Film review: War of the Worlds

When I heard this was being made, I did wonder what the point of it was. I’m not saying you can’t remake things, but I couldn’t see the purpose behind having another go at a story that has been told many times in a variety of different media. But I decided to take a look because I thought Spielberg could do something different. And I believe he has.

This version plays on the current climate of terror. The idea of something awful and destructive happening and we don’t know what is going on is all the more despairing for the lack of information and understanding. Although it may seem to harken back to the events of September 11, 2001, the film speaks more directly to the fear of the unknown which is heightened in our age when information is immediate and vast. What would happen if you had no electricity, no television or radio for news updates, no apparent authority in charge, just a mass of people trying to survive in fear and panic? It is in this area that War of the Worlds demonstrates its capability to scare and thrill.

Taking the story and placing it in the present on the east coast of the US, we see freak storms and intense lightening strikes. When all the electrical power is lost, people wander in the direction of the incident to try and find out what is happening. Then, a tripod (more agile than previous cinematic incarnations) erupts from the ground and begins to lay waste to the people in the immediate vicinity. These are some cracking sequences; seeing a crossroads torn up and the tripod rise from the ground and the death ray evaporating the people instantly into ash (but leaving their clothing untouched, causing it to drop like laundry snowfall) are scintillating and terrifying. Spielberg hasn’t lost his ability to scare.

Tom Cruise is still Tom Cruise but without the people doing his hair or picking out his clothes. His range is limited but he allows himself to be at the whim of the story, so we’ll let him off. The interaction with his kids (who see him for the loser he is) is much more interesting, especially with his daughter played by Dakota Fanning. This is a child actress who can act without being cute or annoying. It’s a shame that she has to spend a lot of the last third screaming, as it’s quite a waste.

There is a palpable sense of dread and doom and reality to the film, as we see the reactions of normal people in horrible situations. It’s also scary because of how much isn’t told; an invasion film is usually about identifying the enemy and working out how to kill them. But this film, staying with the book, doesn’t have that, so we are kept in the dark as much as the characters, allowing us to identify and empathise with them more easily (which I always find difficult to do with Cruise.)

The scene with Tim Robbins slightly jars here, as it seems an excuse for a creepy turn in the middle of the film, with the character having the same name as an astronomer in the book. Spielberg comes out of it well with the periscopic tentacle of the tripod worming through the basement looking for signs of life, a wonderfully nerve-jangling episode.

Spielberg keeps this feeling up for most of the film, but is slightly let down by a sentimental ending. When you have a film where people have been dying constantly throughout, it seems stretching reality if the son can’t die, even though he is in the middle of a big explosion, just so there can be a touching father-son reunion at the end. There is also a feeling of allowing Cruise’s character to be more proactive near the end, where he destroys one of the tripods. The film works better when our protagonists are reacting, as we would in the situation, but perhaps they felt the need for the ‘hero’ of the piece to do something to warrant the connection. Priest hits the nail on the head here when he says that because we’re watching Tom Cruise, we’re expecting him to do Tom Cruise things, but if they had cast an unknown in the same role, you can see it as a family drama and it would be more satisfying.

So, in conclusion, I thought the film was a mostly taut piece of cinema, with the exception of some flappy parts towards the end. I wouldn’t buy it on DVD, but I’d definitely say you should watch it when it comes out on DVD.

Rating: DAVE

I hope that long-winded rambling keeps you going, as I'll be away from the internet for a few days, when I'll hopefully have some comic reviews to share.

Assorted comics items

Lovely comics I shall be buying this week:

Hellboy: The Island #2
Astro City: The Dark Age #2
Legion of Super-Heroes #8
Pulse #10
Runaways #6

I'm not sure if I should be waiting for Astro City: The Dark Age to be collected. It's going to read better in trade form, it'll be cheaper and I don't think I'll be missing much by not getting the singles. Pulse is on probation; I think I only keep it going because Bendis is writing, Lark is drawing and Jessica Jones is a great character, but a lot of goodwill has been lost due to crossover nonsense, and this House of M tie-in won't help.

Comic I might pick up:

Hero Squared #1

The thought of Giffen & DeMatteis not having editorial constraint does sound enticing.

