ALIEN VS PREDATOR VS DRUG KINGPIN

http://chud.com/nextraimages/ortiz.jpgIt’s no secret that I am less than psyched about Alien vs Predator 2, even with CHUD friend Shane Salerno writing the script. Besides all the general misgivings about the project, recent casting news – a bunch of TV actors I’ve never seen – hasn’t lit me on fire.

But now a secret informer (yeah, we get those sometimes too!) has told me that there’s some decent casting news coming. Our informer claims that John Ortiz, last seen in Miami Vice, will be playing the fairly large role of Morales.*

I never did write a review of Miami Vice, but I wasn’t hugely impressed with the film. That said, I thought Ortiz, who played Jose Yero, the drug cartel middle man, was fantastic. Ortiz has been doing the TV rounds for a while and has recently been breaking into bigger and bigger films – he’s currently shooting Ridley Scott’s American Gangster.

So there’s some pretty good news for you. Sadly, I doubt any casting will make Alien vs Predator 2 any good, but a couple of good actors may just make it watchable.

*We’ll be following up on this story on Monday when Ortiz’ reps are actually around to answer their phones!






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SEE BUSH KILLED IN QUICKTIME

http://chud.com/nextraimages/doapposter.jpgDeath of a President was one of the most controversial films that played at the Toronto Film Festival. CHUD’s own Russ Fischer hated it – read his review here – but it garnered the Fipresci International Critics Award. Good? Bad? You’ll get a chance to make up your own mind soon enough, as the film is being released on October 27, just before the midterm elections.

The trailer for the film is here, and it doesn’t really show all that much, although it is convincing in its documentary style. There’s also a poster, which you see to the right of this text, and it’s… interesting. I don’t know that I would say that I like it as a piece of art, but it does get your attention and make you look closer.

Interestingly, life has already lapped art in the case of this movie, which is actually mostly about the aftermath of Bush’s assassination as opposed to the actual event – our own legislators this week passed a pro-torture bill that effectively suspends habeas corpus, one of the cornerstones of legal fairness since 1215. Habeas corpus is what allows you to challenge the basic legality of your detention – without it the government can round you up and detain you for pretty much any reason and as long as it liked. Habeas corpus was so important that the Founding Fathers included it in Article One of the United States Constitution: "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." Habeas corpus was suspended by Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War, a move that still inspires much debate.






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DIE BALD

http://chud.com/nextraimages/diehard4pic.jpgThere’s something about Baltimore that really brings out the baldie in Bruce Willis. He filmed 12 Monkeys there, and he went totally bald. Now he’s back in town for Live Free or Die Hard (a title so spectacularly awful that I am coming to really like it), and he’s letting his chrome dome flag fly again.

The first pictures from the film have appeared in a Baltimore newspaper, and they’re mostly dull stuff – a bunch of Bruce standing around. They do reveal that the film will include – spoilers! – exteriors, I guess.

One of the pictures seems to have director Len Wiseman giving Willis some direction of some sort – perhaps, “In this scene you feel very lucky, like a fairly untalented guy who has gotten himself a strong career and a very hot lady and never did anything to deserve it. Try to capture that feeling.”

Live Free or Die Hard is about cyberterrorism, and it features Justin Long as a guy who spends the whole film telling everyone that this could have all been avoided if they just had a Mac. When terrorists shoot him dead a nation of PC owners cheers.






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FESTIVAL REVIEW: PRISONER, THE or HOW I PLANNED TO KILL TONY BLAIR

GERMANY

MICHAEL TUCKER, PETRA EPPERLEIN

In 2003, the documentary Gunner Palace became the most dramatic real account of the United States’ war in Iraq, as embedded cameraman Michael Tucker followed the 2/3 Field Artillery through Baghdad. One of the most memorable segments of the film was a nighttime raid on the Abbas home, suspected of housing a bomb-making cell. When dragged out, the family pled innocence; one of the four brothers present proclaimed himself a journalist. His appeal fell on deaf ears, the raid was carried out, and the four Abbas brothers were carried away.

The Prisoner revisits that raid, in particular the account of Yunis Abbas, the journalist, with whom Michael Tucker was reunited in 2005. This film includes footage of that raid, as well as interviews culled from the same batch of material used to create Gunner Palace.

