FEBRUARY ANIMATION EXPLOSION: Four Quick Reviews

Remember that post I made about stuff I was excited about getting in February? Well, it's March now, and I've purchased all the animated tie-in material I wanted, one week at a time, and here's my thoughts on each of them.

PLANET HULK (2-Disc)



MARVEL has recently upped their game in terms of media tie-ins, but still have a ways to go before they catch up with DC's animated tie-ins in terms of overall quality and nerd-satisfaction. WOLVERINE/HULK/THOR was definately much closer to achieving that than PLANET HULK was.

PLANET HULK is a 90 minute long adaptation of the recent, popular (and quite excellent), HULK story-arc wherein the Green Goliath is exiled by a cabal of Earth's into deep space, as he's become to dangerously unstable and violent to be allowed on Earth anymore. While in transit, the Hulk, predictably, loses his shit, and wrecks up the joint, inadvertently sending himself hurtling out of control into a weird wormhole which dumps him headlong into Gladitorial adventure on the savage alien planet of Sakaar, in a far distant galaxy.

This story-arc is actually some great fodder for a stand-alone animation project, as it's nicely self-contained and seperated from any other licensed properties, as well as being a nice departure from your usual 'Hulk wanders into town, gets mad, fights big monster' story. It's Hulk out of context and in a new and exotic setting; a weird alien planet filled with cool looking monsters, robots, and aliens, political turmoil, and moral and ethical conundrums. It's a planet where Hulk can thrive; here he's not just a monster, because there are things worse than he is. Here is anger is righteous, and his strength revered. This is Hulk as a hero.

PLANET HULK is for the most part a successful adaptation, hitting all the beats of the source material, while streamlining the plot to fit more smoothly into a 90-minute format. There's lots of action and characterization, as well as few cameo's from some obscure MARVEL characters if you know who you're looking for; but still somehow just doesn't quite make it.

That animation is good, coming from MADHOUSE (yes, the anime MADHOUSE of VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST fame, among others), but somehow doesn't seems nearly as good as it should be coming from a Japanese studio; especially when compared with how good their work on WOLVERINE vs HULK was. There are spots of truly excellent animation, and other spots where it just looks... lacking in some way. Overall art direction is great; it has a good pallete and some great background designs, and the character designs are slick looking, but sometimes seem flat or awkward (Korg and the other Stone Men of Saturn especially), and while Hulk looks like Hulk at the beginning of the movie, I'm not sure how I feel about a 'pretty' Hulk... mostly because of the lost of mass. He's less... hulking by the end of the movie (this was a conscious choice by the director and the designer, and their reasoning is sound, but it doesn't quite work).

There's also something insincere about the story as adapted; one of the elements that really played well with me while reading PLANET HULK was element of mythology; there was a sort of poetic and grandious feel to the story that's lacking in it's adaptation. Here Hulk is just a hero; in the comic he was a savior, myth come to life. I feel like this still could have been achieved, even in this steamlined format, but wasn't in favor of 'playing it safe.' A little more daring and this could have been really great.

Overall, it's hard to criticize PLANET HULK; it was well animated, looked good, and entertained me; but given that it was adapting a specific source material, I can't help but compare the two and find the animated version wanting. PLANET HULK was good but not great, and it could have been.

In terms of extra's in the 2-Disc special edition, it's loaded; two informative, if somewhat self congratulatory, commentaries, a fairly comprehensive 'Making Of', which gives everyone their fair share of credit (even the opening credits designers, which I found the most interesting part, because I never really knew that they outsourced those kinds of things to outside sources, nor the work that goes into making them), and a nice little feature about the source material, highlighting the work of Greg Pak and Aaron Lopesti, and exploring the themes of the story. As an added bonus, there was also, like, five minutes of MARVEL's next animated project, THOR: TALES OF ASGARD, which is about a young, wreckless, teenage Thor and Loki on their first adventure, which looks like it could be a pretty good original story (though I can't say the animation or designs grabbed me... they look like the same sort of crappy North American animation they've done in the past...). Overall, the 2-DISC is definitely worth it.

DANTE'S INFERNO



I didn't actually know anything about this when I saw it; I don't have a PS3 or an X-BOX 360, so I don't really follow games to closely, but the trailer looked good and I've always been interested in Dante Alighieri's DIVINE COMEDY, though this doesn't really have much to do with the poems except in name and theme.

