Voices

I don't actually have cable or even an antenna for my tv, but I'm pretty good at acquiring television programs in which I have an interest through a variety of other means. So, last night Lesley and I watched the premiere of The Walking Dead.

We both have a weird relationship with the comics on which this show is based. They start off very, very strong, with the author doing exactly what he promises: showing us the aftermath of a zombie outbreak and following it forward in time long after most zombie stories stop. However, somewhere around volume 6 or 7 (I think) it started to go off the rails in a pretty major way, with the zombie survival nature of the book taking a major back seat to a series of ridiculous and crazy human antagonists. I understand why this happened; if you're going to sustain a long-running story over the course of many years, you're going to have to provide some variety, and this is one of the methods by which Kirkman is attempting to do just that. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work for me.

So, back to the tv show: it was very, very good. AMC has a bit of a reputation for making really good original material but falling flat on their faces with remakes and adaptations, but they definitely succeeded here. The pacing was good, there were lots of great character moments and emotional depth, and they did a good job of introducing the concept without retreading all the same ground that every other zombie movie/book/series has already covered. I have no idea if they'll be able to (a) sustain it and (b) avoid the pitfalls of the comic. Heck, I don't even know if they see the later volumes of the comic as pitfalls to be avoided. Still, I really enjoyed the first episode, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the rest going forward.

I finished reading Don't Rest Your Head. Wow. I really wish someone would run a game of this where I can play. I've never been particularly good at GMing games with crazy, off-the-wall settings, but I love playing in them. Next up, The Zantabulous Zorcerer of Zo. Once that's done, I think I'm going to have to take a short break from going through my huge stack of unread games in order to start going through my huge stack of unread graphic novels.

Life is good.

Note: Posted via email.

There's a great interview with Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead, in which they spend most of their time talking about the Scott Pilgrim movie. For those of you who are not aware, Scott Pilgrim is quite possibly my favorite comic of all time, and it's creator Bryan Lee O'Malley is certainly one of the five most brilliant people in the whole wide world.

Interview link yoinked from destroyerzooey

A few years ago, Mike Mignola, best known as the creator of the comic book series Hellboy, wrote and drew a hilarious one-shot comic called The Amazing Screw-On Head. It's a combination of Lovecraftian/Victorian horror, steampunk trappings, pulp, slapstick, and general Mignola-weirdness that must be seen to be believed. And now you can see it in full moving-picture, animatastic glory!

The SciFi channel has commissioned the pilot episode of an animated series based on the one-shot comic. It is located at http://www.scifi.com/amazingscrewonhead/. Not only is it complete and total genius, but it features Paul Giamatti as Screw-On Head. Everyone should go watch this, and then say good things about it in the online survey so that SciFi will commission additional episodes.

Huzzah!

Every so often I've posted big long lists here of whatever new webcomics I've started reading since the last time I posted said list. However, while I still keep up with my online stuff, I've begun to read a lot more print comics lately. So, I thought I'd make a quick list of some of the best of the bunch I've read in the past few months.

Flight Volume 2: This came out Tuesday. I believe I gave Vol. 1 a severe touting when it came out, and Vol. 2 continues in the proud tradition while also managing to be three times the size of the previous volume. A series of brief comics in an astounding variety of styles (in both writing and art), Flight 2 includes the work of Michel Gagne, Jen Wang, Clio Chiang, and many, many others.

Queen & Country: A stylish, realistic portrayal of a group of British intelligence/counter-intelligence operatives. Written by Greg Rucka, each story arc features a different artist. I'm up to volume 3 of the tpbs at this point.

Spooked: An excellent graphic novel written by Antony Johnston and drawn by Ross Campbell, Spookedis the story of a young artist whose head is occasionally co-occupied by the recently dead. It's a terrific read, and anyone familiar with White Wolf's Exalted game will likely recognize Campbell's art.

Wet Moon: Another Campbell book, this one was written by him as well. It's a fairly simple (so-far) story about a group of severely goth college sophomores and the minutia of their lives. Campbell has a knack for capturing the uncomfortable details of what it's like to be a child/adult hybrid who is unsure of oneself and trying to figure out his/her place in the world.

The Red Star: A mythic sci-fi/fantasy retelling of the history of modern Russia. Iconic, visually interesting, and extremely well-written, this will especially appeal to anyone with a fondness for soviet kitsch.

Superman: Red Son: Also appealing to the aforementioned demographic would be this book, an alternate history of Superman in which he crash-lands in communist Russia instead of Kansas. The writing in this book is top-notch, and the art captures the spirit of the story well. I've never been a big Superman fan (sorry, Laura), but I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.

Sidekicks: Teenagers with superpowers attending a special school is by no means a new theme in comics. But this mini-series actually gets it right.

More to come in the near future, but I'm tired of writing this entry. Cheers.