Today we give you a double shot of Graphic Novel goodness with two reviews of Mark Waid’s 2 great ongoing series.

Irredeemable Vol.3

Publisher: Boom Studios
Publication Date: July 2010
Paperback:112 pages

Stand alone or series: Volume 3 of ongoing series, which collect issues 9-12

The hunt for Modeus may be over but ultimate chaos is still at hand. With the Plutonian still on the loose, The Paradigm find themselves with little time and less options. Have the Paradigm unleashed something they cannot control? Collects issues #9-12 of Mark Waid’s superhero epic.

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: I LOVE this series since discovering it early this year.

Art: Peter Krause

Review:

I fell head over heels in love with Irredeemable after reading Volume 1, a feeling that only grew considerably with the incredible second volume. The premise of this series is one that appeals to me as a reader and reading about the fear felt, the terror spread when the world’s greatest superhero turns its greatest villain has been a great journey. Especially because the premise is based on the idea that a super being is necessarily equipped with the right psyche to be a super hero.

Needless to say, I had been waiting anxiously for this third volume to finally arrive in the UK. Weeks I have waited with bated breath for this and when it finally landed on my doorstep two days ago, I whooped. Having finally read it, I can say now:

damn, baby, the honeymoon is over.

In this volume, we learn more about Tony/The Plutonian’s childhood and about how The Paradigm, the group of superheroes led by him only recently came to be together. We get to learn more about the other supes, as well as being introduced to a new character, brought forth by the Government in an attempt to stop the Plutonian, since the Paradigm doesn’t seem to be doing that much. And then, there is Cary, the guy who beat the Plutonian to a pulp and who seems to be getting way creepy. But not as creepy as finally figuring out exactly where Modeus – his arch-enemy – has been hiding.

In other words: same old, same old. The feeling that I had after reading this volume was: is that all? Nothing REALLY happens. It is still pretty much set up for something. Don’t get me wrong, it is great set up, and all the small cliff-hangers at the end of each issue were awesome. But there is nothing very new anymore and I really need this series to get moving.

Furthermore, a few things downright bothered me. 1) This new guy who the government has brought forth to capture Tony: he is an alien demon hunter. An alien. All of a sudden, I am no longer reading a super-hero exclusive club. I need to take into consideration other dimensions, and planets too . This is not a problem per se, if done well but it threw me off a bit as it was unexpected (although perhaps it shouldn’t have been) and I will wait and see further developments.

2) Bette Noir. I hate having to be this kind of reviewer/reader who always brings this up, but what is up with the only female member of the group being all about the men of the group? She is married to Gilgamos and at one point her entire arc is about how bad she feels for loving him but cheating on him with the Plutonian. It doesn’t help that there is a super build up to reveal how she has the power to destroy the Plutonian and her Super!Big!Sekrit! turned out to be lame and contrived and all about sexy times with the guy. Seriously now.

Bette Noir: Don’t mind me. Despite my cool name, power and outfit I am only really here so that the male characters can fight about who is better in bed

And finally 3) I am underwhelmed by how Cary is turning out to be another….Plutonian. We find out that he is extremely powerful after his twin dies, and he is able to almost defeat The Plutonian. But the power is going to his head and it only serves to demonstrate in a very aggressive way that absolute power corrupts absolutely. But the thing is, when you make it so every single time, you make it about power and not about people. That maxim is about a tendency not a certainty and by making Cary follow basically the same path and The Plutonian, it makes it less personal, less about the characters and it sort of diminishes the impact of any revelation about the characters’ past.

So yeah, the honeymoon is over but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Now the real thing starts, past the infatuation towards a stable relationship. In spite the aforementioned issues, I still very much enjoyed this volume and I have high hopes that the story will pick up. I mean, as far as I can see, maybe the Plutonian was NEVER EVER superhero material.

Rating:7 – Very Good

Incorruptible Vol.1

Publisher: Boom Studios
Publication Date: June 2010
Paperback:128 pages

Stand alone or series: Volume 1 of ongoing series, which collect issues 1-4

Super villain Max Damage had an epiphany the day The Plutonian destroyed Sky City. When The Plutonian turned his back on humanity, Max Damage decided to step up. Now Max Damage has changed his name to Max Daring and turned from his formerly selfish ways to become… INCORRUPTIBLE.

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: After discovering Irredeemable, I just had to give Incorruptible a go since they are both set in the same world and happen at the same time.

Art: Jean Diaz

Review:

As soon as I finished reading Irredeemable Vol.3, I picked up Incorruptible Vol 1 and I think I liked it a bit more that I liked the former Incorruptible is a spin-off , set in the same world and timeline as Irredeemable, in which Max Damage, one of the world’s greatest villains has an epiphany after seeing The Plutonian going on a rampage and decides to become a hero.

Max is super strong and invulnerable, nothing can piece his skin. There is a cool twist: his power or ability increases the long he is awake – he is the most vulnerable as he awakes and in that one hour window he can touch, smell, and taste but these three senses disappear as the hours go by. He used to hang with his gang of criminals and his partner (and lover) is a 16 year old girl aptly named Jailbait. After witnessing the horrible things that The Plutonian has done, Max turns a new leaf, gets clean, decides he can’t have sex with Jailbait until she is legal and proceeds to become what he feels the world needs right now.

What has possessed him to believe he can do it, I do not know. Basically, Max is like, the anti-Plutonian. But no, not really. He may be Incorruptible now but he has done some pretty shitty things in his time. In that sense, if we think that The Plutonian is irredeemable surely Max should be too. Because if Max can have a second chance, then well, so can The Plutonian right? Say one day he decides he no longer feels like being a supervillain and see the errors of his ways, wouldn’t he be worthy of redemption too?

Redemption: is it merely by making decision that we get it? Yes, Max is acting like a hero (more of a vigilante variety) but are these actions enough? Furthermore, who gets to decide what the general populace needs? That sounds pretty patronising to me. But it also points to a certain humanisation of a villain. Perhaps who needs to be saved is Max himself and the change he undergoes is his and his alone. This is a man who is damaged but who also shows little remorse about the things he did in the past – at least for now. In any case, inasmuch as I felt that Tony was never meant to be a hero in the first place, perhaps Max Damage was never meant to be a villain. Only time will tell.

What I love about both these series are these questions that I get to ask when reading them. I believe they both work together really well too and I love the artwork by both Peter Krause and Jean Diaz. Recommended.

Rating:7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Title: The End League – Volume 1: The Ballad of Big Nothing

Written by Rick Remender, pencils and covers by Mat Broome, inks by Sean Parsons, colors by Wendy Broome and James Rochelle

Genre: Graphic Novel, Superheroes

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date: December 2008
Trade Paperback: 104 pages

Stand alone or series: Collects issues #1-4; first of a two-volume collection

A thematic merging of The Lord of the Rings and Watchmen, The End League follows a cast of the last remaining super men and women as they embark on a desperate and perilous journey through a world dominated by evil, in hopes of locating the one remaining artifact that can save humanity – the Hammer of Thor.

How did I get these books: Review copies (of Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) from the publisher

Why did I read these books: Did you read the blurb? Touted as a merging of Tolkien and Moore, I was intrigued…and also more than a little skeptical. Those be big words, son. It was with nervous excitement that I headed into The End League…

Review:

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and it’s all Astonishman’s fault. After following the instructions of the dread Lexington, Astonishman has unwittingly unleashed the apocalypse – hurling a nuclear warhead at what he believed to be murderous alien creatures, the blast off alien engines and causing an unprecedented explosion that altered the earth’s axis, killed the majority of the population, and mutated 1 in 10,000 in the ensuing radiation. Now, years after the Green Event, Earth is a ravaged wasteland, where refugees fight for food and live under the tyrannical fist of Dead Lexington – yes, he who tricked Astonishman into destroying the world. To set things right and to vanquish Lex once and for all, Astonishman and his ragtag team of superheroes can only hope for god-alien Thor’s help – with Mjöllnir, Thor’s Hammer, Earth and humanity might be saved.

