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Fury: My War Gone By #2
Garth Ennis (Writer), Goran Pavlov (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colours), Rob Steen (Letters)
Publisher: Marvel
After a (relatively) restrained opening issue, the latest issue of this miniseries from PunisherMAX collaborators Garth Ennis and Goran Pavlov goes in all guns blazing, putting Nick Fury right in the middle of the slow, nasty crumbling of French imperial rule in 50s Vietnam.
This is Ennis at his most not-fucking-aroundest; serving up a gritty, profane war tale with bits of research sprinkled in subtly enough that you never feel lectured. He’s on familiar territory, telling a story of ugly men fighting an ugly war for an ugly cause.
Pavlov draws like a madman - since the last comic I read illustrated by him (the “Barracuda” arc of Punisher MAX) his style has become looser and wilder. There’s an improvisational, dashed-off quality to his scenes of flying fists and bullets, adding a cartoony touch to the carnage. And he excels at drawing muscle-bound, square-jawed tough guys and curvaceous dames. (Between this and also reading Fatale this week, I really want to see Pavlov draw a straight pulp/noir period comic.)
I’m definitely in on this series for the long haul. I have no idea where it’s going, but I do know things will get much, much worse. And it’ll be a joy to read.
Saga #2
Brian K Vaughan (Writer), Fiona Staples (Artist), Fonographiks (Letters/Design)
Publisher: Image
For all the visual ambition and scale on show in Brian K Vaghan and Fiona Staples’ new sci-fi series, at its heart it’s a uncomplicated story of two parents trying to do the right thing for their child. We feel this in the narration from their baby, appearing in childish handwriting imposed over the art, a little note of the innocently mundane amid the high-stakes drama.
Staples is the real star of the book; her fluid yet scratchy line work and gift for capturing facial expressions make every page a joy to look at. Not to mention the lush, vibrant colours that help flesh out the otherworldly locations. There’s an odd interplay between the conservative, straight-bordered panel layout and the riotously inventive images within.
Vaughan’s writing is a little shakier; he has a penchant for clever one-liners that irritate rather than ingratiate. When he keeps them in the background and relies on low-key character development, Saga comes very close to being something special.
Skeleton Key (One-shot)
Andi Watson (Writer/Artist)
Publisher: Dark Horse
This is a treat - a smart, funny, genuinely all-ages comic. Watson’s charmingly simple cartooning animates each of the three stories, strange mixes of fairytale and metaphysical children’s story, with a surreal logic of their own. And the numerous visual and verbal gags reward the reader on every page. I’m kind of conscious that I don’t have a lot to say about this comic, as its charms are so readily visible. It’s great. Go read it.
Album Premiere: El-P, 'Cancer for Cure' -
There’s a line from Austin Grossman’s novel Soon I Will Be Invincible where he describes the experience of a superpowered fistfight as “like being in a car accident, over and over again”.
This is how I feel when listening to El-P. In the best way.
Kanye West as Batman. This is a quick sketch that spun out of some ridiculous comments people had about Big Barda being like Beyonce or something.
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Adrian Tomine covers Thomas Pynchon.
Via Drawn & Quarterly.
(Reblog from earlier today wasn’t showing up on my blog, so I’m reposting here.)
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RIP to the illest
(Source: overpowered88)
Homeland
“Representative Brody” (S01/E10)
I’m torn on whether Homeland aims at being an insightful commentary on post-9/11 America but is not as smart as it thinks it is, or whether it’s a pulpy thriller that achieves moments of transcendence by accident. It’s no secret that its two best aspects are Damian Lewis and Claire Danes, playing respectively returned-PoW-maybe-turned-terrorist Richard Brody and dogged CIA agent Carrie Matheson, who is the only one to suspect him. The standout episode of this season so far has been “The Weekend” (S01/E07), most of which was essentially a two-hander between Danes and Lewis; the show works best when it lets the leads’ faces do the talking, every expression wrestling with the conflicts felt by these two people who are obliged to lie to themselves and everyone around them.
Lewis is handed what could have been a rather cliched role — the good, honest soldier who was lied to by his country — but twisted a few degrees so that he is also lying. At its best, Homeland makes the point that there are millions of people in similar situations, forced to assume the role of proud, patriotic citizens of America At War. Ignoring the news full of terror alerts and distant flashes of bombs, going through the motions, shopping and spending, trying not to think about the pervasive fear that things will never be the same.
Now that the terrorist plot storyline is kicking into high gear, a lot of that resonance which comes to the fore in the show’s quieter moments seems to be going to the backburner. I see the reason for that, but it’s still disheartening to see Homeland go for “the thinking man’s 24” when it’s shown occasional flashes of something much smarter.
Mad Men
“Far Away Places” (S05/E06)
Mad Men After Dark is always a strange beast, a time for revelations and catharsis (see; “Nixon vs Kennedy” (S01/E12), “The Suitcase” (S04/E07), and “Mystery Date” (S05/E04)), and this is no exception. A three-stranded episode showing Don, Peggy and Roger’s respective trials over a day and a night, “Far Away Places” is a superb display of confidence, of a show firing on all cylinders and refusing to acknowledge that it isn’t the best show on TV right now.
There’s a little of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey here. And also of the fairytale, with characters venturing into the unknown — Don actually does head into the woods — to do battle with sinister forces, whether outside or inside themselves.
In a way, this harks back to last week’s excellent “Signal 30” in its portrayal of characters wrestling with their idealised self-image versus messy reality and coming away chastened. Roger and Jane’s unhappy marriage seems to dissolve painlessly in drug-induced mutual insight, but the morning after all the ugliness comes back to the fore. Peggy tries to pitch like Don, runs up against the institutional sexism of the era and seeks solace in very Don-like consolations (playing hooky to go to the cinema, meaningless sex, sleeping on the office sofa).
Don is the ghost hanging over this episode, his absence kicking off the other storylines and weighing on everyone’s minds (see Roger’s LSD-induced encounter with his spirit guide, which, hilariously, takes the form of Don). His trip with Megan to a Howard Johnson’s upstate is an attempt to recreate some idyllic honeymoon state, which suffocates under his overbearing need to control the present rather than try to live in it.
One of the big questions for this season seems to be whether Don and Megan can survive beyond the honeymoon period (as Bert Cooper’s pointed remark at episode’s end highlights). They go through some terrifying peaks and troughs, but the visceral emotional force of Don on his knees clinging to Megan gives you hope that he’s trying to fight through the alpha-male bullshit he was raised on, and he may even succeed. Maybe that’s what the whole episode is about. Taking what you can find in the real world, no matter how difficult and complicated it can be. Because it’s the only thing that matters.