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Sunday, July 31, 2005
Quick thoughts on The Aristocrats
I'm hella hungover so I can only give you this as a write-up.
Bob Saget is a sick fuck and I love him for it. Mimes and ventriloquist acts are funny when they include incest and fucking bullet holes. Phyllis Diller talking about bestiality is very satisfying. Andy Richter and Doug Stanhope are great fathers. The biggest loss is that Micahel O'Donoghue apparently did a version of the joke that's 30 minutes long but is no longer here to tell it.
Let me explain it so us comic book fans will understand: imagine if everybody in Hollywood decided to get together to create Ivan Brunetti's next comic. It's a wonderful film.
At the end of the film they say you can go to their website and record your version of the joke for the DVD release (it's under the "Be an Artistocrat" contest link). I'm thinking of doing it but I'm dissapointed the rules say it has to be under 10 minutes. Oh well, limitations can breed great art.
Permanent Link: 3:08 PM |
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Friday, July 29, 2005
Super F*ckers #1
There’s a character in James Kochalka new superhero book Super F*ckers that owns a glass case, inside of which is a time pocket that perfectly preserves a moment in time of that character’s younger days. When there’s a danger of the glass shell protecting that moment in time breaking the character, a lad by the name of Vortex, warns that “the past will collide with the present and we’ll all be destroyed!” The past colliding with the present, and perhaps the following destruction of such a collision, seems to be what Super F*ckers is all about. Kochalka has sculpted a team of super powered teenagers that is a rude and hilarious parody of superhero comics as well as a love letter to the superhero comics that inspired it.
Super F*ckers features the wonderfully simple and deceptively juvenile artwork of James Kochalka in full color this time around. This is a superhero book, albeit one that doesn’t look like any superhero book of today or yesterday, so you’ve got to have bright colors for all the kids flying around in their spiffy costumes and shooting lightning bolts at each other. Except the Super Fuckers (the team themselves doesn’t censor their own name) don’t really get to fighting as many intergalactic space battles as the super teams before them did. Instead, the teens live in their own little headquarters where they proceed to annoy the shit out of each other. Excuse my language but upon reading Super F*ckers you’d understand my choice of words. As you’ve probably judged by the title, this is a comic book that takes a distinct delight in the poetry of profanity. The X-Men might have Wolverine with his claws but the Super Fuckers have Jack Krak and his never ending potty mouth. Phrases, spoken by Krak and others, like “son of a cunt,” “that reeks like rotten pussy” and the ever-lovely “get ready for a cum explosion of hate and pain” give the dialogue of this comic dynamism all its own. There’s a confident glee taken in the immaturity of these teenagers, spoiled by their powers and status of celebrities, that nevertheless still paints them as the dysfunctional group they are. All this behavior combined with the clear and uncomplicated artwork makes this book feel like an adult went back to the comics he or she drew as a child, perhaps the most honest comics done in the genre of fantastic fiction, and recreated them with the cynical outlook of a grown-up. I can’t think of any other comic that gives this impression but it’s a welcome one.
Lest this book becomes another superhero comic of many that takes that position that “superheroes in the real world would be horrible people,” Kochalka does hit all the right beats in making this story a fun and entertaining read. There are creators like Chris Claremont or Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen that crafted tales of teenage superheroes that were long-running soap operas and amassed cult followings for being so. Kochalka celebrates this style of telling ensemble tales with Super F*ckers. With the teenage years every event is heightened to full-on drama and this team is filled with enough characters, especially the kids outside the headquarters trying to join the team a la Legion of Super-Heroes, with their individual peculiarities that the book becomes an absorbing and comfortable superhero story all on its own. In fact, the poisonous dysfunction that the team has to deal with is the logical extrapolation of what Claremont started with Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants. While the superhero comics of today seem like they are in perpetuate reruns by recycling the feel of those books in the ’80s, Super F*ckers take that traditional and processes it through one artist’s singular style. Super F*ckers is a book I hope that lasts for a very long time.
Permanent Link: 10:08 AM |
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Thursday, July 28, 2005
The director's eye
I don’t know about you but sometimes the superhero movies of today leave me a bit cold. Call me arrogant if you must but I will say that I believe I can do a better job directing these films than the guys reaping in that Hollywood dough right now.
Sometimes I hear a song on the radio and I get a whole scene in my head of what could make up the next comic book-to-film blockbuster. Let me give just a glimpse of some of the ideas I’ve got, some superhero scenes I’d like to see. Play the songs mentioned here while reading for full effect.
Batman 2
The movie opens the camera swooping all over Gotham City at night. The Gorillaz’s “Feel Good Inc.” is the soundtrack. Cut between the shots establishing of Batman’s home is television footage informing us that since the events of Batman Begins Gotham has gone Bat-crazy. There are iPod commercials that have a silhouette of some Bat creature dancing to the songs he listens to. Donald Trump is dressed in a Batman suit and declaring “Donna, you’re Bat-fired.”
During the first hip-hop break of the song we see the Joker’s gang (although not the Joke himself) committing a bank robbery. This is not just any bank robbery; this is a heavily choreographed hip-hop musical number. Breakdancing and modern dance are all thrown in to show the robbers’ bravado and the citizens’ fear.
