52 review

Here's the best comic you've never heard of. It's an experimental weekly comic book called “52” which I always loved the concept for, and have been enjoying in the past few months (- it's collected in four large volumes, which I had some trouble tracking down).

Over the course of a year, which included events like Hallowe'en and Christmas as they happened in real life, the comic book, published once a week in the US, switched between multiple story-lines starring a host of interesting B-list characters in various roles while DC's most recognisable characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are either away or out of action after a big storyline called Infinite Crisis (check back for more on this soon). So it is set in their world but without them there to sort things out in the face of the next disaster. It all feels pretty fresh, and is pretty easy to get into for newcomers, I think. In a bizarre space-story, Animal Man (who learns how to absorb alien creature's abilities on other planets) has to try to find a way home to his wife and kids, while on earth, international politics are uneasy, all kinds of people try to pull crowds as the new heroes of the earth (some to defy their family's wishes, some with reluctance, many for glory), and some of the world's greatest scientists are going missing...

An amazing read, full of mystery, sadness, suspense, broken and difficult relationships and plenty of action, it stars characters who have shone in cameo roles or long-forgotten series and fleshes them out some more, from the shamefully self-centred hero Booster Gold, to the ex-cop Renee Montoya (from Gotham Central), to the dark and brooding prince of the Middle Eastern country Kahndaq, Black Adam. The ending, which I thought was going to tie things up on a small-scale for all the characters we grow to care about over the year, surprised me by potentially having as much an impact on the direction of future DC comics as Infinite Crisis itself and left me reeling from all the crazy overlapping stories. Brilliantly the publishers have included some "behind the scenes" notes on every issue from the writers (Johns, Waid, Rucka and, my favourite, Morrison), artists and editors of this massive and life-consuming project, which offer an insight into the problems the ridiculously talented team had to wade through.

I recently picked up a follow-up to one of the story-lines in 52, which looks at the aftermath of Luthor's project to mass-produce superpowers – for anyone who pays for the treatment. The short collection, Infinity Inc: Luthor's Monsters, is great fun, and has some ultra-modern fluid art, expressive of the turmoil of the characters: a broad range of emotions from rage to self-doubt to jealous affection.

Starring some barely functional teenagers who develop the strangest powers and stranger outlooks on life, it's basically a thinly veiled look at madness, where the strongest and most well-adjusted hero, is clearly neurotic about her father leaving her and blaming her for her past mistakes, while others have issues with gender, self-obsession and purposelessness, by exhibiting some of the strangest superpowers you've seen... Try being in denial about being able to split into two identical versions of yourself, and the fact that one of you is a bully. Or try being able to escape and live someone else's life, becoming addicted to pleasing other people falsely.

And I guess this slim volume has done what Spiderman comics originally did, in that they examine the way wierd, fantastic and potentially disasterous superpowers, have a huge impact on everyday life and situations and on being "normal", potentially screwing everything up. Perhaps some of the copious X-men comics Marvel now publishes should take a step back and look at this interesting theme again...

Anime: New Iron Man and Wolverine series!!

So Marvel is working on 4 new anime series with Japanese studios. And here are the first two - they definitely went for the obvious (and coolest) choices first then!

OK at this stage, who knows if this will be any good, but the animation is so exciting that I reckon the action may put the first Iron Man movie in the shade, even where that was such a fun film. Just look at it!

Awe

Here's that poem I've been working on - please let me know what you think!


At this rockswell,
Crowned with jagged brambles,
The earth secretly breathes.

You can hear sighs from stacked rock
While creaking ferns point back
To worn beaten track.

The earth is thin here.
Creature-calls and rustles mark time
For the bandits peering at us from the sky;

A mosaic in green,
Where birds stand, hiding,
Hoping to swoop at any new invasion.

Up there, a world of leaning leaf,
Treetops blown outward by buckets of air,
Pressurized by staring stones below.

Dry grass sat there on rocks
Shaking slightly, in the confrontation
Between the air and myself.

