Jim Sleeveless - BSA - The Men Who Stare At Goats

My new video has been posted to Blip.tv!

Khatru 84!

After such a long wait, Khatru 84 has been posted to Shastrix!

If you're interested in what I've been doing instead, try going here, to my Blip page.

Khatru 83!

It's not Dull Surprise.
Honest!

Khatru 83 has been posted to Shastrix!

A few weeks ago, just after I finished writing the script for this one, Zach Weiner, of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal made a joke about how people came to read his comics for the MASSIVE MOUNDS OF TEXT rather than the jokes. Having just finished this comic, I lol'd at the amazing irony. I think this one might have the most amount of text in any of my comics since that one time I did the text story in place of an art storyline.

Khatru 82! An Interesting Day

DOOOONNUTTTTSSSSS!!!!!

Donuts make the world go 'round. Watch how donuts affect the epic new story line, the first comic of which now posted at Shastrix!



Dooonuts......

New Jim Sleeveless Vid: "And Another Thing" Review

Khatru 81! The Grand Finale of The Laundry Quest

Khatru 81 is up at Shastrix!

Not a whole lot to say about this. Can you tell I got a little bit bored after I finished doing the characters, and added in a whole bunch of backgrounds for Danny the RA's room? Because that's basically what happened...

Also, if you missed it (because I forgot to repost it here) I've got a new Jim Sleeveless video up on my YouTube page. So check it out if you missed the CGI film "Despicable Me."

Khatru Remastered #2

Here's the updated version of this.

Click for the larger version.

Google Sketchup is all well and good, but it doesn't help very much for individual people's rooms. Thus, I'm going to start playing with my newest modelling software: The Sims 3! Ok, it's not really "new" since I got it a while ago, but I only just realized I could use it for this a few days ago. I'm excited to try it out.

Khatru 80!

Wow. 80 comics already. I should've made a bigger deal at the 50 mark, or at least the 2 year mark, but I think I was having computer problems around that time. And the next twenty comics are already outlined, awaiting only my talented mechanical pencil to bring them to life. Well, to words, at least. Anyway, Khatru 80 has been posted to Shastrix!

Khatru 79!

Khatru 79 has been posted to Shastrix! Rejoice!

Either tomorrow or Thursday I'm going to start working on my next Jim Sleeveless review. Also either tomorrow or (mumble) I'm going to finish the story I've been working on for the past (mumbletwomonths). For some reason, it's much more difficult to write than most of my other ones. I think it might be the grim tone. It could also be that it's just longer than the others (I believe it's at 11 handwritten notebook pages right now). Anyway. Soon.

Jim Sleeveless - Anathem review part 2 of 2

Aaaand here's part 2. Please to enjoy!

Jim Sleeveless - Anathem review part 1 of 2

Here's part one of my new review.

Khatru 78!

Petitions are cool. Sort of. ...not really.

So yeah, Khatru 78 (!) has been posted to Shastrix.

Jim Sleeveless' new review did not get posted Sunday. I had other things I had to do, but look for it by this weekend. I swear, this time. Surrusly.

Khatru 77! Also, Some Thoughts on Scott Pilgrim

Boy, Ben sure is intent on looking at something slightly offscreen, huh. Find out what he spies at Shastrix!

In other news, I've got my next Jim Sleeveless video recorded, I just need to larcen some time to edit them into something cohesive. I'm maybe 2/3rds through a new story, called either "Walkabout" or "The Test." And I've begun to learn the guitar!

Also, if you haven't seen Scott Pilgrim vs. the World yet, damn it GO! It's a great movie, and it should be hitting the cheaper theaters by now (not in Minneapolis for some reason. More hipsters there I guess?) My life got taken over by Scott Pilgrim for a few weeks. Possibly up until and including the present time. They're just interesting stories.

In my exhaustive research (wikipedia and some blogs) I've noticed that Some People are calling the Scott Pilgrim books a perfect depiction of my generation, like Coupland's novel Generation X, the movie Reality Bites, and others were for Gen X. Among the problems I have with this idea: Bryan Lee O'Malley was born in 1979. According to Howe and Strauss, the two guys who refurbished the study of generations as a whole, O'Malley is technically a Gen X-er. In several ways, Scott Pilgrim, the main character, is reminiscent of Gen-X as well. They're both young Gen X-ers, but the traditional beginning of the "Millenial" or "Y" Generation is 1982 (Howe and Strauss, again).

