Showing posts with label comic strips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comic strips. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Book Review - Young Mozart by William Augel

I'm a big fan of independent comics, music, and clever jokes. So to find all three in one book was a HUGE find!

Young Mozart by William Augel is a graphic novel featuring daily and Sunday comics about a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is available as an eBook and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good


Jokes. The jokes are pretty funny. While they are specific to Young Mozart and his challenges in a previous century, they are relatable to a modern audience, even a non-musical one.

Artwork. The artwork is really fun and cartoony. It's got a great rhythm.

Design. Being a designer myself, I always notice the design of a book, and this one is so well thought out and clever with musical staffs covered in whatever trouble Mozart is dealing with and full page illustrations with a clever concept.

The Bad


...

What I Would Like to Have Seen


I'd have liked some of the sequences to go on a little longer.

Overall


Young Mozart by William Augel is a fun, well-drawn graphic novel containing both daily comics and Sunday comics featuring a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The jokes are pretty funny. While they are specific to Young Mozart and his challenges in a previous century, they are relatable to a modern audience, even a non-musical one. The design of this book is so well thought out and clever with musical staffs covered in whatever trouble Mozart is dealing with and full page illustrations with a clever concept. I highly recommend this book and give it 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.


   

 

Friday, June 22, 2018

Radio Drama Review: The Adventures of Superman (Episodes 1-27)



I've been a fan of Superman for as long as I can remember. Some incarnations of the character and his adventures work better than others.

Superman on Radio collects the first 27 episodes of The Adventures of Superman radio show first broadcast in 1940. It's available on Cassette, CDs, and Digital Downloads both paid and free.

The Good


Bud Collyer. Bud Collyer portrayed both Clark Kent and Superman. He was the first to give both characters different voices. He portrayed both characters as intelligent, ambitious, heroes--a huge departure from the weak milksop of the comics and later adaptions. Clark Kent was as much the hero and as impressive as Superman, which made the adventures much more fun.


Lois Lane. Most portrayals of Lois Lane either make her a sappy, love struck accessory whose only contribution is getting into trouble so Superman has someone to save, or a feminazi who is such an obnoxious, irritating witch the viewer has no idea why Superman has any interest in her. This version of Lois Lane is strong while still being feminine. She is capable but not overbearing. She is a perfect match for Superman and someone listeners are rooting for.

Realistic Adventures. The first episode begins on Krypton, but beginning with the second, the adventures deal with problems that were a concern in that world--sabotage, kidnapping, extortion, etc.

The Bad


The Final Story. The final story goes into juvenile silliness. It involves an atomic beam machine, some nonsense sci-fi MacGuffin. It's a shame the producers changed tracks from the exciting, real-world problems to this silly work of fiction. The sense of danger and peril that made these shows so exciting was lost.


What I Would Like to Have Seen


The first 21 episodes are sheer perfection.


Overall


Superman on Radio is a wonderful collection of some of the best Superman stories ever told. The voice acting is excellent, the adventures deal with serious real-world dangers, and the villains are interesting characters that actually pose a threat. The portrayal of Clark, Lois, Perry White, and Superman are all spot on and as interesting as any version. The only downside is the last story that moves into silly sci-fi gimmicks. Otherwise this is pure perfection and entertainment. I give it 4.5 out of 5 microphones.


    


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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Movie Review: Lucky Luke (2009)

European comics have been around for decades but haven't made much of an impact on American readers despite the quality art, writing, and stories other than Peyo's Smurfs. But I enjoy reading them and watching foreign adaptions even if they have a different sensibility than American audiences are used to.

Lucky Luke is a 2019 romantic, comedy, action, foreign film starring Jean Dujardin (from the recent silent film The Artist) based on the European comics of the same name. It is unrated but is appropriate for tweens and up.

Overview


Lucky Luke is an expert gunsman who is quicker than his own shadow and lives in a fantasized version of the American West battling scoundrels and other villains.

