#trap of implying Art is the greatest most important thing ever in the world)

[selamat-linting]

i cant say "hey i know that this characters' narration is unreliable and self-serving but i still dont like that the only guy who is explicitly mentioned as hating billionaires and would do political activism analogues to the real world here is described as a vengeful man who'd murder the whole world and oppress the generations of said billionaire the moment he had power over them." or they will rake me to the coals saying i got caught in his manipulative trap.

and i cant say that its weird that the one character whose status as poc and indigenous is more than just set dressing, has an origin story that are reminiscent of actual news stories of indigenous faith leaders accused as cult leaders, is the antagonist who called himself a god, except since the empire is covered in greco-roman set dressing and christianity, its fine and not weird? the author is literally a white woman lol. but then again someone's gonna say that nooo, his character doesnt have unfortunate implications, he's just lying and there exists in this book, actual indigenous faith leaders who is not cult leaders or secretly just using their status as indigenous when theyre actually deeply christian. but theyre simply not in the story i guess.

like i hate him too, but damn if some parts of this story reminds me of that trick marvel writers do when they make villains with understandable motivations but then have them kill an entire orphanage for it.

i actually dont even hate the series, im actually a huge fan, i just think its not as progressive as most people think it is. for two whole books, imperialism and colonialism is abstracted in magical terms, with the sadness of the people benefiting from said colonialism in the forefront. and even in the third book where you can actually see people suffering from constant displacements, its just flashes of poverty and people suffering instead of like, actual instance of imperialism and unequal development

also the genderfucky stuff here is wayyy overrated i mean, queer book but no canon transfem character? i guess the closest thing is a cis butch woman who got bodyswapped to her male partner's body. or that nerd who had to live in his best friend's body for a year because his carcass got blown up to smithereens. but like, thats reaching. i guess if youre really really reaching, there's that rapey dictator who used to really love playing with barbie when he was younger. but like, im veering on the territory of drawing unfortunate connections that weren't actually there.

honestly, my prediction is that the final book is going to walk back on some of its core themes and the people acting like this sf series is the second coming of the conquest of bread is going to look very stupid. but then again they're probably gonna pretend its still the best thing on earth and gaslights everybody who think otherwise.

[forloveoflibertea]

The USUK Database | Part 03: The Completed Fics

After being delayed for weeks, here, have a list of my completed fics, which is a pathetically short list of heavily unedited ones, mostly consisting of oneshots and drabbles, with two exceptions. (If this isn’t already telling, I’m really slow on updating and finishing fics, so good luck to anyone who ever reads my ongoing shit. You’re in for a long time waiting for updates.)

| 0 1 | The Bystander Effect | published on wattpad ; WWII, Human AU in 5 parts ; main pairing: platonic! USUK ; brief mentions of: Sweden x Fem! Finland

synopsis: ‘In a world now swathed in grey, in a city slowly being turned into ashes, what little colours exist are a luxury in his eyes. One only appreciates what once was common after it's gone, after all.'

A winter evening in 1940. Two men, both of different nationalities: one has long been away from his country, which is still neutral amidst the war, and the other is trapped in his homeland.

'"Heroes don't just stand by and let the innocent die." He argues.

'"You're just a nineteen-year-old boy," he returns, looking sharply upon his companion. "You are a child, Alfred; throwing your life away for strangers isn't the most ideal way to pass on."'

In a war of declaring superiority of one 'race' over the other, in conflict with one nation's beliefs against others, they are involuntarily made to observe the destruction.

'London is a warzone; there may have been places to hide, but even they, the civilians, are no longer exempted from being casualties of the war if it comes down to it.'

Radios crackle with the news of battles where love songs used to prevail; smoke rises in the horizon where the sun used to shine upon the city in rare days; bombs fall from the skies in lieu of rain.

'A boy with vibrant blue eyes, still shining with life and hope.

And yet Death knows, all too well, that it won't be too long before that light—as brightly as it shines—will be extinguished.'

( fun fact: this is the very first Hetalia fanfiction I ever wrote, about a year ago, now, and it was for a project I had to submit to my Social Studies class.)

| 0 2 | Blue, White, Red | dedicated to @gallifreyanlibertea ; first published here on tumblr, but is now also published on both wattpad and archiveofourown ; Omegaverse, Magical Strike AU ( the main story has 3 parts, but there are special chapters in planning ) ; main pairing: USUK

tagline: “What are the colors of the love you hold for me?”

| 0 3 | 12:04 | published on both wattpad and archiveofourown ; HS, Soulmate AU oneshot ; main pairing: USUK ; brief mentions of: SpaMano

synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Alfred F. Jones has always had a fondness for clichés.

