The other day I was reading one of my favorite comic issues and I notice an error that I thought might make for an interesting post. While I can be a bit snarky when it comes to my post, I’m going to try to be a little less so for this one. This is a brief study in why proper word balloon usage is important.
The comic in question is Fantastic Four #203. It’s a thirty-five year old comic book and no doubt in the realm of fair game in regards to spoilers, but in fairness, (and because the subject in question is at the end of the issue) I’m going to take a few steps. First off, after this bit of blathering, I’m going to slam a more tag in place. Then, in case the reader has somehow by-passed the more by mistake, I’m putting up a fair-sized image of the issue’s cover to keep the spoilersat a distance. Finally, in the body itself, I’m only going to be very general about the plot.
Last year (or so) I made a post about the change in Power Girl‘s costume from boob window a-go-go to the rather nifty one to the right. (Click for a better gander.) I said that I liked the new look, how it’s better than some of her presentations. No need to get in deeper than that.
I also said that it wouldn’t last much more than a year.
I’m not complaining. I like the original costume. I don’t understand the fascination with the fricking boob window (it’s not like her costume leaves much to the imagination as is, fellas), but I’m fine with it.
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. One of the great thing about getting a Kindle is that I’ve had an opportunity to read books I never could hanging out at the late, lamented Borders or Barnes and Nobles. This ranges from reading the unjustly obscure classic The Ghost Pirates (well worth hunting down) to the adventurers of Fu Manchu (which probably should be more obscure, despite being a decent enough read.) I’ve also been blessed with the opportunity to reread stuff I’d never thought I’d see again. And stuff I’d never thought I’d finish.
The man himself
For the next couple of days or so I intend to talk a little about three of such works. All three stem from the oeuvre of Bram Stoker and thus roughly a hundred years old. So a spoiler warning might be, shall we say, a little out of date. However, if you haven’t read Dracula (today’s subject), Lair of the White Worm, or The Jewel of the Seven Stars yet, I’m hereby giving notice of Spoilers. Not in-depth, just grazing, but so you have been warned.
One of the sites I have an eye on is YOU CHOSE WRONG, a site dedicated to the various unfortunate ending in game books such as Choose Your Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy, and Which Way. These are books I loved as a kid, so I get a kick out of the occasional revisits to old friends. More, it shows me stuff I missed out on back in the way-back.
Yesterday’s post underscores the latter pleasure. Behold the potential sad, sad fate of Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, from Super Powers Which Way #2: Supergirl – The Girl of Steel:
Now I’m not the greatest Supergirl fan, but that hurts me. Imagine buying the book, looking for great super hero action, and ending up with that!
According to what I’ve read, poor Supergirl’s in some sort of magical land, so this isn’t as “The Hell…!?” as one might think. But come on! Downed by mice people? That’s not a fate she deserves by any stretch. Seems more appropriate for, I dunno, maybe Green Arrow.
In fact, I’m kinda shocked that hasn’t already happened in continuity. That or shooting himself in the foot with his own arrow.
Not that Lovecraft would have liked any film based on his work, mind. The man was persnickety about film.
In lieu of anything else to discuss, let’s talk about this.
H. P. Lovecraft happens to have a horrible, horrible track record when it comes to movie adaptations. Simply horrible. For every good film there’s at least a dozen really, really bad one.
Which leads us to today’s victim. Subject. Whatever.
During one of my many many many many trawls through the internet I discovered (courtesy of IO9) a new film based upon the man’s work being released this week. It’s called H. P. Lovecraft’s The Dark Sleep, and already we have problems as there is no such story by that title. That, of course, is a petty point, but telling about the production right off the bat nonetheless. It says they’re trading off the writer’s name more than his works. It suggests a certain lack of fidelity to the source, whatever the source should be.
Now the IO9 article suggested that Dark Sleep is based on Dreams in the Witch House. Note that the original title is distinctive, standing apart from the pack. The story it’s attached to is also distinctive; it ranks in my book as one of Lovecraft’s better efforts (a judgement Old Providence would not agree with.) That means that a movie based on the source might be worth looking into, if not actually watched.
The link provided in the source article takes one to the Amazon.com page for the film, where we find the cover for the movie:
The first thought running through my bean is the most obvious: What the hell is a chick doing in a Lovecraft movie? The man didn’t have female characters in his stories. The human race might as well have been straight up sexless old men as far as he seemed to be concerned.
But this isn’t quite the truth. Lovecraft did indeed dabble with the fair sex in his prose. Mostly in his collaborations with other writers (see The Curse of Yig, in which the main protagonist is a woman), but sometimes in his solo works.
Which Dreams in the Witch House is a prime example of. The antagonist therein is one Keziah Mason, a witch preying upon the modern day infants. Thus the woman pictured could be Mason. She doesn’t look like how Mason gets described, but hey! Dramatic license.
Or something.
Back to the IO9 article. Something is said about the movie having stop motion animation. I like stop motion animation about as much as Lovecraft. Out of curiosity (and still suspecting a train wreck in progress), I head over to YouTube to see if there’s a trailer.
You know what? There is!
The purist in me really wants to scream. It really, really does. Because this? This looks like a wretched adaptation. The lead actress looks seriously bored, especially in the scene where it looks like she’s traveling through space towards some unknown planet. More, the F/X are terrible. I’m pretty certain I saw better work early on the Play Station One.
However, there seems to me to be some love involved with those terrible F/X. Some effort to present the odd places Lovecraft described. I really wish they had bigger budget.
Dunno dunno dunno. It might be worth a gander, were it to turn up on Netflix. If only to see how long I could stand watching the silly thing before turning it off.
But as a buy? Only in a dark and tortured sleep, my friends.
I know that no one but me cares, but sorry about falling through on the Corpse Party promised last time. To do it right I need to reinstall the game, and I haven’t got around to that yet.
Instead, I thought I’d put up more fan art I doodled. Have a laugh at my lack of artist talent and all that. Been a while. Continue reading →
