Blogging By Cinema-light: 2022

Showing posts with label 2022. Show all posts

Friday, February 7, 2025

Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection

Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection (Kelvin Mao, 2022) I knew this movie was around, but I'd never gotten to see it until recently. Comic artist Dave Stevens was a favorite of mine, first becoming aware of his work writing and drawing with his own self-owned project "The Rocketeer". Even if you didn't know Stevens' comic, you might have heard of or even seen the movie based on it. As this documentary of his life-story mostly concerns his graphics output, it's going to be a bit "in the weeds." Cinematically, the doc is a labor of love, so it's not that impressive, other than the detail of the conversation of the talking heads (who are artists and thus regularly holed up in their studios) and models and of Stevens' family and friends. It's all laid out chronologically from his boyhood to his too-early death at 53, due to leukemia.

There were a lot of things about Stevens' work that spoke for itself. Number one, it was beautiful—the draftsmanship was nonpareil, with a detail that was rarely seen in comics, but then (2) it looked like the old Hal Foster strips combined with Will Eisner's sensibilities, with a pulpy, cartoon-y edge and an obvious love for 30's-40's design and architecture. It was nostalgic, but for a past that never existed but you kind of wish had. There was an odd comfort to it, like a nice, greasy lunch at an ancient deco-diner (where the milkshakes are served in the mixer).

Stevens' company logo

But, Stevens could be frustrating. He was a perfectionist with his art—and it showed!—which would mean he would blow past deadlines to finish it and cause delays in publishing. You anticipated a new "Rocketeer" chapter...and it wouldn't show up—like, for a year. But, when it DID show up, you devoured it, studied it, and carefully put it in a mylar sleeve for preservation. They were special enough to take care of. Once the series became popular, Stevens became more diligent and more demanding of himself.

He'd been working for Jack Kirby ("The King"), did some work on the "Star Wars" newspaper strip, as well as commercial art, before being offered the chance to do a back-up series for the "Starslayer" comic being done by Mike Grell for the newly started Pacific Comics. Grell's first story was originally to appear as a DC comic, got dropped, and with the page-count being a little low, Stevens was offered to do a fill-in series. With a wide-range of interests and reference material, Stevens created a Commando Cody-like character, "The Rocketeer". With its Gee Bee Racer, landmarks like the Chaplin Aerodrome and the Bulldog Cafe, winkingly-anonymous references to pulp-heroes like Doc Savage and The Shadow and characters based on the images of pin-up girl Bettie Page (as the hero's girlfriend) and "Jonny Quest" co-creator Doug Wildey (as a mechanic pal) and with Rocketeer Cliff Secord based on himself, Stevens had his down-on-his luck pilot discover a mysterious advanced jet-pack that would allow him to fly solo through the skies, and getting himself into all sorts of troublesome adventures.

"The Rocketeer" feature became quite popular—probably to the detriment of Stevens' career—and the series, when it appeared, was always a best-seller, outlasting two of the comics companies that distributed it (probably a case of putting all your eggs in one basket, as companies would see the money roll in, but in a limited capacity as Stevens' perfectionism wreaked havoc on publishing schedules and those companies expanded their out-put with properties that didn't sell well, and eventually finances collapsed). Hollywood grabbed at the character—specifically Disney—as an "Indiana Jones"-style knock-off, and, for a time, Stevens was heavily involved with that. Plus, there were lawsuits because the property generated cash and the other way for comics companies to make money was gambling on litigation. "The Rocketeer" was Stevens' baby, and any parent will tell you how that complicates your life, overtakes your life, and becomes an obsession.

And Stevens' work became something of its own brand; he'd make art-prints (usually of the character based on Bettie Page) and "good-girl art" (as it's called) was one of his obsessions, plus he was in high demand for doing covers for other projects...because good covers sold comic books. And Stevens always drew good, striking covers...the kind fan-boys like. "Hmph".

One of the interesting things after his success was the re-emergence of Bettie Page, who had fallen on hard times and had no idea that Stevens had almost single-handedly revised interest in her and made her something of an icon. Once Page's whereabouts were discovered, Stevens immediately began arrangements to compensate her for the use of her past image (she refused to be photographed in her later years thinking she'd gained too much weight) and became something of an unofficial caretaker for her. I found that part of the story quite uncharacteristic of the industry and rather touching. Then, Stevens was diagnosed with leukemia and decided after a couple of decades of pencil and ink drawing that he would try and perfect his brush-work painting, something that he never felt he mastered to his exacting standards.

He finally succumbed to his leukemia March 11, 2008. In December of the same year, Page died. No coincidence to that. Stevens just died young.

But, he never lost his fans. Tribute issues of "The Rocketeer" and his other works have been going at a continuous rate by those in the comics industry who were friends or, at least, were influenced by his work and keep the flame alive.

