REF 71 SQUEE + Ten Confessions of a Fannish Nature
Must post. Lots to say. Resorting to numbering, but first: Referendum 71 passed! *pumps fist*
It's the first state-wide voter-approved gay rights initiative to be passed in the US. The previous changes in state laws have come from legislatures or courts, then sadly in some cases (such as California and Maine) been overturned by election. I live in Washington State and I'm just really happy that my state wasn't utterly stupid. Referendum 71 was worded very carefully* and includes opposite-sex senior partnerships. I think both things helped to ward off the bigots. Though it still passed narrowly.
*"would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage."
1. I have a new laptop! It is purple and beautiful and runs fast and I LOVE it. *huggles it close* Mostly, I love it because now I get to download episodes of Smallville and more comics, and I'll actually get to comment to my f'list and write fic and posts. YAY! I owe this entirely to literaryll and therefore owe her fic forever so blame her if all I can produce now is JSA porn.
2. Speaking of literaryll, we've been doing very geeky things lately. We went to see Wicked because it's Maxine Hunkel's favorite, thank you. (It's fabulous and extremely fannish, btw.) Then we went to Catholic mass despite neither of us being Catholic (don't worry, we were respectful). Because you know, Pieter Cross and Todd Rice are Catholic (and in our fanon, so is Alan Scott). We lit a candle for the quality of the JSA books. My mother thinks this is the geekiest thing she's ever heard of, but I protest this. Besides, it gave us unforeseen insight into the characters. We've decided to continue this tradition of doing the things the JSA characters would do. We're thinking indie hipster backroom concert gig for Tommy Bronson, college football for Nate Heywood, boxing match for Ted Grant, etc. Anybody have any ideas for us?
3. I am now only two episodes behind on my Smallville watching and so far I think season nine is better than the latter half of season eight. Clark is being heroic despite his lack of screentime. I'd rather have small amounts of heroic!Clark than large amounts of asshat!Clark. Lois has been wonderfully compassionate and respectful of her friendships, while still going for the jugular. I loved her interactions with Metallo! Ollie has actually been interesting and reminds me of comics!Ollie. I really like drunken fuck-up Ollie. I don't care much for Chloe anymore as she seems to have lost any semblance of conscience and that saddens me, but I still find her storyline compelling. Much more so than last season. A lot of that is probably due to Emil Hamilton who is fascinating. Oh, and Zod is a bit obsessed with Jor-El, isn't he? Strongly reminds me of Clex. I'm still 'meh' on Tess, but since she hasn't been interacting with Clark, that hasn't affected me much. Also, I'm very excited about mid-season spoilers! Jumping up and down excited! Hee!
4. Cassidy Freeman interview at Newsarama (very unspecific spoilers): What gets me about this interview is the comments. Newsarama commenters are hard-core comics fans, but casual viewers. It's nice to see comments about the quality of the show rather than shipper flame wars. *sigh*
5. I just finished reading Mike Carey and Peter Gross' Lucifer. It's the best comic I've ever read and I want everyone to read it and discuss it and squee over it with me! It's a sequel to Neil Gaiman's Sandman and in my opinion, it's a better read. Where Sandman was about how the stories we tell affect us, I think Lucifer is more about how who we are influences the stories we tell. It's an essential and inspiring difference. Lucifer's story is epic and thoughtful. You can get it from comicunity here or here at The Longbox. Or you know, from bookstores and comic shops. *coughs* I'll be recc'ing Lucifer fic at sequentialcrack in January, so you've got two months to read it, ya'll.
6. I'm recc'ing Captain America and Invaders fanworks at sequentialcrack this month. Despite not finishing my overview for Young DC. In both instances, the hard part is in narrowing things down, but it's much easier to do this for recs than for the overview. It's gotten huge and out-of-control and I suspect much of it is unnecessary. *headdesk* I should have volunteered for Young Marvel; it's much smaller. If anyone wants to help me cut it down, I'd really appreciate it.
7. starfleet_hq is now on week five and it has been a blast. I'm not sure if team_sisko is still in the lead after our strong start According to team_sisko's Captain we're still in the lead! I do know it has been a total delight to talk thoughtfully about Trek again. I'm even thinking of re-writing my Sisko's baseball essay (since it has been lost in the recesses of cyberspace).
8. Sadly, the Yankees won the World Series. D: In happier news, literaryll watched the playoffs and has been converted to baseball! YAY! She's now set to mainline Ken Burns' Baseball before next spring. Oh, the ecstasy and despair she's yet to experience. *laughs maniacally*
9. I'm actually writing fic lately! I participated in heroines_fest last month and completed the story I wrote. Yippee! It was interesting for me because I ended up not writing the characters I'd been matched on. I tried, but ended up scrapping that story after 600 words - the plot it would not come. I ended up experimenting with humor which is not my strong suit and judging from the comments, it seems I succeeded, so "Yay!". merfilly wrote a lovely fic for me about Diana and Donna's strong friendship. Bonus win for passing the Bechdel test! The complete list of fics has numerous women from both DC and Marvel being awesome.
