#this was fun. I wanted to do something uhhh less detailed and generally easier than my last painting!

[apocraphelion]

sandmanniversary 2024 day 3 | shibari

(nsfw- nudity) dream in predicament bondage

[2ofswords]

001 pathologic

Even if it says “Pathologic” I’ll mostly be talking about Pathologic 2 and specify if it’s not the case. It’s just where most of my experience lies since I’m not done with Pathologic Classic HD yet. ^^

Also I’m putting this one under a cut because… man. That got long! Like way too long, I thought I could do this one very quick and now two hours have passed and I’m still writing it! Dear god, these are a lot of questions!

 Favorite character: ... It’s Dankovsky. We all know it. I mean I went into the game being like “I’m pretty sure the tragic asshole character is gonna be my favorite...” Credit where credit is due, I persevered until the day 11 conversation. But we all would have known that Marble Nest would have gotten me anyways so.. Yeah. I especially love his dynamic relationship with Artemy in Patho 2 and he is just a fun and complex character, that I really love to think about and who has made some terrible decisions while still staying sympathetic for me. Also the mix of science and dreams is just something that I find interesting and also can kind of relate too. Love that stuff! 

 Least Favorite character: In Patho 2 it’s Oyun. The way he talks about the Kin makes me really uncomfortable. The animalistic portrayal is for me one of the biggest flaws in the game and he is the worst offender. And yeah since he is one of the Kin, I’m probably not the one who should judge... But I don’t know... from what I’ve heard that seems to be considered a problem by the fanbase in general... Outside of that I also think he’s just structurally very badly included in the game? He appears very late and is hostile in a way that doesn’t really make you engage with him. And I was way to stressed and didn’t get enough opportunities to actually talk with him to really make a connection (though one reason was, that I didn’t give him my house in the first run. Didn’t want to, so I had the pleasure to walk to Shekhen every time to meet him.) Even without the very questionable undertones his constant ranting about strength and leadership didn’t really appeal to me in a game, where leadership just far has only proven to fail everyone in a time of crisis. The way he is revealed as the murderer is kind of weak, since you either figured it out long ago or the game just randomly tells you... He just is very unappealing to me. Vlad the Elder also fucking sucks. But at least he as well as the game are so open about it, that it’s easier to ignore while the game seemed to make me want to like Oyun, while I really couldn’t so this one makes me a little more salty.

 5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): 1. Artemy/Daniil: What a shocker! Narrative foils who have an actual rivals to friends ark in the game and a shitton of sexual tension within it! What’s not to love? 2. Lara/Rubin: I just think they deserve each other. Both of them are very hard working and prone to giving up themselves for the greater good but they are also harsh to others. I think they would apreciate each other but also reign the other person in and care about them. 3. Daniil/Rubin: I just want Rubin to be happy, okay? This one is more a Patho 1 thing, but they really appreciate each others work and I really like how they interact in the Bachelor route. They care about each other and they share a lot of struggles and actually a more similar view on the town and the world than Daniil does with Artemy. Also again we have two very hard working people here, who would have a lot of bonding over weird science projects. (Even if these one are worse at reigning each other in and fights would be pretty horrible to the point of needing a mediator because non of these two are talking to each other and maybe only stoop down to writing very passive aggressive letters...) 4. Notkin/Khan: Also more of a Patho2 thing, since they act way more brutal in P1 and also do not really reconcile. But in P2 they seem to care and immediately bury the hatchet when shit hits the fan. The whole house of the death quests shows them more as bickering friends. And I have a soft spot for bickering friends romances, okay? Also this one is obviously only two teenage boys having a crush, no shitheads allowed here! 5. Yulia/Eva: I cannot really chose between my favorite w/w pairing, there are so many good ones! Right now it’s Yulieva again. They are tragic, they are soft, they are so atmospheric and fun to write! Also I just love Eva and think she should get as many girlfriends as she wants.

 Character I find most attractive: Uhhh... I don’t know I find their models beautiful but there are not a lot of them I find specifically attractive. I guess it’s between Daniil, Artemy, Lara and Yulia for me. Daniil get’s the most ridiculous style points ever but... too old for me specifically. I think Artemy is really attractive but I think his outfit is also really unflattering ... Lara is so much my type and so is Yulia! (Though why didn’t you keep the short hair, queen, it would have made this choice so easy!) I think I’ll have to go with Lara, because I first saw her and just went “I love you” immediately? 