Comics I want to read but will wait for the inevitable TPB:

JLA Classified #10
Losers #26
Silent Dragon #1

All Ellis material gets collected, I think it's in his contract, so I'll get this story then, when they'll hopefully got rid of the fugly computer generated covers. I've already switched to TPB for Losers, which is perfect in one sitting, although I miss being current on this excellent series. I am sorely tempted to get Silent Dragon, as it presses all the right buttons and has a perfect creative team, but I must be strong and wait for the collection.

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Some comic blogging linking:

Brian at Comics Should Be Good writes about Secret Wars II in these three posts, which talk a whole lot of comics that are NOT good. (In the comments, Tim points out his accurate and acerbic analysis of the series here, scroll all the way down, which has the added nostalgia value of showing a lot of the covers.) It's rather scary how familiar it all is, even though I no longer own the majority of the comics. It's sad that I have read nearly all of them in the first place but I had just discovered shops that existed JUST TO SELL COMICS, glee, and looking through the back issue bins caused me to pick up this hideous company-wide crossover at a very impressionable time for me, in full on Marvel zombie mode. Still, it was enjoyable reading about them all over again, even if Brian took a roundabout route to come to the conclusion that they were mostly awful comics.

Scott at Polite Dissent is putting up a list of the Top 10 Comic Book Doctors Who Actually Practice Medicine, and I can't wait to see who is number 1. Scott is doing a fab job, and I particularly like his Comic Book Drug Reference, because of the combination of real and comic book medicine.

Finally, because I was on hiatus when it happened, but just wanted to say what a good job Alan is doing with Comic Book Galaxy. He's got himself some great writers from the world of comic blogs, such as Johnny Bacardi and Mike Sterling and Clandestine Chum Logan Polk, to make it an even more indispensable site than it was before.

Film review: Fantastic Four

Confession: I haven't read any of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Fantastic Four comics. Sorry. They were made before I was born and the only way to see them is expensively in colour or cheaply in black & white, and I don't 'get' Kirby's art. This is probably heresy and I apologise, and can only hope that I am still allowed to write about comics on this blog when I haven't even seen a single issue of what I've heard tell is one of the best runs of super-hero comics around.

Nevertheless, I have read some FF comics. I've got John Byrne's rather good run from before he turned into a bit of a nutter. I really enjoyed Walt Simonson's run, which had the sense of the fantastic about it. One of my favourite stories involving the FF is the Fantastic Four/X-Men mini-series by Chris Claremont and Jon Bogdanove, which might make me even less suited to review the film, but it gave me a sense of what they are about as characters and wanted to see them on the silver screen.

And, for the most part, they do look okay in real life/CGI; the little kid inside me had a big smile on his face seeing the Fantastic Four in the flesh. The Thing still looks a little like a man in a suit, instead of the massive monster he should be – the CGI for the Hulk is more towards my personal idea of what Ben Grimm should look like, a giant creature, taller and wider than a normal man – but it comes off quite well when it could've looked completely awful. And I did like the little rocky noises they put in when you hear him turn his head in close-up. The invisible aspects have already been done, and fire has been created by CGI before, but Sue and Johnny looked okay as well. Although I love the character of Reed Richards, mainly for the fact of him being a scientist, his powers have never done anything for me, and I always felt a bit sorry for him with his superelasticity (obvious porno jokes aside).

The story was a little flimsy, however, which took away some of the enjoyment. It was as if they couldn't quite make up their mind on how much of the comic to have and which bits to leave out. Let's have Doom as an old associate of Reed, but let's ignore every other thing about his history, thus removing most of the complexity and danger from the character, and have him as a corporate shark. Jessica Alba as the Director of Genetic Research was laughable; I have worked in science and I have never seen anyone like that in any place I've been, ever. Well, except for my gorgeous girlfriend, but she never wore a power suit.

