Thursday 24 January 2013

Books: The Ultimates

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The Ultimates
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Bryan Hitch
2004




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


I first wrote about The Ultimates on this here blog all the way back in the January of 2011 [1]. Of course since that time we've come a long way - I discovered that it was possible to write more than just one paragraph at a time when taking about a particular series (and - wow - what a breakthrough that was) as well as the never-ending joy of footnotes [3] and the rest of the world caught up on how much fun watching Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Nick Fury etc beating up bad guys (and - most importantly - arguing amongst themselves) could be. Which - if we follow everyone else's lead - is mainly down to the efforts of one man: Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon.

Frankly (at this point) Joss Whedon isn't a guy who needs an introduction. Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Firefly. The Cabin in the Woods. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which I actually have never seen - is it any good? Worth watching?) and - yes (of course) the Avengers: that kids film with all the superhero buddies who come together to defeat an evil intergalactic threat by - erm - smashing up New York and then using an atomic bomb to somehow magically fix everything (it's the American way or something [4]) that - against all the odds - managed to become of the most profitable movies of all goddamn time [5]: Joss is - well - he's basically the nerd Jesus and the man that fans of other series daydream about coming to rescue their franchise of choice (Talking to my friend the other day about the Judge Dredd film I got this: "You know what would work really well? A Judge Dredd television series! And you know who would be the perfect person to do it right? - Joss Whedon!" Because - duh - obviously - right now there's nothing that man can't do. Need someone to direct the new Star Wars films? Get Joss Whedon! [6] There's a cat stuck up a tree! We need Joss Whedon! Failing marriage? Has anyone got Joss Whedon's phone number? and etc).

A lot of the plaudits The Avengers got was how it managed to reinvent and refresh the idea of how a superhero team could work on the big screen (or is that just something I'm making up? Whatever...) as it proudly continued the trend of other 21st Century superhero films (I'm looking at you particularly Spider-Man and Iron Man: yes - stop messing around at the back and pay attention please) by making all the non-superhero action explosion stuff the best bit. That bit in the middle of The Avengers when they all start squabbling with each other and the camera does a 180 degree flip? I'll take that over that muddled final battle scene (that did nothing much more than to make me feel fatigued) any day of the week please please please. Robert Downey Jr doing his flamboyant acting thingie where it looks like he's just making up his lines as he goes along [7] and Mark Ruffalo finally giving the world a Dr Banner it could believe in [8]: well - that's the stuff that I go to movies for thank you very much.

But - hell - you ask any serious comic book fan worth their salt and they'll tell you that none of this movie magic / money-making would ever have happened without Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's The Ultimates [9]: it's like how everyone always talks about Christmas is really "all about Jesus" when - if you just do a quick google - wow: it turns out that there's loads of stuff out there about Saturnalia and pagan festivals celebrating the end of the dark and stuff like that [10]. Or - in other words: even tho Joss Whedon is the face on the label the formulae was actually first distilled to (some form of) perfection by these guys: they did it first and they did it best: with the ideal and optimal amounts of sugar, chocolate, glucose syrup and wire wool: they  concocted a recipe for 21st Century superheroes comics (or movies - whatever) that - really - has yet to be bettered (am I building this up too much? Oh well...).

Of course - in a shocking twist - the introduction to the big fat collected edition of The Ultimates you can see in that picture up the top there [11] was written by (can you guess who it is yet? no? come on - who do you think?) - yep: that's right - Mr Joss Whedon himself (gasp!). Written all the back in July 2004 (so that's after Firefly but just before Serenity - and still that point in time when he was known as the Buffy guy) it basically means that he can't plead ignorance and all the various things that his Avengers movie well - steals - from the comic can't just be put down to cosmic coincidence or whatever [12]: nah - The Ultimates comic is more like a dry-run of just how to make all the Avengers characters not just work: but also snap (!), crackle (!!) and pop (!!!) in the most entertaining ways possible.

Of course - the irony is (and I guess this is because The Ultimates is pretty much the work of only two men who - seeing as they were creating an alternative universe version of The Avengers [13] - didn't have to worry too much about upsetting the status quo (in fact - I'm guessing that in an effort to distinguish The Ultimate characters from their mainstream Marvel counterparts - the orders probably included the orders to upset the apple cart as much as possible) - as opposed to Mr Whedon who - (I guess) as he had his hand on the wheel of a multi-billion dollar franchise was probably under strict instructions not to cause any undue stress or damage [14]) that the comic book is actually most sophisticated and even (dare I say it?) grown-up than the film. I mean - yeah - both are about people in brightly coloured costumes going around hitting things: but if you've never read The Ultimates before you might be surprised by how much stuff there is of people not hitting things and (when they finally get around to it) the type of stuff they actually get around to hitting....