DANTE'S INFERNO is based on the game of the same name, which is about Dante Alighieri (named for the poem's writer) returning home from the Crusade's only to find his family horribly murdered, and his finance, Beatrice, slain. Cradling her cold corpse, he spirit rises before him, and asks if he has kept his promise of fidelity, to which Dante responds, "Yes." A black shade rises from the ground and proclaims Dante a liar, claiming Beatrice as his own, and dragging her pure spirit into the depths of Hell. Dante pursues the shade to the very gates of Hell, breaking the doors down while proclaiming his innocence, only to be marked as a sinner, the tapestry of his sins sown into his chest as he gives chase, determined to free Beatrice from the horrible fate he's condemned her pure spirit too.

DANTE'S INFERNO is done in an ANIMATRIX style, utilizing five different directors, but unlike the ANIMATRIX, which allowed the directors free license within self contained stories, DANTE'S INFERNO is a single narrative; which is actually the biggest problem with the film. There are 9 circles in the Inferno (five for self indulgent sins, two for violent sins, and two for malicious sins) and five directors... so there's no real logic to how the animation chores were broken up, and each director is given free reign with how they portray the design and look of their part, so while part of a single story, the change of style from each director is jarring, and the models never the same. I would find this acceptable if there had been 9 directors, one for each circle of Hell Dante conquers, with each circle having it's own distinct look, and Dante changing to match that between circles (sort of like the IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASIS), but that's not the case.

Still, despite that, each director brings their A-game, and the movie overall looks great; some parts stand out more than others (the opening, done by Film Roman, is the weakest of the entire movie... I have no idea why North American animators are just not good at this kind of extreme and adult content), but the highlight for me, personally, was the final part done by one of my favorite Japanese animation directors, Yasuomi Umetsu (CASSHERN, KITE, MEZZO FORTE, HURRICANE POLYMAR, GOTCHAMAN, etc). There's a wide range of styles, and a high level of polish to the animation.

The story is actually pretty compelling and explicitly adult; no punches here pulled here. It's violent, and bloody, and has some pretty explicit sex. I think this actually takes a lot of influence from BERSERK, either directly or indirectly, as it is uncompromising in it's vision of horrible violence and emotional trauma, as Dante tries to murder his way to redemption, and is forced to confront his sins, and the sins of others. His life is a tapestry of abuse, trauma, and mistakes, and by confronting his past, he is forced to reconsider his faith and the meaning of faith and the will of God; Dante is a deeply flawed person, and hardly a noble character; the more that is revealed about his actions during the Crusades, all done under the belief that he has been exempted from sin by the Church; the more he comes to understand his own evil nature, and that sins committed in the name of God are sins against God. This is all handled in a way so as not to come across as preachy; Dante's fight for redemption is a harsh critique of the hypocrisy of organized religion, and a a more personal examination of the nature of good and evil, which is some pretty deep territory for an animated, monster killing, tit filled bloodbath. ^_^

Overall, while the choice to divide the film randomly between five different directors with vastly different styles of design and direction may be... confounding... the overall product is polished, entertaining, and surprisingly engaging. There are certain elements brought in from the game that seems out of place (such as Dante's ability to absolve the sins of those trapped in hell, which serves no real purpose, and sort of comes out of nowhere...), but overall it's fairly intelligent and has surprising depth, once you get past all the super awesome decapitations and tits.

There are no extras to speak of, which is disappointing, but overall worth watching, at least, if not worth owning.

HALO LEGENDS (2-Disc)



I've only ever played HALO once, and while it was fun, I didn't really see the point in playing it single player; the fun of the game seemed to be the co-op aspect, and driving around in cool vehicles, DUKES OF HAZARD style, while shooting the fuck out of goofy looking aliens. I didn't even realize that there was any more to the HALO mythology than 'Guys in Armor kill aliens on Weird Ring shaped things.' Guess I was wrong...

HALO LEGENDS is another ANIMATRIX style tie-in project, giving seven directors a chance to play around in the HALO mythology. That's not to say they have free reign though; the studio behind the games has a very tight hold on the franchise, and supervised the project very closely, and wrote all the stories; eight in all.

There's the typical ORIGINS story, done in two parts, and actually done by the same director as the ANIMATRIX SECOND RENAISSANCE, which was very similar in theme. It's a basic, chronological rundown of the HALO mythos from beginning to end, narrated by the AI unit Cortana, to a cryogenically frozen Master Chief. Visually, it takes a lot of influence from Moebius, and is gorgeous, if a little dry.

