A sixth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series came out last year, by an Eoin Colfer.
Obviously for a series which is so intensely, almost obsessively beloved as
THHGTTG,
any book by
any author which attempts to continue it, will be met with a storm of criticism. Heck, even if Adams secretly had written it himself and people thought it was somebody else, many would hate it from the word go. But in any case, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was inventive and funny. Okay, there were a few details in the middle I thought had escaped the editor's knife by mistake, but not a lot.
So in other words,
don't buy or read it if you feel strongly about Douglas Adams, or feel that, for example, a Zaphod Beeblebrox who has had his left-brained head taken off to run the spaceship is sacrilege.
And of course you may also want to steer clear if you think that the idea of another author continuing a seminal work is simply Wrong. I'm not sure, I can see both sides of that one, very often it feels like it seriously dilutes the originals. For example the Asterix books have been weak since Goscinny died and Uderzo took over the writing on top of doing the art. Ah well.
22 comments:
> So in other words, don't buy or read it if you feel strongly about Douglas Adams, or feel that, for example, a Zaphod Beeblebrox who has had his left-brained head taken off to run the spaceship is sacrilege.
Thanks for the concise info. That really helps to take the decision. :)
I have my copy here. Autographed on Hitchcon 2009. So far haven't found the time to read it... (haven't read any other fiction either, it's all useful non-fiction these days)
I hope I'll have more time for leisure before the universe explodes. ;-)
Well, I didn't like the last one that actually was by Douglas Adams. It was a real downer. I've never been that crazy about the books anyway, preferring to listen to the radio series. I might give this one a shot. I don't know if they really should be continuing it, though, as something like this so much depends on the author's style which can't be replicated. I have no problem with another author continuing Ludlum's Jason Bourne series because he had just a standard thriller hack writer's style so it's not a big deal.
I sort of agree about "Mostly Harmless", book five. It had its good points, but it was very clear that Adams was sick and tired of the whole thing and wanted to kill it good and well. So yeah, a bit of a downer. Hate to say more heresy, but maybe I liked this one better!
... The best thing about the Bourne series (the first was OK) was that the movies were much worse, completely soulless.
The fight scenes were fairly well done, though, and I guess were an influence on the new James Bond movies. If you like those.
Movie Bourne was much more of a superman than he was in the books.
I dunno... I can be considered a very perceptive and fair critic when it comes to books ; ever since I was a kid I knew when a book had weak points and how it could have been done "more right" with minimal adjustments. And yet, I felt that overall, the later Asterix books were quite well done. They do miss that "je ne sais quoi" which was Goscinny's unique genius touch, but over their common time his life-long partner really learned how to stay faithful to his friend's style and make enjoyable sequels.
Seems to me like most harsh criticism comes from fundamentalists. People who seem to arbitrarily seize OWNERSHIP of the whole creation which they received as a GIFT shared with the world. Like you said, "even if Adams secretly had written it himself and people thought it was somebody else, many would hate it from the word go". The word "sacrilege" is most adequate there. (But I always knew you had a way with words, Eo. :-)
Recent series like Lucky Luke also got resurrected, and Laurent Gerra is a very worthy successor to Morris... and Goscinny, again! The Smurf stories also manage to remain pretty good and pleasant.
About a year ago, I discovered a cartoon series on TV, "The New Adventures of Lucky Luke". I felt it was excellently faithful to the original stories, while being 100% new plots. I later found out, quite by chance, that Morris had died whilepersonally directing that cartoon series, so it WAS in good part his own talent there after all. Another superb foot-in-mouth occasion I had missed there! :-p
The main question we need to ask ourselves is this : do we want to freeze a work of art in time (and in Carbonite), turn a pleasure into a "religion" and the late artist into a god? (In Lebanon, for someone famous to finally meet unanimous praise, it is necessary and sufficient for them to die...) Or do we want to see the series kept alive, under the sole condition that its spirit isn't too betrayed? Should we ban all movie adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, including the amazing 20th-century recent adaptation by Steven Moffat?
I also gave a fair chance to the Lucky Luke TV series, in spite of how weird it felt to see Terence Hill replace the hero's appearance with that of his own Trinity/Nobody character. All the rest was actually brilliantly rendered and faithful, so... what the hey, why not? How many different Robin Hoods have we seen? How many Tarzans and King Arthurs? Some were rather good, oui? Have you seen the Duck Dodgers episode where he becomes a Green Lantern? No? You really should... I stumbled upon it a few days after seeing a "canonic" GL animated movie.
