Day 206

Today was I had my NHS Health Check blood test, so it was up early (or at least earlier than normal), concentrating on not eating anything or drinking anything that wasn’t plain water and then off to the hospital. Normally there is a bit of wait, but today I was seen straight away, had my blood taken and had left the hospital before my appointment time!

Then, once I figured which bust stop I needed, it was off to into town for the weekly food shop. I also wanted to pick up the new 2000AD partwork, you can’t go wrong with getting Slaine: The Horned God for £1.99, but they didn’t have it at WH Smiths or any of the smaller newsagents. I’ll have to wait till I next go into London to pick it up.

Once I got home I listened to the Bjørn Torske and Prins Thomas album, Square One, which is a dreamy, chilled out discoy affair. It’s the kinda album you can get enjoyably lost in. 

 

I also read a few comics, quick reviews:

The Dying and the Dead #5 is an odd comic, it has a lot of pages, it has a message to convey (war is hell and changes you and things aren’t black and white) and there is lots of action, but when you get to the end you kinda feel like not much has happened and that nothing has been added to the story, although that could be because we’re only half way through the story and latter issues could show pivot on this issue (also it could be that the gaps between issues mean that I’ve forgotten some story point that explains the importance of this issue).

A lot happens in Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye #10 and #11, we meet a (kinda) living jungle, we meet alternate universe versions of some of our characters (and their children), we get a potential solution to the Whisper and one-liners. While the back-ups add extra flavour to Cave Carson’s world. Jon Rivera and Michael Avon Oeming, Mark Russell, Benjamin Dewey and Brandon Bird have written a great story that balances sci-fi weirdness, emotion and sass.

In Doom Patrol #7 we take a rest from the cosmic craziness of the preceding issues, with a self-contained story about the Chief trying to make up with Cliff and Larry and make up for his past ‘mistakes’/destroying their lives in ‘accidents’ and making them into the people/heroes they are now. With an undercurrent of recreating the team as it was before they first died and found out about the Chief’s true motives. There’s still plenty of far out ideas, but they’re grounded in emotions and trying to mend friendships that have been broken. One of my favourite parts is the lost cat poster, it’s funny and touching.

In Mother Panic #9 Violet catches Remains and gets the nod of approval from Batman and in #10 she meets someone from her past who she thought was dead. Aside from the superheroics, both these issues continue the series focus on how we can be ruled by our past and what we do to overcome/beat/survive it. There is also, especially in #190, a nice undercurrent of dread, that we don’t know what some (maybe, all) the characters are thinking and that there may be sharks in the hidden depths, and that Violet is (slightly) out of her depth. This is nicely illustrated by the use of shadows and smiles.

Shade and Honey finally meet in Shade The Changing Girl #11 and we get to exploring ageing vs being young a bit more and how society reacts to our bodies. There are also little plot points dropped for future stories (maybe in nine months’ time?!?). Now that the origin story is over, Cecil Castellucci, Ande Parks, Marley Zarcone and Marguerite Sauvage are developing Shade The Changing Girl into a nice exploration of today’s Western culture and how we react to it (with the Honey backup adding extra contrast/bite).