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I have a new comic book store. Pretty sure I didn't mention this. It's a small store. Upstairs and out of the way of foot traffic, but well-stocked, tidy and nicely lit. These things are all key to me. They're even more important than the proprietor's ability to rec me crazy new books, though that's important too. I generally shop during school hours, which cuts a swath through the human wave of irritation that are is the consuming class. (In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not, repeat NOT, a shopaholic). Even so, I'm physically incapable of spending more than five minutes in a crowded and/or dank store. The chair-throwing urge just rises and rises, until I have to leave, or kill someone. Possibly, ok probably, many someones. (I DON'T HAVE RAGE CONTROL PROBLEMS!)

So it was great to find this store, which is like any other small store, but geekier. The owner and staff are so... normal. We talk about the new Brubaker book, and debate whether Grant Morrison will ever be able to work on a franchise without screwing it up for the next guy. We exchange jogging tips, and debate the merits of swiss balls, protein shakes and granola bars. We talk about Canadian politics, the best places sushi places, and annoying neighbors. The city's new plastic bag surcharge, and the impact of POS on inventory and sales. It's so refreshing be find a store where the geeks aren't all about their geekery. Where geek space and rest-of-the-world space coexist comfortably. It's like a slowed down espresso bar, minus the espresso, and as someone who spent years working in exactly that kind of environment, I'm so, so happy to find a chatty, laid back comic store. Best of both worlds for me.

The new Brubaker book, by the way, is Incognito. I have issue two, but missed out on issue one. I'm hoping to have my hands on it next week, when I go pick up the new Madame Xanadu. According to Bru:

Incognito is a noir pulp story about a bad guy hiding who he really is, but told from totally different perspective than we've seen before. It goes in a lot of different directions than anything else I've ever done, and does some things with the genre that I've never seen done. [...]

Well, after saying it's not intended to be like Sleeper, I have to admit this is an idea I've been kicking around since right after we finished that project. I was wondering what the flipside of that story would be like, because you never know what you'll find when you flip something around and look at it another way. So I was thinking... What would the story be of a bad guy forced to pretend to be good to survive? And then it hit me -- Witness Protection. And the wheels started spinning and I was thinking about a guy who used to be a super-villain or a henchman and he's trying to build this new life that he just despises... and pretty soon it was in the back of my mind all the time, trying to kick its way onto the page.

Still, as the story developed, it was as influenced by what I was doing on Captain America as much as anything else. Thinking about all the big Hydra-sized organizations, and the bureaucracy of government agencies, and writing about genuinely evil bad guys like the Red Skull... I started thinking more and more, what could I do in Incognito that I could never do in Cap? Because I could do an issue of Cap that was about the Red Skull's daughter living in Witness Protection. But what couldn't I have her do? A lot. And that's where the fun stuff begins.

Who's surprised? Not me. But I like noir and I like Bru; the target audience for this book = me. I'm also jumping into the next arc on Daredevil. Pray for me flist, I hear Matt brings the angst liek whoa.

I think I did mention that Madame Xanadu is really quite good. The art has a strong shoujo feel, but with some hard edges. The first arc, in and around the Arthur mythology, had some fairies and goblins that were both supercute and menacing. Next week's issue, if the book continues to follow its pattern of two-issues-per-chapter, should wrap up the Jack the Ripper story. We're getting closer to contemporary MX, so I'm wondering where we'll be traveling to next. I want to fill the couple issue gaps in my collection of the series so far, and do a proper review here, and mega scans post at

scans_daily.

***

I watched De-Lovely last night. What, five years later? *facepalm* Still - awesome, awesome musical bio, with a little meta thrown in there. De-Lovely is the story of composer Cole Porter's adult life, as staged by the archangel Gabriel, complete with musical numbers. Kevin Kline is great and Ashley Judd is stunning. And for the Who geeks amongst us, it's got Captain Jack.

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Is the store, by any chance, Cyber City Comix?

Yes! Is that your store?

Yep, I've been going there a little over a year now. It's great.

