Bohemian Muppody

Last week (Nov. 24) was the anniversary of the death of Freddie Mercury, frontman for the rock band Queen. Coincidentally, the Muppets have just released their own video tribute to the popular song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Enjoy…

You can hear the original song on numerous CDs, including this one. Also, check out the graphic novel Freddie & Me!

– John

Boldly go…

Star Trek has always had something of a “geek” image, despite the pop culture appeal of characters like Mr. Spock, and catchphrases like “Beam me up, Scotty.” There’s certainly no denying that Trek seemed on its last legs just a few years ago. The final movies and TV series became less and less successful, leading many to declare that Star Trek was dead.

But that was before J.J. Abrams (creater of Alias, Lost and Fringe) and his partners Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Transformers) came along. Their new Star Trek movie, which tells the story of how Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, etc. first got together, is getting amazing reviews (it’s 95% fresh at RottenTomatoes) and breaking records at the box office (it’s already the most financially successful Trek film of all time).

You can celebrate the phenomenon by checking out the many great tie-in products available at CADL! First, there’s the comic prequel, Star Trek: Countdown. Then read the novelization by renowned Sci-Fi author Alan Dean Foster (he ghost-wrote the novelization of the original Star Wars, among many, many others) — also available as an audiobook. Finally, there’s the CD soundtrack, featuring the exciting and emotional music of Michael Giacchino.

And of course, all six Star Trek TV series (The Original Series, The Animated Adventures, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise) and all ten previous movies (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX & X) are still available … not to mention all the other CDs and novels that have been published over the years! A good starting point might be the new Star Trek Motion Picture Trilogy on DVD and Blu-Ray, featuring newly remastered versions of films II-IV (that’s the one with Khan through the one with the whales).

So happy Trekking! And if you have a reaction to/review of the new film for us, please post it below!

Taylor’s Top Three

Teen AniManga club member Taylor, a student at Waverly High School, shares her top three favorite Manga titles. Do you agree that these are awesome? Tell us what your favorites are!

Taylor’s Top Three

Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama

If you liked Dragon Ball Z, then you will love Dragon Ball. The story is based around Goku’s childhood, how he met Kirlin and the perverted Sensei Kame, and all the other DBZ characters. Goku is an innocent little boy that knows nothing about the world’s evils, and he tries to befriend all. His innocence is adorable, but if you make him angry he might just fight you to the death. Though he may be gullible and young, he’s the strongest fighter around. If you like humor and action, then you’ll like this Manga. -Taylor

InuYasha by Rumiko Takahashi

This Manga focuses around a half-dog demon named InuYasha who wants to be a full demon. He uses a magical jewel to get his wish. Pinned to a tree by his human lover before she dies, she is reincarnated by a modern day girl named Kagome. The girl’s grandfather tells her stories about the past, but she never truly listens to him. One day while Kagome is looking for her cat, she gets kidnapped into the past by a demon that wants the jewel she has. But once InuYasha smells her sent, he wants to kill her to take the jewel. Kagome has a spell put on InuYasha so he won’t attack her. By saying, “Sit boy,” he instantly falls to the ground. When the jewel gets stolen by a demon bird, Kagome uses a bow and arrow to shoot the bird. Not only does the demon bird die, but the jewel breaks, and pieces fly all over Japan. Now an angry InuYasha and Kagome have to search for the jewel shards, but who will they meet along the way? Read it to find out. If you like action, battles, a lot of humor, and a little romance then you should read this book.  -Taylor

Her Majesty’s Dog by Mick Takeuchi

This Manga is about an odd high school girl named Amane who is a misfit. Amane harbors the power of tongue and is a psychic which helps her fight off the dead and other evil entities. But she doesn’t do this alone; she has a dog guardian Hyoue that transforms into the hottest guy in high school. The only way Hyoue can get the energy to fight off the demons is when Amane kisses him. Secretly Hyoue loves Amane, but he can never tell her the way he feels or else he will get paired with another psychic or even killed. There are other characters in the story that make it more interesting, but you’ll have to read to find out! If you like action, fights, quarrels, humor, high school, and a little romance then this is a great read.  -Taylor

Teen AniManga Club (Grades 6-12 only)
Wednesday, April 8
4-5 pm
If you like Japanese anime this club is for you. We meet once a month to discuss our favorite Manga and anime, watch anime videos and DVDs and share original drawings. For more information, call Zandra at 517-367-6314.

