Happy Monday, cats and kittens!

For those of you who are sadly not Canadian, welcome to what we like to call “Victoria Day”. Originally a federal holiday created in honour of Queen Victoria’s birthday, it is now the day during which all Canadians remember those times that Ted was with Victoria. You guys, Victoria was pretty cool. She made deserts.

A note: James is still of in Ontario for a bachelor party, so to make things a bit easier, this week’s Best of the Week post will be split and feature mini write ups of some of the best books from this past week.

01. “All of you pale before our herteronormative cisgendered classification of family!”

This is something the The Wizard yells, snarling at his would be attackers, consisting of the child members of the Future Foundation, and the replacement Fantastic Four who have been left in charge of said children. It’s an overwrought line designed to get a laugh, but it also manages to function as a statement of purpose for the series. The Fantastic Four functions as a great series about a family as originally envisioned in the sixties. The FF functions as a great series about a family as envisioned today. Having The Wizard yell about heteronormative classifications, especially right after the issue one of the Moloids came out to his brothers as transgendered, is a stroke of genius. The FF are a family, one that breaks nearly all the molds, one that fights against old ideas. In their capacity as the Future Foundation, they’re coming up with new ideas in an attempt tosave the world through science – and in the new team’s capacity as the replacement Fantastic Four, they are also fighting against old ideas and villains, from the Mole Man, to this new Frightful Four, and pretty soon… Doom. So there’s that, all in one line, all before we get to talking about the rest of the issue.

02. The main thrust of the plot has to do with The Wizard kidnapping his son and brainwashing Medusa, hoping to force the pair into acting like some kind of family. His plan doesn’t go to well because… well, he’s the villain of this piece, and villains always get their cumuppance – especially in this series, which Fraction has stated he is writing mainly for an audience of two. I recently spoke about how an issue of his Fantastic Four pretty much brought me to tears when I realized he was trying to communicate the concept of death to his kids through Reed Richards. In this issue, something similar happens when Scott Lang is forced, in a way, to face the fear and sense of loss attached to the death of his daughter, and communicate the idea of safety to the kids in the FF.

“I worry about all of you from the second you wake up in the morning until I’m finally satisfied you’re all asleep at night,” he begins, “Which takes forever, by the way.

“Am I worried you’ll get hurt? Of course. I also worry you’re going to choke on every bite of waffle you all insist on eating morning after morning.”

A man writing comics tells his children that he loves them, that he’s afraid for them, in a bedtime story he wrote for them, and for everyone. He lets them know that he can never be sure they’ll be safe, but will do whatever it takes to keep them as safe as he possibly can. He dresses it in bright colours and jokes, and turns it into entertainment. And dammit, if he doesn’t entertain.

03. I would be remiss if I drew this missive to a close without the slightest mention of the amazing Allreds. Mike and Laura Allred are by far the stars of each and every issue of FF (minus the issue where Joe Quinones rocked out some fantastic pages), building Fraction’s stories into something more – a kelidoscope of crazy action infused with an infectious pop sensability. Their design work is amazing, and their sense of pacing and timing is superb, delievering jokes alongside emotional touchstones while hitting every note pitch perfect. This is a comic I eagerly await with baited breath each and every month. The fact that we get two issues in this month is a treat all to itself. I wish it could happen more often, but at the end of the day, I would reather good comics than see some of my favourite creators run themselves ragged after a deadline. Here’s to them. Here’s to more.

]]> http://comicstheblog.com/2013/05/20/ctbs-best-of-the-week-may-20th-2013-part-one/feed/ 0 http://comicstheblog.com/2013/05/20/um-actually-james-cation/ http://comicstheblog.com/2013/05/20/um-actually-james-cation/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:25 +0000 Brandon Schatz http://comicstheblog.com/?p=7744 Welcome, dear readers, to our regular letter column; a series of missives from and to the internet, delivered by a series of tubes.

A word of warning: James is off across the god damn country at a friend’s bachelor party, so Brandon is flying solo. This probably means no essays or insights

Thank you, internet.

———-

Brittney (@britl) asks: Why did Jaymes leave you? Is the Jaymes Robit helping?

James left me because apparently he thinks he needs to see other bros in other provinces. Which is fine. I’m fine, just… look, whatever. And the Jaymes Robit is not helping out this week because I’m so fine with this whole stupid thing I pushed it off my balcony because I don’t need him anymore I don’t need anyone.

———-

Danica (@DanicaHere) asks: Why haven’t we been listening to Thrilling Adventure Hour lately? We’re many episodes behind.

Umm… except for my darling girlfriend Danica of course. Uhhh… hey babe. We’ll catch up soon. Also hey, you know how you said it was creepy that I kept a life-sized robot of James in the big blue trunk of ours? Whelp, I decluttered it, and I’m not even crying.

———-

Brittney continues: What did you think of Iron Man 3?

Iron Man 3 was the best, you guys. THE BEST. That said, I once had a roommate from Chilé. He was staying in the country for a short time in order to make a bunch of cash and learn English, and his needs were fairly simple. Because he would eventually have to leave for his home country at some point, he didn’t buy much beyond food and drinks, so to pass the time, he liked to go through my extensive DVD collection and watch… well, everything. Each time he pulled out something new, he would stop and ask me what I thought of the movie, or TV show. Near the end of his stay, after he asked me what I thought about Veronica Mars, he stopped me before I could even answer, and said, “Let me guess. It’s your very favourite.”

I narrowed my eyes at him while he grinned at me, “The best, yeah. Wait, how did you-”

Which is when he erupted with laughter.

“Everything!” he said, grinning, “Everything is the bery best.”

Which is when I thought back to all of his questions. He asked me about a lot of things over those months. He asked about The OC, about Supernatural and Buffy and Everwood. He asked me about Josie and the Pussycats and The Princess Bride and… thinking about it, yes, the original Iron Man movie. Everytime, my answer was the same.

“Oh man, it’s the best Gonzalo. One of my very favourites.”

Thinking about all of that, as he laughed at my total lack of opinion beyond, “it’s the best,” I came to the realization that… well, I love the things I love. It’s part of why they bring me joy. 

I’ve never really been a fan of discecting or pulling apart. I’ve done it before, and will do it again when I can’t help but pull the strings, but at the end of the day, for me, it comes down to this: a movie like Iron Man 3 was the best. It was the best because I had fun watching it in the theatre, and will have fun watching it again and again when physical copies are available for purchase. It was the best because the kid made me laugh, and the scenes with Pepper were amazing, and the Manderin twist was great and holy damn, that big battle! That climax! I loved the whole damn thing. The fact that it also happened to complete Tony’s gradual transition from incouragable douchebag to something resembling a decent human being (albiet with a sarcastic goatee) was pretty much secondary to my visceral enjoyment – as these things should be. After all, layers should be bonuses… and not currency for the worth of a movie. Or at least that’s my opinion. You?

———-

Brittney concludes: When do we get a female superhero movie? And who would that movie be about? Who would you cast?

We get a female superhero movie when Hollywood smartens the fuck up and realizes the draw of an action movie starring a female lead. Historically, they’ve been shy to fire that bullet because… well, action movies with female leads “don’t sell”. So they don’t make them. And when one of them is brave enough to actually try, they hedge their bets so hard that… well, inevitably, the movie doesn’t really succeed. Whether it’s marketing or storyline changes or both or more, it all swirls until it becomes nothing more than a self fufilling prophecy. Which is where we are now.

What will it take? Well, it will take the next wave of riskier Marvel movies to succeed before we get the best opportunity. After The Avengers became the biggest grossing movie of all time, the studio pretty much walked into Disney and wrote two big “fuck you cheques” called Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. I call them “fuck you cheques” because there was no way in hell Disney didn’t balk at both concepts before Marvel countered their apprehension with “we just made you the most money so fuck you, aaaaand fuck you”. Should these movies do well (and let’s face it, if they keep to the “putting great, passionate people in charge of making our movies” formula, they’ll do well), they’re going to have a few bigger fuck you cheques to cash… which is when they’ll probably make a go of a Black Widow movie. Or hey, maybe they’ll surprise and go with Captain Marvel. I’d watch that. And Jennifer Lawrence would play Carol, which would work great because that’ll still be… oh, let’s say six? Seven years from now? And she’d rock the fuck out of playing Carol Danvers.

Yeah. Let’s do this.

———-

Scott Williams (@scottowilliams): What do you believe is your role as a retailer?

You son of a bitch. You asked that knowing full well it was going to explode the word count on this article. Is… is this how James feels when this happens? It… it feels like anger? But… like a sexual anger. This probably explains why he’s started to whip me with the microphone cord before we start recording the podcast each week.

What was your question again?

———-

Scott: What are some examples of bad customers and how do you handle them?

