REVIEW: Death Note

Death Note

By Ohba Tsugumi and Asami Yuuko

 Published 2003-2006

Death Note

·         Light is a noted individual of good grades and social standings, which may indicate his use of the Death Note may indicate his disdain of criminals and humanity as being beneath him.

·         Light as the main character is like having Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes as the protagonist, which is fitting given that L is the Holmes character throughout the series

·         The nature of the Death Gods indicate that killing people with the Death Note is boring under normal circumstances, though in the hands of a person it becomes more violent than need be

·         The realistic style of the humans next to the surreal demon style of the death gods contrasts well though it makes the whole series feel surreal also

·         The fact that each chapter or chapter arc adds more rules to the Death Note does give noted plot expansion for the series, though this could also be interpreted as the author making up restrictions and such for the series as he goes along

·         The fact that the Death God Ryuk bothered to make the Death Note in English and Japanese subtly indicates the nature of the series’ demographics, as it was expected for Japanese audiences to pick up yet it also indicates the foreign nature of the English language to the Japanese. It also could be a bid to see if American audiences would enjoy it as well.

·         There is more noted drama in between the deaths as opposed to the constant massacre of characters, which is unusual for a Shonen Jump manga as series by Shonen Jump are known for over the top violence and the breaking of physics. This in turn binds the series of Death Note to the laws of physics despite the existence of Death gods.

·         Light’s willingness to kill his father if he becomes a threat shows his adamant look on his ideals.

·         The creation of Kira notably reduces crime, so although the acts of Light could be seen as bad they do indeed serve the greater good

·         A good noted part of the beginning was dedicated to the means to which Light was to protect his identity as Kira, such as the possible burning of his Notebook should the house be raided

·         Light notably doesn’t make the deal with the Ryuk, or the devil, himself to gain the power to look at people’s names and lifetimes. This is a good contrast to Faust as though Light has the powers of a devil with him he prefers control for himself as opposed to gaining knowledge or powers.

·         The series is notably more of a drama as opposed to a conflict comic, a rare thing in Shonen manga.

·         Light notably does experiments with the Death Note to see if people will die in specific ways if he writes with a specific instruction in mind

·         Light’s use of the Death note makes him notably like the Spectre in DC comics.

·         Given the nature of his attacks, Light becomes more like the criminals in ruthlessness as the series progresses

Bibliography

Ōba, Tsugumi, Takeshi Obata, and Pookie Rolf. Death Note. San Francisco: Viz Media, 2005. Print.

REVIEW: Dredd 3D

Dredd 3D

Directed by Pete Travis

Released 2012

Dredd 3D

·         The film notably has only Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson as characters from the comic book series. The other noted characters Ma-Ma and Kay were drug dealers made specifically for the film.

·         The setting is that of a modern metropolis on the East Coast with giant new structures for people to live in, as opposed to the forced CGI future of the previous Judge Dredd film.

·         Dredd notably doesn’t proclaim his own title as “The Law” every scene like the previous movie.

·         Anderson’s background as a mutant with psychic powers is not delved into much in the movie.

·         The film notably ends without a romance between the dual protagonists, a noted deviation from other cinema

·         The amount of blood of violence and depictions of mutilation was notably high in the movie; given the R rating it was surprising that a comic book movie would be allowed such treatment.

·         People seem notably used to violence all the time in the Dredd universe as people are dying in a mall and literally thirty minutes later it is allowed to open again despite the traumatic shootings and killings

·         The use of 3D for the narcotic scenes was well used, as 3D was used with hallucinations in a way that emphasized the surreal nature of the drugs compared to the gritty nature of the Dredd universe. The drugs also made the base colors of the movie much lighter as opposed to the gray dark scheme of the metropolis.

·         Dredd notably doesn’t take his helmet off in the film, a gripe people had with the other film. He also can run out of bullets with his gun and can be wounded.

·         The common people are notably mistrusting of Judges as much as criminals, as with the example of the Medical facility’s ward not helping Dredd out.

·         (Spoilers) Apparently no one knows the DNA rule of the Judge guns as one guy gets the consequence of trying to use a Judge gun.

·         (Spoilers) Anderson’s PSI powers are quite in flux in the film as they range from God-tier psychic memory drains to not being able to sense people who are right next to you

·         (Spoilers) Ma-Ma treats her gang like lambs to the laughter yet notably doesn’t allow Anderson to be mutilated or violated save for execution.

·         (Spoilers) The Judges seem to not be able to tell of others of their kind go bad as corrupted Judges do appear in this film.

