lydamorehouse: (Default)
First of all, I don't have much to say about the AZ shootings that many of my friends didn't already post instantly on Facebook. The only thing I would add to the discussion is that I have never known a "left-winger" who considers Mein Kampf a favorite. I've known plenty of people who have read it, even own it... but list it as a favorite? Not so much.

But the whole thing makes me so sick to my stomach that I'm going to, instead, focus on the entirely mundane.

To that end, I am pleased to report that Mason and I got our yellow stripes on Saturday. And, yes, the test really wasn't so much a "test" as a demonstration of what the instructors knew I (and Mason) was already capable of. That did not mean, however, that the test was EASY. In fact, it totally kicked my butt. My butt still hurts, and the entire house smells of Icy Heat. Sa bum nim said to me as he was putting the stripe on my belt at the ceremony, "That wasn't so bad, now was it?" And I laughed, "Are you kidding, sir? I've never done anything so hard in my entire life!"

But also great fun.

I'm actually looking forward to going back tonight and having my butt kicked AGAIN.

Also, in the realm of complete mindlessness, one of the things my family and I did on Sunday as a sort of post-stripe celebration was go to the bookstore to stock up on winter reading. We did our usual used book circuit, which includes HalfPrice Books and Sixth Chamber. I spent much of Sunday resting my aching muscles on the couch and reading various Avengers comics, which I'll review later. As I've posted on FB, I've been struck by a bunch of strange observations about various superheroes. Like, how many superheroes must smell like Icy Heat... or, how do you suppose Peter Parker explains all his bruises? Do you think he just does like my friend Bill Henry who would ocassionally show up to Wyrdsmiths with a black eye and mutter, "socceer" or "rugby," and lets people just assume he's not out crime fighting in the streets on his off hours? Or why is it that no one pulled this skinny, nerdy kid away from his Aunt May and asked him, "Do you need a SAFE PLACE???!"

Seriously.

I read one of Brubaker's Marvel Age issues about Pearl Harbor and the Invaders, and that just really got me thinking about my grandparents and about all the strange things Captain America probably says/does/eats because of the era he grew up in. My grandparents always had coffee after dinner ....and ate bread with butter, like as a side dish. I'm being told on FB that much of this is probably ethnic (particularly my example of liver and onions), but you've got to figure there's something that Cap used to ask Jarvis to make for dinner that had the rest of the Avengers groaning.

And does he smell like Old Spice?

I mean, you could not go into a grandparent's bathroom without seeing that white bottle with the blue ship on it. And old people just smelled -- not like "the man my man could smell like" -- but like my grandpa'a Old Spice!

So, yeah, this is the level of thought my brain is capable of today.
lydamorehouse: (cap)
My weekend actually started on Friday, because Shawn took the day off. We did a lot of retail therapy starting with her haircut at the Hair Police in Edina. Then we went off to lunch out (which we almost never do), the art store, Dick Bick, the scrapbooking store for her, and then, after picking up Mason, back to Barnes & Noble. Mason got the latest DEAR DUMB DIARY (#9). Plus, on Saturday, after a routine visit to the vet, we stopped in at HalfPrice Books, where I picked up a few more Straczynski AMAZING SPIDER-MAN issues.

#540 Back in Black (part 2 of 5)
#541 Back in Black (part 3 of 5)
#543 Back in Black (part 5 of 5) "Incident on the Fourth Floor"
#544 One More Day (part 1 of 4)

And, knowing what I do of the future, this is where I plan to stop. Because if I stop here, the possiblity of it not sucking still exists: Schrodinger's plotline. (I did this with BSG when they reached [the first] Earth, and, frankly, I'm much happpier for it. I also do this on a regular basis whenever I watch "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" once they get to Bolivia.)

