A 50-something queer Buddist geek in London, as addicted to comics now as I was half a century ago.
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Batman (2022, DC Comics)
Johns and Frank ultimatise Bruce Wayne, and for the most part it's successful. The Nolan ripoffs are a bit much, but Bruce's move to create his Outsiders is well reimagined, even if his Robin gets no more than two panels. Frank's art is strong, although his own inks are better than Sibal's, but all three outings are fun and it's a shame that a fourth volume with The Joker is now pretty unlikely.
Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe chances upon a young man who bears a …
Content warning Avoid the end of the review if you haven't watched the film
A delight to listen to on Audible - observations on youth, aging, loss and love told in greater depth than the film, and the observations on gay youth are even more profound. The ways we hide, the people we believe we're supposed to be - it's not an LGBTQIA+ phenomenon, but Besson nails tender minutiae we forget over time, as well as the effect time has on our expectations and feelings about love. Stéphane's path intersecting with Lucas' may be a little contrived, but it's a niggling issue. The fleetingness of all our intersections, romantic or otherwise is very much championed by Besson & his translator Ringwald (who is herself a revelation) - with the final act revelations about Thomas' demise highlighting love's bittersweetness across time.
It certainly looks good - it may well be Sean and Jake Phillips' finest artistic hours respectively. I mean I've never seen comic or graphic novel artwork look this beautiful. Brubaker's story is certainly compelling and thoughtful - feeling part a meditation by the author and part happening to Jon/Griffin in a sometimes awake/sometimes not sleep-deprived fever dream. It does feel a little too quick a read in spite of the remarkable visuals (which deserve every award imaginable) and the non-ending leaves me a little disappointed (how much of this was even real - Fight Club style). As a noir-driven look at a man's midlife crisis though, caught between his success in an ordinary life and the fulfilment he craves, it's next level good, almost dangerously so. It does channel Fight Club, its willingness to be disturbing is welcome, but did leave me wanting a little more, despite the high …
It certainly looks good - it may well be Sean and Jake Phillips' finest artistic hours respectively. I mean I've never seen comic or graphic novel artwork look this beautiful. Brubaker's story is certainly compelling and thoughtful - feeling part a meditation by the author and part happening to Jon/Griffin in a sometimes awake/sometimes not sleep-deprived fever dream. It does feel a little too quick a read in spite of the remarkable visuals (which deserve every award imaginable) and the non-ending leaves me a little disappointed (how much of this was even real - Fight Club style). As a noir-driven look at a man's midlife crisis though, caught between his success in an ordinary life and the fulfilment he craves, it's next level good, almost dangerously so. It does channel Fight Club, its willingness to be disturbing is welcome, but did leave me wanting a little more, despite the high page count.