Deceptively Simple

I've just returned from a few days at the Chateau Montebello to celebrate my first anniversary. I feel so unbelievably chilled out. It's amazing what three days in one of the biggest log cabins with a six sided, three story fireplace will do for your. I managed to read a whole bunch of stuff as it rained for most of our time there but chilling with my wife on an interior balcony or by a roaring wood fire really takes one towards what is actually important in life.

I took the title for this post from Randy Lander's review of this book on the now defunct and much mourned Fourth Rail.

Doug TenNapel’s Creature Tech is a story about the brilliant Dr. Ong who is working for the US government in a hidden underground base in small-town America. His job is to go through all the boxes in the research facility and find out what all the unexplained technology does. Their entrance is a large venus-flytrap that swallows them down to the lower levels. He decided this was a good career move when he dropped out of the seminary. The only down side to his job are the small-town locals. Then the ghost of Dr. Jameson, who replaced his left hand with the hand of the demon Hellcat to avoid going to Hell, returns to steal the real Shroud of Turin and unleashes a space slug that fights with the only competent local (who got the job because of the hiring stipulations) and kills Dr. Ong. Not to worry because the space-slug had this symbiote that attaches itself to Dr. Ong. Meanwhile Dr. Jameson raises himself from the dead and sets a whole bunch of demon cats on the loose to distract and dismember the locals while he searches out the giant space eel he called to Earth many years ago that he plans to resurrect with the shroud. At the same time Dr. Ong starts a romance with Katie who has a shrivelled up hand and a bum eye, has to deal with a church picnic that doesn’t like his freakish alien chestplate with extra mandible arms, as well as come to terms with a violent praying mantis hybrid bodyguard. The praying mantis hybrid gets fired for trying to kill Dr. Ong, who got peed on by a cat demon, and the mantis gets taken in by some gun-totin’ hillbillies. Oh yeah, Dr. Ong learns kung-fu when the symbiote watches a kung-fu movie and they all end up saving the day so Dr. Ong regains his faith in Christ.

Yeah, that last bit was sort of weird to me as well.

If you think this is a manic description, you should try reading the book. TenNapel is best known for Earthworm Jim, and a lot of the same hectically beautiful creation seen in that cartoon is also on display in Creature Tech. What I really like is his ability to simply introduce characters that shouldn’t really work together into a story that does manage to hold itself together. There is a lot of ideas from the full spectrum of ideas mashed together and somehow it remains consistently whole. There are aliens, science, religion, government plots, love stories, and random gun violence that seem like they should all be in separate genres or stories, but somehow with all this happening there is an inherent charm and appeal to the characters here.

That would be mostly due to his wonderful artwork. TenNapel is able to breathe a lot of life into these characters which isn’t surprising considering his animation background. The characters act for him whether they’re being thrown over tables, embarrassed in public, or riding a giant electric space eel while trying to destroy a small town. But it’s not just the characters that come to life, there are a lot of panels that really use silhouette and the black and white format to their fullest. There are a few panels that seem rushed or unfinished to me, but for each of those there are these wonderful action panels that allow TenNapel the artist to cut loose and really go for the action of the moment – be it Dr. Ong and Blue rushing to a graveyard on a motorcycle or some hillbillies shooting cat demons from their truck. What I love about TenNapel’s characters is that they manage to fit their world. There are cartoony characters but the protagonist has a bit of The Spirit about him, in that he’s sort of a simplified realistic whereas there are much more representative and abstract characters.

While I do think the story works in its own way, I also feel like I’m reading more of a first draft than a finished product. I love that we’ve got a single new story in the format it was intended for rather than a collection of individual issues. (Unless someone can correct me on that). The religion feels like it was an idea that was either the basis for conflict but got overshadowed by the resulting action, and therefore feels somewhat tacked on because of how the story developed or it was actually tacked on at some point. It feels really underdeveloped to me, and while I can see how it works it doesn’t really work with what is presented and could have easily been dropped altogether.

This book reminds me of silver age comics written for adults. There is a lot of action and a cartoony presentation but there is also a lot of violence and a bit of swearing. It’s sort of the best of both worlds in that respect. It doesn’t talk down or pretend to be something it isn’t – it is comic books for the modern audience, which is most likely older. I really do love the look of it, and if you like aliens kung-fu fighting demon cats or praying-mantis hybrids shooting shotguns and watching monster truck rallies then this is worth a look.

This comic is pretty awesome.

Analogous Supermen

Oh Supreme, you were so fun to read. How can I possibly describe you to someone who hasn’t ever really read superhero comics before? Basically, it’s Alan Moore exploring Superman’s history. In some ways it’s a glimpse of what the man would have done if he was given the title to write. There is an exploration of the history of the superhero both in terms of continuity and the medium of comic books as a whole.

It uses comic books as both the medium and the message. Yes, I’m aware that the medium is the message, but here it acts as both delivery mechanism or product that the audience experiences as well as a metaphor and storytelling element in itself. It’s a story about superhero continuity as much as it is about Supreme himself. And yet using it as both structure and subject makes the book more than it is. This isn’t just about being introduced to a character or the not-so-hidden history of Superman and DC. It is proof that in the hands of a good writer and artist, anything can be a good superhero comic book. As much as superheroes can get bogged down in silliness and grim rewrites they are still capable of being a story telling medium that is as well crafted and meaningful as anything else. This book is proof that comics are best when they are being comics – not comic book movies, or true to life, etc etc.

The first issue sets this idea in motion with Supreme being introduced to all the alternate iterations of himself in the Supremacy. As reality gets rewritten, new characters and supporting cast continue to show up each with different base powers and specific details changed. It's a brilliant idea that I was a bit sorry to see not used as much as its potential allows. It does clue the reader into the underlying idea of the story though.

I’m a true believer that comics are best when they work on their own terms and Supreme is proof of that. That, and the fact that superheroes have their own mythology that can be redone, reimagined, reintroduced and reworked to a form that is just as effective as using themes, stories and mythologies from outside superheroes. Yes, this is a very comic book geek comic in that knowing what the book is referencing helps in understanding the comic on a certain level, however, I suspect that someone can enjoy the book on it’s own terms as well. You don’t need to know the specifics to enjoy the ideas but knowing them can help get the joke or the idea on a bit more intimate terms.

This isn’t Tom Strong, but it sort of feels like they are related. Whereas Tom Strong was more an abstracted idea Supreme is a very specific avatar. It’s close but not really the same because where Tom Strong explores the pulp hero basis of comic heroes and sort of creates its own internal logic of adventure comics, Supreme is very much about Superman and DC as much as its own story. Kind of the same idea used in Watchmen of using analogous characters in a vastly different story.

In some way, I sort of get a sense of sadness when reading Supreme. Not in the stories themselves but in the notion that if Moore was offered (and willing) to write Superman this could have been an incredible run. Akin to what Morrison is going for in Batman or All-Star Superman these days – using the past to weave exciting adventures today but not explaining away their silliness (including the silliness of the grim avenger).

Again, I’ve managed to get a book that is somehow connected to a creator making comic book internet headlines recently (as much as there is such a thing).

Such a weird time warp

So I just read an older trade paperback called Spider-man Visionaries Volume 1: Todd MacFarlane and it’s a real head trip. The thing is, I really only read Spider-man comics in passing back when he was on the title so going back to them with pretty much no expectations or introduction is, jarring to say the least.

And it’s not the art or the quality of the colour that is weird. I can accept the different aesthetic from the time period, I mean the silly cut offs and the Corey Hart bangs on all the men is kind of emblematic of the time and MacFarlane’s art. What’s odd is that underneath all the proto-Spawn costume designs, silly character origins, overly complex roboticesque costumes and the fact that MacFarlane seems to have removed Peter Parker’s spine you see hints at a self-deprecating artist. There’s this great scene with Spidey waiting to consult with some people and there’s newspaper or magazine articles about the Hulk smashing MacFarlane and a few other jabs at the profession and the job he was doing throughout the comics. It’s just such a contrast from what people assume about the guy these days.

What is also really freaky is that Venom is introduced and attacks MJ in their apartment and what actually happens is never explained. There is sort of an implied rape and we’re given an MJ that does what she can to leave the place when she’s discovered by Peter and she just wants to forget about it and not discuss what happened. The way the characters all handle the situation looks like the story was heading to very dark territory but unlike what happened to Dr. Light this situation is all the more creepy and foreboding. You know something horrid happened to MJ and never knowing exactly what it was makes it all the worse in the mind of the reader. Because it is left unsaid, I jumped to conclusions and filled in the blanks – doesn’t mean I’m right here but you can sort of see a situation unfolding and editorial mandates as well as different sensibilities of how much to rock the boat taking something out of the story that was maybe never intended to be there. I think it makes the story stronger and makes the characters more understandable and believable, especially in this day and age where our superhero comics show and tell us everything leaving nothing unsaid.

