Another transition comic - but this time in semi-colour. Or, how Dean bought art pens and needed a reason to play with them (and blur in photoshop).
Monday, June 25, 2007
the wolf thirteen
the wolf - thirteen
Another transition comic - but this time in semi-colour. Or, how Dean bought art pens and needed a reason to play with them (and blur in photoshop).
Another transition comic - but this time in semi-colour. Or, how Dean bought art pens and needed a reason to play with them (and blur in photoshop).
Monday, June 18, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
Ex Machina
Every time I seemingly think I’ve outgrown old staples of my childhood, they come rearing back with the unexpected force of newfound depth. At some point in my high school years, the concept of visiting the comic store lost its appeal, either in the fact that the comics I read took a turn for the worse or the fact that I’d suddenly gone from doing something every other kid was doing to something that only a few kids did and were socially marginalized for doing. Either way, my visits became less frequent and eventually I stopped buying comics regularly.
Now, a grown man, or at least as close to a grown man as I’m likely to become, I’ve gone back to the comics format – on my knees no less – weeping and pleading for forgiveness. A lot of my return can be attributed to stemming interest in cross-over comics such as Miller’s Sin City and Batman, but there have been a couple other titles that have demonstrated a uniquely adult perspective on the world, while still using familiar comic-book tropes and artistry.
On my last birthday, my girlfriend gave me two collected works for Brian K. Vaughn’s Ex Machina. Looking at the covers while we ate our steak dinners (at the 80’s timewarp restaurant known at the reef n’ beef), I really came into the comics with no expectations. I had never heard of Vaughn and had never heard anything about Ex Machina. Jackie described it as a superhero comic that involves politics and she was right, it was, and oh so much more.
Ex Machina basically follows the story of Michell Hundred, who by some accident acquires the ability to talk to machines – basically any machine that involves some level of complexity from phones, to billboards to even guns. With his newly-found powers Hundred decides to fight crime as “The Great Machine” in his home city of New York. At this point it’s pretty standard comic-book fare.
Where it gets interesting is that all these details are in the past – the story is told from the present – where Hundred has retired from crimefighting, ran for Mayor of New York and won. During Ex Machina, Vaughn weaves the current story of Hundred’s daily struggles as Mayor of New York with his recollections as a crimefighter and ultimately the day that shaped his future – September 11th.
It’s a fascinating story in that Vaughn doesn’t pull any punches about politics in New York or what makes Hundred tick – he’s by no means a superhero in personality and struggles like any normal man to wade through the myriad of back-dealing that’s involved with his job – all of this occurs as he must deal with his past, his unknown powers and new crops of dangerous people trying to harm the city, him or his family.
The timeline of the story starts sometime after September 11th and Vaughn explores a number of big-picture issues such as the war in Iraq, first-amendment rights in art, children’s education, labour issues, gay marriage, and the New York power blackout. As much as there is tense action and suspense, there is a great deal of interplay from the characters as they deal with issues that often share thematic similarities with issues from The Great Machine’s personal history. It makes for some interesting parallels to watch how Hundred treats politics in the same was as he treated crime fighting, or at times, how he treats them differently.
I’ve enjoyed this series so much that I’ve actually gone back to the comic store to buy issues now. Sometimes you really can’t appreciate something until you’ve come full-circle to see it from all the angles. I’m glad I came back to comics for this great series.
Now, a grown man, or at least as close to a grown man as I’m likely to become, I’ve gone back to the comics format – on my knees no less – weeping and pleading for forgiveness. A lot of my return can be attributed to stemming interest in cross-over comics such as Miller’s Sin City and Batman, but there have been a couple other titles that have demonstrated a uniquely adult perspective on the world, while still using familiar comic-book tropes and artistry.
On my last birthday, my girlfriend gave me two collected works for Brian K. Vaughn’s Ex Machina. Looking at the covers while we ate our steak dinners (at the 80’s timewarp restaurant known at the reef n’ beef), I really came into the comics with no expectations. I had never heard of Vaughn and had never heard anything about Ex Machina. Jackie described it as a superhero comic that involves politics and she was right, it was, and oh so much more.
Ex Machina basically follows the story of Michell Hundred, who by some accident acquires the ability to talk to machines – basically any machine that involves some level of complexity from phones, to billboards to even guns. With his newly-found powers Hundred decides to fight crime as “The Great Machine” in his home city of New York. At this point it’s pretty standard comic-book fare.
Where it gets interesting is that all these details are in the past – the story is told from the present – where Hundred has retired from crimefighting, ran for Mayor of New York and won. During Ex Machina, Vaughn weaves the current story of Hundred’s daily struggles as Mayor of New York with his recollections as a crimefighter and ultimately the day that shaped his future – September 11th.
It’s a fascinating story in that Vaughn doesn’t pull any punches about politics in New York or what makes Hundred tick – he’s by no means a superhero in personality and struggles like any normal man to wade through the myriad of back-dealing that’s involved with his job – all of this occurs as he must deal with his past, his unknown powers and new crops of dangerous people trying to harm the city, him or his family.
The timeline of the story starts sometime after September 11th and Vaughn explores a number of big-picture issues such as the war in Iraq, first-amendment rights in art, children’s education, labour issues, gay marriage, and the New York power blackout. As much as there is tense action and suspense, there is a great deal of interplay from the characters as they deal with issues that often share thematic similarities with issues from The Great Machine’s personal history. It makes for some interesting parallels to watch how Hundred treats politics in the same was as he treated crime fighting, or at times, how he treats them differently.
I’ve enjoyed this series so much that I’ve actually gone back to the comic store to buy issues now. Sometimes you really can’t appreciate something until you’ve come full-circle to see it from all the angles. I’m glad I came back to comics for this great series.
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