'TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
Alan Moore
You've noticed that the local bookstore is starting to stock a whole bunch of graphic novels, and just looking at them makes your head spin. I understand that, and for the longest time, comic books were marketed to long-time fans, were mired in endless soap opera storytelling, and most of the time were just a waste of time. However, over the last 15 years, there has been a concerted effort by creators to bring the medium into the mainstream.
So, once a week, here at Bartcop Entertainment, I'll give you a rundown of a few graphic novels, some new, some old, and toss in a bit of comic book news when it's important enough that people who don't run to the local comic shop on Wednesday might be interested.
One of the best writers in the medium is Alan Moore. Moore started in comics in England, writing short "twist ending" SF stories for the weekly 2000 AD comics best known for featuring Judge Dredd, a biting satiric comic turned into a crappy movie. Moore was hired by DC to write the "Swamp Thing" comic when sales dropped after the 1982 movie left theaters.
Moore revived the title, and made it one of the few horror comics that really delved into horror. By the end of his run, he was considered one of the best writers in comics and was ready to work outside the tradition comic book series.
"Watchmen" is one of the best selling graphic novels of all time, and was Moore's first major work after leaving Swamp Thing. It is a simple premise, really. A costumed hero, The Comedian, is killed as the world seems on the brink of disaster. The story works on an amazing number of levels, as a murder mystery, as an alternate history, as political and social satire and as an examination of the whole concept of super-heroes. The art by Dave Gibbons is amazing in how is continues the repeated motifs in the story and melds them into backgrounds and panel composition while staying within a static 9 panel grid. This is a graphic novel you can ready quickly to grab the main surface story, but if you linger over it and take your time, details emerge that show just how complex a story Moore has crafted. Highly recommended for first time readers.
"From Hell" is the first of Moore's works to be adapted into a movie (unless you count the second Swamp Thing movie which lifted ideas and lines of dialogue that didn't help it at all), and if you have seen the movie, you would be surprised at how much better the graphic novel is. "From Hell" is a deep exploration of the "Jack The Ripper" case, and is extensively footnoted and annotated by Moore, but it is also a meditation on British occult societies, the change that came with the 20th Century and the power of secrets. The art, by Eddie Campbell, is sketchy, and will be off-putting to readers looking for realism, but Campbell'' sketchy style adds to the story's dark undertone. The movie dealt with the surface story and overarcing theory Moore puts forth for who "Jack The Ripper" was, but the book gets the history right, doesn't add a love story, and stays with you long after you finish reading it. Highly recommended for history buffs, those interested in the occult or people with an interest in Jack the Ripper.
"The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is another of Moore's works that was adapted into a movie, and while it's not as deep and rich as the other Moore novels I have reviewed, the movie failed miserably in grasping what Moore was doing, and instead simply did another 3 act action movie. Moore brings together Alan Quartermain (from King Solomon's Mines) Mina Harker (from Dracula), Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, and Captain Nemo (from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea) as a Victorian "Justice League" in what was, at its core, a romp for English majors. Unlike the movie, Tom Sawyer and Dorian Grey are nowhere to be found. Some elements of the book made it into the movie, but Moore expects readers to recognize the characters as a rapidly plows into the story. Kevin O'Neill supplies the art, and while it fits the Victorian feel of the story, a lot of people dislike his angular style. In fact, O'Neill primarily works in British comics, as a comic by him for DC was rejected by the Comic Code Authority simply on the art style, not because there was anything obscene or prurient in the art itself. Moore's characterization is the main reason for the story, and as the story progresses, the main plot tends to get put on the back burner as Moore draws the reader in with character interaction. In the end, it's an odd piece of fan-fiction, and probably best for people who have read all the attendant books and think it is a fun idea. People with little knowledge of the novels will be lost and wonder what all the fuss is about, so this is recommended only for those who want to know what happened to Mina Harker after Dracula was killed or what Alan Quartermain was like when he got old.
If there are any graphic novel you saw on the store shelf and thought "Was that any good?" go ahead and drop me a note and I'll review them in future columns!
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website
www.solitairerose.com
Weekly Link
Sick Of This Crap!
Please let it be over. Please let it be over. Please let Bush go down hard. Please let it be over. Please please please please please...
We invite you to hunker down with the brilliant minds of sickofthiscrap.com as we prepare to retire the weekly updates in favor of a more pedestrian publishing schedule, in the event of a Kerry Edwards win.
