“Interesting Drug” will be your next favorite time travel story. Meet Andrew. One day, he’s a retail clerk. And the next, he’s a mad scientist. It’s all a matter of timing. This graphic novel, created and written by Shaun Manning and illustrated by Anna Wieszczyk, is published by Boom! Studios and is part of its Archaia line.
Writing high concept sci-fi, with its vast potential, can be a challenge to pin down into a cohesive narrative. One false move with jargon or a rant, and you can lose your casual reader, sucked into a void never to be seen again. With “Gonzo Cosmic,” a new comic book series, Garry Mac has created something with plenty of twists and turns but with a solid narrative and cast of characters that will keep you grounded and, more to the point, hooked.
Filed under Capitalism, Comics, Comics Reviews, Post-Capitalism, Post-Scarcity, Sci-Fi, science fiction, Time Travel
Nikola Tesla, the man that Thomas Edison viciously attempted to discredit, has emerged from the fringes and regained his role as the top wizard in the public’s mind. Among the new crop of science fiction that he’s inspired, there is Jeff Smith’s remarkable new graphic novel, “RASL.” Originally a comic book series, starting in 2008, this hardcover collected work goes a long way in stoking the fires of popular imagination.
“RASL,” which stands for “Romance At the Speed of Light,” is a multi-layered roller coaster of a story. Our hero, or anti-hero, goes by the nickname of “Rasl” and, in our first look at him, he appears to be little more than a thief, although a highly unusual and sophisticated one. We see him hang off a high-rise ledge, pop into a penthouse apartment, and make away with an original Picasso. He fights off a lizard-faced man. And he escapes by being zapped by a turbojet contraption. Yeah, then things really go nuts.
Rasl, it turns out, is far more than the coolest thief ever. He’s Dr. Robert Johnson, a genius-level scientist who has gotten a little too close to the military industrial complex. The good doctor knows too much and is left burdened with figuring out what to do with this special knowledge. Much like all of humanity has been burdened since the atomic genie was let out of the bottle, something else is on the horizon to threaten everyone–but this one is not going to fit in any silo.
In matters of life and death, all bets are off and anything can happen. Smith plays quite well with this sort of high-octane tension. It’s a “North by Northwest” kind of pacing mixed in with a doomsday scenario that cleverly unleashes many a favorite sci-fi theme. You get the Philadelphia Experiment mashed with the Tunguska Event. And you most assuredly get a close look at the world of Nikola Tesla. It is Tesla technology, after all, that allows Rasl to “drift” through dimensions.
What keeps this narrative grounded is Rasl and the circle of characters he interacts with on his journey. There are two women, for instance, that are key to helping him maintain his sanity, let alone complete his mission. There is Annie, who only really knows Rasl as a bushy-haired hoodlum. And there’s Maya, who only really knows Rob, the great man of science. She also happens to know Rob as her lover. Too bad she’s also married to Rob’s lab partner, Miles. Between the two of them, Miles and Rob can provide the greatest scientific breakthrough in ages–if only it were that easy and morally unambiguous.
Drawn in a very clean and animated way, “RASL” is a joy to behold. The characters are all very compelling and the storytelling is immersive. It is perfectly tuned which is what makes what unfolds all the more captivating. Rasl must not only deal with what to do to potentially save the planet. He must confront what it means to exist in the first place. Not only that, given the magnitude of this misadventure, the very notion of reality is explored, just like it is in any good work of science fiction. What makes Smith’s tale special is his thoughtful selection of what to bring to the table.
“RASL” is published by Cartoon Books, available now, and you can check it out here.
Filed under Comics, Graphic Novel Reviews, graphic novels, Jeff Smith, Nikola Tesla, RASL, Sci-Fi, science fiction, Time Travel
ComiXology’s Submit line-up this week includes the first issue of an intriguing comic with a time travel theme, “Time Samplers.” Created by Thomas Gorence, it is written by Thomas Gorence, Erik Koconis, David Pinckney and drawn by Christopher Hanchey. Published by Paranoid American, it is 37 pages priced at $2.99. If you enjoy a plot laced with a healthy dose of conspiracy theory, this one takes care of you in more ways than one. Yes, indeed, this is a wild ride coming at you from various vantage points and with enough twists to keep any fan of time travel stories quite satisfied.
