A night at the super opera

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend an intimate preview for “Justice,” a superhero inspired opera in the making.

The project is the brainchild of Armand Ranjbaran, a Juilliard undergraduate who has always dreamed of melding his love of music and superheroes—a strange and truly unique pairing.  What I heard was two full-formed movements of a larger prospective work that Mr. Ranjbaran developed along with fellow classmates and baritones, Tobias Greenhalgh and John Brancy.

As a tone-deaf, capes loving fanboy, I was excited to see how an artist would translate the myth making of comics so familiar to me with a form I was not attached to. While comics are ever present in media and pop culture, there is still a palpable (and faulty) divide between the mass appeal of superheroes and the classical, “high art” leanings of opera. I left Juilliard delighted and hopeful. In adapting comics, Hollywood and Broadway most often aim for spectacle. The opera I heard was refreshingly soulful.

Although the sequences I listened in on make no reference to specific characters from the big two, the pieces do a great job summoning the emotions inspired by certain figures.  The first movement with its soaring heights and forceful vocal captures the larger-than-life grandeur of god-like characters like Superman. The second work makes an appropriate foil.  Its incessant and expansive strings and sorrowful lyrics evoke the dark side of hero-dom seen in Batman and a slew of comic anti-heroes. Mr. Ranjbaran proves himself a true comic fan by setting up this contrast. What is more impressive is how repeated aural techniques tease out the similarities between the dark and light side of heroes. Each movement is vitally about realizing and embracing the role of the hero.

I think I can safely speak for the rest of the comiXology crew in attendance in saying the session was promising. I am anything but an opera buff but the compositions and performances resonated with me and left me wondering about the possibilities of a great comic opera.

OMG WOLVERINE YOU GUYS…Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Read Mainstream Comics

Marvel’s update of its 1950s – ‘60s sci-fi series Strange Tales, relaunched under Marvel’s oft-macabre Max label, enters its second season with an impressive new lineup of indie imports. Strange Tales II #1 includes returning successes Dash Shaw and Jhonen Vasquez, as well as art commix standbys  Jillian Tamaki, Frank Santoro, and Kevin Huizenga, among others. These names, big and small, MIGHT be sufficient to draw art nerds out of the lit comics lounges and into the weird world of Wednesday warriors. The question remains: what will convince the diehard fanboys to pick up a pamphlet full of avant-garde Avengers interpretations?

Answer: the same thing that convinces them to do most everything – Wolverine. This season’s opener “Dear Logan” reminds us that Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and speculates that what he does is pretty gross. Within the confines of Logan’s own gym, containing a bare-knuckle boxing ring where superheroes and villains with healing factors can fight to the un-death, the proprietor reads a “Dear John” letter the likes of which even alienate an Al Goldstein. One might wonder why it is that, in the realm of high fantasy, a 5’3” hirsute centenarian hooks up more than any idealized Adonis in the Marvel universe. Or perhaps one does not. In any case, Mesmo Delivery Service’s Rafael Grampa produces some theories as to what goes on between Patch’s heavily populated sheets that creates such an incredibly high turnover rate. Um, at least the author of the “Dear Logan” letter isn’t Jubilee, right…?

The faint of heart and weak of stomach need not worry, however; Jhonen Vasquez, of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac fame, provides a chaser of much-needed levity by the issues-end. A wiener-addicted Wolverine disappoints a pair of starstruck second graders when he reveals (between mouthfuls of street meat) that his healing factor doesn’t work on heartbreak – oh yeah, and also he needs a couch to stay on for a little bit. Hijinx ensue.

The verdict, unsurprisingly, is that Strange Tales continues to be a terrific read for all stripes of geek and nerd on either side of the fine art fence. Another timelessly appealing subject – hot ladies, rendered by an art comics living legend – is promised to be on deck for the next issue, so stay tuned…

Human Torch explains nuclear fission

The reference: MIMS – This Is Why I’m Hot