Digital Otaku on Princess Resurrection

This is the Manga I did the adaptation of. First volume is on it's way to stores soon. Here it is on Amazon if you're interested. It's really, really good if you're into the whole Buffy/Evil Dead thing. Digital Otaku

Princess Resurrection has an interesting, developing storyline and a couple of strong characters to support it. I’m pretty sure this manga is going to do well and for fans of the genre (like myself), anyone with the slightest interest in all things dark, supernatural and macabre should definitely check out this manga.

Jive Magazine.com on Elk’s Run

JIVEMagazine.com

A chillingly lyrical tale, rendered in starkly beautiful, visceral artwork, Elk’s Run is an unforgettable and unrelentingly powerful graphic novel event not to be missed.

Vampilore on Vampirella

Vampirella Quarterly - 2007

A really clever story by Joshua Hale Fialkov combined with eye-popping artwork from Stephen Segovia make this an absolute pleasure to read, with a promise of a fascinating, must-have story arc to follow.

Click the link to read the rest.

Comics Should Be Good on Elk’s Run

Comics Should Be Good! » Buy Alice in Sunderland and Elk’s Run right now, just because I told you to!

Elk’s Run got a second chance when Villard picked it up and agreed to publish it, because apparently absolutely no one was reading the single issues. This is a marvelous comic that deserves all the accolades it gets (and deserves a better introduction than Charlie Huston’s, which is … odd, to say the least). There is no reason whatsoever for you not to buy this book. It’s a gripping story with wonderful characters and excellent art. It’s full of action but it also has some interesting things to say about our world and the way we run our lives. Do yourself a favor and buy it.

There's also quite a bit of analysis, and comparison to the just released Alice in Sunderland, in terms of themes and stuff.  Pretty interesting read, if I do say so myself.

Quick Stop Entertainment on Elk’s Run

Weekend Shopping Guide 4/13/07: Whither Booster Gold? » Quick Stop Entertainment

It’s a book like Elk’s Run (Villard, $19.95 SRP) that restores my faith in independent comic books. Originally published by a small distributor who went under before its 10-issue run finished, author Joshua Hale Fialkov and artists Noel Tuazon & Scott Keating have crafted a tense, nuanced bit of post-9/11 noir, about a small community with a lot of big secrets, whose tension-filled idyll is suddenly blown to pieces after an accident sets off a chain of events that tears the town - and families - apart. I’d go into more detail, but I’m really hoping that you pick up a copy in its mass-market form - which collects the entire run, with supplemental material - and experience it for yourself. It’s highly recommended.

James Powell on Elk’s Run

Raising the Steaks: Finally, My Balls Hurt!

If you like good comics, go read this one. Please. You owe it to yourself as a fan of comics. It’s not a superhero book. It’s not an underground indie book. It’s just a solid story executed about as well as any comic you’ll see this year.

Precocious Curmudgeon Says…

From the stack: Elk's Run « Precocious Curmudgeon

Joshua Hale Fialkov structures the escalating crisis with care and intelligence. The events he portrays are extreme yet chillingly plausible. Characters are given depth and detail. Artist Noel Tuazon has an impressive cartooning vocabulary. He adopts drastically different styles to ground the story in place and time, but it holds together. And I love the rich, saturated coloring by Scott A. Keating.

Pop Culture Shock on Elk’s Run

On the Shelves: 4/4/07 » PopCultureShock

Fialkov, Tuazon and Keating deliver the goods through to the very end, telling a gripping story that packs an emotional whallop.

Comic List on Elk’s Run

ComicList: New Comic Book Releases List - REVIEWS: On The Shelves 04/04/07VILLARD BOOKS Elks Run GN, $19.95

FINALLY!!!! I championed this book so loudly, for so long, it seems almost anticlimactic now that it’s finally hitting the shelves. Don’t sleep on it, though, as Fialkov, Tuazon and Keating deliver the goods through to the very end, telling a gripping story that packs an emotional whallop at the end.

Las Vegas Weekly on Elk’s Run

Las Vegas Weekly

"Together they've created a smart thriller that's as challenging as it is suspenseful."

If that's not a pull quote I don't know what is.  You can check out the rest of this really, really gracious review at the above link.