We're going to meet each other one day, without knowing. Then we'll post about the annoying girl in the lcs on our journals. "THAT WAS YOU? WHORE!!!111"

Ahahaha.

DUDE. Somehow I had a feeling that was the one, and I've never been in there, only walked by. I used to live like four blocks from there.

ps. gonna work on the thing tonight, after I deal with challenge fics that are irritating me.

IS THAT PATSY? OMG! <333

Sorry. *g* Yeah, it's a great shop. So low key.

Eeeexcellent

That's Patsy, yes. :) Love that book lots. (Was toying with the idea of signing up for

thelittlebang and writing Patsy/Nico from Runaways or Patsy/Kate from YA, but then my sanity returned.)

Since Models Inc has been canceled, I might that Jan+Patsy+MJ story I've always wanted...

Mmmn. Hotel sleepovers in Tokyo...

Jan's so on top, and when she's on the bottom, she's still on top.

That's the sort of comic store Happy Harbor here is Edmonton is!

I am still too afraid/burned out to go back to cape comics. But I may check out Xanadu now.

I'll post some MX next week, so you can check it out that way.

A few years ago I was totally meh about comics. I got back into it through

scans_daily, which apparently is a gateway drug. :D I'm going to track down a series called I Kill Giants. It sounds like something you might like, so if it's good, I'll let you know. And drag you back in. Mua ha.

Matt does indeed brings the angst like whoa, but since Daredevil, unlike Captain America, is inherently a noir title, I think Brubaker actually does a much better job on that title than he does on CA (noir being his specialty, but not necessarily the best fit for the Captain America title). I kept buying Daredevil for months after CA had started to make me physically ill, because I might hate Brubaker like burning, but he writes a good Matt.

I just pretend the guy writing Daredevil is some other Ed Brubaker (like how there's more than one famous Michael Collins, the astronaut and the Irish freedom fighter), and then reading it becomes much easier.

I think you made the right decision dropping the book. He's clearly having too much fun with James' story, to bring Steve back any time soon. For what it's worth, Bru does seem to like Steve quite a lot - if he's the one to bring him back, he'll do a good job with it. Unlike a lot of the other top Marvel writers, he hasn't felt the need to spit on Captain America, to establish New Cap.

Though I have a sneaking suspicion it will fall to Bendis, right before the movie drops, and it'll be overwrought and decompressed, to the point of being a year-long maxi series. Urk.

Matt does indeed brings the angst like whoa, but since Daredevil, unlike Captain America, is inherently a noir title

I think that's just since Miller's run, no?

Yeah, but since Miller started on DD in the late 70s, that's almost thirty years worth of the title being noir-flavored. It's traditional by now (just as constantly abusing Matt is traditional - he gets knocked around physically and emotionally almost as much as Tony. I've been waiting for fndom to wake up and realize that Matt Murdock is woobie fangirl crack for years now)

Even if (and it's, IMO, a pretty massive if) Brubaker ever gets tired of playing with his favorite Mary Sue and brings Steve back, he'll have to do something pretty spectacular (like having Steve and Tony declare their undying love on panel or something) to make me completely forgive him for so many issues in a row of pregnant!captured!brainwashed!Sharon. (Honestly, I think what really pisses me off more than anything else is that people are calling Bucky "Cap" - "Captain America" may be a title, but "Cap" is Steve's name. Well, that, and nobody seems to be questioning Bucky's right to the title/costume/shield, but that's probably a function of his Sue-ness. I mean, he hasn't even gotten a "You're not Cap! Your costume's different and you're too short! Plus, I thought he was, like, dead or something." confused response. The only person who questioned him seems to be Thor in Secret Invasion, and that, unsurprisingly, wasn't written by Bru).

That's Marvel group think at work: the downside to all those retreats they've been going on. Whatever pitches make it out of there get supported wholeheartedly. Whether they're advisable or not. (See: Iron Pepper). Bendis might give James a mildly hard time, if only to stir up some intra team drama in New Avengers, but only mild. He loves Bucky almost as much as Bru does. However. I don't think James is a Sue. He's a good character, one with a lot of potential, but post-Steve, the book has been too blatant a hard sell for him. Bru's pushing too hard, and he's not giving old school fans time (or enough reason) to accept James. James needs to be pushing harder than he is, for his new significance in the MU to resonate with the fans.

