Kick-Ass – Designed for the big screen from day one?

Kick Ass

Dave Lizewski isn’t the class jock, he isn’t the class geek either.  He’s just your average inbetweener.  He has good taste in movies and music, the class babe thinks he’s a dawk and he wishes his Dad could get over his mother’s death when he was fourteen.  His biggest escape in life is through comic books.  Then as exam pressure mounts he gets to thinking about what he wants to do with his life…

“Why train for years to do a job you bitched about all day?  Didn’t it make sense to follow your dreams and maybe do a little good at the same time?”

When his Dad has left for the night shift Dave puts on a wet suit and mask and gets a feel for the streets.  To start with he just walks on the ledges of buildings and wears his ‘costume’ under his school clothes.

“But, like a murderer, simply fantasizing would only cut it for so long.  After a while, I had to engage…”

Dave ends up in intensive care.  But the next time he puts on the costume he saves a man’s life. 

Of all the comics on my pull list ‘Kick-Ass’ is the one that never fails to amuse.  Mark Millar’s writing is fast paced, to the point and well realised.  And unlike a lot of the story lines I read each month, I never need to refer back to previous issues to remind myself what’s going on – this from a comic that’s been nearly as infrequent as ‘Fell.’  Well, maybe not that bad – but six issues since April 2008 is pretty slim pickings.

Then there’s the artwork by John Romita Jr.  When he was working on ’World War Hulk’ and even ‘The Eternals’ to an extent, I didn’t think his style suited, simply because the world’s he was drawing were based on somebody else’s idea.  In ‘Kick-Ass’ it’s his vision and it’s faultless.   Trying to establish why is difficult - perhaps its the balance of childlike anger/innocence his imagery conjures up.  Even when the bad guys are getting carved up with samurai swords the pictures still have a certain purity about them.

Sadly a movie version will be released soon.  Already pictures are in circulation on the internet and my initial reaction is the direct opposite of what I thought about the comic.  It fills me with dread.  Obviously I realise it’s impossible for a film-maker to compete with a reader’s imagination on the big screen, but why do so many keep trying to?  Have there been any good comic adaptations? 

Writing in ‘The Sunday Times‘ Alan Moore explains that his comic books were never designed to be films. “This is what I’ve been trying to explain to these stupid bastards for the past 20 years,” he says. “They were designed to exploit all the things that comic books can do and no other medium can.”

However, pause for thought comes in the blogosphere over suggestions that creators Mark Millar/John Romita Jr  may have been designing ‘Kick-Ass’ as a multi-platform event right from day one.

According to Wikipedia a viral campaign featuring a short video of  Kick-Ass, being “caught on tape” performing a heroic act was uploaded to YouTube and spread around the Internet:

 

 

Then, a MySpace page was created, supposedly maintained by the character, that stated ”Mark Millar is doing a comic-book about me with John Romita Jr.”  It even suggests a charity auction was held to name the main character. 

However, when it came to casting the powers that be decided Nicholas Cage should headline as Damon MacReady!

Here’s an actor who’s been miscast in just about every film he’s ever been in with the exception of ‘Raising Arizona’ and ‘Leaving Las Vegas.’  And ‘Kick-Ass’ is clearly no exception with Cage playing Hit Girl’s father, a man he doesn’t share a single character trait with. 

Fortunately, the other main roles have gone to relative unknowns with the exception of Mark Strong as Frank D’Amico.  Aaron Johnson plays ‘Kick Ass,’ Christopher Mintz-Plasse is ‘The Red Mist’ and Chloe Moretz is ‘Hit Girl.’  Then there’s the eye-candy:  Lyndsy Fonseca as ‘Katie Deauxma,’ best remembered as Catherine’s daughter Dylan in ‘Desperate Housewives.’

