GETS A REAL MAD-ON ABOUT THE PRONUNCIATION OF ITS NAME
Read More ..
Sunday, 22 August 2010
A to Z: L is for Lost Girls (Or: Not Safe For Your Soul. Or Work)
Sometimes a man must admit that even he has limits as to what he'll do. For me it's that I simply cannot and will not post uncensored images from Lost Girls in this article. So I've employed a crippling amount of editing to ruin the original art of the comic and preserve my dignity a few more minutes. Apologies to those who desperately need some titties, you bloody wankers you.
It's a hard thing to see a classic tale of prose adapted into something wholly different. We usually see this with Hollywood film adaptations, such as that absolutely bloody awful Alice In Wonderland by Tim Burton painfulness. Or any Phillip K. Dick books save A Scanner Darkly (not that those were bad films, just not faithful). In comics we've seen this done to SOME success though, with titles like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from Marvel being a truly brilliant title that captures the charm of the original material and didn't stray very far from L. Frank Baum's writing.
So it came as some surprise to me when I learnt that Alan Moore took three beloved children's characters, put them in a comic and made them all have lots of sex.
... I mean that's just not good adaptation, surely?
But it is.
And I'll tell you why as we delve further into Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie!
To give you the basic gist of what Lost Girls is about (at least on the surface), it follows three characters from popular literature (Alice Fairchild, Wendy from Peter Pan and Dorothy Gale) as they meet for the first time in an Austrian hotel ("Hotel Himmelgarten") and connect due to the fantastic natures of their pasts. And have sex. A lot. In pretty much any situation, from watching a theatre performance to a frantic orgy all throughout the hotel. Seriously, nothing stops the trio from giving in to their desires. Which in its own way is a beautiful expression of freedom, and in another an excuse to fill the book with Alan Moore's filthy, beardy perversions.
Of course more happens than just that. There's also a subplot involving Wendy's husband and Dorothy's new fella having a jolly good time together as well (which is significant enough to get an entire chapter dedicated to it), not to mention the mystery of hotel owner Monsieur Rougeur and his much beloved "White Book" of naughty, lurid sex stories. But really they're just some icing on the cake of what is really a story focused on our three main femmes.
But I digress from what I was trying to say earlier, in that this is a brilliant adaptation of the original material. Because it is. And it's so much more than that. But before I go further into all that other stuff I suppose I really should address the adaptation thing so I'm going to and this paragraph is a really awkward segue, isn't it?
The key to a good adaptation isn't necessarily to be faithful to the nth degree. We've seen this to be true of how awry most of Watchmen went (though it did substantially change the ending) in its attempt to be a perfect adaptation of the original work. No, in my opinion the way to make an adaptation work is to take the original material, but make it fit what you're attempting to achieve with your version. This works well in Lost Girls by twisting the classic stories of Through The Looking Glass, Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and Peter Pan into the sexual discovery of their characters, with what originally happened being reflected in the new versions of the tales (which quite brilliantly are told via use of artistically different tales shared amongst the trio).
An example of this I'll highlight for you all is the approach taken to Dorothy's encounter with "The Tin Man". In her retelling he is one of three farmhands she has sexual relations with, the last of the three to be specific. Where the parallel is drawn is in how he is referred to, as a heartless man who just pounded away like a machine, like clockwork, with no romance in him. However, towards the end of the story she dumped him and he got upset, showing he had a heart all along. It follows the original material in some ways whilst twisting it into the correct shape, and makes it work without ruining the tale... For me. I'm sure it angered any number of people who didn't want to see Dorothy wanking off a horse (oh yeah that happened. and it's weird). Or later in the story where she sleeps with her father.... What was my point again? Wow, it's not often that I kinda prove myself wrong with the minutiae before I've even succeeded in making my point. Still, I like to think I'm mostly right... In my mind.
