cp_journalcomic (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cp_journalcomic) wrote,@ 2008-04-27 19:42:00 |
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vacation, all i ever wanted
Barring a lightening bolt of inspiration, I'm not going to be doing any comics this week. There's no real reason behind this impromptu vacation besides my not banking any strips during the week and laziness precluding me from cranking some out today.
...anyhoo, see you back here next week. In the meantime, I already wrote up my comic & DVD release blurbs for this week, so I'll post those tonight. I know you impulse shoppers would be lost without 'em.
The Golden Compass
I have a weird relationship to the source material this movie is based on. While I enjoyed The Golden Compass on my own run-through of the book... I came to absolutely hate the book during my time as a middle school teacher in Brooklyn. At the beginning of the year, we would get a certain allotment of free books from the city and for some reason, we would get box after box of The Golden Compass, regardless of the fact that the book is like three or four reading levels above what even the brightest of my students could read in the sixth grade.
Mind, I'm not saying that a sixth grader COULDN'T read The Golden Compass... what I am saying is that at the beginning of the year, none of my students could. Yet they would pick the book up all the time and be absolutely stymied by it. It's a tough thing for a teacher. I would have loved to have my students reading The Golden Compass but at the same time... they couldn't read it. It's no use to carry around a book so advanced if they weren't going to be able to read it. I had to put the breaks on their interest and steer them toward a book that was at their reading level, at least for the time being.
Hm. None of that has anything to do with this movie, which I'm anxious to check out. Pullman has a knack for writing action sequences and I'd like to see how they play themselves out on the big screen. I'm also excited to see Sam Elliot as Lee Scoresby, a perfect bit of casting if there ever was one.
The Classic Caballeros Collection
I have to tell you, I was very impressed with the history and behind the scenes machinations that went on which brought these cartoons to life for Walt Disney Studios. I recently read Disney's biography and I had no idea the hows and whys of making these 'toons had anything to do with government funding or ambassadorship but you learn something new everyday. As a kid, I couldn't ever really tolerate The Three Caballeros but if anybody's interested in the story, check out my GoodReads profile and read Walt Disney- The Triumph of American Imagination.
and
DC Universe Zero
I usually fall for these loss leader books hook, line, and sinker... even if half the time they just end up leading directly into gigundo crossover events meant to siphon money I normally wouldn't have spent if I hadn't bought the cheap-o lead-in comic in the first place.
Speed Racer/Racer X: Origins TPB
I've never been a big Speed Racer fan outside of the theme song... but the 1999 mini-series collected here was pretty damn terrific. Artist/writer Tommy Yune provided an origin for every aspect of the Speed Racer continuity, from the origins of the Mach 5 to how Spritle got his awful awful name. With the new movie coming out, it's great that IDW is re-releasing this mini, pairing it with the Racer X follow-up. Didn't read that one, but on the strength of the first series alone, this rates a recommendation.
Wizard #200
NOT a comic but a comics magazine, I thought I'd take a second and point out that while Wizard: The Guide to Comics is now more Wizard: A Guide to Comics that Wishes it was Maxim, the magazine really was an important part of my growth as a comics reader. I started buying Wizard right around the time I started reading comics and I loved it probably as much as I loved the comics themselves. While it was never going to be The Comics Journal, Wizard had some decently in-depth interviews during its early period and I poured over every issue time and time again... embarrassingly, there was a point in my life where I put my Wizards on a bookshelf, spine facing outward so as to show everybody how many I had.
Yeah, Wizard fanned the flames of questionable collectability that ultimately burned the direct market so badly... but they didn't start people buying a case of Bloodstryke #1's (RUB THE BLOOD!). Idiotic people were already doing that. And yes, Wizard has always favored the superheroes... but as someone who liked and continues to like that kind of stuff, it was nice to see my interests reflected in a mass media magazine.
That's not to say Wizard's very good or you should be reading it... I'm just mulling some memories here.
Barring a lightening bolt of inspiration, I'm not going to be doing any comics this week. There's no real reason behind this impromptu vacation besides my not banking any strips during the week and laziness precluding me from cranking some out today.
...anyhoo, see you back here next week. In the meantime, I already wrote up my comic & DVD release blurbs for this week, so I'll post those tonight. I know you impulse shoppers would be lost without 'em.
The Golden Compass
I have a weird relationship to the source material this movie is based on. While I enjoyed The Golden Compass on my own run-through of the book... I came to absolutely hate the book during my time as a middle school teacher in Brooklyn. At the beginning of the year, we would get a certain allotment of free books from the city and for some reason, we would get box after box of The Golden Compass, regardless of the fact that the book is like three or four reading levels above what even the brightest of my students could read in the sixth grade.
Mind, I'm not saying that a sixth grader COULDN'T read The Golden Compass... what I am saying is that at the beginning of the year, none of my students could. Yet they would pick the book up all the time and be absolutely stymied by it. It's a tough thing for a teacher. I would have loved to have my students reading The Golden Compass but at the same time... they couldn't read it. It's no use to carry around a book so advanced if they weren't going to be able to read it. I had to put the breaks on their interest and steer them toward a book that was at their reading level, at least for the time being.
Hm. None of that has anything to do with this movie, which I'm anxious to check out. Pullman has a knack for writing action sequences and I'd like to see how they play themselves out on the big screen. I'm also excited to see Sam Elliot as Lee Scoresby, a perfect bit of casting if there ever was one.
The Classic Caballeros Collection
I have to tell you, I was very impressed with the history and behind the scenes machinations that went on which brought these cartoons to life for Walt Disney Studios. I recently read Disney's biography and I had no idea the hows and whys of making these 'toons had anything to do with government funding or ambassadorship but you learn something new everyday. As a kid, I couldn't ever really tolerate The Three Caballeros but if anybody's interested in the story, check out my GoodReads profile and read Walt Disney- The Triumph of American Imagination.
and
DC Universe Zero
I usually fall for these loss leader books hook, line, and sinker... even if half the time they just end up leading directly into gigundo crossover events meant to siphon money I normally wouldn't have spent if I hadn't bought the cheap-o lead-in comic in the first place.
Speed Racer/Racer X: Origins TPB
I've never been a big Speed Racer fan outside of the theme song... but the 1999 mini-series collected here was pretty damn terrific. Artist/writer Tommy Yune provided an origin for every aspect of the Speed Racer continuity, from the origins of the Mach 5 to how Spritle got his awful awful name. With the new movie coming out, it's great that IDW is re-releasing this mini, pairing it with the Racer X follow-up. Didn't read that one, but on the strength of the first series alone, this rates a recommendation.
Wizard #200
NOT a comic but a comics magazine, I thought I'd take a second and point out that while Wizard: The Guide to Comics is now more Wizard: A Guide to Comics that Wishes it was Maxim, the magazine really was an important part of my growth as a comics reader. I started buying Wizard right around the time I started reading comics and I loved it probably as much as I loved the comics themselves. While it was never going to be The Comics Journal, Wizard had some decently in-depth interviews during its early period and I poured over every issue time and time again... embarrassingly, there was a point in my life where I put my Wizards on a bookshelf, spine facing outward so as to show everybody how many I had.
Yeah, Wizard fanned the flames of questionable collectability that ultimately burned the direct market so badly... but they didn't start people buying a case of Bloodstryke #1's (RUB THE BLOOD!). Idiotic people were already doing that. And yes, Wizard has always favored the superheroes... but as someone who liked and continues to like that kind of stuff, it was nice to see my interests reflected in a mass media magazine.
That's not to say Wizard's very good or you should be reading it... I'm just mulling some memories here.
