A Few Words with Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton made his directorial debut with 2002's critically acclaimed Frailty. He has chosen to follow that up with the heart-warming movie, The Greatest Game Ever Played. As an actor, he’s been in various movies, ranging from Apollo 13, Twister, and Titantic to smaller movies such as One False Move and Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan (a favorite of mine).

Recently, some members of the press had an opportunity to sit down and talk to the soft-spoken actor/director about The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Can you tell us what drew you to the story of Francis Ouimet?

Francis Ouimet is a guy from another era. He came from very modest circumstances. He was a very genteel man, just born with a natural gentility. The movie is really about class, about character. It’s not really about golf even. I wasn’t interested in making a golf movie. I was more interested in making a film about character, about people, about overcoming social boundaries and personal limitations. That’s what we were going for. I had to lift it out of being a biographical sports story and make it something more. And it had all these great themes.

This movie has an interesting visual style and a surprising amount of CGI shots. What went into deciding how to handle making golf interesting to watch?

In Frailty, I shot that in a very classical way. I’ve always been very wary of people who call attention to the camera. Because to me it destroys that illusion that you try so carefully to create in a film. But in this movie, I [decided to] make the camera a character and really take a chance. I’ve seen it done the other way and I’ve seen it fail so I thought “what do I have to lose?�

I storyboarded a lot of the movie ahead of time. I thought that it’d be fun to see what an ant sees when the ball’s rolling across the green or fly with the ball almost like an astral projection. A Superman shot. So I thought this thing needed it all. This movie is sort of a pastiche. It’s got about every film technique known to cinema in it. I wanted to celebrate the game, celebrate it as a movie.

What influences did you draw on as you approached this movie?

I wanted to create as much of a subjective experience for the audience too and what was great cause you could do that visually. So, obviously, I was greatly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, by Sergio Leone, and this is kind of a Sam Raimi golf film in a way. It’s super inspired by Sam and I wanted to create these moments like [Francis Ouimet’s] the cowboy who’s never been in a gunfight or the knight who’s never been to his first tournament or battle. So to create this vertigo moment when he’s in the zone, we pull that pin right up to him but when he’s in front of the crowd he can’t hold it and it shoots away from him. You hear him swallow. You really feel “Oh God, that must be terrible� to have to be in front of all those people. And then to contrast that with the organic terminator, Harry Vardon.

I had to talk Stephen Dillane into doing the movie. The thing was driving Harry Vardon ... usually people that are overachievers in life were denied in their younger lives and they spend their lives overcompensating. Vardon was a guy like that. He wanted respect, he became the best player in the world. He won respect, but you got to remember that he was a golf professional. Even though they were looked up to as sports heroes, it was an amateur's game. It was played for the love of it by an elite class of people. They found it vulgar and gross to play for money. I found a different way to tell the class struggle of these two guys. That’s what makes the movie unique too. Most sports films vilify the opponent or the opposing team. In this movie you have as much empathy for Vardon as you do Ouimet. And Ted Ray. Who’s gonna win? So, trying to get Stephen to do the thing, I said “Hey, you’re Alan Ladd in Shane as far as I’m concerned.�

When you take on a project like this, do you think ahead to ‘How can I market this?’ ‘Will this be marketed right?’

That’s out of my hands. I can only hope that I can be here and support it, but you make a movie and your real hope is that it can stand up to the test of time. That’s what’s killing our business: the make it or break it opening weekend. When I was a kid growing up, films had a chance to breathe, to find an audience, and word of mouth. So to that end, [Disney’s] going to give us a little bit of a shot here. We’re doing a national sneak. The company feels that the best marketing tool for the movie is the movie and once people see it, they’ll tell their friends “you got to see this.�

What are some of the big themes that draw you to a given project? Frailty to The Greatest Game Ever Played seems like a pretty big jump.

Frailty, to me, seemed to me to be a tragedy kind of about lost love; to see the disintegration of this beautiful family, even though it was a single parent family. These two boys, this descent into hell because this father had had this vision ... it was kind of this tragic love story.

[The Greatest Game Ever Played] is an unlikely buddy movie in some ways. This has great themes. This has triumph over social barriers. It’s got ... you see a guy suffer humiliations with dignity. You see courage. Desire. Determination. Perseverance. The three ingredients that makes anyone’s dreams come true. They are universal themes, timeless themes. If you can connect with a timeless theme, you have a chance to make a timeless movie. And both with Frailty and with this movie, I think that I have been able to tap that and that’s what I look for as a film-maker. Not as an actor, but as a film-maker, I’m looking for timeless themes that will make timeless classics.