Next up is THE DUEL, which is directed by Mamoru Oshii (of GHOST IN THE SHELL fame), and is the most visually... confusing of the shorts. It's a weird blend of 3D animation with a filter on it to make it look like a moving watercolor painting that just doesn't quite work; it's over done and the colors are all too close together to tell what's going on; in the end it seems like failed experiment with a new technology that just wasn't far enough along. The story is also a little bizarre, as it's basically Oshii trying to do Musashi Miyamoto with aliens. It's an interest experiment overall, but I don't think it quite works; you can skip this.

Following that is HOMECOMING, about the secret horrors behind the training and creation of the Spartans, as a female Spartan reminisces about her past, and her encounter with 'herself', when she tries to return home. The animation is nice, but the designs are out of place, and while the premise is pretty dark and engaging, it's all plays out pretty dry. Not bad, but not one of my favorites.

What follows IS my favorite, though, and I sort of wish they'd done more stuff like this... hell, I'd rather just see a whole movie about this; ODD MAN OUT is the only short on the DVD that really has any sort of fun with the HALO mythos, taking it out of context for a moment, and basically asking, "What if HALO was DRAGONBALL?" It probably helps that it has the same animation director and character designer, united again for the first time in 15 to 20 years. I think this is the only short where they were given free license to do whatever they wanted with it, and they made it count in spades! Just great, goofy, fun, some great designs and animation, and some awesome action; my favorite on the DVD. I'd love to see more of Spartan 1337 (heh... Leet...), but probably won't.

PROTOTYPE takes you back to more serious ground, and is probably my second favorite of the shorts; a pretty dark and serious story that highlights the human infantry rather than the genetically engineered Spartans, and the horrors and inhumanity of war, and the numbness of Full Metal training, while still providing some extraordinarily cool action, and introducing powered armor to the Halo mythology. This is probably one of the more visually spectacular of the shorts, and really shows why the Japanese are the best at this kind of shit.

BABYSITTER is a nice piece of fluff... it's just a cool little story about a day in the life of the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) HELLJUMPERS, as they are assigned to provide backup to a Spartan sniper on an important mission in hostile territory. Really nice animation and art direction, and an ok story, that I wish they'd had a little more time to tell; there's a great twist at the end which doesn't really get enough play to really hit home the message, but what can you do, when you've only really got 10-15 minutes?

The last short is directed by Legendary level player (that's right; his old ass is THAT GOOD AT HALO) Shinji Aramaki (MACROSS, APPLESEED, VEXILE, among other things), and done with his new signature style of 3D animation... and is probably my least favorite of the bunch. I don't like the look of the 3D, the mo-cap is stiff and awkward, and there's no story to speak of... just it's an over the top, and rather pointless, 10 minutes of inexplicable action; boring and hard to look at, it adds nothing to the DVD.

Overall, I think this was a pretty successful way to introduce people to the franchise (and I actually think this was more aimed at expanding the brand into the Japanese market, where HALO has yet to catch on, and we just got lucky to that there's a market for this DVD here), as I'm now more interested in HALO than I was before, and a cool little DVD. It's loaded with extras; a chronological recap of the games, narrated by the various writers, artists, and producers of the games, a comprehensive 'Making Of' for each short, as well as commentary on every short. A must have if you're already a fan of HALO, and worth having if you just like sci-fi and animation.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS (2-Disc)



The latest in DC's series of straight-to-DVD nerd oriented tie-ins, this showcases just how good have gotten at this over the course of almost 20 years. Seriously, you just can't beat WARNER BROS. at animated adaptations of their licensed properties.

I generally like all of these as a given (though SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY could have been better...), but CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS was probably one of the better ones. It borrows a LOT (almost everything) from Grant Morrison's EARTH 2 graphic novel, but writer Dwayne McDuffie puts his own spin on it, for better or worse (a straight adaptation would have been interesting to see, but definately would have flirted with a hard R rating, which I'm pretty sure is a place they're not ready to go), re-envisioning the Crime Syndicate as Super Mobsters, which is pretty fun and lends them some character beyond baseline 'super-evil.' He also manages to raise the stakes about as high as you can go by putting ALL REALITY, PARALLEL OR OTHERWISE IN DANGER. That's really saying something!

