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sdelmonteSoon, I will be busy. Very busy. The Sendak show is coming and must prepare.
But for now I have time to ruminate...
- My mother was honored last night by my synagogue. It's really hard not to feel amazingly proud when your wife gets to present your mother with the award, or when both make lovely (and short) speeches. It's really hard not to marvel at how lucky I am not only to have Batya in my life, but to see how close she and my mother have been all this time.
- Baseball season is upon us! Yay! That means 162 new opportunities for the Mets to get my hopes up, to break my heart, to confound me, and to make me hope this year is the year. FWIW, I don't think that the retooled Mets are ready to win just yet, but that they will also be a far sight better than last year.
- You want my predictions? Odds are, given my Flist, that you really don't care. But that never stopped me. It will be...
AL East - Yankees
AL Central - Twins
AL West - Angels
AL wild card - Red Sox
AL Champs - Angels
(These would be the same four teams that made the playoffs last year. So I'm conservative about this. Sue me.)
NL East - Marlins
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - Giants
NL wild card - Braves
NL Champs - Marlins
And who wins it all? Those pesky Marlins, again.
- Last week DC Comics released Countdown to Infinite Crisis, an 80-page comic on sale for $1. You think that I would highly recommend a bargain like this, one with great art and a story and script by Judd Winick, Geoff Johns and Greg Rucka, three of DC's best.
And yet...
This is a follow-up of sorts to last year's controversial Identity Crisis, and as the unwieldly title implies, the beginning of a buildup to something called Infinite Crisis, a sequel to the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths and also part of another effort to shake up DC's status quo forever. As such, Countdown does not stand alone, even though it has a complete story. Beyond that, if you haven't been reading DC's wares for the last 20 years, you are likely to be lost. And beyond THAT, the creeping darkness at the core of Identity Crisis has spread over more of the DCU. It's a darkness that many like, but it's one that has left me unsettled.
The DC that I loved is changing. Many of the heroes are less heroic, the villains are much bolder, and the fun things about a silly super-hero comic are being washed out to make way for something purportedly more realistic. Countdown is clearly built on that model, and as such I cannot recommend it wholeheartedly. It's got a lot going for it, but like so much else from DC of late, it's not fun. Still, it does hold together well and it Is a great bargain. But hurry, as the second printing will cost $2.
But for now I have time to ruminate...
- My mother was honored last night by my synagogue. It's really hard not to feel amazingly proud when your wife gets to present your mother with the award, or when both make lovely (and short) speeches. It's really hard not to marvel at how lucky I am not only to have Batya in my life, but to see how close she and my mother have been all this time.
- Baseball season is upon us! Yay! That means 162 new opportunities for the Mets to get my hopes up, to break my heart, to confound me, and to make me hope this year is the year. FWIW, I don't think that the retooled Mets are ready to win just yet, but that they will also be a far sight better than last year.
- You want my predictions? Odds are, given my Flist, that you really don't care. But that never stopped me. It will be...
AL East - Yankees
AL Central - Twins
AL West - Angels
AL wild card - Red Sox
AL Champs - Angels
(These would be the same four teams that made the playoffs last year. So I'm conservative about this. Sue me.)
NL East - Marlins
NL Central - Cardinals
NL West - Giants
NL wild card - Braves
NL Champs - Marlins
And who wins it all? Those pesky Marlins, again.
- Last week DC Comics released Countdown to Infinite Crisis, an 80-page comic on sale for $1. You think that I would highly recommend a bargain like this, one with great art and a story and script by Judd Winick, Geoff Johns and Greg Rucka, three of DC's best.
And yet...
This is a follow-up of sorts to last year's controversial Identity Crisis, and as the unwieldly title implies, the beginning of a buildup to something called Infinite Crisis, a sequel to the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths and also part of another effort to shake up DC's status quo forever. As such, Countdown does not stand alone, even though it has a complete story. Beyond that, if you haven't been reading DC's wares for the last 20 years, you are likely to be lost. And beyond THAT, the creeping darkness at the core of Identity Crisis has spread over more of the DCU. It's a darkness that many like, but it's one that has left me unsettled.
The DC that I loved is changing. Many of the heroes are less heroic, the villains are much bolder, and the fun things about a silly super-hero comic are being washed out to make way for something purportedly more realistic. Countdown is clearly built on that model, and as such I cannot recommend it wholeheartedly. It's got a lot going for it, but like so much else from DC of late, it's not fun. Still, it does hold together well and it Is a great bargain. But hurry, as the second printing will cost $2.
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Date: Apr. 4th, 2005 05:49 pm (UTC)As I've said elsewhere recently, my fave DC books are what I think of as the "small books"--those featuring former, or on their way to being former, sidekicks, and NOT the books featuring the big heroes themselves. Teen Titans instead of Superman, Green Arrow, or Wonder Woman. Nightwing and Batgirl instead of any of the main bat-titles. The Outsiders instead of Justice League. This is because these books all seem to focus on small details and characters, like Cassandra getting her own apartment for the first time. While the "big books" are a lot like Coundown, elaborate, contrived, and too high on the angst (and for me to complain the angst is too notched up? means something.)
(no subject)
Date: Apr. 4th, 2005 07:19 pm (UTC)And yet it's spreading. Things are getting more angsty. And it seems like the characters that were never supposed to fall that way are, and it feels like something's being spoiled or ruined. That's one reason I fear the upcoming Teen Titans/Outsiders crossover, because it seems like they're going to take what Kon used to be and completely beat it over teh head until he's unrecognizable.
They're doing that too much lately, and I don't really like it. :/ That's not to say I don't love DC still, and enjoy their books. But I'd like to see some of the old days again, yaknow?