1) In which city do you work? CITY? You're joking, right? I'm in the middle of the fucking woods.
2) What got you into comics? Reading comics. Duh.
3) Where do babies come from? Vaginas. Unless they are hacked from the womb.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? Not answering these questions.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? Answer five more of these moronic queries.
6) Does this make me look fat? Getting thinner all the time...
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? My son. Wait, is he a project?
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? My parents, my childhood friend Mitch Casey, my art teacher Bill Cathey, Ray Harryhausen, Joe Kubert, Sam Glanzman, Mario Bava, Sergio Leone, Greg Irons, Nicolas Roeg, Alan Moore.
9) Does this look infected to you? Yes. Cut it off, quickly.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Leave the village now, before the sun sets.
September 2003 Archives
1) In which city do you work? San Pablo City, Laguna, Philippines
2) What got you into comics and animation? The girl made me do it. It's true. I was looking for a job that would bring me to America and I thought comics could do it. And I was right. But it took me too long to do it, years in fact, that by the time I was able to get a job in comics and stepped on American soil a couple of years later, the girl had left me and married a Texan.
3) Where do babies come from? Eggs, I think.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years I'll see myself where I always have...the mirror.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? I think I have to brush my teeth. It's been two days. After that, I still want to write and pencil on a regular basis.
6) Does this make me look fat? Only on Tuesdays.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? My self published comic book Wasted. It's currently being shot as an indie movie.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? David Mazzucchelli, Nestor Redondo, Alex Niño, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Paul Grist, Geof Darrow, Francisco Coching, Fernando Amorsolo, Juan Luna, Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Mike Kaluta, Berni Wrightson, Mike Mignola, Barry Windsor Smith, Al Williamson
9) Does this look infected to you? Infected? It looks dead. And it smells bad. With maggots on it. I hate maggots.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Stuff the stupid questions. Then write or draw, or color. ALL THE TIME. You have to want to do comics so bad that you're willing to sacrifice the time and lots of other things just to do it right. Never be discouraged by setbacks. Just keep on doing it and doing it and doing it until you get it.
Today I'm going to do something shocking and revolutionary. Something that has played only the smallest of roles in the articles I've written for Sequential Arts. I'm going to write an article about comics.
An article about comics on a comics-oriented website? What is the world coming to.
I'm going to tell you about a couple of webcomics that you should be reading. Not Penny Arcade or Goats or their ilk, because if you're a dork, you probably are already reading those. Anyway, those are more the comic strip type of comics. The two works I'm pointing you at today are comic books, just without the added danger of staples.
First, there is Strings of Fate by Jen Wang. If either of those names sound familiar, it's obviously because you've been ogling my picture on the bios page, and have seen the artist credit on the drawing. From this you might guess that I'm a friend to Jen, and this is true, but I'm not plugging the hell out of her comic for that reason. I'm plugging the hell out of her comic because I love it.
What first drew me in to Strings of Fate were the characters and story; this is the tale of Tony, a young writer who finds himself drawn into a world -- and possible war -- between gods of the Chinese Zodiac (as seen on Chinese restaurant placemats). Oh, and also, it turns out that he's a god, too; specifically, he's the Rat. And due to some ancient legend-based animosity, a cute young girl named Mao, who just happens to be the Cat (never heard of a Chinese Zodiac sign for the cat, have you? Read the comic and see why), would like to possibly put a knife in his head. And also, there is an army of attack shrimp. A galaxy of prawns, all with tiny spears, and they've come for your wives.
Interesting and complex story aside, what will always keep me returning to Strings of Fate is the art. Jen has a style that has matured from a style in the earlier pages that borrowed more heavily from both anime influences and Disney to something uniquely her own that I just love looking at. She gives men big noses. I love men with big noses. But that's a personal problem. To read this comic is to see a comic artist growing up; whatever Jen goes on to after Strings of Fate is finished will be something great.
My second comic for the plugging is Return to Sender by Vera Brosgol. The appeal in this one came the other way around from Strings of Fate; I was drawn in by the unique art style - strong lines and shades of blue - and became involved in the story from there. When the first page involves someone getting hit by a car and the first line of dialogue doesn't come until four pages in ("I gots you a cat!" if you're wondering), you know you're dealing with something that knows how to make the visual medium its bitch.
