Looming Legacy

Tron: Legacy has been out for a while now,  I'm finally comfortable in my thoughts about it to put them up online.  The movie has received the massive power of the Disney Hype machine to get people behind it and talking about it and from MY perspective... It deserves it.  The film is gorgeous in oh so many ways.  The design aesthetic feels right and just different enough from Syd Mead's original for the 'System' to feel like a slightly different evolution of the computer universe the original TRON introduced us to. If you've been looking around online for any kind of cohesive statement about this film... the single greatest one you'll find (even in the harshest reviews) is of the quality of the design.  And while that aspect of the film is important... The score at times manages to overshadow it... and not in a bad way.  Daft Punk's orchestral/digital fusion gives the 'System' a heartbeat and soul.. creating incredible moments that took my breath away to experience in the theater.   

I'm not going to talk about the plot much cause I'm sure most folks have, A. seen it or B. read a review... and most of those are giving away major plot pieces left and right.  The story is really a great little allegory on order and chaos, planning and intuition, and not just a standard Good vs. Evil trope.  Kevin Flynn sells the greatest of these points when he tells his son of the remarkable evolution he encounters within this system.  A thing that one would think static and unchanging, suddenly encounters something remarkable and new which forever alters it's Architects worldview.  

For my part... I loved the layered story.  The son's search for his father and finding an entirely new world to build, in combination with the fun action sequences, exceptional performances, and beautiful design work, along with the subtext of the allegory; created a great piece that I will enjoy for years to come.  

This isn't to say that the film doesn't have flaws.  While I applaud the use of the tech behind de-aging Jeff Bridges to play his own nemesis is fantastic and cool, and necessary for this film... It still hasn't reached the point where the face don't feel unreal in comparison too the others on screen.  The primary example of this that I can recall is in an opening scene where Flynn tells his young son of his adventures in the 'System' controlled by the MCP. The younger Jeff Bridges face doesn't quit reflect the light of the room right giving his features a slightly unreal cast (though considering they are... that's not too bad).

I'm sure that I went into the movie better informed than most... partly because I'm a more than a bit obsessive about the things in media that capture my attention, so I look for additional bits of story.  Which is how I found Tron: Betrayal... a great little 2 book comic series built to tell the story of Kevin Flynn world and the days of it's creation and it's subjugation.  It served as a tool to tell of how Flynn found an entire world, but couldn't find enough time to live in them both... and how he eventually got lost in one.  Yeah.... tell me that doesn't sound familiar all you folks who just shelled out cash for more World of Warcraft.  

So... while the "critical viewing" community seems to be easily split down the center line on this one.. I happily remain optimistic about more Tron productions and hopeful to see more creative work to come.  My thoughts to those who haven't had a chance to see it... I suggest you give it a try.  You might be surprised.

JMS takes on Superman...again.

Folks in the comic book world already know that J. Michael Straczynski (Of Babylon 5, Rising Stars, and Midnight Nation, as well as numerous other television projects) is currently writing for the Man of Steel, with his "Grounded" storyline...an interesting concept where Supes is walking across the country helping folks where he can... all based on a comment that a grieving mother makes when she says that by flying above everyone he forgets about the importance of people.  I dig that it isn't a tale about big battles and other standard comic book stuff (though those things are there), it's about a man making his moral choice and sticking to it.  Now that might be enough for some folks, but the good editors over at DC comics offered JMS a chance to write a new Superman for a new Earth (based on the DC comics world numbering system they've come up with for parallel realities).  He took it, and got this new young man of steel off on a solid start.
The basic story of Superman is still the same, thus the one that has grown and become part of the collective unconscious of the 21st century.  This is more a tale of who he is, and why he makes the choices he does, and the aspects of his revelation to his world.    It's a story about a young man with seemingly infinite potential and prospects, and the burden of the choices that he needs to make.  The primary changes we see with JMS taking the reigns is his re-imagining of the story of Krypton.  Who it's people were, what they did, and what happened to them. [Spoilers]  It's a brilliant idea, making the death of the planet not an accident or something it's brilliant scientists missed...but a deliberate attempt to exterminate a whole world.[/Spoilers]  And sets our new Clark Kent up with a whole galaxy full of folks who may want him dead... so if nothing else, the Superman of Earth One will have plenty of opponents to look forward to.   The book also has an interesting new look for Metropolis... It doesn't look like the City of Tomorrow anymore... it feels much more like modern day New York.  And it's Grand Dame:  The Daily Planet is feeling the pressure of the changing times as much as our real newspapers, with all the problems that suggests.  So the question will inevitably arise..."Why there?  With all the other forms of news organizations available to the savvy individual for trouble shooting... why would Superman associate himself with a hurting media source?"  Mr. Straczynski cleverly incorporates the reasoning and justification straight into the story... well aware of the traditional maxim "show, don't tell", all tossed together with the new characters of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen for this new Earth.
With Shane Davis' excellent artwork, JMS has crafted a great story, and fun characters interspersed with terrific action.  Still, one of my favorite pieces of the book is the Clark Kent interview with Superman at the end.  It's clever and works to set up both the personalities that will be working for the character throughout the stories, Superman and the mask of Clark Kent.  This is a highly recommended book to anyone who's a fan of the Superman mythology... point of fact it's recommended to everybody.  And speaking for myself, I can't wait to meet the next hero from Earth One.

The Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne

I've gotta give Brian Clevinger a lot of credit...His 8-Bit Theater was one of the highlights of internet comics back in the day.  He took old 8 bit characters from the original Final Fantasy series, and crafted a hysterical, fantasy romp through the crazy world he threw together for them.  It was funny bizarre and full of geek inside gags, and I was sorry to see it finish up... On the other hand, it garnered enough interest from the good folks over at Red 5 comics to give him an opportunity to publish something new, brilliant and all kinds of funny.  I am of course talking about the new Atomic Robo series with Scott Wegener.  The concept is that Nikola Tesla developed an artificial humanoid in 1923, ushering in the Atomic age with not a nuclear bomb... but a nuclear MAN.  Robo is all kinds of fun, a character who has been exploring the world for the better part of a century finding all kinds of weird science and trying to manage it's integration.  One of things I enjoyed most about the stories thus far (not just this book) is that Clevinger isn't stuck in Robo's present, jumping back and forth from past to present.  While not Historically accurate... the stories are incredibly inventive and all kinds of fun and the Tesladyne scientists we meet are all a lot of fun.  If you're interested in fun comics with some great character, beautiful art and crazy science... these books are highly recommended.

On the disappearance and return of one Bruce Wayne...

Now don't get me wrong folks, I dig the heck out of Batman...he's one of the dominant archetypes and I will always thank Bob Kane for his generous donation to generations of comic fans.  Grant Morrison (the current dominant writer for the Bat) during last years Final Crisis decided to send Bruce Wayne on a mystical/scientific tour of the past of DC comics history.  While giving him an opportunity to make puzzling and bizarre contribution to the Wayne family history, the timing of it was a little too tight on the "time-bullet" debacle from Marvel comics with the "demise" of Captain America.  I'm hopeful about some of the changes that we'll see later on in the series and the treatment of the transition from Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight to Dick Grayson was fantastic, but for myself... I keep coloring the positive story elements with the ridiculous plot device that initiated it, just as it did with the Captain America story line.  While a big fan of the Bat, as far as characters go I've always been more of a fan of Tim Drake, or the third Robin...a kid detective who figured out the Bat family secret of who Bruce was, Dick Grayson, and what drove Batman crazy after the death of Jason Todd...And one of the biggest revelations for me in that story was that Tim got the big reveal that Bruce wasn't dead.  Putting all the pieces together that Bruce scattered throughout his history, and delivering a fantastical piece of detective work for the comics. And that's not to mention putting a spike Ra's Al Ghul League of Assassins network with some great panache.  So while the passing of the Dark Knight's baton had some great moments... there was still a lot left to be desired.

Rewriting the map of the world...