He tends to dream that he will hear his soulmate's voice in reality-someday, somehow, and he's positive that it'll be soon. He's spent hours on daydreaming how they will act when they first meet, if he will manage to literally sweep them off their feet, but here's the thing: the voice he hears in his mind is male-but he can't exactly live without hearing his voice all the same.

| 0 4 | How We Have Loved | published on both wattpad and archiveofourown ; Modern AU oneshot ; main pairing: USUK

synopsis: “But it's time to let go—yet why do I still love you so?"

In which he learns to accept what's long slipped from his grasp.

| 0 5 | And He Smiles | published on both wattpad and archiveofourown ; Canon-Divergent songfic ; main pairing: implied USUK

synopsis: “How can he help others so easily, when he doesn't notice that I—the nation who cared (and still cares) for him, the nation who he says is closest to him next to his brother—am in agony over him? How can he help others when he doesn't even help me?"

In which he still waits, even when he knows no one can save him.

( fun fact: this one was written just shortly after I wrote The Bystander Effect, and I was still fairly new to the fandom, so of course, characterization in this fic is very much iffy. )

| 0 6 | Of Academic Struggles | published on both wattpad and archiveofourown ; HS AU, a non-chronological series of drabbles relating to situations that pertain to two students’ academic journeys ; main pairing: implied USUK

| 0 6 . 1 | Of Hardware and Software | tagline: In which a computer lesson turns out to be quite interesting.

| 0 6 . 2 | Of Theorems and Ratios | tagline: In which Arthur finds out that raising a white flag (like Feliciano does) in surrender is much better than torturing himself even further in attempting to study Algebra and Trigonometry.

( fun fact: this series is a product of boredom, honestly. I wrote these while procrastinating for my exams a few months ago, and there’s hardly any plot to any of these—they’re just silly little drabbles packed full with fluff. )

| 0 7 | smile | published on archiveofourown ; Cardverse, Possible Unrequited Love AU oneshot, part one of the ‘Divide’ Collection ; main pairing: one-sided USUK ; brief mentions of: implied England x Fem! Italy Romano

synopsis: “And I'll still smile for you even when I'm crying inside."

He drinks him in, gazes into those eyes. He's drowning yet burning, he's gasping for air, holding tight to him as if he can give him what he needs.

He doesn't.

| 0 8 | to be a friend | published on archiveofourown ; Modern AU drabble ; main pairing: implied USUK ; brief mentions of: platonic! MapleTea

synopsis: ‘You spoke your mind and got in trouble more often than I did. So why is it that you clam up now?’

In which Matthew finds out that things aren’t always what they seem.

| 0 9 | Transparent Answer | published on archiveofourown ; HS AU oneshot ; main pairing: platonic! USUK

synopsis: There was a boy who sat next to him.

Blond hair, green eyes, thick eyebrows and an empty gaze.

Alfred smiled and held out his hand.

“I’m Alfred F. Jones. Who are you?”

The boy looked at him.

“No one important.”

( fun fact: like The Bystander Effect and to be a friend, this was also written for a project for school, only that I wrote Transparent Answer as a guide for a flipbook animation project, whereas the two were submitted as is. )

| 1 0 | Sorry That I Loved You | published on archiveofourown ; HS AU oneshot ; main pairing: past! one-sided USUK ; brief mentions of: one-sided Ameripan

synopsis: I’m sorry that I loved you.

I'm so sorry that I hurt you.

But sorry doesn't turn back time.

( fun fact: this fic is actually one of the few fics I wrote which is closest to my heart, due to the fact that this was heavily based upon an event which happened to me only a few months ago. further explanation can be found in the fic itself. )

| 1 1 | Change The World | originally published on tumblr, now also published on archiveofourown ; HS AU oneshot inspired by a tumblr post by @liberteadreamer ; main pairing: USUK

synopsis: He sits next to him day by day.

