#i do really want to read more hal tho he seems so neat

[twiststreet]

Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1:

I felt like rambling around about some random comic book or another, since I haven’t done that in a while, and I went with this one.. 

I read this comic Peter Cannon Thunderbolt tonight--I was pretty irritated by that comic Die the other day.  Anytime I get a comic now, it’s a gamble whether a woman’s going to get slaughtered in the pages, but what’s the alternative?  Watching A+ movies and television on Netflix?  Oh, yeah, that’s 100% the alternative. But anyways, this one got all talked up so what the hell...

It was fine or not or whatever.  I don’t really have much of an opinion on it.  I don’t really care about any of it-- it didn’t have any characters worth describing, or more than a sentence worth of story to it. The art lands some moments but not others.  But it’s fine, you know?  It’s fine.  Who cares?  We’re all dead inside anyways.  I might get the second one just so I can get a better idea of what it’s up to, as the first one wasn’t really clear on that point, either.  It felt like something meant to engage on a "nerd argument” level more than a “good story about characters you might care about” level anyhow, so.

But yeah, so this is another superhero comic talking about other superhero comics.  

I used to read all of those, but I’ve lost track of that conversation now so I probably have no idea how to even understand this one now.  As far as I can understand it, so far this comic is daringly asking “What if the Authority except then what if Watchmen?”

I’m not sure if I’m really into that question, but I’m not an Authority fan so that juxtaposition doesn’t mean much to me.  

I mean, I can see some people saying The Authority contemplated superhero morality as so too Watchmen did, and as so too did the ultimate superhero story I’d like to talk you about, a story called the NEW TESTAMENT. WELCOME TO MY BOOK CLUB, SINNERS.  

But even if we were to say to ourselves “okay, the various pronouncements in The Authority were meaningful and not just chuffah” (which I’m not sure I normally would say that, and I don’t think I believe that, but)... 

Watchmen ends with superheros realizing that human rules and human scales of morality don’t apply to them, as their universe is godless.  And it presents that as basically being a dark and/or tragic realization (and one in the case of Ozymandias that the final panels suggest that even a godless universe might ultimately punish or might be hubristic).  

Whereas The Authority takes that same idea and just repeats it, except presenting it as, like, a woo-hoo power chord.  “Human rules don’t apply because human all suck, let’s blow them all up and make a better world, and fuck in their ashes.”  

(The “humans are all terrible” shtick, regardless of its truth, was too adolescent to remain interesting very long.  I might agree with it but I don’t really care to read it much...)

So, yeah, juxtaposing those two things together just seems... Well, here’s a ukulele cover of Van Halen’s Jump and here’s the 1984-ish(?) video for Van Halen’s Jump.  You know?  (The better Ellis-riffs-on-Moore I remember as being that Supreme comic Ellis did with ... Tula Lotay?  I think that was the more interesting work, but).

I just don’t see what this Peter Cannon thing can drive at that will be that interesting.  But I am curious, I guess.  (I mean, I think any “well this is one of the the characters that the Watchmen were based off of” talk right now has a secondary meaning among the very worst fans who like to pretend creating Watchmen was some nothing act in order to justify its theft, and so I’d condemn that aspect of the book strongly if I thought that was on anyone’s radar besides mine or some intentional play to holler to those fans.  But I don’t really and I’m not really inclined to go off about that so...).  

I mean, the only reason to do the comic is if you think you can push that conversation further.  I agree with Watchmen that the universe is basically godless so I know that I certainly couldn’t push that conversation further. If they think they can, that’s neat enough I guess....Like, one would imagine/hope they’d have some greater idea.  (Though maybe just the juxtaposition is enough for the fans. Fans can talk up just about anything as being deeper than it is, and gussy up any kind of cheap idea with their talk, being fans and all.  Who knows...)

I’m coming to it a little disgruntled, though, just from being exhausted hearing about Watchmen again!  I love that book but man, who isn’t sick of hearing people grouse on about it this way or that way or the other?  Especially after that one Grant Morrison "I’m going to talk back at Watchmen” piece of shit that people talked up.  I didn’t think that was shit.  

But Morrison at least has some interest in technique... The thing that keeps Watchmen vital for me isn’t the discussion of superheroes, I don’t give a shit about any of that-- it’s  the density of the storytelling, the craft in the world-building, craft shit, and those are all areas where the current generation of comic creators just don’t have comparable skills.  

