LNH/REVIEW: Kid Review's Roundup: October 2013

[Andrew Perron]

On Sat, 9 Nov 2013 23:09:04 +0000 (UTC), Tom Russell wrote:

> On Monday, November 4, 2013 12:01:01 AM UTC-5, Andrew Perron wrote:
> 
>> So... they blatantly stole the format of End of
>> Month Reviews and told me to use it."
> 
> I for one wholly approve of this act of wanton theft. I often tell my wife
> that I write everything I write for two people: myself, and one other
> person. During the tenure of Saxon's EoMR, I was always sure that I had my
> second person. During my brief and in retrospect destined for burn-out
> weekly review series, I tried to be that second person for others. I am
> glad that Kid Review  continues to carry on this fine tradition.

<3 Yeah, the main reason I'm doing this is just so that everyone gets
*acknowledged*, you know? So they don't feel like they're just writing to
the void.

>> "This is an entry for HCC40, Missing Adventures. It takes place between the
>> stories in Tom's wonderful Journey Into Annual #1, starring a version of
>> Santa Claus that's both deeply folktale-inspired and deeply
>> superhero-inspired. This makes sense, as any version of Santa Claus that
>> explores the character than 'like your grandpa, but with the power of
>> divine judgment' basically needs to draw from superhero characterization."
> 
> Specifically the Weisinger Superman comics, in which the character is 
> defined by his universe more than his own powers or personality. To the
> point, perhaps, where the character himself functions best as a straight
> man or cipher, the one stable fixed point on a bizarre and wondrous
> mini-universe. It is arguably the word-building and ideas that are more
> important than the mechanics of the story/plot itself. This is also true of
> certain types of children's stories, which is another reason why the Silver
> Age Giant-Yellow-Key Superman was a particular point of reference for my
> original cycle of Santa Claus stories.

Indeed! And much as the Silver Age Superman comics could get into odd,
bizzare and genuinely dark places, these stories can use the character and
his world to excellent effect.

>> It's hard to get into these characters - hard enough that I have a
>> tendency to mix up their names and occasionally completely misunderstand
> 
> Because the series has a lot of characters to keep track of, I'm presently
> working on a "Who's Who"/Fact File to be posted concurrently with this
> month's installment. I've tried to make the names different enough (for
> example, they all start with different letters) while still sounding like
> they derive from the same place culturally.

Very good! And it's okay - it's a hard job, making things both individually
indentifiable and of a similar strangeness.
 
>> The series demands patience and attention, dropping information
>> like this as part of dialogue or internal narration, and it's hard
>> sometimes when it starts out so alienating. It's an acquired taste, but
>> intriguing enough to pull me, at least, along."
> 
> Though the characters have some serious psychological damage and come from
> a profoundly cold and alien culture, I will say that it's not my intention
> to alienate. What I'm mostly going for is a pulp feel: garish, violent,
> sensationalist; bleak, yes, but in the service of a sort of tough or
> merciless quality that animates great brawny action-oriented
> entertainments. This does run somewhat counter to my usual concerns and
> methods, which are more sentimental and psychological. I'm a warm sort of
> person; I write mostly about warm (if melancholy, screwed-up, and/or
> haunted) people who are able to function in society. People like Martin
> Rock at least *want* and work towards happiness, friendship, and love, even
> if it is denied. The Orphans aren't even sure what those things are, let
> alone that they want them, or how to get them. And so that might account
> for the alienating quality somewhat.

Oh, yes. I think it's a combination of several things which are all good
ideas; characters from a unique culture, screwed up in a unique way, in a
world that, while terrestrial, is still alien. As the series progresses,
it's becoming easier to connect with them; you just have to work at it, in
an interesting way.

> Thank you as always for the kind words.

Certainly so! <3

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, the alienest.