Survival Street

 - Survival Street. 4 issues. James Asmus, Jim Festante, et al.

In the very near future, assorted companies have gained more and more ground and 'rights' --now they control all politics. Every state belongs to a particular corporation. Entertainment is pure open propaganda. Edutainment for children is dead --but not their actors! There are still children to save --literally and figuratively. There are so many bad guys to not just bring down but whose public image needs to be carefully dismantled. And there are a few sellouts to deal with, too...

What could have easily become yet another example of embarassingly puerile takes on famous children's media instead is revealed to be a surprisingly smart comic --and yes, smart is the word. The over-the-top covers parodying famous Sesame St. characters do not remotely do justice to the world within --a world in which immigrant children are forced to fight out-of-control wildfires in California; where the governor of Texas wants to implement a law that will allow toddlers to carry weapons; where out-of-control celebrities and internet personalities have fully bought into their self-made hype. 

The comic is not without a couple misses here and there -- the analogy about colonization somewhat falls flat on its face due to the insistence of making it the island where puppets apparently come from. The climax can seem just a touch too convenient...

...but all in all the moments of hope amidst the despair of so-real-it's-hardly-satire feel earned. On the whole a comic more than worth checking out.

*

Extra movies.

 *

Also watched: 

- Glass Onion. Engaging, fan-favorite sequel to the equally beloved whodunit "Knives Out". A very rare case in which the fandom adoration for the movie is mostly deserved. Entertertaining and clever.

- The pale blue eye. Overlong mystery yarn that starts as a quirky homage to grim thrillers a la The purple rivers --and descends into a so-so rape-revenge supsenser by the end. Not the worst, could have been far better.  

- The imitation game. Biopic about Alan Turing and his Enigma creation. As straight-washed, edges-sanded-down as you'd expect but an okay mainstream introduction to more complex themes. Could be better.
 

*

Midnighter and Apollo.

 

- Midnighter and Apollo. Steve Orlando, Fernando Blanco, et. al.

Midnighter: the killing machine on the side of the good. His boyfriend Apollo, a sun god. A vengeful criminal willing to make deals with demons. And a long-forgotten pioneering gay sorcerer... These elements will collide in an explosive, exciting --and surprisingly touching action yarn.

Extraordinarily fun comic that manages to mix the wide-screen gory violence of the characters' early Image / Wildstorm days with long-running DC history. From the excellent use of criminally underrated characters like Extraño and the Tasmanian Devil (the one of the Global Guardians, mind!), to a final page that doesn't just reference but challenges Alan Moore's infamous "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?" --the result is the kind of explosive, unforgiving gay superhero fantasy we've so long waited for.

Quite recommended. 

 

*

Bubble

- Bubble. (Japan, 2022. Dir. Tetsuroh Araki)

After the world is invaded by mysterious alien bubbles that bend the laws of physics, Tokyo is walled off as a particularly dangerous zone. But inside live several teams of teenagers spending their time in hair-rising parkour competitions for trade. One, of them, champion Hibiki, has dealt with hypersensitive hearing since he was a child. Increasingly, he hears a haunting zone coming from the destroyed Tokyo tower...

Charming, highly energetic YA (for teenagers) action yarn, a contemporary take of sorts on "The little mermaid". Gorgeously animated in both action and quiet moments and with a delightful cast, the result is a highly entertaining film for youths. Quite recommended.

*

January 2022 extras.

 *

More stuff finished in the last month.

- Voir. A collection of film essays ranging from genre to format to design to cultural impact. Thoughtful and ponderous, quite recommended --each of the six essays.

- Sailor Moon Eternal. I re-watched the entire "Sailor Moon Crystal" anime, then these two movies  --it holds up much better than we remember all in all, away from pointless discourse and seen more as its own thing.

 

*

My heart is a chainsaw

 

- My heart is a chainsaw. Stephen Graham Jones.

Jade Daniels, half Blackfoot, desperately seeks an escape from her stiffling, lonely life. She finds solace in pranks --and especially in her open vice: Slasher films. She's even written several lenghty essays on the matter. Thus, it is perhaps fitting when she starts noticing unmistable signs that an horror tale of the kind is about to unfold on her sleepy Idaho town. But Jade is about to learn that sometimes reality can be far, far harsher than the most brutal films...

Extraordinay novel from Graham Jones, described as his third slasher (after "Demon theory" and "The last final girl"). As is often the case with Jones' fiction it is at once a gleefully wicked pulp yarn --and underneath that bloody mask, a complex, thoughtful meditation on loneliness, abuse, and the historical consequences of racism, segregation and genocide. Like the best writers of the style, Jones plants subtle clues in plain sight --the resulting gut punch as they unfurl and reveal themselves all the more effective because of that.

Quite recommended all in all --and hopefully used to start several fascinating discussions.

*