You can find the original post of this here.

As I get everything ready for Issue #1 and beyond, I thought I would give everyone a sneak peak at what gets my motor going. This has been the year that I rediscovered sequential art. I had read comics in the past and never thought a whole lot of them other than they seemed cool, but just “not for me”. I always liked the idea of comics and wanted to like them, but I just couldn’t get into a bunch of superhero stories. This all changed over the coarse of some weekend this fall when my buddy Sean (who runs a snarky music blog) took me to hang out with his family out in the country. We were all hanging out and at some point I made a ridiculous statement about comic books not being for me and not being really into superheros, etc. Now I think, “Can someone really be that ignorant about comics?” The answer is YES, and I was actually that person just a few months ago. Sean, being the good friend that he is, was flabbergasted and a bit offended so he handed me The Walking Dead: Vol. 1 by Robert Kirkman and the complete Bone by Jeffrey Smith. After putting down Bone when I finished it in a marathon 15 hour reading session (not even joking), I was struck by the fact that the medium makes so much sense to me. I was in love. I hadn’t been so enamored by something in a long time, but I wasn’t quite sure why.

I was on the road driving around the country playing music and a few short weeks later I found myself in a huge and weird book store somewhere near Chattanooga, Tennessee and picked up Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud and took a couple of days to read through it and try to digest it all. Reinventing Comics is basically a textbook about comics written in comic book form (and the sequel to the highly influential Understanding Comics). I was blown away by everything in the first 2/3 of the book where McCloud laid out the mechanics behind the medium. (The last 1/3 of the book is basically his opinions about online comics taking over print comics in importance, etc and I don’t really agree with any of that.) It put the medium in an intellectual context for me which, in a totally lame way on my part, allowed me to enjoy it on all levels. I then realized that comics, at their best, are the synthesis of great artwork and great storytelling and how they can bolster each other exponentially. How had I been missing this for so long?

So, I have been exploring the world of sequential art like a kid discovering Willy Wonka’s factory over the past few months and here are some things that are solidifying my love of comics.

1. Hey, Wait… - This is from the ridiculously great artist/writer Jason, who is from Norway. Jason has a way of telling the most heartbreakingly beautiful stories using mostly just pictures (The Living and The Dead only has 7 lines of dialogue). Hey, Wait… is a story about two childhood best friends and the effect their friendship has on their adult lives. This book almost moved me to tears (the only time this has happened while reading comics). Every single book from Jason is worth about $30 more than they ask you to pay for it. I’m not joking. Jason is easily one of the most exciting and profound artists in the medium. His animalization of characters is genius on a level different from the classic Maus by Art Spiegelman. In Maus, the mice are obviously representative of the humble nature of the Jewish people being brutalized by the Nazis (Cats). Jason seems to see the world where everyone is just a slight variation of each other and allows his stories to be somehow relate-able and fantasy. Jason is not out to reinvent the comic world (he almost exclusively draws with standard 6-panel pages), but his storytelling is so effective through his use of imagery. There might not be a more wonderful place in the world than in the spaces between the cells that Jason draws.

2. The Walking Dead - This zombie collection written by Robert Kirkman is certainly not unfamiliar to anyone who has walked into a comic store in the past 6 years. The story follows a small-town Kentucky cop who is barely surviving in a world filled with zombies. In the past 10 years or so, there has been a sickening obsession with zombies/vampires/people of the night, and this is one of the few aspects of that movement that I love wholeheartedly. Since I first picked Vol. 1 up, I couldn’t help but notice the glaring similarities to the film 28 Days Later, but where that movie ends, this series really gets going. It is often completely irritating to have a zombie movie or show or book or whatever just leave off at some arbitrary point in the story. The Walking Dead plows past that point and painfully trudges on through the unavoidable death and destruction that would actually be reality if zombies took over the world. You get the feeling after a while that no heavily armored army battalion is ever coming to their rescue and Kirkman is going to write this thing out to the painful and tragic end. It’s an exercise in seeing a story to the end no matter how painful or sad it gets. This series is not for those who can’t handle much more drama than Strangers In Paradise. This has to be one of the best serial stories of the decade and it has been going on through 11 trade paperbacks (66 issues) and hasn’t seem to lost steam yet.

3. Essex County- This is a collection of 3 connected graphic novels by Jeff Lemire, and is approximately reason #900 why Top Shelf Productions is at the top of the comic game with a consistent and constant output of the best examples of the medium’s non-superhero stories done well. This collection is based on a small town in Canada and delves deeply into the lives and history of several of its residents. Tales from the Farm, Ghost Stories, and The Country Nurse are all incredible stories about the things that connect us, the things that separate us, and how sometimes that separation is what connects us after all. I greatly recommend you read these stories together in the collection because they build so incredibly well off each other and each makes the others more potent and meaningful. Throughout the reading of this collection one can feel the roots of this county spreading through the pages weaving the lives of these characters tightly together into a tapestry much richer and vital when viewed together from afar.

4. Asterios Polyp – This graphic novel from David Mazzuchelli was definitely the biggest surprise for me in my comic adventures. I picked up this book off-handedly at my local library and was completely floored by it’s contents. David Mazzuchelli is a master of the comics medium and I mean that in every possible sense of the term. This book is a story about a college professor (Asterios) who is struggling to reconcile and separate his intellect and professional status as an influential architect with the rest of his life (especially his struggling relationship with his wife Hana). At times, this is a classic “Boys and Girls are different” story, but it is really so much more. Mazzuchelli’s paneling is often very Eisner-ish and each brush stroke is inseparable from the narrative. His artwork drives the story and his story molds his artwork. There is one scene at the end of the book where Asterios and Hana are having a conversation and the visual depiction of their differences in communication and self is so incredibly simple yet profound that I will never forget it. This is style and aesthetic at their contextual best.

5. Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine MacAlistaire – This is the oldest bit of the bunch and is a colonial era tale of adventurer Wolverine Macalistaire. Think Will Oldham meets Davy Crockett meets Paul Newman and you wouldn’t be too far off. William Messner-Loebs put this out originally in the 80s and IDW has recently released it in its completeness in 2 volumes. It is half-historical, mostly hilarious, and completely riveting. Their is such natural form to his lines that capture the wilderness aspects of the story so perfectly. The storytelling can get complex at times and is often hard to follow because of the layers of history, characters, and values, but the story and artwork are beautiful and well-worth adding to your collection. This may not be your typical comic reading, but is an incredible example of the capabilities of the breadth of the medium. Also check out the historical work of Rick Gaery.

6. Scott Pilgrim- I was given this one by my buddy Ty (like many of these) and he was like, “Here, this is funny and it references a bunch of bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and is basically about this dude who wants to date this chick and has to defeat her 7 evil ex-boyfriends before he can date her.” Sold. This collection by Brian Lee O’Malley (Vol. 6 will be out soon!) is completely irreverent, void of pretense, and absolutely crammed with Saturday morning comedy. I sometimes feel guilty for liking this so much like I’m a little kid again first discovering the Green Ranger, but then I remember how good it is and I don’t feel guilty at all. O’Malley has given us Yanks a near-manga-style comedy that seems vital in our ironic hipster-filled lives. This one is for having fun, and it’s full of it.

7. EmiTown- The only web-comic of my list is the product of one of the best comic artists you’ve never heard of (I hate saying that, but I totally believe it), but that won’t be the case for long. Emi Lenox has been churning out this web-comic (and 3 other sites) for the past few years and her work is nothing short of incredible. She has interned for some of the biggest names in the business in Portland all while honing her craft and I would not be surprised if her output for 2010 put her on everyone’s “Best Of” lists for next year. Her voice is original and fresh, her style is broad and fantastic, and everything from her lines to her type styles hint at her future notoriety.

8. A Drifting Life- This sprawling memoir and Japanese comic history lesson by Yoshihiro Tatsumi was my introduction to the world of Japanese comics. While the US was busy churning out one superhero comic after another, the rest of the world were having their own aesthetic trajectories and Tatsumi was one of the leaders in post-WWII comics with his introduction and coining of gekiga which was an attempt to separate his work from the childish manga of his day. Much has been made about him being the Japanese equivalent to Will Eisner, and that’s not too far off the mark, but Tatsumi’s style is stark in its realism and carries with it the emotional heft which that would imply. His stories are often sad, often joyful, and constantly filled with the wonder of discovering life each day at a time. His style is inherently fresh from a Western perspective due to him being influenced heavily by Japanese comic-godfather Osamu Tezuka. This 840 page work is Tatsumi’s masterstroke after a long career that has been partially reprinted here in the States (thank God!) by Drawn and Quarterly.

