I buy things online.

[nenena]

morchades is made of awesome because thanks to her I now have a whole bucketload of Virgin Comics shipping to me. (Unfortunately, Virgincomicsstore.com was sold out of Ramayana #2, so I will have to hunt that down somewhere.)

ETA: I finally found Ramayana 3392 #2 at Thecomicguru.co.uk. They had only one copy left in stock. Score!

The other thing that I used my credit card for yesterday... I bought a cheap used Japanese PS2. The white one. Because the Ah! My Goddess game drops today (and my copy should be on my doorstep by tomorrow morning), so yeah. In other gaming news... Remember Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua? Likely the most hyped game in Japan short of anything with the words Final Fantasy in the title? Yeah, it was supposed to have been released on January 31st. And that's after the initial release date (Christmas 2006) was pushed back a month. And here it is, February 22nd, and no copies of the game are anywhere in sight. I logged onto my Amazon.co.jp account to see what was up. Realta Nua is still listed among my "not yet shipped" orders, even though the "estimated delivery date" is still listed as "February 2nd". Sure.

But Virgin Comics are coming to me, and that makes me happy. I ordered the first two issues of End of Story. Check out this marketing blurb:

Something's invading the complex, fragile worlds of stories, leaving death and oblivion in its wake. Now a motley crew of animal heroes from ancient Indian fables must unite to survive. But the boy they think is destined to save them has no idea they even exist…

Featuring death-defying deeds of derring-do from a vast, wonderful, and weird cast of talking animals, boy wizards, cuddly monsters and all your favorite heroes as you've never imagined them before!

According to the Wikipedia page, the series is "loosely based" on the Panchatantra. The Virgin Comics page has a more detailed and much more awesome-sounding summary. Apparently an evil Illuminati controlled by a group of "instantly recognizable, world-reknowned, mass-produced modern-fiction characters" are hunting down and killing old and forgotten folklore heroes.

In short, the whole thing sounds EXACTLY LIKE American Gods but hopefully it won't suck. (Blasphemy, I know, I'm sorry, but American Gods failed for me on so many levels. I love Neil Gaiman to death, but that does not change the fact that in my opinion American Gods sucks.)

Oh, and did I mention that I am nearly as fond of trickster lions as I am of warrior monkeys?

The other upcoming Virgin title that I am excited about is The Asura Analouges, a series of comic titles, the first of which is called Virulents. It looks like 28 Days Later BUT WITH ASURAS. Awesome.

Nicolas Cage is apparently signed on to create a comic book for Virgin this year. I do occassionally find myself fangirling Nicolas Cage. I'll be interested to see what his comic book looks and reads like.


And now, ganked from morchades: Below is the ALA's list of most frequently challenged books (1990-2000), with a strike through the ones that I have read.


01. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
02. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
03. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
04. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
05. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
06. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
07. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
08. Forever by Judy Blume
09. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

I have to admit that out of the above, the only books that I ever read for myself (as opposed to being assigned them in school) are the Harry Potter books, the Stephen King titles, and Catcher in the Rye, because I figured that it was one of those books that I was "supposed" to read, or something. Also The Handmaid's Tale because my mom brought it home one day, and I stole it off her bookshelf and read it. Still, I am grateful for the education that I got, because looking back at that list it looks like I was a pretty well-read kid. I enjoyed a lot of those books, even if they were assignments.

A couple of the above I read in college... A couple more I read because I was teaching high school students.

Of the above, do you know what my earliest memory of reading one of these books is? That's right. It's Where Did I Come From? Mom sitting me down to read me that book is literally one of my earliest memories.

And you know, I think I turned out all right.

Comments

[goldenflames.livejournal.com]

*sigh* i'm still waiting for my Ramayana and Devi issues that I ordered a couple of weeks into January. Apparently it takes at least a month or a month and a half for comics to get here from the Virgin Comics store.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I feared that would be the case. Unfortunately, I haven't found any other online retailer that stocks Virgin Comics. Thecomicguru.co.uk had several issues of Ramayana #6 in stock, but that was it. (They also had that sole issue of Ramayana #2, which is MINE now MWAHAHAHA).

I read last month that Virgin signed on with Diamond Distribution, so hopefully sometime this year we will see Virgin Comics showing up in many other stores, both online and physical. Hopefully. I wonder how long it will take for Diamond to start, you know, seriously distributing Virgin titles.

[goldenflames.livejournal.com]

It happened the last time that I ordered comics, so I guess it's just a question of them processing the order and then the shipping that just takes time.