At any rate, the story of these issues revolve around Aunt May. She's mortally wounded by a sniper who targets her because, in part, of the aftermath of the Civil War, where Peter Parker reveals his secret identity to the whole world at the urging of Iron Man and osctensibly as part of the superhero registration act. (Though it's implied in these issues that Peter is actually still unsigned, and, thus, a renegade.)

Though all of this is spoiled out there on the Interwebs, I won't tell you what I know, except to say I think Marvel should have taken the higher road for once -- BECAUSE my favorite of these issues was probably #543/"Incident on the Fourth Floor." I thought Straczynski really plumbed the depths of the kind of pathological thinking you'd figure a superhero might have around issues of helplessness. Peter finds himself acting more and more desperately as he discovers that -- for once -- he might not be able to cheat fate, the way, to be fair, he does on almost a daily basis while fighting the bad guys/saving the world. I love that he, in point of fact, keeps a mental tally of all the felonies he commits (10 at the end of part 5) and how self-aware he is that, at this point, little seperates his behavior from that of all the criminals he fights.

I sort of wish that, well, Peter would learn about hubris at the end of this. The ending I would have written would involve the crushing realization that even superheroes can't fight death. It claims all of us. And sh*t happens. People die.

But, from what I understand, Marvel refuses to go there. But, you know, when you live in a world with superheroes, magicians, and the devil... I guess you have more choices.

Still, it's too bad.

Also one more note of nerdiness. To all y'all at the "Big Bang Theory" panel at Marscon this year: I'm right and you're wrong, now you have to sing the song!!

This from Ken Tucker (Entertainment Weekly #1096 / April 2010):

"Let me offer two theories about 'The Big Bang Theory' -- one big, one small. The big one's an explanation of how this sitcom triumphed over this country's ingrained dislike of intellectuals to become a mass-appeal hit. Viewers love Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) not because they can tie string theory into artful bows -- no, they love these hyperarticulate guys BECAUSE THEY'RE INFRIOR TO US IN ONE AREA AMERICANS PRIDE THEMSELVES IN EXCELLING: SOCIALIZING." (emphasis mine, 'natch)

I said, I said, I said that "The Big Bang Theory" wasn't for the mundanes what it us for us. Now I have proof!!

In other words, I have to go. I had some other things I wanted to share, but they'll have to wait. Because I'm a dork, I managed to erase and earlier version I had of this blog, so I wasted a bunch of writing time retyping it. *sigh*

Anyway, look for more soon!
lydamorehouse: (Default)
To continue an argument I had with Pat Rothfuss at CONvergence, I have to say that really smart writing never gets the credit it deserves. I’m not talking about myself, for once, either.

The panel was entitled "How to Publish and Not Perish," and Pat mistakenly made the point that the first thing a writer needed to do was "write a good book." To which, I immediately countered, "No, sorry. That's not going to save you. Plenty of good books perish, while bad books flourish." At some point during the extended argument, Pat casually brought up the TV show "Firefly," and I pounced: "You mean the show that was cancelled???" I asked, "Doesn't that PROVE my point?" He had to admit I might be on to something there.

"Firefly" is cancelled and reality shows flourish. And Straczynski's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is no more either. And you know what? That's a crime. That's a bloody, freaking crime.

Yesterday I stopped by HalfPrice books again because the deadline for turning in the "Feed Your Brain" scorecards to get $3.00 coupons is either today or tomorrow, and I happened to also have a free cat food coupon for PETCO, which is only a few blocks further west. Once again in the used bin at HalfPrice, I found a couple Straczynski SPIDER-MANs. For a whopping seventy-five cents, I got AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #502, which I now consider to be one of the best Spider-Man issues of all time.

In a nutshell, it's the story of the Jewish talior to the superheroes/villians. It's also a story about a core Spider-Man theme, ie "you have a responsiblity to do the right thing when when it sucks to do so." In this case, not just when you have "great power", but also when you have NO POWER. Straczynski also returns to one of his favorite tropes to play with, which is what does it really means to be "the friendly, *neighborhood* Spider-Man." It's a story that's very much about being a New Yorker. I love those.