9. Earthboy Jacobus – Is this the same guy who came up with Earthworm Jim? Sure is. Hey, didn’t this guy do the artwork for some Five Iron Frenzy stuff? Yep. Is he one of the most luscious and rich storytellers and illustrators of independant American comics? Absolutely. Doug TenNapel has a habit of putting out short graphic novels that are economical in scope and brushstrokes, but vast in depth and richness. He has a number of works like Creature Tech, Tommysaurus Rex, Iron West, and Monster Zoo (among others) and each one is gorgeously textured and a perfect story. Don’t expect to draw too many lines between his stories because each one has an identity and backbone all its own. EJ, the story of a boy from another dimension, is akin to a buddy flick and also kind of like Cop and 1/2 where a young boy helps an aging cop learn what it means to be an active part of a family. So, think Cop and 1/2 meets E.T. meets The Neverending Story and you’ll almost be there.

10. Swallow Me Whole- I haven’t even finished this book, and I am including it in here. That’s how powerful Nate Powell is. Nate Powell has a visceral style that I typically stray from because his lean lines and characters often make me uncomfortable. That’s also what I love about Nate Powell. This book, which is the winner for Best Graphic Novel at this year’s Eisner Awards, is full of heart, heartache, and wonder. Powell’s documentation of imagination is gripping and forceful, yet delicate and melancholy. There is a small one-page piece in his collection Sounds of Your Name that might be one of my favorite comic pieces of all time and its a baby bird in a nest figuring out the details of life. You’ll know it if you ever see it. You should go see it. There’s about a million reasons why Powell is a powerhouse in today’s comic world. Also, he lives in the same town as I do and that makes him inherently cool (or does that make me cool?). Who cares. This book is ama-zine (get it!? No? ok).

Other works I’ve dug in the past few months:

Bone by Jeff Smith

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Blankets by Craig Thompson

Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson

Tommysauras Rex by Doug TenNapel

WE3 by by Morrison/Quietly

The Pride of Baghdad by Vaughan/Henrichon

The Contract With God trilogy by Will Eisner

Life Sucks by Jessica Abel

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud

Pop Gun War: Gift by Farel Dalrymple

Batman: The Long Halloween by Loeb/Sale

Superspy- Matt Kindt

Black Hole- Charles Burns

Iron West- Doug TenNapel

Monster Zoo- Doug TenNapel

Creature Tech- Doug TenNapel

Why Are You Doing This?- Jason

Ghost World- Daniel Clowes

Sounds of Your Name- Nate Powell

Y: The Last Man- Vol. 1-4 – Brian K Vaughan

Maus Vol. 1+2- Art Spiegelman

Wimbledon Green by Seth

Caricatures by Daniel Clowes

Lone Racer by Nicholas Mahler

Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown

Please Release by Nate Powell

The Living and the Dead by Jason

Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Ex Machina: Fact v. Fiction by Brian K. Vaughan

That’s all I can think of for now. If you’re still reading, then I commend you. My love of sequential art would not exist if one or two of my friends didn’t hand me something and tell me to read it. You know your friends better than I do, so pick out something they’d like from the library, your personal collection, or bought from your local comic shop and lend it to them with the hope that they love it so much they never want to give it back. Ty, don’t worry I still have all the comic books I borrowed and am keeping them in good condition and I am just waiting til I see you next.

The final class in my anime history course for the Workers’ Educational Association was held last night. We had a good time, and were all sorry to have the class end. We’re planning to meet up again and I’ve put in some outlines for more classes we could do – now it’s just a case of waiting to see if the WEA can find time and venues for them, and if the demand is there.

The best part of the experience for me was working with such a diverse group of people. We ranged from fans born and brought up in Asia, with a good background knowledge of anime and its context, to a Disney fan who’d never seen any anime and wanted to find out what all the fuss was about, from those born before TV was commercially available to those who were teenagers at the start of the British anime explosion in 1991 and first saw anime on videotape, and someone taking A Levels next year whose first anime experience was seeing Dragonball Z on TV. With such a wide range of starting points and perspectives, we were able to look at many versions of anime’s history,  based on chronology, technology, business, culture, international relations and social history.

The challenge of finding interesting ways to bring anime history alive for my students led me to explore new ideas and artists, or go deeper into those where I’d only scratched the surface before. Just like my efforts to find out more about Yukinobu Hoshino for my British Museum talk last month, my afternoons spent trawling the archives and the Internet for material to use in class were hugely enjoyable and enlightening, if sometimes frustrating and surprising.

To take just one example Kenzo Masaoka was a director and animator who influenced both Osamu Tezuka and Leiji Matsumoto. Trained in both Japanese and Western art and in music,  he was responsible for the first Japanese talking anime (The World of Power and Women/Chikara to Onna no Yononaka, 1932,) and the first anime made entirely using cels (Chagama Ondo/Dance of the Chagamas, 1934. He made himself so respected in SFX films that at one time he was known as “the Japanese Melies” after early French SFX  master Georges Melies. He’s also one of the elite group of animators to have been labelled “the Japanese Disney”, alongside Osamu Tezuka and Hayao Miyazaki. Like many early animators, he’s not nearly so widely known as his talent and achievement deserves.

He worked with many of the greats of prewar and wartime anime, and founded the company which would become Toei Animation after the war. He was an animator on his protege Mitsuyo Seo on Seo’s 1945 movie Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors (Momotaro Umi no Shinpei) but his own 1943 classic The Spider and The Tulip (Kumo to Tulip,) which powerfully affected both Osamu Tezuka and Leiji Matsumoto, neatly sidestepped the hardline propaganda demanded by the Government of the day.

There are a couple of his films in the Digital Meme boxset of early anime, but researching my course encouraged me to dig further and see more of his remarkable artistry. Introducing Masaoka to new and appreciative viewers, sharing the blissed-out trippiness of his 1947 film Abandoned Kitten Little Tora/Suteneko Tora-chan, with its mouse-powered sewing machine and its echoes of long-vanished childhoods, was pure joy.

There were so many other pleasures to share, from the insane energies of Satoshi Tomioka to the quirky humour of Jun Aoki. It’s been fun seeing the many strands of continuity that anchor anime to its historic origins, tracing the development of careers and companies, and discussing where the anime business might be headed in future.

Confira os vampiros mais famosos da literatura e do cinema

Arquivo/AE

sábado, 14 de novembro de 2009, 13:48

SÃO PAULO - Veja lista dos vampiros mais famosos da literatura e do cinema.

Conde Drácula

O mais famoso vampiro cinematográfico de todos os tempos foi inspirado no personagem central da obra de Bram Stoker. Vários atores ficaram famosos com este papel no cinema, como Maximiliam Schrek, no clássico do cinema mudo “Nosferatu, uma Sinfonia de Horror”, de 1922. Até hoje, muitas pessoas acreditam que Schrek era mesmo um vampiro na vida real! Bela Lugosi, ator de origem húngara, foi o primeiro a imprimir garbo e elegância ao vampiro, marcando para sempre a imagem do personagem. Depois de Lugosi, Christopher Lee representou Drácula em mais de uma dezena de produções, sempre com total aprovação do público. Mais recentemente, Gary Oldman também entrou para este rol sinistro com a brilhante atuação em ‘Drácula de Bram Stoker’, dirigido pelo consagrado Francis Ford Coppola.

Lestat de Lioncourt

“Eu quero interferir nas coisas, fazer as coisas acontecerem!”. Este é o lema do vampiro mais famoso da literatura depois de Drácula: o sedutor Lestat de Lioncourt, narrador de quatro livros das “Crônicas Vampirescas” de Anne Rice. Nos cinemas, o personagem foi imortalizado por Tom Cruise em “Entrevista com o Vampiro”, de 1994. Lestat foi mordido ainda adolescente por Magnus, um vampiro de 300 anos, que se autodestruiu logo depois. Com isso, os poderes seculares da criatura passaram para o rapaz, e também toda sua fortuna. Apaixonado pelo jovem Louis, ele resolveu vampirizá-lo, assim como a menina Claudia. Entretanto, Lestat foi traído pelos pupilos e quase foi destruído. Séculos depois, resolveu contar a um jornalista toda a sua história, para transformá-la num livro. Nos dias de hoje, o egocêntrico Lestat decidiu se tornar uma estrela do Rock, na história que também foi levada às telas do cinema com o título de “A Rainha dos Condenados”.

