Grand Mal. Why the dislike?

[Dartz]

So, I was digging through a trader's bins at a Con there two weeks ago down in Galway, and I found a copy of Adam Warren's Grand Mal.

Honestly, I'm not sure why people dislike this so much.... or maybe it's just a matter of the loudest bell ringing for longest.

The colours and artwork are vibrant and almost electric....I really liked the artwork straight off the page. It screamed 1987, garish, bubblegum-y and all alive. It's printed from neon at times.

A few nice little easter-eggs in the backgrounds satisfy. Lou and Nam appear in a lift, while Minnie May Hopkins and Bean Bandit seem to make a cameo. Also, look at the ADP roll of honour.... or what Mackie's singing to himself

It's got a sense of humour about itself too that makes me smile.

It's got a more 'American' tone from the author, making it different, but not in the say Tokyo 2040 was different. Priss' musical style stands out as the big change.... and the Sabers are a bit more petty and bicker a little more amongst themselves.

It really feels more like an episode... perhaps a pilot that never got animated. There's some differences and weirdness, but in the end of the day its the same basic flavour... with the kitchen sink of tropes thrown at it and being driven more by plot, than character.

Or maybe I'm just easy to please, and still wearing glasses tinted rose by my surprise at finding a copy without paying Amazon, or eBay. And used to black and white manga on cheap paper.

Now if only I could find energy to finish that Aoshima Motorslave kit. I'll do it after the PG Strike Freedom... I swear

[Stainless Steel Rat]

On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:30:41 -0800, Dartz wrote:

> Honestly, I'm not sure why people dislike this so much....

The writing is, as with most of Warren's early works, atrocious.

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\m/ (--) \m/

[Dartz]

Well...

There is *that* yes. It could charitably be called rough around the edges. But then so was the original series in places.

Might that be part of the charm?

[Stainless Steel Rat]

On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:42:28 -0800, Dartz wrote:

> There is *that* yes. It could charitably be called rough around the
> edges. But then so was the original series in places.

Rough around the edges? If that's the case then Warren's writing is
nothing but edges.

> Might that be part of the charm?

Since it's lacking in anything resembling charm... no.

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[Dartz]

Truthfully I didn't really pay that much attention to the story. Was too busy watching the artwork and having fun from page to page. Call me a philistine or a fool....

It did have some clever ideas. It took me a while to realise that the 'Newsclip' style at the start of the book actually foreshadowed the Skorpion, while being interesting in its own right.

It does a lot of worldbuilding very quickly, and can be picked up by people who've never even seen BGC. Which you have to admit, is pretty good going for such an otherwise short story.

[Rob Kelk]

Now, now - Warren was capable of writing decent stories when he was
using his own characters.

The trouble was that he wrote other people's characters as if they were
his own characters, too, ignoring their established personalities beyond
broad brush-strokes. And that's what made Grand Mal so difficult for me
to wade through.

--
Rob Kelk <http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/> e-mail: s/deadspam/gmail/
"I'm *not* a kid! Nyyyeaaah!" - Skuld (in "Oh My Goddess!" OAV #3)
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear
of childishness and the desire to be very grown-up." - C.S. Lewis

[Stainless Steel Rat]

On Fri, 01 Feb 2013 01:26:33 +0000, Rob Kelk wrote:

> The trouble was that he wrote other people's characters as if they were
> his own characters, too, ignoring their established personalities beyond
> broad brush-strokes. And that's what made Grand Mal so difficult for me
> to wade through.

That's part of it. A big part of it.

I actually had a chance to discuss it with him. Turns out that he wasn't
comfortable with writing Grand Mal or the later Dirty Pair comics he did.
He wrote them because nobody else would step up after Toren Smith stepped
down from the role.

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\m/ (--) \m/

[Dartz]

Hmmm

I was going to wonder aloud if a year or so wasn't enough for somepeople to change/ Priss to find a new musical direction as her life settles down (relatively) and the Sabers to gel as a functional unit of friends.

Then again, maybe it is sitting in a halo for me because it's so rare to find Crisis merchandise on this side of the pond. And the price I paid for it is less than Amazon prices.

I'm glad just to have a copy, enjoy the artwork and the sense of humour.

Also. I keep getting caught out by the fact that you can't edit usenet posts after the fact.

[David McMillan]

On 1/31/2013 5:26 PM, Rob Kelk wrote:

> Now, now - Warren was capable of writing decent stories when he was
> using his own characters.
>
> The trouble was that he wrote other people's characters as if they were
> his own characters, too, ignoring their established personalities beyond
> broad brush-strokes. And that's what made Grand Mal so difficult for me
> to wade through.

Possibly why I like GM so much -- it was my *first* taste of BGC.
Before I ran into it (hanging out at my local comic shop gabbing about
Marvel/DC titles) I wasn't even aware of anime or manga as a genre --
sheltered upbringing (although I later figured out that a lot of stuff
I'd watched/read had actually been Americanized imports).
GM had neat ideas I'd never seen before: the "newsclip" intro
narrative, the Skorpion's "anthology intelligence" (which was actually
somewhat prophetic for things like subsumption architecture in
robotics), some other stuff.
I didn't even know that BGC was an anime until years later, when I
stumbled across the first NA-release DVD pressings.
And while I can see the rough edges of GM better now, I still like it,
even on its own merits. And I *still* say that it has one of the best
portrayals of Nene kicking ass via means that make *sense* for her
character.

[The General]

I thought that the readers had problems with the explanation of Silya's and Mackey's amazing physical and mental abilities due to nano machines called neurophages.

[Dustin Kopplin]

Im going to sell my other copy at Animazement next week, so i'm hoping someone will pick that up.

I need to finish reading it, yet ive had it for about 5 years now. Well, im just really lazy period on some things.

[Dartz]

On Friday, May 17, 2013 1:53:31 AM UTC+1, Dustin Kopplin wrote:
>
> Im going to sell my other copy at Animazement next week, so i'm hoping someone will pick that up.
>
>
>
> I need to finish reading it, yet ive had it for about 5 years now. Well, im just really lazy period on some things.

You've got a good chance, I'd say. There's still a fair few people out there who'll be interested - at least going by the reaction on another board when they found it existed.

[bosscr...@gmail.com]

IT is trashy garbage.