Todd Klein's Blog, page 225

And Then I Read: TRIGGER WARNING by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is someone I’ve been working with since 1988, not continuously, but regularly. I love his writing, and he’s a friend, so this is hardly an unbiased review, more a report on favorites.

When I was young, I read lots of short stories, including the entire contents of several monthly science fiction/fantasy magazines. At some point my interest drifted away to longer stories, and even in a collection like this, I find the longer ones tend to appeal to me more. There’s room to care about the characters, and the longer stories tend to be deeper. I had already read “The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains…” and loved it, and I think it’s still my favorite of all the stories here. It has the full flavor of myth, in that it doesn’t feel made up, but reported as truth. Very powerful.

“The Case of Death and Honey” is the best Sherlock Holmes story I’ve read not by the original author A. Conan Doyle. It’s not a pastiche or homage, it’s a unique and brilliant use of Doyle’s main character in ways that feel right and correct, telling a story that transcends the usual murder mystery.

“Nothing O’Clock” is a Dr. Who story. I used to enjoy watching Dr. Who in the 1980s, when tons of the old ones were rebroadcast on PBS. My favorite Doctor was Tom Baker, I never warmed to the others in the same way. I’ve tried watching the newer revival, and found it didn’t work for me, not sure why. I enjoyed the story, but it assumes a lot of Dr. Who business as known to the reader, and so I feel doesn’t stand on its own as well as it might.

“The Sleeper and the Spindle” is a fine rethinking of some old fairy tales, but the intricate plot seems to be in control more than the characters. That could be said of the originals too, and I liked it all the same.

“Black Dog” is a tale of Shadow from Neil’s “American Gods,” and while it’s off the main character’s path in some ways, the prose and plot are very effective. Things happen organically in a way that reminded me of the books of William Mayne, whose trick is to have the narrator never in possession of the whole story. Neil doesn’t quite do that, but it hit me in a similar way. Nicely done.

Those are my favorites. Of the shorter ones, I was most amused by “Adventure Story,” which is perhaps the perfect post-modern version of a pulp adventure tale.

Recommended, of course!

 

And Then I Read: SUPERMAN 37

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

The adage “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is” applies to this storyline brilliantly written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson. The new character Ulysses, returned to Earth after being raised on a distant and, as he describes it, much better world, has proved to Superman that his great power can be used to help people. But his plan to help Earth involves sending millions of Earth people back to his homeworld. Is his motivation different from altruism? Superman is suspicious, and as it turns out, with good reason. When he arrives on the Great World, as they call it, Ulysses imprisons Superman and begins to reveal his real plan. The fact that Ulysses’ human parents are caught up in his schemes is a troubling complication.

Recommended.

Logo Study: ANGELA

Images © Neil Gaiman.

In 1994 I was contacted by someone at Todd McFarlane Productions and asked to design a logo for the character Angela, the one created by Neil Gaiman for SPAWN. They were planning a solo mini-series, and needed a logo for it. This was just before I got my first Mac computer, when I was still doing all logo design by hand. These sketches were made with pencil, then markers on typing paper.

My standard plan was to do three initial sketches. In this case, the word ANGELA is bracketed by two A’s, and I quickly found if I made them mirror images of each other, the word gained a graceful symmetry I liked a lot. Pointy and dangerous was also the fad at the time, so I tried to combine that with elegance.

This third idea carried pointy to ridiculous length, I thought, but it was the one they liked best. Only, they wanted it wider so it would take up less space on the cover.

I did two stretched out versions, this one was the most stretched, and what they went with. Still very tall, but apparently okay.

The final logo is simply that last sketch traced precisely on Denril plastic vellum.

Here’s how it looked on the cover of issue 3. I don’t care for the coloring, it makes the word harder to read, but overall I think the logo worked well. The character was later involved in a lengthy lawsuit, and is now the sole property of Neil Gaiman and, I believe, appearing in some Marvel comics. If she’s been given a logo there, I haven’t seen it.

