The Twelve : Spearhead is a one-shot 'apology' comic. You see, The Twelve is a twelve part mini-series from Marvel starring some lesser known heroes from the World War Two era. The problem is that issue eight of twelve came out months ago and issue nine is still to come. This issue is a 'please stay interested in the mini-series, we promise to finish it honest' prequel to the mini-series. Chris Weston's art is excellent, detailed without losing a cartoony edge. The story puts the characters in Europe near the end of the war and features visits from the Howling Commandos and Captain America. Good stuff. It did remind me of everything I enjoyed from the mini-series and just makes me more annoyed that it's not done yet.
Savage Dragon #158 is mid way through the 'Dragon War' storyline. What brought us to this point is complicated and I won't try to explain it all. The issue has caused me to reflect on the series a bit. No matter what you may think about writer/artist Erik Larsen's work, I believe it can be agreed that he keeps moving forward. His characters aren't set in stone, resetting themselves every so often like sitcom characters or other comic book stars. Dragon's situation changes every so often and never returns to a 'default' position. Right now, Dragon's personality has changed. In a normal comic, the expectation would be that at the end of the story, this would get fixed, he'd get hit on the head with a coconut or somesuch, but here, there's no reason to believe we'll get Dragon back as we once knew him. It's very interesting and should be saluted.
Web of Spider-Man #6 provides us some insight into the origins of the Lizard as well as the Man-Thing, tying the two characters together. This works better than I expected. Nothing's really changed, just some details added to both beginnings to make them work that much better.
Transformers - Bumblebee ends with issue #4. Bumblebee has more guilt, there's a fight, there's a gamble, ... and is that Goldbug? I enjoyed this book as the 'additional information' it seems to have been intended to be compared to the standard Transformers monthly book. Nice clear art and a simple story with enough twists and turns to make it interesting.
Peter Parker often jokes that he has bad luck. In the Amazing Spider-Man #624 he doesn't have bad luck so much as he makes a mistake, a big mistake, and gets caught. His intentions were good but the action was wrong. The reactions of other characters to this are well within character. All I can say at this point is 'ouch'.
13 March 2010
11 March 2010
'Why now?'
Last week, while hanging out at the shop, I got a text message from another buddy, commenting on the episode of Doctor Who he'd just watched. As I was talking with a fellow fan, I showed him the text as well. After a moment of being pleased that the texter was watching the show, I was asked 'Why now?'
Lester, for that is his name, had an interesting point. I've been watching Doctor Who for nearly thirty years now. Having grown up in Jamaica when the series first aired there, Lester's been watching it for longer than that, having gotten to see episodes that no longer exist in their visual form. After all our polite support of the series over the years, after all the fan fiction I'd written, after everything else, why do I know so many people giving the show a try and getting so on board with it?
Looking back on the original run of the series, I can see why it might have been difficult to get into for many people. The episodes from the 1960s are in black and white, having a different pace than modern television. The episodes from the 1970s have wonky special effects, often deemed important in the post-Star Wars world. The episodes from the 1980s are a mix of good, completely wonky ('Time Flight' any one?), or so filled with continuity that fans need diagrams to work it all out ('Attack of the Cybermen' springs to mind). Watch the wrong episode and it can be easy to be turned off.
The length that the programme ran could also be intimidating. 26 years, 700 some episodes (even with 108 still visually missing), as well as books and magazines and such can be very overwhelming. I do remember talking to people and them expressing the feeling that they would need to 'know too much' in order to understand it. The style of longer stories over four or six or however many episodes held back some. Testing the show required a time investment that many found insurmountable.
If all that is the case, then why do so many new fans of the show dip into the 'classic' series as well? Why did sales of the 'classic' series on DVD jump once the new series became popular?
The 'Rosetta Stone' effect.
It's happened to me with bands before. I'd hear a song and wouldn't care for it. After it got into rotation, I'd start to hate it. Why did other people like this so much?
Then the band would come out with a new song. I'd hear it and like it. Wow! That was that band I didn't like? Really? I'd listen to the original song and the whatever I didn't like about it, the singer's voice or a hook, suddenly worked for me. I liked it now as well. Now I understood the appeal.
That's what I think is happening here. The traditional aspects of Doctor Who transferred from the classic series to the current one so that older fans can see it's largely the same show (even if there are parts of it they don't care for) and newer fans can look back on older episodes and see some of what they like in there (even if the effects are often rubbish to new eyes). The rest of the current series reflects how television is made today, and the BBC supports it in words and money like they rarely did before. Shorter stories, a faster pace, an emotional core, better effects are all there to draw the modern viewer in to this universe. The format of Doctor Who is flexible enough to survive this 'regeneration' intact.
Much like it has survived in the past when television has changed. When the show started being filmed in colour, started seeing more action sequences, became darker, or became a series of novels to keep the torch alive. Much like it will change in the future as needed, given the chance.
Because that's what the Doctor does best, adapt and survive. Okay, well, what he does best is save the universe with an eraser, a piece of string, a crystal from a far off planet, his Sonic Screwdriver, and a joke, but let's not split hairs, hmm?
