Hannah Berry's Britten and Brüligtly is truly a unique work. The film noir vibe of the comic is fused with the a hint of surrealism. Surrealism in the fact that one of the tile characters, Brülightly, is a tea bag. A talking, crime solving, tea bag. And only Britten can hear him, or at least Britten is the only one who talks to him. Which begs the question, is Britten crazy? Is this some bizarre alternate reality where tea bags are sentient? Is Brülightly in fact a dead soul inhabiting a tea bag? What is going on? And yet the oddity of Brülightly's form is never explained, nor is it ever really mentioned as something odd, it's just something that is, like a person having a nose or a dog barking, it just is.
The rest of the novel is a typical film noir detective story starring Britten. Known as “The Heartbreaker” Britten is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of one Berni Kudos. The late Mister Kudos' fiancé Charlotte Maughton suspects foul play and is convinced that Berni would never have killed himself. And so she contacts Britten to assist her, unaware that his nicname and his reputation stem from his prowess as uncovering cheating spouses.
The whole book plays out in traditional detective story fashion, the internal monologues of Britten, the constantly rainy weather, the backstabbing, and all the lies and secrets are just par for the course, pretty much what you'd expect, but the inclusion of Brülightly just adds that little bit of extra bizarreness that intrigues you enough to keep reading because you want to know what the deal with him is. And then you never find out, he's the one mystery in the book that remains unresolved, left for you to figure out yourself. Another interesting facet of the novel is the writing. All of the writing I the book appears to be handwritten, Berry's cursive script shifting in legibility depending on what it is vocalizing. For Britten's internal dialogues the script is very cramped and hard to read, causing you to have to look harder for insight into the protagonists thoughts.
Really aside from just the handwriting the entire artistic style of the piece has a very hand-made vibe. The art looks like watercolor over ink and everything has those little ticks and imperfections that make art truly human. And so you can connect because when you look at the frames you see little flaws and small pieces of true beauty that intrigue you and leave you wanting more,
As far as Hannah Berry's being a woman is concerned, it's really not any sort of a big deal. The story is one that could've been written by and can be read by people of either gender, it's universal in its appeal. The author info is also incredibly vague, causing the story to stand further on its own. Al the publisher tells you about Miss Berry is that she is in her mid-twenties, has contributed illustrations to magazines in the UK, and Britten and Brülightly is her first novel. Nothing else is really needed, the story is strong enough to hold up without any knowledge of the author, it stands apart from her as a unique entity unto itself.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
The Phoenix Requiem
When it came to picking just one webcomic about which to write I had great difficulty narrowing it down. Initially I had planned to write about Hanna is Not a Boy's Name, but when I glanced at the course resources page I saw that someone had already recommended that. So I went with one of my two second choices, The Phoenix Requiem. It was a toss up between this and The Meek, and both have great merit, but I already sort of talked about The Meek in terms of the authors refusal the reveal their gender when we had our discussion over women in the comics industry and art in general. So I picked The Phoenix Requiem, coincidentally written by a woman, an Australian woman named Sarah Ellerton.
When Sarah began The Phoenix Requiem she already had a large following from her previous comic Inverloch, which ran from June 2004 to mid 2007. Almost immediately upon it's completion she began work on The Phoenix Requiem which she had had in development for a good while whilst Inverloch was wrapping up. The lack of down time between projects meant she didn't lose too many readers in changing projects. In fact she's become even more popular with The Phoenix Requiem than she ever was with Inverloch.
Sarah's main job is not being a webomics artist though, she is actually an IT worker in Queensland and so is able to support herself with a steady job as well as her comics. She doesn't sell too much merchandise, just occasional prints of chapters from the story and limited runs of statues of a few of the characters, so she doesn't make enough off of that to live off. Unlike say Penny Arcade or Questionable Content her story doesn't generate the kinds of jokes and visuals that make a good t-shirt so she simply doesn't make any.
