Stuff That I Read: Quick Reviews

I consume a lot of media in my life.  Between music, movies, comics, books, and videogames, I simply have too much to write about.  So here are some quick reviews of things that I've checked out over the past little bit.

Comics

The Punisher Omnibus by Garth Ennis:  Collects the entire Marvel Knights Punisher series by Garth Ennis.  I've never much cared for The Punisher, but Garth Ennis uses the character as a vessel for his own brand of hyperactive, over-the-top violence, and if you like this sort of thing, it is absolutely glorious.  Most of the stories hit all the right beats (though one of them, Streets of Laredo, fails on almost every level), especially when Ennis lampoons well-known Marvel characters.  He also does a very good job of tying all the storylines together, yet keeping individual stories self-contained.  Frequent collaborator Steve Dillon supplies a little more than half the artwork, and does a wonderful job as usual, but the other artists throughout the series, while still usually quite solid, don't complement the writing as well.  Also, due to the Omnibus format, the intense violence can get little tiring when read in quick succession.  Overall though, if you're a fan of Garth Ennis, or you just love crazy ridiculous fun violence, this is a must-buy.  Unfortunately, it's discontinued, so you've got a bit of a search ahead of you.   

Zot! The Complete Black and White Collection by Scott McCloud: Zot! is an intelligent superhero comic from the 80s, predating both Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns by about two years.  It's notable for its sophisticated look at real issues.  Zot! is a teenage superhero from a futuristic parallel Earth who periodically shifts dimensions over to our Earth to hang out with a moody girl named Jenny - how Jenny discovered Zot, I have no idea, because though this collects the "reboot" of Zot, which occurred after 10 colour issues, it still makes reference to the first couple issues, often without suitable explanations.  Anyways, the series has it's problems - the superhero parts are boring, and creator Scott McCloud's ideas tend to reach beyond his grasp at times (but cut him some slack; he was young) - but the strong character work usually makes up for it.  The second part of the collection, known as "The Earth Stories", in which Zot gets stuck on our Earth, fares much better as the superhero elements are done away with (aside from Zot's presence).  These stories focus on side characters most of the time, and have a couple stand-out issues which deal with real-world problems, such as Jenny's friend Terry having to come to terms with the realization that she's a lesbian, and a SPECTACULAR issue where Zot and Jenny talk about having sex.  There's also some excellent commentary on every story by Scott McCloud himself.  Overall, certainly worth a look, if not an absolute must-have.

That's gonna be all for now.  More to come.

Stuff That I Saw: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Trailer #2

Check it:



Having just read up to the SUPERB fifth volume of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series and seeing this more-revealing trailer for the film adaptation, Scot Pilgrim Vs. The World, I am now even more excited for this movie.  You might remember that I was a little bit skeptical about Michael Cera as the titular Scott Pilgrim - this trailer shows that he's actually got a really good command over the character.  You also see more of Ramona, and her actress, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, looks primed and ready for the part.  There's only two things I'm a little skeptical about - one is that the look of some of the side characters isn't quite as perfect as I would like, most notably Wallace Wells, Scott's gay roommate, who just doesn't seem pretty enough, and Kim Pine, the drummer of his band, who also isn't pretty enough.....on second thought, maybe this is just because the characters are being, ya know, put into live-action instead of a manga-inspired comic book.  Still, the complaint holds for me.   EDIT: Actually, after watching the trailer several times (as I am wont to do with anything related to Scott Pilgrim, movie or otherwise), everyone seems cool.

The second, and larger concern is that they're putting all 6 volumes into one movie.  I'm really worried about this - while there are enough parts from the comic that can be skipped over (such as in the second volume where Scott's friends are teaching the reader how to cook a meal), these sections are part of what added a lot of flavour and personality to the books.  And even without them, that's a LOT of stuff to put into one movie.  I don't know what the runtime for the film is supposed to be, but I don't see how they could do it justice with any less than two and a half hours, and considering that this is a film adaptation of an indie comic by a just-moderately-successful (in North America) director and containing only one really heavy-hitter star, I find it hard to believe that the studio would allow it to be so long.  I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

That's basically it for me.  The 6th and final volume of Scott Pilgrim will be released July 20th.  Read the series!  It's excellent!

HOLY INACTIVITY, BATMAN!

Hi all!

