What Looks Good #244: World Travels

By Paul Brian McCoy

Greetings, travelers. As warned last week, Michael is traveling the world and I, Paul Brian McCoy have volunteered to make sure the WLG Train doesn't stop rolling. Unfortunately, that means letting you all have a peek inside my head to see just What Looks Good from my perspective, so fair warning. We're going to go some strange places this week.

First of all, I'm sipping a lovely Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale from North Coast Brewing Company, and I must say it is delightful. It's What Tastes Good, for sure. It's light with a full, fruity flavor and a clean finish. This ale, though not actually Belgian, has won numerous gold medals at Chicago's World Beer Championships, and sets the tone for our virtual travels around the globe this week. Yes, it's a little early in the day, but it's my day off.

Hey, if Michael can actually leave the country, at least let me pretend.

First up, the Comics!

DC

FINAL CRISIS #6 $3.99 (Grant Morrison / J.G. Jones and Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino)

Straight out of Scotland, Grant Morrison brings us the penultimate issue of the controversial DCU Event that, according to rumors, ties up his entire run on Batman so far.

This series has been catching a lot of flack around the 'Net and I have to disagree with those readers who say it isn't making sense and is not worth your time. Is it an easy read? No way. Especially not with the way DC Editorial screwed up the groundwork before the first issue had ever even hit the shelves.

Someone needs to get DC Editorial a dictionary. When Morrison asked for a moratorium on the New Gods for the year before he was planning to re imagine them, that didn't mean use them in your big weekly cluster frak and devote a mini-series to their demise. It meant don't use them, please.

Anyway, that's all said and done, and if you just ignore Countdown to Final Crisis and Death of the New Gods, you'll find your reading experience much more enjoyable. I know I am.

Meanwhile, back in the discussion of this new issue, I have to admit that I haven't been the biggest fan of Morrison's Batman, finding most of the run tedious and boring. Of course, I don't really like the character of Batman, so it already had one strike against it going in.

Why don't you stop by the boards later on and explain to me just what it is about Batman I'm missing. That should be fun.

MARVEL

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #9 $2.99 (Paul Cornell / Leonard Kirk)

England's own Paul Cornell wraps up his second major story arc this week, as Captain Britain, Pete Wisdom, Blade, and the rest of the MI 13 crew try to figure out how to defeat a Duke of Hell called Doctor Plakta, after being trapped in the Dream Corridor by a traitor in their midst.

I love this comic. This storyline in particular has been a strong one, as Cornell weaves a magical action adventure that never feels forced or contrived. And that's saying something.

Since I'm lucky enough to write reviews for Comics Bulletin, I've already gotten to read and review this issue (see today's True Believer Tuesday content for a Review Team-Up with the Review Machine, Dazzling Dave Wallace), and I can go ahead and tell you, it's great.

Storylines are wrapped up with a clean brutality that is making Pete Wisdom one of my favorite characters. Cornell's putting him through the wringer, forcing him into some morally tough corners where Wisdom's got to be the Hard Bastard of the team. I'm sure there are going to be repercussions down the line, but it's going to be fascinating to watch.

And Leonard Kirk's art is just gorgeous. There's a guest artist helping out this month, but it only serves to make Kirk's pages look that much better. This guy's bringing his A Game month in and out and more of you people should be picking this title up. Lots of you are, I know, but more couldn't hurt.

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE #5 (of 6) $3.99 (Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon)

Moving on to Ireland, we have Garth Ennis' latest take on Frank Castle.

Let me just say beforehand that I loved Ennis' MAX Punisher series. It was everything the phrase "For Mature Readers" is supposed to mean, while exploring the psychology and methodology of what could be called an honorable sociopath. This series, however, is a return to the Marvel Knights variation of the character, and while I enjoy this iteration, it's not my favorite.

But, with that said, I'm really getting a kick out of these new, weekly adventures of Frank vs. Ma Gnucci. Of course, if you've been reading the book, you know that it's not exactly the Ma Gnucci we knew from back in the early days of Ennis' tenure. And how she's come back is part and parcel to Ennis' approach to the Marvel Knights Punisher.

We have some crazy science fiction thrown into the mix, the son of a previous antagonist, and a side kick named Schitti. I've not seen anyone mention Schitti's name in any of the reviews I've read (but granted, I've not read them all), so I want to give a big WLG Shout-Out to the Schitti Man.

If you don't think his name is funny, then this isn't the series for you. It is, however, the series for me. Welcome back, Frank, indeed.

