Less Than Fantastic

It seems to be time for another catch-all entry.

I've biked to work twice this week - my first times this year. Yes, using the clippy things. I didn't fall over even once, but I did come close on the way home today when I was stopped at a light: I turned around to check that my bags were okay and nearly lost my balance as I leaned in the direction of my clipped-in foot. Agh! But I didn't fall. The car behind me probably laughed his ass off, though.

I'm in crummy shape yet again, so I want to bike to work twice a week to get back into fighting (well, growsing) shape.

Debbi's cats have been spending the week with me. Debbi left them here rather surprisingly, mainly because she's going to a baby shower tomorrow night and wasn't sure how late she'd be, and didn't want to have to run home and pack them up when she'd gotten groggy. So, here they are.

They've been doing their best to get me up at 5 am to feed them (fat chance!). Roulette knocked a bunch of comic books off my bookcase (since some of them are, well, on top of the bookcase). And someone chewed through the end of a cord for my venetian blinds. Argh. I'm a little surprised it took them almost two years to do this, though. But we'll have to be a little more careful from now on.

Otherwise it's been nice having them. We have some pet-time and play with the laser pointer and they get some porch time, too. And some fresh catnip!

A big crop of comics this week, including some favorites: Boneyard, GrimJack, BugTown, and a new Hellboy 2-issue series.

Also of note is the first issue (#527) of J. Michael Straczynski's authorial run on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four.

I've found Straczynski's comic book career to be very hit-or-miss. His 24-issue project Rising Stars was to my mind a big bust; just another iteration of themes explored in greater depth in Alan Moore's Watchmen. (The erratic artwork was a big minus, too, until Brent Anderson came on board more than halfway through.) On the other hand, Midnight Nation, despite an unpromising start, turned out to be a pretty good story, and is worth checking out if you can find the collection.

He's been writing Amazing Spider-Man for several years now, and his run has been good at times, weak at others. He had an engaging storyline exploring the nature of Spidey's powers and expanding his universe a bit, which was a lot of fun. But he's also had some fairly ho-hum stories, including the fan-loathed "Sins Past" storyline recently. He's also doing Supreme Power, which is a somewhat different take on "realistic" superheroes from Rising Stars, with solid art by Gary Frank. The story is moving very slowly, though - 18 issues in and it seems like we're just getting started.

So what about Fantastic Four? Well, the art is by the dependable Mike McKone (whose style actually reminds me a lot of Gray Franks, truth to tell). The first issue unfortunately mainly focuses on some characteristics I like least in Straczynski's comics writing: It's very heavy, actually quite a downer. To some extent I think the down points of this issue are due to picking up the pieces from the previous creators' run (which left the FF deeply in debt), but still, there's not a lot of fun here. And Mr. Fantastic's exploration of the life cycle of other civilizations just adds melancholy on top of that.

On the bright side, I'm optimistic about his handling of the Thing, as he launches into a fairly amusing development in Ben Grimm's life. Straczynski also has an incisive grasp of character relationships at times, and the Reed Richards/Nick Fury scene here is very well written.

My big concern is just that the main plot seems like one of those "very bad ideas" (in the sense that the characters involved you'd think really would know better), and suggests more downbeat issues to come. Overall, this first issue doesn't have the sense of whimsy or adventure that the FF have when the series is clicking. To be fair I have been immersed lately in Marvel Masterworks reprints of the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby FF, and they're a tough act to follow (even 35 years later). But I'm worried that Straczynski is heading in the wrong direction here.

I'm bummed that Karnataka has broken up. It seems that guitarist Ian Jones has re-formed the band with a new line-up, but it's hard to imagine it being the same without vocalist Rachel Jones. Sort of like October Project isn't the same without Mary Fahl. It's especially disappointing since their last album, The Delicate Flame of Desire, was so strong and such a quantum leap above their first two albums.

Oh well. I'll probably give the new band a try anyway - they could be good. And I'll have to keep an eye out to see where Rachel Jones goes from here.