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shadowkat1. Made it to the DMV for my "Enhanced Driver's License" (I worked damn hard in high school to get a driver's license, I refuse not to have that as well as the Id, regardless of whether or not I plan on actually driving -- reminds me a bit of my long inactive law license actually. Coworker: Do you even remember how to drive after twenty years? ME: No. (but all the DMV requires is that I take an eye exam. Hah! Although that would explain why driving in NYC is hazardous to one's health.)). Didn't take that long and wasn't as painful as expected. Although they are terribly inefficient.
You wait in a line to give the reservation, there's a line for reservations and a line for those without reservations. They give you a number. You wait for them to call it -- which they do about three times with it lighting up, then send you to a representative/gate. That person asks what you want and reviews all your paper work and gives you a release for a photo. Then you go stand in a line for a photo (only one person was a ahead of me -- mainly because people are stupid and do not fill out their paperwork and bring the right documents ahead of time -- so take forever with the first clerk), you get your photo taken and they make photo copies of all of your identification documentation and forms, then you go back to the first clerk who sends you to another clerk to process it. I had to wait in another line -- this took a while. Then that clerk enters all your data into the computer, and asks dumb questions that have already been answered on the form. The form states that you should only fill in the home address if it is different than your mailing address. So I highlighted that. And didn't fill it in. The clerk asked me if it was the same? I said, yes, that's why I didn't fill it in. She told me to write "SAME" because they couldn't tell. (Sigh). Then I had to state all the things I did on the voter registration again -- I'd already checked it on the form. (I was changing my party affiliation so I can vote in the democratic party primaries in 2020, I'm currently Green Party -- and the only way you can do it is to re-register to vote.) Then I had to sign, again, after already signing the bit for the photo. After all this, they charged me about $110, and gave me an interim license. I asked when I'd get the new one? They said it would be sent by mail and I'd get it in two weeks. Seriously? I remember getting it in person last I did this -- granted that was back in the 1990s and at License Express, but still. The last time I renewed my license -- I did it by mail.
What do you need for an Enhanced ID?
1. Proof of Birth (either birth certificate or Passport, I just made the deadline, my passport expires next month)
2. Proof of State Residency (two documents -- utility bill, paycheck stub, and NY Driver's License
3. Social Security Card
4. Form filled out and completed
Oh well. Apparently if you want to renew an enhanced ID/Driver's License, you can mail it in the next round. They make you take an eye exam - regardless of whether you state you wear corrective lenses.
I guess they want to make sure you're not blind.
I also managed to cancel my doctor's appointment. Since I could not get a hold of the office -- I did it by text message and email. Their phone line kept telling me that the office was closed. And I could not leave a message. It was annoying. I finally called another number to see if my appointment was truly cancelled -- the other number confirmed it. Very weird and aggravating.
2. Reading Meme
Just finished reading - some really good comic books (and a horrible one, but hey that's comics.)
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 by Jordie Bellaire and artist Dan Mora -- this is BOOM STUDIOS reboot, after they acquired the rights to the series from Dark Horse.
It's good. I was blown away by it. I had low expectations. Mainly because outside of few issues here and there, the Buffy comics have largely been hit or miss. And not so great in the art department. Also, I wasn't sure about a Buffy reboot, but admittedly curious about how the writers would tackle it. (It's fanfic, but they are upfront about that. It's not canon. And that is what I love about it. Mainly because I considered all the comics to be fanfic. Just because Whedon was overseeing it didn't make it canon. Different medium.)
Outside of the fact that Anya and Joyce look a bit alike -- I'd say it was a definite hit in the art department. The art is by far the best that I've seen in the Buffy comics to date. It's really good.
I love how they've drawn Willow, Buffy, Xander and Giles. And it has depth to it, the colorist is great.
The writing also does a good job of capturing Whedon's quippy Buffyspeak, while at the same time updating it for a modern readership. I like Willow much better in this version, by the way.
And the plot, story, etc -- on target. Buffy is working at a fast-food restaurant (which makes sense), she's not rich. She'd have a part time job in high school. That's how she meets Xander and Willow. I actually liked issue one better than I liked episode one of the TV show.
Highly recommend, if you like this sort of thing.