It’s weird how a more restrictive time can give a greater sense of evil rather than showing us every horrid detail of what happened when Venom is trying to show his power of Spider-man.

Then there is the guy who was bitten by a radioactive Jack Rabbit and could run really fast but didn’t want his family to know in order to save them from super-villains and stuff.

Looking at this book as an artifact of the time you can see this superhero comic trying to come to terms with itself. The stories are still mostly done in one, and do a good job of bringing the reader up to speed but they also have multiple issue stories. There are goofy superheroics at the same time as these much more grim characters and story elements appear. All in all I enjoyed it a heck of a lot more than I thought I would, in part for being reminded that even the most self-aggrandizing people are capable of really good things when there’s a bit of restraint involved – the stories and art can be better when some things are left unsaid. Imagine what Identity Crisis or Civil War could have been if more things were implied and the characters tried to avoid discussing things while still being super-heroes and dealing with their fundamentally silly situations? Then again, it requires a certain something to make characters appear to be implying things and look like they’re acting as people would act, it’s not just making photorealistic art and extended conversations. There is still invention here and new characters showing up rather than rewrites for the simple sake of shock and artificial change which is something that I don’t hate but am growing tired of in today’s modern-retro superhero comic book retreds.

Heeeeeerrrre's Bully!

I'm in the middle of reading more of The Spirit collection and Alan Moore's Supreme. What more can I say about Eisner's Spirit comics that hasn't been covered? And what will I say about Supreme? Well, nothing today because I don't really have much more to cover in The Spirit and I want to actually finish Supreme before I go into any sort of detail (false or otherwise).

Be that as it may, here's a sketch I did for my drawing class of everyone's favourite miniature stuffed bull comic book blogger. Of course, I mean Bully. In fact, go read his blog today rather than spend any more time here.

Hmmm, maybe this will be my running sketch book joke. Nothing but comic book blogger avatars because, hey, there's only so many times I can sketch things in my office.

Well the intro was like a road to perdition, the rest was good

Hmm, crazy busy day today but I wanted to get something posted. The crazy cavelcade of comic reviews continues. And next time I promise to spell Casanova correctly!

I read Road to Perdition last week and really enjoyed it. I like gangster stories and the noir genre (most of the time). I’m also a sucker for characters who aren’t superheroes but named things like “Angel of Death” but aren’t like super-goth kewl musclemen with many spike-tipped articles of clothing.

Nope this is about Irish Catholic gangsters and it is a great bildungsromans where a boy is thrown into the adult world or his immigrant father. At the same time, the story is a simple tale of revenge with comments on religion, belief, honour and the American dream. It’s straightforward and well executed but not one of my favourite presentations I’ve come across recently.

I like the ideas behind the format, with the black and white manga format and artwork, but the artwork was hit and miss for me. Sometimes it was great while others it just didn’t seem “on” if that makes sense. It looked to be artificially made to look computerized. I guess the other way of saying that is I didn’t like the crosshatching at times. But the action was always clearly presented and kinetic when required and delicate when it was supposed to be. The art was capable of portraying the action, which is the number one job of comic art whether or not I share the same esthetic on details is pretty minor. Basically, just because I didn’t like the look of a few panels didn’t mean it took away from the action or story. Heck, it never made anything muddled and unclear so it does its job in that respect.

Although, the version I read had about as much author introduction as actual comics. I usually read the introduction but I didn’t manage all of this one because, well, I don’t really care about all the minutia of the author’s life and times. I enjoy anecdotes not autobiography as intros.

So well worth the read, I just can’t picture Tom Hanks in the lead role.

Luxurious

Every now and again I’m big enough to admit I was totally wrong about something. This time I’m wondering why the bloody hell I gave up on Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba’s Cassanova after the first issue? That there is some GOOD comics. All the problems I had with the first issue work out for the best if you give it time. I guess it just goes to show that your personal mood can affect how you see a work of art and experience something. At this point all my reservations seem completely unfounded.

Yep, last night I read the first trade, Luxuria, and man that is a hefty read. It’s a thin book but man-oh-man is it jam-packed with comic book goodness. The super-sexy super-spy guy doing the multiple universe space-time double agent thing is as good as you think it should be. I know I use, and hear, the term “throwing ideas at the page and seeing what sticks” a lot but in this case it’s a more refined process. There is a lot of crazy ideas not just in each story but in each panel and they don’t feel crazy just for the sake of crazy or seeing what works. They feel more like added bonus material. Kind of like a reduced sauce to concentrate the flavor of adventure comic books.

And each month it is only 16 stinkin’ pages?! I had to remind myself that this is actually produced in a shorter format in the floppies because it certainly doesn’t read like that. This book may be small on the page count but it is dense on the content. It’s this little book that has managed to simply cut the crap and it sits now on my shelf, basically mocking other comics for being in need of editing.

And it’s not just the ideas and the stories that are dense. The artwork is kinetic enough to keep you grasped. The minimal use of colour is used to good effect here to remind you that this is comics concentrated. It still uses all the flavors and ingredients of regular comics, like colouring but here it simply doesn’t need all of them to taste amazing. The character designs have an edgy-cartoon feel to me in that they aren’t trying to be photorealistic but a bit blocky in order to allow the characters to exaggerate their behaviours. They are super-fast, super-crack-shots, super-sexy, super-cool and well you can just present that a bit better when you’re not constrained to photo realistic human anatomy. Their design gives them as much character as any of their dialogue and that combination is what makes this story what it is.

So while there may be mathematically less page count and less colours used to dazzle the eye Cassanova reminds me that comics are at their strongest when they are trying to be comic books and not movies on paper. These creators have managed to limit themselves in a way that makes the comic sturdier. There are exaggerated plots and convoluted storylines but they never feel bloated in anything but action. It really is like mainlining modern adventure comics, but be careful, you may not be ready for it on your first try.

Akira - finally

I realize that my post on Sin City has probably the greatest idea for a comic book mash up in its title. Sin City vs. For Better or Worse. That would wreck your consciousness.

So last week has been a bit of a crazy one. I’ve been trying to get my thoughts organized on Akira but was distracted by drawing class, joining an rpg (yes, I’m reverting to major geekdom), watching hockey, trying to get some Wii-time, making apple-pie for Thanksgiving (it’s the past weekend up here), and generally feeling like crap.

That being said, Akira is a bit of a mind trip, especially for someone like me who has seen the movie a few times but generally can’t remember how it goes. I remember a lot of the imagery but not a heck of a lot of what happened. The same thing happens with Princess Mononoke and Ghost in the Shell. This isn’t limited to only anime movies but for some reason these are the only examples I can think of at the moment. Weird.

So for someone who has only ever seen the animated movie this was one heck of an epic read. You know how people say the book is always much better than the movie because it goes into more detail? Well that is certainly the case here. I don’t mean to claim it is any better than the movie because I think the movie is a solid piece in its own right. What I mean is that the comic is entirely more epic in scale than the movie could hope to accomplish in its timeframe. So if you’ve seen the flick, you certainly haven’t experienced the comic.

I don’t want to compare and contrast the two mediums much beyond what I’ve already said but I’m finding it a bit hard not to talk about one without mentioning the other, since the movie is so iconic of the genre.

I was surprised at just how much more story there was here. At first I found it a bit difficult to follow the action. I’m not sure why either. I’m thinking it was that I’m just not used to the style or there was something lost in translation as it were. It was a bit difficult to follow some of the dialogue in that I didn’t always know what dialogue was attributed to which character. I suspect that is one of the problems in translating from pages that are laid out to accommodate an entirely different reading style. I also found it hard to differentiate between a few characters, but as the death toll mounted it became less of a problem.

The action is non-stop and gets ever more desperate as the story continues. And if you ever wanted to know why learning perspective is important you’ll know why once you see a few of these panels. They are immaculately done. The trouble with so many panels that are filled with perspective drawings is that they start to look like technical exercises. But that’s never the case here because for all the clean and precise lines of the buildings they are covered in the filth of humanity from garbage to graffiti.

