Books and well, a cat.
Nov. 20th, 2024 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Currently reading? Still reading... The September House by Carissa Orlando - which for some reason or other makes me want to re-watch The Haunting of Hill House, and watch Insidious. I'm resisting. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is. Reading horror doesn't keep me awake, watching horror does.
I'm halfway through it, and so far - agree with the 3 star reviews that I've seen on Good Reads - none of which have include spoilers. There are reviews that do, but I've avoided them. It's not the sort of book I want to be spoiled on. Romance novels are among the few that I don't care whether or not I'm spoiled.
It's moved from haunted house book to a book about domestic violence, abusive relationships, and alcoholism. I looked up the author and apparently she's a psychologist who counsels folks with these issues, and decided to write a horror novel about it.
I'll stick with it - because I'm curious and I think I've figured it out and want to know if I'm right. Also I've been told there's a huge twist - which I think I figured out. It's told in first person, which usually means unreliable narrator, and all the signs are there.
But...it's not as funny as I was lead to believe. To date the only horror writer who has made me laugh was T Kingfisher. I admittedly have an off-beat sense of humor. Grady Hedrix annoyed me. And while this humor is dry, it's not quite dry in the right way?
Humor is an odd thing.
2. I'm re-reading X-Factor comics via an on sale item - X-Factor 1985-1995. It's pure nostalgia for me, because I read those books back in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, I got hooked on X-men comics in college in 1985. A woman in my dorm had a box of them in her closet, and there was a group of people who collected and read them. We all hung out together, went to the comic book store together, and would discuss them in analytical detail. We tended to analyze the characters and relationships, mainly the relationships among the characters, their emotional and psychological arcs, why they do what they do, and defend or condemn (basically fight over) their actions.
At any rate, that was then, now I just read them on my own and don't discuss with anyone. Don't know anyone who reads them. This set or volume is interesting because it does a good job of showing the differing art and writing styles over a period of time. Recently, Tom Brevoort mentioned in his blog - how the editorial board at Marvel, himself included, wrote a treatise of sorts on what not to - or how to write/break down story, and fix what's wrong in comics.
This was what he said:
"This is a memo to the editorial staff that was half written by then-EIC Joe Quesada and half-written by me. It was complied from a couple of e-mails in a chain that went around at the time, and it’s all about the importance of not forgetting about the visual component of visual storytelling."
Hopefully, you could see that? The gist?
Don't put a bunch of characters in a room and have them just talk. Or don't have them sit and talk about their feelings. You need to introduce movement. They should be doing something. Think about as an action movie or a film.
And so, here I am reading X-Factor - from around 1985-1986, and the writers/artists are doing exactly what they say not to do. Sitting around tables, standing in rooms, and often it's five-six characters. There's paragraphs of dialogue. I do mean entire paragraphs. If you think I can be long-winded and verbose? These writers have exposition that can give my blogging skills a run for my money.
For example? One piece of dialogue goes into nitty gritty detail about scientific experiments that a fictional Soviet Union is conducting.
Now, Jonathan Hickman tried this tactic too just a year or so ago - except he did it with memos, and not showing people sitting in a room.
The art? Brevoort talks about printing stock:
"Back when I worked on the MARVEL MASTERWORKS books, though, I never liked that they were for years recolored without any reference being made to the original coloring in the classic book, The thought process there was that the original coloring was done at a time when the printing was limited, and it was often done without a lot of care. But I didn’t agree with that, and so when I took over the MASTERWORKS program, I made sure that we stopped doing that. But even there, the same coloring will look incredibly different on different paper stocks. "
I noticed in the X-Factor books from the mid-1980s (this is a digitized reissue of the actual books, so not a reprinting), that the color is mainly blues, yellows, reds, greens. Lots of white. Not a lot of black. Everyone wears light blue, not dark blue, suites. And there's not too much distinction in outfits. Color scheme is more limited than in later books. Also the art is confined largely to the standard boxes that you might see in a comic strip. Unlike current books where the artist often ignores the lines of the storyboard boxes, and jumps outside of them. In the current books the artist is more of a director - and art jumps of the page, almost three dimension. The inking is more polished and deeper, more vibrant, and more risks are taken. There's less coloring within the lines so to speak.
The difference between the two styles is kind of amazing to see. Also to see an example of what Brevoort was discussing as not working - explains why they eventually changed it. Anyone who thinks comic books aren't works of art or fascinating cultural products - hasn't read them. (Most people really haven't. Kind be like me judging video games - I haven't really played them, outside of the rudimentary early versions which I don't think count any more than the Sunday funnies do here. I don't think you should judge or criticize something - you aren't well, an expert on? Or haven't thoroughly explored first? And even then - keep in mind people think and experience things differently. What works for one person won't for another.)
I tried to find something that would be a good example - but I can't copy and past anything. It's interesting how the style and writing of comics have changed over time.