Basically, there's a parallel Earth where the roles of good and evil are reverse; heroes are villains, and villains are heroes. The Lex Luthor of this reality recruits the Justice League to help him free his Earth from the facistic grip of their evil counterparts, the Crime Syndicate; little knowing that Batman's doppleganger, Owl Man, is the ultimate nhilist; having meditated on the nature of Quantum Theory, that every decision every made creates a parallel reality in which the opposite decision plays out, free will is an illusion and life has no meaning... so there is only one choice that has any meaning; the choice to collapse all probability into one definite solution; the end of all existance, in all realities.

My only real problem with this, and in fact, most all of the DC animated stuff, is Andrea Romano's voice direction. She's just not a good voice director, and I don't know why people think she is... everything she works on sounds stiff, lifeless, and matter-of-factly unless the actor themselves brings something to the role; and when you chose to cast fucking Billy Baldwin as Batman, you know he's not bringing much to the role (WORST... BATMAN... EVER!!!), so you need something to poke and prod and performance out of him, while James Woods as Owl Man, just brings it, because he's a fucking amazing voice actor and gets who to bring that guy to life, while everyone else always sounds so fucking dry.

My other problem with the DVD is how lame the extra's are getting; no commentary, no making of; just a bunch of past promotional video's that I've seen before, and have been rehashed on other DVD's, a digital copy that no one uses, and random episodes of JUSTICE LEAGUE that I already own. The only worthwhile extra's on here are a promo for the next DVD, BATMAN: BEHIND THE RED HOOD (which doesn't actually show much... just a few rough layouts and storyboards), and a DC SHOWCASE: THE SPECTRE short.

THE SPECTRE short is written by Steve Niles (30 DAYS OF NIGHT fame), and while I'm not a fan, this was actually pretty fun, and a fresh take on a character I've always liked. It's the Spectre done as a short grindhouse movie about a ghostly vigilante who visits grisly, ironic, justice on Hollywoods sinners. The faked film grain and scratches are a nice touch that adds character to an otherwise pretty straightforward story. Some really slick animation and designs make this a pretty outstanding extra, and I hope to see more of these to help grow the brand with other obscure characters (Bwana Beast? Congrilla? Ragman? I can dream, can't I?).

Overall, another slick, high quality animated feature from DC, but not really worth the 2-Disc, except for the SPECTRE.

SUPER FIGHTING ROBOT: MEGA MAN.

I'm not usually one to be a corporate shill, but I, personally, am super excited about UDON's release of MEGAMAN MEGAMIX... I have a really old tankubon of Hitoshi Ariga's first REMIX, which I believe is a seperate series from his new MEGAMIX, which is a lot slicker and more polished.

UDON is a company I can really get behind, beyond personally knowing some of the people that work there, it's a company that produces almost exclusively books that I want to buy, and unlike other companies that deal mostly with licensed properties (*cough cough* IDW, DYNAMITE, BOOM! *cough cough*) and put no effort or care into their products, UDON is run by Fans, employing Fans, skilled and professional though they may be, to work on projects they truly care about and have a personal stake in.

This tender loving care shines through on every book I've purchased by UDON. Their products have a slick, glossy, hip and consummately professional sheen. Colorful, well drawn, and well written books by some of the industries best upcoming artists that bring out all the elements of beloved franchises from my youth which have somehow endured through time and have mass appeal to both old and new generations.

That care and effort extends to reprinted work licensed from the original Japanese publishers as well, with re-mastered and redesigned covers and interior art, and excellent print quality; possibly some of the best printed books in the industry.

As a life-long fan of the Blue Bomber, I can assure anyone else that might be a fan of my favorite side-scrolling shooter about the Little Blue Robot that Could (fight Robot Terrorists and Mechanical Monsters), that Hitoshi Ariga is the best artist/writer to ever put pen to paper with anything dealing with Mega Man (or Rock Man, if you want to get culturally accurate). His art is perfectly on model, but with it's own flare; loose, gestural, and with perfectly cartooned expression, capturing not only the grim, gritty, and fast paced action associated with the story of a child-like battle Robot, who courageously volunteers to be re-purposed to fight against his abused and manipulated brethren, who have been reprogrammed for evil by the sinister scientist Dr. Wily, but also the childish fun and excitement of a shonen action series with appeal to both the young and young at heart. He also did the manga adaptation of one of my favorite anime, THE BIG O (published by VIZ and long out of print), which was slick and polished, with a dark North American influence that showcased his range and versatility with storytelling.