Ok, so The End League is not exactly Watchmen or Lord of the Rings. (Not even remotely – I have no idea how LotR even draws a comparison here. At least I can kinda-sorta see how one might say there’s an itty-bitty drop of Watchmen in this book. If you squint real hard and look at the story from a few hundred feet away. In the dark. Maybe.) From a storytelling standpoint, The End League has promise, but is somewhat underwhelming. I loved the idea of the world’s most beloved superhero unwittingly unleashing the apocalypse on the planet – borne of the best intentions and all that jazz – and I like where I think Remender was heading with a group of superheroes fighting an impossible battle after the world has ended. And yet…the story lacks a certain cohesiveness. There are clever ideas throughout – the origin of the Norse “Gods,” the relative/popular nature of what defines evil, demons from Hell running amok, etc – but they never really work together. Instead, these disparate threads clamor for attention, making for a cacophonous, disjointed reading experience. There’s also a lot of jumping back and forth in time, from character to character (half the time, we don’t even know who these characters are – names or otherwise) which is distracting and gives the book an uneven feel.

But the story isn’t the worst part.

No, the reason why The End League suffers so badly (and the reason why ultimately the series is a DNF for me) is because of the incredibly stilted flatness of its characters. And in a book like The End League, the characters have to reverberate with readers in order to truly work. I’m all for new realms of superheroes/villains; there are no rules already in place, no stifling continuity or character presets to restrain a writer. Take Mark Waid’s Irredeemable (and Incorruptible), for example – his take on superheroes works because he makes the characters work. Waid focuses on the fragile superhero psyche, giving insights to the Plutonian’s past and what made him the unstoppable force of death that he is at present. In contrast, Rick Remender just doesn’t quite pull it together. His characters simply fall flat, the writing clunky and dry. For the first two issues, all readers hear about is how guilty (and shockingly – if subconsciously – narcissistic, I might add) Astonishman feels about destroying the planet whilst marinading in his dour melancholy soup, his hubris the downfall of the entire planet. And good GOD, he’s boring. Instead of illustrating Astonishman’s horror at what he’s done, Remender has him internally monologue about it – and that’s never, ever good.

The real problem with Astonishman, and the rest of the marginalized league characters, is how simplistic and two-dimensional they are. There’s no movement, no true development of these characters – rather, they all feel like pontificating talking heads to advance the wafer-thin story. Writing like this, for example:

“Your machines ripped the information from my mind. You always feared Brian. Feared he would inspire the people to rise against you. Soon you’ll see that in your craven assassination you’ve only made him a martyr.”

or this:

“This place reeks of your impotent values. This citadel of seclusion – a museum of the ineffectual. A trembling last finger gripping the edge of a bottomless cliff. A prison to wait for an inevitable failed conclusion.”

Yeesh. I’m not even going to get into an incredibly awkward proclamation of luuuuurve at one point in the second issue…suffice to say, I was not thrilled.

To add insult to injury, the characters are all incredibly similar (in name, appearance, and powers) to their DC big brothers and sisters – Astonishman:Superman, Lexington:Lex Luthor, Divinity:Wonder Woman, and so on and so forth. Perhaps it would have been better if these were not such transparent analogues for DC’s JLA – but I doubt it.

On the bright side, however, there is no denying that the art in The End League is simply gorgeous. Mat Broome, in his return to the world of comics, does a phenomenal job with his strong, clean art – as do the colorists with the vibrant hues and textures they give to each frame of the book. Halfway through the fourth issue, Eric Canete (of Iron Man fame) takes over with his own distinct, very different sketchy style, which is equally gorgeous if in a different way.

Notable Quotes/Parts: The most notable part of The End League is Mat Broome’s art. Check it out:

You can check out the first three pages of The End League Vol. 1 at Dark Horse’s website, HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Lots of goodies on the Dark Horse site – check out the official trailer for the series HERE.

You can also read interviews HERE.

Verdict: While the art was superb and The End League held a wonderfully promising premise, I just couldn’t care enough by the end of the trade to continue with volume 2. Hence, the reason this is a single review today instead of a double feature. Thems be the breaks. (Although, I will say, I did enjoy the ending of issue 4)

Rating: 5 – Meh, Take it or leave it (Actually, it should be a 4, but the art brings it up a notch)

Reading Next: The Passage by Justin Cronin

Title: Irredeemable vol.#2

Author: Mark Waid/ Artist: Peter Krause

Genre: Graphic Novels/ Comics

Publisher: Boom! Studios
Publishing Date: March, 2010
Paperback: 128 pages

Stand Alone or series: This volume collects issues 5-8 of the ongoing series.

What if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain? The Plutonian’s deadly rampage continues. His former comrades-turned-victims are beaten, tired, and searching for hope. A “twilight of the superheroes”-style story that examines super-villains from Mark Waid, the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!

Why did I read the book: I read and reviewed the first volume a few months ago and absolutely loved it.

How did I get the book: Bought

Review

Whoa. WHOA. A few months ago, I read, reviewed and LOVED Irredeemable volume 1, which collects issues #1-4 of this ongoing comic series. In that review I said I wished I had better words to convey how awesome this series is. I am still looking for them because things just got better – I honestly am head over heels in love with this series.

To recap: Irredeemable is about how the world’s greatest, most powerful superhero snaps overnight (or so it seems) and becomes the world’s greatest villain. In the first volume we see The Plutonian, committing despicable acts which include killing former allies and destroying entire cities such as Sky City, the one he was sworn to protect. The volume ends with The Plotunian sinking Singapore, effectively causing the death of millions. The story basically follows his former teammates trying to piece together the puzzle that is the Plutonian’s breakdown whilst trying to remain alive and out of his way until they can figure out how to stop him. Their last and only hope is to find The Plutonian’s nemesis, a super villain called Modeus who has disappeared from the face of the earth.

In this second volume Irredeemabl ( collecting issues #5-8) , The Plutonian’s motivations are fully explored and even sort of, revealed; further developments occur: we get to have a closer, in depth, complex look at the group of superheroes who are trying to bring him down; including a big reveal and plot twist regarding the twins Scylla (who was killed in the previous volume) and Charybdis that made me literally pump my fist in the air only to follow the action with a “Wait. Holy guacamole. That may have serious consequences yet” .

When I read the first volume, I mused about The Plutonian’s motivations. I wondered what could have possibly happened to steer such a great superhero out of his path. Part of me wished for a grandiose explanation that made sense and maybe even made him a little bit redeemable even after what he did. Part of me wished for the opposite. The latter is what happened:

The Plutonian’s motivations for going from an omnipotent superhero out to protect the whole world to being an omnipotent God of destruction are completely, utterly, supremely ….lame. And that actually makes it all better to me. Because it shows that he is only human as powerful as he might be.

Here you have a guy with absolute power and absolute responsibility. There is not a single minute of the day in which the Plutonian doesn’t hear and know everything about everybody. He is always, always connected with the people, and the slightest mistake can hurt millions. When that eventually happened because of his need for a break (a need that is completely understandable) , the consequences are dire, horrible and in the end, very personal.

But as understandable as it might be, the bottom line perhaps is this: does a superhero like that, with a power like that get to crumble under pressure? Does he get to have “personal” issues? And what about power? Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? The answer seems to point to a “yes” given what happens at the end of this volume with another character. Although one can argue that it wasn’t absolute power that corrupted The Plutonian, it was the difference between “public” and “private” and the weight of his responsibilities.

This story, this tale, is absolutely superb. The storyline is awesome: presenting great conflict both external and internal. The group of super heroes have a bunch of issues to work through before they can even think of stopping The Plutonian. And Peter Krause continues to impress me with his artwork. It suits the story perfectly:

This volume ends with another cliff-hanger and I am trying to decide: do I wait for volume 3 to come out in July or do I go in search of the individual issues RIGHT NOW?

Notable Quotes/Parts: The entire freaking volume is worthy of quote but the Twist was AWESOME. I did not see it coming. Ha.Neither did the Plutonian.

Additional Thoughts:At the end of this volume, there is the usual collection of covers (amazing) plus a preview of another upcoming story by Mark Waid, Potter’s Field.

