For a generation not raised on Rocky Horror Picture Show, Napoleon Dynamite might be the absolute definition of a cult film. So when IDW announced that Napoleon, Pedro and the gang were headed to a comic book series, expectations were understandably high. Still, with a top notch creative team in writers Carlos Guzman-Verdugo and Alejandro Verdugo, artist Jorge Monlongo, and letterer Christa Miesner, fans have reason to hope that their favorite weirdo high school comedy can make the transition well. Now that the book is out, should fans invest in the first issue?
Your Mom Goes to College
Issue one of Napoleon Dynamite picks up pretty much exactly where the film left off. The election has been successful, Pedro’s administration is in power, and Pedro, Napoleon, and Deb are still hopelessly unpopular. Now, however, it’s senior year for the teens, and everyone’s nervously looking toward the future. We get a glimpse of Napoleon’s plans in a conversation he has with a guidance counselor, in which he tells of his plans to be a cryptozoologist. The guidance counselor, and really everyone in Napoleon’s life, isn’t thrilled about his choices.
But that’s not all Napoleon has to worry about. A new girl named Joana Gato has transferred to the school, and for some strange reason, has her heart set on bringing down Pedro’s presidency. Can Napoleon & Co. fend her off while deciding on colleges, dealing with bullies, and, just maybe, finding some romance?
Oh yeah, and has the mayor been murdered?
Great Skills
Carlos Guzman-Verdugo and Alejandro Verdugo bring all the offbeat, repeatable humor of the movie to this comic book version of Napoleon Dynamite. Fans will be pleased to know that the world of Napoleon is very much intact. The small-town, ambling antics of Napoleon’s school and family life matter a lot to the story, with returning characters Grandma, Rico, and even Tina coloring Napoleon’s mundane but somehow ridiculous life. Plus, the addition of the murdered mayor story gives this comic just enough zing to make it its own story, building onto the film’s world instead of just rehashing it.
The only critique you might give the writing (and overall, the comic) is the overuse of first person narration from Napoleon himself. Part of the hilarity of Napoleon Dynamite in the movie is that he’s just so weird, almost alien. He’s relatable, sure, but the humor comes out of his actions and statements being so strange and unpredictable. Getting a window into that thought process sounds fun, but it ends up spoiling his weirdness, like explaining the punchline of a joke before you tell it. All that said, Guzman-Verdugo and Verdugo nail a perfect Napoleon impression on the page. The over-serious lingo they write will have you hearing John Heder’s voice as much as you see his iconic look.
The Shading on the Upper Lip
Speaking of the look, this comic’s artwork from Jorge Monlongo accomplishes something pretty incredible. Without creating photorealistic drawings of the movie’s actors, the art manages to present the characters perfectly. Napoleon’s misplaced arrogance, Pedro’s lack of enthusiasm, Deb’s awkwardness are all right there, distilled into cartoonish caricatures that work so well in a comic book. Actually, if IDW never published this comic, or even if the movie had never been made, Napoleon and Co. would have been IDEAL for a newspaper funnies strip, so perfectly do their designs match their personalities. If Monlongo’s designs get the acclaim they deserve, they’ll certainly be on more more quirky, character-driven humor books.
Of course, these designs wouldn’t work half as well if the tone of the comic didn’t click with the film like it does, and a lot of that comes from Monlongo’s colors. Their muted pastels and fluorescent lighting give the comic the same indie feel that the movie had, even though the designs are anything but realistic. Monlongo’s colors don’t just link the movie to the comic; they prove that it can work as one.
I’d Vote For You!
If you haven’t gathered by now, fans of the Napoleon Dynamite movie should absolutely pick up its comic book cousin. All the awkward teen angst, bone dry humor, and Midwestern monotony are there, complemented and improved by a unique visual style. But what if you’re not a fan of the movie? Should you buy Napoleon Dynamite #1 if you don’t like, or haven’t seen, the cult classic? We’d still say yes, and that’s because for everything this book is, it’s most importantly different. In a market that is easily saturated with similarly-drawn superheroes, variety is absolutely vital. You’ll get that with Napoleon Dynamite, we assure you.
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The Good Place is a comedy series on NBC starring Kirsten Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, and Jameela Jamil which takes place in an idyllic afterlife and making this surreal place come to life is Emmy-winning art director Adam Rowe.
The Good Place is entering its fourth and final season, but if Rotten Tomato scores are to be believed, you’d quickly wonder why. Season one sports a 91 percent, season two and season three are both currently at 100 percent. The Guardian called it “relentlessly optimistic.” Fans will undoubtedly miss the show, but at least it’s going out on its own terms.
