Todd Klein's Blog, page 335

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN CORPS 60

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

It's aways sad when a character you like meets his end, and that's the case for me in this eighth part of the "War of the Green Lanterns." It's not too surprising; a war means someone has to die, after all. Here it's what I consider the most original and thought-provoking member of the GL Corps. Of course, in comics no character stays dead if someone wants to write about him, her or it. I suspect this character will not be brought back any time soon, though. We'll see.

Kyle and John take center stage for much of this issue, using the blue and purple rings as best they can, not having been trained with them. They're trying to prevent an increase in the army of Green Lanterns under the sway of Krona, and along the way they encounter remnants of the Black Lantern force.

The art by Kirkham and Batt is fine, and as in all the Green Lantern books, the color is a great help to the story; by Rod Reis and Nei Ruffino in this case. In fact, this entire series would never work now without great color and subtle computer color effects impossible in the comics of past decades.

Recommended.

Rainy Day at the Shore

Ellen's sister Ann and some of her family, as well as cousin Martin are visiting for a few days, and yesterday the planned beach visit was rained out. We didn't get the massive downpours that hit just north and west of us (up to 9 inches of rain in places), and at times the rain held off to mere sprinkles, allowing us to go for a nature walk at The Wetlands Institute on Stone Harbor Boulevard.

The path is short, about a half mile out into the salt marsh, but there's plenty to see.

Tree Swallows are beginning to gather here in preparation for their southward migration next month. There are waxy bayberries and red cedar berries for them to eat along the trail.

Ellen's nephew Zach and his father Dave with the handsome Wetlands Institute buildings behind them.

In the mud were lots of tiny Fiddler Crabs, the males like this one waving their large claw around to threaten other males and attract females.

And a very common shellfish in the marsh mud are these Ribbed Mussels. Not tasty to humans, which is why there are lots of them.

A handsome Common Tern greeted us at the dock at the trail's end. We saw other birds like ospreys, shorebirds and egrets, and enjoyed the peaceful marsh vistas. Then it began to rain again, so we headed back.

The perfect place to end up on a rainy day in Stone Harbor is the best ice cream place in the area…

…where a delicious time was had by all!

Cat Buddies

I ran the above picture last fall as an example of how brothers Tigger and Leo are still pals as adults, just as they were as kittens. They don't spend much time close together like this, but I think it's somewhat unusual that they do so at all. We've never had siblings before, but in my experience all adult cats tend to be somewhat standoffish toward other cats, unless they're cold and need another cat to snuggle with in the winter.

It's hot summertime here now, but the pair will still lie next to each other sometimes, as here on the rocking chair on our porch last week…

…and again today crammed onto the same windowsill in my studio. It's quite an adorable trait, and it makes us smile when they do it. Anyone else out there have sibling cats, and do they like to snuggle up to each other? I'm curious to know.

Incoming: LOCUS, July 2011

Of particular interest to comics fans and art fans are the remembrances of (Catherine) Jeffrey Jones in this issue. There are two, by Arnie Fenner and Robert Wiener, both illuminating about this troubled man, whose art I liked, but whose life story, when I heard about it, seemed hard to fathom. I met Jones once at a party at The Studio, space he shared with Michael Kaluta, Berni Wrightson and Barry Windsor Smith in the late 70s. I don't remember him saying much, he was very quiet and seemed shy. Smith was much the same, leaving the outgoing Kaluta and Wrightson to do most of the partying, which they had no trouble with. I remember some memorable paintings by Jones on display there, the only ones I've seen in person, and they were quite large and gorgeous. Also loved his strip in National Lampoon back in the day. From the remembrances here, Jones' life makes a little more sense to me, though it's still what I'd call a tragic one.

And Then I Read: ALL CLEAR

© Connie Willis.

