Torpedo: A Comic Review!

Torpedo
Publisher: Cross Cult
Writer: E.S. Arbuli
Artists: Alex Toth, Jordi Bernet

There are many artists whose work I love, but few whose art sends me as delirious as Alex Toth's. Toth did a number of superhero books, but his forte was period action, especially when it involved classic cars and airplanes. Toth would envision the panels as scenes snipped from contemporaneous films, so you'd almost expect to see Errol Flynn stride in with a dame on each arm, or James Cagney pop up with a tommy-gun and start blasting away at Humphrey Bogart while Ingrid Bergman gazes through a curl of cigarette smoke as she lounges seductively near a piano, or a dishevelled Rita Hayworth curled up in bed, wearing your pajamas.

I can't really review E.S. Arbuli's writing here because for some reason, I ended up with the German edition of Torpedo. All I know is, Cross Cult did Torpedo proud; it's a handsome book. I love how companies are going to this "textbook" style binding with strong, modern graphics on the covers. Dark Horse prints a few book along this style, the European "album" format. The interior pages are in lush black and white, and if it suffers in any way, it's from being smallish; I suppose Dark Horse's Creepy and Eerie archive books have spoiled me rotten . I'm sure they have. Torpedo's dimensions are smaller than letter-sized paper, slightly larger than digest-sized. Which means some of the linework, especially in Toth's stories, gets lost and the panels tend to look a bit busy.

But that's a very minor problem. Once you focus your eyes and pull the book a little closer, the art looks quite beautiful. Toth handles the visuals on the first two installments, entitled "Torpedo 1936." And true to form, he brings Torpedo's 30s milieu to life. It's like reading some gangster flick of the time. Toth uses silhouetting extensively throughout, befitting the dark events. Cigarette smoking gangsters rattle away with machine guns and blaze away with .45 automatic pistols. Toth works loose and textural, with slashes of black to give energy and movement to the images. It's some of his finest work, but apparently he didn't feel his sensibilities meshed with Arbuli's, despite the mid-30s stuff he depicts so well. At least visually, he's right at home.

Jordi Bernet takes over and even signs his name in a little box, Toth-style. His drawings are very similar as well, a bit more rough-hewn, almost as if Joe Kubert decided to copy Toth while filling in for him; this creates a welcome consistency and the transition from Toth to Bernet isn't as jarring as you might expect. Since this is my first encounter with the man, I know very little about Bernet. I'm deeply impressed and excited by what I see here. He exhibits all of Toth's strengths-- well-planned minimalism, heavy black spotting, the accuracy in details, the clean, sensible panel arrangements. His Torpedo is slightly more rat-faced than Toth's, but who really cares about that when the artwork is this stark, this beautiful? Neither artist strays from the three-tier format, and as a result, the pages are so easy to follow, it's like letting your gaze slither along a length of silk wrapped erotically around some curvaceous body...

Too bad I stupidly ordered it in German! The German dialogue coming out of these gangster's mouths makes trying to read this an exercise in dadism for me. Like a David Lynch joke. And since I know only a smattering of the language, very confusing. I'm only pissed at myself, though. While Amazon.co.jp had this book listed in their English titles, if the page mentioned anything about German, it was in Japanese, a language I'm much more familiar with but still can't read! I immediately went back and ordered an English-language edition. That's how intrigued I am with the artwork here.

And illustrates my mania for anything Alex Toth. Some company or other needs to do a compilation of his work, or get Bravo for Adventure back into print. That's Toth doing what he most wanted to do-- a old-fashioned story about Errol Flynn flying airplanes. It's ridiculous the work of an industry giant like Toth is so elusive these days. Your best bet is Image's fine trade paperback Zorro collection, but as nice as it is to have such a concentration of Toth's work, it's not representative of his finest stuff.

