"ROOTS" part two

As with my early influence in animation, likewise I have JUST as strong an example in comics.

I of course had read and collected tons of comics when I was a kid. .It was a passion that I Still carry to this day. More than any other 'art loves' that I have, nothing else comes close. From Ditko and Kirby, to John Byrne, Lee and Silvestri. From Neal Adams to Arthur Adams. Love it.

But even with as many comics as I had gone through, there was one example in particular that comes to mind that had a MAJOR impact on me. That ensured that I would follow SOME sort of career in the sequential arts field.

Way back in 1982, Christmas day...A little punk kid was laying on the floor reading a present that was given to him by a pal. It was a comic book. That comic book was

"DAREDEVIL" # 181.

Story by Frank Miller

Art by Frank Miller

Inks by Klaus Janson

For anyone that knows anything about comics, they know that it is the death of Matt Murdock’s girlfriend. The death of Electra.

In brief, she is sent to kill Matt Murdock’s business partner Foggy Nelson, but cant bring herself to do it when Nelson brings up matt Murdock’s name to her . Specifically saying : “your Matt’s girl”..

She lets him go...And soon finds herself in a battle with the hitman for hire, Bullseye, who has tracked her and wants to take out the assassin that took his place under the Kingpin.

Yeah...the Daredevil movie tries to follow it, and I give it kudos for trying to follow the spirit of the comic. But it falls very short of capturing the drama and emotion that the comic creators hit you with--- with the effect of a sledgehammer to the noggin.

Up to this point, the creators have shown you both the soft side and cold hard killer side of Electra. You FEEL for her as much as you are stunned by the coldness of her assassin persona.

And they remind you of her inner turmoil all the way up to the part where she tells foggy in the cab that she "has been hired to kill you"... (Cold killer side).

And then.......she lets him go, after hearing Matt’s name...(softened side).

You feel for her. as she hangs her head, leaning on the cab. Torn between the two worlds that she finds herself in .

And then you see Bullseye emerge from the shadows, and the fight ensues.

And its brutal. BRUTAL. Again the movie does its best to follow the comic, but when you compare the movie to the comic, its astonishing how "soft and mushy" the fight scene comes off as opposed to the comic. As Electra holds her own for awhile, only to get the crap kicked out of her!

BULLSEYE :"your good kid, But me.....I'm MAGIC."

Bullseye pulls out a game players card, flings it at her---slashing her throat. Not just nicking it (as in the movie), but slashing it!

Bullseye then picks her up, places an arm around her waist as if he’s dancing with her....he's enjoying the hell out of this. Not in an over the top way that the Irish Bullseye plays it, as in the movie. But in a sly and cool Brooklyn, hitman way. Subtle. Which is much, MUCH more unsettling.

BULLSEYE: ...."and now...for my next trick."

He takes her own sais and.... (Turn the page...)

A big splash of Bullseye as he runs her through with her own sai. With a big, greasy smile on his face.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAH!!!

HARSH!

HARSH!

HAAAAAAAAAAAARSH!!!!

And then he lets her go...he puts on a jacket and hat, and follows her as she stumbles off...dying.

Hoping that the one person that she goes to...in these final moments...will be the ultimate in knowledge. Daredevil.

She Crawls to the door, leaving a trail of blood. Matt answers the door, knows immediately who it is. He holds her as she takes her last breath...

a crowd gathers around...and in that crowd a dark figure lights a match to his cigarette....the flame lights his smiling face....Bullseye.

The rest of the comic was a classic battle between Bullseye and Daredevil. With even more WONDERFULL twists, that I wont give away.

when I finally rolled to the end, I remember closing the comic, And just laying there. Stunned. Stunned at what I had just read. Stunned at what I had just seen…Stunned.

I remember gathering all of the Christmas loot under the tree in an orderly fashion (as we were supposed to do), But the only thing I took immediately back to my bedroom, was that comic book. Where I laid on the bed, and went through it again and again. Drawn into the emotion, Drawn into the rage, drawn into the heartbreak, and drawn into the love. Drawn into the (once again) HEART of the story. And this book had it, in spades!

