01. I should be tidying my room and figuring out how to reattach my curtain rail to the wall, but what I'm actually doing is dithering whilst reading fic.

02. We fucking finally got some leaflets through from the parties on the European elections today. Because it's not like they're soon or anything. I was actually complaining that we hadn't gotten anything through the door at work yesterday and people were surprised that I'd actually be bothered. I know this is Britain and Britain doesn't have the best relationship with the EU, but I think the elections are important. I want to vote. We got leaflets from everyone except the SNP, which is fucking bizarre given that they're the main political party in Scotland. A bunch of parties seem to be running on domestic issues which, no. And then you have the BNP (take your British jobs for British workers and shove it up your collective holes, you racist pricks) and UKIP who can both suck my non-existent cock.

03. Meme! Reply to this post by yelling "Words". I'll pick five words that I associate with you. Post to your journal about those words and get your friends to do the same.

chaletian, gave me the following: ( 5 Words of Joy and Goodness )

DUDE!!

NORTHSTAR IS JOINING THE X-MEN AGAIN!!!

(And he maybe has a boyfriend in the panels where he decides to rejoin the team? Which might imply that Marvel aren't scared of sexualising him. But which also means that Bobby's going to have a hard time getting in his pants. Well, not that Marvel are ever going to go down that road, and I actually don't know what title Bobby's even in at the moment. Or what Jean-Paul's been up to since he was reanimated (apart from punching Anole in the face. I caught that bit.). Fuck me, I need to catch up on my comics. Tell me what I should be reading, oh lovely comic fans on my friends' list!)

I've given up on the content for the Iceman fanlisting for now because I got to Opal and could that shit be any more depressing?

I'm now reading J2 fic, drinking beer and wondering what the fuck 'Irish Fries' are. Because to me it means nothing, though if pushed I would postulate it was a fry-up, which the fic clearly indicates it is not. Maddening.

And I am still waiting to be entertained by you lot. Pfft, some use you all are ;p

I'm working on some content for the Iceman fanlisting - Iceman! YAY! And I'm booooored. Writing about Bobby's relationships is horrible. Jesus, writers, is there any point at all at which any of you cut him a break?

I have lots of things to post about (Ireland! Drinking! Supernatural! Grey's Anatomy! Project Runway: Canada! Penny/Sheldon!) but mostly I'm just staring at Iceman-related comics and trying to condense the woe into short, snappy sentences. So entertain me people. Comment spam me! Send me links to this Supernatural wank kayim and bekkis are talking about! Or something! Anything! Whee!

EDIT: Why does my Gmail Inbox suddenly lack capitalisation of the 'i'? I DO NOT APPROVE!

I recently download a shitload of comics and finally got my hands on the impossible-to-track-down Millennial Visions comics. They're basically two comics (one from 2000, and one from 2001) where various artists were asked to contribute their versions of an alternative X-Men team along with descriptions. Man, there is some hot art in there. Some really weird art too, but lots of hot art.

( Cut for those who don't care )

So, Warren Ellis is taking over Astonishing X-Men when Joss Whedon finishes up...

First of all, it boggles my mind that Whedon is still writing AXM and that his story arc still hasn't finished. Good lord, man, PACING. How many issues have actually been on time, and how many actually had something happen in them?

I will be slightly sad to see John Cassaday move on, as there's something quite magnetic about his art.

Warren Ellis. I don't know what I think about Warren Ellis. He has one of those overly jovial, in your face personalities that sets off guffaws and belly laughs. He quite often comes across as a bit of a wanker, but I think that's the point. His interview with Newsarama is crap. He won't be following any of Whedon's plot points at all? He's going to start all over and insisted on a new title? The characters are gimps who are going to have monkey sex? Reading the interview, I'm sure most of it must be designed to piss people off, and it's worked on me. What the fuck, man?

As for the appearance of X-23 on the cover. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I don't particularly like Wolverine, and I really don't like his little female clone, so do I want her to be a regular in every title? NO, I DO NOT. Grrr.

Marvel has done more and more to drive me away from reading their comics over the past few years. Ellis isn't one of those things, but there are certain points in his interview that remind me of what those things are (continuity? Pshaw!). Their scheduling is a mess, their interpretation of the House of M storyline is a disaster, they seem to enjoy gratuitously killing their own characters for shock value. In the words of Paul O'Brien:

"... this line is floundering. It needs surgery. It needs direction. And that doesn't mean doing a stupid stunt like M-Day and then letting all the writers ignore it. It doesn't mean introducing Sentinel Squad O*N*E and then doing absolutely nothing with them. It means choosing a direction and actually following it. Whatever else you say about the Initiative, at least it's a bloody direction. The X-books are heading nowhere as a collective, and most of them, from the look of it, are heading nowhere interesting as individual titles either."

