Me gusta leer y ver la tele

Friday, October 19, 2007

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

I finally read the Ultra: Seven Days comic miniseries, that one Fel has been talking us about for ages now. With Revelations still fresh on my mind, this Luna brothers TPB it was going to have a very hard time trying to live up to my expectations. And I gotta say: I loved it. I loved it from the first to the very last page.

Of course we're not talking here about Ramos's incredible artwork or Leonardo Olea's spectacular colors. We're talking about regular basic drawings that do the job, and that's all. The artwork, by Jon Luna could indeed have been way better, that's for sure. But it does what it has to do, it transmits what it has to transmit, and, more importantly, doesn't hurt in the eyes. So, it's only okay, but, actually, I did't mind that at all.

On regarding the story and the dialogues, we're in a whole other league here. The Luna brothers have created this fictitious world full of superheroes (okay, this is a comic, duh!), with the twist that they're not prosecuted for being different, or frowned upon for destroying some bridge or any other kind of public property from time to time. They are superstars, cannon fodder for the mass media and the tabloid press. The Luna brothers satirize splendidly our actual star system and gossiping culture. And you can't help to laugh hardly with them.

But the greatest thing in this comic are the characters themselves. In a very whedonesque manner, all the characters, major or minor, got a life of their own, and the reader can find himself relating to them pretty easily. Their problems are the problems of everybody. Love, friendship, loneliness... You immediately find yourself caring for the characters, falling for them, turning page after page to find what will happen next to them. The plot is not hard to follow at all, but, although it may seem very simple at first sight, it's a very clever one, and one that's even with a message. You got to admire that, nowadays.

My own message, right here, right now, is also very simple. This is a must read, for all of you who like storytelling and character development. And I'm not talking only about all of you comic readers out there. I'm talking about everyone. Read this comic, cause you're not going to regret it. I promise.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bueno gente, io me ne vado. Os vuelvo a ver por aquí la semana que viene. Un gaybrazo para todos.

Mario Alba said...

Buen viaje, y espero que tengas ocasión de leernos en la distancia!

Con respecto al comic, me alegro de que te haya gustado. Además, coincido contigo en que la historia es lo mejor del conjunto: los diálogos, el mundo creado, los personajes... Y eso por no hablar de los "extras", como las entrevistas con los personajes, los periódicos, y todos esos recursos que los astutos Luna utilizan para sumergirte por completo en universo ultresco.

Algo que me ha llamado la atención es el adjetivo whedonesco, y estoy de acuerdo también: los diálogos de Ultra son como los de Whedon: reales como la vida misma, y, además, graciosos. Y lo mismo pasa con los personajes, pues, pese a ser superhéroes, son tan (o más) humanos como el que más.

Y los dibujos podrían estar mejor, pero al menos no duele mirarlos, hahaha.

En resumen, que Ultra no podría ser más diferente de Revelations, pero es también genial. GMTA!

Como nota curiosa, diré que hará un año o dos leí la noticia de que habían rodado un episodio piloto de televisión basado en Ultra, pero jamás volví a saber nada del tema. Imagino que la cadena que lo desarrolló decidió no encargar más episodios. Tal vez haciendo algo de investigación se pueda encontrar el piloto online. Hmmm...

Anonymous said...

Hola de nuevo a todos. :D

No, no he tenido ocasión de leeros en la distancia, pero vamos, que me lo he pasado genial en el viaje y todo eso, gracias por preguntar. :P

No estoy para mucho pensar ahora así que resumiré mi opinión de Ultra en una palabra: MOOOOLA.

Mario Alba said...

Nos alegramos de tenerte de vuelta :)