The documentary is full of those friends like Jim Silke, Bruce Timm (who created the Batman: The Animated Series), William Stout, Mark Evanier, and scores of others he crossed paths with, be they comics professionals, models...even Rocketeer star Billy Campbell and director Joe Johnston weigh in. Their stories are varied, funny, ribald, exasperated (but in a good, laughing way) and always fond. Very fond, in point of fact.

I "met" him once and I may have mentioned this story before. He had family in Portland and he'd occasionally show up at the Rose City Comics Convention to do panels, run a table, sign things for fans and, one year, I was one those. I brought a promotional poster he'd done for The Rocketeer and I waited, a surprisingly short time, for him to sign it for me. And yes, he was even meticulous about that, taking minutes to sign his name "just so" and telling me (in deadly earnest) "Now...make sure you wait a little bit because the paper has a high gloss finish and you should allow the ink to dry before it touches anything because it's kind of nappy right now and it'll smudge..." I assured him I would and immediately took it to my car to lay it out flat so it would dry the way he wanted it to. That poster hung in the studio I worked in for many years, and one day I did a voice-over session with John Corbett, who was quite the "break-out star" on the TV series Northern Exposure. He was studying his script, looked up and got a little wistful when he saw the poster. "I was this close to getting that role" he said. Then, went back to the script with a laconic "Aw, but Billy did a great job!" Nice.

One wonders what Stevens would have made of the documentary. One imagines that, with his discriminating perfectionist hand in it, it wouldn't have been released yet. As it is, you can find it with a simple search on You Tube.

One thing's for sure. Stevens would have hated—absolutely hated—the poster for the film.*

Stevens (in the flying suit next to "Hitler) filming his cameo for The Rocketeer.

He played a volunteer for a German rocket-pack prototype...which ends up exploding.

* Of course, for attracting a larger audience, it had to have "The Rocketeer" and Dave's Bettie on it. But I would have preferred, and up until a few minutes ago I was using for the poster image, something like the image below (which has neither). But it's "pure Dave".

Friday, May 3, 2024

Hundreds of Beavers

Beavers and Butting Heads

Frankly, My Dear, I'm Gonna Build a Dam!

Doldrums. You get stuck in them and circle around not making any progress. This kind of drudgery can lead to a lack of enthusiasm, depression (if it goes too far), and the missing of posting opportunities because...meh...why bother? It makes you do things like take a negligible romp such as The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and try to apply some critical rigor to it. Such activity should be punished by writing 100 times on a blackboard the old Alfred Hitchcock line "Ingrid, It's Only a Movie!"

The solution, of course, is to slap yourself around a little, get the hell out of your rut and do something different. Take a chance.

Like going to your local art-house theater to see a movie that looks so nuts and so juvenile that any attempt at critical pretentiousness is a completely pointless exercise.

Such a movie is Hundreds of Beavers, a sort of mixed-media "Looney Tune" of live action and anything else that could be thrown onto the screen, be it animation, stop-motion and line-drawing, CGI, green-screen, puppets, people in costumes, and what-not ("what-not" encompassing things I couldn't figure out—it goes by so fast!). None of it is done with what you would call "finesse," feeling at times that it has the technical look of a "Clutch Cargo"® cartoon*; it's definitely "lo-dig'".

Hundreds of Beavers tells the story of Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews), a North American settler and prosperous apple-jack distiller and seller (and consumer), who has his business destroyed when beavers weaken the supports for mammoth kegs, sending them careening down a snowy mountain to crash into his house and explode in his fireplace, destroying his business and his apple orchard. Jean is, at once, homeless, work-less, thirsty and dang hungry, but finds that all his attempts to survive are undone by Fate and his own clumsiness. Somehow he must survive in the wintry wilderness by only his wits. Or half of them, anyway.

Because Jean is not the most adept outdoorsman. Food is abundant, but he can't fish, he can't hunt, nor does he have the tools to accomplish much. He must live off the land—starting fires (the wind blows them out), hunting rabbits (they beat him up), stealing eggs (always out of reach and birds like to peck his head), fishing (no bait), and anything he finds by accident are soon consumed by the local wildlife. Plus, his learning curve is nearly flat, requiring much trial and error, but mostly error, each go-'round a new and painful lesson.

Finally, he manages to land some fish, taking them to the local merchant (Doug Mancheski) for trade. At the post, he meets the merchant's lovely and provocative daughter (Olivia Graves), a furrier, as well as a Master Fur Trader (Wes Tank), who takes him under his wing to teach him the ways of the wild.

It could be Jeremiah Johnson done as a silent comedy (although it's not silent, the film is almost purely visual), by way of Buster Keaton done through a Chuck Jones lens, and cavorts into Fritz Lang territory as Kayak learns the true nature of what the busy beavers are up to in his neck of the woods. Imagine a Peter Sellers comedy (re-imagined by Terry Gilliam) with the reckless disregard for the laws of Nature—and physics—of a "Roadrunner" cartoon played at double-speed and you'll get the idea.