Just imagine how much we would've missed, if series had to die with their author. If only Bob Kane had ever written Batman stories. No more the Killing Joke...
Fundamentalist fans are like censors. They turn the very concept of Heaven into a totalitarian dictatorship of fear and anger. Nobody's forcing them to buy the "newer stuff", nobody's conning them into thinking it's more of the original, but NOOOO, they want to decide for EVERYONE.
Well, screw the Pope, I'm going to keep believing in a laid-back God of supreme fatherly comprehensiveness and sexual leniency.
"Moderation in all things, including moderation" - Mark Twain
Heck, I'll even enjoy some iconoclastic parodies, as long as they don't pretend they're still like the original.
A while ago, I bought an Asterix book with zero work from Uderzo himself. It was a tribute collection from his friends and colleagues, for his birthday. A collection of "alternalte reality", oft-hilarious Asterixes. Including a stunning "realistic" version that could've passed for a historical episode... and a priceless one by Milo Manara, where a disgruntled Roman perfect-10 hottie goes to Gaul for some score-settling, because all her fiancés come back bashed and mauled by "these crazy savages"!
As they say today in trendy l33t-speaking forums : "Yes! Moar of that!"
OK, I have to leave you with that already. This summer has been wild with work (www for short), and things are not getting any better. Got college classes to prepare for this Saturday, and a very busy/distracting week to TRY and do the job while the workers finish my house here. I hope at least I can go to the beach NEXT year...
Same for my blog : no updates for the last 3 months is no accident. :-(
Even my internet connection is going to stak shaky at least until this Friday.
'Bye nao, true believers. Pls don't kill the lulz.
Life really IS too short to spend it in a foul mood, isn't it?
Amen.
Thanks.
I'd like to see that Asterix book. In translation though.
The post-Goscinny Asterix books are in fact quite bad. Since the same dude was drawing them they looked just as nice but the writing really is terrible. I would have said that even if Goscinny had written them. In fact not all of the ones he did write were pure gold.
Re: Batman. The Killing Joke is an example of how modern day comic or at least superhero comics have lost their way. Much too solemn and serious. In the end, we're talking about a pretty ridiculous concept - a man putting on a costume to fight crime. That's why I prefer the Gold and Silver Age stuff. Especially Superman, as in those days his comics were just ridiculous. But in a good way.
Anyway, you kind of miss the mark with your Bob Kane comment, as although Batman was his creation he never owned it and most of the great Batman stories weren't written by him. It's not equivalent to the Hitchhiker series, or the Bourne series, or any other. Comic books kind of lend themselves more to multiple different writers in a way some other things don't. Robert E. Howard wasn't a great writer, really, but his style is one that just can't be replicated. Ever read some of the Conan stories by other authors? Pure garbage. For others, maybe it works. I know Robert Jordan's series is being continued by another writer, but this is probably a plus as word is he wasn't very good and the new guy can only be a step up.
I loved Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. But although it was very dark, it also had a solid sense of humor and the ridiculous.
Much of Alan Moore's work for ABC was wonderful, he really has a sense of limitlessness of superhero stories. For example in a Tom Strong story, a super-alternate-Tom-Strong come visiting from another planet. How? He *runs* across the planets like somebody using stepping stones to cross a river! Wonderful.
I did like The Dark Knight Returns but along with Watchmen it's probably responsible for the way comics have gone since. Miller and Moore know how to do it. It's sort of like when other filmmakers try to copy Tarantino, thinking it's easy.
I didn't like Tom Strong. The first couple issues were okay, but I found the whole setup kind of distasteful. It almost seemed like Moore had done it just to show the world how liberal and shit he was, and how backward Doc Savage had been. For one thing, giving him a black wife. Doc Savage never wanted any pussy. Tom Strong not only likes pussy, but he married...gasp...a black chick? All he needed was a gay son or something.
I mean there's a precedent of geniuses being celibate. Tesla was, and he was a good looking, and tall (6'7" and that was in the 1800s!). William James Sidis too chose celibacy. I'm sure there are others. Now admittedly Doc's celibacy was partly because the stories were written for children (though, as with comic books, mainly enjoyed by middle aged men these days).
Well, Tom grew up amonst blacks apart from his parents, if I remember right, so why wouldn't he get a black girlfriend?
