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Fractal Matter talks with Bear creator Jamie Smart about his new comic Ubu Bubu
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Stardust DVD – Stardust is a lovely story that is enjoyable, fun and the perfect fairytale.
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Stardust is a tale following the lovestruck Tristan through his adventure to gain his dream girl’s (Victoria played by Sienna Miller) heart. To do this he must bring her back a fallen star.
This entails sneaking past a gate keeper whose job it is to keep those who live in Wall on the right side. Unfortunately, though fast for his age, he’s already failed once in keeping a resident of Wall on the right side - Tristan’s father. Tristan manages to get through the gate and off to a very strange place indeed. With help from his mother Tristan finds the star but is surprised at what the star actually is, though this doesn’t stop him from trying to bring the star to his beloved Victoria.
He’s not the only one after the star however; three witches and a prince are also after the star as the heart of a star will keep a person alive well beyond their time. The star also carries a jewel that will proclaim the king of the land.
Stardust is a lovely story that is enjoyable, fun and the perfect fairytale. One person, however, steals the film even though there are loads of cameos. Robert De Niro will make you either forget how to speak or laugh until you cry, possibly both.
The main drawback is that this UK DVD (the US version has a “making of” but no commentary) lacks special features; the only thing on it is a audio commentary with Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Though it does lack in any fun features, the commentary is a lot of fun. They talk about the differences that had to be made taking the book to film as well as complaining endlessly (Vaughn) of having to do shots with only one of the 4 actors that should have been there. This causes Vaughn to be grumpy through the commentary but he lives.
The DVD is worth your money even without loads of features, Stardust is a definite winner and completely re-watchable.
Review by: Sabrina Peyton
Writer/Artist: Jeff Smith
Publisher: Cartoon Books
Price: $3.50
Review by: Sabrina Peyton
Jeff Smith who is known for his comic Bone has just released his newest comic, Rasl (pronounced rassle). So if you’re a Jeff Smith fan go check it out. The rest wait until it’s released in trade.
Rasl is a thief who used to take days, hours, maybe even months to plan a job. Not anymore though, not since he built his spectral immersion suit that lets him travel through space and time. Being a true thief instead of exploring or even using it for good he just uses the suit to help him steal from others.
The art of course is in true Jeff Smith style, pretty cartoonish but that’s how he draws. It’s the idea that this first issue doesn’t really give you a clue as to what the book will be about. Just an art thief who can travel through time? Space? Dimensions? Or is there something else. Maybe he can’t get home? Who is Maya and what exactly is the drift? There’s a lot of questions left hanging at the end of issue 1 but is it enough to keep readers coming back for more?
Well, that depends on if you’re a fan of Jeff Smith or not. If you are chances are that yes, you’ll buy the comic every month and possibly the trade. Everyone else might just wait for the trade as this comic being bimonthly probably won’t hold your attention in any other form.
It’s a decent start but it may not grab everyone.
What are the origins of Ubu Bubu?
Ubu Bubu the comic was an idea formed while i was in the middle of what comic book artists affectionately call ‘tv development hell’. I was working full time at a tv network developing my show, and it was insanely stressful, demoralising and hard to switch off from, and it never went anywhere anyway. But on the long tube journeys home I started to get inspired on other ideas, the main one being Ubu Bubu. I wanted to get back to comics, I hadn’t released any for well over a year. My idea was to do a comic about a cute cat who holds an evil daemon inside him, and to draw it in a sweeping Watterson-style brushwork. To make it cute, and simple, and nasty. The idea consumed me and became incredibly exciting, making those endless tube journeys home time to think and plan.
Are cats evil?
Yes. They have that quiet satisfaction in them, that mocking sneer. It’s weird how many cats have cropped up in my work, since I never actually owned one. Well I had one, as a kid, but it ran away. And the only other one I went near after that I tried to bury my face in its belly, for which I was promptly lacerated and clawed. I think maybe that’s the trauma that has shaped my cat-based career.
