing some troubling military types in the future, and some creepy, big headed aliens.  There’s a lot going on in this story, but it pretty quickly comes down to battling the Doctor’s other major enemy.  Not as iconic as the Daleks, they’re still pretty cool. 

Eastern Promises:  The Russian mob is up to no good in London and a local nurse learns more than is good for her.  Meanwhile, upwardly mobile thug Viggo Mortensen is ‘just driver.’  It’s a really good flick, and Viggo is pretty awesome.  And yes, that crazy bathhouse fight is pretty hardcore.  I hope Viggo and Cronenberg keep working together for years to come. 

Transformers: Dark of the Moon:  The girl is less awful than Megan Fox.  I didn’t notice any especially offensive ethnic stereotype robots.  And there are a couple cool stunts/shots.  Otherwise, this is more of the same generic crap.  Soulless, mindless pap from a purveyor of mediocrity.  A true heir to the thrown of James Cameron, Bay makes big, loud, and ultimately dumb films, and his best ideas are lifted from much better films.  And sadly, like a latter day Cameron, his movies lack a charm that would make you forgive their obvious shortcomings.  Like the previous films, I found the visual assault of CG to be a sort of sensory overload, making it hard to follow the action.  Half the time, I couldn’t tell what was flying debris and what was robot.  And in spite of being WAY over long, the movie felt spotty, like important scenes were left on the cutting room floor.  It’s a step up from Revenge of the Fallen in the same way Revenge of the Sith was a step up from Attack of the Clones.  Better than a steaming turd does not equal good.  

Don't know what you're looking at?  Neither did I.

Aquamarine:  Why did I watch this?  I honestly don’t know.  It’s pretty annoying, screechy, and pointless.  The leads are all mostly unlikable and the story pretty lame.  It’s not surprising that this film came and went with little fanfare or lasting interest. 

Making Splash look good.

Doctor Who: Planet of Evil:  A pretty good horror story set on a planet near the edge of the universe, this owes a great deal to one of my favorite movies, Forbidden Planet.  Some great sets and excellent guest actors keep it grounded while the Doctor faces off with another universe. 

Wait Until Dark:  After working pretty consistently since 1951, this 1967 film marked the beginning of a near ten year hiatus from film for star Audrey Hepburn.  Had it been her final film, it would have been a pretty good exit.  Tense, scary, and brimming with great performances from a very small but very talented cast.  Especially cool are the charming small-time hood Richard Crenna and the cold psycho Alan Arkin.  It plays like an attempt at a Hitchcock film, and while not to the level of Hitch’s best, it’s still quite good.  And I suspect that this movie informed a young Brian De Palma quite a bit, as I actually had to check to make sure he wasn’t in some way associated with it. 

    I also watched a few episodes of the 70s kids’ show Space Academy, which is fun, but not very good.  So far, of that batch of TV series (Jason of Star Command, Ark II, and some others), Space Academy is the lesser.  But oddly enough, Jonathan Harris isn’t that bad.  Usually I can’t stand that guy, but he’s OK here. 

    Also watched a little more Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  Dang that show is nutty.  Good stuff, though.

 
    Outside of watching some movies, I went with some friends to a local bar.  This is not my usual way to spend time and money, but I’m trying to do more new things.  The whole situation was a bit surreal.  After a long day at work, my roommate and I took a bus, with the intention of switching to another bus that would go right by the bar we were heading to.  After missing the intended first bus, we walked a little out of our way and got a second option.  OK, all’s well.  But ten minutes later, while waiting at a light, the loud motor behind us started to get louder.  Then it started making an awful sound, like the screaming of a thousand souls at the gates of hell.  And that’s when the smoke started.  Then the sound died, but the smoke kept up.  After the light finally turned green (dang but that intersection is poorly set up and timed), we got off at the next stop and got out of Dodge.  Blah.  After a good walk in the sun, which was actually fairly pleasant, we arrived at the bar, or pub, I can never tell.  A couple rum & Cokes later and we were on our way.  I just don’t get the bar atmosphere.  I never have.  I’ve been to a number of very different bars over the years, and I’ve always felt like an outsider.  At any moment, someone is going to ask me about the ‘big game’ or some such thing, and I’m gonna be like a spy in East Germany who doesn’t  have his papers.  Unable to answer and hoping for a quick death.  The actual bar itself seems set up to keep you from socializing, putting you all in a line like some feeding trough or cafeteria table.  But venturing out to the tables feels like you’re looking for trouble.  The crowd was a calm group of business types, with one group of Barbie Doll type college girls and a semi-butch lesbian couple.  Upon leaving, I said something thoroughly inappropriate, which someone interpreted as me being drunk.  But that’s just my sense of humor.  Another walk in the sun and we were home.   I keep wanting to expand my social circles and experience, but as much as everyone seems to sing their praises, I just don’t think bars are the place for me.  Even mellow ones where the pop-collar douche bags are absent.

