Alanis-class Irony
As I put together my Indigo Wish List, I realized that, since Ben’s arrival, I haven’t found the time or energy to read anything longer than a comic book, a magazine article, or a couple of pages of The Picture of Dorian Gray on my Palm Pilot.
Weekend Roundup
This weekend began with an inauspicious rumble, and ended with all sorts of Big News/Good Thing.
The inauspicious rumble was in Dina’s belly on Friday after she finished a dinner of takeaway Chinese stir-fry. I feel a little gassy after all that cabbage, she said as she nursed Ben. Uh-oh.
Uh-oh is right. The gassiness transferred directly into our son’s tiny belly, and he kept us up for most of the night.
We slept in on Saturday as a direct consequence of little Ben’s tummy discomforts (though let me sing the praises of gripe water!). We had a very relaxed afternoon, featuring a visit from Maggie, and a trip to the video store, where we rented the start of an inadvertent Paltrow-fest (View From the Top and Possession), and I picked up copies of Laurel Canyon and Ultraviolet in the used-DVD section.
The Ultraviolet set was the best find by far � a 6-hour British SF series about government vampire hunters. John Leonard had given it a glowing review on CBS Sunday Morning when it was released, and the title and concept stuck with me. I first noticed the set on sale at the local HMV (but not at Metro Video, contrary to expectation), and was perfectly willing to buy it at full price to satisfy that lingering curiosity. So, imagine my delight at finding it on sale! wOOt!
In the evening, we watched View From the Top and had some fun playing with Ben.
On Sunday, we started Fall cleaning. After a quick round of the local hardware and grocery stores, Dina played with Ben while I lugged stuff down to our storage area in the basement. We also received more details about the Big News/Good Thing, which took most of the day (full disclosure to follow once a couple of shoes drop).
In the evening, Dina baked some muffins while Ben and I snoozed on the sofa.
Paging Mr. Leather Jacket
Here’s a disconcerting event. At some point this afternoon, a tallish man wearing a leather jacket popped into reception, asked our receptionist what the company did for business, said “Oh, Stephen Wark works here,” and then left.
I have no idea who this person is.
Weird.
UPDATE: The mystery is solved. Mr. Leather Jacket is Danny, from another Old Montreal-based company I used to work for. He didn’t know that he could have stopped by to say “Hello!”
He knows now.
New Comics
Thor: Spiral TPB
Asgard is fallen. One of the enduring verities of the Marvel Universe is sundered: Thor can no longer lift Mjolnir. HE IS NO LONGER WORTHY OF HIS OWN HAMMER. This is bigger than the shattered shield of Captain America. The best comics make you feel like an eight-year-old kid again.
Transmetropolitan #19-41
Spider Jerusalem learns the dangers of the cynic’s approach to politics: Voting against is rarely safer than voting for. What follows is an exciting thriller about the war between politicians and journalists taken further than I expected, followed by a series of one-shots featuring futuristic outrage. How does it end?
Rental Night
Adaptation
This is a sly confection of craft and narrative that gets lost in its own gaze as certainly and eternally as Narcissus. The progress of that loss is the viewer’s pleasure. The key lies in the rewrites and the final, conflicting vision that produces abstracted enjoyment from practical melodramatic manipulation.
View From the Top
Post-ironic bubblegum nonsense that is as lightweight as the plotline itself. There are no surprises in this tale of career and romantic fulfilment through integrity and dedication to the stewardess (sic) craft; but there are a few chuckles at how the sincerity can be maintained in the face of anachronism.
I Remember Valiant
Here’s a teriffic article on the life and times of Valiant Comics.
It was 1991, and I was about to abandon the comic-collecting hobby after three years, when I walked through Nova Comics in Montreal and Magnus: Robot Fighter #1 caught my eye. I remembered the character from a stack of old comics the son of my parents’ friends had kicking around one summer.
I picked up the issue on a whim, and read it on the bus ride home. Jim Shooter’s vision of 4000 AD was everything I was looking for at the time. I promptly placed all the advertised issues on my reserve list, and followed everything the company published for the next three years.
Before, my completist urges were restricted to collecting back issues on a run of Alpha Flight and New Mutants (why? because I liked the properties and because I could.), but this was the first time I started to feel the completist urge for ongoing work.
When Valiant failed, I transferred that urge to other up-and-coming comics worlds: Milestone…and Dark Horse’s Comics Greatest World, and even Vertigo.
But all of those imprints either failed, or, in the case of Vertigo, ran out of creative steam at the time of my immersive commitment, so I dropped them.
Since the failures of Valiant and Milestone in particular, I was left with a reluctance to commit so entirely to a new company or imprint. I decided to follow specific creators and concepts rather than corporate vision, and that’s helped me to uncover deeper veins of enjoyable reading.
