Wish Come True

That's pretty much par for the course, right?

I. Can't. Leave.

This can also be known as "Matt wrote the end of the story in the last strip and then decided to extend the storyline by going back to the hospital".  You'll find out why over the coming weeks.

Comic Review: Boneyard #1

                No, we are not travelling back in time to 2001 today.  That was when the original Boneyard #1 premiered from NBM Publishing.  This one, from Antarctic Press, picks up where that original series ended (for the most part), with all of the same characters and the same humor that made that original series pretty damn perfect.  Will this one live up to its predecessor?  Let’s find out.

Cover:

                It’s a Richard Moore comic book, so there’s a great chance that there will be a scantily clad woman on the cover.  This one doesn’t disappoint as Abbey, one of the main protagonists of the book is shown in an actual scene from the story, trying to keep her dress from flying up over her head while she is fighting a monster.  The expression that Moore has placed on Abbey says a lot about the character herself (and Moore has always been a master of conveying emotion through facial expressions) in that she is obviously fed up with having to play the heroine when all she obviously wants to do is enjoy a nice dinner.

                While the expression is well done, the pose, while accurate, seems a bit wooden and stiff.  If it wasn’t for the fact that Moore tilted Abbey a bit on the page itself, she would be incredibly distracting.  When Moore paints his own work, he usually tends to follow a very monochromatic palette.  Unfortunately here it is not as effective as in the past.  While Abbey tends to pop based solely on the amount of black utilized in her overall design, the rest of the cover tends to wash out.  There is little variation in the color scheme used here, so it is more difficult to discern the different parts of the monster behind her.  Everything is a greenish-purple blob for the most part (especially since most of the monster is off the page anyway, so we can’t really see anything too clearly or make much of an educated guess as to what is what on the monster).

6/10 – Not Moore’s best cover, but it hits on all of the bases.  If know that showing Abbey was the most important thing, but he sacrificed clarity in order to do so.  A little more of a varied palette in terms of the coloring might have helped as well.

Story:

                I have waited quite a while (since the original series ended in 2009) for the return of these characters.  This was probably my first favorite comic book after I got out of the whole “superhero phase” from high school.  I found this series when it was still pretty much in its infancy so I was able to watch it grow and wait on each quarterly installment with baited breath (I was a super nerd) and this was the only comic book that I actively kept up on after I stopped buying comics altogether a few years ago.  There was anticipation as well as a little trepidation when I picked this up.  Would this be as good as the past issues?  Would Moore be able to pick up where he left off in terms of the tone of the book after such an extended layoff?  Was he a good enough writer to keep the “voice” of the series even after such a rough breakup with the original publisher, which must have left him a little bitter at the very least?

                Then I read it.  Everything was as it should be.  The writing was just as good as I remember it from the original series.  The humor and the heart is still there and even though the romantic tension that was a highlight of the original series (that whole will they-won’t they dynamic that Moore expertly crafted) was gone because of the pairing of the two main characters at the end of the original series, Moore still was able to take that transition to a different level, focusing on their problems as a couple (and one in which one of the participants is a vampire with an age of many thousands of years).  This makes for the main push of the story as Michael (the non-vampire) is trying to live up to the reputation of the many boyfriends that his girlfriend Abbey (the vampire) has had in her loooooong lifetime.  Hilarity ensues. 

                While the plot of anything that Richard Moore creates is always well done, I find that the way he handles the in-story interactions, and the smaller jokes to be where he really shines.  Something as simple as a conversation between Michael and Abbey could seem clunky and unrealistic in less adept hands.  The part where Abbey admits that on their date she wore her “fuck-me boots” and yet any time the word “fuck” is uttered a small bat flies over it obscuring the word.  While it’s not necessary (Moore has never shied away from more adult interactions both verbally and visually) having that bat obscure the word fuck just adds to the humor level of the comic, something you rarely find nowadays.  Every once in a while, something like that is a welcome diversion, and the fact that the joke rears its head at the end of the comic is perfect.

                The only thing that I could have asked for is the inclusion of more of the supporting characters.   They are what really filled out the original series and made it memorable.  I realize that it would have been difficult to add everyone in, given the fact that it is only a standard sized comic book, but hopefully we can see what everyone else is up to in the near future.  That being said, as thin as Macabre was last month content-wise, Boneyard is bursting at the seams.  It feels as complete of a comic as I have read in quite some time. 

9/10 – There’s a reason that I pick up everything Richard Moore puts his hands on, and this issue of Boneyard is a microcosm of that.