Norfolk holiday thoughts, part 2

Here’s something else I learned from my holiday in Norfolk: I really love to seek out good design, or art, or things to look at – and often this can absorb me more than meeting new people. Not sure if this is good or bad, really…

Either way, I’ve decided to include some shots of the beach at Winterton, which was so sandy and had so much space, we went there twice. Check out the old-world seafront buildings at Great Yarmouth too, and the castle in the centre of Norwich, built in the 11th century at the command of William I with stones carted over from Normandy. There was an amazing piece of modern art in their gallery as well – a giant jigsaw of the local area made up of pieces from lots of different commercial jigsaws and fitted together into one new image. Got to admire the dedication in that and the creative way it has been composed.

Holidays are a great time for taking stock too. I had plenty of moments to realise just how much I have to be thankful for, during trips out and about, and when chilling out right at the end of some full, fun days out.

In times in the Bible recently, I have again realised how influential my time with Dave Anthony in Ephesians 1 and 2 was during UCCF’s training programme “Relay”: Particularly in seeing what I was, and would be, without Jesus, and what incredible grace has been given me, and what an awesome position I now have – all this still really helps me grasp God’s goodness in a real way.

I am only what I am now because of Jesus’ goodness. May I rely on him for strength to live well, and take every opportunity – by his power, and not trying to do it alone – to grow in becoming like Him.
Thinking about what prayer is has been helpful too – and praying big prayers for change in people’s lives. It is God’s world, after all. May I see each day as a chance to bring friends and family and churches and work situations to God in prayer, seeking his blessing – because he is good and faithful.


There is much to be thankful for – I hope I remember this now I’m back at work!

(We also visited somewhere called California too - it had a narrow beach, and by it, here, is my brother Tim.)

Sailing & meeting different species (in Norfolk)

Without any airs or graces, my parents, on holiday in Norfolk, rented a longboat to sail on for a day. It was a fun time of just being “me” and taking time out with my family.

There were plenty of moments of fun piloting, working out routes and enjoying the feel of cruising along. We saw the houses of the rich, and admired the buildings, and saw herons standing stock still in the water, and ducks pushing themselves ahead out of our way at the last minute, silly things.

I enjoyed letting creation speak to us of our powerful, artistic, meticulously inventive and providential creator. At a brilliant wildlife place, check out how close I got to the tiger - and the gibbons, crocs, alligators, peacocks and hornbills too!
Sadly the bizarre “red panda” was photo-shy, and I only saw a glimpse of the whole thing walking along a branch high in a tree, before the pair retreated further into the foliage.

How do we respond to such marvellous creatures? Fragile and cute, elusive and elegant, majestic and proud, bold and playful - they seem to have personalities all their own. I guess really that’s us trying to make them more familiar and comfortable…

And I guess we tend to respond by sharing the joy with one another we get when we see these creatures recognise us, or, when we see them living in happiness and comfort and interacting with their fellow creatures. Or we become curious wanting to understand all about their alien way of life.

Or we take more pictures!

More tomorrow – and I managed to finish a poem I’ve been working on so that will be posted here soon, too.

Comics: Deadpool - hero? villain? does he care?

Wolverine, in some of his significant early solo stories, tells us "I'm the best there is at what I do, bub, and what I do isn't very pretty". Cue Deadpool, assassin and anti-hero wreaking havoc on the Marvel universe, telling us in the thick of his latest “job”: "And now I'm better at whatever it is Wolverine does."

And that is just typical of the way Deadpool in his comics makes quips which reference the medium, being amusingly disrespectful of other Marvel creations. (On another occasion, during his absurdly pitched fight with the Hulk, he even starts singing the theme tune to the old Hulk TV show. Another time he cuts someone short with: "Shhh... My common sense is tingling.")

What keeps drawing me back to this zany comic character though is not merely his unique position in relation to the Marvel universe – but also the way the writers at various times have worked hard to show how conflicted Deadpool is.

My favourite period of Deadpool history so far was when the comic was written by the inventive Joe Kelly* in the late 1990s. So let me give you a run-down of interesting moments: Following the explosive events of miniseries Circle Chase** in which we see Deadpool’s sensitivity about his horrifically scarred face, which he won’t let anyone see, Kelly has Deadpool become creepily obsessed with mutant and former X-men team member, the beautiful Siryn. He values the way she doesn’t reject him as an ugly (and cruel) killer, and so, in a vain (unnoticed) effort to please her, he attempts to refrain from killing, choosing mercenary jobs that only require “capturing” perps. Of course, this doesn’t prove to be easy, and an enemy bounty hunter, T-Ray, claims Deadpool has gone soft. And Siryn still (understandably) spurns him in the end, leading him into a damaging (but brief) relationship with a psychotic killer he is paid to free from a high security prison – bad idea, Deadpool.

