WE3

Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison are one of the finest creative teams in the comic book industry. Every time they collaborate they seem to produce a memorable piece. Quitely's subdued, almost gentle style seems to ground Morrison's stories, which can often tend toward the whacky and downright outrageous, in a non-reality where they might actually be believable.

Their most recent work, "All-Star Superman" (2006 Eisner Award winner for best new series) is one of the most profound takes on Superman in recent memory. Morrisson tells the tale of Superman's "12 Labors" and "death", in what is essentially a set up for his 1998 "DC: One Million", which takes place in the same continuity as "All Star" in the 853rd century. But despite the title's lofty ambitions, the team truly rose to the occasion and created a spectacular piece that will most likely become a seminal part of future continuity and stand the test of time as one of the greatest superman stories.

"JLA: Earth 2", altough not as heady as "All-Star", is a similarly fascinating look into the heart of the DC Universe, the multiverse and the many reflections of reality that exist within as Morrison and Quitely guide the Justice Leauge of America to Earth-2, the inverse of our universe where right is wrong, hearts are on the right side of the body and Morrison is free to go wild with the bad side of the DCU.

"We3", only connceted to DC through its publisher (Vertigo), takes place in a universe all its own; or perhaps, more accurately, a world all Morrison and Quitely's and the story truly stands out as one of their finest works.

One of my favorite elements in "We3" is Morrison's dialogue for the animals. Every read and reread, I still feel as though I'm not quite grasping everything the animals are communicating. But even though I may not be picking up on every nuance, the general message comes across loud and clear and in retrospect, this obfuscation may even serve to enhance the believability of these characters: talking animals probably would not be wholly coherent to the untrained human ear.

Quitely's dynamic use of panels, especially in scenes with flying bullets, is remarkable. With a central image in the background, he spread the panels like tiles across the action, each panel a close up of one facet of the action. The sense of movement that he creates is both inviting and at the same time repellent: the reader's eyes are forced to move across the page to follow the action, yet in many cases they may seek to avert their eyes once they find out where it's going.

My only complaint in this read and this is not so much a complaint as a minor note / observation, would have to be the intense similarity in some of Quitely's characters across projects. Perhaps the most striking instance of this occurence would be the resemblance between the female scientist in "We3"and Wonder Woman in "Earth-2". (I couldn't find up close images, otherwise I would link you, but look for yourselves if you can!)

Comic Review: The Watchmen

Hollywood always does Alan Moore wrong, but there's a method to their madness: They always remove his final twist. In the 2006 film adaptation of "V for Vendetta", they completely eliminate the all-knowing computer (secretly V) and "her" relationship with the Prime Minister, easily among the most compelling character relationships in the entire story.

And in keeping with the trend, it was recently revealed that upcoming film adaptation of "Watchmen" (due out in February), the monster that is teleported into Times Square in the final pages of the story will not be included. How the movie will function without this key disaster, seemingly at the heart of the story as Ozymandias' unifying event for mankind, remains to be seen.

I can only assume that Hollywood will direct its attention towards one of the story's many subplots to fill the gaps.

And "Watchmen" is certainly rife with subplots. In this reading of the book, I found myself more engrossed in Moore's intricate subplots, the "Treasure Island" story for example, than the main storyline. The subtleties in this book that our paramount and they are not limited to Moore's story.

Gibbons' meticulous attention to detail - the top-knot on every punk, the ever chaning ink-blot on Rorschach's mask, the gentle glow around Doctor Manhattan - is impeccable. It can even be haunting, as in the case of the graffiti silhouette of a couple embracing in various poses that litters the street scenes in Watchmen. This image, ultimately a real occurence, is a piece of background, but its recurrence in so many outdoor scenes becomes a chilling element of Gibbons' art, a mirror placed in front of the fourth wall forcing us to question who is reading this with us?

ComiCon 2009

My initial intention at ComiCon was to attend a series of screenings and panels that I had carefully mapped out, but upon arrival I quickly discovered the lines to be hundreds of people long, so I chose to explore the vendors' booths instead.

Not attending the panels allowed me to wander through the throng of vendors, tempting myself with great deals on amazing comics and admiring those in costume along the way.


In my wanderings I sought one item in particular, "Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II", the second installment in Keith Giffen's retelling of Hal Jordan's origin story. The first booth I visited had all the original issues in mint condition, for around $2.00 a piece. In addition to Busiek and Ross's "Marvels" (original printing only $10!) I acquired 9/12 Full Color "Akira" Trade Paperbacks for only $10 each!

Other activities of note: Taking pictures with costumed heroes, winning a t-shirt in a trivia contest and sitting in a state of the art "video game chair".

The Spirit Reviews: The Origin of The Spirit

I had never read The Spirit before the "origin story" and I have to say that right off the bat I was impressed.

First of all, the art was superb. Eisner's clean lines complement his crime-noir design sense beautifully, resulting in an elegant almost pristine quality that instantly brought Bruce Timm to mind. Although his work on Batman: The Animated Series had a slightly less realistic quality than The Spirit, both share the winning combination of intense, often gritty crime drama with a clean animation stlye.

