Dark Reign: The List: X-Men

WRITER: Matt Fraction
PENCILS: Alan Davis
INKS: Mark Farmer
COLORED BY: Nathan Fairbairn

First thought: Chris Claremont.
Not today's Claremont, who can't seem to stop typing long after lights-out, but the guy behind the books I remember from my wee laddy youth. We've got Namor showing up to "not" ask for help after Osborn has set his sights on the underwater realm, the X-folks teaming up like I haven't seen in a long time, trying trick after trick to negate the impending doom, and sharp dialogue. This is quality stuff. I should mention that I haven't read Xbooks in quite some time, ever since the finale of Astonishing, but seeing an Alan Davis book on the shelves is nigh-irresistible. The constantly under-rated artist is at it again, knowing every action, movement and facial expression right out of the panels and into your face. He's one comics mainstay that I'm glad stayed main.

Highlight of the issue, as quality as it was, happen to be the little intro boxes that learn ye a little bit of each character and their powers as they appear in the issue. I usually skip over them, knowing who the characters are for the most part, but them's pretty funny stuff. Example: "Piotr Rasputin--Colossus. Organic Steel. Fastball tops out at 220MPH."....."Logan--Wolverine. Adamantium Skeleton, Claws. Currently traveling at 220MPH"

Not sure if I should keep reading X-Men from here on out, this issue was so great that I'm afraid that the next one will disappoint.
-JD

Pop/Corn Movies: JACK THE GIANT KILLER

Reviewed by Master Filmmaker Mark Mackner

It was announced earlier this week that Bryan Singer (USUAL SUSPECTS, X-MEN, SUPERMAN RETURNS) will be directing a remake of JACK THE GIANT KILLER (1962), the bastard stepson of the stop-motion fantasy classic 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD. Also earlier in the week, I read the terrific comic miniseries I KILL GIANTS (Totally unrelated to JACK, but there is some giant killing involved). So, with all this going on, I decided it was time to reach deep into my DVD library and take another look at this little gem.

I loved this movie as a kid. I saw it on a Sunday afternoon, on UHF, WAY back in the day. Mid-80’s, I’d say. Even then, it was easy to pick up on the similarities between JACK and 7th VOYAGE: same lead actor (Kerwin Mathews), same actor as the villain (The GREAT Torin Thatcher), the design of the giant is nearly identical to the infamous Cyclops in VOYAGE (Only difference? JACK’s giant has 2 eyes instead of one). There’s a leprechaun who gets the heroes out of trouble (VOYAGE had a Genie, but same idea). What I didn’t realize until I purchased the DVD two years ago, is that even the director (Nathan Juran) is the same.

The biggest difference, of course, is that the stop motion effects in VOYAGE were handled by the undisputed master of the craft, Ray Harryhausen. And, while they were clearly inspired by Ray, the team behind the creatures in JACK can’t hold a candle to the brilliance of the master. The animation is kinda jerky at times, and some of the creatures wouldn’t be out of place in a Rankin-Bass holiday special.

BUT… it totally works! Creatures appear early and often, and there’s nary a dull moment in the film. It’s incorrectly referred to as a “remake” of VOYAGE on imdb. While it did indeed try to capitalize on the success of VOYAGE, it is in no way a remake, and despite all the similarities, it manages to have a flavor all its’ own.

It plays like a classic, colorful storybook brought to life. The basic plot is simple, evil wizard Pendragon (Thatcher) has a giant abduct the lovely princess. The giant makes the mistake of coming across Jack’s farm, where there’s plenty of sharp objects around (Yes, this is intended for children!). Jack hacks the giant to death with a scythe (!) and becomes a hero. The king knights him, and sends him on a mission to travel with the princess to a place where she can live in seclusion until Pendragon is vanquished. Pendragon sends some witches to capture the princess and steal away with her to his castle, with Jack in hot pursuit.