I still have this same comic book. And I still break it out to go over it again and again. And refer to the pacing whenever I need a reminder of brilliance in pacing. And staging. It is an extraordinary comic. And one that I point to as having a huge impact to my getting into this wonderful field. No one does it better to this day, then the creators in comics.

“ROOTS” part one

Like anyone else in the "arts" industry. I too have my early influences. And like many, they include Comics and Animation.

And while there were many things that probably molded me to the point where I am now (artistically speaking), I can point to two specific EARLY examples of things that had a PROFOUND impact on me, and pushed me with a force that no doubt more than assured that I would be in this industry in one form or another.

The two examples were in both (surprise, surprise) animation and comics.

About 700 years ago when I was around 7 or 8 years old, one of the earliest movie experience I have was when me and my cousins were taken to see a re-release of Disney’s "the jungle book".

I remember sitting in that theater, popcorn in hand, RIVETED to this film. Sure, chances are that I had seen other cartoons. Other movies, mixed in with more than my share of crappy TV shows. But this movie. THIS Disney film had something different for me. More than any other. The film (for me) wasn’t like any thing else I had seen. For one thing, it wasn’t about a good character fighting against a typical aggressor. It was about loss, being lost, discovery, and sacrifice, and letting go. While some of this is similar in Disney’s future Tarzan, Where Tarzan lacks is that.... well….. there is no emotional pull, no REAL emotional pull in the film. With all its flash and snappy animation. The story fails in that regard.

While jungle book with all its high techy'ness of its time (Xerox baby!), has emotional pull and then some. It works so well that you barely notice that the 'bad guy' in the film is hardly even there. Shere Kahn works basically as a vehicle to continue the story forward. He is just a big fat clock on the wall, because part of the story is that its a race against time...it is only a matter of time, before the killer Kahn gets the man cub. So...get the kid to safety. How? get him to his people. In essence.....let him go.

Shere Kahn gets to come in a few times, ask questions and walk out, until his big finale battle at the end. The bulk of the story is basically character development between mowgli and big brotha Balloo the bear, and of course Bagerea the panther. That’s the investment, right there. Done so well that when you get to the end, and you are sitting in the dark theater lookin at that big stupid bear that you've just fallen in love with, after putting everything on the line for this kid...is now lying on the floor. dead.

When Mowgli tries to wake him up and is unsuccessful, It just rips your gut out. I remember vividly how LONG that scene seemed to go on when I was in that theater. Now it seems to flash by pretty quick. But to an 8 year old kid, sitting in a dark theater. Well.....it packed quite a punch.

When Baghera starts his eulogy, seemingly to underline the death of the Balloo character, And the spotlight hits the slumped bear, It hits that point of being just excruciating.

And then....the bears eyes flutter, and then open. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA!!!

He’s alive. And not just alive, but he lets baghera CONTINUE his monologue, while he listens as he just lays there. Loving EVERY WORD of it!

BALLOO : .." maaaan, he's crackin me up..."

Now....as a kid, you've just pooted THREE times within five minutes time. 1) the death of the bear. 2) the revelation of him being alive, and 3) and then your just stoked at the idea of him being a jerk and letting Baghera continue his eulogy! That’s good stuff folks. But that’s not all....not quite.

Now we have the sacrifice of letting go. The bitter sweet ending of having to say goodbye. Not just because Shere Kahn still lives, But because he NEEDS to be with his own.

To have the life that he was born to have. Which is underscored when he see's the girl at the watering hole.

BALLOO : ..."forget about those, they aint nuthin but trouble..."

Mowgli then has to make a choice....stay or go. He chooses to go. The bitter sweet goodbye comes to the fun ending of Balloo and Baghera walking off into the jungle
to an upbeat tune.

The emotional ups and downs of the end were to me, a then 8 year old punk kid, An extraordinary way to tell a story.