Josh’s TV Roundup

Taking today off, which means, I've been doing my TV catch up.  I figured, I'd manage to make it all worthwhile, and give my TV roundup. 24 - It's certainly the best it's been since the first half of season one, but, it's always so close to exploding in a cloud of illogic that it hurts.  If you remove Kiefer Sutherland's performance from the show, it would be at best JAG like in quality.  And, now that most of the original cast is gone, it's filled up with some of the worst acting this side of tech guy Edgar.  Jebus.

Gilmore Girls - Well, it's not the same without the Palladinos.  It's not as good, but, for what was one of the most engaging, consistent show on all of TV, that doesn't mean it's bad.  I think a lot of people jumped off when it seemed like the show was being contradictory with the whole 'money buys happiness' thing, but, well, where the last new episode left off, it still comes down to the core message of the show, as long as they have each other...

LOST - Hey, most improved show of the year, I'd say.  Last season was a mess of threads with some compelling concepts mixed in.  This year, is lean and tight, with a smart laser eye focus on moving the story forward.  I credit Brian K. Vaughan.  But that's only because I know him, and like to build my friends up to mythic proportions.  (Gary Dauberman can move mountains with his mind.)

VERONICA MARS - Poor Veronica Mars.  The best mystery show on TV got saddled with a bizarre split season plot format that goes against the whole gimmick of the show thus far.  and it suffers for it.  It's still great, but, I fear that if the rumors of next years format changes are true, the show's going to keep stepping further and further away from what made the first season so amazing.

SCRUBS - Of everything on TV, I'd say I watch the most episodes of Scrubs.  I watch the reruns all day long while I'm writing.  And, no matter how many times I see them (Comedy Central seems to play the same 10 episodes on a constant fucking repeat), I'm always drawn in and thoroughly entertained.  Except for the current season.  Last week's episode was the closest in form to the true greatness of the show, but, it's becoming even worse than a parody of itself... it's become typical sitcom trash.  For shame.

STUDIO 60 - I had a long conversation with Christopher Long and Jonah Weiland about Studio 60.  I think the big downside to the show was that the first three or four episodes were so far above just about anything else on TV.  I've never been a huge Sorkin fan, but Studio 60 hooked me right away.  It captures what it's like to work in TV pretty damn accurately, and managed to make Matthew Perry into a tolerable (even impressive) character actor instantly.  And then, it started softening up... the politics went from compelling to whiney, the drama leaned towards melodrama, and unfortunately, became more maudlin than entertaining.  It's still pretty good though, I don't know what all the hate is about.

The Office - Yeah. It's still amazing.  Even that re-edited hour version of those two reruns that aired this week was fantastic.  It's really a joy to watch, and a pleasure to share with friends and family.

Andy Barker, P.I. - It's a fucking blast.  I'm a big fan, and recommend it.  That is all.

How It's Made - The best show on TV. It's footage of Factories making random objects with a soothing voice over explaining what's going on.  It's so god damn outstanding.  Hooray for Discovery HD!

Secret Agent (A.K.A. Danger Man) Complete Series

Ah, Danger Man. This set is up on Amazon for a measely $99 bucks right now. It's everything including both the original B+W half hour show, and then the color ones that were on CBS back in the day. This is first part of the Prisoner. Really, it is. If you like the Prisoner, you'll like this. It's much less weird, but very much in the same world, and really the set up for what happens there.

John Drake is Number 6 and vice versa.

In any event, I don't know that there's ever been a better spy show on TV, and that includes 24. Go, watch.

Enjoy.

Personal Best

Alright... haven't quite had the time I wanted to post and such this year overall, but, y'know... here's the stuff I liked/loved this year. BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL YOU PROBABLY READ

Pride of Baghdad

BKV shows us why he's the best damn writer in comics yet again with... god forgive him... a talking animal book. Really splendid stuff that manages to be poignant, heart-breaking, and pulse pounding at the same time.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL I'D BET MONEY YOU DIDN'T READ

Lone and Level Sands

While you probably don't know the initials ADL as well as you do BKV, I'd bet you probably will soon enough. LaLS is the book about some obscure Egyptian folks with crazy names like Moses and Pharoah. All kidding aside, I'm far from a fan of just about anything bible related, but ADL and mpMann manage to make a book that's researched without sacrificing compelling story for factual accuracy. Of course, from what I can tell, it doesn't go too far off the known facts/biblically accepted truth, either. It's really a splendid piece of work that shows exactly what the medium of comics is capable of.