PopAxiom interviewed Adam Rowe about becoming an art director, possibly painting forever at Forever 21 and making The Good Place.
Welcome to Miami
Adam and I spoke for an hour, but the first ten minutes were all about Miami, Florida, which is where I was calling from. Adam’s a big fan of the city after working on Versace and Dexter. “It so diverse and beautiful there.”
A native of Ottawa, Illinois, Adam now lives in LA, and after more than a decade, he proudly calls it home. “I’ve fallen in love with the city.”
But to end on a note that makes Miami sound cool, Adam says, “Miami is addicting.”
Getting To The Good Place
Adam’s path started in theatre and is now entrenched in the film and television world. Was that the plan all along? “I hate to say it this way, but I followed the money. I wanted to work in theatre, but it was hard to earn enough to live.” Keep in mind, at the time, Adam was mainly living in an SUV and not some extravagant, unaffordable lifestyle. “I would paint for any theatre that would hire me.”
“I kind of got into this triangle of working from Denver to Santa Fe to Florida.”
After moving around a lot , a friend suggested moving to LA. On a short trip to the city, LA was overwhelming, but Adam made the move anyway. “I dove in. It took about three months, but I got a job for a scenic company that made scenery for all sorts of things. I painted for them.”
The company landed a new contract. “I painted roughly 40-45 Forever 21 stores. If you remember, those stores are essentially all white. So, I was spending 8-10 hours a day in a Tyvek suit thinking ‘Is this it? Is this what a scenic artist becomes [laughs]?”
Six Foot Sub
Suffice it to say, Adam was looking for other opportunities to use his talents and landed an interview with Dan Bishop, the production designer for shows like Parks and Rec and Carnivàle. “I showed up to a coffee shop for the interview with a portfolio and a six-foot sub I carved out of foam for a Subway commercial.”
A couple of days later, Adam received an offer to work as a production assistant on a new show Dan Bishop was working on. “I said yes then found out I was working on Mad Men. It was just a pilot then.” Adam got to watch the pilot and was “blown away.”
As Mad Men was getting underway, there was a lot of turmoil in the world. First was the 2007 writer’s strike and second, was the 2008 recession. “Between 2006 and 2010, I basically said yes to anything that would hire me.”
What were some of those jobs? “I did stills for Fabreze; I worked on the Hillshire Farms ‘Go Meat!’ campaign; I worked on a game show that went nowhere called Paparazzi. Another game show called Pay It Off on BET.” There was a third, short-lived gameshow too.
All these diverse avenues of experience were enlightening. “The more I got into scripted television, the more interested I became.”
About The Good Place
Both The Good Place and Parks and Rec are the brainchild of Michael Shure were both “… very ambitious in what they wanted to do.”
About Shure, Adam says he has a “… clear visions about what he wants.”
The Good Place takes place in a weird place that’s a heaven-like paradise engineered for worthy people. “The challenge with The Good Place is time-tracking and staying within the timeline of the show. You want to set rules and follow those rules within the show. We try it hard to get it right.”
“For example, in a particular episode, we might have to ask ‘Is this taking place when Yogurt Yogurt Yogurt is Yogurt Yogurt Yogurt?’”
About keeping things straight, what’s Adam’s opinion on the infamous Starbucks cup in Game of Thrones? “Three or four times I brought it up to put that into The Good Place. That show allows for little things like that.”
Details Of Design
The Good Place is a surreal world, and so any touches of our reality have to be deliberate, but so do omissions of our reality too. “It seems very mundane, but when you’re shooting in Budapest or Australia you don’t think about light switches and plugs, for instance, but they’re different. In The Good Place, we tried hard to hide electricity.”
Film and television productions are a dance of different jobs working in unison. “In season three, Tahani (played by Jameela Jamil) is frying eggs. She throws an egg at the wall. There’s only so much you can plan for that moment. The team uses a material that won’t get destroyed by the egg because you will have reshoots.”
In an example from Parks and Rec, “When we learn that Ron Swanson has booby traps all over his cabin in the woods. We had discussions with the effects team and the DP to learn how they plan to shoot the scene. We workshopped a bunch of ideas. We made a scary version, a not-so-scary version … you come up with four or five ideas and present them to the showrunner and producers.”
Back to The Good Place, “In an episode of The Good Place, there is an American-themed restaurant in Australia, and they wanted these giant beers. As it turns out, we couldn’t get it to work because it’s hard to hold that much beer.”