So, again I must apologize for not updating as much as I would like to.  Luckily, I'm going to Ottawa this weekend, which means I'll be bored basically all the time, which means TONS OF POSTS!!!  Well, probably two or three at least.  I just went to the library to pick up some graphic novels for reading in the car.  So this weekend, you should see features on at least some of these:

-DJ Hero
-Asterios Polyp by Dave Mazzucchelli
-Laika by Nick Abadzis
-Zot! by Scott McCloud
-The Punisher Omnibus by Garth Ennis
-Whatever new music I opt to listen to in the car
-The first part of a new feature (but probably not)

So check back here on Saturday night for the first part of my weekend post EXTRAVAGANZA (or something)!!!

Stuff That I Saw - Iron Man 2

Note: This review will contain some slight spoilers, but nothing too bad.  You'll probably be able to see the plot coming from a mile away anyways.

Back in 2008, the first Iron Man film kicked off a summer filled with great comic book movies.  The film wasn't particularly smart, and it wasn't perfect - the villain was somewhat weak, and the final fight scene was pretty lame - but it managed to be an extremely enjoyable time at the theater, with great special effects, a cast with loads of chemistry, and a witty, fast-paced script. After making tons of cash at the box office and being overwhelmingly well-received by critics, everyone knew there would be a sequel, but does it carry the same appeal as the first? Find out after the jump.

 Mickey Rourke as Whiplash (though they never actually call him that).

Iron Man 2 picks up basically right where the first movie ended - Tony Stark has made public knowledge of the fact that he is Iron Man, and the United States government is now trying to seize the suit to be used as a government weapon. Meanwhile, Stark is being poisoned by the material in his arc reactor, which both powers the Iron Man suit and keeps the shrapnel in his body from reaching his heart and killing him. Meanwhile, Ivan Vanko, the son of a business associate of Stark's father (Howard Stark), is plotting revenge on Tony for Howard screwing over Ivan's father back in the day. Meanwhile, Justin Hammer, a rival weapons dealer, is attempting to build his own version of the Iron Man suit for mass military consumption. Meanwhile, Tony is being watched very closely by S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury's somewhat secret militant organization, to see if he is fit to join the "Avengers Initiative".

So, as you can see from the above paragraph, there's quite a lot of plot threads happening at once. Iron Man 2 is a movie that has a lot of responsibility - it has the dual task of being the first movie which really starts to lead up to the upcoming Avengers movie, as well as having to support it's own canon and lead up to it's inevitable next sequel. The movie mostly does a good job of keeping all the balls in the air, but it's somewhat unfocused, which is a bit of a shame as the first film was pretty damn tight in terms of pacing. Part of the problem (and this happens with a lot of comic book sequels) is that there's no more origin story to rely on. This means that it's a bit more difficult on the writer's part to come up with new and exciting situations for the character, because that initial learning curve for the character is lost. Overall, I thought the movie did a pretty solid job of keeping everything together, but I'm a comic book fan; for someone who doesn't know about The Avengers film, or doesn't even know who The Avengers are, I'd imagine the film would seem rather bloated. We're not talking Spider-Man 3 levels here, but there's a few too many THINGS happening at once, and it doesn't always pay off.

Everyone from the first film is just as great here as they were then - Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow have a lot of chemistry as Tony Stark and his assistant, Pepper Potts, and I liked that Jon Favreau gave his character a bigger part in this movie (he's the director, in case you didn't know, but also plays Happy Hogan). Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, and fits right in with the returning cast. In terms of the newcomers, Sam Rockwell does a great job as the weasel-y Justin Hammer; Scarlett Johansson doesn't have much to work with as Natasha Romanoff (AKA Black Widow) but she's just fine despite her lack of a Russian accent (better than having a bad accent I suppose); Samuel L. Jackson is okay as Nick Fury, but he's pretty obviously just playing himself and not the actual character; and Mickey Rourke, despite overacting a bit, particularly in the beginning of the movie, does a good job as the sinister Ivan Vanko.

OF COURSE I CAN'T STOP YELLING, 'CUZ THAT'S HOW I TALK!!

I actually want to talk about Ivan Vanko a little bit, because one of the sacrifices made to get all that plot into the film was character development on the part of some of the new faces (though the movie actually does a good job of expanding the characters of the returning cast, most notably - and importantly - Tony).  Ivan Vanko is touted as the main villain of Iron Man 2, but he's not really on-screen all that much, and while he hints at having a bit of depth, he never really does more than that; he's also a little bit TOO ridiculous, being a dude who clearly knows his way in a fistfight AND a brilliant scientist. It's just a bit too much to swallow, even from a comic book movie. The Whiplash in this movie is sort of a mash-up of the comic book Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo, another big Iron Man villain, and this generally works out pretty well. He fares better than Iron Monger from the first film, but I was really disappointed with his action scenes. He only gets two in the whole movie, and they're both extremely short and feature him getting beaten way too easily.

