MFR Newsletter 7/10/20 - Need a break? Pick up a comic.
Greetings, comics fans! EIC Anthony here once again to break up the slew of junk mail in your inbox with some groovy comic book chatter.
I hope you all had a happy and safe holiday last weekend. I did as I said I would and watched JAWS. I also had a little too much high-proof bourbon and got into an argument with my fiance about how JAWS has maybe the best third act of any movie ever. (Except it was less of an argument and more of an unsolicited rant on my end while Brooke repeatedly told me just how much she doesn’t care. C'est la vie.)
So I’ve been considering changing the name of this newsletter to something a little more punchy than “MFR Newsletter” and I opened it up to the team for suggestions. I got a lot of really clever responses, but the one I wanted to acknowledge is from writer Matthew Brake, who suggested Throwing Feces. I’m not sure if I’m going to use it, or if I’m going to change the name at all, but it just seemed too perfect not to mention. So know that — whatever this newsletter is called — I’m just here throwing feces week after week.
One last thing before we get down to this week’s articles: MONKEYS FIGHTING ROBOTS: THE MAGAZINE is coming along great. MFR Publisher Matt Sardo has done a tremendous job designing the mag and putting everything together. It’s sleek, modern, and just packed with awesome content. We’ve gone through our first round of edits, and the mag should be off to the printer shortly! I’ll have more updates in the coming weeks, but I can’t wait for you all to see what we’ve made. If you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can still secure your copy by checking out our Patreon here: become a patron.
Advance Review: GRIT #1 By Brian Wickman And Kevin Castaniero Is BONKERS!
I have been waiting on GRIT to come out since I first heard about it. Writer Brian Wickman describes the series as “a goofy pulp fantasy adventure about a curmudgeonly old monster hunter and the short-tempered witch who sure wishes he would stop slaughtering stuff,” which just sounds fun as hell. Reviewer Gabe Hernandez takes an early look at the debut issue.
Face Your Fears: Revisiting INFIDEL During Our Time of Revolution
Writer Elizabeth Buck takes a look back at Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell’s INFIDEL, a story of fear, racism, and hate that perhaps we all should be reading right now.
LOIS LANE #12: Does It Fizzle or Does It Bang? A Little of Both
I have been trade-waiting LOIS LANE, so I am thrilled that the series is finally over, because that means the collection will soon be in my hands. An investigative journalism story set in the DC Universe? Why did it take so long for us to get this? Reviewer Zac Owens takes a look at the final issue.
ALIENATED #4 Is Pleasing To The Eye But Heavy On The Heart
Another series I’ve been trade-waiting, ALIENTATED’s first issue blew me away, and according to Darryll Robson’s review of issue #4, the series has not slowed down. If you like stunningly illustrated sci-fi stories involving insecure teenagers, this one’s for you.
The Truce Begins To Unravel In SACRED SIX #1
Reviewer Gabe Hernandez takes a look at a new Dynamite debut — SACRED SIX #1 — set in the Vampirella universe (and written by current Vampirella writer Christopher Priest).
VLAD DRACUL #1 Contains The Sublime Beauty Of The Dracula Mythos
Darryll Robson reviews the 64-page debut issue of VLAD DRACUL from Scout Comics. Don’t be misled: This is no vampire story. This is the story of Vlad the Impaler, the man behind the myth.
What I’m Currently Reading
A few months back, I impulsively picked up THE HOOD: BLOOD FROM STONES on eBay (the original Marvel Knights miniseries by Brian K. Vaughan, Kyle Hotz, and Eric Powell). I finally gave it a read, and it was…pretty good, generally speaking. I really liked the concept — how it’s basically a Spider-Man origin story but from the POV of a villain. Like, “What if Peter Parker grew up on the other side of the tracks with no positive role models?”
I think my biggest issue is that I just didn’t find Parker Robbins to be a sympathetic character, even before he becomes The Hood. The guy cheats on his girlfriend with a hooker and never shows an ounce of remorse about it. He seems to relish that he has to steal to survive. Maybe that’s the point, though: Parker is a teenager who was born into a life where the only way he knew to survive was through crime and being a sleaze. It’s a supervillain origin. The more I think about the story as I write this, the more I’m coming around to what Vaughan was going for. I just wish more of the character development was on the page and less of it conjecture in my own head. But the art by Hotz and Powell is straight fire and worth the price of admission alone.
Other than that, I’m back to reading Grant Morrison and Richard Case’s DOOM PATROL and loving every page. I read the first 2/3 of the run a while back and then fell off it for no particular reason. But since the TV show is back, I figured now is the perfect time to finish it!
It’s one of the most groundbreaking comics of all time, so you don’t need me to tell you that it’s incredible, but it certainly is. It’s probably my favorite work of Morrison’s that I’ve read yet. It’s accessible yet still high-concept, and it squeezes you by the heart in all the right ways. And Case’s art is just next level. The panel layouts, the character designs, all of it is just as fresh and invigorating now as it must have been when the series first ran. It’s a shame that this run is so often referred to as “Grant Morrison’s DOOM PATROL,” because there’s no way it would have been as influential as it was without Case.
On the movie front, I continued my personal Kurosawa film festival by watching SEVEN SAMURAI and DRUNKEN ANGEL. SAMURAI is obviously great and worthy of its place in the pantheon of legendary films (though I’ll probably break it up over two nights the next time I watch it instead of taking in the full 3.5 hours at once), but I was really struck by how much I enjoyed DRUNKEN ANGEL.
Similar to STRAY DOG, DRUNKEN ANGEL is a snapshot of post-WWII Japan. It’s about a Yakuza who gets sick with tuberculosis, and the alcoholic doctor who tries to help him. It doesn’t have the big, sweeping camera movements of Kurosawa’s later samurai flicks, but it does have complex, endearing characters, and standout performances by Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. You really invest yourself in what happens to these characters, and the end climax is “hold your breath” intense. It’s a very unique twist on the gangster genre, and definitely something I recommend for film fans.
TALES OF MFR • COMIC STRIP
You lucky newsletter readers get the first look at TALES OF MFR #61, featuring the debut of a new character — Dr. Sarah Delaney! In the time of COVID-19, and when health care reform is top-of-mind for many, I think Dr. Delaney will be a very relevant, interesting, and important addition to the cast. (Plus, I’m a massive SCRUBS fan, and I’ve been very into M*A*S*H lately, so I’m a sucker for fictional doctors who will break whatever rules they need to help their patients.)
You’ll be able to find Dr. Delaney’s official full first appearance in the Summer 2020 Edition of MONKEYS FIGHTING ROBOTS: THE MAGAZINE, shipping this month. If you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can still secure your copy by becoming a patron over on Patreon.
Catch up on the series here: TALES OF MFR
The war between monkeys and robots has raged on for eons; these are the stories that have survived. With art by Jamie Jones and the occasional words by Matt Sardo, Tales of MFR hits the web every Sunday.
For more reviews, interviews, and “Legends of the Longbox”, head over to the website to see what the team’s been working on this week:
I had a lot to say this week, but that’s all for now!
Remember: Darkseid is… but so are we.
Until next week,
Anthony Composto
@The_Great_Ace
@monkeys_robots
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