*Uncanny X-men Annual 1 - Return of Cyclops by Ed Brisson and Carlos Gomez
Much better than expected. I'd spoiled myself a bit during my lunch break at work -- so new the general plot. And I gotta say it works, far better than Wolverine, Jean, and Professor X's resurrections did. The writers are getting slightly better at this. Scott's was the only one that I didn't feel others were unjustly hurt or manipulated in the process by an external force. (Although I haven't read Professor X or Wolverine's yet, just the synopsis.) Apparently this writer is honest about his desire to redeem Cyclops and bring him back to the hero he'd been. (Although I never really saw him as a villain, he was dealing with a lot of insane things, and had to make hard choices. And the Avengers were hardly heroes in how they handled things, nor for that matter was Wolverine or anyone else. What fascinated me was how gray the whole arc was and how it really deconstructed heroism and what people will do when they are fighting for survival.)
This comic is actually really interesting in how it addresses what had come before, and in how it addresses our current political climate.
Cyclops tells his son at the end of the book -- "I was furious. Furious that it looked like mutants were on the verge of extinction. Angry that the world we'd spent our entire lives trying to protect could try to snuff us out like that. After a life of trying to prove that we fit in. That mutants and humans could..should..live as one..I...I did the SAME THING that everyone I'd been fighting had done. Put MY species above THEIRS. I became the monster they feared. It was wrong. I was wrong. And now they're gone."
I rather like the metaphors behind that speech. If we attempt to demonize or destroy the other in order for our tribe or our special interest group to survive, we are no better than the monsters we've been fighting.
In the book, Cyclops is brought back to life by a scientist who designs a method of trapping and using a sliver of the Phoenix Force to restore him. The scientist does it because ages ago, Cyclops saved his life, and as result he was able to be a father to his son -- his son knew him. The scientist is asked to do this by Cyclops own son, Cable, keeper of the time-line, who also wishes to know his Dad. And when he brings him back -- he doesn't want to let him out of the safe-house and back into the world, until he knows what type of man his father currently is, now. The Cyclops he's brought back is not the same man who died -- in part because he now has all the memories of his time-displaced younger self. So has a slightly different perspective, also he's been out of it a while and given lots of time to think.
The choice, Cable gives him, is to either help all the X-men fight the all-powerful Nate Grey, or save the lives of the scientist (who brought him back to life) and his family. Cyclops looks in fury at his son and says, no, why would you do this? Because, Cable states -- I need to know who you are.
So, Cyclops saves the scientist, a human. He doesn't go off to save the mutant race against an-all powerful mutant. He doesn't try to be their leader. Instead he goes to save the innocent life of the scientist who saved him and his family. It's not exactly altruistic, but then neither is the choice.
But it is the better choice -- to save one life, that is possible to save, and could save others, or try to fight an all-powerful villain that is already engaged in battle with a million other super-powered players, many more powerful than you are. In the end -- it's about hubris. The Cyclops who died, had given into his ego, his rage, and nominated himself the savior of his people -- whether they wanted it or not. He'd become "self-righteous" or "righteous", and "enraged".
While anger can be useful, it can also consume. And lead to poor decisions. As too can hubris. Just look at our current leadership and world stage -- the hubris is burning so brightly, one can barely see through it. And the air is thick with rage and fear. The X-men up to now -- had been addressing that rage - in various ways, often jumping into it, and yelling back, just as we are doing now.
But, Cyclops asks the question -- in my own self-righteous rage, I became the very thing I was fighting against...is there not a better way? Can we set it right?
Now the world has forgotten the X-men. And their legacy has been erased. Cyclops reputation damaged seemingly beyond repair. But he seems to see things differently, it's not about him, it's not about mutant or human, or who is better, or who must be saved...but just helping others where and when we can and in small and big ways.
Moving comic. I highly recommend. The art is good, if you like Salavdore Larroca, which I do.
* Jean Grey - arc about teen Jean on her quest regarding the Phoenix
Boring. And needs a good editor. They threw everything including the kitchen sink into it. Also at the same time she's wandering about, the Phoenix is playing around with her older self. And at one point the cosmic Phoenix force tries to kill her -- possibly because it's confused with two versions of the same person in the same timeline.
There's some good bits with Jean and the ghost of her older self chatting -- but I'd have preferred to see the chat between the resurrected adult Jean Grey and teen Jean, as opposed to teen Jean and the Ghost.