Finally I want to talk about the way each chapter tends to differentiate itself from the others. Whilst one or two chapters may well just be standard sequential art, others will be framed by representations of such things as the seven deadly sins or the material from Rougeur's White Book, and the flashbacks all have their own panel style and artistic theme. For example whilst the tales of Alice Fairchild's past are framed in consistently sized ovals page on page, containing surreal and overwhelming images, Wendy's past is framed in a stained glass style with a 4 panel layout and flat colours throughout. These touches maintain an immediate atmosphere for each person's past, affecting expectations and page-space in ways that prompt the imagination to mentally add a tone to how they react to these controlled layouts. Also they all look VERY pretty and stylised, and isn't that what REALLY matters in the world of high-brow artsy comic erotica?
... You tell me. I don't really know much about this stuff.
I haven't had a chance to praise the realistic facial expressions, so just... I don't know, admire this poorly censored example of one of the brilliantly true-to-life faces to be found in the work. Also who the hell wears a penis costume?!
If there's one thing that solidifies my recommendation of this title, it's the fact that despite what it is it makes a GREAT coffee table book. I mean you put this down in front of mixed company and you're guaranteed to get a chance for a fancy conversation. Or you'll be considered a perverse freak. Either way, CONVERSATION! Which if you're a geek is something you're sorely lacking, as we all well know. So that's a
You can find Lost Girls in... Comic shops? Maybe? OR you can just order it off of Amazon.com (UK). You know you should. Just 'cause you can.
And that's L. What's M?... It's Metal Men by Duncan Rouleau. Less perverse, but still well worth talking about. I hope. Read More ..
It's a hard thing to see a classic tale of prose adapted into something wholly different. We usually see this with Hollywood film adaptations, such as that absolutely bloody awful Alice In Wonderland by Tim Burton painfulness. Or any Phillip K. Dick books save A Scanner Darkly (not that those were bad films, just not faithful). In comics we've seen this done to SOME success though, with titles like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from Marvel being a truly brilliant title that captures the charm of the original material and didn't stray very far from L. Frank Baum's writing.
So it came as some surprise to me when I learnt that Alan Moore took three beloved children's characters, put them in a comic and made them all have lots of sex.
... I mean that's just not good adaptation, surely?
But it is.
And I'll tell you why as we delve further into Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie!
Ah what a nice and innocent cover, yes? And with a a nice thematic nature to it!... Let's look at what's going on inside that mirror, shall we?
OH GOD WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!
To give you the basic gist of what Lost Girls is about (at least on the surface), it follows three characters from popular literature (Alice Fairchild, Wendy from Peter Pan and Dorothy Gale) as they meet for the first time in an Austrian hotel ("Hotel Himmelgarten") and connect due to the fantastic natures of their pasts. And have sex. A lot. In pretty much any situation, from watching a theatre performance to a frantic orgy all throughout the hotel. Seriously, nothing stops the trio from giving in to their desires. Which in its own way is a beautiful expression of freedom, and in another an excuse to fill the book with Alan Moore's filthy, beardy perversions.
Of course more happens than just that. There's also a subplot involving Wendy's husband and Dorothy's new fella having a jolly good time together as well (which is significant enough to get an entire chapter dedicated to it), not to mention the mystery of hotel owner Monsieur Rougeur and his much beloved "White Book" of naughty, lurid sex stories. But really they're just some icing on the cake of what is really a story focused on our three main femmes.
Something I do love in this graphic novel is the tendency to use panel layouts to maximum effect. A particular instance of it is this, where the panel borders control the way you read the page, and separate the conversation going on between Dorothy and Alice with Wendy's arrival at the bottom. It's effective without intruding on the art.
But I digress from what I was trying to say earlier, in that this is a brilliant adaptation of the original material. Because it is. And it's so much more than that. But before I go further into all that other stuff I suppose I really should address the adaptation thing so I'm going to and this paragraph is a really awkward segue, isn't it?