The Good


Capturing the Tone of the Comic. The comic book is what Cartoon Network would call a "cartoon cartoon" with squat, cartoony proportions and silly gags that would never work in real life. The filmmakers did a great job bringing that surreal comedy and nonsense to life in a way that was fun, silly, yet believable enough that it didn't distract from the drama or tension. The only other movie to really capture a comic strip and put it on screen was Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy. The movie even manages to include a lot of different characters and incidents from the dozens of adventures.


Lucky Luke.
 Jean Dujardin perfectly captured the look and feel of Lucky Luke as well as created an interesting character someone who's never read the comic will like.

Action.
 The first third and last third move along at a great pace and are filled with a lot of fun, surreal action/comedy that is a joy to watch.

The Bad


'Lost His Powers' cliché. The reason superheroes are popular is because of their superpowers. Take those away, and they are pretty uninteresting characters. And yet writers and filmmakers love to do that: Flash loses his super speed; Green Lantern loses his ring; Superman loses his super powers; Spider-man runs out of web fluid for his webshooters. It's not interesting, and the middle third of this movie had Lucky Luke lose his luck and will to live. He is a mopey cowboy no different than any other mopey cowboy. It almost ruined the movie it dragged on for so long and was so boring.


What I Would Like to Have Seen


I wish they had skipped the middle where Lucky Luke lost his luck, or at lest shortened it considerably. It was SO BORING. This movie would have gotten 5 boxes of popcorn if the filmmakers hadn't forced me to watch that.


Overall


Lucky Luke is a fun western flick filled with surreal action and comedy straight out of the comic. The middle third is deadly boring when Lucky Luke loses his luck, but the beginning and end are so fun, enjoyable, and well done that it's worth sitting thru. I give this movie 4 boxes of popcorn out of 5.

   

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Blu-Ray/DVD Review - Cartoon Roots: Halloween Haunts

I am a huge fan of early film and early animation. I love how original and innovative they were. I love how surreal the stories are. Many people look back at Looney Tunes shorts from the 40s and 50s and say how clever and innovative they were, but really they were only copying what had been done for decades before.

Cartoon Roots: Halloween Haunts is a Blu-Ray/DVD anthology of short films from 1907 to 1948. All feature animation, and many feature live action mixed with animation. They are unrated and appropriate for most ages.

The Good


Restoration. Some of these films are 110 years old, so it is really incredible to see them looking this good. Considering the projection technology that existed when these were first created and shown, they may look better than they ever have. I really have to hand it to Tommy Jose Slathés' Cartoons on Film for preserving and presenting these treasures.

Innovation. One of my favorite things about early film is how creative and innovative the early filmmakers were. This was all new with no real precedents, and the animators were a lot of young kids with wild ideas, so they were really free to experiment and fail. I don't think we'll ever see such an era again.

History. Included with this set is a booklet with background information on the shorts that is fascinating and helps put them in perspective.

Three Felix the Cat Cartoons. I love Felix the Cat. His early cartoons are still some of the most original, fun, feisty, and original adventures I've ever seen or read. I think he could be a big hit today if a filmmaker would go back to his roots and make something that daring, bold, and irreverent. And we get THREE cartoons on this set. Granted, one is a mediocre color cartoon that lacked the feistiness of early shorts, but it was still fun.

The Bad


Mundane Selections. Not every film that has ever been made is a classic and deserves to be viewed or preserved. There are a few examples on this set.

No Real Special Features. This definitely targeted to a small and specific audience. While we love these old films and a beautiful presentation of them, we also love the story behind them. It's a shame there weren't more special features beyond a few newspaper clippings on the DVD and a small booklet with a little background information.

What I Would Like to Have Seen


Honestly, this set is everything I could hope for when I first saw it advertised. I've purchased several sets like this in the past and have always been disappointed in them. This one I was truly pleased with. My only minor gripe is a documentary about the films would have been nice. A lot of the work has already been done on the Cartoon Research website.