Everything techniquewise in this Peter Cannon thing is just so pedestrian. And I don’t mean that in a way to single it out-- it’s no worse in that respect than other comics being made right now.  But comics being made right now generally are just ... the craft is uninteresting, nearly across the board-- there’s not that many exceptions to that right now.  I mean, and as compared to near-peak Moore??  (From Hell’s peak Moore, but you know, Eddie Campbell...).  

Heck, The Tempest right now, the level of technique Moore can still throw out there-- there’s bits where he just can throw layers and layers of information into a panel.   And that’s him on the wind-down! (Or after the wind-down, depending on when you think the wind-down started).  I don’t know.  It’s ballsy to invite comparison to that guy, when you’re... I mean, who has an equivalent toolset?? Most comics are just a bunch of slowwww animated movies now. 

(I mean, there are more interesting concepts floating around out there now-- the quality of the idea-work in comics is pretty fucking high right now, maybe as high as it’s ever been.  It’s really fun to hear the loglines for comics right now, in that respect.  Reading them, I don’t know, I have no idea what that’s like, but the loglines are great...)  

I don’t know.  

Or I really love something like Copra which takes analog characters to express some kind of deeper love for something and a desire to remix something to bring out the qualities that made it special for you.  Remixing just to argue with what came before you... I mean, Moore’s done that-- that’s definitely part of the League, too.... though to argue about things like, you know, racism, society being bad and stuff yeah you heard me squares society is bad and stuff.  (Moore had a larger worldview than “superhero comics tho” that ... I think was one of many things that rankled about that Morrison Watchmen-riff-- Morrison’s obliviousness to how his own worldview became progressively less and less and less interesting as time progressed, being less political or social, and more, well, just self-marketing, by the end).  

League was never my favorite Moore anyways, until Century and Tempest, both of which I think are pretty interesting (Tempest increasingly so!  I’m really enjoying the heck out of that one...).

Back when I cared more about superhero comics, I always wished they’d take Watchmen more seriously as an influence in the right ways as compared to the ways they took it, which was like “Oh these books can be no fun now with lots of bad first person narration in them.”  But for me the bits that were interesting was Doctor Manhattan towering over Vietnam, or finding out how they effected Richard Nixon’s biography, or how all the cars were electric because of Doc Manhattan creating more lithium or whatever it was he did.  Watchmen applied science fiction techniques-- extrapolation!-- to a genre that tends to be, you know, profoundly conservative despite its outward trappings, and especially adverse to extrapolation....   

So.  I’d wished more people would have chased that, and chased technique (and not just by recreating 9 panel grids).  I’m less interested in comics that are making arguments and picking fights over “what should a superhero comic be” for the kinds of fans who confuse fiction with prescriptions for medicine, except for morality.  Didn’t the Authority have that too, some JLA comic that argued with The Authority?  I didn’t read that shit because who gives a shiiiiiiiiiiit?

A lot of superhero comics, the bit I don’t miss, is all the comics that just wanted to argue about other comics.  Perhaps the worst influence of Watchmen on other creators, far more than, you know, Hal Jordan liking to fingerbang sleeping girls or whatever they had Hal Jordan doing there after Watchmen.  Green Lantern got pretty loco and Alan Moore blamed himself forever.  

But I think the worse legacy is you’d end up reading some Geoff Johns comics where Superboy would be yelling “I’m a DC fan on a messageboard that said bad things about an issue of Geoff Johns’s Flash” and then all the other superheros would beat him up and you’d just sit there going, you know, why the fuck did you need anyone to read this?? Why am I looking at your revenge-soaked spank bank?? And I think that’s part of Watchmen’s legacy too, that you know... We’re all owed an apology.

And....

Shit, that went too long and it wasn’t fun enough to write.  Hm.  That didn’t go well. Fuck. Oh well...

#Worst Hobby or Worstest Hobby?