Think of a stereotypical Gen X kid: an alternative music-listening, video game-obsessed, slacker, with disinterested or absent parents and a dead end job, not that he or she cares. Now look at most of the characters in Scott Pilgrim. They're hipsters, who're devoted to the local music scene. Scott retreats into video game references and escapism when he's threatened. For four whole books, Scott is unemployed, and he mooches and freeloads off his friends. His parents are touring Europe, and appear later to give Scott an apartment. The only job Scott's ever shown doing is basically unskilled kitchen labor. It's hard to get more dead end than food service, believe me.

His friends work as delivery girls, video store clerks, call center employees, and baristas. Several of Scott's friends, as well as Scott and his roommate Wallace Wells, are depicted as living beyond their means, and relying on credit cards to buy expensive sushi and video games and clothes.

I posit that, similar to the likes of Bob Dylan and James Dean, members of the post-WWII Silent Generation that enraptured teenage Baby Boomers, Scott Pilgrim isn't one of us, but somebody we look up to, for good or ill. The positive aspect of the Scott-as-Gen-X-er theory is that his lifestyle is shown to be something he should fix, especially in volumes Five and Six. The universe forces Scott to attempt to better himself. He doesn't think he'll be able to make it as an adult, but reckons he'll get it with practice.

Khatru 76!

Here's Khatru 76, newly posted at Shastrix!

Not much has changed since last time. Sorry.

Khatru 75!

This week: The cast reduced
to Lilliputian size!

Khatru 75 has been successfully posted to Shastrix!

In case it's not clear, the first two panels are occurring simultaneously. The blurred out thing is a new trick I'm trying out to allow for multiple actions going on at the same time. Perhaps it'll work, but it might end up going the way of borderless eyes.

So, my other projects. Jim Sleeveless is working on two reviews at the same time, so it's a toss-up to which will get done first. Probably Despicable Me, since it's easier to write for than Anathem. I think I see why more people don't do video reviews of books. Actually, I might just buckle down and DO Anathem, so I can get it off the plate and start working on other books.

The Mixtape book is still in the planning stages. I got some new feedback on one of my stories, so I'm probably going to end up taking it off the list of stories for Mixtape, fix it up and put it on a future collection. (Mixtape is what I'm calling the book of stories I'm putting together with Blurb.com, if you didn't already know).

Other than that, things are pretty quiet around here this summer. See you soon.

Bargain Bin Hunter: Toy Story 3

And now for something a little bit different.

Khatru 74!

Leah might look grumpy on the outside, but in her heart of hearts she's overjoyed that Khatru 74 has been posted to Shastrix!

So hey, remember last time, when I said I was starting a new project, and you'd see something about Neal Stephenson's Anathem soon? Turns out it might be about Toy Story 3 instead. Depends on which one gets filmed first. Look forward to that, I guess!

Khatru Remastered #1

Preee-senting, Khatru Remastered! The inks are inkier (actually there's ink period). The lines, straighter! The size, standardized!

More to follow!

Khatru 73! And a much longer blog post than usual!

Khatru 73 has been posted to Shastrix!

Google Sketchup is really a wonderful program, especially for someone who is terrible at drawing consistent perspective. This is the first time that House 4 actually looks like a real, livable space. To the right and slightly below, you can see the original depiction from Khatru #1. Wow. Just wow.

The only real art training I've ever had was in middle school, with creepy orange Mr. Bergmeier. He was the token probably-dangerous-pedophile teacher at that school. Anyway, I'm losing focus. Yeah, the last time I drew perspective was middle school. Now, with Google Sketchup, I don't have to worry about it! I can just position the camera where I want it, upload that view into Photoshop and trace over it! It's amazing!

Anyway, enough with the infomercial crap. What I have been doing: 

Well, work mostly. Besides that I've been working on getting some of my stories up to snuff (Older versions of several of my stories can be found here at the website I built for Khatru in one of my classes. I'm not sure how long that site will stay up, because I'm no longer a student). Eventually I plan to use Blurb to self-publish them in a book. I may sell them down the road, but that's in the future. 

