#anyone think always about that one comic in the anthology about these two??
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#danganronpa#drv3#ndrv3#himiko yumeno#himiko#rantaro amami#rantaro#anyone think always about that one comic in the anthology about these two??#bc it lives in my head rent free
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just because you just answered an ask about kon stories i am still made at the superboy man of tomorrow for setting up such an interesting arc with kon feeling superfluous to the superfamily, and clark not even noticing for a while that he’s left the planet, for such a supremely average comic and kon hand waving clark’s single attempt at an apology like it didn’t matter.
I one hundred percent agree with you, but I also feel like...it's almost not the Superboy mini's fault it was mid, because...what the hell kind of character development are we going to get out of any miniseries? Especially in the 2020s, where all miniseries are like, Issue 1: Introduce the concept; Issues 2-5: Nonstop action!; Issue 6: I guess we have to wrap things up now? There's no room for any kind of character or relationship growth because contemporary comic book storytelling simply isn't structured that way.
I did a deep dive into 80s/90s Superman comics a few months ago, and one thing that really struck me was how much time they spent on character. There were a billion subplots and every supporting character got one. Every issue told me not just what was going on for both Superman and Clark Kent, but what was going on with Lois, Jimmy, Ma and Pa, Perry, Perry's wife, Perry's terrible son Jerry, Cat Grant, Pete Ross and Lana Lang, Jose Delgado (MISS U JOSE, COME BACK TO ME), Professor Hamilton, Lex, and usually a handful of other antagonists. Pete and Lana didn't even live in Metropolis or Smallville or hang out with any of the other main characters, and the comics were still constantly like "Better check in on Pete and Lana!" And it never felt overfull, because the comics were structured to keep the central plot moving forward while always juggling multiple narrative balls, so that when, for example, Superman finished saving Cat from Morgan Edge and Intergang, the latest Jimmy plotline would be ready to take center stage.
I'm mostly enjoying the current era of Superbooks because I like seeing all my blorbos, but I'm frustrated too, because they finally have the whole Superfamily all hanging out all the time and they haven't actually done anything with it but let them all strike a dramatic pose on a splash page once per issue. (And, I guess, hint vaguely that various characters feel insecure - Kon, Jon, Kara, Karen - but never ever ever let those hints become satisfying stories.) Between Superman and Action Comics (especially when the latter was still an anthology book), they absolutely have the page count to tell a story about whatever villain Clark is currently fighting...and also Lois's struggles to lead up the Planet while Perry is in the hospital, and also Jon adjusting to not being the baby anymore in the face of his own lost childhood, and also Kon coming to terms with the Lex side of his DNA, and also Kara getting to do literally anything interesting, and also Kenan adjusting to living in America (...is he???), and so on. They're just letting a limited story bloat to fill the page count, instead of adding more story.
I mean. I cannot imagine picking up a Superman book in 1989 and not knowing what a character's job was or where they lived. Where the fuck do Kara or Kenan live? Is Jon living at home? How did the Kents fit two extra children in their apartment, then? What the hell does Jon do all day if he gave up on school after 20 minutes? If Kon is still in high school as that one terrible backup story implied, why is it not a problem for him to go into space for weeks or spend every day in Metropolis? Is Kenan commuting from China? Do Kara and Natasha have jobs? WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY ARE NOT SPLASH PAGE POSING???
Anyway. All that was a little beside the point of what you asked, but I think my point was: we're never going to get anything satisfying with Kon (or Jon, or Kara, or anyone else) until a) he gets to take up space in an ongoing that b) is concerned with something more than fighting the latest villain or Shocking Revelations.
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Golden Like Daylight | Diasomnia
Synopsis: Malleus couldn’t make it to the party in Scarabia that Kalim invited him and, as usual, Diasomnia falls into quiet sadness and frustrated thunderstorms. He thinks about all his parents taught him and how the world can really be cruel sometimes. But after the most violent storms in the nightfall, there are little glimpses of daylight as well.
platonic diasomnia family / angst with a comfort ending / based on ch10, vol 2 comic anthology ft. my own lore hcs / 1945 words
Notes: Since half of this fic deals with my hcs about the Valley of Thorns in general, I made a separate post that will summarize it so we don’t have long ass author notes~~ Also, it’s based on that chapter from the comic anthology but apart from context, it’s not a need to read it to understand this story
Hope you enjoy it!
Golden Like Daylight
Malleus has been alone for much longer than anyone could have imagined. Born into a family of noble blood, all he could remember from early childhood was a lot of people around him, caring and watching over his well-being. His parents always had a glimpse of his special power and told him stories of the glory days of the Valley of Thorns.
But the more time passed, this special and happy atmosphere ended up like wood consumed in the fireplace. Lilia’s presence was one of the few things that truly remained unchanged.
The Lady of Thorns’ gaze grew colder every day. The countenance of the Lord of Thorns, direct son of the Queen, harder than stone. Malleus wanted to believe that they didn’t ever realize how much they left their son aside to deal with the affairs of the kingdom — without rest, just gathering together at dinner. Still, he was almost always aside.
Not that he didn’t understand why. His father worked as second-in-command for the Queen and his wife dealt with diplomatic issues. It was amazing how a place so isolated from the world could have so many problems.
It was only a hundred years after the Last Great Fairy War and they were just organizing the policies of coexistence with neighboring human villages and trying to maintain the peace between the two fairy valleys in which a lot of blood was shed to achieve.
As a prince, Malleus had everything at his disposal. Toys, books, comfortable clothes, access to quality lessons. But he had only one wish. A simple, even silly wish.
“Go outside?,” his mother repeated his words in a confused tone.
The Lord of Thorns took his eyes up from the treaty papers of the new diplomat of the Valley of Flowers, Florian Braginsky — which he was being forced to read — in order to face his son.
“Malleus, why are you talking about this?,” he asked.
“I wanted to see what the eastern mountain village looks like, it is near here. Lilia could take me there.”
The sound of his former tutor’s name made the Lord’s blood boil. How revolting it was to see the man who taught him everything he knew lower himself and abandon all his ideals, those he used to deeply believe. He was right when he said, that night a hundred years ago, that Lilia had lost more than one wing in the Battle of Dornröschen.
“I do not see why you should go. There is a cruel and terrible world beyond the mountains that surround our kingdom. Not even among our own can there be anything greater than mere alliance. These fairies should be grateful every day for the good fortune of being in our presence and keep living,” the Lord of Thorns put down the papers on the table.
The hard thud made Malleus cringe a little. His mother took the papers and arranged them better in a perfect pile.
“Malleus, you know that our species is very rare and therefore, it is not surprising that the other fairies fear us. We don’t want these people to say bad things about or to you. Therefore, above all, you must stay in this castle,” she said to her son, perhaps not as docile as she thought her tone would come out.
The marriage between Mephisto and Tauribeth was, as with Malleus’ grandparents, a way to keep the dragon-fairy species alive. There were really few such families around the valley, the most powerful House managed to rise to the throne — and these were the Draconia, the center of everything being the Queen of Thorns.
Still, Malleus wondered how the most powerful and feared fairies should need to hide from others. Malleus knew about the scars that the human kingdom nearby, now not so numerous, had made in the fairy valleys. His species was one of many clans that still held grudges against them.
However, he wasn’t going to a human village. It was a place inhabited by faeries. Lilia would be next to him, he would be well protected.
“No more talking about it,” his father cut off before Malleus could try to argue once more.
“Yes, sir my father.”
There was a brief sound of doors opening and, for a moment, Malleus had a glimmer of hope as he saw his grandmother enter the dining room. The air around her was heavy but elegant, full of ceremony and honor. As a queen should be — what the young prince should have become from there many hundreds of years ago.
In general, the Queen of Thorns was a little more compassionate to the wishes of her grandson than his parents might like. However, this didn’t mean that she didn’t share the opinion and hesitation of keeping him inside the castle rather than showing the kingdom beyond the heavy wooden doors.
‘Well, well, well,” she said as she sat down on the other side of the table, in a large, thorn-adorned chair just like the one her son was sitting in.
The Queen looked tired and perhaps a little frustrated that Lilia was planning yet another future trip abroad — a distant and sandy land, something alike — in yet another of his usual “whims”.
“What were we talking about?,” the Queen of Thorns asked.
“Nothing, madam my mother,” the Lord said, giving his son a sideways glance to remain silent.
But Malleus had already given up hope of mentioning the village he wanted to visit again.
Over the centuries, he began to wonder at certain times if his parents were not right. Well, they were no longer there with him to face him and silently state how obvious it was. That realization was a sad thought two hundred years ago, not so much nowadays. It was neither time nor age that mattered in the present to Malleus.
The day before, he had been invited by Kalim to a party.
And it folded as it would usually happen: Malleus missed the event due to a mysterious circumstance. Sometimes he didn’t really notice the time, other times others forgot about him.
At the time, Cater forgot to tell him that Kalim’s banquet night had been rescheduled at last minute to that same night. Since Lilia had orchestrated for Malleus to participate in his place, he also couldn’t have known about this sudden change.
In order to help Malleus make friends on his own, things got complicated. As per usual.
Because of this, strong thunder crackled through the skies in Diasomnia and a torrential rain fell on the outskirts of the castle, becoming a misfortune for any student who was outside the dormitory at that moment.
Lilia would like to say that the situation wasn’t so bad because Malleus distributed all the treats and souvenirs he bought in Sam’s store to the students, but his aura didn’t change at any time. Each gift was delivered as if they were objects rescued from a disaster or belongings of deceased soldiers being returned to their families.
It was undeniable that Malleus had a special sense for gifts of the highest quality — of this no one dared to complain. Sebek’s voice competed with the storm outside in all his praise of his generous veteran and sovereign prince.
But Malleus was still in his worst “Nihilleus” form.
Nothing made sense, everything was worthless. That was what his eyes of emerald flames said, burning low. How many times had he been through these situations? How many more would you have to overcome before fate is satisfied with his humiliations?
The world always abandoned Malleus, and he no longer strove to try to hold its sands in his hands. In his thin, light marble fingers there was only loneliness. The nothing. His grandmother sometimes held those same hands and repeated the words of their family.
A Draconia can only trust a Draconia. A fae can only owe to a fae.
He was alone in that vast world that pushed him away with fear and distrust. Just like his father said they would. Malleus sighed, asleep in his own thoughts as he sat on the sofa in the Diasomnia lounge. The place made him feel at home — but sometimes, that was exactly the problem.
His parents were right. He would never leave the confines of the royal castle. He should not, that was his world. The only place where he would be safe and well received. Still, none of this comforted him. Not only would he be completely ignorant of the human world and the other fairies around him, he would be alone.
Always alone, as if trapped in a long night of eternal sleep. For eternity, eyes closed. The rest of his semi-immortal days would be a mere drop in the greatest of oceans. Would he ever die? Impossible. Few things can hurt faes, especially dragon-fairies.
Sitting on his throne of thorns, nothing could reach him. Not even death. Much less life.
“Malleus-sama? Could you teach me more about this gargoyle?”
Malleus awoke from his deep thoughts as if awakened by a kiss of the dawn. Soft morning rays passed gently across his face to bring him out of that dreaded darkness. Thus, Malleus faced Silver who was holding a miniature gargoyle in his hands.
Ever since Lilia had brought that little human into their life, Malleus had wondered what his parents — mainly his father — would think of Silver if they could have had the chance to meet him.
Silver with his crystalline eyes, lilac as the most delicate wildflower. Dedication to the prince of his people — because he was raised among thorns — in every action. A human he could trust.
Malleus knew Silver had pity for him, but there was something in his mercy that didn't make him feel completely ashamed. He then noticed how Sebek continued to praise him, his words worthy of the best books in the Royal Thorns Library. Nearby, Lilia gorged himself on sweets.
A small smile appeared on Malleus’ face almost at the same moment when the rain outside slowed down.