Tailor: "Hey, Mr. Bug Guy on the roof!"
Spider-Man: "You talking to me?"
Talior: "What, you see another Bug Guy on the roof?"
Spider-Man: "You talking to me?"
Talior: "Yeah, I'm talking to you."

I don't know. It's cheap, but it totally amused me. Plus, I loved that the talior instantly recognized not only that Spider-Man was local to New York, but also that he was from Queens. There were a ton of fun bits like that, including a brief questioning of Thor's manliness based on the kinds of magazines he likes to read while the tailor fixed his costume (gardening and bridal), which I could imagine irritated some. Spider-Man has a favorite diner to go to in costume... tons and tons of things what made me do the happy dance. I loved it. I thought the whole concept and excuition was absolutely brilliant.

I'm just gutted that the time will come when I will run out of Straczynski AMAZING SPIDER-MANs to read. And everything is different now. And Straczynski deserves better. I was a fan of "Babylon 5," but I'm a FANATIC for his Spider-Man issues.

I also picked up AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 39/480 "Meanwhile" and Mason got Marvel Adventures All-Ages SPIDER-MAN #53 "A Sense of Responsiblity" (Tobin), which I'll review at some point. Today I just wanted to whine about how great writing doesn't get no respect!
lydamorehouse: (cap)
[livejournal.com profile] wyldemusick just gave me the ten cent tour of the latest happenings in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN since Straczynski's departure from that title, and all I have to say is: wtf??

As I said in my reply coments, I actually find myself feeling mildly depressed. I was on-line ridiculously early this morning and so read [livejournal.com profile] wyldemusick's comment while my family busied themselves with the business of getting dressed and ready for the day, and consequently I've been thinking about this EVER SINCE.

I won't tell you specifics, because as [livejournal.com profile] skylarker reminded me, this sort of thing definitely falls into the realm of spoilers, but, MAN. What I want to talk about instead is, perhaps, more universal to the experience of being a fan.

It surprises me just how much I CARE. These people are completely made up, I realize that, really, I do... but, like any good long-running series, I have developed a personal history with these characters. I feel like I KNOW Peter Parker. More than that, Peter Parker has been in my life, on and off, since 1978 (or there abouts, when my cousin Laun took me into his basement where his father had their collection of comicbooks, which includes some of the very FIRST issues of many long-running titles, like X-Men and Fantastic Four, which his dad lovingly collected in the 1960s. I can not say for certain that Laun has the AMAZING which has Spider-Man's first appearance, but I'm sure he has the first Spider-Man comic that was its own title.) I have touched (and read) some of these very first appearances. My memory for them is nothing like my cousin's. I can not tell you the inker or the artist (unless, of course, it's someone iconic like, say, Jack Kirby) or even most writers... because as a kid that stuff matter much less to me than the STORY.

As I suggested in my reply, I love it when writers (like Straczinsky, who is clearly also a long-time fan) remembers and makes off-handed references to Spidey's history. In one of the issues I have (it might even be in a Bendis NEW AVENGERS), Peter Parker is talking to Tony Stark about his screwed up biology and says, "once I even had six arms." Which made me smile because I could see that cover art clearly in my head.

I hate game-changers. The Skrull Invasion eventually tested my patience because (and this was a long enough time ago, I think, [livejournal.com profile] skylarker, that I can just say this out loud) it expected me to potentially believe that many characters had been imposers for several generations.

I gave up on DC when they kept rebooting classic heros, like Superman (and yes, I think that was some time in the 70s or 80s.) I have no issue with risk-taking (like the Civil War or killing off Captain America, both of which, in fact I loved,) or even stretching out and deepening existing "beliefs" (like wondering if Spidey's powers are totemic magic or just radiation.) But expecting me to abandon much of what I've come to know about characters just... well, depresses me. I could have survived Skrull Invasion, except that it ended up feeling cheap to me, not unlike, say, making a deal with the devil. If the consequences are explored deeply enough, I can roll with just about anything.

