Well done.
Quote: Reading ( Prose ): The Sherman Alexie book " Indian Killer ", a multi-perspective murder mystery about a Spokane-Indian themed serial killer who scalps their victims. Given Alexie's literary background, the focus is more on the wave of anti-Native American bigotry sparked by the murders, rather than the mystery itself.
I've just finished "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher", a factual account of a real life mid-19th century English country house murder that garnered national interest. It was the event that sparked public interest in the detective as a literary character and inspired the birth of detective fiction. Mr Whicher, one of the eight original Scotland Yard detectives, shared similarities with many fictional heroes since from Holmes to modern day loner crimefighters.
The two-year old youngest son of the household was removed from his crib while the nurse slept in his room and taken from a locked sealed house to have his throat cut. His body was pushed down into the sesspit of the outside privy; the circumstances provoked national outrage. The investigation uncovered alleged incest, the madness and death of the householder's first wife, possible affairs with domestic staff, poacher grudges, sadism, and revenge and pointed to various suspects including the other children in the house. The evidence included a bloodstained nightdress and a missing scythe. The murderer eventually confessed (possibly to save an accomplice), served twenty years in prison, emigrated to Australia under another name, played a role in Darwin's Origin of the Species, founded a hospital for the homeless, and died at 100 after receiving a congratulatory telegram from the Queen. Nobody in Oz was aware of their famous philanthropist's murky past.
I've also read Lois McMaster's Bujold's The Sharing Knife - Volume 3 - a meandering fantasy romance adventure that I really enjoyed. It's a simple riverboat trip plot done very well.
I've reread Pratchett and Gaiman's Good Omens, one of my favourite books, concerning the end times, the Antichrist, the Four Horsemen, and a long dead witch who was too clever by half (along with angels, demons, Tibetans, Americans, and a full chorus, according to the introduction). I've been surprised on this reread how much of that book's style has crept into my Parodyverse writing.
Quote: Reading ( Comics ): Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca is my favorite superhero comic on the stands at the moment, for so directly and brutally addressing Tony Stark's self-hating ablism by forcing him to sequentially lobotomize himself ( I won't spoil how the World's Most Wanted story wrapped up here, but....damn ). For graphic novels, I finally got my own copy of We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, a brilliant animal rights story with surprisingly non-anthropomorphized protagonists.
I've been catching up on comics after a couple of years of not having the time so I've had the pleasure of reading some long runs that I've enjoyed quite a lot. I’ve been rather happy with much of the stuff on my pull list and favourably surprised. We seem to be returning to a good balance of plot per page with proper exposition, decent characterisation, and a respect for continuity; at least in the things I read.
What did I read? Well there was:
Wisdom #1-6 and Captain Britain and the MI13 #1-15 and Annual #1: Paul Cornell’s never impressed me as much as he did with this run. He’s served up some fine original stories, refurbished or at least reused a range of interesting characters including Captain Britain, Black Knight, and Spitfire, and reprised the mythology of marvel’s UK characters for a modern readership. He also told some good stories along the way, which is perhaps more important still. It’s not a perfect run – I’m still not sure where Blade really fits in – but I felt every issue gave me my moneysworth. I was saddened to realise that #15 was the end of the series but heartened that it gave a proper and upbeat ending.
Agents of Atlas Limited Series #1-6, Ongoing Series #1-8 and some specials: Here’s another well told tale of largely forgotten characters that fleshed them out better than ever before. I’m not sure I’d have made all the same plot choices, especially in revising Venus’ origin, but I’m very happy with the way things have panned out in the series anyhow. This team feels very “Busiekâ€Â, perhaps because it offers a new shine on old characters, perhaps because it’s good guys playing bad guys, perhaps because it delights in the traditions and minutiae of Marvel. In any case I’m loving it.
The Incredible Hercules #112-137: I never expected to find a version of Herc that would top the Layton stuff but I have to admit this is it. Without ever changing Herc’s basic character the series manages to present a compelling and developing series that ranges from the cosmic to the personal. I’m as interested in the minor characters like Hebe (Herc’s ex-wife) as in the major ones like Amadaus Cho. This run is great proof that there’s no such thing as second class characters if the creative talent’s great enough.