And also: well - yeah - it's more fun and more exciting because it takes more risks and screws with your expectations in ways that you wouldn't really expect: I mean - seeing how everyone in The Avengers has their own separate parallel film series (I mean apart from that bow and arrow guy and Scarlett Johansson - but everyone knows that they don't count anyway seeing how they don't have any real powers apart from - erm - having a bow and arrow and being Scarlett Johansson) it's not really possible to play up anyone's negative characteristics - I mean: they all have to be upstanding moral citizens right? With a complete lack of any interesting moral blemishes or anything else that could be considered "untoward." Thankfully (and praise the lord) this is a comic book that doesn't suffer from that problem. Freed from the obligation to steer present it's heroes in a hero-like glow (as this was way back when the only other Ultimate character with his own book was Ultimate Spider-Man) The Ultimates gets down-right nasty - especially especially with everyone's favourite gamma radiation scientist who is recast as less a brooding and troubled Dr Jekyll type and more as - well - the only word that really fits would be "dweeb." (sorry Bruce). But (and this makes a change to the usual Millar antics) it doesn't feel like meanness for meannesses [15] sake: rather everything is there to push forward the story into the kind of places that you wouldn't quite expect (like - I just wanna blab and list all the stuff that happens - but I figure that there might still be a few people out there that haven't had a chance to read this yet - so will keep my synopsises to myself). And (another thing!) without the extra weight of those other films where each character has to the star - things just feel a lot more - I dunno - joined and together. I mean - I guess you'd think it'd be a hindrance each character wasn't introduced elsewhere - but instead: well - it kinda feels like a gorgeous little intimate mixtape where you're only getting the best bits of each (does that make sense?).

And yeah: ok - I know that I do go on about story story story a lot on here: but - man - I can't help it: there's something about a good story well told that sparks a part of my brain in a way that not much else comes close to - and from the very first panel of the book ("The North Atlantic 1945") with that fleet of airplanes marching through the sky: drawn with such attention to detail that you hear the low buzzing drone of their engines this is a comic that just feels - I dunno - assured with the story it's telling. From it's use stock cliché's just to lightly hammer home what you already know you already know [16] and the way it makes the idea of a superhero team seem somehow - (I dunno) inevitable (""Crime is becoming super-crime. Terrorism is becoming super-terrorism.") not to mention the way it keeps raising the stakes to bigger and better heights... So that by the time you get to the end it's like taking your first step on to solid ground after riding the world's biggest and fastest roller-coaster.

Of course - there is a chance that I'm building this up too much. And - yeah - well: a few years back I shoved a copy under my literary flatmate's face and demanded that he read it and (after a few weeks of guilt-tripping) he returned it to me and said it was "nothing special." Obviously he's lucky that I didn't throttle him on the spot - but I guess the lesson there is that maybe you have to be immersed in the state of superhero comics a little to realise just what a breath of fresh air The Ultimates is and to be aware of the stock types and genre conventions it makes mincemeat of: ok - yeah - it's not Watchmen but like Watchmen it does help to get a sense of the terrain in order to appreciate just how skilfully it navigates it. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for bombastic blockbuster comic books done with just the right hint of malevolence (and - oh - I don't really notice this sort of thing: but isn't it great how Bryan Hitch tends to draw everyone (at certain points at least) just a little bit from underneath? So that you're always just slightly looking up at the heroes: that's cool).

This is a book that I would happily recommend to everyone everywhere and that shows no sign of dating anytime soon (although there is a chance that younger readers may ask: who exactly is this Freddie James Prinze, Jr. guy?) - I  mean - it's got pretty much everything you could want: there's hopeful uplift (" "I guess I just hit a point in my life when I wondered what things could be like if all the billionaires and government spooks tried to save the world instead of bleeding it dry."), a strange smattering of politic references (George Bush and "a democrat in Texas") to keep things - I dunno - grounded? Plus action and giggles and a - how's this for synchronicity? - a nice little reference to Robert Downy Junior (and that's before we get to the point where everyone sits around and guesses who's going to play in them in the movie version of their lives [17]... Which again is kinda spooky by how spot on it gets [18]).

I mean - what else can I say?

"What are you waiting for ladies? Christmas?"

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[1] Which (for any of you curious to see how much I've developed in the past two years) went a little something like this: "Sometimes you just want a comic that's going to entertain you. Forget questioning the meaning of human existence and pondering the multi-dimensional narratives that explore the nature of time, space and everything - where's the best place to go when you want to see super-people have fights and have stuff go boom? The Ultimate is a back-to-basics reboot of the Classic Avengers series by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby - featuring the Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Nick Fury etc (don't worry if you don't know who most of them are - it doesn't really matter that much). Part of the 'Ultimate Marvel' series (all new origin stories that free all the characters from the from their massively convoluted back-histories - ideal jumping on point for new readers etc) it takes everything right from the start and includes all the context you need - so there's no worry about stuff not making sense. With careful laying up of threats and a team that spends most of it's time fighting each other - it's storytelling that provides the explosions and cool one-liners but doesn't skimp on things like characterisation and actually trying to make you care. Bryan Hitch's artwork is detailed and realistic enough so that you can easily make-believe that this is stuff that could happen - so you can winch at the impacts and gawp at the immense devastation. In the simplest terms: it's the best big-budget widescreen superhero action film that's never been made - built by people that know exactly all of the right buttons to push. Best enjoyed with a large bucket of popcorn and refreshing beverage. Top tip: don't read The Ultimates 3 - different creative team and practically unreadable, but do try Ultimate Comics: Avengers - also my Mark Millar [2] - which is pretty much a sequel in all but name."

