incidents and accidents, hints and allegations

I can't believe I haven't actually asked this, but:

I loved Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but I get the impression that Bendis' run is thought of as more important for establishing the idea of the character than the details? Reading summaries does not super-impress me, especially the significant family deaths. Am I wrong and would people recommend Bendis' run? What about the Champions series?

(I know the solo title has recently been relaunched with Saladin Ahmed writing, which seems promising to me, but it's just started.)

This baby is refusing to be put down and I am very tired, so while I wait for a reasonable next-feeding time, some pop culture miscellany.

The AV Club had an interview with Mark Waid about various comics projects of his, which reminded me "oh yeah, he and John Rogers (Leverage) were working on this digital comics thing, I should take a look."

So far it has two titles up, an apparent one-shot about zombie roadkill which is not something I want to look at, and a serial called Insufferable which has the tagline, What happens when you’re a crimefighter and your sidekick grows up to be an arrogant, ungrateful douchebag? What on Earth could draw the two of you back together again?

Well, okay, I'll give that a try. The physical experience of reading is nice, but the story . . . in the first week, we learn that the crimefighter and sidekick are father and son. I'll give you three guesses whose death precipitates their final break from each other, and the first two don't count.

I don't remember what week of the comic that was—it was early, but our Internet is being grindingly slow right now so I can't check—but whichever it was, was when I closed the browser tab. Because, even if it's a soft launch, starting your "let's broaden readership!" project with another fridged woman does not impress.

(Speaking of which, the essay Natasha Walks Out of a Refrigerator may spoil the plot of Marjorie Liu's run on Black Widow, but it does so in a way that made me put the collection in my Amazon cart.)

Anyway. I was reminded of this by the first ten minutes of The Losers, which starts out as all banter-y action, silly but engaging and with an actual majority of non-white characters on the team, and then ( cut for brief description of violence that upset me )

At which point I carefully closed VLC and decided to write this, because seriously, fuck all of that sideways with a chainsaw.

Finally, in less egregious movie-dom, I half-watched The Incredible Hulk (the prior Marvel movie with the Hulk, the one with Edward Norton and Liv Tyler). I say "half" because I mostly skipped the smashing-things-up sequences and most of the General Ross stuff as boring.

( spoilers, half-formed musings on disability and the Hulk )

I presume they're going to re-cast Betty Ross, since I just can't see Liv Tyler and Mark Ruffalo in the same movie (she looks a lot younger than him, just for one thing). Who do you all think they should cast as Betty?

As requested by rysmiel.

1. Total number of books I've owned:

Back-of-the-envelope suggests in the neighborhood of three thousand.

2. Last book I bought:

It was the school budget vote today, and they always have 50 cent paperbacks as a fundraiser. So I bought Suzanne Brockmann's The Defiant Hero, which is part of a contemporary romance series that I've been getting out of the library, and Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, because I used to like it back when I read Dad's copy.

I think Red Storm Rising will make great bedtime reading this week, actually.

3. Last book I read:

Volume two of Lucifer, Children and Monsters. I was dealing with tech support so I wasn't in the best mood for it; when I realized I didn't actually understand immediately what was going on, I just skimmed very fast to the end, got explanations, and then went back and read normally. Despite the inauspicious circumstances, I liked it very much.

Last text-only would be Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

4. 5 books that mean a lot to me:

Hey, I did most important books and favorite books already! Oh, all right: Freedom and Necessity, The Lord of the Rings, Possession, for the reasons stated previously. Here I find that "mean a lot" isn't congruent with "most important" or "favorite," flail, come up with Small Gods for philosophical reasons, and retire from the field in confusion.

5. Five people to take up the meme and answer in their own lj.

I can't keep track of who's already done this, and so invite anyone reading who would like to answer. (Leave a link in comments, please.)