Reviews: Paprika and 3 comics
On Monday night, xhollydayx and I caught the latest Satoshi Kon movie, Paprika, at the Cedar Lee. Kon previously directed Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers. These three movies had wildly different plots but were all quite good. I'm please to report that Paprika keeps his record at a perfect 4 for 4.
The early three movies had relatively straightforward plots. I suppose that at its root Paprika does as well: Scientists invent a machine that allows someone access to another person's dreams for use in therapy. The dreams can even be output to a monitor and recorded. The problem is that someone has stolen one of the machines and is using it to manipulate dreams to drive people insane. The lead scientist's dream alter ego, Paprika, must enter the dreams to save them. Or at least I think that's the simple plot description. The dream segments start boiling over into reality, until nobody at any point in the movie can tell when they are in the real world or the dream world. Is Paprika an alter ego or an independent being? Is any of this actually happening? Needless to say, this can cause some confusion on the part of the viewer. Don't worry about it. Just sit back and watch some amazing animation as the dream sequences get wilder and wilder. I like to think of it as being akin to the issue of Sandman where Dr. Dee uses the ruby to manipulate the dream world and damage the real world, but that's just me. In any event, if you enjoy anime, you need to see this one, as well as the rest of Kon's work.
On Friday I got the oil changed in my car. While I was pulling into the National Tire & Battery on Detroit, I realized that it was only a short walk to Westlake's premiere comic emporium, Astound!, so I left my car in NTB's capable hands and went to browse. My original intent was to acquire the last three TPB's of Lucifer, but as it happened they didn't have them in stock. I felt like walking out with new material so I decided to pick up v.1 of a couple different series to see if anything clicked.
First I grabbed one that I had borrowed from jmartenstein a long time ago: 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call, written by CWRU/WRUW alumnus Brian Azzarello. It introduces the concept nicely: the mysterious Agent Graves gives people a briefcase containing [a] undeniable evidence that someone has wronged them [b] a gun [c] 100 bullets. He then tells them that they can shoot whoever they want with those 100 bullets and they will never ever get into trouble. The cops won't touch them, even if they do it in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses. For instance, the first character we receive one is Dizzy, a newly paroled Latina woman whose husband and child were gunned down in a drive by shooting. She is given proof that two cops did the shooting, but it's up to her to decide what to do with this information. Of course, Graves has purposes of his own, and nobody can guarantee that the evidence explains the situation perfectly...
The guy at Astound! said he personally thought the series started a bit slow and didn't really get moving until latter volumes. I personally think that this collection moves very well fine. It introduces our main concepts, and hints at a longterm plot concerning the movtives and enemies of Agent Graves. I look forward to reading the next one.
The second volume I grabbed is a stand alone TPB called Elk's Run. The art looked interesting and theme as more so. It was originally independently published by writer Joshua Fialkov and was nominated for a bunch of Harvey Awards, but I'm afraid I don't understand why. This story about an isolated town in West Virginia who have withdrawn from American society, and what happens when their kids want to leave said town (hint: it doesn't go over well), is solid enough, but it only scratches the surface of its potential. It has some interesting ideas, but they aren't particularly well executed. Interesting paths are shown to the reader, but they dead end instead of continuing. I'd certainly consider reading more of Fialkov's work as I think he's going to get better, but I wouldn't buy this one. If you want, you can borrow my copy.
The last of the three trades I purchased is Y The Last Man: Unmanned, written by Brian Vaughan and drawn by Pia Guerra. This series starts out with a bang. Every single male mammal on the planet dies simulatenously for unknown reasons. All male fetuses are miscarried at the same time. The only male survivors are the self taught escape artist Yorick Brown and his capuchin monkey Ampersand. Understandably, society falls apart. Food is in short supply, groups of women take the name Amazons and start destroying symbols of the patriarchy, and humanity looks doomed. The only hope? The mysterious Agent 355 will escort Yorick from DC to Boston, where they will hopefully find a female research doctor who may have perfected cloning.