Boy howdy. Well, I’ve got quite a few stories, like the time I was threatened by a junkie and had to phone a local eatery with a safeword so they could send someone over to help. That was pretty bad.

In the realm of non-extreme cases, well, I could really go on forever. Keeping in mind that 90% of my customers are awesome and that at least 10% of all people are terrible in general, I’ll say that the worst customers are the ones who seem to think that my time is worthless. Like the person who recently asked if I could look up all of DC’s Secret Files comics and print off an alphabetized list.

“Were you looking for anything in particular?”

“Oh, no, not really. I don’t have any money right now, I just want a list.”

Well, bully for you, champ. I’ll just stop inputing these invoices for an hour while I whip that up for you.

And then there’s Magic customers. A good chunk of them are good eggs, but the worst are far, far worse than any human beings I’ve had to deal with, in any social situation. Which is to say, I had to kick out three MTG customers (whose 30 minutes in the store had pulled a combined $5.10 worth of cards) for pretending to masterbate and come on each other (while pulling on their cheeks to make that sound) in front of a five year old child. So hey, there’s an image for you.

———-

Josh Bazin (@joshbazin) asks: What would Casanova Quinn do for a Klondike Bar?

Is it “fuck something”? I bet the answer is “fuck something”.

———-

Josh Bazin (@joshbazin) asks: You have to choose between James and more Casanova comics. What do you choose, and why?

Hey look everyone! Josh found my Sophie’s Choice. Except, you know, it’s not a bullshit choice like “which one of your children gets to die”. If my upbringing has taught me anything, it’s that all parents have a favourite.

Anyway, if I were forced to choose between James, and more Casanova comics, I would choose Casanova comics. Because Casanova comics would never leave their bro. And also, I’m pretty sure if I chose James over Casanova comics, he would always resent me a little bit. He has a problem with self-worth, so the fact that I chose him over something we both believe to be one of the best comic book series in the medium’s long, storied history would probably bug him and change the relationship. What I’m saying is, by making me choose, you are dooming this friendship, Josh. YOU ARE OUR DESTRUCTION.

Know this: if you take either away from me, I’m coming for Nathan Edmonson.

———-

Devin R. Bruce (@Doctor_Teeth) asks: Who would you like to see on a licensed iCarly comic?

Devin, Devin, Devin. Can I call you Devin? Devin. Your name looks weird when I type it out five times like that. I think there might be something wrong with it. I also think a lot of things. For instance, I think J. Torres would rock the hell out of an iCarly comic – although to be fair, it’s because he’s currently giving the iCarly treatment to L’il Jinx over at Archie with his two Jinx graphic novels. Those books are great and funny, and definitely in the spirit of iCarly.

But hey look, I wouldn’t say “no” to reuniting Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa for a run of iCarly. Although Dan Schneider would probably want Bendis on board, as both flipped out when they discovered they admired each other’s work. Which wouldn’t be bad either.

———-

Devin continues: Many people who are considered experts in a field come off as jerks. How do you stay relatively humble?

Yipes. Can I really be considered relatively humble? When I’m in the comic shop, I talk a mean game. It’s the place where I feel the most confident about myself (that isn’t at home). But I think I get what you’re saying.

I know a lot about comics and what I like about comics, but I try not to let my love and knowledge become problematic. It’s very, very easy to be That Comic Book Guy who “knows what’s best” and loudly tells you just what he thinks about the characters you love and the books you’re buying. Listen, I don’t like Spawn, but I would never begrudge a person who gets a charge from reading his book. Spawn is a book designed for people who love Spawn, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I will gladly sell a person on Spawn if I believe it is the best gateway they have to the world of comics, and from there, I will help them explore the areas they wish. You can’t let your own opinions, likes and dislikes overtake your ability to see what’s best for other readers, especially potential readers.

That’s it for the seventieth installment of Um, Actually!  Check in every Monday and Thursday for a new batch of questions.  If you have anything you’d like answered, hit up our Contact page!  If you submit anything via Twitter – to @blogaboutcomics, @leask or @soupytoasterson - remember to include the hashtag #UMACTUALLY so that we don’t lose it.  Remember: you can ask us anything.  Seriously, anything.

Doctor Who Episode 713: Nightmare in Silver

“Hail to you, the Doctor: Saviour of the Cybermen!”

Oh, the Cybermen. What a drag to have these iconic villains that never seem to get anything good to do. Sure, they pre-date the Borg by decades, but Star Trek figured out how to do cybernetic zombies somewhat more excitingly than Doctor Who seemed able to. While this series has been home to numerous innovative new threats, monsters and mysteries, every time the Cybermen get carted out, they seem like stodgy relics. They embody so much about what the Doctor fights against and yet it’s just so hard to take them seriously. The best Cybermen episodes seem to be memorable in spite of them: Do you remember that they were the villains of “The Next Doctor,” or can you only think of David Morrissey’s goofy, loveable amnesiac Jackson Lake? Then there’s “Closing Time,” where the Doctor teams up with ex-landlord Craig and his newborn son, Alfie/Stormageddon. On paper, appearances by these legendary foes of the Doctor should be anticipated, but a lot of fans of the new show that I’ve spoken to just roll their eyes: “Oh, another Cybermen episode.”

But this one was written by Neil Gaiman, a man with a record of taking old stories and breathing new life and wonder into them. “It’s no ‘The Doctor’s Wife,’” my brother said after this episode. I answered, “Maybe not, but it was ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ of Cybermen episodes.” Indeed, the whole 7^th series began last fall with one of the best Dalek episodes I’ve seen, and now we’ve got pretty much the best Cybermen one too.

The scenario begins with the Doctor taking Artie and Angie to the greatest amusement park in the universe… which, true to the Doctor’s luck, is closed. Instead they find a caretaker named Webley who runs the local curiosity display. He has a robot that plays chess. That robot happens to be a hollowed-out Cyberman. Ruh roh.

Things get real when it turns out that this planet is a remaining outpost after a centuries-long Cyberwar that led to the humans obliterating a galaxy just to end the Cyberman threat. We’re told this by Warwick Davis, who plays Porridge, the chess player inside the hollow Cyber suit. The platoon that occupies the planet has orders to implode the place in the event that an active Cyberman is ever detected.

Before we go any further, I would like to praise how extensive the backstory is, true to Neil Gaiman’s writing style, it’s full of colourful details that examines not only the what, but the why and how. Porridge rhapsodizes about the man who had to push the button to end the Cyber-war, and there’s this recurring bit about the missing Emperor that doesn’t seem to have any bearing on the plot… at first. 

Of course, the Cybermen do make themselves known, with a few key upgrades. One is a very cool fast-motion power, represented in Matrix bullet-time, which keeps the Cybermen from seeming like slow-marching B-movie monsters. One is a form of Cyber-conversion that resembles Borg assimilation (and hey, since they had the idea first, and Star Trek isn’t using them, why not?) and the innovation of Cyber-mites, little Cyber bugs that get into you to partially convert you, at the very least putting you in a waking Cyber-coma. Oh, there’s one more thing that really wrecks the Doctor’s day: the Cybermen have ended their strict humans-only policy for conversion. Now they can use any living tissue at all… including Time Lord. DUN DUN DUNNN!

The Doctor becomes the human face of the Cyber Legion, when he is converted into the Cyber-Planner. And it turns out that when you mix Time Lord brain power with Cyber-Technology, you get a deliciously evil, hammy, over-the-top villain. Reveling in his Time Lord mind, the Cyber-Planner Christens himself “Mr. Clever,” which sounds corny the first time but strangely menacing afterward. The Doctor and Mr. Clever each occupy 49-point-some percent of the Doctor’s brain, reaching a stalemate and leading Matt Smith to give an excellent Two-Face performance, twisting and turning and speaking very loudly to himself. You can tell Smith revels in the opportunity to really stretch his range as an actor, which in and of itself is remarkable because it takes a lot of range to play the Doctor.

They play a game of chess with high stakes. Mr. Clever seeks to unlock the precious secrets hidden in a Time Lord’s brain (including, of course, the answer to the question that must never be answered.) The Doctor seeks to get Clara and the kids off the planet safely.

Clara, herself, gets quite a lot to do as the Doctor puts her in charge of the misfit platoon stationed at the amusement park. Her main concerns are to find a fortifiable base (a wacky castle, which is at least a castle,) and make sure nobody implodes the planet. All while Cybermen stalk about like Jason Voorhees.

In the end, the Doctor manages to just barely vanquish his foe in a very classic heroic twist of words, like Alexander cutting the Gordian knot. It’s Angie, though, who solves the real problem when she points out that the missing emperor has been under their noses the entire time (pretty literally: it was Warwick Davis.) He gives the command to blow up the planet and beam everyone to his flagship, where he gives his thoughts on the burden of commanding an interstellar empire.