[libraryofmegharoni]

Down Comes the Night [Allison Saft]

started: May 30, 2021 finished: May 31, 2021 rating: 4.5/5

before reading:

bro so instagram has been trying to sell this book to me for the past like 4 months i mcfricking swear. after seeing it like 6 times I finally read the description and holy shit I wanted it so fucking bad. stand-alone, fantasy book, with enemies to lovers, and forced cohabitation (proximity is what I meant lol)????? sign me the fuck up

the last time time it came up on my timeline I was like “stop showing me this book I know I want it but it’s not out yet!!!” but then I had to click on to double check and it actually had come out a few days prior so I immediately purchased :)

while reading:

Love all the women in power / powerful women in the beginning 

ya know I don’t remember the last time I read a book that had a character that was a ‘bastard’ and was a female. every time it’s always a man who’s an illegitimate child of a prince or king. but Wren is an illegitimate child of a PRINCESS — so not only is the bastard a woman, her royal bloodline is through her mother. solid change of pace rather than like a prince who impregnated some random working woman

love all the casual homosexuality — Una is lesbian, Wren is bisexual, the inn keeper (male) has a husband, it be great

The mystery aspect seems like a criminal minds murderer just inserted into a fantasy setting. and I for one enjoy that. it’s but this huge grand magical evil, it’s just a very bad human

after reading:

I finish — I enjoy

I wish there was a little more after Wren woke up. like I wanna know how Hal is received when he goes back to his country. there’s a lot about how Danu worked in terms of politics & religion & shit but hardly any about Vesria. and I understand that the story is from Wren’s POV but I just wanted more!

I think that’s an issue I have with a lot of books — I always want more at the end. like the conflict has resolved now give me how that conflict impacted these characters we’ve been following for 300-400+ pages. 

it is a stand-alone but I would not be upset if Saft wrote a sequel about Hal going back to Vesria with Wren and how that all politically worked out. it seemed too neat of an ending and I want the difficulties that await him upon his return. like does he keep up with his lie that he was captured instead of telling the truth that he let his magic in his eyes deteriorate and ultimately ran away to solve the missing persons case ??

how harshly will Wren be received being Vesria’s rival’s bastard niece? do the Vesrians resent her and she has to fight to win their affections? how long until the Vesrians are receptive to Wren trying to teach them how to use magic to heal? and will they first think it’s a trick and a ploy to weaken them or something?

I know most of the time politics is less flashy rather than physical battles but I think there’s enough potential for a sequel and I want it!

and especially in sci-fi / fantasy — I want to know how the world operates. I really did want to find out more how magic worked in this universe too. 

that’s about all I didn’t like now back what I did

I really liked how Wren wasn’t super quick to side with Hal and how she still held onto the beliefs and goals that she started with. she doesn’t meet Hal and immediately do a 180. even tho she knows she cares about him, she sticks to her original plan of kidnapping him and bring him to her aunt to redeem herself. 

it isn’t until she realizes that Hal had walked back into the snow storm to find her does Wren start rethinking her goals and methods to achieve them. 

I think I really liked Wren and Hal’s characters and their separate character development and the development with / between each other but some of the other characters slightly suffered from it. for example the Queen — she kinda flipped to easily and revealed her magic without any real foreshadowing. or maybe there was foreshadowing and I just missed it idk but the Queen was also hardly present in the book so idk where or when her character would be more fleshed out. 

I loved that we see Wren unlearn so many things she was raised to believe about Hal and his people. in the beginning she describes how the Vesrians do like a the 100 grounder commander choosing style for their leader and i love that Hal is like ‘lol y’all really think that?!’ there’s quite a few scenes where its just Wren and Hal not talking about their host kidnapping and killing their countrymen, but just talking about how they were raised. that i wish we had more of. both of them, but especially Wren, understanding that they are just two countries of humans that have both been told things about the other to dehumanize them and justify killing. 

as for Hal -- he knew the impact of all the killing that he did for his country and was more than willing to answer for them. his redemption arc started before Wren meets him, and its evident from the first meeting that his only motivation in living is proving that Danu is not responsible for the missing Vesrians and Vesria is not responsible for the missing Danu soldiers. at this point, he only wants to prevent all out war between the two rival countries. and he sticks to that. when he’s captured, he doesn’t fight it. he actively gives himself up so Wren doesn’t get jailed too. 

