Nothing to see here, move along

[rivkat]

I'm looking forward to Buffycon. Anyone who wants to meet up, I'll be in the Adams room from 12-1, and after that I'm footloose and fancy free.

I adore Bare the Cross with all my heart. Best use of "Zero" ever, even counting Rivier's Zero Plus which I love, love, love for its metaphors -- somehow, Zero Plus seems less interwoven with Zero's aftershocks than Bare the Cross, even though the former is a fine post-ep short. Bare the Cross just takes the events of Zero and seamlessly weaves them into the larger story of how desire and trust interact, and how the first person you should stop lying to is always yourself.

Ahem. Fangirlishness off. (Oh, no, wait! I had the privilege of hearing about the new Xander series from mustangsally78, so I really enjoyed the contrast between what she said and what Chase revealed. No conflicts, just different emphases.)

At evenbiggerdog's suggestion, I got JLA: Tower of Babel, by Mark Waid et al. The dialogue is lame, as is a beginning sequence in which the JLA has to try to save a city of bacteria living in a boy's brain tumor. But the main plot, in which the members of the JLA are all assaulted in ways perfectly tailored to their vulnerabilities, is spectacular, and its resolution inspired. There are a few evil overlord moments -- it's not clear to me why the bad guy doesn't go for the straight kill on Superman or Green Lantern; the henchpeople have a bad habit of not hanging around long enough to be sure their targets are dead. The central sequence, a flashback with flashbacks embedded in it explaining how the bad guy found out how to get the JLA, is tremendously powerful, though, and makes up for all petty flaws. Tower of Babel is a great showcase for my Dark Knight and, now that I have one, my Superman.

Comments

Xander series

[mustangsally78.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, you got your preview before we reworked Spike as a Magnificent Bastard. I was pretty much in Xanderland and we spent last weekend watching QaF and going 'Damn, what can we steal from this'. Hence the Magnificent Bastard characterization.

It should make a refreshing change from souled, sad, or human Spike we'll see post-Chosen.

Spike's been downgraded from EVIL to Magnificent Bastard. Which is still pretty harsh!

Sally

Re: Xander series

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

See, when you say Magnificent Bastard, a SV girl like me thinks "Lionel Luthor." And boy howdy does that man put the EEE! in evil. Spike only ever dreamed of being as evil as the MB. (The MB is Lionel's TWoP nickname.) So I'm facing cognitive dissonance here.

Should I try QaFUS?

Magnificent Bastard vs Evil

[mustangsally78.livejournal.com]

Well, a character can be a MB and not be Evil. MB is all about fucking with people's minds. Evil is about killing. Since Spike's got a soul, he draws the line at killing, but has no problem with smacking people around or fucking with their heads.

Yeah, try QaFUS, but be warned that there's no subtext, it's all text.

I skipped Smallville and went straight to the gay soap opera!

Sally

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that you liked Bare the Cross. I always felt that the series failed to address in any significant way the traumas of the Pilot, Leech, and Zero: these are three of the most significant moments in the Clark - Lex friendship - and even if one doesn't slash them, the events merit follow-up.

Of course, I DO slash them *hee hee*

Anyway - Good to hear that you not only enjoyed the story, but hat what Iwas trying to accomplish came across.

Yay!

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I think you do a great job with all the covered first season episodes; I was just thinking of Zero in particular because I love the part where Clark thinks, after hearing Lex explain about Amanda, that he could never tell Lex his secret because Lex would then do anything to protect him, including cutting him out of Lex's life. It's like the inverse of my bulletproof kink for "Gift of the Magi" situations.

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

Hee!

I love it when people pick out my favorite lines!!!

Clark mulling that comment about 'doing anything for my friends' was one of the things that really had me enjoying the writing for BtC. It makes so much more sense in first season for THAT to be the reason, rather than distrust of Lex - which doesn't seem REALLY to be much of an issue. Second season of course is a whole new ball game (don't get me started! LOL)

Anyway - Again, you make me do the happy dance!

Hee!

CJ