[2] "Also my Mark Millar"? Really?

[3] Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

[4] It would probably be easier at this point to list the mainstream big budget film that don't end with a nuclear explosion (somehow) saving the day. But then - hey - I guess that's what gets them off across the pond (for all the obvious reasons...).

[5] I mean - seriously - think back to when people first started to notice those Samuel L Jackson wearing the eye patch post-credit sequences and how much of a fruitcake idea it seemed: a bunch of different superheroes from all - well - very tonally different worlds (Kenneth Branagh on the one side - Jon Favreau on the other) all in the same picture? Sounds like the perfect recipe for a big fat unwatchable mess. And for all those years (years) leading up to - everyone everywhere was basically looking forward to watching it flop. And then of course - well...

[6] Except - oops - he's doing the Avengers sequel - so maybe not.

[7] "An actor so versatile that he played Iron Man in three different movies." Tina Fey. 2013.

[8] Like Film Crit Hulk says (in the New Yorker no less): "SURE, HE PLAYS IT DEMURE, BUT WATCHING HIM CONNECT IN THE LAB WITH TONY STARK IS ONE OF THE MORE JOYFUL INTERACTIONS HE (AND AS EMPATHY DICTATES, THEREBY THE AUDIENCE) HAS EVER HAD."

[9] Although - to be fair - most of the comic fans out there (at the time that The Avengers movie came out) where much more concerned about how it treated Jack Kirby. - see: this Slate article: Marvel Comics’ Troubling Origins Story Why I’m boycotting The Avengers and this Comics Alliance piece: The Ethical Rot Behind 'Before Watchmen' & 'The Avengers' [Opinion].

[10] I spent half a second looking for things and found this. Which is worth checking out if only for this lovely little sentence: "Many of the most popular Christmas customs – including Christmas trees, mistletoe, Christmas presents, and Santa Claus – are modern incarnations of the most depraved pagan rituals ever practiced on earth." So yeah.

[11] It also comes in two smaller editions: Vol 1: Super-Human and Vol 2: Homeland Security - but for me: whenever I think of The Ultimates I always think of the big fat hardback we have on the shelves at North Library - so that's what I'm going with here: it seems only right.

[12] I mean - back when I first started rereading The Ultimates I kinda knew that there were going to be some small cross-overs between comic and movie but - frankly - I was surprised by just how many little touches Whedon lifted (I'm gonna include some stuff from The Ultimates 2 here - hope that's ok?): The notion of Captain America Trading Cards? Iron Man being introduced doing cool stuff underwater? The Hulk's big moment at the end of the film? Big dramatic moments of people talking to people in big glass cages? And - most special of all well - check out The Black Widow and the Wasp dialogue with Iron Man in the big climatic scene at the end of the first Ultimates book: I mean - it's almost like Millar and Hitch saw the The Avengers film and then decided to take the mickey out of - and seeing how it wasn't going to made for another eight years is quite an achievement.

[13] This would be the bit where I point out that The Ultimates takes place in something called the Ultimate Marvel Universe that - keeping things simple here - rebooted all the Marvel characters so they weren't bogged down by all that tedious backstory stuff.

[14] And seeing how The Avengers had a budget of something like $220 million - I mean - it makes sense that they wouldn't want to take too many risks...

[15] Meannesses. A word that won't just let itself be written down - but begs for whoever reads it to say it out loud so that they can roll it against their teeth and their tongue like a ship crashing against the waves: go on: say it with me: meannesses. (Feels good doesn't it?).

[16] "C'mon live a little.""No, thank you. Got me a future, partner. I'm two days away from retirement, my daughter's graduating from college... " "Little Suzie's growing up."  "-- and as soon as we nail Mendoza, my old lady and I are gonna sail around the world like we always wanted." [He shows a picture of his boat -- the Live-4-Ever].

[17] They did miss a trick by not getting The League of Gentlemen's Steve Pemberton to play Jarvis tho - seeing how Bryan Hitch draws him so that they're particularly identical.

[18] Although I guess that's just confusing cause for effect.

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All comments welcome.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Books: Elk's Run

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Elk's Run
Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov
Art by Noel Tuazon and Scott A. Keating
2007




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


How much can you trust a recommendation?

Part of what makes the monthly meeting's of the Islington Comic Forum [1] work (for me at least) is that when you're trying to work out which book to read there's always the option of holding up a particular comic up in the air and asking "Is this any good?" Because what happens then is that two or three heads will turn around and offer anything from "Oh yeah - that's the best" to "Oh god no - throw it away!" [2]

But you know: that's human nature - we're all much more inclined to give things a go if everyone else gives it the thumbs up - which I guess is why if I ever have kids I'm not going to rely upon the old cliché of "if everyone else was throwing themselves off a bridge - would you do it too?" because the (oh so obvious) answer to that is: well - if everyone was throwing themselves off a bridge and it was on the front page of every magazine in the country as the hot new thing and anyone who hadn't thrown themselves off a bridge was shunned and mocked as an uncool freak - then: yes - of course any self-respecting teenager would throw themselves off a bridge: the first chance they got [3].