I liked the episode very much for a few different reasons. Like a lot of the episodes this season, it followed a certain formula, but with numerous entertaining flourishes. It will inevitably be remembered for Matt Smith’s dual performance, in which he manages to steal the show for itself. But more than that, I got that feeling I got from “The Rings of Akhaten,” that the universe is teeming with life and events, and Neil did a great job weaving those background moments in with the actual story of the episode, with the misfit platoon and the missing emperor and the disused amusement park. At its most basic, adventures like these could take place in any place, where the Cybermen could attack and people need to defend themselves. This episode is a great reminder that the universe of Doctor Who is very much lived-in, and that there are many stories between the ones we see.

Lastly, it features some great stuff between Clara and the Doctor, playing with the note of flirtatiousness that keeps striking between them. Perhaps, for the Doctor, scientific interest is the same as romantic interest. After all, that’s how he met River Song, isn’t it? Well, if the teaser for next week is any indication, we’ll get some very unfortunate updates on that soon.

Thank you for all your questions and comments. We really couldn’t do all this without you.  Why aren’t you sending us money yet?  You should be sending us money.  I’m sure you have some extra.  Maybe your child doesn’t need that new backpack.  What’s more important, us or them?  They don’t write shit.

Thank you, internet.

———-

Devin (@doctor_teeth) asks: I want to get deeper into Marvel NOW! as they have some of my favourite creators.  Standout/favourite titles?

James: This is a pretty hard question, for a couple of reasons.  First, I don’t really know your taste in comics, so it’s hard to know what kind of thing you’ll like.  Second, Marvel NOW! has been, in my mind, a very successful initiative and, as a result, there are a ton of books to recommend.  If you’re a fan of Bendis, he’s moved on from the Avengers family of books to the X-Men, where he’s really hitting a groove with All New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, each of them telling a different side of the same story: the fight for mutant existence after AvX.  If you like Hickman, he’s taken over the Avengers, and his work on Avengers and New Avengers are both killer and exactly the kind of high-concept mind fuckery you’d expect from a dude who revitalized the Fantastic Four and is now playing in a bigger, flashier sandbox.  But as for the FF, that brings me to some of my own specific picks from NOW!:

-Matt Fraction‘s work on Fantastic Four and its sister series, FF.  On the former, Mark Bagley‘s drawing Fraction‘s version of a family homeschool vacation as Reed Richards takes the Fantastic Four and his kids on a year-long trip through time and space (with a secret!)  On the latter, Fraction and Mike and Laura Allred are telling the story of the replacement FF team left to watch the Earth for four minutes… and how things go wrong.  It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it’s devastating… it’s one of the best comics out there, and the Allreds‘ art just makes everything so vivid and amazing.

-Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic.  It’s basically the wonderful comic version of a bitchin’ airbrushed van.  It’s got multiple versions of Thor, a slimy and diabolical supervillain carving his way through the universe’s gods and it’s basically a nonstop ticket to the gun show, courtesy of those sweet, sweet biceps.  Oh, and it’s a surprisingly deep meditation on the concept of atheism in a universe where the existence of gods is an established fact.  It’s nuts!

-Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. It’s hard to describe this series.  It’s musical.  It’s funny.  It’s all about being a college age kid and trying not to fuck things up too badly.  And it’s devastatingly gorgeous.  One of the things the book’s team is trying to do is do a completely different type of action spread in each issue, and so far they’re delivering on it.  The last issue featured an isometric diagram of a fight scene with cutout details and a numbered legend.  It’s thrilling to read, not just because the narrative is so gripping, but also because it’s actively breaking new ground for superhero comics.  Absolutely do not miss this in any circumstance.

And it’s not a Marvel NOW! title, but you’re reading Hawkguy, right?

Brandon: This is a bit of an easier question for me because… well, you get your Marvel books at my store. That said, I often find your tastes a bit harder to pin down. Not sure why that is exactly, but no matter the reason, I can tell you my best guesses – which is to say, I can look into your pull and see what I may have put in there.

I definitely made sure Young Avengers was something you had a chance to pick up – you strike me as a dude who likes Phonogram (I say that because I can’t remember off the top of my head whether or not you have read the series or not – my guts says “yes”), and that book is the pure uncut heroin of fun superhero books. The love for the medium and the genre permiates every drop of ink on the page of this series, and I think the story would warm even the frostiest of fringes around your heart, good sir. 

I suspect you would enjoy the Alpha Flight-ish pop in during Avengers #10, and as for the series itself, I can see you getting in the folds of both Avengers books. Hickman is building something grand here, the tapestry of which you can look at a piece at a time or altogether as a grand work. New Avengers has been particularly fascinating for me, offering a little something extra to the already amazing reciepe that comprises the current main Avengers slate.

And I feel like you would enjoy the shit out of Rick Remender’s Captain America run with John Romita Jr. I’m not sure what you’re thoughts are on Romita Jr., but I know you enjoy things with a heavy Jack Kirby influence, and have devoured some Fear Agent in the past, and this is a good mix of the two – with a dash of Space-Lone-Wolf-and-Cub thrown in to boot. Seriously, seek this book out.

———-

Scott (@scottowilliams) asks: What were your lives like before you met?

James: It’s honestly hard to remember such a time.  I think… I was dating someone and had just finished university?  I was looking for a job?  I spent a lot more time around people who were objectively wrong simply by virtue of not having the same thoughts as me, at the same time, 90% of the time, even when separated by great distances.

It’s hard imagining life without your gangrenous left hand, you know?

Brandon: Much sadder. Hadn’t eaten a Luther Burger. Hadn’t eaten a Double Double Down. Hadn’t met the love of my life – which in this case is Danica. Sorry James, but you had to find out eventually. Basically, far less fun. Who would have known that a guy I goaded into watching Marmaduke would eventually forgive me (?) and become my best friend?

———-

Scott goes on: What’s the difference between a taco and a burrito?

James: A burrito is formed from folding or wrapping a tortilla into a cylindrical shape to hold its fillings.  A taco, generally, is just folding a tortilla in half and hoping for the best.  It takes risks to eat a taco, man.  Tacos are hardcore.

Brandon: Scott, your father and I are worried about you. Also, we don’t know where your mother is. Is it cool if I make myself some ice tea from this mix? Don’t worry, I can do it myself. Where do you keep your glasses?

The difference between tacos and burritos is simple. It’s either as James stated, or if you’re using this as a veiled cry for sexual advice, then forget about what makes a taco different than a burrito, and just go with whatever makes you happy Scott. We tolerate you just the way you are. Now hey, can you make us a sando for the road? What am I even doing at your house.

———-

Scott continues: What was Jack Kirby’s biggest contribution to comics?

James: It’s none of his individual characters he created or co-created.  It’s that he, along with his collaborators, changed the language of comics.  The man basically invented the Marvel House Style, with dynamic angles giving the illusion of three dimensions, and a new set of character positions and expressions to give the impression of constant moving.  He created a way to show cosmic or otherworldly energy in Kirby dots.  He revolutionized everything about how comics were drawn, and that’s without even getting into his boundless imagination.

Brandon: Oh man, to pick from that list of accomplishments is something else. He and Joe Simon invented the romance comic. He and Stan Lee created most of the Marvel Universe. He was a man with thoughts far too large to be contained inside the head of a single man, and so he plied them to the page and shared them with the world. He created and destroyed universes. If pushed, I would have to say, his sense of character design. You can’t say the man ever went back to the same well – pretty much all of his creations look quite radically different from each other – and that’s a pretty big accomplishment, when you think about the sheer amount of characters he brought to life, single-handedly or otherwise.

———-

Scott takes a breather: What was the last tape cassette you bought?  The last VHS?  

James: Besides blank tapes, I’ve never actually bought one.  When I started buying music, my family had just started transitioning to CDs, so I’d buy those and some blank tapes, then put the CDs on tape so I could listen to them in the car or on my Walkman, but fall asleep every night listening to “Champagne Supernova” on CD.

As for VHS, that’s hard to tell.  I started buying DVDs around the time I had a decent amount of disposable income, and before that the VHS tapes I owned were generally gifts.  One of the last ones I owned was The Matrix, but as for one I bought, I just don’t remember.

Brandon: Neither. Which is to say, when it came to music, I would ask Santa or my parents for something, and let whatever would happen happen. By the time I was solvent enough to buy my own music and other media, we were deep into the era of CDs and DVDs. But hey, that doesn’t mean I don’t have some fond memories. And I know for a fact that I used “birthday money” to buy the Coming Out of Their Shells cassette and VHS when the show came to Calgary. So those are things that I own.

———-

Scott is relentless: Which castmember of Arrested Development has had the best career since its cancellation?

