I read comics from time to time. Yes, i know, i am a bit of a geek. (25% according to this handy test.) I have just finished Detective Comics 853 written by Neil Gaiman. Detective Comics 852 & 853 serve as the epilogue for Batman RIP. Inspired by What Ever Happened to the Man of Steel?, Gaiman gives us the last Batman story. And it is a doozie.
Neil Gaiman writes comics, he writes them very well. Really he is the best. In fact, he can take comic straw and spin it into gold. When Spawn began it was nothing more than a fan-boy dream set to nice pictures. With one issue of Spawn in 1993 Gaiman gave the character a rich backstory and mythos in one stroke. His Sandman is not merely among the best comics written, it is among the best fiction ever written. Detective 852 and 853 are perhaps the best comics i have ever read.
I'd go on to do a proper review but there is little point. If you read comics, you'll take my word for it and pick up these issues. If Obama's economic recovery has left you short of cash i'll lend you mine. If you don't read comics you'd dismiss what i'd write and assume that once again i have confused my opinion with empirical fact. (For the record this is not possible, my opinion is empirical fact.)
This story perfectly portrays why heroes matter. It doesn't matter if it is Gilgamesh, Hercules, Batman, or John Galt, heroes inspire us to do better, to be better. Heroes matter. I am a better man for having read this story and i thank Mr. Gaiman for that.
Thanks Neil.
Bob
Friday, April 24, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Love, Present and Past.
Have you seen the new Cupid? I have. I watched the two episodes out of order. I saw Ep. 2 before the pilot. This was the wrong order. The pilot was excellent. I didn't like Bobby Cannavale before i was the pilot and i still don't. But that is ok, i don't like Sarah Michelle Gellar, but i love Buffy Summers. Trevor Pierce is no Trevor Hale but he is good enough. Better than good enough, he is pretty good.
It is a little unfair to make comparisons of the 2009 version of Cupid to the 1998 version. Jeremy Piven is incredible, Bobby Cannavale is ok. Sarah Paulson is sweet and fine, Paula Marshall was smart and sultry. New York is generic, everything is set there; Chicago is a much more interesting locale. But just because something is superior does not render the lessor version meritless. Cupid (2009) is a good show.
The things that made Cupid (1998) good are still there. There is interesting contemporary music. You may take this sort of thing for granted given that Srubs has been on for eight years now and Gillmore Girls and Dawson's Creek have come and gone and moved on to syndication, but in 1998 using good, lesser known, contemporary music in your television series was novel. The good people at ABC have not changed this facet of the show in its new incarnation.
The show is also well written. Erin would tell you that it is corny or cheesey but that is ok; the show adds the appropriate amount of spice. It is exactly these qualities that make a series about love work. Incidentally, it is also exactly those qualities that make nachos work.
The leads have good chemistry. Even though ABC has insisted on a greater focus on the B story, the romance of the week, there is still plenty of time given over to the A story, Cupid and Psyche, er, Claire. As always there are pretty people on the show. (Here's to hoping Lisa Loeb is once again one of those pretty people.)
I hope you'll find time to watch, record, download or Hulu™ this fine program before it goes away. The original had a fifteen episode run, but each was gold. This current series may only take silver, but if that is good enough to get you on the Wheaties box then it is good enough to block out one hour a week for. (Forty-three minutes if you DL the show.)
Later
Bob
"I firmly believe his dreams are of nymphs and satyrs." Dr. Claire Allen
For those of you who are interested i have the original 1998 series starring the inimitable Jeremy Piven. It will be available via my loaner hard drive in the near future. Make your reservations now.
It is a little unfair to make comparisons of the 2009 version of Cupid to the 1998 version. Jeremy Piven is incredible, Bobby Cannavale is ok. Sarah Paulson is sweet and fine, Paula Marshall was smart and sultry. New York is generic, everything is set there; Chicago is a much more interesting locale. But just because something is superior does not render the lessor version meritless. Cupid (2009) is a good show.
The things that made Cupid (1998) good are still there. There is interesting contemporary music. You may take this sort of thing for granted given that Srubs has been on for eight years now and Gillmore Girls and Dawson's Creek have come and gone and moved on to syndication, but in 1998 using good, lesser known, contemporary music in your television series was novel. The good people at ABC have not changed this facet of the show in its new incarnation.
The show is also well written. Erin would tell you that it is corny or cheesey but that is ok; the show adds the appropriate amount of spice. It is exactly these qualities that make a series about love work. Incidentally, it is also exactly those qualities that make nachos work.
The leads have good chemistry. Even though ABC has insisted on a greater focus on the B story, the romance of the week, there is still plenty of time given over to the A story, Cupid and Psyche, er, Claire. As always there are pretty people on the show. (Here's to hoping Lisa Loeb is once again one of those pretty people.)
I hope you'll find time to watch, record, download or Hulu™ this fine program before it goes away. The original had a fifteen episode run, but each was gold. This current series may only take silver, but if that is good enough to get you on the Wheaties box then it is good enough to block out one hour a week for. (Forty-three minutes if you DL the show.)
Later
Bob
"I firmly believe his dreams are of nymphs and satyrs." Dr. Claire Allen
For those of you who are interested i have the original 1998 series starring the inimitable Jeremy Piven. It will be available via my loaner hard drive in the near future. Make your reservations now.
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