TestosteRohne

What the fudgemothering heck happened to Daredevil?

 

Lovely art, but all the things I enjoyed about Andy Diggle's run lost in a story that makes no sense to me.

How so?

Personally I didn't enjoy Diggle's Daredevil run, which was more a case of certain narrative decisions (Matt actually being demonically possessed for one) rather than it being written poorly.

Also to be fair Andy had one hell of a tall order in following both Bendis and Brubaker.

Waid's current take and the incorporation of that take work well to my mind.

Many writers have tried to lighten Daredevil up in the past, but it's usually applied as an unexplained tonal shift.

Here Matt is actively "trying" to lighten up himself, rather than the title just magically shifting into a happier mode.

There is both a clean continuity of narrative and character here.

Furthermore the second tale in this first issue was really just Matt positing Waid's approach to the both the reader and Foggy and shrewdly having Foggy ultimately wary and unsure of it.

It's a great way to actually have your cake and eat it and invariably set Matt up for the thematic fall later.

I know I am about to commit some sort of blasphemy, but I found LOEG Century:1910 to be rather boring and horribly lacking in quality, at least when compared to parts I & II. However, Kevin O'Neil always turns in great art. At the end when Mina chides the rest of the team for having failed to accomplish anything, that's exactly how I felt. There are some interesting characters there but they story is just blah.

I'd have to agree there, it didn't zip along as nicely as the first two volumes nor did it contain the scope and multimedia flare that Black Dossier had.

However I can appreciate the level at which the 1910 tale is interwoven and/or spun from Three Penny Opera and other references.

On this level it's cleverer if you will then Volume 1 and 2.

1969 is personally a better read but there are 1910 like pacing problems, however the, perhaps inadvertent, build up the slower sections create actually works well.

Grr, my local comic shop hasn't got the 1969 and is blaming Diamond, saying no one else had it either. Anyone else had a problem? Or is my chap just hopeless?

Without Hope.

Ascendants of Rawls and Munch appear in the ext piece.

Also, I was surprised to learn that the magician Mina hangs around with in Hyde Park is

I've no interest in reading the books but have been dragged to most of the films by ungrateful ex's, Tom Riddle's middle name is Morvalo, and is sort reminiscent of Mocata and Marcato the other Crowley analogues, so that works quite well.

It also cleverly overlaps Haddo's serial possesions with Voldemoort's horcrux nonsense.

Only Moore could possibly redeem Harry Potter (Will he call him Tim Hunter?).

I expected to see some McGoohan Prisoner somewhere, but there is a Danger man reference.

Apparently Nathan Barley(!), and characters from Entourage and 24 to make an appearance in Volume 3.

Perhaps it's the point but they don't have the same impact as the references from the past.

Will I be missing out on anything key having not read Black Dossier?

It may be a tad daunting and/or a bit of a schlep to read, but bit by bit it's well worth it.

It made Century feel like a light step backwards for me.

The Black Dossier and the New Travellers Almanac back up pieces from Volume 2 show the true gargantuan scale of Moore's League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen project.

 

Didn't get many characters or references, pretty much the Get Carter and Rosemary's Baby stuff.

 

One could exhaust yourself trying.

But some of the main ones were as you said Get Carter,(it's not often you get to read a comic in Michael Caine's Voice!) then Wolfey and his Boss lover Vic Dakin (A fictional Cray brother) from the film Villain and of course Performance (Introducing the fictional analogue to Mick Jagger and maybe the chap who gets drowned in the beginning).

The Rutles were obviously the Beatles film spoof.

Interestingly the Prisoner of London seems to know that the LOEG is fictional, saying how much he enjoyed Volume 2, and he also talks about the Performance Directors Donald Camel and Nic Roeg.

Is this how Moore will take it up a level on he third instalment?

I'm sure this is and much, much "moore" is all annotated somewhere else but it was off of my head like.

So who are our modern day LOEG contenders and bit parters?

The Wire?( I haven't read the Baltimore Gun Club text pieces, but I'd wager their antecedents are there) Harry Potter as the Moon Child? Rebus? The West Wing?