Ah, those action scenes though. I'll admit, none of them have that same exhilarating, fresh feeling as in the first movie - again, one of the problems with not having an origin story - but aside from the really weak Whiplash scenes, they're pretty well done. I won't ruin too much, but I will say that the last fight was, shamefully, just as weak as in the first movie. Overall though, there's some pretty cool stuff here.

Look, Iron Man 2 is not The Dark Knight; but then, the movie never really tries to be anything other than an entertaining summer popcorn flick. At the end of the day, is it as good, as fun, or as exciting as the first one? No, it's not. It's bloated whereas the first one was tightly-paced, it's a bit cheesy whereas the first one was able to be undeniably cool; it's big, it's dumb, and it's predictable in the most Hollywood way possible. But it still nails the characters, serves up some solid action scenes, and throws in some great chemistry between its cast. If you hated the first Iron Man, this won't change your mind; if you liked the first one, you'll PROBABLY like this one.  Me? I dug it, but I've got to admit that I walked away from the theater feeling just a little bit hollow.

Stuff That I Liked:
- Well done translation of the characters from the comic
- Snappy, rapid-fire dialogue
- Good performances by most of the cast
- Returning characters are expanded upon from the first film
- Some pretty sweet action scenes
- Doesn't try to be anything it's not
- The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 of the series -  not as well done as the first, goofier and harder to take seriously, but still fun.


Stuff That I Didn't:
- Lacks the freshness of the first film
- Tries to do too many things at once, sacrificing new character development and pacing
- Extremely predictable story structure, sometimes relying on some weird Deus Ex Machina-type stuff.
- Lacks narrative tension
- Some shots that are just plain cheesy
- Introduction of lead-up threads to Avengers movie could turn off non-comic book fans
- Whiplash is kind of a pussy

Stuff That I Read: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

A couple things:  First off, this will be spoiler-free, but contains SOME spoilers in regards to the ending of Dark Knight Returns.

Those of you who know me know that I am a rabid fan of The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. It is the book that got me back into comics, and is still one of my favourite graphic novel; whenever I’m bored or have nothing else to read, I know I can always go back to my trusty copy of Dark Knight Returns. It was with great curiosity and fear, then, that I finally picked up a really cheap copy of the sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, released in the year 2000; let me just say that it was a good thing that I only spent 10 bucks on it.

For those not in the know, the landscape of comics was changed in the 80s with the release of a few works that ushered in a new age for the medium. Stories like Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Art Speigalman’s Maus and, of course, Dark Knight Returns were darker in tone and more thematically complex than the simple, feel-good Bronze Age of the 1970s. Dark Knight Returns chronicles the return of a 50-something aged Batman from decades of being away from the costume as he deals with his old foes and allies, and tries to clean up the now-dilapidating cesspool that is Gotham City. The miniseries is a stroke of brilliance, filled with really great, stylized artwork, brooding, noir-ish atmosphere, and signaling a somewhat more critical view of Batman as someone who is vaguely psychotic; this idea is nothing new to Batman these days, but it was pretty revolutionary when Dark Knight Returns was released in the late 80s. The comic is not dated in the slightest and remains a fantastic read.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again, however, lacks most of the qualities that made the Dark Knight Returns so great, and was the first work to usher in Frank Miller’s new “half-parody” form of writing that he’s stuck to for the past decade or so. I struggle with Miller’s newer writing; I can never tell if he’s joking or totally serious, and most of his newer work just seems like a parody of his older, better, smarter work. His work has only become more adolescent and over-the-top, in a bad way. This really shows through in DKSA.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again takes place three years after Bruce faked his own death at the end of Dark Knight Returns. The world has become a different place while Batman’s been away, super-saturated with advertisements and superhero wannabes. In short, it’s a really extreme version of (gasp!) our own world. In these last few years, Bruce Wayne has been building an army of soldiers. His goal? Save the world from the police-state dictatorship of Lex Luthor.