As far as the story of the comic goes, Ellerton traditionally works in an actual plot, not just a daily or weekly gag-strip. There is an overarching story in the traditional sense, the characters are thrust into a situation and the plot carries them through a development of themselves and their environment. Webcomics with plots don't have as much longevity as strip comics because they have a definite stopping point whereas strips go as long as the creator wants to keep drawing them. PvP has been running every weekday since 1998 for Pete's sake. That's a long time in terms of the internet, over a decade.
This blog entry really ended up being more about webcomics in general as opposed to The Phoenix Requiem specifically, and for that I apologize. So I'll leave you with the synopsis as Miss Ellerton herself puts it.
“The Phoenix Requiem is a Victorian-inspired supernatural fantasy story about faith, love, death, and the things we believe in.
On a cold December night, a gentleman stumbles into the town of Esk, gunshot wounds leaving a trail of blood in the snow behind him. Despite making a full recovery at the hands of an inexperienced nurse - and deciding to make a new life for himself in the town - he is unable to escape the supernatural beings, both good and bad, that seem to follow him like shadows.
As they try to discover why, the nurse must question her beliefs and risk her own life in order to protect her family, her friends, and those that she loves.”
-Sarah Ellerton, The Phoenix Requiem, requiem.seraph-inn.com
When Sarah began The Phoenix Requiem she already had a large following from her previous comic Inverloch, which ran from June 2004 to mid 2007. Almost immediately upon it's completion she began work on The Phoenix Requiem which she had had in development for a good while whilst Inverloch was wrapping up. The lack of down time between projects meant she didn't lose too many readers in changing projects. In fact she's become even more popular with The Phoenix Requiem than she ever was with Inverloch.
Sarah's main job is not being a webomics artist though, she is actually an IT worker in Queensland and so is able to support herself with a steady job as well as her comics. She doesn't sell too much merchandise, just occasional prints of chapters from the story and limited runs of statues of a few of the characters, so she doesn't make enough off of that to live off. Unlike say Penny Arcade or Questionable Content her story doesn't generate the kinds of jokes and visuals that make a good t-shirt so she simply doesn't make any.
As far as the story of the comic goes, Ellerton traditionally works in an actual plot, not just a daily or weekly gag-strip. There is an overarching story in the traditional sense, the characters are thrust into a situation and the plot carries them through a development of themselves and their environment. Webcomics with plots don't have as much longevity as strip comics because they have a definite stopping point whereas strips go as long as the creator wants to keep drawing them. PvP has been running every weekday since 1998 for Pete's sake. That's a long time in terms of the internet, over a decade.
This blog entry really ended up being more about webcomics in general as opposed to The Phoenix Requiem specifically, and for that I apologize. So I'll leave you with the synopsis as Miss Ellerton herself puts it.
“The Phoenix Requiem is a Victorian-inspired supernatural fantasy story about faith, love, death, and the things we believe in.
On a cold December night, a gentleman stumbles into the town of Esk, gunshot wounds leaving a trail of blood in the snow behind him. Despite making a full recovery at the hands of an inexperienced nurse - and deciding to make a new life for himself in the town - he is unable to escape the supernatural beings, both good and bad, that seem to follow him like shadows.
As they try to discover why, the nurse must question her beliefs and risk her own life in order to protect her family, her friends, and those that she loves.”
-Sarah Ellerton, The Phoenix Requiem, requiem.seraph-inn.com
The Kindly Ones
I've been working my way through the Sandman series for a few years now, and I like it more and more with each issue. The Kindly Ones threw me off initially however, both in the art style and the writing.
Firstly I made the mistake of reading the forward by Frank McConnell, which basically told me the plot of the novel. Not the best plan on my part. And so since I knew that the young boy was going to become Dream and that the Dream with which I was familiar was going to die I kind of didn't really enjoy the story as much as I ought to have. With every twist and turn in the plot I knew the ultimate goal and so could see where it was going, sort of like when I watched Fight Club and already knew that Tyler Durden was a part of Edward Norton's character's mind, or when I saw The Sixth Sense already knowing that Bruce Willis' character was dead. It was one of those kinds of things.