Overall


Cartoon Roots: Halloween Haunts is a true treat. The short films are beautifully restored. Most feature amazing, innovative techniques and original storytelling. And THREE Felix the Cat cartoons! Does it get better than that? I give it 4 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.

    

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Friday, June 16, 2017

Movie Review: The Spirit (by Frank Miller)

I'm a huge Frank Miller fan and have been since Sin City: Hell & Back, 300, and the Dark Knight Strikes Again! I also enjoy classic comics from the early 20th Century, so combining the two should create a masterpiece, right? Right?

The Spirit is a 2008 action comic strip noir film from comics legend Frank Miller based on The Spirit comic strip which appeared in newspapers throughout the late 30s and 40s created, written, and drawn by Will Eisner. It's rated PG-13 for language, violence, and nudity, and is appropriate for teens and up.

Overview


The Spirit is a cop who everyone but the police chief thinks is dead. He battles a wild villain, The Octopus, and a former lover.

The Good


Style & Visuals. This film is absolutely beautiful to behold. It looks like nothing else you have ever seen with an amazing mix of Frank Miller's chiaroscuro artwork and classic Hollywood film noir. The style alone makes this movie worth watching.

Actors. This film features a lot of really great actors from Gabriel Macht to the father from Wonder Years to Beckett from Castle. Their acting is really good, but is marred by bad dialogue.

San Serif Story. Half this film features a story taken from the comic strip about The Spirit's first love, and it is a really good story. Unfortunately, it isn't the only story.

Credits. The credits are Frank Miller's storyboards which are works of art and make a really unique and fun credit sequence that I've watched several times.

The Bad


The Octopus. Samuel Jackson plays the Octopus, but instead of following the comic strip version, which was pretty cool, he was written and directed to portray the character as a live action Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes, which did not work at all. Ridiculous and unwatchable doesn't even begin to describe this character. In fact, I usually just cue past all of his scenes, and it makes for a pretty good movie.

Dialogue. The dialogue is awful. It is stiff and feels like an amateurish attempt to capture classic Hollywood detective movies. The narration is pretty good, but everything else is terrible.

Pacing. This movie is very slowly and unevenly paced.

What I Would Like to Have Seen


I wish the Octopus had been portrayed more like he is in the comics, as a mysterious hand controlling crime in the city with a big reveal at the end. I wish the movie had better dialogue and was edited more tightly with more exciting music. There are a lot of great elements and great story that just aren't presented well, but could be.

Overall


The Spirit is a beautiful film with more style and gorgeous visuals that almost any other, a great story, and great actors. Unfortunately, it is mired by a lousy second story, an overly cartoony villain, and dialogue that will make your ears hurt. I give it 3.5 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.



  


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Monday, March 13, 2017

Movie Serial Review: Tim Tyler's Luck


I love old Saturday matinee movie serials from the 30s and 40s. They were fun, exciting, and escapists in the best sense of the word. Each week the movie viewer could find himself swept off to exotic locals both real and imagined. And it was the first time most fictional characters from comic strips, comic books, and radio dramas were portrayed in live action, something that makes every fan giddy. They were low budget and most followed a very similar formula, but still they contained that element of fun which makes them classic and enjoyable to watch today.

Tim Tyler's Luck is a 12-chapter action, adventure movie serial from 1937 based on the comic strip Tim Tyler's Luck created by Lyman Young that ran from 1928 to 1996. It's appropriate for all audiences.

Synopsis


Tim Tyler is a young boy whose father is an expert in gorillas and has gone off to Africa to study them. Tim becomes worried about him after receiving a letter and sneaks aboard a ship traveling to Africa. On the ship he encounters a young woman hunting a dangerous criminal, Spider Webb, who can help free her brother currently serving time in jail for a crime Spider committed. The action continues to Africa and the search for the legendary elephant graveyard.