Interview with Mark Frost

Mark Frost wrote the best-selling non-fiction book, The Greatest Game Ever Played, on which he based his screenplay for the film. He also served as a producer on the movie. Recently, some members of the press had a opportunity to sit down with him and discuss a few things. Unfortunately, a few things he wouldn’t talk about include the possibility of he and David Lynch returning to their legendary television creation, Twin Peaks, and anything about the screenplay for Fantastic Four 2 that he will be writing. I thought his discussion concerning themes that he was drawn to was particularly telling.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you came across the story of Francis Ouimet?

I played golf all my life and I knew about the Francis Ouimet story, but nothing had ever been written about it aside from a few scant articles that I’d come across. It was during the Ryder Cup in 1999 which was played at the country club at Brookline and Justin Leonard made a putt on the 17th green to win. It was an explosive moment and everyone trampled onto the green and one of the commentators mentioned that this was where Francis Ouimet had made his putt to win the 1913 Open and by the way, his house is right across the street. He can see the green from his bedroom window. I thought ‘there might be a story there’.

Why it is that Francis didn’t continue to play golf?

He did as an amateur. I think that’s a distinction that’s important to make about that period. Golf pros were second class citizens. They, like caddies, were not allowed in clubhouses. They were seen strictly as employees and hired hands. There was no glamour whatsoever attached to the golf professional. The only way for them to make money was to work at a club, making clubs, tending the course, and giving lessons. There was no PGA tour, nothing remotely like that to make money or a living even as a golf pro. Francis had always had an aspiration to become a businessman, to elevate himself into that middle class. The life of a golfer offered that avenue to reach that goal. So his feeling was, even after he won this great victory (he won the U.S. Amateur the following year, the first guy to hold both titles) he still never turned pro. He played the game strictly for pleasure. He didn’t earn a nickel from it. He never exploited the victory and within ten years had started to work as a banker and eventually a stock broker. Which had always been his intention. He never really thought that the life of a golf professional was the life for him. Golf pros were not allowed into the clubs until the 1920s, so it was another ten years before that even broke down.

This film is infused with an exciting visual style. Is that something that started on the page, that something you were aware of when you were writing?

Yeah, it started on the page. I realized that I’d seen a bunch of really boring golf movies. You can’t shoot a golf film like you do golf coverage on television. There’s a real standard convention on how you cover it: you follow the flight of the ball, it lands, and you watch it stop rolling. That’s fine for sports coverage, but it’s deadly dull in a film. So I was continually trying to come up with ideas on how to vary that. When Bill (Paxton) came on as the director, we worked with a visual artist to try to conceive of a whole bunch of ways to do that. One of the things that we discovered was that it was more dramatically interesting to watch people’s reactions to the shot than the shot itself. So when you see the film, you don’t actually see many shots of the ball flying. I think that there are only three or four in the entire film. The effort being we’ve got to try to make this not a golf movie; it’s a movie about a compelling human story that just happens to be set in this arena.

One of the most entertaining parts of the film was Eddie the Caddy. How much of his personality was available as research and how much of it was a creation?

Almost entirely available and I’ll tell you why. His daughter, Cynthia Wilcox, who’s about 45 and lives in Boston, had an account that Eddie wrote of the entire Open later in life, when he was mid-life but it had never been published. She gave it to me when I was doing the research. It had a lot of very detailed information about how his relationship with Francis evolved over those three days. And when we showed her the film in Boston a few weeks ago she went up to Josh Flitter, the actor, and said “you channeled my father.�

This kid was the original dead end kid. His father had died the year before. He was the youngest of six kids. Living in abject poverty. One step away from the poorhouse, really. So he was very tough, very resilient, very street smart. And apparently hilarious. Characteristics he carried with him throughout his life. So even though it may seem like he is an invention of a Disney movie, I actually think that’s pretty much the way Eddie really was. He was a remarkable little kid.

Could you talk about what kind of themes draw you to a project?

