Tag: Comics

After listening to the audio version, I re-read Final Crisis…

After listening to the audio version, I re-read Final Crisis, Rogues Revenge & Superman Beyond, plus read some of the tie-ins for the first time.

– Superman Beyond is essential.
– Submit (Black Lightning/Tattooed Man) adds a lot by showing the personal impact of the event, plus fills in plot.
– Resist (Checkmate) broadens the scope but can be skipped. (I do like using the captive villain AIs as a way to get around the ALE’s control of communication channels)

#AmReading #comics #FinalCrisis

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Rogues Revenge was in the works before Final Crisis, and it shows. It still works as Rogues: Rebirth, but now I think the FC connections hurt more than they help.

Revelations is a much tighter story that weaves in and out of issues 2 & 3 (if not seamlessly), picking up the Crime Bible & Vandal Savage and showing the early stages of Darkseid’s takeover. I didn’t read it originally, but I’m glad I finally got around to it.

#comics #FinalCrisis #AmReading

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I didn’t re-read Requiem. I still haven’t picked up Rage of the Red Lanterns. (I’d forgotten the Alpha Lanterns were involved in Final Crisis.)

I also didn’t re-read Legion of Three Worlds, which IIRC has nothing to do with Final Crisis except Superman passes through it between Superman: Beyond and his return to Final Crisis when Braniac 5 shows him the Miracle Machine. (3 versions of the LSH, none of which were the one that I actually followed).

I do want to re-read Multiversity now, though.

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Expanded on Speed Force

Finished listening to the Graphic Audio adaptation of FInal Crisis. It actually flows better than …

Finished listening to the Graphic Audio adaptation of FInal Crisis. It actually flows better than the comic, especially toward the end, when the comic starts fragmenting the narrative (which is great metatext, but there’s a lot of “what just happened?”). Scenes are fleshed out, and the multi-flashback structure of the last chapter is made linear instead.

#amreading #comics

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A lot of that is probably the novelization it was based on (it credits the story only to Greg Cox, with no mention of Grant Morrison or any of the artists, which seems a shame), but I don’t think it would work well as a book.

The voice acting, music and sound make up for a lot of the lost visual punch and visual structure of the story, and it needs more than just the words.

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Expanded on Speed Force

One of the weird things about the Final Crisis audio book is that it incorporates …

One of the weird things about the Final Crisis audio book is that it incorporates *some* of the tie-ins, but excludes the one that sets up Mandrakk. Scenes showing what’s happening to Batman in the Evil Factory are included, and all of the Black Lightning/Tattooed Man story from Submit…but nothing from Superman Beyond. It (or the novelization it’s based on) actually replaces the Monitor who recruits Superman with Braniac 5, sending him off to L3W but not including it!

#comics #amreading

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In Final Crisis, the Anti-Life Equation is able to compel the surrender of free will. …

In Final Crisis, the Anti-Life Equation is able to compel the surrender of free will. Those who have submitted spout slogans about how it justifies anything, how it’s so much easier than the struggles of life and love.

It’s insidious, because in some ways it *is* easier to offload tough decisions to a schedule, a policy, a leader, etc. The brain likes taking shortcuts around cognitive load. But people want to be *able* to make choices when they want to.

#amreading #comics #psychology

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Another interesting thing about Final Crisis is how much damage Darkseid does just by existing. …

Another interesting thing about Final Crisis is how much damage Darkseid does just by existing. He doesn’t do any traditional super villain things in the entire story. No battles, no plotting. He just sits on his throne, yaking advantage of a battle he already won, imposing his will on an entire planet. He spends most of the story sitting on an underground bunker, but his presence presses down on the whole world.

#amreading #comics

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I’m also listening to the audiobook of Final Crisis, which is adapted from the novelization …

I’m also listening to the #audiobook of Final Crisis, which is adapted from the novelization rather than directly from the #comicbook. It fixes a lot of the choppiness and sparseness that made the original hard to follow at times. Narrative fills in which details you need to glean from the artwork.

And of course having it all together avoids the problem of delays between chapters that plagued the original release, though that’s true of the collected edition too.

#comics #dccomics

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But wow, I’m really seeing the parallels with Dark Knights: Metal even more strongly than when I was just comparing to memory.

Barbatos, like Darkseid, takes over the world between issues, and we jump to a handful of heroes mounting a desperate resistance. The lynchpin of the multiverse – conveniently the main DC Earth – is in danger of being pulled “downward” into an unending hell.

They’re a lot more alike than any of the Crisis events are to each other or to Metal.

