Reed Richards
and last, but certainly not least, The Real Life Superheroes.
In my defense, it has been really rainy here today.
Showing posts with label Comic Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comic Books. Show all posts
May 2, 2009
March 31, 2009
Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli
Apologies for two comic book posts in a row but this one pretty much proves the worth of the medium. I give you - Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of the Stimuli. Some plot summary:
In the distant future the story of Barack Obama has become a little... distorted. According to THE MADDOWIAN CHRONICLES he was the one destined to save the great republic of America and dethrone the overpaid despots of the time. Join Barack, Sorceress Hilaria, her demi-god trickster husband Biil, Overlord Boosh and Chainknee of the Elephant Kingdom. Who can the lone barbarian trust, if anyone?Click through for your comic book requisite Barack beefcake and Palin pinup.
March 30, 2009
Baker's Pharmacy, Where are You?
One of the things that it's been fun to think about as impending fatherhood approaches is the possibility of one day re-entering the world of comic books with my son. But I don't know if you've noticed or not those things have gotten expensive. We're talking $3 on average and, as the NYT reports, some of the more popular titles are rolling out price increases to $4. Comic books are an interesting medium, and one that I don't think is unfair to call niche these days, in that they probably are "underpriced" for the existing fan market (excluding myself and possibly my good friend Miles who is my lone spokesman for the first grade demographic) but perceived as overpriced by the market of potential fans who have so many other, often much more interactive, options with a fairly similar market spectrum. Here's what the president of Marvel says in the piece:
Mr. Buckley felt that, because of comic books’ origin in the world of pulp and disposable entertainment, the effort that goes into their creation is sometimes underestimated.
“Comics are a legit form of entertainment, and there are highly respected and well-paid individuals creating them,” he said. “People have an affinity for nickel and dime comics from the 1940s, but we’re competing with video games, film and television.” He added, “We need to keep the talent on the books to make them work.”
Their current pricing scheme supposedly subsidizes the cost of the less popular titles by increasing the price of the more popular titles but why not subsidize across mediums. Why not subsidize comics with the much more lucrative (I'm assuming, I don't claim to know the margins on any of this) video game, film and television productions? Are comic books even the primary entry point for new fans into the super-hero genre? All of that to say that my new excuse to my wife as to why those boxes of comics have to stay in our closet is that the medium may not even be around by the time "junior" gets old enough to appreciate them so I've got to hold on to what I've got.
March 16, 2009
Shorts: Pop Culture
1. It's a strange world: "Paramount has acquired the rights to a forthcoming Wired magazine article about diamond thieves that J.J. Abrams will produce as a feature film, according to The Hollywood Reporter." I'm a sucker for a heist movie, so I will of course see this.
March 9, 2009
Shorts: Watchmen
1. For the moment, Watchmen is the #1 selling book on Amazon. (via)
2. The New York Times released its inaugural Graphic Book Best Seller List last week.
3. Track by track look at the Watchmen soundtrack and its connection to the book by Evie from Awesomed By Comics.
November 18, 2008
75 Comics Being Made Into Films
I would assume that "made" is used very broadly here, but even still, that's a lot of movies for my adolescent self to anticipate.
November 12, 2008
Mylar Bags in the White House?
The Beat, Publishers Weekly's comic blog (and incidentally one of the few comic blogs I'd say was worth following for the casual fan) pontificates on what I too thought was the most interesting tidbit in last week's "50 Facts You Might Not Know About Obama" in the Telegraph:
Eight simple words that spell hope for the world:
He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.
Note the use of the present tense. While it’s a well known fact that young Barack was an avid comic book reader, and certainly no stranger to superhero imagery on the campaign trail, this one verb would have us believe that he still keeps a long box, or perhaps some trendy graphic novels, in his reading pile. Something like, CONAN: BORN ON THE BATTLEFIELD by Kurt Busiek and Greg Ruth, maybe? Or maybe he’s more of a Bendis fan?
We’ll leave the parsing of this particular truth to others. What with administrative transitions, and global recession and nukes in Iran, he’s got a lot on his plate, and to expect him to weigh in on the Clone Saga is just a bit much. Frankly we found this factoid just as interesting.
He has read every Harry Potter book.
Maybe the president-elect is just, you know, kind of a nerd.
Developing?
October 6, 2008
September 24, 2008
Aya of Yop City
I mentioned the graphic novel Aya a while back and it's nice to see that Marguerite Abouet has penned another volume to be released by Drawn and Quarterly.
September 18, 2008
Sleep Numbers
All of these announcements seem to come between the hours of 2 and 5 in the morning. I'm willing to wager that the cumulative hours slept in the last week for messieurs Bernanke and Paulson are in the single digits.