At times, it gets a little too complicated and maybe there are a few too many call-backs, but excess doesn't seem to be something the filmmakers were worried about. One can't deny that at many points it's just laugh-out-loud funny and endlessly inventive to the point of being ingenious, and one's affection grows as the film builds and builds until you finally give yourself over to the film while admitting that Beavers might have bitten off more than it can chew.

But, then, there is nothing wrong with that. One would rather see a movie "swing for the fences" than merely get by, leaving wasted potential like so much popcorn on a theater floor. By embracing old and new technology and with its dedication to cramming as much goofiness into its comparatively meager one hour forty-right minutes, Hundreds of Beavers manages more laughs per nickel spent than any movie release I've seen in the last ten years.

A selection of "Hundreds of Beavers" posters....

Clearly, these guys have a lot of time on their hands...

* Clark Haas

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Don't Make a Scene: Till

The Story: Till still rumbles around in my mind two years after seeing it. The story of the murder of young Emmett Till—that keeps getting worse the longer the movie plays out—and the excoriating performance of Danielle Deadwyler (which, negligently, was not even nominated for the Oscars) has haunted me a long time.

But, then, it should. Emmett Till's murder was the straw that broke the camel's back (along with the bombing deaths of four children at the 16th Street Baptist Church) in order to get the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When children are the victims of the unthinking and the prejudiced, something's got to give or no communal effort can be considered a society. But, then hate is always the irritant to any formation of a community. How can such a group improve, do better, become "more perfect" when there are elements insisting on doing the opposite. "A house divided cannot stand."

But, Mamie Till doesn't want to hear all that. Her son is dead, and the insanity that caused that act reached up into the government of Mississippi to minimize any "fuss" about it. And it became a time for a single mother to become an activist, a problem that wouldn't go away, and a beacon of decency in contrast to her victimizers...who had none.

It's quite the journey, and it starts on this porch and one goal—get her son's body back so it can't be buried and forgotten in Mississippi (which was official's intent), but bring it home. She would not cooperate with evil. And when she saw the mutilation of her son at the hand of white bigots, she vowed to put their hate on display, giving her son an open casket funeral, for all the world to see what they had done.

How could she do such a thing? Because it had to be done. It had to be shown. It had to be exposed for what it is. Pure evil in the midst of what was considered a society.

And if it's exposed...it can be dealt with.

It's a superb movie about a horrible event. And teaches a lesson that should never be forgot.

The Set-Up: Emmett Till, all of 14 years old, is dead. Kidnapped, beaten, murdered and his body dumped in the Tallahatchie River, his mother, Mamie Till-Bradley (Danielle Deadwyler) is in shock. She had sent him to Money, Mississippi to spend time with family, but warned him to "be small" and not attract attention among the residents. Now, Mamie, still in shock from the news of her only son's death, is being called on by her cousin Rayfield Mooty (Kevin Carroll), an activist with NAACP, over negotiations to return Emmett's body to Chicago for burial. Mississippi won't do it...for their reasons. Mooty is here to deliver that news...and encourage Mamie to speak out about her son's murder. But, Mamie has one thing on her mind. Getting her boy back.

Action.

TV: "Hate is like a virus in the blood of Misssissippi. They can't help it."
TV: That was Roy Wilkins, the Executive Director of the NAACP, giving his reaction to the recent killing of 14-year old Negro boy

TV: Emmett Till.
Burial preparations by local sheriffs have already started being made in Tallahassee County, Mississippi, where Till's body was found.

RAYFIELD (O.S.) Mamie?

TV: leaders are calling on officials to investigate the murder
and to indict J.W. Milam...

Mamie finally acknowledges the world around her and looks up at Gene standing with Rayfield.

CUT TO: EXT. MAMIE’S HOUSE - DAY69 69

Mamie closes the door behind her and Rayfield.

RAYFIELD My...sincere condolences --

MAMIE Stop.

MAMIE I can’t.

(beat)

MAMIE I need Bo’s body sent back here.

MAMIE I can’t have him buried in Mississippi.

RAYFIELD Mississippi won’t make that deal (with you) --

MAMIE Then make them!

MAMIE I’m sure Mr. Huff can get...Mayor Daley or the Governor to talk to somebody.

MAMIE Those people in Mississippi are trying to dump Bo in the ground like he’s just...

MAMIE ...another body! He’s my baby.

MAMIE I need to see him.

Rayfield takes in her passionate words.

RAYFIELD I’ll speak with Mr. Huff.

MAMIE Thank you.

Mamie takes in the outside air.

She hasn’t taken a deep breath in a while.

Rayfield has something on his mind...

RAYFIELD You know...

RAYFIELD Uh...

RAYFIELD Mamie, You have the public’s attention right now

RAYFIELD and uh

RAYFIELD and it would be in a politician’s best interest to help you during an election year.

RAYFIELD There’s an opportunity in that.

Mamie barely nods her head.

RAYFIELD (CONT'D) Some organizers and executive members from the NAACP have been speaking with the justice department about creating legislation to make lynching a federal crime. What happened to Reverend Lee was a lynching. Lamar Smith, a lynching.