Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Serious Matter of Super-Villainy

Dr. Horrible is over. I really enjoyed the short little series. Sad though. Oh well, cest la vie! Also, after having seen Batman, I have been contemplating who should be the next Batman villain featured in the movies. After some thought, my initial selection is The Black Mask. I think he has just the right amount of creepiness, psychosis, and non-superpowered
..uh..itude to fit into the current feel of the movies. Evidently the character who becomes him was also in the original script for Batman Begins, but was eventually cut, so they've already been thinking about him. Not only that, but he's the next logical step in the villains for the movies. The first movie had mainly criminal organizations, but also the League of Shadows, with no real supervillains yet, save the Scarecrow. However, the scarecrow presents very little threat when considered on a large scale, unlike Ra's al Ghul, who had city wide destruction at his fingertips. Then, we have a real supervillain, the Joker, who presents an incredible threat to the populace, but is clearly not your average mobster. Now, we still have the criminal organizations, but as they have made abundantly clear in this movie, a line has been crossed. So what do we get next? A supervillain mob boss. Now, I know Batman has a number to choose from in that vein, but the Black Mask's exploits have been big enough and serious enough to prove him as more than just a weirdo with thugs. He is organized, dangerous and crazy. So that's my vote, and my guess, as to the next villain. I also think we could see Bane thrown into the mix, but I'm pretty unsure about that.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Why So Serious?

I see that Max has a post about "the movie", but before I read it I'm going to put in my two cents. This is by far the darkest and most sinister exploration of any superhero scenario to see the big screen. It was fantastic. It has been a long time since I've felt really disturbed by a movie, and I cannot tell you how sad it is to know that not only is Heath Ledger not around to do any more of these movies, but that this was his last performance.
I'm not really going to talk about much else, so I'll do it briefly here. Everyone else was great. I had no complaints. The story was great, the acting was great. The action does deserve note. I have seen few films that literally deserve the term "action packed", and somehow, this film did it for two and a half hours. It blew me away, no pun intended.
Now, onto the serious business. The Joker was scary. He was absolutely frightening. The menace that he presented was something I have never seen before on screen. The only thing I can relate it to is in the comics, and only when the Joker is done right. This was it. He is an unstoppable force, almost more a concept than a man. He exists to work against Batman, against society, against the schemers. There are no rules. After all, it's all just a big joke in the end. I was blown away by Ledger's performance. It was absolutely stunning. All I can say is, the superhero movie is moving into new territory. Iron Man showed us that, and the Dark Knight took us down into the depths. I highly recommend seeing this movie. Even the sound work was noticeably impressive. Oh, and there's nothing after the credits. The only question now, is who will be in the next movie? My guess? Calendar Man


Alan Moore's Words of Wisdom

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Alan Moore's Writing For Comics when I was at the comic book store downtown. It was recommended to me by a peer at Carleton last year, and I decided since I'm endeavoring to write more than have been, it'd be worth picking up. Not to mention the fact that it's Alan moore. I mean, Alan Moore! His work is some of the finest examples of good comics writing the world has ever seen. He's the author of Watchmen, the comic that the upcoming film is based on. The book was only $5.95, so I figured why not, and picked up a copy.
Most of the volume (which is a quick 47 pages) is an essay Moore wrote early in his comics career, after he'd established some ground in his field. There is a short afterword written in 2003 that adds the viewpoint of the author some fifteen years after he had written the preceding material.
It was a very helpful read. He says specifically that it is not a piece that outlines the tools he uses or the process he employs to write comics. It is mainly his observations on the basis needed for good comics, and how to develop ideas into something more than that initial spark.
It was a well written piece, and I'm glad to have read it. It's broken into four chapters. The first is a general musing on comics in general, but also about the ideas behind them. The second chapter focuses on structure and pacing. The third moves into world building, and deals with environment, characters, etc. The final chapter is devoted to the subjects of plot and script, though it isn't a how to by any means.
There were several points that stood out to me. The first, and perhaps most significant, is that an idea is not equivalent to a plot. It is entirely seperate. The idea is the underpinning of everything, and has nothing to do with setting, characters or action. It's hard to describe, but it's basically the basic human underpinnings of your story. It is what will ultimately affect your reader.
Moore also elaborates on plot, and makes it a point to deemphasize the importance of plot, which I thought was the most important piece of all of this, and the hardest for me to conceive of. You don't even need a plot, necessarily. Basically, after reading his essay, I see plot in terms of a simple formula: Plot = (Environment + Characters) + Time . Once you have an idea, and you find an environment and characters that will convey that idea, you can simply add time and let it develop. You don't have to have an intricate plot planned out, you can watch things develop. Not that you CAN'T have a deep and intricate plot. You can, and it can be amazing, but it shouldn't be the end all be all.
One of the most encouraging themes I saw was a validation of my creative experimentation theory. You can have an idea here or there, either for plot, character, environment, even just a sentence, and it doesn't matter if you have a place for it yet. Eventually bits and pieces find a place, or they don't, but the more you have, the better.
In any case, I don't know that it's an essential read, but I would say that if you're interested in turning your creative inklings into something more developed, this gives some great pointers for $6.00 bucks. I will say that it really applies mostly to comics, though writers in general would also benefit from it.

