fastidious

June 2, 2011 3:57 am Saw the film yesterday, not what I wanted or even expected, but very good none the less. Saved by a mesmeric final third, in the first hour or so I found myself thinking this was really odd film.

Fassbender stole the show for me, maybe because he was the only one that held in line with the tone the trailer presented to me. He could of easily had his own young Magneto film in my book.

Watch for a very funny cameo - my lips are sealed :)

April 28, 2011 10:04 am As ever, nice work Mr WOOOOD!

Went to see Thor today, loved it, but fear for it's opening here in the UK. It's unseasonally sunny, we've got a royal wedding happening and I've seen little marketing apart from what I've sort out myself. That said, with a four day weekend (apart from chumps like me in retail) there could be a strong crowd counter programming the wedding, which was my plan originally.

Always thought Thor would be decent though, to me GL looks really, really bad, Cap looks like it could be good but also a spectacular disaster. Priest being in 3D worries me, don't know too many people prepared to rush out to see an unknown quantity (that's not a family film) with the higher ticket prices. X-Men will be good - Matthew Vaughn - end of.

March 26, 2011 11:25 am Do you have any plans/ambitions to try your hand at another medium? We've seen a lot of writers and artists in comics do work on TV (Kirkman doing some episodes of Walking Dead, Bendis prepping for Powers etc), in games (Remender on Bulletstorm, Fraction on Iron Man, Jim Lee on DCUO etc), film (with Gab Hardman storyboarding, Mark Millar doing some directing), would you want to try one of these and what kind of thing would you like to do?

Cheers John and Jonathan.

September 25, 2010 12:08 pm

For me, it's a case of whether the final image has a postive effect on me as a reader, this in conjunction with the pacing (my one problem with Alex Ross, who I really like panel wise, pacing of story, not so much). But this Tommy Lee Jones and other actors/celebs as main characters is not good, for the simple reason it makes it harder to imagine an original voice for the character, I just hear Tommy Lee Jones, or Eminem in Wanted. It's no longer their actions, the lettering, etc, that's driving what they 'sound' like.

Oddly enough though, the depictions in other media doesn't usually change how I hear them, no one has nailed 'my' Batman/Bruce Wayne or Wolverine. Just when the image apes that depiction (Tony Stark/Robert Downey) it becomes a problem.

September 24, 2010 5:27 pm

I've got this weird relationship with Watchmen, I've read it at least once a year since I was first given it on my thirteenth birthday (it was not my first comic), but when I'm not reading it, I don't rate it that highly, sometimes I even look negatively so on it. When I pick it up, or in the weeks after, I always get totally enthralled by it.

I've recommended it to people as their first comic, but generally give it to people who I know will get something out of it. One time I gave it to a girl who was in my class (we were on a school trip and I'd brought it as one of reads), she couldn't get on with it. But when we returned I lent her the first Strangers in Paradise pocket book, she enjoyed it and moved on to read other stuff. It all depends on the reader.

As to the 'joy' in it (or lack thereof), I don't really understand what we mean here. Yes, it's depressing/dark or whatever we want to say, but I get the same type of goosebumps when Rorschach beats on comers wth deep fat friers or electrified toilet water (one aspect I thought the film did well) as I do when Supes talks down the girl from the ledge in All Star.

The guardian paper, here in the UK, did a podcast on graphic novels a couple months back. One reviewer who liked superhero comics and one who didn't. Asked whether Watchmen was the place to start he said, no, Bendis' Daredevil run was the place to start, but that he was biased to one of his favourite runs and writers.

Sorry for the wall of text :)

September 20, 2010 4:05 pm

Bruce's first mission after his return should be to haul up in the Batcave for a weekend and compile the DC version of Marvel: Super Heroes for the Batcomputer's archive. With annotated notes to himself;

Superman - Prone to mental breakdowns after slaps from embittered widows.