#comics #DCComics

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Oh, can’t forget fighting twisted versions of the heroes. Except in Final Crisis, it was the actual heroes having been brainwashed, not expendable alternates.

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Because this year wasn’t weird enough already, the upcoming Christmas special from DC Comics is …

Because this year wasn’t weird enough already, the upcoming Christmas special from DC #Comics is the “DC Nuclear Winter Special,” featuring post-apocalyptic holiday tales. 😕

I’ve got an old “Weird Al” song running through my head now.

And a need for an emoji based on a certain Jackie Chan meme.

http://smashpages.net/2018/08/17/dc-comics-goes-nuclear-this-christmas/

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Hello, my name is Kelson. I’m a computer programmer in the Los Angeles area…

#reintroductions #introductions Hello, my name is Kelson. I’m a computer programmer in the #LosAngeles area. I like #scifi, #fantasy & #comics (behind on a lot, keeping up w/ #TheFlash, Saga & #JessicaJones). I tend to talk about #webdevelopment and #tech, and I still have a #blog.

I also talk about #books at @KelsonReads (currently reading Sparrow Hill Road) & post scenic #photography at @kelsonv

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I caught up on Flash War and its aftermath. I feel like it could have …

I caught up on Flash War and its aftermath. I feel like it could have been epic, but ultimately was just a way to break up #TheFlash family and set up the new Forces.

That’s a problem I’m having with DC #comics lately: Stories don’t feel like they start from the characters and new threats picking up where the previous story left off, they feel like they’re working backward from where everything needs to be to set up the next story and finding a way to get there.

#DCcomics #superheroes

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It’s been like that for a while. It was a problem with Flash: Rebirth, with Countdown, with Full Throttle. I sort of feel like the early New 52 escaped the problem and built more organically, at least some of the books I was reading. But those kept getting cancelled.

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If you compare Final Crisis to Metal, they’re both similar in structure: cosmic threat turns earth into a nightmare between panels, the heroes seek help from the multiverse to restore the world. But Final Crisis *finishes.* Metal sets up the alloys, the Challengers & Hawks, the crack in the Source Wall. It’s more like COIE in the way it works hard to set things up for the coming year(s) of stories.

#comics #dccomics

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I’m not big on audiobooks, but I picked up a DC Comics-related Humble Bundle…

I’m not big on audiobooks, but I picked up a DC Comics-related Humble Bundle a few weeks ago and I #amreading The Flash: Stop Motion by Mark Schultz. It’s kind of odd listening to a “Graphic Audio” adaptation of a prose novel based on a character who usually appears in visual media, but the full cast, sound effects, and music help to make up for the lack of actual visuals that I’ve found tends to hamper prose stories about superheroes.

#TheFlash #comics

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I read the book when it came out in 2004, and I’ve forgotten enough for it to be more-or-less “new.” It’s set during the Wally West/Keystone City era when the Flash’s identify was still public knowledge and he worked with Chyre & Morillo.

There are a few continuity issues that bugged me at the time (a lot of the story hinges on Iris & Wally being blood relatives, for instance) that don’t anymore, though I still have trouble with the opening scene where he’s treading air to “fly” w/the JLA.

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The ideas about the nature of super-speed, the speed force, the metagene, and ties to quantum physics still hold up, and would be fascinating to explore further (though they might overpower the character).

So far the audio adaptation works well, but my car’s sound system doesn’t handle the deliberately confusing battle sequences very well. Headphones might work better. And some of the conversations that work in print go on way too long in audio.

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Expanded on Speed Force

Speaking of Marvel stuff, I recently read 2 issues of the current #Quicksilver: No Surrender …

Speaking of Marvel stuff, I recently read 2 issues of the current #Quicksilver: No Surrender and the first issue of his 1990s series.

I’m really enjoying “No Surrender.” Good art, interesting character study, interesting superhero action, interesting concept…

The 90s series, not so much. It’s too wrapped up in other Marvel stuff (Wundagore, the High Evolutionary, etc) that I’m not familiar with and it doesn’t feel *focused*.

#comics

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Saga, Flash & Speed Buggy

Read some #comics today:

#Saga #52: The more innocuous the cover, the more apprehensive I am about the story. Interesting character bits, quick reversals and a nasty cliffhanger.

#TheFlash #47: Everything and the kitchen sink that’s missing from the current book, but playing out oddly disconnected.

Flash & Speed Buggy: Over the top.

