Miscellanea: September 8-19

[noelct]

Everything I've read, watched, and contributed to in the last few weeks.

Stuff I've Done

At Deconstructing Moya:

• Dark Side of the Sun - A Farscape Novel

At The Super Saturday Short-Lived Showcase:

• Robotix, chapters 13-15

Stuff I've Read/Watched

Comics:

• Animal Man #1 "The Hunt, Part 1: Warning from the Red" (2011) Meh. Not bad, just didn't entirely get into it. Until the last page (which, admittedly, is awesome), I didn't find the family melodrama all that interesting. The art is inconsistent, with some parts absolutely gorgeous, others awkward and odd.
• The Atlantis Chronicles "Chapter 9: Death and Life" (1990) Liked it. This second arc never quite lived up to the first, but this is still a rousing conclusion to events.
• The Atlantis Chronicles "Chapter 10: Tails of the Sea" (1990) Meh. Amusing but ultimately unnecessary vignette.
• The Atlantis Chronicles "Chapter 11: Birthrite" (1990) Loved it. And everything comes to a close as we see history repeating itself and finally end in the era of Aquaman.
• Batman #1 "Trust Fall" (2011) Loved it. Absolutely magnificent.
• Batman: The Widening Gyre #2 "The Falconer" (2009) Liked it. Sets the Smith humor aside for a much grittier and haunting outing, with an added flair of longing romance.
• Batwing #8 "What I am... Was Born from Death" (2012) Loved it. The first arc comes to a marvelous close.
• Before Watchmen: The Minutemen #2 "Golden Years" (2012) Loved it.
• The Boys #32 "The Self-Preservation Society" (2009) Liked it.
• Catwoman #4 "You... Still in the Game?" (2012) Loved it.
• Cover Girl #5 "That's a Wrap, People" (2007) Liked it. Nice ending. Wish someone would turn this mini into a movie.
• Fantastic Four Annual #1 "Sub-Mariner vs. the Human Race" (1963) Loved it. Stan and Jack pull out all the stops for a wildly inventive and entertaining Silver Age blockbuster as Namor finds his fellow Atlanteans and wages full-on war. Some of Stan's sharpest writing to date, a tight, right, steadily escalating narrative, and an absolutely fabulous note to end things on. Absolutely loved every page of it.
• Fantastic Four #19 "Prisoners of the Pharoah" (1963) Liked it. A little clunky, but what I expected to be a filler story instead was a really rich and exciting way to tie together a number of previously established threads.
• Fantastic Four #20 "The Mysterious Molecule Man" (1963) Liked it. A few too many of the Marvel stories have revolved around villains who can warp all of reality in weird ways, but this one was at least well done, and even threw in a few nice twists involving Alicia, the Watcher, and the Yancy Street Gang.
• Fantastic Four #21 "The Hate-Monger" (1963) Meh. Well put together and exciting, but their attempt at social commentary doesn't really work, especially with that WTF! ending.
• Strange Tales #110 "The Human Torch: The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete" (1963) Meh. Follows the typical Marvel formula of introduce one villain in an issue, another villain in another issue, then team them up for an issue. I like how their pairing doesn't get along as well as other villain team-ups, and things are generally entertaining and fun, but this is still fully disposable filler with nothing beneath the action.
• Strange Tales #110 "Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic" (1963) Meh. Great atmosphere and I love Ditko's art, but there isn't much to this intro tale. No origin, no personality for the hero, and even the central plot doesn't have much of a surprising twist, focusing instead on wonderfully designed fantasy spectres who unfortunately have little to do with anything.
• Strange Tales #111 "The Human Torch: The Asbestos Man" (1963) Liked it. Clunky and rambly, but solid entertainment with a charming character study of a surprisingly formidable villain.
• Strange Tales #111 "Dr. Strange: Face-to-Face with the Magic of Baron Mordo" (1963) Didn't like it. Mordo is pretty meh. Entire thing feels rushed and surprisingly amateurish, especially Ditko's art.
• Strange Tales #112 "The Human Torch: The Living Bomb" (1963) Liked it. Jerry Siegel takes over scripting duties and the book suddenly becomes a glorious hot mess as random ideas are packed atop one another, some working, some not, but entertaining through the sheer zippiness of their presence. I mean, come on, the Torch goes toe-to-toe with a nuke in this one. It's amazing.
• Unearthly Spectaculars #3 "Jack Quick Frost: Lord Lazee's Terrible Trio / The Doom Wave Strikes / Exposed" (1967) Liked it. Fun art. Binder's writing is still a little dry, but he gives us a setup as colorful as the characters involved, with Lazee continuing to be a delightful threat and Jack's relationship woes infused with a nice level of Marvel insecurity. Ending was a surprise as well. I applaud it for leaving the villain with the upper hand, but am bummed because that's the note the book was cancelled on.
• Unearthly Spectaculars #3 "The Saucerer" (1967) Meh. Cute and amusing, but ultimately pointless filler.
• Unearthly Spectaculars #3 "Hermit" (1967) Liked it. A nice Goodwin/Williamson collaboration, with striking art and an interesting (if dry at times) story with some deeper psychology behind it than expected, and a twist ending I was charmed by.
• Unearthly Spectaculars #3 "Logan's Next Life" (1967) Didn't like it. This was by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby? Wow. I'm surprised because it's a completely flat, stupid, waste of time and is so utterly beneath both.
• Unearthly Spectaculars #3 "Never Say No to Dr. Yes" (1967) Meh. Stereotypical racial portrayals aside, this is a fun, colorful showcase for a new villain, but unfortunately winds up mostly being a tease for a broader story that never ended up being published.
• Unearthly Spectaculars #3 "Miracles, Inc.: Rent-A-Hero / The Gong Gang Strikes / Kaput, Prince of Jinx" (1967) Liked it. Wonderfully charming and zany adventure as the already bizarre superhero team meets up with an even more bizarre team of villains, before unleashing the hysterical power of Kaput. Aside from a weird flashback narrative device that doesn't quite work, this story is marvelous.
• Unearthly Spectaculars #3 "The 3 Rocketeers: 1... 2... 3... Infinity" (1967) Meh. Lovely art, and I like how it instantly drops us into the action, but much of the setup is an empty knockoff of the future from The Time Machine, and the twist ending is nonsense.