A little break *snigger* (down) also Allie Brosch

Sometimes a girl just doesn't have the capacity to be clever, or funny, or any of that shit.
Sometimes life is more Ally Brosch than anything else. I've not abandoned you, I'm just taking a little time to worry about hospital emergency room visits, Lumbar punctures, respiratory infections, oncology appointments, and upcoming major surgeries made more stressful by your mothers near non-existent immune system, due her recent lung transplant.

While I'm having my breakdown, go read Allie Brosch's Hyperbole and a Half. She is a goddess of comic blogness. Her work makes me laugh till I cry, and cry till I laugh. It's real, beautiful, tragic, relatable, and occasionally life saving. Seriously. I use her updated pain scale quite often. You know, due to aformentioned CRAP.

She's a 10/10, and saves ones sanity, and the poor postman may get attacked the day her new book comes out. Gimmeeeeeeeeeee

The Outcast! In two parts, part one

I finished up on the third volume of Outcast just in time to watch the first episode of the tv adap.
I thought I'd review the books BEFORE watching though.

Before I get started, I may have to admit something. I have not read The Walking Dead. I've watched most of it, but I haven't read a single issue. Which seems a bit ridiculous. I do know that Robert Kirkman, responsible for both TWD and Outcast is considered to be a great, but so far, I'm not feeling it.

Kyle Barnes is living a shitty little life in a shitty little town, where everyone thinks he's a shitty guy. Well, everyone except his foster sister. They think he's a shitty guy because they all think he beat the crap out of his wife and young daughter. Except he didn't. And they think that he beat and hospitalised his mother as a child because she was abusive. But she wasn't, and he didn't. Somehow Kyle is a magnet for demonic possession. Somehow all the people that he cares about become vulnerable to possession just because he's around. Coming home and discovering a demon inside his wife using her body to hurt their child is not even the worst thing that's happened. Figuring out that his daughter *spoiler* has inherited the same "ability" when his foster sister throws her policeman husband out of a second floor window is still not even the worst thing.  

The actual devil moving in next door? maybe. Him babysitting the niece? *shudder*

There is a grand conspiracy at work here. Every demon that Kyle and his Reverend partner  come across knows who he is, "the outcast". And they seem to have big big big plans for him. Plus, it seems that he can exorcise them completely just by using his touch, or his blood. And as long as he's got there quick enough, they'll be okay. If the demon has been there long term, however, they'll end up comatose like his mother.

It's a slow burner. Maybe too slow for some people. The story takes it's time, nothing happens quickly,  and no questioned have answers have yet. The small-town setting adds to the slow atmosphere. Also giving everything a claustrophobic feel. 

So far I waver between a 5-6/10. I can believe in it's potential, I'm just not sure if everyone will have the patience. Perhaps the tv show will offer a more visceral immediacy, and a few more chills.

I have to wait for the Mother to fall asleep, or something because it's too scary for her. Unfortunately, taking care of her is my job, so my scary show time is minimal. 

Red Thorn #6 is here!

I unfortunately did that thing where I got super excited and thought that I had the entire arc ready to go, only I was WRONG! So I had to wait for #6. 

Still, it's freaking brilliant. So, American born artist Isla heads to Glasgow to try and find out what happened to the sister who died before she was born. Instead she finds magic, monsters, old gods, new gods, and a WHOLE lotta trouble. Meet Red Thorn, ancient Scottish God, who has been chained underground for centuries. Isla is about to release him. Hence the trouble.

Slight Spoiler? Neither Isla, or originally her sister were drawn to Glasgow by accident. A secret in their blood gives them the power to change reality through their art. In high school she accidently brought to life a drawing who decided to attend her school for a whole semester. And then kill a teacher by stabbing them with a pencil 27 times. Of course. I love this reality bending power. It's both a beautiful plot point, and a great meta-narrative idea. I love me some meta. It's got some similarity to Art Ops, and to Unwritten, and lets be honest to American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Which I love. It turns out that she's not he only one either. Red Thorn has a plan to collect people with this power in order to get revenge on the guy who captured him so long ago. The thing is, he's looking to not just change his present, but also the past with Isla's power.

Some of my favourite parts? The "New Gods". Evil Old God Cadros, who slaughtered the old gods to take all the power for himself, has been, ah, inteferring with belief. 

