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Book-A-Day 2018 #379: Emma by Kaoru Mori (5 hardcover 2-in-1 volumes)

Is it damning with faint praise to say of a painter that you love her brushstrokes but aren’t crazy about her paintings? I hope not, because I’m about to say that about Kaoru Mori’s first major manga series Emma.

Emma originally ran for 72 chapters — 52 of the main story, and a follow-up 20 side-story chapters — in Japan’s Beam magazine from 2002 through 2008. It was collected into ten volumes, with the side-stories taking up the last three, then the volumes were translated into English. At some point, there were hardcovers, each collecting two of the smaller paperback tankobon volumes. And that’s what I just read: 72 serial chapters, 10 paperbacks, or five hardcovers. (Links to Volumes One , Two , Three , Four  and Five )

It’s set in the transition from the Victorian to the Edwardian era in England, starting in what seems to be the late 1890s and continuing for a few years past Victoria’s death in 1901. (There are no actual dates in the series, but Mori does contrast Victorian and Edwardian clothing styles in her afterwords without a whole lot of explanation…I don’t think she believes that everything changed poof! all at once. It is also difficult to judge how much time is passing, since even the old characters are mostly drawn with young faces.) The central character is Emma, a young woman of uncertain parentage and no actual last name, initially working as the maid-of-all-work in the London home of retired governess Kelly Stowner.

Emma meets and falls in love with William Jones, scion of a rich and rising merchant family, who also loves her. But there are the usual impediments: their respective positions in life, William’s engagement to the daughter of a Viscount, his stern father, blah blah blah and so on.

Reader, of course they get married in the end. We all know that. So I won’t pretend otherwise.

My problem is that the problems in their way are neither fish nor fowl. I’d be happy with a Dickensian drama with melodramatic problems solved in melodramatic ways — if one party were kidnapped to America by characters who look a lot like 19th century Jewish stereotypes, for example, and the other party had to chase her there and save her from durance vile — and I’d also be happy with a more serious, sedate story of manners and closely examined social mores of the time. Emma is neither of those. This story instead throws in a couple of melodramatic moments for no clear reason (like that abduction by racist stereotypes), but generally steers a sedate course without actually closely examining the actual standards of the society it concerns.

Emma, frankly, is a caricature of circa-1900 English society as seen through the lens of circa-2002 Japanese society: the aspects that resonate with Mori and her audience are emphasized, and the ones that would be inconvenient to this story are ignored or changed or misunderstood.

Some of my major issues with Emma:

  • the narrative seems to have never even heard of a “breach of promise” suit
  • a “former governess” lives in what would be an expensive London townhouse, perhaps because she became a governess as something to do after her husband died
  • in general, money may exist, but the lack of it does not seem to harm or motivate a single person in the world
  • an honest-to-God kidnapping happens and is never mentioned afterward
  • the entire race of the “the Irish” seem not to exist in this world, or at least to have no connection to domestic service
  • it’s yet another comic series whose narrative is apparently driven primarily by what the artist wanted to draw, and not any actual story purpose
  • fans of the series, and possibly even its creator, seem to be mostly interested in “stories about maids” and details of their clothing, rather than any actual story points

This is not an exhaustive list.

On the other hand, Emma looks gorgeous, and the character interaction on a scene-by-scene level is true and engaging. I might not always believe that all of Mori’s characters actually are British people born in the 19th century, but they’re interesting, distinct people no matter how ahistorical they may be. Their interactions are realistic, and if Emma had not insisted on its historicity, it could all be taken as the ways these people in this society interact.

I expect most readers won’t care about any of that. It’s a nice love story, sweet and totally innocent, as befitting the time-period. (Though there is quite a bit of female nudity in Emma, both of an older married woman and of a high-class prostitute, so it’s not appropriate for anyone looking for absolute purity of the Christian Dominionist strain.) And, again, I’m quite happy with ahistorical melodramatic stories — or solidly historical melodramatic stories, for that matter — but if something pretends to be serious and grounded, it should actually be so, and not just pretend to it.

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Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

REVIEW: Halloween

REVIEW: Halloween

In 1980, I joined Fangoria just as the horror genre was switching from the supernatural to the slasher. I had missed John Carpenter’s Halloween, the granddaddy of them all, only catching it later as I prepared to interview P.J. Soles, who was the topless babysitter to die early on. By the time the sequel gave way to a series, I was off the publication and found no desire to see them since they lacked Carpenter’s hands-on touch.