I bought the hardcover of this second half of the split novel "Blackout/All Clear," and I can see why it was split. The second half alone is 641 pages. That begs the question, "Did it need to be so long?" I would have to say no, but I don't regret reading any of it. Connie Willis has done a massive amount of research about England during the Second World War, especially the Blitz, when bombs and rockets fell almost daily, and she clearly wanted to share as much of what she learned as possible. The result sometimes reminded me of those scenes in the film "Titanic" when the characters had to run through the entire ship one more time as it sank so we could glory in the massive vehicle before the end. If this novel had spent less time visiting so many disasters and shelters and hospitals and bombings and cut to the meat of the story, it would have fit into one book, and perhaps been a better whole. The details are interesting, the characters have room to become well-known to us, almost as friends, and the plot does finally come to a fulfilling resolution here that I enjoyed. Yet, Willis' plotting always seems rather frantic, full of racing here and there, in and out of danger, characters always worrying desperately about something. There are a few moments when they get to stop and catch a breath, but not many.

This is a historical work of importance, but also a science fictional time-travel story, and as such, the timelines of the characters are complex, and made harder to follow by Willis's constant cutting not only to different places and protagonists, but to different times during the war. Several characters I thought were new historians turned out to be something else, and at the end it all made sense, but for a long time it didn't.

I guess I'm complaining a little here, but I did enjoy this book as a whole, though I don't think I would put it above Willis's "The Doomsday Book," which had a much more compelling story arc for me. Still, I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the subject of World War Two England, and fans of Willis's time-travelling historians will find a lot here to like, too. I expect the two books will win a lot of well-deserved awards.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN 66

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

I found this issue of the Green Lantern War somewhat less enjoyable than the last few, perhaps because, despite their best efforts, Hal and Guy are overmatched by Krona and his mind-controlled cohorts, this time the rest of the Guardians, each in the sway of one of the color attributes, the equivalent of Parallax, and all controlled by Krona. Meanwhile, in the Book of Oa, Sinestro is trying to find his way out of a series of dreamlike scenarios, and someone else wants to tag along. What Krona has planned next seems like a good setup for a reversal of fortunes, so we'll see.

The art by Mahnke, Champagne and other inkers is great, still reaching a high level of skill on every level, including character acting, as with Guy Gardner above.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: GL EMERALD WARRIORS 9

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

First I'd like to take note of the cover design. I find this a very attractive action shot, with four figures filling the four corners being blasted or impacted by a huge lantern symbol. The logo is centered over that symbol, but is in front of two figures and behind another.  If they had made the logo bulge outward from the center, it would be even better!

Inside we find the four Earth GLs, each using a power ring of another color, being blasted by the rest of the Corps, including the planet-sized GL Mogo (created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons). The only escape for them is to tunnel deep into the planet of Oa itself, and that makes for an eye-opening journey. Like many old people, the Guardians have a lot of interesting junk in their basement! Then there's the ongoing discussion of what these heroes should tackle first: the Parallax power in the master power battery allowing Krona to control the rest of the Corps, or Mogo, who has them stymied.

The art by Pasarin and Smith is excellent, and they once again do a fine job depicting dozens of GLs of all sorts. They handle the action well, and keep the tension up during the quieter moments with dramatic lighting and good character acting.

I'm continuing to enjoy this storyline. Recommended.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN CORPS 59

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

The Green Lantern gang from Earth is playing with different colored rings in this issue, since Krona has taken mental control of nearly every Green Lantern with the green kind. It's kind of a fun switch, though we've seen two of these configurations before, Hal Jordan with the yellow fear power, and Guy Gardner with the red rage power. Kyle and John have to try to figure out their blue and purple powers as they go, not an easy task. Meanwhile, Ganthet the Guardian Green Lantern is under attack from scores of Krona-controlled GLs, and even his extra-strong willpower finds it tough going. In all, an entertaining storyline, though the surprise card played at the end is one we've seen before and pretty recently.

It's interesting how different the Earth GLs look in their alternate costumes, it's almost hard to recognize them, though the art by Tyler Kirekham and Batt seems fine, at the high level of professionalism present in all the GL books these days. Apparently the shorthand of costume does make a big difference in how I see these characters.

This crossover storyline is keeping within the bounds of the Green Lantern books, and that makes it more focused and easier to follow than the last few larger ones from DC. It's not remarkably original, but it does make for page-turning entertainment. Recommended.

And Then I Read: DARK RAIN

Images © Mat Johnson & Simon Gane.