I was reading through some old X-comics the other day and saw an advertisement for the upcoming Generation X series. Guess what the tagline was? "The first new X-comic for three years!" Three years. There's a new X-comic every other month now it seems, as Marvel seem to have forgotten that you should aim for QUALITY rather than QUANTITY.

It's at time like these that I really want to become a DC fangirl. They might have some of the same wanky issues, but at least I'd have the benefit of interacting with an intelligent female fandom. Where are all of the intelligent female Marvel fans? I've found lots of interesting female-orientated DC blogs (such as Neither Doormat Nor Prostitute) but I've yet to discover the Marvel equivalent. But then, Marvel would clearly prefer not to have my custom anyway, if some of their products are anything to go by *cough*Mary Jane Comiquette*cough*

To end on a less bitter note, god bless you Peter David, you are pretty much the only thing Marvel have going for them at the moment.

Does anyone have a .cbr/cbz copy of X-Men # 190?

Pretty please?

What's with people in the adoption threads at the TFL boards saying that new owners will not be allowed to use their buttons? Layouts I understand, though I tend to let people take my layout if they want it, but code buttons? Why are you so precious about those? Surely everyone who's already joined the fanlisting has posted one of those buttons somewhere on the internet?

*is confused by the randomness of people*

In reference to yesterday's 'omg, what's going on with my affiliate buttons' post, it turns out that quite a lot of my layouts look rubbish in IE, and that my affiliates refuse to show in IE. Why, I don't know. How does one do the variable centering of a layout for IE? I have it on Euripedes in a Bathtub and it works in Firefox, but not IE.

Which brings me neatly to - why are people still using IE?

Edit: It's really pissed me off that Marvel have renamed an existing character Penance because everytime I check out Newsarama there's a new (very boring) article about him and I get momentarily excited thinking it's Penance from Generation X. Fucktards.

Edit 2: Oh noes! What's happened to 365? I need it's beautifully organised timelines!

Bah! I thought This Life + 10 started at 10, but it started at 9. So I missed all but the last twenty minutes of it. Woe!

Unrelatedly, I've finally put together my pull-list for the comic shop and, well, it's just a bit sad.

• Astonishing X-Men (which I'm not very interested in really, but which I keep buying because, god damnit, I want to see a storyline fucking resolved)
  
• X-Factor
  
• Fallen Angel
  
• Kabuki: The Alchemy (published so sporadically that it's impossible to tell if it's even still going)
  
• Runaways (but Joss Whedon is taking over next month which I just don't want to happen. Do I drop it though or do I plug along for a few issues and then make my mind up?)
  
• X-Men: First Class (which is a limited series anyway, and which I'm really only buying because it's cute and I have the first few issues)
  
• The Eternals (because, even though it still doesn't make sense to me, I want to buy the whole run)
  
• Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook (one-shot)
  
• X-Men Annual # 1 (one-shot)

So, when you cut out all the things that are one-offs, or about to end, I'm basically getting Astonishing, X-Factor and Fallen Angel. Which is tragic.

What is everyone else reading these days? What do you actually go out of your way to get? I miss the days of having way too many titles on order!

Okay, who wants a Christmas card? I've been completely spaced out for the past few weeks and I'm not sure which addresses I have and which I don't. If you want a luverly Christmas card sent all the way from sunny, sunny York, then leave a comment with your name and address. Comments are screened, 'natch.

Aaaaaaand, even though I'm sure I got most of them, if you have a Christmas wish list could you link me to that too? I'm sending out all my pressies on Thursday or Friday, so I need to be sure that I haven't missed anyone.

*goes back to lying on her bed wondering if she's getting the flu*

EDIT: marimac, I completely forgot to mention this but my Mum brought your package over with her and, of course, I opened it because Christmas is just too far away. Thank you so much! I loved it, even though I'm just a tad confused as to what the hell is going on. Although I think that's the whole point of the plot? I'm going to have to get more ^_^

O.O

Okay, so I'm behind on X-Factor, but ehm...

"and I very much suspect that Monet would never have indulged Jamie's request if they weren't sleeping together.” - Peter David.

What? Bzuh? Who? Seriously?

Eh, I just read that Joss Whedon is taking over from Brian K. Vaughan as the writer on Runaways...

Say it ain't so!

Please?

OMG, the horror! THE HORROR!