I was interested, though, in the fresh sequel that opened in the fall. Not only was Carpenter involved, but it would feature Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode (an interesting development since she never wanted to make the first sequel but felt forced into it).

What Carpenter brought to the first film was an off-kilter sensibility, letting the dark lighting prey on our minds, and offering us a shape with a knife, letting our minds do the work. His original score was also fresh, adding a layer to our anxiety.

Each successive director retread the same territory without adding anything new to it but they made money and the shape became synonymous with this genre, only to be mocked in the Scream series (which had the same fate).

It’s interesting then to see Carpenter overseeing a new story, building off his original work, with Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) sitting behind the camera. Properly ignoring everything after the 1978 original, this story leaps 40 years ahead with Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle) incarcerated in a mental health facility. His doctor (Haluk Bilginer) is unhealthily obsessed with the case, which causes trouble.

No less free is Laurie, who is now a grandmother but still carrying the psychological scars of that evening. No one is safe enough, not her or her daughter (Judy Greer) or granddaughter (Andi Matichak). Most dismiss Laurie’s fears but, of course, she is proven right since Michael is the unstoppable force you learn about in physics. He’s older, never having uttered a word since capture, but still compelled to cause harm.

By watching a film called Halloween and featuring Laurie and Michael, you pretty much know they will cross paths again and there will be blood. There are few surprises, although there was an opportunity to turn things upside down, but Green ignored that option which is a shame. Visually, though, he honors Carpenter’s original and makes it interesting to watch, even as you know what’s coming.

Shot for a relatively cheap $10 million, the movie has gone on to gross $253,688,035 worldwide which means it was rather profitable and a validation for Carpenter. The movie is out this week on a variety of formats from Universal Home Entertainment. The 1080p Blu-ray transfer is perfectly fine, nicely capturing the shadows and blacks. You will appreciate many of the textual details. The DTS:X soundtrack is perfectly adequate for viewing at home.

The special features are also adequate and somewhat lackluster considering the pedigree of the film it honors. We start with eight Deleted/Extended Scenes (12:42); Back in Haddonfield: Making Halloween (6:05); The Original Scream Queen (2:32); The Sound of Fear (3:19); Journey of the Mask (2:33); and The Legacy of Halloween (4:25).

Book-A-Day 2018 #378: Bacchus by Eddie Campbell (2 Vols.)

Bacchus was Eddie Campbell’s first taste of comics success, his “American-style comic book” about idiosyncratic versions of the Greek gods, in an idiom occasionally congruent with crime and/or superhero stories but often just focused on the joys of storytelling, camaraderie, and the pleasures of the vine (and, somewhat more darkly, the things one might do while under the influence of that vine).

He made stories about the aged god Bacchus and the rest of his milieu for more than a decade, starting in the spring of 1987 as a regular comic from the British publisher Harrier and eventually built his own minor self-publishing empire (out of the front room of his house in Australia, as he put it), with a Bacchus comic mixing reprints of the early stories with the new end of the saga, ending in 2001 after sixty issues.

And then, a decade and a half later, Top Shelf collected all of those stories — which had previously been collected into ten storyline-focused books from Campbell’s own Eddie Campbell Comics — into two big fat books to match the design of their earlier Alec: “The Years Have Pants” . Each volume collects five of those earlier volumes, and the two books end up almost exactly the same length, as if it were all planned that way from the beginning. (As far as I can tell, Campbell hasn’t done any recent tinkering: these stories were finalized for the Eddie Campbell Comics volumes, and they’re going to stay in that final form from now on.)

This is one of the great quirky comics of its era, maybe of any era. The way it swings back and forth from nearly-farcical action to languid retold mythology to occasional moments of stark drama to actually farcical action is distinct and wonderful: whatever kind of comics you like, Bacchus has a moment that will delight you. And if you like comics in general, Bacchus has hundreds of those moments.

Bacchus, Volume One  has most of the more overtly “American-style” stories, starting with Immortality Isn’t Forever, a crime-drama set in the nonspecific American city preferred by Scotsmen who haven’t made it across the pond yet and with a plot set in motion explicitly by the mythological underpinnings. (Bacchus is still pissed at “Joe Theseus” for abandoning Ariadne all those years ago, even though he never would have met her if Joe didn’t abandon her.) Immortality starts the standard whipsaw plotting, jumping back and forth from all-out action, mostly with Joe and the Eyeball Kid (more on him later), to quieter moments of Bacchus, and occasionally others, retelling myths with his own spin on them. As the series went on, those two modes got more separated, landing in different storylines, but they were both there from the beginning.