The Secret History of the Joker

In case you’ve been keeping score, The Dark Knight just passed half-a-billion dollars at the box office (it’s now second only to Titanic). It’s a bona fide pop culture phenomenon, and a big part of that success is the late Heath Ledger’s much talked-about turn as Batman’s nemesis, the Joker … and he’s sure to be even more talked-about as Oscar time approaches.

But where did the Joker come from? I’m not talking about his comic book backstory, which has been left shrouded in mystery (the recently re-released The Killing Joke gave what many people consider the definitive version). Heath Ledger inherited the role from such greats as Jack Nicholson (Tim Burton’s Batman) and Mark Hamill (Batman: The Animated Series), who in turn looked back to other actors, and eventually to Batman creator Bob Kane, whose original 1940 Joker tale can be read in The Dark Knight Archives, Vol. 1.

But Kane had his own inspiration when he created the Joker: an obscure silent film from 1928 called The Man Who Laughs. The film (actually more of a melodrama than a horror picture) starred actor Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine, a man doomed to live life with a permanent grin literally carved into his face. Sound familiar? Take a look at the DVD cover, or do a Google image search, and you’ll see that Kane got all the visual inspiration he needed!

But the story doesn’t end there. The Man Who Laughs was not an original screenplay. It was, in fact, based on a 1869 French novel of the same name (in French, L’Homme qui rit) by author Victor Hugo. If that name sounds familiar, it should, because Hugo is among the most famous novelists of all time. He’s the one who gave us The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables, to name a few.

So the next time you’re watching The Dark Knight or reading your favorite Batman graphic novel, just think … it all goes back to a 19th Century Frenchman with a timeless imagination!

Summer Blockbuster Edition: DARK KNIGHT vs. BIG RED

Two furious-fisted comic book heroes are duking it out at the box office this summer!

In corner one, we have Hellboy, star of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, from creator Mike Mignola and director Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth). Hellboy’s tale began with the graphic novel Seed of Destruction. The most recent volume, number eight, is Darkness Calls. The Weird Tales and B.P.R.D. series expand Hellboy’s universe, and there’s also an impressively huge art book called (surprise, surprise) The Art of Hellboy.

In corner two, we have the Batman, star of The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins). In addition to the novelization by bat-scribe Dennis O’Neil, we’ve got enough Batman-related books to fill multiple bat-caves! The Dark Knight Archives are perfect for anyone who wants to see how Batman really began … but if the film left you in the mood for more Joker, try Batman: Secrets or No Man’s Land, Vol. 5. You can also check out Batman: Faces, for a great Two-Face story.

Still hungry for more movie-related multimedia? You can investigate The X-Files with Mulder and Scully, groove out to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, keep an eye on the Watchmen, learn to draw Wall-E, raid the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, or even take a Journey to the Center of the Earth.

It’s all here at your local CADL location!

“In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit…”

Those of you paying attention to recent entertainment headlines may have caught the news that, after years of negotiations, two films based on The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary prelude to The Lord of the Rings, have been officially greenlit. That’s right — TWO films! One based on The Hobbit, another inspired by the reams of background material Tolkien wrote (check out the Return of the King appendices, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales for a glimpse at some of this exciting material). This opens the way for popular characters such as Aragorn, Legolas and Saruman to return, even though they don’t directly appear in the book!