The Good


Story. Most movie serials introduce a MacGuffin during the first chapter (a new scientific invention, archeological discovery, or some other thing) and the remaining chapters are spent trying to obtain the device. Often it's divided into parts and each chapter is devoted to the search for one of those parts. They're written very episodically with it possible to watch the first and last chapter and miss very little of importance in between with each chapter serving as a mini story that is exciting on its own but adds little to the overall story beyond obtaining one more piece of the MacGuffin. Tim Tyler's Luck broke from this tradition by presenting one long story broken into chapters like a novel. Each chapter was essential to the overall story and moved the plot forward presenting significant events. There were almost no gratuitous action scenes or side stories. Everything that happened directly and significantly contributed to the resolution. This was really, really strong storytelling.

Visuals. This serial takes place in the jungles of Africa and on a riverboat. We see lots of exotic animals from lions to monkeys to gorillas to crocodiles to elephants. We see great jungle scenery, the Ivory Patrols fort, the swamp base of the bad guys, nicely designed caves, and beautiful costuming. It was a visual feast.

Stunt Work and Action. This was made in the 1930s before special effects were very advanced, which means all the action is practical and real. While not as big and explosive as today's blockbuster action scenes overflowing with the wirework and cgi, there is something more exciting about knowing a real person is jumping into real water, swinging on a real rope or vine, or riding thru a real jungle. It actually looks better than a computer generated fantasy and is more far more exciting and satisfying. Visual production may have improved over the years, but quality of stuntmen was high even back then, and this serial used some good ones.

Fun. Movie serials are just plan fun. They were made with a single intent: to entertain and help the viewer escape, and they do this beautifully, even the bad ones. The strong story and beautiful visuals only added to an already good time.

Cliffhangers that didn't cheat. Saturday matinee movie serials are famous for their cliffhanger endings. At the end of each chapter the hero is placed in a life or death peril they can't possible escape from forcing the viewer to return the next Saturday to see if the hero can possible survive. Often the footage at the end of one chapter is different from the beginning of the next chapter showing some additional scene where the hero sneaks thru a secret door and hides in a closet or box to escape the explosion or fire or jumps out of the car just before it goes over the cliff, something that clearly was impossible the week before. Because the chapters were shown a week apart, the filmmakers may have been able to get away with such cheats, but watching the chapters altogether makes such sloppy filmmaking unforgivable. Tim Tyler's Luck did not have one single cheat, something I can't recall seeing in any other movie serial. This also meant that the perils weren't as great, but I'm okay with that. It adds believability to an otherwise fantastic story.

The Bad


Acting. Rarely do you see major actors appear in movie serials. Their low budgets usually meant they used second- and third-tier actors. This serial is no exception. Most of the lines are recited while characters stand stiffly. There is about as much acting here as a grade school play.

Convenient plot points. Most stories are guilty of convenient plot points--things that happen at just the right moment to advance the story. They always feel like cheating and weaken the story. This serial has a few of them, but they're pretty small and don't ruin the rest of the story as long as you don't think too hard about them.

Transfer Quality. The transfer was very poor with a fuzzy picture and poor audio. It looked like they tried to digitally remaster a public domain copy. Several times I really wasn't sure what was being said. And maybe a quality print doesn't exist and this is the best we have. Movie serials were created as disposable entertainment.

What I Would Like to Have Seen


I wish a good print or even the original negatives had existed so a better print could have be produced. The fuzzy picture and hard-to-understand audio really detracted from an otherwise great experience.

Overall


Tim Tyler's Luck is one of the most enjoyable movie serials I've ever watched. It featured beautiful visuals and had the strongest story I've ever seen in a movie serial with a lot of variety in action and locations. I watched all 4+ hours in one sitting. I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.