Here's the skinny on this weeks issue:
* One Final Plea - A gentle outreach to the Bush leans
* ObL - still holding that all-important street cred'
* The Missing Explosives - Whoopsie!!
* The Renquist Retirement
Join us won't you join us? We're just a click away....
Weekly Link
Humor Gazette
Poll: Bush winning war on truth
This Humor Gazette poll tracks the impact of satire on the presidential race:
Sample:
73% of young Republicans say Bush has the edge due to his experience as a
fraternity president at the electoral college.
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Suggestions
More Bumper Stickers
Vote Smart, Vote Kerry
I Intend To Get Up Early And Give John Kerry A 1-0 Lead Over George W. Bush In My Ward
Osama Bin Laden: Why Did You Guys Let Me Keep On Living?
The Osama Videotape: Reminding Voters That He Is Still Alive And George W. Bush Let Him Get Away At Tora Bora
George W. Bush: The Qaqaa Hit The Fan
Vote 2004: Time To Eject A Failed President
Vote 2004: Time To Show George W. Bush What A Democracy Looks Like
Vote 2004: It's The Incompetence, Stupid
Vote 2004: Time To Turn Karl Rove Into A Big-Time Loser
Vote 2004: Either Exercise Your Right To Vote Or Take a Chance On Losing Your Right Of Free Speech
Vote 2004: Take A Picture ID And Stay In Line
Thanks, Bruce!
Purple Gene Reviews
'I Heart Huckabees'
Purple Genes' review of the movie "I Heart Huckabees":
Once I got past my initial disdain for the dumb ass title of this movie "I Heart Huckabees" directed by David O. Russell ("Flirting with Disaster" and "Three Kings") I figured "I Fart Fuckabees" would be a better name after resorting to "Being John Fuckabee" and then "Mind Fuckabee" I quit - STUPID NAME - but ridiculously ribald and preposterous without being pretentious - FUN FLICK.
I walked over to my favorite restaurant in Oakland, the Bay Wolf, after the movie and sat down and ordered my appetizer "Duck liver Flan on grilled french toast" - I started writing my review on the paper table cloth (classy). Then I had an absolutely delicious Main Course "Grilled pork loin with spinach and pine nuts in a wine reduction with polenta and a glass of pinot noir" (are you jeolous JD?) - my table cloth was full of scrawling epithets and circled remarks....It was halloween and my waitress was wearing a sequined green dress with a phony Marilyn Monroe wig (dimple on her chin) and painfully high heels!!!!! she brought my dessert as I was finishing filling out the 36" by 36" table cloth tablet... I was served a Pumpkin creme brulee and cappuccino....aahhh!
Here's the Nut in a plotshell !!!!! Dude (Albert played by David Schwartzman) has self-confidence issues..."Save the suburban marsh - Save the whole world"..Bicycle riding ..environmentalist hires pro bono the "Existential Detectives" (who needs Sartre, Kierkegaard or Nietzsche - when you have Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to figure "What's it all about Ralphie" ...He goes through "Cruelty, manipulation and meaningfulness" ...Fucks the "Therapist" ...finds his true nature and ends up playing out "bang your head ball" with Existential Fireman anti car/oil Tommy (Markie Mark Wahlberg)....Out
Kudos to Shania Twains' cameo as the Vegetarian heroin reality check famous chick saying "I don't eat Tuna" bang.....great ensemble cast - I loved the scene where Albert and Catarin (Isabelle Huppert) shove each others faces into muck before fucking over a big log. A scaldingly vapid ROMP with a scrumptious script (must be my dinner getting in there!)....worth seeing if you drive a Saab or a BMW....Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Purple Gene Gives "I Heart Huckabees" minus 7 for the title and plus 7 for the story!
Purple Gene
Thanks, Purple Gene!
Recommended Readings
Michael Moore
"One Day Left" by Michael Moore
An Excerpt:
In your heart of hearts you know Bush is a miserable failure. From having no plan on what to do in Iraq once he conquered Baghdad to the 380 missing tons of explosives that could be used to kill our brave young men and women, this guy doesn't have a clue how to fight and win a war. You should see the mail I've been getting lately from our troops over there. They know how much the Iraqi people hate them. They are sitting ducks anytime they go out on the road. Many believe we are not that far away from a Tet-style offensive inside the Green Zone with hundreds of Americans and Brits killed.