I enjoyed 1969 greatly and I got my spiffy exclusive bookplates for 1910 and 1960, but I've been a bit spoilt by the scope of the multi-textual Black Dossier.

Check this, possible spoilers.

The 2008 League

The solicitation for the final issue of Volume Three indicates that, by 2008, the League is nearly extinct save for an apparent member in a London mental institution. The Moonchild will have grown to power by this time. Mention has also been made of a Sikh terrorist with a nuclear armed submarine and an ongoing, "intractable" war in Qumar (The fictional country from the West Wing).

Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill will be at Gosh Comics, London this Saturday the 30th, between 2-6pm.

Additionally Gosh have exclusive book plates for both LOEG: Century 1960 and 1910.

You would think that big breasted women with flaming skulls would only appeal to a very select group of men.

Perhaps not quite the high concept it was pitched as?

What a flaming reach around?

If only my friday nights were that eventful...

Slinker, I will pop this in your special delivery.

Sorry.

Ha!

I probably deserve this, next year is of course a leap year.

I'll be feeling that extra day...

Groan,

a

whole

bloody

year

from

today

. . .

Yeah. L'Arnacoeur next, I think.

 

They've been disappointing so far, which I suppose helps soften the blow.

 

Not quite sure how I'm supposed to see David Tennant in Much Ado or Matt Lucas in Les Mis without actually going back to London though.

Heh, but no Tree of Life yet?

Are you still ploughing through the films advertised in the London underground?

13 Assassins

The Takashi Miike remake of the 1963 semi-classic of the same name, it's a fairly straightforward samurai flick with the usual grotesque/sexual flourishes from Miike. Has a definite 7 Samurai feel to it and provides a really, really interesting look at tradition, honor, class, war, and the changing Japanese sociopolitical structure (it takes place at the end of the Edo period).

Highly recommended.

A-

I think you're being over generous here.

Good fun but severely lacking much of the majesty of Seven Samurai, which the film remake or not is overtly referencing.

Miike has said as much in his attempt to bring classic Japanese cinema back and his next film being cut from the same cloth.

I thought that the film and narrative structure demanded far better characterisation, look at what something like Dirty Dozen achieved with similar requisites.

This was personally exasperated and all the more glaring as the film adopts a slow burn approach (A method I usually enjoy).

Amazingly 13 Assassin's was filmed in all of two weeks and as such there were many technical issues I found with the overall enjoyable "Total Massacre".

Ironically having restrained himself, it's the as you said Miike "flourishes" that really stand out, but as always they are both amusing and disposable.

The political backdrop was effectively conveyed, but I didn't find it's views to be that interesting compared to other similar Japanese forays.

Braithewaite drew a lot of (mostly dreadful) Punisher stuff in the '90s. Is he who you're thinking of here, or are you more taken with him drawing a decent story?

Perhaps but his recent art in general has been pretty damn good in my opinion.

He drew Ennis' Punisher MAX Mother Russia arc if you recall.

Oh, I see. I've often though the same myself.

 

Though I have my own more supernatural, straughforward pet theory about what the voice was, which better suited for the mainstream line. Namely, this guy...

 

True "To survive a War, you have to become War", but DID/MPD is slightly more digestible and would work better tonally.

Additionally it taps into relevant Post traumatic Stress disorders and the various mental wounds of War, which is more in keeping with Punisher as a war vet rather than an ex-cop.

Split personality or not "it" could still believe that it's some supernatural bad ass entity.

In that way they don't have to be mutually exclusive ideas.

I don't understand the distinction between the Punisher and Castle.

I think the Black voice from Born (Whatever it is, personally a dark coiled place within that Frank had to tap into survive a war) and Castle together are the Punisher.

Although I don't think it's a clean distinction that can be retroactively applied to the Ennis or prior runs.

Remember the one barrier that Bullseye couldn't crack was the long standing question on the title itself as to when Frank actually becomes the Punisher?

The 'Nam (Valley Forge) or Central Park inconsistency has nagged at the title for some time.

That's clearly Castle sitting in that prison cell now and not the Punisher, the arc is even called Frank (Also for honesty or to come clean).

If Aaron can pull this tall order off he'll have elevated his run in his own right, rather than the very good Ennis impression it is now.