During Damon Albarn’s second quiet bit we get a wide shot, where outside on Gorham’s street with someone very far away walking towards us. He’s dressed in a stylish purple suit, has green hair and oh so white skin. The screen has a “wavy” look to it, like someone left the gas on too long. While he is staring down at his feet while he walks yet we can tell he has a very large, very knowing grin on his face.
Then, right on cue as the second hip-hop break comes in. The Joker bursts through the bank doors and reveals his face, which is full of manic glee (The Joker will be played by Dave Chapelle). The dancing continues but now The Joker is center stage as the rest of the players move about him in a circle. He fills the place with his laughing gas as the song ends with crazed, high-pitched laughing.
Fantastic Four 2
It’s the inside of Dr. Doom’s new palace in Latveria. For a while there have been rumors of his resurrection at the hands of the country’s greatest scientists (some say Doom planned this all along). We are at one end of the palace’s throne room, where a giant staircase leads to gigantic doors. Along the staircase are platforms where many have waited to see their master’s reappearance. There are the beautiful women of Doom’s harem. There the masked executioners that guard the man. There are even strikingly handsome soldiers, each one thinking of ways to depose this new ruler so they can lead the country.
Suddenly, an excited man in a red tuxedo and with a pencil thin mustache exclaims that the time is here, Doom will now remerge. The soundtrack pumps Louis XIV’s “Louis XIV” into the theater. We see the doors open, but the angle is too high to see anyone enter through them. We see metallic boots step on the stairs and a metallic glove turn into a fist. All the while the people on the staircase looking on are filled with an equal mix of surprised, fear and admiration.
When the singer sings “me, me, me, me is all you think that I care about” we get our first hard look at Victor Von Doom’s face. It’s a cold, steel mask that has plenty of detail to it. Maybe, just maybe, you can hear the fair laugh of a man who knows he has been wronged but will be shown as victorious in the end.
Doctor Strange: The Movie!
We got a shot of Dr. Stephen Strange’s Greenwich Village home, where there seems to be a party going on. Inside there certainly is. It looks like something Andy Warhol, Michael Antonioni and Ken Kesey would get together and put on. The jukebox is playing Donavan’s “Sunshine Superman.” Women whip their long hippie hair all about. Men look suave with their Beatle haircuts and small sunglasses. It’s the biggest happening of 1968!
All during the get together there is talk of when the man of the hour will show up. There are rumors about him swirling. We hear that he’s crazy, a genius, a madman or mixture of the first two. During the fun strange, mystical things keep happening, like people tripping over an old bookshelf and finding themselves sucked into the portal to another dimension.
Then the people stop whatever it is they’re doing and look towards the bedroom. The good Doctor Strange makes his entrances just as soon as Donavan sings “Superman and Green Lantern ain’t got a-nothing on me.” He is all knowing and wise but his lips do hint at a sly smile. Strange will be played by Andre Braugher.
Another scene from Doctor Strange: The Movie!
Now that the gathering of last night is over the Doctor retires to his favorite chair and meditates. He is trying to make his way to another world where something named Dormammu rules with an evil mind. Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses” comes on. The screen goes totally black except for the body of Strange, which we can still see.
As soon as the wah-wah guitar comes in we find Strange and ourselves in a completely different environment. Imagine a mix between Casino Royale and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Strange is used to it, it is no surprise to him. The place is meant to recreate Ditko’s wonderful creations on a movie screen, but all effects must be in camera. No CGI. This film has to look like it’s the most exciting film from 1968.
Iron Man
This from an idea of the esteemed Kid Chris.
It’s a simple enough idea, but it’s effective. Tony Stark, played here by Mario Van Peebles, has given in to the terrorist demands, the terrorists who kidnapped him and the rest of the passengers of Stark Inc.’s private jet.
They demand Stark use his brains to give them a whole new weapon of mass destruction. Stark is in the lab cooking it up but all the while we see the determination in his eyes, how he just may have one-up on these fiends who think Stark is their pawn.
Soon his armor is completed, designed by H.R. Geiger as a continuation of the design Steve Ditko introduced in Tales of Suspense #48. As the camera pans from the ceiling down to reveal the whole costume we hear the opening thuds of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”. As Stark looks on proudly at the invention that will grant him freedom Tony Iommi’s B minor riff kicks in and everyone knows it’s time to rock.
Just some of my ideas where superhero franchises both old and new could go.
***
Hey, if you love superhero movies you’ll love Jeffery Brown! Check out this snazzy review of AEIOU by that mofo Ian Brill! It’ll be fun, fun, fun!!!
Permanent Link: 12:08 PM |
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Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Critically damaged
I'll admit it, this was just an excuse to post the cover of one of my favorite albums.
Last week SPIN Magazine’s 100 Greatest Albums of 1985-2005 made the rounds on various blogs. I found out about it from Tom and my reaction was similar to Tim and Augie’s, namely that is a music critic’s paradise.
Now, I adore the vast majority of the albums represented there but let’s not kid ourselves, these are albums that appeal to people who think and analyze music very seriously, perhaps for a living. That’s not the only people these albums appeal to; many were huge hits with a wide audience. It’s just that albums like Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet give writers a lot to write about. Be it in books, magazine columns or liner notes to “deluxe editions” that’s the kind of music that let’s the pontificators pontificate. I’m talking from experience here, those are three of my favorite albums and while I’m not a rock critic I do love rock criticism (the good examples of it anyway). It’s interesting to go an about the mix of the avant-garde and punk rock in SY’s music (you can name drop Ornette Coleman and The Ramones! Score!). MBV created the weirdest sounding record that is still filled with pop songs. PE’s politics, vocal delivery and the complex production of the Bomb Squad is the kind of hip-hop that critics love to eat up. Looking at SPIN’s list the only thing I can get out of it is that it’s just writers celebrating what they like writing about.