“Well, Silver, this one is a pretty simple model, but…”
Malleus always felt good about talking about gargoyles, maybe that was the benefit Silver had in mind. He remained silent and paid attention to Malleus’ words as much as he could — at least, to understand part of the matter. Soon after, Sebek joined Silver’s side as an avid spectator.
“Um, it reminds me that I had saved some cookies that I made last night,” Lilia suddenly commented. “Let's rock this party, boys!”
The young fellows suddenly jumped off the couch to go after the old fae, trying to convince him that he didn’t need to do this — and “the wise words of the Young Master about gargoyles will feed our hearts enough!!”, as Sebek said.
Watching them closely, Malleus let out a soft laugh. He was incredibly grateful for the company and patience of those three.
They were golden like daylight.
The thin rays of sunshine that appeared after the gray clouds of rain stopped its dreadful crying, slowly making it into a new time to step outside. Of course it wouldn’t be enough forever. Malleus needed to learn more about the world around him, make new friendships and understand the purpose of his own existence.
But sometimes all he needed was his family. Maybe not exactly his grandmother or his parents. Just Lilia and his awful cooking skills and jokes. Just Sebek being this tall, endearing and energetic child. And just Silver being like the morning dawn, sleepy but gently welcoming to view.
Not his servants or soldiers but his friends. Malleus’ friends. Precious lives he loved with all his heart.
Special notes: yes, this is a tiny little reference to “Daylight” by Taylor Swift. It was meant to be a Silver fic, then turned out to be more suited for Malleus, then it just got too deep…
And I’m planning on doing a little omake about Lilia’s cookies. I just thought that randomly inserting some comedy would break the flow here (and it would be too long lol), so I’ll let it for another time. But thanks for reading 🩷
#twisted wonderland#malleus draconia#lilia vanrouge#silver#twst silver#sebek zigvolt#twst scenarios#twst fanfic#platonic relationships#diasomnia#angst with comfort ending#cherry's writing#cherry's mumbling about twst
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art summary for the new year— my very first one actually, I think?? ive done way more drawing and i feel proud about where i came from and what i plan for the future.
Reflection: I’ve pushed myself this year with a month long art challenge, taking a business course for my art, created a line of greeting cards and am making merch that I’ll soon be releasing in a store. Utilizing my experience from my previous employment as a UX/UI graphic designer really helped. My commission workflow is much more efficient now that I’m not working another job as well as doing comms at the same time. Also I like, actually learned how to take care of myself. It turns out pushing yourself to your limit all day every day creates burn out and actively hinders you in the long run? Shocker. I am more intentional about everything I do. I care about myself more than anyone now.
Accomplishments:
I’m doing comms again and it’s not making me want to explode!
Moved out of my house and didn’t die. It’s been really awesome being able to see my friends more often and to be present.
I have so many plans for things in the future; calendars, adoptables events, more art challenges, writing challenges. This is an accomplishment for me because, tbh, I never liked thinking about my future before. People that know me long enough have seen my journey and it was a turbulent one. I am much braver than I was before.
This year’s goals:
Set up a shop - v soon, i have supplies set up
Kofi membership - soon! i want it up this month
Make at least two comics, but especially one to debut to shortbox comic fair!! Because idk I just really want to
STREAM Jesus Christ ill do it soon. I’m just really shy I’ll get it done
Long term future goals:
Videogame videogame videogame. I at least want to be a part of making a VN in some capacity. I’m a bit disorganized, but if I really put my mind to it will happen.
Zine or anthology?
Children’s book! I have to start writing this and then actually making it and pitching it maybe but I have always wanted to make one like actually
Just make more original stuff.
I really truly want to get to know my community better. I struggle at socializing but I crave it deeply.
If you have gotten this far thank you for taking your time to care about me and support my work. I really appreciate everybody that has seen me get this far, and I hope you can look forward to my future endeavors as well.
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Kotetsu and Barnaby for the character ask pls? 💚💚💚
Ohoho the boys! The lads! The bickering buds themselves! 💗
Don't mind if I do~! Thank you so much for the ask @isleofair! 🌟
(Ask list for the curious ❤)
I will start with the wildest of tigers 🐯💚 And since there's two, I'll put this under a read more cut so I don't flood anyone else's dash XD
Kotetsu
Sexuality HC:
I'm leaning towards Bi with Demi tendencies for him
Gender HC:
Himbo lmao XD
A Ship I Have With Said Character:
Obviously Taibani - though a close second is Kotetsu/Tomoe because 🥺😭💗 He loved her so much, gah!
BROTP:
Kotetsu and Antonio, like, they already go way back, to high school if I remember correctly. They always go out for drinks together and they always just seem to have a good chill time together 🌟
NOTP:
Karina and Kotetsu. Like, I can see the appeal but i just do not vibe with it lol Like she's 16 in the beginning of season 1, and Kotetsu is like, 35? Like he is almost/practically old enough to be her dad. It's not the age gap I have a problem with really, it's mainly more that I kind of think of my dad when I see Kotetsu? Like, my dad and him share the same birthday and they both act goofy, aren't always around for their kid but try their best? I can't help but kind of think of my dad sometimes when I think of Kotetsu so, thinking of Karina x Kotetsu it's like 'that would be like if I dated my dad fjdbfkdjb' just can't do it man 😂 Sorry for the ramble there! 😂
Random HC:
One of mine I like to ruminate on is Kotetsu accidentally hurting his family members when he was a kid and first developed his NEXT powers. Like, that scene in season 1, during the flashback of the bank robbery? In the sub, the dialogue reads 'I'm not supposed to touch anyone when I'm shining like this', compared to the dub that simply says 'don't come near me' - like, the sub implying he was told to not be near people, to not touch them, and that got my brain going:
What if he was told he wasn't allowed to touch anyone because he might have accidentally really hurt a friend/classmate/family member before he had total control? 👀
cough cough Kotetsu's dad perhaps?? cough cough 👀
General Opinion:
I love him. He's dorky, funny, earnest, tries too hard, fucks stuff up, but never gives up. Despite his past and hardships he is still a positive person and always sees things through to the end. A type of person I wanna be. 💚
Less formal version: I want to put him in a blender and drink him 😂
Next up, the bun! 🐰❤
Barnaby
Sexuality HC:
He gives me Ace/Demi vibes 💜
Gender HC:
Pretty boy but not a twink - he can still kick your ass into next week lmao 😆
A Ship I Have With Said Character:
Taibani once again - no contender for me XD
BROTP:
Barnaby and Mattia - the childhood friends. They catch up and talk about their work and even vent with each other, springing for dinner every now and again. I love the side of Barnaby we get to see when Mattia is around, he seems almost carefree, it's nice. They vibe well together ❤
NOTP:
Oh man, I haven't really though of a NOTP for him?? 😅 I guess I wouldn't want to see him put with Maverick, because like, not only did he orchestrate the most traumatic events of Barnaby's life he was also a father figure for him before that. Otherwise, I dunno 😆
Random HC:
Speaking of Maverick, I HC that he wiped/altered a lot more of Barnaby's memories than we were shown. Like, thanks to the comic anthology I saw one chapter that kind of made a little point at that and it's stuck with me ever since.
Like, if Barnaby ever started to rebel at a younger age then Maverick would alter his memory. Got too close to discovering the truth? Nope, no he didn't, silly boy that was just a bad dream. So much to the point where Barnaby has trouble remembering his past at all and can't help but feel like even his memories aren't his own. Good angsty potential - and potential me and a friend discuss frequently 👌
General Opinion:
At first I was like 'okay we got a cocky pretty boy, alright, he seems alright, let's see what he can do' and then the more I watched the show the more I really loved his character. How he always seemed so poised and suave and haughty - like he's confident definitely and he knows it, but also that sensitivity, that raw emotion and anger he displays - it is so incredibly human and realistic what drives him to do what he does and act the way he does. Slowly learning over time that his life has room for more than just revenge. Now I like him just as much as Kotetsu ❤
Wow, I really went deep into some of these answers my goodness! I think I've spent over an hour thinking all these thoughts out!😅 But anyways, thank you so much for the ask isle, I had a blast answering these questions - and even better, you gave me two characters! Double the fun!
Thank you so much!! 💗💚💗
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So I kinda of want to try something different with my #manga covers tag. I dunno why I'm posting to preface the fact, I don't think anyone who follows me follows me for that tag specifically. But this is my particular little corner of the digital void and I can scream whatever impotency i want into it. Normally I just drift through the amazoncojp recommendeds from a clean private/ingonito window and just see where it leads me. My priorities on what I actually end up posting tend to be toward
individual cover art i like, or covers that I think look particularly interesting in sequence
franchises that I distinctly don't recognize from the western licensed market
specific trends across multiple titles in a genre, or within a certain mangaka's bibliography
titles with kanji or grammatical construction that I don't recognize and want to look up/practice translating
But every once in a while I get sucked into a little riptide of publisher recommendations, and the common thread is what magazines things were serialized in, and it got me thinking I'd like to try and lean into it.
In the past I've opted to collect magazine covers rather than single series tankobon ([Harta/Fellows] [Kenchiku Chishiki] [Galette Meets] [Marginal] [Tsuri Comic]), but even though that gives a very broad snapshot of a magazine's outward aesthetic from month to month, it doesn't really communicate the content of what's really being published along side what, and how those juxtapose and highlight their target audience. And in thinking about what some magazines' appearances really have to say, about who reads and who they want reading them, I realize that for as big as the manga boom got in the west these past few decades, a lot of fans don't actually have any direct interaction with the magazine format, beyond just barely recognizing the JUMP brand. (we had that brief experiment with Shounen JUMP, Shoujo BEAT, and RAIJIN in the 2000s but it was kind of an abysmal failure.)
Ive always really loved the anthology magazine format that serial manga in japan follows, and it's kind of their secret weapon for actually producing and moving the sheer staggering amount of print content that they do. And at levels that western print media just can't really compare with, not as a matter of competition, but just because the two industries operate on such vastly different models.
(I nearly forgot but I did go on kind of an adjacent rant to this once before, that no one really saw :P It was a little more focused on the old fanscanlation scene but some of its tangents are the same tangents I'm about to go on here, so I might as well link it here.)
For example, depending on the size, a monthly magazine might run between one to two dozen individual titles. And these days that would cost you about 5.10USD to grab off the rack on your way to school, or work, or on your lunch break. And that could include any number of long running series, new up and coming works, and pilot chapters or stand alone one shots from either new or established authors. By comparison a single issue of a monthly or bi monthly comic book in the US could cost between 3.99-5.99USD for what amounts to about 19 pages of content.
So, if that's issue #1 of a brand new title? or issue 100 of an ongoing series you don't keep up with? Would you be willing to pay that $4.00 to try something new? Would you be willing to pay that in addition to the $4.00 to keep up with a title you're already following? How many series would you really be comfortable following and still trying something new? Or how many new comics would you really consider picking up given the number of comics you already keep up with?
With anthology magazine format that entire game of chess between a marketing department and your wallet just straight up doesn't exist. You pay that $5.00 for a monthly issue no matter how much of it you're keeping up with, and every issue there's that free chance that you'll flip through those pages and find something cool that you decide you'll start following. And so long as they keep readers constantly engaged, even while selling magazines at a loss, it means the overall cashflow of magazine purchases, ad revenue, and eventual book sales never stops. And it all funnels back upwards to the month company that redistributes those funds to the departments it needs to to make up the slack and keep the whole machine running.