Where you apprehensive putting out this type of book
after Bear?
Not really, no, I was more grateful that my publisher SLG still had the faith in me, and that there still seemed to be an audience for what I do. Obviously I expected the reviews to say ‘it’s not as good as Bear, innit?’, but mercifully nobody has compared it to Bear yet. It’s not intended as a follow-up, Ubu Bubu is a different entity in its own right, but obviously the look and vein of humour is carrying on from where Bear left off. It’s great to be back there.
Have you always written and drawn your own work?
Yes, bizarrely. Even when I was working for children’s comics, they would let me write and draw essentially what I chose, which is an incredibly responsibility to give someone who releases comic books about cat sick and dancing turds. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to find good editors who believe in what I do, and I totally believe in repaying that by producing the best work I can. I’d find drawing someone else’s work a bit boring to be honest. if you’re going to draw something, you should be writing what you’re drawing, they’re branches of the same tree.
What kind of work schedule are you on?
It’s a stupid one. Up to the age of about 24 I barely did any work other than the occasional freelance job, but it suddenly occurred to me that I had alot of time on my hands and I could be spending all that time drawing and improving what I do. Since that curious brain snap I’ve been working 7 days a week almost constantly for the last 5 years, I love getting up at 6am and doing 14 hour days. It makes me feel like I’ve achieved something. But in reality it’s a stupid attitude, it makes me unable to relax for more than a day without feeling guilty that I should be working, and it’s brought me close to burn out a coupla times. But the fact is I’m still so excited by what I do, it makes me want to be doing it constantly. I don’t ALWAYS manage 7 days a week now, but I’m happiest when I do. Big loser that I am.
Who were your major influences when you were younger
(comics or otherwise) and just what was the motivating factor that made
you decide to break into the industry?
When I was very young I was addicted to the main British children’s comics of the time, things like Whizzer and Chips, Buster, Dandy. There was also a comic called Oink, which was insanely subversive and violent, but a mainstream children’s comic all the same. That was a revelation to me. And of course the strip cartoons like Calvin and Hobbes, and Garfield. they were both big for me. Then I kinda dropped comics till I was at college, when I found Deadline, and by association Tank Girl. And from there, SLG’s Milk and Cheese. By this time I was doing alot of my own comics, but these titles REALLY showed me what could be done in comics and made me evolve my own stuff a lot further.
I’m not sure there was any particular motivating factor for getting in the industry other than I believed I had some good work that deserved to be
published. But I’ve been sending countless work to publishers for years and years and not got anywhere, so I’m well used to not getting anywhere.
Any new projects coming up you can tell us about?
Well there’s three issues left of Ubu Bubu coming out this year. Also, in March, is my one-shot ‘Bohda Te’, which I’m really excited about. then in May book one of the anthology I’ve been working on called Fat Chunk is released, which features over 80 artists in one tidy little book. Then in November book two comes out. And there’s a book based on my ‘Space Raoul’ comics coming out at some point too. It’s a real buzz to be doing comics again, I’m looking forward to this year. Also, for children’s comics, I’m doing a spell as the Desperate Dan artist in the Dandy, I think that starts in March. And i’m working on something which should be some of my best work for a new children’s comic coming out in a month or two, but i think that’s secret. All the news on what I’m doing is regularly updated at my journals, which can be found by following the links at www.fumboo.com.
If you could be doing anything else anywhere else what would it be?
I’d be a monkey. I’d be head patrol monkey. You know when the monkeys all have a big monkey fight in the jungle and there’s always one that runs about just kicking in trees for the sake of making noise? I’ll be that monkey. I never liked trees. Only as a monkey can I vent my frustrations. I’ve said monkey alot. Monkey.
What was the first thing you drew and where is it now?
Something obscene and vulgar, and it’s probably still on the cabinet door in my parent’s old house in Kent. Though, I’m guessing the new owners probably threw it away. It was quite disturbing for someone so young.
How do you deal with the internet and the comics community on it?