James: Listen, in a just world it would be Judy Greer, but sadly, that’s not the case.  And the reality is, while it was a breakout show for many of the cast in that it certainly got them roles, sustained success has evaded a lot of them.  Jeffrey Tambor is still playing the same character roles.  Will Arnett has worked consistently but his efforts to take off as a leading man have been stymied by his projects’ lack of success.  Portia de Rossi certainly hit the personal jackpot by marrying Ellen Degeneres, but Better Off Ted (RIP, homie) didn’t get a third season.  And Jason Bateman, the nominal lead of the series, has mostly had a bunch of lacklustre movie comedies that don’t showcase his real skill, no matter how much I laughed at Horrible Bosses (full disclosure: my friend Chantelle and I snuck booze into the theatre).  

That leaves us with Michael Cera.  He went from being someone nobody had ever seen or remembered to a leading man who starred in movies like Superbad and Scott Pilgrim while co-starring in stuff like Juno and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  Not only did Arrested Development launch his career, but it gave him arguably a more successful one than his costars.

Well, unless you count Ron Howard.

Brandon: Also: Mae Whitman, who is currently on Parenthood, and was also in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

———-

Scott fumbles: Do you ever get nostalgic for the days before cell phones put us all in constant contact with one another?

James: No.  Don’t get me wrong, I think a periodic unplugging is healthy for the soul, but the benefits outweigh any negatives to a ridiculous degree.  My cell phone, besides being a marvel of technology that lets me do a bunch of stuff besides actual phone service, lets me stay in contact with people no matter where I am.  Text messages help me save time and battery life.  And all the smartphone features let me basically run my life from it.  If I ever want, I can turn it off relatively guilt-free, but keeping it on lets me do stuff without having to sit at home.

Brandon: Have you seen me get the shakes from not having my things around me? Sure, I get a lot more done but what if something horrible happened? 

———-

Scott mumbles: What was the best year for comics, music, movies and TV in your lifetime?

James: For comics, it was probably last year, just for the sheer volume of amazing stuff that came out, and how so much of it was creator-owned.  Similarly, I’d have to pick last year or something really recent for TV, because I believe that it as a medium is also in a new golden age, especially considering the glut of great shows that are on cable.  Plus, last year is when I finally started watching Breaking Bad.  For movies, it’s simple: 1993, the year Jurassic Park was released.  The first movie I ever saw more than once in the theatre (because I begged by parents), and one that introduced me to Steven Spielberg, one of my all-time favourite filmmakers.  And for music, it would have to be 2003, my last year of high school, when I discovered Radiohead and independent music.  It really opened my ears to stuff that wasn’t on the radio, that I actually had to look for, and it broadened my sonic palette in the biggest way since I first heard Sgt. Pepper’s.

Brandon: I’ve been lucky that the comic book industry has been on a progressive “rise” since I started reading – either that, or it’s the fact that living in a big city and working at a comic shop means I have access to a larger range of items – but anyway, I would say right now is the best time for comics. Seriously. As for music, I remember by 13th birthday (held more than two months after my actual birthday because hey, the family is busy kid) being a bit of a lightswitch. It was when a party-goer gifted me a cassette copy of Clumsy from Our Lady Peace, which was the first non-country thing I had heard since the long, long ago when there was Brian Adams in the car. I say that was a high point, because it alerted me to another world, and that felt amazing. I’m really going to have to go with “currently” for movies, because a) I can’t really remember when things happened and 2) I’m not exactly what you would call a “movie-goer” and I’m excited about something coming out almost every two weeks this summer. And TV, while I’m watching a lot less right now, I’d have to say some of the best stuff is out there at the moment. Plus hey, I can also catch up on pretty much anything I want because it’s all available in one format or another.

———-

Scott mutters under his breath: What is your jam?

James:

Brandon:

———-

Scott follows up: What is your slow jam?

James:

Also, like, you’ve heard of Prince, right?

Brandon: 

———-

That’s it for the seventieth installment of Um, Actually!  Check in every Monday and Thursday for a new batch of questions.  If you have anything you’d like answered, hit up our Contact page!  If you submit anything via Twitter – to @blogaboutcomics, @leask or @soupytoasterson - remember to include the hashtag #UMACTUALLY so that we don’t lose it.  Remember: you can ask us anything.  Seriously, anything.

But that’s nothing new, is it?

This episode is brought to you by Wizard’s Comics, home of the best deal on comics in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Check out their website for a list of the week’s new releases and information on upcoming Magic, The Gathering tournaments, and watch their Twitter account for news and announcements about the shop and its stuff.

Episode 70 – Chris Pratt, We Love You

This week, the boys don’t have much to report from their weekends, since Brandon just furthered his drinking problem and James spent it sick and not eating.  They do, however, have some TV to talk about, because they both watched the most recent Doctor Who episode and James got Brandon to watch the season premiere of Game of Thrones and then bit his tongue for an hour and then 10 minutes of the podcast trying not to ruin anything for him.  A quick post-mortem on the TV networks’ 2013/14 fall season announcements from last friday (RIP Happy Endings, we’ll see you at the crossroads, homie) leads, naturally, to a discussion of something the boys are passionate about: 90s family television (seriously, watch Brink on YouTube) and Everwood.

Ah, Everwood.  I bet you thought we’d run out of things to say about it, didn’t you?  YOU’D BE WRONG.

Finally, I guess comics or something.

Download the episode here or subscribe through iTunes.  If you want to subscribe the old-fashioned way, insert the following text into your audio program of choice (in iTunes, click “Advanced,” then click “Subscribe to Podcast”):

http://comicstheblog.libsyn.com/rss

You can also find all the episodes to date on Libsyn’s site here.

As always, check us out on on Twitter at @blogaboutcomics, @leask & @soupytoasterson!

Every week, Comics! The Blog goes through the list of new releases and we tell you which comics to plug into your mindhole. Your mileage may vary.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #3 (DC Comics, Digital First)

Three weeks in, DC‘s digital-first anthology series The Adventures of Superman continues to be one of the best things they’re publishing company-wide.  The first issue of the weekly series showcased Superman at his best.  The second issue was all about kindness, friendship and inspiration.  The third issue, written by Justin Jordan with art by C!TB favourite Riley Rossmo, excellently tackles one of the most frequently mishandled Superman villains: Bizarro.

Far too frequently, Bizarro is treated as either a punchline or a genuine supervillain; to me, the best Bizarro stories treat him as a tragic hero in his own right: immensely powerful, unfortunately dim and possessing a communication impediment that makes it all worse.  And that’s what Jordan and Rossmo do here: they give a story where Bizarro tries desperately to be a hero, and only a compassionate act of understanding can help him be one.  It’s simple, beautifully rendered by Rossmo, and exactly the kind of thing I’m glad The Adventures of Superman seems to excel at.    It reminds me what I love about Superman’s corner of things.

ADVENTURE TIME: PLAYING WITH FIRE (BOOM! Studios)

First, Pendleton Ward created Adventure Time, a beautifully insane children’s series with intelligence and a sizable adult audience.  Then, he teamed with BOOM! Studios to make a series of licensed comics that invoke the best meanings of the term.  Now, an original graphic novel arrives.  You guys, this is brilliant.

It’s all new.  It’s sized small, just like manga.  It’s cheap ($11.99).  And best of all, it’s got a great creative team.  Artist Zack Sterling has been showing his chops for a while with his work on the other comics based on Ward‘s work, which gives the book a great sense of unity with the rest of the Adventure Time stories, despite losing the bright colour in the black and white.  Danielle Corsetto has existed on the periphery of my attention for quite a while, but a recent dive into her online comic Girls With Slingshots rewarded me with her skilled hand at romance, humour and friendship.  Despite going from a very NSFW story with Girls… to the more family-friendly world of Ooo, I’ve got nothing but confidence that her story – about Finn and Flame Princess – will be as successful as the rest of her body of work.

Come on, you guys!  It’s all about adventure!

THE DREAM MERCHANT #1 (Image Comics)

It’s hard to know exactly what to say about The Dream Merchant.  It’s beautiful, with gorgeous art by Konstantin Novosadov, who differentiates the waking and dreaming worlds so key to the book’s premise with abrupt changes in colours from muted browns and gloom to a vivid, vaguely threatening colour.  The previews show off Nathan Edmondson‘s poetic script, which is smartly sparse and confident, letting Novosadov‘s art take the lead on the pacing, with Edmondson‘s words acting in tune as subtle punctuation.  The resulting effect is moody, entrancing and possessing an air that things are slightly left of normal.

Which is, to say, it’s perfect for a comic about dreams.

The solicitation is deliberately ambiguous.  A boy plagued by confusing disturbing dreams that protect a secret.  A mysterious benefactor.  Unknown but dogged pursuers.  It’s impressionistic and bold, just like the art, but it gives just enough away to hopefully let readers know that they should check this out if they want an affecting, exciting story.  Edmondson‘s previous series, Dancer, was also arresting and poetic, and from what I’ve seen of it so far, it looks like The Dream Merchant is no different.