After all, fond memories of the character are what led to me to pick up that copy of Magnus #1 and Solar #1. And those are the Valiant titles that I still take out of the long boxes and re-read – not the Secret Weapons, H.A.R.D. Corps, or Bloodshots.
That’s enough rambling. Enjoy the article.
What We Did During Summer Vacation
What a difference 17 years makes. Instead of new students, Ramsay and I are new dads.
Ritualized Wednesdays – Saturday Edition
Gaming seems to have adopted a bi-weekly pattern since Ben’s arrival. Eventually, Dina and I plant to give each other one night a week off, at which point, gaming will return its regular schedule.
So, Warlord was the order of the day for aSatuday edition of the gaming group: Jon had brought over some new Warlord goodies as gifts, included the much-desired “Assassin’s Cup” card, which is a necessary component of my Black Tom deck. But, the goal of the evening was to test my new Sir Bob deck in Warlords, and my new 7th Sea decks.
And here’s what happened.
My first attempt to play Sir Bob against Jon’s Slayer deck failed horribly. The second game should have also ended on the first turn because I blitzed Bob up to the front rank too quickly, and placed him within range of Slayer’s spells, but I pleaded for mercy and Jon acquiesed. The next turn, I had Sir Tython in play with the Andover Quill and an Axe of Tergoth. That meant about five attacks per turn. Five large attacks per turn. Very satisfying.
Then, Jon and I teamed up against Dave and Rhett for a team game. That was short-lived! After two turns, Jon and I were reduced to fielding single-column armies. On the other hand, I did manage to have Black Tom land an Arterial Strike on Rhett’s Master Isil Loth, which would have killed him in four turns if I could have survived that long!
For a break, Jon agreed to let me test my new 7th Sea decks. The first deck used the new unaligned ship “The Massacre”, Khereid-Din, Edhago, and a passel of captives and rowers. Why? Because The Massacre allows me to start a boarding after I inflict hits with a card with “Ramming” or “Powering” in the title, but before I suffer the retaliatory hits. These ramming cards let me inflict hits equal to my ship’s move cost plus a fixed number, and then I suffer hits equal to my opponent’s ship’s move cost, plus a smaller fixed number. Naturally, I designed the deck to get my ship’s move cost as high as possible, while retaining the ability to sail the ship quickly.
Jon played a Sea Dogs control deck. He built up his crew and very nearly succeeded. But then my lumbering hulk of a ship caught up with them and turned them into splinters.
My second deck was an enhanced version of the Montaigne Armada deck, which I set against Jon’s unflappable Khereid-din deck. Jon’s version of Khereid-din can untap two or three times a turn in order to inflict multiple attacks. I can use allies as extra cannon attacks and crew for purposes of absorbing damage. This effectively increases my ship’s crew complement, and was enough to take Khereid-din out of the game.
Finally, I played a couple of matches of Sir Bob against Rhett’s Isil Loth deck. In one game, I brought Sir Tython into play, and in another, I lost a turn before I could have brought him out. I’m sure my record will improve once the deck is tuned.
Rhett’s deck is noteworthy because he uses mostly first-level characters and a variety of ways to get them into play very cheaply. Then, he uses Loth’s ability to reduce the AC of my front rank by 5. Sometimes, he does this twice a turn. And then he rolls dice. It’s a simple concept, but it works very well indeed.
Happy Birthday, Vincent!
Congratulations to Ramsay and Mirela on the birth of their son, Vincent, at 8:53 PM.
Vincent is happy, healthy, beautiful, and weighs in a six pounds. He’s also got quite the set of lungs from what I could hear on the phone!
Happy Birthday, Vincent!
More Comics!
1602 #2
The clever and amusing revelation in this issue is the identity of the tall, white Indian who saved the Virginia colonists through their first winter: Rohjaz is taciturn, obviously of Welsh descent (!), and can fling serving platters as if they were made of admantium. Oh yes, it’s Captain America.
Human Defence Corps #5
Go big or go home! The Corps invades the underworld to rescue the still living souls of their comrades kidnapped in issue #1, and the individual protagonists of the earlier issues resolve their inner conflicts. Most striking is the Cmdr. Fifth Commandment, who completely loses it fighting against the undying.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen II #6
In the League’s final stand versus the Martians, Hyde discovers that the Martians are as delicious as they are dangerous, Dr. Moreau’s latest hybrid is unleashed in South London, Bond plans spin control, Dr. Nemo quits the team in disgust, and Mina abandons Quartermain. A worthy conclusion to the series.
Transmetropolitan #1-18
The first issues of the shaved Warren Ellis are shrill and obvious journalistic denunciations of fictional crimes, but when the author/protagonist takes a deep breath and concentrates on an actual sci-fi plotline about the future’s politics, we’ve got a funny barbed yarn. I see how the series earned its reputation.