The Dark Knight:

It’s been a week and a day since I saw Dark Knight, and that has given me some time to consider it in detail.  In that time, I’ve talked with a good dozen people who have seen it, and twice that number who want to see it.  The people who have watched it or want to have ranged from hard-core comic fans to everyone else, making this Batman franchise another true crossover hit.

In talking with folks, and reading other reviews, some things become clear about this movie.  First, it’s not for kids, and it probably deserved an R rating rather than the PG13 it got.  Second, the casting is brilliant, giving ample screen time to Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Aaron Eckhart.  Third, even if Heath Ledger had not tragically died, granting him posthumous attention, his performance as the Joker would be the stuff of cinematic legend.  All this is true, and well reported by innumerable other reviewers.

If anything, I feel at a bit of a loss here.  I’m used to defending the underdog movies and overlooked genius, but this film puts me in the position of loving a gargantuan blockbuster of a movie!  The pacing was crisp, the plot was very tight, and dialogue was focused and to the point, the camera work was spot on, etc.  I was entertained from beginning to end of the movie, and I never grew restless or bored.  At times I was uncomfortable or horrified, and at other times I laughed.

One young lady I spoke with said that Christian Bale’s Batman voice, which is gravelly and harsh, became distracting and funny to her.  Maybe I can agree, but maybe not.  Even she agreed that this assumed mannerism was important to the character of Batman.

I’ve always been partial to Mark Hamill’s take on the Joker, as seen in many of the Batman cartoons.  Heath Ledger took the character in a different direction.  Ledger’s Joker made no attempt to be humorous—he was deadly serious, and in many ways seemed to be the sanest person in Gotham.  His Joker truly did not care if he lived or died.  In the climactic final battle, for example, the Joker stands in the middle of the street and dares Batman to run him over.  “Do it, do it…” whispers the Joker.  He has nothing to loose, and he’s into any pain anyone can dish out.  He is a true agent of chaos, with a smirking, teasing Truman Capote-like voice.

The Joker explains his philosophy, and it’s straight out of “Batman: The Killing Joke” by Alan Moore.  In essence, even the proudest and bravest are but one bad day away from dropping to the Joker’s level. 

In parting, I think it’s worthwhile to mention that Aaron Eckhart is outstanding.  I’ve been watching this actor since “Thank You For Smoking,” and he’s destined for great things.  If Dark Knight hadn’t been bursting with such outstanding talent, it would have been Eckhart everyone would have been talking about, not Heath Ledger. 

Could I give an A+ for the Dark Knight?  It would be a first for me if I did.  Yet, I cannot think of any reason to not give this movie an A+. 

Grade: A+

Hi, Friends!

Lacking, as I am, any truly random thoughts tonight, I have decided to instead ply you with a short review of Grant Morrison’s and Andy Kubert’s “Batman and Son” trade paperback.  I’ll let you know right off the bat (hehehe) that I enjoyed this book.  It’s Batman, right?  Why wouldn’t I love this book?  Well, I fail to enjoy many of the Batman projects that are published, which is one of the reasons I quit buying monthly comics and wait for the trades.  The real question should be, ‘why’ did I enjoy it?

Could it be the writer?  Grant Morrison is my favorite comic writer, and I’ve often said that he is the smartest man in the world.  I’ve also mentioned in the past that he’s the real deal, or that he’s pulling the wool over our eyes and laughing his way to the bank.  Either way, I am real fan.  I originally got into Grant by reading ‘The Invisibles,’ an absolutely insane, brilliant, and revolutionary work that I make of point of re-reading in its entirety every year.  I believe it was my third reading where I started to get a clue as to what it was about.  Or not!  If Grant Morrison really is the smartest man in the world, then I may well be deluding myself!  Morrison’s run on JLA was magnificent, and the series was never the same after he left.  Animal Man was outstanding, and it really introduced American readers to a style of meta-fiction that was not well known on this side of the Atlantic, at least not for comic readers.  I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here.  I will say that it was not solely for the writing that I enjoyed “Batman and Son.”

Could it be the artist?  Andy Kubert is very skilled storyteller, with dynamics out the metaphorical wazzoo!  His characters twist, and bend, and wildly foreshorten, all while looking very cool indeed.  But, no, the art wasn’t what I enjoyed about this book the most.

