5/14/23-5/20/23
The Chronicles of Riddick
My big memory of this was going to see it in theaters and being confused the entire time. My brother and one of his friends had come with me and they had both seen Pitch Black before this one (I hadn’t) so I thought they might have a better grasp on what was going on. They didn’t.
This movie is far from perfect, but I can’t help but applaud a movie that decides to go in such a radically different direction than it’s establishing work. It’s like how Aliens was an action movie when Alien was just a horror movie. No wait, it’s like if Aliens was epic science fantasy detailing the world that the characters lived in with only passing references to the original movie sprinkled in (with the titular aliens never showing up) while Ripley fights off an intergalactic evil empire.
I have to give credit where it’s due; the world that David Twohy has created is compelling and original, even if it doesn’t always stick the landing. It’s honestly disappointing that the sequel is a back-to-basics affair, as there’s a lot of interesting stuff to mine. But hey, Riddick 4 is supposedly in development, and Vaako went through the gate to the underverse, so maybe I’ll get my wish.
Camelot 3000 11: “War!” by Mike W. Barr, Brian Bollard, et al.
I adore this. Despite being the penultimate comic in the series, it’s not hard at all to pick up on the story: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have been reincarnated into the far future and have to ward off an attack from Morgan Le Fay This issue sees Arthur and his knights encountering a matriarchal race of lizard people. It’s ridiculous, but it never blinks. It’s funny, but there’s a real sincerity to it, and at no point do you get the feeling that any of the creative team weren’t fully on-board or mocking the idea behind it. I miss that!
Judas No. 4 by Jeff Loveness and Jakub Rebelka
This is the last in a series all about, you guessed, Judas Iscariot. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s the final issue of what was clearly meant to be a graphic novel more than an actual comic series. I do like how it paints Judas as somewhat of a Bodhisattva figure for the damned, but it’s hard to get a full picture of what the narrative is.
Hermes Versus The Eyeball Kid #1 by Eddie Campbell, Peter Mullins, et al.
Don’t care for it! I don’t know what it is about these British cartoonists that make so many of them turn to far too heavy metaphors.
Kill Shakespeare #1: “A Sea of Troubles” by Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col, Andy Belanger, et al.
Terrible idea.
Ultimate Spider-Man: Free Comic Book Day Edition: “Stan Lee Presents Powerless” by Brian Michael Bendis, Bill Jemas, Mark Bagley, Art Thibert, et al.
The funniest thing about this comic is the fact that it’s “Stan Lee Presents” even though he had no creative input on it. It’s Spider-Man’s origin story; you’ve seen it before, it’s not that interesting, but it does have an early-2000s flair to it if nothing else.
Tempus Fugitive Sections 1 and 2 by Ken Steacy
This series is gorgeous: bright, dynamic compositions with a beautifully-stylized artwork all with soft, airbrushed coloring. There’s something amazing-looking on nearly every page. The story itself is okay, but sometimes gets bogged down in the details. In the second issue, Ray, our time-traveling air force pilot protagonist, exposits for around four pages and it gets tiresome pretty quickly. More than anything else, this seems like a celebration of aviation, which I'm not upset at, but also don’t care about. It’s a subject that compliments the art well, I’ll give Steacy that.
Alex No. 1 by Mark Kalesniko
The promising start to a semi-autobiographical comic series following a formerly ambitious artist and animator as he wallows in his home town (Toronto?). Far too relatable in a way, though I’ve yet to find any success to fall from.
Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter #1: “Joe-rigins” by Jon Glaser, Tom Mandrake, Jan Duursema, et al.
Look, this is simply a promotional comic for the TV show of the same name, but the fact that Jon Glaser actual wrote it and didn’t just recycle jokes form the TV show (although there’s a few in there) shows at least a small dedication to the form that I wouldn’t have expected to come from something like this. IT isn’t a amazing, but if you’re a fan of the TV show or of Jon Glaser’s work in general, I would recommend picking it up if you can.
Raijin Comics Issue 0: “City Hunter” by Hojo Tsukasa; “Fist of the Blue Sky” by Hara Tetsuo with Story Consultation by Buronson; “Baki the Grappler” by Itagaki Keisuke; and “Guardian Angel” by Sakurano Minene
As much as I could go on about the actual series that are featured in this book, I’d rather expound upon my thoughts in regards to Raijin Comics in general. I can’t help but admire the ambition behind this doomed publication. I think Gutsoon! (and weirdly Sega) could’ve made a real difference in the manga landscape if things went a bit differently, but unfortunately they didn’t have the experience Viz did when they launched their own manga magazines. Gutsoon! didn’t have a distinct identity, for starters. I remember briefly seeing it around the time it was being published and being confused about what it was. I clocked that City Hunter was from the Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump, so I thought maybe Viz was making something for mature readers. It not being related at all makes a ton more sense, as there didn’t seem to be a uniting idea behind the series featured. Raijin also hurt from not having any advertising budget (I remember distinctly seeing Shonen Jump ads on Toonami) and no distribution. I first found Raijin at my local independent game store and I can tell you now that even the employees working there were confused as to where it came from. Possibly because Sega had money behind it, they thought game stores would be logical? Only, they couldn’t go through Game Stop as they already had a magazine no one wanted. The whole thing is confusing. You can tell there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the product being launched, and even the artists featured voice their anticipation, but when push came to shove, it just couldn’t be Shonen Jump. It turns out more people wanted to read One Piece than a prequel series to Fist of the North Star. Go figure.
The Last Generation No. 1: “From Twin Fires A New Beginning” by Bill Bryer, Mitch Foust, David Porch, and Dave Bennett
I’m going to say this now: this isn’t a good comic, but it’s charming as all hell. Tribes of anthropomorphic animals that accidentally set of nukes, weird demon/goblin people running around, and what appears to be the literal gods of Egypt are all packed in here. It doesn’t make a ton of sense. It’s not that it doesn’t worldbuild enough: I don’t need paragraphs of exposition and characters explaining concepts to each other they should already know, but even within that sparse world building narrative, it just seems like a couple of people throwing in ideas haphazardly. Like I said though, it’s very charming and I’m even interested in seeing what the next few issues of this even could be, but it’s not good.