We need a questioning-James story, though I'm not sure who's going to write it.

Good point about about DD. Angst has become synonymous with the title.

I'm... Honestly? I can't have a rational debate with someone who doesn't agree that he's a Sue and hate the entire thing. I'm going to have to stop the conversation while I'm still being reasonable and not a shrieking, hysterical harpy, because I don't want to take my visceral hatred of the storyline out on you just because you disagree with me (it doesn't help that I loathe the general concept of legacies on principle, anyway - I tend to think that the mere act of putting a new character in place of a longstanding pre-existing one and axing the old on in order to do it automatically spells Mary Sue, and said Sue is usually totally unsalvagable unless the orignal character is brought back and the Sue is given their own, non-pre-owned identity. Except for Wally West, who gets a magic free pass because I like him. And the JSA legacy people, who don't count because the original Mr. Terrific, et al had been out of circulation so long that it was more of a revival than a replacement - plus they all retired of old age, rather than being killed off, which gives the whole thing less of a squicky "clearing the way for a newer, cooler version because the original's not good enough" feeling).

Um, sorry for the anti-legacy rant. Like I said, it's something I have an irrational hatred of. It's one of the main reasons I read more Marvel than DC. I feel that legacies in the DCU sort of imply that the individual characters are disposable and only the costume matters, while in Marvel, until this current Captain America storyline, it was the person inside the costume who mattered.

It's cool. :) Personally, I have an irrational hatred of Matt Fraction's IIM and everything that comes out of it. I'm usually quite easy-going when canon takes a left turn, but IIM, jesus. I can't even conceive of enjoying that book. So I get where you're coming from.

I don't mind legacy characters and I don't mind heroes retiring. Still, legacy characters are so much easier to take in a closed canon. In an open-ended canon they clutter up things up, and lead to some truly byzantine story lines.

But yes, Wally. Love.

I feel that legacies in the DCU sort of imply that the individual characters are disposable and only the costume matters

I can see where you're coming from but I think it depends on the hero and their position in the canon. DC legacy characters often take the franchise in a different direction. The three Blue Beetle's had vastly different sorts of adventures. Even the Flashes, for all that they share a rogue's gallery, seem to mean different things. The DC U needs a Flash, but the various Flashes have occupied different thematic positions. Barry and Wally can't perform the same character functions, the way they can perform the same feats.

I have an irrational hatred of Matt Fraction's IIM and everything that comes out of it.

So do I, oh God. Mostly centered around how much I dislike the way he writes Pepper (and Tony, and the fact that Ezekial Stane was a lame villain).

And now that Secret Invasion is over, I can no longer tell myelf that half the characters in the title are skrull in order to explain why they're not acting like themselves anymore.

I think what fixes things for me with the Flashes is the fact that, since Jay Garrett and Barry Allen, and then Jay and Wally, coexisted, it was more of a sharing of an identity than a one-for-one replacement. There can be more than one Flash, just like there can be more than one Green Lantern (actually, the point with Green Lanterns is that there are a bunch of them). Batman, Superman, Captain America, Spiderman, etc are such powerful and iconic characters that it's like they say in Highlander: There Can Be Only One. (And DC are complete idiots for trying to replace Batman - unless their entire goal is to cause fannish wank because they mistakenly think all attention is good attention. Batman's probably the most popular fictional character of all time - it's like trying to replace Sherlock Holmes, and we all know how well killinghim off worked out).

Batman's not dead, he's sleeping! But of course he'll be back. (Battle for the Cowl is actually about the recession - so many applicants, so few jobs, and all of them temporary). It's because Batman is so overwhelmingly popular that they can get away with Bruce taking vacations every so often. He took time off when his back was broken by Bane, and during the No Man's Land story line. It doesn't even put a dent in the power of the brand. Even Wonder Woman seems to be irreplaceable, for all that she's a much less popular character. They tried out two other Wondy's and neither was quite right.

