Thursday 27 December 2012

Books: Cradlegrave

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Cradlegrave
Written by John Smith
Art by Edmund Bagwell
2012




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


Out of all the comics websites / blogs I have found lurking around on the internet Mindless Ones is one of my  favourites [1] (in fact I'd say it's tied up there with 4thLetter! [3]: both of which deserve your attention if they don't already - ok? Yes? Good). I don't know if you're like me and basically spend far too much of your finite amount of time on this planet staring at little glowing rectangles but (what can I say?) when you find something that someone's written that makes you think about something like someone's turned over your mind like a snow globe and all of a sudden there's a mini-snow-storm inside your head or (just as good) when you encounter a writer who puts into words every single feeling you've had about a blockbuster film that deserves none of the "Hey - that was pretty cool!" status updates that all your facebook friends lavish upon it [4]: but hey - it's not like I'm bitter or anything [5].

Sadly - lately the Mindless Ones have taken to directing all their energies at producing a podcast called SILENCE! [6] (which - yes - is a great name for a podcast) and so don't really have that much time to get down all their lovely ideas in written down word form. I don't think I've ever listened to a podcast (apart from maybe Adam and Joe? Oh - and a few tracks of The Ricky Gervais Show on youtube [7]) and - well - I like to spend my downtime doing listening to music and reading at the same time - and only doing one of those things at a time seems like (I dunno) a waste of resources or something (I need to give my eyes something to do after all...). I mean yeah - Andrew Hickey writes about Doctor Who now and again [8] and they like to do (frankly EPIC) annotations for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Grant Morrison's Batman run [9] but there's been little in the way of just general comics chat - until (all the way back in March now) I clicked through to their website and found an article called Diggers & Snatchers: Fifteen Thoughts About Fear and Cradlegrave (see below in links if you want to read it yourself). Up until I saw that I had never heard nothing about Cradlegrave (yeah - still don't know if I like that title [10]) but that didn't stop me reading the article: I don't know at which point that I decided that it might be worth a look... I mean it starts off by saying (and this is a good point to underline) that judging from the cover of the first issue [11] (which is the same picture as the cover above) it looks like it's going to be kinda "ooooh hoodies are demons" type malarkey - but rest your assures: it's actually nothing like it looks (I mean - I could tell you what it's really about - but I wouldn't want to ruin all the awful and prickly suspense).

I didn't actually write down any notes when I was reading Cradlegrave. I guess because I just wanted to read it without having to stop every other page and so that I could pretend (if only to myself, if only for a little while) that it was something that I was reading for fun (although "fun" is very much the wrong word to use to describe the experience of reading this comic). I know that if I had been writing things down tho - the word that I would have written down and unlined three times would have been sticky [12]. At this point in time I think that maybe I need to admit to myself that I'm just much too old to be eating sweets. Still at lunchtime today (for whatever reason) I thought that it would be a good idea to buy myself a packet of wine gums which (more fool me) I managed to completely devour in the space of a hour. Now my mouth feels all sicky sweet, coated in chemicals [13] and just kinda - well - sticky. Do you know the feeling? Well - that's the sensation that Cradlegrave does it's best to replicate: only inside of putting it inside your mouth - it puts it inside your brain: and instead of it being just the side-effect of eating a whole packet of wine gums - here it's masking something a lot more unpleasant and a lot more dangerous.

So yeah - it's a horror comic. Which is (unlike horror films) a pretty narrow little category. I mean - in terms of what I've read (and things which have actually managed to disturb me rather than just showing me pictures of monsters and beasts (which come on - is nowhere near the same thing)): the only other examples I can really think of are Crossed (obviously), Neonomicon and the work of Junji Ito [14] - oh - and those three panels from Tintin: The Seven Crystal Balls (but that's a whole other story). Part of the reason for this I guess is that it's really hard to pull off something creepy in picture form: with film (where horror seems to work best) the picture is always moving and you can never quite tell when the monster is going to appear from behind the sofa with the butcher knife (or whatever) while with comics - because you can see the whole page at a glance: you always know when the monster is going to appear (I mean maybe the monster is hidden over the page - but then as soon as you turn it over - there it is: and - you know (how do I say this?) - the other problem for horror comics is that the monster is always frozen. Locked in the same panel. Unable to escape. Safely contained within the page.

But - then again: maybe that's a mistake and rests upon a confused understanding about what horror is and how it works (when it works best). I mean - I don't know if I've admitted this before (although maybe you could tell when I listed all the zombie films I've seen when I was writing about the Walking Dead?) but I do tend to watch - well - quite a lot of horror films. I wouldn't say that I'm really a horror film buff - because that would imply that I'm kinda into slasher-stuff with boogeymen wielding knives chasing teenagers when - oh well - most of the time I can't really stand that kinda of stuff. But I do like a horror film that genuinely knows how to creep me out. Best example of that I guess would be this film that I saw about five years ago called Kairo (or Pulse): it's a Japanese horror film that came out in 2001 (and was remade - awfully - in 2006) that has some of the creepiest and most skin-crawling scenes that I've ever had the misfortune to see. I mean - all-in-all (as a film) it's not really so great - there's bits that don't really go anywhere especially at the end and it's at least 30 minutes too long [15]: but there are these moments that will haunt me until the day I die (don't believe me? Fine. Watch it alone and on headphones (headphones are important - it has some of the best sounds I've ever heard in a film apart from Star Wars) and then we'll talk about just how scary one lady walking can be).    

Because what Pulse understands (along with a few notable others) is that horror that really lasts and really gets under your brain and stays there - is that it's not just about the anticipation [16] (oooh - where's the monster? where's the monster? where's the monster? AHHHH!! THERE IT IS!) but rather crafting a story where the appearance (in both senses of the word) of the monster is as disturbing as the thought of it. To use an example that's a lot more well-known than Pulse - in The Shining when you finally see what's inside Room 237 it's not a manic with a knife and it's not a monster with an attitude problem rather it's something that your head can't really make sense - sure - you know it's bad but that's about it. That (for me) is the type of horror that always works best - I mean: once you know that the monster is behind the sofa then it's kinda hard to get scared the second, third or fifth time you watch it: but if instead - when (after all the suspense) the monster shows up and even when you see it your brain still can't process it properly - then that's how you know you've got something that's going to play your spinal cord like the lowest string on a cello: and make it reverberate long and loud and painful. You getting me yeah? [17]

And that's what's great about Cradlegrave. It keeps everything at just a far enough remove - that you've never really quite sure what it is that you're seeing. I mean - for the first half at least it's all a bit of a tease - with lots of extreme close-ups that mean that (literally) you don't get the whole picture: but then - deeper in: even when things start to be revealed - it's telling (and extremely effective) just how much it is that you don't learn: which is all the better for keeping your brain crawling over itself.