Also, look what I found over the weekend browsing my local comic book store and devoured promptly: a stand -alone single special issue of Irredeemable:

The first year of IRREDEEMABLE came to a cataclysmic resolution, and before the jaw-dropping second year starts, Mark Waid is delivering an original stand-alone issue! Join the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN team of Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta, along with legendary comics creator Howard Chaykin, and BOOM! Favorite Emma Rios for the IRREDEEMABLE SPECIAL! Showcasing a never-before-seen glimpse into the Plutonian’s heroic beginnings and insights into his former teammates, the once-great Paradigm. Secrets will be revealed! Clues will be given! Threads will be tied up! This is a not-to-be-missed chapter in Mark Waid’s twilight of the superheroes masterpiece!

This issue has three mini-stories around three important – not spoiling – people that will be essential to stop The Plutonian. One of them is dead. One of them has a unique power and heritage and one of them used to be a villain. The latter is the guy from Incorruptible another series connected to the world of Irredeemable and points to a possible convergence of storylines!

Verdict:Irredeemable vol.2 is every bit as good as the previous volume and I would not be surprised if this series became one of my favourite ever.

Rating: 9 Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: The King of Crags by Stephen Deas

During our last Steampunk Week, in our primer we boiled down our own essential Steampunk Reading List, limited to prose books only. But this time around, we’ve got our own recommendations for everything else – comics, movies, and games.

Comics, Manga & Graphic Novels:

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore

It doesn’t really get any more essential than Moore, does it?

Hellboy by Mike Mignola

Technically, it’s not really steampunk, but it’s got the aesthetics and trappings down pat. (Plus, I just love Hellboy. Who doesn’t love Hellboy!?)

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

The manga is pretty damn awesome, as is the anime, and rumor is a live action film is in the works. Exciting!

Girl Genius by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio

Available on web and in print, Girl Genius is one of those comics that has a strong, loyal following. (We’re also reviewing the first five volumes later today, so stick around!)

Ignition City/FreakAngels/Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island by Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis is self-indulgently annoying or incredibly brilliant, depending on what you’re reading, but there’s no denying the guy has mad skills. These three have steampunkish flair and the aesthetic is right (even if they aren’t technically steampunk, by our own stringent definitions).

Iron West by Doug TenNapel

About an incompetent outlaw, mechanical men, and an evil train. Win.

2D Goggles by Sydney Padua

A webcomic following Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage fighting crime. We’re only just starting to get into it (thanks to recommendations from you, dear readers!) – but it’s wicked good fun.

Film & TV:

Hellboy, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Hellboy: Blood and Iron/Sword of Storms

As aforementioned. Yeah, not really steampunk. But some of the elements are there. Who loves Hellboy? We do! We do!

Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)

As aforementioned. The anime, and full length anime movie, is just as winning as the manga.

Howl’s Moving Castle (anime)

Like everyone else on the planet, we love Hayao Miyazaki. Howl is one of Thea’s favorite films, period. Whimsical, beautifully animated, with top caliber vocal talent (Christian Bale, yo) – and, oh yeah, it’s steampunk. Real steampunk.

Castle in the Sky (anime)

Another Miyazaki. Howl, this film, and the next on this list are some of Thea’s personal favorite films (the other Miyazaki you MUST WATCH IMMEDIATELY – not steampunk though – is Spirited Away), and they all have a steampunk veneer. Sky pirates, airships…this is a classic.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (anime)

More Miyazaki. Post-apocalyptic and environmentalist with a steampunkish aesthetic, Nausicaä is another gem.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

A very clever, fun film (even if it’s not the best movie and takes a while to get going). And it’s young Uma Thurman!

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (animated movie)

Disney’s take on steampunk/sci-fi, and a movie I really enjoyed when I was younger (this and Disney’s Treasure Island are pretty fun, imaginative takes on animated SF). And I really like the animation – very different from what Disney was doing at the time.

Steamboy (anime)

If you’re looking for straight-up steampunk in the most traditional sense of the word, look no further. Steamboy, set in an alternate 19th century England dominated by steam technology, also features some strong vocal talent (hello, Patrick Stewart). It lacks the magic of Miyazaki’s films and doesn’t really go anywhere, but it’s still worth watching. Especially if you’re looking for honest steampunk.

Stardust

While Gaiman’s novel isn’t really steampunk, the film adaptation takes some liberties and has some of the trappings. Most notably, the sky pirates in their lightning-capturing dirigible.

Gaming:

Final Fantasy VI

Classic, old school RPG that is actually SET in a steampunk world. Pretty self-explanatory!

Skies of Arcadia Legends

I still play this on my gamecube occasionally (this and my old metroid games). In a Verne-ian setting, Arcadia is an RPG that rocks. Airship combat. ‘Nuff said.

Bioshock/Bioshock 2

If you haven’t heard of Bioshock, you’ve been living under a rock. These games are AWESOME. Beautiful cinematic graphics and storyline, clever, and – oh yeah – totally steampunk in its aesthetic. Ok, it’s at its heart more of a Sci Fi Pulp Noir sort of deal, but the Verne-inspired, steampunk look of Big Daddy warrants a place on the list!

Phew. And that’s it from us and our list. Now, bring on your favorites (that we have inevitably missed)!

Title: Kick-Ass

Graphic Novel (Vol. 1 collecting issues #1 to #8) by Mark Millar (writer) and John Romita, Jr (illustrator) February 2008-Present.

Moviedirected by Matthew Vaughn; Starring Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, and Nicholas Cage. Released 2010.

Dave Lizewski, is just your regular geeky guy: he is not the class jock, or the class clown, he is not super cute or super smart. His life at home with his father (his mother died suddenly when an aneurysm hit her) is ok and he has a couple of friends with whom he shares his love for comic books and superheroes. One day, he starts to wonder: why hasn’t anyone donned a mask and went around saving people? Really, why not?

So that’s what he does. He buys a costume and starts wearing it under his every day clothes, starts exercising and then one day comes across two blokes stealing a car. He confronts them and the outcome of that is both surprising and yet….not really.

Nothing will stop Dave though and he carries on his attempt of being a super-hero calling himself Kick-Ass. His next confrontation is more successful and this fight is captured by an onlooker who updloads a video on Youtube. He becomes an overnight success and creates a MySpace Page where people can contact him for help. Meanwhile at school, he becomes friends with his number one crush Katie, who thinks he is gay. He carries on the pretense to spend time with her as her “Gay BFF”.

Unbeknownst to him, a totally deranged duo of father and daughter –Big Daddy and Hit Girl – are already fighting crime in secret and their main target is mobster John Genovese. Then a new makeshift superhero called Red Mist shows up and he and Kick-Ass team up and end up getting involved in the war between Big Daddy, Hit Girl and Genovese and this is when he learns that being a super-hero is not really easy peasy.

Now, the interesting thing is that the script of the movie was written at the same time that the comics were being written and at first sight, the movie is an extremely faithful adaptation of the book. Kick-Ass, the movie is almost a word by word rendering of the basic plotline of the comics (Genovese is called D’Amico though).

Because of the similarities my overall thoughts can be applied to both comics and the movie. Ruthless, bleak, extremely violent and yet super cool and fun, that is Kick-Ass condensed in a few words.

Visually speaking, the art in the comic is great and I didn’t expect less from Romita. The movie though is even greater and it has awesome action sequences (all with a great soundtrack in the background), great acting from the main character Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Mr Nicholas Cage who all of a sudden reminded me how good of an actor he really is. His Big Daddy hits all the right notes of both lunatics and poignancy.

Cinema and Comics are the perfect medium to tell this story because of the rich imagery of violence – a violence that is present in almost every panel of the book and almost every sequence of the film. I am not exaggerating when I say this and I need to stress it: this story in either format is not for the squeamish. Our hero is beaten up, shot, stabbed, trampled, tortured, all in graphic detail.

The greatest violence though is the one suffered and realized by Hit Girl. As much as Kick-Ass/Dave is our hero the true star of this movie/comic is her. An 11 year old girl, who has been trained by her own father to be a killing machine and she is. She is the most violent character of the film/comic, and if you have any possible issues with a 11 year old (who looks and behaves like one) being beaten up or beating up (and cutting and stabbing and shooting and beheading) other characters whilst using the most foul language possible, well you’d better stay away from this one.

