What I've Been Reading 2010: Part 3

3. The work of Nick Spencer.

Nick Spencer is a relative newcomer in comics, his previous works such as Existence 2.0 may have passed me by, but when a new series from Image, Morning Glories, began picking up acclaim and hype, I picked up the first issue. Morning Glories is simply the finest new ongoing series that came out of 2010, coming across like the evil bastard child of Harry Potter, Runaways and Lost. The mysteries are nicely mysterious (hopefully with the added payoff that Lost so deperately lacked) with the origins of the school and its various methods of teaching, beign kept under wraps for the moment. However, what makes Morning Glories shine is the characterisation. It would be easy for Spencer to write cookie cutter characters with little to no personalities and try and let the mysteries carry the series, but he doesn't rely on anything like that. Each of the characters is rounded and interesting. This isn't to say the mysteries aren't worth the price of admission, from the first page onwards you'll be hooked. Spencer has also re-launched DC's T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, a title about a team of superheroes who work for the UN under the knowledge that their superpowers will eventually kill them, if you want to see what Spencer's writing is like, have a read of these captions from the final few pages of issue one of this series:

"Then let's say, just when you were at your lowest point, someone came to you and offered you a choice. A chance to change everything. A way to redeem yourself, to rewrite your own history...to make the world-to make yourself-forget your past. But even more than that, a chance to do great things, things most people can only dream of. A chance to be a hero. To save the world. And this is what we did. We gave them that choice. And once we accepted our offer-we equipped them....we trained them...we sent them in to rescue Raven and destroy Spider...and then we killed them. All of them."

Perfect.

2. Lean on Pete by Will Vlautin

Willy Vlautin writes the American working class better than almost any other writer alive today. As the singer/songwriter behind the excellent band Richmond Fontaine, he can say more about the lives of people in three minutes than some writers fail to in 600 pages, so it only seemed apt that he became a writer. His first two novels, 'The Motel Life' and 'Northline' were both brilliant pieces of work, and his third, 'Lean on Pete' came out earlier this year. Telling the story of fifteen year old Charley, who moves to Portland with his father and starts working in what only a sadist would describe as a stables. The writing is excellent, and the story is capitvating, bordering on a socio-realism that books like Kes are famous for achieving.

1. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Skippy Dies is a work of art. Pure and simple. It's a nearly seven hundred page behemoth, the kind of length usually reserved for a Harry Potter novel, and yet it's more akin to The Wasp Factory or The Rehearsal. It begins with the titular death of Daniel 'Skippy' Juster, a geeky boarding school Irish boy who chokes on a donut and dies in front of his best friend, but not before leaving an ominous message in strawberry jam on the floor. From there the story jumps back to months before the incident and covers a whole host of characters, the highlight of which is Ruprecht, Skippy's roommate, a homeschooled wannabe Stephen Hawking, who spends most of the book trying to break across into the eleventh dimension in order to discover a universe made of beer. The book was longlisted for the Booker Prize and it's a wonder it didn't fare better, it's one of the finest novel's of the decade, one of the funniest and most heartwarming books, and also contains a scene where rap music induces mass vomiting at a high school prom. In my books, there doesn't get more praise than that.

What I've Been Reading 2010: Part 2

Hope everyone is enjoying this slightly different rundown on the best things from this year. I'm trying to make it as wide ranging a list as possible, to show an appreciation for all kinds of writing. So onwards with the top five. This list is in no particular order.

5. Andrew Kaulder in Monsters by Gareth Edwards

Sometimes good writing sneaks up on you. Not because you weren't expecting it, which certainly wasn't the case with Monsters, but because the parts of it that impress you aren't the parts you thought would. Take any sci-fi film, any at all. Chances are, whilst they might be well written, by and large the character's are not the highlight. No-one talks about the depth of the marines in Aliens, right? Even films like District 9, brilliant though it is, has a fairly simple linear arc for the lead role. This is where Monsters surprised me. Photojournalist Andrew Kaulder is not a straightforward character. When we first see him, he's approaching a hospital to check in on his boss' daughter who was injured in a building collapse, when he finds her, he simply asks if she's ok and when he gets an answer, he leaves immediately. No quips, no moral high ground, he just leaves. He does what he has to get by, and that's all. There's something to be said for a film about an alien invasion when you come out remembering more about the main character than the actual aliens. It says something that the two main characters are a real life couple, and Andrew's feelings towards Sam do inform a large portion of the narrative. This is not to say that this is as simple as, a tough no-nonsense journalist falls in love with a woman and goes with her on a life or death journey, because he's not a tough no-nonsense journalist and he doesn't really fall in love with her. In Monsters, there are much more complex things going on.

