Book #18: I Kill Giants

Barbara Thorson is not your typical 5th grader. And it's not because she has a penchant for wearing bunny ears, talks back in class, has no friends, or has been in the Principal's office so many times their relationship has progressed to first names, although all those things are true.

No. It's her unwavering belief that she and she alone is the only one capable of standing against the evil giants that come to threaten her town. She even has a massive hammer named Coveleski that she hides in her small, hand-stitched purse.

If you think you know where Joe Kelly's beautiful I Kill Giants is going to go based on the above, then you're in for a shock. Because like John Scalzi did in Zoe's Tale, Joe Kelly sets out to write an unforgettable story about being a child, a real child, and the things you have to do in order to cope with all the things a child should never have to deal with, but do.

When we first come across Barbara she's hiding under a tent, stitching a sigil into her purse. She pricks her thumb, and uses the blood to mark the purse, all the while hiding from a secret, the secret that resides upstairs, and is the reason why she thinks she has to keep the Giants away. The art by J.M. Ken Niimura is breath-taking, a rough pencil mash-up of Japanese anime and something more Western, more identifiably American. Devoid of color, Niimura uses wonderful shading and empty space to perfectly capture Kelly's words. We see what Barbara sees (maybe others do, maybe they don't): a world of fairies and magic, of runes and floating spirits. Niimura uses different styles to pull the worlds together, and when he inevitably does get to the giants it's suitably awesome, still doesn't overtake the sharp, exquisite writing that lays Barbara's soul bare for a shattering confrontation that only can come after she deals with the monster.

I Kill Giants is one of those rare things: a comic book that makes full use of its unique storytelling devices to weave a tale of genuine human drama. There are monsters, fairies, war hammers and fights, and all of it goes toward exposing the hurt and eventual healing of one small, brave, girl, and leaves us with a message that anyone can take to heart:

"We are stronger than we think"

Whether you love comic books or not, this is one story you have to pick up.

I Kill Giants Review at Un:Bound

It's a conundrum: I can't say enough about how fantastic Joe Kelly's I Kill Giants is, but at the same time I don't want to say anything about it, for fear of ruining one of the best stories to come out of the comic book world in years.

Seriously. You can read my kinda spoiler-y review over at Un:Bound, or you can just take my word for it and pick up the trade collecting all seven issues of this gorgeous book from your local comic shop or from InStockTrades.com, where you can get it for under $11.

Excerpt below:

Barbara Thorson is not your typical 5th grader. And it's not because she has a penchant for wearing bunny ears, talks back in class, has no friends, or has been in the Principal's office so many times their relationship has progressed to first names, although all those things are true.

No. It's her unwavering belief that she and she alone is the only one capable of standing against the evil giants that come to threaten her town. She even has a massive hammer named Coveleski that she hides in her small, hand-stitched purse.

Terminator Salvation = Mud Pie?

 

I wrote up my two cents concerning some of the problems that plague the new TERMINATOR movie as well as offer up a few ideas that I think might have helped the movie over at Celluloid Moon. Short version:  it's bad with a few good things and some untapped potential.

A short excerpt below:

It's impossible to point a finger at any one person or thing that brings TERMINATOR SALVATION down to such a mediocre movie. Movies are a collaborative process (so "bunk" to the whiners who argue over whether the screenwriter or the actor or the director is the sole architect responsible for a film), and as much as I would like to lay blame on the all-over-the-place script, Christian Bale's performance or McG's overall direction, I can't. Everyone has a piece of this mud pie.

Click here or the above link to head over to Celluloid Moon and read the rest.

NOTE: Digging around I came across this article from CHUD that comes to many of the same conclusions, but goes into a lot more depth.  Great stuff if you're interested.

Two Years Old

Two years ago I was in the hospital room, desperately trying to hold it together as my wife went through the second straight hour of actual pushing, coming in on the tail end of approximately 11 hours of labor.  Every second a new emotion revealed itself, and I vividly recall crying as they had to cut her to laughing hysterically as I could finally see the top of my son's head.  When he came out, held in the air for the briefest of moments, it quickly supplanted what had until then been the greatest moment of my life, the moment I proposed to my wife five years earlier.

Today those same emotions are coming a mile a minute, because thanks to so many things that to name them would only take away from their glow, I have a wonderfully smart, funny, sweet, and active kid that amazes me every second I'm with him.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jack.  When it comes to letting you know how much I love you, words will always fail.

Book #17: My Boring-Ass Life

There comes a point in every 30-something male's life when he must ask the question: "How much Kevin Smith is TOO MUCH Kevin Smith?"

After reading My Boring-Ass Life, the 400+ page almost daily journal of writer/director Kevin Smith's well, life, I have come to the following conclusion:

This almost puts it over the top.

Praise indeed, when you consider the Smith-Time I've invested in since seeing a small film called CLERKS at a small independent theater in Colonie, NY back in 1994.  I was there in the very, very beginning, and I was there in the theater for each subsequent film: from MALLRATS to CHASING AMY to DOGMA to JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK to (yes) JERSEY GIRL and finally to CLERKS 2.  I subscribe to Smith's weekly audio podcast Smodcast, and I own all of his DVDs (yes, even JERSEY GIRL).  I read the comics, saw the appearances on DeGrassi High, and even got into Morris Day and the Time.  So you would think I would be the perfect candidate for this, a play by play of Smith's life at work and play.

The book explores every boring-ass detail of Smith's life - including sex with the wife (frequency, satisfaction levels), bowel movements (frequency, satisfaction levels), eating (frequency, satisfaction levels)...you get the idea.  Here are a few things I learned reading My Boring-Ass Life:

1. Smith eats out.  A LOT.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner...this guy is keeping the L.A. food scene alive and thriving.
2. Smith watches television.  A LOT.  Mostly Tivo, but there's a lot of DVD box sets, too.
3. Smith has sex with his wife.  A LOT.  Really, enough said on that point.

That's about 85% of what I learned reading My Boring-Ass Life.  But here's the interesting thing about the book: what I also learned is that through all this seemingly monotonous repetition, in between the minutia of his everyday life, Smith is a loving husband and father, capable of wringing out genuine emotion - just when you think you're about to drown in another paragraph detailing watching The Simpsons before falling asleep, Smith whips out a beautiful extended piece about friendship and drug addiction, or about the trials and tribulations of being a father and husband, and just trying to accept being the person you are.

Granted, you have to wade through A LOT of his boring-ass life to get to it, but it's not like Kevin Smith didn't warn you right up front, right?  In the end I was really comforted by My Boring-Ass Life; reading it feels like checking in with an old friend, and seeing that he's just trying to have a quiet moment of solitude on the crapper before the dogs go crazy and wake the whole house.

Just like you or me.  Good stuff.