Monthly Archive for March, 2008

Plot Envy

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by
Paul
on March 31, 2008
in Writing
. 4 Comments Tags: , .

Consider this a declaration of war — a declaration of war against the muddy, plotless worlds I’ve brought forth in many of my personal writings of the past. I seem to have a bit of a mental/emotional block when it comes to hashing out a plot. I take some comfort in knowing I’m not alone in this, but I’ve decided that it’s time to address the problem directly. Here’s a window into my longstanding M.O.: I tend to create a character and follow him to see where he goes, taking notes all the while like a cub reporter or some kind of half-assed literary peeping tom. Along the way, I stumble upon compelling elements of plot which, if properly organized at the outset, could have yielded an interesting story. Were I to simply overcome my anxiety regarding plot and force myself to pay it its proper due before I begin to write, a lot of heartache and self-recrimination could be happily avoided.

So, where is all of this coming from? This weekend I shared a bit of my writing – a fragment without a proper ending – with a friend of mine who also writes. His pointed questions about where the work was heading as well as some comments about his own approach amounted to a minor epiphany. You see, like many other writers, my friend knows his ending and often writes that first. This gives him a target at which to aim and helps to shape the balance of the story that he has yet to write. This little nugget of wisdom wasn’t exactly revelatory – it’s a concept I’ve heard many times before – but it reminded me of the fact that there’s a literary muscle I’m just not exercising. Why am I not exercising it? Out of fear, probably. Plotting is very, very hard. It takes some of the fun out of the process because you’re no longer in a touchy-feely discovery mode when you begin to write. You have a road map and you follow it. Most people would call this working smarter instead of working harder, but some writers — myself included — have this weird notion that applying too much Craft effectively kills the Art. It’s a knee-jerk neurotic reaction with very little basis in fact.

Given my love for Film Noir, for the stories of Robert E. Howard and for the original Star Wars films (tightly plotted creations all), I’m surprised that I’ve allowed myself to fall into this more Literary mindset. It seems to me that, for a writer working on projects aimed at the mass market, fear of plot is a dangerous thing. I had a contemporary some time ago who, while working on a large, expensive commercial property, declared that his writing and the writing of his staff would have a decidedly Literary bent. You know what? I read some of that writing and, while it was beautifully composed, it was also dead; completely devoid of forward momentum or compelling characters. I’m not expecting that project to fire the blood of Joe and Jane Consumer when it finally comes to market. No, Joe and Jane want a good yarn; they want to be entertained. All of that pretty metaphor and symbolism isn’t going to console them when they begin to think that maybe they’ve wasted their money.

So, my siege against anti-plot begins now. Let’s just hope I’m a better opponent for plot than I was the game of chess.

The Comics Since 1945

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by
Paul
on March 29, 2008
in Reviews
. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The Comics: Since 1945

I thought I was a rabid fan of comic strips, but I guess after reading The Comics Since 1945 I’m really not. Don’t get me wrong: Brian Walker’s book is well-written, thoughtful and beautifully illustrated. But I learned something in reading the numerous examples of daily comic strips Walker provides throughout his book: most comics actually suck. When you get to the last panel of nearly every comic strip printed since WWII what you get is so quaint (or inane or obvious) to call it a “punchline” does the word a minor disservice. Most comics affect what I call “gentle comedy”. By that I mean not only are they “grandma safe”, they’re also lazy — relying on an affirmation of a simple value rather than going the distance and eliciting an actual laugh (or even a smile). Undoubtedly, it’s a difficult task churning out a strip seven days a week for decades at a time, but the writing in most of them is positively by-the-numbers.

I guess when I think of myself as a comics fan, what I’m really doing is remembering the good times I had in the 70s, 80s and 90s. I grew up in the 70s and, for me, comic strips were absolutely defined by Charles Schultz’ Peanuts. The guy was a master of the form, maybe even its greatest practitioner. Yes, the strip was about kids and pets, but anybody who thinks Charlie Brown and his pals were just world-wise youngsters wasn’t really paying attention. I think even as a kid I realized that “Sparky” Schultz was speaking through his characters, expressing his world view in, often, very profound ways. Once you come to the 80s and 90s, then it becomes all about Bloom County. I positively loved that strip and I still own all of the collections which were published. In fact, I re-read them all not too long ago and you know what? They hold up. Despite the fact that they’re bubbling over with 80s pop culture references, they’re still very, very funny. I have so much affection for those characters that Breathed’s retirement in 1995 left a kind of void. Unlike a lot of my contemporaries, I don’t have a worshipful attitude toward Calvin and Hobbes or even The Far Side. I think they’re both brilliant strips in their own way, but neither of them pushed my buttons the way “County” did. When Breathed left the comics page behind, so did I for the most part.