4. This speech from The Pandorica Opens by Stephen Moffat

Really, if anything this years series of Doctor Who just proved how much we've been missing good writing talent at the head of the writing team. Stephen Moffat crafted an excellent storyline in which every race faces a tough choice. The highlight of the series was the two part finale in which the theme of self-preservation extends all the villains the Doctor has faced in his lifetime. When they show up to claim the 'ultimate evil' contained underneath Stonehenge, and thousands of starships litter the sky, the Doctor stands atop the monument and delivers this speech:

"No plans, no backup, no weapons worth a damn. Oh, and something else I don't have: anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there with your silly little spaceships and your silly little guns and you've any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight; just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you and then, and then, do the smart thing. Let somebody else try first."

The final three will be along soon!

What I've Been Reading: 2010 Part 1

It's nearly the end of the year! Break out the champagne and/or mulled wine, put on a hat and party like it's 1999. Usually, Blogs such as this one would spend their time listing the top of ten of whatever subject matter they choose, but I thought I'd do something a little more specific. I'm still going to do a top ten for the year, but it's going to be a top ten individual moments of writing that I loved this year, they might be comic books, novels, songs, short stories, scenes in films, but one things for sure, there's going to be ten of them.

Numbers 10 -6:

10. Uncanny X-Men 529 by Matt Fraction.

I'll be honest, X-Men for the past year or so has underwhelmed me, I'm a big fan of the God Loves, Man Kills days of the X-Men being a metaphor for diversity and discrimination. I don't so much agree with where the story has gone now, with time travelling siblings, different realities and so much continuity it's nigh on impossible to penetrate. Sure, Grant Morrison had a great handle on the property at the start of the decade but there's been nothing to make me want to come back. Matt Fraction, as brilliant a writer as he is, has had a pretty generic run on the title so far, until this final issue of his storyline 'The Five Lights'. The piece of writing that struck me came at the end of the issue, after Emma Frost (quick recap: used to be evil, now married to Cyclops.) kidnaps her ex-lover and takes him away in a spaceship made from the conciousness of a French thief. So none of this should work, but Fraction throws out a monologue at the end of the issue that is so well written, so perfectly done, that it more than made up for the lacklustre arc that came before it.

"I've started to go grey this year. You know? It's true. I have. The other night Scott reached over and found two grey hairs on top of my head. It was supposed to be sweet. He was trying to say--look at these things we're eduring together. Look at us surviving. But that's not what I thought at all. I knew a girl once--Jaye. We spent some time in New York togehter. She had come out here, but I didn't know until--I saw her obituary in the paper after we bear Bastion. Died in the attack. And then I thought of pool old Kurt. No matter how sad he seemed to get, I always saw a smiling swashbuckler. Kurt, who was always my favourite, who I could never shock. Kurt, who I miss more than anyone would ever believe. Scott was trying to be sweet and all I felt was cold and along because so many wonderful lights have gone out and I'm so tired from fighting against all this darkness. And I thought, "I'll name them Jaye and Kurt." I name my grey hairs after dead friends. Dead friends and X-Men."

9. The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin

I've blogged about this film once before, back when I first saw it. It stands as one of the best films I've seen this year and despite the fact that it's an incredibly well acted, well filmed story, the thing that makes it a true classic is the script. More specifically what works so well is the opening scene. Two students in a bar. Every single element, every theme, every nuance of character you will see is captured in a microcosm in those opening five minutes. It's an example of perfect writing, and here's how it opens.

MARK (V.O.)
Did you know there are more people with genius IQ’s living in China than there are people of any kind living in the United States?

ERICA (V.O.)
That can’t be true.

MARK (V.O.)
It is true.

ERICA (V.O.)
What would account for that?

MARK (V.O.)
Well first of all, a lot of people live in China. But here’s my question:

MARK
How do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1600 on their SAT’s?

ERICA
I didn’t know they take SAT’s in China.

MARK
I wasn’t talking about China anymore, I was talking about me.

ERICA
You got 1600?