The experience of reading it is best compared to being in a bath when the plug's just been pulled: right from the start you can tell that something's wrong - that the water is slowly seeping away but it's almost like it's happening in the background and that maybe (maybe?) everything will be ok as long as you stay very still: and then suddenly you look around and realise that most of the bath has drained out - you can hear that awful gurgling sound - and there's nowhere to go but into that dark round hole in the centre and everything's rushing towards it.... 

Or (more simply) it's Shane Meadows spliced with David Cronenberg. And just about as good as that sounds. And if Mazeworld is all the reasons why I stopped reading 2000AD - well: if someone told me that all the other stories were as good as this then I would have no hesitation to start buying it again. I mean - not even the fact that the art has a computer-generated sheen to it's colouring can spoil it (in fact - if anything it slightly enhances the whole something's not-quite-right-here atmospherics) and even tho there were bits where I did start to confuse which character was which (all those white folk do tend to look the same): it managed to reach places (with it's dirty, sticky claws) that other books don't ever come close to: the dark places - hidden inside somewhere deep and safe: slowly torn apart from within by the book's strange powers. It's good is what I'm trying to say. And left me shaken like a baby's rattle.

Still sticky from last night's dream? Trust me - you ain't seen nothing yet.

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[1] I guess I should just link to them up there: but I dunno - it seems neater to have all the links and stuff safely stored away down here. So (yes) anyway: Mindless Ones - go explore! (named after the monsters from that Nextwave Warren Ellis / Stuart Immonen thing - which (sadly) we no longer have in stock - oh well [2]).  

[2] Actually - I did a trouble check: turns out that they've actually been around for a lot longer than that. And so now you know too. Yay.

[3] Hosted by the (always excellent) David Brothers - who even when he's writing about stuff that I don't really know all that much about (see his recent: Lyricist Lounge: “It is the thickest blood on this planet.” article) is still worth reading all the way to the end (and I don't think I know any higher praise than that). But go and discover for yourself: here.

[4] I am of course talking about "The Ever Risable Dark Knight" (and A D Jameson's fantastic HTML Giant article which you can read here quote: "Permit me but one more example of this tendency. Batman pauses to talk with Commissioner Gordon, despite having in his possession a nuclear bomb with roughly one minute on its timer, and therefore in desperate need of disposal:

Batman: “A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended.” [Departs.]
[Cue inserted footage—a clip from Batman Begins—of Commissioner Gordon placing his coat around young Bruce Wayne's shoulders.]
Commissioner Gordon [finally getting a clue]: “Bruce Wayne?”

Good thing Gordon only ever put his coat around one little boy’s shoulders! You know, the first time that I saw this movie, I didn’t understand why Matthew Modine and all the other cops suddenly hated Gordon. But by the end I understood: he’s the only guy in Gotham who couldn’t figure that Bruce Wayne was the Batman.")

[5] This is a lie. I'm actually a very bitter person. So much so that you could put me in a glass and serve me up next to some real ales and no one would even notice. In fact - my girlfriend - when recently asked what one word would best sum me up opted for ungracious. I mean - she said she was joking (and everyone laughed) but (don't tell anyone) it's actually pretty spot on... (Ho hum).

[6] Which you can listen to here.

[7] Infinite monkeys anyone? (It's not the full conversation (don't know if that's available online anymore - I mean it was - but I guess it got taken down because I can't find it anywhere) - but still - one of the funniest things I've ever heard...).

[8] Yeah his recent article on an episode (that I had never heard of before - but then I'm more Nu Who than Classic Who kinda guy) called Logopolis was kinda cool. Although I suspect that if I ever watched the episode in question - it would be nowhere near as good as he makes it sound: "Hard science: What Christopher Bidmead wanted to reintroduce to Doctor Who. Judging from the script to Logopolis, hard science consists of millions of chanting monks in a city made to look like a brain, chanting block transfer mathematics codes in order to counteract entropy, while the ghost of someone’s future self tells him the future in order to cause it."

[9] You can find those here. Enjoy (they're gonna take a while for you to get through...).

[10] Yeah yeah yeah - I get that it's a play on the "from the cradle to the grave" (very clever): but still don't know if it's got the right ring to it? I dunno. I guess I just want to say that if you're put off by the title - don't be. Trust me - once you're in it's all good.

[11] Did I not mention that this was originally published in 2000AD? No? Well - ok: well - then: let me say it here: it was originally published in 2000AD: but don't let that put you off or fool you into thinking that you know what kind of story it's going to be like - I mean - there's a reason there's an article in the links below entitled "Cradlegrave is the reason I have returned to reading 2000AD after 20 years away" - and if I haven't known that it originally appeared in the pages of the Galaxy's Favourite Comic - well: I don't think there's anyway that I would have been able to guess (unlike most 2000AD stories) it's not really built on a succession of cliffhangers (I mean - it's not that there's anything wrong with that: but still) and even knowing that it was published in weekly instalments I couldn't work out where the seams are (every page could have "to be continued" at the end of it really I guess - but reading it as a book it feels like it was meant to be consumed in one-big-uninterrupted go: but whatever).

[12] Although there are loads of great little sentences potted around here and there. Best examples: "Dettol and bed pans ad stale piss and something sickly sweet as pear drops underneath it all." "Twinge of blood on his gums and a twinge in his balls like puberty all over again." and "Her memories are like leaves in fast water she can’t quite catch." (yes - these are also quotes that the mindless ones article picks out - and (sorry) I can't quite tell whether I'm picking out these quotes because I read them in article before I read Cradlegrave (and so they stuck out at me when I read the comic) or if they're just really good little lines that would have stuck out at me anyway - but who knows?).

[13] Oops. Sorry not chemicals. Something else. Sorry.

[14] Islington has a copy of Uzumaki (which I really should write about sometime soon and post up on here: but - hey - you know how it goes: so many comics and so little time).

[15] Ha - I just read the wikipedia entry and it seems that the Village Voice agrees with me: who would have thunk it?

[16] A little Hitchcock quote that may be relevant here: “There is a clear difference between surprise and suspense […]. We are sitting here and having an innocent conversation. Let us assume that there is a bomb under this table between us. […] suddenly there is a loud boom and the bomb goes off. The audience is surprised, but before this surprise they have only seen a very ordinary scene without any significance. Let us instead look at a suspense scene. The bomb is under the table and the audience is aware of this because they have seen the anarchist plant it there. They also know that the bomb will go off at one o’clock, and up on the wall is a clock showing that the time is now quarter to one […]. In the first scene we have given the audience 15 seconds of surprise […] but in the last scene we have given them fifteen minutes of suspense.”

[17] At this point I'd like to point out that - yeah - I'm one of those people that was properly left traumatised by the Blair Witch Project - a good example of the type of thing I'm trying to put my finger on (before I saw it I remember thinking - well - come on: how scary could it be? And then after I said goodbye to my friend - had to walk home along through the park: holy moly).

