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UPCOMING CONVENTIONS: PLANET COMICON March 27-28 Kansas City
Today's Views is an irregular weblog updated when there are new fun things to report. Keep checking in.
On my pal, MARK EVANIER's website, POV, there has been several lengthy articles celebrating today's holiday, National Gorilla Suit Day. For those unfamiliar with it (and if you are, where have you been living?) take a look.
Those of us who can't wait to take our hir'suits' out of mothballs each year want everyone to join in on one of the many NGSD parades around the country. If there isn't one in your area, call the national organization and learn what it takes to set one up. Go to Mark's site and learn how to participate.
Last night I, Len Wein, Craig Miller, Bob Skir, Steve Mitchell and Melinda Snodgrass along with a few hundred other folk made our way to North Hollywood and the Television Academy, those folk who bring you the Emmys. Most of us are members of the Academy and vote for Emmys, which means every summer we get a million or so video tapes and DVDs that we have to watch. Honestly, it sounds better than it actually is. Not all shows are that, umm, viewable. At any rate, several times a year the Academy has a "Behind The Scenes" of different shows where they bring together the cast as well as the creators and other production folk. Yesterday, we spent a few hours with the guys (yeah, there were no women on stage) who do "24," arguably one of the best shows on TV. Dan Snierson, a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly, was emcee, and turned out to be one the best shows the Academy has ever had. He was funny, informative and asked just the right questions, and unlike other moderators they've had in the past, he made sure he had questions for everyone and they all got to speak. On the dias were: Actors Kiefer Sutherland, (Jack Bauer, our hero!) Dennis Haysbert (President David Palmer - if only he was our President) D.B. Woodside, the Prez's brother and Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida). On the production side, Joel Surnow , co-creator and Executive Producer, Director/Producer; Joseph Hodges ,Production Designer; Rodney Charters ,Director of Photography and Sean Callery, Music Composer. No, they didn't give away any secrets, but it turns out even if they wanted to they probably couldn't. Much of 24 is pretty much created on the fly, sometimes with little knowledge where they're going. As frustrating as that might sound, as long as they keep surprising us and not contradicting themselves too much, it keeps us on our toes as well as the actors. All of them said they love not knowing what's going to happen next because the actors don't want to "play to the end," in other words play knowing what's going to happen next and possibly give things away by how they act. They want to act as we do in real life, one moment at a time. It would drive me crazy not knowing what was coming, but it obviously works for them as I think this season is possibly their best yet. Sutherland was fairly quiet, but when he was asked a question his answers were very good. Haysbert comes off a lot like President Palmer; he cares about the integrity of his work and what he can truly get behind. D.B.Woodside said he was a fan of the show for its first two seasons (despite, as Len pointed out, that his previous show, Buffy, on which he played a "Blade" like vampire hunter, was on opposite 24.). Carlos Bernard was easily the outward funniest of all of them. When I think Dennis Haysbert was talking about how all the actors got along famously and truly worked for the good of the show - trust me, it sounded better when he said it, and more convincing, too - Bernard said "Obviously the president's office is very different from CTU." In point of fact, it was obvious that all the actors truly loved this show. Joel Surnow, who had produced La Femme Nikita a few seasons back, a show I really loved despite only having one plot which could be summed up in every week's TV Guide as "Nikita discovers intrigue in Section One as she and Michael take on a nest of terrorists" - was very straight forward and didn't put on any Hollywood "glam" talk. He was actually refreshing in his honesty. The others talked about how the show is filmed: few up or down shots; most are at eye level in order to make the viewer feel as if he's peering behind someone's shoulder and watching it right there. They talked how the music works with the series and how behind-the-scenes decisions are made. I've been to a number of these talks and some, like this one and The Shield and West Wing are really fascinating, while others, which will be unnamed, are less than inspiring. It all comes down to whoever is asking the questions, and this time they picked well. A very good several hours. Next up will be The King of Queens. As I never watch the show, I just may pass that one up.