What is interesting is that apparently the film went into production before the first issue of the comic came out.  In an interview with ‘Newsarama‘ Millar says:

“We did this deal before Christmas – I wrote the thing mostly last year (2007), so this was all set up before the comic came out. Since then, I’ve been to every meeting, seen everyone who’s been cast. If you’re an executive producer, it’s usually just a small courtesy, but this level of involvement is really rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty in the screen story and in the comic book, too. So it’s very, very close to the material, which makes it slightly different than Wanted – Wanted is probably 70% of the book, but this is 110%.”

So if it’s 110% comic material we’re going to see on screen, why didn’t creators Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. write the script instead of leaving it to director Michael Vaughn (and Jane Goldman)?  It’s worth reading the article just to see the forum comments at the end – the overriding opinion appears to be that Millar talks a lot of nonsense, a sentiment I agree with.  

Whether ‘Kick-Ass’ was designed for the big screen from day one I don’t know.  But when you look at the superb writing in the comic, it seems glaringly obvious that the dialogue will have had major changes for it to work on celluloid.  Then there’s the fact that if ‘Kick-Ass’ was being designed for a multi-platform audience, why didn’t the comics creators write the script instead of leaving it to director Michael Vaughn (and Jane Goldman).  And how on earth are they going to get a distribution deal?  After all this is an extremely violent comic shows children as young as 9-years-old dicing and slicing villains in every issue, yet Millar talks about the film adaptation being 110% like the comic.

“One side of my brain just wants to cry, but the other is having a multiple nerdgasm.”

War and Peace – Volume 1

War and Peace

The latest pressing of Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece has been translated, annotated and introduced by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.   And before you read any further, the following article does contain spoilers so stop now if you are about to make the journey.

First off, I should point out that I have never read ‘War and Peace’ before, and therefore cannot compare translations.  However, you might be interested to know it doesn’t read like a book that was originally written in Russian.

‘War and Peace’ begins with a watchful eye over a soiree typical of the Russian aristocracy in the early 1800s.  We’re introduced to a number of key players including Anna Pavlovna, Prince Vassily and his daughter Helene as well as Count Pierre and Prince Andrei, two young men both in awe of French conqueror Napoleon. 

During the gathering it is apparent that Prince Andrei dislikes the triviality of such events, unlike his wife who relishes such occasions.  When they return home Prince Andrei talks to Pierre about marriage:

“Never, never marry, my friend.  Here’s my advice to you: don’t marry until you can tell yourself that you’ve done all you could, and until you’ve stopped loving the woman you’ve chosen, until you see her clearly,  otherwise you’ll be cruelly and irremediably mistaken.  Marry when you’re old and good for nothing…Otherwise all that’s good and lofty in you will be lost.”

He later justifies his argument:

“You talk of Bonaparte; but Bonaparte, when he was working, went step by step towards his goal, he was free, he had nothing except his goal – and he reached it.  Bind yourself to a woman – and, like a prisoner in irons, you lose all freedom.  And whatever hope and strength you have in you, it all only burdens and torments you with remorse.  Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, triviality – that is the vicious circle I can’t get out of.”

Just a few weeks later Prince Andrei leaves his pregnant wife at his father’s residence in the country so he can fulfill his craving for adventure fighting the forces of Napoleon.

In the meantime, after failing to get Count Bezukhov’s will changed, Prince Vassily befriends the deceased’s illegitimate son and benefactor to a fortune.  Pierre falls into the trap and marries his daughter, the stunning Helene.

Since I am writing this halfway through Volume 2, I think I can safely say the first part of ‘War and Peace’ is the most challenging.  That is not meant as a criticism.  Volume 1 has a lot to set up.  What would have helped, and I’d like to see in future prints of ‘War and Peace’ is a map.  I’m neither historian nor geographer and I really needed a visual aid showing which territories belonged to whom in the early 1800s.  

Another concern in the first chunk of the book is the amount of time spent bouncing between the French translation at the bottom of the pages and the ‘notes’ at the back of the book.  Do not let this put you off though, the majority of the French dialogue takes place in Parts 1 and 2 and it adds to the reality of the period.  Granted the characters and their lives are fictional but they are interwoven in a biography of historic events. It is this fact that makes the book such a marvel to read.

