#NCBD 8/26/2015 – Grayson #11

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Spoilers and images for the issue abound. Read at your own risk if you’re not up to date!

“It’s Grayson versus…Grayson? To save Agent 1, Dick must face his most dangerous enemy yet: himself.”

Trsz_1tumblr_nomapq5ezh1qc7r93o1_1280his week, the only book I’m reading for #NCBD is Grayson #11.

Thanks to my ridiculously short attention span, Grayson is the only comic I’m reading that I remember to pick up every month from Comixology.

And boy is it worth it.

I mean, it’s got two of my favorite writers (Tom King and Tim Seeley) on the plot with King taking up writing duties for this month , fantastic art and colors from Mikel Janin and Jeromy Cox, and of course, my actual favorite superhero turned superspy in the starring role.

This issue’s summary had me hyped from the first time we saw solicits go out a few months back and of course, the book lives up to the hype.

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No, I haven’t seen [popular piece of nerd media] and I don’t intend to…

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Look! This combines two nerdy things I don't particularly care about!
Look! This combines two nerdy things I don’t particularly care about!

I don’t get the point of many nerd fave franchises.

The first time I watched a Star Wars film, I was fifteen. The first time I cared about Star Trek was maybe when the first new movie came out. I started Buffy on its last season and gave up on Angel well before its last season was even a blip in Whedon’s radar. And despite being named Zina and being homophone twins with everyone’s favorite warrior princess, it took me most of my life to actually sit down and watch more than two episodes. I know Bruce Campbell not from any movies he’s been in, but from his role on Burn Notice.

And of course, I’ve never watched (or cared about) Firefly. Read More »

[Rant]Too Many Alpha Male Assholes

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Content warnings for mentions of sexual assault/”so-called-seduction” and generally awful behavior from these main characters

If he was the MC of one of these novels, name would probably be Wynter. You see, because his eyes are probably as cold and as blue as the arctic sea.
If he was the MC of one of these novels, his name would probably be Wynter. You see, because his eyes and heart are probably as cold and as deep as the arctic sea.

Why is it that in many romance novels, the word ‘alpha’ is often synonymous with ‘asshole’?

I don’t know why we’re getting this influx of assholes disguised as romantic leads, but I’m so over it.Read More »

[Rant] Do you even know what the Confederate flag represents?

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wpid-imag4289.jpgYesterday my friend and I saw a guy with a big old pickup truck and a pretty large Confederate flag — so of course we took a picture. Not to name and shame, mind you but to remember that there are people all over that are really weirdly passionate about the flag and what they think it stands for.

—–

I’m fascinated by people who argue that the Confederate flag represents their culture or what America should be or “Southern Pride/Heritage”.

Are they even aware of the basics about what that flag means?

For once, let’s not even talk about race (although I could school you so hard on states’ rights and slavery that you’d get a degree out of it). Let’s talk about the very simple fact that people who supported the confederacy and brandished that flag were traitors to the United States. They seceded from the union and fought against the country, developing their own terrible government in the process.

At the heart of it, the confederate flag is a flag of traitors and slave owners who were throwing an extended fit. That it’s flying in so many public buildings is disrespectful and a travesty. It’s a flag that is indicative of a split so terrible that it started the very uncivil Civil War.

If you’re brandishing it, I’m going to assume that you probably don’t know much about your own history. (I’m also going to assume that you’re at least a little bit racist but hey, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and argues passionately in favor of the Confederate flag’s “noble” history, then it’s probably a racist!)

#NCBD 8/19/2015 – Archie #2 and Secret Wars: Secret Love

Stitch

Spoilers abound.

wpid-20150819_191118.jpgI kept it simple this week when I was on comixology.

Mostly, that was because I blanked on what DC books I wanted and I’m on a tight budget until payday. But at the same time, there were only two books that I really wanted to buy: Archie #2 by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples and Secret Wars: Secret Love with a whole lot of people. (I’ll talk more about the individual stories and creative teams in a minute).

I don’t regret buying either book or yelling at my coworkers until they came to read them with me.

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[Snippet]: Breaking And Entering

Stitch

I’m really pleased with how much progress I’ve made on this story. I thought that it’d be stuck in my WIP folder forever but something just clicked into place for it this past weekend and I wrote about four thousand words for it. I like the way that it’s turned out so far and I’m so pleased with this goopy and fluffy story that I’m going to just put my all into it and try and finish it as soon as possible!

This is a story about a lonely snake demon, a grouchy god with a sweet center, and the sentient temple that thinks that they’d be perfect together.

Enjoy!

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A Question About Rebooted Canon

Stitch

Content warnings for discussion of abuse/abusive relationships with regard to Joker/Harley and Harley/Ivy.

harleyivy
Image part of Femslash February photoset found here.

Reboots can range from the mild to the large. Some are just focused on company-wide changes in diversity and bringing women/characters of color to the forefront. They’re soft reboots and usually take place in a single book or over a couple of different series. Other reboots are hard and they change everything.

