#that I would pole-vault over my limits as an artist for you. Then I would use that newfound power to go even higher

[zapcamon]

A young woman stands alone in the guest bedroom. The woman is holding what seems to be a poorly photocopied photo of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, albeit with crude marker alterations. It’s the best you can do, really. You’re an aspiring architect, goddammit, not an artist!

You drop it somewhere in front of the bed, where it can be easily seen by whomever walks into the door. You really, really don’t want to make your disappearance a mystery. Granted, this act of a “farewell” is pretty vague on it’s own but you’re expecting that they’re curious enough to turn it over.

On the other side is more crude marker squiggles, except this time it happens to be your own handwriting. You were seriously debating on what to put, the limited space on the paper isn’t quite helpful. However, it may get you out of the habit of oversharing so you can just say what’s important. With a yellow, and much finer instrument, it’s scrawled as so. 

“hey so i dont know when or if im coming back. i cant deny that my ass would be dead w/o u guys. the babies are w me now (’cept ms tinkles) so dont worry abt them. im sorry it had to go like this but its the only way i could do it w/o hurting either of us. it was a fun ride and i love u both. not to pull a stock movie phrase but i think it’s better this way. for everyone. and thank you, you lovable dorks

ps nero’s hot uncle, if ur reading this pls keep in touch >;)”

This is silly. This is incredibly silly. This is basically a Dear John letter but with lesser stakes. You don’t even LIKE romcoms what’s up with you?

A lot of things really. You don’t want to tell them upfront because you don’t want their reactions to influence an action you’re already dead-set on doing. You’ve come to terms that you really are a coward sometimes. That’s always been your problem. You see a gap on the floor, you immediately try to pole-vault across it without understanding the risks. You persistently leap off the metaphorical ground, flailing your lanky legs to search for metaphorical footing but instead you fall into the metaphorical hole to your metaphorical death. You never had the equipment nor the experience to deal with such matters. That’s why it crashes down whenever something goes wrong. That’s why you can’t help but think this whole reason why you’ve been so upset all along is...

You clearly need them more than they need you. It’s sickens you. You’re not supposed to “need” anyone. You’re supposed to be living on your own to make ends meet while searching clues for Lauriam. Not that you need HIM eit-

Fuck it, yes you do. You’ve always needed someone. Going around house-to-house for anyone giving you the time of day is proof of that as well. You miss him so much, and it’s time he’s on the forefront of your mind again. Lest you lose your way again to trivial romantic bullshit that ends up going anywhere.

It’s hard to not cry. Thinking of everything that lead up to this, thinking how much time you wasted, thinking how really fucking stupid you really are. You have to immediately wipe away your wet eyes, however. If Nero senses you crying again, he’ll have to march up here and you’ll have to explain yourself. 

The bruises surrounding your body are a constant reminder of what brought you here. They make it difficult to just leave this place behind, but you’ll manage. You grab your three cats and walk towards a corridor of darkness. If this was some sentimental anime, you would have perhaps took one last look back, sigh morosely and give one more quiet parting word despite being in an empty room. But life’s more than a cheesy romcom or anime. Life’s about having to pull the bandage off quick so you don’t feel the pain. Sometimes that means leave without saying a word and not looking back.

It’s time to go back to your real home now.

#x2gbar #rageinside #ooc post #ic status #long post //

[hongkongartman-mlee]

“Pole Vaulting Is My Philosophy Of Art And Life!” The Internationally Awarded New Media Artist Hung Keung (洪強) Told You How To Find A Pole To Aid Your Life Jump   

Today is tomorrow’s. But, today is also the tomorrow of yesterday. Time is a warm blanket. It can wrap you up and you can feel the warmth only when you are willing to feel the togetherness of yesterday, today and tomorrow, and most importantly, learn to embrace the beauties and wisdom that the past has left for us today.

If you hear someone said “I hate old stuff!”, he or she must be the spoiled brat type who would not understand a damn thing about art, culture or the aesthetics of life and regrettably, respect outside one’s selfness.

The international new media artist Hung Keung(洪強), who is also the Associate Professor of The Education University of Hong Kong, has buried himself into the creativity of film, video and different forms of media art since 1995. He continues the expansion of human interactions artistically with moving digital images through computer and other modern technologies. He loves the dynamic yet contrasting dialogue between viewers with time and space, especially those inspired by the old Chinese literature, art and philosophy.

