Comicsgirl

Archive for December, 2008

I’ve actually watched more of The Crow movies than I really care to admit. I like the first one well enough (I am a fan of Alex Proyas — Dark City is one of my favorite movies) and I’ve actually seen The Crow: Salvation and enough of The Crow: Wicked Prayer to count.

I hadn’t seen The Crow: City of Angels until tonight.

It was nowhere near as bad as I expected.

We first meet Sarah, who it is implied is the adult version of Sarah from the first film/comic. She’s now working as a tattoo artist in Los Angeles. Or rather, some music-video soundstage version of L.A. I know that at one point, Tori Amos was considered for this role, so it’s kind of funny to me that Mia Kirshner’s Sarah reminds me quite a bit now of Amanda Palmer.

The movie is all atmosphere and lighting — it looks like a mid-90s music video, with its cross-processed film aesthetic. This seems to be director Tim Pope’s only feature film — he’s directed a bunch of music videos before this — but it works. Screenwriter David S. Goyer, who for good or bad, knows comics, doesn’t waste any time with his script. Ashe, played by Vincent Perez, is immediately an incarnation of The Crow (he and his son were killed after they witnessed a drug-related killing) and alternates between brooding and hitting people.

I actually liked the character of Sarah quite a bit — she had a tough vulnerability and never came across as a helpless woman who needed saving. She held her own.

The movie moves along at a good pace — it’s not perfect, but it doesn’t waste time, either. It’s violent, but it’s all poetically stylized and it all feels unreal, although not in a funny, cartoony way. Only Iggy Pop’s character was really distracting. Everyone else played their roles pretty straight. I didn’t even laugh (that much, anyway) at Perez’s belly shirt.

This doesn’t seem to be available on DVD anymore, which is kind of a shame. Someone might want to own it. Granted, I had pretty low expectations going into it but I actually enjoyed it.

The Crow: Stairway To Heaven Buy at Amazon.com!

The Crow: Stairway to Heaven TV series seems to have grown out of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess as well as Highlander: The Series and more — there was a period in the mid to late ’90s where making sci-fi/fantasy shows seemed like a really good idea to people. And it was — especially for those of us who’d sometimes find ourselves without cable.

Hulu.com has all 22 episodes of The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. I watched two — the first episode, “The Soul Can’t Rest,” and episode 15, “Birds of a Feather,” which I picked mostly at random.

It’s not a bad series — it’s entertaining enough. It’s the sort of show that if it’s this or nothing, you’d be happy to pick this. But it’s probably doubtful you’d want to watch it for any other reason.

The first episode does a good job of condensing the general story into 43 minutes — Eric Draven comes back from the dead one year after he and his girlfriend were killed to extract revenge. It’s basically like the first movie, except with brighter lighting. Mark Dacascos does a good enough job as Eric, even if he seems a little vacant most of the time. I wasn’t exactly fond of the fact that the Crow makeup would just “appear” supernaturally instead of something Eric picked for his face, but it wasn’t a big deal.

“Birds of a Feather,” which was fairly late in the series, seemed to hold the mythology together fairly well — a doctor who had been killed along with her daughter returns as a Crow seeking revenge. Eric leads here through the process, trying to tell her it’s probably not going to be what she wants.

The special effects overall look pretty cheap, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve seen worse on the bits of Charmed I’ve seen and that was much later. The production values are adequate — it takes place in a generic city and the characters are all fairly generic, but there does seem to be some heart in it. I think someone definitely believed in this show. Do I ever need to watch it again? Probably not. But it’s kind of fun. It makes me wish there were many more live-action TV series adaptations of comic books. I think it works.

Reportedly, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen director Stephen Norrington is in talks to make a new version of The Crow. Why anyone would let him near another comic-book property, I don’t know, but I do think it’s cool that it’s a concept that continues to resonate with people, even now.

I think it’s kind of silly to review single issues of series — I don’t really see the point of it, unless they’re the first issue or somehow special. This I thought this deserved recognition on its own.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #20 Buy at tfaw.com

I got into the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer pretty late in the game, but due to some post-college ennui and constant reruns on FX, I started watching right before Season 7 began. I caught up pretty quickly and found it to be a great show.