So there’s the story. You’ve seen it a million times before, in books, films, and even video games. But JACK never comes off as trite or uninspired. The first stop motion creature, a little elf given to the princess on her birthday is CREEPY AS HELL! Somehow, she finds the thing charming, but to me, it looks like something that would be enough to give Toulon the Puppetmaster nightmares. It mimics her movements in a nicely animated sequence and generally gives you the willies. Later that evening, it grows into a giant, in a transformation mainly seen in silhouette. It brings to mind the bit where the Ymir beats the dog to death in 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, and when the Calibos figurine in given horns and a tail in CLASH OF THE TITANS. Not QUITE as epic as those, but really nifty silhouette animation.

What follows is a really nicely staged giant attack on the kingdom, where it battles knights and Ren Faire suited villagers alike. The fight between Jack and the giant on Jack’s farm is lots of fun, too. And the frames where the giant appears with the actors were very skillfully executed, particularly the bit where the giant punches Jack to the ground.

Another highlight is when Pendragon sends the witches after the princess. You’d think that cartoon flames would look cheesy, but damn, if it doesn’t work here. My 6-year old insisted that they were ghosts, not witches, because they’re translucent and they fly. I’d have called them ghosts too, but whatever they are, they’re actually pretty scary. Really strong scene.

But, just as with most Harryhausen films, the real fun comes when two monsters have a colossal fight to the death. Here, it’s a two-headed giant vs. a sea monster, which resembles a dinosaur with tentacles instead of legs. Great fight, great scene.

The climax comes when Pendragon morphs into an actual dragon and goes after Jack. Jack clings to the monster’s back as it soars into the sky at dizzying heights. Again, the fact that the creature and actor appear in the same frame for much of the fight is really impressive, because you can actually believe that they’re both really there.

Did I mention that Jack picks up some sidekicks along the way? Well, he does. There’s a cabin boy and a Viking that tag along for the adventure, and they’re rewarded by being turned into a dog and a chimp. The chimp wears a black thong for some reason (Censors? But Cheetah the chimp didn’t have to wear underwear. WTF?), but SPOILER when Pendragon is defeated, the Viking and the kid are back to their old selves again, and all the heroes live happily ever after. But, really. If you can’t see that coming, then you’ve never heard a fairy tale before. But just because you can anticipate the ending, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun to get there.

But, unlike KING KONG, which I believed was flawless to begin with, there is room for improvement here, so I’m not against Bryan Singer doing a remake. Hopefully, it’ll be something I can take my kids to, because they sure loved the original!

Superman: Secret Origin #1

Besides being an excellent author, Geoff Johns must be one hell of a chef. Able to take even the most stale ingredients and make a mouth-watering buffet of brain-steak. Superman Secret Origin shouldn't appeal to me in the slightest. I'm not a Superman fan (except for the films and a handful of extraordinary graphic novels). I, like most of the general population, am aware of the origin of Supes. And yet here Johns takes elements from the Smallville television show, the Superman movies and the original origin story and cooks up something that tastes different then I was expecting.

The pencils by Gary Frank, one of my fave artists working today, are quality as always, and he's pulling the same trick that's been getting me for the past couple years, in that he's drawing Clark to match the facial features of Christopher Reeve (the most well-known actor to wear the tights on film), which is even more impressive this time, owing to the fact that he's attempting a TEEN version of Christopher Reeve. He slips a time or two and makes our young Kent look a little too old, but not so much that you get pulled from the story.

I won't give too much away since it's still wednesday, but the story follows a trail through all the different versions of the origin, keeping a red-headed Lana Lang, the correlation between sexual arousal and heat-vision from Smallville, pulling a cornfield save from Superman 3, the pre-original Crisis relationship 'tween a still-follicled Lex Luthor and Clark and the fact that he develops powers before reaching adulthood. I like that Johns has given Clark a confused,  frightened reaction to the emergence of his new powers. I'd be freaking out too, kid. One tiny thing that made me chuckle though was the sequence where we've established that someone running into Clark would break bones, and yet as young Kent runs through a cornfield, he trips on foliage? Seems like he would blow right through flimsy plant life, while running, but whatever. That's just me being picky!

Best moment of the issue is the last page which has a Christmas Story-esque scene that was also so rooted in the reality of the situation that it made me laugh out loud.

Only 5 more issues of this? Bummer.
JD

PopTards At Play - House of the Dead: Overkill

By Jenn Tyre

House of the Dead Overkill for the Wii is a short game with fairly easy achievements, but it was probably the most fun I had killing zombies in a long time! The style of it, is very reminiscent to the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse feature, by not only the look and feel of it, but the witty, vulgar dialogue as well.