Purple Gene Reviews
Jimmy Cliff's 'People'
Purple Genes' review of the new Jimmy Cliff record "People":
I remember standing in the the aisles and dancing feverishly in 1979 while watching the amazing movie from Jamaica "The Harder they Come" ........Jimmy Cliff - scruffy gangster singer in the studio with his STAR shirt on and a cigarette in his right hand recording his great hit....."OO the harder they come, they harder they fall....one and all" - it was a defining moment in my life - like seeing Bob Marley at the Greek theater in Berkeley and Bob Dylan at the Berkeley Community Theater!!!! I couldn't get that fucking song out of my head!!!!!!!
Well, I went with my son Smoky, who is a reggae record efficianado and supreme spinner, to the "Indepent" Club in San Francisco a few weeks ago to see the New Jimmy Cliff band. I figured this would probably be, at best, a favorite hits medlee night....boy was I wrong....the band blew onto the stage all wearing orange jump suits...amazing female singer, bumpin' ass bass player and then Jimmy jumped out....black bald head...pot belly and steppin' high......sure ....here he goes "The Harder the Come" - "Many Rivers to Cross" hit after hit...I'm up in the sound booth with all the "Mixers" bumpin' and dancin' and then Jimmy announces a new song from his new album "People"....Deja fuckin' Voux....thump..thump...thump..."I say People..lets get together..and show our Power...all over the World...come on now People..lets get together...and show our Power..all over the World"!!!! everybody in the House was singing and dancin' like it was an NEW EPIPHANY......It moved the shit out of me! It made me feel passionate....go find this record and blast it from your car, open your windows and put it on DVD Repeat..break out and sing it at the bus stop......wow.....vote Bush out and sing this song while you do.....................
Purple Gene gives the song "People" by Jimmy Cliff 10 spleefs out of 10!
Purple Gene
Thanks, Purple Gene!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, still cool.
Stumps In Arkansas
Bill Clinton
Throngs of supporters in the southern state of Arkansas gave former president and native son Bill Clinton a rousing welcome late Sunday at a rally to help Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry steal an improbable win in the state.
Clinton, a former Arkansas governor, spoke for about 30 minutes late Sunday to a rally of some 6,000 people in the state capital Little Rock.
Most of the Arkansas congressional delegation is Democratic, but Republicans have had increasing electoral success in the state and now hold the governor's seat as well as other key posts.
Bill Clinton
Backs Kerry
Stevie Wonder
Motown legend Stevie Wonder became the latest pop superstar to line up behind Democratic nominee John Kerry, on the eve of his showdown at the polls with resident George W. Bush.
Wonder played a set before Kerry's rally in Detroit, Michigan, including a rendition of "America the beautiful" on his harmonica.
Kerry was later due to link up with another superstar backer, Bruce Springsteen in Cleveland, Ohio, and earlier in the day, rocker Bon Jovi opened a gig for him in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Stevie Wonder
Victory In Virtual Vote
John Kerry
The virtual vote is in -- Democratic challenger John Kerry has won a landslide victory over resident George W. Bush in a global sample of the world's opinion on the race for the White House.
More than 113,000 people from 119 countries made their choice at www.globalvote2004.org, handing Kerry a crushing win with 77 percent of the vote, a spokesman for the website said on Monday.
Third party candidates, including independent Ralph Nader, took nearly 14 percent of the vote, while Bush garnered a mere nine percent.
John Kerry
Starts Campaign for Peace in Haiti
Wyclef Jean
Haitian-American hip-hop star Wyclef Jean has launched a campaign to end a wave of violence that has killed nearly 200 people in Haiti over the past two months and called on armed groups to make peace.
The highly regarded musician, one of the few people some Haitians believe could facilitate talks to end the violence, paid a surprise visit to the Port-au-Prince slum of Bel-Air on Sunday where he talked to community leaders and met armed groups loyal to ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Earlier, he met with Guy Philippe and Remissainthe Ravix, leaders of the rebels who forced Aristide into exile in February. Jean planned to meet other gangs before he leaves Haiti.
Wyclef Jean
Dialogue In Mandarin Chinese
Quentin Tarantino
Director Quentin Tarantino says he's planning a kung-fu film with all dialogue in Mandarin Chinese, with out-of-sync English dubbing in homage to many such films in the past.
In an interview with Total Film magazine, Tarantino said he decided to do the kung-fu film instead of Inglorious Bastards, the working title of his long-expected film based on the Second World War.
"I enjoyed shooting all the Japanese stuff in Kill Bill so much that this whole film will be entirely in Mandarin," he was quoted as saying.