The other thing with the Flashes is that at this point they've basically become an extended Flash family, complete with speedster cousins, and freaky kids. That cushions the blow of 'your' Flash being replaced.

Matt Fraction. Oh Matt. He's a good writer, but he's not right for Iron Man. I hate a lot of things about the book. I think firstly, he doesn't have a head for science fiction. Some of his speculative science is too ordinary (OMG CELLPHONES!) and some of it is just recycled sf tropes that he's put a 'cutting edge' gloss on. He hasn't yet got the knack for writing convincing techno babble.

Then there's Tony and Pepper, who seem to have regressed about thirty years in characterization. Fraction took us from Pepper running her a super team and barely speaking to Tony, to her following him around, mooning over him, with no life of her own. What's that Pepper, you used to be married? To Tony's best friend; a guy Tony killed at your request? I never would have guessed. And Tony. Arg. When did you get so stupid?

Which brings us to the amazing, disappearing Maya. How does a convicted mass murderer just fade away into the ether? And Maria Hill - yes, I get it, you're adrenaline junkies in a stressful situation and you need to blow off some steam. But Maria, why are you sleeping with a guy who's only recently started to respect you? Who blamed you for the death of one of his best friends and went out of his way to demean you? It's actually more out of character for Maria than Tony. Hell, Tony slept with Whitney. He slept with Sunset Bain. He has a serious lack of common sense when it comes to sex.

Speaking of denial, I have 5000 words of a Tony-centric, New Avengers WiP that I've stalled out on. Damn school, interrupting my ficcing. I'm kind of meh about it, at this point. I wonder if you'd take a look at it, tell me if it's worth continuing?

the amazing, disappearing Maya. How does a convicted mass murderer just fade away into the ether?

I'm not sure if Maya's vanishing is a curse, or a blessing in disguise - I really liked her as a chracter, so I'm kind of glad Fraction isn't keeping her around and reducing her to just "Tony's girlfriend."

My theory on Tony and Maria is that Tony's sleeping with Maria is an outgrowth of his self-hatred (I will sleep with you even though I previously didn't respect you or even like you because I don't respect or like myself, either, and this lets me like myself even less) combined with the fact that sex is one of the only ways of connecting with people/getting affection that Tony knows, and most of the other candidates for a roll in the hay aren't talking to him anymore (or are dead). I still haven't thought of a way to justify it on Maria Hill's part, though I'm awaiting the inevitable point where she stabs Tony in the back - because that's what Tony's girlfriends who aren't Bethany Cabe or Rumiko always do.

Speaking of denial, I have 5000 words of a Tony-centric, New Avengers WiP that I've stalled out on. Damn school, interrupting my ficcing. I'm kind of meh about it, at this point. I wonder if you'd take a look at it, tell me if it's worth continuing?

Sure ^_^. Do you have an outline, too, or just the fic?

Mailed. :) I have a vague mental outline. I didn't do anything formal, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep working on it. At five thousand words I've *just* managed to start the plot rolling. It's extremely raw, but eventually it's going to be a psychological drama/mystery. It's going to be very slow moving to start, and then pick up considerably once Tony starts to notice that things are hinky.

So. Tony has decided to go to therapy. He's keeping it secret from his friends and the rest of the team. It's a source of a lot of anxiety for him, but what makes it easier to take is a strange lull in super crime - now Tony has nothing to do but play poker with the NA, tinker in his workshop, and self-reflect. So he starts to open up to his therapist, thinking that, hey, I might as well take this opportunity, right? Then he gets a mysterious letter, telling him to 'stop'. Stop what, you ask. So does Tony. The letter is followed up by more letters and other messages. Tony starts investigating this, but keeps getting distracted by team bonding, Steve suddenly being extra friendly. But things start to seem a bit off. All the while Logan and Jessica are just off panel somewhere, with no explanation. Tony starts trying to get an explanation but nothing is forthcoming.

As you might have guessed, it's All In His Head, and Tony's in a simulated environment that resists his attempts to figure it out, and pumps him for information/locks him into a navel-gazing prison. Eventually Logan manages to break in, and 'the environment' tries to compensate for him, even using 'Avengers' to try to expel him.