Mega Man finds his roots in another popular Robot from my childhood, with obvious influences coming from Astro Boy, my other mechanical childhood hero, but with a more fast paced story that skews toward a slightly older shonen manga audience, filled with action and drama, and less social commentary than that set Astro Boy apart from other series.

Still, that's not to say that Mega Man is without an intelligent and engaging plot; an allegory for the sacrifices made in the name of peace, and the helplessness of technology in how it is used by humans. Rock is the hero who sacrifices his innocence to become a weapon of peace, while his six robot brothers, construction robots built to help humanity, are helpless to resist their new, destructive programming, the dark influence of Dr. Wily, an insane but brilliant scientist who uses his genius in a bid for world domination.

MEGA MAN MEGAMIX takes the Mega Man mythos to a new level, giving personality and backstory to previously literally 2-Dimensional characters, expanding on their relationships and motivations after and beyond their defeats in the video games that spawned them.

The original six Robot Masters; built by Mega Man's creator and mentor, Doctor Light; Cut-Man, Guts Man, Bomb Man, Ice Man, Elec Man, and finally Fire Man, have their evil programming broken, and join their brother in his battle to defend humanity from Doctor Wily's new and improved Robot Masters, 48 powerful robots built for combat. Also on the Blue Bomber's side are his adorable and precocious sister, Roll, his mysterious prototype Brother, Blues AKA Proto Man, his Scooby-Doo-esque mechanical canine companion, Rush, and the Robot Masters of Mega Man 4, built by the misguided but repentant Doctor Cossack, and his cute daughter, Kalinka. It's a huge cast of characters, each getting their chance to shine in the spotlight, alongside the franchise star, Rock, aka the Blue Bomber, Mega Man. I'll admit, though, as much as I love Mega Man, my other favorite character from the series, and the one I'm most excited about seeing showcased in this manga, has to be Forte AKA Bass, Mega Man's Bizarro counterpart. He's just so cool looking!

I'm truly excited about this; Thanks Erik and Jim! I know the dizzying amount of effort and work that goes into hunting down the license for something like this. Blood, sweat, and tears are spent to bring something that brings warmth to my cold robot heart, and I appreciate the efforts spent; I hope this does well, because I'd love to see more and more Mega Man content in North America... especially an actually worthwhile animated effort; the 90's cartoon stopped being good at the end of the opening animation. -_-

I'd also like to point out UDON's two other upcoming MEGA MAN themed releases; MEGA MAN and MEGA MAN X Complete Art Works; the much anticipated (at least by me) collections of all Mega Man related design and promotional art. The learning curve on both series was steep and the Osamu Tezuka influence is obvious. Some brilliant, slick and stylish, cartooning from CAPCOM's art department that I've been desperate to see collected and available for purchase since I got into art.

Lots to look forward too in the New Year now!

X-MEN: MISFITS - Marvel Shoujo Manga: Rise or Fall?

At Chris' request, I read MARVEL's joint venture with DEL-REY to cross the world of X-MEN with the world of Shoujo (Japanese comics for girls). The result was... ambiguous.

I've actually got no problem with either the concept or the genre; I actually think it's an interesting mix and a fresh perspective that could potentially mine a very profitably demographic that MARVEL's either never had success with or even tried to target: teenage girls.

X-MEN: MISFITS' (Written by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman, and illustrated by Anzu) premise is that Kitty Pryde, an average, maybe even below average (... thoughts on this later), girl from a simple family in Chicago. Her only standout feature is her strange ability to uncontrollably pass through solid objects. Her life changes drastically when her family is approached by a handsome middle-aged man named Eric Lensherr who has a name for what she is: "Mutant", and invites her to a private boarding school that specializes in the education and training of Mutants (sound familiar?).

Not wanting to cause her family any more trouble, and afraid of what she might do to herself if she doesn't learn how to control herself, Kitty agrees to attend 'The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters' in Westchester, New York. Having powers made her a standout and a misfit at her school, so she secretly hopes that being at a school of Mutants will allow her to fit in and fade into the background; but she couldn't be more mistaken! Upon arrival she discovers that she's the school's only female student, and is soon in the middle of a power struggle between the schools exclusively male student body of super-hot teenage boys! What's a girl to do?

