I did not know Carrie Fisher, but for most of my life I have known Leia Organa; she was one of my heroes.
Over the past few days as word of Carrie Fisher's heart attack circulated on social media, culminating in her death yesterday, I saw many people articulating what she meant to them. Mention was made of her personal struggles, her family, her wider career and accomplishments. But, to quote Max von Sydow in The Force Awakens: "She'll always be royalty to me."
Once again, I find myself feeling well-disposed towards Star Wars; I liked The Force Awakens and Rogue One. That being the case, I'm better able to connect emotionally with my long-held affection towards the cast of characters. The protagonists of the original three Star Wars films loomed large in my childhood and Princess Leia Organa was both pivotal and unique - not only the most significant female character in the films but the only one with an arc or more than one scene of dialogue.
I was surprised to find out in the 1990s that many Star Wars fans of my age considered Leia a sex symbol and salivated over the slave outfit she wore in Return of the Jedi. To me, she was one of the guys. Similarly, my favourite character wasn't Han Solo (unlike many), who was, to me, the hero's best friend. I liked Luke Skywalker more than any of the characters and Leia being Luke's sister was a development I wholeheartedly approved of - everyone got to be happy! Rather than a body to be glared at, I took Leia as one of the heroes - feisty, sharp-tongued, heroic. She could fight, plot, snark and in every other means match wits with any of the other characters. She even seemed to spark the 1980s fascination with male-centered action heroes taking on one member who would be "the female one." With few exceptions (G.I. Joe's Scarlett) such heroines were not the equals of their male comrades, unlike Leia.
Part of my affection for Leia stems from the relationship I have with my own sister; to some extent I thought of the Princess Leia action figures as "girl's toys" and was happy to let my sister collect them. Still, eventually I obtained a figure of Leia in her Hoth outfit and it received a lot of play from me. Frankly, the adventures I had with my Star Wars toys were incomplete 'til I began adding Leia to them.
I felt a little uncertain of Carrie Fisher's return to the role in The Force Awakens - not because of her appearance (she sure looked like Leia to me) but because her voice seemed to have aged so much, sounding older than her actual age. Regardless, it was emotional to see her again; it will no doubt be all the more emotional when I see her again next winter - for the final time.
Although Margaret Atwood is one of the best-known authors of my homeland I haven't made an effort to read her books; I've always had a perception that she wrote for a female audience - hence, not me. However, recently Atwood has entered that male-dominated field of fiction we call super hero comic books. No, seriously, she has. I cannot make this up. First Michael Chabon came slumming into comics after winning the Pulitzer, now here's Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood making an old-fashioned super hero comic!
Based on the introduction, Atwood has a fondness for comics and an understanding of how they've changed over the years. And yet, she didn't set out to craft a super hero book in the mold of what all the writers in the field are currently doing (which is a mixture of sarcasm, stories about "destiny" and stories about "daddy issues") but instead looks back to that most fertile period we call the Silver Age. Drawn by Johnnie Christmas, Atwood's super hero Angel Catbird is cut of the same cloth as 60s heroes such as the Flash or Spider-Man. An accident with a super-splicer serum merges scientist Strig Feeledus with the DNA of his pet cat and a passing owl, transforming him into a human/cat/owl hybrid super hero! Angel Catbird quickly learns there are many other creatures like him called "half-cats," some people cats who turn into cat-people and the others people who become person-cats.
I found the most remarkable thing about this comic to be its earnestness. There have been many other comics which have tried to tap into the spirit of the Silver Age, but they tend to see it through the eyes of contemporary comics, such as Dean Haspiel's The Fox which added gore to a straightforward Silver Age comics premise, or the many times the Silver Age has been equated with "silly origins and talking gorillas." Although Angel Catbird is frequently very funny (there are many cat puns to be found) and the conflict (cat people vs. rat people) is, on the face of it, ridiculous, the cast of characters treat these situations with the utmost gravity.