HIGH CRIMES #3 (Monkeybrain Comics)

Monkeybrain‘s comic Bandette may be getting the bulk of the company’s notability right now with its Eisner nominations, but the company is chock full of great content, and High Crimes, from Christopher Sebela and Ibrahim Moustafa, is some of it.  After two issues, it’s already set a high bar for quality, with its blend of intrigue, mountain sports and deep undercurrents of emotion.

The setup is ostensibly simple: Zan Jensen is a disgraced former athlete, eking out a drug-filled existence in the Himalayas working for a company that, among other things, sells the valuables of deceased climbers back to their families.  It’s unsavoury, but it (mostly) pays the bills.  Until, that is, some shadowy men come to retrieve a valuable that Zan and her boss didn’t even know they’d collected.  Now, she’s on the run and things are getting bananas, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

It’s riveting, it’s funny and both Sebela and Moustafa give the locale a realistic, lived-in feel that doesn’t try to pass itself off as exotic.  This is a place you’d recognize, where you might even have already been.  The top of the world isn’t different at all from the rest.  That grounding gives the more fanciful elements,  like the espionage, an effective background that makes everything better, and with this issue it looks like we’ll see how the two intersect even more.

REGULAR SHOW #1 (BOOM! Studios)

Regular Show is a recent discovery here at C!TB, but both Brandon and I love its whimsy and absurdity.  It’s about two twenty-something best friends, Mordecai and Rigby, hanging out and getting into bizarre adventures when they just want to do something like take a break from their jobs, and for some reason that speaks to us in an odd way.  A comic version of that is a no-brainer, from our point of view.

As they’ve shown with their Adventure Time books, BOOM! usually has a good sense of what to do with licensed properties, and this is no exception.  Allison Strejlau‘s art is loose and kinetic, like the show, and she has a knack for absolutely nailing the characters’ facial expressions in a static medium, like Rigby’s anger or Mordecai’s exasperated tilting of his head back slash whining. KC Green‘s own online comic, Gunshow, is very similar to Regular Show‘s established tone, in particular the surreal turns it takes.  It appears to be a perfect match of writer and artist, in another good move from a smart publisher.

These are some of the many great books being released this week! You can find the full list of comics being released here. If you have any other recommendations, let us know in the comments below.

01. This shouldn’t happen.

With all the resources at his fingertips, monetarily and mentally, Reed Richards is a man who turns the improbable into the probable. He looks at complex problems and finds them wanting, routinely bringing the future closer and closer into what passes for reality in the Marvel Universe. Because of this the Fantastic Four has been a book overflowing with brilliant ideas. From the days of Stan and Jack wherein the two built the Universe part of the Marvel Universe cosmic by psychodelic brick to the team’s more recent days running a school where the ideas of tomorrow are conceived of today, the best Fantastic Four stories have always laughed at the impossible. Few have attempted to tackle a full blown impossibility with Reed hitting a brick wall. Of those few, there are less that ring true to the core of the character.

And then, there was Fraction.

In the midst of time and space, when confronted with an ending, Reed is finally forced to come to terms with something his mind can’t even fathom. A man who has fought in intergalactic wars, who has brought a world eater to his knees, who has saved his own worlds and many others time and time again through challenging the very idea of improbabilities finally stumbles on something that eclipses it all.

In the face of death itself, he finally finds an impossibility.

Of course.

Of course it’s not death. Of course it’s not dying. It would never be something mundane as that. FOr a man who routinely proves the impossible to be possible in a world filled with improbable things, this is what stops him dead in his tracks. A real, human emotion. Forget for a second the elasticity of death in the Marvel Universe. Forget for a second that for them, death truely is an impossible thing. What Fraction does here is nothing short of impossible as well, having Reed confront the enemy he’s always known he had, but never expected to be his downfall: himself. He’s a man who would do anything for his children, for his family, but ask him to say good-bye? No way. No how.

This is the impossible thing.

This shouldn’t happen.

02. Fraction has stated in multiple interviews that he intends his Fantastic Four run to be filled with stories that he can tell his kids before they drift off to sleep. (Drift being my word. I highly doubt that a parent would or could accurately describe their children falling asleep as “drifting” considering how much work it takes to get a kid to sleep most days.) In that context, the events of this issue take on a more personal quality. This is a father explaining, as best as he can to his children, using the written word, his thoughts on death and what the possibility of it means to him.

In three panels, Fraction details life and death – or at least his take on aspects of both – and details why he does what he does. If  death is the end, and if he must say good-bye, if he has to one day say good-bye, he would like his children to know what he believes. Scientifically speaking, this is all we have – and because of that, what we do here, what we do now, is the only thing that matters. When we’re gone, the meaning of our actions disappears alongside us. So why not live while it matters? Why not experience life to its fullest? Why not be kind? Why not be amazing? Fantastic? Imparting this wisdom, in this way is a stunning bit of storytelling, meant to convey a character trait to a large audience, while simultaniously informing and entertaining the audience Fraction holds most dear. Does it matter to him that I was affected by this? Probably not. And it shouldn’t. I’m the internet. I’m the ether, the unseen voice shouting opinions that don’t really matter. At the end of the day, while his pay cheque might depend on the monetary reactions of his audience, that is not the goal, nor should it ever be. The goal, as always, is to write like you want, write like you need, and hope that somewhere beyond that place that satisfies your needs, others are identifying with the content. That is how some of the best comics have been crafted – with an eye towards personal taste over mass appeal. That is how his Fantastic Four and FF runs have been crafted. And that matters. That’s all that matters.

03. Promptly forgetting what I just detailed, and focusing on myself for a bit, this issue hit me right during a phase of my life where I’ve been feeling a spiritual shift. I was raised as a Christian, albeit one with no specific alliances to anyone but say, Jesus or God. Our family jumped around from church to church, settling for a time with the Anglicans before moving in a more progressive direction.

As the years have gone by, and as my belief has waned (coinciding with a move away from rural Alberta and much of the family), I’ve started thinking quite a bit about what my lack of belief has to do with What Comes Next. More often than not, I find myself paralyzed by the thought of nothing. That once the show is well and truly over, that’s it. Religion offers something appealing – the thought of happiness straight through to eternity. A simple, comforting thought that ends up being quite overly simple, not quite melding with the complexities of human nature but… that’s a bit of a longer discussion.

To find words, during this time, to describe what it really means if this is all there is was a bit of a revelation. That sounds like hyperbole, and if I’m being completely honest, it probably is. But the phrase has been known to take the air out of my panic, whenever I dwell to long on what’s to come. It’s equal parts comforting and defiant, reminding me that I’m happy with how I’m living my life while simultaneously flipping the bird to the idea of death. Because if I’m going to die one day, I’ll be damned if I’ll regret how I chose to live my life. I’ll be damned if I’ll regret my choice to manage a comic store rather than move into something more lucrative (and almost by definition, more soul crushing). I’ll be damned if I’m going to question whatever happiness comes my way because of the thought of its loss. Fuck you, infinity, and shit, fuck you as well finity. You’re a made up bullshit word and I have no room to worry about you when I have what I have right now.

What we do is all that matters.

Yes.

Thank you.

James is sick, so let’s make this quick: we liked a bunch of comics.

I’M GONNA BE

Pretending.

When you’re a grown ass adult, pretending is a sad, woeful thing. Entering a fiction is looked upon by others as something less than, as though you are hiding from the real world, afraid to confront it. When you’re a child, it is a wonderful beguiling thing. Escapism is a part of being a kid, and a lack of reality is expected. People allow children the luxury of escape because we wish them to be innocent, and to revel in the act of creating fiction for as long as they possibly can… before they grow up and become less adept at viewing the world as a great, fantastic thing.

Over time, we lose our sense of wonder. Part of that comes from viewing horrors as they happen in this world. The other part comes from this misguided sense of importance – an outdated placement of importance on reality over fiction. There’s nothing purer than the joy of creation, of living in a world of fiction. As adults, it’s not socially acceptable to live in a world of fiction, and often for good reason. If all were making pretend, one could argue that society would be in a pretty precarious place. This is why we still have our little escape hatches. This is why we read books, watch tv, movies, and… yes, read tabloids. This is why we like to visit other places and catch up with fantastical people. We are looking for that joy we had when we were children, flying as we fought our enemies, bullets bouncing off our chests, untouchable and unharmable.