First off, you’ll notice from the above plot synopsis that the story is generally a lot bigger than the first Dark Knight series. Batman’s team isn’t just himself and a sidekick, but a menagerie of trained soldiers and other superheroes; Bruce Wayne is no longer just trying to save Gotham City, but the ENTIRE WORLD. This, overall, is rather goofy and silly – the whole thing reeks of misplaced self-importance. Most troubling, however, is Miller’s characterization of Batman himself. In Dark Knight Returns, Batman was certainly troubled, but he was still a good person, concerned with bettering society. In this book, Batman is a self-absorbed asshole; he’s trying to save the world more for his own kicks than for the good of mankind. Worse, he’s close-minded in a much more absolute way than he’s ever been shown in print. Batman has always had a sense of stoicism and unflinching ideals, but this is ridiculous; the primary problem is that Batman is absolutely no better than his enemies in Dark Knight Strikes Again – hell, he may actually be worse. This would not be a problem if Miller scrutinized Batman for this, as he hinted at in Dark Knight Returns, but it’s written in such a way that he clearly wants us to root for Batman, to get off on his ludicrous, dictator-like quest for “justice”, as other superheroes praise him for doing what they cannot do. There’s a reason they can’t do what he does in the graphic novel; because it’s fascism, and it is neither super nor heroic.

Not helping matters is the fact that a lot of the writing is just plain lazy. Miller has a habit of repeating simple phrases ad nauseum to take up space and cover up his lack of writing direction. For example, in an early scene, Carrie Kelly (Robin in Dark Knight Returns, but now with her own identity as Catgirl) attempts an infiltration mission to rescue The Atom and Plastic Man. Throughout the mission, she continuously repeats the term “It's a piece of cake.  It’s easy”. While at first this works pretty well, displaying Carrie’s nervousness towards being on a mission by herself, it quickly becomes distracting and repetitive. This wouldn’t be such a big problem but EVERY character does it at some point in the story; it makes the writing incredibly awkward and unnatural.

Carrie Kelly, now as Catgirl.  Note the grossly Photoshopped background.  Yuck.

Say what you will about Miller’s writing, but he’s always been a reliable artist. He’s got an extremely unique style, and he’s especially great with panel construction and action scenes. In fact, once you see Frank Miller’s stuff, you start to realize how bad a lot of other artists are at drawing action. Unfortunately, Dark Knight Strikes Again is without doubt Miller’s weakest work of his career. It’s extremely ugly, lacking the polish and breathtaking spreads of his older work. Character proportions are all off, faces of the same character look extremely different from one panel to the next, and the whole thing just has a very sloppy, unkempt look, at times looking more like fan-art than the work of an artist who’s been in the industry for 20+ years. Even worse is the fact that Miller’s usually lovely action scenes are now totally distorted and unclear. Most of the scenes are befuddling; I had to look at single pages for minutes at a time to discern what the hell was going on, and this was a continuous problem. Part of the blame goes towards frequent collaborator Lynn Varley, who decks out the work with extremely saturated and downright cheesy coloring. Everything is very bright and fluorescent, a very clear contrast to Dark Knight Returns’ subdued, dark coloring. The combination of Miller’s unusually weak artwork and Varley’s just-plain-gross colours creates something that’s pretty hideous. You could make the argument that this is a purposeful effect, but on-purpose or not, this is simply a bad looking book.

 Here's Batman fighting Superman from the first Dark Knight....

...and here's a similar fight from Strikes Again.  Quite an aesthetic change.  This is one of the better pages from the book, too.

Overall, Dark Knight Strikes Again is a pretty huge failure. I struggle to think of a single successful element in it – there’s one neat action scene involving Superman, and at times Miller’s dick-ish characterization of Batman actually kind of works, but overall, it’s a big, putrid mess of a story. The writing is weak, the art is weak, and worst of all, it’s rather dumb. If you’re a fan of Dark Knight Returns (like me), you’ve probably already heard how bad Strikes Again is, but you’ll probably also be curious enough to check it out. I understand this, and can confirm that it is, in fact, as bad as you’ve heard, but it’s probably not going to stop you anyways. For everyone else, just don’t read this, quite frankly. In fact, I’d suggest not reading much of any Frank Miller from the past decade.  Just go to your nearest book/comic store, pick up a copy of Dark Knight Returns, and read away. And if you liked it, avoid Dark Knight Strikes Again like the plague.