Art:

                Moore changed his style up a bit.  Okay, let me clarify that.  If you’ve been following Moore for over five or six years you will notice that he has gone from a straight pen and ink/black and white style to more of an inkwash-heavy art style.  I’m more of a fan of his earlier work in that respect, but his inkwash work is just as good, and the fact that he tends to combine the two here on Boneyard has made it even more palatable.  I think the reason that I liked his artwork in the past so much was just how clean it was.  Every line had a place and a purpose, much like Doug Baron’s work on Jump Back Adventures (which, if you’ve never seen it before, you need to check out, Doug is a good friend and a phenomenal cartoonist). 

                Even after the long layoff between the end of the original series and the start of this one, Moore has kept all of the characters on model, just with the addition of inkwash.  The backgrounds are both complete and ever-present in practically all of the panels, perfectly rendered and providing the mood along with the setting for the story.  The monster in the story looks like a fairly typical Richard Moore monster.  It is well crafted and looks both humorous and menacing at the same time. 

9/10 – I am glad Moore is able to just do his work without having to adhere to a Marvel or DC deadline or editorial demand.  That being said, my only complaint about Richard Moore is that there isn’t more of his work.

Overall:  8/10 – Hopefully we get more of these Boneyard books in the future as this has reclaimed its rightful place on the top of my “favorite comics” list.

Peace Offering

My father always told me to "put things back from where you got them" and I think this kind of qualifies.

Hell's Kitchen Interlude

No Hell's Kitchen recap today because there was no new Hell's Kitchen last week (probably because Thursday was the fourth and everyone was outside lighting things on fire).  Have no fear though.  I scoured the internet for Hell's Kitchen memes that seem to be popping up more and more nowadays and bring you some of the better ones to tide you over until the recaps resume next week.  Well done to the individuals that created these and put them out there for all of us to enjoy.

And now, my three personal favorites, in no particular order.

See you next week!

Gigantour 2013: Hot time in the country.

                Six bands played at Gigantour this year.  For those of you uninitiated in all that is Gigantour, it is the (usually) annual concert festival headlined by Megadeth.  Kind of like OzzFest, but on a smaller scale and usually with less bands that you don’t want to see.  Last year, my brother and I went to Gigantour way out in Glens Falls, New York.  It was held at a hockey arena in February, and the experience was…shall we say…less than memorable.  The lineup included Volbeat, Lacuna Coil, Motorhead and Megadeth.  While Volbeat and Megadeth were good, Lacuna Coil was terrible and Motorhead fell under the “let’s crank the volume, who cares if it sounds bad” umbrella that seems to plague bands at times.  Not only that, but because it was indoors, the acoustics weren’t as good all around and all of the stage tricks like fake smoke and bright lights hung around a bit longer than they should, masking the experience of actually seeing the concert.  This year’s show was in an outdoor venue, in the middle of summer, so I had higher hopes that everything would come together and make this a more enjoyable experience.

                My brother and I rolled up to the show about thirty minutes before it started and got a decent parking space.  Instead of going right in, we hung out and tailgated for awhile, soaking up the fairly tepid tailgating atmosphere.  We had actual seats, so going early and standing in the lawn to get a good spot wasn’t necessary.  We are both getting way too old to stand for that length of time, and my brother was just getting over a cold, so the fact that we could sit down between sets was a godsend.  That also meant that we didn’t have to listen to the opening bands.  If a show has one or even two openers before the headliner, I’ll usually take a listen, even if I’m not in general admission seating.  When a concert boasts six bands, with a few that I have never heard of…not so much.  Not only that but my general fickle nature when it comes to metal music makes finding new metal bands that I like very difficult. I like classic, older metal bands.  Any of the newer stuff, the screaming, unintelligible metal bands are not my cup of tea for the most part.  That being said, my brother and I skipped Death Division and Newstead.  While it would have been interesting to see Jason Newstead in a non-Metallica roll, we heard the music from our parking spot, it was not something that we really wanted to partake in anyway.  We headed in after that though, and I’ll run down the four bands that we did see.  This was amidst a cloud of sweat and body odor so forgive me if my recollections are a bit hazy as the smell of Campbells chicken noodle soup tends to mess with your senses a bit (yeah, I’m looking at you green-haired girl two rows up).

The seats were better than I anticipated.  What you don't see here are the fancy Hellyeah rugs they had on the ground for the guitar players to stand on.  