The Unwritten is one of my favorite new comics of the past year and a half or so.  By the exceptionally creative team of Mike Carey and Peter Gross, a pairing that has done exceptional work for the Vertigo division of DC comics, the story focuses on the trials and tribulations of one Thomas Taylor (sorry, the alliteration was just so tempting.).  Thomas is known worldwide in large part because his father made him the central figure in a children's fantasy, much like Christopher Robin's character when A.A. Milne wrote his Pooh stories, and it has become his primary means of making a living, making guest appearances at Conventions, signing autographs, etc.  Of course the situation is turned on it's head in the exceptional first issue of the comic and bizarre events begin finding focus around Tom.  These events are interspersed with related parts of the stories told ABOUT Tommy, exceptionally illustrated and written, in a style that's very recognizable from many of the most exceptional children's stories around today.  These are only some of the things that have brought me wholeheartedly into the world Carey and Gross are crafting.  Now it may be noted that I qualified this "comic" with the literature tag as well, and with good reason... as the stories develop and the comics move outward expanding on our understanding of Tommy, his role, and the role his Father is playing in the events occurring around him and what they mean, we find ourselves intersecting with many other great pieces of literature.  Shelly's Frankenstein, The Song of Roland, Dicken's Our Mutual Friend, and many others rear their heads and shout to be noticed as we move through Tom's world...  If nothing else this book is a great education in the world around words that have taken on a life of their own.  This is far and away one of the best books coming out in comic shops currently.  But for those who find an interest in these stories, there are a couple other recommendations I can make, Carey & Gross' work on Lucifer, and The Books of Magic, both from the DC imprint, as well as Michael Stackpole's A Secret Atlas series of novels, which, while not precisely the same style of story have a fantastic number of relate-able concepts.

The Golden Avenger....

With Iron Man 2 on it's way to homes all over, thoughts on the newest series focused on the Golden Avenger spring to mind.  Writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador LaRocca have been the driving forces behind the Invincible Iron Man title..And one of the best main stream teams out there for comics, definitely one of my favorites at the house of Marvel, just behind Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (who have been taking Marvel held B & C list heroes into cosmic scale events and crafting epic sagas around them).  There are a lot of brilliant ideas in The Invincible Iron Man, and one of my favorites is the way Fraction allows the readers into Tony Stark's head...his fears of falling back to his drinking, his fears about what happens if his Iron Man technology falls into the wrong hands... most particularly, his fear of the Iron Man tech becoming cheap and replaceable.  The hardcover collection of the first 19 books of Invincible Iron Man is particularly fine.  Beautifully illustrated and telling some of my favorite stories I've read in some time...Tony dealing with an opponent who manages terrible acts while staying practically a ghost, while being hunted by one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the Marvel Universe.  Still, my favorite story comes during the middle of the book, where Tony teams up with everyones' favorite neighborhood hero Spidey dealing with a major terrorist attack against Stark Industries, and a underground supertech pipeline.  Not the superhero bits that come through, but the way Peter Parker gets to the genuine feeling under Tony Stark while trying to comprehend the tragedy that's befallen the people who work for him and he protects.  Then there's the final story as Tony is on the run from Norman Osbourne and literally losing his mind.  It's a brilliant take on the ramifications of the Extremis storyline Warren Ellis wrote not too long ago, and it's fantastically put together.  This is a book I highly recommend to anybody who loves good story lines.  It helps to have Marvel Universe background info for details on what's going on, but it isn't particularly necessary since Fraction gives you most necessary info as the characters are presented.  

Classic sci-fi comic stuff...

Ah Netflix, how you spoil me... always finding something interesting and new/old to watch.  Here I'm back to write a bit about a bit of Comic book history from the 1982 film Swamp Thing....a great little Wes Craven pic.  While the story is the stuff of classic comic book origins, and may not be some of the best written material ever, the performances are great...and it's one of the classic pieces of F/X work.  F/X specialists should make films like this one an essential for study, with fantastic practical effects and prosthetic work... showing that while computer generated effects may be what everyone looks for, there's a lot more to special effects than what can be done on machines.  Not necessarily a classic piece of film, but there are a lot of redeeming features worth examination.

Taking advantage of Elseworlds...

