Saturday, April 12, 2008
Garfield Minus Garfield
I used to read Garfield when I was younger. I even had quite a number of the collected books, and was a regular watcher of the Garfield / U.S. Acres half hour on Saturday mornings. But then I grew to find the warped humor of the Far Side and the whimsical and poignant humor of Calvin and Hobbes more to my taste, and the orange tabby went to the wayside.Garfied minus Garfield, however, has brought me back. Others have attempted to do the same, by erasing Garfield's thought bubbles or substituting a more realistic cat drawing for Garfield (Realfield), but none are quite as bizarre or sad as this version: Garfield has been removed entirely, so Jon Arbuckle talks to himself, coming off as lonely, schizophrenic, and completely miserable. It should just be sad, but it comes off as hysterical, because it pushes the normalcy (or dare I say it, the Nermal-cy) of the original and makes it extremely surreal - and yet I can still identify with Jon and his reactions to the world around him.
Go Now! Garfied minus Garfield!
But please come back.
Labels: Fun on the Web, Hey Kids - Comics, Sheer Awesome
Friday, April 04, 2008
Ash and Xena
I gave into a ten year itch this week and purchased my first honest to goodness comic book - Army of Darkness / Xena: Why Not? The title sells itself, no?
The comic book store certainly didn't do a good job of it. Ten years later and it';s still like it was the last time I was in there - it reeked of clove cigarettes, the employees were way too busy counting inventory or playing Magic the Gathering to ask me if I needed help, and the stacks were incomprehensibly laid out. On top of that, the clerk informed me I needed to make a ten dollar minimum purchase to use a credit card.
I ended up waiting and going to another store.
I wish I could say it was worth the wait, The comic almost hit the right tone, but just missed the mark. If anything, Ash came off as denser than in the movies, and felt rather out of character. I wanted to love it, but it did fall short.
Maybe reading summaries on the web is an effective placebo.
Labels: Hey Kids - Comics, Sheer Awesome
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Fantastic Four, Plus One Dweeb
Kristin and I got to see both of the Fantastic Four films, and although I wasn't blown away, I found there was a lot I liked about them. I admit I've never been a huge fan of the World's Greatest Comic, but once thing I have liked about the Fantastic Four is the family aspect, and I think the four principles in these films capture that dynamic perfectly.
If only Doom would live up to his name.
I like Julian McMahon as an actor. He was the main reason I stuck with Charmed for so long, and once his character went from series regular to an occasional appearance my attention to the show waned. But he is woefully miscast as Doom. He never portrays the right amount of menace or sinister intentions. He never acts arrogant enough, and never refers to himself in the third person. In both films his confrontations with the Fantastic Four are laughably short, as they take the upper hand way too fast. Everything about his character, from his background as a European monarch to his costume and powers, and never fully explained or fleshed out enough to give him any resonance, and so ultimately the films fail as a hero is most often defined by the villain. The inclusion of the Surfer and Galactus in the second give it the edge as the better film, though, and precisely for the same reason.
Now if the film Doom had looked this, and sounded like Udo Kier or Arnold Vosloo, we would have had a sure fire winner:
I'm wondering if this film has set up a possible third film. Doom is sent to the bottom of the Atlantic, teasing us with a possible Namor tie-in. However, part of me feels that the universe of the movie Fantastic Four is ground too much in reality to preclude an Atlantic civilization. Of course, that grounding in reality would hamstring many plots, as one of the biggest appeals to a Fantastic Four story is that science can cause all sorts of wacky things, and invasions by Mole Men and other-dimensional insect lords are an everyday occurrence. Plus, given the emphasis on children, I'd imagine a third film would have Franklin Richards in it, and a Reed-Sue-Namor triangle would feel a lot more uncomfortable when children are also involved.
Labels: Hey Kids - Comics, Marvel Zombie, My Cinematic 2 Cents, Spot the Pop Culture Reference
Friday, December 07, 2007
Bada-Bing Barda Doom
Ever hear of the Women in Refrigerators theory about comic books? It's a theory that women more often that not suffer the worse fates in comic books than the male counterparts. Superheroines routinely lose their powers, get raped, or are cut up and stuck in the refrigerator. This also happens to supporting characters, be it friends, girlfriends, or relatives. Comics writer Gail Simone writes about the trend and gives in examples on the Women in Refrigerators website.A big example of this just took place in the mini-series Death of the New Gods, wherein a mysterious assassin killed Big Barda. Big Barda often takes on Superman - and beats the snot out of him for awhile before he gets the upper hand. She is nigh indestructible, projects cosmic energy, can see into the sub-atomic level, and can manipulate energy and matter in any way she sees fit. Oh, and she can teleport at will and instantaneously heal other living beings.
Essentially she's a female Silver Surfer, with a pinker complexion (and a nifty Kirby headdress).
And she died, in between panels, in a kitchen, while unpacking groceries.
What?
I know Barda wasn't a first tier DC character, but given her character background, that death is simply impossible. Batman could certainly die a death like that. He's got no real superpowers, just a keen mind and an amazingly conditioned body. A villain could conceivably skewer him in the middle of the night while he was making an omelet.
I don't expect to see that plot development. Ever.
Hence, my full-fledged acceptance of the Women in Refrigerators theory.
Labels: Anti-Fun, Hey Kids - Comics, The Great Divide
Have you been reading Gail Simone's work in Wonder Woman and The all new Atom? I've been enjoying The all new Atom in particular. It's a nice relief from the gloom and doom of Countdown and Sinestro Corps.
DC has been busy with the killing in recent Countdown issues. IIRC most of the New Gods have had very quick, or off panel deaths.
By 
, at 9:24 PM
I have to say I've been playing armchair quarterback with comic books for a while now. It got too darn expensive, and now I find I can keep up with the story just by perusing the web for a few minutes every now and then.
Gail Simone will be coming to our college for a conference next year - we have one of the few English department in the country that really does serious academic study of comic books. Life is good.
WiR is not about more women getting killed than men, it's about the way women are killed as motivation for men.
And yes, Barda was killed in a pathetic way, but I'd say the Black Racer got it worse. The narration was all about how miserable and lonely a life he had and now he's dead, in direct contradiction of the way Kirby presented him.
In fact, since every single one of the New Gods is scheduled to get it in the neck by the end of the series, and most of them so far have been done off panel, or by shots from the sky, to single out one example and try to make any kind of case for prejudice puts you on shaky ground.
By Marionette, at 6:26 AM
Have you actually read Death of the New Gods?
Every single New God is going out this way not just Barda. The Black Racer was killed while in a hospital bed, he's crippled. The Forever People were found as corpses and every single New God was killed off panel or with no or very little resistance. There are WiR moments but this was not one of them.
Still, this essay makes a pretty good case for why Big Barda's death is the most ludicrous of the New Gods deaths.
I seriously think it's inappropriate for Kirby's grandiose mythology to be done in during a dishwater dull murder mystery. Rather paltry and more than a little insulting.
By 
Joel Bryan, at 5:41 PM
Sorry. I still have to say it does fit the WiR mold... perhaps not directly as a theme in the comic in which it occurred, but as an example of the trend in general as seen in all comics taken as a whole. Just because all of the New Gods are written out this way does not mean it negates the fact that Barda's death fits the definition put forth for WiR.
Why is it that no writer or editor seems to look carefully at a character's history and make decisions based on those traits versus what the writer thinks is important for their current story?