Customer Reviews

Fortune and Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story

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Who hasn't wondered about the decisions made behind the big oak doors that house the great minds' of the movie making industry? Well, wonder no more as Bendis brings an insightful tale of the trials and tribulations of a movie plot based on one of his comic books. While the lying agents and movie producers were not surprising, I was shocked to see the ineptness of most of the players involved with making a movie. Clueless does not even begin to describe them. As for the art, Bendis' style may seem a bit cartoony to the average reader but it actually fits the tone and mood of the story. Forget all of you preconceived notions and stereotypes about comic books. If you like deft, dry humor, this book is for you.

If you have not read the work of Brian Michael Bendis ( Torso, Jinx, AKA Goldfish, Powers and Sam and Twitch) you are missing out on what the modern comic book can offer. You've probably read the Time/Newsweek articles on how comics are no longer for kids but ignore all that and instead center on your thirst for solid stories and great art ( and they're cheaper than movies, sometimes).

Fortune and Glory is a change from Bendis's usual crime fiction but he does not fail in delivering flawless storytelling and humor that will literally make you laugh out loud. As you read you feel as though the author/artist is actually talking to you and not in a cheesy Mr. Roper-breaks-the-4th-wall kind of way.

The story takes us through Brian's first taste of Hollywood and is sharp in its delivery. It is well worth its price and will soon find its way next to great graphic works like Maus and Understanding Comics. Buy it now before he becomes trendy and you can say you knew him when.

Bendis isn't doing anything really new with "Fortune and Glory". Poking fun at Hollywood is like shooting fish in a barrell. But, Bendis is so exceedingly funny that you don't notice just how cliched this story really is. Of course, it helps that Bendis is telling a true story, and from his perspective as a would-be screenwriter

From meeting producers who don't know that Eliot Ness was real to publicists who don't like comics, Bendis tours Hollywood bureaucracy and in the end, finds himself back where he started. This is too funny to miss.

Buying anything written by Brian Michael Bendis is well worth your time and money, whether it's for the incredible wit, realistic dialogue, or 180 degree plot twists. But "Fortune and Glory" not only entertains, it informs. It's the pull-no-punches true story of Bendis' attempt to turn his acclaimed books "Goldfish" and "Torso" into major motion pictures. Bendis' dealings with the God-and-creativity-forsaken drones of Hollywood read as equal parts comedy and tragedy (or course, the tragedy comes about so ridiculously that it, too, is comedy). Whether it's the suggestion that Pauly Shore plays the grifter Goldfish or that the "Untouchables" police captain Elliot Ness be 19-years old, you'll be laughing at Bendis' pain (laughing at other people's pain is always fun). In an industry where executives scan magazine articles and buy property rights for no other reason than so somebody else can't have them, it's a wonder any good movies ever get made.

"How many studio executives does it take to change a lightbulb? One...but does it HAVE to be a lightbulb?" - Bendis

OK, Brian Bendis writes great dialogue; I knew that from Powers. He's also a rather gifted cartoonist whose somewhat-absurd, highly expressive style fits a memoir like this perfectly. This is what I love about comics -- the sense that the author is talking to you while remaining firmly entrenched within the story. In this first-person story of Bendis' adventures in Hollywood, the foremost element is his joy in storytelling. it's what makes him write and draw comics, it's what makes him pitch movies, it's what makes him write and draw a comic about him pitching movies. That the story is real only makes it more absurd -- and told by the pen of a wit like Bendis, that's a ride you have to get on. I don't want to ruin any of it for you -- just check it out for yourself.

The year 2000 was the year of Brian Michael Bendis. Working on several incredible comic titles including "Sam and Twitch", as well as "Ultimate Spiderman", He is now recognized as a premire comic book writer. My personal affection for this book, "Fortune and Glory", is limitless. Bendis' great stregnth is in his use of dialogue. Not unlike Tarintino, his characters' dialogue is littered with pop culture refrences that make the "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" fan in me smile. This is one of the books I buy for my non-comic-book-reading friends. Any actor, screenwriter, movie buff or trecker will find somthing to love in this very real account of Hollywood's stranger than fiction reality.

It's tough work being a comic fan, sometimes.

Lately, you see, `Transmetropolitan' and `Planetary' writer Warren Ellis has been spearheading a revitalised movement among comic creators and fans to get the word out there that there are comics being published every month in serial form and graphic novel form that are just as, if not more, entertaining and challenging as work in any other medium.

