The Moment Stealer

Back from the animation film festival! Didn't win, but I can safely say without any bitter cattiness that a lot of the animated shorts there wouldn't have passed muster at UP. A lot of them were just animated jokes without much in the way of social or cultural significance, which is something the UP panel always looks for.

Still, there were a lot of amazing submissions to the festival. The winners were all hugely deserving of their awards and these past few days have served me as a kind of spur to do them all one better the next time around.

So the pilot episode for the animated Young Justice finally came out! I watched it last night, and pretty much stayed up until four AM just watching and pausing and looking at the pretty.

Because oh my giddy aunt am I in love with every single member of this team.

I know this is supposed to be a kid's show, but I swear they are marketing this thing especially for me. Pretty boys, pretty boys everywhere! Everyone is so ridiculously good-looking that I wonder if I should feel pervy because they're all pretty much underage.

Not only are they all so very excellently drawn, but the personalities the voice actors bring to the table are amazing. The animation is smooth and consistent, though I find it a bit odd that Kid Flash is usually drawn running at a normal speed. I'm guessing that's got more to do with story problems than with animation, though.

While I'm not too keen on a straight-haired Wonder Woman (not that it matters because she's probably not going to show up much anyway -- and that is a major reduction of points right there), the character designs are pretty much flawless. The costumes are still classic Young Justice for the main three, but they've got nice modern touches, like Kon's spiffy new boots and that awesome little computer on Robin's wrist.

( Young Justice 1.01-1.02 )

Lastly, the worst thing I can say about this show -- and this really is something I hate with every fiber of my being -- is that I'm going to have to wait until next year for another episode. Outrageous!

Right, now that that's over, back to The Walking Dead. God this show has me nail-biting on the edge of my seat every. Goddamn. Minute.

So, started reading this and for a while I was afraid this was going to be a Serious Series. That's not usually a bad thing, but when you're building a series around characters like Hogun, Fandral and especially Volstagg, seriousity means you're missing out on a very great thing.

And when you begin an issue with the crime scene of a massacred town and grotesquely piled bodies? Um, you start to wonder: am I going to feel massively guilty for laughing at something soon? Is there to be a Giggle Loop?

Answer? Yes. Giggle Loop it is. Starting with Fandral doing what he does best (and sporting a wicked set of abs while he's at it, look!), Volstagg doing what he does best (causing despair to all who serve him in his repast), and ending with, for the very first time that I've seen him, Hogun the Hatless. Also doing that which he does best. Which is tavern brawling.

These three are possibly the reason why I've read so much Thor. Yes, the man is all noble and badass and (quite importantly, because I am shallow) gorgeous, but I perk up whenever these three guys show up in his life.

We next learn that Fenris is on the loose, and also that he's something of an asshat. I mean, other people would just call to say if they were in town, or write a letter of some sort. It's a very particular brand of people whose notes require a body count.

The preview indicates that Fandral does his lady magic with Scientist Helen. I can't say I'm surprised. Is the next issue really called "My Own Private Ragnarok" though? Because if you've seen that movie -- well, as much as I love the Warriors Three together, I've never really wanted to think of them in that way together. Great movie, though.

So, in conclusion? Could have been funnier, but I'm grabbing the next issue when it comes along, story be damned. It's the camaraderie I'm after. I'm not even entirely certain what's these scientists from Midgard were doing there in the first place. Mostly because I glazed over whatever it was they were saying because I just kept waiting for the three to pop back in.

In fact, if I were to be completely honest, I could have done away with the whole Fenris plot completely. Show me a series where all these three Asgardians do is travel around the modern world in style (and by style, I mean on their goat-drawn sleigh. Very chic. Pashmina, possibly.) and make fun of Volstagg's girth as he eats people out of house and home, and I will be there with a wallet full of my hard-earned cash.

When I was younger, I absolutely loved Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles. It had snarky female king dragons, one particularly badass Princess, and crazy hijinks galore. Add to that the fact that the humorous covers were done by the amazing Peter de Seve, and you had a series that was well nigh unbeatable against the undefended mind of mini Mikki.

It's been ages since I picked up any of her books, so when I came across Thirteenth Child and read the synopsis, I figured I was in for yet another rollicking good time (yes! Rollicking! Action and adventure aplenty!)

So what if it's probably been a decade since I last read her? I am quite a bit older, but I haven't grown up that much (some might even replace "much" with "at all," but I feel like that's not necessarily a good thing).

PLOT
So Eff is our resident thirteenth child, right? Yes, that's right, thirteen kids.

Because apparently people in this world procreate like rabbits, but given the time period (American frontier days in some alternate universe) I suppose that was like insurance. The more kids you have, the bigger your chances that some of them will survive to adulthood and end up wiping the drool from your wizened fruit of a mouth.

It's apparently awful bad luck to be born the thirteenth child, but she's one half of a set of twins and her brother is the fourteenth child -- double the sevens, double the luck. Double-seventh kids are supposed to be chock full of magic and good fortune. Lucky him.

They ought to balance things out nicely, but poor ickle Eff is still set upon by all the neighborhood bullies and nasty relatives for being the harbinger of bad luck. Her family eventually moves to the wilds of the Frontier, where the only thing keeping the saber cats and wooly mammoths from rampaging through the town is the magical barrier.

Stuff then happens. Sort of.

( Thirteenth Child )