Skip to main content

Graphic Novel Nerds Of The World, Unite


So if you're a true nerd like me, you are fully aware that the term graphic novel is code for comic book. And that ultimately, such terms are meaningless, provided that the material is solid, the characters are well-drawn (literally and figuratively), the narrative is compelling, and so forth. Which is why my comic book brain was blown last week with three announcements:

1) Disney buys Marvel Comics for billions of bucks. [And yes, I worry about theme-park-driven homogenization of some of the more edgy Marvel fare, but let's face it: DC's Vertigo is the true home for edgy mainstream-ish comics. Marvel is the Disney of the comic world, so the merger makes perfect sense. Now maybe we'll finally see a Pixar version of Doctor Strange, with the original psychedelic Steve Ditko art as the visual template. Or maybe someone can tackle Moon Knight, Marvel's multiple-personality/occult version of Batman.]

2) The Walking Dead (the Image comic from Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard) gets optioned as an AMC television series for the 2010 season. [At the risk of showing my acronym age, OMFG. I've always thought TWD could be a monster of a cable television program, and who should pick it up but the network responsible for Breaking Bad and Mad Men? And to top it off, Frank Darabont (The Green Mile, The Mist) is attached to write/produce/direct installments, and he's a dude who knows his way around horror-laced drama. Kirkman has said that he will stay as involved as possible, too, which means his artistic sensibility should reach the small screen intact. And as a pitch for my home state as location site, what better backdrop for post-apocalyptic decay than present-day Michigan? Shit, it already looks like the zombies are here.]

3) A film version of Scott Pilgrim, starring Michael Cera as SP and directed by Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead), is set for a 2010 release. [Again, OMFG. The story of Scott Pilgram (pictured above) is a so-far-five-volume romp through the life of a young Canadian slacker-ish musician whose life is turned upside down by an Amazon messenger named Ramona. To win Ramona's hand in love and woo, Scott must defeat a slew of evil ex-boyfriends while playing in the band, finding a place to live, and even getting a job by accident. And that weak-ass description doesn't do justice to the mix of acute lovesick detail, video-game and RPG references, nods to Eastern and Western animation, and a general sense of playfulness that permeates the Scott Pilgrim series. Throw in the most perfectest actor and director one could imagine, and sublime joys should await.]

I must admit that it's kinda odd that some of my youthful geek pursuits have now graduated to the mainstream, but it's not a bad thing in the slightest if artistic endeavours of high merit and imagination get attention, no matter the format. It's nice to be on the inside of a curve for once.

Or, as Scott Pilgrim would say, "YES!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NBC -- Never Believe Contracts

Whatever side you're falling on in the recent NBC late-night "deck chairs on the Titanic " shuffle, you have to admit it's been good comedy for all parties involved. While Letterman and Craig Ferguson have been sharp (especially Letterman, who has been gleeful in his "I told you so" vitriol), the best bits have come from Leno and O'Brien. Evidence: It's hard to follow all the angles here, but two things are clear: NBC violated Leno's contract (guaranteeing the 10pm slot), and NBC didn't violate O'Brien's contract (which made no time slot guarantees). So it's not hard to see who the loser here will be. O'Brien won't get the show he wants, Leno will step into a hollow echo of his past success, and tens of millions of dollars will be up in the air. Only Jimmy Fallon will continue to gestate his talent relatively unmolested, and his security is merely a function of the low expectations of his time slot. Meanwhile, CBS (a
Post a Comment
Read more

"The Silver Gun" by Robert Palmer (1983)

I mean...Urdu? Seriously, Urdu . On an already eclectic and worldly album -- Pride , from 1983 -- "The Silver Gun" closes a chapter in Robert Palmer's career by singing a song about a horse in a language spoken daily by over 100 million people. The liquid bass line and propulsive electronics set out a bedrock for Palmer to ping phrasings rather out of place in Western music, askew astride even the peripatetic minimalism of the rest of the record. Somehow, in the middle of Michigan's Appalachia, I had this on vinyl a few years before the CD era officially commenced. It was an album of effort -- even the cover, a pointillism-and-bronze work, had Palmer's head barely above the water -- but the stitches didn't show to my pre-adolescent eyes and ears. In a career marked by zigs and zags, Pride and "The Silver Gun" were most certainly Other, and for a kid that felt like he didn't belong much of anywhere, it was nice to have those discrete feeling
Post a Comment
Read more

"I'll Drive You Home"

Upon reflection, I’ve had a fortunate life in the area of work. As a freshly minted teenager, I would visit Evergreen Park Grocery and dream of someday working there like my father did, and at the age of 14, I got $2/hour to live out that dream, such as it was. From there, I yearned to try other occupations, from record stores to teaching, and I’d be chuffed to tell Young Erick that both of those things happened in due course. ( Oh, and Young Erick, one of them got you to meet David Bowie, and one of them got you to own houses and cars, so I’ll let you ponder on which one was better. ) I even got to DJ a bit here and there, and while it never hit the heights of a professional radio gig, it was certainly better than the summer I played preset cassettes on my boom box for a nerd camp dance while my unrequited crush stayed in her room. What I never crossed off my professional life list was acting, either regular or voice, but while I still yearn for that big breakthrough -- seriously, ask
Post a Comment
Read more