Sabian, Bryar and M.A.S.K

Want some more McLean? Head to your local Sabian dealer!

Sabian.com
(US & Canada only)

The competition rules etc are on-site. It's a comic page which is the basis for a competition by Sabian, maker of those massively popular rawk cymbals.

Not only do selected Sabian dealers have the comic page by myself, in which you finish the story, but there is also a chance to meet My Chemical Romance drummer, Bob Bryar! Who could resist? I mean, another piece of McLean and a chance to get a drum lesson with some drum legend from a rather popular rock beat combo?

If I hadn't drawn it, and I lived in the US, or I lived in Canada, I would get myself a piece of myself.

In other news, the region 2 release of M.A.S.K (which I did the cover for), is delayed till November, but hey, don't you have enough McLean for this month?

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With that shameless plug out of the way, what has McLean been up to? What does McLean recommend?

Well McLean had a rather disturbing loss of screeners this month. Okay, he has a pile mounting up to review for my editor, but he had more on the way which would have fitted with those he had to review. And what happens? Mr Postman, in his eagerness to thieve, opened the package, took the DVDs, and passed the empty jiffy onwards through the postal system.

Now, I appreciate that some postal workers may indeed be on low wages, but I can assure you Beck Vol 3 isn't going to get you anything but a DVD case in the face if it was presented to any nephew for a Birthday present. That's not to say it's bad, but of selective taste, and the third volume of a low key anime release isn't going to get you proud eyes.

Other than that, thoroughly enjoying some James Herriot in book form, made more interesting by a recent trip to the James Herriot museum found in Thirsk, Yorkshire. Interestingly, the fictitiously village of Darrowby, for which Thirsk was the basis, is remarkably similar, right down to the vet's location, and the details of the house. I recommend a visit to anyone who is lurking between Durham and York. Fascinating stuff.

Getting a little more into Heroes, but still not quite sure what the fuss is about. Same with Catch 22, a book which has gripped the world by is failing to grip me. Granted, I'm not far into it, but if it wasn't such a famous, influential classic, I'd have put it down by now.

Been listening to the Foo Fighters newest offering. Some catchy moments, but Mr Foo is getting awfully predictable in his work. You can tell where each song is going to go. Still, not terrible.

Finally, I'm looking at moving my off rumoured "Pandemonium" project to novel form. Yes, I'm going to give a go at writing a book. Having written the Batman DKA story through my student time (and surprisingly capturing the interest of literally millions across the world) I feel the urge to try a project which is solely writing, and allow any past time artwork to be focused on other projects. I just feel there is enough substance there to push it into a richer medium, and a more mainstream one too (there are far more publishers of books than comics). Posted, keep you, I will.

PERSONAL UPDATE: "Beowulf", illustrated by James McLean - OUT NOW

To tie in with the upcoming Beowulf movie, Kingfisher have published the story in book form, translated by Penelope Hicks and illustrated by, well, me. The wonderful cover art is by Steve Stone.


There are two versions of this book, a US format (slightly larger) and a UK format.

To purchase the book via Amazon.co.uk, please do so via my site referral. Thank you. So kind. To show I'm in no ones pocket, I will let you into a secret: It can be purchased in other places as well. Naturally, I would prefer you to do so via my link, and I'm sure you can sympathise as to why. I believe Amazon offer a preview of the pages, so if you want a look, you can do so online at their website. The book is available internationally.

In other news, my website has had a revamp. If you've been good enough to follow my referral link, you'll have discovered this, if not, and you are curious - in a sexy, but non harming sort of way, please visit: James McLean.net

ARTICLE: Up, up and go away! Superman and Superhero movies must go.

[Article for DOMESTICATED WORDS]

Saw Superman Returns on Sky the other day. Terrible. This film has turned a key in my brain that has firmly locked a door in my preference center. I hate Superhero films.

So, faster than a speeding bullet[point], I will offer my answer as to why Superman Returns really does whiff of wee.

1. Kate Bosworth - too young and inexperienced an actress to convey a character whom the film relies on having some connection or understanding of. She was not like any Lois Lane I know of. She didn't act like Lois Lane, she didn't look like Lois Lane. Is it just me, or does she look like Cameron from another Singer production called House M.D? Is that coincidence? And furthermore, as my sister pointed out, is it also co-incidence that she came from a film recently starring Mr Spacey, the villain of Superman Returns? I ask the question: is she, of all the actress in the US who went for the part, the best they could find? Or is there a little nepotism going on? Given that Mr Marsden was clearly the best person to play Lois' love interest, and a lead actor from Singer's other big Summer Hit "X-Men", we have to wonder if friendship and creative familiarity scores over acting skills. The same question has to be asked of the great Hugh Laurie, who was also to be in the film as Perry White, but was too busy with Singer's other production, House M.D. Did nepotism kill the radio star? Or less erroneously in this context, the Summer Blockbuster called Superman Returns?