I wonder if this doesn’t create a kind of disconnect with the rest of the music buying/downloading audience. The best reactions I saw to this list were the ones where people suggested what they thought should be on the list (Tom did it and more people did it in the comments section). It’s there that I saw that disconnect. While a lot of those albums are ones that got good reviews most of them are not ones that music pundits are going to come back to again and again. I think Foo Fighter’s The Colour and the Shape has a lot of great songs on it, with “Monkey Wrench” and “Everlong” being among my favorite Foo songs. Still, the band simply gives us well played rock and roll songs that are fun to listen to. Rarely do we see the emotional depth of Dave Grohl’s previous band, Nirvana. The song craft doesn’t have that striking contrast of ugly sounds and beautiful tunefulness that Kurt Cobain brought. Cobain had a lot of weird and disturbing lyrics, which is basically creates a feeding frenzy for writers. Foo Fighters’ songs are much more straight forward and easy to listen to. The band definitely rocks hard when it wants to but it’s more like a “fist pumping arena” rocking instead of “really good band at a seedy punk club” rocking (it’s sentence like this one that prove why I’m not a paid music critic). The difference is most evident when comparing Grohl and Cobain’s screams. Cobain’s was haunting while Grohl’s is energizing and fun. It’s no surprise Nevermind and In Utero made SPIN’s list while the Foo Fighters are not to be found.
That’s where I wonder about music critics speaking a different language than the majority of fans. For most people Foo Fighters’ well done rocking is enough and as much as someone likes Nirvana there’s no desire to examine it at length. That’s where the dissimilarity comes up. Critics and most audience members are looking for different things when it comes to music. Critics love music (I know they can appear negative a lot but they started the job because of an enthrallment with sound) and want to figure out how something works and why it doesn’t work. Most of the music fans out there have jobs that don’t have anything to do with music and play a CD because they simply want to have fun and escape the stress of the day. There’s a Hell of a lot in between these two and I do fear I’m generalizing here but this is something I notice around me.
It’s not just music critics either. Can a film critic who sees almost every movie released in a year and whose job is to think over every one possibly speak to the person who sees only two or three movies in the theater out of the year? Can we comic book pundits who come up with 1000+ words about a Batman comic mean anything to the fan who just wants to read his favorite superhero? And who the Hell listens to television critics?
I ask these questions to spark some kind of debate because the fact is I have no definitive answers to those questions. I like to think there’s a common ground between all music, movie and comic book fans so that we can all learn from each other. I just come back to the idea that a critic and a casual fan are on different paths towards satisfaction (i.e.: only one would write something like “different paths towards satisfaction”).
I do defy anyone to find a Wire fan isn’t coming at it from a music critic’s perspective, though. To paraphrase a Brian Eno quote: not many people bought Pink Flag but everyone who did tried to do record reviews for their college newspaper.
Permanent Link: 11:55 AM |
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Monday, July 25, 2005
Nerd rage!
That there is part of the cover of Brian Posehn's new album Nerd Rage (see the whole picture here).
I can assure you that Posehn is one of the damn finest comedians working today. I was fortunate enough to see him when the first Comedians of Comedy tour rolled into Los Angeles. There were many laughs that night and Posehn's bits about Star Wars, high school reunions and what kind of audience members ruin movies were some of the top moments. Hey, why don't you relive the memories with me by reading my report on that night?
As all you Powers fans probably realized that's Micahel Avon Oeming doing the cover art, and quite lovely it is. I heard that Posehn and Patton Oswalt are taking over the Powers letter page for an issue. I don't read Powers but that seems like something worth reading.
I've been awaiting this album for a while and thought I'd alert all you other comedy fans out there. At this point I'm more into comedy albums than music albums.
Permanent Link: 9:24 PM |
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Friday, July 22, 2005
New e-mail alert
Honestly folks, as I gear up for some birthday celebration I can't really muster up the energy to post about something, even though I have about 1,000 ideas running around my head.
I do have to let you know that if you look at the sidebar you'll notice my e-mail address has changed. If anyone is interested in contacting me please discard the previous Yahoo address and go with good ol' Gmail.
Permanent Link: 3:16 PM |
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
1 2 3 4!
San Diego might not have yielded a lot of exciting news but I did learn something (that some of you might already know) about a project I'm very much anticipating.
Sergio Argones revealed at the "Mark and Sergio" panel that he will one of many cartoonists contributing to a comic book that comes with the new Ramones box set Weird Tales of the Ramones from Rhino Records. Rhino tells us that there will be "illustrations by 25 top comic artists, including Sergio Aragones (Mad magazine), Bill Stout (EC Comics), Bill Griffith (Zippy The Pinhead), Xaime Hernandez (Love And Rockets), and Carol Lay (WayLay)." This TCJ thread informs us that Johnny Ryan, Jordan Crane, Rick Altergott, Steve Weissman and Tim Hensley (an artist I've always wanted to see more of) are also contributing.