Anyway point being that manga magazines have a really neat sort of internal ecosystem they curate where the mix of content any one magazine publishes, even under the general umbrella of a target demographic like shounen or josei, is really interesting. Because really, when you follow a manga, you're following the magazine, and that means you consume everything in it, even if only tangentially. And we miss that experience by not having a magazine format for manga distribution in English. So, I'm going to post some magazine covers, and following each will be the tanokbon covers of everything currently running in them; that way, short of being able to just flip through a copy of the magazine, you still get a kind of glimpse of what that magazine's content looks like at a glance.
anyway like I said, I dunno why I thought that needed to be prefaced. There's a list of magazines I'd like to try and get to but I'd rather queue up a full roster at a time so rather than my usual random bursts of whatever I can dredge out of my drafts on a slow day at work, there will probably be some downtime between each magazine.
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I was tagged by @irisopranta so here's a little trivia!
Share your wallpaper: It's... just the default MSI wallpaper (I have commitment issues lol.) I could probably use a screenshot or a commission of a suitable dimensions, but meeehhhhh.
My mobile wallpaper is this Dragon Age Tarot-style commission from @needapotion
I've been thinking about changing it, but I'm not sure to what.
The last song you listened to: The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance (I mostly listen to music while driving. Shockingly this song is not on any of my many playlists)
Currently reading: Uuuuhhhh I don't read as much as I should, but when I do I've been bouncing between:
The Death and Life of Schneider Wrack by Nate Crowley, which I really enjoy but have been trying to finish for like a year and half (it's not long i'm just lazy). An inventive nautical zombie romp with a dash of social commentary.
Asian Ghost Short Stories: An Anthology of New and Classic Tales. The intersection of folklore, horror, and culture was the topic of both of my undergrad senior papers, though they mostly focused on Japan. I've already read most of the traditional Japanese stories in this book, but I don't know very much about ghosts in other Asian Countries, so it's been an interesting read! I was also drawn to it because it contains translations of new short horror stories by unpublished Asian authors.
The Black Bestiary: A Phantasmagoria of Monsters and Myths from the Phillipines by Budjette Tan (Author), David Hontiveros, Kajo Baldisimo (Illustrator), and Bow Guerrero (Illustrator). See above. This book is really interesting, because it's an illustrated compedium of myths and monsters, but the entries are written from the perspective of modern-day monster hunters recording their experiences in a journal. Apparently it's a sequel to a book called The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo, which I'll have to pick up sometime. The art is very cool. One of the illustrators, Kajo Baldisimo, is the main illustrator of a comic series called Trese that semi-recently received an animated adaptation with audio available in both English and Tagalog. I've been meaning to consume both of these at some point as well.
Last Movie: Uuuuuhhhhhh.... I'm not much of a movie person, so I don't really remember, but I guess maybe Dune?
Craving: Curry and rice (I'll make some the next time everyone else is out of the house >_>)
What are you wearing right now? Black leggings and a sweatshirt with the word "Catnip" over a collage of images of cats and slogans like "Cheap Thrills" in the style of an old-school Reefer Madness poster.
How tall are you: 5'4 (164.56 cm) (People always say "I thought you were taller!" Including someone i worked with in-person for more than a month-and-a-half.)
Piercings: Just the boring regular ear piercings.
Tattoos: None, sadly. See: fear of commitment
Glasses? Contacts? Neither.
Last drink: Ice water (I'm trying to drink more water, but I'd rather gargle metal shavings than drink room-temperature water.)
Last show: Hmm this one was also a while ago. I think it was Dragon Age: Absolution.
Last thing you ate: Pork roast (bleh) and potatoes for dinner.
Favorite color: This is a cop-out but I like lots of colors. I guess maybe green, orange or red? But I also like white, black, most shades of blue (navy can get fucked), purple, yellow, pink, silver/gray, etc.
Current obsession: FFXIV
Unrelated obsession: Dice! I love hand-made ttrpg dice sets! They're so pretty and unique! Sadly, not playing in any actual games has not put a damper on my bankruptcy-inducing dice habit.
Any pets: Two cats (Hansel and Gretel) and a dog (Isabella).
Do you have a crush on anyone? Nah.
Favorite fictional character: This one is really hard... There are probably so many I'm forgetting. The Justice of Toren/Breq from the Imperial Radch series, Matthew Swift from the Matthew Swift series, Alistair from DA:O, Anders, Fenris, and Isabela from DA2. Garrus from Mass Effect. Esteem from FFXIV, Alisaie from FFXIV (though I also really like Haurchefant, Y'shtola, Hilda, Ysayle, and Fordola.)
Honorable mentions to the characters I used to have keychains of on my pen case (I would try to encourage shier, nerdier students to talk to me by watching/playing things that were popular with high schoolers and putting my favorite character from the media on my pen case, which students would get very excited about): Chuuya from Bungo Stray Dogs, Childe from Genshin Impact, and Cu Chulainn from various Fate-related media.
The last place you traveled: Uhhhh I guess my last major trip was to... here (America)! My last "vacation" was to Sapporo (that was right before the pandemic.) I do occasionally take shorter day trips to towns around my area, but the furthest afield I've been recently is Grand Marais in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
I will be in Las Vegas for the FFXIV Fan Expo this summer though!
Tagging: I think everyone I interact with has already been tagged in this, but if you haven't done it and want to here is your unofficial tag!
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What’s Out This Week? 10/12
Anything can happen on Hal-lo-ween
It’s better than a vi-de-o
Gremlins going to mess up every cas-sette
From Lon-don to I-da-ho
Chilling Adventures Of Salem one-shot - Cullen Bunn & Dan Schoening
Salem the Cat has always been known as Sabrina's familiar, but what happens when Sabrina's not around to protect him (or, as is more the case, when he doesn't have to protect her)? This special one-shot explores a different side of Salem's life, one in which he acts as an anti-hero enacting vigilante justice on those who hurt others like him... animals, in a horror story that's equal parts Pet Sematary and Hereditary.
Black & White: Tough Love At The Office GN Vol 1 - Sal Jiang
Sparks (and fists) fly in this violent yuri love story. Shirakawa Junko is an upstanding employee of a high-level bank. Her colleagues all respectfully admire her... except for Kuroda Kayo, a colleague who's transferred to her department. Shirakawa is supposed to train Kuroda, and it does not go well. These women have a bizarre love-hate relationship that results in either violent office attacks or angry lesbian sex. When a sinister conspiracy seems to be afoot at their bank, can these two stop having bruised hate-sex on piles of documents and work together to investigate? This provocative LGBT+ drama is ready to rumble.
Approach #1 (of 5) - Jeremy Haun, Jason A. Hurley & Jesus Hervas
When airport employees Mac and Abigail find themselves snowed in after a blizzard, they witness a terrible plane crash. After pulling a survivor from the wreckage, they realize a terrifying truth: this plane has been missing for 27 years!
The nightmare has only just begun though, as the people trapped in the airport soon find themselves confronted by what this plane actually brought back....
For those with a fear of flying... it's not the sky that deserves dread, but what lies beyond it...
DanDaDan GN Vol 1 - Yukinobu Tatsu
Momo Ayase strikes up an unusual friendship with her school's UFO fanatic, whom she nicknames "Okarun" because he has a name that is not to be said aloud. While Momo strongly believes in spirits, she thinks aliens are nothing but nonsense. Her new friend, however, thinks quite the opposite. To settle matters, the two set out to prove each other wrong-Momo to a UFO hotspot and Okarun to a haunted tunnel! What unfolds next is a beautiful story of young love...and oddly horny aliens and spirits?
Sensory: Life On The Spectrum GN - Bex Ollerton
From artist and curator Bex Ollerton comes an anthology featuring comics from thirty autistic creators about their experiences of living in a world that doesn't always understand or accept them. Sensory: Life on the Spectrum contains illustrated explorations of everything from life pre-diagnosis to tips on how to explain autism to someone who doesn't have it, to suggestions for how to soothe yourself when you're feeling overstimulated. This book depicts these varied experiences with the kind of insight that only those who have lived them can have.
She Love To Cook, & She Loves To Eat GN Vol 1 - Sakaomi Yuzaki
Cooking is how Nomoto de-stresses, but one day, she finds herself making way more than she can eat by herself. And so, she invites her neighbor Kasuga, who also lives alone. What will come out of this impromptu dinner invitation...?
Samurai 2.0 #1 (of 4) - Marcello Bondi & Mauro Gulma
The year is 21XX. World War III has devastated the planet. A foreigner arrives in the city of Neo-Tokyo. His name is Ketsuo, and he is the last remaining graffiti samurai, intent on clashing with the Emperor, who has prohibited any artform and persecutes anyone who dares to create. In the year 2022, a series from Action Lab arrives at Antarctic Press, where we dare to create!
Legacy Of Violence #1 - Cullen Bunn & Andrea Mutti
A Legacy of Violence, by masters of horror Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti, with letters by Rus Wooton, follows Dr. Nick Shaw; an honest doctor just trying to help people. But one day, when a patient gets out of control, Nick suddenly begins recalling past memories he had kept hidden away. That's when he decides to join Doctors Without Borders and heads straight for Central America. But his past still comes calling. With a serial killer on the loose in the small town of Disante, Honduras, Nick's flashbacks begin to intensify-and become clearer. Was Nick meant to go to Honduras? Is this all part of the killer's plan? Find out what Nick has been repressing all these years and why.
Hyperventilation GN - Bboung Bbang Kkyu
Myongi and Sunho haven't seen each other since they were 18 years old. Now 27, they run into one another at a high school reunion, and the romantic feelings they had for one another come rushing to the surface. But are they the same people now that they were back then?
Hitomi #1 (of 5) - H.S. Tak, Isabella Mazzanti & Valentina Napolitano
In Feudal Era Japan, a drifter with no prospects begins training in secret under Yasuke, a once-famous, displaced, disgraced warrior, as she struggles to find her place in a society entrenched in discrimination and violence.
Combining the historical sweep and elegance of Kurosawa with the visceral action of Tarantino, this saga follows the trials and tribulations of a young female warrior who travels the countryside unendingly as she works to gain the rank of Samurai-a title no man, monster, or myth can give to her, but one that she will have to take for herself.
Slumber TP Vol 1 - Tyler Burton Smith, Vanessa Cardinali, Simon Robins & Becky Cloonan
We all have nightmares. What if you could pay somebody to enter your dreams and shoot that nightmare in the goddamn face? That's where Stetson comes in. She's a nightmare hunter. A dream detective. She enters her clients' dreams through a door, investigates their dreamscapes, and kills their nightmares. But Stetson's past comes back to haunt her as she tracks down a nightmare serial killer responsible for the mysterious death of her daughter.
SHWD GN Vol 1 - sono.N
A slick and action-packed yuri tale about two special agent women fighting supernatural horrors! The year is 20XX. Tough but idealistic Koga has just joined the Tokyo branch of SHWD, the Special Hazardous Waste Disposal unit responsible for eradicating mysterious biological weapons that were left behind after the great war. Her mentor is Sawada, a woman with a powerful psyche who complements Koga's physical prowess. Something is sizzling between the two of them, and it's more than just a shared mission. Together, these two badass women must team up to confront horrors beyond their wildest nightmares.
The Sword Of Hyperborea HC - Mike Mignola, Rob Williams & Laurence Campbell
From the ancient warrior Gall Dennar, to Sir Edward Grey, to the B.P.R.D.'s Agent Howards, the iconic Hyperborean sword from the world of Hellboy has landed in many influential hands. And this has been no accident. Trace the sword's path through the adventures and encounters that finally brought it to Ragna Rok, at the end of the world, and witness the sword's journey through history.
Whatcha scooping up this week, Fantomites?
#WOTW#What's Out This Week?#comic#comics#comic book#comic books#manga#The Sword Of Hyperborea#SHWD#Slumber#Hitomi#Hyperventilation#Legacy Of Violence#Samurai 2.0#She Love To Cook & She Loves To Eat#Sensory: Life On The Spectrum#DanDaDan#The Approach#Black & White: Tough Love At The Office#Chilling Adventures Of Salem
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27 for the ask thing, love asking people that. Also, what makes it your favorite and how many times have you read it?
