Read/Reax

An internet phenomenon, or human nature?

I call it "Read/Reax," though I suppose it could also be "see/reax" or "listen/reax."

We've all done it, some more than others. How it works, is we consume some kind of information, and then produce a reaction to it. Read, and react.

The original form of this kind of expression was likely literary criticism. Aristotle wrote the Poetics, Plato attacked poetry altogether, and there is an overabundance of literature on Christian/Jewish/Islamic texts. For film, the most renown and influential criticism is probably from the small French magazine Cahiers du cinéma, highlighted by the film works of their writers Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. As for music, there has been criticism of the classical kind for hundreds of years, though most prominently the Musical Times, but most of popular music "critique" probably comes from something derived of Rolling Stone magazine.

Back in the "old days" (like, 10 years ago) we used to just call that a review, and it might have come in the form of a book review, or film review, or album review. A critic listens to an album, watches a movie, or reads a book, and reacts. You'd read these reviews in magazines, or in newspapers. Maybe you'd even hear a "review" on the radio, or watch a goofy looking dude on your local news station give a "review" of a movie he just watched before you did.

The difference is that criticism, especially literary criticism in the classical sense, was an academic and cerebral affair with analysis. Today, we're more or less just talking about an immediate response.

I believe there is still room in this world for professional critics, especially good writers with scholarly insight. Simultaneously, it thrills me that everyone is given a voice of expression if they want one. After all, the internet has brought us closer to democracy, right? We all get a voice if we want one, we all get a vote if we want one, and that vote is equal.

Internet reactionism appears, to me, to have flourished as the 'i-generation' has finally come into its own. I've noticed two trends from this new 'i-generation':

- One is that we've begun to consume news differently. While literary, film and music 'reactionism' are probably still the most common and popular types of 'consumption-reaction,' we aren't limited to these topics anymore. News is now consumed not as knowledge, but as something closer to entertainment, and we respond to it not as a valued piece of information, but as a product to react to.

- Second is that, if news is to be considered more of a product than as valued information, then ANYone can react to it. We're moving away from the days of "water-cooler talk," and instead, reactionism is in print, because ANYone can put it to print, right here, on the internet. So now, someone can take a column, or a quote, or an article, or a really cool video, and, just, react. No insight, no "critique," just unsolicited, blindingly-entitled, opinion.

Read/Reax: Evolution or Degradation.

'I Love You, Man' is a Charming Bromance

On Thursday I had the opportunity to see a screening of 'I Love You, Man' with my girlfriend.  I hadn't seen any advertisements for the movie, nor had I heard anything about it from anyone other than her.  It turned out to be what 'Role Models' was to me; an understated Paul Rudd comedy that far exceeded expectations.

Paul Rudd is Peter Klaven, a reserved 30 something real estate agent who's lived his whole life without any close guy friends.  When Peter overhears his fiancé Zooey (Rashida Jones) venting concerns that he won't even have a best man at their wedding, he sets out on a series of man-dates to court a male friend in time to walk down the aisle.  At an open house Peter meets Sydney (Jason Segel), a not so grown up investment banker with little barrier between what he thinks and what he says.  Peter and Sydney start to spend a lot of time together, and Zooey is generally happy for him, but eventually conflict arises between Peter the boyfriend and Peter the bro-friend, and he's forced to choose between the two.

A large part of the beginning of the film is used to introduce and relate the main characters to one another.  The investment pays off, and the transition from character development to purely humorous interaction is seamless.  Rudd's straight-laced Peter gets funnier and funnier as he opens up.  The audience is taken for a ride with Peter as he discovers more about Sydney, and as they bond over strolls on the beach, 'Rush' cover jam sessions, and confrontations with body builders, we discover that the young at heart Sydney needs Peter as much as Peter needs him.

Along the way, Rudd gets major laughs for his pitiful attempts at bro-speak.  His character's painful struggle with making a nick-name for his new friend are extremely awkward and goofy, and hard not to laugh at.  There's little drama to detract from the humor.  Most of the conflict in this movie is between Peter and himself.  

