The king heck heroica by rick veitch

Issue 1 of 4 of part 3 just came out

A comic series which combines the history of comics, Nietzschean philosophy, mysticism, and conspiracy. Maximortal is in particular really good and about the creation of superman and DC's exploitation of Siegel and Shuster. A shame most people just hear the premise of Brat Pack and assume its just edgelord stuff like the boys when its more about how comic companies exploit their creators, readers, and ips for profit rather then being anti super hero.

But for all of the eye-popping CGI, modern superheroes are pretty one-dimensional and dull. They're mostly concerned with survival in an escalating conflict. The plot provides them with a menace. They have mommy/daddy issues. They fight and wisecrack. They win and return home the same as they were (except when one of them needs to die for a while as a marketing stunt). Corporate supes are denied the best part of classical heroic storytelling, which is the treasure that will transform their lives. The Knights of the Round Table were out to find the Holy Grail, which would guide them to a higher level of purity and completion. Modern superheroes don't have a clue about that. If there's ever a Holy Grail in one of today's superhero movies, it will be written into the story as a fiendish weapon in the hands of a super-powered lunatic.

So, I'm motivated to explore this transcendent ideal that properly belongs to superheroes. I've been doing it since the beginning of my career in stories like The One and Abraxas and the Earthman. And the theme is definitely at the core of the Heroica.

!comicshitters

I finished Infinite Jest and Gangs of New York

Infinite Jest is shockingly readable given it's reputation, aide from its length and vocabulary. It's depiction of the slopification of America was apt in the 90s and prescient now. 10/10, enjoyed the addiction themes.

Gangs of New York is actually terrible, barely readable, and only known now because of the movie. Not worth reading unless you are a hyper neurodivergent about late 19th century New York, or a truecrime garbage enjoyer.

Currently reading the Devil's Chessboard by David Talbot and Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

Devil's Chessboard is about the birth of the CIA and why they're evil. I went in expecting to have my beliefs reinforced and they have been. Writer tends to have a pretty lefty bias, so if that irks you I'd avoid it.

Butcher's Crossing is (so far) an enjoyable western, protag is a volcel though.

what are you reading

Building the Canadian Pacific Railway.

In the late 19th century, demand for fur was in sharp decline. This could have spelled economic disaster for the existing companies. But an idea emerged in political and business circles in Ottawa and Montreal to connect the disparate British colonies into a single entity that would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. With over 3,000 kilometers of track, much of it driven through wildly inhospitable terrain, the CPR would be the longest railway in the world and the most difficult to build.

!commenters

I just started Trying Leviathan, which is about a trial to reclassify Whales as not being treated legally like fish.

It's more specifically on the how the West's relationship to nature has changed over time.

Interesting so far

So read the sequels of smut from last time.

They've largely remained the same, withe foid book being the bigger (barely) despite being shorter again.

The moid smut picks up were the last book left off, with our protagonist eventually getting a new girl into his harem. She's friends with the first girl and is operating on pre-apocalypse information on our protagonist, so she hates him at first. Despite this being moid smut, the book spends a significant amount of time focused on an eldary couple, the wife of whom isn't aware there's a kung fu zombie apocalypse, it was actually pretty touching. The husband joins the group after his wife is killed by raiders. He stands watch outside their RV while the protagonist has a threeway with the two girls. It's pretty gross because the new girl likes anal and these people haven't showered in over a week and they did butt to mouth . A major antagonist is introduced in this book too, as well as a method of piwering up without having s*x, which was cool but also kinda disappointing, the first book introduced another male character with powers, who was implied to be gay, his group consisted of a twink and a fat muslim girl. He was weaker than the protagonist, indicating he hadn't had s*x with either of them. Now we have a male protagonist implied to be significantly stronger than the protagonist and after his powers ao he can level up further. I was rooting for a bussy warrior arc, but alas the antagonist had a non-gay way of stealing protagonist's powers , which the protagonist also learned. Book ends with protagonist finally finding his ex-wife and son, which was his primary goal despite fricking two strange women regularly along the way, so gain props to him not being a complete

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No good papers recently why are STEMcels so USELESS

Rehearsing all the lies I put on my resume and then some technical documents.

Listening "Supernova In The East" series of Hardcore History Podcast. I'm back on Part 3. If Douglas MacArthur was born today he would run this site.

Jumper, and associated sequels

They're crap. Don't recommend. Movie is absolutely atrocious and sequels take the book from a 6 to a 3.

Im reading the Dominions 6 manual. I'm going to get my friends to play :)

I started Bukowski - Notes of a Dirty Old Man. First collection of his columns or anecdotes. Life of a beaten down cynic in the 50s/60s. It's raw, booze, violence. Describes the experiences of being low class and largely unaccepted while being pretty observant to then current realities to a shocking degree. He knocks out a guy with his typewriter in his second column. I love it.

>be me

>show up to book club I hate

>bring up Houllebecq's novel about muslims taking over France

>sperg out (many such cases)

>foids tell me to stop

>men start arguments

>we decide he's a hack and I'm a regard

>20 year old fat zoomer nerd brings up meditations

>I leave

Every year my corporate feminist power-sister buys me a book about a "warrior queen", because we both like fantasy. This year it's "Hild", by Nicola Griffith. I'm not far enough in to judge it yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hild_(novel)

Halfway through Bouvard and Pecuchet. So far it's pure

I'm reading a series in which China took over the world and built a megacity spanning the entire planet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Kuo_(novel_series)

I'm reading "Casino: The Rise and Fall of the Mob in Las Vegas" the book that "Casino" with Joe Pesci was based on. Also the same writer wrote about Henry Hill in a book that became "Goodfellas" which also starred Joe Pesci. It turns out that the reality was even more violent than the movie portrayed it. For example, after torturing a guy for 2 days they put his head in a vice and turned it until one eye popped out and he gave up a name. In the movie they just give up at that point. In reality the Joe Pesci character put lighter fluid on his face and set him ablaze until he died.

I've come around to reading Jung's Red Book again. I come back to it every so often mostly for the imagery and introspection, even though I think Jung as an author is an unreliable interpreter of his dreams and he may fluff up some aspects. I have the version with a bunch of footnotes that help to keep track of the various references to folklore, myth, and esoterica that Jung likes to mention and the illustrations he's made to accompany them. It's not academic, more just introspection into the mind of a curious, sometimes delusional old man who has his faults as much as his endearing, almost childlike moments of whimsy. Get past his history of unethical medical practices, shitty personal history, and some snake oil salesmanship and you can see why he's a compelling thinker.

Began reading the Red and the Black by Stendhal. Interesting so far but it's always a small shock to go back to 19th century or older novels after reading modern stuff.

so much

I started The Vertigo Years by Philipp Blom, which is about Europe from 1900 to 1914. It's been alright so far; I was expecting a book focusing more on politics while it's been a bit of a heavier focus on culture, like philosophy and art.

Finished Disappearance at Devil's Rock and Suffer the Children. Both very good, pretty bleak, but that's my jam.