Tagged: review

Review: ‘Typhon’ Vol. 1

typhon-cover-7946221Typhon

Dirty Danny Press, $24.95

At 50, I’m pretty set in my comic book reading habits.  Having been raised largely on the output from DC Comics and Marvel, I have fairly mainstream tastes.  Now and then, though, I push myself to see what else is out there. As a result, reading Danny Hellman’s recently published [[[Typhon]]] anthology was an eye-opening experience.

The 192-page full-color trade paperback allows me the chance to see who else is producing comic book work.  Typhon takes its name from Greek mythology and is a creature with hundreds of hissing serpents, outdoing the Medusa. Venom was said to drip form their eyes and lava to be spit from their mouths. There are no super-heroes, no continuing characters, nothing based on a media property (although Droopy appears in one story).  Each tendril from the creature’s head is the product of the fertile imagination of the 42 creators who contributed to over the course of several years.

Hellman may be best known for his [[[Legal Action Comics]]] in addition to his own work at Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and the Village Voice. Promoting the book, he said, “I realized that I was looking at a far more ambitious book than what I’d done previously. The work presented in Typhon covers a wide spectrum of what’s possible in comics, from zany, offbeat humor to unnerving existential angst, and on to chilling horror, all of it brought to life with breathtaking, cutting-edge artwork.

“Anthologies give us the opportunity to enjoy work by talented cartoonists who, for whatever reason, don’t produce enough material to fill out solo books. As an editor of anthologies, I’m excited to provide a showcase for artists and work that we might not see otherwise. Diversity makes for a richer comics scene.”

Everything he says is correct and to be applauded. I really enjoyed the colorful, inventive use of the page from Hans Rickheit, Rupert Bottenberg, Tobias Tak, and Fiona Smyth.  They created visually arresting images and used color in appealing ways. On the other hand, I could not make heads or tails out of Bald Eagles’ eight page head trip that is hard on the eyes and unreadable.

On the other hand, way too often I’d reach the end of these short works and scratch my head.  “What the hell was that all about?” was a repeated refrain. I’m used to stories about character or stories about something.  Yet, these works seem to be characters and situations that begin and end and say nothing.  Too frequently, I think the creators were out to amuse themselves, forgetting their audience. Rick Trembles’ “[[[Goopy Spasms]]]” feels like it was done because he could not because he had something say or share and was generally off-putting.

Hellman told Tom Spurgeon, “…It can be tough to pin down precisely what ‘good drawing’ is. Ultimately, beautiful art is a matter of taste. Drawing chops, anatomical knowledge, the ability to recreate the natural world in two dimensions and have it be both accurate and pleasing to the eye; these are important. But what’s really vital is that we connect with the art on an emotional, perhaps spiritual level.”

I’m all in favor of creative freedom but if someone wants my $24.95, then the editor of the collection has to step up and guide the talent to make certain their point, if there is one, gets across, from page to reader.  Here, Hellman spectacularly fails.

He kicks off the collection with his own “[[[The Terror in Peep Booth 5]]]” which looks and reads closest to a mainstream comic, complete with beginning, middle and end. After that, though, it’s all over the place.  Perhaps the most moving piece is Tim Lane’s “The Manic Depressive from Another Planet”.

I enjoyed being exposed to new voices and talents but come away disappointed that there are all these people with very little to say.

Review: ‘Monty Python’s Tunisian Holiday’

51hrrisu-nl-sl500-aa2401-3018019Well as careers go, here’s a good one. Start off writing a fanzine and wind up working with and for Del Close and Monty Python and, specifically, John Cleese. Then you get to write all kinds of books about your labors.

Long-time comics journalist and frequent ComicMix commenter Kim Howard Johnson has a new book out called Monty Python’s Tunisian Holiday. It’s a misnomer; Monty Python was in Tunisia to work. They were making a movie. Monty [[[Python’s Life of Brian]]], to be exact. But few would buy a book called [[[Kim Howard Johnson’s Tunisian Holiday]]] unless it had a lot of sex in it, so the title choice is obvious. So are the contents: it’s Howard’s account of his time with the Pythons in Tunisia filming [[[The Life of Brian]]] and touches on his time on-stage with the group at the famed Hollywood Bowl concerts (Howard’s a professional, trained by no less than Del Close).

This is less of a companion volume to his [[[The First 200 Years of Monty Python]]],[[[ And Now For Something Completely Trivial]]],[[[ Life Before (and After) Monty Python]]], and [[[The First 280 Years of Monty Python]]] than it is Howard’s story chronicling his experiences as both a performer in the movie and a journalist covering the shoot. As such, it’s more of a companion volume to Michael Palin’s recently released autobiography Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (I highly recommend the audiobook version, read by Palin). It’s witty, it’s thorough, and if you’re a Python fan or a movie nut, it’s completely vital. 

