Happy birthday, Superman!

Last Wednesday my friend Jay asked if I would be going to work today, suggesting to me since February 29th doesn't "really" exist, we shouldn't have to work. I answered, "But Superman's birthday is February 29th! That's like saying Superman isn't real!"

I don't know why this day of all days has been designated as the Man of Steel's date of birth... but what the heck, it's an excuse to eat cake. Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster's Superman has come a long way in these last 74 years: radio, television, movies, cartoons, video games... I hear he might even be appearing in comic books!

Although he owes a debt to the likes of John Carter and Hugo Danner, and while masked men like the Phantom and the Shadow preceded him, Superman is essentially the first super hero. Therefore, today is really the birthday of the super hero. As someone whose spent nearly all of his life admiring super hero fiction, I'm pleased as punch to give Superman - and thereby all super heroes - his due.

Mmm, punch...

Review: Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend

When I was young, comic strips from the first half of the 20th century weren't very appealing to me; as I've grown older, I've realized I simply wasn't seeing samples of the best strips from the early days. One of my favourites is Winsor McCay's Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend, so I was pleased to find a decently-priced collection of this work in-print.

The nature of this collection is certainly worth commenting on - it's published by Dover, not a publisher I know for their comics-related work. The actual book is a reprint of a volume first printed in 1905, then reprinted by Dover in 1973 and still being reprinted to this day, like most books in Dover's library. The collection features 62 examples of Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend with an informative introduction explaining the history of the comic strip.

The quality of the strips reprinted is not the greatest; in a way, it demonstrates how much has changed in terms of archiving this material since the 1970s; the 1973 edition ommitted some strips from the 1905 book because they were apparently too racist; today's archivers of comic strips include everything for the serious scholar. There's also no source on when each of the strips were first published and no particular sense of why these 62, of all those which could have been printed, were the select few.

Regardless, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend's quality shines through. Putting aside the racist strips, the violent content is definitely beyond today's newspaper strips (see above). Each strip follows a character into a dream world, sometimes beginning in a realistic or at least subdued fashion, then growing more and more wild until the character wakes up in the last panel, just like McCay's Little Nemo strip. It's interesting to see McCay played with the readers' expectations at some points, such as making you guess which character in the dream is the one having the dream. Each one follows dream logic so perfectly, in such a haunting, ridiculous fashion; you could probably write an essay on each one. This is the second McCay book for my shelf - I hope to find more in the future!

Review: Meanwhile

Today, I'm looking at Meanwhile, a graphic novel by Jason Shiga from 2010. I'd read one of Shiga's earlier books - Bookhunter - and it was a lot of fun. I should have trusted him enough to buy Meanwhile the same week it came out, but at least I never forgot the book and I eventually decided to obtain a copy.

Shiga is a mathematician comic book writer/artist; an uncommon combination, so far as I'm aware. Meanwhile is a book simple enough for younger audiences to enjoy, but complicated enough that it took a mathematician to write it. The novel is set up like a Choose Your Own Adventure, following the adventures of Jimmy, whose first great choice is between two flavours of ice cream. Each panel of the book is linked by an arrow to another panel (often a panel on another page) so you follow the paths which interest you.

Consequently, panels don't flow in the same left-right up-down order you expect in a North American book; the arrows can take you left to right, right to left, up to down, down to up. Perhaps the best laugh I had while reading Meanwhile was when I opened up two pages to find they had almost nothing but arrows:

My only quibble with Meanwhile involves the three devices which drive most of Jimmy's adventure; he's given access to either a death machine, a time machine which can travel back in time 10 minutes, or a device which records memories from 10 minutes earlier. The problem is, you eventually get to use each item and essentially retread the same panels over and over (you can create an ouroboros story using this book!). Even though the time machine and memory recording devices have a 10 minute limit, they always take you to the same intersection of "10 minutes ago," even if you took the time to sample the other two devices first. I suppose the book would have had to run about twice the length to fit every permutation of "10 minutes ago!"

