Slice of life narrative and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Last night, we viewed the Coen Bros. 1998 film "The Big Lebowski", as part of our year long resolution to re-visit the work of filmmakers whom influenced how we watch movies (and how they can just be fun!). I had not watched the film in many years, despite the fact that it sits in my personal collection. The most striking thing to me this time through was the depth of creating characters that exist in a unique and very inviting world. The Dude, Walter and Donny represent the most difficult type of creation in fiction--by the end of the story they seem real, and you almost wish the story would just go on, just like life. You know they will be at that bowling alley tomorrow (except Donny, who is the sacrifice to the laws of nature) "takin her easy" (in the words of the narrator) for the rest of us. The Coens achieve a real slice of life character piece with Lebowski, akin more to Altman more than homage to Noir, and that is what gives it legs all these years later. Next week, its on to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". I will post on Twitter about time and date later this week.

Recently, I began reading the work of Jonathan Hickman (www.pronea.com) , an artist who has taken to creating some very unique worlds and story lines in the comics medium. His unique blend of science fiction and hero narrative are refreshing, especially with such characters as the Future Foundation (formerly the Fantastic Four, although he was the main writer for those books) and the series that has given me the most enjoyment of late: S.H.I.E.L.D.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1

S.H.I.E.L.D., without going into a bunch of comic book history (you can use wikipedia for that), has been a long running organization within the Marvel universe. But Hickman decides to re-boot this history, to explore the possibility that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been around a very long time ( and I do mean go way back) fighting off those that have attempted to undermine human beings as the dominant species on the planet (yes, that means fighting aliens to a certain degree). It is who has been fighting for us that gives the book its interesting plot- names such as Da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, Tesla. These men of science and reason have been defending the species in order for us to evolve into our potential. What that potential is exactly is part of the mystery, and also part of the conflict within S.H.I.E.L.D. that arises in what Hickman defines the first six issues as part one of his story. To me, as a fan of the medium of comics, this series represents the potential of the types of stories that comics can provide a vehicle for. Unfortunately, these types of series have a very small audience, and are often canceled long before they reach the original ending intended by the author. Fortunately, for now, the book has enough thrust to launch into the second part (or arc) next week.