Nothing’s new, nothing’s changed—just two young men in a boring class no one cares about.

| 1 2 | Art | published on tumblr as a fill for a requested prompt by @cassy-cass-can ; Modern AU drabble ; main pairing: USUK

preview: He wasn’t the greatest artist, and he knew it, but nevertheless he wasn’t one to ignore any jabs at his art—whether it was intentional or otherwise.

| 1 3 | Helpless | another one of the fills for a requested prompt, this time from @ami-v-dragnire ; HS, Soulmate AU drabble ; main pairing: eventual USUK

preview: He’s not scared, no, not at all.

He’s bloody terrified.

[...] But it was over and done with, wasn’t it? The other half of his jewel, the half meant for his soulmate is gone, gone, and who knows who has it now at this point.

| 1 4 | Safe In My Hands | the most recent drabble I wrote as a fill for a requested prompt, also from @ami-v-dragnire ; Superheroes/Villains AU ; main pairing: USUK

preview: “I told you, you insufferable git,” he’s scowling, Alfred notices, and despite the fact that he’s bleeding out at a rapid rate, he manages to chuckle weakly at the look on his partner’s face. “I told you that your abilities weren’t suitable for defensive maneuvers, but look what you did!”

Well, that’s all of it so far. Next Up: The Crossovers, which is a somewhat short list. (I hope.)

[aion-rsa]

Joker: DC Comics Reading Order - The Best Stories With the Clown Prince of Crime

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Has the Joker movie inspired you to read some comics? We've got some suggestions!

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The Joker is the most recognizable villain in all of comics, and as such, there are as many takes on him as there are creators who have worked on a Batman comic. Fortunately for us, for every Jared Leto out there, there are fifteen awesome comic stories. So if you’re coming out of the Joker movie with a thirst for more good, thoughtful, interesting stories using the Clown Prince of Crime, we’ve got some comics for you.

Batman: The Killing Joke

This is probably the most influential Joker story of all time. Alan Moore’s dense psychoanalysis of the Joker is formative to just about every writer who came afterwards, and Brian Bolland’s stunningly gorgeous pencils combined with John Higgins perfect colors to create an eerie, dark, vicious story that has become the generally accepted origin for the character.

read more: The Many Joker Origin Stories Explained

The story bounces back and forth between showing how an unnamed, down on his luck schmo got wrapped up in a heist that ended with him at the bottom of a pool of chemicals, and showing that schmo, now a criminal mastermind, kidnapping Commissioner Gordon and trying to drive him to the same kind of mental break that the story implies is at fault for the Joker’s creation. It’s the first one to really draw strong parallels between the Joker’s mental state and Batman’s, casting the two of them as two possible outcomes to the same break.

And did I mention it’s incredible to look at? Whether you’re a comics scholar or new to the medium, I can almost guarantee you’ve seen that cover, with the Joker holding a camera sideways in front of his face telling you to smile. 

Buy Batman: The Killing Joke on Amazon

Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Ed Brubaker isn’t often talked about as a seminal Batman writer, but he’s defined entire swaths of Batman’s world over his career, and The Man Who Laughs is a big one. This book, drawn by the great Doug Mahnke, takes a look at the Joker’s first interaction with Batman. He’s poisoning people all over Gotham City, and he has a plan to poison the reservoir. Batman works to stop him.

It’s a much more straightforward, less avant-garde Joker than he can get in later times, but the story is told with a modern sensibility and outstanding art from Mahnke. Brubaker (and Greg Rucka, who we’ll talk about in a few) writes detective Batman as well or better than anyone in a generation, and The Man Who Laughs is full of really great detective work with Bruce piecing together who the Joker is and what he’s trying to do. And the fight sequence at the end of the issue is good, classic, straight up Batman/Joker brawling. If you want a way to ease into Joker stories, this is a great one.

Buy Batman: The Man Who Laughs on Amazon

The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge

It’s not often an entire character can be distilled down to a single panel of comics, but Neal Adams effectively did that in Batman #251. Adams is a tremendous artist who changed the entire industry with his panel layouts and action sequences, but the Joker’s “ta daa!” hands and his smile next to a bearing down shark as he says “We resemble each other!” is incredible.

read more: What the Joker Controversy Gets Wrong

This one-off story has the Joker breaking out of a pre-Arkham Asylum mental hospital, hunting down the five ex-henchmen who might have betrayed him to put him away. Only one of them did, but he’s covering his bases, and the issue ends with a wheelchair-bound ex-aide precariously balanced over a tank with an angry shark in it. Batman gets dropped in and has to beat the shark and then save the henchman. It’s one of the best Batman sequences of all time, and the issue captures so much about the Joker that makes him great: his meticulous planning and forethought and his absurd, violent sense of humor. This one is collected in The Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told and will likely be wrapped up in a Neal Adams omnibus sooner rather than later.

