REVIEW: End of Month Reviews #71 - November 2009 [spoilers]

[Andrew Perron]

On Dec 9, 8:36Â pm, Saxon Brenton <saxonbren... at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Coherent Super Stories #18

<snip>

> From a storytelling pint of view finding out... stuff... is  
> important, because Jack is the (fictional) brother of the (real life) Â 
> Robert Ripley of 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not' fame, and Jack uses his  
> kit bashing abilities when he acts as an agent for his brother in searching  
> out exotic titbits of information.  This is a secondary character premise  
> that I find rivals the contest premise as a point of interest.

Agreed!  I could see Jack Ripley supporting a whole series.

> Honey-Love Bunny #1-4

<snip>

>      Now, simply because the Honey-Love Bunny stories are different from  
> pretty much anything else on RACC does not mean they are without merit. Â 

Indeed!  I'd like to see more weird experimental stuff like this.

> Or to put it another  
> way, it looks as though Matthew decided to tell a variety of different  
> styles of stories based on a particular character who would act as the  
> unifying element.  There's nothing wrong with this as a concept.  I started  
> out my _Limp-asparagus Lad_ series with that as one of the secondary  
> considerations, and I nicked the notion from what Neil Gaiman is said to  
> have planned for his _Sandman_.
>      The problem is that while it's possible to tell a succession of  
> stories in different styles, this in turn requires a continuing thread of  
> something else - usually of plot that forms an overarching story arc - to  
> draw the series together.  I can't discern anything like that in this  
> case.  There doesn't even seem to be consistency in basic motivation for  
> the lead character.

I disagree.  It's not very defined, but there's a weird sense of
"innocent abroad"/"stranger in a strange land" that seems to define
Honey-Love Bunny.

> Just Imagine Saxon Brenton vs. Andrew Perron in the Return of the RACCies! #5 Â 
> A Legion of Net.Heroes [LNH] chaotic add-on cascade
> by Andrew Perron
>
>      Okay, so.  Last issue Andrew *finally* managed to rope in a second  
> writer, making this story a proper multi-writer cascade. Â 

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

> This issue the characters (Bluetooth, Manga Man Violet, and newly joined by the Red
> Herring) proceed to advance various plot threads.  Part of this involves  
> trying to get more people to represent the other colours of the spectrum  
> (yes, it's turning - at least in part - into a Blackest Night parody/
> pastiche/what-have-you).  For this they call upon the help of another of  
> the Mangateers (aka the Power Manga), Manga Man Pink.  Another plot thread  
> is used when they meet up with the heroes who have been affected by the  
> Legacy Beam (Hi-Fi Lorelai, formerly Kid Hyperdefinition; and Blasferatu, Â 
> formerly Longinus). Â 

Whom I've been having trouble actually fitting into the plot.  Gleh.

> Other (extant) plot threads that are as yet untouched  
> are regaining the Legacy Beam from the Interim Iconoclasts and figuring  
> out the mystery of Just Imagine Saxon Brenton Presents the RACCies Again #6.

At least one of these will be resolved in the next issue!

> Â  Â  Â - pant pant pant -
> Â  Â  Â Now, the story itself manages to advance these various plot points, Â 
> and even throw in a brief fight scene when Convoluted Origin Man shows up, Â 
> after having been turned into a continuity zombie by the Hungry Past. Â 
> However for the most part the story is exposition and characterisation. Â 

This seems to be a trend for this series, due to the sheer volume of
retcons and explanation involved in tying three cascades into a single
coherent story.  Also I like them.

> The Mangateers act like fanboys, and so there's a lot of banter involving  
> references to manga, anime, role playing games and conventions.  Meanwhile  
> Bluetooth continues to struggle with his Darkening in amusing ways.  And  
> the Red Herring is still as insane as it was when it first appeared back  
> in _F.I.S.H. Force_. Â 

Whew.  I was worried about correct characterization here.

> Completely silly but perfectly readable.

Yay!  Thankee much!

> Legion of Net.Heroes Volume 2 #30
> 'The Articulated Man!'
> A Legion of Net.Heroes [LNH] series   {high concept 4 contest}
> by Andrew Perron

It's ME month!

>      This is a great little comedy of errors.  The story is a simple  
> premise which is dealt with in a direct and uncomplicated way (and yes, Â 
> I'm jealous, since my HCC4 entry collpased under its own weight in trying  
> to deal with its premise).

This is mostly because I came up with the idea and wrote the story
over the course of about twelve hours.  I don't think I've ever done
that before, and while I'd like to do it again sometime soon, I'm not
gonna try to force it.

> Superhuman World 2009: A Date with the Darkness  

<snip>

>      The thing is it feels as though it should be the opening chapter in  
> a much longer story.  For me this comes partly from the brevity of the  
> plot, and mostly from the way Leon learns something but the reader doesn't  
> find out what he *gets* from that information.

Yeah, I got that feeling too.  It seemed like I was missing something.

>      On the other hand, in all probability this post was simply something  
> put together for the High Concept challenge without necessarily being part  
> of something bigger other than a larger setting.  In other words, perhaps  
> it's not part of a larger story but simply a vignette showing part of a  
> world.  Supporting this view is that the author's notes tells us that the  
> Bride of Ultimate Darkness is an established character in other stories  
> written by Scott and available on his webpage, while Leon is new.

Ahhhhhh, interesting.  I swear I'm going to get around to reading
those eventually.

>  It's  
> plausible that Leon is simply a to-be-only-briefly-used point of view  
> character, focusing on his reaction to her unique situation. Â However, Â 
> that in turn comes back to the need for the reader to find out what  
> Leon's reaction *is* beyond the merely immediate and physical.

Indeed!  Remember, every issue is someone's first!

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, semblance!