Wed Reading Meme..and other things
Jul. 31st, 2019 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. What I Just Finished Reading
Just finished Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman and R.B Silva, which frankly blew me away. It's chapter 2 in Hickman's reboot of the X-men. Which really can be read without any knowledge of the X-men verse whatsoever.
I really went in with low expectations. The last six years of X-men comics have been abysmal, with bits of genuis here and there. Brian Michael Bendis run on the comics was rather interesting, until he ran out of steam, and Marvel decided to dump the X-men in favor of the Inhumans. So the plotting sort went into the ground and then some. If any series was in desperate need of reviving or rebooting, it was the X-men.
But it's not like they haven't rebooted it before as most fans will attest. And often horribly, and often repetitively.
Hickman doesn't do that. Instead he goes off in a completely different direction lifting the series to literary levels in the process. It may be too soon to get excited, this is only chapter 2 in the series. But, it's written in such an innovative narrative style, and drawn in one, that I can't help but get excited about it. A comic done well -- is a beautiful thing.
And...as I wrote on Good Reads? Frigging hell, that was a good read.
If I were to refer a science fiction fan to one superhero or Marvel comic -- I'd refer them to House of X and Powers of X, which are basically, Chapter 1, then Chapter 2 in a series. Also you don't need to know the back story of the X-men at all -- it works on its own as an interesting speculative science fiction series. Incorporating various elements from writers such as Octavia Butler, Maria Doria Russell, Philip K. Dick, Doris Lessing, CJ Cherryth, Ursula Le Quinn, Alfred Bester, Robert K. Heinlein, Issac Asimov...
It also manages to take the graphic novel or comic book format to a whole new level, reminding me a little of what Alan Moore did with Watchmen, or Frank Miller with Dark Knight in the 1980s. (Although I like this much better -- it's less violent for one thing, and not quite as dark and women are front and center. Moore and Miller, like them or hate them, are both chauvinistic in their writing and off-putting as result. It made it really hard for me to read them, even in the 1980s. Not so here.)
I'm rather impressed with the intertwining of world-building, science, story, and character -- it's suspenseful, tightly plotted, not boring, yet packed with a lot of "hard" science fiction content. Hickman has obviously thought about this for some time -- the details are precise and consistent. At times it feels as if I am reading a wryly satiric scientific paper on mutant biology and AI advancements. Some of it we may have seen before elsewhere in places such as Ron Moore's BattleStar Galatica and Caprica, Asimov's I Robot, Being Human, or even Age of Apocalypse. Although I'd say it is far better written than Age of Apocalypse was and a little less soapy -- slants more towards Moore's Battlestar (without the sexual violence of course).
Hickman has pulled the X-men out of the soap opera superhero quagmire that it had been mucking about in for so long now. (As much as I love soaps, this is a welcome relief.) And come up with an interesting scientific scope and world that is reminiscent of Claremount's epic "Days of Future Past", later turned into one of the better X movies. Although I'd say this is slightly better done, and far less didactic. It focuses more on speculative science fiction elements -- specifically biological or genetic science, and anthropological science.
What I like most about Hickman is he pulls back from the moralizing and sermonizing that so many of the comic writers fall prey to, and shows instead of tells. He also pulls back from the politicizing -- let's face everything in our world today appears to be heavily politicized, Hickman pulls back from that and tells a good and rather detailed science fiction story.
For example? Mr. Sinister, a classic and long-term X-villian, is depicted in a fascinating manner -- and at a distance. We don't get the cheesy moustach twirling unkillable super-villain of yore, but an amoral and somewhat opportunist geneticist who pushes the barriers to the point of almost destroying his own species, and in an effort to defect to the winning side -- outsmarts himself and is finally killed. This is all told in the fine print, yet is gripping and quite satisfying, in how smartly it is rendered. I found it amusingly ironic, and far better told in summary. And this is just one example. Too often a writer feels the need to tell the reader everything, leaving little to the imagination, but as any true genre fan knows -- it's so much more fun when they don't do this. When they trust their readership -- and Hickman not only trusts his readers, he expects them to be smart.