But the editorial here is more pointed; the central source of information is a set of interviews with Abbas, who describes his detention by Saddam and Uday Hussein in 1998, as well as the raid and his consequent incarceration in Abu Ghraib. Parallels between the behavior of Saddam’s brother and US officials aren’t lost on Abbas or Tucker. Consequently, while this film plays like a straight interview, it’s far more accusatory than Tucker’s last movie, which could at least be guised as an unblinking view of military action.

Unlike Gunner Palace, which generated a sense of unreality simply through the amazing circumstances of war in Baghdad, The Prisoner uses a comic book aesthetic to emphasize Abbas’ recollections. Pullquotes are written on the screen like word balloons. Descriptions of torture and interrogations are drawn in a crude but effective poster art style, with images of violent fantasies like Rambo and Indiana Jones contrasting with a narrative of unrelenting and unexplained abuse.

The effect is dramatic, and I never found it veering into trivialization of the events. Well, not on Abbas’ side; Tucker seems very happy to trivialize our policies and interrogation methods. And why not? He’s dug up statistics which suggest that most detainees have no terrorist background or intent. That seems like common sense, and in Abbas Tucker has an articulate and intelligent spokesperson for an entire contingent of Arabs wrongly incarcerated.

So why does The Prisoner feel less effective than Gunner Palace? Perhaps because the conclusions are so easily drawn and so obvious. Of course the detainee policy is asinine. But that’s war. Show me a side that didn’t arrest everyone and figure it out later; I don’t think that force exists, though I respect Michael Tucker for hoping that it might.

7.2 out of 10






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FESTIVAL REVIEW: REQUIEM

 Germany
Hans-Christian
Schmid

At long
last, there’s another minor current of filmmakers making art film out of genre.
(The last genuine one I remember was around the time of Don’t Look Now.) Look at Les
Revenants
, which ran at the festival in 2004. That was a zombie movie
re-cast as social commentary. Requiem is similar, in that it
tackles exorcism in the real world, though it has the advantage of a true story
to work from. Either Les Revenants was fiction, or the
French press is a lot lazier than I’d thought.

Requiem
follows Michaela, who comes from one of those ultra-religious homes that these
days probably watch Hell House and anti-abortion videos instead of Saturday morning
cartoons. Not that either of those things existed in the early ’70s, when this
story takes place. Michaela escapes home to attend college, where her dormant
epilepsy becomes an entirely new sort of problem.

Rather
than simply suffering seizures, Michaela begins to hear voices, claiming that
forces within her will no longer allow her to pray, or even touch her rosary.
You can take Requiem in any number of ways; as an ultra-realistic vision of
possession, for example, or as a fatalistic examination of the aftermath of
religious repression.

Because
Michaela’s problems aren’t simply related to her illness. Away from home for
the first time, she’s experiencing both individual and sexual freedom. One of
the most incredible scenes occurs when she goes to a dance club for the first
time; watching her dance, totally selfless and newly uninhibited, is like
watching an adult learn to walk.

Sandra
Hüller is a revelation as Michaela. She performs the role’s demanding physical
affects with the vigor of Gena Rowlands, and channels Cate Blanchett’s depth
and cool. Imogen Kogge plays her mother, adding layers to a role that on paper
is stereotypically simple — instead seeming a simple religious freak, Kogge’s
performance suggests a woman who sublimated her own spiritual well-being for
Church and family, and resents her daughter’s potential to become the woman she
never was.

I saw Requiem
in two parts. The first sitting was on the first day of the festival,
but I missed the opening 15 minutes. At the end of the festival I hit one of
the public screenings so I could be sure to see everything. That says a lot – I
could have been seeing a lot of other films that second time, but liked Requiem
enough to want the full experience. IFC First Take has the film for US
distribution, and it’ll be one that I’ll be sure to recommend again when it
hits theaters in a regular run.

8.6 out
of 10






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CHUD.COM + PLAYBOY RADIO?



I know what you guys are thinking…

"What more stuff could this prick do with mediocrity?"

Websites. Music. Comic Strips. Podcasts. Scripts. Book Ideas. Television.

I’ve given you folks a ton of ammo to bring the hate with, but only now have I really dipped into something that just might win you over.

Playboy.

Granted, this isn’t the surely coveted centerfold of me on a bearskin rug cradling a bottle of Maker’s Mark and covering my gentlemen with a Leviathan Beanie Baby, but it’s a step in the right direction. Today at roughly 9:10am est/6:10am pst I’ll be appearing live on Playboy Radio on Sirius to talk about movies in their unique R-rated morning show and if it goes well the Friday morning commute for some satellite owners just got Sewerer.

