Neither Beast Nor God

Seven Months!

2007-05-02T23:38:00.000+02:00

Yeah, I'm a total lame-o for not bothering to post in exactly 7 months, if I counted right. Blame it on work and posting too many comments over at various blogs and message boards! However, since seven is (for me) a very lucky number, and since May 2nd is the day my wife-to-be and I first became a couple, lo these many (well, four) years ago, what better day to resume posting than today?

I could talk about Spider-Man 3, which I went to see yesterday, and which I rate lower than Spider-Man 2 (no real surprise there, I adored S2), but higher than Superman Returns (again no surprise, that movie was pretty mediocre), and at about the same level as X3 (mind you, I'm one of those happy few who actually enjoyed the third X-Men movie the most of all three of them, so take that for what it's worth). Unlike Spider-Man 2, I'm really not too anxious to rewatch this outing, which is a pity. It wasn't a bad movie at all, and when the action takes control, things are really quite strong, but the story itself, as classic as the idea may be, is rather weak, with a fair amount of odd editing/cutting choices that make the whole less than its individual pieces...

Or I could talk about this week's episode of Heroes, which was Very Good Indeed in its Days-Of-Future-Past-y-ness, knocking me around the ears with a couple of surprises which I was too unsuspecting to notice in advance. Well done, Heroes crew. You keep me excited, I like that in a show. I'm certainly anxious to watch the grand finale with my lovely fiancée in a mere three weeks...

I could also pontificate about the JLA back issues I've been rereading, written by such fan-favorites as Grant Morrison and Mark Waid, currently returned to DC after their original stints back in the 90s (how time flies). It's interesting to see the cyclical nature of comics captured in their runs on the League. It's even more interesting to compare Meltzer's approach to the JLA to Morrison's, something I will get around to eventually (ditto for Bendis/Busiek on their respective Avengers runs)...

But I'd rather take the time to turn the spotlight on Sequoia, the woman I love with all my heart. She is my companion, my light in dark times. My effervescent angel, full of wit and whimsy. My very best friend, who shares my interests, but also introduces me constantly to new ideas and concepts I had never approached before, enriching my life in ways no other ever has or even could. Her compassion and sensitivity are her greatest strength--but her actual willpower in the face of repeated adversity is what makes her a true hero to me.

My entire life, I've been fascinated and intrigued by fictional heroes and their suspenseful adventures. It shows, in a collection of strips, comics, novels, tv series and movies that exemplify the varied nature of heroism time and time again. I think you can imagine how thrilling it must be for me to embark on the greatest adventure of all, the tale of a lifetime, with the woman whose heroism, to me, is unchallenged, without question nor fail. After all, a hero can be seen as someone who does the right thing exactly because it is the right thing to do. If anyone corresponds to that capricious category, it is my darling petatje: Sequoia.

Thank you, honey, for being you. I cannot say it enough. And as such, I'll never ever stop saying it :D

Dee-Cee-You, Dee-Cee-Me...

2006-10-02T21:33:00.000+02:00

There was a nice selection of DC titles out this week, 7 of which were on my pull list (if the previous issue of Trials of Shazam hadn’t been such a blah-fest, that would’ve still been on the list as well, alongside Supergirl, but there’s only so much patience I can muster for that series, even with Joe Kelly writing it now; I flicked through it in the store and my decision to drop it seemed wise, as the stories appear to remain singularly uninspired, especially compared to the previous Supergirl series by Peter David, which was one heck of a ride, only making the current incarnation even worse of a travesty.)

So, going through them alphabetically, we automatically start with 52, which is nearing its half-way point with #21. Topped off by another beautiful J.G. Jones cover (featuring a Titan I can’t properly identify, as there’s seven here but only 6 in the issue, and I’m not sure who the seventh is meant to be), this week’s instalment mainly focuses on Luthor’s superhero team, dubbed Infinity Inc., which you’d think would attract some heat from the JSA rather than the Teen Titans, but oh well. Luthor is portrayed as thoroughly vile here, willing to see a bright-eyed innocent killed to advance his own nefarious schemes with the Everyman Project. It’s taking him a bit too much into cackling, moustache-twirling territory, not sure if I like that. Only a year ago this same Luthor claimed in the concluding pages of Villains United that he was no child-killer. I guess in this case the victim wasn’t quite a child anymore, but even so, Luthor never struck me as someone who delighted in killing anyone other than Superman. The issue was enjoyable nonetheless, so we’re going three for three here, which hasn’t happened in a while. I get the feeling Greg Rucka has been less involved in most of the September issues, which is my idea of why I’ve been liking weeks 19-21 a lot more. I could be thoroughly mistaken of course, but most of this issue seemed “on”, which tends to imply greater involvement of both Morrison and Johns, in my estimation. The cut-scenes with E-Man and Red Tornado kept my interest as well, so the ball seems to be rolling better again, no doubt aided by Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson’s line-work, which is not spectacular but thoroughly solid, exactly what’s necessary for a weekly book. Great coloring, too, at that. No real complaints about pacing or anything this time around, and I’m looking forward to finding out more next week, so I guess it gets the thumbs up!

Action Comics #843 saw the concluding chapter of Fabian Nicieza and Kurt Busiek’s “Back In Action” arc, which makes the DCU at large properly believe that yes, he’s the real steel deal, as Lois Lane so aptly put it. Flanked by a diverse array of fellow heroes, Big Blue proves that he’s not only super-strong, but pretty super-savvy as well in dealing with the Auctioneer, a cross between Galactus and Manga Khan, who’s such a fun antagonist, both thematically as visually that I hope to see him again in the pages of Busiek’s own Superman series. Alongside the high dose of action making the series live up to its title—love the packed splash page of all the heroes battling the alien droids after they’ve been set free by Superman and his posse—Busiek not only acknowledges Superman’s intelligence in the way he dispatches the Auctioneer, but smoothly sets up what will no doubt be a big part of Richard Donner and Geoff Johns’s storyline starting next issue. Between a promising end, a highly entertaining cover (I’m particularly fond of the idea of an entire Ohio town forming a big human ‘S’ that can be seen from space, w00t!), and of course rock-solid art by Pete Woods, this was very good indeed.

I hope that Morrison intends for us to truly dislike Damien, supposed son of Batman, as his portrayal in Batman #657 is far from endearing. It’s strange how this chapter seems both very slow and simultaneously an example of how Morrison likes to throw out all notions of decompression, as Batman’s response to being saddled by an obnoxious teen assassin is peculiar, to say the least. No doubt Morrison is trying to play with metaphors and the like, but to be honest, I’m not feeling very invited to look past the surface, and on the surface, Damien is a creepy twerp. I find it hard to understand why Batman takes Talia at her word and brings the boy to his sanctum sanctorum (which is portrayed fairly pathetically by Kubert, I must add, and I tend to like his art, but the tiered levels seem oddly unappealing and stale, there’s not enough spooky-coolness going on there). Not only does he bring him there, but he basically gets to run around freely, with disastrous results. Sure, it’s true that he was in a locked room, but if Bruce is presupposing this *is* his own flesh and blood, descended from the Demon as well, no less, then you would expect some more foresight considering his skills. It also irked me that yet another not-quite-classic Batman-foe is callously killed off, something that has been happening far too often in recent months (and years). Black Mask, the Ventriloquist, Killer Moth, the KGBeast, now the Spook, anyone who’s not from the Golden Age gets bumped while the classic foes continue to return ad nauseam (in some cases resurrected without explanation, as is the case with Poison Ivy). And yet, for my complains about Damien and the Spook, I still enjoyed Kubert’s kinetic art and Morrison’s snappy patter. It’s a pop-comic, as Morrison likes to call them, and he does those well (but last issue was still much better though). Not nearly at the same level as All-Star Superman, but not a waste of time nor money, at least.

Blue Beetle #7 proved to me once again the strange relationship I have with the series. Every time I think “this will be my last issue” and every time I’m at the end of an issue, I’m looking forward to the next one, a feeling which fades away until the next issue is in my pull box and I duly take it home with me. There’s a subtle charm permeating from Jaime and his family and friends, which takes this book beyond mere superheroics or space opera, evoking the qualities that made Stan Lee’s Spider-Man or Claremont’s X-Men so popular. It doesn’t hurt when Cully Hamner is on art duties, as he brings the perfect kind of human softness to all the characters, bringing them to life in the most perfect manner. Despite the absence of Keith Giffen’s hand in the plot (he’s back next issue), there are still a number of humorous moments involving BB out of his depth during the flashback scene (my favourite one was Jaime calling Black Canary “ma’am” :D) and the dialogue continues to ring true. With both Hamner and Duncan Rouleau (who’s arrived at a point in his career where I truly enjoy his work, distinctly stylised without being impenetrable) scheduled to pencil the upcoming issues (featuring the New Gods soon!), I’m thinking I’ll likely be along for the ride until at least the end of the first year (which is #13, not #12, like DC itself will probably try to claim, erroneously so ;)) No doubt I’ll have forgotten all about that by the time next issue arrives, and I’ll go through the same process of “Should I drop this? // Heck no!” yet again. I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not, but it’ll have to do.

JSA Classified #17 will be one of the last issues of this series I’m buying, as I’m beginning to lose interest in this stand-alone tales. This one I didn’t want to miss though, as it’s a rare occasion when Tony Bedard writes for DC, spotlighting Hourman and Bane, no less! Just the notion of teaming up Bane and Hourman is inspired, as they have nothing in common at first glance, and it’s made all the better by Scott McDaniel’s exaggerated yet fluid artwork, which works tremendously well for a goon like Bane. By no means is this an instant classic, but it’s a fun little story tying one well-established drug in the DCU into another one, with some typically well-designed lay-outs from McDaniel. I have quibbles with it, such as the rather abrupt ending, which isn’t as suspenseful as it wants to be, or the overly familiar “misunderstanding” between Bane and Rex Tyler leading to an (unfair) fight. I had fun reading it, and I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy the next two-parter featuring Dr. Midnight with art by Rags Morales, as well, but with the regular JSA ongoing restarting in December, this one’s headed for the chopping block. Unless a spectacular creative team does an arc, of course, then I might be tempted again :)

Justice League of America #2 is another animal entirely. Starting with the hideously generic and plain ugly cover: Michael Turner’s art makes everyone look spicy and clumsy instead of the iconic look it’s aiming for, and the orange background simply dumbfounds me, clashing as it does with the characters’ dumb, boring poses. Ed Benes, with inks by Sandra Hope, isn’t a bad artist, but he’s not a very good one either. Far too much cheesecake (although I’ll admit I don’t mind as much when the cheese involves Black Canary. Mmmm, Black Canary :D) and an overabundance of crosshatching, which must be meant to add an extra dimension to the art but instead only makes it flatter. It also displeases me when an artist can’t keep track of his own work, portraying Vixen without a jacket in a scene which continues immediately from the previous issue, where she was still wearing it, or when we get non-functional two-page spreads like the shot of Red Tornado's severed (former) head. Meltzer only makes things worse with his pretentious narration and confusing caption boxes, which only work because of their colour, and even then I got confused sometimes whether it was Superman talking, or Wonder Woman. I find fault with narration which goes “My name is Mary McCabe. Vixen. I can channel any animal through the totem I wear on my hip. That means if I pick right, I can rip your head off.” Meltzer is one of many comic book writers who has no clue about narration like this: if the narration is meant to be her own thoughts, then this is sheer idiocy, nobody thinks like that. If the narration is meant to be exposition, then why not have an omniscient narrator? It becomes a muddled mess that’s neither fish nor fowl, which irks me greatly.

What’s even more vexing is the reintroduction of a classic Superman foe who’s meant to be dead and buried, something editor Eddie Berganza knows full well, having allowed Jeph Loeb to bump off the villain to begin with. I don’t mind his return—I do mind the lack of understanding of his powers—but why not acknowledge in the story that he’s not meant to be alive? I get the impression Meltzer is simply unaware of this aspect of continuity, which somehow rankles. Apart from that, his pacing/timing/sequencing is rather off too: the way the story is structured, Vixen and her opponents stand still for about 40 minutes, allowing the now-human Red Tornado to do the monkey dance with his wife and for the rest of the League to get involved. Meanwhile, we get the over-arcing scenes of the trinity picking and choosing who’s hot and who’s not, which grates severely because they are voicing Meltzer’s own wishes, not their own. I rolled my eyes profusely when Superman grabbed a picture of Batman, at that. Who on earth would be able to take a full frontal picture of Batman? That defeats the entire mystique of the character! Lastly (I could go on longer but there’s only so much complaining I can do), I was rather galled by Roy (pardon me, “Red Arrow”) shooting professor Ivo several times with his arrows, that seemed pretty uncalled for, considering he didn’t even know who the guy was. The writer may think that gives the character an edge, I think it makes him an ass. I was okay with the previous two issues, but this one was a pretty big dud. Here’s hoping the quality will veer upwards again, because believe me, I *want* to like the JLA’s own book. The Meltzer/Berganza combination (“don’t know/don’t care”) doesn’t fill me with much confidence at all though, so we’ll have to see.

A good one to conclude with: Secret Six #4. I was delighted to get more of the all-new, all-different, yet strongly familiar Doom Patrol in this issue, which had great, moody visuals from Brad Walker and Jimmy Palmiotti. I’m not a big fan of Palmiotti’s inks, but I think they mesh will with Walker’s looseness, although I admit to being curious what a tighter inker would make his art look like. The fight between our (anti-)heroes and the DP though was fun to follow, even if writer Gail Simone tries far too hard to be “edgy” like Mark Millar or “insane” like Grant Morrison. There are too many times (“Now shut up and eat your Grundy”, “Parademon would have loved this view”, “My lovely throbbing hat”) where it feels to me as if Simone is trying to push the buttons she knows full well a lot of fans like, which comes across as insincere writing. Enjoyable writing nonetheless, as I intend to happily reread both Villains United and the current mini-series once it’s all over and done with. I even hope for an ongoing of some sort, either this or an updated Suicide Squad, because I’ll readily admit that seeing a bunch of villains being sleazy is a lot of fun. Speaking of their sleaziness, both the opening and the final scene were somewhat too predictable: the nature of Vandal Savage’s friendly dinner was immediately clear to me, as was the eventual tryst between Knockout and Deadshot. Luckily, that final scene should lead to some fireworks next issue, so I don’t mind too much, but it’s always a bit disappointing when writers don’t really stray off the beaten path, even while thinking they’re taking the audience by surprise. In a very short amount of space though, Simone has made me look forward to the misadventures of these psychotic nutjobs, which is an accomplishment in its own right (as is impressing me with chapter titles, hers always sound inspired, which pleases me greatly). Despite my quibbles, this was probably the DC book I enjoyed the most this week, and really, apart from JLA, I was pretty happy with all of them.

Make Mine Marvel! (it's amazing but it's true :)

2006-09-30T16:52:00.000+02:00

This was such a fun week for superhero comics that I couldn't resist writing up a few words about them. Let's go over the Marvel batch first.

The weakest of that bunch would be Young Avengers/Runaways #3. I buy the regular series of both teams so I was hoping for something nice here, despite the idiocy that is Civil War, but I have to admit I'm feeling kind of suckered. The art by Caselli is not bad per se but decidedly strange-looking for either the Young Avengers or the Runaways, and the plot has me rolling my eyes, as it's yet another nail in the coffin of Tony Stark (without him even appearing in the issue, but if he doesn't know there's an insane-o warden torturing superheroes in his prison, then how off the mark is he exactly?) The less said of the mauling of Morrison's Marvel Boy, the better. I'm counting my blessings this is only 4 issues and not 6. As it is, I'm going to get the final issue, but if this had been a midway point, I would've dropped it like a hot potato. Yes, there have been a couple of cute moments here and there in these past 3 issues, but overall it's been a big dud.

Next up is X-Men #191, which is part 4 of Mike Carey's "Supernovas" arc. The titular Supernovas appear to be a better thought out version of Claremont's Neo from several years ago, but there's a shakiness to the concept which is making me less enthused about the concluding two parts. This might be in part due to the art, as Clayton Henry, the apparent fill-in artist of choice for the X-Office currently, does a serviceable job, but never reaches the stylish etherealness of Bachalo at his best. I then have to wonder whether it would've been better if the book had been late, waiting for Bachalo and his inkers to finish the chapter. It's going to look odd in the collected edition, that's for sure. It remains one of the better X-stories I've read in a long time though, and for that, I am grateful.

Now we're getting to the really good stuff. Over in She-Hulk #12, Dan Slott and Rick Burchett dress up Jen all purty because apparently the Living Tribunal enjoys it when his representatives look hot in an ancient Greek kind of way ;) The various subplots at the lawyer firm are ticking along nicely and there's a big reveal at the end which shows remarkable insight in the characters of both Starfox and Thanos. It's so cleverly obvious that you have to wonder why someone never thought of it before. Highly recommended, making me yearn for the arrival of the first two trade paperbacks when my lady love returns this winter. Something worth mentioning is that this issue had printing problems similar to last week's issue of 52, where several of the pages appear to have been "double-pressed" or something, because the lines and words were a lot thicker. Did I just get a bad print both times or do printers no longer proof their books first?

Saving the best for last, two books sticking out head and shoulders above anything else Marvel (or DC) had to offer this week, both written by the scribe supreme, Ed Brubaker: Captain America #22 and Daredevil #89. Brubaker manages the impossible not once, but twice: his CW tie-in makes me enjoy the plot about a million times more than its main architects (JMS and Mark Millar) have been able to do, and he makes the Matador look like a kick-ass villain. Let me repeat that: the Matador kicks ass! Yes, I'm as surprised as you are :p

Ed Brubaker is truly a lucky man, getting to work with artists like Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano and Mike Perkins (and Steve Epting, usually, but he's taking a break again for 3 issues, I believe). Lark's storytelling flows so beautifully, I can flip through the pages of Daredevil over and over again, adoring the way he lays out his pages, the way his characters move, it's fantastic. He is ably assisted by Gaudiano, pencils and inks meshing into a rich, fulfilling storyboard, particularly during the scene involving the Matador. Even colorist Matt Hollingsworth deserves a stand-out credit, adding to the superhero-noir feel Brubaker is aiming for. Daredevil has rarely been better.

Captain America, meanwhile, features a story of love and devotion, evil and corruption. Brubaker fleshes out the relationship between Sharon Carter and Cap some more, leading us to believe she would actually betray him, keeping the audience on its toes. Moreover, he presents the entire debate concerning the Superhero Registration Act in an impassioned but reasonable manner, without making either side look like stubborn fools. I was dreading this tie-in arc to the lamest crossover event Marvel's come up with since Onslaught, but between the writing and the purty (if more posed than Lark's) art, not to mention the excellent cliffhanger revelation, I am hooked for the next issue.

DC's offerings were no less enjoyable, but there were less Marvels, so they got to go first ;)

The Sequoia-Files

2006-09-25T21:36:00.000+02:00

I promised Sequoia I'd pimp her X-Files reviews once I finally wrote a little something myself again. So it was high time that I did write something because these few reviews of old classic the X-Files are pure dynamite so far!

You can find them at http://www.sevensparrows.net/x-files/thexfiles.html and I hope there will be many more, especially because she writes circles around me with the greatest of ease ;) Her passion for the show seems unequaled, so if you've ever been a fan of the X-Files, as she and I have been from the start until they ruined it all, give her reviews a look and bask in the glories of old!

I cannot believe it's been 13 years since the series first started. That's almost half my lifetime ago! Talk about tempus fidgeting!

Office Rules

2006-09-25T21:17:00.000+02:00

The Office is back (and I with it, from a highly enjoyable vacation period), after a lovely cliffhanger moment last season, which has changed everything while keeping many if not most things the same.

After almost 30 episodes of hilarity, the Office has one certain rule:

"Be as awkward as possible."

And with a manager like Michael, it seems like there's no limit to the over-the-top awkwardness he can bring to the table. It seems physically impossible to explode with laughter from the gut while cringing so hard that it feels you're trying to hide in your own intestines, but the writing and acting (and directing!) crew of this fantastic series seem to manage it over and over again. You have to see it for yourself to believe it.

I do have to wonder if the series can be as funny for newcomers as it is for those who've been watching since the beginning though. Thanks to the antics that have gone before, a certain rapport with and fondness for the various office employees has been created which enables the loyal viewer to appreciate the revelations and reveilles in this season opener more than someone who's tuning in for the first time. Nonetheless, even when taken as an entity completely on its own, there are bound to be several guffaws expelled by even the most self-controlling members of the audience.

