GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Black Jack Vol 1

(Originally Written for Toon Zone News)

Long before House M.D. whipped out his cane there was a maverick doctor who was regularly getting his scalpel wet. Every week in fact, in a serialized manga strip in Weekly Shōnen Champion. The tales continued for a whole decade before leapfrogging to anime in the eighties.

I talk, of course, of the unlicensed skills of Black Jack, in the manga of the same name by manga master Osamu Tezuka. The first compendium of Black Jack short tales has just been released by Vertical.

For those with virgin ears, let me be the first to nurture such naivete into full enlightenment.

Black Jack is an unlicensed surgeon: indisputably the best in the world. His skills are so honed that this doctor can do more than repair a disfigurement or heal a diseased body—his hands can do the truly fantastical. Black Jack can swap brains, limbs and even create bodies for un-housed organs to live in. His fee is high, but he carries a hidden set of scruples. It's not rare to find Black Jack slyly working for a fee far less than he would usually claim.

Osamu Tezuka is considered one of the original masters of manga, and rightly so. His hand and mind were behind such greats as Astro Boy, Kimba, and my personal favorite, Ode to Kirihito. He is a master of stylish, well-paced visual narratives. Perhaps his mastery lies in that rare art in creating truly timeless tales. In all his tales I have read, I never feel their age. Black Jack began in 1973, thirty-five years ago, and you couldn’t tell it by looking at it.

Black Jack: Volume One contains twelve black and white short stories, each as fascinating and perfect as the last, neatly bound in a uniquely conceptualized and stylish exterior. The tales are simple and effective. Medical fact and heightened fantasy are neatly sewn together by a rich skin of solid storytelling. The stories are diverse, never compelled to remain focused on the lead character, and always ready to push the boundaries. One of the most truly bizarre tales, "U18-Knew," has Black Jack having to play surgeon to a medical computer. Nearly four decades of technology later, somehow the tale still works.

Favorite tales? The well-crafted and subtle "The Legs of an Ant" documents the inspiring struggle of a polio-riddled boy attempting to overcome his disability and follow a legend’s marathon pilgrimage from Hiroshima to Osaka on foot. "Two Loves" is a bizarre tale of how one sushi maker has to overcome the loss of his arms to make his mother the best sushi meal ever. Strangely, the tales are rarely bleak despite their subject matter. Tezuka never lets the story simply focus on the tragedy of ailments, but uses them as a catalyst for his plot. As always, his story resolutions are rarely perfectly happy endings, but they lean toward being bittersweet rather than dark or depressing.

His artwork for this volume is an interesting blend of comic and literal renders. It's not quite as mind-blowing as his work for the likes of Apollo’s Song or Ode to Kirihito, but it keeps the short stories flowing.

Any criticisms? Well as timeless as Black Jack is, there will be occasions where-well seasoned readers will see where the stories are going. Thirty-five years of comics is going to tune the reader to the tricks of the comic trade far quicker than in 1973. That said, even if the reader does manage to make the occasional leap ahead of the story, it never spoils Tezuka's craft.

Black Jack is the epitome of the perfect manga, taking a rich understanding of fantasy and mixing it skillfully with the illusion of real medicine. It is crafty, inspiring and humorous. Black Jack is a tome that should be a mandatory inclusion on any comic lover’s bookshelf. Make a surgical incision into your wallet and donate some financial plasma in the name of the infamous Black Jack.

Happy New Year from James

Hope Christmas was enjoyable and New Year proves eventful in a positive manner. Of course it brings up that ugly, ugly question of New Years Resolutions. Personally, my humbug Christmas attitude extends to New Years. I don't like going out on New Year (it's too much hassle to sort out and ultimately a let down) and I don't like trying to make character changes on the basis of, well, social tradition. I like my character evolution to be a little more flexible thanks.

That being said, I need to make sure I follow through with a few strict codes. First and foremost, sort out that bloody tax return. Second, sort out some sample illustrations I've been promising a potential client. Good lord, I've been putting that one off, simply through workload. Well, not just workload, work-style. Over the past few months, aside from a couple of commissions, I've been largely computer based in my art work - working on in-game material. When you get into that mode of working, going back to the pencil is hard. Really hard. One of those commissions I did while working on the video games wasn't a hard project in theory - I'd even worked for the people in question before doing the same stuff, but after time away from a drawing board, boy was it hard to do. So yeah, call it a "new years resolution" or a prompt "kick up the arse", but there is one piece of work I have to get started otherwise the client will look elsewhere and my bank account will suffer. Third, I need to finish the reviews for Toon Zone. A book review and a DVD review, both of which I've been back-burnering the last few months. Simply because I've been too tired between the illustration, art department and of course BacktoFrankBlack. But I will do it. This week.

Reflectively, I think New Year Resolutions are a great way to give yourself a posterior bat back into gear on specific jobs, but as anything that's meant to last the year - best get a shrink dear boy.

To finish off, a video montage of one of my favourite franchises - Final Fantasy 7 - to one of my favourite songs, Evil by Interpol.

Happy New Year.