I'm not merely saying this snippet of dialogue itself is worth of inclusion in the list, but the scene as a whole is such a good example of how to write, it should be shown to writing students as a perfect example of that age old rule, show don't tell.

8. Hurricane J by Craig Finn

The Hold Steady are one of my favourite bands, combined great music with a literary eye for lyrics and their latest album 'Heaven in Whenever' was no exception. Whilst previous albums have had a novelistic approach, telling a wider story with a tight cast of characters, Heaven picked up on themes and told a fairly straightforward coming of age tale. 'Hurricane J' is the highlight of this album. Telling the story of Jessie, a girl named after a hurricane who appears to have taken on these characteristics. It's telling that Craig Finn, brought up a Catholic, sees the characteristics of namesakes in people and it's smart that the narrator of the story steadfastly refuses to accept that her behaviour could be anything else. The lyrics in their entireity can be found below.

Jessie, I’m not jokin’ around
I see the crowd you’re hangin with
and those kids don’t seem positive
Don’t all those cigs make you tired?
You know I never ask you to change, I only ask you to try
I know you’re gonna do what I know you’re gonna do
but 22 and bangin’ around in restaurants ain’t that much prettier
than bangin’ around in bars
and why do you keep going to his car?

I don’t want this to stop
I want you to know
I don’t want you to settle
I want you to go
Forget all the boys that you met at the harbor
You’re too hard already, you’ll only get harder

Jessie, let’s go for a ride
I know a place that we could stop and kiss for a while
I know a place that makes you smile
I know you’re gonna say what I know you’re gonna say
I know you’ll look at the ground, I know you’ll probably cry
You’re a beautiful girl and you’re a pretty good waitress
but Jessie, I don’t think I’m the guy

I don’t want this to stop
I want you to know
I don’t want you to settle
I want you to go
Forget everything that I showed you this summer
You’re too hard already, you’ll only get harder

but they didn’t name her for a saint
they named her for a storm
so how is she supposed to think about
how it’s gonna move in the morning
she said if heaven's hypothetical
and if the cigs keep you warm
then how is she supposed to think about
how it’s gonna move in the morning
‘bout how it’s gonna move in the morning

Hurricane Jess, she’s gonna crash into the harbor this summer
She don’t wanna wait till she gets older
Hurricane Jess, she’s gonna crash into the harbor this summer
She don’t wanna wait, she said it only gets harder

7. Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Yes the film adaptation was brilliant, kinetic and a fine blockbuster, but really nothing can come close to capturing what made the books so good. The final volume of the six part series hit the stores this year, and completely lived up to the hype. What made the series work so well was the seague from the start of volume one, with it's general hipster comedy/drama turning quite dramatically into this bizarre mashup of computer games, manga and comedy that stuck with the series for so long. What made the finale work so well is that it brought all of that back to the beginning, with the fights taking a backseat to the everyday comedy/drama. The best scene from the final volume, and pretty much the whole series, came midway through, when Scott goes to visit his friend and ex-girlfriend Kim Pine.





6. Various Characters by Fred Van Lente

Fred Van Lente for those not in the know is a comic book writer for Marvel. He's responsible for co-writing the fantastic Incredible Herc series (seriously, if you haven't read it, go forth and purchase) which is currently winding down in the Chaos War mini-series. Van Lente's place in this list isn't for Incredible Herc, but for the myriad of characters that he's created this year. From his co-creation of Amandeus Cho's nemesis Vali Halfling in the Prince of Power mini-series, to the new version of Power Man in Shadowland he's been adept at creating iconic characters seemingly without even trying. Take a look at his new villains created for the Taskmaster series:
Black Choppers, Trenchcoat Mafia, Militiamen, The Org, Inquisition, The Don of the Dead, The Town that Was Hitler, Redshirt: The Uber Henchman, and the Minions' International Liberation Front (MILF). There's a skill involved here that doesn't just stop with creating names. The characters he creates are incredible involving, detailed characters, even moving beyond some of the pun's they first seem to be. Just look at The Town that was Hitler from Taskmaster issue 3, where Hitler's DNA has encroached on a small German town's water supply, turning each household into a miniature Third Reich, every single family fighting each other for power over the village, launching Blitzkrieg attacks against their neighbours. It's the same with his new Power Man, a character who has more in common with the kids from The Wire than he does superheroes.