A Lightkeeper's Log

First and foremost, my lovely author wrote this for me:

Title: Memories
Author: ariestess
Fandom: Babylon 5
Words: 1,200
Rating: Teen
Summary: "Five years ago today, Lyta Alexander came onto Babylon 5 with this big story about a Psi Corps mole on the station. Do you remember that?"
Notes: I love "Divided Loyalties" AUs so much. This fic has great Susan/Talia domestic touches, too.

( Ten other stories I liked )

I thought the were cute. All are G-rated.
Original: Mermaid/Human of adorableness
My Little Pony: FIM: Pinkie Pie/Fluttershy
Babylon 5: Narn OC/Human OC
DC Comics: Steph/Cass
Marvel Cinematic Universe: Pepper/Natasha
Doctor Who: Jenny/Vastra

fandom_stocking: Where you write that fic you wanted to write anyway/clear out your WIP folder, but now it's gift fic. I may be missing the point? But hey, I can't help it if people ask for exactly what I'm writing anyway.

Also, any excuse to rewatch The A-Team film. I have strong feelings about Liam Neeson, in my pants.

I have got my folks hooked on Elementary; that was unsurprisingly easy. I'm actually starting to feel vaguely fannish about it, which usually looks like thinking about crossovers. Joan Watson is the new companion on Doctor Who for example. Or Joan Watson in the attack on NYC in The Avengers.

I'm horrifically behind reading avengersfest fic. I need to catch up and make rec lists for great justice. Only three days of posting left there, and I want to read everything before reveals.

Otherwise, all my fanish feelings have been pointed at Quantum Leap. I want all the fic were Al and Donna are BFF.

Except I re-read The Pulse, and I now want to write about Luke Cage some more.

Am making Dad read Saucer Country which he likes well enough to follow in floppy, instead of trade waiting.

I was rereading Blue Beetle (largely over Nenya's shoulder, as I finally got her to read it), and I'm still Not Happy with how it ended, especially regarding the Peacemaker (as I've said before). Made worse by Jaime only being in that awful Generation Lost comic, and then being rebooted into further awfulness, and the Peacemaker never being seen again. WHY IS THERE NO HUGGING?

Also Ted Kord still doesn't exist.

On the bright side, my boostlethon assignment made me cackle with glee. "Be careful what you wish for," is all I say.

I want to cross seaQuest over with everything. Blue Beetle, Highlander, Captain America. Especially Captain America. They could totally find Steve in the ice. Speaking of shows with fucked up endings, though.

I just finished rereading A.C. Crispin's StarBridge, which I probably read three times as a teen, then spent the next two years hunting down the rest of the series. It's been out of print since the early '90s, but is now back in. If you're looking for multicultural YA set in an optimistic space travel future, with really amazing female protagonists, do check this series out. It's cheap, it's a fast read, and it'll make you feel better about humanity (and a bunch of other species to boot). Do mind where you buy though, Crispin has been having issues with her publisher not paying her; the books have reverted to her but they're still up in the wrong places too (see here for more details).

Interesting month for Marvel as they're rolling out their new "Now!" line. The angle seems to be "Comic should be fun," with Hulk, Iron Man and Cap all tending towards adventure titles rather then Noir, A+X rather than AvX, and women everywhere. Look at all those women! Women writing things, women drawing things women leading titles. Okay, so it's no where near parity, and really the total of female-characters leading books is three, but still, on ward and up ward, says I!

( MARVEL )

( DC AND DARKHORSE )

From the Marvel's Next Big Thing panel:

The writer promised that Gambit will "get back to his stealing roots, pinching his way across the Marvel universe in every way possible." Asmus' pitch was full of innuendo—"Gambit is going to satisfy you each and every month"—and he said page 1 is "a shower scene, but it's totally in character."

Marjorie Liu got large applause for her "Astonishing X-Men" #51, which saw the wedding of Northstar and his longtime boyfriend Kyle. Liu said the response has been "humbling," adding that "marriage is not the end-all, be-all—they had problems before they got married, and those will be exacerbated." Those problems will ramp up in issue #53, which Asmus joked would feature a "shower scene with Gambit." More seriously, though, editor Jeanine Schaefer said there would be a honeymoon issue.