Ah, the alternate dimension trope.  A classic of all science fiction, fantasy and comics, with quite a few video games besides.  It's one of the primary elements in a new gaming experience, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.  I've always been a fan of the webheaded wonder, and knew that this would be a game I'd like trying,  I DIDN'T figure on how varied the folks who put it together really would make it.  Each of the variants on Spidey feel very distinctive and fun...yet retain the wise-cracking mania that's such an essential part of his charm.  The control scheme they developed is slick and quick to learn, but with a lot of room to play with to build combos and change up your play style.  The most likely negative comment folks are going to see about this game are the similarities they made to another archetypal hero, who also got his game on last year.  I am of course referring to the fantastic Batman: Arkham Asylum.  Where Bats had his "detective" vision to aid him, Web-head has his spider sense.. which functions in a similar way, pointing out villains, weak spots in the environment, and pick ups for each level.  Speaking of levels, talk about a visual feast... these are some seriously vibrant and fun environments the player gets to speed through, each with it's own villains, challenges and a couple secrets... Though there's no grand city to web your way through aiding civilians in sandbox style like we've seen in the earlier generations of Spider-Man games, Shattered Dimensions has something those games could often use... direction.  Oh... and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fun voice acting throughout...props to Neil Patrick Harris, Dan Gilvezan, Josh Keaton, and Christopher Daniel Barnes for playing the Friendly Neighborhood Wall-crawler well. 

And The WORD is....

Transmetropolitan...  that's the word of the evening for my posting tonight.  One of Warren Ellis' more profound works and one known by most comics afficiandos already.  Still I thought, since I've got my copies in front of me it's as good a time as any to get many of my thoughts down on the matter.
I dig the hell out of this book.  Spider Jerusalem is one of my favorite characters ever, and not just for his Gonzo larger than life approach to everything, or his basis in Hunter S. Thompson, but for his single-minded dedication to his Truth (and yes, he means it in the traditional Platonic sense).  Facts that are beyond reproach and inevitable when one takes the time to think them through.  I understand that Spider is a faint analogue for the authors own point of view to be brought across to his audience (and so should you), but that doesn't make any of the things he talks about any less important.  The way we treat the lost in our society, the terrorism of religions and the political power struggles of our world are all addressed in a roundabout way in a dystopian world that, while we wouldn't necessarily want to live there, can certainly be recognized as a possible future.
For comics folks... this is essential Warren Ellis work.  All his black humor and inventive use of analogy is here for display.  And with 10 volumes of Graphic Novels full of material?  That's a lot of things to say.   I'll likely cover more of Ellis' work in this blog at later dates...  and while TransMet isn't my favorite of his works... It's definitely worth more than just a once over.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (The media phenomenon)

Okay folks, here it is, since this is my inaugural post within the blogosphere I figured I'd make it about something near and dear to many of my obsessions.  Bryan Lee O'Malley's brillant little treatise on nerd culture has grown fantastically from it's comic roots.  With the help of Edgar Wright, it's become one of the most fantastic yet underviewed films of the summer.  I can't imagine why... A stunning feature with a tremendous soundtrack and visuals that take the breath away, and some seriously fantastic performances from some really gifted actors.  Am I gushing a little much?  If so I don't apologize... since the only thing that Hollywood seems to acknowledge these days is the amount of money a film makes at the box office and a estimated gross [to date] of 26.2 million dollars, brillance seems to me to be a bit snubbed by those who could really use it.  Still...I imagine if you're reading this you've likely seen it already... so, let's move on shall we?

Now don't get me wrong... I am very much a comic guy... but while I adore Mr. O'Malley's graphic novels, the licensing out of his characters and titles to the video game industry was nothing short of fantastic.  Many thanks to the wonderful folks at Ubisoft who brought us this great little nostaligia fest and bit of fantastic multiplayer mayhem.  Only one gripe really occurs to me... while the same console multiplayer is great, ONLINE multiplayer is the name of the game.  Social gaming on any and all systems with friends over long distances is often much easier than getting them all in the same place... so why was this aspect denied to us.  I may never know, but I will hope for it as I play when I can.  I really love the old school design and and feel of the controls, leveling, and even the enemies and I am confident that when I can actually get multiple people to sit down at one console to play together, the experience will be truly EPIC...  but for now I will while away the hours finding old things in my library to rant about and pull people into...

In short...  Thanks Bryan for the great times at the movies, the fun comics, and the great game.  I dub Scott Pilgrim vs. the World in all it's forms:  Incendiary.  Doesn't mean much from a gamer I suppose... but we're your demographic.  Thanks for the good work.