Louis

Louis du Pontlac é descrito por Anne Rice, sua criadora, como um vampiro bastante suave, de cabelos negros e face inexpressiva, exceto pelos brilhantes olhos verdes… No cinema, o super galã Brad Pitt deu vida ao narrador da “Entrevista com o Vampiro”, que foi vampirizado por Lestat (Tom Cruise) aos 25 anos, depois de uma tragédia. A família de Louis prosperava com as plantações de algodão em Nova Orleans, até que seu adorado irmão mais novo veio a falecer. Louis ficou doente e se tornou uma vítima fácil para o apaixonado Lestat. Ao contrário deste, o jovem Pontlac é um vampiro contemplativo, um intelectual desesperançado em busca de respostas para sua condição maldita. Justamente por isso, o experiente Armand (Antonio Banderas), ao conhecê-lo, afirmou que Louis era o Vampiro mais fraco que ainda caminhava sobre a face da Terra…

Vlad

Em julho de 1991, o público brasileiro conheceu o terrível Conde Vladimir Polanski, um Vampiro que marcou época na televisão brasileira. Interpretado por Ney Latorraca, Vlad era o maior dos vilões da novela “Vamp”, escrita por Antônio Calmon e dirigida por Jorge Fernando, um dos maiores sucessos entre os jovens brasileiros. Na história, a cantora de rock Natasha (vivida por Cláudia Ohana) vende sua alma ao terrível Vampiro para conquistar um lugar no estrelato. Arrependida, a Vampira procura abrigo na cidade de Armação dos Anjos, onde acaba sendo perseguida pelo cruel Vlad. A atuação de Latorraca garantiu ao sarcástico Vladimir Polanski um lugar de destaque no rol dos vilões mais carismáticos da teledramaturgia brasileira, imortalizando bordões como o infantilizado “Gotooooso!”, que Vlad exclamava todas as vezes em que sugava um pescoço.

Natasha

Natasha foi a primeira vampira da dramaturgia brasileira, e deixou muitos marmanjos de queixo caído. A personagem foi interpretada pela bela Cláudia Ohana na novela Vamp, de 1991. Ela vendeu sua alma ao terrível Conde Vladimir Polanski para alcançar o sucesso como cantora de rock. No entanto, não era uma criatura do Mal: ao contrário, logo se arrependeu do pacto com Vlad e pôs-se a fugir dele, escondendo-se na cidade de Armação dos Anjos. Lá, ela reencontrou seu amor de vidas passadas, o capitão Jonas, personagem de Reginaldo Farias. Enciumado e receoso de que esse amor medieval pudesse voltar à tona, o Conde Vladimir passou a perseguir Natasha e a família do capitão, causando trapalhadas que renderam boas risadas ao público.

Angel

Este é o Vampiro mais adorado pelas adolescentes de todo o planeta… Protagonista de um seriado de TV americano, Angel é um Vampiro sedutor que usa todo o seu charme e inteligência para ajudar os oprimidos e tirar da consciência o peso de séculos praticando o Mal… Interpretado pelo galã David Boreanaz, o herói fez sua estréia em outra série televisiva, “Buffy, a Caça-Vampiros”. Depois de ser vencido pela protagonista, o Vampiro irlandês Angelus resolveu assumir o lado do Bem e a paixão pela mocinha, interpretada por Sarah Michelle Gellar. O grande sucesso do personagem lhe garantiu uma série própria, iniciada em 1999, que mostra a trajetória do Vampiro justiceiro após deixar a amada e a pequena cidade de Sunnydale para iniciar uma carreira de investigador particular em Los Angeles… Assim como Blade, Angel se tornou uma dor de cabeça ambulante para seus irmãos de sangue, e um verdadeiro colírio para as fãs mais animadas!

Jerry Dandridge

Apesar de serem monstros da escuridão, os Vampiros quase sempre foram representados no cinema como galanteadores incorrigíveis, homens elegantes que não perdem a chance de seduzir uma bela mocinha, para só depois revelar a horrível face do mal… E Jerry Dandridge, o vilão de “A Hora do Espanto”, um blockbuster de 1985, vestiu com perfeição este estereótipo marcante dos sanguessugas. Vestido sempre de modo impecável, perfumado e polido, a máscara de Jerry (interpretado por Chris Sarandon) só não foi capaz de enganar o jovem Charley, que desconfiou desde sempre da boa educação de seu novo vizinho… Com seu estilo doce e sexy, Jerry Dandrige conseguiu vampirizar a namorada do jovem, Amy, e seu melhor amigo, Ed, além de arrancar muitos suspiros da maior parte do público feminino, especialmente quando assobiava romanticamente o clássico “Strangers in the night” (tudo a ver, não é mesmo?), de Sinatra.

David

“Dormir o dia inteiro. Zoar a noite toda. Nunca crescer. Nunca morrer. É divertido ser um vampiro!”. Foi com este lema que o sensual vampiro David conquistou diversos seguidores no filme Garotos Perdidos (Lost Boys, 1987), clássico dos anos 80 estrelado por Kiefer Sutherland. As estripulias bizarras de David e sua turma vampiresca escandalizaram uma pequena cidade da Califórnia. Como em um ritual, suas vítimas precisavam beber vinho de sangue e comer vermes. Foi o caso de Emerson (Jason Patrick), que por amor a Star (Jami Gertz), aceitou o rito de passagem e se tornou um ser das trevas, passando a integrar a primeira gangue de sanguessugas bad boys do cinema!

Bento Carneiro

“Minha vingança será maligna!” – Quem já ouviu esta frase pode até não se lembrar da origem, mas os fãs de Chico Anysio jamais vão esquecer de Bento Carneiro, o Vampiro Brasileiro, o único ser das trevas que morava “aquém do além adonde que veve os mortos”… O personagem, um vampiro atrapalhado, simplório e desprestigiado, foi criado pelo humorista na década de 80 e logo se tornou um dos maiores sucessos de seu “Chico Anysio Show”. Sempre ao lado de seu fiel escudeiro, Calunga, Bento Carneiro fez do mito do Vampiro um veículo perfeito para brincar e ridicularizar, sempre com muito bom humor, as mazelas e contradições da sociedade brasileira.

Os Monstros

Na década de 60, a CBS americana produziu um seriado para a TV que marcou toda uma geração de telespectadores. A exemplo da família Addams, da rival ABC, realizada na mesma época, os Monstros faziam piada com os costumes exóticos de uma família sinistra… O pai, Herman (Fred Gwynne), era filho de um certo Dr. Frankestein. Vovô (Al Lewis), de apenas 370 anos, gastava a maior parte de seu tempo em loucas experiências de laboratório. Os filhos eram Eddie (Butch Patrick), verdadeiro monstrinho de pele verde, orelhas pontiagudas e caninos afiados, e Marilyn (Beverley Owen/Pat Priest), loira, esbelta, de olhos verdes, isto é, um verdadeiro horror para os padrões da família! A única vampira da história era a esposa de Herman, Lily Dracula, uma dona de casa sempre preocupada com a criação dos filhos… Cancelado nos EUA em 1966, o seriado foi exibido no Brasil ainda na década de 60, e reprisado em meados da década de 70, fazendo mais sucesso do que os Addams! As trapalhadas dos Monstros divertiam pessoas de todas as idades, principalmente quando Vovô resolvia dar uma voltinha com seu veículo: um caixão sobre rodas!

Varney

Sir Francis Varney era uma criatura literalmente repugnante. Criado pelo escritor inglês James Malcolm Rymer em 1847 (antes mesmo de Drácula!) no livro “Varney, o Vampiro ou o Banquete Sangrento”, a maior arma dessa criatura era a sua feiúra! Com sua face pálida e mórbidos olhos cor-de-lata, Varney hipnotizava suas vítimas apenas com o olhar… Com unhas e dentes pontiagudos, esse vampiro arranhava as vidraças das casas, fazendo o ruído de granizo. Por isso, também ficou conhecido como o “Vampiro das Tempestades”, agindo sempre em dias chuvosos ou com neve. Esse monstro pavoroso tinha preferência por jovens indefesas, que eram atacadas sem dó nem piedade. No entanto, Varney era um ser bastante temperamental, e se dava ao luxo de se sentir desgostoso com a imortalidade de vez em quando… Então, quando os raios da lua o acordavam e seu humor não estava dos melhores, o vampiro se escondia no Monte Vesúvio, onde nenhum feixe de luz poderia despertá-lo.

