Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Nateva!
Hello people! Tomorrow morning, I embark to the Nateva Music Festival in Maine. Expect a full, multiple-day extravaganza when I return on Tuesday (but probably won't be posted until Wednesday, as most of Tuesday will be spent sleeping). Get excited!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