Which is why when I came across this book and looked at the back cover to get a feel of what it was about I was all like - oh - when I saw the names ("Damn fine comic making" Brian Michael Bendis, "Really, really good [4]. The team executes it with great skill."  Warren Ellis and - erm - some other people that I hadn't really heard of) bigging up something that - up until that point I wasn't really on my radar at all. So - what the hey right? - I guess that means it's earnt the time it would take to read: I mean if other people say it's good then it must worth a read - yeah?

Yeah - well  maybe not. I wouldn't say that I hated reading Elk's Run (like: it feel like it gave me cancer or anything [5]) but it didn't exactly set my brain on fire (which is pretty much my baseline for whether or not something is worth the energy that it took to read: if I can't smell something burning and the smoke isn't slowly pouring out of my ears - then I consider it a wasted afternoon - or whatever). I mean: yeah - alright - it does the multiple point of view storytelling thing but not much else: I haven't actually gone to check it out - but I would not be at all surprised if - like The Exterminators - it turns out that this was originally supposed to be a TV show or a movie; because as nicely told as the story is ("nice"? ouch) there's not that much that's really comic-booky about it - it kinda feels more like a storyboard for a Channel 5 movie or something (do they still have Channel 5 movies? Or is that a reference that no one's gonna get?). And the artwork - well - I don't wanna be too judgemental or anything: but some of it is so crude - it looks like it was drawn with the the crayons that you get at the bottom of the crayon box: less pencil-shaped and more like a rock or something.  

But then - well - the thing that makes it make a little more sense is that fact that I found something on The Graphic Novel Reporter website which included Elk's Run on their 2010 list of best graphic novels for teens [6] which - when I saw it - kinda mellowed me out a bit on the whole thing. Because - hey - if it's just for teenagers then that means it doesn't have to be that good - right? But then - back when I was in my teens (not to brag or anything) I was making my way through Alan Moore's back catalogue so - well: yeah - I'll just leave things at that.

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[1] I think it used to be that the monthly meetings where what the Islington Comic Forum was - but now with this blog having been going on for a few years - it feels less defined than that. Now it's like the phrase "Islington Comic Forum" designates both the meetings and all the stuff I've written about on here (maybe?): so - I dunno: Half Meeting Half Blog All Comics (or something?).

[2] That would be me if anyone holds up a copy of Fables (god I hate Fables).

[3] Speaking of the teenager / parent dynamic: over Christmas I heard about how when my girlfriend was a teenager she used to own a pair of Doc Martins (because - you know: she was a wannabe rock chick or something I guess?) and - because it was the style at the time (damn you grunge) used to want to get them really messed up and scruffy and faded: so spent every second she could wiping them on the side of pavements and stuff like that so that they would look really worn out. Of course - her dad - who's much more traditionally-inclined - and just couldn't understand why anyone would want to wear boots that weren't properly cleaned and polished was almost weeping in frustration to see such a nice pair of Doc Martins get so tatty. And so came morning when my girlfriend woke up to find her beloved boots (which she had spent months and months getting just right) sitting next to her bed - freshly polished. As you might imagine: she wasn't best pleased.

[4] Although - is it just a coincidence that that sounds like Homer Simpson meeting the patriotism editor of Reading Digest? ("Ooh, I love your magazine. My favourite section is `How to increase your word power'.")  Maybe Ellis' heart wasn't totally engaged?

[5] You know - its not Fables.

[6] If you're interested it's here: The Expanded List: 100 More Core Graphic Novels for Teens.

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Further reading: DemoAnya's GhostAmerican Born ChineseMercuryB.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth, Daytripper, A Small Killing, Violent CasesRoad to PerditionThe Exterminators.

All comments welcome.

Thursday 10 January 2013

Events: Islington Comic Forum 2013/02

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Ok. So you know what? It's kinda hard to describe properly what a typical meeting of the Islington Comic Forum consists of (relax: - I'm not going to use that hoary old cliché about there's not really any such thing as a typical meeting of the Islington Comic Forum because - we're better than that - right?) - I mean: in the strict physical sense - it's a big table full of comic books (at a rough guesstimate I'd say there's usually around - what? - 150 books available for people to take home at each session) and a bunch of people (typically we get about a dozen or so people turn up) all from various walks of life and all with different backgrounds (yeah - I know you're thinking that's it probably all nerdy white guys - but seriously - we're as multicultural and diverse as a corporate video - with an age span from 6 to 90) all sitting around and discussing / arguing / sharing their thoughts and ideas about one of the most exciting and diverse mediums on the planet (nowadays if you're talking about something that's just "all about superheroes" my first guess is you're talking about films - but whatever). It's a little bit more chaotic than a book club but with the same sort of relaxed and open friendly atmosphere: all presided over by an excitable librarian (that would be me - hi!) who has pretty much read every comic book out there (even the terrible ones) and is willing to tell you where you're going wrong with whatever you're reading (and is most happy when people disagree with him). If you're curious as to what sort of books we discuss - then take a look around this blog - every book here has been included at one point or another. And if you want to know what sort of things we talk about: - well - it's never really that properly thought out but we touch upon everything from the best way to construct a story, to how far genre limits can go all the way to if Frank Miller was right about who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman.