James interviewed by X-Files News.com

,James is interviewed for his work at BacktoFrankBlack.com by X-Files News - a FOX endorsed X-Files news site.

Enough of the third person, I was interviewed. It was fun and I must say the staff are splendid. Please support the site whenever you can if you have any Philes blood within you.

"..James Mclean and Kimon, as we know them, describe this campaign as a different and unusual one, “…as it's not really about fans demanding the return of a TV series, or even the main character, but looking to support the interest of Mr Carter, Mr Spotnitz and Frank Black himself, Lance Henriksen - all of which have cited their interest in returning to Frank Black and Millennium in the past year.” In their own words, is this a campaign to support a campaign?

They explain that this movement surfaced recently, and when the guys approached Frank Spotnitz about it he wouldn’t be any more forthcoming but yet realistic: "It’s something we would definitely be interested in, but it’s going to take a massive appeal by fans to get it up." James adds: “we are looking to bring the fans together and create a platform of support based on the actors and producers eagerness to bring it back...”

Click here to read the full interview.

McLean interviews Lance Henriksen!

Little old me got the opportunity to have a phone interview with horror/sci-fi actor Lance Henriksen for BacktoFrankBlack.com. Read the first part of this interview!

I must say it was a delight and Lance was enthusiastic to talk about the campaign to return his character Frank Black to a screen near you. We chatted for nearly an hour - a fascinating man, as I hope the interview will prove.

What I found fascinating was just how difference Lance is to Frank Black and in someways so similar. They are both devoted to their art - Lance works hard on his characters as Frank does on his cases. I feel there are some similar perspectives in ideology too, but the candor and intonation of Lance is utterly different to Frank Black. Goes without saying that a good actor should be different from the persona he plays, but with Lance you really feel he explores the character and finds routes to discover that character that aren't supported by his own attitudes. In the interview, Lance quoted a line from Frank. Now, I won't pretend I'm the world's authority on Millennium, but I've seen the whole show and enjoy it thoroughly (enough to fight for its future I guess!), but I didn't recognize the quote! It wasn't until later when I played it back in my head I got it. It was the intonation. Frank and Lance may share the same voice, but the way he generates "Frank" is utterly different to how Lance speaks. So much so, the quote felt alien from Lance even though it was a quote from Frank. If you see.

Well there you go, a little waffle to plug the interview. Lovely guy - and eager to contribute to the campaign. Enjoy.

REVIEW: Afterlife - Tony Attwood

Blake's 7 - Afterlife: Tony Attwood

A purchase on Amazon Marketplace. I'd heard nothing but wonderful things being said about this book, well, wonderfully derisive - well, derisive. In fact, I've not really read a singular wonderful thing about Blake's 7 - Afterlife
, so when I saw it for around four earth pounds, I decided to give it a go.

Is it bad? Not as bad as people attest. Is it flawed? You betcha, but the flaws are forgivable.

I think anyone interested in being blusteringly negative about Blake's 7 - Afterlife
needs to read Attwood's remarks before hand. He explains the background to the book and the problems it suffered.

A quick recap: Afterlife is the written, official follow-up to Blake's 7, a British sci-fi series that ran for four years between 1977 and 1981. It was a weird fusion of Robin Hood, The Dirty Dozen, 1984 and Christmas Pantomine. The finale episode was in fact broadcast before Christmas and had the entire band of freedom fighters/terrorists (take your pick) exterminated.

Afterlife was written by Attwood (who had written the Blake's 7 Programme Guide) based on a suggestion by creator Terry Nation's agent. The story was written on an agreed set of provisos that Attwood and Nation could agree upon:

	The episodes should be such that if only one or two were required in the making of the series, that would still work in terms of TV.
	The book would not resolve everything, thus leaving the door open to yet more TV, or if that was not forthcoming, a second novel.
	The project must use the name Blake's 7, and there must be a clear justification for the name Blake's 7 somewhere within the novel.
	The story would centre on Avon and Vila ("one man and his dog" as Paul Darrow said) but would have pop-in appearances by other characters, so that if there was a TV series and they were used in that, the book would not be too contradictory in relation to the series. The appearance of the characters would also serve to remind occasional viewers about the story thus far.
	There had to be a super wonderful amazing spaceship somewhere in the story.
	Since we were focussing on Avon and Vila we needed to incorporate a bit more background on at least one of them - and if we went into two novels, on both of them.

All of which will mean nothing if you've not seen Blake's 7 - so why are you reading this entry?

Anyhow, through issues, politics and the ilk, the book was published, but the notion of a series of books never came to fruition, meaning that the open ending that was agreed left the book - and Blake's 7 ultimately unfinished.

However the biggest problem with Afterlife isn't the ending - fairly unsatisfying as it is (given there was no follow-up as planned). Nor is it the "death" of one of the major heroes (which in the context of one book seems superfluous, but I suspect it would have proved a more revelant event if book two had gone ahead). The biggest problem is that it doesn't entirely feel Blake's 7.