More than occasionally I get an email asking me to read someone's script or pass judgment on their brand-new Teen Titans character which, they're sure, will make the comic or the cartoon show so much better than it is. In all cases, I turned them down. Not only do I do that, but almost every professional writer will take a pass on reading outside scripts, especially from someone they don't know. There are many reasons for this, including lack of time. If I were to read or even skim every script that might be sent to me, I'd have no time to do important stuff, like eat or watch TV. Also, if the writers are sending in ideas for a project you're working on, the last thing you want to do is accidentally use that idea years later when you've forgotten it was ever sent in. Many times people assume you've got power you simply don't have. I have nothing to do with the current incarnation of the Teen Titans. But because I co-created the third version of that team it's assumed I not only have a say in what's going on, but I have the ability to have their characters added to the team. Heck, I don't even read the current comic, and the writer is a good acquaintance of mine. Needless to say, I don't even have the power to get my ideas into print, let alone someone else's. And yes, I have written for the cartoon show and hope to do so again, but I am not in charge nor would I even pass material to the story-editors who are in charge. They come up with all the ideas then hand them out to the writers, not the other way around. Because of time, I try to explain, in as few words as possible, that I won't read the scripts or look at their ideas and usually, if I have time, I explain why as I did above. Most people, though they are not thrilled, at least understand. A few get angry and think I'm being rude if I turn down reading their material. A very few actually demand that I read them. Although I almost always respond to the emails I get, even if it's to write a single sentence, I don't respond to any negative letters. If they send another letter, I tag them to go directly into my junk file. Please understand that writers (and artists, I'm sure) don't have a lot of free time. We're not paid unless we're working. If you have a Teen Titans idea or any other idea, send them to the editors of the comic or the TV show. They are paid to look at material. And even if I were for some reason to read your ideas or stories, I couldn't help you even if it was brilliant. As I said above, I can't always get my stuff read. There are occasions, if I know the person, that I will read something. But professionals often show each other our work in order to get feedback and to make corrections before we send it in. So how does a new writer get their work seen? It's not easy. And people who are willing to give up because they get turned down really don't want to be writers in the first place. But here's a few ideas: Meet editors at conventions. Get to know them. Write into them and get them to know you. Pass along one sentence ideas every so often. If you begin a correspondence with them, ask at some point (not right away) if you can send in plots. You might be able to do the same with writers, but get to know them first. Establish a relationship. Make it real. Most people will quickly figure out if they are being used. Submit your stories to small independent publications that don't pay up front but may pay on the back end. Make your name there and if you're good the majors will call. Don't believe me? Look at people like Brian Bendis and others who got their start doing small, personal comics. Get together with an artist and come up with something special then shop it aorund to the small press publishers or publish it yourself. There are ways to get seen and read, but sending them to people who can't help you and who have a policy not to read outside scripts for any reason including "I don't want to," isn't the way. Also, don't get angry when someone says they can't read your work. When you get in their position you may adapt the same policy. Good luck.
A few stories below you'll see a link to MoveOn.org conderning their commercial which CBS refuses to run on the Superbowl. If you believe CBS is wrong, go to THIS WEBSITE and send them an email. So I was driving with Richard and Wendy Pini, those wonderful folk responsible for ELFQUEST, when Richard said, "I assume you've seen this, but you're in Mad Magazine." If I'd been driving we would have crashed then and there. I had no idea what Richard meant so he explained that he was looking through a Mad reprint special that had just come out, and, while reading a take-off on the movie Deep Impact, he saw my name. Well, I rushed out to buy a copy, and...
"Sleep Impact" ©2004 Mad Magazine ...there I was, in panel 3, being killed pretty quickly. I missed this story when it first appeared, so I'm really pleased that Richard brought it to my attention. The story was written by Dick DeBartolo, whom, I think I've never met. Dick's been writing great Mad satires for years, but as far as I remember our paths have never crossed. Now, is the Marv Wolfman a different Marv Wolfman - according to the phone books there are a few others. Or was it a coincidence? Or, somehow, does he know me and decided to put my name in there. Or, just as likely, we've been best friends since childhood and I completely forgot it. Which, knowing my memory, is quite possible. At any rate, I'll assume I'm the Marv Wolfman who showed up in Mad only to die. If anyone knows Mr. DeBartolo, please ask him for me and let me know. Okay?
