[REVIEW] End of Month Reviews #76 - April 2010 [spoilers] Reviewed This Issue: Journey Into... #11 [8Fold] {high concept 8} Just Imagine Saxon Brenton Vs Andrew Perron In The Return Of The RACCies! #7 [LNH/RACCies] SW10: The Opposites [SW10] {high concept 8}
[REVIEW] End of Month Reviews #76 - April 2010 [spoilers]
Reviewed This Issue:
Journey Into... #11 [8Fold] {high concept 8}
Just Imagine Saxon Brenton Vs Andrew Perron In The Return Of The
RACCies! #7 [LNH/RACCies]
SW10: The Opposites [SW10] {high concept 8}
SW10: The Opposites Part 2
Also posted:
2009 (16th Annual) RACCies Ceremony [RACCies]
Academy of Super-Heroes #105 [ASH]
Coherent Super Stories #20 [ASH]
Legion of Net.Heroes #35 [LNH] {high concept 8}
SW10: The Rise Of Cap-Macaya [SW10]
Well darn. The _Academy of Super-Heroes_ issues lised-but-not-
reviewed last month was #104, not a repeat of #103.
Spoilers below...
====
Journey Into... #11
'The Leon Czolgosz'
An Eightfold [8Fold] series {high concept 8 contest}
by Tom Russell
The concept for High Concept Challenge 8 was 'opposites'
So how do I like this story? Let me count the ways...
First up I'll list some personal stuff, simply because it will
hopefully amuse you. I work at a university library, so the setting is
something that would attract my attention simply for personal reasons.
On top of that... well, seeing others who are ven more dysfunctional
with their officious librarianship is an amusing relief, y'know?
What, you don't believe me? Okay, try this on for size, then. My
workplace is adjacent to the city centre, the only major university
library located within the Sydney CBD. There are other large libraries
not too much further away, but the combination of exact location (front
door facing onto the intersection of two busy city streets), immediate
proximity (closer to the CBD than the Uni of Sydney), opening hours
(open later than the state library) and larger facilities than the
public libraries mean that UTS is the go to for students of the various
private colleges who haven't been provided with library facilities by
their own institutions. That's why the library installed a gate system
that uses student ID cards for swipe card entry. We haven't been a fully
open facility for nearly a decade. Now, statistics have been collated
showing laudable improvement such as the drop in the number of thefts in
the library as well as the decline in the amount of toilet paper used in
the lavatories - but the bottom line is that UTS has decided that first
use of its finite library facilities should go-to UTS students and staff,
and guess what? That means part of the front desk work involves finding
new and interesting ways to explain to students from elsewhere that 'we
don't want your type here'. Perhaps not quite as bad as the staff at
the Leon Czolgosz Memorial Library, since we've assembled a list of
alternate facilities at other institutions that people could use, but,
yeah. Officious librarianship. Been there, done that, waiting for the
promised new library that will be tucked quietly away within the main
university complex so that we don't have to worry about 'animal
control'
anymore.
Let's move on to substantive content of the story. It's not a
story
that relates to four colour superheroing in any way - but that's fine. As
I usually remind my readers whenever this comes up, comics are a medium
rather than a genre, and there's nothing in rec.arts.comics.creatives'
charter that says our stories have to be about superheroes. In this case
the story about the appointment of a new head of a municipal library.
It is structured like a tall tale, and is therefore given to
hyperbole for humorous effect. The characters are larger than life
eccentrics with grotesque obsessions and egos who operate in a world
that doesn't have quite the same laws of cause and effect as ours do.
A short digression. Actually, it occurs to me that most forms of
genre fiction can be described as worlds that don't have quite the same
laws of cause and effect. The majority of them operate with some level
of heightened drama, of which soap operas are merely the most extreme
examples. Our beloved superhero stories take it a bit further in that
the physical laws are continuously and ostentatiously being distorted as
well. In between most television shows and movies have a base assumption
of 'good guys win, eventually, and along the way there will be spectacular
special effects that don't make much sense if you apply real world logic
to them'. And to some extent or another this has been occurring in human
story telling for a long time, since folk tales and faerie tales also use
a divorced-from-reality internal consistency of their own.