Is it any wonder that my recent posts are rooted in escapism:
July 24, 2008
Dark Knight Musings
I finally got around to seeing The Dark Knight last night and a couple people have emailed wondering about my thoughts so here they are:
1. I've never been a "Batman guy." He's a great character, an all time hall of famer in the comic book world and therefore I have great respect for him and his legacy but I've never had a real attachment to him.
2. The movie is incredibly immersive. It's length, pacing, tone and arc really pull you in and surround you - it was a very quiet, edgy theatre for the entire film. That being said I'm not sure it's a world I want to be immersed in. It was powerful and effective but I don't know if I enjoyed it.
3. It wasn't very entertaining. I wasn't bored and it was most certainly not a "bad movie" - it was actually a very good movie, but maybe not a very good "comic book movie?" This is certainly personal bias but I go into a comic book movie looking for a certain level of escapist, fantastic realism and in most cases Nolan went a different direction and opted for gritty realism. Not a bad choice, just not as entertaining to me.
4. Where was this movie set? Am I right in thinking this is the most solid, real-world Gotham we've ever seen on the screen? Again, obviously an intentional choice by Nolan to root the plot and it's implications in a plausible, real world context for the obvious impact that it provides but I missed the classic, gothic Gotham.
5. Where was Batman? I mean this in two senses. One, this movie could have just as easily, and maybe more aptly, been named The Joker, Harvey Dent, or Commissioner Gordon. Their story lines, their character development, their on screen charisma were all much more developed and appealing than Nolan's Bruce Wayne/Batman. Like I said, I'm not a Batman fanatic but I like Batman more than those guys. I think they subjugated the psychology, the angst and the struggles of Batman underneath these other characters struggles. Second, it seemed to me that this was a much weaker Batman than we've seen elsewhere. Since when were rottweilers Batman's kryptonite? Again, maybe it is a choice to opt for "realism" but did you see it when he fell off his bike and got knocked out - come on, he's the freaking Batman. This Batman really could have been Albert II.
6. The Joker. As everyone has said - incredible performance - you can't take your eyes off him any time he is on the screen. But I've never "gotten" the Joker as a super-villain. Why doesn't someone just hit him over the head or shoot him - the mob, if not a citizen? I get that his chaotic nihilism, his "you have nothing to frighten me with" persona is so unnerving that it almost creates a shield around him when he is interacting with the public but on some level he's just a crazy guy and we're now living in a world where if you cough funny on an airplane your fellow passengers will pile on you without a seconds thought. I think the vigilante anarchy that the Joker was trying to catalyze would have turned on him before it turned on itself. I know, I know, willing suspension of disbelief but it's as if Nolan wanted me to believe everything except the plausibility of the Joker and his schemes - how do you sneak enough explosives into a hospital to blow the entire thing up, how do you roll 200 barrels of gasoline onto a ferry boat without being seen? It felt less like terrorism and more like incompetence.
7. I'm going to side step any discussion of underlying themes or critiques of current global political implications because there is enough of that going on elsewhere, but I will say that I think any "message" the film has is in the overall arc of the movie and not in any individual instance or plot point.
8. Should have been rated R.
9. 3.25 stars.
Nerdy with Understated Sex Appeal, Good Sense of Humor
No, no friends I'm not talking about myself - but I see how you could be confused - that is the description of your incognito friendly neighborhood web-slinger, Peter Parker, as imagined by the visionary director of The Lion King. Here's how the rest of the casting call reads for Spiderman: The Musical:
Peter Parker is described as "male, 16-20's [with a] great rock voice, can be nerdy with understated sex appeal, good sense of humor." Mary Jane is "female, 16-20's, beautiful girl next door, strong pop/rock singing voice."
The Principal Woman should be "female, 25-35 years old [with] amazing rock vocals. Think Sinead O'Connor with a Middle Eastern/Bulgarian/Greek twist. Foreign, world music types are great, foreign accents are great." All ethnicities are encouraged to audition.I confess, I always saw Mary Jane as more of the singer-songwriter type. But, who is this "Principal Woman" you ask? Well, it's Arachne of course:
The character breakdowns provide some insight to plot points as the character Arachne ("female, 20-35 years old, any ethnicity") is described as "a beautiful, boastful young woman turned into a spider for her hubris and lack of respect for the gods. She subsequently appears to Peter Parker and the audience as in turn a powerful spider-woman who comes from another time to inspire Peter; an otherworldly lover; a bride; a terrifying (and sexy) dark goddess of vengeance; a dance partner in a charged and violent spiders dance of death; and, finally, a lonely, fragile young woman." Casting is seeking a "strong Celtic, Balkan style, e.g., Sinead O'Connor," noting, "outside the box ideas are welcomed. Could be someone from the music industry."
Am I the only one who didn't know that this was even happening? Or that Bono and The Edge were writing the music? And that they finished it all in two weeks?
