Phonogram (2006) #5

Wait, this whole musical movement they’re talking about in Phonogram is Oasis? Those guys who were bigger than the Beatles, so they proclaimed, and then they disappeared in like two years? I remember them being awful too.

This issue might be the best of the series–like the last issue, it approaches being a reasonable comic book. Instead of Gillen spewing his music snobbery and cultural elitism (over Oasis), he’s got a story. It’s a little mystery, it’s a little quest, it works.

Having a totally unlikable protagonist is something of a problem, but not too much. There isn’t a single person of any redeeming quality in Phonogram and the protagonist is far from the worst.

I’m glad I stuck with it; not because I think Gillen will have a single honest moment, but it’s interesting to see him just write a weak Image comic and not something utterly dreadful.

Phonogram (2006) #4

It’s got a cliffhanger. A genuine cliffhanger. It’s like Gillen’s writing a serialized narrative.

How exciting.

Before I actually start saying nice things about Gillen (for a change), let me keep with the standard of saying something nasty. Gillen makes a big reference to Dante’s Inferno—the protagonist’s guide is Virgil, same as Dante. Well, I’ve read Inferno and I didn’t get the reference. Because it doesn’t look like a Roman poet, it looks like a British guy. But score one for Gillen, he’s a smartypants.

That slight at his readership aside, this issue’s easily the best one so far. Gillen doesn’t have all his inane music babble or gender politics in here. The protagonist is in this past (a literal trip to memory lane) and it’s falling apart.

In other words, Phonogram finally has a point.

It’s not perfect (or even good), but it’s not terrible or uselessly prentious.

Hotel Chevalier (2007, Wes Anderson)

It’s wrong to call Hotel Chevalier Anderson’s best film. The end of the film is some of the best work he’s ever done and a lot of the writing is some of the best writing he’s ever done (alone). The dialogue in Chevalier cuts in a way similar to Hemingway (maybe the Paris setting implies it too). It’s fantastic dialogue.

And Chevalier even surmounts one enormous problem–Jason Schwartzman is nowhere near as good in the film as Natalie Portman. Some of it has to do with Anderson’s script–Portman’s character is, in her seven minutes of screen time, probably Anderson’s most developed female character. The idiosyncrasies Anderson fills his features with are present here… but mostly only for Portman. Schwartzman’s character is nowhere near as interesting.

Anderson even manages to make the story universal (even though a plot detail is Schwartzman’s wealth). It’s a stunning, beautiful piece of filmmaking.

Smoke (2007, Grzegorz Cisiecki)

Cisiecki eschews a traditional narrative for a series of short segments—the longest takes place in a room in the same chain as Lynch’s lodge from “Twin Peaks”—and binds it all together with this cassette tape playing.

Smoke opens a lot better than it finishes. Cisiecki’s static composition is fantastic and the first minute or two of the film is nothing but those shots. Then he introduces movement. I’m not sure if it was the transfer from film to video or if it looked as rough originally, but any shot where the camera moves is awful and any shot with movement in it is generally not good.

Cisiecki seems to be a believer of tone over content and, in those terms, Smoke is reasonably successful (if basically just regurgitated Lynch). But there’s nothing compelling about it after the first minute or two.

Still, it’s short and the music’s perfect.

Not Recommended

CREDITS

Written and directed by Grzegorz Cisiecki; director of photography, Dawid Rymar; edited by Grzegorz Cisiecki and Cecylja Pacura; music by Rashid Brocca and Aleksandr Poroch; production designer, Maciej Bieganski; produced by Justyna Siedmiogrodzka and Norbert Nowak; released by PWSFTviT.

Starring Marta Szumiel, Grzegorz Golaszewski, Oriana Soika, Bartlomej Nowosielski, Katarzyna Dalek, Hubert Jarczak, Malgorzata Kocik, Mark Malak and Krzysztof Wach.


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OTHER 2007 RELEASES

The Damned (2006) #5

Bunn brings Damned to a predictable, yet still unpredictable conclusion. The main story about the mob war ends predictably… but there’s a lot unexpected elements here. One’s a new story thread introduced, another’s a conclusion for a character—both have to do with how little Bunn has actually revealed about his protagonist.

Unfortunately, the ending is a little unfinished. Neither reveal is as effective as it could be. One needs more time, one needs less.

