Todd Klein's Blog, page 325

Christmas Lights, a Cat Pic, and a Bit of Dialogue

It's finally starting to feel like winter around here, though not so much today. Still a little cold for the cats on the porch, so they get their birdwatching in through the sliding door in my studio.

Our outside Christmas decorations are minimal, but I do like to have a few lights up and some artificial garlands with red bows under the windows. I'd been using those icicle lights the last few years, but when I got them out today they were a tangled mess, and some of the bulbs were coming apart, so I scrapped the lot and bought these blue LED lights to run along the front eaves instead. We also use electric candle lights in the windows, the kind that have a light sensor so you don't have to turn them on and off. My goal is always to have something out there I can put up and take down inside two hours. We have neighbors that go all out, more power to them. For me, I'm happy with this.

And a nice wreath made with fresh greens is always a good addition, here on the new front door we had installed last month. Quite happy with it, and also happy not to have Ellen complaining about the old one, which hadn't shut right for years.

Ellen, on seeing the wreath: "Did you put a nail hole in our new door?"

Me, doing my best Oliver Hardy: "I certainly did, dear."

Ellen rolls eyes.

Atlantic City Ice Skating Show

Yesterday we spent a pleasant afternoon and evening in Atlantic City. First we did some Christmas shopping at The Walk outlets and The Pier (didn't find much, though), had a great dinner at Buddhakan in The Pier, and then attended this ice skating show at Boardwalk Hall. It featured all female skaters in tribute to Peggy Fleming, the second such show put on by Caesar's Palace Casino and NBC Sports, and it will be televised on New Year's Day.

The skaters were great, and it was a wide range of talent from around the world and many different eras: Elizabeth Manley to Nancy Kerrigan to Tara Lipinski to Miki Ando, and many more. Unfortunately the low lighting and limits of my camera resulted in merely intriguing blurs at best, like this one. Not even sure which skater this is!

We had good seats on the ice, a few rows behind one of the TV cameras. As in last year's show, which we also saw, they redid some of the jumps and other bits after the show for the broadcast, to get everyone looking their best. It was a fun evening, and well worth the trip.

And Then I Read: SWAMP THING 1-3

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

The premise of this revamp of the classic DC horror character is a bit hard to follow at times. Alec Holland is back from the dead (as seen in BRIGHTEST DAY), but is not Swamp Thing. Or, not yet, exactly, though he does have memories from the Alan Moore SWAMP THING character, who turned out not to be really Alec Holland. Confusing. But with that out of the way, I liked these issues in general. Alec has sort of been given a new chance to develop into a champion of The Green (meaning all plant life on Earth), if he wants it. He's not sure, but events are pushing him inevitably that way.

Meanwhile, a new menace has arisen, a champion of The Black, which writer Scott Snyder describes as Rot, or decay, clearly a dangerous force to all life, and a pretty good idea for an opponent to just about any living thing. This new champion of The Black is a mere child, and one with severe disabilities, but before long he's chomping up people right and left. Some of Snyder's horrific touches are disturbing, and work well in the story.

Swamp Thing's old flame, Abby? She's here, too, but in a much different role. One I like.

The art by Yanick Paquette (with Victor Ibáñez on #3) looks quite good. I worked with Yanick a few years ago and he was good then, but seems to have brought his skills to a new, higher level for this series, perhaps inspired by original Swamp Thing artist Bernie Wrightson, who gets some nods, as does later SW artist John Totleben. His art is quite attractive, and full of effective design and lighting techniques, as well as some quite disturbing horror images. I didn't like Ibáñez's work as much, though, so hopefully Yanick can keep up with the schedule as much as possible to make this book his own.

The storyline is good, the characters well-developed, and I'll be reading more of this. Recommended.

And Then I Read: SUPERMAN 1 & 2

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

What drew me to this title was George Pérez, who writes and does layouts, with artist Jesus Merino doing the rest of the art. I've always enjoyed George's art, and liked his writing on Wonder Woman some years ago, so thought I'd give this a try. I'm at something of a disadvantage because I'm not reading ACTION COMICS at the same time, and there are some cross-references, but these two issues still hold together well on their own.

The time frame of this story is uncertain, but seems to be taking place at least a year or more after this version of Superman has made himself known to Metropolis and the world. Here, as Clark Kent, he's again a newspaper reporter for the Daily Planet, but Lois has moved up to running the TV news side of a much bigger media company that has absorbed The Planet. We're also back to Lois not knowing Clark is Superman, it seems, and she's much more interested in the Superman persona, as in earlier eras, or the films. Jimmy Olsen is here as a video reporter, Perry White seems somewhat sidelined in the big corporate deal. Lois's father General Lane makes an interesting appearance in issue 2. In all, I'm seeing an attempt to make a more modern news gathering company the central setting for the series, which makes sense.

Of course there has to be a menace or two to drive the story, and in issue 1 we have a fire monster that seems somehow connected to Krypton, or so Superman thinks. Much battling and destruction in the city, of course. In issue 2 we have another monster, but this one is invisible to Superman, though everyone else can see him. That's a great idea, and well carried out visually. Superman's solution to tackling this creature he can't see attacking him is ingenious, too. And this monster is also similarly connected to Krypton. Hmm. Fire, then "Air." I sense a pattern here…

The art by Perez and Merino looks great. Merino's style comes through to give things a unique look without completely burying Pérez's own style. It seems like a great pairing. And though there's quite a bit of talking on some pages, as here, there's also lots of action. So far I'm liking this!

Recommended.

ONE WEEK LEFT: Klein Prints Holiday Sale, Buy 2 Get 3!