Books available this month will include (unless - of course - they are reserved by other people): 
Asterios Polyp / Cages / Logicomix / The Playwright / Alan's War / D.R. and Quinch / Prophet / Marvel 1602 / Ultimate Comics: Doomsday / Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles / A Study in Scarlet / The Sign of the Four / The Valley of Fear / Red / Supreme / The Red Wing / Kiki de Montparnasse / The Perry Bible Fellowship / Signal to Noise / Kick-Ass / The Bulletproof Coffin / The Manara Library / A Small Killing / Are You My Mother? / Green Lantern: Willworld / Vimanarama / The Nightly News / The Ultimates / The Ultimates 2 / Ultimate Comics: Avengers plus many, many, many (many!) more.

There's also a book of the month (so that at least we can all talk about something we've all read). This month it's: Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates written by Jonathan Hickman art by Esad Ribic . If you get a chance please read it. You can reserve yourself a copy here. (For those of you that don't get the chance - don't worry - you can still come and join in with the discussions).

The next one is: Tuesday the 5th of February / 6:00pm to 7:30pm in the Upstairs Hall at North Library Manor Gardens N7 6JX. Here is a map. Come and join us. It's free. All welcome.

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For more information (or if you have any questions and/or would like to be added to our email list: we send out a reminder a week before with a list of the books that are going to be available) you can email us here.

All comments welcome.

Books: Daredevil (2001 - 2006)

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Daredevil
Ultimate Collection Book 1
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev, David Mack, Manuel Gutierrez and Terry Dodson
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Daredevil
Ultimate Collection Book 2
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Daredevil
Ultimate Collection Book 3
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev and Bill Sienkiewicz
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


"I'm Burke. Carter Burke. I work for the company. But don't let that fool you, I'm really an okay guy."

I don't know about you - but for me - calling someone a "company man" is a pretty big insult. I mean - I don't think I've ever said it to anyone's face: but that's only because in my line of work I don't get that many chances to interact with people who do stuff like sell out their mothers for a percentage point (or whatever it is). But - as an avid consumer of all forms of mass media (films, music, TV, comics etc) there's plenty of opportunities to see people go from underground heroes to "selling out to the man." [1] I mean - I'm in no way adverse to seeing people rise up and crash their way into the mainstream: but I always thought that the point was to be able to change things and dictate to the rest of the world the way things should be rather than just joining the rank and file. Or - to put it another (much more simple kinda) way: if you're a square peg facing a round hole then - come on - the plan should be to change the shape of the hole rather than change the shape of your peg (just so we're all on the same page: the hole being mainstream entertainment and the peg being the stuff you create - yeah? Go that? Good).

But the "company men" (or - hell - "company women" / "company person" you know) the get to the point where they should conceivably start to have some kind of influence and instead of exerting it - they just bend over and do whatever it takes to get as much money they possibly can [2]. And - well - to state the total obvious here: people who are motivated purely by the accumulation of money strike me as being impoverished in all the ways that count. Say what you will about Frank Miller and Alan Moore - but back in the day - when they had their big successes they used their power to do - well: whatever the hell it was they wanted: and even if you might query some of the results (and goodness knows - people have) - I can't find any real fault in their devil-may-care attitude (ok - so maybe Frank Miller's Holy Terror - but that's a whole other story) [3].

Maybe it has something to do with a medium becoming entrenched? I mean - look at cinema back in the 1960s and 1970s: seeing how no one was really taking it all that seriously as a medium (well - ok: maybe not the whole medium - maybe more the crime / horror / science-fiction / genre stuff - but whatever) all the directors who have now become legends of their time - could do whatever they wanted and it was fine because there wasn't really a mainstream to join / co-opt them. Of course - give things time to solidify (and the people in charge to realise what sells and what doesn't) and most forms of entertainment will always tend to get a little more conservative: back when punk (another good example) started out it was - well - it was punk: loud and rude and making people kick their own television sets in [5] and nowdays - well - nowadays it's more like music for grandparents - or kids [6] even - having long been de-fanged and neutered: and all the sense of danger and violence successfully removed [7]. Which means that the people who once got into the medium for the sheer love of it (maybe I'm over-romanticising a little - but whatever: I've read Alan Moore talking about (back when he first started) that the social respectability of being a comic book writer was roughly at the same level as being a pimp) end up giving way to those who seem to think of it as a suitable and respectable career option or - in other words - the rebels give way to the suits.

A much quicker way of saying all this is that: things start wild and then they grow respectable (I mean - no dur right?) but really all of this is just my oh-so-typically-roundabout way of getting to the point. Point being: Brian Michael Bendis' Daredevil.

