INCEPTION

Got a copy of Inception for Chrimbo (merry xmas and a happy new year btw) and sat down to watch it on Boxing Day. Um... am I the only one that thinks that this film is seriously overrated? I mean, it looks great and I love the idea of a heist movie where the aim is to plant something somewhere instead of stealing something. I just found it really difficult to care about any of the characters. I didn't care about Leo, his two faceless kids or his moody French wife. I wasn't rooting for anybody in this film. I wasn't worried at any point about any character getting killed off. I kept waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me but it didn't happen. There was nothing new here for anyone who has seen the Matrix, Dark City, 13th Floor or even The Truman Show or Fight Club. It's actually quite a pedestrian film. And the ending.....is it real or is it a dream? ....who cares? So disappointed

Granted

So here we have Grant Morrison, a contemporary of Alan Moore, being interviewed in the latest Comic Heroes magazine. Someone who has been through the same kind of crap in the comics industry and had similar fall outs with the Big Two as Alan Moore has. This is his response to Moores' statement that the constant rebooting of characters has has left the comics industry creatively bankrupt;

"....the reason they're recycled is simple: these are primal stories that appeal to human beings in every culture, at any time. They're designed to be told over and over again. If you were an Aboriginal kid or a tribal shaman, that's what you'd do; participate in the recycling of stories..."

Makes sense to me. Why doesn't it make sense to Alan Moore?

CLiNT - A REVIEW

Well, it's got a great cover hasn't it? A heavily bearded Frankie Boyle (so that's what he's been up to since he left Mock The Week) throwing down some kung fu moves, backed up by Kick-Ass and Hit Girl. There's something about the design of this cover that reminds me of the late, great Death Ray magazine. As for the interiors? Well......

The problem I have with this magazine is that I have read most of it already. I've already bought (and enjoyed) Turf#1 and Nemesis #1. Most of the non-comics material has already been done (or something very similar) in Zoo/Bizarre/FHM/Total Film. Frankie Boyle's strip feels like bog standard 2000AD. The only thing I enjoyed was the 8-page intro to Kick Ass 2. Not a good return on £3.99. Now I know that this magazine isn't meant for people who actually read comics (huh?) but I think it would benefit from having more comics related material. Maybe some variation on CBR's Comic Book Legends, Johnathon Ross writing about Manga, Frankie Boyle writing about the comics he loves, features on the British small press scenes, anything really cool or strange about comics that the mainstream may not be aware of. And more comics. I think this mag could make a nice new home for Graham Pearce's Sgt Mike Battle or Martin Eden's O Men.

Now the dilemma. Do I continue to buy something that is not value for money in the hope that it gets better or do I just spend that £3.99 trying out a different comic every month? I do like the idea of Clint, and I would like to see it succeed but I would also like it to be good. There's a lot of talented people in the small press scene that Millar could draw upon to improve the mag.

ABNORMALS

Just checked my Hotmail account for the first time in ages and found this rather cool pic by Grant Springford. It's of his new small press comic "The Abnormals". It's actually an old series of his but he's in the process of creating an updated version. The rather dapper fellow in the background is a character from his last SP series "Pest Control". I'm kinda curious as to why he's there and how he ended up there as things were not looking too good for our heroes in the last issue of PC. It's clear to see how much Grants' art has improved since PC #7 (a few years go). And just look at that perspective work! I don't think I'll ever get my head around perspective, but I'm always glad to see someone else master it. For more info checkout the Abnormals Facebook page.

OI! ALAN! NOOOO!!!