·         (Spoilers) The execution of a gang member and Anderson’s meeting with the member’s wife seemed a bit forced to bring out drama to make Anderson question being a Judge.

·         Apparently no one tried to make an inspection of the Peach Tree living complex as Judge Dredd going there made a big deal of things

Bibliography

Dredd 3D. Dir. Pete Travis. Lionsgate, 2012. Film.

REVIEW: Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01

By John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra

Published 1977

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01

·         The series notably has a positive, if not conservative, view of judges (police) always being in the right throughout the series

·         Judge Dredd never took his helmet off once, unlike the Judge Dredd film adaptation done by Stallone

·         Judge Dredd had a sidekick in the series in the Robot Walter and a side character in the stereotypical Italian Maria

·         There is notably a whole story arc dedicated to a robot war and the Wild West being on the moon

·         The panels are notably clump together in some situations, though this is common in late 70’s comics that were limited to less than ten pages per issue. (Issue 3, Page 2)

·         There are a noted lack of females being killed or kidnapped in the series, as the ladies that are not Maria are notably idealized and objectified

·         The Soviet Union apparently existed up to the year 2099 in the Judge Dredd series. This reflects the seeming adamant nature of the USSR to the USA in the late 70’s.

·         There are noted side stories in the back dedicated specifically to Walter

·         Robots are seen as slaves in the series despite the sentience of some of them. In fact, Kenneth the robot initiated the Robot War story arc that immediately takes place several issues in.

·         Rico, the clone brother of Dredd in the film by Stallone, is notably just a corrupted Judge in his origins. He notably lets himself be killed in the comic series and doesn’t appear again.

·         Comic books in the Judge Dredd series are ironically contraband in the year 2099 that hooks kids to addiction. Fittingly, 2000 AD comics made themselves the comics that are the contraband in the series

·         The bullets the Judges use serve as dues ex Machina as they seem to hit the targets literally with heat seeking

·         Bigotry in the Judge Dredd series exists with the Neon Knights, which serve as clan members to persecute robots and the people they serve under

·         Judge Dredd notably has but one personality type: lawman. While there could be development with him later in the series, for Case Files 01 and the noted first issues provided Dredd has little personality.

·         It seems that no one administratively seeks to question the Judges in the series, as the “judge, jury and executioner” nature of the Judges that subjectively could be corrupted easily is never questioned in the series and its beginnings.

·         The style is notably edged and more realistic in its art design

·         The backgrounds notably establishes only in several panels per page, a quite advanced technique.

Bibliography

Wagner, John, and Carlos Ezquerra. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01. Oxford: Rebellion, 2010. Print.

REVIEW: Kavalier and Clay and the Escapist

Kavalier and Clay A Novel and the Amazing Adventure of the Escapist

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay were published in 2000.

The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist were published in 2004.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay:

·         It’s to note that this book was inspired by the creative teams of the Golden Age of Comics, starting roughly around the time Action Comics 1 was already published to many years onward

·         The creation of the Escapist amalgamates the aspects of Captain America, the Spirit and other pulp fiction style masked vigilantes during the Golden Age. The Escapist even punches Hitler in his first issue much like Captain America did in his

·         Joe and Sam mirrored many American comic book writers at the time, being Jewish Americans who were taken advantage of financially for their work as they had no copyright royalties

·         They are noted to be the contemporaries of Will Eisner in the novel, a footnote in the novel in fact

·         The telling of the Golem and Kavalier with it was interesting though served no other purpose than to symbolize the artificial hero that Joe was to create with the Escapist in American comics

·         Joe’s disdain for the Germans during the World War II era was noted in fueling his tales of the Escapist fighting Nazis and the like (though not named as such in the comics). It’s noted that during this time war-time comics were popular and used such imagery in their own stories, like how “The Haunted Tank” and “Blackhawks” made use of the war propaganda movement to fuel their stories

The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist:

·         It’s to note that though this book was illustrated by many contemporary artists that Chabon still kept to the style of the in-universe telling of Kavalier and Clay in that he claims most of the work to be influence by Joe and Sam.

·         The Escapist book ties in with the novel with its references to important characters like Anapol and Rosa who had an influence in the novel

·         It’s interesting that they faked a manga adaptation of the Escapist, which mirrors the Bat-manga that was published in real life. It’s to note that this adaptation mirrors a good number of current American hero comics adapted to manga, like Stan Lee’s creations of Wolverine and Iron Man currently being made in manga and anime form overseas.

·         In “Sequestered,” the Escapist is noted to being a mock up joke caricature more so than even the child friendly version. This plays into the joke that the Escapist is no longer being written by Clay and drawn by Kavalier in universe and much like other Golden Age heroes grew to a state of mockery.

