Personal Picks Episode Seven - Caring Not Scaring

A clown hands a child a balloon.

Twin girls play on their tricycles.

A little boy wears his Sunday best.

It is time for my personal picks.

Welcome to this episode of Personal Picks. It is Halloween time but, instead of giving you a scare, we are going to show some care by sharing some uplifting tracks.

 (You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

First up we have a track that always gets me in a dancing mood. Hail (hail). Come and get your love...

1) Come and Get Your Love - Redbone

2) DARE - Gorillaz

3) Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

4) I Won't Back Down - Tom Petty

5) Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles

6) Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House

7) The Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine

8) Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud) - The Beautiful South

9) Take On Me - a-ha

10) Wake Up - Arcade Fire

Well I think it's time to for me to make some comfort food. While I'm busy making an omlette, check out these reviving reads and lightening looks.

Legion (I'm) Lost, Where The Devil Am I?

So as am want to do at times, I was trawling through Twitter late the other night and I spotted a link to an article discussing the "TMK" Legion run. Now, not being familiar with Legion continuity, I had no idea what TMK meant. It turns out it relates to the run written by Tom Bierbaum, Mary Bierbaum, and Keith Giffen (Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4, #1–29), which started Five Years Later. The Legion has disbanded in a darker run which is said to be influenced by Watchmen. I'd never gotten into the Legion. I think it was fact that they had enough characters to fit one of George Perez's patented character packed pieces that put me off. That and I knew that there was at least three reboots. The Five Years Later concept intrigued me though. However, my brain was never going to allow me to start at volume 4 so I ended up on ComiXology investigating the other volumes. I looked at the tail end of volume 3 and saw writer Paul Levitz had a run on it. Okay brain, we will start with his run. Okay? This is where my Legion naïveté really kicked in. Paul Levitz, as far as I can see, wrote all of volume 3 (63 comics and 4 annuals) and a good chunk of volume 2. This particular run (I know he had a previous one but I have gone down that rabbit hole) goes all the way back to volume 2 issue 284 in fact. They named his run "The Paul Levitz era" on Wikipedia so I should've known better. His run does begin with a notable storyline, The Great Darkness Saga (issues 287; 290–294; and Annual 3) so maybe I will start there if I ever dive in.

What is the point of all this you say? Well it kind of highlighted for me one of the barriers to entry for new readers: continuity or just the volume of back material. Even a comic book veteran like me is put off by the amount of stuff that has gone before and after that volume 4. To highlight this, I completed a list of books for you where the Legion were the leads or co-leads. It is not an exhaustive list but I think I got the main run. The Legion got their first real cover billing when Superboy became Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in 1973 (issue 197), a book that dropped the "Superboy" part in 1980 when Superboy went back to his own time. Volume 5 had a run as "Supergirl and the", perhaps a nod to this era. I haven't read volume 7 but I believe the current Superboy is involved with that. Anyway, heres the list:

• Legion of Super-Heroes #1–4 (reprints from Adventure Comics) (1973)
• Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #197–258 (1973 - 1980)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2, #259–313, Annual #1–3, Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #314–325 (#326–354 are reprints of Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 3)  (1980 -1989)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 3, #1–63, Annual #1–4 (Baxter series) (1984 - 1989)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4, #1–61, Annual #1–5 (1989 - 2000)
• Legionnaires #1–81, Annual #1 - 3 (1993 - 2000)
• Legion Lost #1–12 (2000 - 2001)
• The Legion #1–38 (2001 - 2004)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5, #1–15, Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16–36,  Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5, #37–50 (2005 - 2009)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 6, #1–16 (2010 - 2011)
• Legion Lost vol. 2, #1–16, 0 (2011 - 2013)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 7, #1–23, 0 (2019 - )

So if you ask me to recommend something, I'd be at a loss. I'd have to go on reputation or my experience with a creator. Maybe I'd say The Great Darkness Saga or Five Years Later. I'm more likely to recommend a writer. Dan Abnett had a run (there's two trades available and it has Legion Lost with art by Olivier Coipel). Mark Waid started volume 5 (with Barry Kitson) so that's probably worth a look. I think a friend checked out the run at the time it came out and I may have read it. Paul Levitz returns for volume 6. The current run (volume 7) is Brian Michael Bendis (with Ryan Sook and Jordie Bellaire). I have taken a break from Bendis (I sometimes tire of a particular writing style) but it has been a while and I love Ryan Sook so I might check that out at some point.

