Well, this was quite an improvement over issue 1. Not that issue 1 was bad, it was just so short. Barely anything happened in it, and there were barely any words in it. It took me about two minutes to read. Stuff actually happens in issue 2.
Joe the Barbarian is an eight-issue miniseries Grant Morrison is writing for Vertigo. It's got a great concept. It's about a diabetic boy who goes into insulin shock in his bedroom, and starts hallucinating that he's in a fantastic realm populated by the action figures on the floor of the room. And his attempt to deal with the situation in the real world is paralleled by his adventure in the fantasy world. It's a much more appropriate venue for Morrison's random nonsense than, say, Final Crisis was. Not to turn this into a rant about Morrison, but I've really been feeling like every story he's written recently has made less sense than the last. Possibly going all the way back to Animal Man, which may have been the last time he wrote something that you could actually follow without having to read it several times. Not that I didn't enjoy his runs on Doom Patrol, JLA, X-Men, and other books, but he certainly doesn't make his work very easy to read. Actually, that may make the lack of wordiness in Joe the Barbarian a plus. At least it doesn't take you very long to read it two or three times. Although I'm not sure you'd get a whole lot more out of this on subsequent readings. I feel much the same way I did about Invisibles: the stuff that makes sense makes sense on the first read. The rest of it will never make sense no matter how many times you read it. Fortunately, it seems like there's more of the former than the latter in Joe, which was decidedly not the case in Invisibles.
I'm a little worried about the fact that we're now a quarter of the way through the series, and still barely anything has happened, but I still have a feeling that this is going to be good. I hope I'm right. Vertigo certainly seems to be maintaining its place as the home of the best comics. I can't recommend Mike Carey's The Unwritten enough. It's easily my favorite comic I'm reading right now. Perhaps I'll review the next issue when it comes out. The book's about this guy who was the inspiration for a series of novels his father wrote about a Harry Potter type character, and the guy is gradually discovering that he may actually be the character and have magic powers and stuff. It's pretty cool, although I have no idea how they're not getting sued. Maybe they figure if J.K. Rowling ever says anything about it, they'll just point out that Harry Potter is basically a ripoff of the character from Vertigo's Books of Magic.
Speaking of getting sued, how the hell is Morrison able to get away with putting toy versions of characters like Captain Picard and Snake Eyes into Joe the Barbarian? I know DC doesn't own the comics rights to those characters.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Cup Is Only Reviewing Comics: Angel #30
New blog feature: comic book reviews.
Angel #30 is the third issue written by Bill Willingham of Fables fame. I've never read Fables, but I've always heard good things about it, so I was looking forward to Willingham's run on Angel, but I'm a bit underwhelmed so far. He's introduced an intriguing story idea: Angel has been kidnapped by people who want to use him to turn people into vampires. And I'm interested to see where that's going, but there are some things about the way he writes that just grate on me. The biggest thing is the dialogue. Sometimes it's okay, especially when he's writing a character I'm not already familiar with, but most of the time, and especially when he's writing one of the long-established characters, there's just something about the way he makes them talk that sounds...wrong. Like, Spike wouldn't say these words in this order that you wrote him to say here. It just doesn't work. Basically, he just doesn't have that great a grasp on the established characters. He seems to be doing the best with Angel, but even with him, there's some strangeness.
Then there was this thing he was doing in issues 28 and 29 where he'd have everybody in a big group, and he'd have them each say something. And they wouldn't actually be talking to each other, they'd just each be saying something. They'd all more-or-less be talking about the same thing, but none of the lines were in direct response to any of the other lines. It was the weirdest thing. Thankfully, in 30, he actually has them talking to each other, but I think part of the problem is that the cast is way too big at this point. There's no reason to have all these people sitting around together all the time. I don't know whose idea it was to bring Kate back, but she's kind of useless. And the two forgettable characters who were introduced by the previous writer could stand to go too. I don't even remember their names. One of them is an angel and the other's a girl who turns into a cat or something? Yeah, why are they still there? And is Gwen still hanging around too? I can't even remember. She wasn't in 30, but I feel like she might have been in the previous issues. Angel, Spike, Gunn, Connor, Illyria, and George is a big enough cast. Really, George could go too, except I like George. Or at least I did when Brian Lynch was writing him. Now he's this not-quite-himself character, the way they all are.
Basically, I miss Lynch. His stuff got confusing sometimes, but at least he knew how to write these characters.
Angel #30 is the third issue written by Bill Willingham of Fables fame. I've never read Fables, but I've always heard good things about it, so I was looking forward to Willingham's run on Angel, but I'm a bit underwhelmed so far. He's introduced an intriguing story idea: Angel has been kidnapped by people who want to use him to turn people into vampires. And I'm interested to see where that's going, but there are some things about the way he writes that just grate on me. The biggest thing is the dialogue. Sometimes it's okay, especially when he's writing a character I'm not already familiar with, but most of the time, and especially when he's writing one of the long-established characters, there's just something about the way he makes them talk that sounds...wrong. Like, Spike wouldn't say these words in this order that you wrote him to say here. It just doesn't work. Basically, he just doesn't have that great a grasp on the established characters. He seems to be doing the best with Angel, but even with him, there's some strangeness.