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Links: Mindless Ones Article Part One: Diggers & Snatchers: Fifteen Thoughts About Fear and Cradlegrave / Part Two: Diggers & Snatchers: Staring Through Her Mother’s Eyes / Part Three: Diggers & Snatchers: Ghosts of the Cradlegrave EstateGraeme's Fantasy Book Review Review, Those We Left Behind Article: Cradlegrave is the reason I have returned to reading 2000AD after 20 years away (2009), Grovel Review.

Further reading: CrossedNeonomicon, Uzumaki, Locke & Key, Black Hole, The Filth, No Hero, The Stand, Button ManMazeworld, Supergod, Hellblazer: The Family Man.

All comments welcome.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Artists: Frank Quitely

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Frank Quitely
18 January 18 1968
Glasgow, Scotland










Frank Quitely. He looks like a cross between a character from one of his pictures (is this just a thing with every comic book artist?) and kinda like a cousin of the Greenwoods from Radiohead (everyone knows who those are - right? You must know Jonny Greenwood at least - right? The guitar player? With that beautiful indie fringe of his always hanging over his head like a protective shield? No? Well - ok then). Of course as most people know Frank Quitely isn't even called Frank Quitely. Nope - that's his superhero name. When he was born he was given "Vincent Deighan" as his call-sign - but I guess that wasn't good enough for him - which is why when he started drawing comic books he decided to go with a spoonerism of Quite Frankly (""I changed my name so my mum and Dad couldn't see me writing this stuff at the time because I was scared of their reaction"). I've been a slavish fan ever since he used to work for the Judge Dredd Megazine (Missionary Man anyone?) but since then he's become better known as Grant Morrison's right hand partner in crime - collaborating with him throughout the years on all sorts of off-kilter weirdness (including (and I hope I'm not leaving anything out here?) - Flex Mentallo, JLA: Earth 2, The New X-Men, We3, All Star Superman and various issues of Batman). Will (one of our Comic Forum regulars) often complains that Frank Quitely draws "lumpy, potato head people" - and while (ok) I can see where he's coming from: I've gotta say: I'm a fan. His art always feels like it has a really good grasp on space and layout and manages to maintain a deft balance between the sweet and the sour: pop-art wide-eyed innocence on one side and dirty sexy ultra-violence thrills on the other: like a pink fluffy little bunny rabbit wielding a rusty machete covered in blood: which makes him pretty much the perfect comic artist - no? (Yes).

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Links: The Den of Geek Interview, The Comics Journal Article: TCJ 300 Conversations: Dave Gibbons & Frank Quitely, Down The Tubes Interview.

Selected works: Flex Mentallo, The AuthorityJLA: Earth 2X-Men: New X-Men, We3Superman: All Star Superman, Batman: Batman and RobinBatman: Time and the Batman.

All comments welcome.

Friday 14 December 2012

Books: Batman: Batman: R.I.P.

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Batman: R.I.P.
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea

2010




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


There's a reason Joel Schumacher called his film called "Batman Forever." Like everyone knows - you can ask any school kid - you can ask any grandparent: Batman will never ever die [1].

Folks always talk about Superman as representing the peak of everything that's great about humankind (I'm too lazy to check - but I'm pretty sure that somewhere on this blog I've probably said something very similar myself: you know - honour, decency, the best in people, all that stuff) while Batman is always more that scary guy who hangs out in the dark leaping out at criminal and dangling them off the edges of buildings. But come on people - think: although he's not real (which is nothing but a minor quibble) Batman is the peak of human achievement. Yeah - ok - the death of his parents is bad and the last thing anyone would ever want to happen to them - but put that aside for a second (because really all that is - is just the trigger [2]) and consider what Batman represents. This is a human being who has - through years of training and dedication - brought himself up to be the best of all the cool stuff that every kid dreams about: fighting, detecting, gadgeting, getting the girl [3], blowing things up, thinking of things and then putting "Bat" in front of them. As opposed to Superman who got all his powers by virtue of the fact that he's an alien (boo!) Batman is the ultimate example of the benefits of hard graft and determination. If you wanted to create the ultimate human being and you had the unlimited resources to do so - then the end result (apart from the Bat-fetish maybe) - would look and act an awful lot like the Caped Crusader.

And I mean put it in this (admittedly very childish) way: for anyone you can think of - put them in a fight with Batman: and Batman's going to win. Superman versus Batman? Batman. Rorschach versus Batman? Batman. Godzilla versus Batman? Please - it's gonna be Batman [4]. He's the unstoppable force and the immovable object all wrapped up in the same package: and then someone's taken that package and dressed up like a giant bat. I mean: this is a man who hangs out with super-powered demi-gods and they're all scared of him. He's on the top of every game going: if you played him at chess he'd have checkmate in one move, Monopoly? He'd have multiple hotels before you even had a chance to go one time round the board: and don't even get me started what would happen to you if you challenged him to a game of Twister. What more can I say: he's (and this is to be read in the voice of Cillian Murphy playing Scarecrow [5]): the Bat. Man.

Point being: he's the best. He thinks of everything. And he's super cool (come on: all dressed in black like that - how could he not be?).

So - where do you take it from there? Who do you pit against the man who can't be defeated by anyone?

One of the best bits of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (a comic Grant Morrison created with Dave McKean all the way back in 1989) was the description of the Joker as processing a kind of "super-sanity." Quote: "A brilliant new modification of human perception, more suited to urban life at the end of the twentieth century...He creates himself each day. He sees himself as the lord of misrule and the world as a theatre of the absurd.” This is something that gets developed and extended throughout his Batman run - as he throws a few more personas to the mix: The Thin White Duke of Death and all that. But then - I mean - (not that I'm any kind of medical professional) - it sounds like a form of schizophrenia.

But then - that's not really that much of a tough sell. I mean - just looking at the movie incarnations: it's not as if Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger portrayed him as a model of mental fitness (yeah ok - that's an understatement). But then people never really have any problem with dismissing their villains as being mentally ill (in fact - if you explored this further I'm pretty sure you could discover that most of the time people think that the bad guys are the bad guys because they're mentally ill: but this is neither the time or the place: we're supposed to be talking about a Batman comic here! Come on!).

So if it works with the Joker. Well - what if you tried the same kinda thing with Bruce Wayne?

Because - for me at least - that's the big chewy idea that Batman R.I.P. gets all it's juices from: what if Batman was schizophrenic? And how exactly would you be able to tell? I mean - come on - this is a man who (and I can't say this enough times) dresses up as a giant bat for kicks and then goes out at night-time fighting crime: it's pretty obvious (obviously) that all the definitions of "normal" have been left far behind...

