REVIEW: End of Month Reviews #84 - December 2010 [spoilers]

[Andrew Perron]

On Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:15:36 +0000 (UTC), Saxon Brenton wrote:

> [REVIEW] End of Month Reviews #84 - December 2010 [spoilers]  

<snip>

> Also posted:
>      Anal-Retentive Archive Kid: A Judicious Use Of Overkill #11  [LNH/WRIMO]
>      Going Solo #4  [StarFall]  {high concept #15}
>      Sonnet Null  [ASH]  {high concept 16}

And Men's Courses Will Foreshadow... should be in here.

>      Hmm.  By strange coincidence Ted and Andrew have both roped in 
> friends to write for rec.arts.comics.creative, and the output for both 
> James Mason and Robin Strickland turn up in December.  Which means that 
> once again the 'Best New Writer' award at the RACCies is a contest rather 
> than a door prize.

I know!  Seriously, of all the luck. `-`

> Corps of Discovery #1 
> 'Tesla Boys!'
> An Academy of Super-Heroes [ASH]
> by Andrew Perron

<snip>

>      With that in mind, I'm expecting this to be an adventure series 
> starring various shades of nerd who know just enough to get themselves 
> into trouble.

See, I'm thinking along the lines of '50s science fiction anthology series,
with a different weird SF (or at least sci-fi) concept each week, only with
recurring characters.  But I haven't thought of any good ones yet. :/

>      And I'll cheerfully admit to being vastly amused by the character 
> concept behind Z-Man.

It's pretty great.  Note he's totally a Dvandom creation, as is every
character in this except Jim Smiley (and Jack's cameoing assistant).

> Godling #19
> 'The Battle for New Troy'
> A Miscellaneous [Misc] series
> by Jochem Vandersteen

<snip>
     
> Adding in more scenes of about the 
> same length or perhaps slightly longer shouldn't change the pacing too 
> much.  On the other hand, I think that significantly longer scenes might 
> start to change the style of the series.

Yeah.  Doing more *content* in a single issue doesn't necessarily mean
longer individual *scenes*.

> Nevertheless, unless Jochem's deliberately 
> revamping his entire writing style, I think that it would be wise to keep 
> the sentences short and punchy even if he's adding more content.

Yeah.  Honestly, I think the best thing he could do is keep the speed and
punchiness, and just add a bit more... well, *polish*, I guess.

> Looniverse Y #7
> 'Incorrupting The Corruptible'
> A Legion of Net.Heroes Y [LNHY] series
> by Andrew Perron
>      
>      Struck by a sudden fit of inspiration, Andrew decided to do 
> something with the status quo of the Mysterious Shadowy Messing-with-
> Destiny Dude.

Mwahahaha.  They are the best.

> The Franchise Setup Kit 
> gets misplaced into Kid Enthusiastic-Y's possession, and when he discovers 
> it in his backpack the Setup Kit turns him !!!Eeevil!!!  

Actually... no.  His personality does not, in fact, change at all.  ...it's
more twistedly ridiculous this way.

> One Day at a Time #1-6
> A Miscellaneous [Misc] series
> by James Mason 
>      
>      After thinking about this series for a while I've reached the 
> conclusion that the description I'm looking for isn't quite 'slapstick' 
> (although goodness knows there's a lot of physical humour here) but 
> 'burlesque'. 

bur·lesque
–noun
1. an artistic composition, esp. literary or dramatic, that, for the sake
of laughter, vulgarizes lofty material or treats ordinary material with
mock dignity.

Makes sense to me - treats ridiculous things as normal and normal things as
ridiculous.

> Silver Arrow #4
> "The Difference Made"
> A StarFall [StarFall] series
> by Ted Brock

<snip>

>      Jade, you aren't well.  I could go and hypothesise that in order to 
> emotionally deal with the way you became deadened to the criminal facade 
> you crafted for yourself, that you distanced from the criminality of 
> 'Tong member' by growing enamoured of the slightly more glamorous 
> criminality of 'supervillain'.  But in any case, you haven't found your 
> true self; you've lost track of yourself.  Soon you'll be *monologing*!  
> Run, don't walk, to a psychiatrist.

Actually... I could theorize that she's found her true self by embracing
not just the *glamor* of supervillainy, but the *ethos* of it.  Could be
that she's not just *mistaken* about the kind of criminality she's in, but
actively *rejecting*.

>> Still, there's 
>> something different in the world since the Quake.  What would have had 
>> people sending for the men in white coats is now considered 
>> commonplace, even acceptable. 
>      It probably ties in with an underlying change in the nature of 
> reality post-Reality Quake, but I think it boils down to a version of the 
> old adage:  'If it was silly but now it works, then it's no longer silly.'  

Indeed. <3

> Spellbinder #1-2
> 'Take This Job and Shove It'  and  'Astral Weeks'
> A StarFall [StarFall] series
> by Robin Strickland

<snip>

>      That's the setup and plot.  As far as personality is concerned 
> Chelsea is very much like Doctor Strange on one key point: when she's 
> outgunned in terms of sheer power she simply outthinks her opponent.  
> Witness her tactics both against the Wild Hunt and in subverting the 
> Mystic Oath; both are classic examples of lateral thought.

Which is always a wonderful thing to give your hero.

> Chelsea lives in what passes as the modern day version 
> of Earth of the StarFall imprint, and it's worth remembering that the 
> Reality Quake occurred in the recent past and acts as the handwave 
> needed to explain any 'four colour comic book' style weirdness that 
> occurs in this imprint.

And also, I *think*, as what brought the gods back?

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