Rent To Own An Emmy
Just days before our interview, Adam won an Emmy for his work on Rent: Live. “I’m still in the afterglow. No one can prepare you … it’s so surreal.”
About doing theatre on TV: “If you’re doing something on TV, inherently, they want more, more, more. On Rent, we wanted to include the audience, and we wanted them all around.”
TV gets a bigger budget than your average theatre production. The space and stage itself were larger than usual, which creates new challenges. “In “Over the Moon,” we were on one side of the soundstage, and the next scene, without a commercial break, we’re in “La Vie Boheme,” and have to be on the opposite side of the stage.”
Adam adds, “It was also a challenge to get things to play nice with commercial breaks. And so, we, as the art department had to react to what the writers, producers, and directors, were doing to meet those demands.”
“We’re dealing with live fire on stage with an audience. We’re dealing with ‘snow’ in the form of bubbles, not the usual particulates you see. We had flying stunts.”
Creative DNA
In a relatively short amount of time, Adam’s worked on shows spanning a wide range of genres and styles. What’s part of his creative DNA that inspires his work daily? “Early dramatic training. The fact that I had a great drama teacher in high school, Mrs. Williamson. I was heavily exposed to music. I took piano and choir. Those fundamental values I learned at an early age carried me through.”
Adam continues, “I saw as many musicals I could. I remember going to New York and seeing Lion King, Rent, Cabaret, whatever I could.
The power of influence comes from just about everywhere if you’re looking. “I get heavily inspired any time I go to Las Vegas and the visuals going on all over the place.”
One last source of inspiration: “… You throw in nature. There’s so much to take inspiration from.”
Wrapping Up
The Good Place wrapped shooting. So, what’s coming next from Adam? “I’m on a musical now called The Prom, and I’m diving into all this research about life in high school which influences what we make.”
“The Prom is set to come out next fall.”
One last word about The Good Place: “Without giving anything away, we finished shooting on August 8th in a really beautiful environment with copious amounts of hugging.”
Catch the final season of The Good Place on NBC!
Thanks to Adam Rowe and Impact24 PR for making this interview possible.
Want to read more interviews like this? CLICK HERE.
MARVEL ACTION CAPTAIN MARVEL #2 comes out this Wednesday from IDW, and it is delightfully full of flerkins and sass. Fans of Chewie (aka Goose) will love this miniseries.
Carol isn’t looking too thrilled about her predicament.
***SPOILER WARNING***
Marvel Action Captain Marvel #2 continues the insanity started in the last issue. And that’s probably why this miniseries is perfect for cat and flerkin lovers alike. And don’t worry, we promise that no cats or flerkins were harmed in this issue.
This series is a lighter counterpart to what has been happening in Carol’s main series (Captain Marvel), which makes us think that there was some intentional timing going on here. But that works perfectly for those fans needing a laugh or two.
Captain Marvel is looking ready to fight in Marvel Action Captain Marvel #2.
Flerkins have been a running joke in Captain Marvel’s series for quite some time. But when you think about it, it really was only a matter of time before somebody tried to weaponize those cute little (and dangerous) faces. And anybody that has read her series could probably make an accurate guess on who is behind that whole mess.
Sam Maggs is the author behind this series, and they’ve done an excellent job of balancing the humor within this plot. It has a lighter tone, but never quite crosses the line into ridiculous, which is a fine line in this case.
The main plot is a sound one – no fan can deny the core concept behind using the flerkins like this. Nor can they deny which race would be the most inclined to give it a go. They’re sort of famous for that sort of thing, after all. This adds a sense of comic realism to a plot that could otherwise be considered something too surreal.
The Guardians of the Galaxy have dealt with flerkins before.
There’s a good chance that the artists working for Marvel Action Captain Marvel #2 enjoyed their jobs a little too much this time around. But that’s just a guess – the flerkin costumes sure are as humorous as they are delightful.
Sweeney Boo was the lead artist for this issue, with Brittany Peer doing the colors. Together they made something bright and entertaining. The highlight is obviously the number of flerkins shown, but there are other noteworthy moments in this issue as well.
The lettering was done by Christa Miesner, and she knocked it out of the park. The title page for this issue is perfectly designed to fit the comic – and one of the better ones showcased recently.
Marvel Action Captain Marvel #2 was a fun issue; a solid second in what is a three-issue series. It moved the plot forward but also wasn’t afraid to have some fun along the way. Now we’ll just have to wait and see how Carol and her allies deal with the mess they’ve been handed.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you can’t have missed BOOM! Studios’ reboot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer with the exceptional creative team of Jodie Bellaire and Dan Mora.