While Angel Catbird owes a great debt to Spider-Man, he's far from being a parody of that character. Like Spider-Man, Angel Catbird is given space to angst, to ponder, to gush over a pretty female. The difference is that Angel Catbird's angst comes from his hybrid nature. Is he a man, a cat or an owl? When faced with a baby bird in danger will he save it, or eat it? Will the cool cats ever accept him into their ranks? How does Cate Leone really feel about him?
They don't make 'em like Angel Catbird anymore. It's a fun book with a lot of heart, as Atwood uses the material to make various pleas for cat owners to treat their pets safely and humanely. It's a (dare I say it) purr-fect book for teens. Unfortunately, Dark Horse is retailing this 72 page story as a $20 hardcover which is a very inconvenient price point. This material longs to be a $10 paperback and, if Dark Horse has any sense, should be sent to book fairs and into school catalogs across North America. Atwood has additional Angel Catbird volumes planned, with the 2nd arriving in February. I dig that cat.
Welcome back! In case you missed it, I unearthed Atlas Comics' Tigerman #1 here. Much has changed between issues and the big changes start with the cover:
The Grand Comics Database credits this cover to artist Frank Thorne. As covers are typically produced before the issue's interior art, the absence of issue #1's artist Ernie Colon is quite notable - he didn't so much as contribute the subsequent cover, much less the interior. This cover feels like an attempted do-over of the character to reintroduce him after the debut issue's underwhelming image. Here, we have a series of dynamic action shots and the words "He stalks the night!" Tiger-Man's face is also much more fearsome - no longer a long-faced sad sack. Also visible is a costumed criminal for Tiger-Man to fight, a caucasian man wearing a blue outfit with leopard spots (not quite, as the interior will demonstrate).
Perhaps the first big change in the series is the hero's name - no longer is he "Tigerman" but rather "Tiger-Man" - thus, his cover logo is no longer an aberration. Likewise, this issue has a title and credits! We have here "Stalker in a Concrete Jungle!" by Gerry Conway and Steve Ditko (the GCD says Frank Giacoia inked Ditko here). The lettering is likewise improved, no longer the stiff machine font from before. These are minor victories, but we shall savour them.
We open on a robbery as three men in yellow & red uniforms have blasted their way out of a bank with sacks of money in their hands. Tiger-Man follows the crooks but a pair of security guards catch up to the robbers first. The crooks eagerly show the powers their special suits grant them, which include bulletproof armor and an electrifying punch. Now that he knows their powers, Tiger-Man pounces! "The name is Tiger-Man! Remember it well, friend! Take it with you to Hell!" Tiger-Man seems to kill two of the thieves with his claws and tears at the third one, demanding to know who gave them their technology; the terrified criminal finally blurts out the name Professor Anderson Kobart; Tiger-Man lets the last criminal live.
As Tiger-Man departs via the rooftops he is suddenly himself tracked by another figure - man garbed in an orange costume with leopard spots. This is the correctly-coloured Blue Leopard who is not white, but black - and Zambian! Tiger-Man is shocked to hear Blue Leopard call him "Dr. Hill," and Blue Leopard refers to Na'Bantu, the evil witch doctor from Tiger-Man's origin. But what exactly is the connection between the two of them? This is not the time for Tiger-Man to find out as Blue Leopard knocks him out with his poison-tipped claws.
Tiger-Man recalls his origin as he slumbers (handy, for those who came in late) and awakens in the early dawn to find Blue Leopard left him alone after drugging him. Racing to his job at Harlem Hospital, Dr. Hill quickly goes to work assisting his patients. It should be noted that Hill's long floppy hair is a visual which Ditko's style is not accustomed to - Ditko's heroes tend to have short haircuts. Finally, when his duties are complete, Hill sets out to investigate the Professor Kobart mentioned before. En route to Kobart's office, Tiger-Man ponders how easily he's taken to killing enemies and wonders about the need for vengeance he's felt since his sister's death. He feels that when he finds Kobart, he will probably kill again. It's a textbook monologue, straight out of Stan Lee's playbook.