What strikes me as interesting is that the (bleaker and meaner) British series which spawned this American offshoot only lasted a very short (yet widely hailed as classic) 2 seasons, around 13 episodes total, while this version is getting a lot more mileage out og the potential the characters are blessed with. I am sure we have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "background" characters (compared to the way Michael, Jim, Pam and Dwight are in the foreground, at least) like Stanley, Kelly, Meredith, Phillys, Creed, and so on. Through every laughter-filled moment, these characters become real people far more than one-note gags and jokes.

I would never have thought, for instance, that I could come to care about Angela as much as I do. She is not at all the type of person I'd enjoy spending my time with, but it's little things like her apology to Kevin for being mean (because she doesn't mean to be) in the excellent webisodes on the Office website that make her an interesting and multi-faceted character. Of course her office fling with Dwight has propelled her into the spotlights, but she is defined by far more than that. Every single member of the cast is part of a greater whole, and together they are able to be more than the sum of their individual parts.

I am greatly impressed that the show isn't running out of steam yet and hope to see much more mayhem to come! The storyline involving Jim and Pam, for instance, is about as perfectly construed as can be for prolonged viewer "torture": make the audience want them to be together as much as they themselves want it, but keep yanking our collective chains. Will interest remain if these two ever wind up together? I personally am hooked on far more than just the two of them, but I do think a large percentage of the audience is intrigued by the soap opera aspect of the show involving them. For me Dwight and Angela are the couple to watch though: two misfits who have a genuinely sweet vibe going on between them. Acting at its best.

If you haven't watched the Office before, I implore you to give it a go. Alongside Arrested Development, it is one of the finest comedy series to ever appear on American (or European, but we don't get it yet, so long live the internet!) television. And I like a LOT of comedy series ;)

There, I finally wrote something again, I hope my honey is happy :p

(I know I am!)

Sequoia Reviews Superman Returns!

2006-07-24T20:38:00.000+02:00

Although the heatwave is still persisting, today the temperature went down a few degrees, enabling us to finally go see Superman Returns, which was long overdue, considering my excitement for the movie (without having seen any trailers, mind you--I kept myself as spoiler-clear as I could!). Because Sequoia rules and I don't, she is the first of us to write down her thoughts on SR. Brace yourselves, because it ain't pretty! And I can't blame her for that one bit, really, because I found it rather disappointing and dull as well, all in all, so her observations tend to match mine pretty thoroughly. Unlike with X3, I will definitely truly for sure write about this one, because I like Superman more than the X-Men, heh. Although I do love the Beast (duh!) so maybe I'll somehow be able to sit down tomorrow (still on vacation for another five weeks, huzzah!) and actively compare this year's superhero movies before Pirates 2 rolls around next week. Anyhoo, time to let Sequoia speak...

* * * * *

I am a Marvel Girl through and through. I have attempted to get into the main DC universe numerous times in my decade of comic reading, and just do not feel any connection whatsoever to the characters. Everything I’ve tried – and Peter never lets me stop trying – has left me with negative impressions that range from meh to actively disgusted. I really don’t think it’s the place for me. I even – shock, horror - disliked Batman Begins. But Superman Returns looked interesting in the trailers, and Peter is a huge Superman fan, so we made a date of it, and I went into it with an open mind. Not filled with the charged mix of anticipation, excitement, and sick dread I felt before X3, but willing to enjoy it for what I consider it – a stand alone summer blockbuster. Adherence to continuity, comic or movie, was not a factor for me, because I know next to nothing about the subject. I had no opinion on casting matters, except that I thought Kate Bosworth was fantastic in Wonderland and is darling to look at, Parker Posey is usually tremendous fun, and Brandon Routh looks the part to me more than Reeves or Welling.

Anyway, as the final credits rolled, Peter summed up my feelings rather succinctly: Superman Returns isn’t Spider-Man 2. It’s not even X3.

But, it’s not Fantastic Four, either. I would hope it is also better than Daredevil, which I have vowed never to see, the casting offends me so greatly. And I would say that Superman Returns is also significantly better than Batman Begins, because I didn’t fall asleep or walk out, two things that occured during my viewing of BB (in the interests of full disclosure, I watched BB the day after Thanksgiving, on my couch, in my pjs, and full of pie).

It wasn’t laughably bad yet fun if you’re watching it with others, like Smallville. Tom Welling was quite the cutie, but he plays Clark as functionally retarded, and since they dialed back the homoeroticism, offed Jonathan, and made Lex OMG TEH EVOL, it’s even harder to watch. The Christopher Reeve Superman movies...let’s just say they weren’t really my cup of tea. I’ve seen them all, but have no desire to rewatch them. SR didn’t make me cringe, or yawn, or wonder what time it was. But I did roll my eyes quite a bit, and my strongest reaction is....so? This is what all the hype was about? This? Really?

What I actively disliked:

1. Luthor’s Real Estate Development Plot of Evil. Anyone else see the hilariously awful 10.5 Apocalypse tv movies earlier this year (and the prequel, from 2004)? Just me? I almost started laughing when they showed the new map of the world, with North America split up the middle, because I think they stole it from the prop room at NBC. And did I understand this correctly? Lex is going to use the crystals to radically change the geography of the earth, and in the process, kill “billions”. A significant percentage of the dead would come from the wealthier and developed parts of North America and Western Europe, unless Lex’s map is like Buster Bluth’s and the blue parts are land. Lex will then build beach front property that he will sell to the highest bidder, giving him all the power in the world. The highest bidder left among the severely traumatized masses in South America, Africa, Asia, apparently. I know that after the planet has been ripped apart by a madman, and most of my family and friends are dead, and all my stuff has been destroyed in the earthquakes, tidal waves, and gas fires, not to mention the disease that spreads after disasters, or the sickos that see disasters as a opportunity to prey on others, the first thing I’m going to do is call Century 21 and get me a piece of that ocean view condo action. Especially when the beaches are spikey and grey and look like something the earth vomited up in a desperate attempt to purge.

2. NOTHING HAPPENED. Full circle, Singer’s a genius, blah, blah, blah – Clark in space? Check. Lex Luthor out of jail and temporarily helpless but you just know he’s plotting something? Check. Martha’s lonely and doing dishes? You know it. Lois Lane doesn’t know Clark=Superman? That last one truly aggravates me, and my aggravation aggravates Peter. I cannot suspend disbelief on this. Maybe in the comics, I don’t know, I haven’t read more than a scattered dozen or so issues. But in a movie where they take the time to consider the possibility and discuss it out loud? When Clark and Superman disappeared on the same day and return the same day five years later? Where Lois sees Supes unconscious in a hospital bed – so he’s not changing his voice or projecting confidence or any of the desperately reaching excuses I’ve heard, she still doesn’t recognize him? Is the spitty curl all it takes? I guess so, considering that they also must have realized that Clark is MIA while Superman’s in the hospital. And Clark’s clothes/glasses were probably found in the elevator shaft by the janitor. I was so hoping that Jason would go over and draw glasses on Clark’s face with a marker. Speaking of Jason, I guess something did happen – Clark knows he’s his. And I like that Lois stayed with Richard – they are a family. I love that.

3. No heart. I really didn’t feel any emotion, except some brief nervousness and sadness when Lois, Richard, and Jason were in the boat. That was very well done. But for all the moaning about how X3 had no heart because it wasn’t done by Singer and because it was so rushed and Scott died, it had a hell of a lot more than this one-dimensional, over long, exercise in monotony. And I’m not just saying that because most of my favorite characters are X characters – DD and Runaways are my other favorite Marvel books, and I’ve loathed the X-Men comics for years. Spider-Man 2, remains, in my opinion, the finest superhero movie in terms of plot and heart and motivations. And I don’t particularly like or read Spider-Man, or like Tobey Maguire. It’s just a solid film.

What I actively liked:

1. Lois’s clothes. I’m serious. It was the high point. Loved every single thing she wore, the skirts, the blouses, the robe, the shoes, love looking at Kate Bosworth wearing them, frail as she is. Loved the dark toenails even. Didn’t bother me that she was young-looking – Brandon Routh and Jimmy Marsden look very young as well. Anyway, fantastic wardrobe. Actually, I thought everyone’s wardrobe was rather nice. I appreciated the retro feel. And the darker red on the cape.

2. Excellent special effects. The opening sequence was fun. The effects during the inane space shuttle/passenger jet sequence were so thrilling that I couldn’t scoff, though I tried. I also enjoyed all the spikes erupting, though the mass that Clark threw into space looked rather small. Like 6 city blocks small. Weird. I thought it was my eyes, but Peter concurred.

3. The movie was failing so thoroughly to make me feel for the characters – nothing against the actors, I thought all did a serviceable, respectable, and enjoyable, albeit forgettable job – that when Richard, Lois, and Jason made it to the plane, and Marsden was flying the sea plane, it made me think of Cyke flying around with Maddie on their honeymoon – who I’ve always thought really was Jean/Phoenix reincarnated after her death on the moon in a Vertigo like twist, and Cocoon Jean is the clone, planted by Sinister, but I digress – and I started picturing Richard as Scott, Lois as Jean/Maddie, and Jason as Nathan, having an adventure, and fantasized me a little fanfic. Thanks for that, Singer. It was fun.

I give it 2.5 stars out of 5. 1.5 stars are for wardrobe. I’m glad I saw it, I mostly enjoyed it during, but...so what?

The Walls Have Comics (And The Floor, And The Bed...)

2006-07-17T10:50:00.000+02:00

I figured I should update with a quick post just in case there's actually anyone reading this and wondering where the heck I wandered off to this time around! Sequoia arrived on the fourth of July and I've been working on our new and improved attic ever since. Most of the past week I've been taking my time in carrying a couple thousand comics upstairs from my old bedroom and arranging them in all the new bookcases. I'm down to the "leftover" series (Punisher War Journal, Sleepwalker, Ghost Rider, Azrael, Aquaman, that sort of stuff) and then all I need to is bring up all the mini-series, one-shots and specials, after sorting through all the trade paperbacks. And after all of that, I have to get the old bedroom looking nice again *and* sort through everything that came down from the old attic to begin with, so odds are against me properly posting for a while. (Sequoia and I having a Star-Trek-athon every day doesn't help matters either, long live geek-hotties though :p)

And yes, I'm a total blasphemer, my comics are now completely out in the open, no bags and boards for me, as you can see in the pics below :)

And wait until you see what I'm doing with the desk area, it's looking pretty damn neat in a geeky goofball way. Growing up, who needs that, eh? ;)

Very quick thoughts on comics stuff:

Ed Brubaker and Mike Carey on Uncanny X-Men and X-Men is great, first time in ages I'm excited about both X-books.

Runaways is EVIL (and so good).

Thunderbolts is running perfectly with the theme of Civil War, even if the mini-series itself is a mess.

Carlos Pacheco on Superman kicks all sorts of ass but draws one ugly Lois though.

My girlfriend likes Warren Ellis's work, so go him! PAD is less lucky in that respect though.

Paul Dini on Detective Comics should be a hell of a ride based on his first issue.

JSA ended on less than a whimper, which was highly disappointing yet expected.

I finally read The 49'ers and was appropriately impressed (also as expected).

I have too many trades to read!

And oh, Uncle Scrooge is the very best character ever ;)

Torchwood Is Just Another Name For Doctor Who

2006-07-01T20:47:00.000+02:00

While I don't have the time to write a proper post about tonight's episode of Doctor Who, the penultimate chapter of the current series' second season, because I have to finish painting the attic to prepare for the arrival of the most wonderful woman in the entire world, I wanted to quickly share my utter excitement at the magnificent cliffhanger ending.

The mysterious organization called Torchwood has been a recurring theme throughout the series since the 2005 Christmas Special. During this two-part finale, the Doctor finally meets up with them, just in time for Earth to fall victim to an alien invasion once again, only this time the odds are decidedly against our heroes, more so than ever before. Old enemies resurface in a momentously chilling cliffhanger (love the score!), truly catching the Doctor, Rose and her mother between a rock and a very hard place.

This particular ending made me squeal with glee. That's three for three, this season. It's quite fascinating how I can find this show thoroughly silly yet also incredibly exciting. In fact, the series reminds me why I was drawn to superhero comics to begin with, something which both Marvel and DC are attempting to trample into the dust with their boots: over the top adventure with a lot of emotion thrown in, and awareness of your own inherent silliness. It's exactly because the two biggest comic book publishers take their products so damn seriously that the sense of fun and grand-scale adventure is hopelessly lost in a lot of their books. Luckily back issues never fade, just like this taped episode of Doctor Who never will, either.

Definitely one to revisit, if only to feel my hairs raise on end anew when "they" make their ominous return, to bedevil the Doctor and Rose Tyler one final (?) time... Two thumbs up, without question.

And oh, the teaser did exactly what it was supposed to do, only they're not fooling me. All I'm saying is "Alas, poor Jackie, we knew her well..." and that is the end of it... for now!

Black And Blue And Green All Over

2006-06-25T21:54:00.000+02:00

Since my last post, I read a couple more of those Blauwbloezen (Blueshirts) books I bought, alongside this week’s new comic book releases (a whopping 10 issues, it would’ve been 11 if the store had had a copy of Robin, but not a week goes by without Diamond “forgetting” to ship them something, so no luck for me, which benefited DC, since I picked up the first issue of the new Flash series in its stead, like the total dope I am). What’s meant to follow is some quick thoughts on my reads, but odds on me being concise are rather against me, I fear!

In “Black Face”, Blutch and Chesterfield are saddled with a sticky assignment: as the only able cavalry soldiers, they are to escort one of the black men of the Northern army (a gravedigger, because “that’s all they’re good for”, or so he feels) behind the southern lines, where the so-called Black Face (named thus when he registered in the army) is to incite riots among his fellow blacks, to undermine the opposing troops. It’s a nasty scheme, which is only underscored by the bleak gallows humour used throughout the issue. There is a real sense of menace and doom when Black Face, instead of following orders, decides that it’d be much better for American blacks to not only raise arms against the southerners, but against all whites, because they are being used as cheap labourers on either side of the border anyway. Posing as doctors in the enemy camp, Blutch and Chesterfield are witness to the rage of the oppressed slaves, which burns with a fire much brighter than they had anticipated, both figuratively and quite literally.

When Black Face crosses the border to start his mayhem anew, general Alexander orders a bunch of soldiers who had been imprisoned for murdering some of their own men (particularly black men) to cut down the rioters before they can cause any real damage. To make matters worse, they are dressed in grey uniforms so that the chiefs of staff don’t have to deal with riots in their own camp when the gravediggers have to go bury the bodies. Chesterfield, prodded by the ever-conscientious Blutch, attempts to prevent the coming bloodbath, but Black Face will not listen and decides to take the killer troops to hell with him when he shoots a crate of gun powder, with explosive results. Our two leads are able to thwart the general’s twisted plot though, by removing all the uniforms from the dead, which puts them in a tight spot when they are found out. Luckily, they receive aid from an unexpected corner, resulting in everything being back as it used to be, with the corporal and sergeant as part of Stark’s cavalry, but with much heavier consciences.

As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the most serious issues they’ve ever done, without the quirkiness that permeates other stories. The pacing is rapid and the art is fluid and action-packed as ever. Despite his generic name, Black Face is a complex character who makes one think about the role of black men and women during not only the “barbaric” times of the Civil War, but during the many decades to follow as well. The notion of such blatant inequality in a country where “all men are created equal” remains a fascinating one, no matter what the time period. Cauvin’s ability to infuse humour in a plot that’s so genuinely dark is testament to his highly developed skills. That same talent can be found in “Rumberley”, which deals with the heavily wounded cavalry troops being left in the small town of Rumberley, which unfortunately turns out to be on the side of the South. Even though the town is inhabited only by the old men, women and children—as all able-bodied men are at the frontlines—Blutch (who is not amongst the wounded, having stayed out of the battle like he always does) has to deal with a large number of angry civilians who revile the soldiers abruptly left in their care. Unwilling as they are to share their water with the cavalry troops, the inhabitants of Rumberley are consigning them to a gloomy fate. Even worse, they have alerted the Southern Army, and imprisonment can only lead to a painful demise.

Blutch and Chesterfield are unwilling to give up without a fight though, even if they have to fight the southern cavalry troops all by their lonesome, with results that are both riveting and hilarious. Help arrives in the form of an ailing cavalry, the wounded barely keeping themselves together, followed by a mêlée which begins to endanger the continued survival of the town. Cooler heads prevail and a stop is put to the fires that are erupting everywhere, but alas, the cruelty of war knows no boundaries when a nearby battle spills over into Rumberley, which ends up being destroyed by stray mortar shells. No matter the often amusing interaction between Blutch, Chesterfield and their superiors or opponents, Cauvin and Lambil do not hide from their audience that war is a truly ugly affair, both unforgiving and unforgivable, without having to resort to blood and gore like certain superhero comic book writers are wont to do. It’s a genuine shame these aren’t being produced in English, as far as I know.

Out of the comics I bought, I’m picking just the one, the Giant-Size Hulk special, which wasn’t so special because of its two original stories by former writer Peter David and current Planet Hulk scribe Greg Pak, although both these tales had their moments and were helped by artists who were firing on all cilinders (Juan Santacruz and Aaron Lopresti, respectively). What made it my best buy this week was the reprint of PAD and Dale Keown’s “Hulk: The End” story, a one-shot published a few years ago which chronicled, as billed, the final Hulk story. Peter David was the very best choice for such a story due to his long attachment to the character, having written him for over a decade until internal politics forced him to leave the series (which is a true shame because those politics ended up fizzling out soon afterwards, depriving us from a wild ride towards the never-seen #500). Dale Keown was one of the most popular artists ever to grace the pages of the Hulk, but he had left many moons before to do some creator-owned stuff (which amounted to virtually nothing, so it’s a shame Keown left before doing #400, although on the plus side, that did give us an early glimpse of what Chris Bachalo would have in store for us soon after). Put them both together and you get a classic creative team for a blockbuster story, showing us a Bruce Banner struggling to live life as the last human on Earth after nuclear war broke out. Most men would’ve been driven mad by the sheer loneliness, not to mention being hunted down by the long-foretold inheritors of Earth, but the Hulk’s continued desire to walk the planet despite Banner’s protests is what makes for the most interesting conflict, despite the visual gross-out treat we get when the Hulk is torn to pieces time and again by mutates cockroaches, having to reassemble himself with his accelerated healing factor.

It’s a simple, straightforward story: after all these years of being trapped inside him, the Hulk truly hates “puny Banner”, while Banner will do anything to stop the Hulk from gaining control. I was unlucky enough to miss out on this psychodrama back when it was first published, so I am very grateful that Marvel reprinted it in an affordable format which throws us some extra bones in the form of the Planet Hulk tie-in and the charming little Champions vs. Hulk story. I may complain on and on about them in certain respects (you would not believe the disdain I feel for them having the temerity to write Peter Parker like an absolute dope, bowing to peer pressure as if he’s a skinny shy teenager all over again), but they do some nice things on regular occasion, and this is one of those nice things. Whether it makes up for an unending string of bad JMS-penned melodrama over in Amazing Spider-Man, is another matter entirely! “The Last Titan” is not only a can’t-miss for any Hulk fan, but might also be of note to anyone with even a passing interest in the character due to the impressive, evocative art (although Keown was much, much better when inked by Mark Farmer back in the day) and the chilling writing. After reading this though, it’s all the more disappointing, truth be told, that David’s return to the Hulk last year petered out so quickly, if you’ll pardon the horrible (if appropriate, all things considered) pun, because this story boldly stresses why PAD and the Hulk were a pretty perfect match. Much like the Hulk Flashback issue, this one-shot epic ends with a final page that is just perfect, making my spine tingle—and simply put, that’s some good comics writing right there, and well worth it for a mere five bucks!

Looking In On The Blueshirts

2006-06-20T20:32:00.000+02:00

When going to the toy store today to see whether the new Batman legos were available yet (only the Batwing/Joker combination so far, not cheap enough for my tastes so I’m holding off on it for now), I noticed that you could get 3 strips for the price of 2, so I splurged and spent 21 euros on 6 issues of “De Blauwbloezen”, which literally translates into English as “The Blueshirts”. It’s a nice deal, only 3 bucks 50 an issue, with each issue 46 pages long. Considering the quality in art and writing, coupled with high rereadibility, it becomes a very nice deal indeed. Best of all, it’s a series that focuses on two soldiers in the American Civil War, one of the eras in history that fascinates me the most. Their names are corporal Blutch and sergeant Chesterfield, the former a cowardly hero who constantly tries to desert while the latter is his blustering superior who gets them in trouble without fail in his eagerness to please.