BEST ONGOING SERIES

Usagi Yojimbo Hmmm. This is harder than I thought it would be. 2006 was the year I stopped reading monthly comics. The ones I do still read are Ex Machina, Fables, Captain America, Powers, and a handful of others. The best though, is the book that I've read consistently for nearly twenty years now. Usagi Yojimbo. There's just literally nothing better than Stan Sakai drawing the book he loves. That's right. That would be the SECOND talking animal book on my best of the year list.

BEST MOVIE

A Scanner Darkly

In a year that saw me go to the movies less and less, and miss virtually every movie I wanted to see, there was one that I made an effort to see, and loved it so much I saw it twice, and have already watched all of the special features and the feature once or twice since picking up the DVD a few days ago. The movie manages to do a couple of things that have never been done. 1) Almost perfectly capture a Phillip K. Dick novel. 2) Almost perfectly capture a GOOD Phillip K. Dick novel. 3) Redefine for a new generation what a Sci-Fi film can be. The movie is small, almost miniscule, by plot standards, yet is about big, big ideas. Bigger than any movie, bigger than any piece of literature. It's a movie that's about blame... and how sometimes EVERYONE is to blame, instead of just one side of the equation. The animation is fantastic, a real huge step forward from any other rotoscoping that's been done (including Linklater's other wholly different (and still wholly awesome) Waking Life.

Anyways, this is speculative Sci-fi filmmaking at it's best. Although I hear Children of Men accomplishes a lot of the same in a very different, and very excellent way.

Oh, and Rocky Balboa is a fucking blast. Well worth the price of admission.

BEST DVD RELEASE

Homicide - The Complete Series

Holy Fuckballs, this is what I'm talking about. Every episode, including the crossovers with Law and Order, the Movie, all the documentaries etc. from the individual sets, and probably the best packaging of a box set ever. Holy Shit. This is how one of the best shows ever made deserves to be presented, and it's worth every penny. A masterclass in research-based writing that knows when to put the research aside and let the character and story take over. There's never been a better cop show, and I severely doubt there ever will be.

Oh, and thank god for the impending Writers and Actors strikes that got them to finally release my beloved St. Elsewhere.

BEST ALBUM

Fast Man, Raider Man by Frank Black

You sort of just wait for a guy to make a solo record like this. Frank Black's had some pretty great solo stuff, but aside from Teenager of the Year, nothing that quite rivalled that of the early Pixies stuff. This does. Equal parts Rock and Roll and Rockabilly Country, FMRM is just an amazing piece of work from a still vibrant pioneer of a an entire genre of music. As long as he keeps making albums even half as good as this one, I think we're all lucky to have him.

SO I'M ASHAMED TO BE A LATECOMING FAN OF...

Harry Potter

I'd seen the movies, enjoyed the 3rd and 4th one a lot, and the girlfriend coaxed me into reading the first book. It's a big improvement over the movie, and despite the increasing length the books manage to become more engaging as they go on. I'm fucking ashamed, man.

I'M NOT ASHAMED TO BE A JOHNNY-COME-LATELY TO...

Doctor Who

I remember watching Doctor Who with my older brother as a child. I never quite grasped what the fuck was going on, but I always seemed to enjoy it. Of course, I always thought it was a lesser version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxybut that was clearly just my own stupidity (aside from it pre-dating Hitchhiker's, Douglas Adams was a story editor on Who while developing the Radio show. ) Doctor Who from the very first episode has always been Boys Adventure to the nth degree. It has more in common with TinTin than Star Wars, and that's why it's lasted so long and becomes so all consuming. You want to follow these characters because they're so much fun, and despite the effects, every script is beautifully crafted, and the actors always do their best to capture that sense of childhood fun that is missing in so much children's entertainment. The new shows are perhaps a bit too adult considering the source material, but, it's something that I for one look forward to watching with my kids once they, y'know... exist.

Genesis of the Daleks is a good place to start. It's a Tom Baker, it's got assloads of Daleks, and, well, it's the shit.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS YEAR

That's an easy one. Christina. Meeting her was like a dream come true, and I couldn't be happier, seriously.

