Moody anti-heroes from Marvel

First, if you think Wolverine is all about mindless action, take a look at recent miniseries from acclaimed comics writer Brian K Vaughn and artist Eduardo Risso, simply titled Logan.

After reading some confusing and unexciting solo Wolverine adventures, it was such a breath of fresh air to open the beautiful pages of this short miniseries and see the classic rogue hero battling to take care of his past in a way that couldn’t have been done until recently. Since House of M (see here for an explanation of that) Wolverine’s wiped memories of his past seventy-plus years of life have been returning and in Logan it’s clear he is still feeling the weight of all that has been done to him (and guilt at the things he has done too). Here he is confronting the horrors of what he survived at the end of the Second World War.

The art deserves a special mention, especially in the first part – the dark page layouts, gradually change to brighter, more expansive panels as Wolverine escapes a Japanese Nazi prison. Risso really is a fascinating storyteller in his own right, and this miniseries easily tops his work on a so-so Batman story a few years ago. Observe the way Risso shows us simple things like the light falling in the cell to the way he illustrates some of beautiful rural Japan, not often seen in films or comics, and a traditional Japanese home.

Finally Vaughn gave us a monstrous villain - borne of madness and paranoia and war. I'd love for more ghosts from the past with this kind of regenerative power to pop up. Regenerating and out-living others like that must give you some kind of god complex - and was chilling stuff to read. I guess the Marvel universe should be thankful Logan doesn't see himself as “homo superior” as this villain suggests he should. He has a more realistic attitude, feeling his own responsibility even in the way he's been programmed and used in the past.

Planet Hulk

The Hulk is one Marvel character I have barely any knowledge about. But in this year-long epic a tragic “persecuted monster” storyline is fused with the political machinations and arenas of the film Gladiator, on an advanced planet far from Earth.

And why is the Hulk is ejected from Earth to start a new life on an alien world? All for the safety of humanity, of course, as decided secretly by Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Guess what? Hulk is mad – and the madder he gets….

Brilliantly it is far from being a story about the Hulk smashing everything in sight. Originally inhibited by alien technology and enslaved, he grows cleverer than the other gladiators, he shows loyalty to those who prove themselves serving alongside him, he manages to unite some of the diverse races on the planet, finding ways both to deliver an oppressed people and even to begin to undo the damage caused to the planet. And all along, he is followed by the devout and hopeful, who look to him as an unlikely saviour from their insanely self-obsessed monarch, the Red King. The question that kept me reading was this one: Will he succeed in all this? Can he actually play the hero? And when you see his rage and stubbornness, or some of the more despicable aspects of his allies, what will his new world look like when he’s done? Can he possibly find a home so far from Earth?

Highly recommended, because it is refreshingly different from the rest of mainstream comics, very different in scope to most comics on crime or superheroics, and the art, through most of this wild, surprising ride, is also excellent.

Catching up with Heroes

For the Heroes faithful, things are going well. This fourth season, which BBC2 is currently showing, is focused on character and a plotline and not just getting characters to certain places in time to use their powers and move on to the next crisis (like some of season 2 and 3). Finally we have Peter Petrelli determining to use his power to help people, Claire is getting a new support cast (albeit a weird one) and Hiro’s family has also developed while he has been able to invest in those lives he has a chance to touch to make some difference.

What’s more, new characters with powers only seem to be included to further an overall plot. For instance, the new carnival characters have created an intriguing alternative lifestyle for those with powers, and a menace which is not easy to define. They are clearly a twisted “family”, taking in the vulnerable, but they are also kept in check by the uncompromising leader Samuel Sullivan - and to what ultimate end?

Another new character to pop up, a young teen who is a “healer”, also reminds us of the need for a strong family, and good guidance for those with powers, which has helped us see Mr Bennet’s new place in the world, and his good instincts for this sort of situation. However how he deals with the boy also reminds us that he doesn’t have all the answers, and highlights his powerlessness when the boy’s confusion and panic leads to disaster. If only he had these powers under control, he could be a force for great good – but even in the real world, bringing our bodies under control for good is not easy, and so sometimes even those used to being in control, like Mrs Petrelli, are faced with their faults and their insufficiency.