 
    On the music front, I’m still enjoying quirky female vocalists.  This week, I’ve been especially in to St. Vincent.  And I’m finally giving Florence and the Machine a more serious try. 

    I read the next volume of the Conan comic series.  And I finally finished Reality is Broken.  Excellent book.  I’ll be writing up something more about it in the coming days.  In the meantime, go out and get a copy.  Read it.

    Really getting a hankering to do some more gaming, too.  Though I’ve got a specific idea for my next go round, what comes later is still up in the air.  A few options have been swirling around my noggin.  The standard option is to try to get a weekly or biweekly game with a regular crew of about 4 people.  It’s a nice option and can work very well.  But the reality of adult life can make this difficult.  Kids, jobs, and all sorts of other demands can make a regular game night very difficult.  But there are other options.   Maybe an Ars Magica campaign with a crew of 4 to 10 players, who can come or not without effecting the progress of the game.  I’ve seen it work before.  Or, simply playing various games every couple weeks.  Maybe some board games one night, and a one-shot RPG on another.  We’ll see. 

-Matt

Comic Review: Conan: The Hand of Nergal

    A major visual break from the previous volumes, The Hand of Nergal shows how much difference a colorist can make.  Instead of the painterly look of the previous volume, this looks more like stills from a 70s cartoon, like Wizards or Heavy Metal.  It feels less epic, and in a lot of ways, more like the 70s comic than I like. 

    As far as the writing, it’s not bad, but didn’t wow me, either.  The story is very, very grim, and manages to wrap up several subplots that had been circling around Conan for some time, with varying degrees of satisfaction.  Another thing about this volume is there’s really not much going on.  It doesn’t say “and Other Stories” in the title, because the whole thing is the one tale of an evil wizard and a hoard of nasty undead. 

    All in all, this is the weakest volume so far.  I can say that at the time of writing this, I’m a good chunk of the way through the next volume, and things have improved quite a bit.  And I do like Giorello’s penciling.  I think it’s just the coloring that detracts from the overall look of this book.  If you’ve been reading the previous volumes, you will want to check this out because of how it wraps up a bunch of loose threads.  And honestly, a first time reader could pick this volume up without too much difficulty.  I just wouldn’t recommend it.
 

Conan: Volume 6: The Hand of Nergal
Author: Timothy Truman
Artist: Tomas Giorello
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
ISBN:  978-1-59582-178-2
Pages: 152

Previous Conan Reviews:

Volume 0: Born on the Battlefield
Volume 1: The Frost Giant's Daughter
Volume 2: The God in the Bowl
Volume 3: The Tower of the Elephant
Volume 4: The Hall of the Dead
Volume 5: Rogues in the House

-Matt

PLUTO by Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka, part 3

So,

It seems a lot of people were disappointed with the ending of PLUTO by Naoki Urasawa.  And I can understand why.

Urasawa crafted these 8 volumes as a murder mystery – who is killing the seven most advanced robots in the world? – wrapped in the patina of a classic science fiction narrative, complete with futuristic cityscapes, artificial intelligence, robots that look and act like humans, and some retro-bots that hearken back to Isaac Asimov’s robot cycle of stories.  It was well-suited to my tastes.

Despite the fact that PLUTO is a relatively “quiet” story – there are far more conversations than confrontations – that does not mean the story is lacking in tension.  On the contrary, Urasawa deftly drives the narrative forward, running through the first few advanced robots rather quickly, in order to set up the premise and showcase how powerful the antagonist, Pluto, is.  It seems we are no sooner introduced to the robot North No. 2 than he becomes the next victim of the rampaging force that is Pluto. 

