Book review: Saga (on a whole)

The overrated saga of Saga
2 stars

I don’t like Saga – there I said it. I might be among the few people who didn’t like SAGA but let me explain. OK?

An epic story of an alien(?) husband and his alien(?) pregnant wife in a alien/fantasy/sci-fi world(?). How the couple have their baby in the middle of intergalactic war, with bounty hunters at their tail is what defines the epic what Saga is. To be honest, I don’t know exactly what Saga is even after reading three volumes of it.

Saga is written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples who both are some of the fan favorite superstars of comics. Vaughan has already written many astounding comics which mostly incorporates sci-fi with thrill via master storytelling. I personally love his writing and, Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina are some of my all-time favorite comics. Which is why I am confused about Saga. Throughout the last few years Saga has been praised as one of the best ongoing comics in current comics industry and also been showered with many many awards. Heck, it has won the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series from 2013 to 2017. Saga is mentioned as something that has never been seen before and tagged as epic whenever possible. But I have no idea why.

My biggest problem about Saga is that nothing is new underneath all the glitters. It contains aliens, imaginary animals, intergalactic bounty hunters, mutants, kings and queens, spaceships, ghosts (seriously?) etc all in the same story. Turn a page over and something new(?) is just introduced with some oh-so-cool name and you just have to go with it from there. Yeah, you can make a character with a TV as his head, a helping ghost who is a teenager or some torso-less hookers who work at some planet called Sextillion.
I admit that I have never seen bonkers characters like these together before (or have I??). Don’t get me wrong, I love alien-filled space-operas among which I place Valérian and Laureline at the top. There is no problem with crazy characters but they should have some explanation or reason for their introduction. When all these and more characters come and go through the story all the time, they may showcase the writer’s imagination while ultimately leaving an aftertaste of cheap gimmicks and nothing but. Saga takes up too many thing from sci-fi, fantasy books and pours together in one book. At some points it is almost same as fan-fiction of some fandom. And don’t even get me started about the cliche storytelling. Bad guys getting their morals straightened at crucial points, foreshadowed guys betraying heroes – it is lucid fan-servicing at finest. Everything in this has been individually seen and done before. Nothing, I repeat nothing is new. It is a late night bling show on TV that has no aftermath in the morning after because the world of SAGA has no limits and no logic.

But the art coloring is astonishingly beautiful. At some point I was thinking about licking it to check what it tastes like. Staples has very clear idea of her frames surrounding the characters and that is why she draws only as much as it is needed. When her work is good, it is very good but when it is bad, it is just blah. It feels bland and downright lazy when you see frame after frame with just uni-color gradient backgrounds.
Saga is a perfect for those who want to get into the world of comics. It has humor, action and thrills. But it should not be such an overrated one because finding a new/cool way to tell a story forged with countless elements lifted inspired from other genres does not make it so great.

Book review: The Detection Club

The Detection Club: Part 1 & 2
5 stars

Above is the opening page of The Detection Club and it sets the stage more perfectly than I had imagined. 

The story begins with John Dickson Carr taking oath to the club following the full disclosure of rules and Ten Commandments of Detective Novels (yes, you read it right)! And just then a mysterious invitation promising ‘challenges and enchantments’ from Mr. Ghyll arrives for the club to visit his island. When the club visits the island, they are introduced to a robot who can predict the culprit any mystery presented or proposed. Will the members of the club defeat the robot in a game of wits while an actual murder occurs?

It gives me jitters to think that seven real-life writers, of mystery novels, at their prime had actually formed this club. Writer-artist Jean Harambat has created an unique tale about the very best story-tellers of all time. What I like most is that the story really compliments the reader, lets the reader think and deduce on his/her own. For example, one of the Commandments state that, “No person of Chinese descent may figure in the story” just before a suspicious person of Chinese descent is introduced. It brings back the old school subtle comedy with a very very self-conscious keen sense of humor. The pages are a bit dialogue-heavy but every word has its own reason for being there. The artwork is eye-soothing and the story feels such a wonderful homage. Mr. Harambat has studied head over heels for the script and it shows in every conversations. 

It is a gem to read and a treasure to keep for any mystery lover. 

