Fortune & Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story

OK, Brian Bendis writes great dialogue; I knew that from Powers. He's also a rather gifted cartoonist whose somewhat-absurd, highly expressive style fits a memoir like this perfectly. This is what I love about comics -- the sense that the author is talking to you while remaining firmly entrenched within the story. In this first-person story of Bendis' adventures in Hollywood, the foremost element is his joy in storytelling. it's what makes him write and draw comics, it's what makes him pitch movies, it's what makes him write and draw a comic about him pitching movies. That the story is real only makes it more absurd -- and told by the pen of a wit like Bendis, that's a ride you have to get on. I don't want to ruin any of it for you -- just check it out for yourself.

The year 2000 was the year of Brian Michael Bendis. Working on several incredible comic titles including "Sam and Twitch", as well as "Ultimate Spiderman", He is now recognized as a premire comic book writer. My personal affection for this book, "Fortune and Glory", is limitless. Bendis' great stregnth is in his use of dialogue. Not unlike Tarintino, his characters' dialogue is littered with pop culture refrences that make the "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" fan in me smile. This is one of the books I buy for my non-comic-book-reading friends. Any actor, screenwriter, movie buff or trecker will find somthing to love in this very real account of Hollywood's stranger than fiction reality.

It's tough work being a comic fan, sometimes. Lately, you see, `Transmetropolitan' and `Planetary' writer Warren Ellis has been spearheading a revitalised movement among comic creators and fans to get the word out there that there are comics being published every month in serial form and graphic novel form that are just as, if not more, entertaining and challenging as work in any other medium. Not easy when 99.9% of the world associates the sequential art medium with spandex-clad avengers of justice and furry animals. You throw superhero-masterpieces like Watchmen at them, and they smack `em away (understandably). Most of the time, they'll dismiss Calvin & Hobbes as kids' stuff (understandably). It's hard, rarely-rewarding work trying to ensure the future of a medium that so many have a very personal stake in. Comic pushers can rest easy, though: Brian Michael Bendis is on the job, and is doing everything in his power to make your life a lot easier.In Fortune and Glory, Bendis has a digest-sized autobiographical `comic journal' of his adventures in Hollywood, trying to get his excellent crime-noir `AKA Goldfish' made into a motion picture. He goes through all the standard hoops here: learning the ropes of film-scripting and how it differs from writing comics; the standard meetings with idiotic `D-Guys' and `D-Girls'; the peccadilloes of the industry (one exchange with his friend and co-star Marc Andreyko after being made a phony offer of $50,000 for a script: "I can't believe you live here."/"I can't believe you don't."); and just generally informative of the industry itself.While Bendis has certainly created a great learning tool for anyone who plans to make a go at selling a script in "the dream factory", Fortune and Glory is at least as important to the world of comics as it is to the world of film. In this book, Bendis has crafted the perfect `Comics Activism Kit': it's a simply drawn, hilarious, compact book. The dialogue is clever, snappy and witty (Tarantino with a bit more direction), the drawings are simple and engrossing, and the story is familiar to the average person. It's not fantasy, or science-fiction, or even crime noir: this is a comic about REAL people, and that's something that is very attractive to non-comic fans. This sucker looks and feels like a novel, with the added bonus that it simply reads quicker. Entertains better, too. People are inherently fascinated with movies. We love `em, they're the main source of escape and entertainment for the average person. And the story of the little guy against the big, faceless corporation has universal appeal. So, if you're going to hook anyone on comics, I strongly suggest buying them a copy of Fortune and Glory. It's a hilarious book that will entertain and enlighten anyone, and maybe even make some people respect the power of the comic medium. Then, when they're not looking, throw Maus: A Survivor's Tale at them. Oh, and by the way, if you ever run into Brian Bendis in person, ma

Who hasn't wondered about the decisions made behind the big oak doors that house the great minds' of the movie making industry? Well, wonder no more as Bendis brings an insightful tale of the trials and tribulations of a movie plot based on one of his comic books. While the lying agents and movie producers were not surprising, I was shocked to see the ineptness of most of the players involved with making a movie. Clueless does not even begin to describe them. As for the art, Bendis' style may seem a bit cartoony to the average reader but it actually fits the tone and mood of the story. Forget all of you preconceived notions and stereotypes about comic books. If you like deft, dry humor, this book is for you.

If you have not read the work of Brian Michael Bendis ( Torso, Jinx, AKA Goldfish, Powers and Sam and Twitch) you are missing out on what the modern comic book can offer. You've probably read the Time/Newsweek articles on how comics are no longer for kids but ignore all that and instead center on your thirst for solid stories and great art ( and they're cheaper than movies, sometimes).Fortune and Glory is a change from Bendis's usual crime fiction but he does not fail in delivering flawless storytelling and humor that will literally make you laugh out loud. As you read you feel as though the author/artist is actually talking to you and not in a cheesy Mr. Roper-breaks-the-4th-wall kind of way. The story takes us through Brian's first taste of Hollywood and is sharp in its delivery. It is well worth its price and will soon find its way next to great graphic works like Maus and Understanding Comics. Buy it now before he becomes trendy and you can say you knew him when.