It’s fun! Why not? it’s a great way to see if people are digging what you do, or if they hate it. I’ve seen alot of hate vented towards me and my work, usually by faceless no-marks who have nothing better to do than criticise other people’s creativity, but I’ve seen alot of support for what I do too and needless to say that’s an incredibly humbling feeling. The net’s also a great way to make contact with people, if someone wants to say they like your work it’s only polite to say thank you! Then you find out the people who like your work are actually pretty cool, and you enjoy talking to them.
What are your comedic influences?
When I was a kid it was tv, mainly the Young Ones. I can never state how much that show affected me, truly, I watched it so many times and learnt every word. It was just so great, so stupid, so subversive. Other shows got into my head too, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, all the main 80s bbc comedies, but Young Ones was my mainstay. Comic-wise, I haven’t particularly absorbed much influence from there, because it was always already formed by the tv I had watched.
Did you expect such popularity?
Popularity is a weird thing, some people can think you’re an inspiration and other people can have no interest in you at all, so it’s a very small bubble of popularity. And you have to realise that. It’s obviously wonderful to get appreciation for what you do, and it’s validating to your mental state too. For me the idea that I might have impacted someone’s life, even in such a small way as made them laugh by a comic I drew, is the main thing to be proud of.
Do you have any formal art education or training?
I went to art college for four years, but it didn’t particularly teach me anything. I was fortunate to have head tutors who liked comic books, so they left me to do my own thing, and so I essentially got 4 years to practice drawing comics. I never found art education to be useful in itself, but if it helps you raise awareness of your own game then it’s good.
Which characters do you have the most fun writing? Any future series’ about any of them?
Hmm thats hard, because I’m usually working on a few different things at once. And while they’re obviously different characters, to be treated in different ways, the humour is always the common vein and so I can safely say I enjoy writing all of them because they all amuse me. Space Raoul was particular fun because he was so pompous and inept, and Bear and Looshkin had a unique dynamic that was easy to slip into. At the moment, writing Ubu Bubu is giving me the most freedom, as I’m learning where I want to go with what I do and putting that directly into the comic. So it’s
a learning process, and fun for it.
You involve a lot of goth and chav-bating in Bear - it could be said that Bear is a bit of a cultural document of suburban life, a snapshot of British life in a time period, perhaps like Hot Fuzz. Any thoughts?
Ha ha I wouldn’t try and make Bear anything more than it is. Alot of people have tried to use highbrow words to describe it, to intellectualise it. But, flattering though that obviously is, it was never intended to be either well-formed wit or any comment on society. It was just the things that amused me, put down into a comic, with some slapping and bloodshed to help oil the wheels. I’m incredibly proud of Bear, and I’ll defend it against anyone who dismisses it as puerile, but I know that it was always supposed to be a fun comic you could pick up and put down when you fancied, without having learnt too much. Except for how to threaten a stuffed bear with a ladle. You can learn that. Anything more, unlearn it, it wasn’t there
Written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews
Art by Will Conrad
Published by Dark Horse Comics
Review by: Frank Davis
Joss Whedon’s ongoing saga of space pirates returns to comics in a new miniseries from Dark Horse Comics. Whedon with returning Co Writer Brett Matthews and artist Will Conrad delivers a very amusing twist on the Serenity story by telling an earlier adventure of Captain Mal Reynolds and his rag tag crew as they pull off a heist that just might work.
The beauty of Whedon’s work is that itserves really well as an untold story of his TV series Firefly and can serve as another prelude tale to the Serenity movie. What is truly shiny about this miniseries is that Better Days actually feels and sounds like an episode of Firefly. The story involves a robbery scheme that is well layered and with this robbery on top of a robbery, complications involving clients having no money comes into play so then we see more theft and the scenes itself work well because the characters are familiar to the fans who love them. Kaylee is still pining for Simon, Inara deals with a guy with some anger issues, and Jayne continues to be amazed when he is unable to make something blow up. The only comment that can be said is that there is not enough River so far, buy that is just this reviewer being particular. If it was not for flipping the pages of the book, this felt like another story to the filmed part of the Serenity saga.
