Clone Saga Revisited, Part Nine

With the newest volume of the Clone Saga collections (Complete Ben Reilly Epic Book 4), we've now arrived at the point where Marvel has realized that the fans are unlikely to warm to the radical changes to the Spidey mythos regardless of the amount of manipulative tricks the writers pull. This particular collection has a lot of content I had never read before, suggesting that I've reached the point where I gave up on the comics back in the 90s. What I didn't realize then is that this is the point where the writers are starting to reverse course.

The massive, six-part "Blood Brothers" storyline is one of the most important stories in the Clone Saga. This is where the writers start to tear down everything they have tried to build for the last two years. If you recall from the "Web of Carnage" storyline, Ben Reilly's trusted friend Seward Trainer, who ran the test that concluded Reilly was the original Peter Parker, is acting very suspiciously. Peter suspects something is amiss, but Ben doesn't buy it and just assumes Peter is hoping to find new evidence that he's the real deal. Well, Peter is right. Trainer is working with a mysterious new villain named Gaunt and The Hobgoblin, who is now a cyborg or something. This is the Jason Macendale Hobgoblin, who was never as awesome as the Roderick Kingsley Hobgoblin who put Spidey through the wringer in the 80s, even though Marvel tried to make him cool with various silly gimmicks like this.

Gaunt is far more interesting because a lot of mystery is built around his identity. He taunts Spider-Man by saying "We've met before, but I'm not surprised you don't recognize me in this form." Who is this guy? Whoever he is, he's a serious threat because he's figured out that Ben has been the one wearing the Spidey suit and systematically starts to destroy his life. His apartment is ransacked, the Daily Grind coffeehouse where he works is torched, and even Peter and Mary Jane are targeted by a group of vicious mercenaries. Ben and Peter discover that all this madness is somehow linked to Osborn Industries, currently run by Liz Osborn's brother Mark Raxton (aka the former supervillain The Molten Man). Raxton is also out to figure out what's going on and this story ends with him, Ben and Peter (still without his powers) battling Gaunt and a horde of armed guards. Seward and Gaunt appear to die in an explosion, but the reader soon finds out they are still alive...and are being scolded by yet another mysterious villain.

Next is "Who did Spider-Man Murder?" which is the closest we're going to get to a resolution to the skeleton-in-the-smokestack subplot. Upon its initial discovery, both Spider-Men were concerned that this corpse undermined everything they thought they knew about their identities. A more immediate concern is that J. Jonah Jameson is so determined to solve this mystery that he's put a $100,000 reward out for anyone who can find out the whole story. This story is entertaining mostly because of the numerous C-list villains, like Beetle, Boomerang and the Shocker, who show up to try and grab that reward. Peter and Ben come up with a clever ruse to throw Jameson off the trail, but the actual truth about the skeleton is not revealed. I'm not sure if the writers even knew what was going on with that.

The next story, "It Begins with a Bang, not a Whimper," is a rare one-off tale where Ben hunts down The Hobgoblin and beats the ever-loving crap out of him for all the trouble he caused in "Blood Brothers." After that is some filler, a tale of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four going to an alternate universe of something. It's sometimes funny but utterly ridiculous. Next up is "Ultimate Responsibility," starring Jessica Carradine. As we found out last time, she is the daughter of the Burglar who shot Uncle Ben and has become a love interest for Ben. In "Blood Brothers," she found out Ben was Spider-Man, who she blames for her father's death. Armed with a photo of Ben in the suit with his mask off, she has the power to completely expose Reilly to the public. But after she sees Spidey perform an amazing rescue of people in a burning building, she decides to give him the photo and give up her revenge and walks out of the mythos. Too bad, she was a fairly interesting character.

After that is the four-part "Redemption" mini-series, a sequel to "The Lost Years" that brings together Ben, Kaine and the long-missing Janine. Writer J.M. Dematteis returns and is reunitied with his team from the legendary "Kraven's Last Hunt" storyline - artist Mike Zeck and inker Bob McLeod. Zeck's depiction of Kaine is totally unique, other artists had tried to convey some handsomeness behind all the scars, but here he looks more like Lon Chaney in Phantom of the Opera. As for the story, it's as intense as you would expect from DeMatteis and finally gives a peaceful resolution to Kaine's storyline. After trying to destroy Ben for years, the two come to an understanding and he surrenders peacefully to the police. There are also some revelations about Janine - her real name is Elizabeth Tyne and she's been on the run for years after murdering her abusive father. Her relationship with Ben inspires her to find some closure and she also surrenders to the police. It's a bittersweet ending, but it is still satisfying to have some of those loose ends from Reilly's backstory finally resolved.

Next is a single issue story called "Toy Wars," where Spider-Man appears to have been shrunk to the size of a bug and must battle some malevolent toys. Veteran Spidey fans will be able to figure out pretty quickly which villain is behind this. The best part of this issue is the references to various popular 1990s toys and cartoons. Spidey fights Stretch Armstrong, Buzz Lightyear and Goliath from Gargoyles, among others. Then we have some filler where Spidey guest-stars in a Daredevil comic. The final story in this collection is "Above It All," which introduces the crime lord Fortunato. He doesn't seem connected to the Clone Saga at large, but it gives Ben and Peter something to deal with while the writers work out how they are going to resolve the saga once and for all. At the end of this one, Peter has a violent seizure and collapses. What's going on?

That's all for now, but I suspect the next Clone Saga collection (set for a July release) will be the last. That means this series, which has been going since 2010, will soon be wrapping up as well. Not only that, we have a new Spider-Man movie coming out within weeks! So expect lots of Spidey on this blog this summer.

Casshan and Me

If the eight Spider-Man entries weren't a clue (and the next one of those is imminent), I've been on a bit of a nostalgia kick for the last couple of years. Some psychologist could probably come up with a theory about a need to try and make sense of my childhood, which wasn't typical, by revisiting the most significant entertainment for me at that time. I'm not really sure, but I do find it interesting to look back at these movies, TV shows or comics and see what impact they might have had on me as a writer.