I really enjoy how Meanwhile seizes the advantages of comic books being physical items; I know Shiga has a digital version of this book in the pipe and I'm sure it's great fun, but there's a certain amount of fun to be had in following the arrows along the page, especially for tasks like determining which side of a coin has been tossed face up.

Meanwhile is an awful lot of fun; just be careful with those slick plastic pages - they stick together when you first open the book and an over-eager reader might wind up ripping the pages apart.

Review: Naughty and Nice - the Good Girl Art of Bruce Timm

Of late I've been trying to spend less time and money on Marvel and DC comic books - however, I still want to find entertainment in the comic book medium; I don't offer many reviews on this blog, but over the next few days I'll be reviewing a recent stack of purchases I made on graphic novels, collections and suchlike. First up: Naughty and Nice - the Good Girl Art of Bruce Timm.

This isn't actually a comic book or graphic novel - it's a collection of images by Bruce Timm, an artist best known for his work on Batman: the Animated Series and nearly every other animated DC super hero project of the last 20 years. I didn't quite understand what I was buying, however. Personally, to me the phrase "good girl art" means risque pictures of women; to the editors of this tome, it means any provocative image of females. Consequently, there's quite a lot of full frontal female nudity in this book, much to my embarrassment. Still, it's Bruce Timm, so it looks terrific.

It's interesting to note there are also several female characters from DC on display (all of them clothed), with copyright credit given to their corporate owners; likewise for an image of the Rocketeer. And yet, there are numerous images of Dejah Thoris of the John Carter franchise with no credit given to the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate. Perhaps this isn't surprising, since the Burroughs material is beginning to fall into the public domain... and yet, Timm also has plenty of images taken from Hammer's horror movies and they're still under copyright, yet no credit is given. Peculiar, I call it.

The introduction is by Jim Steranko, himself quite a ladies' man (and a "good girl artist" by anyone's definition). I don't think I've ever read a biography on Timm and Steranko's outline of Timm's career is very interesting; when Timm first became involved in animation he had to learn how to draw with fewer lines, which was against the values he'd learned from comic books where more lines are supposed to equal a better figure. It reminds me of the notion I've seen in a few places about great literature using as few words as possible to tell their story.

In all, it's a handsome package from Flesk; earlier, I enjoyed their books Al Williamson's Flash Gordon and Xenozoic, but those tomes were printed primarily in black & white; Naughty and Nice uses full colour more often than not, sometimes providing Timm's art in the black & white originals opposite the coloured versions; it's interesting to compare the strengths of the two versions and see what the colour adds or removes from Timm's lines. In all, it's a fine book, but not one I'm comfortable leaving on the coffee table!

New James Turner comic: Hell Lost!

As Slave Labor Graphics moved away from publishing print comic books, I feared I wouldn't see much of Rex Libris and Warlord of Io creator James Turner; fortunately, he's still in the game, having begun a webcomic called Hell Lost! The series is only a few pages in, but appears to be his take on the Paradise Lost interpretation of Hell; it's a real pleasure to see new work by Turner; hopefully there will be a print collection at some stage in the future.

"I'm shocked to see you watch the Amazing Race." - a friend

When people who know me hear I'm a fan of television's the Amazing Race, it seems to surprise them. It's a little wonder, I suppose, since I don't like many television programs and I speak disdainfully about the medium. And surely, within the medium of television, no genre is more readily disparaged than the reality-television program.

And yet, here I am, blogging about the Amazing Race, one of the most popular reality shows. I didn't foresee myself becoming a fan; it began nearly 4 years ago as I was finishing a crossword puzzle while the television provided me with some background chatter. I was nearly done my puzzle and was about to turn off the set when the 13th season premiere of the Amazing Race began. Gradually I began to look up from the puzzle until I finally set it aside and watched the show; I was a very cautious fan - telling myself I would quit at the first episode where I stopped enjoying the show - but after four races (they run two races per year) I had to admit, I was hooked. What are the elements which make me enjoy the program?

