ONE PIECE VOL. 1 – The Beginning of A Grand Adventure

By

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April 8, 2020

In these trying times, it’s nice to find comfort in something, be it a movie, video game, book, comic book, or in our case, a manga, namely, Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece.

Let’s take a look at One Piece’s publication history and what makes the first Volume so amazing. Before going in, beware of spoilers!

ONE PIECE TAKES OVER

Ever since its original Japenese release (July 22, 1997) in the Weekly Shonen Jump, it was a massive hit. The same could be said for its November 2002 English release in the Monthly Shonen Jump. Since then, the franchise has grown exponentially, spinning off into countless other media. It has also gone on to be a constant top seller in the manga world with its recent tankōbon volume (96), marking 470 million in circulation worldwide. Yeah, One Piece has broken multiple records. Nonetheless, its first Volume – which consists of eight chapters – starts off quite small and focused, but promising more to come.

SIC PARVIS MAGNA

Volume 1’s scope works perfectly in One Piece’s favor, making it fantastic in so many aspects. Oda takes time by not throwing too many things into the plot while setting a few base rules for his Universe. This slow set-up is just one factor that contributed to the series becoming what may end up a masterpiece. One Piece’s first few chapters feel like another famous Shonen Jump title’s first few chapters—Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball.

Although One Piece drops the narration later, its first few chapters mirror Dragon Ball’s narration. Plus, it has the same sense of wonder, adventure, and excitement. Much like its predecessor, it eases you into a grand adventure. Plus, Luffy’s character feels very much like Goku. Nonetheless, even in the first Volume, Oda makes the tone of the series stand out.

ONE PIECE – MANY EMOTIONS

Throughout the series, Oda will keep a consistent amount of emotions ranging through the whole spectrum. On one page he can have you laughing like crazy, the next could bring you to tears. Some have for me. But, it never feels out of place, it helps his art is vast enough that the gags work, yet it isn’t only that. Oda doesn’t take cheap shots or ruin a heartfelt, emotional moment with a joke.

He lets each moment breathe.

Some of the comedy comes in the form of other character’s reactions. One factor that many fans have come to adore. When something out of the normal occurs, Oda draws the onlookers with exaggerated faces that help carry the scene. Sometimes this happens on the same panel, or in later moments he makes the face outrageously overdone in its own page/panel.

Nonetheless, Oda’s timing is perfect when it comes to a heartfelt moment, pages of drama/action, and comedy. Even in One Piece VOL. 1, he nails all of these emotions.

Comedy at its finest - Eiichiro Oda — Comedy at its finest – Eiichiro Oda

THE TREASURE KNOWN AS ONE PIECE

On the first page alone, Oda can capture your interest in the world you’re about to explore. During this page, Gold Roger “King of The Parents” is executed, but not before he utters his last words kicking into motion the Golden Age of Parents. This single page may very well be the most impactful in One Piece’s publication. His words set into motion the treasure hunt for the fabled “one piece.” In later issues, we learn that a vast array of pirates we meet in the future watched this world-changing moment. Plus, in recent chapters, we learn even more leading up to this moment.

To think that years later, the first page of One Piece VOL. 1 can still be impactful shows how thought out Oda is with his work, and how not to take any page for granted. It helps that this moment is ingrained in fan’s brains as it was used in the Anime opening quite often and is generally a big deal. Not only is this page a great opener that explains its general plot, but it becomes the crutch of the series. Following this milestone page Oda introduces the world to Luffy and the world he inhabits.

A page to remember - Eiichiro Oda — A page to remember – Eiichiro Oda

A SHIP FULL OF CHARACTERS

One Piece VOL.1 includes only a few characters; they are full of life and energy. Yes, later on, One Piece goes a little ham crazy with characters (something I love); Oda starts the series off with a relatively minor cast. Nonetheless, they stand out in their own ways. One of Oda’s strengths is his ability to introduce a character. Luffy’s (our main character) introduction is him showing how tough he is. How tough is he? Well, he can take a knife to his lip and slice it open, thus giving himself his famous scar.

Following this Oda using a template (most of the time) to introduce other big characters. Oda draws the character in full on the right side, showing their complete body, name, and later on a bounty. Filling the rest of the page is normally a longer top panel and smaller panels that usually portray reactions or continuing the scene. This consistent introduction method is great in execution and will stay in One Piece throughout. But, for villains, Oda changes it a little.

Introductions - Eiichiro Oda — Introductions – Eiichiro Oda

In the pages preceding the villain reveal, Oda builds the hype up. During these, he’ll show the soon to be revealed character in shadows, never completely revealing them. Yet, in these teases, Oda does show how they are through words. One great example is Axe-Hand Morgan. Before showing the character fully, Oda has him proclaiming how “great” he is. Later on, we learn just how Egotastic he is.

THE STRAW HAT PIRATES

One Piece’s main pirate crew are the Strawhat pirates, captained by Luffy. In its first Volume, Oda introduces second member Roronoa Zoro, or better known in English as—Roronoa Zolo. Not wanting to confuse Zoro with Zorro, the decision was made to change his name to Zolo. Most fans use Zoro, so we’ll stick with that. The final chapter brings in, Nami, yet only introduces her.

Throughout the series, Luffy isn’t just unique because of his strength, but because of how he acts towards others. In the first chapter, Oda shows Luffy spending a lot of time with Shanks, who later Luffy begins to mirror in character. Both are carefree, yet a force to be trifled with, strong, caring, humorous, charming, understanding, able to easily get along with others, and aren’t quick to pick a fight unless for good reasons. These are characteristics Luffy carries through the series, and it shows who he learned in from.

Zoro, on the other hand, is well known for being a “demon” who people fear. Oda depicts this quite well in his introduction. Even though he is tied up, you sense a terrifying side to him. Nonetheless, later he is shown with a nice side, showing how none of One Piece’s characters are one noted. And although it may not show up in its first Volume as prevalent, Oda’s series is known for one other thing—weird character designs.

Zoro - Eiichiro Oda — Zoro – Eiichiro Oda

IT’S A WEIRD WEIRD WORLD

The characters introduced throughout One Piece can easily be identified by how outlandish they are. Even “simple” characters have a distinctive trait. E.g., Zoro and his three swords. To hold a sword in your mouth isn’t common, but here it’s no big deal. In most other cases, this is due to the Devil Fruit, one of Oda’s plot points that grant abilities depending on which one is eaten. The first (and only one in Volume 1) is Luffy and his rubber powers via the Gum-Gum Fruit. Later on, these Devil Fruits play a more significant part.

Nonetheless, there are others who are born of a unique race, like the Longarm or Longleg tribe. But, Oda keeps the first Volume simple. Nevertheless, a few of the human characters introduced here look unique. One such person being Axe-Hand Morgan, who has a literal axe inside his arm, handle included and a metal jaw. As amazing as this design is, it makes you wonder; how the hell does he bend his arm? The thing is, that’s what makes these designs memorable and fun.

