Thursday, January 23, 2003

R.I.P. Bill Mauldin Bill Mauldin, one of the great iconographers of the last century, died yesterday at the age of 81. His illustrations provided some of the enduring cultural representations of everyday American soldiers during World War II, bringing the conflict down to a human level. Subsequently, he became one of the most respected and accomplished editorial cartoonists, with a style that defined the genre for many years. He was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his work, and is perhaps best known for the image at left which ran on November 23, 1963 - the day following the assassination of President Kennedy. 8:38:31 AM    Emphasize This! []

Sunday, December 22, 2002

Graphic Novels Go Bigtime Six graphic novels are the subject of the front page of this Sunday's New York Times Book Review, and receive a respectful two-page review by Nick Hornby. For long-suffering literate comics fans who are used to the stock media coverage - "Boff! Pow! Blam! Comics Go for Adult Audiences!" or "Holy Goldmine! Vintage Funnybooks Sell for Big Bucks!" - this represents a welcome and long-deserved step toward mainstream recognition of a unique and diverse artform. 8:03:11 PM    Emphasize This! []

Friday, December 20, 2002

Talkin' 'Bout My Generation Last night I went to see the new Star Trek film, Nemesis, more out of a sense of habit and obligation than any real interest. It seems that the cast and crew made the film in that same spirit. Maybe I'm the only Trek fan (not Trekkie - I don't own a uniform or speak Klingon) in this quadrant to have missed the memo, but did anyone else notice that Nemesis is a remake of Wrath of Khan? Well, it pretty much is, and if you ever wondered what the only Star Trek film to get it right would be like without the dueling-diva performances of Ricardo Montalban and William Shatner, then run out forthwith and see Nemesis. All others need not bother. Nemesis  highlights all the reasons why the soft-edged, ingratiating, self-conscious Next Generation falls short of the mythic status of the original series, despite its inarguably superior sophistication, production values and acting talent (particularly Patrick Stewart). While the character interactions that made the original Trek series so appealing grew naturally from the action-oriented plots and social themes, in TNG, they are so clearly contrived that it's hard to invest them with any genuine emotion. Deep Space Nine, the bastard stepchild of the franchise, is the only latter-day Trek series to get this balance right. In the absence of meaningful character development, all that's left to Nemesis is the preposterous plot and a lot of special effects (which, to the producers' credit, look a lot better than in the previous, awful TNG film, Insurrection). The end of Wrath of Khan featured the most traumatic incident in the entire Star Trek cannon – the death of Spock. That the comparable plot turn at the end of Nemesis packs nowhere near the emotional punch – and is so clearly foreshadowed by the by-the-numbers script – is a ringing indictment of the poverty of imagination that has struck the Trek world lately. Rick Berman’s ass has grown fat and comfortable in Gene Roddenberry’s chair, while his cast – Stewart in particular – has clearly grown weary of the endless string of command performances. The well is dry. It’s time for TNG to vanish into the sunset of some distant star, warp factor nine. Please, Rick, make it so. 9:22:03 AM    Emphasize This! []

Saturday, December 14, 2002

Slap Leather I've never been a big fan of the Western genre in any medium. Not only did I find the stories boring, the characters flat, and the action predictable, there was just something inherently unappealing about the unremittingly masculine atmosphere. They somehow reminded me of everything I hated about high-school sports or the uncle with the too-strong handshake. Needless to say, Western-themed comic books, which were still around though in steep decline during my youth, never offered the slightest temptation. Well, apparently someone at Marvel Comics has been reading William S. Burroughs' bent western, The Place of Dead Roads, because there's a new version of their timeworn classic "Rawhide Kid" character riding into town, and this one may actually be worth reading. Here's the full story from ComicCon.com: Citing reports on comics related web sites, the NEW YORK POST published a feature story on Marvel's new 'RAWHIDE KID' series. The story includes a large color graphic of the Kid. 'SLAP LEATHER', due out in February, is a humorously campy take on the cowboy genre, with the hero being openly and over the top gay. The POST is reporting: "He may be the fastest gun in the West, but one longtime Marvel Comics character is no straight shooter. The Rawhide Kid, who made his comics debut in the 1950s, will soon be blasting his way out of the closet and be revealed as a gay gunslinger." "This is going to be the first gay Western," Marvel's editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada told the POST. The Kid was always shown as a shy-around-girls kind of guy. Now you know why." "It's a classic Western, like ‘Shane,' but with a gay twist," writer Ron Zimmerman told the POST. Admitting "a comedic slant," Zimmerman intends the Kid to be "an empowering character that the gay community would be able to embrace." The POST said: "One tipoff about his orientation comes in the first issue, when he's asked about the Lone Ranger. "I just want to meet him. I think that mask and powder-blue outfit are fantastic," he says. "I can certainly see why that Indian follows him around." Asked about Wild Bill Hickock, he says, "Very nice man. Big - ahem - I mean bigger than life." Paging Hugh at Standing Room Only: crass subculture exploitation or valid creative approach? Either way, it sounds interesting enough to be worth a look! 8:58:39 AM    Emphasize This! []

Friday, November 22, 2002

R.I.P. B.O.P. Birds of Prey, the wonky WB series about a trio of super-heroines working in Batman's Gotham City, has apparently been cancelled after 13 episodes. While the series had action, good looking young women in tight outfits, moody set design and an authentic comic book feel, it was burdened by just-plain-awful scripts and utterly predictable plots. It's too bad they couldn't find a way to do it right, because B.O.P. represented a sincere attempt to bring the aesthetic of superhero comics to a wider audience. 8:35:13 AM    Emphasize This! []

Thursday, November 14, 2002

Elvis in Hell I'm experimenting with posting images here and thought I'd start with this lovely work from Charles Burns entitled "Elvis in Hell." Visitors to my home will note that it hangs framed over my stereo. 11:23:35 AM    Emphasize This! []

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Captain America - Free At Last! In 1941, a young pair of comic book creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, hit on a winning formula: a patriotic costumed hero they called Captain America. Published a few months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 by Marvel Comics (then called "Timely Comics"), Captain America proved to be a lucrative and long-lived property. If this story seems somewhat familiar, it was part of the basis for Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Cap was absent from comic books during the 1950s, but he was revived by Stan Lee and Kirby in the 1960s and has been a mainstay of the Marvel pantheon ever since. The problem is, having served his 60 years' enlistment in Marvel's army, the terms of the original work-for-hire agreement, always in dispute, have expired. Ownership of the character now returns to the surviving creator, Joe Simon. It wasn't an easy transition. Surprise, surprise: Simon had to go to court and get a ruling from the Second Circuit restoring his rights, at least for the time-being. Thanks to ampersand at Alas, a Blog for the detail and the pointer, and to Neil Gaiman for referring me there. 4:45:21 PM    Emphasize This! []

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