The character Casshan (or Casshern) was first introduced to Japanese audiences in a 1970s anime series, but that wasn't the version I saw. In 1993, the story was reimagined as a four-part limited series called Casshan: Robot Hunter. The Sci-Fi Channel edited this series into a two-hour film and showed it on their "Saturday Anime" feature, a weekly treat that introduced a whole generation of American kids to the very different kind of cartoons that got made on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I tuned into Saturday Anime often, but it was always mixed in with the more traditional cartoons I was into at the time. I'd usually flip back and forth when one went to commerical, but Casshan was the first one that really held my attention. I was about 11 or 12 and had never seen an animated story with this level of intense action and drama. It absolutely blew me away. It starred an android in a dorky/awesome outfit whose preferred combat move was a karate chop that could split a robot in half. He also had a robot dog that could breathe fire. What more could a kid ask for? My mother happened to walk in during a scene where Casshan shouted "Damn you!" to his nemesis, the Black King (Android BK-1). She expressed her surprise and I indignantly replied, "Mom, this isn't for kids."

Rewatching it so many years later was an emotional experience. That distinctive style of late 80s/early 90s anime feels iconic at this point and I even kept the cheesy English dubbing on because that was what I remembered. I was able to recall how magical this was for me as a child, but as an adult it's clear it's not quite a masterpiece. The storyline lifts shamlessly from Terminator, Star Wars and a little bit of Mega Man. Characterization is barely given any thought. The boobilicious outfit worn by Casshan's love interest is ridiculously impractical for a war zone. The environmentalist elements of the story make less sense the more you think about them - why would the Black King resort to using nuclear weapons if he's so concerned about preserving the planet?

However, those are the comments of a movie buff with thousands of films under his belt. Sometimes I feel like my younger self's reaction is the one that deserves more attention. Indeed there are moments of real drama within this two hours and the ending is grandiose and moving in a fashion that only anime can pull off. My firsthand knowledge of how powerful this film can be for a child gives it a special kind of value that can't be compromised by any standard cinematic/storytelling flaws.

The character has been revisited a few times now, first in 2004 with a bonkers live-action adaptation simply called Casshern. Then in 2008, a depressing and SUPER angsty reboot called Casshern: Sins discarded most of the canon. Seriously, I'm talking dangerous, potentially toxic Kingdom Hearts levels of emo. It didn't speak to me the way the original did, but it might for some kid out there who could stumble upon it...

Right around this time, I also got my first look at other anime shows out there, including Teknoman (which will probably gets its own entry after I rewatch that). A couple of years later came the one-two punch of Dragon Ball Z and Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue. After that, there was no going back. But my fondness for anime, and perhaps for animation in general, can be traced right back to Casshan. Who says cartoons rot your brain?

Some Press for The World Beyond

So I found myself on the other side of the journalism process when I sat down with my hometown paper (and former employer) to talk about the book. It was a lengthy and sometimes rambling chat, but the final product did a nice job introducing people to the concept and themes. It's not the easiest book to sum up for me, let alone someone who's not the author! I grew up in one town covered by the Town Times and worked there for several years during and shortly after college. I moved on when I got full-time work elsewhere, but it was nice that it was there for me when I needed a venue to try and make people aware this book exists.

If you want to see it as it appeared in the paper, here is Part 1 and Part 2. I've also transcribed it below to give this blog entry more of a reason to exist.
_______________

Local author combines media, reality television and music influences in new book
by Stephanie Wilcox

Rob Glidden has a background in journalism and a fascination with the reality television craze. These two things propelled him to write a futuristic novel about how a print journalist with nothing to lose finds the truth behind The World Beyond, a reality television show owned by a huge media conglomerate. Town Times recently sat down with Glidden, who was raised in Durham and currently resides in Cromwell, to talk about his new book.

How would you describe your book, The World Beyond, and who would be interested in reading it?

It's The Truman Show meets All the President's Men. If you're interested in issues with media, journalism and manipulation of the truth, you'd find this interesting.

How long did it take you to write The World Beyond?

Only two months for the first draft. The second draft was four or five months worth of editing...a lot changed there. I added stuff and beefed up some characters. The third draft was mostly fixing mistakes. I have an annoying habit of leaving out words so I read the whole book out loud.

What is your writing routine?

Afternoons when I had a few hours to work. As a journalist, I don't have a 9 to 5 job; my schedule is different week to week and I have little pockets of time. I [also] worked (on the book) on the weekends, trying to get about 1,500 words a day.

In the book, you mention the influence that music had on the development of this book. Tell me about that.

I think the book is metal. Metal inspired it. I listened to it while writing. I had a soundtrack that corresponded to characters, and certain bands are certain characters and their voices. (Metal) has always been a disreputable genre...it is angry sounding, anti-war, but it's very genuine music. It encourages you to say so if something's wrong.

In the book, you say that some of the ideas were stewing in your head for a while. How long were you mentally working on this book?

The story came in parts. The reality show fantasy adventure had been in my head for like 10 years. Reality shows got big when I as in high school - put people on an island and see how they argue. I remember being skeeved out even then. The way peoples' past anguish is packaged for television unnerves me. These are real tragedies and (reality television) is only worse now. I wanted to tell a story about that and take it further. Imagine your life as if it was television or entertainment. I thought, what if I had some adventure and it was televised and they gave me enhanced behaviors. That would be cool (to write); I can do that. I always wanted to (write a book) and I'm not getting any younger.

You use different mediums of communication to unveil the plot. That was very clever and effective storytelling. How did you know that would work for this novel?

The most fun part of the writing process was working with the different mediums of communication. The style is called epistolary; it means told through documents such as reviews, news articles, transcripts from interviews and blogs. There is an emphasis on plot-driven shows [now]. I think The Sopranos brought this along, and now Lost and others have followed. So I was trying to come up with real people and use multiple voices. I am a member of a lot of internet forums for various interests, like music or video games, so I know the way these people talk. I wanted to convey how the outside world was reacting to the show. (In the book) we only see the show from the viewer's perspective.