Guardians of the Galaxy #1-15: Marvel cosmic done right. It’s an engaging series that manages to steer between epic and funny in perfect proportions. It’s slowly reintroducing or returning to glory some long abused or neglected characters and situations and it’s handling a huge cast without anything feeling forgotten. My only concern is that it seems to suffer from crossovers; I like some of what I’ve seen of the War of Kings stuff but I have no idea what order to read it all in or even where the story goes next. Special commendation goes to Rocket Racoon, breakout star of the year.
The Twelve #1-8 (of 12): JMS brings the same techniques he brought to other series such as Rising Stars and Supreme Power, featuring a large and sometimes disparate cast united by a common situation or origin, in a tale of a dozen minor Timely heroes awoken in the modern era from 1945. There’s nothing too original about that situation (Lee and Kirby did it with Cap in ’64) but this book handles the old saw well and offers a very readable and sympathetic story. The most interesting character salvaged to the modern day is Claire Voyant, the original Satan-serving Black Widow.
Iron Man vol 5 #1-19: I’d heard good things about Fraction’s shellhead and I wasn’t mislead. There’s some very solid work here, albeit clearly initially aimed at meeting the Iron Man movie crowd; Iron Man is “born†in Afghanistan, Pepper is Stark’s perky potential love interest, the “repulsor battery†chestpiece is the unique key to Iron Man technology and so on. Stark is likeable for the first time in an age and in his “Most Wanted†phase (#8 onwards) seems to be paying his karmic debts for Civil War. Fraction seems to be gradually rolling Tony back to a more usable status quo, eliminating the do-anything Extremis armour, the “Starktech dataspine†etc. My main concerns are that Pepper has now joined the long list of Tony’s friends who regularly wear second class suits of his armour and that now her relationship with Stark has become sexual she’s no longer able to stick around for the long haul.
Astro City: Dark Age Books 1 and 2 and some one shots: I enjoy Astro City so much and so regularly that I’m actually overly critical about it. Here we have the long-awaited Silver Agent story and it’s panning out well. I’m less sure about the two brothers as a framing narrative and POV. I sometimes want them to get out of the way so I can see the really interesting stuff that’s happening in the background. The single issue stories have all be good; the Samaritan one was great. I hope the Dark Age payoff manages to match the expectations set up by such a long wait.
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #1-4: Fun. And good to see Neils (Furball) appearing in two monthly titles now.
Avengers Initiative #15-29: Here’s a series that seems to depend on events in the wider Marvel universe for it’s very life, so it’s a tribute to the creative teams that they manage to keep coming up with stories that are mostly entertaining. That said the series is rather soured by having to use some cast that have been badly misused previously (especially Penance) and by constant dependence on Norman Osborne as a recurring villain.
Mighty Avengers #21-29: This book feels more like the Avengers than any other out there, and I suspect that’s Slott’s intention. Jarvis is the key, I suspect. Kudos for taking Pym forward and putting him centre stage without removing any of his baggage, for bringing the Vision back into an Avengers team (albeit not quite the right Vision), and for finding something to do with Quicksilver. I really enjoyed Hawkeye’s (Clint Barton’s) recent guest shot and his exchanges with Pietro, and Jarvis’ reaction to an old-style roomful of gathered heroes in the Infinite Avengers Mansion.
JSA vol 3 #1-15: Always readable and sometimes excellent, this series relies too much on DC history I’m not familiar with to engage me as much as some of the other group titles I’ve listed here. The series relies too much on “surprise return of Character X†or “surprise return of legacy refurb of Character Xâ€Â. Even so there’s a good positive message to the book and it has a lot to say on the subject of what it means to be a hero.
I’m pleased that I can still be engaged and excited by comics and I’m more optimistic about the future of comics that I’ll like than I was a couple of years back.
Quote: Watching ( TV ): Teppen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the anime by Studio Gainax that could be considered a Crowning Series of Awesome. Galaxy-sized drills powered by sheer determination? Sold!
