More Snow?
Yes, it's been continuing to snow here in the upper Midwest. We got another two inches or so yesterday, and driving was hell. Which was fun since I needed to run errands after work, and then go to the book discussion, at which we were discussing Mary Doria Russell's Children of God.
Fortunately, despite my in-need-of-replacing tires, my car handles pretty well in the slushy weather. My friend Charlie thinks this is because older cars (mine's an '87 Civic) tend to be somewhat lighter and therefore have less inertia. I'm not sure what to think; maybe I'm just a good driver.
I do want to get those tires replaced in the next few weeks, though. I'm gonna wait for my next credit card bill so I can figure out my post-holiday finances, though.
The book discussion was a lot of fun, although the discussion of the book itself was only so-so. We generally agreed it wasn't as good as its precursor, The Sparrow (not a real knock, since The Sparrow is a gem of a book and a hard act to follow), although there was some disagreement about its overall quality. I probably liked the book less than others, since there were some major plot elements that were simply too contrived for me to swallow.
But we had a great time going off on tangents and generally engaging in lively conversation, which is half the reason to go to these things.
EEEEWWWWWW!!!
We were going to go with Charlie, too, but he was busy until the afternoon, so we're going to go again next week.
Oh, why did they take me out to lunch, you ask? Well, because I'm turning 30 tomorrow...
I'm just a good samaritan at heart...
It's pretty good stuff, although it suffers from a scattershot approach to its overall plotting. One of the major supporting characters that Miller introduced was Daredevil's ex-girlfriend Elektra, an assassin-for-hire, who is a very sketchy character in this run, and eventually is killed, leading to some over-the-top developments for our hero.
Miller's not the strongest artist in the world, but he's one of the most effective at covering up his weaknesses with a spiffy style, and that's quite evident even in this early work. He is quite good at dialogue and pacing, however, and shows a surprising knack for comedy in a few of these issues (his comic streak turns considerably darker later in his career; the stuff here borders on slapstick). Overall, it's a pretty rewarding read, and clearly Peter David was strongly influenced by it in his "The Death of Jeanne DeWolff" storyline in Spider-Man a few years later.
However, for my money, Miller's best work to date is his second run on Daredevil, in 1986, collected in the paperback Born Again. Although his first run is interesting background, Born Again features the calculated and ruthless destruction of the protagonist, and his rise from the ashes with a completely different status quo. It's great stuff, and Miller's scripts are ably rendered by David Mazzucchelli, and outstanding artist whose style evolves with the storyline. Check it out.
(Oh, what's the most influential comic of the last 30 years? Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and John Byrne's X-Men run from 1974-1982. A large fraction of comics out there - including Dark Knight can trace their roots back to this X-Men run in one way or another.)
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