Now, unlike American comics, European strips aren’t produced on a monthly basis, so there are only 49 issues of this particular series so far, despite the characters having been conceived nearly 40 (!) years ago. Also unlike many American comics, older issues are kept available to a new audience through consistent, quality reprints, enabling me to purchase #8, 15, 20, 27, 28 and 48 without a problem. On the bus drive home from work, I read #8, which was built around the use of hot air balloons during the Civil War. What’s really nice about these stories is that they are without a doubt all-ages fun, full of humour, action and adventure, but they have a dark edge to them because of the pretty gruesome setting. After all, the Civil War was one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history—which is why it bothers me to see Marvel referring to it with their current event mini, without actually doing anything remotely close to what happened in those days when a once proud union was torn to pieces. But I shall refrain from ranting about that (for now! :p)

Each and every issue of the series is a completely self-contained story, which often cleverly refers to previous tales without becoming burdened by its own continuity, much like the Simpsons manage. The central dynamic always revolves around Chesterfield’s zealous principles and Blutch’s unabashed lack of respect for his commanding officer. Despite their frequent violent (yet funny) clashes, deep down they are friends, who will always try to help the other out of a pickle, even if soon after the cycle of spiteful resentment starts all over again.

Most stories will take a historical fact and spin a fantastic little tale around it, like the hot air balloons to observe the enemy in this one, or the use of camels in the yankee army in another. Moreover, the stories are suitable for young and old, with different layers of comedy, ranging from the visually farcical to the verbally witty. Best of all, the seriousness of the war is contrasted starkly with the many moments of humour sprinkled throughout the series. It’s often rather jarring to witness a big panel full of death and pain, followed swiftly by another Blutch-inspired prank, but in a good way though. The fanciful yarns by plotter/scripter Cauvin are infused with a life of their own thanks to artist Lambil’s inspired work: the balance between realism (found in the use of anatomy for both humans and horses, and the background detail) and cartoony action (evidenced in the cover or in the panel below, for instance) is just about perfect.

I imagine this would be a delightful series to read with one’s children, if you’re prepared to explain some of the questions that might pop up (like simply “why are the blue ones fighting the grey ones”, come to think of it, not so easy to answer...) Blutch’s incessant attempts to flee the army, followed by Chesterfield’s unrelenting struggles to drag him back whenever the escape attempt is actually successful, are hilarious enough in their own right, but the use of existing generals who have to deal with their incompetent bravery is worth several cherries on top. Add in a supporting character in the form of cavalry lieutenant Stark who’s a bit weird in the head (all too eager to lead his men into a battle they won’t return from) and several fleshed out antagonists in the course of the series, and you get can’t-miss story after must-have saga.

This particular one about the “Flyers of the Cavalry” is actually one of the best ones I’ve read so far, and they’re always of a high standard. The concept is sufficiently madcap, while rooted firmly in reality, urging me to read up more on the Civil War yet again (which is made much easier by my darling girlfriend, who’s providing me with ample reading material to keep me happy :D) I laughed out loud several times, in public, which is always a boon when reading a funny-book. I’ve always enjoyed a mixture of dangerous adventure and slapstick comedy, which is something that Belgian, Dutch and French strips are rather adept at, if I do say so myself :)

Ten Reasons Why I Loved Wonder Woman #1

2006-06-18T20:30:00.000+02:00

I’d say they’re in no particular order, but they are actually in the order of the story pages themselves, so spoilers aplenty! Here they come:

1. Donna Troy’s new outfit looks, well, wonderful, like an amazonian battle armor instead of an old-fashioned go-go-America bathing suit. When she went “My name is Donna Troy...”, I added “...the most wondrous woman alive” à la Flash :)

2. Donna’s internal monologue sounds realistic and fulfills a proper function within the story, both as exposition and as motivation. Okay, sometimes it’s still as clumsy as ever, but that’s par for the course in comics not written by Alan Moore, I think ;)

3. Steve Trevor is being held hostage (and I guessed he’s be in this issue), boo-yah!

4. The Cheetah is fully human again and looking incredible in the Dodsons’ full-page splash. Simply fantastic, menace-filled eye candy.

5. A giant foot in a Wonder Woman comic can mean only one thing: GIGANTA! Double boo-yah!! (and her saying “Wonder Woman is BOUND to show herself” cracked me up, I’m betting it was meant to, as well, considering the bondage themes of old WW stories :p)

6. Enjoyable banter between Donna and Steve while Giganta is trying to stomp them. Fun!

7. Another scrumptious splash page when the “real” Wonder Woman shows up to stop the Cheetah from killing Donna. More for how delicious Barbara Minerva looks than for that bathing suit WW is sporting though ;) Go Dodsons!

8. Whoa, clash of the Wonder Women! With bloody results! Leading to yet another splash page which looks absolutely stunning, featuring three of Diana’s most classic foes. All we need now is an appearance of Egg Fu!

9. Allan Heinberg going all “gotcha!”, revealing that Steve Trevor is not at all what or who he seemed.

10. Which brings us to the final, brilliant splash page, featuring another old staple of Wonder Woman comics, back when they completely retooled her in the seventies: secret agent Diana Prince in a hot white jump-suit, triple boo-yah!!! Now all we need is I Ching and I’ll squeal like a girl, really I will!

I’m frankly amazed that I liked this issue so much, because it is a rather stock, rote plot, yet the art and writing are both bubbly fun, like a nice action movie, so I didn’t even mind that seven whole pages were splashes (5 full-page and 1 double-page at the beginning), because the Dodsons sell it with ease. Compliments must go to colorist Alex Sinclair as well, who did a lovely job on the entire issue, with the final page being literally outstanding. The only minor negatives are the relatively generic cover, and the very first page which has the camera focusing on different parts of Donna’s body before revealing her fully, that didn’t work for me. I’m also still left scratching my head why it’s bad for a warrior princess to kill her enemies though. Especially when said enemies are obviously murderers (and Diana’s done it from the very start of her previous series when she killed Phobos, or was it Deimos, in v2 #6, ages ago). I blame it on liberalism, heh.

And a final downside is that between Allan Heinberg and the Dodsons, I can’t possibly see this being a monthly. A bimonthly if we’re lucky. On the upside, I hope that it’ll mean a complete run of Dodson art instead of fill-ins by #3, like they’re doing with Checkmate and Blue Beetle. Terry and Rachel are a perfect match for Wonder Woman with their cheesecake art, but they’re a delight in all other areas as well, so I have absolutely no complaints there, while Heinberg seems to rather know what he’s doing, so I’ve got faith in future issues being just as enjoyable, if not timely. All in all though, I'm happy as pie. Mmmm, pie ;)

One Blah

2006-06-16T09:54:00.000+02:00

In the massacred version of U2's "One", Mary J Blige sings "Did I disappoint you, or leave a bad taste in your mouth?"

I can only answer that with a resounding "Yes!"

"One" being one of my favorite songs by U2, it galls me that Bono felt it necessary to see it butchered like this (he's definitely culpable since he doesn't even properly sound like himself in it, talk about phoning it in).

In my imagination, Scott Summers and Cocoon-Woman had *this* yucky version playing at their sham of a wedding. Ah, being mean on a weblog and involve comics somehow, for no reason other than I can. I love it :)

Civil War Inanity

2006-06-13T07:46:00.000+02:00

Just a quick thought on the arguments people are having about Marvel's Civil War, in particular about what kicked it off, the supposed "criminal negligence" of the New Warriors. I read the following comment somewhere:

"When you provoke a fight in a populated area that results in collateral damage, yeah, you better answer for your actions."

Why, I wonder, is this person reading superhero comics? The very concept is based around vigilantism, about provoking fights, about destroying property. Grab any given Marvel back issue, be it one written by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, David Michelinie, Roger Stern, John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Fabian Nicieza, Peter David, Brian Michael Bendis or Mark Millar (just trying to cover a whole chunk of history here, there's dozens more, naturally), and you'll see property being destroyed and, yes, civilians endangered.

While it always bugged me that the X-Men were particularly callous when Claremont wrote them, not giving a hand after destroying a town after a vicious fight with the Juggernaut, for instance, there are apparently a great deal of people out there, including Marvel's own writers, who cannot see that violence and destruction is one of the solid tropes of the genre.

By the above logic, every single hero should be incarcerated, even Captain America (an icon) and Thor (a god!). When Spider-Man engaged Doctor Octopus in battle and indirectly caused George Stacy's death by dodging Ock's blows, did that make him criminally negligent?

I understand that the New Warriors were doing their reality show bit, but come on, you've got established villains, you've got seasoned heroes, why can't they do what they've been doing since Acts Of Vengeance and kick some supervillain butt? What's suddenly different, other than the typical Millar plot-hammering?

Nitro is the one who decided to blow up Stamford. He's the actual criminal. Speedball and the others are just superheroes doing what they always do: fight, and fight, and fight (and actually save lives in the process, imagine that).

On a world where Washington DC was obliterated by Kang the Conqueror, not a dream, not a hoax, it was gone, destroyed, all the citizens dead, it seems weak that this Stamford tragedy is the so-called tipping point to suddenly go after all superheroes and hate their guts. You'd think the logical response would be going after the super-powered criminals and then eliminate them, something the heroes have always been loath to do. That is a moral dilemma, because either the heroes stop the government from killing villains left and right but by doing so allow murderers to make more victims, or they help them and become accessories to murder themselves.

Right now we get a meek retread of the selfsame Super Power Registration Act that was doled out back in the late 80s during the very Acts Of Vengeance storyline that originated the New Warriors. If there were any inkling that the creators at Marvel are aware of their own past stories, and would use them as a foundation for the current storyline, that'd be something, at least. But all I'm sensing is a bunch of amateurs trying to be politically relevant, being supported by either a great deal of newbie fanboys who don't know much about Marvel before Quesada came along, or possibly old-timers who have become disdainful of the genre and like seeing it shaken up and tossed about.

I just find it hard to fathom that anyone who's enjoyed Marvel for what it originally stood for, i.e. superhero punching meets high (melo)drama, telling a compelling story in the process that made you care about not just the heroes but the villains as well (even more so, in some ways, because antagonistsdo make a character), would be a fan of the recurring deconstruction of the core elements, trying to apply "real life" to situations that are meant to be fantastic.

And if you think I'm ranting now, while they're just playing around with revealing identities and some same-old persecuting of the good guys (when applying that same "real life", obviously registering is the only decent thing to do though, when you've got the power to blow people to atoms by sneezing, so to speak, so the entire argument is moot anyway), just wait until they start mucking about with Spider-Man's marriage. AGAIN.

Hmm, using a weblog for ranting, I should do it more :p

Rapid Fire Reviews #2 - Releases since May 24th

2006-06-11T07:07:00.000+02:00

It’s been a while since I’ve done any reviews, so I’ll randomly pick issues I’ve bought and read since the last time I did this.

While FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #9 mainly focused on the 2211 characters (last and only seen in the Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man special, one I haven’t yet read, nor knew of until the appearance of Hobgoblin 2211), I thought it was largely entertaining, in no small part due to Wieringo’s smooth, fun pencils. It’s nothing to write home about, but at least I didn’t feel like I wasted my money as I did with the Masks two-parter in #6-7. Lots of cute bits, which is par for the course with Peter David, but I appreciate how solidly set in the Marvel Universe his stories are. This title is painfully slow in gathering steam though, which is a bit of a let-down when one considers it combines my two favorite Peters in comics (Parker and David), not to mention that some of my favorite Spidey stories from the days of old were penned by PAD. This was pretty good, but could and should still be better. Still, he's bringing back Mysterio soon, I'm all thrilled about that. Because I'm a sucker, you see ;)

I haven’t yet read INCREDIBLE HULK #95, the final part of the first arc of the Planet Hulk saga, but I just wanted to mention that I simply adore the cover where gladiator-Hulk and the Savage Surfer go at it. Simply smashing, if you pardon the particularly lame pun :) I flipped through it though and I actually rather like the exaggerated art. Seeing a few pages of Marshall Rogers penciling the Surfer is always a treat as well. One of the rare cases where I feel I already got my 3 bucks’ worth just for the cover alone. I do have to wonder whether anyone at Marvel realizes they've exiled the Hulk before, and that it was Doctor Strange who was responsible for it (the same Doctor Strange who got all miffed about the very notion this time around, because Bendis wrote him like a stupid mook in the Illuminati one-shot, bah). Mmm, I liked those exiled Hulk stories, pretty Sal Buscema and Mike Mignola (!) art with wonderful finishes by Gerry Talaoc. Those were the days, but then along came Byrne... (memory lane in comics is one hell of a walk!) Anyway...

When I reviewed the opening chapter of Brubaker’s BOOKS OF DOOM, lo these many moons ago, I was hoping there’d be some interesting twists, rather than just a straight retelling of Lee and Kirby’s original origin tale from the second FF annual, only stretched over 6 monthly issues instead of just the one-shot they created. Even though in the end this added nothing to the mythos, it was at least respectful of the source material, I thought, and crafted well enough. The highlight is Pablo Raimondi’s art, which was great throughout, with some particularly beautiful pages in this final issue (one of my favorites is when Doom dons his awesome cloak for the very first time after taking it off Latveria’s monarch, whom he had just killed with his not-so-bare hands). Seeing that silly little crown on his armored head in the next scene made me laugh out loud though, can’t imagine that was the intended effect. In any case, between Paolo Rivera’s neat-looking covers and the inside art, I can’t complain too much, but for 18 bucks I would’ve liked some more meat. I’m sure it’ll be a nice-looking trade paperback though, worth picking up if you’re craving yourself some Doom, depending on your knowledge of him.

IRON MAN: THE INEVITABLE (which in Tony Stark's case could refer to taxes just as well, heh) was a mini-series that I think got put on the schedule simply because Iron Man fans weren’t getting to see his own ongoing, slow as molasses (and highly overrated) as Avi Granov was, so this was a way to tide them over. Over the course of these past six issues, Joe Casey mucked about with a new Spymaster and an updated Ghost, while bringing back the Living Laser (only to apparently remove him from the scene again at the end, bah), so by today’s standards, it was pretty packed with classic villainy. Interestingly, Frazer Irving provided the art, which is very sparse, which somehow works for this story. You’d expect his esoteric, self-colored work to be more suitable for a spookier environment (as was the case on Seven Soldiers: Klarion), while the highly technological world of Tony Stark asks for more detail, but for me it was highly pleasing to look at. I did feel a certain disconnect, while reading it in monthly instalments, but I’m looking forward to rereading it as a whole, so I’m mildly recommending it, at least for Iron Man fans (of which there might not be many left, I’m figuring...)

Renato Guedes is another one of those self-coloring artists, whose latest work in ACTION COMICS #839 I didn’t like as much as I had hoped. I’ve been more fond of Pete Woods’s work on other parts of this “Up, Up, And Away!” arc. That is not to say I disliked it, because there were several pages which were simply awe-inspiring, but a bunch of others seemed “off” somehow, a bit unfinished in the faces sometimes, I’m not quite sure how to define it. I was particularly happy though with the splash page where Superman looms over the gathered villains and the page where he hovers over Metropolis. Both are inspiring images with quality coloring, so they deserve a mention. Writing-wise, I was dismayed to see Clark returning to the old “faking weakness to go play Superman” routine, but I dare hope that Busiek and Johns are planning for a new twist with Perry finally looking into this strange behavior after a year of Clark being a class act. Luthor’s artefact/weapon isn’t setting my imagination on fire either, but maybe the next chapter will change that. Compared to the kick-off point, this was pretty middling.

Even though “Parental Guidance” is in the middle of the arc as well, things are coming to a nice boil over in the pages of RUNAWAYS #16, with the teen drama escalating (pleasantly so!) and the machinations of the bad guys spelling certain doom for our young heroes (trying to stay vague here so I don’t spoil anything for Sequoia, whose last issue was #8 or so, I think, so she has to catch up as soon as she gets here!) The dialogue is as sparkling as ever and of course the art by Alphona, Yeung and Strain remains unique and compelling thanks to its expressive nature and unusual color palette. It’s a crying shame not more people are reading this, but I’m happy Marvel’s seen fit to already give us 34 issues with hopefully many more to come. The only disappointment is the cover, because I loved Jo Chen’s work and even though I’m generally a fan of Marcos Martin, this just doesn’t really work for the Runaways. When this series was first announced, 3 or 4 years ago now, I scoffed at the notion of a book about kids of supervillains, but after trying out the first issue, I rapidly became a fan of its realistic depiction of super-powered youngsters who are trying to deal with the dangerous, exciting situations they find themselves embroiled in. Pretty much excellent.

Sadly, I cannot say the same for JSA #86, the penultimate issue of the current series. Upon first hearing about Paul Levitz writing a Gentleman Ghost arc, penciled by both Rags Morales and Luke Ross, I was excited. I don’t know if it’s the Ordway guest art that made the weaknesses stand out (I usually like his work though) but this issue felt decidedly weak. Usually any story featuring my favorite oddball DC villain will automatically get a pass, so when I feel let down by said story, something’s seriously amiss. It comes across as the decidedly glorified fill-in story it is, only stretched over five issues instead of the usual one. I’m also less than appreciative of DC’s tendency to ignore its own (recent!) continuity. Geoff Johns, aided and abetted by James Robinson, came up with an origin for Gentleman Jim Craddock’s ghostly existence only a few years ago, which ties him closely to Carter Hall, the once and future Hawkman. My knowledge of that story, which I rather liked, seriously hampers my enjoyment here, Superboy punches be damned. All in all, this series is hobbling to a sad demise, but it won’t stop me from picking up the retitled and renumbered JSA ongoing in a few months. So I guess DC still wins ;)

Speaking of continuity, the new SPECTRE mini-series by Will Pfeifer and Cliff Chiang doesn’t appear to adhere to it either, which irks me to no end, despite the really nice art. Over in the pages of Infinite Crisis, it was clearly shown that the Spectre was already merged with Crispus Allen (and still as hell-bent on unholy vengeance as he ever was). In this opening chapter, he instead gives Allen an offer to think about it for a year, acting all calm and sedate. Editor Matt Idelson should be ashamed of himself for not coordinating this better just so it can fit in the “One Year Later” mold (which isn’t even shown on the cover, so I don’t see why they couldn’t just run with it as set up in IC). This feels painfully generic, with writer and editor alike evidently not having a clear grasp of the character, as there is no reason given for why the Spectre would need or want Allen as a host at all (on the contrary, both recent and older stories have shown the Spectre preferring to be hostless) or why he would lay low for an entire year just so the dead cop can make his long-delayed decision. The art is the redeeming element, as Chiang is highly talented, although once again I’m left wondering why on earth the Wrath of God would wear green boy-shorts. I can dig the cloak and gloves, but the shorts are just silly. Not to mention the goatee! Although I guess it did get established during Ostrander's run that the Spectre takes the appearance (somewhat) of his host body. But still!

I’ve got quite a few more to do, so I’ll just put these up already and tackle the rest later today (hopefully, with me you never know :p)

Day Of The Doctor!

2006-06-10T21:48:00.000+02:00

I just finished watching the concluding chapter of a pretty darn fun Doctor Who two-parter and felt like quickly reminding the world at large why this is a show worth watching (other than nostalgia). Even though David Tennant and Billie Piper overact and chew the scenery like a pair of starving maniacs in this particular epic, their performances are highly entertaining taken in the context of the Doctor’s madcap approach to life, love and the universe. Moreover, it is exactly because of their outrageous glee throughout their space- and time-hopping that the quiet scenes where they are faced with potentially losing one another become so distinctly poignant. These scenes are immeasurably helped by the musical score, which trickles down from its bombastic barrage of sound and fury during the climactic moments to a subtle, contemplative, mournful violin piece when appropriate, without any jarring shifts at all.

In this particular tale, the Doctor and Rose become trapped on a small planet that could not possibly be where it is (on the event horizon of a black hole), harbouring a secret that could threaten the universe entire if uncovered. Naturally, the select group of humans settled here (working for Torchwood, this season’s returning motif à la last year’s “Bad Wolf”—watch for the spin-off soon, fandom!) are unwittingly close to freeing none other than the Beast (not Kelsey Grammer) from the pit he’s been chained in “since before time itself”. It’s a high-octane merger of sci-fi and dark fantasy, with some terrific special effects, smattered profusely with the Doctor’s musings about the nature of humanity and why he loves us all. I’m not kidding :p

The various characters inhabiting the so-called “impossible planet” may be a bunch of ciphers and caricatures, but they provide both the Doctor and Rose ample fodder to realise what they mean to one another, even if the words “I love you” are never uttered once. They come close several times and their grief is palpable when they think they (will) have lost the other, but each deals with said grief in their own way. The Doctor, after having lost so many, chooses for quiet acceptance of whatever fate awaits him, while Rose flips out, keeping her eye on the prize in the end though and saving the cosmos from damnation. I don’t know how they manage to make what technically is a stock, pedestrian plot so compelling, but they do, they really do.

