Happy Thanksgiving
By Alex Ness
November 10, 2022
THANKSGIVING
I pray all my readers have a lovely holiday, and find reasons for thanks, and give others similar reasons for being thankful. I
miss many of the people in my life who used to be central to my
enjoyment of the holiday. My mom hated to cook, so it wasn't so much a
celebration of food, but it was a time when family gathered, and we had
time to chat and get respite from life. But food aside, I miss her
deeply and miss the time in my parents' home when my mom was active and
full of life. I am also thankful for the new family I have. My DNA
family looked me up in 2017. While I haven't spent much time with them,
but knowing them, having mysteries solved, is good. I am thankful. I
lost my DNA sister in January, and it wrecked me, but I still have my
brothers and DNA mother. There are reasons to be thankful and family is
an area of that for me.
INSIDE OUT OR UPSIDE DOWN
I get asked why I like certain works so much, and sometimes it comes from nostalgia, I admit. But I remember most of the comics, books or film that I consider to be my best loved from when and where I first read them, how they moved me, and what they connected to in my previous appreciation. Over time, I learned how to appreciate various works, regardless of how my appreciation began. If I love certain media products, completely emptyheadedly, the works I like most are those that are so layered they remain in my mind. I love some works without liking the characters, because the concepts are so brilliant that it isn't about the journey of the characters, and regarding them, I realize, in life, well I don't altogether like everyone I meet or know. (I'd offer that precious few would say they like me... so I should understand that.)
The point of this work is to point to some media that worked, and offered a different look from all previous attempts. That is, if the archetype is for a hero to be brilliant, the work I offer shows a hero who is not like others, or is different in ways that make his heroism far more distinct. Perhaps it is about how a work might zig when you expected it to zag. Or offers a completely new idea, that validates the initial premise, that you once thought to be insane.
A MODERN MAN TRAPPED IN ANCIENT TIMES, AND AN ANCIENT MAN IN MODERN TIMES
For me, the writing and ability to story tell of Mike Grell make him one of the creative talents who work in comics I follow closely. He is and has been a helpful hand in my creative life, but my point here isn't to discuss my work. Grell's Warlord was an early regular buy for me, and after 30+ years later I can still pick up a copy and find myself lost in the fantasy tales he told. The only thing that diminished Warlord was the format favored one and done stories, in that, the depth could be more shallow than the page count (I think 23 or 24 pages) could support. I am like Grell's art, but the writing is the point for me.
His take on the Warlord was of a modern man, forced to live and survive in an ancient world, where there is no science, there is only violence and fantasy creatures, it was quite good. On his second run, while doing mostly writing duty, (with some full issues of art and many wonderful covers) was quite good, if not perfect. His take on Starslayer was the polar reverse of Warlord. His take on StarSlayer was deliciously different. Grell took a Celtic prince or king, and took him into the stars and modern technology against modern enemies. The juxtaposition between the two series was a purposeful, artistic, magnificent triumph over tropes and archetypes. I love having both series in TPB form and many single issues.
I've read people say that the film The Mummy of 1932 B/W was among the slowest paced works that is still somehow appreciated. I think that while people who require constant stimuli will perhaps go astray or move on to a different film or channel, those who invest themselves in the work will realize something. The slow movement is to evoke building dread, the rise of a being who had existed thousands of years ago, and still lives upon the date of opening the tomb. Upon discovery of his tomb, he slowly comes to life, and his body and being are both stiff from lack of use for numerous millennia. Also the concept of slowness is matched with a lack of pointless violence or fluff, by making no unnecessary stops along the way. There are issues some can take up with acting of some, of how one scene or another was filmed, or, the fact that the evil mummy played by Karloff appears in costume for precious little time on screen. I LOVE the film, so it shouldn't be taken that I would change anything. My point is, the film is said to move slowly, and it does, but it is worth the ride.
Hammer Films did their own version of the story, but The Mummy, as played by Christopher Lee, is an enormous threat from the very beginning. Additionally, with their being color, the costumes and sets are highly impressive. As a priest Christopher Lee breaks his people's ritual taboos, and from that he is condemned to live forever as a gauze wrapped mummy, entombed until discovered in the present. Upon the Mummy's release, his mayhem is a curse upon the living. And whereas the humans in the Karloff Mummy film were swift and young, while Karloff's character was ancient and slow, in Hammer's Mummy, the human being hunted was lame and slow, and the Mummy was swift, powerful and frighteningly ready to use violence. The concept added to the story, and made the both works a reflection of the other, vis-a-vis a cracked window.
I AM LEGEND, OK but, who is I?
This isn't meant to reveal a spoiler as part of the description, but if you haven't seen or read the works, read them first before reading this. I AM LEGEND was an original take upon vampires, at a time when few would even have considered doing anything different out of fear of being thought to not understand the subject, rather than offering a biologically sound reason for them. The main character is a single survivor of a biological bacteria or virus, that has killed most people on the earth, at the same time, transformed a number of humans into beings that live like vampires or zombies. The main character seeks to kill them all... and as such, if he wins the battle, or loses it, he becomes a legend for anyone coming after his time on earth, or directly to the vampires who might instead be zombies, and see him as a legendary killer who sought to kill them all and fought for decades to that end.
MOVIES WITH TWIST ENDINGS
While movies with twist endings don't altogether move me, when they are done really well, they linger in the palette, and even offer a reason to keep watching the film until all the clues are gathered and digested intellectually. Everyone doesn't love the same kind of movies, or subject matter, approach or direction. So, while we can all like what we like, I am just going to say these movies made me aware of how a twist, when done well, can have a powerful impact upon the appreciation I have upon the whole product. The Mist wasn't a favorite movie, but it has an ending that I pretty much can't erase from my memory banks. I include it since it is a direct, powerful, horrible moment that could have made the rest of the film seem light and happy by comparison.
About Getting Reviews from Me
I
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