I also, right now, would really like to see a scene somewhere further down the line between adult Jean and adult Scott about what it was like to deal with their time-displaced teen versions of themselves, and how it feels to have all their memories, including impressions of the adult versions of themselves. Talk about a mind-fuck. Actually the X-men writers do mind-fucks better than anyone.
Anyhow this story wasn't as good as Phoenix Resurrection, but it was mostly free. So no big.
Comixology allows me to borrow things here and there, the older the comic, the more likely it will be free. Much cheaper than Marvel Comics App.
Uncanny X-men Dissembled -- this is the series that leads up to Uncanny X-men Annual 1 - Return of Cyclops.
It's not bad. Has some good character moments here and there. No where near as good as X-men: Exterminated. Too plotty. And the villains are once again these godlike powered beings who think they can save the world from itself. Actually having now read both Uncanny Annual, Exterminated, and this -- I think I get where the writers were going with their political themes. The idea that we can save one life. We can solve one problem. But trying to take on everything and be the savior, is an act of hubris that has seriously disasterous consequences. Also, when you try to fix things no matter how good your intentions, there can be nasty consequences.
It's interesting that we have Xavier's child, Legion going up against and getting taken over by his creation from another dimension, Nate Grey is Jean/Scott's kid in the Age of Apocalypse -- which is a pocket universe created by Legion. Now, Nate in similar mode -- pretty much follows both Apocalypse and then Legion's example, and creates his own pocket dimension where he sends the X-men. The poor X-men keep getting sent to pocket dimensions with their memories and personalities changed. At least Scott and Wolverine were saved from that going through that again. Marvel loves to do this -- it's how they retcon or reboot their universe after writing themselves into a corner. Which they sort of did with the whole Inhumans arc. Also they realized they'd gotten a bit bleak, and their fans needed hope and escapism, not a bleak reflection of our current political situation, but a hopeful response to it.
Hence Dissembled.
Have to state -- they aren't wrong.
Although there were some good things that came out of the whole Inhumans arc.
[As an aside -- unfortunately, Marvel still writes more complicated and interesting male centric stories than female centric...although the X-men do have a lot of cool female characters. So it's better than most. As a heterosexual/cis gendered female -- I tend to fall in love with male characters more than female ones. That's just me. But there are a few female one's I like. Obviously I still like Buffy and Willow. Also, Jean, Storm, Magik, Dani, Rogue, Kitty. Note - shadowkat came from the X-men, I changed it to shadowkat because shadowcat was already taken, and I liked the spelling better. No, I'm not the shadowkat that writer porny fanfic, nor the gamer, I'm the one who wrote an insane amount of meta and published a novel.]
Still Reading:
The Essex Serpent by Sara Perry
Which I'm enjoying. But, the writer relies way too much on paraphrasing and summarization. I get the temptation to do this...however, it has a tendency to slow down the story, lose the reader, and distance the reader from it. Pamela Dean does the same thing with Tam Lin. Every time a writer employs this technique -- I get thrown out of the story or action, and start skimming. Because really isn't that what the writer is doing?
You've gone from active voice to passive in the blink of an eye.
That said, there's some lovely bits of writing here and there, and I rather adore the characters and letters. For a non-romance, it's very romantic. Which some interesting trysts.
Next?
Oh, more comic books. And probably The Shadow and the Heart by Laura Kinsale, which is about a ninja who been used as male prostitute as a child and can't deal with sex as a result, and the dressmaker that he falls in love with. Sort of subversive in its own way. I like Kinsale, her romance novels are somewhat subversive.
I'm into comfort books at the moment.
You wait in a line to give the reservation, there's a line for reservations and a line for those without reservations. They give you a number. You wait for them to call it -- which they do about three times with it lighting up, then send you to a representative/gate. That person asks what you want and reviews all your paper work and gives you a release for a photo. Then you go stand in a line for a photo (only one person was a ahead of me -- mainly because people are stupid and do not fill out their paperwork and bring the right documents ahead of time -- so take forever with the first clerk), you get your photo taken and they make photo copies of all of your identification documentation and forms, then you go back to the first clerk who sends you to another clerk to process it. I had to wait in another line -- this took a while. Then that clerk enters all your data into the computer, and asks dumb questions that have already been answered on the form. The form states that you should only fill in the home address if it is different than your mailing address. So I highlighted that. And didn't fill it in. The clerk asked me if it was the same? I said, yes, that's why I didn't fill it in. She told me to write "SAME" because they couldn't tell. (Sigh). Then I had to state all the things I did on the voter registration again -- I'd already checked it on the form. (I was changing my party affiliation so I can vote in the democratic party primaries in 2020, I'm currently Green Party -- and the only way you can do it is to re-register to vote.) Then I had to sign, again, after already signing the bit for the photo. After all this, they charged me about $110, and gave me an interim license. I asked when I'd get the new one? They said it would be sent by mail and I'd get it in two weeks. Seriously? I remember getting it in person last I did this -- granted that was back in the 1990s and at License Express, but still. The last time I renewed my license -- I did it by mail.