Stuff That I Liked:
- Some good ideas
- A couple funny lines
- Cool fight with Superman
- The Flash's new costume
- Plastic Man

Stuff That I Didn't
- Amateurish, ugly artwork
- Annoying, wholly unlikable interpretations of well-known DC characters, most notably THE MAIN CHARACTER
- Lazy writing
- Doesn't fit with the feel of the original Dark Knight Returns

New Stuff

Hi everybody!  Just wanted to apologize for not updating in a while.  Coming up soon, you should see pieces on some or (hopefully) all of the following:

-Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's run on The Punisher
-Just Cause 2
-The Fall of Math by 65daysofstatic
-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (my first book review!  Although if it's bad, I'm not putting it up.)
-The first part of a new feature

Also, as a quick plug, I've started writing for my friend Ben's new music site called Avast Soundscape.  I've written a couple things for it; they're not up yet, but they will be soon, so check out the site and keep looking for my writings on it!

Finally, I've decided to remove my Google ads and the Reactions thing, because frankly, they're both pretty useless.

-Daniel

Stuff That I Saw: Kick-Ass

Note: This review should be basically spoiler-free. You’ll get the usual spoilers you would get from any average movie review, but you’re basically safe, so read away!.

Screw 2008’s Dark Knight-Hellboy 2-Iron Man triumvirate of great comic book films; THIS year is truly the year of great comic adaptations. Between Kick-Ass, and the upcoming films The Losers, Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Jonah Hex, and (maybe) Green Hornet, this is one amazing year to be a movie-going comic fan.  Kick-Ass is the first comic book film of the year, and if every other one released is as good, we’ve got a mighty fine year of entertainment ahead of us.

Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn and adapted from the comic of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., follows the exploits of Dave Lizewski, a comic book geek and chronic masturbator. After being mugged numerous times, Dave begins to ponder why no one in the real world has ever tried to be a superhero before, and decides to take on the mantel himself, ordering a scuba suit online and naming himself Kick-Ass. After a Youtube video of him beating up some thugs is seen on the news, Kick-Ass grows in fame, soon becoming an absolute craze. What follows is an action-packed adventure as Kick-Ass and his companions, Big Daddy, Hit Girl, and Red Mist, attempt to take down the mafia.

What makes Kick-Ass unique is its degree of somewhat-realism, at least within the “origin” part of the tale. Basically, on Kick-Ass’s first patrol through town, he gets beaten, stabbed, and run over by a car, which is totally what would happen to a naive, comic-obsessed teenager with no training who attempts to fight crime.  This is not a movie to take kids to, in case the R rating didn't give you enough warning.  It's rife with foul language, and some REALLY brutally violent scenes - heads explode, limbs are cut off, and people are tortured and beaten.  If this kind of stuff isn't exactly your bag, don't see this movie.

Among other things, Kick-Ass has a seriously stupendous cast. Aaron Johnson does a great job as Kick-Ass – it’s a pretty demanding role, as the character has to be likable, despite being, well, kind of an idiot, and Johnson does the job extremely well. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is given a lot more to do here with Red Mist than his “eccentric loser” roles in the past. It helps that Red Mist is a better-developed character here than in the comic (and that his motivations are clear from the beginning, as opposed to the comic where Red Mist working for the mafia is a big reveal moment), but Mintz-Plasse still carries an emotional subtlety to a character who could have otherwise become an unlikable asshole.

I’ve had a pretty anti-Nicholas Cage stance for the past few years, but recently I’ve begun to think that it’s just because I haven’t seen any of his good movies – I mean, the guy’s gotta be such a sought-after actor for a reason, right? After Kick-Ass I can say that this assumption was correct, because Cage is great in this movie. Out of costume, he’s a pretty typical dad character (well, as typical as a dad who’s trained his 11 year old daughter to be a proficient killing machine can be, but ya know…), but in costume, he (in reference to the old Batman TV show) speaks in short, disjointed, Adam West-like sentences. It had me in stitches every time, and if you catch what he’s doing, you will be too. I actually came from the movie wishing that there were more scenes with Big Daddy in them.

Of course, the star of the show here is Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl. If you’ve seen any promotional material for the film, you know the character’s shtick. She’s a foul-mouthed 11-year-old girl who has been trained to be a stone-cold killer. She is where much of the movie’s controversy comes from, and the character who is bound to make audiences who aren’t into this sort of thing the most uncomfortable. She’s also fucking awesome. Her action scenes are pulse pounding, brilliantly shot affairs, and Moretz is extremely confident in the role. Some could see her character as controversy for controversy’s sake, but she’s a very unique creation, and one that could really only come from Mark Millar’s twisted mind. There’s a real undercurrent of creepiness in Big Daddy and Hit Girl’s relationship, and it helps give the movie a more sinister tone.