Now, don't get handy - Eiichiro Oda — Now, don’t get handy – Eiichiro Oda

SIMPLE, YET GORGEOUS ART

Another aspect seen in One Piece VOL. 1 is how “simple” Oda’s art begins. One of the greatest things in manga is watching a Mangaka improve throughout the publication. Oda’s art is one that has improved greatly throughout the years. Granted, the beginning of One Piece had fantastic art; he would continue to add a great number of details going forward.

This can be seen in multiple facets: character designs, backgrounds, ships, action, and villages. Nevertheless, this cleaner, less detailed look works amazingly in the first Volumes favor. This art helps ease the reader in. This cleaner look gives the reader familiarity with the Universe and makes them want to return, and see Oda grow as an artist.

ACTION AND ADVENTURE ABOUND

One Piece Vol.1, includes a few fights. Not as much as future titles, or fights that go on long, but it does include a few great and memorable ones. In its first Volume, there are multiple panels that’ll stick to your brain. When I came upon these character action moments so many feelings from my childhood returned, especially an amazing Zoro moment. When Zoro is finally freed from being tied up, he proceeds to show we he is considered a “demon.”

One man with three swords vs the Navy - Eiichiro Oda — One man with three swords vs. the Navy – Eiichiro Oda

This moment also shows how amazing Oda can portray a fight on a singular page. During the pages preceding this, he shows the same ability with a violent punch via Luffy. This method of a single panel for a fight works amazingly in One Piece Vol. 1. Plus, it shows Oda’s skills as a Mangaka.

One Punch! - Eiichiro Oda — One Punch! – Eiichiro Oda

These one-panel actions may do wonders, yet Oda implies another technique in a few cases that works just as well. In dramatic effect, Oda will show multiple actions in a fight transpire, then will switch to lettering instead of a character hitting another. This makes the actions hit much harder while providing him room to spend panels on other things. When executed, Oda does this with artistic vision while barely showing more violence.

Words are louder than action? - Eiichiro Oda — Are words louder than action? – Eiichiro Oda

COVER-TO-COVER

There is an art to making covers that make you want to blind buy a piece of media. One Piece’s publication history has been full of fantastic and epic covers. Yet, its first Volume has a simplistic beauty to it. The cover elegantly shows a relaxed, fun, adventure just beginning with Luffy and his first crewmates. Simply put, it works perfectly. But, nine years later Oda made homage to his original cover while improving it.

As the time skip occurred in Volume 61, Oda brings back the original cover but adds in the new crewmates post time skip. He even calls the first time skip chapter, Romance Dawn: For the New World, in reference to the very first chapter, Romance Dawn. Below are the two covers side-to-side to show how amazing each is.

VOL. 1 - VOL. 61 - Eiichiro Oda — VOL. 1 – VOL. 61 – Eiichiro Oda

Not only is this a great way to start a time skip, it shows how Oda has improved. When the two covers a next to each other, you can see just how detailed his work has become. Even better, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami are in the exact same poses.

ONE PIECE – ONE LONG ADVENTURE/GROWING UP AS A PIRATE

Anytime I think of One Piece, I’m reminded of Marie Kondo, “Does this spark joy?” It does, and other feelings for me. Hell, I mentioned it as my Comfort Comic. I’ve reread the series at least four times. One Piece has a special place in my heart and my body – I have two tattoos from the series. Having followed the series since its original English release, it’s been a long crazy ride. Even going through just the first Volume brings back amazing memories of when I first read it. Plus, it shows seeds and themes since the beginning.

Adventure Begins! - By Eiichiro Oda — Adventure Begins! – By Eiichiro Oda

With so many staying home and needing entertainment now more than ever, why not go through One Piece? I mean, it does have 976 chapters. It’s a long ride. But, every moment is worth it. Take a chance and read the first three chapters free on Shonen Jump. It helps that a Shonen Jump monthly membership is dirt cheap with quality content.

Plus, check out Anthony Composto talking about another classic Shone Jump Title—Bleach.

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INTERVIEW: Composer Mark Isham And The Sound Of Little Fires Everywhere

By

Ruben Diaz

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April 8, 2020

Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere was produced by and stars Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington as matriarchs surviving secrets, motherhood, and tragedy. To help make these little fires roar are composers Isabella Summers (Florence and the Machine) and Mark Isham (Once Upon A Time, Blade).

Little Fires Everywhere is a mini-series based on the 2017 novel by American author Celeste Ng. The story centers around Reese’s well-to-do Elena Richardson, a mother of four and a part-time journalist and Washington’s Mia, an artist and a single mother of one daughter. Elena’s curiosity with Mia begins a relationship that cascades into dramatic goodness.

PopAxiom took some time to talk to Mark about his career in making music, from Time Cop and Point Break to Little Fires Everywhere, and Bill and Ted: Face the Music.

mark isham-little firest everywhere-hulu — **Isabella Summers and Mark Isham**

Novice To Veteran

Mark Isham is an industry veteran having scored his first project called Never Cry Wolf way back in 1983. Along the way, he’s done tearjerkers and action favorites and just about everything in between. Where did his love of music begin? “Music was always a part of my life. I don’t remember it not being there. Both of my parents were musicians. My mother was a professional violinist. My father was a professor of humanities and the arts and an amateur violist. They would have sting quartet evenings with friends and always be listening to music.”

Mark’s childhood was filled with classical music. “I knew more about Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, and Bach than I did the Beach Boys or the Beatles.”

Mark’s mother taught him the violin, but “some baroque trumpet music” made an impact. Mark thought, “… it was pretty glorious, so I decided I wanted to play the trumpet.”

For a while, Mark played violin and trumpet but eventually focused solely on one. “I played trumpet into high school.”

It’s Better Than Music, It’s Jazz

Things changed when Mark heard Miles Davis. “That was the first big change in my perspective of what music could be …” Inspired by Davis and the legacy of jazz music, Mark “… took off in the direction of jazz the last couple of years in high school.”

Mark’s musical journey had still not crossed paths with pop music “… until I realized a lot of jazz musicians were influencing pop music.”

A big fan of diving deep into musical genres (more on that later), Mark did his homework. “I went back and listened to the Beatles and a lot of pop music.”

Mark discovered a whole new sonic world waiting to be understood. “By that time, it was the late 60s, and pop music is going through a brilliant period. The late 60s and early 70s were a great time for music. Jazz, pop music, R&B, all sorts of stuff was just exploding.”

Music Education

One of the most prolific composers of the last three decades, Mark reminisces about his early musical training. “I was fortunate enough to be growing up with all of that and being the guy at the record store picking up the new David Bowie record, the new Talking Heads record, and the new Miles Davis record and that new Return to Forever record and Weather Report record. All of that music informed my music education.”

The road to working in the film and television industry is different for every working creative. “I dropped out of college. I couldn’t stand studying music formally.”

Instead of college, Mark “… worked as a trumpet player. I played in symphonies, rock gigs, and church gigs. I ended up in a band called The Sons of Champlin.”