No, what I enjoyed about “Batman and Son” was that DC was willing to take such a giant leap in continuity!  Characters that are decades old can be very resistant to change; characters that date from the Great Depression especially so!  The introduction of Damien, the clearly sociopathic eight-year-old son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul adds such a cool dimension to the Bat mythos.  The concept was originally explored in “Batman: Son of the Demon,” a long out-of-continuity graphic novel by Mike W. Barr. 

Changing old characters is risky business, and adding additional layers to their back-stories often fails.  Sometimes it works, as in Frank Miller’s “Daredevil” run.  Other times, it fails, as in the Spider-Man “Clone Saga.”  This time, it appears that a forgotten footnote in Batman lore has come back into continuity.

The only thing I didn’t care for was the prose Joker story that split the book up.  Sure, it was interesting, but it was just as likely to be forgotten by all future Bat writers.  The digital art by John Van Fleet wasn’t my thing, either.  I’ve seen Van Fleet produce some very interesting, even haunting art before, but his foray into Poser looked awkward in many places to me. 

So, overall I give “Batman and Son” an A- grade.

A new week is upon us, and my poor brain is a-whirl with the possibilities!  Or, maybe I’m just dizzy . . . sometimes it’s hard to tell.

I went to the Indiana State Fair yesterday, and I marched around for about six hours with a Johnny Saturn t-shirt on.  This might have once seemed a bit odd to me, but then I saw a multitude of people wearing shirts with Batman or Superman or Green Lantern emblems, and a host of other DC or Marvel licensed likenesses.  Well, I had Johnny Saturn on, so I get all the cool, Indie cred!

There were a lot of groups displaying what they do and how to join them in the “Our Land” building: “Our Land,” of course, meant “Indiana” in this context.  I was less than delighted to find they had cockroach racing, live veterinarian demonstrations neutering live animals, and some crazy sculptor making a two-ton cheese sculpture.  At first, I wondered why the Indiana Web Cartoonists didn’t have a table there, but then I figured they couldn’t possibly compete with live operations on a dog.  (No, I did not stay and watch the operation.  Once the vet drew an incision line on the dog’s shaved belly, I was out of there!).  I can also say that I was uncomfortable with the wastefulness of the ridiculous cheese sculpture, even though the artist claimed that it would all be re-processed as a binding agent for animal feed.

Anyway, Benita and friend Sandy sat spinning and promoting the benefits of the fiber arts in the “Our Land” pavilion for four hours.  They had good crowds, and educated the public on what they were doing.  Modern people are a long way from the farm, and seeing people spinning, weaving, or practicing any of the other traditional crafts is a new experience to them.  According to Benita, one fellow didn’t know what a sheep looked like, and attempts to tell him simply further confused the matter.

In the Family Arts Building, I had the chance to wonder through the art entries at leisure.  It seemed that a reasonably large percentage of these works were done by artists associated with the Indianapolis Art Center, and I recognized many of the names of people I knew as well as many of the models I had often drawn in the pictures themselves.  It had never occurred to me to enter work in the state fair, but apparently I was somewhat unique in that oversight.  Still, because of the subjected nature of judging this type of event, it seemed that many works of stunning beauty or powerful artistic statement were overlooked.  I guess this is how it often is, but still…

Yet, I wonder, isn’t that subjective nature representative of the artist’s life?  Once we put our work out in the public eye, we can’t control how the public perceives it, or what it does or does not mean to them.  There’s some deeper wisdom to found in this observation, I’m sure of it, but it escapes me at the moment.

Scott.

Blog post for 11/7/2008 4:56:45 PM
Spotlight on: Johnny Saturn by Scott and Benita Story

This spotlight is on Johnny Saturn a graphic novel webcomic by Scott & Benita Story. It’s a superhero comic but let’s not get fooled by thinking it’s your run of the mill Saturday morning superhero cartoon or Marvel/DC comic that pretends to be edgy.

Johnny Saturn IS edgy. It has complicated and well thought out plots. Citizens and supers alike have enough thought put into each and every one of them that you imagine this was written as a book and put into graphic novel form.

I can only compare Johnny Saturn with Batman from DC… if Batman actually wasn’t a pansy who never got hurt. Ever notice how Batman never *really* get’s hurt… in ALL those fights he’s had his body isn’t torn up with scar’s and traces of fighting, if there ever was a fight and he got hurt, two panels later he’s fine and dandy.    Johnny isn’t and it shows that he’s worked hard to protect the innocent.

My song pick for Johnny Saturn will probably surprise Scott Story himself who suggested alot of older 70′s style songs.   This song by Oingo Boingo really struck me with it’s fast  individualistic energy and determination.   .. “Who Do You Want to Be” by Oingo Boingo.

