View Full Version : Episode #43 - "Dancing"
ConorKilpatrick
11-10-2007, 05:54 PM
http://www.ifanboy.com/images/iFanboy_043_100x100.jpg
Running Time: 00:19:48
This week iFanboy reaches back into the dusty but trusty ol' vault to pull out some comic book gems. There's a book about a movie star secret agent, one about a burly frontiersman, and one featuring more capes and costumes than you can shake a stick at.
Click here for download info and show notes! (http://www.ifanboy.com/archive/weblog/ifanboy_episode_82.htmll)
Six Gun
11-10-2007, 06:38 PM
great show guys!
paper
11-10-2007, 08:28 PM
How did I not know about Virtue and Vice? That looks awesome!
Ordered!
Six Gun
11-10-2007, 10:58 PM
Just noticed you guys had two Oni books in one show, I think they're the little publisher that could
kahunablair
11-11-2007, 02:29 AM
Another great bunch of suggestions, guys!
I'll be ordering Northern Passage this week (plus Mohawk Country).
I forgot I had bought Virtue and Vice a few months back for a few bucks used. You just gave me a reason to read it. Thanks!
I find it funny that I was exactly the same way about Leading Man. I picked up the first issue, and really liked it, but I completely forgot to pick up the rest.
First thing that came to mind when Conor picked it up was, "They actually finished the series?"
Oni really is a kick butt company. I just read Oni's The Damned, and I loved it. They're quickly becoming my favorite publisher.
esophagus
11-11-2007, 03:30 AM
Great episode. Short and sweet. Can't wait to pick up Northern Passage. Also can't wait for next week to figure out what goes down with Ron.
paper
11-11-2007, 04:04 AM
What goes down with Ron?
esophagus
11-11-2007, 04:06 AM
What goes down with Ron?I don't know. I'm assuming he'll be in California with the next one.
paper
11-11-2007, 04:08 AM
I've seen the mock-ups for CGI Ron. The sideburns are so real.
esophagus
11-11-2007, 04:09 AM
I've seen the mock-ups for CGI Ron. The sideburns are so real.I felt that the X-Men uniform was over-doing it a bit though.
Dave Accampo
11-12-2007, 07:53 PM
I just read Oni's The Damned, and I loved it. They're quickly becoming my favorite publisher.
That was a great book. That's one where I'm conflicted because I bought the individual issues, but I think the trade would be nice to own as well...
Dave Accampo
11-12-2007, 08:04 PM
Here's my ONE thing about Leading Man...
First, I LOVE Jeremy Haun's art. And I think B. Clay Moore's script has a lot of fun stuff in it (although I do think that it dissolves a little too much into a GI Joe/Cobra kinda thing at the end).
And I think the concept is good.
EXCEPT...
...there's one little part that doesn't quite sell me.
I don't get why the agent would be the superstar actor.
OK, let me explain that further.
I get the idea of using a movie production company to enter into all sorts of places. I get the concept that it's a great diversionary tactic. I get ALL of that.
But to make the "concept" fully realized, everything has to feel as though it HAS to be that way. It has to make perfect sense. As I read the series, I waited for Moore to give me one scene or bit of dialogue to convince me that the spy had to be the leading man, as opposed to the craft services guy or a PA or even a stunt man.
And that's the one thing that Moore never quite gives us. And that's the place where the high concept stumbles. Because if I'm putting a super spy in place, I'm thinking that he probably SHOULDN'T be the guy who has the highest profile of the whole cast and crew. So, you've got to convince me that it makes sense to have the star actor also be the agent.
And that's the only thing that nagged me throughout Leading Man. Maybe I just missed something. I did read it in issues.
HudsonPhillips
11-14-2007, 02:10 AM
But to make the "concept" fully realized, everything has to feel as though it HAS to be that way. It has to make perfect sense. As I read the series, I waited for Moore to give me one scene or bit of dialogue to convince me that the spy had to be the leading man, as opposed to the craft services guy or a PA or even a stunt man.
Because "The Craft Services Guy" isn't a very good title for a book.
This is one I really wanna pick up that I had never heard of before. And SURELY they're already making this into a movie right?
[Instead of waiting for an answer, I looked it up and yes, the rights are at Universal]
Brilliant Idea. Wish I thought of it.
JAFlanagan
11-14-2007, 02:51 AM
It would be really cool if they did it with a real person. Like the actor plays himself.
