Sunday, July 19, 2009
How Appropriate, You Fight Like a Cow
Right, so how come the new version of The Secret of Monkey Island, which after all only has some tarted-up graphics and a voice track, requires a 3ghz processor and 3gb of disk space? What the heck?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
(Tell Me Why) I Don't Like Wednesdays
Wednesday Comics then. It's a pretty clear attempt by DC Comics to reach out to a wider market by presenting their product in a more widely-recognisable format, that of the Sunday newspaper comics section. It's also the first weekly adventure anthology ever, if you believe DC's absurd hype. Certainly the first weekly adventure anthology released every Wednesday, anyway. Now, the accepted wisdom is that the US comics-buying public doesn't like anthology titles, but the accepted wisdom was also that the US comics-buying public didn't like weekly titles either, and yet DC have had some success over the past couple of years with stuff like 52 and Countdown (although those were tied into their annual big event stories, and were not standalone projects), so I can see why they're trying the anthology approach here. However, I can't see it working, not in the current format.
First off, despite the "normal" appearance, this is still being sold through Diamond's distribution monopoly, and, as far as I can tell, is only being sold through comic shops. As a result, the intended audience becomes a little murky. The format seems to be aimed at people who once read comics, but haven't in a while, or who don't read superhero comics, but do read the humour strips in the Sunday papers, but then, once again, it's only being sold through the specialist shops those people will never, ever, visit. All the new formats in the world will do no good if you're stuck with such an exclusive distribution method, and it may even be counter-productive to try anything new because the audience served by that method may by now be trained so that they don't want anything different.
Distribution is one thing, crucial to the success of the project, but the contents are just as important, and are just as bungled. The storytelling is abysmal, okay on its own grounds but completely wrong for a one-page-a-week format, with acres of wasted space, a distinct lack of actual things happening, and a disturbing tendency toward limp "cliffhangers". DC have assembled a group of writers and artists here who often excel in the usual twenty-two pages of a monthly US comic, but seem to have no idea whatsoever how to pace a single page of storytelling; they seem to be writing with an eye to a full story, but have neglected how the single page reads. A lot of these creators are really good, and should be able to figure out how to tell a one-page story, but none of them have managed it (although Paul Pope comes very close); Neil Gaiman and Dave Gibbons should have an idea, at least, from their experience in the UK weeklies, but even they stumble, as if they, like the audience, have been conditioned to not understand how single page storytelling works. There are about fourteen billion webcomic creators out there, all of whom could do a better job than this A-list collection of writers and artists has managed.
There's also the small matter of all the stories being bog-standard DC superhero tales. Now I know that superheroes are the bread and butter of the US industry, but again it makes me wonder who this is for; if you're picking this up because you like Calvin and Hobbes, and you just happened to walk down the wrong alley and stumbled upon a comic shop, this collection is not going to draw you in, unless the stories are sufficiently gripping, which, due to the unsatisfying storytelling is not the case. But then, of course, if DC dropped the "household name" characters and the famous creators, the existing superhero comics fans would ignore the title, and since it won't be selling to anyone else, those fans have to be placated. The whole thing is so incredibly pointless and inane.
All in all, Wednesday Comics strikes me as a bit of a folly. It does look very good, apart from the almost-offensively grotesque art in the Superman story, and there is something undeniably pleasing about the broadsheet newsprint format, but it all comes across as a bit of an art object, and because barely any of the stories inside work at all, I can't see any point in getting the second issue. I can understand and appreciate the idea behind the book, but it's been handled about as poorly as it possibly could.
Well, maybe not. If Marvel had done it, it would likely have been even worse.
(Had this review been published at Comics Bulletin, I would have given it two bullets out of five. That's mainly for the good art throughout, and the Paul Pope story.)