Blade

Além da Vampirella, outro herói dos quadrinhos também ficou famoso pelos seus poderes vampirescos. Ele se chama Blade e nasceu das idéias de Marv Wolfman, então roteirista da Marvel Comics. A grande diferença é que o herói negro não é bem um Vampiro de verdade, e sim uma mistura de ser humano com um Filho das Trevas… Como? A origem de Blade é espetacular: sua mãe foi atacada por um Vampiro quando ainda levava o filho no útero. Dessa forma, o bebê recebeu um pouco do sangue maldito, adquirindo alguns de seus poderes especiais. Como vingança, Blade se tornou um impiedoso caçador dos sanguessugas, e para isso utiliza as geringonças high-tech criadas por Whistler, também inventor do soro que Blade usa para poder caminhar à luz do dia sem virar pó. No cinema, o herói já mereceu dois filmes que estouraram nas bilheterias, ambos protagonizados pelo blockbuster Wesley Snipes.

O Vampiro do Brooklyn

Blade, o caçador de Vampiros vivido por Wesley Snipes, não é o único representante da galeria de sanguessugas afro-americanos… Em 1995, Eddie Murphy personificou no cinema o hilariante Maximillian, único sobrevivente de uma raça de Vampiros de uma ilha caribenha. Dirigido por Wes Craven, da série “Pânico”, “O Vampiro do Brooklyn” trouxe a verve cômica do eterno tira da pesada para o mundo dos Filhos da Noite. No filme, Eddie Murphy tem que encontrar a única mulher que pode salvar sua raça da extinção. Vivida por Angela Basset, Rita mora no Brooklyn e convive com estranhos pesadelos. Sem saber, a moça é filha de um Vampiro, e por isso carrega nas veias um destino sanguinolento. Mas uma série de contratempos acontecem (como sempre!) e Maximillian tem de mover mundos e fundos para conquistar Rita e garantir a preservação de sua espécie.

Blacula

Blacula é o personagem principal do filme de mesmo nome, dirigido por William Crain em 1972. Trata-se da versão afro-americana do maior vampiro de todos os tempos. A história começa com Manuwalde (William Marshall), um príncipe africano que é vampirizado pelo próprio Conde Drácula em 1780, e acaba trancafiado dentro de seu próprio caixão. Séculos depois, dois colecionadores de arte resolvem levar a tumba para Los Angeles, onde Blacula desperta sedento de sangue! O Vampiro conhece Tina, a reencarnação de sua falecida esposa Luva, e faz de tudo para conquistar o seu amor. Mas o caminho de Blacula está cheio de obstáculos: Gordon, o melhor amigo da moça, descobre a verdade sobre Manuwalde e inicia uma verdadeira caçada ao vampiro africano…

Zé Vampir

Quem é que nunca se divertiu com as histórias da Turma do Penadinho, escritas por Maurício de Souza? Pois essa galerinha de arrepiar não poderia deixar de ter o seu Vampiro. Ele se chama Zé Vampir e é cheio de classe… Ao contrário dos outros personagens do cemitério, como o Cranícola, Muminho, Lobisomen e a Dona Morte, que normalmente usam apenas trapos ou lençóis (afinal, são fantasmas!), o nosso menino Vampiro se inspirou nos elegantes sanguessugas do cinema para compor o seu visual: smoking, gravata borboleta e uma elegante capa! Como a maioria dos Vampiros, Zé Vampir também pode se transformar em um simpático morcego, coisa que faz sempre quando quer assustar alguém. Apesar disso, Zé Vampir é um Vampiro camarada, e nunca leva seu apetite por sangue às últimas consequências. Na verdade, o morceguinho sempre acaba preferindo alguma guloseima à base de morango ou groselha, bem vermelhinha…

Don Drácula

Protagonista de um desenho animado japonês, Don Drácula (Don Dorakyura) fez a festa de muitas crianças brasileiras durante a década de 80, quando foi exibido. Criado por Osamu Tezuka (considerado o “Deus do Mangá”) em 1979, o pano de fundo da história é a mudança de Drácula para o Japão, para fugir de seu arquiinimigo, o Dr. Rip Van Helsing… Muito desastrado, o Vampiro acaba se envolvendo em muitas confusões com sua filha, Sangria, e Igor, seu criado corcunda. Sem falar no morceguinho Yasu, que narra com muito bom humor alguns momentos da história. Além de Van Helsing, Don Drácula também se esforça para fugir dos “ataques” da apaixonada Blonda, uma gorducha cheia de sangue para dar! Um típico desenho japonês, que deixou saudades em muita gente.

Vampirella

Criada na década de 60 pelo célebre Forrest J. Ackerman (o escritor que utilizou pela primeira vez a expressão “Sci-Fi”), a curvilínea Vampirella povoa a imaginação dos marmanjos desde aquela época. Sempre vestida com um sensual maiô colante vermelho, que revela boa parte de sua invejável forma física, a Vampirella das histórias em quadrinhos já teve duas origens… Para Ackerman, a Vampira era uma alienígena de Drakulon, onde todos os habitantes são Vampiros que se alimentam do sangue que corre nos rios desse estranho planeta. Na década de 90, entretanto, Vampirella teve sua origem reescrita por Kevin Lau, e passou a ser a filha de Lilith, uma Vampira mitológica. Seja como for, Vampi (como é carinhosamente chamada pelos íntimos) continua combatendo o crime com seu peculiar estilo sexy-sangrento, e muita gente boa não ligaria nem um pouco em ser mordido pela simpática heroína…

Mirza

Criada em 1967 por Eugênio Colonnese, um dos mestres pioneiros da HQ nacional, Mirza é a personagem feminina mais conhecida do terror brasileiro. Inspirada na internacional Vampirella, a vampira brasileira povoou o imaginário de várias gerações de leitores, já que foi publicada em momentos distintos das décadas de 60, 70 e 80. O verdadeiro nome de Mirza era Mirela Zamanova, uma condessa exuberante que se tornou um ícone não só do terror como também do erotismo nos quadrinhos. Suas aventuras se davam nos ambientes glamurosos das passarelas da alta moda e nas festas da elite brasileira, já que Mirza ganhava a vida como modelo internacional, sempre vestida (ou despida, é claro!) em trajes provocantes e muito muito sensuais… Em seu reinado de terror, Mirza visitou as maiores cidades do mundo, procurando suas vítimas indiscriminadamente entre homens e mulheres, e deixando uma verdadeira legião de “órfãos”, candidatos eternos aos voluptuosos caninos da vampira.

Miriam Blaylock

A secular vampira Miriam Blaylock, interpretada por Catherine Deneuve em “Fome de viver” (The Hungers), ficou célebre na película de Tony Scott, um dos mais belos e chocantes filmes de 1983. Personagem do livro mais famoso de Whitley Strieber, Lady Miriam e seu vampiro-amante John (David Bowie) tinham uma vida sofisticada, eram apaixonados por música clássica e sobreviviam à base de sangue novo de homens e mulheres. Mas repentinamente John teve um estranho distúrbio celular e envelheceu em poucos segundos, forçando Miriam a procurar a doutora Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), especialista em envelhecimento precoce. Foi a deixa para que a vampira seduzisse a médica ao som da ópera Lakmé, de Léo Delibes, em uma das cenas mais eróticas do filme. Sob o poder de Miriam, Sarah foi perdendo aos poucos sua identidade humana, mergulhando cada vez mais fundo na escuridão dos Filhos da Noite…

Carmilla

Personagem central de um conto publicado em 1872 pelo escritor irlandês Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla foi uma das primeiras criaturas da noite registradas na literatura mundial. De hábitos noturnos, cabelos e olhos castanho escuros, Carmilla logo chamou a atenção de Laura, uma jovem da nobreza austríaca com quem a Vampira manteve um relacionamento conturbado. Na história, narrada pela própria vítima, Carmilla acaba revelando ser a Condessa Karnstein, uma antepassada de Laura, falecida há mais de 150 anos! Linda, graciosa e de porte aristocrático, Carmilla influenciou toda uma geração de Vampiras fatais, e há quem diga, inclusive, que Bram Stoker teria se inspirado na obra de seu conterrâneo para criar o seu Drácula.