Then the destruction starts. And then the destruction continues. No punches are pulled in this story as far as how humanity values human life. Humanity is smashed and destroyed but when they should be fighting to stop this and try to gather together in an effort to survive they instead fight over the scraps. Power and land is much more important than ending human suffering. In many ways this entire story is a meditation on how power corrupts. Human life is cheap especially when those who can do so much good simply don’t.

Where the artwork starts out with pristine lines covered by human dirt it becomes much more beautiful with the destruction. Suddenly the straight lines of the buildings hovering on collapse aren’t beautiful but extremely threatening. The undeniable technique is still present in the oft-destroyed Tokyo but it simply isn’t orderly by the end of the book. Everything is chipped, broken and generally bombed out and the art is better for it. It suddenly feels less like a technical exercise and more like a post-apocalyptic landscape that it is meant to be.

I was amazed by the sprawl of the story and the underlying sadness to it all. You want love to conquer the day but it almost happens by accident. You bang your head against the wall wanting these characters to wake up and realize how utterly selfish they are being – only when they aren’t does some peace enter into the proceedings, however they are never left to it. It’s a warning against isolationism as much as it is a warning against leaving your fate up to others to decide for you. It is a fascinating tour de force, even if you get a bit lost in translation from time to time.

Stan the Man

Is on CBC radio later today - 2pm on the show "Q." I quite like this show since it's basically a radio version of a blog. I mean, how many shows are hosted by former members of Moxy Fruvous?

It will be podcasted as well as broadcasted online. Heck, since CBC is doing all the work for me today, here's a video of Peter Gzowski vs. Stan Lee. Wonder if today's chat will be any different?

Sin City: For Better or For Worse

First of all, sorry about the last post. What the bloody hell was THAT all about? I’ve been a bit disenchanted with comics and thinking critically about them. For the moment I’ve gotten over it and hope to entertain, bewilder, possibly inform and did I mention entertain?

So, over the last few weeks I’ve been reading the collected works of Sin City and Akira. Today I’ll be discussing Sin City. I finally got this written up after reading Chris Mautner's post, so I guess I should have proofread this thing to make sure it's sensible and all. Ah, hell, I spent too much time doing that in university, you're getting first draft stuff here - hey, it's the internet.

My understanding of the comic can be summed up like this: The less you know, the better it is.

Whenever you read about Sin City you’ll get mentions of Frank Miller’s noir vision and how he’s turned the volume of noir fiction way beyond levels safe for human consumption. That’s not a bad thing in a comic book. It’s loud, it’s brash, it’s tougher than tough and sexier than sex. Everything is rough around the edges and as hard as the lines of the black and white artwork. Sure, it’s black and white but there isn’t a whole lot of lightness here. It’s the black, the noir, that takes centre stage in these stories. The guys with the white hats aren’t exactly the shining paladins of fairy tales. Nope, just like it’s the black ink that creates meaning when added to white paper, it’s the dark imagery of the Sin City comics that give it its voice and place in comics.

There is good here, but it isn’t done with a pure virtuousness. The good guys are just as brutal as the villains, they just stand up for something that isn’t totally selfish. They’re gullible, they’re heroic, but they’re not any less brutal. This is a milieu full of hard characters living hard lives and not apologizing for it. And that, along with the contrast based artwork, is what makes this comic seem to stand out from countless other tough guy morally ambiguous badass comics. These guys aren’t totally morally ambiguous, they are doing the right thing but are just brutal in their methods. They are the holy warriors on a righteous quest, unafraid to spill blood for their virtuous cause. They are the soldiers in the muck doing the brutal work of killing bad men and putting their own lives on the line – sometimes because they need to, sometimes because they just happen to be there. There is a real sense of duty in the white hats.

That being said, I found the more I read, the less I liked the Sin City comics. For me, they worked better when you didn’t know much about the place or the characters. Marv in The Hard Goodbye is one of the most memorable characters in comics. From his silhouette to his actions and dialogue to his motivations and how the story is drawn all contribute to that. I’ve been trying to distill what it is that makes Marv such a great character, and I keep coming back to the fact that it’s pretty much everything about him and the story. He’s not human in his actions or his look, which is what allows Miller to amp up all the action and dialogue in his story. Marv works because he simply doesn’t need to have any reasons for his actions which means he doesn’t need to be explained as a character thus freeing him to just get on with the story. And what a story it is. It’s horrific, it’s got the blackest of black humour, and it’s got the darkest of satisfying endings. In the end, it all works because all the elements reflect one another both writing and art-wise. The story has an internal logic and that is all it needs. When the story starts tying into outside elements, even other stories in the Sin City oeuvre they don’t work as well for me.

I’ve always enjoyed guest appearances in comic books, and it could simply be that today it’s not something special but a standard operating policy for superhero books, but in Sin City it works against the stories. It works against them because you’re suddenly drawn out of the story into something greater. Yes, seeing the other characters reminds you that this is all happening in one place but it also feels like continuity is being shoehorned into the story, and continuity doesn’t belong in any of the stories. Sin City doesn’t need to be a shared universe other than having one character show up as a guest. When we start having multiple takes on the same scene it makes the reader think about the last time the scene occurred and to start trying to place the current story into the timeline of the previous one, which is really a long way of stating that it takes the reader out of the story.

So the more I read, the less I appreciated the work. I find it hard to say I enjoyed the Sin City books. They’re just too violent and horrific to be considered light fun to me. I enjoyed reading them in the sense that I could appreciate aspects of the work. The more the stories started to connect, the less their internal logic held together. Marv doesn’t look human so it’s easier to accept the inhuman nature of his adventures, but Dwight, Hartigan and the other characters are all more normal looking, and thus make it harder to suspend disbelief, for me.

In addition to the character design, I felt that after a while I was becoming numbed to the excessive violence and the stark contrast of the work. Whereas there are countless pages from The Hard Goodbye that can be used as emblematic of Sin City the other stories tend to start to feel as if they are repeating themselves. There are only so many sexy lady silhouettes, slashing rain pages, or cars jumping over hills that I can see before they stop feeling like visual cues and start feeling like crutches to fall back onto. But I do have to say, the use of negative space is unbelievable and quite frankly, unforgettable. I find the hard lines and use of contrast inspiring me in my own approach to artwork. Simply put, I never really grasped the use of negative space until Sin City blew my mind with it.

I guess where the stories started to lose their interest for me was the MacGuffin ending to Family Values. On top of that the use of Miho as Robin from The Dark Knight Returns but with more decapitations and impalements felt like the story was simply phoned in, and there were suddenly pages in the text that weren’t using the high contrast style but simply line drawings, which made it feel more like a few pages from a sketch book rather than a completed work. Now, I did like some of the collected one shots and the comic book homages throughout some of the works but by the time I finished Hell and Back, I couldn’t think of a better title to describe my feelings of reading the story. At this point, it just felt like Sin City was too much a victim of its own success. The only thing left for it to do was to use full color, and in doing this it loses its unique voice. Contrasting black and white is what made Sin City work as a whole. The judicious use of a single tone of color (yellow, red, blue) helped focus attention and at times add to the contrast found within the dark stories, but when the only place left to push the boundaries places you back to what you were working against in the first place – your project has lost its purpose.

Sin City is a memorable place, just don’t overstay your welcome because you may just get a bit too familiar with the jaded citizenry.

Drawing

Last night I had my first drawing course in years. It's at the local community centre and it's me and a bunch of older women. I'm treating it as time I can actually sit down and draw as opposed to my vague promises of doing it at home after work - that never works. I'm hoping to use this to develop a project a bit more coherently so I can bore you all with images in the near future.

I won't scan anything yet since it's a bunch of exercise stuff and not all that interesting. I did realize I could have probably taught the course though, so at least I haven't completely lost all my skill.

Better Said Than Here

Don MacPherson says it better than I can. Yes, more about currencies and market economies - plus go to the comments section to see more griping about the high price of comics around the world. It really is a bit painful to see how inflated some prices get, but honestly, I don't have a solution, just more griping to add to the pot.

Darned radio

So this morning CBC radio had a little news segment about the Canadian dollar going on par with the American dollar and how the big consumer product that is getting screwed right now is books. It looked into it as much as a minute news clip could (probably more in the in-depth news hour) and explained the whole publishing process takes time thing and how books are unique for having their price printed directly on the book (problemo numero uno). In essence, any new book price cuts will only be seen some time in 2008.

Then they went to the Silver Snail in Toronto and talked about how you could buy your comics there at the American cover price. I stand corrected. I should go to the two local comic shops I pass on the way home and actually ask them if they've decided to do this as well (one is a Silver Snail branch).

