Diana Kingston-Gabai ([info]dianakingston) wrote,
@ 2007-04-19 18:07:00
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Entry tags:non-sequitur

I'm a hostage in a fortune cookie factory: send help!
Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic... it's just been a very eventful week in which I have somehow miraculously failed to actually write (or do) much of anything.

I've started reading Christie Golden's "Rise of the Horde", which is basically a history of the Orcs of "Warcraft". Unfortunately, it's being written with the most current "World of Warcraft" lore as canon, so... yeah, spaceships and other weirdness abounds. Not quite sure how I feel about that just yet. As an equalizer, I'm also reading Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse", which I'm really enjoying despite Woolf's Joyce-esque tendency to go on long rambling quasi-stream-of-consciousness segments of introspection.

No more "Heroes" retrospectives for the time being, as I've found myself repeating a lot of criticisms that hold true after "Six Months Ago" - Niki's storyline is still being written in a very confusing and amorphous style (she's in jail; she's in a psych ward; she's an assassin; nobody seems to be at all bothered by any of this), Hiro keeps stumbling back and forth over the line between cute and annoying, revelations are being compounded with even more questions, etc. That said, I'm really looking forward to the last leg of the season: with "Rome" off the air, "Heroes" is now my favorite TV show.

So is "The Tudors" any good? I'll be checking out the first episode next week, but I'd certainly like to hear some opinions while I wait. :)


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Tudors
(Anonymous)
2007-04-21 04:57 am UTC (link)
I felt Tudors was a disapointment, and I was geuinely excited about it being a "Man For All Seasons" fan. People criticized Rome for being reliant on sex and violence shock value, but I felt this show is more guilty of that. Great actors, just so-so writing.

Are you reading Mike Carey's "X-men" run? That warrants a look and it isn't shackled with the Civil War stuff.

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Re: Tudors
[info]dianakingston
2007-04-21 09:29 am UTC (link)
I think what redeemed "Rome" is that it usually used sex and violence for something more than just shock value; more often than not, there was a point behind it. From what I've seen so far, "The Tudors" seems to be more firmly planted in the field of gratuitousness.

I'm actually reading and enjoying all three core X-books at the moment - and I love what Carey's doing in his run. For all that Brubaker and Whedon are delivering very strong variations on the classic formula, Carey's really putting a bit of experimentation into the mix.

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Re: Tudors
(Anonymous)
2007-04-23 12:52 pm UTC (link)
Carey's future storylines are rife with possibility, too. Although I'm not excited about Gambit's return, having this team counter Sinister's efforts by reluctantly enlisting the help of the Dark Beast should be fun. And considering his Hellblazer work, his take on the Hellfire Club will definitely be worth waiting for. He even promises Stryfe to appear in some capacity next issue, whom under his pen should help to undo all the hating-on that screwed-over character has endured since X-Cutioner's Song ended long ago. I love doppelgangers, especially when done right.

I'd also recommend Thunderbolts. Much like a decade before when it was the most creative thing to come out of the horrific Heroes Reborn, Thunderbolts looks to be the most positive result of Civil War.

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[info]dianakingston
2007-04-24 07:56 am UTC (link)
To be honest, I'm somewhat less enamored with the resurgence of '90s characters such as Dark Beast, Exodus and Stryfe, as they're uncomfortable reminders of a very low point in X-Men history (creatively, that is). Of course, Carey's got a better chance than most at successfully redeeming such figures, so I'm trying to keep an open mind. :)

Well, I read the first two issues of Thunderbolts a while ago, but I wasn't very impressed. It's the typical Ellis formula: bastards with superpowers, nanotechnology, violence, all decompressed to the nth degree. It just feels tired and uninspired to me, just another rehash of Ellis channeling his superhero hate.

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(Anonymous)
2007-04-25 07:09 am UTC (link)
Excluding the slight bias I have with Stryfe and Dark Beast, I agree with you. As for Exodus, I was never a fan but like you said with Carey at the helm it should be interesting and anything beats another warmed-over Magneto resurrection (Though with the exception of the Northstar/Aurora flashbacks, that Annual was kind of stale). My prediction with Stryfe is that his residence at Providence is one of redemption and he will end up helping save the island. Or he could just be a spirit or in a flashback and I'm totally off.

On the subject of Ellis, I read all his Authority stuff and was never impressed with it's glib, snide look at everything. Back when he became the flavor of the month in the post-Transmetropolitan days he made like his counterpart Ennis and spread himself thin (That RED miniseries he wrote had such a rushed, cliched conclusion. But with Thunderbolts the snideness and cruelty works for me, Bullseye and Norman show no signs of turning a new leaf. I admit, I have no idea who Penance is, though.

Oh, well. I hope you enjoy "To the Lighthouse". I remember watching a television adaptation a few years ago that had the actress who played Aunt May from the Spider-man flicks and the Alfred from the Burton Batman movies as Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay.

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[info]dianakingston
2007-04-25 10:28 am UTC (link)
Based on the current arc, I'm guessing Carey wants to establish Stryfe as Cable's Mummudrai, which might help streamline the character as a more simple "opposite number" rather than "evil clone from the future".

I'd argue that the biggest difference between Ennis and Ellis - at least, Ellis circa Authority - is that Ennis never moved beyond his contempt for the superhero genre; to that extent, he was pretty much a one-note piano, and the joke that was funny in "The Pro" really loses its bite after the fifth or sixth repetition. Ellis, on the other hand, wrote the Authority not just as a snub to superheroes, but as a new idea of how to write modern superheroes (and part of that has seeped in, looking at the recent rise of hyperviolence in comics). These days, though, all he does is bitch about the problems without trying to fix them, which makes him every bit as monotonous as Ennis.

I agree, though, that the Authority has lost a lot of its shine, but then, that's what happens when the writers responsible for that same glib, snide tone end up setting the tone of the entire Marvel Universe. :)

Penance is Speedball. Trust me, you don't want to know the specifics.

I have to admit, I'm curious how a television adaptation could film the introspective moments that make up the bulk of the book...

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(Anonymous)
2007-04-25 07:22 pm UTC (link)
"Penance is Speedball. Trust me, you don't want to know the specifics."

Oh my. No, no I don't.

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