The rest of Volume One mostly bounces between those modes — The Gods of Business is more all-out action, bringing Hermes into the mix, Doing the Islands With Bacchus is a long series of retold myths with a light frame story of Bacchus and companions wandering the Greek isles and causing trouble with those they meet, and Eyeball Kid: One Man Show is an even bigger-scale action series with the Eyeball Kid and Hermes fighting again for other characters’ amusement.

(The Eyeball Kid, by the way, is a twenty-eyed grandchild of Argus — he of the hundred eyes — who was Hera’s lover and revenged her death at the hands of her husband Zeus by killing the old man and stealing his power. He’s also the only straightforward, non-conflicted, centered main character, undercut by also being wackily random and prone to malapropisms.)

Volume One ends with the epic Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, which connects the Bacchus-plot of Islands with the Joe-and-Hermes-and-Eyeball plot of Show in Sicily. It also brings in a couple of Haphaestus-created magical/mechanical eyeballs which will be important for several later stories — by this point, Joe and Bacchus and the Kid are all missing eyes.

During that first half of Bacchus, Campbell was the originator and central creator but not always working solo. Appropriately for these “American-style” comics, some of the superhero stuff was art-assisted by or just drawn by Ed Hillyer, and much of the mythological stuff was co-written with Wes Kublick, until the two had a falling-out over plot points.

That separation of the two modes continued at the beginning of of Bacchus, Volume Two : 1001 Nights of Bacchus is another group-of-retold-stories roundelay, set in a pub in England where the patrons can drink past closing time if they tell stories that keep Bacchus awake. The superhero material comes roaring back in the next two stories, Hermes Versus the Eyeball Kid and The Picture of Doreen Grey, which close out that strand of the overall story. And then the focus turns back to Bacchus as the focus first of that pub seceding from England in King Bacchus and then his subsequent incarceration for related crimes in Banged Up, the final Bacchus story.

It changed a little towards the end — Bacchus got a new girlfriend, Collage, and even a baby — but he was a remarkably passive title character for most of the run of his comic. Bacchus talked a lot, but he never did much. Things would happen with him around — bacchanals are spurred by his mere presence, and license flourishes when the god of wine is near — but Bacchus himself would mostly sit and drink and talk. That’s a very unlikely thing for the hero of an “American-style” comic, but Campbell made it work for more than a decade, stringing out his own takes on actual mythology and superhero-style “mythology,” plus the kitchen sink of every other kind of storytelling he felt like tackling at the moment.

To all of that he brought a scratchy, expressive line — perfect for the banged-up faces of his multi-thousand-year-old main characters, and adaptable enough to shift to suit many modes of storytelling that he explored along the way — and a seemingly bottomless enthusiasm for both story and wine. Bacchus is a great comic of myth and modernity, of the things people get up to when their inhibitions and tongues are loosened, and of the trouble they all can get into.

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Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Superman Double Bill, Extended Edition News

Superman’s greatest adventure – his death and rebirth – will be unveiled in a special two-day exclusive theatrical event as Warner Bros. and DC join forces with Fathom Events for a double feature presentation of the previously released The Death of Superman and the first in-theater screening of the all-new Reign of the Supermen nationwide. The films will screen in more than 500 select movie theaters on Sunday, January 13 at 12:55 p.m. and Monday, January 14 at 8:00 p.m. (all local times) through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). Tickets for The Death of Superman/ Reign of the SupermenDouble Feature can be purchased at www.FathomEvents.comand participating theater box offices. 


And later this year, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release the two movies as a single, full-length film with never-before-seen extended footage and a collectible item within the box set. Details will be released in the coming months.

J.J. Abrams’ Overlord Attacks Home Feb. 5

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.  – Produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Julius Avery (Son of a Gun), the “wild and fantastically fun thrill fest” (Molly Freeman, Screenrant) OVERLORD lands on Digital February 5, 2019 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD February 19 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Embraced by critics, OVERLORD is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and was hailed as “wonderfully tense and truly exhilarating” (Jonathan Barkan, Dread Central).  The wildly entertaining genre mash-up boasts a stellar ensemble cast, non-stop action and plenty of wild twists you have to see to believe.

Fans can go even further behind enemy lines with nearly an hour of explosive bonus material on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack or Digital*. The 4K Ultra HD disc and 4K Ultra HD Digital release** feature Dolby Vision® HDR, which brings entertainment to life through ultra-vivid picture quality.  When compared to a standard picture, Dolby Vision can deliver spectacular colors, highlights that are up to 40 times brighter, and blacks that are 10 times darker.  The film also boasts Dolby Atmos® audio mixed specifically for the home to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead***.  In addition, both the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Combo Packs include access to a Digital copy of the film.