I don’t worship at the altar of Joss Whedon. I like him well enough, but I am not one of those who believes he can do no wrong. As much as I love Buffy, there are parts of it that trouble me or just didn’t work. Still, I think it was a great TV series and I still enjoy watching it.

According to Wikipedia, there were plans for a Buffy animated series in 2002. It was to follow Buffy’s adventures around Season 1 of the series (Dawn was going to be included). The talks continued until 2004 when due to a lack of interest, the project was dropped.

This was a sad thing.

The comic series has never interested me enough to pay for it — fine to flip through in the bookstore but I don’t really like the art and it moves slowly. I like the attempt, but it just hasn’t worked for me.

Yes, we’re now getting to Season Eight #20. Written by comic-book favorite Jeph Loeb (who also was one of the executive producers of the failed cartoon series) with art by Eric Wright (who was one of the designers on the show), “After These Messages … We’ll be right back!” shows what could have been.

It’s a lot of fun. It’s a pretty quick little story, but it’s joyful to see Buffy back to being Buffy — just a normal teenager who happens to kill vampires. She’s making quips with her misfit friends, rolling her eyes at Giles and getting out-of-sorts when she encounters Angel. Loeb’s tone is perfect — he has the rhythm of the early show down and it’s playful and fast. Wright’s art is delightful and yes, I’m going to say it — animated. This feels like a cartoon. Along with the saturated color palettes that shift to suit the mood, this only makes me long for the animated series that never was (and sadly, probably never will be).

While the TV series always balanced humor with horror, it did become more and more angsty as the years went on. This is the Buffy I like. If there Buffy comic like this, I’d be buying it (hint, hint, Dark Horse).

(I like the variant cover better, which is why I used it in the link to Things From Another World. I actually didn’t even know it was the variant cover when I bought it at the comic book store. I’d read about this issue a couple of weeks ago but honestly, if I hadn’t seen this cover, I probably would’ve forgotten I wanted it.)

One of my favorite presents* this year are the earrings pictured, named “Fizz,” by jewelry designer Karin Jacobson. And if you couldn’t tell from the “superkarin.com” domain name, she says she’s inspired by “science fiction, comic books, mechanical toys and Japanese animation.”

These earrings make me feel like a superheroine. I want to design my whole wardrobe around them now. They’re that awesome.

I also have this ring and I wear it every day. It also makes me feel like a superheroine. I sometimes like to imagine it shoots laser beams at my enemies (sadly, it has yet to do so, but I do keep hoping).

Her catalog was even done as a comic, which is really one of the coolest things ever.

I love that there’s a jewelry designer out there so closely reflecting my sensibilities (you know, rather than jewelry that makes me feel much like this segment of Current TV’s “Target: Women”). If I had more money, I’d buy so much more of Jacobson’s stuff. But in any case, I do get excited just looking at it.

*Please note that I love all my presents equally. I would easily say they’re all my favorites. But you get my point.

Image credit: superkarin.com

It’s winter vacation time — all the bloggers have basically abandoned ship temporarily and I, like most everyone else, am being pulled in a dozen different directions right now (although it’s not so much a bad thing — I’m just busy). So I don’t think there will be anything interesting to say about comics until 2009.

I had some ambitions to do a year-end list, and if I get to it, I get to it. But I’m going to guess I won’t. I tend to find year-end lists kind of boring, which is probably where my ambivalence comes from one that part.

In any case, have a good holiday season, whatever you celebrate. Even if you don’t celebrate anything at all. If something truly exciting happens, I’ll check in before the new year. But if not, I hope it’s a great one for you.

J. Caleb Mozzocco at Newsarama has a good roundup of the contributions of women at the Big Two in 2008.

I’m glad to see Mozzocco has written about this and he makes some good points, but obviously, there is still a ways to go for women in comics at the Big Two. A few women working on a few titles here and there doesn’t erase the problems out there (and he does seem to be aware that they exist).

