Monday, May 7, 2012

A LEAGUE OF ONE

If you're a fan of comics and animation—and if you're visiting Creation Point there's an extremely good chance you are—then you owe it to yourself to watch this video:  a tribute to the late, and sorely-missed, Dwayne McDuffie.  I worked with Dwayne on a number of occasions, shared mutual friends and the occasional meal, but there was so much about him that I didn't know.  In A League of One the people who knew Dwayne best illuminate the life of this extraordinary man.  I found it both enlightening and moving.



12 comments:

  1. I'll have to check this out whenever I can view it with sound.

    Whenever I think of Dwayne, my mind turns to the longform Justice League arc that began with SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES' "Brave New Metropolis" and just kept getting bigger until it filled out two seasons of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED.

    Have you ever watched his animated adaptation of Grant Morrison's ALL-STAR SUPERMAN? It's really good and very true to the spirit of the work. That's no small feat, given the size and the scope of the project.

    --David

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    1. JLU was an amazing show, David; I feel very lucky that I was involved and got to work with Dwayne, Stan Berkowitz and the entire tirea,

      I've never seen ALL STAR SUPERMAN, but I think it's time to Netflix it. Truth is, I've never read Morrison's ALL STAR comics, either; despite the fact that, from all I've heard about the series, I'm certain to love it. One of these days...!

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  2. Thanks for posting this, JM. A really nice and insightful look at a talent lost too soon. I have read a number of his books--too many to mention. I did read some of the Milestone books he wrote--a friend recommend them to me and I liked it. Ben 10 was a really good animated sci-fi show for all ages, and of course his work on JLU was stellar. Never got to meet Dwayne, unfortunately, but it sounds like he was a really good guy.

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  3. I actually bought the Justice League: DOOM special edition for the Dwayne McDuffie tribute.

    Wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the st
    ars,
    Jack

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    1. Sounds like money well spent, Jack. And I'll be that DOOM was excellent, too!

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    2. DOOM was... alright. Certainly not as good as his JLU stories. Sadly I saw a better story trying to come through, that time lock of what... 80 minutes? It almost always hurts them, I don't understand why.

      But yes The McDuffie tribute was well worth the price in and of itself. I remember when he came to my neck of the woods (which also used to be his) I met him and what turns out was his wife (she and I didn't chat much, I mean I assumed, but I wasn't sure if vows had been shared or not) and he was an incredibly nice guy. And in the end he was almost what a comic writer's presence should be. I didn't necessarly seek out his work, but when he came on a book I was reading I knew it was going to be good.

      Something of his I would recommend is his Fantastic Four run. It is actually on of the shames of my collection... because I only have half of it. When it cam out it was just after Civil War and I just didn't want to be reading a book which to me seemed like it would be all fallout, so I didn't piock it up. Then 1/2 way through after hearing such good things I picked it up, I figured, Hell it has Ben Grimm it has McDuffie it can't be all bad. And it wasn't all bad, it wasn't bad at all.

      wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars
      Jack

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    3. Sadly, I never read Dwayne's FF. I assume it's out there in a collected edition...? Hope I can track it down one of these days. Actually seems like a perfect vehicle for his mix of character, action and science.

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    4. It was a pretty interesting albeit short run. And what actually originally turned me off to it I found to be a fascinating plot point... the temporary replacing of Reed and Sue with T'challa and Ororo. And even stopping to examine Reed and Sue trying to take care of familial needs. It is printed in two trades, both are out of print, but I am sure available in some way. And I'll say this for the run and Mr. McDuffie, he made Reed chatting for pages about an equation interesting.

      wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars
      Jack

      P.S. what I meant to say was, " I don't know why they limit the tame so. it only hurts the story." I know it isn't important, but it was bugging me.

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    5. Well, then, I'm glad you're de-bugged, Jack.

      Didn't know that Dwayne replaced Reed and Sue with with T'challa and Ororo. Sounds great. There are some wonderful runs I've missed (Grant Morrison's ALL STAR SUPERMAN is one) and perhaps it's time to catch up.

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    6. Catch up? I think you just stumbled across your next post subject, "Hey Kids What Comics should I read... and why?"

      wishing you nothing, but goodwill and hipness from here to the stars
      Jack

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    7. That's a great idea, Jack: If anybody out there has recommendations for me, please post a comment and let me know. Let's limit this to what you think have been the top series of the past decade.

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