Writer Kelly keeps issues of identity as the focus though, as it seems Siryn isn’t the only one who hopes Deadpool can change. It isn’t long before a secret hi-tech agency that has been watching the mercenary abducts him and tells him they think he will one day save the world. Deadpool, not having a very high view of himself, laughs and tries to forget this episode (but of course gets embroiled in "saving the world" eventually, but not in the way you'd think).

So we have a character who is at times seems to be looking for some kind of redemption, but who often finds it is snatched away in the end. He feels that fate isn’t allowing him a chance. There’s even a point at which it seems we find out he isn’t Wade Wilson at all (although this has been changed by a later writer, grrr).

Later Deadpool writers have taken him in other directions, still exploiting this idea of making Deadpool’s life as bad/confusing as it can get, and seeing him try to cope, making quips and jokes as he tries to stay on top of everything. Increasingly he seems to have the ability to break the fourth wall, seeing the big joke that he is in a comic book.

I’m now working through Gail Simone’s story, which has Deadpool seriously beaten up and driven insane, totally losing his aim, and making even less sense than normal – but amusingly, he is still able to take on new jobs and come out on top, much to the annoyance of his new bitter, unseen enemy!! In the process he decides to hire a random bum to be his biographer, and even uses some of Antman’s shrinking gas to turn Spiderman’s old enemy the "rampaging" Rhino into a key ring-size beastie he can wear around his belt – you can bet Rhino isn’t pleased to be this small though!

With current plans for a Deadpool film, and 2 new comic series having started in the US, interest for the character is growing – but, so far, I can’t see much topping Joe Kelly’s work making this funny character relatable, even though he is so ruthless with people, being uncomfortable with close relationships because of his deformed body, which his healing power can not alter; a character at times well-intentioned, struggling to do the right thing, but at other times giving up on that, being totally amoral, and having fun with it, or facing foes in a rage of bitterness against the world. Take a look!
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*Kelly is currently working on independent projects, including I Kill Giants, and sharing writing duties on Amazing Spiderman
**The Circle Chase, written by Fabian Nicieza, is basically a race - and battle royale - between lots of mutants to get hold of the will of a guy called Tolliver, who was in X-men comics quite a while back, apparently. It’s good, quite funny and action-packed, and was the first thing that got me interested in Deadpool.

Predictions about Moon

Check this trailer out: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi843186969/.

I love how it looks like it is using an interesting concept to examine character, in a place where there is basically no escape from yourself! I guess you have to have some mental strength to be in space for a long time.

Do you think it could be too predictable though (ie. he goes mad?) Is it just Castaway in space?

How Heat (1995) influenced The Dark Knight (2008)

With director Michael Mann’s new film Public Enemies in cinemas, and because of my interest in Batman, here’s a brief introduction to how the latest (and greatest) Batman film picks up on lots of elements from Heat, Mann’s adult crime drama.

You can see it even from the DVD back cover of Heat, where we see Al Pacino standing with shotgun ready, resembling a moment where Gary Oldman’s character Lieutenant Gordon heroically faces the Joker. Or try the opening sequence, a carefully orchestrated and clearly shot armed robbery of a delivery van* in broad daylight by a team wearing white hockey masks. The difference is that in The Dark Knight the Joker’s bank robbery (which opens the film) goes perfectly, with no loose ends (if you have seen it you know what I mean) – while the member of the gang in Heat who manages to escape the rest of the gang becomes an important seed of the group’s downfall.

