Comic Review: Powers

Powers

Now that my thesis is done, I can sit down and really sink my teeth into some good comics. My buddy Rami let me borrow 11 books of Brian Bendis and Michael Oeming's Eisner award-winning 'Powers.' Now I'm going to be blunt, when I see anything that says 'award winning' I buy into it. I love that shit, I don't want to waste my time and if something at least received an award, that means somebody out there liked it good enough to toss it a bone. On the flip side, I'm really critical of anything award winning because I expect it to be phenomenal.

The storyline for 'Powers' is pretty clever and certainly its innovative. Basically, it takes place in a world where superheroes are a daily occurrence are given licenses and regulated by the government as they fight against renegade super powered villains. Set against this backdrop are 'Christian Walker' and 'Deena Pilgrim,' two homicide detectives who specifically investigate the death of people with super powers.

As a superhero comic 'Powers' is a forced to be reckoned with. Not only does it take the standard comic book and flip it on its head (looking at heroes from the bottom up, rather than from the top down) but it also challenges them by focusing on oft unspoken elements of the superhero genre. What do I mean by this? If superheroes did exist, could you imagine how media crazed we common fold would be about them? It'd be like Lohan and Spears on crack. As well, if you were a hero, wouldn't you capitalize on your brand and make a fat ton of cash? Or, since heroes are just as human as anyone else, what would you do about the insane amount of people of the opposite sex throwing themselves at you?

Stalker fans, Capitalist branding and horny groupie sex are just the tip of the ice burg of Bendis and Oeming's book and just as much as these comics are a commentary on the superhero genre, they easily extend into a social critique of ourselves living in modern society. Moreover, its unapologetic in its slinging around of violence, swearing and nudity to hammer its point down in as realistic a means as possible. Far beyond shocking (as most comics use these for) it become simply fitting in the overall writing of the project.

The art too is simply astounding. Reading an interview the two tried hard to move as far away from the standard comic book cover art. This includes common stereotypes like the hero flying 'out' of the page, or a cinematic fight sequence to lure the reader into wanting more. Instead, covers of 'Powers' have paid homage to The Beatles's 'White Album', pulp film posters, and even E! Online's website. As I mentioned before, the comic is consistently innovative not just in it writing but in its art.

While as a book on superheroes the story like does wonders, as a detective comic the plots of the several trade paperbacks (which encompass the various story arcs) seem kind of lackluster. The villains are far from interesting, the 'mystery' we are hoping to solve often fall flat onto cliche, and the reader is never really challenged. A lot of the time the endings of the stories are solved in blitz and whirl of events in the last few scenes, often coming straight of left field in a kind of deus ex machina sort of way, and to be frank, a lot of the times it feels like cheating. Unlike other cop dramas, we get no hints or clues that we can decipher on our own, but are served all the answers on a plate when the writer is good and ready.

But perhaps the flaw is my own. I approached this comic as a detective comic first and a superhero comic second, which really isn't the case. In fact it isn't even a superhero comic first, it is first and foremost clever social commentary, secondly a novel and interesting take on superheroes, and third (and only as an afterthought) it is a crime story. If understood in that context, these books are solid gold.

Thesis is DONE!

After rougly 67 hours of no sleep/straight work my M.A. thesis is finished, revised, submitted and accepted. No matter how much time Iplan and work ahead of time, things always comes down to the last minute for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I plan on sleeping until next Friday.

The Young Turks

Okay, I've been looking for a good way to find my news for a while. While I love watching CNN, I just don't have access to it in Montreal and I can't really be bothered to slog though tons of online articles on a daily basis (although if I had the time I totally would). Enter 'The Young Turks' an extremly progressive (i.e. liberal) podcast that I just found out about that (in my opinion) blows John Stewart out of the water. Don't get me wrong, I love John Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, but man, Cenk Uygur the host of this show is ferocious, and I love it.

Moreover he's smart (an ex-lawyer, not an actor), is totally indie media (not owned/controlled by a major media conglomerate), and pulls no punches. He's what you get when you mix of a radio sports caster and heavy-handed political pundit. I even appreciatethe fact that he was an ex-conservative and is more than willing to concede on right-wing points if they tend to make sense. This is a good example of the stuff the good work they do over there, and literally after watching it I paid for a subscription.