Hellyeah:

                I don’t mind Hellyeah, at least up until their most current album.  Unfortunately, the crispness of their first two albums was completely lost during their forty minute set of live music.  Ninety percent of their set was unintelligible.  This was not only due to the frontman’s screaming/slurring delivery, but also the fact that the double bass on the drums was the loudest sound on the stage.  I realize that a huge part of Hellyeah’s credibility has to do with the fact that Vinnie Paul is behind the drum kit, but that doesn’t automatically require you to make his sound the only thing heard.  Beyond that, the rest of the instruments were unintelligible as well.  There are two guitars and a bass in the band and they pretty much all came across as one big wall of sound.  That lack of separation, combined with the too-loud drums and the vocals (if you can call them that) made for a poor opening experience. The fact that Hellyeah needed an extra guy in the back, screaming (just fucking screaming) into a microphone seemed incredibly silly to me, and it’s not something I would ever pay full price to see again.   I will give the frontman a little credit as he was definitely full of energy, jumping around the stage and running around without losing his breath (a bigger feat than you would imagine considering the way he was screaming pretty much the entire time).  Other than that though, you can color me unimpressed with Hellyeah.

Device:

                Talk about taking yourself too seriously.  I know, David Draiman, you used to be in Disturbed, but come on.  You were in Disturbed, not Led Zeppelin.  From the fact that he came out on stage wearing what can only be described as Dracula’s bathrobe, to the posturing while he was singing, and the way he barked at two women to leave the pavilion during his set because they didn’t stand up, really dude?  You look like Phil Collins and Kevin Spacey’s love child.  The fact that he kept referring to Device as “his band” was a little odd as well, and it was quite clear that regardless of the skill of the other musicians, Draiman wanted all of the headlines and glory.  Speaking of the band, there was no bass guitarist.  At all.  The sound was okay though, and I could detect some heft to the music, which means that the sound was probably piped in, making it feel almost “Guitar Hero”-esque in that there was music already being played that the band had to synch up to.  For someone that was at the show to see Megadeth and, more importantly, Black Label Society, you can understand my disappointment with that kind of “non-traditional” delivery.               

                I will give Draiman credit in that he noticed a nine year old kid in the audience and pulled him on stage to give the child the spotlight for a moment (the only spotlight he shared for his forty-minute set) as he acknowledged the importance of the child rocking out.  The child had noise cancelling headphones on, so he wasn’t being injured by the volume, and he seemed to be having a good time.  I know we can have a debate about bringing kids to concerts (I’ve had that debate) but as long as you take precautions and are not afraid to leave early if necessary, I don’t see a problem, and musicians will gravitate to kids in the audience, making them feel included and giving a special air to their experience.

                The best part about the Device set was the Nine Inch Nails cover that they ended with.  Playing “Wish” was the highlight of the set for sure, even though I’m not as enthralled by Draiman’s vocals as many people appear to be (but that may have a lot to do with the fact that I’m not a huge fan of him as a person).  All of the problems I had with Device were magnified by Black Label Society as the next band, who was basically the anti-Device.

The anticipation was palpable in the air as that banner unfurled over the stage.

Black Label Society:

                I’ve been a BLS fan for years and this is the first time I have gotten to see them live.  You can imagine my excitement as Zakk and the boys took the stage.  While I have been disappointed in the past when my “bucket list bands” have not lived up to my expectations, BLS surpassed those expectations with ease.  The set list was expansive, covering pretty much every album in the catalog (save Zakk’s solo stuff, Pride and Glory, and the underrated and underappreciated Hangover Music Volume VI album).  That being said, everything fit well together, with Zakk barely stopping his fingers from moving the whole time.  Seriously, the only time he stopped playing was to change guitars, and usually during those times an “intro” to the next song was playing.  All in all, Zakk played for just about sixty minutes straight, not stopping to chat up the crowd like the frontmen from Device and Hellyeah did (and they did it a lot), and only giving a small thank you at the very end before closing out the set with “Stillborn”. 

They tore it up, and Nick (who you can see to the right with the bandanna) was fully engaged with the crowd the entire time.

This is a short snippet of the lengthy solo that Zakk performed halfway through the set.

                There was so much that BLS did right during their set.  The song selection, the bare bones setup, showcasing just the music and nothing else, it definitely ranks very highly in terms of the best live bands I have seen.  The setup was as simple as it could be.  Four guys playing instruments, two guitars, a bass and a conservative drum kit (compared to the other bands that played with them anyway).  There were no lights, no smoke, no flash.  Just a huge stack of Marshall amps behind the guys.  The only thing that could even be deemed “flashy” is Zakk’s microphone stand which was crafted to look like a heavy chain and has three skulls hanging off it. 