Didn’t we go through a very strange “adjustment” to our financial instituitons not so long ago? We’re all familiar with the big players in the banking system, including J.P. Morgan Chase, are we not? Well, return to the source for insider trading and the like, the original crew of fat cats at Jekyll Island, circa 1913. Point of fact, it was at this elite country club that J.P. and friends cobbled together the U.S. Federal Reserve. In this comic, we find these industrialists meeting with Alexander Graham Bell to discuss his proposals to control the masses through sound waves. Not a bad idea but no one is fully won over quite yet. Although, they are interested in Bell’s prototypes for human slaves in the form of “sheeple.”
That is the scene that two adventurous young men, Cal and Lex, drop in on, through their employment with a mad scientist. It’s a great set up and well worth sticking around for. The artwork is an animated and fun style, light and purposeful. There is attention to backgrounds, architecture, gadgets, and characters. All in all, a comic that brings its A game to the table. You get quirky dialogue, well paced action, and a time travel scenario to sink your teeth into.
Also, as part of this comic, you get a shorter work, “Operation Midnight Climax,” which as a scary amount of CIA stories to tell. Compressed into a mini-comic format, there’s a nice gritty feel to this story of CIA agent George Hunter White and how the CIA made use of just about any and all available drugs for what it considered the greater good.
You can check out “Time Samplers #1” at ComiXology here.
And be sure to keep up with Time Samplers at their site, Twitter, Facebook, and at Paranoid American.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Comixology, Comixology Submit, Sci-Fi, science fiction, Steampunk, Time Travel
I watch a lot of movies and I sometimes take it for granted that you do too, that you’ve already seen this or that cool movie. Or maybe I’m stacked to the gills with pop culture and it’s hard sometimes to know which direction to point my noggin in and start writing. Case in point, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED Wow, I think there’s a lot of folks out there that are still playing around with the meme that inspired this fine indie flick. It has, for starters, the hero of indieland, Mark Duplass. That man was born to command the indie screen. Catch him in YOUR SISTER’S SISTER with the ever lovely Emily Blunt.
Anyhow, this was one story and then it became quite another more intricate one. As for where the meme came from, the early age of the internet, 1997. A popular magazine about rural living entitled, “Backwoods Home Magazine” had some extra space to fill on one of its pages. So, senior editor John Silveira filled it with a poetic fake ad. Pretty decent, a decade before Twitter: Someone to go back in time with me…Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” Jay Leno picked it up for his stupid ad routine on “The Tonight Show,” even though it doesn’t reveal someone for being stupid and so a meme was eventually born.
Next up for that delightful little meme, director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly turn it into a fanciful, quirky movie. We begin with a meeting at a slick Seattle magazine. Everyone is throwing out ideas. An editor decides he’d love to do something with this oddball ad so a team is created: one cynical reporter and two very green interns. They all jump into an SUV and, if they’re not careful, this will just be another hack job by Jeff (Jake Johnson). The two interns appear to be useless. Arnau (Karan Soni) seems to be an uptight killjoy. Darius (Aubrey Plaza) seems to be an apathetic slacker. But, given a little time, magic occurs in more ways than one. It turns out, that Darius isn’t really a slacker. Given the opportunity, she invests in turning their questionable quest into a worthwhile story.
But there’s more. Kenneth (Mark Duplass), the guy who wrote the oddball ad about time traveling isn’t an obvious nut job. He’s kind, intelligent, and somebody that Darius can’t easily dismiss. And, you guessed it, Jeff and Arnau also grow as characters but in unexpected ways. It’s the evolution of Darius and Kenneth that really captivates. With a delicate touch, this movie will make you believe anything is possible.
So, yeah man, this the prefect time to support this movie. As you probably know, there is a more to the life cycle of any movie that its initial theatrical release. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. Visit the movie’s website here.
Filed under Aubrey Plaza, Independent Film, Indie, Mark Duplass, Movie Reviews, movies, science fiction, Seattle, Time Travel
You can’t go wrong with a love triangle involving time travel and assorted bits of absurd humor. Toh EnJoe’s “Self-Reference Engine” is now available in the US.
