Cameron Stewart (1)

This is where Goodreads needs negative numbers to score with. Chuck fucking Palahniuk OWES me stars simply for spending hard-earned cash on this steaming pile of dogshit.

Chuck has written three of my favourite novels. One is [book:Lullaby|22206], one is [book:Rant|22285], and one is [book:Fight Club|5759]. And yes, I read the novel before I saw the movie. He had some other books in between that I also enjoyed a fair amount, but then, things started to get a touch weird. [book:Haunted|22288], show more while having some great stuff in it, overall was a miss for me. But when he then proceeded to lube himself up with Crisco then swan-dived into the festering, hemorrhoid-laden anal cavity that was [book:Pygmy|4601396], a book that was virtually unreadable and incredibly stupid. After that, ol' Chuck just seemed to try and out-Chuck himself. And, having at one time thought of him as one of my top five favourite writers, he fell completely off my radar, and I swore I was done reading him.

Then he decides to follow up his finest work with a sequel. Well hell, I have to break my rule for that, right? I mean...this is Fight Club we're talking here.

Of course, I did not embark upon this journey without some trepidation.

Still, the cover art by the amazing Mack helped to allay my fears, as did the excellent interior art by Cameron Stewart. And, for the first couple of chapters or issues of this ten-issue run, things were going okay. Yes, the world of Fight Club is a messed up one, so I was ready for a little confusion, a little messiness. I can say I actually enjoyed the first two chapters.

But then, by chapter four? Yeah, the shit was beginning to pile up.

Around chapter seven, I actually stopped reading and said to myself, "It's like this fucking story was written by someone with ADD." Palahniuk wasn't just bouncing from scene to scene, the scenes were bouncing panel by panel, and the story was spiraling so far out of the realistic, it blew right past probable, then improbable, said fuck you to plot holes as it jetted by, and ended up in the nether regions of brain-damaged meets bad fan fiction.

Then it got worse.

It got meta.

Oh yeah, Palahniuk, having long ago run out of not just good ideas, but even bad ideas, decided to mine the truly horrible idea of not just throwing himself into the story as the author writing it as we read it, but having him interact both with the characters and his Write Club.

And then he drew the half-assed ending out for pages and fucking pages. This is where that shit that had been piling up reached its tipping point and began its landsliding onslaught on everything that made the original Fight Club such a mind-blowing reading experience.

Words cannot express how deeply I despise this shockingly, stunningly bad pile of shit. The rating is 35 stars for all the art and colour and lettering and effort by everyone other than Palahniuk to make this a story worth reading, and -34 stars for his effort in spreading his ass cheeks and dropping a Cleveland steamer all over that effort.

I will never read anything by this author again. Ever. Because, as far as I'm concerned, he's forgotten how to be one, and should be stripped of rights to author anything, be it a novel, a script, or a blog post.

Palahniuk, you were once gifted. Now, you just suck. show less

Genuine work of genius, dazzling in its formal craftsmanship, density of vision and in its control of huge numbers of characters, themes, plots, concepts and universes, executed in a way that seems gloriously, confusingly mess,y but upon careful reading appears to be generating that sense of teeming, overwhelming chaotic detail through sheer dint of good writing. Whether you're interested in a work of genius based around variations of the DC universe executing yet another variation of the show more Crisis On Infinite Earths is a whole other matter.

The story is about multiple realities being invaded by malignant higher life forms using comic books which provide glimpses of superhero adventures in different alternate realities as meta mental traps, allowing them to propagate across the multiverse. Between two bookends we explore the looming threat impinging on different Earths with different artists as appropriate to the style of each reality, Morrison showing off his rather intimidating imagination, skill and knowledge. The high-point is probably the Pax American issue with Frank Quietly, where the Carlton characters who were the basis for Watchmen find themselves on different sides of a conflict when one of them assassinates the President they were supposed to be protecting. In some ways the sprawling mess of Multiversity is a rebuke to the claustrophobic formalism of Watchmen, but the Pax Americana chapter in particular pulls of a whole slew of eye-popping experiments in graphic narrative without ever resorting to the rigid structures and layouts of Watchmen.

This was my second read-through of the whole thing, and I enjoyed it a lot more in one sitting and with an idea of what to expect. That the whole thing turns out to be a prelude to an epic adventure that has not yet materialised doesn't detract from it - comics are always barreling towards their next Crisis crossover anyway, might as well acknowledge it and conclude that even if that story is never told, it's happening right now, somewhere, out there in the Multiverse. show less

As the world of comics tries to keep up with the changing times and tries to keep rebooting itself, it can, admittedly, get a little confusing. I think that a really good example of this is that of DC’s Batgirl. When DC launched their “New 52” reboot series, giving many of their characters brand new origin stories, one of the new iterations was Batgirl. Gail Simone took the helm, and while there was criticism about erasing Batgirl’s disability (she’s no longer wheelchair bound, and show more therefore no longer Oracle), it’s pretty agreed that she did justice to Barbara Gordon. Her time with Batgirl ended, showing Barbara’s future years and years down the line. It was pretty dark stuff (no spoilers here though). But then….. Batgirl was rebooted again, even if DC claims that it wasn’t really a reboot. Now the “Batgirl” title is DC’s answer to Marvel’s “Ms. Marvel”: a bit more aimed towards teen girls, with a quirky and flawed, but endearing protagonist who has very real life problems along with the Superhero ones. I mean, just look at the cover of this book: Batgirl is taking a selfie in a hipster club bathroom.

