1 July 2010: English vacation, Part 2

In a previous post, I blogged about the first few days of Janice’s and my vacation in England. The Internet enabled us to act as our own travel agents, conducting research on sites to visit and helping us book travel through Expedia. The London Pass program allowed Janice and me to get into museums (although most were free) and other attractions without waiting in line/queue for tickets.

On Wednesday, 23 June 2010, Janice and I went to the Tower of London. Janice remarked that it isn’t so much a tower as a castle (based on a Norman keep). We saw the crown jewels and Traitor’s Gate, and I noticed that the armor exhibit had changed since my previous visit 24 years ago. We had lunch at the Armories Café and then walked past the Golden Hinde (Sir Francis Drake’s ship) to the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater.

We weren’t able to tour the theater because a production of Macbeth (the “Scottish play”) had just begun, so we walked across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral, observing a range of architecture on the way. The church is as much a testament to British nationalism as to the Anglican faith, having been redesigned by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666. St. Paul’s magnificent crypt contains grave stones of numerous notable scientists, artists, statesmen, and military leaders.

Janice and I then strolled by the antique stores of Portobello Market and Notting Hill, made famous by movies. Many of the stores were empty, but the pubs were overflowing with fans and spectators of soccer’s World Cup. The Wimbledon tennis tournament was also occurring that week, but we couldn’t tell if it affected traffic or tourism. We later enjoyed Indian cuisine at Masala Zone, which I liked even more than Wagamama because of a friendly and informative staff, healthy and tasty food, and reasonable prices.

The next day, Janice and I went to the grand British Museum, which had a special exhibition of Renaissance drawings. We also checked out the significant collection of artifacts from ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt (such as the Rosetta Stone, mummies, and statuary related to my Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” campaign), Greece (including the Elgin Marbles or contested sculpture from Athens’ Acropolis), Rome, and several other civilizations. We could easily have spent more time exploring London’s many museums and palaces, just as there are other sites in the U.K. that would be worthwhile destinations for day trips.

Janice and I had dinner at Pret a Manger, which is similar to and slightly nicer than Au Bon Pain in the U.S. We then walked through Bloomsbury and Soho (no relation to Manhattan’s Soho, other than being a neighborhood frequented by artists). Among other things, we stopped in at some comic book shops, including Gosh!, Comicana, Orbital Comics, and the multimedia extravaganza of Forbidden Planet, which has few equivalents here at home.

On Friday, June 25, I mailed two boxes of books and a few souvenirs home to lighten our luggage for our return. Since Janice and I had been unable to get inside the Globe Theater two days before, we returned for a tour. Whenever we return to England, Janice and I would like to try to take in a show.

After a simple but good lunch of wine and cheese at La Fromagerie, we walked to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street. Janice and I are both fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective, so it was fun to enter a replica of Holmes’ Victorian apartment. In nearby Covent Garden and Marleybone, we liked the markets and had a decadent snack of Nutella and peanut butter at Crème de la Crepe. We browsed at Daunt’s Books before dinner at Café Pasta, a local chain.

Janice and I flew back to Boston on Saturday, June 26, watching most of Up in the Air on the way. (I screened the OK juvenile fantasy Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief on the flight to Chicago.) After “comfort food” at Wild Willy’s Burgers in Needham, Massachusetts, we began catching up on chores such as mowing the lawn, doing laundry, and grocery shopping.

In addition, I’ve enjoyed the latest episodes of Doctor Who (continuing our Anglophilia) and Leverage. I’ll have to try to post more soon about the end of the regular television season and this summer’s genre shows.

On Sunday, June 27, we met Janice’s middle sister Shelly, her husband Melvin, and our nieces Rebecca and Laura for lunch at a Chili’s in Worcester, Mass., after they dropped off our nephew David at a summer camp for kids with diabetes. We had seen them a few weeks ago at Becky‘s high school graduation party in Utica, New York.