Of course, I must admit that back in the day I found Buffy the Vampire Slayer a thrilling show, the first several seasons at least, and looking back on it I mainly get a bad taste in my mouth, so perhaps this current series of Doctor Who is destined to become just as reviled by me down the road. Right now though, I genuinely look forward to Saturday nights for a new adventure, anticipating the thrill of seeing a classic villain updated for the new millennium (bring back the Master, dammit!) or finding out in what period of history the Tardis has landed this time around. That’s one of the most appealing aspects of the Doctor Who series: virtually anything is possible, and any genre can be explored, giving it a leg up on most shows, which are usually stuck in the genre they started out with. In recent memory only Farscape has given me the same kind of unexpected thrills coupled with oddball yet strong acting as Doctor Who has.

Which makes me want to start rewatching Farscape again so very badly, but I shall have to wait until the love of my life makes her glorious return so we can watch the series together. And we’ve got Battlestar Galactica to watch as well, sheesh, lots of sci-fi awaiting us, we’ll have to cleanse the palate with some comedy, some medical drama, some spooky murder mysteries and some romantic movies as well then. Mmm, July, I cannot wait for thee!

And with that, I take my leave for the night, still not having fulfilled the promise of an X3 review. Don’t I suck? :)

Quick thought on violence in comics

2006-06-07T07:50:00.000+02:00

I've been complaining on a regular basis about the increased gore that writers like Geoff Johns and Judd Winick (and Charlie Huston on Moon Knight) use in their comics. While flipping through some old Superman comics, I noticed that George Peréz didn't shy away from it either back when he did a fairly short-lived stint on Action Comics (his appreciation of bloodiness reaches a boiling point in the never-finished, twice-canceled Crimson Plague series starring DiNA: Simmons--yes, she's really called that!)

In the opening scene of "My Lady Maxima!", published 17 years ago (my, how time flies!) this new arrival to the Superman universe shows she can blow a man away in her very own way:

Note, however, that unlike the recent dismembering and brain-popping in Infinite Crisis and 52, we're left more with the clear impression of gore rather than the exact depiction of it. It's obvious what happens, but it's not as detailedly sick as the images we are presented with these days. Both art and coloring hide as much as they show. It could be argued that comics are "growing up" but I feel like it's more of an adolescent downslide, that phase were kids get all giddy about doing gross stuff.

Me, I definitely prefer the example above, obviously. It says something about DC at the time though that Maxima actually got to be part of the Justice League! (although I admit that I don't remember whether she was in her own mind at the time of this story, but even so...)

As an aside, those few Perez-drawn (and plotted!), Brett Breeding-finished issues of Action (including Annual #2) were awesome to behold. Such tight art, it deserves a post all of its own on a later date.

Story Time!

2006-06-03T07:25:00.000+02:00

As can be evidenced from the reviews down below, X3 made quite the impression on my sweetheart, so much so that she broke through the block and wrote what I perceive to be an excellently haunting story. Disclaimers by Sequoia first, then read onwards...

* * * * *

Marvel characters belong to Marvel and no money is being made. X3 continuity. While watching the film, I realized there were two ways to view Jean Grey given her behavior as a child and the emergence of an alter - either the child was always a bitchy little psycho and the Jean persona was nothing more than a neutered Phoenix; or some traumatic event had occured during the manifesting of her powers, giving rise to the attitude and laying groundwork for a split. I prefer the latter because I like my Jean and Phoenix well shaken, not limply stirred and then whined about when they can’t think of anything to do with Jean besides "Phoenix" stories. The Phoenix is an integral part of her personality, even before it was given a name, and to strip it away is as as damaging to the character as stripping away the The Jean.

I drew on personal life experiences while writing this, downplaying some events and exaggerating others. It was quite cathartic and I’m glad I wrote it. I would give it an adult theme warning, but, well, that seems wrong, since the character involved is not yet an adult but must deal with those "themes", like so many of us, and there is never a warning.

* * * * *

AND SHE WAS

Tim Harper, with his blond curls and easy smile, his Track medals and his Scouting badges, lives three streets over and one down. The Harper’s pristine white house has blue shutters and a sanguine cataract of roses that spill upward onto the porch roof and lay like a cat in the sun.

Tim is popular and funny and smells of sweet mint tea. He has been going with Sara since homecoming and tells all his friends he loves her. Sara wears his ring around her neck and tapes photographs of them at the lake on her mirror and in her locker, next to Jackson Browne. She tells her friends that at NYU next year, she’ll date other boys.

Tim invites Jean along when he and Sara watch videos on his family’s 20-inch television, and Mrs. Harper feeds them warm, crusty bread slathered with butter and honey that melts in little rivers on their hands. Jean tells her own mother, who is a nurse and too tired to bake except on birthdays, about the bread; and Elaine stops folding towels and says the next time the hospital gives her a day off they’ll bake, just the two of them. Jean takes Mastering The Art of French Cooking Volume 2 out of the library until they’ll no longer let her; but that’s all right because the hospital won’t let Elaine have a day either.

Tim stays for dinner once a week and talks to their father about politics and the Challenger. He mows their lawn, cuts pictures of horses from magazines for her wall and comes to her dance recitals. So when he says, ‘Jeanie, come on, I want to show you something,’ she goes.

It’s the last day of summer vacation and she intends to spend it outside, even with the sun this hot and high, and Annie visiting her grandparents in Poughkeepsie. Hours on the swings, striving for height, for the buckling of the chains and the dizzying rush of freefall, have made her legs sore and wobbly, her hair a tangled mess at the nape of her neck. She leaves her sandals by the swings and holds her sundress above her knees, wading into the stream that cuts through the park, picking her way over the rocks and chasing crayfish with her toes.

The field the neighborhood kids use for soccer and softball is littered with buttercups and dandelions and crumpled brown lunch bags. Tim waits on the other side, where the stream curves into the wood that stands between the park and the Davidson’s house, and leads her into the trees where the filtered sunlight dapples shadows on their skin and twigs snap beneath their feet.

What Tim wants her to see is a fat tree with plum colored leaves, a hundred yards from the field. He picks up a stick and pokes something amid the exposed roots. ‘It must have fallen out of the nest,’ he says, and Jean kneels beside him. It is a sparrow, one wing twisted at an unnatural angle.

Jean strokes the trembling body with one finger, says, ‘I’ll bring it home.’ Tim is smiling when she looks up, a peculiar, detached smile that makes her cross when she feels the thrumming of the tiny heart against her thumb. She’ll run home for a shoebox. A jar lid filled with water and a bed of grass. ‘My mom will know what to do.’

He blocks her way when she stands. She’s very cross now, tension coiling in her stomach. ‘Stop it, Tim.’

‘I want to show you something,’ he says again, and unzips his pants. Still smiling. She tries to run past him and he catches her around the waist. Slams her into the ground so hard she couldn’t draw air enough to scream even if his hand weren’t tight against her mouth.

‘Shhh...shhh,’ he whispers, against her ear, making it wet with his breath, and she retches, her body vibrating like the sparrow. His other hand is toying with the strap on her sundress. He lets it drift on top of the cloth, touching her small, budding breast. She remembers the newspaper headlines her father doesn’t want her to see: Local Man Charged With Indecent Act.

‘Don’t be scared,’ Tim says, his voice quiet and gentle, and she stares at him, stiffening. ‘I like you, Jean. I don’t want you to be scared.’

Jean nods and he takes his hand from her mouth. She can breathe now, shallow and ragged, her whole face tingling. The trees are rocking from side to side, rustling purple leaves shot through with gold, and none of this seems real. None of this makes sense. Tim wouldn’t do this to her or to Sara. She thinks of Sara, beautiful, self-assured Sara, and Tim looks startled. ‘Sara doesn’t have to know,’ he says. He rubs his penis against her leg and she jerks away. ‘She wouldn’t understand.’

He is still holding her down, his hand heavy on her breast, and when she meets his eyes she knows he is a liar, that her fear is what he wants most. She tries to sit up and something inside her shifts instead, pulling softly at the base of her skull, fiery tendrils of electricity that flicker and weave through her head to pool in her temples. Tim presses one finger to her lips. His own lips make the shape ‘no one will understand’ but what she hears is ‘no one will believe you’.

Jean bites down on the finger and kicks between his legs, her toes smashing into the alien heat of his penis; and he howls and rocks back, radiating waves of black she sees behind her eyes. She half-runs, half-falls towards the water and Tim is right behind her, his hand crushing her wrist, pain pulsing up her arm, across her chest, as he pushes her down.

She pushes back against him, tearing at his teeshirt and neck with her nails. His fingers are under her dress, yanking her underwear aside, shoving into her body.

It is so bewildering that for a moment Jean cannot think or breathe or be. He drives his fingers deeper, deeper, twisting inside; she digs her heels into the dirt and sobs, trying to dislodge his weight and escape his hand and the tearing pain. Hot urine soaks her underwear and his fingers, the dirt beneath them.

And then he stops, shuddering, and Jean realizes he has been touching himself. He wipes his hands on his teeshirt, smearing her blood and his semen on the cotton. She feels empty, ransacked. Humiliated.

‘I’m sorry,’ Tim says as he zips up his pants and kneels beside her, ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ His voice is gentle, like before, but she can almost smell the lies now, blistering the air.

Jean’s heart is beating too fast, everything is shimmering, slipping. She pulls her sundress down over her knees, the pretty yellow fabric torn and dirtied, blood sticky on her thighs. ‘I want to go home,’ she says, and he shushes her, tries to smooth her hair, says they need to clean her up. ‘I want to go home,’ she insists, and stumbles to her feet.

‘Not yet,’ he says calmly. ‘You can’t tell anyone about this, Jeanie. They wouldn’t understand. Your sister - ’

‘I want to go home!’ Jean shrieks, desperate for her mother. Tim is telling her to shut up bitchshutupbitch without moving his mouth. ‘I want to go -’

He grabs her throat, cutting off her voice. She gags, gasping noiselessly for air, not strong enough to pry his hateful fingers from her neck. She cannot keep her eyes open. Cannot move her body. Cannot think of anything but the immense darkness that has seeped into every piece of her. And yet -

There is a roaring inside, a mad burning that fills her lungs, her heart, her head, as Tim lays her down beside the stream. He folds her hands across her unmoving chest, and now it is the sour taste of his fear, and not her own, that washes through her. Pinwheels of light spiral wildly and burst like firecrackers, illuminating the dark, her whole being churning, restless, seeking.

Her eyes are open, staring at the sun. Oxygen fills her lungs. She stretches out her arms by her sides, palms flat against the shaking earth, the trees groaning as they bend towards her. Water and stones, leaves and branches, swirl around them. Tim opens his mouth to say something, but no sound comes out. And then he’s swirling too, faster and faster, until there is nothing left.

+ + +

When Jean opens her eyes again, the sky is marbled pink and orange and red. She lies perfectly still and listens to her heartbeat. Except for the pain in her throat, her wrist, between her legs, she is numb. All blunt edges.

The sparrow with the broken wing is dead, its tiny skull caved in. She buries it in the plummy leaves and sits by the makeshift grave until the sun has set. She walks back through the field, into the park, and realizes she is moving above the grass, the tip of each blade brushing against the soles of her feet. Streetlamps and porch lights pulse and go out as she passes.

Inside her own house there is a ten dollar bill and instructions to order pizza taped to the refrigerator. John has a lecture; Elaine is working a double shift so she can see her girls off in the morning. The 6th and the 12th grades are important, she says. You’re nearly finished.

Upstairs she can hear the stereo hitching, Don McLean grieving for Van Gogh in fragmented bursts. Jean knocks on the bedroom door and rests her forehead on the wood, pitching into Sara when it opens, her sister’s surprise becoming a strange wail when she sees the bruises on Jean’s neck and wrist, the stains on her dress.

‘Who did this?’ Sara keeps saying. ‘Who did this?’ Her thoughts are splashing against Jean’s own, a sick panic edged with violence; and Jean doesn’t know how to say it, where the words are, so she splashes back, filling Sara with a kaleidoscope of Tim and his fingers, dead birds and the delirium in her head.

Sara throws up all over the floor.

+ + +

They stand together, fingers entwined, papers and books tumbling against the ceiling. Sara decides that no one can know about Tim. This sudden, eerie ability cannot be hidden. If the police, the hospital, see what Jean can do, if they know about the assault, they will assume the rest when Tim does not come home. Mutants are a rare and dangerous anomoly, discussed in apprehensive tones even when they simply run faster or learn languages more quickly than they should. Their parents will feel enough devastation without knowing this, too.

Sara draws a bath, the water bubbling up and over the side; but Jean herself is pliable and worn, allowing Sara to help her wash until she can no longer smell him on her skin. Sara combs her wet hair and wraps her in one of their mother’s nightshirts, curling around her on the bed until Jean’s breathing steadies, papers gliding feather-like to the floor.

Sara makes sure the bathroom and bedroom are clean and straightened. Takes her sister’s ruined clothes and pushes them to the bottom of Mr. Cole’s garbage can next door. And sits quietly, brittle with guilt, at the kitchen table, waiting for her parents and the Harpers’ inevitable calls.

+ + +

In the days that follow, Sara discovers she is an excellent liar.

I am so sorry, Mrs. Harper, Mr. Harper. I didn’t see Tim yesterday. There was a party in the city but -

Yes, Officer, in Central Park. He must have changed his mind and left the flyer -

No, Officer, I didn’t want to go. He said he found a ride but it’s such a long way -

No, Mrs. Harper, I don’t know who with.

The community is sympathetic to her situation. She is a volunteer at the church and the soup kitchen, a good student. Her distress is palpable. Her teachers send her schoolwork home to her and she is interviewed by the local news. And yet, when the police announce they have all they need and the Harpers go with them, Sara’s relief is haunted by the certainty that it is due more to Jean’s will than her own deception.

Jean herself has become both fragile and imperious, burning with a slow, cold anger. When their parents mourn for the sudden loss of their loquacious, vibrant daughter, for her warmth and compassion, Jean explains in terse, measured tones that there is too much, she must hold herself close. She needs to be still inside or she will unravel.

Sara watches their parents move in a disconcerting fugue, intellectual and concerned, but unable to see.

+ + +

Jean sits three feet above the bed, her hair curling down in copper waves. She folds her hands across her chest and listens to her heart. Fireflies flicker behind her eyes. ‘They have a school,’ she says. She knew they were coming an hour before the doorbell, knew they were different. One hums bright inside her head, the other lays placid and dark.

Sara says, ‘Will you go?’

Jean gives her sister a half-smile, quick and curious, but does not answer.

She is listening.

Believe It Or Not: Sequoia Reviews X3 Again! (Triple Whoo!)

2006-05-30T18:41:00.000+02:00

As if her previous post wasn't detailed enough, Sequoia has another crack at her thoughts on the latest X-Men movie. My glee knows absolutely no bounds, although it sure puts me in the less than enviable position of somehow measuring up even the tiniest bit to her when I finally come around to reviewing the movie myself ;) Anyhoo, read on once more...

* * * * *

I’ve now seen X-Men: The Last Stand three times, twice by myself and once with my parents. The movie does improve with repeated viewings, and since my mother expressed interest in seeing it again, I may go for a fourth time in several weeks, and would like to make a date of it with Peter as well. Even though he thinks I’m crazy. [Albeit in the cutest way imaginable! --Peter]

Perhaps I should amend my statement - some things about the movie improve with repeat viewings. Quite a few. Almost all of my minor annoyances and quibbles have disappeared, but the most serious, core problems have solidified. Before I go into my thoughts, I’d like to give an idea of how my parents reacted to it, since unlike myself they are not crazy, obsessive X-Men fans, and are coming into it like most of the general public. They’ve seen the first two movies on dvd but didn’t remember much about them, and neither has read a single issue, seen the cartoons, etc. They know who Wolverine, Magneto, Xavier, Storm, Phoenix, and Cyclops are if you show them a picture of the actor in costume, but are fuzzy on names and powers.

My father:

1. Enjoyed it mainly for the action scenes, particularly when things blew up, and the bridge.

2. Thought Halle Berry was hot, but that she was in the movie too much.

3. Wanted to know how "the nurse" knew it was Charles in the end scene, resulting in a lesson concerning Charles’ many girlfriends, and Why Moira Rocks.

4. Thought "Mirage" (Mystique) was interesting, and more of a villain than Magneto or Phoenix.

5. Thought Pyro was the most evil character of all.

6. Loved Beast and thought Angel was dumb.

7. Wanted to know the comics history between Charles & Erik but took issue with my description of Charles living in the lap of hippie luxury. I remain steadfast - Charles was a hippie, not a ferret-owning ‘I hate my filthy hippie owner’ type of hippie, à la The Onion, but a hippie nonetheless, and obscenely wealthy.

8. During the movie, at the Kitty/Leech moment, when Leech says her powers won’t work around him, my dad leans over and points out that neither will Juggernaut’s. I’d forgotten that in the movie, Juggernaut is a mutant and had been confused by this scene, assuming that maybe that wall was super hard? Thanks, Dad =D

9. Wanted to know if Jean was going to come back again, and how many times she had died/why she had died in the comics, but I’d had a couple glasses of wine and really got on a roll, resulting in his exclaiming, "I didn’t do it!" and fleeing upstairs when I got to the travesty known as X-Factor.

10. Thought there should have been more Magneto and Phoenix scenes, after she killed Xavier.

My mother:

1. Enjoyed it mainly for the Logan/Jean romance. She loves Hugh Jackman, especially as Wolverine, thinks Famke Janssen is one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, and thinks they have fantastic chemistry together.

2. Was "relieved" when Cyclops died early on - her exact words were, "Oh, thank God, I’m so relieved he died so soon." She’s very mean - she does a cruelly hilarious imitation of Scott’s crying at the end of X2, and had several comments about his "whining and sniveling" in this movie. She was very surprised when I explained to her what Scott was like in the comics way back when, and aghast at the X-Factor developments. But is still a steadfast Logan/Jean ‘shipper.

3. Didn’t think Young Jean was a bitchy little psycho, just that she was acting quite like many twelve year olds. I don’t think the two ideas are mutually exclusive.

4. Felt very strongly that Charles had done the right thing in placing the psychic blocks in Jean’s mind because he was "doing what he had to do protect a child from herself", that Jean was "like his daughter", and she would have done the same thing to me. We argued for a bit and wound up agreeing that the blocks themselves were the correct thing to do, and that Xavier’s lack of ethics in the situation lies with his not slowly releasing them one at a time and helping her learn to control all her powers, which would have also kept her personality integrated. But then, while Charles is ethical, he's always made his own ethics.

5. Wanted much more of Charles, Erik, and Jean. She didn’t care for the "Cure" storyline very much at all.

6. Loved Beast in action, hated him in his suit and tie. Was annoyed that "he had Frasier’s voice." [I loved both the suit and tie, more than his X-Men jacket, and his voice, the perfect type of animated erudition that works so well for Beast :)]

7. Hated Angel - she thought he was horribly ugly, a terrible actor, and a distraction from the rest of the film. I wholeheartedly agree.

8. Loved Kitty Pryde, especially in her scene with Juggernaut. Thought Bobby was boring and Pyro was very creepy and soulless.

9. Thought it felt "choppy", but she wasn’t sure what was missing except for a scene with Phoenix and Magneto after the house scene.

10. Hated it when Wolverine pushed Storm up against the door, because she said all she could think of was Halle Berry getting beaten up by her boyfriend and it made her mad at Logan.

11. Wanted to know everything I could tell her about Jean, Logan, Charles, and Erik in the comics.

12. Understood perfectly that in the last major scene, the Jean persona is allowing Logan to get closer, while the Phoenix persona is pushing him away, and that it was a suicide, not "Wolverine being more powerful than Phoenix" as many internet fanboys seem to think.

As for me... I maintain that the movie’s single biggest flaw is the lack of something with Jean and Erik immediately following Charles’ death. If people who have never read a comic and have barely a clue who these characters are, outside of what they’ve been shown so far in the film, think it’s obvious that something is missing, and it’s a monstrous and momentous issue that needs to be dealt with, the movie screwed up big time.