Images © Todd Klein and partners, all rights reserved.

I've decided to make a first ever special offer on all my signed prints this season,

BUY ANY TWO, GET A THIRD ONE FREE!

To take advantage of this offer and savings, simply order an EVEN number of prints from the BUY STUFF page of my website:

http://kleinletters.com/BuyStuffTop.html

Then EMAIL ME at this link:

http://kleinletters.com/ContactTop.html

and tell me which free print you'd like added to your order for every two you've purchased.

This special offer will run for ONE MORE WEEK, from today to Wednesday, December 7. If you have holiday gifts to buy, please consider my prints as an option. My print partners and I thank you!

 

And Then I Read: SERGIO ARAGONÉS FUNNIES 1

Images © Sergio Aragonés.

Anyone who's met or listened to Sergio at a comics convention, or seen him draw his funny pictures at lightning speed, knows what a charmer he is in every way. But most of the narrative comics work he's done (as opposed to short gags or single cartoons) have been with Mark Evanier supplying the words over Sergio's ideas and art. Here Sergio does it all, and while there are some one-pagers that are quite amusing, the best part of the issue is the longer true story from his own youth. It seems Sergio's father worked behind the scenes in the movie business, and one time while Sergio was going to University in Mexico his father called to say he needed extras for the filming of a Hollywood western. Sergio gathered a crowd of enthusiastic students and headed for the movie set, not far from his school. The rest, as you can imagine, is hilarious. In fact, I think I found this story funnier than many of Sergio's made-up ones about Groo that I've read.

Of course the art is great, full of sketchy details and small jokes that reward a closer look after you've enjoyed the main story. It's all a fun read, and recommended.

Watching HUGO

Less than a month ago I finished reading a fine book for younger readers, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," and gave it a glowing review. I'm happy to now be able to do the same for the film version, which Ellen and I saw yesterday.

Martin Scorsese has made a film that is quite faithful to the book by Brian Selznick, while enhancing that work in all the ways possible in a film. Visually it's a rich, enveloping experience, drawing you into the world of Hugo Cabret: a huge, Baroque Paris train station in the 1920s. The sets, costumes and effects are wonderful. The cast is equally fine, highlighted by the star turns of Ben Kingsley as the toymaker, Asa Butterfield as the boy Hugo, and Sacha Baron Cohen as the stationmaster. The latter role has been expanded to take advantage of Cohen's acting and comedic abilities, but in a way that fits perfectly into the story. Other characters have somewhat larger roles, including the other shop owners in the train station, and one character is missing: the boyfriend of the girl who befriends Hugo. No loss, and it gives a nice character part for Christopher Lee to fill in a few bits of plot.

The film develops a bit slowly at times, but I never felt bored or impatient. There were always great things to look at in every scene, and the slower pace gave me time to do that. The subplots involving a mechanical man or automaton, and pioneer filmmaker Georges Meliés were both handled with great care and obviously the love of Scorsese and everyone involved. The clockwork theme was artful and never overdone. The emotional story came through very well, with each character developing in our interest and involvement, until each found something they were looking for, even if they didn't know what it might be. And there's plenty of suspense and mystery as well, including some cool action including chases through the station and its secret passageways, plus an amazing train wreck. Really a fine film all around. I urge you to see it before it disappears!

Christmas Elves workshop

We're at Ellen's sister Ann's for Thanksgiving weekend, and today, Friday, we all helped Ann's husband Dave put together a large order of Christmas gift baskets that he needed to send out next week. Dave and his brother Brian own and operate Greene Brothers Coffee Roasters, where they roast their own beans and have two "Greene's Beans" retail shops in northwest New Jersey. Gift baskets are something they do mostly at this time of year, and we were happy to help them.

Here are Ellen and Ann in the Elves' Workshop packing baskets. On the right are the 59 shipping boxes I've just prepped.

The baskets first had to be partially filled with straw-like "green fluff," and the first item in was a ceramic coffee mug with some bagged tea.

Ellen and Ann continued filling baskets with more goodies: a bag of coffee beans, cookies, chocolate, cocoa, honey, and several kinds of candy.

Here are some filled baskets ready for wrapping.

In addition to organizing the workshop and the making of decorative bows, Ina was the only one of us any good at wrapping the baskets in cellophane.

She gave the wrapped baskets to me, and I cut off the excess cellophane, tied on the decorative bows, and put the baskets in the shipping boxes. Dave then added the gift labels and closed them up.

Fifty-nine boxes filled in three hours, and the workshop was declared closed for the weekend. A good effort by all!

My favorite holiday recipe

Cranberry Relish! So easy, no cooking involved, and so much more flavor than canned cranberry jelly. You do need a food processor or blender, though. Directions and full recipe HERE. We make a double batch for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it!

Klein prints first ever Holiday Sale: Buy 2 get 3!

Images © Todd Klein and partners, all rights reserved.

I've decided to make a first ever special offer on all my signed prints this season,

BUY ANY TWO, GET A THIRD ONE FREE!

To take advantage of this offer and savings, simply order an EVEN number of prints from the BUY STUFF page of my website:

http://kleinletters.com/BuyStuffTop.html

Then EMAIL ME at this link:

http://kleinletters.com/ContactTop.html

and tell me which free print you'd like added to your order for every two you've purchased. Please use the same email address for both your order and your email so I know which free prints to include with your order.

This special offer will run for TWO WEEKS, from today, November 23 to Wednesday, December 7. If you have holiday gifts to buy, please consider my prints as an option. My print partners and I thank you!