Why increase the pathos of Ben Grimm even more, as if it needed it, by having the girlfriend who goes out in the middle of the street in the middle of the night in small and sexy night attire? I wouldn't mind but, by the end of the film, he's seemingly happy with being the Thing and getting cosy with Alicia – talk about a condensed history of Thing stories: 'I hate being the Thing, I am sad and ugly and break bar stools. Hooray, I'm not the Thing anymore. Oh no, I must become the Thing again using untested technology that I don't understand that doesn't come with instructions. And I somehow end up wearing the stretchy uniform that I said I wouldn't wear and am now happy with being an ugly Thing, even though I'm not sure I'll be able to have sex with the hot blind girl I've just met.'

I don't know if the more-simple narrative could appeal to a viewer like myself with more knowledge of the comics than the average punter, but it does seem they didn't want anything too challenging to get in the way of the advertising and merchandising. From panning down at the entrance to the biking event, just to take in all the banners for Pepsi and Burger King, to flying through Times Square specifically stopping at big ads when Johnny flies through, or the completely gratuitous seeing-the-crowds-outside-the-Baxter-Building-via-a reflection in Johnny's sunglasses, with special attention to the brand name on the front of the lens (especially as it's stealing from Scorcese's Casino). This is a very light, easy going adventure, where super-powers are controlled within a few minutes of getting them and the crowds love them because they are so nice. Perfect for kids and for people who never read the stories before.

However, with the diminishing of the Doom character to nothing more than a shadow of his real self, they've weakened the story by having a weak villain; as Kirby himself said, the heroes are only as good as the villains they are fighting. What's more, Doom is the main FF villain; if he's turned into a bland baddie, what about the rest? And who are they going to choose for the next villain? This fluffy version of the FF, and the more-realistic approach to heroes in general, mean that the whole 'Fantastic' part is missing, and the stories that worked the best were when the truly imaginative, wild and crazy ideas were thrown at them.

In fact, I don't know if the FF don't work best in comic books, full stop, where there is the room for the spectacular and amazing, and makes me nervous by the inevitable sequel. The FF need something to define their goals for the purpose of a traditional Hollywood narrative; whereas the X-Men are any minority fighting against oppression, Spider-man has the maxim 'with great power comes great responsibility', Batman has the mission to stop what happened to him happening to anyone else, the Fantastic Four don't have that easily grasped hook, mainly because they were vehicles for stories where anything can happen, and that is not something we will see in a sequel from Tim Story, a pedestrian, bland and visually uninteresting director.

There was some fun to be had in the movie; Johnny had all the good lines, and the interplay with him and Ben was very nice, and there was the sense of them being a family. The actors were okay, especially Evans and Chiklis, but Gruffudd and Alba never really made me believe in their relationship, and McMahon was rather limp as Doom. Basically, this is a fun super-hero romp but it could have been something more. Maybe the sequel will fulfil on the promise.

Rating: VID

Comics: Marvel solicitations for October

Bring on the Marvel hype!

House of M (or, House of Hmmmmmmm) comes to a hopefully satisfying conclusion or it really will be a waste of time and hype, and the internet won't so much crack in half as fall asleep. Should Bendis be allowed to write huge crossovers in future? (Unless it involves people talking all the way, of course ...)

I enjoy Peter David's writing and Mike Wieringo's art, but the thought of their new Spider-man comic being the start of a 4-month Spider-Man event turns me off Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 quicker than puberty turns off Michael Jackson. I'm glad PAD is writing regularly again for Marvel, but not like this.

She-Hulk is back. Again. A second series for the Dan Slott version of Jennifer as Hulky McBeal, which was affectionate and funny and an enjoyable read, which is why it didn't succeed. Joining him will be Juan Bobillo and his quirky renditions of Marvel heroes; let's hope that circulation levels are healthier this time around. Although I really wish they didn't use Greg Horn as cover artist because it's not going to help sales.

Nick Fury's Howling Commandos is a great name, even if it sounds a little dated. I don't know if Giffen will be writing it like his recent attempt at the Suicide Squad, which this sounds similar to, and it has the potential to be interesting, but I can't see this lasting more than a few issues (even if it is supposed to be ongoing.)

This month brings us Ultimate Namor and Ultimate Galactus, I mean, Gah Lak Tus. Not so confident with Millar and the former, but intrigued by the latter under Ellis (his work-for-hire stuff isn't as good as his creator-owned work, but I did enjoy his Ultimate Fantastic Four, so there's potential).

