Prequel Comics Reviewed
Dec. 16th, 2016 11:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Kieron Gillen: Darth Vader IV: End of Games (Aka issues 20 – 25, the end of Gillen’s Vader story bridging the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back): A good conclusion. Any story which has to handle the prequel and continuity fixed points, i.e. your intended readership already knows exactly how your main character will end up, and nothing he does or experiences in your story can change that, and pulls off an interesting narrative regardless, proves the skill of the writer, and Gillen maintains his momentum till the end. He also finds a satisfying conclusion (for now) for his OC, Aphra, whose fate wasn’t pre-ordained by existing canon and thereby provided suspense – which it wouldn’t have if Gillen hadn’t made me (and presumably a lot of other readers) care about Aphra as much as for many of the old characters.
In terms of Palpatine-Vader interaction, the scene where the Emperor has his explaining monologue of how he had to modify the rule of two in new circumstances to see whether Vader post Vaderization was still worthy, and that Vader finally stepped up by defeating all the Evil Lieutenant wannabes as Palps always knew he would, and Vader listens to all and then answers to Palpatine’s concluding “now do you understand?” with “Yes; if any of them had survived, you would be giving this speech to them” was a great pay off (to me), because is sums up Vader no longer being susceptible to Palpatine’s manipulations (which doesn’t equal redemption or goodness, of course). (One of these days, in a galaxy far far away when I have the time, I’ll write a story about the Anakin/Vader and Palpatine relationship, which happens to be the longest continually enduring one in his life, and how screwed up is that? I already have an idea for the structure, which would parallel scenes of the child Anakin growing up and becoming closer and closer to Palpatine with Vader from the end of RotS till he kills Palpatine in RotJ.)
The remaining action scenes – Vader versus various menaces – felt routinely up to the point when Cylo did something I sort of expected ever since Palpatine mentioned he had been the one to create the cyborg machinery for Anakin post Mustafar, i.e. used that knowledge to shut down all the machine parts of Vader (in fanfiction, it’s usually Palpatine himself who has that trap door, and somehow I doubt he’d have let anyone else have it, but never mind). Cue Gillen, who’d used glimpses into Vader’s mind sparingly and thereby effectively throughout the run, treating us to the most extensive sequence showing what goes on inside, culminating in our villainous hero using the Force to overcome his limbs being switched off and defeating his foe. (Of course he does. I also love that this scene resonates with Vader’s statement in A New Hope in the scene with Tarkin and the other generals re: the Force.) What goes on inside starts as another flashback (Mustafar, of course) that quickly turns into something else, as this time, Anakin replies to Obi-Wan’s “I loved you” with “You’re a liar and a coward. If you had loved me, Obi-Wan, you would have killed me” and to Obi-Wan then obliging him with turning back and doing just this with “would that have been better” with “Yes” as the sequence turns into a replay of their Death Star encounter next, only with Obi-Wan still in his Ewan McGregor shape. (Makes sense to me – Vader saw Old Ben only briefly and would still conjure up Obi-Wan the way he’d known him in his mind.) And of course the whole thing then segues into a Vader versus Anakin (barely before the fall Anakin, with blue light saber, but already the RotS look) duel and “I hate you” directed at himself. I mean, Vader/Anakin hating himself isn’t exactly news if you think about the character, but this was the perfect Star Wars way to illustrate it. And to show what he made of Obi-Wan’s “I loved you” statement. What then surprised me (not in a bad way, in a “yes, of course, I hadn’t thought of it but she WOULD symbolize this to him at this point” way), though was the way Padmé shows up – not that she did, of course she would, but that she does as the temptation to give into death. To use this opportunity (i.e. the shut down by Cylo) to join her in death and be Anakin again. Because of course once you’ve established the self loathing, the question is “why then continue?”. Because, it seems, the urge to live, the unwillingness to stay trapped, the part that clawed itself out of the lava and became Vader, is still too strong, and so he repeats his original sin and tells her “Anakin is dead”.
Now on to Aphra. There were moments where I groaned, thinking she was being foolish, but I whooped and cheered when it turned out to be strategy, and she pulled it off, too. Specifically: telling Palpatine Vader’s secrets (minus the biggest one), then telling Vader she’d done so but still had a secret to tell, and expecting to either Palpatine protect her or Vader not to kill her? Would have been stupid. Deliberately goading Vader into killing her in the way she’d specifically told him at the start of their relationship she didn’t want to be killed, because that was the only way which allowed her to save herself and fake her death, otoh, was a masterful ploy. And it really put Aphra’s little “the way I want to die” speech early on in a new context. Because seriously, when did we ever see Vader airlock someone? It’s force chocking or light saber for him, neither of which Aphra would have been able to survive, and there’s no reason to assume he’d ever have thought of an airlock solution if she hadn’t taken care to inform him that this was what she feared most. And the Sho-Tun arc even set up the technology that allowed her to survive briefly in vacuum. And her last statement on the issue, that of course there was the risk that Vader would have chosen to give her the mercy killing by light saber she’d requested, but “he’s Darth Vader – he was never going to be kind” underlines Aphra as a hardcore realist, though one prepared to take incredible risks.