Ah, well. I may have to just keep living in Spidey's past until some revamps his world again. Luckly, I'm sitll plenty far behind. I can live in the past for YEARS.
lydamorehouse: (cap)
Because I believe in freaking out early and often, I spent Friday reading Spider-Man instead of writing.

Just to review I read the graphic novel collection “Coming Home,” which seems to chronicle the first time Michael J. Straczynski takes the helm of the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN title; random single issues 492/51 “Digger” and 493/52 “Dig This”; and finally the collected issues 515 – 518 “Skin Deep.”

What’s amusing about this experience is that I’ve been reading around these issues scatter-shot for several months now. Thus the big reveal at the end of “Coming Home” where Aunt May finds Peter’s bruised and battered body on the couch next to his shredded Spidey-suit not as big a “ta-dah!” moment as it might have been if I were reading these in order. Still, it was nice to see how he got there.

And, there was the cool bit about totem animals.

Straczynski suggests that maybe, just maybe, Peter *is* SPIDER, as in the archetype that has been causing our collective unconscious skin to crawl since time immortal. This theory is postulated via a mysterious stranger who just happens to have similar powers to Spider-Man, though he may have gotten them thanks to a funky Aztec(?) ritual involving blood and spider symbols (that part is implied in pictures. Mysterious stranger is vague about his origin story.) Anyway, Straczynski builds a case that costumes attract like, so Captain America is PATRIOTISM and so the villains he fights reflect that totemic energy. Which nicely explains why Spider-Man is always fighting guys (and gals) who have animalistic powers ala Dr. Octopus (note to Mr. Straczynski and/or editors at SPIDER-MAN, while “octopi” is correct “octopuses” is the preferred plural), Rhino, Kraven Hunter, Vulture, Lizard Man, Black Cat... etc.

I’m not sure I buy it entirely, but I liked the way Peter fought off the totem-vampire dude. That worked for me.

One of the things I loved about Straczynski’s work on Babylon 5 was the remembering. If something got brought up in an episode – even something seemingly insignificant, Straczynski would pick it up later and make something of it. So I noticed later in “Skin Deep” the single panel in one of the flashback scenes where a spider just happens to be lurking by Peter’s leg. Coincidence? After “Coming Home,” I don’t think so. The spiders _wanted_ to pass on their super powers to Peter, the radiation was just a bonus.

51 and 52, pick up after Peter and MJ are back together after their seperation, and follow a mini-arc about a gamma irradiated mess of dead bodies (long story) that have a grudge against a mafia boss who ends up kind of hiring Spider-Man to be his body guard. My favorite moment in this arc was in 52 when Spidey gets a ticket for car surfing. I loved everything about those two panels, actually. I loved that Peter wouldn’t get in the car with the mafia thug; I loved that he bet the cop there wasn’t an ordinance to cover a situation where someone was riding on the hood of a car (and that there was); and I especially loved the ticket written out to “Spider-Man” and the mafia hood yelling from inside, “For Chrissake get in the goddamned car!”

A great moment, honesty: very Spider-Man, very New York.

Interestingly, “Skin Deep” is more a Peter Parker story than it is Spider-Man’s. It follows the exploits of a fellow nerd, Charlie Weiderman and his descent into super-villainry. It’s told both in the present time, when Peter and Charlie are adults, and in Peter’s pre-irradiated spider bite past (complete with a living, speaking, PUNCHING Uncle Ben!)

My favorite part involves Peter going gah-gah over MJ’s sexy costume for some stage production or other. He gets completely derailed, even though he’s come to warn her about Weiderman’s evil turn. Cute.

“Skin Deep” runs right up to Straczynski’s New Avengers SPIDER-MAN, which is one of my favorites that I’ve read over and over.