I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but the hidden 'wolf' design that's in the gray area to the right, as well as flanking the above logo and several others, was designed by my daughter, Jessica Wolfman. Jessica also did the Map of Bedlam, based on my original design, that's in the Man Called A•X section of this website. Her first connection with comics was to have Jessica Drew, the secret identity of Spiderwoman named after her when I was writing the book, way back when. Just thought I'd mention it. If you scroll down a bit you'll see a comment I made re. President Bush's policy on gay marriage, and during it I mentioned the Patriot Act. I received the following letter in response. Marv, I thank Jeff for his comments. Since I believe in the American constitution as well as the Bill of Rights,how could I get angry if someone has a view different from mine; freedom of speech is one of our inalienable rights. It's obvious good minded people can disagree about issues small and large and still be good minded. What does bother me is when spokesmen for this Administration make it seem as if having a different point of view makes the other party unAmerican or unpatriotic. It's neither. Those who shout down others, whether they're on the right or the left, are trying to stifle our basic freedoms. It doesn't matter if those people are on the street or in the White House. As for my comments on the Patriot Act, what was created to respond to 9-11 has implications far broader than going after terrorists. It affects American citizens, it allows for the tapping of phones, checking into matters that should be private, and has the potential to violate the Bill of Rights. Yes, we should find the terrorists in our midst and put them away for life, but while doing so we should not give up any of our freedoms. As usual, Ben Franklin's quote holds true: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Slate Magazine did a balanced report on the Patriot Act. To read it, CLICK HERE! I know Michael Moore is probably an anthema to most conservatives, but on his website he does talk about the Patriot Act and give annotations for anyone to check on their own. You may not agree with his view point, but take a look at his research and make up your own mind. To read Moore's piece, CLICK HERE! Every day I seem to get 90 messages from MoveOn.org, a liberal website that is fighting the Bush administration. Now, I'm liberal and I want Bush and company out of office, but I have to admit I hate getting endless mail from anyone, including from people whose beliefs I share. I have little need for preaching to the converted. I'm already there. But inbetween the endless emails, the rhetoric and fist waving, they do raise real issues. One of which, according to them, is that the TV network, CBS, is currently refusing to run their political ads on the Superbowl later this month. CBS will certainly be running political ads this year therefore MoveOn's ads should be run. I don't know why CBS is refusing to air the ads. I don't know if it's censorship. But I saw them and thought, with the exception of their "funniest" ad which wasn't funny and merely set up a strawman to knock down, the others were within the realm of valid political debate. Whether you're liberal or conservative, MoveOn's ads should not be censored, no more than Bush's ads will be later this year or the ads of the Democratic candidate. Our freedom should allow difference of opinion that is not in any way libelous. Once again, those who limit our freedoms are not serving our country. Censorship of this sort is not what our founding fathers intended when they drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. CBS, show the ads and let the Americans decide whether they approve them or reject them. To see the ads, CLICK HERE.