The positive experience from heroines_fest encouraged me to sign-up for jbbs and I'm thrilled that I did. I received an awesome assignment! Seriously amazing I-want-to-write-them-all kind of prompts. I've got a solid outline and I'm six hundred words into the story, so Yay! again. I'm hoping to finish the first draft before the middle of next week. :D
I'm in debt to Write or Die! (real-time negative reinforcement FTW) and to wrisomifu for making actual progress. I joined wrisomifu last year at mahaliem's suggestion and didn't participate at all. This year I'm doing the daily check-ins and I'm finding the positive feedback, encouragement and commiseration inspirational.
So much so that I bit a double-bullet and signed-up for yuletide for the first time ever. I've never signed-up before because I've been afraid of being doomed to default, but I've got confidence I can actually do it this year... *crosses fingers* I offered in eighteen fandoms (all comics) and requested Captain America, Gattaca, Justice Society of America, and Lucifer. I'm already a nervous mess and sign-ups aren't even closed yet. *headdesk* Special thanks to htbthomas for holding my hand and beta-ing my sign-up prompts and Yuletide leter. I'd be much worse without her help. Please let me know if you're doing yuletide this year. I'd love to commiserate along the way.
10. DC is finally competing with Marvel sales! They're finally learning how to advertise and it's coming at a great time as (for the most part) the quality of their books is pretty high right now.
I've updated my pull-list and I've got some thoughts on recent comics by publisher and title below:
DC
Super-books: Adventure #3 was my favorite comic of the month. Kon is the bestest friend in the world and Geoff Johns' Timmy is a thing of beauty. Plus, the Legion co-feature was rad. ♥ I'm enjoying the crossover between the titles and I'm liking all of them (though, the art in Supergirl leaves something to be desired). This story is truly epic (General Lane controlling Metallo and Reactron; Luthor teaming with Brainiac; Zod's insidious plan) and I'm fascinated with how it's playing out. World of New Krypton is consistently the best of the bunch and I'm completely in love with Clark all over again.
Besides Clark being wonderfully SUPER, the thing I'm loving the most about these books right now are the women. Action has Lois investigating her father and Thara with her strong faith and convictions. Supergirl has Kara being her usual mix of uncertain and well-intentioned, but it also has Lana sacrificing and being supportive and Cat Grant being a total self-righteous, unscrupulous bitch. Superman has the villain Murabai with her own agenda and Jamie Harper being fabulous. The Jimmy Olsen Special had bad-ass Natasha Irons. World of New Krypton has Alura ruling her world with thought and conscience; a strangely sympathetic portrayal of Ursa; Clark's first officer Nar's intense loyalty; and a scrupulous Thanagarian commander the last two issues. The women are seriously rocking the Super-books right now and it's wonderful. mithen's been posting awesome scans and commentary, if you're inclined to check it out.
As for Secret Origin, I enjoyed the Smallville shout-outs in the first issue (including "Chloe Sullivan" signing Clark's yearbook!), but Gary Frank's Reeve-clone!Clark throws me out of the story, which in itself is perfunctory at best. The second issue was worse. Birthright remains my definitive Superman origin story.
The first issue of World's Finest was disappointing with (count 'em!) three pages of exposition. BORING! Really too bad as I was looking forward to Tim and Chris's team-up.
Bat-books: IMO, Detective is currently DC's best book. The writing is well-paced and intriguing and the art is superb and as much a part of the storytelling as the writing. Kate is a compelling protagonist and I'm starting to understand why Greg Rucka told me at last year's ECCC that he'd take a bullet for her. I feel very much invested in her story at this point.
The Question co-feature is also very compelling and you can't go wrong with Cully Hamner's art, but it suffers for being in the same book as the lead-feature. It's icing on the cake rather than it's own special treat.
I do have a couple small issues with the Batbooks in general, though. It seems to be editorial edict that Dick be called "Richard" even by those who've known him for ages. It throws me out of the story every single time. Also, Dick's been referred to as Bruce's "ward" in two separate books. This is more than irritating. Dick's his son. He was adopted ten years ago real time. Pretending it didn't happen is ridiculous and upsetting. That said, I'm really happy with the batbooks overall.
I'm still enjoying Batman and Robin despite the downgrade from Frank Quitely's master storytelling to Phillip Tan's mediocre work. I'm adoring how the book is truly about Batman and Robin - what it means to be them and how important Robin (in any incarnation) is to the Bat. I also love how Bruce is very present in this book despite being absent physically.
I've seen a lot of talk from fen about how Jason is out-of-character and I just don't see it. I've read all the canon for Jason that I'm aware of and frankly the outrage seems to be that Jason's characterization continues to follow canon rather than fanon. O_o He's not a woobie! He's a murderer, plain and simple. The 'failed Robin'. I find his canon tragedy much more interesting than fanon cuddliness.
