#my brain cannot handle reading irl books apparently

[kezcore]

i was listening to the radio silence audiobook (first time reading radio silence!! yippee!) and the narrator pronounces frances's username as "toulousa" with a british accent. it wasn't until i finally opened my irl hardcover copy that i realized it was actually "touloser" and i am so mad that i went through half of this book without this information. she is just like me fr

[miniwolfsbane]

Sweet Tooth S1 thoughts (BIG SPOILERS)

First off, I am disappointed we were shown a PURRING PUPPY BABY in the trailer and had 0 follow up with it? Did he/she escape to Istanbul with it’s parents? Get captured? Live a nomadic life? Live in the forest? I WANT ANSWERS!! :( Also, puppies don’t purr, so I want answers to that too. Unless they were trying to go for a whimper or an animal noise and just went with that instead.

BIG SPOILERS under the cut

Anyway, the only two things, aside from the bits of gore and violence (Reviews are all like “IT’S A FAMILY SHOW!” And I counter back with “I would not let any child under 13 watch this and I have never seen a family show with three seconds of guts being removed and two scenes of implied, live vivisecting on sentient beings without anesthetic.”), the only things I didn’t like about this were using 2 overused cliche’s. One being the hero hanging off a bridge for what seems like 12 years above peril, and the other I can’t remember. It was Jeppard nearly missing the train. The only thing that saved it was the flashback.

The other thing was that, while dark, there’s a bit of predictably and not much depth to the story. I realized last night that the comic source material my have the depth I’m craving out of the story. Just because it has child actors doesn’t mean the story can’t be dug into deeper and have more meaning. I applaud them for what they did and how they handled it, mixing in human-ish vivisecting with neighbors burning down their friends houses and being murderous hypocrites into a story about children, but it wasn’t enough for me. I wanted more.  Edit: Not more violence, obviously, just more to the story. dig into the universe, hard. Like gardening, just shove both metaphorical hands into that story soil and root around in it. Find all the gems that are the interesting parts of this universe and answer our questions. 

Sadly, I see someone on tumblr called it...something. Like, were we even watching the same show?? A multi-racial cast that gives all it’s characters dignity isn’t...that.

Bobby isn’t creepy to most and not shown that much. If you really think Bobby is that creepy, you need to go see original Bobby and get back to me. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=mv4YBZHa&id=071BD6BDAA183CA5965247E7F8F68E873375399B&thid=OIP.mv4YBZHau8dTzxGoK0L0ggHaHD&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fvignette.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fmarvel_dc%2Fimages%2Ff%2Ffc%2FBobby_Sweet_Tooth_001.jpg%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20150813115735&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR9afe180591dabbc753cf11a82b42f482%3Frik%3Dmzl1M4eO9vjnRw&pid=ImgRaw&exph=616&expw=647&q=sweet+tooth+comics+bobby&simid=608026455638091252&ck=7A4DBACCF6BFE43E3B1E799F7F88C55A&selectedindex=0&adlt=demote&shtp=GetUrl&shid=3fb5000d-4d63-494a-986d-006fedeb28d5&shtk=Qm9iYnkgKFN3ZWV0IFRvb3RoKSB8IERDIERhdGFiYXNlIHwgRmFuZG9t&shdk=Rm91bmQgb24gQmluZyBmcm9tIGRjLmZhbmRvbS5jb20%3D&shhk=NjRWN4Jv1KDrxu8T30I3UN0IQ71oVtCAEnsLIeSmFl4%3D&form=EX0023&shth=OSH.nyb0RMh%252Bnm%252B%252B%252FIH1cnkhHw

Okay, kid does sorta look like a gremlin mixed with a Furby in the show, like one post said, but I’ve seen worse. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=F9mlBjUo&id=49C0257935E4A941563E579C7E9DCF48B72BEC01&thid=OIF.eyTVbAuEqt0R%2bKFmrIK4gA&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fepipoca.com.br%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2021%2f06%2fE3NUK2kVoAE5Ct_.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR17d9a5063528805f1ade0ea77464df86%3frik%3d%26pid%3dImgRaw&exph=675&expw=1482&q=sweet+tooth++Bobby&simid=297111136187&ck=7B24D56C0B84AADD11F8A166AC82B880&selectedIndex=49&FORM=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