The last few days have been incredibly busy finishing off the outline of a novel I've been commissioned to write. Without saying too much about it now, the outline is the hardest part of writing something like this, because it's here that the story has to work. After a final proofreading, I'll hand in the outline tomorrow morning. This is the first novel I've done in about 25 years so it took me a little longer than usual to put it together. Novel writing is daunting and I want to make this one work. Congratulations to Peter Jackson and all the other Golden Globe winners. In point of fact, pretty much all the winners deserved their trophies but then many of the non-winners deserved them, too. This year's telecast was pretty tame with everyone actually acting like sober professionals. One of the best parts of the Globes is that everyone's drinking all night long and the most ludicrous things spill out of their mouths, but this year there were no major gaffs. A shame really. The Globes is one of the dumber award shows out there - it's voted on by fewer than 90 French columnists, many of whom barely write their columns anymore. If you really care about what 90 French writers think about movies, this is for you. Or, of course, you can go to any Star Trek convention and ask the first 90 people waiting in line to get an autograph from the actor who played the Vulcan Botanist in episode 96 of Next Generation what they think about movies and probably get pretty much the same results. Note to Star Trek fans. Even though I'm a trekkie, too, please don't write in to tell me whether or not there actually was a Vulcan of any sort in episode 96, or even if there was an episode 96. I really don't care. Anyway, you don't watch the Golden Globes because of the prestige of the awards. You watch it for the pretty people dressing up in low cut gowns and making fools of themselves. So get with it, actors. Drink more. Act dumber. Entertain us, dammit! Noel and I decided to start an occasional Games Day at the house, inviting a few friends over to play various games, from Mah Jongg ( a favorite) to Trivial Pursuit (any version) to Hero Clix and more. Saturday's fave was Dance Dance Revolution on the Playstation. There's nothing funnier than watching a bunch of middle aged white guys trying to do hip hop... without breaking a hip. I did want to thank Steve Jackson of Steve Jackson Games and John Kovalic, a great artist and all around good-guy, for sending me Munchkins In Space just in time for the big event. I enjoyed a different one of their Munchkins card games at another friend's house (Hi, Gillian!) and now we have a new one to enjoy as well. Thanks, guys. The games are really fun and the cards are hilarious.
Last night I went to the Visual Effects "bakeoff" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Every year the visual effects branch of the movie academy meets to show its members a number of special effects presentations eligible for the Academy Awards. Guests not part of the visual effects branch are invited as well. There were seven presentations, culled down from more than 200 choices. Of these seven, at the end of the evening, members only voted for three to be included in the final ballot which will be announced in the next week or so. One of those three will win the Oscar. This is the second "bakeoff" I've attended and it's a fun,if not long evening. The visual effects heads come on stage and talk about the SFX, explaining what they've done, what the academy members should be looking for, and any other points of interest to demonstrate how special their special effects are. A red lightbulb goes off at the five minute mark warning them to stop. This year the light bulb didn't work all that well. A zillion dollars can be spent giving us the best SFX ever seen, but they couldn't rig up a simple light bulb. After the SFX heads talk, a fifteen minute compilation reel of the effects they want their peers to see is shown. The shots are usually shown in the order they appear in the film, and it's rather amazing to realize that you can take out almost everything else from the film and still understand the story from these isolated clips. In most of these films the SFX were used to tell the story rather than only be glitzy. After the clips are shown, the SFX heads either give additional information to the members, or take questions, usually technical ones. The movies shown, in an order decided by lot, were: Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Master And Commander: The Far Side of the World; The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Peter Pan; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines; X2 and The Hulk. These were the films the SFX board decided had the year's best SFX. I say these films also have too many colans. Four of the seven films had two titles separated by colans. C'mon guys, make more movies with titles like X2. Nice and simple. Interestingly enough, four of these films also had pirates and/or big time sea battles in them. After years of never having a single Pirate movie, Pirates of the Carribean, Master & Commander, Lord of the Rings and Peter Pan all had, to one degree or another, great Pirate battles and ships. I guess it'll be another decade or two before we get another such movie. I hope it's sooner. Most of the movies were also done by, or starred Australians. Coincidence? I think not. Some things are really interesting. Although it's easy to spot the SFX in say Pirates of the Caribbean, it's less so to spot them in Master And Commander, but because the movie was shot in a giant tank and not out on the ocean, every single scene where you see ocean water was digitally created. In most of the movies the boats were only partially constructed, if they weren't digital effects. The enemy ship in Master And Commander actually did not exist; it was pure CGI. They only shot on Galapogos Island for a day or two, so the majority of the scenes, shot in Baja, California, were either matte shots or CGI effects to make California look like that very unique island. The storm, which looked so convincing, was completely SFX. So not all SFX are obvious. The clips were all incredible to look at. I had seen Return of the King several weeks in advance of the film's release and really disliked the shot of Legolas sliding down the elephant's trunk. All of us who had seen it felt, in fact, that it was pretty crappy. One of our group saw it again in the theaters, and the shot was stillbad. But as we saw it last night, it was obvious the shot had been fixed up. I'm wondering if prints of the film were changed after its initial release, or, perhaps, it was cleaned up for the SFX academy and the better version will be included on the DVD? I wasn't the only one in the crowd who noticed the slight, but significant difference. All the very best SFX people were there and it was a thrill to see them and listen to them talk about their work. Good luck to you all.