Batman on the other hand, is a disappointment. At least when Judd Winick was writing it, Batman was recognizably Dick. With Tony Daniel we're getting generic Batman and that's boring when he has the opportunity to explore something else. I think I may skip the rest of this arc until Winick is back.
I'm still undecided on Azrael. I'll continue to read it, but I'm not invested in the character and that should have happened already. I do like Ramon Bach's art and I'm struck by how different it looks from his art on Red Robin. Inking and coloring make quite an impact.
Red Robin I love. Most likely because Tim is perfect in it and I really don't need anything more in his book. I've had squeeful goosebumps in each issue so far. Also, it's another book where Bruce's presence is felt strongly despite his not being there.
I'm really surprised but I'm liking Batgirl a lot. I love how Steph's incompetence and selfishness are being acknowledged and explored and how she's actively working to become a better hero. I'm intrigued by Wendy and what role she'll play and I believe Cass's reasons for stepping down make sense. Ironically, it's Babs that bugs me. Charlie needs to show up in this book soon or Babs as mentor is completely blown. I LOVE Babs and I'm finding it very difficult to like her right now.
This month's story in Streets of Gotham was awful. Helena's characterization was knocked back to pre-Birds of Prey and that's just wrong. However, Dustin Nguyen is a fucking genius. He made that skanky Huntress uniform almost classy. He draws beautiful women and I adore him for it.
The Manhunter co-feature on the other hand, was fantastic! I think the pacing in the first few issues wasn't so great, but Marc Andreyko has finally adjusted to the shorter format. It feels like Manhunter again and I'm very happy with it. Kate is awesome and I'm very concerned for Dylan. *frets*
I'm enjoying The Outsiders for the characters (especially Alfred and Jefferson), but the art and the story are rather 'meh' for me. :/
Green Lantern and Blackest Night: Okay, tie-ins first: Superman and Batman were both useless, awful junk. One or two mildly interesting character moments do not justify three-issues each. Titans, I liked, despite Ed Benes's skank art. At least J.T. Krul's story had something to add to Blackest Night and I'm interested to see if Dove's peace immunity comes up in the main event.
As for Blackest Night itself, I'm enjoying the heck out of it. Black Hand is extremely creepy and I've hated all the kills so far. They've been hard-core, make-me-cry kind of kills. I'm loving Mera and Barry and it makes me want more of them. (Unlike Flash Rebirth, which is just infuriating drivel with really bad art.)
I would really like to know how it reads for those only reading it and not Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. The narrative from the last several years in those books is so tied together with Blackest Night in my mind. I'm wondering if BN reads as just another zombie story, rather than the allegorical war of color and the breakdown of emotions that GL and GLC imply.
I'm loving Carol, Sinestro and Hal teaming up and I'm really looking forward to the complete spectrum having to work together. I'm very concerned for John. Guy and Kyle are the epitome of awesome and Soranik and Iolande are their own special wonderful. ♥
JSA related titles: I miss Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham so much! *cries*
Ahem. Eric Trautmann and Don Kramer have done wonderful work on JSA vs. Kobra. Karen and Michael have both been awesome in it and there are some great character moments for the less central folks, too. The plot is fantastic and suspenseful. Its only drawback is it feels more like a Checkmate book than a JSA book. I really liked Checkmate so that's not a bad thing for me, but it doesn't hit my JSA happy-making spot either.
The last issue of Justice Society of America was better than the first three, but that's not saying much. Yeah, um... Alan was awesome. At least there weren't any blatant mistakes like in the previous issue, which had Jennifer next to a working machine in the lab when the sum total of her characterization has been that her powers' make technology fail. *facepalm* I'm starting to seriously HATE Magog.
The preview pages for Young All-Stars don't look any better. :/ Although, Jen Van Meter is writing a co-feature in that book, so that's something to look forward to. Maybe Willingham's JSA will be better? *is ridiculously hopeful* Though, Todd is still an egg and I miss Al, Jakeem and Sand terribly. My problem is I love these characters and I can't stop reading them no matter how awful the book is at the moment.
At least there's Powergirl. It's fun and gorgeous and makes me love Karen, just like it should. Dang, does she move fast! Atlee moved in already. Hee!
Booster Gold, Great Ten, Secret Six, Teen Titans and Wonder Woman: Booster and Blue Beetle are a pleasant diversion and a nice read, but sadly I find I'm not that invested. *shrugs*
I'm behind an issue on Teen Titans. The last arc was very uneven. I liked Cassie as leader and Miss Martian and Bombshell are adorable, but the triangle with Jaime, Traci and the new Aquagirl left me feeling icky. Bleh! I do like the Ravager co-feature quite a bit, though. I want more Rose!
Great Ten got off to a good start. Accomplished Perfect Physician's perspective was interesting. I'm not sure yet if I like this book only because of Scott McDaniel's kinetic art, or if I like Tony Bedard's writing on it as well. Future issues will bear that out, I suppose.