Battling with hearts and minds

Moving towards some of the big themes of the films, both give an account of a struggle between two factions, with high stakes for each side – but ultimately, these are struggles based on principles. In Heat Robert De Niro plays professional criminal Neil McCauley, who goes after big “scores” with his crew, but who becomes conflicted. He insists that he will live a life without ties – where everything and everyone can be left behind in 30 seconds if the “heat” is on to them. Yet while this is the life he has built for himself, and accepted, he starts working towards another one, longing to leave behind all bank “jobs” and escape with Eady. He is finally spotted by Pacino’s Lt Hanna while trying to clear up loose ends, the betrayal of his own principle – in fact it is precisely the feelings of loyalty (and anger) that he imagined he could ignore which make him go back, and stop him cutting loose from the city at the crucial moment. His philosophy would have worked, but was apparently unliveable – he could not leave behind the relationships he started: it would be denying the worth he felt they really had – in a way, denying himself. This poses the interesting question to us: when the pressure is on, what or who really matters to us? What are we willing to make a stand for, even when it makes things messy and difficult to deal with?

Similarly Lt Hanna (McCauley’s nemesis) attempts to manage his own relationships in quite a brutal way, putting his job first (his wife confronts him with this idea that this hunt for prey is the “only thing you’re committed to. The rest is the mess you leave as you pass through”) – but the difference between the two is Hanna’s fierce, unwavering loyalty to his city and his police department, and to capturing the gang.

In The Dark Knight the ideological battle is more sinister. It seems that the Joker, fascinated with the appearance of the hero Batman, is trying to prove that people in general, and even those who consider themselves to be “in the right”, are not really good, and can be turned towards evil if their circumstances change, and they feel betrayed, or afraid, or come under some other kind of stress, such as suffering an unjust loss or trauma. Unnervingly he seems to face us with the question: “what will it take for us?” He seems to prove in the film that people are fragile and that chaos is easily achieved, as reinforced by his final words in the film, to Batman: “You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity – all it takes is a little push!”

However the Batman manages to restore order and bring an end to the ongoing terrorism, and it seems that (although he comes close) he does not “break”. He proves to the Joker that it is possible to continue resisting evil (even under great strain) without becoming twisted and evil, like the DA does – although for Batman to do this it comes at great personal cost. It is as if the line that the DA crosses in taking a life makes him irreparable, even irredeemable, whereas Batman can remain heroic because he never succumbs totally and kills.

Defending the city

Heat makes a lot of comparing the lives, quality of relationships and motivations of the LA cops with those of the criminals they are after. Again, heroism comes at a personal cost, which at times must be unbearable for Lt Hanna, whose wife loses patience with him and whose step-daughter suffers too from his absence.

In parts it seems the cops in Heat are trying to defend their city with as much self-sacrifice and obsession as Bruce Wayne shows in the recent Batman films. It’s an all-consuming quest for justice which requires ugly action, tough strategy, careful planning, sleepless days and long nights. In many ways you can understand Heat as a revenge tragedy. The police see it as “You kill our men, you disrespect the law – don’t expect us to hesitate in shooting back and taking you down”. Los Angeles has got to be safe, and dead cops have to be avenged.

As in the comics, Batman is also bound by a code and an absolute commitment to protecting his city. Director Christopher Nolan’s take on the character is that he acts out of a belief in the fact that there are good people in the city, which he can not let be swallowed up and bullied by the criminal element. This was a big theme in Batman Begins** (the first in this revamped series), where a young Bruce had to get to a position in which he could trump the “bullies” by creating his own intimidating presence, thereby using their own weapon against them. He is simultaneously purging the city from the clutches of corruption and ransoming the city for society to be able to function. This is why the Joker’s random destruction is so threatening, totally undermining order and the city’s infrastructure (eg the police, the mayor’s office, high society, the prison system, and memorably, the hospitals).

Bruce dedicates himself to cleaning up the city, carrying on the proud tradition of his parents (like a knight archetype who reveres and continues the work of past martyred saints – it is not too far-fetched to make this the equivalent of a holy cause for him); and in The Dark Knight, he enlists other “knights of the realm” to stand guard alongside him, deepening his partnership with Gordon and the police force, utilising big business, even the city hall.

While The Dark Knight seems to cover a lot of intellectual and mythological angles on this battle against corruption, Heat is a more personal tale, tugging at our emotions as we see the way circumstances, words and actions bring tension between families, and hurt partners. The gang gamble on making some big scores, to support their chosen lives, but the promises they make and break are significant beats of the story – and the horrific final shootout has reverberations on all those close to McCauley’s crew, and beyond. I salute the writers and directors for making such fascinating worlds to lose ourselves in, and whose strong characters create gripping ideological (and physical) struggles in each film.

