REVIEW: End of Month Reviews #97 - January 2012 [spoilers]

[Andrew Perron]

On Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:44:04 +0000 (UTC), Saxon Brenton wrote:

>      Meanwhile, the ongoing struggle to get the EoMR out on time is made 
> manifest:
>      [- The Apathy Beast stalked the lines of text.  Its muzzle 
> wrinkled in revulsion at the sour taste of stubborn persistence.  Flecks 
> of foul and slightly acidic drool dribbled from its lips. -]

You can do it!  Lay the smackdown!

> For example, I've got a suspicion that my own frequent use of 
> metafiction and fourth wall breaking have reached the point of 
> stereotype.  

Honestly, I pretty much always enjoy it when you use these. <3

> I find it interesting that the 
> easiest way for me to differentiate these two models is to define one 
> in terms of its in-universe raison d'etre for forming the team, and the 
> other in terms of its external-to-universe reason for publishing a 
> comic about the team.  Hmmm.

Well, you could say that that's because the Justice League-esque type
exists for the same reasons as other teams: for heroes to work more
effectively by pooling their resources and coordinating their activities,
and that the "youth" aspect of it is simply a form of it being easier for
teens to work with teens.

> In addition 
> to the other young characters who have joined the LNH (plus May and 
> Jay, who are with the LNH for their protection during the investigation 
> of General Tran; there's a parallel to the 'world that fears and hates 
> them' theme), Google Lad's back history is that he was the sidekick of 
> the now deceased Google Man.  In other words, there's a mixture of 
> characters here, with Google Lad being used as the legacy character.

Indeed, and there's actually a bit of a theme of that running through
LNH20.  Fearless Leader was the youngest of the Saviors, and is now, as an
adult, running the LNH; Nerf Girl and Kid Enthusiastic are both the kids of
previous heroes; Doc Nostalgia is a previous hero reborn, as is Otherkin
Lad in a different way.  I'd say that LNH20 actually has *more* ties to its
IC previous generations of heroing than the mainline LNH, simply because
we've concentrated on setting them up. (And that'll matter quite soon...)

>      [- The Apathy Beast growled.  Legacy characters.  Rebooted imprints. 
> Reuse of themes over extended periods of time.  Foul.  Hateful.  
> Deserving of nothing but contempt and merciless destruction. -]

Mwahahahaha! <3 Investment is one of the Ways To Beat Apathy!

> By rights Tank is the type of mystically empowered problem that 
> Spellbinder should be dealing with as a default of her job description. 
> However the exact source of Tank's power has been cloaked, and instead 
> Spellbinder is called in for a teamup with other heroes in what is  
> basically the superhero community self-policing itself.  This may seem 
> overly serendipitous.

Not really; I thought the self-policing was by far the most realistic part
of the issue, and made a lot of sense in the context.
 
> In other words, the socio-political structure of the setting is used to 
> create conflict to drive the plot.  

Always good!

>      Let's look in on how _The Super Wizard From Space_ is doing.  My 
> goodness, up to issue 27 since it's inaugural issue in March last year.

Sadly, after this issue it seems to have frozen.

>      [- The Apathy Beast roars in frustration and rage.  Lengthy stories 
> with carefully thought out plots are bad enough.  Lengthy sequences of 
> stories made up as the author goes along are even worse.  Spitefully it 
> marks its territory all over TSWFS#27. -]

Ewwww!

>      And at the Legion of Net.Heroes HQ on Looniearth-A, Anal-Retentive 
> Archive Kid glances over as a new posting arrives from the RACC mailing 
> list.  He notes another issue of the _End of Month Reviews_ has arrived 
> (nearly chronically late, again) and scans through the contents page.
>      Then, in his best David-Tennant-playing-the-part-of-the-Tenth-
> Doctor impersonation, he utters a flat, "What?"

XD XD XD Yessssssss

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, remakes it up.