I liked John Ostrander's guest-spot on Deadshot Secret Six, although I found myself missing Nichola Scott's art, Gail Simone's humor and the rest of the characters on the team. It was an interesting character-study on Floyd though, so I'm not complaining.
Wonder Woman is wonderful. *sigh* Diana's amazing and I love her dedication and loyalty.
Marvel
Cap Reborn, Black Widow, Torch, Marvel's Project, New Avengers, and Spider-Woman: a.k.a. All the Books I Like 'Okay'.
Torch and Marvel's Project are similar for me in that I have just enough knowledge of the Marvel U to know they're well done, but not enough knowledge of the Marvel U to know in exactly what ways they are awesome. I know they're really good and I like them, but I wish I liked them better.
I want to like Spider-Woman better too. As soon as I get over my blinding rage, I'm sure I will. I like Abigail and Jessica working together and I like the feel of the book. Alex Maleev is brilliant. My problem came in Issue #1 when Bendis had Jessica call the Skrull Invasion a Jihad. CAPSLOCK RAGE BLACKOUT = me. I'll get over it. At the moment though, I'm still pissed off.
Black Widow is a lot like Secret Origins in that it's perfunctory. The difference is that I haven't read a definitive origin for Natasha and it has the promise of Bucky showing up throughout. So, I like it better. *shrugs*
New Avengers has no Clint and not enough Bucky, a stupid plot and too much inane banter. It also has Stuart Immonen art. That may actually balance things out. :/
I can't wait until Captain America Reborn is over. So far, I liked 1/4 issues. It's the art; Hitch is terrible on this book and so is the colorist. Bucky's. Eyes. Are. Not. Blue. Also, probably it's that I just want Steve back already. I'm eagerly anticipating the upcoming one-shot where Steve and Bucky will have an actual conversation. For the first time in how many years?!?!?! *whines* I need it NOW!
Iron Man, Hercules and Ultimate Spider-Man: a.k.a. My Favorite Marvel Right Now. These three books have something in common: awesome women. Gwen and MJ are making my heart glad in Ult-Spidey with their intelligence and compassion. Also, I think the mysterious red-caped person is Jessica Drew... Bendis makes me so frustrated with this book because it's really, really good and I dislike everything else he writes.
Pepper Potts, Maria Hill (Holy crap, I like Maria Hill!), Natasha Romanova and even Madame Masque are being bad-ass and awesome in Invincible Iron Man. Quote from last issue: "Did we just get saved by Tony Stark's secretary?" Why, yes you did, Maria Hill! HEE! As cool as they are, the real genius in this book is the story. Matt Fraction inherited a clusterfuck with the Extremis and Civil War storylines. How would he keep Tony Stark viable as a hero when he's both invincible and an asshole who betrayed all his friends? His solution is inspired as he takes Tony's self-destructiveness to new extremes. You see, Tony's destroyed his brain activity to the point where he's forgotten how to breathe. I've seen fandom refer to this as "fridging Tony" and that just makes me laugh. You see, Tony's gotten rid of that damn Registration list. He's going to survive this and in the process, he'll have saved all his friends. Because he's Tony-Fucking-Stark, Genius Hero. ♥
Sometimes, I deprive myself of good things for no reason. I only started reading Incredible Hercules last month. This book is hilarious and heartbreaking and all-around awesome. Amadeus Cho is my new favorite person to read. His twenty-sided die gave me geekgasms. Seriously, I need an icon. Badly. Herc is endearingly dumb, and I'm really interested in Athena and Hera's feud. I'm very happy this book is twice a month. Double the goodness!
X-books: I'm reading Cable, Psylocke and Uncanny (and mourning Exiles and X-Men First Class). Psylocke and Uncanny X-Men present the same problem for me in that I like the writing and HATE the 'art'. The pornography tracing makes my eyeballs bleed. Also, I have a thematic issue with Fraction's story in Uncanny. The X-Men have clearly been paralleled to the GLBT community with the move to San Francisco. Fraction's solution is segregation to the point of their own country of exile. Uh... no. Wrong. Terribly wrong. His characterization is lovely, however, and I have enjoyed Scott, Emma, Hank and Namor especially. Also, his summaries of individual team members are joy. Cable pleases me like comfort food that's not so good for me, but I eat it anyway. It's mediocre, but I don't care, it makes me feel good.
Vertigo
Scalped: Jason Aaron's crime thriller is really, really good. Just so you know. Every single one of the characters is unlikeable, but he's managed to make each sympathetic somehow for brief moments of time. Dash, the protagonist, is currently up shit creek and I'm anxiously awaiting the next issue to find out what happens next.
I was also going to talk about Mark Waid's Irredeemable from Boom! Studios and Greg Rucka's Stumptown from Oni Press, but alas, it's four o'clock in the morning and I'm tired. The short version: They're good.