First, I like that the Amazing Race is a little more real than some reality shows; the tasks which the Racers have to perform during the race are often artificial, but the work they do planning transportation around the world and subsisting on a very limited amount of money and food is all real; the people they meet during the race are real people; many of the problems which arise come from the real world environment and have included life-threatening accidents and Racers coming close to being arrested by the police.

Second, I like the competitive aspect of the show. Some people exhibit the worst parts of their personality under pressure, but others demonstrate real strength. I like that the Race often forces Racers to endure their greatest fears and step far outside their comfort zones, demanding they place a level of trust in their teammate and in random strangers which they would be less eager to grant in a more relaxed situation.

Third, I like that the teams of two who compete on the program have existing relationships with each other, so something personal is at stake for them in the competition. I feel strongly for Racers who are each other's family and have long-standing relationships which help or hinder their working together; I feel for couples who find their committment to each other tested or validated by how they race; I like to see friends try to support each other.

Fourth, I like how the program makes me feel about the world around me. Previously, I didn't hold much interest in international travel and didn't understand why I would want to venture outside my own country unless it were to visit a friend. The Amazing Race has helped me realize the real joy of travel is to experience another culture, something I kept in mind when I journeyed to Angola last year. Throughout the Amazing Race, teams have had encounters with locals who are outstanding in their generosity and good intentions; how can you not want to get out and be among people of every nation after this show has demonstrated how easily it can be done?

Tomorrow night, the Amazing Race season 20 debuts on CTV (Canada) and CBS (USA). I've decided I'm going to begin blogging about the series, episode-by-episode. I doubt any of my followers will be interested in these posts, but having had a look around at Amazing Race fandom, I'm troubled by how many people are eager to condemn Racers over their sometimes-poorly chosen words and at their willingness to claim interference by production whenever something surprising happens to the Racers. I'd like to change the tone of response in my own little corner by offering what I hope will be a fairly reasonable take on each episode of season 20. I don't know how this season will compare to earlier years - but who cares? As long as the program delivers on the four aspects I described above, I'll be pleased to welcome it to my home.

Look for my recaps each Monday following the previous Sunday's episode.

Appropos of nothing

Do you remember that bartender character Woody Harrelson played on Cheers? You may recall the somewhat dim-witted performance Woody Harrelson delivered? The role which made Woody Harrleson's career? I believe the character was named... Rocky.

Strangely, among the other people who read for the part was Joel Hodgson...

...And Timothy Treadwell.

What might have been, eh? It really makes you think.

Tchau!

RIP John Severin

If you're familiar with this blog, then you've noticed my increasingly hostile reaction to the comic book industry. Certainly these past few weeks have been enough to try anyone's optimism; first DC announces Beyond Watchmen; then Marvel sues Gary Friedrich; now word is in about John Severin having died two days ago.

It amazes me that Severin was ninety years old... not that he should have lived so long, but that he could be such a vital talent at his age! His art was simply forever young; with so many artists there's a definite peak in their energy - you might, for example, find the Gene Colan of the 1970s to be his peak and the Gene Colan of the 1990s far from it; Severin seemed to hit his peak in the 1950s then stayed there for sixty years.

As an enormous fan of Atlas Comics, it's sad to have lost yet another of those talents, Severin ranking amongst the most prolific and beautiful of the Atlas artists, easily a peer to Atlas' Joe Maneely and Bill Everett. I love the detail Severin brought to his western and war comics; he composed his pages with such great detail and designed such expressive characters that a Severin feature is always a welcome diversion while rifling through the Atlas catalogue.

I love that Severin had the chops to draw stark and realistic, lush and colourful or cartoonish. I suppose he'd be better-known in today's fandom if he'd spent more time on the super heroes. For years I've thought he deserved more recognition for his work on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 1960s; I loved how his S.H.I.E.L.D. technology was a shade more believeable than Kirby's; check out the design of the I.B.P. for an example of what I mean.

