Netflix'd :: Clearing Out the Instant Que :: A Boy, a Tiger, and Comical Symmetry :: Joel Allen Schroeder's Dear Mr. Watterson (2013)

Well, turns out Dear Mr. Watterson (2013), a documentary on the creator of the much beloved Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, was not the worthless fan-lip-service-circle-jerk that I both feared and was led to believe.

No, the notoriously elusive and reclusive cartoonist does not participate, but documentarian Joel Allen Schroeder does the next best thing by compiling a ton of interviews with the artist's contemporaries, his syndicators, cultural historians, comic art curators, and yes, fans, who discuss the cultural impact of the strip, the history of the medium, the dire straits of newspaper comics today, and speculate on Watterson's cantankerous merchandising decisions, meaning the complete lack of any, and why he pulled the plug nearly twenty -- yes, TWENTY -- years ago after a ten year run of brilliance and basically disappeared.

Even the framing device of the filmmaker's navel-gazing reminiscing works as he digs into Watterson's history, skirting the line between stalking and fact-finding, as he relates his own relationship to the strip (I chuckled how his mother admits she wouldn't let him read it at first due to Calvin's destructive tendencies) and visits the creator's hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and digs up some of his early high school and college work, and later unearths several of his editorial cartoons from when he briefly worked at the Cincinnati Post, which all show the evolution of his craft. But Schroeder takes it no further than that, respecting his subject's decision to be left alone.

Calvin & Hobbes ended before I started working at a small micropolitan newspaper back 1996. And as my job evolved over the years since then, one of the responsibilities I've inherited is building the daily and Sunday comic sections, which isn't nearly as romantic or cool as you'd think in this digital age of drag and drop. Folks still care care about them (-- judging by the phone calls received if I mess something up), but they ain't what they used to be as papers shrink and strips shrivel like Shrinky-Dinks to save money. I seldom read the dailies, but the Sunday section is still as vibrant as ever. (If you're not following Zits, you should.)

And if you will allow me one more relevant personal note, of all the vintage toys, boxes of comics, books and vids cluttering up my house, my most prized possessions is an autographed copy of Watterson's last Sunday strip, given to me by the managing editor for some editorial cartoons I did for him.

Admittedly, Dear Mr. Watterson works best when it's not dealing with the fan-gush, with people basically regurgitating up their favorite strip but seldom slowing down enough to say why. (My favorite is pictured above.) But I think that gets to the heart of why Watterson refused any offer to merchandise his creation. Without this dilution of product, the strip remained small and personal and left to each individual interpretation. Not some ad executives'. Not some voice-over actors' from a non-existent cartoon. And definitely not from dropping trou' and relieving yourself on some corporate logo.

If nothing else, this documentary prodded me to dig out my old and worn out C&H compendiums, their spines long cracked and broken, but untouched for -- wow, since I last moved nearly 15 years ago. Polished off Calvin & Hobbes and got about half-way through Something Under the Bed is Drooling before I realized that all of Watterson's shrewd marketing decisions were not the actions of a control freak but an attempt to keep things pure and simple. As pure and simple as ink on paper and where your own imagination takes you from there.

And so, if you were a fan of the strip, and I've yet to meet anyone familiar who wasn't, give this doc a whirl. And with that, I let the The Beatlesøns play us out. Feel free use the lyrics provided below to sing along.

Video courtesy of Sello Million.

Dear Mr. Watterson (2013) Gravitas Ventures / P: Joel Allen Schroeder, Christopher Browne, Matt McUsic, Joel Allen Schroeder, Jennifer Clymer / D: Joel Allen Schroeder / C: Andrew Waruszewski / E: Joel Allen Schroeder / M: Mike Boggs / S: Joel Allen Schroeder, Berkeley Breathed, Jef Mallett, Stephan Pastis, Jean Schulz

Film Conversations :: Texting with Mike :: The (Not So) Brave and the (So Not) Bold!