The best part of the set was the end of it though.  Not in the same way the best part of the Device and Hellyeah sets was the fact that they ended, no.  The best part was that when the set ended, each member of the band, from Zakk on down to Nick Catanese (more on him in a second) to the drummer and bassist (who looked like he rolled out of the Shire and picked up a bass guitar) came together in the center of the stage, congratulated each other for a show well done, gave each other a hug and turned to thank the audience and take a bow.  There was no pretension, no feeling of anything but gratitude.  Based on the amount of BLS shirts in the audience, it was pretty obvious that most people (myself included) came out to the show to see that band.  They could have ended the set, tossed a couple guitar picks and walked offstage, but they celebrated, they were thankful, and they were real. 

This is how you end your set.  Everyone was thankful and ecstatic, and Zakk led the charge.

                After the band left the stage and the stagehands worked to tear down the BLS set and put the Megadeth set together (which they did quickly and efficiently – more than I have ever seen in fact) Nick Catanese strolled out of the backstage/VIP area and milled around by the seats to my right.  As soon as people noticed him he was mobbed and did the best he could to take as many photos and shake as many hands as he could before he walked backstage.  Then, he proceeded to come back out and head up the aisle, shaking hands and probably stopping for more pictures along the way.  He showed that BLS is full of the right kind of guys, musicians that are for the people that appreciate their fans and work to give them what they want, even if it’s just a quick cellphone pic.  BLS proves that fame, notoriety and legions of devoted fans don’t have to make you prima donnas.  That kind of action basically cemented my return to a BLS concert and comfort with spending my hard-earned cash on a quality product created by quality people.

Megadeth:

                There was one thing that Megadeth had to do this year to top last year’s show; use less fake fucking smoke.  Last year, my brother and I had tickets along the side of the hockey arena  in the seats, deciding that general admission standing room areas just would not work for us anymore as our knees and backs age and creak along.  We were not that far from the stage last year, but the sheer amount of fake smoke covered the stage, and that combined with the lighting made it nearly impossible to see the musicians at times.  The quality of the music itself was great, so by improving the visual aspect of the performance, it would have created the complete package this year.

My phone was dying by this point, so the pictures here aren't as crisp because I couldn't utilize the flash, plus Megadeth loves putting bright lights at the front of the stage.

                As Megadeth often does, they delivered.  Not only was the music itself of the same quality as it was last year (a pretty similar set list as well, just with the incorporation of three new tracks off their most recent release Super Collider) but they had little to no fake smoke.  I’m not sure if something malfunctioned in the mechanism or what, but the band started out with a little fake smoke and after that dissipated it was not really replenished.  This left for a clear and clean viewing experience, and also an ample opportunity for someone to film portions of the show on their phone.  That’s kind of the cost of doing business nowadays though.  I could have done with all of the visuals that they had going on on the three screens behind the band as I found it distracting at times.  I Came to the show to watch Dave Mustaine shred, and if they had left it at that it would have been ideal. 

                The band was incredible, as always, playing all of the hits and pretty much focusing their attention on all of the songs that people wanted to hear (ignoring anything past Risk except for the new album).  Though a heavy-hitter like “Moto Psycho” would have been fun to hear, its absence in no way reflected poorly on the rest of the set.  The band itself, much like BLS was courteous and thankful of the people that showed up, and while Dave Mustaine interacted with the audience more than Zakk Wylde did, it was way more accepted and welcome than that of the leaders of Device and Hellyeah.  It really looked like Mustaine was having a good time on stage (which could be due to the fact that this was only the third show of the tour) but he, and the entire band seemed loose and happy, which always translates well during the course of the show.  Mustaine even stayed out for a few minutes after the rest of the band left the stage and people started to file out, saying good-bye and thank you to everyone that had their eyes still transfixed on the stage.  It’s impressive that a member of the “Big Four” is still humble enough to do that. 

This was early on in the set as my phone was dead by the end, but needless to say, the guys killed it the whole time.

                 Between BLS and Megadeth, it proves that your stance in the music community and your history therein is not a reason to treat your fans like they owe you something.  BLS and Megadeth are doing it the right way and should be commended not only for their contributions to the art form, but for their character.

World War Z: aka Zombie Indiana Jones

                World War Z starts off as a creepy pandemic-movie, morphs into a zombie thriller for about twenty minutes and then stops.

Oh, you wanted more of a recap than that?

It was a solid movie with good acting and a decent plot.  For the record, I have not read the novel by Max Brooks, so I have nothing to compare it to, but as far as zombie movies go, it was ok.  The camera work was actually incredibly well done, mirroring the pace dictated by the script.  When the scenes were calm and more of a talking head variety, they camera was slow and “normal” but when the action kicked into high gear (and by action I basically mean people running from zombies) then the camerawork was frenetic, often losing the main focus of the scene (usually Brad Pitt) but showing everything else around him. 