I have a big 'Why I (mostly) Hate Joss Whedon' speech, but I'm going to contain myself to 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

I'm attempting to transfer my site over to my new hosting and it's just not going that well. Which is exactly how I expected things would go :/ Enthusiast is not my friend. I think part of the problem might be related to my root path. Of course, I could just be an idiot. Who can tell?

I did some overtime yesterday which meant I was at work until 10am. Since the next bus home wasn't until after 1pm I decided to pick up my comics from the evilness that proports to be a comic shop, and do some secondhand bookshop trawling. The comic shop was as bad as I had expected. He had most of my stuff in, but he hadn't bothered putting them aside. Obviously, that would have made just a bit too much sense. Plus, they were all priced completely differently despite all being $2.99. They ranged between €3.50 and €5.00 which really is quite a difference. On the plus side, I've now got the past several months worth of X-Factor and Runaways goodness, as well as the latest Astonishing X-Men and the new Neil Gaiman versions of The Eternals.

I'm liking The Eternals, but I think it's mainly because John Romita Jr. draws the cutest noses ever. Seriously. Take a look. They're adorable. The plot really doesn't make much sense, despite Gaiman's general wonderfulness, but the noses more than make up for that ;)

As for Astonishing X-Men... Joss Whedon is, well, he just is. I can never, ever fault his dialogue. It's much more realistic than a lot of what's said in superhero comics. I also can't fault the artwork and colouring which are of a consistently high standard. What I can fault is his storylines. They're recycled, lazy and BORING. He really better have a decent Emma Frost plot-twist or I shan't be amused. Oh no, I shan't be amused at all.

The comic shop is actually part of a secondhand bookshop and the bookshop guy told me that if I spent as much money on books as on comics he'd probably give me some furniture for free. Hee! Bookwise, I stocked up on a couple more Babysitters Club books (# 16, 30, 31, 49 and Specials 1 & 5), a super-cheap Manga that sounds like Dr. Doolittle but with a little girl, a Point Horror book (because you cannot beat the genius that is Point Horror) aaaaaaaaaand two LJS books - huzzah!

I'm keeping the copy of Black Dawn but I now have a very pretty, very spare copy of the UK version of the first Forbidden Game book. Any takers?

I suppose I should go fight with Enth again...

So, my internet died again *grumble* It was working fine when I went to sleep on Friday morning, but when I got up for work that evening - poof - it was dead. I spoke to the tech support people twice and they finally decided that they'd need to send someone out to look at it, but that they wouldn't be able to get anyone out over the weekend. I spent the weekend feeling like something just wasn't right with the world because I had no internet. How tragic!

I used the time to catch up on some comic reading and movie viewing. I finally read House of M and... I actually quite liked it *hangs head in shame* Turns out that it was a really interesting concept after all. Of course, the fall-out has been absolutely rubbish, as were many of the titles during House of M, but it's a miracle that Marvel's main effort didn't suck balls. I also caught up on New X-Men: Academy X. Over-the-top and generally awful, is how I'd describe the last few issues. I mean, they literally killed off half of the remaining students, even though most of the students had already been kicked out for losing their powers O.o That's just beyond ridiculous. I couldn't even bring myself to read the Stryker bits, but I was pleased to find a teeny, tiny Husk cameo.

Movie-wise I watched The Prince and I which was really disappointing. I knew it was hardly going to be high art, but still. It starts off well, and the middle is quite good, it's just the last third that lets the whole thing down. Paige would never have agreed to marry him in the first place, IMO and from then on she was just horrible OOC. I also watched the fantastic Dracula 2000 *LMAO* Poor Johnny Lee Miller! I honestly really like the guy, but he has no luck with movies. As for the Dracula=Judas thing. Genius. Sheer genius.

Those wonderful activities took up my Saturday and since I went in for overtime last night, I slept Sunday away. It was a pretty short weekend because of that *le sigh* Still, I finish on Thursday this week and don't have to go back until midnight on Tuesday, so I really shouldn't complain. Plus, I got a pile of stuff in the post today which cheered me up. A bunch of German LJS books came, meaning that I now only need one to complete my German collection - huzzah! I'm not sure when I'll have time to update The LJS Cover Resource, but hopefully it'll be soon. I also received the X-Men: Ronin series which I ordered and paid for in December and which was only posted two weeks ago. It seems to be missing an issue too *rolls eyes*

And that is it, I do believe. veraxia, I'll get that copy of the German TVD book in the post to you soon! I haven't commented on anyone's entries, or answered comments left for me. Be patient - I'll get there eventually ;)

Honestly. I know Marvel is an organisation comprised of absolute fucktards. I know that reading about upcoming Marvel projects will just make me angry. And yet here I am, reading what Marvel are planning for the next few months. Shit basically, they're planning shit.

