New Wave of the Week: Wild Swans - "Bible Dreams"

A Saturday without Jane

No "Saturdays with Jane" today. We finally watched the Masterpiece version of Sense and Sensibility, but I want to compare and contrast it with the Ang Lee version.

Since we didn't get around to watching that this week, I'm putting off the post until next week. The Masterpiece version was quite good though. As much as I like most of Lee's cast, having people I don't know from other things in the Masterpiece version was a benefit to it. Also having an extra hour or so to tell the story.

Adventureblog Gallery: Black Canary, Frankenstein's lab, Futurama Hellboy, merpeople, a killer diver, and a killer barbarian woman

I've been struggling to get posts up over the last couple of days, but that's actually good news because I've seen forward progress on a few projects and have had to spend time thinking about and working on them.

Just to get something up today while it's still today, here are a few more items from the enormous backlog of art I've found.

Black Canary and Green Arrow



By Dominique Fam.

Frankenstein's Lab



By Stephan Martiniere (Via).

Futurama Hellboy



By David Au.

Julianne Moore as Ariel



By Annie Leibovitz.

Stand-In for a Corpse



Via.

Sword Woman



By Ken Kelly (Via).

Made Me Quit (Adventureblog Edition): Fantastic Four

Siskoid's Blog of Geekery has a cool feature called "Made Me Quit" (the most recent one is here) in which he talks about the final straws that got him to stop reading comics series he was no longer enjoying.

I thought about that feature a lot as I was reading the most recent issue of Fantastic Four.

When I started regularly reading comics in high school, I was a fan of the characters. Who was writing or drawing a comic were secondary considerations to who the comic was about. As long as it had a member of Alpha Flight in it, I bought it. After a while I got into the X-Men and I had to have all the comics about them too. I still have some of that in me. Any comic that features Alpha Flight (or Wonder Woman, Shang Chi, Black Canary, etc.) is going to at least get my attention.

But after a while I started realizing that just because a comic had my favorite characters in it that didn't mean it was good. I should've learned that lesson as soon as John Byrne left Alpha Flight, but I didn't. Eventually I figured it out though, and I started buying comics based on who created them.

I should've known better than that too. I mean, I loved John Byrne's Alpha Flight and Next Men, but I didn't care at all for his work on Wonder Woman. I loved Denny O'Neil's first thirty issues of Azrael, but after that it became apparent that he'd told the story he started out to tell and was keeping the series going anyway. I guess I'm a slow learner.

But I finally learned too that just because I love Brian K. Vaughan's The Hood or Y: The Last Man doesn't mean I'm also going to love his Ex Machina. Or just because Bill Willingham rules the universe on Fables doesn't mean that I'm going to dig the way he writes Batman comics. In fact, I can't think of a single writer or visual artist where I've loved absolutely every single thing he or she has ever created. Nor can I think of a single writer or visual artist where he or she has loved absolutely every single thing they've ever created. Art just doesn't work that way.

So these days, I'm more into "runs." I'm looking for that combination of creators who absolutely get the characters they're working with. That happens all the time in independent, creator-owned comics, but it's rare in the work-for-hire superhero world. Every once in a while though you'll get Stan Lee and Jack Kirby on The Fantastic Four. Or Stan Lee on Spider-Man. Or Jim Shooter and then Paul Levitz on Legion of Super-Heroes. Or Walt Simonson on Thor. Or Chris Claremont on X-Men (at least during the first go-'round). Or Frank Miller on Daredevil. Or Neal Adams on Batman. Or David Michelinie and Bob Layton on Iron Man. Or Mark Waid on The Flash. Or Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting on Captain America. Or Greg Pak on Hulk. Or Jeff Parker on Agents of Atlas and X-Men: First Class. Or Gail Simone on Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman.

That's a long list, but there are so many others I could mention. Those are the great superhero comics and they're the standard I'm trying to use these days. I'm trying imperfectly, because dang it I do like Alpha Flight and Black Canary, but I'm trying. I even passed up a recent issue of Marvel Adventures Iron Man because it made Alpha Flight look stupid and amateurish. I wouldn't have cared a few years ago. I'd have had to have it anyway just because it was them. These days, I try to have standards.

Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Fantastic Four doesn't meet those standards. This most recent issue has a few examples of why that is, which is why it's my last issue of the series until a new team comes on. And that's kind of ironic, because Millar's Civil War was at least part of the reason I started reading Fantastic Four in the first place. I'd always sort of liked the Thing and the Invisible Woman, but it was Millar's horribly out-of-character writing of Reed Richards in Civil War that made me curious about checking out FF to see how the Invisible Woman would respond to him.

When Dwayne McDuffie took over the book after Civil War, I stuck with it and was glad I did because McDuffie's an idea machine and filled the series with lots of cool, crazy adventures. The Michael Turner covers were a drawback, but I could deal with those to get at McDuffie's stories.

Millar and Hitch though are doing some things that I really hate. Their story has a cool idea at its core though. A think tank of scientists has constructed a duplicate of Earth so that when the real version is inevitably destroyed humanity has a place to go to. Of course the scientists can't help but make a few "improvements" as long as they're starting from scratch, so they build in some rules and safeguards to make sure that they'll have ultimate power in the new world. It's an interesting twist on the old take-over-the-world scheme and it would be really snazzy if Millar and Hitch weren't taking so doggone long to unfold it.

Their dragging it out isn't even one of my big problems with it though. Millar's writing always seems to be winking at the audience and saying, "Yes, I know superheroes are dumb kid stuff, but I'll make it all realistic for you and we can pretend it's grown-up. But we all really know it's not."

His use of the term "costume" to describe superheroes is an example of that. Any time I hear that or "cape" or "tights" to describe superheroes, I hear a writer who's really not comfortable in the genre. He's not embracing it, so he's got to poke a little fun at one of the tropes - the superhero costume.

But you know what? Superheroes are dumb kid stuff. That doesn't mean adults can't enjoy it. I think we should. But then, I also like The Wiggles. There's absolutely nothing wrong with grown-ups liking some kid stuff. And I don't even have a problem with superhero comics that cover some heavy themes. But damn it, Millar, if you can't call a superhero a superhero with a straight face, you should find something else to write about.

I'd cut Millar some slack if this was somehow in character for Johnny Storm to speak derogatorily of his profession, but as irreverent a character as he is, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's embarrassed by what he does.

He is in Millar's Fantastic Four though. Last issue, he tried to tell a cute supervillain that he's not really a crimefighter. And while technically he's not (the Fantastic Four are really a family of adventurers, not vigilantes), he's certainly done more than his share of fighting crime over the years and I don't understand his quibbling over the semantics in the middle of a fight.

Of course, I also don't get why he'd rather sleep with a cute supervillain and let her go in the morning than put her behind bars, but Millar has him doing that too.

Okay, wait, I do get why he'd rather do that. I just don't buy that he actually would. Especially the letting her go in the morning part.

Enough about Johnny. The rest of my problem has to do with what happens when the Nu-World scientists' secret weapon gets loose on the real Earth. Again, the weapon is a cool idea. It's a giant robot called Conserve and Protect; CAP for short, and it's even painted to look like Captain America. But it's an idea that's presented in as dull and boring a manner as possible.

When the Fantastic Four (minus Reed Richards, who's off planet at the time) are called in to battle the robot, they go in expecting to join forty of the biggest hitting superheroes in the Marvel Universe. When they don't see any of the others, they and their think tank liaison call in to check up. "Where are they?" they ask.

"What are you talking about?" comes the response. "They got there about eight minutes ago."

So, the Fantastic Four look around and see this:



Look who's there lying unconscious. There are some lightweights, but you also have Storm, Ares, Iron Man, the Vision, Wonder Man, Ms. Marvel, and the freaking Sentinel. I don't care how tough CAP is supposed to be, it should've taken a lot longer than eight minutes to put down any one of that group. And even - just to give Millar the benefit of the doubt - if CAP could take them all out so fast and so easily, why the heck didn't we get to see it? I certainly would rather have seen three pages of that fight than three pages of Johnny Storm getting yelled at by his manager for missing band practice. I mean, honestly.

