The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone

First off, I should say that this is the first book of The Surrogates series I have read and therefore I might not appreciate it as much as an original fan.
I think my main complaint about this book is the art form. I loved the color palette but I felt that the penciling was rough. However, this might be intentional to contrast the idea of the "perfect," sleek surrogate units. Still, it made differentiating the characters difficult and didn't add an artistic quality to the book. The ballooning was extremely frustrating. I can see that the idea was so have perfect round circles but I hated it when the balloons would unnecessarily cut off the heads of characters and because they weren't outlined it was sometimes difficult to see which character the tail pointed to (see page 26, panel 3 as just one example). Also, I, personally, just don't like when the balloons and gutters seep together. But as I said before, the color palette was pleasing and created a tone and atmosphere for the piece.
The plot wasn't completely original but what what Venditti did well was showing how his vision of 2039 is unique. The back-matter, although sometimes felt a little forced, did create a sense of the world and issues of The Surrogates. I thought some of the most interesting topics that were raised were not just using Surrogates for body image but also to decrease chance of illness (see the questionnaire on pages 93-96). Also, the use of slang (See page 1) helped give the idea of surrogates an authority. The only part of the setting that I think needed some work was that it did not feel like Georgia to me. I am from Georgia but besides the name dropping of familiar locations I didn't know why this story was specifically set in the South.
Overall, I felt like this book is a good read but not groundbreaking.

Blankets

I was surprised by how much I liked Blankets. I heard it was good but when I looked at the synopsis I thought that it probably wasn't something I'd be into because it wasn't dark, violent, and lacked vampires and batman. But once I started reading "Blankets" I just couldn't put it down. Thompson has created this beautiful tale of first love interwoven with growing up, childhood memories and coming to terms with God. What I love most is how the stylistic art and very real, flesh out characters work. It is almost like we have been swept up into his mind and are reliving the memory with him.
I absolutely love Craig Thompson's art - it has such fluidity and emotion. It really helps with the stories transitions from past to present and thought to reality. For example on page 208, we have past and thought together and then the first panel on page 209 uses these images to bring Craig back to reality.
This is a classic coming of age tale but without the cliches and rolling eyes. Each character is flawed but also beautiful in their own ways (except for the babysitter). I feel like this is a story everyone will like.

PREACHER

In my opinion, Garth Ennis' "Preacher" is everything a graphic novel should be. When I first picked it up the only thing I could think about was someday I want to have a story and characters as cool as Cassidy, Tulip and Jesse Custer. "Preacher" has humor (dark but funny nonetheless), romance, action, vampires, cowboys, good ol' boys, the Vietnam war, the north, the South, the church, bald one-eyed Germans, genetically distorted Jesus offspring..... It has everything basically. But Ennis was somehow able to weave all of this together and have it make sense.
Now since I am studying villainy, the first thing I focused on was finding it in "Preacher." But what I found is that every single one of the characters is a villain in their own way (This is probably another reason why I like this series so much). Even our heroes, Jesse and Tulip, are no angels. We know by page 24 that Tulip shot the mouth off of a guy. Cassidy's teeth is ripping into a deputy's jugular on page 74. And Jesse's word of God literally gets the sheriff to eff himself on page 117. And these are the heroes! The bad guys, even just the double crossing small guys are taking people's faces off (see page 132). And in Volume two it gets a whole lot darker. I think Ennis does a good job in marking a line between "cool" villains and just plain effed up evil villains. Jesse and Cassidy may do things that would cause a lot of people to call them villains but I don't think anyone would ever like Miss Marie L'Angelle or her boys. After reading Jesse's back story, I felt total sympathy for him and like Tulip, we understand why he left her. Although a lot of characters are introduced, they are all well developed. Even Arseface gets a back story. But it is also clear that like real humans all of these characters have a dark side as well.
The art is great. Not too stylized but still filled with emotion. The covers are fantastic. They are probably my favorite covers since they are provocative (like Y the last man) but also are usually a scene in the story. Fabry is truly talented.