It’s this constant forward motion – moving from one robot victim to the next, while affording readers some space within which they can get to know these characters – that compels Urasawa’s audience (if I am to be considered a typical reader) to keep reading “one more chapter,” until one finds that within a single sitting, the latest volume has been devoured.  PLUTO is a quick read, but a more than satisfying one.  Urasawa’s skill, combined with the tendency in manga of using the imagery more than the words to tell the story, are what help to propel his narrative along.  And it is aptly applied to this particular tale.

I should also note that Urasawa’s artistic skills are exemplary.  His figure work and body language are well-honed, and I believe the fact that his style does not fall into the “typical” manga style, but has a more western feel to it, would appeal to a broader fan base, particularly here in America.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The first 7 volumes feel as if they are leading to a great confrontation, a final climactic battle worthy of Superman and Mongul in Alan Moore’s & Dave Gibbons’s “…For the Man Who Has Everything.”  And even as we begin the final volume, we can see that Atom (Astro Boy) and Pluto are heading for a helluva battle. 

At the end of volume 7, the enemy believes it has won, with Pluto defeating Epsilon, the final of the seven advanced robots.  But we, the readers, see Atom (Astro Boy) reawaken in a stupor that leaves the audience wondering if Atom will be able to do anything to stop Pluto’s rampage. 

For all intents and purposes, Atom has been in a “coma” the entirety of volume 7.  But Professor Tenma, Atom’s creator, as well as the creator of Pluto, introduces “a biased emotion … a program to simplify the chaos in [Atom’s] mind.”   Tenma uses Gesicht’s A.I. to revive Atom, believing that Gesicht’s final emotions as he was killed will spur Atom to wakefulness, which it does.  And with the opening of volume 8, we realize that Tenma’s two greatest creations are on a collision course.

This introduction of an emotional bias is something Tenma had done previously.  Contracted by Abullah, a great Persian scientist, to invent an even more advanced robot than Atom, the professor conceived of utilizing all 6 billion human personalities for that robot’s psyche to make it as human as possible.  But, when put into action, Tenma discovered that the A.I. of this robot was unable to cycle through all these personalities fast enough and could not achieve consciousness.  So, he had introduced an emotional bias then, the anger that Abullah felt when he died.  This rage caused an imbalance in the robot’s psyche (the robot that we discover is Abullah, whom we have seen throughout this story and who believes himself to be a cyborg rather than a full robot) and led to the creation of Pluto. 

If that sounds convoluted, I would recommend picking up and reading the 8 volumes of PLUTO, as my quick summary does not do the story justice. 

All the momentum that Urasawa builds through the first seven volumes continues to roar ahead, driving toward the ultimate battle between these two advanced robots.  Urasawa deftly draws this out, subverting our expectations of this “new” Atom while injecting an emotional resonance as he prepares for his final battle.  It’s wonderful storytelling, and, like previous volumes, I found myself unwilling to stop reading before the end.

Finally, with chapter 61, Pluto and Atom face off.  It’s big and brash and fairly typical, but the scene is elevated by the beautiful artwork on display.  This is a battle for the ages.

And then, Gesicht’s legacy (as chapter 62 is titled) comes to bear on this situation.  The battle ends as Atom and Pluto start to cry uncontrollably.  For this was Gesicht’s final emotional response – he was not angry at the world for his death; he loved his wife and was saddened at the loss of the future he might have had with her. 

Love defeats Pluto.

Like any good video game, there is still a “boss” for Atom and Pluto to defeat, buried deep beneath the surface of the United States of Thracia.  But, as the audience has been awaiting the conflict between these two robots, that battle is really more denouement than climax. 

And, on a purely emotional level for many reading this story, it falls flat.  All of the emotional tension that Urasawa has built up over the course of the 8 volumes and 60+ chapters is washed away when we “stop short” in the middle of the melee.  It’s as if the air goes out of the balloon that is Pluto, when we hit that point in the narrative, and I can understand why it misfires for so many. 

But, is it a well done story?  I’ll discuss that in the final installment.


-Chris