Oh, and the Asimov reader in me loved the way she used the literalness of commands to droids to escape her original capture. Aphra and her inventiveness really were a big part of what made this solo so readable. I hear she’s gotten her own spin-off, and will read that (in collected trade) as well.
In conclusion: a much appreciated by me story. I’ll see Rogue One tomorrow.
Neil Gaiman: Sandman: Overture.
Another prequel that pulls off the art of telling an interesting story despite the fact the main character’s fate is fixed. Did we need to find out what Dream (and other Sandman characters ) had been up to before Roderick Burgess captured him, and what kind of struggle it had been that had weakened him enough for Burgess to do so? No. But was it great for me to read it regardless? You bet. Also, the art by J.H. Williams III is drop dead gorgeous. Sandman always kept changing its artists, and sometimes that was confusing - Seasons of Mist - and sometimes the merging of visual art with narration was just perfect - The Kindly Ones and The Wake - very different visually, but a perfect match for the story in question.
Overture is another such case in point. Outstanding visuals include the panels where we meet additions to the Sandman myth - Time and Darkness, the parents of the Endless -, the set piece where Morpheus encounters a lot of other different aspects of Dream, then later his confrontation with the mad star -, and of course the neat visual giveaways (but never too blatant!) to the true identity of a key character.
There’s just one appearance by a fan favourite character which I thought was there for the sake of it, not organic to the story Overture told, and that was the original Corinthian. Then again, the Corinthian being unmade and remade in the course of the Sandman saga foreshadows what will happen to Morpheus, so maybe that’s the narrative justification for the guy showing up in Overture. Otherwise, everyone’s appearances have a point to them. Case in question: when we find out, via a story Dream tells, who the Alienora we briefly see at the end of Game of You was, why he created that world for her, and what happened between them. At first you think, well, Dream = Worst Romantic Prospect in a Gaiman story, plus ca change, we knew that, but then later you realize the point of the story was something else altogether, and aha!
Part of the appeal of Sandman was always the mixture between myths, pop culture, dysfunctional family soap (the Endless) and whimsy, and all aspects are present in this prequel. That, and Neil Gaiman indulges his things for cats in the best way, which, since I also have a thing for cats, was very pleasing to me. (Also, hooray for making the issue Dream of a Thousand Cats into the key for saving the universe.
In conclusion: loved it, will reread as soon as time (ha!) permits.
In terms of Palpatine-Vader interaction, the scene where the Emperor has his explaining monologue of how he had to modify the rule of two in new circumstances to see whether Vader post Vaderization was still worthy, and that Vader finally stepped up by defeating all the Evil Lieutenant wannabes as Palps always knew he would, and Vader listens to all and then answers to Palpatine’s concluding “now do you understand?” with “Yes; if any of them had survived, you would be giving this speech to them” was a great pay off (to me), because is sums up Vader no longer being susceptible to Palpatine’s manipulations (which doesn’t equal redemption or goodness, of course). (One of these days, in a galaxy far far away when I have the time, I’ll write a story about the Anakin/Vader and Palpatine relationship, which happens to be the longest continually enduring one in his life, and how screwed up is that? I already have an idea for the structure, which would parallel scenes of the child Anakin growing up and becoming closer and closer to Palpatine with Vader from the end of RotS till he kills Palpatine in RotJ.)