(NB: Heat clocks in at 164 mins, so it feels like quite a long watch. If you like it, Al Pacino is also interesting to watch in crime drama Carlito’s Way (1993), a film which is slow-burning, leading to a thrilling 20-25 minutes finale section, as Carlito makes his run for freedom from his past gangster life, similar to De Niro’s final run in Heat. I won’t recommend the film wholeheartedly though due to gratuitous sex and nudity, just to let you know.)
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*The Dark Knight also has an armoured delivery van which is attacked as the focus of one of the Joker’s crimes, and so the similarities continue! British director Christopher Nolan acknowledges that Heat influenced him, and it probably was the reason he went for the kind of freeway landscapes he did for the big chase scene, to show a similar kind of world: a heavily built-up, industrial city.

Other similarities between the two films: Incredibly strong casts, and both films have brilliant sound, building tension through it using some strikingly similar long drone sounds.

**In Batman Begins there is a scene which reminds us how utterly irrational and evil extremist terrorist groups can be. While razing Wayne Manor to the ground, villain Ra’s reveals his motivation – a plot to burn the city down, as was done in the days of ancient conquest – all in order to produce a “better” world afterwards. I love how the language sounds kind of earnest and rational, but when you think about what they are saying it is utterly evil and mad! This reminds us that all evil is ultimately irrational, coming out of a faulty, broken understanding of the world and ourselves, and we can’t ultimately explain it away, or excuse it: it just is wrong.

Currently reading: The Way We Write

I’m glad I picked up this book. It is basically a collection of interviews with some successful, award-winning authors about the way they started writing and how they write, their methods, and writing habits, what inspires them and what direction they are seeking to go in with their writing. And how they feel about it all.

The latter is revealing, with a few being really anxious about the quality of their work, seeing how lucky they have been with being noticed by (or connected to) publishers, with others quite straight-forwardly pointing out their strengths, showing their own excellence in capitalising on and developing their skills in forming plot or dialogue or verse.

They speak from a world of success, and some fulfilment, where they are doing what they want to do, despite mentioning difficulties and frustrations and loneliness. You can see how for some of them their sense of purpose and identity is wrapped up in doing what they do, and in feeling they have contributed to the lives of others, touching people in far-off countries, as one writer puts it “adding towards some worldview that is in constant flux and change” (p.72). In a busy market these are the guys reaping the reward that others long for.

It is instructive to see how novelists, poets, children’s writers and playwrights have at times sweated over their work, determined to forge a work with the right kind of words, with the right kind of connotations, the “right” interactions between characters, the “right” sense of place and the perfect harmony between a tactile world, an atmosphere or feeling they want to evoke and the symbolic themes they want to explore. Often the ideas and the expression of them take a while to come together, it seems. The computer can also be a trap too, as you’re in danger of losing your original work and the flow of a whole piece, because editing is so easy.

As my first time writing about a book actually all about writing, what ultimate effect is it having on me? I think it is encouraging me to keep working on my writing, to be more critical about the choices I make, more ready to research and rework, and to find the right times and ways I work best – even my own way of writing poetry (for instance, what do I want people to have to work at understanding in my poetry?) The book too inspires us to make the most of that idea that comes to you in the night, or the scraps hastily written on the back of the envelope or bill that was lying around!

Authors interviewed include Terry Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, poet Al Alvarez, the Oscar-winning script-writer of Gosford Park and the creators of The Snowman and The Gruffalo.

Challenging, engrossing, surprising, deep - Vertigo comics. But are they any good?

The publisher Vertigo has brought comics some great adult fiction, including the noir crime thriller 100 Bullets, an apocalyptic drama about the last man left when all the other males die on earth (Y: The Last Man), the topical political thriller DMZ, the wonderful Fables universe, and of course, Alan Moore’s work including the freakish Swamp Thing, which explores humanity’s relationship with the earth, and comes to some strange conclusions about what makes a human.

Here’s a few I’ve looked at in the past few months.