The main character, a veteran journalist, agrees that "good news doesn't sell." How much of this book is about the common perception of journalism?

As a journalist, I don't care if I get it first, I just want to get it right. Drew (the main character) discovers how [important] journalism really is. In the beginning he's ready to give up. He's laid off and doesn't think he's relevant or has any power. But the big media company controls everything except little newspapers...and he realizes he is the only one in a position to do what reporters are supposed to do. He rediscovers why journalism matters.

Do you have any other pieces in the works?

I thought about a sequel. I know what it would be about. And I picked out the music for it. But I don't want the same thing again, so I'm not sure.

Where can people find the book?

The paperback and e-book are both available on Amazon (For the e-book, search inside the Kindle store on Amazon). You can also find the paperback on CreateSpace, the self-publishing site I used to publish The World Beyond.
________________

That's that. If I'm fortunate enough to get more press in the future, I'll share it here.

Guest Blogging at NPPM

My brother has started a new music blog called "Neo Post-Progressivecore Music Thoughts" (NPPM) and I thought it would be fun to somtimes throw some stuff on there as a "guest blogger." Given that I spent last summer reviewing 15 albums worth of Iron Maiden material, I definitely have a lot to say about that topic. I don't anticipate cross-posting here so on the off chance you do check this blog regularly, add NPPM (link over to the right) to your routine and you'll be able to keep track.

The first entry is basically about the unsettling realization I had while listening to some new Steel Panther material - their parody of hair metal misogyny was uncomfortably close to real statements being made in the current presidential primary. Not all of my stuff there will be so political - I'd like to write about the process of choosing music for Master of the Wind and also review some albums every so often. I got a new album from one of my favorite bands way early (and legally) but I shouldn't say much until the formal release date...

Finally, here's a handy link to NPPM.

The World Beyond

I'm not very comfortable with self-promotion. Most of the world is just fine and dandy with it, but I always feel like it's opening me up to some sort of trouble. However, when I spend a year on a book and another six months converting it to an E-reader format, the ideal outcome is that people read it.

First, some links. The paperback version can be found here. The newly-completed Kindle version can be found here.

During an interview for a local newspaper (which may also wind up here if there's any interest), I was asked "So why should people read The World Beyond?" I don't do so well with that question. My gut response is "Well, you don't have to if you don't want." That's not going to sell that many books, is it? But I can't help it, I'm not going to just sit here and be like "Read it cause I am brilliant, wa ha ha." If I were to offer up one of those crappy "X meets Y" marketing calculations, I suppose I could say it's The Truman Show meets All The President's Men. If you are interested in dystopian stories, journalism, issues of corporate power, epistolary storytelling and ample sarcasm, I think you might find it enjoyable.

I'm not going to rehash the entire storyline here, though I will reproduce the plot summary from the back of the book:

In the year 2044, nearly all news and entertainment is "under the umbrella" of the huge conglomerate World Media. A highly anticipated new reality show introduces three contestants who grew up in the same small town and tosses them into a huge virtual landscape. As the world reacts to this revolutionary show, Claire Lin does not believe her daughter signed on willingly. She teams up with Drew Stephenson, an embittered print journalist whose vanishing profession gives him nothing to lose. Together, they will slowly uncover the sinister truth behind "The World Beyond."

Some of the concepts in the book have been percolating in my head for a long time. The idea of people who are unwittingly starring in a reality show has been in my brain since I first became familiar with the genre around the turn of the century. Youngins might compare that element to The Hunger Games (though the stakes aren't quite as high) but my inspirations were older films like Series 7 or the aforementioned Truman Show. For a while, I wasn't sure what format to pursue. Should it be a game, like Master of the Wind? It would have been a game with an awful lot of non-playable content. Should it be a screenplay? Maybe, but then I basically have to depend on other people for it to be seen by the public. In the end, a simple book seemed like the most logical choice.

The journalism side of it is a more recent addition. I won't sugarcoat things - this job can be very disillusioning. You often hear that you have a great responsibility to the public who reads your work, but you wouldn't know it by how the industry treats you. You get paid like crap, the benefits are middling at best, and your readers typically ignore you unless you make an error. The ever-shrinking amount of media companies is also cause for great concern...perhaps "World Media" sounds fantastical at first glance, but in the time I wrote this book, two high-profile media consolidations occurred. First Comcast merged with NBC. I recall reading numerous blogs on The Huffington Post that were immensely critical of this merger and of media consolidation in general. Later that same week, AOL bought The Huffington Post. For some reason, media consolidation stopped being popular as a blogging topic on the site. It doesn't strike me as far-fetched that one day in the future, tiny local newspaper reporters like Drew Stephenson might be the only people who can investigate the potential crimes of a media congolmerate without having to worry about a conflict of interest.

Most of the famous dystopian stories deal with the idea of the government having too much power, and history has shown time and again that is indeed something to worry about. However, these days I worry more about the inverse - government having no power. I worry about corporations becoming so deregulated that they essentially exist outside the law. Does that sound ridiculous? I hope so, but if you don't think that's the endgame goal of companies like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America or Comcast, I have a bridge to sell you in Solest.

If that makes the book sound like a bleak and cynical experience, I should note that I also tried to treat all of this with a hint of black comedy. I tend to deal with upsetting elements of life by making sarcastic comments at their expense and some of that sensibility has found its way into the text. I attempted to tell parts of the story though various "documents" - Facebook conversations, message boards, interview transcripts, etc. These sections were extremely fun to write and it was great fun to try and imitate the overall tenor of the internet. It's probably still not harsh enough - I opted not to include any racial/homophobic slurs which cost those sections a bit of authenticity - but for anyone who knows me well, there is probably at least one in-joke in there for you.