By the time the 70s were coming to an end, Mark says he “… had a thorough background in classical music, a thorough background in pop music, and a thorough background in jazz.”

Mark’s work ethic and versatility brought about three great things, “… a band record deal, a solo record deal, and a film score offer.”

It’s that moment that Mark considers, “… sort of the beginning of my real professional career.”

So, which deal did Mark choose? “I did them all. I did the band first. We made a record that did okay and got great reviews. I made my solo record after that. Then we went back and made a second band record. Managed to keep the band going for a few years, toured around, but it became too hard. The solo deal was starting to take off. Right around that time, my first film offer came in. So, I took advantage of that. For the next ten years, I kept a film career and solo career going.”

Music 2.0

Growing up, Mark was “… fascinated by electronics.” By the late 70s, synthesizers and other electronics were becoming the norm for music across genres. “It wasn’t hard for me to pick up a modular synthesizer. I built things like that as a kid.”

Mark’s skill set was that of a “… seasoned trumpet player,” and, “… I knew my way around electronics.” Mark adds, “I was there long before computers were ever used for making music, so I was part of the evolution of computers becoming musical instruments.”

Power Of Jazz

In three years of interviewing film industry veterans, composers make up the bulk of those discussions. Backgrounds and educations change, but one thing stays the same and that’s the influence of jazz. What’s Mark’s take on why that one particular kind of music has such an impact on music today. “Jazz is interesting music because it was popular music up until the mid-50s. All throughout the 40s, what we think of as jazz was pop. That was it. Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, these were pop stars. In the 50s, rock and roll started to come around.”

Mark continues, “Jazz has always had a really sophisticated backbone. It owed a lot of its composition to classical western music. Jazz got more and more esoteric as rock and roll got more prevalent.”

As jazz evolved into this new esoteric state, it meant “… you really have to know what you’re doing. You have to have a thorough background in harmony and how music works to be an accomplished jazz player.”

As rock took over the pop music reigns, and jazz became more rarefied, the genre became an essential place for music. “Jazz by the end of the 70s had become the only place where you could have the sophistication of the evolution of western music that classical music kept going. Classical music just got weird, atonal, and very little stuff written was connecting in that period.”

Jazz was a mix of foundational sonic structures. “Jazz took that sophistication and stayed connected to the rhythms of pop music and world music. It’s a genre that attracted a lot of people that wanted to make interesting, sophisticated music.”

How does that relate to underscoring a film or television series? “Film music has to be that way too. It needs that sophistication but also be able to speak to the public.”

For Mark, the foundation of jazz suggests, “People with that background in jazz were more ready to embrace film music.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWGkX8ClhBI

About Little Fires Everywhere

Mark’s filmography is long and includes pop culture classics like Point Break, Blade, and Once Upon A Time. He shares his path to being part of the Little Fires Everywhere team. “Mary Ramos is one of the top music supervisors in this business, meaning she’s hired to put together the musical concepts for films and television shows. She and I had worked together on a film a number of years ago.”

As Mark explains, Mary was “… hired for this show. It’s a very woman-centric show, and they wanted to hire as many women as possible. Mary suggested hiring Isabella Summers [the “machine in Florence and the Machine] to score the show.”

Dawn Soler, the president of music over at Disney, thought it was a fantastic idea. But Dawn said if she [Isabella] had never scored anything, we’re going to need to bring in a pro to work with her. I suggest Mark.”

Mark and Isa met and simply put, the pair “… got along great, and dove in.”

Musical Marriage

Little Fires Everywhere is a nuanced story with incredible performances from its stars and surrounding cast. How did the music come together to match the narratives intensity? “The initial discussion with the showrunners didn’t really yield a lot of great answers. We spun our wheels for a while, to be honest with you. But then Mary and Dawn stepped in …”

What did the pair of women say? “‘Let’s regroup. Let’s spend some time with this show and really decide how to score this show.”

After some time of diving into what the story needs, Mark and Isa, “… scored the entire pilot. We brought Mary and Dawn into a darkened room and played them the whole thing. They thought it was fantastic.”

As Mark explains, “Mary had this initial idea of the sounds that are at the heart of Florence and the Machine married with the things that I do. We just needed a space on our own to figure out what that was.”

Are the rumors of future projects between Mark and Isa true? “We’ve been approached by a Netflix show and looks pretty good so far.”

Mark’s Creative DNA

Mark’s musical education is due, in part, to his relentless pursuit of understanding as much about music as possible. “Music is such a vast language. There’s always something to learn. So, what I do is I find a piece of music that is representing this aspect that I don’t understand, and I dissect it. I figure it out. ‘What makes it work? What rules have been established?’ I pick it apart until I figure it out.”

Unexpectedly, the answer to the question of Mark’s musical influences begins with jazz legend Miles Davis. But growing up during a rapidly evolving era of music means his creative DNA is made up of a wide range of artists. “A band called Weather Report was a huge influence on me. They were one of the first bands to marry jazz, electronics, world music, and classical music all in one genre. To me, it was a huge breakthrough that all those things could live together.”

Also on Mark’s list, “Brian Eno, Gustav Mahler, David Bowie, Thomas Newman, Elliot Goldenthal, Danny Elfman.”

Mark highlights another inspiring creative. “I think the most influential modern composer for me is John Adams (Doctor Atomic). I’ve studied his scores quite a lot. He’s single-handedly saved modern classical music and brought some vitality to it that’s made modern classical quite fun.”

Wrapping Up

In the age of remakes and reboots, what would Mark love to be a part of? “I hear they’re adding a new Matrix movie, I’d love to do that. The first Matrix movie I thought was superb. Anything in that storyline is fascinating to me.”

Mark brings up a new project during his answer “If you’d asked that question a year ago, I would not have put Bill and Ted on that list. Having said that, though, I could not be more pleased to be doing it. It is so much fun. This third one is the best of the three. It’s fantastically well-done, and the guys are as absurd and ridiculous as ever. The director is one of my favorite people.”

Little Fires Everywhere is streaming now on Hulu
with new episodes each Wednesday. Is it on your watch list?

Thanks to Mark Isham and Costa Communications
for making this interview possible.

Want to read more interviews like this? CLICK HERE.

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INTERVIEW: Comics Catch Up With Indie Creator Benjamin Marra

By

Manuel Gomez

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April 7, 2020

Benjamin Marra is one of the most interesting artists working today. And although mainly self-published, Marra has done comics for both Vice (various strips) and Image (the excellent Jesusfreak which was co-created with writer Joe Casey).

Benjamin was cool enough to take some time to talk to us at Monkeys Fighting Robots about his career, his current comic What We Mean By Yetsreday (which he is posting daily on Instagram), his love of classic RPG art, where comics might be going in this post-pandemic world and a bunch more. So read on!

Monkeys Fighting Robots: First of all, thanks for taking the time to talk to us at Monkeys Fighting Robots. A bunch of us fans are excited!
Benjamin Marra: Cool, thanks very much for having me.

