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Saturday, November 20, 2010 ( 11/20/2010 12:33:00 PM ) Bill S.  “IT’S THE SWEET SCIENCE . . . AN’ I AM THE PROFESSOR.” Now this takes me back. In 1978, as a part of its large-sized Treasury Edition series, DC released the 76-page comic, Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali. At the time of its release, Ali was indisputably the most famous athlete in the world, while the Man of Steel still held his own as a pop culture icon, so the match-up made its own kind of commercial sense even if a lot of comic book fans back in the day were nonplussed the first time they saw that title. Recently, DC reissued this comic book curiosity in two editions – a facsimile hardcover reprinting the book in its original 10-x-13.25” inch size, along with a smaller “Deluxe” edition containing some additional developmental art – for a readership that in many cases is too young to even remember the Thrilla in Manilla.The plot, credited to long-time comics pro Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams (who reportedly did the bulk of the actual script work), is a simple one. A race of warrior aliens called the Scrubb shows up on Earth, challenging the planet’s greatest fighter to a contest. “We know you to be this galaxy’s most warlike and savage people,” Scrubb leader Rat’Lar leader tells Ali as a conveniently present Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen witness this first contact. Once Clark does his usual vanishing act and Superman shows up on the scene, both he and Ali are challenged to a contest wherein the winner gets to take on the Scrubbs’ champion fighter, a hulking creature called Hun-ya. At stake, of course, is the fate of this ”green-blue pearl” called Earth, as an armada of Scrubb ships surrounds the globe. To prove their seriousness, Rat’Lar orders a rain of plasma missiles on the city of St. Louis, but, of course, Superman is able to avert that catastrophe. The actual contest is set to take place in a solar system with a red sun, taking away the Son of Krypton’s super powers, so before the match Ali teaches him all about the tactics and psychology of boxing. (That Superman -- who has been in an uncountable number of scraps over the years -- proves naïve about the ways to psych out your opponent seems rather preposterous, but never mind.) The fight itself is broadcast over “intergalactic television,” with Jimmy Olsen incongruously being thrust into the role of blow-by-blow commentator. While Ali fights in the usual boxing shorts, Supes remains in his costume for the sake of the aliens watching the event. “Except for subtle changes in hue, all humans look exactly alike to them,” Jimmy none-too-subtly explains. “The Fight to Save Earth from Star Warriors,” the book’s front cover trumpets (the comic was released a year after Lucas’ Star Wars), and Adams the artist brings his usual muscular commitment to a storyline that could’ve come out of the original Star Trek. You can clearly see the artist enjoying himself in sequences like the pre-fight training scene, where Ali gives a stance-by-stance demo of basic boxing moves, while the sci-fi action scenes take maximum advantage of the outsized format. If at times, the banter comes across more campy than comic (“Too much red sun make Scrubb wack-a-ding-hoy!”), well, sprightly word balloons weren’t DC’s stock in trade back then -- that was more Marvel’s turf. Without getting too spoilery, you know that the gladiatorial competition between Ali and Kal-El will be resolved without either character losing out. Both of these icons have way too much dignity for this comic book conflict to play out any other way. But as an artifact of a time when a two-page spread of Metropolis’ Inner City ghetto could look sexily vibrant and friendly, when Ali was still the Greatest even if this comic was actually released between his reigns as heavyweight champion, when the idea of a sporting competition that was more than just a match-up between overpaid athletes didn’t seem that outlandish, Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali provides the nostalgic goods. (First published on Blogcritics.) Labels: fifteen-minute comic # |Thursday, November 18, 2010 ( 11/18/2010 07:17:00 AM ) Bill S.  “IT FELT LIKE WE WERE INVINCIBLE.” Though the title sounds like it’s to a superhero sci-fi series, the goofy childlike image of a grinning star on the logo of Yuuki Fujimoto’s Stellar Six of Gingacho (Tokyopop) cues as to what’s really going on in this teen-rated manga. Gingacho (Galaxy) is a street market, and the Six are all 13/14-year-old kids of market shopkeeps. As youngsters, they were inseparable, but once they moved into middle school, the group drifted apart. The focus of Stellar Six, then, is on how this crew reconnect and rediscover each other as slightly more mature beings.The sextet is equally divided between boys and girls, but in the first volume, at least, the central couple is comprised of tomboyish green grocer’s daughter Mike and fishmonger’s son Kuro. Born in the same city hospital at around the same time, the two share a bond that we know will turn into something deeper once those hormones start kicking in. “That weird feeling fluttered up and my head got all muzzy,” Mike tells her Stellar Six gal pals after one highly fraught interaction, though she remains oblivious as to its full ramifications. The remaining foursome receive only sketchy attention in the first book: one girl, bespectacled Sato, is an avid Otaku (obsessive fangirl), while the third distaff member, jovial plus-size Iba, is the strongest member of the group. Among the guys, pretty boy Q turns out to be the egotistical one, while the last group member Mamoru is -- well, I’m not entirely sure what Mamoru is since he’s not given all that much to do in volume one. Guess that makes him the Quiet Beatle. The three longish stories in the first book are by no means earth-shaking: in the opener, for instance, the group bands together to enter a dance contest so they can win the money to help a bartender whose establishment keeps getting wrecked by a former boyhood friend. In another, the promise of a group excursion brings up memories of a time when Mike and Yuro got locked in a shed together. The impact of our childhood past on our present day life is obviously a running theme in this book, and if Fujimoto occasionally over-hammers this idea, it’s consistent with the age of characters who treat every minor insight like it is a major cosmic revelation. The accompanying art has an appealing looseness that also works with these gawky 'tween-aged protagonists. A sweet series, in other words, that may not break any new ground but should be enjoyed by a middle school readership discovering this kind of low-key comic book material for the first time. (First published on Blogcritics.) Labels: sixty-minute manga # |Wednesday, November 17, 2010 ( 11/17/2010 09:09:00 PM ) Bill S. MID-WEEK MUSIC VIDEO: Here's a classic slice of power pop by the Boys from Zion, the still-missed Shoes: # | Tuesday, November 16, 2010 ( 11/16/2010 08:53:00 PM ) Bill S. “YOU HAVE MORE THAN EARNED MY TRUST AND RESPECT IN THE BEDROOM.” First time I read the premise of Mike & Molly I have to admit to feeling more than a little wary. A sitcom centered on the romance of two plus-sized Chicagoans who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting? Given the present day sitcom’s propensity for put-down humor, how could that go wrong? Too, as the co-author of a plus-sized soap opera set in the same city as this show, I can’t help feeling just a twinge possessive about the use of the Windy City as the site for a sparkling romance. When this week’s episode, "Mike's New Boots," Featured a secondary character joking about taking his date out on a carriage ride, I found myself mentally contrasting the moment to a romantic scene in our own book. The sitcom joke was played for crass humor, and I let out a very loud sigh when I heard it. But let’s put authorial comparisons aside and focus on the series before us, okay? As a character comedy, Mike & Molly veers wildly between the appealing and the cringe worthy. On the debit side, there’s the show’s character defining set-up. From the onset, our overeating twelve-steppers define themselves as out-of-control gorgers: a stereotype, to be sure, and one that lends itself to the kind of self-deprecating comedy that fat comedians have overused for ages (Totie Fields, anyone?) Every food-related scene -- and since one of the show’s sets is a city diner, you know you’re gonna get at least one per ep -- features a gluttony joke. Because that’s all every fat person does is think about food all the time, right? Then, of course, there are the inevitable fat jokes, which have admittedly lessened as the show has progressed but still provide fallback punch lines for the writers. I’m not automatically opposed to fat jokes on a show like this -- in this culture, it’d be outlandish to act as if a character like Billy Gardell’s policeman Mike Biggs wouldn’t hear such cracks over the course of a working day -- but I wish the ones we got were better written. When Mike tries on a pair of cowboy boots and recalls how the kids used to call him “Belly the Kid,” I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be a riff on the childishness of young boys’ insults or a straight-up joke. Either way I didn’t laugh. What’s brought me back to the series for nine weeks now, though, is the title twosome: Gardell’s teddy beat copper and his spunky teacher girlfriend Molly Flynn (the very watchable Melissa McCarthy). The duo have an appealing chemistry that makes their budding relationship believable, and when it comes to charting this, the writers display a surprising sensitivity to both the universality and specificity of their characters’ new situation. In this week’s episode, for instance, Molly gets understandably