Movies, Reviews, Opinions…

Hi, Folks!

Remember how I used to do reviews of superhero movies on this site?  I stopped after “The Watchmen,” because to me that movie sort of cleared the decks and made anything else seem redundant. I loved Iron Man, but it is very unlikely I’ll see it while it’s in the theater, and I’ll probably wait and get it on Netflix.  I am very hyped about Kick-Ass, however. This just all goes to show that what I look for in a superhero movie is different from what others want.  For example, here are a few comparisons:

• Mystery Men vs. Bryan Singer’s Superman = Mystery men
• Iron Man vs. Spiderman I or II = Iron Man
• The Incredibles against the Fantastic Four movies = The Incredibles

Keep in mind, I have not yet seen (and may never see) Wolverine or Spider-Man III.  Yet, I wonder how cool a television show based on Planetary could be, or a big-assed movie based on the Authority?  I suspect I’ll be left wondering forever, though.

So, having said all this, here is my wholly subjective and probably irrelevant views on some of the movies I’ve seen in recent times:

• 50 Watt Fuse: The G.E. Smith story is interesting, but not a blockbuster.
• A Quantum of Solace: A+
• Aeon Flux: Not as bad you would expect.
• Almost Famous: Outstanding movie! Deserves all the praise it got.
• Black Snake Moan—Outstanding, provocative, just a damn good movie
• Boogie Nights: A+
• Casino Royale: A+
• Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young–Living with War: It’s hard seeing your heroes get old.
• Hancock: Meh… The cum scene was funnier back in the Pro.
• Inside Man: Universe, please give this misspent time back to me!
• It Might Get Loud—Yes! Yes! Yes! Let guitar geeks rejoice!
• Journey to the Center of the Earth: This stretched suspension of disbelief to beyond breaking!
• Lord of War: I was moved. A+
• My Super X-Girlfriend: Even the wonderful Uma Thurman can make a real stinker, it seems.
• Natural Born Killers: Well, this was an eye opener.
• Pan’s Labyrinth: I hated this movie.  Maybe it was brilliant, but I don’t care.
• Thank You For Smoking: I was educated. A+
• The Bourne movies: Excellent, excellent.
• The Illusionist: Very good movie.
• The Last Samurai: Very moving.  With Tom Cruise, I expected less.
• The Mothman Prophecies: I liked it a lot.
• The Prestige: There were some very enjoyable elements in this movie.
• The Secretary—Talk about provocative! Yikes!  But a great movie in any case.
• Ultraviolet: Unrealized, as if they ran out of money and had amateurs edit it.
• Windtalkers: Incredibly bleak.  Watch at your own risk.

Why should it matter what I think about these movies?  Well, if you dig Johnny Saturn, my movie preferences should go a long way in explaining what I like in making comics.  Beyond that, my opinions are no more or less valid that yours.

Scott.

I think, therefore I obsess…

Hi, Folks!

What a week!  I’ve been burning through episodes, and I’m really proud of what Benita and I have been producing.

I looked through a lot of my trade paperbacks this weekend, the ones I collect and read, and something became obvious to me: most modern inkers do not bother with line width.  Indeed, most “inkers” these days are colorists who darken pencils in Photoshop and maybe fill in the black areas, maybe not.  What’s worse is that this practice has become so prevalent that I actually got used to it and stopped noticing it.

Comics, Comics, Everywhere!

Hi, All!

Yesterday I went to Downtown Comics, my local comic shop, bought a few things, and gabbed with good friend Pete Kilmer, one of the DTC managers.  I hadnÆt been in a comic shop for a good while, and it was pleasantly overwhelming to see all the comics.  Really, if I could afford it, there are things I would buy: For example, this Dark Reign storyline and the Avengers line as a whole looks right down my alley.  It would be great to chart the rise, and eventual fall, of Norman Osborne, the key villain in the Marvel Universe.

Yet, I have to wonder, would it be that great to follow it?  Marvel has begun raising its comic prices from $2.99 to $3.99.  Four dollars is an awful lot of money for a magazine thin enough that you can read them in fifteen minutes.  Some fans would argue that you donÆt just read comics once, that you read and re-read them.  True enough.  I do that.

I stopped buying the monthly comics because of two reasons: It cost too much, and I was running out of room in my house to store them.  When I can, I pick up trade paperbacks.  IÆm not alone in this change of purchasing trends.

When I dropped away from the monthlies, and turned to trades, I discovered that my buying habits in trades are different from the monthly titles I collected.  Suddenly, I was not so quick to purchase Thor, or Fantastic Four, or Avengers, or JLA, or JSA, etc.  Now, in trades, I had quirkier buying habits.  Supreme, Black Summer, Watchmen, Project Superpowers, etc.  I still loved good superhero stories, but I wanted stories that actually had something to say and a witty way of saying it.