Matthew Vaughn makes the movie work because he truly makes the source material his own.  The film reminded me of the Fight Club movie - it remains very faithful to the original comic, while also deviating quite a bit from it, especially within the last half. This really gives the movie it’s own identity and allows it to stand up as its own self-contained work, as opposed to some other, more direct comic book adaptations (coughWatchmencough). What ends up happening is that the movie is lighter, dumber, and more Hollywood than the comic, but has a more consistent tone. While the comic attempted to balance social commentary with adolescent violence (with varying levels of success), the film pretty much just stresses the adolescent violence – Hit Girl and Big Daddy’s relationship is noticeably toned down (with Big Daddy’s motivations being changed pretty drastically), and some of the moral issues raised by the character’s actions in the comic aren’t addressed at all in the film. Again though, it works. It also helps that Vaughn’s direction is fantastic – the action is extremely intense, and stylistically the movie is quite stunning, especially during Big Daddy’s origin story, which mixes traditional animation with cel-shading to create the illusion of a moving comic book. Really neat stuff here.

Quite frankly, you should know if you’re the kind of person who would enjoy Kick-Ass. All you have to do is ask yourself one simple question: is an R-rated movie titled Kick-Ass going to tickle your fancy? If you turned away in disgust at the movie’s title, then you should move right along, because there really isn’t anything for you here. But if you’re the sort of person who has read and enjoyed the comic, or feel like you WOULD enjoy a film with such an abrasive title, then sit back, relax, and revel in the gratuitous violence, fantastic cast, and fast-paced, witty dialogue of Kick-Ass; I know I did.

Stuff That I Read: New X-Men Volume 1 by Grant Morrison

Finally, after two and a half months of empty promises, here is the first Stuff That I Read post!  Exciting, I know.

This oversized hardcover collects New X-Men issues 114-126 and New X-Men Annual 2001.

I've always wanted to read Grant Morrison's New X-Men run.  While I initially didn't like Morrison's work that much (I still feel his Arkham Asylum is overrated), after reading such marvelous comics such as his Animal Man run, All-Star Superman, and WE3, I found myself becoming part of his crazed fanbase, to the point where I would eventually like to read his entire collection of works.

Anyways, Morrison's New X-Men was notable for shaking up the usual status quo of X-Men books at the time.  Gone were the flashy superhero costumes, replaced by leather jackets and combat boots.  The X-Men themselves took on more of a "mentor/teacher" status, recruiting younger mutants and teaching them how to use their powers effectively.  The team itself was also much smaller, consisting of just Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Wolverine, Emma Frost, and new character Xorn.  This is fantastic because it allows new readers to jump onto the storyline without much previous knowledge of the characters - if you've seen any of the X-Men movies, you'll be totally comfortable reading this, as even when Morrison calls back to older events, he makes an effort to explain what they are.  It's a breath of fresh air for an often complicated and bloated series.

This hardcover chronicles the debut storyline of a new X-Men villain named Cassandra Nova, who destroys Genosha (Magneto's secret homeland for mutants), invariably killing 16 million mutants.  Cassandra Nova is a great villain as she poses a real threat to the X-Men and especially Charles Xavier.  This is important; the X-Men haven't had a lot of great villains in recent years, often relying on the series staples, i.e. Magneto/Mr. Sinster.  It's extremely refreshing to see a new face on the villain roster.  The series is filled with the same high concepts and excellent characterization that Grant Morrison is known for.  Most impressive for me is the way he writes Cyclops; Morrison's Cyclops (who canonically has just returned from the dead) is the strong, smart leader he is supposed to be, but unlike other interpretations of him, is not a complete douche.

The best part of New X-Men though, is the way that Morrison actually moves the plot FORWARD.  Too often, X-Men series are happy being stagnant - mutants are prejudiced against, but fight for mankind's acceptance.  The characters in New X-Men realize that they are truly the future of the human race, with Emma even remarking that in five generations, homosapiens will cease to exist.  Thus, while they still protect regular humankind, the X-Men's goal is largely to maintain their own survival until the time where they are the dominant species.  It's amazing to me that very few X-Men writers have also taken this concept - hell, the mutant species is named homo SUPERIOR.

The art here is also worth a mention.  I thought that the artwork was all handled by the unparalleled Frank Quitely, who's a favourite comic book artist of mine.  However, the book actually rotates between Quitely, Ethan Van Sciver, and Igor Kordey (Leinel Francis Yu doing the Annual one-shot).  Quitely brings his usual fluid line work and detailed style to the work, though it does take him an issue or two to really get into the groove of the book.  His work is especially fantastic in issue 121, where Jean Grey and Emma Frost take an excursion into Charles Xavier's mind.  The issue is a standout in the collection, with incredible artwork and an interesting approach by Morrison (aside from the last line, the entire issue is silent). 