Movie Review: Who is KK Downey?

Who is KK Downey?

Hipsters watching hipsters hate on hipsters. That’s more or less the movie in a nutshell, but I say that in the best way possible, especially since I probably fall into that first category (save for the fact that I don’t dress well, have never done drugs, and I try as much as possible not to be condescending). Having passed over ‘KK Downey’ at Fantasia I immediately regretted my decision when I asked Cedric how the film was and his simple response was, ‘hilarious.’ Damn, after days and days of watching horror and thriller films I really could have used a good comedy. While I can admit my mistakes, I’m not necessarily one to repeat them so when I saw that there was going to be some special screenings of ‘KK’ at the AMC Forum I immediately took the chance to rectify my mistake.

Now, despite the fact that I got a glowing response from Cedric, going into the movie I still had very little knowledge about what the film was about, other than the fact that it was funny. Briefly, the story is about two childhood friends (Theo and Terrence) who are scenesters that want to make it big. Theo has just competed his three-year project, a book entitled ‘Truck Stop Hustler’ and Terrence tries as hard as possible to get his punk band off the ground. Both find themselves at a dead end, as Theo’s book won’t get picked up as publishers claim, ‘nobody wants to read a book about a tortured male prostitute written by some fat suburban white kid.’ And Terrence? Well he’s just not very good at anything, and worse, his ex-girlfriend is dating an arrogant music reviewer with as ego as big as his own. At their wits end, Terrence comes up with the perfect plan to make it in the world; he will pretend to be the character of Theo’s book, KK Downey, mimicking the infamous hoax by J.T. Leroy. Immediately the book becomes a bestseller, critiquing the image over substance nature of popular culture. As the story progresses their plan digs them deeper and deeper in trouble as secrets are revealed not only about their plan, but also about each other.

Overall the movie was fantastic. The scriptwriting was tight, the jokes were well-timed and the moral of the story was well executed without being preachy. Even more impressive though was that for the team that put the film together, Montreal locals Kidnapper Films, this was their first feature length movie, and all necessary kudos go to them for such a successful project. Indeed they’ve already begun winning awards at Cinequest and Boston’s Underground Film festival, and for a film that was literally edited in the producer’s mother’s basement, this is some achievement.

A special word should be said about the fantastic score to the film. With 18 songs from local independent artists (the film starts out blazing with a song by ‘Duchess Says’) I found myself scrambling for a pen and paper during the credits to scribble down the names of all the artists. Not only was the music fitting to the film, it easily elevated it, grabbing the audience face and dragging them through the storyline.

All compliments aside, there certainly were several areas where the film could have improved. While most of the time the acting was spot on, at others it was unconvincing and broke the spell that the otherwise tight dialogue had over me. The storyline too had a few plot holes that I struggled with. The first is, when Terrence is dressed as KK Downey and tries to woo back his girlfriend its impossible to laugh out when she doesn’t recognize him. It’s kind of like a Clark Kent syndrome where all it takes is a pair of glasses for nobody to recognize you through your disguise. As well, when the hoax is finally exposed, nobody seems to mind and everyone gets on with their day as if nothing had happened. I don’t’ know about you, but if I had found out Kurt Kobain was really a rich kid faking the whole ‘grunge-thing’ to make a quick buck, I’d be pretty pissed off. And hell, I don’t even like Kurt Kobain!

Perhaps the most regrettable part of the movie though, is that in the first half of the film, they introduce so many interesting characters. There’s the sleazy publisher played by ‘Fubar’s Paul Spence. There’s Terrence’s waspy parents who give him everything he asks for, and his snotty sarcastic brother. And there’s a crazy groupie for their punk band who is lovingly referred to as ‘the cum depository.’ All characters are hilarious in their own right but once the plot picks up, they are all dropped and left at the wayside, only having cameo appearance every now and then. This is unfortunate not only because they wasted so much time building up such interesting characters, but also because of the potential each of them could have had in making the movie funnier and even more entertaining.

