I have a lot of stuff to write so lets get cracking;
Watchmen - The Graphic Novel
There is nothing funny about this comedian.Apparently, Its kind of a big deal. After everyone telling me how awesome it was I though it's about time I read it. And so I did.
It was... underwhelming?
Before the mob starts sharpening their pitchforks, I should probably explain myself. The Watchmen, as a superhero graphic novel, has a lot that makes it interesting. The depth and development of the characters is spectacular, their relationships and personalities matured wonderfully throughout the book. I also love the overtones of 1980's culture. Rorschach is a legend, and has quickly become one of my favourite masked vigilante's. I love the maturity of Watchmen, and I really like the savage contrast it provides from the perfect American citizens of Spiderman and the X-Men
Having said all that, there are large parts of the book I found to be uninteresting and without merit or relevance. Exerts from Nite-Owl's autobiography became tedious - I assume included to condense the history of Nite Owl and develop his character without having excessive comic-strip flashbacks. Whilst they provide excellent depth in terms of context they are simply not entertaining to read. The writing is simplistic and uninspired - which is passable in a comic but exposed in blocks of text. I found myself increasingly losing interest in Nite Owl and his relationship with Laurie. These sections of the novel barely retain their significance and I found myself much more interested in the metatheatre of the comic-book read by Bernie next to the News-stand - and how it's parallel is used to draw attentive reflection both to comic books and the significance of the Watchmen story and its place within society. I found the combination of the News-stand seller and the comic-book to be especially powerful, it quickly became one of my favourite sections of the entire novel.
How do you pronounce Rorschach?There are some characters which I found to be exceptional. Rorschach, I do not feel I need to justify - he is expertly crafted and fleshed out. His history and reputation are much better displayed and manipulated than many of the other characters. The Comedian, another excellent character with a wonderful precariousness to his heroism. The conflict of his personality was well explored, I think one of the most interesting dynamics for a "hero" I have seen for a long time. Dr Manhattan was another favourite although somewhat lacking in scale. I feel there was a lot more potential for Dr Manhattan that remained unexplored. Frustratingly there are also lots of characters who are just so plain and uninteresting I almost lost interest entirely. Lastly, its a shame that the villain was so predictable, and so uninspired.
The story itself was excellent. I spent a long time thinking about Watchmen for several days prior to finishing it, and I cant say that about many books. The twists and events are paced well, giving the novel a wonderful fluency. I enjoyed Watchmen. I think its a good graphic novel. I also feel the impact of this book upon me what somewhat diluted by both the context in which I read it and the persistent social pressure which I was placed under to enjoy it. Claims of "It revolutionised the graphic novel medium!" are wonderful, but having never read any graphic novels released before Watchmen the revelation is lost upon me. I just have to try to be subjective in my reflections, the same as with everything else.
I feel about Watchmen the same as I do about Half Life 2. Both have revolutionised their genres, but having arrived late to the party the impact has been lost upon me to the extent that I cannot even appreciate what makes them so revolutionary. I don't play through Half Life 2 and marvel at how "organic" and fluent the gameplay is, because that's now what I expect from my games - despite the fact that Half Life 2 was probably the influence for its successors and alternatives.
Gears Of War - The Novel - Aspho Fields
Aspho Fields has a wonderful pace to it that is refreshingly shallow and simple. It is everything I expected from a Gears Of War novel, and for that I am satisfied. The book does everything it should in terms of filling in gaps, both in the Story of Marcus Fenix and in the Gears Of War universe. It explains the childhood of Marcus and Dom, their relationships growing up, Dom and Maria, Carlos - Doms brother, The Pendulum Wars, Marcus's relationship with his father, and his relationship with Anya. There are lots of unimportant character details which are hardly crucial to the progression of the story but are wonderful insights into their personalities, which I treasure having spent so long in their company whilst playing Gears Of War. New characters are added, familiar faces pop up. Tai Kaliso and Hoffman both feature frequently, as well as Bernie Mataki (A female Gear Sniper) and Dom. The story is fairly central to Marcus Fenix but it is told through the perspective of the characters that surround him.