Hickman is aided in this endeavor by the incredibly talented R.B Silva (artist and inker) and Marte Gracta color artist. This is done by hand and well done. Art is important in a comic book -- particularly consistent art. If done poorly it will pull you out of the story, if done well you will fall into it as if it were a movie playing out in your mind. I can't emphasize enough how important the role of the artist is here -- and it has to be an artist that works well with the writer. Silva, much like Pepe before him (on House of X), truly does. Not only that but Silva and Pepe's styles compliment each other so that the books flow seamlessly.
This has got to be one of the best comics I've read in a very long time. I can't wait for the next issue. And Cyclops, my fav, didn't appear once in this issue (he appears in House of X -- the previous one), and I didn't miss him -- I was so enthralled with the story and new characters.
Bravo.
2. What I'm reading now?
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix -- which is starting to piss me off. While reading it on the train ride home, my blood pressure was slowly sky-rocketing.
I've been staying away from anything that pisses me off. (I'm not sure I need to explain why, do I?)
The story is about Kris (Aka Christine, she goes by Kris) who basically got screwed out of her music, her liviliehood and any career in music by a bunch of boys, who signed a lucrative contract -- so the front-man could steal her work and make a killing elsewhere. It's a horror novel, or tongue firmly in cheek horror novel, about a hard-driving metal band. Kris reminds me a bit of Joan Jett, except if she took up with a bunch of boys instead of cool gals. The writer doesn't appear to like men very much -- and he is one, so...that's interesting. I've been noticing a trend lately with a lot of male writers -- is as if their reaction to the current state of affairs is prominent loathing of the straight male gender.
(Eh, I know and work with a lot of cool men, so I think they need to lighten up, and stop generalizing. Treat people as individuals, not part of a group.)
Anyhow, Kris at this point in the novel has decided to round up her old band members who all blame her for a tragic car crush that paralyzed one of them. And they all sued her for -- as a result they got fairly decent lives, if hollow ones, while Kris is working the night shift at the Best Western and is about to be evicted by her little brother, a cop. She visits the first one -- he's gone nuts or appears to have gone nuts, and tries to shoot her then turns the gun on himself. When she races upstairs to inform his wife -- two UPS trucks show up and kill the man's family. He'd told Kris that the front man, Terry Hunt and his back Koffin, organized by the Black Iron Mountain organization is trying to kill all of them. So Kris races off to help the next guy, Tucker, who doesn't believe her and takes her to talk to Bill, who runs a new age health center -- that appears to be a front for a brainwashing clinic from hell. Now Kris is being held against her will at Bill's rehab center or brain-wash clinic. Where they went her to forget about the night they signed the contracts -- signing all rights to their music away to Terry Hunt. Kris refused to sign, until she was basically blackmailed into it.
At this point, I just want everyone but Kris to die screaming. There's a second story thread about a down on her luck blond waitress who is a huge fan of Terry Hunt and his music, and dreams of seeing his farewell tour in person. So she sells everything, and convinces her boyfriend to high-tail it with her to Vegas to see his farewell tour. She's also sextexting a guy in Vegas, who has tickets, that her boyfriend doesn't know about. (She lives in West Virginia, is in dept up to her eyeballs like Kris is, and struggling to find a way out. Her out of work boyfriend is a Doofus who hates Baby Boomers -- who he blames for taking all the jobs away.)
So...this thing better turn soon. I'm 38% of the way through it, and starting to skim. Also tempted to jump to something else.
The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron and R. Dautman is, by stark contrast, wickedly good. It's a political thriller, fantasy, and story about cancer and female empowerment all rolled up in one. Once again the guys are not shown in the best of lights. Fellas? You aren't that bad.
Loki is rather interesting in this version -- and I'm beginning to understand the Loki/Jane Foster fanfic after reading the first two-three chapters of it. Loki fights Jane as a woman. And tells her that he wants to do something other than just fight this time around, she, of course doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him. (With good reason, he's kidnapped her numerous times and tried to kill her. Once threatened to fee her to a pet tiger.)