The movie plays out like a romantic comedy.  As if a tip of the hat to 'Roman Holiday', they zip around southern California on a Vespa, Segel being a disarming Gregory Peck to Rudd's uptight Audrey Hepburn.  The predictability of the storyline is easily forgivable because of the level of empathy that is galvanized for these hilarious characters.

'I Love You, Man' keeps the drama light and focuses its laughs on Rudd's awkwardness and potty humor peppered by Segel throughout the movie.  See this charming film for unexpected laughs.

2nd Row IMAX Watchmen Midnight Release

Omg.

Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg.

Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg.

Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg.

OMG.

Can only think in bullets, Rorschach-style.

(Spoilers. Will keep the formatting harder to read for those of you just trying to skip to posts below.)

- Every one of the Watchmen = enormous and muscular and actually LOOKED like they could kick the ass of every person whose ass they kicked (this includes the women, which makes me deliriously happy. Could have ended the movie with total satisfaction on Laurie's monster thighs)

- Montage at beginning beautifully, tragically, perfectly encapsulates most of "Under the Hood" without seeming dry or remotely like exposition

- Dr. Manhattan's package much, much more impressive

-Rorschach's voice EXACTLY the way I (and probably you) pictured

- IMAX sex scene a little uncomfortable. A LOT uncomfortable, but adorable in its way.

- Nite Owl is huge, hulking, lumbering nerd with enormous glasses and a mean roundhouse kick. So attractive.

- Ozymandias colder than I expected, but followed/believed the choice easily enough

- Soundtrack = all the rich 60s protest songs and silly 80s pop their world missed out on because America won the Vietnam war and Tricky Dick stuck around

- Hints to parts left out - beautifully, seamlessly done; the readers will laugh and cry at every subtle reference of the news seller and the boy, and Hollis. Okay mainly cry.

- Hollis isn't killed onscreen, nor is his death referenced. Personally liked it better that way...

- Movie = 99% graphic novel, .5% switcheroo of the "alien" at the end, .5% human error because I was so engrossed I must have missed something

- Visuals; visual tableaus = STUNNING, and directly from the pages of the book

- Costumes, hair, skin... so beautiful and perfect and unnaturally smooth like paint

- Overall look like the ink hadn't quite dried yet

- Switcheroo of the "alien" is WRONG WRONG WRONG and unfortunately left a bad taste in mouth at the end... like finishing a seven course juice-filled, heavenly, luxury meal with an uncooked rutabaga.

- When entered theater, was prepared for the worst but hoped for the best. Got most of the latter with just enough a dash of the former to let me know humans made it.

Recommendation for people who have read the book - go right now as soon as you read this.

Recommendation for people who haven't - not sure. See it definitely but maybe don't pay for it.

But maybe do.

*Author's Note* It took me about three weeks to reconcile myself with the ending of the graphic novel and will probably take me as long again, now that I'm reminded of the bleak(?) message. Thoughts?

One Year in Four Colors - Justice League International Vol. 3

So I've decided to write a review or analysis of every Graphic Novel I read in 2009. I'd try for every comic, but none of us have that kind of time.
*Spoiler Warning* should be considered general practice.




Justice League International Vol. 3

Writers: Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis
Artists: Kevin Maguire, Ty Templeton, and Steve Leialoha
Publisher: DC Comics

In the late '80s, the Justice League was at a crossroads. After a brief flirtation with the 'Detroit Era' (a short lived period in Justice League history where almost everyone you've probably heard of left the team, Aquaman took over and moved the league into a bunker in Detroit with only four complete unknowns, Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, and the Elongated Man making the roll call) the JLA was in shambles and the original Justice League of America series was cancelled for the first time. In the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths the entire DCU was being reorganized, and a Justice League series was a must. Given the success of Crisis a new crossover was planned, Legends, which would end with the reformation of a new league and a brand new #1 issue to launch the new title.