I was watching the State of the Union speech last night and though I usually disagree with the President 9 times out of 10, I was truly appalled by his stand on marriage being a union only of a man and a woman. On most points I acknowledge there is only a disagreement on choices made. He believes we should have attacked Iraq. Even though I'm glad Saddam is gone, I don't think we had a right to be there. He thinks we achieve a level of security because we have the Patriot Act while I think it violates our basic freedoms. No matter how important these issues are, and how different our stands are, we are constitutionally guaranteed that we are allowed to have differences of opinion. Today he wins. Tomorrow I might. This is the ebb and flow of government. The opinion that marriage can only be a union of a man and a woman, however, is not and should not be a matter of government policy. This is a matter of personal and private religious belief. The government should have nothing to say about marriage other than, if absolutely necessary, decide how much it costs to buy a marriage license. Our constitution was written with separation of Church and State as a primary goal. When the personal religious beliefs of those in charge counter our constituional freedoms, something must be done. The belief that same sex marriages are either moral or immoral is personal and we cannot allow government to decide policy on that because of the religious convictions of those in power. This is a country of many religions and many beliefs and because of that, Church and State must remain separate. Those who think otherwise plainly don't believe in either the wisdom of our founding fathers or our Constituton. Frankly, who marries whom has no affect on anyone's life other than the people involved. Everyone else, no matter how they personally feel, should just butt out. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but if you have any comments about anything on this site, please click on this Email Marv button or the one to the right. Always looking for feedback. Thanks.
Actually saw a surprisingly good movie yesterday. Len Wein and I saw a preview of The Butterfly Effect, the new "time travel" movie starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. It's a horror/science fiction/drama about a man who is trying to save the woman he loves by going back in time and trying to correct mistakes, but it's actually a lot more than that. According to the trailer, so I'm not giving away anything plotwise, every time Kutcher's character changes things it's for the worse. The concept of trying to change the past is not new, but the execution is excellent and constantly surprising. The film is very grim, violent and dark, but it's one of those B-films where everything works. The advertising can't actually explain why this is a good movie, so it might not do well, but it's one of the best plotted horror films I've seen in ages. Everything works, and images you see that are confusing at first, and plot points that seem to be bizarre, all make total sense by the time the movie's over. The writers did their work on this one. The script is solid and smart, the "explanation" for Kutcher's time travel is not science based, but you still accept it, the characterizations are surprising and actually work and the acting is uniformly excellent. There's also a level of real drama involved that you don't expect in horror films. I'm a sucker for smartly plotted films that deliver emotional stories, and this one definitely delivers. But be warned, if grim, suddenly violent horror upsets you, this may not be the movie to see.
From my Wolfmill producing partner, Craig Miller, comes this wonderful link. Ever wonder exactly who still manufactures Death Rays in these days of phasers and laser blasters? For not only the answer but a commercial for the latest Death Ray products, CLICK HERE. It's definitely worth your time. And if any of you have a link to something really cool, let me know, okay? If I post it here you'll get to see your own name in black and white.