WORST THING ABOUT THIS YEAR

Also fairly easy. That'd be how I had virtually no creative output this year, thanks to circumstances beyond my control.

WHAT'S ON TAP FOR 2007

Well, next year you'll see the complete Elk's Run, the long awaited premiere of Punks, Noel and I will be unveiling Three Rivers and Tumor, J-Rod's superbly excellent, Postcards (which has a cover... it's pretty sweet), and who knows what else in the new year.

Plus, I've got a bunch of work for hire on the way. You won't be getting rid of this guy any time soon.

So, have an amazing New Year and go buy stuff.

Psycho

So, here's a no-brainer, right? One of the quintessential Horror films of all time, that just happens to be one of the quintessential Hitchcock films. The movie is sheer tense brilliance where the horror comes from where it should come from... the plot and the characters. Up until the final reveals of Norman and the Fruit Cellar, the paranioa and confusion is so overwhelming that you're kept on the edge of your seat, hoping... praying that whatever happens... happens and it doesn't hurt you.

The movie works as almost a selection of shorts with an interwoven plot. The first third dealing with Marion, the second works as an interlude following the private eye, and then the pot boiler ending section. Sure, plot wise they're all the same, but the tone is quite divurgent... I'd say the first section has more to do with the later films, like Marnie, the second a nod to the early Detective Noirs, and the final section is pure North by Northwest.... plus a rotting corpse.

Interestingly, like Marnie and even a bit in Rope, the only real downside to the film is the psycho-babble at the end. Hitchcock's obsession with putting a fine point on the psychological underpinnings of his heroes and villains is always too much on the nose for me, but, compared to most of the films of the era, it's still expertly executed.

The root of the modern horror movie is Psycho, and yet, we've gotten it so wrong since. Psycho will always remain a terrifying classic with no peer.

Marnie

Young Sean Connery, when not playing James Bond, always sort of creeps me out. But, in Marnie it works in his favor. The image of super suave secret agent helps to sort of fix what comes off as foolishness and leads to... well, what it leads to. You buy that he can really think he can solve her problems. And, transversely, Tippi Hedren spends the entire movie trying to not be attracted to Sean Connery. So, like Hitch is best known for, he lets both actor's outside personalities alter our perception of their characters. Which is both smart and a little bit weird.

Really, the highlight of the movie, for me anyhow, is the score by Bernard Herrmann. The last score he did for Hitchcock, and while not the most iconic (Vertigo or Psycho would take that), it's delicate and sophisticated... tonally very diverse. Best of all, like most collaborations between Hitchcock and Herrmann is the decision of when to use music and when to abstain. Scenes of high drama that should have tense music, instead are stone silent, nothing but the rustling of feet to guide you. And it works. Works in bucketfuls. The wonderful split screen as Marnie loots the bank vault and the cleaning lady cleans the office is literally cinema perfection.

From there, the movie becomes this interesting little psychotherapy drama, as Sean Connery shows off his (unexplained) psychiatric knowledge, and starts to analyze Marnie and what made her the mess of a person she is (She's scared of red! She's scared of lightning! She doesn't like being touched by Sean Connery! Sheer Madness!)  It falters a bit once it comes to the end, which is almost exactly what you expect it to be, rather than, say, the end of Chinatown.  But still, it's one of Hitch's greats, and really an excellent example of a character study that is somewhat rare in his overall filmography.

Rope

Ah, Rope. Generally considered more style than substance, although, I'd say somewhat wrongly. For those who don't know, the movie is essentially a 9 cuts. In other words, each reel is an uncut tracking shot, following the exploits of two Leopold and Loeb like murderers who match wits with a strangely machiavellian Jimmy Stewart.  The movie is all tension and style, but, with some top notch performances, particularly by Stewart, it becomes an engaging mastwork that's a statement on everything from the state of film acting to the use of flash to substitute for substantive material.  In 1948.

In other words, Hitchcock what lose his mind if he saw the dreck that passes for quality films these days.  It's pretty clear that the only reason Hitchcock would undertake such a strange filming method would be as an experiment of style, but, as he is known for, the exercise becomes considerably better than most people's life's work.

And, the fun trivia fact from the DVD is that it has not one but two cameos from Hitchcock, despite the fact that it all takes place in one apartent with only a handful of actors.