Schongraben – 14th November 1805

Here, Prince Bagration’s 7,000 rear guard troops defend their position against 45,000 of Murat’s troops.  They then successfully retreat allowing Commander in Chief Kutuzov to join his main army with that of Buxhowden.

It is during this battle that Tolstoy gives us an insight into the feelings of a pampered student turned soldier going into battle for the first time.  Count Rostov falls off his horse, would rather throw his pistol at the enemy than fire it, and feels he’s being picked on by the enemy:

“Something must be wrong,” he thought, “it’s impossible that they should want to kill me.”

Meanwhile, Adjutant Prince Andrei wants to fight but is unable too because of his superiors.  However, unlike the other high ranking officers in his regiment, Andrei does stay to watch Captain Pushkin’s command of the battery responsible for the destruction of the town of Schongraben.

French historians call it ‘The Battle of Hollabrunn.’

Against stereotype, I’m a man who’s never particularly enjoyed reading about how battles unfolded.  This is probably because such books are usually written by historians not storytellers and therefore lack vividity.  Since we already know that Tolstoy served as an artillery officer during the Crimean War he’s able to draw on those experiences in his writing.

Austerlitz – 2nd December 1805

Known as ‘The Battle of the Three Emperors’ because it pitted Napoleon against Alexander I of Russia and Franz I of Austria, this battle is considered Napoleon’s greatest victory.

Russia and Austria’s defeat was namely down to poor leadership and in their assumption that since they hugely outnumbered the enemy they would be victorious.  Heavy mist coupled with shrewd decisions from Napoleon saw the Russians and cowardly Austrians fighting each other.  It is here that during combat for the first time, Andrei sustains a serious injury.  As the life seeps from his body the Prince meets his hero for the first time:

“Though five minutes earlier Prince Andrei had been able to say a few words to the soldiers transporting him, now, with his eyes fixed directly on Napoleon, he was silent…To him at that moment all the interests that occupied Napoleon seemed so insignificant, his hero himself seemed so petty to him, with his petty vanity and joy in victory, compared with that lofty, just, and kindly sky, which he had seen and understood, that he was unable to answer him.”

Volume 1 closes with feelings many families with relations serving in the armed forces will be familiar with.  The uncertainty of whether their loved ones are alive or dead.

Ultimately ‘War and Peace’ is about life and reading it you are reborn during a time in Russia’s history which is strangely not so different from our own.

At the end of Volume 1, I’m of the opinion I will never read a better novel.

Bring back the Hereditary Peers?

Members…

‘…must never accept any financial inducement as an incentive or reward for exercising parliamentary influence.’
‘…must not vote on any bill or motion , or ask any question in the House or Committee, or promote any matter, in return for payment.’

Yet following a recent Sunday Times sting it’s alleged that four Labour Lords have been breaking the rules, getting paid large sums of money, for, it’s suggested, doing just that.  Now of course it’s down to grammar, with lawyers analysing exactly what was said to undercover reporters and explaining to you and I what was meant.

Ever since Tony Blair’s ‘New Labour’ came to power in 1997 making radical changes to the House of Lords, then leaving it in a state of limbo it was only a matter of time before something of this magnitude happened.  Amusing that this story was broken by the same paper which exposed the ‘Cash for Questions’ scandal fifteen years ago, although these latest findings are a seismic shift up the Richter scale.

Indeed, it seems many Parlimentarians are tabling amendments for which they are set to benefit – yet they haven’t done anything wrong if their ‘interest’ has been declared.  This, following the joke that is MP’s expenses.

Now, an investigation is underway which MPs from all sides hope will lead to stricter rules and greater transparency of the second chamber, therefore mirroring the outcome of the ‘Cash for Questions’ inquiry.

But why does it always take a scandal before anything happens? 