2. Love - Love in films is a difficult thing: it makes one man weep, and another man sing - apparently. If Huey Lewis was referring to the context of "movie love", he was suggesting that one man would be weeping from the 120 minutes he has wasted of his life having watched a film which had a large romantic story which failed to even suckle on any of his soft, sugary, syrupy spots.

The film does little to build the structure of Lois and Clark's romance, rather arrogantly presuming that as a "sort of" sequel to Superman II, the audience has already built up an affinity with these characters. No they haven't. This isn't Reeves and Kidder in the spotlight, and despite Routh's occasional flashes of memory to act like Reeves, the pair are nothing like the originals. The audience enters this romance cold, and leaves cold. It's a nice conceptual idea; to use the earlier films as a basis of the new film's setup, but they should have looked at finding a Lois who could at least give the audience a feeling of the old Lois so they could transfer their established feelings for the original couple.

3. Story. What happened? The film moves along at a snail's pace as it builds up Luthor's threat, but when the threat is realised, its merely a rock that Superman lobs into space. To coin a slice of Pop-Americana, "that 's all folks"? Is that it? Also, having Superman "die" at the end, before he's even had a more substantial encounter with the villain - something that we call in narrative terms, "a finale" - only to come back to life and the movie to end? Again, that's all folks? Oh, and I don't consider a 5 minute tête à tête with Luthor, upon which the villain kicks and stabs the hero a few times, a finale.

The "death" of Superman feels like a pause before a final act. It's not - it IS the final act. A slow amble up to the action, then the action is over -- tout suite -- because we've ambled for too long.

Surely it's not all THAT bad is it Mr McLean? Well, John Ottman does a good job of the score, and his slight variant on the main theme is great. The idea for Superman Returns, both conceptually and in Luthor's plan has potential, but it all misfires. Spacey is great as Luthor, managing to mix a little Hackman with a little Spacey antagonism.

Overall, a good idea, but with the two leads lacking chemistry (yes, the love rival Mr Marsden offers stronger chemistry with Bosworth than Mr Routh does), and a plot which spends too long in the background to be fully realised, the film fails to ignite. And that's an amusing comparison, as the plane attached to the space shuttle early on in the film, should indeed have ignited as soon as those shuttle engines fired - instead the pair carried on moving, awaiting their man of steel. Newsflash: plane's are quite fragile. A shuttle with enough engine power to push it out of orbit, strapped to a pressured container of ignitable fuel, does do nothing else but create a large pyrotechnic. Okay, maybe that was a little picky. It did bother me though. Just a little.

Superman: Man of Steel is penciled in for 2009 which is super stuff, as it gives me 2 years to excrete this stink-waste from my poor system. The worst thing is I should have known better. I should have learned that no superhero film really does anything interesting, even when it does its best efforts to avoid the tiresome "origin" story.

And with that, we reach the bottom line - why I hate Superhero films:

I hate superhero films. Ridley Scott recently said sci-fi is dead film genre, like the Western, and he's right, because the only slight sci-fi that make mainstream releases are established franchises or sequels. With Superhero films (Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Superman, Iron Man, Blade, Hellboy, Daredevil, Ghost Rider etc), franchise sci-fi (Transformers, Firefly) and sequel sci-fi (Aliens vs Predator, Terminator) there is little I'm seeing that is REAL sci-fi. Sure, the occasional film, but then the Unforgiven gave us a great Western long after the genre died.

People aren't interested in sci-fi as a genre, they are interested in franchises, and that's what Hollywood is playing safe with. The genre itself has explored itself so much, people aren't interested in the concepts and ideas of sci-fi, merely the setting for established dramas. It's sad really, but until we realise that this multitude of Superhero films all amount to pretty much the same plot, and demand something a little more unusual out of the fantasy genre other than the same film over, and over again, I think Scott will remain utterly righteous in his statement: the genre IS indeed dead.

Domesticated Words: Update

I'll be using Domesticated Words more for commentary as months go by as I've decided to use this Blog as more than an archive. Expect comments as well as reviews, articles and interviews, though expect some of the above in abundance as well.

An artist interview is soon to be added, a couple of unusual reviews and also a host of plugs for a couple of my books out this year - would be simply wonderful if you could purchase these books in abundance for Christmas. Buy two for each of your family, and if they don't like them, and you require an alternative present, why not buy them one of my two books, available for Christmas? Etc.

More on those soon! 2 weeks. Tops. Promise.