 Character I would marry:  If I assume that the other person would be as happy with our arrangement no matter who I chose: Victor. He is the perfect husband by definition and I want to learn more about time magic. Though this marriage would remain very much platonic and also very much sexless... he is way older than I am and that is disregarding that time is weird for the Kains. Also we have to consider Nina’s continuing existence... okay I don’t mind that one at all.

 Character I would be best friends with:  My first instinct is to say “man all of these people would despise me”, which is such a Pathologic mood. I think I would be best friends with Eva. I think we would get along well and we’d have much to talk about. Also, her house is cool and we could go stargazing!

 A random thought:  I love Dora! She is the worst and most iconic child caretaker of all time and I want to talk about her! The whole baby thing and the way it’s delivered to Artemy is already great but then she just silently takes the baby and gives the reward when you’re there the second time? The time she takes Grace away is genuinely such a good dialogue and a tough decision so that’s great but then, she manages to actually get Grace adopted by a dead person, if Peter is dead! And then she may think it’s Andrey WHO IS DEAD TOO! Seriously, who hired her! I know the entire town is falling apart but man! Dora sure as hell doesn’t help the case. But she tries her best! I think. I hope.

 An unpopular opinion: Oh I have a lot of unpopular opinions, but I think most of them should get their own post, where I can explain in details and a bit more serious what I’m actually talking about. But here’s a small one: Okay ummm… please my fellow burakhovsky shippers, please don’t get mad but… uuuumm…

…

I like the first Bachelor conversation in Patho2 better than the one in Patho1. … Okay, look. I love the “left hand right hand” line as much as everyone else. Wouldn’t have missed it and loved it in Pathologic Classic! And I also think it’s a shame that Daniil’s homosexuality got dialed down. Totally agree with that. But! I really love them starting out on the wrong foot. Their whole dynamic of having to establish their relationship makes their journey and the scenes where they actually reconcile again so much more powerful to me and I love how dynamic it is. And having the two of them completely clash underlines for me how much they have to try and develop to be more comfortable and confine in each other. It’s a great starting point! Also the scene is hilarious in it’s own right. The whole buildup to it where Artemy is in such a desperate position to find out his own kind-of-brother wants to murder him… starting this whole thing with “you owe me” and the whole “Vorakh” thing. It’s really great how in retrospect it’s just a really fucking bad start and a trainwreck of the Bachelor trying to sound competent but from Artemy’s perspective it’s just utterly horrible because the whole town wants to kill him, his father is dead and this stranger is talking some bullshit! Yeah, nobody would have any patience and so the situation escalates immediately! It’s great storytelling and absurd and… I really do love this scene and it’s dynamic and I think it's a great first interaction! (Even if it is sad if people think that they now get the Bachelor. Which… dynamic storyarc… complex character. But I think most people will get that eventually, if they just engage with the whole storyline.) It also makes it a bit more genuine when they actually do act friendly, because you can see, how they act, if they’re not trying. In P1 the Bachelor’s dialogue can feel manipulative rather than friendly and while that has it’s own positives, I just prefer the more dynamic approach of their relationship. To be honest, I think both conversations fit in their own games nicely. I just prefer the overall approach to their relationship arc and I also think it’s just less clumsily written and a bit more memorable apart from the very first line. And while I love it in Patho 1 I couldn’t really see it and it’s sudden intensity in the writing-style of the second game, so I also do not really miss it specifically in their interaction. It’s great were it is but it wouldn’t enhance the situation here.

 My canon OTP:  Victor and Nina. This man just loves his powerful evil and passionate wife and I respect that. I think the way they are described and how Victor would fit in makes this combination so interesting to me. He is quiet and capable and you can really imagine the whirlwind Nina still appreciating him and... it’s so cute, okay? They are in love!

 Non-canon OTP:  (Oh my god, there are so many pairings where my brain goes “what do you mean, they aren’t canon???)  I think Lara/Eva is a really cute pairing that sure as hell isn’t alluded to in the Canon at all. Lara deserves Eva’s positivity and her view on the potential of the soul could be really cute. And Eva deserve her practical care and consideration. Also they are both talking about how they do not know what to do with their live and since they both arrive at this rather depressing conclusion very differently, they might be able to help each other!  Also they could play matchmaking with the local doctors together and I find that hilarious.