Not easy when 99.9% of the world associates the sequential art medium with spandex-clad avengers of justice and furry animals. You throw superhero-masterpieces like Watchmen at them, and they smack `em away (understandably). Most of the time, they'll dismiss Calvin & Hobbes as kids' stuff (understandably). It's hard, rarely-rewarding work trying to ensure the future of a medium that so many have a very personal stake in.

Comic pushers can rest easy, though: Brian Michael Bendis is on the job, and is doing everything in his power to make your life a lot easier.

In Fortune and Glory, Bendis has a digest-sized autobiographical `comic journal' of his adventures in Hollywood, trying to get his excellent crime-noir `AKA Goldfish' made into a motion picture. He goes through all the standard hoops here: learning the ropes of film-scripting and how it differs from writing comics; the standard meetings with idiotic `D-Guys' and `D-Girls'; the peccadilloes of the industry (one exchange with his friend and co-star Marc Andreyko after being made a phony offer of $50,000 for a script: "I can't believe you live here."/"I can't believe you don't."); and just generally informative of the industry itself.

While Bendis has certainly created a great learning tool for anyone who plans to make a go at selling a script in "the dream factory", Fortune and Glory is at least as important to the world of comics as it is to the world of film. In this book, Bendis has crafted the perfect `Comics Activism Kit': it's a simply drawn, hilarious, compact book. The dialogue is clever, snappy and witty (Tarantino with a bit more direction), the drawings are simple and engrossing, and the story is familiar to the average person. It's not fantasy, or science-fiction, or even crime noir: this is a comic about REAL people, and that's something that is very attractive to non-comic fans. This sucker looks and feels like a novel, with the added bonus that it simply reads quicker. Entertains better, too.

People are inherently fascinated with movies. We love `em, they're the main source of escape and entertainment for the average person. And the story of the little guy against the big, faceless corporation has universal appeal. So, if you're going to hook anyone on comics, I strongly suggest buying them a copy of Fortune and Glory. It's a hilarious book that will entertain and enlighten anyone, and maybe even make some people respect the power of the comic medium. Then, when they're not looking, throw Maus: A Survivor's Tale at them.

Oh, and by the way, if you ever run into Brian Bendis in person, make sure you know that Eliot Ness is a real historical figure. Trust me.

It's not just because I'm an enormous comic fan that I love this book. My affections for movies and hollywood in general are right up there with it. Did you like The Player? What about The Big Picture? Have you read The Comedy Writer? Were you disappointed that the show Action was cancelled? If you've answered yes to any of these questions, buy this book! It's a quick read, but one that you'll read over and over again. You'll like it so much that it will soon be passed through your circle of friends and you'll have to order another. Bendis knows Hollywood, like he knows crime and comic books (trust me on this one) and you'll be clammoring for a sequel!

Good, fun read, but hardly the indispenisble tome that many people and critcs claim it to be. It goes on a little too long and drags in places and there are other examples of Hollywood exposed that are as good.

The story: Brian Michael Bendis writes a graphic novel (Goldfish - well worth reading!)(and before this, unless you don't mind elements of that story being revealed), it receives the attention of Hollywood, and then thw whole misadventure of hurry up and wait commences. Movies like the Kevin Bacon vehicle The Big Picture cover similar ground - but actually between the two, the latter works better for me - maybe because it is a movie about the movie biz (rather than a comic about a comic in the movie biz), and maybe because, as Bendis repeatedly points out - if the foray into Hollywood doesn't work out, he's still got comics (whereas Kevin Bacon and all the other wannabes in Hollywood only have their dreams and hopes of making it)(thus, the desperation meter is running that much higher).

Still, an excellent change of pace from Bendis' usual blood and guts style... it starts off with an excellent Bugs Bunny/Hollywood analogy, and as far as the artwork, as another reviewer commented, it's reminiscient of Fred Hembeck. Overall though, I'd try to borrow a copy - it's a very fast read (Bendis is among the best when it comes to dialogue), and as the author himself points out, the cover price IS criminally high.

Found this by accident in the bookstore...Great dialogue, great pacing...this Brian dude is one heckuva talent. So much so that I'm going to look at his other stuff.

It's candid, well-written and honest. Doesn't get much better than this.

Art wise, it reminded me just a little bit of Fred Hembeck from the 80s...

For aspiring Hollywood scriptwriters - this has to be on your reading list!