WRITING:
Every day. 1000 words.
That’s the goal.
Got sidetracked and took Sunday and
Monday off from writing. Which afforded
my mind a chance to wander, and an incident from my childhood reared up (an
abandoned and run-down home a few blocks over from my house, which had a single
light on in a second floor room – prompting chills and the question of why the
electricity was still on in the house).
Over the course of the week, I wrote a story using this as a
springboard, something I’d wanted to do for a long time, and I’m fairly happy
with the first draft. A bit under 5,000
words, I know it will need some serious cleaning up. But I like the point of view I took and the
tone I tried to carry throughout the whole thing. Anxious to revise this and set it off in the
wild sometime next year.
READING:
CINDER & ASHE by Gerry Conway
and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Once you get
past the horrendous Cajun accent Gerry Conway places in one of the main
character’s mouths, this is a pretty good series. Beautiful artwork, a compelling and
multi-layered storyline, with a mystery that makes sense. Good stuff.
If you can get past that damn accent.
THE FADE OUT & VELVET from Ed
Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist: Fade Out), Steve Epting (artist:
Velvet), et al. I haven’t been getting
new comics for a number of months now,
preferring to save my money and get collections through the library when they
become available. But Brubaker and his
team of collaborators pulled me back in.
I was at the local independent bookstore/music store/video store/game
store/comic store, Bull Moose Music, and saw a couple issues of the Fade Out
and issues 6-8 of Velvet (I already have 1-5) and had to pick them up. And they were fantastic. The thing about these books, besides the
engaging and exciting stories, is that they often include short essays in the
back related to the narrative material.
They’re the extras you expect in the collection, but they’re in the
single issues. So, for that, and for the
fact that I have loved most everything Brubaker has done, independent from the
Big Two, I allowed myself to be pulled back in.
And I was not disappointed.
Looking forward to getting these on a regular basis.
THE MULTIVERSITY by Grant Morrison,
et al. And, since I was perusing the
comic racks, I figured I should check out the fourth issue of Multiversity, Pax
Americana, by Morrison & Frank Quitely, which was burning up my social
feeds online this week. Wow. When these two artists collaborate, it’s
always brilliant. Taking on the Charlton
characters, they infused the comic with many of Alan Moore’s best-known
formalistic approaches to telling comic book stories (which, it should be
pointed out, are not crutches he used but techniques utilized in specific
stories). In Morrison’s hands – and this
could be due to the apparent feud between Morrison and Moore – these feel like
tricks used to say: “See, I can do this
too.” They are well done and enhance the
experience of reading the book, but they don’t feel as essential as when Moore
utilized them in books such as Watchmen and Promethea. Could be my prejudice showing through, but I
can live with that.
The earlier issues were also
available, and I picked them up too.
They’re just as enjoyable.
Looking forward to seeing where this all ends up. (and man, that Cameron Stewart cover for the Shazam
issue looks phenomenal!)
BATMAN: STRANGE APPARITIONS by
Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin, and others. Finished this book up this week. It was really enjoyable. Rogers’s art is amazing in this. I don’t remember it being as good when he did
the Silver Surfer, with Englehart, years later.
But it holds up in this. And the
stories are fun too, even if some subplots are too quickly wrapped up for my
taste. Overall, I would definitely
recommend this, especially to a Batman fan.
Great art, good writing (for the most part), and some interesting twists
that will keep you engaged. TURING’S CATHEDRAL by George Dyson. I’m 100 pages into the birth of the digital age, and it’s fascinating. So many names I’d never heard of, scientists, theoreticians, and thinkers – BIG THINKERS – all working toward the creation of a computer, in the early twentieth century. Good stuff.
WATCHING:
I’m always behind in my movie and
TV watching (a not unwelcome result of being a father and writer – these both
take time). But this past week I finally
decided to check out Peter Jackson’s THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, or the
movie that should have encompassed the entirety of the book but did not.
Yeah, throwing my prejudice right
out in front of this one. The Hobbit was
the first book that totally enthralled me and captured my imagination. It was second grade. Mrs. Corey read it to us. I discovered that my uncle had a copy, and I
borrowed it so that I could re-read each chapter at home. I distinctly remember lying on my stomach, up
on my bed, and reading my uncle’s hardcover edition – the smell of those, or
similar, pages jolts my nostalgia-button in a manner that little else can. I love that book.
So, it was with trepidation that I
read about the three-film adaptation Jackson and his crew were planning. And this is from someone who loved their Lord
of the Rings films and felt them to be exemplary adaptations from Tolkien’s
masterpiece.
So, the first Hobbit film. It’s entertaining, moves along at a brisk
pace, is well acted and engaging, with beautiful scenery and amazing sets and
special effects (though some scenes felt surprisingly awkward and not well
done, but if you’re reaching beyond your grasp, that is, in general, a good
thing). Certainly, details were changed
– as was the case with the Lord of the Rings films – and that’s not necessarily
a bad thing. When translating a story
from one medium to another, it is imperative that the creators understand the
differing strengths of each and adjust accordingly. In that regard, I would say Jackson, et al.
have acquitted themselves nicely.
That said, I don’t find it to be a
good adaptation of Tolkien’s book.
However, I don’t know that I can
fault them. The major issue I have with
the film – and let me state that I did enjoy it, and the “issue,” as I see it,
did nothing to lessen that – is that it is not faithful to the book. Unlike the Lord of the Rings, this movie shies
far away from the tone of The Hobbit, as written by Tolkien. Whereas the novel is a book for children that
can be appreciated by adults, the film is one that I could never recommend for
children. But, it does match nicely with
the tone of the initial films, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which makes a lot
of sense. The vast majority of those
seeing these films will never have read any of the source material. And creating a children’s story after the
success of the epic Rings movies would be foolish. I understand completely why they did it. I just wish it was a film that I could share
with my youngest boy.
For that, I’ve still got the book,
and the Rankin/Bass film.
MISCELLANY:
Thanksgiving next week, which means
Christmas is coming up quick. I’ve
always loved this time of year – living in Maine, we used to get the type of
snow and scenery you’d find in a Norman Rockwell painting; not so much
nowadays. I love Christmas trees and
decorations and the classic TV specials and finding just the right gifts for
everyone (we don’t shop at the mall, so it’s far more enjoyable than it could
be), and I love the fantasy of the entire thing, the magic of Santa bringing
joy to kids. I prefer a secular
Christmas – the holiday being a holdover of pagan rituals – and I really get
into it. So much so, that I have taken
on something that J.R.R. Tolkien did for his children and write letters from
Santa to my boys. These always include
some little adventure or mishap that occurred at the North Pole in the past
year, which is the fun part. I write
them on nice, heavy-stock paper or, if I can find it, distinct handmade paper,
using a dip pen, while sealing them in wax.
It’s one of the things I look forward to most, at this time of year. It also means work on the novel will probably
be put aside for a bit, but that’s okay.
This is more important.
SIGN OFF:
As always, check out my friends – Brad& Matt and Don McMillan for their own weekly recaps on things comic-y and geeky, and we'll see what's
what in seven.
-chris
-chris
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