The Sculptor by Scott McCloud



I think our friend Scott brought it over with Wicked and Divine, and it was just put in my book pile. So instead of reading some of the biographies or non-fiction books, I figured I would give this a shot. There is a quote by Neil Gaiman, and that's cool, right? 

However, when I went to pick it up, however, Josh looked at me, and just went
He has some strong hate feelings about Sculptor, which of course made it all the more interesting.

So... it's about this guy who lives in New York City who is an artist, a SCULPTOR to be exact.
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We're off to a smashing start.

He's a sculptor, but he's a struggling artist, and hasn't sold any pieces. He use to have a patron, but he no longer funds him because the Sculptor,  David Smith, is a huge dick. And realistically, probably on the spectrum? Or maybe a bit emotionally disturbed? Or probably just has a big case of the fuccbois.

Whatever his problem is, he's running out of money and is failing miserably in the most expensive city ever: NYC. He has no idea what to do, but getting a job and maybe getting a roommate is out of the question, apparently.

So he's in this diner dive, and in walks his Uncle Harry. They have this conversation, and Uncle Harry talks about what would exactly happened if he just moved out of NYC, got a job, got married and essentially give up his dream.

"No!" Dick McGee cries, and says he has to make art! Then Uncle Harry, who is really Death who sometimes wears the skin of  deceased Uncle Harry, says that he will be given a gift to create, but will only have 200 days to live. He will receive his gift at sunrise.

Rick McDick takes it and when he walks home, an angel seemingly appears out of nowhere, kisses him and tells him he's going to be alright.

Well, Fuccboi Slickrick is in love and he's super happy.

Then some bullshit happens after this where this guy, who is Ron Ramrod's best friend, tells him that he needs to get out more and drags him to a party. Some more bullshit happens and Fuck Fuckstein realizes that the angel that came to him was part of a Flash mob. He feels tricked.

Apparently David Smith... or I'm sorry, Rick Schlong, isn't too bright either.

He also does this annoying thing where he makes "rules" and he has to abide by them. "I don't take charity!" is definitely a thing he does, and I HATE it when that's a thing... because it's never a good person that says that, right? They are always super annoying and I never understand the not taking charity deal. If people want to give it you, take it! What's the big deal?

Anyway, You all probably guess how I feel about this comic.  There is a Manic-Pixi-Dream-Girl who Slick Dick falls in loves with, who is the same girl that played the Angel in the beginning of the story, and there is a lot drama and emotions along with the countdown to his death date.

Somewhere in this story Blunt Bangs girl reveals she is bipolar. She also apparently hangs out with her ex boyfriends... which are her only defining characteristics. BTW, girls that "hangs" out with her ex-boyfriends means she's still sleeping with them.

So, she loves David and tells him she's preggers, so the horrifying vision of him moving to the suburbs and having a family suddenly becomes appealing because the grass is always greener when you have a pretty booby lady with zero personality traits who wants to move into a nice house with you.

WOOF. There is a dramatic ending that doesn't pull any heartstrings. Spoiler: he dies, which kudos for McCloud for pulling the trigger so there isn't a Sculptor Two: More Sculpting.


I'm so clever sometimes.

It says something that I finished the comic since I ragequit both Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne in a week, so it's at least an entertaining way to spend a few nights reading.

I think there is a message about following your dreams... or not flying so close to the sun... or maybe not make a deal with the devil... or happiness is least where you expect it... You know? I don't know.

So if you find the comic book in your house I like I did because a friend really wanted your husband to read it, read it. Otherwise, don't spend money on it. 

Which is Better? AKA Jessica Jones and Alias

Wait, AKA Jessica Jones was based off this comic book? Did the script writers read the comic book, toss it to the side and thought, 'no, we can do better?' Or they thought, 'hey, let's take the most uninteresting things about the comic book, toss the rest aside that makes it great, and put other characters in because, well, we're sooo creative and naturally, what we come up with is far more riveting than Alias?' Because that's what the show felt like.

AKA Jessica Jones has been critically acclaimed and raved about, but honestly? I thought it was just OK. Not the worst thing I've ever watched (I'm looking at you Chappie. You abomination.) Now that I've read the beginning of Alias, I've realized that the tone and the mood doesn't transfer over into the show. There are also quite a few terrible things they added, like Ruben and... what was her name? Rylie? Rudder? Rumplestiltskin? and Malcolm, who, let's be honest, had the most thankless character arc ever. Not to mention they rewrote the entire story to where it's almost unrecognizable. There are bits and pieces of the show that I appreciated, and recognised what they were trying to accomplish, but it fell flat. Especially standing next to the comic book.

