Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

Just finished: Mister X Archives by Dean Motter and a bunch of amazing comic book artists and writers, including the Hernandez Brothers and Seth with a foreword by Warren Ellis. The art is spectacular, and the concept is really cool—an Ayn Randian architect whose buildings drive people insane returns to the Le Corbusier-inspired city he created to try to fix it. It's a mashup of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Art Deco, German Expressionism, and film noir.

This comic looks incredible. The story...eh, not so much. It takes a lot from film noir, which means very flat characters, particularly the women, and the whole thing is confusingly told. Its reach pretty much consistently exceeds its grasp.

Almost done: Guardian by priest. I'm entering the final and most problematic arc (dear God is it problematic), and I guess in a few chapters I'll be waiting for updates to the translation as they come. I'm also at the point where I really want to see an uncensored adaptation of the novel with the same actors. I bookmarked a part that I needed to share with you regarding the cat but I'll post a more detailed entry about it when I'm done.

Comments

[lapinlunaire]

Please tell me about the problematic stuff! I'm planning on reading Guardian when I can so I want to be prepared.

This comic looks incredible. The story...eh, not so much. It takes a lot from film noir, which means very flat characters, particularly the women, and the whole thing is confusingly told. Its reach pretty much consistently exceeds its grasp.

Wow, that's disappointing. :( It sounds like a great concept and it's such a shame when great concepts become the victims of avoidable flaws.

[sabotabby]

Please tell me about the problematic stuff! I'm planning on reading Guardian when I can so I want to be prepared.

There's a fair bit of problematic stuff in the show, including a rape-revenge plot early on. Then there is this:
At the beginning, Shen Wei seems to think that Zhao Yunlan is the reincarnation of his boyfriend from 10,000 years ago, the warrior Kunlun. He does not, note, tell Zhao this, which is fucked up (but it's unclear as to whether they're dating at this point). Then Zhao time travels back to the past and has to replace Kunlun For Reasons, which means that the guy that Shen Wei spent 10,000 years pining for is actually Zhao, not Kunlun. Zhao doesn't tell Shen Wei that he's from the future. Again, it's slightly less problematic in that they seem to only hang out for a short time and not have sex under dubious circumstances. Eventually they both know who the other is and at this point it would be totally non-sketchy. But at least they're both adults through all of this.

In the book, Kunlan is a god. Shen Wei meets him as a teenager and, like, imprints on him or something. There's no implication that there's anything going on between them but by this point in the novel, they've had sexytiemz in the present day. Shen Wei grows up and becomes a badass warrior, then turns Kunlun human and erases his memory of being a god. I haven't gotten to the conclusion of the arc, but presumably as reincarnation is a thing, Zhao actually is Kunlan's reincarnation, Shen Wei knows this, and doesn't tell him. Also he has a stalker room full of portraits of him. Also the first time they actually do anything (present day), Shen Wei is drunk af and has no control over his actions, which is extra special because he's a super-strong demon and Zhao is a regular-strength human.

So. Sketchiness on both sides, at least? Like part of what makes it sexy is the shifting power dynamics but I'm not sure if it's supposed to read as problematic or not.

Wow, that's disappointing. :( It sounds like a great concept and it's such a shame when great concepts become the victims of avoidable flaws.

I know it's not really fair to read something inspired by film noir and complain that the women in it all suck, but I'm going to do that anyway because I'm me.

[umadoshi]

I'm also at the point where I really want to see an uncensored adaptation of the novel with the same actors.

I would give so much for this.

(I gather if Taiwan did a version of it, it could be uncensored, at least on the relationship front, but I love the actors we have SO MUCH and somehow, all the other logistics aside, I doubt it'd be a good idea for actors from mainland China to go to Taiwan and film m/m stuff and try to go home afterwards without consequences. >.< But in my fantasy world where things are vastly less horrible than in reality...)

[sabotabby]

I honestly can't imagine anyone else in those roles now. It's funny because when I first saw them, I'm like, "okay haha they're all really hot and were cast for that" but noooo, they can act the shit out of a show that otherwise has little budget.

[umadoshi]

So much more than pretty faces! ^_^

[jiawen]

I feel almost exactly the same way about Mister X. Read it when it was originally coming out. I loved the Jaime art; the story seemed kind of deliberately obtuse. I stopped buying it soon after Jaime was no longer doing the art.

[sabotabby]

I'm glad I'm not the only one! It is extra frustrating because the aesthetic is so up my (dark, Art Deco, promising menace) alley.