Tiger-Man bursts into Kobart's office, only to find the scientist dead. Waiting for Tiger-Man is the Blue Leopard, who had overheard Kobart's name when Tiger-Man interrogated the criminal. Blue Leopard finally explains his origins, revealing how after Dr. Hill left Zambia their village suffered a terrible famine and 200 people died. Na'Bantu placed the blame on Dr. Hill and gave "the skin of the sacred leopard" to one of his followers, the man who is now the Blue Leopard. This skin is enchanted and grants him powers similar to Tiger-Man (even though Tiger-Man's powers come from science). Blue Leopard explains his plan is to repeatedly humiliate Tiger-Man before killing him.
Another fight breaks out between the two of them, with Tiger-Man deftly avoiding Blue Leopard's claws until they hear police sirens approaching. Blue Leopard chooses to depart and let Tiger-Man explain Kobart's body. As a final taunt he tells the hero "Tonight was just a dry run, Dr. Hill. There are still things you have to learn about me... and learn them, you will... before you die!" Recalling his own intent to kill Kobart, Tiger-Man is left wondering if he and Blue Leopard truly are alike - if Tiger-Man could be turning into a madman.
The series still has no editorials but there is a house ad for other Atlas Comics, which gives this book some sense of identity.
Comments: How strange is it to find a comic book character from Zambia - a costumed character no less! Reading the comic I kept hoping Blue Leopard would prove to be a misguided character with a noble heart, but that doesn't appear to be where Conway intended to take the character. We'll see where this plot goes in issue #3, I'm interested in finding out how it ends!
And what a change, eh, to have a sense of continuity already? The previous issue's events are recalled and from Tiger-Man's origin a new character is forged. The lackluster Tigerman #1 is somewhat shored up by the work Conway performed here. Conway and Ditko are two men who can deliver an acceptable super hero comic book in their sleep and they were certainly awake while crafting this one. Ditko brings the dynamic action which a character like Tiger-Man desperately requires. Ditko's visuals of the hero leaping and climbing are impressive and the fight choreography is top-notch (unlike Colon). This is not a remarkable find, but comparing to Colon's work, it shows how effortlessly Ditko could make drawing super hero comics seem. Ditko is often quite minimalist in his designs and that's true of Tiger-Man - he strips everything down to only what's needed to get the story told. Conway, for his part, wrote a straight forward plot with a hint of mystery. Good on them.
The next installment of Unearthed will bring you Tigerman #3! Look for it in January!
Here we are, doomed to spend the rest of our lives seeing the Star Wars brand diminished year after year as film after film is rushed to the multiplex in order to shore up this bloated, putrescent franchise.
Yet I liked Rogue One. Spoilers to follow.
I didn't read any articles about Rogue One going into the film, relying mostly on the trailer to give me a sense of what the picture would be like. It appeared to be a bit grimmer than what Star Wars normally is and was dealing with a bit of continuity minutiae which really didn't need to be followed up on at all. I've already seen people online claiming this film solved "plot holes" from the original Star Wars as people today have not really bothered to educate themselves on what a "plot hole" is.
It's needless, but then, what film isneeded? It tells the story of how the Death Star plans were originally captured, largely because that's a piece of Star Wars mythology which people already know about and is thus fertile fodder for a stand-alone motion picture with a cast of unfamiliar protagonists. In a way, much like the similarities The Force Awakens had to the first Star Wars, Rogue One plays it safe.
But now that I am clicking on articles and reading reactions from my friends I'm seeing many criticisms of the picture such as the "Uncanny Valley" effects used to recreate 1977 vintage Tarkin & Leia (I wasn't bothered by the effects at all - then again, I saw it at a 3D showing, perhaps it looks less-convincing on flat film?).
I've also seen complaints about the tone of the movie. My friend (and former colleague) Peter Sanderson complained on Facebook:
"It was unremittingly grim and dark, literally so. with little light or color, with no sense of joy or hope, no human warmth, no characters who inspired empathy, no sense of wonder. The movie just dragged on and onwithout ever feeling inspired to me."
