Geek of the Week: Comics

Comic books have a fun outlook on life. Examine the stereotypical comic book format: wonderfully overblown characters, impossibly proportioned bodies, and the sweetness of superpowers, for starters. Add in characters talking to themselves to describe narrative action ("Head spinning...stomach empty...gotta have sandwich...") and pages gushing with splashy action and you have a great gumbo of enjoyment. My favorite absurdity, however, is the sound effects. For one of the best examples of this trope, witness the Batman fights via Adam West:



Start your smorgas-soundboard off with "Sock," "Pow," and "Zok" with plenty more to come. There is a lot of silliness to the Adam West Batman. A LOT. But it's a head-first, fun-loving dive into an ingrained trait of comics.

Comic book sounds can be so ingrained that they take on a life & recognition of their own. Some characters can lay claim to their own unique sound effects. "Snikt!" is closely tied to the X-Men's Wolverine and "Thwipp!" to Spider-Man just to name a couple. According to Wikipedia, these sounds are trademarked by Marvel Comics, but a detailed search of the US Patent and Trademark Office did not confirm this (always double-check Wikipedia, kids).

As this is Geek of the Week, I have my own broad sampling of the comic sound effects oeuvre. Here follows a shortened classification:

Contact Sounds (usually fist-on-face), i.e., the Adam West Batman specialty:

• Pow! Wham! Boom!

Vocal Reaction to Contact Sounds. What the fist-on-face recipient says after said action:

• Ooof! Ungh! Argh!

Weapon Sounds. Those made by lasers, eye beams, energy blasters, and other props:

• Zaakkkk! Bzzzzt! Va-Whoom!

Character-Specific Sounds:

• Snikt! Thwip! Bamf! Zapt! Shazam! Krakadoom!

During the so-called Golden Age and Silver Age of comics, these types of sound tropes were common. While some of these onomatopoeic (Vocabulary! Ka-Blam!) methods remain in place, modern comics seem to favor a shorter, more efficient sound style. Instead of "Yeeeeeaaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!" a character today might simply say, "Nnf." Although nothing tops the single-digit sound effect, often employed when a character dies or passes out:

"*"

Shortest word balloon possible.

To me, the sound exclamations are a big slice of the fun pie that is comics. Within this brand of literature, imagination runs wild and any flight of fancy is within reach. It is also a visually-based medium, allowing simultaneous expression through pictures partnered with text. I like things graphic, so comics are specially simpatico with me. Fortunately, many good writers, past and present, have graced this medium. Which brings us to The League of Awesome.

This show furthers the medium's indulgences. It's a romp with appreciative nods to classic and modern comic stories. It's also girl-centric and girl-penned. Women writers are a very underutilized branch of the comic book tree. This trend is changing, and The League of Awesome is a terrific trailblazer.

I can't say what sound effects will be employed, but I know L.O.A. has action abounding. I expect this show to have the cheeky fun of Adam West's Batman but be far cooler to look at and much smoother in its execution. My money's on it. In fact, I expect the smart whips involved in this show will find a way to leverage cool sound. They are a group of super heroes after all.

Until next issue, WHAM! (the sound, not the horrible music group)

Ensemble Update

Need a Factory fix before the summer? Check out what some of our ensemble members have been working on:

Matt Engle, after recently closing Legion with Wildclaw Theater, is back as a buccaneer at Navy Pier. Check him out. Watch him shake his pirate treasure. At the end of May, he begins rehearsals for Factory's LEAGUE OF AWESOME!

Corri Feuerstein, founding director of Will Act For Food Theater Company, recently produced the currently running Ten Unknowns by Jon Robin Baitz. Shows run Thurs.- Sun. through May 29. Go here for more details. All food donations benefit the Lakeview Pantry.

Laura McKenzie is part of the two-woman comedy rock extravaganza known as the Laura On Laura Comeback Tour. Shows run on Thursdays through May 20 at the iO Theater. Click here for more info. Click here to read the review in the Tribune.

Eric Roach will be appearing in The Odd Couple, a little-known diddy by some dude named Neil Simon. Previews are May 18-22 and opening night is May 23 at the Raven Theater. Click here for more info!

Now go see some shows!

Factory In The Field

We have a lot of Factory folk doing outside projects and generally having a life outside the Factory. So for today's feature, we thought we would highlight who's doing what in Chicago. I think I have all the info, but if I have it wrong, please correct me. And then I'll get to it whenever I feel like it.

On to the ensemble people and their doings:

Sara Sevigny is in her final weekend of Solid Gold Cadillac at the Athenaeum. A huge Factory group is going on Thursday for industry night, so you know that'll be a rockin' crowd. Yay Sevigny! Join her PhP board too, so you can do a bunch of online things that I don't yet understand.

Chas Vrba will be in Hizzoner, starting this weekend at the Theater Building -- I believe. I can't think of one actor who belongs in that play more.

Christine Jennings is in Mop Top Festival and is anxiously awaiting the start of baseball season. Colin Milroy is also looking forward to baseball season -- but also to the impending birth of his second child. Hey Colin (and Paul Metreyeon) -- two kids are twice as fun as one! Really! They really are!

Laura McKenzie will be showing it in That's Weird, Grandma for six Sunday matinees at the Neo-Futurarium, starting April 12. Showtimes are 2 p.m. We need a Factory kids field trip for that one!

A true slacker in every sense of the word, Corri Feuerstein (pronounced FOY-er-stine) is following up a successful understudy turn in Mop Top Festival by directing "American Notes" by Len Jenkin for Will Act For Food. It goes up May 8 at the Prop Thtr. Everyone's favorite scholar C.W. VanBaale appears in the show, and America's Funny Man Tucker Curtis will understudy C.W.'s role on Memorial Day weekend. Evil Twins fan Nick Booth is doing the sound, and sex kitten Cat Dughi has volunteered her services for the company's foodraising benefit, Cans For Cash (May 18). All photographs by (who else?) the great Paul Metreyeon.

Matt Engle is back from the road and is apartment hunting. He wants to be near the el and pay less than $1200 a month. He still thinks The Proposition is a shitty movie. Learn!

Heather Tyler will be shooting a SAG short film, "Broken," over the weekend with Open Flame Films. She plays heroin Mom. Not to be confused with heroine Mom. Heather has "a big kitchen scene making cookies as the one-year-sober Mom, a death scene as the return-to-the-juice Mom, and a few random scenes as ho-mom who's gotta make a buck." Heather apparently also did something bad in a past life, because she will also be working with an ADD eight-year-old. Apparently, his real mom says to give him a Mountain Dew if he gets tired on set. FUN!!!!

Carrie J. Sullivan is in charge of these here parts, and you better kowtow or she'll have your ass in a Sybaris sling. She is knocking everyone's socks off on stage in Mop Top Festival in a terrific performance. Come see her -- particularly on Actor's Night, which takes place this coming Monday, April 6, at 8 p.m. at the Prop Thtr. Come see us! It's good! I'm working box that night! We can spoon!

Allison Cain is also in her final weekend of Mariette In Ecstasy at the Lifeline Theatre. Do those guys ever do a bad show?

Eric Roach can be seen in the upcoming Strawdog Theatre production Red Noses, which opens April 18. There are a ton of Factory friends in that one! It's gonna be a good'un! Strawdog!!

Congrats to Angie Martinez, who is ADing the next Factory smash hit Dead Wrong, for casting the show over the weekend! Previews are June 19.