Even Jessica Jones' hair is different! Which, ok, it's not a big deal. I mean, hair is hair, but did they keep the black hair because it's Krysten Ritter? It would have been interesting to see her have a hair change, but maybe she's butt ugly with red hair... who knows? But it felt to me that black hair was to on the nose with how "dark" the show was.

What I also noticed most about the show was how... cheap it looked. Now, I don't mind low budget movies, and honestly, sometimes creativity can be a wonderful thing that actually adds to it. However, when you notice that even the makeup looks awful in certain lighting (really... there was a defining line between her makeup and her neck, not to mention her skin looked yellow), and your husband points out that the high profile lawyer's office is incredibly bare, and not in a minimalist way, but in a oh-shit-we-have-no-money way, it's a problem. I don't set out to watch a movie to look for makeup flaws and bare settings but it smacked us in the face. It was so low budget that it couldn't even be covered up.

Now, Josh and I have different theories on why it looked so low budget and I think it's a mixture of both of them. I think some of it was intentional, or tried to be. In the comic book, at least in the first volume, she's mostly on the streets, investigating. She's just in tee-shirts and jeans, and only twice does she demonstrate her super powers. It seems like they tried to carry that over to the show. I also think they spent a lot of their money getting Carey Ann Moss, David Tennant, Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter on the show. Josh thinks that most of the budget for the Marvel TV shows were blown with Daredevil, which had a lot of really remarkable shots and stunts and they none left over to shoot Jessica Jones. Man, I hope they are able to film the Luke Cage one (which btw, was one of the best parts about the show).

So, verdict? I haven't read all the comics, so I would have to update as I read them. However, it's a shame that AKA Jessica Jones didn't use much of the story line with Alias, because it would have been neat to see, even if it was just the Rick Jones, sidekick stuff. So far? Read Alias... and I guess see the show if you want to know what everyone else is talking about and you want in on the convo...  but you didn't miss much.

Marvel Mondays: Jessica Jones: Alias 1

To be honest, I was a bit nervous reading the comic book. I saw the show, and I wondered if the book would directly reflect the netflix show (to varying degrees of success). My husband told me that it was a dark comic book series, and he wasn't sure if I would like it or not. However, BAE still bought it for me for Christmas for my blog! Thanks bae! 

I actually really enjoyed it. It was gritty, but I liked the idea of Jessica Jones on the peripheral, abandoning her cape and seeking to try and carve out a normal life. Sure, she's a private investigator, which has her associating with the dredge of society, but it seems like she can hold her own. Her powers are not really played up here, with the exception of her holding her own in a fight (and removing a man's arm from her collar, full strength). There are characters in the comic that are desperate to associate with anyone who has powers, and Jessica falls victim to this several times during the course of the story. 

There are lots of appearances of other, very well known characters in the comics, such as Dare Devil, Captain America and Powerman. I would have liked to see more of their relationship, but I have a feeling there is going to be more of that later on. The story line is political,  with a lot of foreshadowing. It's done very well and it leaves you with the same confusion Jessica feels, but doesn't leave you frustrated that you have no idea what is going on. 

Comic book illustrations and artwork doesn't get a lot of credit, I feel and sometimes, even comic book illustrators don't use their entire toolbox to convey the story at hand or they are refrained from doing so. Gaydos does and his illustrations take on a 90s grunge theme. It's perfect for the atmosphere of the story at hand. He doesn't waste colors either, and reverses light versus dark theme. He uses brighter colors during scenes where she is reflecting on her past as a masked superhero, a time in her life that she would prefer to bury deep, but everyone else glorifies it, wondering why she decided to stop. Gaydos uses darker colors when she is wading through her crisis and detective work, something that she enjoys doing, but everyone else puts down, especially since they deem her worthy of doing more, like becoming a superhero. 

I also love how it's mapped out, and the panels are easy to follow in Alias. My favorite part is when she listens to clients, and artistically, the scene should be very boring. They are sitting at a desk and the client is talking, while Jessica listens. However, the panels go back and forth, depicting the client talking, and Jessica smoking a cigarette, listening but unmoving. Nevertheless, Gaydos conveys that she's on her guard, studying the person, thinking about whether to take the case, or whether it's all bullshit. 

I can't wait to read the rest of the series!