I guess there still needs to be something more each character is working towards, which they share – but it is early in the season and Samuel does seem to be drawing most of them together. What kind of web he is weaving I don’t know, and I don’t know if the new “blank slate” Sylar trusts him or not. I can't wait to see more of how this "family" theme plays out. Is redemption possible for those who have been outcast from society? Or will they keep on playing the hate game and make things worse between those with powers and the outsiders who visit them?

(Thankfully, we've had a break from Mohinder's angsty scientist routine as well! The painting of him was good though so I thought I'd add it here. More on films and comics coming soon...)

Quirky and fun movies

First of all, let’s get something out of the way - I really do enjoy big recent films: the thought-provoking crazy endurance film Blood Diamond, the excellently entertaining new Star Trek, the wonderful addictive Slumdog Millionaire (which brilliantly celebrates life and childhood whilst threatening this on every side with corruption and brutality, a wierd mixture of realism and modern fairy tale) and what else? Up, The Bourne Ultimatum, Iron Man – the list goes on.

But I want to post a few times on quirkier films, ones where you aren’t so sure how it will all end, ones where the story is told in strange ways, or the look and tone of the movie resonate in a particularly weird way. These are films which love the unexpected.

Children of Men (2006) – watch this if you can take it. Technically it would be hard to find a film more impressively choreographed and shot. We follow Theo (Clive Owen) in a world where no children have been born for 18 years, and parts of England have become self-obsessed, madly fierce, xenophobic, fighting over their own agendas and resources, pretty much in chaos. It’s incredible because one can imagine that if this did happen, people would not know how to respond, and the feeling of impotence shared by the people in the film would be palpable; people would fear they were under a terrible curse. There's something spiritually numbing or just plain awe-full, having the knowledge that life stops with the men and women living now, and it shows that living in fear and confusion, with no hope for life or for the future, is not really living at all. Thank God the universe will not spiral out of control like this, into the finality of extinction - thank God that His people will actually last and really live life for eternity!

Back to the film though, bleak as it is: Theo makes a reckless journey through the land, as he seeks the impossible: a hope against hope for the world. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s worth it even if this is just for the enormous set-piece towards the end, or experiencing the incredibly long and action-packed handheld shots as they take us deep into the relentless trouble they encounter.

Mirrormask (2005) – Neil Gaiman, the writer of The Sandman comics and behind films such as Coraline and Stardust, is also behind this slightly eerie, fun adventure story, which is refreshingly different from the usual Hollywood family film. For instance, some of the real-world parts were filmed on some flats in Brighton, while the otherworldly realm, which is explored in most of the film, is at times framed in a way that reminds us of the theatre, or early cinema (Shots are taken from a distance, so we see the actors as performers on stage or in the circus, and the colours are grainy like an old film.) This is a world where everyone wears masks, fishes swim in the air, and strange angular sphinxes prowl around menacingly (yes, the FX could be better) looking for words (or people) to devour. These are signs of the world’s doom, as is the blackness spreading everywhere, so young heroine Helena enlists masked performer Valentine’s help to find something called the “mirrormask” which holds the key to repairing the strange world. The best bits are when you first encounter the strange and amusing sphinx, the nice touches with the “really useful book”, and the thrilling part with the massive floating giants, which look like figures from an expressionist painting.

It has to be said though the film has pacing problems and gets a little tiring by the time you get to the musical brain-washing sequence near the end. The film also deals with some interesting issues for a children’s film such as what is expected of a child by a parent and how they can escape that identity into standing on one’s own in mature adulthood. What really defines us? What we wear, what we do, who we are with, how we treat others?

Brazil (1985) – Elements of black comedy combine with satire and adventure in this, probably one of the strangest movies I’ve seen. It follows a low-level government official, who, in his occasional dreams, flies through clouds and rescues a woman by battling a giant samurai, one that bleeds flame when punctured…* yes, really! The film is great at contrasting this kind of insane fantasy with the utterly banal, anti-social and uncaring society which Sam Lowry lives in, and I think that is its basic point – that repressing creativity and devaluing humanity is the greatest tragedy of all, breeding insanity and all kinds of cruel injustice by losing touch with the value of human life; time and again we see the “system” victimising individuals through the means of endless paperwork and regulations. Or perhaps, as we root for Lowry as he overcomes obstacles to pursue a woman in the real world, we learn how noble the ideal of romantic love is, and yet how unrealistic and unachievable it can be.