To read this with all the pretty pictures and music included, please go to this link

Setting Realistic Expectations:

When I first began to seriously draw comics, I gave myself six years to break into the big time—I was aiming at Marvel and DC, and anything less simply would not do. That six-year break-in period came and went years ago, and I spent a lot of time in turmoil, feeling as if other artists had taken my well-deserved place at the top of the food chain.

As you have probably already surmised, I needed a serious attitude adjustment. I had made all sorts of ridiculous assumptions, and I had based my self-worth as an artist on them. For example, I believed that the only way to have a worthwhile career was to work for Marvel or DC, which is simply untrue

Another fallacy was that I spent more time waiting around for the opportunity to break big, and less time actually drawing. I think I believed that if I could attach myself to the right writer, or meet the right editor, or create the perfect submission package, then I would be vaulted to stardom. Once again, I was simply wrong.

At some point I changed my mind, and I came to the conclusion that I could have a full and exciting cartooning career in the indy/small press scene, and that it would be better to produce the comics I love and publish them myself. I wasn’t looking anymore for someone else to grant me my big break—I was doing what I wanted to do in the first place, and that was drawing comics and getting them into people’s hands. This time it depended on my work ethic, not the blessing of some editor. I had taken control of the situation.

I had changed my expectations. You could say that I had scaled down my goals to something I could achieve, and you would be right, of course. But, consider this: There are only a limited number of jobs in the big two, and a huge collection of people who are capable of doing those jobs. If you get one of those assignments, great; if you don’t, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t good enough; it doesn’t even mean that you aren’t the best artist trying for that gig. If anything, it probably most depends on who you do or don’t know. Your self worth should not be based on these long odds.

Recently, America went through another harrowing presidential election. There was no shortage of qualified men and women trying for that job. People who wanted to become the next president wanted it very, very much, yet only one person could cross that finish line. With every election, life-long dreams are made or broken. Does this mean the candidates who didn’t get elected are of no worth? Obviously not.

I haven’t sent a submission package to Marvel or DC since 2000, and I don’t expect I will again. It would be great to get tapped to do some work for these publishing giants, but that would be a feather in my cap, not the cap itself.

So, that’s me. I love self-publishing, and I love working on our own, creator-owned properties. How about you? Are you goals achievable?

Consider it this way—Are your goals something that you can go out and simply do, making it happen if you put you heart into it? Or, are you depending on a stroke of luck or a one-in-a-million break to achieve your heart’s desire? As an example, if your goal is to become a kick-ass musician, and entertain people, that is doable. If your goal is to become a superstar musician and get inducted into the Rock-&-Roll Hall of Fame, then you have set yourself up for bitterness and disappointment.

I would never tell someone not to shoot for the stars—obviously, some people do become huge stars and experience tremendous good fortune. What I am saying is that you should choose an achievable goal, and if you over-achieve, then good on you.

Scott.

This review popped up in my incoming links, and I thought it was well written and thought out.  In fact, I feel like the writer, Crackwalker, ‘gets’ our comic.

Johnny Saturn by Scott Story and Benita Story
(http://johnnysaturn.com/)

Superheroes have been seeing a renaissance since Hugh Jackman first popped his claws back in 2000. The potential of the genre has been increased as these stories have broken out of the confines of nerdy obscurity, and they have become familiar to a wider audience. There’s been an explosion of interest in masks and capes as people are cluing in to the huge potential of this storytelling form, a modern-day mythology that allows us to reflect on the big issues while delivering heroic thrills.

Many of these characters have been used and abused over the years. There are many superhero stories that don’t bother trying to reach for mythological greatness, but instead wallow in cheap commercialism. And there are very few that reach for the great height achieved by Alan Moore in Watchmen. Enter Johnny Saturn. It’s bloody, it’s rough around the edges, and it’s epic. Scott and Benita Story take the superhero story into a place that’s both dark & gritty while still being earnest & heartfelt.

The story begins with the funeral of Johnny Saturn, where are grateful city pays its respects to their fallen hero. We are introduced to a world that has superheroes as a part of its culture, as a combination of celebrity and additional level of law enforcement/national defense. This motif is familiar to those that read conventional comics from Marvel or DC. But rather than set up a status-quo and then return to it, the universe of Johnny Saturn evolves and changes as it progresses through the chapters.