So, how do I explain my continued devotion to the medium of comic strips (a devotion strong enough that I would pony up $29.95 for Walker’s book)? I guess it’s all about potential — a potential that I think is there, but which I rarely see realized. I guess maybe I was romanticizing the form. Peanuts showed me what comics could do and Bloom County taught me that they could draw laughs consistently. Unfortunately, just about every other strip I can think of has been nothing more than a pleasant distraction at best.

But hey, my curmudgeonly musings notwithstanding, you really couldn’t ask for a better book on the funny papers than The Comics Since 1945. If comics’re your bag, do yourself a favor and give this one a try.

(Very) Honorable Mention:

Contrary to what I said about the writing being fairly lax in comics in general, I think Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury is superbly written. In fact, the strip’s Dickensian complexity is a little awe-inspiring. Growing up, it was probably my third favorite comic strip. To be honest though, through the years, I’ve drifted in and out of Doonesbury. I suppose that’s because Trudeau’s world inspires respect more than it does true affection.

The Onion Field

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by
Paul
on March 24, 2008
in Reviews
. 4 Comments Tags: .

The Onion Field

Based on the true story of the murder of a Los Angeles policeman in 1963, The Onion Field is a bleak and depressing piece of work. Not because of its depiction of the killing itself, but more for the aftermath so vividly showcased by writer Joseph Wambaugh and director Harold Becker. The prosecution of the murderers drags on literally for years with the two of them — petty thieves who get excellent legal advice — eventually beating the death penalty and living out their lives in the California penal system. It’s an aggravating thing to watch and it’s clear that Wambaugh must have felt a certain righteous indignation when he wrote the book upon which his screenplay is based.

“Field” is a fine, albeit sad, movie featuring an early (and very, very creepy) performance by James Woods. Check it out if you’ve got a good mood you’re just dying to kill.

Doctor Strange

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by
Paul
on March 23, 2008
in Reviews
. 4 Comments Tags: , .

As Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange has always been one of Marvel Comics’ most offbeat characters. I have a soft spot for the good doctor, however, ever since I discovered his loopy metaphysical antics in the late 70s (’round about the time I discovered Conan). So I checked out this made-for-DVD feature film on the basis of that affection. I must admit that my expectations were low so I guess it won’t come as too much of a shock when I tell you I was pleasantly surprised by the film’s overall quality. In fact, the screenplay — which does a nifty job of updating and broadening Strange’s origin — is remarkably decent. The flick’s most prominent shortcomings are it’s mildly esoteric final battle and a few moments of sloppy direction from Frank Paur — which I found surprising since Paur is an alumni of the consistently excellent Batman:the Animated Series. Chalk it up to the lateness of the hour if you wish, but there were a few moments in Dr. Strange when I found myself momentarily lost because of some inadvertent visual misdirection. Provided these hiccups were not my imagination — and I doubt seriously they were — they rest squarely on the shoulders of Mr. Paur. But these are minor complaints, really. I had a good time watching Dr. Strange and I’m fully on board should they ever do a follow-up.

Meanwhile, word around the campfire is, Guillermo del Torro (Pan’s Labyrinth) is contemplating a live-action Dr. Strange movie. Color me excited by the prospect.

Chess vs. ADD — Chess 0, ADD 1

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by
Paul
on March 21, 2008
in General
. 2 Comments Tags: , .

I have a condition that worries me from time-to-time. Don’t get me wrong: I haven’t been diagnosed or anything, but, through observation and half-assed “research” done on the Internet, I’m convinced that I have some mild form of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. I have a mind that wanders in such a random fashion that I find it difficult to complete even the simplest tasks in my personal life. For some reason, I haven’t experienced the problem to as great a degree in my professional life and there are probably all kinds of reasons for that which exceed my willingness to devote real thought to this post. How does this condition manifest itself then? Well, primarily through my personal artistic projects — writing, drawing and the like. I have a tremendous amount of difficulty finishing anything because I always end up getting another idea and chasing after it like a rabies-addled hound dog. I’ve left such a wake of uncompleted projects behind me, that I’ve filled boxes and boxes with notes and sketchbooks. It’s quite embarrassing, really.