The story is a mystery that has yet to unfold very far; a spunky girl named Colette and a not-so-spunky man named Often who finds a mail slot in his new apartment. Which is all well and good, except it's in the middle of the wall and not in the door at all. Of course, a mysterious mail slot is going to end up having mail delivered to it, and that leads to... well, you'll see if you read.
These comics are both wonderful, but due to the creators being hip young college girls who often want to spend their time living while they can instead of doodling, they are updated semi-sporadically. But you'll live. Just reread them over and over again. Do it.
I just want you all to know that you're lucky you're getting a column this week, since Tuesday I started work at PCM Online, and my schedule has been very busy with serious work. Okay, I lie, my first day was spent reading magazines, my second day was spent messing around online, but both of those were under direct order from my boss! They had nothing else for me to do. But I'm working today. Well, not right now. But I was working all morning! Look at the Product Bullitin section of pcmag.com on Monday, and you'll see my hard work! ...what, shut up, I'm proud.
But, I suppose I should write about something that isn't my job; it'll be a few weeks before I have enough material to get 500-750 words about being paid to be a geek. And I suppose I could write about something comic or manga related, and thus have some sort of connection to the rest of the site at all. But no, you know me, I'm going to write about video games.
As you may or may not know, I'm a girl. I have, in fact, been one all my life. Now, in certain circles, this status leads to some in the gaming community being impressed with you. Or, at least, it did when I was a kid. See, ten years ago or so, most of the gaming market was made up of males, so my presence in a gaming store would be greeted with interest and/or suspicion. Suspintrest, you could call it. I remember making great friends with some Babbage's clerks when I was twelve or so because they were impressed that a young girl had such an interest in gaming.
I'm still in this mindset today. When I walk into a GameStop or an EB, I expect the clerks and other patrons to go "ooooh, OMG g1rl". But they don't, and somewhere in my heart, I'm disappointed. You see, female gamers have increased in numbers in the past ten years; a recent study revealed that women made up 25% of the total gaming populace, which may not sound like a lot, but trust me, it is. Their numbers outnumber the most lucrative male demographics.
While this is good, yay, girl power, and all that, it's given me a problem. Now I have girl game shame. When I go in to a game store, I always want to grab a clerk and say, "Hey! What'd you think of Metal Gear Solid Substance (review forthcoming, honest)? Don't the Resident Evil Gamecube remakes make you hard? Where are you going?" Because I don't want them to think that I play girl games, that I'm just coming in for the latest in RPGs or Sim games. I want the GameStop clerks to think I'm cool, and that says something about me.
There was a time about a year ago when I did purchase a girl game, the PS2 Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland (which, if you're wondering, sucks. Not nearly enough emphasis on the farming. If I buy a farming game, I expect to have some farming! But that's another article). I approached this like a teenage boy buying his first set of condoms. I hid the farming sim between a stack of blank CDs and a cheap copy of Earthworm Jim 3D. Still, though, I thought I could sense the clerk thinking, "Yes. This woman in front of me, she is a girl."
No. No, I can play Metal Gear Solid 2 on Hard Mode without radar. Don't let my breasts and occasional need for simulated farming action fool you! I am as testosterone driven in my pursuits as you. VALIDATE MY EXISTENCE, GAMESTOP CLERK.
But they never do. They never do.
I want to talk about stupid things. Ten of them actually. In specific, the Ten Stupid Questions that we are sending out to creators (slowly, as our crack team of research assistants discover their email addresses).
Now, we sent out our ten stupid questions to a fair bit of creators recently. The results we got were mixed. Some people laughed and answered the questions, some ignored our emails, some wrote back and said they weren't interested in answering our silly questions (we took no offense to this, they are pretty stupid, hence the name and all). But one guy not only refused to answer the questions but also dissed our site and that man was ... well, I won't mention his name because he asked us "not [to] include my name or any other information about me on your site." Now that's just rude. I can respect if you ignore me or if you polietely decline but to actively be so rude? That's just horrible.
After he did this, Stephen, despite my insistance we did nothing wrong, wrote an apology letter. He didn't want to offend anyone and wants to keep good relations with all creators. I however have no such compunction. Personally, I was going to write a whole article about this guy and what a tool he is but Stephen would have none of it. So instead I must rant against him in the abstract.