I am usually not one for the dialogue in games (I am definitely more of a shoot-em up type of gal) but listening to the banter between the two characters, Agent G (who is Samuel L Jackson re-incarnated) and Issac Washington (your typical macho stud), made me laugh everytime. The things that are said and done in this game are used for pure shock value and anyone without a sense of humor or appreciation for the ridiculousness will hate this game.

While the game is pretty simple for someone who has a love for killing the dead, someone new to this might have a hard time adjusting to the shooting and the graphics. One person player is easy because your gun is the only thing displayed on the screen. While playing as a 2 person shooter, it is easy to get mixed up with who is killing who. It holds the same type of horror elements that other classics do like Deadspace, Silent Hill or Resident Evil, and the perfect way to enjoy this game is in complete darkness to add to the horror element. The mutants you are assigned to kill is everything I love thrown into one game. You have your fast moving (ala 28 Days Later), your slow moving (ala the Original Gangsters) and even throws in a few crawling (which has been used and abused by Japanese Horror flicks). It definitely succeeds in the creep factor, but brings you right out of it with the shocking hilarious scenes.

Many of the mini-games are fun as well, but I say stick to the actual story mode because it plays out like one Mother-F%$king badass movie, that you and your sick little twisted friends will enjoy!

Drowning v. Floating.

Old George Orwell got it backward.
Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers.
And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched.
- Chuck Palahniuk

It's time to take a good look inward, I think. The above quote sits heavy at the bottom of every email that I send out from my personal yahoo account. I'm a big Palahniuk fan and when I read that quote, I knew it was gonna be my new email signature, letting everyone know just how counter-culture I am! While I do believe that I'm less sucked in than most of the country, and that I know what's "really important" and that I can "give it up whenever I WANT TO!!", I'm just as much of a slave to the distraction as everyone else is. Hell, I started a Podcast and a blog this week to ADD to said distraction.

But AM I? What is the distraction, do you think? Is it actually the comic books, scripted television shows and music that comes at me from every direction, that I so willingly allow myself to absorb? OR is it the corrupt media that shields us from what's really going on in the world? Should I be just as ashamed for filling my head with the stories of super-heroes and horror monsters, as people who get their news from network television and believe anything they see in print? Am I just as much a part of The Decline as the people I hold in contempt? I may be. As I look around from where I'm sitting, typing this stream-of-consciousness, I see a pile of comics on my bedstand, graphic novels on my pillows, an iPhone, my computer, filled with bookmarked popculture websites, and I can see my shelves in the dining room just FILLED to the brim with comics, novels, cds, movies, and toys. My god, man. TOYS. Sorry, not toys. FIGURES. We all know by now that they are Action Figures, not Toys. Pfft.  

But then I start to look a little closer. And I see that The Guardian UK website is in my bookmarks. WXPN. Things I don't hit every day, but they're there. I see that the two graphic novels on the pillows are Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the story contained within hopefully to teach me about Iran and the Islamic Revolution, something I have little to NO knowledge of at all. I see I KILL GIANTS, a graphic novel that literally made me cry my own tears, that taught me something about loss and dealing with the mortality of those I love. There's a bookshelf made totally up of how-to books. 

I see the oversized vinyl GORILLAZ figures that originated from one of my favorite illustrators, Jamie Hewlett, someone who I consider to have perfected his art years ago, yet keeps getting better and expanding his abilities, which reminds me to do the same. All of these things are inspirata. They are teaching tools and artifacts of creativity.  I have a thirst for knowledge and growth and these are the stories I inhabit to gain something of worth.


Is it a distraction? Am I allowing myself to be distracted? 
Yes. But I like to think it's something else as well.

But that's just me.