I'm not sure it's exactly *common* amongst geniuses to have a complete lid on their libido. But I'd say Tom Strong is a bit more human than Savage, who might as well be a robot for all the interest he shows in normal human spheres.
I liked Top Ten. So many colorful ideas.
And the anthology series too, forget the name... many of the stories were good. Like that boy genius. Again rampant metaphysics.
Eo confessed...
"I'd like to see that Asterix book. In translation though."
Of course. Hard to appreciate them in a language where you're not significantly comfy. The puns that got totally lost in the arabic version, just because the translators weren't up to the required level... oy vey!
Explains why the absolutely brilliant San-Antonio books are unknown to anyone who doesn't speak excellent French : their merrily aloof slang is impossible to preserve and render, even half-decently. Sample : "Yo, Béru, open wide your cigarette butt shelves, my guy! I just dumped an out of season salad, and there's gonna be looseness in the knot rope, with them there sharp-spewers and their feather dusters you see. So nail the old four-eyed coot, spit him to me and stick a mug in the infusion." The grumpy Jap frowned angrily at me: "Please do speak french, mister San-Antonio." But good ole Béru had gotten the message.
You got that? No? Didn't think so... Literal translation.
I bet Dr Seuss also doesn't render quite the same in other tongues. Or Shakespeare. I'm currently studying how to adapt Flanimals, of all insane challenges! For instance, a Splunge in french becomes un Explonge. I need to slip me a cameo Underblenge in my second novel, you see... It's what gargoyles put in their remineralizing soup instead of breat crusts, after a swirling dip in eclipse-filled four-dimensional Limbo. (Or is that eleven-dimensional?... Not sure yet.)
Like I said, Dave, I'm NATURALLY discerning enough to not be fooled simply by good drawing. Since I took text analysis in high school, it's like a background reflex that's permanently active in my subconscious. I can tell if a politician is full of manure (I mean, more than the normal average for a politician! ;-) just by listening to the words, vocabulary and coherence between content and form. (And by learning from watching Lie to Me.)
So, you have a negative opinion about the post-Goscinny books, hey, that's your own taste, can't argue with THAT. You admitted not always enjoying the PREVIOUS albums, so... Samely, not everybody will like a fine wine. I can tell one by tasting it, but without LIKING wine. It usually fails to awaken my enthusiasm. Discerning and liking are two different things. So I'll just keep to my own, intrinsically subjective, positive opinion about Asterix. One question, though : do you read the original French versions, or translations? Remember, tradutore, tradittore...
Precisely why it's always double the work to translate my own blog articles, no matter how silly they are.
The Killing Joke WAS quite serious, but also I thought very good writing. Obviously, it's not in the same spirit as the old TV series with drawn sound effects filling the screen during the fight scenes! But hey, who doesn't have a remark about this or that Harry Potter book? (My own beef being that, by writing for children, Rowling used what I found was an overly simple style. Good vocabulary, but way too simple narrative construction. Shakespeare or Victor Hugo she is not.)
Note to self : finally read the complete version of Les Misérables, which I just downloaded as free public domain e-books. Never had the chance to get a copy in Lebanon before, even though I've seen countless movie adaptations. Hugo, now THERE's a master writer worthy of the Académie. Baudelaire, too.
There have been many styles of Batman series. While I find the graphics of the Brave and the Bold "OUTRAGEOUS!" (© Aquaman), especially that ludicrous jaw à la Crimson Chin, the stories are fun. Few people will like all the incarnations of Batman. And yet, the Killing Joke was spoofed in none other than the super-silly Lego Batman videogame!!!
If you guys (and gals) want some less self-pedestaling superhero comics, try checking out the free webcomic Magellan, I think it's quite fresh and un-standard. Early in the story, the world-famous flying brick (details on TVtropes) hurts his back while saving a 747 in distress! It takes him weeks to be back into full shape. Nice care for realism. And in it, "invulnerable" is never automatic, the "Chandra scale" details its level to very different factors : blows, temperature, energy projection, toxins, electricity... It's also got a decent amount of silliness and self-derision. And realistic-feeling cussing!!! :-)
"In the end, we're talking about a pretty ridiculous concept - a man putting on a costume to fight crime."
