Wasteland 8 (July 1988)

This issue ends on a relative high point, which sort of disguises its otherwise stinky nature.

The first story, from Ostrander and Tom Artis, is about a husband suggesting to his wife he’s a serial killer. It’s mostly dialogue and Ostrander’s dialogue isn’t particularly special. Worse, Artis’s art is awful. The guy’s clearly not ready for Little League, much less DC.

The second story, with Messner-Loebs art, is a little better. Ostrander and Close have a bunch of references to classic detective stories–and Chinatown–and the concept’s mildly amusing. A synopsis might be a better read however. The art makes the story worthwhile.

The final story is more autobiography from Close (scripted by Ostrander). Simpson’s art’s never outstanding, but the story of an actor getting stoned on pain killers before working on the Blob sequel is funny. Ostrander does a much better job here pacing his scenes too.

CREDITS

Heebee Geebeeies; writer, John Ostrander; penciller, Tom Artis; inker, Tim Dzon; letterer, John Costanza. The Dead Detective; writers, Ostrander and Del Close; artist and letterer, William Messner-Loebs. The Eye, Like Some Strange Balloon; writers, Close and Ostrander; artist and letterer, Don Simpson. Colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; editor, Mike Gold; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Men of the Sky (1942, B. Reeves Eason)

Men of the Sky opens with General Henry H. Arnold addressing a graduating class of air cadets. Charles P. Boyle’s Technicolor photography is glorious and Harold McKernon’s editing is outstanding and Sky feels like an almost too precious time capsule.

Only then the realism shatters when Arnold starts directly addressing actors, not actual air cadets. All of a sudden, though Boyle’s photography remains wondrous throughout, Sky‘s propaganda becomes a chore to stomach. The problem’s Owen Crump’s script. Crump also narrates the short, so he’s at least enthusiastic in that responsibility, but he can’t string the elements together.

I think Eleanor Parker–as the wife of one of the pilots–has the most lines (like two of them); she’s only in it for thirty seconds. None of the cast are particularly distinctive, not even with Crump trying so hard.

Even as propaganda, Sky is bad. Crump’s too awful a writer.

Wasteland 7 (June 1988)

This issue’s a little indistinct. It opens with the conclusion to the theater company having trouble in the South story. It’s all wrap-up and exposition, which doesn’t make for the most interesting story. Freeman’s artwork is fine but not memorable at all. Ostrander inexplicably concentrates on the nostalgic elements.

The second story, with art from Lloyd–with shouldn’t be doing psychedelic art under any circumstances–is about a guy who trips to go save the world from DNA. There’s a setup for it and all, but it’s really loose work from Ostrander and Close.

I suppose the final story–Ostrander and Close again together, Simpson on art–has the most personality. It’s a genially cold hearted bit about a former circus worker who agrees the pet sit a giraffe. Simpson’s art is perfect for it, but the script confuses funny with mean-spirited.

The issue’s middling, but not bad.

CREDITS

On the Road part 2 or How We Changed the Price of Whiskey at the Butterfly Mine #2 in West Virginia; writer, John Ostrander; artist, George Freeman; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Ron Muns. Secret Lords of the DNA!; writers, Del Close and Ostrander; artist and colorist, David Lloyd; letterer, Steve Craddock. The St. Louis Electric Giraffe Caper!; writers, Close and Ostrander; artist and letterer, Don Simpson; colorist, Kindzierski. Editor, Mike Gold; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…

Arahan (2004, Ryoo Seung-wan)

Arahan has a couple big problems. One is just for me–I didn’t get the final joke. I wonder if it was something cultural. The other one has to do with mainstream Korean cinema. Arahan takes a lot from Western blockbusters (most obviously The Matrix… though there’s a nice Back to the Future homage) and marries it to Korean filmmaking sensibilities. It just doesn’t have the budget and director Ryoo doesn’t have the ability to make it special.

As a comedic martial arts fantasy, it’s an enjoyable outing. The third act fight scene, lasting something like twenty minutes, is a little long but Arahan has just spent ninety minutes making the protagonist so likable, it gets the leeway.

The film just can’t achieve its potential, not with Ryoo, the occasionally weak special effects and the awful music from Han Jae-kwon.