The quality of the comic also evolves. I’ve said this elsewhere; for me, this is one of the joys of webcomics, the diamonds-in-the-rough. The joy of witnessing talent in a raw form, people working on something just because they love it. Johnny Saturn is a labour of love. This is evident in every panel. Part of what kept me clicking ‘next’ was the sense of urgency that is imbued into this work. The author was driven to create this comic, as driven as the titular character is on his mission of vigilante justice.

So yes, it’s a bit rough around the edges. Hell, it’s rough in the center as well. Professional work is always guaranteed to be of a certain level, but it’s also guaranteed to stay within certain boundaries. The plot of this comic goes out of bounds for the usual superhero story. Waaay out of bounds. I admit I was lost in the wilderness at some points. Not knowing what’s going to happen next is a kind of thrill that can be hard to find in printed comics. I would assert that this is a good thing, and it’s what makes this story transcend the bounds of popular fiction. It strives to become something more; if art is too strong a word, then literature at least.

Does it hit the mark? Not exactly, but it reaches for it. And that makes it well worth the price of admission.

posted by Crackwalker at 5:44 PM

My early Christmas present this year is “Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel” by Dave Gibbons and Chip Kidd.  This is a particularly stunning book, and it includes a lot of the thumbnails, script pages, and early character designs for the characters.  It also includes such treats as the publication history behind the Watchmen, and personal anecdotes from Gibbons.

For me, the most exciting part of this is the look under the hood it provides us for a glimpse at the creative process of these great cartoonists.  Not only does it explain how Gibbons penciled, inked, and lettered Watchmen, but why he adopted the nine-panel grid, his workflow, and even the type of pens he used for inking.  This kind of information is invaluable and inspirational for cartoonists.

John Higgins was the series colorist, and I don’t think you can praise him enough for the work he did on Watchmen.  Working within the confines of pre-digital coloring, Higgins did an incredible job of amplifying the comic and making its message that much more clear.  Back then, color guides had CMYK codes jotted down all of the pages, and then a group of unnamed workers would cut out the combination of films to make that printing possible.

What the book does not include is Alan Moore.  Mr. Moore, arguably the most influential comic writer alive, has studiously avoided getting caught up in the pre-movie hype around Watchmen.  Moore’s feud with DC is well known, as is his habit of disassociating himself (and his name) from any of the movies that have been developed off his comics.  (If memory serves correctly, that includes From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and V for Vendetta.)  While we can admire Alan Moore’s ideas, it’s a second or third-hand type of admiration.

This book is a large, dust-jacketed coffee table book.  It is beautifully designed and printed, and quite weighty, giving you the feeling that you have bought something of substance.

Saturday I watched the Watchmen.  I was moved by this movie.

For the sake of full disclosure, I was already primed to enjoy the movie, having read the graphic novel many times.  As you can tell from Johnny Saturn, I have no allusions that superheroes are perfect or beacons of morality.  In fact, I’ve long been convinced that the world these costumed vigilantes inhabit is dark, gritty, grimy, and oh-so-unsavory.  I also believe that superhero stories reflect the world in which they are created, and by that I mean specifically the political climate.  Thus, as you would imagine, the littered, raining, graffiti marked world of Watchmen appealed to me on a deep level.

When I got home, I announced that this was the best movie I’d ever seen, period.  While I stick by my statement, I realize I may have been a little too caught up in the movies’ spell at the time.  Is it the greatest superhero movie?  Yeah.  But, it was a different animal than most superhero movies.  It was the superhero movie evolved into something that preceded its inadequate genre title.

Batman Begins and Dark Knight are great movies with some truly memorable acting.  But, Watchmen kicked it up a notch.  The fight scenes were very brutal, bloody, and relatively short.  It was perhaps the best action I’d seen since the Bourne movies, which also presented brutal, dirty, close combat, not the beautifully choreographed dance-like martial arts of most movies of this sort.

In terms of sex, this movie had the first full-on superhero sex I’ve seen yet.  In fact, the camera doesn’t flinch much as it records the sex act from beginning to frenetic end.  In context of the movie, this scene made sense, illustrating that Dan Dreiberg the retired hero couldn’t consummate his new relationship, but that the Nite Owl, Dan’s superhero persona, was a whole man and able to do the job.  There isn’t too much sex in the movie beyond that, but there is a lot more nudity.  Dr. Manhattan spends most of the movie naked, but it doesn’t feel out of place, and by the end of the movie the audience is used to it.