With each viewing, I’ve also been able to see a lot more detail. My favorite thing to do is to examine their facial expressions very closely. The first time I was too distracted by the action/plot unfolding, and now I feel like I can focus on the characterization. Ian, Patrick, Famke, and Hugh all do a splendid job, and I know I’m terribly biased, but I think Famke is just spectacular during some of her scenes, even when she’s not speaking. [I don't think I share your bias but agree completely, even after only the one viewing. Crazy, I know! =D] She’s doing most of her acting with her eyes - you can see the play of Jean and Phoenix in her mind. The house and the lab scenes are the standouts, but even at the end, when Magneto tells Juggernaut to kill the boy, and they switch to her face... the first time I saw it I thought she was simply observing. But the second time I noticed that she looks slightly trembly, teary. I liked that very much, that she was Jean at that moment, and was torn up inside about a child being killed, but wasn’t going to stop it because she was so shattered herself, and there was no going back from what she’d done.

The repeated viewings also helped me see and understand the Phoenix better, and to enjoy the movie’s interpretation. For some reason, the first time, it seemed like "Jean" wasn’t in the movie at all except for the few moments in the lab and at the very end, only Phoenix. But when I looked at it as being Jean except when her eyes went black and she became all veiny - which I wasn’t looking forward to, shades of Dark Willow [gag!], but found absolutely terrifying and better than any firebird would have looked onscreen - it really helped me to love it. It was Jean who wanted Logan in the lab, it was Jean who fought with Xavier: but it was Phoenix who took over and took it too far, killing him (and Scott). It was Phoenix who didn’t want to control it, Jean who followed Magneto with an air of shell-shocked despair. Jean who wanted nothing more than to die herself, and Phoenix who wanted to consume the world.

I don’t like a clear cut line in behavior between "Jean" and "Phoenix". I like some complexity and blurring of which is which, and since they are the same person, that should happen quite frequently.

My favorite scene remains the second at the Grey house... everyone and everything is just spectacular and perfect, from start to finish. I love the physical battle with Wolverine, Juggernaut, Storm, and Callisto while a much more serious psychic battle also rages. I love Charles’ palpable desperation for Erik to just shut up because Charles is the only one who truly knows what Phoenix is capable of... that if she is fully unleashed, ideals and wars and weapons mean absolutely nothing. I love Erik’s helplessness and fear for his dear, respected friend, and Jean’s own anger at Charles and hatred of herself giving in to the siren call of the Phoenix, which promises peace but causes only deeper agony.

And I cried this last time, at the end... Charles’ smile and last words to Jean, to his daughter. The way Erik picked himself up when it was over, the complexity of emotions on his face and in his eyes, the way he touched and spoke to Jean with such care, who was so absolutely hollow and broken herself. ‘My dear, come with me.’ Ian McKellen is one of our finest actors of the last century.

I think it would be one of the most enjoyable movies ever if the alleged Magneto prequel is made with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, using that miraculous fountain of youth software - and why not use it on Famke Janssen as well, show us some of these "private sessions" and perhaps other things we don’t know about the history of Erik, Charles and Jean in this universe. Erik "liked this one" - I doubt that was their last interaction. And let’s have Moira involved as well! [And Beast, don't forget Beast, what with him being one of the original X-Men and all!]

So... besides the "missing" scene, and Young Jean being a little more unbalanced than I would have liked, my remaining major qualm about the movie deals with Storm and her stance on the Cure. She was so adamant that nothing was wrong with "us", that there was "nothing to cure", that mutancy is not a disease... and yet she has no hesitation on "curing" Magneto. It’s only unethical to use it on mutants you like, Storm? Where the hell is your supposed integrity? [That didn't even register with me at the end. Weird!]

I truly feel that was crossing a line they shouldn’t have crossed. Or should have at least shown that it was the only way, and that they still regretted doing it. Instead there was practically glee. I was reminded of how in the comics, it used to be a gigantic deal if an X-Man accidentally killed someone during a fight, because they always tried to avoid it at all costs. Colossus almost had a nervous breakdown over killing Proteus. And here in the movie they’re electrocuting, bashing in heads (there’s no way Colossus wasn’t sending heads flying), decapitating and mortally stabbing (see Colossus comment and apply to Wolverine)... Beast, with all his strength, was probably driving bones into organs... I think the X-Men may have actually killed more people in that final scene than Phoenix did, which raises unintended ethical questions.

A closing criticism: Jean should have been naked when she resurrected; the campy, ridiculous uniform [how deliciously ironic that the supposedly "realistic" leather outfit is called campy and ridiculous by my all-too-perfect girlfriend. Go Sequoia!] pulled me out of the scenes and distracted from the supernatural eeriness they created with the water, the light, and later with the floating objects at the lake. Have her hair cover her breasts, and the camera shoot from the right angles, and they could have shown nothing while making the scenes much more effective and realistic.

* * * * *

And that, as they say, is that! I wouldn't be surprised if more thoughts spill forth from my darling's ever-churning X-loving brain sometime soon. In the meantime, I bid you all a fond adieu and au revoir! (or is that relire? ;)

Fifty-Two Week Three

2006-05-28T18:32:00.000+02:00

It’s the third week of the year we’ve skipped ahead in the DCU, and for the second time in a row, day 7 is missing. I guess nothing at all happens on Sundays or something? Joe Bennett continues to provide more than adequate pencils on a book that appears to be plodding along nicely, slowly building up steam and getting geared up for a couple of climaxes around the first quarter of the covered year, if the solicitations for upcoming months are any indication.

Despite the intriguing Two-Face-esque cover depiction of Lex Luthor, it’s Black Adam who takes up most of the issue, which is a pity, because he is rapidly becoming disturbingly one-note: gone is the troubled mixture of Marvel’s Magneto and Namor, whose well-intentioned arrogance made him the perfect anti-hero throughout Johns’s work on JSA. Instead we are left with a bloodthirsty maniac. It would be one thing if Adam decreed who lives and dies within the borders of his own nation. However, in the course of the past few weeks, we’ve witnessed him committing grizzly murder over and over again: brain-poking, head-popping, limbs torn off, bodies ripped in two...

He may have been well-intentioned once, and I’ll readily admit I was interested in his take-over of the Amazonian embassy as seen in 52 #1, but it’s become impossible for me to relate to Adam anymore. In the final scene of JSA #75, we were left with a man who had lost what amounted to his best friend and whose team-mates had forbidden him to come anywhere near them anymore. It was already a bit hard to swallow that he’d throw his hat in with a criminal organisation like the Society, but this takes it one step further. Going to extremes to do what you believe is right is something one can understand, if disagree with, but under the guidance of Geoff Johns the character has been driven straight through extremism out the other end, emerging as the ultimate black-and-white villain, far less appealing than the sum of his parts. A disappointment, to say the least.

As for the rest, the two things of note are the obvious tampering “our” Luthor did with Alex’s body, last seen in the final pages of Infinite Crisis #7 (where he was disfigured in the same way Two-Face once was—and still had hair, at that), and Booster’s increasing worry about Skeets’s flawed memories of history, prompting him to look for the time-traveler supreme, none other than Rip Hunter. Something’s obviously amiss with time, as the disappearance of the various scientists shown in the previous issue indicates, most of them being involved with time-tampering of some sort. It’s currently the most exciting aspect of the series, because I do love me a good time-twisting story and I feel like Morrison is at the helm of most if not all Booster’s scenes. The character feels like he’s right up his alley, at any rate.

Apart from all that, the cocoon at the end was a nice teaser for future issues: what will happen when the nefarious alien worm with the hilarious-yet-awesome moniker of Mr. Mind grows into his next phase? I do hope the answer won’t turn out to be he’ll become a nefarious alien butterfly...

After three issues, I’m beginning to worry about the relative pacing of the series. Week two ended with Ralph Dibny confronting Wonder Girl about the resurrection cult, but there’s no mention of this plot in week three, which seems more than a bit off. At least with the Question/Renée Montoya plotline, it’s conceivable that good ol’ No-Face is letting her stew for a week. But I presume that Ralph is no less on the case this week, so his absence this time around was jarring. The four pages at the end reserved for the nonsensical History of the DCU featurette could’ve been put to better use in that regard. At least Jurgens draws a nice pin-up/collage page.

I’m still in for the long haul, but I would appreciate it if they could forego the typical conventions of monthly comics and amp up the opportunities that a weekly format provides the creators with (scenes happening simultaneously, for one thing, would be rather welcome, rather than the one-scene-a-day routine). Still GOOD, but with its (serious) flaws.

Sequoia Reviews X3! (Woo-Hoo!)

2006-05-27T07:27:00.000+02:00

Sequoia and I both went out to watch X3 yesterday (on separate continents, mind you) and what follows is her lengthy, awesome review of the movie. Mine will follow sometime later but let me say this already: I want a Beast-movie! :) Anyway, read on, true believer... and beware of spoilers!

* * * * *

Moviefone: "What are your mutant’s hobbies and interests?"
Famke Janssen: "They do puzzles together, Cyclops and Jean.."
James Marsden: "They do puzzles together, that’s it, big puzzles of Logan, big Wolverine puzzles."

* * * * *

I went to see X-Men: The Last Stand with high hopes but very low expectations. I had spoiled myself with trailers and a few minor clips, and stumbled across the fates of several characters while online, but did not know any details. Online reviews from fans and critics alike seemed to bemoan it as a travesty of proportions so dire and epic I assumed the worst - it would be a absolute butchering of characters and storyline, sloppily rushed through, with no heart and soul, but hey, it promised Magneto and Phoenix sharing at least one scene, and I’m easy that way. As my two favorite characters from the comics, their smallest interaction of any sort, in any incarnation, can leave me feeling embarassingly giddy.

What I discovered was that The Last Stand doesn’t suck. Not only does it not suck, I found it extremely enjoyable throughout, and it is my favorite X-Men film by a significant margin. Was I completely happy? Was it perfect? Absolutely not. At times it’s a deeply flawed film, but never fundamentally so; and it entertained me in a genuine way. There were more than a few moments that thrilled me. And I can’t wait to see it again.

Before I go into more detail about what I did and didn’t care for in The Last Stand, I feel I should say a little bit about what I do and don’t like about the X-Men in general, because I have particular tastes that influenced my feelings on the film. I started reading the comics with the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams issues and adored them until Claremont flaked out during the Madelyne storyline. To see it go from a dark, Hitchcockian thriller (if you’re a fan of the old comics and have somehow never seen Vertigo, do so as soon as possible - Scott, Madelyne, Jean, and Jason are paying more homage to Scottie, Madeleine, Judy, and Gavin than the Brood did to Aliens) to a simple coincidence was severely disappointing, but I stuck with it because I loved the characters. And then X-Factor happened, and the wholesale slaughter of history and character. And I despaired.

Since then I’ve had some mild enjoyment from a handful of Lobdell issues; loved Joe Kelly and Steven Seagle on the books and the excitement and hope they gave me; and tried my best to give Morrison a chance until his Emma/Scott storyline took a sharp detour from where I thought he was going, and turned out to be nothing more than a bad episode of Melrose Place. I haven’t read more than five 616 comics since. I loathed the 90's cartoon, didn’t care for Evolution, and think Ultimate X-Men is half-way decent at times. I have the habit and ability to completely and happily disregard large chucks of continuity (i.e, The Great Phoenix Retcon).

Most importantly, I adore the possibilities of fanfiction and their endless alternate ideas and stories, and I view the movieverse as Marvel sanctioned fanfiction. Every fanfiction writer is different - good writers telling good stories, bad writers telling bad stories, bad writers telling good stories, and good writers telling bad - or just not that interesting to you - stories. For me, the first two X-Men films fall into that last category. I don’t mind if Brett Ratner didn’t copy Bryan Singer’s vision because I didn’t like Bryan Singer’s vision (I do like Bryan Singer, House is excellent and I’m interested in Superman for the first time in my life).

While technically proficient, I found the films largely tedious, X1 moreso than X2, but both were guilty. I like many slow, methodical movies shot through with occasional bursts of action if you’re lucky - The Constant Gardener was my favorite movie of 2005 - but I don’t want to see that in an X-Men film because I don’t think anyone in Hollywood is capable of doing it well. Not with this many characters and this much history to sift through and condense and the stigma of it being a comic book. I think Singer was Hollywood’s best chance at making that kind of movie, and with the exception of a few moments here and there that rose above the rest I was left sitting there thinking, ‘God, this is boring. Why did he want to make it so boring? What’s wrong with me that I’m finding this so boring?’

I honestly feel that Ratner has continued in Singer’s footsteps, which includes making sure not to vary from the idea that in this alternate universe, Logan is the center, the Hero, the character all others sit around making puzzles of, only he’s given it a shot of much needed energy. That Logan continues to be the focus and that many thing do not line up with their view of how they should be, or how they are in the 616 universe, twists many fans into paroxysms of indignant rage - a feeling I’m very familiar with when reading X-Factor and 90's era comics but that I’m blessedly free of while watching the films, the same way I am while reading fanfiction. This is the whole point of creating an alternate universe, to do things differently while keeping the basic core of who the characters are the same.

I felt alive while watching The Last Stand. There were scenes that made me gasp, scenes that made me cry, scenes that made me scoff, and scenes that made me yearn for more. I was never bored. A little hollow with thinking of how perfect it could have been if there had only been about fifteen minutes more devoted to the Phoenix storyline, and feeling as though scenes were not rushed (I quite liked the quick pace) but sadly a little clipped in places. A better editing team would have made all the difference in the world.

Anyway, if you’re still with me after all this rambling, some specific comments about The Last Stand.

- Famke Janssen finally sold me on Jean. I love her as an actress, think she’s gorgeous, but she was my choice for the role of Mystique since I first saw her in Goldeneye and while watching the first two films, I’d always think, ‘Eh, she’s good, but I wonder who else would have been better.’ I no longer even want to think of someone who may have been better. I have a different ‘picture’ in my head of comics and fanfic Jean, but Famke embodies movieverse Jean to perfection. Every expression, every inflection of tone, the way she carried herself... she portrayed the confusion, fury, passion, sorrow, and insanity so consummately it gave me chills. I loved the perpetual ‘forgetting to breathe’ expression when she wasn’t actively doing something. Even the way she sat in the chair, waiting for Xavier, touched me - she looked at once so lost and as though she were laying in wait. I only wish there had been more of her, and I wasn’t the only one - the only specific comments I overheard after the movie were ‘The Phoenix stuff was really good’ and ‘There should have been more of Phoenix.’

- Young Jean wasn’t as good as I would have liked. I wanted to see a bit of vulnerability there, mixed with the haughty bitchiness. I wanted to feel like she was Jean with Phoenix tendencies, not like Jean is nothing more than a neutered Phoenix. It’s why the Jean/Phoenix dichotomy is so interesting and complex to me... both sides of the personality are organically hers. But the special effects used on Charles and Erik in that scene were awesome.

- Patrick Stewart finally sold me on Xavier. I always thought his casting was lazy. So he’s bald, he never reminded me of Xavier, although I like him very much. And in the first two films, Stewart portrayed Charles as the simple, benevolent, saintly, glossed over version of the character I detest. Like Harry Potter, Charles Xavier is not interesting to me when everyone around him thinks he’s wonderful, including the narrator. Xavier is controlling, whatever his reasons. He is not just righteous, he is also self-righteous. He is a hypocrite of the highest order. And I love him for it. It balances nicely with his truly good heart and endless optimism. In The Last Stand, when he was talking to Logan in the infirmary, and later to Erik and Jean, I saw Xavier for the first time. There was an edge, a determination. He’s not all soft and cuddly, he’s a man to be reckoned with.

- Ian McKellen has always been fabulous as Magneto and my favorite part of the first two films...he was no less spectacular this time, but I was shocked at his coldness, particularly towards Mystique. I could see movieverse Erik turning on her in that he no longer feels there’s a place for him by his side, but to leave her, naked and alone, in the middle of nowhere, after she’s just saved him from a fate he views worse than death? Cold. And jarring. I would have liked to have seen more kindness from him there, a gentleness, a brief scene letting us know that he would make sure she was okay even if he doesn’t want her as a partner any longer. One of the biggest problems in the movie, in my opinion, because it would have fixed a giant plot hole - heartless in the name of his cause, I can see, but I can never see Erik as stupid. And it was stupid to turn his back on her like that, especially since they still could have had Raven turn on him later. She could have felt betrayed without it being done so completely.

- I thought Jean’s rise from the lake was handled well, with the special effects - the vortex in the water scared me, and the glowing light was beautiful - but I wanted a longer moment with Scott. And I don’t know why, but it really bugs that she resurrected in that hideous uniform. If Rebecca can have a ‘nude’ scene, so can Famke. As much as I once loved Scott in the comics, it doesn’t bother me he’s played such a tiny role in the movieverse. Famke and James conveyed a sense of being in love, but not a sense of being soulmates forever and ever, as Scott and Jean did in the comics around the Dark Phoenix saga. I don’t mind that he was killed because it makes more sense in this world for Logan to be the one to save her at the end. I just wish that people at the school had expressed more sorrow over his death; and I don’t know how they would have done it, but I really would have liked to have seen a scene at the end of the film, maybe right before the credits, of Jean and Scott on the astral plane/afterlife, together, and at peace. I have a picture of him kissing her on the forehead, forgiving her for what she’s done.

- I liked Storm this time around. Don’t tell anyone. I liked her twirly whirlies, and how strong she was in her opinions, despite her complete lack of empathy and compassion for mutants that might not be as blessed as her.

- The woman who played Callisto was awful. Just a terrible actress, in my opinion. The weakest link in the cast by far. I wanted to laugh every time she spoke. Even her smile annoyed me.

- That’s some rapid sunset they have their in San Francisco. I enjoyed the bridge scene greatly - Magneto didn’t want to just go to Alcatraz, he was making a statement. Liked seeing him ‘fly’.

- I expected to hate Juggernaut, and thought he was very well done. Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde was an inspiration. My heart just swelled watching their scene together, it was like looking at a comic book come to life.

- The view out of Leech’s window is more exciting than what’s on his tv.

- Bah to bad dialogue. All three movies have had their share, the only ones that made me actively cringe in this installment were the ‘Hell hath no fury’ from our 120 year old president, and Magneto’s stint as the Exposition Fairy. ‘Arclight, use your seismic powers over there! Aim for their weapons!’ Sheesh. I think I’m blocking some of it, it was so bad. Just say Arclight and gesture grandly in the general direction. You’re Magneto.

- Magneto. Not Osama bin Laden in a miniature cave that looks as though it were made of compressed Glad trash bags.

- Biggest flaw in the movie for me, and the only thing that truly bothers me - I understand that after Jean kills Charles, Erik makes a choice. He still wants her with him, even after what she’s done (the look on her face, and his, the way he puts his arm around her and says, ‘come with me, dear’ just kills me). They need to get out of there before Wolverine and Storm come on the scene. But there needed to be a scene in the movie between that one and the speech in the forest where they have some sort of further acknowledgement about what just happened. This is big. She killed Charles Xavier. Her mentor and his best friend. A man who meant a tremendous amount to both of them. I don’t care if it’s alone, or together - I’d prefer both - but there needs to be something. Anything. I found myself imagining possible scenes, to make the rest of the movie feel more right. I feared that there would be no sign at all from either that they even remembered that it happened, but I quite liked Magneto’s reaction to Pyro. That was good. But it would have been better with another scene preceding it.

- I really liked the use of Multiple Man. I was all groany when I heard he’d be in the movie, since his comic book incarnation annoys me to no end. Maybe it was the judicious way he was used, but I found it smart and fun, and a little bit surprising.

- Angel and Beast. First Angel - I’m sorry, I’m shallow, I thought the actor was homely and not terribly talented. Little Warren was very good, Big Warren was just meh. And Warren Worthington III should never be meh. If they had to use him in that role, they should have dropped him after he flew off into the sunset. Showing up at the school at precisely the right moment to make me roll my eyes all the back into my head was a waste of time that took away from Phoenix. And what the hell with his father at the end? Was he hovering, waiting, for someone to throw his dad off the building? He just happened by? Beast I hated at the beginning and grew to really really like by the end. Hank is one of my favorites in the comics, and I just didn’t like Kelsey Grammer in the role. I know, I’m in the minority, but it didn’t feel right. But I warmed up to him, even if I hated the makeup job. He looked like a fuzzy, electric blue, tank. Loved hearing stars and garters...I think I would have let myself love him if only there had been a mention by Hank of what was happening to Jean and what happened to Scott. I think it’s implied that Scott, Hank, and Jean were Xavier’s first X-Men in the movieverse, I would have liked to have seen a mention of that, even if it was just a photograph on the desk. Hank and Jean are my favorite friendship in the X-Men and I felt its absence sorely. I know, I know, alternate universe.