Thank you so much!!!
ask me things I’m begging
27. What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times?
Oooh good question! One I have several answers to!
For a long while, from about 13-15 years old, my favorite book was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s still one of my favorites! I read it twice for school and once for recreation and have always loved the story, and especially identified with Scout as a kid. Plus who doesn’t love Atticus and Boo Radley?
Honorable mentions through my life include (but are not limited to): the Beatrix Potter children’s books which I read/were read to me at least weekly when I was little; Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid, which I read probably around two or three times in middle school (admittedly I was one of those kids who liked The Kane Chronicles more than the Percy Jackson books); Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 which I’ve read twice; Susanne Collins’ Gregor the Overlander series (which I preferred to The Hunger Games); Stephanie Meyer’s The Twilight Saga, which although has its problems, is wildly entertaining; an assortment of graphic novels and comics (IDW Transformers MTMTE, Hellboy, etc.). Additionally, I should add: various poetry books, notably Idiot Verse by (my favorite singer) Keaton Henson—which I have a large portion of memorized—and Cecily Mary Barker’s Flower Faries which doubles as an illustration book along with poetry; and my Norton Anthology Literature #C-F textbooks for school, which are extremely thoroughly annotated.
And last but not least, my (current) favorite book has to be Frank Herbert’s Dune. Which, based off a quarter of my blog’s, content shouldn’t be a surprise! I’m currently on my second reading of it! It took me a while to initially get into it (I’d tried for years but never got past the first few pages), but now that I’m acclimated to Herbert’s writing style, I find his prose easier to read than other books. I think the fact the book is so dense (content wise)—but easy to comprehend with prior knowledge/ context—makes it easier for me to focus and read it for an extended period of time, whereas other books can’t hold my interest for as long (Sorry HP Sorcer’s Stone, I abandoned you over halfway through…). It’s a bit tough to get into, what with all the political intrigue, philosophy, and religion, but I highly recommend it if you liked either of the movies!
Thank you for asking!!!! I’m totally interested to see if anyone has any commentary/ similar interests!
#i definitely overthought this question sorry#sorry it took so long to respond I have back to back classes all afternoon hsjdkdkl#ask game#goldfinch writes
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A review of “Journey Into Mystery,” the penultimate Loki Season One episode on Disney+, coming up just as soon as I paper cut a giant cloud to death…
Journey Into Mystery was the title of the first Marvel comic to feature either Thor or Loki. It began as an anthology series featuring monsters and aliens, but Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Larry Lieber were so smitten with their adaptation of the characters of Norse myth that the Asgardians gradually took over the whole book, which was renamed after its hammer-wielding hero(*).
(*) The early Journey Into Mystery stories treated Thor’s alter ego, disabled Dr. Donald Blake, as the “real” character, while Thor was just someone Blake could magically transform into, while retaining his memories and personality. It wasn’t even clear whether Asgard itself was meant to exist at first, until Loki turned up on Earth in an early issue, caused trouble, and Blake/Thor somehow knew exactly how to get to Asgard to drop him off. Soon, the lines between Thor and Blake began to blur, and eventually Thor became the real guy, and Blake a fiction invented by Odin to humble his arrogant son. It’s a mark of just how instantly charismatic Loki was that the entire title quickly steered towards him and the other gods.
But once upon a time, anything was possible in Journey Into Mystery, which makes it an apt moniker for an absolutely wonderful episode of Loki where the same holds true. Our title characters are trapped in the Void, a place at the end of time where the TVA’s victims are banished to be devoured by a cloud monster named Alioth. And mostly they are surrounded by the wreckage of many dead timelines. Classic Loki insists that his group’s only goal is survival, and any kind of planning and scheming is doomed to kill the Loki who tries. But this ruined, hopeless world instead feels bursting with imagination and possibility.
There are the many Loki variants we see, with President Loki, among others, joining Classic, Kid, Boastful, and Alligator Loki. There are the metric ton of Easter Eggs just waiting to be screencapped by Marvel obsessives (I discuss a few of them down below), but which still suggest a much larger and weirder MCU even if you don’t immediately scream out “Is that… THROG?!?!?” at the appropriate moment. And all of that stuff is tons of fun, to be sure. But what makes this episode — and, increasingly, this series — feel so special is the way that it explores the untapped potential of Loki himself, in his many, many variations.
This is an episode that owes more than a small stylistic and thematic debt to Lost. It’s not just that Alioth looks and sounds so much like the Smoke Monster(*), that it makes a shared Wizard of Oz reference to “the man behind the curtain” (also the title of one of the very best Lost episodes), or even that the core group of Lokis are hiding in a bunker accessible via a hatch and a ladder that’s filled with recreational equipment (in this case, bowling alley lanes). It’s also that Loki, Sylvie, their counterparts, and Mobius have all been transported to a strange place that has disturbing echoes from their own lives, that operates according to strange new rules they have to learn while fleeing danger, and their presence there allows them to reflect on the many mistakes of their past and consider whether they want to, or can, transcend them.
(*) Yes, Alioth technically predates Smokey by a decade (see the notes below for more), but his look has been tweaked a bit here to seem more like smoke than a cloud, and the sounds he makes when he roars sound a lot like Smokey’s telltale taxi cab meter clicks. Given the other Lost hat tips in the episode, I have to believe Alioth was chosen specifically to evoke Smokey.
Classic Loki is aptly named. He wears the Sixties Jack Kirby costume, and he is a far more powerful magician than either Sylvie or our Loki have allowed themselves to be. He calls our Loki’s knives worthless compared to his sorcery, which feels like the show acknowledging that the movies depowered Loki a fair amount to make him seem cooler. But if Classic Loki can conjure up illusions bigger and more potent than his younger peers, he is a fundamentally weak and defeated man, convinced, like the others, that the only way to win the game into which he was born is not to play. “We cannot change,” he insists. “We’re broken. Every version of ourselves. Forever.” It is not only his sentiment — Kid Loki adds that any Loki who tries to improve inevitably winds up in the Void for their troubles — but it seems to have weighed on him longer and harder than most.
But Classic Loki takes inspiration from Loki and Sylvie to stand and fight rather than turn and run, magicking up a vision of their homeland to distract Alioth at a crucial moment in Sylvie’s plan, and getting eaten for his trouble. He was wrong: Lokis can change. (Though Kid Loki might once again argue that Classic Loki’s death is more evidence that the universe has no interest in any of them doing so.) And both Loki and Sylvie have been changing throughout their time together. Like most Lokis, they seem cursed to a life of loneliness. Sylvie learned as a child that a higher power believed she should not exist, and has spent a lifetime hiding out in places where any friends she might make will soon die in an apocalypse. Our Loki’s past isn’t quite so stark, but the knowledge that his birth father abandoned him, while his adoptive father never much liked him, have left permanent scars that govern a lot of his behavior. The defining element of Classic Loki’s backstory is that he spent a long time alone on a planet, and only got busted by the TVA when he attempted to reconnect with his brother and anyone else he once knew. This is a hard existence, for all of them. And while it does not forgive them their many sins(*), it helps contextualize them, and give them the knowledge to try to be better versions of themselves.
(*) Loki at one point even acknowledges that, for him, it’s probably only been a few days since he led an alien invasion of New York that left many dead, though due to TVA shenanigans, far more time may have passed.
For that matter, Mobius is not the stainless hero he once thought of himself as. While he and Sylvie are tooling around the Void in a pizza delivery car (because of course they are), he admits that he committed a lot of sins by believing that the ends justified the means, and was wrong. He doesn’t know who he is before the TVA stole and factory rebooted him, but he knows that he wants something better for himself and the universe, and takes the stolen TemPad to open up a portal to his own workplace in hopes of tearing down the TVA once and for all. Before he goes, though, he and Loki share a hug that feels a lot more poignant than it should, given that these characters have only spent parts of four episodes of TV together. It’s a testament to Hiddleston, Wilson, Waldron, and company (Tom Kauffman wrote this week’s script) that their friendship felt so alive and important in such a short amount of time.
The same can be said for Loki and Sylvie’s relationship, however we’re choosing to define it. Though they briefly cuddle together under a blanket that Loki conjures, they move no closer to romance than they were already. If anything, Mobius’ accusations of narcissism in last week’s episode seem to have made both of them pull back a bit from where they seemed to be heading back on Lamentis. But the connection between them is real, whatever exactly it is. And their ability to take down Alioth — to tap into the magic that Classic Loki always had, and to fulfill Loki’s belief that “I think we’re stronger than we realize” — by working together is inspiring and joyful. Without all this nuanced and engaging character work, Loki would still be an entertaining ride, but it’s the marriage of wild ideas with the human element that’s made it so great.
Of course, now comes the hard part. Endings have rarely been an MCU strength, give or take something like the climax of Endgame, and the finales of the two previous Disney+ shows were easily their weakest episodes. The strange, glorious, beautiful machine that Waldron and Herron have built doesn’t seem like it’s heading for another generic hero/villain slugfest, but then, neither did WandaVision before we got exactly that. This one feels different so far, though. The command of the story, the characters, and the tone are incredibly strong right now. There is a mystery to be solved about who is in the big castle beyond the Void (another Loki makes the most narrative and thematic sense to me, but we’ll see), and a lot to be resolved about what happens to the TVA and our heroes. And maybe there’s some heavy lifting that has to be done in service to the upcoming Dr. Strange or Ant-Man films.
It’s complicated, but on a show that has handled complexity well. Though even if the finale winds up keeping things simpler, that might work. As Loki notes while discussing his initial plan to take down Alioth, “Just because it’s not complicated doesn’t mean it’s bad.” Though as Kid Loki retorts, “It also doesn’t mean it’s good.”
Please be good, Loki finale. Everything up to this point deserves that.
Some other thoughts:
* Most of this week’s most interesting material happens in the Void. But the scenes back at the TVA clarify a few things. First, Ravonna is not the mastermind of all this, and she was very much suckered in by the Time-Keeper robots. But unlike Mobius or Hunter B-15, she’s so conditioned to the mission that even knowing it’s a lie hasn’t really swayed her from her mission. She has Miss Minutes (who herself is much craftier this week) looking into files about the creation of the TVA, but for the most part comes across as someone very happy with a status quo where she gets to be special and pass judgment on the rest of the multiverse.
* Alioth first appeared in 1993’s Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective, a miniseries (written by Mobius inspiration Mark Gruenwald, and with some extremely kewl Nineties art full of shoulder pads, studded collars, and the like) involving Ravonna, Kang, and the off-brand versions of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor (aka U.S. Agent, War Machine, and Thunderstrike, the latter of whom has yet to appear in the MCU). It’s a sequel to a Nineties crossover event called Citizen Kang. And no, I still don’t buy that Kang will be the one pulling the strings here, if only because it’s really bad storytelling for the big bad of the season to have never appeared or even been mentioned prior to the finale.
* Rather than try to identify every Easter egg visible in the Void’s terrain, I’ll instead highlight three of the most interesting. Right before the Lokis arrive at the hatch, we see a helicopter with Thanos’ name on it. This is a hat tip to an infamous — and often memed — out-of-continuity story where Thanos flies this chopper while trying to steal the Cosmic Cube (aka the Tesseract) from Hellcat. (A little kid gets his hands on it instead and, of course, uses the Cube to conjure up free ice cream.) James Gunn has been agitating for years for the Thanos Copter to be in the MCU. He finally got his wish.
* The other funny one: When the camera pans down the tunnel into Kid Loki’s headquarters, we see Mjolnir buried in the ground, and right below it is a jar containing a very annoyed frog in a Thor costume. This is either Thor himself — whom Loki cursed into amphibianhood in a memorable Walt Simonson storyline — or another character named Simon Walterston (note the backwards tribute to Walt) who later assumed the tiny mantle.
