Sci-2

Read the two Old Guard trades. Good stuff though stuff happens *fast* in the second trade with people seeming to make split second decisions that has a whiff of unrealism.

OTOH, when you are an immortal among immortals, it is hard to say what their mental state would be in such circumstances.

Got all the English versions of Witch Hat Atelier's 7 available volumes.

Gorgeous art reminiscent of P.Craig Russel and Michael Kaluta, a great setting that captures the fairy tale feel of an enchanted world while still having plenty of magical action. The story unfolds at a good pace, balancing the foreboding machinations of the Brimmed Hats with the learning process of the four girl apprentices.

Also a great comic for girls, probably teens and maybe mature adolescents due to violence - there are a few brutal scenes as the story progresses.

"Female protagonist" is not used here in the sense of wank-bank material. Some minor nudity - maybe just a single image? - depicted in a kind of classical style.

I feel like I might have posted about these but not seeing it?

Chainsaw Man - Great world building & art, if I could put it in a genre it'd be New Weird + Dark Fantasy. A boy is granted the Devil of Chainsaw for a heart, leading him to the mysterious world of agencies trying to keep the world from being overwhelmed by these supernatural forces. Action, humor, and even some genuinely scary moments.

Lookism - Bullied, short/fat/"ugly" kid moves to a new school to escape his tormentor. Suddenly finds himself with an extra [hot] body which awakens when his usual body falls asleep. Starts off as a humorous school comedy that slowly opens itself into the world of child gangs, cults, human trafficking. The message does a bit muddled when all of the hot girls largely look the same and have the same body type (big ass, big tits, little wastes, slim faces).

Viral Hit - Another tale of bullying from Taejun Park, though this time the kid finds a mysterious Youtube channel that teaches people how to fight. Leads him to getting a superpopular Youtube channel as after defeating his own bully, he decides to dedicate his own Youtube channel to taking on bullies at other schools. Hijinks ensue.

Tower of God - Probably one of the biggest Webtoons, a fantasy epic starring a boy who lived under a Tower that is big enough for floors to contain continents if not worlds. I do think it suffers a bit from the problem I see in shonen, where the initial characterization then leads to an insane amount of action sequences where even character interaction is minimized. The best comparison might be the way Authority was more about "wide-screen" cinematic action than characters though here there is a central story rather than US superhero style largely/totally disconnected arcs.

Loving Dorohedro.

Haven't seen a setting I'd think of as Urban High Fantasy that I like this much since Perdido Street Station...

On 8/9/2019 at 6:19 AM, Red Tiger said:

Jonathan Hickman, you magnificent son of a bitch. You made me proud to be an X-Men fan again.

Same - proud and a bit confused. :-)

Though I think I get most of what is going, and it was interesting to see the Phalanx and Technarcy in his new imagining. I never dug too deeply into that stuff - it was in New Mutants I believe - but Hickman has me going back through a bunch of old X-men stories.

Whoah - really like the idea that Xavier's goal is to save humankind [rather than mutants].

Is the Librarian a machine intelligence? Or a mutant-of-sorts born from Nimrod's database?

One thing I was considering was the war between Ultron-Future and World-Core future touched on in Hickman's Avenger's run. And of course the conflict between Cable and Bishop is an X-men staple of conflicts between timelines.

Might we see a battle between Years 10, 100, and 1000?

15 hours ago, red snow said:

I think powers of x will give us a better idea of how things will unfold. It may be a century of Xavier's idea having ultimately worked. I'm with you in that I'm hoping it's not post apocalyptic but a completely different type of world. I vaguely recall Morrison showing us the future for a couple of issues in his run too.

But I'm curious as to whether they will also allow non mutants into their community later on eg superheroes or regular humans. Religion seems to be an aspect here so there often is a phase where a budding religion goes from being an exclusive club to an open arms one.

And i can't help but think that Franklin Richards is going to have a huge role as the sole human-affiliated omega mutant. It's clear from Cyclops that the krakoa nation want him in their fold.