For better or for worse though, she is going to be a cinematographic ICON, or else I will eat my hat. She is like Tarantino’s The Bride in miniature and on steroid. However, the true violence here is how this girl has been deprived of a childhood by a crazy father bent on revenge.

The movie succeeds in showing that better than the comics and here is where the main difference between the two lies. In as much the movie is a very faithful adaptation it also departs from its source where it matters the most. The movie puts a much bigger emphasis on the characters’ emotional journeys than the comic does. By doing that is changes the very essence of the story – three of the characters change so much as to be completely different entities and to me, much more sympathetic ones for it. I am also sure, that those who love the comics might find that a coup out, an attempt of being emotional when the comics try to be the opposite.

Because the comic Kick-Ass strives to be a “realistic” insight about the super-hero phenomenon stripping super-heroes of their power and looking at the men behind the masks. I can not help however, but to point that others have done that before and more successfully in my opinion. If you look at comics and graphic novels of the past years: Marvel’s X-Men are a bunch of superheroes that navigate in a very grey area of morality. If you want to be a stickler and compare Kick-Ass to those who don’t really have superpowers, you also have DC’s Batman and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (with the exception of Dr Manhattan).

The Dark Knight Returns, and Batman: The Killing Joke for example are awesome examples of a Super-Hero/Vigilante stripped bare in front of an audience as it portrays Batman as an almost lunatic with an unerring sense of justice who might well belong in Arkham Asylum himself. Same thing with Watchmen, a most aggravating group of vigilantes full of psychological problems behind their marks: including impotence, mommy issues, obsession, etc.

How is this any different from what Kick-Ass tries to do? Well, the biggest difference between those and Kick-Ass lies in motivation. No matter how ugly, dark, bleak things get in the aforementioned examples, the characters are indeed motivated by (maybe misguided) a sense of Justice regardless of which form it takes and how far they are willing to go to serve it. This is perfectly embodied by Watchmen’s Night Owl who is indeed a hero. At the end of the day, I think this is what we really want isn’t it? I know it is what I want: I love to see a different side to heroes, and I love all the grey area they might navigate in and how they are not goodie-goodie like say, Super-boring-Man but I do want to see some sort of heroism somewhere. I want to root for and side with these guys. That is the whole idea and dream behind my love for super-heroes as naïve as it can be.

Kick-Ass is a character who doesn’t really have any motivations except being bored with his life and afraid of his future. He only ever becomes heroic when there is something in it for him, or when he is connected with the victims somehow. This is why perhaps, I LOVED the movie more than the comics, because at least some of the characters do have a better motivation and because the movie is a much more emotional journey, I was able to connect with and really like the characters.

But maybe, maybe, and here might be the genius of the story as intended by Mark Millar, this is the point: that Kick-Ass so well captures the nihilism of the noughties. It is well within reason to believe that in our era a teenager would become a super-hero because he wants celebrity status, to get the hot girl and more friends in his Facebook page and not because of some misplaced sense of heroism. Because really, that is so fifties, isn’t it?

In that sense, it is extremely realistic in the way that it shows us an image of our times – the truth of it (almost) literally bleeds away from the pages or from the screen. It might not sound like it, given my criticism, but I absolutely loved the comics and ADORED the movie. It is one of my favourites of the year.

Verdict:

Book: 7 Very Good

Movie: 8 – Excellent

“Inspirations and Influences” is a new series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today’s guest is author Mark Andrew Smith; prestigious Harvey Award-winning comic book author, editor of the awesome Popgun Anthology series, and graphic novelist. Recently voted the Best All-Ages Graphic Novel of 2009 by MTV’s Splash Page, and featured on the likes of WIRED and Boing Boing, The New Brighton Archeological Society has won over comic readers and speculative fiction fans alike. Thea absofreakinglutely loved it. When Mark agreed to write a piece about his work, the comic book readership, and the future of the medium for our Inspirations & Influences segment, we were, understandably, thrilled.

Without any further ado, please give a warm welcome to the talented Mark!

The New Brighton Archeological Society is an all-ages graphic novel series about a group of children from two different families whose parents are close friends and colleagues. After their parents are lost on an archeological expedition, the children find themselves picking up their parents’ work and setting out to defeat their parents’ nemesis. They soon find themselves in a race against time to collect a series of books that are part of a great library of magic that has kept two kingdoms at war for centuries. The children unlock the secrets of their parents’ mysterious lives, discovering a hidden world of mystical artifacts, mythical creatures, and arcane knowledge.

The book began around the title “New Brighton Archeological Society,” and I built it from there. It’s no secret that I like quirky long names for titles.

When I was in school years ago at UCSB (Film Class of 2002), I worked at a bagel shop. Adorning the wall to this particular bagel shop was one of those blackboard menus, with different colors of chalk on it. I would stare at this menu out of sheer boredom as I counted down the hours until I could be home again and wash the bagel smell out of my clothes.

But I digress, anywhoo…

On the menu there was a particular sandwich called “The New Brighton.” The name became stuck in my head. It sounded like such a mysterious and an intriguing place next to the ocean where waves crashed onto a rocky coast. In proper “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” fashion, I begun to imagine myself there, far away from bagel hungry customers, and I built on the loose idea about a society that was created there. After doing more research about New Brighton I really liked it more and more because there are about ten different places named New Brighton. The name of the city is ambiguous, much like Springfield from The Simpsons –and can exist in any number of places.

Fast-forward two years after university: I had my first comic book series come out from Image Comics called The Amazing Joy Buzzards. Joy Buzzards was about a rock and roll adventure band that traveled around and solved mysteries with a Mexican Wrestling Genie. The artistic style on the book screams “make this into a cartoon series!” I took Amazing Joy Buzzards to pitch at animation meetings, and I would get comments like, “Can you make them younger and take away the music?” I felt that if I did something like that, it’s not even the same book. So it made more sense to start something new and in a similar tone — but different. Around this same time I was asked to work on a kid’s chapter book series for a publisher. With that motivation, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

When I started writing The New Brighton Archeological Society, I did a brainstorm and jotted down the influences of the book. The tone I wanted running through the book is one that I would describe as, the energy and characterization of Calvin and Hobbes, meets the warmth and comfort one feels when looking at a Norman Rockwell painting. I thought it would be important to have a timeless setting but to also have the characters be animated visually so that readers can understand the story just by looking at the pictures.

There are a lot of little things that inspired and influenced the story, and it’s a comic book equivalent of kid’s chapter books for an all ages audience. Old serialized adventures played a huge role in crafting New Brighton. Also, Saturday morning cartoons like the mystery gang from Scooby Doo and the film The Goonies for the type of team we had. Peter Pan in literature as well as all the film incarnations also had their influence on the project. Classic fantasy lore like Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia played a role as well.

I really wanted to have an Indiana Jones type feel in parts of the story where folks would travel through epic temples, but in these temples everything would still be alive, and magic and mythology were real and walking alongside the characters in the story.

With the mythology and the creatures, I think often people go to the well of western monsters, but I wanted to add in a lot of Eastern elements because we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg for Eastern mythology. There is such a wealth of rich material to draw on there!

How is prose different than writing for graphic novels? Writing comics is frustrating because you have to depend on a lot of people after your work is done to complete the project. With prose I feel like writers are very fortunate because at the end of the day they don’t have to depend on another person to finish their book.

Thankfully I have a great editor named D.J. Kirkbride that helps me out with New Brighton, proofreading and catching mistakes. The artist, Matthew Weldon, is also so professional and great to work with, which makes the process so much more fun.

A common misconception about writing for comics is that I just fill in the bubbles in the word balloons. The truth, though, is that I’m writing all of the action, the panel breakdowns, what’s in the frame, the pacing, and character expressions. It’s a lot more detailed than a screenplay, kind of like a shooting script. The funny thing about writing for comics is that most of what I write the reader never reads, as about 90% of it gets covered up and replaced with art.

