Books Read in 2021 # 61 & 62 - Damn good books. That's more like it.

61. Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell - I haven't been updating these reviews for a month. I just let them pile up. I was going to just title this entry that's more like it because I finished reading this book after that fucking antisemitic piece of shit by Eleanor Davis, asshole Nazi, the kind of shitty writing who conflates the IDF with the Nazis because lazy. Oh yeah. I seriously hated that fucking book. But this isn't about that graphic novel. This is about two really good books that made me a little less disgusted.

I didn't read the first book in this series but that seems ok. I'm going to read it soon. These books are taking place concurrently, playing with different perspectives. So I get the gist that the first book is about a love affair that ended and this book is about telling the narrator that he was never the intended lover, that Julia always loved the other guy, the one that killed himself. Much like Robertson Davies, I don't remember much of these books when they are over. I love the style. I love the way he writes but everything feels so immediate that once I've finished reading them, i think I've woken from a dream that I want to go back to. I may have to read this series a couple times just to get all the nuance.

But for this one, spies and lovers and angry mothers come together in Alexandria. Some die by suicide. One is murdered by a mob for cross dressing. Nothing is as it seems. There's a war on the horizon.

62.Jupiter's Legacy book 1 - by Mark Millar & Frank Quitely - I'm reminded of Powers, the dumb tv show about superhero detectives. It was forgettable. Seriously, I don't even remember if they got to the end of the world chapter. It wasn't as violent a shift as Lucifer but it was worse. Lucifer at least knows it wants to be Castle but with the devil, and forget all that Mike Carrey writing in the graphic novel. Powers the television show preserves the superhero detective angle but completely 86's the superheroes as rock stars metaphor that made the comic so unique.

I speak of Powers because I watched Jupter's Legacy. I actually kind of liked Jupiter's Legacy. It was a sad imitation of The Boys but I definitely kept watching. I liked it enough to be curious about the source material. And that's where I realized how much they fucked with the adaptation. And not in a good way. In a very bad way. They took an interesting story about growing up and dealing with your parent's legacy and turned it into a lazy soap opera. It should have been called Jupiter's Boring Children.

Granted the entire series (books 1 & 2 or 3 & 4 if you go by Star Wars prequel numbering) is 10 issues. They made 8 episodes of a television show and they wanted more seasons. If they followed the story pattern of the book they would have been barely stretching it out to 2 seasons. They should have done that. Instead of 2 great seasons of television, they gambled on getting multiple seasons. Instead they got one mediocre season where the one character turns out to be the villain in the last episode.

So why do I love this comic so much, so much that I'm actually angry at the television show? Because it's actually about the LEGACY of these characters. Oh sure it begins like the television show. The older heroes have kids who are all celebrities. There are shenanigans involve their kids including the daughter whose a party girl and drug addict and the son whose an entitled loser. They even have the origin story which is takes up most of the show (and is actually why I kept watching).

And then in issue 3 (of 5), the brother of the main superhero FUCKING KILLS THE MAIN CHARACTERS. I mean the old superhero and his wife who are worried about their kids while being the guardians of the world. They just fucking die. And damn it's brutal.

So instead of being a soap opera about old superheroes and their kids in some cheap knockoff of The Boys, the book actually lives up to its title by taking up the story of the drug addict daughter, her spawn of supervillain boyfriend and their kid years later. Hiding out. Trying to live ordinary lives and doing the Clark Kent act complete with making sure that their son looks like a complete loser in sports, academics, etc. (even though he's not very good at hiding since he keeps running off whenever there's a major emergency in order to save people - an observation made by his classmate who practically orders him to go be a superhero like everyone knows). These two issues are silly and glorious with great character beats that prove once again that Mark Millar is NOT just an edgelord writer. Comparisons between Millar and Ennis are inevitable but when it comes to choosing between edgy and sincere, Millar will often choose sincere. Ennis never will and in your face bullshit is kind of Ennis' thing (something that I loved in my 20s but can't fully commit to these days).

Of course the book ends on a "let's go save the world" from her uncle and weak brother but getting there is what elevates this book above a violent deconstruction.

I'm a sucker for stories about growing up and taking responsibility. If only the damn show had seen the value in that.

Books read in 2021 # 63-65 - Japanese Literature

63.The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon - I'm really not sure why all of a sudden I'm reading Japanese books. In translation of course. I did decide to make the pre-determined shelf all Asian women (it was already all women) when I put The Tale of the Genji on the thing. I'm also finally reading Tale of the Genji so it's Hsien Era Japan. Or maybe I just love this book so much and I want it to keep going. I mean I am reading Tale of the Genji and a book about The Pillow Book.