By the way, Howard’s got prefaces from Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and his former boss and collaborator ([[[Superman: True Brit]]]), John Cleese. It’s nice to know people.

O.K. Cool, Howard. Great job. Now go do that biography of the Bonzo Dog Band I’ve been wanting so desperately.  Ummm… after you finish that [[[Munden’s Bar]]] story you’re doing with…

Routh to ‘Return’ as Superman?

  • News
  • October 10, 2008

The DC movie goodness keeps rolling in and for the second day in a row, Latino Review is spilling the beans.

At Monday’s Watchmen presentation in New York City, which you can read about here, the Web site’s Kellvin Chavez had the opportunity to speak with DC Comics President Paul Levitz. Over the course of the candid conversation, Levitz revealed something quite interesting about the oft-whispered Superman reboot.

According to the site, Levitz stated: "[Previous Superman] Brandon Routh has come around the offices in New York and Los Angeles as of late to talk about Superman and what we want to do."

This is the highest profile indication that the newest live-action Superman film would include members of the lukewarmly received Superman Returns. Chavez’s report continues to mention that "Mr. Levitz made it seem … that [DC Comics and Warner Bros.] loves Brandon Routh as Clark Kent and that he’s just a great guy." (more…)

Studios Prepare Productions for 2009

  • News
  • October 8, 2008

jonahhex1et6-1085024Gotta love those studio bigwigs. Even in the midst of an impending Screen Actors Guild strike and the greatest financial crisis in modern American history, these head honchos still have dollar signs in their eyes.

Variety is reporting today that studios are planning 40 or more films to begin production between spring and summer of 2009. Since June 30, studios have mostly resisted the urge to start production on major films due to the very real threat of the SAG strike.

The studios are betting that in light of today’s erratic economic climate, the actors won’t authorize a strike order to cease working. Plus,  according to an anonymous dealmaker, "[do] you think a big star is going to have its union tell them who can negotiate their deal?" The studios are banking on no.

It’s a huge gamble. Variety cites production costs on studio-sized films at between $100,000 and $500,000 per day. If an actors strike occurs, studios can only retain their actors for eight weeks after the strike’s start. That could be a potential disaster for Tinseltown, which is already recovering from the effects of last year’s writer’s strike.

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Review: ‘Dexter’ Episode #302

dexter1-5591439Note: Click here for last week’s victim!

The Crime Scene: "Finding Freebo"
From Showtime: "Dexter and Rita have to make a big decision about their family, forcing Dexter to think about what it means to be responsible for kids. Is he ready to commit to this new family? Meanwhile, Dexter and Assistant District Attorney, Miguel Prado, find themselves hunting down the same murderer, Freebo, the man accused of killing Miguel’s little brother. As a result, Debra and the Homicide department are tasked to find Freebo. Debra, through her supposedly dirty partner, Quinn, is introduced to a C.I. and musician named Anton, in the hopes of drumming up a lead on where Freebo may be. With all of these hunters in play, can Dexter find Freebo before anyone else?"

Blood Spatter Analysis
Two episodes down and it’s still difficult to determine the direction of Dexter‘s new season, though it’s clearly off to a bloody start. "Finding Freebo" sees our friendly neighborhood serial killer going after the one witness to his accidental slaying of Oscar Prado, the brother of Dexter’s new A.D.A. pal Miguel Prado. While other people are tracking down the same man, it’s Dexter who gets to Freebo first… but he’s not the only one to arrive on the scene, and that’s when things get very interesting.

If this episode is any indicator, the relationship between Dexter and Miguel will be one of the sharper focuses of the season. At episode’s end, Dexter emerges with blood on his hands only to be spotted by a gun-wielding Miguel. Rather than taking him into custody, Miguel embraces Dexter (who has explained the killing as "self-defense") and tells him that not only has he done the right thing, but he’s now forever indebted to Miami Metro’s resident blood spatter expert.

Things are bound to get interesting between Michael C. Hall’s Dexter and Jimmy Smits’ Prado. Miguel’s unassuming friendship with Dexter may come off as naive to some, but there’s a genuine quality to it, sort of a warmer version of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Additionally, the dynamic between Prado and LaGuerta has great dramatic potential, and it’s nice to see her getting a character to play off of now that Doakes is gone.

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Rothman Talks ‘Daredevil’ Reboot

  • News
  • October 4, 2008

daredevil100-7771957In an interview with IESB, 20th Century Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman spoke about the possibility of rebooting their Daredevil franchise.

"A Daredevil, to use your words, reboot, is something we are thinking very seriously about," Rothman tells the site, though he adds that "[in] the movie business, nothing [happens] soon."

Fox still retains all the rights to the Daredevil franchise, Rothman claims, and thinks that audiences will be receptive to a relaunch if made to a high standard. Further, Iron Man cemented the fact that a second tier hero done well can make a lot of money.

