Shrapnel wrote:I'm going to say that comic-books count, because they do.
I've been reading the collected series of G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers, by Devil's Due Press.
It's a great example of a cross-over done well.
Are you shitting me?
That's the one where
Cobra Commander kills Starscream and Shockwave with plastic explosives
Anything that requires us to take Cobra as being as serious as giant robots is inherently stupid.
No, we aren't supposed to take CC seriously. That's the Dreamwave Grimdark GI Joe/TF crossover you're thinking of. The Cobra Commander in Devil's Due is patterned after his Marvel counterpart.
Get your continuities straight, man.
Secondly, Starscream is even more pathetic than usual in this particular micro-continuity and does diddly-shit, so it's no big deal that he gets blown up.
And thirdly, read the comic before passing judgement, spankyouverymuch.
Is this wretched demi-bee
Half asleep upon my knee
Some freak from a menagerie?
No! It's Eric, the half a bee
If he kills both Starscream AND Shockwave then we're supposed to take him seriously.
And even if they're all their cartoon versions then Cobra Commander would still fall flat on his face.
If it's the Marvel Shockwave and the Marvel Starscream and the Marvel Cobra Commander then Cobra Commander would still fail, because he is still rather pathetic (moreso than Marvel Starscream, and much moreso than Marvel Shockwave.)
How would you feel if Marvel US Galvatron was killed by Rocket Raccoon?
Because that's pretty much what it came off as to me.
And I actually did read the issue where that happened, which is why I didn't read any more of the series because it was stupid.
Even if I hadn't, do I need to read everything terrible in order to say it's terrible?
If so, you should go read the entire collected works of Terry Goodkind because I know you haven't read it and previously said it was shit (a point I agree on, but one that cannot be logically held with what you said earlier.)
End of discussion.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
I just determined the distinction between comics and graphic novels.
Comic books do the big written sound effects like "POW" and "BLAM" and "DAKKADAKKADAKKA"
And graphic novels leave them out.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
I always just think of graphic novels of being larger scale publishing. As in not the usual thin 23 page book with built in advertisements.
I've just fallen into the habit of referring to them as graphic novels to a large degree because as an English major, GN is a word more relevant for academic journal searches than comic. Comic is way to broad a search criteria.
Ancient History wrote:We were working on Street Magic, and Frank asked me if a houngan had run over my dog.
Been a while since I posted here...in the past month or so...
--Reread "Les Miserables", after seeing the movie. As I recalled, it was an odd mix of very beautifully crafted (if a bit wordy) prose, mixed in with pages and pages of fairly boring author droning. I unashamedly admit I skimmed parts of it. The parts where stuff is happening are quite good; the parts that are mostly history lessons I kinda glossed (except the part about Waterloo, because that was pretty cool). Anyway...book Valjean is the most badass of righteous badasses.
--Finished "Memory of Light"...pretty good through most of it, but I thought The Last Battle dragged a bit. Lan was more awesome than he's been in a while. I don't feel Mat's whole thing with Tuon was resolved tidily enough for my taste. Some deaths surprised me, others didn't. Gawyn was a total douche, and I'm glad he died...most downhill character development ever. Alivia's role was completely thrown in the trash. The last-minute Aiel subplot (that Aviendha found out about) was not resolved to my satisfaction. And finally, Rand's ending was complete bullshit.
--Almost done with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"...meh. The protagonist is a whiny emo fuck, who I feel brought most of his problems on himself. I would like to read a version from the creature's POV.
I am judging the philosophies and decisions you have presented in this thread. The ones I have seen look bad, and also appear to be the fruit of a poisonous tree that has produced only madness and will continue to produce only madness.
--AngelFromAnotherPin
believe in one hand and shit in the other and see which ones fills up quicker. it will be the one you are full of, shit.
Recently read "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (Stephen Chbosky), which was excellent and I highly recommend it. I also read "The Fault In Our Stars" (John Green), which was also very very good...it is a book about people dying of cancer, though, so be aware of that going in.
Read Michael Crichton's "Micro"...kinda sucked. Very predictable, and I didn't really care about any of the characters, which was unusual for a Crichton book...a lot of his earlier stuff would go into great detail about the character's history and backstory, so you got a good feel for them as a person. These were like foils. Most of them died, and I literally did not give a shit.
Not sure how much of this is due to the ghostwriter who finished it (Crichton died while writing it), and how much is due to the fact that Crichton's later stuff was sub-par..."State of Fear" was a propaganda piece about global warming denial (and was as terrible as that sounds), and "Next" was so bad I can't even remember what it was about.
Just started Gene Wolfe's "Latro in the Mists", which I've been meaning to read for a good while now. I'll report back when it's done.