The art is quite good. Good art is key in these books. To all comics writers and editors everywhere -- do not skimp on the art, and make sure it works with the writer.
3. What I'm reading next?
Since I'm getting fed up with "We Sold Our Souls" -- seriously, I've no clue what the ladies/reviewers on SmartBitches.com are smoking. They keep recing books that look great and they say are great, but just annoy me. Anyhow -- since I'm getting fed up with this book -- I may borrow "Little Fires Everywhere" from the Library...assuming I can get it from the Library. I don't really want to buy it. I got enough books.
I need to start borrowing them, which is what I'm doing with a lot of comics on comicxology.
4. Unrelated to the above and the subject..but on my mind. My teeth hurt. I had chicken, which got caught in said teeth -- as a result hurt.
I flossed and brushed. Oh well, seeing the dentist on Friday. I don't want to. It's a haul. I have to lug my ass into The City aka Manhattan, and see him. Because I couldn't find a board certified dentist in Brooklyn that took my insurance.
(No not a cavity, just nerves. Whenever food gets caught in between the teeth, they hurt. It's annoying. And age. Dammit.)
5. I told Chidi today that I wanted to take a writer's retreat to Montreal (by train). (But alas, the Universe won't let me, since it doesn't appear to exist. There are retreats in Banff and Toronto, but I don't want to go there.)
Chidi: Are you a writer?
Me: Yes.
Chidi: What do you write?
Me: Fiction.
Chidi: Why don't you share it?
ME: I do share it. I published a novel and everything.
Chidi: You did? (he's shocked. And looks it up after I give him the title, etc. Chidi is momentarily impressed then racing off to an unrelated topic. Speaking to Chidi is akin to speaking to my mother -- he jumps from one unrelated track to another, it's hard to keep up...the man has the attention span of a puppy. I wanted to say gnat, but honestly do we know how long a gnat's attention span is? No we do not.)
Just finished Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman and R.B Silva, which frankly blew me away. It's chapter 2 in Hickman's reboot of the X-men. Which really can be read without any knowledge of the X-men verse whatsoever.
I really went in with low expectations. The last six years of X-men comics have been abysmal, with bits of genuis here and there. Brian Michael Bendis run on the comics was rather interesting, until he ran out of steam, and Marvel decided to dump the X-men in favor of the Inhumans. So the plotting sort went into the ground and then some. If any series was in desperate need of reviving or rebooting, it was the X-men.
But it's not like they haven't rebooted it before as most fans will attest. And often horribly, and often repetitively.
Hickman doesn't do that. Instead he goes off in a completely different direction lifting the series to literary levels in the process. It may be too soon to get excited, this is only chapter 2 in the series. But, it's written in such an innovative narrative style, and drawn in one, that I can't help but get excited about it. A comic done well -- is a beautiful thing.
And...as I wrote on Good Reads? Frigging hell, that was a good read.
If I were to refer a science fiction fan to one superhero or Marvel comic -- I'd refer them to House of X and Powers of X, which are basically, Chapter 1, then Chapter 2 in a series. Also you don't need to know the back story of the X-men at all -- it works on its own as an interesting speculative science fiction series. Incorporating various elements from writers such as Octavia Butler, Maria Doria Russell, Philip K. Dick, Doris Lessing, CJ Cherryth, Ursula Le Quinn, Alfred Bester, Robert K. Heinlein, Issac Asimov...
It also manages to take the graphic novel or comic book format to a whole new level, reminding me a little of what Alan Moore did with Watchmen, or Frank Miller with Dark Knight in the 1980s. (Although I like this much better -- it's less violent for one thing, and not quite as dark and women are front and center. Moore and Miller, like them or hate them, are both chauvinistic in their writing and off-putting as result. It made it really hard for me to read them, even in the 1980s. Not so here.)