The other major thing I've been working on is an evolution of my old reviews here. You may have noticed that  I haven't been doing much in the way of reviewing movies, books or music. Part of that is that I haven't really seen many movies lately that are worth commenting on. The other part is that I'm starting to plan out a series of video reviews. I have a couple of ideas for the different focuses the series will have (Bargain Bin Hunter, Big Screen Adaptations, etc) and hope to begin filming them soon. Look for the first one, on Neal Stephenson's book Anathem soon. 

Khatru 72!

Khatru 72 has been posted to Shastrix!

Massive thunderstorms have been (and continue to) blast through the Midwest, and Khatru is one of those things I need my computer for. Between the power going out and the constant threat of electrical damage, my computer hasn't been on much. But here it is, the next "exciting" installment of Khatru: Laundry Quest.

Khatru #8 - Laundry Quest

Khatru 71 has been posted to Shastrix, along with a message about the next bit's updates.

Khatru 70! The End of Come Clean

Khatru 70 has been posted to Shastrix!

This comic ends the Come Clean storyline.

Blockbusters of Summer #1 and 2

 

AND

 

Read the text reviews after the break!

Khatru 69!

Khatru 69 will be posted to Shastrix, as soon as whatever is wrong with the site gets fixed. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but neither Chrome nor Firefox will let me on the site. Very strange. So until then, I'll leave it here.

Enjoy the last of Flynn's flashback!

Khatru 68!

Khatru 68 has been posted to Shastrix!

A Problem.

Ok, so my computer had a stroke this morning, and it's telling me different things are wrong with it. Software scans say some of my drivers are bad, but hardware diagnostics say there's something wrong with my hard drive and memory.

So what that means for Khatru is that I have no idea if I'll be able to get my computer working long enough to scan the comics, photoshop them, and post them. The longest it's gone so far without hitting the Blue Screen of Death has been 45 minutes. I'm cautiously optimistic that the period I'm in now will last longer, though.

I'll try to keep people informed via public computers (wow, we're sure living in the future) if anything changes. I'm going to try and take it into the university's tech support office tomorrow to see if they can give me a better diagnosis. I hope it doesn't cost too much, or take too long..... (knock on wood)

A Foray Into (Partisan) Political Commentary

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/business/27regulate.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw



It seems the Senate Republicans are trying to kill the economic reform bill. I wish they would just have the decency to be honest; just come out and say it, guys. You don't want tighter government regulation of the financial industry because it would cut into your own profit margins. Just get it out in the open. It'll feel better. It's not like you really care what the common folk think anyway, so you might as well get it over with.


The casual reader might think I'm being overly dramatic and cynical, and you might be right. 


'“We shouldn’t put in place a regulatory regime that overly reacts and, as a result, significantly dampens our capacity to have the most vibrant capital and credit markets in the world,” he [Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire] said.'


This sort of 'regime' is what prevented media consolidation (which is strangling the journalism industry, and, selfishly, my chances of using my degree) until the late 1990s, when the Telecommunications Act began deregulation of media ownership (among other things, but I'm griping about regulation, so I'm focusing on the parts of the Act that affect my argument. See? Transparency!) 


It seems to me that what proponents of deregulation, like the Senate Republicans here, forget is that ancient axiom "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The financial meltdown of 2008 showed the populous that the people who control our money don't really care about anything besides the bits of our money that end up in their pocketbooks (actually, there were warnings for years, but everyone treated them like exceptions rather than the rule. See further: Enron; Halliburton; etc.). 


It seems obvious that we can't trust the people who actually control these funds to manipulate them responsibly. And republicans want to remove more oversight? Um. Who's side are they on again? Oh right. Their own side. Huh.


From the NYTimes article: "The bill would also establish a consumer protection agency intended to end predatory lending practices and require that consumers receive detailed information on mortgages, credit cards and other financing. ... They [Republicans, presumably] said the bill would give too much power to the new consumer protection bureau."


I'm not sure if I'm nitpicking the Times' reporter's writing here, or just finding a flaw in the argument, but wouldn't ending predatory lending be a good thing? I did cut out a few paragraphs between the above statements, but they don't contain anything that seems overly draconian. "...provide new oversight of hedge funds and impose tough rules on the trading of derivatives" oversight is good, right? "restructure the federal system of bank regulation, moving many small banks out from under the Federal Reserve" Doesn't that remove government control over the small banks? 