Looking past the criticisms though, this movie is an indie gem. At its core is a heartfelt story about friendships and relationships and the corruptibility of stardom, fame and power. As a social critique of popularity, it does a pretty good job and ironically, unlike the characters in their film, these twenty-something year old filmmakers deserve to make it big and have worked hard on a piece of work that they should certainly be proud of.

God hates pop punk

That's the only reasoning I can think of for the recent break up of 'The Ergs' and 'Chinese Telephones' - two of the best indie pop punk bands touring right now. If 'The Copyrights' fall apart this week as well I'm officially revoking my atheist stance and worshipping Satan.

Oh and it turns out both bands are playing 'The Fest 7' in Gainsville Florida for their final show. Taking up a collection now. Road trip anyone?

edit: OMG, 'Atom and His Package' are playing a one-off reunion show at the Fest as well. I'm serious now...start sending me them cheques...

Upcoming Event: The Public Defender (1931)

I'm helping my friend Phillip flyer for an event he's running and I figure it wouldn't hurt to throw something up online as well. Phil runs 'Cine Club' which screens films from his private collection. He's an avid collector of film reels and movies that haven't been released on video or DVD (he tells me they start at $200! My god that's an expensive hobby). As well Phil is a movie director and directed the film The Descendant.

Anyway the film he's screening this Friday (September 12th) is 1931's 'The Public Defender.'

"'The Public Defender' stars Richard Dix and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein). A millionaire playboy takes it upon himself to clandestinely punish criminals while leaving behind a mysterious calling card with a distinct symbol, signed 'The Reckoner.' The mystery avenger also has an older assistant named 'the Professor' (Karloff) who lives with him in his large mansion and performs criminal research for him."

Its also kinda cool to to note that Bob Kane released the first Batman comic in 1939, nearly a decade later. Anyway, I'll probably write a review, but considering this movie hasn't been released anywhere so far, I really suggest checking it out if you're in the Montreal area (and tell me if you are so we can go together!). Here's a link to the details, but for simplicity:

The Public Defender
September 12th, 2008
9:30 @ Cinema du Parc

CD Review: No Harm Done - Escape

No Harm Done - Escape

I'm generally not a fan of straight edge music. While I used to pretty adamantly champion straight edge beliefs, after a certain age you stop being a 'Straight Edger' and simply a 'dude who doesn't like to smoke, drink or do drugs'. Moreover, sXe music was rooted in East Coast hardcore which, growing up as a West Coast pop punker, never really resonated with me. Melodic hardcore, however, was always that happy medium that I could really get into.

Enter 'No Harm Done' who merge the bits of sXe hardcore that I loved (the anthemic chanting) and poppy melodic hardcore sensibilities. As other reviewers have noted, these guys sound something like 'post-reunion Lifetime' and I'd add that they falls into the same category as the first two Rise Against CDs (read: the good ones).

Moreover these young Florida kids (while I'm not exactly sure, they can't really be that much older than twenty) compose music as if they were much older. Already on their third CD, 'Escape' moves them is a very good direction and their travel roster is already pretty impressive. Musically, the layered riffs are catchy, the breakdowns are solid and the the songwriting is well done. From the beginning of the disc the listener is rewarded with chourusy chants, starting the CD off with 'This is my escape!' Throughout the rest of the CD we get similar sing-along mosh pit favorites like the chorus in the song 'Festivus Yes Bagels No' which chants 'Fuck your glory days!'

Moreover, songs like 'Throwing Bricks' win me over not only for its tight integration of songwriting and music ('Everything I know/Everything I love/Just comes and goes') but also because it ends with a 'Home Alone' quote, which admittedly had the potential of being pretty cheesy, actually fit really well into the song.

The CD isn't without it criticism though, and when listened to from top to bottom gets pretty monotonous and repetitive. The key, I found is to listen to them either as singles or mixed into a shuffle. On their own each song stands on its own, but ironically when put together just gets tired. However, these kids are young, really young, and if I was pumping out music as good as this I'd be pretty damn proud of myself, as these guys should be.