I’m always interested in character and identity. What is it that defines a person? Are they defined by their thoughts or their actions? Or how they are viewed by other people? How much of the choices that you make on a daily basis determine who you end up being? Everyday you are confronted with choices that take you down one path or another. People who choose the good path often seem kind of boring, but a guy like Francis Ouimet who really followed that path I found extremely heartwarming and a great kind of role-model of a human being because he was so kind to other people. Kindness is a quality we don’t see a lot in people. It was something that Dickens wrote a lot about, because in a world that has a lot of inequity, like the world he grew up in, it seems kind of like a miracle when kindness appears in a person’s behavior. I know that I was drawn in particular to his character, his challenges, and his kindness, particularly to Eddie, this little kid that hooked up with him. I thought that was quite remarkable.

I think that it’s also changed for me. I had a son two years ago and that’s changed the way I think about the kinds of stories that I tell now. You’re always in your mind telling whatever story you’re thinking to your child. That seems to be changing the kind of stories that I’m drawn to.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

(Or “Ruminations on a Black Jesus�)

I don’t want to set off one of those geekier-than-thou debates like “which is the best Star Wars movie?� (The Empire Strikes Back, for those in need of the answer), so I’ll just state my bias upfront: not counting the original series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the best of the modern Star Trek incarnations. The show found its groove a lot quicker than The Next Generation (whose first two seasons are practically unwatchable). It featured steadfastly unsentimental, fully developed characters like Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn), Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois), Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), Garak (Andrew Robinson) and Quark (Armin Shimerman). And it had the most action of all of the Star Trek incarnations.

One reason I believe that the show never quite got the due it deserved was because it was seen as the “black� Star Trek. Hear me out. The show was a black show like The Wire or Homicide: Life on the Streets–a predominantly black cast that didn’t create a lot of fanfare about it being a “black� show. This was the first incarnation of Star Trek to feature a black Captain, Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks, though he was only made Captain later in the series, I will only refer to his as Captain; he even had to wait a few seasons to get his own ship). There was a substantial black supporting cast, including his black son Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) and a black love interest, Captain Kasidy Danielle Yates (24's Penny Johnson). Captain Sisko’s interests were unapologetically black (jazz, Negro League Baseball, collecting African art). This isn’t even including Worf, whose struggles with his Klingon culture (delving into it like some black people delve into their Afro-centric culture) closely mirrored the struggles that a minority faces having grown up cut off from his people.

Brooks could chew scenery with the best of them, easily on equal footing with Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) as demonstrated in the pilot episode. Captain Sisko was under-utilized the first two seasons, though I think part of it may have been his discomfort in the Star Trek universe. By the fourth season, head shaved and goatee in place (becoming, for all intents and purposes, Hawk–his character from the show Spenser for Hire–in space), Brooks had come into his own.

The premise of the show led to a lot of early comparisons to J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 since both featured an orbiting space station as the only thing standing between humanity and invading forces. To understand the rest of the review, a bit of the mythology of the show has to first be explained. In the Alpha Quadrant of the galaxy, Deep Space Nine orbits the planet Bajor, which had been occupied by Cardassians who had only recently withdrawn. A stable wormhole, known to the Bajorans as the Celestial Temple of their Prophets, is discovered by the crew. The wormhole leads to the Gamma Quadrant, home of the Dominion, and intergalactic alliance of dominated species led by the Founders (Odo’s changeling people) whose will is administrated by the cloned Vorta and enforced by their elite warriors, the Jem’Hadar. The political landscape of the Alpha quadrant shifts as old enemies unite, tentative allies betray, and all out war is declared.

Another comparison to Babylon 5 is the fact that the examination of faith and the importance of religion undergirds the series. Bajorans draw their courage from their spiritual life, their life force (read: soul) referred to as their Pah. Benjamin Sisko is revealed to be the Emissary, a figure fulfilling Bajoran prophecy, to carry out the will of The Prophets. The nine orbs of the Celestial Temple have shaped the theology of the Bajoran people, basically relaying scripture and commandments from on high. So it is not a leap on my part to conclude that the Emissary is meant to be Christ. The main part of Captain Sisko’s character development involves him developing a Messianic consciousness, him growing into the role of Emissary.

Faith is a journey.