As a piece of literature, Aspho Fields is predictably of a low quality. If you havent played the game, you will have no clue about what the fuck is going on. The structure of the book is very confusing; the time-frame bounces around between childhood, the battle of Aspho Field and the current day - with many of the characters remaining completely the same irrelevant of their current time frame. Aspho Fields is designed to build upon the foundations of the Gears Of War game - which means anything that wasn't in the Gears Of War game is poorly introduced and difficult to contextualise. There are lots of names to remember, characters that have never featured in the games, and consequently are just blank anonymous characters which convolute the action sequences. Lastly the story reveals a terrible anticlimax. It feels like tremendous significance was implied over an event which seems relatively unimportant.
One thing I particularly didnt like was the heavy emphasis placed on humanising the characters and imposing nationalistic war philosophy. Every damn character is a violent lethal mother-fucker, and watching the author of Aspho Fields try to impose emotions onto them is painful. Macrus Fenix cries. That shouldn't happen. That's not what I want. That is not what Gears Of War is about. I suspect that by including a female character and making her one of the central narrative perspectives the author was attempting to impose some kind of emotional contrast. Gears dont need a shoulder to cry on when they get overwhelmed by the chainsaws. It doesn't work, its out of place. It just makes the book seem stupidly childish.
The best parts of Aspho Fields are; Its totally in keeping with the games. Everything is very consistant, which is nice. It also generates a lot of potential new material which could feature in the upcoming Gears games. I want to meet Bernie Mataki in Gears 3, I want Rojas's brother to join Delta Squad, I want to fight with a group of Pesangas - Stealth Gears, farmers from villages high on the mountains of Sera, who volunteered to join the COG army during the pendulum war and who use huge machete's. There are lots of different personality types - differentiated by the cultures from which they grew up. Mostly these are represented by Islands - like Tai Kaliso from the South Islands is sort of Hawaiian, and Bernie is from a different Island and (I biasedly imagine) speaks more British. ("We say arse, not ass.")
Having read the book, I now want to dive straight back into the game. I imagine there are loads of little referances I will pick up on, assuming the game maintains its consistancy with the novel. I'm currently bursting with gears knowledge, my next blog may just be a huge list of facts about the gears of war universe for people who are too lazy to read the book.
Right. That's what I've been reading. Nothing particularly inspiring but satisfying nonetheless.
I did other stuff as well!!
OTHER STUFF
Hosted a Street Fighter 2 Bombing Run tournament last weekend, worked out really well despite the fact that the game can't handle large groups of players. We ended up chainsawing each other in Gears 2. I won.
captionMe and Casey dominated some Wingman sessions, again in Gears 2. Apparently I'm "the new batman".
MattBodega continues to amaze me with his insanity, which he delights in shouting at me over skype. If you are reading this Bodega, seek professional help.
Crab Claw.
Oni wont let me win at Street Fighter. One day my lowly Chun Li will triumph over his mighty Ken. Also I'm determined to beat him using Dhalsim.
All avatars should have santa hats.
I started writing a Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix guide here on Giantbomb. I'm going into a lot of depth, so its taking me a while. I completely sympathise with Lies. Lies is one gnarly dude.
Left 4 Dead is amazing. I love being a zombie.
Congrats to Dalai for reaching 100 blogs! I'm not far behind you mate...
Dandy Warhols - Welcome To The Monkey House
REAL LIFE STUFF
I met a girl. I like this one.
Last night I hit a Dandy Warhols concert, it was amazing. Loved every minute of it. Felt a bit weird being the only student in my student bar - went out and got completely plastered with my housemate afterwards. Somehow ended up in a shisha bar. Good times...
Finished my first term at this university. Am amazed I haven't been completely overwhelmed with the mammoth workload. Seem to be hanging in ok. Looking forward to going home on sunday so I can finally play through Gears 2 with my brother on insane mode.
So yeah, that's what's been happening in the world of Sweep. This is quite a long blog post. I'm going to go back to sleep now.