So that's the fannish state of me. Please, tell me what I've missed f'list! Link me to posts I need to see. *makes pleading face*
It's the first state-wide voter-approved gay rights initiative to be passed in the US. The previous changes in state laws have come from legislatures or courts, then sadly in some cases (such as California and Maine) been overturned by election. I live in Washington State and I'm just really happy that my state wasn't utterly stupid. Referendum 71 was worded very carefully* and includes opposite-sex senior partnerships. I think both things helped to ward off the bigots. Though it still passed narrowly.
*"would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage."
1. I have a new laptop! It is purple and beautiful and runs fast and I LOVE it. *huggles it close* Mostly, I love it because now I get to download episodes of Smallville and more comics, and I'll actually get to comment to my f'list and write fic and posts. YAY! I owe this entirely to literaryll and therefore owe her fic forever so blame her if all I can produce now is JSA porn.
2. Speaking of literaryll, we've been doing very geeky things lately. We went to see Wicked because it's Maxine Hunkel's favorite, thank you. (It's fabulous and extremely fannish, btw.) Then we went to Catholic mass despite neither of us being Catholic (don't worry, we were respectful). Because you know, Pieter Cross and Todd Rice are Catholic (and in our fanon, so is Alan Scott). We lit a candle for the quality of the JSA books. My mother thinks this is the geekiest thing she's ever heard of, but I protest this. Besides, it gave us unforeseen insight into the characters. We've decided to continue this tradition of doing the things the JSA characters would do. We're thinking indie hipster backroom concert gig for Tommy Bronson, college football for Nate Heywood, boxing match for Ted Grant, etc. Anybody have any ideas for us?
3. I am now only two episodes behind on my Smallville watching and so far I think season nine is better than the latter half of season eight. Clark is being heroic despite his lack of screentime. I'd rather have small amounts of heroic!Clark than large amounts of asshat!Clark. Lois has been wonderfully compassionate and respectful of her friendships, while still going for the jugular. I loved her interactions with Metallo! Ollie has actually been interesting and reminds me of comics!Ollie. I really like drunken fuck-up Ollie. I don't care much for Chloe anymore as she seems to have lost any semblance of conscience and that saddens me, but I still find her storyline compelling. Much more so than last season. A lot of that is probably due to Emil Hamilton who is fascinating. Oh, and Zod is a bit obsessed with Jor-El, isn't he? Strongly reminds me of Clex. I'm still 'meh' on Tess, but since she hasn't been interacting with Clark, that hasn't affected me much. Also, I'm very excited about mid-season spoilers! Jumping up and down excited! Hee!
4. Cassidy Freeman interview at Newsarama (very unspecific spoilers): What gets me about this interview is the comments. Newsarama commenters are hard-core comics fans, but casual viewers. It's nice to see comments about the quality of the show rather than shipper flame wars. *sigh*
5. I just finished reading Mike Carey and Peter Gross' Lucifer. It's the best comic I've ever read and I want everyone to read it and discuss it and squee over it with me! It's a sequel to Neil Gaiman's Sandman and in my opinion, it's a better read. Where Sandman was about how the stories we tell affect us, I think Lucifer is more about how who we are influences the stories we tell. It's an essential and inspiring difference. Lucifer's story is epic and thoughtful. You can get it from comicunity here or here at The Longbox. Or you know, from bookstores and comic shops. *coughs* I'll be recc'ing Lucifer fic at sequentialcrack in January, so you've got two months to read it, ya'll.
6. I'm recc'ing Captain America and Invaders fanworks at sequentialcrack this month. Despite not finishing my overview for Young DC. In both instances, the hard part is in narrowing things down, but it's much easier to do this for recs than for the overview. It's gotten huge and out-of-control and I suspect much of it is unnecessary. *headdesk* I should have volunteered for Young Marvel; it's much smaller. If anyone wants to help me cut it down, I'd really appreciate it.
7. starfleet_hq is now on week five and it has been a blast. I'm not sure if team_sisko is still in the lead after our strong start According to team_sisko's Captain we're still in the lead! I do know it has been a total delight to talk thoughtfully about Trek again. I'm even thinking of re-writing my Sisko's baseball essay (since it has been lost in the recesses of cyberspace).
8. Sadly, the Yankees won the World Series. D: In happier news, literaryll watched the playoffs and has been converted to baseball! YAY! She's now set to mainline Ken Burns' Baseball before next spring. Oh, the ecstasy and despair she's yet to experience. *laughs maniacally*
9. I'm actually writing fic lately! I participated in heroines_fest last month and completed the story I wrote. Yippee! It was interesting for me because I ended up not writing the characters I'd been matched on. I tried, but ended up scrapping that story after 600 words - the plot it would not come. I ended up experimenting with humor which is not my strong suit and judging from the comments, it seems I succeeded, so "Yay!". merfilly wrote a lovely fic for me about Diana and Donna's strong friendship. Bonus win for passing the Bechdel test! The complete list of fics has numerous women from both DC and Marvel being awesome.