Watchmen was quite good in that aspect, IMHO. Probably the very reason why it received a lukewarm public welcome : only the discerning will realize its shunning of genre conventions was actually a QUALITY. The movie was also well done, even the scenario changes were rather coherent. Now, complaining that many came after it, trying to imitate, and failing... that's the curse of all innovators! It'll probably end up with cult classic status over time, like Jane Fonda's movie Barbarella.
"Anyway, you kind of miss the mark with your Bob Kane comment"
Well, you DO admit Batman was his creation. Very admittedly inspired by Zorro, on a side note, except that Alfret is not deaf, just dumb. ;-)
The American system, where characters are often owned by the editor, IS different, yes... but not always in a good way. Remember how they had to invent Infinity Crisis to erase the countless continuity contradictions from the numerous authors? I like a silly fantasy story that doesn't treat me like a mentally-challenged toddler. Silliness is a very serious matter, I'll have you know! So is humor.
Oh, BTW, about comic books, here's a great link to read: Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings. Samely, even at age 7, I already noticed some of these embarrassing failures.
"He *runs* across the planets like somebody using stepping stones to cross a river!"
Dang, this takes some serious motherfucking aim!!! William Tell, eat your swiss heart out!
"Tom Strong not only likes pussy, but he married...gasp...a black chick? All he needed was a gay son or something."
What is it with Americans and that quirky phobia of interracial relationships? Maybe Tom Strong simply doesn't share that attitude, because... he's literally from another planet, not just another country?
FTR, I come from a lineage of at least three consecutive international marriages (four now, with my brother's recent wedding). I just can't figure that weirdest of dogmas that it's somehow "un-natural".
It also took me a very long time to become "gay-aware", simply because I grew up in a prejudice-free family.
Maybe we should all learn to take what we like, and leave the rest be without feeling compelled to denigrate it. You can say "I'm not fond of the later Asterix books", without having to insist "they're weak" as if to justify yourself. Just a thought to ponder...
"I mean there's a precedent of geniuses being celibate."
Sure, but this isn't synonymous with abstinent! ;-)
Have I ever told you how INTENSELY, ever since my early childhood, I resented Disney's obsession with families of exclusive uncle/nephews and aunt/nieces? Forever fiancés everywhere (hello extramarital fornication!) and never a single parent? I'd love to have Sigmund's opinion on good ole Uncle Walt...
OK, time to go to bed. Course preparation is advancing well, but I have several unconfirmed time-consuming visits to dread in the next few days. Darn artisans, they don't come when they promised, don't even bother to phone and kindly inform you that you MAY leave the house and do something else with your afternoon than wait for them like an idiot, and then they show up unnannounced another day and you have to reschedule all your plans. Boom, there go two bloody days down the drain! Lebanon...
(My own beef being that, by writing for children, Rowling used what I found was an overly simple style. Good vocabulary, but way too simple narrative construction. Shakespeare or Victor Hugo she is not.)
I wish that I could have read them as a child as I would have liked them more, even though I did still like them. A lot of the names and names of spells bothered me. It was hard to be surprised about Lupin's secret given his name. To give one example.
Watchmen was quite good in that aspect, IMHO. Probably the very reason why it received a lukewarm public welcome : only the discerning will realize its shunning of genre conventions was actually a QUALITY.
As evil as Ozymandias was, he was the only one who understood how pointless fighting crime at that level, the level of Batman or Spider-Man etc., really is. Still, it didn't go far enough as it's unlikely that any of them except Doctor Manhattan would have survived very long. It would have been more like in Kick-Ass where he got his ass handed to him, except he probably would have been killed.
Oh, BTW, about comic books, here's a great link to read: Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings. Samely, even at age 7, I already noticed some of these embarrassing failures.
I probably hate his art even more than I hate Todd McFarlane's.
Tom Strong simply doesn't share that attitude, because... he's literally from another planet, not just another country?
Is he? I seem to remember him being born of two human parents, only raised on this weird island. Maybe they changed that after I stopped reading, which was after the first two or three issues.
What is it with Americans and that quirky phobia of interracial relationships?
I don't think most Americans do have a problem with them. I certainly don't. It's just that Moore seemed to be doing it for the wrong reasons, just to show how how liberal and understanding he was. I'm not using liberal in the sense that Big C Concersatives use it. I'm sure you'll get that, but just to be on the safe side.