Anyway, it just seems to me that republicans are trying to appeal to the Libertarian population, who tend to reject government control over their lives. The problem is that Libertarians (according to my limited knowledge of them) tend to focus on government intervention at the personal level, having less to say about government control over institutions. Maybe I just don't have a good grasp on Libertarian philosophy, but it seems like if you were a Libertarian, and you weren't all that bright, you might fall for this Republican scheme (better tone it back, there, bucko. You're sounding a little bit vitriolic). 


I could go on for hours about this article and the problems I see in it and it's subject matter, but I think I'll leave the rest of it to the professionals.

Khatru 67!

Khatru 67 has been posted to Shastrix!

I decided on having some background action for Kira and Ranger this week. Ordinarily, they would just vanish into the aether when not delivering lines or reactions, but tonight they're bickering in the background. I find this terribly amusing.

Khatru 66! Finally!

Khatru 66 has been posted to Shastrix!

Khatru 67, originally slated for Monday, may be a day or two late.

Khatru 66 Will Be Slightly Late

Regret to inform y'all that Khatru 66 will be slightly late. I've had a busy couple of days and haven't had as much time to work on Khatru as I usually do. Luckily, it's at the stage where all I have to do is resize it and do the text, so it shouldn't take more than a half hour to finish up. The trick will be finding the half hour with which to complete it. Oh, and Monday's might be a bit late as well. Not sure yet.

Most Disappointing Music of 2009 #1

The Single Most Disappointing Album of 2009 – Bruce Springsteen’s Working on a Dream


The Boss’ previous album, Magic, was one of my favorite albums of 2007. Magic revitalized Bruce in my eyes after over a decade of irrelevance. At one time, I considered Springsteen obsolete, his best work (Born To Run, “Thunder Road,” etc.) long past him. I filed him away with Billy Joel, Tom Petty and John “Cougar” Mellencamp as icons of a bygone era. But then came Magic and my hopes were restored! And then came Working on a Dream and my hopes were dashed upon the rocks of cast-off tracks rejected from Magic.

“Working on a Dream” and “Outlaw Pete” were the only half-good songs on the album, and even then they were retreads of ideas Springsteen already brought up. Also, “Outlaw Pete” is at least three minutes too long. Springsteen tried to synthesize his (read as: Bob Dylan’s) brand of folk rock with Petty/Skynyrd-style songwriting. And he failed. Plus, I kept picturing ‘Outlaw Pete’ looking like the brutish cartoon antagonist of ancient Mickey Mouse cartoons, and it's difficult to feel compassion for that big, ugly brute.

The rest of the tracks were entirely forgettable, samey-sounding songs that contributed nothing of substance to the album. It’s possible that “The Wrestler” worked well in context with the film of the same name, but hearing it alone didn’t do anything for me.

The reason Working on a Dream tops the list of disappointing albums is that 1) It was musically and lyrically unimpressive and forgettable compared to it’s predecessor, Magic; 2) it didn’t add anything to Springsteen’s philosophy; 3) and between the first time I heard it and this writing, the album hasn’t grown on me at all. I dislike it as much now as I did then; hearing the other albums again changed my opinions of them. Not so here. Sorry, Bruce.

Disney image source: http://mmfolliesbw.blogspot.com/2007/10/steamboat-willie-november-18-1928.html

What's next? The best music of 2009!

Khatru 65!

Khatru 65 has been posted to Shastrix!

Tonight, we take a look back at the childhood of one of our time's greatest thinkers, Kira Hicks.

Khatru 64!

Khatru 64 has been posted to Shastrix!

And now, updates on what I'm up to!

I'm probably going to post the #1 Most Disappointing Album of 2009 (finally) tomorrow.

I've got the scripts done for the rest of the "Come Clean" storyline. If all goes according to plan, I hope to have the last one posted on or around May 7.

Khatru 63!

Khatru 63 has been posted to Shastrix!

These are getting kind of repetitive, aren't they.

Khatru 62!

Khatru 62 has been posted to Shastrix!

Thus concludes McKaela's flashback. Tune in next week for a peek into someone else's past!