So after writing the book and revising it extensively for another few months, it was time to see if I could bring it over to Kindle and other e-readers. How hard could it have been? Really damn hard, as it turned out. What a steep learning curve. I spent another six months nearly banging my head against the wall wondering why the page breaks weren't working, why certain paragraphs weren't indenting properly, and various other shenanigans. I suspect that if I do this again, it will go smoother, but it was way more of an undertaking than I expected. I hope it will be worth the effort - books seem to be going through something very similar to what the music industry experienced ten years ago.

The whole industry is changing. This also means that self-publishing has become a more viable option. I've heard enough horror stories about publishing companies (and I have one of my own, thanks to my ill-fated attempt at a nonfiction book a few years back) that I knew this would be the path I took. I'll have to overcome the stigma of self-published novels being poorly-spelled piles of incoherence, but that also gives a potential advantage of being a pleasant surprise. If anyone reads this and decides to check out the book afterwards, I hope that's what it is for you as well.

Clone Saga Revisited, Part Eight

It took a little while, but eventually the writers of the Spider-Man comics became comfortable with stories featuring Ben Reilly in the lead role. As a result, the stories in this volume of the Clone Saga collections (Complete Ben Reilly Epic, Book 3) are an improvement over some of the stuff we've seen recently. The problem was it didn't matter. Fans at the time were still livid about how Peter Parker had been pushed out and Ben pushed in...it wouldn't have mattered if the stories were on par with Watchmen because the readers were still having to put up with a massive change to the continuity that nobody had asked for. Most of us were still hanging in there, though at this point I remember buying fewer comics than usual each month.

With "Spider-Man: The Final Adventure," Marvel attempted to give Peter Parker a proper swan song. Written by Fabian Nicieza, this four-part limited series follows Peter and Mary Jane as they move to Portland, Oregon. Peter begins working at GARID, the same research facility that sponsored the radiation experiment that created Spider-Man. However, one of his experiments unintentionally creates a new supervillain, the monstrous Tendril. With Ben Reilly on the other side of the country, it's up to Peter to get back in the Spidey costume for one last hurrah. Needless to say, Mary Jane is extremely pissed off and flies back to New York in a huff. There she finds that Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis is trying to find proof of what he has suspected for some time - that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. The web-slinger's sudden appearance in Oregon at the same time that Peter happens to be there tips him off that he may have been on the right track.

Nicieza does an excellent job with this, but it was a thankless task. The story ends with Peter losing his powers after using radiation to defeat Tendril. (If you're wondering about the Ellis situation, it's Ben who manages to throw him off the trail). The narration is careful to hint that the loss of powers may not be forever, but the intent is to basically take Peter out of the running and compel readers to stop complaining and just accept Ben already. "See, now he can't be Spider-Man even if he wanted to!" It didn't achieve that goal.

Nicieza must have enjoyed writing in the Spider-Man universe, because he's back in the author's seat for a Ben Reilly story called "The Skull Jackets." A murder in Manhattan appears to implicate the Black Cat and the two of them team up to find the real culprit. As it turns out, working with his clone's ex-girlfriend proves to be an awkward experience for Ben. The next story is a team up between Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer, which sounds like more of the filler that's bogged down some of these Clone Saga collections. However, working in this story's favor was that Roger Stern was doing writing duty. Stern is my favorite Spider-Man writer of all time, he enthralled me as a child with the mystery surrounding the identity of The Hobgoblin (other writers eventually screwed it up). He makes this story enjoyable enough, but it won't blow your mind or anything.

We get back to the proper Clone Saga with "The Return of Kaine." If you recall, Kaine was the Jackal's failed first attempt at cloning Peter Parker, which resulted in the duplicate having bizarre versions of all of Spider-Man's powers. Kaine was presumed dead after getting impaled during "Maximum Clonage," but he's been successfully revived and is now an unwilling participant in the "great game," a high-stakes battle of mercenaries that Ben has dealt with in the past. Another strange plot twist gets introduced in this story - a charred skeleton wearing a Spider-Man costume is found in a smokestack, the same smokestack where the original 1970s Clone Saga concluded. This revelation threatens to undermine everything both Spider-Men believe about themselves. Kaine ends this story on better terms with Reilly but escapes justice. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane have returned to New York.

Our old pal J. Jonah Jameson witnessed Reilly stealing the Spider-Man skeleton from the morgue and has called Peter back in to use his mad photography skills to find proof that can go on the front page. I don't think Jonah would appreciate the irony of all this if he knew the truth. It's interesting to see Peter back in the comics so soon after "the final advanture." He's still without his powers, but it seems that the writers were hoping that maybe fans would calm down a bit if they reintroduced him as a supporting character. In a fun single-issue story called "A Show of Force," Peter and Mary Jane reunite with Ben while the whole "Seward Trainer in an internet-induced coma" subplot is resolved. Seward's daughter, Lady Octopus, returns for another scuffle but Ben's had enough of her. He totally blows his stack and hands her a defeat she won't soon forget. It's pretty awesome.

After this is the "Web of Carnage" crossover, and there's a LOT going on here. First, genetic testing done by The Avengers reveals that the skeleton belongs to a clone of Spider-Man, possibly the original clone. Peter Parker begins to suspect that the original test conducted by Seward Trainer, the one that concluded that Peter was the clone and Ben the original, may have been compromised for some unknown reason. Ben trusts Seward implicity and rejects this notion. Meanwhile, his new girlfriend Jessica Carradine has a secret of her own. Her father was a burgular...as in The Burglar, the one that shot Uncle Ben. Years later, that burgular confronted Spider-Man again and was so frightened by his foe's righteous anger that he suffered a heart attack and died. So Jessica is no fan of Spider-Man, which could have some nasty ramifications for her relationship with Ben.