The real problem to me is that this guy was so such an attitude problem with nothing to back him up. I mean, Neal Adams answered our questions. Ed freakin' Brubaker answered them. Warren Ellis. Walt Simonson. Paige Braddock not only answered them quickly but was very nice (she's an extra classy lady in my book). If these cats can take thirty seconds out of their day to answer our stupid questions, why couldn't this guy who's got no real major credit to his name (I later asked Stephen why we even sent him a letter in the first place, since he lacks major qualifications. Stephen's only response was that he wanted to have as comprehensive database as possible) pay us the same respect.
The thing about comic creators is that, yes, comics are an art form but that's no reason to think that your stuff don't stink. Comics are a small community and it is always good to encourage that community and to never forget who buys your books.
On a mission from God,
Guy Ryder
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been modified from its original profane-filled version. While we here at Sequential Arts begrudingly respect Guy's right to rant, we are still trying to keep our website friendly to younger children. Guy has agreed to the modifications as long as I admit that I am an ass.)
Ghost in the Shell is a remarkably good-looking film. It has a strong female protagonist. It's a dark and moody cyber-punk thriller with some well-rendered fight scenes. It deals with interesting concepts of humanity, sense of self, and memory. In fact, you can probably trace a line from the themes of this film to that of the Matrix trilogy without any difficulty.
If that's what's right with it, what's wrong with it? Everything else. The English script is horrible and the English dub is flat and lifeless (I'd rather have seen it subtitled but that's not what they played at the movie theatre... perhaps some of my disappointment is undeserved because of me seeing the wrong version of the film). Another problem that I have with the film is how preachy it gets from time to time. Of course, that's much more a matter of Masamune Shirow than the movie's screenplay.
There's unnecessary nudity. Of course some of that is the genre and its target audience. The rest of it is the source material (which is also part of a genre and aimed at a specific audience).
Most of the problems that I have with the movie come straight out of the comic. However, many of the best parts come from it as well. The film is basically a straight translation from page to stage. The only real thing that they changed is that they streamlined the story (and changed the ending to where she is "reborn" into a child's form instead of a man's). I understood the film in one viewing, whereas I've read the manga twice and still have problems follwing it.
My final review? Ehhhh... It's worth seeing, especially in the theatre, because it has some great visuals. However, if you never catch this film, you haven't missed too much. All the good parts of it have been stolen and incorperated into better films.
1) In which city do you work? Sebastopol, California
2) What got you into comics and animation? I've always liked comics... Since I was 7... Mostly I was inspired by the Sunday comics page in the newspaper.
3) Where do babies come from? Mommy and Daddy, or sometimes just Mommy, with help from an anonymous Daddy.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? Hopefully doing Jane's World comic books full time.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? See Alaska in person.
6) Does this make me look fat? Only when you put that pillow up your shirt.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? My new trade paperback that collects the first 6 issues into one book... Mostly because I got someone to proof read it and so I fixed all the typos.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? Charles Schulz, George Herriman, Wynsor McCay, Clint Eastwood.
9) Does this look infected to you? I'm not sure, but definitely don't scratch it.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Just do it, but don't wear Nike's. Follow your dream. Write from the heart. Be authentically you.
1) In which city do you work? No city. I live in the countryside, in Mendocino County, CA.
2) What got you into comics? My dad and a huge stack of old comics he got from his friends at work. Stuff their kids had grown out of, including old ECs, early Marvel's, lots of great stuff for the late 60s.
3) Where do babies come from? Usually from really stupid people, in my experience. With the odd exception.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? Spaceship city?
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? Finish these ten questions.
6) Does this make me look fat? Only in the bum.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? Either Sleeper or Scene of the Crime, depending on what day it is. Often Gotham Central, too, on Saturdays.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? I don't know. Influences are so weird, sometimes you grow out of them, sometimes you always like them, and other times you're influenced without even knowing it. I try as hard as I can not to have any conscious influences.
9) Does this look infected to you? Just don't open that attachment file.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Date J-Lo.
Stephen wrote a review of Enter the Matrix, but I'm not going to let that stop me from writing my own. Because don't tell him, but I think I'm funnier. It'd break his heart.
I didn't go into Enter the Matrix with high expectations, primarily because I'd seen Matrix Reloaded and the Animatrix and had figured out long ago that the Brothers Wachowski are just toying with us to get as much of our money as possible. I don't exactly condone a storyline that involves you having to spread your interest across several different platforms of media, while spending a lot of money in the process. Ask me about the .hack franchise sometime, really. So, expectations were low, but damn it all, the bastards hooked me in, so now I have to play to see what the hell those big gaps in the movie were about.