Although the film is very long and quite tedious, if you have the time one evening, there are some amusing moments, such as the brief appearances of Robert De Niro as an illegal plumber, or the way one character’s expensive plastic surgery progressively makes her look worse and worse. In fact these kind of obsessive tendencies hold a bizarre mirror up to our own culture’s views of the self as “god” while many people are lonely and lack any sense of meaningful community. Finally, about the title: It is not set in Brazil, and in fact if you had to re-name it you could call it “Control” or “How a typo and a dream can slowly drive you insane”.

Terry Gilliam was behind the film, and honestly I think he does a better job directing on Twelve Monkeys (1995), his fun (but ugly) adventure story starring Bruce Willis and a young (and crazy) Brad Pitt, which raises some points about time travel I hadn’t thought of before. Living in two times should really come with a health warning: Bruce’s character gradually loses touch with reality as his brain can’t cope with him being sent back to locate and stop the spread of a virus which almost wipes out humanity. See you’re interested already, aren’t you? There’s also an interesting part where a psychologist admits that she is losing her “faith” in her profession. Seems Gilliam can’t leave the idea of insanity alone…
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*These bits remind me of other films with surreal dream-like sequences, like Blade Runner or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and are rare moments in film – so very child-like.
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All pictures come from Wikipedia. Please sound off about any of these films below, as I'd be interested in thoughts on the movies, especially Brazil. More picks to come soon, including the evocative, the beautiful, the plain wierd, the intensely personal, and the ludicrously action-packed....

Poem: The fight (on my hands)

Go ahead
Deny my need
And trumpet about

I can’t believe
That you would say
That to me

Keep it up
I don’t think
You even care

As if I would
Ever spurn you
Or leave you helpless

Why should I
Move at all
Change for you

If that’s the way
You want to see it;
You won’t enjoy it.

Enjoying snow!

Happy new year! I hope you have been faring well in the snow - currently still hard and icy where I am.

As this week has been a battle to get in to work for most of us I thought I'd blog a little about my journey in to work. The roads being too icy for most, I've been setting out for the Gosport ferry on foot. The staff have shovelled out a path for us to the covered jetty. Below you can see what it looked like on Tuesday night, as we waited to board the ferry from the Portsmouth side during the first heavy snowfall. This was about 8pm, and we reckon the snow started before 5pm.

Take a look at HMS Warrior at Portsmouth on Wednesday morning - what a miserable day to be trekking in!

 
Heading on into Portsmouth:

Here is proof that my phone camera isn't really up to taking pictures in the evening light (This is Tuesday night again). The blurry effect on some of the shots is quite fascinating. Maybe I will buy myself a new camera soon....

The area around Guildhall Square stayed slippery the next few days from quite a few travellers passing through, just getting worse as the snow ices over. I heard about a group of volunteers taking shovels to the highstreet nearby though - good on them!

Trekking into work has to be done, but it can teach us too, and I want to be someone who lets the world proclaim to me and remind me of the works of God. I was reminded about this when snow came up in a great Bible passage. Here is the Bible telling us one thing snow should remind us of.

First a bit of context: After inviting people to come to Him, God is talking, through his prophet Isaiah, about his powerful word and how when he says something it achieves his purposes - which he says in later verses are to bring glory to himself and joy to people. And here's the quote:

 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
   and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
 giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." (Isaiah, chapter 55)

God is powerful and will not be stopped in using his message of hope about Jesus to change people and the world, even though it can take a while for the seed to sprout! As John Piper says in The Supremacy of God in Preaching we won't know the full impact of God's word until all the fruit on all the branches on all the trees that have sprung up from all the seeds we've ever sown (by preaching, or speaking about God to people) has "fully ripened in the sunshine of eternity".

So there you have it: God's word is like useful, wonderful snow! May God use my humble words to spread his wonderful message and to reach places for his glory.

