schmevil

My writing resolution for 2010 is: moar ladies. More LGBTQ ladies. More ladies of colour. More young ladies, old ladies, fat ladies and skinny ladies.


On a semi-related note, here are some stories that I want, but probably won't write, since my to-write list is utterly ridiculous as is:

1) Natasha Stark is a trans woman. She created Iron Man before she started transitioning.

2) Welcome to the X-Men Sookie Stackhouse, I hope you survive the experience! "I am not wearing spandex. OR a leather catsuit." "Short shorts yay, spandex nay?"

3) Severus Snape moves to Gotham. Everybody seems to think he's a supervillain. Really, he just wants to raise mandrake roots, brew potions and write scathing letters to the editor, in peace.

4) Batgirl, Wonder Girl and Supergirl trade lives for a day. Hijinks ensue.

5) Colleen and Misty join the Lady Liberators.

6) SV!Lana Lang is Kawatche. She becomes a shape-shifting superheroine.

...can it become an ongoing comic (like Buffy Season Eight without the shittiness), so I can enjoy two fandoms for the price of one? Please universe? I've been good this year.

But in all seriousness, would Supernatural not make a kickass horror-comedy comic? Imagine SPN with an unlimited budget: Sir could make appearances, along with other past guest stars like Amy Acker, say; they could do minis about various supporting characters (Bobby, Ruby, Ash, the angels); they could do stories from all different eras, wee!Chesters, old!Chesters and so forth, because there are no contractual issues. It would be awesome. y/y?

If reading 1/3 of a given comic was an adequate substitute for reading the comic itself, official previews would be putting comics retailers out of business.

Discuss.

No, not holy ants, but HOLY JESUS, ANTS. Today I woke up to ants, quite a lot of them, crawling on my legs. To call the situation uncool would be, I think many of you will agree, a vast understatement. What was especially trouble about it, was that it reminded me of another Waking To Insect Invasion incident that's wormed it's way into a bit of prime real estate in my psyche.

After smiting the ants I found myself running through my repertoire - just how many insect related annecdotes do I have? Quite a few, actually, but I'll be kind and relate only one. The most traumatic of all my insectoid encounters. It's not the most disturbing - that honor goes to an incident involving honey, a hive of bees and box - but it's the one that's stuck with me, through thick and thin. It's my go-to insect trauma.

This was back when my family had a cat. My family now has a dog, and I'm back living with them, while I attend school. I can't imagine things would have gone terribly differently had this happened during my dog days, and not my cat days, save for my cat's slightly more evolved badass genes. As I've said before, the puppy is a scaredy-dog.

In any case, then, like now, the AC was broken and we survived the heat by leaving the windows open near constantly. Since I was young, and stupid in the way that most young people are stupid, I went the extra mile and removed the screen from my bedroom window. The side benefit to this was being able to throw shit at people foolish enough to sit on the balcony under my window. Additionally, although this wasn't my intention, insects and small furred animals now had an entry point to the safe and secure environs of my house: my bedroom window had become the road to El Dorado.

One night, much like every other night, I went to sleep. And much like other nights, (because my insomnia does indeed go back that far), I woke up, some time after midnight. The cat was sleeping on the floor. I was tangled in the sheets, only half covered by them. Normal enough. But there was a rustling, a faint shuffling. I went still and quiet, trying to identify the source of the noise. It seemed to come from all over. That couldn't be, obviously, so I lifted my head off the pillow, to use both my pitiful human ears to track it down. There was the rustling again - right beside me. ( Read more... )

***

And now for a sudden gear change! Things, things, things. *crash*

Thing one: I'm sort of casually reading When You Are Engulfed In Flames, by David Sedaris. It's a collection of essays on 'death and dying'. It can be summarized as, "Death! OMG irony! lolarity!" I'm not particularly familiar with Sedaris' work, but I'm enjoying it so far. We shall see. *eyeballs the book*

I'm also reading CJ Cherryh's Cuckoo's Egg, which contains some interesting ideas and some very interestingly out of date science. It was published in 1985, so I can forgive the idea of an alien species, with a level of technology exceeding our current state by maybe a hundred or so years, being able to engineer a human with seemingly very little trouble. Whaaaa? In any case, she makes it easy to forgive the conceit, because she really makes a go of the old human-raised-by-aliens yarn.