Other logo studies you might enjoy are on the LOGO LINKS page of my blog.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL 3

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

At last, the end of the Godhead storyline pitting the New Gods against all the Lanterns. And it’s full of interesting events, dazzling art, good ideas and nice character development. The things that have been missing in many of the many middle issues of the saga. A double gate-fold near the beginning is fabulous, not only for the art, but for the idea of how Black Hand can change the game and turn the tide for the Lanterns, horrible as he is. Another stunning moment is in the hands of Hal Jordan, literally, with the help of Saint Walker. If you’ve given up on the crossover, I suggest you still might want to read the finale. Well done, this one.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: AQUAMAN 37

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

The Maelstrom storyline is taking Arthur and Mera through ancient Atlantean gateways, this time to Gorilla City, home of Grodd. I liked Grodd better when he was smarter, before recent events in THE FLASH, and he shows some signs of getting back to that here, though that’s dragged down by the deal he makes with Aquaman. Arthur wants information about the gateways and who has been using them lately. In exchange for that, Grodd wants a one-on-one fight between them. Of course: comics. Like I said, Grodd was better when he simply out-thought his opponents. The art looks good, and the gateway plot is interesting, so I’ll see how the rest of this goes.

Mildly recommended.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN CORPS 37

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

This issue is full of speeches by Highfather and somewhat pointless fighting by John Stewart, Sinestro and others. I don’t see that it moves the too-long Godhead storyline along much, it’s just another brick in the wall. The art by Bernard Chang is great, but the later pages by others are not as good, and so far off model I had trouble recognizing some characters. In all a mediocre effort.

Not recommended.

And Then I Read: G.I. ZOMBIE 5

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

You know, that cover is more disturbing to me than anything in this series so far. Talented man, Darwyn Cooke.

Jared, the G.I. Zombie, is wrapping up his part in the zombie plague situation and, after a quick meal that I found entertaining, heads off to look for his partner Carmen, who has infiltrated an amazing stronghold of the cultists who unleashed the zombie plague. Carmen is trying to play up to the leader there. Jared is given cover, and is making plans to join her when something unexpected happens that turns everything around. The writing on this book continues to surprise me in a good way, and the art by Scott Hampton is, as always, both realistic, impressionistic, and very appealing.

Recommended.

Remembering England, 1979 Part 2

Our second week in England (and Wales) began with a train ride from Paddington Station, London to Oxford, where we checked into our rooms at the Turf Tavern, a wonderful and very old pub tucked away on a back street. I don’t think they rent rooms anymore, but it was great then. In Oxford we visited as many of the famous colleges as we had time for in one day.

Christchurch was probably the one that impressed me the most. Their “chapel” is a small cathedral with lovely fan-vaulted ceilings.

And the Cloisters there were idyllic. One could well imagine “Lewis Carroll” (Reverend Charles Dodgson) and other famous instructors relaxing there. We should have planned more time in Oxford, but I’ve been back twice since to see the rest.

Monday morning we were on a train again, and then a series of buses that brought us eventually through narrow country lanes to Glastonbury in southwest England, a place I had long wanted to visit because of its association with legends of King Arthur.

It was late afternoon by the time we got to the preserved ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, an important place in English mythology. The ruins are still quite impressive even though it was closed by Henry the Eighth and began falling to ruin thereafter.

There’s a marker where graves were uncovered that supposedly held the remains of King Arthur and Guinevere, though there’s no solid proof of it.

The ruins were quiet and mysterious.

Linda R under the “Holy Thorn,” a tree that legend says grew from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea, of Christ’s time. It blooms at Christmas. Legends also say Joseph brought the Holy Grail with him from Jerusalem, and a book I love, “The Hidden Treasure of Glaston” by Eleanore M. Jewett, makes great use of those legends.

We had dinner at the “George and Pilgrim” pub, where the locals looked on us with suspicion. Glastonbury had already become a mecca for hippies and mystics, and we probably looked like more of them.

After dinner the long day allowed us to hike up Glastonbury Tor, the conical hill that towers over the town, for wonderful, mystical views of the setting sun over rolling hills.

Some have thought the Tor is a huge burial mound, but nothing has been found in it. There’s a tower at the top, and some kind of monument where Linda R watched the sunset. A group of young people were already there. It was a magic hour that I will remember always. Something about the place is mystical beyond description.

Tuesday was another long travel day that took us north and west into central Wales to the seaside town of Aberystwyth, where we stayed two nights. Linda R was particularly looking forward to this, as she’s of Welsh background. Hills on either side of town made great vantage points.

I loved sitting up there overlooking the ocean and listening to Skylarks.

There was a ruined castle in town that we enjoyed seeing.

Two Lindas on a castle arch.

We visited Aberystwyth University, wonderful architecture. We also took a ride on a narrow gauge steam railway up into the mountains that was fun. And walking the seaside promenade was good, too. We tried out a few words in Welsh, of which I no longer remember any. If anything, the people were more open and friendly there than in other parts of the country we visited.

Thursday we were traveling again, back out of Wales to Shrewsbury, where we stayed one night. Shrewsbury is known for its old half-timbered houses, the kind that used to be common in big cities like London, but are now nearly gone.