Buy The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge on Amazon

The Laughing Fish

Detective Comics #475-476 is another quick story that was incredibly influential on how both Batman and the Joker were portrayed moving forward. That importance stems from two things: the ridiculous, malicious joy of the Joker’s plot, and Marshall Rogers’ art.

The plot was turned into the episode of the same name for Batman: The Animated Series.  A fish wholesaler has made fish that look like the Joker for branding purposes, and the Joker, mad he can’t monetize his own visage the same way, goes on a killing spree to get his rights back. This is darkly hilarious, especially the deeper you dive into the metaphor - the mid ‘70s was a big time for comic creator rights, and Rogers was a big part of that. This comic is basically an effigy for comic creators rights.

read more: The Many Deaths of the Joker

It’s also incredible to look at. Rogers is one of those Batman artists everyone should read at some point, a definitive Batman artist who used the Joker to get even better. Rogers’ Batman is bulkier than some of the Batmen of the time, powerful and intimidating. By contrast, his Joker is long and lanky and bony, the kind of guy who hangs with Batman in a fight not with brute force, but with deceptive speed and a weird amount of torque. You can find these issues collected in Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers vol. 1 along with another handful of Batman comics from the same era. These creator compilations are some of the best money you can spend. Especially if you get them on sale digitally or find them in a sale pile at your shop.

A Death in the Family

Great Joker stories are often about what they bring out in Batman. “Death in the Family,” an event story from 1988, is memorable because it brought out pure, shaking, rage from Bruce. This is the story where fans called in a vote on whether or not to kill Robin.

read more: The Actors Who Have Played the Joker

Jason Todd was the second person to hold the Robin mantle. He was a street kid who fell in with Batman and didn’t really know his mother. After he gets benched by Batman for being unreliable, he runs off to try and find out who his mother is, finds (maybe) her working for Shady Doctors Without Borders in Iran, and promptly gets captured by the Joker, beaten almost to death with a crowbar, and then blown up in a warehouse by said Clown Prince. And right afterwards, the Joker is given a position with the Ayatollah’s government and gains diplomatic immunity, effectively pulling a Lethal Weapon 2 on Batman and Superman.

This story is odd, but it’s also significant in the history of Batman, and revealing for the Joker’s character. He’s not all high-concept death traps. Sometimes he’s just a guy with a crowbar. In either case, he’s one of the most dangerous villains in the DCU.

Buy A Death in the Family on Amazon

Joker

If you really enjoyed Heath Ledger’s aesthetic in The Dark Knight, you’re going to love Lee Bermejo’s Joker in this book. He’s everything Ledger was in the movie - disheveled, magnetic, menacing without being intimidating - but he’s also fashionable in a street level mob boss kind of way. That break from Ledger’s Joker is the perfect match for this story.

read more: 10 Times the Joker Almost Nailed Batman

This Joker is grimy and street level. He’s EXTREMELY violent but without the comic book panache he usually has. Here he’s just aggressive, with bottles and guns and knives and no sharks or hot air balloons or parades. But he still maintains that core Jokerness, that unpredictability that makes the character so terrific. 

Buy Joker on Amazon

The Batman Adventures: Mad Love

Paul Dini and Bruce Timm are responsible for the greatest and most definitive Batman of all time - the animated one. They also created Harley Quinn, and told a bunch of great stories with her (“Harley’s Day Out” is one of the best Batman stories ever told), but Mad Love also functions as an excellent examination of Batman and Joker’s relationship.

If you’ve watched the show, you probably know what happens in this comic, as it was adapted in a later episode of the cartoon. The Joker won’t pay any attention to Harley because he’s obsessed with killing Batman, so she decides to do it for him so they can spend time together. We get a look back at her origin, working as a doctor at Arkham and falling for the Joker as she tries to treat him, with all the unreliable narration that entails. The weird hate-triangle this issue explores is a fantastic dynamic to add to the Joker’s backstory, and the issue is by a pair of Batman masters. 

