REVIEWS FOR JULY 3, 2008
Only two books today, but one has a long review where I rant and rant about things that have nothing to do with the book itself so… Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking, but it took me a while to write so I am going to post it anyway.
Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage
BATMAN #678
One of these days I’ll learn not to check Scans_Daily before reading a Morrison book. I suspect I end up liking them more than I should as a reaction to the massive fanwankery of Scans_Daily. So, if we listen to the fanwank (and we shouldn’t) the book is a byzantine puzzle that can only be comprehended by one inmate of a Guatemalan mental asylum, usually kept gagged and hidden in a special cell in the basement where he is not allowed writing materials for his madness should not be allowed to spread; and by an ancient monk in the Himalayas, who has pierced time with his mind and seen the face of God.
Now, these Scans_Daily posters are not even reading the story; they are just trying to put the story together from random panels people post at SD. Somehow they are amazed at the fact they are unable to understand what’s going on. And obviously, since the vast wisdom of SD can’t comprehend what’s going on based on loose pages of the third part of an on-going story, the story has to be shit! These people are obviously morons and, just like their parents did, we should ignore them.
But, apparently, there are some people who are reading the story and not understanding what’s going on. Now, I admit sometimes it takes more effort to read a Morrison story than say Peter David or Chuck Dixon. I personally like that. I don’t need to be taken by the hand and guided through the spooky narrative forest. I am not a moron and I like to get lost from time to time. I am a big girl and I can take care of myself in the big spooky forest, thank you.
One of my favorite Sci-Fi films is the absolutely bonkers, mind-kicking film PRIMER. Primer is about a pair of engineers who accidentally invent a time machine (sort of). The movie is unlike any time traveling story you have ever seen. It is very complex, and I at some point there are four versions of the two engineers running around screwing with the space time continuum. I frankly was not able to understand the movie in one go. I actually want to watch it again one of these days to try to understand what went on there.
Here is the trailer:
Are we so lazy as readers that we can’t appreciate stories that require some effort to understand? Are we so insecure that we don’t like stories that make us feel dumb for not understanding? And the worst thing is that I don’t even think that’s what Morrison is going for here. All the things we don’t know about Batman RIP are the things we shouldn’t know. It’s a mystery story, where we are not sure what’s happening to Batman. We know the Black Glove is trying to destroy him, and we know at some point in the past he got some brainwashing, which explains why he is starting to see weird stuff like Bat-Mite and Zurr En Arr. The dead guy that helps him as probably a ghost… I think, or also a part of the hallucination. I don’t know! But my reaction to not knowing is usually “That’s cool” instead of “Huh? I don’t get it! IT’S SHIT!”
Anyway, about the actual book, the Black Glove has drugged up poor Batman up to his armpits and tossed him to the streets to live as a crazy hobo as part of his plan to destroy him. So of course Bruce is not going to die, only his crazy Batman persona… otherwise they would have just murdered him right there. I enjoy mysteries where I can come up with weird theories of what’s going on. I am still betting that Bruce himself is the Black Glove.
Jezebel Jet, for some reason disappears in this issue (not that she was missed much) despite that she was right there with Bruce when he got captured. So either she is so boring even Morrison forgot she was there, or she is a totally traitorous beyotch! The second one is more probably… slightly.
The art continues to be a problem. Look at this picture:
Is that Bruce? Is that Tim? Is that Dick? Alfred? No, no mustache! Bat-Mite? Who the hell draws sexy Bat-Mite? That’s insane! I honestly thought that was Bruce until I remembered he was captured last issue. So then I thought it was Dick. It turns out that’s Tim! When the same bike appears in a scene with Tim, that’s when I notice that’s supposed to be Tim. If I can't tell them apart, then there is some massive art failure going on!
Something that actually surprised me is that nobody at Scans_Daily has complained about the very obvious “magic negro” who helps Bruce in this issue. Considering SD went bonkers with accusations of racism about some sketches of Japanese superheroes, you would think they would jump at the occasion of attacking Morrison for this actual racial faux paus. It is certainly a mild one as far as such things go, and nowhere near Mother of Champions, but far more obvious than whatever the heck people were seeing in those sketches. But no, apparently you are only racist for not understanding anime. But honestly, Morrison, a magic negro? What the hell, baldy?
Anyway, Jog writes a better review of the issue and, unlike me, without attacking people he has never met.
CROSSING MIDNIGHT #19
And sadly, this little unappreciated gem has come to an end. It at least has a sort of ending, but it looks more like a season ending than an end of a story. Heck, it even ends with one of the characters setting off into another adventure.
Like most things written by Carey, it was a very imaginative and beautiful series with clever scenes and clever solutions to clever problems. If you liked Lucifer, then Crossing Midnight is right up there. Well… was, because it just got cancelled.