I'm rather impressed with the intertwining of world-building, science, story, and character -- it's suspenseful, tightly plotted, not boring, yet packed with a lot of "hard" science fiction content. Hickman has obviously thought about this for some time -- the details are precise and consistent. At times it feels as if I am reading a wryly satiric scientific paper on mutant biology and AI advancements. Some of it we may have seen before elsewhere in places such as Ron Moore's BattleStar Galatica and Caprica, Asimov's I Robot, Being Human, or even Age of Apocalypse. Although I'd say it is far better written than Age of Apocalypse was and a little less soapy -- slants more towards Moore's Battlestar (without the sexual violence of course).
Hickman has pulled the X-men out of the soap opera superhero quagmire that it had been mucking about in for so long now. (As much as I love soaps, this is a welcome relief.) And come up with an interesting scientific scope and world that is reminiscent of Claremount's epic "Days of Future Past", later turned into one of the better X movies. Although I'd say this is slightly better done, and far less didactic. It focuses more on speculative science fiction elements -- specifically biological or genetic science, and anthropological science.
What I like most about Hickman is he pulls back from the moralizing and sermonizing that so many of the comic writers fall prey to, and shows instead of tells. He also pulls back from the politicizing -- let's face everything in our world today appears to be heavily politicized, Hickman pulls back from that and tells a good and rather detailed science fiction story.
For example? Mr. Sinister, a classic and long-term X-villian, is depicted in a fascinating manner -- and at a distance. We don't get the cheesy moustach twirling unkillable super-villain of yore, but an amoral and somewhat opportunist geneticist who pushes the barriers to the point of almost destroying his own species, and in an effort to defect to the winning side -- outsmarts himself and is finally killed. This is all told in the fine print, yet is gripping and quite satisfying, in how smartly it is rendered. I found it amusingly ironic, and far better told in summary. And this is just one example. Too often a writer feels the need to tell the reader everything, leaving little to the imagination, but as any true genre fan knows -- it's so much more fun when they don't do this. When they trust their readership -- and Hickman not only trusts his readers, he expects them to be smart.
Hickman is aided in this endeavor by the incredibly talented R.B Silva (artist and inker) and Marte Gracta color artist. This is done by hand and well done. Art is important in a comic book -- particularly consistent art. If done poorly it will pull you out of the story, if done well you will fall into it as if it were a movie playing out in your mind. I can't emphasize enough how important the role of the artist is here -- and it has to be an artist that works well with the writer. Silva, much like Pepe before him (on House of X), truly does. Not only that but Silva and Pepe's styles compliment each other so that the books flow seamlessly.
This has got to be one of the best comics I've read in a very long time. I can't wait for the next issue. And Cyclops, my fav, didn't appear once in this issue (he appears in House of X -- the previous one), and I didn't miss him -- I was so enthralled with the story and new characters.
Bravo.
2. What I'm reading now?
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix -- which is starting to piss me off. While reading it on the train ride home, my blood pressure was slowly sky-rocketing.
I've been staying away from anything that pisses me off. (I'm not sure I need to explain why, do I?)
The story is about Kris (Aka Christine, she goes by Kris) who basically got screwed out of her music, her liviliehood and any career in music by a bunch of boys, who signed a lucrative contract -- so the front-man could steal her work and make a killing elsewhere. It's a horror novel, or tongue firmly in cheek horror novel, about a hard-driving metal band. Kris reminds me a bit of Joan Jett, except if she took up with a bunch of boys instead of cool gals. The writer doesn't appear to like men very much -- and he is one, so...that's interesting. I've been noticing a trend lately with a lot of male writers -- is as if their reaction to the current state of affairs is prominent loathing of the straight male gender.
(Eh, I know and work with a lot of cool men, so I think they need to lighten up, and stop generalizing. Treat people as individuals, not part of a group.)