All spoilers aside I still did enjoy the novel, though the art threw me at first. This volume is so bold and graphic and the others have slightly thinner, more sketchy lines and coloring. But it sort of lends itself to the tale. As the story progress's the art shifts and becomes darker and slightly more gritty to fit the mood of the murder and destruction of the Dreaming and its inhabitants.
Focusing on the selfish tale of Hippolyta and having her be the catalyst for Dream's ultimate demise lends a sense of humanity to an otherwise supernatural story arc. You feel for her having lost her baby and you can understand her pain when she thinks Loki burnt him alive, so her search for the Furies seems justified. But then the Furies take it too far. They see an opportunity to destroy Dream and they go for it despite Lyta's protests. So in the end her child becomes the new Dream through her own actions, and she can never see him as she knew him again.
This book feels like an end to the Sandman series with the demise of our familiar title character and ascension of one to take his place creating a nice close to the otherwise disjointed narrative. But there are two volumes left. The title of The Wake of course gives me a clue of its story, but knowing Gaiman it won't go at all as I expect. However Endless Nights is still a mystery in terms of plot for me. With the protagonist dead where can it go? I'm Neil has something up his sleeve, something new and unexpected. As long as I don't read the introduction.
Firstly I made the mistake of reading the forward by Frank McConnell, which basically told me the plot of the novel. Not the best plan on my part. And so since I knew that the young boy was going to become Dream and that the Dream with which I was familiar was going to die I kind of didn't really enjoy the story as much as I ought to have. With every twist and turn in the plot I knew the ultimate goal and so could see where it was going, sort of like when I watched Fight Club and already knew that Tyler Durden was a part of Edward Norton's character's mind, or when I saw The Sixth Sense already knowing that Bruce Willis' character was dead. It was one of those kinds of things.
All spoilers aside I still did enjoy the novel, though the art threw me at first. This volume is so bold and graphic and the others have slightly thinner, more sketchy lines and coloring. But it sort of lends itself to the tale. As the story progress's the art shifts and becomes darker and slightly more gritty to fit the mood of the murder and destruction of the Dreaming and its inhabitants.
Focusing on the selfish tale of Hippolyta and having her be the catalyst for Dream's ultimate demise lends a sense of humanity to an otherwise supernatural story arc. You feel for her having lost her baby and you can understand her pain when she thinks Loki burnt him alive, so her search for the Furies seems justified. But then the Furies take it too far. They see an opportunity to destroy Dream and they go for it despite Lyta's protests. So in the end her child becomes the new Dream through her own actions, and she can never see him as she knew him again.
This book feels like an end to the Sandman series with the demise of our familiar title character and ascension of one to take his place creating a nice close to the otherwise disjointed narrative. But there are two volumes left. The title of The Wake of course gives me a clue of its story, but knowing Gaiman it won't go at all as I expect. However Endless Nights is still a mystery in terms of plot for me. With the protagonist dead where can it go? I'm Neil has something up his sleeve, something new and unexpected. As long as I don't read the introduction.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Britten and Brülightly
Hannah Berry's Britten and Brüligtly is truly a unique work. The film noir vibe of the comic is fused with the surrealism of the fact that Brülightly is a tea bag. A talking, crime solving, tea bag. And only Britten can hear him, or at least Britten is the only one who talks to him. Which begs the question, is Britten crazy? Is this some bizarre alternate reality where tea bags are sentient? Is Brülightly in fact a dead soul inhabiting a tea bag? What is going on? And yet the oddity of Brülightly's form is never explained, nor is it ever really mentioned as something odd, it's just something that is, like a person having a nose or a dog barking, it just is.