Now, I probably own every song on this box set, many of them twice or thrice over. But Argones, Hernandez, Griffith, Ryan, Altergott and more all creating stuff about The Ramones? Sold! The Ramones and comics seem like a perfect match. After all, has there been any band that was able to create such beautiful music while also celebrating "junk culture" so intensely (I know there have been others, like my beloved Stooges, but The Ramones did it the best)? These guys reveled in horror movies, bubblgeum 45's and, of course, comic books. Rhino has such a great history of box sets that this seems like another project that won't disappoint. I feel like two of my greatest loves in pop culture have merged so well here, and I haven't even seen the damn thing yet (so I could be wrong)!
Hell, I'll even leave you with a little Ramones info before I go. Sound Opinions interviewed Tommy Ramones, the last living original Ramone, on their July 19th show. The show is archived on the page linked and you can listen if you have Real Audio. It's a pretty neat interview and apperception of such a wonderful band.
Permanent Link: 11:53 AM |
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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
A quick shout-out
I don't have much today (but I might have San Diego pics tomorrow) but I will tell you of two people who are ending up on the blogroll and I'll tell you why they're ending up there.
Focused Tonality and Double Articulation are new and awesome. A lot of people think they can just get an account through Blog*spot, go on and on about what they bought on Wednesday and that'll be enough. Usually it ain't. The reason why both Mark Fossen and Jim Roeg (any relation to movie director Nicholas Roeg?) have caught mine and many other's attention is because the way they write about comics is smart, reasoned and (this bit being very important) makes me think about the comics I read with them in different ways.
I just read Desolation Jones #2 and thought I'd perhaps go on about it here. After reading Mark's review I figured I have nothing to add, his essay is just that good. Jim shares my interest in Fantastic Four and I think it's great he delves right into Fantastic Four #1 or a John Byrne issue and the recent film. He manages to come up with some interesting thoughts about All Star Batman, a book where there's no shortage of talk about it.
To be honest these guys, along with other bloggers like Jog, make me mad. That is they make me mad at myself. While I'm taking a day to a week to come up with how I'll evaluate a book these guys have their stuff out quickly. That's okay; it pushes me to be a better blogger. I like when this kind of competition springs up, bringing out the best in all of us (that's the idea at least).
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Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Recommended reading
From an L.A. Weekly piece that also appears in tomorrow's Tales Designed to Thrizzle.
There are a lot of things you could buy if you're going to the comic book store tomorrow. You could certainly do a lot worse than picking up the latest Love & Rockets and The Goon books. But if you want quality, and I do mean quality, you will have to spend some of that filthy lucre on Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle.
SDCC might not have had any big debuts like Flight was last year but I can assure that one book appeared there that knocked my socks clean off (and my socks are pretty sturdy). I had enjoyed Kupperman's Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret but having Kupperman take full advantage of the comic book form was really pleasing to me. The book featured many short strips long enough to give you a great joke and are never in danger of overstaying their welcome. The addition of text pieces expanded the humor, such as the in-depth look at sex blimps. In the "Old People's Section" Kupperman tries some new things with strips done in high contrast and indulging in the surreal. I was impressed by Kupperman's talents all over again.
This book takes the template of what Chris Ware has done in Acme Novelty Library by going for a feel that seems out of some forgotten decade. Instead of the dark emotional areas Ware goes, this book is done in the same spirit of silly humor like Monty Python and Mr. Show. Read this book and see a great cartoonist become even greater.
Permanent Link: 6:07 PM |
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Who's the man?
Arnold Drake is the man.
Read Tom Spurgeon's minute-by-minute coverage of the Eisners
Here's the Pulse with the Golden/Silver Age panel, where Drake premiered his song
Seeing Drake at the Bill Finger Award panel was pretty cool, too. Mark Evanier and Jerry Robinson start things off pretty quietly. Drake comes in not even five minutes late and he walks very slowly to the dais with his hands behind his back. I wonder how this is going to shape up. Then the Doom Patrol co-creator proves he's as quick as anyone else in the room with his take on Siegel & Shuster, Mort Weisinger, Jack Schiffer, Bill Finger, Marvel, DC and the whole way this industry treats its creators. I even learned Otto Premigner was a comic book fan. I've always enjoyed Drake's original Doom Patrol stories (he was wearing a DP shirt at the panel and then a different one at the Eisners) but now I have even more respect for him. One Hell of a raconteur and someone who proves he loves the industry by holding it to a higher standard than most.
I don't really have much to add regarding the Eisners ceremony. The only thing of note that I can think of is that on the other side of the aisles there were two guys in their 30's who were really excited when their favorites won. I mean, they went nuts. They'd hoot, holler, high five each other and start ripping up their program because they were just so enthusiastic. I don't think the people who win Eisners remember anything about them by Sunday but I guess these guys still took it pretty serious. I don't begrudge them but it was quite a sight.
Permanent Link: 11:34 AM |
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Monday, July 18, 2005
All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder
I can’t think of a comic I’ve recently read that speaks to the weakness of the “assembly line” and hype-driven world of superhero comics today than this one. It’s not that it is a bad comic, it is that all the good things about this comic are squandered because of such a disconnect between the writing and artwork, the two elements that make up a comic book in the first place.