But then again, when the heroes regain consciousness and resume the fight, this incomprehensible mess is what we get:



I can't tell what's going on there, but I'm starting to figure out why we don't get more pages of fighting. There's no choreography; it's just a bunch of superheroes flying around, some of whom are unconvincingly attacking the robot. We get one other panel of the fight beside this one and it's just as bad. Millar and Hitch are faking it and they're not even faking it well.

And then on the next page, they quit even trying to fake it and just have some guys in a room describe the rest of the fight.



That's Mr. Fantastic on the speaker by the way. Fresh back from outer space and rarin' to go. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The giant robot has kicked the butt of every single Marvel hero there is off panel, but now we're supposed to get excited because Mr. Fantastic is on the way.

I'm so done.

Adventureblog Gallery: Spies, Sinbad, Powerpuff Girls, and a dragon motorsickle

The name is Bond



By Cary Nord.

Spy Girl



By Dub.

Powerpuff Girls



By Sarah Mensinga.

Sinbad



By Pierre Alary.

Dragonbike



Via.

Adventureblog Theater: Monsters, Robots, and Robot Monsters!

Godzilla loves the Subway sammiches

Unfortunately, Toho doesn't love Godzilla's loving the Subway sammiches.



Kronos

"A metallic vampire stalking the Earth!" A giant, robotic, metallic vampire, that is.



Giant robot dinosaurs!

Too good to be true? Nope!



Top Ten Giant Movie Monsters

There are some nice surprises that keep this list from being the same ten monsters everyone keeps trotting out. Nicely done.



Monster from Bikini Beach

The title just says it all, doesn't it?

Awesome List: Spooky comics, Hellboy 3, nightmare playgrounds, the B-52s, and more

"The Haunted Forest"

I'm linking to some short comics stories today. The first one is "The Haunted Forest" from Web of Evil #15. I've always loved spooky, bare trees with faces and finger-like branches. And giant spiders.

I really need to pay more attention to music

When the B-52s have a new album out and I don't know it... that's just very, very sad.

"The Headless Monster of Bloodrock Castle"

It's cool enough that there was a '40s pulp comic about about a war correspondent who fought crime and enemy spies in a rubber Halloween mask.

It's even cooler that he occasionally tussled with headless suits of armor.

Hellboy 3, but that's it

Guillermo del Toro has an idea for Hellboy 3, but he doesn't want to push the franchise past that point.

If there was ever a third one, I would really make sure that we at least sign a contract that there is no more. No prequels and no sequels: nothing. If that happens, then there is a third one we have planned, and the seeds are planted in this film...

The idea for me is to bring back the Nazis characters, but bring them back in a way they would operate now. Meaning, what public face would the Nazis have in 2009/2010? How rich would they be? How in charge could they be? It's not this group of freakies that hide in the sewers, but people that are incredibly rich.

"Gorilla Man"

I'm a huge fan of Jeff Parker's Agents of Atlas. (Okay, I know it's really Marvel's Agents of Atlas, but I still think of it as Parker's.) Where else are you going to find a talking gorilla, a killer robot, a spaceman, an undersea queen, and the goddess of Love fighting evil spy organizations? Nowhere, that's where.

And having fallen in love with the team, I'm pleased as punch that Karswell has posted the Golden Age origin of said talking gorilla: Gorilla Man.

Pirate Freedom

SF Signal really liked Gene Wolf's time traveling pirate story, Pirate Freedom. I've already got it on my Amazon Wish List, but this review makes me want to add it again.

"She's just CGIed that way"

Those real-life versions of Homer Simpson and Mario were just creepy, but... okay, this one's creepy too, but in a sort of hot way.



Wolverine: First Class

As much as I'm enjoying Jeff Parker's (there's that name again) X-Men: First Class, my Wolverine ennui runs deep enough that I wasn't even tempted to try Wolverine: First Class. I figured I'd buy the Alpha Flight issue when it came out, but that would be it.