Red Thorn is a tattooed, manipulative, morally questionable, hyper-sexual, confident BASTARD. Very Glaswegian. He's a fabulous character. I love how he has plans on top of plans on top of plans. I love how far he's willing to go to get what he wants, lying, stealing, and fucking with everyone. (Let's be honest, he's working on just fucking everyone, too. Centuries of celibacy to make up for). I'm fascinated by him, I can't wait to see what he comes up with, but MAN is he trouble.

 

I also freaking love Tarek. Like Isla, he has the power to change reality through his drawings. Only his power is over spaces rather than people. He can actually create and change places through his art. 

Making him mute is an interesting dynamic. His loss of power and agency with words, compared to his power and agency through art is great. Being so young and having been dismissed by his father because of his disability, gives him a vulnerability and makes him easily manipulated.  With Isla getting a little, ah,"lost", (not spoiling that bit), I'm very worried about him.Though, I also wonder if he is going to prove to be a lot more powerful than expected.

David Baillie, I adore you. 8,5/10, and I'm betting that number goes up with Vol 2.

(btw, I've also just read a great debut urban fantasy novel set in Glasgow, this time about a half Maori, blue-haired werewolf by Maria Lewis. Read it)

Another Image Update: Mythic, Monstress, Luminae.

Mythic is just super fun. An ordinary guy discovers that there is a super secret agency responsible for policing and cleaning up magical disturbances. There's an immortal seer named Cassandra, a Native American Shaman who's twin brother is a hell beast, a fertility goddess, and that's just for starters. The whole lot is led by a gigantic baby who is. you know, life itself. They're generally pretty competent and good at sorting out all the problems. I mean, Nate's first job on the team is helping a couple of elemental beings through some couples counselling so that it will stop a drought. Because, of course it does.  The elementals get it on, it rains, they all have drinks.

The big problem is that all these mythic being, mythic wars, mythic problems are all just so irrational. And there is a force at work that is willing to go to war, to mix magic and machines in order to take out all the magical beings. They even take all the mythical figures prophesied to end the world in Ragnarok and turn them into magic/ machine hybrids. As you do.

Volume one is issue 1-8. I'm hoping that there will be more. It's clever, gory, funny, and a 7/10 for me. 

Now, Monstress was actually a bit of a mistake. I thought that all of the issues for the first TPB has been released and I WAS WRONG! Enter tears and trauma. 

However, It's brilliant. It gets described as steampunk kaiju, which is pretty apt. It's so much more though. It has a fantastically feminist dealio going on, It's kind of an alterno history with a matriarchal as well as a magical twist. The idea is that The Ancients are immortal, all powerful, god-like beings. Whilst living amongst the humans, they, umm, made babies with said humans. Thus was born the Arcanic's, who are monstrous, and beautiful, and powerful, and scary,  sometimes winged, clawed, furred, and sometimes human-looking. Which the humans find scarier. Of course there was a huge war.

                                      

Then, of course, there arose a religious order of scary freaking nuns with psychic powers known as the Cumaea. SCARY NUNS! SCARY PSYCHIC NUNS. Who capture Arcanics and torture and experiment on them for their intrinsic magic, which they distil as "lilium" and use to improve their own powers. Gross. I mean they, and their brutal, all-female, soldiers seem to think that they're doing their duty to save the humans from the evil Arcanics, but......UGH.

Enter crippled, mysterious, teenage Arcanic, Maiko, who has herself sold to the evil Cumaea in order to discover the truth about herself, her mother, and about the strange demonic power living inside her.

Extra feminist points for the demons, ghost demons, living demons, and the one living inside Maiko having that monstrous-feminine, vagina dentata (I love you Barbara Creed, and one day I will sneak into your film studies lectures, 'kay)  bodily horror of the power of female genitalia.

(Extra points also for the multiple-tailed, talking cats who consider themselves the children of the gods.)

Tentative 7,5/10. TBD once I read the final part of the story arc (grumble, grumble...)

Last up, Luminae. I wanted to love it. A group of mystical female warriors? Check. A strange, female, messiah who must be protected at all costs? Check. An evil darkness infiltrating and hunting them throughout the lands? Check,

Incredible beautiful and detailed art work that you could just stare at? Check. Coherent storyline? Depth of character? Logical worldbuilding?