Nothing can prepare you for the mind-blowing mayhem that is OVERLORD, an insanely twisted thrill ride about a team of American paratroopers who come face-to-face with Nazi super-soldiers unlike the world has ever seen.

OVERLORD stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbaek, John Magaro, Bokeem Woodbine and Mathilde Ollivier.

BONUS FEATURES ON 4K ULTRA HD COMBO, BLU-RAY COMBO & DIGITAL*:

The Horrors of War

  • Creation
    • Death Above
    • Death on the Ground
    • Death Below
    • Death No More
    • Brothers in Arms

The OVERLORD DVD includes the feature film in standard definition.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES Presents

OVERLORD

Street Date:                February 5, 2019 (Digital)

February 19, 2019 (4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD)

U.S. Rating:                 R for strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual content

Canadian Rating:       18A, brutal violence, gory scenes

*Availability of bonus content varies by digital retailer

**4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision are available at select digital retailers

*** To experience Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos at home, compatible devices are required

PARAMOUNT PICTURES Presents

A BAD ROBOT Production “OVERLORD” JOVAN ADEPO

WYATT RUSSSELL PILOU ASBÆK JOHN MAGARO BOKEEM WOODBINE

Visual Effects and Animation by INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC

Music by JED KURZEL Costume Designer ANNA B. SHEPPARD Edited by MATT EVANS

Production Designer JON HENSON Director of Photography LAURIE ROSE, BSC FABIAN WAGNER, ASC, BSC

Executive Producers JO BURN JON COHEN CORY BENNETT LEWIS

Produced by J.J. ABRAMS, p.g.a. LINDSEY WEBER, p.g.a.

Story by BILLY RAY Screenplay by BILLY RAY and MARK L. SMITH Directed by JULIUS AVERY

OVERLORD

Street Date:                February 5, 2019 (Digital)

February 19, 2019 (4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD)

U.S. Rating:                 R for strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual content

Canadian Rating:       18A, brutal violence, gory scenes

*Availability of bonus content varies by digital retailer

**4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision are available at select digital retailers

*** To experience Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos at home, compatible devices are required

Reimagined Robin Hood Targets Home Video in February

SANTA MONICA, CA (January 8, 2019) – The action-packed epic adventure Robin Hood arrives on Digital February 5 and on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray and Digital), Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital), DVD, and On Demand February 19 from Lionsgate. Directed by BAFTA Award Winner Otto Bathurst (2014, Television Craft – Director – Fiction,“Peaky Blinders”), this rich story is brought to life for today’s audiences using stunning special effects, thrilling battle sequences, and mind-blowing fight choreography. Robin Hood stars Taron Egerton (Kingsman franchise, Sing, Upcoming: Rocketman), Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained, Law Abiding Citizen, Ray), Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Dark Knight Rises, Ready Player One), Eve Hewson (Bridge of Spies, Blood Ties, Enough Said), and Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades franchise, The Fall, Anthropoid).

Returning home from the Crusades, Robin of Loxley (Egerton) finds his country oppressed by the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Mendelsohn). With the help of Moorish warrior Little John (Foxx), Robin transforms into the heroic outlaw Robin Hood, taking up arms to fight the sheriff and win the heart of his love, Maid Marian (Hewson).

The Robin Hood special features include an in-depth, never-before-seen, 7-part documentary; multiple outtakes; and deleted scenes, all of which show what it took to put a new spin on everyone’s favorite hooded hero. Experience four times the resolution of full HD with the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, which includes Dolby Vision® HDR, bringing entertainment to life through ultravivid picture quality. When compared to a standard picture, Dolby Vision can deliver spectacular colors never before seen on-screen, highlights that are up to 40 times brighter, and blacks that are 10 times darker. The 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack also features new HDR10+ technology, making for an enhanced viewing experience on next generation displays by using dynamic tone mapping to reflect frame by frame variations in brightness, color, saturation, and contrast. Additionally, the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack and Blu-ray feature Dolby Atmos® audio mixed specifically for the home, to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. The Robin Hood 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack,Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $42.99, $39.99, and $29.95, respectively.