Sure, he grew up on an island full of black people, but that doesn't mean anything. So did Doc Savage. So did Philip Wylie's The Savage Gentleman. Neither of them married local girls. At least Doc didn't. It doesn't have to be a given. Again, it seemed Moore was doing it for the wrong reasons.
Sure, but this isn't synonymous with abstinent! ;-)
I don't recall saying it was. Just that there is precedent, and that - contrary to what Moore seems to think - there isn't necessarily anything wrong with it. There's also historical precedents for lots of other people who weren't geniuses but who wanted to dedicate themselves to something and saw having a family as a distraction or as unnecessary.
You can say "I'm not fond of the later Asterix books", without having to insist "they're weak" as if to justify yourself. Just a thought to ponder...
A thought that, of course, occurred to me. I've been capable of judging other things I don't like as still quality (just not to my taste). This is in fact why I mentioned that not all of the Asterix books written by Goscinny were good. Not just that they weren't to my taste, they weren't good or at least as good as some of his others. Thinking about it again now, though, one of those was the last he worked on which was finished by Uderzo.
I just can't figure that weirdest of dogmas that it's somehow "un-natural".
You must have some idea, because I didn't say or even imply that they were unnatural or somehow wrong for any reason. Odd that you took it that way. As you would say, "a thought to ponder."
It also took me a very long time to become "gay-aware", simply because I grew up in a prejudice-free family.
The remark about a gay son was only due to Moore's desperate attempt to come across as modern, free-thinking, and liberal. A gay son is the logical extension.
do you read the original French versions, or translations?
I read the English translations (my ancestry is Danish but I'm I guess fourth generation American), but even if I spoke French I would read both. You explained how literal translations don't work. The English translators - Derick Hockridge and Anthea Bell I think are their names - sometimes had to create new jokes that didn't exist in the French original simply because the original wasn't translatable. I don't know if this is the case in other languages but it seems likely.
**Note: I haven't been able to post using my account for some reason, but rest assured it's the real me.
I for one was briefly led astray by Lupin's name... because of Arsène Lupin! (french culture...) But really, it wasn't that hard to figure out. I mean, the shape of his boggart? Come. On! ;-p
I've read only one comic book collection of Tom Strong, but I seem to recall he's strong because he grew up on a planet with double Earth's gravity. Makes perfect sense... if you let aside that a different gravity changes the atmosphere's composition, meaning a completely different biology for local life. 0:-)
"Sure, he grew up on an island full of black people, but that doesn't mean anything. So did Doc Savage."
(cough*TARZAN!*cough) (^_^)
"You must have some idea, because I didn't say or even imply that they were unnatural or somehow wrong for any reason. Odd that you took it that way."
I didn't specifically mean YOU here. Just seizing the opportunity to talk about slightly wider stuff that's been bugging me. I've seen a rather disturbing sample of the average online forum-dwelling American in some places. (facepalm)
I guess it's not a representative sample of ALL Americans, eh? (innocent whistle)
"The English translators [...] sometimes had to create new jokes"
One example of this : while traveling to Spain, the Gauls encounter a traffic jam of tourists, going to Spain because the exchange rate is favorable... although it is less and less so every year, because them Spaniards are getting savvy and the prices keep rising. And the tourist sighs : "It's spainful." (Obelix knocks forehead with finger...)
In French, there is a pun between "ibères" (ancient spaniards) and "hivers" (winter season), and the tourist sighs that the "spaniards" are getting tougher every year.
Which, interestingly, has become a joke of the past in 2001! Not sure if this is funny or sad...
"Note: I haven't been able to post using my account for some reason, but rest assured it's the real me."
Rea-hea-hea-heaaaaallllllly?... That's just what a sneaky troll would be expected to say, now, isn't it? You're not fooling THIS lebfag, "Dave"!
Nao release your hostage and let him go home, m'kay? M'yeah, see? M'yeah!
*<8-)
Like Doc Savage, Tom Strong grew up on Earth, but as something of a science experiment (talk about objectification) from the hands of his parents. I don't recall much, but I think he lived in a special pressure chamber or something to make him super-human.
Oh yeah, I remember now! He left that island on a rowboat, in order to meet his runty & ugly twin brother, and then they find out their 4 fathers ("and seven score ago") lied to them about their mother dying at birth, and the mob guy gets buried under a ton of chains, yakkity-yak!
Man, that scene when Tom lifts the limo to get its alarm to automatically stop by itself, that was hilarious. They should make it into a movie, I tell you.
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