To be fair, the X-MEN have always been MARVEL's most diverse cast of characters; one of the first books to feature an international team of heroes, and really explore and showcase their respective cultures, as well as having a larger cast of female characters than most books. The decision to make Kitty Pryde the focus of a romance adventure book about an outcast girl sent away to a boarding school for Mutants, being that she was the youngest and more accessible of X-Men's female characters, and her background is pretty much unchanged in the transition from male-oriented superhero/adventure comic to girl-oriented romance/drama manga. To bad her character wasn't equally unchanged.

To me, X-MEN: MISFITS is almost too good at it's job of trying to emulate your typical Shoujo manga; it's so typically Shoujo that there's almost nothing standout about it.

What could have been a really fasinating and original take on both the characters and the genre, instead falls back on cliched troupes of the genre and character arch-types; the ditzy, underachieving heroine in Kitty Pryde, the hot-headed and slightly abusive prettyboy in Pyro, and the equally pretty "tsundere" rival in Ice-Man. It's not particularly mishandled or anything, I just don't find it particularly stand out. These characters easily fall into those arch-types, but that also leaves them without any depth... particularly Kitty Pryde.

I just don't understand why they felt the need to dumb down someone who has always been portrayed as intelligent and adventurous, and most importantly, INDEPENDENT. She called Professor X a jerk, damnit! The Kitty Pryde presented in MISFITS would never have that kind of courage. I was actually hoping for a little more HANA YORI DANGO or PEACH GIRL in her character rather than... name any other bullshit shoujo book about a ditzy girl not particularly intelligent, clever, or independent, with no particular goal to achieve. The MISFIT Kitty Pryde doesn't even decide to enter into her first relationship with Pyro; she just sort of does what she's told to by, well, everyone. My only hope for the character is that the writers have some kind of long term character arc in mind where she somehow becomes a strong and independent woman.

But even if that's the plan, it doesn't mean she has to be portrayed as an unintelligent underachiever! Plenty of Shoujo heroines are defined by their cleverness, or strong willed natures and determination to overcome their circumstances without becoming unrelatable or inaccessible. Are you telling me that the only character that would appeal and be relatable to a young girl is an underachieving, boy-obsessed, ditz?

Aside from that, I'm actually more interested in the world of MISFITS, and the choices of how to reinterpret the characters into the Shoujo dynamic. The Pyro/Iceman romantic rivalry makes sense, having been established in the movies, and it's a nice allegorical contrast, and they fit their respective arch-types. It's also veeeeeeery manga that their personalities match their powers. I just wish there was more depth to them.

Storm is cast as being an older teacher, and they us the '80's mohawk Storm, which is fairly iconic, and played for some laughs. I've never really understood why various re-interpretations of the X-MEN insist on making Storm an older authority figure... I've always liked the fresh, young, unsure, Storm of the NEW X-MEN, who embraces her new surroundings with zealous curiousity, reinventing herself and adapting to her environment. Given her relationship with Kitty in the comics, I think she'd have made a better secondary character to befriend Kitty, but I digress... I guess most people focus on the more regal, strong willed and authoritarian 'Goddess' Storm that came to lead the X-MEN in later years.

The most interesting re-interpretations are really Cyclops and Havok as diametrically opposed siblings falling on different sides of the schism dividing the school (Scott's a cool and calculating Vegan who believes in the peaceful co-existance between humans and mutants, while Havok is a hot-headed and angry anti-authoritarian who solves all his problems with violence), Blob as a gentle giant who acts as comic relief, which is pretty again type for that character, and Nightcrawler as a monsterous (but still super pretty) mutant outcast who, rather than being a brooding emo-kid, is actually pretty at ease with himself and has nothing to prove to anyone, which brings comfort to Kitty who hopes to one day achieve similar self-acceptance, and finds friendship with him after being initially afraid of him because their powers are similarly non-offensive and only really good for running away.

Forge is also an interesting re-interpretation, and probably the only holdover from a more yaoi-centric storyline that Chris said had been scrapped (Forge becomes Kitty's best friend, and makes a pass as Pyro... and probably everyone else in the book), which I think is a cop-out on MARVEL's part, but am glad to see it survived at least in some respect. Hey, Scott Pilgrim has a cool, gay, friend, and it's the most popular book on the planet! How can you go wrong by giving Kitty a cool, gay, MUTANT, friend? Just saying.

Gambit also makes a quick cameo in the kitchen, though it took me a second to figure out who he was supposed to be.