JD

PopTards & PopCorn: Film Review: BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD

Reviewed by Master Filmmaker Mark Mackner

Here’s a movie that caught my eye in the used DVD bin recently. It was only a few bucks, and it’s got Sid Haig in it, so I decided to give it a shot. I’d been on a Sid Haig kick, having met him at the Monster Mania Horror Con this year and revisiting THE DEVIL’S REJECTS to prep for Rob Zombie’s H2 (Which I didn’t get around to seeing, unfortunately). But there’s more to appreciate in this film than just Sid Haig, right? Well…

I’ll start with the look of the film. It’s shot on a cheaper-looking digital grade than I shoot MY films with, if that tells you anything. Seriously low-grade digital video. That’s the first strike against it. But, what about the plot?

“BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD” tells the story of a vampire hunter who poses as a doctor to get close to another doctor, whose brother is said to be the infamous vampire VLAD COSAI. Victoria Pratt (She of “KRAKEN, TENTACLES OF THE DEEP”) plays the lead vamp hunter, and basically amounts to a poor man’s Sarah Connor. She sneers through her line deliveries, flexes her impressive biceps, and is always saying shit like “Trust no one.” Which turns out to be good advice.

A gang of vamps, led by Haig, is also looking for the doctor’s brother, since he, VLAD COSAI, is their sworn enemy. He’s also The Devil, apparently. Hundreds of years ago, vamps and humans had to put their differences aside to unite and defeat Cosai, as he was just too powerful for either race to handle on its’ own. But now, Cosai’s back, dispatching vampires and vampire hunters with equal efficiency and brutality.

Wait, I’m making this sound a lot cooler than it actually is. Believe me, you don’t miss the vampires (mostly) and you sure don’t miss the hunters because they’re such horrible actors. The whole thing plays out, much like the DVD case boasts, like “THE USUAL SUSPECTS with vampires”. Which sounds pretty awesome, right? Problem is, they tried TOO hard to emulate that film. And it’s OBVIOUS. Remember that bit in SUSPECTS, where the Hungarian guy is on the ship, and he’s freaking out because he knows Keyser Soze is closing in on him? There’s an identical scene in this movie. The whole VLAD COSAI legend is clearly inspired by Keyser Soze, and the twist at the end is very much like the one in SUSPECTS.

But, by trying so hard to evoke another, better film, BOB sacrifices having its’ own voice, and invites comparisons it can’t possibly live up to. Haig tries his best (With REALLY fake-looking fangs), but with limited screen time, there’s only so much good he can do. Plus, it doesn’t help that he’s forced to say lines as nonsensical as “I was there when I burned him.” Um… OK. That’s good. ‘Cause it’d be pretty strange if you were somehow absent when you burned him. WTF? Despite it all, the guy’s a trooper and a gifted performer. He injects life into his scenes and the whole film benefits from it.

Also trying his darndest to rescue this thing is genre fave Ken Foree (The black guy in the original DAWN OF THE DEAD, the pimp from DEVIL’S REJECTS). Here, he turns up as a mercenary vamp, who initially seems like a villain. And he IS evil. But maybe he’s on the right side this time? Hmmm…you’ll get no such spoilers from ME! But he had giddy fun with the role, even though he’s given some pitiful supporting actors to work with.

The film’s modest budget ($500,000, or so I read online somewhere) keeps the action (and gore) from getting too crazy, so they employ some nifty “less is more” kinda tricks and camerawork that I, as a fellow starving artist filmmaker, can appreciate. And the fact that they got names like Haig and Foree attached to this gives me hope that I’ll get to work with genre greats one day.

In closing, BOB isn’t a gem, but it isn’t unwatchable. Worth the $4.99 I spent on it, and actually better than larger-budgeted dreck like UNDERWORLD. Worth a look if you find it cheap, or if someone has it on at a Halloween party, or something. But, Haig and Foree aside, get ready for some REALLY bad acting. Seriously. The vampire hunters are just AWFUL!!!!!

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First Trial Eppy of PopTards went up today..

Heyhey!
So Mark and I recorded the first eppy of PopTards on this past saturday morning, discussing Batman & Robin #4, and Amazing Spider-Man #605. The recording went well, and we had a ton of fun, then I spent the rest of the day editing it in Garage Band, but now I'm in the publishing stage and having quite a bit of trouble getting iTunes to accept it. Still trying to figure out the hosting and the RSS bidness.
Though for now, apparently people can just listen to it on my Facebook.
We're halfway there, at least!