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#91
Books & Comics / Re: Completely Self-absorbed T...
Last post by Colin YNWA - 13 May, 2024, 07:37:03 AMNumber 83 - Essex County - Part 1
Number 83 - Essex County
Keywords: Canada; Ice hockey; coming of age; graphic novel, not a graphic novel
Creators:
Writer - Jeff Lemire
Art - Jeff Lemire
Colours - Its in beautiful black and white baby
Publisher: Top Shelf
No. issues: 3 Graphic novels; collected into one bumper 500+ page collection
Date of Publication: 2008 - 2009 originally 2011 as a complete collection
Last read: 2016
I sometimes forget that Jeff Lemire's
Copyright - him what created it
was originally presented as three stand alone short stories. I forget 'cos those stories feel so perfectly bound together into a magnificent 500 page whole and work so much better as such... I assume, I've never read them separately but it's really hard for me to imagine doing so.
The three stories are all set in Essex County in Ontario Canada, though my understanding is that while the places are real, the history and specifics of the region are altered to support the story being told. Characters from each tale filter through the others, but each is distinct as a story and the connective tissue between them is really just in tone and theme. Largely how they deal with family. So while the stories are more closely linked than those in say Contract with God, each could still work perfectly in isolation.
The first story 'Tales from the farm' tells of Lester Papineau sent to live with his Uncle Ken after the death of his mother and with his father long since gone. The pair are united and separated in their grief at the loss of Lester's mum, who was Ken's sister. Lester forms a curious friendship with Jimmy, an ex hockey player, who suffered from a head injury and has a secret history with Ken and his family.
'Ghost Stories' the second tale slowly reveals the history of the relationship between two more ex-ice hockey players, in this instance brothers Lou and Vince. As we learn more about their pasts we learn about the course their lives took and the events that drove them apart.
Finally we meet Anne Quenneville. A Country Nurse who travels Essex County caring for people while also trying to care for her ageing mother who now lives in a nursing home. On her rounds she comes across characters from previous stories and through flashbacks reveals some history of Essex County. In many ways it's this story that brings everything together and unites the initially separate story into a whole.
Copyright - him what created it
While I primarily consider Jeff Lemire a writer I like, I feel I need to consider the impact of the art on Essex County first and foremost to start to unpick why I think Essex County is so good. His style doesn't strike me as something I instinctively gravitate to. It's loose and at first glance feels awkward and unrefined. That's so often something I would be drawn to, but in Lemire's case stylistically there's just something that doesn't leap off the page and draw me in. In fact when I flick through something by him I can find it a little off putting. Then as soon as I start reading I rapidly get beyond any supreficial concerns and quickly see the depth and power to his work. Any stylistic qualms I might have are washed away and I relax and enjoy the comfortable, expansive nature of what he's doing.
In Essex County that is particularly true, his art is just magnificent and so well constructed to carry the stories it holds. There's a few particular aspects of that I want to delve into. Firstly the way he creates open, sweeping landscapes that with apparently simple lines and brilliant use of white spaces he creates a cinematic feeling of wistfulness and isolation. By situating his character in these environments they are immediately given a lonely sadness that is really effective and often haunting. It gives me an emotional connection to the characters I can really relate to by the way they view the world around them, in the way Lemire places them in the world he drafts.
I find an interesting comparison to the way I discuss how Steve Yeowell opens up worlds in Red Seas (no.119). They both do so with similar choices in their use of white space and spare details but to very different effects. Yeowell does so to give epic scope and to add to the sense of wonder that Red Seas demands. In Essex County Lemire makes the space and landscape feel isolating giving a far more intimate emotional reaction to them. The comparison of common techniques (if different styles) to have such starkly different impacts is fascinating to me.
Number 83 - Essex County
Keywords: Canada; Ice hockey; coming of age; graphic novel, not a graphic novel
Creators:
Writer - Jeff Lemire
Art - Jeff Lemire
Colours - Its in beautiful black and white baby
Publisher: Top Shelf
No. issues: 3 Graphic novels; collected into one bumper 500+ page collection
Date of Publication: 2008 - 2009 originally 2011 as a complete collection
Last read: 2016
I sometimes forget that Jeff Lemire's
Copyright - him what created it
was originally presented as three stand alone short stories. I forget 'cos those stories feel so perfectly bound together into a magnificent 500 page whole and work so much better as such... I assume, I've never read them separately but it's really hard for me to imagine doing so.