At Downtown Comics, I was pleased to see that they had set up Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, and Neal Gaiman sections, and this had reportedly done well for sales.  These writers are the superstars of the comic industry, and with good reason.  Pete noted that he should put up a Grant Morrison section, and I heartily agreed.  Morrison is my favorite writer, after all.

Scott.

Watchmen, Part II

“The Watchmen” is too big and important to cover in a single review.  Books can, and have been written about the graphic novel, and the movie will probably inspire the same.

I know people who think that superheroes don’t lie, and that they would never fight other heroes.  It’s easy to see where they got this idea, because, outside of comics, superheroes are portrayed as one-diminsional, bright, optimistic do-gooders, sort of boy scouts in tights. They always do what’s right.  It’s never hard to decide what is right or wrong.  Good always wins over evil.  Good deeds never have unforeseen, bad consequences.

In comics it’s another story all-together.  Well before the “Watchmen” or “Dark Knight Returns” were published, comics had already shed much of its innocence and stories often pushed the accepted boundaries and dealt with drug abuse, alcoholism, pornography, addiction, and any other vice you can think of.  Most often these vices were dealt with tastefully, and moral conservatism won over depravity.  When heroes fought each other, it usually began with a cliché misunderstanding, a short inconclusive tussle, and then a congenial team-up to deal with the “real” problem.

I would argue that what ”Watchmen” and “Dark Knight Returns” brought to the comics scene was mental illness: the superhero as a sociopath, or psychopath, or some other such behavioral dysfunction.  For example, Batman has spent the last thirty years wound so tight and out of touch with his human emotions that he is regularly described as psychotic.

This war for the soul of the superhero is at the heart of Watchmen.  Dan/Nite Owl is a decent person, one unwilling to abandon his morals or dish out jackbooted oppression.  Comedian has completely surrendered to his dark philosophy of brutality, and he believes in stark, ugly “truths.”  Rorschach is a one-man judge, jury, and executioner.  Ozymandius exemplifies putting the ends before the means, and in service of his goals he has placed himself high above his fellow humans.

Dr. Manhattan is easier to nail down.  He belongs to the old archetype of the non-human who is more than human.  Pinnochio, the Vision from the Avengers, Data from Star Trek, and many others fit this role.  Dr. Manhattan believes that he is now divorced from humanity and their concerns, yet it is the tears of a woman (Silk Spectre) that change his mind and bring him back to earth one last time.  Still, it’s curious to note that for most members of this would-be human archetype, most aspire to become human, as if that were innately superior to their non-human status.  Not Dr. Manhattan.  We come away with the suspicion that he left for another galaxy and he would do well and good without his human traits.

The soundtrack to Watchmen is outstanding.  In addition to the original score for the movie, which is moody and a little threatening, there are old songs worked in to great effect, including Bob Dylan’s “Times They Are A-Changing,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Simon and Garfunkels “Sounds of Silence,” and the Jimi Hendrix version of Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower.”

Scott Kurtz of “PvP” labeled Watchmen as superhero porn.  I respectfully disagree.  Clearly, this movie is Superhero Noir, a dark, serious alley off the brightly lighted streets of traditional superhero fair.

It’s safe to say this movie isn’t for everyone.  If you expect that you are going to watch something like Superman returns, or Iron Man, or the Fantastic Four, you are going to be quite disappointed. Watchmen is darker even than Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Don’t take your kids.  The teenagers that shared the theater with me seemed less than diverted, and they came and went often to get refreshments.

Writing Prose vs. Writing for Comics

Hi, Folks!

This is a short presentation Benita and I brainstormed to be delivered at a recent Writer’s Retreat. This might be of some assistance to those prose writers who are looking to break into the graphic novel or webcomic scene.

Writing for Comics:

By Scott Story and Benita Story, © 2009

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PROSE AND COMICS WRITING

Whereas prose is very descriptive, establishing the narrative through words and the theater of the mind, comics are primarily a visually based.

When we say comics are visual, this doesn’t mean the writer is unimportant—in fact, he is just as necessary as ever.  But, the comic writers’ role is different than that of the prose writer.

Consider this: With prose, you establish a mental picture or emotion in the reader’s imagination; in comics, you present a mix of images and words that instantly elicits a response from the reader.  A non-fictional variant of this would be the word “Stop,” and then seeing a red stop sign.  The word intellectually tells you to stop, but the stop sign downloads directly and creates an instant mental response (hopefully followed up by a physical stop!)