Oh yeah, Carnage's name is in the title so what's he up to? The Carnage alien symbiote (an offspring of Venom's symbiote) has separated from its host, Cletus Kasady, and now roams the streets bonding with people at random. During a battle, it actually bonds with Ben himself. That's right, Spider-Carnage! Once this happens, the story gets dark quickly. The symbiote is just as psychotic as Kasady himself and is constantly feeding thoughts of violence and murder to Ben, who manages to resist. Thanks to John Jameson (Jonah's son), the Carnage symbiote is separated from Ben but still manages to reestablish its bond with Kasady. Like they were going to get rid of Carnage after the money they made off him a few years earlier!

So things are starting to get very mysterious once again. All the revelations Marvel was using to try and establish a new status quo are suddenly in question. There was definitely something else big on the horizon.

Clone Saga Revisited, Part Seven

At this point, it seemed like the more turbulent parts of the Clone Saga were over. Ben Reilly, with his new Spider-Man costume, was now in the starring role in all the Spidey comics. Despite that, most of these stories were still crossovers that required readers to get multiple comics each month if you wanted the whole thing. Before all this clone business, crossovers were for major events..now, they had become the status quo. I imagine this eventually got frustrating for the writers, who could no longer tell their own self-contained stories and always had to coordinate with the others. It was especially egregious in the case of Dan Jurgens, who was in charge of the brand new Sensational Spider-Man comic but had to adapt to these crossovers from the first issue on. Why bring on a big shot writer like Jurgens if you're not even going to let him be in charge of his own stories?

Despite all that complaining just now, there are a couple standalone stories in this volume (Complete Ben Reilly Epic Book 2, if you've been keeping track), but not many. "Blasts from the Past" is an interesting look at how awkward it is for Reilly when he meets other superheroes that were friends with Peter Parker, such as Silver Sable and the Human Torch. None of them know all the drama that's been going on, they just see the costume and wonder if it's the same man they know. The Torch catches on to the difference immediately and vows to expose the "phony" at some point in the future. "The Game of Life" is another standalone tale in which Reilly once again confronts vicious mercenaries competing in a high-stakes "game" of violence.

The New Warriors, who were showing up a lot during the Clone Saga, are also quite confused about all the switcheroos in the Spidey world. The Scarlet Spider was a tentative member of the group but then he vanished. In the three-part "Nightmare in Scarlet," they are forced to confront an evil version of their former ally, thanks to some wacky genetic technology left behind by Lady Octopus in the "Cyberwar" storyline. Ben, now back in the Spider-Man costume, joins them to stop the impostor but only Firestar seems to recognize his personality in the new outfit. After this is one more standalone, "Brother's Keeper." This is actually a pretty strong story if you're on board with its strident environmental commentary - Todd Dezago's dialogue for Ben is excellent and he comes off very well.

Once again, Marvel has been VERY thorough with these Clone Saga collections and this volume includes a two-issue miniseries called "Family Plot," where Spider-Man teamed up with the Punisher. Well, maybe "team up" is not the right word, since both Parker and Reilly can't stand this bloodthirsty excuse for a "hero." Nevertheless, they find themselves on the same side against Tombstone. For whatever reason, the Punisher (aka Frank Castle) is working for a mafia family. I have no idea what this is about, but it seems that all the superheroes were just going through some weird crap in the 90s.

Next up is another miniseries, a four-part Venom story called "Along Came A Spider." The nicest thing I can say about this one is that it's better than "Planet of the Symbiotes." Other than that, it's a mess. Venom is trying to reconcile with his ex-wife, Anne Weying, but is in trouble with the police and Spider-Man gets involved. The art is awful (for some reason, Venom is perpetually surrounded by a thick green fog of drool), the character of Anne, who actually had a lot of dignity when David Michelinie introduced her in the Spider-Man comics, is butchered. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but the story also drives home once again just how much of an unstable lunatic Eddie Brock/Venom is. Besides an inconsistent preoccupation with "innocents," he has almost no heroic qualities and can rationalize any despicable action to further his own goals. Like a lot of kids my age, I thought he was awesome in grade school because he wore black and had teeth and claws. A guy like this doesn't have to go to bed unless he feels like it! As an adult, however, I'm really quite embarassed that this psycho was the kind of comic book hero that was popular in the 1990s.

Enough about Venom, let's get back to Reilly. His next adventure is the three part "Media Blizzard" crossover which pits him against longtime foe Mysterio. This story is very good - in fact, it's the kind of classic Spider-Man tale a lot of us fans were missing in the midst of this clone craziness. It's just a shame that our man Parker was out of the picture. Still, it's a good read with some good character development - Reilly gets to know a woman named Jessica who seems to have an obsession with photos of Spider-Man. Hmm...

The final issue in this volume is a Christmas special which resolves the problem between Reilly and the Torch. It turns out Johnny Storm had a tradition with the Parker Spider-Man of exchanging gifts at the Statue of Liberty, which we see in a flashback (Torch's gift to Parker is hilarious). Reilly stumbles onto the tradition by accident and the Torch gets an understanding of what's happened in the last year of comic time.

Marvel kept up their efforts to establish Ben as a new permanent Spider-Man and some of the Ben stories weren't bad at all. Still, fans were waiting for Peter to return...somehow.

Oscars 2012 Educated Guesses

Best Animated Feature
A Cat in Paris
Chico and Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Who Will Win: The people who vote on the nominations in this category are unusually good at tracking down under the radar animated films. Can you imagine two equally obscure live-action films finding their way into the Best Picture race? That said, I suspect A Cat in Paris and Chico and Rita are still too tiny to actually pull off the win. That makes it a battle of the CG cartoons, and Rango was much more acclaimed than the remaining two films. It should win pretty handily.

My Choice: I'd like to see one of the two little films win, just to encourage more distributors to take a chance on outside the box stuff.


Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor for Margin Call
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi for A Separation

Who Will Win: Can a screenplay with almost no actual spoken dialogue win? Probably not, though The Artist will surely be rewarded elsewhere. The screenplay for Bridesmaids could be a surprise win since the movie's success opened the door for women to appear in movies (Wait, it didn't? Well, some of the media coverage could have fooled me). I think a comedy will win, but that comedy is Midnight in Paris. It has a few high-profile nominations that indicate wide support and it was a very compact, enjoyable little movie. Woody Allen probably won't show up to collect it, but I think he'll still be the winner.

My Choice: Chandor.


Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for The Descendants
John Logan for Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon for The Ides of March
Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball
Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Who Will Win: This is quite close. The Descendants, Hugo or Moneyball could all pull it off. Tinker Tailor doesn't appear to have much momentum and while The Ides of March had a lot of good dialogue, I don't think I was alone in wishing it had more to say about today's politics instead of devoting its story to a Clinton-esque sex scandal. I'm leaning towards Payne and company, given that The Descendants is one of the major Best Picture contenders and this is likely its best chance for a win.

My Choice: Descendants was a good story, but the script had some sit-com-ish moments and I'm really getting sick of George Clooney doing smug voiceover for every Oscar-bait movie he appears in. My choice would be Logan for Hugo, a movie that gave a kids story a truly epic scope while adding in some lessons on the history of early film as well.


Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo for The Artist
Jessica Chastain for The Help
Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer for The Help

Who Will Win: Spencer has dominated the pre-Oscars award shows (I call them "the playoffs") and will likely continue her winning streak. It's the kind of endearing, feisty and humorous performance the voters love - Not everyone could make the line "You two are giving me heart palpitations" so hilarious. Two of her competitors are fairly close, though not within the realm of an upset. Bejo gave a lovely, expressive performance in The Artist while McCarthy was far and away the best part of Bridesmaids. Still, this category has lost a bit of its potential for upsets over the last couple of years and Spencer is a safe bet.

My Choice: I'm a pretty big fan of this whole group. Spencer is a deserving winner, though I wish the Academy would just embrace a fully comedic performance and give it to McCarthy.


Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh in My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill in Moneyball
Nick Nolte in Warrior
Christopher Plummer in Beginners
Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Who Will Win: This category sometimes turns into the "Veterans Achievement Award" and that's definitely what's going on this year with Christopher Plummer, who has been an absolute steamroller in the playoffs. However, this one may be closer than his other wins thanks to von Sydow, another octogenarian actor whose huge body of work is arguably even more tremendous. The fact that neither of these men has won yet is downright sad, but I suspect Plummer will triumph again. The other three, deserving as they may be, are not even close.

My Choice: Um, excuse me, where is the nomination for Uggie the Dog from The Artist?! I'm a big Max von Sydow fan and his wordless performance in Extremely Loud... was masterful. Yet I also find myself rooting for Jonah Hill, who was surprisingly subtle while still being genuinely funny.


Best Actress
Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis in The Help
Rooney Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn

Who Will Win: Meryl Streep's inevitable third Oscar will have to wait at least one more year, because this year it's all about Viola Davis. The Help has a strong ensemble cast of mostly women and that's paying big dividends this year. Williams is overshadowed by Streep when it comes to impersonating famous folks and I haven't read anything even kind of enthusiastic about Close's movie. As for Rooney Mara, if Noomi Rapace (the original Lisbeth Salander) couldn't even get a nomination for the original Dragon Tattoo film, I can't see a scenario where she wins for the remake. If Davis wins, she will be only the second black woman to do so in Oscar history (The first was Halle Berry).

My Choice: Davis's performance truly was exceptional and elevated the entire film. This is one instance where a near-certain outcome is appropriate.


Best Actor
Demian Bichir in A Better Life
George Clooney in The Descendants
Jean Dujardin in The Artist
Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt in Moneyball

Who Will Win: This one is close. Clooney and Dujardin have been splitting the playoff honors while Bichir has built up a surprisingly strong following and could potentially upset both of them. This is Oldman's first nomination (shocking, isn't it?) but his movie hasn't generated enough excitement. I think Brad Pitt will win this award someday, but his work is some of the most subtle of the bunch. I'm leaning towards Dujardin because of his Screen Actors Guild victory and the overall support for The Artist, but this one is going to be suspenseful right up until the envelope is opened.

My Choice: Dujardin. It was fantastic work and totally evocative of the silent movie era the movie paid tribute to.


Best Director
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
Terence Malick for The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne for The Descendants
Martin Scorsese for Hugo

Who Will Win: You too can make very accurate predictions for Best Director following a simple one-step process: pay attention to who wins the Director's Guild award. Seriously, it almost always lines up with the Oscars and this year the winner was Michel Hazanavicius. The ingenuity which created The Artist has served him well so far and the accoldates look to continue on Oscar night.

My Choice: I'm a little torn. Like most of the other Academy, I was definitely impressed by The Artist but I was also blown away by what Scorsese did with Hugo. Seeing a film that actually had good 3-D visuals felt like catching a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster, not to mention how well he re-created the production of classic silent films in the movie. I suppose I'm rooting for him, but since he finally claimed his long overdue win in 2006 it's a pretty stress-free situation for this humble movie buff.


Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Who Will Win: In 1929, the silent film Wings won the very first Best Picture Oscar. 84 years later, it looks like we'll have another. Still, let's work backwards.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has been the whipping boy of this award season, widely derided by critics and pundits for its ample quirkiness and its treatment of very sensitive material (9/11). Leaving aside my pet peeve of people putting way too much stock in a film's rating on Rotten Tomatoes (seriously it's just a number, go see a movie yourself before you pass judgment on it), it's hard to imagine it could actually win. The Tree of Life is also quite polarizing. For every person who had a religious experience watching it, there's another who found it dull and incoherent. War Horse certainly feels like a traditional Best Picture winner, but it never seemed to develop all that big of a following. Midnight in Paris is a comedy (and actually funny, unlike most "comedies" that show up in this category) so that handily seals its fate. Moneyball has a lot more gravitas than most sports movies, but it's still too unsentimental to grab the big prize.

