Venneh

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Everything posted by Venneh

  1. Bitch Planet Triple Feature 4: Not my favorite stories of the bunch so far, with the exception of Vita Ayala's story at the end. Still solid. Codename Baboushka: Ghost Station Zero 2: Ooof. The art is... a lot rougher than I remember from the first arc. Story seems a bit more suited to the John Wick director's interpretation of Lorraine (from Coldest City/Atomic Blonde). Mage: The Hero Denied 2: Yup. Still super 90s. Not my thing. Spy Seal 2: Again, Tintin/Scarry aesthetic, but with WAY too much in the word balloons. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 261 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 89 Omnibuses: 4
  2. FFXII: Zodiac Age: We've got Reddas, my favorite guest character now, and I've been trying to hold off on the plot for as long as possible so I can a) use him as a wonderful fourth character to make the Hunts easier (we're down to 1 mil plus dragon fucker and Gilgamesh) and b) put off losing him from the party. We're probably about forty to fifty hours in gameplay wise I wanna say, in speed mode, and we're already at Pharos. This really benefitted from the HD remake (we're into the really pretty shit like Giruvegan and the Pharos). (Also love that the female characters for the most part get to have their own stories not tied to the dudes.) Also: some of our characters are now to 1341 LP, and nothing left to use it on. We might be going hunting for additional Espers before we finish out Pharos. Mass Effect 2 (again): Two things learned from this playthrough: there are still small missions from scanning that we didn't get the last time; and that we really have to commit to either Paragon or Renegade, because otherwise decisions can happen that negate characters' loyalty. At endgame again for P5, should probably finish that off soon. Should see if I can do the secret battle with the Twins. Overwatch: Please nerf Doomfist. Please. The new loot boxes are working out well; I finally got to the point where I have the vast majority of the stuff in the normal loot boxes, so I've now maybe racked up over 9k currency, which will come in handy for the Halloween event. Still haven't done Deathmatch. Looking forward to the new Junkertown map. Again, not playing this near as much as I used to, except around event times, but I'm pretty okay with that. Upcoming: Pyre, Wolfenstein: New Order, restarting Bayonetta at some point, more Yakuza 5, Nier Automata, Dishonored 2 (yes we still haven't played it), Dest1ny.
  3. Provenance, Ann Leckie: ARC of Leckie's follow up to the Ancillary trilogy. No one from the original trilogy shows up, and events are referenced in ways that would make sense for people hearing it a system or two away, which I really like. The best way I can explain this is that it's like a Shakespeare comedy of errors, but writ on an interstellar scale; and applied to items of cultural importance. I really like how the story unfolds, and how the story frames family, it's characters, and the importance of cultural artifacts. I got through this in about three nights, roughly. There will be a bit of weirdness as you get used to the alien pronouns, but you can figure it out pretty quickly. Definitely get this when it comes out later this month. Books read: 68
  4. Note on the Cat Staggs stuff: most of the stuff she's worked on has been licensing stuff where the characters looking like photoshop traces is actually an asset. That's all I'll say. Motor Crush 6: Flashback issue focusing on Domino's dad and fleshing out a bit more of his backstory. The art this time is Cameron Stewart trying to look like Babs Tarr (with Babs and her normal colorer on the coloring), which can get a bit weird at times. Good issue to ease us back into things. Seven to Eternity 9: Well, SHIT. Opena and Hollingsworth kick it out of the park, and Remender ends the arc on a good note (if with a bit of his pretty old attitudes towards women). WicDiv 31: Without spoilers, some absolutely gorgeous splash pages this issue, and things kicking it back up into gear again. (Also: never get attached to any character in WicDiv. EVER.) For the spoilers: Zines: 9 Single Issues: 257 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 89 Omnibuses: 4