MFR: Personally, the first thing I ever got of yours was Lincoln Washington Free Man which was gifted to me by a coworker when I ran an indie bookstore years ago. I still have it and it’s one of my favorite single-issue comics I own.
BM: Awesome. Yeah, those single issues of my self-published comics are pretty hard to find now

Lincoln Washington Free Man. Copyright Benjamin Marra

MFR: For those not familiar with your work, give us a brief history of you as a cartoonist.
BM: I’ve been doing comics in earnest since 2007 when I published the first issue of NIGHT BUSINESS, my 80s-crime, 70s-Giallo homage. I self-published a bunch of other books experimenting with different approaches to cartooning. But I’ve been drawing since I can remember. I studied illustration at Syracuse University, then got my MFA in illustration at SVA. I do a lot of illustration work in addition to making comics.

Night Business #1 Copyright Benjamin Marra

MFR: Who or what would you say were your biggest comic book influences?
BM: It’s difficult to say because my influences are constantly changing. When I first started making comics Paul Gulacy, Eric J on REX MUNDI, and Marc Laming on AMERICAN CENTURY were huge influences. Gary Panter has been a constant influence though many times not directly. Recently, Ebizu Yoshikazu has been a big influence. I’ve been thinking about Tomi Ungerer a lot (though he’s not a comic book artist per se). Mike Judge has been a big influence. Gary Larsen. Charles Schulz. I like what Matthew Thurber has been doing a lot recently.

MFR: What other media do you draw inspiration from?
BM: Fine art and illustration both inform my comic process, as far as drawing goes. Genre prose fiction—science fiction, fantasy, crime—has a big influence. Genre film, obviously, is a huge inspiration. I’d say my sources of inspiration outside comics are bigger than the number of comics that inspire me

MFR: I’ve also read you’re also an avid RPG/Dungeons and Dragons fan (the art and the game). What about it inspired you and what artistic tools do you take from it?
BM: I love early TSR D&D artwork, as well as the game itself. For me, the artwork hits the perfect note of naive intention. The artwork is trying its best to be the most sophisticated art it can be. It misses the mark entirely. It has a DIY quality and emotional quality that resonates with me. Ultimately it’s work that’s made with a lot of love and care, and that really comes through. I also love the subject matter of fantasy art. The tools I take from it, I guess, literally, is that you can make cool black-and-white drawings with cheap pens and paper.

MFR: Do you have a personal favorite of your own work? One you think best represents you as an artist?
BM: Not really. I’m a pretty savage critic of my own work. It is what it is. I don’t really look back on it with much affection. I look forward to what I’m going to create next. I couldn’t pick one work to represent me, because I feel all of them fall short of what I can do. That kind of propels me forward to make the next thing, which I’m sure will also disappoint me as we

MFR: Okay, so I wanted to talk to you about What We Mean By Yesterday, your new comic you are putting out through Instagram daily. Can you tell our readers a bit about what the comic is about? The who and the what of the story. From what I understand a version of this appeared on Vice before.
BM: The comic is about characters in a town all linked by a high school. The first section of the story follows the afternoon and evening of one of the teachers in the school, Mr. Barnes. He has a lot of bad things happen to him and gets mistreated by people. I won’t know the true meaning of the story until it’s finished and it may never be finished.

Panel from ‘What We Mean By Yesterday’ Copyright Benjamin Marra

MFR: How did you come up with the idea to re-do via Instagram? Was it the idea that led to the format or the format that led to the idea?

BM: My friend Michael DeForge did a daily comic last year and I thought it worked really well. I did a couple of weekly comics for adultswim.com and my interest in comic strips returned. I hadn’t seriously looked at comic strips since I was a lot younger. Doing a daily strip is an interesting challenge. I wanted to see if I could do it for a year. I also wanted to do something personal but needed a framework or system to ensure I would do the work. The daily strip is not a huge amount of work per day, but if you do one a day for a year, it really adds up to a good volume of pages. I also wanted to work on something that would allow me to experiment with simpler, boiled-down, nothing-but-the-essentials, heta-uma style. I guess it was the format that led to the idea because I probably wouldn’t be doing the comic if it weren’t for Instagram.

MFR: What’s your process for What We Mean By Yesterday’ like?
BM: I work as fast as possible. I do the strips in batches of 14 to 20 in advance. My pencils are basically my writing. So I pencil out the pages, get into a flow, then I go back and ink everything, scan it in, and set it up to be posted. I have a big master outline I worked on for several weeks before I started. That’s kind of my guide for the story.

‘What We Mean By Yesterday’ Copyright Benjamin Marra

MFR: Do you plan on ever collecting this version outside of Instagram?
BM: Sure. If a publisher is willing to publish it. When it’s ready I’ll probably submit it to Fantagraphics. If they don’t want to do it, maybe another publisher will. And if no one, then I’ll probably self publish it somehow through a print-on-demand service.

MFR: You’ve also become a frequent part of the popular (and favorite around here at MFR) Cartoonist Kayfabe podcast. What led to that?
BM: I’ve known Jim and Ed (and Tom Scioli) since I started making comics. We’d hang and room together at comic conventions, like SPX and Heroes Con. So we’ve been friends a long time and bonded over comics and making comics. Our tastes are very much aligned. There are things I can talk about with them that I can’t talk about with anyone else.

Gangsta Rap Posse. Copyright Benjamin Marra

MFR: There also seems to be a small resurgence of people diving back into back issues, dollar bins and more indie and self-published work. As a member of that community why do you think it’s gaining steam again?
BM: It’s because mainstream comics are terrible. The Big Two publish nothing but dreck these days. It’s impossible to read any of that stuff. So for quality comic book entertainment fans are mining the past when comics were actually fun to read. All that stuff is very accessible and cheap. It’s no wonder they’d pay 50 cents for a comic that’s 100 times more entertaining than a new one on the racks that costs $5.99.

MFR: So just to talk about the elephant in the room real, how are you dealing with the current national crisis?

BM: Like everyone else, hopefully. My wife and I are holed up in our apartment. We don’t go outside. We have our groceries delivered to us for the most part. We’re expecting a baby in the next couple of weeks so we are serious about not being exposed to the virus. It angers me when we must go outside (for trips to the hospital for prenatal appointments) and people don’t adhere to the social distancing guidelines. But like a lot of cartoonists, I’m built for this kind of life. I prefer to stay inside and work on my comics, drawings, and play RPGs

MFR: As a cartoonist, you must have some advice about staying at home so much? Care to share some?
BM: Have a routine. Routines and having a daily schedule are absolutely critical. Find projects to work on that are enjoyable. I’m not talking about home-improvement projects or things that feel like work. Write, draw, paint, read, do puzzles, play games. Do it enough that you develop a routine. Don’t just watch TV and search for more TV shows and movies to watch. You don’t have to be productive, just find something you can escape into.