A week ago, Jeff Lemire’s installment of Adventures of Superman hit the internet. The second in the digital first series of Superman adventures, this comic continued the streak of showing Superman at his best, as begun by Jeff Parker and Chris Samnee in the first “episode” of the series. The bulk of this story focused on two kids playing “Superman”, one the hero, one the villain. Functioning as kids do, the scenario is changed multiple times as one of the kids gets bored with his circumstance. He doesn’t want to be the villain. He wants to be the hero. Also: he wants to win. Because what’s the fun in playing if you don’t win? Anyway, the story progresses until the point of childhood boredom, and the two kids walk away talking about what they would do next time. The kid playing the villain(s) wishes to be Superman the next time they play superhero. The “hero” kid agrees, but states that he wants to be Doomsday, so he can win. The “villain” kid says that won’t be possible… because Superman always wins. The issue ends with a special appearance that ties the whole thing together in a nice, neat bow, making for one of the best Superman stories I’ve read in a long, long time. Yes, even those written by Grant Morrison.

If you have a space 99 cents on your credit card, please go off and buy Adventures of Superman #2 from DC Comics and Jeff Lemire. It’s a great look at some of the best parts of Superman – how his character is someone to look up to and admire, as well as one that can whether the ridiculousness of Silver Age stories while still remaining undeniably charming. We bestow our You Will Believe a Man Can Fly Award to this comic, and to Jeff Lemire for this wonderful book. We hope you revisit the character again soon. (B)

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

There’s a lot going on in Uncanny X-Force #4.  On the surface level, it’s based around a big action piece featuring Bishop, the former X-Man turned attempted child murderer turned insane person.  Then there’s the lingering issue of Psylocke’s vendetta towards Spiral that was raised by the team’s initial mission.  This is without even getting into whatever Puck’s doing.  But all that is just a vessel for the deep, unsettling emotions that Sam Humphries and artists Ron Garney and Adrian Alphona raise up during the issue and the set-up for what’s yet to come.

Bishop’s mindspace, illustrated with vivid impressionism by Alphona and colourist Christina Strain, show how tortured the character actually is.  After seeing his last appearance in Cable, Bishop’s appearance in this series could understandably be met with little layering.  After all, the last time we saw him, he was trying to kill a little girl, so why should this be any different?  In the previous issue and especially in this one, however, Humphries and Alphona have shown just how chaotic Bishop’s mind is and how it’s not under his control at all.  What’s impressive here is how Alphona‘s drastically different style is used to great effect, amplifying the motion and emotion of his mind; the Bishop on the outside may be an animal being used as a weapon, but it’s hard not to feel his own rage swirling around in his mind alongside Betsy and the Revenant.  It’s cacophonous beauty.

As explosive as that emotion is, Humphries and Garney‘s portral of the relationships between the women in the book is surprisingly understated for a book that features an alarming amount of ninja swords.  Psylocke, still emotionally injured by Spiral from much earlier – and, I’m guessing, her own body/mind mixups – demands that Spiral fight her.  Instead, however, this big rising force of the first arc is diffused by Spiral’s genuine love for her missing young charge and Psylocke’s own need, following the events of Remender‘s run, to maybe not be a murderer for a while.  It’s a fascinating build-up and writerly skill that helps this avoid being an anticlimax, and a brave choice to brazenly vi0late the rule of Chekhov’s Ninjas.  It’s a sequence that relies on a soft touch amidst the melodrama, as well as Garney‘s ability to use the layouts to give a sense of heavy loss for a page featuring Spiral and jutting, aggressive mess of triangles to represent Psylocke’s own turmoil at finally having her victimizer at her mercy but being unable to kill someone who’s feeling a loss so deeply.  Finally, there’s the punch of Storm’s compassion for her friend going through turmoil and her own empathy, all this happening so soon after her own losses following AvX.  After all the psychic battles and swords, it’s these moments that stick with me… as well as the gut-churning final page.

And that’s without getting into the humour – but not a punchline – of Puck, or the ongoing storyline of the Fantomex triplets.  The issue just does so much, so it’s clearly earned this week’s Multi-limbed Juggling Trick Award. (J)

Comic with a cat in it? Comic with a cat in it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up ReMIND this week. I had heard good things from folks on the internet in passing, had known that it was currently being serialized online, but I hadn’t quite felt the inclination to dig deeper into the project until it appears on the shelves this week. It was a risk, picking up the first hardcover, considering the fact that I had only the barest idea of what would await me inside. More than a money problem, I currently have a space problem, and despite the fact that I could afford the read monetarily, it was iffy as to whether or not it would be worth the shelf space. Much of what I heard about ReMind in passing had to do with the art of it specifically. Jason Brubaker (no relation) currently works at DreamWorks and is no stranger to providing gorgeous sequential imagery – but could he translate his storytelling skills to the comic book medium? Could he provide dialogue? Would he understand pacing?

As it turns out, Jason Brubaker is much more than an artist, he is a storyteller. The plot in ReMIND is well thought out, and his characters are completely relatable, despite the fact that much of the plot has to do with brain switching animals and a race of lizard people. At the core of the story, everyone has very human emotions and needs that the reader can identify with – and as the stakes keep getting higher and higher, one never feels as though they’re without an anchor – and as I mentioned earlier, the art in this book is gorgeous, and the character designs are unique and fun to look at. All talents combined, Brubaker offers a reading experience quite unlike any other, and I would encourage you to seek this fine work. As always, there’s a few ways you can do this. The easiest would be to hit up the webcomic, where most of the series is up (although it does not include the story’s conclusion) – or you can grab the entire two-volume series at ComiXology, or your local comic shop… if they had the foresight to order copies of this book. If they didn’t, and you want the two beautiful looking hardcovers, they can still reorder the book for you, and have it in your hands in a matter of days. (B)

This is Comics! The Blog. We now commence our broadcast week.

——–

Baseball is a romantic sport, in the most classical sense of the word.  I once heard it described as “the pastoral writ large,” and there’s something about this description that captures that confluence of reasons why we love it.  It conjures memories of sunshine and grass and the orange glow of an infield, of sitting next to a friend or a family member on a hot day with a cold drink.  Any game could be the best one of your life; as I wrote about in the first installment, this hope and optimism drive so much of the game’s heart.

Of course, that’s not the entire game.  It’s a game about losing almost more than it is about winning; in a six-month, 162 game-long season, a team will lose 50 of them if they’re having an amazing season, and if they’re not…? Well, losing is part of the game.

And losing comes together with another big part of the game: obsession.  Sports, like any hobby of passion, attract a certain obsessiveness, and baseball more than most.  It’s a game whose romance is exhaustively tracked and catalogued by statistics, and the numbers get added and traded with stories over the decades.  The home run leader.  The streaks.  The all-time best batting average.  One hundred sixty-two, teased and twisted in countless ways by men and women whose love can’t help but come out that way.

Obsession can kill you.  It can ruin lives, or at the very least spoil a nice family dinner.  It’s the gothic romance in constant battle with the pastoral, and out of all the baseball movies have been made, none captures this internal war better and with more sensitivity than the Farrelly Brothers’ 2005 film, Fever Pitch.

I’m as surprised as you are.  The Farrellys made their name on a very different kind of movie; gross-out comedies like There’s Something About Mary aimed for big, broad semen laughs, and while a small portion of that physical approach to comedy remains in Fever Pitch, it’s much more attuned to the emotions of its story.  It’s a quiet movie, told amidst the noise of a crowd of thousands at Fenway Park.

At the time of its release, Fever Pitch was mocked and drubbed as a failure, compared disparagingly to classics like Field of Dreams and Bull Durham and treated very much like the Farrelly comedy it was tempting to see it as.  In the near decade since, however, I like to think it’s started to be appreciated for the things it does well – and there are a lot of them.  And first and foremost, it questions nostalgia.

“Careful, kid.  They’ll break your heart.”

Fever Pitch is about Ben and Lindsay.  Ben is a schoolteacher, an intelligent and sensitive man with a knack for engaging his students.  Lindsay is a businesswoman, putting in long hours in search of a promotion.  Both of them are very good at what they do, and both are amiable and charming; when they meet, it’s not long before their relationship is deepening.  However, this relationship, like the ones that have come before it, is threatened by obsession.  For Lindsay, it’s her job.  For Ben, it’s the Boston Red Sox.

Ben fell in love with the Red Sox when he was a lonely kid whose uncle took him to a game.  It was love at first sight, and for the rest of his life, he’s been a dedicated fanatic of the team; he inherited his uncle’s season tickets and attends every game.  He goes to spring training every March in Florida to follow the team before the season even starts.  Every inch of his home is covered in memorabilia.

Ben and Lindsay meet in the off-season, and as they fall in love, he works up the courage to tell her his secret.  “I’ve been avoiding this.  There’s something you don’t know about me.  The thing is, I am a Red Sox fan.  No, I’m like a big, big Red Sox fan,” he confesses.  “I got lost in the game.  The ballpark, the people, the colour, the sounds, the smells…  And it’s a passion.  It’s a very, very big part of my life.  And it’s been a problem with me and… women.”