From Shrewsbury we headed north to York, an ancient walled town where we enjoyed walking and shopping on the narrow streets, and also circumnavigating the entire town on the city wall, which is open to pedestrians.

The most impressive building in York is the Minster, a huge cathedral, where we again climbed to the roof for great views. I was told recently that some of this beautiful place was destroyed by fire a few years later. It’s been rebuilt, but I’m glad we were able to see it as it was.

Spectacular twin towers. In York I think we attended a production of the play “Volpone,” and had a great time. But Saturday Linda R took off on her own for an extended vacation in northern Wales visiting her family there.

Here’s a photo Linda R gave me from that part of her trip, at a family homestead. Meanwhile, Linda C and I headed south back to London for one more night, and then home the following day.

That nightmare flight I mentioned was not the best way to end our trip. Turned out the airline only had one plane. When it broke down, everyone on all their trips was delayed. We sat in a London airport for hours, then finally got on the plane and found out we weren’t going back to New Jersey, but instead to Paris to pick up other stranded vacationers there. We barely made it out of the Paris airport before it closed for the night (yes, they did that then), and then flew back to England to pick up MORE people, and finally home. We were on that plane for 24 hours. Never again with the charter flights for me.

But in all, it was a wonderful trip. I’ve been back to England several times, but the first trip will always be the most memorable, and will live in my thoughts always. Oh, and here’s a link to a video slide show I put together with many of my favorite pictures from the trip. You’ve seen some of them, but not all of them here. I think the music and presentation are worth another look, if you have the time. Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far. Back to more usual topics next time.

 

 

 

 

Remembering England, 1979 Part 1

In the 1970s I had a group of about a dozen good friends that I spent a lot of time with, one from grade school (Tim W, still friends), some from high school, some from Rutgers College, near where I lived in Highland Park, NJ, where those friends had gone to school. During 1978 we started discussing the idea of a trip to England together. I’m not sure who started it, but by a year-end party at my apartment, I agreed to be the one to make plans. As above, I put those plans into a series of six “British Bulletins” I typed up and mailed out to everyone interested. This was great fun, I think trip planning can be nearly as interesting as the trip itself. Those wanting to go waffled, and by the time I needed to make reservations in April, we were down to three going: myself, and two Lindas. Linda R. made her own travel plans from her home in Vermont, I booked charter flights for Linda C. and myself out of Newark, NJ for June 30th, and we met Linda R. in London. I had written to a few small hotels and bed and breakfasts at each of our trip destinations, and mailed out reservation deposits. Unfortunately, it was a time of great labor unrest in England, with many labor strikes and demonstrations. As we arrived at some of our rooms, we found they either hadn’t received our deposit yet, or it had just arrived, due to a mail carrier strike! But all the hosts were very helpful, and if they didn’t have rooms for us, they found them at a neighbor’s house, so that all worked out fine. Here’s my write up of the places I had made reservations:As you can see, it was a pretty cheap place to vacation the way we did it, even for 1979, with average room rates about $12 per night, including breakfast. We pre-purchased British Rail Passes, allowing us to travel anywhere in the UK by rail at no extra cost. I don’t recall what the price was, but it was a good deal. We also bought “Open-to-view” passes, which allowed us access to many of the sights we wanted to see. The airfare for Linda C. and I on an Evergreen charter flight was probably about $350 each round trip. That’s about half the cost of a regular ticket at the time. The flight going over was fine, but coming back it was a nightmare, convincing me never to book charter airfare again! As usual, it was an overnight flight, and I was too excited to sleep. When we arrived at Heathrow Airport on July 1st, Linda R. was there, having arrived the day before, and the adventure was on. We took the Underground to London, checked into our hotel, and hit the streets. I was determined to stay up until that evening in London, thereby getting on Greenwich time. A good idea, but we were really dragging by afternoon, even with tea breaks! I think Linda C. gave it up and went to bed early, while Linda R. and I persevered.

That first afternoon Linda R and I took a bus to Hampstead Heath, a beautiful park in the north of London. The weather was great (we had little rain on the two week trip, surprisingly), and even too warm, making us all the more sleepy. I had wanted to visit Highgate Cemetery nearby, but I think it was closed that day, so we just walked around the area until we were barely able to stand, and got a bus or Underground train back to our hotel on Bloomsbury Street.

Over the next week we saw lots of wonderful sights, including Westminster Abbey, above, where many of England’s finest are buried.

The cloisters at Westminster Abbey are a quiet respite from the noisy town.