This is another book i want to reread at some point to pick out quotes that i loved and appreciate it more. its a con of trying to read fast -- i miss beautiful quotes and don’t get to appreciate the world and characters enough

tl;dr - its gothic, there’s magic, there’s all kinds of gays, there’s good characterization. it pretty inside and out

#megharoni book log #megharoni 2021 reads #down comes the night #allison saft

[dachi-chan25]

Riverdale episode 6 recap

Okay so it's been a while since I've done I recap (cuz I don't usually have much time) but today I'm hella sick so work is out of the picture and I have a LOT of thoughts/feelings about THIS episode so why the hell not???

First of all I applogize for the format (I'm on mobile cuz turning on my computer literally gives me a headache when I'm sick) I'll try to fix it, and lastly I warn THIS contains–

SPOILERS!!!!!

•So we start the episode talking about fear (honestly I LOVE the intros) we see Archie with his guitar staring anxiously at himself in the mirror and we also see Betty and Polly when they were children, then we have a pretty neat transition to the present. Betty is chillin' on her bed and writing her diary while Mama Cooper (aka Satan) is folding Betty's clothes, oh and my baby drops the bomb she invited Jughead over for breakfast, no biggie am I right???? (OMG THIS is happening!!!!) Alice was shocked!

•My sarcastic baby boy is having the most uncomfortable breakfast ever, (honest to God Imma kill Alice and then I'll adopt her daughters) it seems breakfast was only an excuse for our sleuths to distract Alice (they communicate only with a look #married4eva) So Betty can check her purse for any clues about Polly's whereabouts.

•Their little plight is succesful cause Betts finds a check for some kind of religious asociation (Can't remember the name sorry) they research it on the Blue & Gold offices and find out it's a home for 'troubled youths' #bingo of course they know Polly is there.

•So we have this kinda variety show on Riverdale (my boy Kevin is organizing it of course) and Archie is auditioning but he has stage fright, and no I'm not gonna make any Troy Bolton joke cuz I understand Archie. For those who want to know I'm am actress, I do theater mostly, musical theater, and when I began to study for it I was scared af because even if my friends and family were supportive I had tons of insecurities (and when you are an actor/Singer that's perfectly normal) so yeah I really connected with Archie here (What's the deal with Reggie tho??? First he is an asshole with Juggie and punches Archie, then he is actually decent with Archie and now he is pulling a 'keep ya' head in the game Bolton' and being a total dickhead like???

•At lunch my cutie sleuths are talking bout Polly and sharing food and once again communicating with their eyes (OTP) and for the first time Archie offers his help and Juggie totally rejects his ass (pretty logical tho cuz they would attract too much attention) and I kinda got the feeling Archie is getting jealous idk the way he looked at them did not sit right with me.

•So yeah Archie is angsting about the whole stage fright thing, Valerie is being supportive af (that's pretty cool cuz she actually has experience with this) and my girl Ronnie says she convinced (read: forced) Kevin to give him a slot in the show's program so he has the chance to share his songs (Kevin is totally NOT happy about it tho) but Archie thinks he can't make it alone and Valerie is like 'would love to help but I'm with the Pussycats babe' fear not cuz Ronnie is all smooth and offers to be the 'Bey to his Jay' (honestly I'm not very invested in Archie's love life but he certainly is lucky to have such awesome girls intrested in him) he accepts and it's all very flirty.

•Then we have Mama Lodge and Papa Andrews talking bussines, it seems things are not going good but Fred refuses to 'let his people go' cuz he felt real bad the last time he did (he is talking about Juggie's dad isn't he?) anyway he is not doing them any good either cuz for the looks of it the money is not enough for the payrolls, Fred has a plan tho, he wants to convince the new owner of the Drive In to give him the construction job and he asks for Hermione's help (which is hillarious cuz we, the viewers, know the buyer was her husband) she agrees and... We see Ronnie (i LOVE her) taking flowers to her mom but she doesn't get to give them to her cause she fricking watches her mom kissing Fred!!!!! WTF I thought she wasn't intrested??? Dunno this just made me sad for my girl Ronnie.

•Once Hermione arrives home Veronica confronts her, and is totally logical cuz she is still married, and of course Veronica thought once her dad was free they could be like they were before but Hermione tells her she is not So sure about it. OMG whyyyyyyy??????? Ronnie doesn't deserve THIS and while Hermione can do whatever she wants this is not the right way to go about it. For starters she should get a divorce and talk to Ronnie instead of letting her find out everything on her own and hurting her in the process #fuck them I'll adopt Ronnie too!!