Buy The Batman Adventures: Mad Love on Amazon

Gotham Central: Soft Targets

Gotham Central is incredible. It was a police procedural comic, following the cops of the Major Crimes Unit in Gotham as they worked on all of the various awful stuff that happened in the city, from regular old crimes of passion to a parade of dead teenagers in Robin outfits being left randomly across the city. It was written jointly by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker, with Rucka writing the day shift cops, and Brubaker taking the night shift. "Soft Targets" is the storyline that ran from issue 12 to 15, where the Joker just starts sniping people. For the hell of it.

Police procedurals are comfort food, but Gotham Central succeeded because it added something to the formula that made it shine. The characters felt familiar and real at the same time. The conflicts were down to earth for a superhero comic - the first issue dedicates about a third of its story to the Mayor and the Commissioner arguing over overtime pay for the Major Crimes Unit. And even the Joker’s plan, spree killing for chaos’ sake, was remarkably toned down. But it gives us one of the best interrogation scenes in comics history, just by taking the Joker out of his predictable formula, too. 

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth and The Clown at Midnight

A word of caution here: these books are challenging for even serious comic readers. They’re very rewarding, but they’re not comics you can just pick up an see the Joker and Batman fighting. Both are written by Grant Morrison, with Arkham Asylum drawn by Sandman cover artist Dave McKean. This book is a dense, psychological character study of a LOT of Batman’s villains, but it spends a lot of time on the relationship between Batman and the Joker, as Batman is in the Asylum trying to shut down a riot.

The Clown at Midnight is also written by Morrison and...drawn...by John Van Fleet. I hesitate because what art is there is very evocative, intentionally early period computer graphics. This issue, Batman #663, was published in 2007 (and again as part of the Batman & Son collected edition), but the art looks like it was made on a Compaq 486. That’s intentional - the issue is full of prose segments about how the Joker sheds old personalities like a snake sheds its skin. It’s a very granular way to understand who the Joker is and what he does, but it’s also very good - it’s part of Morrison’s larger Batman story that starts with Batman & Son, runs through R.I.P. and Batman & Robin and finally ends with Batman, Inc. Arkham Asylum is kind of a precursor to this run, so if you want to get started here, it’s worth doing both of these collections and seeing how you enjoy them.

Buy Arkham Asylum on Amazon

For more Joker comics you should read, more Joker movies you should watch, or more about the Joker’s best video game appearances (spoilers: #1 is Shang Tsung’s fatality in Mortal Kombat X), stick with Den of Geek!

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Feature Jim Dandy

Oct 9, 2019

DC Entertainment

Joker

Batman

from Books https://ift.tt/35ePMml

[talesfromtheartbog]

Kar brought his pickaxe down on the jagged wall of the mine, hoping the ore vein hadn’t dried up like the rest of them. He and Mippo had gone down into a long-forgotten tunnel away from the rest of their broodmates. They liked to do that from time to time. They risked not making their quotas, but sometimes they found a rich vein forgotten by its previous Dwarven inhabitants from the time before their lord, Chulzrenrasz the Eternal, made his nest in the calderas of the Dragonspire and laid claim to its vast riches below.

It’d been largely fruitless, until he brought his axe back up. Something gleamed in the dull, sooty rock. Something precious.

Kar’s eyes lit up. “SNOBO! SNOBO COME TO QUICK!” he heralded to his friend, who’d been laboring away in much the same manner a few yards away. Snobo’s fingers ached and bled from their work, but he was so excited he scurried over on all fours to see what his friend had found.

They both stood, maws agape at the glimmering gem Kar’d exposed. It was beautiful, and though it was difficult to tell until they excavated further, it was possibly quite large. The master would be most pleased with such a worthy addition to his horde. Such a precious gem as this… this…

“… what is, Kar?” Snobo broke the awestruck silence, for they were quite sure they had no idea what it was. They knew some things about some gems. They could identify rubies – those were the red ones. They also knew emeralds – those ones were red – and sapphires – those ones were red, too. (Kobolds were largely colorblind and saw in shades infrared, but that’s not important to the story right now.) This gem had streaks and flecks of red, but they swam in a rich black that seemed polished, even in an uncut vein of an ashen dragon’s mine.

“I know not this gem, broodmate Snobo,” Kar said defeatedly as he sat down and curled his tail around his legs pensively. “Perhap our grand master the Ageless Lord of Fire and the Skies would not like if not even we know what is.”

Snobo shut his inner eyelids as he thought. (He needed to do this anyway to cleanse the grit of a day’s work in the mines from his eyes, but that’s not important to our story.) After a moment they flung open, his slit pupils dilated with excitement.