The markets for graphic novels and comics have been largely segregated over the last 10 years. Printed comics are in a state of declining readership and in a distribution system that makes it hard for people to purchase them in bookstores. Comic book shops are reluctant to carry independent and non super-hero titles and often the only way people can get particular graphic novels is on Amazon. Graphic Novels have got to get into bookstores and in front of their intended audience, but the system in place right now keeps us segregated from the book market. I hope in the next few years all of this will soon change. Graphic Novels and the distribution system for them must rapidly evolve in the next five years or die.

I’m very excited about the iPad and other reader devices. These should be a boon for graphic novels and comics writers, as they can easily get the work directly to the readers, making it a great marriage of books and technology.

There’s a shifting trend in graphic novels these days to make them for a wider audience. I think the words “graphic novel” still carry with it a stigma from thirty years ago that creators are working hard to try to change. A while ago the trend was towards graphic violence, with lots of female anatomy exaggeration, and superhero based male power fantasy, and there still are those types of books. In fact it’s still half of what’s out there on the market, (It’s like the embarrassing drunk uncle you have that shows up to family gatherings where the rest of the family is normal). The superhero readers are getting older and older and there aren’t new readers to come in and replace them.

But a lot of people are working hard to change those stereotypes about comics and to make a wealth of diversified material to attract new audiences to the medium of graphic novels. For the past thirty years, it’s very much been a boy’s club with the exception of material from a few creators, such as the great Neil Gaiman.

Now more and more people are discovering that comic books are a medium and not a genre.

Could you imagine if there were just one genre of novels to read and nothing else and that it was the superhero genre?

It’s crazy to imagine right? The idea is very laughable to imagine Dickens writing orphaned heroes down on their luck and wearing spandex. But it’s been the case for at least the past 80 years in the medium of comic books and graphic novels. If it were the case for novels it would mean the death of the novel medium.

Thanks to works like Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, more and more people are realizing that comic books are not a genre but a medium capable of telling any range of stories under the sun, with almost limitless potential. There are comic books in broad ranges of genres now from adventure, to wine tasting, and cooking.

In the past ten years we’ve been working very hard to diversify. There are a lot of us doing our best to get the word out about the potential of comic books to reach every kind of reader out there. There is a comic book now for every reader to enjoy.

Right now, more than ever, we need to increase graphic novel literacy with children reading comics. We need to make strong allies of librarians for non super-hero material, and we need to work as hard as we can to attract women towards reading graphic novels with material that is attractive and that they will enjoy.

The biggest shockwave this last year came from Comic Con International, where a huge number of Twilight fans showed up. A lot of comic book readers were annoyed while others took note and saw the great potential to having the female compliment of fans at the largest culture show in the world.

A Twilight graphic novel adaptation of the Twilight Saga will be out soon with 350,000 copies printed out of the gate, which beats all sales numbers that comics on the market now are doing in terms of sales.

The comic market is taking notice of the power of female readers, and we need to serve and cater to them more. We need women in roles of power in the comic book industry and telling stories. Right now the best example and perhaps only example of this is the Vertigo imprint from DC Comics under Karen Berger. I think they’re the only ones who’ve got it right in that regard.

Thank you, Mark!

Title: The New Brighton Archeological Society (Volume 1: The Castle of Galomar)

Author: Written by Mark Andrew Smith & Illustrated by Matthew Weldon

Genre: Young Adult, Graphic Novel, Adventure, Fantasy

Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: March 2009
Softcover: 179 pages

Out of the ashes of misfortune will rise the next generation of great adventurers! After their parents are lost on an archeological expedition, four children begin to unlock the secrets of their parents’ mysterious lives, discovering a hidden world of mystical artifacts, mythical creatures, and arcane knowledge. Soon they find themselves drawn into a conflict over a great library that has kept two kingdoms at war for centuries, the children must save an enchanted forest, the birthplace of magic itself. Join us as these children become the latest members of the fabled New Brighton Archeological Society, and take their first steps towards their true destiny!

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of a planned series

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the Author

Why did I read this book: When Mark Andrew Smith contacted us with the opportunity to read and review The New Brighton Archeological Society (one of our first ever graphic novel review queries!), I was thrilled. This book was recently voted as the Best All-Ages Graphic Novel of 2009 by MTV’s Splash Page, and has received rave reviews from Boing Boing, Ain’t It Cool News, and WIRED Magazine. With recommendations like that, how on earth could I refuse?

Review:

Let me start off this review by saying – wow. I repeat. Wow. The New Brighton Archeological Society is probably the best children’s (and all-ages appropriate) graphic novel I have ever read. Granted, there’s a dearth of true “all-ages” graphic novels on the market (many so-called children’s comics seemed to be more geared towards adult readers than actual children), but this is not praise I give lightly. The New Brighton Archeological Society is a story that is a achieves the mystical, elusive alchemy that makes The Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter books so appealing to both children and adults alike: it encapsulates the wide-eyed wonder of fantasy in the midst of palpable danger, and neither patronizes nor makes tiny child-looking adults of its protagonists. That’s a very, very hard thing to do, and The New Brighton Archeological Society does it with pizazz.

Following the death of their famous archeologist parents, two pairs of siblings – Joss & Cooper, Becca & Benny – are taken into the care of their elderly godparents, the MacCombers, at Brighton Manor. Out of their tragic loss, however, the four friends and siblings come by great adventure, magic, and whole new worlds – literally. The Manor, home to both pairs of parents in their younger days, holds countless secrets and possibilities for these intrepid youngsters. During a snowball fight, the young explorers fall into a secret bunker and learn that their parents were part of a group called the Brighton Archeological Society. The four uncover an even more wondrous discovery on Brighton’s grounds as they stumble into a world of magic – of friendly and informative Goblins and dangerous warrior fairies. As they soon learn, their parents dedicated their lives, up to their deaths, to protect some very important magical books from the Great Library – especially from the clutches of a mysterious, nefarious man named Galomar. Impassioned to continue in their parents’ noble footsteps, the four decide to act – and with their new Goblin friends’ help, they raid Galomar’s castle, braving demons and vampires, to save the world from magical destruction.

While reading The New Brighton Archeological Society, one cannot help but think of those formative, captivating books of one’s youth – the comparisons between this book and C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling (there’s even overtures of some Hayao Miyazaki and Neil Gaiman in the mix) are indeed apt. This graphic novel may tread familiar territory – orphans following in their parents’ magic fight to save the world – but the visuals, the genuine wonder imbued in every frame of this graphic novel make the story seem fresh and bright-eyed. One of the best things about The New Brighton Archeological Society is that it isn’t patronizing in the slightest – and at the same time, it’s not gratuitously dark or violent. I also loved the fantasy element, putting a wonderful spin on a familiar creation myth and pitting fairies and goblins against each other (with Goblins as the good guys, in a welcome surprise). The fantasy element should appeal to Speculative Fiction readers of all ages – even if the material is a bit familiar, it’s enchanting.

And then there are the protagonists themselves. I LOVED the portrayal of the children, both in art and in characterization. Becca is inquisitive and apparently the “baby” of the group (prone to tears) – but when it comes down to her brother and friends in trouble, she shows her mettle. Hotheaded Benny is courageous and hungry for adventure and to continue his parents’ work. Cooper is the dreamer, the imaginative member of the bunch (and he instantly won my heart with his ZOMBIES! cry for help at the beginning of the book). And finally, Joss – my favorite character – is the brainy, storytelling girl. Her tale of the fearsome kitten that became Moloch is easily my favorite story within this graphic novel. There’s also a winsome Goblin character named Mitch – green tinged, butterscotch-loving, and very knowledgeable when it comes to all manner of monster and magic.

What’s more, I loved that the New Brighton Archeological Society is composed of two pairs of racially diverse kids – Joss and Cooper are Chinese American, and Becca and Benny are the Anglo/caucasian. This diversity stretches to the mythology of the book as well. Though western myth and theology are present (God, goblins, fairies), there also are Japanese Kappa (a frog-like water demon) and Chinese Vampires – and in a young adult book, this is pretty groovy.