His famous works often involve projections in which Chinese calligraphies and drawings crawl abstractly on the wall.

Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, made from bamboo in the old days or fiberglass nowadays, as a support and aid him to jump over a bar, the higher, the better. Hung Keung prided himself, “‘Pole vaulting’ is my philosophy of art and life!”

Hung Keung said, “I came from a very artistic family. My father and mother were well-educated Indonesian Chinese living in China in the 1950s. Both were art teachers but painters in their own right. I was born in China. When I was 3 in 1973, my parents took my sister and me to Hong Kong to start a new chapter in life. None of us could speak Cantonese. As their qualifications were not recognized locally, they were forced to become humble grassroots and take up dogsbody jobs in factories to make a living. I was a hyperactive child who never stopped rushing around. My mother taught me old Chinese art, literature and calligraphy in order to tame my temper. My good father died when I was 11. I drew cartoons and illustrations for newspapers in order to pay my school fees or buy lunch which was often a luxury. For my struggling years when I was in college, I was quick to borrow from teachers, classmates and friends but slow to pay them back. They all forgave me because I was often starved for food and almost could not make it through another day.”

I exclaimed, “Sorry about your poverty!” He closed his eyes, “Thank God! I did not die. On the contrary, I became stronger. Poverty was like the pole for my jumping in life. Those who don’t suffer will never jump. Those who don’t jump will never fly. The pole of poverty helped me bravely clear the greatest height in my miserable days without knocking the bar of hardship to the ground!”

Hung Keung is an academic and artistic genius. He studied in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University(香港理工大學), then The Chinese University of Hong Kong(香港中文大學), then Central Saint Martins. He researched in Germany, Denmark, USA and finally obtained the doctoral degree in Zurich University of the Arts in year of 2014.

Hung sank into thought, “The second pole in my life, or rather my art career, is the vital learning from ancient history, literature, philosophy, art and culture. The highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others. But, the present is really too limited to provide answers relevant to life or art. The future however is always unknown. We could turn to the past for truth and inspirations. The past is like my pole for jumping purposes. While our ancestors have been around for 6 million years, the human civilization, as we now know, is also more than 6,000 years old. The history of humanity is vast, rich and stimulating. This archaic reservoir is capable of supplying water to all parts that a man or an artist needs for responding to questions about life which ironically beg more questions for us to answer. My daily exercise as a scholar and artist is to look forward and then look backward, again and again, till I get some wiser answers!”

I supported what Hung said, “We cannot build a framework on which to base our life or society without knowing and understanding how things worked in the past. History does not only help our present but it also helps us determine what we should do now in order to shape the future.” Hung smiled, “What you just said about history also apply to the art world!”

It is an artist’s duty to depict the times in which we live. It is also his duty to tell us what the past held and grew into today. If history is of no significance or interest to an artist, he will never get a pole for the higher jump!

MLee

Chinese Version 中文版:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/guo-ji-mei-ti-yi-60712046?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copy_to_clipboard&utm_campaign=postshare

Media Artist Hung Keung documentary  https://youtu.be/kJNMP4iy0A0  Acknowledgement-K11 Art Mall

 Artwork by Hung Keung: Four Seasons:  Falling Flowers + Drifting Clouds  https://youtu.be/nwYEN99lG18  Acknowledgement:  Hung Keung

Artwork by Hung Keung  https://youtu.be/qXEXIe_MMcE  Acknowledgement: Hung Keung

Artwork by Hung Keung  https://youtu.be/t5hXHuMlHHg  Acknowledgement: NVAFHK

Artwork by Hung Keung  https://youtu.be/Dn4QhnfWLhs  Acknowledgement: NVAFHK

Artwork by Hung Keung  https://youtu.be/mCjVAMAtmgE  Acknowledgement: NVAFHK

Artwork by Hung Keung (Making of)   https://youtu.be/WHpD89m3Ta0  Acknowledgement- The Void. The Fulfilment.  The Dream

#Pole Vaulting #Cantonese #Grassroots #Dogsbody #Hyperactive #Calligraphy #Chinese Art #Archaic Reservoir #The Education University of Hong Kong #The Hong Kong Polytechnic University #The Chinese University Of Hong Kong #Central Saint Martins #Zurich University Of The Arts

[hilltopsunset]

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – A Great Game Gated by Absolutely Horrendous QoL Issues

I know Animal Crossing: New Horizons has now been out for over a year and half at this point, but I didn’t invest much time into the game when it was released back in March 2020; I got it for my then-girlfriend for her birthday on release, let her make an island on our shared Nintendo Switch, and basically just tagged along here and there while she did her thing. It wasn’t until a few months ago I finally decided to get my own Switch, and bought ACNH as my very first title. I was in an easygoing mood, and the game suited the laid-back vibe I was looking for; I also wanted some sort of creative outlet, and designing an island sounded like fun.