I have no idea what to expect, but I do know that the idea of a truly free forum to discuss this stuff is the only way to go. Nothing against my former venues at CNN, Q-100, G4, Dave Sturgeon, 96 Rock, and all the others, but this could be a lot of fun. Tune in if you can.

For more on the show, click here. Here’s the description from their site.

"Kevin Klein and Cort McCown host the only audio version of Playboy magazine and bring the lifestyle to radio! Hef’s girlfriend Kendra shares her football picks; Hot Blonde Jolane does the Playboy Quickies; and author Donna Spangler reveals How To Get a Rich Man."






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REVIEW: GUARDIAN, THE

http://chud.com/nextraimages/GUARDIAN_Onesheetsm.jpgI had three opening sentences for this review, and I couldn’t decide between them, so please just use your favorite one:

  • I didn’t think The Guardian was too long and had too many endings until those hobbits started jumping up and down on Kevin Costner’s bed.


  • I was enjoying the new Kevin Costner movie, The Guardian, until the projectionist accidentally spliced in a two hour long, boxing-free remake of Annapolis starring Ashton Kutcher.


  • How surprised was I when it turned out The Guardian, the latest Kevin Costner film, is a prequel to Waterworld?*


The Guardian teeters just on the edge of being a passable formula movie and being an actually bad movie for about 45 minutes – sadly, the remaining hour and a half sends the film plummeting into actual bad movie territory. At turns laughable and boring, The Guardian wastes not just an interesting concept – Coast Guard rescue swimmers who risk their lives to save people on the high seas – but also a very good cast that includes the likes of Clancy Brown, John Heard, Sela Ward and Neal McDonough. That’s a fucking crime.

The plot’s pretty simple: Costner is the best rescue swimmer since human beings evolved away from being amphibians – until a terrible accident kills his whole crew and leaves him traumatized. He gets ordered to take a rest in the form of teaching a new group of rescue swimmers the ropes, and among the newbies is Ashton Kutcher, attempting to play an endlessly driven jock who is trying to forget his dark and “mysterious” past. The two butt heads from the beginning – can Kutcher make the grade and will Costner come to understand him?

Duh.

There are a couple of things that make The Guardian actually bad, and the biggest of them is Kutcher. It’s noble of him to attempt a character with depth (even the depth given a by-the-numbers formula movie character), but he’s not up to the task. He seems uncomfortable and we’re just not interested. Tellingly, there are a couple of scenes where Kutcher is allowed to lighten up, and those scenes work. Ashton, keep it fluffy.

The length is another major strike against this film. As The Guardian approached the two hour mark I wondered why anyone felt that a very generic training movie needed to be this long. How many scenes of Kutcher and Costner in a pool does one film need? I estimate that about 80% of The Guardian’s running time is made up of people in pools.

One thing that doesn’t work against The Guardian is Costner. He’s actually pretty great as a far-too-serious, washed-up-but-doesn’t-know-it and surely-some-other-hyphenated-phrase swimmer. The role seems like a little bit of a commentary on the guy’s career lately, which is too bad. I’m not a full-on Costner devotee, but I do think that when he’s making decent choices and not directing, Costner is worth watching.

In the end The Guardian is a waste of time – a waste of a lot of time.

*Spoiler: This is barely a joke. The end of The Guardian leaves us with two options: Kevin Costner is haunting the ocean or he’s evolved into a pee-drinking gillman who saves swimmers.

4 out of 10





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A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR IRON MAN

http://www.chud.com/newgraphics/downey.jpgAint It Cool News* is reporting that Robert Downey Jr has been hired to play Tony Stark, aka the guy inside the Iron Man costume, in Jon Favreau’s movie version of the Marvel comic book. If true (see the previous asterisk), this is a major indicator of where Favreau is going with the film (well, duh) and it’s also very, very good news. UPDATE: This is confirmed!

The main reason why this is good news is the Robert Downey Jr is one of our best actors today. Period. Not of his age, his gender, his nationality, of all the people with suffixes – just one of the best actors working in the motion picture industry. He’s fantastic.