- Fastball Special! Woo!

- Can’t believe I’m only now getting to Wolverine. I loved him, as always. To me Jackman is Wolverine, the best Wolverine. Everything I like about comics Wolverine and nothing I hate. I thought the progression in his character was consistent with the movieverse, and organic. I like my Logan tall, I like him lovesick over Jean, I love him slicing and dicing to protect the ones he loves. And ooooh, the kiss. Hot. And scary. But mostly hot.

- Iceman and Colossus look like such dorks when iced/metaled up. I thought CGI was better than that these days.

- Olivia Williams is Moira MacTaggert. Fantastic. And I didn’t hate the secret scene like I thought I would. Didn’t like it that much, but didn’t hate it.

- Glad Mopey Rogue went for the cure. Maybe now she can finally be spirited. Or the slightest bit like her comic counterpart. Just a basic personality trait. A crumb. Not 90's sexpot, ‘why, ah don’t have a thought in my pretty little head, Gambit!’ Rogue, but tough and sassy and kind of dark and sometimes whiny kickass 80's Rogue. Oh wait, she’s cured, she can’t. This is why I wish they would freaking teach her to control her powers so she’d have something else to do besides mope and whine and stoically cope.

- I think Pyro is the worst character in the movie. Honestly. Phoenix is clearly insane, and I think a rather good case can be made for Magneto as well at times. The humans behind the cure were misguided, but seemed to genuinely want to ‘help’. When Pyro said that he would have killed Xavier if Magneto had asked....my skin crawled.

- Liked the use of Leech. Didn’t mind the ‘cure’ storyline, but really had to suspend disbelief at times...didn’t mind though, because I was having so much fun with the movie in general. The we are the world, sunshine and kittens and lollypops at the end of the rainbow ending had me scratching my head a bit though. Looks like everything is perfect in human-mutant land! No more X movies! Except when Wolverine has to get thrown all over by a recovered Magneto in his spin-off.

- Jean’s death. So close to being so perfect. I was welling up with tears. It was ridiculous in a lot of ways, but I loved it. It had to be done that way. But it needed to be longer. Shave off a little bit of Angel, of Leech, of Arclight dragging WWII up to the roof, whatever, but let Jean and Logan express more emotion. Let her say something more. Let it him hold her longer. It was good, it was beautiful in its way, but I wanted it to be everything it was capable of being. They were so close.

Anyway, that’s it for now, my hands are falling off and it’s 11pm and been a hard day and I don’t know if I’m still making sense. I’ll be seeing it again on Monday, and will be interested to see if my views on anything have changed.

* * * * *

And that, as they say, was that. Many thanks to the most wonderful woman in the world for putting so much effort in this review. I'm inclined to say "ditto" pretty much across the board, but I shall certainly endeavor to come up with something more ludicrously loquacious than that! In any case, I enjoyed this review tremendously, and I am sure I am not the only one. If any of you reading this want to read more of Sequoia's thoughts (on the X-Men or on anything), please do tell in the comments section, for in my not-exactly-humble opinion the world at large should be graced with her thoughts far more often!

Rapid Fire Reviews #1 - May 17th releases

2006-05-21T22:23:00.000+02:00

I had nine comics on my list to buy at the store this week, but only managed to get eight (Green Arrow wasn’t in my box, just like last time, I made sure it was on the list now). So what did I get, and how did I like it?

52 Week Two – Just seeing Ralph Dibny’s patented nose-twitch along with the dryly delivered implication that he’s a better detective than Batman made the issue for me, adding a lot of goodwill to a series I was already willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Other highlights included a teaser-filled conversation between two not-quite-obscure, not-quite-well-known scientists (I bet Morrison wrote that one), a funny-yet-ominous Booster Gold action scene, and a yummy Question/Renée Montoya confrontation—my guess is that Harvey Dent is using the guise of the Question, for some reason. Whatever the case may be, seeing him disappear in question-mark-shaped smoke kicked all sorts of ass. Just like the first issue had to have a gratuitous gory scene, this issue had one moment that turned me off and pulled me out of the story: Renée and her girlfriend wearing bra and panties while asleep in each other’s arms. Tacky on a variety of levels and reminiscent of the ridiculous scenes where Scully of X-Files fame would go to bed wearing a bra. I know some comic book writers may not have slept with a woman yet, but come on! The art was nothing stellar but more than serviceable and rather eye-pleasing despite its straightforwardness. For this DCU fan, a VERY GOOD issue.

Robin #150 – The “Boy Wanted” arc continues, as Robin is confronted with the mastermind behind the once and former Batgirl’s disappearance. I still like both writing (snappy dialogue if light on plot mechanics) and art (clear action-packed layouts and story-flow) but this felt like a bit of a step down from the previous two issues, though it's hard to pin-point why. I do find Tim’s hard-ass behaviour somewhat hard to swallow compared to his exuberance over in the Face The Face arc, and the manner in which Cain has been tied up doesn’t carry across the intent: that he’ll strangle himself if he tries to move. Come to think of it, I don’t really like Tim using that tactic in the first place, even if Cain is meant to be one of the most dangerous men alive. And of course the revelation of the aforementioned mastermind is who I’d already guessed, making it disappointing, although I’m still hoping for some twists and turns in upcoming issues. Nonetheless, as I said in this review, the new creative team is to be recommended for their efforts, making this a GOOD issue.

Moon Knight #2 - I reviewed a preview copy of the first issue and based on my enjoyment of it, decided to buy the opening arc to see where it’d all go. I can’t honestly say I was as fond as this second outing as I was of the opening salvo. The extremely gory and bloody violence, for one, didn’t appeal to me at all, which I do realise is just a matter of personal taste. I didn’t get the impression from the previous issue though that we’d take this route, so it’s off-putting. Moreover, writer Charlie Huston attempts to create effect in the captions through repetition, succeeding only in creating sameness and boredom. Witness the captions of page 1: “A hero. As if I ever was. As if that’s what you wanted from me. As if that’s what I gave to you. As if that’s all I gave.” As if I give a rat’s ass about all the as-if-fing. On page 2 we get “how many times” three times (how many times can Huston repeat it before I throw the damn comic away in disgust?), next it’s five times of “blame it on...” in a row (repeated again several times later, to which I say: “blame it on weak editing”).

Or how about this weak sequence: “The hatred born from slaughter. Slaughter born from friendship. Friendship born from recognition. Recognition of a kindred soul. Souls hating each other. Hating as you can hate only one thing”, accompanying a brutal fist- and knife-fight resulting in a fate for Moon Knight’s attacker which is just too sickening to write down here. Yes, I’m that lamely squeamish, sue me. It was disturbingly neat when Garth Ennis did it back in the early days of Preacher, but this seems more like pathetic pandering to the gore-lovers out there (gore without the capital g, of course. Though I believe the character Moon Knight maimed is called Bushwhacker, so maybe it’s about Gore-lovers after all :p)

While the first half shows us how Moon Knight came to lose everything in brutal, over-rendered flashback, the second half is more interesting again as Huston appears to have a better grasp on dialogue than on thought-captioning. Between the zealous line-work and the weak writing though, I was reminded of Todd McFarlane’s opening arc on his Spider-Man book, “Torment”, which was indeed quite torturous, so not a compliment at all there. I will still give the team a chance and support their endeavours for the time being, but the viciousness displayed in this issue makes me inclined towards scrapping it from my pull list—a damn shame considering my original praise for the first part of the arc. All in all, not recommended.

Ms Marvel #3 – In my reviews of the previous two issues, I already remarked upon the slipshod writing of Brian Reed, whose enthusiasm for both the character and for working within the Marvel Universe as a whole does shine through in the letter column (let’s hear it for the return of letter pages across all of Marvel’s series, woohoo!) but doesn’t materialise in the finished product itself, which turns out to be not living up to my expectations. There is too much of a focus on a fight with a blah-looking alien whose motives are too one-note to be of interest. I would’ve preferred some more of a struggle between Carol and the Brood, who are depicted on the cover but nowhere to be seen inside the comic.

The over-the-top cliffhanger of last issue is resolved cleanly if tamely, but I was dismayed to see the apparent destruction of an entire community be dismissed so casually while the New Warriors are vilified over in Civil War for the deaths of a couple 100 people (which wasn’t even their fault, but anyway). I would like to imagine that even as Carol is happy she averted the fate the Brood had in store for Earth, she’d also show some signs of distress over her inability to save the people of the town of Spaulding, Georgia. The writing strongly hints at a return of not only Cru (not someone I’d like to see again, so let’s hand out a “bah!” for that) but Spaulding as well (“this is world full of marvels” after all, as a news commentator sagely points out.)

And while the cliffhanger this time around does propel us straight into an entirely different situation for our heroine, one that makes sense considering her efforts to become “the best of the best” (and publicity is everything), there’s still something missing from the writing to make it as special and fun as I’m sure Reed intends it to be. Not a bad read, but if this series wants to survive, the creators really need to pull out all the stops. My fingers are crossed that the next installment will be more of the type of slam-dunk action I’m looking for (some more villains like the Stilt-Man would go a long way to satisfy my classic-Marvel-cravings :p) The art was still pleasing to my eye, so let’s give it a careful OKAY for now.

Captain America #18 – This sees the beginning of a new arc revolving around the plans of the Lukin/Skull merger, prompting Cap to team up with Union Jack (always fun to see both flag-draped heroes together, now how about some Captain Britain for good measure?), with a pretty cool Bucky scene as well as a murderous Crossbones/Syn (she’s scary-hot!) scene thrown in to keep those plots simmering as well. Brubaker juggles all his scenes nicely, as I’m used to, and Epting is as awesome as ever, particularly his face-shot of the Red Skull in the limo (loved the Skull’s face reflecting back to Lukin’s, very well done). Usually I’m no fan of overly “realistic” artwork, and I must admit I do prefer his older work on the Avengers, for instance, but this is still rather marvellous stuff. “Twenty-First Century Blitz” looks like it’ll be a lot of fun, making this kick-off point a VERY GOOD issue.

Shadowpact #1 – I love Bill Willingham’s Fables and despite its obvious sexism I’m also a fan of his Ironwood saga, which he wrote and pencilled alike, just like he does with this fresh start for the offbeat magic-themed team called the Shadowpact (as introduced in last year's Day of Vengeance mini-series). It’s clear from the inclusion of Superman in his story and the way they work around it, effectively bumping into the team’s appearance in 52 #1 last week, that he has no idea how to write within the confines of a company’s continuity. Based on Fables and Ironwood though, he does know how to write a rollicking tale of magic merriment and bloody betrayal, so I’m still quite looking forward to what he has planned.

His pencils appeal to me, even if I’m not too thrilled with his redesign for the Enchantress and Detective Chimp (no more Sherlock Holmes hat when he goes out on a case?! Outrageous! At least it was still featured when he was smoking at the bar) and if I think of this series as having its own parallel-universe continuity, I think I’ll be able to roll along with anything he comes up with, no matter how out there.

The bad guys are very bad indeed and the good guys are a colourful, oddball bunch, plus the Phantom Stranger guest-stars, which automatically raises any comic to the level of GOOD, with room to become better (though, I fear, not much time, since I can’t see the series being long for this world, so I’ll be getting it while I can!)

Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis #42 – Drunken stupor-induced nookie with a mermaid! Calamitous underwater bar fight! The Sea Devils! And the unexpected return of a character thought dead that made me squeal in delight! (yes, I squeal, wanna make something of it? :p) Busiek continues the entertaining tale he began One Year Later (aka two months ago) and improves upon the already-good previous two issues, giving me high hopes for a long and healthy run (if Guice can keep up, which I’m doubting considering this book was late, though I don’t mind so much because his art is scrumptious. With pages like the Sea Devils’ aquatic fortress, I can give him a bit of slack :)). The mix of action, mystery and revelation is pretty much perfect with the same high production values as before, so I’m definitely back to being a regular Aquaman fan. This one would be my favourite of the week if not for...

Fell #5 – It’s been a couple months since Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith graced us with another chapter in the life of hard-ass detective Richard Fell, but it was worth the wait, of course. Templesmith succeeds perfectly in bringing Ellis’s grimy, seedy world of Snowtown to life in general and does another well-expected admirable job with this issue’s tightly-scripted panel-to-panel camera work and the moody colouring. Focusing almost entirely on an interrogation scene, both writing and art keep the tension high and manage to tell us more about the titular hero than a lot of exposition in other series would.

Warren Ellis may come across as a bit of a nincompoop in his online ramblings, to me, but he’s a very talented popinjay nonetheless! One of those talents is the ability to easily make me swallow the violence, which somehow feels appropriate, likely because of the noir atmosphere that has been established since the very first issue. He’s also quite good at throwing in little things that pop up upon closer rereading, or when taken in hindsight, adding some extra value to an already entertaining and gripping little story. In closing, with lines like “I can do things to men that poodles only dream of!” (you had to be there), I cannot give this richly served representation of a well-worn theme (crack the bad-ass’s attitude) anything less than an EXCELLENT rating. It’s only 2 bucks, so get out there and hand over your change to the geek (or in my experience, cute girl) behind the counter!

Whew, that wasn’t as rapid-fire as I’d wanted it to be! Maybe I’ll do this again next week, if the offerings are appealing enough. This was a pretty satisfying week for the comics I buy, so it deserved being spotlighted.

Three Minutes Of Lost

2006-05-20T15:00:00.000+02:00

It’s doubtful I’ll be able to write this in three minutes, but since that’s the title of this week’s Lost episode, I’ll do my best!

The season finale is upon us next week, so apparently the writers decided we needed to slow things down dramatically with only the tiniest bit of progress in the present and some time-filling flashbacks that show what exactly happened to Michael while he was gone. In a nutshell: he got conked over the head several times by different people (including the girl who would be Deat—er, Alex) and at the very end was quite easily swayed, through an encounter with Walt (who?), to do the supposed Others’ bidding, puzzling as their request may be: bring four specific Lostaways to the Others’ (fake) camp for reasons as of yet unknown. Such meat to build an episode around, no?

When Michael tells his fellow islanders that only a very select few can launch an assault on the Others, they all swallow it far too easily, especially since he wants Hurley to come along: the fat guy who claims he brings bad luck to people and who’s got a personal stake in things, making him blind to possible harmful consequences. You’d think someone would question this decision, but no, on Plothole Island everyone thinks like a dink (Jack in particular). Apart from Sayid, apparently, which is what made the episode for me. Halfway through, after Sawyer invites our favourite Indian-Iraqi to join them (which earned a “hell yeah!” from me), we see Michael desperately trying to sway Sayid from coming along, repeating his incessant “do-you-have-a-son/I-want-my-son-back” routine, and apparently, *gasp*, succeeding!

I gave Lost the Double Finger in disgust at that moment, but as it turns out, unjustly so. What I hadn’t seen coming was Sayid figuring out that Michael had been “compromised”, as he so carefully put it, creating a situation that could well turn out to be quite interesting next week. Planning to play along with whatever Michael’s got planned—and isn’t it oh so convenient that Hurley decides to go island-traipsing after an initial refusal—Sayid might well be crucial in finally getting an advantage over the semi-mysterious Others. So, as usual, the interesting turns of events happen during the final few minutes of the show. Everything else is largely filler until we’re hit over the head with Sayid’s little revelation and, far more out of left field, the arrival of a quite nice-looking boat (Sun seems to have lost the power of speaking in proper sentences this episode, I might add). Not really sure where we’ll be going with that, but now that they’ve written out two characters once again, they’re probably going to throw in a couple of new ones for next season.

As slow, plodding and repetitive as some if not most of the scenes were, I rather enjoyed the bits with Charlie, Eko and Locke. The role-reversal between black and white was staged well, as Eko has now become obsessed with the damn button, abandoning little-boy-lost Charlie, while Locke appears poised to take our very own addicted Hobbit under his wings once again, witnessing him getting rid of his temptation once and for all (until more heroine comes falling out of the sky, of course).

Speaking of Locke though, I must take issue with Lost’s pacing once again: last week he was deeply dissatisfied with himself and his role on the island, this week we get virtually no follow-up. I realise they must work with a specific focus to make syndicated viewing easier, but when working with a large ensemble cast it feels out of bounds to ignore people for various episodes until it suits you to write them back in. It’s happened to almost every single character now (except for the one whom I’d like to see a LOT less of, Jack, with Kate next in line). I don’t get the feeling that there is a logical flow to the series as a whole, something I’m rather sensitive to, I can’t help it. Maybe they’re doing it to create tension but in my case they’re only creating substantial aggravation.

Something I was perturbed by was Michael’s decision to become a killer just to be reunited with Walt again. Now, I don’t have children, admittedly, but even so, Michael knows the Others are duplicitous, why would he trust them to keep their word? I can see a man committing murder if well and truly forced, but Michael was in a situation where he could’ve tried to get help, fighting back somehow. Instead he basically rolled over and shot two people who were in his way. It’s clear he feels guilty (they sure hammered us over the head with it when Eko pontificated on the boy who killed his dog to protect his sister) but come on, way to irrevocably destroy a character. He wasn’t brainwashed, he wasn’t really coerced so much as edged into it, it seems weak to me. Suspension of disbelief, dramatic license, I’m aware of these things, but they can only get the writers so far, and they’re losing me.

Naturally, because their character work is shaky and they know it, they throw in a new plot twist. Lost may pretend to be a character-driven show all it wants, but it’s as plot-driven as a show can possibly be with some occasional character bits that work. The hatch, the plane, the button, the blacklight map, now the boat, they’re all ways to introduce something new and to keep the blood pumping. But seen as part of a larger pattern, we’ve watched over 40 episodes without any clear answers or logical storytelling at all. Nor is there a feeling of community amongst the Lostaways, who get along and disagree with each other whenever it’s useful for the writer in charge. The meant-to-be gripping funeral scene is a perfect example: Ana Lucia and Libby might have been around for most of the second season, but for the islanders she arrived, like, 2 weeks ago? At least Hurley added a little bit of emotion to the scene, before Sun attracted everyone’s attention to the sudden appearance of the boat. Dear lord, I’m having flashes of us having to wait a whole season until we find out who’s on the damn boat ;)

All in all, a fairly weak outing for a show that is only strong on occasion but keeps me interested just enough to keep watching. At least I’m not paying any money for it like I do with my bloody comics! :) Fingers crossed that next week will actually be riveting (I don’t watch previews, so I’m in the blue as to what might transpire, which is exactly how I like it, thank you very much!). Lost attempts to be thrilling, which it usually manages during the cliffhanger moments, but it'd be nice if there was a certain level of excitement during the preceding 4 or 5 acts as well. Better luck next time!

Office musings

2006-05-14T19:28:00.000+02:00

I may not be at my actual office, as it's Sunday and all, but that won't stop me from sharing some thoughts on what I consider to be one of the finest sitcoms ever to be shown on American television.

I got into the series thanks to my wonderful girlfriend, who had told me it was an excellent show. I had bought her the season 1 dvd set and we watched those episodes together. The very first one was modeled after the British Office series opener, and as such I found it far more unsettling than what was to come. You see, the British series is much more mean-spirited than its American counterpart, the way I view it, and while it can make me laugh as well, it doesn't make me feel good to be watching it. British boss David Brent is pretty much a despicable human being, while American boss Michael Scott is deeply misguided, living in a fantasy world all his own, but nonetheless a pretty decent man who realises when he has made a mistake and tries to make up for it, no matter how clumsily.

Which is why the American show is so great: despite the incredibly awkward situations Michael creates--and some of them, like Diversity Day, are painful to watch, in an "I-can't-look-away" kind of way--there is something pleasantly kind-hearted about the show as a whole. Most of the characters are quirky at the least, downright bizarre at their worst (such as Creed, he really is a weirdo), sometimes hilariously annoying, and always entertaining. Even better, despite how easy it'd be to degenerate into cartoony portrayals, they all feel incredibly real, their actions as well as their interactions.

The best evidence of that can be found in the various office relationships that have been budding in the past 28 episodes. Pam and Jim were front and center, of course, the Ross-and-Rachel of this show (only much, much better). While they are the heart of it all, it's the ancillary relationships that really ground the series as a whole: the strange attraction between Michael and his own boss-on-the-rebound Jan; the near-obsessive feelings Kelly has for office temp Ryan (who not only has to deal with her but with Michael man-crushing on him as well); and best of all, the secret romance between Dwight and Angela, the office's two most uptight employees whose affection for one another is shown in deliciously subtle ways (Pam having figured it out and helping them keep their secret is the cherry on top).