One thing that I really enjoyed was the realism that was shown in the reactions to the pandemic.  It definitely felt like the writers tried to stay as true to human nature as they could.  Oftentimes when you see any kind of post apocalyptic movie (and this qualifies) you are shown extreme examples of behavior to drive home the severity of the situation.  In World War Z, everything feels organic in nature and relatively believable (though the “tenth man” discussion in the Jerusalem sequence was a bit far-fetched). 

The main issue I had with this movie though was the fact that it didn’t really know what it was, or what kind of movie it wanted to be.  It was almost like the producers took 28 Days Later, any traditional zombie movie, and Indiana Jones and put them in a blender.  At times, it worked.  The individual pieces were well crafted, but when you put them all together, it was easy to find something that was lacking.  For example, if you are making a zombie movie in any respect, you would think that it would have a bit more gore to it.  I realize that they probably had to trim that out to maintain the PG-13 rating, but I would have to ask why? Why was that rating so essential to this project?  You’re making a zombie movie, with a big-name movie star, based on a very popular book.  You can’t tell me that those three factors wouldn’t have got you your desired audience and you could have still made things a bit more authentic.  It doesn’t appear like any of the zombies really eat their victims; they just bite them and run away, so I can understand not showing any gore there.  However there is a sequence where Pitt’s character cuts the hand of a soldier off to stop the infection from spreading after she is bit.  It looks like, in that sequence as well as the part where he changes her bandages, that they are going to great lengths to not show you that injury, even from a profile view.  I’m not some bloodthirsty bastard that needs to see the bone and blood pouring out of the wound, but the camera work in those sequences is almost like the director said “whatever you do, don’t show the wound”.  It’s an insult to anyone that came to the movie looking for a real zombie movie.  It’s just too blatant-looking of a move to be anything but mandated from someone and not just a conscious decision of the director.

Speaking of the zombies, I liked them…to a point.  I know they aren’t traditional zombies, but I don’t think that is what the filmmakers here were trying to convey.  This wasn’t a traditional zombie movie at all.  It was a pandemic movie, where that pandemic was something that turned the hosts into zombies.  I would have liked to know a bit more about what caused it and, more importantly, how it kept them going.  The zombies were dormant when devoid of outside stimulus (like noise, they apparently hate noise) but when they get riled up, they go batshit insane.  While they don’t really run any faster than a normal human would, they keep going without an end in sight until they reach their prey.  Even then, it’s usually a bite and then they move on.  How in the hell are they able to do that?  If they aren’t actually eating any of their victims then they aren’t receiving nourishment (not that traditional zombies could really metabolize their victims, but they weren’t moving at an enhanced speed) so how could they keep up that pace?  I would think that after that initial push, their bodies would start to break down.  Yes, they wouldn’t stop, and would probably eventually turn into the slow moving zombies we all know and love, but it would be more believable.  Not only that, but early on in the movie we are treated to the hypothesis that this comes from a virus, and that is what creates the zombies.  Later on, when they are trying to devise a defense, we are informed that the zombies, not being alive, cannot carry a virus or bacteria around their bodies (and therefore can’t be stopped by biological warfare).  So which is it?  Is this not a virus, or is the virus only what kills them initially?  If that is the case, what reanimates them and keeps them going?  In short, I could have done with a bit more science and a bit less zombies walking around with their teeth chattering like a naked guy in the arctic circle.

While part of me was happy that “patient Zero” was not found, and the origin of the virus (if it was actually a virus) was never completely figured out, leaving the ending so open-ended it felt like a cop-out in a way.  I realize that finding a way to fight back (I’m trying to do this without spoiling anything for anyone, bear with me), and not actually fighting back, was probably the main conflict all along and therefore the climax of the story revolved around that.  However, a more comprehensive denouement than “we fought back” should have been utilized.  How much of the world’s population was infected?  What happened to the survivors? Hell, what happened to the world when the zombies were eradicated?  How could they be sure they had all of the zombies eradicated anyway?  Obviously if there was one left it could transform the world in months.  What about the people that were infected by the camouflage, any side effect to that?  None of these questions were sufficiently answered, hell the movie ended before answers were even available in the timeline of the movie itself.  It almost feels like we were cheated out of an additional twenty minutes of movie.  If they had provided a more succinct and comprehensive wrap-up it would have put a nice bow on the movie and made it a memorable chapter in the pantheon of zombie fiction.  Instead we are left wondering.