So, today I thought I might take a look at some books that feature time.

Watchmen – This classic, it’s a classic right?, features the past and time as perception. To me, Dr. Manhattan’s mars dwelling looks a lot like clock gears and we can see it crumbling, an allusion to the end of the world, the end of time as we know it. And really, isn’t time just something we made up anyway?

Bride of the Water God – In this gorgeous manhwa, Soah is a slave to time. By day, her lover is a small boy by night, he’s a man. She better watch that clock if she wants to be awake for the good stuff!

Sand Chronicles – The hour glass is a central motif to Ann’s coming of age. As time slips by, she grows up. It is both quick and slow, sweet and painful.

Road to Perdition – This may seem like an odd choice, since time isn’t really addressed but there is always the feeling of time pushing at the characters’ backs. Hurry hurry hurry to the end is the feeling this book gives me. Of course, the end is tragic and at that moment time stands still. It’s a very strange feeling.

Can you think of any others?

Yes, it is.  But not essential.  I mean, if you don’t get to it or you have other things you need to read go ahead.  You don’t miss anything in this story, though it does wrap up the Jack storyline but not in a way that would make it hard to skip this one and continue on with him.  Oh and you see a very disturbing side of Rose Red.  I have yet to see a side of Rose Red that isn’t disturbing…maybe when she had the first bit of farm redemption but ever since then, poor girl.

Anyway, in the crossover Jack heads to the farm to warn the rest of the Fables that Kevin Thorn is about to unmake the world.  So Bigby and crew rush off to save the day while Jack stays behind to cause trouble.  Mister Dark does nothing in this crossover, just so you know.

This whole book is just silly fun (minus the aforementioned Ms. Rose).  It felt like a chance for Willingham to throw in some ideas he hasn’t been able to fit in past volumes, most notably the Genres.  Thorn’s writer’s block acts as a catalyst to twist Bigby and the Page sisters finally get to arm themselves.  It’s wish fulfillment.

I know a lot of people don’t like Jack.  I find him hilarious.  There’s a lot of Jack being Jack so be warned.

I don’t have much more to say that I haven’t said in past reviews.  The artwork is good, the cover pages are gorgeous and I’m addicted to this story forever and always.

I can’t wait until they start really digging into the Mister Dark stuff though.  If you read it, how did you feel about the crossover?  I’ve read a lot of mixed reactions online.

I love love!  So here’s some of my favorites:

Snow White/ Bigby Wolf and Beauty/Beast – both from Fables.

Clark Kent/ Lois Lane – Superman

Haruna/ Yoh – High School Debut

Ryo/ Dee – Fake

What are some of yours?

Tragic, I know.  Next time I’ll be prepared with these great wintry graphic novels:

Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 – this take places over several seasons but winter is by far the most dramatic and the most beautifully drawn.

30 Days of Night -  forwarding thinking vampires attack a town locked in night and winter,  as if I needed one more reason not to live in Alaska.

Whiteout – a mystery set in Antarctica might make 20 degrees seem downright balmy!

1001 Nights of Snowfall – it’s got snowfall in the title but it’s really the story of how the Adversary (of the series Fables) takes over the Homelands.

*note I meant to publish this on Monday but I guess I forgot – oops!*

Turns out the war is really the beginning.  The powers that be didn’t truly think through the consequences of this war.  Geppetto, former big bad Adversary, tries to tell them but since he’s a known tyrant they ignore him.  Then it happens.  I’m not going to tell you what “it” is of course but, trust me, it’s pretty bad.

As usual, the writing is awesome, pushing the story forward while leaving time to develop the characters.  The artwork is still stunning, especially the use of  color and movement.  One of my favorite things about Fables is the political strife.  In this volume a group calling themselves the Society of Seconds (first generation Fables born in America) demand passage into the homelands.  What they want is somewhat ridiculous, as the homelands aren’t anywhere near safe,  yet also speaks to the disconnection first-generation immigrants have.

If I have one complaint, it’s emotional fatigue.  I’m worn out, I’ve been through a war for gods sake!  Can’t I take a break?  One volume where maybe Snow White and Bigby take a vacation in the homeland?  Let us see how it’s rebuilding or a journey East to see some different fables?

“Every week, usatoday.com will feature a new episode of the Superman serial running in Wednesday Comics, a weekly collection of 15 newspaper-sized comic strips from DC Comics. The complete package is on sale every Wednesday for $3.99 at comic book shops.”

We’re already into week five of a twelve-week run of Superman, but you haven’t missed anything. USA Today still has the earlier comic strips up. Start your Superman web adventure here!

(By the by: If you’re on a Mac, use the Safari browser. Firefox totally didn’t work for me.)

What I found inside was a cliched mess.  Little Helena Rose Bertinelli watches as her family is murdered.  Of course, she is inexplicably left alive, I think we are supposed to assume it’s because she’s a little girl.  But still, sloppy work assassins.  Helena’s family isn’t just any Gotham family; her father was the Don of Gotham.   Helena is sent to live and hide out with a family in Sicily where she dreams of revenge.  Naturally.