More Nana Blogging: Nakashima Mika's Drastic Change

Yazawa Ai's comic series Nana spawned two film adaptations. The first was one of 2005's major hits; the sequel, from the following year, not so much. Singer Nakashima Mika proved an inspired choice to play Osaki Nana, but she had to make a physical change from her familiar romantic image to play the hard-edged rocker. Apparently, one of her trademarks is her long, lush hair, most of which had to go. This caused a row in the press. What would her fans think? Would they react negatively and abandon the balladeer?

Here's the result:

Move over Watchmen: Nakashima looks as close to the comic version as you're likely to find in a human being. Her acting is adequate in the part, but the film's conception of Nana isn't as edgy as the comic's. Nakashima plays Nana in a low-key, understated style that conveys her cool in the dialogue-heavy dramatic scenes, but not her underlying emotional instability and anger. But what she lacks in fire, she more than makes up for with her natural performing charisma, and her Nana explodes with energy during the musical sequences, as Nakashima skillfully displays her as someone who almost literally lives to sing on stage, in front of adoring fans. Of course, she hasn't acted since Nana 2's less than stellar box office, and that was four years ago.

I recently bought Nana volumes 18, 19 and 20, so I've immersed myself in Nana and Hachi's tragically romantic Tokyo milieu once again. Inspired, I decided to catch up with Nakashima Mika's current look. Behold:

Wow! It's hard to believe that's the same woman. For the most faithful adaptation of the Nana comic and one that's truer to Yazawa's angular, fashion-inspired drawing style, I recommend the anime series. But to see Nakashima Mika embody the character in live action while adorned in actual Vivienne Westwood clothing, you should check out the first movie. It's actually quite enjoyable and features a vivacious performance by Miyazaki Aoi as Komatsu "Hachi" Nana (her nickname is a dual joke-- it's a dog's name and also the Japanese word for the number 8, as opposed to nana, which means 7) and a surprisingly sympathetic turn by Hiroaka Yuta in the thankless role of Hachi's failed boyfriend Shoji.

Both Nana movies are available from Viz Media, the company releasing the wonderful English-language version of the manga. Plus the anime. The Japanese DVD release is difficult to find in my hometown here and, when available, seems to lack English subtitles. So I was happy to get this. On a semi-related note (if you enjoy Japanese cinema), Viz also released the wonderful Linda Linda Linda, but only in a full screen version. I really wish they'd put out a letterboxed edition of this movie.

While I thank you for making these movies available in North America, Linda Linda Linda deserves a more artful releases, Viz. It's actually the more artistic of the two films and the one I watch more often. Other than that small caveat, it's now clear to me Viz Media is one of my favorite comic publishers, right up there with Dark Horse and Fantagraphics.

Captain James T. Kirk Discusses Nana...

Greetings, People of the United Federation of Planets--

As a Starfleet captain in command of the USS Enterprise, I rarely have time to sit and read. So when I do get a chance to head back to my quarters for some Kirk-time, I want my reading material to be something special. That's why I usually have the computer archives call up a classic volume of Ai Yazawa's 21st century comic book series Nana.

You might think it strange that a man responsible for the lives of 430 highly trained and dedicated crewmembers would become so caught up in the fictional world revolving around the loves and lives of a group of fashionable young people in and around Tokyo. But consider this-- the pressures of a 5-year mission of exploration and interstellar diplomacy have broken men from time to time. I'm thinking specifically of Garth of Izar, a captain whose exploits at the Battle of Axanar are still required reading at Starfleet Academy. I submit if Fleet Captain Garth had availed himself of Ms. Yazawa's comics, he might have found a release from his own troubles by focusing on those of the two Nanas and their friends.

And perhaps he might not have gone mad and ordered his crew to annihilate the peaceful beings of Antos IV. How fortunate his people recognized in this illegal, immoral and horrifying order the symptoms of insanity and justifiably relieved him of his command. We can only hope he receives the treatment he needs and the compassion he deserves at the mental health facilities on Elba II.

Shin's been arrested for marijuana possession? But what about Blast's big TV performance? Although I had studied the books in my 21st century literature class in high school and had even written many a paper on them, events of Nana 18 proved especially turbulent for me as I re-read it for the thousandth time.