Anyhow, Kris at this point in the novel has decided to round up her old band members who all blame her for a tragic car crush that paralyzed one of them. And they all sued her for -- as a result they got fairly decent lives, if hollow ones, while Kris is working the night shift at the Best Western and is about to be evicted by her little brother, a cop. She visits the first one -- he's gone nuts or appears to have gone nuts, and tries to shoot her then turns the gun on himself. When she races upstairs to inform his wife -- two UPS trucks show up and kill the man's family. He'd told Kris that the front man, Terry Hunt and his back Koffin, organized by the Black Iron Mountain organization is trying to kill all of them. So Kris races off to help the next guy, Tucker, who doesn't believe her and takes her to talk to Bill, who runs a new age health center -- that appears to be a front for a brainwashing clinic from hell. Now Kris is being held against her will at Bill's rehab center or brain-wash clinic. Where they went her to forget about the night they signed the contracts -- signing all rights to their music away to Terry Hunt. Kris refused to sign, until she was basically blackmailed into it.
At this point, I just want everyone but Kris to die screaming. There's a second story thread about a down on her luck blond waitress who is a huge fan of Terry Hunt and his music, and dreams of seeing his farewell tour in person. So she sells everything, and convinces her boyfriend to high-tail it with her to Vegas to see his farewell tour. She's also sextexting a guy in Vegas, who has tickets, that her boyfriend doesn't know about. (She lives in West Virginia, is in dept up to her eyeballs like Kris is, and struggling to find a way out. Her out of work boyfriend is a Doofus who hates Baby Boomers -- who he blames for taking all the jobs away.)
So...this thing better turn soon. I'm 38% of the way through it, and starting to skim. Also tempted to jump to something else.
The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron and R. Dautman is, by stark contrast, wickedly good. It's a political thriller, fantasy, and story about cancer and female empowerment all rolled up in one. Once again the guys are not shown in the best of lights. Fellas? You aren't that bad.
Loki is rather interesting in this version -- and I'm beginning to understand the Loki/Jane Foster fanfic after reading the first two-three chapters of it. Loki fights Jane as a woman. And tells her that he wants to do something other than just fight this time around, she, of course doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him. (With good reason, he's kidnapped her numerous times and tried to kill her. Once threatened to fee her to a pet tiger.)
The art is quite good. Good art is key in these books. To all comics writers and editors everywhere -- do not skimp on the art, and make sure it works with the writer.
3. What I'm reading next?
Since I'm getting fed up with "We Sold Our Souls" -- seriously, I've no clue what the ladies/reviewers on SmartBitches.com are smoking. They keep recing books that look great and they say are great, but just annoy me. Anyhow -- since I'm getting fed up with this book -- I may borrow "Little Fires Everywhere" from the Library...assuming I can get it from the Library. I don't really want to buy it. I got enough books.
I need to start borrowing them, which is what I'm doing with a lot of comics on comicxology.
4. Unrelated to the above and the subject..but on my mind. My teeth hurt. I had chicken, which got caught in said teeth -- as a result hurt.
I flossed and brushed. Oh well, seeing the dentist on Friday. I don't want to. It's a haul. I have to lug my ass into The City aka Manhattan, and see him. Because I couldn't find a board certified dentist in Brooklyn that took my insurance.
(No not a cavity, just nerves. Whenever food gets caught in between the teeth, they hurt. It's annoying. And age. Dammit.)
5. I told Chidi today that I wanted to take a writer's retreat to Montreal (by train). (But alas, the Universe won't let me, since it doesn't appear to exist. There are retreats in Banff and Toronto, but I don't want to go there.)
Chidi: Are you a writer?
Me: Yes.
Chidi: What do you write?
Me: Fiction.
Chidi: Why don't you share it?
ME: I do share it. I published a novel and everything.
Chidi: You did? (he's shocked. And looks it up after I give him the title, etc. Chidi is momentarily impressed then racing off to an unrelated topic. Speaking to Chidi is akin to speaking to my mother -- he jumps from one unrelated track to another, it's hard to keep up...the man has the attention span of a puppy. I wanted to say gnat, but honestly do we know how long a gnat's attention span is? No we do not.)
no subject
Date: 2019-08-01 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-01 12:13 pm (UTC)Okay, what does a goldfish have to do with a gnat's memory?
no subject
Date: 2019-08-01 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-01 02:33 pm (UTC)Ah. Yeah, I was thinking about it and how do we know a gnat has a short attention span? We really don't. A puppy on the other hand...