Sometimes stuff goes over my head. I had no idea that the babies were being born and not made in a lab. When they showed them in the maternity ward, I genuinely thought they had been experimented on and didn’t come out of the womb like that. Apparently I missed that it was a maternity ward in a hospital. That’s my other problem with this show I forgot to mention: It defies logic and you really have to turn off your brain to accept the hybrid concept. I’m guessing the virus or other means (possibly according to the comics, I tried to avoid big spoilers), mutated them in utero. That still doesn’t satisfy me. Thankfully, Gus was somehow lab created, so that helps. (More information and context would be appreciated. Was it, like, they were experimenting with in-vitro or what?) Edit: This article https://screenrant.com/sweet-tooth-theory-purple-flowers-cure-sick-virus/ explains that putting the virus in a chicken egg produced Gus. Which makes even less sense. Edit: This MAY or MAY NOT be right. Someone on YT pointed out they never said this in the show.

 IRL, Virus + chicken embryo=would never randomly produce a human/deer hybrid baby. It’s so freaking random it sounds like nonsense or the delusions of a madman, not a rational comic book author with a presumably sane mind. Just...I’ve said it before...things have to make sense, even in fiction. 5 step process of anything cannot equal random result. It goes against all science, right? And made up worlds have to have rules, even silly worlds. Like I said, you have to turn your brain off, but this stretches even my disbelief. Hybrids, I get, fine, but that? I’m sorry, what? *headdesk* I don’t know, maybe the comics had something I’m missing since I never read them.

I’m eager to learn the connection to the kids and the virus as we go. And if we don’t get a season 2, I’ll be getting the comics to satisfy my thirst for this show.

Gus is my baby and I don’t understand how a kid could be that cute. Jeppard is the GOAT (lol) Bear could use better line delivery at times, but her acting will improve I’m sure. Nice to see Diana Ramierez acting again, her character is likeable. Wendy is cute, but kinda just there for me. Needs more traits or character development to get on my favorite characters list. Bear also needs more than just backstory and a tough girl persona. She’s not bland, she just needs more spark to her as a character. More personality, if that makes sense. 

Lastly, I wanted a tiny bit more from the make-up department. Wendy and rabbit kids (yes, I took note of this detail and I love bunnies) make-up is on point, but the rest look like kids dressed up in dollar store feathers and fur for a school play. Get more creative if you’re gonna show these hybrids, even if it’s just for a few seconds. You have the budget!! (But I think most of that went to Bobby’s puppetry/CGI and Jeppard’s baby, to be honest.)

I wanted a cat girl or boy, because the lulz for the anime community (Also, because I have 2 cats and stuff), but at least we got bird kids, even if they weren’t cockatiels like mine. I’m ready for Season 2, hurry Netflix!!

I can see why people wouldn’t like this show or wouldn’t recommend watching it, but I see many have embraced it. It’s either you’re thing or it’s not, but you should give it a chance and see. Just don’t shoot it down if you hate it, there’s enough wet blankets out there and we all have different tastes.

Edit: One last thing. I do have a problem with hybrids being half-human. Like, you would think that being half-human, they’d still have all the problems humans have with causing wars and all. I know it’s a dark story with a good outcome, but there’s something too saccharine about hybrids having “The best parts of us.” What exactly are those best parts? Last I checked, humans are selfish and vain at their core. Even the most altruistic, giving person can be greedy about something or want more. It’s like Genie said in the new Aladdin, “You can have all the money and power in the world and it still won’t be enough”.  Wouldn’t bird people and pig people and deer people all want to side with each other instead of living in some grand utopia? Fighting over land and resources? Portraying hybrids as taking over the earth after people are gone from extinction and everything going peachy doesn’t quite work for me. Not that I’d want it to still be dark, but, eh, they’d have to have SOME problems, wouldn’t they?

[deathvsthemaiden]

🌻

Congrats! You have won access to a list of some of my most random thoughts in recent memory! Enjoy maybe (advance apologies for not linking any sources to any of the half remembered fun facts...don’t take them too seriously I never know what I’m taking abt 😬🤗)

•If you’re talking loud enough for people to hear you without trying or meaning or wanting to...it doesn’t count as eavesdropping!! @/my mother I am innocent! Learn some volume control 📢

•The older I get the more toxic and alienating I find the commonplace turn of phrase “I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached!” Why is that painted as a bad thing...... 🥺💔❓I’d loveeee to forget my head. Just a few times. 👌🏽 As a treat.