The first place the game falls down is in terms of that plot. It begins with something vaguely connected to the rest of the story... that is, if you've seen Flight of the Osiris in the Animatrix. If not, you're simply running around the world's largest post office and occasionally doing slow motion flips into postal workers, which, while it is something we've all dreamed long of doing, doesn't make good plot. The plotline is possible more vague and unfocused than the Matrix films, which, as you well know, says a lot. The game descends into fetch quests, such as rescuing some character you (the player) have no emotional or plot-based connection to. Admittedly, I have not played the entire game, but the first act of anything should be where we're grabbed into a plotline, and Enter the Matrix failed this spectacularly.
The live-action cut scenes were, as Stephen said, very impressive, although the skeptic in me wonders if they were cutting room floor footage, or shot in a day, or some such. The in-game cut scenes, however, left a lot to be desired. For all the alleged money and work that went into this, Happy Polygon Rendered Jada Pinkett-Smith should not seem to have Metal Gear Solid 1-esque mitten hands at points. But I'm sure that's just supposed to be a glitch in the Matrix. In addition to this, the switching between live-action and game-engine cut scenes sometimes seemed a little jarring; for a while it seemed they would have the cut scenes that were in the "real world" in live action and all others in CG, but then I suppose they wouldn't get to dress up real people in silly leather snakeskin coats and do their hair all wacky.
(An aside: Why do all the Matrix people dress like that? Don't they realize it makes them look conspicuous? Don't the realize it makes the fight scenes look like dance numbers? And while we're at it, where did the people in Zion get dyes to make fabric? Or fabric at all? But all of these questions are for another article, another day.)
And then we get to the gameplay. Sure, running around really fast (that Happy Polygon Rendered Jada Pinkett-Smith can seriously run like crazy), doing zany slow-motion Matrix fight moves, running along walls, and dodging bullets is fun... but only for about thirty minutes. Then it gets repetitive and boring... much like the fight scenes in Reloaded! But I digress. The gameplay seemed to consist entirely of "run to this place, watch cut scene, complete fetch quest, watch cut scene, fight people all crazy, watch cut scene, watch cut scene, watch cut scene."
There was a point in the game where I made Happy Polygon Rendered Jada Pinkett-Smith jump off a balcony in slow motion, guns blazing at the armed guards below, and before I could land and unleash hell upon them, the game... loaded a cut scene. I felt deeply cheated.
On top of this, the game is as filled with bugs as a ninja who uses bugs to kill people, and the load times are absolutely ridiculous. A thirty second load time is just not acceptable. My feelings on this game can best be summed up with one title that sat across the bottom of the screen for far too long as I waited for a level to load:
Loading The Bowels.
I'm the bomb. The end-all, be-all. The bee's knees. The cat's meow. I'm all that and more. That's how cool I am.
How can I prove it? I, Guy Ryder, get the most hits of all the articles at Sequential Arts. I surprass Whitney and Stephen combined. My articles alone have tripled the amount of traffic this website has gotten.
Why? Because I know what the people want. They want violent comics. They want naughty comics. They want dirty, sexy, real things. Just type in the phrase "naughty comics" in Google. Go ahead. Do it. See what comes up. Me. I'm in the top ten of hottest things in terms of those naughty comics. Which makes me an expert, I guess. So of course, I'm the one people will turn to. They'll say, "Guy! Please! Tell us more about naughty comics!" And it's my job to keep the people informed.
A strange niche? Perhaps. A popular one? Without a doubt.
It's all about the buzz words and catch phrases. You see, we're not just in the comic industry or the animation industry, we're in marketing. What are we selling? Ourselves. We're pimping ourselves out to the people. Trying to get them to realize that we are the best thing since Quest for Glory which was the best thing since sliced bread. So you gotta know what will get people into the site.
A passerby might not notice "comic with adult material" but type in "naughty comic" and it will grab any Joe Passerby by the lapel and scream at him, "Hey! Read this!" After all, sex sells. And sexy ladies sell. So why not emphasize it, eh?
Sure, Stephen and Whitney have accused me of stuffing the ballot, so to speak. Of tricking people into visiting the site by simple use of buzz words like "sex" or "cheerleaders" or "animal sex" let alone my use of the word "naughty comics." I think they're just jealous that they aren't the ones bringing in the people.