Okay, new feature time. Hooray! Don't know about the rest of you but I have some pretty good conversations/arguments via text or Facebook or Twitter with my fellow movie addled-brethren. And, with their permission, I shall be re-posting the very same dust-ups right here. First up: a text conversation between my friend Mike and I a few months back where we were trying to hook up for a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. And while the movie matinee didn't work out, the conversation continued unabated. Read on...
 
[6:33] Mike: Batmanning tomorrow at 11. You around?

[6:34] Me: AM or PM

[7:19] Mike: AM. Sorry. I have to work tomorrow PM.

[8:50] Mike: Nananananananananananananana Batman?

[9:00] Me: Dear, Bruce. Have previous lunch engagment with Ma Kent or I would. XOXO, Clark.

[9:02] Mike: Dear Clark, No problem. Why did U lose the red undies? #Bruce.

[10:23] Mike: FUNNIER RESPONSE: "Enjoy you lunch. I DON'T HAVE PARENTS!!!"

[10:25] Me: Ya know, people often forget that I'm an orphan too. That, and my entire @#%*ing planet blew up. But hey, I can fly. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[10:27] Mike: I have a utility belt, and money, and I'm a ninja. Kind of ... I'M BATMAN!!!

[10:28] Me: FUNNIER RESPONSE: Shot by a mugger? Feh. My entire planet blew up and my parents were atomized.

[10:29] Mike: Your parents were pompous assholes. And we saw your little super wiener. I'M BATMAN!!!

[10:30] Me: I could disintegrate you from orbit, ya know. The MOON's orbit. And you'll never see it coming. Got a utility for that Mr. I'm the Godammned Batman?!

[10:32] Mike: Nope. Just the Kryptonite you gave me because even you know you're a total douche-snoozle. And a thing that summons bats. And a man servant.

[10:33] Me: Oh, Bruce, that wasn't real Kryptonite. You were pouting again, remember? So I tried to cheer you up with a piece of rock candy. Also, Alfred doesn't really like you. He told me. Actually, I was listening in. Super-Hearing and all that...

[10:34] Me: ... Tell ya what. I'll disintegrate you from orbit with my heat vision. Then I'll fly around the planet real fast, reverse time, and zap you again?!

[10:35] Mike: EVEN YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT HOW TIME TRAVEL WORKS!!!

[10:36] Me: Does for me, Batsy. AND STOP STANDING ON MY CAPE!

[10:41] Mike: Ah, well ... at least we ain't Hal Jordan.

[10:42] Me: True dat. More like the Green McTurdburger.

[10:45] Mike: The Green Lan-Turd.

[10:46] Me: "In brightness lame, in blackest asshattery..."

[10:48] Mike: I don't have anything on my utility belt to finish that rhyme.

[10:48] Me: "... I am a Tool of the highest variety."

[10:49] Mike: [...slowBATclap]

[10:50] Me: And that's why I gots this Big S on my chest.

Good Reads :: All of That and Secret Wars II :: MARVELS Eye of the Camera.

"My name is Phil Sheldon. I'm a news photographer by trade, and I thought I'd seen it all. Wars. Heroes. All the heights and depths this sorry world is capable of. I'm known for taking pictures of the Marvels ... the super-humans around us, from the Avengers and Spider-Man to the armies of Atlantis and the Incredible Hulk. And I've seen people celebrate the Marvels, be scared of them, dismiss them as nothing special, or claim they're the end of the world. But now ... it's like things have gone sour, like we can't tell the good guys from the bad anymore..."

To show you how slowly things tend to coagulate into some form of coherency around these parts, when it was announced that Disney had purchased Marvel Comics back in -- hell, I can't even remember, but it was a while ago, the first thing that popped into my head and rattled around that cavernous echo chamber was a thought of how freakin' cool it would be if Brad Bird and PIXAR adapted Kurt Busiek's and Alex Ross's MARVELS with the look, production design and overall aesthetics of The Incredibles. Noodle that for bit, True Believers. Yeah. Wow.