Editor Andy Helfer was in charge of putting together the book. He was told make it big, make it bold, make it about the stars again. Great. That sounds like a mandate for the classic JLA we all know and love.

There were a couple problems.

DC editorial politics being what they were back then, no one wanted anyone touching 'their' characters - and each editor had to approve usage of the characters they edited. So almost none of the big guns were available as they were all undergoing revamps in their respective titles. Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, The Hawks - all off limits.

So who WAS on the team, he asked?

Well it turns out the roster was going to be decided in the pages of Legends. Sadly, the writers hadn't actually written Legends yet, nor did they know who would be in the league, and would he please leave them alone about it? Oh, and what's the status on Justice League?

Thankfully, Helfer found someone just crazy enough to take on the project with him, even without any idea of what they could do - comic stalwart and to be Legend Keith Giffen. They decided if they couldn't have a roster pre-planned, they'd come up with a situation for the book that was roster proof - the idea of an eccentric, mysterious businessman named Maxwell Lord who would attempt to manipulate the group from the outside, and eventually tie them to the United Nations. instead of being the Justice League of America, they would be Justice League International. Instead of a satellite headquarters operating in geosynchronous orbit around the Earth, why not dozens of embassies, each located in a UN member nation. They would embrace the B-, C-, and D-list level of their characters as an opportunity to really develop them.

And the biggest change? Instead of just being fun... could they maybe be funny?

It had really never been done before, and it payed off huge. A total paradigm shift from any league before, or franchise team book at all. If the JLA had always been a book about a bunch of super powered people who did their jobs extremely well, this was the book that saw them driving each other crazy on coffee break, or having to live with each other. This was the book about regular people who just happened to be super-heroes. And maybe they barely got along at all.

Joining the creative team was scripter JM DeMatteis (Giffen did the plots, but was afraid of handling dialogue), a noted comic scribe known mainly for straight ahead heroics and deep spiritual stories of faith. Turns out he had a wicked sense of humor too, and filled each of Giffen's plots with gag after gag. The two of them become so synonymous with each other for so long it was a shock to learn that they had been working together years before they ever met.

Rounding out the group was a brand new artist, utterly unheard of at the time, that they decided to take a chance on - the incomparable Kevin Maguire (one of my absolute favorites, and one of the ONLY artists I buy just for the art). His clean linework and INCREDIBLE facial expressions made the book and gave life to each of the heroes. His characters didn't pose - they acted and reacted like real people caught in the utterly absurd situations that men running around in capes find themself in. If regular comic books are the newscast, JLI was the moments before the camera roles and the guests sit around picking their noses.

This became one of the most beloved runs in comic history, and changed the nature of the league for years after. Eventually becoming a house style that tended toward boorish self parody once Giffen and crew left, the original books were packed with a solid mix of action, characterization, and humor. This is the run where we loved to hate Guy Gardner, watched Blue Beetle and Booster Gold become the Schlafstein/Pratt of comic books, where J'onn got addicted to choco cookies, and Batman actually made a JOKE! It was incredible, and remains beloved to this day.

This book is the third volume in the run, and it's not as strong as the first two. The jokes are starting to feel a bit more forced, as the humor/action blend is edging further and further towards humor (and there's a LOT of G'nort in here, a character I enjoy much more in smaller doses). The art is also uneven, with Maguire handling most of it, but assisted by Steve Leialoha and Ty Templeton on chapters. Templeton is solid as always, but Leialoha looks ungly and rushed and certainly not up to today's usual quality.

There are some great moments though - including the early onset of Blue and Gold shenanigans. Also, Giffen creation Lobo has a major role in the book and as this is from before he devolved in a one note self parody, his character is refreshing and enjoyable in a way I've really never seen other than when written by Morrison.

I also finally got the fish-dolphin reference from 52.

Basically this is part of a treasured run. If you're collecting the whole thing, or already love these characters, then reccomended. But if not - start with Vol. 1. They're better comics overall, and the beginning of this particular chapter in JL history as well.