Captain Jack Aubrey and Doctor Stephen Maturin, the series' protagonists, are amateur musicians. In keeping with the film's period detail, Master and Commander's soundtrack features many pieces whose composers are also mentioned prominently in the novels.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the 2003 film directed by Peter Weir, synthesizes many adventures from Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels.
Captain Jack Aubrey and Doctor Stephen Maturin, the series' protagonists, are amateur musicians. In keeping with the film's period detail, Master and Commander's soundtrack features many pieces whose composers are also mentioned prominently in the novels.
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Human Target as seen in DC's Vertigo series The Human Target – aka Christopher Chance – is a comic-book character who is part bodyguard, part private detective, using his skills at martial arts and impersonation to protect the targets of assassins. Fittingly, the character of Christopher Chance has had a number of different incarnations both in comics and on television in its nearly forty-year history. Chance first appeared in Action Comics #419 (December 1972). Created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino (co-creator of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl), Chance appeared as a dapper hero, in the mode of pre-superhero comics sleuths. In Human Target's "Action-Plus" segments following the main Superman story, Christopher Chance would disguise himself as people whose lives were threatened. Chance appeared regularly in Action Comics until 1974. In the late 1970s, Human Target moved to The Brave and The Bold and Detective Comics, titles which predominantly featured Batman. This was appropriate, as Christopher Chance's quick wits and skills at mimicry more resembled those of the Dark Knight than the Man of Steel. Chance even impersonated Bruce Wayne in a 1982 Batman story arc. I'll bet that most people watching the new show Human Target are wondering what the DC Comics logo is doing in the end credits. Christopher Chance was originally a comic-book character, but there's no shame in not having heard of him before. Human Target was pretty obscure, at least until the 2000s.
This week's Feature Article traces the origin and evolution of Human Target in comics, as well as on TV. I've enjoyed the new series so far – it has a nice mix of ridiculous action (think The A-Team), semi-clever plot twists, and fun characters. Hopefully, Chance's backstory will get filled in soon too. My only beef so far is with the episode "Sanctuary", where Chance goes to a monastery in Quebec. It's bad enough that no one even has a Quebecois accent, but the part where the cop pulls over the bad guys – "just a routine traffic check within 50 miles of the border" ?!? – is utterly absurd. The writer(s) make it sound like the Soviet frontier, or the Sigfried line. Get out of LA once in a while, guys! Meanwhile, Vertigo is putting out some new Human Target comics, starting this Wednesday. Len Wein (one of Human Target's creators) and Peter Johnson are scripting, with art by Bruno Redondo, Sergio Sandoval, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story. This week's Feature Article is on the classic death of Gwen Stacy story arc from The Amazing Spider-Man, and its consequences.
Yes, the more-or-less permanent end of a semi-important character in 1970s superhero comics was a pretty big step, a landmark that still gets fans in a huff. But looking back on some of the late-1960s/early 1970s Spider-Man issues, it struck me that Peter Parker's personal life isn't too far removed from that of Archie Andrews. When Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson are standing around together in the same panel, it's hard not to think of Betty and Veronica from Archie comics. Check out the pics below – aside from hair color/style, they're practically twins! So instead of the agonizing choice between a blonde and a brunette, the hero must choose between a blonde and a redhead. Progress! It's been up for a while now, but check out my review of Almost Silent by Jason. The folks at Fantagraphics were kind enough to send along a review copy – the real deal, not just a PDF version.
Of course, since there isn't anything in the collection that hasn't already been published, part of the appeal is the book itself: a nice, classy-looking, mid-sized hardcover. At about $25 bucks, it's a good deal for what you get. Although I'd have liked to have seen a bit of introductory material, author's note, publication history, etc. in the new volume. Such stuff was in the press release, of course, but I think it would help casual buyers get into Jason's work a little more easily. On that note, you can also read about Jason's contribution to Marvel's Strange Tales if you haven't already. Our two most recent feature articles are a matched pair: Traditional Art Supplies for Drawing Comic Books and Digital Tools for Drawing Comic Books.