This past week, the “Holy Steel/Dragonslayers” teleconferencing team and face-to-face group skipped more sessions, but we’ll soon be getting back to the fantasy game, a few more one-shots, and the upcoming “Vortex” space opera (about which I’ve been blogging).

This coming weekend, Janice’s parents and the family of her youngest sister Melinda will be visiting us around Independence Day. College chums David I.S. and Dexter V.H. also hope to visit the Boston area. So much to do, so little time!

10 June 2010: DC Comics updates

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Fellow genre entertainment fans, in the past month or two, I’ve been catching up on comic books and graphic novels. As I’ve noted to new enthusiast David I.S., most, but not all, of the titles I pick up monthly involve costumed superheroes.

On Saturday, 1 May 2010, Janice and I drove to New England Comics and Newbury Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts, for the annual Free Comic Book day. Although weekly comics are supposedly endangered (along with all print publications), I was
pleased to see many younger readers.

Since I’ve been following Batman for years in various media, it comes as no surprise that the “Batfamily” is the largest portion of my print subscriptions. Dick Grayson, formerly Robin and Nightwing, has acquitted himself well in the cape and cowl while his mentor Bruce Wayne tries to find his way back to the present after being lost in time (not unlike Steve Rogers/Captain America over at Marvel). While Grant Morrison’s metatextual take on Batman has been interesting, I’m looking forward to Wayne’s eventual return.

In the meantime, Batman & Robin and Streets of Gotham have focused on the team of Grayson as the caped crusader and Wayne’s bratty son Damien as sidekick Robin. Other former Robins include the vengeful Jason Todd as Red Hood, detective Tim Drake as Red Robin, and Stephanie Brown (formerly Spoiler) as the latest Batgirl. I’ve been enjoying all of these books lately. Some DC Comics stories, such as Kevin Smith’s Widening Gyre and the Eurocentric Batman in Barcelona, are out of continuity (fictional history/news) and explore other facets of the Dark Knight’s career.

Batman and the Brave and the Bold is tied into the current campy Cartoon Network
television series, while the latest Superman/Batman Annual delves into the dark possible future of Batman Beyond. On the other hand, First Wave goes into the past, putting Batman alongside pulp contemporaries Doc Savage and The Spirit.

Batgirl isn’t the only female member of Gotham City’s vigilante community. I’ve been reading the bad girls trying to be good in Gotham City Sirens and am looking forward to the revived Birds of Prey. The magician Zatanna, who made a faithful cameo in this past season of Smallville, will join Wonder Woman as one of the few superheroines to have her own title in a market dominated by male metahumans — and readers.

Unfortunately, the teams that I’ve followed, such as the Justice League and Titans, have dipped in quality in the wake of last year’s Final Crisis crossover event. I haven’t kept up with the large ensembles of Justice Society or Legion of Superheroes, although Green
Lantern Hal Jordan has gotten lots of attention in Darkest Night/Brightest Day, First Flight, and an upcoming cartoon and live-action movie.

Hal Jordan’s pal Oliver Queen/Green Arrow hasn’t fared as well, with his marriage to Dinah Lance/Black Canary (see Birds of Prey) on the rocks, his granddaughter slain, and adoptive son Roy Harper/Arsenal maimed by villains. I’ve been a fan of Ollie ever since Mike Grell’s Longbow Hunters in the 1980s, so it pains me to see the “Arrow family” disbanded.

While I appreciate efforts to bring Ollie back to being an urban hunter and crimefighter, I think the character has been dragged through enough suffering and “reimaginings” lately, even without the ill-advised SuperMax flick on hold. Even Justin Hartley’s surprisingly good portrayal of Ollie in Smallville has been marred by similar attempts to strip away his daredevil sense of humor.

In related media, I look forward to the Brave and the Bold videogame, the Justice League multiplayer online game, and DC Adventures for the D20 Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Ed. tabletop role-playing game. On the small screen, there’s the direct-to-video Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and Batman: Year One (plus a Green Arrow short), and the upcoming Young Justice and Green Lantern cartoons.

