So this week has been all about
Robert Kirkman’s Invincible. I’ve toyed with reading the series before, but this is the first time I’ve sat down and actually tried reading it straight through (or, at least as “straight through” as 3 issues a night will allow me). I don’t know why Invincible has never appealed to me before. Some of Kirkman’s early work (like
Tech Jacket, for instance) was so spare and unadulterated it hardly seemed worth reading. Concepts were generally sound, but many of his scripts felt very bare bones. But if
The Walking Dead has done nothing else for me, it has proven that I shouldn’t underestimate Robert Kirkman, so it seemed only fair to give Invincible another shot.
Like Walking Dead, it takes a few issues of
Invincible for the series to really get moving in an interesting direction. One of my biggest mistakes was originally judging the series based on my impression of the first two or three issues. These issues are important to the story, no doubt, but the status quo they establish is quickly (and, for the sake of the series’ longevity, fortunately) decimated. What’s left is an interesting hybrid – part Erik Larsen’s
Savage Dragon, part Garth Ennis’
The Boys – that both embraces and subverts common comic book cliches. My only question at this point (13 issues into the lengthy run) is whether or not the series is meant to be read as a broad satire. I’ve already witnessed the introduction (and decapitation) of the JLA-like Guardians of the Globe, and the chief investigator into their murder, the uncannily Rorschach-like Demon Detective. So, is Invincible a homage to Kirkman’s comic book favorites or an opportunity to lampoon them? Is there room to do both simultaneously without weakening the whole?
More on this as I read further into the series….
Posted via email from skinnerbox’s posterous
Skinnerbox: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: When and/or if this thing finally makes it to Woodbury, Ga, I’m camping out for a chance to play a zombie.
Humanity beware — the zombie apocalypse has a start date.
According to Bloody Disgusting, the pilot episode of “The Walking Dead,” AMC’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s long-running Image Comics series, is set to begin filming on May 15, 2010. Shooting will commence in Atlanta, Georgia, the setting for the first several issues of the comic book series.
Fans have been salivating for more news ever since the initial announcement that director Frank Darabont was adapting Kirkman’s horror series. Last month, AMC officially ordered a pilot episode, though that’s only one step towards bringing “The Walking Dead” to television. If the final pilot episode isn’t up to the network’s standards, AMC is not required to pick it up for further episodes.
But if an early script review is any indicator, fans of “The Walking Dead” have little to fear regarding the adaptation’s quality.
“‘The Walking Dead’ could even do for horror what the new ‘Battlestar Galactica‘ did for science fiction,” was the reviewer’s final assessment. “Cross your fingers and hope that the show comes together as well as it did on the page.”
When Kirkman spoke with MTV News about the “Walking Dead” adaptation, he said that the series would be very faithful to the comic book — to a point.
“I’ve told Frank flat-out that I do not want him to follow the comic to the detriment of the show,” he said. “I think it will be 100-percent true to the tone of the series, but at the same time it will be an entertaining, secondary way of experiencing ‘The Walking Dead’ in a completely different light, so I’m excited.”
Tell us what you think of the news in the comments section and on Twitter!
Posted via email from skinnerbox’s posterous
from: Splash Page
via AMC Orders Pilot For ‘The Walking Dead’ TV Series.
Gotta tell ya, I’m pretty darn stoked about this one. I’ve shunned TV in the last year or so, but this could pull me back to the tube. Casting is crucial, of course, but the fact that Frank Darabont is writing and directing the pilot is promising.
Now if only I could convince them to shoot the thing in the REAL Woodbury, GA!
I’m up for playing a zombie. Woodbury isn’t too far of a drive for that!
I make no secret of my admiration for cartoonist/artist Kyle Baker. And while I have not seen Frank Miller’s The Spirit, and I’m not sure I ever will, I still have to appreciate the finer nuances of Baker’s recently posted movie review. It’s too long to even excerpt here, so click the link and head over there quick-soon.
Kyle Baker Reviews The Spirit
It’s not like Eric Powell’s The Goon is ready for mainstream success…yet! But, the fact that Jones Sodas is…even in a limited way….producing these Goon-themed drinks for Halloween suggests mainstream success for Powell’s character may not be far away.
So, how do you feel about the latest indie darling becoming a star? Let us know.