* Also, in one scene you can spot Yellowjacket’s helmet littering the landscape. This might support the theory that the TVA, the Void, etc., all exist in the Quantum Realm, since that’s where the MCU version of Yellowjacket probably went when his suit shorted out and he was crushed to subatomic size. Or it might be more trolling of the fanbase from the company that had WandaVision fans convinced that Mephisto, the X-Men, and/or Reed Richards would be appearing by the season finale.
* Honestly, I would have watched an entire episode that was just Loki, Mobius, and the others arguing about whether Alligator Loki was actually a Loki, or just a gator who ended up with the crown, presumably after eating a real Loki. The suggestion that the gator might be lying — and that this actually supports, rather than undermines, the case for him being a Loki — was just delightful. And hey, if Throg exists in the MCU now, why not Alligator Loki?
* Finally, the MCU films in general are not exactly known for their visual flair, though a few directors like Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler have been able to craft distinctive images within the franchise’s usual template. Loki, though, is so often wonderful to look at, and particularly when our heroes are stuck in strange environments like Lamentis or the Void. Director Kate Herron and the VFX team work very well together to create dynamic and weird imagery like Sylvie running from Alioth, or the chaotic Loki battle in the bowling alley. Between this show and WandaVision, it appears the Disney+ corner of the MCU has a bit more room to expand its palette. (Falcon and the Winter Soldier, much less so.)
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MY TOUGHTS ON PART FOUR OF RED HOOD BY CHIP ZDARSKY :)
THIS ONE IS A MESS.
But first a little rant about my feelings about Red Hood in general at the moment.
I am not going to lie, it took me a long time to read this comic, I am kind of tired of reading this book, I feel like I lower my expectations each issue that passes by and I still get disappointed at the result.
Maybe I just love a Jason Todd that is no more and I have to accept the one we have now, but here is the thing, if this is what we get then I just don’t like it, and on rough days I hate it. These are very negative thoughts about one of the two DC characters that I love and I don’t enjoy having them, I don’t want DC to keep giving us this version of Jason or these versions of Jason, each time they change little things that just change the character from the one that he once was even more.
I feel a bit defeated about it and I don’t know, on one side I want to fight and scream so they can finally give Jason the characterization he deserves and for them to give up the bland formula they have going on with him and on the other side I just want them to stop, stop writing Jason Todd/Red Hood and that is so sad, imagine loving a character and wanting the publisher to stop making content with them because what they give is just terrible. I don’t know, this is a rant that I felt like writing before I read the issue (I did skimm it briefly), so don’t take this as part of the review, its just me explaining my feelings right now.
Anyway, I will start the review now, sorry for the rant.
Wonderful, this book is on crack (or should I say Cheerdrops?), the thing with this particular issue is that I had a great laugh, it’s funny but in a good way, it's stupid and it kind of doesn’t make sense, the only way to describe Zdarsky’s writing here is with a phrase that we say here in my country “se pisa el palito”, which means that he lies about something and after some time he reveals the truth himself by mistake or because he got confused, in this case Zdarsky makes Jason say something like “this time I have come prepared” but he is actually not prepared at all and like two pages later (within the same scene) he has Jason call himself an amateur, it's very weird and to me it translates to Zdarsky not liking Jason or just not caring about him at all.
And that sucks and it really bothers me. As I have said before this anthologies book might be called Batman: Urban Legends but the particular story I am reading is a RED HOOD one, I am not here for Batman content, I am here for Jason Todd content.
The fact that we are not getting a Jason-specific story in a Red Hood book is killing me, it would suck if we get, let’s say, a Nightwing book and its all about his relationship with Barbara…That is not a Nightwing book, that’s a Nightwing and (fake) Oracle book.
Anyway, this issue in general is like a connector, the things that happen are all happening because they will be developed in the next issues but what is said here is absolutely absurd so I will be talking about that.
This issue starts with a flashback and Jason from the present (who is currently a popsicle because he fell in Freeze’s trap) having a monologue. The flashback is set when Jason finds out that his birth mother is alive and is being used by the Joker so he (in civilian clothes) and Batman at doing some reckon. What I want to dive into is the monologue because it's interesting but also very dumb so here we go.
“What was I supposed to do? I thought I was an orphan; I carried that sadness and anger everywhere I went and then I found the woman who gave birth to me halfway across the world. I found her…and the Joker. He was blackmailing my mother, forcing her to help him steal medical supplies, which he replaced with a deadly gas, that was being hauled to a village.”
“Batman knew what he had to do. Save people, forever saving people. Batman has always been a master of control, every situation, everyone around him. He’s always known just how to handle everything. Until I came along.”
“How could he be surprised? How could the great Batman not know? I wouldn’t listen to him and he couldn’t hear me. And the fucking cycle continues.”
The first part of the monologue is pretty simple it's basically setting the scene in time and space for the reader and it also gives us a little insight on how Jason was feeling at the time which was quite nice. It sets up the fact that Jason wanted to help his birth mother out of a horrible situation, he wanted to save her from the Joker. (Hear that DC, haters and fanon, Jason was a good Robin and a loving and caring son!!!!!)
In the second paragraph of the monologue I would have assumed that Dick never existed in this universe because the idea of Batman being able to control Robin!Dick or Gotham back in the day by himself is incredibly funny to me but because Dick exists and has been mentioned in this story already I will just take it as Zdarsky wanting to really push the “Jason could never reach the level of good Robin because he was reckless and nothing like Dick” and the “Dick was always completely obedient and Batman’s perfect little soldier” narratives. It sucks man, this is like bad fanon made real and I don’t like it!
During this part we also have a little dialogue between Batman and Jason where the narrative of Jason being so incredibly reckless is explicitly shown once more.
Let me repeat myself, Jason didn’t take on the Joker because he wanted to prove himself to the Bat or to prove that he was as good a Robin as Dick was, Jason did what he did because he wanted to save the last person that he had that he felt was family, he wanted to save the woman who birthed him and that he was hoping he could call a mother. He worried and cared for this woman and then he was betrayed and it ended up ending with him dying at the hands of a mad man that to this day is still alive.
Jason wasn’t reckless for the sake of being reckless, he took the decisions he took because he didn’t feel heard by the man that was supposed to protect him and care for him, a man that had the same feelings of sadness over being an orphan, a man that despite being the greatest detective to ever detective in the multiverse couldn’t understand that Jason felt like the woman that was his birth mother could come first in his list of priorities. Jason was a child and the adult responsible of him at the time bares the fault of his death as much as the mad man that committed the crime.
There, I fucking said it.
Gladly in the third paragraph of the monologue Jason calls out Bruce on his bullshit.
Also, what the hell was Bruce thinking leaving Jason stranded in the middle of the dessert, the man literally takes the only mode of transportation away from him. What the hell.
That’s it for the first glimpse at the past, now we are in the present with Ice!Jason where Zdarsky lies to our faces, he says that Jason is prepared for this situation…I am sorry but I do not believe this.
Anyway, Jason does manage to break the ice but he trips on the iced floor almost as soon as he breaks free and falls in a hole. Are you kidding me? I know this is supposed to be funny but Jason has been written as this incompetent dumbass in this book so much that this is just insulting.
He manages to escape for three or four seconds but he realises once more that the whole thing was a trap because Freeze had actually closed all the exists with ice because he meant to trap the Bat (also maybe Freeze is under the effects of Cheerdrops?), Jason also tries to use his guns even though he had already thought about the fact that they wouldn’t fire because of the cold AND he didn’t pack his explosives, yeah… “I am now prepared”, sure Jan.
The last thing we see in this scene is Freeze getting ready to ice Red Hood once more before we start jumping from past to present scenes as Jason’s monologue continues, he does that a lot in this issue, it’s quite impressive.
We jump into the past and we see Jason going to help his mother in his Robin suit, her betrayal and the Joker being ready to torture and kill a child. From there we go back to the present where Jason manages to ask Oracle for help but not anyone’s he asks for the Batman’s help.
First let’s talk about the monologue that happens across these scenes because it has some interesting takes.
“Stupid amateur, its not going to be okay, not if we keep repeating the same mistakes. He never trusted me, I never trusted him. Neither of us lived up to the idea of ‘Batman and Robin’, the ‘Dynamic Duo’. Because Batman and Robin requires trust, it requires knowing you can’t do it alone.”
Let’s be honest as per the modern take on Batman and Robin (if it includes Bruce as Batman) the dynamic is quite dysfunctional, Batman doesn’t know how to care for a child and children shouldn’t be responsible for an adult’s safety, so the whole thing has been weird for every Robin, its not something that happened only to Jason but here is the thing, in Under the Red Hood (which is canon in this story) when Batman and Red Hood fought side by side Bruce said the following: “…Neither of us has the strength to take him out, it will require skill and teamwork. It happens before I have time to question it, a manoeuvre that comes without thought, executed as practiced and practiced many times in the cave.”
So, him and Jason worked well, they trusted each other and the work they were doing but that is not all, because they are in the middle of a fight the Red Hood doesn’t act recklessly and takes the opportunity attack the Bat when he is vulnerable, he sticks to the coordinated fight because he trusts it will work. Batman’s thoughts confirm that because he continues saying this: “To complete it (the manoeuvre) I’m forced to leave myself unprotected from an attack, an attack from the Red Hood. But the attack never comes, he just takes cover from the blast, like practiced.”
– Batman: Under the Red Hood, chapter 10.
This thing alone, written in 2005 kills the narrative of Bruce’s Batman and Jason’s Robin not working well together.
Secondly, I have to laugh about what it's actually said in the very last panels. I am sorry but it's too funny to me, I know it acts as a parallel to Jason asking for the Bat when he was about to die but this is a man, a grown man that has experience on this job, this situation would have never happened if Jason was written fairly. This is funny because of all the people in the world I would never imagine the Red Hood asking for Batman’s help. Fuck that.
Oracle of course contacts Batman but let me say something really quickly, Barbara and Bruce are both acting like Jason getting in trouble and needing help is an annoyance. What the hell is wrong with these people? Why would Jason work with Oracle or Batman in the first place?
Batman gets in the Batmobile as soon as he can and dares call Jason his son. No thank you sir, I will not be taking that kind of bullshit today. Anyway, the Bat also has a monologue because he can’t be less, here it goes.
“Jason. Dammit, son. I’m on my way, I won’t let you…” (explosions) “You’re alive. In the here, in the now. I know this, like magic…with a curse…You’re alive.”
“I don’t need to be there again, in the past. I’ve learned my lessons, the guilt doesn’t help me, it doesn’t have a hold on me anymore. You’re alive, Jason and I intend to keep it that way.”
To this I have to say the following, the only reason why Bruce is not feeling guilty about what happened to Jason is because Jason forgave Bruce/Batman for not arriving in time in order to save Jason from the explosion back in that warehouse all those years ago. Jason forgave Bruce when the final confrontation happened in UtRH. He did it because he believed that Bruce tried and still didn’t make it.
- Batman: Under the Red Hood, chapter 13.
And something else, Bruce might have been “keeping Jason alive” but he has harmed him. Rebirth RHatO #25 exists, I don’t know if it's canon within this particular story but I can’t not bring it up if this is what this man has to say.
My take on the Batman and Red Hood relationship is that it shouldn’t exist. Red Hood is not a Batman villain but he IS a Batman antagonist. STOP making Batman and Red Hood work together, with how things ended in UtRH Jason would never work with Bruce again. I am sorry but the concept of the Batfamily with Jason as a willing participant is the biggest lie this fandom and Lobdell gave us.
Enough of my takes, let's go back to the issue because it's ending is closer and the funniest panels in this whole ass book are coming!
Batman does Batman shit and as he grapples out of the Batmobile, he manages to get Ice!Jason out of a truck and everything comes to a stop, the bad guys come out of said vehicle and one of them is going in Red Hood's direction with the intention of killing him, Batman of course saves Jason and starts fighting the rest of the baddies.
