The Ettatorial for the Week of 2-24-10
Another decent-sized shipping week for me, with a total of six books. But yet again, nothing really jumped out at me. Nothing was wrong with any of the books, I enjoyed them pretty much equally. But I just didn’t feel like recommending any as a pick for the week. So for a record fourth week in a row, I’m going with a tradepaperback/graphic novel selection instead.
Your pick for the week is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This most recent telling of the classic is brought to us via Marvel, with noted Oz fan/historian (and Age of Bronze author/artist) Eric Shanower on writing detail and Skottie Young on art duty. Now most (if not all) of you are familiar with the Wizard of Oz. Usually that means from exposure to the classic film, though some have read L. Frank Baum’s Oz books. The film is the most familiar, and while I love the movie (it’s a personal favorite), it does take it’s liberties as most films (should and usually) do. This telling of The Wizard of Oz actually takes from the source, and as such, is that much richer for it. Things like Dorothy’s slippers not being ruby for example, or an explanation of the Flying Monkeys allegiance to the Wicked Witch are some key details to the story, as are so many other wonderful pieces left out of the film. This collected edition of the story is spot on in it’s telling, and it’s distinctive art is what elevates it even higher. Young’s art is a very youthful style, reminding me of a mix of graffiti, manga, European, and modern western art styles. That is to say, some might not immediately love the art style chosen for the project. I however would say those detractors are dead wrong, as Young’s research and personal vision for the material actually enhance the story much further than other adaptions in the past have, and make this version actually closer to Baum’s original intent. With the writing and art being so well done, I would normally say case closed and pass on the recommendation. But Marvel went the extra mile, and it’s production values and choices made in it’s printing make it that much better. Things like no chapter breaks in between issues, paper stock and even coloring, all of these things have been thought out to make the collected edition a complete package. With a nice introduction, cover gallery, sketch material, and so on, this is truly a terrific version of Oz. I’m looking forward to the creative teams’ follow-up on The Marvelous Land of Oz to see more. I highly recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed Baum’s classic masterpiece, and encourage even those that haven’t or are too jaded to the material to check out this version of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
There you are folks, your pick for the week. I’ll see you back here next week, same time, same channel.
Star Wars Propaganda Posters
NedHardy has 9 of them.
New Blur Trailer
Bizarre Creations have been making the best Arcade style racing games out there for years, and with Blur they look to be taking it to a whole new level. Imagine the tight, great handling style of the Project Gotham Racing titles and instead of all that silly drifting and style, throw in crazy weapons and power-up’s, Mario Cart Style. Sounds excellent to me.
What seems troubling to me is how little information Bizarre seems to be putting out there about Blur. It’s been a while since we’ve seen it, and while it seems to be on track for release sometime this year, PGR4 was buried under a load of great Christmas season titles. With Blur being a new title, and Bizarre’s last release a bit of a sleeper, the timing on this one’s release is going to be difficult at best.
2 Powerbooks + Bindings = 1 Snowboard?
After much drilling, filling and hammering two European dudes managed to make two titanium Powerbook G4’s into one semi-usable snowboard. While the resulting snowboard is a bit unimpressive, the idea and follow through have to be commended. Seriously, how much pot do you have to smoke before you come up with this?
Project Silence Podcast 44: Massive Effect
If good things come to those who wait, you’re in for quite a treat on this weeks (months?) edition of the legendary Project Silence Podcast. Topics for this week include all the usual witty banter that can only be provided by Jay & Jason and discussions of Mass Effect 2, Assassins Creed 2, James Cameron’s Avatar, indy darling Moon and much, much more. So relax, enjoy the ride, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.
The Ettatorial for the Week of 2-17-10
A decent size week of releases this week, 5 in total for me. All were enjoyable, but for some reason nothing really stood out. And for the third week in a row, I decided to go with a trade paperback pick. Not only that, but it’s a first for it’s kind here at the site, you’ll have to keep reading to find out just why.
Your pick this week is Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 1: The Assassin’s Road. This is arguably the biggest epic in comics’ storytelling, filling out more than 8700 pages, with 28 volumes in total. It is definitely one of the most influential pieces of comics work in the last 40 years, and I would argue one of the best in it’s history. Yes, it’s “manga” in the strictest definition of the word, as it’s origins are in Japan, but I look at it as something that transcends it’s origins and speaks to the artform and not it’s country of origin. This epic samurai tale of honor, revenge, fatherhood, life, and death is so engrossing and beautifully told that it’s millions of fans are scattered throughout the world in every country. It’s cinematic approach to it’s story is one that western comics took another 20 or so years to adapt, and still can’t fully perfect as well as Lone and Cub did. Simple in it’s basic plot of a falsely disgraced Shogun’s executioner forced to take the path of the assassin along with his baby son, the tales told throughout the series showcase life in feudal Japan in beautiful detail and provide a chance to educate the western reader on some interesting historical facts as well. The series’ influence extends way beyond comics as well, as Hollywood has felt it’s pull, in such films like Road to Perdition (an almost direct western adaption of the story/homage to the story), Kill Bill, and even Cormac McCarthy’s The Road utilizes imagery influenced by the series. This first volume of the series and the stories within should be enough to convince you to want to continue on this wonderful reading journey and discover just why this series is so respected.
There you have it folks, your pick for the week. I’ll see you back here next week, same time, same channel.
Genius
Star Wars in the Real World
What do you get when you take real photography and add elements from Star Wars to it? Well, you get that badass looking AT-AT shot for one. I’m not much of a fan of doctoring your photography, but some of these shots came out quite nicely.
Xbox 360 Perfect Dark Multiplayer to Include Goldeneye Weapons and Levels
In case you didn’t already know, Perfect Dark, the original N64 Classic and sudo-sequel to Goldeneye, is coming to the Xbox Live Arcade in March slightly updated with HD graphics. Also, since Perfect Dark already included the Goldeneye levels, Temple, Complex and Facility, they will also be included. Originally, Rare was planning to also include the legendary (and useless) Klobe in the game, but has now decided to include all the original Goldeneye weapons in multiplayer (including the greatest Grenade Launcher of all time). That officially makes this as close as you are ever going to get to a Goldeneye remake, and a pretty good sounding deal at only $10.
Now, the bad news, at least according to the Bombcast (who saw the game at X10), is that Rare is also not updating the control scheme. Yup, those with good memory’s will remember those janky-ass N64 controls: plant your feet and hold the Z-Trigger if you want to aim. I’m not certain that will hold up in this age of modern FPS’s. Thankfully this is an XBLA release and that means a demo to check it out. It sure could be fun to play some of those levels that Etta, Jason and I spent way to much time playing in 8 player online multiplayer on Xbox Live, but it also could be a simple reminder of how far we have come in 10 years.
Via: Kotaku
New Splinter Cell: Conviction Trailer
This is one hell of a scary year for games, and gamers wallets. The amount of high profile games that are being released in 2010 is simply staggering. The first quarter is like most year’s forth. Splinter Cell: Conviction looks be no exception to this rule, every time I see it I am reminded as to why I am so excited about it.