Well, enough of this. Next week: a secret from behind the scenes of Sequential Arts!
On a mission from God,
Guy Ryder
This is when you really get to see what Brian Michael Bendis can bring to the story. The first arc was all about the origin story. It established who Peter Parker was and how he became Spider-Man. This arc is more about broadening the character, making him a little more real. We see Peter Parker trying to come to grips with the loss of his uncle and Spider-Man trying to come to grips with the fact that despite being a superhero, he is still vulnerable.
What really makes this arc great is the interaction between Mary Jane and Peter. It's very realistic in terms of two teens relating to each other and how they deal with the beginnings of a relationship. I think the proof of the power of Bendis' writing comes in the last chapter of the trade which has no fighting or costumes or anything. It's just a great scene between Mary Jane and Peter.
I didn't want to like this book. I really didn't. I'm a purist in most things and I didn't think that you could just hit the reset button whenever anything goes wrong (I think Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour help prove my point). However this book is just so darn good that you can't deny it. Yes, this is the book that should convince anyone that Marvel's idea to restart their universe, by creating the Ultimate line of comics, was a good one.
I'm going to have to say the thing about Brian Michael Bendis that everyone says: he has a great ear for dialogue. I know that it's become almost cliche to say that but that doesn't make it any less true. Bendis takes him time, stretching out story points, not rushing through anything, savouring each moment. His characters act and speak like real teenagers, making their story all the more engaging and exciting.
Bagley's art is energetic and fits the tone one hundred percent. My only complaint is that sometimes he draws Mary Jane as if she were sixteen and sometimes as if she were twenty-five. Since one of the hardest things to draw is children and teenagers, however, I find it no great insult to Bagley's top notch work to say that.
Winick's writing continues to be star quality. He maintains his characterization and beautiful small moments but in this book he proves he can also do epic battles and large moments as well. Besides the good storytelling there is also a display of his nerdy talents: like his knowledge that Mimic gets radiation sickness when in close contact with the Hulk. Winick makes like Emeril and kicks it up a notch. In this trade, he got me to care about Thunderbolt, a character I thought I'd never really been able to identify with before.
Calafiore takes over the art chores for the first part of the book. His art style is a little more cartoony than McKone's, who returns for the second part of the book. Despite any of this cartoonishness, it fits Winick's style well. The only problem is that his talent is a little underdeveloped. McKone returns and provides his usual mediocre work. It's okay but nothing amazing.
This trade contains the "Nuff Said" issue. For those people who are unaware, "Nuff Said" was a challenge issued to all the comics that were running that they have one issue that would be completely silent without any word balloons or captions, the thought being that the creators would work harder to tell their stories visually. While I stand behind this idea of trying to utilize the visual narrative of comics, what I couldn't stand behind was forcing the creators into such a marketing gimmick. However, Winick manges to work it in well and gives us a better view of each of the characters.
My only real complaint of the book is the introduction of Weapon X. While I appreciate Winick trying to deepen the struggles and create ramifactions that might follow them past each world, there is something about this team that seems uneven. It seems like they're exiles just like the protagonists, but it also seems like they're trying to capture the Hulk and convert him to their side which makes no sense. Perhaps it will make sense further down the line.
Busiek's writing skill continues to amaze me. This trade has no grand overarching plot but instead tells small human stories which lay the groundwork for his universe. The trade also contains a great peek into the creation of the city including character sketches and the building of the city.
Astro City is really an ode to New York. It's a superhero title where the protagonist is the city itself and Astro City is just one large homage to New York City. Not suprising when you think of how much of Astro City is an homage. Every character represents another character, such as the Superman-like Samaritan. This is not to say that Busiek is copying pre-existing charcters. What he's doing is making archetypes, which he then making them human. You can really tell that this series is Kurt Busiek's brainchild. Brent Anderson puts in a lot of effort and turns out a sufficient product. The writing is typical Busiek: tight, well-written and classic. His situations are creative and his prose is insightful. In his book, Busiek shows us superheroes in their everyday routines and everyday people put to superhuman tasks.
The thing that I love about Erik Larsen is that he is a perfectionist. He could just slap together the mini-series that he made into a book and leave it be but he cares far too much. Instead he has snuck in stories about the making of the Dragon, the usual cover gallery and pages of sketches with little captions describing page layouts and character designs. He doesn't stop there he also rearranges the series into a chronlogical order (the original mini-series was told in a sometime confusing flashback fashion) and adding new scenes. It makes for a seamless and enjoyable read.