I guess I'm guilty of falling prey to that internet affliction of being the dude alone in the dark room making pronouncements that have no basis in reality. Damn it.

Parity

I'm still reading through Sin City and Akira these days. It's a bit of a slow process because of my schedule and the library books' availability. It's an interesting process because Akira goes for an ever increasing payoff while Sin City seems to be about dimishing returns the more you read.

But what's getting me these days is that the Canadian dollar is now on parity with the American dollar yet our comics are still sold for a dollar more and trades at about $10 more, more or less.

I know markets are volatile and all that, but seriously, if shipping wasn't a killer I'd be getting my books from Amazon. Comics simply aren't affordable in Canada at the moment unless they are sold at the American cover price. For every 3 comics I buy, I could be buying four if I crossed the border. This makes me even less likely to buy floppies no matter how much I like the guys at the local comic shop. Same for trades. The online retailers are just offering the books at the prices closest to American prices for it to be worthwhile to buy locally as much as I would rather support the community.

Unless local shops can afford to sell at American cover price it's the hugely discounted online retailers who will make the most of this current situation, and their offered prices aren't anywhere close to the hugely discounted online prices on Amazon. Okay, some books are kind of close but if I buy $35 worth of books from Chapters online, shipping is free. If I buy from Amazon, shipping removes any saving I would have had.

Sucks to be north of the border if you want cheap kicks.

Beta Ray Bill

So Beta Ray Bill seems to be appearing on a few of these comic book internet weblogs today (or rather recently anyway). I'm wondering if he will be the next Blue Beetle?

You know what I mean right? People go on about how awesome he is but don't actually buy his comics because (shock, horror) they could actually be poorly written so the company that owns him kills him off and everyone cries "Foul!"

Probably won't happen but it would be kind of neat.

Although Marvel would just clone him or make him a Skrull or something. Maybe they'd make him the new Spider-man.

Pascal Blanchet on CBC

The CBC has a photo collection of artwork by Pascal Blanchet on their website. His new book White Rapids is coming out in English from Drawn and Quarterly in October. This looks like a fascinating story about a town build by a hydro company in a beautiful pure colour retro type of design. By pure colour I mean art without outlines, that comic book and cartoon mainstay. Reminds me of the influences seen throughout the Animated Batman series with Art Deco seemlessly blended within a modern art style.

Not Comics: Die Macher

So this past Saturday I busted out my copy of Die Macher and four of us got together for the first marathon session. For those of you significantly less geeky than me, or more discerning in your geekery, Die Macher is a board game where each player is a German political party fighting it out in seven provincial elections.

It is a heavy beast of a game that becomes incredibly involved and a heck of a lot of fun once you get past the suffering. It is a bit of a bitch to learn and you will totally screw yourself on the first decision you make in the first game you play. That’s really my only complaint here, it’s that you need to already know how to play before you start to play. So the first game is only ever a learning session and should be considered as such.

So what’s it actually like? Well, it certainly helps if you have an interest in politics. Not specific politics but the ideas and notions behind political systems because this deals with the essential mechanics of an election campaign. Upon reflection, it is incredibly cynical in this regard because you don’t get to choose your platform to reflect your values, it is generated somewhat randomly. You do try to convince local voters to choose your position on issues, but only if you have media control.

Then you can buy public opinion polls and possibly pay a lot of money to find out bad news, which isn’t too far from the truth. You can take money from outside contributors and lose a few members or refuse the money and attract more members for your principled stance. There’s a lot going on, but it is a cyclical game so once you do the cycle a few times you understand it. Like they say, we learn through repetition.

I guess in a few ways I’m a bit lucky. I have a group of friends that I met through working for the Green Party of Canada so we’re all interested in politics. It’s also fun to play with aspects of politics we never had a chance to with such a small party. It was a heck of a lot of fun to make unscrupulous choices and have a lot of money to spend on opinion polls or media influence. Again, it was long but you’re constantly involved so it doesn’t feel like you’re playing forever. Only the first election and most of the second feel entirely too long if this is the first time you’ve played the game.

So for us, we all screwed ourselves in the first election when we made out start-up choices. It’s sort of like funding capital to make the first election set-ups a bit more like the rest of the game where you’ve had the chance to plan ahead. We messed up a few calculations and forgot to take in outside contributions after the first round but we soldiered on, and just played the last election like a regular election rather than the different end-game that it’s supposed to be. We had extra cash cards, so why not?

All in all, a decent way to kill a cold rainy Saturday before a house party.

ZZZzzzz

What is it about this time of year? I love it and yet it wipes the floor with my energy. There is something in the light that makes the air seem clearer and crisp even though the days get shorter.

I've got a bunch of trades at home waiting to be read, yet all I want to do is switch on my Nintendo Wii and rage through a few more levels of Resident Evil 4. I also picked up Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Super Mario Sunshine. All are solid Game Cube recommendations and when all those plus a controller cost the same as a new Wii game I'm feeling I have my money's worth and enough games to last me the rest of winter.

It's funny, my wife asked if Wedge is in the Rogue Squadron game. She plays her geek card for having read most, if not all, of the Rogue Squadron books as well as a bunch of the post Jedi books.

I don't know why but the thought of sitting down and playing Nintendo is probably the most appealing thing in the world to me right now. That and a nice scotch. A nice scotch and watching England win the next to Euro qualifying games. Yup. That's what I want.

After that I'll be back to comics.

Akira and Sin City

I've been reading the Sin City books recently. Some are a second or third reading, some I'm reading for the first time. It's been an interesting summer where I've been getting into a lot of noir fiction. And, it's quite interesting to see a lot of recurring themes and scenes then to see them all amped up to roid-rage levels in Sin City. I'll have more thoughts when I'm done the whole thing.

But to make up for both Promethea and Tom Strong ending an issue early because of the Ottawa Library's collection, as well as my attempt to read Ultimate Spider-man in trades being thwarted by the library's only copy of volume 6 (the Venom story) being in repair since sometime last winter I've decided to take on Akira. I've only ever read one of the books and it was more to steal an idea for perspective in an art class during my undergrad. I know it was cheap but I was really busy that week.

Anyway, what strikes me the most when reading Akira is how a book whose artwork is so technically proficient is also exceptionally inviting and interesting. It isn't just an exercise in perspective and straight lines, although on some levels it really is. The way every environment is so precisely created is simply awe inspiring. But what makes it work is that for every pristine line there is an equally grimy aspect rubbed into the scene to make it look lived in by humans. Much like Blade Runner had these technical marvels the characters were also in the middle of a grimy city. Same goes here. It has the clean lines and straight edges of futurism tempered by the waste products of people.

I've never read the comics before but I've seen the movie a few times. I'm liking the extended story and the more intricate plotting but I also think the movie sythesized things a bit better and made things slightly more coherent in its forced brevity. But hey, more of a good thing so no complaints really.

Huzzah! I've lived another year

On Sunday I turned 31. I then proceeded to drink entirely too much and lose horribly at the pool table. However I did managed to snag 3 Nintendo Game Cube games super cheap to play on the Wii and promise myself to never step foot inside a Catholic Church again. All in all one of my better birthdays.

No comic book news. I'm still sad about Darwyn Cooke leaving The Spirit. I really liked that book.

Putting the Strong in Super-Strong

Tom Strong: Books 1 - 5

Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse, with multiple other creators at different points.

There’s something weird going on with The Ottawa Library and Alan Moore collections. Both Promethea and Tom Strong are available, except for the last book. This may have meant that I missed a return to form in Promethea but ending Tom Strong on book five wasn’t exactly great either, albeit for different reasons. The last story in book five is a decent cut off point but I simply want more of the character and the world Alan Moore created for him. Regardless, I’ve requested that the library system add both books to their collection, so if you’re in Ottawa, please do the same.

What did I think about the Tom Strong stories? Simply put, I loved them. This is basically the superhero comics I wish I had more of. And it’s not simply that Alan Moore is writing them, I love the stories in book five (and I believe some of the other volumes) that were written by others just as much. If you don’t know, Tom Strong is basically the combination of Superman and Mr. Fantastic. The stories are not just great four coloured superhero action but also act as a meditation on how superhero comics evolved from pulp heroes through the golden age, the silver age and the extreme age to become something of their own.

These stories are as much a history lesson of the medium as they are just plain old ripping yarns.