This isn’t like the classic baseball movies.  In Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella’s wife, Annie, is a supportive, if not enthusiastic, partner in Ray’s obsession.  In Bull Durham, Annie doesn’t exist on the periphery of Crash and Nuke’s lives as baseball players; she worships the “Church of Baseball” and is just as obsessed as the men orbiting her, if not more so.  Baseball, even the farm-risking kind, isn’t a problem with these men and these women.  But it is for Ben and Lindsay, even if they say it isn’t, and that’s what makes Fever Pitch special.  It’s a baseball movie that has the courage to question – to seriously question – whether baseball can be a harmful thing when it gets wrapped up in obsession hidden in nostalgia.

They Tease They Wink They Beckon 

It would be difficult not to notice how familiar that question is, and how applicable it is to my own situation.  After all, I subscribe to a service that lets me watch almost any baseball game in the Major Leagues, and will generally watch seven or more games in a given week.  I’m watching two right now.  I’m planning a trip to another country so that I can see an entire series between two teams in July.  The fact that I get to see two very dear friends is legitimately something that came up after I bought my tickets.  I find myself from time to time having to consciously make sure I’m not talking about it so much that I’m boring people.

That’s just baseball.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I like other things, too.  I follow tennis voraciously.  I watch or record three or more hours of television (including late night talk shows) most weeknights.  I analyze rating trends.  Oh, and I co-run a website about comic books, on which I spend $50 or more most weeks.  That whole thing.

And it’s been a problem with me and… women.

So Fever Pitch hits surprisingly close to home for me.  For the fact that it’s a Farrelly Brothers movie, for the fact that it’s a fiction adaptation of a movie about a different sport set in a different continent that was itself adapted from a nonfiction book… despite all these degrees of separation, it still feels like a very personal movie, and as I watch it I find myself wrapped up in how Ben and Lindsay’s relationship plays out, and what role his obsessions play in it.

“I like being a part of something that’s bigger than me.  It’s good for your soul to invest in something you can’t control,” Ben tells her as he confesses his obsession.  And, much to his shock, it’s not a big deal.  “You’re a romantic.  You have a lyrical soul.  You can love under the best and worst conditions,” she assures him.  And for a while, things are okay.

And brother, do I know how good that feels.  The entire reason I’m friends with Brandon is because an ex-girlfriend knew how much I love comics and when she came to the shop with me, she saw how much he and I joked around and suggested that I see if he wanted to hang out.  It was practically a scene straight out of Lindsay’s mouth, and for most of the relationship, there were a lot like them.

But it doesn’t always stay like that.  She’s my ex-girlfriend for a lot of reasons, but one of them was that our passions and obsessions weren’t always compatible.  And for Ben and Lindsay, the lyrical soul only goes so far.  He starts to resent that she brings work to the ballpark instead of focusing her attention on the game like him, oblivious to how much she’s changed about her life for him and how much she worries about it.  He panics when she says, “I didn’t realize how… big… this whole Red Sox thing is with you,” even if she amiably uses it to broker a compromise.  He misses noticing she’s been concussed by a foul ball, he acts immaturely in front of her parents and he turns the best night of his life into the worst because a party she took him to – that he had the time of his life at – made him miss a baseball game.  In an emotionally fraught moment in the second act, his love of the Red Sox blinds him to something really important:

“A tip, Ben: When your girlfriend says, ‘Let’s go to Paris for the weekend,’ you go!”

A lot of this is broad, and definitely of a heightened reality – how often is my choice between Paris and a baseball game? – but the emotion hits home.  Ben feels attacked, Lindsay feels hurt and a good thing comes to an end because, as it goes:

“Do you remember last winter?  This is exactly what you liked about me, that I was capable of having a passionate commitment about something, a devotion.”

“Yes, but you feel it for the Red Sox, and I was hoping that someday you might redirect that.  All those things you feel for that team, I feel them too, for you.”

She thought she knew what she was in for, but she was wrong.  He thought he’d found a way to move forward without changing, but he was being childish and naïve.  He challenges her by defending his devotion and asking if there’s anything she still cares about anything she did twenty-three years ago.  “No,” she says, “If I still wanted to marry Scott Baio I would think that my life went terribly wrong.”

She’s being mean, but she’s been hurt by expectations and obsession, by being unable to compete with a sustained nostalgia for being seven years old and sitting behind the dugout.  I feel guilty when I watch it, because I can see myself in Ben, even if it’s in a lesser way.

And he feels guilty too, because he shows up at her door and apologizes, asking her to take him back.  But she can’t, at least not yet.

“This isn’t you, this is the other guy.” 

“What other guy?”  

“It’s October.  They’re one game from elimination.  You’re becoming Winter Guy again.  I already know I like Winter Guy.  It’s Summer Guy that broke my heart.”

“Summer guy is gone.” 

“Yes, until summer.”

He’s still got a way to go, and because this isn’t The Break-Up, it happens before theatres full of people get too bummed out.  He decides to sell his seats and commit to being a little bit more of Winter Guy throughout the rest of the year.  She’s touched enough to forgive – and stop – him, crashes the game, they kiss, cue The Dropkick Murphys’ “Tessie.”  Don’t we all feel good?  Well, maybe.

Make History or We’re History

I’m scared of turning out like Ben in the first two acts or of finding my third too late.  I’m afraid I’ll turn out like Ben’s friends, angry that the players they watch every night can go out for dinner and not be tortured about a loss.  Angry that people aren’t as upset as them.  It’s a child’s outlook, and here Ben actually begins to grow up and play the adult:

“They understand something that we don’t.  Their whole life isn’t on that field; it’s their job.  It’s not an obsession.  My god, it’s official: I’m an idiot.”

That’s Ben’s big turning point, where he realizes his need to grow up a bit, to temper his obsession with the things it displaces and to look beyond himself to Lindsay, and consider – really consider – what she needs, too.  He stops being the guy who didn’t realize a foul ball concussed his girlfriend and becomes the guy who’s ready to sell his season tickets because he’s got somewhere else he wants to be a lot of nights from April through October.  He learns as much balance as a guy who still wants to name a daughter after Carl Yastrzemski can.  He gets the girl, and I bet his apartment doesn’t look like the Team Store anymore.

So then I look around at the shelf separating my office from my living room and start counting all the plastic Batmen and vinyl Simpsons characters I have.  And I start remembering the times the girlfriend who first suggested Brandon and I be friends started suggesting I spend less time and money on comics, when a woman I like who came to the comic shop with me was surprised at how much I buy or the shock a few people have had when they see how many I own.  “You and your baseball,” is something I’ve heard more than once this year, and as recently as this week.

And for the most part, things like comics and baseball are positive social influences on my life.  I can’t play baseball by myself, after all, and one of my favourite parts of any week in the summer is spending time with people I care for doing something I love.  I’ve made lasting friendships over mutual loves of comics, and it’s deepened ones I already had.  I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

But at the same time, Fever Pitch is about staring down the gun at 30 and realizing not only that where you are might not be exactly where you want to be, but that something you like – something you treasure about yourself – might be one of those reasons.  It’s about being able to take stock and be ready to make a change.  For Lindsay, it’s pretty easy, because being a workaholic is something that doesn’t really impact her life for the negative.  It impacts Ben’s life, but the whole point of the movie is that he’s the one that needs to change.

“This is not a man’s closet.  You have one pair of dress shoes.  You’re like a manboy.  Half man, half boy.”

So hey, I’m a dude that only has two pairs of dress shoes and an apartment not too different from Ben’s, and it’s not that long before I turn 30.  It’s pretty easy for me to look at that and get an urge to steer into the self absorption of youth and compare and analyze.  It’s a wonderful luxury, really.  The big question that both Lindsay and Ben are faced with in the movie is that why isn’t the other one married if they’re 30 and, despite coming from a family where mid-thirties is where that tends to happen, 2013 is more or less hitting me over the head with the fact that I am single – and have been for three years – and almost everyone my age that I know or meet isn’t.  This is the first Year of Weddings for me; in March, I flew to Kitchener to do a reading at my cousin’s wedding and next week I fly to Ottawa for one of my oldest friend’s bachelor party.  I’ll punctuate the summer by standing with him at the front of the church he grew up in, and before that happens I’ll have been to at least two more weddings seeing four more of my friends celebrate their love in front of the people with whom they’ve chosen to share it.

I’m thankful that I’m one of the people they’ve chosen to share those days with, because I love them and I love weddings.  I’ll cry and hug and dance, then I’ll go home and fall asleep on the left side of the bed.   I’ll wake up the next morning and see what time a game I want to watch is on.   A few months ago, a friend and I went out for beers and to discuss our love lives.  He told me how grateful he was for a piece of advice I gave him years ago, about how to be good in a relationship you have to be good by yourself first, because it’s helped his relationship last the years that it has.  And hey, I generally like myself and I like my life.  I’ve got friends, hobbies, family and a good job that challenges me.  But that doesn’t mean I want the same life when I’m 35.