MFR: Where do you see comics at the other end of all this?
BM: It’s tough to imagine the same amount of retail outlets surviving the pandemic and impending economic recession (or maybe depression). Only half of the comic shops in North America survived the boom and bust of the early 90s. That number will be whittled down even further. I wonder if DC Comics will continue to exist or if they’ll finally license out their properties to other publishing houses like Marvel or IDW. When the brick-and-mortar retail stores become irrelevant sites like Comixology may be the best option for new mainstream comics. The direct market will probably be most affected because it is completely dependent on the whims of Diamond Distribution, which has decided not to operate for who knows how long. I think independent publishers will, by and large, find a way to survive, because that’s what they’re built to do. Comic creators may turn to other channels to get their work to readers. There will probably be a jump in webcomics. Creators may turn to print-on-demand services or sites like Gumroad. Comics will continue to be made, but the non-traditional delivery systems, like digital, will flourish.

MFR: Are there any current comics or creators that excite you?
BM: Walter Scott, Karissa Sakmoto, Matthew Thurber, Leon Sadler, Michael DeForge, Michel Fiffe, Lale Westvind, Jon Chandler, Jillian Tamaki, Charles Forsman, Michael Comeau, Conor Willumsen to name a few.

MFR: Are you currently working on anything you want to mention?
BM: I have a few projects that are pending but can’t really talk about. Some RPG work that I’m looking forward to. And, of course, WHAT WE MEAN BY YESTERDAY.

MFR: And finally where is the best place for people to reach you and reach your work?
BM: Instagram is best: @benjamin_marra. Or my website works: benjaminmarra.com

All images courtesy of benjaminmarra.com

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WHAT IF Comic Books: Where Should You Start Reading?

By

David Weber

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April 7, 2020

The What If comic books by Marvel Comics offer a look into what could have happened in Marvel continuity if events had a different outcome. Ranging from vampires to murder to dystopian worlds, this series contains something for every reader. The first issue was published in 1977 and started a new series. That series lasted until 1984, but Marvel has continued to publish What If comic books since then, with the latest being released in 2018. To help readers unfamiliar with the series, here are some fantastic issues to help them get invested.

What If Spider-Man Had Rescued Gwen Stacy?

One of the most famous What If stories, this issue focuses on an alternate outcome of Spider-Man #121, where instead of Gwen Stacy’s neck-snapping after Spider-Man caught her with his webs, the web-slinger jumps and catches her in his arms before swinging to safety. This close call leads Peter to propose and reveal his identity to Gwen. The issue also features Harry Osborn learning the supervillain identity of his father, the Green Goblin, and a surprise interruption of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy’s wedding.

What If? Wolverine: Enemy of the State

After Wolverine has his mind-controlled by the terrorist organization Hydra, this issue asks what would happen if Wolverine was never deprogrammed. The story features a team of Captain America, Magneto, Kitty Pryde, and the Invisible Woman going on a mission to take down Wolverine The book has stunning action scenes between each member of the team and Wolverine. The issue also includes a heart-breaking confrontation between Kitty Pryde and Wolverine that makes it a genuinely notable experience.

What If the Punisher’s Family Had Not Been Killed?

Anyone familiar with the anti-hero Punisher knows that he was driven to become the Punisher after his family was savagely murdered by the mob, and this What If comic book asks the reader how Frank Castle’s life would have turned out if it had never happened. Frank Castle becomes a by-the-book police officer and encounters many crooked cops who he eventually must takedown in ways outside of the law.

What If Spider-Man Had Kept His Six Arms?

In the Amazing Spider-Man #100-101, Peter Parker attempted to cure himself of his spider powers, but instead horrifically amplified them, leaving him with four extra arms. He eventually cures himself using blood from the vampire Morbius, but this issue of What If begins with Morbius being eaten by Great White Sharks, leaving the web-slinger in his transformed state. Spider-Man appeals to the Lizard, Professor X, and Reed Richards, but none can help him. Throughout the issue, there are beautifully drawn fights between Spider-Man and the Lizard, Doc Ock, several members of the X-Men, and the Thing. Spider-Man eventually becomes a spokesman for the physically challenged people of the world, leaving the story on a happy note.

What If? Civil War

This issue tells two stories of how the 2006 Civil War event could have ended. One entitled “What If Captain America Led All The Heroes Against Registration?” and another “What If Iron Man Lost The Civil War.” Both offer drastically different outcomes to the Civil War, which is especially interesting to see given how impactful the Civil War was on the Marvel Universe. One outcome occurred solely because one character said a few sentences, which really highlights how strong the butterfly effect can be.

Any Issue

A beautiful part of What If comic books are how each issue remains separate from the next. This allows for a perfect chance for new readers to be introduced into the giant colorful world of Marvel before committing to continuity. While they are based upon events in Marvel continuity, knowledge of those events is by no means a prerequisite for picking up an issue. If you have an interest in comic books and want to get into Marvel, What If is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the vibrant character and places of the Marvel Universe.

What is your favorite What If story? Leave your answer in the comments below!

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CEREBUS THE AARDVARK: The Narrative Reflection of Dave Sim

By

Jake Palermo

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April 7, 2020

Cerebus The Aardvark is a series with as divisive a reputation as its creator. Depending on the source, the series is one of the greatest comics of all time with how experimental it is; or it’s the series that ruins the lives of its characters and creators. But this article isn’t about Dave Sim’s fall by Author Tract, where writers imbue characters with their world views. It’s about how the series reflects parts of Sim’s life.

Sim’s Cerebus Syndrome

Cerebus began as a parody of Barbarian comics like Conan and Red Sonja. Like most parodies, it makes fun of the unusual tropes surrounding the setting. Skeletal warriors to an entire issue in dedication to the Aardvark peeing. Sim and his partner at the time Deni do whatever necessary for publishing. But they decide to self-publish out of necessity. Unfortunately, things don’t get any easier, and Sim hospitalizes himself after using LSD to get him to work better. It’s at this point both Sim and the series change attitudes.

Psychedelic Enlightenment?

Psychedelics have a reputation for improving or damaging people’s thinking processes. Writers like Alan Moore and Terence McKenna are known users of these mind-altering drugs. But for Sim, it’s difficult to see if this was good or bad. His recovery has him change Cerebus into an overall narrative. To Sim’s credit, this was years before Watchmen, which has a similar goal. But it’s also a time when Sim’s does whatever he can to get his name out.

The Legal Tug-Of-War

Most of these attempts come from Roach, a mentally ill man who forms dissociative identities based on popular superheroes. The Wolverine parody, in particular, was supposedly a means of advertisement. This also includes a crossover with Spawn that will never be reprinted due to Sim and Todd McFarlane clashing over copyright. Something that Sim previously criticized by helping create the Creator’s Bill of Rights. However, with how Sim uses the imagery of Spawn through an army of pastiches while presenting them as merchandise, it’s difficult to determine the difference between parody and mockery.

Cerebus and Sim

The rise of Cerebus — A higher rise before the fall.