Comics: a feature on Infinite Crisis (part 2)

Now collected in a big hardcover book, Infinite Crisis stars big names in DC's universe, from the Flash to Lex Luthor to Power Girl to Mongul (an enemy of Superman and Green Lantern who destroyed a whole city in the past) to Animal Man to the Spectre (the spirit of God's vengeance which has recently gone out of control for some unknown reason). And that is not to mention the three characters who turn up from the original Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986 – a huge, impressive (but longwinded) tale of how a war between two celestial beings known as the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor ended when, after the Monitor's death and plenty of battles with superheroes from DC's vast history, the Anti-Monitor succeeded in destroying hundreds of parallel universes, and was finally killed, apparently leaving only one universe of heroes. However, thankfully, all you need to know about that is explained within the pages of this current crisis.

In order to get the most out of the miniseries, it is best to read some of the excellent build-up to the it before diving straight in. The most essential prequel is the comic book collection titled The Omac Project, containing the Countdown to Infinite Crisis special. Not only is it a really fun read, the writers and artists really pulled out the stops to make it emotional, as we witness the death of one of the older Justice League members and a vicious battle between two of DC's Big Three. Also we are treated to some moments of Batman showing real emotion (something which DC realised had become too rare in the late 1990s and early 2000's) while trying to save the lives of those he has endangered. It's an excellent and dramatic story.

So The Omac Project is a must-read, and before that Identity Crisis is recommended. If you want to as well you could pick up Superman: Road to Ruin and Superman: Ruin's End – which tie in with The Omac Project and have one or two good moments.

But wait there's more – there were another three special short series that came after The Omac Project and led into Infinite Crisis and these were: Day of Vengeance, Villains United, and the Rann-Thanagar War. Although the last of these, a war set in space, has eye-popping art, the story is weak, it has no resolution and I'd recommend you give it a miss. The others are both entertaining reads, the best, Day of Vengeance (which deals with the problems with magic happening on Earth) being at times very thrilling and at times a little odd, with some deliberately “out-there” characters; Villains being a mediocre story about some anti-heroes against the world, with a lot of tension-building and a fun climax – this one has actually spawned a critically-acclaimed new team book that pops up every so often: the Sinister Six.

Finally I wanted to recommend Checkmate to the masses, a comic book which launched in the aftermath of Infinite Crisis and which sadly stopped running last year: It's basically a book about international politics and shady black ops manoeuvres with some super-heroics in there too. The discredited organisation Checkmate has supposedly reformed after the events of the Crisis, and has been supported by certain heroes, opposed by others. Previous members still feel it has a role in foreign policy, particularly in dealing with terrorism on an international scale. And they are then faced with impossible choices, considering their backgrounds, tense wars of words to pursue the best course of action, and operations where known spies are working alongside them.

Thus concludes my guide to this comic book event, hope you enjoyed it! Maybe some film updates will come before long....

Comics: a feature on Infinite Crisis (2006-7)

Today I thought I'd talk a bit more about DC comics, including my own brief guide to the big comic book event DC ran in 2006-7: Infinite Crisis. I guess the problem with the DC Universe is that it's hard to know where to start. Major events aren't collected in subsequent volumes, like in Fables, which deals with the whole Fable world through telling stories chronologically. In DC a character introduced in Teen Titans might turn up in Superman or JSA with little or no introduction.

OK, so, you might ask, what does DC do well then? You might count big explosive cross-overs such as the four different “Crises”, for one. Also I think the DC heroes and villains (and those in-between) often cross over from title to title more seamlessly than those in Marvel's books, which is interesting and creates a world where the bizarre and incredible seems to be going on all the time. I think there are some great writers in there too from Geoff Johns (currently writing Green Lantern, Superman and Flash) to Greg Rucka (working away on things like Checkmate – more on this later) to novelist Brad Meltzer (whose recent work on JLA: The Tornado's Path was shocking, exciting and yet very introspective, dealing with the personal journeys a few characters on the team).