3. I had a three, but I've managed to space it? I'm tired and my mind is spacey, what can I say? How about a picture of an elderly but pretty cat instead?
I'm halfway through it, and so far - agree with the 3 star reviews that I've seen on Good Reads - none of which have include spoilers. There are reviews that do, but I've avoided them. It's not the sort of book I want to be spoiled on. Romance novels are among the few that I don't care whether or not I'm spoiled.
It's moved from haunted house book to a book about domestic violence, abusive relationships, and alcoholism. I looked up the author and apparently she's a psychologist who counsels folks with these issues, and decided to write a horror novel about it.
I'll stick with it - because I'm curious and I think I've figured it out and want to know if I'm right. Also I've been told there's a huge twist - which I think I figured out. It's told in first person, which usually means unreliable narrator, and all the signs are there.
But...it's not as funny as I was lead to believe. To date the only horror writer who has made me laugh was T Kingfisher. I admittedly have an off-beat sense of humor. Grady Hedrix annoyed me. And while this humor is dry, it's not quite dry in the right way?
Humor is an odd thing.
2. I'm re-reading X-Factor comics via an on sale item - X-Factor 1985-1995. It's pure nostalgia for me, because I read those books back in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, I got hooked on X-men comics in college in 1985. A woman in my dorm had a box of them in her closet, and there was a group of people who collected and read them. We all hung out together, went to the comic book store together, and would discuss them in analytical detail. We tended to analyze the characters and relationships, mainly the relationships among the characters, their emotional and psychological arcs, why they do what they do, and defend or condemn (basically fight over) their actions.
At any rate, that was then, now I just read them on my own and don't discuss with anyone. Don't know anyone who reads them. This set or volume is interesting because it does a good job of showing the differing art and writing styles over a period of time. Recently, Tom Brevoort mentioned in his blog - how the editorial board at Marvel, himself included, wrote a treatise of sorts on what not to - or how to write/break down story, and fix what's wrong in comics.
This was what he said:
"This is a memo to the editorial staff that was half written by then-EIC Joe Quesada and half-written by me. It was complied from a couple of e-mails in a chain that went around at the time, and it’s all about the importance of not forgetting about the visual component of visual storytelling."
Hopefully, you could see that? The gist?
Don't put a bunch of characters in a room and have them just talk. Or don't have them sit and talk about their feelings. You need to introduce movement. They should be doing something. Think about as an action movie or a film.
And so, here I am reading X-Factor - from around 1985-1986, and the writers/artists are doing exactly what they say not to do. Sitting around tables, standing in rooms, and often it's five-six characters. There's paragraphs of dialogue. I do mean entire paragraphs. If you think I can be long-winded and verbose? These writers have exposition that can give my blogging skills a run for my money.
For example? One piece of dialogue goes into nitty gritty detail about scientific experiments that a fictional Soviet Union is conducting.
Now, Jonathan Hickman tried this tactic too just a year or so ago - except he did it with memos, and not showing people sitting in a room.
The art? Brevoort talks about printing stock:
"Back when I worked on the MARVEL MASTERWORKS books, though, I never liked that they were for years recolored without any reference being made to the original coloring in the classic book, The thought process there was that the original coloring was done at a time when the printing was limited, and it was often done without a lot of care. But I didn’t agree with that, and so when I took over the MASTERWORKS program, I made sure that we stopped doing that. But even there, the same coloring will look incredibly different on different paper stocks. "
I noticed in the X-Factor books from the mid-1980s (this is a digitized reissue of the actual books, so not a reprinting), that the color is mainly blues, yellows, reds, greens. Lots of white. Not a lot of black. Everyone wears light blue, not dark blue, suites. And there's not too much distinction in outfits. Color scheme is more limited than in later books. Also the art is confined largely to the standard boxes that you might see in a comic strip. Unlike current books where the artist often ignores the lines of the storyboard boxes, and jumps outside of them. In the current books the artist is more of a director - and art jumps of the page, almost three dimension. The inking is more polished and deeper, more vibrant, and more risks are taken. There's less coloring within the lines so to speak.
The difference between the two styles is kind of amazing to see. Also to see an example of what Brevoort was discussing as not working - explains why they eventually changed it. Anyone who thinks comic books aren't works of art or fascinating cultural products - hasn't read them. (Most people really haven't. Kind be like me judging video games - I haven't really played them, outside of the rudimentary early versions which I don't think count any more than the Sunday funnies do here. I don't think you should judge or criticize something - you aren't well, an expert on? Or haven't thoroughly explored first? And even then - keep in mind people think and experience things differently. What works for one person won't for another.)
I tried to find something that would be a good example - but I can't copy and past anything. It's interesting how the style and writing of comics have changed over time.
3. I had a three, but I've managed to space it? I'm tired and my mind is spacey, what can I say? How about a picture of an elderly but pretty cat instead?
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Date: 2024-11-21 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-22 04:00 pm (UTC)