 Jean Grey first enters Xavier's mind.  Striking, no?

Of course, as I said, Quitely doesn't handle all the artistic duties.  Ethan Van Sciver does the artwork on about a third of the issues.  While he isn't nearly as unique or stylish as Quitely, he is an extremely detailed and, most importantly, CLEAR artist.  His artwork is never confusing; you can always see exactly what is happening on any given page with utmost clarity.  This seems like it would be an obvious ability for such a visual medium, but surprisingly, a lot of comic book artists struggle with this very skill.

 

 I couldn't find any pictures of Ethan Van Sciver's work on New X-Men, but here's his badass cover for Flash: Rebirth #1

Unfortunately, the second fill-in artist on the book (Quitely is technically the regular artist, even though the artwork duties are split pretty evenly between him and the two fill-ins), Igor Kordey, doesn't fare nearly as well as Van Sciver.  His work is extremely sloppy, lacking consistency and especially struggling with the characters' faces; everyone looks like weird aliens with really big eyes and unlikely facial expressions.  In contrast with Van Sciver, it's almost always unclear as to what is happening on the page, which is especially problematic with a series like this, where action scenes are often huge, team-based affairs.  Now, I understand that around this time, Kordey was drawing FOUR different ongoing series at the same time (Black Widow, Cable, New X-Men, and Soldier X).  However, this is no excuse for sloppy artwork - if you can't deal with the workload, don't take it on.  It's rather unfortunate, because given enough time, Kordey can be quite a strong artist.

 The best picture I could find.  What the hell is up with Wolverine's face?  He looks like a cross between an Asian, a Martian, and a kid with Down's Syndrome.

Anyways, while I do wish that the artwork was primarily done by Quitely, New X-Men is a strong book, with some great ideas and fantastic artwork (2/3s of the time).  It may not be Morrison's absolute BEST work, but it's still pretty great.  I definitely look forward to reading more of his run.

Read this if:

-You generally like Grant Morrison's high-concept writing 

-You want a good starting point for getting into the X-Men (though Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men may be a better series to jump-in with)

-You want a book with some interesting artwork (and can deal with some not-so-great stuff as well)

-You want a well-done, mature interpretation of the X-Men

Don't read this if:

-Some iffy art is an absolute deal-breaker for you

-You hate superheroes?  I don't know; to be honest, I can see New X-Men even appealing to people who aren't such big fans of superheroes


Later days,
Daniel

P.S. you may have noticed this new Reactions thing at the bottom of posts.  I'm experimenting with it, so that I can still get some sort of feedback even if people don't feel like commenting.  Please use it (though comments are better, so if it's a choice between one or the other, comment)!  AND BE HONEST!  No one's work gets better from being patronized.

Stuff That I'll Be Reading/Playing/Listening To

Yo.  So, I thought I'd just make a quick list of music/books/comics/videogames that I plan to check out this Spring/Summer.  This list is more for me to sort out all the things I want to look at the summer, but you can also expect to see pieces on all of these (that I actually decide to check out), whether they be reviews or other things.  These are in no particular order.

Videogames
- Assassin's Creed 2
- Alan Wake
- Just Cause 2 (currently playing)
- God of War 3 (currently playing, should be done by tomorrow)
- Skies of Arcadia (currently playing)
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (currently playing)
- Uncharted 2
- Transformers: War for Cybertron
- Splinter Cell: Conviction
- Blur
- Super Street Fighter IV
- Iron Man 2 (we'll see once reviews come out, but it looks rad so far)
- Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (same deal)
- Pokemon: HeartGold/SoulSilver (if I have time)
- Lego Harry Potter
- Crackdown 2
- Condemned 2
- Shenmue 2 (if I can find it)
- Silent Hill 2 (same)
- Bayonetta

Books
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (I say I'm going to read this every year; we'll see what happens.  I read the first two a long time ago and loved them, but stopped with the third for some reason)
- Catch 22
- Cat's Cradle
- Breakfast of Champions (reading now, almost done)
- The new A.J. Jacobs book (once they release it in softcover)

Comics
- The entire Marvel Ultimate Universe (reading now, about 2/3 of the way through it)
- The Punisher Omnibus by Garth Ennis (got this for my b-day, haven't started reading yet)
- Punisher MAX by Garth Ennis
- Automatic Kafka
- Blackest Night
- Scott Pilgrim vol. 3-5
- Box Office Poison
- Joe Kelly's Spiderman
- Dark Reign/Siege
- The Losers
- The Boys
- The rest of Grant Morrison's New X-Men (I have the first Ultimate Collection)
- Astonishing X-Men
- Tag and Bink Are Dead
- reread Y: The Last Man
- reread Preacher
- There must be more.  I can't think of any right now, but I know there's more.