The Descendants had some nice momentum around Christmas, but that seems to have died down a bit. Hugo has the most nominations, but none in acting. It's hard to manage a Best Picture win without that, though not impossible (Return of the King did it). So it looks like a win for The Artist, but that film has one serious challenger in The Help, a well-meaning racial drama following in the foosteps of Crash or Driving Miss Daisy. This kind of movie is never to be underestimated, but what may relegate it to second place is the lack of a nomination for its screenplay or direction. This indicates its support is primiarly confined to the actor's branch. Another factor is the backlash against its more patronizing elements (articulated well by this image). Meanwhile, The Artist is nicely represented in many different categories. A pretty safe bet, but not totally certain.

My Choice: The Artist was a delightful experience and the movie is hard not to like, but I'm more enthusiastic about the similarly-themed Hugo. It had grand visuals, an underrated ensemble cast and a story full of surprises.

That's it until the big day on February 26.

Top Ten Films of 2011

There are some years where I see so many great movies I struggle to narrow them down to ten I can put on this list.

2011 was not one of those years. The reason this list is coming much later than normal is that I kept giving myself more time to aggressively seek out more potential candidates. I did finally find enough for a list I could be happy with, but it took a lot more work on my end. It's not that the movies were necessarily bad (though the uninspired cash grab that was Cars 2 ensured that Pixar would be absent from this list for the first time in seven years), most of the ones I saw were just okay. They met my expectations and faded from memory shortly afterward. I'm not sure it's a coincidence that a few of the most acclaimed movies of the year paid tribute to films from early in the medium's history, an era that produced some classics that still feel magical almost a century later. I'm not giving up on the modern era, however, I'm confident this was just an off-year and that the next twelve months will be more promising. But judging from the ten movies here, 2011 definitely wasn't a total loss.

A note about eligibility, since a lot of these movies are a little under the radar. To be considered for this list, a movie had to make its theatrical debut in the USA sometime during 2011 (I don't care if imdb lists it as 2010, sometimes they don't get over here right away). Even if that debut was only a few screenings at film festivals before going to DVD/Blu-Ray, that's enough.


10. Melancholia
This was a surprise. I tend to find Lars Von Trier's stuff interesting but also pretty obnoxious, but this striking, unique movie was a cut above anything I had seen from him before. Kirsten Dunst plays a new bride who suffers from severe depression and during the reception, alienates all her friends and family except for her conscientious sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Meanwhile, a newly-discovered planet is about to collide with Earth and put an end to life as we know it. The roles of the two sisters become reversed - Dunst's character always felt her world was ending so an actual apocalypse doesn't feel much different. The movie is filled with gorgeous cinematography and ripe for all sorts of interesting interpretations.


9. Contagion
The hysteria that plays out following the introduction of a potential pandemic always feels like 10 percent caution, 90 percent fear-mongering. Let's hope it stays that way. Contagion is an uncomfortably convincing simulation of a real outbreak of a lethal virus that brings society to a screeching halt. The story asserts that we are woefully unprepared for this scenario but also expresses confidence that the various agencies involved can ultimately get the situation under control, which is downright daring for an era where confidence in government is in the toilet. Director Steven Soderbergh assembles an ace cast and keeps the film consistently gripping.


8. The Descendants
I have a tendency to nitpick this movie. Does George Clooney have something in his contract that says he has to give smug voice over narration for every movie he's in? It's getting old. However, the overall experience of a movie can override little complaints and that's definitely what happened with The Descendants. It's a captivating drama full of charming details, great acting and pretty Hawaiian locales. George Clooney plays a father who has to prepare his two daughters for the imminent death of their mother, and the resulting tribulations make it clear that major life events are not nearly as tidy and predictable as we want them to be.


7. Paul
I'll watch anything with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Throw in Seth Rogen as the voice of a genial alien (he sounds right at home) and the result is a lot of laughs. Paul is a hilarious joy to watch. The script fleshes out the friendships of the lead characters nicely and the supporting cast is full of surprises. It's got a similar mix of camaraderie, mystery and laughs that I remember fondly from the first Hangover. Let's not talk about the second one.



6. Attack the Block
This deserved a much wider release and I suspect its star will rise as more people discover it over the years. A group of young London thugs have to rediscover their good qualities when their shenanigans unintentionally trigger an alien invasion. These aliens aren't nice like Paul, they are voracious beasts that look amazing thanks to the film's "less is more" approach to visual effects. John Boyega gives an impressive debut performance as Moses, the lead thug who becomes a stoic leader as the situation keeps getting worse.


5. Trollhunter
The "found footage" genre is perilously close to burning out, but this crafty Norwegian film is full of creativity and fun. Three young students find themselves paired with a grizzled government agent who keeps track of Norway's native trolls (actual trolls, not overzealous Ron Paul fans on the internet). The classic mythology about trolls is played amusingly straight - I don't know how any creature can actually smell the blood of a Christian man, but it does make for a lot of good gags. Otto Jespersen gives a great performance as Hans the trollhunter, but the real star is the breathtaking scenery of Norway. This is one to watch in high-definition if you can.


4. The Artist
A wonderful French tribute to the era of silent films that is itself (mostly) a silent film. Those movies paid little attention to genre and The Artist veers into comedy, romance and dark drama. Somehow it all works, thanks to director Michel Hazanavicius's spectacular black and white images and the fantastic lead performance of Jean DuJardin. I would be remiss if I didn't give also give some praise to the amazing antics of Uggie the Dog, who is so charming that there's a serious campaign to get this canine some kind of Special Achievement Oscar. He's that good, and the movie is irresistible.


3. 13 Assassins
Japanese director Takashi Miike is mostly known for his bizarre extreme horror films, but this epic is a different beast altogether. His oddball sensibility meshes with the classic Kurosawa tropes and the result is pretty great. Towards the end of the samurai era, a group of warriors bands together to take revenge for the shocking (and I mean shocking) crimes of the evil Lord Naritsugu. The whole film is very enjoyable, but the magnificent final battle that concludes it puts most Hollywood blockbusters to shame.