Y THE LAST MAN (Vol. 1-3)

"Y the Last Man" is Brian K. Vaughan's homage to Mary Shelly's book's "The Last Man." In Shelly's book a plague has killed everyone but a man named Lionel. In Vaughan's tale, a plague has killed all the men (or rather everyone who possesses a Y chromosome) on earth except for a man named Yorick Brown. Another work mentioned that is of note to this comics tutorial is that Yorick's lighter has "Fuck Communism" written on it, which he says is from a graphic novel. That graphic novel is Preacher, which we will be reading next. Jesse Custer, the main character, has the same lighter, which he got from his dad.
But onto the review. I love Y the Last Man. The premise is just so interesting and Vaughan does such a great job setting up this post-plague world. My favorite volume out of the three we read is probably the third. I like the idea of the male astronauts being alive even though they ended up dying once they got to earth. Also, Vaughan does a great job of introducing a lot of characters but not letting any of them fall flat. From Sonia to Natalya, the women Yorick meets all seem very real and unique. Hero, Yorick's sister, is probably the most interesting to me. The whole idea of the Daughters of the Amazon is pretty frightening but seems pretty plausible in that setting. Yorick is my favorite character, though. What I love is that he isn't the usual manly man - but is kind of a self professed dork, who is trying to stay faithful to his girlfriend through this whole ordeal (he fails, but I think we can cut him some slack given the circumstances).
I like that the art is kind of reminiscent of traditional comic book art (Superman is mentioned by Yorick a good bit) and the panels are also pretty traditional, which I thought fit with the radical plot. The cover art is usual realistic but provocative. The third volume in particular, with the skeleton astronaut was pretty gripping.
A very addictive series that always ends on a high note. Favorite line from the series so far: "It's Raining Men. Hallelujah!" in Volume 3, page 87.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Wow! What I love most about Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" is the nostalgic feel of it. The story is a lot to take in but the feel is very prevelant. First thing to note is that I actually liked Catgirl! I am usually not a fan of sidekicks but she was very likable and not so annoying as any of the Robins... Which brings me to my other favorite part of the story: The Dick Grayson as the Joker scenes. The way he was beating up Carrie was very reminiscent of "a Death in the family." I am sad that they real Joker is dead, though. That was my least favorite part of "The Dark Knight Returns." I guess I'm one of those people who think Batman can't exist without the Joker and vice versa.
The whole idea about a holographic president and Lex Luther is awesome. I really loved that part. Having Superman as a slave is really interesting too. As usual Superman is whiny. I did enjoy seeing Bruce kick the crap out of him. Wonder Woman is probably the coolest girl in the story, which is funny cause I normally don't like Wonder Woman very much either. Lara is interesting. I thought that the conversation between her and Superman and what they learn from each other is great.
Miller's characterization of Batman is something I like and question at the same time. I like how dark he is, I think that is perfect. I don't know if he would be SO cruel to Dick Grayson though at the end. But a lot has happened to him so may be. Making another Watchmen reference, Bruce was very much like Rorschach with his "Never compromise" talk and his relentless battle. That's another pair I would love to see have a conversation.
The art is classic Miller but in color - very raw, lots of curves, sometimes it's not clear what is going on. I think it really fit the story. Most Batman stories seem raw to me so I liked it. And no one can draw beat up people just like Miller, ha-ha. The panels were very interesting. For example on page 34, I loved the way the news panels curved around the larger image.