Moreover, their entire CD is posted at the link above. Since its free, you really don't have a reason not to try it out. Just hit play as you read your e-mail.

Comic Review - AWOL'd

AWOL'd

As if trying to review movie and music isn't enough, I'm going to add comics into the fray. Having just come back from FanExpo 2008 in Toronto I dropped something to the tune of $150 strictly on independant comics on 'Artists' Row' in a passionate desire to support the local comic scene. And in all honesty, it wasn't nearly enough to get all the stuff I wanted, but I did get to meet a ton of cool people ranging from artists and writers, to colorists and owners of publishing companies.

So starting things off is Jason Loo's 'AWOL'd,' a story about three street kids who are forcefully recruited to serve as top secret government agents. They are genetically modified and trained to be perfect killers, but resent their captivity and eventually escape. They are tracked by their previous boss as they try to forge a new life for themselves and are constantly on the run.

Right off the bat one can find easy links to Grant Morrison's 'We3' not only in the fact that there are three main characters who are government runaways, but also in the innocence of the protagonists and their unfortunate use of violence. It would be unfair to compare Loo's artwork to Frank Quietly, but this isn't to say that his work is bad. Quite the opposite. Considering that 'AWOL'd' doesn't have an ISBN number, I can only assume that this was independently put together which, when looking at his artwork, makes this book very impressive. Moreover, he uses interesting writing mediums to bridge each chapter and progress the storyline - brief e-mails to explain month long periods of time (a cool reference to Douglas Coupland's Microserfs). He even starts off the book with a great 'suggest listening' track list which includes Sparta, Glassjaw and Rival Schools. I'm not going to lie, this easily sold me on wanting to read more.

The writing of the book, however, is somewhat forced. Events happen at breakneck speeds leaving the reader confused as to whats going on. For example, we only find out later in the storyline that two of the three heroes are romantically involved with each other. What the? How did we get from being friends on the run to sleeping together? I always find that the beauty of character development is in the subtle details and 'AWOL'd' proves this to be true. Its hard to get emotionally attached to these characters when you don't even know their interesting quirks or particularities. Moreover the dialogue is often forced and at one point, Norton (the sniper of the three) shoots someone in the head and through sniffles claims "it stings each time." When the two lovebirds decide to have sex, their friend responds nonchalantly by saying "I'll slit your throats if I see any skeet marks on my pillow." Really? Do we need to toss around dated slang to make the comic seem edgier? I don't know, the dialogue annoyed the hell out of me, which is upsetting because they story at its core is has good direction and an interesting concept.

Where Loo excels I think is in his ability to tell a good action story. The sequences where the three heroes are chased down and must face off against a group of similarly-engineered agents was gripping and very cleverly executed. On top of this, the talents each character brings to a combat situation are interesting and well defined, but not overly hokey. Loo has the ability to draw out a combat scene that is convincing but not dragged out.

While my criticisms of the dialogue and writing are somewhat heavy handed, its important to note that 'AWOL'd,' despite its rocky start, tightens up its writing near the end of the book and leaves the reader with a cliffhanger has us howling for more. Already, Volume 2 already looks to be a lot better, not just because it will help progress an interesting storyline, but because its easy to tell that Loo's writing has already dramatically improved throughout the transition of just this book.

Thesis-ing

Wow. The last thing I should be doing is blogging right now. My MA thesis is due in 6 hours and I'm still frantically editing. Turns out its pretty difficult to reconcile Socrates, Plato, Heidegger, Adorno, Benjamin, Eco, and Baudrillard.

Who'd a thunk it?

Since I'll probably spend the next few days recoving sleep, I figured I'd just do one quick post. In a few more hours (and a bit of luck) I'll get to add 2 more letters to the end of my name (and make myself even more unemployable than I already am).

On a tangential topic, I've been listening to/watching Alkaline Trio's 'Help Me' music video non-stop as I write and edit. Turns out about 60% of my ideas for a great steampunk movie have been summarized in this 3 minute clip. Crap. Damn you Matt Skiba for your infectiously catchy tunes and overly computer generated music videos.

However, I do like the costumes. Steampunk goggles and leather coifs will always be a fashion obsession of mine.