But then, I'm not in charge.
Dave Accampo
11-14-2007, 03:13 AM
Because "The Craft Services Guy" isn't a very good title for a book.
This is one I really wanna pick up that I had never heard of before. And SURELY they're already making this into a movie right?
[Instead of waiting for an answer, I looked it up and yes, the rights are at Universal]
Brilliant Idea. Wish I thought of it.
Yes, it's been optioned. Not sure if it's in active development, though. Hard to tell with these things.
And... your reason is "outside" of the fiction. ;) The reason has to be inherent within the fictional story for the concept to work.
ConorKilpatrick
11-14-2007, 03:33 AM
And... your reason is "outside" of the fiction. ;) The reason has to be inherent within the fictional story for the concept to work.
I disagree. Sometimes you just have to go with it.
Dave Accampo
11-14-2007, 03:43 AM
I disagree. Sometimes you just have to go with it.
There are definitely instances where I can poke holes in a concept and still go with it, but I'll always say the same thing I'm saying here: it's ALMOST a perfect concept.
Honestly, I'm mostly disappointed because I don't think it would be too hard to waterproof this concept. But it didn't happen in the mini-series (to my knowledge), and that's a letdown to me.
superfriend82
11-14-2007, 10:00 PM
nice show guy! I'll have to check'me out some time of who knows when.
JAFlanagan
11-14-2007, 11:24 PM
Also, this happens to me a lot. I sometimes know I have to just "go with it," but I just can't. Other times, I know it doesn't make any sense, but I do just go with it. I think it's different for various people.
Then again, if you didn't just go with it, that's 90% of superhero stories right there.
Dave Accampo
11-14-2007, 11:45 PM
Also, this happens to me a lot. I sometimes know I have to just "go with it," but I just can't. Other times, I know it doesn't make any sense, but I do just go with it. I think it's different for various people.
Then again, if you didn't just go with it, that's 90% of superhero stories right there.
Hah! Fair enough.
I'll expand on my take a little just for the sake of amusing myself, but this isn't meant to be argumentative or anything. Like you said, it's different for various people.
Anyway: If you tell me up front that Superman gets his powers from the yellow sun, then I accept it as part of the fictional world. I accept from the get-go that this is different from our world.
With something like Leading Man, unless I'm told differently, I expect that movie productions behave like movie productions and government agencies behave like the government agencies I've read about in books or seen on TV.
For me to totally buy that the Leading Man is the best choice of operative, I have to believe that the agency has a good reason for it.
And dammit, as I type this I have it. Perhaps because he's the highest profile, he's actually the LEAST likely suspect. After all, if you were to ask ME who in the crew is the most likely to be a spy, I would NOT say "Oh, it's gotta be Tom Cruise."
It's still not terribly realistic, but I would have accepted that as explanation enough. So...that's an example of what should have been in the original mini-series for me to totally sign off on it.
It doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the series -- it's just that it was SOOOO close to perfect that I was disappointed that they didn't completely seal the deal.
In the end it's just my nitpick for the series. My Illuminati Super Skrull, as it were...:D
paper
11-15-2007, 03:05 AM
I went to Mexico to have my disbelief surgically suspended. Not legal in the states. Yet.
Dave Accampo
11-15-2007, 03:37 AM
I went to Mexico to have my disbelief surgically suspended. Not legal in the states. Yet.
I know you're just kidding around, but I'm gonna run with it anyway. ;)
What I'm talking about isn't really suspension of disbelief. You tell me that an alien gets his powers from the sun, and I suspend my disbelief and go with it.
However, when you're talking about characters and their actions, it's more about the mechanics of the story.
This is an example once told to me by an editor I was pitching to:
If your character needs to cross the street, he's not going to climb a tree and shimmy across a power line to get across the street. He's going to walk across the street. Characters will always follow the path of least resistance to achieve their desires. If you want the character to climb a tree and shimmy across the power line, then you need to make it impossible for him to cross the street any other way.
In this instance, I'm applying a similar sort of logic to the Leading Man story. For me to believe that the agency is going to put their top spy in the field as the star of a film, then you have to show me that that is their BEST way to achieve their goal. That single element was missing from the original series.
Alright, I've gone on about this waaaaay more than necessary, but you know, I find it interesting to talk about, and the above advice has been very helpful to me as a writer.
Soooooo...well, there it is.