Prometheus Bound

For the PaperJam Comics Collective "Art and that" anthology my contribution to the comic was based on Gustave Moreau's "Prometheus Bound" painting. I had to replace the poem that I was going to use as my script because it was too long.

Here is the painting:

Here is the poem as I intended it to be originally:

The Grecian Gods can be childish,
smiting and smashing on a whim,
jealous furies amongst the worst,
but some become heavenly stars.

Prometheus made the humans,
but could not deliver the fire,
igniting spark of human life
but not warming deathly cold flesh.

He stole from Apollo’s carriage,
stole the heavenly fire of life,
his sacrifice for the humans
caused that God great personal strife.

The other Gods weren’t merciful
to their fellow Prometheus,
they bound him to sturdy cold chains,
releasing the eagle of Zeus.

So, bound with daily liver loss
Prometheus suffered for man,
a symbol for humanity,
hence Moreau's "Prometheus Bound". *

*My official poem ends with "the Greek God of fire and humans" but that wouldn't have went as well in the context of the anthology, even though I didn't get to use the entire poem only fragments where I could adapt them.

The odds are there will be at least 1 PaperJam Comics Collective member reading this, so I have this to say. What I have seen so far of the other Art and That pieces looks great. I'm really looking forward to seeing the other pieces in their entirety.

Now to my regular guest Norman Osborn.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Gods who have the balls to stand up to other Gods.

Goodbye Fullmetal Alchemist!

It's been a while since my last post but I'm back! According to my diary, the final chapter of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist was scanlated (scanned and translated) in English on the 10th of this June. Therefore I read the final chapter on that date.

Anyway this post will be solely dedicated to the masterpiece manga called FMA. The series ended as well as it began, and indeed as brilliantly as the journey in the middle.

What makes the series so good? This is a question you may ask me. My answer? Well it's a combination of factors really. First of all we have the story, which at it's core is deeply philosophical for shonen manga.

It deals with such themes as "don't play God" (trying to bring your mother back from death), the consequences and evil of war and genocide, the nature and purpose of human beings, the notion of truth and the soul amongst other aspects.

It does what shonen manga does best, conquers difficulties while keeping it's sprit up. There are challenges the many heroes face, but they always do it with absolute determination .

Shonen manga are typically created by males, FMA isn't and I'm convinced this helps make the series that bit different and therefore better than the average shonen title. Shonen typically sticks to well defined conventions. FMA plays the rules of the game, but Hiromu Arakawa adds brilliant feminine touches in her manga as shown here:

That montage wasn't in FMA but the picture of the big muscular sparkly guy there (Alex Lois Armstrong) certainly was. Arakawa tends to add little bits here in there that seem closer to shojo manga than shonen, but this enhances the manga overall as far as I'm concerned.

One of the greatest things about FMA if we move away from stylistic features or the story itself is the characters. The narrative itself is great, in that it is epic, funny and deep but it's made even better by a colourful cast of characters.

Unlike many shonen (say Naruto or Bleach) characters are strong irrespective of gender, the female characters are just as badass as the males.

Well that's a nice note to finish my part of this blog on, an image featuring my 2 favourite characters of the series, Olivia Armstrong and Izumi Curtis. Now, It's time for Osborn's approval, hit it Norms!

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Techniques passed down the Armstrong line for generations!

Dr Who meets Vincent Van Gogh

Beware do not read this until you have seen the 10th episode of the Matt Smith Dr. Who series.

Warning aside, I may now proceed. This has got to be my favourite episode of the series so far. As little as I know about art movements and artists outside of American and Japanese comics, I do like Van Gogh. His art was beautiful, but more than that he expressed his soul through his art, turning his own depression into a work of beauty.

This episode to some extent conveys that. The episode itself was quite touching in various parts, I really felt for Gogh when the had to kill that invisible alien beast. I really enjoyed watching this episode.

I thought this scene was particularly beautiful in the episode:

Now for my regular guest: Norman Osborn

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Sunflowers.