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Thursday, September 2, 2010
Rich's Got the Reviews...
Suspended in Language
by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis et al.
GT Labs, $24.95
In this style:
Fallout, Two-Fisted Science and Dignifying Science by Ottaviani et al.
The film A Brief History of Time
I always hated taking science in school. Sure, cutting up frogs and pigs was fun, in a way that a 10-year-old would appreciate, but I never for a minute thought I’d need to know any of that stuff in the real world. These days, thanks to an increased love and appreciation of science fiction writing, I suppose I’m no longer as inured to learning science as I used to be – though that still isn’t saying much.
I interviewed Jim Ottaviani a couple of years ago and was fascinated at how he was able to combine his love of science with his love of comics in a manner almost no one else today does (Clan Apis’s Jay Hosler being a notable exception). In his latest graphic novel, Suspended in Language, he takes on a formidable task in telling the life story of quantum physician Niels Bohr – formidable because the very concept of quantum mechanics is an extremely difficult concept to grasp, and even tougher to depict. I must admit, it was a challenge for me to get through the whole thing.
Ottaviani does his best to make the going easier. While the book’s first half reads like an illustrated essay at times, he and artist Leland Purvis use metaphor, a little bit of wordplay, and shifting narrative to describe the process by which Bohr and his colleagues explore physics. They break the fourth wall here and there. There are lots of footnotes. And there are quite a few visual tricks used to portray Bohr’s rambling, didactic speech patterns (I’m convinced the man had ADD). Be prepared for a long, slow, uphill climb through the first half if your knowledge on the subject is as limited as mine. Is it necessary to go into as much detail as Ottaviani does? In places, I’d say yes, which is why the second half is more satisfying, as it examines Bohr’s role in history as World War II unfolded, and how he tried to spearhead a movement towards the free exchange of information between nations.
Suspended is rich in detail, not just about quantum mechanics and Bohr’s idiosyncrasies, but also about 20th century world history. I know from talking to Ottaviani that Bohr is a personal hero of his, and it’s to his credit that he never forgets to show the human side of Bohr: his near-obsessive facility for exposition, his ineptitude at public speaking, his love of sports and other physical activity, and his love of family. If I was Ottaviani’s editor, I’d want him to scale back some of the hard science and play up this stuff more, and in so doing, streamline the overall story. Throughout the book, he’s constantly throwing out peripheral facts pertaining to a given situation, and while they’re interesting, I think many of them could’ve been saved for the endnotes. Indeed, this is the kind of book that could’ve used an outside opinion on what to keep and what to cut, because I think in his fervor to tell Bohr’s story, Ottaviani weighs it down in detail a bit, and as a result there are few moments where one can take a breath and relax.
Purvis does as fine a job as one can ask for such a demanding script. His depiction of Bohr is consistent from youth to old age, he does a good job tackling the science-related scenes, and as I said, he makes some clever decisions in terms of layout and storytelling. The lettering, too, is very clear, as it needs to be for a story like this. Only one real complaint – the heads are sometimes too big for the bodies, including the cover shot of Bohr. In addition, there are some related short stories in the endnotes section by Purvis and a handful of other artists (including the aforementioned Hosler), and even a color mini-comic illustrated by Roger Langridge about the logics of teleportation; all are done in a lighthearted vein and complement the book nicely.
I do recommend Suspended, with the caveat that it not be approached as “light reading”. It’s probably best to just take one Sunday afternoon and sit down with it from start to finish, and like I said, if you’re not familiar with the subject matter, you’re gonna have a tough time with it at first. But there is a great deal to be gained from the experience; you will end up with a fair understanding of who Bohr was, from both a historical and a personal perspective, and why he’s so important. With this work, Ottaviani and Purvis vividly bring Bohr to life and make him as compelling and intriguing a character as any other you’ll find in comics, and moreso than most. B+
Flight
by various
Image, $19.95
In this style:
any high quality animation festival, such as the ones in Ottawa, Holland, or Melbourne
An anthology of stories, from young and mostly new talents, with the common theme of the concept of flight. I have to give much praise to Image’s new top dog, Erik Larsen, for having the savvy and foresight to see what a good thing this was when he first encountered it at APE earlier this year, and deciding to publish it. The overwhelming quality of the stories here makes me believe this book would’ve been a hit without Image, but putting the big “I” on it ensures that people will know about it, and, hopefully, seek it out. Many of the stories are influenced as much by animation, domestic and foreign, as anything else, and there’s quite a bit of experimentation in several of them. On the whole, though, this is just plain fun to read. All the stories have something unique and appealing to some extent, whether it’s art or writing or both. Seeing them all together like this gives one hope for the future of comics. Do yourself a favor and get this now. A
15 Minutes
by Bob Elinskas, David Hedgecock, and Mike Kelleher
Slave Labor, $3.95 each
In this style:
Common Grounds by Hickman and Jurgens
Astro City by Busiek and Anderson
An anthology of stories involving both superhumans and ordinary people who, for whatever reason, get their brief moment in the spotlight: an average slob who accidentally acquires a powerful weapon, a second-rate supervillain looking for the son he never knew, and a couple who witnesses a super-powered slugfest outside their window. In the interests of full disclosure, let me tell you that I worked with both Bob Elinskas and David Hedgecock when I was still at SmallPressComics.com, and I’ve known them both for years, Bob longer than Dave. Bob wrote a superhero comic called Mr. Mid-nite and edited a long-running reviewzine called Small Press Feedback. Dave, meanwhile, had a fantasy-adventure book called Rabbit that briefly went full-size for awhile. This book’s title, of course, comes from Andy Warhol’s quote that “Everyone’s famous for fifteen minutes”. While the stories here are decent, I didn’t get the impression that fame was the unifying theme. The guy in the first story doesn’t get the chance to be a hero with his alien gadget, and the villain in the second story was more concerned with meeting his son than anything else. So far it just looks like this book is continuing in the Astro City trend of examining the reality of living in a superhero-filled world and doesn’t add anything new. I would like to see the creators pursue the premise established by the book’s title even further – similar, perhaps, to what titles like X-Statix and Noble Causes do and play up the media/celebrity angle. Reality television makes disposable celebrities out of everyday people all the time, and I think that’s the direction this book should go in. The artwork is good – lively, distinctive, and communicative. 15 Minutes has potential, but it must break out of the Astro City mold and find an angle all its own. B-
Astro City Special
by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
DC/Wildstorm Signature, $3.95
In this style:
Marvels by Busiek and Ross
Retired superhero Supersonic gets called back into duty (when everyone else is unavailable) to take on giant killer robot, but he’s not as powerful – or as clever – as he used to be. Once again, Kurt Busiek draws parallels between the old-school and the new-school superhero paradigms (the former using unconventional and creative ways to fight their foes, the latter just pounding the crap out of them), but I kinda felt like this didn’t need to be as long as it was (31 pages of story), although I suppose its length is also meant to be a comment on “decompressed storytelling”. This story feels somewhat formulaic to me, at least as far as Astro City can be said to have a formula. It wasn’t bad necessarily, but to me it felt like the kind of thing Busiek can do in his sleep by now – sinus infections notwithstanding. I guess we’ve gotten spoiled. We’ve come to expect greatness from this book all the time now, so it comes as a bit of a shock when it doesn’t happen. Brent Anderson handles the full-page slugfest stuff pretty well. His inking didn’t bother me as much here as it has in the past; in fact it suited the story pretty well. But I do still wish Will Blyberg would come back. Overall, I’d have to say that this is a good book to introduce people to the Astro City concept, but long-time fans will not really get anything new out of it. Bonus points for including a crossword puzzle, though. B-
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