And I'm jealous, thoroughly jealous. I had to order all the other issues except #2.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

You mean you don't have #2? (I can scan it for you once I get mine.)

[goldenflames.livejournal.com]

no, unfortunately.

i will be thoroughly indebted to you if you scan it. =) i have a good feeling that i won't be able to trust Virgin Comics to get it to me, once they get more copies in stock.

[aster-dw.livejournal.com]

In short, the whole thing sounds EXACTLY LIKE American Gods but hopefully it won't suck. (Blasphemy, I know, I'm sorry, but American Gods failed for me on so many levels. I love Neil Gaiman to death, but that does not change the fact that in my opinion American Gods sucks.)

Damn. Will have to look up this End of Story then... um... somehow. I just fall too easily for the whole "mythology creatures walk the streets unrecognised and are opposed my modern deities" premise.

Anyway, if you have time, would you care to elaborate why you thought AG sucked? In no way do I accuse you of blasphemy, but I'd be sincerely interested in hearing some criticism of it.
I have to admit that I only read it once and all the time through I've been so overwhelmed by the "zomg! this is the cleverest premise ever!" feeling to actually reflect on the book's literary merits.
*sigh* Mythology geek is me.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I loved the premise of American Gods, but ultimately the writing was just too bad for me to overlook. Most of that had to do with the character of Shadow. He had no character. At first I thought, okay, his name is Shadow, I understand that he's supposed to be more like a symbolic placeholder than a real living breathing human character, which would account for the fact that he kind of bounces around the book without ever reacting to anything... Or without ever saying or doing anything interesting. But because of that, I completely couldn't buy the Laura subplot. I assume that Shadow was feeling, I dunno, angst or loss or horror or something when Laura came back from the dead, but the prose never says or shows any of that.

Laura ended being as much of a personality-less cardboard placeholder as Shadow. And because of that I just. didn't. care. what happened to either of them. Their relationship had zero chemistry, there was no emotion whatsoever wrought out of what should have been a deeply emotional story, etc.

So then we get to the latter part of the book, and Shadow actually starts doing things instead of walking around like a zombie. And every time he gets up and does something, I go "WTF where did that come from?" because, you know, he has no personality, and no motivations for doing... anything.

Shadow ties himself to a tree for some sort of Viking funeral rite or whatever. And I go "WTF where did that come from?"

Shadow takes the coin away from Laura and kills her again. And I go "WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT COME FROM?!" No buildup. No explanation. Never, once, do we get inside the heads and experience the emotions of either of these characters, except for that one time that Shadow is reminiscing about Laura's chili. We don't know why Shadow is trying to save Laura, he just does, for some reason. We don't know why Shadow decided not to crack open the skull of a thunderbird and decides to kill Laura instead... He just does. For the entire book Shadow has been floating around and trying to find out how to save Laura in his usual boring and personality-less way, and then all of a sudden... He betrays her trust and takes away her coin. And still manages to do so in the most boring and personality-less way possible. And at moment, for me, illustrated how completely pointless and senseless the entire Shadow/Laura thing was in the first place.

And at the end when Shadow finds the body of the girl in the lake and confronts whats-his-face... Yeah. At that point I didn't care. Shadow isn't a character, he's just a person that does things. He's the person that does things that Neil Gaiman needs to get done in order for the plot to progress. He's the person who exists to meet the other colorful and fun characters of the book, but not a character himself.

And that frustrated me, because Neil Gaiman is usually so good at writing characters. But when the "main character" of American Gods is more a walking plot device than a character himself, I just couldn't care about the story, the book, or him.

Also, there were some things about the mythology aspect that annoyed me. Like Kali showing up in the Hall of Gods that are No Longer Worshipped (or whatever that place was). Yeah. Not like a billion people still worship Kali and thousands of festivals aren't held in her honor every year, or anything. Also, the Easter Goddess. Oh Neil Gaiman, you should know better than that. There is no Easter Goddess, and Easter is (believe it or not) the ONLY Christian holiday that actually isn't yoinked from a pagan festival. It's a popular common misconception that Easter is actually a perverted pagan Goddess/fertility festival, but more than a few minute's worth of research will show one that such is not the case. (Or maybe a couple months rather than a few minutes. I actually wrote a fifty-page paper debunking the Easter = Goddess worship thing in college. Really, if I could find that out, then Neil Gaiman should really know better.)

Sorry for the tl;dr, but you did ask. ;)