P.S. That picture is real. Didn't I tell you guys I went to Alan Moore's wedding?

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Rant & Roll

On the subject of trailers:
Watchmen If you haven't seen the teaser, it is online, and I have various conflicting emotions. Some things are spot on. Dr. Manhattan, Rorscach, and the Comedian are great. Even Rorscach's mask shifts like it does in the comic. Also, the scenery and the action seem to be taken very closely from the comic, which is as it should be. So that is highly encouraging.
Here is what I find discouraging. Stupid Zack Snyder and his 300 slow down business! Oh yes, it's in here. Grumble grumble. It's a different movie pal! Also, Nite Owl needs to be dumpy. He doesn't look dumpy! Not to mention that Ozymandias looks like a skinny nerd. He needs to be better looking. And my biggest gripe, is that the costumes for the aforementioned Nite Owl and Ozymandias, as well as the Silk Spectre, LOOK LIKE MODERN SUPERHERO COSTUMES! They NEED to be Silver Age costumes, and if not that, at LEAST in the style of 1980's heroes! THAT'S the WHOLE POINT! The costuming and look of the characters is INTEGRAL to the story! GRAAARRR!!!
*ahem*
Now for another rant, and a more sincere rant. The Spirit Though I did get pretty uppity about Watchmen, I actually feel that the positive parts will probably redeem the movie. The Spirit, on the other hand? I think they must be referring to Will Eisner's spirit choking to death on its own spectral vomit. Where to begin? Yes, Mr. Frank Miller, you may have done a Spirit comic at one point, but how does that give you the right to make Will Eisner's seminal work into...whatever that trailer was? Honestly! He's going to be running around talking to scores of hot crazy ladies, while Samuel L. Jackson occasionally appears in a strange costume and tries to kill him, while strange camera tricks keep happening left and right? The Spirit was about people! It was about reality. Oftentimes the Spirit wasn't really ABOUT the Spirit, he just showed up! How dare Frank Miller sully Eisner's name. I just don't know how to put my confusion and frustration into words. Even if it is a decent movie on its own merits, it can do nothing but harm what the Spirit actually deserves to be known for.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Inspiration

No crazy update with hyper links left and right today. Just some simple musings from a guy with time to muse.I was watching a video from E3 today from Will Wright, the creative mind behind the upcoming Spore. He talked about the fact that when he was a kid, science and creativity were a big overlap in his mind. The more I thought about that, the more I liked it. It's true to. Pure science, the desire to explore, develop, learn, create, is one of the great forces in our lives.
Of course this creative drive is not limited to science. I explore it in different terms, or rather with different tools. All the same, I know when I'm really exploring, and when I'm just mucking around in the sandbox. However, this experimentation is often a vital step towards higher creative work. I've certainly found this to be true in regards to my creative pursuits.
Just today, I went to touch up the short draft I'd written before. In doing so I looked up an older piece that had more appropriate formatting, and ended up expanding on that instead. So much of my life has been structured around completion, and not experimentation, that it often impedes my creative efforts.
Of course, it's fine for me to have a number of projects in various stages of completion. It's also more than acceptable, and in fact desirable to simply try something in order to see what happens. You need never finish it. This can be as simple as writing an idea down. All of this, however, builds a toolbox that we can employ in the future. There's no rule that says we have to finish everything we start. In fact, this is one idea that often keeps me from pursuing more creative projects. I don't like the idea of having something half finished, which means I more often than not have a project that's only in my head, not even on paper at all.
We start with something small, develop it, add and subtract from it, and eventually we finish with it. There is no universal judge to end a project. We do what we will, and then take what we have learned and employ elsewhere. This is the evolution of creativity, and what seems to be the core of Spore. It doesn't matter how we get there, as long we get somewhere.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Three Posts in a Day, Shame On Me!


Yeah, well, this is worth another post. It's this website called Wordle. You paste in text, or even put the web address of your blog, and it makes a neat design like this! The layout, color, and font are all customizable as well. This is one made from my blog. The cool thing is that the more you use a word, the bigger it is proportionally to the others. Try it out! It's a lot of fun.

Gotta Get My Media-Fix!

