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

[Scott Eiler]

On 7/7/2014 4:17 PM, Andrew Perron wrote:

>      As I've said before, feedback makes communities stronger, and we
> have some people in our commuity who are *really good* at feedback.
> Saxon, I love your opinions and how you express them. Tom, I've also
> been reading *your* reviews from 2006, and they're great. Scott,
> you're... kind of already doing that; good job, keep it up.

Hooray!  I'm adequate!  8{D>

>     I'd like to challenge everyone on RACC to do either one review or one
> substantive reply to someone else's story per month. And that includes
> you lurkers out there! I see you!
>     Probably we won't all be able to keep that up, but I think it's worth
> a bit of a try. What do you think, sirs?"

You've already seen my philosophy in action.  I think reviewing 
shouldn't be a chore, so I try to keep mine short and zippy.  And I 
don't feel I need to score review points - which would be wrong here 
because here I am, piggybacking on *yours*.

(Everything else I wanted to comment on, I think I already have.  Arthur 
knows where to find my comments on Facebook.)

> <---------------------->
>
> The Continentals
> "The Fire Next Time"
> A webcomic [WWW] series
> by Darryl Hughes and Monique MacNaughton
>
> "Now that Smythe and Fiziwigg (those names!) have revealed that there
> were not one but two killers behind the 'Mangler' name, we get into some
> good old-fashioned classism, as the Inspector refuses to believe that
> the well-respected Dr. Daniel Abbeline is the other killer. Our
> sleuthing duo lays out the evidence that a combination of familial love,
> scientific ambition, and straightforward revenge has driven him to
> kidnapping, unlicensed experimentation, and muuuuurder, but the
> Inspector isn't having it - yet..."

This story might work as a six-issue comic book series.  That's 
something like 132 pages, depending on how big they make the dang things 
nowadays.  I suppose giving away one page as a free sample once a week 
is one way of drumming up demand.  But unfortunately, watching the same 
professional police inspector dither on the same topic for a month or 
two is making me wish the Manglers would hurry up and blow up the 
station house.

> Journey Into #19
> "Wobblies on a Train!"
> An Eightfold [8FOLD] series {HCC46}
> by Tom Russell
>
> "This is just plain fun."
>
> "In essence, two of the Eightfoldiverse's B-listers accidentally run
> into each other on a train, and almost come to blows before discovering
> each other's identities (in what looks like an homage to Superman #76
> and/or Superman/Batman Annual #1) and teaming up against the *real*
> villain."
>
> "Hotspur's a good villain for this. He's not just a maniacal destroyer;
> he's also a gimmick-based theme villain perfect for a Modern-Age-
> interpretation-of-the-Silver-Age story such as this one. And the Modern
> Age-iest part of the story, the shifting between Dr. Metronome's
> viewpoint and Knockout Mouse's, does exactly what the best of such
> interpretations do - gets into the head of the characters and brings
> their emotions to the forefront."

Why yes, this story was fun.  I've heard it said that Superhuman World 
2010, err, 1912-2011 is a mosaic comic - so naturally I like that sort 
of thing.  Stories like this make me think Eightfold makes a nice mosaic 
comic too.


> Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an
> Ending #10
> "Good Duck!"
> A Classic Legion of Net.Heroes and Superhuman World [LNH/SW10] chaotic
> add-on cascade
> by Scott Eiler
>
> "The big-ticket cascade and PRETTY MUCH the only thing that's going on
> in the LNH right now returns!"

oh, and just look at all that Legion content.  8{D>

> "The basic idea behind Just Another Cascade is to get people to finish
> the storylines that they've left dangling. This is pretty common among
> LNH writers; as amateurs doing it for their own enjoyment, it's easy to
> get distracted or get bored. But it also happens outside of the LNH, and
> Scott has taken advantage to return to a storyline last visited in 2011 -
> itself involving elements from The Super Wizard From Space!"

okay, holding at zero Legion content!

> "I'm actually worried about Psychovant now. He's grown on me! But this
> status quo update is fascinating - an excellent use of the larger
> cascade, reminiscent of Rob Rogers using Bad Forms or the Infinite
> Leadership Crisis to push his characters into new areas."

I have a secret for the readers of RACC:  This status update was 
Andrew's idea.  *My* idea was to dump Psychovant and his new bunny pal 
into cages in a biology lab in Power City 1955.  But first I checked 
with the guy who *wrote* the relevant preceding episode to see what he'd 
intended.  And he of course intended to end cascades.