I can't believe that Garth Ennis is writing a Ghost Rider mini-series; I thought it was weird enough when Warren Ellis tried to do something with bizarre character in his early days at Marvel. I just don't get the appeal of Ghost Rider, I'm afraid. A skeleton in a leather jacket on fire on a motorcycle is a very silly idea, as I'm sure the majority of the population who had never heard of him prior to the Nic Cage film will agree with.

Is Bendis trying to relive some of Miller's Daredevil? Ninja stuff? Check. Identity issue? Check. Kingpin story? Check. Elektra? Check, as of this issue. All he needs now is Bullseye and he'll have everything covered. I mean, he's even got the ninjas in the New Avengers. Not that I've got anything against ninjas, mind you. Not sure they should be in the Avengers, though ...

It should have on the cover: 'You won't believe your eyes! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! This is it - the last issue of Secret War!' But it probably won't.

What is the artist of such comics as Kid Eternity and Enigma doing drawing Marvel Monsters: Monsters on the Prowl? Duncan Fegredo is a great artist – why isn't he doing something worthwhile? Or am I just being snobbish?

Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan – is this the most bizarre mainstream idea in the world, or are they saying that the people of Nippon are short of stature?

X-Men and Power Pack (or is it just Wolverine and Power Pack?) reminds me of the issue missing from my Power Pack collection, #27, which was rare because of the Wolverine appearance. Yes, I have Power Pack comics; you wanna make something of it?

I have a dilemma regarding the Supreme Power spin-offs. Apart from why are they needed while the series is on hiatus. I live JMS's writing but don't like Dan Jurgens art for Hyperion, a situation reversed for Nighthawk with the take-it-or-leave-it Daniel Way on script duties and the great Steve Dillon on art chores. Wait for the trade, I think.

Apart from pimping Gravity and Runaways, I can't think of anything else to say, so I shall curtail my opinion spouting and start thinking about writing some film reviews to share with you all. In closing, I shall quote Public Enemy: 'Don't Believe The Hype!'

Comics: Image solicitations for October

I always feel I should be into more Image comics, now that they have a much more expansive and higher quality range than when it first came out, but I don’t know if I can get over my stupid prejudices. I feel guilty when something I had been interested in picking up, The Silencers, announces in its back pages that the issue in my hand would be the only one as numbers weren’t enough to sustain a four-issue limited series. But it can’t be all my fault, can it?

Anyway, on to the solicitations. A Spawn collection? Is this timely or something? Or is it a reminder of what McFarlane did before he started spending all your money on sports souvenirs? I particularly like the 'and others' when describing the people who aren’t Todd – Alan Moore (#8), Neil Gaiman (#9) and Dave Sim (#10) are obviously not important in their own right …

The 'critically acclaimed' (their own words) Amazing Joy Buzzards gets a new series. Personally, the phrase 'Rock’n’Roll adventure' puts me off, but I am a cold-hearted cynic, so feel free to ignore me as a lot of other people seem to like this book.

Heroes and Villains: The World and Art of Michael Golden sounds like a nice idea to collect some of his astounding pencils, but 64 pages and in black & white? Couldn’t they get any more?

I don’t read The Walking Dead, even though I hear it is a good book, as I’m not into zombies, personally. (Sorry, Tom). Nevertheless, does it warrant a script book? It seems an odd choice for that sort of treatment …

Anyone have thoughts on Battle Hymn? The art looks interesting and the idea seems to have been thought out, but it is set in the Golden Age, which always me nervous. Saying that, I thoroughly enjoyed James Robinson & Paul Smith’s The Golden Age, so who knows?

Although many of the books don’t appeal to me, Image at least seems to put out a full package, with lots of extras to reward the fans for buying the book, such as Battle Hymn, Dawn vol 1, Ruule: Ganglords of Chinatown, which has to be commended.

I’d like to mention that Fell, by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith, has its second issue out this month, and it looks really good, it’s going to be packed with stuff and it’s only $2 (plus tax, where that applies), if only because Warren mentioned people should be ordering it in his Bad Signal the other week, and we don’t want him moaning now, do we?