“Snobo has idea! Snobo and Kar find Mippo the Prospector! Mippo will know!”

Kar sprung to his feet. Why didn’t he think of that? (He didn’t think of that because he did not know who Mippo was, but that is not important to our story right now.) “Yes, yes Mippo will know!” he said with enthusiastic and unearned confidence. “You go fetch him and I guard gem!”

Snobo scurried off on his bleeding hands and feet to find the kobold who in some circles of their brood had come to be known as the greatest prospector their species had ever hatched. Once Snobo returned with Mippo on tow, Kar could see why. Mippo was not a particularly outstanding kobold. He was lean and scrawny like many of their kind, and stank of wet dog. He didn’t have wings like those lucky enough to spend most of their days above ground, and his beady red eyes did not seem to indicate any higher intelligence that would imply an aptitude for the ancient kobold art of trap-making. But he did have one feature that stood out – a prospector’s hat, a wide-brimmed, dirty, tattered felt cap too large for a kobold’s head that he wore precariously over his horns, tied under his chin with a line of hempen string. This hat made him a prospector, all right. It was his fair and square when he picked it up off the prospector who starved to death in a cage trap after he wandered foolishly close to  Chulzrenrasz’ domain in search of resources to mine. And every kobold knew that such a hat meant you were a prospector – that and a donkey. (Mippo had the human prospector’s donkey too, and thought it was delicious, but that’s not important to our story right now.)

“Yes, yes, Mippo very busy. What gem does Snobo and Kar have for Mippo to appraise?” Mippo said in a tone that Kar and Snobo would have thought was very serious and impatient, if the kobolds had the tongue for such intonation or the ears to recognize it.

“Look, look!” Kar said. “Look what Kar has found!”

“And Snobo!” Snobo said, not wanting to lose an opportunity for credit to something that could please their Lord and Master.

“Yes yes, and Snobo! Snobo and Kar!”

Mippo approached the exposed ore and leaned in for a closer inspection. He gazed upon the rock, sniffed it, licked it a little with his forked tongue. He then scurried back a few paces in excited amazement.

“WELL MIPPO WILL BE A GOSH NABBIT HOT DIGGITY!” Mippo said in the common tongue. He did not know what those words meant, but understood they were things prospectors said, and therefore it was important he say them too at the dawning of such a discovery. He continued in Draconic: “Kar and Snobo have found Dragonite!” (They had not, but this was not important to our story right now.)

The three of them clasped clawed hands and danced about in celebration, praising their discovery, and Kurtulmak, the kobold god of mining and warfare and most important of all,  the Crimson Scourge of Man and Elf, Chulzrenrasz, may his reign continue for yet untold eons. This continued for a moment until Kar and Snobo stopped, tilted their heads and asked in confused unison: “What is Dragonite?”

“Oh Dragonite is very rare, very precious,” Mippo said. He actually was right about this, but not on purpose. “Dragonite is fine gem indeed. Cherished by dragons.” But before Snobo and Kar could react with more koboldian jubilation, Mippo leaned in and added in a hushed tone: “… and humans.”

The other two kobolds leaned in themselves. Yes, the humans. Their numbers teemed, even in the shadow of Chulzrenrasz’s terrible lair. Terrible creatures, themselves greedy and hoarding treasure that rightly belonged to their master. To the hells with them! Them and their dogs, who had the audacity to smell as lovely as a kobold, but only when wet with rain or river water.

Snobo and Kar began to hiss just thinking about the humans. Mippo nodded sagely. “Yes, you are right to hate them so, as does our wise and venerable and horrible and tyrannical master. So would it not please him to catch them in our finest traps? To bring them to him to fill his larder with their crispy skins and roasted gizzards?” (Mippo did not know humans did not have gizzards, but that is not important to our story right now.

“Of course it would be good to do so!” Kar said. “But humans are clever and sneaky! Our traps are good, but they only catch some! The others, they avoid, or are smart and disarm the traps! And this is most badly.”

“Yes, yes most badly for them to do a disarm on traps,” Snobo agreed. He’d been on scavenging duty before and saw even their most decorated winged generals plucked from the sky by a human arrow or magic missile.

“True, but what does any good trap need to snag quarry?” Mippo asked, adjusting his prospector’s hat as it slid down the ridges on his back.

“Glue made from mountain goat hooves!” Kar said.

“Finest wood made from ash tree!” Snobo said.