I’ve fallen behind in reading and blogging again, partly because of business travel to San Francisco and Chicago, but I hope to post soon about Marvel Comics releases, summer television and movies, my trips, and various games!

5 November 2009: Comics in crisis?

As I’ve noted previously, like the rest of the publishing industry, there has been
speculation that comic books are doomed as an artistic medium because of the rise in printing and distribution costs, the move of readers online, and the lack of original storylines.

At the same time, the recent popularity of manga, movie adaptations, and corporate
mergers such as Disney and Marvel seem to demonstrate that superheroes and other genre entertainment aren’t quite dead yet. Photos of my Halloween costume as Captain America got more comments on Facebook than most of my posts, and my
nephews and role-players still eagerly discuss costumed metahumans.

I’m still enjoying the monthly routine of visiting local shops and reading
installments of favorite titles, but I agree that comics, like tabletop role-playing games, will remain a niche market and that cost pressures will drive some changes. I’m not yet a fan of digital comics, but trade paperbacks for certain storylines, fewer variant covers and similar stunts for collectors, and the continuing aging of the reader base are all but inevitable. They’re not necessarily bad developments.

As with all art, my preferences for good writing and artwork are subjective. I’ve already noted that I’m a fan of DC’s iconic heroes such as Batman and Green Arrow, but Captain America has brought me back to some Marvel Comics, even as the “Dark Reign” crossover leads to the “Siege” storyline. I’m also pleased to see Filipino artists doing well and being recognized.

In nonsuperhero comics, the hermetic Planetary finally wrapped up, and Conan has
still been faithful to the spirit of Robert E. Howard’s barbarian stories. In adaptations, I’ve only recently become aware of a well-reviewed Superman animated series that came out shortly before the Timm/Dini renaissance, and I’m looking forward to the
direct-to-video Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths more than the next live-action Spider-Man flick.

Coming soon: Cartoons and other SFTV!

Monday, 3 August 2009: Comic-Con and graphical entertainment

It’s too bad that in all the news media coverage of last week’s San Diego Comic-Con and costumed fans, the source material for television shows, movies, and games was often overlooked. My hat goes off to the writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists, and editors who work on comic books. The Eisner Awards, named after the creator of The Spirit,
recognizes each year’s outstanding achievements in graphical entertainment.

As I’ve mentioned before, I mostly read monthly superhero comic books, but I appreciate other genres, independent publishers besides DC and Marvel, and longer graphic novels. As the average reader gets older, we’ve been increasingly targeted by titles around licensed
properties and nostalgia, but as long as new readers are brought in, the hobby should stay healthy.

I’ve been a fan of the colorful, iconic superheroes of the DC Comics universe since college in the late 1980s. The “event“-driven crossovers of the past few years have been dark in tone, and Green Lantern: Blackest Night is no exception. However, it does look like it will address
the revolving door of death necessitated by the need to keep characters forever young while also respecting long continuities. Speaking of Green Lantern, Janice and I enjoyed the direct-to-DVD Green Lantern: First Flight this past weekend. It covers some of the same territory as the recent Justice League: New Frontier but is more of a police procedural in space.

I’ve blogged before about the often-confusing or lackluster storylines in DC’s team books, but I hope that the latest roster updates of the Justice League, Justice Society, and Teen Titans will get them back to being the world’s finest superheroes. Over at Marvel, I’ve
stopped following the three Avengers teams and numerous X-Men, but Spider-Man 600 did a good job of merging Silver Age nostalgia with an update on what’s going on in Peter Parker’s life now. Captain America is still my favorite Marvel title right now, as Steve Rogers returns to wear the red, white, and blue.