What do you need for an Enhanced ID?
1. Proof of Birth (either birth certificate or Passport, I just made the deadline, my passport expires next month)
2. Proof of State Residency (two documents -- utility bill, paycheck stub, and NY Driver's License
3. Social Security Card
4. Form filled out and completed
Oh well. Apparently if you want to renew an enhanced ID/Driver's License, you can mail it in the next round. They make you take an eye exam - regardless of whether you state you wear corrective lenses.
I guess they want to make sure you're not blind.
I also managed to cancel my doctor's appointment. Since I could not get a hold of the office -- I did it by text message and email. Their phone line kept telling me that the office was closed. And I could not leave a message. It was annoying. I finally called another number to see if my appointment was truly cancelled -- the other number confirmed it. Very weird and aggravating.
2. Reading Meme
Just finished reading - some really good comic books (and a horrible one, but hey that's comics.)
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 by Jordie Bellaire and artist Dan Mora -- this is BOOM STUDIOS reboot, after they acquired the rights to the series from Dark Horse.
It's good. I was blown away by it. I had low expectations. Mainly because outside of few issues here and there, the Buffy comics have largely been hit or miss. And not so great in the art department. Also, I wasn't sure about a Buffy reboot, but admittedly curious about how the writers would tackle it. (It's fanfic, but they are upfront about that. It's not canon. And that is what I love about it. Mainly because I considered all the comics to be fanfic. Just because Whedon was overseeing it didn't make it canon. Different medium.)
Outside of the fact that Anya and Joyce look a bit alike -- I'd say it was a definite hit in the art department. The art is by far the best that I've seen in the Buffy comics to date. It's really good.
I love how they've drawn Willow, Buffy, Xander and Giles. And it has depth to it, the colorist is great.
The writing also does a good job of capturing Whedon's quippy Buffyspeak, while at the same time updating it for a modern readership. I like Willow much better in this version, by the way.
And the plot, story, etc -- on target. Buffy is working at a fast-food restaurant (which makes sense), she's not rich. She'd have a part time job in high school. That's how she meets Xander and Willow. I actually liked issue one better than I liked episode one of the TV show.
Highly recommend, if you like this sort of thing.
*Uncanny X-men Annual 1 - Return of Cyclops by Ed Brisson and Carlos Gomez
Much better than expected. I'd spoiled myself a bit during my lunch break at work -- so new the general plot. And I gotta say it works, far better than Wolverine, Jean, and Professor X's resurrections did. The writers are getting slightly better at this. Scott's was the only one that I didn't feel others were unjustly hurt or manipulated in the process by an external force. (Although I haven't read Professor X or Wolverine's yet, just the synopsis.) Apparently this writer is honest about his desire to redeem Cyclops and bring him back to the hero he'd been. (Although I never really saw him as a villain, he was dealing with a lot of insane things, and had to make hard choices. And the Avengers were hardly heroes in how they handled things, nor for that matter was Wolverine or anyone else. What fascinated me was how gray the whole arc was and how it really deconstructed heroism and what people will do when they are fighting for survival.)
This comic is actually really interesting in how it addresses what had come before, and in how it addresses our current political climate.
Cyclops tells his son at the end of the book -- "I was furious. Furious that it looked like mutants were on the verge of extinction. Angry that the world we'd spent our entire lives trying to protect could try to snuff us out like that. After a life of trying to prove that we fit in. That mutants and humans could..should..live as one..I...I did the SAME THING that everyone I'd been fighting had done. Put MY species above THEIRS. I became the monster they feared. It was wrong. I was wrong. And now they're gone."