The rest of the novel is a film noir detective story starring Britten, who is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of one Berni Kudos. The late Mister Kudos' fiancé Charlotte Maughton suspects foul play and is convinced that Berni would never have killed himself. And so she contacts Britten, who is best known for catching cheating spouses, to assist her.
The whole book plays out in traditional detective story fashion, the internal monologues of Britten, the constantly rainy weather, the backstabbing, and all the lies and secrets are just par for the course, pretty much what you'd expect, but the inclusion of Brülightly just adds that little bit of extra bizarreness that intrigues you enough to keep reading because you want to know what the deal with him is. And then you never find out, he's the one mystery in the book that remains unresolved, left for you to figure out yourself.
As far as Hannah Berry's being a woman is concerned, it's really not any sort of a big deal. The story is one that could've been written by and can be read by people of either gender, it's universal in its appeal. The author info is also incredibly vague, causing the story to stand further on its own. All the publisher tells you about Miss Berry is that she is in her mid-twenties, has contributed illustrations to magazines in the UK, and Britten and Brülightly is her first novel. Nothing else is really needed, the story is strong enough to hold up without any knowledge of the author, it stands apart from her as a unique entity unto itself.
The rest of the novel is a film noir detective story starring Britten, who is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of one Berni Kudos. The late Mister Kudos' fiancé Charlotte Maughton suspects foul play and is convinced that Berni would never have killed himself. And so she contacts Britten, who is best known for catching cheating spouses, to assist her.
The whole book plays out in traditional detective story fashion, the internal monologues of Britten, the constantly rainy weather, the backstabbing, and all the lies and secrets are just par for the course, pretty much what you'd expect, but the inclusion of Brülightly just adds that little bit of extra bizarreness that intrigues you enough to keep reading because you want to know what the deal with him is. And then you never find out, he's the one mystery in the book that remains unresolved, left for you to figure out yourself.
As far as Hannah Berry's being a woman is concerned, it's really not any sort of a big deal. The story is one that could've been written by and can be read by people of either gender, it's universal in its appeal. The author info is also incredibly vague, causing the story to stand further on its own. All the publisher tells you about Miss Berry is that she is in her mid-twenties, has contributed illustrations to magazines in the UK, and Britten and Brülightly is her first novel. Nothing else is really needed, the story is strong enough to hold up without any knowledge of the author, it stands apart from her as a unique entity unto itself.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Ghostworld
Oh lord, I had so much trouble reading this. The main characters were just so darn frustrating. I tried to sit down and read it straight through but I got so pissed off I just couldn't do it. By the end I was fairly okay with the characters and the people they had become but throughout most of the novel I had serious difficulty willing myself from panel to panel.
The girls in Ghostworld are just so immature. They refuse to show that they like or are interested in anything for fear that showing legitimate interest will cause them to be ridiculed. And so they mock everything and everyone just to make themselves feel better but it doesn't work, it just leaves them feeling more empty and confused about who they are and what they want to be. And I understand that, but having come out of a similar phase relatively recently, wherein I was trying to define myself and my likes and dislikes the characters were irritating on a deeply personal level, showing me what an idiot I had been and how obnoxious I must have seemed.
Despite its brevity, the novel is only 80 pages, there is a huge amount of story within a short amount of volume. Though perhaps story is not the best word as there is no traditional plot in any sense, rather the reader just gets a glimpse into the lives of two individuals and their interactions with the world with which they are trying to come to grips. The world of love and adulthood is looming and the protagonists are caught practically unawares as they are thrust into something for which they are completely mentally and emotionally unprepared.
Though they may be incredibly and intensely grating on the nerves the main caharacters of Ghostworld give a bit of an excellent insight into the mindset of a teenager coming of age in America and trying to come to terms with their place in the world.