4K UHD / BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

  • “Outlaws and Auteurs: Reshaping Robin Hood” (7-Part Documentary)
  • Outtakes
  • Deleted Scenes

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Year of Production: 2018

Title Copyright: Robin Hood © 2018, Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2019 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Type: Theatrical Release

Rating: PG-13 for extended sequences of violence and action, and some suggestive references.

Genre: Action, Adventure

Closed-Captioned: N/A

Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH

Feature Run Time: 116 Minutes

4K Ultra HD™ Format: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 2160p Ultra High Definition, 16×9 (2.40:1)

BD Format: 1080p High Definition 16×9 (2.40:1) Presentation

DVD Format: 16×9 (2.40:1) Presentation

4K Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English Descriptive Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Audio™

BD Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English Descriptive Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Audio

DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Audio, English Descriptive Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Audio

Win a Halloween Combo Pack

Laurie Strode is back as is Michael Meyers! The sequel to the classic Halloween is coming to home video on January 15 and our friends at Universal Home Entertainment have provided us with one Blu-ray combo pack (Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD)

To win this, all you have to do is describe for us your scariest Halloween night. Be truthful and detailed.

Submissions must be submitted by 11:59 p.m., Monday, January 14. Open only to residents in the US and Canada. The decision of the ComicMix judges will be final.

BONUS FEATURES ON4K ULTRA HD, BLU-RAY, DVD& DIGITAL:
Deleted/Extended Scenes
Extended Shooting Range
Shower Mask
VisitoJog to a Hanging Dog
Allyson and Friends at SchooloCameron and Cops Don’t Mix
Deluxe Banh Mi CopsoSartain and Hawkins Ride Along Back in Haddonfield: Making Halloween
The Original Scream Queen
The Sound of Fear
Journey of the Mask
The Legacy of Halloween

The film will be available on 4K Ultra HD in a combo pack which includes 4K Ultra HD Blu-rayTM, Blu-ray and Digital. The 4K Ultra HD disc will include the same bonus features as the Blu-ray version, all in stunning 4K resolution.

MOVIES ANYWHERE is the digital app that simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers. Consumers can also redeem digital copy codes found in eligible Blu-rayTMand DVD disc packages from participating studios and stream or download them through Movies Anywhere. MOVIES ANYWHERE is only available in the United States.

FILMMAKERS:
Cast:Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner
Casting By: Terri Taylor CSA, Sarah Domeier CSA
Music By: John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, Daniel Davies
Costume Designer: Emily Gunshor
Editor: Tim Alverson
Production Designer: Richard Wright
Director of Photography: Michael Simmonds
Executive Producers: John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, Ryan Freimann
Produced By: Malek Akkad, Jason Blum, Bill Block
Based on Characters Created By: John Carpenter and Debra Hill
WrittenBy: Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green
Directed By:David Gordon Green

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
4K ULTRA HD
Aspect Ratio:Widescreen 16:9 2.39:1
Rating: Rated R for horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity.
Video: 2160p UHD /HDR 10
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French
SubtitlesLanguages/Sound: English DTS:X and Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish and FrenchDTS Digital Surround 5.1
Run Time:1 hour 45 minutes

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
BLU-RAY
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 16:9 2.39:1
Rating: Rated R for horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity.
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French Subtitles Languages/Sound:English DTS:X and Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish and French DTS Digital Surround 5.1
Run Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

TECHNICAL INFORMATION DVD
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic
Widescreen16:9 2.39:1

Rating: Rated R for horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity.
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French Subtitles Languages/Sound:English DTS:X and Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish and French DTS Digital Surround 5.1
Run Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Season 2 drops on Friday

DreamWorks Animation Television is delighted to share the season 2 trailer for The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle in celebration of the second season debuting January 11th only on Amazon Prime Video!

From executive producer Scott Fellows, the world-famous talking moose and flying squirrel are back in season 2 of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, a serialized comedy divided by unique arcs about two goofball best friends who routinely find themselves thrust into harrowing situations but end up saving the day time and again. The series was recently nominated for three Annie Awards, two for Character Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production and one for Production Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production.

The first arc of the season, “Almost Famoose” has Rocky & Bullwinkle go viral as famous rock stars followed by their lofty treasure hunting plans in “The Legends of the Power Gems” arc, and last but not least the duo embarks on their biggest adventure yet in and as “Amazamoose and Squirrel Wonder!” As always Rocky and Bullwinkle’s innocent and silly ambitions end up dovetailing with Fearless Leader’s sinister plans to take over the world, our heroes are set on a collision course with notorious super spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. The thirteen episode season also includes special voice guests Mark Hamill, Mario Lopez, Weird Al Yankovic and Lil Rel Howery!