Finally, I should mention that the art in The New Brighton Archeological Society is superb. Matthew Weldon’s art tells a story just as much as Mark Andrew Smith’s words do. There are stretches in the book – such as the introductory eight pages! – that have no words at all. This kind of interplay and trust, from the writer’s & illustrator’s ends, are a beautiful thing, and these wordless stretches are just as potent and memorable as the overall written story.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Two great sample panels – the first had me near tears at the beginning of the book, the second had me cracking up (CLICK TO ENLARGE):

(Don’t you love the expression on Joss – sister to the zombie-yarn-spinning Cooper – ’s face? Awww)

Additional Thoughts: Three short stories for The New Brighton Archeological Society first appeared in POPGUN, the “original, critically acclaimed graphic mixtape” (POPGUN is a mashup preview of some of the finest, widest ranging comics available in an anthology). AND you, dear readers, can download the PDF HERE, completely free.

(Also, if you haven’t yet checked out the candy-slick, online comic awesomeness that is POPGUN, I highly recommend you take a gander)

Also, make sure to stick around as later today we have author Mark Andrew Smith over to talk about his Inspirations & Influences for this book, and commentary on comics and the medium’s evolving readership!

Verdict: Sweet, funny, smart, and heartfelt, featuring equally luscious writing and art, The New Brighton Archeological Society is damn near perfect. I loved it, wholeheartedly recommend it to readers of all ages, and I cannot wait for book 2!

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes

Welcome to guest dare! For those new to the feature, our Guest Dare is a monthly endeavor in which we invite an unsuspecting victim to read a book totally outside of their comfort zone. You can read all previous Dare posts HERE.

This month’s victim is Peter, the dude behind the hilarious (and bizarrely informative) Bitterly Books – a blog that, in his own words “takes caustic, uncomplimentary tours through ill-advised and poorly executed nonfiction.” Peter actually approached us for the Guest Dare, and we were more than happy to oblige him. When he said he was in unfamiliar waters with Graphic Novels (especially of the non-superhero variety), we came up with a list of titles for him to try…

So, without further ado, we give the stage to Peter and his experience with Scalped.

Title: Scalped Vol. 1: Indian Country

Author: Written by Jason Aaron, Art by R.M. Guéra

Genre: Crime/Thriller, Noir, Graphic Novel

Publisher: Vertigo
Publication Date: August 2007
Softcover: 126 pages

Stand alone or series: Collects issues #1-5; first graphic novel of six in an ongoing monthly series

Fifteen years ago, Dashiell “Dash” Bad Horse ran away from a life of abject poverty and utter hopelessness on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation searching for something better. Now he’s come back home armed with nothing but a set of nunchucs, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and one dark secret, to find nothing much has changed on “The Rez” — short of a glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime. Is he here to set things right or just get a piece of the action?

Why did we recommend this book: Scalped is good. Like, really f’ing good. Even if you’re not a fan of gritty, crime noir type stories, Scalped is one of those transcendent books that defies genre snobbery. When Peter told us that he was out of his comfort zone in graphic novels, crime/mystery, thrillers, and westerns, it all sort of…clicked.

Peter’s Review:

For my dare, I read Scalped: Indian Country, a graphic novel set on an Indian reservation. I was excited to see how it differed from both Ralph Nader’s depiction of Indians as lazy deadbeats waiting for their next welfare check and Louise Erdrich’s portrayal of them as PTSD-suffering statutory rapists. According to Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra, Indian reservations have just as much sex, drugs, and violence as some of the classier parts of New Jersey, but the unemployment rate is a little higher (80%!).

The story begins as young Dashiel Bad Horse arrives on the Prairie Rose Reservation and starts kicking ass unrepentantly. This soon attracts the attention of Lincoln Red Crow, the reservation’s main shot-caller (president of the tribal council, sheriff of the tribal police, chairman of reservation’s planning committee, and managing director of the new casino, to be specific), who decides to use Dash for his own ends. However, it turns out that Dash both has his own agenda and is already serving as the semi-complacent pawn in someone else’s schemes. I’m not really a fan of crime dramas, but Aaron and Guéra do a good job of keeping up the tension, and the way the characters’ stories intertwine was compelling enough to hold my interest through the whole book.

I found a lot of things to like in Scalped. For example, it doesn’t waste a lot of time focusing on piddling technicalities such as due process or excessive use of force. Setting the story on an Indian reservation, which can make and enforce its own laws, means that Bad Horse gets to employ brutal vigilantism while remaining on the badge-wearing side of justice. Instead of Law-and-Order style wrangling over whether or not the defendant will later walk on a technicality, you get Roadhouse style asskicking with a side order of handcuffs. (I hold no special reverence for Colonel Custer, but if enjoying the sight of somebody beating on a filthy hippie in a “CUCK FUSTER” tee shirt is wrong, then I have no hope of ever being right.) Dashiel’s only problem is that for all the freedom he has to punish bad guys, the biggest criminal on the reservation is the one he can’t touch.

The main story is well executed. It turns out that Dash grew up on the reservation. Now he has to deal with his estranged mother, who herself has a past history with Red Crow. There is some discussion about what happened to Dash outside of the reservation, and he didn’t leave to become a Rhodes Scholar. The unsolved murder of two FBI agents on reservation soil turns out to be an important part of the story, and past history tangles with present characters to make their motivations complicated while keeping the plot simple.

Complicated motivations help explain Dash’s attraction to Carol, the love interest (she’s a little too much of a skank for me to call her a femme fatale in good conscience). She and Dash grew up together, so she evokes his nostalgia for a time when everything was more innocent. She’s also the daughter of Red Crow, an overprotective father who makes it dangerous to be seen with her, so she is an alluring forbidden fruit. And she’s a walking train wreck that no sensible person would go near with a 40-foot pole. Seriously, she’s got major daddy issues, is a heavy drug user, has sex with multiple partners in the course of a single day, trades sex for drugs, and generally makes poor lifestyle choices throughout the book. Bad Horse can’t get enough of her.

I had some problems with Scalped, but they were mostly with the artwork—probably a personal failing of mine for not being able to recognize or appreciate techniques beyond the Dogs Playing Poker school of American Realism. The book does a good job of setting the tone with the visuals, letting the reader know when the characters are being sarcastic and adding subtle details to underscore hypocrisy, but there were a few times when the visuals raised questions that distracted me from the story.

Six pages in, there’s a scalped corpse lying on the floor. In a story called Scalped, I give them points for getting right to business, but didn’t recognize it right away because it was unexpected. I don’t think it’s normal to see a mutilated body in the manager’s office at a high end casino—I would assume that they have parking garages and irregularly lit supply closets for that sort of thing. Red Crow, the scalper, has it there to illustrate a point. Had the scalping been done there? Because Red Crow is later shown to be pretty concerned about keeping his carpets clean. Who was that guy? We never find out. Does Red Crow just casually scalp people, or had this dude done something seriously wrong? Void of any context, it’s just a prop to intimidate Bad Horse. I would be pretty pissed if someone killed me and carved off bits just to make a point in a conversation with somebody else. The scalped body is never mentioned again.

There is also a gang of deformed psychopaths that is introduced and killed off over the space of a few pages, for the apparent purpose of showing that Bad Horse is one tough hombre. The reader knows that the gang is bad because they use big words, dress well, and all have hideous burn scars. Why are they burned? Were they a gang before they were burn victims, or a bunch of burn victims who found each other and decided that a life of crime was where it’s at? The text hints that maybe they were all caught in the same fire during their last job, but it looks like a lazy shortcut to show they are evil. Too much effort is put into making this gang stand out as a bunch of specially skilled, verbose fancypantses before they get thrown away like expendable foot soldiers with very few lines.

Unfortunately, the whole book is just an introduction to the larger series. After introducing the characters, describing their pasts and motivations, and showing them relating to each other for a little bit, everything ends on a cliffhanger. (Thanks for spoiling it for me, Wikipedia!)

It was nice to read something other than nonfiction, and I haven’t read a graphic novel in a very long time. I appreciated the way that Aaron and Guéra were able to use text and images together to tell a complex story in a tight format that would have been much longer in a text-only format. I don’t think I’m hooked on either crime dramas or graphic novels now, but I appreciated the experience.