I've used both kinds over the years, and have found my own preference to be penciling and inking on paper, then scanning and coloring and adding text via Photoshop and Comic Life. (See below for some work-in-progress pics of old digital Christmas cards.) Now that digital technologies have matured (and gotten much cheaper), tedious stuff like lettering is faster and easier. The options for printing are far better too. As a kid, I used to make comic books by hand, then photocopy them – that was the extent of the tech element. I didn't even have access to a double-sided copier at the time, so the sheets had to be copied out of order and flipped. And full color? Ha! Though I did do a color cover once (c. 1995), which had to be printed at Kinko's. Anyway, here are some other articles of use to those looking to draw their own comic books: What Are Digital Comics? The Written Parts of a Comic Book Page The Visual Parts of a Comic Book Page Six Classics of Comic Book Theory Enjoy! This week's Feature Article is on Osamu Tezuka's MW. One of the master's later works, like Buddha and Adolf, MW deals with all kinds of adult subject matter that you won't find in Astro Boy.
In some ways, the plot of MW is standard 1970s-era manga stuff, such as a government cover-up of a secret military project – a device which would get even more play later in Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira. But the themes of Roman Catholicism and homosexuality are rarer, especially in the context of the rest of Osamu Tezuka's career. MW is of added interest now because, first, it has only become available in English in recent years from Vertical. The translation by Camellia Nieh is pretty good – much more fluid than some poorer manga translations, such as that of Moebius and Jiro Taniguchi's Icaro. Second, a live-action version of MW came out last summer in Japan, although it got bad reviews. As is often the case, it's better to stick with the original comic. Happy New Year!
This week's Feature Article is on Dave Sim's Cerebus the Aardvark. Not only is Cerebus a landmark in independent, creator-owned (and Canadian) comics, the title also helped put anthropomorphic comics characters on the map. Yes, cartoon animals that do human stuff go back at least as far as Krazy Kat, and are a long tradition in comic strips right up to Calvin and Hobbes. But in the 1970s, there seemed to be a bit of a vogue in badass animal characters, like Howard the Duck and Bucky O'Hare. These guys didn't quite survive their TV or movie adaptations, though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which started out as a parody of such comics) keep getting screen time after twenty-five years. Closer to the Cerebus mold is Usagi Yojimbo. Interestingly, Dark Horse is putting out an Usagi Yojimbo plush toy in May 2010, which creator Stan Sakai even had a hand in designing – see pic below. This week's Feature Article is on Mexican Adult Comics. It's another in a series, including The Adult Comics of Wallace Wood, and Adult Comics for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fans and for Literature and History Fans.
Why all the dirty comics? Well, people seem to want to read about them, judging by the site metrics. The only downside is that Google Adsense likes to block ads for blog entries like this one that say "adult" too much. As for the Mexican sensacionales, they're particularly interesting because the obvious exploitation comes with some blatant self-censorship, too. (Something akin to Heavy Metal's censorship of Druuna, I imagine.) For example, I came across one such comic showing some fellatio – with chup! chup! sound effects and everything. But as you can see in the first pic below, the woman has her hand and mouth around ... nothing! The artist simply didn't draw the offending part. Context is everything, folks. I've just posted a new article on where to buy used video games. It's meant as a companion piece of sorts to an earlier one on how to rent video games for the best price. Depending on the reception, I might make these part of an unofficial series.
This would likely look something like similar article clusters on classic gaming and video game comic books. To get an idea, see the lists below (which will be updated as new pieces are written): Articles on Classic Video Games Classic Star Wars Video Games Nintendo's Metroid Prime Trilogy A Short History of Video Game System Emulation The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Revisited The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Revisited The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Revisited Articles on Comics Based on Video Games Review of the Halo Graphic Novel Nintendo Power's Mario, Zelda, and Metroid Manga |
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