Philinnion

Philinnion é a personagem de um conto muito antigo atribuído ao historiador grego Phlegon de Trales, que teria vivido no primeiro ou segundo século da era cristã, e por isso pode ser considerada uma das primeiras vampiras da literatura. A história narra o drama de um jovem chamado Machates, que se apaixonou perdidamente por Philinnion, sem saber que ela já estava morta… Machates morava com os pais da moça, e recebia todas as noites a visita de sua noiva. Quando os pais de Philinnion viram a filha na cama com o hóspede, trataram de avisá-lo que aquilo era uma assombração! O jovem ficou arrasado, e Philinnion amaldiçoou seus pais por terem revelado seu pequeno segredo… Mais tarde, os habitantes da cidade perceberam que a tumba da jovem estava vazia e encontraram seu corpo em casa. O cadáver de Philinnion foi então queimado e oferecido ao Deus Hermes, para que sua alma fosse enviada ao mundo das trevas. A história de Philinnion era muito famosa na época do Império Romano, e serviu de inspiração para Goethe escrever seu famoso poema “Die Braut von Korinth”.

Lord Ruthven

Personagem principal do livro “The Vampyre”, publicado em 1819, o sedutor Lord Ruthven nasceu durante uma emocionante tempestade literária… Reza a lenda que, em 1816, o grande poeta romântico Lord Byron reuniu em Genebra alguns amigos, entre eles Mary Shelley, escritora, e John Polidori, médico. Byron propôs um desafio aos demais: uma competição de histórias de terror, que foi vencida pelo Frankenstein criado na ocasião por Shelley. Foi nesse jogo que Byron idealizou o enredo para “The Vampyre”, mas logo abandonou o projeto. Polidori, que também estava naquela noite, desenvolveu a idéia de Byron e ainda se inspirou na figura do amigo para dar vida a Ruthven, um elegante Vampiro inglês que transitava com desenvoltura nas festas mais chiques da nobreza européia, onde dava vazão a seus instintos bestiais entre um gole de champagne e uma mordida certeira no pescoço de alguma linda donzela… O evento azedou a amizade dos dois, mas deu ao mundo um dos personagens vampíricos mais marcantes da literatura mundial.

Conde Saint-German

O Conde Ragoczy Saint-German é a principal criação da escritora californiana Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, que conta com uma verdadeira legião de fãs vampirescos nos Estados Unidos. Protagonista de mais de uma dezena de livros, Saint-German é um vampiro do bem, um herói que usa a experiência acumulada em 3500 anos de vida para ajudar o próximo, principalmente no caso de belas mulheres… Poliglota, rico e inteligente, Saint-German é um farmacêutico/alquimista, que precisa de sangue para se manter vivo, mas nunca mata suas vítimas, preferindo alimentar-se de suas amantes ou de estranhos que, em troca, recebem sonhos agradáveis por telepatia. Assim como os sanguessugas tradicionais, o vampiro de Yazbro também não pode se ver no espelho, carrega sempre um punhado de sua terra natal (às vezes dentro dos sapatos…), e pode se recuperar de ferimentos que levariam qualquer ser humano à morte! Um herói pra lá de charmoso, que convida o leitor para conhecer as mais fantásticas eras de nossa história.

Azzo, o Cavaleiro

Encravado em algum lugar dos Cárpatos, na Romênia, está o assombrado castelo Klatka. Este é o lar de Azzo, o Cavaleiro Vampiro que protagoniza a obra “A Mysterious Stranger”, de autor desconhecido, publicada pela primeira vez em 1860. Azzo é um Vampiro centenário, com um profundo desprezo pela humanidade, e só tem interesse pelas coisas pitorescas, incomuns. Ante sua presença, mesmo os lobos mais selvagens se tornam dóceis e inofensivos. Com a eterna aparência de um homem de 40 anos, alto e magro, o Cavaleiro tem olhos cinzas amedrontadores, e usa bigode, barba e cabelos negros e curtos. Sempre vestido em sua armadura medieval, Azzo é rude, sarcástico e monossilábico com os visitantes, guardando toda a sua elegância e cultura secular para cortejar as jovens donzelas que acompanham os viajantes. Quando convidado para um banquete, o Cavaleiro Azzo sempre recusa a comida, fazendo questão de frisar que só se alimenta de líquidos… quentes!

O Vampiro de Sussex

Em 1924, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publicou “The Sussex Vampire” (“O Vampiro de Sussex”), colocando Sherlock Holmes frente a frente com um ser das trevas. A história começa em uma manhã de novembro, com uma carta assustadora. Nela, um certo Robert Ferguson pede a ajuda de Holmes para resolver um espantoso caso de vampirismo! O detetive começa a investigar uma série de mortes ocorridas no vilarejo em questão, que parecem ligadas a um estranho fato ocorrido há um século atrás. Nessa ocasião, os habitantes do local teriam assassinado todos os integrantes de uma família, acusados de vampiros. Assustados, os novos moradores começam a acreditar que um descendente dos sanguessugas é o responsável pelas mortes, sedento de sangue e vingança. Sherlock tem de usar toda a sua miraculosa astúcia para resolver a questão, e acaba provando mais uma vez que os vivos sempre são muito mais perigosos que os mortos… Mas você não vai querer saber o final da história, certo? O negócio é ler o livro para se deliciar com o caso mais sanguinolento do maior detetive do mundo!

VAMPIROS FAMOSOS DA TV E DO CINEMA

1. Lestat – Interview With the Vampire

2. Christopher Lee’s Dracula

3. Bela Lugosi’s Dracula

4. Edward Cullen – Twilight (Crepúsculo)

5. Bill and Eric – True Blood

6. Asa Vajda, 1960’s Black Sunday

7. Angel

8. Mr. Barlow – Salem’s Lot

9. Schuyler Van Alen – Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series

10. Gary Oldman’s Drácula

Fonte: Revista Entertainment Weekly

http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/arteelazer,confira-os-vampiros-mais-famosos-da-literatura-e-do-cinema,466500,0.htm

© Yukinobu Hoshino

To the British Museum last weekend for a talk on the art of Yukinobu Hoshino and an introduction to the screening of three Astro Boy episodes.

I worked here many years ago, when the British Library occupied part of the Museum premises including the great round Reading Room, now used for exhibitions. It was nice to work there again, and it made me reflect on how much has changed in our understanding and appreciation of popular culture.

Like almost everyone outside Japan, I’d never heard the word anime back in 1974. Even within Japan, manga eiga, the term used by  Toei’s president in 1956 in the trailer for Hakujaden, was still current. Toei’s summer anime movie programmes were branded manga matsuri until about 1990 – but that’s another story.  Anime, manga and modern popular culture were equally invisible to me. Japan was a place of samurai, cherry blossom, charmingly quaint costumes and cheap electronics.

The Museum gave me a wider appreciation of times, places and people I knew little or nothing about. Its diversity and strangeness and charm entranced me. This giant cabinet of curiosity, this fabulous imaginarium threaded through with byways and back alleys leading into depths of knowledge I hadn’t even begun to imagine, was mine to explore. The British Museum helped me become who I am, feeding my mind and setting my imagination free to run riot in its inexhaustible playground.

Now, more than thirty years later, I can stand in a gallery surrounded by works of the human imagination and talk to others about them with a fluency and confidence that I owe, in large part, to my surroundings. If you haven’t been there lately, you should. Don’t take my word for it, have a look at the website and see everything that’s on offer.

One of the highlights of talking about Hoshino at the BM was being able to introduce his works done here at the museum in the context that inspired them. A walk through the galleries will take you past many of the artefacts that inspired Professor Munakata’s British Museum Adventure, in Room 3 until 3 January 2010. Hoshino’s work fits the Museum context well: he loves to explore the mysteries behind apparently impenetrable objects. He also weaves his stories into huge, overarching sagas, connecting apparently random individual fragments into metanarratives – the daily work of historians, and the method behind the manga Hoshino cites as a major inspiration, Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix saga.

Another highlight of the experience for me was being able to contradict the impression given by many widely respected English-language sources, that Hoshino has created only a handful of works. One of the people I chatted to after the talk told me that he’d only been able to find five or six titles listed, and had wondered how someone with such a limited back catalogue was important enough to warrant a display at the British Museum.

