Justice League: The New Frontier

I went out and bought the Justice League: The New Frontier one-shot special, the release date of which coincided with the release of the movie. Contrary to what the cover says, it's nothing special and certainly nothing new. After reading it, I realized that I never shared my thoughts on the movie, so I thought I would go back review it. I didn't mention it at the time, but I was at the world premiere showing of Justice League: The New Frontier at Wondercon.

What can I say? Overall, it was a just-a-league of disappointment (rim shot). I very much enjoyed the main title sequence, which resembles the cover art for the different issues, but that's pretty much the extent of what I liked. The writer seems to have forgotten that Hal Jordan and John Jones (aka J'onn J'onzz, Martian Manhunter) really carry the story (for volumes 2 & 1, respectively). It was very fast-paced and at some moments, downright confusing. I don't believe anyone who hasn't read the comic can easily understand what is going during their first viewing. My friend, who read the series, agreed; his sister, who never read the series, also agreed. So, safe to say--confusing. Granted, it is very difficult to compress all the events in The New Frontier into an hour and fifteen minutes. That's understandable but not really excusable. The voice acting was mediocre--I found many of the male voice actors sounding very similar, characterized by a very testosterone-y voice (the one refreshing voice was that of Neil Patrick Harris, N-P-H rocks!). I love New Frontier, but with that and this recent one-shot special, I think I've had my fill of anything new and frontier-ish for now.

Go read the book.

Jim Starlin and the Death of the New Gods

So I purchased the Cosmic Odyssey mini-series to see Mike Mignola's early work (1988) with DC, and, of course, because of my unbridled love for the New Gods. To say the least, Cosmic Odyssey left a lot to be desired. Mignola's style hadn't yet matured to the point that has in his Hellboy series, but it was solid. Jim Starlin's writing, however, was left wanting.

I concede to the possibility that I'm just irritated that Starlin has the audacity to kill off all of the New Gods, but what probably annoyed me the most is what he purportedly said in an interview [citation need]:

I sort of think of this project as putting an ending to Jack's New Gods' saga. Since Kirby's initial run on the characters others have presented them with mixed results. Looking back I'd say at least half of the past New Gods series have done more harm than good. So for me, Death of the New Gods is half honoring Jack Kirby, half mercy killing.

I'm not so deluded that I won't agree with him. Looking back, a lot of the New Gods work probably has done more harm than good. In fact, I can readily cite one work that has done said harm--Cosmic Odyssey. And honoring? Right. Just as how if I was to honor Disney, then I would write out Milo and his buddies. I don't like Jim Starlin's work. Don't even get me started about Thanos. Most likely, some years down the road, the stories will likely get retconned (just like Cosmic Odyssey), and they'll be brought back, but in the meantime, I'm pretty annoyed by the pretense the guy has going into this tie-in with Countdown... or at least the undeniable pretentiousness of forcing the continuity of [to my knowledge] what has been a largely ignored explanation of the Anti-life Equation. Granted, I could just be a comic fan-boy.

Besides, Starlin is racist.*
* Note: Jim Starlin is [most assuredly] probably not racist.

Names

I don't really pay much attention to names unless it really stands out. From the art that I like to the papers in science journals that I read, I can't readily cite names associated with certain works. I'm just not a name person. This being the case, imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw that Lou Romano (one of the people who had their work on exhibit at Nucleus for the "Band of Bugs" show) had his concept art in the book "The Art of The Incredibles". I have flipped through this book many times, mind you. I never stopped to catch the names of the artists though. The only reason why I recognized Romano's name was because Amanda Visell links to him and sometimes speaks appraisingly of his work. I've heard accounts that Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to have an uncanny ability to perfectly recall people's names. It was said that he would mentally spell a person's name on their forehead in his favorite color whenever he met someone. Quite impressive. Me? I'm not much of a name person.

L-O-L

R-O-F-L

(I guess I should explain. Jimmy Jr is Lucy's son. Lucy is Lois's sister.

Lois is Lola's mother... wait for it... YES. Comics are fun :B )

A Band of Bugs

So I attended the Nucleus exhibit titled, "A Band of Bugs".  It showcased work by a favorite artist of mine, Amanda Visell (see awesome-ness).  If I had between $800-2100, I would not hesitate in dropping it all on one of her exquisite pieces (her art is also featured on merchandise in Disneyland, which I'm sure you knew).   The gallery trip was pleasant, and a good time was had by all.

Sketchbooks

So I have this tendency to want to purge everything that reflects my growth process... at least when it comes to art.  When I peruse through old sketchbooks (often times unfilled), I just want to throw them all away, which is also a tendency that would explain my lack of a thorough portfolio.  This behavior is probably due to my confrontation of my own imperfection.  The material is usually pretty poorly drawn, especially in hindsight.  For the most part, the content is pretty embarrassing and pathetic.  My reaction is to destroy any evidence of it.  Most likely, I have some issues I need to sort out.  In the meantime, I'll accept my own faulty qualities...  correct them but be flexible enough to accept them--or myself, as I am.