The key to a good adaptation isn't necessarily to be faithful to the nth degree. We've seen this to be true of how awry most of Watchmen went (though it did substantially change the ending) in its attempt to be a perfect adaptation of the original work. No, in my opinion the way to make an adaptation work is to take the original material, but make it fit what you're attempting to achieve with your version. This works well in Lost Girls by twisting the classic stories of Through The Looking Glass, Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and Peter Pan into the sexual discovery of their characters, with what originally happened being reflected in the new versions of the tales (which quite brilliantly are told via use of artistically different tales shared amongst the trio).
An example of this I'll highlight for you all is the approach taken to Dorothy's encounter with "The Tin Man". In her retelling he is one of three farmhands she has sexual relations with, the last of the three to be specific. Where the parallel is drawn is in how he is referred to, as a heartless man who just pounded away like a machine, like clockwork, with no romance in him. However, towards the end of the story she dumped him and he got upset, showing he had a heart all along. It follows the original material in some ways whilst twisting it into the correct shape, and makes it work without ruining the tale... For me. I'm sure it angered any number of people who didn't want to see Dorothy wanking off a horse (oh yeah that happened. and it's weird). Or later in the story where she sleeps with her father.... What was my point again? Wow, it's not often that I kinda prove myself wrong with the minutiae before I've even succeeded in making my point. Still, I like to think I'm mostly right... In my mind.
A nice aspect to the flashback things is that each story will kinda be summarised in a single art piece that makes the connection to the literature even clearer. They're amazing pieces, though this one has been ruined through my standard need to preserve my dignity right after using the words "wanking off a horse".
Finally I want to talk about the way each chapter tends to differentiate itself from the others. Whilst one or two chapters may well just be standard sequential art, others will be framed by representations of such things as the seven deadly sins or the material from Rougeur's White Book, and the flashbacks all have their own panel style and artistic theme. For example whilst the tales of Alice Fairchild's past are framed in consistently sized ovals page on page, containing surreal and overwhelming images, Wendy's past is framed in a stained glass style with a 4 panel layout and flat colours throughout. These touches maintain an immediate atmosphere for each person's past, affecting expectations and page-space in ways that prompt the imagination to mentally add a tone to how they react to these controlled layouts. Also they all look VERY pretty and stylised, and isn't that what REALLY matters in the world of high-brow artsy comic erotica?
... You tell me. I don't really know much about this stuff.
I haven't had a chance to praise the realistic facial expressions, so just... I don't know, admire this poorly censored example of one of the brilliantly true-to-life faces to be found in the work. Also who the hell wears a penis costume?!If there's one thing that solidifies my recommendation of this title, it's the fact that despite what it is it makes a GREAT coffee table book. I mean you put this down in front of mixed company and you're guaranteed to get a chance for a fancy conversation. Or you'll be considered a perverse freak. Either way, CONVERSATION! Which if you're a geek is something you're sorely lacking, as we all well know. So that's a
You can find Lost Girls in... Comic shops? Maybe? OR you can just order it off of Amazon.com (UK). You know you should. Just 'cause you can.
And that's L. What's M?... It's Metal Men by Duncan Rouleau. Less perverse, but still well worth talking about. I hope. Read More ..
I'm Sorry It Took Me So Long (To Come Around)
I'm back after all this time, and I'm ready to please my hundreds of readers with my fingers and occasionally my mouth!
.... What?
*ahem* I'm back. Properly. There's a schedule and everything. I should be posting 4 to 5 times a week with substantial content. I KNOW! Not just that, but A to Z will rocket to its conclusion week on week, starting with tomorrow's entry on Alan Moore's Lost Girls. Amazing, I know.
So strap yourself in, put your strap-on on and come with me into my own fairly normal psyche!
.... That's it. I haven't got anything else to put in this post... So here's a picture of an adorable Goat.
I should have used a sheep, then I could say "I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-CK"... Shut up.
Read More ..
.... What?