To reference Jerry Maguire, this series had me at the first splash page. Savage Dragon represents a fairly realistic hero, a hero who can be injuired, who is vulnerable. Despite his appareance, this is a character who is extremely human.
This trade is also the beginning of the Savage Dragon universe and no other series works so hard to establish such a large universe so early on. Larsen also tries hard to incorporate the newly found Image universe with appearances by Spawn and Bedrock, neither of which feel gratitutous. It is reminiscent of the early Marvel days when another character would briefly pop up to reinforce the idea of a shared universe.
B+
1) In which city do you work? I work in the City of Lost Souls.
2) What got you into comics? My pedal extremities.
3) Where do babies come from? Faw down da chimbly an catch 'em on firs bounce.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? Looking back to see where I was 5 years ago.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? I have yet to press 380 pounds and catch a sixth baby for son Josh to play with.
6) Does this make me look fat? Yes it does but if you push the mirror in on both sides that will go away.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? My latest
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? You, Daddy.
9) Does this look infected to you? No, don't worry there's nothing wrong. (Pick at it.)
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Industry? Industry? Slamming pistons. Wings over the World. Hydrogen power. Eruptive explosive driving pulsating dynamic machines of the future... uh... what was that question?
You might be thinking to yourself, "What's an anime music video?" Let me show you one that I made as an example (I must issue a warning to those on dial-up that the file is 8.2 megs large).
Simply put an anime music video, or an AMV is a collection of animated footage that is collected, broken down and re-edited set to a specific song. You can make serious videos or funny videos. You can make a collection of events set to music (as I chose to do) or you can work hard and attempt to get the characters in lipsync with the song. The range of these videos that are out there is quite amazing.
How popular is this? Extremely. There are numerous websites and even conventions where people get together and showcase the hardwork and effort put into making these videos. (For a shameless plug, Anime Music Videos is the best site out there as far as I am concerned). If you enjoyed this or at the very least are intrigued by the concept behind it then I heartily recommend investigating the medium further.
But how did I get interested in it? I came across it when I was given one made by a friend who had worked hard on it using two VCRs. The quality was rubbish and you had to play the song on a seperate CD player. But it was still fun. I can't even remember the times that we watched his movie. Years later, I was telling another friend of mine about this experience. Soon after, she gave me an AMV burned on a CD. She looked away in shame as she muttered "you might think it's geeky but I liked it." This one was great too. It was much better made and was even more fun to watch. Later still, I got sucked into the culture when Whitney and I were talking about it. That's when I discovered that what I thought was just a scattered couple of people with too much time on their hands was really a huge undergound cult phenomea. That's also when I became hooked.
So I decided that I was going to write an article about this often overlooked group of geeks. But I didn't know if I could really talk about it unless I gave it a try myself. So I picked a song that I particularly liked ("One More Murder" by Better than Ezra) and then sat down to try and figure out what movie would go to it. Considering this is a comic book based website, I felt it had to be either some comic based movie or show such as the animated adventures of Batman or a live action movie such as the Crow. I quickly settled on Todd McFarlene's Spawn which used to air on HBO.
You don't want to know how long it took to make. I listened to the song. A lot. I watched the movie. A lot. I digitized the footage using a very powerful computer and it still took all night. Then it took several hours as I whittled away and sync up sounds and matched beats. Was it worth it? Yes. It was fun and I now I have something that I can show people. I'm actually quite proud of it. Not because it's all that good, there are AMVs out there that are twenty times better, but it's something that I made. It gave me a sense of accomplishment. So, if you got a hankering to try your hand at it, go ahead. But be aware of two things. One, how long it takes. And two, the legal situation.
While it can be fun to make AMVs and it is fun to watch good ones, doing so is of dubious legality since you are obviously using another person's music and video without their express permission. Personally, I do own both the song and the movie so I do have the right to re-edit them for personal use. But is distributing over the internet still qualify as "personal use?" The current line of thinking is that as long as you are not making any money off the deal then all is fair especially since for compression reasons, the sound is usual not CD-quality and the there is not enough of the movie to ruin the viewing experience. As for this particular time, I am also showing this video for educational purposes.
My advice? Go out and explore. There's a world waiting to be discovered.