(A further thought occurs: if I had of applied that same suspension
of disbelief to the events of the previous _Journey Into..._ episode, I
would have been able to avoid the nitpicking and gone straight to
enjoying the character study of Ms Schenck. Oh well.)
So here is a tall tale. It tells a story based on hyperbole. The
early setup of the story involves the narrator describing in minute
detail how eccentric these people are, and once that is done follows it
their interactions. As with most engrossing stories the audience should
be kept interested by being led to wonder 'what will happen next?',
and
being a tall tale at least part of this will also involve the question
'can these people get any more weirder?' The thrust and counterthrust
of the contest between the new City Librarian appointee Peter Ascot and
Herb Hettinger proceeds in a what for them is (probably) a perfectly
logical and internally consistent manner - but which for the reader
involves the puzzle of how events will turn out in this parody of
bureaucratic excess.
I have a particular liking for the pacing during the introduction.
There are paragraphs of loving detail on the other significant nominee
for the position of City Librarian Rebecca Schwartz - her bouts of
fascism, her behaviour after suffering a stroke, and the tangential
mystery if what another seriously ill librarian was doing with the
adorable puppies - and then there is a pause in the flow of the text as
Peter himself is introduced:
| Yes, that Peter Ascot: he who had served as the head of three different
| library systems in four years, the very same.
Then the text continues and lists some of Peter's eccentricities.
That pause fascinates me, because I wonder if the further description
of Peter Ascot was needed. Probably it was, because the audience needed
to know something of his personality for the ensuing conflict to make
sense. But under other circumstances it may have been an interesting
less-is-more intensifier for humorous understatement (normally the
effect is used in horror stories, since it's a truism that the things
in your imagination are much scarier than the things you actually see;
and now I'm trying to recall if/where I've seen it used before for
comedy).
Anyway, the introductory description of Peter Ascot continues with
a listing of his foibles, and then just before we get to the first scene
of characters actually interacting with actual dialogue, there is a
second pause to gather breath with the line:
| And I tell you all this not because I think that the hiring practices
| of the Leon Czolgosz Memorial Library and the city in which it resides
| make for particularly compelling reading, but to explain the
| significantly more important matter of how Mr. Ascot attempted to
| obtain his own library card.
A statement which is both true and not-true. All of this has indeed
been setup for the rest of the story - but also has been an attempt to
set both the tone of the story and to keep the audience interested with
an insight into a weird world of bureaucratic shenanigans, which means
it would indeed have intended to be interesting reading in its own right.
Just Imagine Saxon Brenton Vs Andrew Perron In The Return Of The RACCies #7
'Across The River And Into The Trees And Past The Forcefield And Through
The Lazer Maze' or 'The Bittorrents Of Spring'
A Legion of Net.Heroes [LNH] and RACCies chaotic add-on cascade
by Andrew Perron
For the most part there's not really that much that I can add that
hasn't been said before about previous issues of this cascade. Well,
nominally-a-cascade. Because even as a nominal cascade, the point is
more about throwing entertaining silliness together than developing
coherent tone, structure or theme. (Characterisation usually isn't too
big an ask - but plot development tends to be hit-and-miss in cascades.
The whole making-it-up-as-we-go-along aspect can act as a challenge for
participants to forge something coherent out of what has gone before, but
the silliness factor usually results in a melange of amusing ideas.)
The exit of the Interim Iconoclasts was abrupt but necessary, and
at least it was both funny and in character. The revelation of the
reincarnation of the original Mange Man is either going to simplify or
complicate continuity. However the main point of parody in this short
issue comes from a cute use of a crossover with the postings of the
RACCies awards, where Pointless Awards Man IV is literally dumped from
the end of this post into the narrative text of the ceremony in the
awards posting (and then comes back next issue). It's a variation on
some of the more egregious types of crossovers that monthly(-ish) comic
books have used over the decades to exploits any sense of completism
that their readers may have and thereby raise sales.
SW10: The Opposites
SW10: The Opposites Part 2
A Superhuman World [SW10] story {high concept 8 contest}
by Scott Eiler
In this story Gaia and Death arrange for a teamup (of sorts) between
Psychovant and Saint Cecilia against the other-dimensional Ultimate
Darkness. The introduction is quick and too the point, but Gaia's
dialogue is a bit on the dry and expository side. No matter, since it
allowed for a speedy introduction of Psychovant - whose dialogue most
certainly is not dry and expository. He's a fun, over-the-top character.