Music
- Gorillaz - S/T
- Blue and Exile - Below the Heavens
- Wilco - Summerteeth, S/T
- Talking Heads Discography
- Flaming Lips Discography
- I actually need more music.  GIVE ME MORE MUSIC TO LISTEN TO!!!  I will accept almost anything as long as I know it doesn't suck.

That's everything I can think of right now.  If I add anything I'll make a note of it in other posts.  Also, any suggestions in regards to books, comics, and music are encouraged!

-Daniel

STIL Quickie: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Howdy y'all! The first trailer for the Scott Pilgrim movie (entitled Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) just got released, so I thought I'd just write out some quick thoughts about it.



I picked up the first volume of Scott Pilgrim a little while back on a whim and fell in love instantly; it's one of the most unique series I've ever read, perfectly mixing extremely strong characters, absurd comedy, and over-the-top videogame-inspired chaos. So far, I only have the first two volumes, but I'm looking to get more. The gist of the series is that Scott Pilgrim is a normal dude; he doesn't have any outstanding character traits (though he's apparently an awesome fighter), and is kind of a loser - but there's something about him that's inherently cool. He eventually meets a girl named Ramona Flowers who he becomes enamored with; she likes him too, but in order for him to date her, he has to defeat all of her 7 evil ex-boyfriends in battle.

The movie seems to be extremely faithful to the plot and characters; I noticed a lot of shots straight from the comic. It stars Michael Cera as Scott and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona. I actually really like Michael Cera, but I'm not sold on him as Scott yet; in the comic, Scott really toes the line between being a total loser and being the coolest guy in the world, and I don't think Cera does that; he just seems to do the awkward, geeky thing. I haven't seen Winstead in anything, but she looks like she'll do a good job as the free-spirited Ramona.

What's really striking about the trailer is how much it takes from the comics; you can see sound effects flash on-screen as the characters hit each other, for example. The film is directed by Edgar Wright, who directed Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, as well as the TV series Spaced; I'm a big fan of his work with Simon Pegg and his crew, so it's interesting to see him do something without their involvement. It looks like the movie contains some really balls-out action scenes, which is exactly what it needs. I'm hoping the strong character work doesn't get lost in the shuffle, but I'm pretty optimistic about it.

Also, I think it's funny that one of the fights is going to be with the actress who played Anne in Arrested Development; somehow it seems Michael Cera always ends up with his Arrested Development cast members in other movies.

Any other thoughts on the trailer? Comment!

Ahoy-hoy.

Hi kids! I'm Daniel, I'll be running this blog. Now, I'm sure you have many questions, including (but not limited to):

-What is this blog about?
-Aren't there enough blogs out there?
-Why are you doing this to us?
-What makes you think you're so damn special?

This blog is going to be exactly what the title is - stuff that I like. You're gonna get a bit of everything here; some music stuff, some video game stuff, some comics stuff, and maybe some movies and TV eventually

I have several reasons for starting this blog, but the main reason needs a bit of background. I'm currently in the process of getting my Music major in school; as I'm sure you've heard, living off of Music is basically a fool's errand. Essentially there are two ways to do so: 1. You're in a band that hits it big or 2. You do various music-related things and get enough money to live decently.

Realizing that it's very difficult to both be in a quality band AND have it become mainstream, I've been trying to go with the latter. I consider myself a fairly decent writer and have always been somewhat interested in Journalism, specifically of the music, comics, and video game variety. While I don't intend for any sort of writing to be my main job, there are worse things you can do for a bit of pocket change. The beauty of Journalism is that so long as you have something to show for your work, you don't really need a degree to freelance. So, essentially what I'm doing here is beefing up my "portfolio". I've also flirted with the idea of starting a blog because I like writing and haven't been able to write for my personal enjoyment for quite a while. It's also a better outlet for my opinions than talking to myself in the shower....uuhhh.....yeah.

Anyways, I was going to write a really long post about Mass Effect 2 (just beat it last night), but this turned out being longer than I expected. Perhaps I'll do it later today; otherwise, tomorrow, I promise.

Peace y'all
-Daniel