Thursday, July 29, 2010

There's so much stuff I should be doing right now

Namely, job applications, but fuck it, I'm gonna talk about comics instead.  Y'see, I got a second hand copy of JLA Showcase volume 4 the other week.  I expected it to be rubbish but entertaining, but it's actually turned out to be good!

For example, (I was going to start the sentence with 'like', but then common sense got the better of me), there's characterisation!  And nearly poetry!

JLA #68: Neverwas - The Chaos Maker!  The narrative starts thusly:

Look through the eyes of Neverwas!  Look upon a bleak landscape through eyes which see no colour...perceive with a mind that does not think!


You are Neverwas!  You are not human...rather you are a freak of nature!  A one celled animal mutated, grown huge, possessed of a dim, formless intelligence...


In your world, there is peril, Neverwas!  For you life in an age undreamt of eons past..when the earth is young and cruel!


Flee, Neverwas!  Find that the material of your body can assume many shapes!  Fell it now becoming wings to lift you free of danger...


Fear, Neverwas!  Realize you have trapped yourself.  That death is only cold instants away...

Isn't that lush prose?  It's got a feeling of the early 20th century sci fi novel about it.  There's still dodgy science and some bad prose (dialogue) within the book, but there's far more awareness and effort put into the issues than I had anticipated.
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Batman: That reminds me.. I've been meaning to draw plans for a Batsubmarine!
Aquaman: Hey, Batman!  When you eat dinenr do you eat Batfood?  And at night do you Batdream?   And..
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Some of the art is just gorgeous, especially in black and white.  There are some wonderful depictions of Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Superman within the book.  Just beautiful portraits of each of them, with character and sternness, and strength in them.

In an earlier part of the book Wonder Woman got hacked off with the state of JLA HQ and promptly started taking charge of the cleaning - by ordering Superman to move the furniture and Green Lantern to paint the walls.   Again, the art is wonderful.

This a damn good buy and I can't wait to read the rest of it.

1 comment:

Red said...

I should be working on a huge, expensive project due tomorrow but I'm reading your blog. So, hey, I understand.