The exhibition was based on Hoshino’s interest in dogu, the topic of a concurrent Museum exhibition. The Museum wanted to reflect how dogu were viewed in Japanese popular culture, and they figure in many of Professor Munakata’s manga adventures.  Hoshino’s back catalogue is much wider; before Professor Munakata made his debut, his creator was best known for science fiction. Except for his SF masterpiece 2001 Nights, and The Two Faces of Tomorrow, his graphic novel version of James P. Hogan’s story, the majority of his works go unmentioned in English-language sources.

The talks by Paul Gravett and myself at this exhibition, as part of the Comica festival, appear to be the only ones given in English so far. That gives Hoshino an extra affinity with his surroundings. His work is not as well known as it deserves to be in the English-speaking world. Like many of the Museum’s artefacts, its wonderful mysteries are waiting to be discovered by new eyes.

Museums, adventures, books, all begin with a question. Someone picks up an object, or an idea, and wants to know where it comes from and if there’s anything else like it.   One of the reasons I was driven to write about anime is that nobody else was doing it, and the books I enjoy writing – and reading – most are the ones that throw some  light on unexplored corners. It’s what got me excited back in 1983 about Frederik L. Schodt’s peerless Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, and Eric P. Nash’s Manga Kamishibai hit exactly the same button this year. It’s why I wanted to write about Osamu Tezuka – so much of his work is unknown to those who speak my language. I was insatiably curious before I worked at the British Museum, but working there reinforced my conviction that finding out things I didn’t know before is not only a wonderful game but a useful one.

So to start the ball rolling, here’s a list of the Hoshino works I’m aware of. I’ve compiled it after a quick comparison of a few European-language and Japanese sources, so there may well be some gaps. I’ve included the transliterated Japanese titles, and noted where I’ve found none but think one may exist. Titles originally written in katakana have been rendered in English. First serial publication and collection publication details would also be useful.

If anyone with time to track down and translate further information would like to add to or correct this list, it would help to extend knowledge of this remarkable artist in the English-speaking manga community.

1971 Sea of Fang (I haven’t yet found a Japanese title)

1975 Queen of Steel (Kotetsu no Queen), Weekly Shonen Jump Extra

Faraway Morning (Harukanaru Asa – Tezuka Award winner)

1976 Blue City, Shukan Shonen Jump

1978 Legend of the Giants (Kyojintachi no Densetsu)

1979-80 Legends of the Enchantress (haven’t found Japanese title) a collection of stories about a magician reborn many times as famous women of history.

1980 Saber Tiger, published in English in 1991 by Viz Media

1982 Aphrodite Inferno

1983 Fire of Yamato (Yamato no Hi) also released as Yamato no Hi – Legend of Yamataika vol. 5 in 2007

1984 2001 nights (Nisenichiya monogatari) Monthly Super Action, English translation published in 1996 by Viz Media in three volumes. A video feature, Space Fantasia 2001 Nights, was released in 1987 and a new film based on two stories from the manga, To, is out this year from Fumihiko Sori.

1986 Starfield, Futabasha, artbook (Futabasha Mook 83 Leisure and Hobby Series)

1987-91 Yamataika, collected by Ushio Shuppansha (later collected as Legend of Yamataika?)

1988 Big Regression

Ivan’s Day: Déjà vu

1991 Bem Hunter Sword

1991-2 Blue Hole, Mister magazine, published in French in 1996 as Le Trou Bleu by Casterman – riffing on the concept of black holes in space to postulate a ‘blue hole’ in the ocean leading to the time of the dinosaurs.

1993 Mirai no futatsu no kao (The Two Faces of Tomorrow) graphic novel based on story about artificial intelligence by James P. Hogan, published in English in 2004 by Dark Horse Comics

1995 Mega Cross

1995 Stardust Memories – collection of 6 stories

1995-98 Blue World, in Afternoon.

1996 Chronicle, artbook published by Asahi Sonorama,

The Sea Monster (Horobishi Komonotachi no Umi)

1996-99 The Musings of Professor Munakata (Munakata Kyoujo Denkiko)

1998 Temple of El-Alamein (El Elamein no Shinden) 6 short stories

1991-2001 Kodoku Experiment

2000-1 Midway – 2 collections of 8 stories subtitled “History” and “Space”

2003-4 Lost Moon

2004 Case Records of Professor Munakata (Munakata Kyouju Ikouroku) in Big Comic.

Kamunabi

2006 2001+5

2009 Professor Munakata’s British Museum Adventure 3 drawings made at the Museum in October, 8-9 new stories planned for 2010.

The dates I have for these two are for collected volumes but so far I’ve been unable to verify serial publication dates, if any:

PILOTS Legend Archives 2006

Ooi naru kaiki 2005

10. Warung lontong WC sudah bermetamorfosis menjadi tempat siskamling.

9. Listrik. PLN. Tapi di sini sudah bertahun-tahun, jadi tidak demam panggung seperti orang ibukota.

8. Motor rusak.

7. Komputer juga rusak. Installer XP tertinggal di asrama. Saya bawa ke tempat servis dan hasilnya kurang baik.

6. Ada sinetron “Antasari” di Metro. Saya tidak mengerti politik atau jurnalisme, tapi pemberitannya berpihak sekali. (Tapi apapun kesalahan Metro akan dimaafkan karena pilihan anchor-anchornya yang… euh, bagus. )

5. Ternyata masih ada band yang menjual musik cengeng di KFC! Dignity, boys.

4. BOEDIONO IS RESIGN™

3. Akhirnya melengkapi koleksi Buddha. Dua buku terakhir tidak bagus.

2. “Speedy” adalah sebuah misnomer.

1. (Akan diposting beberapa hari lagi. Ini sesuatu yang agung dan akbar.) UPDATE: [link]

Last Thursday I met a man with a degree in mechatronics.

Not so long ago I might have been accused of dreaming that up, confused by too many hours spent watching Mobile Suit GUNDAM. Yet Dr. Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena is living proof that surgical robots are bringing science fiction to life in the operating theatre. He graduated from King’s College London with a first class degree in Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems Engineering way back in 2000. Then he took a PhD in Medical Robotics. Now he works with the Mechatronics in Medicine Laboratory, researching the application of mechatronic surgery to medicine. He defines mechatronics as a combination of mechanical engineering, electronics and computer science.

He and Declan Murphy, consultant urologist at Guy’s Hospital, were talking to BBC Radio presenter Richard Hollingham as part of the Sci-Fi Surgery: Medical Robots exhibition at the Hunterian Museum  of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The talk took place after a screening of the Black Jack episode U-18 Knew, based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka, whose work features in the exhibition. A large audience, aged from primary school to well past retirement, attended both screening and talk and asked questions afterwards.

Mr. Murphy gave a vivid account of how robotic surgery can enable surgeons to use their skills more effectively while maintaining fully control of patient care. The Da Vinci surgical robot he uses makes a physically uncomfortable and demanding operation much easier, so that surgeons can do more work in a single day. It also helps speed patient recovery and release times, and assists remote training and supervision so that skills can be shared faster and more widely.

He and Dr. Rodriguez both felt that the kind of autonomous robot featured in U-18 Knew was a long way in the future, and might never happen. But robots controlled by surgeons, augmenting their skills and enabling them to work more effectively, are a major advance in medical science. For decades, Osamu Tezuka and other science fiction writers have imagined what robots might do for mankind. Now science is making their imagination real.

I have been a fan of Astro Boy ever since I saw the animated series in the early 1980s. I never realized the series was such a phenomenon in Japan and had been around since the 1950s.

What separated Astro Boy from other cartoons of the 1980s was its emotional and poignant core story. It was groundbreaking for me when I was watching cartoons because it meant more than just trying to make me laugh or save the day.

The story of Astro Boy is about a genius robotics engineer named Doctor Tenma, who’s most treasured possession is his son Tobio (Toby in most English verions). His son’s love is all he lives for. But one day Tobio follows his dad to work to see his latest invention. Tobio gets caught when the invention malfunctions and is killed right in front of Tenma.

In Tenma’s misery he creates a perfect robotic duplicate of his son with a couple enhancements to protect him. But like all little boys, Astro has to learn to walk, talk, fly, blast and well grow up. Eventually Tenma realizes that Astro could never replace his son and alienates Astro so Tenma’s best friend Dr. Elefun to raise Astro.