Singh compared Matt Fraction and David Aja's "Hawkeye" to the Eisner-nominated "Daredevil" relaunch, saying it would be the book of the year. Editor Sana Amanat said there would not be a shower scene, but "he's with his shirt off for most of the series."

From DC's Superman panel:

The next fan to the microphone, dressed as Stephanie Brown, asked if in “Smallville Season 11” Stephanie would be showing up officially or if the rumors she had been taken out were true.

“The first rumor wasn’t known by us and I have not heard of the second in the halls of DC, so I can’t comment,” moderator John Cunningham told her.

“But there was art!” the fan responded.

“Are you going to believe art or are you going to believe us?” Lobdell asked as the audience laughed

Guess which company I currently like better.

ETA: from the Ultimate Marvel Panel

Singh said the "big three" of the Ultimate Universe now were Kitty Pryde, Miles Morales and Steve Rogers, making it have a different feel than the traditional Marvel U.

\o/

Most weeks I don't really care if Peter Parker lives or dies. The character has no real interest to me, and the only title I've ever liked him in was MC2's Spider-Girl, and he wasn't completely awful in various team books.

However, how great was Spider-Men #2? Okay, maybe a little too much punching, but it was so much fun, and I love Peter's hypothetical question, and everything with Nick. Also MILES! I <3 U FOREVER, Miles!

I also watched The Amazing Spider-Man, which I liked about 200% more than either Spider-Man which I found rather dull, and Spider-Man 2 which was an absolute disaster.

( Spoilers for things I liked and things I didn't )

Other comics: I'm completely gripped by the latest Daredevil. Like, I know he's probably going to be fine, but OH NOES! Matt! -clings-

Captain America and Iron Man: as I said over at cap_ironman, I really liked it. I liked the art, even though Tony's eyes fluctuated between brown and blue (I think they were supposed to be blue, and there was a colouring error on a couple of pages). I thought their relationship was more or less what I want it to be with Tony being joking and smart with an underpinning of angsty, and perhaps relying too much on his tech. Steve having some problems with the way Tony operates but still trusting him absolutely and admitting to his own flaws. There was a lot of mutual admiration, fond jibes and a decent fight scene. I'm also Very Concerned about Tony. Steve had better save him post haste.

Batwoman is confusing the hell out of me, right now. I wish they'd just put the story in order. It would probably read better in trade, but in flopy I don't know what's going on, and I have no investment in any of it. I'm really looking forward to #13 though. Just look at that cover! Also read what Williams is saying about the art.

Ghost was good, but probably not worth picking up Darkhorse Presents for, especially as I think it's getting its own run later.

I'm behind on everything else I think.

But yay! Spider-Man!

A couple of failing titles like JLI and Voodoo are apparently being taken out behind the chemical shed and shot, which is too bad as both could have done good things with better writers. They've been replaced by new titles, one of which actually looks interesting.

DC, in their apparently bottomless desire to baffle their readers, is changing the numbering system again. This means that we'll get to read origin stories that we've already read twenty times, and have trouble remembering how to sort the floppies for years to come. Unless the title is by Paul Cornell, who seems to be ignoring all this.

*Donates pre-ordering.

( Read more... )

If you're looking for the Lent post: it's Sunday; Michael didn't post a sermon, and I'm taking the day off.

So apparently it's Kelly Sue DeConnick's mission in life to make me a happy woman. To that end, in July a new ongoing series will start featuring Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel. Follow the link for preview art and an interview with DeConnick.

I just finished the last trade of Steph's Batgirl series, which I got ages ago then never got to reading. Man, was that a lot of fun. I liked how the arc series was interspersed with solo adventures to keep it from getting bogged down in angst. And How she keeps teaming up with people. And just everything in the world. I love all the characters so much. I only wish she'd had more time with Squire in the UK. Oh well. Steph got a twenty-two issue run of excellence, by the same writer with consistent characterisation and plot. I'm sad it's gone, but it's a nice set of trades to own.

