TV adaptations: upcoming AND arrived.

We can probably blame the MCU for Comic books being such hot property these days. Yay, MCU!

I'm so bored by Arrow, but I really like The Flash and I'm cool with Legends of Tomorrow. I liked Constantine, but I can understand why it doesn't have the mass appeal of lighter DC fare. I struggle a little with reading Classic Hellblazer because of how morally ambiguous it is, and how depressed it can make me feel. Even New 52 Constantine can be a little difficult to take. He's, well, he's an asshole. He is not a nice person, and the people around him are pretty sure to get hurt.

Supergirl is a favourite. I really enjoyed her "adorkable" demeanour, the way she wrestled with her power and what it could mean, and the part of her that was a normal, confused, 20-something who worried about her job, and men, and social expectations as well as the superhero stuff. I loved the relationship between the sisters, and I really, really, really, want a season 2.

Marvel is totally winning when it comes to their partnership with Netflix. Daredevil and Jessica Jones are both extraordinary pieces of filmmaking and storytelling. As adaptations, they take every part of the source material that works. As film, they have a visual power that is breathtaking. I'll rather them both  9-9.5/10, and I'm TOUGH. I'm really looking forward to Luke Cage (sweet Christmas!), and I'm all on board with Game of Thrones Finn Jones taking on Iron Fist.

Agents of Shield works WITH the MCU, and Agent Carter is one of my favourite television characters ever. She's brilliant, tough, and determined, and can I be her when I grow up?

When it come to the independent titles, there is a lot more scope to breathe and explore. Not being weighed down by decades of history and canon lets them have so much more freedom when it come to their adaption. 

iZombie, and Powers season 1 may require a seperate review, but I can honestly say that I enjoy the tv episodes just as much as the comic books.

Given their success, I am super excited for a couple of things. Vertigo's Preacher, the story of a man named Jesse Custer, running from his cultish upbringing, and finding himself possessing and  possessed by the all-offspring offspring of an angel and a demon, literally possessing the "word of God" is due in days. And I'm super excited.

Anything with the ghost of John Wayne, an Irish vampire named Cassidy, a character literally named Assface, and a mission to track down God and MAKE him live up to his responsibilities has my vote.

The other upcoming excitement is the adaption of Robert Kirkman's Outcast. You may know him from, oh, THE WALKING DEAD!!!!!!!

The fact that there is a whole series based on only two TPB's gives me hope, and some worry. It looks freaking amazing though.

Plus season 2 of Powers is coming, and they've reached the moment where the comic book series begins, "Who killed Retro Girl?" I waver between liking the tv Christian Walker, and missing the comic book one, but I do like what they've done with it so far. Okay, Playstation, bring it on.

(and yes, I am re-watching the whole thing in preparation)

Vertigo's Art Ops vol. 1: How to Start a Riot

Warning: contains pretentious intellectualism, gratuitous use of Georges Bataille, sarcasm, and slight spoilers.

What would happen if art were to come alive?

What if art wanted something more?

I've had a conversation with my favourite professor, and a theoretical, ideological argument with my favourite sister about the the idea that art can be violence. Said sister comes from the perspective that any and all actions can be considered art. I'll agree to a point, but only when the action/ moment/ image becomes separate from the every day action/ moment/ image by the acknowledgement of the observed and the observer of its separation. Once separate, it becomes imbued with symbolism, subjectivity, and the history, emotions, and psychological state of the artist as well as the viewer. Georges Bataille, French philosopher and something of a misogynist, wrote a pretty fabulous book on the idea of eroticism. In it he states that eroticism is born of breaking taboos and the separation, or dis-continuum of normality. It occurs when an individual (or two, three, or however many you choose) acts in a way that is not for survival, security, or stability, but in a way that is purely for pleasure and sensation, for satisfaction and satiation, and the violent, uncontrolled release of orgasm. In experiencing the moment and the stirring of emotion and sensation, there is a dis-continuum from the everyday self, and the connection to something beautiful and numinous. It's the difference between an act of animal reproduction, and one of sensuality, passion, and joy. 

It can also be what happens when an individual experiences art. It is powerful, evocative, filled with the moment, the experience, and as Bataille puts it the "transition from the normal state" to the "partial dissolution of the person" as they have been.

Art is powerful. Art is important. And in the hands of Shaun Simon and Mike Allred, art is alive and pretty pissed off.

Art Operations is a clandestine organisations whose job is to both protect and police works of art, and to protect the public from art that is too dangerous. Such as the portrait of a dude named Jack who escaped from his frame in Whitechapel in 1988. Of course. However, art has decided to fight back. Scarlett, a rather minor work, has escaped in order to create chaos, to demand independence and freedom, and she's willing to do anything to achieve it. Like try to kidnap the Mona Lisa, and turn the Statue of Liberty into a grotesque. And somehow take out the entire population of the Art Ops.

The only things standing in Scarlett's way, are Mona, a long-forgotten comic book character known as the body (There will be NO punching of world-famous works of art!), and the son of the now-missing head of Art Ops. Who after a tragic accident involving attack by graffiti, just so happens to part art himself. This is probably my favourite part of this book. The protagonist, Reggie, is clueless, cranky, with one foot in both worlds. He's liminal, stuck in between, neither on nor the other and pretty confused and pissed off about it. He's also in a state of constant conflict with himself.

He's also a bit of a dick. Which I love.

I'll give Art Ops a 7/10. Allred's artwork is great, and totally meta. The relationships between the characters, human and art alike are fascinating. I'm looking forward to finding out what is going on with the mysterious disappearance of the Art Ops. I want to see how Reggie copes with his dual self. And I am seriously excited by the final page reveal of Reggie's dad, Danny Doll! Who is he? What is he? Is he human? Art? Both? Is this why Reggie is the way he is? And how did the whole thing work between his parents. Vol. 2: Modern Love, is apparently going back to the beginning, and answering the questions about what happened between Danny Doll and Agent Regina Jones. 

Yes, Regina named her son Reginald. 

Go, Art Ops. Go Simon and Allred. Go Meta-narrative. Go crazy and hilarious moments like this one.....

(BTW, If you liked this one, You'll totally like Mike Carey's Unwritten)