Review: Jim Henson's The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow (Archaia Press)

Originally developed by Jim Henson and his longtime collaborator Jerry Juhl for television, Musical Monsters never got produced. Enter Archaia Entertainment and Roger Langridge, who have brought the Muppets onto the comics page. Unfortunately, Musical Monsters does not translate well to comics.The plot is short and simple. The "monsters" referred to in the title are extraterrestrial beings. Each monster gives off a distinct sound. Together, the monsters harmonize and make music. Musical Monsters would likely have been a musical show, with plot time focusing on the monsters' musical performances. However, this is not possible to depict in the comics page. Readers are required to imagine what the monsters sound like. The book provides notes on the pre-production of the television show, as well as snippets from the original script. Photographs of the monster muppets are also featured. If you are a fan of Jim Henson, this book is a published record of Henson's nearly lost work. Otherwise, it's not that good.

Spy (2015): The feminist action movie

Spy is an amazing movie. And it is pro-feminist too, passing the Bechdel Test with an A+! The movie stars Melissa McCarthy, who was last seen in Tammy (2014) as a crude, fat and ugly woman. Spy's Susan Cooper however, is portrayed as an intelligent and extraordinarily capable CIA agent, even outshining Jude Law's James Bond-esque character. Jason Statham's character, former CIA agent Rick Ford, is the bumbling, over-the-top comic foil, symbolizing the follies of the male ego. Spy is like a good Marvel movie, full of action, laughs and an acceptable or good plot. It doesn't shy away from violence, choosing instead to showcase violence in all it's bloody and gory splendor. Yet, the violence is always juxtapose with humor. One thing that made me slightly uncomfortable is how capable and skilled Susan is. She probably isn't any more capable and skilled than James Bond in the pre-Daniel Craig era, but yet, it felt a little uncomfortable to see female action star who does not look like a hot, sexy femme fatale. Which means one thing: I have been conditioned by Hollywood to be comfortable with specific stereotypes in movies. In fact, a lot of laughs come from Susan's constant struggles with her colleagues' stereotypical views of her. I am glad Spy got produced, because it shows that anyone, even the most unlikely of actors, can be stars of action movies. It is a direction Hollywood has not explored to the fullest. Spy simply proves that the normal stereotypical roles we watch in Hollywood can be reversed or subverted, and by doing so, bring novelty to otherwise overused tropes. We need more of such movies!

Review: Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire (Vertigo)

Sweet Tooth is set in a dystopian future where the world has been ravaged by a disease. No! The dead do not come back to life as zombies. The remaining survivors struggle to survive. Some try to live peacefully, while others turn to evil and bullying, taking what they need from the weak. Around the start of the pandemic, animal-human hybrid children appeared. These children have a connection to the disease. The story centers mainly around Gus, a child with deer features, and Jeppard, a tired middle age man who has a tragic past. Unsurprisingly, the two are initially hostile towards each other, but grow a strong father-and-son bond as the story unfolds. They not only struggle to survive in the dystopian world, but become involved in the mystery of the disease and hybrid children. What stood out for me is the threatening situations the characters are constantly faced with. Death is a constant theme. But the threat of death comes not only from the pandemic. It is the antagonists, the vile and cruel human beings who present immediate threats to our protagonists. After reading a half dozen issues in the series, it is easy to see why Jeff Lemire was chosen as a writer for DC's main line of comics. Given it's dystopian setting with disadvantaged protagonists, it reads like Walking Dead (Image Comics), except with fewer subplots.