*ahem* I'm back. Properly. There's a schedule and everything. I should be posting 4 to 5 times a week with substantial content. I KNOW! Not just that, but A to Z will rocket to its conclusion week on week, starting with tomorrow's entry on Alan Moore's Lost Girls. Amazing, I know.
So strap yourself in, put your strap-on on and come with me into my own fairly normal psyche!
.... That's it. I haven't got anything else to put in this post... So here's a picture of an adorable Goat.
I should have used a sheep, then I could say "I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-CK"... Shut up.
Read More ..
Friday, 11 June 2010
Thoughtballoons (Or: a cool thing I regularly do)
So yeah I do this thing called Thoughtballoons, which is basically the writer version of Comic Twart. Each week we write a one page story about a chosen character, and leave it out there for public criticism and such. So far we're about three characters in, and I've actually managed to update EVERY WEEK!
DUN DUN DUN!
Yeah, I know! So I encourage you to hop over there and look at my stuff, and while you're at it, EVERYONE'S STUFF. It's a fun project, open to all comers to participate in, and it's a chance to see how comic scripts CAN (but in my case probably shouldn't) look.
MY ENTRIES SO FAR:
IRON MAN - STARK NAKED
MOLECULE MAN - MOLECULE FAN
MEPHISTO - AMBROSE BURNSIDE Read More ..
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
A to Z: K is for Kinetic
Welcome to COMICFLIPPER! I'm Max Barnard, I write about comics (for the most part). If you're new or have just not checked out this site in a while (it's been a while longer than forever since I last updated), this is the 11th entry in my A to Z of Comics, wherein I highlight a comic from each letter of the alphabet in the hope of learning something, encouraging others to read the title, or as was the case last time, suffering horrendous pain from one of the worst comics of ALL TIME. Hopefully you'll stick around for the ride, or at least find something interesting about these articles. Okay, we good? Let's go.
I'm probably not the first person you'd think of when you're trying to name people who like realistic elements in comics. In fact I'm not even the FIFTIETH person you'd think of, but that's more because you barely know me rather than any lack of affinity for realism. Still, once in a while I'm struck by some sort of 'powers-that-be' and really just want something different, that feels like it could be rooted in OUR world, no matter the unusual aspects of the book.
I've turned to many books over time looking for this fix, and for the most part have been left cold. From Kickass (which I swear is the SECOND worst comic book I've ever read) and its unrealistic physics and hilariously pathetic pandering, to Scott Pilgrim, which whilst brilliant just feels too disconnected from reality and silly to sate my need for a realistic comic. There's the occasional gem like Phonogram that feels so realistic I might actually start believing in Phonomancy and the power of music, and indeed the book I'm about to go on about now.
That book is Kinetic and SOCKAMAGEE is this stuff brilliant.
Kinetic is an 8-issue limited series from DC's now entirely defunct DC Focus, a delightful little imprint that seemed to mostly be remembered for dealing with superpowers in a non-superhero related manner. To be honest though it's mostly not remembered at all, because no-one bought anything from it, hence it being defunct. The most memorable title from the line was probably Hard Time, a series about psionic powers and high school or something (I don't know, I've never heard of it before shut up), in that it escaped the Focus imprint and managed 7 issues as just a normal DC comic. But I digress, let's look at the plot, shall we?
Kinetic follows one Tom Morell, a high-school aged dude who suffers from no end of medical issues from Hemophilia, to Muscular Dystrophy, and even Diabetes. Basically the poor boy has a shitty quality of life because of this and he despises it. Everyone at school treats him like shit and his mother is far more over-bearing than anyone needs a mother to be at that age. Anyway it all gets too much for poor Mr. Morell and he decides the best solution is to step in front of a truck. Rather surprisingly he survives this without as much as a scratch (which is more than can be said for the truck driver, who rather spectacularly flies out of the truck's cabin). In fact let's break from this summary to show that:
*Ahem* Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, what follows being hit by the truck. Understandably in complete shock from these events, Morell goes home and sleeps. The next day he gets his usual life-saving injection and seizes from it, because as it turns out he doesn't need it anymore, for he's now super-powered and stuff. Later on his mother discovers his powers and after some initial shock completely breaks out of her restricted life, becoming disconnected from her son and finally exploring romance again after so long.