There is not just a Christian worldview represented on the show. Most of the characters have some sort of faith to their lives. Obviously, a Jewish worldview is seen through the eyes of Major Kira Nerys and the Bajoran people. Subtle in that Star Trek sort of way, the Cardassians represent the rule of Nazi Germany. Worf follows the traditions and mythology of the Klingons of old. Vorta Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) walked and worked alongside his gods, the Founders. Constable Odo, in a way, represents a Buddhist notion. A drop of water losing itself in the ocean. Becomes absorbed in the whole of things. The goal of many Eastern religions is to lose your personal identity and become one with the oversoul. Even Quark lives out his faith (The Emperor’s New Cloak, 7-12), offering this prayer (while sticking gold laced latinum into the statue of his god) which is how some people view/treat God anyway: “Blessed Exchequer, whose greed is eternal. Allow this humble bribe to open your ears and hear this plea from your most devout debtor.� However, I wanted to examine some of the pivotal episodes that shape the essentially Christian spiritual worldview of the series.

The Emissary (season 1-episode 1)

“It is the unknown that defines our existence. We are constantly searching not just for answers to our questions, but for new questions.� –Benjamin Sisko

The Emissary is the bridge between humanity and the divine, a combination of both (we come to find out later). Sisko, at the time of his calling, exists at the moment of his greatest pain, the death of his wife. He carried it with him so long that it defined his existence. Our humanity is so often shaped by the pain that we carry with us, and the scars that it has left on our souls. His encounter with the Prophets jump started his healing process, putting him on the path to being fully human and fulfilling his created role.

The first two seasons followed the intricacies of Bajoran religion/politics. Candidates vied for the position of Kai (religious leader of the people, basically their pope). The show followed the political intrigue of the varying interstellar governments. However, soon the show was overshadowed by the brewing war between the Federation and the Dominion, moving away from the Bajoran focus of the first couple seasons. By Season 4, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has become the most action-packed of the Star Trek franchise. To the surprise of no one. For a start, the Federation-Dominion war is heating up and you have a command staff (Captain Sisko, Major Kira, and Lt. Commander Worf) who adhere to a shoot first policy of engagement.

In the episode Accession (4-17), time lost acclaimed Bajoran poet, Akorem Laan, returns claiming to be the true Emissary. Captain Sisko relinquishes the title to him. However once Akorem begins instituting policies more indicative of his time, such as caste systems, Sisko challenges him for the role of Emissary. They go to the Prophets to have the issue settled. Much like the spirit coming down on Jesus like a dove at his baptism, the Prophets make it clear that Sisko was the Emissary that had been prophecied.

(On a more badass note, in the episode Call to Arms, 5-26, Sisko was forced to abandon the station, but he left his beloved baseball on his desk because he intended to reclaim it. Nothing necessarily spiritual, just a favorite moment of mine.)

The Reckoning (6-21) In an earlier episode, Sacrifice of Angels (6-6), the wormhole aliens destroy the Dominion ships due to enter the Alpha quadrant, at a cost to be exacted later. By this point, Sisko is taking his role as Emissary much more seriously. Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher), her Eminence/religious leader of her people, stews in less-than-silent jealousy of his position. The Prophets announce that “The time of Reckoning is at hand� which leads to a bit of another test of faith. In a scene reminiscent of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Sisko cries out as he tries to do the will of the Prophets: “Why do you always have to be so damned mysterious? Answer me. I am tired of your riddles. If there’s something you need me to do, say so!�

Prophecy is fulfilled, but not in the way that anyone expected, no matter how hard they studied the original texts. The Reckoning (“The end or the beginning�) is a battle between the Prophets (possessing the body of Kira Nerys) and the Kosst Amojan , a Pah Wraith (“The Evil One�, possessing the body of Jake Sisko). This would be the final battle between good and evil for the fate of Bajor. Because of whom the combatants have chosen to possess, Sisko’s faith is tested to the point of breaking. Still, he tries to convince Kai Winn that they are on the right path: “Now, sometimes, it’s not easy to see the path they’ve laid out for us. Right now, I don’t know what they want from me, but I’m willing to take a leap of faith and trust that they’re guiding me and I’m asking you to take that leap with me.�

While Kai Winn and Sisko both believe that the Prophets have a plan for Bajor, Winn’s faith is found wanting, no where close to that of “an infidel, an outsider� (Sisko). She interrupts the battle due to her lack of faith and jealous (or as Kira diagnoses, the Kai has confused faith with ambition).

Tears of the Prophets (6-26) Sisko still tries to walk both worlds as Starfleet officers and religious icon, epitomizing the clash of the scientific/modern interpretation of the universe (wormhole aliens) versus the spiritual interpretation (The Prophets). Starfleet was as uncomfortable with him being seen as a Messiah figure as he was in the role, leading to this exchange between Captain Sisko and Admiral William Ross:

Sisko: "The Prophets don't see me as a Starfleet captain. They see me as their Emissary."
Ross: "That's the problem, isn't it? And for the past five years you've tried to be both. And up to now I've been patient. I've indulged you. I've gone out on a limb for you many times, but this is it. You need to make a decision. You are either the Emissary or a Starfleet captain. You can't be both."