I rather like the metaphors behind that speech. If we attempt to demonize or destroy the other in order for our tribe or our special interest group to survive, we are no better than the monsters we've been fighting.
In the book, Cyclops is brought back to life by a scientist who designs a method of trapping and using a sliver of the Phoenix Force to restore him. The scientist does it because ages ago, Cyclops saved his life, and as result he was able to be a father to his son -- his son knew him. The scientist is asked to do this by Cyclops own son, Cable, keeper of the time-line, who also wishes to know his Dad. And when he brings him back -- he doesn't want to let him out of the safe-house and back into the world, until he knows what type of man his father currently is, now. The Cyclops he's brought back is not the same man who died -- in part because he now has all the memories of his time-displaced younger self. So has a slightly different perspective, also he's been out of it a while and given lots of time to think.
The choice, Cable gives him, is to either help all the X-men fight the all-powerful Nate Grey, or save the lives of the scientist (who brought him back to life) and his family. Cyclops looks in fury at his son and says, no, why would you do this? Because, Cable states -- I need to know who you are.
So, Cyclops saves the scientist, a human. He doesn't go off to save the mutant race against an-all powerful mutant. He doesn't try to be their leader. Instead he goes to save the innocent life of the scientist who saved him and his family. It's not exactly altruistic, but then neither is the choice.
But it is the better choice -- to save one life, that is possible to save, and could save others, or try to fight an all-powerful villain that is already engaged in battle with a million other super-powered players, many more powerful than you are. In the end -- it's about hubris. The Cyclops who died, had given into his ego, his rage, and nominated himself the savior of his people -- whether they wanted it or not. He'd become "self-righteous" or "righteous", and "enraged".
While anger can be useful, it can also consume. And lead to poor decisions. As too can hubris. Just look at our current leadership and world stage -- the hubris is burning so brightly, one can barely see through it. And the air is thick with rage and fear. The X-men up to now -- had been addressing that rage - in various ways, often jumping into it, and yelling back, just as we are doing now.
But, Cyclops asks the question -- in my own self-righteous rage, I became the very thing I was fighting against...is there not a better way? Can we set it right?
Now the world has forgotten the X-men. And their legacy has been erased. Cyclops reputation damaged seemingly beyond repair. But he seems to see things differently, it's not about him, it's not about mutant or human, or who is better, or who must be saved...but just helping others where and when we can and in small and big ways.
Moving comic. I highly recommend. The art is good, if you like Salavdore Larroca, which I do.
* Jean Grey - arc about teen Jean on her quest regarding the Phoenix
Boring. And needs a good editor. They threw everything including the kitchen sink into it. Also at the same time she's wandering about, the Phoenix is playing around with her older self. And at one point the cosmic Phoenix force tries to kill her -- possibly because it's confused with two versions of the same person in the same timeline.
There's some good bits with Jean and the ghost of her older self chatting -- but I'd have preferred to see the chat between the resurrected adult Jean Grey and teen Jean, as opposed to teen Jean and the Ghost.
I also, right now, would really like to see a scene somewhere further down the line between adult Jean and adult Scott about what it was like to deal with their time-displaced teen versions of themselves, and how it feels to have all their memories, including impressions of the adult versions of themselves. Talk about a mind-fuck. Actually the X-men writers do mind-fucks better than anyone.
Anyhow this story wasn't as good as Phoenix Resurrection, but it was mostly free. So no big.
Comixology allows me to borrow things here and there, the older the comic, the more likely it will be free. Much cheaper than Marvel Comics App.
Uncanny X-men Dissembled -- this is the series that leads up to Uncanny X-men Annual 1 - Return of Cyclops.
It's not bad. Has some good character moments here and there. No where near as good as X-men: Exterminated. Too plotty. And the villains are once again these godlike powered beings who think they can save the world from itself. Actually having now read both Uncanny Annual, Exterminated, and this -- I think I get where the writers were going with their political themes. The idea that we can save one life. We can solve one problem. But trying to take on everything and be the savior, is an act of hubris that has seriously disasterous consequences. Also, when you try to fix things no matter how good your intentions, there can be nasty consequences.