Ryu Seung-beom is very likable in the lead–he’s an earnest, if naive young cop who stumbles into his magical abilities. Yoon So-yi plays his love interest and comedic straight woman. They’re good together, but the film drags out the courtship a little long. Possibly because it’s paced so well, actually. Some of Arahan‘s best elements work against the whole.

Ahn Sung-kee plays the wise mentor; he gives a good performance, but can’t overcome some of director Ryoo’s worst choices. As the villain, Jung Doo-hong makes almost no impression (again it’s probably Ryoo’s fault).

Arahan is fun but doesn’t have any of its implied substance.

★★

CREDITS

Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan; written by Ryoo, Eun Ji-hie and Yu Seon-dong; director of photography, Lee Jun-gyu; edited by Nam Na-yeong; music by Han Jae-kwon; produced by Lee Chun-yeong; released by Cinema Service.

Starring Ryu Seung-beom (Sang-hwan), Yoon So-yi (Wi-jin), Ahn Sung-kee (Ja-woon), Yun Ju-sang (Mu-woon), Kim Ji-yeong (Banya), Kim Yeong-in (Yuk Bong), Baek Chan-gi (Sul Woon) and Jung Doo-hong (Heuk-woon).


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The Boys 6 (February 2007)

Lots of talking in Ennis’s finish for this arc. Lots and lots of exposition, particularly from Butcher. It’s not bad talking, there’s just a whole lot of it. Butcher’s a fun character, but Ennis hasn’t made him worth spending time with when he’s just rambling. He’s not funny enough and his friendship of Hughie doesn’t have much effect.

Butcher’s best when he’s causing trouble or telling jokes, sort of like how the Frenchman’s best when he’s beating someone up or when the Female is being unexpectedly tender. Mother’s Milk is the character who manages to be the most dynamic and he’s the most underutilized.

This issue opens with a great fight scene, an amusing followup regarding superhero funerals and then a plodding finale. Ennis treats the first six issues more like a TV pilot than the opening of a series. The pacing’s just off.

Still, it’s got some great parts.

CREDITS

Cherry, Conclusion; writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Darick Robertson; colorist, Tony Avina; letterer, Greg Thompson; editors, Kristy Quinn and Ben Abernathy; publisher, Wildstorm.

Contemporaneously…

The Boys 5 (January 2007)

Ennis brings together his two plot threads–Hughie and Annie–at the beginning of the issue. It’s funny how Ennis can write a more sympathetic Christian nincompoop than anyone else.

He’s also able to sell their meeting as honest and necessary. It feels right, since the two are just bouncing the same ideas off each other. It’s a nice scene.

The rest of the issue is the takedown of the Teenage Kix (an annoying teen superhero group, presumably Ennis’s analog of one of DC’s “tougher” Teen Titan books). It’s very amusing, though the best moment in the issue is still the Female petting the dog.

The cliffhanger, featuring the Kix going after the Boys, is the first great cliffhanger in the series, simply because one would wait any amount of time for whatever’s going to come because it’s clear Ennis and Robertson are going to nail it.

Loads of fun.

CREDITS

Cherry, Part Three; writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Darick Robertson; colorist, Tony Avina; letterer, Greg Thompson; editors, Kristy Quinn and Ben Abernathy; publisher, Wildstorm.

Contemporaneously…

The Boys 4 (December 2006)

Yeah, Ennis is definitely writing for the trade. He finishes this issue with a little joke he started in the last one. On the first or second page. It wouldn’t have any context if you were reading it a month apart.

This issue continues the split between Starlight and the Seven (the Justice League stand-in, which is probably what got Levitz so upset) and Hughie and the Boys. Ennis again plays the Seven for the humor, even though they’re really mean people–which is why the jokes are so funny–and a relatively straightforward story for the Boys.

Except Butcher’s “date.” I think Robertson’s best work on the series has to be Terror’s expressions. Terror (the dog) is along on the date. Very funny.

As for Hughie, Ennis only remembers the comic’s about him towards the end. It’s too little, too late, but the issue’s so fun it passes.

CREDITS

Cherry, Part Two; writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Darick Robertson; colorist, Tony Avina; letterer, Greg Thompson; editors, Kristy Quinn and Ben Abernathy; publisher, Wildstorm.