The other reason why this is good news is that it seems to show that Favreau’s not making another generic superhero movie. With Tom Cruise in the armor as Iron Jock the movie would be generic. But with RDJ we’re guaranteed to be getting a non-traditional hero, a guy who wears his shortcomings on his sleeve. RDJ’s Tony Stark is almost guaranteed to be a charmer and also a scoundrel – these are the characters he plays best, after all. But what might be most important is the fact that if I was going to make a movie where Tony Stark is a weapons dealer, as Favreau is, and I wanted to make my character morally ambiguous while still leaning towards doing good, I couldn’t think of an actor better suited to play the role.

Some people are going to get excited about the serendipity between RDJ’s own drug abuse and Tony Stark’s impending alcoholism (Favreau has gone on the record saying this won’t be a major part of the story of the first Iron Man film) – to me that’s the only down side. I don’t mind when elements of an actor’s well known persona makes it into a movie – look at Nicholson in The Departed as a perfect example of this working well – but I don’t like it when events from an actor’s life suddenly end up in a movie. While the alcoholism was there before RDJ’s drug problem, it feels so on the nose that I may lose the character.

* This news apparently comes right from Harry. I often avoid running AICN “scoops” like this simply because they have no fact-checking process. This means that people delight in sending them bullshit and getting it published. That said, Harry worked with Favreau on the currently-shelved John Carter of Mars film, and I can only hope that Harry’s source was Favreau or someone he knows to be connected to Favreau. Or that he at least dialed Favreau’s cell to check up on the story. We’ll know tomorrow – the AICN piece says it hits the trades then.

UPDATE: Harry was right on the money. What’s funny is that Variety has run the story early on their website to combat the AICN scoop.






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DVD REVIEW: COMBAT DIARY – THE MARINES OF LIMA COMPANY

Combat Diary CoverBUY IT AT AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: A&E Home Video
MSRP: $24.95
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Extended footage
Slide show with commentary

The Pitch

Marines document their tour of duty in Iraq with video cameras. It’s just like The Real World, except without all the sex and retards desperately trying to get famous.

The Humans

The Marines of Lima Company.

The Nutshell

Out of all the active companies in Iraq, no unit has endured more losses than Lima Company. Composed of reservists and the occasional member of the Iraqi army, the group never really expected to be on the frontlines of combat so often.

Simple missions designed to guard the Syrian border devolved into huge firefights with insurgents in nearby towns. Routine patrols along Iraqi roads turned into scenes of carnage when IEDs destroyed American tanks.


This documentary lets you see it all from the perspective of the men who lived through it. You’ll see the last days of several Marines whose lives were cut short and how their families are coping with the loss.

The Package

The documentary itself is presented in 16:9 widescreen format with Dolby Digital stereo sound. The meat of the special features comes in the extended footage and slideshow commentary.

The extended footage is simply much longer segments of the combat footage shot by the Marines of Lima Company that was chopped up and shortened in order to fit into the documentary. It can be difficult to tell exactly what’s going on at times without narration, but it gives you a sense of how hectic and confusing combat is when you’re thrown right into the thick of things.


The slideshow reunites three members of Lima Company as they sit in a recording studio and tell the stories behind many of the photographs they took while serving in Iraq. The three guys joke around a lot and their camaraderie makes the slideshow very enjoyable and a real step above the traditional DVD tactic of just slapping a few still photos on the disc and calling it a special feature.

The Lowdown

Combat Diary is a fairly straightforward documentary as far as things go. The film typically follows a pattern of introducing a Marine that died during duty, showing their background and how they related to their fellow soldiers, then showing video footage of the battle in which they died. This is followed by the reflections of the other members of Lima Company and the deceased soldier’s family.


The film is more of a tribute to the fallen soldiers than an actual account of Lima Company’s operations in Iraq. No narrators are heard besides actual men that served in the company and who wish to honor their fallen friends. The somber tone and setup of the film could probably be accused of being manipulative, but there’s really no other way to present the deaths of close friends other than in a tragic light.

The film does not spend any time preaching or raging against the war machine that sent these young men to their deaths. There’s no political bias or message that is driven into the audience’s heads. The filmmaker and the Marines involved could care less about the politics of war. The film is simply a tribute to fallen soldiers that died many miles from home and the families they left behind.


Overall: 7.5 out of 10






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THOR’S COMIC COLUMN

Does he suck? Does his comic? The Daywalker is Back in Blade #1

By Jeb D.