Chris Sprouse does an amazing job on the characters here. Tom is just realistic enough to be convincing as a person but also stylized enough to be a fictional superhero. Looking at each panel was making me start to really dislike Mr. Sprouse because the art just looks so neat and easy. The characters are presented with an almost absence of detail and Tom, in particular, looks all the better for it. Like the stories themselves, the characters are only drawn to focus on the important aspects and that in itself makes them look and feel like they should for this work.

Characters aside, the rest of the world is populated by everything you could possibly imagine. Old-timey science gadgets, retro-sci-fi space suits and flying saucers, cable cars, and a city that reaches higher into the sky than anything modern could ever hope to. This is a perfect mix of the idealized past and idealized future presented for us in the here and now. If you’ve made the connection in your head once about pretty much anything in comic books then it’s probably here in a story and it looks better than you could imagine.

I love how the hero tends to find amicable solutions to problems but isn't afraid to duke it out either. He manages to fight Nazis, time travellers, shape shifters, and he fights villains with his wife and daughter, a robot, and a talking gorilla.

So yeah, I liked it. A lot. So much I’ll be buying the series even though I’ve read it all through the library. From what I can gather the original release schedule was kind of All-Star Batman and Robin like and I can’t imagine I’d have enjoyed the series as much reading it in that manner. Maybe it’s just my general malaise with monthly floppies at the moment but I’m really glad I read this series in the trade. My attention span is long enough to sustain it and there is more than enough hope and joy in these stories to come out the other end feeling better for having read it. Now, to find copies of the last book and to start the Terrific Tales and the rest of the America’s Best line…

Comics I didn't really like

Okay time to go all negative on your butts. These aren't recent comics but I did try to read them recently.

Goodbye Chunky Rice
I thought the character design was interesting but I found this book almost unreadable. I freely admit it could be my unwillingness to try to understand it but it just didn't relate to anything or have any sort of point or theme that creates a point for mediation or whatever. I tried but couldn't read it.

Tor
This one I actually wanted to like since Kubert's Tarzan stuff was so enjoyable. While I didn't mind the actual Tor stuff, I just liked the idea of the additional material more than the actual material itself. Sort of how I feel about a lot of the black and white reprint books. I want to like them more than I actually do, even on a pure sugar rush of insanity level but this just didn't work for me. I guess I'm just not a big fan of comedic sidekick animals.

This book is good.

Kings in Disguise
James Vance and Dan Burr

Okay, honesty time. I read this book a while back. Not years ago, mind you, but a few weeks if not a month or so ago. So my assessment doesn’t involve any notes I may have made or having the book next to me so I can flip through it and remember points I wanted to make. Also, I pretty much forget all the character names except The King of Spain, Jesse James and Joker. I love that they’ve named a character Joker and I’m hoping it was just the creators wearing their comic book villain fandom on their sleeves. After all, the Joker in this book is a demented man and while not prone to themed villainy is pretty creepy.

This book is about hoboes. It is a tale about a young man fighting through that time in America that has managed to span almost as much tales as the cowboy era. The stories we get now or that are written now and set during the depression all tend to be tales. The common thread isn’t the setting or the hardships suffered but how cleverness in the face of desperation is what has helped Americans, and America itself, survive and grow into the nation it is now.

The book deals with a lot of subjects, such as the role of a man in society to notions of masculinity itself, as well as why the idea of a social safety net was never something agreed upon by citizens when one was so desperately needed, but at the basic level it’s a bildungsromans. It shows how a boy starts out looking for an ideal of adventure but needs to grow up to become a man. The boy is constantly pulled between his needs and his desires and, at times, his escape into the unknown becomes his exile from home.

All this is found in addition to the beautiful Dan Burr artwork. It’s black and white but again, this just helps set the scene all that much more. The characters are presented with a feel for the underground sixties comic. It’s not a direct correlation or anything but the art feels like it needs to evoke the same feeling that spawned the hidden artwork of sixties underground comics to portray the hidden underground men of the depression. Some men seem interchangeable but the more you know them the more they become individuals. It’s all done to masterful effect and with just enough precision in the lines to instantly know when the characters are in wide plains, dirty cities, falsely clean suburbs, and various shanty towns.



Plus you get a lot of hobo fights. I think that was an unfortunate internet fad about five years ago, wasn't it?

This is a great book that I’m surprised I never heard of before I just randomly picked it up at the library. It’s now a recommendation I’ll be making for the more serious friends I have – the ones who don’t find Sgt. Rock punching a Nazi to be a high watermark in their entertainment choices.

New Greatest Book

I think this is probably the greatest thing I've seen in pretty much my whole life.

It's like the Anarchist Cookbook for LegoManiacs.

What I used to like

You know what I used to like? Blogging about comics. And more importantly having the time and inspiration to do it.

Damned life.

Monday, er make that Tuesday update

I totally meant to post a review here today but have just been entirely too swamped with non-comic related business. That's right, I don't prepare in advance. Yes, I probably should as it leads to better content.

And with this post I've made the internet die just a little bit, or made someone weep at the futility of it all.

Double you, Tee, Eff?

I read Grant Morrison's take on Kid Eternity last night. I like the idea better than the product. But this is the second book in a row where I can appreciate the art over the plot. Duncan Fegredo's painted artwork paved the way for a huge amount of Photoshop abuse. At first I couldn't tell if this was straight up painted work or Photoshopery which kind of shows you where things went from this point on in comics. Dark, scary, and scarier the more you can't make out the finer details. It's a great fit for a story where you're meant to fear what lurks in the corners. It's kind of hard to make out the details but rather than be frustrating, it just adds to the undercurrents of unease. The same goes for the colours used. There is a lot of bright colours but their use just makes things look more unnatural. It is equally ephemiral and bloody scary.

The ideas I really liked were the map of Hell being a book of highlights rather than an actual map and the whole twisting of reality playing in on itself. The rest felt a bit too much like an exercise in deconstruction and feedback loops. This isn't a fault, I just wasn't in the mood for that type of thing. If I read this on a different day I may have loved it, may have hated it, last night I just found it sort of dull and confusing rather than clever and intreguing.

Sensational Drunk

The Professor's Daughter

by Joann Sfar and EmmanuelGuibert

I’ve been thinking a bit more about online comic book reviews over the last few days. I’m certain my opinions don’t help books fly off the shelves but I sort of can’t help but think critically about what I read. This blog was helping me formulate some of my thoughts into something a bit more cohesive but I would go through phases where it seemed more of a chore than an enjoyable pastime.

And this all brings me to The Professor’s Daughter. Because I don’t put up artwork scans it’s a bit tough for me to give you a sense of the artwork. I’m going to try though. These are characters that are presented with a strong silhouette and a thick sketchy outline. It’s not one of those outlines that is simply thicker but here the character outlines seem defined yet with a more sketched out line than their internal linework.

The colouring is done with watercolours. This in turn gives the characters and the setting a feeling of history. Watercolours are an art style that is attached to the time period the action takes place in, so it helps set the scene not just by what is presented on the page but by what the art style’s history brings to the work from outside the page. This is Victorian England and it looks like it, not just in panel but in materials chosen and with an artstyle that itself looks like it is influenced from some of the original political cartoons showing up at that time.

As for the characters themselves they are each given, not just a recognizable silhouette but their figure itself portrays their character to you without the need for words. The protagonist mummy is tall regal and a bit rigid if not somewhat stunted and separated from the world around him. His father is rotting on the outside as he is on the inside. The professor is stuck in his ways and the daughter is, well, acting flighty to avoid her real emotions. She’s trying to remove herself as the mummy is himself forced to be separate from the world around him.

The artwork really is the draw here because the plot – not so interesting. It seems to set up a whole lot of great story telling possibilities but none of them seem to pay off here. I’m not sure if it’s the translations or simply the books I happen to get but the French comics I’m reading all tend to do that. Lots of ideas but not a heck of a lot of follow through. It’s like they want to write for the big two superhero publishers. Now, I can understand losing the plot or train of thought on a monthly book, dealing with editorial fiats and missing creative teams, etc but on one piece of work presented as a whole it just doesn’t sit right with me. There’s still enough there to make this a worthwhile and enjoyable book but I simply wanted to know more about the characters and what happens to them.

What is done well though is that complete ideas are presented on one page. It’s hard to understand that without reading the book, but say, on page 6 (sorry I returned the book to the library so this is a made up example) the mummy drinks tea and the experience makes him drunk with feeling – the whole sequence is presented on one page. The consequences are then presented on one page, and the consequences of the consequences on their own page. It’s a very rigid structure that I think may be leading to the feeling that ideas simply aren’t followed through. One idea per page. If there were more of that in superhero comics I’d continue to buy them.

