Nicolo > Recent Status Updates

The book included three movie pitches. Of the three, only two were made and one of them was my Neighbor Totoro.
The Totoro pitch was very detailed and easy to see it may have excited potential investors.

Miyazaki waxed nostalgia about an old timey stationary shop, “Takei Sanshodo”.

Two essays reveal the price people pay to make anime.

"A Woman Finish Inspector" is a about a quality control person who only sleeps two hours a night. "I Left Raising Our Children to My Wife" is Miyazaki's admission on how his career influenced the dynamics of his own family.

MIyazaki shares his thoughts on the film, Fantastic Planet.

As much as I want to read about Miyazaki talking about creating animation, I’m more interested in the other stuff that inspires him. I hope these next chunk of essays and lectures are something I would enjoy more.

One of Miyazawa's lines sticks to me. I read it a few essays ago. It's about his impression on mecha anime.

"In truly successful mecha show the protagonist should struggle to build his own machine, he should fix it when it breaks down, and he should have to operate it himself."

I'm pretty sure he enjoyed the first Iron Man movie. It checks everything on his list.

It seems Miyazaki put a lot of thought on what a Christmas tree really is. Noting that most people are fascinated by the decorations, but forget it has leaves, branches, and a trunk. Just like a cartoon has drawings but beneath that are components a viewer rarely sees, and if it lacks that, the cartoon becomes an impoverished creation.

Citing a Christmas tree as an analogy for a cartoon was unexpected from a Japanese person.

I expected a biography, but this more a how-to guide on being an animator. Still, I'm able to get a glimpse into what influenced Miyazaki's own storytelling.

A book about animation is off to a good start if the foreword is by John Lasseter, an award-winning animator in his own right.

King sublimates his drug addiction into Misery. He's the writer trying to escape from the torturer, as he is trying to let go of crack. It wasn't easy and it took a family intervention to do it.

King details how he came upon the idea of his first big novel, Carrie, and how it was rescued from the trash bin by his wife.

Creation can be an island, with that blank page daunting, but having a partner like King had Tabitha, made all the difference.

King reveals his love for the movies of his era, while taking the first shaky steps of being a writer that gets paid, though less professional and more fumbling amateur.

A few mini chapters that look into the early of King, as much as he remembers it.

Brendan McCarthy - As close to a fever dream, I got reading comics. Though this may be an anthology series, publishing several standalone short stories, McCarthy ties off everything neatly in the end.

Aragones - The inimitable MAD magazine cartoonist, gets his SOLO spotlight. It only has one Batman story, but the rest of the original stories were gems.
SOLO had a limited run, and not all of my favorite cartoonists made it in. It is a shame Stan Sakai of Usagu Yojimbo fame did not get his own spotlight. However, he gets to letter all of Aragones' stories here. At least the ones that needed dialogue.

Scott - Scott has since evolved his art style from his days on Batgirl, but obliges Batgirl fans by channeling his younger self for a single story and its already better that his old work. His current style requires a larger canvas to be enjoyed better as it evokes the giant murals that appear on walls in an urban setting.

Hampton - His stories are dark ghost stories, whether they be Batmen or haunted cars.

Kristiansen - His work belongs to an art museum. The best stories here are the ones scripted by Neil Gaiman and Steve Seagle.

Allred - There is still a bit of that manic Madman energy from the early days of his work. The artist dives heavily into that 60s mod vibe his work is known for; though nothing groundbreaking, it delivers on that expected Allred hit looks for his works.

Moritat - I've always wanted to see more of Moritat's work, beyond his sublime Jonah Hex run, and his Solo work scratched that itch.

Cooke - I delayed reading it, worrying if it would be as good as I expected, but it was useless worrying. It's Darwyn effin' Cooke after all.
It's the best section so far, using Slam Bradley pages to give it a unified feel, as Cooke just flat out brought the thunder and lightning.

Chaykin - His short stories avoided superhero references, except the autobiographical at end, and were stories of the war, romance, and crime genres, long forgotten comic staples that the major publishers avoid these days.

Pope - The Paul Pope contribution to this collection is the best so far. Especially his remake/homage of Jack Kirby's OMAC. I wouldn't mind if this entire collection is comprised of Pope's storytelling.

Corben - The best short stories are the ones where Corben did everything, morality tales where the evil doers get their just desserts.

The best story in the Tim Sale section is the Catwoman short story Sale collaborated with Darwyn Cooke. The Superman For All Season with Loeb was pretty good as well. Or basically any of the stories Sale collaborated with a legitimate writer.