REVIEW: Mongolian Chop Suey: "Beck" on Form

[ARTICLE written for Toon Zone News: 06.08.07]

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad is an odd beast: an anime ambiguity, a musical misfit, a punk peculiarity. It does come with a free plectrum, though.

If you pick up this DVD while looking for the standard anime manga attributes—over-the-top fights; large breasts; big explosions; big, big guns—you are clearly so far from the beaten track you might as well pull out your eyes and slip in a pair of rocks in their place. If you are looking for a piece of Japanese anime that feels culturally alien to your Western environment, indulging in Eastern anthropology and archetypes, again, let me pass you them rocks.

However, if you are looking for a gently paced character drama about some Japanese kids aspiring to form a popular rock beat combo (or for a free plectrum), then eyes back in, my friend, as you've picked up the right box.

This is the first volume of the animation adaptation of Harold Sakuishi graphic adventures, first published in Monthly Shōnen Magazine. It contains five episodes of the 26-episode series, and the aforementioned free plectrum.

The story revolves around a 14-year-old Japanese lad called Yukio (Koyuki to his friends), who through a series of mishaps and good fortune, finds himself unexpectedly heading into that crazy, rebellious world of rock and roll, though not quite in the way you might expect. The first five episodes unfold at a very gentle pace. Music doesn't really become a driving force until part three, and even then the story is not hostage to its musical background. Character interaction takes center stage in these opening episodes, and to some extent that helps this story avoid some of the clichés you so often seen when rock is portrayed in television and film. Bands are as much internally political as they are musical—finding the balance of skills and egos is difficult in real life—and this is an aspect that the show seems committed to exploring.

Yes, it does have some formulaic archetypes, some of which will be familiar to anyone who has watched more than a couple of Japanese animations. Koyuki is the typical "ordinary" Japanese kid who is more reactive than proactive and trapped by the whims and behavior of the other characters. We also have the two love interests: the hot headed, exciting rock chick, and the cute childhood friend Koyuki has long crushed on. We have the rough-edged friend playing the "cool loner" character type, and the standard comic relief guy. And one can't help feeling that, as with so many Shōnen, the protagonist is a cipher onto which certain audience members are meant to project their own insecurities, all of which can then be given a positive resolution in a fantasy environment. Those viewers without such insecurities, on the other hand, might find Koyuki's cautious character irritating and the romantic interest shown by his beautiful lady friends utterly, utterly bewildering.

But I'll admit to enjoying the show's attention to musical detail. Having spent a fair amount time in music myself, I was pleased to see it take many technical elements more seriously than most Western films and television do. It gets the educational aspects right: the use of bar chords (which are visualized accurately); the blisters you get on your fingers when you are starting to learn; and the fact that moving the student to a live performance does very often increase learning potential. The scenes depicting rock gigs are also very true to form, with the atmosphere, technical elements and acoustics all spot on. On occasion it does indulge in some unrealistic conceits (Koyuki's untrained voice sounds like a trained singer in the American version, and his ability to play the guitar and sing comes a little too easy), but the balance between realism and the tricks needed to make the story more interesting are pretty well balanced. The animation and backdrops also work particularly well and, again, show a remarkable attention to detail. You can, for instance, feel the weight of the guitars the characters are holding, which is not something I've often noticed animation getting right.

Despite these strengths, FUNimation's westernized adaptation of Beck is a mixed beast, just like the cartoon canine character the band is named after, with some important aspects getting lost in translation. Some of this is discussed in the DVD's key special feature, the FUNimation director's commentary, which focuses on the fascinating difficulties the American adaptors had in finding a balance between the tale's original cultural roots and the need to place the story in a more Westernized context. They have done a very good job of this: too good of a job, in fact, as it has been too Westernized in places. The American English spoken by the native Japanese teens, for instance, actually sounds more American that that spoken by two characters who have spent a great deal of time in New York. For me, there was a slight imbalance between cultural identities which blurred some of the story elements.

The DVD comes with an adequate array of extras: the aforementioned commentary (which is an interesting listen), a music video (which did not tickle my aural taste buds) and clean versions of the opening and closing credits. Pity we have the mandatory trailer tacked on the front, making me yearn for the days of VHS once more.

Overall, this is a very well realized piece of Shōnen that uses a musical backdrop for a character drama about respect and understanding. The pace might be a little slow for some, and the FUNimation edit may seem a little crass in places, but generally this is a story that could be an enjoyable little piece of light drama.

And in case you forgot, it also comes with a free Beck plectrum. With any luck, future volumes will have the same gift, as you're almost guaranteed to have lost that little piece of plastic in between the floorboards by the next release.