003: Shadow and Bone
a little bit looser this time around while i work on a few big projects.
I’ve been trying to get a newsletter out for a couple of weeks now and, mostly because I am currently dividing my time between three projects, I’ve found I have little time to get the two reviews I originally wanted to write out in a reasonable time.
So instead, here are some very loosely organized thoughts in no particular order, with very little actual organization. Less like actual criticism, and more like thoughts that have been bouncing around my head lately.
Archie Renaux and Jessie Mei Li in Shadow and Bone | NETFLIX
Shadow and Bone season two premiered on Netflix on March 16th and it feels like Netflix’s habit of cancelling shows left and right is catching up with it. The season is, quite simply, overstuffed, adapting elements of no less than six books at once and rushing to wrap up the rest of Alina’s story in a single season, as opposed to taking a one-book-per-season approach like they did with the first season.
Honestly, It would feel far less overwhelming if the Ketterdam storyline had been cut out and made into its own show, something which there now seems to be discussion of doing. I’ll be honest, I was a bit sad that I didn’t enjoy the Ketterdam parts of the show more, I loved Six of Crows when I read it, it was the book that got me into the Grishaverse in the first place.
Overall, I did enjoy the new season. I think the writers are doing a good job adapting the story and honestly, they’ve made me actually like Alina, something that didn’t happen beyond an ambivalence when I was reading the books. If you’re still waiting to check the season out, I’ll give it my stamp of approval, for whatever that’s worth.
I read Madness; or, the Modern Dionysus by Helen Robinson, Mark O. Stack, Rae Epstein, and Jodie Troutman the night I wrote this and if I’m being completely honest, it’s the biggest reason I ended up this newsletter out when I did. It’s very good, you should read it.
Madness is the kind of good that makes me a little shaky and gives me that twinge in my chest that I’ve come to associate with the things that end up living inside of me for months at a time. It’s a feeling that comes with a tingling in my fingers and an all-encompassing feeling of importance, of connection with the piece in what I can best describe as my soul.
I find it difficult to talk about the things that hit me like that, the books or movies or comics that become one with my entire being, that sing inside of my body and refuse to loosen their hold on me, sending shocks down my spine and tears to my eyes. It’s a good feeling, one that I welcome with open arms, one that I hold on to as long as I can when I grab hold of it.
I can’t guarantee that you’ll get that same feeling from reading Madness, but I can promise that you’ll have read a very good comic if you do, and isn’t that what the entire point of reading comics is supposed to be, to read good things?
Odds and Ends:
Gotham Knights, the highly anticipated (by me) CW Batman show without Batman that I said, and I quote “could very well cure my depression” premiered last month and it was honestly alright. In the sense that that’s all it was. Honestly, I set myself up for failure by expecting something that would capture even a hint of the insanity of Riverdale or have a touch of the style of Gotham. Gotham Knights is neither of those things! Instead, It’s a very bland show featuring a very bland protagonist and a premise that’s been done before.
Speaking of Riverdale, the final season premiered! It’s still insane and I love it. Is it good? Not exactly but that doesn’t matter, it still delights me.
I read The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill a while back and am finally able to talk about it. It’s brilliant and one you shouldn’t miss. If you check out anything I’ve mentioned here consider making it this, you won’t regret it.
I keep going back to this article about Marilyn Monroe by Rachel Bolton (who wrote a similarly brilliant article about Mary Jo Kopechne that I also return to every so often), you should give it a read.
Meanwhile…
I mentioned three projects I’m currently working on at the top of the newsletter. I won’t go into detail on one of them because I don’t want to jinx it and make it never happen but the other two are closer to completion (or at least the drafts are) so I feel more comfortable sharing a bit about them, even if it’s just the subjects.
If you’ve seen any of my tweets semi-recently you’ve probably seen that I’m reading an awful lot of Harley Quinn right now and I don’t seem to be enjoying it. That’s me researching for, what else, a piece about Harley Quinn. It’s one I’ve been working on for a while (I pitched it back in August and then got very very busy) and I’m excited that I’m finally making progress on it. I hope you get to see it soon.
The other piece is about dead girlfriends in comics. I’ve been very fascinated by the way death has shaped comics lately and I’ve got a couple of different projects related to the subject on various burners. I’m not going to give very many other details about it but I’m very excited about it and I can’t wait until you eventually get to read it.