The girls in Ghostworld are just so immature. They refuse to show that they like or are interested in anything for fear that showing legitimate interest will cause them to be ridiculed. And so they mock everything and everyone just to make themselves feel better but it doesn't work, it just leaves them feeling more empty and confused about who they are and what they want to be. And I understand that, but having come out of a similar phase relatively recently, wherein I was trying to define myself and my likes and dislikes the characters were irritating on a deeply personal level, showing me what an idiot I had been and how obnoxious I must have seemed.
Despite its brevity, the novel is only 80 pages, there is a huge amount of story within a short amount of volume. Though perhaps story is not the best word as there is no traditional plot in any sense, rather the reader just gets a glimpse into the lives of two individuals and their interactions with the world with which they are trying to come to grips. The world of love and adulthood is looming and the protagonists are caught practically unawares as they are thrust into something for which they are completely mentally and emotionally unprepared.
Though they may be incredibly and intensely grating on the nerves the main caharacters of Ghostworld give a bit of an excellent insight into the mindset of a teenager coming of age in America and trying to come to terms with their place in the world.
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea
Guy Delisle's autobiographical story about his own experience living in North Korea is a truly fascinating insight into a country about which very little is known as far as the day to day lives of its people.
Guy was sent to Pyongyang to supervise animation being produced there for his company. Like all foreigners he was assigned a guide to show him what he was supposed to see. North Korea is very controlling of the way their nation is perceived that they have required places all visitors must see, all of which celebrate the glory of their eternal president Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. The propaganda of the state surrounds everyone, all music is related to the party, positive slogans are posted on every wall and shouted at workers in construction sites and rice fields.
Guy's experience is presented matter-of-factly, with no real political spin. He just recounts what happened to him as it happened, though he is fairly appalled by the extent to which the North Korean population buys the crap they are fed by the government. They seem hugely moved by the shitty anthems to the glory of Kim Il-Sung, crying with national pride when visiting the friendship museum.
The Friendship museum is an interesting organism in and of itself. It is a gigantic bunker bored into the side of a mountain filled with gifts to Kim Il-Sung from various nations. It is as though they are trying to prove to themselves how important they are by showing how other nations “respect” them by sending them gifts. The people must constantly be reminded of the greatness of their homeland though displays of power and international strength. The museum is a moving experience for North Koreans, a sort of confirmation of their countries might in their own eyes, reinforcing what they have been told their entire lives.
Guy's experience in North Korea appears to be a fairly typical one in terms of the visits of foreigners in North Korea. You are shown what they want you to see and if you ask questions or try to do anything out of the ordinary you are politely but forcefully led away from the subject and brought to something approved by the party. The government in North Korea is watching, always watching, and if you make one false move you will be caught and you will be punished.
Guy was sent to Pyongyang to supervise animation being produced there for his company. Like all foreigners he was assigned a guide to show him what he was supposed to see. North Korea is very controlling of the way their nation is perceived that they have required places all visitors must see, all of which celebrate the glory of their eternal president Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. The propaganda of the state surrounds everyone, all music is related to the party, positive slogans are posted on every wall and shouted at workers in construction sites and rice fields.
Guy's experience is presented matter-of-factly, with no real political spin. He just recounts what happened to him as it happened, though he is fairly appalled by the extent to which the North Korean population buys the crap they are fed by the government. They seem hugely moved by the shitty anthems to the glory of Kim Il-Sung, crying with national pride when visiting the friendship museum.
The Friendship museum is an interesting organism in and of itself. It is a gigantic bunker bored into the side of a mountain filled with gifts to Kim Il-Sung from various nations. It is as though they are trying to prove to themselves how important they are by showing how other nations “respect” them by sending them gifts. The people must constantly be reminded of the greatness of their homeland though displays of power and international strength. The museum is a moving experience for North Koreans, a sort of confirmation of their countries might in their own eyes, reinforcing what they have been told their entire lives.
Guy's experience in North Korea appears to be a fairly typical one in terms of the visits of foreigners in North Korea. You are shown what they want you to see and if you ask questions or try to do anything out of the ordinary you are politely but forcefully led away from the subject and brought to something approved by the party. The government in North Korea is watching, always watching, and if you make one false move you will be caught and you will be punished.