Doctor Who has been my faourite TV series all my life so I was an avid viewer of The Waters of Mars the latest special episode. It's a good story but I didn't rate it as highly as many fans and critics did. it felt to suffer from the weight of its own portentiousness.
I've also enjoyed the two Doctor Who spin off series this year, the excellent Torchwood: Children of Earth mini-series that was shown nightly over a week here and was the most watched programme on TV for at least one of those nights, and the children's series The Sarah Jane Adventures which continues to show that one doesn't need to write down to children.
I'm watching Clone Wars and Super Hero Squad with the children. The former's second series doesn't seem as strong as the first, with no outstanding episodes yet. The latter is goofy fun as long as I switch my brain off; it's interesting to see the cartoon pay more attention to characterisation and continuity than some comics.
I'm enjoying Venture Brothers but I'm missing Brock Sampson.
Quote: Watching ( Movie ): Planet 51, an awful animated movie I saw on behalf of a young boy I've done some behavioral work with. I'm glad he enjoyed it, because I only got five minutes into the " the alien world is like 50's America and the human is the alien " gimmick before I was terminally bored by the predictable puerility.
Last movie I saw at the cinema was the new Star Trek, which I thought was okay for a remake. It looked nice and had some good perfomances (Nimoy commanded every scene he was in with a massive presence) but I couldn't get past the shadow of Shatner and co to really accept it as "real". The Hollywood obsession with youth made it a bit like Teen-Trek.
Before that I saw Monsters vs Aliens which I thought was fun. The individual elements were more than the sum though.
Quote: Playing: Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii, the greatest feat of Nintendo nostalgia porn to date, with a pretty good fighting game attached as well.
My computer's not sophisticated enough for most modern games, but I occasionally enjoy Neverwinter Nights 1 and Dungeon Keeper 1. I'd like to try The Witcher but I don't have a new enough OS.
The last thing I wrote: I'm in the middle of a novel about the legendary St George and the Dragon. That's required me to do some fairly heavy historical digging; there are a variety of conflicting sources about George and even his original identity is disputed. Is he a Catholic martyr or a pagan deity, a historical rebel against a tyrant Emperor or a half-remembered parable about the downfall of an African serpent cult?
After picking the "traditional" candidate for George, born in Nicomedia c275 AD, father Manius Gerontius Anastasius, mother Polychronia of Lydia (aka Anastasius and Theobaste), that cements him in a world of crumbling Roman empire, with young ruthless Emperor Justinian gradually consolidating his power in Byzantium but the fringes of the Roman world in chaos and disollution.
Of the many claimed sites for the dragon I went with Cyrenicia in modern Libya (the early hagiographies speak of Syrene in Egypt, Egypt being the ancient term for all Norther Africa). That place offers the best dramatic possibilities, including culture clashes between indigenous Berber aboriginals worshipping the ancient gods, the civilised Greek-founded modern city states with their "official" Roman pantheon, and the new heretical Christianity spreading amongst the underclasses. Cyrene was devastated by an earthquake a few years before George's time and was a great city in serious economic and moral decline - perfect for a dragon to awaken demanding the local princess.
What surprised me after starting the novel was to discover that there is an ancient site within twenty miles of Cyrene, the cave temple at Slontah, which is filled with ancient ceremonial carvings that prominently feature a worm or serpent crawling over humans, suggesting an ancient serpent cult there before the Greek city was founded around 300BC.
I'm also intrigued by the mysterious Silphium, a herb that grew only in that district that the Romans prized as worth its weight in gold. Cyrene grew rich on the Silphium trade. The herb was used as an aphrodisiac, as a painkiller, and as a caviar-style culinary delicacy. However the plant became extinct around AD160, destroyed either by climate change, overfarming, or deliberate destruction by the local native goat farmers who competed for land with the foreign Silphium farmers. Modern scholars disagree as to the exact identity and actual properties of the Romans' mysterious siplhium.
Meanwhile I'm working on using all this to stoke a genuine adventure story that can also address themes of rulership, collapse of civilisation, faith, expectations of religion, expectations of heroes, and why dragons have a right to rule the Earth.
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