I suppose I’d best go get some real work done now.
lydamorehouse: (Default)
... should be lovers, no wait, actually, I was planning to do a review of some older graphic novels and single issues of those titles I picked up over the weekend.

Before leaving for LaCrosse, my family and I stopped in at the HalfPrice Books in Highland Park (Saint Paul) for vacation books. Mason discovered a couple of cool new sticker activity books, including one with the rather evocative title: "Sticky History of the World." Shawn found a couple of good mysteries, and I browsed the graphic novel selection and saw that they had a DAREDEVIL by Ed Brubaker (who I'd pretty much read doing any title, this one is Volume One: "Hell to Pay") and one of J. Michael Straczynski's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Volume 2: "Revelations.")

I'm not normally a Daredevil fan, and it's not just because of Ben Affleck (who I didn't think did THAT bad of a job, but people love to hate that guy for some reason). Daredevil is one of those Marvel characters I always found kind of, well, square. Kind of like Captain America, who I never much cared for until I was over forty, and could appreciate his gravitas, I guess. Brubaker does a good job of making me give a flying monkey's butt about old Matt Murdock, though. In "Hell to Pay" Matt's secret identity has been revealed and he's dealing with various fall out (this is pre-"Civil War.") Apparently, Murdock has a wife (I had no idea) and one entire issue is kind of a soap opera about the heartache of being the lover of a superhero (which kind of turns out to be a theme in the Spider-Man issues as well, but I'll get to that.) Despite my snarky description, I kind of dug that because it plays with my own sensiblities around what if all this stuff were real, and there really were costumed super heroes bounding around our neighborhoos (although really only in New York City, but whatever.)

Spider-Man "Revelations" starts with the superhero reaction to 9-11 and then Aunt May finally figures out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man when she discovers him passed out on his bed, bleeding and broken, still clutching a ruined Spider-Man costume. Both arcs were fairly awesome. I thought I'd be annoyed by the 9-11 tribute, but I actually kind of got a bit choked up at the sight of Captain America in the ruins of the World Trade Center. It was another one of those "it totally could have happened like this" moments. The bit with Aunt May's discovery is both really profound and quite funny, my favorite moment is this: they've just had this tearful hug, and Aunt May starts laughing. When Peter asks her what's up, she replies, "Well, ever since you were a teenager I knew you were hiding SOMETHING. On top of that you were quiet and sensitive, you didn't like sports, you were awkward around girls, and... to tell the truth, Peter, for a while I thought maybe you were gay." She goes on to say she made peace with that, and so discovering: "...I knew something was in the closet. Could've been chiffon. Who knew it was a costume?" wasn't much of a stretch.

What I like about "Revelations" is that Stracynski doesn't pull any punches. Aunt May takes it pretty well, but isn't entirely accepting of Peter's other life. She reacts a lot like any mom might, I think. She hates the idea of him putting himself in harm's way, and yet she also hates that he lets the Daily Bugle smear his public image as Spider-Man. It's nicely complicated.

Then, in LaCrosse, Shawn and I stopped by a new used bookstore on the North Side, and they had a rack of single-issue comicbooks (mostly overpriced, but...) I still couldn't resist picking up Brian Michael Bendis' DAREDEVIL (34/414 and 40/420), then I picked up a couple of early Hellblazers I didn't think I had (the only DC title I collected regularly,) and #31 of Vertigo's LUCIFER (Mike Carey), which I was underwhelmed by, despite my love of Satan as a literary character. Maybe I'll have to look for earlier issues so I can get a better handle of what's going on in Hell, as it were. I did like Carey uses the geography of Hell that Dante sort of maps out, as there's a great scene of envoys riding across the plains of North Hell.

But, I decided I like Bendis' early work. I'm going to put him on my "if I see his name on a collection or title, I'll pick it up" list for used bookstores. (I'd go broke picking up his current titles, I think.)

All right, enough of that. I should go work.

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