Oh well, you’ll be missed, little series.
Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage
Click to viewBATMAN #678
One of these days I’ll learn not to check Scans_Daily before reading a Morrison book. I suspect I end up liking them more than I should as a reaction to the massive fanwankery of Scans_Daily. So, if we listen to the fanwank (and we shouldn’t) the book is a byzantine puzzle that can only be comprehended by one inmate of a Guatemalan mental asylum, usually kept gagged and hidden in a special cell in the basement where he is not allowed writing materials for his madness should not be allowed to spread; and by an ancient monk in the Himalayas, who has pierced time with his mind and seen the face of God.
Now, these Scans_Daily posters are not even reading the story; they are just trying to put the story together from random panels people post at SD. Somehow they are amazed at the fact they are unable to understand what’s going on. And obviously, since the vast wisdom of SD can’t comprehend what’s going on based on loose pages of the third part of an on-going story, the story has to be shit! These people are obviously morons and, just like their parents did, we should ignore them.
But, apparently, there are some people who are reading the story and not understanding what’s going on. Now, I admit sometimes it takes more effort to read a Morrison story than say Peter David or Chuck Dixon. I personally like that. I don’t need to be taken by the hand and guided through the spooky narrative forest. I am not a moron and I like to get lost from time to time. I am a big girl and I can take care of myself in the big spooky forest, thank you.
One of my favorite Sci-Fi films is the absolutely bonkers, mind-kicking film PRIMER. Primer is about a pair of engineers who accidentally invent a time machine (sort of). The movie is unlike any time traveling story you have ever seen. It is very complex, and I at some point there are four versions of the two engineers running around screwing with the space time continuum. I frankly was not able to understand the movie in one go. I actually want to watch it again one of these days to try to understand what went on there.
Here is the trailer:
Are we so lazy as readers that we can’t appreciate stories that require some effort to understand? Are we so insecure that we don’t like stories that make us feel dumb for not understanding? And the worst thing is that I don’t even think that’s what Morrison is going for here. All the things we don’t know about Batman RIP are the things we shouldn’t know. It’s a mystery story, where we are not sure what’s happening to Batman. We know the Black Glove is trying to destroy him, and we know at some point in the past he got some brainwashing, which explains why he is starting to see weird stuff like Bat-Mite and Zurr En Arr. The dead guy that helps him as probably a ghost… I think, or also a part of the hallucination. I don’t know! But my reaction to not knowing is usually “That’s cool” instead of “Huh? I don’t get it! IT’S SHIT!”
Anyway, about the actual book, the Black Glove has drugged up poor Batman up to his armpits and tossed him to the streets to live as a crazy hobo as part of his plan to destroy him. So of course Bruce is not going to die, only his crazy Batman persona… otherwise they would have just murdered him right there. I enjoy mysteries where I can come up with weird theories of what’s going on. I am still betting that Bruce himself is the Black Glove.
Jezebel Jet, for some reason disappears in this issue (not that she was missed much) despite that she was right there with Bruce when he got captured. So either she is so boring even Morrison forgot she was there, or she is a totally traitorous beyotch! The second one is more probably… slightly.
The art continues to be a problem. Look at this picture:
Is that Bruce? Is that Tim? Is that Dick? Alfred? No, no mustache! Bat-Mite? Who the hell draws sexy Bat-Mite? That’s insane! I honestly thought that was Bruce until I remembered he was captured last issue. So then I thought it was Dick. It turns out that’s Tim! When the same bike appears in a scene with Tim, that’s when I notice that’s supposed to be Tim. If I can't tell them apart, then there is some massive art failure going on!
Something that actually surprised me is that nobody at Scans_Daily has complained about the very obvious “magic negro” who helps Bruce in this issue. Considering SD went bonkers with accusations of racism about some sketches of Japanese superheroes, you would think they would jump at the occasion of attacking Morrison for this actual racial faux paus. It is certainly a mild one as far as such things go, and nowhere near Mother of Champions, but far more obvious than whatever the heck people were seeing in those sketches. But no, apparently you are only racist for not understanding anime. But honestly, Morrison, a magic negro? What the hell, baldy?
Anyway, Jog writes a better review of the issue and, unlike me, without attacking people he has never met.
CROSSING MIDNIGHT #19
And sadly, this little unappreciated gem has come to an end. It at least has a sort of ending, but it looks more like a season ending than an end of a story. Heck, it even ends with one of the characters setting off into another adventure.
Like most things written by Carey, it was a very imaginative and beautiful series with clever scenes and clever solutions to clever problems. If you liked Lucifer, then Crossing Midnight is right up there. Well… was, because it just got cancelled.
Oh well, you’ll be missed, little series.