Disclaimer: I received these books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Introduce a little anarchy

Ever since the Joker was released, the internet has been swarmed with reviews and analyses about Joker – the movie and the character both. And now, the movie has won the Academy Award for Best Actor too. But I would like to take some time to talk about the much welcomed disturbance it has caused to the saturated comic-book movie genre.

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This is not a review but more of a study from a humble superhero fanatic.

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There is an unpopular opinion about Joker that is – if the movie did not bear the name of one of the most famous villains, it would have never been such a hit or appealing for the audience. And to be honest, that is true. Numerous movies are often made about inequality of society, self-loathing, disturbed mind and more but the general audience does not notice them until they are branded with some pre-established character. These days every other movie is based on comics and that world is already saturated too. About 99 percent of comics ends with a hero’s triumph over evil and no doubt the movies are no different. It may be glorious, fun and beguiling but at the same time, repetitive too – may it be dark like The Dark Pheonix or fun like Guardians of the Galaxy or self-conscious like Deadpool. Hit or miss – whatever it may be, you know what is gonna happen in the end, only the how changes (and that too not so often). But Joker does not fit this bill because of the character’s chaotic and unpredictable nature. When the main character is such an unreliable (narrator) one, the whole movie breaks free of all the traditional setups planting a doubt that whether there will be any happy ending or not.

Todd Phillips practically stripped away everything ‘super’ from a character who appears in superhero comics. Batman is a fan favorite hero cause he does not have any superpower, and strangely neither does Joker. Hence, anyone can be a joker, an agent of anarchy, you don’t even need a batsuit for that. Joker contains no CGI armor, no spectacular villain, no world-ending threat, not even an all-out action dependent third act. Joker felt like a mocumentry of the society itself – violent delight of an ill-treated ‘mad’man among the pathos of our society. It is self-conscious, never misses a line, never pitches a hero and never ever tries to apologize for the creation of a villain. It is fundamentally the least comic-following comic-book movie ever made. This gives an actor to shine and a director to show us his/her vision instead of worrying about studio’s plan for other movies, CGI, green screen and laying hints of sequels. It felt like a sight of the star-studded natural night sky instead of our daily urban city-lights. 

Maybe traditional superhero movies are not the perfect stage for character development and such stories about broken minds but surely it will change, it has to change. Marvel will continue to produce blockbusters and sadly many will keep trying to replicate the formula. Maybe more acclaimed actors will think twice before rejecting a movie about silly superheros, more adult approach will be taken instead of stuffing movies with quirky one-liners. The man who laughs, introduced a little anarchy again.

One thing is for sure, you may love them or hate them but you can’t ignore comic-book movies anymore. 

Sequels ruin movies

Movies are sometimes more than just entertainment for a few hours and more of an experience. Remember when Cooper docked with the ship in Interstellar or Travis talked to himself in Taxi Driver or Forest started running in Forest Gump? Those moments are not watched but lived. And sequels would have ruined them.

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This is not a review but more of a study from a humble movie fanatic.

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This is not about adaptation of serialized novels like Lord of the Rings or about movies made exactly to tell a story in installments like Star Wars (the good old ones). This is about movies that never even needed sequels, that loose their magic just because of sequels.

I mentioned 3 movie scenes above which arguably can never be remade or be re-felt. Marvel can make as many Avengers movie they want but the sheer excitement of watching the Avengers standing together for the first time in the middle of alien invasion can never be topped. It is a dream come true for comics lovers and a pioneer triumph of world building cinema. Ride as many as you want but the first train ride always remains special.

A movie, for many people is just another medium to pass time, but for many it’s a way of expression, an ultimate level of storytelling. Behind every movie, there are writers and directors trying to create something unique, something that has never been seen before, ways that never been explored before. But this mostly happens the first time only and the reason is very simple, we keep going back to the first one to compare with. A simple example is the Hangover trilogy; check any review of Hangover II and III, and you will find blunt comparison to the first one. If the last two Hangovers weren’t made, Hangover would have been one of the most talked about (it still is to somewhat extend) and surprisingly unique comedy movies. Not every movie has to be the first of a franchise, not every loving character has to be stretched till they become a bore.

It makes us happy that we will see Joaquin Phoenix again as the Joker but it threatens the mystery, the paradoxical ending and the impact it just made.