  5. The Five Daughters of the Moon, Leena Likitalo: From Tor.com's novella program, basically a light fantasy reimagining of the fall of the Romanov empire. I have a feeling that this was originally a full length novel that got split in half bc she realized she was more likely to get it published with them as two novellas; you can see the place for an easy split at the end of this novella. It's a quick paced read, with each Daughter getting a chapter and character building and each pov building on the last, with the pov characters not knowing what we know. I'm definitely interested in the sequel, and hope we get a bit more info on some of the fantasy mechanics that are kind of only lightly explained here. For a first effort, it's a good one. PS: There's a machine that will bring about equality that is fuelled by human souls that is either a really shitty one to one metaphor for communism or a blatant attempt to make the Rasputin analogue even more evil (other than mind controlling and raping the eldest pov character), and the souls aspect is one of the things I'm hoping they explain more next book because loooooord. Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways To Listen in An Age of Musical Plenty, Ben Ratliff: A NY Times music critic takes music theory and makes it accessible using several examples of popular music from the last 50 years. I don't always agree with some of his takes (Miley Cyrus is not equivalent to the Grateful Dead my dude), and he can get a bit pretentious (even J hadn't heard of Castiglione, dude), but when he hits the good stuff, it's really good (see: the Be My Baby chapter, the Mi Gente chapter). I found this remaindered, and for that price, it's worth it. And tbh, I wish some of the music he referenced was more accessible on streaming services, but maybe it's on YouTube? Books read: 67
  6. Rapture 4: Chess piece storytelling to get Shadowman where they need him to be for the 2018 series, was tempted to burst out laughing for most of the issue, but the charmingness in the last two pages softened me a bit. Still not sure why this was an event? And while I get what they were going for with the lettering for Babel in his dialogue heavy sections it just felt like they got the letterer drunk and told him to go nuts. Wonder Woman: Earth One v1: Finally read through this. This is... I'm still not sure how to parse this one honestly. On the one part - there's a very interesting story about a mother and a daughter and the differences between what our parents want us to be verses who we really are, the framing device of greek theater is neat, and it's gorgeous. On the other hand, there's some weird Diana poses that very specifically look like they were traced from BDSM porn/are very cheesecakey in places they shouldn't be. I'm interested to see how they tackle vol 2 of this. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 254 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 89 Omnibuses: 4
  7. Satin Island, Tom McCarthy: I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand: this got shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, it's got some absolutely gorgeous writing, it's under 200 pages, McCarthy is an experimental writer, and I can see the larger point that the format/way the novel turns out is trying to make about the search for meaning in life. On the other hand, I was hoping there would be some kind of arc or resolution to the things that were laid out, in some fashion? This just kind of peters out and then the novel just ends, with no resolution. Immediately after finishing it I thought "the fuck is this pretentious bullshit?". Just seemed like a bunch of barely related observations tied together at times. I'm gonna try reading this again after a while and see if some distance makes any difference. Books read: 65
  8. Deadly Class 30: What's happening to Saya? Who gives a fuck! Road trip! I'm really getting frustrated at the priorities of the plot and the convenience. The issue itself is pretty fun when it decides to not focus on the larger plot, but bringing it back in just makes things awkward. Redlands 2: I'm happy with how they chose to follow up here, and interested to see where the series goes. Del Rey and Bellaire working together is some amazing stuff. Black Magick 7: I keep reading this because we get free review copies and I'm determined to see what people love so much about this series, other than Nicola Scott doing wonderful black and white (and occasionally color) work. I don't get anything out of this. Glitterbomb: The Fame Game 1: Mehhhhhhhh. Insexts does this better. Spy Seal 1: Tintin/Richard Scarry aesthetic meets spy games. Intriguing, fun little first issue. Crosswind 3: The plot is middling at best, but the art is just straight up deviantart photoshop effects tracing level embarassing. The process pages in back make me actively long for the base drawings over the final product. PS THE EAST SIDE OF CHICAGO IS THE FUCKIN' LAKE. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 253 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 88 Omnibuses: 4
  9. Shutter 23-30: Amazing, perfect wrap to this series. 29 and 30 straight up made me bawl. Interested to see what Del Duca does after this Demo 12: Essentially a one shot that contains what's basically a song set to a comic, and Cloonan and Wood switching artist/writer duties. Interesting to see this in the single format. Early Cloonan, so it leans a bit more manga than her later stuff, but it's still gorgeous. Casanova: Avaritia 1-4: I only followed this in the collected hardcover from Image, so it's really interesting to see how the single issues flowed. Still probably my favorite (and the most technically astounding) of the four arcs so far. Batman: Detective Comics 871-879: There's a main story here, but honestly, the thing that has my attention is the backup/randomly occasionally the primary story with Snyder and Francavilla (and ocassionally Jock) about James Gordon. I think there's some beyond this run of issues to this story. The way Francavilla uses color here only heightens the creepiness. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 247 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 88 Omnibuses: 4