Now - if we were gonna keep things simple then the story would be this: Brian Michael Bendis used to be a comic's outsider with his nose pressed up against the glass. He used to write and draw his own comics (have you ever read his Goldfish? Well - you should - it's really good) and - apparently - spent years and years and years trying to break into the mainstream until - whoa - one day he did. Given the choice of writing for pretty much any of the Marvel properties - he chose Daredevil [8] and the rest: well - the rest is these three "Ultimate Collection" books which collect the entirety of his legendary five year run [11]. Oh: did I say legendary? Yes I did - because (at the risk of maybe building these up a little bit too much before you get the chance to read them) these  are pretty much the pinnacle of modern day continuity-bound superhero books. Of course the operative phrase there is: "continuity-bound" (hell - wait - is that the right phrase? I was also going to opt for "in-continuity" but that didn't sound correct: but - whatever - I'll write some more and you should get what I mean...).

See: the thing is with superhero comics is that all the really good ones (those are the ones that you don't have to feel embarrassed about when you mention them in polite company) don't take place in mainstream continuity: you know - stuff like (to be really obvious): The Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen or All Star Superman - these are stories that are (for all intents and purposes [17]) - self-contained - you can pick them up, read them to the end and get a (nice) sense of closure. But - technically speaking: that's not the superheroes natural habitat: rather their natural dwelling place is in a place known as "continuity." For those of you that don't know what that is - well - you know what a soap opera is - right? A never-ending TV programme that goes on forever and ever and ever like a story that forgot where the off switch is? Well - that's what most superhero comics are like: they draw you in with the promise of action and adventure and excitement and then bog you down with a plot that never gets to point where everything concludes: which is basically why superhero comics are such a mess and are only of interest to the hardcore super-geek - because those are the only people who have a chance of understanding everything that's going on (and you know: that's why every few years or so they have a big relaunch (DC: The New 52 or Marvel: Now or whatever and do things like re-boot Spider-Man's marriage [18]) in an attempt to clear the decks because - no duh - in a world where there's costumed heroes running around and getting up to mischief - things can tend to get a little - well: a little convoluted: and so you know - that's like a major understatement right there).

But you're getting the picture yeah? Because of this never-endingness most mainstream "in continuity" (or whatever) superhero comics are scrappy little things that only just barely hang together and aren't really much when it comes to providing the sorts of comforts that most readers expect to get: I mean: a sack isn't suitable clothing no matter how shiny it is or however brightly coloured the material is. In comparison tho: reading these Daredevil books is like: well - it's like putting on a tailor-made leather jacket: it's warm, it's comfortable and - well - it's just nice in that strange kinda way that you only get from things of - well - things of quality: you know?

A big part of that is down to the Alex Maleev's artwork which is all kinds of classy. If Elmore Leonard or James Ellroy ever decided to draw comic books then I'd like to think that it would look something like these Daredevil books: it's all hard and straight to the point but with a level of loving intricate almost-photographic (is it based on photographs?) detail that - well - that Marvel comics generally just aren't known for: the house style has always been much more bright and brash and in your face (you know: Jack Kirby-style) while this stuff feels a lot more - I dunno - like it's taken one step back so that the reader is just slightly removed: so instead of feeling bashed around the head it feels more like you need to peer in to make sure you can follow what's happening - which (you know) is a nice feeling: it's less condensing somehow and more like something for grown-ups (well - as grown-up as you can get about a guy dressed in a devil outfit running around bashing bad guys) [19].

But looping back to that point I was making at the start about people who are more invested in doing what's best for the company than doing what's best for themselves (I could have structured this a lot better - but what the hell - it's a blog: the messiness is part of the point - right?): if you wanna be one-dimensional about things then these Daredevil books are where Bendis was looking out for himself and being a free artistic spirit  and looking out for nothing apart from his muse: and since this idyllic point he's sold out and become a company man and done nothing but churn out ever-increasingly uninspired rights on The Avengers (which - obviously - has become much more of a flag-strip title in this past years then it used to be). And watching Bendis run through the much more typical superhero-y motions of the past few years - yeah - it can be hard to choke down the thought that - man: I wish that either he was still writing Daredevil or (if not that) then at least focusing his (formidable) talents on something that was a little bit more exciting / challenging / experimental. Because - yeah: there is a large contingent of people who think that Bendis hit a sweet spot with these books (the perfect balance between superheroes and seriousness) that he hasn't ever really gone back to: but - hell - one hand: I guess it's a measure of how insular superhero fans can be (sometimes) when it's like - oh he shouldn't be writing this superhero comic - he should be writing this superhero comic (because - guys: at the end of the day - isn't it all much of a muchness?) but then again (on the other hand): he's definitely shifted his style from noir-grittinesses to something a lot more fluffy and sweet (but then - even if it's a reverse of what readers normally expect - who's to say it's not a form of artistic growth? I mean - people didn't complain that much when Alan Moore started writing stuff like Tom Strong and Top 10 - did they?).