Cerebus, in particular, is essentially Sim’s avatar, sharing a drive for success by any means. The Aardvark is a smart aleck who just wants money, power, and to drink all day. Seemingly in reaction to Sim’s need for success, Cerebus enters the storyline “High Society.” In that story, Cerebus with some help, secures some high political positions, including Prime Minister. Sim, at this time, gets his footing both in art and business with his then-wife Deni Loubert.

But while High Society and “Church & State” present some very high rises both in and out of the story, they also reflect the challenges Sim goes through. One of the reasons Aardvark-Vanaheim is so successful is because of the earliest trade paperbacks. These “phone books” were distributed directly through mail order, cutting out the publishing middlemen to make more money. This upset comic distributors, not unlike how Cerebus starts an unpopular war for his own benefit that ends in his exile. But both Sim and Cerebus are popular enough for others to follow their examples. Comic companies open the market for trades with distributors, creator-owned material becomes a practice, and Cerebus becomes a Pope.

Who’s The Mouthpiece?

Being on top of the world can get to people’s heads, Cerebus and Sim are no exceptions. When it comes to important women in their lives, they have a tendency to drive them away. Cerebus gets married three times but mistreats his first two wives with his influence as Pope. Sim divorced Loubert and drove some of his female staff away for going against former friends like Jeff Smith. It certainly doesn’t help that Sim has an anti-feminist mindset he instills into the series.

It might be because Sim set his goals too high; 300 issues is a lot, unlike the initial 156. Most of the third act composes of essays about his various opinions instead of comics. But the YouTube channel “Comic Tropes” hypothesize that this is from the initial LSD. Cerebus’ “ascension” certainly seems to imply that. Many who take psychedelics believe they enter a higher consciousness, even if most cases only report synesthesia. Yet during the Aardvark’s second ascension, he actually speaks with Sim where his creator talks him down. If Cerebus truly is Sim’s mouthpiece, does that mean that Sim is talking down to himself or scapegoating his creation for his own flaws?

The Highs and Lows of Cerebus

Nobody can ever really know what goes through the fundamentally flawed minds of others; just interpret it. Cerebus is a testament to how comic creators take chances both in artwork and business. Sim’s artwork evolves throughout a nearly 30-year run gaining more details and surrealism. It’s also a story of success against the odds of self-publishing. So much that creator-owned companies like TKO Studios use more refined methods of Sim’s marketing. However, it is difficult to separate the good from the bad when the source triggers ugly parts of people’s psyches.

But even then, Sim’s downward spiral isn’t anything new in comics. The above Alan Moore after Watchmen has a reputation for his very confusing rants about mainstream comics. His creator-owned comics like Promethea and Cinema Purgatorio are practically rants against what he hates. Even now, there are several creatives who are very difficult to tolerate because they rant about their beliefs so much. The vast majority of them are on the ComicsGate campaign.

What do you all think? Is Cerebus a complete reflection of Dave Sim as he dives into an abyss? Or is there more to it? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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I’d Buy That For A Dollar: DETECTIVES INC. #1 (Eclipse Comics April 1985)

By

Manuel Gomez

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April 7, 2020

Welcome to ‘I’d Buy That For A Dollar’ a column where I will be exploring the weird and wonderful world of dollar bin diving. The only rule is each and every comic is purchased for one dollar (or less!).

This week’s comic is Eclipse Comics’ Detectives Inc. #1

Written by: Don McGregor
Art by: Marshall Rogers
Colors by: Tim Smith
Letters by: Tom Orzechowski

Detectives Inc. tells the story of Ted Denning and Bob Rainer, two low-level private investigators in seedy ’80s New York. A friend of Denning’s ex-wife has had her lover killed by a hit and run driver. After the police seem unconcerned, she hires Detectives Inc.

Eclipse comics was one of the more prolific indie publishers in the 1980s. They published tons of titles and also were one of the first to re-print manga in the states (their early manga titles include Mai The Psychic Girl and The Legend of Kamui). But what they were really known for was more mature aimed books that ran the gamut from sci-fi to crime.

The creators behind Detectives Inc. are also prolific. Writer Don McGregor has a long history and has written and worked for nearly every publisher you can imagine. Artist Marshall Rogers was a legend too. He started as an architectural student (something that is evident in his meticulous rendering of buildings and area) and has drawn everything from Batman to Mister Miracle, to Marvel’s G.I. Joe. One of the most well known Marshall Roger’s stories is how he got tapped to re-draw G.I. Joe #61 after a young Todd McFarlane’s initial entirely penciled issue was rejected by Marvel.

Detectives Inc. is a gritty book and an excellent history of its creation is included in the back matter of this issue. This whole issue is great from start to finish. McGregor’s script is very hardboiled, with a lot of narration. His characters also have that great ‘buddy cop’ banter. And the art is, of course, fantastic, with added life brought in by colorist Tim Smith. Lettering legend Tom Orzechowski rounds out the creative crew. Anyway, let’s take a look at some pages!

There you have it folks, just a glimpse into another dollar bin gem.

You can find great dollar bins at almost every local comic shop. So find a shop, ask a comic clerk what they can do for you during this time and get some dollar comics! Pick them up curbside and have them delivered if you must!

Got your own awesome dollar bin finds? Toss them at me!
Send emails to manny@monkeysfightingrobots.com
Follow me on Instagram: _idbuythatforadollar_
Tweet at me: @MannyG1138

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OPED: FABLES or the 150 Issue How-To on Killing Your Darlings

By

Zac Owens

-

April 6, 2020

Thirteen years is a lot of years. One hundred and fifty issues is a lot of issues. Yet somehow, writer Bill Willingham and artist Mark Buckingham make their brilliant series Fables feel too short. By the time you’re turning the final page, possibly after several years of reading about these characters, you already miss the world you’ve inhabited. Willingham and Buckingham made Fables, with 150 issues and a 13-year long run, work by employing one simple concept: kill your darlings.

Writers from all over the world will tell you, one of the greatest tips for writing a good story: be ready to kill your darlings. That means, everything must be expendable in order to move the plot forward. Even the moments and characters that have become the most dear to you as a writer must be sacrificed if they are getting in the way of the narrative. So why did 150 issues work in Fables? Because Willingham and Buckingham never spun their wheels. They were always moving at a breakneck pace.

The Premise

But what is Fables? It’s a series, a long one as we’ve established, about all the storybook characters from famous myths. Everyone from Snow White to Prince Charming (who it turns out is the same guy in each story as he’s not very loyal). These characters fled their fantastical homeland because they were driven out by a mysterious adversary. They now live in New York City in a clandestine community protected by various spells.

Our main players in the story are Snow White and Bigby Wolf. Bigby, formerly the Big Bad Wolf but now in human form, is the sheriff of Fabletown. Snow White, never to be a damsel in distress again, is the mayor’s right-hand woman and the biggest badass in Fabletown borders. But Snow and Bigby remain the main characters for only so long. Willingham is constantly shaking up the status quo. All the most “uninteresting” characters get a shot in the spotlight, and many main characters are disposed of unceremoniously.