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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Book Review - Buz Sawyer Book 4: Zazarof's Revenge



I've been a fan of comic strips and comic strip characters for as long as I can remember. My early favorites include Charles Schultz's Peanuts (Charlie Brown and Snoopy) and Jim Davis' Garfield. I wasn't old enough to experience action/adventure strips, so I never really discovered those until I was an adult. I first came across Roy Crane when his Captain Easy and Wash Tubbs strips were reprinted. I fell in love with the characters and the creator's artwork instantly. Then I learned he created another strip after Captain Easy and had to check it out. That strip was Buz Sawyer.

Buz Sawyer Book 4: Zazarof's Revenge is a collection of action, adventure comic strips from 1949-1952 by Roy Crane. It is available in Hardcover from Fantagraphics.


Comic Strip Overview


Buz Sawyer was created at the end of World War II. Buz Sawyer was originally a pilot for the navy until the end of the war. Then he becomes a trouble shooter for Frontier Oil and travels the globe moving from one adventure to another. Many girls are originally introduced vying for his affection, but he eventually marries a very down-to-earth neighbor named Christy. Occasionally she joins him on his adventures, but most of the time she is at home worrying about him.

The Good


Artwork. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous! Roy Crane knows how to make the most of a line. Every line, every stroke communicates so much with no superfluous marks made. It's very minimalist and cartoony in the best sense of both works. And the use of shading makes each strip look like an oil painting masterpiece. At times you forget that these are black and white. Even if the stories were no good, the artwork would more than justify picking up the book, although the exotic locations weren't quite as well rendered as in previous volumes. I hope this isn't a sign of a decline to come.


Action. I love the variety of action from fist fights to gun battles to action in the air and on the sea. It's all high energy with high stakes that makes you feel like you are part of the fights and other perils.

Adventures. I love the locations Buz travels to. It's fun to see different parts of the world. I also enjoy the variety of troubles Roy Crane puts his protagonist in from revolutions in South America to sneaking in and out of the Communist Block in Europe. The stories were very much a product of their time focusing on the concerns of the day. But Roy Crane crafts them so well that they feel vintage, not dated. Roy Crane continues to improve in his storytelling, and this is his best yet.

Production Value. Fantagraphics has done an amazing job finding, restoring, and presenting these strips so they look their absolute best. The black lines are crisp and clean with solid darks. The book itself is well designed with wonderful bonus material. This book was done right. Good job, Fantagraphics! Keep up the good work.


The Bad


Silly Animal Comedy. I am not a fan of silly animal sidekicks (like Bandit in Johnny Quest) that add nothing to the story beyond attracting certain viewers/readers. This volume unfortunately has two stories with such characters, one featuring a monkey and another featuring a parrot. They are by far the weakest stories and hardest to get thru.


Lack of Direction. After World War II ended, it feels like Roy Crane wasn't sure what to do with his character. By this volume in the series, Buz is firmly established at Frontier Oil, but he still is sent on random adventures that never fell connected or like their advancing a bigger story.

Characters. Buz Sawyer does not have the most interesting characters. Buz and his wife are a pretty typical 1950s couple with little to distinguish them from any other 1950s couple. The antagonists are also pretty one-dimensional with little more than their greed, fear, desire for revenge, or lust for power to define them. Occasionally they'll have some quirk such as a fear of germs or a desire to never be photographed, but it's not enough to make them interesting on their own. This is one of the few areas where Roy's previous efforts were much stronger.


What I Would Like to Have Seen


I wish the stories would stick to the action adventure and not veer off to the silly animal comedy sidetracks that are neither funny nor entertaining (although Roy Crane draws some great animals). I also wish there was more of an overall story instead of a series of adventures that don't really connect with each other. It feels like the creator isn't sure where to take the character.



Overall


Buz Sawyer Book 4: Zazarof's Revenge is the best of the Buz Sawyer books. Roy Crane continues to produce the most beautiful artwork in comic strips and his storytelling continues to get better and better. The adventures were even more exciting, more gripping, and better told than in previous volumes with a few unnecessary comedic side trips that went on too long. I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.



    



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