And it was! And is! I continue to play on a daily basis—right now I’m trying to breed flowers to get all the purple varieties, because I have the lofty goal of using all the flower types to create a sunset gradient out of yellows, oranges, pinks and purples. It’s going to be super cool, and I am so excited to work on that project more. Besides that, I obviously haven’t yet captured all the fish, bugs, or sea creatures because I haven’t been playing through all the seasons (because I’m not time jumping, because I’m not a cheaty-face) and while I was honestly super lucky with the villagers provided to me by the RNG gods, I do have a list of villagers I would eventually like to replace with others, just for the sake of variety both in personality and animal types.

Ok, so, I lied. A little bit. The pace of the game at the beginning is extremely slow—you can only do so much on day one before you’ve run out of island to explore and resources to gather—so I did do a little bit of time-jumping at first, basically until my island was developed enough to provide plenty of errands on a real-time daily basis (basically once I had the vault pole and ladder so that I could explore the whole island, I was happy). After that, I reset time back to present-day and haven’t skipped at all since.

Watching my Island grow has been super satisfying, and it has now been fully-developed for so long, it’s hard to remember what it was like when I first stepped foot onto Effret (named after the world in the novel series I’m writing). I went into designing my island with the philosophy of trying to leave as much of the natural shapes and structures as possible without sacrificing artistic needs or travel efficiency. But while I did try to generally plan some basic format to the “village” part of my island, I wasn’t mathematically exacting enough in a few cases, which led to a few inconvenient path-management situations, bringing to light one of a plethora of quality-of-life issues the game suffers: inability to move structures by small increments.

If you do want to move a structure, you need to move it someplace where there are no occupied ground cells, meaning you can’t nudge your store one cell up, like I want to. Instead, the process has to be:

1. Notify Tom Nook of the desire to move the store 2. Pay 50,000 bells 3. Select a completely unoccupied location onto which the store will sit temporarily a. This step also requires that your island is not so developed that you actually even have someplace you can move the dang thing temporarily 4. Wait until the next day 5. Perform steps 1-4 a second time, this time placing the store in the desired location

While it’s admittedly not the absolute worst thing, it is a bit annoying that it’s a 3-day process rather than just a next-day situation, the way that it could be if that minor adjustment was made; just make it so buildings can be re-placed within cells the building already occupies. That should not be so much to ask.

Unfortunately, this was the first of many, many gripes I have developed over the past few months of playing, and I find myself frequently muttering the phrase “this should not be so much to ask” repeatedly until the muttering because incoherent yelling. But rather than harp on all these issues in this general review, I actually plan on writing a separate article completely dedicated to the deluge of dilemmas I’ve detected so far. As a brief introduction to that article, here’s a concise list of some topics I plan to touch on: inventory and item stacks, local and online multiplayer limitations and issues, menu traps, shopping limitations, lacking villager dialogue, item placement difficulties, and custom design woes.

Despite these frequent and often incredibly annoying and/or time-consuming troubles, the game overall has been a charming experience that I look forward to every day. Most of the repetitive nature of the game doesn’t feel like a grindy second-job the way that other games can. It requires patience rather than skill, and it’s nice to have a game I can go to when I want to relax…as long as I don’t go fishing. Fishing is probably the most stressful part of ACNH, even though I have caught a cacophony of costly creatures with my constant casting; I once made 750,000 bells in a single transaction with the beaver villager who buys fish for a boosted amount. It was nutty. But there’s this reward for catching 100 fish in a row, and I wasn’t even paying attention to it until I was at about 90 catches in a row; of course, 6 fish later, I encountered a big boy that barely nibbled my bate before it bolted, and now I’m left staring at this “96” every time I look at the goal. Also, my girlfriend and I have a sort of silent agreement whenever we play together which we never discussed, where if either of us casts a fishing line, the other basically stops everything and goes completely silent to provide optimal fishing focus. That’s true love right there.

