Help!!!

I still have no idea how you upload a movie to your blog.
If anyone has any suggestions, for God's Sake leave a comment!

Printmade?

Now there is a sudden shift; from reading about retired superheroes and or deconstructing the idea of a superhero we find ourselves in a new genre of graphic novels. I was only recently aware of Persepolis. Over a year ago when Entertainment Weekly featured half a book's worth of the movies that were scheduled to be released between September and December 2007 and there was Persepolis in the back. The second time I actually saw Persepolis was a clip during this year's Academy Awards mostly because Best Animated Feature is the only feature I tune in for, then I all but completely lose interest in the show. Anyways, after having completely read the graphic novel (the one on the far left), I know the scene I witnessed occured in the second graphic novel (the biological changes the author experienced during puberty). Unfortunately, Persepolis lost to Ratatouille.

It wasn't until my Graphic Novel class that I learned that Persepolis started out as a graphic novel. The main question that kept coming into my mind was the art style. Did Marjane Starapi actually draw this black and white world or was it via printmaking? After some research, it turns out not only was it hand drawn, but the series is actually four books when it was first released in France. The book we just read is books 1&2. The series was simply compressed to 2 books for the English audience.

Orange and Blue

As of late, when I read Watchmen, I see another character that paralells Dr. Manhattan: Leeloo, from the movie, The Fifth Element. At first glance, they appear to be complete opposites. Dr. Manhattan, a blue, naked man who first graced the pages of comic books in 1986 but will appear on movie screens March 2009 and Leeloo, an orange, semi-naked woman who graced the silver screen back in 1997.

Here's what they have in common: They are both Christ-like individuals. Dr. Manhattan was a nuclear physicist in the late 1950's who was literally blown at an Arizona testing facility only to pull himself together, again literally, and achieve the power to displace matter as he sees fit, using it well into the 1980s, Leeloo on the other hand is the Fifth element, the perfect lifeform and the ultimate protector of life who was destroyed in a spaceship, but is reassembled in a 23rd century bioengineering lab in New York.

In addition to New York City, both characters' stories revolve around another heavenly body both literally and figuratively. Dr. Manhattan retreats to the planet Mars when he couldn't endure the stress he was experiencing on earth, while Leeloo goes to the fictional planet of Fhloston. Both characters come back to earth one last time to complete their objectives. They each have love interests that are at best complicated. Dr. Manhattan's love is Laurie Juspeczyk (the 2nd Silk Spectre).This relationship is complicated because Dr. Manhattan's powers upset Laurie. Leeloo's love interest is Corbin Dallas (bruce Willis' character). Corbin believes that Leeloo is perfect, but because of her vocation, Leeloo knows nothing of love or being loved. It is ultimately Laurie and Corbin that bring about a life changing revelation to both Dr. Manhattan and Leeloo respectively.

And finally, they have similar creators. It is already apparent that Watchmen is created by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, The Fifth Element may have been directed by Luc Besson, but it was the artistic collaboration with comic book artists Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Jean-Cluade Meizieres that brought the movie to life.

A joker for all seasons

An article I found in the July 11, 2008 issue Entertainment Weekly featured a timeline that depicted how the image and story behind the character the Joker. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find all the pictures that I needed, but Wikipedia had every image I was looking for.

For example, on the far right is when the Joker first appeared in Batman comics in 1940 the "golden age of comic books" if you prefer. This was obvious that he would instantly be iconic. The image on the far left on the other hand is during the "silver age" of comics, 1971 when the Joker needed to be a little more menacing.

The images on the very top are the various actors who have portrayed the Joker. The far left is Caesar Romero in the campy 1966 Batman television series. The middle figure is Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman, and of course, probably the most familiar of the three, the late Heath Ledger portraying him in 2008's The Dark Knight.

I could take this time to completely explain the subtle nuances of each change made to the Joker over the years, but images speak louder than words.

Experiment #1

The assignment was to only read the second and third book of The Dark Knight Returns, but it was a slower Labor Day weekend than I would have guessed. I read ahead to the fourth book as well as the cliff notes of the original rough draft for the fourth chapter So I'm well aware of what's happening in the picture I posted.

The so-called experiment was to see if I could upload an image into my blog without too many mishaps, but that doesn't seem too likely during the developmental stages.

Batman and Superman having to fight against each other in the final chapter, and the lengths Batman had to go to avoid being beaten in less than a minute not only from Superman's natural talents, but Batman's body about to give out on him.

A side project of mine will be to find the graphic novel The Dark Knight Strikes Back to see if Frank Miller still has his touch.