I still haven’t read Invincible yet (sorry, Logan). I intend to rectify this shortly. But I thought I should point out that it is still coming out, it’s up to issue 28, which is impressive for Image, and lots of people like, so there must be something good about it.

Even though it is very odd, I really like the David Finch cover for PVP #20.

I usually skim over the Todd McFarlance product but couldn’t help but notice the 'Spawn 12-inch' figure; do we have something to prove, Mr. McFarlane?

Top Cow’s big new release is a comic with a silly name written by a man with a strange name who writes for a TV show I’ve never heard of before. Is it me, or do you come out in screaming hives when you see a comic book with acronym for the title? VICE might be a great comic, but I can’t get past the name, Violent Incident Control Enforcement – I mean, aren’t Control and Enforcement kind of synonymous?

Question: does anyone buy and read Witchblade non-ironically? I’d really like to know …

That about wraps me up for this post. I might have to do one of the those 'Request for recommendations' post, specifically aimed at Image books, so that I can feel more well read and better able to comment on the Image solicitations. And remember to pre-order you books, folks.

TV: Extras

Some people might think that it is strange that I am posting a review of a comedy programme the day after the second London attack. That is their right. For me, I was born, bred and live in London, and these cowardly attacks on this wonderful city anger me beyond belief. But I will not change my routine because of them. I will not let them dictate my life. Yes, I had to get the train because the tubes are disrupted but I’m a Londoner; I’m used to it. It meant that I had to go on a 'bendy bus' for the first time, even though they were taken out of service for a while because they caught on fire, but I’m still going to work, still getting on with life, and still want to post to my blog about the new comedy from Ricky Gervais because that’s the kind of stubborn pillock I am.

What better way to diminish the impact of terrorists than comedy? Laughter will make the world seem better. Not forever, but it does help. Which was a theme touched on in the programme itself. Extras is about Andy Millman (Gervais), a man who gave up a good job in a bank to become an actor. Except that, in the five years he’s been trying, he hasn’t had a single line and gets work as an extra. His friend in this venture is Maggie (newcomer Ashley Jensen), and we find them for the first time on the set of a film about the Balkan conflict, directed by Ben Stiller, playing an over-the-top version of himself.

It is in his speech explaining why they are making the film that mentions comedy and world issues. After reeling off some of the weekend and world grosses of his films, he asks what can he do if he were to find an orphan in a war zone? Put on a DVD of Dodgeball? Well, yes, he’ll laugh for and hour and 32 minutes but what then? He’s still an orphan. Well, he could watch it again, and he’d laugh again because he’d find things he hadn’t seen the first time, it’s layered, we made it like that, but what next? After the fifth, six, seventh viewing, he’d still be laughing but, you know … This is very funny and dark as well, which is what Gervais and Merchant do so well, and Stiller is very game for undermining his public persona.

The rest of the programme is taken up with Andy trying to get a line in the film by whatever means possible, including pretending to befriend the author of the screenplay, who has written about his experiences of the war, including the death of his wife and child, and even stooping as low as to bribe him. This is dark stuff, examining the vacuous and unthinking nature of people who will do anything to be famous and it’s a little strange seeing it in a more ‘normal’ television style than the hyper-realism of The Office, which created the space in which this more cringing comedy could work more naturally.

This is kept up in a later section at a party where Maggie is completely flustered upon discovering that the object of her affections has to wear an orthopaedic shoe due to having one leg shorter than the other, ejaculating 'clumpy' and 'Herman Munster' without even realising it. This scene reminds you of the scenes in The Office where you would be hiding behind your hands because you couldn’t believe what you were seeing at the same time as laughing. Maggie seems to be even more stupid and socially-inept than David Brent, if that’s possible, whereas Andy is more worldly wise than Brent, and with a better sense of humour, even if they have a similar sense of self-delusion.

The funniest part comes at the end. After Stiller has said the most unbelievable line to the writer in front of the cast and crew ('Stop going on about your fucking dead wife!'), Maggie and Andy try to say something, only for Stiller’s ego to kick in. The dialogue:

Stiller to Andy: Who are you?
Andy: Nobody.
Stiller: Do you know who I am?
Andy: Starsky or Hutch, I can never remember.
Stiller: Is that supposed to be funny?
Andy: You were in it, you tell me.