Last edited by PoliteNewb on Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
I am judging the philosophies and decisions you have presented in this thread. The ones I have seen look bad, and also appear to be the fruit of a poisonous tree that has produced only madness and will continue to produce only madness.
--AngelFromAnotherPin
believe in one hand and shit in the other and see which ones fills up quicker. it will be the one you are full of, shit.
I'm reading a bit of light urban fantasy. Author is Seanan McGuire. The series is called Incryptid.
This family of cryptozoologists are descended from monster exterminators. They work at understanding cryptids--and keeping the harmless varieties okay, and try to put down the really nasty kinds (like this phillipino critter that preys mostly on late-term pregnant woman and newborn babies).The variety of critters involved is pretty awesome. Thus far, my favorite are the cuckoos--so named because they'll move into someone's life, take it over, and live it up until the money's gone, then move on.
The cuckoos are major telepaths. To the point of doing visual illusions and making people feel/think things. Even the narrator/heroine, who's dedicated to the idea of all cryptids have an ecological niche, admits they're hardcore nasty. They ruin lives, and they're nigh-impossible to detect because the only way to get them to stop from telepathically projecting stuff at you is to knock them out or kill them. And they can generally make sure that you won't find them to knock them out to begin with.
Oh, and their internal biology isn't remotely human; they're closer to insects. They're hardcore dopplegangers--not only can they look like you, they can make your friends and family think you're someone else when you confront them.
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
So I finished the Wolfe book (Latro in the Mist); it was excellent, and I strongly recommend it (it combines Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete; apparently there is a 3rd, Soldier of Sidon, which I will need to look for).
Also read H. Beam Piper's "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen"; decent, as Piper can definitely tell a good yarn. But I didn't enjoy it as much as his other stuff...seriously, Kalvan is a messed-up dude. And the fact that the Paratime guys are cheering him on was really disturbing.
Just about finished reading Jack Vance's "Planet of Adventure" cycle; surprisingly good. It reads a lot like "Cugel's Saga", only the main character isn't a sociopath, but is actually a fairly decent guy. It's Vance, though, so naturally there are no female main characters and women come off pretty poorly. So yeah. :/
I do enjoy Vance's weird worlds and cultures, though...I see a lot of stuff I'm going to steal for a future D&D campaign.
I am judging the philosophies and decisions you have presented in this thread. The ones I have seen look bad, and also appear to be the fruit of a poisonous tree that has produced only madness and will continue to produce only madness.
--AngelFromAnotherPin
believe in one hand and shit in the other and see which ones fills up quicker. it will be the one you are full of, shit.
I've been reading a lot of books by Elizabeth Bear. She loves her futurism and body enhancements. Even her fantasy books have them. Also, apparently she likes gay men porn. A lot. In one of her series, the first book had a mention of heterosexual sex, then the second book had a lot of bromance sex and then the third book was about bromance and torture sex and the frequency increased. It was strange and out of the blue. But the story was quite awesome.
Also, amazon just delivered a long awaited book to me. Monkey truck by Michael Slack is a kid's picture book but it's fucking awesome. Any parent should buy it but also any adult who wants to have awesome laughs. You won't find it in a bookstore but Amazon stocks it. I'd probably compare it to Neil Gaiman's picture books like Blueberry girl or Crazy Hair. Go read Monkey Truck for he is faster than a Tsunami and his overdrive engine burns banana gas.
Ancient History wrote:We were working on Street Magic, and Frank asked me if a houngan had run over my dog.
Been going through various histories of erotic comics, underground comix, and horror comics in the United States. Amazingly, I've finally found a use for Stephen Sennitt, as his history on horror comics isn't terrible.
[/edit]List of books:
[*]A Haunt of Fears: The Strange History of the British Horror Comics Campaign (Martin Baker, 1984)
[*]The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (David Hajdu, 2008)
[*]Horror Comics in Black and White: A History and Catalog, 1964-2004 (Richard J. Arndt, 2013)
[*]Ghastly Terror! The Horrible Story of the Horror Comics (Stephen Sennitt, 1999)
[*]A History of Underground Comics (Mark James Estren, 1974)
[*]Optimism of Youth: The Underground Work of Jack Jackson (Jaxon, 1991)
[*]Sex, Drugs, and Violence in the Comics (Greg Theakston, 2008)
[*]Erotic COmics: A Graphic History (Tim Pilcher, 2008) (2 vols.)
Last edited by Ancient History on Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the end of the lane is probably his best work ever. I feel that Gaiman writes a best character when it's not a brooding adult but a child who is bit mature for his age but still learning new things.
I mentioned that I had read a lot of Elizabeth Bear but I hadn't listed any of the books. So here goes.