Admittedly, when I first saw this I was like "what???", BUT, I decided to give it a chance because I love Barbara Gordon, and I do recognize that comics appeal to a wide array of audiences now. And I’m glad that I did decide to give it a try, because while I find “Ms. Marvel” fine and important but a but a tad precious, I think that this new Batgirl is just the right balance of aware and action-y.

Barbara has been updated to fit the modern sensibilities of a brainy girl who likes to code and do STEM things. While I’m still a bit bitter that she hasn’t quite taken on the librarian mantle (though I think she eventually does go to get her MLIS!), I love seeing her tackle computer science and code writing, and I LOVE seeing it treated as just something that she does because why wouldn’t she? Not only is Barbara a badass lady coder, so is her roommate Frankie. I really liked the introduction of Frankie (though I wish that Alysia Yeoh could have been another roommate, because I love her to death), as she added a new voice of reason along with adding some much needed diversity to the DC Universe. In fact, a lot of the new faces in “Batgirl” add quite a bit of diversity, not unlike that which you WOULD see in Brooklyn these says (as Burnside is the Brooklyn to Gotham’s Manhattan). So not only do we have an empowered and positive role model of a young woman who is adept at science, she surrounds herself with people from all different backgrounds and experiences. Every character feels real and grounded and not just thrown in for the sake of having a token Muslim, or trans woman, or African American, or etcetera.

Even the villains and the danger scenarios feel like they fit a modern aesthetic without seeming overwrought. One of the first people Batgirl goes up against is an Internet wizard who has been giving out his digital blackmail services to people, willing to ruin lives for a price and a profit. Given how revenge porn is certainly a problem that society hasn’t quite figured out how to wrap it’s head around in many ways, this felt like a pretty relevant threat. Sure, Babs may not be fighting crazed supervillains like the Joker, but villains based in real life awfulness are a-okay with me. And it’s done in such a way that it never feels like it’s being spoon fed to the reader. You don’t need a known and super big bad guy like Joker or Penguin to be behind these realistic maladies, because that just doesn’t feel genuine. Along with the villains, one of the biggest obstacles Barbara has to face is the trauma she is still feeling from when Joker attacked her. You see flashbacks of when she was in recovery, and how dark and damaged her mind went, focused on the past and revenge instead of healing and the future. While I am a staunch defender of the original story of her becoming wheelchair bound, as Oracle became arguably the MOST powerful member within the Bat Family and her wheelchair provided representation to a group that is overlooked, I think that this series has done a good job of addressing the long term mental affects of it all. It’s a shame that they’ve erased that side of Barbara, but now they are tackling the story of a woman who is living with PTSD. I won’t say tit for tat, but I will say that it’s not nothing.

And there are familiar faces as well! My girl Dinah Lance is involved in this first arc, there to provide a needed level of snark, but also to remind Batgirl of her duties and not to let things get out of her control. I am pretty sure this was the predecessor to the “Black Canary” comic that I liked so much (note to self…. get your hands on the next one), and her angst and rough edges are on display in their full glory. She is also there to make sure that Babs, while the selfie and social media culture is fine and part of our lives now, doesn’t lose her endgame all because she loves the likes and tweets. The old school mentality of comics and superheroes in the context of Batgirl still has relevancy, and her reboot is blending well with her origins.

And the art is really fun in this one. It’s very colorful, not as dark and dour as the Gail Simone story that preceded it. I am very pleased with the new life that Batgirl has been given with “Batgirl (Vol.1): The Batgirl of Burnside”. Barbara has been given a new lease on life and I am very happy with where she’s going with it! show less

Grant Morrison is maddening. Much of his work can be dismissed as overloading on either sheer absurdity or distractingly meta deconstructionism. His plots can be loopy. His tone can be dismissive or sneering of the very genre in which he works. But when he lets his inner fanboy loose, he can capture heroic and iconic moments better than anyone. For instance, in Multiversity his homages to Alan Moore's Watchmen and C. C. Beck's Captain Marvel are simply amazing. I would love to see either of show more those chapters expanded to whole works. Same for the chapter featuring Earth-Me. But then the rest of the book revels in and simultaneously mocks every trope of the comic industry major crossover event, using way too many Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman doppelgangers to fill out the sound and fury of it. When I read Morrison I can enjoy moments of his work and then am made to immediately feel bad for having let myself enjoy it. No other comic writer makes me feel as if I am dueling with him as I read him. The challenge can be fun, but it means never letting your guard down and just losing yourself in the story. show less