·         In universe, it is claimed that the Escapist along with other Radio Comics characters were bought up by DC Comics, a trend that followed with many other comic companies at the time, like Fawcett Comics with their titles like “Captain Marvel” (later to be called “Shazam”) “the Spy Smasher” and more

·         The Escape Goat story was noted to mirror the DC comics pet versions of title characters that is aimed towards a child demographic, notably with its slapstick comedy and its use of classic characters for children stories

·         With “The Passing of the Key,” it is noted that the Kavalier and Clay Escapist dies and gives his back story in order to provide a new Escapist with a back story to becoming a new superhero. This mirrors the development of the Blue Beetle franchise of DC Comics, with Dan Garret of Fox Comics (which would eventually be bought up by DC Comics), passing on his legacy to Ted Kord, who would become the next Blue Beetle in the name of a previous hero

Bibliography

Chabon, Michael. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel. New York: Picador USA, 2001. Print.

Chabon, Michael. The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2004. Print.

REVIEW: Crumb (film)

Crumb (film)

Crumb film released 1995

Crumb (film):

·         It is of interesting note that Crumb reluctantly allowed this movie to be made

·         It is also of note that the sisters did not wanted to be interviewed for the film

·         Finally, of the points of the Crumb family’s reluctance to be documented, it is of note that one of Crumb’s brothers committed suicide some time after the interview and the other brother giving up on cartooning altogether

·         The mother is also noted to be in her own depressed state during the film’s duration

·         While Crumb is sometimes seen as a cartoonist who draws the proportions of his women with overemphasized features, there are women who praise said style for the apparent bluntness of sexuality towards less skinnier women to be a socially acceptable thing

·         It is of interest that R. Crumb’s children have artistic talent, be it from the nurture of being raised by a cartoonist who disciplined him or a continued lineage of cartoonist given that Crumb and his siblings seem to display artistic prowess

·         For Fritz the Cat to be killed off due to the nature of Crumb’s disdain for the film is an interesting one, as he took the action of violence against his art as a means to get back at the media industry who he saw as perverting his works in the ways he didn’t want it to be

·         Despite noting himself not to be one assertive to his sexuality, it is of note that he did date several quite attractive women and did show up in a porn magazine feature shot with noted attractive women

·         Given his disdain for the modern aspect of consumerism, Crumb constantly criticized the consumer nature of America in one scene where he sat sketching while other people walked by with their brand logo shirts and loud boom box music (given that this film was being made during the 90’s, people were carrying boom boxes around)

·         During the duration of the film, Crumb aimed to move him and his family to Europe, where he saw difference not in what Europe held but rather in what it didn’t had in comparison to Midwest America

·         It was noted that Crumb did take some drugs in order to gain the inspiration for his works, especially for his works with Zap Comics

·         He was noted to even be shocked with his own work, as with the case of his tale of Mr. Natural with a headless women, which was given to his male friend to be a sex object despite the protest of the young man, who would later have sex with said body of a woman yet feel guilt for it afterward

·         His artistic styles of telling the racist Black American comics were interesting in that he didn’t held back in depicting harsh black face representations in his drawings. While objectionable, it does convey his own voice in his racism: as it is not flattering or anything but a personal opinion for his view of Black Americans

·         The Crumb family as children notably lived in “the Projects” of their neighborhood and had many issues with their father. They also notably formed their own comic book group where they drew comics. With this, it can be seen that even at a young age R. Crumb and his brothers had artistic talent

·         It is to note that R. Crumb consistently turned down fortune opportunities to maintain his personal integrity of having his works unabridged and unaltered for the viewing audience, a view that he claimed happened with the “Keep trucking” phenomenon and the animated adaptation of “Fritz the Cat.”

·         The film also provided views from other underground cartoonists on their opinion of R. Crumb, most praising him yet some female artisans criticized his later depictions of women being sex objects when he previously depicted women as sexual yet independent and strong in his previous works

·         It is also interesting to see R. Crumb’s son and his opinion of his father, as both a mentor and someone he notes as eccentric despite being his son

·         R. Crumb also notably loves his daughter over all other women, consistently noting in the movie how he felt no love for most women he knew (past sex objects) yet he felt intimate with his daughter

·         R. Crumb notably shows features of xenophobia towards the development of the American culture as opposed to people moving in. He criticized people building houses at one point where he lived in California yet it was due to the advancement of development in the area and the destruction of the natural surroundings. This is also prevalent with R. Crumb’s critique on how consumerism took over the American mindset

Bibliography

Crumb. Dir. Terry Zwigoff. Perf. Robert Crumb. Sony Pictures Classics, 1995. DVD.