•excluding the obvious, such as slurs, my least favorite words in the English language are landlocked (hideous reminder of my geographic state of affairs), and kismet. The latter is just so uglyyyyy the original language(s) it’s derived from make it sound so much better why can’t we just say kismat! I speak Urdu so I’m biased but like—

•I emphathize with fish an odd amount. I’ll eat them gladly and w gusto but I also find the level of suffering they’re allowed to feel staggering. It blindsides me. Blob fish used to (actually still do) freak me OUT!! Like my sister would scare me by showing me pictures of them w no warning. But apparently the reason they look the way they do is normally they live like 2000-4000 ft underwater and the decrease in water pressure as they’re drug up to the surface misshapes and deforms them and apparently this is very painful?? Even if it isn’t tho...the first time I read that. Immediate tears sprung into my eyes. And apparently some fish can choose to commit suicide? Like they just stop swimming and eating... god oh my god—!! They’re FISH!! Why are they so COMPLICATED!!! And I used to own a tank full of fish and usually fish don’t last long in our house! Rancid vibes you know? And my mom and I were so pleased these ones had lasted so long!! And then mysteriously they all just died too?? We did everything RIGHT! It was probably more than 2 years ago and we keep saying we’ll get more fish but I just don’t have the heart...I’m.....not ready to get hurt again so soon.

•apparently purple marble is/was a thing that exists. But the Romans used it up? Wild if true

•can’t stop thinking abt how elegant FGO!Bedivere would look in fencing gear

•My parents almost named me Sumbal

•You know how B&N has special gilded hardback editions of various classics? I will never forgive them for making their edition of Jane Eyre black/grey and WHITE!! MONOCHROME and BLEAK!! (Just bc it’s gothic!!!) It’s one of the most colorful books I’ve ever read!!! It swept me off my FEET! During the happiest parts of the book everything in my line of sight irl was GOLDEN I was in literal actual and true LOVE!!! I fell a-freshly in love w life bc of how much this book delighted me and they swaddle her in black and WHITE?? I can’t deal gentle reader I cannot deal—

•I have mixed feelings about poetry but I have a soft spot for The Tiger is out yes (you know the one, by the little boy? the ENERGY!!)+e. e. cumming’s The Grasshopper. On average poetry doesn’t make sense to me but grasshopper is the sort of (non)sense which I’m capable of appreciating. I dream of having a voice controlled fancy robot try to kill me so I can tell it to recite grasshopper and then it just explodes in confusion bc you can’t do that (recite grasshopper) 🐅 ���

•I’ve lost track of the # of years I’ve waited in vain for Shoukoku no Altair to be localized and have official (physical!) English copies available for purchase, instead of just ebooks. Since the forgettable and upsettingly bad anime adaptation I’m afraid it’ll never happen ever...💔 I ache and yearn for naught but idk how to stoppp 😭

•The Cr*wn of L*ve by John Everett Millais is one of my most favorite paintings but I’m like. Embarrassed about it 👑 @my brain WHY. When did I become such a s*ppy gremlin. I blame ur fics and Jane Eyre Eve 😑 I was firmly in the ‘romance is a neurochemical con job’ camp just years before courtesy of my upbringing....what have I become 😶😶😶

•nothing screams “I hate you” like not appreciating+wasting food and also not returning the favor ever like it’s not a zero sum game but god is a little reciprocity too much to ask yes it is and yes I am sensitive and have been hurt before why do you as—🤐

•purposely vague but sometimes I wonder if I’d been one of those kids who put her head down on her desk in elementary school a lot and stopped listening to teachers whilst doing so maybe life, academically speaking, would go smoother for me now. But I was too afraid of getting in trouble and not yet the full fledged quitter you do (not literally) see before you today. Although the urge to put my head down wasn’t one I never felt...Missed opportunities alas

•I used to be able to handle spending any length of time in those mesmerizing aquarium tunnels and even enjoy myself in them but I’m now a more fragile and wise gal and can not even look at pictures w/o feeling intense WHJDNDNDND idek. They’re scary man. 🌊

•one of my favorite fun facts ever is this painter in 1881, Edward Burne-Jones finally realized mummy brown paint actually had bits of real mummies in it when having lunch with friends and was so unnerved he tried to give his tube of the paint a burial immediately. Like immmmeditately. (read this like a year ago in The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair) 🎨 📖

[onepunchliner]

It's the comparing me, a person of colour to a trump supporter just bc I possess common decency and concern fa mi 😌😌😌

This is partially why I cannot stand fandoms, bc if I can make an obvious example of how fiction effects reality (fanfiction is literally a standing example of it effecting reality, you're writing cookie cutter pieces for a piece of media you like) then you can understand what you're doing is hurting others.