It is a fact that not all franchises are equivalent to John Wick which has held the integrity, style and action at a high standard (if not raised) while adding new elements. But this uptight cash-grabbing hunger is a never-ending threat to any integral thought that a cinema can provide.

He’s thunder and he knows it!

Why do we love superheroes? The answer is simple – they can do what we can’t. But what if we can? What if a kid gets to be a grown-up superhero? A simple yet fascinating idea is what separates SHAZAM! from any other superhero.

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This is not a review but more of a study from a humble superhero fanatic.

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Billy Batson is a misfit who keeps running away from one foster home to another. Once meeting a wizard, he becomes a hero who can almost do all that Superman can. A dream for a lost soul, a dream for every kid. But when evil roars high, Billy finally finds family among the broken ones in a foster family.

In comics, there are grown-up superheroes (Batman, Iron Man) who play with their teams (Justice League, Avengers). Then there are kid-superheroes (Robin, Iron heart) who have their own teams (Teen Titans, Champions). Most of them start as sidekicks and may grow up to take another mantle (Nightwing). The problem uniqueness of Shazam is that he fits nowhere among these. He is a kid among grown-ups but a grown-up among kids. Say the word and you’re a hero. The simple premise of a kid inside a grown-up is itself so appealing and pure that it requires no over the top villain or dark n’ gritty story or political dilemma. Super-heroes are fun to be and Shazam knows it.

Shazam started his outsolding-all-other-heroes reign as “Captain Marvel” but allegedly got lost in lawsuits. When DC resurfaced him, his old mantle was someone else’s and he was promoted as Shazam. It’s a tough job when a character suddenly loses his own name but Shazam shores above again and again. 

It’s a fact that DC cinematic universe is broken. Zack Snyder’s vision didn’t match with the studio’s demand and we were left with a haunting memory of Justice League. But after Aquaman and Shazam! there might still be hope. Shazam! radiates the hope and brightness that was missing from the last reincernation of Superman and also delivers the fun of being a superhero that the DCEU never emphasized upon. This is a movie that feels like not just a hero movie but a pure-hearted superhero movie. It’s not a win for DC but a win for any superhero lover.

P.S. Watch out Iron Man, you now have a competitor for coolest superhero suit up or transition.

Also, it’s my birthday week and buying tickets of Shazam! secretly to surprise me was one of the best gifts I received from my wife.

Aye Aye Captain (Marvel)!!

For the last few days Captain Marvel has been dominating box office and its no wonder. The “First female lead MCU movie” – the tag is quite a catch. But is that all that made it a blockbuster? Why are the people and reviewers so polarized then? Could it have been more?

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This is not a review but more of a study from a humble superhero fanatic.

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Official synopsis: Captain Marvel is an extraterrestrial Kree warrior who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. Living on Earth in 1995, she keeps having recurring memories of another life as U.S. Air Force pilot Carol Danvers. With help from Nick Fury, Captain Marvel tries to uncover the secrets of her past while harnessing her special superpowers to end the war with the evil Skrulls.

For a comic book movie, there are three groups of audience- those who read comics, those who only watches the movies in Cinematic Universe and finally those who are casual movie goers.

For the first group, the whole idea of Captain Marvel is a bit confusing as her origin in comics has been revamped multiple times and is being rewritten now also. Though this is not uncommon for comic book characters (e.g. Iron Man), when bringing it to another medium, movie makers mostly stick to the basic or most well known origin of the character. This creates a familiarity and connection with the audience instantly. Hence, making a movie based on a very recent run distances itself with the comics readers as Captain Marvel was known as Ms. Marvel till then.

For those who follows the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this movie is a feast. Origin of Nick M’Fing Fury, old school SHIELD, how Nick fury got the interstellar pager, why no aliens attacked earth before and how will this lead to Endgame – it’s a celebration of MCU even before it was MCU. Now, read the last sentence one more time and you’ll realize that there is nothing written about the movie itself. Therefore, the movie gives us the origins we never asked for, the answers to questions we never had. This ultimately leads to the movie becoming a ‘filler episode’.

As the movie keeps nodding at already defined MCU, it simply distances itself further and further away from the people who ‘just wanted to watch a movie’. To quote a colleague of mine who don’t give a damn about cinematic universe but went to watch Ragnarok thrice, “I really liked it while I was in theater but don’t know what it was when I got out. It had everything yet the whole thing felt a bit off.”