First off, despite the "normal" appearance, this is still being sold through Diamond's distribution monopoly, and, as far as I can tell, is only being sold through comic shops. As a result, the intended audience becomes a little murky. The format seems to be aimed at people who once read comics, but haven't in a while, or who don't read superhero comics, but do read the humour strips in the Sunday papers, but then, once again, it's only being sold through the specialist shops those people will never, ever, visit. All the new formats in the world will do no good if you're stuck with such an exclusive distribution method, and it may even be counter-productive to try anything new because the audience served by that method may by now be trained so that they don't want anything different.
Distribution is one thing, crucial to the success of the project, but the contents are just as important, and are just as bungled. The storytelling is abysmal, okay on its own grounds but completely wrong for a one-page-a-week format, with acres of wasted space, a distinct lack of actual things happening, and a disturbing tendency toward limp "cliffhangers". DC have assembled a group of writers and artists here who often excel in the usual twenty-two pages of a monthly US comic, but seem to have no idea whatsoever how to pace a single page of storytelling; they seem to be writing with an eye to a full story, but have neglected how the single page reads. A lot of these creators are really good, and should be able to figure out how to tell a one-page story, but none of them have managed it (although Paul Pope comes very close); Neil Gaiman and Dave Gibbons should have an idea, at least, from their experience in the UK weeklies, but even they stumble, as if they, like the audience, have been conditioned to not understand how single page storytelling works. There are about fourteen billion webcomic creators out there, all of whom could do a better job than this A-list collection of writers and artists has managed.
There's also the small matter of all the stories being bog-standard DC superhero tales. Now I know that superheroes are the bread and butter of the US industry, but again it makes me wonder who this is for; if you're picking this up because you like Calvin and Hobbes, and you just happened to walk down the wrong alley and stumbled upon a comic shop, this collection is not going to draw you in, unless the stories are sufficiently gripping, which, due to the unsatisfying storytelling is not the case. But then, of course, if DC dropped the "household name" characters and the famous creators, the existing superhero comics fans would ignore the title, and since it won't be selling to anyone else, those fans have to be placated. The whole thing is so incredibly pointless and inane.
All in all, Wednesday Comics strikes me as a bit of a folly. It does look very good, apart from the almost-offensively grotesque art in the Superman story, and there is something undeniably pleasing about the broadsheet newsprint format, but it all comes across as a bit of an art object, and because barely any of the stories inside work at all, I can't see any point in getting the second issue. I can understand and appreciate the idea behind the book, but it's been handled about as poorly as it possibly could.
Well, maybe not. If Marvel had done it, it would likely have been even worse.
(Had this review been published at Comics Bulletin, I would have given it two bullets out of five. That's mainly for the good art throughout, and the Paul Pope story.)
Friday, June 05, 2009
What If?
Harrison Ford, even after Star Wars, was not the first choice for Indiana Jones. Instead, Tom Selleck was picked, and you can see his screen test on the fourth DVD in the Indiana Jones boxed set. I mean the special features disc, not that pap Lucas and Spielberg attempted to foist upon us last year. Anyway, Selleck dropped out in order to appear in Magnum, P.I., Ford was Indy, and all was right in the world.
Except:
On a somewhat related note, an episode of Quantum Leap was planned in which Sam would leap into Magnum. That didn't happen either.
Except:
On a somewhat related note, an episode of Quantum Leap was planned in which Sam would leap into Magnum. That didn't happen either.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Up Above the Streets and Houses
I think I first encountered The Rainbow Orchid about ten years ago (!), at a time when I was exploring the British small press comics scene. I'm not sure how I first heard of the title, or what attracted me to it; although the T word was chucked about a lot back then, I don't think that did it, as I was always more of an Asterix fan. Anyway, what I discovered was a globe-trotting adventure story with a distinctive British feel (distinguished gentlemen discussing matters of import in wood-panelled rooms), but a fair bit of pulp excess (extravagantly mustachioed French stunt pilots and a clown or two) in there too. It's a bit Herge, a bit Wells, a bit Indiana Jones, even a bit Haggard (or maybe Kipling), and all good fun.