But wherever Buffy goes, Angel is sure to follow.
So, it comes as no surprise that at the end of the first Buffy arc, the brooding vampire with a soul was pictured lurking in the background, ready to be unleashed back into the comic book world.
Helming the relaunch of the character, and becoming responsible for reintroducing Angel and his gang into the modern world, is writer Bryan Edward Hill. Having worked on a number of high profile characters for DC Comics and Top Cow, Hill’s ability to write engaging character-driven action is perfect for a crime-fighting demon, like Angel.
Later in the month, on the 25th, the first arc will be released in a collected edition which includes the surprise 0 issue that kicked off this run. Bryan Edward Hill kindly took some time out from his busy schedule to share with us the lowdown on what makes the vampire with a soul such an intriguing and beloved character.
Angel Volume 1 Cover Credit: BOOM! Studios
Darryll Robson For Monkeys Fighting Robots: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today, I know that you are currently working on several different projects at the moment and I wondered how you organized your time when working like that? Do you work on one particular project for a length of time, or do you chop and change throughout the week?
Bryan Edward Hill: Well. When I’m working on a television show, I don’t have a lot of free time. Television requires writers room presence, and that takes up 40 to 50 hours a week. What I try to do is set aside different days for individual projects so that I can maintain mood, you know, and then I don’t have to flit between too many different things. If I’m working on Angel, then it’s a very different vibe than a sci-fi action piece, or a historical drama or something like that, so I designate different days for different things. Angel, I tend to write at night because it is more of that feeling and mood. So that is, in particular, my late night, right-before-bed writing.
MFR: Is there much collaboration you have to do with Angel because it is obviously part of the Buffyverse, do you have to liaise with the other writers and creators?
HILL: Luckily for me, BOOM! does a lot of that, Jeanine Schaefer my editor over there, she manages most of that conversation. I don’t have to deal with it personally too much, which is good because you don’t want to have to write with all of those tones. It’s better; I think to do what you want to do and then find out if what you want to do is acceptable for the rest of it. It’s hard to keep all of those rules in mind all of the time.
MFR: Have you had a lot of freedom with the stories you’ve been able to tell in Angel?
HILL: Yeah, so far. I have spoken in some detail what the overall plan was and where I wanted to go with this year. And one of my intentions was to push it a little bit in the terms of aesthetics, of its scope, of its emotion. Comics, unlike TV, they have limitless budgets in terms of how the visual storytelling can go. Obviously, you have to pay your artists, and letterers and all of that, your writers, but you can make it an epic experience, and I’ve been able to do that the way I’ve wanted to and I’m very grateful for that.
MFR: You’ve had an excellent creative team working on the comic. Have there been any particular scenes that when you’ve seen the finished work, it’s blown you away?
HILL: I was a little familiar with Gleb’s (Gleb Melnikov, Artist on Angel) work before we worked on the book together but there’s so many artists, and so much work out there, you know, I’m not going to say I was following him because I wasn’t. But when I saw Gleb do the first flashback that I put into the book and the strong graphic quality of his images, that really set the tone for me as a writer. It showed me what kind of artist I was dealing with and how much Gleb could really do, so that freed me up.
It’s a bit like when you are directing an actor, and you have a script, and you have an idea of what you want it to look like, and you do a take, and then the actor does something you just couldn’t imagine. The nuance, the subtly, the presence on screen, whatever it is, and then you realize, “oooh wait a minute,” I can do a lot more things than I thought I was going to be able to do when it was just me and a word processing program.
And that’s really the experience of working with Gleb, is that he is so capable in so many different ways that it frees me up to do bolder structure and make some narrative choices to remove dialogue and let the images carry the story, which is really how I prefer to work honestly. Although I am a writer, I try not to have dialogue be the driver of the storytelling. I have always been in love with the moving image, or the still image, and its ability to tell a story. I would give my writing the platform to power the images rather than get in the way and slow that process down.
Angel Volume 1 Interior Art Credit: BOOM! Studios
MFR: Were you a big fan of the Angel TV show originally?
HILL:I was, I was more a fan of Angel than I was Buffy really, because I could identify more with Angel. That was my favorite of the Weadon-verse on television, for sure.
MFR: Do you feel the stories you have told so far, and that you are planning on telling, are influenced by the style of Angel, like it was different from Buffy so did you consciously pick up the themes that the T.V. show picked up?
HILL: Yes but not so much in a conscious way as much as what happens to your unconscious when you just watch a thing a lot. In that way, a show can be almost like music, in that you start to get a feel for it. I have watched all of the seasons now, and I rewatched some of my favorite episodes, I kind of got back into the groove of it. It’s more of a feeling thing. It’s not like I have a list of things that make Angel uniquely Angel as much as you just sort of know when it’s circling what it needs to circle.