After visiting New Orleans for the first time last fall, I have a new interest in the city and her troubles, so I thought I'd give this Vertigo graphic novel a try. I was expecting a story of Katrina and the flooding, and I got that, but there's another story here about crime, criminals, a bank job, a corrupt hired security force, and two men caught up in it all, along with a pregnant woman that joins them along the way. It's a balancing act mixing real events of natural disaster and social injustice with the fictional crime story, and writer Mat Johnson handles that well, though at times it reads more like "Mission: Impossible," than a realistic story. That's only occasionally, though, most of the tale is believable and the characters are real in their life stories and motivations, their bitterness about the system and their personal hard knocks, as well as the occasional moment of kindness and bravery, especially as seen in Dabny Arceneaux, the ex-military and ex-criminal who is the most well-rounded character.

The bank getting attention from everyone makes a good centerpiece for the action, itself full of corruption as well as an honorable man trying to protect it. Other scenes focus on the disaster in all its sad ineptitude and cruelty. And the payoff at the end is a good one.

The art by Simon Gane is good, riding the border between realism and cartooniness in a way that seems good for this project, and it's enhanced by color in gray and blue only by Lee Loughridge and lettering by Pat Brosseau, both solid pros. This isn't really my kind of story, and as crime fiction it doesn't have the "film noir" impact and style of, say, the "Parker" graphic novels by Darwyn Cooke, but it's well done and worth a look. Recommended.

A Musical Reunion

Images © Todd Klein, all rights reserved.

This past Thursday was a wonderful day here at the Klein home, as it hosted a reunion between two of my oldest friends and myself. I first met Tim Walker in the fourth grade, and we became best friends and spent lots of time together, but Tim left our public school class to go to private school after a few years. Tom Burden joined my school I think when we were in sixth grade, and he lived closer to me than Tim, so Tom and I also became close friends and did lots of things together. All three of us were interested in music and would play together in our homes, in pairs or occasionally all three, playing mostly folk tunes, jug band music, and some rock songs of the era. I've been in touch with Tim most of the time since, except for a few years in the early 70s, but we lost track of Tom around the end of 1971 until I tracked him down through his brother in 1997. Tom was (and is now) living in Georgia, and all three of us revived our friendship by email and occasional phone calls. But it wasn't until this week that Tom was able to visit us in New Jersey and we spent an afternoon and evening together in person.

When we got back in touch with Tom he was still playing music and making home recordings, which he sent us. This inspired me to start making my own CDs of music I had recorded over the years. In 1991 I put together the above privately-issued CD of some of our music from childhood, saved on reel-to-reel tapes I had, and a few Tim had. Unfortunately I had very little that included all three of us, but we decided to make two new tracks long distance. Tom recorded a vocal and guitar track, and sent it to each of us, and we added our own vocals and/or instrumental tracks. This was quite difficult, as we were working with cassettes and they weren't all running at exactly the same speed, but using my Mac computer I was able to digitally edit the combined efforts into something we all liked, a fun project.

But now, for the first time in about 40 years, we were all together again, reminiscing and having a great time. Ellen joined us for lunch, and then took pictures as we got out our guitars (Tom's was borrowed) and played together on our screened porch. Since we had nothing prepared we mostly look at old handwritten lyric sheets with chords or songbooks by groups like The Lovin' Spoonful and The Beatles. Each of us had songs we liked to suggest, and it was great fun.

Here are Tom and Tim working on a song together.

And the three of us trying to follow the too-small typed lyrics on another. We all agree that large-print lyrics would be a great help in our current configuration, and if we can do this again (and we hope to), that's something we'll work on. The music flowed for about three hours before we all went out to dinner together, and it was a wonderful time. All three of us kept saying, "I'm so glad we did this!" Sometimes you can go back again and relive the fun of your youth. Okay, the music itself was rusty and uneven at times, but occasionally came through very solid, and in any case, it didn't matter, we loved doing it.

Here are The Three T's as Tim named us after the fact, then and now. At top around age 16 I'd guess, playing at Tim's house, and the only photo we have of the three of us from back then. Below as we are now at age 60. Thanks again, Tom and Tim, for a great day that I will always remember, and hopefully more to come!