 Most badass character: Aglaya. There isn’t really a competition. (Okay Clara is also really badass and one has to mention Aspity for just dying when she feels like she should make a point and for being alive whenever she has something really important to say... that’s also pretty badass and she also is in general.) Aglaya is so powerful and intimidating and armed with metaknowledge. She even knows about her plot armor (and how long that will last...) Do not cross this lady, you will definitely regret it! (Okay the true answer is obviously Teensy. But shhhh…)

 Pairing I am not a fan of:  I’m not really a fan of Aglaya/Artemy especially in Patho2. I just cannot get over her immediately opening the gallows and then breaking Grief down. Artemy in Patho2 doesn’t really feel like a person who would appreciate either and he gets like really upset about Grief without it getting really resolved. (And Aglaya is very unapologetic about it, which might be a part of the truth since we don’t know what happened but still doesn’t help the case.) Also they talk very businesslike and like Aglaya is just making plans which Artemy in mind which doesn’t feel like a good baseline even if she appreciates his insight. It’s still only one person making the decision in the end... But I also totally get the appeal and they are both stubborn, have an interesting way of seeing connections and their worldviews are very interesting together especially, if we think about P1, so I also get shipping them! I’m just not the biggest fan myself.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Uhhh... Hm... There is not really a character I find completely broken and I’ve complained about Oyun enough... So I have to go with Aglaya and only for the reason that I find the ending where they leave town pretty forced. (I’m sorry, I don’t hate her! All of the characters are so amazing, she only has some writing choices specifically that I didn’t like! But I still think she’s cool!) I actually kind of like that it exists and I think the way it plays out is very heart-wrenching and honestly amazingly made but the whole way to get to the decision feels a bit awkward to me just because both of their duties get weirdly lampshaded without making the meta entirely obvious. Either just shattering the fourth wall here or making the situation way more desperate for both of them would have done the trick, I guess.  I in general would have loves, if her meta would have been used a bit more explicitly. It felt a bit gimmicky to make her cool at times and while Artemy might not be the route for that... there ideology talk in Patho1 sure as hell managed that. Their dialogue is still good but I had very high hopes while I approached it. I do know that there is more behind the meta and I wish we could have seen a bit more of that then her offhandedly mentioning it. She never really engaged with her struggle and never allowed Artemy to really engage with it, what also made the whole town fleeing scene a bit jarring, especially if you didn’t play the first game. 

Favourite friendship: I mean the whole apple basket gang friendship, obviously! Is there really another friendship that competes in the game? I love their dynamic and I also love how torn apart the friendship is and how they are only beginning to reconcile even at the end of the game. Not all is good yet but they stay hopeful and I think that is a very strong message.

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 6.9.2017

Here we are with a fairly straightforward week! I know, I’m surprised by my restraint, too! Who could have imagined I’d ever manage a week with less than five comics. My wallet definitely would appreciate if I did so more often. 

Regardless, let’s get right into the bones I have to pick. With one of these entries. Because it’s a bone and a half. And I use a lot of UPPERCASE so uhhh Guess which one gets that treatment!!!

Marvel’s Generations: Iron Man & Ironheart, Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo, DC’s Wonder Girl: Adventures of a Teen Titan

Marvel’s Generations: Iron Man & Ironheart (2017) #1 Brian Michael Bendis, Marco Rudy,Szymon Kudranski, Nico Leon

Whooooooooo boy. It’s been a long time since I picked up a new comic at release date and just.... did not have a pleasant experience reading it. Like at all. So this was kind of a disappointing conclusion to what has for the last year been a pretty solid record of maintaining great comic book readership. I don’t know why I’m even a little surprised it’s a Bendis comic.

Here’s the thing, I don’t... aggressively hate BMB as others do. I’m just critical of him on what I feel are pretty logical issues to be critical of someone on and in turn that leads to this dagger’s edge of when his comics are good, they’re really damn good. But when they’re bad? It’s like this collision of all the things in comics possible that work as my personal pet peeves. Which is why, though I genuinely adore Riri Williams as a character, and had been enjoying her book, I moved it to a trade wait status right along with Miles Morales: Spider-Man -- it’s easier to take the good with the bad when it’s not an issue by issue basis. 

And... well. Let’s just say that for being THE guy at Marvel who usually gets all the very best talent to lift up even most of his comics I didn’t personally enjoy? There was not that saving grace this time around. Believe you me. I wish there were. But let’s just jump into the details.

Story: TONY STARK AS THE SORCERER SUPREME. TONY. STARK. SORCERER. SUPREME. Who asked for this. Who wanted this. Who thinks this future makes absolutely any sense whatsoever other than calling what everyone has thought since Tony “died” in Civil War II which is that Marvel doesn’t have the actual guts it takes to permanently kill off a franchise character that isn’t the original Jean Grey? Who thought this was a good idea? Bendis. Basically because Bendis likes to pretend he’s doing Morrison-style shake ups of continuity and bringing things together but rarely delivers it in a way that is either consistent or satisfying. 