MFR: Did you get to choose which characters you used then, did you pick you’re favorite characters or did BOOM! tell you which characters you needed to use?
HILL: BOOM! gave me a lot of freedom to use who I wanted to use, when I wanted to use them, so the cast we have seen so far, those are the characters I wanted to start with first. In a lot of ways, the story is about the formation of Angel’s group, and there’s a little bit of heroism going on. You know we have this back story about Angelus when he was evil, having his own dark riders and his own kind of nefarious group bringing suffering across the world and now in modern times he is somewhat reluctantly gathering a new group of people around him that can do good in place of the harm he once caused.
I picked very specific characters in the mythology to fill out some archetypal roles: the warrior nature of James Gunn: the magical incarnations of Winifred: that sort of thing. The team that we have is the team that we needed for the story that I wanted to tell. That being said, I would love to bring in as many characters from the series as I possibly could. We’ve got some new characters that are not new to the Angel universe but are new to the comic book and are familiar to readers, and they have new twists, but they are essentially who they were. I am excited to see how people respond to those.
MFR: I know that you created the new character Lilith who, when I read the comic I see as being a replacement for Doyle for the original series. She has that link to the powers that be, which is the part that Doyle played. I wondered how important it was for you to create your own character as one of the main characters in the story?
HILL: Lilith isn’t so much as a creation as much as an incorporation of existing, magical, esoteric thought in mythology. Lilith as an archetype has always been interesting to me because some people look at her as if she is a villain, other people find her to be the symbol of female empowerment. And all of that seemed really interesting to me. I wanted to explore Angels relationship to magic a bit, to the so-called spirit world and how he deals with that and how it deals with him. And bringing in this idea that there are entities out there that are concerned with the affairs in the human world and, even if they cannot directly influence things physically, they can always influence others to do things good and bad. Lilith seemed like an excellent gateway to discuss those things. And I wanted to have a bit of a ferocious female energy in this book and writing her allows me to do that.
MFR: So this is a character that will continue through your run on the Angel comic?
HILL: Yes, I would think so. Perhaps not in ways that people can expect, but her influence will certainly be felt in the comic book going forward.
Angel: Lilith and Fred in Action Credit: BOOM! Studios
MFR: We’ve got the collection of the first arc out next week and the crossover event going on with the Buffy comic
HILL: Hellmouth, a lot of exciting things going on there.
MFR: Yes, I’m assuming that’s going to have a big impact on what you’re writing on Angel?
HILL: For sure. Without getting into details, the events of Hellmouth, are going to raise the stakes in those books and they’re to raise the personal stakes for all of the characters. The most important thing for an event like that is the characters change because of their experiences there, and you’re certainly going to see that, and it’s going to be reflected in both Buffy and Angel going forward. I would expect there to be multiple degrees in the terms of intensity for Angel that is a direct result of the events to come in Hellmouth.
MFR: So, do you have a long term plan for Angle? Is it a year or two-year plan that you’ve got?
HILL: Because I work in television as well, I do think in terms of seasons, and I do have what I consider like, a season of comics in me. A year of issues, I would say about 12 issues. So I think by season, by season, by season and it’s both detailed and incredibly malleable. It’s a bit like knowing you want to get to Athens but not knowing exactly the path you are going to take to get there. So, I have what I would refer to as a soft plan, but I do certainly have events I’d like to cover emotional points that I want to hit, and some evolutionary things with the world that I want to make sure I get set in to tell the story.
MFR: One last question, is there a particular character that you are really desperate to use in the comic?
HILL: I will say that readers can look forward to the entrance of Wolfram and Hart into the narrative. And also of Lorne. Wolfram and Hart as an enemy have always been interesting to me because I’ve always been fascinated with corporations and corruption and some of the esoteric history behind the power centers of the world.
And with Lorne, I’m just a real fan of karaoke. And I’m glad I can share that love with readers around the world.
Angel in a Hell Dimension Credit: BOOM! Studios
Monkeys Fighting Robots would like to thank Bryan Edward Hill for talking to us about Angel, and also to BOOM! Studios’ Esther Kim for her assistance.
Angel continues his adventures in issue 5 released on 25th September 2019, the same day as Angel Volume 1 comes out. So you can be completely up to date before the start of October when the exciting Hellmouth Crossover starts, taking over both Angel and Buffy comics for the rest of the year.