Words aren’t really necessary here, are they???
The good news: David Fincher, director of Seven, Fight Club and many other movies worth your attention, is championing a film version of Eric Powell’s comic The Goon.
The-potentially-bad news: Right now, the project is heading towards being a CG animated feature. That could certainly work, but there are a LOT of ifs…
Full story below:
Jul 3, 2008 (22 hours ago)
from THE BEAT by The Beat
On his blog, GOON creator Eric Powell makes a simple announcement:
THEGOON.COM is proud to announce that THE GOON has been optioned by acclaimed director and producer DAVID FINCHER and Academy-Award nominated BLUR STUDIO to develop as a CG animated feature film with Dark Horse Entertainment.
The Hollywood Reporter has a bit more:
No studio is yet attached, and deals are being negotiated. Dark Horse, which has a first-look deal with Universal, is aiming to develop the project in-house before setting it up.
Blur is best known for its shorts, including the Academy Award-nominated “Gopher Broke,” as well as its work in commercials and special effects. “Goon” be the company’s first feature.
After the success of SIN CITY and HELLBOY, this would seem a natural.
Garth Ennis makes no excuses for the level of vulgarity in his work. I respect that, even if I more than often find his particular brand of writing less than interesting. That said, I still decided to give his and artist Darrick Robertson’s latest creation, The Boys, a chance. After the first issue, I swore off the series (no pun intended) because it seemed just a bit too desperate, but I gave it yet another try just a few weeks ago, catching up on all of the back issues I missed. After reading approximately three story arcs, I think I’m in a better position to make some sort of judgment about the series as a whole, and to relate it more effectively to its relation to Alan Moore’s Watchmen.
In The Boys, Ennis is working with the same premise Moore starts off with in Watchmen – namely, that superheroes are just hyper-exaggerated, hyper-powered versions of our own frail, faulty, eminently immoral selves. Thus, we have heroes who essentially take on many of the attributes seen in our own world’s taboid superstars – vanity, excessive egos, drug addiction (heck, addiction of EVERY kind), and hunger for love and acceptance. Where Moore takes these ideas and turns them into thought-provoking, enlightened literature, Ennis turns them into what at best could be considered the comic book version of a snuff film. There is sly satire to be found in The Boys, but it’s hidden behind WAY too much scatological, bottom-basement, caveman humor, to the point where the series seems an exercise in how far the writer/artist will go next, rather than an exercise in good comic book storytelling.
And therein lies the major problem with the series, a problem provocative artists have always had to address. I just don’t see how much further Ennis and Robertson can take it. I mean, once you cross every line and every standard of good taste, where else is there to go?
Yes, my friends! Get out there and pickup your free books! Better yet, encourage someone who doesn’t read comics to drop by a local comic book store. Maybe that will create yet another of the faithful.
I attended the Fluke convention in Athens, Georgia this past weekend. For those who are unfamiliar with Fluke…it’s a small convention held upstairs in Tasty World in downtown Athens. Consisiting of nothing but independant and self-published comic creators, Fluke was definately a thrill. About 25-35 comic creators set up their tables with their art and comics (comix). Among the guests were Top Shelf’s Andy Runtun (of Owly fame) and J Chris Campbell (of, well, the bizarre). Most were local or from surrounding states. The great thing about this convention was it was small and intimate. There were no comic dealers selling their back-issues of superhero comics. Their were no costumes. No dealers selling action figures. And especially, and thankfully, no manga or anime (except for one creator).
There were only comics by people like you and I. There were even comics for a penny! The intimate setting was a great way to talk to the creators, and even stand there reading their books. There weren’t any distractions.
And there was a good turn-out. The people there seemed genuinely interested in the self-published books. These are readers who want something more than your usual superhero style of storytelling.
Now don’t get me wrong…I love me some Dragoncon and superhero titles. But it was nice to be able to enjoy something different and more personal. Sure, there were obviously some artists there who threw their books together on folded typing paper. But that was almost the beauty of it. The artists could create their own comics the way they wanted to. There was even a little girl sitting with her comic-creator father who drew her own comics and sold them. According to her dad, her comics sold better than his!
So next year, for something a little different, and more real and intimate, take a trip to Athens, Georgia and experience a con like no other (in Georgia at least). You won’t be disappointed.