Speaking of accomplishing things without really giving it a concerted effort, I wasn’t even really trying to hit the 5-star island rating, but one day I was walking around and found a cute little white flower I had never seen before. Lo and behold, this flower called the Lily-of-the-Valley only spawns if and when an island has maintained a 5-star rating. Imagine my surprise! So I guess you could say I’ve beaten the game at this point. It also means I can now get golden roses, which I’d like to include in my sunset flower patch! Which reminds me: I haven’t yet watered my flowers, I should go do that soon.

In summary, I’m having a lot of fun with ACNH, and I’m excited to experience some non-summer seasons. It’s been a couple weeks into the beginning of Autumn, and I’ve accumulated some nice DIY recipes I still need to work on; those trees better prepare themselves for extended vigorous shaking. I do think I’m beginning to eke into the “end game” where there seems to be a noticeable lack of content, but I don’t particularly mind; I find the few daily chores engaging enough to hold my interest on a daily basis, and I’m not trying to play the game for several hours on end each day. It’s more of a nice way to wake up (check for new flowers, grab some bells from my bell tree, check out the daily visitor) and something to look forward to when I get home from work (scope out the stores, shake some trees for furniture, tend the flowers).

Personal rating: 4✹/5✹

I know there are little content patches still being released from time to time, but honestly what I’d rather see is a patch that addresses the multitudinous gripes I detail in my next article. Stay tuned for that! I’ve got opinions, let me tell yuh…

#ACNH #Animal Crossing #New Horizons #Game Review #easygoing #simulation #social #islandlife

[totesmccoats]

  Batman: The Dark Prince Charming – Book One

Italian comics artist Enrico Marini dives into the Superhero genre in a big way with his take on the most popular hero of them all, and so far, he hasn’t changed much. His Batman and Catwoman are also in a solid relationship, much like the main series. So don’t go into this expecting a wild reimagining of the character.

The story concerns Joker kidnapping a young girl after the news reports that her mother is suing Bruce Wayne for child support, claiming that she is his daughter. Joker, having seemingly already put together that Bruce Wayne is Batman, targets her to get to his real objective. Batman wants to rescue her, and after running a DNA scan on one of the girl’s dolls, this case becomes personal.

Despite being fresh to superheroes, and coming from a comics culture where they aren’t as ubiquitous as they are here, Marini absolutely nails the heart of Batman’s cast – most impressively the Joker. Marini’s Joker is obviously influenced by Heath Ledger’s performance, borring the presumably fake child-abuse backstory, and a habit of killing henchmen mid-robbery; but also distills so many other versions of the character, maintaining the best parts. Marini’s Joker threatens the kidnapped girl with a knife, only to reveal it’s to cut into a pizza he ordered for the two of them. Of course, he also killed the delivery boy. He’s a Joker who throws Harley a big birthday party, but kills all but one of his other henchpeople when she doesn’t like her present. Actually, unlike most Jokers, Marini’s seemingly isn’t abusive towards Harley, which is a pleasant break from that sorta thing. This Joker is unpredictable and cruel, but he’s also very fun about it; exactly how Joker should be.

Unfortunately, the women in this story aren’t treated as well. While Harley isn’t abused, she’s depicted as way more cheesecake than usual, and Catwoman’s every other pose may as well be on a stripper pole. It’s not like these are huge departures or anything, but it seems like some of the messier parts of the characters taken a little further than usual, is all.

Also, the book is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t want to say it’s the sort of quality of art that’s rare in American superhero books because I’d feel like I’m insulting artists like Ferreyra, Alex Ross, Sean Gordon Murphy, Jeff Lemiere, Francis Manapul, and many other fantastic artists I currently greatly enjoy and admire; but Marini’s handpainted, realistic yet heavily stylized work is far from the house styles of the big two. There are panels I legit want to blow up and hang on my wall. And Marini’s lightly tweaked character designs, plus his new Batmobile, are simply sweet as hell, and I wish they would be used in more things. And his Gotham is brimming with gothic personality, and an insane verticality that dwarfs Batman in the best way.

So far, this story isn’t really anything new or novel, but it’s a damn excellent Batman story in its own right, and one worth picking up if you enjoy comic art.

  Batman: White Knight #2

Jack Napier gives an impassioned testimony at his trial, declaring his innocence and putting the blame on Gotham’s police. He maintains that the authorities experimented on him, turning him into the Joker, so that they would have an excuse to demand bigger budgets from the taxpayers to fight a new breed of super-criminals. He says that the rich and powerful of Gotham have invested in crime to do what they’ve always done, make a profit off the suffering of the poor. And though Napier’s populist message has caught on with the poor and middle classes in Gotham, this isn’t a campaign he can lead alone, so he looks for allies.