The remaining action scenes – Vader versus various menaces – felt routinely up to the point when Cylo did something I sort of expected ever since Palpatine mentioned he had been the one to create the cyborg machinery for Anakin post Mustafar, i.e. used that knowledge to shut down all the machine parts of Vader (in fanfiction, it’s usually Palpatine himself who has that trap door, and somehow I doubt he’d have let anyone else have it, but never mind). Cue Gillen, who’d used glimpses into Vader’s mind sparingly and thereby effectively throughout the run, treating us to the most extensive sequence showing what goes on inside, culminating in our villainous hero using the Force to overcome his limbs being switched off and defeating his foe. (Of course he does. I also love that this scene resonates with Vader’s statement in A New Hope in the scene with Tarkin and the other generals re: the Force.) What goes on inside starts as another flashback (Mustafar, of course) that quickly turns into something else, as this time, Anakin replies to Obi-Wan’s “I loved you” with “You’re a liar and a coward. If you had loved me, Obi-Wan, you would have killed me” and to Obi-Wan then obliging him with turning back and doing just this with “would that have been better” with “Yes” as the sequence turns into a replay of their Death Star encounter next, only with Obi-Wan still in his Ewan McGregor shape. (Makes sense to me – Vader saw Old Ben only briefly and would still conjure up Obi-Wan the way he’d known him in his mind.) And of course the whole thing then segues into a Vader versus Anakin (barely before the fall Anakin, with blue light saber, but already the RotS look) duel and “I hate you” directed at himself. I mean, Vader/Anakin hating himself isn’t exactly news if you think about the character, but this was the perfect Star Wars way to illustrate it. And to show what he made of Obi-Wan’s “I loved you” statement. What then surprised me (not in a bad way, in a “yes, of course, I hadn’t thought of it but she WOULD symbolize this to him at this point” way), though was the way Padmé shows up – not that she did, of course she would, but that she does as the temptation to give into death. To use this opportunity (i.e. the shut down by Cylo) to join her in death and be Anakin again. Because of course once you’ve established the self loathing, the question is “why then continue?”. Because, it seems, the urge to live, the unwillingness to stay trapped, the part that clawed itself out of the lava and became Vader, is still too strong, and so he repeats his original sin and tells her “Anakin is dead”.
Now on to Aphra. There were moments where I groaned, thinking she was being foolish, but I whooped and cheered when it turned out to be strategy, and she pulled it off, too. Specifically: telling Palpatine Vader’s secrets (minus the biggest one), then telling Vader she’d done so but still had a secret to tell, and expecting to either Palpatine protect her or Vader not to kill her? Would have been stupid. Deliberately goading Vader into killing her in the way she’d specifically told him at the start of their relationship she didn’t want to be killed, because that was the only way which allowed her to save herself and fake her death, otoh, was a masterful ploy. And it really put Aphra’s little “the way I want to die” speech early on in a new context. Because seriously, when did we ever see Vader airlock someone? It’s force chocking or light saber for him, neither of which Aphra would have been able to survive, and there’s no reason to assume he’d ever have thought of an airlock solution if she hadn’t taken care to inform him that this was what she feared most. And the Sho-Tun arc even set up the technology that allowed her to survive briefly in vacuum. And her last statement on the issue, that of course there was the risk that Vader would have chosen to give her the mercy killing by light saber she’d requested, but “he’s Darth Vader – he was never going to be kind” underlines Aphra as a hardcore realist, though one prepared to take incredible risks.
Oh, and the Asimov reader in me loved the way she used the literalness of commands to droids to escape her original capture. Aphra and her inventiveness really were a big part of what made this solo so readable. I hear she’s gotten her own spin-off, and will read that (in collected trade) as well.
In conclusion: a much appreciated by me story. I’ll see Rogue One tomorrow.
Neil Gaiman: Sandman: Overture.
Another prequel that pulls off the art of telling an interesting story despite the fact the main character’s fate is fixed. Did we need to find out what Dream (and other Sandman characters ) had been up to before Roderick Burgess captured him, and what kind of struggle it had been that had weakened him enough for Burgess to do so? No. But was it great for me to read it regardless? You bet. Also, the art by J.H. Williams III is drop dead gorgeous. Sandman always kept changing its artists, and sometimes that was confusing - Seasons of Mist - and sometimes the merging of visual art with narration was just perfect - The Kindly Ones and The Wake - very different visually, but a perfect match for the story in question.
Overture is another such case in point. Outstanding visuals include the panels where we meet additions to the Sandman myth - Time and Darkness, the parents of the Endless -, the set piece where Morpheus encounters a lot of other different aspects of Dream, then later his confrontation with the mad star -, and of course the neat visual giveaways (but never too blatant!) to the true identity of a key character.
There’s just one appearance by a fan favourite character which I thought was there for the sake of it, not organic to the story Overture told, and that was the original Corinthian. Then again, the Corinthian being unmade and remade in the course of the Sandman saga foreshadows what will happen to Morpheus, so maybe that’s the narrative justification for the guy showing up in Overture. Otherwise, everyone’s appearances have a point to them. Case in question: when we find out, via a story Dream tells, who the Alienora we briefly see at the end of Game of You was, why he created that world for her, and what happened between them. At first you think, well, Dream = Worst Romantic Prospect in a Gaiman story, plus ca change, we knew that, but then later you realize the point of the story was something else altogether, and aha!
Part of the appeal of Sandman was always the mixture between myths, pop culture, dysfunctional family soap (the Endless) and whimsy, and all aspects are present in this prequel. That, and Neil Gaiman indulges his things for cats in the best way, which, since I also have a thing for cats, was very pleasing to me. (Also, hooray for making the issue Dream of a Thousand Cats into the key for saving the universe.
In conclusion: loved it, will reread as soon as time (ha!) permits.
no subject
Date: 2016-12-17 04:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-17 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-17 02:20 pm (UTC)