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Caught up on some Marvel/DC comics this week

Caught up on some Marvel/DC #comics this week:

#JessicaJones got a nice send-off. Need to find time to watch season 2 of the show, looking forward to the comic returning after break.

#TheFlash still feels like they’re shaking things up every few issues just to shake things up, but it’s beginning to look like they might be going somewhere with it.

Dropping Titans. It had potential, but the team depends on character dynamics, and they’ve run those into the ground.

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introductions time!

#introductions time! I’m an LA-area programmer, #scifi / #comics / #fantasy fan & hobbyist photographer. I’ve been @kelsonv for a while, but I keep meaning to look for a more specific instance for fandom-related discussions. It looks like this might be it?

Watching #iZombie, #TheFlash & #TheMagicians, way behind on a bunch of other shows. Favorite comics ATM are #Saga & #AstroCity.

In the middle of re-reading all of #LesMiserables, currently on the chapters introducing Marius.

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It’s weird how it hides the instance name…my other accounts are on mastodon.social (my main one) and photog.social (my photography). Maybe I should’ve picked different usernames as well just for clarity?

On Wandering.Shop

I can’t remember two things about New 52 Wally West: 1. Did they confirm his mother died in Forever Evil, or is she still presumed dead? 2. He didn’t know Daniel was his father. Did he think Rudy was? So before classic Wally vanished, did they think they were half-brothers?

I can’t remember two things about New 52 Wally West:

1. Did they confirm his mother died in Forever Evil, or is she still presumed dead?

2. He didn’t know Daniel was his father. Did he think Rudy was? So before classic Wally vanished, did they think they were half-brothers?

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Wally I has history w/the Titans & Iris in this timeline from before Kadabra grabbed him. Wally II doesn’t remember him, but if he thought Rudy was his dad, they would’ve at least known of each other as half brothers, not cousins, even if he lived w/his mom.

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I imagine naming Rudy might’ve been a convenient fiction since Daniel was so young, but it would still have made for awkward family interactions, since Rudy was married and already had a kid. It really makes me wonder what arrangements were made among the Wests & Wally’s mom.

Also: Wally 2 was really upset that his father never acknowledged him as his son. But Daniel visited him. If he grew up thinking Rudy was his dad, but never met Wally 1, he must’ve felt abandoned by his dad.

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Looked it up: DCU Rebirth established the 2 Wallys had never met. Flash #9, they meet both masked & unmasked, but Wally 1 didn’t give his name. Also Wally 2 learns Daniel was his dad. Sins of the Father established Daniel was around, just pretending to be his uncle…and in The Lazarus Contract, Wally 2 learns who Wally 1 is. So that brings us to the Flash Annual status where both Wallys & Barry know who they all are.

But I still wonder about the West family dynamics.

I stopped when I got to #20, but didn’t see Wally 2 confronting Iris about her hiding Daniel’s relationship to him. It probably happened after he argued with Barry, but I didn’t see it.

Unspoken: how much did race factor into Wally 2 never meeting the West side of his family?

So DC decided it wasn’t already mining enough of Alan Moore’s ideas this year?

So DC decided it wasn’t already mining enough of Alan Moore’s ideas this year?

DC using Promethea bugs me more than them using Tom Strong.

Partly, Promethea is the only ABC comic I read through to the end, so it matters to me more.

Partly it’s the same as Watchmen: the series was *a story*, not episodes driven by a story engine.

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That said, the *concept* of Promethea *is* a story engine, which could have life and relevance beyond her original series – especially now.

But I don’t think she’ll achieve that as a guest star / supporting character in Justice League.

And having already alienated Alan Moore, you’d think they’d at least *say something* to JH Williams III about it.

Mastodon’s been trending again

So I noticed Mastodon’s been trending again & figured I’d take another look. I don’t need another time sink, but I figured it might be worth jumping in this time. Now to replicate just the good parts of that other network…

On Mastodon.Social

I should probably figure out what I want to talk about here before I try to figure out who to follow, huh? I mean, I’ll probably end up cross-posting photos & blogging (yes, I still blog), but other than that, do I want to talk about…tech? politics? comics? sci-fi/fantasy? I don’t think anyone I know IRL is here, so it’s a matter of topics for now.

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Actually, what *is* the etiquette for cross-posting here?

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So, the 5-7 interests meme (this feels like early 2000s LJ): #comics #scifi #space #computers #science #art #photography

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Hmm, looks like I may want to check out wandering.shop for scifi/fantasy and photog.social for photography…

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OK, so I’ve set up @kelsonv@photog.social for photography posting. I’ll probably keep this one for other stuff.