I can't help but think of the time my Enterprise crew and I encountered the same dikironium cloud creature on Argus X that had, years earlier during my posting as a junior officer aboard the USS Farragut, killed 200 of my fellow crewmembers. I became dangerously obsessed with destroying the creature-- an obsessive state I found mirrored in several Nana characters. Nana for singing, Ren for drugs, Reira and Shin for each other. Through Ms. Yazawa's tortured cast of characters, I was able to come to grips with guilt I still held from earlier events...

And overcome it.

This, indeed, is the power of any good work of fiction, be it a comic like Nana, or a lithofilm of one of the narrative aura projection classics of the kind found among the psychic plant-minds of Tychus IX. A famous novelist from Zeta Orionis, a planet circling the far left star in Orion's Belt constellation(as seen from Earth) wrote a classic using the theme, "Let me help." He recommended those three words even over 'I love you'. Ms. Yazawa's characters, however, would argue that love is also necessary and no less important.

Of course, we've all seen the many film and holographic adaptations of this story over the years. Some have even updated the setting to various eras and planetary colonies of more recent vintage. Like the works of Shakespeare, Nana remains an evergreen and a source for the works of others. It's even been translated-- or so I've heard-- into Klingon, for a people not known for their tenderness. No doubt something has been lost in the translation. Nana has even proven surprisingly popular on Vulcan, home planet of our own science officer Mr. Spock. Apparently, the story's sometimes violent feelings appeal in a cautionary way to the Vulcans and their impressively subdued emotions.

Mr. Spock himself has become quite addicted to the series as well, despite its familiarity among learned Vulcans of a certain age. Of course, he's drawn to the punk rock Nana, and cites as the reason her "fascinating volatility, quite human and therefore, extremely illogical." I, however, prefer Hachiko's more traditional femininity. Dr. McCoy, the ship's chief medical officer, claims never to have read a single chapter and to have never watched any of its many adapted versions. But he seemed to know a surprising number of facts about the character Nobu when communications officer Lt. Uhura and helmsman Lt. Sulu became engaged in a heated debate over his merits as a friend to Nana, as well as his place in her band the Black Stones as a guitarist and lawyer.

When Mr. Spock asked the good doctor about his expertise, "Bones" (as we've nicknamed him) noticeably flushed, then muttered something about "damned Vulcan curiosity" and claimed to have left some important cultures unrefrigerated back in the medical laboratory. He quickly exited the room.

Recently, during some much-needed shore leave, I was able to visit Tokyo and tour the Ai Yazawa Cultural Museum. Numbers of school children, all excitedly discussing their favorite Nana moments in a polyglot of languages, surrounded the larger-than-life bronze statue of Ms. Yazawa. It did this star trekking rocket man a world of good to see new generations being exposed to this literary classic.

Sincerely,

Captain James T. Kirk, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701 (commanding)

The New Spider-Man Flick Has a Director!

And it's Marc Webb, who recently directed the "Golden Globe nominated Best Picture (500) Days of Summer," according to the press release Sony Pictures dropped in my email inbox.

Here's how they justify their choice:

Commenting on the announcement, Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, said, "At its core, Spider-Man is a small, intimate human story about an everyday teenager that takes place in an epic super-human world. The key for us as we sought a new director was to identify filmmakers who could give sharp focus to Peter Parker's life. We wanted someone who could capture the awe of being in Peter's shoes so the audience could experience his sense of discovery while giving real heart to the emotion, anxiety, and recklessness of that age and coupling all of that with the adrenaline of Spider-Man's adventure. We believe Marc Webb is the perfect choice to bring us on that journey."

Actually, it was merely because they wanted bloggers, entertainment news pundits and random jackasses to make bad Spidey-puns based on Webb's name. Like the one in the subject line for Sony's email announcement, "A New Webb For Spider-Man." Oh you clever ducks!