Eventually Astro learns to become more human and becomes a protector of the city.

The story was emotional one with complicated characters and it meant a lot to see so much in a series for kids.

The 2009 CGI-animated movie takes a lot of liberties but the soul of Astro is there. I found Tenma (voiced by Nicolas Cage) to be a lot colder and kind of devious. I remembered the robot circus and how much the story of Astro is a lot like Pinnochio but I was confused with the flying city and the trash heap of a world below.

IMAGI the company who adapted Astro for the big screen also took some liberties when they adapted The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in TMNT. The turtles splitting up, the zany new villain and the death of Shredder. And they took alot of liberties with Astro.

I liked seeing Astro in a whole new light but something was missing in the story. I laughed when they asked him what was up with his hair and he says its just gel!

But the rest just felt so foreign and didn’t have the edge mixed with innocence that I remembered. Also all the new support characters I felt seemed forced in some respect and I remembered that side of Astro coming from a different place.

I hope that new kids seeing this movie will find that heartfelt story of a father’s love that I saw all those years ago. I might have been young but that story still resonates with me today.

3 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer

The Freer Gallery kicks off its retrospective of Osamu Tezuka, the famous creator of manga comic books and moves, this weekend with a film series. It’s all free!

“The New Age of Chocolate” exhibition is in its final days at the US Botanic Gardens. The show will close next Wednesday, so what better time to get out of the cold DC rain and into The Mall’s own little rainforest.

The 14th Energy Expo – 2009 comes to the Washington Convention Center Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. Solar, green insulation and efficiency window makers will be on hand as well as officials who can tell you about a slew of green loan and grant programs. The flier also promises free energy audits. 202-727-3071 to RSVP.

The Smithsonian is also holding a “Frontier Family Day” of bluegrass music, storytelling and scavenger hunts at the National Portrait Gallery’s Kogod Courtyard. 11:30 to 3 pm.

ASTRO BOY

Director: David Bowers

Sinopsis: Adaptación al largometraje del popular manga de Osamu Tezuka, protagonizado por un niño-robot que debe proteger Metro City

Astro Boy, beloved manga from the grandfather of the form, Osamu Tezuka, may be getting just a little more accessible, to iphone and ipod touch users.

Tezuka Productions and D-Arc announced that the series will be released at a rate of 100 pages for 99 cents. The app is not yet live, but is expected to be so soon.

Success of such release could change the way manga is read in the future, possibly with manga designed to be read with an electronic format in mind. Or it could ultimately prove irrelevant. After all, cell phone users in Japan already have manga-reading capability, but the anthology format still survives.

For 99 cents, however, it might just be worth checking out.

Quick info: Produced by Tezuka Productions. Directed by Ryousuke Takahashi. Original creator: Osamu Tezuka.

Expectations, etc.: For some reason I thought this was a slice-of-life series. I can swear I saw it everywhere over slice-of-life recommendations, but probably I just got confused somewhere along the way…

Impressions: The OP made it seem like this anime is going to be something really epic, but once the episode actually started I just had to smirk at those cavemen. The caveman who went off looking for the fire bird actually was a bit annoying so I was glad when he fell into acid water, but unfortunately the episode as a whole was very unremarkable.

The romance played out in the most cliched way possible (can we even call that “romance”?). No, actually, everything played out in a very cliched and predictable way. When the very-suspiciously-Asian-looking guy started giving signs toward the sea I thought “oh, so he’s a spy”. When just a few guys showed up, I  thought “oh, so he’s not a spy and is simply searching for the fire bird”. When the whole army showed up, I thought “oh, so he’s not a spy and is just searching for the fire bird but now that this army has shown up everyone will believe him to be a traitor”.

I know it’s silly to complain about basic cliches like that, and they by themselves are not enough to make me drop a series, but they really helped at making the episode feel really unremarkable. I am going to keep watching because I heard there’s going to be a sci-fi-ish episode set on the moon, and I would kind of like to see that, but I’m not really expecting much.

Rating: 6/10 (LOL, cavemen vs. samurai.)

“The queen took fright and turned yellow and green with envy. From that hour on whenever she looked at Snow-White her heart turned over inside her body, so great was her hatred for the girl. The envy and pride grew ever greater, like a weed in her heart, until she had no peace day and night.”

prettyprophet: Huh, here comes another release. A bit of a special one, ain’t it?

Killer Ink: Isn’t Naito the artist you’ve been searching for?

prettyprophet: NAITO, FUCK YEAH!

Killer Ink: Fascinating.

prettyprophet: Hey, be a little more excited because it’s not just Naito Yamada……it’s Naito and Black fucking Jack.

prettyprophet: Oh, what’s this? Rabbit fanart from a Rabbit herself: Fallen, who stepped up to the plate and found us Naito all chop-chop after the rest of us failed.

Killer Ink: Not as if anyone looked in anthologies.

prettyprophet: Well, you should’ve.

Killer Ink: Or knew they existed.

prettyprophet: Pat should’ve. But she fucked up. Pat, you suck.

Killer Ink: Naito Yamada’s “Blissful Donor”, Osamu Tezuka’s “Black Jack Alive”.

prettyprophet: Uh, we’re not going to do anything else from it yet. Don’t get us wrong; that’s an awesome crew Tezuka wrangled up but we just don’t got the time for it. Hey, how about you guys JOIN US and make Black Jack come ALIVE?

Killer Ink: [explained the release flood]

prettyprophet: I’m gonna have to censor that out.

Killer Ink: Haven’t talked about it, then.

prettyprophet: Surprises, yo.

Killer Ink: Which they’ll discover tomorrow.

prettyprophet: nde, anything to say on THAT?

nde: It’s…agonizing.

Killer Ink: Hmph, accurate.

prettyprophet: Naito’s “Blissful Donor” Black Jack oneshot from Volume 2 of “Black Jack Alive”! Download. ak, Naito advocate, did the trans! Hit him up. Ink, take the last words for once.

Killer Ink: No thanks.

Additional links:

On Depositfiles
On Mediafire
On Megaupload
On Blissful Blog

PSP:

On Mediafire

YOJI KURI, THE ROOM, 1964 – INFLUENCES IDENTIFIED IN GROUP DISCUSSION WEEK 2

Terry Gilliam (1940- )

Monty Python (1969-74 UK, 1976 Japan)

Yellow Submarine (1968)

James Thurber (1894-1961)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Rolling Stones (1962- )

M. C. Escher (1898-1972)

David Lynch (1946- )

Saul Steinberg (1914-1999)

Surrealism (1920s- )

Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

Man Ray (1890-1976)

Modern advertising

Pink Floyd (1965- ) specifically their animation The Wall (1982)

Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)

Saloon bar/Western movies
Sexualisation of women

There was also a particular film but we couldn’t recall its title – maybe David Lynch/Lynch-esque – anyone able to add this?

BACKGROUND NOTES FOR ANIME 101, WEEK 2, 1960-69

NAMES TO REMEMBER

Toei Doga/Toei Animation, anime studio                 Osamu Tezuka, cartoonist/animator/writer/director

Mitsuteru Yokoyama, cartoonist/writer                      Shotaro Ishinomori, cartoonist/writer

Tatsunoko, anime studio                                                 Mushi Production, Tezuka’s anime studio

Ryuichi Yokoyama, cartoonist/animator                    Otogi Production, Yokoayama’s anime studio

Takeda Puppet Troupe, worked with Tezuka              Animation Group of Three, experimental animators

Tadahito Mochinaga, animator in Japan and China      Kihachiro Kawamoto, independent animator

Rankin-Bass, US studio                                                  Hayao Miyazaki, animator/director/writer/cartoonist

Isao Takahata, animator/director/writer                   Yasuo Otsuka, animator/director

TeleCartoons Japan, anime compa                              Studio KAI, anime company

P Production, anime company                                       TMS/Tokyo Movie Shinsha, anime company

TV Doga, anime company                                               Osamu Dezaki, animator/director

Gisaburo Sugii, animator/director                                 Machiko Hasegawa, cartoonist

A CAUTIONARY NOTE

The influence of Osamu Tezuka on anime and manga is enormous, both because of the number of his assistants who set up their own studios using his methods, and because the destruction of prewar materials and the strict censorship of what remained meant that few Japanese had much awareness of the history of these media before Tezuka. Many websites and writers will tell you that Tezuka ‘invented’ or originated’ this and that: take this with a pinch of salt and check it out thoroughly before making up your mind. I find it helps to think of Tezuka as a bridge between pre-war and post-war anime, as well as an innovator in his own right. He was undoubtedly a great artist, but there were great artists before and after him. Considering them will help you to appreciate his genius.