And Hume "I Banged Jessica Tandy and was in Cocoon" Cronyn apparently wrote the treatment that the movie was adapted from (which was in turn adapted from a British play.)

So, yet another highly recommended.

Rear Window

Ah, Rear Window.  I figure if you're going to watch a slew of Hitchcock movies why not start with one fo the best.   Pitch perfect performances, brilliant cinematography, riveting suspense... it literally hits every theme and grace note that he touches upon in most of his other movies all at once.  The voyerism, the paranoia, the gray moralism... all there, all executed flawlessly.

As a creator, I guess what stands up for me in Rear Window is the containment.  So much of Suspense and Action these days is the feeling of the ever changing landscape, and with few exceptions (Die Hard, motherfuckers), that's just how you make a suspense movie.  Rear Window is even further the other direction.

Not only do we never leave the apartment, although there is the few seconds of window dangling, but, our entire frame of reference is at a sharp 3rd person.  We never hear those across the alley talk, but, yet, we know who they all are. We know what they're all doing, and what they're character journeys are.  And we know it because of Jimmy Stewart's reactions to it.

His character serves as the perfect representation of what we each do when left on our own, left to our own devices for entertainment.  We obsess, we imagine, and sometimes, we get ourselves into trouble.  That's why Hitchcock excels for me as a director.  No matter how absurd the situation (Strangers on a Train or Psycho anyone?) it always feels not just grounded and real to the characters, but, as though it's something that happened to someone you know, or, is happening to you.

That to me is great storytelling

The Killing

While I'm at it, I suppose I should just say a word or two about The Killing. I seem to recall Kubrick hating this movie, but that might be me confusing it with Spartacus.  Which you'd think is pretty fucking hard to do.  In any event, The Killing is an odd-duck of a movie.  It manages to be pretty damn close to what Kubrick would do in Strangelove and Clockwork, while still being a lesser work.  The big downfall is the weird pulp noir voice over that more or less evaporates by the end of the first hour.  It's like someone mixed up the first few reels with the audio from Dragnet.

Once you get past that, you get something that's pretty atypical for Kubrick, an extremely tight, tense, and suspenseful caper picture.  It really has the feeling that Ocean's Eleven (the Soderbergh one) tries and (in my opinion) fails to  accomplish.  Utter fucking chaos, where there's only one or two guys smarter than the room.  It's interesting mostly to me because despite fitting snugly into the cliches and devices of Noir, it manages to be a wholly different beast.  Hell, it's almost an action movie, save for the lack of flat-out action scenes.

It's one of those movies that a lot of Kubrick fans seem to overlook, and, considering the style and form he gained just a few years later in Strangelove and beyond, I suppose it's understandable.  That being said, it's a helluva lot of fun, which is not something one often hears when describing Kubrick movies.

Blogging my way through the Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection

I spent a nice chunk of my very slight change on the Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection. So, I figure to make sure I’m actually a) watching them, and b) analyzing them properly for research purposes, I’m going to blog about each movie as I watch them.It’s 14 movies, so it’ll take a while, and I’ve seen 95% of them before so I don’t know how much I’ll really have to say, but, I’ll do my best to make it interesting (and let’s be honest, there’s not a lot one can say about The Trouble with Harry to make it interesting.)

Anyways, there’s the little link to the box set up above if you want to know what’s in it, and what to look forward to. It’s really worth every penny, seriously. So, if you have the extra cash, go buy it and follow along.

I’m starting with Rear Window tonight. While I’m watching it, I’m reminded of a couple of things that make it really stand out to me (and I suppose to just about every fan of Hitchcock’s) as something special. From the use of minatures to the dynamic camera work for what is essentially a very static and stationary film is really, really remarkable. Plus, you get Jimmy Stewart with his shirt off. C’mon you just can’t go wrong. Alright, I’ll be back with something, hopefully more profound later on.

Fuck the Reviews…

Crank is the best movie of the year.  It's a fucking tour-de-force of insane action on par with anything Leone or Peckinpah ever produced. Run, do not walk, to see it if you have any love for action movies.  It's fan-fucking-tastic.

It was part of a quintuplet of great movies I watched this weekend including D.O.A. (the original, not the remake), the afore-mentioned Crank, The Big Lebowski, Vertigo, and good friend Mark Wheaton's A&E TV Movie, Wildfire: Last Stand at Yellowstone.