Asked if a new Daredevil would match the dark tone of The Dark Knight, Rothman wasn’t sure that such a tone was the key to that film’s success.

"[Daredevil] needs a visionary at the level that Chris Nolan [director of The Dark Knight] was," Rothman states. "It needs a director, honestly, who has a genuine vision. What we wouldn’t do is just do it for the sake of doing it. Right?"

Not necessarily. Bryan Singer, director of X-Men and X2: X-Men United, went over to Warner Bros. to helm Superman Returns. Fox later signed Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) to replace Singer, but Vaughn also left the project due to creative differences. Rather than wait for Singer to become available again, Fox rushed X-Men: The Last Stand into production with Brett Ratner (rumored Guitar Hero adaptation) behind the wheel. In addition, James Marsden, who played Cyclops in the series, was given an extremely limited (and some might add insulting) role due to his decision to participate in Singer’s Superman Returns. In June 2005, Ain’t It Cool News ran a scathing review of the film’s script and included an open letter to Rothman pleading for him to take his time on the film. X-Men: The Last Stand opened less than a year later to lukewarm reviews.

The Mark Steven Johnson directed Daredevil did not fare nearly as well. The film, starring Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Garner and Michael Clarke Duncan, was panned by critics and fans alike. Released in 2003, the Man Without Fear graced the screen again briefly in the Elektra spinoff, also starring Jennifer Garner. That movie, too, didn’t fare well with the public.

Daredevil – The Director’s Cut was released on Blu-ray last Tuesday. Reviews of the cut call it "a better film, 30 minutes longer than the original." Could it be true? Buy the Blu-ray and find out!

Anyway, who would you like to see takeover the Daredevil franchise? How ’bout a Ben Affleck-directed Casey Affleck-starring reboot? Sound off on your ideas below!

Review: ‘Toupydoops’

toupydoops-a1-6856244A large portion of America is all about Hollywood. Who’s the new big star? What new movie is coming out? Which director will blow us away this year? Understandably, we have so many struggling artists – actors, singers, writers, directors all trying to find their big break – that it’s become cliche.

Likewise, we comic fans have similar feelings towards our books. Who’s the new big writer? What artist is going to knock or socks off with photo-realistic work? What new title is going to give us a new reason to love comics? How many more teams will Wolverine join before people realize there must be at least three of him?

But what if … what if these two paradigms were merged? What if strange beings with exotic looks and super-human abilities made their way to California and waited on tables while they auditioned to star in a comic book? What if a lad who was born with blue-skin and antennae was able to be an extra in an Image comic while he dreamt of one day starring in his own on-going series?

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Review: ‘Flash Gordon’ #1

Full disclosure: I had edited a [[[Flash Gordon]]] comics series at one point in my life. It was the third greatest nightmare in my professional life. Not the part about working with the talented and understanding Dan Jurgens; Dan’s a class act and a fine storyteller. No, working with King Features Syndicate was akin to Sisyphus’s task, except the big rock was a huge boulder of shit and pushing it up that mountain happened in the dead of the hottest summer in the innermost circle of hell. And I’ve lightened up on this over the years, too. And so, on with the show.

There may be no greater icon in comic strip history than Flash Gordon. Sorry, [[[Buck Rogers]]]. You came first but Flash had better art and story, and a much, much better villain. Creator/artist Alex Raymond is generally regarded as the greatest craftsman in the field; so great, in fact, that after Dave Sim recovered from producing 300 consecutive issues of [[[Cerebus]]], he started up on a series called [[[Glamourpuss]]] that, oddly, is all about Raymond’s work.

Flash was the subject of what is also generally regarding as the three greatest movie serials ever made due, in no small part, to the performance of actor Charles Middleton as Ming The Merciless. And he had all the other media tie-ins: a radio series starring Gale Gordon (yep; Lucille Ball’s foil), a teevee series staring future Doc Savage model Steve Holland and a teevee series on Sci-Fi last year that was completely unwatchable, various animated series, a movie feature and another one in pre-production and numerous comic books by people including Archie Goodwin, Al Williamson, Reed Crandall, and Wally Wood, and licensed items. When Raymond went off to war, he was replaced by a series of artists nearly equal to him in talent: Austin Briggs, Mac Raboy (my favorite), and Dan Barry.

There’s a reason why Flash Gordon attracted such top-rank talent. Sadly, that’s also the same reason why Flash Gordon is an icon and no longer active in our contemporary entertainment: nostalgia. Flash Gordon was a product of his times, a wondrous visionary made irrelevant by real-life heroes such as Laika the dog, the first living being to orbit the Earth, and Yuri Gagaran, the first human being to orbit the Earth. Only Yuri returned alive, but I digress.