ALIAS is the weirdest TV show ever. Usually very well done, it changes direction at the drop of a hanky. Last season it changed its basic concept twice, something usually unheard of on TV. In comics directions and focus change with every writer, but in TV, the creator/show runner/story-editor is paid to make sure every episode in "on mode" as it were. If I didn't know Alias is a well-deserved critical darling though sadly not a ratings one, I'd say this constant change of direction was some sort of master plan to keep us guessing what's next, and, for the most part, they succeed. I don't care about ratings unless they kill a show I like, so if it's making J.J. Abrams work 15 hours a day to keep us enthralled, so much the better. I'm there. Abrams usually makes sure every episode, if not confusing in some fashion, is at least well done. But last night's episode was weird in the not so good way. ((SPOILER WARNING)) The cardinal rule of writing is Show, Don't Tell, but last night it was tell. Tell and more tell. Last season, Sidney woke up after a fight with a killer only to discover two years had passed and that she didn't remember anything that had happened in the interim. I won't begin to ask if that means Alias is now taking place two years in the future, say, 2006? Or were the first two seasons taking place two years in the past and now they've caught up. I promise I won't ask that question. But what I will ask is why do an entire story in which the heroine is simply TOLD what happened to her. At first, I thought it was going to be a bottle show, taking place in an already existing set to keep down costs (Alias has got to be an expensive show to film) but within the story we do see "flashbacks" to other scenes. Which means there was no budget restraint on this one, or at least not a servere one. But why have someone tell her the story? Shouldn't the main character learn something as important as her own past by herself? Shouldn't Sidney have shown the initiative she's demonstrated since the series began to put together her past, even if, as she gets from one clue to the next, she 'sees' the truth via the same flashbacks they used. Show don't tell is the cardinal rule of writing for a reason. This one gave away too much which had yet to be fully exploited and did it in a haphazard and sloppy way. Sidney came off the victim instead of the heroine we expect. Sorry, guys, you got a failing grade for this episode. Did like the twist at the end, though.
I've always felt that, given the right equipment and means of dictribution, people out in the hinterlands (wherever they are) could probably outdo Hollywood (see below). Well, I just watched a fan Star Trek episode whose production was about 85% of the original classic Trek. It looks like Trek, and feels a helluva lot more like Trek than either Enterprise or Voyager ever have, for probably a budget God knows how much less than the original show. Oh, the acting isn't great, and some of the dialogue is wonky, but it was fun to watch. If the internet is good for anything it's an outlet to allow people who would otherwise have a helluva tough time getting their product seen. Take a look at Starship: Exeter and see if you can watch it without smiling. This one's a keeper, and my hat's off to everyone involved.
I'm here today to warn you not to see "Paycheck," the new John Woo movie. Now, I'm a huge John Woo fan, been one since the days before videotapes or DVDs when my friends and I had to drive an hour to go to an all Chinese movie theater in Monterey Park to watch his subtitled movies. Haven't been as much of a fan of his American output, but most of it is at least watchable, if no longer inspired. But Paycheck is a dreadful, embarrassing film which is stupid beyond acceptance. How does a film like this get greenlit? The script makes less than no sense even if the idea under it is decent. I get the impression they wanted to do a Hitchcock film in the worst way, and if "worst" is the operative word, they succeeded. Ben Affleck's performance lacks nuance or any subtlety. Considering his last few movies,if he doesn't start picking 'em better, we're going to forget his real performances in "Chasing Amy" and "Shakespeare In Love." Uma Thurman is always great to look at, and probably has the longest legs in Hollywood (that's not a complaint) but she was pretty much just "the girl" here. Aaron Eckhart, who plays the villain, is usually a good actor, but here he seems to have learned "Villainy 101" from watching John Lithgow chew the scenery in "Cliffhanger." Thank God for Paul Giamatti who plays the comical sidekick. He proves you can actually do some fun acting in a movie like this. The script is ridiculous and the clues Ben leaves himself to figure out later seem to come out of every 1960s bad Joker vs. Batman story. This is a major league catastrophe. At a party this past week we were talking about the fact that movie attendance is down for the first time in years, even though profits are still up. Of course, that's because movie prices are skyrocketing. I maintain that there are several reasons for the decline and Hollywood can only fix one of the two reasons. The first is the movies this year have been pretty awful. The second is price. For two to go to a movie, it's going to cost between 20 and 30 bucks. A DVD is, at Costco, maybe 15-20 bucks. And they've been coming out about three months after the movie. With giant screen TVs becoming more and more prevalent, and home theater sound better and better, there's no reason to see many movies in the theaters anymore. Of course, you want to see Return Of The King on as large a screen as possible, but most movies don't require large screens. So, even if all movies were good, I think lots of people will wait to see many of the "smaller" movies on DVD, but in a year where 75% of the films stunk, well, it means more and more people just won't give a damn unless the movie is something truly special. So, Hollywood, you've got to do something about quality. Stop greenlighting so much garbage. It's only going to hurt your business in the long run as people hesitate to spend the necessary big bucks on a chance. And maybe, to help the cost of movies, start keeping honest accounting practices so most of the star's salaries can be back-ended based on profits instead of being upfront. Twenty million dollars upfront means if nothing good has been offered an A-list actor in a given year, they might be less choosey about what they pick. But if most of their salary is based on dollar one gate, then perhaps they will begin to choose decent movies. And if the money is back-ended, movies simply won't cost nearly as much as they do.