Avengers #24 hits your local comic shop next week on September 25, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview of the battle between Cosmic Ghost Rider, Thor, and She-Hulk.
The issue is written by Jason Aaron, with art by Stefano Caselli & Luciano Vecchio, Jason Keith dropped some colors, and Cory Petit gave us letters. Frank Martin assisted Caselli on the main cover. Greg Land, Jay Leisten, and Frank D’Armata provided the variant covers.
About Avengers #24: THE CHALLENGE OF THE GHOST RIDERS!
If the Avengers thought one Ghost Rider was tough to deal with, wait’ll they see how many Spirits of Vengeance have just been unleashed by the King of Hell, Johnny Blaze! Including the craziest, most powerful Rider of them all…That’s right; it’s the Avengers vs. Cosmic Ghost Rider!
Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw created the Cosmic Ghost Rider. The character first appeared in Thanos Vol. 2 #13 back in January 2018. Is the Cosmic Ghost Rider the most powerful character in the Marvel Universe? Comment below with your thoughts.
Dark Ark: After The Flood #1 kicks off the Halloween season on October 2, but thanks to AfterShock Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has a four-page preview for you.
The book is written by Cullen Bunn, with art by Juan Doe, letters by Dave Sharpe, Andrei Bressan worked on the incentive cover, and the lenticular cover is by Mike Rooth. Doe is known for his artwork in ANIMOSITY: THE RISE, AMERICAN MONSTER, and WORLD READER.
About Dark Ark: After The Flood #1: Two arks were built to survive the Flood. One was filled with the creatures of the natural world. The other was populated by…everything else.
Now that the denizens of the DARK ARK have beaten Noah’s Ark to land, a new societal order must be created – one based on the rule of monsters. Khalee, a new sorceress, ventures to maintain order amidst the chaos, but her otherworldly masters have a different task in mind. She must devise a way to bring Noah’s Ark to the monsters…because the beasts must feed.
Are you excited for the return of Dark Ark? Comment below with your thoughts.
Take your first look at DARK ARK: AFTER THE FLOOD #1
The children are smart, clever, and creepy as @#$% in You Are Obsolete #1, out this week from Aftershock.
You Are Obsolete #1 is a very disturbing and ominous first chapter as we are slowly introduced to the island of Muhu and its unusual inhabitants. In the spirit of a genuine supernatural horror; suspense simmers throughout the entire issue.
Mathew Klickstein is the writer and creator of this new chilling tale. Evgeniy Bornyakov creates a beautifully haunting setting while Lauren Affe brings art to life with vivid colors. Simon Bowland is tasked with lettering the eerily silent environment in You Are Obsolete #1.
Aside from the opening birthday celebration, this story starts off quietly. The island of Muhu extends a sense that every little sound can be heard for miles. There were a few missed opportunities for some more onomatopoeia and to showcase lettering talents when music was being played, and an instrument is broken, but that could’ve easily been removed as superfluous detail that would’ve gotten in the way of Bornyakov’s beautiful artwork.
Bornyakov is not an artist I am familiar with, but after seeing the beautiful work on this book, I will be on the lookout for future projects. This Russian artist masterfully captures absolute terror in the faces of the adults, and even though they are trying to smile as wide as they can, the fear lingers in their eyes.
The ruling class of children appears stoic and menacing, yet very reserved, and in a few panels, they seem to be practicing the creepiest clown car routine ever conceived. The issue has some sketches at the end that showcase Bornyakov’s ability to express true emotions on the faces of his created characters.
Muhu is one of those small towns you would never see unless you drive through it on a road trip, and the detail in every building is not taken for granted. Even the bell on the counter of the bed and breakfast reflects the surrounding room.
While many horror stories are monochromatic and create a scratchy and grimey impression, Lauren Affe uses a gorgeous palette with crisp colors. Every inch of the town appears clean and taken care of. This is not a Lord of the Flies situation the children have created. These children are organized, and they have a plan. At night, the town is a stunning mixture of blues and purples like the cottage porn you’d see in your motel room.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW
First issues are usually when the story tries to pull you in with some action, but You Are Obsolete #1 relies on mystery and intrigue. Details are sparse, and throughout the issue, Lyla, our narrator, is kept in the dark about precisely what she is supposed to be doing for the children. The children have arranged everything, and the adults feel like they are kept around merely for entertainment.
We’re not sure, Lyla, we’re just not sure.
Village of the Damned comes to mind almost immediately after Lyla’s first encounter with her cab driver. Something dreadful is afoot, and the depth of what she is dealing with is a mystery. Typically children don’t eliminate every adult over 40 for no reason at all. What happened to these children? What are they hoping to accomplish by having Lyla tell their story?
