[REVIEW/ACRA] End of Month Reviews #41 - May 2007 [spoilers]

[Martin Phipps]

On Jun 14, 2:33 am, Martin Phipps <martinphip... at yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Jun 13, 10:03 am, "Saxon Brenton" <saxonbren... at hotmail.com> wrote:

> > Superfreaks Season 2 #11-12
> > `Genesis'  and  `Apocalypse'
> > A Superfreaks [Superfeaks] series
> > by Martin Phipps
>
> >      Superfreaks continues apace.  There are a few incidents from the
> > April issues that stick in my mind, such as the way that Super Soldier's
> > indestructible shield protected his torso from the attack by Fusion but
> > allowed the rest of him to be disintegrated.  <chuckle>  Not something
> > that you're ever likely to see happen with Super Soldier's counterpart
> > Captain America of course, but that simply highlights a fundamental
> > difference between Martin's _Superfreaks_ series and most other
> > superhero settings: it's science fiction to their fantasy.
> >      Allow to explain.  There are a number of definitions that
> > differentiate science fiction and fantasy.  Recently when I was browsing
> > the web (on the TV Tropes Wiki pages) I stumbled across this one: that
> > science fiction is about the social consequences of improbable new
> > events or technologies, while fanatasy is simply about telling a good
> > story.  By that definition _Superfreaks_, is science fiction - even more
> > so the Academy of Super-Heroes universe, which has traditionally been
> > RACC's front runner in that regard.  It is primarily about the
> > consequences, usually in legalistic terms, of superhero tropes.
>
> I agree with your analysis.  My background makes it difficult to write
> about talking gorillas outside of farce so I compromised and wrote
> about a chimp who could sign.  I'm afraid I posted way too late for
> apes month.  (Tom seems to think I write these and post them right
> away.  I don't.  Not really anyway: I probably won't post a
> Superfreaks story again until Septemberbut I will be trying to come
> up with ideas in the meantime, if only to finish the season. :))

On second thought, I think I'll stop here and consider the second
season finished.  I was just thinking that Superfreaks, what with all
the swearing (which is what would happen in real life if you'd just
been convicted based on a chimpanzee'z testimony), is strictly cable
TV level entertainment and that, therefore, Superfreaks (Season 1) #13
would have been acceptable even with the nudity and sexual
situations.  With the Night Man and Moon Boy story forming part of the
series proper (possibly "aired" between #'s 3-4 and with a sequence at
the beginning and end to establish that it is Moon Boy thinking back
to what happened, possibly explaining it to Amazing Girl) you have 22
episodes for Season 1.  If Season 2 begins with the five "Silver Age"
epsisodes then Season 2 is also already 22 episodes.  That's fine.
That's enough.

> It
> is similarly difficult for me to deal with time travel or other
> dimensions because I feel I have to do it right and have the science
> make sense: real comics (and TV!) doesn't seem to care so much about
> that.

If you've read Superfreaks Season 2 #'s 16-17 then you know that the
plans that I had in mind crystalized and were post way before
September and that they formed a two issue arc instead of the multi-
issue arc needed to complete a whole season.  That's fine, actually. I
just reread #17 and I'm happy with it, even though it is short.
(There have been short episodes of Smallville and Heroes that have
been padded with long recaps at the beginning and of course CSI is
padded with musical interludes in which we just see characters
examining evidence.)  So I think I should quit while I'm ahead: if I
continue posting Superfreaks stories just to pad things out then the
quality will go down and I will just face ridicule for that (not by
you, Saxon, but I'm sure somebody else would ridicule me if the
quality of the series were to go down).

Come to think of it, this works out great!  If Season 2 begins with
the Silver Age Superfreaks arc and ends with the two part Superfreaks
2048 arc then we will have followed sixty years of Superfreaks in one
season!  I also think that Superfreaks Season 2 #17 makes a great
season / series ender: I'm really happy with how it turned out
(because a lot happened in that one episode).  I was thinking of
stretching the series out and having Mary give birth and maybe having
Lana also get pregnant but -ugh- that would be so anticlimactic after
seeing how their kids turn out.  It's a logical ending to the series.
I actually feel relieved that I don't have to constantly try to come
up with unique ways of killing people: I'm not the kind of person that
enjoys that sort of thing, really. :)

Martin