|
|
|
|
|
Embracing the Inner Bimbo
Well, it looks like this shall be my last of a glorious and well-designed fifteen-issue run as the uncredited ghost editor of the Weekly Planet. (That's okay, the satisfaction of a job well-done is enough credit for me! ...haha.) As a result, I wanted to commemorate this by finally contributing another article. 
Now I've been a longtime fan of Sam Kieth since comic book store employees stared in puzzlement at a 10-year-old me using her allowance to purchase floppies of The Maxx during its first run. (Having parents that didn't understand English very well definitely worked to my advantage as a kid!) So imagine my excitement as I found out that #2 of My Inner Bimbo was *finally* releasing after over a year's delay!
Were I more pretentious I would spout a pedantic list of philosophers and psychologists from which Kieth derives his themes, but pretension takes effort and I'd like to focus my energies on other "p"s that come far easier for me -- "proselytization" and "psychoanalyzation". Yes, that's right. My Inner Bimbo is a diamond in the rough -- Kieth's psychedelically surreal art shining through in black and white as well as potent elixir of his personal vocabulary. 
Reflecting upon The Maxx, you will find the dynamic between Lo, the protagonist, and Bunny, his inner bimbo, pointedly reminiscent of Mr. Gone's sexist fantasy-play with a kidnapped and pink-enrobed Julie Winters. Indeed, there is a strong visual comparison between the two pairs (a balding, older, long-faced man and a baby-faced, buxom blonde) and suggests that My Inner Bimbo may be Kieth's further extrapolation of the vitriol and emotional dependency between these two examples of his personal pantheon of archetypes.
Both are stories of naive femininity coming into its own after periods of traumatic suppression. While Julie Winters' rape as a college student caused the mental creation of her stronger Jungle Queen counterpart, Lo's premature marriage to a much-older woman froze his emotional development and caused it to manifest in the form of his inner bimbo who is now finally embarking on her own journey of growth.
Parallels are abound in this book, as similarly-drawn juxtaposed panels depict Lo treating Bunny in the same way that he, as a 17-year-old wide-eyed blonde, was treated by his obviously more dominant future wife. Transference, much? Ironically enough, we also found that Mr. Gone's twisted serial-raping ways manifested from his own molestation by an older woman as a child. Names change, but the patterns and character mythologies are reincarnated until they can finally be resolved. Yet, instead of the older male figure acting as the somewhat-otherworldly guiding force for the younger female to face their dark past, it's the opposite in the case of My Inner Bimbo.
The crux of the plot is the evolution of the bimbo. Initially an unquestioning and eager sex slave; she then takes her first steps as a critical Greek chorus, adding sarcastic comments to Lo's woe-is-me monologue from a Kids Say the Darndest Things perspective. In issue #2, Bunny is further tinged with worldliness, her hair occasionally turning black a la the Jungle Queen, and takes an interest in philosophy and personal development. She demands to be addressed as "Liza", taken from Lo's reading of My Fair Lady in the role of Eliza Doolittle, and sets forth to find emotional independence for herself -- and by proxy, for Lo.
My Inner Bimbo is an alternate subtext reinforcement of developing one's inner Anima, first pioneered by The Maxx. It is the painful adolescence of Kieth's portrayal of our feminine side, and an expository and all-too-realistic reinvention of his first beloved characters. Let's just hope we won't have to wait another year for #3 to hit the shelves!
*Alice Meichi Li Labels: alice meichi li
WWJJD?
What Would James Jean Do? -- a mantra for aspiring artists everywhere, spawning copycats and envious detractors alike. In my experience with speaking to various editors and art directors, praise for the Golden Boy of cover art flows as freely as Pabst at a Williamsburg (James' former place of residence) party. And it's no wonder, as his prodigious talents scored him the opportunity to do Fables covers for Vertigo a mere six months out of college and more awards than can be humanly recounted from memory alone (including his most recently-won THIRD Harvey Award for Best Cover Artist). Startlingly humble and soft-spoken in person, these achievements have obviously not phased his ego nor his artistic integrity, as he begins to move towards working in the more personal field of fine arts rather than commissioned illustration.
Until then, we have the lovely second edition of Process Recess collecting his various illustrative and personal work in convenient twenty-two 15" x 11" cut-out prints suitable for framing (with handy-dandy instructions, at that!). Furthermore, the backs of his finished pieces feature the piece at various stages of the "process" to shed light on the method behind his madness. "Shouldn't James be concerned that imparting his methods will encourage imitation?" you may ponder. Not to worry! James' progressive work methods allow him to share his genius with others, as he is always steps ahead of whatever he has revealed to his audience. Additionally, there are extra pages of pen sketches of his work space as well as photo-thumbnails from his personal life to shed some light on the artist behind it all, how he works, and what inspires him.
*Alice Meichi Li Labels: alice meichi li
Let This Sustain You
Well, it's coming close to the end of the hiatus season for some of our favorite television shows. Oh Planeteers, you're probably super-deprived of your old staples of Lost, Heroes, and my personal favorite -- Doctor Who. I've got just the thing to tide you all over until we figure out what Juliet's true agenda is, if our Heroes kill off Sylar once and for all, and whether or not Martha's time on Torchwood will actually develop her character enough to finally step out of Rose's looming, chavtastic shadow. (That's right, I called her a "chav". Wikipedia it. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.) 
Right off the bat, we've got the much-anticipated Heroes Season 1 DVD Boxset! Packed with all 23 episodes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, mini-documentaries, episode commentaries, the original pilot, a character map, and 50 deleted scenes; ::takes a breath:: this the perfect remedy to catch all your friends up with the series before Season 2 starts next month. 