> "(Also, I'm *itching* to do another chapter of this. Ahhhhhh, must let
> someone else first...)"
>
> New Bosnia #2
> "The Land of Coins and Diners"
> A Superhuman World [SW10] miniseries
> by Scott Eiler
>
> "What the Heck Is This: The Super-Savior and 143,999 others planned to
> escape the Twilight of the Superhuman World with a land grab in an Earth
> claimed by the Turkish Empire. The Turks were ready, but then a third
> party intervened - Gavrilo, the Super-Wizard Monster Bee!"

gee, Andrew, is this the 'nother chapter you intended?  It is to me.  8{D>

> "Ah, I shouldn't have worried - even sans most of his power, Psychovant
> can take care of himself. Also, Scott's reactions are pretty dang
> adorable. I'm looking forward to #3!"

gee, the Super-Savior was pretty cute at times, but *I* didn't see the 
Author being adorable in this issue.  Did I blink and miss something?

> "Nitpick: Shouldn't Gavrilo's servant-bee be more careful about saying
> his name, due to the 'if you know a Super Wizard's name you're immune to
> their Super Wizard powers' rule? Indeed, how does said servant know the
> name in the first place?"

Aww, dammit, you're right!  Sort of.  On the one hand, Gavrilo is 
increasingly bound by bee rules instead of Super Wizard rules now, and 
(in my opinion) the Killer Beeszzz from Beyond *share their names* in 
their common bee tongue.  That's exactly why Gavrilo got himself as far 
from Beyond as he could in the first place, so as not to compromizzze 
Super Wizzzards.  On the other hand, Gavrilo was a *hermit* Super Wizard 
and probably didn't share *anything* he didn't have to.  I reserve the 
right to retcon this, but I shall have to consider some dandy plot 
interactions first.


> Nonfiction #2
> "The New War"
> An Eightfold [8FOLD] story
> by Tom Russell
>
> "I'm reminded of a comment about Star Trek, and about various episodes
> that revolved around playing by a specific planet's weird rules (for
> instance, the one where all crimes were punished with the death penalty
> in a random part of the planet, and then Wesley like broke a greenhouse
> or something?) or they wouldn't join the Federation. And about how, if
> the Klingons or the Romulans or basically anyone else in the Trekverse
> were trying to add that planet to *their* empire, the conflict between
> politeness and saving their crewmate would be... well, much less of a
> conflict."

I recall Wesley facing the death penalty for walking on the grass.  That 
episode was perhaps the very first I'd ever seen of the new series, and 
I don't recall there being a lot of dynamic tension about the enemies of 
the Federation wanting to annex that particular garden spot.  Indeed, I 
don't recall how it worked out.  The only tension I recall was the 
planetary authorities saying "Obviously we can't stop you", and 
obviously they didn't, and the planet was never important again...  but 
I digress.

> "Of course, the difference here is that the Pulse Collective are, or
> seem to be, much more powerful than these one-planet civilizations.
> Still... usually, single breaches of politeness aren't the real reason
> for a war; they're excuses for a war that one side or both already
> wanted, or they're part of a larger pattern of behavior. So I'm
> wondering if the Pulse Collective already had designs on Earth, and was
> counting on the Earthlings to screw up one way or another..."
>
> "...oh, hey, I kept reading and the story itself came to that conclusion
> as well. Well! Very good then!"

yay

> "...right, moving right along. The story(ish) makes some very good
> points about the different kinds of alien invasion. (I note that the
> 'universal locusts' model is explicitly how the aliens from Independence
> Day were described - coincidence? Inspiration?) I already made points on
> Burton's commentary in the thread. And I note that the idea of 'the last
> story' is an interesting one - but hopefully, not what Tom's aiming for
> just yet."

The story got me a lot more excited about the follow-ons than did the 
(err, literal) farce that preceded it.  *Now* I'm looking forward to a 
galactic war!  Earth vs. the Galactic Empire might just be a lot like 
Conquistadors vs. Aztecs.


> The Super Wizard From Space #45-47
> "The Red Hand of General Dragutin" Parts 2-4
> A Marlo Vivo [MV] series
> by Wil Alambre

oh, is that what MV stands for?

> "'I can't weaponize the moon again for at least twelve minutes.' What a
> perfect line. It doesn't feel like it's *trying* to impress you, it's
> just - wow. This whole storyline - wow."

I kind of took that for granted.  When a race can grab solar fire, 
weaponizing their moons is a natural consequence.  However, if they can 
grab solar fire from twelve light-minutes away, it's showing restraint 
*just* to weaponize the moon.


-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

When you *are* the leader... whatever goes wrong... whether you did it
or not... *you* are held responsible. - Barack Obama

I know. - Archie Andrews

- from Archie #617, March 2011, scripted by Alex Simmons.