REVIEW: Tatsumi (film)

Tatsumi (film) and A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Tatsumi film released 2011

A Drifting Life published 2008 in Japan and 2009 in America

Tatsumi (film):

·         The film took a live action approach in depicting the onsets of both the life of Tatsumi and the graphic novels to which he worked on

·         It is interesting to note where the adult manga genre came from, given that manga had the same connotation of as the “funny papers” of children as opposed to a medium that was supposedly enjoyable by adults as well

·         It is interesting to see Tatsumi as the contemporary of Tezuka, another influential man on the art of manga. It is also interesting to see Tatsumi note Tezuka to be envious of him at the time

·         It is assumed that the film followed the format of the graphic novel, though portions of Tatsumi’s life is abridged in favor of fitting the film to a certain time limit

·         The outlay of Tatsumi’s life alongside the works he made relevant to the events in his life placed publication date out of order yet still maintained the importance of how certain factors in his life contributed to the style of narration and drawing to which he is noted for

·         The graphic tales in black and white have a feel similar to a motion comic in that the line work and use of black on white notably define how one views the work. This is comparable to the colored work to which the film illustrates the autobiographical portions of Tatsumi’s life

·         It is noted the adult themes of Tatsumi’s works that are featured, given that the contemporary style of Japanese manga was that stereotyped to Tezuka’s style: which is somewhat of a Golden Age of manga style

·         The publication industry of Osaka and Tokyo are made known by Tatsumi’s relations to reporters and how he gained money by working long hours in miserable conditions to pay for his family: a stereotyped trend for manga artists that persists to this day save for those who actually succeed in fame and fortune.

·         The transition from the “Occupied” short story to his real life narration was done beautifully, with how he had his protagonist drop a pen into the toilet after being arrested for sketching profanity onto the walls while Tatsumi in the next panel picks up supposedly the same pen while still narrating

·         The themes of Tatsumi’s stories are also of interest: being the ones shown in the film to be on topics of post-World War II Japan, Japan during the contemporary industrial life, Japanese middle age and sexuality, the field of Japanese manga artists and their depictions of sexuality in society, Japanese women post-World War II and his own autobiography

·         It is interesting to note that Tatsumi phrases each story as him discovering a new world rather than creating one, showing he draws inspiration when writing and drawing as opposed to forcing his own imagination onto reality

·         Tatsumi having his characters read their own books in the end of the film was a good touch, having it seem like all is full circle with his depiction of the worlds he creates

Bibliography

Tatsumi. Dir. Eric Khoo. Perf. Tetsuya Bessho and Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Zhao Wei Films, 2011. Film.

Tatsumi, Yoshihiro. A Drifting Life. Quebec, Canada: Drawn and Quarterly, 2009. Print.

REVIEW: Hark! A Vagrant Webcomic

Hark! A Vagrant! (Webcomic to Print)

Comics published on Livejournal on 2007 and on their current site 2008.

Book published 2011

Hark: A Vagrant Webcomic

· As this a webcomic, the original content was meant to be free to read online

· The book has but a selection of what the author intend for the purchaser to view, save for any drafts or bonus materials not included online

· The composition is self-contained and occasionally episodic, making it sort of a newspaper strip of sorts in updates

· Periodically, characters previously introduced return in a later comic, indicating a sort of continuity in the author’s work

· The webcomic site’s background is white, as with the pages of the printed book, therefore coinciding the layout to the viewer

· The webcomic provides further categorizations and footnotes left by the author in cyberspace not available in the printed copy

· The book, as it is something to purchase, it optional in reading the comic and therefore serves but a source of revenue for said author

· The schedule of the comic varies to the author’s pace of drawing and dedication, as opposed to other comic forms where there is a fixed schedule or a fixed editor

· Compared to the original first pages, the present updates show drastic improvement on the author’s part, mostly from keeping a consistency of drawing comics. This is made more prevalent with the webcomic format as the entire archive is readily available to the reader

· The webcomic version has commentary from the author below the work that takes no space, as the printed version would require pages be dedicated to commentary

· Billboards of several other comics and other media are constantly present on the webcomic, as a means for the author to gain money while making the comic free to read is present with this as a way to fund the comic to continue

Bibliography

Beaton, Kate. "Hark, a Vagrant: 335." Hark, a Vagrant: 335. Self Published, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. .

Beaton, Kate. Hark!: A Vagrant. Montréal: Drawn & Quarterly, 2011. Print.