The ‘House of Lords’ has lain fallow since 1999.   Another of Blair’s legacies.  Enter right-hand man Jack Straw.   The Justice Secretary witters on about ‘…the strength of our democracy being fundamental to our strength as a nation.’ This from one of the mechanics of New Labour pushing for the centralisation of power.   Not exactly democratic.

Of particular amusement have been the well publicised, fair comments from former hereditary peers culled in 1999 to make way for a more democratic system.

Now you may be against what Hereditary Peers stand for but over the centuries they’ve sat in the second chamber how often did a situation like this arise? 

And what about the accused?  Are they ‘hereditary peers’ or Blair ‘appointees’?
 
So now back in the spotlight is the push for a fully or at least eighty-percent fully elected second chamber following a free vote in the Commons back in 2007.  Needless to say the Lords weren’t keen and now Baroness Royall, Labour leader of the Lords has her excuse to make radical changes.

The media machine backs this theory suggesting that anything else in a 21st century democracy won’t fit. It wants to do away with the title ‘House of Lords’and rename the second chamber the Senate. It also wants to give the House of Lords a clearly defined constitutional role as revising chamber for the Commons, but isn’t that exactly what it already does?

Are they suggesting a two-tier structure of British government where the Commons has an unwritten constitution while the second chamber has a written constitution?

A picture emerges. One where the country edges even closer to the centralisation of power by stealth, one where the few traditions we have left are wiped out along with our identity.

The only amendments needed are to the term ‘democracy.’

Reform not Rhetoric

This was written on behalf of Conservative MEPs in the European Parliament…

1. A Europe of Nation States
‘The Union needs to become more democratic, more transparent and more efficient… restoring tasks to Member States.’
The Laeken Declaration, Signed in 2001 by the EU Heads of Government.

European Parliament Assembly Room

Instead we move ever closer to the centralisation of power – a European Super-state which rather than:
‘looking outwards to the world, looks inwards at itself, attempting to breathe new life into an old constitution.’
David Cameron’s speech to Brussels, 6th March 2007.

Now, following Labour’s failure to back a Europe that gives National Parliaments more say in the running of the EU, Conservative MPs, with British people’s support want to establish a new group in the European Parliament immediately after the 2009 elections:

The Movement for European Reform
Before its inception, two other parties have already joined Britain’s largest political group in the European Parliament.  Bulgaria’s UDF Party and Czechoslovakia’s ODF Party – the latter a country whose Parliament has voted to delay a vote on the EU Constitution.  Many members believe it limits the country’s sovereignty.  They are right.  It does, which is why the Movement for European Reform will focus on:

EU Parliament

2. A 3G Europe
Simply put the ‘3G Europe’ looks after the three biggest factors affecting the future of member states in the EU:

Globalisation: We must make Europe the best place to do business. As the BRIC economies continue to flourish, Britain’s slowly crumbles.  Starting points include reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to ensure farmers in Britain get a fair deal.  And efforts to create a transatlantic common market must be supported – how can a country’s economy grow when businesses don’t have the opportunity to float?

Global Warming: The Emissions Trading Scheme needs reform.  It should be more transparent and businesses must be given an incentive to invest in green technology.  By doing so they will help Britain both reduce its carbon footprint and reduce our reliance on politically unstable countries for the more damaging fossil fuels.

Global Poverty: People in Britain want an end to ‘talk’ that Africa is one of the EU’s top priorities.  We must make it a reality!  In 2000 a list of Millennium Development Goals were set up.  We need to re-emphasise our commitment to them including the promise to donate 0.7 percent of GDP to international development.  In the long-term developing nations must be given market access so that their businesses can prosper too, in turn benefiting all member states of the EU.  They will also need help building the legal and financial infrastructure needed to grow their economies.

3. A Flexible Europe
Britain needs a flexible Europe that does less but does it better:
‘With 27 member states there is no way the EU can make progress if we continue to insist that all members take part in every project. The ‘one size fits all’ approach just won’t work in a union that is so diverse.’
David Cameron’s speech to Brussels, 6th March 2007.