I refuse to pun. Too obvious. All the good ones will be taken. Plus, while I may be a scummy, degenerate comics blogger, I like to pretend to at least some dignity. When I'm not typing my entries naked but for striped toe socks and filled with rage at DC's latest mistreatment of Cassandra Cain, that is.

All stupidity aside, this news sounds encouraging to me. It gives me hope they not only hired James Vanderbilt, who wrote the screenplay for Zodiac, one of my favorite films, but also chose a director without slam-bang summer tentpole event action movie experience. Of course, the same directorial approach failed miserably for the Fantastic Four films, but it could work here. I hope it does. I haven't seen (500) Days of Summer, but I did read part of the screenplay. The English-language tabloid Asahi Weekly has a regular feature where they take a new film release and spotlight a couple of scenes from it, with lots of vocabulary and cultural-explanation notes for Japanese ESL learners. Webb's romantic comedy flick was last week's selection.

Speaking of ESL, here's a little gem from the press release:

Written by James Vanderbilt, Webb will work closely with producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin in developing the project, which will begin production later this year.

What is that? A misplaced adjective phrase? I highly doubt James Vanderbilt-- talented screenwriter though he may be-- wrote Marc Webb. Unless this is an argument in favor of more sex education in our schools. When a boy writer and a girl writer love each other very much, they put their laptops on top of each other and nine months later, they have a first draft.

Chances of these three teaming up for the new Spider-Man? I'd put them at around 50-50. Or less. But I'm pretty happy about the choice for director and screenwriter. Now they need a solid Peter Parker and Mary Jane. I would like to note , Mr. Webb, I'm available starting June 1. I do have some headshots I could send you...

Does this news mean Valerie D'Orazio over at Occasional Superheroine and I will get our wishes-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Zooey Deschanel as Black Cat?

Heck, I want Zooey Deschanel to play Spider-Man in this movie.

Is Jim Sturgess Going to Play Puny Parker?

Flash Thompson reporting here, dudes. You know, I hate that punk, Peter Parker. He's a nerd, a geek and I have it good authority he smells like wheatcakes. Yeah, a couple of guys from the team were giving ol' Puny Parker a swirly and they said he totally smells like wheatcakes and maple syrup. He lives with a couple of creepy old people, too.

And if he doesn't stop messing around with Liz Allan, I'm gonna have to kick his puny ass for him. I don't know why she'd even give that science-geek the time of day when there are football superstuds of the gridiron, like yours truly, Flash Thompson, around. You know how many TD passes I had last season? Man, I was on fire.

Anyways, they're making another movie about my main broseph, the amazing Spider-Man and for some reason they're putting that little snot Puny Parker in it. Can't figure out why, but there you have it. As president of the Spider-Man Fan Club, it's incumbent upon me, Flash Thompson, to tell you about these things. The only question is, who will play Puny Parker?

Well, I suggest that old lady who used to do the "Where's the Beef?" commercials back in the 80s.



I saw one of those on Fox's Funniest TV Commercials of All-Time TV specials last week. She's got the look, the voice and the same wussy-ass presence about her, plus it'd be funny as hell to see the look on Puny Parker's face when he gets a load of her playing his part. Of course, she's probably dead by now. She was like a million years old back then. Or maybe they could get one of those skating babies from that bottled water commercial.

But no, they're maybe getting this guy Jim Sturgess to play Puny Parker. He's some kind of English kid who was in that musical Beatles movie a couple of years ago.



I was supposed to take Liz to see that but she said she had to study and the next thing I know, I ride by the library to see who with and it's Puny Parker! Man, I was so pissed.

I waited around to kick Parker's ass, but this alarm went off and the Lizard came out of nowhere right through a window and started tossing me around-- although I'm pretty sure I landed a couple of my patented Flash Thompson haymakers on his green, scaly face-- and then all these cops were running around and the next thing I knew, Spider-Man was saving my life but he left me all webbed up and hanging from the wall and it took all night for the cops and firefighters and stuff to get me down and I was like a zombie at football practice that next day and Coach made me run extra windsprints.

