Thy Kingdom Come (Parts One, Two, Three - Geoff Johns et al.
One of my favorite comics set in the DC Universe is Kingdom Come, a sort of story-to-end-all-superhero-stories, brought to life by Alex Ross' amazing paintings. When our local library got this three-part series—with covers painted by Ross and a very similar title—I was pretty excited about reading it.
I was a little disappointed, however, both because the interior artwork isn't by Ross (with a few exceptions), and because I felt again the old problems: "Who are these characters? Where did they come from? What did I miss?" Even with the little character summaries at the beginning, I felt more than a bit lost.
One key plot point in this book is the appearance of the Kingdom Come Superman in the current world. Whenever he thinks back on events from the earlier book, it's rendered in Ross' paintings; and the last section of the book, another "final chapter"-type story, is completely done by Ross. Because of what happened in Kingdom Come, this Superman wants to warn the Justice Society to prevent another war between superheroes.
I did enjoy the story arc about Gog, a "god" who comes to life in the second part and starts traveling across Africa, performing miracles and claiming to come in peace. Some of the heroes take his side, but others wonder if there's a catch. It's an interesting twist, and I thought the conflict was thought-provoking.
I ended up enjoying the second and third volumes, but the first was a little slow going for me. I still prefer the original Kingdom Come but if you're looking for more this has some of the same flavor.
Fed to jonathan's brain | July 02, 2009
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The Surrogates - Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele
I first heard of "Surrogates" as a movie that's currently in production; when I saw the graphic novel at Borders I was curious about the original source material. It's a little bit of "The Matrix," a little bit Philip K. Dick. "Surrogates" are machines made to look like real humans; people link up to them in the comfort of their own homes and send the surrogates out into the world. Originally designed for people with physical limitations, they have now become almost ubiquitous in the United States, and usage is spreading worldwide.
The benefits include physical safety: violent crime has now become property crime; murders always leave the operator alive as a witness. People are also able to change appearance, or gender, or ethnicity. But there's a resistance, too: there are those who argue that using surrogates is not really living. People have become too buffered from reality.
The storyline is sort of a murder mystery; somebody is out killing surrogates, and it looks like it's adding up to something much bigger than just random terrorizing. Police Detectives Harvey Greer and Peter Ford investigate and find themselves involved in something much bigger than initially expected.
I really enjoyed the book. The artwork is an interesting mix of the digital and hand-drawn, and the world reminded me a little bit of the movie "Gattaca," with a lot of monochromatic color schemes, some golden light, some blue shadows. The writing was pretty good, and the supplementary material at the end of each chapter did a good job of fleshing out the history of the surrogates without becoming simply plot synopsis. My biggest complaint about the artwork was re-using frames; that's something that always bugs me when I catch it. Is it really that difficult to change it up just a little so that I can't tell it's exactly the same drawing?
(For the record, I went and watched the trailer for "Surrogates," which stars Bruce Willis as Lieutenant Greer. It looks like it could be interesting, although there's at least one key plot point that they've switched up, probably to spice things up a bit.)
I'd recommend this one to fans of Philip K. Dick and sci-fi, and somebody who wants a more distinctive artwork to go with the story.
Fed to jonathan's brain | June 24, 2009
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Well, I finally finished reading Inkdeath, the final installment in Funke's fantasy trilogy. I read it to Robyn as bedtime stories, so it took a while to finish (particularly with my three-week hiatus in Taiwan). Robyn had re-read both Inkheart and Inkspell before we started, but I hadn't, so there were bits of each that I didn't quite remember. However, the plot was pretty easy to follow and I found that I didn't feel like I was missing anything.
The plot this time around takes place almost entirely in the Inkworld; eventually most of the major characters find their way into Fenoglio's book, where the rules are all different. Orpheus, the criminally-minded reader, decides to use his talent (and a copy of Inkheart) to make himself fabulously wealthy. Various characters encounter the White Women, the harbingers of death, and things get a little strange. The Adderhead is still immortal but very unhealthy, thanks to the White Book that Mo bound for him.
I think I enjoyed this volume better than the second (which spent too much time on Meggie and Farid's relationship, I thought) and there was a lot more happening. However, towards the last portion of the book I started feeling a little apathetic towards our main characters, because it really didn't seem like death was going to be be an issue. When you don't feel like the characters are really in danger, the story becomes a little less exciting.
Still, I think the series overall was a good one, and it's still one of my favorites of Funke's. I like the idea of worlds inside books, and the battling authors trying to wrest control of the story. It's also a great approach to the question: "What happens when a 'real' person ends up inside a story?" Do they become a character? Can they die? Can they belong to this new world?
One other thing that I particularly like about all three books in the series: the epigrams before each chapter. It's always fun when you recognize a quote from a book you've read (The Book Thief featured heavily in the last volume), but it's also fun to find new books to add to your list, and Funke definitely has a good reading list.
The first book is still probably my favorite of the three, but I would recommend this entire trilogy to anyone who's a fan of books and a little bit of magic.
Fed to jonathan's brain | June 24, 2009
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