A federal wrapper means we will no longer be able to make important decisions about Britain’s future:
• It will be bad for jobs and our economy.
• Decisions on asylum and immigration will be made by the EU.
• The EU will also have greater control over criminal justice and our courts.

Should all member states sign up to a constitution, changes could begin as early as next year. However, Conservative MEPs are prepared and have already set up:

The European Reform Commission
It aims to review all areas related to the running of the EU including how best to address a ‘3G Europe.’  But perhaps most importantly it will look at whether, and how, the body of EU law could be made reversible.

Securitas 2006 – Britain’s Biggest Armed Robbery

Securitas

Five men have been jailed for at least fifteen years for their part in Britain’s biggest ever robbery.

The 53 million pound heist happened back in February 2006 at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge.  The men were convicted of kidnap, robbery and firearms charges.

Those found guilty include: 49-year-old Stuart Royle of Allen Street in Maidstone; 26-year-old Jetmir Bucpapa of Hadlow Road in Tonbridge; 30-year-old Roger Coutts of The Green in Welling in South East London; 35-year-old Lea Rusha of Lambersart Close in Southborough in Kent and 28-year-old Emir Hysenaj of New Road in Crowborough.  Two other men were cleared of all charges.

The week the story broke I was working as freelance reporter for KMFM, a radio station wih studios situated just ten minutes walk from the depot.  As a result I was the first broadcast journalist on the scene.

Click link to hear a short report on how the gang did it:  Heist – Britain’s Biggest Armed Robbery

Is ‘30 Days of Night’ a smooth transition to celluloid?

Successful movie adaptations of novels are rare.  Directorial attempts to compete with a reader’s imagination more often than not fail for obvious reasons.  But what about adaptations of comics?

Eben and Stella (Artwork by Ben Templesmith)

Before any movie goes into production it goes through the storyboarding process, and what better way to describe a comic than a series of unfolding events detailed in a storyboard.  So if a director followed each comic ‘panel’ exactly, would an adaptation to the big screen equal the original format?

‘30 Days of Night’ was created by Steve Niles (writer) and Ben Templesmith (artist) for a three part comic run back in 2002.  It tells the story of Eben and Stella, husband and wife police officers in Barrow, an isolated town in the freezing north of Alaska.  Alcohol is banned because of the high suicide rate and once every year the sun sets and the town experiences thirty days of night.

Vichente

That time is now, worsened by the knowledge that the town’s communication hub gas been destoyed meaning villagers will be unable to contact the outside world and the arrival of a stranger warning of their inevitable death.  Cue the vampires relieved to have found somewhere they can feed undisturbed for thirty days without sleep.

The big difference between the two versions is a comic sub-plot not found in the movie.  We’re introduced to a mother and son living in New Orleans who have just received information that a historic gathering is about to take place in Barrow.  The son is on his way there to film events unfolding which will be fed back to New Orleans via satellite, effectively proving the existence of vampires.  Not only does this prepare us for the next run in the comic series ‘Dark Days’ it also adds depth to the conclusion.  After all in both versions the chief vampire Vichente is angry that having spent centuries becoming a myth his people’s secret could potentially become public knowledge.

Since ‘30 Days of Night’ was a surprise success in in the US it’s fairly obvious there will be a sequel, so why the makers didn’t better prepare for one seems a little foolish.
Other differences between the two versions are limited.  In the film Eben and Stella are separated while in the comic they have a pretty normal relationship.  How the ’stranger’ gets killed differs, in the comic Stella shoots him, in the movie he’s eaten.  Interestingly one big change the film version makes involves language.  In comics a character’s dialect is determined by a design change to the speech bubble, eg. a jagged purple outline.  In the movie though the makers were able to actually create their own language and then add subtitles.  This works really well as it adds to the ‘them’ versus ‘us’ narrative. 