In the meantime Morell tries to enjoy his life now he's free from all his problems and is thoroughly disappointed, and in fact has several problems on the way, such as feeling guilty about peeping on the girl he likes and feeling so guilty he has to tell her. Not only that but in all his angsting he finally realises that the truck driver is probably dead now, which is not only incredibly sad but gives him even more reason to angst (there's a LOT of angst in this). All in all it comes to a head when he realises he used to be special, and has lost that now he can live life like a normal person and decides... to be... A SUPERHERO.... For all of a few pages. Ya know, because being a superhero would be stupid.
Anyway long story short the girl he likes who he peeped on punches him in the face and he has a MASSIVE nose bleed, realises his powers are gone, falls down stairs, breaks his collarbone and his mother takes him to where he first got hit by the truck so he can be hurt by a truck again, in the hope it'll restore his powers. After an interesting conversation between the two he lets his hand be run over by a truck, which totally doesn't work. Finally he reconciles with the girl he likes and they eat school dinner together. The end.
Phew, I really shouldn't recap ENTIRE stories in this thing, but I felt like I really should in this case, simply because it helps to know what to expect. Telling you all about it doesn't spoil the series either, because I haven't explained the nuances in art, dialogue, structure and such. I've just told you the plot beats, and honestly they're the least important aspect of the story. So now you've survived the horrific parts of this article, I'll let you in on some of those more sophisticated elements.
The dialogue would be the best place to start, and will actually be the ONLY bit I'll highlight, if only because I wouldn't want to spoil the entire experience. Every bit of dialogue has the emotion and tone behind it that you'd expect from something with a, y'know, actual auditory aspect to it, which really speaks wonders about the comic in that it transcends the largest stumbling block of the format. Some particularly powerful moments that use this intense power are the flashbacks found in issue two that show the past of poor Tom Morell before that fateful truck hits him. They show strong moments in his past between him and his mother and you can HEAR the dialogue to the nth degree, with timing and tone all displayed magnificently through the layouts and more than anything the lettering. Here's a couple of them:
Huh, that might be the first time I've ever made note of the lettering in a comic. Who did it in this? Oh, Pat Brosseau, I've heard that name before. Oh Pat letters Sweet Tooth, another series with AWESOME lettering.
On that note I should actually mention and suck up to the creative team on this. The initial concept and character and such is created by Allen Heinberg of Young Avengers, The O.C. and 'that one Wonder Woman arc I actually liked that wasn't Diana Prince: Wonder Woman' fame. I'm not sure how much I can attribute to his initial premise, so I'll just say that he's a part of this tapestry of brilliance along with Kelley Puckett, co-creator and actual writer of this mini.
Puckett is probably best known for creating Cassandra Cain, the previous Batgirl to Stephanie Brown. That's some pretty massive creative stature there, as Cain was one of the most well-received characters in the recent history of DC comics. But WAIT, that's not all. Puckett also created the BEST Green Arrow, Connor Hawke, whom I've actually read some material of so I can say something a bit more substantial, like ONE OF THE BEST THINGS EVER CREATED EVER EVER EVER. And I don't say that lightly. Connor Hawke is up there with Rikki Barnes, Arana, Lyra and Phonogram as far as BEST THINGS EVARRRRR go... Most of the time. Sometimes he's not, but that's not Puckett's fault.
The art is by Warren Pleece, whom I'd never heard of previously, but have been assured that he is a british artist who has contributed to such titles as The Invisibles and Incognegro, as well as the apparently brilliant 2000AD title Second City Blues. He's a pretty great talent who really should do more stuff that I'm reading, if only because it's easier for me to notice an artist when they're creating stuff I care about. Shove him on something like... um... ON SOMETHING. DO IT!
