RIP Frank Frazetta

Frank Frazetta, the man who symbolized a unique art style in comics and fantasy, died today. You may have seen his work in old Conan novels. It is sad to lose such an icon. I'm sure the comic book industry will honor him at this year's Comic-Con.

Image from io9.

Checking in on Marmaduke

I wonder if it's any better than before...

Nope, still not funny.

Gone To Comic-Con

We'll be at Comic-Con for the rest of the week. Look for some pictures if we get a chance to upload them!

Batman's Identity

I guess people in Gotham don't really know much calculus...

Poison Ivy in Batman Arkham Asylum

Fans of Batman, especially those that have been craving a good representation of the superhero in video game form, will likely be pleased with Batman: Arkham Asylum so far. Recently, the team announced that Poison Ivy will be in the game. Shacknews is carrying a trailer and some art which should probably double sales among the teenage male demographic:

Images courtesy of Shacknews.

I Hate Marmaduke

"LOL THIS DOG IS XBOXHUGE!"

Is it me or does every Marmaduke comic have the same punchline? I hate Marmaduke.

A Letter to Watchmen Viewers

Spoilers ahoy (mostly for the movie).

Dear Watchmen viewer,

You are perhaps relatively young. You have never read the seminal Alan Moore work, and now you've seen the movie. You thought it was great and you might now be considering reading it.

I'm sorry for you. You see, there is a point in our lives where we - consciously or not - make a decision about which version of a classic work we are going to consume first. And, like it or not, that version is the template, the gospel, the truth. You never can really recognize another as being truer or much better, at least not instinctually. Intellectually, you may grant those points, but it is never REALLY, TOTALLY true.

I'm sorry for you because you will never think of Rorschach as the sexually-confused, self-loathing, and illogically uncompromising vigilante that he is. He was tragically dedicated in the film, and that is your truth. But that is not who he is. There are no heroes in Watchmen. There are only men.

I'm sorry for you because you will forever imagine Nite Owl as a man who was morally offended at Rorschach's killing. In fact, he - like Laurie and Jon - accepted Veidt's inevitable victory with grinded teeth. He compromised. You see, Dan Dreiberg, while moral, is practical and weak enough not to let that morality stand in the way of truth. In short, he is not Rorschach. But for you, he may be.

I am jealous that you have, in many ways, a better ending that does not involve seafood. I wonder what level of scorn or disbelief you will project when you get to the final two chapters of the comic book. Will you think the book's message was a function of its era, mere immature writing, or perhaps a Cthulian moment? In this, you probably have a more modern take on the part of the book that always made us comic book fans uncomfortable (whether we admitted it or not). But this is your truth, not ours. We must live with what we own and look upon you with envious eyes.

I'm sorry you will find the desperate urge and tension of a potential nuclear war staggeringly different from what was present in the movie. It will be a new experience for you, because in the movie it was a mere prop, a forgotten plot device that you may not understand, because you are not a child of that era. Neither am I, but to me the dense ideas, the nonstop imagery of the brink of nuclear destruction, have matured in my mind over the years like wine. They are the raison d'etre for Watchmen; you cannot separate or minimize the presence of a Cold War.

For you, the characters will talk like they do in the movie. But not for me... for me, Jon does not softly whisper each word. And that is your truth, because you were told that is the way he sounds. I wonder how he would sound in your head had you read the book first. This is not a bad thing; it is just a thing... one that will distance us.

I'm sorry for you because you found out Laurie's parentage when Jon told her that the Comedian is her father. You never got to see her struggle and internal realization. You were not shown; you were told. Time is precious in a 160-minute movie. It is an ugly way to find out a subtle, heartbreaking truth: a broadside shot where a well-placed arrow would have sufficed.

I'm sorry for you because your colors and soundtracks will always come from the movie, someone's interpretations of what I call one of the greatest fictional works of this century. For you, the Black Freighter will be tacked-on and an accessory to the plot. You will not be intimate friends with Bernard, Bernie, and the Longs. You will find them, perhaps even befriend them, but they will not come as second nature to you when you think of Watchmen. You will forever see the movie in clips and abbreviated, stunted, fragmented stories, perhaps as Jon would see the world. And in that way, maybe you will also forgive the comic book its flaws and for that, too, I am jealous of you. But you will probably not think these things about me, for you will say that we both have read and watched Watchmen. And while this is the truth, it is also a lie.

— paladinz