Not really. 4/10. Which makes me feel like a bitch "sigh"

Image Comics Update

So, Wolf by Ales Kot is looking like a favourite. Supernatural detective with secrets? Check. Teenage girl who may end up being the actual antichrist? Check. Sudden time jump to five years into the future for volume 2? Oh, man. I want the last two issues so, so, so bad. 8.5/10

Lets all just accept that I am a Terry Pratchett fan. Almost every member of my family cried on the day that he died. Just a fact. Reading Huck, I am unavoidably reminded of Captain Carrot. Huck, and Carrot, have this beautiful naivete which both contrasts, and highlights and compliments their sheer strength and ability, and the power of story, narrative, and expectation of the foundling, the third son, the boy with the mysterious birthmark that has become almost an ontological part of our socio-cosmic world-view. Pratchett, in his way, knew how to play with the audiences expectations, the way that the reader seeks to see familiar stories, and figures in everything. Huck, is just BEAUTIFUL. 

His mystical abilities to "find anything" mean less than his need to do the right thing, to make a difference. He doesn't give a shit if his to do list is paying for the dinner of every body in line behind him at the drive-in, or heading to Africa to save 200 kidnapped schoolgirls. He is just that innocent. And I LOVE him. Oh, Huck. I would ring you fresh milk and band-aids, and help you fill in all your horrible paperwork just so you could go on being yourself. I don't care if you are a cold-war era, super-soldier experiment. I really don't. I don't care if your long lost twin brother turns up with all the details, or if he proves to be a lying, sneaky government plant using you to find your long-lost mother. You are exactly what I need in my comic books. That moment when you told your empathic mother to brainwash you into breaking through the unbreakable glass imprisoning you? I'm really, really, really excited for Volume 2. GO, HUCK!

Also WicDiv? OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG,

TV adaptations: upcoming AND arrived.

We can probably blame the MCU for Comic books being such hot property these days. Yay, MCU!

I'm so bored by Arrow, but I really like The Flash and I'm cool with Legends of Tomorrow. I liked Constantine, but I can understand why it doesn't have the mass appeal of lighter DC fare. I struggle a little with reading Classic Hellblazer because of how morally ambiguous it is, and how depressed it can make me feel. Even New 52 Constantine can be a little difficult to take. He's, well, he's an asshole. He is not a nice person, and the people around him are pretty sure to get hurt.

Supergirl is a favourite. I really enjoyed her "adorkable" demeanour, the way she wrestled with her power and what it could mean, and the part of her that was a normal, confused, 20-something who worried about her job, and men, and social expectations as well as the superhero stuff. I loved the relationship between the sisters, and I really, really, really, want a season 2.

Marvel is totally winning when it comes to their partnership with Netflix. Daredevil and Jessica Jones are both extraordinary pieces of filmmaking and storytelling. As adaptations, they take every part of the source material that works. As film, they have a visual power that is breathtaking. I'll rather them both  9-9.5/10, and I'm TOUGH. I'm really looking forward to Luke Cage (sweet Christmas!), and I'm all on board with Game of Thrones Finn Jones taking on Iron Fist.

Agents of Shield works WITH the MCU, and Agent Carter is one of my favourite television characters ever. She's brilliant, tough, and determined, and can I be her when I grow up?

When it come to the independent titles, there is a lot more scope to breathe and explore. Not being weighed down by decades of history and canon lets them have so much more freedom when it come to their adaption. 

iZombie, and Powers season 1 may require a seperate review, but I can honestly say that I enjoy the tv episodes just as much as the comic books.

Given their success, I am super excited for a couple of things. Vertigo's Preacher, the story of a man named Jesse Custer, running from his cultish upbringing, and finding himself possessing and  possessed by the all-offspring offspring of an angel and a demon, literally possessing the "word of God" is due in days. And I'm super excited.

Anything with the ghost of John Wayne, an Irish vampire named Cassidy, a character literally named Assface, and a mission to track down God and MAKE him live up to his responsibilities has my vote.

The other upcoming excitement is the adaption of Robert Kirkman's Outcast. You may know him from, oh, THE WALKING DEAD!!!!!!!

The fact that there is a whole series based on only two TPB's gives me hope, and some worry. It looks freaking amazing though.