So Infinite Crisis then – basically it's a great seven-issue miniseries which deals with some major threats to the world – which are seen to have come about because of the failure of the heroes to be pure and to work hard enough to protect and uphold the good in the world. It builds on several shocking storylines in modern DC comics which have shown heroes making moral compromises in the face of battle. Batman has become more paranoid, and is facing some serious errors of judgement springing from his obsession with crime-fighting, Superman has been put through the wringer through fighting new villain Ruin and letting himself be caught out by Eclipso (a magical entity), warrior for peace Wonder Woman faces the suspicion of the whole world for killing a man, and usually unstoppable superhero team JLA has split up, because of a serious betrayal of trust within the team – which sprang from some skeletons in the closet that turned up during the carefully-plotted whodunit, Identity Crisis, from a year earlier (which, incidently, is a good place for newcomers to the DC universe to start following this crisis).

One of the JLA's oldest members is missing after an explosion on the moon base of the team, and so as the story opens the Big Three (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) meet to investigate – ending up criticising each other's actions and not seeing a way forward, while the world is being over-run by an artificial intelligence worse than HAL, by chaos in the world of magic, and by a society of villains, apparently more united and purposeful than our heroes.


So what did I like about it?
- A killer opening issue, which shows how bad things have got.
- The theme of disillusionment about how to improve the world seems really relevant, where we feel we are only being reactionary to the problems in the world. Is it really possible to do something great? To make a great world, when we can't even keep friendships and open up to the people that matter?
- A good focus on the younger generation of DC's characters, Nightwing and teen Superman-clone Connor particularly, whose personal journeys really impact the corresponding older heroes, Superman and Batman, who have sunken to new lows in the early stages of the story. Wonder Woman emerges from her own shadow too, proving herself a warrior of valour, and a defender of earth. Issues 3 and 4 are great at developing the main characters while providing killer action.
- The huge scale of it, with made the writer see the necessity of putting in a "temple" scene where even heroes stop and seek their god or gods. It nicely acknowledges what a real world crisis would lead to.
- A seemingly unstoppable villain, who returns for a shocking and violent climax.
- Incredible art throughout, spectacular and emotional.
- The fact that this led to the ambitious and multi-layered epic: 52. (I guess I'm introducing you to more and more DC comics - partly to point out that, clearly, Marvel comics are not the only good ones:)

What I struggled with a little was the sheer amount of characters included without explanation of who they are and how they got there. That's probably one reason why I just didn't care about the space parts much. Some of the superpowers I really don't understand (why does the “speed force” suddenly stop working, and what is it anyway?), and I'd like to know how Black Adam (proud prince of Middle East country Kahndaq) got involved. Why is Connor just moping around at the beginning? Does anyone understand Firestorm? And these are just some of my questions!

More tomorrow on the best way to read Infinite Crisis - what is essential and what I think you should skip.

The next big thing to read in comics?

It’s been a while since I have been excited by the breadth and scope of a comic, but that is exactly where I find myself now. After reading some quite full novels like The Book Thief – and a short controversial novel perhaps unfairly critiquing America called The Reluctant Fundamentalist (which was a good quick read), I have been ready to read something more light-hearted. So I finally started on the seven-issue comic Final Crisis, a bizarre and huge story set in the world of Batman, Superman, the Question, the Flash and other DC characters, where the “new gods” take over the entire earth and usher in an era of oppression, mindlessness, submission, conformity and “anti-life”.

It all leads to a (perhaps culturally significant) moment, when Darkseid announces there is only one true god, him, the embodiment of evil sadism, the one who enslaves humanity (“all is one in him”) and inspires his loyal followers amongst the new gods to produce ever greater works of genetic horror and horrendous destruction.

Not exactly light-hearted then! But it is great as it daringly pushes each character to their limit. Green Arrow, who always gets great political lines, has a fun moment to stand up against a wave of brainwashed foes before falling. Also I liked the inclusion of the low-level villain the Tattooed Man, who, in an extra part of the story called Final Crisis: Submit, has to face his hatred of self-righteous superheroes and grudgingly accept their help. It’s nice to see a couple of characters from the horrific/fantastic Seven Soldiers of Victory series here too.

The best part I got to read was actually Superman Beyond which focused on Superman on a personal mission to rescue Lois, by going beyond the universe itself to the “bleed” which makes up the universes to carry out his role in what is described to be an inexorable story that the monitors who watch the universes may have set in motion. The story is like an immovable force, a bit like the way stories or ideas are described in Terry Pratchett. And Superman proves his “super” by knowing the secret of the story, it seems. Very weird, but pushes the boundaries.