I will show you funny panel number one.
You really want to make me believe that Bruce can pull that move, shut up!!!! There is no way! That’s some Nightwing level of leg work, stop it, if the Bat pulls that move he will break something or get stuck like that…
Ahh it doesn’t matter because as Batman finishes defeating all the baddies he goes to Jason’s side and here is where funny panel number 2 comes!
STOP IT, WHAT THE HELL IS THISSS? I am losing my mind over this, have you ever seen something and thought “oh this is wrong wrong” like what? This interaction is so wild to me, everything about it makes no sense…Imagine putting Jason Todd in such a vulnerable position that he is, I don’t know, happy or glad that the Bat showed up and that Batman would say that he will always be there for Jason, this shit is hilarious.
But that’s not the end, at this point nothing should shock me (as far as character designs) but this dude shows up…
Who the hell is this guy, and why does he look like that, why are all these new character designs the same and horrible? He reminds me of the weird discount-Joker-looking dude that we had in Rebirth RHatO #52
Anyway, the new dude that will be called Cheer (apparently) and Freeze ice Batman as well and that’s it, our Red Hood related suffering is over up until next month!
This one, this one was wild, I don’t know what else to say about it…I am honestly drained after reading the issue and writing this.
Let me know what you thought about this issue and if you want to read my reviews of the previous parts I will link them here! Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!
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I'm bored so now I'm going to talk about Weiss and the Bees (mostly Yang). And there's nothing you can do about it.
When it comes to Freezerburn, I mostly like them as best friends (I'm more of a Whiterose/Bumbleby girl) but I would also really like them as a couple if that were the case, and totally understand why people ship them. Same thing happens with Monochrome, and Ladybug (INTERACT FOR FUCK'S SAKE). I'm gonna be talking about this as friendship.
Okay, but really, do you guys ever think about how Weiss had no fucking idea about what was happening at the camp when Yang found her?
(Honestly the only RWBY thing I haven't gotten my hands on is the manga and the anthologies -I've read the comics, the books, etc- because I couldn't find them, so correct me if I'm wrong lmao).
The thing is, back at Beacon, Yang and Weiss weren't really close. They were both closer to Ruby and Blake (though Weiss spent half of her time in the first volume butting heads with those two). They were teammates, yes, they got along (and sometimes argued too lol) and they cared for each other, but they still didn't have the same relationship. Like, Blake and Yang were partners and Beauty and the Beast and all that so of course they were going to be close. Same with Ruby and Weiss -partners, and you've read Snow White and Rose Red, they're probably supposed to be a representation from that tale as well-. Ruby and Yang are sisters so it's pretty obvious that they're close. I don't even have to talk about these two. And during the first volumes, Blake and Weiss were both, let's say, foils of each other, coming from very different places and yet having so much in common. One privileged, ignorant human, the other a misguided faunus. Both alienated by their abusers into thinking like them. Both from important families in their societies; one of the families is loving and caring, the other one is fucked up. Both came to Beacon basically running away from their abusers. Both had a complicated past with the White Fang. And of course, both of them had to deal with a broken legacy; Weiss is still dealing with it. They were both, literally, Black and White, and really understood each other. So yeah, their interactions during the series were always really nice to watch, because they really understand each other in those terms (that's why I loved that scene with Blake holding her hand showing support in volume 7).
Now, before volume five, Yang and Weiss never really had an important scene together. Yes, there was that cute scene after that fight against FNKI, the jokes and arguing and of course the legendary “what's that supposed to mean” in vol 3 (she shipped Bumbleby since Beacon fight me lol). But never really meaningful, not like the Bumbleby talk in Burning the Candle, or Weiss being kinder to Ruby and becoming friends, or- you know what I mean. They cared for each other, but the thing is, they didn't see each other as more than the rich girl and the funny girl/great older sister. I don't think Weiss even knew about Raven (again, correct me if I'm wrong, no mangas) before all that stuff. I assume Ruby talked to her about Summer and her loss, but did she know that Summer wasn't Yang's biological mother?
Because of that, I'm still finding this incredibly funny and yet so sad at the same time. Because, imagine being Weiss. You've just been kidnapped, and you're trying to escape. And then you see one of your teammates, your friend that you haven't seen in a year and you never thought you'd ever see again, right there, and she tells you that you're both going to Ruby (she immediately includes you). Not only that, she also tells you that the woman who kidnapped you is her freaking mother. Like. What the fuck. Again, maybe Ruby told her (if she did, I doubt she included the bandit part lmao), but if she didn't, Weiss probably was like “wait what do you mean isn't your mom dead? What the hell is going on?”
But well, she hugs Yang. Because (and I think people tend to forget it) the last time she saw Yang, she was incredibly injured. She had lost her fucking arm, and was probably still unconscious by the time Weiss was taken by her father (no one can tell me that if that bitch hadn't taken her, she wouldn't have stayed in Patch with them and Tai wouldn't have adopted her), meaning that she probably didn't even get to say goodbye to her, just like she couldn't say goodbye to Ruby. And now she's reunited with Yang, and apparently Raven is taking them to Ruby (who is also with JNR, some of her best old friends at Beacon) and she's just so happy because she didn't think that would happen. She really considers RBY her family. And also, again, the last time she'd seen Yang she was really hurt, so seeing her being okay was really a relief to her.
Except she wasn't okay, and she notices as soon as they start talking to Raven. Because, if Weiss really didn't know about Raven, she's just found out that Yang had been abandoned by her own mother. She literally sees how Yang loses control of herself (she flinches, which is another sign of Jackass' abuse) and how the poor girl even asks why Raven left her. She really notices how Yang is not okay at all. Yang isn't behaving the same way she did at Beacon; she's seen her down or furious, but never like that. It's been a year since she last saw her. A lot happened to her. And maybe, she also realizes that she'd never known Yang as well as she thought. Because, again, Yang was the cool older sister, the hot party girl that punches stuff and makes jokes. What else was there to know? Well, there it is. Not only has she been through hell since the Fall of Beacon, with the whole losing an arm and PTSD thing; Weiss also finds out that Yang had some serious abandonment issues and a fear of loneliness she'd never known about. The whole time at Beacon, she'd just been assuming about Yang. Just as Yang had clearly been assuming about Weiss as well.
Then there's a little calm in chapter 7 and for a while, it all seems fine; RWY and JNR are all messing with each other, remembering good times as they eat and laugh, catching up. For a while it felt like they never left Beacon and it just probably felt great, all of them being together. Yang seems fine. And next chapter, when the two of them and Ruby are just sitting and enjoying coffee and talking about how great it is being together again, it all seems fine too. And then Weiss and Ruby mention Blake and that's when Yang snaps.
Weiss loves RBY with all her heart, and it's clear that Ruby and her would accept Blake back without blinking if she came back. Which is why they're both surprised for a second when they see Yang react like that -Blake was her partner, after all, they were the closest, so why doesn't she want her back? Again “What's that supposed to mean?”
But after the whole Raven thing, Weiss clearly understood one thing: that Yang hated being abandoned, and in Yang's eyes, Blake had left her just like Raven did. Weiss knows what it feels like to be alone, so she gets that. But Weiss also understood that Blake hadn't left her just like Raven, because she saw Blake reaching for Yang's hand, apologizing as she cried. She knows Blake didn't leave them because she wanted to be alone; in her eyes, she was the one to blame for what happened to Yang. So she left, because Blake would rather have Yang and the rest being safe and hating her for leaving than anything like that happening again because she stayed. She was wrong, of course, but Weiss understood. And a part of Weiss herself knows what being abused and running away feels like as well.
Which is why the conversation in V5C8 is just so perfect. Because of the fact that she understands both of them, she's able to get through Yang, make her finally open up, and help her understand Blake's perspective too. Weiss was just the perfect person to do that.
I know we make a lot of jokes about Weiss being the Bumbleby wingwoman, but it exactly isn't a joke; Weiss really is the “wingwoman”. Whether you see it in a romantic way or not, that conversation was crucial in Blake and Yang's relationship, and Yang accepting Blake back too. And in romantic terms, I'm pretty sure that Weiss realized that Yang really had serious feelings for Blake because, well, Weiss isn't dumb. I think that conversation and All That Matters made it pretty obvious for anyone who wasn't in denial. I still laugh at people who are still in denial. I mean, c'mon, you don't have to ship it but at this point, thinking they're just friends is kinda dumb.
I love Weiss.
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If you floow me on twitter or are part of our discord server, you probably know that I have announced that for the time being I’m giving up on Marvel and DC, at least when it comes to new releases and announcments. I will make an exception for Runaways (unless that turns into a glorified X-Book as I fear) and catch up to some older books.
As I have said before, for quite some time I am feeling less and less joy and excitement about new Marvel and DC announcments. Especially as DC keeps shrinking and becoming increasingly “Batman Comics Comics”, where even fuckign Scooby-Doo must now be only about Batman, a character I do not like. All while the only thing keeping me in Bat-sphere, the batfamily, gets increasingly more undermined. there are maybe 5-6 Batfam members who consistently get spotlight. 4 if you don’t count Catwoman and Harley Quinn as Batfam members, then it is only Dick, Jason, Babs and Damian. Yes, Damian getting the very arc Cass Cain fans were BEGGING for DC to give her for the last 15 years is what prompted my decision. But really, it is a straw that broke the cammel’s back. Or, as we say in my country, a drop that filled the goblet of bitterness.
For over a decade I have now watched various character in the Batfam that I like - Cass but also Steph, Duke, Harper, We Are Robin and Gotham Academy kids, etc. - get passed on and ignored or relegated to jobbers and pointless, useless cameoes in crowd scenes, in favor of the same four. And their fans would always say this isn’t the right time and ask me to be a good consumer and buy these books because if they succeed then for sure others will get their moment to shine too. But that moment never came. I’ve been told that during One Year Later, after Battle of the Cowl, during New 52, during DC You, during DC Rebirth, during New Justice and now. If I lach onto a new character they quickly become a victim of the same treatment, as was with Duke, with Harper or with Maya. And if my faves get something it is either immediatelly undermined by other books (See how all work Bryan Hill put into showing Cass as skilled fighter been undermined by King, Thomasi and Williamson who saw her only as a worthless jobber to prop their lame villains) or ignored (see Duke who vanished after that book ended) or isn’t about them at all (see League of Shadows, billed as Cass story but was really about Ras Al’Ghul).
Currently Batbooks grow even larger but nothing changes, the promised spotlight for anyone else didn’t come. tom Taylor made a huge deal of being a Cass fan and instead he is writing Nightwing and another Batman book. Joshua Williamsone is now handing on a silver platter everything Cass fans asked for to Damian and Future State Batgirls series in anthology got replaced by a Grifter story - because DC thinks a guy so removed from Batfam he is literally from another universe is bigger part of the Batfamily than Cass and Steph. Fucking Joker got a book instead, we need that edgelord incel money I guess. And with rest of DCU shrinking to the point even Aquaman and Green Arrow (two titles I liked for various supporting cast members like Emiko Queen or Jackson Hyde, btw) got axed to make more room for Batman, there is just less things to be excited about outside a line that made it clear fans, who don’t like marketing department-approved characters and only them, are not welcome.
And at Marvel I could repeat above paragraphs with X-Men. More and more X-books that tie-in to an arc I tremendously dislike and been vocal critic of, less and less anything else. Even writers I like and had high hopes of end up doing same X-book as everyone else and it is an X-book in which characters I like are at best given pointless cameo and at worst killed and replaced by someone else in their body to show how dangerous the villain is. Or banished to another dimension. Or shown to be stupid and “manipulated by evil” for pointing problematic things about current books. And that on top of the same spiell of being told to shup up and let X-fandom enjoy their books about same five people and that sure everyone I like, like NXM kids, will get their moment to shine soon....and said moment never comes. Been told that during Manifest Destiny, during Nation X, during Curse of Mutants, during Schism, after AvX, after Secret Wars, after Inhumans vs X-Men, I’m being told that now. Instead X-books scrap bottom of the barrel to only give titles to characters from 80′s and 90′s to the point we have fucking Scalphunter book now.
