Beyond the Beano

[hazelk]

I’ve been wondering what this Golden Compass soon-to-be–movie was that’s been inspiring all the memes. Rather bafflingly it turns out to be the American title for the first book in Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. While it’s almost understandable why publishers with a low opinion of the American audience’s erudition might have changed the title of the first Harry Potter book from The Philosopher’s to The Sorcerer’s Stone how on earth is The Golden Compass less obscure or off-putting than Northern Lights?

It’s tempting to re-read the book but reading is so hard on the eyes these days. Really ought to suck it up and test for a new prescription or, segue alert, try sticking to comic books. Since, on the strength of the second Buffy S8 instalment, I went and ordered the Astonishing X-Men trades.


The first one Gifted was mostly “meet the people” while the second Dangerous got bogged down somewhat in “Artificial Intelligence 101” and the inevitable daddy issues but the third Torn was gut-wrenchingly brilliant and also built on so many passing moments and flip asides from the first two that I love them both in retrospect and can’t wait for the next instalment to come out. Comics seem to impose a very concentrated form of storytelling, nothing wasted from programming mistakes that turn out not to be metaphors to running jokes about Logan and beer.

Another real strength of Astonishing was the diversity of female characters. I liked Hank from the beginning and Scott by the end, but my heart belongs to Emma and, since she went all feral saving her hallucinatory slug-baby, Kitty. In addition to the X-women there’s Doctor Rao with the mutant cure for her surrogate daughter and Agent Brand. Brand looked like a stock military-industrial complex antagonist until she began snarking at the “states the obvious” alien psychics and even dumber sidekicks. You really can’t get the staff these days. I hear she’s going face-to-face with our heroes in the next issue, could be good times to come.

On the other hand I’m not tempted much by the previews for Spike:Shadowpuppets. It is interesting the way the art is more cinematic than for the Buffy books mirroring the differences in the way the two shows were shot. BtVS in 4:3 more domestic but also less predictable, more liable to break out of the box. I wonder what a comic equivalent of a musical might be.

Comments

[orichaldragon.livejournal.com]

There's an explanation from Phillip Pullman here (http://www.bridgetothestars.net/index.php?p=FAQ#4) about why the change in title was made. Personally, I like the change because it fits in perfectly, although by complete coincidence, with the naming convention for the other two books.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I hear she’s going face-to-face with our heroes in the next issue, could be good times to come.

They are definitely good, and the interaction between Brand and our heroes is wonderful to behold. Oh, I love AXM.

[yourlibrarian]

I fail to understand a lot of changes between British and American versions. I did however hear a really interesting discussion from a lit professor here on campus who was talking about the differences in the British and American versions of Bridget Jones' Diary. She had the book assigned for a class she teaches on Chick Lit and in reviewing it discovered that entire sections were missing from the American version. When she reviewed them she discovered that anything that really smacked of serious thought or cultural issues had been removed from the American version. I've never read the book (and found the film ho-hum) but I thought that was pretty apalling. It made me wonder if all the translated versions were based on the British or American versions.

It is interesting the way the art is more cinematic than for the Buffy books mirroring the differences in the way the two shows were shot.

Hmm, I've only read the Angel: Auld Lang Syne book so far but I didn't notice that. I'm gathering you're referring more to Asylum or just the SP previews?

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that. It's always been a source of vexation to me because I thought the Golden Compass referred to the alethiometer. The Milton source is much, much nicer.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you, interesting story.

I think I prefer Northern Lights as a name but Golden Compass does sound like a better fit with the other two even though i wish he hadn't written the third one :-)

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I can't wait :-) Although I must :-( Maybe they'll have the back copies of AXM in at Forbidden Planet on Thursday (is hopeful).

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

It probably varies from publisher to publisher (there are serious cultural thoughts in Bridget Jones?) Buttersideup linked to a really interesting story about the reason for the Golden Compass/Northern Lights thing in her comment.

I've only seen the SP previews and am assuming that the style is part of what caught Joss's eye when he asked Lynch to run S6. I think the Buffy comics are quite good at capturing expressions in a freeze frame sort of way but even given that this (the SP preview) was mostly fight scenes it seemed much more focussed on the overall flow of the action.