Within ten minutes I shut Love and Thunder off. I'd not expected to find it enjoyable, and so I walked in with lower expectations. Oh my dear Lord, it was so much worse than I expected, as an adaptation. Gorr's opening was so spiteful, so gross, so mean, that I almost shut it off on reflex. But I sat through a few minutes more, saw what I expected to see about Thor, which wasn't a bad thing per se, but it certainly didn't undo Gorr, so I shut it off to go to bed.
I woke up, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Thor's set up was interesting, Gorr's scene had totally spat upon the source material in a way that's becoming more and more common these days... did I want to endure the idiocy so I could get an actually interesting story with Thor?
And then my comics came in
About twenty or so comics, for about thirty bucks, thanks to Alterna Comics. So I decided to read some.
God, Red Koi hasn't been bad for even one issue. Even ones that I like less, like the most recent #6, are at worst entertaining and interesting. Weland does some world-building, which I didn't want, but I'm sure the series will be more interesting down the road for the effort. The Swan King's an awesome character, I just wish I could have seen more of Eiko, that's all. Otherwise it's a solid story with good art.
You know what I didn't like? Void Walker.
This was a series that went too hard on in media res. They were trying to do emotional beats along with worldbuilding and twists.... pick two. No, you don't get all three. Just two. The series tried to bite way off more than it could chew. But isolation all the pieces were excellent! There was good backstory, fantastic worldbuilding... it just should have been eight issues, not four. Hell, you could have gotten away with a full twelve-issue run. I won't be keeping these comics. They're not worth rereading to me. But y'know what? I'm not particularly mad that I spent the money. It was an honest effort on the part of the team, and even an honest failure is something enjoyable, on some level.
And then I read Tinsel Town, and really liked it!
This sucker is a historical fiction about a token female cop in the early 20th century becoming a real one. This is not the sort of thing I'd normally read, but I figured "Why the heck not, it's ten bucks". And my goodness it was great! It's not some standard idiotic woman acting like a man in order to get what she wants, but a genuine feminine character who happens to be tough as nails and isn't going to back down on anything. It's a wonderful read, having a great balance of action, romance, darkness, and historical commentary. Not at all what I expected.
I've not read them all yet. I've now got all the issues of Downcast, which I've been enjoying, and I just threw some series in, just for a random lark. I later caught up. Wow. It’s a good science fantasy slow burn, with some really awesome worldbuilding and character work. The plotting is extremely well done and rewards rereading. I’m definitely hooked now. When’s the next issue???
So I went back to my novel, Interlibrary Loan, Gene Wolfe's last book! It wasn't really finished, but it's a powerful book about eugenics and hope and love and the ultimate rejection of the rotten bifurcation of modernity, with one of the most powerful and puzzling endings I've ever read. Flawed, but oh so beautiful.
And then I realized I had the original Redwall still checked out from the library. It's been years since I've read it, so I tucked in immediately. The prose is a bit clunkier than I remember, but it's Jacques's first novel, so y'know, it's gonna happen.
By the time I thought about that abortion of a movie it had been well over seven hours. I chuckled when I thought about it. I had no need for the movie. I've got the original run by Aaron, sitting in my short box. And that is an amazing run. I love it so very much. It's goofy and sincere and dangerous and menacing and campy and oh so very genuine, all at once. Sure, Aaron's a miserable leftist without a clue, but my God he wrote a good Thor arc here. I'm really blessed to have it. I mean it: the Gorr comic arc is absolutely amazing.
Oh, wait, I was talking about the movie, right? That's what this post was about, right? I think? I got distracted by having fun. It almost feels like that's what's missing from a lot of modern mainstream comics too, y'know? Man, not like Superior Spider-Man back in the day. Slott was firing on all cylinders back then. I got that back in my box too and...
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