In contrast, Tarzan never had the feeling of sacrifice. In the end he swings off with his chicky (Whose daddy even stays WITH them), and all is well with the world. Again, no sense of sacrifice. No sense of emotional investment. And why would there be? Why would you be expected to feel anything for a film that has nothing to feel FOR?

For all of its high tech glitz and beautiful fluid animation. For all of its beauty...It lacked the very thing that made the 'Jungle Book' a TRUE masterpiece. A TRUE classic.

HEART.

And for an 8 year old kid sitting in a dark theater, with popcorn in hand.....that was an amazing lesson in storytelling.

Bliggity Blogity BOO!!

Well its been some time since my FIRST "introduction post". Now I told you that I might not post as often as one might think. For a couple of reasons. One being that I just wasn’t sure if I would have the time to POST as often as I think the blog would deserve. So there might be loooong periods of time between some posts, IF I were to continue this 'Blog' thing.

So I figure that since I took that initial first step. I'll do a little more. you know...BABY STEPS!

Between my first post(march 18th) and THIS post, I've been in and out of other bloggies. Arguing with both elitist "arteeeeests" , And with people that genuinely hate this country. Very often I found that the two went hand in hand. Its rarely ever difficult arguing with them though...all you ever have to do is hit them with facts and watch them drown in there own silly arguments. More on that at another time.

The blog world is a very interesting one. So many people have one now. Wasn’t always the case not too long ago .Now everyone and their aunt petunia on their mothers side has one. The wonderful thing is that they are soooo varied. You have your political blogs, You have your art blogs of any sort, animation, illustration, design, fine art(so called), etc. You have quilt blogs, cooking blogs, travel blogs, PET blogs!!!etc etc etc. Online journals of ANY and ALL sorts.

Like anything else one the net, there is alot of good blogs, and a WHOLE lotta caca. When its good, Its great! And when its bad.......oooooooooo is it bad!

And then there is the "in-between blogs". Many 'art' blogs fall into this category. But again...I'll touch on this at another time.

In case you are unfamiliar with my political leanings, Let me be straight up with you on this. I don’t burn the flag, or flip it off, or spit on it. I don’t wanna change the pledge, or ban it entirely. In short, I love this country. So YES...I suppose that would automatically rule out that I would be a leftist liberal in any way.

I would be a conservative in the arts field. I know that must sound as strange as say a conservative who also happens to be a homosexual or (((gasp!!!))) stranger yet: BLACK!!

BUT believe me...there are more of us out there than you might think. Most of us tend to work and go home to our families. staying out of the fights. Some of us just don’t think its worth the time to sit and argue with juveniles who think EVERYTHING is relative. I mean there SURELY are better things to do than argue Whether or not hitler was evil (or to hear our leftist friends),, maybe he was just having a bad day with people with long beards and yamakas ( and for that matter...their children as well.).

For anyone that knows me...You would know that I am not one of those people that just keeps quiet. I'm not one who just laughs under their breath as some left wing cacklesak makes with one of many nutty conspiracy theories of how Bush orchestrated 911. likewise, I'm not one of those who will sit and listen to a colleague go on and on (AND ON!) about how great a drawing/painting (etc) is , when he/she knows full well that its poo but they would rather lie about it because to do otherwise would put them in bad stead’s with their buddies who are also in the same blog. OOOOOOORRRRR walk around a gallery and agree with the snively masses, that a tampon glued to a canvas next to a dead mouse is some sort of "deep statement" about hunger in the Ethiopia region. Nope....taint gonna keep quiet. And I think that by now.....I've made that perfectly clear. This brings me back to...”blogs”.

"Blogs" have been deemed the "new media", by political conservatives, and I must agree whole heartily! No longer does the public have to rely on the same three leftist channels for their news. The "blogs" were pivotal in slapping dan rather around when he threw out on the 'news' airwaves, the fake documents on bush. Without the blogs...danny would have gotten away with it. Because his BUDDIES on the other channels werent gonna take him to task. HOOORAY for the "new media"!