It’s Only a Game

Ben had to learn to shift his priorities away from taking a trip down to Florida each year for spring training to being ready to take a trip to Paris with Lindsay.  He had to go from saying, following a breakup:

“The Red Sox never let you down.  That’s right.  Why, because they haven’t won a World Series in a century or so?  So what!  They’re here.  Every April, they’re here.  At 1:05 or at 7:05 there’s a game.  If it gets rained out, guess what?  They make it out to you.  Does anyone else in your life do that?  The Red Sox don’t get divorced.  This is a real family.  This is the family that’s here for you.  I don’t ask her to give up her family, do I?  You know the best part?  I can get over it because I am a Red Sox fan.  I mean, I’m tough. I’ve been through a lot in this park, man.  I can take this.  Because I am bulletproof.”

…to someone who recognizes that the players are just guys and that something always being for you doesn’t mean as much if it crowds out other things.  He remembers that the Red Sox never loved him back, and that’s okay.

Do I need to make a change like that ?  I ask myself that whenever I watch the movie, or occasionally when I get home from dinner with happily coupled friends or women who don’t feel the same.  I know what Ben’s lesson was, but how much should I take from it?  How much of Summer Guy needs to make way for Winter Guy?

It’s hard to say because Summer guy makes a really compelling argument, just like New Release Wednesday Guy does.  The A’s don’t love me back and neither does Batman, but they’re always there.  From March through October, no matter the day, there’s a baseball game on.  Superman has lasted 75 years and he’ll outlast me.  No matter how bad things are, no matter what happens, somewhere there is a baseball game being played and there’s a new comic to read.  Bad day at work?  Hey there, All-Star Superman.  Get shot down?  Oh look, the Giants are playing.  It’s a security blanket, I know, but it’s a comfy one, even if there’s not always comfortable room for two underneath.

You Gotta Tell me, the Outfield, the Grass… Is it Spongy?

At the rehearsal tea for the wedding in Kitchener, a beautiful woman I didn’t know sat next to me and eventually we started talking.  We both love cooking.  We both love baseball; she cheers for the Los Angeles Dodgers and I cheer for the Oakland Athletics.  We talked about how cooking and baking are acts of love, ways that we share parts of ourselves with others.  We talked about going to ballparks as kids, and why we still play it during the summer.  I told her I loved the poetry of being on a diamond.  She looked at me quizzically.  “How so?”

“Everything, really.  I love the bright green of the grass and how it smells after it’s been mowed.  I love the way the orange shale of the infield glows in the sunlight, and the line where it and the grass meet.  It’s a perfect line.  I like the smell of the leather of my glove, and the sound of a catch.  There’s nothing like how, when you make a really good hit, you know it right away because that feeling vibrates all the way down to your hands.  I love the routine of brushing home plate off with your shoe, and the laughs and miniature dramas that a game, no matter how small, creates.”

She smiled.  “Wow, you’re right.  That’s really poetic.  You’re very poetic.”

Yeah, but that’s Winter Guy talking.

Preview read the FCBD copy of Bleeding Cool for product knowledge and my brain hemorrhaged from rage and I’m a ghost now tell @danicahere th

— Brandon Schatz (@soupytoasterson) May 3, 2013

So this was a thing I said about a week ago. After word of this hit a certain someone’s vanity filters, I found myself embroiled in a useless debate with BC’s creator. Useless because a) neither of us were ever going to convince the other to switch sides and 2) Rich didn’t seem all to keen to actually read the content of my words. Which is fine. He does this often with his reporting, so I didn’t expect him to really stay on track with my arguments. I won’t get into much of the back and forth of it all here, but I do want to reiterate my stance on speculation, and Rich’s steadfast defense of the practice.

First: I would never begrudge a person who wants to make a quick buck off of their comics. I work in a comic store, and I know that money can be tight. And hey, that copy of East of West you just bought and enjoyed? You can sell it and use the spoils to get it on ComiXology and still have some money leftover for life. That’s great. This only becomes a problem when speculatory market overwhelms the reading market. This happened in the early nineties where stores were buying up stacks of copies to meet the demand of folks buying ten of every superhero book. This is happening now with the current speculatory boom. An argument can be made that the circumstances are quite different, that the 90s crash was fueled by overprinting and a lack of quality while the current market is dealing with lower print runs and higher quality – and that would be a sound argument if it was the only contributing factor. The problem is this: there are people out there who make a routine of snapping up multiple copies of various books, never intending to actually read the stories contained within. Worse still, there are retailers out there who deliberately limit the supply and mark up their copies on day one. What this creates is a culture where the supply is being artificially altered to affect demand. Anyone who pays attention to economic history knows that creating such a situation is a bad idea for long-term planning. Sure, it will make you money in the short term, but the long-term effects are usually irreparably damaging. Again, look at what happened in the 90s. There was a supply. There was a demand. The supply was altered to the point where the situation became unmanagable, and the house of cards collapse. Many businesses crumbled under the weight of this collapse. My fear is that this will happen again, and if places like BC insist on perpetuating the spulation market over the simple act of reading and enjoying a comic, that affect will accellerate. This is not a situation I would like the comic industry to be in, and I fight every single day to make sure that is not the case. I recommend books to people that I know they’ll enjoy. I do that based on the contents of their pages, and not based on the so-called monetary value of their print run. There are more than a few books I sell that I can’t stand, but that does not and will not stop me from putting those books into the hands of those who are going to fall in love with the medium because of those books. And when I’m selling a book, it’s generally selling at cover price. The back issue bins have about a 50 cent to a dollar premium placed on the cover price due to time spent bagging and organizing, but that’s about it. If you’re buying a comic from my store, I’ve made every effort to make sure the book in your hands is something you’ll enjoy for the price that it should be sold for.

(And no, I can’t say that we’re ammune to speculation. When we purchase comics from readers long after the fact, we pay them a percentage of what those comics are worth at that moment, and mark those books according to the price we recieved them in at. Because look, I might be against speculation, but the industry affects begin when a print run is set, and ripple out slowly from there. The fact that we recently bought a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for thousands and sold it for a few more doesn’t affect the stability of the market at all, it’s so far removed from the actual source.)

I can not stand, nor do I abide by those who would seek to damage an industry they really don’t care for in the first place. My loyalty will, and will always be to the readers, to the people who buy a single issue of a book they love, and wait feverishly for the next issue, and the next, and the next. They are the lifeblood of this industry. They are who sustain us. While they’re not good for the bulk purchase, they are good for many purchases over years and years and years. A focus on building that market is what this industry should be aiming for, and marking hot books up within seconds of their hitting the stands will not get you a reader. You might get lucky and sell a marked up book to that random customer looking for a last ditch copy, but that person won’t come back to your store. You just sold them a three dollar comic for ten, and that doesn’t nothing to get them to come back. The key, as always, is to pay attention to the market, and control what you can. If there’s a new creator owned book by Greg Rucka hitting the stands, I immediately go through our list of customers and identify the people who will probably enjoy the book. I make sure they’re aware of the book, and I then add it to their file, as required. Afterwards, I let our speculative customers know that I can and will order whatever they want for them… five copies, ten… but they can not canibalize our shelf stock. Shelf copies, are for readers. Readers are the people who give us business. If you want to buy a comic for $2.99, I’ll gladly sell you one. If you’re coming in on Wednesday and grabbing the whole stack, I will charge you $2.99 for one copy, and ask you to kindly leave the rest for other customers. You can argue with me all you want about about “a sale is a sale is a sale” but you’re wrong. Not all sales are created equal. And as for your “early bird gets the worm” comment, you’re right about that. Customers who ask for multiple copies before the final order cut off date do, in fact, get the worm. You do not, because you are not an early bird. You are a parasite, leeching copies away from others who would no doubt return for more if only we had some shelf copies of the first issue. If you don’t like that, you can put the single copy I’m willing to sell to you back on the shelf as well, and slowly destroy someone else’s comic book shop, thank you very much.

If this industry is going to survive – or more specifically, if the print side of this industry is going to survive, we can’t let ourselves get too deep into the speculative market. We can’t actively promote that idea or support it. As an individual, sure, I encourage you to make money how you can, but as a collective entity, the multiple copies and inflated pricing is a thing that will come back to destroy us, if not managed an mitigated. For my part, I will continue to follow the advice of Brian Hibbs. He’s a comic book retailer behind a series of articles called Tilting at Windmills that has been running in one form or another since before Superman bit the big one. Even in those days, he was preaching the dangers of speculative buying. To his credit, he stemmed the tide in his store as best as he could, and manage to thrive through the toughest period the direct market ever faced. In following that example, I plan to learn from history and be all the better for it. I hope all of you would do comics a kindness, and do the same.

Thank you.