What follows is the story of a woman bent on revenge and falling in love and losing that love and we’ve seen it all before.  The artwork is flat, failing to convey any kind of emotion besides anger.  Luckily, Helena is angry a lot.  The dialogue is stilted, full of conversations like this:

Huntress:  Everyone thinks they’re the good guy.

Batgirl:  Sometimes there really are good guys.

Huntress: You settle for being good.  I’m going to be the best.

There’s also the issue of feminism which, like Helena’s “take it when it works” approach to faith, is constantly brought up.  Yet, it’s hard to get into girl power when all the women are caricatures.  Helena’s cousin is crabby and petty and jealous.  Well, of course, she is – she’s fat!  You can tell Helena is “feisty” cause she is rude – I mean, speaks her mind.  Batgirl is good, we know this because she’s bubbly and tries to make friends.  Catwoman on the other hand is dark and edgy, just look at her cigarette.

I’m not quite sure what the point of this was.  To remake the character, (who has apparently had several incantations)?  To explain why in later Birds of Prey the Huntress hints at being a lesbian?  Cause you know, nothing will turn you gay like the guy you love turning into a jerk over something you (sort of) did.  It’s that easy ladies!!!

In conclusion: cool cover, weak delivery.

What is it about Batman that makes me so sad?  The whole Dark Knight, troubled soul, citizens of Gotham – just brings me down.  Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, a lot of beautiful writing comes out of sadness.  Elie Wiesel’s Night comes to mind and of course there’s England’s version of the Bat, Hamlet.  But the level of sadness in Batman has really been cranked up hasn’t it?

Batman faces the Black Glove.  He’s on the Glove’s trail when his “love” Jezebel Jet betrays him, whispering the code word that shatters his psyche.  Luckily, he’s got a backup personality – I promise it’s much cooler than it sounds.  Together with Robin and Nightwing (who aren’t much help but what can you do) the new Zur en Arrh Batman continues his efforts to destroy the Black Glove even at the cost of what’s left of Bruce Wayne’s life.

Batman R.I.P. isn’t so much about Bruce Wayne’s physical death or even his psychological death (that happened a while back) but his emotional end.  I can’t decide if I think this is brilliant or cheap.  I’ve heard people argue that Bruce Wayne had it coming.  In fact, the book itself makes the point, in clue flashbacks from The Butler Did It, that Bruce Wayne has had numerous chances to take his pain and actually learn from it and doesn’t.   But to break him with a rumor?  Though it’s a pretty good one and I love the idea that maybe the Wayne’s aren’t the saints we thought – still…

There’s no beating Morrison’s feel for plot or timing.  I loved the second personality even if it came with some kind of freaky little batkid.  Actually, I became sort of attached to that Life with Louie looking sidekick.  There’s also the sad truth that no one  understands Batman except his worst enemy, who happens to be insane.  That’s when you know it’s all gone horribly wrong, when the Joker speaks reasonably about what the rational thing to do is and of course everyone ignores him.  It suggests that maybe the Joker is a twisted Cassandra, telling the sad fate of Gotham to power hungry villians and heroes.

I do have a few gripes though.  First, Arkham Asylum – when is this place going to get some better security?  I mean, really.  It’s just irritating.   Second, the artwork is too over the top.  I’m sure Morrison and Daniel were intending it to be this way.  A friend of mine told me the back story of the whole Zur en Arrh, explaining that Morrison is heavily influenced by past, campy Batman stories.  So the artwork reflects that but I don’t know if it needs to.  Joker looks too much like a monster, like Pennywise the Clown and the faces of Gotham citizens sit flat.  Finally, I always find myself wondering stupid things like where the Joker finds purple pinstripes on such short notice?  Does he have a special store that he stops by?  Do they let him keep some in Arkham?

That may just be the cough syrup talking….

Which brings me to this:

‘We3’ Lands ‘Kung Fu Panda’ Director John Stevenson

A live action WE3 film?  Interesting…interesting.  I like how the article is quick to point out that it will be R rated.  Duh.  How could it not be?

WE3 is a thin masterpiece (in my opinion) that turns three animals into weapons.  Once these fluffy killers escape the lab they try to find their way back home, using their instincts which are now attached to guns.  The result is bloody and heartbreaking.  Each animal has it’s own personality, not based so much on emotion but those qualities which make them what they are.  For example, the dog is a needy creature, bred to please it’s master.

As the animals pretty much plow their way through the city, there is very little human interaction in the book.  There doesn’t need to be.  It’s a catastrophe of human hubris as seen through the eyes of the weapons.

So, my concern for the movie would be, like Thomas, that in order to flesh out a small book they add more human characters.  They turn the doctors into central characters.  I hope not.  I can’t wait to see a preview.