Comic Reviews by Walt

Which is better (or preferred) … stories with multiple character points of view? Or stories that stick to just one or two at most? And, why?

For me, it really depends on the story itself, and a lotta context. I think especially of “team books” in comics–X-Men or the Justice League or Teen Titans–and with those, I would want numerous characters’ points of view…it’s how we’d really get to “know” the characters.

At the same time, if a character has a “solo book,” I’m more inclined to want things from that character’s point of view (the the occasional one-off issue switching things up isn’t bad, though).

As I type this, I realize it also depends on the point of view of the narration…a comic “checking in on” numerous characters (X-Men, Justice League, etc) giving us “omniscient” views of characters all over the place is a much different thing than getting an entire story from the limited point of view of only one character, who can’t tell us exactly what another character is thinking or remembering or whatever.

I’ve begun reading Allegiant, the latest book in the Divergent series, and I’m not liking the chapter by chapter changeup between two characters’ point of view. Just as I’m getting the “feel” for the progression of story from one character, it changes and the “I _____” or “my ______” references are totally changed, and it’s taking me out of the story.

I like the Song of Ice and Fire books (Game of Thrones and later books), and those do a chapter-by-chapter changeup as well, but it’s not as rough to transition as it’s not the characters talking to me as a reader.

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What’s the oddest book you’ve ever read? Did you like it? Hate it? Did it make you think?

I’m sure that throughout today as this prompt continues to circle in my head, I’m going to think of other examples.

But right now, I can’t really think of any actual prose books that have really struck me as “odd.”

When I was really young, I had “the faith of a child,” accepting what I was given as “fact” or “true” (though I obviously didn’t consciously know the definitions of those words nor any of the layered or politicized meanings).

I was also introduced to comic books, and sci-fi/fantasy at a young age–old enough to cognitively have and make a clear distinction between fiction and reality…but young enough still that I don’t recall all these far-fetched things striking me as particularly odd or anything.

Detectives could run around with communicators on their wrists and these weird opponents. Men could fly or dress up in a rodent costume and scare the crap out of the superstitious, cowardly lot. Mutant turtles and mutant humans, men transformed by radiation into super-heroes, worlds of dragons and dungeons or realms forgotten–all of these struck me as contextually plausible.

And yet in retrospect, perhaps they are odd. Perhaps moreso than not seeing stuff as odd, I’ve simply accepted the odd as a part of life, and simply gone about my life, knowing that the odd is possible, and that there will always be oddities to one degree or another, real and fictional.

So…books. Chances are if you’re reading this post, you’re looking for me to talk about BOOKS.

Dragonlance, Magic: The Gathering, Mechwarrior, Star Wars, Star Trek, Aliens, Predator. All may seem odd in their own ways.

But perhaps what most recently actually strikes me as odd can be found in the world of comic books.

DC Comics just relaunched their entire super-hero universe in an initiative called “The New 52,” and just last night I read two of the second issues in series. Animal Man #2 and Swamp Thing #2.

And lemme tell you–if only for the art alone, Animal Man in particular was odd and out of the ordinary. There’s a scene where the main character’s daughter is feeding her “cat” milk, and that absolutely creeped me out. And in Swamp Thing, the creature the main character encountered seemed odd, yet familiar.

I’ve generally liked all these books (and comics) that would seem oddities to others in my life. They do almost always make me think–whether through some almost direct parallel to real life, or just through being able to loosely identify with a situation or whatever. And even if everyone else in my life doesn’t quite “get it,” these have all given me an extra layer of analogies to better sort out and process actual reality, putting abstracts into more concrete terms.

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1. What do you think of reading aloud/being read to? Does it bring back memories of your childhood? Your children’s childhood?

2. Does this affect the way you feel about audio books?

3. Do you now have times when you read aloud or are read to?

1. These days, being read to is mostly awkward, at least in person. When I know they’re reading something TO me longform, I find I prefer to read it myself. Doesn’t really bring back memories…moreso just raises the issue of social awkwardness.

2. Nope…I love audiobooks, and they’re the main way I get through most books these days–because I can listen at work. But there, if I ignore the audio/tune it out briefly and all that, I don’t have a person right there expecting (and rightly so!) me to hang on every word.

3. Not if I can help it. Maybe a quote/very brief passage. Most people don’t appreciate what I’m reading, or aren’t in the mood for it. And if I read aloud to myself…I’d probably just be creeping people out, wasting breath, and feeling awkward at even the possibility of drawing undue attention to myself.

And because last week, I forgot it was Thursday until it was almost Friday, here’s my response for last week’s prompt:

Do you carry books with you when you’re out and about in the world?

And, do you ever try to hide the covers?

That depends on how we define ‘out and about in the world.’

I try to always have something handy to read. At home, I have more books than I’m ever gonna actually get around to reading, I think. I usually try to keep at least one book in whatever vehicle I’m driving–that way, if I get stranded somewhere, I have something onhand to read. I also try to keep something at work as “backup” so if I forget to take anything in with me to read, I have it as a fallback to read. And I tend to carry something between home and work that I’m actively “trying” to read or in the process of reading. I also often grab something “extra” to take with me for any weekend visits anywhere.

Now that I have an iphone, I have at least a half-dozen books saved on the device between a couple e-book-readers, and so long as I have a data signal, I’m good for internet browsing–typically browsing twitter for interesting links to read. Having the phone and doing the internet reading on it has significantly cut into my reading time–I often wind up not even getting to my book on breaks at work.

Carrying books out of this apartment–no, I don’t try to hide the covers. It may LOOK like I do–a habit I’ve developed in quick transport for comics is to drop my reading material into a plastic shopping back, pull the bag tight, and wrap the excess around so I’m holding the book or comics or graphic novel, but with plastic protectively around it, protecting against weather, other elements, and just so I don’t worry about covers getting bent or other travel damage.

I met one of my best friends by “openly reading” in public, and have had some interesting conversations with people who approach me and use whatever I’m reading as an icebreaker.

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