Life has been flying at me so fast I scarcely noticed that it’s been almost a month since the last edition of this newsletter… and since I have that Midwestern American fear of being too much of a bother, I don’t even feel guilty.
Well, almost.
Let’s go.
The Three Amigos Ride Again
No, not Martin, Steve, and Chevy; I’m talking about me, Dan Schoening, and Luis Antonio Delgado. The three of us have been working together as a team since April of 2011, and I can’t even tell you how much of a joy it is for me that we’re still making comics.
June 19 (which, as I write this, is today) is the final order cutoff for TWO comics we did, both coming out in July.
The first is Godzilla Monsters & Protectors: Summer Smash. This is a bittersweet comic — it’s a lot of fun, yes, and we got Jet Jaguar into the comic, but this is also the end of our run on Godzilla. As a double-sized one-shot, Summer Smash clocks in at the equivalent of two issues (double-sized was a pretty good clue) which, when you look at our previous minis, Rise Up! and All Hail the King!, that’s 240 pages of middle grade friendly kaiju action. It should make for a heckuva nice collection someday.
It’s bittersweet because Dan and Luis found the artistic tone they were looking for towards the end of All Hail the King!, and I regret that we can’t play further in the sandbox now that they have. We never even got to Rodan or Mechagodzilla!
Still, Toho asked us to create something to appeal to a younger audience, and from all accounts, it was a success. The target audience loved what we were doing, though I’ll forever be laughing at the tweets I got a couple years back when we launched. After months of letting everyone know this was middle grade—and let me tellya, that was a challenge… which I’ll get into another time—I was hit by a bunch of adults asking why it wasn’t more mature, more aimed at them, and asking if I understood that Godzilla was meant to be taken seriously.
(I love the Burr-less ‘54 original, which absolutely had some somber moments, but as the years went on, Godzilla got bonkers and decidedly family friendly. That’s the vibe we aimed to capture.)
In any case, the end is in sight. Here’s a sneak peek at one of my favorite panels from Dan & Luis:
The SECOND thing Dan, Luis, and I have cooked up involves a wacky New York based quartet… no, not the one you’re thinking of.
Dan & Luis are in the art rotation for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures, and their first run is issues 3-5. Issue #3 is the one on final order cutoff, and it features the Turtles visiting an underwater city and finding Slash.
If there’s one thing Dan & Luis are known for, it’s making comics featuring known cartoon characters so on model, you’d think it was a screen cap from a lost episode, and the guys haven’t lost a step… see?
Thoughts on “The Flash”
I wasn’t expecting to get a chance to see a movie this weekend, but, with a little unexpected time, I hit a matinee of The Flash. (I’ll keep my thoughts spoiler free, but know that I don’t consider anything used in trailers as a spoiler.)
So. First reaction is that I think it struck the right tonal balance, and it did a good job at selling the essential tragedy of the story being told. I absolutely loved seeing Michael Keaton back as Batman, and that Burton-era Elfman theme blasting through the theater’s sound system. Sasha Calle was fantastic as Supergirl. Ezra Miller did a good job creating two versions of Barry.
The funny stuff was genuinely funny, the moving stuff was genuinely moving, and the action beats were well staged.
…But.
I think the spectacle kind of got in the way of the heart of the movie. There are nostalgia bits, and I understand they’re the geeky-fun ideas that jazz one up to include, or make your inner child happy. Theirs is a tough siren song to resist, and with something like this, making Keaton’s Batman a centerpiece as it does, it shouldn’t be completely resisted.'
But some moments took me away from Barry—and let me say this, I fully understand that those same moments will play the exact opposite for many. As necessary and complementary to the journey of our hero. I’m not ignorant to that. But it hit me wrong. The dead-eyed, video game engine style SFX that were used to show certain things in the movie rubbed me the wrong way, I guess. But again, I can absolutely see how some might cheer at their use. This stuff didn’t make me angry, and it didn’t make me holler to the heavens that director Andy Muschietti didn’t know his business. It just didn’t inspire me in the way it was clearly meant to.
One other particular nitpick that I KNOW is personal and that I KNOW caused fans of a certain age to giggle and applaud at—line reprisals. I understand winking to the audience, and sometimes it makes sense… but I have a low tolerance for encores of that sort. It was a criticism I lobbed at Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I got booed by friends for not having fun with it.
It was right and proper for Michael Keaton to hit us with an “…I’m Batman.” But the “You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.” reprisal that was shown in the trailer was a bridge too far for me. (I know, I’m a killjoy—but it took me right out of the moment.)
Now, there was disappointment, especially at those things I can’t specify without venturing into spoilers, but it was a solidly made superhero flick that just needed to get out of its own way a bit. If there was a sequel, I’d give it a fair shake.
And now, it was the last gag before the credits rolled that got a good out-loud laugh from the crowd. Again, I won’t spoil it—but it put me on a train of thought filled with good memories of the local theater and old friends.
Son of a gun, the Flash got me traveling through time, too.
What did you think of it?
Downside
And now, here’s a little comic strip to fill out the newsletter.