Captain Sisko is ordered to launch attacks against Cardassia and the Dominion. Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo), possessed by a Pah-wraith, attempts to destroy the wormhole, succeeding in sealing it shut and deactivating the orbs. Thus the people, The Emissary included, are cut off from the Prophets. A devastated Sisko takes a leave from the war, and not knowing whether or not he would return, took his treasured baseball with him.

Sisko didn’t realize how much the Prophets meant to him until he was cut off from them. By Season 7, Sisko had fully embraced his role as Emissary for the Prophets. He learns that to ensure his birth and guarantee his destiny, a Prophet possessed his mother, thus taking her form for the rest of the series. This proves a clearer image of the relationship between the Prophets and their Emissary and also called to mind the image of Mary comforting Jesus.

Covenant (7-9) Kira’s faith in the Prophets was so strong–was so much of who she was, and took up so much of her time–that it made Odo (who, in essence, worshiped justice’ logic and reason being his preferred method of communing with it) want to accompany her to her services. His detective’s mind wanted a sign, some evidence, some experience to allow him to believe in the Prophets. Kira explains that it doesn’t work like that, “Faith has to come first�, to which Odo replies “That’s too bad. I have a feeling it must be very comforting to believe in something more powerful than yourself.�

Kira’s faith is challenged by the Pah-wraith cult, led by Gul Dukat (still seeking to be loved and accepted by the Bajorans despite his role in overseeing their occupation). The Pah-wraiths claim to be the true gods of Bajor, cast out of heaven for trying to assert themselves. As evidence, they ask the tough questions such as why would the Prophets, who claimed to love the Bajorans and have a plan for them, allow the Cardassian occupation of them that killed tens of millions of their chosen people? What if everything you have been taught was wrong, not just wrong, but the inverse to how you were taught?

However, Kira knew what she believed and had no time for their attempts at deception. “In fact, I’ve always found that when people try to convince others of their beliefs, it’s because they’re really just trying to convince themselves.� There was no room for compromise between their two faiths because “There’s only one problem: we can’t both be right.�

Til Death Do Us Part (7-18) “Your path is a difficult one. She cannot share it with you,� the Prophets inform Sisko in the episode before this one (Penumbra (7-17)). This typifies the classic “hero’s journey� wherein part of the cost of being a hero is that while you may have a love interest, you don’t get the “happily ever after�. In Sisko’s case, the Prophets tell him that “If you do, you will know nothing but sorrow.�

Sisko is forced to count the cost of his devotion. The Prophets didn’t say that he couldn’t marry Kasidy, only that he shouldn’t. He still had a choice and like all choices, it has its consequences. Kai Winn also had choices to make regarding her faith. She had long lamented, after scrapping and scheming her way into the role of religious head of her people, that the Prophets had never spoken to her. Sisko regularly communed with the Prophets, yet the (co-)spiritual head of her people didn’t. She finally has her ecstatic experience, and “Prophets� speak to her. Unfortunately, the “Prophets� where actually the Pah-wraiths. Hearing from spirit beings is a tricky business, since it is difficult to tell the difference between a “good spirit� and a “bad spirit�; for example, the Pah-wraiths were only fallen Prophets, but could easily be taken as Prophets themselves. Without commenting on the nature of Kai Winn’s faith, one can see how easy it is to stray from the path of your faith. Deceptive spirits speak with just enough truth around their lies to sound true and with just enough error to make you stray from true doctrine.

Sisko and Kira debate his chosen course of action, and the possible consequences of going against the will of the Prophets. They both know that the Prophets wouldn’t ask him to do something without a reason. He could trust in the past (since the Prophets have never led him astray) or doubt his present situation (there’s always a first time). He opts to marry Kasidy.

What You Leave Behind (7-26) “We live in uncertain times.� –Garak

The war between the Federation Alliance and the Dominion comes to its bloody end. If this show were truly about the war, the episode would have ended there. However, the second half of the episode focuses on the climactic role of the Emissary. Initially aided by a fallen Kai Winn, Gul Dukat evolves into an anti-Emissary, with all the attendant imagery of a demon from the flaming pits. In a pitched one-on-one battle, Sisko topples himself and Gul Dukat into the fiery pits. The Emissary’s triumph and death fulfills his earthly mission and binds the fire demons. His story doesn’t end there. Following his death, the Emissary ascends to the Celestial Temple. He learns that he still has a great deal to do, so he promises to one day return.