You Are Obsolete #1 is a mysterious horror with a deliberate pace similar to stories like Twin Peaks and GideonFalls. Building suspense is a tried and true tactic used to produce scares in every horror story and to create more anxiety and anticipation, but some horror tales just try to make you feel as uncomfortable and awkward as possible. We’ll have to wait and see what You Are Obsolete has in store.
What did you think of the first issue of You Are Obsolete? Let us know in the comments below.
Comedies about mental health issues have been on the rise in recent years. Irish comedian Aisling Bea tackles this subject with her comedy-drama This Way Up for Channel 4 and Hulu.
Aine (Bea) is a young Irish woman living in London who had to spend time in rehab after having a wee bit of breakdown. She continues to live her life, working as an English Language teacher, having a relationship with her sister, Shona (Sharon Horgan), becomes a tutor to a French boy, and face the ups and downs of life.
Bea is a successful stand-up comedian in the UK and worked as an actress in sitcoms and dramas. This Way Up marks the first time she has worked as a writer on a show. The strength of her show was its naturalistic style. Its humor is down-to-Earth, and the drama and relationships were believable.
Other shows that have focused on mental health have had a surreal quality to them. My Mad Fat Diary had fantasy sequences, the main character in Fleabag broke the fourth wall, and Bojack Horseman often when on benders which led to him having hallucinations and big realizations. This Way Up went for a grounded approach – it is a show about Aine’s day-to-day struggles. This Way Up was great showing the realities of mental illness. This was done in the first episode when Aine joking with Shona, but when she was left alone, she broke down in tears. Throughout the season there were emotional issues like when Aine tells her mother (Sorcha Cusack) why she’s angry at her, and Shona having to tell Aine some home truths. Aine’s actions were understandable, she tries to keep her time in rehab a secret, she gets stressed and overwhelmed, and when things go wrong, Aine does stupid things like sleep with someone or get drunk.
Because of the shows focus on Aine’s mental health This Way Up leaned more towards drama than comedy. The humor in the story is more subtle – most of it based on the interactions between the characters and the small actions. Bea and Horgan are skilled comedians and actors, and their interactions offer some of the funniest moments. Their exchanges were believable and relatable for anyone who has siblings. Aine was a character that is constantly making jokes, but this was a mask and a way to deflect from her mental health issues.
The show did have some more laugh out loud moments. The sisters’ rendition of “Zombie” was one of the comedic highlights. The scenes in Aine’s language class act as a more politically correct version of the ITV sitcom Mind Your Language.
Bea does subvert some sitcom plotlines. This was done in Episode 2 when Aine’s goodness forces her to be in two places at once. Aine agreed to tutor Etienne (Dorian Grover) but has to take one of her student’s emergency room. It was a great example of how Aine wants to do her best, but at times it overwhelms her. This Way Up is a slice of life show, but it led to some episodes to be plotless. This happened with Episode 3 and Episode 5. Aine meanders from location to location during these episodes. Episode 3 sees Aine get set up on a blind date and gets drunk with her neighbor. In Episode 5 it was even worst, Aine meets her ex-boyfriends, watches a soccer match with her roommate, and then go out nightclubbing. These episodes felt like filler which is remarkable for a six-part show where the episodes are 25 minutes long. The show doesn’t have as much of an overarching plot like Fleabag and Bojack Horseman.
This Way Up was a character-driven show that had a great cast and focused on an important issue. Although the show suffers from a couple of weaker episode, Bea has left some story threads for a second season.
Bruce and Selina’s beach vacation continues in Batman #79, out this week from DC Comics. Occurring before the events of Batman #77, we see the pair continuing to prep for their assault on occupied Gotham, while also plotting to interrupt a shipment of Venom being moved by Magpie.
The Writing
Batman #79 is, admittedly, not the most exciting chapter in the story. Action and narrative direction still largely take a backseat, as they did in our last issue. Even the Venom bust is largely treated as an afterthought, only worthy of a couple of pages. Instead, writer Tom King elects to focus on continuing to rebuild Bruce and Selina’s relationship.
Throughout the issue, the pair bickers back and forth about where they first met. Was it on the streets, as portrayed in Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One? Or, was it on a ship, à la Catwoman’s Golden Age introduction in the pages of an early Batman issue?
The conversation at first feels somewhat banal throughout Batman #79. By the end of the book, though, it begins taking on more significance and poignancy. Bruce and Selina first met before he donned the cowl, made his vow, and truly became The Batman. Bruce’s relationship with Selina predates his relationship with his own iconic persona. Given that, perhaps it’s possible for Bruce to reconcile his vow and his love for her.