There was only one John Severin; this fan misses him.

A few idle thoughts about film scores

I don't spend much time considering music; for many years after I first left home, I almost never put on music. In those days, my old-time radio hobby was running with a full head of steam and what time I didn't spend at home writing, reading or watching TV was given to old-time radio.

Eventually, I developed a fondness for classical music when I discovered it was the most pleasing music to hear while working. It was only natural for me to be inclined to the classics, coming from a home where each of my siblings and my mother played either the piano or clarinet. By the time I was listening to classical music all day, I'd learned how my close friend Craig was something of a classics man... but primarily a fan of film scores.

I didn't give film soundtracks much thought until Craig started initiating such conversations; I think John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann were previously the only film composers I could identify (aside: as a child, my siblings and I would joke about how Williams' scores sounded alike, before we even knew he was the composer of all the films in question; as an adult, I was seriously amused to discover other people held the same opinion of Williams). Craig loves film scores, to the extent of which he collects soundtracks based on his interest in the composer, not the film itself. I have to admit, despite his best efforts, I can't make that leap - I need to have both seen and enjoyed a film before I'm willing to experience the soundtrack. When Craig moved to Hong Kong he bequeathed his immense soundtrack collection to me, a gesture I quite appreciated.

Craig occasionally writes about soundtracks (often at great length) at his blog; I don't have nearly as much to say about them, but I felt I would share my list of my nine favourite tracks and why I enjoy them; we'll hit this in reverse chronological order:

Avatar: "Gathering All The Na'vi Clans For Battle" by James Horner

Since I became more aware of soundtracks and their composers, James Horner has become one of my favourites - and not just because we share a birthday! This track comes at the point of the film where... well, all the Na'vi clans are gathering for battle. Although there are many tracks on the album which I enjoy hearing over and over - and certainly tracks using less traditional instruments than this - this track has a section I love to hear where the music grows, swells, drops, then rises back up even higher, until it strikes it's highest notes at the climax.

The Dark Knight: "Like a Dog Chasing Cars" by Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard

It was Craig who made me familiar with Zimmer and Howard, yet this film score doesn't get top marks from him; regardless, it's one of my most frequently-played albums and "Like a Dog Chasing Cars" is a great track to turn on when I want to get some serious work done; it's energetic and frantic, racing, going higher, then lower, then higher which is clearly a musical rhythm I like. I don't even recall where this track appears in the film (during the car chase?), I simply enjoy the sense of desperation the music evokes, that time is running out.

Dark City: "You Have the Power" by Trevor Jones

This music plays over the climax of the film and is about as close to a theme as the movie possesses. It's big and loud and it seems to me it captures the back-and-forth of the film's climactic duel.

Glory: "Charging Fort Wagner" by James Horner

Oh, Glory; your failure to win the Oscar for best score just underlies the unreliability of the Academy's judges. This was the film which really made me take notice of Horner; it's emotionally manipulative, triumphant and tragic, thus fitting the movie perfectly.

Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan: "Main Title" by James Horner

I don't think I could omit a Star Trek track from my list; Trek has managed to have a pretty decent line-up of musical scores, but just I find this to be the most rewarding of the films, I find the track is also the most involving of the various openings.

Psycho: "Prelude" by Bernard Herrmann

Herrmann's score for Psycho is, of course, integral to the film and it's impact on popular culture, but even removed from the cinema, the heavy string theme which opens the picture - and then keeps reprising regardless of how suspenseful you may judge the events on screen - holds up quite well.

Vertigo: "Prelude and Rooftop" by Bernard Herrmann

Thanks to its appearance in various trailers on my Alfred Hitchcock VHS tapes, this is the music I associate with Hitchcock himself (after "Funeral March of a Marionette," of course). The track conveys an unsettling feeling, one which remains with you through the film as you attempt to understand what's really going on.