Frank Miller is a very sly writer. He can occupy that space between serious and non-serious very well. You can never quite tell when he’s joking or if he’s being earnest, probably because he’s so good at both. Dark Knight Returns and some of the Sin City books live for that weird area where the drama gets so amped up it starts resembling comedy, but never quite admits to being either. I like that feeling I get reading those books because I’m never quite sure if Miller is joking or not. To be honest, I don’t want to be sure as it would ruin the reading experience.
I also like when Miller goes “bigfoot” and the question of whether Miller is being serious is not so daunting. The latter Sin City books do that (what other way could they go?). I thought Dark Knight Strikes Again was an uproarious book because it was so pleased with being chaotic and crazy. That all comes from the fact that Miller started the DKSA art style with Roy Crane’s Captain Easy and put it through Harvey Kurtzman MAD books, the incessant noise of 21st Century technology and perhaps a little bit of Gary Panter. Every page was big but not big and glamorous like a lot of DKR. No, it was a lot of big and goofy. It was perfect for Batman, Superman and the rest of DC’s best known characters.
Jim Lee’s artwork can be many things but big and goofy is not one of them. That is a shame because from the script presented here Miller still seems fine with having a bit of fun with his usual “noir” writing. It’s as if Miller read Evan Dorkin’s script to the DKR parody in World’s Funnest (which Miller supplied the artwork for) and thought that it was a perfectly valid way to write a mini-series with a lot of eyes looking towards it. Miller is someone who is so comfortable with the comics medium he can pull it off. He knows so well how to make the Spillane-shtick work he can subvert it with seemingly no effort. Unfortunately, Lee doesn’t seem to be in on the joke.
That’s a shame because it seems to be a joke worth being in on. I smiled more than a few times reading he book. “She’s trouble. The kind of trouble you want,” is how Vicky Vale is introduced to us and it’s a damn fun way to present the femme fatale of the story. Unfortunately Lee presents no exaggeration of the femme fatale trope that Miller calls for. We get many sexy shots of Vale that are meant to be sexy but nothing else, least of all fun and over the top. Lee puts too much energy in crafting typical “bad girl” sexiness there’s nothing else. There’s nothing to distinguish this sequences from the introduction of Voodoo working as a stripper in WildC.A.T.S. #1 or any of the other comic pages Lee has worked on where plastic and boring eye candy is presented.
The problem doesn’t change. Miller gives us quotable lines like “Gotham’s finest. It wouldn’t be ladylike to say finest at what.” There’s well done writing done in a more sober tone for parts such as the murder of Dick Grayson’s parents (Miller could probably do this in his sleep at this point but it’s still good). There’s even the final page where Batman’s utterance to Grayson is a wonderful bit of superhero aggrandizement. For all this what kind of art do we get? Competent but cold early-90’s superhero art.
There’s nothing of Lee’s art that has any personality to it. There’s no part of his style that can properly express the tone Miller seems so set upon. He can draw up a comic book page with people engaging in any type of superheroic action better than most mainstream hacks but all the technical prowess in the world doesn’t make up for the fact that the feeling of raw human emotion is devoid of his work. Looking at character’s faces and their poses I can tell it’s put together very carefully. As a result there’s no part of the book where I felt Lee was bypassing craft and just going straight to putting what was in his gut onto the paper. It’s too damn sterile.
Sterile is the last thing Miller needs in an artist depicting this story. Short of Miller himself perhaps the only person to do this story justice would be Lloyd Llewellyn-era Dan Clowes. Fat chance of seeing that happen.
It’s easy to see why DC wanted to put Miller and Lee together. This is a book that will sell very well, at least in the direct market (where DC would still own half of the market no matter what, big victory there!). The teaming up of these two doesn’t yield anything more worthwhile than that. We have a comic where the two main talents behind it are going in different directions. No matter how much I liked a lot of Miller’s choices in the script the end result is a comic that doesn’t work.
Take the end of Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels. Joel McCrea is so damn earnest in his speech about the importance of making folks laugh, all while clips of the downtrodden in hysterics are superimposed over McCrea and Veronica Lake, that film scholars aren’t sure whether Struges decided to go back on the ironic tone of his film to please people at the studio or if he was taking the irony to a whole new level. Now imagine that scene at the end of some remake of Travels where instead of McCrea we have Vin Diesel and instead of direction by Sturges we have Michael Bay at the helm. That is what reading All Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder is like. Lee saw the ridiculously long and energetic title and still didn’t take it as a cue to get a little jocular. We as readers are poorer for it.
***
On the subject of San Diego I can say that I had a very good time, especially when it came to meeting people I had only known on-line. I was mostly working, though, so I can’t say that the days provided me with a lot of worthwhile anecdotes. I can tell you that taking Sunday off and spending the whole day in bed is a great way to shake off all the hustle-and-bustle of the previous three days.
I do apologize for those audio posts. Listening back to them I could do a much, much better job. If they were no fun for me to listen to I can’t imagine what it was like for you poor souls. I promise it won’t happen again.
Permanent Link: 7:06 PM |
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Saturday, July 16, 2005
Friday, July 15, 2005
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Manifestos? We don't need no stinkin' manisfetos!
You feel those pre-SDCC jitters coming on? If you’ve got a three hour drive staring at you like I do you might. I suppose I’m a bit reflective on this night and have something of a follow up to last night’s post.