The three stories are all set in Essex County in Ontario Canada, though my understanding is that while the places are real, the history and specifics of the region are altered to support the story being told. Characters from each tale filter through the others, but each is distinct as a story and the connective tissue between them is really just in tone and theme. Largely how they deal with family. So while the stories are more closely linked than those in say Contract with God, each could still work perfectly in isolation.
The first story 'Tales from the farm' tells of Lester Papineau sent to live with his Uncle Ken after the death of his mother and with his father long since gone. The pair are united and separated in their grief at the loss of Lester's mum, who was Ken's sister. Lester forms a curious friendship with Jimmy, an ex hockey player, who suffered from a head injury and has a secret history with Ken and his family.
'Ghost Stories' the second tale slowly reveals the history of the relationship between two more ex-ice hockey players, in this instance brothers Lou and Vince. As we learn more about their pasts we learn about the course their lives took and the events that drove them apart.
Finally we meet Anne Quenneville. A Country Nurse who travels Essex County caring for people while also trying to care for her ageing mother who now lives in a nursing home. On her rounds she comes across characters from previous stories and through flashbacks reveals some history of Essex County. In many ways it's this story that brings everything together and unites the initially separate story into a whole.
Copyright - him what created it
While I primarily consider Jeff Lemire a writer I like, I feel I need to consider the impact of the art on Essex County first and foremost to start to unpick why I think Essex County is so good. His style doesn't strike me as something I instinctively gravitate to. It's loose and at first glance feels awkward and unrefined. That's so often something I would be drawn to, but in Lemire's case stylistically there's just something that doesn't leap off the page and draw me in. In fact when I flick through something by him I can find it a little off putting. Then as soon as I start reading I rapidly get beyond any supreficial concerns and quickly see the depth and power to his work. Any stylistic qualms I might have are washed away and I relax and enjoy the comfortable, expansive nature of what he's doing.
In Essex County that is particularly true, his art is just magnificent and so well constructed to carry the stories it holds. There's a few particular aspects of that I want to delve into. Firstly the way he creates open, sweeping landscapes that with apparently simple lines and brilliant use of white spaces he creates a cinematic feeling of wistfulness and isolation. By situating his character in these environments they are immediately given a lonely sadness that is really effective and often haunting. It gives me an emotional connection to the characters I can really relate to by the way they view the world around them, in the way Lemire places them in the world he drafts.
I find an interesting comparison to the way I discuss how Steve Yeowell opens up worlds in Red Seas (no.119). They both do so with similar choices in their use of white space and spare details but to very different effects. Yeowell does so to give epic scope and to add to the sense of wonder that Red Seas demands. In Essex County Lemire makes the space and landscape feel isolating giving a far more intimate emotional reaction to them. The comparison of common techniques (if different styles) to have such starkly different impacts is fascinating to me.
#92
Off Topic / Re: Boys Adventure comic blog
Last post by Richard S. - 13 May, 2024, 06:41:04 AMThese pages of artwork by Sandy James have been (probably still are) up for sale on ebay - I'm a big fan of Sandy's work and it's a shame that more of it has been reprinted in recent year.
https://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.com/2024/05/sandy-james-artwork-for-tiger.html
https://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.com/2024/05/sandy-james-artwork-for-tiger.html
#93
General / Re: Things that went over your...
Last post by sheridan - 13 May, 2024, 03:58:34 AMQuote from: Dash Decent on 03 April, 2024, 06:09:43 AM'Armageddon' derives from the Hebrew, 'Har Megiddo'. Given that Megiddo is a place, we may be able to shoehorn a 'Meg" reference into all this as well.
Megiddo also being the settlement in Israel in which the ancient picture of Damien appears in The Omen II.