The two-part series finale proved unsatisfactory to some. Probably because it didn’t have any tidy happy endings, but in fact, wrapped up the series with a less than pretty bow. The episode concluded all of the story lines bringing a sense of completeness, wholeness, to the series. It also remained true to each individual character’s arc, as each walked the paths they were meant to walk.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the lone inheritor to the mantle of Star Trek: The Original Series, no matter how hard Star Trek: Enterprise may try. Many people debated who was the better Captain, Kirk or Picard, but who else but Sisko would’ve punched the near-omnipotent cosmic trickster Q upon his first encounter with him (leaving a stunned Q to retort “Picard never hit me.�)? Deep Space Nine explored and fleshed out the mythos of the alternate universe. Deep Space Nine’s single greatest episode (Trials and Tribble-ations, 5-6) was an ode to The Original Series classic, The Trouble with Tribbles, when the Deep Space Nine cast walked into the original episode and mingled with the original cast. Deep Space Nine didn’t stick as closely to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's commandments, such as everyone having to get along. There is nothing sentimental about the series. Not the characters, not the storylines, and when the show tries (such as the farewell/memory montage in the finale) it doesn’t come off well. The show had multi-episode arcs and had season/series long meta-narrative (the other comparison to Babylon 5). In short, it demanded more of the viewer.

With themes involving fathers and sons (unlike other Star Treks, Captain Sisko had a son, the relationship between them being a key dynamic on the show) and rebirth/growth (the characters, like each of us, have a past, a convoluted history that we want to shed and grow past), the show’s most important lesson is that all people not only have the capacity for good and evil, but have a need for something greater than themselves. The show is about having and respecting faith.

I’m still waiting for Captain Sisko to return and collect his baseball from his desk.

Astonishing X-Men

Written by Joss Whedon
Art by John Cassaday
Published by Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics have staged a resurgence in popularity built around name writers from other media. Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) wrote Daredevil; Reginald Hudlin (House Party) on Black Panther; J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5) on The Amazing Spider-Man. And that trend continues with Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) on Astonishing X-Men (not to be confused with Ultimate X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, or New X-Men).

Writing X-Men should come naturally to Joss Whedon, since he’s always been writing X-Men. By that I mean that if you watch any of his television shows (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly–soon to be the movie, Serenity) you will see that he’s always been writing teams. Buffy, herself, was patterned on his favorite X-Men, Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), which was why the first thing he did in issue #1 was bring her back to the fold.

Whedon’s run is reminiscent of the best of the Chris Claremont/John Byrne classic era of the X-Men (the era that introduced Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, and Phoenix to the group), replacing the stuffy wordiness Claremont was so fond of with witty banter. He’s also the inheritor of the mantle left when Grant Morrison ended his imaginative run on New X-Men, wherein he left no “sacred cow� unturned and rejuvenated the franchise. The team dynamics have changed since those runs. Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Emma Frost run the school that Professor X founded. Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost have taken an immediate dislike to one another (the fact that Kitty’s first adventure as a part of the X-Men involved Emma Frost trying to kill her has something to do with this). Cyclops and Wolverine have their rivalry, fueled by testosterone and a mutual love of Jean Grey (Phoenix), upped a notch since her death. For that matter, Cyclops and Emma Frost are now in a relationship that is attempting to flower under the long shadow of Jean.

Also, I want to point out that Cassaday’s art (Planetary) is phenomenal. Crisp and clean, he captures both the cinematic scope of the X-Men and the richness of their characters. The X-Men have seen a return to the spandex, ditching the black leather outfits that marked Morrison’s run and their depiction in the X-Men movies. The return of their colorful outfits symbolize a renewal of their purpose.

“We will never live in a world of peace. Which is why control and non-violence are essential. We must prove ourselves a peaceful people. We must give the ordinary humans respect, compliance, and understanding.� –Emma Frost

Astonishing X-Men is about a mission: the reconciliation between people groups, mutants and humans, to bring them together for peaceful coexistence. The mutant struggle has been used as symbolic commentary on racism for much of its run (such as in the classic X-Men graphic novel, God Loves, Man Kills), but has come to also symbolize the plight of homosexuals (the legacy virus that afflicted mutants standing in for the AIDS virus or even the current worldview of mutants suffering from a genetic condition that possibly has a cure). The X-Men have sworn to use their gifts for a world that fears and hates them.