Although Rings director Peter Jackson is attached to produce and oversee the films, a new director will be hired. While nothing’s set in stone yet, the smart money’s on Spanish fantasist Guillermo Del Toro, the director of The Devil’s Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy and, most recently, Pan’s Labyrinth. (This is terrific news to me, since I found Pan’s Labyrinth to be one of the best films of recent years.) If Del Toro drops out of the running, the name of Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead and Spiderman trilogies, has also been mentioned. Which one would you prefer?

The films aren’t due until 2009 at the earliest, so while you’re waiting, why not check out The Hobbit graphic novel, or the recently published The Children of Húrin? The Hobbit is also available in a great annotated edition, with lots of rare pictures and behind-the-scenes info. And, of course, if you haven’t seen the Extended Edition DVDs of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, they’re filled with great scenes and characters that never made theaters!

Need a Good Book?

Looking for a good book? Look no further, YALSA has already done the work for you. YALSA (young adult library services association) has just recently announced the 2008 winners of a variety of awards. You might be familiar with the Caldecott or Newberry awards that are awarded to books for children and juveniles respectively. YALSA has a series of similar awards for young adult titles. The main award is called a Printz award and it has been awarded for many great books including American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang and Looking for Alaska by John Green. This year’s winner is The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean.

In addition to the Printz award YALSA has a variety of other award and book list categories each year that are worth checking out. There is a list called Great Graphic Novels for Teens, which is fairly self explanatory. There are the Alex Awards, which are awards given for books that were written for adults but have appeal for teens. There is also the Teens’ Top Ten list, which is a list of the top ten books each year voted on by teens during teen read week, which is usually in October. Last years #1 on the Teens Top Ten list was New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.

So, if you are wondering what to read next, check out the YALSA booklists and awards website and you are sure to find something you would want to read.

Classic ’80s Fantasy Meets American Manga

During the 1980s, Jim Henson (The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller) brought two ambitious live-action fantasy films to the screen: Labyrinth (starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connolly) and The Dark Crystal. The films failed to find their audience at the box office — but today, thanks to the millions of teens who later discovered them on home video, they’re more popular than ever! A new Dark Crystal movie is even in the works for 2009, and will be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars).

As part of this phenomenon, TokyoPop has launched two new manga series: Return to Labyrinth (a sequel) and Legends of the Dark Crystal (a prequel). These are drawn in the style of Japanese comics, but produced entirely in America, so they read left-to-right (many manga translated from the Japanese read right-to-left, as they do in Japan).

CADL has (or has ordered) the initial volumes in these series. They’re perfect for fantasy fans, manga fans, or fans of the films. Also on the way: The Goblins of Labyrinth, featuring the artwork by Brian Froud that inspired the film, with text by Monty Python’s Terry Jones. Don’t miss it!

P.S. Fans of these films/books may also be interested to check out the Henson-produced fantasy film Mirrormask, now available on DVD.

Comic Books at the Library!

Believe it or not, it looks likely that sometime in the near future your library will start carrying comic books. This would work and look very similar to what your library already does with magazines. There are still a few details to work out however, and one of them brings me to the topic of this post.

What types of comic books would interest you? We have a large list of titles we are already considering, but frankly, this list is largely based on the comics that I would like to read. While this sounds great to me, it might not be the best way to spend our entire comic budget. We would like to know what comic titles you would like us to start collecting. Are you a super hero fan, or do you prefer Manga? Maybe you like humorous comics, or something more dramatic. Just for a frame of reference I will list some examples of titles that we are considering. However, keep in mind that this is just a quick list based on what I enjoy, and we want to change it to reflect what you want to see.

-The Walking Dead
-Ultimate Spiderman
-Wolverine Origins
-Teen Titans
-Y the Last Man
-World War Hulk
-Naruto
-World of Warcraft
-Batman
-Ultimate’s

f you have ever wanted to have some direct influence over what materials your library purchases now is your chance. Please email us at bernsteinj@cadl.org, or use the comments field to tell us what types of comics you would be interested in reading at your library. Better yet, give us the names of some specific titles or series you would like us to purchase and you just might find them on the shelf at your library very soon.