Two Lindas dressed for rain in the Westminster Abbey cloisters.

The Tower of London is actually a large complex of buildings, much of it originally a prison. The oldest part is the White Tower, built soon after the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Inside, the beautiful open chapel makes it easy to imagine yourself back in those times.

Very simple and all the more awe-inspiring for it.

Outside, the Tower Ravens were fascinating, though I knew their wings were clipped to keep them from flying away.

Of course you can’t visit London without a look at Big Ben, part of the Houses of Parliament. Actually “Big Ben” is the bell in the tower, not the tower itself.

St. Paul’s Cathedral is the other huge and historic church in London. Here we were able to climb up inside the walls for wonderful views inside the massive dome…

…and outside, looking at one of the twin bell towers towards the Thames.

In addition to architecture, we were able to attend concerts, including two productions of Gilbert & Sullivan light operas at the Holland Park Court Theatre. Above is “Iolanthe,” and we also saw “Pirates of Penzance” on another evening. Linda R and I are big G&S fans, so this was a thrill. There were at least two veterans of the original D’Oyly Carte company in these: Donald Adams and Thomas Round, and the productions were excellent. We also saw art at the Victoria and Albert Museum…

…and at the William Morris Gallery just outside London. Morris is a favorite of mine.

We visited the amazing botanical gardens at Kew on one cloudy day. And of course, we had lots of smaller adventures at restaurants and pubs. I know we all learned to love Indian food there! We also made time for shopping: books, records, clothing, and souvenirs. Especially books.

I had several day-trips out of London on my list of things we might do, but we only managed one of them. One morning we took a bus to Windsor and visited Windsor Castle. The Queen was not in residence, so it was open to the public.

On the grounds inside, a marching band entertained visitors.

The castle was elegant and beautiful.

We enjoyed seeing it inside and out, but as often happened, I didn’t get good pictures inside. I can’t recall if photos weren’t allowed, or there just wasn’t enough light for my camera, which didn’t have a flash.

After lunch in Windsor, we took another bus to Hampton Court, the royal palace of the Tudors from Henry the Eighth on. It’s very different from the other castles we saw, being made of red brick, but quite stunning.

One of my favorite things on our trip was walking the famous Hampton Court maze. I couldn’t get a good overview, so this is from a postcard.

We had a good time with it. The maze is very old, but relatively simple. Still, with a half mile of paths, it can puzzle you for a while. Following the right side of every path will get you through, but not the quickest way.

We did make it through eventually.

From Hampton Court we caught a passenger boat that brought us back down the Thames to London. It was quite cold on the water, even in July, but we enjoyed the ride. After a while they started up a singalong on the boat’s loudspeakers, and many joined in. It seemed very British! The route took us past the Houses of Parliament, in the distance above.

We passed under some of London’s bridges, including Hammersmith Bridge, the most interesting visually to me. At the end of our week in and around London, we packed up and headed out into the rest of the country for our second week. I’ll cover that next time.

 

 

 

 

And Then I Read: SMALL GODS by Terry Pratchett

Having read the “Wee Free Men” series by Terry Pratchett, which I enjoyed thoroughly, and one Discworld one-shot, I decided to read another of his books that’s more part of the main Discworld mythology. This one seemed recommended by many readers, as a good way to get a handle on Discworld. And, as it involves and explains the many gods of the series, it succeeded in that.

At first I found it not too engaging, though, as none of the characters appealed to me. The story takes place in Omnia, largely in a great city devoted to the worship of their god Om. But we soon find that god has fallen very low. He’s stuck in the body of an ordinary tortoise, and only one person can hear his voice: a simple-minded acolyte named Brutha. As it turns out, while nominally the god of Omnia, in practice no one really believes in him anymore except simple, faithful Brutha. Om and Brutha begin a long process of trying to change that, and soon find themselves on a visit to the distant land of Ephebe where many gods are worshipped, but more credence is given to philosophers, who are granted all kinds of special treatment. The leader of Omnia’s Inquisition is a nasty and powerful man called Vorbis, and he’s planning to overthrow Ephebe. He soon discovers that Brutha has special powers of memory: he remembers everything he sees and hears, and Vorbis enlists Brutha in his schemes, to the dismay of both Brutha and Om, still in a tortoise, still trying to get some respect.

As the book went on, I began to enjoy the characters of crochety Om and idiot savant Brutha, even as I rooted with them against Vorbis. There are plenty of twists in the plot, and a large amount of Pratchett humor in the book. In all, I enjoyed it, though not as much as others I’ve read.

Recommended.