acme novelty library # 17, apocalypto reviews.

Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library continues to look good. He has redefined the graphic format and no one can argue that his look is defined and he is one of if not the best artists working in the field today. His storytelling is also precise but at 17 dollars a pop, I can't help but feel cheated by this book and this artist. Why are we dwelling in the mundane in this book? Why does it take a whole graphic novel to say that the life of our main figures sucks? Especially when you've pretty much said all this before in your last 16 issues. Where Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve doesn't have the visual flair of Ware's work (no color actually works in his favor) his characters actually do something. And they represent full pieces. I get the feeling Ware has created these caricatures( the girl who may be pregnant, the dorky kid, himself as a pot smoking art teacher) but hasn't taken the time to understand why they exist in the greater story. This probably won't matter since at about a issue a year Ware will be dead before we find out if Chalky even gets pass one year at school. And then theres the second set of stories about bees. Doing absolutely nothing. Again. But they sure look pretty. Chris Ware may be the greatest living cartoonist working. Wish he would prove it. C

Funny, just saw Mel Gibson's Apocolypto and it's left me very strangely. The first hour and a half, is well some of the most unique filmmaking of the year and then it just ends so wrongly. Rudy Youngblood is sure to be a star after this. The chase scenes are some of the best in cinema history, and the exotic nature of the temple settings hasn't been seen in such massive quantity since the late eighties. Gibson knows how to do his violence and the movie looks very good. I just wish they didn't feel the need to compromise with that ending. It is an amazing feat to have any subtilted film playing at the mall movieplexes of the world these days and to bring one of this quality to the big screen should be commended. Overall it's a fun ride, better than most of the action drivel of this last summer, but not perfect. Enjoyable Bplus.