The Promethean Age series of novels are about the world of faerie and the human world. The first two books are urban fantasy but still fairly Victorian when it comes to anything about the faeries. The first two books are Blood and Iron & Whiskey and Water.
The second series within TPA is set during Shakespeare's time and the two books have two different protagonists. The first book, Ink and Steel stars Christopher Marley as a spy/adventurer/playwright/magician. The second, Hell and Earth, book stars William Shakespeare as a spy/adventurer/playwright.
Another series of hers is The Edda of Burdens that follows the life of immortal Valkyrie/angels in a world that starts with the end of the world and then the ravaged world a 1000 years after the apocalypse.
The three books in this series are All the windwracked stars, By the Mountain bound, and The Sea, thy mistress.
Carnival is a detective story set in a world where people from Earth have migrated countless worlds with specific ideas about how the world should be run. Carnival is set in an amazonian society with men in a very subservient role.
Undertow is another post-migration world but involves murlocs aliens called Ranids as the subservient race that is trying to gain autonomy. Full of corporate Conspiracy and luck manipulation magic/science.
Shoggoths in Bloom which was recommended to me by Ancient_History is a short story collection by Bear. It involves some weird fiction but also a lot of scifi and some fantasy stories. There's an awesome story about Dragons and why they hoard treasure.
Through Bear, I came across Sarah Monette who also seems to have some sort of need to have gay sex in her stories. I have no problem with this but I think both of these authors are trying to deliberately have M/M sex. It isn't really that off-putting because it actually does help the story go forward.
So Bear and Monette cowrote two books about norse myth influenced world where the world is protected by clans of dire wolves who are bonded to big strong burly but sometimes effeminate men. These books are the only ones that actually made me feel a bit awkward because while there is no bestiality, the bond between the animal and the men causes them to feel whatever sex the other one is involved in. And often if a bitch wolf is in heat then the guy also gets horny and the cross pollination of man-man sex and wolf-wolf sex is really weird.
So the two books I've read in this series are A Companion to wolves and The Tempering of Men.
I've read several more books but I've written more than I expected to write. So maybe another post at another time.
Last edited by Cynic on Tue Jul 02, 2013 3:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ancient History wrote:We were working on Street Magic, and Frank asked me if a houngan had run over my dog.
Just finished Karl Edward Wagner's two Kane omnibuses from Nightshade Press - ye gods are those things more expensive than they need to be - and working my way through Ghor, Kin-Slayer, a round-robin that started off as a Robert E. Howard fragment and was added to episodically by pretty much every major sword-n-sorcery author of the last forty years except Garnder F. Fox, who I'm pretty sure was already dead when the project started. Not bad.
I've been enjoying Asimov's Foundation series, and am about to finish the last book. Once I do so, I'm going to start reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels my wife has been raving about.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
I've just finished up the latest Iron Druid book from Kevin Hearne.
Sometimes I love the series--like finding out about Ukko, the Finnish Thundergod--and sometimes I hate it (when it gets overly preachy). Mostly, I like it.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Hey, I'm actually rereading the Foundation series too and am also done with Forward the Foundation. It is a little disappointing how much Asimov shifted psychohistory from "hyper advanced mathematics" to "semimystical mind control" but whatever.
Soldier of Sidon, by Gene Wolfe. 3rd book in his Latro series, good quality, if not quite as good as his previous 2. Ending was a little flat.
The Warriors, by Sol Yurick. The movie was better.
Titan, by John Varley. This was a re-read, but I hadn't read it for several years, and had forgotten what a good character Cirocco Jones was.
The Stranger, by Camus. I did not enjoy it; aside from a few poetic lines, I found it to be a blandly told and highly depressing story with an unsympathetic (and possibly mentally ill) protagonist. I realize that some will say I'm "missing the point".
I am judging the philosophies and decisions you have presented in this thread. The ones I have seen look bad, and also appear to be the fruit of a poisonous tree that has produced only madness and will continue to produce only madness.
--AngelFromAnotherPin
believe in one hand and shit in the other and see which ones fills up quicker. it will be the one you are full of, shit.
The 2002 novels have the great-grandkids of some of the 1931 cast (and a couple returning characters because duh). Claire's great-granddaughter is basically him with girl parts and movie stardom, and her brother is only slightly more talkative than their great-grandmother, while Jacuzzi's grandson is considerably less likable and less competent. Also, his great-grandmother is probably disappointed that there were explosions and he was not responsible for any of them.
DSMatticus wrote:It's not just that everything you say is stupid, but that they are Gordian knots of stupid that leave me completely bewildered as to where to even begin. After hearing you speak Alexander the Great would stab you and triumphantly declare the puzzle solved.
