John Callahan passed away earlier this week. He was a true Pacific Northwest original – a twisted cartoonist that made the most of his self-created situation (he became quadroplegic from a drunk-driving car accident when he was only 21 and was in a wheelchair the rest of his life). While his cartoons were an acquired taste for some (and generated lots of funny – largely to fans like me – hate mail from others) he definitely had a unique take on life, and wasn’t afraid to spend a lot of political capital making fun of anyone, including even the disabled community (who often supported him stronger than the non-disabled).

Some examples of his humor are here. A few obits here, here, here and here.

And you can get his books at Powell’s – where else?

You will be MISSED – R.I.P.

candybowl

Being a huge newspaper/anime comics fan (also ‘traditional’ e.g. Marvel/DC too but not quite as much) it was a sad day many years ago when Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson hung up his drawing tools seemingly for good. Barring some nice compilation(s), there hasn’t nary been a peep out of him since the end of 1995, when he ended the strip.

Last October, a self-described ‘diehard fan’ published a biography of sorts on Watterson and most prominently, Calvin and Hobbes itself. I was finally able to read a copy of this book at the end of last week. My impressions are thus:

a) I liked the book. I liked the extent to which the author (Nevin Martell) goes all out to find every source and potential lead he can about C&H, its elusive author, and any other history, talkative peer cartoonist, diehard celebrity fan or supporting information he can find to tell the story at its most effective. I also appreciated the respect paid to Watterson’s privacy (especially considering what’s happened to privacy as a general matter since Watterson retired – going kablooie as we speak! ) even if it meant some information could simply not be obtained in the end. Good for Mr. Martell.

b) I was also glad to see this book come out because while the strip isn’t coming back, this country (and perhaps world?) needs Calvin’s biting commentary (and Hobbes’ sage wisdom, often looking at humanity from the outside with more than a small puzzled expression) more than ever. Not that C&H ever needed any help with growing their fan base, but this book helps remind us they are still out there when we need them, even if Watterson himself has long since moved on.

c) Finally – even after having read this book, i’m left with more than a little puzzlement myself – do I have a better sense of Bill Watterson the person? Do I better understand the sources of his enormous talent and special sensitivity as expressed in C&H? I have to say in both cases, possibly no. Despite reading a work as detailed as this one, i’m still wondering about Watterson’s fundamental abhorrence of his own success. I remember reading the Tenth Anniversary book some time ago and thinking BW came across as more than a little sanctimonious in the surrounding notes and essays included – Sure, he’s more than earned the right to have strong opinions about his own industry and his own/others’ place in it, but at times it came across like ‘most cartoonists are sellouts and I’m not, even though I’m way more successful than most of them!’ – not really the most convincing argument when examined in the bigger scheme.

I think Mr. Martell tries to strike a better balance on this particular point, and does take pains to point out the effect of BW’s stance on his peers and even his employers. While no one will be particularly sympathetic to a large publishing syndicate missing out on (yet another) big cartoonist cash-in – Watterson sets the bar higher than anyone before (and likely anyone else will, ever) in his ‘leave me alone’ stance. It is to his syndicate’s credit that they let him get away with it and not haul in the lawyers to get rid of him and keep the strip going with unknown writers and artists behind the scenes. Definitely adding to the allure of C&H – but still not completely explaining why BW felt so strongly about those issues.

Sidebar: The research done in this book paid off for me in two other neat ways – Martell interviews several cartoonists I had never heard of (and now can check out), and, he took a trip to the Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus. Bill Watterson contributed a very impressive amount of artwork, materials and personal items in and around C&H to this museum, meaning it’s going to be a ‘must visit’ next time I’m in Ohio, definitely!

I guess in the end, C&H is apparently one of those rare art creations we are simply meant to enjoy on any level we can, and not bother the creator for the ‘how’ beyond anything he cares to offer. And I can definitely live with that. Thanks to Mr. Martell for writing this book and for reminding us how great a creation C&H truly is, and how much Watterson really sweated the details to make it that way during its run.

candybowl

just got back from seeing IM2 – pretty good! Was *slightly* disappointed to not see Terrence Howard back in this one, but Don Cheadle is about the best sub they could have hoped for (otherwise, we might have seen Chris Tucker or Eddie Murphy? – I like them both, but not here!) One pleasant surprise was Mickey Rourke as the bad guy Ivan Venko – I think he’s been on a roll since Sin City, really – and seems to have left loser movies like Wild Orchid far behind, thank god. Sam Rockwell is always funny and entertaining, too, and I’m glad they didn’t really try to have him be the second coming of Jeff Bridges from the last movie, either.

While at least one situation was a bit too much (ok, yeah TS owns the F1 car, but kicking out the driver just before the race is to start and having Tony Stark drive it instead? Yeah…..) – but all in all, this was a good summer movie, good performances all around and they tell us more about Nick Fury and SHIELD, too, so that’s not a bad thing either.

here’s another review (spoiler alert on it) – IMHO it’s way too cynical – lighten up! This is a COMIC BOOK MOVIE, for pete’s sake – not Saving Ryan’s Privates! Just go to IM2 and count the days until TRON Legacy

candybowl

Watched Iron Man again on DVD this afternoon. This *has* to be considered among the best of an otherwise somewhat mediocre lot of Marvel superhero movies over the past several years.

To date, there have been 3 Spiderman (1st two were decent, last one was lame enough to quit watching midstream); 3 X-Men movies (liked all three but the first two were far better than the last one – lot of missed opportunities with that one); one Wolverine movie (haven’t seen it yet); two Fantastic Four movies (first one was decent, second one was pretty dumb); two Hulk movies (can you over-CGI the big guy more? Who cares, never saw them, bring back Lou Ferrigno!); and a plethora of misc. movies (Daredevil, Elektra, The Punisher, Blade, etc. – who cares, why bother? – just see the first Hellboy instead).

What I really liked about Iron Man (and played a bit of a role in the first Spiderman and F4 movies) is having the main characters not take themselves so seriously – and yet having a real ‘menace’ rise up during the movie. Here, it was Jeff Bridges (probably why it’s best to seal him BACK in the computer come next Christmas – woo hoo!) and he was understated but increasingly evil! And he even turned on the afghani warlord and sold him out too – always nice to have in a bad guy – the best evildoers always eat their own by the end of the story, no?

Finally, I liked the other casting choices – RDJ plays the Tony Stark character just right – overconfident, brash, but somehow ‘gets religion’ by the end – now we wait for his still controversial personality to cause him more problems in the sequel. GP is good and still keeps her distance by the end – although I predict that will change (a la Mary Jane and Spiderman) in the sequel. And the other main actors do well too, although they really didn’t give Terrence Howard enough to do, IMHO.

So, to sum up – well-rounded characterizations (for a superhero movie, anyway) bad guy gets his, lots of zooming around with several well-done ‘Iron Man kicks ass’ battle scenes – what’s not to like? It’s also interesting that Tony Stark is in some ways the opposite of Bruce Wayne – TS already had the world on a platter (arguably for the wrong reasons) when he got religion – vs. BW came from wealth based on helping people, but then became a vigilante (powered by wealth) when his parents were murdered in front of him. Despite this movie’s more ‘loner’ portrayal of him, Iron Man is more aligned with the forces of law and order than Batman ever was – and in the comics, leads The Avengers (unlike Batman, who remains a loner, vigilante killer – Superfriends kiss my ass ). But for me, just so long as they keep kicking ass – that’s ultimately what matters?

And what DC superhero has a Black Sabbath song of the same name, either? Too cool……

candybowl