The positive experience from heroines_fest encouraged me to sign-up for jbbs and I'm thrilled that I did. I received an awesome assignment! Seriously amazing I-want-to-write-them-all kind of prompts. I've got a solid outline and I'm six hundred words into the story, so Yay! again. I'm hoping to finish the first draft before the middle of next week. :D
I'm in debt to Write or Die! (real-time negative reinforcement FTW) and to wrisomifu for making actual progress. I joined wrisomifu last year at mahaliem's suggestion and didn't participate at all. This year I'm doing the daily check-ins and I'm finding the positive feedback, encouragement and commiseration inspirational.
So much so that I bit a double-bullet and signed-up for yuletide for the first time ever. I've never signed-up before because I've been afraid of being doomed to default, but I've got confidence I can actually do it this year... *crosses fingers* I offered in eighteen fandoms (all comics) and requested Captain America, Gattaca, Justice Society of America, and Lucifer. I'm already a nervous mess and sign-ups aren't even closed yet. *headdesk* Special thanks to htbthomas for holding my hand and beta-ing my sign-up prompts and Yuletide leter. I'd be much worse without her help. Please let me know if you're doing yuletide this year. I'd love to commiserate along the way.
10. DC is finally competing with Marvel sales! They're finally learning how to advertise and it's coming at a great time as (for the most part) the quality of their books is pretty high right now.
I've updated my pull-list and I've got some thoughts on recent comics by publisher and title below:
DC
Super-books: Adventure #3 was my favorite comic of the month. Kon is the bestest friend in the world and Geoff Johns' Timmy is a thing of beauty. Plus, the Legion co-feature was rad. ♥ I'm enjoying the crossover between the titles and I'm liking all of them (though, the art in Supergirl leaves something to be desired). This story is truly epic (General Lane controlling Metallo and Reactron; Luthor teaming with Brainiac; Zod's insidious plan) and I'm fascinated with how it's playing out. World of New Krypton is consistently the best of the bunch and I'm completely in love with Clark all over again.
Besides Clark being wonderfully SUPER, the thing I'm loving the most about these books right now are the women. Action has Lois investigating her father and Thara with her strong faith and convictions. Supergirl has Kara being her usual mix of uncertain and well-intentioned, but it also has Lana sacrificing and being supportive and Cat Grant being a total self-righteous, unscrupulous bitch. Superman has the villain Murabai with her own agenda and Jamie Harper being fabulous. The Jimmy Olsen Special had bad-ass Natasha Irons. World of New Krypton has Alura ruling her world with thought and conscience; a strangely sympathetic portrayal of Ursa; Clark's first officer Nar's intense loyalty; and a scrupulous Thanagarian commander the last two issues. The women are seriously rocking the Super-books right now and it's wonderful. mithen's been posting awesome scans and commentary, if you're inclined to check it out.
As for Secret Origin, I enjoyed the Smallville shout-outs in the first issue (including "Chloe Sullivan" signing Clark's yearbook!), but Gary Frank's Reeve-clone!Clark throws me out of the story, which in itself is perfunctory at best. The second issue was worse. Birthright remains my definitive Superman origin story.
The first issue of World's Finest was disappointing with (count 'em!) three pages of exposition. BORING! Really too bad as I was looking forward to Tim and Chris's team-up.
Bat-books: IMO, Detective is currently DC's best book. The writing is well-paced and intriguing and the art is superb and as much a part of the storytelling as the writing. Kate is a compelling protagonist and I'm starting to understand why Greg Rucka told me at last year's ECCC that he'd take a bullet for her. I feel very much invested in her story at this point.
The Question co-feature is also very compelling and you can't go wrong with Cully Hamner's art, but it suffers for being in the same book as the lead-feature. It's icing on the cake rather than it's own special treat.
I do have a couple small issues with the Batbooks in general, though. It seems to be editorial edict that Dick be called "Richard" even by those who've known him for ages. It throws me out of the story every single time. Also, Dick's been referred to as Bruce's "ward" in two separate books. This is more than irritating. Dick's his son. He was adopted ten years ago real time. Pretending it didn't happen is ridiculous and upsetting. That said, I'm really happy with the batbooks overall.
I'm still enjoying Batman and Robin despite the downgrade from Frank Quitely's master storytelling to Phillip Tan's mediocre work. I'm adoring how the book is truly about Batman and Robin - what it means to be them and how important Robin (in any incarnation) is to the Bat. I also love how Bruce is very present in this book despite being absent physically.
I've seen a lot of talk from fen about how Jason is out-of-character and I just don't see it. I've read all the canon for Jason that I'm aware of and frankly the outrage seems to be that Jason's characterization continues to follow canon rather than fanon. O_o He's not a woobie! He's a murderer, plain and simple. The 'failed Robin'. I find his canon tragedy much more interesting than fanon cuddliness.