And that's as much as I've figured out. ;)

Re Maria and Maya: I like both characters. Not in the sense of my wanting to be their friends, but I like them as players in the drama. They can both go from absolutely loathsome, to almost admirable, and they're fantastic foils for characters like Tony and Nick Fury. I don't want to see either of them bungled, or disappeared.

It's much easier to rationalize Tony sleeping with Maria. Very in character. I could even see him starting to fall for her, because again, that's just something he does. I really don't get it from Maria's pov. I think Bendis' version of that scene would have been better, because unlike Fraction, he sees Maria as more than a character type.

And I'm aware that it's a variation on the idea that drove my last Avengers story, but somehow I don't feel guilty about that. ;)

This is a really nifty idea (also, Tony's deeply unenthusiastic interactions with the 'therapist' are awesome). Are you planning to make the little not-quite-right or overly-familiar deja vu details get more and more prevalent as the fic goes on and Tony starts to get supicious (as he already is of the too-peaceful aspect)?

Hmm.. what time frame is this story set in? Is it regular pre-Civil War happy New Avengers, or is there serious angst and badness awaiting Tony when he breaks out of the virtual reality (i.e. are there internal psychological reasons for him to want to stay away from reality at tis point in addition to the villain's efforts?)?

Also, I love the suits of armor cleaning the workshop ^_^. And the robot joke. The Mini!Marvels robot joke will never, ever get old.

I was starting to doubt that the story had potential - you know when you stare at it so long you get sick of it? Bleh. So I'm glad to hear you like the idea. :)

I considered setting the story post-CW, but I think there's more potential pre-CW. Even though it's a happier time for him, there's plenty of misery awaiting him in that world too. There's the unresolved issue of Maya, his suspicions of Jessica D, and some lingering awkwardness with Steve post-Execute Program, all of which will play into the fantasy environment. He'll get back to the Maya issue with his therapist, and I might have him visit her. He'll work out his differences with the Steve construct (I'm thinking pre-slash but nothing overtly slashy). And there's mia Jessica D, which I'm going to explain as being a result of Tony's unease with her, and later, her skrully brain being unable to sync up with the fantasy environment.

So going back would bring him good and bad. He loses whatever he's gained with Steve and Maya, and now has to deal with the increasingly suspicious Jessica D. He has to go back to actively fighting evil. I think it will be interesting to explore the idea that even in relatively good times, Tony might be tempted to run away from things.

Are you planning to make the little not-quite-right or overly-familiar deja vu details get more and more prevalent as the fic goes on and Tony starts to get supicious (as he already is of the too-peaceful aspect)?

Yeah, and I'll probably make some changes to the first section, to make the strangeness less obvious. If I can make the initial segment feel like an escapist, good times fic, the drop into the twilight zone will be that much more dramatic. I want to do a scene where one of the constructs convinces Tony that he's just being needlessly paranoid, and Tony actively starts to work with the environment.

The Mini!Marvels robot joke will never, ever get old.

Oh god no. I still laugh at that strip whenever I happen upon it.

I green with envy here. I have two choices in comic book stores and neither one is even in my goddamn city.
(I go to the one that gives me discount.:)

When does Matt not angst? Seriously, I can't remember anymore.

De-Lovely: The cast was awesome indeed, but I thought there was something just a little off with the movie itself. The cut maybe? Not that it made that much a difference. I liked it and Kevin can sell me anything, really.:)

Well, I have to take two buses to get to this one, so it's no picnic. Still, at least it's in the same city. :D The upside of being in the largest city in the country above America.

I thought there was something just a little off with the movie itself. The cut maybe?

What do you mean?

Heh, yay for comics.:D

And I don't know exactly what I mean. Could be my expectations were too high (Kevin Kline.:) and it didn't work for me or something. Something was a little off.
In the latter part of the movie, specifically.
Hee, this has to be *THE* crappiest opinion ever.:)

Hmm. The latter part of the movie did seem a bit compressed, and severely lacking in awesome musical numbers. It also got mighty bitter...

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