On the Coffee Table: V for Vendetta

Title: V for Vendetta
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: David Lloyd

Image via Wikipedia

I was first introduced to the extraordinary work of Alan Moore through the film version of V for Vendetta.  For me, the movie was a wonderfully pleasant surprise - can't say I was expecting much, then was completely blown away.  Since getting into the comics hobby a few years back, I have found Alan Moore to be just about the most dependable name in the medium.  The Watchmen, Top 10 and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have all ranked among my favorites.

Given all that, I really should have been better prepared for the original comic book version of V for Vendetta.  Mind you, I expected it to be good.  I did not expect what I would call the most satisfying graphic narrative work I have encountered thus far.  I've been on the lookout for a benchmark against which I could measure all others.  I believe I have found it.

First published in the early 1980s, V for Vendetta is set in a near-future England.  Nuclear holocaust has destroyed much of the world and Britain is a fascist police state.  V is a masked, anarchist terrorist staging his own private revolution.  While he is certainly the central character and driving force of the narrative, most of the story is told from the perspective of others: Evey, the girl V rescued from the streets, as well as those within the establishment who are baffled in their efforts to stop V's attacks.

So, what is Alan Moore's genius?  I am far from the only one who considers him the best comic book writer ever.  What is his certain something?  Attention to detail is a very big part of it, I think.  Moore's approach seems that of a great screenwriter.  The big story is built upon the strength of individual scenes.   Words matter - all of them.  Characters matter - all of them.  Taking the broader scope, Moore is able to apply a human face to meaty political considerations.  Moore wrote V for V as a response to Thatcherism but rather than simply ranting as most of us would, he created a metaphorical reality with breath, blood and flesh.  He's far from the first to do so but few have managed it so effectively.

Moore's understandable objection to the film adaptation was the fact that his political message was twisted to suit a 21st century American audience.  The book pits anarchy against fascism.  In the movie, it's liberalism vs. neo-conservatism.  The impact on the audience is comparable but the creator's intent is irrevocably altered.  I still love the movie and am eager now to watch it again, but I must concede it's not quite the same story.

Baseball Tunes: Cleveland Rocks

Ian Hunter rose to fame as lead singer of the glam rock band Mott the Hoople.  The band split in 1974 but Hunter kept writing songs.  He wrote "Cleveland Rocks" in tribute to a city he felt was undeservedly the butt of jokes.  An earlier version was called "England Rocks" in order to get the song released as a single but Hunter claims it was always Cleveland's song.  "Cleveland Rocks" is best known to those outside of Ohio as the theme song for The Drew Carey Show (covered in this case by The Presidents of the United States of America).



Almost immediately upon its release in 1979, "Cleveland Rocks" became the city's unofficial anthem.  All of Cleveland's professional teams, including baseball's Indians, use the tune as a victory song.  Then-mayor Dennis Kucinich gave Hunter a key to the city in 1979. 

Full disclosure: my mother is from Cleveland so while I've never lived there myself, I do have some affection for the old rust belt town.  I haven't been back since my grandmother died in '97 and have never visited either the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or Jacobs Field, the two crown jewels of the city's modern renaissance.  There are quite a lot of other places I'd like to visit first but a pilgrimage might be in order someday.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 7-3 (89-60-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: tied, 5-5 (86-65-9, 4th of 10)
Public League: 83 Rotisserie points (3rd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Jon Lester (Starting Pitcher and Cancer Survivor, Red Sox) with 2 wins, 16 strikeouts, a 1.35 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP

Photo via PlayerWives.com

Family Movie Night: The Secret Garden

Title: The Secret Garden
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Original Release: 1993
Choice: Our Girl's
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Image via Wikipedia

Our Girl is currently reading The Secret Garden, a 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett so this choice for Family Movie Night was not much of a surprise.  Holland's 1993 movie is the third and most recent film version.  Mary is an English girl born into privilege in colonial India.  When her neglectful parents are killed in an earthquake, she's sent to live with an aunt and uncle in Yorkshire.  Upon arrival, she finds that her aunt (mom's sister) had actually died many years before.  The ten-year-old Mary is, for all intents, left alone with the servants on the estate as her uncle is never home.



All told, it's a miserable set up for Mary.  She doesn't help matters by being a rotten child in the beginning - spoiled, entitled, anti-social.  Yet, despite her best efforts to alienate herself further, Mary makes friends who ultimately save her - first Martha, a servant girl.  Next, Martha's brother Dickon becomes her guide/companion in exploring the gardens.  The real surprise, however, is a cousin she didn't even know she had: the bed-ridden Colin.

The Secret Garden is a tale of yearning and redemption.  The book is often categorized as fantasy, but I don't see it that way - at least, not if the movie is anything to go by.  There are fantastical allusions but the magical elements aren't exactly the hocus-pocus variety. 