To: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment; Re: “The Grinch™”

To: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Re: “The Grinch”

Dear U.P.H.E., we got your press release...
Afraid we can’t run it, thanks to legalese.
For as much as we might want to promote “The Grinch™”
The Seuss folks won’t budge here, not even an inch.
See, Dr. Seuss™ sent us a cease and desist
An action which, you understand, has us… peeved.
They told us, “Use any Seuss IP? No more!”
Not just Seuss/Star Trek mashups; Grinch™ hype too! Then... war.
They proceeded to sue us, making wild claims
of willful infringement, a charge that defames.

We're not sure that we’d want to, in any case,
assist making money they'll shove in our face
as they continue to file legal motions
and otherwise show very hostile emotions.

Our defense costs us thousands, and now you beseech:
“Please use your platform, extend Seuss's reach!
Help them make more moolah, which they’ll utilize
to stifle your speech so you can’t criticize!
Push their retelling! Please help us to coax!"
Their chutzpah is stunning. The nerve of these folks.

We don’t hold it against you, we know that it’s rough—
pushing “Grinch™” weeks after Christmas is tough.
We’d normally help; after all, ’tis the season
but we obviously can’t and now you know our reason.

If you’ve just heard about this suit, and if you think
that you’d like to contribute, please do! Here’s the link.

We’re now in the summary judgement last stages,
the judge has the filings with which she engages.
Our request for judgment should stand on its own,
the facts are all in, there’s no need to postpone.
Our motion is clear for the trained legal reader
although we admit that it’s not done in meter.
We think our case strong, we trust the judge concurs,
and fervently hope that our win she confers.

And to everyone following our long fair use fight:
Thanks for all your support... and to all a good night.

Book-A-Day 2018 #371: Saga, Vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

If you know anything about Saga, you know there’s a big change at the end of this book, and that the series is now on a longer hiatus than usual. If you know nothing about Saga, you might just have been living in a hole for the last seven years, and nearly anything I could say would be a spoiler for the first fifty-some issues and nine volumes.

But that’s always the issue with writing about a long-running media thing: there are the people who follow it passionately, who know everything you could possibly tell them, and the ones who have ignored it, who won’t get any of the backstory. What I try to do is write down the middle — for the people who know the thing exists but aren’t uberfans, who might be caught up or might not, since life is complicated and this media thing isn’t going to be everyone’s biggest priority.

That brings me to Saga, Vol. 9  today. It’s written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated — pencils, inks, colors, the whole deal — by Fiona Staples, as all of the issues to date have been and all of the issues to come are supposed to be. If you want to remind yourself of how we got here, you could check out what I wrote about the previous books: one , two , three, four , five , six , seven , eight .

It’s a soft-SF epic, set in a a universe influenced by Star Wars but full of its own quirks and specifics. Two soldiers from opposite sides of a very long-running war — their people are set up to be opposites in as many ways as Vaughan could manage — met before the series began and fell in love. The first issue depicted the birth of their daughter Hazel; Saga is meant to be her story, and she’s been narrating the comic more and more as she’s gotten older. Now she’s somewhere in the middle of what we’d call her elementary-school years — maybe six, maybe eight. She and her parents, and various helpers, have been on the run her entire life, and have been chased by various others, on and off, the whole time. There are a lot of moments of peace, but the war is always in the background: both sides would very much like to capture and/or kill both parents, and do that or worse to Hazel.

Vaughan and Staples have been clear from the beginning that Saga is Hazel’s story, not that of Marco and Alana, her parents. But she was a baby for the first twenty or thirty issues, so that message wasn’t as clear as they might have thought. And, frankly, even now she’s not old enough to have a story really separate from her parents and keepers — the emphasis on Hazel in the interviews around the most recent issue and hiatus seem to me to be signposts to say “Saga is going to run for a lot of issues — well over a hundred,” given how long it’s taken to get Hazel to this age and how little agency she has had so far.

I don’t mind long stories, as long as they are stories. Saga has a lot of serial comics in its DNA, but I think it still has the bones of a single story. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Saga come back after the hiatus with a time-jump, bumping Hazel up to an age when she really can affect events. Maybe not, though: maybe I’m just trying to hurry along something that will continue to go at its own pace.

Saga is still a very strong, humanistic work of SF, a story of people in danger and how they react to various stresses and demands and threats. Not all of them do what we’d hope they would, just like life. But they’re all real, and they’re what keep Saga worth reading.

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Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.