Otherwise, it’s a fantastic issue. Bunn plots it with a nice mix of investigation, action and wrap-up so Hurtt gets to draw a variety of styles. There’s some great demon mobster stuff (they never go crazy with the demon fighting though, which surprised me), but also a fine talking heads conclusion.

One of the best things about The Damned is how Bunn just presents the ground situation, never explains it.

It’s an excellent series.

The Damned (2006) #4

I’m not sure if I just remember the twist in The Damned or if it’s obvious. It’s probably a little of both.

Here, in the fourth issue, Bunn gets around to really establishing the demon mythology (still no word on when they first showed up). Hurtt really shows his range here. He’s got the period architecture, gangsters, street fights between demons… but then he also has this “secret history of demons” stuff to illustrate.

See, as fallen angels left Heaven it was a migration to Hell (this revelation, which maybe doesn’t make much difference, is just a great detail from Bunn) and so Hurtt draws some of it. It’s simply beautiful.

Bunn and Hurtt get a lot done this issue. Hurtt even has two full page panels and they’ve got a lot of story. This issue might be my favorite of the series, just because they do so much stuff.

The Immortal Iron Fist (2007) #10

It’s nice Danny gets the cover, because he’s not in the issue at all.

The intrigue really starts coming together here, with the Thunderer revealed to be in some secret society with Orson’s daughter, terror priests (guessing priest has a different connotation in K’un-L’un) sent out into the world to hunt for Danny, the Hydra bad guy getting busy with his attack, the Thunderer and Davos’s unspoken family problems… the list goes on and on.

Not to mention Misty’s GPS doesn’t work!

Plus there’s a tournament match, which shows off the nastiness of one of Danny’s (presumed) future opponents.

The flashback art is great this time–it’s Kano showing Wendell Rand in his pursuit of the Iron Fist mantle. It’s a shame Kano doesn’t get more work.

Brubaker and Fraction fill the issue; it’s a bridging issue for the arc–introducing the intrigue and drama–but it works great.

The Immortal Iron Fist Annual (2007) #1

Are there really enough Howard Chaykin fans out there to make getting him to fill in desirable? His work has gotten so shoddy over the last ten years, it’s stunning.

But even with Chaykin on the modern stuff, this issue is just fantastic. It’s very hopeful and glorious–Brubaker and Fraction reveal Orson Randall had a whole gang of adventurers with him and they had adventure after adventure. Iron Fist as a pulp hero, with a good measure of Indiana Jones thrown in.

Brereton and Djurdjevic do the flashback material; they work well, the painted finishes giving the adventures a nostalgic feel.

There’s very little about Danny Rand here, even though the story follows him to Orson’s now aged sidekicks at their retreat. He does have one action sequence–Chaykin manages to get some energy into that scene at least–but really he’s just listening to Orson’s adventures.

Lovely issue.

The Immortal Iron Fist (2007) #9

Koblish’s flashback pages start all right, but in the second set, he draws Wendall Rand rapidly punching and it looks like he’s got eight arms. It really drags one out of the narrative.

The principal story, with Danny losing his match in the competition so he can go out and save the world, moves a little fast. We find out the blue-eyed K’un-L’un girl is really Orson’s daughter (or she says she is… Danny sort of just accepts it). There’s almost nothing with anyone else in K’un-L’un, though there are some hints of personality coming through.

It’s hard to tell if Brubaker and Fraction just didn’t have space or if they wanted to be so abbreviated. When Luke, Misty and Colleen show up at the end (I’ll bet their paths cross with Danny’s eventually), it’s a welcome breather. The writers savor the scene.

It’s solid as ever.

The Immortal Iron Fist (2007) #8

The big Enter the Dragon fight competition starts off here… only there’s not a matched fight. Instead, we get to see Danny in K’un-L’un. It’s interesting, sort of, to see Danny trying to acclimate. But he’s mostly trying to figure out what’s happened to Jeryn (his mix of Alfred and Lucius Fox).

Turns out Jeryn’s building a thing for Steel Serpent–I kind of remember this arc and they’re definitely up to no good, like bringing a capital city of heaven down to earth.

The flashback art (to Danny’s father) is from Martinez and he does a good job. He does such a good job, I just thought Aja was trying out a new style at the beginning.

Brubaker and Fraction maintain the action and humor, bringing in a bunch of little elements (intrigue over some girl, conflict with Steel Serpent) to good effect.

It’s too fast, but good.