I thought I might complete the above analysis with a character I am familiar with (or at least I used to be): Daredevil. Here's the list for the main series:

• Daredevil Vol. 1, #1–380 (April 1964 – Oct. 1998)
• Daredevil Vol. 2, #1–119 [#381–499] (Nov. 1998 – Aug. 2009) Note: With issue #22, began official dual-numbering with original series, as #22 / 402, etc
• Daredevil #500–512 (Oct. 2009 – Dec. 2010) Original numbering resumes.
• Daredevil Vol. 3, #1–36, #10.1 [#513-548] (July 2011 – Feb. 2014)
• Daredevil Vol. 4 #1-18, #1.50, #15.1 [#549-566] (March 2014 - Sept. 2015)
• Daredevil Vol. 5 #1-28 [#567-594] (February 2016 - December 2017)
• Daredevil #595-612 (2017 - 2018) Original numbering resumes.
• Daredevil Vol. 6 (2019 -)

A bit more straight forward except for, probably to the annoyance of collectors, Marvel's constant need to go back to volume 1 numbering. No reboots make it easier too. I got on board the Daredevil train in 1999. A friend discovered that Dublin had comic shops and got me a copy of issue 1 of volume 2. (I have a letter in issue 13 of that volume, which was during a David Mack run. I'm a huge fan of that guy). With the help of trades and back issues, I was able to pick up some of the classic storylines. Growing weary of superhero books and big events, I checked out somewhere near the beginning of Mark Waid's run in volume 4. However, I can give you a lot of recommendations from the stuff I've read.

• Frank Miller's first run Vol. 1 #158-161, #163-191
• Daredevil: Born Again Vol. 1 #227–233 (Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli)
• Ann Noccenti's run Vol. 1 #238 to #291 (John Romita Jr pencils and Al Williamson inks #250 to #282)
• Fall From Grace Vol. 1 #319 - 325 (D.G. Chichester and Scott McDaniel)
• Parts of a Hole Vol. 2 #9–15 (David Mack)
• Daredevil: Yellow #1–6 (Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale)
• Wake Up Vol. 2, #16–19 (Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack)
• Brian Michael Bendis' run Vol. 2 #26–50, #56–81 (With Alex Maleev)
• Daredevil : Dark Nights #1-8 (Lee Weeks (1-3), David Lapham and Klaus Jansen (4-5), Jimmy Palmiotti and Thony Silas (6-8)

One of these days I'll get back on that train and continue my run. I also have to go back and check out Last Rites (volume #297–300) as it is critically acclaimed. It is written by D.G. Chichester (Fall From Grace) and has art by Lee Weeks. Actually, I think I might check out D.G. Chichester's entire run (#292–309, #312–332, #338–342, #380). Just looking at his issues, I have read 380. I picked it up as it was the last issue of volume 1. I have another reading recommendation outside of the Daredevil comics: The Devil Is In The Details. It is a collection of essays on various aspects of Daredevil. You can check out an interview with editor Ryan K. Lindsay on the highly recommended Man Without Fear website. I hope this was fun and / or helpful. I had fun putting it together. I might return to it for other series I am familiar with. 

Personal Picks Episode Six - Under The Covers

 

Autumn is getting a winter chill.   

A woman sings a Bob Dylan song.

A child hides under their blanket.

It is time for my personal picks.

Welcome to this edition of Personal Picks where we are going to hide from the winter chill by listening to some hot covers. 

 (You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

First up we have the most covered artist of all time covering a song. From Self Portrait comes Blue Moon...

1) Blue Moon - Bob Dylan

2) Fare The Well (Dink's Song) - Oscar Isaac & Marcus Mumford

3) I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - The White Stripes

4) Lake Of Fire - Nirvana

5) Life On Mars? - Seu Jorge

6) Mind Games - Arcade Fire

7) Mad Word - Gary Jules (Feat. Micheal Andrews) 

8) Brothers in Arms - Joan Baez

9) Come una pietra scalciata (Like A Rolling Stone) - Articolo 31

10) Stand By Me - John Lennon

Well I think it's time to get up and maybe make a hot chocolate. While I'm busy, check out these riveting re-writes and rocking remakes.

Recommended reading: Batman: Year One, Marvels

Recommended viewing: Little Shop Of Horrors, The Birdcage 

Dare to Speak Their Name: Including the Queer in Worldbuilding, Fierce & Proud

I was once again involved with Octocon this year. I had the daunting task of moderating the Dare to Speak Their Name: Including the Queer in Worldbuilding. Daunting as I didn't really feel qualified to be a part of it. However, as a reviewer of, and sometimes writer of, stories, I suppose I do have some experience with worldbuilding. The panel ended up being a lot of fun and by the end of it I think we all felt that we could have talked for a good while longer about the topic. 

Here are the details:

Dare to Speak Their Name: Including the Queer in Worldbuilding

"Speculative fiction can give us many opportunities to step outside familiar constructs of gender and sexuality. Whether the world is one without obvious prejudice where all genders are treated as equally as possible and queerness is unremarkable, or one in which gender isn't assigned at birth or just doesn't matter at all, how does SFF queer its worlds? What can these secondary worlds show readers and viewers who had previously only been exposed to straight culture?"