Quentin Tarantino
Wins Magician Award
Darren Romeo
Darren Romeo, a protege of Siegfried & Roy, has been named the winner of the Magic Castle Magician of the Year award.
A special pre-announcement of the award, to be presented next March at a ceremony at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, Calif., will cap off Romeo's opening night at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi on Wednesday.
Siegfried Fischbacher is expected to attend a private ceremony for Romeo after the show. The Beau Rivage is owned by the MGM Mirage, where Romeo opened his Las Vegas stage show, "Siegfried & Roy present Darren Romeo, The Voice of Magic," in 2002.
Romeo, a native of East Meadow, N.Y., met Fischbacher and Horn in 1999 after he debuted his show at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas. The meeting led to a friendship and the MGM Mirage show.
Darren Romeo
darrenromeo.com
siegfriedandroy.com
Sues to Strip Disney of Copyrights
Marvel Enterprises
Three months after suing The Walt Disney Co.in a dispute over royalties, Marvel Enterprises Inc. wants to strip the Magic Kingdom of its licensing deals for lucrative Marvel superheroes.
In a new lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles federal court, Marvel asks a judge to declare that Disney never legally assumed copyrights to Marvel characters when it bought the original licensee, Fox Family Worldwide, in 2001.
Marvel sued Disney in Los Angeles Superior Court in July, claiming Disney's ABC Family group of channels shortchanged it by about $55 million on royalty payments for the "Spider-Man," "The Incredible Hulk," and "X-Men" animated series.
Marvel Enterprises
Sets New Record
Ad Spending
The most expensive presidential advertising campaign in history closes Tuesday with resident Bush, Sen. John Kerry, their political parties and allied groups having spent more than $600 million.
That's triple the amount spent on TV and radio commercials in 2000. Still, the race remains a statistical tie, even though Democrats have a spending advantage.
Since March, Kerry and the Democratic Party have poured about $250 million into TV and radio ads compared with about $240 million for Bush and the Republican National Committee.
Ad Spending
Didn't Like The Car?
Simi Nischal
A Lower Makefield woman said she received a rude awakening Wednesday when she tried to get tickets to see resident Bush today in Lower Makefield.
About lunchtime Wednesday, Simi Nischal's co-worker dropped her off at the gristmill to pick up free tickets. When the co-worker returned, rally organizers for Bush and Vice President Cheney apparently noticed the Kerry-Edwards sticker stuck on the car, Nischal said. The organizers asked the co-worker why she was there and she responded, "to pick up Simi." While this was going on, Nischal was in the ticket office finishing paperwork and showing her identification for her tickets.
"The lady came in and said, 'Who's Simi?' " Nischal tearfully recalled Wednesday night, adding that she identified herself and was then refused tickets to the rally and escorted from the building.
Shortly after that, a man wearing a Bush-Cheney T-shirt confronted Nischal in the parking lot and told her to leave.
"He was so rude, he made me feel like a criminal," Nischal said. "I said, 'That's not fair, you are losing a supporter.' [And he said], 'We don't care about your support.' "
Simi Nischal
Turns 30
Hello Kitty
Japan's Hello Kitty, the moon-faced, mouthless white cat, celebrated her 30th birthday, evolving from a nameless feline on a cheap vinyl purse into the money-making global icon of cuteness.
Created by Ikuko Shimizu, then a designer of character goods maker Sanrio Co., Hello Kitty made a humble start in 1974 as a nameless cartoon cat on the coin purse.
Hello Kitty products are now sold in 60 nations and some 50,000 different Kitty products were sold worldwide in the fiscal year to March 2004.
Hello Kitty
Legalization?
Alaska
Voters in Alaska will decide on Tuesday whether to make their state the first in the country to legalize the sale, possession or use of marijuana by adults.
Alaska already allows legal possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults, the most liberal policy among the 50 U.S. states, thanks to a 1975 state Supreme Court ruling.
Pro-initiative groups said no opinion polls had been taken on the measure. But if the initiative passes, Alaska's Legislature will be responsible for defining how to regulate marijuana, in the same way the state decides on alcohol restrictions. After the 1975 ruling, the Legislature defined a "small amount" of marijuana as 4 ounces (114 grams).
Alaska
Unseen Works Unveiled
Mary Cassatt
A group of 48 never before seen pastel works by renowned American Impressionist Mary Cassatt go on show this week for the first and only time before being sold off and scattered around the world.
Cassatt, who lived from 1844 to 1926, is one of America's best known artists of the period and played a pioneering role among the Impressionists of the late 19th century, working in Paris alongside Degas and Renoir.