And circling back on this idea that Batman is the peak human (is that like peak oil? No - no it's not) capable and efficient and able in all the ways that us mere mortals aren't (and leaving aside all the physical stuff and concentrating on just the mental side) well - what if the conclusion of being able to spot the subtle clues and hidden riddles buried by his countless puzzle-obsessed rogues throughout the years and left him unable to differentiate between what's signal and what's noise? At one point in the book Morrison has the Joker toss in the word "Apophenia" - ok fine - I had to look it up - but this is what I got: "Apophenia /æpɵˈfiːniə/ has been defined as the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The term is a misnomer incorrectly attributed to Klaus Conrad by Peter Brugger, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness", but it has come to represent the human tendency to seek patterns in random information in general (such as with gambling), paranormal phenomena, and religion."

Yeah - ok - Batman is always on top of things because every time he goes up against his bad guys he's always able to sort out the wheat from the chaff - but how likely is that? Isn't it much more plausible that in noticing the one small clue that cracks the whole case - he also has to notice everything else? One of my friends (and for once I'm not talking about my literary flatmate) when asked what his superpower would be likes to respond that he's want to be able to see and hear everything that - currently - our brains and various senses (for reasons of convenience I guess - altho - yeah: not that I'm any kind of brain surgeon) block out [6]. But what if - in being able to perceive everything around us - we'd end up not being able to process it? What if the price of - well - being the ultimate human and attaining - well  godhood (you can think of a better word?) necessarily meant cracking up? And what if the only thing that saves us from spiralling into a vortex of never-ending connections is being average and normal and mundane?

Apart from the fact that this is a Grant Morrison comic (and really - according to the internet at least (see the links below) it's not really possible to read too much into a Grant Morrison comic) - but maybe (just maybe?) I'm reading too much into this? (Oh the irony). Still - whatever. That still puts Batman R.I.P. a cut above your typical Bat-comic and provides (for this reader anyhow) a fascinating and thrilling Bat-time: because - hey - theorizing aside: none of that stuff really matters all that much unless the comic can deliver all the basic satisfactions and although it does veer dangerously close to spinning all the way off the rails at several points - it's always on hand to deliver the action movie one-liners ("If I was scared I wouldn't be Batman." / "But far from impossible." [7]) and all the shocking "Oh My God" moments that any Bat-fan could ask for. Seriously: although it's slow-build (that really started off all the way back in Batman and Son [8]) - about half-way through the dominoes start to topple - well - I don't think I've read many other comics which are as heart-racingly exciting and loads and loads of fantastic little cool bits that will have the tips of your hair quivering with joy (ok - so Grant Morrison sucks at endings (pretty much) - but he's really good at the build-ups: no question).

Just to say - you will have to read Final Crisis in order for the last part ("What The Butler Saw") to make any sense (how I pity those who try and read it without having done their homework first...): but that just comes with the territory - right? Right.

On the back cover it says: "Batman R.I.P. is a shocking, must-read saga that will change Batman - and the Joker - forever." But - obviously everyone knows that Batman and the Joker are never going to change and that Batman will never die. But that doesn't mean it's not a total blast (Bat-blast?) to read.

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[1] In fact there's a bit in Mark Millar's Wanted that manages to show just how horrific the idea of Batman dying would be. (No? Just me? I mean - it's not like I think Wanted is a masterpiece or anything: but that bit is pretty cool: if only for it's sense of something very very wrong happening - like watching jam climbing up walls or something...).

[2] Although I'm having trouble thinking of anything really good that could replace it. But you know: maybe he was just late for a meeting or something because of some traffic pile-up and so resolves - from this day forward - to fight crime in all it's forms? I dunno... I'm reaching I know.

[3] I mean - the whole Bat-romancing thing isn't something that gets all that much coverage in the comics - but in the films at least Bruce Wayne has managed to woo Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer ("Meow!"), Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman, Elle Macpherson, Anne Hathaway, Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal (ok - so maybe the last two don't count seeing how they were both playing the same (boring) character - but what the hey right?): so - you know - dude has skills. (I guess in the comics the batfans mostly don't want their action and adventure being ruined by anything as messy as sexual relationships - so what the hey).

[4] The only possible exception to this - as pointed out by Tim O'Neil over at The Hurting - is Batman vs. Doctor Who: "There is simply no plan in the history of the universe that the Doctor couldn't figure out some way to foil, even if Batman had his whole lifetime to prepare. The Master has had many lifetimes." But then - it is the Doctor: so what you gonna do?

[5] You know: like in Batman Begins.

[6] It would be great if I could explain this in better detail - but I'm going to take the easy route and just direct you to this ("In the grand scheme of things, we're all pretty much blind and deaf.").

[7] Ok - so that first one makes sense wherever - but the second one is all about the context. Still - there's a good reason why it's been featured (at number 7 no less) in this Comics Alliance article of The 18 Best Batman Panels Ever. (The reason is: because it's really good).

[8] And yeah - just to underline the point once more (I think I've said this in every entry of Grant Morrison's Bat-saga): this isn't really a book that you can just pick up cold - read to the end - and then that's it. This is just a small part in an epic, sprawling monstrosity reaching out in several directions at once (check out the "Preceded by" and "Followed by" links below). I mean - I've done the best I can - but for a much more complete understanding of who, what and how to read where you'd might like to try have a look at this "story-map" (thank you Dr. Maxwell) to give you a sense of the terrain (yeah: no one has ever accused Grant Morrison of making things simple). Although (please note) it will only take you to Batman and Robin #16: after that you're on your own...

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Preceded by: Batman: Batman and Son, Batman: The Black Glove.

Followed by: Batman: Batman and Robin, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman: Time and the BatmanBatman: Batman Incorporated.

Further reading: Batman: The Return of Bruce WayneBatman: The Black CasebookBatman: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious EarthBatman: Batman and RobinFinal CrisisBatman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?Batman: The Dark Knight ReturnsDC Universe: The Stories of Alan MooreBatwoman: ElegySuperman: All Star Superman.

Profiles: Grant Morrison.

All comments welcome.

Thursday 13 December 2012

Books: Prophet

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Prophet
Vol 1: Remission
Written by Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple and Giannis Milogiannis
Art by Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple, Brandon Graham and Giannis Milogiannis
2012

Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


"Being thrown into the deep end." [1] Most of the time people say that like it's a bad thing. And - yeah - ok: maybe back when you're a kid and going to the swimming pool mainly consists of running around and splashing your friends - the deep end is something that you want to stay away from. But - growing up, maturing, whatever: well - the deep end ends up being the best place in the pool: it's the place that you can extend completely, reach new depths and etc etc etc.