VIZ Media’s literary imprint Haikasoru has announced today’s North American debut of author Toh EnJoe’s SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE, a work of hard science fiction where vignette, story, and philosophy combine to create a novel designed like a concept album. In Japan, EnJoe’s prize-winning fiction is well known for blending hardcore science fiction with bizarre surrealism.
Full press release follows:
Filed under Books, Japan, Time Travel, VIZ Media
“Looper” is an elegant action movie with Emily Blunt stealing the show in a cast of seasoned scene stealers. It’s one of those movies that attracts a wide audience while, at the same time, by its very nature, you’d think would appeal only to an art house crowd. This film is written and directed by Rian Johnson who is known for artful work like, “The Brothers Bloom.” What is the magic formula that works here? Casting plays a big role, of course. From the get go you have three favorites: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt. And then you have the time travel theme that, like a moth to flame, despite the fact it promises no guarantees of true entertainment value, we seem to not get enough of.
Why this time travel flick and not another? There’s the twist: This one is about loopers! And this one pits Gordon-Levitt and Willis as the younger and older version of the same guy. Time travel is an invention of the future used by the mob. When the mob tires of someone, they toss their victim 30 years into the past where a hired gun, a looper, is ready to shoot to kill, no questions asked. That has been Joe’s job (Gordon-Levitt) which he’s ready to do even if it’s himself (Willis). The real big kick in the pants is that we know Bruce Willis is not going to go down without a fight. And, if anyone can outsmart the system, it’s going to be the older Joe.
Time travel stories are inevitably about changing something in time and dealing with the repercussions. The professor always says, in the most typical time travel movies, not to disturb anything, not to interact with anything! Well, in “Looper,” characters from the past, present and future are at war with each other! Then there’s the other old reliable: What if you could go back in time and stop something terrible from happening? When we reach that point, we lose some of the mystery of the film. But some things resist easy answers. That’s where Emily Blunt comes in.
There’s a moment in “Looper,” not having to do with gunfire or the threat of violence or imminent death. It is a truly unexpected little moment that cues us to something deeper. Emily Blunt has just completed a long day of chores on her house out in the middle of nowhere. She kicks back on the porch and relaxes. She opens an imaginary pack of cigarettes and pretends to have a smoke. It’s not too long before we’re right back into the tension of this finely structured plot. But, for that moment, we’re made a aware that here’s a character with a whole set of issues and reasons to need to find a way to cope with her life. She also happens to be a character that emerges as far more significant than anyone had imagined. The trick to a really good time travel story is to demonstrate that even a butterfly is important to the chain of events. Too many times in movies, the subject of the woman alone in the house is dismissed as just another butterfly. Not here and Ms. Blunt is up to the task.
Filed under Entertainment, Movie Reviews, Time Travel
The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing. The festival runs from September 6 – September 16. The festival opener is “Looper,” a much anticipated time travel movie that has plenty of substance and action.
In the future, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe makes a good living as a “looper” until the mob decides to “close the loop” and sends back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) to be killed off. “Looper,” from Sony Pictures, releases on September 28, 2012.
Here are some quick video bites:
Bruce Willis
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Emily Blunt
Rian Johnson, writer and director
Filed under Bruce Willis, Entertainment, movies, Time Travel
Charles Yu was quite gracious to sit down with me during Comic-Con for this interview. Known for his inventive and hilarious, “How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe,” Mr. Yu talks about his craft, life as a writer, his literay influences and his latest work, “Sorry Please Thank You.” If you enjoy character-driven stories spiked with the right amount of sci-fi and/or social commentary, if you enjoy Kurt Vonnegut and Philip Roth and Douglas Adams, then you will definitely enjoy the work of Charles Yu.
Thanks so much for this interview, Charles! And thanks so much to Random House for arranging it. Enjoy this video interview from Comic-Con 2012:
Visit the Random House site. And pick up your copy of “Sorry Please Thank You.” I will provide my own review of “Sorry Please Thank You” to you later this month.
Filed under Charles Yu, Comic-Con 2012, Random House, science fiction, Time Travel