Pam and Jim form much of the main thrust of the show, since we obviously root for him to get the girl, even if she is already committed to someone else for too long a time now. It's rather mind-boggling how Pam ever ended up with her current fiancé, considering he doesn't seem to care about her feelings, dreams and wishes in the slightest, while Jim would bend over backwards to make her happy. I'll admit that the tension would be higher if Roy wasn't such a jerk towards her, because it'd be even worse if Jim was in love with someone who's already got a good catch, but this does make it much easier to be on his side, hoping he'll eventually win her heart. Of course, if he does, that might take a lot of wind out of the dramatic sails, so I don't know if we're actually going there in the third season (I'm assuming there'll be a third season anyway!)

Another fun aspect, apart from the various romantic threads, is the long-standing enmity between Jim and Dwight. In last week's penultimate episode, the unending string of office pranks that Jim pulls on Dwight is punctuated somewhat disquietingly by his insight that it's really all his life amounts to so far: prank after prank to get him through boring day after boring day (the other half spent mooning for Pam). No wonder he's thinking about a transfer to see if he can make it elsewhere. Even if Jim thinks the pranks aren't as funny anymore as they once seemed (and it doesn't stop him from fooling Dwight into thinking he's a telekinetic, with some help from Pam, in the next ep), I still do, since the writers really go out of their way to come up with creative ways to pester someone at work. And in all fairness, Dwight sort of has it coming to him, with his attitude, although I'm sure Jim's way of dealing with him isn't improving matters any.

Over in the British version, Tim (Jim's "other self") is really even more pathetic, which dampens the mood. Jim remains this great, nice guy who'll try to keep things cheerful even if everybody else makes it really hard to do that, he's just stuck in a bit of a going-nowhere job and a non-existent relationship. Tim's experiences are similar, yet brought to life in a more unsettling way, robbing the humour of its vivacity. I easily prefer Jim, whose good-natured behavior makes him very easy to relate to (quite the plus, being the co-star of the show, along with Michael).

Michael, then, forms the main impetus behind many of the series' storylines. He's bigoted (albeit in a naive way), self-absorbed as well as self-aggrandizing, astonishingly boorish, and petulant when he doesn't get his way. In short, one of the worst people to put in a position of command (yet people like him get to be the boss the world over, go figure). He may well be a very little, small-minded man, but he does have a heart of gold, as shown when he has to deal with various co-workers' children on Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work Day or when he is about to get Jan in trouble through his self-deluded ideas of being in a relationship with her and then admirably covers for her. It's all very funny, endearing, yet also serves as high drama. What more can one want from a comedy?

Apart from the main four characters (Michael, Jim, Pam and Dwight as the eternal foil to them all), the Office is littered with a variety of side characters, both in the actual office and in the warehouse, all of whom add immeasurably to the feel of the show, ranging from the totally subdued Toby (from Human Resources) to the extremely irritating (in a cute way) Kelly. Tensions can run high, and the co-workers are in no shape or form the kind of family Michael imagines/wishes them to be, but they are a dysfunctional family of sorts, and one we can, again, relate to. as outlandish as the plots sometimes get, it's still all very down-to-earth, which only strengthens the comedy (and the recurring pathos).

With superb writing and acting, not to mention a perfect editing hook (the show is an actual documentary, so they can do a lot of uproarious cut-scenes and "spy" on people, intensifying the personal touches), the Office is a can't-miss show that I look forward to each and every time we are delighted with a new installment. I don't quite know what the future plans are for the series, but I hope it is fated to run for a while still, as I don't think they're running out of steam yet. Chalk this one up as yet another show I started watching thanks to the best girlfriend in the world and which I now wouldn't miss for anything other than for her, of course (she really knows what I like, it appears :))

The Don Of Comics

2006-05-10T21:31:00.000+02:00

Ever since I could read, I’ve been engrossed by the adventures of the Duck family: Scrooge, Donald and the three nephews, with their assorted companions and opponents ranging from Gyro Gearloose to Magica DeSpell. For years and years, up to my 18th birthday, I was an avid buyer of the Dutch Donald Duck Weekly magazine, which featured stories from Duckburg written and drawn by Barks and those who followed in his footsteps (alongside various other Disney-related stories and text pieces in installments—the weekly mag was a great way to get kids into reading more than just strips).

In all those years though, I don’t think they ever printed Don Rosa stories, which is a crying shame, considering he is by far the writer/artist who is truly Carl Barks’s equal, and on occasion his better (yes, I’m blasphemous, I know!)

I did come across one installment of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck back in the day, printed in the monthly “Donald Duck Extra. It was the chapter expounding on Scrooge’s encounter with Bombie the Zombie, one of my very favourite Barksian characters in his unstoppability. Hmm, I’d like to see the Juggernaut go up against Bombie, I think. That should be entertaining if only for the style clash :)

Ever since, I’ve been on the hunt for stories by Rosa. Not once have I been disappointed, on the contrary: a Rosa tale tends to be densely layered, full of humour and mad antics brought to life by a supreme storyteller. His skills in moving the story along from panel to panel is hard to find in the world of superhero comics and his dedication to the details of real-life history is awe-inspiring. It always strikes me as baffling that lazy superhero writers will bemoan the heavy anchor of continuity while a crafty plotter like Rosa will take human history, which is far grander in scope than any superhero universe’s continuity, reboots and all, and weave existing facts all throughout a tale filled with peril and daring-do, particularly in his excellent Scrooge epics.

The particular example of his work I read today, “The Once And Future Duck”, a decade-old gem, does not star Scrooge, but it’s no less rich in expressionist detail, tongue-in-cheek action and madcap adventure. In a mere 24 (!) pages, Donald, the Nephews, Gyro and his all-important Helper invent a time-travelling helmet, go to Stonehenge, are thrown back in the past where they encounter King Arthur himself, snowballing into a couple of near-death experiences and the origins of the legend of the Holy Grail, the sword in the stone and of course Arthur and his knights themselves. Not only that, Donald gets to wear an armour giving him superpowers, kicking some serious Arthurian booty before falling prey to his own usual clumsiness. Luckily they get some (un)expected help and all’s well that ends well. That’s quite a bit of plot to pack in those few pages, but it’s done admirably in no less than a whopping 200 panels! In this day and age of decompression (a lazy tendency that’s luckily losing popularity in favour of actually developing a plot again), reading such a compact, rereadable mini-saga is a pure joy, even if it’s 10 years old already.

Not only is Don Rosa able to make it all fit seamlessly, he also manages to create not one but two cliffhanger moments, as this story was originally intended to be three 8-page chapters to be published in one of the many European weeklies devoted to the Ducks. On top of that, I think it’s both a laugh-riot and a lovely little “thriller”, combining the best of both worlds, the perfect type of story to be enjoyed by anyone between the ages of 1 and 101.

One of the highlights of Rosa’s non-Scrooge stories is his imaginative use of the oft-overlooked Helper, the little lightbulb-headed fellow who tends to silently bail out Gyro whenever one of his inventions goes spectacularly awry, much as this one does through no circumstances he could’ve really foreseen. The Helper is usually the unsung hero of the piece, but this time around Donald is well aware of his mighty feats, leading to a fitting denouement.

Giving Arthur and his band of heroes feet of clay was quite the nice angle, as was the use of the ancient, authentic-sounding names. It’s one of Rosa’s many talents to take a concept and turn it on its head for maximum effect. There are numerous references to Arthurian legend, all played for comedic value, each and everyone enriching the tapestry of the story for those who understand the references, without dragging the entertainment level down when the reader is still too young to fully comprehend it all. What’s especially cool is that for young kids, these types of stories might end up guiding them to the library (or these days, the internet) to start, *gasp*, looking up stuff and learning about things just because it’s fun!

It remains a travesty of sorts, then, that Duck-centric tales will usually be dismissed by a lot of fans as “silly” or “childish”, which is particularly ironic considering how many superhero readers are annoyed by that selfsame labelling when the general public does it to them. I’ll admit that there are a great many dumb Duck-tales (mmm, Ducktales, woo-hoo!) but when Rosa or Barks are involved—and luckily they’ve been rather prolific—we’re talking about some of the best achievements in comic strip storytelling.

Over at gemstonecomics.com, you can check out what Duck-related comics they publish and even order some back issues if you’re so inclined. Be sure to go over the contents first though and aim for Barks and Rosa tales, because an issue without their work might be disappointing for a first time reader. They may seem rather pricey, but you’d be surprised at how often you can reread these actually funny comic books, which really adds some bang for your buck. Even better, you could order “The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck” through Amazon.com: it’s one of the finest works in graphic form I’ve ever had the pleasure to read (and I’ve read a lot!)

Yeah, I’m shamelessly plugging here, but hey, as a fanboy, I just do my part in spreading the holy Duck-gospel! :)

Opening Salvos #1 - Black Panther

2006-05-07T23:52:00.000+02:00

There are many ways to kick off a new ongoing series, but none are quite so out there as the ultra-white sidekick to the black lead sitting on a toilet, wearing no pants and pointing a gun at a rat. Talk about being dropped in the middle of things!

Nearly a decade ago, when Joe Quesada was given merely the keys to a little corner of the Marvel kingdom in the form of the Marvel Knights imprint rather than to the universe entire, Christopher Priest was approached to chronicle the tales of the first black superhero, the Black Panther. Proving that, yes, he *would* kick total ass on Batman, he gave King T’Challa an even grimmer and surlier disposition than DC’s avenger of the night while infusing him with the classic sense of “where does he get all those wonderful toys?” which is very appropriate considering he’s meant to be the ruler of the most technologically advanced country in the world.

Despite the superficial similarities, Priest turned the Panther into a character entirely his own due in a large part to the presence of Everett K. Ross, white boy supreme, über-wonky narrator, unrelenting companion to the Wakandan monarch, who’s almost Doctor-Who-esque as he sweeps up those surrounding him into crazy adventures filled with action and intrigue and damn engaging, often somewhat surreal or out-of-left-field cliffhangers. Ross brings both humour and pathos to the series as a whole, which makes me think it was a big mistake to basically write him (as well as T’Challa himself!) out around #50. To my mind, this led to the series being cancelled. Change can be a good thing, but not always. That’s a story for another time though.

In this first issue, we are introduced to Ross (he actually first appeared in Priest’s ill-fated issues of Ka-Zar, but who read those other than me and some other completist nutters?), his boss and lover Nikki Adams, the Panther’s entourage (mad old Zuri and the Dora Milaje, a.k.a "deadly amazonian high school karate chicks", yum!) and last but not least the updated take on the Panther himself, which, in its unrelenting bad-assitude, is quite different from what came before yet feels like an entirely logical progression for the character. Before Priest, T’Challa was noble and stuff, which is all good and well for Peter Parker but very run-of-the-mill once applied to every other character out there. As of this first issue, the emphasis was on him being a king, a ruler, not a mere superhero who’ll engage in fisticuffs but a man who will do whatever it takes to protect (and avenge) those people he not only feels but genuinely *is* personally responsible for.

Heroes like Batman and Spider-Man are driven by guilt and anguish, making everyone their responsibility just because of their personal loss. The Panther, as first representative of an entire nation, must put his citizens’ best interests front and centre, which will have a great many political implications during the course of the series. In this opening chapter, there are many signs of the political angles to be found already, from the situation with the refugees to the “Wakandagate” that made T’Challa return to the States. Usually, these political brouhaha’s are advanced through cleverly staged fight scenes or Mexican stand-offs, resulting in a climax which then ups the ante even more, steamrolling straight into the next arc. Which you don’t really notice in this particular issue but I thought it was worth mentioning :)

The feature that really made the series stand out was Priest’s love for non-linear storytelling, each out-of-order chapter (comprising as little as one panel in some cases) generally marked by humorous mini-titles above them and all individually important to the plot at large. As jarring as it was the first time around, it ended up being a very strong staple of the series setting it apart from other books. Moreover, the non-linear element wasn’t simply a stylistic decision but a genuine element of the story itself, as Ross has the tendency to make up totally out-there stuff, omit certain embarrassing parts or jump around in the sequence of events depending on his particular fancy. Related to this, “The story thus far” became a familiar catch-phrase which would unabashedly confuse the readers as often as it’d clarify things for them, adding layers of complexity and oddball humour to events that would inevitably spin out of Ross’s control, as T’Challa (aka “the client”) would not exactly be inclined to share his plans-within-plans to his American liaison.

None of this is spelled out at the beginning of the series, yet in hindsight is clearly exemplified both by the bizarre opening page and the fantastic final scene, book-ending Ross’s discomfort perfectly. I mean, the guy lost his pants (why, we won’t find out for a while yet, much to Nikki’s frustration) while attempting to represent his Wakandan client, is stuck with a drunk warrior and giant rats, and has to deal with the sudden appearance of the Lord of Lies, Mephisto himself! It’s the inclusion of Mephisto that really made me sit up and take notice, not only for the comedic value instilled in the excellently written and drawn in the final few pages, but for the sheer unbridled embracing of the Marvel Universe as a whole.

Priest had the chance to play things straight, steeping the stories in realism and “keeping it real”, so to speak. Instead he uses the politics and real human drama as background to a bevy of mad Marvel ideas that are often too silly or sometimes just too outdated for their own good yet completely fit in the shameless, irreverent, Ross-driven framework that the writer conjures up. While Sal Velluto would end up being the definitive artist on Black Panther for me, Mark Texeira offers a strong opener, giving everything the necessary grit but not without the equally required comedic touches. Coupled with colours that are either bright or subdued where necessary, and high-quality paper-stock, this issue is a real pretty sight, a comic that felt like it was worth its money at the time and even more so now, after the multiple rereads.

It’s a damn shame, then, that Marvel has only collected the first 12 issues (in two separate trades) of the entire 62-issue run that Priest wrote, while giving pretty much anything currently published at least a trade paperback if not a prestige hardcover, usually undeservedly so. What’s even worse is that the current Black Panther series is everything that Priest’s incarnation was not, which is like rubbing salt in the cancellation wound: “Here’s the title you loved back, only it has nothing in common other than the name of the letters column. And oh yeah, it’s really badly written too. Psyche!”

In short, this was an opening salvo that more than paid off, paving the way for many twists and turns and recurring themes of friendship of betrayal and plain old weirdness. Priest worked on Power Man & Iron Fist back in the 80s (before it got cancelled—it’s his well-known curse), which was a bit of a buddy-movie book. His Black Panther was a buddy-movie book for the 21st century (slightly ahead of its time, then, being published during the tail end of the 90s) and one that would make for a hilarious and compelling translation on the silver screen, if anyone was ever inclined to approach Priest’s material with the respect it deserves (which I’m sure they won’t).

Well-plotted, well-drawn, well-scripted, even well-edited (yeah, I know, it’s a shocker). One of my favourite first issues ever, without a doubt. To end, a couple of quotes from this first issue that are great examples of Priest's knack for awesome dialogue:

"This is like watching Pulp Fiction on rewind." (it really is!)
"Killing is frowned upon here in the United States." (this still makes me laugh so hard)
"The guy's as dangerous as Batroc. I mean, think about it--he's got no powers or anything." (the underestimation of the century, I daresay :)
"And so..." (meaningless when out of context but picture the scene: bad guy gets a free shot at BP, tries to knife him, fails horribly and is then casually pulled up by his hair (!) to the rooftops in about 10 seconds, where T'Challa decides to torture said bad guy a bit as follows:
"Fear not--my energy dagger is on a non-lethal setting. You will feel only pain." (now that is bad-ass, my friends)
"They took my pants." Because it is funny as hell (heh, I think I made a pun there, considering ;)

Lost In Thought

2006-05-06T11:50:00.000+02:00

I didn't start watching Lost until the second season started. I had gotten my hands on the full first season though and watched the episodes in rapid succession. This led me to the conclusion that Lost certainly had its good moments, but as a whole it all seemed slipshod and ramshackle, with the writers appearing to make things up as they went along to create new wrinkles in an ever more convoluted mystery.

A strong start to the second season made me continue watching the series (it's free, after all, there's a more casual commitment to sit down and watch a tv show than there is to buy monthly comics) but by and large they were starting to lose me as I just got bored more and more. The inclusion of Henry Gale, Lost's best guest character yet, as well as the mysterious map that Locke discovered, did help a lot in revitalizing my interest in the show. Moreover, the episodes are slowly gearing to a climax which no doubt will shake things up amongst the islanders. It feels like there's an actual direction again (a problem most tv series will experience mid-season, as there is the usual lull before the final sweeps, it's all about the ad money after all!)

This week's particular chapter of the lives past and present of those stuck on the island, was enjoyable to watch. A nice surprise opener, and a logical continuance of Michael's return. It was all quite predictable, really, and I read a lot of the character's lines along with them, calling their actions before they actually performed them, especially during the ending. Despite the predictability, and the inanity of Sawyer "losing" his gun to Ana without even noticing (he'd be used to sitting on it, he'd feel it in an instant, but then I guess he's a dumbass), I had a good time watching this. So much so I'm looking forward to rewatching both series 1 and 2 during the summer, once the finale has come and gone, to prepare for the third season and eke out clues and red herrings.

Some theories of mine after this episode are that:

Claire is Jack's half-sister (cementing my idea that Jack is "special", that he's potentially responsible for Locke and Rose being healed just like he healed his wife, without even knowing it. There's apparently something odd in Jack's family's genetics)
there are two groups of others (the barefoot rag-wearing ones the Tailaways encountered during their trek across the island, and the ones who lived in the medical hatch and captured Claire--both groups are insane in their own way)
and Jack's father is potentially the leader Henry speaks of in such awestruck tones (his casket was empty and we've seen him walking around on the island...)

Much like I was taught by the X-Files, I trust no one, least of all the writers :)

I think it's probably the most fun aspect of Lost, the many bones thrown to allow viewers to create out-there theories that could all be true in some way, depending on the writers' whim. I actually suspect a lot of their ideas stem from reading such theories on the internet, on message boards devoted to the show.

Lost is in no way a stellar show, but it can be pretty entertaining, even when I'm shouting at the stupidity on the screen (yeah, I'm no fun to watch tv with, I spout off more commentary than I do on here! :p)

Bring on next week's "?" -- my pick for best episode title of a show ever ;)

Judging A Book By Its Cover - JSA #85

2006-05-05T21:46:00.000+02:00

Usually a George Perez cover is a thing of beauty (it certainly was the best part of Infinite Crisis #7, which I'll lambast this weekend, count on it). This one though, I'm not too sure about. It attempts to convey a certain mood the same way his chilling cover to Avengers v3 #19 did (the return of Ultron), but it sort of falls flat to me. It's like he couldn't be bothered to do a "real" cover and simply did an outline of the five heroes involved, leaving the rest to colorist Tom Smith (who's duly credited on the cover itself, next to Perez's signature). Even Smith didn't put in too much effort though, merely going for a greenish-blue glow. The lack of background isn't so much unsettling as it is boring. As covers go, not an eye-catcher nor a page-turner.

It's fairly representative of the story inside, which is competent and all, but not altogether thrilling. I had expected more of this, to be honest. I wanted the Gentleman Ghost to be spotlighted in a fast-paced, exciting romp, but it's far more middling than that, which can't be helping my favorite obscure DC villain. Like ghosts themselves, I predict that in the end, this arc will just fade away...

Civil War: What Is It Good For? (Absolutely Nothing)

2006-05-03T22:04:00.000+02:00

Unlike Infinite Crisis, I really wasn't looking forward to Civil War, because it smacked of derivative desperation and pathetic pandering. We've been hammered with hype for months now and we already knew the following:

1. Civilians die during a New Warriors-related battle.

2. American citizens get all pissed.

3. Captain America and Iron Man will be on opposing sides of the question: should the heroes be forced to register or not.

Guess how much we learned after this first issue?

This is plot-hammering to the nth degree: because a villain decides to blow up a school in Stamford (causing 900 casualties, including several classic Warriors--I'm sure the surviving inhabitants of DC's Blüdhaven will cry them a river...), suddenly all heroes are responsible by default, being called "baby-killers" by apparent losers who owe their existence to the people they're suddenly decrying. There is no logical progress here, we're just quickly jumping ahead to the point that's necessary for the fireworks to start (only they don't start yet, of course, that'd be too soon!)