This is very dark and very funny. It occupies a different territory to The Office, but on similar grounds, and I hope that people give it a chance and not just expect a sequel to The Office. It is intelligent and daring (the Balkan conflict as a source of comedy, anyone?) and for that we must applaud Gervais and Merchant for doing something they believe in, instead of going for an easy option. I eagerly await future episodes.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something… bizarre

I didn’t go to San Diego, but I always get a laugh out of the photos that come out of there every year (especially the ones sent to Warren Ellis) but this picture is THE greatest image ever, and is my Something Borrowed.

For Something New, my selection of comics coming out this week, as provided by NCRL:

Authority: Revolution #10
Ex Machina #13
Daredevil #75
Ultimates 2 #7

Brubaker’s Authority started slowly, but has moved up a gear nicely, to be expected from the man who wrote the double-dealing in Sleepers so well. Ex Machina is good comics; 'nuff said. Daredevil has taken an unusual detour with the Decalogue arc, but the last page of the last issue, with Murdock appearing, showed promise of a decent ending. And, yes, I’m still buying Ultimates, but more for the Hitch artwork than Millar and his writing.

There are two more books about which I am unsure but are eager to be read, waving their metaphorical hands in the air like school children eager to attract teacher’s attention with an urgency to use the toilet:

Defenders #1 – the super-hero comedy dream team of Giffen, DeMatteis & Maguire lovingly mock the silliest excuse for a collection of super-heroes. Should I singles it or wait for the trade?

Silencers v2 #1 – I’ve never read any of the previous comics, but the concept of super-powered mob enforcers is an idea too intriguing not to attract my attention. I’ll see what fellow bloggers think about it and have a read through it in the shop (What? They get a ton of my money, they can’t deny me the occasional skim …)

For Something Old, a quick look at last week’s comic purchases:

100 Bullets #62
Reading 100 Bullets in the floppy format is both rewarding and frustrating. I have to know what is happening in the (almost) monthly installments, but you lose some of the strands as you try to keep up with the almost impossible task of understanding everything that's going on. Still, Azzarello and Risso create such perfect packages of story for you to enjoy that you don't mind that you're missing something, which is high praise indeed.

Desolation Jones #2
I can't add anything better than this post from Mark (who gets extra points for his blog title riffing on Elizabeth Braddock’s catchphrase), other to say that this could be some almost pure Ellis, beautifully delivered by Williams' haunting artwork, and the emotional core of this issue looks like it will be a touchstone for the series. Excellent stuff.

Fables #39
Normally, a 'Meanwhile ...' issue might be a slow tale to allow you to take a breath in the middle of a storyline. Not so for Fables, which packs in a lot of plot development, with the addition of Mowgli to the Fables world and revealing a traitor. Medina's art is top-notch and Willingham maintains the quality of this title, another book I have to read in the singles format.

Seven Soldiers: Guardian #3
Although I liked the idea of the world in miniature as the basis for this issue, allowing us to look at the private life of Guardian, it seemed quite pedestrian for Morrison, which is only because he himself has set the bar so high. Hopefully, this will have a strong finish, with the final page and the hint of its link to the overall story of the Seven Soldiers.

Gravity #2
The cover of this comic comes close to the infamous 'Hulk Sodomise Puny Spider-Man' cover of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #2, which I don't know if it is deliberate, as the story has the feel of a Spider-Man tale and references them with a throwaway line. This book is quite charming, from the spot-on writing to the perfectly matched artwork, and I would love to see it do well, even if it probably doesn't have a chance. Enjoy while you can.

Finally, here’s Something Bizarre. I’d never seen it before my girlfriend pointed it out to me; Mad Merchandise You Wouldn’t Believe – Sushi and Dim Sum USB Sticks!

Union regulations: “A blogger shall post about DC solicitations”

I’ve got to pay my comic blog union dues. The list can be found here (as long as poor CBR are working okay still) or you can get them from the source here.