miffed when Mike flirts with a zaftig newcomer (Rebecca Fields) to their OA group. Our hero, who’s “never gotten this kind of attention from a woman before” is so dazzled by the idea that two BBWs might find him attractive that he doesn’t even recognize he’s slighting his girlfriend. Because both characters are relatives novices in the dating game, they both make their share of believable rookie errors: Mike more than Molly, of course, because he is, after all, a guy. Too, and rather amazingly, the show’s writers have very quickly established our couple as sexual beings. While this storytelling decision has sparked at least one backlash article on the Marie Claire website, it’s still a positive one. Too often, fat characters get treated as either asexual beings or creatures whose sexual appetite is as voracious as their gluttony. It’s refreshing to see two full-figured adults who enjoy sex even as they keep the focus on each other. Grown-up romance: who’d have thunk we’d get that in a comedy from the creators of Two and a Half Men? Whether other viewers will be able to get to the romance at the core of Mike & Molly most likely depends on their tolerance for easy jokes and the occasional awkwardly inserted self-help homily. I’m still with the show, though I keep hoping that M&M start spending less time beating themselves up and more focusing on what they’ve actually got. Or that Mike finally lets out a Ralph Kramden-esque bellow at his partner Carl (Reno Wilson) after he lets out the inevitable Ed Norton-y rip. Ain’t gonna happen, of course, but a viewer can dream . . . (First published on Blogcritics.) Labels: teleseries # |Sunday, November 14, 2010 ( 11/14/2010 07:30:00 AM ) Bill S.  “SOME MORBID FREAK JUST TAKES A LIKING TO THE PLACE.” Initially credited to Darren Lynn Bousman, a writer/director in the Saw franchise, Radical Comics’ six-part mini-series Abattoir is a horror comic that lets you know exactly where it’s going by opening up on a bloody slaughter at a child’s birthday party. A hired clown’s fingers get sliced off with a weed eater, a burly neighbor gets a butcher knife across the mouth, the party’s birthday boy is found dead and bleeding at the foot of his rampaging father. Makes those birthday spankings look pretty innocuous, huh?Once we get past this attention-grabbing opener, the scene shifts weeks later to Richard Ashwalt, an “almost former cop,” family man and would-be real estate salesman stuck with unloading the house where the birthday slayings took place. Ashwalt is feeling pressure by his boss, not to mention his nagging wife, to sell the place, but he’s initially reluctant to immediately do so when a creepy geezer aptly named Jebediah Crone shows up wanting to buy the splatter flaked domicile for fifteen per cent above asking price. Plagued by grisly dreams and visions of the murders, Richard is told the credulity straining ghost story of a boogeyman who buys up properties where someone has recently died -- though to what nefarious purpose the storyteller can’t say. Based on the series’ title, though, you know the reason’s gotta be nasty. A decent set-up, even if you don’t quite buy the real estate urban legend. As fleshed out by scripters Rob Levin and Troy Peters, the series’ protagonist is both flawed and sympathetic enough to make a believable witness/victim of the horrors still to come. Though there are hints that there’s a history which explains his strained relationship with his wife, he's also shown in a caring interaction with his young daughter Claire. Given that this book opened on another seeming caring father, though, we can’t help wondering just how much Richard is gonna be effected by his involvement with Mr. Crone -- especially after another character quotes the “all work and no play” adage made infamous in The Shining. Abattoir is set in the eighties, and Bing Cansino’s painted art does a strong job conveying the era’s slasher movie vibe. It’s dark, of course, though there are some moments that you don’t want to see too clearly, and while most of the characters have the visual blandness of so many actors in low-budget pictures of the era, Cansino’s Crone is a suitably malevolent boogeyman -- with more than a trace of the Cryptkeeper in him. The final panel at the end of ish one, showing him sitting at the table with Ashwalt’s puzzle-building daughter definitely gets the reader’s attention. Kids in Peril may be the easiest trick in the horror story playbook, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective. Just ask Danny Torrance. (First published on Blogcritics.) Labels: fifteen-minute comic # |( 11/14/2010 12:13:00 AM ) Bill S. WEEKEND PET PIC: With Winter chill approaching, all of the house cats've suddenly shown a great love of human body warmth. Here's Boo Cat on Becky's legs.  THE USUAL NOTE: For more cool pics of companion animals, please check out Modulator's "Friday Ark." # | |
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