I also found that Eisner created a highly engaging sense of movement through his unorthodox use of panels. His frequent use of slanted and splash panels in tandem seemed to remove the action from the myopic viewfinder of the panel and throw it all on the page for the reader to watch, rather than follow.

In terms of the story, to be perfectly frank it was reminiscent of almost every other origin story I can think of. And while I am well aware that this story predates many modern superheroes I think there is something to be said for how mundane the excessively formulaic heroic introduction tends to be.

Eisner At Face Value: The Covers

Will Eisner's covers for The Spirit are highly varied, but issues 23, 26 and 28 share many similar design principles that seem to demonstrate a particular style Eisner was focusing on during this point in his run on the series.

Perhaps the most readily apparent element of this style is the subject's pose. Whether grappling with a ghoulish demon (#23), fighting to break free of an enormous web (#26) or battling tiny monsters (#28), on each of the three covers The Spirit is depicted in a physical struggle.

The struggling Spirit is also carefully placed according to the rule of thirds, falling squarely along the left third in each cover.

Finally, The Spirit consistently appears foregrounded in relation to the villain. On each cover, The Spirit is depicted along with the the villain he faces in the issue. But The Spirit always appears in the foreground while his antagonist always appears in the background.

Eisner's style during this period is dependent upon the coordination of three elements in tandem: The Spirit's pose, his placement and his proximity to the villain.

Personally, I find that this style serves to communicate a certain degree of hope. Although the covers would have it seem as though The Spirit is almost certainly doomed, a sentiment communicated by his pose alone, if not by the numerous dangers lurking in each scene; his placement on eye-catching power points along the left line of thirds seems to draw the reader's attention to the slightest shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel: his proximity to the foreground. Almost as if to say The Spirit will overcome while the villain will once again retreat into the shadows.

The Spirit Reviews: Lorelei Rox

This comic, although mildly entertaining, didn't really keep my interest on a second and third read. I guess I have a few problems with this issue, primarily the story. And I think that I should at least make it clear before my analysis that my problem with the story due to my experience with the storyline, which I found to be ripe with redundant fictional elements.

The first problem with this story is that the whole siren character, in this case Lorelei, is entirely played. This is a story everyone has seen a million times before, ever since reading the Odyssey in grammar school. I even find that it is all too often that I encounter the twist where the siren mysteriously avoids any consequences. Furthermore, the relationship between the hero and the siren was not even established until their confrontation, completely ignoring what is often to the most intriguing element of this particular storyline.

And while I am aware that this comic was released well before the development of most modern superheroes, this story bears an uncanny resemblance to just about every Wolverine one-shot Marvel has been endlessly churning out since time immemorial (most recently in "Switchback", released three weeks ago and "Chop Shop" before it).

I do like seeing singing in comic books though and I will give Eisner credit for his "singing bubbles". His ability to signify the bizarre effects of Lorelei's voice by drawing erratic musical notes was fairly intriguing.

Understanding Comics: Key Words

General Terms

- Icon: "Image used to represent a person, place or thing" (p. 27).

- Closure: "Perceiving the whole" (p. 63).

- The Gutter: The space between panels (p.66).

- Zip Ribbon: A motion line representing the path of a moving object (p.111).

- Synaesthetics: Combining different art forms in an attempt to stimulate all 5 senses (p.123).

- Subjective Motion: "If observing a moving object can be involving, being that object should be more so" (p.114)


The Path (p.170-171)

- Idea / Purpose: The impetus.

- Form: The medium in which the work will be executed.

- Idiom: The style or set of guidelines the creator will adhere to in their creative process.

- Structure: The arrangement of the work.

- Craft: Actually creating the work.

- Surface: Final touches.


Transitions (p.70-72)

- Moment-To-Moment: The panels display a progression in time from one instant to the next.

- Action-To-Action: The same subject is seen in multiple phases of performing a single action.

- Subject-To-Subject: Multiple subjects are portrayed within a single scene.

- Deductive Reasoning: The reader must determine the correlation between panels.

- Aspect-To-Aspect: The transition "bypasses time for the most part and sets a wandering eye on different aspects of an idea, place or mood" (p.72).

- Non-Sequitur: There is no correlation between panels.


Word Picture Combinations (p.153-155)

- Word Specific: "Pictures illustrate, but don't significantly add to a largely complete text" (p.153).

- Picture Specific: Words complement the visuals indirectly, without making overt reference to the image.

- Duo-Specific: Words and pictures communicate the same message.

- Additive: "Words amplify or elaborate on an image or vice versa" (p.153).

- Parallel: "Words and pictures seem to follow very different courses -- without intersecting" (p.154).

- Montage: "Words are treated as integral parts of the picture" (p.154).

- Interdependent: "Words and pictures go hand in hand to convey an idea that neither could do alone" (p.155).