Yesterday I was busy finishing off the script for Angel Sanctuary vol 2 for Viz. Americanizing Manga is fascinating and not at all as easy as you'd think. First of all, the art is already done, so you've got to take long, complex dialogue balloons, match them with the roughly translated English version, and then rewrite. The only problem is, we write left to right whereas the Japanese write up to down. Say the rough translation reads, "It's exceedingly important to eat a fish" (no, that's not a line from the story, I'm using it as an example). Well, the words exceedingly important might fit when written up and down but they're too wide to use in a very narrow balloon. Also, the Japanese can seemingly convey long thoughts in a few pictographs, but in English we would have to use far more words than there is space. It's a struggle to fit the same concepts in very small balloons and maintain good characterization as well as fun dialogue. As I say, it's a fascinating exercise. One thing that does come through is why Manga is taking over from American comics. Whether you like any individual series or not, they are completely different from anything we do here. They operate using a different rhythm and tempo, playing to both humor and drama in ways Americans would never do. They are blatant in their emotion and imaginative in their concepts. I think American kids, who have seen more TV by the time they're ten than I'd ever saw at that age (we have hundreds of TV stations today and back then we had only three networks) are sick of the standard American three act structure that always moves in a certain way, hardly ever varying in its pacing. Manga, using a very different formula, is simply not as predictable as our stuff. They also address subjects we would never touch, and are more up to date in both concept and dialogue. It doesn't even matter if the stories make a great deal of sense because their very difference makes them intriguing. You have no idea where their stories are going or what is going to happen to any specific character. Something else is also interesting. The fact that they are selling is proof that people still like the comics format. It's just that they don't particularly care for the kinds of stories most American companies want to tell. I think the Japanese willingness to embrace many different kinds of stories is their lure where our reliance on the same o' same o' is the reason for our sales decline. All the American companies are jumping on the Manga bandwagon, hoping to find some series that Viz, Tokyo Pop or even Dark Horse hasn't yet printed, but that isn't the solution. Look to the underlying reasons why Americans, and, frankly, most cultures, are reading Manga. Simply publishing their reprints isn't going to save the American comics market. Understanding what they're offering might.
Welcome to the New Year. Hope you all had a great Holiday.Noel and I didn't get to see as many movies as we'd like (only Big Fish and Peter Pan - both excellent and both highly recommended) but it was still a great few weeks. Noel's parents were in town for Christmas, and her brother, Mike, joined us when he could. Mike, a scientist and manager of navigation for JPL, was busy working on both the Mars Rover mission as well as Stardust which is photographing and collecting material from comets. It's been fascinating watching the photos as they show up on all the news channels, and even more so knowing my brother-in-law is one of the people responsible for these successes. I write fiction. He's doing the real thing. You can read about Mike here and here, the Stardust mission here, and the Mars Rover Mission here. I've just put up seven or so WHAT TH--? columns. If you haven't read them yet, take a look. I've now done 66 of those things and you can find them all HERE.
Anyway, once again, Happy New Year!
All Contents ©2004 Marv Wolfman.
All Rights Reserved
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Secrets Behind The NEW TEEN TITANS!
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I'm
never quite sure exactly how many folk check in here on any regular
schedule, or even why, but despitelapses for whatever reason, I do
try to update Today's News on something that resembles a semi-regular
occasion. Sometimes there's simply no news, and I don't think you
want to read about my having breakfast or lunch or the time I take
out from writing to play with my dog, Tala - who is a week
or so shy of her 15th birthday. At any rate, my New Year's resolution
is to do this more often and, one hopes, with interesting stuff. We'll
see tomorrow.