All the while X-Fandom has shown itself to be extremly toxic and entitled, something I have seen when they wished for Nico and Chase to die in Avengers Arena because they felt X-men deserve to take Molly away from Runaways. And when they cheered the death of Juston for having a good Sentinel. Or when they acted toxic to Inhumans fandom while claiming oppression because they had “only” four books a month. Once again I feel like everything I like about Marvel gets pushed out in favor of its most toxic part, a part that made it very clear I and people who like same characters like me, are not welcome in it. Out of few books who stand out Ms. Marvel and immortal Hulk are ending. Champions, while good, is not the type of story I can stomach in current political climate. Runaways I fear they’ll be swallowed or at least undermined by X-Men too. Similiarly I am anxious about Miles, with Donny Cates lurking around looking like he wants to undermine everything Saladin Ahmed built for the sake of 00′s nostalgia.
Reading news and seeing new books doesn’t give me happiness anymore, just more frustration and sadness. I came to beleive it is not good for my mental health. So for time being I’m going to retreat to regain my strength. If other people running this blog, like @keeper-of-the-lore or @ubernegro or @majingojira want to talk about current books or news here, go ahead, I will just stay away for the time being from these conversations and stick to reading and talking about older stuff I wanted to check out but never had a time to do it properly. And if a book I wanted does appear while I’m taking this time off, well, I’d rather be late to the party that constantly passed on the invtations and waiting like a moron to get one.
-Admin
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Ever read or heard of Al Ewing's El Sombra trilogy?
So now that I actually finished Pax Omega I can give my thoughts on the trilogy. In short: I like it! It's got a lot of incredible strengths and interesting takes on the material it pulls from, it's got a very rich setting and interesting characters to explore, in terms of what else I've read from Al Ewing's general work it's second only to Immortal Hulk for me. This trilogy may have actually convinced me that steampunk has at least some value as something other than obnoxious set dressing, and that is no small feat.
I got a separate post planned for El Sombra as a character because I want to write about his character arc and the trilogy's relation to his respective influences, but below are my particular thoughts on the books. Spoilers below the cut
El Sombra is easily the simplest of the three, and the most straightforward "pulp" novel of the three. For the most part it's 200+ pages dedicated to establishing the misery of Pasito, the vileness of the Nazis, and the character of El Sombra as he hacks his way through whatever bastards he can get his hands on. It has to do a lot of work in making sure we fully understand El Sombra's character before the next novels can get to work putting him on bigger settings in a supporting role, and in that it succeeds very well. It's a Zorro character stuck in a 2000 AD world of dystopian mechanized nightmares and fighting savagely to kill it, gradually learning that he needs more than just a sword and superhuman skills to do it.
One thing that sticks out to me about El Sombra is how grueling of a read it can be, especially in the first two chapters when the story's establishing the situation of Pasito nine years after the wedding massacre, through the POV of the story's villain. While there are many pulp stories that include Nazis as villains, I've never seen one that goes as in-depth into the sheer atrocities of Nazi regimes as much as this one. Ewing really spares no time conveying just how utterly wretched they are in many ways other than just ethnic massacres (and the massacres of the book are harrowing to read as well, no grisly detail spared), the many insidious ways totalitarianism corrodes the soul of all subjected to it, long before the Nazis actually start dying. It's incredibly disturbing and not at all out of line with the real atrocities perpetuated in history.
And it's made all the more effective because the book goes to great length to describe the many, many life stories of all those that get killed by El Sombra, whether irredeemably evil or merely misguided soldiers, which lends a lot of weight to them. He's not just tearing his way through cartoonish embodiments of evil, he's murdering people brutally, to our enjoyment, because painting Nazis as people is not the same as humanizing them, it only makes them much, much more horrifying than any doomsday weapon could ever be.
The scene in particular where El Sombra has to dash alone into a burning building to rescue children, children who are seconds away from dying, children he had to kill an entire squad of Nazis just to be able to rescue, children that he cannot leave on the streets because otherwise they will be trampled or killed by a mob, had me gasping and not wanting to turn the page out of fear, actual fear that he wasn't gonna make it.
"Zorro vs Nazis" is an incredible simple premise, and I don't think it could be done better than it was here. Very, very solid start, although I do recommend that you go in aware of just how brutal and disturbing it can get.
Gods of Manhattan was the first one I read, and contrary to El Sombra's more western and pulp roots, this very much reads like a superhero comic book centered around pulp icons. Out of the three it's the one I like the least, but it's a very good book, one that could easily work on it's own even without it being a sequel. It's considerably less harrowing of a read than El Sombra and instead much more based around meat and potatoes storytelling, showing how the building blocks at work here are being arranged, and a larger exploration of liberty and egalitarianism and political aspects of the works Ewing's pulling from. Gods of Manhattan is the trilogy's moral compass, contrasting to the simple revenge thriller in El Sombra and the science fiction anthology of Pax Omega, setting up the major players of this world before Ewing can knock them around for the final installment.
One of the things I like most about the El Sombra trilogy is the mix-and-match of properties. Doc Thunder, for example, bears many surface similarities to Doc Savage, but he functions mainly as a Superman figure. He wears a logo akin to Shazam's, he has a reputation akin to that of Captain America's, we later learn his real name is Hugo and he's the in-universe equivalent to Hugo Danner. As the most straightforward superhero of the setting, Thunder condenses the history of it's biggest icons into a single being. The primary Shadow analogue here is the villain, but the villain also shares more common traits with The Spider and Spider-Man, and traits of The Shadow manifest in two other characters (the titular El Sombra, and a character known in-universe as The Blue Ghost who functions as more of a Spirit analogue). There's a shapeshifting dead-faced supervillain by the name of Anton Venger, referencing the pulp hero The Avenger. The Lex Luthor analogue turns into Doomsday by the story's end. It's the crafting of an interesting new mythology from bits and pieces from a larger whole and there's enough rich content here to last for a whole franchise.
If I had one major problem with this book, it would be the character of Marlene Lang. Marlene functions here mainly as the Margo to Blood-Spider's Shadow, and naturally, she gets twisted to the extreme. While the story's demonization of The Shadow's archetype is grounded in a larger point about the dangers of dark vigilantism, it's treatment of not-Margo/Nita here is purely for the sake of reinforcing the Spider's own awfulness. The story demonizes her by painting her as decadent and sadistic and promiscuous, and the latter in particular is really hammered into you as something that paints her as evil and unlikable, which is really shitty. I expected better from Ewing and I don't think this is a decision he would have gone with had he written the story today.
Still, Gods of Manhattan is terrific and gets a very solid recommendation from me. But much to my surprise, my favorite of the books actually wound up being Pax Omega.
Pax Omega is an incredibly ambitious book, spanning the entirety of time from beginning to end, every chapter presenting a radical shift in setting as we jump through time periods of this world's history. It has a truly staggering amount of worldbuilding to get through and a lot of it is pure exposition. It's a one man sci-fi anthology, and while that's turned off some of it's readers, I liked it considerably better than the other books. It weaves together it's narrative threads incredibly well as it gradually gives you a sense of where the story is heading (and was always heading right from the first book) as wilder and wilder concepts get brought into play corresponding to the massive changes brought by time.
Despite how separate a lot of these stories are, they all come together, and there is not a single wasted chapter or page here. It's got fun thrills, it's got action, it's got harrowing descriptions and passsages (particularly regarding El Sombra's discovery of Berlin), it's got enough worldbuilding in here for entire shared universes and not a single dull moment. Pax Omega cements this trilogy as one of my favorite superhero universes as well as easily the best superhero novels I've ever read, although it's playing with a lot of images and icons much older than superheroes, and even weaves in a bit of meta-storytelling.
It's definitely the book I'll most likely revisit in the future, and while I don't think this is a trilogy that could work as well outside of it's literary format, I think there's a lot of interesting aspects here to be learned from by anyone who wants to tackle pulp characters, or superheroes. Very impressed with this one.
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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers
This is an anthology collection of the various poems and songs that appeared in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, with art by Luke Flowers. It is exactly as zen as you think it will be. If you are in need of something soft, loving, and affirming right now in the terror that is 2020, go pick this book up. I read it all over the course of two days and feel like a better person for it.
Asterix in Britain
I decided to watch my french Asterix movies on a whim the other week, and that got me rereading all the old Asterix comics I grew up with (Asterix and Obelix All At Sea, Asterix the Legionary, Asterix and the Black Gold, Asterix and the Great Divide, Asterix and the Secret Weapon…) I decided to use in Britain as my representative though because to this day it’s one of my all time favourites, and it’s one of the first ones we ever owned — while the others my brother and I collected avidly over the years (any time we were allowed to pick a new comic out of the book store) I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have this volume at home. There fun, detailed illustrations, goofy puns, over the top slapstick, and endless love between the characters seriously melts my heart every time I pick them up. Though I have to admit, the Secret Weapon sure is a bigger shitshow than I realized as a kid…
The Barnabus Project
This is a new Canadian picture book I’ve been meaning to get my hands on for a few months. It is very neat. It’s a bit more of an involved adventure story than you often see in picture books, while still not entering the domain of graphic novel or chapter book. It’s about a company that genetically engineers “perfect” pets for the public to buy. But deep beneath the storefront, well under the streets, are the sinister labs where the “failed” projects are kept, waiting to be recycled back into parts. This is where Barnabus lives, and this is where Barnabus and his friends must break free from. A thrilled little book with adorable art!
Bunnicula
This is actually my first time reading this book, though I’ve meant to ever since I was a kid. For anyone that doesn’t know this classic, it’s told from the point of view of the family dog, who witnesses his owners bring home a strange new pet: a pet rabbit named Bunnicula, with black fur that looks like a cape and the strangest teeth ever seen on a rabbit… The housecat is even more alarmed, and the two of them begin to investigate the strange occurrences going on around the rabbit and protect their family from sinister forces. It’s a very cute chapter book and a nice soft intro to the “horror” genre without going quite as dark as Goosebumps.
Care Bears: Unlock The Magic
This was… hm. Something. It was cute. The art of this graphic novel has certainly modernized the care bears from their original style, but it’s not a bad thing — the simple, bold shapes are actually pretty enjoyable. You have the care bears on a mission to protect the land of these strange new creatures from dark, “heartless” forces. Overall, if you’re in the mood for something soft and nostalgic that’s been transported into 2020, it’s not a bad read... though I can’t say it wow’ed me.
Emma and the Blue Genie
Another adorable novella (chapter book? Somewhere between the two?) by Cornelia Funke who I don’t think is capable of writing a bad story. Like all her books, this one is charming and whimsical and feels strangely classic. Emma and her wiener dog Tristan sneak out of their house one night for some peace and quiet, and discover an unusual bottle that washes up on the shore. When they release it, a small blue genie is released and Emma learns of the horrible events that befell him and his master in a far off land. A horrible yellow genie stole the source of his magic, forcing him into this small, weakened form, and has besieged the land now that the blue genie is out of the way. The blue genie seems to heartbroken that Emma can’t help but promise her help, and accompanies him across the sea… A fun little story for anyone that enjoyed Aladdin.
The Erth Dragons: The Wearle
The first miserable failure of a book I read this month. I couldn’t finish it and didn’t even try. It sounded like cool scifi dragons, but what I got was a pack of sixty dragons off exploring. A team that included a grand total of three female dragons. Who are there for, it seems, breeding. One of which is fridged immediately to jump start the main character’s story. This is a book I may have read in middle school, but I was thrilled to realize I actually have choices now and don’t need to tolerate this shit. Do not fucking bother, the world building is obnoxious as well.