On the flip side, Todd Alcott has a reaction which I feel elucidates why I'm more pleased with the film than Peter: "If one goes into a movie with a set of expectations and those expectations are unfulfilled, sometimes one’s response is to spend the running time looking for the movie expected instead of watching the one being screened."
But to Peter's point: yes, Rogue One is a grim story. It's set in the days before "A New Hope," after all. By the end of the film, all six of the protagonists are dead, giving their lives to retrieve the Death Star plans, which are then transferred to Leia.
This bleak-yet-hopeful climax didn't bother me in the way it bothered Peter; after all, I'm a Halo fan.
Halo: Reach was the first Halo game I played on the day of its original release; I had been watching videos to prepare myself for all the combat changes and new strategies. And while I had not read the novel The Fall of Reach which originally established the battle of Reach, I had gleaned details online - primarily, that the reason why the Master Chief seemed to be the last Spartan left for the war with the Covenant in the original Halo trilogy is that all the other Spartans died on Reach.
From the start, I knew the character I was playing (Noble 6) and his teammates (Noble Team) were destined to die, and they did. And yet, it ends on an emotional, hopeful note. As in Rogue One, the team are trying to relay important data - that is, the character of Cortana - to an escaping ship. Noble Team die so that Cortana can live and thus enable the Halo trilogy to occur. Notably, the game was promoted with a trailer entitled: "Deliver Hope."
A grim sci-fi tale where everyone dies for a just cause is A-O-K by me. I suppose where the comparison between Rogue One and Halo: Reach breaks down (and Peter would agree) is in terms of character - that Noble Team's personalities and relationships were demonstrated very cleanly and efficiently so that as the team died the player would (hopefully) have an emotional reaction. However, I had difficulty connecting to the crew of Rogue One; perhaps it's because of reshoots but I feel the film needed more time for the characters to sit down and interact with other rather than advancing the plot (or do both at once). The characters spend a considerable amount of time simply getting into the same room as each other and then keep going on journeys to other places; perhaps if they'd all met in the first 15 minutes then spent the rest of the film working on the main problem (getting the Death Star plans) they'd gel better. There's a moment near the end of the film where Jiang Wen's character Baze calls Felicity Jones' Jyn "little sister." It was cute, but I didn't have a sense of the two sharing any form of rapport prior to that bit.
However, to some extent what I'm asking for is more; I'm not unhappy with what the film offered, I simply want more of it. I truly enjoyed Donnie Yen's character Chirrut and wished he'd had more dialogue and exploration of his philosophy. There was something instinctively likeable about Riz Ahmed's Bodhi and I wanted some more character beats from him. I would have appreciated getting into the head of Diego Luna's character Cassian for more than one conversation.
If I had any trepidation about this film it was because the director of the underwhelming Godzilla was back. Given his previous love of refusing to give fans what they wanted to see I was pleased to see he's now adapted himself to his current audience, loading in the expected fan service (to the point where I laughed when Gold Leader & Red Leader appeared) and framing action scenes so that you can - get this - understand what's happening! Good on you, Gareth Edwards.
You've probably already seen or are going to see Rogue One. But, on the off-chance that you aren't sure and you do love Halo: Reach then you and I meet on the same Venn diagram. In that spirit, enjoy the picture.
I certainly don't pretend to be a Tarzan expert; although I have enjoyed some Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, the Tarzan books haven't interested me; I've watched a few Tarzan movies and found them basically unremarkable (or disastrously awful); and while comic books are one of my favourite mediums and the Tarzan comic strip is considered legendary, I find it overwritten and uninteresting.
And yet, I became fascinated by this year's film The Legend of Tarzan. Certainly fans of the novels were excited as this film drew in references to the tribes, apes and locales which had heretofore been ignored in film adaptations and I was happy to see these fans pleased. However, my interest in this film didn't come from the Burroughs novels but a different book entirely: Adam Hochchild's King Leopold's Ghost.