The movie is beautifully filmed on location at Allerton Castle and Fountains Hall, both in North Yorkshire.  Casting is excellent.  The children are all strong and the ever-dependable Maggie Smith plays the horrible (but of course, redeemed) Mrs. Medlock.

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: August Blog List

Greetings to all!  I hope you'll join us for the next installment of the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, an online gathering of bloggers who love books.  The next meeting is set for Friday, August 30th.  If you're interested, please sign on to the link list at the end of this post.

The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.  Please join us:

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: July 2013

Welcome one and all to the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a cozy gathering of book lovers, meeting to discuss their thoughts regarding the tomes they enjoyed most over the previous month.  Pull up a chair, order your cappuccino and join in the fun.  If you wish to add your own review to the conversation, please sign on to the link list at the end of my post.

Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Author: Diana Wynne Jones

Image via Amazon

Frequent visitors to The Squid already know of my family's tremendous affection for the films of Hayao Miyazaki.  One of my favorites among them is Howl's Moving Castle (my review here).  As such, I didn't need much convincing when fellow blogger Charles the Reader recommended that I try the original novel.  Our Girl read it first, using it for a book project during the past school year and enjoying it very much.

There are perils in watching a film before reading the source material, just as there are in the opposite direction.  In either case, one comes to the second medium with strong preconceptions, sure to be challenged.  I tend to favor the book as I believe strongly in following the intent of the original author.  So, reading the story second often undermines things I thought I liked about the movie.  There are many differences between novel and movie in the case of Howl's Moving Castle, some inevitable in light of the works' relative scale but some of Miyazaki's choices sent the story on entirely different vectors.  Both stories work, though, and to the credit of both creators, Jones gave Miyazaki her blessing.

Sophie is the oldest of three sisters working in the family hat shop.  When their father dies, the two sisters are sent off for apprenticeships elsewhere but Sophie stays.  One day, the Wicked Witch of the Waste comes in and turns Sophie into an elderly woman, for reasons our heroine does not understand.  She leaves home to wander the world and find her new place in it.  She encounters, as the title suggests, a moving castle and manages to get inside.  There she befriends Calcifer, the fire demon who steers the ship, as it were; Michael, a teenage boy who serves as a wizard's assistant and, eventually, Howl the wizard who owns the castle.  With a few changes in details, the basic set up of the movie is the same.

In the book, the area Howl and his castle roam is significantly broadened, including trips to modern Wales - a story element abandoned for the film.  In the novel, Howl engages in direct battle with the Witch whereas he avoids all conflict in Miyazaki's interpretation.  The end result is essentially the same for Sophie but the adventures that bring her there are quite different between the two media.  I'll be curious to watch the movie again sometime to know how my exposure to the original impacts my perception.

I'm also interested in further Sophie and Howl adventures.  Moving Castle was the first of a three-part series.  Castle in the Air was published in 1990, House of Many Ways in 2008.  Diana Wynne Jones passed away in 2011 at the age of 76.

Please join us and share your own review of your best read from the past month.  This month's link list is below.  I'll keep it open until the end of the day.  I'll post August's tomorrow.  Meetings are the last Friday of each month.  Next gathering is August 30th.

Double Barrel #11

Title: Double Barrel
Issue: #11
Release: July 2013
Writers: Kevin and Zander Cannon
Artists: Kevin and Zander Cannon

Image via Top Shelf Productions

The Cannons have been quite busy over the past few months with the release of the trade publications of their Double Barrel serials.  Zander's Heck and Kevin's Crater XV are both available wherever books are sold.  Due to the hectic schedule, it's been a couple of months since web issues were posted but #11 is now on sale.  I got my copy at comiXology.

In this, the penultimate installment, both stories race to the finish line.  Heck strives to rescue his sidekick Elliott while the stage is set for revelations about the key players in Crater XV.   Also included are The Clandestinauts by Tim Sievert, True Tales of Jin by Zander and How to Make Distinctive Looking Characters, also by Zander.  Frequent visitors already know that the How to: section is usually my favorite.  Zander opens his treatise with the assertion that Bruce Wayne is the most famous cartoon character in the world without a distinctive look.  I'd never thought of that before.

Baseball Tunes: Detroit Rock City

"Detroit Rock City" was the third single released from Kiss's 1976 album Destroyer. While the single did not sell well initially, the long-term legacy is a strong one.  VH1 featured it at #6 on their Greatest Metal Songs countdown.  Baseball's Detroit Tigers often uses the song at the beginning of games as the team takes the field.  Hockey's Red Wings also make frequent use of the tune.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: lost, 4-6 (82-57-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: won, 7-3 (81-60-9, 4th of 10)
Public League: 78 Rotisserie points (4th of 12)
My Player of the Week: Kenley Jansen (Relief Pitcher, Dodgers) with 4 strikeouts, a 0.00 ERA, a 0.00 WHIP and 2 net saves plus holds

Photo via Wikipedia