I won’t go much into the packed-n-labeled promotion of the movie either as the only feminist icon (and slapping off anyone who didn’t like it as ‘anti-feminist’) or as the most powerful and important character of Avengers: Endgame. But I will mention the triumph of Wonder Woman even without screaming ‘feminist icon’ and the problem with Superman being too powerful to make a movie interesting.

To sum it off, I really think Captain Marvel is a good movie but what grinds my gear is that if could have been much more e.g, thriller regarding body snatching aliens or interstellar espionage, if it was more on-her-own.

The Client – A Thrilling Masterpiece

 

The Client

5 stars

A Nobody falls for a stripper and when she goes missing, he kidnaps the sister of the local mob boss; because what could go wrong?

Our story begins with a stripper- joint named Paradise. And among the slow, poetic display of strippers, I imagined a sad story of some lassie who lost her path. Bust just then the book shaded its skin and turned into a suspense thriller. There was tension, thrill, cons, blackmails, root-able characters and a tight story about the length a Nobody can possible go to for someone dear. Like an onion, the story began to unravel its layers with gorgeous pages. A ticking clock set for the life of the mob boss’s daughter ensured the grip of the book and the chase to find out the missing stripper set the mood. I will not go into further details for the sake of spoilers. 

As the review title suggests, this is a masterpiece by all means – character development, suspense, thrill and last but not the least, the artwork. 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Centipede: Oh god why

 

Centipede Vol. 1: Game Over

1 star

 

After enlarged centipedes’ attacks mankind is on the brink of extinction and one man decides to stand his ground and fight against the leading 1000 m long flying steel-eating indestructible centipede alone.

Centipede is a love-hate book. It is downright weird as hell. Our hero’s motivation was never clear to me and to be honest, I did no care much. The story takes you for granted and throws oddballs one after another. From bed-size spiders to glowing mushroom drug-trips with insect mother – this book has all. But different kind of large centipedes attacking one human being and the human having a shroom trip about being born from and brought up by insect mother is not a pleasant picture at all.

The artwork is great but with no proper motivation or character development, this falls flat.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The night the master comes

Dead House
4 stars

 

A group of friends spends a night in a refurbished old house and with the help of an old ‘game’ the master comes from the other side but never goes back.

This is some good sh*t here, high quality spooky sh*t.

Billy O’Callaghan has resurrected old school horror. Writing a review for Dead House is really tough cause it is as tiring as it is gripping.

Usually horror stories slowly build up their characters, situations, surroundings and then lets the icky stuffs loose. But no, not Mr. O’Callaghan; ever since he first few pages, something was always there; waiting at the next page; hiding between the lines; lurking through the words. Oddly, nothing was there and that is what made me so uneasy ever since the beginning. I kept looking for hints, searching for clues. I was not able to point at anything; yet continuously felt it getting closer, becoming stronger. And when it he came, he kicked my atheist butt. I felt my room getting smaller, its air getting denser, the darkness getting heavier as I ran for the last page. Rarely have I felt this much rush and chase at the same time in a ghost story. The characters were real, the relations were heartfelt and most importantly the pressure was unreal. Only tiny little complain, the first chapter felt like a bitter spoiler cause it kind of foreshadowed the ending secretly. 

Highly recommend this to ghost/thriller/ horror lovers. 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Make Physics Easy Again!

Mr Tompkins in Paperback

4 stars

 

Are you scared of physics? Don’t want to spend your valuable time to understand the complexity of the world of physics? Do you think physics cannot be easy or physics cant be funny?? 
Come here! Come here!

One afternoon of a bank holiday Mr. Tompkins goes to attend a lecture on Theory of Relativity and falls asleep when the lecture goes over his head. But only then he enters a dream world where everything is happening like the lecturer was saying. Surprisingly, now the phenomena are easy to understand cause those are actually happening in front of his eyes. 

An everyday character trying to comprehend difficult concepts of science in weirdly simple yet delicious dreams, walk in parks and what not! 

Seriously, here is a book for all of us written by one of the finest physicist himself! Read it to laugh, read it to learn! You will never regret reading this! Please?!