Would we like Frank Castle more or less if we find out he was culpable/complicit in his family's murder?

 

Aah but as I've been speculating would you like the Punisher more or less if we find out he was culpable/complicit in Frank Castle's family murder.?

 

Mind....blown!!!

Exactly, it's been there since Born and highlighted in Valley Forge, Valley Forge.

There's still no guarantee that Aaron will go this way of course, but whatever it is it's got to be juicy enough to have stopped Frank/The Punisher cold when Bullseye whispered it to him.

As Husamuddin said can the pay off ever match the build up?

Re-watch time then.

I'm going to guess neither. Too cold, even for Fury. Take Mother Russia, for instance.

 

I'm pretty sure I'll be shitting bricks when next issue comes along.

 

I ran an image search for issue #17, and look what turned up.

 

This really is turning into a big Daredevil story that doesn't star Daredevil.

Would we like Frank Castle more or less if we find out he was culpable/complicit in his family's murder?

 

Aah but as I've been speculating would you like the Punisher more or less if we find out he was culpable/complicit in Frank Castle's family murder?

#15. Wow, left me just beggin' for the next issue, as this series usually does. Great stuff.

 

 

I do wonder where Aaron is going to go with The Punisher after this story arc,

 

This will be hard to top.

Judging by the "Will punish people for Ammo" cover two issues ahead, a completely broke and practically unarmed Frank (Having had all his safehouses raided by the NYPD) will finally set his sights on the Kingpin.

I was a bit unsure of any further involvement by Nick Fury into Frank's origins, in the way that I wouldn't want more Superman in Batman's origins, however Aaron is using him well in that Colonel Troutman from Rambo type role.

I almost expected that Rambo 3 speech about a sculptor and a slab of stone when Fury was telling frank what he really is.

I'm on tenterhooks to see just how culpable or complicit Aaron is going to make Castle and/or the Punisher in his own families murder.

It's a perilous knife edge to write well and this money shot has been building up

Good lord, was A History of Violence really as bad as I thought it was? I couldn't even finish it, the acting and pacing was so bad. Like me some Viggo and Ed harris I do, but it still sucked.

I need to reevaluate it myself.

Big Cronenberg fan, but I expected more after Spider.

This felt empty and obvious and as you said the pacing and acting seemed oddly out of synch to me.

But I'll save it all for a re watch.

Maybe there's a buy 1 get 1 free on brain checks Lou.

Finally Terence Malick's Tree of Life!

This more than aesthetically beautiful film plays like a humanising version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as such it's more heart-blowing than mind-blowing.

Incredibly ambitious (Leaping head first into territory where cinematic angels would fear to tread) and impossibly all encompassing but thankfully too heartfelt and emotionally committed to be pretentious.

Less about the meaning of life and more the experience of it, the struggle between "Nature and Grace" (Although I'm unsure on his exact definitions of both, but this conflict is bizarrely summated in the most moving Dinosaur sequence I've ever seen!) and a christian-ish pondering on why the just suffer.

All answers are of course just out of grasp really but that doesn't stop Malick from taking a grand if not doomed-to-fail-from-the-go shot at it.

Some see have seen trite results, but it was personally far too resonant to be so.

For my tastes I prefer a teensy bit more of a narrative framing and anchor, as Malick previously employed so masterfully in The Thin Red Line, Badlands, Days of Heaven and the sadly lesser A New World.

Here what was partially background in these films is now more than foreground, in fact it's the very the subject material.

Given this free form narrative, I was pleasantly surprised at how excellent Brad Pitt was, having honestly expected the film's form to stifle the performances all round.

Although now sublimely drifting into Antonioni, perhaps Chris Marker and to a lesser extent Herzog territory, Tree of Life really is the most Terrence Malick film made, finally coalesced from material he'd been entertaining as "Q" way back since Days of Heaven.

A divisive and perhaps not entirely successful ending notwithstanding (I have yet to see a satisfying posit. An extrapolation of "Love"?), I'd love a meditive second helping.

Roll on the rumoured 6 hour cut (OK perhaps not) and the cornea splitting High Definition Blu Ray on my 200hz motion flow 1080p 46' LED Eye of God tele.