The one reason I’ve been giving a good number of these Generations books a chance isn’t because I’m particularly interested in the event itself. Truth be told I have absolutely no idea why it’s happening or why Laura was sent back through time to meet up with Logan in Japan or just... anything. I didn’t catch a single clue of what was going on. And I didn’t really care because I’ve read comics long enough that I just want the issues themselves that center around the characters I care about to make sense and be enjoyable on their own. That, for me, is the most valuable part of an experience comics can grant me. And when it doesn’t, I would hope that at the very least it would be because they were providing me some insight on the event as a whole because it was substituting characterization and plot for the Event. Which happens. 

This comic managed to not only provide neither of those things for me, I would argue that it made me unerstand less about the event and less about Bendis’ own characterizations for Riri and Tony than I had a handle on before. Which is... frankly impressive. Also... what a fucking bland future. Like I appreciate it not being a nightmare dystopia like every other comic book future, ESPECIALLY at Marvel, but..... damn, man. There was exactly no life in the city of mushrooms and LSD of tomorrow. Apparently the only inhabitants of a positive future are.... oh my god I can’t believe I have to type it again, Sorcerer Supreme Tony Stark, and the blandest version of the future Avengers I think I’ve ever seen. Like at that point why even bother. 

Oh and adult Franklin Richards is special. Shocking. YES. FRANKLIN IS AN OMEGA LEVEL MUTANT BUT WHY WOULD STARK GO TO HIM TO FIX TIME TRAVEL SHENANIGANS WHEN IT’S VALERIA WHO IS THE SUPER GENIUS AND WAS THE ONE IN THE PAST RUNS OF FF THAT INVOLVED FUTURE FRANKLIN TIME TRAVELING WHO CREATED THE TECHNOLOGY FOR HIM TO DO SO. BENDIS HAVE YOU NOT BEEN KEEPING UP WITH THE FF FOR THE PAST TWO DECADES OR SOMETHING WHAT THE HELL. Moving on... 

Art: One thing I can usually always count on with Marvel is that they love to match their best artists with the leading talents they have writing, and there’s no one shaping the entirety of the Marvel Universe right now more than Bendis, so usually the art for his comics is easily some of the best to come out in any given week.

....

That’s not.... really the case here??? Is it terrible, no not at all. And there’s definitely nice sequences. The problem arises from the page layouts which, ngl, utterly awful. There were multiple pages in a row where I had to reread the whole page again just so I could follow the dialogue. It was not easy to follow from one panel to the next, and the psychodellic affects just made me wish for 70s comics. Back when they had rulers. 

Characters & Dialogue: Sorcerer. Supreme. Tony. Freaking. Stark. No I’m not over it. Especially since this entire issue was more dedicated to beefing up how awesome and amazing Tony is. Riri’s fine, but her biggest part in this issue is to be Tony’s fan and to learn that she’ll be awesome!!!... in the future. She’s only 15 now! She’ll have to grow up into a more prominent hero in the next 45 real world years. But mostly it was... just really lazy. What’s interested me about Generations is that it’s given an excuse for Legacy characters to team up across timelines with versions of their predecessors that in all honesty would have not made sense in other context. What was great about the Wolverine issue I covered before wasn’t just that we got to see Logan and Laura the way we had back when Logan was alive. We got to see Laura with a version of her father that she had never met before. And to make it even more unique, it was viewing this older, more matured Laura almost entirely through the eyes of the father who didn’t yet know her. It was creative and it added depth for both characters even if it’s not going to be the source of some great shift in the main comics for them, it provides a refreshing look into who they are and even how far they’ve come. This issue? Honestly I can’t even tell you what Bendis’ goal was here. And that cover -- the name of the issue? -- the idea we’d get to see Iron Man and Ironheart team up together and kick ass is apparently just too predictable and lame for an event that is literally advertised as being that exact premise. 

I’m so annoyed with this comic. But I’m really more annoyed with myself for expecting something more interesting and paying Marvel’s outrageous and nearly unethical price gouging of their comics. $4.99 for this comic. I’m never getting that $4.99 back. That’s... That’s like five bags of chips from the vending machine at work. That’s a Hot & Ready pizza at Little Ceaser’s. I spent it on this comic. What’s wrong with me. What did I expect???

Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo (1984-present) #161 Stan Sakai, Tom Luth

Why are the best comics always the most difficult to explain in quality? This thing has been going on for thirty years, has never changed writer or artist, has impressed by the hundreds of thousands, and drastically impacted the atmosphere and tone of comics publishing since the 80s right alongside Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all without truly getting due credit. I would tell anyone who asked to just immediately drop what they’re reading and go catch up on Usagi, but it feels like that should go without saying. 

Instead I’ll say, this issue is the first of a new arc and since you can jump into Usagi Yojimbo comics at any point in continuity and be assured to have a good time and pick up what you need to know along the way, pick up today’s issue and get started.

Story: We see the collision of a few of Usagi’s favorite supporting casts and as always it leads to a lot of ruckus and a lot of fun. Though not specifically fun for Kitsune this time around as she’s been seemingly framed for murder. Fortunately Usagi comes in to vouch for her and due to Ishida’s immense respect for Usagi earned over the years Kitsune gets off relatively lighter than usual. But there’s still a murderer about. 

Now one of my compliments to Usagi Yojimbo and really the genius of Stan Sakai in general is that he’s maintained a high quality solo comic for over thirty years and somehow still makes new stories always keeping hot takes and ideas for characters refreshingly new and refreshingly fun. That remains true of this story, too, since this match up of supporting characters hasn’t exactly been seen yet, but at the same time I’m suspicious of the retread of the idea of Kitsune being framed for a crime other than the one she really did and Usagi having to figure out the mystery. I don’t expect that plot to be repeated beat for beat, especially since Inspector Ishida is here and that almost always develops into a more thickly plotted mystery story. So part of me talking up all that flowery wording on my adoration of these comics is to explain why, despite my usual instincts to be distrusting of a repetitive plot beat in comics, I know to expect more from the upcoming issue continuation and don’t have that fear of disappointment that has been instilled in me for the past two decades. 

Also new to the comic is the addition of a one page sub-story at the end of Chibi Usagi which might be the most adorable idea ever and Stan Sakai truly is the hero we don’t deserve. 

Art: I once read a comic reviewer’s explanation of Usagi Yojimbo’s art as being “deceptively simple” -- the bold lines, the character designs, the adherence to a completely black and white comic -- what is seemingly such a simple comic in theory dazzles with its true complexity and tight control of action sequences and blocking. Stan Sakai uses Japanese patterns and crosshatching as well as detailed background art to turn almost every sequence into an unmistakable landmark that makes every town and prefecture that Usagi travels to feel unique. 

It’s just one of those amazing things you have to see for yourself to truly believe. 

Characters & Dialogue: This section is pretty much purposeless on an Usagi Yojimbo comic because Sakai has been writing these characters so long and giving them all such identifiable traits and voices that they’re just always good. If you enjoy these characters then Sakai meets every heightened expectation along the way.

DC’s Wonder Girl: Adventures of a Teen Titan  John Byrne, Bob Kanigher, Bruno Premiani, Neal Adams, Ross Andru, Bob Haney

One thing I have liked recently that DC’s been doing is these recollections of their properties that for a long time they haven’t capitalized on the most, and there’s probably no better example of that exact thing than the severely underrated Wonder Girl Legacy, which has finally earned a short and cute collection going over all the (three) Wonder Girls over the years and even includes the introduction of SOLSTICE! One of my favorite underutilized characters. 

It’s a super neat collection, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the history of Wonder Girl (which is a bumpy ride to be sure) but it also spans so many generations and so many writers and story arcs that I can’t really summarize it the way I do my usual reviews. I can just say that if you’re curious about the Wonder Girls, it’s a great collection to check out. 

Also as a side note, as someone who was deeply disappointed by the lackluster to downright confused and insulting use of Cassie Sandsmark in the New52, DC is apparently doctoring the character to resemble more of what she was in the preboot because the New52 is utterly ignored in this collection, hilariously enough.

Oh, those tides. How they turn. 

The unsurprising pick of the week is, obviously, Usagi Yojimbo. It’s one of the best comics ever made, it continues to be one of the best comics ever made, and also the competition was thin if only I’m being lenient. But regardless, this comic was a fantastic start to the new storyline and I’m so excited to see what twists and turns shall be weaved. 

Now that’s all for this week, but I’m curious about your opinions! Did you agree with me? Disagree? Think I missed out on some great comic I didn’t pick up? Please let me know!

And finally, another necessary plug:

I am in a bit of a financial crunch for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being the medical bills I’m paying for my dog, Eve, who experienced a catastrophic dog fight and underwent surgery recently.

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content.

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

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