The art is great, the writing is better. Yorick has a number of great one liners. More importantly, the post 'black plague' society is imaginatively rendered. Plenty of hints are dropped about events to come in future storylines. I highly recommend this one.
The early three movies had relatively straightforward plots. I suppose that at its root Paprika does as well: Scientists invent a machine that allows someone access to another person's dreams for use in therapy. The dreams can even be output to a monitor and recorded. The problem is that someone has stolen one of the machines and is using it to manipulate dreams to drive people insane. The lead scientist's dream alter ego, Paprika, must enter the dreams to save them. Or at least I think that's the simple plot description. The dream segments start boiling over into reality, until nobody at any point in the movie can tell when they are in the real world or the dream world. Is Paprika an alter ego or an independent being? Is any of this actually happening? Needless to say, this can cause some confusion on the part of the viewer. Don't worry about it. Just sit back and watch some amazing animation as the dream sequences get wilder and wilder. I like to think of it as being akin to the issue of Sandman where Dr. Dee uses the ruby to manipulate the dream world and damage the real world, but that's just me. In any event, if you enjoy anime, you need to see this one, as well as the rest of Kon's work.
On Friday I got the oil changed in my car. While I was pulling into the National Tire & Battery on Detroit, I realized that it was only a short walk to Westlake's premiere comic emporium, Astound!, so I left my car in NTB's capable hands and went to browse. My original intent was to acquire the last three TPB's of Lucifer, but as it happened they didn't have them in stock. I felt like walking out with new material so I decided to pick up v.1 of a couple different series to see if anything clicked.
First I grabbed one that I had borrowed from jmartenstein a long time ago: 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call, written by CWRU/WRUW alumnus Brian Azzarello. It introduces the concept nicely: the mysterious Agent Graves gives people a briefcase containing [a] undeniable evidence that someone has wronged them [b] a gun [c] 100 bullets. He then tells them that they can shoot whoever they want with those 100 bullets and they will never ever get into trouble. The cops won't touch them, even if they do it in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses. For instance, the first character we receive one is Dizzy, a newly paroled Latina woman whose husband and child were gunned down in a drive by shooting. She is given proof that two cops did the shooting, but it's up to her to decide what to do with this information. Of course, Graves has purposes of his own, and nobody can guarantee that the evidence explains the situation perfectly...
The guy at Astound! said he personally thought the series started a bit slow and didn't really get moving until latter volumes. I personally think that this collection moves very well fine. It introduces our main concepts, and hints at a longterm plot concerning the movtives and enemies of Agent Graves. I look forward to reading the next one.
The second volume I grabbed is a stand alone TPB called Elk's Run. The art looked interesting and theme as more so. It was originally independently published by writer Joshua Fialkov and was nominated for a bunch of Harvey Awards, but I'm afraid I don't understand why. This story about an isolated town in West Virginia who have withdrawn from American society, and what happens when their kids want to leave said town (hint: it doesn't go over well), is solid enough, but it only scratches the surface of its potential. It has some interesting ideas, but they aren't particularly well executed. Interesting paths are shown to the reader, but they dead end instead of continuing. I'd certainly consider reading more of Fialkov's work as I think he's going to get better, but I wouldn't buy this one. If you want, you can borrow my copy.
The last of the three trades I purchased is Y The Last Man: Unmanned, written by Brian Vaughan and drawn by Pia Guerra. This series starts out with a bang. Every single male mammal on the planet dies simulatenously for unknown reasons. All male fetuses are miscarried at the same time. The only male survivors are the self taught escape artist Yorick Brown and his capuchin monkey Ampersand. Understandably, society falls apart. Food is in short supply, groups of women take the name Amazons and start destroying symbols of the patriarchy, and humanity looks doomed. The only hope? The mysterious Agent 355 will escort Yorick from DC to Boston, where they will hopefully find a female research doctor who may have perfected cloning.
The art is great, the writing is better. Yorick has a number of great one liners. More importantly, the post 'black plague' society is imaginatively rendered. Plenty of hints are dropped about events to come in future storylines. I highly recommend this one.