Yes, I understand that the New Warriors working for reality tv is a factor, in that they underestimated the villains they engaged in combat because of a desire for ratings. But that wouldn't make the entire country rally against all the superheroes. It's forced.

What's even more forced is having the FF, the Avengers and the X-Men all gather (with several other heroes, one of whom should be in freaking prison still, yet not enough of them to really see the diversity of the MU) to express some slapdash viewpoints on why they should or shouldn't register, followed by the "momentous" appearance of the Watcher, who "only appears to record moments of great change and cosmic upheaval". In other words, Millar uses him as a tool to lend importance to a flailing plot, same way as Lobdell did during the abominable Onslaught saga (or Harras during Galactic Storm, although at least in that story, consequences were grave for the space-faring alien cultures that are part and parcel of the MU like the Kree and the Shi'ar).

Nearly a third of the total page-count is spent on Captain America's confrontation at and subsequent escape from the SHIELD helicarrier, because of course he isn't willing to comply with the bitchy new director, Maria Hill (yet another useless Bendisian Mary-Sue character). It's all nicely drawn, but Millar forgets he's not writing Ultimate Cap, the way I see it. This is a Bad Thing. (I can't help it, I loathe the Ultimates.)

Then we cut to the end, where there's hemming and hawing amongst some people at the White House, with three classic heroes taking up a full page to proclaime they'll take care of Cap. Let the "Civil War" begin (wouldn't it be a Hero War? I'm just saying). How utterly exciting.

I was expecting the worst, which admittedly I didn't get. But I didn't get a very satisfying story either. I got a concept, as it has been provided on Newsarama, all bones but no flesh. And as skillful as Steve McNiven is, he's just not very organic, often turning out stiff faces and poses, hampering the flow of the story instead of enhancing it.

I appreciate that this story is not aimed at me. It's meant for a wide range of readers, mostly the newer ones, who are less familiar with the Marvel Universe and who can still feel excitement when all the heroes gather for a big brawl. I've seen it happen many, many times though, from Secret Wars to the Infinity Gauntlet to Onslaught (not to mention the DC counterparts), and frankly, I don't give a damn anymore (yeah, I just had to work that in somehow :p)

There's more to it than just me being jaded though. I was excited at the opening chapter of Infinite Crisis, which may have many flaws indeed, as a whole, but it still managed to get me into the story. Civil War remains entirely neutral, verging into the territory of assitude in certain places. The worst part is that it'll carry over in a whole bunch of ongoings over at Marvel that I actually enjoy. I'm very wary whether the spill-over won't diminish my enjoyment of the books involved. At least my precious Runaways remain safe (for now).

The concept's okay enough, I guess, but the execution is that of a mere fanboy (as was to be expected, in all honesty) and so my interest is already flat on its face. I'll follow the story through friends' copies or at the store just to see if I'll be pleasantly surprised (you never know whether something will actually improve along the way), but so far I'm highly doubtful. It may have some nice-looking scenes here and there, it may have some ideas, no matter how bare-bone they are, but it's got no cohesion or genuine internal logic to it, making it plodding and unengaging. I have no desire to see heroes "go to war" over something as inane as this. My suspension of disbelief just won't go along with it.

I realize this will make me look like an ogre to some (because isn't Marvel the greatest? and doesn't Millar just rock?) but hey, it's how I feel. For the record, I'm a major Marvel zombie who got into comics thanks to Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four... DC characters will always hold second place. However, the publishing practices are another matter entirely. There's a lot I don't agree with over at DC, but whenever Quesada opens his mouth, he manages to irk me (his thoughts on the Spider-Man/Mary-Jane marriage, for instance). Quite the talent, since I'm not looking to be irked (as much as I like to complain, I don't like to be actually pissed in general about the universe that captured my heart to begin with).

So. Whose side am I on? Well... DC's, I guess :)

To The One I Love

2006-05-02T12:50:00.000+02:00

"And there came a day, unlike any other day..."

No, it wasn't the forming of the Avengers, it was the day, three years ago now, when the love of my life, after me having been in love with her for years, agreed to date me, which was only intended as a happy summer fling at the time, but all too soon ended up being the most wonderful, satisfying relationship with a beautiful, adorable, supremely fantastic woman whom I wouldn't want to be without for all the wages in the whole wide world :)

My darling Sequoia, you are everything I've ever dreamed of and far, far more. You surprise and delight me each and every day we are together and bring me happiness beyond measure. I want the entire world to know that you are my lady love, my one and only, and that I pledge my ever-lasting devotion to you. I love you, sweetheart, I always will! I am beyond grateful that you and I are building a future together. May the force (and in my case, oft-times farce) be with us! :D

Happy anniversary, petatje!

Hulk Minus One

2006-05-02T09:31:00.000+02:00

Ah, Marvel’s Flashback Month, I remember it well. It was the year of our lord 1997, the merry month of May. Virtually every single title they published that month was released as a “Minus One” issue (see also: DC’s Zero Month and One Million Month). A young, naive me figured that this would be the perfect place to jump on as regular reader of all these titles, as I had previously only been concentrating on Spider-Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Heroes Reborn books (yes, I was one of those suckers buying them, they were my jump-on point to American Marvel comics alongside Spider-Man’s “Revelations”, talk about auspicious starts, eh? ;)) and the new series like Thunderbolts, Ka-Zar and Deadpool. Mmm, the great days...

As it turned out, most of the Flashback issues were clunkers or not much more than fill-in stories. Some writers would use the concept of going back to a past before the hero was first published into his own magazine fruitfully, creating an added building block for future stories. One of the most successful efforts was Peter David’s Hulk for that month, entitled “Grave Matters”.

In it, he and Adam Kubert team up with none other than a grave-digging Stan Lee himself to reveal to the already-tortured psyche of the Hulk what exactly happened to Bruce Banner’s father. Even if one has never read about the Hulk and has daddy issues before, I think this story still packs some punch due to the fantastic storytelling and art, not to mention the fabulous ending.

The Hulk has been knocked out in the previous issue after a fight with a tyrannosaur back in the Savage Land. While Wolverine is dragging him to the Xavier Mansion, PAD makes use of his unconsciousness to trigger a flashback to his origins, even though it all happens before that fateful day at the gamma bomb test site. Stuck in a gigantic graveyard, the Hulk encounters a scrawny little man who turns out be Stan “the Man” himself. Stan was used in all the Flashback stories, usually presenting the tale while interrupting the cliffhanger of the previous issue. Here though, he is an actively participating character, using his “Kirby theater” (nice touch) to illustrate the memory that Bruce Banner has been suppressing for a lifetime.

I love Hulk’s questioning “And you’ll... tell it?” with Stan’s reply “Nah! I haven’t told one of your stories in ages!” That’s the kind of playfulness I like in a Peter David comic. And there is playfulness aplenty in Stan’s character, with his ever-changing bandana (featuring a different character’s logo with each changing panel) and his jumping around, breaking the fourth wall with reckless abandon.

Using actual young-Banner actors with hand-held masks to introduce or end a certain scene is a stroke of genius. It adds another layer of surreality to the events, which are portrayed with glee and irreverence while they actually represent one of the most shocking events in Bruce’s life, which certainly must’ve helped lead to the awesome fury of the Hulk. The contrast enriches the story rather than detracting from it. Another bizarre touch is a white cat who’d show up often during Kubert’s run on the book. I am unclear whether the cat was meant to be a specific character (Bruce’s mother? The Leader?!) or whether it was just an artistic quirk he liked to throw in, but it’s fascinating to see the cat all over the issue, on the cover, during the final confrontation, and watching Hulk on the chilling final page. I should try to find out online what the deal was, exactly...

The first “real” flashback scene featuring Bruce and general Ross is a nice example of Kubert’s skill as a storyteller and an artist, neatly revolving the camera around the room, each panel a different viewpoint, creating a circling motion in just 4 panels. Speaking of those 4 panels, Adam Kubert’s work on the Hulk is full of four-panel grids, which I would usually call lazy but in his case he’s able to squeeze as much out of those 4 panels as humanly possible. This makes me really excited about his upcoming work on Action Comics, for which he should be perfectly suited depending on the quality of the plots (here’s hoping!) Kubert is also fond of using sudden extreme close-ups, often with images reflected in glasses or eyeballs, that might not work as well in another medium but reach another desired effect of intensity here. And how about the creepy puppet-face of Bruce’s crazy, wife-murdering father? Now that’s a great image!

The thrust of the story is that Bruce had actually taken his father, who was responsible for the death of his mother, into his own home once he was released from prison, supposedly cured of his insanity. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, as Brian Banner begins to break down once more, hating his son for being different, seeing monsters in him where there aren’t any... yet. During a climactic scene at Rebecca Banner’s gravesite, the Hulk finally remembers who was responsible for Brian’s death and more importantly, how it may have led to his own dark birth.

Intertwined with Brian’s downfall is another “birth” of sorts: the origin of Thunderbolt Ross’s insistence that Bruce is a “spineless milksop”, as he would call him throughout the years. When Ross, the Hulk’s eternal foe, tells Banner to “Be a man, if not for your late mother’s sake, then yours”, it’s just all the more ironic, considering the numerous times he’s had to face the monster instead. His imminent resurrection at the time was probably one of the reasons for Ross’s strong presence in this tale, which suits me just fine, as he’s always been one of my favourite supporting cast characters. It’s just a pity that they haven’t done altogether much with him since Peter David brought him back from the dead.

In any case, seeing this unfold before his eyes causes the Hulk to wail in frustration and actually break down, making the character tragic and fearsome all over again in one fell swoop. There’s a reason why Peter David’s Hulk run was a seminal body of work and this is one of the best examples why. Sure, he’s had his flaws and foibles along the way, but this was a true high point for the series (and for Flashback month itself).

In the end, Stan and his merry band of actors turn all ghostly as they turn away, musing that “more than ever... Hulk just wants to be left alone.” Using that typical, recognisable catch-phrase and turning it into a chilling chapter-ender with a whole new meaning to it, is yet another stroke of genius. And look at that creepy picture with the headstones on top of giant headstones, and the Hulk in a tiny circle of light, brought to his knees! And the eerie colours, and the perfect lettering (John Workman is a god). This will always remain one of the very best single issue tales I’ve ever read. Many thanks to Peter David, Adam Kubert and Mark Farmer for creating a modern classic up there with something like FF #51, “This Man, This Monster” (yes, I think it’s that good, sue me! :))

Why Stan Is The Man (plus: Leave It To Busiek #1)

2006-05-01T22:55:00.000+02:00

While I first got into Marvel comics, and while the bulk of my collection still consists out of Marvel back issues, I have lost a lot of my love for both the company and its universe ever since Joe Quesada arrived at the scene. A lot of this has to do with his boneheaded ideas, but also with his approach to the Distinguished Competition. His digs at DC not only feel childish and petty, they're also out of place because they almost invariably can be traced back right to his own company's practices. Back in the 70s, Marvel and DC were, as always, vying for the top spot as well, but as you can tell from Stan's Soapbox below (taken from the Hulk #231, cover-dated January 1979), he took shots as well, but it comes across as charming rather than obnoxious. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive to Quesada now, because I'm having to suffer through his creative decisions while anything decided by Marvel in the 70s is ages in the past. But I still think that Stan knew how to keep the fires stoked without becoming a snotnosed brat. I'll just let him speak for himself:

In that same issue, there is a letter from a certain fellow called Kurt Busiek. He was a regular letterhack in those days, whose writing would appear in many books across the board. I'm just sharing this one because it's always neat to see what current-day pros thought of their would-be colleagues back in the day. Of note is his desire to see Stingray again, a desire he carried all the way into his run on Avengers, where he had Walter Newell guest-star for several issues during his (all-too-long) Kang War storyline. I'm certain that upon my rereading of the 70s Marvel books in my possession, I'll stumble onto more Busiek-letters, which I'll gladly put up here, if only to underscore that yes, Busiek always wins (Fanboy Rampage reference, never mind).

That's all for today, as the midnight hour is close at hand. I planned on writing a little bit on Peter David's Flashback issue of the Hulk, but that'll have to be for tomorrow, which also marks me and my sweetheart's third anniversary as a couple. A joyous occasion, to be sure! :) Here's hoping I won't end up being too lazy to write it! ;)

Batman #652 - Face The Face, part 4

2006-04-30T22:49:00.000+02:00

Batman hasn’t been this good for a long, long time.

The halfway point of the “Face The Face” arc running through both Batman and Detective Comics marks another high point in moody, well-paced writing, pretty much what I expect from James Robinson, whose work on Starman remains one of my personal highlights among the tens of thousands comics I’ve read so far.

I’m very fond of the way Robinson brings everything to a slow boil while also packing the arc with classic (and some not-so-classic) villains from Batman’s past, whether they are intended to be killed off or to provide a casual challenge for the Dark Knight Detective and his trusty sidekick. Villains are dying left and right (we’ve reached the point where I’m genuinely upset about the demise of one of them) and everything points to a supposedly sane Harvey Dent. I still have strong doubts about his guilt, which is to the writer’s credit. He provides enough ambiguity to make us wonder, while also enabling one to just take everything at face value.

The scenes between Batman and Bullock are choreographed perfectly, as the tension between them is evident through both dialogue and art. I was a bit perplexed at this tension though, as I remember Bullock being the one who felt a strong distaste for Batman rather than the other way around. I’m presuming that 52 will cover the necessary background details to provide a clearer context. Even without that context though, the rooftop scene was played out well. You can tell Robinson likes to give his scripts a cinematic feel, so it is lucky for him and us both that the art of Don Kramer (ably enhanced by Michael Bair and Wayne Faucher) excels at telling a clear, visually exciting story. More on that later.

The confrontation between Bruce and Harvey, interspersed with Robin joyfully battling (a new?) Killer Moth, was strange, for it seems odd that Harvey has compact explosives handy behind his desk if he were an innocent man. But then, Two-Face has been cured before and invariably went insane once more, so who is to say the same thing hasn’t happened again? The thing is though, as trusting as Batman has become of Tim (hence the scene where he lets him fight Killer Moth on his own, or so I interpreted it), he still can’t find it in him to grant a long-time enemy and former friend the same kind of trust. Granted, the evidence is there, but who better than Bruce Wayne to know how evidence can be forged to make the impossible seem plausible? Batman’s whispered “Harvey” in the concluding panel expresses a world of disappointment, in his friend and in himself. Down what twisted road this will lead them, we’ll find out in the next several chapters. This chapter was most effective in tipping the scales, bringing Dent ever closer to his recurring madness. I am intrigued to find out whether Batman will end up being responsible for the rebirth of Two-Face, or if Robinson has something more original in mind.

I also want to give Robinson (and his editors) props for using such a varied array of villains in this arc so far, from Poison Ivy and Mad Hatter to KGBeast and a surprise guest bad-girl who hasn’t been seen since Larry Hama wrote the book—deservedly so, because she was a distinctly lame addition to Batman’s gallery of rogues. Maybe I’ll do a short profile or review of the three-parter she starred in sometime soon. It had nice art, at least. In any case, related to the discovery of said villain, Robinson deserves praise for making Batman a detective again. He uses his skills and his technical abilities to find the truth, rather than just beating people up like a total goon (see: Hush). He comes across as sane and balanced as well, which is a strangely refreshing change of pace. All in all, a perfect blend of 70s-style Batman with modern-day trappings.

On the artistic front, I am definitely pleased. Neither Don Kramer nor his fellow artist over in Detective Comics, Leonard Kirk, are superstar artists, nor do they have a style which immediately leaps out at you in the way of a J.H. Williams III or a Kubert brother. However, both of them have undeniable storytelling skill. The composition of each page is a thing of beauty and the layout of the chapters as a whole is impeccable and thrilling. Comics are a visual medium, so I become really happy when I can just flick through a comic without having to read any words but still understand what’s going on. Moreover, everything looks “real” without relying on boring photo-realism (i.e. copying). Iconic, imaginative and dramatic: three key words for good superhero art that far too many “hot” artists ignore just so they can show off their over-rendered line-work—three key words that are more than evident in this arc.

Kramer’s depiction of Bullock is a particular favourite of mine: the ever-constant cigar smoke, the hat and raincoat making him as much a creature of the night, in his own seedy way, as Batman is. It’s just perfect. Everything in the issue looked nice, but the Bullock panels just had that little bit of extra oomph that really made the scenes for me.

It’s been two months of One Year Later books already, time sure flies. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a creative success. Batteries seem recharged, properties have been revitalised. The trick will be to keep the momentum going, but I have no real worries there when it comes to the two main Bat-titles. Between James Robinson and the upcoming Dini and Morrison, 2006 looks like a stellar year for Bat-fans :)

Doctor... Who?

2006-04-29T22:18:00.000+02:00

I remember watching episodes of Doctor Who (I think it was the Tom Baker years) back when I was little, in the early 80s. It was mainly the Daleks (alongside the title music) that were imprinted on my mind rather than the Doctor himself or his companions, but I was never in a position to seek out the older material, nor did I have the impetus to do so, as the series had been canceled and interest in past seasons was minimal to non-existant, over here in Belgium.

So when the new series kicked off in 2005, I wasn't sure what to expect or how much I'd like it. Would it be like Buffy, where I got sucked in at first and then ended up being pretty much repulsed by the series as a whole due to offensively bad writing and acting? Or would it be more like Star Trek: TNG, where my love for TOS--another series I watched in black and white as a kiddie, too young to really have clear recollections of all the stories--was eclipsed by this new fresh start? (Despite a great many atrocious episodes penned throughout its 7 seasons, TNG will always hold a special place in my heart, unlike Buffy). So far I'm leaning towards the TNG-feeling, although we're only 2 seasons in and I adored BtVS up until the 3rd season finale, so who knows what the future will bring?

All this to say that I am, in principle, a total newbie fan of Doctor Who--and frankly, I am incredibly eager for the BBC to put out nice dvd box sets chronicling the various Doctor's encounters with Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, and so on. For you see, this current new incarnation of the series stands well enough on its own, but by referring to old stories in ways both subtle and explicit, I am intrigued by what came before, even though it's not crucial to the current goings-on. Which is what I call the miracle of continuity: jumping in at a particular point and having one's imagination captured enough to want to seek out what came before alongside what is to come. Some think of it as a burden, especially in the world of superhero comics, but I see it as an enriching experience. Thanks to the many resources available on the internet, I'm learning more and more with each passing episode (and each accompanying new foray into past exploits, to place the latest story in its proper context).

Take tonight's episode, "School Reunion", for instance. I was excited to watch it because of the excellent acting skills of Tony Head, once and former Rupert Giles, one of my favorite characters on the aforementioned Buffy show--who was slated to play the role of evil, charismatic villain in tonight's showing (and he performed right on key).
But seeing the current, Tenth Doctor reunited with one of his former companions (as well as a metal pet called K-9, not to be confused with the useless K-Fed) was an unexpected joy to watch, despite being unfamiliar with said companion. Writing and acting alike were able to create a sense of wonder (and fun!) about this aging woman stumbling onto the TARDIS once more, seeing herself reflected in the far younger Rose, the enigmatic Doctor's current traveling buddy, as she once was. By highlighting her important role in the title character's past (and easily having her play her part in the modern-day adventure), I automatically became even more interested in that selfsame past. Unlike superhero comics though, it appears rather difficult to delve into the old serials, which is why I'm genuinely hoping that the current revival will lead to dvd's of the older episodes, much like Marvel and DC are providing their rich past in phonebook sized Essentials and Showcases. I really enjoy how this series is geared towards a newer audience while also seeming quite respectful to its long-time fans.

In any case, I may not be immediately privy to much of the Doctor's past, but you can be sure I want to be around for his future! (here's hoping the future will contain more Daleks. Seriously, Daleks rock. Let's see the Daleks and the Borg team up against, say, Doctor Doom! Ah, the joys of raging fanboyism :)

Heading Towards Alpha

2006-04-29T19:57:00.000+02:00

It's the 29th of April, a completely arbitrary day to (re)start a weblog that'll focus on what I love, what I loathe, and everything in-between. Random thoughts, bizarre insights and a lot of rambling will be your lot if you follow these html-enhanced scribblings.

As busy and crowded as life may be, I feel things are in an upward spiral. Not the Icarus type though, for the most part thanks to the love of my life, whom I hope to get involved in this here blog as well. As such I want to make a decent attempt to write something, anything, every day, be it witty, interesting or lame (despite an evident preference for the former, odds are on the latter, be warned!)

Fiction can be fun, it can also be horrid. Here's to sharing the good and the bad! :)