After it came to my attention that she was doing this shit I just shared how I felt and this happens. Lmao.

Like I made an example of how reading books where harm against people of colour is perpetuated can mold how people of colour are treated and perceived irl is a real problem and she dodged that and I know for fact she couldn't make a valid point against is bc I'm right and you'd probably see how much more of an ugly little snake the manipulative bitch is.

Oh and then to cry about how she's being hurt when I made a level headed post and opinion basically showing a different side of what's going on. Pathetic. Of course if you want to send me hate or play the victim go for it. You're just making it really obvious who you are and how dumb you are.

It's sad bc I really thought she would handle this with maturity and some understanding but apparently having a rape fetish is the core of her personality so it's rotting her brain. ANYWAYZ I'm team Common Sense and team Decency I got a few things coming up but since this has been an ongoing problem at least you have proof of how she acts.

[thenthdimension]

My Top Ten Comics of the Year List because the one from Vice Sucked

So vice has released a list of its top ten comics of the year that was only eight entries long because apparently comics were so bad this year that eight was as many as they could manage. This really frustrated me, mainly because their problem was with the quality of comics (which I thought was great) and not the behaviour of individuals and organisations within the industry (a lot of which was very bad). I am not going to link to the article because if you want to find it you can but I am not going to help you. I am however going to give my top ten list which I realise a lot of other people have done in reaction to the article but I’m just too annoyed to do nothing.

Some caveats before I start, firstly I am just someone who likes comics and I have not read 90% of the stuff that has come out because I am not a) rich or b) someone who receives comics to review. Secondly I am a white/cis/het man and my comics reading is not as diverse as I would like but I do want to work on that this year. Thirdly some of these will be graphic novels, some individual issues and some on-goings. Finally this is in no particular order, feel free to skip past entries you have not interest in and please check to the end of the list to see if something catches your interest. If one person reads one comic because I did this that is a huge win.

Aliens Dead Orbit by James Stokoe

James Stokoe is one of the best cartoonists working in comics today. Most of the books he works on are top to bottom his work, writing, pencils, inks, colouring, lettering the whole bag and that is the case here. The details in his panels is incredible as you can see here but only when it needs to be. When he needs the readers eye to move quickly across a page to show speed or to make show a lot happening in a short space of time the detail drops without losing any of the skill. Also I just love his colouring the warm lighting contrasting with the cold metal of the ship and dark blacks of space and the aliens themselves. This is not a complicated or deep story that going to tell anything new about this universe its just excellently told and looks fab.

Kaijumax: Season 3 by Zander Cannon with colour assists by Jason Fischer

This is a prison comic where the prisoners are giant monsters, I really don’t know what else you want me to say about this. At its best it can be disturbing, funny, exciting and you will never know how much you could care about a giant satanic Goat. That goat is the Creature from Devils Creek and his is the best story line this season, I was honestly upset and some of the things he had to go through. I obviously recommend going back and reading the previous two seasons but this is the best Kaijumax has been and I cannot wait for season 4.

Doom Patrol Written by Gerard Way, Pencils by Nick Derington, Inks by Tom Fowler, Colours by Tamara Bonvillian and Letters by Todd Klien

The lead singer of My Chemical Romance writes one of my favourite comics. That’s a weird thing to say but then comics are weird and this comic if full bore weird. Coming from DC’s Young Animal line which is basically Way’s baby this is technically a book about a team of superheros but really its well developed characters dealing with whatever mad thing happens that month. But as much as I enjoy the madness and Ways writing Nick Derington is the best thing about this book. There was an issue that had guest art by Mike Allred, who I love, and all I wanted was for Derington to come back. Plus that madcap writing means he gets to draw some incredible looking stuff. Also one of the main characters has sex with their anthropomorphised cat.

The Wicked + The Divine Written by Kieron Gillen, Art by Jamie McKelvie, Colours by Matthew Wilson and Letters by Clayton Cowles

It was never going to be ok. That’s basically the motto of this book and this year has shown you how true that is. Every 90 years the cycle repeats normal people become gods and will not live past 2 years, this time they also became pop stars. Wic Div has been going for a couple of years now and it just keeps getting better, the characters are so real and who they are is brilliantly reflected in the art. It will break your heart but it will also have dying to read the next issue. Plus they have started doing specials which show glimpses of the past pantheons. Its currently on issue 34 so its something of a commitment but it rewards that commitments and the collections come out with a decent regularity. Oh if you are a tumblr person do not look at the Wic Div tag unless you want SPOILERS.