So, this has been a little slapdash, if only because this is the first piece of proper writing I've done since what, mid-March? Anyway, I'll wrap this up by saying that Kinetic is a one-in-a-million experience, that title you've never heard of that amazes you when you have the courage to check it out. It does little wrong and really knows how to work within the confines of its 8 issue length. You can probably hunt out the trade paperback on Amazon and I heartily encourage you to do so, else never quite understand all this crap I'm spurting out of my mouth. Oof that's not a nice image, I need to go wash my mouth out now.
So that was K, what's next? Oh it's L, and the pornagraphic high-art of Lost Girls. Gird your loins, but not in that way, as it's coming soon! Read More ..
I'm probably not the first person you'd think of when you're trying to name people who like realistic elements in comics. In fact I'm not even the FIFTIETH person you'd think of, but that's more because you barely know me rather than any lack of affinity for realism. Still, once in a while I'm struck by some sort of 'powers-that-be' and really just want something different, that feels like it could be rooted in OUR world, no matter the unusual aspects of the book.
I've turned to many books over time looking for this fix, and for the most part have been left cold. From Kickass (which I swear is the SECOND worst comic book I've ever read) and its unrealistic physics and hilariously pathetic pandering, to Scott Pilgrim, which whilst brilliant just feels too disconnected from reality and silly to sate my need for a realistic comic. There's the occasional gem like Phonogram that feels so realistic I might actually start believing in Phonomancy and the power of music, and indeed the book I'm about to go on about now.
That book is Kinetic and SOCKAMAGEE is this stuff brilliant.
Kinetic is an 8-issue limited series from DC's now entirely defunct DC Focus, a delightful little imprint that seemed to mostly be remembered for dealing with superpowers in a non-superhero related manner. To be honest though it's mostly not remembered at all, because no-one bought anything from it, hence it being defunct. The most memorable title from the line was probably Hard Time, a series about psionic powers and high school or something (I don't know, I've never heard of it before shut up), in that it escaped the Focus imprint and managed 7 issues as just a normal DC comic. But I digress, let's look at the plot, shall we?
Kinetic follows one Tom Morell, a high-school aged dude who suffers from no end of medical issues from Hemophilia, to Muscular Dystrophy, and even Diabetes. Basically the poor boy has a shitty quality of life because of this and he despises it. Everyone at school treats him like shit and his mother is far more over-bearing than anyone needs a mother to be at that age. Anyway it all gets too much for poor Mr. Morell and he decides the best solution is to step in front of a truck. Rather surprisingly he survives this without as much as a scratch (which is more than can be said for the truck driver, who rather spectacularly flies out of the truck's cabin). In fact let's break from this summary to show that:
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT, that's INSANE!
*Ahem* Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, what follows being hit by the truck. Understandably in complete shock from these events, Morell goes home and sleeps. The next day he gets his usual life-saving injection and seizes from it, because as it turns out he doesn't need it anymore, for he's now super-powered and stuff. Later on his mother discovers his powers and after some initial shock completely breaks out of her restricted life, becoming disconnected from her son and finally exploring romance again after so long.
In the meantime Morell tries to enjoy his life now he's free from all his problems and is thoroughly disappointed, and in fact has several problems on the way, such as feeling guilty about peeping on the girl he likes and feeling so guilty he has to tell her. Not only that but in all his angsting he finally realises that the truck driver is probably dead now, which is not only incredibly sad but gives him even more reason to angst (there's a LOT of angst in this). All in all it comes to a head when he realises he used to be special, and has lost that now he can live life like a normal person and decides... to be... A SUPERHERO.... For all of a few pages. Ya know, because being a superhero would be stupid.
Clearly the best superhero mask anyone has ever worn in the history of comics!
