FATHOM or The Ocean's Hottest Inhabitant

Well, I promised to post pretty regularly and based on "real world" tidbits that might spark interest in the average person, so I'll use today's news to start you guys off with a "lighter" comic to prepare everyone for a more involved post I'm preparing for the upcoming week (you should all probably know what that post will be about).

Anyway, today it was announced that a comic book series called FATHOM is not only being adapted into a film, but also already has a "star" attached, namely the unfathomably (see what I did there?) hot Megan Fox. For more details on the project, check this out:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118000796.html? categoryid=13&cs=1.

But I'm not here to talk about the film. As much as I love movies, the studios look at these projects as money-making products, and although there's nothing wrong with that, I'm more interested in the source material...so keep that in mind as I begin to post more often-- the focus of this blog is and will always be the comics, not the movies/TV shows/etc. they inspire.

Ok, so Fathom...well, let's start by taking a look at the basics of a comic book. There are usually two elements that come together to create a good or, at the very least, entertaining comic/graphic novel: the writing and the art. Usually those tasks are done by two separate people, but in some instances a comic book is crafted by an auteur-like creator who can do both-- Fathom is one of those books. The writer/artist was a man by the name of Michael Turner, an artist who had the ability to create flashy worlds populated by characters who popped from the page (his most famous creation, prior to Fathom, was the series called WITCHBLADE, which was evenutally adapted into a TNT TV series). Some people might say he wasn't the most technically-gifted artist, but those people would be hard-pressed to deny his popular (well, as popular as comics can get) appeal among the fanboys, and if you look at his work, it's not hard to see why: the girls he drew were HOT...like Megan Fox-HOT.

So yep, in a rare instance of Hollywood going for the obvious casting choice, they've found the one actress who can portray Michael Turner's vision of Fathom's protagonist, a young woman by the name of Aspen Matthews, pretty much spot on. Allow me to provide you with a visual aide:

There...that is the artwork of Michael Turner in all it's glory. As I said before, he may never have been the guy that the publishers turned to when they needed a subtle penciller who could handle emotional moments, but that certainly didn't make him any less in demand.

Moving on from the artwork and onto the story...well, it's pretty basic. Our hero, Aspen, is this fun-loving young woman whose life has revolved around water ever since she was "found" in the middle of the ocean as a child. She grew up to become an Olympic swimmer and well-respected marine biologist, so the only place she feels comfortable is among the waves. Her kin- ship with the sea is explained as the series progresses and we learn her TRUE origin--she's not just some kid who fell off a boat, she's much, much more...

It's a really fun comic book series that started off small by focusing on Aspen and eventually expanded to include a large supporting cast and an exciting underwater world. Eventually, the writing and art duties were passed on to others due to the tragic revelation that Michael Turner was suffering from cancer. Although Turner continued to work throughout the years, he recently succumbed to the disease during the summer of 2008...a heartbreaking end to a promising young artist who, right before his death, took the Fathom world from its previous publisher, Top Cow Comics, and used it as the foundation to start his own company: Aspen MLT (MLT stands for his initials), which still exists today.

It's exciting to know that one of Turner's most popular creations is finally becoming a big feature film with a perfect lead actress, but you can't escape the sad fact that its young creator never lived to see it on screen...

I wrote this post to give you a bit of context behind the recently-announced project, but also in hopes that you might be interested in taking a look at it. Frankly, the series has two major appeals...the (let's call it what it is) sexy artwork that probably lends itself to a young teenage male audience, but also the ocean-centric story, which is filled with well-researched details about oceanography and underwater life, which is only highlighted by the Turner's rich artwork. If you think it may interest you, I highly recommend starting with the first storyline, which is collected in Trade Paperback format (also known as a TPB - remember this term, I'll be using it a lot) on sale here: http://www.amazon.com/Fathom-Vol-1-Michael-Turner/dp/1582402108.

So that concludes my first official comic book "lesson," by NO means am I suggesting that this be the FIRST comic book you should go out and buy...this is more of "first day of class"-like session where I give you guys a brief idea of what I'm trying to do with this blog...I hope you all enjoy it!