Personally I keep envisioning him as Lobo the Duck - the Amalgam Comics
combination of Lobo and Howard the Duck - but that's probably just me.
However the merger of Psychovant and Saint Cecilia - so as to
synthesise and reinforce their dualities so as to face off against the
Ultimate Darkness - and then having that synthesis take the form of an
acoustic guitar, was surreal. Perfectly logical in terms of ordering
hierarchies of different opposites, but nevertheless a seriously WTF
moment in terms of execution. Fortunately Gaia's summary of the
Ultimate Darkness' attacks on other Earths in other universes hints that
the Ultimate Darkness habitually moves on if it is defeated in one
location, so this is probably just a temporary team-up rather than a
long term change in their status quo.
---
Saxon Brenton University of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia
saxon.bren...@uts.edu.au
The Eyrie Archives of Russ Allbery which collect the online superhero
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http://archives.eyrie.org/superguy/ or
http://lists.eyrie.org/pipermail/superguy/
_________________________________________________________________
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On Sun, 30 May 2010 03:58:18 +0000 (UTC), Saxon Brenton wrote:
> Journey Into... #11
<snip>
> but the bottom line is that UTS has decided that first
> use of its finite library facilities should go-to UTS students and staff,
> and guess what? That means part of the front desk work involves finding
> new and interesting ways to explain to students from elsewhere that 'we
> don't want your type here'.
Eesh. As someone who's worked on both sides of the
interacting-with-the-public equation, I sympathize.
> As I usually remind my readers whenever this comes up, comics are a medium
> rather than a genre, and there's nothing in rec.arts.comics.creatives'
> charter that says our stories have to be about superheroes.
Indeed, there's very little in the charter that says what our stories need
to be about, period.
> The characters are larger than life
> eccentrics with grotesque obsessions and egos who operate in a world
> that doesn't have quite the same laws of cause and effect as ours do.
Though the characters are far more unlikely than impossible.
> (A further thought occurs: if I had of applied that same suspension
> of disbelief to the events of the previous _Journey Into..._ episode, I
> would have been able to avoid the nitpicking and gone straight to
> enjoying the character study of Ms Schenck. Oh well.)
Eh, dropping the suspension is worth doing if it leads to a better story.
> I have a particular liking for the pacing during the introduction.
I gotta agree - the sentences are strung together magnificently.
> Just Imagine Saxon Brenton Vs Andrew Perron In The Return Of The RACCies #7
> 'Across The River And Into The Trees And Past The Forcefield And Through
> The Lazer Maze' or 'The Bittorrents Of Spring'
And note I teased Cyborg Gorilla Hemingway at the end of last issue, made a
double Hemingway reference in the title of this one, and yet still haven't
had him appear as of the latest! It's taking a lot longer to get to the
center of the universe than I expected.
> For the most part there's not really that much that I can add that
> hasn't been said before about previous issues of this cascade. Well,
> nominally-a-cascade.
Again, if anybody's interested in writing an issue...
> The whole making-it-up-as-we-go-along aspect can act as a challenge for
> participants to forge something coherent out of what has gone before,
I'll say! @-@
> The revelation of the
> reincarnation of the original Mange Man is either going to simplify or
> complicate continuity.
Simplify, I'm hoping. If I do this right, all three Manga Men will have
their place in the Looniverse afterwards.
> However the main point of parody in this short
> issue comes from a cute use of a crossover with the postings of the
> RACCies awards, where Pointless Awards Man IV is literally dumped from
> the end of this post into the narrative text of the ceremony in the
> awards posting (and then comes back next issue). It's a variation on
> some of the more egregious types of crossovers that monthly(-ish) comic
> books have used over the decades to exploits any sense of completism
> that their readers may have and thereby raise sales.
> SW10: The Opposites
<snip>
> Personally I keep envisioning him as Lobo the Duck - the Amalgam Comics
> combination of Lobo and Howard the Duck - but that's probably just me.
