Thursday, May 27, 2010

I'm a Child of the Atom, Turkeys.

I've been reading an awful lot of Carrie Bradshaw/Liz Lemon bloggery lately. Although I have really enjoyed (and mostly agreed with) the analyses, I have to wonder about the relevance of either woman to someone like me. But you know who is very relevant to someone like me? Dazzler.

Dazzler blog. Here it is.

Legend has it that the Dazzler was commissioned as a "property" from Casablanca Records, and that she was probably intended to be black. And weird. But as fate would have it (and as odd as it sounds) 1977 was apparently not ready for black and weird. At least not in its comics. And certainly not a chick, eh? So the Dazzler evolved, and as the decades rolled on she kept evolving. I kind of appreciate the fact that Marvel almost gives a nod to the character's dubious origin, almost as if to say "yeah, we know. We're just going to keep making her gimmicky." I'm perfectly down with that.

My love with Dazzler began quite young, but I really don't completely know how I happened upon first edition Dazzler comics. She debuted when I was one, I learned to read when I was three, but no way would my ma have bought me something like that when I was a toddler. So, I dunno. You do that math. Those first few issues can be almost painful to read. I didn't experience much of the 70s so I don't really know if people actually talked like they were in a Rudy Ray Moore movie. The writing is . . . kitschy in those early appearances. But she was a female character that WASN'T Wonder Woman, she was flip and cool but sometimes still scared and life weary. To someone as young as I was, she was a little bit dangerous, and totally glamorous. She wore roller skates. If she had rode a unicorn, six year old me probably would have imploded. I've kept up with her through the years out of curiosity as much as nostalgia and love, but nothing has made me squee like the Dazzler one shot that finally came out yesterday.

Start at the beginning. The cover, by Kalman Andrasofszky. Brilliant! I love it. Alison Blaire in a badass Bronson pose in her original costume? Well hell yeah! Even with such a dark theme you can tell she was lovingly drawn, and I respect that an awful lot.

The story deals with a reunion/showdown with Dazzler's sister, Lois aka Necrosha. I have not followed the story in New Mutants or Legacy, so I don't know what's going on there. But Necrosha did some super bad shit and now has it out for Dazzler. Necrosha has abandonment issues. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that the resolution sure does leave a lot of room for more Dazzler plots (yes please).

My only initial eyebrow raise came from the transition in art between "track one" and "track two." It was a little too wink-wink-nudge-nudge, cause, you know, SHE'S A MUSICIAN! RIGHT? RIGHT? SEE WHAT WE DID THERE? But then it occurred to me that I really enjoyed both styles, so it was still a very enjoyable experience.

So the bottom line is thank you - to McCann, Andrasofszky, Perez, and Ciregia, for doing justice to this character that is so special to me. I even bought shoes to celebrate the day.
http://tweetphoto.com/23799298

Sunday, May 23, 2010

42

Welcome to the Internet's 9,465,735th LOST blog. I'll try to keep it short. There will most likely be monumental spoilers.

LOST is in a very tight final leg of the race that is My Favorite Show Ever. Tonight's finale might determine the winner, as the other two shows (M*A*S*H and Buffy) have already had their ultimate, and fitting, endings.

For those who might be reading that have never seen LOST, I will try - TRY - to give a brief synopsis: Oceanic flight 815 crashed on an island. Survivors of said crash established a colony on this island and for three months they discovered mystery after conspiracy after murder, mostly having to do with a group called "The Others" and a company called the Dharma Initiative. The first three seasons were very character based in that most of the show's focus was on how these people survived, the lengths they would go to, and how they fell in and out of love. The mysteries and anomolies of the island served to drive the characters' stories. Then came season 4, Erwin Schrodinger apparently ghost wrote some episodes, and shit got AMAZING. The characters were as important as ever, but now science, religion, and "WHY?" came into the picture and every episode was a beautiful mind bomb that, when used beyond a study of human interaction, became the best physics textbooks I have ever read.

All three of the shows I've mentioned here have made me think. M*A*S*H made me think about war and humanity and how we survive in the ugliest of situations. Buffy made me think about my relationship with my mother and what it means to feel alone. But LOST? LOST is the first thing, TV show or other, that has shoved questions in my face that make me think about whether good and evil are tangible, whether or not any powers that be give a shit about humanity or if they are just protecting an ideal, whether or not that ideal even needs protected, what if it really is just a set of numbers that binds the universe together . . . yeah, I know I sound like a 16 year old that just got high for the first time. It goes so far beyond whether or not my favorite characters will survive (PS, they DIDN'T) or who will end up happy ever after. I do care about these things, but what's more important is that I feel like I've been turned on to a secret by this show, and instead of spoon feeding me any answers, I have to think and decide on the answers myself. I might never get any confirmation that I'm right. How often can you say that about a TV show?

So to close it out, I'm making some predictions.

Which will end up as "reality"? Island or Sideways world? Of course I hope for Sideways world, because it is happier there. Jin and Sun are together and in love, Hurley and Libby kissed on the beach . . . Locke might walk again. It's just a much nicer place. But that's why I think it will be yanked away from me. Because Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse like to make me cry.

Ben is up to no good with Flocke, which means he will redeem himself. Ben is a smart little fucker, and we can see from the sideways world that it was nurture, not nature, that made him a monster.

Juliette is Jack's baby mama. I'm calling it. I like Jack much better in the sideways world than I did all through the show. I don't give a shit about the Jack/Sawyer/Kate triangle, never really have. The only time I ever liked a romance on the show, other than Jin and Sun, was when Sawyer and Juliette were together. I liked that pair - it was a no frill, real romance. Oh, which reminds me, Sawyer and Juliette will have coffee at some point tonight.

Hurley will die. Again, because Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse like to make me cry.

I do think that ultimately good will triumph over evil. Cuse and Lindelof might like to break our hearts, but I don't think they want to break our spirit. That's really as specific as I can get about "what it's all about." I'll be thinking for years trying to make sense of everything I've seen on this show, which is exactly why I think it's brilliant.

Oh, and PS - Desmond might be the greatest character on any show ever in the history of the universe.

Edit to add a monumental spoiler: Holy shit. Desmond's the fucking cat.