But - wait - what the hell am I trying to say? [20] I guess that maybe things are never really that simple? And as much as I deplore the state of affairs when people give up their best instincts to chase the money: is it really fair that Daredevil has become such a noose around Bendis' neck? The same people who complain that Radiohead should go back to their Ok Computer days - I mean: ok yeah - we all love Climbing Up The Walls: but the best thing to do with the past is celebrate it rather than cling to the hope that maybe one day we can return?

I dunno - it's complicated I guess (and am I talking to those people who have already read Daredevil and wish that Bendis would go back to what he was then? Or those people who haven't read them - but are looking for maybe some sort of understanding about their place in the comic's canon? Answer = I don't know - both maybe?).

But - what is clear is (and yeah - maybe you should just ignore everything I've said) that these books are the gold standard of superhero books still and forever more. If you can make it to that first "to be continued" in the first book without feeling that itch at the back of your skull pressing you on and demanding that you finish the whole book as quickly as possible - then - well: you've made of stronger stuff than me. It's the level of detail and thought that's gone into every page - every throw-away line ("Illinois vs. Steve Rogers?" "People vs. Tony Stark?" "Utah vs. Banner?") that makes this a series to hold close to your chest. There's a moment in the third book that is as good as any scene from any movie - any chorus in any song - that made me shiver with a divine mixture of thrill and glee every time I read it (if you've read it - well - then it's the bit that starts ""There are religions and powers in this world that are tens of thousands of years old.") but then - there's a multitude of those kind of scenes to chose from: it's all good you know? And it never stops twisting and turning and trying out new moves and different styles. I didn't take a page count - but depending on how fast you read - these books all add up to a good few solid afternoons of reading - but by the time you get to the end you wouldn't feel tired or wrung out: instead - you'll just be wishing that there was more.

So like it says right at the start: "Have at thee!" If you've never read them - then (well) you really really should and you've read them already: then read them again. For what they are: there's few very comics finer. 

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[1] It hurts slightly that I have to put that in scare quotes. But I guess if you want to be taken seriously you can't say stuff like that with a completely straight face. Oh well.

[2] Or something: I dunno - I kinda wanna say something a little more crude here - but in my head this is a family-friendly blog (although I couldn't say for sure how many families actually read it... Two? Three? Four? And do they all read it together? Or one at a time?). But yeah: there was an Alan Moore interview I read the other day ("Alan Moore: why I turned my back on Hollywood" in the Guardian - where else?) where he made a few comments about money that seem relevant to this point (this feeling?) that I'm trying to make - my favourite being: "Pure voodoo... only there as long as we believe in it."

[3] The gold standard of this sort of thing I guess would be Grant Morrison who - yeah yeah (don't stop me if you've heard this before) who went from underground messianic cult figure to DC corporate stooge and who regrets nothing (trying to put this in perspective for those of you who aren't clued in - imagine if John Lennon had ended up writing jingles [4] for Pepsi and you're just about there). Guy sold out so much that Jamaal Thomas over at Funnybook Babylon (I Know I Contradicted Myself. Look, I Don’t Need That Now) has lead to conclude (in heartbreaking fashion) that this means that really the best lesson to learn is not never trust anyone again ever (quote: "We shouldn’t stop loving the books or respecting the people who create them. We can still value online and in-person interactions with creators, and pore over their interviews and profiles. We just shouldn’t be surprised or disappointed when they change their public persona. We should resist that sense of false sense of familiarity or intimacy with people who are essentially strangers.") - which kinda reminds of the same sort of psychological stance that people take after a really bad and messy break-up ("I just need to learn that I can never trust anyone again ever and I'll be fine"): which - you know - isn't really the thing to be aiming for - but yeah.

[4] Admittedly - really good jingles - but still.

[5] We all know that story right? Bill Grundy? Sex Pistols? No?

[6] Punk Rock Baby anyone? ("music originally recorded by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Blondie, The Buzzcocks & The Ramones..... re-worked in a lullaby style!")

[7] Whilst looking for that Punk Rock Baby CD above I found this article from the Guardian (Punk spoke up for angry kids. Why won't today's bands follow suit?) written by Krissi Murison (then editor of the NME) written just after the 2011 riots it basically bemoans the fact that all the middle-class musicians of the present aren't doing the same thing as the middle-class musicians of the past (yeah - that's right - let's not forget the fact that Joe Strummer was the public-school-educated son of a diplomat) whilst forgetting that if all your want from your musicians of the present is to do the same thing as your musicians of the past then - well - then you end up with a music scene where nothing much interesting ever happens ever (oh well).

[8] Mainly (so it seems) because of Frank Miller's seminal run (from 1979 - 1983) which opened up the potential of what comic books could be (if you added a few well-chosen crime / noir elements) and took Daredevil from the C-List of under-developed goofy superheroes with silly names [9] to the point that he got his own movie made (yeah - ok - so the movie was a flop that killed Ben Affleck's career so bad that he had to end up becoming a director: but still - a movie! That's something right? [10]).

[9] And it seems that his first battle was up against some dude called "The Purple Man" - which should give you some idea of what we're talking about (I mean - I think I might say this a lot: but what the hey: we're not exactly dealing with Shakespeare here are we?).