•Then we get a scene where Fred is telling Archie all his 'guys' are gonna go to watch his presentation, Archie is still nervous but his dad is real supportive (why can't all the Riverdale parents be like this???) and he even tells him what happened with Ronnie's mom (see Hermione?? Not so hard to be honest with your child) Archie is also pretty supportive (the Andrews are so uncomplicated is like watching a completely different show)

•We're at school again and we have Archie and Val talking about music and stuff, and then we get a Pussycats rehearsal, Josie is really in the zone and gets pissed at Valerie, my girl Val snaps at her that working with Archie is much more plesant, and Josie looses it saying Val can't sing with both of them and she must choose ASAP Val promptly quits and I'm shoook!!!!!!! WTF is going on???

•Josie, now more calm, tells her mom and her mom is So nonchalant about it??? She tells Josie to replace Val and other pretty fucked up BS (why are the Riverdale parents So shitty???) cuz apparently Josie's dad is comming to see the show and if the Pussycats aren't perfect he would blame her for it. Da fuq????? And what about what Josie feels??? #I'm adopting Josie too

•So yeah Val tells Archie she can sing with him cuz she left the Pussycats and they start rehearsing and it's all nice and dandy til Ronnie arrives with her partiture and Archie is the douchiest douche to have ever douched, for real he didn't even told Ronnie he was going to sing with Val now and just put her aside like a toy or something (honestly fuck him so much!!! I support his love for music but that doesn't give him the right to use people and discard them whenever he wants) of course my girl totally calls this fuckboi out but in her anger she ends up yelling at him about their parents's affair. #protectRonnie #where's my girl Cheryl to console her gf??? Anyway Ronnie goes straight to the Pussycats and offers to replace Val (OMG she gets the kitty ears And the whole mean girls corridor-catwalk vibe it's awesome)

•They are rehearsing but Ronnie is not into it And Josie calles her out, And Ronnie explodes about everything, Josie is supportive af and very insightful tho. #I'm here for Josie/Ronnie friendship (And maybe more) Cherjosieca is my new OT3

•So we get Juggie and Betty in front of this wierd asylum (OMG they totally skipped school) there they must be separated cuz only Betty can enter, they take her to Polly's room, but she is not there she is in the gardens and honestly when the Cooper sisters reunite is the most beautiful thibg, and also Betty founds Polly is not sick but she is pregnant (I totally knew this)

•We get the full story about how she and Jason were gonna run away on July 4th but someone told her parents and she got taken away (for fuck's sake why do you do this to your daughter?!?!? Over maple syrup really????)and OMFG she doesn't know Jason is dead!!!!!!! #go home Riverdale parents # this year's 'Shittiest parent' award goes to Alice and Hal Cooper.

•An old lady (she is the one who recieved Betty and Juggie) takes Betty away And boom!!! Alice is there, the witch practically drags Betty to a corridor and says she paid the institution to inform her every time Polly got a visitor, Betty is having none of THIS shit And confronts her about not telling Polly about Jason, and then they run into Polly (I guess she was being taken back to her room) And Polly is crying And screaming at Alice for not telling her and they drag her away from Betty, And Jughead tries to help but can't And OMG why must Betty suffer like THIS??? #protectBetty #my heart broke

•Then back at the Coopers, Betty is being confronted by her patents who try to gaslight the shit out of her (why are you So awful???) of course Betty doesn't let them out the hook And asks her dad if he broke into Sheriff Keller's home ( we know he totally did) he says he didn't, And Betty asks if he killed Jason her mother starts to laugh (she goes from suburban mom to the Joker in .5 seconds I swear) and says she wishes either of them had killed Jason (I mean I knew it wasn't them, but that's such a fucked up thing to say let alone in front of your daughter) #the Cooper parents are batshit crazy, of course Betty tries to make them see reason And the abusive shits say they are her parents and she must believe them just cuz they say so. #Imma fight them both tbh

So we get this elegant dinner at the Lodge's place, And Josie's asshole dad is there being pretentious as fuck, and I can't stand him (also Josie called Archie Yoko Ono and I cracked up xD) Fred presents his project but Mayor Mccoy says it's not up to her but she'll try to help him.