Most Disappointing Music of 2009 #2

2nd Most Disappointing Album of 2009 – Lily Allen’s “It’s Not You It’s Me”

Unlike Wolfmother’s second album, Cosmic Egg, where the band’s style didn’t change enough, Lily Allen changed her entire musical style between albums. Her first album, Alright Still, bounced between dance, synth-pop, and just enough hip-hop to spice things up. No single style dominated the album. I’ll say more about Alright Still at a later time, because I really liked it. For now, I’ll just say that hearing her first album was an appetitzer for more. But the chef changed the recipe half-way through, to strain the metaphor. Read more tortured metaphors after the break.

Khatru 61!

Khatru 61 is posted to Shastrix!

I drew this comic on my Super Productive Thursday last week. It was pretty fun to draw, coming up with what I thought McKaela looked like during her formative years.

I've also decided that Dead Flours is my new favorite fake emo band. If I ever do merchandising, I'll definitely have to make a Dead Flours T-Shirt. Maybe I'll do a fake layered short-sleeved shirt over long-sleeved, so it'll look extra emo. I'll even cut a little thumb hole in the wrists so people can poke their angsty thumbs through. It'll be super awesome!

Khatru 60!

Khatru 60 has been posted to Shastrix!

There's something to be said for the affects beautiful weather has on my productivity. I got this one finished and both comics for next week done yesterday while hanging out in the sun.

Khatru 59!

Khatru #59 has been posted to Shastrix!

Spackle is one of the funniest words I've ever heard. It ranks up their with "portion" and "stucco."

Most Disappointing Music of 2009 #3

3. Wolfmother’s Cosmic Egg


Wolfmother’s self-titled debut album had some of my favorite music of the year on it. I eagerly awaited more of the “retro metal” sound they started with. Each song on their first album had its own distinctive style that hearkened back to earlier groups. “Woman” sounded like Motorhead, “Where Eagles Have Been” and “Mind’s Eye” sounded kind of like late-model Led Zeppelin, “Apple Tree” sounded like early punk (Iggy Pop, maybe the Sex Pistols), and “Tales” always sounded like a John Lennon/The Beatles song. This was what I hoped for from Cosmic Egg.

Read more after the break!

Real and True Stories #4 Posted to Shastrix

Toll roads suck.

Best of 2009 - Inglourious Basterds

Best Action Movie I Saw in 2009 – Inglorious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds was one of the last movies I saw in 2009 and replaced Watchmen as the best action movie I saw in 2009. Now, you might say – “But James, there are only, like, two or three action scenes in the whole movie - the Basterds at the Drainpipe, the Pub Shootout, and the Theater Massacre! It’s not an action movie; it’s a foreign-language drama type flick, like The Lives of Others.” And I would respond by snapping my fingers at you, cackling and saying “Exactly.”
Read more after the break.

Real and True Stories #3 Posted to Shastrix

New Real and True Stories posted to Shastrix!

Third in the series of exciting things that happened to me driving through Wisconsin one time. The concept is kind of gross, sorry.

Real and True Stories #2 Posted to Shastrix

Real and True Stories of Driving Through Wisconsin One Time #2 posted to Shastrix!

I think something's wrong with my windshield wipers, because this comic is 100% true. I hate trucks in the rain on the highway.

Real and True Stories #1 posted to Shastrix!

These are 100% true! Mostly. The only difference is that I was wearing a hat.

Blog posts will continue as planned, but Khatru is temporarily being replaced by these quick comics I drew while waiting for my brother's turn at his track meet. I hope y'all enjoy them.

Most Disappointing Music of 2009 #4

#4: Dream Theater’s 10th studio album - Black Clouds and Silver Linings

I’m going to upset my dad (and all other Dream Theater fans) and tell you I’ve only listened to this guy all the way through once. I’m in the process of hearing it again as of this post’s original scribblins. Since there’s only 6 tracks, I’ll say a little bit about each one.

Read more after the break!

Khatru 58!

Khatru 58 is up at Shastrix.com!

I actually did some research into this strip. Well... okay, I looked at some pictures of stained glass windows. It kind of amazes me that not only do people still enjoy traditional stained glass images (Jesus and pals), but occasionally create stained glass depictions of more modern  icons. Remarkable. Anyway, expect another "Most Disappointing Music of 2009" post tomorrow sometime. I think what I'll do is post a new blog post the day after I post a comic. So, if M-F comic, then Tu-Sa blog!

At long last, Khatru 57!