 Blade got his start as a member of one of the best ensemble casts of the 70’s: the intrepid vampire-hunters of Tomb of Dracula. When Hollywood came calling, though, it became necessary to simplify things by ignoring and/or rewriting Blade’s past. And while I always thought that TOD would have made a great ongoing TV series, Blade’s success as a movie loner dictated the direction for his future comics page appearances. A few abortive attempts at his own comic have been made since Blade was revived by the movies, but no one’s made it stick so far (a recent attempt at an ongoing series was abruptly turned into a miniseries and then pulled almost before it had begun).

The latest team to try and raise the not-totally-undead Blade are TV writer Marc Guggenheim (Wolverine) and legendary artist Howard Chaykin (New Avengers).

 (heh… I kid…  Presumably I don’t REALLY have to introduce anyone to Mr. Chaykin).

The book is bifurcated—Blade in action “today” alternates with stories taking place “then”, giving us glimpses from Blade’s childhood (and even earlier). As Guggenheim relates in his introductory text piece, the commercial necessity of bringing in new readers means that Blade’s backstory is being rewritten on the fly. That’s fine, except that the series does appear to be living on an odd periphery of the Marvel Universe: the story begins with Blade dispatching both Dracula AND a vampire version of Spider-Man, then facing off against a small army of vampire S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The explanation for the Spider-Man encounter (well, apart from the sales boost from putting the two on the cover) suggests that this is not some alternate universe, but the same Spidey we’ve always known. And while I don’t mind the idea of an ongoing series eventually explaining where all these vampire spies come from, Guggenheim seems to indicate that he’s structuring the series in self-contained issues, leading me to wonder if they’ve just edited out some key information. And considering next issue’s storyline, things are about to get even muddier…. Or possibly the guest baddie’s got an explanation up his sleeve.

Howard Chaykin’s a great choice for Blade—his overripe, decadent style has always had a slightly “undead” quality to it in the first place, and if his action scenes are no longer as ground-breaking as they were back in the days of American Flagg or The Shadow, he still gives Blade some nicely propulsive throwdowns. The “historical” sequences might be even better, though it can be hard to reconcile the specific period look with the modern version of Blade.

Will this series be Blade’s shot at mainstream success? Eh… maybe. Chaykin’s clearly having a ball, and watching him put our favorite daywalker through his paces is always going to have its appeal. Whether Guggenheim can bring the story together into something less fragmented than what we have here is the question. For fans of the character (particularly the Wesley Snipes version), definitely worth your time. For fans of Howard Chaykin, definitely worth your money. For anyone else… call it a maybe.

RATING:  3 out of 5 Vikings        

The World Storm begins with Wetworks #1

By Graig Kent

 When Lee, Silvestri, McFarlane, Liefeld, and the rest left Marvel to form Image, it was at the height of the Wizard era of style over substance comics, where the artist called the shots and story stood wallflower while pretty pictures got to dance at the ball (obviously, “pretty” is a matter of opinion).  Image expanded like wildfire, with each of its founding creators establishing their own little cottage universe, many establishing imprints, and all pimping some horrendously thin concepts to a collectable-crazy market.

Thankfully, those days are (pretty much) over, but the products, brands and characters that came out of that time still kick around, and, in the case of Jim Lee’s Wildstorm imprint (now a division of DC Comics), are being relauched with the hopes that tacking some notable scribes’ names onto sluggish titles under a token heading (the meaningless “World Storm”) can revitalize the line. Grant Morrison’s on WildC.A.T.S and The Authority, Garth Ennis is on Midnighter, Gail Simone takes Gen13, Azzarello on Deathblow and, here on Wetworks (with series creator Wilce Portacio) launching it all (by default, since WildC.A.T.S. is late) is Lucifer’s Mike Carey.

The “World Storm” is a concept-less blanket under which all the titles are being relaunched, without any sort of editorial mandate or guide, and without any real vision as to what’s going on in the “Wildstorm Universe”.  I think the hope is that with a sense of freedom the end result will be gold, like when Warren Ellis took over Stormwatch or Ed Brubaker’s post-WildC.A.T.S. series Sleeper.  But here, on Wetworks, there’s nothing signifying a new direction, even for someone like myself that’s never read the title, ever.  Carey doesn’t use his storytelling freedom to much advantage, as he seems to be attempting a continuance of the same characters, thrusting them into the same special-ops-battling-monsters scenario.  The first issue is thoroughly uninspired, the characters have no weight, and the drama Carey tries to install is either lost on – or meaningless to – a new reader.

