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Wed Reading Meme
Nov. 4th, 2015 09:03 pm1) What I finished reading?
Various X-men Collected comic books. The problem with comic book serials (and daytime soap operas for that matter along with various science fiction serials)? Is.. after a bit it feels like you are reading an endless work in progress by a team of writers, who aren't quite in agreement regarding the characters, story, or world, and only communicate by email. In other words - a fanfic collaboration.
This was actually why I gave up on comics back in 2008 and 2009, specifically the Buffy comics, but also the X-men.
I think serials work better if they have one head-writer for an extended period of time. Right now, I'm reading Matt Fraction's arc on the X-men, which flows well enough from Ed Brubaker and Grant Morrison's and Joss Whedon's arcs. Not so much Chris Claremount's, but that arc was in the 1980s and 1990s, so not a problem.
Haven't gotten to Brian Bendeis and Keirin Gillian yet - who are the most controversial of the writers and take the story into some dark places.
I've read some online interpretations of the arcs, and I wonder if these guys have read the same comics that I have? (Most likely not, we never do, do we?) Because I'm sorry, Cyclops is not coming across as either a jerk, a separatist or a horrible anti-hero. Also his decisions make a lot of sense - he's trying to keep a group of people who are constantly being attacked, alive. The guy's dealing with some serious PTSD and trauma. My problem with superhero comics is the bizarre conceit that someone can get into a fight to the death - and not kill anyone. Oh, we're going to throw people across the room, fire machine guns at them, etc -- but no one is going to die? Really? It's almost as if the fan wants their violence without the consequences. You shoot at people, they die. It's not pretty. There are no super-heroes in warfare. Just victims.
I guess I prefer the post-modernist take on violence. Or the realist take. Which may explain why I prefer Chris Nolan's Dark Knight series to Joss Whedon's Avengers. The one - shows that no one wins, no pretty, no fun, just pain, and death and grief, while the other is quippy and fun, and the consequences swept neatly beneath the rug. Felt the same way about Westerns, I preferred the Sergio Leon, Sam Peckinpah and 1970s era of Westerns, to the pristine 1960s and 1950s Westerns. With a few notable exceptions - Howard Hawks and John Ford made some amazing Westerns.
2.) What I'm reading now?
Tall Dark and Wicked by Madeline Hunter - which is a heck of a lot better than the title suggests.
Romance novel genre is notorious for its cheesy titles and covers. My titles are thematic related, romance novelists titles appear to be well...not thematically related.
Second Coming - by Matt Fraction, which is the third book in the endless cross-over between X-men titles. Another problem with comic book serials - is eventually, in order to keep up with the story, you have to grab multiple books unless of course you wait years after it was published and just grab the collected edition (far cheaper) which I did. This is rather silly in places, while good in others.
I'm reading it for the same reason I've read all the others - to see a leadership arc. How a character goes from beloved leader/hero to anti-hero leader/villain in the space of about 10 years. So far the lead character arc is working, even if the plot at times defies logic (it's a comic book goes with the territory) and the other characters don't make a lot of sense. Wolverine appears to be written all over the place, as is Hank, and various others. Only Emma Frost and Cyclops are consistent.
3) What I'm reading next?
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - which I've been procrastinating. It's another one of those writers who likes to play around with narrative structure, time, and point of view. Which is fine -- if you don't have a job in which you have to keep track of and do about fifteen different things at once.
I don't want to focus. Cloud Atlas is going to require a bit of focus. Also don't have it on my Kindle, so it will require reading glasses.
Getting a bit burned out on the X-men books...but assuming I can stick with it - whatever comes after Second Coming, I'm thinking it may be Generation Hope, followed by Age of Heroes, and finally Schism.
Various X-men Collected comic books. The problem with comic book serials (and daytime soap operas for that matter along with various science fiction serials)? Is.. after a bit it feels like you are reading an endless work in progress by a team of writers, who aren't quite in agreement regarding the characters, story, or world, and only communicate by email. In other words - a fanfic collaboration.
This was actually why I gave up on comics back in 2008 and 2009, specifically the Buffy comics, but also the X-men.
I think serials work better if they have one head-writer for an extended period of time. Right now, I'm reading Matt Fraction's arc on the X-men, which flows well enough from Ed Brubaker and Grant Morrison's and Joss Whedon's arcs. Not so much Chris Claremount's, but that arc was in the 1980s and 1990s, so not a problem.
Haven't gotten to Brian Bendeis and Keirin Gillian yet - who are the most controversial of the writers and take the story into some dark places.
I've read some online interpretations of the arcs, and I wonder if these guys have read the same comics that I have? (Most likely not, we never do, do we?) Because I'm sorry, Cyclops is not coming across as either a jerk, a separatist or a horrible anti-hero. Also his decisions make a lot of sense - he's trying to keep a group of people who are constantly being attacked, alive. The guy's dealing with some serious PTSD and trauma. My problem with superhero comics is the bizarre conceit that someone can get into a fight to the death - and not kill anyone. Oh, we're going to throw people across the room, fire machine guns at them, etc -- but no one is going to die? Really? It's almost as if the fan wants their violence without the consequences. You shoot at people, they die. It's not pretty. There are no super-heroes in warfare. Just victims.
I guess I prefer the post-modernist take on violence. Or the realist take. Which may explain why I prefer Chris Nolan's Dark Knight series to Joss Whedon's Avengers. The one - shows that no one wins, no pretty, no fun, just pain, and death and grief, while the other is quippy and fun, and the consequences swept neatly beneath the rug. Felt the same way about Westerns, I preferred the Sergio Leon, Sam Peckinpah and 1970s era of Westerns, to the pristine 1960s and 1950s Westerns. With a few notable exceptions - Howard Hawks and John Ford made some amazing Westerns.
2.) What I'm reading now?
Tall Dark and Wicked by Madeline Hunter - which is a heck of a lot better than the title suggests.
Romance novel genre is notorious for its cheesy titles and covers. My titles are thematic related, romance novelists titles appear to be well...not thematically related.
Second Coming - by Matt Fraction, which is the third book in the endless cross-over between X-men titles. Another problem with comic book serials - is eventually, in order to keep up with the story, you have to grab multiple books unless of course you wait years after it was published and just grab the collected edition (far cheaper) which I did. This is rather silly in places, while good in others.
I'm reading it for the same reason I've read all the others - to see a leadership arc. How a character goes from beloved leader/hero to anti-hero leader/villain in the space of about 10 years. So far the lead character arc is working, even if the plot at times defies logic (it's a comic book goes with the territory) and the other characters don't make a lot of sense. Wolverine appears to be written all over the place, as is Hank, and various others. Only Emma Frost and Cyclops are consistent.
3) What I'm reading next?
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - which I've been procrastinating. It's another one of those writers who likes to play around with narrative structure, time, and point of view. Which is fine -- if you don't have a job in which you have to keep track of and do about fifteen different things at once.
I don't want to focus. Cloud Atlas is going to require a bit of focus. Also don't have it on my Kindle, so it will require reading glasses.
Getting a bit burned out on the X-men books...but assuming I can stick with it - whatever comes after Second Coming, I'm thinking it may be Generation Hope, followed by Age of Heroes, and finally Schism.