Lost won't be returning until February 2008 (How can you do this to us, Jay-brams?!), but we have some pretty amazing Lost Boxset Figures Series 2 featuring some of our favorite characters in some of our favorite scenes from seasons past. These four new figures include: the much-missed Mr. Eko with his Bible-Stick o' Doom, Sawyer on the escape raft, Jin escaping from wrath of the Tailies (and who wouldn't run from Ana-Lucia?), and Sun in that lovely Damien Rice-serenaded scene on the beach. You can drop by the store to pick them up, or purchase the whole set online at our Mail Order site if you're out-of-town. (http://fpnyc.com/mailorder) 
And most geek-gasmically of all, we carry the hottest UK-exclusive Doctor Who merch this side of the pond! UK-exclusive? In America? Yep, we're just good like that. Again, available both in our store and via Mail Order, gems like a Dalek PC USB Webcam/Microphone can keep you Skype-ing and AIM Video-Chatting with your friends across the world about WTF Russell T. Davies was thinking when he cast Catherine Tate as a regular assistant. And how can you possibly resist having an actual Sonic Screwdriver of your own? Especially since the production crew was so impressed with the toy, that they re-cast the one used on the show using this model. Not only can you look super-cool waving around an alien phallic device like the Doctor does (Erm, if that's your idea of "cool"...), but it comes with an interchangeable pen nib, invisible ink that reveals itself with the UV light, and "psychic paper" to write on!
Remember -- until the new fall seasons come along to relieve you of your jitters, The Power Is Yours!
/dork
*Alice Meichi Li Labels: alice meichi li
Good As Lily
It seems as though every one of us has fantasized about what it would be like to go back in time and change something about our lives. Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm's "Good As Lily" explores this idea in Minx's newest release. The concept had me hooked from the very first time I heard it announced at Minx's first panel at New York Comic Con 2007 -- an 18-year-old Grace Kwon is visited by versions of herself at ages 6, 29, and 70 at a turning point in her life.
Kim has been quoted as describing "Good as Lily" to be his contribution to the genre of 80's and 90's teen movies -- a fitting category, revealing many a relatable coming-of-age story. The book's quirky premise and style could have been easily construed into that all-too-easy "...and wackiness ensued" type of storytelling. True, there is a fair bit of wackiness ensuing, but its simple demeanor disguises a story that touches on some rather poignant sentiments. Regret, loss, nostalgia, innocence -- truly visceral subject matter that Kim is able to masterfully display in one personality, spread out over a lifetime of what is essentially a person's inner monologue wrenched out and forced onto comic book pages.
From the instinctual Id-like naivete of 6-year-old Grace to the jaded 70-year-old crone trying to slowly destroy herself through careless substance abuse, the reader is impacted full-force by lessons of the coming of each age of Grace's life coalescing into one intense bout of conflict and self-reflection. If we could all meet versions of ourselves at different ages, perhaps we would be better off for receiving the opportunity to recapture both the idealism of our youth and the wisdom of our adulthood.
*Alice Meichi Li Labels: alice meichi li
Aiming for the Stars
As a Neil Gaiman fan, I totally experienced what it must have felt to be a Harry Potter reader at a screening of Order of the Phoenix. Stardust was entertaining enough, but I was taken completely out of the story every time I noticed that they awkwardly changed the novel to fit in over-explanation, cut out explanation, or force character development and chemistry. I also noticed that they inserted a re-shot Michelle Pfeiffer looking younger than she was in the previous *and* following scene. Talk about sloppy editing.
As for the actors, Ricky Gervais' only-in-the-film character was pretty much pointless. Robert DeNiro hilariously toed the line between Macho-Arrrrggh-Pirate and Tranny-Pouf even if his character in the book was probably expanded simply because he's Robert DeNiro. Or very possibly, the screenwriter felt that she needed some device to force Tristran into manhood and Yvaine into aquiescing femininity. Michelle Pfeiffer was brilliant, but that goes without saying as hundreds of other critics have already inundated her performance with praise.
Claire Danes was FANTASTIC as Yvaine. So many critics disliked the choice of Danes for the role, suggesting she was reprising her character of Angela from "My So-Called Life" due to the amount of angst. However, I think that Danes' ability to channel teen angst was WHY she was so perfect! The original character from the novel was every bit as snarky and whiny (but humorously and loveably so), after all.
My biggest gripe about the film was that it seemed as if so many aspects of it underestimated the audience's intelligence and therefore tended to overexplain itself. The ending was changed so that it'd be "happier", even though I did prefer the bittersweetness of the original. Some of the more explicit scenes were censored, and they arbitrarily inserted a sex scene between Tristran and Yvaine. The device of making Yvaine "glow" when she was happy was inelegantly timed at points so that it distractingly fumbled some delicate emotional scenes that the actors themselves could have pulled off fine without it.
It wasn't a bad film by any means, don't get me wrong. Some of the changes and takes on the original novel were highly amusing, after all -- the aforementioned flamboyantly hairdressing DeNiro and Pfeiffer's comically-timed struggle with sagging body parts being among them. Not to mention a personal favorite, that Sienna Miller's naively provincial insistence that traveling all the way to Ipswich was a big deal. Perhaps I simply need to re-view it and take it in as a standalone movie rather than keeping a mental tab of comparisons.
* Alice Labels: alice meichi li
|
|
|
|
|
|