The works in the show "Art in a mirror: The counterproofs of Mary Cassatt" were created by placing a damp sheet of paper over a chalk or pastel drawing and applying pressure. A mirror image is transferred onto the second sheet of paper, including the signature of the artist in reverse, while the original drawing is left essentially unchanged.
Born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, Cassatt is known for her pictures with maternal themes but she was no traditionalist. In 1915 she was instrumental in organizing a New York exhibition to fund the campaign to win the vote for women. She died at her chateau in France in 1926.
Mary Cassatt
Alaska's Lone Elephant Getting Treadmill
Maggie
Animal handlers agonized over the issue for more than a year: the wisdom of moving Alaska's only elephant away from the only home she has ever known. Nine elephant experts were consulted from zoos and animal parks in the United States and Canada, and a decision was made: Maggie stays.
The 22-year-old African elephant will continue to reside at the Alaska Zoo - instead of going to a warmer climate - with the understanding that her accommodations will be improved and she'll have to maintain a busy schedule, including aerobic workouts on an elephant treadmill. In other words, keepers say, Maggie's life will be all the richer for it.
Maggie arrived at the zoo in 1983 as an infant when her herd in Kruger National Park in South Africa was culled. She joined Annabelle, a more easygoing Asian elephant born in India in 1964.
When Annabelle died of a chronic foot infection on Dec. 14, 1997, the question of Maggie's loneliness had to be addressed. Zoo staff wondered whether she should be moved to another zoo with more elephants. The American Zoological Association recommends that female elephants be kept in groups of three or more.
Maggie
Newspaper Endorsements
Daily Tally
In the near-final tally of editorial endorsements, resident Bush narrowed the gap on Sen. John Kerry today, picking up 21 mostly smaller papers compared to the challenger's five new additions. This brings the count of daily papers to 208-188 in favor of Kerry.
Kerry continues to easily hold the edge in the circulation of papers supporting him by a roughly 4-3 margin. And two more papers that backed Bush in 2000 have declared their neutrality: The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and The Press of Atlantic City, in New Jersey.
More than 60 papers that backed Bush in 2000 have now switched to Kerry or endorsed neither candidate. Fewer than 10 switched the other way after backing Al Gore in 2000.
JOHN KERRY
208 newspapers total
20,791,614 daily circulation
GEORGE W. BUSH
189 newspapers total
14,417,003 daily circulation
for the complete list of newspapers, by state - Daily Tally
In Memory
Peggy Ryan
Peggy Ryan, who teamed with dance partner Donald O'Connor in movie musicals such as "This Is the Life" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," has died at age 80.
Ryan, who taught tap dancing and produced revues in Las Vegas for the last several years, was teaching and performing until several days before entering the hospital, friend Dottie Fusch said.
Ryan danced and acted in more than two dozen films, but her most memorable roles were with O'Connor. The duo became known for high-energy, complex routines in films like "Mister Big" in 1943 and 1944's "Chip Off the Old Block," "The Merry Monahans" and "Bowery to Broadway."
Her final movie was "All Ashore" with Mickey Rooney in 1953.
In 1969, Ryan began starring in the television police drama "Hawaii Five-O" as Jenny Sherman, secretary to Jack Lord's Steve McGarrett.
She was born Margaret O'Rene Ryan on Aug. 28, 1924, in Long Beach, Calif. By age 3, she was dancing professionally in her parents' vaudeville act.
Ryan is survived by her daughter, Kerry English, son, Sean Sherman, and five grandchildren.
Peggy Ryan
In Memory
Betty Hill
Betty Hill, who with her late husband claimed to have been abducted by UFO extraterrestrials in New Hampshire's White Mountains, has died at age 85.
Betty and Barney Hill claimed that on a return trip from Canada they were abducted for two hours on Sept. 19, 1961.
They gained international notoriety, traveled across the country and made numerous television and radio appearances telling their story, which was retold in the book Interrupted Journey and a television movie.
She retired from lecturing about UFOs in her 70s and complained that the quest for knowledge about extraterrestrials had become tainted with commercialism.
She said she believed people who said they saw a crashed spaceship with five dead aliens aboard in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. But she said the annual UFO festival in Roswell had become too much for her.
Hill had been a state social worker specializing in adoptions and training foster parents.
She also was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a founding member of Rockingham County Community Action.
Hill is survived by a daughter, a son and a niece.
Betty Hill