Whedon and Matthews jump right in the tale as the story moves quickly in the 22 pages of the first issue the plot is established, most of the characters make panel time with their usual wit, or in the case of Jayne a true lack of it. The art by Will Conrad, like in the previous Serenity miniseries is both true to the essence of the characters yet has a smooth flow that gives the story an immediacy and tension that is equal to the original work. This miniseries delivers some truly fun entertainment.
Overall, this is highly recommended work. The one caveat to this miniseries is that a passing knowledge of the set ups and characters makes Serenity- Better Days not the most new Reader Friendly experience, In this case, Whedon is rewarding those who loved him the hardest, the Firefly/Serenity fans and he fortunately just wants to give the readers another look at his underdog saga. So for those who missed Serenity, they should feel at home here. I know I do.
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Review by: Ross S
Cable. He’s a bit like marmite. You love him or you hate him. Initially little more than a gun toating kewl cyborg, he has grown over the years into a fully formed character that forms a key part of the X-universe. That growth has by no means been without growing-pains. The characters history as the son of Cyclops and a clone of Jean Grey, sent into the future as a baby, only to return to the past to save the future is not without a certain degree of convolution. Especially once you factor in his own clone, his power upgrade, his de-powering, that whole techno-organic virus thing and his kind of re-powering. As such dumping him out into the time stream at the end of Messiah Complex, where he can do his own thing without creating paradoxes every time he orders a beer, is probably one of the best things that could happen to the character. This new series, Cable’s third I guess if you include the late lamented Cable & Deadpool series, sees us catch up with Cable us he hops through the time stream protecting the ginger Messiah baby.
Duane Swieczynski is a writer I haven’t come across before, his past work has been predominantly crime writing, both fiction and non-fiction, and journalism. It’s hard to judge the quality of his writing from this issue, since an enormous amount of it is Cable’s internal monologue. I always preferred the warrior priest version of Cable rather than the grim mercenary, and the tone that Swieczynski gives Cable here is definitely one of war weary soldier, rather than wise sage. While that isn’t necessarily to my taste, it is a wholly accurate interpretation of the character, and fully in keeping with his recent trials and tribulations. The dialogue seems a touch ham-fisted at times, with a little too much stress on the fact that Cable is a rock hard uber-soldier, but that is softened by a little humour surrounding the baby, and in fairness I think that this first issue is really about setting the scene and the tone of the series, rather than deep characterisation.
The tone itself is almost like that of a spaghetti western, albeit transported to a near future apocalyptic New York, with Cable literally mosying into town and facing off the local hoods. There is a scene at the end where he walks into a diner to come face to face with Bishop, apparently hunting him and the baby through the timestream, which you could transport wholesale to a saloon. It’s so cute you almost wonder if it’s supposed to be ironic. As for Bishop, he is another character who seems to have been floating in limbo a while and who can only really benefit from being slung out of continuity. His journey from cop to baby killing machine seems almost complete here, and I found it fabulous that he has also had an arm replaced by a robotic one; the opposite to Cables. It’s a simple use of mirror images but it really works to enhance the similarities and differences between these two time-slipped, trained killers.
What Swieczynski might lack in terms of stellar dialogue he seems to very much make up for in panel direction. The flow of the story is spot on, a lot of cinematic perspectives and sudden angle changes are used to great effect, and the whole thing comes together very nicely. Olivetti’s art loses some detail at times, but it’s incredibly lush and fits the cinematic style of the piece almost entirely.
I’m in two minds about this first issue. On one hand, the dialogue was a little lacking, and the take on the character isn’t one I’m mad keen on. On the other hand as a piece of visually driven writing, and as a play on the theme of the Western it works incredibly well. In addition one thing it definitely has going for it is the possibility of surprise. There aren’t really limits on location, on new characters, on alternative versions of existing characters. I don’t really have any idea where they intend to take this or what they intend to do with it. That at least makes it exciting and fresh for the X-line. I’d definitely recommend you picking this up, it’s not likely to blow your mind and it’s going to be a slow burner, but I it won’t necessarily be what you expected I have a feeling that it might end up being rather good a little way down the road.