After a while, writer/artist Garen Ewing started publishing the title online, previewing pages from the story in the run up to a more high-profile release than had been done before. It wasn't a webcomic as such, but the growing audience treated it as one, and I believe it became quite popular; there's some wisdom in there about the best advertising being the act of giving your product away for nothing. Garen put out a limited edition hardback collection of The Story So far about a year ago (which the missus bought me as a birthday present), a self-published thing which was again intended to drum up interest in the oft-mentioned professional publication of The Rainbow Orchid, and now things have come full circle with the announcement that Egmont, former publishers of 2000AD and current custodians of, yes, Tintin, are to publish Garen's comic. It's been one of my favourite titles for a while, and soon I'll be able to see how the story ends!
It's also Garen's birthday today. Happy birthday Garen!
On a completely unrelated note, I've done some more art for Fight On!, this time for the fifth issue, and I also entered an art competition the magazine was running, although I didn't win anything besides an honourable mention; the winning entries were of stunning quality though, so I don't mind losing out to them. It still feels a bit odd to be one of the regular artists for a magazine about something of which I have so little experience (Dungeons & Dragons mostly), but it's been good fun, and it's also been useful to have an actual deadline to make sure I keep drawing. I've taken the opportunity to update my long-fallow website with some of my more recent art, as well as give the whole thing a bit of a tidy. There's still a lot of work to be done, the comics and writing sections in particular, but it's a start.
After a while, writer/artist Garen Ewing started publishing the title online, previewing pages from the story in the run up to a more high-profile release than had been done before. It wasn't a webcomic as such, but the growing audience treated it as one, and I believe it became quite popular; there's some wisdom in there about the best advertising being the act of giving your product away for nothing. Garen put out a limited edition hardback collection of The Story So far about a year ago (which the missus bought me as a birthday present), a self-published thing which was again intended to drum up interest in the oft-mentioned professional publication of The Rainbow Orchid, and now things have come full circle with the announcement that Egmont, former publishers of 2000AD and current custodians of, yes, Tintin, are to publish Garen's comic. It's been one of my favourite titles for a while, and soon I'll be able to see how the story ends!
It's also Garen's birthday today. Happy birthday Garen!
On a completely unrelated note, I've done some more art for Fight On!, this time for the fifth issue, and I also entered an art competition the magazine was running, although I didn't win anything besides an honourable mention; the winning entries were of stunning quality though, so I don't mind losing out to them. It still feels a bit odd to be one of the regular artists for a magazine about something of which I have so little experience (Dungeons & Dragons mostly), but it's been good fun, and it's also been useful to have an actual deadline to make sure I keep drawing. I've taken the opportunity to update my long-fallow website with some of my more recent art, as well as give the whole thing a bit of a tidy. There's still a lot of work to be done, the comics and writing sections in particular, but it's a start.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Bank Holiday Mecha-Day
Here in Blighty, our public monuments tend to be statues of dead white guys. In Japan, as always, things are different:
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Not Paying Attention
So Terminator 2 has that Guns 'n' Roses soundtrack. It also has that scene in the shopping centre corridor, all slow-motion, where we finally discover which of the Terminators is the good one, as Arnie pulls a gun from a box of roses.
You've all probably known this since 1991, but I've seen that film a hundred times and never noticed it before.
You've all probably known this since 1991, but I've seen that film a hundred times and never noticed it before.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Quickie Film Reviews: Star Trek (2009)
The only thing I liked about Cloverfield was the credits music, so it was nice to hear it again. For two hours. Apparently, Trek is the future of Alias. He's not Shatner, but he'll do. Murdering a bunch of helpless men is not a heroic finale. It was much better than I thought it would be.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Everything is Wrong
Peter Bradshaw, film critic for The Guardian, who hates everything unless it's a European black and white four-hour epic about economics and sexuality, really likes the new Star Trek. I'm not sure what's going on.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Free Comic Book Day (Terms and Conditions Apply)
The idea is simple and largely self-explanatory. The publishers put out some free stuff, which the local comic shops distribute in their community, with the end goal that some of the punters who pick up those free books will come back later and buy stuff. Now, as with many aspects of this shrivelled medium, the big US publishers tend to try to ruin the whole noble endeavour by shovelling out some awful pap, somehow not realising that a crappy comic isn't going to bring anyone back for more, but in theory Free Comic Book Day is a good thing.