During my first visit to Africa in 2011 I found the book King Leopold's Ghost in my uncle's study (where my bed was) and began reading it in the evenings. This book made an indelible impression on me and how I came to interpret the history of Africa. Perhaps it sounds strange to you that while I was living day-to-day in contemporary Africa I spent my nights delving into historical Africa, but King Leopold's Ghost gave me an education which I sorely needed, as nothing in my formal education had delved into the African continent. I had wondered why colonialism was considered an evil practice and this book explained why: because, at it's heart, it makes entire nations into slave states.
Thus, when I learned two of the real people I learned of in that book - George Washington Williams (played by Samuel L. Jackson) and Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) - were characters in this new Tarzan picture. Fictionalized versions of both men, to be sure, but I was fascinated to see elements from King Leopold's Ghost working their way into mainstream popular culture.
The Legend of Tarzan was a fairly decent picture, as it happens. Alexander Skarsgard played him as yet another hero-who-resists-the-call-thank-you-for-ruining-pop-culture-Joseph-Campbell character but his initial reasons for denying his identity as a jungle lord were interesting and it meant the film gradually worked its way up to the familiar image of shirtless, vine-swining Tarzan.
It's kind of disappointing to see the once-great Djimon Hounsou reduced to playing bad guys (as in here and Guardians of the Galaxy) but his character was at least given some dignity. It also helped that while Hounsou character is basically the stock evil African chief character, he's not the primary antagonist - Leon Rom and his fellow white colonialists are the true villains. Tarzan is likewise less of a great white saviour in this film as he shares the heroic spotlight with Williams and many of the fantastic feats Tarzan performs are shown to be things other Africans. It staves off the many assumptions and implications of earlier Tarzan tales.
The film is mostly a reasonably believable historical picture but for the film's Jane, played by Margot Robbie. Robbie's Jane has a cynical edge which feels a little too 21st century in perspective. In one notable instance, Rom talks to Jane about the rosary his Catholic priest gave him. "Sounds like you were very close," Jane remarks acidly. We of the 21st century understand that Robbie's Jane is alluding to Rom's priest having a pedophiliac interest in him when he was a child, but does that make sense in a story set well over 100+ years ago? To whatever extent that practice was going on in Rom's day and time it was definitely much less-publicized than today. Indeed, Rom makes no visible reaction to Jane's remark as Waltz plays him as a man of his own time, not an anachronism like Robbie's performance.
It's a perfectly decent film, a lot more sober than the typical Tarzan tale.
Isn't it amazing that Kirk Douglas is still alive? He celebrated his 100th birthday two days ago. Douglas starred in one of my all-time favourite films, Paths of Glory.
I often comment when a star of old-time radio has passed away; how about we celebrate Douglas while he's still with us? When his career broke out post-World War II, old-time radio was beginning a decline as television ascended, but Douglas received a lot of attention for his early film roles (one of his best was The Bad and the Beautiful) and - with Burt Lancaster - was seen as quite the promising young turk. That being the case, Douglas made a few OTR appearances, including three visits to the greatest show of them all, Suspense!
Douglas made his first Suspense appearance in 1947 in the drama "Community Property." Douglas portrayed a husband who planned to inherit his wealthy uncle's fortune and wanted to cut his wife out of the deal, lest she claim part of the fortune via community property laws. After the uncle's sudden death, the nephew schemed to cut his wife out immediately!
That same year, Douglas appeared again on Suspense in "The Story of Markham's Death," a drama in which he played a hack mystery author who discovered a lost Edgar Allan Poe story which featured a new type of mystery tale (I love Edgar Allan Poe, but is it credible that after 100+ years of writers exploiting every possible angle there would be something Poe thought of first?). This being Suspense, Douglas must resort to murder to claim the lost Poe story for himself.
Three years later, Douglas struck again with "The Butcher's Wife," possibly the greatest of his appearances. In this episode, Douglas was a supermarket clerk who became involved in a triangle involving a butcher. A butcher who was immensely jealous and willing to bring his cleaver down on any piece of meat that got in his way. I featured this one on my blog two years ago as part of my '31 Days of Suspense' October feature.