Plus season 2 of Powers is coming, and they've reached the moment where the comic book series begins, "Who killed Retro Girl?" I waver between liking the tv Christian Walker, and missing the comic book one, but I do like what they've done with it so far. Okay, Playstation, bring it on.

(and yes, I am re-watching the whole thing in preparation)

Bat Family: Part 2. The Girls, Batgirl.

Okay, so Batman is a very manly kinda guy. His greatest allies, as well as his greatest enemies are all men. His creators are men. Almost all of the authors who have made waves with their work have been men.

BUT.....There are a few Bat-Ladies to leave their mark. Some terrible (sorry Uma), and some amazing. The New 52 has four distinct female-centric titles within their oeuvre. We'll start with #1...

Batgirl

While she may be the best known female bat-ally, her history and storyline has become seriously problematic in the New 52. With the exception of the Batman and Robin movie (1997), Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl has always been the stubborn, genius daughter of Commissioner Gordon, who has taken up the vigilante role without her fathers knowledge. As a cops daughter, she has martial arts training, which combined with her own phenomenal IQ, eidetic memory, and computer savvy, make her a force to be reckoned with. Batman is initially reluctant to have her on team, but eventually (and often surreptitiously) aids, abets, and equips Miss Barbara. This causes a whole lotta troubled relationships. Barbara is keeping secrets from her father, who HATES Batgirl for killing his psychopath son (a whole huge gigantic "thing"). Batman is keeping a very important extra secret from his ally. Nightwing/ Grayson and Batgirl have one of those shippable will they/ won't they, complex histories. Plus there is a whole canon thing where Barbara Gordon, as Commissioner Gordon's daughter, not the crime-fighting Batgirl, is shot and crippled by the Joker. Alan Moore (please see my previous post about my Moore issues) in The Killing Joke, had the Joker simply turn up, knock on the door, and shoot her. It's almost petty in its simplicity. He destroys and cripples, and perhaps sexually assaults a teenage girl, just to fuck with her father. It's one of the Joker's most monstrous moments. Especially the moment where he stands over her taking pictures of her. Ugh.

The cripples, wheel chair bound Barbara, however, was not broken by her attack and assault. She became Oracle, the computer genius, techno-whiz, intelligence centre of an entire crime-fighting family. She also became an amazing character whose need and ability to help is not changed by her disability. As Oracle, she is perhaps of more use than the able-bodied Batgirl.

The New 52, however, finds a super advanced treatment to fix her spine and enable her to return to her Batgirl Mantle. She's got major issues, and some PTSD from her attack and temporary paralysis, and is not exactly confident in her abilities, but she's out here fighting. A lot of people feel like it is a major step backwards. Taking away her disability takes away so much diversity. For a disabled reader to see a disabled superhero, who has accepted the things she can't do, but superseded them? It's extraordinary. 

The other major Batgirl issue is this cover.

Captured by the Joker, she finds herself within her worst, most powerless moment, all over again.

A huge backlash to this cover, meant to be an homage to the original The Killing Joke, lead to it being pulled from print. All that people could see what the victimization of Batgirl, the sexually predatory actions of the Joker, and the dismissal of her entire emotional and physical journey. I'm not quite as adamantly, aggressively anti this cover. Her fear is understandable. His power is palpable. He made her vulnerable and powerless, and for her to overcome it for the second time is an amazing, cathartic, empowering moment. But I can also understand why people didn't want this cover, this image, to be the thing that people saw first. power, empowerment, powerlessness..... It's all there. I'm torn. I don't want to see this image of her, but I want to see her overcome her fear.

Ugh. Lighter note. Latest Batgirl embraces her youth. A teenage girl, on her own for the first time, living her life after trauma and struggle, and creating her identity as both Barbara and Batgirl really works for me. She embraces the social media, selfie culture, she learns to live and interact with normal people who may or may not know about her secret life. She even discovers that other people around her have their own secret lives. A trans-gender room-mate provides a beautiful  mirror to her own secret life. A psychopathic brother who is her equal and opposite (like all good enemies) puts her in an emotional, psychological and moral tailspin. Being forced to kill her brother (or so she thinks) in front of her parents, to save her family? phew. Heavy shit. Batgirl V4 and V5 work for me. I can let myself see the potential, rather than the loss.