15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
coulda shoulda woulda, isn't, November 22, 2009
This review is from: Wendy Pini's Masque Of The Red Death Volume 1 (Paperback)
Okay, disclaimers. I am/have been a fan or have read/seen the following and (most importantly) liked them: Edgar Allan Poe, ElfQuest, Gankutsuou, yaoi, and webcomics of all stripes.
so I knew exactly what I was getting into reading this. For years I have been hoping Wendy Pini would do something outside the box, beyond the safe ElfQuest universe (safe now--back in the day it wasn't, but that's a long story about going to school barefoot in the snow uphill both ways). I also own the Stormbringer book so a return to that art style was like a big welcome back sign to me. And doing classic stories IN SPACE!, so reminiscent of what the Gankutsuou series did with "The Count of Monte Cristo" -- seriously, this would put me right in the target audience, right?
So, what happened?
I followed the first volume online--the moving picture version was amusing, like those storybook videos that used to be popular. But I was glad to be able to get an actual print copy to look at, to read it as a book.
All the elements are there, yet it does not create a cohesive whole. And the only way I can explain why is to compare it to something else of a similar vein: the Cirque du Soleil/Criss Angel coproduction of "Believe" in Las Vegas.
Two great companies that have huge fanbases. Criss Angel is this generation's David Copperfield, he's just that hugely popular, his Mindfreak show is one of the highest rated shows on cable. And extremely edgy. His magic is Penn and Teller-style dark, but without the excessive humor quotient. Cirque du Soleil specializes in beautiful/weird, and awesome "how the heck did they just do that?" acrobatics. And they can do sexy/erotic, too -- Zumanity is a feast for the "no rules" mantra, there's something for everyone in that show. So, getting the two together, Criss Angel and Cirque, should be great, right?
Google it. Read the reviews. It's all that and much, much less. And I'm saying that having seen the show three times. It actually combines the weakest parts of both properties, in an attempt not to alienate the opposing fanbase. Cirque du Soleil shines best at acrobatics; there is almost none in the show, possibly because the focus is supposed to center only on Criss Angel. Criss Angel is best when he's doing fabulously complicated and dangerous stunts: in this show he spends five minutes pulling doves out of his rear--I mean, robe--at one point. Neither fanbase likes what their own side did and now has negative reactions to the other side based just on what they saw from the combined show.
Light and dark, ego and id, they don't have to clash in an art piece, but they have to blend together in just the right amounts.
In Masque, Wendy Pini merges painfully Photoshopped faux animation cel characters, many of which are literally the same image over and over with minor changes (closed eyes, wider smile) with a storyline that moves with the pace of a New Orleans jazz funeral procession: slow, brassy, and in a minor key. The elements that are part of Poe's original are less a basic framework and more of a hanger to drape fashion on, with the occasional Poe-ism tossed in to garner a token in-joke reference. The one does not support the other.
I look back at pictures from Stormbringer where she actually glued real glitter onto a cel, and it has more depth, more spirit, than the flat pictures she's creating now. I see an artist whose work has not grown in the almost 40 years since those pictures were drawn; in some ways, it's actually regressed. Stormbringer showcased a young artist's fire and passion. Masque showcases a vain (either definition) attempt to recapture that, rather than to become something new, better, more.
I want to love this book. I want to be dazzled by this. I want to be drawn in by the scruff of my neck and dragged into this. I should be this book's target audience four ways over. And yet, apparently, I am somehow not smart enough, open enough, or discerning enough to "get" this book.
I'm not giving it a one star review because it's not horrible; it's just not good. I cannot in good conscience recommend it for the whole. I have to say, if you're a completionist for Piniana, pick it up and put it in your bookshelf after thumbing through it just for the sake of courtesy. Otherwise, you might want to test drive it on the website before investing time and money into the print version. And then decide for yourself.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
THE RED DEATH WALKS AGAIN ... THIS TIME IN A STYLE ALL ITS OWN!, October 21, 2010
This review is from: Wendy Pini's Masque Of The Red Death Volume 1 (Paperback)
I'll be the very first to admit this ... I am a purist when it comes to Edgar Allan Poe. There aere a large number of films that have adapted his stories (most of which are in my own collection), but I have found very few films that can really brought to life the soul that Poe breathed into his tales of mystery, imagination and terror; this, I think, may be due to the writers who adapted the tales into their own styles and storylines. I've seen short films and feature-length films that have adapted Poe's tales; some have really come close whereas othrs have gone so far as to, as Poe wrote, "out-Heroded Herod", that is created a story so far removed from Poe's work as to make it unrecognizeable save by the title. Why am I bringing up film adaptations when I'm trying to review a printed work? The reason is this.
Wendy Pini has created her own version of Poe's classic tale THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. Now normally I would have said that trying to set Poe in a modern setting can be dangerous; while I have read novels and listened to radio plays (most notably BBC Radio 7's "After Happy Ever" series written by Lynn Ferguson) that have set fairy tales in a modern setting, it doesn't always work. Ms. Pini has gone further than a mere modern setting; she has set her tale in a distant future on a world that may or may not be Earth. Like Roger Corman in his two 1964 and 1989 film versions (I must state in fairness that he did not direct the 1989 version), Ms. Pini has also woven a storyline of innocence and the attempt to corrupt it into Poe's basic narrative. It took me two days to go through the entire graphic novel on the web and ... to my personal and utter amazement, IT ACTUALLY WORKS HERE! AND WITHOUT EVEN BRINGING A PHYSICAL INCARNATION OF THE RED DEATH INTO THE STORY AT ALL! I was completely amazed to find myself at times racing through each chapter's weekly installment, and after completing the work find that Ms. Pini has really kept both the story and the soul of Poe's tale alive (even if her Anton Prosper does somewhat remind one of a combination of Vincent Price's Prince Prospero of 1964 and Adrian Paul's of 1989), but a final warning ... this is not your kid's comic; there is graphic violence and sexuality, and the final chapter is definitely NOT for the squeamish!
In conclusion, even if the reader is a Poe purist like myself, I would encourage that reader to make this a part of his or her collection. Engrossing and enthralling ... and a "bloody" good read!
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful New Work by Wendy Pini, January 2, 2009
This review is from: Wendy Pini's Masque Of The Red Death Volume 1 (Paperback)
If you are looking for this new work by Wendy Pini to be ElfQuest think again. This is a wonderful, edgy adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe's short story of the same name.
When I say edgy I mean edgy. It is wonderful to see an artist such as Wendy spread her creative wings on something new and totaly different. It is easy for us as the public, to pigeon hole an artist who is well known for one type of work of art and expression. But to be an artist one must always try new ways of expression. Brava Wendy.
The story is easy to follow as long as you keep in mind that is not earth, but a futuristic plant in another welm. Comparisions to earthlings is not the way to look at this story. Take it on it's own fanciful merit.
I found the book very rich in story and color. Very Poe like.
It seems to be a story of deeper meanings if you scratch below it's surface. Anton is a very complex and rich character. This will be a very interesting story as it unfolds. Wendy is showing us a more complex and deeper side of herself.
All I can say again is Brava Wendy,,,job well done and keep it up.
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