For those unaware, MARVELS was a four-issue limited series that gave readers a historical everyman's view -- here, in the form of photo-journalist, Phil Sheldon -- of the birth of the Marvel Comics universe, from the exploits of the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner to Captain America's entry into World War II, and gave us a ringside seat for the birth of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, and earth-shaking events like the Sentinels gone sentient, the first coming of Galactus, and the Kree-Skrull War, culminating with the events surrounding the tragic death of Gwen Stacey. The painted, photo-quality art was beautiful, and the ambitious scope of the story was like a shot of adrenaline for continuity junkies like myself.

So, getting back to the Marvel-Disney merger, the second thought that entered my mind was that I really needed to track down the book's sequel, MARVELS Eye of the Camera, and give it a whirl. And that's about as far as it got -- until now, finally, I managed to get my hands on a copy and am happy to report it was worth the wait. Busiek returns as writer with an assist by long time Marvel scribe, Roger Stern. Taking over the art chores, Jay Anacleto does, I think, more than an admirable job of filling Ross's shoes. His style isn't quite as fluid but has a more defined line that separates the characters from the background a little more.

Together, after a brief preamble about the Silver Age of heroes (-- a lot of it coming from some aborted plots from the original book), Eye of the Camera picks up with a jaded and terminally ill Sheldon trying to come to grips with his life and career in the age of anti-heroes like the Punisher, Ghost Rider and the outlaw X-Men, and earth-shattering events like the Secret Wars and the Fall of the Mutants. (My god, I'm getting old if stuff I read firsthand is now featured nostalgically like this. Yeesh.) Yeah, even Secret Wars II gets some major play, here. I never thought it would be possible but the, what, four of five pages dealing with the Beyonder and the aftermath of his death in Eye of the Camera have more impact than all nine issues of that piece of shit mini-series combined. Color me baffled. And even though it reduces the gut-wrenching impact of the conclusion of one of the arcs of the first series, it did my heart, at least, a lot of good to see Maggie the mutant alive and well to fill the role of Clarence the Angel for our lost and forlorn protagonist.


See. The thing is, you gotta think of this whole series like a Ray Harryhausen movie. We've come to see the animated monsters (the Marvels), sure, they're the selling point, but its the story of Jason or Sinbad or Phil Sheldon that glues it all together. And in the end, Sheldon realizes this, too, as his real life's work is not his photography but his family and extended family and friends. A pat George Bailey end that reeks of Capra-corn to the more jaded and cynical among us but, eh, I can dig it.

Favorites :: Comic Book Covers :: Marvel Comics Six Issue Adaptation of Star Wars...

... or Episode IV. Or A New Hope. Or ... you know what? Screw that. It's just Star Wars. Always was. Always will be.

-- Issue #1 --
Artists: Howard Chaykin, Tom Palmer

-- Issue #2 --

Artists: Howard Chaykin, Tom Palmer

-- Issue #3 --

Artists: Dave Cockrum, Tom Palmer

-- Issue #4 --
Artists: Gil Kane, Dave Cockrum

-- Issue #5 --
Artists: Rick Hoberg, Dave Cockrum

-- Issue #6 --
Artists: Rick Hoberg, Dave Cockrum

Treasury Editions:
Front and Back Covers.

-- Special Edition #1 --
Artists: Rick Hoberg, Dave Cockrum

-- Special Edition #2 --
Artists: Tony DeZuniga

-- Special Edition #3 --
Artists: Ernie Chan

For more on the history of these comics and what happened right after The Battle of Yavin, click right here.

Old Soldiers Never Die...

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

"But at this time, sources have confirmed that Captain
America was pronounced dead on arrival at Mercy Hospital."
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Well, unless you've been living under a very large rock for the past week or so, you probably didn't miss the news screeds trumpeting the death of Captain America. The Talking Heads and 24-Hour Tubers had a field day: the Right called it treasonous, the Left called the kettle black, while scalpers salivated and skeptical fans were left scratching their collective heads wondering "What the hell is up with this?"