It's interesting that we have Xavier's child, Legion going up against and getting taken over by his creation from another dimension, Nate Grey is Jean/Scott's kid in the Age of Apocalypse -- which is a pocket universe created by Legion. Now, Nate in similar mode -- pretty much follows both Apocalypse and then Legion's example, and creates his own pocket dimension where he sends the X-men. The poor X-men keep getting sent to pocket dimensions with their memories and personalities changed. At least Scott and Wolverine were saved from that going through that again. Marvel loves to do this -- it's how they retcon or reboot their universe after writing themselves into a corner. Which they sort of did with the whole Inhumans arc. Also they realized they'd gotten a bit bleak, and their fans needed hope and escapism, not a bleak reflection of our current political situation, but a hopeful response to it.
Hence Dissembled.
Have to state -- they aren't wrong.
Although there were some good things that came out of the whole Inhumans arc.
[As an aside -- unfortunately, Marvel still writes more complicated and interesting male centric stories than female centric...although the X-men do have a lot of cool female characters. So it's better than most. As a heterosexual/cis gendered female -- I tend to fall in love with male characters more than female ones. That's just me. But there are a few female one's I like. Obviously I still like Buffy and Willow. Also, Jean, Storm, Magik, Dani, Rogue, Kitty. Note - shadowkat came from the X-men, I changed it to shadowkat because shadowcat was already taken, and I liked the spelling better. No, I'm not the shadowkat that writer porny fanfic, nor the gamer, I'm the one who wrote an insane amount of meta and published a novel.]
Still Reading:
The Essex Serpent by Sara Perry
Which I'm enjoying. But, the writer relies way too much on paraphrasing and summarization. I get the temptation to do this...however, it has a tendency to slow down the story, lose the reader, and distance the reader from it. Pamela Dean does the same thing with Tam Lin. Every time a writer employs this technique -- I get thrown out of the story or action, and start skimming. Because really isn't that what the writer is doing?
You've gone from active voice to passive in the blink of an eye.
That said, there's some lovely bits of writing here and there, and I rather adore the characters and letters. For a non-romance, it's very romantic. Which some interesting trysts.
Next?
Oh, more comic books. And probably The Shadow and the Heart by Laura Kinsale, which is about a ninja who been used as male prostitute as a child and can't deal with sex as a result, and the dressmaker that he falls in love with. Sort of subversive in its own way. I like Kinsale, her romance novels are somewhat subversive.
I'm into comfort books at the moment.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-24 07:51 am (UTC)1. Proof of Birth (either birth certificate or Passport, I just made the deadline, my passport expires next month)
2. Proof of State Residency (two documents -- utility bill, paycheck stub, and NY Driver's License
3. Social Security Card
4. Form filled out and completed
Really? I have one and I just paid more for it than for the "normal" one. It's cheaper than renewing my passport and if I used it at all it would only be for Canada.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-24 01:30 pm (UTC)In NY at any rate. Michigan probably doesn't have the same security issues -- you aren't the gateway to every immigrant from every country in the world. (So that's most likely the reason.)
You only have to do it once, then you can renew by mail. Also, after October 21, 2020 - you can't travel anywhere by plane in the US without either a passport or a Real ID. You need an Enhanced ID to go to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean by land or sea or get into a federal building. I'm getting my passport renewed, because I like to travel internationally -- say to places like New Zealand, Europe, Thailand, Belize, etc. A lot of my co-workers just have a passport, my brother just users his passport, and they renew their license as just a license.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-25 01:04 am (UTC)I generally don't read that many comics (but I am slowly getting there more and more) and I absolutely hated the "official continuation" comics. I think mostly because they were announced as "canon", yet felt all wrong - and ugly - to me. I couldn't recognize any characters.
So the curiosity got me to check the new one - and I loved it. They were proudly AU, so there was no pressure, and the characters felt familiar but in a different circumstances. I'll be looking forward to the next one.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-25 02:08 am (UTC)Exactly. It works so much better for me.
The other ones tried to bill themselves as a continuation, but the writers seemed to forget half of what had come before. That and this weird desire to please everyone...which is impossible.
I think mostly because they were announced as "canon", yet felt all wrong - and ugly - to me. I couldn't recognize any characters.
Yep, felt the same way -- and I think I've read most of them. The better issues, weirdly, were the ones not written by Whedon and his cronies, but by Christopher Gage and Rebecca Issacs. Which indicated to me -- that this works better as just fanfic. I think I would have had an easier time with them, if they hadn't been announced as canon -- because that creates an expectation of continuity that none of the writers, including Whedon could meet.