It sure was cool seeing Spidey, though. I'm sure if he'd known all the trouble I got in with Coach, he'd want to kick Puny Parker's ass, too. Maybe some of the guys and I will knock back some cold ones and go looking for Parker tonight. Liz says she's studying or something, so I got nothing better to do.

Jim Sturgess, huh? I wonder who they're gonna get to play me? I think they oughta get me to play myself. I mean, Brad Pitt was pretty close to my awesomeness in Troy, but he's an old man now. Almost as old as that "Where's the Beef?" lady.

Man, that shit cracks the Flashmeister up!

Your bro,

Flash Thompson

Here's How Nana and Ren Met...

The Nana anime is a very faithful adaptation of the comic. The character designs are dead-on matches for Yazawa Ai's elegantly angular, fashion-inspired artwork. These are people about whom their clothes say as much as their dialogue and actions. The red dress Nana buys is probably an actual dress available at the time.

Although the conversation beginning at 3:15 tells us quite a bit about how Nana's priorities differ from Ren's, at least during that stage of their relationship. Along those lines, I really wanted to post the clip where Nana tells Ren it's a good thing she didn't have an orgasm on stage during their last show. Or "live," as it's called here in Japan. Now that's a woman who loves singing in front of a crowd. I can't remember if Yazawa Ai included that little detail in her comic; it's been over a year since I read this "flashback" story about how Nana and Ren met, fell in love, then split.

It's funny, but it also illuminates Nana's desperate need to perform. Because the thrill of it is so close to having sex. Or better. Perhaps she likens the emotional exhibitionism and rawness in front of so many people to the more private kind. For someone so guarded and self-protective as Nana, this might be her purest form of release. Just like Yazawa Ai to make her pretty, pretty characters so complex.

Hoping For the Best for Yazawa Ai...

This stuff is going to be old news for the hardcore manga readers out there.

I was reading Nana 19 last night-- a Valentine's Day-themed story I wish I'd saved for February-- and decided to flip to the back to read "Junko's Place." If you've never read Nana, "Junko's Place" is a bonus feature where the characters hang out at a pub owned and managed by Junko, a minor character in the main storyline. She was once Hachiko's best friend but due to her inherent common sense and the stability of her own relationship, has been relegated to an occasional appearance here and there, usually trying to talk sense to Hachi.

And yet she gets her own pages in the back of the book. Which she promptly skips, leaving other characters in charge. "Junko's Place" is where Yazawa Ai showcases fan art and makes fun of herself, where Nana and Hachi give into fangirl urges to stalk characters from Yazawa's Paradise Kiss and other neglected characters can show up and comment on the real-world behind the scenes stuff that goes with being a popular comic book artist in Japan whose works have inspired all kinds of ancillary merchandise, TV animation and motion pictures.

Finally, there's a short message from Ms. Yazawa herself. Due to publication lag, English-only readers like myself are a little behind the times. But sometimes things echo. In 2007, she suspended work on Nana due to health problems. The current Viz Media volumes hit right around this time. So in number 17, she discusses a health check-up, in 18 talks about having had surgery and quitting smoking and in 19, some kind of relapse that required an ambulance. That's scary.

What's scarier still is, something similar happened again in June, 2009, but after the initial announcement... no news at all. It's like deja vu. One of those strange moments of synchonicity. She could have been writing about last summer. The most recent Nana released in Japan was #21, which was fifth on the best-seller's list for single volumes last year, with 1,505,575 copies sold. The first four places on the list were held by four consecutive volumes of One Piece. After the suspension notice, nothing.

I'm hoping whatever news Ms. Yazawa chooses to release will be good news, and I wish her a speedy recovery. As addicted as I am to Nana, I can wait it out (possibly watching the Viz Video DVD set of the TV animated series will help some). What's more important than the comic book drama is the real life drama-- and for that, we definitely want a happy ending.