Portacio is inked by Trevor Scott and colored by Wendy Broome, and the book is dark in both color and line, to the point where many scene’s actions or intentions are indiscernible.  Muddy best describes the result throughout, and it doesn’t look any better than a random late-90’s Top Cow book, which may please some, but is pretty sub-par by my likings.

I can’t say I hate Wetworks #1 since I’m just so utterly blasé about the whole thing.  The story is forgettable and the art is generic, and I’m as inspired by it as I was by the majority of Image titles back in their heyday, which is to say not at all.  Pass.

RATING:  1 and a half out of 5 Vikings

Another Vampire Hunter? Not Any More. Union Jack #1

By Jeb D.


 Well, it’s not exactly Queen and Country, but Union Jack appears to be another of those Marvel miniseries attempting to provide more variety in their superhero-centric line: in this case, a counterterrorism story that’s a sort of spandexed “24.”

Union Jack, introduced in Roy Thomas’ old “Invaders” series, has recently appeared in Ed Brubaker’s Captain America series, and he’s now being launched into a new 4-issue miniseries.

I don’t know how much of the story’s direction comes from writer Christos Gage, and how much is editorially-driven, but this first issue has a lot of heavy lifting to do. It begins by clearing the decks of the vampires that would be Union Jack’s usual prey—in a couple of quick pages, he’s rid London of them altogether. And while you’d imagine this development would be the setup for a story all its own, here, it’s just a way to put Jack at loose ends so that MI:5 can recruit him for a conveniently closed-ended mission: major terrorist acts are about to devastate London, and there’s only four hours left till their deadline. We get the usual rigmarole about Jack’s reluctance, and how there’s no other super-teams available, and are then introduced to the other members of Jack’s team: our old S.H.I.E.L.D. pal Val, the Israeli heroine known as Sabra, and the Saudi Arabian Knight (drawn here to look like Lost’s Sayid). Naturally, these latter two can’t get along, and it will be up to Jack to get them to put their mission first.

Once we get to the actual plot, it’s actually pretty decent, with a nice twist at the end. Whether the story’s resolution will go beyond your basic superhero slamfest remains to be seen, but at least there’s potential for something different. Artist Mike Perkins (who handled the flashback sequences so nicely in Captain America) brings us comfortably into today’s London, while offering both some backstory and some butt-kickin’.

Bringing second-banana characters to the forefront of a series isn’t always a tremendously successful approach, particularly when the company demands long-term sales. There’s potential here for the occasional miniseries, though, and if handled properly, Union Jack might become an enjoyable semi-regular dose of super-spy—or should I say “superhero-spy”—action.

RATING:  3 out of 5 Vikings


Jinx : The Definitive Collection 
(Image)

By Elgin Carver

 Art and its making produce questions almost as intriguing as the artwork. From where does creativity spring? Why are some artists and/or artwork more appealing than others? How is a piece of artwork made?  Every true artist and his work grows and ripens as experience is accumulated and judgement matures, and an overview of one artist’s works can give insights to these questions.  An interesting example is Brian Michael Bendis.

Best known for his writing in Daredevil and Marvel’s Ultimate titles, especially Ultimate Spiderman, this is not where he began. One of his earliest works is Jinx, the story of a female bounty hunter crossing the path of a streetwise grifter. This volume collects the entire story, with an interesting supplement covering the development of the story and artwork, sketches and a script for an animated project based on the characters, and a portfolio of drawings of these characters by other artists.

Here we see the "wordiness" Bendis is recognized for. Many word balloons offsetting each other, partial sentences, non-sequiturs, and other idiosyncrasies are already present in this work. What is not yet present is the natural flow of language. This dialogue might seem natural to some but is far more reminiscent of off-Broadway theater. A young artist trying to make ART can, and here did, forget that reality contains the lessons that apply, and dressing that up in frills adds nothing. In this case it detracts.

In this book Bendis also took a hand to the art. Heavily photo referenced, often with actual photos  reduced to the highest possible visual contrast, and with some very creative compositions and panel layouts, the artwork sometimes outshines the writing. The creativity seen in this part of the book cannot but make one wonder where he might have taken this portion of his talent had he not concentrated on writing to the exclusion of the visuals.

Jinx is a difficult character to like. Self centered and hard natured, she deals with people that are even less likeable than she is. Her looks seem to be the only attractive part of her persona, and this should not be enough for the apparent display of interest other artists demonstrated in the gallery. Surely something beyond pity for one’s self and artsy dialogue is required to make comic book characters appealing. Still, the story has interesting aspects, the artwork has some inventive points, and the look into the beginnings of what has become a very good writer is instructive.