Buddha
Despite it's title Osamu Tezuka's first volume of Buddha has very little to do with Buddha indeed. He is only mentioned a few times, and the references are to his birth at that. The main story follows a young monk, two slaves, and a pariah named Tatta. Rather than giving a biography into the life of Siddhartha Tezuka chooses to give an insight into his teachings and ideals.
The story begins by following a Brahmin, or monk, who is sent by his master to seek out one who would be a god or a king. In his quest the Brahmin discovers that the person for whom he is searching is from the lowest class, below even slaves, a pariah. But this pariah, Tatta, has the greatness to become a god or a king with his wisdom. He can take over an animals mind and command its body and speaks to them. Tatta sees all life as his equal, human and animal alike. Because he is of such low standing he has nowhere to fall to and so he sees himself as one of the animals. In his life Tatta has befriended a young slave trying to save his mother. Their village is attacked by a neighboring monarchy and Tatta's friends and family are killed. Chapra (the slave boy) winds up saving the enemy general and is adopted as his son. So the Brahmin, along with Tatta and Chapra's mother set out across the desert in search of Chapra.
Chapra ignores all ideals of Buddhism in his rise from slave to noble and thus his life is not as positive as it would seem to be. However Chapra is marked as a slave by a brand on his foot and so he can never truly escape his past. He is a slave and will always be a slave. You cannot be anything besides what you are.
And even as Chapra abandons his past his mother, Tatta, and the Brahmin continue to search for him, to rescue him. And along the way they face great hardships, the most poignant of which is when Tatta sacrifices himself to be eaten by a snake in order to make a trade wherein the snake would give some of its eggs to Chapra's mother and the Brahmin so that they may eat as a plague of locusts came and devoured everything around for miles.
Tezuka's style leant to this story is slightly off-putting at first but as you adjust you begin to see the poignant and expressive nature of the artwork. The story of Siddhartha, his life and his teachings, is a very important one in Asian cultures and Tezuka's telling of it is very clear and respectful, allowing non-Buddhist people to read and understand the story of the founding of the religion.
The story begins by following a Brahmin, or monk, who is sent by his master to seek out one who would be a god or a king. In his quest the Brahmin discovers that the person for whom he is searching is from the lowest class, below even slaves, a pariah. But this pariah, Tatta, has the greatness to become a god or a king with his wisdom. He can take over an animals mind and command its body and speaks to them. Tatta sees all life as his equal, human and animal alike. Because he is of such low standing he has nowhere to fall to and so he sees himself as one of the animals. In his life Tatta has befriended a young slave trying to save his mother. Their village is attacked by a neighboring monarchy and Tatta's friends and family are killed. Chapra (the slave boy) winds up saving the enemy general and is adopted as his son. So the Brahmin, along with Tatta and Chapra's mother set out across the desert in search of Chapra.
Chapra ignores all ideals of Buddhism in his rise from slave to noble and thus his life is not as positive as it would seem to be. However Chapra is marked as a slave by a brand on his foot and so he can never truly escape his past. He is a slave and will always be a slave. You cannot be anything besides what you are.
And even as Chapra abandons his past his mother, Tatta, and the Brahmin continue to search for him, to rescue him. And along the way they face great hardships, the most poignant of which is when Tatta sacrifices himself to be eaten by a snake in order to make a trade wherein the snake would give some of its eggs to Chapra's mother and the Brahmin so that they may eat as a plague of locusts came and devoured everything around for miles.
Tezuka's style leant to this story is slightly off-putting at first but as you adjust you begin to see the poignant and expressive nature of the artwork. The story of Siddhartha, his life and his teachings, is a very important one in Asian cultures and Tezuka's telling of it is very clear and respectful, allowing non-Buddhist people to read and understand the story of the founding of the religion.
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