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Comic Book Confidential
R4 - Australia - DV1 Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Cameron Murray (31st July 2006). |
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The Film
 Comic Book Confidential is a documentary that tells the story of the origins of the modern day comic book and the path that it has led to get to the point that it has reached. The documentary is actually from the eighties but has been re-released with Kevin Smith doing an introduction for it (world renowned director and comic book fan). The relevance of the documentary is not dated by its age, if anything it gives you a point of reference for the current fad of comic book movies that Hollywood seem to be being churning out. The documentary takes you on a chronological journey through the life of comic books. From its humble beginnings in the funny pages in the 50s to the more well known modern heroes of today, this documentary covers it and everything in between. It highlights the struggle that the artists had to go through in order to realize their vision, legislation that the government brought in to regulate the comics industry. The underground comics, the mainstream comics, the truly bizarre comics, the comics that bend your mind and the comics that are truly perverse all score a mention within the narrative of this film. How can you have a comic book documentary without comic book style transitions? After watching this documentary I still don’t know, but it fits in this case and they are not so startling cheesy that you are willing to forgive the cliché nature of it. The camera work is pretty standard for the time and the genre with nothing particularly innovative or mind blowing. A cool feature of the documentary is that they take panels from the comic books that they are focusing on and then get the writer or artist to read the speech balloons which almost give it a cartoon-esque feel. The use of stock footage to demonstrate the point is also very well achieved and I can not recall any voice over, rather they let the artists lead onto each other, and the tiles to move the story along. The artists themselves are the characters of this documentary with some of them being quite weird. There are of course the standard big guns Stan Lee (X-men, Spider-man and others), Frank Miller (Batman- The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City) and a plethora of other artists all with their own stories and takes on ‘our’ reality. They all speak quite candidly about they’re drug influences and experiences, they are very much an eclectic mix of individuals all linked by one goal, to have people touched by their works. Watching the documentary I couldn’t help but feel that some of the material that was being put forward seemed eerily familiar, and then it occurred to me that it seems that every art form whether it be rap music, heavy metal music, computer games or any other of a thousand ‘controversial’ art forms is introduced there is a back lash against it saying that it is bad for the current human condition. I enjoyed this film, I am not a hard core comic book geek but I do enjoy them. However, if you are not a fan of comics I don’t know how much you will enjoy this documentary, but it will give you a new appreciation for it as an art form.
Video
Presented in the film’s original ratio of 1.33:1 this full frame image is not the best. The image is soft and grainy, detail is limited and colours are faded and not as vibrant as one would like. Blacks are murky and shadow detail is limited. I spotted some compression artefacts which mar the image considerably. I wasn’t expecting much but what I got was considerably less. Despite these flaws it’s far from the worst I’ve seen and definitely watch-able.
Audio
Only one audio track is included an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, considering this is a dialogue heavy documentary this all that is actually required for this film. It lacks depth as one could expect but the dialogue is clear and distortion free and that’s all that one could really ask for in this case. This disc does not feature any optional subtitles.
Extras
First up is an introduction to the film from Kevin Smith which runs for 21 seconds, here he briefly tells us what this film is all about. You can watch the film with or without this intro. Next up is A Conversation with Kevin Smith which runs for 2 minutes 20 seconds. Here Smith discusses why comic books aren’t just for kids anymore and how the 80’s was a time were comics matured into an adult medium. Although this clip is brief Smith does have some interesting things to say, but nothing worth repeat viewing. Following that is another interview clip entitled Silent Bob Speaks which runs for 57 seconds, here the interviewer asks Smith a series of rather stupid questions in which he answers in the usual Silent Bob manner - without saying anything. This is mildly humorous and just like the clip prior is only good for one viewing only. The best extra on this disc is the interview with the film’s director Ron Mann which runs for 7 minutes 16 seconds. In this clip Mann discusses how he got into filmmaking, what type of films he was influenced by and his love of cinema that developed over time. He also discusses the documentary form among other things. Also included is the film’s original theatrical trailer which runs for 58 seconds. Rounding out the extras are brief one paragraph biographies for the following Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Jaime Hernandez, Sharly Flenniken, Lynda Barry, Victor Moscoso, Bill Griffith, Jack Kirby, William M. Gaines, Francoise Mouly, Al Feldstein, Art Spiegelman, Sue Coe, Gilbert Shelton, Dan O’Neill, Stan Lee, Harvey Kurtzman, Harvey Pekar, Spain Rodriguez, Charles Burns and Paul Mavrides. While the interview with Mann was worth it, what this film really needs is an audio commentary and considering this is a film about comic books an art gallery featuring the works of the artists that took part in the film would also have been a welcomed addition.
Overall
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