His first stop, Harley Quinn. He goes to see her, only to find out that she has no love for Jack Napier, only loving the Joker. He then finds out that she’s not the original Harley. The first Harley – in the actual Harlequin outfit as opposed to the Suicide Squad inspired outfit of the new one – steps back in to accept Jack’s proposal, while explaining that she left after feeling neglected by the Joker in his obsession with Batman; and that in his maina, he never even realized she found a replacement. It’s actually a really smart take to explain how Harley has has such a drastic change in character recently.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Mr. Freeze test out their new cure for Nora. They first test it on some lab rats, but then Mr. Freeze tries it on himself. And while it successfully reverses his condition, it also rapidly ages him to make up for all the time he spent frozen.

Bruce later goes to some sort of rich people party/auction, where he’s horrified to learn that his friends have been profiting from Batman’s war on crime. He knocks out his friend and storms off. Now, this I really like. Murphy hasn’t just switched Batman and Joker’s roles as hero and villain; Bruce legitimately seems ignorant of the inequality that Batman’s worked in service of, and he hates it. I’m expecting we may even see Bruce approach Jack to assist address the problems that Batman and the police have caused through Gotham – but that still makes me question how Batman ended up in Arkham from the cold open of issue #1.

I really like how much effort Murphy has put into this story to make it much more than just a simple “what if?” tale. Just as last issue brought up the popular fan-thought experiment regarding whether Batman is to blame for his villains, this one weaves in the fan-discourse about how the collateral of Batman’s work really does seem to disproportionately land with the poor. Napier’s speech isn’t just a an exercise in populist rhetoric, but an actual well reasoned argument against Batman’s existence vis-a-vie his effect on inequality. And it’s one that fits as much for canon-Batman stories as this alternate-universe that Murphy has lovingly crafted for this story. If you’re not already reading this one, get on it.

  Batman #34

Batman and Catwoman have their first post-engagement spat. Batman said that he’d “seen more” after Catwoman commented on there being “a lot” of something, and Catwoman took it as an insult, and Batman’s trying to explain he was just saying…oh and by the way they’re talking about the number of swordsmen surrounding them preparing to attack. Because that’s just how they do. King’s juxtaposition of the action with sitcom-esque dialogue isn’t the most original, but it’s really effective here in establishing that, for Batman and Catwoman, this is fairly typical. It continues through the issue, with the two also discussing whether Talia could be considered Bruce’s “Ex,” and lots of Bruce calling Catwoman pretty to deflect from accidentally saying something she’d consider rude.

Meanwhile, Damian and Dick track their father to the same entrance that he and Catwomen fought their way through last issue, but are stopped from following by Superman. Damian threatens to kill Clark with magic, but Clark reminds him that then Jon probably wouldn’t want to be friends anymore. Then Supes goes flying off to handle and alien invasion in Central City; and Dick and Damian decide to sit on the stoop and wait for Bruce to come out. It’s one of those scenes that works because it reminds you that Damian’s just a kid. A kid who can make a believable threat against Superman, but one you can’t take all that seriously because he’s just saying it because he’s steamed over his parents doing something in secret. So when Damian can’t get his way, he just pouts and sits down; and Dick, being the best big brother ever, waits with him.

The lighter tone of the issue changes almost instantly when Talia finally shows up at sundown. The palette of the issue switches from a yellow-orange to a red as the sun sets, ending with an early night-blue sky as Talia challenges Selina to a duel over Batman’s wounded body. The change is dramatic, but not sudden. Even once Talia is in-frame, she approaches slowly, taking about two pages before she starts fighting Batman, giving the sun time to fully set.

Jones’ inky style is still a perfect fit for this adventure, continuing to capture the feeling of the sun beating down on the characters by putting everything in high-contrast black against Bellaire’s yellows and reds.

We also find out in this last act of the issue that this isn’t some weird newlywed hazing ritual; but that Batman and Catwoman are actually looking for Holly Robinson, who killed the 237 people that a young Selina took the blame for, and they tracked her here. So, one question answered, at least one duel to the death to go before getting more.

  Green Arrow #34

Oliver has some trouble adjusting to his mother having been alive, and being a prominent member of the Ninth Circle, the evil bank that he’s been trying to bring down for the past year. Moira tries to convince Ollie of the virtues of capitalism – that when the Queens do well, all of Seattle benefits, but Oliver won’t have it.