On the Book Smugglers rating scale, I give it a solid six, “Good, recommend with reservations.” This is so I can gratuitiously use the word reservations.

Thank you, Peter! And we’re glad you found Scalped to be a good read, even if it wasn’t exactly your cup o’ tea.

Next on the Guest Dare, it’s none other than Sam Sykes – debut author of the highly anticipated Tome of the Undergates. And, because Ana is SO obsessed with it, Sam will be reading (take one guess):

Until April!

Title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Graphic Novel (Vol. 1) by Alan Moore (writer) and Kevin O’Neill (illustrator) . Published in 1999.

TV Movie directed by Stephen Norrington; Starring Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng and Richard Roxburgh. Released in 2003.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is set in an alternate version of Victorian Britain where technology is very advanced, the supernatural coexists with the natural and characters from famous literary works are real people.

Miss Mina Murray has been recruited by the British Secret Service to bring together a group of individuals to work for a mysterious Mr M. With the help of an already recruited Captain Nemo (who had faked his death years ago and now is in search of new adventures ), her first stop is Egypt, where in an opium den, they find former intrepid hero Allan Quartermain now a hopeless, sick addict. Without much of a choice (especially when Mina is nearly raped and they have to fight to fight their way out) Allan is dragged to the Nautilus ship where so rehab is in order before they go to Paris to meet the next in their list. There, they must capture a man-beast who have been terrorizing prostitutes and who turn out to be Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde – once captured and turned over to their boss, the League moves in to the next target and visit a girl’s school whose pupils have been rumoured to have being impregnated by the “Holy Spirit” – in reality, The Invisible Man, who had been raping the girls.

They arrest the felon and return to London where they are informed of the purpose of bringing such a group together: Britain has been secretly planning a trip to the Moon using a key component called Cavorite which has been stolen – possibly by Britain’s enemies – and their mission is to recover the Cavorite, but for that they must learn to work together first under the leadership of gasp, a woman. In their path, they have to learn to trust each other, to let go of their pasts (is that even possible?) while dealing with plots twists and double crossings.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a ingenious work of fiction – Alan Moore doesn’t merely appropriate himself of known characters of fiction, he gives them new lives, playing the sensibilities of the time period whilst at the same time adding new flavourings – it is Steampunk after all, so the alternate universe serve the story by allowing for example a woman to be leader of the group, or the technological advances to be used by the characters in their pursuit of the villains.

I have to admit though at being completely surprised with some of the reviews I read which compare this League with say, the League of Justice and call this bunch of folks super-heroes.I think this is an utterly inapt description. There is nothing super about any of these folks (except perhaps Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, but that is hardly a superpower to talk about) and hardly anything heroic about most of them, considering that we have at least a rapist and a murderer in their midst. A much more apt comparison in fact, would be with Alan Moore’s own Watchmen , that group of flawed vigilantes who in the end, can do something good. But still having some bad apples in the group (an easy comparison is between The Invisible Man and The Comedian or between Night Owl and Quatermain) .

They get together for pure lack of choice not heroics. Mina is now a ruined woman, after the scandalous incidents with that Dracula chap, incidents that are only alluded to in the course of the story, but which have resulted in her divorce from Jonathan Harker and to always wearing a scarf around the neck and that ruination is thoroughly exploited by M. As is Quartermain’s opium addiction and former glory for example. Similarly The Invisible Man and Dr Jekyll are in it because they are criminals and they need to be pardoned.

In the end, something might have changed for some of them and to follow each character arc is what it is all about – and THEN, they might become Extraordinary. Plus, you know, the fun of it all – the trying to see if you can get all the literary references (OMG the Invisible Man is raping POLLYANA when they get to the school) and to get to the bottom of the mystery. Who is this M? Who is the real villain of the piece?

As for the art, I don’t find it especially spectacular but it is certainly effective in conveying the gloominess and darkness of both characters and setting. It is also very graphic – torture, attempted rape, murders are all explicitly detailed.

Now, for the movie.

It is safe to say that whereas The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the graphic novel, is a great work of fiction that I really enjoyed and can highly recommend, The League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen, the movie, is a veritable Masterpiece.

Of suckage.

Oh, the wrongness of it all. Let me count the ways.

For starters: Allan Quatermain is the one chosen to their leader. Of course, GOD FORBID , the ladyfolk be allowed to lead anything especially not this league of extraordinary gentlemen. The ladyfolk is there to be hot, speak with a raw, sultry voice and kiss the hot dude.

Speaking of Mina – there is nothing more unrefined than to have this scene right in the beginning? Yes, let’s make the character a blood-sucking fiend and forget all about the trauma and horror and the fact that it is never even revealed to the reader what happened to her in the book.

Since we are on the subject of subtlety , could this movie be any more obvious and crass? Starting with the addition of two new characters which do not exist in the comics: Dorian Gray and Tom Sawyer. Let me just say something before I go any further.

I can’t stand Stuart Townsend’s acting and any character he plays I will hate on principle

Thank you. Back to the matter at the hand – it is so obvious that these two characters have been added in an attempt to add “young” blood to the cast is not even funny – since most of the of original literary figures are former heroes in their later years, I guess Hollywood needed more commercial faces and I understand that, I do. But I also missed the great bickering and chemistry between Quatermain and Mina.

Moving on, moving on. Where was I? The godawful lines and dialogue: a mixture of overt clichés and dumb lines. Like for example, when they see Nautilus for the first time. In a scene that could have been good – because the visual effects here were rather cool, I like Nautilus, but the dialogue ruined it for me.

Tom Sawyer: Oh.

Nemo: Behold Nautilus, the sword of the ocean

Yeah, mind numbing.

Beyond that, the fact that the writers sucked all the fun and good things out of the original and made a complete mess of it all. None of the complicate issues exist any longer, Quatermain has no Opium issues, Mina is a bad-ass vampire, Invisible Man is just comic relief and so and so forth. I understand that adaptations do not have to follow the originals word by word but if you are not going to get the GOOD things out of it, then WHAT IS THE POINT???

In the end, an extraordinary disappointment. It is a horrible adaptation which does not stand on its own two feet. Not even the awesomeness of Sean Connery can save this one.

BUT IS IT STEAMPUNK? YES! Alternate history with advanced techonology which shapes and influences the world causing tension between nations, for example. Plus, cool gadgets!

Verdict :

Book: 8 Excellent. Recommended to fans of Steampunk, and of comics in general especially of the more darkish variety. If you liked Moore’s Watchmen you will probably like this one although it is nowhere near as good.

Movie: 1 One of the worst movie adaptations I have ever seen. and that’s about all I have to say on the subject.

“On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a new feature for books that have caught our eye: books we heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. This is how the Smugglers’ Radar was born, and because there are far too many books that we want than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?) we thought we could make it into a weekly feature – so YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Thea’s Radar:

Angie of Angieville reviewed this book this week, and I think my head exploded. I desperately need a copy of this book. Someone want to give me an ARC? Pretty please?

Everyone tells Isabel that she is the Shifter – the ancient shape-shifting creature who has protected the kings of Samorna for centuries. They need her to be the Shifter. Prince Rokan risked everything when he rode into the Mistwood to summon her to his side; Ven, the magician’s apprentice, has devoted his life to studying her legend; and even Princess Clarisse, who fears and hates her, depends on Isabel’s powers to further her own plans.

But Isabel doesn’t feel like the Shifter. She feels like a lonely human girl, beset by flashes of memory that do more to confuse than to help her. If she is the Shifter, why can’t she change her shape? Why doesn’t she remember what made her flee the castle so many years ago? As she is drawn deeper into a web of magic and assassination, Isabel will have no choice but to look for answers. But her search will lead her to the one question the Shifter hasn’t faced in a thousand years: where does she come from, and what does she really want?