THE KILLING JOKE

Disclaimer: This is my favorite graphic novel so this will pretty much be all praise.
"The Killing Joke" is the best Joker graphic novel to date in my opinion. Alan Moore takes the usual Joker plot but turns it into something entirely unique. First of all, he goes there all the way with the Joker's twisted cruelty - no silly pranks here but a bullet straight in the gut (in Barbara's case). But on the flip side of this, there is also a real sense of tragedy not usually present in Joker stories. The last panel on page 8 is a perfect example of this. The flash back has just ended with the Joker reaching out to his wife Jeanie, and in this panel, the present, he is reaching out to a clown - incredible foreshadowing. Above the clown it says "Laughing Clown" but in the reflection we see that the Joker is not wearing his trademark smile. His expression is sullen and almost lost. The transitions between the flashbacks and present are great. Most of them have the same poses. The one I like in particular is on pages 23 and 24. In the flash back, the Joker has his hands covering his downturned face in despair and in the present it's Gordon in the same position. This goes along with the Joker's theme that it only takes one bad day to make you crazy - like him.
"The Killing Joker" is fantastic artwise as well. Bolland's rendition of the Joker is probably my favorite along with Alex Roth's. Even though the book is short there are so many panels that the reader feels like a lot is going on. The first panel and the last panel are of the same thing - rain hitting a puddle. This goes along with Batman's monologue. I chose the picture above because it's one of my favorite panels. The desperation and sadness on the Joker's face is so moving. It has always stood out to me.
Since my last entry was about Watchmen, I can't help but see how similar the Joker and the Comedian are in that they both believe that "It's all a joke." And yet they are quite different. Blake worked for the government, seemed to genuinely have feelings for Sally, and cracked when he found out about Veidt's plan. The Joker works for no one but himself, cares about no one, and wouldn't give a damn about 15 million people dying. Still they are an interesting pair. I wonder what a conversation would be like between those two!

WATCHMEN - The Movie

I don't care what Rotten Tomatoes says, I think this movie was great! Of course it doesn't have everything the graphic novel has... it has to be condensed into a 3 hour feature - it can't have everything! For what it was trying to achieve, I think Snyder did a wonderful job. I've seen it twice now. I don't know why the reviews keep saying it's boring! I thought it was a roller coaster beginning to end. The first scene with the Comedian is incredible and the opening credits gave me chills.
The sets were fantastic! It was almost eerie how they had every single little detail there. I payed most attention to Blake's apartment - his pictures of Sally (the poster on the wall and the photo in his bedroom), the one of Laurie in the secret room with his costume, and even the hustler magazine on the table. I feel like that is where you can get a real sense of his inner character - how lonely he is and how he realized he messed up. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was great. He and Jackie Earle Haley, who played Rorschach, definitely had the best performances. Most say Matthew Goode did the worst job in his role as Veidt. I really didn't think he was that bad! I think the fact that they cut a lot of Veidt's scenes that are in the novel from the movie made him a hard character to relate to. The accent was a risk Goode took as an actor and I don't know if he should have... but I did like the sound of his voice - very creepy. I don't know, he didn't bother me and I thought he did convey Veidt as well as he could. Billy Crudup was awesome as Dr. Manhattan. Talk about a hard character to play! Patrick Wilson made Nite Owl less whiny. I liked him in the movie more than the book actually. I'm kind of with Rorschach in his assessment of Dan as a flabby failure who cries in his basement. But I liked how Patrick Wilson played him. Malin Akerman looked perfect for the part. She just needed some voice counseling. All of her lines were delivered in the same way. But at least Laurie was less whiny, as well, in the movie. Carla Gugino was amazing as Sally Jupiter. I loved the scene at the end when she hits Dan's ass. Hilarious.
There wasn't *too* much slow motion either, which is good. The film is definitely visually stunning. I thought that the violence was appropriate. The sex scene, although funny, is really too long. The confrontation scene with Adrian could also have been done a little more smoothly, I think. I did like the ending though. It worked well and it still had the audience asking the same moral questions. One thing I did notice in this ending, though, is that Veidt Industries takes over like all of New York with construction and such and all I could think about was Adrian Veidt is making so much money over this. I hadn't thought about that in the novel and I wondered if being money hungry was also apart of Veidt's plan.
Now, the music. I know a lot of people found it annoying. I am once again in the opposite camp. I thought it was great. I know it made it more "comic booky" and people are not used to music making an editorial comment in movies but I thought it was funny and smart, adding to the atmosphere.
Finally, I guess my favorite scene of the movie would actually have to be the beginning with the Comedian and the opening credits. Not that the movie went downhill from there, it's just tha the opening credits were great and well as I have said, the Comedian is my favorite character. Great movie! I'll definitely be seeing it again.