Flawed Dogs
Now this one was a delight. As quirky and bizarre and charming as Berkeley Breathed’s work always is. This is a novel that starts with a prized pure-bred dachshund, Sam the Lion, one who is a once in a life time example of doggy bred perfection. However things get mixed up on his way to the snobby dog-show-loving owner who purchased him and he ends up instead in the arms of a young girl who adores him as only children can, completely indifferent to any “perfection” he may have. The happiness of girl and dog fosters resentment in the household’s other dog, a show dog who is pampered but not loved. So begins a horrible sequence of events that sees Sam cast out of the house, horribly mutilated, and left to fend for himself in a cruel world. Flawed Dogs manages to deliver both dogs with rocket-propulsive farts as well as grim questions about what the nature of life, perfection, and vengeance means to a wronged party who has had his life destroyed beyond all recognition.
This was my favourite book of the month, and I would HIGHLY recommend it, but maybe give it a miss if you’re squicked by animal brutality because this book delivers very funny moments, very heartwarming moments, and very upsetting animal abuse in fairly equal measure.
The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell
The second disappointing book of the month. I’ve heard so many good things about this series! About how it’s gotten so many kids to fall in love with reading and series and more complex narratives! I’ve been really excited to read it, because I love me a twisted fairy-tale. Unfortunately this seems to be a very good series for kids, and a very poor story for adults who are used to the tropes of a basic fairy-tale inspired fantasy novel. The writing was unfortunately bland and it was chockablock of clichés and stereotypes that are frankly rather unappealing. Maybe things get better as it progresses, but the series didn’t hold my interest for long enough for me to find out. Honestly, it just made me want to go and reread Inkheart instead.
Little Tails in the Jungle
The Little Tails series is an adorable blend of picture book, comic, and nonfiction educational. It shows Chipper and Squizzo as they adventure around different ecosystems and interact with the wildlife there, sharing interesting facts and trying to keep out of trouble. It’s a pleasant read for an adult that likes well done wildlife art, and fantastic for kids that are craving accessible nonfiction content about animals.
When Santa Fell to Earth
My second Cornelia Funke novella of the month. This is a Christmas favourite of mine, and I reread it around December every couple years or so. In this story, Nikolas is a young Santa who is on the run. The North Pole has been taken over by a faction of Santa’s who have given up on the traditional values of Christmas and have decided instead to focus on a more sterilized, corporate type of Christmas, one with clear present transactions and a hefty bottom line. Any dissenting Santas are hunted down and dealt with. Nikolas is one of the sole surviving rebel Santas who has managed to stay ahead of the Santa hunters… or he had, until his reindeer panics in a thunderstorm and sends his caravan crashing down to earth, to broken to lift off again. Stuck at the side of a little residential street, Nikolas befriends a couple of local children who help him, his elves, and his angels try to get things sorted out and ready to go before Christmas — or the Santa hunters — arrive.
Wintersmith
More Pratchett, and in this case another seasonally appropriate read. This is the third book of the Tiffany Aching series, in which Tiffany, a young apprentice witch, joins her mentor at the secretive dark morris dance, a ritual that happens in the winter to welcome the changing of the seasons, just as the regular morris dance heralds summer. Tiffany, though, doesn’t just hear the music but feels it in bones, and before she knows it she finds herself compelled to join in, to fill in a strange empty spot she can’t look away from. She does, in fact, find herself dancing with the Wintersmith, and now there are snowflakes coming down with her face crafted into them, frost that lovingly spells out her name, and a winter that doesn’t seem inclined to leave anytime soon. Tiffany made a mistake, and now people are going to die if she doesn’t do something.
#book review#mister rogers#mister roger's neighborhood#daniel tiger#terry pratchett#discworld#tiffany aching#wintersmith#cornelia funke#berkeley breathed#bloom county#flawed dogs#frederic brremard#little tails#the land of stories#care bears#asterix#asterix in britain#when santa fell to earth#christmas#winter#children's literature#picture books#graphic novels#comics#canadian literature#canlit#the barnabus project#chatter
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Top 10 Niche Interests
Fixations? Obsessions? This is incredibly hard because I have wayyyy too many niche interests, so instead of stressing about it, I tried to channel the 10 things that immediately speak to me and maybe aren't so obvious from what I post here, like how much I'm obsessed with wigs, doll furniture, incredibly specific blogs, all forms of clothing with pockets, swimming pools, whimsical bus stops, over-the-top bathrooms, etc. etc Instead, I opted for some specifics that feel a little more evergreen and long tailed, like, so LIFE-long tailed that it's tough to nail down when or how they became part of the national psyche. I thank @alienfuckeronmain for the initial tag, and I'm tagging her AGAIN for round two because I know she has a billion additional niche things, and she'll post them, and I'll scream because it'll trigger five other things I neglected to post here, and I'll probably post my own round two, arggggh, insert aggressive sighing. Anyway, I tag ANYONE who wants to do it, just tag me so I can see!
1. Indoor Trees
I have no idea why this concept PULLS so hard because houseplants are kind of meh to me, but you want to plant an entire-ass TREE indoors, in the place where you live? Me, too, and I'd add a conversation pit plus a combo gold/red bathroom, among other things, and, bam, we're in my imaginary dream home, which I have literally, constantly ALWAYS mentally constructed from the time I was about six or so. (If you're curious, it has multiple themed rooms, and the closest I've seen to it recently is the outstanding Dita von Teese AD feature, but Amy Sedaris’s apartment comes close, too). There are two (2) 1960s houses in Long Beach with magnificent indoor trees, but I can't find them online, so have this modern interpretation and cry with me about how I can't visit the multi-story fake tree inside Clifton's Cafeteria for a good long while:
2. Conventions of Fans of Any Kind
One thing that I don't think I'll ever lose is how much I *love* people who are fans of SOMETHING, people who have a passion and create something about it or cosplay it or simply gather to celebrate it and connect to other people through it. The Internet provides in all kinds of ways, but I'm talking specifically about IRL conventions and the way my heart pitter pats when I first walk in those doors, SWOON! And it doesn’t matter how big the convention is or how random, I've been to smaller events like CatCon and the My Little Pony convention all the way up to biggies like WonderCon and Comic Con, and I have yet to be disappointed. I might know jack shit about what I'm walking into, but I want to see the merch, hear about the panels, and check out the people who are fucking PUMPED to be there. Sadly, I think it's gonna be a lonnnnng time until these come back, but I can live vicariously through my old photos, sigh:
3. Dutch Wax Fabrics and African Fashion
I'm not the snazziest of dressers, but textiles, colors, and patterns have been an obsession that has soothed my visual soul for as long as I can literally remember. Wax fabric marries all three of those touchpoints, plus throws in a healthy dose of style, and I count myself lucky to have seen two big exhibits on the subject (this was one of them), oh, how I wish there were more! For sure, there's a fucked up underlying colonial/imperialist history here, but there's also humor and color and vibrancy, a reclamation of sorts, and multiple levels of fashion that take my breath away. I cannot do the different patterns justice at all, but the fan motif is one of my faves:
4. Hearst Castle vs. Madonna inn
These two fall into my #home tag because they're where I'm from, and they speak to me as equally sublime and ridiculous, camp and kitsch writ large and small, different (yet similar!) versions of Xanadu that two rich white men built as shrines to their own personal "taste." And the irony is that a lot of people shit on Alex Madonna for being tacky (the Madonna Inn is...uh, something else), yet praise WR Hearst for all the high-class art and architecture, most of which is fully lifted from desperate churches between and after world and yet they're both more or less the same concept (lodging for weary travelers, self-aggrandizement, questionable taste-mixing). Hearst Castle edges out slightly for me because it's bigger and has spectacular scenery and history, plus it gives me doses of LA noir thanks to the way Hearst killed a guy in a jealous Charlie Chaplin-related rage and Hedda Hopper covered it up, all kinds of old Hollywood shenanigans happened up there, etc. But I'm low-key an expert on both houses of the holy, I'm OBSESSED with both, and we can leave it at that. I mean, come on:
5. Snow Globes
I had to cull my personal collection slightly just to fit it all on the dedicated shelf in my bathroom, and I seriously need to refill all the water lines, but nothing beats a snow globe in terms of memorable souvenir, especially when you put it in a bathroom. The majesty!!! The jewel of my collection is the one from Sherwood Forest because WHY NOT celebrate a historic place and moment in the basic way?? He robbed from the rich to give to the poor, and the gift shop about 100 feet from the tree he hid in does the same! The circle of life! The irony of all the watermarks on this blessed image...protect:
6. Highly Specific Museums
Look, we can all agree that the more venerated museums in the world are a form of garbage in terms of what they represent, what they've done, and who runs them, but I'm here for the museums that collect and celebrate things that tend to get overlooked. There are too many to list that I love that are still thriving, so I'm going to say goodbye to four recently departed faves. RIP to the Pez museum, I'm so glad I saw you and purchased your stale candy souvenirs. RIP to the museum of terrible food, you were a pop up when Phoenix and I saw you, and I will forever think about the worker describing people literally vomiting during their visits. RIP to the currywurst museum in Berlin, I've had currywurst exactly once and it was not for me, but I respect the Journey you took me on, including obscure east German TV shows that helped make you so popular (??). Finally, RIP to the velvet painting museum, there's no way to mince words, the person who owned you was crazy AS FUCK and had zero clue how to run a business, but I'm so glad I saw you multiple times and purchased my own velvet treasure (not this exact one, but remarkably similar):
7. Liminal Spaces: Grocery Store Edition
Confession time for those who don't know me all that well, I'm a big time voyeur, and nothing fills my heart with joy like a walk at 7 or 8 pm, the witching hour when people haven't pulled the curtains, and I can scope out their decorations/furnishings without it being "weird." Another confession is how much I unabashedly adore grocery stores in other countries and will spend at least an hour wandering aisle by aisle, falling in love with how much everything is different yet completely the same:
8. Agatha Christie Novels:
As a child, I was a fairly compliant reader--I had to read something for school? Okay! For my mom? Sounds good! But the books that sparked the initial fire for me to read something purely for myself were second-hand (probably fourth- or fifth-hand, judging by cover art) Agatha Christie short story anthologies, which were the gateway drug to full Agatha Christie novels, then other mystery novels, and so on. But getting back to Agatha, I obviously loved all the stories, but every decade spawned incredibly good cover art (like, exceptionally good), and this particular artist's are right up near the top for me (I go back and forth on a lot of the '50s and '60s ones):
9. Scopitones
I link my obsession with scopitones both to my love of music videos in general and a shop in Austin, TX, that sold DVD compilations of them in particular, but either way, they're underappreciated and kitschy all in one! Francoise Hardy and the rest of the ye-ye's are my forever girls for this medium, but seemingly every country cranked them out, both actual set videos and "live" performances? If you don't know what they are, scopitones were machines that played music videos in French cafes in the '60s (??), so it was sort of your proto-MTV way to see your faves sing and dance. Oh, Francoise...so moderne!!
10. Cover Songs
I have so much patience and love for cover songs of any stripe, the more genre-bending and/or surprising, the better! My only minor beef is the trend in slooooooooowing down songs to make a point, but even those ones have a special place in my heart if they're effective. Live Lounge feeds my hunger the best, but my meta fave for representing this concept is Pulp's Bad Cover Version, which was already lyrically INSPIRED, a song about bad cover versions in terms of relationships, but then they did a video that was a visual "bad" cover version, with actors lip synching over an audio "bad" cover version, and all of it just worked? The cover for the single is someone in the band as a boy, making his own bad cover version of a Bowie album cover, it's meta meta meta, and I love love love, here's the video, if you're curious. In the more sublime cover category, I'm absolutely addicted to all of Orville Peck's covers, I truly hope he officially releases them sometime soon, but I wholeheartedly support any artist who does it:
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