This next one again comes via Angie. Pretty. AND apparently it’s a re-release, with an updated cover. I’m intrigued…

Among the towering trees of magical Avalon, where humans dare not tread, lives Niviene, daughter of the Lady of the Lake and apprentice to Merlin the mage. Her people, the Fey, are folk of the wood and avoid the violence and avarice of man. But the strife of King Arthur’s realm threatens even Avalon’s peace, and Merlin needs his apprentice to thwart the chaos devouring Camelot. And so Niviene must use her special talents to help save a kingdom and discover the treachery of men and the beauty of love. A mystical love story, now back in print, sure to become a modern teen classic.

I have been meaning to read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie for ages now, and with this second book in the series coming out, I might just have to get on it. I love these titles, and the premises behind both books sound fantastic. Has anyone else read these books? Yay/nay?

From Dagger Award–winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction’s most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders. This time, Flavia finds herself untangling two deaths—separated by time but linked by the unlikeliest of threads.

Flavia thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacy are over—and then Rupert Porson has an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. The beloved puppeteer has had his own strings sizzled, but who’d do such a thing and why? For Flavia, the questions are intriguing enough to make her put aside her chemistry experiments and schemes of vengeance against her insufferable big sisters. Astride Gladys, her trusty bicycle, Flavia sets out from the de Luces’ crumbling family mansion in search of Bishop’s Lacey’s deadliest secrets.

Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she’s letting on? What of the vicar’s odd ministrations to the catatonic woman in the dovecote? Then there’s a German pilot obsessed with the Brontë sisters, a reproachful spinster aunt, and even a box of poisoned chocolates. Most troubling of all is Porson’s assistant, the charming but erratic Nialla. All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can’t solve—without Flavia’s help. But in getting so close to who’s secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?

Saw this cover on Bookshelves of Doom and thought, WOW. No synopsis yet, but isn’t this cover preeeeetty?

This looks slightly ridiculous, but in a good camp kind of way. On a sidenote, compare the UK (left) and US (right) covers. Quite a difference there.

What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn’t stop. What couldn’t you do if you could make a toy like that? From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in devious plots and pursued by the sinister Doctor Leiter and his devilish toys, Mathias finds himself on a quest to uncover a deadly secret.

And lookie, a brand new stand alone novel forthcoming from Diana Wynne Jones!

“As a boy, he had spent fascinated hours looking at the garden through each differently coloured pane. Depending, you got a rose pink sunset garden, hushed and windless; a stormy orange garden, where it was suddenly autumn; a tropical green garden, where there seemed likely to be parrots and monkeys any second. And so on. As an adult now, Andrew valued that glass even more. Magic apart, it was old old old. The glass had all sorts of internal wrinkles and trapped bubbles, and the long-dead maker had somehow managed to make the colours both intense and misty at once.”

When the magician Jocelyn Brandon Hope died he bequeathed Melstone House to his grandson Andrew. He also left his ‘field of care’: an area of strangeness surrounding the land around the house, whose boundary Andrew must walk in order to preserve its power.

Andrew had always loved the house, but he finds owning it a lot more complicated, aside from all the magic. There is Mrs Stock, the tyrannical housekeeper who won’t let him move the furniture and punishes him with her terrible cooking. Just as bad is the obsessive gardener who will only grow giant inedible vegetables. To add to his troubles, twelve year old orphan Aidan Cain suddenly arrives on the doorstep begging protection from magical stalkers, and Andrew’s sinister rich neighbour, Mr Brown, begins to encroach on the ‘field of care’. The one compensation is the gardener’s beautiful niece, Stashe. Things become stranger and stranger until all is made clear with the help of the enchanted glass itself.

On Ana’s Radar:

I have been trying. I swear I have. To resume reading Historical romance but I just spent about two hours on Amazon and none of the ones I seen so far have seem interesting. They look and sound the same to me unless the author is an old favorite like Julia Quinn, Loretta Chase, Lisa Kleypas, Meredith Duran…so I came back from my search with more Fantasy and YA goodies!

First up, this was released last week in the US and it sounds interesting:

In a remote mountain academy, the politically expendable younger sons of the Great Houses study for an extraordinary task. Most will fail, some will die, but the reward for the dedicated few is great: mastery of the andat, and the rank of Poet. Thanks to these men – part sorcerers, part scholars – the great city-states of the Khaiem enjoy wealth and power beyond measure, and the greatest of them all is Saraykeht: glittering jewel of the Summer Cities. There are those in the world, however, who envy such wealth. There are great riches to be had in the Summer and Winter Cities, and only the threat of the andat unleashed holds the enemies of the Khaiem in check. Conflict is brewing in the world. Alliances will be broken and friends betrayed. The lowly will be raised up, the mighty will fall and innocents will be slaughtered. And two men, bound to each other by an act of kindness and an act of brutality, may be all that stands between the civilised world and war. War and something worse …

From Vertigo, this Graphic novel by Mike Carey seems really interesting as well…

Tom Taylor’s life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom’s real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it’s even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom.

When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that’s secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map — one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction.

We received this in the post this week and I can not possibly convey how this cover is gorgeous! We are both looking forward to reading this one now.

It’s a difficult time for fifteen-year-old Savannah Grey – she’s settled into her latest foster placement, but her body is acting strangely. Then other strange things begin to happen: nature, it seems, is exerting an overpowering force on the world. Birds behave erratically; gusts of wind blow leaves so fiercely they seem to lure people away. And Savannah discovers she has supernatural powers. Meanwhile, she feels drawn to the new boy Reece whose life is even stranger than hers. Quickly Savannah and Reece realise that nature has a purpose for them both. For they are on course to meet the vile and evil Ocrassa, who wants to destroy the world by corrupting nature. And it wants Savannah Grey to help realise its savage intent.

And it seems that my reading tastes are definitely taking a turn to the Dark Side (damn you, Thea) . Because this seems delicious:

In the final weeks of eighth grade, Lauren Wood made a choice. She betrayed her best friend, Helen, in a manner so publicly humiliating that Helen had to move to a new town just to save face. Ditching Helen was worth it, though, because Lauren started high school as one of the It Girls–and now, at the start of her senior year, she’s the cheerleading captain, the quarterback’s girlfriend, and the undisputed queen bee. Lauren has everything she’s ever wanted, and she has forgotten all about her ex-best friend.

But Helen could never forget Lauren. After three years of obsessing, she’s moving back to her old town. She has a new name and a new look, but she hasn’t dropped her old grudges. She has a detailed plan to bring down her former BFF by taking away everything that’s ever been important to Lauren—starting with her boyfriend.

Watch out, Lauren Wood. Things are about to get bitchy.

The second book in the Theatre Illuminata series by Lisa Mantchev is to be called Perchance to Dream. Since I loved the first book, Eyes Like Stars so much, I am dying to read this. The ARC cover is circulating around the Internet along with a blurb:

Act Two, Scene One

Growing up in the enchanted Thèâtre Illuminata, Beatrice Shakespeare Smith learned everything about every play ever written. She knew the Players and their parts, but she didn’t know that she, too, had magic. Now, she is the Mistress of Revels, the Teller of Tales, and determined to follow her stars. She is ready for the outside world.

Enter BERTIE AND COMPANY

But the outside world soon proves more topsy-turvy than any stage production. Bertie can make things happen by writing them, but outside the protective walls of the Thèâtre, nothing goes as planned. And her magic cannot help her make a decision between—

Nate: Her suave and swashbuckling pirate, now in mortal peril.

Ariel: A brooding, yet seductive, air spirit whose true motives remain unclear.

When Nate is kidnapped and taken prisoner by the Sea Goddess, only Bertie can free him. She and her fairy sidekicks embark on a journey aboard the Thèâtre’s caravan, using Bertie’s word magic to guide them. Along the way, they collect a sneak-thief, who has in his possession something most valuable, and meet The Mysterious Stranger, Bertie’s father—and the creator of the scrimshaw medallion. Bertie’s dreams are haunted by Nate, whose love for Bertie is keeping him alive, but in the daytime, it’s Ariel who is tantalizingly close, and the one she is falling for. Who does Bertie love the most? And will her magic be powerful enough to save her once she enters the Sea Goddess’s lair?

What about you? Any goodies you would like to share?