Then there was this thing he was doing in issues 28 and 29 where he'd have everybody in a big group, and he'd have them each say something. And they wouldn't actually be talking to each other, they'd just each be saying something. They'd all more-or-less be talking about the same thing, but none of the lines were in direct response to any of the other lines. It was the weirdest thing. Thankfully, in 30, he actually has them talking to each other, but I think part of the problem is that the cast is way too big at this point. There's no reason to have all these people sitting around together all the time. I don't know whose idea it was to bring Kate back, but she's kind of useless. And the two forgettable characters who were introduced by the previous writer could stand to go too. I don't even remember their names. One of them is an angel and the other's a girl who turns into a cat or something? Yeah, why are they still there? And is Gwen still hanging around too? I can't even remember. She wasn't in 30, but I feel like she might have been in the previous issues. Angel, Spike, Gunn, Connor, Illyria, and George is a big enough cast. Really, George could go too, except I like George. Or at least I did when Brian Lynch was writing him. Now he's this not-quite-himself character, the way they all are.
Basically, I miss Lynch. His stuff got confusing sometimes, but at least he knew how to write these characters.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Humanity
In my Screenwriting class, we've been talking about all of the things that go into writing a screenplay: story, character, plot, dialogue, etc. One of the things that's been mentioned a couple times as a necessary element is humanity. I think it's interesting that humanity is something people consider a necessary element of a screenplay. And not just of a screenplay, but of any story, really. Every story contains humanity.
The idea has been floating around in the back of my mind for years now to try to write a story that's completely devoid of humanity. Maybe a story about planets orbiting stars in a completely uninhabited part of the universe. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I wrote this story about these planets, I'd basically be turning them into characters. I'd be humanizing them. I'd be injecting humanity into this supposedly humanity-less story.
So I thought maybe if I told it without any sort of emotion. It would just be a dry presentation of the facts. Sort of like an astronomy text, I suppose. But, leaving aside the question of whether or not that would even constitute a story, there would still be some element of humanity in it. It would be told in a human language. By a human. It is impossible for us to produce anything that doesn't have some element of humanity in it, because everything we produce is produced by a human. Even if we were to produce a computer that could write a story. The computer would be the product of humanity, and thus, so would the story.
So I've concluded that it's impossible to write a story devoid of humanity.
Instead, I think I'm going to write a story about a writer who tries to write a story that's devoid of humanity.
The idea has been floating around in the back of my mind for years now to try to write a story that's completely devoid of humanity. Maybe a story about planets orbiting stars in a completely uninhabited part of the universe. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I wrote this story about these planets, I'd basically be turning them into characters. I'd be humanizing them. I'd be injecting humanity into this supposedly humanity-less story.
So I thought maybe if I told it without any sort of emotion. It would just be a dry presentation of the facts. Sort of like an astronomy text, I suppose. But, leaving aside the question of whether or not that would even constitute a story, there would still be some element of humanity in it. It would be told in a human language. By a human. It is impossible for us to produce anything that doesn't have some element of humanity in it, because everything we produce is produced by a human. Even if we were to produce a computer that could write a story. The computer would be the product of humanity, and thus, so would the story.
So I've concluded that it's impossible to write a story devoid of humanity.
Instead, I think I'm going to write a story about a writer who tries to write a story that's devoid of humanity.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Web Site Design
It's a good thing we don't have class tomorrow. I really haven't gotten very far with my web site design assignment yet. Although that may be because I had Pip working on it:
She quickly became distracted by Q-tips, which she inexplicably loves:
I'm determined that this will not become a post-cute-pictures-of-your-pet blog, so to get it out of my system, here's one more:
Okay, that's it.
She quickly became distracted by Q-tips, which she inexplicably loves:
I'm determined that this will not become a post-cute-pictures-of-your-pet blog, so to get it out of my system, here's one more:
Okay, that's it.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Inglourious Basterds
We watched the beginning of Inglourious Basterds in film class last week, and I rented it and watched the rest over the weekend. I didn't remember being very interested in it from the previews, but the beginning of the film was really engaging and I had to see the rest. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but there were a few things about it that bothered me. In talking about those things, I'm going to completely spoil the film for anyone who hasn't seen it, so if you haven't seen it and you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now.
Continue for spoilers...
Continue for spoilers...
Saturday, February 6, 2010
really a cry
Here's what it looks like outside my window right now...
Snowy. La la la (shout out to my sister, who is probably not reading this).