In the comments section Johnny B. points out the feeling of anticipation in sequential storytelling is what makes sequential storytelling so fun to read (this because I admitted to giving up some titles because sequential storytelling an the feeling of anticipation wasn’t doing it for me). This made me wonder what it was that brought me back to comics and the rest of the arts.
The nearest I can come up to is finding an artist or artists realize their respective personal vision. This comes from my hypothesis that human communication, specifically the communication of ideas, is what makes life worth living. Lately I’ve been judging whether a comic works for me based on how much I felt the artists’ communicating to me their vision for their creation.
That might sound a bit abstract so let me take a recently published comic that I reviewed for CBG as an example (the review should be up soon). I feel Darwyn Cooke’s issue of Solo was so grand because you got the sense that he was indulging in everything he’s passionate about in art and in a way that is still entertaining and fun to read. It helps to be into the style of commercial illustration he is. I’m the kind of guy who looks through old issues of Playboy and finds myself more impressed with the cartoons, articles and all around atmosphere before the models (not that I mind those pictorials, it’s just hard for me to judge them with any objectivity ;) ) so you can be sure that I was ready to get into the same feel as Cooke.
I love reading a book and being impressed that someone made me think a different way or look at things a different way because they just honestly (or sometimes dishonestly, when it comes to art it’s hard to tell) got across some kind of theses. That thesis could be family relations leading to anti-social behavior (Jimmy Corrigan), violence being the currency of the 20th Century (From Hell) or that the old-time humor was the best-time humor (Fred the Clown). The best thing is that while those were what I got out of those books maybe you got something different. Maybe I’ll get something different out of those books when I read them again. Well thanks to this here internet we can communicate those ideas about ideas! I think that’s a wonderful thing and it’s what keeping me interest in comics more than following a storyline, which is what I was more into years ago.
Of course I’m into other stuff. I love the Lee/Kirby/Sinnott Fantastic Four because of the overwhelming imagination on display. There ain’t too much below the surface but when you have Kirby giving us “The Inhumans Break Free!” I’m not complaining. When I enjoyed Justice League #200 it was because it was “shut-your-brain-off” fun (something Zen about that). I don’t think that’s healthy in large doses but we can all certainly all use a break now and again.
The technical aspects of comics are also cool to dwell on. The other wonderful thing about the issues of Fantastic Four I like is because, well, Jack Kirby drew them! Seeing how he flawlessly puts together an adventure/sci-fi comic is worthy of a lot of attention. I’m not much of a cartoonist myself but I do think it is fun to think about linework and composition. I think we could all have more attention paid to the artwork when we find reviews of comics.
So what is that, “The Brill Manifesto?” No way, that would be stupid. I’m just telling you where I’m coming from right now. It might change in a year or in two weeks. That’s something else I look forward to.
Don’t worry; I’ll be audio blogging from Comic-KAAAAAAAAAAAHN! So let me just leave you with this thought:
Wouldn’t it be way better if instead of Johnny Depp they got Michael Ian Black to play Willy Wonka? I think so but that’s me.
Permanent Link: 9:54 PM |
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Monday, July 11, 2005
My bad
One of my favorite radio shows is Sound Opinions with Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot. It is “the world’s only rock ‘n’ roll talk show” and hearing thought provoking discussions about pop music on a mainstream radio station (I listen over the internet) is quite a joy (also, I recommend DeRogatis’ book of Lester Bangs). One of their better shows was the May 24th program where the hosts talked about their previous appreciations of certain albums they now think were wrong headed (look for it under “May 24” in the archives). I certainly believe that no one is to be trusted if they cannot admit when they are wrong sometimes so I figure there’s no harm in devoting a blog post to my mistakes in judgment.
Ground zero for my repentance comes as this post on the DC solicitations for September 2004. Oh yes, I do regret that immature tone of rage I took, although when it comes to getting out some DMV frustration comics that 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000065% of the world’s population is emotionally invested in are hardly sensitive targets. It’s just that what I admitted to liking was really embarrassing.
Let’s start with this quote: I like the Jim Lee/Brian Azzarello Superman. You know who wrote that sentence? A fucking idiot wrote it. That first issue really captured me because for some reason I was really into the philosophy behind the Superman character. I think this was around the time of Seagle/Kristiansen book It’s a Bird… and David Carradine’s little Superman speech in Kill Bill Vol. 2. Having Superman converse with that priest was, I thought, a pretty interesting way to go with the character, finding out what made him tick and all. Then the series went on and got slower…and slower…and slower. I read six issues before I figured I can get more and better story and art by picking up a reader’s copy of an old Marvel book in the dollar bin as opposed to buying a year’s worth of these Superman books. Apparently the book just got worse as it went on, which I can’t say I’m too surprised with. The thing is the Austen/Reis Action Comics was the polar opposite with its break-neck action but was just as boring. I don’t think Superman’s a character that really fits into modern superhero comics where so much of the character isn’t taken for granted anymore. If you create stories about the Big Blue and you don’t include that childlike wonder you’re just wasting your time. It’s like writing a Sherlock Holmes story where he doesn’t have a mystery to solve.