I don’t necessarily seek out comics by women. Sure, I am interested in them, and stories about women, whoever tells them. But if a story is good, I’m happy to read it. I don’t care who writes or draws it. But it does happen that quite often that I relate to the stories that women are telling more than men.

In an ideal world, it wouldn’t matter if a creator was male or female. But we’re not in an ideal world. And I think that it needs to be pointed out when a creator is female speaks volumes.

The Christian Science Monitor brings us Manga: Another way of the seeing the world. It’s not a bad article — it doesn’t say much you haven’t read before, but it at least says it well (but The Dark Knight being anime-inspired? Huh?).

I am slowly coming around to manga — or at least, finding things I like (which isn’t to say I ever hated it) but thus far, Nana is the only title I’ve stuck with (oh, Nana). I’d love to find more, though. (My finances would rather I not, however.)

Yeah, I don’t really have much to say right now. It’s been a busy week at work and I think the pre-holiday shutdown is already beginning.

You have, without a doubt, already watched the Wolverine trailer (oh, excuse me, X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer). It probably says something about me that my main thought was “The cinematography looks good.”

Still, the cast is good and the actors seem to be taking this seriously (but not excessively so). It might actually end up being good.

The Complete Aranzi Hour Buy at Amazon

The Japanese sisters known as Aranzi Aronzo are probably most known for their craft books featuring their line of cute mascots characters, but the ladies have also created plenty of comics, an abundance of which are featured in The Complete Aranzi Hour from Vertical Books.

Most of the stories here are two pages and are almost all surreally pointless. Best friends White Rabbit and Brown Bunny play together joyfully, enjoying cherry blossoms and warm sunny days as well as each other’s company. The yokai-like Sprite and Spritekin get into weird situations and the naughty Bad Guy and Liar are always trying to provoke each other. A few comics feature photographs of plush versions of these characters in the real world. There overall effect is innocently subversive. It’s cute and fun without feeling saccharine and there’s no winking irony or cruelty here. It’s just delightful.

Aranzi Aronzo have a good eye for character design — obviously, Hello Kitty and all of Sanrio are influences — but there’s also a definite Kid Robot/vinyl toy sensibility here (and oh, if there were vinyl toys of these, I’d be buying them by the case). The design will appeal to adults and children alike (while there’s a little bit of blood from scraped knees and such, there’s no violence. Some characters, like Spritekin’s pet, Sprite Kong, are definitely weird, but nothing is really scary. I’d be happy to hand this a child).

It can be read straight through (which is what I did) but since the stories don’t connect to each other at all, it makes an excellent book to pick up and just read little bits of every now and then. I think it’s an excellent book to leave out for guests.

Also included are lyrics to songs (no music, but there are suggestions on how to sing these songs) and a few activities, like mazes and spot the differences. I was a little disappointed to see there was no craft projects, but that’s OK. I have other Aranzi Aronzo books for that.

Everyone I know has loved Aranzi Aronzo’s work, from little girls to grown men to everyone in between. You probably won’t read anything else for a long time that is as much fun as The Complete Aranzi Hour. I know I won’t.

Sleeping Bride DVD Buy at YesAsia

I have a good friend who constantly supplies me with the most incredible and random Asian movies. He suggested this idea to me so I ran around trying to find movies I had on hand that would suit. I feel like there are a few other movies I should have around, but I did come up with two for tonight’s double feature.

First up is Sleeping Bride, based on a comic by the legendary, godlike Osamu Tezuka and directed by Japanese horror master Hideo Nakata. After her pregnant mother is seriously injured in a plane crash, Yumi is born asleep. The sleeping girl catches the interest of our hero, Yuichi, who spends some time in the same hospital as her as a child. Inspired by the story of Sleeping Beauty, the young Yuichi kisses Yumi in an attempt to wake her up.

And you can probably guess where this story is going. After many, many, many montages of Yuichi kissing Yumi, he eventually finds success as a teenager. Yumi awakes and can almost immediately walk, speak and read (although she spends the first day vocalizing much like a baby). She’s obviously childlike, but Yuichi is charmed all the same.