I'm really happy a company like FirstSecond exists to bring these books to a new audience. They really are quality materials that are always worth a look.

Oh no.

Mike Weiringo passed away. I'm shocked and saddened. I pass along my sympathies to all his family and friends.

His work and insights have been nothing but pleasing and wonderful. This is a very sad day indeed.

Random Update

Chris Mautner has a great little collection of quotables from some bloggers about why they do or do not include scans of artwork from comics in their reviews. For me, it's simply a matter of not really having access to a scanner outside of work and I'm abusing my working hours enough by writing this pap. Also, my art vocabulary tends to repeat itself.

If you look at the comments you'll see a great bit from Warren Ellis which gives me a bit of an idea. I'm going to start just making up Warren Ellis quotations in my posts this week. That is if I manage to post more than once.

I cancelled my comic shop subscriptions on Friday. I'll still drop by to pick up The Spirit while Cooke is producing it, and the next issue of Batman because I like what Morrison is doing, same with All-Star Superman. The rest I can simply live without. Time to work on my trade collections again - more Hellboy really.

To make up for my subscription decommission I'm going to take Warren Ellis's advice and save a fuckload of money by finding my comics elsewhere. (Dubious/fake quotation 1).

Also I've freed up time and money to watch more soccer (proper football). And this is a good week because Newcastle United are top of the table, until Tuesday or Wednesday when some teams play their second matches. This is probably the only time I'll be able to brag about it so I'm making the most of it.

I saw Stardust on Saturday and really enjoyed it. It's a solid Fairy Tale movie, much like a cousin to The Princess Bride. It's just a solid movie with a crowd of bookish nerds and goths.

Conundrum

I want to write about comic books but I'm sort of angry at the prospect of paying $15 a month just to watch Newcastle United this year. I'm debating whether or not I cancel my comics and watch soccer or read comics and watch crappy second string games. I really don't want to head to the pub at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning to watch my beloved Magpies, so I'm in a bit of a funk.

Stupid greedy bastards with their pay-per-view channels. For the last few years I guess I was just spoiled with the triple-header each Saturday morning free of charge.

Sigh.

Friday Night Fights - Uppercut!!! - Round 7 - The boxer and The rock

Bahlactus is at his seat, and Ding! Ding! Ding!

He's not the boxer that Simon and Garfunkel sang about and he's not the guy who Stallone based Rocky on but he is the toughest man in comics.

That's right. Straight from the first story in Sgt. Rock's Combat Tales we get the origin of the man.

That's right. C'mon and fight. He won't stay down.

Although not a great way to avoid brain damage as a boxer I have a feeling Rock just didn't like hitting fellow Americans. But if you were a Nazi, watch out fool!

Later he blew up a tank with a bazooka.

New Burning Desire

I've just realized what I want to see in a comic. Ideally it would be Batman but I think Robin, the new Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, Hawkman, Black Canary, Power Girl or Wonder Woman would work as well. For Marvel I'd say probably Thing, Gorilla Man, or anyone written by Jeff Parker or Fred van Lente but that's just because theirs are the only Marvel comics I read so I'm a bit biased.

Basically have a story that isn't totally in tune with the latest and greatest cross-over. Some character comes up to our lead and says something along the lines of "This is entirely contradictory from the time in [cross-over] when you [acted differently]."

In response the lead character punches them in the face.

Hard.

I give this to any writer to use freely but I would ask for one of those asterix next to the dialogue and a caption at the bottom that read "Inspired by Jon Cormier." Or you could just steal it, I don't really care.

Edit - I was using those coding greater than, less than brackets and they didn't show up in my fake quotation.

All Things Geek

A new month starts and I’m going to pull this blog into a new direction for a little while – probably just this one post. My comic book reading has been somewhat curtailed since I’ve been reading Harry Potter. My wife got the new book first so I read the previous one as she read the latest, then after a busy schedule I’ve finally picked up the latest offering and have yet to come across any spoilers. If you post a spoiler in the comments section you will be banished as if by internet magic.

So here’s a few points of interest (maybe) and reviews of non-comic book yet still geeky items. I guess I was unknowingly influenced by Siskoid's Geekery.

Peach Pie #1
As a precursor I just want to let everyone know that in order to get the best peach pies outside of Georgia, you’ll have to come to my house. I made one for a bbq on Monday night (made the pie on Sunday) and it was probably the best pie I’ve ever made. I’m already legendary for my apple pies in the neighbourhood.

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga
I picked this up quite a while ago. Since it’s a game for the Gameboy Advance I managed to snag it pretty cheaply and it works in my wife’s pink Nintendo DS. How can I describe this game? It’s basically Mario Bros. done up as Final Fantasy.

It’s got a lot of the standard Mario Bros. baddies and fictional world aspects that are required from anything involving Mario and Luigi. Basically, turtles, mushrooms, Princess Peach, Bowser and coins. There is a few new baddies introduced since this takes place in the Bean Bean Kingdom rather than the Mushroom Kingdom but for the most part the baddies and the heroes are readily identifiable. If you’ve ever played Final Fantasy type RPGs before you’ll also understand how combat works. You run into a creature the scene cuts to a battle screen and you take turns either throwing attacks or healing up.

It’s in the battle scenes that things change up from the regular formula though. Rather than just passively acting out your chosen selection, you still need to hit buttons for your characters during the fights. There is no automatic dodge so you need to make your characters jump attacks (or later on, use the hammers to mash attackers). The same goes for attacking. When you select an attack you can let it play out or you can time some extra damage by pressing buttons at the right time. Yes, it’s still repetitive but at least you’re more involved other than just selecting options form a list then waiting to select the next option during the fight scenes.

For the most part it is rather light fare. You won’t end the game by being defeated all that much. It happened maybe two or three times for me anyway and I’m no hardcore gamer. Being lighter doesn’t mean it isn’t engaging or challenging. No, there is a lot to explore and a lot of items to collect and new moves to learn. One of the things I really appreciated was the lack of backtracking missions. It wasn’t until the very end that you really had to go back to old places to discover new locations you couldn’t previously get to.

For such a long game you’re kept involved by the self-referential humor. There’s lots of jokes about jumping, being the somewhat odd staple of Mario and Luigi’s arsenal of weapons. There’s even a Steve Martin allusion that you’ll either get or just be entirely too young or uncultured to realize.

I’ve enjoyed this game a heck of a lot. It was always easy to pick up and jump right back into it even after longer times between plays. That being said I’ve gotten to the final boss battle and after about a thousand, possibly even hundreds of tries I simply can’t beat her. So the game sits in my game cupboard unfinished. I may give it another try but since our friend’s five year old who has a DS told us his mom doesn’t let him play if he gets mad at the game, I figured the same rule should apply to me. I really don’t want to launch the pretty pink DS I bought for my wife’s last birthday into oblivion because I can’t get Mario and Luigi to beat Cackletta’s spirit form. Also, I seem to have missed one of their dual attacks along the way but I wanted to get through without relying on an online walkthrough.

I recommend this game to anyone looking for an engaging RPG game that isn’t reliant on elves and dwarves or Japanese anime type stock characters. It’s fun and bright, which makes it perfect for the summer game and while it’s generally a nice light game experience the end makes you feel like Mario and Luigi are actually beating you with their hammers rather than the boss.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
This game is probably one of the weirdest things I’ve ever played. Another DS game but this one is just well odd. Fun, but odd. It’s more of a text based game than anything else so if you like that type of thing, or you fondly remember physically plugging a phone headset into a modem to read your way through a blue screen, white text dungeon crawl then this would definitely appeal to you.

The gist of the game is that you’re a rookie defense attorney who pulls double duty as an investigator. So you get to point and click (well, touchscreen) your way through crime scenes as well as interrogate suspects then you get to cross examine them in the court where you can press them for more information as well as present evidence to cut holes in their testimony.

There is a lot of reading involved, and while there is characters onscreen, for the most part they don’t do anything but react to statements. All the characterization is accomplished through the dialogue, which as a comic fan is quite appealing. Especially seeing it done well. The only thing that doesn’t work is when there is simply too much characterization. Yes it is true to the character but at the same time I don’t want to keep clicking the A button to read “…” as someone stands there either pausing, shocked or awestruck. So, yeah, sometimes there is just too much to read and you can skip it.