The thesis motivating King’s entire run on this series comes down to a singular question: “can a character who’s motivated by trauma actually heal and find happiness?” This doesn’t come from nowhere; in fact, it’s a long-debated topic among fans. While the last several issues have seemed to suggest the author’s answer, Batman #79 codifies it in certain terms. This book, more than most in King’s run, tackles this question head-on. Thus, while not the most engrossing chapter in the story, this issue does carry narrative weight. With Batman #79, it feels like we’re clearly advancing the story, and the concept that motivates it.
The Artwork
Clay Mann is back on art duties for Batman #79. He approaches the work in a similar manner as our last issue; we see a lot of use of repetition with subtle variation to advance the story while maintaining cohesion.
Even when the artist breaks with the repetition, there are visual motifs throughout. We see a lot of wide-shot panels in which the figures displayed are centered within the image. Of course, these are often interspersed with extended segments of close-cropped panels in which we may only see part of an object or a character’s face repeated. As with our last issue, the manner in which Mann approaches the book lends it a very cinematic feel.
Tomeu Morey is on colors in Batman #79, bringing much of the same bright palette as we saw in our last issue. More of this book takes place at dusk and night, though, allowing Mann to play with a wider range of tones. He captures these moments in rather stunning lighting; it fits tonally, while remaining vibrant and eye-catching. Excellent work overall.
Final Thoughts
Batman #79 is an interesting chapter in the story. While still keeping our focus away from the crux of the action, it is entertaining and thematically-packed, making it an essential chapter in Tom King’s narrative.
Wally West begins his Journey to redeem the Flash!
Wally West was the face of DC’s Rebirth as well as its original Titans series. As one of the most popular versions of the Flash, the comic book community cheered for his return. Over time, however, he began sliding further and further into the background. After losing his connection to his Pre-New 52 wife and kids, his next big arc was seen in Flash War, which ended with him getting sent off to Sanctuary for therapy.
Just when people thought this would be a new chapter, the Heroes in Crisis storyline happened. Feeling the weight of all the heroes pains, Wally lashed out, inadvertently killing 13 C-List heroes. Now we have a new series that hopes to redeem the Scarlet Speedster. But can he?
**Some Spoilers Below**
Story:
We open with a view from outside the Multiverse. A being known as Tempus Fuginaut watches as the Dark Multiverse continues to seep into the DC Multiverse. Knowing full well, this could mean the end of everything, Tempus seeks out “The Fastest Man in the Multiverse.” Back on Earth, Wally sits in Blackgate, unable to sleep due to his actions. Every day, inmates try to kill him, and he keeps hoping they do. The only one who visits him is Linda Park, his pre-New 52 wife. While she says there is hope for him, Wally refuses to believe and leaves her, heading back to his cell to suffer.
The way Wally is acting is precisely how he should have acted in Heroes in Crisis. I honestly felt more compassion for him here than the entirety of the last miniseries. We didn’t get a hint of his depression until the very end of the miniseries, with him acting more like a selfish villain in previous issues. Lobdell is successfully able to show how Wally is suffering after the events of Heroes in Crisis, making him a more sympathetic character that you want to see redeem themselves.
As for the story itself, it does an excellent job in setting up the redemption journey for the Flash. Instead of it just focusing on Heroes in Crisis, Lobdell takes pieces from across the Rebirth era so far. From Dark Knights Metal to Flash War, it feels like this is a culmination for Wally’s journey. The only problem with it is that is it could just fall back on these old stories instead of presenting something new. It still needs to be fleshed out more, but it’s a very good start to the series.
Art:
Brett Booth has always done fantastic work on Flash-related titles, and this is no exception. His design for Wally’s Flash suit looks as amazing as it was first seen in Titans, as well as his speedster lightning. He also did an incredible job with the design of Tempus and the outer multiverse, capturing the weight of the situation as the dark inky earths of the Dark Multiverse rose from the ground.
The colorwork of Luis Guerrero brings Booth’s linework to the next level. With the brightest colors being Flash and his flashbacks, it is a reminder of the man Wally once was and will be again. The team works well together, and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the series will look.
Conclusion:
For a first issue, this does a great job setting up the miniseries. We see the stakes that threaten the multiverse, but we also see that this story really will be a redemption story for the fan-favorite Flash. The art team does a fantastic job bringing the tale to life and has me excited for the rest of the series. Wally’s journey has just begun, and I highly recommend it.
