Daily Breakdowns 014 - Angel of Death

I don't have much to say about Disney's purchase of Marvel Entertainment except that I hope it works out. I echo Marv Wolfman's statement that nobody knows what will happen. I thought Rich Johnston's "Ten Questions Marvel and Disney Have to Answer" was interesting as far as it goes, but despite what Marvel readers are concerned about, Disney may have a far different "To Do" list. For instance, Marvelman is probably not really all that important in the grand scheme of things. A doll of the ugly little rat-faced kid who runs the snack shack on Hannah Montana is going to generate more revenue than Neil Gaiman. The only thing I know from working in the corporate world is that it's quite likely there will be some changes in Marvel publishing within the next quarter or two. You don't get to be a high level executive without being a control freak and wanting to put your stamp on things. Whether the changes are good or bad remains to be seen, but there will be changes. Also, while the wish of many is that with bigger pockets backing them, Marvel may take more chances outside of superheroes, or give underperforming titles longer to find their audience, and that may be so. But I think it's just as likely that Marvel will try to remain status quo for now, not rocking the boat and trying to bring in as much return on the investment as possible. If you proceed according to the plan in place when the sale was made, you're less likely to be punished than if you deviate from that plan and are seen to be more cavalier with your new money.

Congrats to Alan David Doane on the release today of his new e-book, Conversations With ADD, which collects almost a decade's worth of interviews with comics writers, artists and even retailers, names like Busiek, Seth, French, Chaykin, Bagge, Simonson, and many more. I really enjoyed being involved in the process of helping shape the book--all decisions ADD would have gotten to himself, anyway, but it was nice to be asked--and I liked writing the Foreword. I'm probably too compromised to give the book a review (hopefully other bloggers will), but I did want to point to an interview I read today that I found surprisingly impressive. I say surprisingly because I'm not a great admirer of Ron Marz' work, but I enjoyed his interview here, which was a very recent follow-up to a 2000 interview with ADD about the start of CrossGen Entertainment. Marz is really levelheaded, and amazingly appreciative of the positive aspects of a publishing venture that ended so miserably and so publicly. I give him a lot of credit for holding onto the good things, like the friendships formed during that time, and the rewards of working closely on a comic from start to finish, with all the talent together.

I watched Ed Brubaker's Angel of Death the other night. I didn't even know about this project, somehow, but saw the "Unrated and Unedited" version in Blockbuster. Of course, it is actually edited--they don't just give you cans of film--but whatever. It's, I guess, a little more violent than the version on Spike, and with swear words.

First of all, kudos to Brubaker and/or his agent for getting his name above the title, and in larger type than lead actress Zoe Bell. I know that stuff is hard to negotiate, especially when Brubaker isn't exactly a household name as an author. This is a low budget indie (originally a series of webisodes, with more material added for this release), and that's why he can get away with not only this but getting on the dvd commentary track, and personally I think this was a great idea. Better to have a bigger part and more control of a smaller project than be just another unsung screenwriter. This is a good calling card.

The film itself is B-movie material--a female assassin gets a brain injury during a job and it causes her to have visions of one of the victims, visions so disturbing she has to start taking down the bad guys who put her up to it in order to make the nightmares go away. It's an action thriller with a little bit of J-horror, and a bit of a conscience. Bell isn't a great actress but she's both badass and likeable, which are the two baseline must-haves for this character. Doug (Abe Sapien) Jones has a nice role as the cokey criminal doctor, and Lucy Lawless has a nice turn, ironically serving as an unintentional double for Bell (ironic since Bell was her stunt double on Xena: Warrior Princess). The rest of the cast are serviceable. I kind of liked the young psycho hood looking to take over his dad's empire, but a fair amount of the acting was done by his straight razor and the ridiculous collar pin/chain accessory he wore the whole film. I think I wore the same thing in 1986 when my high school was in the midst of a brief Gordon Gekko fixation or something.

I enjoyed the film, but in all honesty the script didn't seem like something difficult for Brubaker. It got the job done but firmly within the expectations of the genre. I did like that Bell's relationship with her boss was genuine and rooted in mutual warmth, without either one screwing the other over, but it could have used another scene or two to really take hold and raise the film into something special. Director Paul Etheredge did well with his budget, including some fun transitional editing that was sort of cheap but charming. Quite enjoyable, worth a view. Here's hoping to leads to bigger and better things for Etheredge, Bell and Brubaker

Christopher Allen
September 1, 2009