I read Batman Year One yesterday. I've been meaning to for years. I made it a priority when I heard that Aranovsky was going to adapt it for the first good Batman film since Schumacher ruined the franchise, but then Christopher Nolan did Batman Begins instead.

I liked that Miller's story featured the origins, essentially, for both Batman and Commissioner Gordon. In this book, he is Lieutenant Gordon, then on the last page he is Captain Gordon. Miller cuts back and forth between the two stories, revealing the similarities in the two characters. His storytelling is strong, as is his dialogue. He writes the two characters so well that the reader would be able to figure out which character was speaking without the use of different lettering for each.

I've come to appreciate how comic books can utilize narration in a way that seems lazy in films. Bruce Wayne and James Gordon narrate throughout the book, but it serves the story rather than help the author avoid any real creativity in the storytelling.

Now I need to read The Dark Knight Returns.

On Wednesday, I witnessed a display of enormous importance and impressiveness. Melanie asked Aidan where his eyes were. He pointed to his right eye and said "eye," only with a vowel sounding close to the "aah" that you would give a doctor. She then asked him where his nose was, and he pointed now to his nose, saying "no." She then asked him where his mouth was, and he...you guessed it...pointed to his mouth, saying "mou." Lastly, she asked him where his ears were, and he grabbed my ear (although he didn't say it).

I think he is a genius.

Chapter VI is an unsettling work. In it we see a young Rorschach and the violence and abuse to which his mother subjected him. It is essentially a superhero origins tale, but one that is more richly written than most. Gibbons illustrates the violence with unflinching detail.

I don't have much to say, other than that Moore and Gibbons present a dark, disturbing, moving portrait of a vigilante.

I posted once about starting to read Alan Moore's "Watchmen" graphic novel, and had said I would continue with updates as I progressed through the book. Unfortunately, other reading endeavors got in the way at that time. I have, though, once again begun reading it.

I think I noted in my other post how wonderfully Moore subverts the expectations of a superhero story, and how complex he makes the characters. These people are more than masked heroes, they have lives and thoughts and feeling. Reading through chapter 5, I am getting an even better picture of who these people are.

Some thoughts on the book:

In Chapter III, Moore has a really interesting set of panels. In the chapter, Jon is talking to media about himself, but members of an audience begin to get worked up. Meanhile, Laurie and Dan are out for a stroll and find themselves is a street fight with a pack of hooligans. In one panel, Secret service agents, or maybe just bodyguards, push Jon out of the studio saying, "C'mon, let's get out! The mob's getting aroused..." In the next, Laurie and Dan are shown after defeating the gang in an almost post-coital position. They are slumped with the backs against a wall, kind of leaning on one another, breathing heavy. Laurie pulls out a cigarette.

Chapter IV expertly captures Dr. Osterman's ability to exist in all points of his life simultaneously. The use of Jon dropping the photograph into the dust of the moon helps the reader to see how he views time. Moore uses the mixed up chronology to emphasize Jon's feelings as much as he uses it as a cool way to tell the story. In lesser hands, the scenes may not have been placed in such a way as to create maximum impact.

Finally, in Chapter V, Moore shows how deftly he weaves multiple stories and voices in one cohesive thread. Moore and artist Gibbons also reveal a stroke of genius: they utilize mirror reflections (combined with a mirrored panel structure) multiple times to serve the story titled "Fearful Symmetry" (with a quote at the end from Blake's poem). I also thought I saw the word "tiger" spelled "tyger" as it is in the poem, but when I went back through the chapter, I couldn't find it.

I look forward to the next chapter.

I'm kind of a music junkie. And while I'd like to say I've found some great new band/artist that no one else has ever heard of, as of late, I have been obsessed with an older artist: Stevie Wonder. I have always liked soul music (I hope that is a PC term, I have no idea what else to call it), and singing it (or poorly attempting to), and so when I purchased Stevie Wonder's greatest hits album, I thought I would recognize all the songs. I have been pleasantly surprised, however, to find some new likes and even new favorites, particularly the song "As". Since I know you are intrigued, I recommend that you get the album (or at least just the song) from our favorite Russian website(SHHH!). As I have been listening to this song, I have actually been thinking about how it could have two interpretations, one relational and one religious, and although I couldn't quite put my finger on the latter, I finally figured it out. The version I have is apparently a shortened version, and here are additional lyrics I just found:

"We all know sometimes lifes hates and troubles
Can make you wish you were born in another time and space
But you can bet your life times that and twice its double
That God knew exactly where he wanted you to be placed
so make sure when you say you're in it but not of it
You're not helping to make this earth a place sometimes called Hell
Change your words into truths and then change that truth into love
And maybe our children's grandchildren
And their great-great grandchildren will tell
I'll be loving you always"

Sappy post out.

We just started our cruise yesterday. It's amazing. The internet on the ship is super expensive, so this will most likely be the last time you guys hear from me until I get back on Saturday. Hope things are well. Disney World was a blast. Expedition Everest is definitely on my top three rides of all time list. This post just cost me like $2.00, so I better log off. Bye!