The 'new media'....which serves as a sort of "watch dog", of the old (leftist) media. Cnn, msnbc, cbs,abc,nbc,new york times,L.A. times.(insert newspaper of your choice here).

And maaaaaaaaaan do they hate that...being kept "in check".

Now that’s not to say that the leftists don’t have their fair share of the bloggy pie. NONONO! Believe me...they more than have their squeally, shrill voices out there spewing the same old same old. The point is.....that they have NO CONTROL over the voices on the blogs. They don’t have any control over the voices of talk radio, like they do on the tv stations and newspapers AND entertainment avenues. And that irks them sumpin fierce. these "tolerant" ones.

Its not as if things are split right down the middle as far as the media. Its not as if its EVEN on both sides. Its just with these TWO LONE OUTLETS: 'blogs and talk radio, They don’t "own" everything anymore. Other voices are heard. Instantly. And to the "open minded progressives", these defenders of the first amendment, These..'fighters' of and for 'free speech.'

well...they just hate that.

So...that said...SINCE It makes the flag burners mad and pissy... well, It seems only natural that I just HAD to get my very own 'bloggy' then.....didn’t I?

"COUNTERSTRIKE" A fine ‘howdy-do’

Well hello all! And welcome to our little slice o’ the bloggy pie!

I guess I'll start off by going through the basics. An introduction of sorts. The WHO'S-its,

WHY'S-its, and WHAT'S-its of what this is all about.

THE WHO'S

My name (for blogs sake) is "Handel". I am a professional in several "arts" industries. Comics, children’s books, Animation (both feature films and television), as a story artist, animator, character designer, and visual development. I've also done crap loads of illustration for books, magazines, etc.

Painting, drawing, Sculpture and Gallery work.

I don’t say this for bragging, I Only mention it so that there is an understanding that there IS a source of reference that I have, when I start spouting off MY OPINIONS about these and other industries. Of which there will be no shortage of.

I have been a professional in these industries for quite awhile. And its been a hoot. Once you learn to bypass the egos, It really is a great ‘bid-ness’ to be in.

THE WHY'S

So why am I doing this? Well I've actually thought about doing a blog type of thing for sometime. But have always resisted due to the fact that these things often, NOT ALWAYS, but very often turn into "fan site's" of sorts. With themselves being the fans...of. well......themselves.

People posting pics and drawings from themselves and co-workers, all of which they heap ENDLESS praise upon.

One has to only look at any number of "blogs" to see that that is indeed the case. And believe me, we’ll be talking about those types in detail.

So why should I do a blog? I mean I have my OWN website that serves as my online portfolio with a minimal comments page, where I would answer questions and discuss certain topics. But it is and always has been a MINIMAL type of forum. But it DOES suit its purpose.

I already have my own journals of which I write in almost religiously. You know the typical type of important journal stuff.: “today: got up, pooped. Had breakfast, coffee, showered. Put on wife’s underpants and frolicked around before going to work.” You know. the usual stuff.

Plus: Do I even have the TIME to do a "blog" regularly.

So after giving it the usual time to think It over--- I came to my usual conclusion of ......"NAH!"

But in February, A friend of mine in the animation industry, pointed out this one particular blog--run by a group of story 'artists'. Of which I thought a few entries were rather interesting. But their blogs DID fit the mold of “BLOG FAN SITES” . Where everyone knew each other and just spewed the “GOSH, GOLLY GEE WHIZZZZ , YOU ARE THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD!” comments about each others work. So I thought I would post a comment, a REAL actual SUGGESTION. Just to mix things up a bit.

So I posted a reply. A very mild crit, to TWO of the boards. And you would have thought that I called there Momma’s fat.

“THE AUDACITY!!! WHO ARE YOU TO MAKE A SUGGESTION! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!! ARE YEEEEEEEEWWWWW IN THE INDUSTRY? WHAT DO YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWW DO???WAAAHH WAHHHH WAAAAAH!!!”