One thing that took me off guard was the Comedian.  As they put it in the movie, he is just short of a Nazi, and he’s certainly a sociopath.  He’s sadistic, cruel, and he enjoys it.  Yet, as played by Jeffery Dean Morgan, the Comedian is almost likable, and he’s often the voice of the movie, the voice of the American Dream gone haywire.  As a rogue and rebel among rebels, his pronouncements often make sense.  The Comedian isn’t deluding himself like the other costumed heroes are.  Thus, it’s not really a contradiction when the Comedian learns of Ozymandias’ plans and has a change of heart.  When he appears drunk and crying in Moloch’s room, we actually believe that the Comedian feels terrible guilt for all the crimes he’s committed, and that world is even crueler than he thought it.

Originally proposed using Charleton characters, which DC purchased in 1985, here are the characters they were based on: Comedian—Peacemaker, Dr. Manhattan—Captain Atom, Night Owl—Blue Beatle, Ozymandias–Thunderbolt, Rorschach—The Question, and Silk Specter—Phantom Lady and Black Canary (not Charleton characters).

I mention the characters’ source material because most movie-goers will see the Nite Owl as a Batman-like character.  He’s a wealthy character with lots of neat crime-fighting toys, and he’s got the cloak and cowl.  Still, I can say without doubt, that the modern incarnation of Batman has more in common with Ozymandias.  Ozymandias is super-rich, a metro-sexual, orphaned, and has honed his abilities to the peak of human ability.  He is also cunning, arrogant, and the so-called smartest man on the planet.  Sound familiar?  Ozymandius/Adrian Veidt simply could be Batman/Bruce Wayne.

There’s a lot material to cover here.  In many ways, if this was the last superhero movie made, that would be appropriate, and Watchmen could cap the genre off.  Honestly, it’s hard to even compare Watchmen with other superhero movies, such as the Spider-Man, the Hulk movies, or the recent Superman movie, because the layers of depth and context are not comparable.  The Incredibles, for example, is a truly wonderful movie, and one of my favorites of all time, but finding the commonality between it and Watchmen seems forced.  Sure, there are elements in common, but…

I give this movie and unqualified A+.  There are no dead spots, almost no moments where the dialogue felt forced.  This movie propelled itself along beautifully for more than two-and-a-half hours, and the entire experience was elevating.

If you are in your twenties or thirties, you might not be too aware of who Carmine Infantino is.  He was the long time editor-in-chief and/or publisher of DC comics, but before that he was simply an outstanding artist.  Here is a fantastic interview with Mr. Infantino.

By today’s overwrought standards, Carmine’s drawings may seem a bit quaint.  But, upon closer inspection, you’ll find rock solid draftsman.  His “Flash of Two Worlds” cover is still one of the most referenced comic covers in history.

As many of you know, I love Silver Age comics.  Carmine Infantino may never have been a superstar artist, but as a publisher he had a profound impact on the comics industry.

My old friend Mike, who was very into Silver Age comics too, and I used to discuss the merits and perceived failings of artists like Carmine Infantino, Don Heck, Sal Buscema, and other of the workhorse artists.  Mike has been gone for a few years now, but I still remember the passionate fanboy arguments and the laughing that went  them.  Good times.

Carmine says this will be his last interview.  While not unexpected, this does sadden me a bit.  Heroes should never get older.

Scott.

Sorry I didn’t write a Chicago Comicon 2009 (fka Wizard World Comicon) earlier.  I should have done it, but I was just so darned tired from the show.  I still am tired, but happy.

Normally when I write convention reports, I produce a long list of old friends I caught up with and people I met.  I’m not going to do that this year.  Everyone was great, and it was great seeing everyone.  I will mention that again this year our table neighbor was Tom Stilwell of Spinner Rack Comics.  Tom is a dear friend, and one of the more admirable people I’ve met.  He’s also a fantastic writer.

Benita and I went into this show unsure of what we’d encounter.  Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse skipped this convention, and that implied so many things that could go wrong.  We needn’t have worried.  The crowds beat all former attendance records, and fans made a point of visiting Artist’s Alley.  It really did get quite busy!

Complaints?  The 90 degree heat and the crowd’s body heat overwhelmed the air-conditioning for a while on Saturday.  And, the PA system was incredibly loud, and busy with repeated and highly annoying announcements.  But, these are not the worst things we’ve ever faced at cons, and they were at worst minor inconveniences.

I’ll let our photographs tell the rest of the story:

Some of these I took, some of them Benita took, but there’s no rhyme or reason to it.