Copra #31 by Michel Fiffe

Fiffe is another top to bottom cartoonist and he also self publishes Copra, so this is proper indie comics. Copra is a Suicide Squad fan comic that’s almost consistently better than the actual Suicide Squad comic. A team of mercenaries and criminals do the jobs no one can admit to and treated as expendable by those who put them in harms way. Its art and action comics all at once. This issue focuses on Castillo who as you may be able to tell is somewhat like the Punisher and its just a great example of what makes Copra great. I could see Fiffes art not being for everybody but its 100% for me.

Southern Cross written by Becky Cloonan, Art by Andy Belanger, Colours by Lee Loughride and Letters by Serge LaPointe

Southern Cross is like an Aliens movie directed by John Carpenter filtered through H.P. Lovecreaft. Put on some synth-wave, prog rock or cosmic metal and enjoy a horror comic that’s also a huge amount of fun. The first arc was Alex Braith booking passage aboard the Southern Cross to find out what happened to her sister. This years second arc takes us to the rigs on Titan where the mystery of whats going on deepens and we find out more about the life in this universe. Can’t recommend it highly enough, plus some of the space suits have Jason masks, which makes me very happy.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl # 26 The Zine Issue by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Rico Renzi and many, many more

I cannot list all the creators please go look them up. Squirrel Girl (she has the powers of both Squirrel and Girl) is a comic that is always a huge amount of fun and this issue is the zine that Squirrel Girl has put together with her friends to raise money for all the public buildings superheroes destroy. It features a feel good inspiration comic written by a nihilistic brain in a jar, Cat Loki, a quite touching story about Wolverine and a sentinel and a Galactus comic written and drawn by Jim Davis the creator of Garfield. You can read this all by itself and still enjoy it so its a great place to find out if Squirrel Girl is for you which it probably is because Squirrel Girl rules. Eat nuts, kick butts. 

Mister Miracle #4 Written by Tom King, Art by Mitch Gerads and letters by Clayton Cowles

Mister Miracle is one of the New Gods. Mister Miracle can escape any trap. Mister Miracle is depressed and recently tried to kill himself. This twelve issue mini series is going to show up on a lot of best of lists this year and that’s totally justified. But of the five issues released so far I believe this, The Trial of Mister Miracle, is the best. Every great about this series is crystallised here, the 9 panel grids, the quite unflinching look at depression, the art that expertly mixes the fantastic and the mundane and the incredibly sharp writing. I haven’t seen a better example of a character who is entirely correct but also completely wrong.

Savage Town written by Declan Shalvey, Art by Philip Barrett, Colours by Jordie Bellaire and Letters by Clayton Cowles

Cartoonists get a lot of props for being able to handle every aspect of creating a comic book and there are some great examples on this list. This comic I believe is the best example of how a great team on a book can be just as effective as a great cartoonist. Its Limerick near the turn of 2000, Jimmy Savage is the leader of a small gang and trouble is heading his way. I love that one of the best crime comics this year is about an Irish city and comes from a majority Irish team. Its also great to see a comics writer writing Irish accented dialogue that doesn’t read like its out of Darby O’Gil and the Little people. And its a great story too, I really hope there is some kind of follow up as I’d really love to come back to this town and these characters again.

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi

This year I decided to start reading more manga (Japanese comics) and I decided to start with this which was a bit of an odd choice but one I do not regret. This true story can be difficult to read because it is true. Nagata was this lonely, this isolated, this depressed and the really had this struggle with their sexuality. The depression they felt was crippling and while a lot of things I could relate to, especially berating yourself which I used to do a lot, I really had no idea. I have always considered myself as decent person who understood that depression was something that could paralyse a person but until I read this I don’t think I truly considered what that meant. The sense of isolation and loneliness is so strong I honestly don’t know how they got through it. And then they recounted it with such a great sense of humour and didn’t shy away at all. I feel like I am not explaining this well, I don’t read lot of things like this and maybe I don’t have quite the right vocabulary. Just know that this is the most affecting piece of media I came across this year. If I know you IRL please ask to borrow it because I would love to hear what other people think of it.

And that’s it, those are the ten best comics I read this year. You can find all of these on comixology, amazon and good comic book stores. If there is something you’d be interesting in reading and you don’t know how to get a hold of it ask me and I’ll see if I can help you find it. Comics a great and anyone who kind find ten great ones in a year is not looking hard enough or is a pretentious prick. I know for a fact there is stacks of great stuff I didn’t get to read this year. Its all out there, you just have to look.