Batman on the other hand, is a disappointment. At least when Judd Winick was writing it, Batman was recognizably Dick. With Tony Daniel we're getting generic Batman and that's boring when he has the opportunity to explore something else. I think I may skip the rest of this arc until Winick is back.
I'm still undecided on Azrael. I'll continue to read it, but I'm not invested in the character and that should have happened already. I do like Ramon Bach's art and I'm struck by how different it looks from his art on Red Robin. Inking and coloring make quite an impact.
Red Robin I love. Most likely because Tim is perfect in it and I really don't need anything more in his book. I've had squeeful goosebumps in each issue so far. Also, it's another book where Bruce's presence is felt strongly despite his not being there.
I'm really surprised but I'm liking Batgirl a lot. I love how Steph's incompetence and selfishness are being acknowledged and explored and how she's actively working to become a better hero. I'm intrigued by Wendy and what role she'll play and I believe Cass's reasons for stepping down make sense. Ironically, it's Babs that bugs me. Charlie needs to show up in this book soon or Babs as mentor is completely blown. I LOVE Babs and I'm finding it very difficult to like her right now.
This month's story in Streets of Gotham was awful. Helena's characterization was knocked back to pre-Birds of Prey and that's just wrong. However, Dustin Nguyen is a fucking genius. He made that skanky Huntress uniform almost classy. He draws beautiful women and I adore him for it.
The Manhunter co-feature on the other hand, was fantastic! I think the pacing in the first few issues wasn't so great, but Marc Andreyko has finally adjusted to the shorter format. It feels like Manhunter again and I'm very happy with it. Kate is awesome and I'm very concerned for Dylan. *frets*
I'm enjoying The Outsiders for the characters (especially Alfred and Jefferson), but the art and the story are rather 'meh' for me. :/
Green Lantern and Blackest Night: Okay, tie-ins first: Superman and Batman were both useless, awful junk. One or two mildly interesting character moments do not justify three-issues each. Titans, I liked, despite Ed Benes's skank art. At least J.T. Krul's story had something to add to Blackest Night and I'm interested to see if Dove's peace immunity comes up in the main event.
As for Blackest Night itself, I'm enjoying the heck out of it. Black Hand is extremely creepy and I've hated all the kills so far. They've been hard-core, make-me-cry kind of kills. I'm loving Mera and Barry and it makes me want more of them. (Unlike Flash Rebirth, which is just infuriating drivel with really bad art.)
I would really like to know how it reads for those only reading it and not Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. The narrative from the last several years in those books is so tied together with Blackest Night in my mind. I'm wondering if BN reads as just another zombie story, rather than the allegorical war of color and the breakdown of emotions that GL and GLC imply.
I'm loving Carol, Sinestro and Hal teaming up and I'm really looking forward to the complete spectrum having to work together. I'm very concerned for John. Guy and Kyle are the epitome of awesome and Soranik and Iolande are their own special wonderful. ♥
JSA related titles: I miss Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham so much! *cries*
Ahem. Eric Trautmann and Don Kramer have done wonderful work on JSA vs. Kobra. Karen and Michael have both been awesome in it and there are some great character moments for the less central folks, too. The plot is fantastic and suspenseful. Its only drawback is it feels more like a Checkmate book than a JSA book. I really liked Checkmate so that's not a bad thing for me, but it doesn't hit my JSA happy-making spot either.
The last issue of Justice Society of America was better than the first three, but that's not saying much. Yeah, um... Alan was awesome. At least there weren't any blatant mistakes like in the previous issue, which had Jennifer next to a working machine in the lab when the sum total of her characterization has been that her powers' make technology fail. *facepalm* I'm starting to seriously HATE Magog.
The preview pages for Young All-Stars don't look any better. :/ Although, Jen Van Meter is writing a co-feature in that book, so that's something to look forward to. Maybe Willingham's JSA will be better? *is ridiculously hopeful* Though, Todd is still an egg and I miss Al, Jakeem and Sand terribly. My problem is I love these characters and I can't stop reading them no matter how awful the book is at the moment.
At least there's Powergirl. It's fun and gorgeous and makes me love Karen, just like it should. Dang, does she move fast! Atlee moved in already. Hee!
Booster Gold, Great Ten, Secret Six, Teen Titans and Wonder Woman: Booster and Blue Beetle are a pleasant diversion and a nice read, but sadly I find I'm not that invested. *shrugs*
I'm behind an issue on Teen Titans. The last arc was very uneven. I liked Cassie as leader and Miss Martian and Bombshell are adorable, but the triangle with Jaime, Traci and the new Aquagirl left me feeling icky. Bleh! I do like the Ravager co-feature quite a bit, though. I want more Rose!
Great Ten got off to a good start. Accomplished Perfect Physician's perspective was interesting. I'm not sure yet if I like this book only because of Scott McDaniel's kinetic art, or if I like Tony Bedard's writing on it as well. Future issues will bear that out, I suppose.