Directed by Doug Liman
Starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Samuel L Jackson and Rachel Bilson
Review by: Alasdair
Jumpers have the whole world at their feet. Born with the ability to teleport, they can go anywhere, do anything, no rules apply to them. David Rice found that out the day he left his hometown behind forever and likes nothing better than enjoying the high life with seemingly no effort and no consequences. But an encounter with Roland (Jackson), leader of the Paladins, an organisation who have hunted Jumpers for centuries leads David to uncomfortable truths about his own past and a realisation that there are always consequences.
Adapted from Stephen Gould’s book, and pretty loosely too, by all accounts, this is the sort of film Doug Liman seems to revel in doing. Tokyo, the Coliseum, New York, the jungles of Brazil, the North Pole, Chechnya and that really nice hotel in the Middle East that looks like a sailing ship (By the way, capitalise that phrase and it’s the hotel’s actual name all turn up. Manly discussions are had, violence is committed, a driven young man with no past does impossible things.
Sounds familiar? Well, that’s because it is and not simply because of Liman’s work on the The Bourne Supremacy. The massively retooled script keeps very little from the original novel and ramps up the action, the end result being empty but by and large, pretty fun.
The action sequences are, as they desperately needed to be, astounding, in particular a brutal fight between Griffin (Bell) and two Paladins in the Coliseum and Griffin and David’s frantic chase across the world in the film’s final half hour. There are some nice ideas sketched out too, ranging from the hint that some Jumpers develop an affinity for certain types of objects and can Jump them, to the war with the Paladins and a hint that Jumpers are far, far more widespread than anyone thought.
But that’s just the problem. They’re sketched. There are a good four concepts that the film hurtles past which have infinite potential for stories in their own right and instead, all we get in essence, is Liman setting the pieces on the board. Don’t get me wrong, if this was a pilot for a TV show then I’d be calling it the hit of the year but as a film, safe in the knowledge that the sequel, should there be one, is a minimum of eighteen months away it’s a massively frustrating watch.
There’s a lot to enjoy here, don’t get me wrong with Christensen a likably normal leading man and Bell wonderful as the spiky, bitter, clearly demented Griffin. Jackson and Bilson in particular are far less well served, Bilson’s genuine wit and comic timing reduced to simpering girl-in-distress but there’s not a weak link in the chain. Apart from the script.
If you can cope with a film this fast, this ideas heavy and somehow this empty then Jumper is for you. If you want something with back story, then this is not a trip you’ll want to take.
Writer / Art Director: Matt Wagner
Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Comics
Review by: Ben Crofts
I’d come across Matt Wagner’s name for a few years but never checked out his work until recently when I got utterly hooked on his Batman: Dark Moon Rising stories , given how good that was I knew I’d be very interested in his take on Zorro.
Wagner’s story does not disappoint, being both detailed and ambitious. The marketing for this comic, in part, would have us believe these opening issues are an origin tale, but it’s a good deal more than that. The story flits between the present and the past, with a recounting of the story of Diego De La Vega, the man who would become Zorro, by his long-time friend and companion and a soldier reporting of an attack to his comrades.
In the course of play and exploration Diego and his friend see a girl being whipped by soldiers to act as an incentive for her father to pay taxes. He protests it but can do nothing and despite his father telling him later that Spain only truly rules the colonies through superior values rather than military force, although he respects him too much to say so Diego knows his father’s view to be hollow. The reality is rule by force and it is manifestly unjust.