Science fiction was rocked to its core. It took talent like Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, and Gene Roddenberry to re-purpose the genre, to focus more on the social aspects of the genre and extend those concepts out into the future. If you’re going to make Flash Gordon work in the 21st century – or the last four decades of the 20th, for that matter, you’ve got to distill the concept down to its essence and rebuild according to the mentality of our time.

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Review: ‘Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft’

locke-and-key-cover-3276813Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft
By Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
IDW Publishing, October 2008, $24.99

Horror in comic books have always been an uneven affair.  These days, horror comics tend to feature zombies or H.P. Lovecraft adaptations but there’s so much more that can explored.  Fortunately, Joe Hill doesn’t mind going where others fear to tread.

His [[[Locke & Key]]] miniseries at IDW was a chilling affair, as much for its fresh take on the supernatural as for the superb art from Gabriel Rodriguez.  The six issues are collected today for the first time in a handsome hardcover volume that comes well recommended.

Too often horror offers you stock characters in a stock situations and how A Meets B is about the only variable.  You tend not to care a whit for the hero or victim and too often gore for gore’s sake overwhelms the storytelling.  Hill, instead, takes his time setting up the characters, the Locke family, and as wee progress through the 158 pages, we learn things.  As a result, we get to care for the three children whose father dies at the story’s beginning.  There’s Ty, the eldest who is conflicted over the father he had come to hate; Kinsey the young teen figuring out her place in the world and young Bode who becomes our focal point.

After their father is killed, Nina takes her children to live with her brother-in-law at Keyhouse in Lovecraft, MA. The large ramshackle property comes complete with a well house and its while visiting there that Bode comes in contact with a spirit. The growing relationship truly begins our story as the secrets of the Locke family and their connections to the other residents of the small island town are doled out in bite-sized chunks. 

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Review: ‘Fringe’ Episode #104

Note: Click here for last week’s mystery!

Autopsy Report: "The Arrival"
In Brooklyn, New York, an entirely bald man called The Observer watches in anticipation as a construction site suffers an explosion. The cause is an egg-shaped capsule, sitting perfectly still. The Observer calls someone and says: "It has arrived." Later, the device is delivered to a warehouse in Chelsea, Massachusetts, where Philip Broyles shows it to Olivia Dunham and Peter and Walter Bishop. Walter has an idea of what the object is, and desperately needs it moved to his laboratory. He reveals that he had worked on an experiment involving subterranean torpedos that could go straight through the Earth, but it’s still too early to say whether this is the same cylinder. Olivia is sent to meet with her old friend Jacobsen who was involved in a very similar case several years prior. He warns her to stay away from this assignment.

Later, Jacobsen is assaulted by a man with a strange explosive gun. The gunman uses a telepathic device to translate Jacobsen’s thoughts, learning that Olivia knows where the cylinder is now located. Olivia learns that the warehouse originally holding the capsule has been attacked, by the same man who tortured Jacobsen. On hearing this, Walter tranquilizes Astrid and steals the cylinder away from the laboratory. He later meets up with The Observer, who thanks Walter for relocating the cylinder. Elsewhere, Broyles and Olivia discuss The Observer, who has been spotted at over three dozen incidents tied in with The Pattern. They have no idea who or what he is.

Walter is arrested and questioned by Peter and Olivia. He tells them of The Observer, and yells at Peter for being too narrow-minded all the time. Peter decides that he’s done with this Pattern business and leaves. He’s attacked and tortured by the gunman from earlier. Even though Peter doesn’t know where the capsule is located, the gunman is somehow able to glean the information from Peter’s brain. Olivia tells Walter that Peter’s been abducted, and Walter is worried that the gunman will know how to get the information from Peter. He offers Olivia the location of the capsule.

The capsule is buried at the gravesite of Robert Bishop, Walter’s father. Peter is forced to uncover it, and the gunman runs off with it as Olivia chases him. She shoots him from behind, but before she’s able to uncover the capsule, it torpedos straight down into the ground. The Observer watches from a distance, and calls someone to say "Departure on schedule." Peter attacks The Observer and attempts to question him, but The Observer mimics every word he says as he says it. Finally, The Observer shoots him with some sort of sonic weapon and runs off. Recovering in the hospital, Peter declares to Olivia that he wants to stay and figure out what this Pattern is. Walter reveals to Peter that when he was a boy, they were in a horrible accident where they nearly drowned in freezing water. The Observer pulled them out and saved their life. Somehow, Walter knew that by hiding the cylinder, he was repaying his debt to the bald stranger. He also reveals how Peter was able to know the cylinder’s location: "Ideas can be absorbed by osmosis and proximity."

Olivia finally returns home after days of strange, strenuous work. Waiting for her in the kitchen is Agent John Scott, who Olivia believed to be dead. Looks like bedtime’s gonna have to wait. (more…)

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