But the court battles are fun as you try to puzzle out how their testimony contradicts itself, their previous statements or some other testimony. The only thing that really irked me a few times was that the evidence you present sometimes just feels way too far out to lunch. I couldn’t see the connection so luckily I had saved just before the moment and would simply reload and try the next bit of evidence until something worked, which is sort of the opposite of fun – but this doesn’t happen often.

What does happen a bit more often is that women are basically window dressing. And by window dressing I mean there is some weird ass and, to me, uncomfortable sexual issues going on in this game. All the women are bursting out of their clothes with heaving chests, except your young teenage assistant who is dressed in traditional peasant garb. I’m not sure what the message is here but what I’m taking out of it doesn’t sit right with me.

So I’m not quite through this game but from what I’ve read the last trial has a lot of DS specific content – more use of the touch screen and microphone. But for the most part it is quite enjoyable, I just can’t help but think it would be much more enjoyable if the game didn’t make me feel like a pervert every time a woman was onscreen.

Resident Evil 4 – Wii Edition
Wow. This game is entirely too much fun. I probably shouldn’t say that killing Spanish villagers is my idea of fun but there is just something satisfying about using a shotgun to blow away the wooden shield of an Cthulu-type cultist holding a ball and chain. Plus, that chainsaw wielding lunatic with a sack on his head really scared the bejeezus out of me. I’ve played it a bit less now that it is exceptionally sunny outside.

Gears of War
Finally finished this on the weekend at my friend’s place. We stayed up entirely too late but at least I don’t have kids. This game is a masterpiece but it has a totally unsatisfying ending.

It’s not just the unbelievable animation and world created that makes this game so good. It’s the complete package. The story is okay, the design is as good as it gets, the AI and physics engines are all top notch, the voice acting and dialogue is great as well. Nope, what makes this game so good in my opinion is that you can play it cooperatively. And it doesn’t feel tacked on. Nope you get to play the whole freaking campaign side by side with a friend and it works from start to end.

Plus, chainsaw bayonet. You haven’t lived until you’ve chainsawed a grub. Believe me, it’s worth it. On top of that, if you play as the second player, you hear your man screaming “What’s up bitches!” at the aliens as he shoots them. Good times, good times. I’m just happy to have an exceptional co-op game that is geared towards the adult gamer. Totally worth the hype in my opinion and I’m waiting for more.

Wits and Wagers
I picked up this boardgame for my dad when I was on vacation. It was basically a belated birthday present and since it was pouring rain for the majority of time we spent in Dieppe I was really really happy I picked this up. We always have the biannual Risk game when my wife and dad meet up – they both have some weird desire to dominate the world – but without new boardgames being introduced we’re usually relegated to playing Monopoly, Risk, Trivial Pursuit and maybe some card games or Cranium. Now while I have nothing against any of these games, in fact I like all of them from time to time, it’s good to shake things up every now and again.

Well, Wits and Wagers was a raging success. Even after my dad called it Wits and Waggers. What happens is that 7 trivia questions are read, and each has a numerical answer. Each player writes down their answer and you place the answers from lowest to highest on a betting mat. The more extreme the answer (lowest or highest) the higher the odds are for that answer. Then everyone bets on which answer they think is closest without going over.

It’s very simple but a whole heck of a lot of fun. Everyone was skeptical at first but after two questions we were all hooked, staying up way too late as a family and drinking entirely too much booze. Twice.

If you’re spending time with family and can’t bear the thought of being trapped in the old family home or a cottage while it pours rain – seek this game out. I suggest Fun Games Café if you’re in Canada, I’ve used them in past and they’re fantastic (although on vacation from August 3 to 13th) or your local game shop.

Finally, a book for everyone.

Kampung Boy
By Lat

In many ways this book reminded me of The Little Prince, only the basis comes from Malaysia rather than the western Euro-centric world view. It’s the story of a young boy growing up in a Malaysian village (Kampung) in the years up until he leaves to boarding school. The book documents the frontier of that region and the culture coming into direct confrontation with the industrialized world. In many ways it is the Malaysian mash up of works like Anne of Green Gables and Peanuts.

This isn’t totally a coming of age story but an exploration of the Garden of Eden that is childhood. You have little cares in the world other than having fun and exploring your ever growing boundaries. And that is what you get here. A boy who, as he grows, experiences more and more of the world, moving from his home to his Kampung to the surrounding countryside in an ever increasing circle. His concerns also grow as he does from hearing a distant monster to finally seeing a tin dredge in action to “stealing” tin in the shadow of the factory.

As the main boy grows his idealized setting slowly disappears just as that way of life has slowly being swallowed by increasing industrialization. It is fascinating to read and the economy of language used to tell the story allows for the story to contain more meaning than an overly verbose description or enough language to beat the message over your head.

The artwork is compared to Charles Schultz by Matt Groening. I can sort of see the parallels because of the rough style and the economy of line but I’m not totally sold on that. Where Schultz simplified his characters into clean lined versions of an exaggerated human form, Lat is much more loose and rough around the edges. The settings are much more defined but the entire perspective is always slightly childish in the same way that Bill Watterson used to stylize the day dreams of Calvin. This is exceptionally stylized work but it always catches the action and emotion perfectly. There is a great sense of wonder and love here that can’t help but remind you that this story is presenting the idealized world of a child to the reader. I can only imagine that it helps younger readers identify with the work themselves as they see their own drawing style mimicked in the pages.

I really enjoyed this book, both for the message and the art. The only thing sort of bothering me is figuring out the audience for it here. It’s not totally directed at people my age although we’re the closest audience since we’re buying comics and comic art already. But the story is for kids and would really be something worth while to get a new reader, especially one that is interested in the wider world and wants to be an explorer or traveler. I can imagine this being picked up by precocious parents who only let their kids listen to world music but it would be worth while if the non-wankerish set figured out that this is well worth any young reader’s time.

This is one of those small books that just sits on your shelf reminding you that bigger isn't always better.

Last Wednesday's Loot: Part 2 - The Lootening

I’m going to do the quickest reviews I can for the comics I picked up. As you’ve know doubt noticed I’m not creating a flood of content these days. No real reason other than lack of inspiration and noticing I’m repeating myself a lot. So here goes:

Godland #19
As much as I love this kooky yet hip space-god comic it is starting to feel like it’s treading water. I feel as if I’ve been reading the same story for just one too many issues. But I still like it more than most comics I could get so there you go. Spoiled by riches I guess.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5
This issue seemed a bit more slapdash than the rest. I find myself not as excited about this comic as I once was.

Batman #666
Morrison really likes his son of Batman idea doesn’t he? I don’t like it as much, but what I do like is that Morrison is playing with the notion that Batman as a character can survive and thrive in many different and often contradictory interpretations.

Marvel Adventures: Iron Man #3
This is just good comics but great for young readers too.

Wednesday's Loot: Part 1 - 25 July 2007

Okay I've got quite a few more comics than I'm used to and little to no time to actually read them. I got through two today at lunch and hope to get a few more read this week while I start the process of fighting a parking ticket in Ottawa, which ironically will involve a lot of driving.

The Spirit #8
Who else but Darwyn Cooke can mix up a comic with a LOL CATZ! joke and a classic men’s wear joke? This is still top notch comics that is as fun as the golden age stuff but perfect for the modern fan. You don’t need to know the original material but it can add an additional layer of appreciation. It’s beautiful, it’s fun and it’s what comics should be.

Shazam and the Monster Society of Evil #4
And more great comics here. Yes bright colours and a mash up of classic with the modern all brought through a lens of fun. The ending leaves the door open for a series, which would be welcome if it could come out on a regular basis. Fun stuff here.

Not quite the finest, but darned good

Hi all, I'm back from the east coast and while my beach days got rained out I swam in the ocean none the less (including a jellyfish sting to the back of my right knee) and got to see rebuilt Bounty.

I didn't read any comics until last night and I've got a whack waiting for me at the shop I'm sure.

Anyway, I read Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude's World's Finest last night. I needed a bit of a break from Harry Potter you see (plus it's due back at the library today). My thoughts are that the story was a bit too hard to follow for what should be such a simple plot. I mean I understood the plot but it just felt awkward to actually know the finer details. But the dialogue and interaction of Batman's crew with Superman's crew was superb for the most part. I think there is a great understanding of what makes these two icons tick and it manages to hit the majority of their supporting casts on the head for the most part, but the exposition just seemed lacking.