I'm a big Cherryh fan, though you wouldn't know it from my entries here. Any Cherryh fans on the flist that I can babble to? I recently read Regenesis, the sequel to the epic Cyteen, and it's spurred me to do a big Alliance-Union verse reread. I'd love to talk about it, but Cherryh fansites are few and far between. Oh world! How unjust you are.

Thing two: And the reason for the icon. *points* Madmen is coming back soon bbs! Peggy! Don! Roger! Pete! Madfan check in - who's watching? Who wishes they were cool enough to be watching, but just aren't?

Thing three: because I obviously needed another thing to run, right? Right. *facepalm* Thank the Great Gazoo for co-mods, amirite? kijikun is my co-conspirator in this latest bit of madness.

Sequential Crack is a new recing community, in the Crack Van mode, for comics fanworks. We'll be recing fanart, fic and fancomics. Sign ups are now open for:

Batfamily
Superfamily
Justice League
Young DC (Teen Titans, Young Justice, Blue Beetle...)
X-Books
Avengers
Spider-Family
Young Marvel (Young Avengers, Runaways, Spider-man Loves Mary-Jane...)
Watchmen
The Authority

We're also looking for fandom overviews for all of the above. Come on people, your fandom needs you!

Do you guys know of any workshop comms for comics fic?

If there isn't one, would you be interesting in participating if I started one?

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to
Punish is powerful!

I forgot to do Book Club and Marry, F*ck, or Kill this week. Also, I really need to get on my Remix. Also, I seem to be neglecting my True Blood review duties. Also, I'm supposed to be posting that Monica Rambeau stuff. *cough* idek guys. Early onset Alzheimers?

Thanks to everyone who linked me to cheerness yesterday. :)

I have a bunch more icon slots on DW and LJ. WHAAAAAT? Did not notice that. OK!

Fannish To Do List (from now on these damn things will have their own tag)

• Scan a shit-tonne of comics (How much is a shit-tonne you ask? Quite a lot flisters, quite a lot).
• Compile a Monica Rambeau mega-post for Moneyless Jew. (All Stern era).
• Reorganize my Carol Danvers series, so as to comply with SD 2.0's page count rules. (Yes, I know I helped write them. That doesn't mean that even I don't get burned by them, from time to time).
• Figure out what the hell I'm going to do for my Remix.
• Start in on my Cliche Bingo prompts. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Have some Craig:

"Do you ever think therapists are trying to pathologize the human condition in order to make cash?" ( ETA: MOAR CRAIG )

Is anyone writing post Countdown fic? I want more of the adventures of Ambassador Picard. Oh, and Geordi. I like the idea of him as a free agent, itinerant engineer. Any recs, people?

In other news, I actually made it out to the lcs this week. On Wednesday, even. I bought:

Madame Xanadu #12
New Avengers #54
Wonder Woman #33
Detective Comics #854
Ms. Marvel #40

'Tec was undoubtedly the best read. MX #12 is second in a five issue arc, which is unusual for the series (most arcs are two issues, making it a breezy read). This issue was ho hum. Ms. Marvel was scattered as all hell. NA is NA. Need I say more? I've been reading it to see how the Sorcerer Supreme malarky shakes out, and since that story looks to be about done, I'll likely be dropping it again. And Wonder Woman, well, it was just downright strange.

I need to make scanning as posting MM and MX a habit, since no one else at SD seems willing. Sigh sigh.

Over on SD 2.0 besamim posted some Persepolis. If you haven't already read it, this post could be your gateway drug! I reced the book here.


Maus, by Art Spiegelman: Yes, I know this one gets reced everywhere and by everyone, but I'm genuinely fond of Maus. Firstly, the art is wonderful. If you're coming to comics from cartoon strips, webcomics or indies, you'll be comfortable. If you're coming to it from mainstream manga or superhero comics, it's a bit of an adjustment. Stripped down and cartoony in the best possible way, it packs an emotional wallop. As does the story, of course. For those out of the know, Maus is a kind of bio of Spiegelman's father's experiences in Hitler's Europe. It's a very personal bio though, which is what makes it so powerful. (ha ha Triestine, I'm using the word in spite of your distaste for it). 

The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon: This is a really interesting read, but beware the odd jingoistic excesses. The book is the 9/11 Commission Report, all ~500 pages, boiled down into an easy to read graphic novel. The pencils and layouts are good: clean and readable, for comics veterans or noobs. It helps that the artist did his research. Everyone from Bush to the 9/11 terrorists are recognizable as their real world counterparts. I should warn you that there are some dicey portrayals of arabs and other people of colour, and a fair amount of rhetoric throughout. 

Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud: An interesting read for comics veterans and noobs. Scott McCloud's mad writing and drawing skills are on display throughout. His illustrations are clean and readable, and his explanations clear and concise. He takes on the difficult task of answering questions like: what are comics? what is the vocabulary of comics? and, how do comics do what they do? 

Criminal, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips: I've reced this series all over the internet, but strangely, not in my own journal. Criminal is a dirty, noir series, heavily influenced by 70s crime and blacksploitation films. Everything about it is gorgeous and dirty and bleak as hell. Each trade is a self-contained arc, following a character in the nameless, broken-down City. You can read them separately, in any order, but I recommend starting with vol one and reading straight through though. While the stories stand alone, they're part of an organic network. Places and familiar faces are revisited, if only briefly. Criminal is unflinching, but never gratuitous. No shock tactics, just character development, Themes, and honest, human emotional.

Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis and Darrick Robertson: I'd been reced Transmet about a million times before I finally read it, for the NSD book club. It's very Ellis: packed with neato sf tropes and profanity. It's also a lot of fun. Spider Jerusalem, the gonzo journalist protagonist, is certainly fun to follow, but for me the star of this book is the art. I spent more time picking out the visual references and easter eggs, than I did reading the books. ;) 

Preacher, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon: This series is not for everyone. But that's Garth Ennis for you. It's violent, profane, crude and dirty. There are few admirable or redeeming characters, and the humour is quite often offensive. Preacher is the story of the Reverend Jesse Custer, who's been gifted with the Word of God, his girlfriend, the kickass Tulip, and best friend, Irish vampire Cassidy. It's a supernatural/religious/adventure series, where the adventures are more Tarantino than heroic, and the influence of western movies is endemic. John Wayne makes regular cameos and one of the series' antagonists, the Saint of Killers, is  based on Eastwood's character in Unforgiven. Longtime readers might remember that Unforgiven is a favourite of mine, so it's no surprise that the Ancient History arc, which explores the Saint's backstory, is one of my favourite of the series. Along with everything else, Preacher is frequently hilarious and thinky; it has Hidden Depths.

Scalped, by Jason Aaron and RM Guera: Scalped is set on an American Indian reservation that's gotten rich off casino proceeds. Only, not everyone is sharing in the wealth. The ordinary residents of the reserve are poverty stricken, and abused by their corrupt band chief Lincoln Red Crow. FBI agent and former reserve resident, Dashiell Bad Horse, is sent in undercover, to help bring down Red Crow's organization from the inside. There are some significant issues with the portrayal of Native Americans in this series. Aaron tends to get sloppy, and mix and match the histories of different tribes. Watch for the random totem poles. o.O But don't let that put you off entirely. Aaron gives good hard boiled and grit in this series. The narrative is consistently tight and layered, and the art is gorgeous. 

Apache Skies, by John Ostrander and Leonardo Manco: Apache Skies is a beautifully illustrated series that follows Rawhide Kid on his last adventure. The Apache Kid has been murdered, and his friend, Rawhide Kid is out to track down his killers. Along the way he meets up with Apache's former lover, the incomparable revolutionary Rosa, and they team up to bring down the rail baron who ordered Apache's death, and rescue a group of Apache children, who've been consigned to a residential school. It's a classic, highly political western, about a queer cowboy and an Apache woman, teaming up to fight racist, capitalist white guys. And it's really, really good.

The Lone Ranger, by Brett Mathews and Sergio Cariello: This is an ongoing series published by Dynamite that gets much less attention than it deserves. It's good, guys. The series begins with an origin story that retains the vital elements of the Lone Ranger mythos, but updates it. Apparently some fans of the classic serials were (and continue to be) unhappy with the graphic violence. Obviously I don't see the problem. ;) I'm not sure what to say about this book, except that it makes the Lone Ranger cool again, and it treats Tonto as a human. Instead of a sidekick, he's a fully realized character; brother and ally to the Lone Ranger. There's a purity of purpose to the Lone Ranger that this series captures beautifully. It's easy to see how western comics informed the development of early superheroes, because this Lone Ranger could comfortably stand beside Superman.

May I direct your attention to the latest Incredible Hercules? ( 1 page under the cut )