This is the second time I've read this book and it's still a beautiful world where everyone can trade lovers and share poetry. Sure, if I was living in 10th century Japan I seriously doubt I would be in the royal entourage and I might have hated them just the same as I hate rich people in this era, but there's something so wonderful in this lifestyle, the same kind of feeling others get from Jeeves & Wooster or even Jane Austen. The lifestyle is so elegant and so foreign that reading these books feels like inhabiting these better more fun worlds for just a little time. Sei Shonagon is still just as snobbish and nasty as when I first read her, but I find more to love this time. She's also charming and working within this milieu. Her humor and sarcasm are matched with a passion for this world. In a century it's all going to collapse but that doesn't mean she ever has to worry. It's a sweet book that I hope to read many more times.

64.Sensor by Junji Ito - The last Junji Ito book I read was Lovesickness which could be the most Junji Ito of Junji Ito books. Like if someone asked what Junji Ito is like this would be the book to give them. It has the disgusting imagery, the desperation, the humor and the cruelty. Everyone is obsessed and obsessive and the picture of the decaying ghost girl screaming "LOVE MEEEEE!!!!" is both horrifying and hilarious. It's the kind of book that Junji Ito could whip out and still get results.

By contrast, this book is not that kind of book. It reminds me of the movie Silence, which might just because the whole Christian Martyrs in Japan plot but there's also a serious meditation on good and evil as the heroes try to run away from the insurmountable. A woman wanders into a village that's covered in golden hair that makes everyone see things. A volcano erupts and she's the only survivor. Her hair turns gold and then the protagonist turns to a reporter that treats her like a mystery and a savior. At least twice she faces death for the sins of others. This is not the usual Junji Ito fare and it's all the more glorious for its novelty.

65.Komi Can't Communicate vol 4 by Tomohito Oda - Komi and Tadano gave each other key chains!!! It's so damn cute. The rest of this is Komi competing in sports and being embarrassed. There's a little more of the "Komi as others see her/Komi as she is" with the outsiders seeing her as an impossible beauty while she's a bundle of nerves, but the growth of her and Tadano's relationship is still one of those romances that is impossible not to love. Also love the scene where they learn each other's first names but it's way too intimate for them to really use them. Formal vs. Informal address is more of a cultural thing but I do wish that there was more formality over here. I hate being called Tim by complete strangers.

Books read in 2021 # 66-70 - A stack of comic books

66. Paper Girls 2 by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang - I think this book is starting to lose its focus. Brian K. Vaughan may be the Robert Altman of comic books for me where I have no middle ground with his work. Either love or hate. I love Saga and I really can't see the point to Y the Last Man. So what works in this comic is Erin Tieng talking to herself from 25 years in the future/past with the adult Erin annoyed by her teenage self as teenager Erin tells her not to swear and openly shows horror at the fact that her adult self takes pills for anxiety. That's a beautiful story buried in a lot of time travel war stuff that is confusing and annoying. Vaughan wrote Lost right? This reminds me of the way that Lost got lost in its own mythology. I guess it can improve. I will probably read the next one. But it needs more character and way less time travel bullshit.

67. Jupiter's Legacy 2 (or 4) by Mark Millar & Frank Quitely - So here's the battle where the "villains" fight the "heroes" and everyone deals with their fathers, especially the one without powers finding out that his dad is still alive. There's more action and less character building than the previous chapter but it's all good. I love the cleverness of the characters and Chloe's arc from party girl to responsible mother and fighter for all humanity against the egotists in her family is still great. Since I'm reading the prequel series, I'm looking for Blue Bolt clues in this one but besides the main guy getting his teleportation stick.

68. Invisible Kingdom: Walking the Path by G. Willow Wilson & Christian Ward - So this one looks great so good for you Christian Ward but the story isn't grabbing me. A nun finds out that her mother superior is making deals and is horrified which is weird because where does she think all the security and resources come from. So she teams up with a ship captain. It all takes a long way to get there. This is disappointing because I really liked Ms Marvel. But you know Wilson wants to do different things and they can't all be great. And I'm sure this has fans. I'm not one of them.

69.I Only Have Eye for You by Heather Nuhfer & Kellee Riley - Ok, why do I find Japanese romance comics cute and love stories in superhero comics adorable and yet this thing isn't hitting that spot. I know it wants to be cute and I guess maybe that's why it doesn't hit so hard for me. I like this one but it just never seemed to hit the same way. It's a high school full of monsters and they are all trying to hook up to go to the dance. They have problems. But these problems ultimately turn out to be advantages.

70.Lover Boys by Gilbert Hernandez - I think that this will ultimately become tied into the rest of the Love & Rockets series, like maybe a movie starring one of the characters. But it seems like Gilbert's best work with a teacher seducing various guys in the town while the kids are trying to dynamite things. I like this one but it's too familiar without feeling essential. The light storytelling that turns very dark with suicides and explosions and people getting each other pregnant and running off. But I've seen this before and better.