Digitally Speaking...#17 "Apocalypse Al"

Apocalypse Al #1 (Image)
From 2014.

I think it started with Quentin Tarantino.  The smartass outsider making a dent in pop culture with Reservoir Dogs.  I love Tarantino.  But I don't like all the folks who've followed in what Hollywood imagines to be his footsteps.  I'm not talking about other filmmakers who've made movies that are sort of like his.  I'm talking about other writers who spend their time making their characters too quippy for their britches.  Tarantino can get away with it because he is a genius.  But the line has to be drawn somewhere.  And that's at anyone who is not a genius.

The first wannabe I have in mind is Kevin Smith, who became the Bizarro Quentin Tarantino after Clerks was released.  Then there was Kevin Williamson, who became best known for Dawson's Creek and the Scream movies.  (I actually liked the Scream movies, by the way.)  Then there was Joss Whedon, whose style has been become the new mainstream thanks to the Avengers movies.

There's also J. Michael Straczynski to consider.  Joe, as he likes to be called, has a history that dates back further than any of those guys.  When he references Young Frankenstein at the back of Apocalypse Al, it was nearly enough for me to reconsider my opinion of him.  Except I don't think Joe is in the same category as Mel Brooks.  Joe's first real claim to fame was Babylon 5, the quip-happy version of Star Trek that hooked geeks because it was also a pioneer of the serialized TV format.  Then he tried doing other things.  There was the Angelina Jolie movie Changeling.  He was involved in the adaptation of World War Z to the big screen (appropriate, somehow, given that the source material came from Mel Brooks's son Max).  He also did the comic book The Twelve, which I unabashedly loved.

But basically, Joe is really no better, in my eyes, than a Smith or a Williamson or a Whedon.  For a lot of people, all of these guys are very talented, very enjoyable writers.  Which is fine.  But for me, they've always represented, well, what goes wrong when you're trying to find the new Tarantino and looking in all the wrong places.  (Joe Carnahan or Martin McDonagh do it so much better, folks.)  All the quip, none of the focus that will mean something past the next contemporary reference they make.  Which is fine, making references every two seconds.  Or just being irreverent.  Except for me, being irreverent can quickly turn to irrelevant.

And that's what something like Apocalypse Al is for me.  Joe thinks he's finally getting to do something funny for a change.  But as far as I'm concerned, that's the bulk of his material.  Just...spinning wheels.  The title refers to Allison Carter, who regularly combats forces who are looking to bring about the end of the world.  The issue opens with a flippant take on the world-eater (read: Galactus) model.  And flippant is about all you get.  Page after page of flippant.  And Al running around in skimpy outfits.  For some reason.  Joe goes out of his way to praise the art of Sid Kotian.  But if this is Sid's best work...Sorry, Sid, I'm not a fan.

Maybe it's wrong to expect any of these guys to try and be Tarantino.  Maybe it's the wrong comparison entirely.  But I get the sense that at least some of them have careers at all because someone thought they had that potential.  And some of them have struggled quite a bit, outside of cult followings, including Joe.  I think there's a reason for that, and I think something like Apocalypse Al demonstrates what's wrong.

Yes, you can have fun.  But you have to ground the fun in something substantial.  You have to have an anchor.  And Joe doesn't have one here.  And if he's not careful, enough people are going to realize that and his career really will come to nothing, as it's sometimes seemed it will at any moment.  He's a talented guy.  But his instincts are more often than not misguided, circling the trivial rather than embracing whatever inspiration he's found.

If you don't agree with anything else I've said here, just know this: Apocalypse Al is definitely no Young Frankenstein.  And that's the bottom line.  Straight from Joe's own words, that comparison...