Comics
After a bit of insanity this morning managed to not get much done (tried to get stuff done but places were ether closed or out of stock on things I needed).
So I ended up going on a Comics kick.
Of the Notable things I read:
Therefore, Repent! - Rather interesting but personally it was meh. It had a nice dark humor ending and was an interesting twist on the genera (I won't specify which specific sub-genera as it might give the ending away). The only issues I saw were a few plot holes and inconsistencies such as Magic itself. Early on it's stated that it works regardless of belief in it and later on its defined as will combined with (ritual) actions and works through belief which is somewhat of a disconnect.
The Great Ten - I've finally found a current comic series that I find interesting. What initially drew me to this series was finding out that one of the characters, Ghost Fox Killer, was a Huli Jing - a Chinese fox spirit. It's a series that focuses on a group of superheroes in the People's Republic of China with themes such as Old Traditions Vs. New Ways, Tibet, Individuals Vs. Society, Modernization, the Falun Gong cult, and Media Control Vs. the Internet - Issues the PRC is currently facing and many of which are universally applicable. My favorite character so far has been the Celestial Archer who gained the bow of Houyi and visited the realm of the gods in his origin story - his motivation is to re-inspire faith in the old gods and ancient traditions. The character I am most disappointed with is Thundermind - who in theory is awesome as a bodhisattva whose 'powers' are the siddhis and is an awakened one - in practice however he is an uninspired clone of Superman with all the tropes including his very own Lois Lane (infact he's even called 'China's Superman' once in the comic). Arg, such a waste of a potentially interesting character.
Links:
The Great Ten: Intro, Accomplished Perfect Physician & Celestial Archer
The Great Ten: Thundermind & Immortal Man-in-Darkness
The Great Ten: August General in Iron & Ghost Fox Killer
The Great Ten: Seven Deadly Brothers, Shaolin Robot, Mother of Champions & Red Socialist Guardian
Blarg.
So I ended up going on a Comics kick.
Of the Notable things I read:
Therefore, Repent! - Rather interesting but personally it was meh. It had a nice dark humor ending and was an interesting twist on the genera (I won't specify which specific sub-genera as it might give the ending away). The only issues I saw were a few plot holes and inconsistencies such as Magic itself. Early on it's stated that it works regardless of belief in it and later on its defined as will combined with (ritual) actions and works through belief which is somewhat of a disconnect.
The Great Ten - I've finally found a current comic series that I find interesting. What initially drew me to this series was finding out that one of the characters, Ghost Fox Killer, was a Huli Jing - a Chinese fox spirit. It's a series that focuses on a group of superheroes in the People's Republic of China with themes such as Old Traditions Vs. New Ways, Tibet, Individuals Vs. Society, Modernization, the Falun Gong cult, and Media Control Vs. the Internet - Issues the PRC is currently facing and many of which are universally applicable. My favorite character so far has been the Celestial Archer who gained the bow of Houyi and visited the realm of the gods in his origin story - his motivation is to re-inspire faith in the old gods and ancient traditions. The character I am most disappointed with is Thundermind - who in theory is awesome as a bodhisattva whose 'powers' are the siddhis and is an awakened one - in practice however he is an uninspired clone of Superman with all the tropes including his very own Lois Lane (infact he's even called 'China's Superman' once in the comic). Arg, such a waste of a potentially interesting character.
Links:
The Great Ten: Intro, Accomplished Perfect Physician & Celestial Archer
The Great Ten: Thundermind & Immortal Man-in-Darkness
The Great Ten: August General in Iron & Ghost Fox Killer
The Great Ten: Seven Deadly Brothers, Shaolin Robot, Mother of Champions & Red Socialist Guardian
Blarg.