Khatru 57 is up at Shastrix.com!

Like I said in the Artist's Comment, February was terrible to me. My car got smashed up in the night (the girl's dad paid for it, fortunately), I got rejected at two different jobs and it was February. I repeat the fact that February exists for the simple reason that I hate it. It's the worst month of the year, particularly in Minneapolis. The novelty of winter has completely worn off and the cold just seeps into your bones, picking away at your soul.

But March is here now. The temperature has gotten up to 43 during the day. Strangely, this means that there are now dozens of people wandering around in shorts. Truly, people from Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and other northernly climes are touched in the head.

Most Disappointing Music of 2009! Number 5!

5. Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown

I have vague memories from high school about American Idiot being a huge deal. In my mind, it’s linked with the only pieces of protest I remember participating in – playing music in support of a teacher’s strike and some sort of unfocused protest against combat in Afghanistan. Or possibly against the Iraq War. It’s a sad statement about the time period that I can’t remember the particulars of these events. Was American Idiot even out?

Find out after the break!

The Saga Still Continues

I'm taking a break from my Best of 2009 series to do an old-school regular review. Not that there's much difference these days, but regardless. After much toil, I have finished reading Book 12 of The Wheel of Time, The Gathering Storm.

I've been a fan of this series since I discovered Robert Jordan in high school. I've stuck with it through it's best moments of coherence and the thousands upon thousands of words dedicated to fantasy world fashions. When Jordan died, I didn't think the series would ever be completed. Thank you, Brandon Sanderson, for giving us all hope that something will come out of all this chaos!

The problem with labyrinthine fantasy works like The Wheel of Time is that each book takes so long to read, and the wait between new volumes is usually so long (especially with Jordan dead) that it's nearly impossible to remember every fact, character interaction, subplot and even the facets of the main plot between readings.

This is one of the biggest complaints fans and critics have against this series. In fact, there used to be jokes that Jordan would just keep coming up with new plots, new machinations and the story would never end. A Zeno's Paradox of literature. Brandon Sanderson seems determined to end each and every hanging plotline Jordan ever created.

The Gathering Storm has the swiftest-running plot of any other book in the series, excepting perhaps the first book The Eye of the World. And yet, it's amazing how much exposition Sanderson crams into this book. It felt like 90% of each chapter was individual characters gazing off into the distance, contemplating their situations. A lot of stuff happens, but it's really hard to tell how much time passes between events. This could be a limitation on my part, not reading slowly or carefully enough, but between chapters especially, there seemed to be big segments of time that are ignored. The previous books got bogged down with presenting every mile of every journey the characters made, which is why the change is so jarring.

In the end, it was a really enjoyable read. It was nice to get back to Randland once again, and it was even nicer to feel like events were moving again. Even though it felt a little bit roller coaster-like. The book gets bonus points for starting to resolve plots and having a sense of "the beginning of the end." The series, however, loses a few points for general incomprehensibility that required a trip to encyclopedia fan sites to try and work out what was going on. Overall grade: A-


Khatru update: Script writing is going well, and I'm going to shoot for having a comic done for Friday. Last week was kind of chaotic, though, and I didn't get everything done that I wanted to.

Khatru 56!

Khatru 56 is up at Shastrix.com

More information about this comic is located at Shastrix.

Best Thriller of 2009

 Presenting the Best Sci-Fi Thriller I Saw in 2009:
The Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell

I was surprised to learn that this movie was originally based on a comic book by the same name. I suppose, looking at the premise and story, the filmmakers (Director Jonathan Mostow and Producer David Hoberman) would have needed to cash in on the ‘comic book movie’ game. It adds that little extra bit of novelty needed to make the film stand out against its competition (Valkyrie, Taken, etc).

 That’s not to say I didn’t like it, though. The Surrogates is a sci-fi thriller starring Bruce Willis as FBI agent Tom Greer. The film borrows little bits from other movies – The Matrix’ mind plug-ins, Gattaca’s and A Scanner Darkly’s identity themes and even a little bit from Watchmen’s villain’s overall plan.

