An Update on Laziness

Raggedy Andy says hi there,

I've been particularly lazy about posting new stuff lately, mostly because of school work claiming my blood, sweat and soul. But I thought I'd give a little preview of what's to come in the next couple of weeks.

I've been writing some decent poetry, that'll be up soon.

I've written a couple of new short story drafts, one that I'm sending off to a few literary magazines, the rest are being slowly but surely edited so I can post them here.

I've been reading many novels and comics at once, thus I can't post a full review of anything just yet, but here's a taste of my first impressions.

On the docket:
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Richmond Noir, a collection of short stories edited by Tom De Haven
Correspondence, a collection of poetry by Kathleen Graber
Final Crisis by Grant Morrison
Criminal: The Sinners by Ed Brubaker
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds by Geoff Johns
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance by Joe Casey

Crooked Little Vein is certainly entertaining, but I find the writing a little lazy and below what I would expect. On the other hand, Warren Ellis is primarily a comic writer, so I can forgive a bit of laziness if the story pans out to be more than a loosely veiled slap at American politics. I despise American politics as much as the next guy, but two-dimensional characters and sensationalism is a modus operandi that I do not endorse. I'm looking at you, Avatar. James Cameron, I expected better.

Boneshaker has been a pretty fun ride so far, but I feel like I'm not that far into the book and the story is already closing in pretty quick. I get the suspicion that I'm in for an "epic adventure." I don't like too many twists and turns without good reason, but I do like the zombies, the steampunk... the airship thing seems a little bit forced, and I feel like that's the "adventure" that I would want left out. We'll see.

Richmond Noir is a great collection so far. All of the stories capture the main elements of the noir genre without being exclusively about smut and crime. These writers are some of the best out there, and even if it's not your brand of noir, stylistically and tonally they do the job. I can definitely recommend this collection even though I haven't finished it. (That said, it helps if you know your way around Richmond. If not, check out Akashic's Noir series, short stories from just about ever major city in the world. Seriously, type "[insert city name] Noir" into Google.)

Correspondence has several poetic forms and motifs at work. It's also very personal. Some of the poems I simply can't connect with, but Kathy Graber has a fun vocabulary and having spoken to her a lot about poetry, I know she likes technical, medical, and complex terms worked into poems. She is a poetry rock star, so definitely read some of her work online if you get the chance. If you like it, buy Correspondence.

I haven't quite started reading my hardcover volume of Final Crisis yet...

Ed Brubaker. Need I say more? When it comes to noir comics, he's the guru. And this latest installment of Criminal ends with more than one bang.

I like Superboy-Prime. I don't care what anybody else says. I can't say I like entirely what Geoff Johns does with him in Legion of Three Worlds, but I can say that when it comes to epic, Johns is the man. Unfortunately, sometimes "epic" can clash with "thoughtful and engaging story." That's the only weakness in Geoff Johns writing, and this volume is no different. I really like that varied and expansive cast. Props to Johns for keeping them all straight in his head. But I want more depth from Superboy-Prime and better fueled emotional content. He'll get better. I don't think Johns has really peaked yet, despite the raging success of The Sinestro Corps War.

Dance is just pure fun. No deeper meaning, no thoughtful characters, just beautiful covers, funny situations, super awesome Japanese teen rock shenanigans narrated via Twitter updates. Fun.

Well, that's what I've got so far. I have most of the week off so hopefully I'll get more reading done and finish editing the works I want to post up here.

-Steve