Spoiler Alert: Scar kills Uncle Ben.
July 15, 2008
Finding Batman?
Following up on yesterday's post I was curious as to whether or not there was anyone who might meet the minimum entry qualifications for "becoming Batman" - i.e., really rich, athletic and young enough to get it done. I took a look at Forbes' list of billionaires (I'm thinking you've got to at least be a billionaire these days to outfit yourself with all the accouterments that Batman needs, not to mention what you need to stay up and running without adding additional income) and sorted them by age (I'm allowing some flexibility on age but set a max of 35 - assuming that the older candidates would have already started or completed their 12-18 years of training). So, with those quick curriculum you only come up with 18 possible "Batmen." I then clicked through the biographies on the Forbes website and did some further "research" on Wikipedia for those who looked promising and came out with what I thought was only one real possibility.
Albert II, Prince of Thurn and Taxis might be Batman. Here's what I think he has going for him. He's young, 24, so he has time to get trained. As royalty, he inherited his wealth. It's going to be hard for a self-made man/woman to become Batman as much of your energy and attention during your most energetic years is going to be invested in making your fortune, so, like Bruce Wayne, you need to inherit and have time to grow both disenchanted with your position and the means at an early age to divert yourself with the training necessary to become Batman. I'm thinking that being royalty also exposed Albert to things like fencing, hunting, and other leisure sports that might begin to develop reflexes and skills that translate into those needed by Batman. He has some military service. He is studying both economics and theology which suggests both an intellect and a sensibility that might be drawn to and succeed at fighting against the darker side of humanity - or at least feel like he could/should make a difference. He's a championship racing driver, which suggests that he is drawn to risk taking, competition and action and possesses some level of athleticism and good reflexes. Family owns some kind of tech company which could be used to outfit his crime fighting needs. Family also owns 30,000 hectares of German woodland, in which you could undoubtedly hide a hundred Bat Caves. He lives in a freaking castle. I rest my case. He is Batman.
Notes: I couldn't think of a similarly useful list of olympic class athletes to search, but unless you've got a trusted sponsor, which would leave your identity in jeopardy, I think the money factor is more limiting than the athletic side of things. Other possibilities I considered were Richard Branson (maybe more of an Iron Man guy) and Kirk Kerkorian - who seemed to have personalities and biography elements that match but both are too old, maybe in their younger days. Tiger Woods. He's got the money, athleticism, drive and focus to pull it off but being a professional golfer doesn't allow for sneaking around all night. Any other suggestions?
July 14, 2008
Becoming Batman
I've seen similar pieces before that postulate on the likelihood that someone could actually transform themselves into Batman, generally regarded as one of the more "realistic" superhero's as he possesses no "super powers," but this one in Scientific American is pretty good as it is an interview with E. Paul Zehr, a professor of kinesiology and neuroscience as well as a 26-year practitioner of Chito-ryu, who has a new book coming out in October entitled, Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero. Here are a couple of good quotes:
How would Batman get enough rest?
The difficulty for Batman is he's going to be trying to sleep during the day. He's going to be really tired, actually, unless he can shift himself over to just being up at night. If he were just a nocturnal guy, he would actually be a lot healthier and have a lot better sleep than if he were doing what he does now, which is getting some light here and there. That's going to mess up his sleep patterns and duration of sleep.
. . . .
How would all those beat-downs have affected his longevity?
Keeping in mind that being Batman means never losing: If you look at consecutive events where professional fighters have to defend their titles—Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Ultimate Fighters—the longest period you're going to find is about two to three years. That dovetails nicely with the average career for NFL running backs. It's about three years. (That's the statistic I got from the NFL Players Association Web site.) The point is, it's not very long. It's really hard to become Batman in the first place, and it's hard to maintain it when you get there.
. . . .
How many of us do you think could become a Batman?
If you found the percentage of billionaires and multiply that by the percentage of people who become Olympic decathletes, you could probably get a close estimate. The really important thing is just how much a human being really can do. There's such a huge range of performance and ability you can tap into.
June 9, 2008
March 5, 2008
Comic Books and Development
I wonder if there is any connection between economic development and indigenous comic book creation? Aya is penned by Marguerite Abouet and set in her native home of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and now available in an English translation in the U.S. At what point in the economic development of a country do "fringe" artistic pursuits like comic books/graphic novels become economically viable? While working with youth/children in Botswana I noticed first hand that they are just as likely to doodle fantastical fight scenes and explosions in the margins as westerners.
This one probably doesn't signal that there is such a market in Ivory Coast as I'm sure that the bulk of sales took place in Europe and now America. Are there indigenous comics being produced and marketed in more established African markets like South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria? Or are comic book writers and artists part of the brain drain as well (Abouet herself now lives in France.)? Are there viable African super heroes? I don't really get a good sense of things from either here or here.
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