Chiaroscuro Bondage

I realized today that I hadn't written anything of consequence in a while. Particularly in the poetry department, at least since the school year ended. So all day at work, I was planning on getting home to write a short poem, combining a newfound fascination with rope bondage and some artistic concepts I've been thinking about lately. But then, I walked in the door and glanced over at my screened in porch. Apparently, there was a 70 mph gust of wind today, and it blew one of my windows in and shattered it. Insane.

I am working on the poem, which shares one of the words in the title of this post. I bet you can guess. (hint: it is the classier of the two)

I don't really have any exciting literature to review as I'm not reading anything new. I am enjoying Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast saga so far. As a fan of Tolkien, I'm always skeptical whenever I see someone putting another author's fantasy saga on that same level. There is of course the requisite blurb on the back of the collection I picked up that makes the comparison. However, here for once, that isn't just an idle boast. Peake could write, and what is potentially a boring topic, a rambling castle and the heir to an aristocratic family, is thus far, very interesting. Reading about simple topics such as different festivals and castle politics are interesting and surely tie into the rest of the story. I'm fascinated and definitely hooked.

Other than that, nothing much to report. Still submitting my writing to various places, hoping that someone out there will think I'm worth picking up in some way. If you have any suggestions, please, let me know.

Comic Acceptance

I was sitting in the store today and just kind of staring around at the things we had on display. A lot of it made me sick; the bestseller list is full of such dreck as James "I don't write this stuff" Patterson's new novel and good old nutso Ron Paul's manifesto, but on the bottom shelf, on our paperback best seller was Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Its always nice when real literature makes the list, particularly intriguing things such as this.

I'm not familiar with Chabon's writing. I have yet to read anything by him, but his newest book, a collection of essays grabbed my eye and I ended up purchasing it. Maps and Legends, a collection of non-fiction essays, grabbed my attention with its beautiful tryptych cover (which I plan on framing) and its premise: a defense of genre fiction.

From what I've paged through of the book so far, the essays contained inside range from reasons why people should read more comic books (indeed, the cover art is done by a comic artist, Jordan Crane) to something about Sherlock Holmes. While this is undoubtedly oversimplified (like I said, I haven't cracked the book yet), its nice to see that someone sees the benefits of genre fiction.

I grew up on comic books and fantasy. I can still remember my first comic book, an issue of Amazing Spider-Man during the time in which he had Captain Universe's (I think?) powers. He ended up facing off against a robot created by Doctor Doom and destroying a good portion of NYC in the process. The people were against him. I still remember the downcast way in which he hung his head, gloves burned off by his final blast at the robot, as the citizens turned against him, condemning him as dangerous. I was hooked, and consumed anything slightly fantastic from therein.

My parents would sit up and read to us many nights. We battled through Middle Earth in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We rafted down the Mississippi with Huckleberry Finn. I believe we might have even made stops over in Wonderland and Oz at some point. The point is, these wonderful FANTASIES were what taught me to read and enjoy literature. Genre fiction is equally valid with all the great works out there.

I do read more high and classical writing now. At work, I'll buy books from the fiction section probably more often than I do the Science Fiction or Horror sections. But I still hold a place in my heart for those worlds. They don't deserve the bad rap they get. Neither do comic books. If a book is making someone read, and think, and imagine, isn't that good? Isn't that person being proactive and learning? I think so, and its nice to know that one other person, at least, thinks so.

So thank you Michael Chabon. Thanks for putting Cthulhu and Sherlock Holmes and a golem on the cover to your newest book. And thanks for realizing that a book is a book, and not taking the road that is so popular amongst people today. Books are books. Books are books.

Read please.

The first

So I'll be graduating in a few days here. Kind of exciting.

I haven't done any kind of review writing in a while here, so I thought I'd go over an item I recently bought. Hellboy Library Edition: Volume 1 (USD 49.95) is a great collection with a few minor flaws. I'll start off with all of the positives though. What you're getting for your money is the complete first two volumes in the Hellboy saga, "Seed of Destruction" and "Wake the Devil". Each of those by themselves is going to run you 17 dollars or so, so its worth your extra few dollars to pay for the beautiful hardbound book. It has a truly wonderful watercolor on the cover and is sturdy enough that you probably won't damage it through continued reading.

As far as the stories themselves go, they're excellent and a good way of introducing yourself to the Hellboy world. They're the origin stories of Hellboy, really and those who saw Guillermo Del Toro's 2004 movie will find them reasonably familiar. But seeing them put on page (oversize, easy to read pages, I might add) in Mike Mignola's beautiful artwork is wonderful. Aside from these two stories, you get quite a few sketchbook pages at the back, a way to see how Hellboy and the assorted monsters and supporting characters got their start. Besides this, there are introductions by both famed horror writer Robert Bloch and comic book writer (and egomaniac) Alan Moore.

As far as negatives go, the price will probably deter the casual fan. You're paying for a quality reproduction and if you're not sure you're going to enjoy this slightly Lovecraftian, gothic adventure with a pinch of Indiana Jones, you might be better off checking out trade paperbacks first. Also, the size is a bit of a problem for casual reading. There were times when I found it extremely hard to position the large hardcover in a way that was comfortable. No bedtime reading with this one. If you can get past these minor setbacks, you're almost guaranteed to enjoy this entry into the slightly bizarre, funny and dark world of Hellboy and the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.