Now, is it me, or does the image for All-Star Batman & Robin #3 play into the whole pervert aspect of the Dynamic Duo? Or I might be the one who needs therapy …

Although I don’t enjoy the presence of Robin in Batman (see previous post), I don’t get many Bat books – there’s too many of them and they all seem to interact with each other. But you sure get some pretty pictures; County Line, the cracking Jock cover for Batman #646, or the stunning cover for Gotham Central are icon-olicious …

The same can’t be said for Superman. Ed Benes’s cover for Superman #222 looks very silly ('What? It’s only a zit!), and Dan Jurgens provides a dull cover for Action Comics #832 and the embarrassing cover for Supergirl #3 looks like a porno sci-fi cover.

Infinite Crisis begins with Infinite Crisis #1. And that’s all I shall probably say about this in my blog ever again.

Therefore, the rest of the DC Universe is of little interest to me because comics are either linked to this event or just continuations of old, old books not doing anything different or new. Firestorm looks like it could pique my curiosity (it’s nice to see Matt Haley doing the cover; what’s he doing now?) but I’ve never had much attachment to the character, so I think I’ll pass. The place to find new and different is with Morrison and his Seven Soldiers maxi-series. Although Guardian #3 was slightly weaker than the rest of the output, I’m still looking forward to seeing how Klarion and Zatanna finish, as well as the others in this line. I would prefer Morrison keep on writing, but I won’t mind him his place as creative director, or whatever his title is, in the new DCU.

I still have no idea why Jack Cross is put in the DCU, but I’ll have a slice of the Ellis ultra-violence nonetheless, especially as I recall Erskine drawing an issue of Firearm a ways back that displayed his ability at drawing some serious gun-fu. I’m still reading LSH, so hopefully that doesn’t have an Infinite Crisis tie-in. (I’m skipping over the younger reader stuff and the manga – do I still get to call myself a comic blogger for doing this?)

And so we reach Wildstorm, which seems a strange place to find a Captain Atom revival. I have a slightly fuzzy nostalgic feeling for the Captain Atom revamp by Cary Bates and Pat Broderick. I only had the first three issues, and some of the Bates dialogue was hard on the ears, but I liked the art and the idea of setting him as a superhero to protect his military secret. It almost makes me wish I hadn’t thrown away those issues in a purge I had a few years back. An aside: I did a quick Google to check that I had the names right in my head for the creative team of my rose-tinted past. What should also come up is this post, showing Cap being sodomised by Major Force on the cover of the first annual of the revamp. I mention this because I wanted to mention that everybody should be reading Dave’s Long Box, if you aren’t already, a blog that has hit the ground running with some very funny looks at old comics (and provides the latest quote at the top of my blog, as of July). And he has a good name, too.

Another aside: what is it with comic blogging and being called David? There’s this David, this David, now this David, yours truly, the great and mighty wielder of the arctic shit knife himself, ADD, manages to cram David into his name, and the real name of the man, the myth, the legend that is Johnny Bacardi is David. Is there a conspiracy going on?

Back to the latest Captain Atom revamp. Will Pfeiffer is charged with the task of the mini-series, partnered with Guiseppe Camuncoli, who has been doing some nice work on The Intimates, as Cap 'explodes straight from the pages of Superman/Batman and into the Wildstorm universe'. I’m not sure about this, so will wait for the trade (sorry, Mr. Pfeiffer), but you can decide for yourselves in October, if you so wish.

Wildstorm has more to keep my attention, such as the final issue of Ed Brubaker’s take on the Authority, the continuing adventures of The Intimates, the award-winning & potentially-a-film-if-it’s-lucky Ex Machina, and genre mix that is Silent Dragon (and the Yu art looks top notch). However, there are also things that make me go, 'Huh?', such as comics-that-originate-from-Alan-Moore-but-he-doesn’t-actually-write: Albion, Tom Strong and Top 10 (which wins the prize for missing the point that it was the combo of Moore, Ha & Cannon that made it something so special). I’m almost tempted by the partial (Alan) Moore of Tomorrow Stories Special #1 because Jack B. Quick, with the lovely art from 'top ink jockey' Kevin Nowlan, was always my favourite part of the anthology. However, the other stories in the anthology, even the visual experimentation of Greyshirt, always seemed like diet versions of Alan Moore, so I can’t bring myself to part with cash from my already slim wallet.