Panelists: David Ferguson (moderator), GOH Philippa Ryder, Helen Corcoran, Quinn Clancy, Robert JE Simpson.

If you missed it, you can check it out on Twitch until the end of October. 

One of the panelists was Quinn Clancy who is involved with the Cupán Fae group. Established in 2015, the group meets weekly to discuss their current projects, collaborate on new ideas and basically provide support to each other. They were selling books as part of the con so I picked up a couple of them on Kindle (I'm sorry. I have to be selective with physical books due to space constraints). I decided on their science fiction anthology, Fierce New World, and their latest anthology, an LGBTQ one, Fierce & Proud. I love a bit of science fiction and have recently decided to make a conscious decision to look at LGBTQ creators and works. I ended up starting that journey with EM Forrester's Maurice, a wonderful gay romance book that spawned an equally wonderful movie starring a young Hugh Grant. However, the Octocon panel made me notice that I haven't really delved much into LGBTQ science fiction. Well outside comic books. Coincidentally, I have recently backed a science fiction comic book Kickstarter called Fanny Galactic, which stars a drag queen and other queer characters. I could go on but maybe another time and another place. Anyway, I started reading Fierce & Proud not even thinking of a science fiction angle but it turns out the writers largely went in that direction (the book doesn't stick to single genre and I must note that I haven't finished all the stories yet). I'm gonna call out two stories in particular as I thought they had clever ideas and the writers managed to pull them off well: Paul Carroll's Man in the Mirror and Kat Dodd's Marked. They are interesting looks into the perception of sexuality and gender. Though I have enjoyed all the stories so far so maybe support the group by checking out one of their books? I may cover Fierce New World when I get to it.

Cupán Fae on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CupanFae

Cupán Fae's website: http://cupanfae.com/

Personal Picks Episode Five - All Across America

 

A Cadillac sits in front of the diner.  

A waitress pours another cup of coffee.

A man fumbles with a road map.

It is time for my personal picks.

Welcome to this edition of Personal Picks where we are going to leave the top down and let the air hit our faces as we drive across America. Close your eyes and imagine the journey.

 (You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

Before we get on the road, we'll need a hearty breakfast. I'm not really a fan of kippers myself.

1) Breakfast In America - Supertramp

2) America - Simon & Garfunkel

3) Leaving New York - R.E.M.

4) Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen

5) Graceland - Paul Simon

6) The Kansas City Song - Buck Owens

7) Chicago - Sufjan Stevens

8) San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) - Scott McKenzie 

9) California Dreamin' - The Mamas And The Papas

10) Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips

BONUS (NOT ON SPOTIFY)

11) Amarillo - Gorillaz 

Well the train is rolling into the station and I need to figure out how to get back to where I started. While I'm busy hitching a ride, check out these rambling reads and wandering watches.

Recommended reading: Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72, Green Lantern and Green Arrow (1970s run beginning in Green Lantern #76)

Recommended viewing: Trains, Planes & Automobiles, Little Miss Sunshine, Logan

Personal Picks Episode Four - Science Fiction & Fantasy Features

A futuristic lawman patrols the streets.

A robot contemplates the First Law.

A giant pink octopus looms overhead.

It is time for my personal picks.

Welcome this edition of Personal Picks. Octocon is coming up this weekend so I thought we'd listen to some science fiction sounds and fantastically cheesy tunes.

(You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

"Michael Rennie was ill the day the earth stood still

But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear
Claude Rains was the invisible man
Then something went wrong for Faye Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace it came from outer space
And this is how the message ran

Science fiction (uh uh) double feature..."

1) Science Fiction / Double Feature - Richard O'Brien

2) Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips

3) Starman - Seu Jorge 

4) Mulder and Scully - Catatonia

5) Over The Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwoʻole

6) Dracula - Gorillaz

7) Never Ending Story - Limahl

8) Magic Dance - David Bowie

9) Liberi Fatali - Nobuo Uematsu

10) Science Fiction / Double Feature (Reprise) - Richard O'Brien

Well that time of the week where I have to go. I think I left something on the slab! While I go look, check out these science fiction stories and fantastical features.

Recommended reading: 2000AD, Saga, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Recommended viewing: X-Files, Better Than Us, Russian Doll

A Little Bit Out There: Darin Morgan's X-Files

Since it is coming up to Octocon, I kind of got in a science fiction mood. I have just finished the excellent Better Than Us (more on that at a later date) and fond myself in a nostalgic mood. X-Files sprung to mind immediately but I wasn't in the mood to binge 218 episodes and two movies. However, the thing I like about X-Files though is that there are several "monster of the week" or standalone episodes to dive into that don't require further viewing so that became the plan. Being a big fan of Darin Morgan's work on the show, I decided to focus on his and a few of the other funnier episodes. I don't think Darin Morgan's impact on the show can be overstated. He took the show in funny and different directions and didn't allow it to take itself too seriously. My favourite comment about his writing comes from co-lead actor David Duchovny who commented, "what I loved about his scripts was that he seemed to be trying to destroy the show." Morgan contributed to one story ("Blood" from season two) and wrote six more but I am going to focus on my three that I enjoyed the most from the original run (the first nine series). I'll try not to be too spoilery.