Most of the time - talking to unwary travellers who've stumbled into my library and who look like they may appreciate a good comic (maybe): and are thus suitable candidates for attempted Comic Foruming (although I will say that there's few things worse than asking someone: "Excuse me: do you like comic books at all?" only to be given a withering stare and an incredibly condensing "Comics books? - ha - no thanks." - but that's just a hazard of the job I guess) - I always try and make a point of delineating between "superhero comics" and the "more chin-strokey stuff" (as in: "You should totally come to one of our meetings. Don't worry - it's not all superhero stuff: we do have lots of serious chin-strokey things too.") - mainly because I guess I don't want them to think that the Comic Forum is just people arguing over who would win in a fight between Spider-Man and Superman [2]: but also because - well - that's pretty much the way the books are split: in a totally obvious way: it's like a big bag full of red balls and blue balls - I mean - how else are you gonna divide them? Ok yeah - sometimes you get your Watchmens and your Dark Knight Returns or whatever: but mostly [3] if it's got someone with a cape and tights on the cover then - well - you know it's going to be shallow and and fluffy and light (with lots of punchings and fightings and things) and if it's a cover with a picture of one person staring forlornly into the middle distance then - no duh - it's going to be something with a little bit more for your brain to chew over. And speaking to comics fans - well: there's the people who think that the only division between comics is whether you like Marvel or DC and then there's the folks who read the Comics Journal and are always talking about Love and Rockets and Daniel Clowes.

Obviously tho - as with all things - you know (we all know) - the stuff that's really good is always the things that manage to combine the best of both. It's like my good to answer when people ask me what movies I like: well - there's the "Hollywood" stuff on one side and the "Art House" stuff on the other - and somewhere in the middle: well - that's the sweet spot. 

And that's where Prophet [4] comes in.

I'd notice that there's been loads of talk across the internet about Prophet when it first came out. Seeing how all the comics I read are the ones that Islington gets I kinda did my best to ignore all the things people were saying so that I wouldn't end up spoiling it for myself (it's a little like if there's a buzz band of the moment: you see their name mentioned so much that you almost feel like - by not having ever listened to them - you've somehow failed as a 21st Century human being or something): and so when Volume One mysteriously turned up one day: it was a mini-event (well - at least for me).

So - I snuggled up - put on the new Godspeed You! Black Emperor [5] and decided to see what all the fuss was about. And - well: splash.

I guess the first thing I should say is that: yeah - Prophet is damn good comics reading that pushes the limits of what comics are supposed to do - hitting that all important sweet spot between the mindless and the intellectual. Yeah - it's science-fiction and aliens and strange weirdness - but it's not presented as just another backdrop for some punchings and fightings - the point (and the pleasure) here is found in how it explores and reveals the world it's set in - with it's stunning creature design (most of the time alien monsters just look like human's with extra make-up plastered on - but the creatures in Prophet: look more like the products of a biologist's cheese dreams) and plenty of bizarre and freakish jargon ("the Towers of Thauili Van!") all combining to create the electric feeling that you're not just reading another story with some bare-minimal set-dressing to try and make it feel different: it's more like you've been injected head-first into another world. I don't know if this is just the totally obvious thing that everyone else has already said (as previously noted: I've done by best to shy away from reading anything else about it [6]) - but if Iain M. Banks ever decided to write a comic book: then it would something awfully similar to Prophet (and in case you don't know [7]: that's a good thing).

I know that quite a few times on here I've described artwork as looking "European" and pretty much every time I say that -- what really I mean that it looks like Jean Giraud (aka Moebius [8]). Well - out of all the books on this blog: this is the most Moebiusy (which is also a very good thing): yeah - it's kinda hard to put into words exactly - but it's generally just all the crazy alien landscapes and the whole solitary human figure making his way across them.

Plus: obviously - yeah: what with the whole distant far-flung future thing and all the strange and delightful beasties crawling all over the page - you can't help but be reminded of the (also very excellent) Orc Stain (you haven't read it yet? Well then - do yourself a favor and go check it out). But Orc Stain is a lot more - I dunno - buoyant and compared to Prophet: like it's more a saturday morning cartoon compared to Prophet's feeling like it was directed by Alien-era Ridley Scott [9].  

One final note: if - like me - you got a little confused when you finished the book and reached the back cover only to see that it says it collects "Prophet #21-26" on the back ("what the hell?") - well - (and this just makes me love this book even more) - Prophet isn't exactly a new character. In fact (brace yourself) he was originally created by Rob Liefeld back in 1990 he used to be a lazy uninspired Captain America rip-off ("John Prophet, a poor and homeless man living in the World War II era, volunteered to participate in the medical experiments of Dr. Horatio Wells, a time-travelling scientist from the future who used DNA-enhancing methods to transform Prophet into a super-soldier"). Which - for me: just makes the comic even better (in fact - unlike pretty much all the new comics I've written about here which can be consumed whole in one go and don't really merit a second look - I'm actually planning to reread Prophet a few more times in order to fully take it all in).

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[1] A phrase which always makes me think of this little symbol from the artwork on Radiohead's Kid A.

[2] Plus: Superman would win. Obviously.

[3] Yeah - ok - so I'm exaggerating loads for effect here. I mean - yeah - there's loads and loads of great "mature" superhero comics (a fair few of which I'm managed to mention on this blog) - but still: you get the point - right?

[4] I keep wanting to write "A Prophet" - because - I dunno - just saying "Prophet" sounds a bit strange. (But maybe I just have that French prison film stuck in my head. You want to know what I thought of it? Well - it's pretty good. And worth watching once - but I don't think I loved it as much as everyone else in the world seemed to).  

[5] 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! Twenty Minute Songs! Canyons of Feedback! Bleak Samples! Buzzing and Rusty Guitars! Joyful Crescendos! The Sense That Something is Wrong: but What The Hey Let's Just Raise Our Fists And Cry Out Until Our Lungs Explode Anyway! And Just Make Sure You Play It As Loud As It Can Possibly Go!

[6] And - another thing that I wonder if anyone else has picked up on: has anyone remarked on how similar the whole Prophet set-up is to the Alan Moore and Jim Baikie three-issue mini-series, Deathblow Byblows (as collected in the book Alan Moore: Wild Worlds)? I not saying (and I don't think) that Brandon Graham ripped it off - I'm just saying it's an interesting coincidence...

[7] You've never read a Culture novel? Wow. You're missing out. Go and correct this mistake immediately by reporting right now to your local library and getting one out now. Go on - Go!

[8] Sadly we only have one Moebius book currently in stock in Islington and it's not a very good one. Have been trying to order a copy of The Incal: but so far not had much luck - still: watch this space.

[9] Or maybe that's just me getting swung by the Moebius thing again? Seeing how he helped on some of the design work on Alien? Check out this excellent Tor article (Moebius: The Visionary’s Visionary) for more. (And also I found this: Alien Explorations: Space Jockey's origins in "Swiss Family Robinson" - which credits (amongst others) Jack Kirby for the design of the Space Jockey so - you know: go treat yourself).

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Links: The Comics Journal Review of #21-22, Comic Book Resources Interview with Brandon GrahamComic Book Resources Article: When Words Collide: Colonizing the Post-Extreme With Brandon Graham's "Prophet."

