APOLLO’S SONG

The football break has been a revelation to me … as I have been re-acquainted with another medium that gives me the same non-reefer related kicks … the graphic novel. Particularly Apollo’s Song. The author, the late Osamu Tezuka, is a nut-job genius, up there with the likes of Alan Moore, Will Eisner, and Frank Miller. Written and drawn over 30 years ago, the book was ahead of its time.

It’s got me thinking that the best graphic novels are not necessarily the most entertaining, or that it should necessarily contain the most eye-popping visual or storyline. All that stuff is secondary. What matters most is perhaps whether they have something original or unique to bring to the table.. you know that unconventional coolness which causes that ripple in the ocean which leads to a wave of imitators in its wake. Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns brought something fresh in the superhero genre in all its Frank Miller-ish sinfulness. Alan Moore’s Watchmen was unprecedented in the graphic novel medium when it first came out in 1986 and continues to be unprecedented as we speak. The comic medium is thankful to these renegades. MTV is thankful to Michael Jackson.

And the EPL is thankful to Cristiano Ronaldo. Nani in particular, should be thankful to him.

On the football front, I have already chosen my 11 fantasy players for the season-opening EPL games. All I can say is that Nani is one of them. He has the right ingredients to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s Mini Me.