Talking about New X-Men, Craig Kyle said, “What we’re trying to do is really sink the kids into the X-Universe…it’s time to grow up, they can’t stay in the safety of the house any longer…we’re going to make them X-Men.” *beats head against wall* How absolutely, stunningly orginal of you Mr. Kyle. Why on earth has no one ever thought of that before?!

Asked about Chamber’s status, Marvel said it’s not going to be dealt with very soon, but that they’re certain they’re going to revisit Chamber at some point. Which is clearly code for 'Yeah, we thought the depowering storyline would be all dramatic like, but now he holds no interest for us and we are happy to leave him in a hospital, near dead and think about him no more.'

In general, Wolverine: Origins just sounds awful. As does the whole Storm/T'challa thing they've got going on. Very dull. I'm going to say nothing about Astonishing X-Men's Wolverine/Emma cover beyond 'Do I look fucking stupid to you, Marvel?'

Quesada said there is, “No chance to get their powers back again,” asked about mutants depowered in House of M. Quesada reiterated earlier explanations as to why the depowering happened. Again, 'Do I look fucking stupid to you, Marvel?' We all know how reliable Joe bloody Quesada is.

"Asked about the creative team dynamic [on Astonishing X-Men, Marts said that he's found it refreshing in that all the team are professional and on-time with their work, noting that Cassaday has hit all his deadlines to date."

...

On-time? Funny that. I seem to remember Astonishing being solicited as an ongoing monthly title.

Strictly speaking, some of these are a bit late as they're of a seasonal nature, but such is life :p Most of these are contest entries for xmen_stillness because making icons when there's no prize is boring ;D

[3] Husk
[1] Wolverine
[2] Beast
[1] Chamber
[1] Bishop
[2] Icarus

( I wish there was a decent comic shop here *sob* )

Thanks to the cosmic joke that is the comic shop here, I'm missing quite a few issues of the latest 'season' of Runaways. I always planned on filling the gaps, so I never bothered keeping up with what had happened in issues that I didn't have. Until I was surfing over at the_hostel...

Seriously, what the fuck? Chamber wasn't actually Chamber? What? He was actually Alex? What?!

Someone fill me in please!

(Generation X characters really do seem to be under some kind of curse)

I was skimming through Peter David' blog when I came across this column he wrote about Northstar being outted. Reading through it, it's really quite sad to note Marvel's reaction to the event at the time. Essentially, they tried to pretend that it hadn't happened and shuffled the creative team around so that there would be little or no mention of Northstar's sexual orientation again. It's particularly disheartening when you think about the attitude of Marvel now.

You just have to look at the Gay League's list of gay/bi/uncertain comic characters to see how many non-straight characters exist in the Marvel universe right now. Of course, it's not hard to notice that most of the listed characters are minor characters who hardly ever appear. Or that most of these characters are never actually seen dating/kissing/lying in bed with another gay character. Look at Karma - rumoured to be gay for years, finally outted in Mekanix, never, ever seen with a girlfriend. As with Northstar, she showed an interest in a steadfastly 'unavailable' character (Shadowcat in her case, Iceman in Northstar's). The only exception to this is Karolina Dean whose sexual orientation has been clear from the very early days of the character, and who actually attempted to kiss someone of the same sex. The downside here is that all of this happened in Runaways, which doesn't exactly have a huge readership.

So really, while Marvel may be more 'open' to gay characters, they still tend to marginalise them or have them form a crush on someone unavailable to make them 'safe.' But on the other hand, as pointed out in Paul O'Brien's review of UXM #414, when Marvel do move a gay character to the forefront of a storyline, there's nothing natural about it. The storyline moves away from being about the character, and becomes about the character's sexual orientation. This never happens with straight characters (unless they're being pursued by a gay character). Can you imagine Cyclops strutting around the mansion, making sure that everyone knows he's straight?

All of that said, as important/ground-breaking (and as Peter David points out, DC already had some openly gay characters) as Northstar's coming out may have been, it was truly awful. I don't know what Scott Lobdell was thinking, but... my god.

( Scans of Northstar's coming out scenes )

And, let's not forget that the momentous adopting a child/child dying/announcing gayness to the world incident wasn't even mentioned in the next issue.

On a different topic almost entirely - say hello to Jamie Madrox aka Mr Sexy, as depicted in Weapon X: DoFN 4

Peter David is god.

So go join his FANLISTING.

Immediately.