Making up for that in spades was Steve Rude's artwork. Simply put, it is stunning. The colouring and inking make the pages pop and give off a classic vibe along the lines of Mike Allred or Darwyn Cooke but it is the character design and acting that just makes this book look better than anything I had expected. Rude manages to capture the classic feel of these characters and the look of both the Joker and Luthor, not just Batman and Superman, makes you believe you are reading the golden age versions. You don't need to be told anything about the characters to know what age is being evoked. As someone who is drawn a lot more towards plot than art the highest compliment I can give is that this book is worth it just for the artwork alone. It feels achronistic and looks simply beautiful. I need to find more of his stuff now.

And for 7 days, he rested (after delivering a punch to the face)

Well folks I'm off to the East Coast of Canada after work today. Going to spend time swimming in the Atlantic if the sun stays out and watching the tall ships during my few days in Halifax (including the Bounty from that movie starring Anthony Hopkins and that guy I don't mention anymore).

So before I go I just have a few things to post. Firstly, I have a bunch more trades and OGNs to more or less ready to go. I've read a lot but haven't had time to write reviews so expect the following reviews at some point (Goodbye Chunky Rice, Chicken with Plums, Kings in Disguise, Tor, Vader's Quest, World's Finest and I'm starting to re-read the Sin City collection because I'm sort of untimely like that).

Secondly, no new comics for me this week. I've cut down my purchasing habits which makes me happier and more likely to own a house one day.

And finally, since I won't be here tomorrow when Bahlactus commands it, I'm providing you with rule #5 about comics.

Jedis can punch you anytime they like.

That's right folks. That's a blinded Luke Skywalker punching out a dude with a crossbow. Only in comics can we experience the awesomeness of of blind Jedis beating up medieval aliens. (Okay, maybe in movies, novels, cartoons and video games does this also happen, but they're less awesome - mostly).


And for good measure, since it's highly unlikely I won't be here next Friday either, here's the best fight between heroes without a punch being thrown. The other hero - Green Lantern Kyle Rayner doesn't even need to be in the panel to know who won.

PWNED!!1!

Green and Important

Green Lantern: My Brother's Keeper

I heard about this story in the regular press long before I started reading comics again. I've since learned (i.e. kind of remembered some vague recollections) about the history of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow team-up to fight the problems of the day. This was a decent continuation in that vein of story.

I'm glad DC put out a story dealing with homophobia and didn't make the cause Brainwave the way the story started. I like how it pushes the new GL to a point where he's just unsure about whether or not people are worth saving if this is what he's working so hard to protect. Sure, looking back it's a bit of an emo reaction but the core of the story is solid and the message was handled well.

It's always a bit worrisome when something known for being glib entertainment tries to tackle something important but this was actually done well. It's weird for me to say this, but I'm more relieved than anything that they avoided the afterschool special approach to the subject.

All that considered the rest of the story has some fairly decent superhero action as well. All in all it was a decent read that didn't advertise the "Very Important Issue" too loudly outside of the introduction and in the various text essays. It doesn't cheapen the story or the message that way, which is how these stories need to be handled.

Last Thursday's Loot - 5 July 2007

All Star Superman #8
Bizarro speak am easy comprehend. Jon hate All Star Superman and no go for hard joke review. Fireworks rocket most boring and lame. Me really no like tragic idiocy of Bizarro world.
I no-rate comic: Am terrible and me hate most of all.

Detective Comics #834
Oh the Joker. You're ever the showman. I'm glad your back and I don't really care if you synch up with other Jokers in other Batman comics. They're seperate books so everything can be self contained. I've always liked Dini's Joker with his penchant for elabourate death traps and Joker Gas but when they don't work he's not above slicing somebody with a scythe. And, most shocking of all, a relatively decent ending for the whole mess between Batman and Zatana which I thought DC would either ignore or never try to really fix.
I rate this comic: It's Batman and the Joker, so what's not to like?

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers
I was at the barber shop last Friday reading these books and my turn came up before I could finish more than a couple of pages of this one. I know there were guys riding lizards and the people were about to call the Avengers with some rock. I'm sure it'll be just as entertaining as the rest of this series has been but I'm getting ready for my vacation and haven't had the time to pick this book up again.

For some reason I can't title this post.

I just watched it on DVD and I really really like Superman Returns for exactly all the reasons people don’t like it. It’s a movie that is intimate and introspective starring the most powerful being on earth. They do all the things you don’t expect or probably shouldn’t do with Superman and it works beautifully for me.

He’s the outsider. He has a kid. He abandons the Earth to find out more about himself (sort of selfish). He’s made human and he’s also made more powerful than he’s ever been.

I’m not a huge fan of the bumbling Clark Kent or the goofy Luthor but I like that they follow the movie history of the characters. The only character I didn’t like was Lois Lane. I didn’t dislike her either but I just like the Lois from the animated series so much more. I just didn’t see a career woman here who is a better journalist than anyone else at the Daily Planet. Then again having the love of your life and father of your child return from a five year space journey would probably throw anyone. If I tell myself she was just sort of mixed up by his return then it works – and I hope that’s what they were getting at.

I like that this movie is slow and isn’t like any other superhero movie out there. I like it because of that, I just have no idea what they can do with Superman and child for a sequel. But if Singer is there I’m sure it’ll be done well.

Friday Night Fights: You thought I was done? You thought wrong punk.

Last week I took a sucker punch and missed the mark. Well I'm here to remind you of Rule #4 of comic books - "Seriously, don't talk shit to The Spirit. " You'll also see a prime example of my second favorite punch, the cross, with the uppercut being number one on my list.




Bahlactus didn't miss me though, he's putting a lot of pudgy pukes through the paces, making them jump rope, do wind sprints, work the bags and if they're lucky enough, sparring.


Let's recap those rules so far:

1. Always punch Hitler.


2. Don't talk shit to The Spirit


3. Batman will punch you really really hard.


4. Seriously. Don't. Talk. Shit. to. The Spirit.

Stay tuned, I've got a few more that will appear in a relatively random order of discovery.

Pearlformers

Oops, accidentally posted this on my other blog first - stupid dashboard, stupid no coffee yet.

Last night I went to an hour long car/US forces commercial that was filmed and acted like that Pearl Harbor movie but it ended with a great Transformers fight. Yeah, it was a stinker that would have been as bad as Pearl Harbor if it wasn't for the awesome robot fight scene. The robots are really done well and the free-way fight was totally awesome.

Otherwise it was a very long commercial for American Made Automobiles and the US Military where they eschewed standard movie protocols like "dialogue" in favor of "explaining things in excessive detail to the audience as if the actor were reading from a textbook." Which helped stink up Pearl Harbor - well it's back, en masse here.

But the robots are cool, even if you can't really tell them apart except for their colors and maybe size. If I was the age I first discovered Transformers and saw this movie I would have loved it. As an adult who just wanted to see robots punching each other I had to wait entirely too long with too many meat puppets reading textbooks at me about phosphorous ammunition - but they never explain why the Transformers actually, you know, transform (or for that matter why names like Bumblebee and Jazz are popular on Cybertron).

If you have a young son who likes the toys - go. If you like awesome 3D animation of robots - go. Otherwise, brace yourself for episode one.

Diodes is a good word

NYC Mech: Let’s Electrify
Written by: Ivan Brandon & Miles Gunter

Drawn by: Andy MacDonald

A world full of robots and it’s not Cybertron. For some reason that seemed important to me at first. I didn’t really get this book when I started to read it. I started to project my own ideas onto it, which isn’t such a good thing to be doing. I just didn’t get the point but after the first story I realized there wasn’t a point to be gotten, just one to be missed.

This is a collection of stories that imagines New York repopulated by inorganic life. A bunch of hipster criminal robots to be more precise. Okay, not all of them are criminals but there are quite a few and a bunch of other unsavory characters to go on top of that. The stories are hit or miss depending on your mood. Heck even reflecting back onto this collection I’m still indecisive about whether I actually liked the stories or not. I did, and I didn’t.

The real treat here is Andy MacDonald’s artwork. It is simply stunning. It’s a bit disorienting at first but it has a precision and flow to it that is larger than life. It’s a fantastic mixture of stylized action and movement with utter minute details thrown in for good measure. It’s human robots so there is the fine lines of the metal meeting and the diodes and bolts with the movement and organic flow of people. It moves, it pops and it’s sort of off putting because it just shouldn’t work so well together yet it does.

If you’re looking for a bit of a break from exploding robots and people on the summer screens and are more in the mood for a few short stories – mostly crime/noir stories – where the players are robots. This is for you.