Another area in which I think my enthusiasm for a particular book was misplaced was in my brief flirtation with being a hard core Vertigo fan. I used to go through the “Miscellaneous Vertigo” bin at the store all the time in 2003 and counted Y the Last Man and The Losers among my favorite books. Now I think “what was the point?” I did find a lot of great books in that back issue bin like Face by the Enigma team of Pete Milligan and Duncan Fegredo but I honestly cannot remember the majority of stuff I bought there. Y and Losers were okay books but why on Earth did I want to become on of those few who come in month after month devoting myself to 60-odd issue runs? Vaughn never had his book live up to the potential of its high concept (see also: Ex Machina) and while I did enjoy the action going on in The Losers the idea of thinking “I wonder what happens next to these characters” is a young man’s game. I like to think my life is getting started now and simply don’t have the time to becoming a “subscriber” to any book. Vertigo proved with books like Sandman and Preacher that reading comics that way can be very rewarding but no way did either of the books I was into came close to the other two. I suppose I was really into all the ins-and-outs of the plotlines but now that I’ve dropped the books I feel like I was wasting my time and money.
I don’t know, I guess I’m weird when it comes to genre books. I can’t really get into something that has everything on the surface and yet sometimes I want that kind of story as a fun diversion. A lot of Vertigo books try to be both very deep and genre at the same time. I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor as we have gotten a lot of good stories that way but I think we’ve probably had just as many failures come our way from that type of pursuit as well.
So, what are some of the books you read that make you go “what was I thinking?”
Permanent Link: 4:05 PM |
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Friday, July 08, 2005
San Diego Dreaming: Saturday...and a gift for you!
Yes, still doing this thing. I had a day where I was wondering if my family in London is okay and now I have to move out of this house I'm in. Of course, the only way to deal with that is to go over Comic-Con scheduling, bore yourself and probably bore what few readers I have left. Don't worry folks, I'll make this post worth it at the end.
6:30-7:00 New Line Cinema Presents: Tenacious D
There's a lot of cool stuff going on during Saturday (like that Gene Colan spotlight) but fuck it, this is the most important thing. It's the D man, the motherfucking D. As much as I'd love to check out the 20th anniversary of Antartic Press this will beat out everything. I hope Jables and Rage Kage don't let that half-hour time limit stop them, the D is not beholden to time limits! So yeah, might as well cut this thing short and just say the D rules, this series proved to be one of the worst this blog has ever seen (and that's saying something for tihs blog. Yeesh) but it will all be worth it.
Ladies and gentelmen..
prepare...
for the most wonderous of wonders...
the most beautiful of beauties...
such things the human eye should not see...
but desperatley wants to...
I give you...
...
...
Marvel's Hall of Big Heads!!
The heroes get into the act too
And the greatest things ever. Seriously, you will consider this not unlike a little piece of Heaven. Are you ready? Are you seriously ready for this? It's pretty awesome. Okay, here it is:
Permanent Link: 3:30 PM |
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Wednesday, July 06, 2005
San Diego Dreaming: Friday
Hey look, our series continues. I could probably do this in one post but I can't think of anything else to say and the rest of the comics industry seems to have slow down as well. We'll probably have a blast of information coming next weekend so I guess we better rest up. For now let me partake in the blogger version of useless decompression (just call me Brian Michael Brill). Thurday goes too slow, I've got Friday on my mind.
12:30-2:00 The EC Comics Renaissance
I love these old EC books, with my favorites being the Kurtzman war books. I'm all for the documentary screening. Except when Foul Play came out I don't remember seeing a lot of talk about these books (I probably came too late and all the heated discussions of the books were over). It'll be good to be in a room filled with people who could easily debate Graham Ingles over Jack Kamen (but of course I'll always go with Bernie Krigstein).
1:30-3:00 Spotlight on Jim Warren
Thanks to this mischievous imp from the 5th Dimension I got a paperback compilation of Creepy issues featuring Alex Toth, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta and more. Its great stuff all held together by Archie Goodwin's scripts, one of the best writers of his generation. Like the EC panel this could be filed under "nostalgia for times I weren't alive for." I'm all for hearing Warren go in-depth about these books and more.
2:00-3:30 Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel
Now hear we go. I attended the Kirby panel last year where artists like Walt Simonson and Steve Rude spoke on their views of The King. I will be interested this year to hear from the legal/creator's rights perspective of Kirby's life, a subject I'm always interested in. Hey, maybe they'll talk about this. I think that museum's a great idea and would suggest that, if a brick and mortar location is ever in the works, that Thousand Oaks would be a great location. It's where Kirby spent the last three (or so) decades of his life and where he is buried. Also, I must say that I selfishly want it there because I'd get a chance to check it out whenever I visit my Mom.
2:30-3:30 Spotlight on Gary Panter
Y'know it's getting harder to think up what to say about these panels other than "I think this is neat and would like to see it." I guess this wasn't a very good idea for a series was it? Anyway, Panter combines that mania of Kirby with a mix of high art sophistication and punk rock energy. Looking over his work I just get that feeling I want to start making work of my own, it's that invigorating. With Tom Spurgeon on board as moderator I have high hopes.
2:30-4:00 Spotlight on Ray Harryhausen (and all things King Kong)
Hmmm, there's no way I can attend all these panels. I might not attend any but at least it's fun to write about them (is it fun to read me write about them? I suspect not). I love the whole look of the Harryhausen animations like Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans as well as the original King Kong that inspired Harryhausen. There are all these special effects and this sense of spectacle but it has this unique and warm feel to it, the total opposite to most of these CGI fueled movies. Since I'm so enamored of sci-fi/monster movies of the past it will be interesting to hear all about how they were put together, certainly from a man who is responsible for so much of their distinctive look.