A janitor becomes a king, a flying-monkey-secretary becomes a warrior-conqueror, and the mysterious adversary is beaten and brought into the fold before the series is half over. Main characters die by the dozen. The setting of the entire series shifts continuously. From Fabletown to the Farm (where Fables who can’t pass as humans stay), to the Homeland. Ultimately, it is a series that is continually evolving. It treats nothing as holy. No one is untouchable.

Buckingham Borders — FABLES #144. Notice the sword and rose that frame the page. Buckingham frames nearly every page starting in issue 40.

The Art

But it’s not all gloom and doom. The characters of Fables quickly become family. Much of the consistency and familiarity of the series comes from series artist, Mark Buckingham. With few issues in the whole run that weren’t penciled by Buckingham, his style becomes familiar fast. He imbues every character with humanity. No one feels anonymous. After all, you can’t kill your darlings if they don’t feel darling to you.

Buckingham has the uncanny ability to turn three lines into a face full of emotion. His mix of realistic and minimalist styles gives the art, extreme range. At times Buckingham draws like Mike Mignola, with shadows obscuring faces and minimal details somehow coming together to create a brilliant whole. At other times he draws like Alex Ross, where everything seems so lifelike you wonder if you’re looking at a photograph or a drawing. But his transitions between these styles in Fables are seamless.

Buckingham also creates a border for each page. Roses in the margins of pages about Rose Red. Wolves in the margins of pages about Bigby. It’s amazing to become acquainted with his work. He has the power to make the tiniest things seem like a full picture, yet the testament to his love for this series is he often goes above and beyond. Wonderful details and beautiful garnishes are on every page.

13 years later it all comes to a close in their final 150-page issue.

Fables is a world to get lost in. With Willingham’s writing, you have real stakes and movement of plot. And with Buckingham’s art, you get all the right details to feel at home. With 150 issues, Willingham and Buckingham work in tandem. One pushes the plot forward constantly, never letting up on the gas. The other gives us the expressions and physical elements that make these characters feel like family. With the familiar always changing, they create a balanced magnum opus called Fables.

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BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE Rises Above Its Troublesome Origin to Provide Inspiration

By

Brandon Mudd

-

April 6, 2020

Batman: The Killing Joke remains after all these years what it has always been. Controversial. Somewhat problematic. And brilliant. Alan Moore’s disturbing tale of Gotham Police Commissioner Jim Gordon’s very bad day, as engineered by the Joker, continues to be the watermark by which the relationship of the Batman and the Joker is measured. In stark contrast is the beautiful art by Brian Bolland. Bolland’s pencils, mixed with John Higgins’ pop-art colors, produce an onslaught to the senses. It’s hard for one’s mind to accept the brutal story Moore tells with Bolland’s almost-cartoonishly clean lines.

The original theme of TKJ is mostly lost to a seminal moment in the DC Universe, which was an almost throwaway scene. And therein lies the controversy. We’ll touch on that in a second.

The Joker wanted to show Batman, via Gordon, that if anyone had a truly horrific day, their mind would simply break. The secondary story, supposedly the origin of the Joker, seems to bear this out. A failed stand-up comic, Joker looks to crime for a quick score in order to support his pregnant wife.

As he meets with the two men planning a robbery of the chemical plant where Joker used to work, two things happen in quick succession. The first is the introduction of the Red Hood costume he’ll wear as a distraction while the other two perform the heist. And the second is the arrival of the police, informing Joker his wife and unborn child were killed in a freak electrocution accident.

The rest is comic book lore. The trio arrives at the chemical plant and are immediately discovered. Batman is also on the scene, knocking Joker in a vat of chemicals. When he emerges, he’s white-skinned, green-haired, and insane. The Joker is born.

The scene I mentioned comes at the beginning of Joker’s experiment with Gordon. The Clown Prince of Crime shows up at the home of Gordon’s daughter, Barbara (secretly Batgirl). When she opens the door, he shoots her in the pelvis, shattering her spine. What follows is a scene of deviance no one saw coming in the DC Comics world of 1988. It’s still a hard read. Gordon is drug off by henchmen while Joker strips Barabara nude and begins taking very explicit photos of Jim’s gruesomely-injured daughter. The photos are later shown to Jim but fail to get the expected reaction. Batman arrives, rescues Jim, the Commissioner demanding the Dark Knight bring the Joker in by the book. If anything, Jim’s very bad day only made him a better cop.

(Still better than a copy of The Watchtower.)

The argument with this sequence of events is the practice of “fridging.” The concept was first voiced by writer Gail Simone after the body of Green Lantern’s girlfriend was found mutilated in her refrigerator in a 1994 storyline. Fridging portrays how a woman is introduced solely to move the male-dominated plot forward, not given respect as a character, sometimes not even given a name, and is considered to be a sexist and crude literary device and demeaning to women.

The Killing Joke was intended as a one-shot, non-canonical story. As such, Moore is accused of taking a fully-formed, deeply-rooted character in Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and fridging her, solely as a way to torture her father. Seemingly, there’s no thought of her future, or past for that matter. Critics accuse Moore and Bolland of being gratuitous in their depiction of Barbara’s shooting, using it solely as a vehicle to shock and titillate.

The other side of the argument is that the shooting may have ended Babara’s career as Batgirl, but it created Oracle. Gordon’s new persona is arguably a more important figure in Batman’s history, due to her role as the lead dispatcher/researcher for the Bat-Family and proof one doesn’t need to be able-bodied to make a difference. Barbara spent 20+ years in a wheelchair, and during that time, helped found the Birds of Prey, was Batman’s most-utilized source of assistance behind Alfred and continued to be a strong female role model, doing it without baring skin or using her fists.

Various pundits have pointed out; however, that wasn’t Moore’s intention. His alleged misogyny is right there for all to see, say some. He had no plans for Batgirl post-TKJ. Again, this was supposed to be a one-time story with no basis in the DC Universe. Some readers have also posited the Joker raped Barbara during this time; again, not what DC readers expected in the late 80s.

My interpretation of the story has always been this: sometimes, terrible things happen. The idea that the Joker, a deeply-disturbed sociopath, would commit such an unimaginable crime against the daughter of the police commissioner raised the stakes for the character. Now, nothing is off the table. We see the Joker as a being who should never be underestimated, neither for his capacity for evil, nor for his ability to carry it out.

The story itself isn’t original, not in the world we live in. Again, bad things happen all the time, but this time, it happened to a beloved character. And it was graphic and brutal and hard to read. But to me, that act not only gave us the type of Joker Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams hinted at in the 70s, unequaled in his desire to create chaos and torment Batman, but it gave us Oracle. Oracle, who may have lamented her lost legs and her lost identity as Batgirl, but never let it crush her spirit. She had the worst happen to her, and she rose above it.