We all know Alan Moore is an exceptionally talented man. His artistic integrity has garnered him the respect of pretty much everybody who has come into contact with the man and/or his work. Marvel Man, V For Vendetta, Watchmen, The Birth Caul, Big Numbers, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He's no one hit wonder or flavour of the month. Heck, he even managed, in Supreme, to write a decent Image comic (probably an even greater achievement than Watchmen!). But boy am I tired of his seemingly incessant whinging. I've recently read his interview in SFX's latest Comic Heroes mag and it actually left me feeling quite happy about his supposed retirement from the comics industry. The thing that annoys me about Alan is that every time he vents his spleen at the "comics industry" he's really only talking about two companies - Marvel and DC. Rarely does he ever make that distinction. By all means bash Marvel, demolish DC but please do not tar an entire industry (or art form, if you will) with the same brush. For someone who has done so well for himself as a writer of comics it would be nice to see him stop ranting about how redundant the super hero genre is and start spotlighting all the good stuff out there. What about Seth, Jason, Adrian Tomine and Art Spiegleman? What about the U.K. small press scene? What about Bendis and Maleev and their magnificent Sopranos equalling run on Daredevil? We all know that 90% of everything is shit, Alan. Why not focus on that other 10% for a fucking change.

COMICS!

Saturday was such a lovely day for travelling into London to buy comics. So nice that I decided to sit in Hyde park and read some of the comics I picked up from Forbidden Planet. I didn't purchase as many comics as I thought I would but I did get a few things that I was quite looking forward to reading. Avengers #1, Secret Avengers #1 and Avengers Prime #1 - the beginning of Marvels' Heroic Age. I'm not a "traditional" Avengers fan, I only started reading the book when Brian Bendis took it over and swiftly Disassembled it. I was all about the X-Men as a kid and the Avengers always seemed old fashioned in comparison. Bendis and Finch really gave the book a shot in the arm and in doing so, made the Marvel Universe such an exciting place to hang out. I think before this I was only reading Bendis and Maleevs' Daredevil, Morrison and Quitely's X-Men and Millar and Hitch's Ultimates. I just didn't care at all about what was happening in the larger Marvel U.

Anyway, Avengers #1. With the exception of the usual Bendis funny and that hammer blow ("that would be what it's like to be on the Avengers with Thor") this book seemed to have a lot of that old fashionedness of the pre-Bendis era. I mean, Kang? Another dystopian Marvel future? The Avengers' children? Who cares? Of course, the gorgeous Romita artwork will keep me around for a couple more issues but I suspect that New Avengers (once it's relaunched) will remain "my" Avengers title.

Secret Avengers #1 was a better read, for me. Interesting cast of characters, good interaction and a really intriguing last page (what does that mean?).

I picked up Avengers Prime mainly for the Alan Davis artwork and the great man did not disappoint. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the colour work on this book. I do not know of another artist that has been so ill served by various colourists as Alan. Take a look at his miniseries, Fantastic Four: The End. That's how you colour an Alan Davis book (gawd bless yer, John Kalisz). Strangely, this feels like the most un-Bendis like Bendis book I've ever read. I'm still going to pick up the rest of it, though( it's Alan Davis for goodness sake!).

Right, That'll do for now.

Take care.

THEY KILLED RORY!? YOU BASTARDS!

Er, is it too late to insert a spoiler warning?

Absolutely gutted that Rory has been killed off. Ok, we knew that something bad was going to happen to Amy and Rory. Of course we did. Moffett wouldn't have had the "older" Amy and Rory appear at the beginning of this superb two-parter just for the sake of a throwaway line. It was supposed to lull us into a false sense of security. And it bloody well worked! It's such a shame as I was really, really enjoying the new dynamic with Rory on board the Tardis. I was a bit wary of Amy Pond at first. She seemed a bit too cocksure, a bit too willing to follow the Doctor anywhere and everywhere, regardless of the potential danger. I've always felt that this show was at it's best when there was somebody around to hold the Doctor to account for his actions, to remind the viewer of just what can be at stake whenever the Doctor rushes toward mystery and danger in the name of adventure. That is what Rory brought to the show. He made Amy and the Doctor more interesting.

Oh well, off to Forbidden Planet this weekend with the intention of spending loads of money on comics (Avengers #1, Secret Avengers #1, Avengers Prime #1, Second Coming, and lots more hopefully) so that should cheer me up.