[10] I haven't actually seen the Daredevil movie [11] and therefore can neither confirm or deny reports The Purple Man makes an appearance. But if anyone reading this has seen it - then please leave a comment below and let us know just how awful it is. Thanks.

[11] The director of which - Mark Steven Johnson - provides an introduction (or afterword maybe seeing how it's included at the end of Book 1) where he says: "A blind super hero? How cool can that be? Well the answer is right here in your hands." Although all I could think of when I read this was that - one: I know that they got the film director to plug the comic book because films are better and all that right? But - if there was any real justice in the world: then the Daredevil film would have opened with an introduction from Bendis (hell - maybe it does? Like I said - I haven't seen it) and two: thinking of Daredevil as just being a cool superhero kinda misses the point a little (and if the director didn't grasp this maybe that explains why the film wasn't such a hit?) but it's not that Daredevil himself is that cool (I mean - come on: the concept is a little silly:  I mean - if he's blind then why does he have that double D on his chest? Apart from the fact that all superheroes need an embalm of some type - they would have been better off if they just put him in something blank: but maybe that's just me? I dunno) - it's that the stories that you can use him to tell (crime, justice, vengeance, fear, tragic love - all that stuff) is what makes him such a great tool in the hands of the right writer. It's like - well - Batman is cool enough that no matter what you do with him - the reader is probably going to have a good time: but compared that kinda of sledge-hammer icon - Daredevil is more like a knife or a scalpel - you pretty much have to know what you're doing if you want to have some sort of effect - yeah? Like Jessica Jones says at one point: ""People think - they think "super hero" and they think larger-than-life adventure, big colorful characters. But a lot of the time, truth be told, it's a thankless existence." Daredevil's not cool: he's all thankless existence - striving, failing and getting kicked to the floor - you wouldn't want to be him: but he's fascinating to watch.

[12] Ok - so people I start this I feel like I should say something like: "here comes the science bit - concentrate" because - yeah: of course - there are other collected editions out there (some of which are scattered around Islington libraries): so if you can't get your hand on these books then this is how they break down (this is like my public service announcement or something) : Ultimate Collection Book 1 = Daredevil #16-19 & #26-40 [13]. (Collected in volume form as: Daredevil: Wake Up, Daredevil: Underboss and Daredevil: Out). Ultimate Collection Book 2 = Daredevil #41 - 50 & #56 - 65 [14] (Collected in volume form as: Daredevil: Lowlife, Daredevil: Hardcore, Daredevil: The King of Hell's Kitchen and Daredevil: The Widow). And Ultimate Collection Book 3 #66– 81 (Collected in volume form as: Daredevil: Golden Age, Daredevil: Decalogue and Daredevil: The Murdock Papers) Also includes (as a bonus) two stand-alone stories: What If... Karen Page Had Lived? and Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #6 - 8 Spider-Man and The Punisher and Daredevil (with art from Bill Sienkiewicz! Who (so you know) is great and amazing and fantastic) [15].

[13] Interrupted by issues #20-25 (Playing to the Camera), by Bob Gale which (according to The Other Murdock Papers) have "not been collected, and it doesn’t look like they will be any time soon (if ever)." So: sad face there.

[14] Which was interrupted by issues #51–55 by David Mack's Daredevil: Echo - Vision Quest  which has been collected (but Islington currently doesn't have a copy of - sorry).

[15] And just to get it down: the only books Islington has (at the moment at least) is: Daredevil Vol 4: Underboss, Daredevil Vol 6: Lowlife, Daredevil Vol 7: Hardcore, Daredevil Vol 9: The King of Hell's Kitchen, Daredevil Vol 10: The Widow,  Daredevil Vol 11: Golden Age and Daredevil Vol 13: The Murdock Papers [16]. Or - to put it another way - if you want to read the whole story in the proper order with no gaps - you're best off reading the three Ultimate Collections.

[16] Oh: and - lordy - since I'm going into all this detail I'd better mention that there's also a book floating around that's just called "Daredevil Vol 2" that collects issues #26-37 which is Daredevil Vol 4: Underboss and Daredevil Vol 5: Out. Ok. You got all that? Good.

[17] If you wanna be pedantic about it - ok: yeah The Dark Knight Returns and All Star Superman do rely a little bit on the Batman and Superman stories of old (and - yeah well - All Star Superman (seeing as it's written by Grant Morrison) sneakily references a whole bunch other Grant Morrison stories) - and the best course of action is if we just pretend that the Watchmen prequels never happened - so (yeah) basically - my point still stands and get off my back yeah?

[18] If you don't know what I'm talking about here: well - yeah - trust me: you're better off not knowing.

[19] Another way of saying the same thing: if all the other Marvel books out there feel that they would be best soundtracked by upbeat pop music or melodic alternative rock bands - then Daredevil feels more suited  to melancholy / experimental jazz (like the sort of thing that they play in the Homeland titles maybe?).

[20] It's safe to say: don't quote me on that.

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All comments welcome.