Especially in a full-scale reboot like DC’s which has tried to incorporate several of their past events and controversies into the narrow timeline, sometimes we don’t actually know what has changed or what has stayed the same with regard to character histories, worldbuilding, and the universe itself.

So here’s my question:

Does rebooting a comic series, character, or entire universe mean that you should no longer hold characters accountable for things they did in the past or pre-reboot existence?

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Stitch Watches Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 1/Episode 1: Pilot

Stitch

agents of shieldWhen Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (henceforth referred to as AoS because I’m not typing that out all the time) was first announced, I wasn’t interested. Sure, I enjoyed the Avengers despite having held a serious grudge against Joss Whedon’s style of writing and directing since I was eleven and watching Buffy, but this show that wasn’t on that level. I had a lot of questions and of course, they weren’t always very nice ones.

Where were my superheroes?

Where were my recognizable characters?

Where was Chris Evan’s pretty face?

Why was the MCU’s favorite self-insert Phil Coulson all over the place?

So the first two times that I started the show, I did so while sick and/or annoyed. I watched the series in pieces, while I had the flu or while I was working on other projects. I didn’t ever give it my full attention or anything close to my full analytical focus. However, that’s changed. I’m going to be watching AoS from the beginning and thinking critically while I do it.

At the same time though, I’ll be watching some of the episodes with my niece M and sharing her observations alongside mine. She’s a cool kid and very willing to pop my ego when it gets too big so hopefully, this will be a fun experience for everyone.

So let’s get started!

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Bond Girl: GoldenEye

Stitch

never had me

This week’s Bond Girl post is about my favorite Bond film in Pierce Brosnan’s run: GoldenEye.

Here’s an excerpt:

Alec Trevelyan betrays Bond (and MI6) while his own feelings of betrayal drive him. Of course. He has the requisite tragic backstory (the death of his parents at his father’s hand in what Trevelyan sees is a direct relation to British betrayal of the Lienz Cossacks to the Russians after World War II.)

Following the dramatic reveal that Trevelyan is in fact alive and well, James Bond feels betrayed because his close friend not only faked his death, but also has decided to betray the country that they grew up in. It’s such a mess.

Add to that how Trevelyan is certainly dealing with jealousy of Bond and you’ve got this tangled web of emotions and everyone’s inability to communicate before going off to enact their massive plans for revenge.

Seriously, there’s a point where Trevelyan sneers at Bond about finding forgiveness in the arms of willing women “for all the ones you’ve failed to protect.” I feel like it’s an especially cutting dig because Trevelyan most certainly would’ve known about Bond’s wife so this perhaps is a way that we’re getting an oblique reference to James Bond’s dead wife Tracy.

Either way, Trevelyan isn’t playing fair.

If you liked this and want to read more about what I liked and disliked about the film, check out Bond Girl: Re-Watching and Re-Evaluating GoldenEye on The Mary Sue site! And comment (if you want) or feel free to chat me up on Twitter about everyone’s slightly sleazy favorite man of international espionage!

[Book Review] Romancing the Duke: Castles Ever After by Tessa Dare

Stitch

romancing the dukeBook Rating: (Highly) Recommended

Despite following Tessa Dare on twitter for weeks now, Romancing the Duke is the first one of her books that I’ve ever read. Don’t worry, I’m thoroughly kicking myself for waiting so long to read her work.

In some ways, Romancing the Duke is a standard Regency romance because it has the scenery and politics common to the genre.

I do think that the book veers away from the Regency standard because of the characters that Dare has created and how they interact with their world. Even though I’m not always the biggest fan of historical fiction set in Europe (because they tend to lack non-servile characters of color), I was charmed to pieces by this book because of how the characters interacted and how weirdly relatable the heroine’s thought process was.Read More »

Dear Comic Fans: We Get it. You’re racist and racebending scares you.

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racebending 2

Why are comic book fans so darn mad when a comic book character gets the racebending treatment?

For the most part, comic book fans are so very predictable when it comes to race.

Nothing pisses comic fans off more than a historically white character being racebent and therefore turned into a character of color or when a character of color takes over a legacy title (Like Superman, Spider-Man, or Ms. Marvel).Read More »

A few of my favorite Bonds

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favorite-thingsTrying to choose your favorite James Bond actor is like trying to pick your favorite child or your favorite book.

Too many options.

Too many chances to get the whole thing wrong.

It’s not as if the fate of the world hinges on that decision or as if there’s any way to be wrong, but still, when it comes time to pick that one top Bond, I stall.Read More »

Productivity Looks Good On Me

Stitch

It says a lot about how unproductive I’ve been lately that this weekend’s progress has left me stunned.

Normally, when I get off of work on Friday afternoon it takes me until Friday night, maybe Saturday morning, to get into a headspace where I feel as if I can write and read everything I need to be focusing on for the weekend. Saturday morning I’m usually scrambling to turn my notes from that week’s James Bond film watch into something workable for a draft. I’m snapping at everyone and staying up super late in order to meet my deadlines or crank out another 2k words on that monster Teen Wolf fic I’ve been writing forever.

This weekend though?

It’s been great for my productivity.Read More »