There's Friday for you. I'll probably be at The Eisners although award shows are not my thing. I suppose it's a good thing they keep a bar open during the whole thing (a sentiment I have invoked during many events in my life).
Permanent Link: 6:03 PM |
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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
San Diego Dreaming: Thursday
First off, take a gander at this Black Diamond On-Ramp review. You've seen a lot of people review the book now...uh…see another person review it.
Now let's get to that exciting subject we all yearn to read about: malaise. Specifically that lazy feeling many of us are feeling while we wait for the San Diego Comic-Con to happen. I'll be there as a journalist and a fan. There are many panels there and while I'll catch some I will probably end up missing a few. There's just that much stuff going on. Here are a few things going on that I recommend. Maybe you'll see me, maybe you won't. Still, the fact that my nerd self might show up shouldn't scare you away.
3:30-4:30 Spotlight on Bruce Campbell: What's New With Bruce?
The man has more charisma in his pinky finger than those overrated hacks Clooney and Pitt have in their whole bodies. Whenever Campbell comes on the screen he gives the movie, no matter how bad it may be (and Campbell hasn't always been in the best films), that jolt of entertainment only a suave and confident performer could. He's smart, he's funny and he should be one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
4:30-5:30 A Conversation with David Cronenberg Director David Cronenberg
I haven’t read A History of Violence but I have seen Videodrome, Naked Lunch and The Fly so I do have high hopes for the next Cronenberg film. Film doesn’t usually give us good, thought provoking science fiction. Cronenberg is one of the few directors able to do that while filling his movies with amazing visuals. Great sci-fi, great movies. A rare breed indeed.
5:00-6:00 Keith Knight’s The K Chronicles: Ten Years and Counting
I’m just the type for Knight’s comics, even buying a few from the man last year. A lot of wit and pointed satire gives us one of the most reliably good political cartoonists today. Not just are the comics smart, he’s got one of the most attractive styles you’ll find in your free weekly paper.
And that’s just Thursday. I’ll be blogging more about the conventions’ paneling but I’ll do it a day at a time, mainly because I’ve got the feeling I won’t have anything else to blog about this week (remember, we’re all slacking off waiting for SDCC to happen).
Permanent Link: 6:24 PM |
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Friday, July 01, 2005
The big news is here!
Yes folks, I told you there will be a big announcement coming today and here it is. After many discussions and dealings with just as many power brokers in the entertainment industry I can now reveal what the event that will change this blog (and my life) forever is. Yes friends, get ready for:
Brill Building: The Movie!
Yes, it seems movie Christ-figure Robert Evans found this blog when he was searching for “Valkyrie fetish book” (he says it was a gift for one of his ex- and/or future wives). That’s when it came upon him that this blog would make a fantastic movie. He put it like this: “Are comic book movies big? Oh yeah. Are blogs getting major ‘buzz?’ Damn right. Will a movie about a comic book blog lead Paramount to a new Love Story? You bet your ass it will.” I wasn’t one to argue so I agreed to the project right away (the money for signing over the film rights wasn’t too shabby either. I’ll buy that Essential Super-Villain Team-Up now!).
The plot, mostly my own but with a little help from William Goldman, is simple but true. Plucky young college student Ian Brill is trying to give his life some meaning instead of just living on the mean streets of Moorpark, CA. He gets in with a rough-and-tumble gang called the ACAPCWOVCCAOE, who has found some success with these “comic blogs” that are popping up all over the place. Soon enough Ian joins them in their internet revolution and unleashes Brill Building on to the world. Soon enough the comic book world at large is hypnotized by his brash prose and brave opinions. Success is soon in his grasp as he is made head of DC Comics and brings the company to its greatest era of fortune and fame. All the while thespians of renown will recite past essays this blog has featured in interstitial segments. There is also the possibility of a sub-plot where Ian must save the Bush twins from a fire-breathing left-wing dragon named Mr. Starbeam.
Enough pot-boiler, let’s get to the cast.
Jason Schwatzman is said to be very excited about playing Ian Brill, who he has described as "The F. Scott Fitzgerald of the 21st Century...and beyond!"
Jack Black will play Tom Collins while Sarah Silverman will play his love interest "Lauren Graham."
Peter Bogdanovich is attached to direct the feature. Bogdanovich seems enthusiastic about the project by stating "my life has come to this."
Other actors in negations are Michelle Trachtenberg and Mila Kunis for the Bush twins and Samuel L. Jackson for Mike Sterling. Meryl Streep, Bob Balaban and Tim Robbins will probably be just few of the actors reading off the essays (Robbins is very interested in this Steve Ditko review). Also, an important plot point is that Scarlett Johansson must make out with The Mayor of Coolsville else Johnny Bacardi and BeaucoupKevin are doomed. The Mayor of Coolsville will be played by Ian Brill. As for who is playing Johnny B. and BeaucoupKevin, that is to be decided.
The film will go into pre-production next month is expected for a Spring 2006 release. Be there as Brill Building: The Movie changes the world of comics, blogs, cinema and pastrami sandwiches forever!
Permanent Link: 4:21 PM |
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