And wow, was there a lot of stuff to absorb! In addition to the aforementioned Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, there is a new episode of Defenders of Stan, just click on the picture and follow the buttons. It's actually a few days old, but I just found it today, and it is great! One of the best episodes yet. If you don't know, the show revolves around Stan, one of the last people on earth NOT to have superpowers, and his oafish pig of a brother, Captain Ultra, the world's most popular hero. It is simply wonderful and not to be missed.
There are a number of new cartoon shows coming our way in the next year or so, one of which is the Iron Man: Armored Adventures series. The first trailer was released a day or two ago. It's going to be 3d animation, cel-shady and all that. I'm sure I'll watch it, but my hopes aren't too high. It's nice to see the Mandarin playing a big role, but kid Tony Stark? If he's not old enough to drink, he's not old enough to fly that suit. But hey, prove me wrong kid. Prove me wrong.
There was also the release of a gameplay trailer for the upcoming DC Universe Online. It's being developed by Sony Online Entertainment, who were involved in the wonderful Superhero MMORPG City of Heroes and City of Villains. There is no release date yet, and that's a good thing, because this trailer was unimpressive. First of all, the appeal seems to be that you can make your own hero or villain, and team up with DC Characters. And that is huge appeal! That sounds awesome! Yet there was nothing, not even a hint about character creation. It was just vaguely implied. Not only that, but some of the animations look downright awful. I mean, it's great that Jim Lee is working on it, but I don't want to play a game if it isn't any fun, no matter how much I want to be on the Justice League. However, this is an early trailer, so I'm sure we'll see more soon, and hopefully some improvements. I'll admit that the first shot of Green Lantern flying around was really cool, so it's still one to watch for.
E3 also saw the release of a teaser trailer for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. The characters look great, and they've been making these games long enough that if they keep the gameplay everybody likes, have sweet graphics, and even more characters, I'm sold. And though I'll probably get it for the Wii, those tasty polygons definitely won't be showing up on my favorite little white box. *sniff*
I've been picking up the side issues to Secret Invasion, and I'm really glad I did. Hercules and the God Squad may be my favorite so far, but I read Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four today, and I'm liking that story too. Basically the Thing, the Human Torch, and Reed and Sue's kids are stuck in the Negative Zone thanks to a Skrull attack. Now to get home, they have to find Mister Fantastic's Super Villain prison in the the Neg-Zone, and break someone out that can fix Reed's machine. Sweet. The event is a lot of fun when you really get a picture of everything that's going on. The Skrull's didn't pull any punches. This is an invasion from every angle you can imagine.
I proofed a lot of books today. Probably five or six, ranging from Marvel MAX titles to kiddie Spider-Manga. It's difficult not to read them, not so much because I want to (which is true for the most part), but because I'm not used to looking at words without reading them. However, when you have 500 pages of Man-Thing to check, you figure out how to get over that difficulty. Today, while I was quickly scanning over these books, I was thinking about silence in comics. I've done a little more writing, and I have a number of spaces where there's no dialogue. I realized though, that not writing anything is very different silence then the silence of crickets or city sounds. I found it fascinating that not only do comics play with the visual and the textual, but there's almost a vocal element as well. We all know about "Kapow" and "Krrrnch", but what does it mean if a panel has no audio cues, sound effects or speech? It's an element that can profoundly affect the way a comic is absorbed.
Today a bunch of the interns were talking about useless super-powers. They were presented in a "would you rather" format. I should have written them down, but here's what I can recall:
Would you rather be able to:
1) summon any condiment you want in bottle form OR change the color of people's teeth?
2) be unable to fall, but then have to tap dance for 5 minutes OR flap your abnormally large eyebrows to hover 2 feet above the ground?
3) remove your feet and detect them with a "foot sense" OR flush any toilet in a 30 mile radius?
Whew! That was a meaty one. Enjoy it well, my friends. I'll check in at the end of the next patrol. Starbuck out.

P.S. Did I mention that one the assistant editors in my department is named Alex Starbuck? Awesome, huh!

A Must-See! Whedon Does it Again!


So, the first act of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is out, and it is fan-freakin-tastic. It simply must be watched. And it's nice to see that Felicia Day of "The Guild" fame is getting more work. In any case, see it now! You'll love it. Also, stay tuned for a more comprehensive update tonight.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Ah MEGO, the Pinnacle of Toy Design

I know I've usually been putting a neat little picture on my posts that is somewhat related to the content. This isn't. MEGOs are just cool. Once again, thanks to Jessica Fleutsch for the wonderful 12" MEGO Hulk she found for me in California. He's smash-tastic!
Well, I finished Maus. Once again, it's absolutely worth your time, whether you like reading Comics or not. A really moving work. Also, a work called
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse, a graphic novel about growing up gay in the south during the civil rights movement, has been recommended to me by Rachel Teagle, so I pass that on to all of you.
Since Nathan was home this weekend, I got caught up on my summer movies. Admittedly I wasn't very far behind, but now I'm back on track. First we saw "WANTED", and I feel the same way about it that most reviews I've seen do. If you haven't read the comic books by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, it's an incredible action movie! Seriously, there is one of the coolest action sequences I've seen the Lobby Scene in the Matrix. However, Nathan lent me the book, and I can say that if you've read the work, the movie is NOTHING LIKE IT AT ALL. Seriously, its connection to its source material is so tangential, it can be barely be said that it's based on it all. Really, I was amazed that the movie I saw could still legitimately be called "WANTED". It's still a really fun action movie though, but the book is cooler.
On to Hellboy II. This was a wonderful movie. The development of the Characters is so thorough and rich, that it really takes the movie one step above the other action movies we've seen this summer. Take that, a fun story, great action, and just the right mix of humor, and you've got a great movie. I think that I like Hellboy I just a little bit better, but just a little tiny bit, and only because I prefer the Lovecraftian enemies to the fairy tale side. Nonetheless, this was one of the most solid summer action movies that's been released this summer.
That's all I got for now, just a quick post to tide you over. Have a good weekend!