Unplugged Wednesday - Walking Dead

Hello and Welcome.

Well, I originally wanted to write about World War Z or the Zombie Survival Guide (both by Max Brooks), but I haven't read enough yet to give a good opinion on it (only to say that I love it, and it is a thinly veiled political commentary).  Instead, we are going to post a peice that Nate wrote on Walking Dead a while back.  Enjoy!

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Quick, name two things that are awesome. Zombies you say? I think I heard comics from somewhere in the back. Zombies and comics actually make the perfect match. First up, because I have to make a throwaway mention to the fantastic cover art, the Marvel Zombies comics are decent. The plot is funny and the art is really good, but there is really no substance beyond that. The zombie comic I'm here to talk about is one that I've been behind for about 2 or 3 years now: The Walking Dead.

All of the best zombie stories aren't just about zombies. The zombies are just a backdrop for the artist to build a canvas to tell the story of humans and the way they respond to fear or catastrophe, and The Walking Dead is extremely good at this. Yeah, there are some really great scenes of zombies getting their heads chopped off and people getting all eaten up, but the true strength of the series is the characters.

The story revolves around Rick, who was a police officer in a small Georgia town (yay) when he was shot and fell into a coma. When Rick wakes up, the dead have risen and his hospital and town have been overrun by zombies. Rick then leaves to head to Atlanta to (hopefully) find his wife and son. What follows is a fantastically well written survival story, not just of Rick, but of the people he encounters. They are constantly facing trouble within the pages, but this rarely comes from the zombies (at least later on). The survivors are forced to learn how to create their own society in a post-apocalyptic world, and the author (Robert Kirkman) does a great job in pulling all the difficulties together. Also, seeing as this is a comic, I cannot neglect the wonderful art style. The entire series is done in beautiful black and white that perfectly matches the mood of the writing.

Since I don't have a comic shop around here, I've been getting the series as it comes out in collected trade form and I'm up through Volume 8, so that's what I'm currently talking about. The series does a great job of changing everything each few issues (I don't want to spoil everything, since I think it would be a good idea for everyone who likes zombies to go ahead and pick this up). Pretty much all I'm trying to say here is that if you like zombies, this is some of the best stuff out there (outside of the two Max Brooks books - which will be discussed at some point soon, I should think), and you should be reading it.

Unplugged Wednesday - Fables

Hello and Welcome.



Our third entry in Fable week is actually not related to the Fable series of games.  Today we are going to talk about the Vertigo Comic: Fables.

I have always been a big fan of alternate interpretations of classic stories.  Gregory MacGuire's Wicked series, The Looking Glass Wars (Alice in Wonderland), and even Stephen King's Dark Tower series to an extent.

Fables is exactly that.  It is the story of all the people and creatures of legend living in New York city (for the Human Fables) and upstate New York on the "Farm" (for those less than human Fables).

The Fables are in NYC because they were exiled from their lands by the "Adversary" as he systematically took over their lands with his evil army.  The human fable community is run by the Deputy Mayor, Snow White and her trusty sheriff Bigby "The Big Bad Wolf" who thanks to a glamour, has a human form.  Snow White, and the whole community, deal with any number of situations over the course of the books:  Murders, Revolutions, etc.

As far as the art goes, it is very detailed and vibrant at times, but still has a somewhat dated look (though I think that is the DC/Image style).  The stories within each arch are very interesting and deal with "Real" problems in the "Mundy" (their name for normal "Mundane" humans) world.  For example,  Rose Red (Snow White's forgotten sister) slept with Prince Charming (SW's husband) and now they are divorced.

The stories are also often humorous.  One of my Favorites:
Goldilocks to Papa Bear: "Do you think I share your son's bed only because is happens to be 'Just Right'"?
Papa Bear: "No, it's because papa's l'il boo bear is hung like a --"

Anyway, I definitely recommend Fables, if you are in to the alternate version types of stories.

And if you are REALLY into Fables, you might check out the spin-offs (I haven't):  Jack of Fables (no good Jack of the BeanStalk story), and 1001 Nights of Snowfall: a prequel to Fables.

~K

Unplugged Wednesday: Y: the last Man.

Hello and welcome.

This week I am going to talk about a graphic novel series: Y: The last Man.

Published by VERTIGO (subsidary of DC) and Written by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra, the main artist.  Y tells the story of Yorick Brown, the last man on earth and his capuchin monkey Ampersand the last male mammal, after a plague wipes the earth of all male life.  Its less of a plague and more of a "Every male falls down and dies at once" event.  From there Yorick decides he has to find his girlfriend (almost fiancee) Beth.

Anything that has a post-apocalyptic, post-epidemic premise, almost always appeals to me.  I like the idea that we as humanity may be posed with a situation that doesn't fit into the constraints of Technology, or society as we know it.  It is really only in situations like this that the strength of our humanity will be proven (or most likely disproved).

That being said, the story in Y starts out strong, with a fair amount of struggle, and moral decisions for Yorick (which he usually makes, IMHO, the wrong choice.).  Quickly add in two female (obviously) companions, Extreme Feminist groups, and hot girl on girl action (a joke, small one) and the story takes off with a boom.

However, the story progresses over 10 books, and about 3 years and begins to lose focus as well as adding unneeded complexity to the story.  I mean, don't get me wrong, complexity is great when you do it well, but Y continues to add complexity just for the sake of complexity.

Still, Y is a worthwhile read.  I don't know that I would recommend buying it, but the art is good, the story decent.  So, if you have a friend with a copy, grab it, otherwise, check your library.

~K

Unplugged Wednesday: Watchmen

Watchmen is one of those books that is good the first time you read it, but every subsequent time it seems to get better. The story takes place in the 1980s, masked vigilantes have been outlawed by the Keene Act - all except those who have decided to work for the government. In the beginning of the book, the Comedian (one of the government's heroes) is murdered. The book then follows the musings of the one illegal vigilante still on the streets - Rorschach. Rorschach becomes convinced that the Comedian's murder is part of a plot to kill off or get rid of all the masked heroes. Without going into spoiler territory, that's it in a nutshell. The problem is, no simple explanation really works for this book.

When a comic deals with issues like rape, miracles, and sanity, it begins to transcend the stereotype of the superhero comic that we all know. Alan Moore is an incredible writer in the comic medium and Watchmen is where he really let it all out. Each panel and issue is expertly choreographed to fit within the greater story so that the next time you come back and read through, you can see all the foreshadowing and bits and clues that you may have missed on previous reads.

With all that being said, Rorschach is one of the greatest protagonists ever. You may not like his style or his creepy monotone voice (as they call it in the book), but he knows what he believes and nothing is going to stop him from pursuing what he believes to be right. His character gets even more interesting when you begin to learn his backstory and the events that led him to his decision to become a vigilante. Rorschach isn't the only good character in the story though, each character is well developed and sympathetic, which makes it hard late in the story when you have to choose who you want to root for.

The best thing I can say about Watchmen is that even though you can do what I'm doing now and try to sway or interest you into reading it, the book really comes into its own when you are able to discuss it with another reader. There is few things as satisfying as having a good talk about the characters and what they represent in our world or how could things have been resolved differently in the story, etc.

Watchmen truly is a classic that deserves its place in everyone's shelf of honor. Read it, but don't put too much hope in the movie. Terry Gilliam once said that it was unfilmable, and I think I agree.... but I can be proven wrong.