Vertigo’s big release is Loveless, by Azzarello & Frusin, an ongoing Western that looks like it will be as good as 100 Bullets. Which brings me to the horns of a dilemma: do I buy the singles to support an interesting new comic that probably won’t get huge sales, or do I wait for the trade, which will probably read better (as can be seen by 100 Bullets – I still buy the singles because I was there at the start, but you need to read it in hefty chunks to get the most out of it)? I think I’ll be leaning towards the latter, with a side dollop of guilt for not buying it as it comes out, the deciding factor being that their mini-series, El Diablo, was good but didn’t blow me away.

Vertigo also keeps up with Morrison’s Doom Patrol into trades, which is a good thing. I’ve got the individual issues already, but I get a warm feeling inside knowing that others will be more able to get their hands on some wonderful comic book stories.

Some cracking covers for Fables by James Jean and Losers by Jock and the aforementioned Doom Patrol TPB, so it’s odd that the cover for the book being used as a promotional tool for Vertigo is so ugly. Which is a down note to finish this on but, when you consider that the reason for looking so far ahead in comics is to ensure that you get the books you want, seems appropriate.

Why DIDN'T I buy All-Star Batman & Robin?

Why don’t I ignore my sabbatical and just carry on posting as if my last post were yesterday? Let's just say I was taking the 'Clandestine' part of the title too seriously ...

The impetus for blogging again, apart from having an ego that believes my opinion is vitally important to the world, was the oddness of an incident in my comic shop of long standing, Gosh!, in the heart West End’s London (if I may steal a phrase from Stephen Fry).

The long-serving guys at Gosh! know me by now, which is a nice albeit geeky feeling, with the exception of the chap I believe to be the owner. When going to purchase my weekly haul (100 Bullets #62, Desolation Jones #2, Fables #39, Seven Soldiers: Guardian #3 and Gravity #2 for all you keeping check; I put back Wonder Woman #218, as I’ve been considering stopping this for a while now, and the rather unattractive art from Ron Randall was the deciding factor. I enjoy Rucka’s work but I haven’t felt a connection to this stuff, all the while recognising it as well written, much like his short run on Elektra), he asked if I was going to buy All Star Batman and Robin while ringing up my books. I was stumped for an answer, and mumbled something incoherently about not wanting it before paying for the rest of my comics and leaving the shop.

It was only afterwards I realised why it was so strange. Normally, when one of the guys at Gosh! recommend something, it will be something I missed that I might like based on my shopping habits. However, this just smacked of desperate selling, as if he felt that they were going to be stuck with a load of copies they won’t be able to shift. My girlfriend thought I was being cynical, and she’s probably right, as she always is, but it still disturbed me.

My reasons for not wanting to buying the biggest comic of the year? Although I have an unhealthy admiration for Lee’s artwork, stemming from seeing it for the first time on the Uncanny X-Men, I wasn’t going to buy ASBARTBW just for that. Meanwhile, Miller, although producing work that I love, such as Batman: Year One, Born Again, the first Sin City story and most of Dark Knight Returns, is not an author who automatically gets on my pull list because his name is attached. So, it was always going to be a case of waiting for my trusty fellow comic bloggers to let me know if it was worth the wait. And, of course, skimming it in the shop.

The other reason, as eloquently outlined by the boss of intelligently written arguments, Paul O'Brien, in this post, is that I think the idea of Robin is completely stupid. I can understand why he exists, but I do not want to read a story about a boy becoming the sidekick of a disturbed and violent man who dresses as a bat. Seeing Lee's alternate cover, with Robin's face an expression of rapture in swinging through the night in that gaudy costume, made me shake my head with sadness.

To the comic itself? My brief browse confirmed my decision not to buy, and the views of my blog brethren seem to agree. The best review is Pol’s, over at Comics Should Be Good, which is very funny, and there are some interesting thoughts from Clandestine Chum Greg, the ever-reliable Tom the Dog and Jim that reinforce the view. There are more posts about this book for you to examine – so far, Technorati has 470 posts and counting – so at least it got people talking. But it didn’t get me buying ...