I had, in effect, bruised some egos. You see…In the animation industry, well…in any arts industry OVERFLOWING with smarmy elitist’s, even the slightest suggestion, can rupture an inflated ego. And God forbid that THAT happen.

So I had broken the golden rule of the 'industry blog', which is ONLY PRAISE IS WANTED.

Ironically, There IS a "comments" page. But what they REALLY want is ...............................

C O M P L I M E N T S.

An ego stroking. (more on this later.)

After a good back and fourth which consisted of me basically defending my mild crit, along with me showing them for what they are..(ahem..((cough cough!!)).hypocrits((cough cough))!!) What happened was, that THEY (being the 'progressives' that they are) ..ended up banning me from there respective blogs.

To be truthfully honest, I SHOULD have been banned, and they had every reason to ban me from them. After all, I didn’t meet the requirement which was to be a fellow butt sniffer, and heap endless (fake) PRAISE on them. """oooooooo your sooo neat-o!" OOOOOOOO your so brilliant! No YOU are! Nooo YEEEWWW are!" I had the audacity to offer a real COMMENT to them. ((GASP!!))

So therefore…...banned.

So I thought that’s that. And went on my merry way.

Afterwards, I was surprised to hear from so many of you---not just the regulars to MY site, but even a lot of those that post on THOSE SAME BLOGS! ( don’t worry, I promised you via email that I wouldn’t say who you are --don’t want you to be banned to! >:)

So many comments mentioning that it was good to hear a real debate and that you liked what you were hearing---even if some didn’t agree with me- that they liked the thought provoking conversation.

I was asked to start ......a blog.

SO!.....after much thinkin about it, and going back and fourth and talking with some of you and some friends, I thought ...."ok. lets give it a go. but with a condition."

Which brings us to.........

THE WHAT'S

What’s this gonna be like. what sort of blog is this to be. Well its going to be me basically giving my takes on any number of things. From politics to animation to people IN the industry! I'm even gonna be giving opinions and reviews of blogs that are out there right now! The GOOD, And the ones stinkin up the joint. And we're naming names. A virtual smackdown and bitch slappin’ of the highest degree. Because those that know me, or at least know me from my past posts on the butt sniffer blogs; you know that I dislike elitist ass creepers. (you know who you are. and if not, your gonna be reminded:)

Now, just so that there IS an understanding...

1) I will NOT be posting EVERYDAY. I am not a story artist after all---SO I simply don’t have the time to hit it everyday..(just kidding. sort of). As much as I would LIKE to. but I will as OFTEN as I can. And I will sincerely try.

2) This IS NOT a blog where I am going to post any of my work. As I mentioned, I have a site that serves as a portfolio, and that will have to do. Neither will I post a link to it. WELL….I shouldn’t be too hasty on that decision about posting any work. I may in the future. We’ll see. But for now. this is just to serve as a blog of thoughts. I WILL be posting OTHERS work to show, to illustrate points—good and bad.

3) There WILL be a COMMENTS area up SOON. Unlike those who have a link to a comments page but only want compliments. I really DO like to engage in debate and conversation. although since its going to be hard to carry on a long debate due to lack of time. When I go onto another subject, I'll ask you to feel free to send email to the listed addy. Its different from my online portfolio addy because I don’t wanna clog up that box.

The comments page will be up shortly---I wanna play a little catch up first.

It wont always be a harsh look at the arts industry. I will also point out the best of the best- from blogs to artists. The people that I think are deserving of the comments and compliments. And more importantly, WHY I think they are worthy of it. Who I look at and say.....”wow”.

And lastly; there is no promise that this will stay up forever. If it just gets to the point where I feel that I cant give the time to it that I think it deserves, Then I will just delete it. OR maybe just add all this onto my site.

Make no mistake about it, we will be going to the mat sometimes, and I’ll be calling it the way I see it. It is of course MY OPINION. And I’m not always right. so I look forward to learning from you as well. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and put on some of my wife’s undies- For I am late for my midmorning frolicking.

As for you ELITIST ass creepers out there...................................welcome to THUNDERDOME.