For the most part, there is potential in the book; it's successful at what it does stylistically. The art and layout is a dead on emulation of Shoujo comics distinctly girlie style and troupes(though not particularly up my ally... I just prefer more solid and volumetric cartooning and line work. Though Beast is pretty fucking adorable...), such as headshots of pretty boys surrounded by flowers and sparkles, chibi-ized characters for visual gags, free-form, borderless panel layouts and collages, thin, wispy, linework, liberal use of screentone, simplified backgrounds, and fashion conscious character designs. Personally, though, I find it hard to tell the male characters apart as everyone looks alike: absurdly effeminate and pretty with no real definable facial structure. Which is, basically, how Shoujo comics are supposed to look.

The writing, for the most part, is pretty decent, and a nice blend of girly romance, mutant politics, and superhero action. They set up the premise and introduce the characters efficiently, and there are a few clever gags and affectations for Kitty, such as her wearing knee and elbow pads and a bike helmet for fear of accidentally falling through things, and some various 'cat' mannerisms which play offer her name. Characters personalities and relationships are clearly established, and there are some subtle setups of future plot points that are sure to pay off, such as the difference of opinion in the opposing philosophies of Xavier and Magneto, and Magneto's favortism towards the Hellfire Club as the schools 'Mutant Elite', and their antagonistic treatment of students that have adopted Xavier's peacenik ways.

It doesn't break any new ground with the "Mutants as an allegory for racism or alienation" theme, but it's not like X-MEN as a franchise hasn't been beating that dead horse for 40 years, and the title is X-MEN: MISFITS, so it'd be pretty weird if they weren't ostracized in some way. I'd just like to see the X-Men in a world that's at least TRYING to accept them. Why not have the human that has a cool mutant friend, or the guy that's dating the mutant girl? I think an X-World that's a little more progressive is something that we've never seen before.

Overall, I'm pretty much just ambivalent about the book. while I have my issues with choices made, overall the book is harmless fun, decently produced, and successful for what is. It's just another X-MEN book when you get down to it... not particularly great, but completely unoffensive. I do believe that there is potential, and I hope that potential can be realized, because I think there is a market for this kind of book; I just don't think that market needs another underachieving book about an underachiever, when you have a potentially strong female character at your disposal.

On a final note, I think a totally hilarious joke that could have been made would have been if Kitty Pryde had remarked, "They should have called this school, 'The Xavier Institute for Super-Hot Guys'. Yow-za!"

MARVEL ANIME TRAILERS

I stumbled up these just a few minutes ago and totally blew my nerd-wad up in this bitch!



The WOLVERINE trailer is... fucking confusing. Either they're adapting that shitty DEL REY "manga", or they never bothered to read a WOLVERINE book. I have a strong suspicion that Wolverine will, at some point, make out with Sabertooth, thus releasing years of built up sexual tension and titilating both 12-year old yaoi obsessed fangirls, and homosexual comic store managers (you know who you are).

Seriously, though, Wolverine is a beautiful, beautiful, man in this trailer, and it's weirding me out. He's, like, 7 feet tall, has no body hair, and is totally not Canadian. It may as well just NOT be Wolverine. I can't tell is I'm being a fanboy asshole for nit-picking on what a confoundingly off model adaptation this looks to be, or if I have the right to be a little peeved that they seem to have totally missed the mark here.

The animation is beautiful though.



IRON MAN, on the other hand, looks SICK AS FUCK. That is EXACTLY what you both want and expect from the anime version of Iron Man... cool ass robots, shit exploding, and guys being rocket punched through the Tokyo Tower! BOOSH! Nerd-wad exploded. I heard tell that this was going to be a 26 episode series, which totally has me excited, and unlike the WOLVERINE trailer, while they obviously took some liberties, I think the premise of Iron Man actually sort of appeals to the Japanese storytelling sensiblities and remains mostly intact. Same but different is totally the way to go with a project like this, combining the best of both worlds and making something that has broad appeal on both sides of the planet.

On an unrelated note, I've also starte watching the French produced, CGI animated, IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES, and it's actually really good. The animation is really nice, the storytelling is smart and mature without going so adult as to alienate the younger audience, and some of the design stuff is fucking amazing... he has an EVANGELION LAUNCH TUBE! Awesome. I don't know how IRON MAN went from being a B-Grade comic book hero to MARVEL's top media property (*cough* Robert Downey JR *cough*), but he's beating the FUCK out of media cross-promotion.