2. Hugo
Martin Scorsese has saved 3-D. The first few minutes of this gorgeous movie completely blew me away as I watched the legendary director turn this annoying gimmick into art. The sense of space that the effect produces has to be seen to be believed. Of course, that wouldn't be worth a lot if the story weren't so good. What starts as a genial youth-oriented adventure (featuring great work from young performers Asa Butterfield and Chloe "Hit Girl" Moretz) takes a surprising but welcome left turn into a dramatization of cinema's early days. To say any more would ruin some of the surprises, but trust me when I say Scorsese has made an excellent film for kids and an even better one for movie buffs.


1. Paradise Lost: Purgatory
Fantasy has the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Animation has the Toy Story trilogy. Documentaries have Paradise Lost. The original film, released in 1996, depicted the trial and conviction of the West Memphis Three - a trio of teens who were sent to jail (and one to death row) for the shocking murder of three young children. As that first installment so painfully illustrated, the case against the three defendants was based less on their actual connection to the crime and more on their interests - black clothes, metal music and Stephen King books. The film started a grassroots effort that has been going strong for almost 20 years and reached a milestone in 2011 with the release of the three. The second film sought new evidence but ultimately made little progress, but this third movie was a stunning, emotional sequel. It's filled with fascinating twists and turns, such as the unlikely alliance between the three and the father of one of the murdered kids and detailed speculation about a new potential suspect (the filmmakers are very careful to keep it within the realm of speculation). This trilogy of films and their role in inspiring real action is a testament to the power of movies, not to mention proof that sometimes real life is more dramatic and exciting than any work of fiction.

Happy 2012, all.

Clone Saga Revisited, Part Six

Thought this was over, eh? I did too.

Well, it turns out these Clone Saga collections are still being put out, but after the fifth one, the name was changed to "The Complete Ben Reilly Epic." I see what you did there, Marvel. I suppose it makes sense, given that Peter Parker retired from Spider-duty after finding that he was the clone and Ben was the original. The only time we see him in this volume is at the start, during the "Spider-Man: The Parker Years" one-shot. This is mostly just a recap of the last 15 years or so worth of Spidey-history up until that point, though readers following the Clone Saga will surely appreciate Mary Jane's zinger that "self-pity can be endearing in small doses, but after a while it can really suck." MJ, why didn't you speak up during "Maximum Clonage?!"

After that is an issue of the New Warriors, who the Scarlet Spider was somewhat affiliated with. He appears in about five panels. After that, we get a massive story called "You Say You Want An Evolution" which is definitely the lower point of this collection. It seems to exist solely to provide a lengthy answer to a question asked by The Jackal right before his death in Maximum Clonage - "Don't you want to know about Joyce Delaney and the High Evolutionary?" The correct answer was "No, just go away." This story goes on forever and is quite a chore. In general, a grandiose villain like The High Evolutionary is better off in the pages of something like The Avengers or X-Men.

Next is the four-part "Virtual Mortality" story, another crossover between all the Spider-Man titles. This time, it's a twist because all the comics have been renamed. For instance, "The Amazing Spider-Man" became "The Amazing Scarlet Spider." Still, if we're basically establishing a new status quo with Ben Reilly as our main man, I'm not sure why we still need the "event" crossovers. If you were a kid in the 90s with a limited allowance, this constant pressure to get four comics a month rather than one could get rough.

Anyhow, the funny thing about this story is that the travails of Ben's personal life are far more interesting that the ludicrous stuff going on while he's in the costume. He's got no money and winds up working at a sleazy club. He meets a potential love interest who has a different hairstyle every time she appears (you figure the artists would coordinate crap like that) and of course, keeps having to worry about getting mistaken for Peter. The main story is a high-tech gang war between the new female Doctor Octopus (aka Carolyn Trainer) and a mobster named Jason Tso, who is in the employ of longtime Spidey nemesis Alistair Smythe. Keep in mind, we're in the mid 1990s here and the "internet and virtual reality will kill us all" paranoia is in full swing.

This plotline continues in another crossover called "Cyberwar." Starts out promising, but when characters start talking about "reality merging with virtual reality," you know we've gone off the rails. At least we find out an interesting twist about Stunner, who you may remember as the girlfriend of the late Dr. Octopus (the original). She herself is a virtual reality projection. Yeah, we need a Keanu Reeves-esque "whoa" right about now. In this collection, the Cyberwar storyline is interrupted by an issue of the short-lived but underrated Green Goblin comic (the heroic Phil Urich incarnation) and another New Warriors issue. The Goblin comic dovetails nicely with the main plot. The New Warriors story is almost totally irrelevant.

The Lady Octopus character is not very interesting, but she's smart. Using her virtual reality technology, she frames the Scarlet Spider for a lot of destruction and utterly tarnishes his fledgling reputation. What to do now...why, it's time to go back to the original. Yep, Reilly is going to take on the mantle of Spider-Man. This transformation is showcased very well in "Ultimate Commtiment," a debut story from Dan "Death of Superman" Jurgens. A new title, The Sensational Spider-Man, was crafted just for him.

Jurgens is no slouch - within this one issue, he deftly introduces a bunch of new characters and builds a solid foundation for continued Reilly adventures. Ben also dyes his hair blond to try and further distance himself from Peter Parker. A new version of the Spider-Man costume is sewed (after a lot of mishaps, poor Ben just doesn't have many resources) and we're good to go. I have to say, these stories are a lot more pleasant with the knowledge that Ben's tenure as lead character was only temporary. At the time, however, we really had no clue what was going to happen with all this and even though Ben was a likeable guy, he wasn't the guy we had gotten attached to for so long.

This isn't the end of the Clone Saga by a long shot. Still plenty more, and now that I know to look for installments of the "Ben Reilly Epic," more analysis will follow.