So, here lately, I’ve been thinking about ways in which I could curb what, to me, is becoming an increasingly annoying problem. Put simply, I need to find a way to quiet my spasmodic mind and focus on something long enough to complete it. Honestly, I don’t even care if said something sucks — as long as it gets done. Recently, I stumbled upon what I thought was a clever idea to train my mind to calm down and fully process what it’s being fed: I would learn how to play chess. I don’t mean learn chess from the ground up — I know how the pieces move and I’ve won a game or two in the past. No, I mean really learn chess so that I’m thinking several moves ahead and genuinely grasping what’s on the board in front of me. One of my inspirations for wanting to do this was the late, great film director Stanley Kubrick who had about as facile a mind as you can imagine and was supposedly a chess fanatic. Learning to play the game well would be my way of becoming just a little more Stanley-like (or Kubrick-ian, whichever you prefer).

Fortunately for me, I own a Nintendo DS and there is a program for it called Chessmaster: The Art of Learning. This program not only allows you to play the game against computer opponents, it also has tutorials hosted by chess master Josh Waitzkin who, in case you don’t know, was the kid featured in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer. I went through those tutorials and figured I was ready for a game. I was issued a numeric rating and sent in to play a virtual opponent, an 8 year-old boy named “Ben”. Well, Ben beat me in four out of five games. Soundly. My numeric rating took a beating. Discouraging? You bet. I thought to myself ‘Yeah, I did Josh’s tutorials; maybe now it’s time to do some of his skill-sharpening exercises’. I did nothing but exercises for two days and Josh heaped praise upon me. I then thought to myself ‘Look out, Ben — I’m coming for you’. I played Ben another round of matches and he beat me FIVE out of five times. My numeric rating is somewhere in the ’semi-retarded’ range. I don’t remember a time when I’ve been more dispirited. What does it all mean? How could I actually have regressed? Will I forever be a slave to my ADD?

Anyway, I kind of forgot about the chess after that and moved on to something else.

3:10 to Yuma

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by
Paul
on March 20, 2008
in Reviews
. 4 Comments Tags: , .

I want very much to tell you that the last thirty minutes of 3:10 to Yuma were pure gold, but I have this sneaking suspicion that there were holes in Russell Crowe’s motivation; that suddenly his character was doing things which weren’t at all in his own best interest. In fact, I want to tell you that an otherwise good film was ruined for me by these lingering suspicions. Ultimately, I can neither praise nor damn those last thirty minutes because James Mangold’s direction is good enough that I kept <almost> forgetting my reservations and going along with the flow. Logical gaps (real or imagined) can’t undermine what is finally a very, very good old-school Western. In addition to the aforementioned fine direction, we have a tightly-woven script, terrific performances by everyone in the cast (with particular praise going to Crowe and the always-good Christian Bale), and some bang-up cinematography.

Watching this flick tonight, I was reminded of something: There’s quite simply no reason at all why Hollywood can’t serve us up the occasional Western. Done well, it’s an iconic, elemental genre that still has plenty of life left. The success of “Yuma” may convince a studio exec or two that I’m right.

[As an aside, let me say how happy I was to see Alan Tudyk playing a small (but entertaining) role in 3:10 to Yuma. Tudyk was one of the regulars in the late, great television series Firefly.]

A Conan Combo

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by
Paul
on March 15, 2008
in Reviews
. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

Indulge me for a moment. I’ve been a fan of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian ever since I first set eyes on him in the pages of Marvel Comics sometime in the mid-1970s. There’s just something about this self-possessed, pre-historic hero — who’s just as handy with a sword as he is with the ladies — that truly fires a skinny kid’s imagination. Later, when I came at last to the source (that is the pulp stories that inspired both the comics and the crappy — that’s right, I said “crappy” — John Milius film with Arnold Schwarzenegger), I knew that I’d found a boon literary companion. Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not saying anything radical like “Howard deserves a place in the American canon with the likes of Hemingway and Faulkner”. That would be silly. But old Robert E. was a fine, fine writer in his own way. His ballsy tales of High Adventure are shot through with some surprisingly astute social commentary. Nothing heavy-handed enough to undermine the stories’ primary focus (the action), but astute nonetheless.

As a current off-shoot of my 25 year plus love affair with the Hyborean Age, I’ve been collecting the two ongoing series put out by Dark Horse Comics. (You know this if you’ve been with me for a while). I haven’t reviewed every entry in the series because I didn’t want to try anyone’s patience, but now we’ve come to two important volumes released within a week of one another.

Well, important to me, anyway. Let’s cut to the chase…

The Chronicles of Conan Volume 14:

The Chronicles Of Conan Volume 14 (Chronicles of Conan (Graphic Novels))

Here at last we come to the ten year mark of Marvel’s seminal 70s and 80s comic Conan the Barbarian, the book that very likely caused Hollywood to sit up and take notice. Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by the incomparable John Buscema, “Barbarian” was as good a comic as it was because these two men “got it”. They understood Robert E. Howard’s world and, with only occasional mis-steps, they brought it to us on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, Volume 14 of this series of reprints brings an era to a close. With issue number 115, Roy Thomas left Marvel and writing duties fell to other men. I know there’s a Volume 15 on the way, but I have a strong feeling it just won’t be the same after this.