Zorro is a character who is a predecessor to later characters such as The Shadow and more famously, Batman. It is notable that Wagner makes reference to both in a way, for both characters have a lair, they use fear and attach themselves to a particular totem or aspect. Zorro is Spanish for ‘fox’ – it is in the later part of the issue Wagner turns his attention to this and gives a reason for why Diego opts for the name. His version has Diego undertake a spirit quest at the behest of his mother, who is Indian. In the course of that he is poisoned by a rattlesnake and only just makes it back, as he recovers he considers the quest a failure for he saw nothing, save a fox. The village elder tells him the fox will be his totem.
The present tale deals with another aspect of the character, that of instilling fear in his adversaries. Soldier Jose Perez was sent, with five others, to intimidate a farmer by burning the burn and killing the livestock, but they were attacked by a ferocious adversary. One who laughed as he engaged and killed them, after giving them a chance to flee. Only Perez gave up, acknowledging that he was outclassed so he was left to live: Both with the shame and the mark – a Z slashed into his left palm!
Artist Francesco Francavilla delivers outstanding visuals, which are adeptly coloured by Adriano Lucas. Between the two of them and Wagner giving a lead the comic has a very high standard of art. This is just as well for the story requires much to be depicted: The friendship between the two boys, Diego’s revulsion at the Spaniard’s harsh enforcement, the mysticism of the spirit quest, the atmosphere of the bar where the soldiers are and the attack by Zorro.
All in all, this is an excellent opening issue and the story can only get better now the foundation blocks are in place. Wagner’s take on the character is spot on and the art team is producing impressive imagery. Dynamite have been building up an impressive reputation on their licensed properties, Zorro looks to be a great addition to this.
Writer: Stefan Hutchinson
Art: Tim Seeley
(Variant covers by Tim Seeley, Bill Sienkiewicz and Crash Cunningham)
Published by DDP
Price: $3.50
Review by: Russell Hillman
In the late 1970’s, producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad approached director John Carpenter with an idea for a movie about a crazed killer that stalked babysitters on Halloween night. That idea became Halloween, which launched not only a string of sequels, but a horde of imitators, effectively creating a template for the slasher genre (though one can argue a case for many other films, from Psycho through Black Christmas and The Texas Chain saw Massacre as being the first slasher movie, Halloween is often cited as the most influential upon those that followed). The movie told the story of Michael Myers, institutionalised since he was six years old for murdering his sister, and his return to the town of Haddonfield, Illinois.
Quite surprisingly for such a high-profile movie franchise, the first Halloween comic didn’t appear until 2000, long after the comics tie-ins to other slasher movie series, such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Child’s Play had come and gone. The writer of two of the later Halloween comics (Halloween: One Good Scare and Halloween: Autopsis) was also the director of the documentary Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, Stefan Hutchinson, who has teamed up with artist Tim Seeley to bring us this new series.
It is late October, 2000, in the town of Russellville, Illinois. We are introduced to a girl named Lisa, who has suffered an as-yet-unspecified trauma at some point in her past, and some of her friends. We also meet some of her friends, and witness a brutal encounter with the renowned Mr Myers. The first issue appears to be mainly an effort to establish a mood, and leaves many questions unanswered.
This is Hutchinson’s first comic for a major publisher, and he’s off to a pretty good start. The first issue is very much in the vein of the better entries in the series (the original and H20), and sets up an interesting storyline for the issues that follow. Hutchinson has stated in interviews that he wants to concentrate less on Michael Myers, and more on “The Shape” (as he was referred to in the credits of the original movie), the unstoppable, nightmarish bogeyman, and he seems to have succeeded thus far.
Tim Seeley is no stranger to the slasher genre himself, as writer and creator of the ongoing DDP series Hack/Slash. Seeley performs well here, giving The Shape the right kind of moody presence. There are no flashy panel layouts here, just good solid storytelling.
For those who may have been wondering, this series fits into the original series continuity (between H20 and Resurrection), rather than the new continuity of the recent Rob Zombie-directed remake.
On the whole, this is a good start, far better than the first issues of the recent Wildstorm series of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. Recommended for all fans of the original movie.
Fractal Matter was created as an online magazine free and accesible to everyone. We review films, comics, tv and other forms of multimedia.
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