Anyway, our blog posts for this week are supposed to be about anything, so this first one is about snow. Oh, also we were supposed to put a picture on the blog. I put three. There's this one with the snow, and there's my profile picture, and there's the one at the top right where I'm filling a cup. Astute readers will note that it's not a cup, but rather a glass. Astuter readers will note that it has the image from an album cover on it. Astutest readers will be able to name that album. They will then win the prize of being awesome.
Snowy. La la la (shout out to my sister, who is probably not reading this).
Anyway, our blog posts for this week are supposed to be about anything, so this first one is about snow. Oh, also we were supposed to put a picture on the blog. I put three. There's this one with the snow, and there's my profile picture, and there's the one at the top right where I'm filling a cup. Astute readers will note that it's not a cup, but rather a glass. Astuter readers will note that it has the image from an album cover on it. Astutest readers will be able to name that album. They will then win the prize of being awesome.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Sluggy Freelance
The first two sites I wrote about were old sites that I've known about for years, so I figure why break the trend. Sluggy Freelance is the oldest site of the three. It's a webcomic, and it's one of the oldest and longest-running webcomics out there. It's been around since 1997. I've been reading it myself since 2002. It started out as a gag strip with pretty crude art, then found its footing with some pretty good pop culture parodies. As the years went by, the characters got a bit more fleshed out, and the stories got a bit more complex, and now, 12 years into its run, it's laden with complicated interweaving plots and a ton of backstory.
In fact, it's almost difficult for me to imagine at this point how someone could come to Sluggy Freelance never having read any of it and get into it. You can't really read today's strip and know anything about what's going on if you haven't read any of it before. When I started reading it in 2002, at the recommendation of a friend, there were five years of previous strips for me to read, and I was unemployed at the time so I didn't have much to do besides read it, and it still took me weeks to get caught up. I don't know if anyone would put the effort in to read 12 years of old strips. Maybe if they had a really persistent friend recommending it.
Like the Chapman brothers, Sluggy Freelance cartoonist Pete Abrams has been able to make a living by selling merchandise on his website. He's cultivated a pretty loyal fanbase over the years, and they've supported him. I remember a few years back he ran into tough times for a while where it looked like the merchandise alone wasn't going to be enough to support his family. Then he instituted Defenders of the Nifty, a new part of the site, which people would have to pay if they wanted to access, that would give them extra content that wasn't available on the free version of the site. That seems to have been successful enough for him to continue not having to go out and look for a nine-to-five.
I want to try and figure out what it is that's made the three sites I've talked about this week so successful. I think they've all been fairly lucky to some degree. They have all relied on the viral nature of word-of-mouth on the web. Like I said in my previous post, with e-mail and search engines, lots of people can find out about a site very quickly. But there are a ton of sites out there that most people have never heard of anyway, so there's definitely some amount of luck involved here. But I think the more important thing is that all three of these sites have good creative content that appeals to a lot of people. There are probably a ton of sites that a lot of people have heard of, but just looked at once and then forgot about. Whereas these sites, people checked them out and remembered them, and kept going back to them, and told their friends about them. And the reason for that is because these sites are producing a good product that people really enjoy. There are probably a lot of things you need to do to stand out on the web, but that's definitely one of the most important.
In fact, it's almost difficult for me to imagine at this point how someone could come to Sluggy Freelance never having read any of it and get into it. You can't really read today's strip and know anything about what's going on if you haven't read any of it before. When I started reading it in 2002, at the recommendation of a friend, there were five years of previous strips for me to read, and I was unemployed at the time so I didn't have much to do besides read it, and it still took me weeks to get caught up. I don't know if anyone would put the effort in to read 12 years of old strips. Maybe if they had a really persistent friend recommending it.
Like the Chapman brothers, Sluggy Freelance cartoonist Pete Abrams has been able to make a living by selling merchandise on his website. He's cultivated a pretty loyal fanbase over the years, and they've supported him. I remember a few years back he ran into tough times for a while where it looked like the merchandise alone wasn't going to be enough to support his family. Then he instituted Defenders of the Nifty, a new part of the site, which people would have to pay if they wanted to access, that would give them extra content that wasn't available on the free version of the site. That seems to have been successful enough for him to continue not having to go out and look for a nine-to-five.
I want to try and figure out what it is that's made the three sites I've talked about this week so successful. I think they've all been fairly lucky to some degree. They have all relied on the viral nature of word-of-mouth on the web. Like I said in my previous post, with e-mail and search engines, lots of people can find out about a site very quickly. But there are a ton of sites out there that most people have never heard of anyway, so there's definitely some amount of luck involved here. But I think the more important thing is that all three of these sites have good creative content that appeals to a lot of people. There are probably a ton of sites that a lot of people have heard of, but just looked at once and then forgot about. Whereas these sites, people checked them out and remembered them, and kept going back to them, and told their friends about them. And the reason for that is because these sites are producing a good product that people really enjoy. There are probably a lot of things you need to do to stand out on the web, but that's definitely one of the most important.
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