Conan Volume 5: Rogues in the House:

Conan Volume 5: Rogues In the House (Conan (Graphic Novels))

A few years ago, Marvel finally — after almost thirty years — lost the license to the Conan property and the rights migrated over to Dark Horse Comics. DHC started their own series roundabout 2001 and it’s been running ever since — primarily because it’s damn good. In their own way, writer Kurt Busiek and artist Cary Nord “got it” too. A lot of love and attention to detail goes into this new book and I was hooked from Volume 1. But then, in a bizarre parallel, Busiek left Dark Horse and I thought the brilliance might end. Replacement writer Timothy Truman begins his work here in Volume 5 and, I must say, the transition is nearly seamless. Maybe it’s because Truman has a bang-up story to adapt (Howard’s Rogues in the House), but I think it’s primarily because Truman is a fine writer himself. Not only is he a fine writer he’s also loved the character since he was a skinny kid just like me (albeit a skinny kid in the 60s as opposed to the 70s, but that’s neither here nor there).

Anyway, if you have an appreciation for Conan, for Howard or you’re just looking for a rollicking good time, check out these two concurrent series from Dark Horse. They’re packed with ripping good yarns.

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Summer Superhero Smorgasbord

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by
Paul
on March 12, 2008
in General
. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Below is our first real look at The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton. I can’t say that I’ve been completely indifferent to the idea of a new Hulk flick, but the Ang Lee version in all of its crapulence is still fresh in my head. Anyways, the new trailer is pretty solid. Could be fun.

And, for the hell of it, I’ve tacked on the latest Iron Man trailer which looks like exactly what you’d want in an Iron Man flick. That is if you’d grown up with the Marvel Universe as I did.

MTV’s video embedder is pretty bizarre, really. These aren’t really embedded videos so much as links back to MTV’s site. Whatever.

10,000 B.C.

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by
Paul
on March 10, 2008
in Reviews
. 2 Comments Tags: , .

10,000 B.C. [Blu-ray]

During our postmortem conversation my buddy referred to 10,000 B.C. as “perfunctory”. I think that’s a pretty accurate descriptor since the movie only does what it needs to do to function — no more, no less. The story is very much a connect-the-dots sort of affair with characterization so cursory that there isn’t much room here for real pathos or, more importantly, humor. I guess I had a decent enough time while I was watching “B.C.”, but the details are already growing hazy just over twelve hours later. By this time tomorrow I doubt I’ll remember seeing it at all.

Bone

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by
Paul
on March 8, 2008
in Reviews
. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Bone: One Volume Edition

I picked up the Bone:One Volume Edition partly out of nostalgia. I first discovered the characters in this epic graphic novel in 1984 when I was attending Ohio State University. You see, Jeff Smith’s Bone began as a comic strip in The Lantern, the OSU school paper. I liked the strip enough at the time to pick up the collection they were selling in the school bookstore. I held onto that book for more than twenty years and finally sold it on Ebay for about six hundred bucks. I guess that alone proves that Mr. Smith has built himself a pretty nice following since our old school days.

From what I understand, Smith decided to go into the self-publishing business in the early 90s, taking the embryonic characters and situations from the OSU strip and expanding upon them. And, boy, did he ever expand upon them. Twelve years and thirteen hundred pages later we have this telephone book-like collected saga. Bone’s a strange animal, really. It’s like Smith took the comics of Carl Barks (Uncle Scrooge) and Walt Kelly (Pogo) and mixed them with liberal doses of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It sounds weird, I know, but mostly it works. The story is primarily aimed at kids (in fact Scholastic is now re-publishing the whole work in color), but there’s plenty here for adults as well. It’s not all cartoon wackiness in the world of the story. The villains are truly, well, villain-y and some of your favorite characters don’t make it through to the end. I think Smith rushed that ending a bit to be honest with you. Some plot threads don’t go anywhere and bits of the elaborate setting’s lore left me scratching my head. Overall, however, I want to say “kudos” to my old schoolmate. Bone is one hell of an achievement.

Update:

As my friend Aram points out in the comments to this post, Warner Brothers has just entered into an agreement with Jeff Smith to turn Bone into a feature film. Check out the details (via The Hollywood Reporter) here.

My old buddy Jeff Smith is on fire!