They are about an ideal, the peaceful coexistence of people, one in which they often can’t live up to themselves. Mutants may see themselves as a community, and that may be the goal that they work toward, but they aren’t there right now. The X-Men start by trying to be an example, a team. Despite their different gifts, their different temperaments, their different socio-economic backgrounds, they rally around a common goal. Unity in diversity.

“If none of us had limitations, what would God do with his time?� –Professor X

This set apart group of mutants see themselves as an elect, a group called for a purpose. Part of their mission is to provide a place for “evil mutants� to find redemption for their actions (Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Emma Frost). They have come to realize that they can’t be that example by being away or outside of the world in which they inhabit. That only increases the world’s distrust of them and view of them as freaks. They have to get into the world, be a living example of their goal among people. They have to incarnate their mission.

Joss Whedon has committed to a second year of the Astonishing X-Men. This first year has seen two major story arcs, so the second year will probably see two more. The X-Men are being ushered into a new era by recalling the greatness of their past. And believe me, it’s about time they’ve been handled this well.

Powers (volume 2)

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mike Avon Oeming
Published by Icon

Fan favorite Brian Michael Bendis may write more than his share of comic books (Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Pulse, House of M, New Avengers; he was also recently tapped to oversee the Marvel universe) but Powers is his first love. Along with his co-conspirator, Mike Avon Oeming (Hammer of the Gods, Thor), the title and creative team jumped under Marvel Comics umbrella with the creator-owned imprint, Icon. The premise of Powers is simple: “Homicide Detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim investigate murders specific to super hero cases ... powers.�

Let me start off with a few comments about the art. Originally I wasn’t a fan, but it quickly grew on me. Its simple, almost overly cartoony, style belies its complexity. Oeming’s art is as much a part of the character of the book as Walker or Pilgrim. Powers is a cop book first, the other side of the super hero universe, chronicling the cases of the cops who have to work there, among the powers. It is also more than a police procedural as the stories often take on wider critiques of societal issues. Bendis basically perfected his “talking heads� writing style in Powers.

“Do we create a society where heroes can’t exist?� -a talking head

The series reset (thus the volume 2) after a “power� went crazy and did some genocidal level damage which caused the world governments to declare all powers illegal. The inevitable happened, as the good guys disappeared and the bad guys took over in a “big super villain turf war.�

Walker is a former power whose ancient history was explored as a controversial epilogue to volume 1. Deena returns to the job--still pulling herself together after the events of said power going mad--and is trying to prove herself. The death of Retro Girl was the first case Walker and Pilgrim worked together. Volume two begins with Retro Girl’s apparent return and the ensuing chaos that entails. This has led into one of the book's current underlying themes, exploring what happens when good people don’t do what they’re supposed to: fight the good fight.

“It’s not our fault bad shit happens ... Bad people do bad shit. We do what we can.� -Det. Christian Walker

For all of the over the top cases, Powers boils down to us. Our humanity. What makes us human and do the things we do. Deena is often the focus of the series, mostly because she seems the least informed (due to her absence) and gets to be the stand in for the audience. It’s her role as the normal one, and fanboy “hot chick�, that has made her a standout favorite. But it is her humanity that draws us into the story.

We all have desires. Desires are good in and of themselves; but it is when those desires stray from their intended purpose that things go awry. Desires are also potential areas of temptation and sin. The desire to enjoy things can lead to evil desires that express themselves in physical activity (“lust of the flesh�); the desire to obtain things can lead to a covetous heart (“lust of the eyes�); and the desire to do things can lead to focusing our lives around such activity (“pride of life�).

The same scenario plays out time after time in the cases that the detectives work. Like the cult of personality that springs up around powers, with its attendant celebrity worship that diminishes everyone. Like the woman who goes on a killing spree because she always wanted a more exciting life for herself. Like Deena’s ex-boyfriend who loves her so much that the pain of her rejection causes him to lash out with tragic consequences.

The purpose of desires is to lead us to right relationships, with God, with each other and to live in harmony with creation. We have to be met where we are, broken and lost, in order to move where we need to be.

