This and That
So I´ve been doing some new year´s cleaning in real life and around here, locked a few NSFW posts, deleted a few folders from the scrapbook galleries and took a long hard look at my friends list. 0_o
I was sad to see that vipers-in-love has purged her account and left LJ, taking her stories with her. Vipers was one of the very few writers I saw in this fandom who actually tried to write interconnected stories with a plot. Her Bruce and Clark really had adventures as Batman and Superman as well as in their civilian identities. Her depiction of Wayne Manor in It´s Bruce! and Caught was incredibly fun and visual. And, most important of all, her Bruce was not just a creepy conniving backdrop to make some version of hapless dorky Clark look good. Her Clark wasn´t dorky at all, her Bruce was complex but lovely and both he and Clark talked and acted like MEN.
I guess the length of her stories were the reason she never received the acclaim she deserved, it seems reading more than 1000 words max. at a time is asking too much. But since the stories seem to be gone it´s a moot point.
So, Vipers, although you probably won´t read this, thank you for your stories and may life be good to you.
Another thing that got me thinking was the poor response to this year´s SuperBat Big Bang. It seems to me the lack of participation on either side of the desk somehow reflects the stagnant state of the fandom. I don´t know if the source material is to blame, I for one completely left DC behind me after the megalomanic reboot/reimagining and I´d already given up on the Batman books after Final Crisis.
Maybe Nolan´s Bat-Travesty turned people off Bruce Wayne.
Maybe it´s just people leaving LJ.
Maybe the fandom is just dying because all things do sooner or later.
Maybe, maybe.
On the positive side, I have Cyc´s stories to read, a great big amazing shining cosmos filled with adventures, wonders, comedy, tragedy, insight and, most of all, love. Her Bruce is brilliant, strong, brave and yet vulnerable, generous but with a temper! Her Clark is lovable, heroic, wise, gentle but not a pushover, protective as well as possessive. The heroes themselves and the support cast are so carefully rendered they really come alive in the imagination, all of them, be it canon character, original character ... even the faceless goon gets a name and a story.
I will love these stories forever. I hope there will be more.
Baby, you rock!
:-*
Comics: There is so much goodness available in backissues and reprints from Golden, Silver and Bronze Age, not to forget the DCAU, comics by writers and artists who actually *gasp* liked Batman *gasp*, so I´m not getting bored anytime soon.
Me?
I´m currently working on a comic adaptation of one of Cyc´s stories, with renewed vigour in the face of adversity it seems - or maybe just more leisure during the holidays. I have another one with three pages done already, but still much work to do there. And the list of stories I´ve planned to illustrate is so long that I´ll be kept busy until I reach retirement age, lol.
It´s just that I´m not certain anymore what to do with them once they are finished. I´m starting to dislike the presentation on a blog. I was a bit shocked last year when I found some of my pictures reposted to another site by an anonymous person who slandered me personally in the very same post. But that´s the internet for you.
I´ve turned the Halcyon comic into a publication on Issuu, I might use that format more in the future.
All in all, it´s not so bad, is it?
Here´s wishing everyone a good and creative year.
And special hugs go out to those friends on my f-list who´ve occasionally taken the time to talk to me, thank you guys!
I was sad to see that vipers-in-love has purged her account and left LJ, taking her stories with her. Vipers was one of the very few writers I saw in this fandom who actually tried to write interconnected stories with a plot. Her Bruce and Clark really had adventures as Batman and Superman as well as in their civilian identities. Her depiction of Wayne Manor in It´s Bruce! and Caught was incredibly fun and visual. And, most important of all, her Bruce was not just a creepy conniving backdrop to make some version of hapless dorky Clark look good. Her Clark wasn´t dorky at all, her Bruce was complex but lovely and both he and Clark talked and acted like MEN.
I guess the length of her stories were the reason she never received the acclaim she deserved, it seems reading more than 1000 words max. at a time is asking too much. But since the stories seem to be gone it´s a moot point.
So, Vipers, although you probably won´t read this, thank you for your stories and may life be good to you.
Another thing that got me thinking was the poor response to this year´s SuperBat Big Bang. It seems to me the lack of participation on either side of the desk somehow reflects the stagnant state of the fandom. I don´t know if the source material is to blame, I for one completely left DC behind me after the megalomanic reboot/reimagining and I´d already given up on the Batman books after Final Crisis.
Maybe Nolan´s Bat-Travesty turned people off Bruce Wayne.
Maybe it´s just people leaving LJ.
Maybe the fandom is just dying because all things do sooner or later.
Maybe, maybe.
On the positive side, I have Cyc´s stories to read, a great big amazing shining cosmos filled with adventures, wonders, comedy, tragedy, insight and, most of all, love. Her Bruce is brilliant, strong, brave and yet vulnerable, generous but with a temper! Her Clark is lovable, heroic, wise, gentle but not a pushover, protective as well as possessive. The heroes themselves and the support cast are so carefully rendered they really come alive in the imagination, all of them, be it canon character, original character ... even the faceless goon gets a name and a story.
I will love these stories forever. I hope there will be more.
Baby, you rock!
:-*
Comics: There is so much goodness available in backissues and reprints from Golden, Silver and Bronze Age, not to forget the DCAU, comics by writers and artists who actually *gasp* liked Batman *gasp*, so I´m not getting bored anytime soon.
Me?
I´m currently working on a comic adaptation of one of Cyc´s stories, with renewed vigour in the face of adversity it seems - or maybe just more leisure during the holidays. I have another one with three pages done already, but still much work to do there. And the list of stories I´ve planned to illustrate is so long that I´ll be kept busy until I reach retirement age, lol.
It´s just that I´m not certain anymore what to do with them once they are finished. I´m starting to dislike the presentation on a blog. I was a bit shocked last year when I found some of my pictures reposted to another site by an anonymous person who slandered me personally in the very same post. But that´s the internet for you.
I´ve turned the Halcyon comic into a publication on Issuu, I might use that format more in the future.
All in all, it´s not so bad, is it?
Here´s wishing everyone a good and creative year.
And special hugs go out to those friends on my f-list who´ve occasionally taken the time to talk to me, thank you guys!