Clyde Buckman's Final Repose (Season 3 Episode 4)

Peter Boyle stars, in an Emmy Award winning role, as Clyde Buckman, an insurance salesman and a psychic, who is able to see how people will die. Boyle plays the role of a wise-cracking but world weary Buckman to perfection. This episode shows Morgan's ability to highlight the character differences between Mulder and Scully. While Mulder is aghast at Buckman's apathy about his powers and treats him as an X-File, Scully shows sympathy towards the man. Watching the story progress, you would tend to side with Scully and Buckman, who sees the ability as a curse. The episode also lampoons psychics with the appearance of the Tremendous Yappi, a TV psychic, who even Mulder finds fraudulent. It is also the first appearance of Scully's dog Queeqeg.

War Of the Coprophages (Season 3, Episode 12)

A screwball comedy that lampoons War of the World's hysteria about alien attacks with a story about cockroach attacks that causes similar hysteria in a small town. Once again, Morgan highlights the differences between Mulder and Scully. Mulder chooses to use his day off to investigate UFO sightings while Scully is distracted with everyday diversions like cleaning her gun, washing the dog and reading a Truman Capote book. With every new death that occurs, Mulder interrupts Scully's evening with wild theories about the victims being killed by cockroaches only for Scully to provide rational explanations. The story mocks the X-Files' wild conspiracies only to come up with a wild one of its own. 

Jose Chung's From Outer Space (Season 3, Episode 20)

Author Jose Chung (played by Charles Nelson Reilly) is looking to create the first ever "non-fiction science fiction" (a nod to Truman Capote, who the writer is modelled on, and his non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood). He is interviewing various people about an alleged alien abduction. Scully, an admitted fan of Chung's work, agrees to participate but Mulder feels that the resulting book will further mock an area of investigation that he feels is ridiculed enough. The story features a foul-mouthed sheriff whose swearing is hilariously replaced with words like "bleep" and "blank". It also features Scully performing an autopsy on a man in an alien suit. The resulting footage appears in Dead Alien! Truth or Humbug?, an alien autopsy video. The title references Morgan's story Humbug and an actual alien autopsy video that was shown on Fox. (The Tremendous Yappi appears as the host). The video was recorded by a character named Blaine, who longs to be abducted so he doesn't have to get a job. There is also Roky Crickenson, a man who wants to turn the abduction into a screenplay, who is visited by two "men in black" who try to scare him off (portrayed by Jesse Ventura and Alex Trebek). There's much more than this but I don't want to spoil. My favourtie aspect though is Chung's telling Scully some of the other people's side of the story, which include Scully uncharacteristically physically threatening Blaine (an aspect repeated to a much larger degree in Bad Blood). I consider this my favourite episode and so was delighted that Chung returned in sequel in Millennium called Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense. I'd actually love to read Chung's books and really enjoyed the extracts from both episodes. He has some entertaining philosophies. 

A list of Darin Morgan episodes:

• Humbug (X-Files, Season 2)
• Clyde Buckman's Final Repose (X-Files, Season 3)
• War Of the Coprophages (X-Files, Season 3)
• Jose Chung's From Outer Space (X-Files, Season 3)
• Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense (Millennium Season 2)
• Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me (Millennium Season 2)
• Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster (X-Files, Season 10)
• The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat (X-Files, Season 11)

Personal Picks Episode Three - Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival)

 

The clouds break in the night sky.

The moon makes an appearance.

A child wonders if there is a man up there.

It is time for my personal picks.

Welcome to this edition of Personal Picks where we are celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival. So grab a mooncake and have a listen to these moon themed tunes. 

(You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

"You saw me standing alone 

  Without a dream in my heart 

  Without a love of my own..."

1) Blue Moon - The Mavericks

2) The Killing Moon - Echo & the Bunnymen

3) Man On The Moon - R.E.M.

4) New Blue Moon - Traveling Wilburys 

5) Moon River - Audrey Hepburn

6) Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival

7) Moonshadow - Yusuf / Cat Stevens

8) Walking On The Moon - The Police

9) Moonlight Shadow - Mike Oldfield

10) The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys

Well the moon has been up there for a while so it is probably getting time to hit the hay. Maybe you'll have time for some of these lunar literature and looks.

Recommended reading: Moon Knight, Sailor Moon

Recommended viewing: Moon, A Grand Day Out, Sailor Moon