Also connected, Batman: Last Rites builds on the previous adventures of the Dark Knight (such as The Black Casebook and Batman RIP), and while looking back at his whole life in just 2 issues, it presents a cool twist that shows the new gods a thing or two, before Bruce Wayne is vaporised and killed in the main story of Final Crisis. He really seems to be dead, by the way, and will be missing for quite a while (until the inevitable resurrection)!

Of course it does briefly reference the previous big Crisis, which seemed mainly to be about irresponsibility, both on the part of the world and its heroes - but also the irresponsibility of youth, as shown in the re-appearence of an immature and over-powered "Superboy". More thoughts on that "Infinite" Crisis are coming soon, as I've been meaning to post a kind of guide to the whole thing.

2 more book reviews & some big issues to chew on

I'm heading up a book stall at our Christmas carol service, and here are reviews of two of the books on that stall, exploring the God of Christianity, and hopefully providing answers which help people understand him and see his goodness.

What kind of God? (IVP)

Having seen Michael Ots on the front line, speaking at lunchtime talks at some of our universities, answering questions from the floor and debating with individuals afterwards, it is clear Michael is passionate at speaking to people where they are at and dealing with their questions about God. This book is based on the outcry of those he has met asking “What kind of God is it who authorises war, inspires fundamentalism in the US, punishes his own Son, represses sexuality, allows the environment to be destroyed, and condemns people to hell?”

He gives real answers to these accusations and, more than that, explains that there is a basis for saying God is good and that Jesus is 100% relevant today - in fact, that we ignore him at our peril. You don’t have to read the book in order, so if you or a friend would read even one chapter, consider picking this one up as a starting point for further discussion.

If I were God I’d end all the pain (Good Book Company)

In this book John Dickson wrestles with the question of suffering: If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why does he allow so much pain and difficulty in the world? Early on he tells us that, although the perspective of the Bible will not answer all of our questions on suffering, he thinks it is the only perspective on the world which is “not itself knocked-out by the force of this age-old question”.

Exploring the views of suffering taken by Buddhists, Muslims and then atheists, he notes their various insights and difficulties before going on to present the picture of this problem in the Bible. We are warmly encouraged to grapple with this problem and to question (or shout at) God along with the writer of Psalms in the Old Testament, and to learn of the way God has provided for us to bring us comfort and help, also promising to one day bring to an end the suffering of his people. The book gives us a glimpse of the plan of God for the world according to the Bible - then, it is up to the reader to decide whether this really does hold true or not. John Dickson “keeps it real” too with examples from films like The Truman Show and real-world tragedies he has spoken to people about, read in the news or those that have affected him personally.

Book reviews - and the real God worth knowing

As we start to think about filling in Christmas cards, and prepare for the Christmas period, here is the first of some books I've reviewed which should get you thinking about God at this time of year, - because I know He can get squeezed out of our thoughts all too easily but I believe it is actually immeasurably important to be moving towards a close, dependent relationship with Him. I hope these books we help you see more of this, and more of Him.

First up: But is it Real?

In this short book Amy Orr-Ewing tackles in quick succession 10 real objections people have to the Christian faith. Each objection has come from someone she has met (a student, a mechanic, a taxi-driver) and they include “What about the spiritual experience of people in other religions?” and “Your ‘experience of God’ is a delusion”.

She treats each statement carefully to get to the heart of the matter - using lots of real-life stories - before going on to claim that it is possible and desirable to have a relationship with the God of the Bible, and that it does not require us to throw our minds into the bin! For instance, she claims it is possible to have respect for people with other beliefs while disagreeing firmly with the content of those beliefs. She exposes the problems with atheism and points to the wealth of intelligent people (including Nobel-prize-winning scientists) who claim to have experienced a relationship with the true God as revealed in the Bible. Leading us through some of the claims of Christianity, she encourages us to approach God for ourselves, as the Bible promises that if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us.

More books coming soon, approaching the subjects of God, religion and life from some intriguing angles...