AND REMEMBER:

The first animation on Japanese TV was imported foreign material. The first anime on Japanese TV was in anthology show Three Tales (Mitsu no Hanashi, 1960.) The first anime series on Japanese TV was Otogi Production’s Instant History (Otogi Manga Calendar, 1961.) Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom, 1963) was the first fully animated Japanese TV series, and also the first anime series with continuing characters and developing storylines, on Japanese TV.

BACKGROUND NOTES FOR ANIME 101, WEEK 1, ANIME BEFORE 1960

NAMES TO REMEMBER:

John Barnes Linnett patented the kineograph (commonly known as the flick book or flip book) in London in September 1968

J. Stuart Blackton (1875-1941) Yorkshire-born “father of American animation”

Emile Cohl aka Emile Courtet (1857-1938) creator of the first fully-animated film Fantasmagorie (1908) screened in Japan 1914

Winsor McCay (1867? – 1934) American cartoonist and animator

Oten Shimokawa (1892-1973) cartoonist and creator of the first animated film screened in Japan in 1917

Seitaro Kitayama (1888-1945) watercolour artist and creator of animation from 1917 onwards

Junichi Kouchi (1886-1970) cartoonist and creator of animation from 1917 onwards

Nikkatsu – Japanese studio founded in 1912, among the first to make animation, employing Seitaro Kitayama

Yoshitsugu Tanaka, animator of 1930’s Perrault the Chimney Sweep (Entotsuya Pero), an anti-war, pro-worker film

Proletarian Kinema League (aka Pro-Kino) – political film movement of which Tanaka was a member

Shigeji Ogino (1899-1991) 1930s director of films including Great Detective Felix (Felix Meitantei)

Kenzo Masaoka 1898-1988, pioneering animator

Sanae Yamamoto (aka Zenjiro Yamamoto) 1898 -1981, pioneering animator

Yasuji Murata 1898 -1966, pioneering animator

Tadahito Mochinaga 1919-1999, pioneering animator in China and Japan, builder of Japan’s first ever rostrum camera

Shochiku – film company founded 1895

Shiro Kido, head of Shochiku Films

Noboru Ofuji 1900-1961, pioneering animator

Yoshitaro Kataoka, director of Ban Danemon the Monster Exterminator in 1935

Natsuki Matsumoto, animation researcher, discoverer of early anime material

Noboyuki Tsugata, works with Natsuki Matsumoto

Osamu Tezuka 1928-1989, father of postwar manga and TV anime pioneer

POSSIBLE HISTORIES OF EARLY ANIME: all valid, all overlapping, all influencing each other. It can be useful to consider each strand in isolation, but it limits our knowledge to ignore any of them.

The technological history – development of new media and formats, from new kinds of camera, film and projector, through live narration and live music, to talkies and colour.

The social history – from mass screenings in public places to private screenings at home for those affluent enough to get projectors and film, to the birth of TV and onward to current individual mobile viewing platforms

The political history – the use of animation in education and propaganda, and its adoption by both leftwing and right-wing groups

The economic history – from cartoonists like Shimokawa and Kouchi, commissioned by cinema chains to make works for them to screen, to individual entrepreneurs like Kitayama approaching studios with a pitch; and from the relative affluence of Taisho-era Japan to the terrifying poverty of wartime and Occupied Japan.

The individual history: the development of directors, alliances and studios

The corporate history: the story of how independents, studios and cinema/TV companies interacted.

Astro Boy (en japonés Tetsuwan Atomu, lit. Átomo Poderoso) es originalmente una historieta japonesa dibujada en manga publicada por vez primera en 1952 y producida para la televisión en 1963 ganando gran popularidad entre los televidentes. El creador de Astro Boy (nombre con el cual se publicitó en Norteamérica) es Osamu Tezuka considerado el padre del género manga en virtud de la calidad y técnicas empleadas en la creación de los dibujos. Astro Boy es también la primera serie ánime de la televisión nipona siendo transmitida por Fuji TV.  El Manga es un estilo de historieta  originado en el arte japonés del siglo XI, que evolucionado en el tiempo e influenciado con la cultura occidenta nos hacen llegar a lo que es en la actualidad. El término “manga” proviene del japonés y es posible traducirlo como “garabatos” o “dibujos caprichosos”. Inicialmente originados en Japón, manga como expresión artística, así como la versión ánime (representación computarizada) se han popularizado en Asia y otras regiones del globo.  Basándose en la serie animada del siglo pasado, Astro Boy se ha llevado a la gran pantalla estrenándose esta semana en norteamérica, con no muy buena aceptación entre la audiencia. Tal vez porque manga y ánime tiene un grupo de seguidores muy en particular, y porque no necesariamente es atractiva a todo tipo de audiencia. También por el hecho de que como serie de dibujos animados, es un serie de hace cincuenta años no también conocida ni por el público actual ni por los niños de esta generación. Aún así, Astro Boy es una entretenida películas para niños, y para aquellos adultos seguidores de ánime japonés.

 Un científico japonés, Doctor Tenma, en pena por la muerte de su hijo en un accidente de tránsito, inventa y construye un androide a semejanza de su hijo pero con sentimientos humanos. Astro Boy cuenta con visión de rayos x, súper oídos, armas en sus brazos y cohetes en los pies, entre otros atributos. Astro Boy huye de su casa al ver a su padre decepcionado de él, pues el robot es incapaz de crecer o de cubrir las expectativas por la muerte del hijo de Tenma. La película, creada en tercera dimensión difiere grandemente de la serie animada de televisión de los sesenta y cuenta con las voces de Freddie Highmore, Donald Sutherland, Nicolas Cage, entre otros.

Astro Boy

Astro Boy

Astro Boy (voiced by Freddie Highmore)

Similar to the Transformers films, the new Astro Boy film is more concerned with finding a new contemporary audience, who may have never heard of the robot boy character before, rather than providing a nostalgia trip for older audiences who grew up with the original character. The good news is that the new Astro Boy film is far superior to the Transformers films and while some of us may feel a little sad that the theme music from the original television cartoon doesn’t even appear during the end credits of the new film, this new Astro Boy is still a tremendous amount of fun.

For the uninitiated, Astro Boy first appeared as a character in a 1951 manga, created by the legendary Japanese animator Osamu Tezuka who has been referred to as the Japanese Walt Disney (with Astro Boy being his Mickey Mouse). The very basic premise in this 2009 film maintains the character of Astro Boy (voiced by Freddie Highmore) as a Pinocchio for the atomic age. Set in a futuristic world where humans and robots co-exists, Astro Boy is created by scientific genius Dr. Tenma (voiced by Nicholas Cage) after the death of his son. However, once Astro Boy is brought to life, Tenma decides that he has made a huge mistake and the boy robot is cast out to fend for himself.

This Astro Boy is overall aimed at younger audiences with the darker aspects of Astro’s origins being rather rushed so that the film can arrive at the point where it can start to introduce lighter and more comedic elements.  However, there is a lot of humour and a lot of visual gags in Astro Boy which are genuinely funny, so the older audiences won’t mind the Saturday morning kids cartoon feel to some of the scenes. Older audiences are particularly going to enjoy the General Stone character (voiced with wicked relish by Donald Sutherland) who is trying to win popular approval by starting a war on false pretences and using slogans such as “It’s Not Time For Change!”

Directed by David Bowers (Flushed Away) the animation in Astro Boy is not jaw-dropping on its own accord but it does facilitate the storyline and stylistically evokes the original series artwork, with a more modern edge. Astro Boy does contain several nods to its Japanese origins with the inclusion of a couple of giant robots and the sort of mass metropolitan destruction that features so prominently in post-World War II Japanese popular culture. Nevertheless, the film never gets too dark for its young audience and indeed it is during one of the big carnage scenes that the filmmakers very comically reveal Astro discovering that he has machine guns in his butt. Moments such as this one help to make this new incarnation of Astro Boy a suitably fun and entertaining hero for a new generation.

© Thomas Caldwell, 2009

Read more reviews at MRQE

1960s Astro Boy television cartoon opening credits

1980s Astro Boy television cartoon opening credits