I liked John Ostrander's guest-spot on Deadshot Secret Six, although I found myself missing Nichola Scott's art, Gail Simone's humor and the rest of the characters on the team. It was an interesting character-study on Floyd though, so I'm not complaining.
Wonder Woman is wonderful. *sigh* Diana's amazing and I love her dedication and loyalty.
Marvel
Cap Reborn, Black Widow, Torch, Marvel's Project, New Avengers, and Spider-Woman: a.k.a. All the Books I Like 'Okay'.
Torch and Marvel's Project are similar for me in that I have just enough knowledge of the Marvel U to know they're well done, but not enough knowledge of the Marvel U to know in exactly what ways they are awesome. I know they're really good and I like them, but I wish I liked them better.
I want to like Spider-Woman better too. As soon as I get over my blinding rage, I'm sure I will. I like Abigail and Jessica working together and I like the feel of the book. Alex Maleev is brilliant. My problem came in Issue #1 when Bendis had Jessica call the Skrull Invasion a Jihad. CAPSLOCK RAGE BLACKOUT = me. I'll get over it. At the moment though, I'm still pissed off.
Black Widow is a lot like Secret Origins in that it's perfunctory. The difference is that I haven't read a definitive origin for Natasha and it has the promise of Bucky showing up throughout. So, I like it better. *shrugs*
New Avengers has no Clint and not enough Bucky, a stupid plot and too much inane banter. It also has Stuart Immonen art. That may actually balance things out. :/
I can't wait until Captain America Reborn is over. So far, I liked 1/4 issues. It's the art; Hitch is terrible on this book and so is the colorist. Bucky's. Eyes. Are. Not. Blue. Also, probably it's that I just want Steve back already. I'm eagerly anticipating the upcoming one-shot where Steve and Bucky will have an actual conversation. For the first time in how many years?!?!?! *whines* I need it NOW!
Iron Man, Hercules and Ultimate Spider-Man: a.k.a. My Favorite Marvel Right Now. These three books have something in common: awesome women. Gwen and MJ are making my heart glad in Ult-Spidey with their intelligence and compassion. Also, I think the mysterious red-caped person is Jessica Drew... Bendis makes me so frustrated with this book because it's really, really good and I dislike everything else he writes.
Pepper Potts, Maria Hill (Holy crap, I like Maria Hill!), Natasha Romanova and even Madame Masque are being bad-ass and awesome in Invincible Iron Man. Quote from last issue: "Did we just get saved by Tony Stark's secretary?" Why, yes you did, Maria Hill! HEE! As cool as they are, the real genius in this book is the story. Matt Fraction inherited a clusterfuck with the Extremis and Civil War storylines. How would he keep Tony Stark viable as a hero when he's both invincible and an asshole who betrayed all his friends? His solution is inspired as he takes Tony's self-destructiveness to new extremes. You see, Tony's destroyed his brain activity to the point where he's forgotten how to breathe. I've seen fandom refer to this as "fridging Tony" and that just makes me laugh. You see, Tony's gotten rid of that damn Registration list. He's going to survive this and in the process, he'll have saved all his friends. Because he's Tony-Fucking-Stark, Genius Hero. ♥
Sometimes, I deprive myself of good things for no reason. I only started reading Incredible Hercules last month. This book is hilarious and heartbreaking and all-around awesome. Amadeus Cho is my new favorite person to read. His twenty-sided die gave me geekgasms. Seriously, I need an icon. Badly. Herc is endearingly dumb, and I'm really interested in Athena and Hera's feud. I'm very happy this book is twice a month. Double the goodness!
X-books: I'm reading Cable, Psylocke and Uncanny (and mourning Exiles and X-Men First Class). Psylocke and Uncanny X-Men present the same problem for me in that I like the writing and HATE the 'art'. The pornography tracing makes my eyeballs bleed. Also, I have a thematic issue with Fraction's story in Uncanny. The X-Men have clearly been paralleled to the GLBT community with the move to San Francisco. Fraction's solution is segregation to the point of their own country of exile. Uh... no. Wrong. Terribly wrong. His characterization is lovely, however, and I have enjoyed Scott, Emma, Hank and Namor especially. Also, his summaries of individual team members are joy. Cable pleases me like comfort food that's not so good for me, but I eat it anyway. It's mediocre, but I don't care, it makes me feel good.
Vertigo
Scalped: Jason Aaron's crime thriller is really, really good. Just so you know. Every single one of the characters is unlikeable, but he's managed to make each sympathetic somehow for brief moments of time. Dash, the protagonist, is currently up shit creek and I'm anxiously awaiting the next issue to find out what happens next.
I was also going to talk about Mark Waid's Irredeemable from Boom! Studios and Greg Rucka's Stumptown from Oni Press, but alas, it's four o'clock in the morning and I'm tired. The short version: They're good.
So that's the fannish state of me. Please, tell me what I've missed f'list! Link me to posts I need to see. *makes pleading face*