Death Note

Sin que sirva de precedente, voy a comentar una serie de anime. Sí, soy yo, ningún alien me ha secuestrado. Siempre he dicho que el manga no me gusta, pero como toda regla tiene sus excepciones. La primera, Bola de Drac, no comentare por que esa serie está genial. La segunda es la saga espacial Cowboy Bebop: me gustaban mucho el argumento y los personajes, pero los dibujos de seres humanos me siguen dando lástima. Es como si por algún motivo los japos no quisiesen dibujar bien a los humanos. Y la tercera es Death Note (Cuaderno de muerte, por si alguien no sabe inglés).

La serie cuenta cómo un muchacho brillante en los estudios se hace con un cuaderno "mágico" en el que si escribe un nombre visualizando la cara de esa persona, dicho individuo morirá. Puede detallar la hora y forma de la muerte si también lo escribe. Con este argumento que a priori puede parecer que da para poco empieza esta serie. El Muchacho decide limpiar el mundo de malhechores y se dedica a exterminar a todos los criminales de Japón y el resto del mundo, pensando que así creará un mundo mejor donde el mal no existirá y él será venerado como un dios. Pero entra en liza para cazar a este asesino de criminales un enigmático investigador del que no se conocen ni su nombre ni su imagen (qué oportuno) que se hace llamar "L" para intentar detenerle.

Sólo he visto unos cuantos episodios, ya que un amigo me insistió en que la serie estaba muy bien, y la verdad es que me está gustando bastante. A los que os guste el manga la disfrutareis bastante más que yo, ya que como siempre los dibujos de personas me siguen pareciendo lamentables y el tema muy místico acaba por cansarme.

Y como podéis apreciar en la imagen, creo que tienen pensado hacer la serie o película con personajes reales.

Vampire

Here you have a picture I drew while listening to SModcast. One of my girls asked me to draw a vampire for her, and this is what I came up with. At first I thought I'd draw something resembling Humberto Ramos's Alex Elder from Crimson, but then I started thinking along more Victorian lines. In the end, the picture resembled neither, even though it is closer to the latter than the former. And if she was hoping for an Edward Cullen-like drawing, well, I guess she's in for a major disappointment.

At any rate, I think the picture is kind of cute, so I hope you guys like it!

Thicker Than the Phonebook

I like to use the phrase "thicker than the phonebook" because I think it's funny and a delightful exaggeration. This time, however, that phrase is true.

You might know that I had been interested in getting The Darkness Compendium for a while, and I almost got it over a year ago or so. I didn't, though, and just when I was considering it again, Top Cow announced they were re-releasing it in a rebranded edition that matched their new trade paperback collection. (And much prettier than the horrible yellow on black they used to have.) So I thought I would go ahead and buy it this time, and I did. And that's when I realized that The Darkness Compendium is indeed thicker than the phonebook. And if you don't believe me, look at the picture accompanying this post.

TDC collects everything you'd possibly want, and then some: the preview issue of The Darkness, The Darkness #1/2, the complete volume 1 of the series (issues 1-40), the complete Tales of the Darkness (issues 1/2-4), issue 1/2 of The Darkness/Witchblade crossover, the one-shot The Darkness: Wanted Dead, and the one thing that aggravates me: the first issue of volume 2 of the series. And the reason why this aggravates me is because this way, somebody who is only interested in getting Volume Two has to suck it up and buy this collection to get the first issue. I understand this is done for marketing reasons, but come on! What's going to happen when they release the collected volume 2? Will they include issue 1 as well? I hope so, because otherwise, it would be a poor collection if the first issue is missing from it. (Now: I understand that probably nobody would want to buy the second volume without having the first one, so maybe the point is moot.)

At any rate, I bought TDC for the artwork, and I can always choose not to read the first issue of volume 2, or not buy the second volume when it is released. That will depend on how much I like the story. I read the first five or six issues back in the day, when they first came out, and I've also read the Darkness/Witchblade Family Ties crossover that I have on trade. Other than that, I know the character and I follow Witchblade, but I've never been all that interested in Jackie Estacado. Still, the artwork is great, the wealth of material this Compendium offers is mindboggling, and the price, as it's usually the case with Top Cow, is more than reasonable. So here's to hoping I will enjoy the thousands of pages awaiting me!