RATING:  3 out of 5 Vikings



 Civil War #4 (Marvel). In a recent podcast, Mark Millar indicated that, while he’s delighted that Civil War readers are enjoying the political and social implications of the book, he mostly wanted to tell a story with a bunch of Marvel superheroes beating the crap out of each other. Issue #4?— Marvel superheroes beating the crap out of each other? — check. Thor showed up at the end of issue #3, surprisingly on the side of the pro-registration forces. This issue, he goes to work, and artist Steve McNiven gives us mayhem that makes things like the old Secret Wars look like a playground tussle. Marvel’s evident interest in making 2006 the year their female characters come into their own is reinforced by Sue Richards’ actions this issue (and the unfortunate delays in releasing this issue mean that the cover of #6 is already being promoted in this month’s other books, and it suggests that Sue’s going to play an even more pivotal role in the series’ outcome). There’s some real tragedy in this issue, too—and since it doesn’t involve one of Marvel’s key licensing properties, it cuts even deeper, knowing that it’s not someone who will be quickly put to rights after the series ends. Those reading across the entire Marvel line are probably frustrated by the fact that this book’s delay has thrown so many other book’s schedules out of whack, making the whole story choppier, but as a self-contained series, Civil War remains a gripping superhero read. – Jeb D.

RATING:

 X-Factor #11 (Marvel) –  My copies of X-Factor are making the rounds amongst friends, and everyone who reads it pretty much agrees on its quality.  The book is damn good.  Issue 11 gets the team back to the central story following the Decimation and Civil War bru-ha-has which found their way into the books pages (the great thing about it is that writer Peter David takes those impositions and uses them to the series’ advantage).  After the shocking final page of issue 10, we find out that a member of the team has been Manchurian Candidated, and is a sleeper agent for the X-Factor Detective Agency’s rival, a company called Singularity, run by a man named Damian Tryp.  This issue, as with the last, features flashback sequences, filling us in on some of the mystery of Tryp, but as per the mystery angle David infuses the book with, every answer seems to only ask more questions.  In this case, it’s Tryp’s connection to Jamie Madrox’s past.  Artist Renato Arlem does the bulk of the art chores, with last-issue’s fill-in artist, Roy Allan Martinez handling the flashback page.  Arlem is competent, but Martinez does damn pretty work. –Graig

RATING:

 Astonishing X-Men #17 (Marvel). This book is for those who’ve ever wondered just what Wolverine and Popeye had in common. On the odd chance that you don’t fall into that category, fear not—Joss Whedon’s stuffed this issue with such delights as Kitty’s alluring and alarming mental landscape, the triumph of Cassandra Nova, the delightful revelation of S.W.O.R.D.’s mole in Xavier’s mansion, the arrival of Ord and Danger… and a moment of X-Men badassery that’s as unprecedented as it is satisfying. And Wolverine? While his “young Jamie” persona has been a real kick for the past few issues (and graces a cover that might be my favorite of the year), the way that Whedon brings him back to his old self is the stuff of near-genius, abetted by artist John Cassaday’s perfect paneling layout. Cassaday continues to make the X-Men look both classic and newly-minted; and if there’s a creepier image in mainstream comics this year than Kitty’s encounter with Colossus, I’d rather not see it, thanks.- Jeb D.

RATING:

 52 Week 20 (DC) – After last week’s issue, which has so far been the highlight of the series, I have a renewed enthusiasm and faith in this book.  Even still, I was expecting a bit of a come-down this week but Waid/Morrison/Johns/Rucka delivered again, focusing the majority of the book on the lost-in-space-faring heroes Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange, who are being jerked around by a religiously reformed/cult leading Lobo.  This obviously means trouble, especially since he holds in his possession the Emerald Eye, whose original owner is coming to get it back.  Other little asides reveals a glitch in Luthor’s “superpowers-for-all” program, and for reasons of foreshadowing, Supernova visits the Batcave.  An entertaining issue that has some action and mercifully progresses the plot.  Also features a very nice inking job of Ruy Jose on Chris Batista’s pencils. –Graig

RATING:

So ends this accounting of valiant warriors and high adventure! Return next week to honor still more comics. Praise Odin. 

To discuss this column and all things Nordic, or if you have a comic you want to submit for review, contact Sean at scfahey@yahoo.com.






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