Have read the end of Iron Man 2.0 and Avengers: Children's Crusade, Daredevil #8 and #9, Demon Knights #5-7 and Saucer Country #1.

Iron Man 2.0 #12: I think I missed part of the middle? I'm not sure. The story is decompressed to the point that I really think it would be better read in trade, so you can get the whole run through in one sitting instead of a year (with an Event Tie-in in the middle). That said, it's just so wonderful to see superheroes working together and being smart and saving the world. It's wonderful to see Tony and Rhodey interacting and snarking at each other. It's wonderful to read an IC Tony Stark. Can't say as I was a fan of the artists changing every other page.

Avengers: Children's Crusade #9: Meh. I think I kind of lost interest and wondered off on this one. Like by the end I didn't really care what happened. It might be better if reread in trade, but given the ending, I'm unlikely to put the money or energy into that. ( Spoilers )

Daredevil #8 and #9: Loved Foggy getting to be a bit of a legal badass. Enjoyed Matt and Felicia solving/causing crime together. Generally find Peter Parker uninteresting, and am glad he was only in the on issue. Am highly entertained by what Mark Waid thinks the substructure of NYC looks like, especially when they have to pump out the subways to keep them from flooding. Love, love, love the quote: "Which does not, by default, make this a good idea. And may be indicative of why Luke Cage refers to me as a hero to the judgement impaired everywhere." Title continues as it always has and everything a comicbook should be: a judicious abandonment of suspension of disbelief, lots of humour, excellent art, a mystery to solve, and nice compact plots that just zip along.

Demon Knights #5-7: DINOSAURS! This one's getting a little gory, but the characters, which have mostly been in set up mode so far are really showing some interesting facets and developments. I'm especially enjoying Ex's storyline, and how her cultural differences are causing her problems, but not the ones she thought, and how it's the other women who sit her down and try to sort her out. I'm really interested in how the love triangle works (which is almost unheard of for me). And I absolutely wasn't expecting several of the plot twists. On the whole, this is a great first arc, and I'm looking forward to more. I really want to see what happens to these characters. Great art.

Saucer Country #1: This is a comic about the Latina Governor of New Mexico who wants to run for president, but is abducted by greys, then has to find out what's going on while still running a campaign and dealing with the emotional fall out. It's being billed as West Wing meets The X-Files, which seems fair to me. The first issue is all set up, but it very elegantly puts most of the major pieces and characters in place. We get an idea of all the personalities involved, and some idea of how they might move together, but there's still a lot of unknown factors. Like who is that university professor, and why is he talking to hallucinations of the naked people from the Pioneer space probe plaque? Also, the art is gorgeous. Very expressive faces and dynamic panel layouts, and the colours are rich and beautiful.

Finally:

I've run out of Authority and am feeling a little sad about that.

So Amy Reader's leaving Batwoman due to "real creative differences." Well done, DC. Now you're back to two women working for you. It's too bad, as I thought she was doing a great job, and while I like Trevor McCarthy okay, I don't think he has her talent (he's the kind of guy I'd be happy to see on a lot of books, just not this one).

In happier news, two of my favourite people in comics, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Phil Noto, are teaming up for a book about a female hero. Who I've never heard of, but she looks interesting, and it's a reboot, so I should be golden.

And someone's getting married over in Liu's X-Men title. In that the solicit for the previous month reads, "When Kyle is put in danger, will Northstar choose him or his team? Don’t miss the end of this issue – it’ll be the most talked about moment of the year!" I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's Jean Paul and Kyle tying the knot. Also known as Marjorie Liu Writes a Gay Wedding: See Also, Why Marvel Loves Me!

Speaking of Liu, got The Storyteller in hard cover the other day, and would rec it highly if you enjoy fun twists on fairy tales. It's aimed at younger audiences, but I am enjoying it very much.