Instead, he helps Black Canary take down the Clock King, who has hacked into Star City’s smart infrastructure, and is causing every self-driving vehicle in the city to go crazy. Dinah stops a speeding train on it’s tracks by screaming at it hella loud, while Oliver finds and stops Clock King.

Meanwhile, Diggle helps Merlyn make a full recovery, and then tells him that his debt for Merlyn having saved his life some time ago has been paid. Merlyn feels differently.

And at the end of the issue, Oliver agrees to help Moira raid the sunken vaults of the Inferno, believing that even if everything she says is just some Ayn Rand bullshit, a little money would help him out with his murder trial, and also gather evidence more against the Ninth Circle to rescue his city.

This issue is a bit of a mess. The Clock King and Diggle stories both feel like filler to make the issue reach it’s page limit, and to distract that, during them, Oliver completely flip-flopped on helping out his mother.

Also, I’m not a fan of Stephen Byrne’s work on this book. It looks too…flash animation-y, characters look as though they were coated in confectioner’s glaze. It actually reminds me of some bad webcomics, which ain’t good. Also, Moira looks more like Felicia Hardy than a woman who should at least be in middle age. What happened to Ferreyra? Or Campbell?

  Superman #34

As his worshippers beg him to lead their forces to take back Apokolips, Lex does the least Luthor thing ever and abdicates his godhood to the person their prophecy actually foretold – Superman. Did I miss something really big with Lex, or am I just supposed to believe that, after deciding to become a hero, he also just no longer has his character defining flaw? I don’t want to be one of those people who says comics should never change, but unless I missed something, this is a huge change of character. Even if he really is a hero now, that shouldn’t exclude him from being arrogant and striving for praise and adulation.

Meanwhile, Lois and Jon are also on Apokolips; and while Jon can just fly away from the people and hounds hunting them, Lois can’t, and finds herself taken by Granny Goodness’ Furies. But when their convoy is attacked by a giant, fire-breathing dredge worm, Lois picks up one of the fallen Furies’ guns and proves to Granny than she’s more than just another captured vermin.

While I continue to appreciate this book’s focus on Lois, it also puts her in a situation that doesn’t suit her strengths as a character. Lois is a reporter, she’s not Wonder Woman. I like that she’s able to defend herself, and that she’s not being damsel’d, but becoming a Fury feels just as out of character as Lex declining a throne.

  Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #6

J. Jonah Jameson cooks up a nice-looking lasagna to warm up his latest interview subject – Spider-Man! Of course, Spidey is only there for information that can help out his sister, but in exchange, he agrees to a no-holds-barred exclusive interview with the man who used to slander him for profit.

The interview doesn’t start off well, and quickly becomes a heated argument between the two on why Spider-Man wears a mask, and why Jameson hates him for it. The two trade verbal attacks about the other’s role in the creation of super-villains, destruction of property, and death, before just straight up calling each-other cowards and bullies.

If last issue suffered because it was too plot heavy to give room for characters to breathe, than this issue is an incredible course correction. Anything relevant to the plot of the arc is sidelined for the raw catharsis of Spider-Man and Jameson finally just letting everything out. And the issue ends up becoming a complete disrobing of Jameson as Spidey slowly digs into why he’s hung onto this grudge through becoming mayor, the death of everyone close to him, and getting fired from the Bugle. Like Zdarsky’s best issues, there’s more than a twinge of meloncholy through the issue, as he reveals how broken this character has been. That sorta thing has become his specialty, it seems – making jokey characters kinda depressing.

Walsh is the perfect artist for this issue. His style, much like Doc Shaner or Darwyn Cooke’s, evokes an older time in comics, with thick charcoal-y hatching and shading, and uneven outlines. Plus, no spaghetti webs! This is matched by Herring’s muted and watercolor-textured colors. The aged affect of the art is epitomized by a single flashback panel made to resemble Ditko’s original Spider-Man work; and it’s amazing how solid a throughline you can make from his style to Walsh’s.

It’s also scary impressive how much emotion he can draw out of Spider-Man’s mask, like…there’s seething anger in one panel that comes across through the mask despite any and all reason.