 Plot
 Twenty years ago (look up), brilliant scientist Dr. Lionel Canter, played by James Cromwell invents the Surrogate, an android body that one can pilot through a mind link. This turns society inside-out, because people no longer have to leave their houses. Instead of physically interacting with the world, people pilot their Surrogates to work, to parties, to shopping centers, and soldiers drive stripped down versions in combat. A small percentage of humanity shuns the use of Surrogates and is restricted to small ghetto- or reservation-like sections of major cities. They remind me of the Prawn city in District 9 – cluttered spaces where inhabitants have to reuse the cast-off materials from the rest of society to build lives for themselves.

The movie starts off with the first ever murder of a Surrogate where the destruction of the android body kills the user (the son of the original Surrogate inventor). Bruce Willis is the federal agent in charge of the case. He and his partner expose a conspiracy that wants to shatter the majority’s way of life.

Analysis
The Surrogates in the film appear to be a metaphor for the virtual worlds of the contemporary internet. The murdered son’s companion at the beginning is revealed to be an obese, hairy, quite disgusting man piloting an attractive female Surrogate. The creation of alternate personas is incredibly popular on the internet today. This anonymity is why our society has so many problems with identity theft and internet predators.

Strangely, the introduction of the film – a montage of news stories, similar to District 9 and others, states that crime has nearly been eliminated in the time since the introduction of Surrogates. There don’t seem to be any other scientific advances present in the film besides the androids; it’s possible that we’re not shown them, but I don’t think there were any. I also find it hard to believe that everyone on earth (barring the anti-Surrogate faction) owns and uses a Surrogate.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that it would take a lot more to get people to abandon physical interaction (particularly with family and friends, as shown in the film with Willis’ wife) and the satisfaction of tangibly interacting with the world. Particularly interesting is that the people don’t use their Surrogates to do anything interesting or adventurous – they go to work, they have meaningless casual sex with other androids; the most adventurous thing we see the Surrogate drivers doing is passing around a live wire, recreationally electrocuting themselves.

Like I said, I haven’t read the source comic book for this movie, but I wonder if it might have been more subversive than the movie let on. The movie’s message is obviously that we need to wrest our consciousnesses out of our virtual worlds and get back to the way we used to interact. I’d be interested to see what was cut or toned down from the comic to make it mainstream enough for the Common Denominator to enjoy.

Personally, I don’t see how the characters get anything meaningful out of their lives (You might say: ‘But James, Willis’ wife isn’t at all happy with her simulated life’ and I’d respond with: ‘She may not be happy, but it’s not because she’s dissatisfied with her Surrogate life, it’s because her unresolved grief from the death of her child. In fact, the only way she can keep along with her daily life without being shattered by grief is by assuming the calm, robotic Surrogate façade.), but then I’m not the kind of person who gets easily pulled into virtual worlds like Second Life or WoW (with apologies for the unintentional and implied insult to my friends who do play WoW).

P.S. I should mention that, if not for all the Shakey-Cam malarky that Star Trek put us through, that movie would have been my favorite Sci-Fi film of 2009. Besides, I already wrote about that one: Space, the Final Frontier...

Khatru 55!

Khatru 55 is up on Shastrix.com

Let me just say that drawing a cell phone in somebody's hand is really difficult. Sheesh. I guess it looks ok.

I really do intend to post more of my 2009 series. Maybe tomorrow (Saturday) or Sunday. The first two are really long - resembling more a term paper than a blog review. Someday, I'll put them in HTML form and post them on the website.

Khatru 54!

Khatru 54 is up!

During the period I was drawing this comic, I was simultaneously watching a lot of the old (figuratively speaking) cartoon "Samurai Jack". This influence is most heavily seen in panel 5 here. In the script, I have:

5th panel: ECU (Extreme Close Up) on Ranger's eyes. They're furious. Perhaps even murderous.

I realized I do a lot of this type of thing; extreme close ups on people's eyes make it easier to show real emotion than the typical shots I draw. I also think of things in terms of camera shots. Thanks TV Journalism class! I guess.

I decided to add in the big black bands framing Ranger's eyes because of this tendency of mine. I'm sure it can get stale, so I changed it up.

The angled eyebrows are also a trademark of Samurai Jack, and they just sort of crept into my art. I also stole/was inspired by/stole the design of Samurai Jack hands (particularly in how they clench into fists. This might be the single greatest innovation I've ever come up with - I've struggled with hands since the beginning. The Samurai hands in 54 and the rage-clench hands from 53 are the beginnings of a whole new world!