The Third Man: "the Third Man Theme" by Anton Karas

I think I could almost hum the entire score* of this film (my personal favourite picture). Somehow, this simple little zither score was the perfect touch to the film. It feels weirdly out-of-place with some of the surrounding scenes, serving to remind you this isn't a typical mystery/espionage story. Perhaps because the zither holds such a jolly, light-hearted feel, the comedic moments feel natural... and the shifts to violence and suffering feel all the more stark.

The Adventures of Robin Hood: "Prologue" by Erich Wolfgang Korngold

A few years ago I felt I really needed to own the Adventures of Robin Hood score, but unable to find a copy I settled on the Sea Hawk, another Korngold score. I didn't even realize Korngold had scored three of Errol Flynn & Michael Curtiz's pictures (the third being Captain Blood), nor who Korngold was (a world famous composer outside of films, as it happens). Korngold's score to Robin Hood is a large part of my childhood memory of this picture, noisy, a little gaudy, romantic and adventurous, but I could have easily nominated the other two aforementioned pictures in this slot; Robin Hood was the first Korngold I heard and the film is certainly my favourite of the Curtiz/Flynn/Korngold trilogy.

Right then, I'm off to listen to some Korngold. I hope you found something useful in this!

*= Yes, both tracks!

On the need to isolate oneself against comics culture

I didn't think I was going to comment on last week's announcement of Before Watchmen because the matter seemed like a non-starter; I can't foresee ever wanting to read it, so what is there to say? All I wanted to offer to the dialogue was itself incredibly oblique - a quote from Aldous Huxley which I thought appropo:

"Its defects as a work of art are considerable; but in order to correct them I should have to rewrite the book--and in the process of rewriting, as an older, other person, I should probably get rid not only of some of the faults of the story, but also of such merits as it originally possessed. And so, resisting the temptation to wallow in artistic remorse, I prefer to leave both well and ill alone and to think about something else."

And yet, the very existence of this project has stirred something in me, pinned to my growing awareness of how blankety-blank awful the majority of contemporary comic books are and how horrible the culture and business is to itself. In other words, I'm becoming a cranky, cynical blogger. Great, another one.

Some time ago I found myself wrestling with the Kirby heirs' lawsuit against Marvel Comics. For all the good will I have to Kirby, my instinctive reaction to the lawsuit mirrored most comic book fans' response: Kirby signed away his rights, the heirs are being presumptuous, the suit doesn't have a prayer, etc. It was only after serious meditation on the subject that I gradually came over to the heirs' side, boiling it down to the most simple creator's rights equation I could: (Kirby did more for Marvel than anyone save Stan Lee + Kirby should have reaped benefits similar to Lee's) + (the company is now flourishing financially + making peace with Kirby's heirs is good PR) = a settlement to satisfy everyone.

As I become increasingly pro-creator, my level of frustration with the business and culture of comic books has simply accelerated; only two weeks ago there was the one-two punch of Brandon Graham being censored at Newsarama - but only censored when his opinions disagreed with editorial (the failure of comics culture) and John Rozum explaining why he left Static Shock - but only because being associated with Static Shock was hurting his career opportunities (the failure of comics business).

A sequel to Watchmen is just about the last thing I wanted to hear about last week; sight unseen, its existence implies failure of content because the creators involved have never attempted to create a project as finely honed and considered as Watchmen - much less on a weekly basis (one creator says he wants to make Watchmen "valid again;" how charming, a man whose books sell 10,000 copies is going to show us how to make a 2,000,000 copy best-seller "valid"); it's a failure of business to see the company exploiting its power over Alan Moore's creation rather than behaving ethically (ethics in comics publishing are improbable, not impossible); and it's a failure of the culture, to see the many fans rallying behind Before Watchmen and against Alan Moore, the man being wronged by this project's existence.

This is all I can bear: no more. I have purged my feeds to eliminate everything comics-related, excepting places concerned with comics history or serious comics criticism. I am done with this - my thoughts and dollars will be spent elsewhere.