Further reading: Orc StainThe Manhattan ProjectsJudge Dredd: The Cursed Earth SagaThe Ballad of Halo Jones, B.P.R.D.: Hell on EarthHard Boiled, I'm Never Coming BackS.H.I.E.L.D.SagaNikolai Dante: The Romanov DynastyJust a Pilgrim, The Filth.

All comments welcome.

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Books: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06

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Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06
Written by John Wagner and Alan Grant
Art by Ron Smith, John Cooper, Steve Dillon, Carlos Ezquerra and Jose Casanovas
2006



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


I only started reading Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 06 (or as I've taken to thinking of it: "the orange one") because I've read the other ones and it seemed like I had some sort of duty to - I dunno - complete the set or whatever (gotta catch them all!).

Of course my main motivation for starting the whole looking at the Complete Case Files books in the first place is because of the Dredd movie that came out in the summer (and - yeah - still my favourite film I've seen that's been released this year - take that Dark Knight Rises / The Raid / Looper / The Avengers / Skyfall / Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol etc etc etc [1]) and since I saw it and vented out (well - most of) my inner-most thoughts and feelings (most particularly in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03) about the whole thing: well - I figured that there wasn't much left to say.

In addition to that - The Onion's AV Club published a thing of the biggest cinematic flops of the year [2] and although Dredd wasn't at number 1 (that dubious honour went to The Oogieloves In The Big Balloon Adventure (Box office: $1 million / Budget: $20 million)) it did manage to come in third (Box office: $28 million / Budget: $50 million): and just typing that kinda breaks my heart: especially when I think of all the cruddy films that came out this year (I'm looking at you again Dark Knight Rises). Oh well. Maybe by the time we get to the 22nd Century the Dredd film will have got the love it deserves: still - there goes all hope for a sequel I guess [3]. Which just kinda meant that - yeah - I wasn't in much of a rush to go and revisit the sights and sounds of Mega City: too many memories. Plus (well) - three collections in (not to mention all the Dredd I've read in the past) - I just kinda assumed that there wasn't much more for John Wagner and Alan Grant to show me.

So: when I started reading the orange one - it was more an obligation than out of sense of fun: which might explain why I ended up having such a great time (low expectations win again!). In fact - for the first third or so [4] I think this might be my favourite Dredd book of all (I mean - maybe if I ever get around to rereading it - that could change - but typing it down: it doesn't feel like I'm lying [5]). I was taking a few notes when I was reading it (so I could remember all the good parts to write them down here) and at one point I wrote down "Ok Computer" because - ok here we go (let me try and explain this right): there's this kinda sense I got of creative minds just kinda hitting this perfect flow of ideas and creativity (or whatever you wanna call it): like listening to an album (it doesn't have to be Ok Computer - I mean: it could be anything: choose your favourite band and take it from there) of a band that's just in peak physical form: making everything seem sorta - I dunno - effortless (yeah? Does that make sense?). Or - to go with an example from cinema - it's like when Pixar came out with - say - Ratatouille (you don't like Ratatouille? Well - then you're wrong and you don't know anything): I mean - all the films that came out before that were amazing: and watching  Ratatouille (for the first time) - I kept waiting for them to - I dunno - mess up or let it slip - but instead it just keeps going and getting better and better and better. That (for me) was what it was like reading The Complete Case Files 06.

At this point I guess I could tell you all the ideas and stories containing within: but instead (because I don't want to ruin it for you): I'll just give you some quotes (devoid of context) to give you some idea of what to expect: "Forward the fat!" "What about the other judges who came here?" "They got wrestled." "Jim Grubb's reign as major will soon be forgotten. But his last words will live for ever." "Remember Larry, any prize you can't remember, you will be forced to eat." "Bacteria soup followed by tender maggot steaks." and (my favourite [6]): "Don't want Christmas! Want flesh!"

The only thing I would say - is that you should definitely read Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05 before you start reading this on: seeing how (much more so than the other books) 06 acts as a big sequel to the horrors of the Apocalypse War. In fact - in pretty much every story there's a reference here or there underpinning everything - all leading up to (and one of my favourite moments in the book) the sight of the Apocalypse Monument ("Peace to All") which has to be seen to be believed (just - trust me on this: it's great) - I mean - I guess a kid would look at it and not think twice - but looking at it with older eyes: it's like something from George Orwell and/or Chris Morris.

Actually - now that I've said that: that's actually a good description of the whole book. I mean everyone tends to think that Dredd is just an action hero (and he does work well as that yeah I know) - but it's all the grim and dirty funny stuff where he really kinda excels (and I can understand a bit more now those old school 2000AD fans who were left disappointed by the Dredd film: it did sacrifice the twisted Mega City strangeness for making things a little more steam-lined and easy to get to grips with: like if they made a Brass Eye film and just made it about a current affairs team or something...). Because - yeah: the effects of radiation poisoning played for laughs, punchlines of innocent people being killed "for the good of the city" and  things like that. Speaking as someone that doesn't have a patriotic bone in his whole body: it still kinda makes me feel proud to English.

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[1] In fact - if it wasn't for Dredd I would probably would have been put off totally from going to watch films at the cinema completely. As it is: well - I'm not in that much of a rush to go back. For me: there's very little worse than going to see a disappointing film at the cinema: it's kinda feels like being robbed: where not only have they taken your money - but your time and the kinda - I dunno - your potential enjoyment as well or something (yeah: #firstworldproblems I know...).

[2] See: The list of the year's biggest flops is here, and it's probably not all that surprising

[3] And the fact that we live in a word where we're not going to get a Dredd sequel - but there probably will be another Tron film is almost enough to make me give hope altogether. (In fact - yes. I'm giving up. Do Nicorette make some kind of patches I could get? I could just stick them on my arms and readjust to a life spent in calm acceptance of everything bad that ever happens: that sounds like it would be nice).

[4] It does lose some of it's momentum when it starts (literally) digging up old characters and running through some of the more familiar motions: but then that's almost understandable seeing how Mean Machine Angel is (probably) one of the best Judge Dredd characters - like - ever ("How would you like a face full of 4?")

[5] That's how morals work right? If you feel bad when you're doing it - then it's bad. And if it feels good - then it's good (yeah - that sounds about right...). 

[6] That's spoken - obviously - in the voice of Zorg.

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Links: Dredd Reckoning Review.

Further reading: Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 07.

All comments welcome.

Friday 7 December 2012

Books: The Hobbit

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The Hobbit
Written by J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Dixon and Sean Deming
Art by David Wenzel
1990




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


I know I've mentioned this quote before [1] (but what the hey - it's a good quote): when the first volume of The Lord of The Rings came out The Sunday Times stated that the world would forever more be divided into two types of people: "those who have read The Lord of The Rings and those who are going to."