Contemporaneously…

The Boys 3 (November 2006)

I wonder if Paul Levitz got all upset over this issue of The Boys or if it was something else. Regardless, I’m ahead of myself. But there’s some forced prostitution here and it seems like something someone would get upset about. I love how Ennis effortlessly demonizes superheroes. There’s a real charm to it.

The story’s split between Starlight–a good Christian teen superhero girl (lots of the superheroes are good Christians, something I can’t remember anyone before Ennis coming up with)–joining the premier superhero team and Hughie meeting the rest of the Boys.

While Starlight’s story is awful, Ennis makes it into the comedic one. There’s a little comedy in Hughie and Butcher going through the South Bronx, but not much once they meet up with everyone else. Except maybe the Female. She’s a lot of fun.

It’s excellent stuff… but the ending is a little too abrupt.

CREDITS

Cherry; writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Darick Robertson; colorist, Tony Avina; letterer, Greg Thompson; editors, Kristy Quinn and Ben Abernathy; publisher, Wildstorm.

Contemporaneously…

North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)

North by Northwest seems a little like a Technicolor version of an early Hollywood Hitchcock–the regular man combating the bad guys against incredible odds (at an American monument no less), but it’s a lot more.

The film’s a tightly constructed proto-blockbuster; there’s not a bad frame in the film, not an imperfect scene. North moves steadily, its speed sometimes increasing and rarely decreasing. With that barreling pace, it always seemed to be just over ninety minutes. I was shocked to discover it runs over two hours.

It’s hard to imagine the film without Cary Grant, whose comic timing is essential to the picture. There’s one scene where Grant looks at the camera just for a moment and it feels like a throwback to Bringing Up Baby. Hitchcock and writer Ernest Lehman waste no time establishing Grant’s character (beyond a memorable name). The rest, done with Grant and his secretary talking, takes one short scene.

Speaking of Lehman’s script, he gets in a lot of great jokes. Hitchcock just works them into the narrative; its all so grandiose (even before the finish), there’s more than enough room for them.

The filmmakers get away with so much, for instance, one can’t even hold Jessie Royce Landis’s disappearance against them.

She, James Mason, Martin Landau and Eva Marie Saint, they’re all outstanding. It’s Cary Grant’s film, of course, but the supporting cast–can’t forget Leo G. Carroll (who’s dryly hilarious)–make it even better.

North by Northwest is a perfect film.

★★★★

CREDITS

Produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock; written by Ernest Lehman; director of photography, Robert Burks; edited by George Tomasini; music by Bernard Herrmann; production designer, Robert F. Boyle; released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Starring Cary Grant (Roger O. Thornhill), Eva Marie Saint (Eve Kendall), James Mason (Phillip Vandamm), Jessie Royce Landis (Clara Thornhill), Leo G. Carroll (The Professor), Josephine Hutchinson (Mrs. Townsend), Philip Ober (Lester Townsend), Martin Landau (Leonard), Adam Williams (Valerian), Edward Platt (Victor Larrabee), Robert Ellenstein (Licht) and John Beradino (Sergeant Emile Klinger).


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The Boys 2 (October 2006)

Ennis introduces the rest of the team this issue, but without exactly putting the team together. He juxtaposes these introductions against Butcher trying to recruit Hughie. He also gets The Boys‘s first huge laugh. More accurately, he and Robertson get the first huge laugh. Without Robertson’s art, Butcher’s dog’s face wouldn’t be so perfect.

As for the introductions to the team members, Ennis runs hot and cold. He opens with the CIA agent going over the files, prepping the reader a little, but the Frenchman’s episode is only slightly amusing. Ennis doesn’t push the humor. The Female’s introduction is practically a sociology piece. Mother’s Milk, in the final introduction, gets the best. Ennis finds the right mix of tones.

As for Hughie? It’s hard for Terror (the dog) not to overshadow those scenes, but Ennis also has Butcher going through a lot of exposition.

It’s an awesome, slightly problematic read.

CREDITS

The Name of the Game, Part Two; writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Darick Robertson; colorist, Tony Avina; letterer, Greg Thompson; editors, Kristy Quinn and Ben Abernathy; publisher, Wildstorm.