Lester, for that is his name, had an interesting point. I've been watching Doctor Who for nearly thirty years now. Having grown up in Jamaica when the series first aired there, Lester's been watching it for longer than that, having gotten to see episodes that no longer exist in their visual form. After all our polite support of the series over the years, after all the fan fiction I'd written, after everything else, why do I know so many people giving the show a try and getting so on board with it?
Looking back on the original run of the series, I can see why it might have been difficult to get into for many people. The episodes from the 1960s are in black and white, having a different pace than modern television. The episodes from the 1970s have wonky special effects, often deemed important in the post-Star Wars world. The episodes from the 1980s are a mix of good, completely wonky ('Time Flight' any one?), or so filled with continuity that fans need diagrams to work it all out ('Attack of the Cybermen' springs to mind). Watch the wrong episode and it can be easy to be turned off.
The length that the programme ran could also be intimidating. 26 years, 700 some episodes (even with 108 still visually missing), as well as books and magazines and such can be very overwhelming. I do remember talking to people and them expressing the feeling that they would need to 'know too much' in order to understand it. The style of longer stories over four or six or however many episodes held back some. Testing the show required a time investment that many found insurmountable.
If all that is the case, then why do so many new fans of the show dip into the 'classic' series as well? Why did sales of the 'classic' series on DVD jump once the new series became popular?
The 'Rosetta Stone' effect.
It's happened to me with bands before. I'd hear a song and wouldn't care for it. After it got into rotation, I'd start to hate it. Why did other people like this so much?
Then the band would come out with a new song. I'd hear it and like it. Wow! That was that band I didn't like? Really? I'd listen to the original song and the whatever I didn't like about it, the singer's voice or a hook, suddenly worked for me. I liked it now as well. Now I understood the appeal.
That's what I think is happening here. The traditional aspects of Doctor Who transferred from the classic series to the current one so that older fans can see it's largely the same show (even if there are parts of it they don't care for) and newer fans can look back on older episodes and see some of what they like in there (even if the effects are often rubbish to new eyes). The rest of the current series reflects how television is made today, and the BBC supports it in words and money like they rarely did before. Shorter stories, a faster pace, an emotional core, better effects are all there to draw the modern viewer in to this universe. The format of Doctor Who is flexible enough to survive this 'regeneration' intact.
Much like it has survived in the past when television has changed. When the show started being filmed in colour, started seeing more action sequences, became darker, or became a series of novels to keep the torch alive. Much like it will change in the future as needed, given the chance.
Because that's what the Doctor does best, adapt and survive. Okay, well, what he does best is save the universe with an eraser, a piece of string, a crystal from a far off planet, his Sonic Screwdriver, and a joke, but let's not split hairs, hmm?
09 March 2010
It's Not All Fun Today
I had something much more fun to talk about today but something else has come up, something pressing. I'm in mourning.
They're closing my Best Buy.
I walked in today to pick up a thing or two and was confused at the crowd in the parking lot. Everything left in the store, well almost, is on clearance. Stuff was flying out of that store. No new stuff unfortunately and the cuts weren't deep enough for me to take advantage of at the moment. Wish I had the $300 to drop on an LCD TV though.
This is the store that many of my friends worked at, that my brother worked at. This is the store that I bought so many CDs and DVDs at, the store where I got to be smarter than the average bear, the store I would wander around, haunt even.
Soon it will be gone. I miss it already.
They're closing my Best Buy.
I walked in today to pick up a thing or two and was confused at the crowd in the parking lot. Everything left in the store, well almost, is on clearance. Stuff was flying out of that store. No new stuff unfortunately and the cuts weren't deep enough for me to take advantage of at the moment. Wish I had the $300 to drop on an LCD TV though.
This is the store that many of my friends worked at, that my brother worked at. This is the store that I bought so many CDs and DVDs at, the store where I got to be smarter than the average bear, the store I would wander around, haunt even.
Soon it will be gone. I miss it already.
08 March 2010
Music Monday - Muppets!
I love it when my interests crash together and make some weird new thing. Much of this must come from my love of the Muppet Show as a child as they brought in some truly odd guest stars and made it work on a weirdly weekly basis. Some guests weren't all that weird but their song choice may have been, like Johnny Cash from the fifth season:
But a weird guest? A truly odd guest? Vincent Price! And he's singing?!?
I still think it's a shame that Tom Baker was never a guest on the Muppet Show. They filmed in England, he's so delightfully unique, it would have been a fun show. This came full circle in the revived Who series when the Doctor expressed a fondness for the Muppets. Somehow that led someone to create this next video. Most fan videos are pretty, well, crummy. This one is actually clever. Which is nice.
But a weird guest? A truly odd guest? Vincent Price! And he's singing?!?
I still think it's a shame that Tom Baker was never a guest on the Muppet Show. They filmed in England, he's so delightfully unique, it would have been a fun show. This came full circle in the revived Who series when the Doctor expressed a fondness for the Muppets. Somehow that led someone to create this next video. Most fan videos are pretty, well, crummy. This one is actually clever. Which is nice.
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