That is until I read that another upcoming issue will feature Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu. If Fred Van Lente's cool enough to want to include both Alpha Flight and Shang Chi in his comic, I'm not going to be able to ignore him. If he announces he's got an upcoming Rocket Raccoon issue, my head will explode.

Nightmare Playgrounds



I wouldn't want to send my son to any of these scary playgrounds, but man they look cool to go to as an adult. (Via.)

Truth Serum

One of my new favorite web comics. Really funny, low key superhero stuff. (I'll tell you about my other new favorite later this week. If you're reading the Newsarama blog, you already know about it.)

The Jason Copland Newsletter

Jason Copland and I have had some nice forward movement on Kill All Monsters! that I'll tell you about later, but in the meantime you should totally sign up for Jason's email newsletter. Not only will you get the latest updates on Jason's amazing work, you'll also be eligible to win free art!

Here's Jason to explain how it works:

Taking a page from the many industrious comic book creators who seem to have a way better handle on this whole "promote yourself" deal, I've added an option to my blog to subscribe to the monthly Jason Copland Newsletter. I know, not a very exciting title, is it?

And not only will it be informative but it will be rewarding, too! I'm going to offer chances to win original art/sketches! Postage paid!! But you have to subscribe to be eligible... so head on over to my blog at http://www.jasoncopland.com/ and sign up! (You can find the subscription box on the right hand side).

Adventureblog Gallery: Indy, Blackbeard Thing, Calvin and Hobbes, and some Egyptian curses

Animated Indiana Jones



By Patrick Schoenmaker.

Blackbeard Thing



By Paul Pope.

John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes



By Nina Matsumoto.

The Mummy's Curse



By Eldon Dedini.

The Mummy Walks (Into Things)



By David Huyck.

Adventureblog Theater: SciFi TV and giant robots

Baffled!

What Leonard Nimoy should've made a nice career out of after Star Trek.



Via.

Other failed scifi pilots

Including a Dr. Strange TV show, that Archer fantasy TV movie I saw as a kid, and that Leonard Nimoy one again.



Via.

Tripods

This doesn't look bad at all for an '80s War of the Worlds rip-off.



Via.

Giant moon robot!

When the giant robots are done taking over the world, they'll already be in place on the moon.



Via.

Build your own giant robot

Just in case that last one made you jealous, this guy'll show you how to make a giant robot of your very own.



Via.

Awesome List: Spy news (and Christopher Columbus)

James Bond will return



Lots of Bond news lately.

Penguin Books has a whole site devoted to the various Bond novels they're releasing and re-releasing this year for Ian Fleming's 100th birthday.

London's Imperial War Museum is currently running an Ian Fleming exhibit.

USA Today did a feature on Quantum of Solace that I'm not going to read for fear of spoilers. There are a lot of cool pictures there though.

And there are even more cool Quantum pics at Slashfilm.

I didn't even know there'd been an alternate theme song to Never Say Never Again considered, but Christopher Mills has the link to prove it. I have to respectfully disagree with Chris though: I think I prefer the version that made it into the movie. It's definitely not one of my favorite Bond themes, but it's grown on me.

Chuck will return too



When Chuck returns in the fall, it'll be part of a three-hour genre block on Monday nights with Heroes and Medium. Not that I'll be watching Heroes or Medium.

And if you don't want to wait that long (I sure don't), there will be some short webisodes in July.

Codex 632



Bookgasm has the skinny on a novel about a history professor/cryptographer who begins to investigate a murder and ends up learning some secrets about Christopher Columbus. It sounds very Da Vinci Codey, but the Columbus angle intrigues me.

Man Hunt DVD

Fritz Lang's WWII spy movie Man Hunt is coming to DVD. Just knowing it's a WWII spy movie is enough to catch my interest, but having George Sanders in it makes it a Must See.

More Ludlum movies

Denzel Washington is all set to play the spy in the next Robert Ludlum series to hit the screen, starting with The Matarese Circle.