And then there's me. The guy that missed the boat on the whole Tolkien thing. In the house I grew up in we had these three massive handsomely-bound leather back copies of The Lord of The Rings sitting on the bottom shelf of our book shelf. I don't know - maybe they just seemed too intimidating or something? Maybe I was always more (even then) a sci-fi nerd rather than a fantasy one? (I've always thought that there's - like - a spectrum of geekdom that has Star Trek on the hard right "pure science-fiction" side, Lord of the Rings on the hard left side representing the "pure fantasy" contingent and Star Wars in the middle - expertly balanced in-between both of them. Going on that model: well - I've always been more of a Trekkie than anything else: I guess (I dunno) because it's always seemed (somewhat) more realistic: plus you know (as a philosopher-wannabe) more appealing because it's a good and interesting way to tackle and deal with stuff like moral and ethical dilemmas and stuff [2]: while Fantasy is just Wizards and Dragons having fights and stuff - right?).

But anyway: I feel like the perfect moment to read them has passed. Does anyone want to read The Catcher in the Rye when they're thirty? I mean - it just won't be the same would it? Like taking a drug when you know that you don't have the proper brain chemistry for it to work (or something). Yes I have seen The Lord of The Rings films (both in the cinema and - later - the Extended Editions (oh boy [3])): but I think that's down to the fact that pretty much all my friends at uni had the Tolkien bug - and yeah: I was curious to see what all the fuss was about and figured that it would be easier to watch the films than read the books and - what can I say Officer? - it seemed like a good idea at the time.

But then (obviously) there's a difference between sitting down to read a whole book and picking up the Graphic Novel Adaptation and when I saw this copy of The Hobbit sitting on our shelves - well - it seemed like something that would only take a hour or so to read: plus - what with the film coming up - my thinking was that it would be pretty easy to get someone to borrow it: "Oh wow! The book that's also the film that everyone's talking about! Yeah gimme!" [4].

Of course what I don't think I was quite aware of at the time when I picked up The Hobbit was that (unless I'm imagining things maybe?) is that I've actually read this comic a long, long time ago. Like - I'm guessing back when I was a young teenager or something. And I'm fairly certain that it was a library copy (not Islington - but maybe Brixton library or somewhere near to there maybe... [5]) which makes sense because (is this just me?) but as soon as I took the time to actually think about - rather than just acting on - "ohhhh gimme" instinct - this is a book that has always kinda just been hanging around on the shelves of libraries (and when I say always - well - it was first published all the way back in 1990 - so Peter Jackson had only just made Meet the Feebles - Braindead was still two years away - and if you told anyone that you thought that the Lord of the Rings would be a good idea for a trilogy of films - people would have just laughed in your face [6]). I mean - maybe it's just because I read it at a young age - but then it does seem like a good library book - it's a comic so (you know) anyone can read it, it's based on a "classic" so it has some sort of literary pedigree but also (bonus) - it's a fantasy classic [7] - so it's got elves and magic and stuff and - ooooh! - there's even a dragon!

But yeah: for any of you scared or apprehensive that this is somekind of quick fly-by-night cash-in - rest assured: even tho it's slightly dated (and slightly usurped by the films) this a comic that has a lot of respect for it's source material: it's not some BANG! SMASH! rushed-job - more like (if you're looking for reference points) a cross between Posy Simmonds (in all it's wordyness - I mean obviously they've probably cut loads (I don't know for sure - because (like I said) I ain't read the original) but there's still quite a lot of sentences bouncing around the pages) and Raymond Briggs (in it's rustic, slightly provincial looking artwork - the kind of thing you could easily imagine being drawn under an old oak tree in the summertime) - in fact a bit more of the Briggs than the Simmonds - but still: (in case it's not clear) it's a very English kinda book. I mean - yeah - that makes sense - what are Hobbits after all but Middle Englanders viewed through a particularly rosy lens [8]. I mean - all they need to do is throw Alan Partridge in there somewhere and you're done.

What was I saying again?

Ah - yes. The Hobbit. So. Opening with that oh-so-famous first sentence  "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." [9] and knocking on straight into the action and adventure I've got to admit that this is a pretty charming little book whose unfussy ways soon ended up winning me over. Obviously I've seen The Hobbit trailers so the widescreen (and much more gold and black) images were rattling around my mind as I read it (and at certain points I got to go: ooooh! It's like the bit in the trailer! which was very much fun for me obviously) but - in spite of that - the book was pretty successful at establishing it's dominance. Of course the first (and perhaps the main challenge) for the modern 2012 reader is that David Wenzel's version of Bilbo Baggins looks more like David Mitchell [10] than Martin Freeman [11]: drawn with a big round nose, full fat cheeks and a Dumb and Dumber-style pudding bowl haircut: he's less action hero and more middle-aged chartered accountant (I don't actually know what a "chartered accountant" is - but you get the point - right?): but only a few pages in Freeman started to fade from my mind as this strange little (almost antiquated) comic began to work it's homely magic on me.

And - yeah - it's pretty good fun. If only for the spot the Led Zeppelin references [12], the frequent use of the word "adventure!" (Wooo! Yay! Adventures!), Lord of the Rings things (the Mines of Moria? Oh - I know where that is! [13]) and finding out the etymology of the word "Took" [14] (or did everyone else already know this?). The authorial voice (which I'm guessing is taken exactly as it is in the books?) is lovely and warm and - well - grandfatherly ("I do not know how long he kept on like this." "If we ever get to the end of it." "Teaching his grandmother, teaching his grandmother to suck - ") and always ready to comfort and reassure and happy to let slip some of the stuff that it hasn't quite got to yet....

The best bit I guess is when Gollum shows up. When the book kinda switches from it's never-ending cycle of danger-rescue!-eating-danger-rescue!-eating-danger-rescue!-eating-danger-rescue!-eating and finds a strange new rhythm of - well - riddles in the dark. Just be prepared for Gollum not quite looking like the more well-known Andy Serkis version (In a word: purple?).

And - yeah - the end. I mean - I thought the story was that The Hobbit was the quick, straight to the point adventure: there and back again thing while The Lord of the Rings is the more bloated, heavy-duty epic - which means that I found myself a little wrong-footed when it turns out that the thing that you thought the book was about takes a back-seat to - well - the geopolitics of dwarfs and elves. I'm sure that there's some people out there who must have loved this sort of stuff - but for me - it was like getting to the end of a Bond film only to find out that there's half an hour of Bond sitting in the UN accounting for his actions and filling in the proper paperwork.

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[1] When talking about Stephen King's The Dark Tower (I think).

[2] When I applied to do Philosophy at University one of the first things we were tested on was the "Transporter Problem" (namely - if you destroy someone's body and then reconfigure all their cells at another location - are they still the same person?). As far as I know - philosophy doesn't really deal with things like Dragons or "The Problem of the One Ring" - sorry guys.