•Arch talks to Val about crazy dinner time, and of course about Josie's dad, Val says now she gets why Josie was So worked up about the show, Archie tells her to go back to the Pussycats cuz I guess now he is more confident of maybe he wants to stand on his own, And that's a good thing!!!! Cuz Val loves the Pussycats And Arch doesn't want to be Yoko #LMAO

•Ronnie is getting ready to go to the show but she decides to talk things with her mom like Josie suggested, unfortunately Hermione drops her the bomb that Hiram (aka dady dearest) gave her a sharing of his company before going to jail and she needs Ronnie to sign the papers to give Fred the job, Ronnie gets mad af And says she won't sign anything for her mom's lover, and what does Hermione do?? She FORGES her daughter's signature #fuck her tbh!!! #she is driving her daughter away with all her BS

•So apparently Betty is confined to her room, worry not cuz our brave Jughead (aka Romeo) climbs to her window and kills me with a single line ('hey there Juliet' *dead*) she smiles And OMG they are the cutest ship ever!!!! Anyway Betty is feeling pretty out of it because her parents are crazy And maybe Polly And she are too... Jughead tries to calm her down saying they are not their parents (THIS sounds So Romeo&Juliet to me!!!) And he stutters and its adorable And he gains courage And then HE KISSES HER (ahhhhhhh ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥❇🌟🌠✅✔✔✅✔🆒💯💯💯💯💯‼‼‼‼❗❕❗❕❗) And it's the cutest thing ever cuz one really gets to see that Juggie was waiting to do that for a long time (the lil' sigh he gives *dead again* And her smile!!!!! *couldn't be more dead*) now Betty starts talking about Jason's car (I know lots of people think she ruined the moment but consider this: before the kiss she was lost, she doubted herself and her parents and everything BUT after the kiss she regains focus and trust in herself and tbh I find this beautiful, I don't think they need big romantic declarations of love cause they know, they have such a Deep understanding with each other that words are not really necessary) And Juggie gets So amused at her (SAME Juggie) So they are back at the sleuthing bussines and go to check Jason's car.

•Now in the show Val talks with Josie And everything between them gets fixed (I LOVE girl friendship) And Kevin (OMG it's me or he looks like Corny Collins???) introduces them to the audience, they sing a modern cover of 'I feel LOVE' And we get a transition to Betty and Juggie finding the car, they see the back And find one of Jason's jacket And lots of drugs, And OMG they actually are going to go to the police (THIS is such an unusual thing for this kind of shows) but someone is watching them (God I hope nothing bad happens to them)

•Josie's asshole of a dad gets up and leaves before the Pussycats finish And Imma fucking gonna fight him cause my girl Josie is trying So hard not to cry in front of everyone #fuck your dad Josie #you are enough #you are talented And amazing.

•Now it's Archie's turn And he is still terrified, but Ronnie (bless her forgiving heart) gives him the support he needs to go on stage and actually sing, And OMG THIS is straight outta High School Musical cuz after the show every one is cheering on him and wow just crazy.

•But before the show ends Betty and Jughead arrive (like two adorable drenched puppies) with Sheriff Keller And tell him what they found, And OMG for a moment Betty hears Archie's voice through the speaker but she decides to go after Juggie and Sheriff Keller (my girl is already moving on!!! Good job at visual representation writers!!)

•So Archie thanks Val for everything, and they KISS, OMG I really like them together but I'm not So sure Archie is ready to have a relationship, I mean he is So volatile, Idk, I liked the kiss And I hope he is not an ass to Val.

•So Hermione and Fred are huggin and Ronnie arrives being polite af (So classy) Fred gives her the good news (that he got the job) and of course Verónica immediatly knows what happened And leaves #well now you did it Hermione #I just wanna hug Ronnie tho

•The police + Bughead get at the car but it's on Fire!!! And the evidence is lost with it!!!! OMG why?????????????????? Then my babies go to Polly's institution only to find she escapes through the window (there was blood on the glass and I'm So damn worried for her)

And the episode ends there cause the writers of this show wanna keep me anxious over my children til next week!!!

...

And that's it I always have fun doing these maybe I'll try to make one for next week (if I'm not to dead by then) I would LOVE to hear your thoughts about it!!!

#Bughead #Riverdale recap #episode 6 #can't believe I just adopted all of Riverdale's teens #honestly why are the parents (exept for Fred) So awful #my two cents