Oh yeah, Steve Dillon is the king!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to pour myself another Pranqster. Back in a moment.

MUSIC

Ah, that's better.

Since I don't get to write these columns very often, I like to throw in some things that Look Good from outside the world of comics, but that still have some relation to the genre.

HAWKWIND - SPIRIT OF THE AGE: AN ANTHOLOGY 1976-1984 $48.49 & HAWKWIND - THE DREAM GOES ON: FROM THE BLACK SWORD TO DISTANT HORIZONS $49.98

In that spirit, and in keeping with our exploration of the British Isles, today sees the American release of two 3 CD Box Sets of one of England's longest lived space rockers, Hawkwind. What's that got to do with comics, you ask? Not a lot, but Michael Moorcock has worked with them over the years, including on their Elric Rock Opera The Chronicle of the Black Sword, so that's plenty of genre cred for me.

Also, the greatest Hard Rock Band in history, Motorhead, sprang from Hawkwind when Lemmy left under drug related circumstances. In fact, "Motorhead" was a Hawkwind song written and sung by Lemmy. So how can you not like Hawkwind?

Anyway, each collection contains three discs worth of gems from the Hawkwind catalog. Spirit of the Age covers from the band's beginnings up to 1984, with a wide range of trippy, psychedelic, space rock that is a lot of fun. The second collection covers the years 1985 through 1997, including a lot of the Elric-inspired songs, as well as one of my personal favorites, "Needle Gun" (inspired by the weapon of choice of my favorite Moorcock character, Jerry Cornelius).

DVD

TOKYO GORE POLICE $19.99

And finally, the item that has me the most geeked this week. So geeked, in fact, that I'm a little giddy when I check UPS and see that this is out for delivery, meaning that by the time you're reading this, Tokyo Gore Police will be in my greedy little hands, and hopefully in my greedy little DVD player.

You see, I'm a fan of what's commonly called Asian Cult Cinema. Essentially that means Asian films that are too messed up for normal people to enjoy. There's usually a lot of gore, sex, violence, magic, science fiction, monsters, and general insanity in some combination or another. Over the past few years, instant classics like Meatball Machine (2005) and Machine Girl (2008) have made me ridiculously happy, with their over-the-top sci-fi madness and blood-drenched violence in the gory tradition of Riki Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991).

Well, this looks like the biggest and baddest of them all. Here's the description: In the near future, the Tokyo Police Corporation is locked in a bloody war with the "engineers." These genetically modified super-criminals can bio-fuse their open wounds with weapons, turning self-mutilation into a combat form. Ruka, the daughter of the police chief's murdered right-hand man, is now the top engineer hunter. With cold-blooded efficiency she cuts through the psychotic engineers and tracks down their home base, a truly bizarre fetish club. Nothing keeps her from her sworn duty, even when she finds out the truth behind her father's death.

Please note: "bio-fuse their open wounds with weapons, turning self-mutilation into a combat form" and "their home base, a truly bizarre fetish club." This is not for the kiddies, I'm afraid, as can be demonstrated by perusing the trailer for the film here:




Yes, that's a lot of blood spray, sword fights, nudity, mutant cannibals, bodies split in half, and monstrous, weaponized, body parts. And did you notice the gun that shoots fists? It's easy to miss in all that craziness, but yes, there is a gun that fires a cluster of human-looking fists at one's enemies.

The film's pedigree is impressive. First time director, Yoshihiro Nishimura, has done special effects for a long list of movies, including Machine Girl and Suicide Club (2002), and screenwriter Kengo Kaji was responsible for the adaptation of Junji Ito's Uzumaki (2000). It stars Eihi Shiina, who played the lead in Takashi Miike's horrific The Audition (1999), and Shun Sugata, veteran of Pulse (2001), Ichi the Killer (2001), Graveyard of Honor (2002), Kill Bill (2003), Izo (2004) and countless others, and also features an appearance by Tak Sakaguchi, who was the lead in both Versus (2000) and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).

I'd watch it just based on that list of talent. And if you've not seen nor heard of any of these films, then you really should go check them out. Especially if you like your entertainment a bit on the extreme tip.

Hey! I just heard a knock at the door, and it is UPS! It's here! I guess that means my work here is done.

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So, what's got you geeked this week? Just stop by the WLG message boards (see link below) and share!

Michael will be back next week! Until then, thanks for your time and patience! See ya on the boards!

-PBM

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