Swollenpickles: A comic book Q&A

October 8th, 2008

I’ve known Swollenpickles for simple ages now, it may have been before joining the Aussie Bloggers forum but I can’t be sure.  Swollenpickles and I have had a couple of good chats about comics and he also runs Comicologist where we share a lot of the same ideas when it comes to comic books.

  • Favourite regular series right Now?
    Probably a tie between Immortal Iron Fist and Moon Knight, with the current X-Men series running a close second.
  • Comic book character you only recently discovered/started reading?
    I guess I’m still new enough to comics that they are all relatively recent discoveries. I only recently discovered Wanted and that was awesome. I also recently discovered the Dark Phoenix saga (not that is new, but it was new to me).
  • If you could draw/write one character who would it be?
    Besides Deadpool, it would have to be Moon Knight. He’s a super hero onion. Layers… plus he can make a grown man cry, I’m told it’s one of his powers.
    Actually, I can’t limit it to one, so I have to say I’d like to take a crack at Wolverine Origins, if nothing else, just to pick up the pace a bit. Two things bug me about that book. The pacing seems unnecessarily drawn out and Dillion seems to have a Sylvester Stallone fascination. Take a look at any male face he’s drawn and see if it doesn’t look like Sylvester Stallone to you!
  • Are you a fan of the big multi issue crossover extravaganzas?
    Only when it’s done well. I think Messiah Complex was really well put together. Civil War was good also, but all the spinoffs became a bit much.
    World War Hulk was kind of disappointing, especially after how brilliant Planet Hulk as.
  • Last comic book series that you dropped and why?  
    I’m not going to worry about the next Hulk series. Planet Hulk was awesome,
    but then along came World War Hulk and they lost me. Some of the World War Hulk tie ins were absolutely terrible as well. The WWH X-Men four issue thing was unforgiveable.
  • Favourite character?
    Deadpool, Gambit or Moon Knight. Gambit has been a favorite for as long as I can remember, Deadpool and Moon Knight I’ve only started appreciating later in life.
  • Are you a DC or a Marvel?  
    Marvel for sure. Besides Batman, I can’t think of a major DC series that I’m
    in to.
  • Do you remember your first comic/series?
    Late bloomer, but it was Cable & Deadpool. Actually only got into reading
    comics because of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance. What sort of geek am I? I bought Cable & Deadpool Vol.1 and Batman Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth at the same time. I tore through Cable & Deadpool and promptly order the other trades that were out at the time.
  • Is Watchmen the movie going to be as good as the comic book?
    I saw the preview at IMAX and it looks like it just might.
  • Favourite comic book movie?
    The Dark Knight.
  • Worst comic book movie?
    Ghost Rider. Terrible.
  • Character you’d like to see in a movie?
    Deadpool, Gambit or Moon Knight… see a trend here? I think Immortal Iron
    Fist would make an excellent movie as well.
  • Series that you’d like to see on TV?
    I’m not sure. It would have to be something more character driven I think for it to work. Actually, I’d like to see the Walking Dead series adapted for TV or a movie. It’s got that epic serial feel, plus it has zombies so everyone wins!

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John Rambo

February 15th, 2008

If you are considering going to see John Rambo because you love gory violence or you’re a gun nut or you think that movie violence is designed to glorify war or violence then please don’t bother.

You will miss the fucking point, and very likely will never get the point.

Early logo for John RamboJohn Rambo is rated R but it shouldn’t be because of the very graphic violence of which there is a lot of. It should be rated R because it deals with an extremely harsh reality that frankly no child should ever have to be aware of but every adult needs to.

What humans are capable of doing to each other is simply horrific and in John Rambo it is laid out bare with no warm and fuzzy in sight. It is presented in a graphic and blinding light in this film.

I’m the first to admit I know very little about the situation in Burma, I know that those protestors were slaughtered:

A SENIOR Burmese intelligence official claims thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle. source

I have read, since watching this film about the experiences of the children who have been forcibly drafted into the army and the atrocities that they have witnessed. Children.

John RamboSome may criticise the film John Rambo for its heavy handed approach to the violence and again there are reasons why this film is rated R and no children should watch it. It is this graphic death and destruction that makes the film a success because there is simply no other way to effectively show this scenario. In order to get the message across it has to reach out of the screen and smack you in the face with its blatant horror and the miserable, terrible existence that these people live in.

I have seen some movie violence in my time and this film is in a whole other class on its own. It is an assault on your senses. The Reviewer (who I highly recommend and enjoy reading) probably sums it up best:

There were bits of bad guys flying all over the place. Things getting shot off, blown off, ripped off, cut off, in the end there were more pieces of people than people in the movie. source

This didn’t have to be a Rambo film, but I think it is nice that it was. Like dropping in on an old friend to see how he’s doing and after Stallone’s revisit to his other iconic character in Rocky Balboa I was really interested to see what he did in this one.

In fairness the plot is small and overshadowed by the action, some of the characters are clearly caricatures of reality although I have seen that burning optimism in the eyes of missionaries who shall fear no evil in the real world so maybe that’s the point being made. Some of the acting matches the plot in its limitations. Stallone it must be said as Rambo is a forceful presence in this film.

The bottom line though is that the plot and even the acting comes second to experiencing the horror and hopefully becoming aware that these things do happen in the world and that they shouldn’t and that we shouldn’t ignore it. We should be outraged.

Strong message from a film that had the potential to be a joke or at the very least dismissable.

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