Barrow, Alaska

There are striking similarities too.  In both versions it feels really cold.  You also feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere.  This is best highlighted in the opening drawing (above), a long shot of Barrow in the distance, then subsequent drawings take us closer.  This is done in exactly the same way in the movie using the opening title sequence, effectively a journey from the middle of nowhere to the heart of a small isolated village.  My favourite visual in the film has to be the aerial shot of the townspeople being butchered below which doesn’t feature in the comic.  It is highly reminiscent of the opening scene in Martin Scorcese’s ‘Gangs of New York’ which is where I believe the film-makers got the idea from.

As a direct result of ‘30 Days of Night’ writer Steve Niles’ career is now booming although to be honest I’m a little surprised.  Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed ‘30 Days of Night’ immensely but it feels like an amalgamation of other horror stories.  What is brilliant however, is the rawness of both versions.  It breaks away from the formulaic vampire movies of the last decade to give us a truly blood thirsty tale about creatures of the night who need to drink blood to survive.  The credit for that has to go to artist Ben Templesmith.

In The Blink Of An Eye – Second Edition

In The Blink Of An Eye

The Conversation, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The English Patient – all cut by Walter Murch, the latter for which he was awarded both an Oscar and a Bafta for ‘Best Editing’ in 1996.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from ‘In The Blink Of An Eye.’  I guess since I edit news footage on a daily basis and dabble as an amateur filmmaker, pearls of wisdom from an editor who’s been doing it for more than forty years.

This is a book best suited to the already practicing editor (even if your experience is limited to Moviemaker or iMovie). 

The chapter titled ‘The Rule of Six’ is particularly useful.  Here, Murch outlines what he considers priorities when cutting a scene: emotion; story; rhythm; eye-trace etc.  Issues that can make or break a scene. 

But for me the moment of clarity came in the penultimate chapter ‘Don’t Worry It’s Only A Movie.’  The trigger, a John Huston quote:

“Look at that lamp across the room. Now look back at me. Look back at the Lamp. Now look back at me again. Do you see what you did? You blinked. Those are cuts. After the first look, you know that there’s no need to pan continuously from me to the lamp because you know what’s in between. Your mind cut the scene. First you behold the lamp. Cut. Then you behold me.”

From this moment, Murch launches into a philosophical discussion about the significance of blinking and its relation to film-making.  I read this book on the train and I found myself sitting there assessing the other commuter’s eye movements as they edit their existence. 

Murch goes on to make the link with dreams too.  After all dreams don’t exactly flow do they?  They’re disjointed, one could almost say badly edited but it could be that their juxtaposition isn’t accidental but deliberate to help us make sense of the world.

‘In the Blink Of An Eye’ is not a textbook on editing, but for anyone interested in why certain types of cut work and others don’t it is worth reading.  If however you’re looking for a potted history on the changes in movie editing over the years you’re going to love it, particularly since half of the second edition ‘The Afterword’ is about the transition to digital editing aswell as the pros and cons of non-linear editing.

House of Lords – Second Stage of Reform

Since New Labour came to power in 1997, Tony Blair has pushed through massive changes to the House of Lords.  Changes which were never going to happen under a Conservative government, after all up until 1999 the vast majority of the House was Tory.

Westminster

However, other than the hugely outdated ’hereditary peers’ who’ve been chopped down to just 92 members following the first stage of reform, the House of Lords was made up of extremely intelligent, worldly, experts in their field.  This ensured serious debate unlike the House of Commons where most of the time those present behave like animals.

So surely one thing that needs to stay is ‘intelligent debate?’  Not if we follow Jack Straw’s recommendation!

The Leader of the House of Commons has released the new White Paper which recommends fifty percent of peers should be elected, and the other fifty percent be made up of political appointees and those chosen by an independent commission.

Like most government structures this all sounds rather complicated to me.