Anyway long story short the girl he likes who he peeped on punches him in the face and he has a MASSIVE nose bleed, realises his powers are gone, falls down stairs, breaks his collarbone and his mother takes him to where he first got hit by the truck so he can be hurt by a truck again, in the hope it'll restore his powers. After an interesting conversation between the two he lets his hand be run over by a truck, which totally doesn't work. Finally he reconciles with the girl he likes and they eat school dinner together. The end.
Phew, I really shouldn't recap ENTIRE stories in this thing, but I felt like I really should in this case, simply because it helps to know what to expect. Telling you all about it doesn't spoil the series either, because I haven't explained the nuances in art, dialogue, structure and such. I've just told you the plot beats, and honestly they're the least important aspect of the story. So now you've survived the horrific parts of this article, I'll let you in on some of those more sophisticated elements.
The dialogue would be the best place to start, and will actually be the ONLY bit I'll highlight, if only because I wouldn't want to spoil the entire experience. Every bit of dialogue has the emotion and tone behind it that you'd expect from something with a, y'know, actual auditory aspect to it, which really speaks wonders about the comic in that it transcends the largest stumbling block of the format. Some particularly powerful moments that use this intense power are the flashbacks found in issue two that show the past of poor Tom Morell before that fateful truck hits him. They show strong moments in his past between him and his mother and you can HEAR the dialogue to the nth degree, with timing and tone all displayed magnificently through the layouts and more than anything the lettering. Here's a couple of them:
If anyone says this stuff isn't emotionally powerful I will punch their SOUL with my wimpy sensitive fists
Huh, that might be the first time I've ever made note of the lettering in a comic. Who did it in this? Oh, Pat Brosseau, I've heard that name before. Oh Pat letters Sweet Tooth, another series with AWESOME lettering.
On that note I should actually mention and suck up to the creative team on this. The initial concept and character and such is created by Allen Heinberg of Young Avengers, The O.C. and 'that one Wonder Woman arc I actually liked that wasn't Diana Prince: Wonder Woman' fame. I'm not sure how much I can attribute to his initial premise, so I'll just say that he's a part of this tapestry of brilliance along with Kelley Puckett, co-creator and actual writer of this mini.
Puckett is probably best known for creating Cassandra Cain, the previous Batgirl to Stephanie Brown. That's some pretty massive creative stature there, as Cain was one of the most well-received characters in the recent history of DC comics. But WAIT, that's not all. Puckett also created the BEST Green Arrow, Connor Hawke, whom I've actually read some material of so I can say something a bit more substantial, like ONE OF THE BEST THINGS EVER CREATED EVER EVER EVER. And I don't say that lightly. Connor Hawke is up there with Rikki Barnes, Arana, Lyra and Phonogram as far as BEST THINGS EVARRRRR go... Most of the time. Sometimes he's not, but that's not Puckett's fault.
The art is by Warren Pleece, whom I'd never heard of previously, but have been assured that he is a british artist who has contributed to such titles as The Invisibles and Incognegro, as well as the apparently brilliant 2000AD title Second City Blues. He's a pretty great talent who really should do more stuff that I'm reading, if only because it's easier for me to notice an artist when they're creating stuff I care about. Shove him on something like... um... ON SOMETHING. DO IT!
So, this has been a little slapdash, if only because this is the first piece of proper writing I've done since what, mid-March? Anyway, I'll wrap this up by saying that Kinetic is a one-in-a-million experience, that title you've never heard of that amazes you when you have the courage to check it out. It does little wrong and really knows how to work within the confines of its 8 issue length. You can probably hunt out the trade paperback on Amazon and I heartily encourage you to do so, else never quite understand all this crap I'm spurting out of my mouth. Oof that's not a nice image, I need to go wash my mouth out now.
So that was K, what's next? Oh it's L, and the pornagraphic high-art of Lost Girls. Gird your loins, but not in that way, as it's coming soon! Read More ..
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