  Black Bolt #7

Finally free from the prison, Black Bolt makes his way back to Earth, but not before a pit-stop to return Monsteroso to his home planet. He’s reckoning with the loss of his voice and the PTSD from his time in the prison. Also on board is Blinky, who has her own nightmares, only hers can manifest physically, and require Black Bolt to destroy before they could actually harm her.

Very much a breather issue after the conclusion of the last arc, Ahmed writes an issue with almost no threat or urgency that isn’t just in one of the characters heads, excepting for a short space-dogfight at the end. The tone is complimented by guest artist Frazer Irving’s soft, dreamlike art. Irving’s style is almost the complete opposite of Ward’s hyperactive neon trips, almost resembling a children’s picture book; but is equally gorgeous to the work Ward has done on the series, and fits just as nicely into Ahmed’s story. This is easily the most beautiful single I picked up this week, and proves that Black Bolt is one Marvel book you should be reading even on “off” months.

  Crosswind #5

Juniper’s guys follow Cruz to Mika’s house, where he’s just finished beating her up. Then he kills two of the three guys Case sent to kill him, and promises to kill Cason as well. Then he gets a visit from the mysterious old man who swapped Cason and Juniper, who explains the situation and why he did it. So now, Cruz is out to kill June and her family as well.

Cason overhears the old man’s voice over the phone as he threatens to kill him, and knows enough of Cruz to prepare for him to make the trip to Seattle. Juniper catches up with Mika and tells her everything that’s been going on, and they both decide to try and cut Cruz off in Seattle.

Meanwhile, thanks to Cason’s advice, Kelly’s finally making friends at school. And he comes home to his step-mom finally giving his dad what he deserves.

While I didn’t really think the body-swap needed an explanation, I’m very glad that it happened essentially out of pettiness. The man who did it did so because they both refused to sell him their plane tickets so that he could see his wife before she died. It’s like something out of a myth, a god ruining your life because you were rude to them in disguise. It really may as well have been random.

Staggs continues to do wonders just with the main characters’ postures, like how June still holds her towel up to her chest as though to cover breasts, or how Case sits with a wide stance even in a dress.

  Paper Girls #17

Charlotte finally fills the girls in on the time-travel war that they’ve found themselves caught in the middle of: The teens who’ve been helping the girls are time travellers from at least 70,000AD who go back in time to right wrongs; and are are fighting against the “old-timers”, the first generation born after the invention of time-travel, who try to prevent anyone from interfering with the timestream. She was told this by a friend of the same time travellers who rescued Erin’s life; and even though she seems legit, if not a little eccentric; Mac doesn’t trust her completely. And when Mac tries to tell this to KJ, and also calls Charlotte a lesbian, KJ comes out to Mac, who is shocked once she realizes what KJ just told her.

Meanwhile, Tiff escapes from the overturned police car amid the giant robot battle happening around her, and manages to make it to her parents house, where she finds a mysterious goth sitting in her living room, and claiming to be married to her!

It only took seventeen issues, but we finally have an idea of what’s going on in Paper Girls! Yay! Not that I minded much, obviously; I was enjoying it either way, but it is cool to have some more context. And that moment between Mac and KJ is *mwah* perfect. Their faces! So good! Besides that though, this is mainly an exposition issue; with Tiff’s scenes being almost completely wordless. I still love how the teen’s mech is just an EVA though – that’s fantastic.

  Uber: Invasion #9

The unique Battleship Churchill – Leah – and a thirteen year old battleship candidate named Tamara rendezvous with Patton’s forces as he crosses the alps. The Germans have him walled off with a small squad of Ubers, expertly positioned to prevent his further movement despite his superior forces. Luckily, Churchill’s arrival provides him with inspiration for an attack the Germans could never see coming.

I won’t say how, because it’s one of the most amazing action sequences in recent comics memory, but needless to say, the issue ends with the Allies winning big, and possibly turning the tide of the war.

Leah is the star of this issue, and oh boy does she earn it. She’s a gentle giant, possibly the strongest single character in the franchise, and someone you do not want to be on the wrong side of. Gete draws her to make her basically a Totoro on one page, and then the Hulk on another. Generally there’s a distance between Uber’s characters and the reader because of the book’s narration taking the form of an objective post-war narration, but you really end up rooting for Leah, and not just because she’s ripping Nazis to pieces.

Comic Reviews 11/1/17 Batman: The Dark Prince Charming - Book One Italian comics artist Enrico Marini dives into the Superhero genre in a big way with his take on the most popular hero of them all, and so far, he hasn’t changed much.

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