Crogan's Vengeance Review

Hey guys, this is sort of a special review for me today. Crogan's Vengeance is a fun historical adventure graphic novel by Chris Schweizer, son of Mark Schweizer, who is known for his St. Germaine series of mystery novels.
I'll admit, I have some bias on this book because of an online pen-pal-type friendship I've had with Chris for the last few years. I first got turned onto his work when I stumbled across his old band's Purevolume account. That band was called Calico Jack and, the pirate aficionado I am, I had to check it. Chris and I have traded messages online on and off ever since.
Well, I'd been waiting awhile for Crogan's Vengance to be released by Oni Press, and when I found out it had, I immediately rushed out to good ol' Silver Bullet Comics here in Norman. I figured if anybody would have it, they would. Lucky me, they had got one copy in the day before and I bought it on the spot.
And I am sure glad I did. Crogan's Vengeance is a hell of a lot of fun to read. The best I compare it to is an Errol Flynn movie rolled into a comic strip. Schweizer's pacing is excellent, and the story keeps moving briskly. Even the scenes low on action play out quickly because the characters pop out so well and are distinct. "Catfoot" Crogan is the type of gentleman rogue that everyone can love while the villainous D'or is just as easy to hate. Schweizer has a classic sense of story, evoking the spirit of classic Hollywood historical epics without descending into parody. Characters are fun and engaging and dialogue is witty and brisk. The plot is also quite clever, leaving the reader wondering what scheme Catfoot is going to come up with next. Schweizer's command of history, especially pirate history, is also quite admirable. He sticks to the facts and brings in enough real history to make any pirate geek like me smile.
Schweizer also illustrated Crogan's Vengeance and he did it quite well. First off, the pages are all black and white, which adds to the classic feel of the novel. Even in black and white, the book has wonderful atmosphere and he captures movement really well. A sequence involving a ship nearly capsizing during a storm is especially impressive. His characters are exaggerated to cartoon proportions, which helps them stick out more from one another, while his backgrounds style relatively simple but still realistic.
Overall, this book is simple wonderful. Its swashbuckling charm should be enough to win over any fan of comics or of pirates (or those who, like me, are fans of both). Luckily, this is but the first in a series following the different members of the Crogan family throughout history. Crogan's March, which tells the tale of French Legionairre Peter Crogan, circa 1912, is set to come out in 2009.
Oh, and one more thing, even in hardcover, Crogan's Vengeance will only put you out $14.95. It's well worth the money.

- Nate

Quantum of Solace (+Star Trek trailer)

Essentially an extended epilogue to Casino Royale, the new James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, is heavier on action than the 2006 franchise reboot but not quite as engaging when it comes to characters.
From minute one, the audience is taken through the high-octane life of the 00 Agent as he tries to track down the mysterious organization that his love from the previous film, Vesper, was working for when she betrayed him and killed herself. Bond swears he's doing his duty, but the trail of bodies he leaves in his wake seems to prove otherwise.
I've been a big fan of the Bond movies since I first saw the Connery-era Diamonds Are Forever. I've always been especially appreciative of the Connery films because the character of Bond seems so much richer than the Bond we see in the days of Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan, in a world of ridiculous (though, admittedly, quite fun) gadgets and zero character consequences. So when Casino Royale came out, I was delighted to see a Bond film where Bond felt like a real man working in the real world with real consequences, to an even stronger degree than the early Connery films.
Quantum of Solace does feature these things, but I would say to a lesser degree than its predecessor. While Bond does have to grow and, in the end, get over the betrayal he felt from Vesper, I didn't see as much of that growth as I'd have liked. At points it seemed like false alarms, a friend (whom I won't reveal for the sake of anyone who hasn't seen it) dies in his arms and just when you think Bond is realizing what his actions are costing him, he turns around and leaves his friend's body in a dumpster, saying that he wouldn't care about it. Ultimately, we do have a satisfying emotional payoff, but the ending of this film simply wasn't as resounding as Casino Royale. Whereas in the first of these two films, we see Bond go from a somewhat eager new 00 Agent to the cold-hearted assassin that Ian Fleming made famous, we see Bond go from cold-hearted assassin to an even colder-hearted assassin.
The action scenes were also quite good, though a few of the action sequences seemed a bit contrived for this more realistic take on Bond. But, to be fair, none of those were too contrived, because I didn't even remember how contrived they were until I started this paragraph.
It was a hell of a ride and will still be an important chapter in the legacy of this new Bond (and, by the way, I like Daniel Craig in the role as much as I like Sean Connery). I'd say it didn't quite live up to the bar set by Casino Royale, but ultimately you still get a great film.

As for the trailer for JJ Abrams's Star Trek, a film I have already discussed at length on this blog... I don't know. I sincerely hope that the trailer is not indicative of the entire package. To me, Star Trek is about the characters. Yes, a Trek film needs its fair share of action, but the characters are supposed to come first. Look at Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country or Star Trek: First Contact. All three of these have a good blend of character and action, with a little humor, and are widely considered to be some of the best of the films. I realize the trailer is only two minutes of a two hour movie, but I hope JJ Abrams knows what he's doing. I'm still optimistic, but I'm also wary. As long as the spirit of Trek is preserved, and we get a good movie, I'll be happy.
One thing that worries me though: I live in a college town and there were a lot of my fellow college students in the theater. At the end of the trailer, I heard a fair amount of snickering. They had better get pretty creative with their marketing to entice my generation to go see this movie. There's still a bit of a social stigma assigned to people who are openly Trek fans. They need to make sure this looks like a movie that everyone is going to want to see, Trekkie or not.

- Nate

The Return of Recommendations

Sorry that I haven't done one of these in a couple weeks. Gotta get on the ball.

Band That You've Never Heard Of:
The Atomic Atoms - Yet another band got to review for Independent Clauses. This Cincinnati Folk-Rock band are a little bit Johnny Cash, a little Tom Petty, a little Weezer and maybe even a little bit of The Cramps. Their debut album, Electrophile, caterwauls through energetic power-country/pop-punk and thoughtful ballads. Unfortunately, the band is no longer together. Shame. But you can still listen to the music. I'd recommend it to fans of alt-country music, Weezer, Modest Mouse and good music in general.

A Graphic Novel Almost Everyone's Heard Of, But I'll Recommend Anyway:
Batman: Year One - Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli & Richard Lewis
Why do I recommend this? Why are you asking, moron? This is one graphic novel that I find myself rereading all the time. The main inspiration behind Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and told through the masterful writing of comic book legend Frank Miller (300, Sin City). Batman is still the only DC Comics character I care to read and this is by far my favorite story of the Dark Knight that I've read. Granted, there are a lot of them out there that I haven't read that I've always been told are incredibly. I sadly don't have much spare cash for comics.
Plus, I just wanted something different on the list and I hadn't recommended a graphic novel yet.

Awesome Youtube Video(-ish)
Sarah Palin Got Pranked
(In a Sarah Palin voice) It's just a couple of those cooky Canadians, doing those mavericky things that comedy mavericks do. But this time they did it to Sarah Palin, and garsh, don't you know? She actually believed she was speaking to French President Sarkozy.

I think that'll be it for now.

- Nate