In which there are various status quos and remixes thereof
- Quote of the [current reading]: Al Ewing, current writer of superhero comics The Ultimates amongst other notable work (New Avengers, 2000AD &c), "Science and exploration feels like something very positive, a general good - it helps mitigate some of those moral concerns. I think an emphasis on expanding knowledge makes the team a lot more interesting and sympathetic than, say, a mission to beat people up in the name of preserving the current social order." P.S. Also, according to the art in The Ultimates the fundamental building blocks of reality are shaped like classic Lego bricks. :-D P.P.S Lucky for me the art in New Avengers is so bad or Marvel might be taking my money for the first time since last century. No, rly, BAD, e.g. at one point Songbird's unnecessary flesh-coloured vulva-shaped thigh-gap actually GLOWS. Now I shall sit here waiting to see who cracks and asks for the link first, lol. /supervillain tendencies
- Who let that nixel drive the Bat Mech?! And why did the Lego designer include lolzy headlight nipples?
- Reading, books 2016, 72.
62. Shining Stars, Astro City vol.8, by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson. SIGH. This volume begins with a story including anti-Black anti-African Islamophobia, and African/Islamic slaving is repeatedly foregrounded but USian slaving is never mentioned despite the USian setting and history (although, to be fair, Mr Busiek prefers future history to anything before the 1930s, GEE I WONDER WHY THAT MIGHT BE?!). And the book ends with utopian Silver Ageism slipping in and out of unintentionally dystopian rah-rah-rAmerica. All that isn't a healthy combination, although I don't think the Islamophobia was intentional as much as the creators playing with stereotypes they don't sufficiently understand because they've never been on the receiving end of their impact. I'm hoping this is a temporary outbreak of fail and not the point at which Mr Busiek starts indicating he wants Black people and feminists people who aren't white to get off the planet lawn, which I used to think he wouldn't fall into, SIGH. (2/5 unexpectedly, my favourite story was the one about robotic Barbie Beautie)
I skipped Victory, obv, because I'm not a masochist: Samaritan mostly bores me (like Superman), the Confessor has already had the best self-contained story he's gonna get (Batman should be so lucky), and Busiek's previous stabs at Winged Victory weren't promising (Wonder Woman was a childhood heroine so I tend to avoid subsequent renderings).
71. Private Lives, Astro City vol.11, by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson, is better and more of the quality I'd expect from this creative team in this 'verse. The first story is a good example of Astro City's very own internal micro-genre of tales about characters who'd be background support in most other superhero books. The second is an effective cautionary yarn riffing off Little Red Riding Hood from the Wolf's pov (*ahem
akycha*). The third story is aliens-made-them-do-it but told from a pleasing series of tangential angles. The result is somewhat disjointed but I strongly approve of the attempted narrative experimentation. The fourth is a surprisingly predictable plot about a robot museum but very well done (lol @ the Victoria von Doomagneto villainess). The last is Mr Busiek again trying to push the boundaries of which characters and point of view are centred and it's an excellent effort, although it has the trope in which a white/male/&c creator makes a minority character praise a mainstream white/male/&c character for their progressiveness (which I'm willing to presume in this case is more a plea to readers who identify with the mainstream character than self-congratulation by the author, but still.... ::twitches:: ). (4/5)
72. Lovers Quarrel, Astro City v.12, by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, is a heroine's retirement story with a romance sub-theme. I appreciate that the heroine and her story were centred and the romance was only an aspect of her life, although all her major influences were men and she didn't seem to have female friends or role models (note: but this is a thing that happened for women of her generation moving into professions that were previously dominated by men so it's fair enough as a one-off characterisation). Mr Busiek again demonstrates that he has noticed middle-aged and older women exist and are worthwhile writing as protagonists because of their wealth of experience and plot/characterisation potential. :-) (3.5/5 a good solid story given space to develop)
- Two remixes of the MCPD mixels.
This entry was originally posted at http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/581497.html and has
comments Please comment there using OpenID.
- Who let that nixel drive the Bat Mech?! And why did the Lego designer include lolzy headlight nipples?
- Reading, books 2016, 72.
62. Shining Stars, Astro City vol.8, by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson. SIGH. This volume begins with a story including anti-Black anti-African Islamophobia, and African/Islamic slaving is repeatedly foregrounded but USian slaving is never mentioned despite the USian setting and history (although, to be fair, Mr Busiek prefers future history to anything before the 1930s, GEE I WONDER WHY THAT MIGHT BE?!). And the book ends with utopian Silver Ageism slipping in and out of unintentionally dystopian rah-rah-rAmerica. All that isn't a healthy combination, although I don't think the Islamophobia was intentional as much as the creators playing with stereotypes they don't sufficiently understand because they've never been on the receiving end of their impact. I'm hoping this is a temporary outbreak of fail and not the point at which Mr Busiek starts indicating he wants Black people and feminists people who aren't white to get off the planet lawn, which I used to think he wouldn't fall into, SIGH. (2/5 unexpectedly, my favourite story was the one about robotic Barbie Beautie)
I skipped Victory, obv, because I'm not a masochist: Samaritan mostly bores me (like Superman), the Confessor has already had the best self-contained story he's gonna get (Batman should be so lucky), and Busiek's previous stabs at Winged Victory weren't promising (Wonder Woman was a childhood heroine so I tend to avoid subsequent renderings).
71. Private Lives, Astro City vol.11, by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson, is better and more of the quality I'd expect from this creative team in this 'verse. The first story is a good example of Astro City's very own internal micro-genre of tales about characters who'd be background support in most other superhero books. The second is an effective cautionary yarn riffing off Little Red Riding Hood from the Wolf's pov (*ahem
akycha*). The third story is aliens-made-them-do-it but told from a pleasing series of tangential angles. The result is somewhat disjointed but I strongly approve of the attempted narrative experimentation. The fourth is a surprisingly predictable plot about a robot museum but very well done (lol @ the Victoria von Doomagneto villainess). The last is Mr Busiek again trying to push the boundaries of which characters and point of view are centred and it's an excellent effort, although it has the trope in which a white/male/&c creator makes a minority character praise a mainstream white/male/&c character for their progressiveness (which I'm willing to presume in this case is more a plea to readers who identify with the mainstream character than self-congratulation by the author, but still.... ::twitches:: ). (4/5)
72. Lovers Quarrel, Astro City v.12, by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, is a heroine's retirement story with a romance sub-theme. I appreciate that the heroine and her story were centred and the romance was only an aspect of her life, although all her major influences were men and she didn't seem to have female friends or role models (note: but this is a thing that happened for women of her generation moving into professions that were previously dominated by men so it's fair enough as a one-off characterisation). Mr Busiek again demonstrates that he has noticed middle-aged and older women exist and are worthwhile writing as protagonists because of their wealth of experience and plot/characterisation potential. :-) (3.5/5 a good solid story given space to develop)
- Two remixes of the MCPD mixels.
This entry was originally posted at http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/581497.html and has
comments Please comment there using OpenID.