  10. local AV Club dude had a comics sale today. Also I bought a bunch of shit at FlameCon. Expect a bit of catch-up the next few days. Wolverine 6: Aka that one with the Esad Ribic porn looking cover. Kurt and Logan talk in a bar. Also something with some lady that has to do with the larger plot I guess? Scarlet Witch 11, 15: As I said to the dude this afternoon: the reason I read this is not because of James Robinson. The rotating artist here is very interesting and I'd like to think he writes to let the artist take the lead. Let me have my dreams. Del Duca is lovely, and Del Rey brings it nicely full circle. Plot? Fuck if I could tell you what was going on. East of West 30-34: So, my main problem here is that I read this far enough apart/not on a monthly basis that I forget what the fuck happened in the last trade. For the love of god, Hickman, give me a recap page. Shit continues to escalate, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. Mistook Dragotta for Henderson in some of these issues with how sketchy this got. The Unworthy Thor 1-5: I was here for the space nonsense, Coipel beefcake, and Beta Ray Bill. I reacted... not kindly when they went to undo Angela Queen of Hel, to put it generously. Fuck that shit, Aaron. This mainly appears to be a mini to set up the next stage of Thor. I should really catch up on the main series at some point. Issue 4 has Coipel, Irving, Ribic, and Dauterman, which is pretty neat. Issue 5 has three separate artists, though, which is not a good look. Black Hammer 7: Take a shot for every Marvel and DC reference you see in here. Let me know how your liver stands up. Continues to be some A+ stuff, but man, Lemire is not even remotely subtle here. Lucifer 13: A Christmas oneshot that transitions Black off writing duties and some dude named Richard Kadrey on. This will probably continue to run as long as the Fox series does. They get paired with Marco Rudy and Ben Templesmith, though, so damn is it good looking. Trouble 1-5: Hoooo boy. I got this for free, the guy wanted to get rid of it so bad. I heard how bad it was. But actually reading it with my eyeholes is like staring into the sun during the eclipse. Let us never speak of this thing again. Power Girl: Aliens and Apes: Gray/Palmiotti/Conner. It's a fun, light read, and god bless the cheesecake. Found it for cheap at the sale. Worth it. Magdelena: Reformation: Dude threw this in for free. It is notably free of the Witchblade line's obsession with cheesecake, so it definitely is a bold new direction. The writing's Buffy lite but as a way to potentially spin out a new series, pretty solid. Art is sketchy but pretty nonremarkable. Not anything I'd pay money for, but would gladly read more for free. Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy: I read the first issue of this but never finished the mini. It's a pretty solid crossover, despite the writer having nothing to do with either property and the artists randomly changing towards the end of the mini. Good job to whoever thought of this crossover, for real. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 226 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 88 Omnibuses: 4
  11. Camanchaca, Diego Zúñiga (translated by Megan McDowell): A 110 page novella about a trip across a desert, a son, his fractured (and abusive) relationship with his parents, and the secrets and silence that bind them all together. Interestingly structured (no more than a paragraph per page), which makes for an interesting and quick read. Worth your time. Books read: 64
  12. Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors, Susan Sontag: I was directed towards this by The Shock Doctrine. Sontag discusses all the metaphors and myths around TB, cancer, and AIDS and how they add to the suffering and stigmatization of patients. Almost 200 pages, not a light read by any means, but definitely worth your time. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman: This is something that I've been meaning to read since college (it was required reading in our medical anthropology course, and it was one of the few anth courses I never took). A Hmong child with epilepsy got caught in between American doctor's cultural assumptions with regards to what her parents believed, and the outcome was utterly horrible, to say the least. This is from the early 90s, and Fadiman explains the cultural context of where the patient's family was coming from experience and beliefs and culturally wise, and looks at how that clashed with how the doctors were used to patient compliance, and how the patient got caught in the middle of it (hint: child welfare got involved and she was temporarily removed from her parents for about a year because her parents couldn't understand the admittedly insane regimen of medicine the patient was on). This book was part of the push for the more holistic integrated health care that you're seeing these days (whole patient, etc), and in the push for cross cultural competency. The patient died in 2012, having spent 26 of her 30 years in a vegetative state. Found this in the little free library by my place, and so glad that I picked it up. Books read: 63