When I lived in Norwich, the excellent Abstract Sprocket comic shop put on a proper event for (I think the first) FCBD, hiring some space in the shiny new city library and inviting comics writers and artists to come in and chat with fans, do signings, and so on. Impressive stuff, but the important thing is that the Sprocketeers realised that for the event to be a success, it had to be visible; all the free comics in the world aren't going to do much if no one goes to comic shops in the first place. You have to get punters into your shop, or you have to go to them.
On a whim, I checked to see if there were any events going on in my neighbourhood, and the FCBD site showed that my local shop was taking part. I headed down to find that the street was blocked off for most of the day by the annual Brighton Festival Children's Parade, so I went and sat on the beach for a few hours. Returning later, I had a good look around the comic shop, and saw no signs indicating any FCBD events, so thinking that the website had been in error, I left. On my way out, I passed by the counter and just happened to catch a glance of the wall behind the shop assistant, on which were mounted a couple of shelves containing a handful of FCBD titles, a tiny bit of cardboard with "Free Comic Book Day" scrawled on it in black felt tip, and under that another bit of card with "Only Two Free Comics Per Customer" written in a jagged and unfriendly hand.
The timing of the parade was just bad luck, but the shop screwed everything else up. They didn't advertise the event at all, not even with a poster in the front window (although there was a poster advertising a Kevin O'Neill signing on the 17th), access to the free comics was restricted, so you couldn't get a look at them, and you had to buy something before they gave you a free comic, which is about as backwards as it can get, and not exactly friendly towards the allegedly all-important new readers.
What a waste.
When I lived in Norwich, the excellent Abstract Sprocket comic shop put on a proper event for (I think the first) FCBD, hiring some space in the shiny new city library and inviting comics writers and artists to come in and chat with fans, do signings, and so on. Impressive stuff, but the important thing is that the Sprocketeers realised that for the event to be a success, it had to be visible; all the free comics in the world aren't going to do much if no one goes to comic shops in the first place. You have to get punters into your shop, or you have to go to them.
On a whim, I checked to see if there were any events going on in my neighbourhood, and the FCBD site showed that my local shop was taking part. I headed down to find that the street was blocked off for most of the day by the annual Brighton Festival Children's Parade, so I went and sat on the beach for a few hours. Returning later, I had a good look around the comic shop, and saw no signs indicating any FCBD events, so thinking that the website had been in error, I left. On my way out, I passed by the counter and just happened to catch a glance of the wall behind the shop assistant, on which were mounted a couple of shelves containing a handful of FCBD titles, a tiny bit of cardboard with "Free Comic Book Day" scrawled on it in black felt tip, and under that another bit of card with "Only Two Free Comics Per Customer" written in a jagged and unfriendly hand.
The timing of the parade was just bad luck, but the shop screwed everything else up. They didn't advertise the event at all, not even with a poster in the front window (although there was a poster advertising a Kevin O'Neill signing on the 17th), access to the free comics was restricted, so you couldn't get a look at them, and you had to buy something before they gave you a free comic, which is about as backwards as it can get, and not exactly friendly towards the allegedly all-important new readers.
What a waste.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Is it a Bird?
I have a new article up at Comics Bulletin this week, this time focusing on Marvel's half-arsed Superman clone, the Sentry. I really can't figure out what this character is for, so writing a snarky article about how useless he is came very easily indeed.
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