“Fools!” Mippo said, backhanding the two kobolds before him. “Trap needs BAIT!”

Kar and Snobo looked at one another and nodded in rapid agreement. “Yes yes bait bait!” They said together. Kar continued: “Kar has gecko tails in bunk, Kar get them to bait trap!”

“FOOL!” Mippo said louder as he backhanded Kar again. “The Dragonite is bait!”

Kar felt foolish for not realizing it sooner. He felt more foolish when Snobo pointed out the obvious.

“But… but Dragonite is Chulzrenrasz’s!” he said nervously, glancing around as if he expected to see their Lord’s vengeful eye, burning with rage as he watched them plan their treachery from some unknown opening in the tunnel. “All gems in the mines belong to Chulzrenrasz, as do all gems in all mines and all the world! We are simply to find them and fetch them for his mighty and massive horde!”

“Yes, yes, Snobo is true,” Mippo said. “But if we sneak it out of mine and set up trap, the humans will come from all over! It is very precious, and very coveted. Then we will catch ALL humans in our very good and kobold trap! Then we bring all humans and their golds and treasures to Chulzrenrasz! We are to be a heroes! We are to have a feast! Chulzrenrasz will surely love us then, and won’t mind that we took from him this Dragonite, because we will bring it back with many more golds and jewels and yummy, terrible humans! Chulzrenrasz will make us his most personal and trustedful slaves! Now come, help Mippo dig.”

Kar and Snobo at once picked up their axes and took to unearthing the “Dragonite” ore. Mippo was, of course, incredibly wrong. Chulzrenrasz already knew of their plan, for his magic was mighty, and his ears heard much and his eyes saw all that occurred in his mines. And he very much did mind these three slaves planned to meander off to undoubtedly lose the bloodstone they’d found on a foolhardy scheme. The kobolds would not have much time to ponder their folly when Chulzrenrasz scorched their flesh from their bones, and the rest of koboldkind would soon forget their very existence, but none of that is important to our story right now. This is a tale of ingenuity, a tale of comradery, a tale of friendship. And for the few short hours they had left, Kar, Snobo and Mippo worked away in the mines – much like they had for years before, but with a new song in their little kobold hearts, and a new pep in their little kobold steps.

[marcoshassanlevy]

Marcos Hassan

One doesn’t have to look further than the first track on Re to know that there’s something extraordinary in store. The opening song on the album, “El Aparato,” begins innocently enough as a huapango — a typical musical style from various parts of Mexico — when a synth comes in. Before the song is over, we have gone through strings and pan-African chants. The fact that everything works together on this song is a testament to the magnitude of the album, and the talent of Café Tacvba as musicians and songwriters. And the album remains a piece of art for Latinx people everywhere to identify with is nothing short of stunning.

Rock en español was riding high in 1994, conquering big stages in Latin America and Spain, and getting some recognition from the world at large. Some arguable classics had been released in a span of a few short years, and a palpable identity was in place. Café Tacvba was not one of the founders of this movement; rather, they seized the territory to redraw the borders of what one could do with the song format, and redefined the rock genre in their image.

Re arrived two years after their eponymous debut, when Mexican rock was well placed in the mainstream, as well as recognized in other territories like Spain, Argentina, and cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. Thanks to tracks like “Chica Banda,” “María,” and “Rarotonga,” Café Tacvba managed to find an audience at home and abroad. By the time they released Re, people were already listening, even landing in the New York Times, where critic Jon Pareles compared its wide-ranging sound and songwriting to the Beatles’ White Album.

“At the time, we didn’t know where we wanted to go but we knew where we were coming from.”

Although their debut had already showed the curiosity of the four Tacvbos — brothers Joselo and Quique Rangel, Emmanuel “Meme” Del Real, and Rubén Albarrán, going by the nickname Cosme for Re — it was the relentless tour behind the album that informed their sophomore release. Touring in Mexico exposed them to many different styles of music that sparked their creativity, going as far as writing during this period, and debuting some of the songs live. The results are 20 songs in 59 minutes, and hardly any of these tracks are skippers. According to bassist/multi-instrumentalist Quique Rangel, when discussing the album with Remezcla in 2014, the number of tracks came as a result of their erupting creativity, after a rigorous seven-week writing session. “At the time, we didn’t know where we wanted to go but we knew where we were coming from,” said Rangel.