  13. Many Waters, Madeline L'Engle: You might know this one from this cover. This is the one that gets real weird. Sandy and Denny, side characters in the previous three books, suddenly become main characters, and get inserted into the story of Noah and the ark. It's kinda bible fanfictiony, because there's an unmentioned daughter of Noah and she's totes in love with them but also the seraphim love her too. There's also real vague mentions of sex in a way there wasn't in the last books. Worth a read, still wonderful, but definitely just a bit weird. The Chronicles of Bustos Domecq, Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy-Casares: Borges and Bioy-Casares get together under a pseudonym to shittalk their colleagues. Short, quick, witty, and so much fun. Finished this over the course of a plane ride and a Lyft to where I'm staying in NYC. Worth your time. The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band, Michelle Cruz Gonzales: A great, quick memoir about Michelle's time in Spitboy, how she related to the scene in terms of gender and ethnic identity, and some wonderful stories. Definitely worth your time (which will be quick, as it's 130 pages). Books read: 61
  14. Ooku: The Inner Chambers v1: Alt history of Japan where 75% of the male population dies due to a disease, and women take over the public roles, and men are the ones cloistered and sheltered. Mostly focuses on the harem of men who serve the female Shogun, and all the tiny politics therein. The character I thought was going to be our main character only appears to have been around for one volume, so I'm kind of interested to see how this will play out in the long run. And there's only minimal instances of Fumi Yoshinaga dude character sameface! The main thing hindering this is the damn translations; they chose to go with thee/thou/borderline Shakespearian parody for a lot of the dialogue, and it really quickly grates. Land of the Lustrous v1: This and Steven Universe came out at the same time (though the translation is just being released now Stateside), and man, Kodansha should probably be real careful about using the "if you like Steven Universe, you'll love this!" marketing tag, because while that statement is very accurate, Cartoon Network could prooobably sue for copyright infringement if they looked too close. That said, I'm very interested to see how this distinguishes itself down the way. Lone Sloane: Chaos: It took them a month and a half, but the Heavy Metal order we placed during their warehouse sale finally fucking showed up! The art on this is gorgeous and absolutely nuts. No clue what's going on storywise, but I get the sense that this is towards the end of a series? There's a note in front about a movie, or something. Just look at the goddamn pretty artwork and let it happen. Juan Gimenez: Overlord: Heavy Metal has a Juan Gimenez artbook. It's goddamn gorgeous. Fatal Rendevous: A Manara story with lots of rape and a wife who's in over her head because of her idiot husband. Really weird, not my favorite of his. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 206 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 85 Omnibuses: 4
  15. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeline L'Engle: A bit disjointed, but again, another logical outgrowth of the series trajectory to this point. This one focuses a bit more on Charles Wallace and his special abilities, but Meg, a bit older and pregnant, still holds a strong part in the story. Have to say, the idea of a kid time traveling with his unicorn to save the world from a mad dictator threatening the world with nuclear destruction and changing subtle things in the past and making it so that the guy's been a peace lover the whole time is really appealing in light of current events. Books read: 58
  16. Mister Miracle 1: Very intriguing first issue. Interested to see where this goes. Bitch Planet Triple Feature 3: Again, doing better with the uniting theme, and it's interesting to see other members of the Milkfed team (Kit Cox teams with Vanessa DelRey for one of the more interesting shorts of this issue.) Descender 23: Shit continues to escalate, and it's neat to see how Nguyen tackles action sequences with his watercolors. I Hate Fairyland 15: Interesting to see an issue switch that's entirely to goody Gertrude, and the twist at the end of the issue promises to be a fun one for the upcoming arc. Southern Bastards 17: The last issue was long enough ago that I kind of forgot what happened, but shit is starting to go down in a big way. The back part of the issue explains why it's been so delayed - both Grimer and Latour lost their fathers within a month of each other. Love to them both. Mage: The Hero Denied 1: My first experience with Mage. Feels super 90s to me? Zines: 9 Single Issues: 206 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 80 Omnibuses: 4