The Sandman (1989-1996) – This is must-read fiction, fascinating and strange. I have only read the first two volumes so far, so expect me to post more on the series another time, but how can I sum it up? Basically it is a tragic epic which explores how Morpheus, the lord of dreams (pictured), is imprisoned for 70 years, and then has to regain his power to rule the land of the Dreaming and all its errant dream-creatures, and all its effects on the human world (the Waking). So there are heavy elements of horror, especially in the chapters I have read, and fantasy, too, as Morpheus, still weak from his ordeal, relies on his wits to face a demon in hell, making an enemy of Lucifer in the process. I love the way Morpheus’ quest interacts with the life of a fairly normal teenager, Rose Walker, in volume 2, and the oddball characters thrown together into the story are really engrossing to read about, especially when we know there is a bigger picture than many of them do. An exceptional, and highly literate, comic series from author Neil Gaiman.

Crossing Midnight volume 1: Cut Here (2007) – This short book by Mike Carey introduces us to Japanese siblings Kai and Toshi, and to problems far bigger than they can deal with alone, as they try to protect their family from a cold-blooded spirit who the family owes a formidable debt to. The art is impressive at times in its summery, watercolour-like inks, but other times a little too plain. But what’s most interesting is the way the story blends surprising and unusual Japanese supernatural archetypes with the idea of the all-important struggle to protect the family unit – a theme which really matters to children the age of our two young protagonists. We begin to feel for them as their separate personal quests seem to spiral out of control. One or two breath-taking moments and surreal twists stand out, however it starts to feel a little jumbled towards the abrupt ending, and I almost feel that, with a one or two less explicit images (there’s not many anyway), it could have been better aimed at a younger crowd, as a more serious book to read compared to another “Goblins vs Bat above a high school with the world in the balance” kind of comic book!

The Other Side (2006-07) – Now I don’t usually like war movies that much, finding them too relentless and disturbing. But this self-contained comic miniseries is the best kind of war fiction, and works really well, showing us at every level the differences in the two armies in the Vietnam war, how they were recruited, how they coped mentally, whether they were disillusioned with their command or not (in both cases, the answer is yes, to different extents), and what their values and attitudes to war and human life were. The latter point is quite scary – especially in the way the US army encourages its members to dehumanise their enemies, to live with their weapon, and not seek anything higher than killing the opposition.

The writer, Jason Aaron, is one of comic’s new talents, and he really cares about the subject, and I think he shows well how both sides are brainwashed in different ways. He has clearly researched well, and the feverish illustrations by Cameron Stewart clearly show the horror in Private Everette’s face, the gory zombies he imagines coming after him, or the determination and comradeship on the side of the People’s Army of Vietnam, as they head to meet the besieged US troops. It’s interesting to see the mixture of noble ambition and bizarre superstition on the side of the Vietnamese, compared to the moral collapse and bitterness depicted amongst the cynical US troops. What a way to treat a generation of young men.

The Invisibles, volume 1: Say you want a revolution? (1994-95) – Another series by off-beat comics writer Grant Morrison, it seems to be all about defying authority; subject matter that is ripe for teens and 20-somethings, one might cynically think! It actually starts with a teenager from Liverpool, who is considered “invisible” or worthless by his mother and his society partly because he and his two friends are full of anger and vulgarity, deciding to burn down a school just for the thrilling feeling of freedom (I think). So far, so A Clockwork Orange. Before long though young Dane is recruited by an anarchist group under “King Mob” who seem to fight supernatural powers and groups that try to control the world’s population. This is where it gets strange. He is then tutored by another “invisible”, a crazy homeless old man, who seems to make no sense at first but gradually helps Dane see past the current reality using what I think is a drug, and other “techniques”, so that he sees the magic in the world, and is more open to the experiences available to him. And I didn’t understand the part about John Lennon.

The second story arc concerns an Invisibles mission back in time to the French Revolution, which gets really unpleasant in places, but I quite liked the discussion between Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley showing their longing to reach for (or work towards) a better world. What do we make of all this? Well, I guess this rambling and bizarre collection is not one I really would recommend overall, although similarities to The Matrix and conspiracy culture means it does capture the spirit of some people’s anger and how they seek freedom from restriction. Also, bear in mind, Wikipedia says Morrison claims to have had a magical experience writing the comic, and based it on what some aliens told him when he was abducted. No wonder it makes little sense!