No, I'd say it's about the same here!
> However the merger of Psychovant and Saint Cecilia - so as to
> synthesise and reinforce their dualities so as to face off against the
> Ultimate Darkness - and then having that synthesis take the form of an
> acoustic guitar, was surreal.
An acoustic guitar with wings! (And a big mouth?)
Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, I think a mouth.
Andrew Perron
> On Sun, 30 May 2010 03:58:18 +0000 (UTC), Saxon Brenton wrote:
>> However the main point of parody in this short
>> issue comes from a cute use of a crossover with the postings of the
>> RACCies awards, where Pointless Awards Man IV is literally dumped from
>> the end of this post into the narrative text of the ceremony in the
>> awards posting (and then comes back next issue). It's a variation on
>> some of the more egregious types of crossovers that monthly(-ish) comic
>> books have used over the decades to exploits any sense of completism
>> that their readers may have and thereby raise sales.
The comment I *meant* to make here was to agree, but note that I tried to
make it totally readable without that. (I mean, it's not like the RACCies
are in continuity anyway.)
Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, best of both worlds~
Andrew Perron
On Sun 30 May 2010 Andrew Perron replied:
>> The characters are larger than life
>> eccentrics with grotesque obsessions and egos who operate in a world
>> that doesn't have quite the same laws of cause and effect as ours do.
>
> Though the characters are far more unlikely than impossible.
Very true. And if I wanted to get really technical I could start
theorising on where stories fall when measured on two sliding scales of
cause and effect, one for the characters and one for the physical setting.
For my part I was thinking mainly of the tall tales of the old west, like
Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill at the time I was writing, but there are other styles.
>> Just Imagine Saxon Brenton Vs Andrew Perron In The Return Of The RACCies #7
>> 'Across The River And Into The Trees And Past The Forcefield And
Through
>> The Lazer Maze' or 'The Bittorrents Of Spring'
>
> And note I teased Cyborg Gorilla Hemingway at the end of last issue, made a
> double Hemingway reference in the title of this one, and yet still haven't
> had him appear as of the latest! It's taking a lot longer to get to the
> center of the universe than I expected.
I had forgotten the Cyborg Gorilla Hemmingway references. Darn.
>> The revelation of the
>> reincarnation of the original Mange Man is either going to simplify or
>> complicate continuity.
>
> Simplify, I'm hoping. If I do this right, all three Manga Men will have
> their place in the Looniverse afterwards.
I suspected as much. Or at least, I suspected that it was intended to do as
much. However the proof, as they say, will be in the eating of the pudding.
Especially since it's happening in a cascade, which is *almost* an invitation
for things to be changed in a everything-you-just-saw-is-wrong! shock reveal.
Fortunately the low writer participation numbers means that this cascade is
functionally almost a series, so I doubt if nayone will deliberately try to screw
the plot point about. Accidentally, maybe. But not deliberately.
-
Saxon Brenton Uni of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia
saxon.bren...@uts.edu.au saxonbren...@hotmail.com
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Saxon Brenton, author
On May 30, 6:23 am, Andrew Perron <pwer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 30 May 2010 03:58:18 +0000 (UTC), Saxon Brenton wrote:
>
> > SW10: The Opposites
>
> <snip>
>
> > Personally I keep envisioning him as Lobo the Duck - the Amalgam Comics
> > combination of Lobo and Howard the Duck - but that's probably just me.
>
> No, I'd say it's about the same here!
Actually, I felt the same way when I came up with a story wherein
Psychovant required a gun. But I really wanted to use The Elf With A
Gun.
> > However the merger of Psychovant and Saint Cecilia - so as to
> > synthesise and reinforce their dualities so as to face off against the
> > Ultimate Darkness - and then having that synthesis take the form of an
> > acoustic guitar, was surreal.
>
> An acoustic guitar with wings! (And a big mouth?)
>
> Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, I think a mouth.
Yep. The aperture is on the front of the guitar, so it's a standard
mouth. Though knowing Psychovant, I'll have to consider placing it
differently now.
I sometimes take "surreal" for granted. But I've revised the story to
try to resolve the "WTF" elements, at
http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/opposites.htm
. Thanks for the reviews.