She wasn’t a sidekick. She wasn’t some piece of fluff to ogle. She was an important character and one of the Bat-Fam’s top assets. Batgirl and Joker’s shared history provided some intense scenes during the New 52’s Death of the Family arc, where Barbara had to face Joker for the first time as Batgirl since the shooting. She rose above the terror and the psychological damage and did her part to defeat him. She faced her fear and won. That’s what inspirational characters do. They elevate beyond his or her limitations, beyond their tragic backstories, and in defiance of all the odds, they win.

Batman: The Killing Joke remains one of my favorite DC stories. It’s Moore at his best and most sinister. It’s Bolland providing beautiful, clean artwork for a script that was neither, making the contrast all the more blunt. Brutal things happen to good people. More often than not, those things leave a mark or outright destroy the person in question. Barbara Gordon rose above being used as a pawn for someone else’s very bad day and came out on top.

And isn’t that why we read comic books in the first place?

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Review: SCREAM Deconstructs Horror & Salutes Its Audience

By

Eric Trigg

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During the ’90s, the big staples in horror at the time were struggling to release a good product, but then Scream came along and saved the genre. Ironically, the film would poke fun at and make mention of the three icons on multiple occasions. Of course, those three being Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, and Freddy Kruger. When horror was at its lowest, Scream brought it back to life by being self-aware and not taking itself too seriously. A film that not only knew its audience but wanted to subvert every expectation they had at the time.

Directed by the “Master of Horror” Wes Craven, the film was written by Kevin Williamson, who would go on to write future sequels. Scream stars Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette, Rose McGowan, Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, Courteney Cox, Jamie Kennedy, and Roger L. Jackson. Set in Woodsboro, California, Scream follows Sidney Prescott (Campbell), a young teen who is still recovering from the year-old rape and murder of her mother. Her troubles are accelerated when a killer begins threatening her and her friends and claims to hold key information regarding the demise of her mother.

Now, if you were to just go off of that general synopsis to judge the movie then you’d be missing out on its magic. The film sounds like every other horror movie that has come out before it but it’s much more than that. Williamson’s script takes horror fans into a world where the characters are aware of slasher films and all of the cliche’s that come with them. These teens are not fully clueless, they understand that “Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far” as pointed out in the tagline. Williamson subverts your expectations from the start with one of the most iconic openings to any horror film. That scene alone was enough to understand Scream was set to pull the rug out from under viewers at any given moment.

Adding to that, since Scream has characters who are aware of movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th, it also offers some of the best dialogue amongst a group of teens who are essentially living out the genre they love so much. Sidney’s group of friends consists of her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Ulrich), Tatum Riley (McGowan), Stu Macher (Lillard), and Randy Meeks (Kennedy). Meeks is the audience’s mouthpiece, his informed stance on the inner working of horror films and his awareness that there appears to be “certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror film” are what made him one of the film’s most beloved characters. There’s even an entire scene of him explaining these rules amongst his peers as they watch Halloween at a house party.

Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott in Scream

All of the characters offer something to like about them and it helps when most of them love horror movies. Sidney is a great protagonist, she isn’t as upbeat as her friends due to the death of her mom, but it’s safe to assume that she was just like them prior to that. Campbell’s portrayal of this innocent teen who is struggling to cope with the loss of her mom makes Sidney a great character to sympathize with and root for as she becomes the center of the killings. She is our final girl, and what the film does so well is it foreshadow’s her eventual outsmarting of the killer in the end. Strong female characters was another aspect that made Scream such a breath of fresh air. Sidney is in the same position as most heroine’s in horror for the majority of the runtime, but she uses her fear to fight back in the end and give the killer a taste of his own medicine.

Overall the cast is amazing, Cox, who was known for her role on Friends, gives a great performance as this seemingly rude, arrogant, entitled news reporter who will stop at nothing to prove that Sidney targeted an innocent man as the culprit responsible for killing her mother. Gale Weathers was a “tabloid twit” as Sidney put it and the two were at each other’s throats due to Gale covering her mother’s death. In the end, Gale is a hero and her thoughts regarding what really happened are found to be true. Kennedy’s performance as Randy gets praised still to this day, not because his acting was so great, but because of the fact that he does enough in the role for audiences to get behind a character that represents them. Randy is just as much a horror freak as half the people watching the film, which makes him easy to like and grow attached to.

Rose McGowan as Tatum Riley and David Arquette as Dewey Riley in Scream

Ulrich plays the dark and moody boyfriend of Sidney, he quickly becomes the suspect because of this darkness surrounding the character. They way Ulrich thrives in the role will keep audiences on their toes regarding Billy Loomis because he seems too in your face to be the killer, and the film makes it so obvious that he is being set up as the average red herring. McGowan stars as Tatum, the best friend of Sidney, and what’s great about this character is she is a clear mouthpiece for Sidney. When she has had enough and is too over it to stand up for herself, Tatum is right there to shut down anything threatening her best friend. Of course, Sidney finds her inner Tatum in the end when she is all alone in a final clash with the killer. Arquette plays Tatum’s brother, the incompetent but lovable cop, Dewey Riley. His performance is good for what it is, and he balances between can this guy be killed already and he is pretty cool.

Craven does what he does best and directs the film very well. He was the appropriate choice as he is known for his direction of Nightmare on Elm Street and The Hills Have Eyes. He understands and loves the genre, so no one was better to captain a film that deconstructs horror. Craven brings Williamson’s clever screenplay to life with ease as the terror and gore he is known for shines bright here. As with every great horror film, Scream features one of the best scores composed by Marco Beltrami. It’s so effective and memorable that Halloween H20: 20 Years Later borrowed bits of it two years later.

Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks, and Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott in Scream

Scream is a clever shakeup of the genre that will even spark a few laughs in between the terror. The film is cherished amongst the horror community for popularizing the meta aspects of the film. Not only a ’90s treat that still holds up over two decades later, but also a near-perfect horror film.

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Exclusive Preview: THE SCENT OF MAY RAIN From Weekend Warrior Comics

By

Anthony Composto - EIC

-

April 5, 2020

THE SCENT OF MAY RAIN is the latest release from Weekend Warrior Comics, and Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive three-page preview for you.

About the book:
A Jewish golem woman created in 1920 spends 100 years on a journey to reveal her soul through her relationships with other women and theatre.

The 48-page comic is by writer Mark O. Stack, from a story by Stack and Rae Epsetin, and artist Kaylee Rowena. Cardinal Rae lettered the book. The character Pat Parker, War Nurse, was created by Jill Elgin.

You can purchase THE SCENT OF MAY RAIN right now at the Weekend Warrior Comics website. It’s available for pre-order in both digital and print.

SCENT OF MAY RAIN is a story about seeing the world with fresh eyes, without prejudice, and learning who you are.

MFR critic Gabriel Hernandez says of the book in his review:

“It’s a thought provoking piece of art that challenges the expectations of love, family, tradition, religion, and sexuality.”

Check out the SCENT OF MAY RAIN preview below:

You can purchase your copy of THE SCENT OF MAY RAIN at www.weekendwarriorcomics.com and follow Mark O. Stack on Twitter @MarkOStack.

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