Once again it's been a while. My interests have shifted away from games a bit and more into comics and graphic novels. I got half a dozen games around Christmas, and I've finished Gears of War 3, and I'm still playing Demon's Souls. I've also had a few ideas for graphic novels, so I've been trying to do a bit of research on how to write them (I don't want to illustrate them, because I am horrible at drawing). As such, I went to my first Comic Con here in Adelaide over the weekend.
Despite going on my own as none of the friends who I thought might be interested were able to, it was still a great day. I saw Bill Farmer, who has played the voice of Goofy for the last 25 years, Sean Schemmel who plays the voice of Goku and various other Dragon Ball Z characters, and Debi whose last name I forget. She plays the voice of Jimmy Neutron. While this panel wasn't something I was particularly interested IN, it was still pretty interesting nonetheless. Dragonball Z fans seem like they can get pretty crazy...
I briefly saw Sean Astin, I didn't go to his panel, just saw the end of it. He was mainly talking about Lord of The Rings, though he did field a question about Toy Soldiers, and I'm keen to see that movie again now. I went to a panel for Matt Doran, who is not a major actor but has been in some big films. He was a regular quite some time ago on Home and Away, an Australian soap (as Damien for those who know it), he also played Mouse in The Matrix, been in Thin Red Line, and played a small role in Stars Wars 2. There were only about a dozen people in the audience, and I had to leave about halfway through to get a train... I felt like such a bastard having to leave halfway through with an audience like that.
The setup of the place was pretty good, though I don't have anything to compare it to (note to self : Buy ticket in advance next year so I don't have to line up for 45 minutes). There was a massive blister pack for want of a better term for Star Wars, so you could stand inside it and have your picture taken, as though you were an action figure hanging on a shelf for someone to buy. I had a brief nerd moment when I saw some original animation cels for He-Man, but decided against it. Cosplay was out in force, and I saw Batman, Robin, The Punisher, Thor, Captain America, Naruto, Ellen Ripley with an alien bursting from her chest Alien 3 style, various zombies, Wonder Woman, storm troopers, Mario, Link, Master Chief, a Minecraft person and a bunch of stuff I didn't recognise, in particular all the manga I'm not familiar with. It was also cool that some of the security were dressed up as SWAT.
I had a good talk with Dave DeVries, a long time Adelaidean author of comics and screenplays. I found this really useful, he was more than willing to give me his time and I appreciated that. He also threw in a comic of his that I was willing to pay for, so that was awesome. I think what I got from the majority of the panels is that a lot of people are interested in drawing, but not so much the writing side. As I want to learn the craft, one of the ways is to examine what I'm reading, and the best way for me to do that is to write about what I'm reading. So here goes for some stuff I've been reading lately.
NewUniversal – Warren Ellis
I've really enjoyed what I've read by Warren Ellis so far (The Authority & Planetary) so I checked to see what my local library had. I understand that this is like a 'remake' of a previous series with the same name. This collects the first 6 issues. Something called the White Event occurs, some sort of cosmic event. Select individuals seem to be imbued with superpowers after this event. Some sort of sentience is trying to integrate our universe into the NewUniversal structure, and those imbued with those superpowers are the tools required to help do so. Meanwhile, covert government agencies have implemented certain protocols for instances just like this... because they have happened before. It seems that the premise of the book may be survival, because the protocols implemented indicate that if superpowered beings are allowed to thrive, then Darwinism will dictate humans are no longer required.
The storytelling is well done. There is nothing terribly subtle but nothing beats you over the head either, and Ellis trusts the reader to be able to put everything together. Every page or two something else is revealed about the players involved, which keeps you wanting to turn the page. At the end of the last issue in this collection, the government has decided on their next course of action, and I'm interested in seeing how that pans out. The library doesn't have the next collection, but I'm happy to buy this collection of books.
Fell – Warren Ellis
A search of Warren Ellis also turned this up at the library, a detective noirish book. Detective Fell has just moved to Snowtown (which I expect is a fictional US town, it isn't the Adelaide one infamous for its murders). At first I wasn't loving this, but the further I got into it, the more I enjoyed it. It's certainly got a lot of quirk, and that is the charm of this book. What is exceptional is the dialogue. Out of context, lines like "He was an alcoholic son of a **** Satan's going to be humping him right in the bunghole for the next million years, you mark my words. I love Jesus." sound ridiculous, but in context of the whole story and alongside the art, it really works. It's not just the stuff that Detective Feel investigates, it's that the rest of the world is populated with weird characters, like the PD receptionist whose husband left her for the dog, and the coroner who eats a piece of tomato after it falls into a corpse. Once again, I'd love to see more just so I can see what other weird characters Ellis comes up with that cross paths with detective Fell.
I've realised I haven't really touched on the story itself. Snowtown is a hole. For reasons not yet made clear to us, Detective Fell has been transferred to Snowtown, the impression given is that something went down and he isn't welcome across the bridge (where that is is unknown, supposedly to imply that it could be the closest dank suburb to you).Corpses turn up dead on the banks of the river frequently, and many residents of Snowtown are cagey or dodgy. Fell is a good detective, and he doesn't want to let things slide like everyone else does in Snowtown. So it is about his struggle with that, and figuring out where he belongs in Snowtown. From mad bomb men to wine enemas and poop injections this book is a bit of a trip.
Batman : The Killing Joke – Alan Moore
Alan Moore is one of the most well known comic book writers (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell). I'll admit that I'm not that familiar with Batman when it comes to comics. Sure, I've seen Batman Begins and Dark Knight and loved them, but I don't know how far removed they are from the comic books they are based on. As is implied by the title, the main adversary in this story is The Joker. The book wastes no time getting into things. Batman goes to Arkham Asylum and sits opposite The Joker. It's an interesting attempt by Batman to confront The Joker, Batman has made an assessment, figures that if they keep doing what they are doing one day one of them will kill the other. He doesn't want it on his conscience that he didn't at least try and prevent that from happening. Turns out it isn't actually The Joker, but someone dressed as him, and The Joker has escaped.
The Joker is really the star of this book. We see some flashbacks into his past, which fill us in on what led to his damaged psyche up until the day contaminated water changed him forever. And he wants to prove that good men can become mad if they have a bad day, and Commissioner Gordon bears the brunt of this attempt. We are all just a bad day away from being mad according to the Joker. His dialogue as he tries to prove his point is well thought out and provides depth to his character. I won't give away the end, but it left me wondering exactly what Alan Moore was trying to tell us. But I think I like those open ended stories because it provokes thought.
Any comics or graphic novels that you guys are reading?