  17. June Fourth Elegies, Liu Xiaobo (translated by Jeffrey Yang): Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, and died a few weeks ago after being granted medical parole for terminal liver cancer. I had purchased this remaindered earlier in the summer, and this was next on my reading pile. Liu Xia, his wife, described him as an awkward poet, and the translator tries to keep that awkwardness in the translations. He also includes notes in the back for references that may not always land. These poems don't always hit home, but when they do, they're amazing. The introduction we get from Xiaobo makes me want to see if there's any more of his work exists in translation (though this collection is from 2012 and mentions that because of the political/banned nature of his work, there's not a lot of translations of his work). Rest in peace. books read: 57
  18. WicDiv 30: The plot happens, but honestly, the meat of this issue is with Dionysus. Fuck, man. Wilson shows why he got the Eisner for color. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 200 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 80 Omnibuses: 4
  19. A Wind in the Door, Madeline L'Engle: A quasi-sequel to Wrinkle in Time that manages to take the same basic formula and extrapolate out the stakes to a cosmic and microscopic level, while still being understandable to a kid. She's really onto something with the science with mitochondria for being back in 73, though I really wonder if she were alive today what she'd think about *gestures vaguely to state of world*. Again, super strong Christian themes but in a larger cosmic good/evil way, not the way I've seen them used through most of my life. Reading these again is a hell of a thing, and the kind of comfort I need in general right now. Books read: 56
  20. By Chance or Providence: Becky Cloonan is already real fuckin' good, but add Lee Loughridge on colors for these short stories, and it takes it to the next level. (If you read nothing else, read the colored version of Demeter. Holy shit.) Zines: 9 Single Issues: 199 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 80 Omnibuses: 4
  21. A Wrinkle In Time, Madeline L'Engle: My partner got me the exact versions of the book that I had as a kid and got lost in various moving upheaval, so I'm reading these again. Obviously, went a lot quicker as an adult, but I'm stunned at how much Camazotz got to me as an adult. There's stuff with God that feels a bit eyerolly at times, but they don't overtly frame it as the Christian god. Ending still seems kinda abrupt compared to the buildup of the rest of the book. Still fantastic read even as an adult, and I can't wait to see the newest adaptation tbh. Books read: 55
  22. Bayonetta: It's real fun and real well thought out in terms of controls. Absolutely bonkers, which is always a good time. Not pictured: us screaming as we die for the nth time because we messed up the jumping puzzle by a few seconds.
  23. Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, Carrie Brownstein: The memoir of one of the members of Sleater Kinney. Combination of stories about her, about her music, about the band, and all things in between. Gorgeous prose, and a quick read; I read through this over the better part of a week in the evenings right before bed. Found it remaindered, but it's worth your time even at full price. books read: 54
  24. October: The Story of the Russian Revolution, China Mièville: China Mieville does a deep dive into the months between February and October 1917. I've not seen him do nonfiction before, and he's very well suited to the task, shifting between the big picture and small anecdotes, and covering a period of time that doesn't get covered a lot in history. Each chapter (with the exception of the first and the afterword) covers a month, which means that some chapters are longer by necessity, but I still got through this in five days of commute at a chapter each way. Mièville also includes further reading at the end, if you want a deeper dive. The afterword is particularly striking. Definitely take a look at this one. Books read: 53
  25. Hellboy Library Edition v6: Mignola is amazing, Fegredo/Stewart is god mode, and it's amazing to watch his arc for Hellboy come to a conclusion. The one-shots that made up the back half were pretty damn fun too. Looking forward to the library edition for Hellboy in Hell in October. Zines: 9 Single Issues: 199 Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 79 Omnibuses: 4