LNH/REVIEW: Kid Review's Roundup - March 2014

[Tom Russell]

On Sunday, April 27, 2014 3:39:02 PM UTC-4, Andrew Perron wrote:
> 
> "I really like Derek stepping up at the end of this issue. It feels 
> 
> like something that's been building for a while now, ready to pop."

Thank you.

> "And I hope it helps with another problem I've been feeling for the 
> 
> last couple issues. Specifically... Derek's been plagued by anxiety 
> 
> ever since the fiasco of Blue Boxer's first public appearance, 
> 
> occasionally dropping into a mode where he doubts himself, his friends, 
> 
> everything around him. And in and of itself, that's been an interesting 
> 
> character direction."
> 
> 
> 
> "The problem is... Knockout Mouse's inner thoughts have had a lot of 
> 
> the same quality. As have Martin Rock's, actually. And Lacey Trimmer 
> 
> often gives off a similar defensive, something-to-prove vibe. If it 
> 
> wasn't for Roy Riddle and Dr. Fay breaking things up every once in a 
> 
> while, the cast would pretty much be insecure, kinda bitchy people 
> 
> bouncing off insecure, kinda bitchy people.

Let me start by saying, of course and as always, that this is a valid criticism/reaction to the work, because that's the vibe you got, and I'm not one to say that my reading of my own work is any more or less valid than yours, nor is it for me to make that determination, etc. However, my read on the characters is a little different, and it could be that I just didn't "do the work" that was necessary to convey and explore certain qualities I was aiming to convey and explore.

Derek does have moments of doubt, and of depression, and generally has some self-esteem issues, which may partially be due to his past and, more generally, his age-- twenty can be a very difficult year for an angry young man who has lost his father. But I think his biggest hang-up isn't necessarily with how he sees himself, but with how others see him. Derek, in his better moments, knows that he's good at this-- he has save the world. Twice! But no one seems to give him credit for this-- at least in his own mind, the world sees him as the clumsy kid who was hanging off the side of the building in his first-app and followed it up by running face-first into the telephone pole. He wants desperately for people to recognize the talent he knows he has. To be taken seriously.

Knockout Mouse's doubts and anxieties parallel Derek's, and this is deliberate, but there is an important difference, and it's that Bethany isn't overly nor overtly concerned with perception. There's a scene in this issue where Bethany tries to explain how she's worried that she accidentally killed one of the mooks. Derek keeps harping on about "don't worry, they'll clear you"-- she can't get across to him that it's not about how other people see her.

Again, I'm not saying that Derek doesn't have doubts vis-a-vis "should I be in this line of work", just that I think the defining issue (if he can be tied down to one) is how others see him. There's a moment in this issue where Derek reads Bethany's report of the break-in, and she continually gives him credit and refuses to take any for herself. There's a line that goes something to the effect of he can't understand why someone so talented would constantly dismiss their accomplishments. And because this particular hang-up of his is so deeply ingrained, I think he really can't understand her doubts, and to a degree he really can't understand her extreme shyness. Derek is bookish, but he's much more extroverted. So like I said, there are certainly parallels between the two characters and their hang-ups, and that's deliberate, but there's also some key differences.

One thing Derek is working towards-- and this is something that will come to the fore in the next installment-- is figuring out his "niche" in the four-colour world. I don't want to get too much into it and spoil anything, but it isn't a niche that's going to necessarily give him the recognition-- at least publicly-- that he wants, and that is something he'll have to deal with.

Re: Lacey Trimmer, I don't know if it's so much that she has something to prove, to herself or to others. She's confident in her abilities and considers herself to be competent. From her point of view, Dani Handler was exactly the wrong person for the job, and if Lacey had been the FCL, the Little League of Doom situation just wouldn't have happened.

Now, Lacey has a difficult job-- Fitzwalter hangs over her just as much as it does Bethany, but in a different way. Jolt City's municipal budget has been rendered unworkable thanks to the ballot proposal that was approved in 2007; their major cash-cow and taxpayer, Cradle Industries, has left; there's been lots of carnage and property damage as a result of the little leaguers; their longstanding superhero the Green Knight is injured and obviously retiring, Darkhorse (II) was a non-starter, and all they have left is the kid who ran into the telephone pole. What all this means for her office is that she needs to attract (to her mind, more capable) heroes to a city that looks like it's being flushed down the toilet.

I think-- and this might become more apparent as we get to know Lacey, especially outside the confines of Derek and Martin's negative opinions of her-- that Lacey *absolutely* knows she's up for it. It's going to be hard, but she's going to do it. She's a hard-nosed professional who can be very mercenary about getting the job done. And (not to spoil too much here), but the next Mighty Medley will hint that by 2014 at least, it's paid off for her, at least professionally, in a big way.

> "In other news, these people are *really bad* at keeping their 
> 
> identities secret. It's cute!"

Well, Derek is, and that could easily compromise Martin's identity. Whether it has or not yet is still an open question, though Martin and Derek are unclear about whether or not Dr. Fay knows Martin's identity.

> "And one other thing. Looking through the copious footnotes, I find 
> 
> this comment in the entry explaining Anders Cradle: 'But this must be 
> 
> one of those cases where I severely dropped the ball, because I've yet 
> 
> to hear of anyone who feels even a lick of anything for Anders besides 
> 
> hatred and disgust.'
>
> 
> "Huh. I totally got what was going on there - someone who broke through 
> 
> their emotional barriers just soon enough to get a moment's 
> 
> understanding of what they had before it was gone, and tried to make up 
> 
> for it too late. Honestly, I kinda expected to see more of him than we 
> 
> eventually did."

I had planned for more Anders, though still in a limited way; he doesn't really fit in the action context as he wasn't going to ever put on a costume, become a villain, etc. But the feedback I got, both private and public, was overwhelmingly negative. One thing about working in a serial format is that you can emphasize what is popular, and re-tool or abandon what isn't. "Anders is a dick" was a pretty constant refrain, so when the opportunity presented itself for him, and his company, to leave the picture, I went that route.

> Weird Romance #3
> 
> "The Ache"
> 
> An Eightfold [8FOLD] series {HCC43}
> 
> by Tom Russell

> 
> "In this case, it's a twist on the idea that the vampire's bite turns 
> 
> one into a vampire. Here, the pleasure of the bite is, apparently, so 
> 
> all-encompassing that it gives one a need that can never be fulfilled, 
> 
> resulting in our protagonist, years later, feeling like a being that 
> 
> never gives, only takes."
> 
> 
> 
> "It's an interesting idea, but I don't think it quite works for me. I 
> 
> guess it's just the way the metaphor's supposed to work - the idea of a 
> 
> self-destructive but passionate love that ruins you for other people 
> 
> never made sense to me except as an expression of deeper problems.

It doesn't for me, either. That's not really what I was going for. First, let me clarify my approach to the Romance titles in general by stating that none of the Romance stories I wrote/write are love stories, as romance and love are mutually-exclusive things. Some of the stories might have actual love, or something like it, in them-- "Horny" from KINKY ROMANCE is one that immediately comes to mind-- but the stories are never about love.

So I didn't really intend for this story to be a metaphor, or at least not one for any kind of love. If it was a metaphor for anything, it's for the unbearable missing *something* some people have in their lives. They don't and perhaps can't ever know what it is, but they feel the lack of it acutely.

> "Wow, I'm being kinda harsh on Tom this time 'round. 

No, you're not being harsh at all. I learn something from every review, even when the reviewer didn't care for the story in question.

==Tom