Sound creepy? It is a little, but the movie is overall so completely innocent that nothing really feels untoward. The movie is, of course, more interested in the boys’ reaction to Yumi — both Yuichi and Yumi’s doctor, Hikawa, struggle with their feelings for her (once again, not as creepy as it sounds) and Yumi’s missing father also enters the picture. Yumi’s not given much of an inner life (not trying to give too much away, but viewers only get to spend a few days with her). I’d almost call her a manic pixie dream girl, except she’s just sort of there. Other than being childlike, she doesn’t have much of a personality.

Neither does this movie. There are some nice scenes — there is, in portions, this sort of naturalist atmosphere with lots of ambient sounds and natural light, but those are negated by an overly dramatic score. I spent the first half hour waiting for something — anything — interesting to happen (did I mention the many, many scenes of Yuichi kissing the sleeping Yumi?). I realize that I have a DVD copy of this that was made from a VCD, but it had a made-for-TV feel to it. The production values and acting were all just above mediocre. This isn’t a terrible movie, but lackluster. It’s somewhat heartfelt but it just misses the emotional notes it should hit.

It did make me curious about the original Tezuka comic, however. I don’t think it’s been reprinted here, but I could be wrong.

No YouTube clips, but you’re not missing much. The all-region version YesAsia has seems to be the only way to get it.

Cutie Honey DVD Buy at Amazon

I saved Cutie Honey for the second feature, mostly because I’d seen it before. Directed by Hideaki Anno, who is mostly known for being the mastermind behind the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, the best word I can use to describe this film is “giddy.” Actress Eriko Sato brings such open-hearted adorableness to the title role that it’s nearly impossible for me to not like her. She’s infinitely fun to watch. But honestly, everyone here is having fun — the special effects look purposefully cheap and the costumes are over-the-top in terms of ridiculousness. The colors are super-saturated and don’t let you forget this is a live-action adaptation of a manga (and later, anime) series.

There are many bizarre touches — at one point, the characters are inexplicably riding Segways through a tunnel while chatting. There’s a “music video” sequence that seems included just to show Sato wandering around looking sad in various outfits. At one point, one of the bad guys breaks into song, complete with his henchmen playing instruments. The main villian, Sister Jill, is played by a man. But it all works together somehow since it never takes itself seriously. It’s just pure cinematic candy. Even when Sato is only in her (admittedly, rather modest) underwear, the whole thing just sort of feels innocent.

The plot seems like Hideaki Anno trying to continue to work out his daddy issues, but the friendship between the childlike (and sometimes childish) Honey and lonely policewoman Natsuko grows into a lovely one and they each learn from each other. Of course, it’s all a little obvious and heavy-handed, but it’s still effective.

Yes, this is probably one of the silliest movies you’ll see. But it’s good because of that. And while Anno is back depressing everyone Evangelion (and I can’t blame him for going back to it — it makes money and it’s still good), it’s great to see his more light-hearted side.

This is a short clip and really has nothing to do with anything (there’s a lot of that in movie) but I think it’s a good illustration of how you can tell everyone is having fun. Our three main characters have just gotten drunk and have decided to sing karaoke:

Anna N. at Jezebel (a site which has been responsible for keeping me entertained during long working days) writes Women And Cartoons: Beyond Breast Size, using this BBC article as its jumping off point.

She raises some good points and asks some good questions. I know when I first started reading comics, pre-puberty, I didn’t really think much of the supposed sexiness of the characters I was reading about. I just saw them as strong women. The older I got, however, the more I began to question the difference between the written portrayal of these characters and how they were drawn. Couldn’t some of these female characters just wear a few more clothes every now and then?

There is definitely plenty of troubling images presented to women of all ages — in comics as well as cartoons — but I think there are still plenty of strong ones, too (and sometimes, characters show both). I loved reading the comments in this thread at Jezebel — you begin to see who women relate to and why (lots of Darias out there, but also a good number of Sailor Scouts and votes for Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Deaths and Deliriums. Even a few Rogues and Shadowcats). While we may have a way to go, I’m glad to see there’s someone for everyone out there.