On a related note...

PLANET HULK: The Movie



I'm totally excited, as MARVEL has finally been getting their animation game together since HULK/WOLVERINE/THOR, which was awesome, and PLANET HULK is the best HULK story I've probably ever read... it's HULK as CONAN. Awesome monsters, gladiator fights, giant robots, incredible violence, drama, romance, a strong character arc... PLANET HULK has fucking EVERYTHING.

My only complaint is with the Hulk design... why is he so tiny and so pretty? That's a little weak. Other than that, I'm totally exited.

REVIEW - BLACK SUMMER by Warren Ellis Art by Juan Jose Ryp

BLACK SUMMER is a recent mini-series written by Warren Ellis with art by Juan Jose Ryp, published by AVATAR PRESS.

Suppose that there existed, in our current world, 7 Guns; super powered human weapons, intelligent people that figured out how to give themselves seemingly unbeatable super human abilities, and used those abilities in an attempt to make the world a better place, and, for the most part, succeeded, gaining public support and eventually acceptance by the government. Now suppose that one of those 7, John Horus, suddenly decided to kill the President of the United States and demand that the country right itself or they would be at war... with him.

BLACK SUMMER is an interesting, dark, serious, and realistic take on the superhero genre filled with political outrage, ethical questions,and moral dilemma's... that unfortunately falls just short of being enjoyable to me.

It's hard to really pin down where BLACK SUMMER failed for me as a story... I mean, I really like Warren Ellis' writing, and this kind of twisted superhero story is usually right up my ally; but it was missing something for me. I think the main problem I had was that the story felt rushed to me. This is a concept I would have preferred to see told in a more decompressed way, establishing the characters and their world a bit more firmly... 8-12 issues would have been great.

I also think that it was entirely too plot driven, rather than character driven. There was no one I could identify with, and not a single likable character. Everyone was portrayed as being an arrogant, self righteous, bastard, and none of the 7 Guns, the books superhero team, supposedly made up of 7 friends from college, even got along or seemed to have any sort of emotional connection with each other besides mild loathing. A lot of the characters only interaction with each other was just boiled down to "Bitch," a lot of the time. I get that the story is supposed to be a bleak, critical, examination of the kind of arrogant, self righteousness need to proclaim yourself above man's laws, as imperfect as they may be... but I can help but think that could have been better served by contrasting it against the fact that these people as human and flawed as anyone else. There was a hint of a romantic subplot between two characters, and even a moment of tenderness, which was completely glossed over, and then forgotten.

In the end, it didn't feel like there was a sacrifice, or any sort of redemption, because I just didn't care for anyone; which is disappointing, because Warren Ellis is usually so good are writing amoral, monsterous, characters that still have a shred of humanity and empathy. DESOLATION JONES is a perfect example of this. I loved that Jones, as bleak as his world view was, was at least empathetic towards those people he had contact with whom life had shit on. There was a subtle sensitivity to DESOLATION JONES that just isn't present in BLACK SUMMER.

Another problem I had with the book... my biggest problem actually... was the art. I can't say that it was just outright BAD... but it wasn't great. Juan Jose Ryp can definately draw. His background are highly detailed and reminicent of Geoff Darrow's super detailed layouts, and his characters are solidly constructed... but his linework is chunky and has little line variety... it looks like it was inked with a sharpy, and the pages get really busy, and at times I found it hard to seperate foreground and background elements from each other. I liked the costume designs, but the characters themselves are almost impossible to tell apart from each other, particularly the females, who all have the same body types, big porn-star hair, and the same face. Male characters are similarly difficult to differentiate, as they too, all possess the same basic facial stuctures.

The most GRATING thing about the art though? There are a number of instances where a characters body languege or facial expression just do not match what is being said. People look angry when asking a harmless question, or their expressions are too extreme for what's trying to be portrayed. There's no subtlety or range. There are also times when the drawing is just outright BAD. The guy definately has potential, but he's also lacking in a lot of area's.

The coloring definately doesn't help... this is probably some of the most garish and cheap looking computer coloring I've ever seen, and gives the books mostly servicable art a really cheap look.

BLACK SUMMER is a book that feels like it could have been great, but somehow falls short. I can't say it's outright horrible, but it's definately not my favorite Warren Ellis work. It feels like he really phoned it in. There's a lot of interesting concepts and cool idea's, but it's missing heart and character.