#94
Film & TV / Re: New Doctor Who series
Last post by IndigoPrime - 12 May, 2024, 11:07:04 PMIt felt very... RTD Who. The man doesn't do logic. His plots, such as they are, fall to pieces the second you examine them. But the show is loud and flashy and sometimes fun.
I thought Space Babies was absurd. I'm not sure I liked it, with the thing lurching back and forth between uncanny valley talking babies, the C-list Alien, and the Doctor repeatedly being weirdly callous in scaring the kids. The final act wasn't earned either. This one could probably have been saved with a script editor but this show since the return hasn't cared about giving someone in that position any power.
I thought the second episode was much better. The villain was menacing. The story just about held up. Ish. And the ending was so over the top that you had to admire probably the most expensive thing Doctor Who has ever done being a dance number. Even if the song itself was (ironically, given the plot) terrible.
So a 2/5 and a 3/5 from me for those so far. And that's a quarter of the series done. It'll be interesting to see where it goes and if people are so quick to consider RTD the second coming at every available opportunity. I'm preparing for it to be fine and am not terribly invested. It's six hours of hopefully entertaining telly.
I thought Space Babies was absurd. I'm not sure I liked it, with the thing lurching back and forth between uncanny valley talking babies, the C-list Alien, and the Doctor repeatedly being weirdly callous in scaring the kids. The final act wasn't earned either. This one could probably have been saved with a script editor but this show since the return hasn't cared about giving someone in that position any power.
I thought the second episode was much better. The villain was menacing. The story just about held up. Ish. And the ending was so over the top that you had to admire probably the most expensive thing Doctor Who has ever done being a dance number. Even if the song itself was (ironically, given the plot) terrible.
So a 2/5 and a 3/5 from me for those so far. And that's a quarter of the series done. It'll be interesting to see where it goes and if people are so quick to consider RTD the second coming at every available opportunity. I'm preparing for it to be fine and am not terribly invested. It's six hours of hopefully entertaining telly.
#95
Film & TV / Re: New Doctor Who series
Last post by Richard - 12 May, 2024, 10:51:11 PMIt's never pretended to be anything but a kids' show for kids. (The spin-off Torchwood was marketed as Dr Who for adults, but it turned out to be less popular than Dr Who.) It's just that some writers are better at writing all-ages material than others.
#96
Film & TV / Re: New Doctor Who series
Last post by nxylas - 12 May, 2024, 10:28:33 PMQuote from: The Monarch on 12 May, 2024, 09:36:04 PMits always been for kidsI think it's fluctuated over the years, from a kids' programme that adults enjoy to an adult programme that kids enjoy. depending on who is in charge. There were definitely periods starting quite early on when it aroused the ire of Mary Whitehouse et al for being too horrific for kids.
its just the kids grew up and just kept watching it
#97
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
Last post by Colin YNWA - 12 May, 2024, 10:02:45 PMSo watching 1987's The Gate and well I've not finished it yet but I'm half way through then the only exciting thing that's happened so far is 27(ish) minutes in Terry the best friend of the led Glen played by Stephen Dorff not less is dancing in his bedroom and on his wall you can clearly see the cover of Prog 458 (The Adrian Cockroach cover) is clearly visible...
#98
Creative Common / Re: Does my Art look big in th...
Last post by Nightbook - 12 May, 2024, 09:57:52 PMOr chuffed. Definitely one or the other. 
#99
Creative Common / Re: Does my Art look big in th...
Last post by Nightbook - 12 May, 2024, 09:57:06 PMQuote from: Hoagy on 12 May, 2024, 05:11:32 PMI'm glad the Anderson and Dredd composition is being received well.For what it's worth I'll point to a couple of things I really like: firstly the placement/positioning of Anderson's arms/hands. You've really captured/hinted at something ephemeral (which is probably not quite the right word but I can't think of a better one). Also the way you've tilted Anderson's head back: I find any kind of worm's eye view an absolute [REDACTED] to pull off. It's especially tough when drawing women (blokes are somehow more forgiving). You should be cuffed.
#100
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 12 May, 2024, 09:44:28 PMRoger Corman
Forget his acclaimed Little Shop of Horrors, without Death Race 2000 we wouldn't have Dredd as we know him.
RIP Roger.