So, is Cap really dead?

This ain't my first rodeo. If there is one thing constant in comic books it is the non-consistency of one's own mortality. Hell, even Cap's old partner, Bucky Barnes, isn't as dead as we once thought. Yeah, that Bucky; as in "In the Marvel Universe only Uncle Ben Parker and Bucky stay dead forever."

So how did Cap die? Sorry ... don't have a clue. As a loyal reader of the title for a good twenty years now (-- and I really really hate the fact that I can now quantify things in my life in terms of two decades -- and teetering on THREE...), a check of all the retailers (what few there are) in a 200 mile radius found nary a copy available. Not surprising since it made such a national splurge -- though I am thankful that at least Marvel isn't trumpeting six different variants of the same issue; bagged and foil stamped, with a holographic cover. Yet.

Guess I'll have to wait for the trade.

Now, the skeptic in me is shaking his head, thinking "okay" this is probably a publicity stunt for the whole Civil War shenanigans playing out in Marvel right now. And it was probably a LMD (Life Model Decoy) that took the shots, or a Skrull, or somewhere, the Red Skull is holding the reality warping Cosmic Cube in his hand and giggling like a little liebchen right about now. Or, maybe this is some kind of reboot or retcon to coincide with a possible upcoming movie. I mean, Quesada reboots the old MU every other month, right? Or perhaps this is a result of the long litigation between Cap creator Joe Simon and Marvel over copyright issues. Could Marvel lose this character all together? (Eep. I thought that was settled?) I hope not; the MU without Cap is like bread without butter. Old web-head and the X-franchises maybe the framework for the House of Ideas, but Cap is the bedrock on which that structure is founded.

So, I'm gonna take a wait and see attitude here. Why? Because I honestly trust Ed Brubaker, who penned this scenario, and am curious to see how this plays out. I've been a fan of his since the long, lost, and lamented Gotham Central, and his current run on Captain America has been nothing short of fantastic, giving Steve Rogers something that you usually don't associate with his alter ego beyond the red, white and blue -- real depth. (Cap's even getting some nookie -- a lot of nookie.) Honestly, I think Brubaker's capable of something more profound than my suspicions. I don't think this monumental passing was meant for the people who would only buy this one issue, but for those of us who've bought the last ten or twenty (or two hundred) and, probably -- hopefully, the next ten (or twenty or two hundred). Let's hope I'm right.

I will be honest, here, though. Cap is the last Marvel title that I read on a monthly basis. (I stopped reading the X-Titles around The Age of Apocalypse; the Spiderman titles around the Clone saga; and everything else when the whatever titles' momentum was derailed to be shoehorned into whatever company wide crossover loomed.) That's right: I, a born and bred Marvel fanatic, have been reduced to this. But it's not just Marvel. As a whole, I don't like the direction either of the Big Two are taking right now. I haven't followed Civil War at all, and almost a year later the whole One Year Later program over at DC can be best described as a colossal misfire. (I was reading seven or eight titles over there, and now I'm down to two and fading fast.)

I know ... I know ... you can't please everybody. I'm an old school whiner, right? Sure. Absolutely. I'm also part of rapidly dwindling market share. My last trip to the comic shop found me walking out with only two new slicks and six Runaways digests (which, for the record, was like a breath of fresh air in the world of hero-dom. Damn fine book, that.) That's what I've been reduced to. Trades. And you know what? I'm cool with that. I can live with digging into the Essentials and Archives. It's someone else's Universe now, let 'em run, I say. And I wish them luck.

But! I will say this: have the balls to stick with it. And if this new Universe or direction doesn't work out and flounders and we retcon back to square one, just don't expect me to come back anymore. I don't think that is the plan with Cap. I hope not. I have no doubt that he will be back (-- and something inside me believes it might be awhile, like maybe a year and half). As to how, we'll have to wait and see. And depending on how, will determine whether I stick around or not.