Without Her

Kelly Clarkson’s new CD, All I Ever Wanted, came out on Tuesday (review soon!). Let’s all rejoice by watching the video of her first terrific single, My Life Would Suck Without You. I hope this album is as successful (and as amazing) as Breakaway was, and that My December becomes a dark memory. Go Kelly!

Watching the Watchmen

First things first: I’ve never read Watchmen. I understand its importance, why it was a milestone, and how it changed the medium forever. I get it, I really do. And I’m sure it’s a terrific read, but I just don’t like the artwork. (You can send all the hate mail now.) Therefore, I’ve never really been interested in reading Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s classic. So sue me. Still, the movie looked very interesting, so I went to The Rave on Friday night, ready to see if Malin Akerman would also be naked in this movie. (She was.) And I liked it.

I like the alternate reality the movie presents: the darkness, the despair. I like the ideas in the movie, the ambiguity, all the gray areas the “heroes” move in. Can they truly be called heroes? Aren’t they (to use one of the nouns from the film) sociopaths? And who keeps them at bay? Who watches the Watchmen?

I won’t reveal anything regarding plot or characters, but I found the story interesting and the characters well-defined and nicely portrayed (Rorschach was my favorite). The special effects were cool, and Dr. Manhattan looked terrific. (So did the Silk Spectre, but for different reasons.) The action scenes are few and far between, but they are depicted with such attention to each horrifying detail, and with such brutality that I found them captivating. The movie is two hours and forty-five minutes long, but I was always entertained, never bored or wondering what it was all about. Plus, there are some really cool lines. My favorite: "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me." Priceless.

Still, I found director Zack Snyder’s previous movie 300 much more enjoyable, and I think the reason why this is so is the characters. The Spartans in 300 are (and you knew this was coming) way more compelling than the superheroes in Watchmen. And it’s not just a matter of Leonidas and his buddies clearly being the good guys in contrast with the grayer, more dubious vigilantes in Watchmen. I was invested in the Spartan fight against the conqueror. I loved those characters and wanted to spend more time with them. In Watchmen, the characters are cool, but just like Dr. Manhattan says, I had no stake in the story. It was fun and entertaining, but I wasn’t dying to see what happened next, rooting for them to save the day. But I think the movie, as a whole, works quite well and manages to achieve everything it sets to accomplish. I think you’ll like it if you’re even minimally interested in some of the themes, but I doubt it will blow your mind or set a standard for superhero movies. I think that was The Dark Knight last year.

Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres

Este libro ha sido una de las grandes sorpresas de la temporada. Me lo regaló mi primo estas Navidades, y con este título no esperaba nada nuevo, pero estaba equivocado completamente.

Un libro genialmente escrito donde los personajes tienen alma, enseguida te enganchas a sus historias y no sólo a la trama principal: descubrir lo que le pasó a la sobrina de un rico empresario hace casi 40 años. Las subtramas que nos cuentan las vidas de los dos protagonistas son tan emocionantes como la trama principal. La descripción que hace de Suecia, su forma de vida, politica y demás, hacen que te metas de lleno en el libro.

Aunque algunos "enigmas" de la historia son un pelín predecibles, está muy bien contado cómo los protagonistas van descubriendo pistas nuevas despues de tanto tiempo, en un caso al que se le han dado mil vueltas.

Estoy deseando llegar a Alicante para poder leer la segunda parte. Siento ser tan escueto con la descripción del libro, pero prefiero no contar nada y así no fastidiar el libro.

Beware of the Walking Brain

Another silly picture I drew at a meeting (check out the new label), I think the concept is funnier than the actual picture. Who knows, maybe I'll tackle the subject again and draw a higher-quality version of it. But I can totally see it as a movie poster for one of those pulpy sci-fi B-series movies. As it should be obvious, I drew it with black and pink pens, and I kinda like it. It's the amazing Walking Brain! Prepare to be horrified by this tale of blood-curdling horror!