There is a similar problem in one of the other spin-off stories that came after the series - two audio plays by Doctor Who writer/producer Barry Letts that were released by the BBC a few years back suffered just like Afterlife. Like these plays, Afterlife doesn't feel like Blake's 7, rather like Doctor Who. In Afterlife, we have dimension jumps and weird planets that feel like Doctor Who. What's more, these inclusions don't even feel that relevant to the real essense of the book. One feels if they had not been included and the plot had been sewn together in a different way, the book would have been better, even good.

Yes, Afterlife could have been really good. There are some nice ideas in there. I like the idea Avon would look at destroying the Federation by causing economic devastation. I even buy the idea that Servalan would cause a civil war to return to power. Even the idea of MIND isn't too bad. But there are two many awkward elements in there to allow these strong ideas to really bear fruit.

Okay, let's take negative alley in one go.

First off, I don't buy the notion that Avon despised Blake as he does in Afterlife - I think Blake and Avon's relationship was decidedly love/hate. I think even during Star One, the point where Attwood suggests Avon saw Blake as nothing but a terrorist, there was still respect there, there was still some form of kinship - look at the last scene between Avon and Blake for that chemistry. Furthermore, Terminal is far more than Avon turning to Blake for his mysterious greedy prize - again the finale scenes show there is a far greater connection even if it is an abrasive one. Avon followed Blake to the end, in series 4 his crusade mimiced Blake's and head writer Boucher has always said he saw Avon going the way of Blake if he had surived the final shoot-out. This may seem like a petty gripe, but given the drama of Avon's murder of Blake in the final episode very much hinges on the importance of Blake to Avon, to rewrite Avon so coldly takes from the finale.

Secondly, Orac and his bizarre brother. Yes the computer had a younger sibling so to speak, which appeared to play no role in the story. Now again, maybe this would have changed in the follow up, but that never happened, so its hard to say.

Third, Avon doesn't sound like Avon. Quite often the writing just isn't sharp enough. To be fair, Avon is hard to write for, and I think under such tough deadlines as Attwood had, one can forgive him, but given he's the lead, it does spoil the enjoyment somewhat.

Forth, as mentioned too many of the scenarios and new characters feel uncharacteristic for Blake's 7. But I've been through that, so let's not go there again.

Fifth, the ending does feel a disappointment. Far too open ended reterospectively. At least Blake closed the book.

Sixth - some terrible typos in there. Where was the editor?

and of course, seventh... MIND is introduced in a manner that implies it was something the reader should know about. Sure, it's explained in the last few pages, but 150 pages of wondering if you've missed something is a little too much.

Given I've just attacked it so, well, derisively maybe, I should throw a counter up.

First, Vila is well written. Okay, he's a little too dumb at times - given the show often implied that he was often smart enough to play dumb, but the book does suggest his dumb routine has become a second nature, so that's a good enough justification for me. And apart from that, he's written perfectly.

Secondly, Tarrant - who has a cameo - is also brilliantly written.

Third, I actually quite like the idea of MIND's involvement in clearing Gauda Prime even if I don't like the idea of it interfering with the final scene of Blake specifically. It's novel, it works. Personally I've always felt it could be more simple - that we hear several gunshots to kill one man at point blank. You could argue some unseen attackers entered the fray - given the idea that the troops were all excessive shooting a single dead body seems a little too much for an unknown man (there was no indication they knew who Avon was) who hadn't even wounded one of their own.

Forth, I thought Servalan worked and I did like the idea of her civil war. I also agree with Attwood that she had long outserved her purpose. Though quite why he set up another character almost utterly identical was beyond me..

Five, the use of Terminal worked for me too - I wasn't expecting it and some of the postulations to the "planet" it offered made more sense that Servalan's cheesy revelation in the episode of the same name.

Six, Korell was a good character, a little like Soolin, or perhaps more like Soolin than Soolin was portrayed.

Seven, it was an easy unpretentious read and ultimately Blake's 7.

So there you go. Spoilers over. Not a terrible book, but it didn't quite hit the nail for me and I appreciate that many of the excuses Mr Attwood has offered have validity. In any regards, whose to really attack a man who loves Blake's 7 equally? Who has certainly done his researach. His view is as valid.

If Afterlife doesn't totally appeal (and as Mr Attwood has said, he'd love to rewrite it as he's not happy with it as a novel or a dead-end of his projected series), then I recommend Logic of the Empire, a fan made audio play that is not, unfortunately, out of publication but has been novelised online. This play starred the original actors and is very, very good. You can read it here.

So don't be too hard on Mr Attwood. Given the pressures, politics and strife of a tie-in media, the deadlines and the failure to get the sequel out to complete the story, it's a fun Blake's 7 book. And of course, as people forget, it was written with the creator's blessing (Mr Nation) and released through the BBC, so like it or not, technically, it is canon. That of course doesn't mean you should love it (I hate the episode Animals, and it's very much canon), but I think Afterlife is often kicked aside as people an unofficial pointless waste of time. Well, regardless of whether it is a waste of time, it is official. Deal with it fans.

Like the dodgy audio plays by Barry Letts, The Sevenfold Crown and the Syndeton Experiment, Blake's 7 - Afterlife
is imperfect, but it's still Blake's 7. That alone makes it worthwhile inclusion on my bookshelf!