I look forward to what Bendis has planned, especially for Deena after the events of issue 11 which will shape her character for the foreseeable future. Powerful cliffhangers make up for the often languid plot movement, but Bendis’ deliberate pacing plays to his strengths as a writer. His is a return to the art of witty banter, dialogue that captures how people sound. Powers is easily Bendis’ best work.*



*This is also the only time when I can say that the laugh-out-loud letter pages alone are worth the price of the book. In an era when some comic books have eliminated letter pages, the one for Powers clocks in at ~5 pages.

House of M

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Olivier Coipel
Published by Marvel Comics

House of M is one of those comic book “events�, a re-defining mini-series that promises major changes in its wake (and by strange coincidence, has many tie-in issues among other titles in the Marvel Comic universe so that you have the option to purchase them in order to have the central story fleshed out for you). You know, the sort of marketing stunt that has a way of burning out the casual comics fan when done too often or not handled very well.

The story arises from the events of the “Avengers Dissembled� storyline wherein the Scarlet Witch, daughter of Magneto and member of the Avengers, lost control of her reality altering powers. During her nervous breakdown, she kills several Avengers, including her husband, the Vision before being subdued. Professor X of the X-Men, rebuilding the mutant nation of Genosha, decimated in the war between humans and mutants, has taken her in to attempt to heal her.

Got all that?

House of M can’t help but bring to mind the Onslaught/Age of Apocalypse storyline from the X-Men not too many years ago. Reality gets altered. There’s a quest as our heroes seek to undo things. Reality gets unaltered and most things return to normal with few lasting consequences (and maybe a new book or two get launched with carry over characters). Though we are promised that events from this mini-series will have long lasting impact. We’ll see.

We can’t help but have somewhat high expectations with fan favorite Brian Michael Bendis at the helm. Though he seems to be writing every Marvel Comics book (Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Pulse and pitching in here and there), through House of M, he is taking on the mantle of (re-)focusing and care-taking the Marvel universe of heroes. There are flashes of what Brian Michael Bendis does best. Engaging dialogue. Super hero action tension. Extended bits of exposition (a consequence of such mammoth storylines is that you have to set/explain the rules of the game so that the story has some sort of interior logic).

In an effort to spare his daughter, Magneto has combined Professor X’s mind powers and his daughter’s ability to alter reality to re-create the world. Genosha is restored, with him in place as its leader. The story brings together two teams of heroes, the X-Men and the Avengers, as a lot of our beloved heroes are given the lives they think they truly want only to have to watch them unravel. Spider-Man has his Uncle Ben (the man who taught him that “with great power comes great responsibility� before he died) and his first love, Gwen Stacy restored. Cyclops lives the happy life with Emma Frost (particularly telling is the absence of Jean Grey). Captain America is an old man (not having been in suspended animation during the waning days of World War II). Hawkeye, killed during Avengers Dissembled, is once again among the living.

(This is also why the Ultimate line was started or why DC occasionally resets its entire universe: it gets complicated to tell stories when you have decades worth of continuity to explain or take into consideration.)

Yet the book does have some spiritual connections. This is a book of regrets and reclaiming those moments, those lost chances in life, and live parts of our life over again. We often dream of getting second shots at chapters of our lives to live them the way we think we always wanted to. Life on our terms, for our maximum happiness, not realizing how selfish this is. This points to our secret desires to set ourselves up as our own gods, determiners of our fate, and not realizing that we’re the problem. We all have friends who have lives that aren’t turning out the way they wanted so they decide to solve their problems by moving someplace new and starting over fresh. Then their lives proceed to go to seed all over again, because if the problem is within them, within their interior, and then no matter how far they run, there they are.

Regrets and dreams - we long to be rescued from our past transgressions, from those out of control elements of our lives. Yet, too often, we believe ourselves too far gone, too sinful, too tainted to be loved or accepted. It’s never too late. We can be met where we are, by finding a community, and with their help, become the people we were meant to be. No matter our past and how many mistakes we’ve made. We are never so far gone that we can’t turn our lives around, starting now. The path sounds “easy� (though not really because there are costs and sacrifices to changing our lives around, and we still have the consequences of our choices to date to deal with). However, it starts as simply as asking for and accepting forgiveness (from others and yourself), then going and “sin no more.�

A bit over blown and slowly paced, House of M feels like it could’ve been easily wrapped in six issues. But, a longer story means more Brian Michael Bendis (a fact that I’m sure didn’t escape the publishers and marketing department), and even slightly off his game, that’s better than most stuff out there.