The Batman family of titles has been among my favorites lately, with strong art and
writing on Detective Comics, even without Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight. I haven’t been following Superman as closely, but I’m glad to see epic storylines and art inspired by the late Christopher Reeve. I’ve also been watching the Kirk Alyn serials from the late 1940s on DVD. DC’s Wednesday Comics have continued to impress me, even though, as with any anthology, some features (Teen Titans, Wonder Woman) are weaker than others (Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Kamandi). On balance, I’ve been enjoying the experiment.

Speaking of avant-garde storytelling, I look forward to Volume 3 of Umbrella Academy, Gerard Way‘s postmodern fever dream that turns the conventions of costumed vigilantes on
their heads. A dysfunctional family of foundlings, raised by an alien and a
robot, fights itself and reality. The latest ongoing Doctor Who title got off to a decent start.

Manga (originally Japanese comics, in a more compact format) seems to have peaked in
popularity, with bookstores across the U.S. tightening their shelf space offering it. However, that’s still a wider distribution network than the direct market of specialty comic book shops, and manga did draw many younger, female readers. I hope that, like the upcoming live-action adaptation, the Avatar: the Last Airbender manga does justice
to Nickelodeon’s fantasy television series.

Coming soon: Games and travel!

Comics Wednesday, July 2009

Friends, please note that my blog is no longer available at Yahoo 360. You can find it at MySpace.com or under my “edemaitre” Yahoo Profile. As promised, here are some of my thoughts on recent comic books.

As I mentioned in my previous posting, the San Diego Comic-Con is this week. While I
haven’t yet made the hajj to the largest annual genre/popular culture event in the U.S., I have closely followed coverage of it for the past few years. Movies, comic books and graphic novels, action figures, television shows, games, and more are announced or previewed at this convention. I hope to get to smaller shows here in the Boston area, such as November’s Super MegaFest.

In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying DC’s Wednesday Comics, a 12-issue experiment in weekly comics on tabloid newsprint. The quality of the writing varies, but the art is
impressive, and it reminds me of lying on the floor reading Prince Valiant in the Sunday funnies.

DC‘s big summer storyline crossing over several titles is Green Lantern: Blackest Night, which addresses the temporary nature of death among costumed superheroes (and villains). Although I don’t plan to spend even more on comics than I do now, it has gotten good reviews so far.

I have continued picking up the Batman family of titles, as Bruce Wayne is presumed dead and former Robin/Nightwing Dick Grayson has taken up the mantle. I wasn’t a big fan of Grant Morrison’s trippy run, but he, Paul Dini, and company have upped their game with the creative freedom granted by the temporary change in lead characters.

Similarly, Marvel Comics is winding down its run of Bucky Barnes as Captain America with the imminent return of Steve Rogers. Unlike the regular shakeups for Superman, Spider-Man, or the X-Men, Rogers has been gone for a few years now of continuity (fictional history), and the espionage/thriller tone of his title remains engaging. I’ve been avoiding most team-based Marvel and DC books lately because of overly convoluted continuities and gimmicky crossovers designed to sell more issues.

Speaking of alternate histories, I’m still catching up on collected editions. I’ve recently read Dark Horse’s convenient omnibuses of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and I look forward to getting to the next installment of the steampunk The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (not the weak movie adaptation), the metahuman procedural Powers, and the political Ex Machina. Dynamite, which I’ve praised previously for its handling of licensed properties such as Buck Rogers, will also be handling the next batch of Stargate comics.

Typically, fiction is adapted from print to television or movie, but in the case of Nickelodeon’s excellent Avatar: the Last Airbender, a fantasy cartoon is being adapted to a live-action film series directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Last Airbender shouldn’t be confused with James Cameron’s upcoming science fiction movie Avatar.

The first previews and still photos of the young cast have appeared online. I sympathize with those who feel that Last Airbender should have had more actors of Asian descent in its cast, I’m cautiously optimistic. We’ll have to wait and see whether planned movie reboots such as Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, Astro Boy, and Green Hornet are closer to Watchmen or to Dragonball in quality.