Without a doubt, the most impressive thing about Re is the sprawling collection of sounds it houses, but one of the reasons it works so well here is because the music supports ambitious lyrical choices. The band writes intrinsically Mexican short stories based on real facts or places, be it the story of how the parents of Albarrán met, or the subway system in Mexico City that inspires the Kafkaesque tale of a guy who is trapped in its tunnels. Elena Garro, Arthur C. Clarke, and D.H. Lawrence are among those present in the words sung by Albarrán, and tales of ordinary people in ordinary situations ignite the imagination, sometimes laying down a clear path for them, sometimes implying something beyond what’s been said, all put forth with language, imagery, and specific references to their country. Yet the message remains universal.

There’s a theme of cycles, of picking up and starting again, and repetition as well, and resistance against opposing forces. It’s in many of the songs, and even on the art of the album, the hard spiral conch of a snail. It’s most notable in the song “El Ciclón,” one of the songs that helped break the album into the larger public, and a sign that something exciting was afoot.

You can pick apart any song on the album, and can come up with a thousand words to describe what any of them represent or just to pinpoint references. “Esa Noche” might seem like a direct interpretation of bolero in the style of trios from the 1930s, yet it’s hardly just a tribute, blossoming into full force at the end, when the band harmonizes and Rubén’s voice soars above everyone. Vocally, this might be the band’s most adventurous record, showcasing Albarrán’s technical and emotional range, as well as the many voices he can inhabit while always sounding like himself.

While technical skill and songwriting talent would have been enough to secure a place in some people’s hearts, one of the things that makes Café Tacvba such a universal phenomenon is their ability to connect with so many people. It’s easy to pinpoint songs like “El Baile y El Salón,” where the catchiness of the chorus and their lyrics can be adopted by many lovelorn listeners, but some other songs go beyond that. “El Borrego” might come off as the most edgelord of songs in their catalog on first listen, but lyrics that refer to wearing black lipstick yet having to wear a suit in order to have a job might be something more than a few of their fans could relate to. It also gives their audience a chance to laugh off their own situation.

One of the centerpieces of the album is, of course, “La Ingrata” – a polka/corrido norteño/ska rocker that became synonymous with the band during the era. However, years later the band sparked controversy when they considered abstaining from playing the song in support of femicide victims in Mexico, one of the countries with the highest crime rates against women. Although there are reports they have since intermittently played the song onstage, the fact that they decided to talk about it at all speaks about their commitment to highlighting important issues.

Though producer Gustavo Santaolalla had already come on board for their debut album, here’s where their collaboration truly shone, making sense of all the diverse instruments and styles to string them together in well-rounded and arranged songs. Every track featured seamless layers of instruments and sounds that made for a rich listening experience. The rich sounds on Re never get old.

Released on July 22 in 1994, Re took time to find its footing, thanks in no small part to the financial crisis Mexico went through at the end of the year. According to Rangel, the record was initially rejected by the media, and not pushed by the label, who felt it lacked singles. Latin American radio in Chile and Colombia pushed tracks like “El Ciclón” and “Las Flores,” both of which became some of their most recognized songs. Much touring followed, including a taped performance for MTV Unplugged, and more recognition, including going Gold in their native country. David Byrne became a fan and collaborated with them. In 2012, Rolling Stone named it the greatest Latin rock album of all time.

In many ways, Re is the pinnacle of Café Tacvba; in other ways, it’s a high point of an ever-changing career. Two years later, they released Avalancha de Éxitos, a collection of songs by artists such as Leo Dan, Juan Luis Guerra, Botellita de Jeréz, and Jaime López done in radically different arrangements, bringing them even more mainstream success. On the contrary, their 1999 effort, Revés/Yo Soy was a double album heavily influenced by minimalist/contemporary classical figures like Steve Reich and John Cage that gave them a nomination for a Latin Grammy, yet sold poorly and got the band dropped from their label. 2003’s Cuatro Caminos helped them regain their status and establish them as mainstays of the genre – with each of their albums an event, and each tour a new chance to appreciate their legacy and continued effort to find new avenues for their artistic as well as social, political and environmental concerns.

25 years on, the record is more contemporary than ever, thanks to their sample-based practice of incorporating everything but the kitchen sink into their sounds – years before the internet normalized such practices. Re’s humanity remains vital as well, ready to be rediscovered by new generations who can learn more from a world that looked a lot like ours, just perhaps a bit more empathic.

Thursday, August 1, 2019 at 11:42 AM EDT