[3] Not really by choice. But like I said (Or am going to say? Seeing how it's after this footnote?) my friends at uni were big fans and so I was the guy sitting in the corner desperately trying to stay awake at the all night marathons while everyone else was doing their best Tom Bombadil impressions... (And it should give you some idea of just how effusive they were in their Lord of the Rings devotion that I'm able to make the reference without - like I've already said - ever having read any of the books).

[4] And - ok - yeah - fine. I guess also I figured that maybe it could get me some internet traffic too. What the hey - it's always worth a shot right?

[5] Yes. Ok - I admit it - I'm a South London kid. Try not to look too scared ok? We're not all Orcs.

[6] Top most successful films of 1990 (in descending order): Ghost, Home Alone, Pretty Woman, Dances with Wolves, Total Recall,  Back to the Future Part III, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Presumed Innocent, Teenage Mutant Ninja and Kindergarten Cop. Truly it was a different world (take that Middle Earth!).

[7] Although my brain is wrinkling at trying to think of any other books apart from the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings that could be described (by the average reader) as a "fantasy classic." I mean - the only other thing I can think of that has such wide-ranging name recognition would be Game of Thrones and that's only because of the TV show and - well - it's still too new (I mean - it's not even finished yet) to be considered for "classic" status. But whatever. Why am I even talking about this?

[8] There's that John Major quote: "Fifty years on from now, Britain will still be the country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools fillers and, as George Orwell said, 'Old maids bicycling to holy communion through the morning mist' and, if we get our way, Shakespeare will still be read even in school." I mean - he could have easily have fitted "hobbits" in there somewhere and I'm pretty sure no one would have noticed... (Also - do I really have to spell out the link between Middle England and Middle Earth? No? Ok. Good).

[9] You want some trivia? Ok then - here's you go: "As the story goes, he was grading papers during the “summer session” of 1928 when he came across a page which had been left blank. Tolkien was an inveterate doodler on any paper or margin that was available. Many of the earlier stories in his Middle-earth “mythologies” were first recorded this way, and The Hobbit was no exception. On that blank page, Tolkien wrote the sentence, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” This has since become one of the most recognizable sentences in all of English literature."

[10] That's David Mitchell (comedian - Peep Show) rather than David Mitchell (author - Cloud Atlas). The author version = slightly hotter. The Peep Show version = the actor that (having now finished the comic) I most wish had been cast instead of Freeman (come on! The Hobbit starring JLB Credit's Mark Corrigan! Don't tell me you're not even curious to see what that would be like? Just think of the internal dialogue before he entered Smaug's cave: "Here I go. Palms dry, mouth dry, inter-buttock area moist." Instant brilliance!).

[11] Who - sorry Martin - is someone I will always think of as Tim Canterbury from the office. (Like it says so in this salon article ("“The Hobbit” is not a hipster!"): he often stole an entire episode simply by turning to the camera such a look of acknowledged defeat that he might have been the love child of Stan Laurel and Jerry Seinfeld." (The article then goes on to argue that this sort of modern infliction is exactly the sort of thing that the Hobbit film doesn't need - while (me) - speaking as a non-fan - would love it if Peter Jackson just allowed him just the one-stolen-look-to-audience in the middle of some big massive Middle Earth battle sequence. But what the hey).

[12] So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains Where the spirits go now, Over the hills where the spirits fly, ooh. I really don't know... (I'm not actually a Led Zeppelin fan - but for a bit (in my misspent youth before I realised where all the good music was) - I kinda pretended to be: please don't hold it against me).

[13] And for the next person to make the Lord of the Rings films (oh come on - you know it's going to happen one day) - can I suggest this Aphex Twin track (Vordhosbn) for the whole Mines of Moria sequence? Because I think it would be cool.

[134] As in: "Fool of a Took!" (and don't act like you didn't know that already).

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Further reading: The Dark Tower, MazeworldOrc Stain, StardustArrowsmith: So Smart In Their Fine UniformsJoe The Barbarian, SmaxRudyard Kipling's Jungle Book Stories, The Sandman: The Dream Hunters.

All comments welcome.

Thursday 6 December 2012

Events: Islington Comic Forum 2013/01

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Ok. So you know what? It's kinda hard to describe properly what a typical meeting of the Islington Comic Forum consists of (relax: - I'm not going to use that hoary old cliché about there's not really any such thing as a typical meeting of the Islington Comic Forum because - we're better than that - right?) - I mean: in the strict physical sense - it's a big table full of comic books (at a rough guesstimate I'd say there's usually around - what? - 150 books available for people to take home at each session) and a bunch of people (typically we get about a dozen or so people turn up) all from various walks of life and all with different backgrounds (yeah - I know you're thinking that's it probably all nerdy white guys - but seriously - we're as multicultural and diverse as a corporate video - with an age span from 6 to 90) all sitting around and discussing / arguing / sharing their thoughts and ideas about one of the most exciting and diverse mediums on the planet (nowadays if you're talking about something that's just "all about superheroes" my first guess is you're talking about films - but whatever). It's a little bit more chaotic than a book club but with the same sort of relaxed and open friendly atmosphere: all presided over by an excitable librarian (that would be me - hi!) who has pretty much read every comic book out there (even the terrible ones) and is willing to tell you where you're going wrong with whatever you're reading (and is most happy when people disagree with him). If you're curious as to what sort of books we discuss - then take a look around this blog - every book here has been included at one point or another. And if you want to know what sort of things we talk about: - well - it's never really that properly thought out but we touch upon everything from the best way to construct a story, to how far genre limits can go all the way to if Frank Miller was right about who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman.

Books available this month will include (unless - of course - they get reserved by other people): Locke and KeyCradlegrave / Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06 / Prophet / The Ballad of Halo Jones / B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth / Superman: All Star Superman / Tamara Drewe / Aetheric Mechanics / Judge Anderson: Satan / Gotham Central / Murder Mysteries / Kirby: King of Comics / Turf / Special Forces / The Living and the Dead / Men Of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book / ABC Warriors: The Black Hole / Black Hole / Civil War / The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch / Blankets / Literary Life / When The Wind Blows / Stephen King's N / Batman: Batman: R.I.P. / The Death Ray / Seaguy / The Fablous Furry Freak Brothers / Flex Mentallo / Gemma Bovery / Blackgas / You Really Don't Look 50 Charlie Brown / Murder Mysteries / Mazeworld plus many, many, many (many!) more.

There's also a book of the month (so that at least we can all talk about something we've all read). This month it's: Habibi by Craig Thompson. If you get a chance please read it. You can reserve yourself a copy here. (For those of you that don't get the chance - don't worry - you can still come and join in with the discussions).

The next one is: Tuesday the 8th of January / 6:00pm to 7:30pm in the Upstairs Hall at North Library Manor Gardens N7 6JX. Here is a map. Come and join us. It's free. All welcome.

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For more information (or if you have any questions and/or would like to be added to our email list: we send out a reminder a week before with a list of the books that are going to be available) you can email us here.

All comments welcome.