I am ok with PoX being a dystopia since it takes place in the future. Marvel's whole thing with future times has always been a bit weird - I know the X-men comics seem to regard futures as branches somehow existing at the same time as our timeline**...and then Hickman seemed to dictate his own vision of the future in Avengers...

I am curious as to Franklin's role as well - I realize it was more editorial than anything but a friend and I were talking about how the Richards seemed to shy away from advocating for mutant rights. Here Hickman seems to bring that criticism into the narrative via Cyclop's comment. Not to mention we also have future!Franklin and his Galactus Herald possibly existing in another alternate time branch...

**When Multiple Man divided himself and went to two different futures.

10 hours ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

Can't be fully straight if Hickman literally tell us

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There's a tumor in Krakoa

. My guess, based on solicits and his love for the character, it's

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Sinister, and he's either going to take over whatever Xavier is doing, or has been his partner from the start. And there's of course Moira's role in all this, which is unclear.

 

Oh there can/will be conflict - perhaps Sinister is doing something manipulative in the tumor.

But I really don't want a shady!Xavier, or an ending where the X-men are once again scattered and hunted...personally while the symbolic value of mutants as stand-ins for hated minorities was interesting in the past I feel like this idea that so many people hate mutants and want to keep "humanity" from being replaced has run its course.

If a <<insert a side in a IRL geopolitical conflict>> mutant was born, I can see a beleaguered group more likely to use them as a living weapon than kill them or exile them. Also I liked when Morrison showed Japan having a different reaction to mutants than in N.America/Europe.

While I realize the mutants-as-hunted-minorities thing isn't going to go away, I would like to see the X-men embrace more of their potential as inheritors of the Earth. All to say I hope at the end of House of X #6 something of this new mutant nation survives...

HoX #1 was good, though I am a bit surprised at how much praise is being heaped upon it. Having just done a recent reread of Morrison's first major arc (Cassandra Nova vs Charles Xavier) I don't think it's quite up to par as the first issue of that great run.

My hope is that Hickman is playing it straight - the mutants have banded together to use their considerable powers in order to establish themselves as a dominant nation in the Marvel U going forward. (I heard he is going to manage the line for the next decade?)

My worry with Powers of X is it will be like the part in Hickman's Avenger's run where Steve jumps forward in time over and over - I enjoyed the varied takes on the future but it definitely felt like a digression from the main story. Marvel did say PoX will provide context for HoX so I guess we'll see..

Welcome new arrivals!

Perhaps I can interest you to dip your toes into the Thread That Never Ends?

Morning new Westerosi!

Please stay and give us some fresh perspectives 'round here, but I notice a lot of people mentioning [stuff about] discussing the show. Note that there is a GoT Gen Chat as well as this general Gen Chat.

Looks cool but fire fox has adblock so that's what I use. Is there a way to use your stylesheet in that browser?

Hi Kyle and Lady Midnight!

Way to much homoism. it's unattractive and not a very important part of the show.

The straight sex gets to me actually, so gross and boring. I'm hoping for some more explicit homo-erotica akin to the stuff we see at LF's brothel.

Naipaul's from Trinidad not India right?

As it's an award for his art, no they shouldn't take it from him. Sorry for the derail, I just hate the guy.

Last attempt at serious, personal favourite: Rushdie, seriously, the love for Rushdie pretty much just can't be overdone.

I haven't read enough Rushdie. I have yet to read the Naipul I have before I refused to buy anymore but I kinda wish they'd make him give it back.

ETA: I just realized I referred to these two guys together because both are Indian. Fuck, I need to give my brown folk membership back...or chalk it up to the white man influencing my thoughts. ;-)

And if it's good enough for the Hollywood Foreign Press, then it should be good enough for those German dicks in Copenhagen, or wherever it is that they are.

:lmao:

Reading Fionovar Tapestry right now. Was a bit hard to get into initially, but Summer Tree really does rise to the occasion as the book goes on.

Curious, I know he has a lot of historical fantasy - does Under Heaven or Lions have any actual magic in it? Doesn't seem like it at first glance.

thanks,

Sci