As it stands at the moment, the main options are the following:

i.  A fully nominated House of Lords – This would mean a broad representation of interests and specialisms but because members are nominated would be undemocratic. 

ii.  A directly elected House of Lords – This would be democratic but how and when would members be elected.  Also could this challenge the supremacy of the Commons?

iii.  An indirectly elected (seconded) House of Lords – This could unite the UK after devolution as it would bring in expertise, but again could this challenge the supremecy of the Commons?

iv.  A part elected and part nominated (mixture) House of Lords – This would be partially democratic and ensure expertise but who appoints members?

My idea is this:

A directly elected House of Lords where the electorate vote from a selection of so-called ‘experts in their field.’  I’m talking about doctors, philosophers, scientists, lawyers (since the Law Lords will be gone by 2009), teachers, journalists etc. 

From each of these professions, the body which represents them, in the case of doctors the BMA (British Medical Association) could put forward nominees.  This way you would have a broad cross section of knowledge covered and it’s entirely democratic. 

Then where election is concerned, the electorate could vote regionally, (therefore keeping a smile on Tony’s face), perhaps at the same time county elections are taking place.

Is ‘Enhanced 2-Tier Status’ the Answer for Local Government in West Sussex?

The ‘Local Government Bill’ is currently going through Parliament.  It aims to place more power at local level and give people a bigger say in how local services are run.  It also gives shire counties the opportunity to apply for Unitary status.

Westminster

However, West Sussex County Council believe that amalgamating all the District Councils into one Unitary Authority would give central government even more control and would result in less democracy locally.

Another option is to submit a ‘pathfinder’ bid.  This would greatly enhance the structure of local government but due to time constraints (plans have to be submitted by 25th January) and the fact that it would take those involved away from their day jobs, a bid couldn’t be put together in time.

Instead the County Council have chosen to submit their own plan:  ‘The West Sussex Way.’

Currently West Sussex has a two tier structure of local government.  This involves the County Council sharing responsibility for different services with the other District Councils within the county.  As a result the public find it hard to know who’s accountable for what.  That leads to the unasnswerability of local government.

‘The West Sussex Way’ takes the current two tier structure and enhances it.

But how is an ‘Enhanced Two Tier System’ of local government going to improve things for people in West Sussex?

Click the link to hear my conversation with:  The Leader of West Sussex County Council, Henry Smith.

The Nightly News – Issue 1

The Nightly News

As a broadcast journalist with a conscience ‘The Nightly News’ is refreshing.  Many of my colleagues sensationalise tragic events, not pausing for a second to think about the effect it could have on those involved.

Only last week I was reporting on a story about an old couple found dead in their home.  Two weeks passed before they were discovered, one of the bodies was in such a bad state of decomposition it’s head had come off. 

The reader that afternoon sounded like she was getting off on the fact!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s an important point, but the way it had been dressed up made it sound like somebody had lobbed the head off with an axe.

The point of the story was that nobody cared about the couples existence.  It seems the old man had a heart attack and fell to the ground.  His wife had curled up next to him on the floor and she too died.  Not one neighbour in the village noticed something was wrong.  In the end it was the postman who alerted the police.

NONE of the facts were reported that day, just speculation over how the body had lost its head.

‘The Nightly News’ begins with a number of broadcast journalists being assasinated.

Why?

Because the BJ’s in question ruined their executioners lives with misleading reports.

Issue 1 sets the scene.  It outlines how ’The First Church of the Brotherhood of the Voice’ is formed.  Along the way you choose whether to read ‘fictional’ stats on issues like globalization and America’s news corporations.  If you decide not to it doesn’t spoil the storyline, although there’s some interesting details about media consolidation:

“Three quarters of global spending on advertising ends up in the pockets of twenty media companies” 

I usually find ‘computer generated’ artwork a bit of a headache but in this instance it really works and provokes thought.

Writer and artist (which is a rare thing these days) Jonathan Hickman claims he’s not political.  I claim the same thing and I’m a journalist.  He is political but don’t let that put you off.  I found ‘The Nightly News’ a riveting read and can’t wait for the next issue.

I’m now deciding whether to take part in the competition.  The two winners will be brought to life in the comic.  They’ll then be killed.