The Ballad of Halo Jones

About four years ago I bought the Complete Ballad of Halo Jones. Back then I was starving for some trippy, sci-fi action with a leading lady, and this book totally fit the bill. I started reading it, and I really liked it so much that I didn't want it to end; I didn't want to finish it because then it would be over, and I would have nothing left to satiate my desire for sexy-sci-fi. So, halfway through, I put the book on the shelf and intended to read it slowly and enjoy. Well, I never touched it since, until last week, I decided to give it a retry. Starting from the beginning I soon realized that the curious and compelling fascination with the genre had sort of been dispelled over the past four years, and I was no longer attracted to the book for that reason. Lesson learned.

Fortunately The Ballad of Halo Jones, has redeeming qualities far beyond my expectations from those years past, and after I reached the point where my previous bookmark lay, I was found myself enjoying it in a different way.

Halo is written by Alan Moore, who would go on to write V for Vendetta, and of course The Watchmen, a series that is widely regarded as one of the best works ever created in the sequential art medium. HAHA! I use that term in jest, what's wrong with just Comics? I guess maybe they're not all comical... Anyway, in the introduction to this comprehensive edition Moore states, "I didn't want to turn Halo into an action character and thereby deprive the strip of what I thought was its best feature... namely, the sheer ordinariness of its main character." It may seem like a genre convention now: 'ordinary person thrust under extraordinary circumstances' but I've never seen it work better than it does here (in 1984)

The series is connected via three 'books,' each serves to advance the character emotionally in a different way. Book one starts out with Halo leading a mundane life in 'the hoop' which is a floating city off the shores of North America where the lower classes are confined. Halo wishes for something more, but is never quite sure what she wants or how to achieve it. Salvation comes, eventually, in the form of the Clara Pandy, an enormous spaceship/cruise liner. Halo is employed as a hostess, and manages to leave her volatile home behind.

Book two shows Halo's life on the ship, and how she comes to terms with the reality of life as she envisioned it, and the reality of how it actually pans out. A series of traumatic events happen to Halo, and she becomes completely disillusioned with the possibility of hope and happiness.

In Book three, Halo has abandoned the Hostess job, and becomes a drifter of sorts, from planet to planet. We find her in a bar on planet Pwuc. "Under gunmetal skies the planet waited morosely for death. It was not a world that people went to. It was a world where people ended up. In 4960, Halo Jones ended up in Pwuc." Debunked, Halo seems to have fallen into a worse routine than when she lived in the Hoop, only now she has even less aspiration and naivety. She joins the galactic Women's Army, and fights for Earth in the far reaches of space. Book three becomes a war story, and Halo is promoted to a higher rank after a short period of time.

The Ballad of Halo Jones does not have a happy ending. The reader is left unsure how Halo will choose to approach the next stage in her life, and exactly what she has learned from the experience. We are convinced though, that she is capable and independent. I suppose that's the, sort-of, moral to the story; to show how a person can and will undergo many extreme changes in their life, and surely the strong can adapt.

Y The Last Man: Kimono Dragons

Y is one of those comics that I have to read in bulk, or else I get confused and lose interest.  I read the first 5 tpbs in one sitting about a year ago, and started subscribing to the monthly.  After which, one serving per month was not satisfying my Y urge, so I just quit reading them and let the issues pile up in my box..... until today!  I started with the begginning of the Komono Dragons storyline, which was issue 42... 44 something like that.  Yorick and company, which now includes Agent 355, Dr. Alison Mann, and Rose.  Yorick's monkey, Ampersand has been monkeynapped by the ninja, Toyota, and Yorick is on his trail (along with 355) thanks to the tracking device they have.  Ampersand has been brought to Japan by Toyota, but he escapes and jumps out a window. He ends up in the possession of a Canadian pop-star who had somehow been appointed as the head of the Yakuza, due to the fact that she was touring in Japan at the time, and happens to be extremely rich.  Anyway, Yorick and 355 figure this out, and head up to the top floor of some building to rescue Amp, which they do. And the pop star dies. Maybe she doesn't, I don't remember.  Meanwhile Alison and Rose head to Alison's mother's house/lab to find it has been burned to the ground.  Fast forward a couple of plot moving events that I don't feel like relaying, and we learn that Dr. Mann's father is alive, and is in fact the cause of the plague.  We learn that he was competing with his daughter to bring the first cloned human baby to term, and he sabatoged the efforts of his daughter to do the same thing.  Oh by the way, the entire Mann family are brilliant bio-geneticist-sergeons.  So: these events are shocking for 3 reasons, number one, Yorick was supposedly the only male who survived the plague, besides Ampersand.  Number two, Alison's father admits he is the cause of the plague which killed every male creature on earth.  Number three, it is revealed that males, and the Y chromosome in general, had only one evolutionary purpose, which is to perpetuate the species.  And the sex is, in his words, a necessary evil.  Actually, WAS, because now, since the first human was cloned, humans have gained the power of asexual reproduction. Ergo, the males of the species are no longer relevant to human survival, and mother nature has wiped them clean from the face of the earth.  Althought this raises the question, why did ALL the males have to die, and not just Human males?  But I'm not thinking very hard and I'm sure Brian K. Vaughn will have the answer, he is a dgenius after all.

Oh also, Mann's father has captured everyone and plans to kill Yorick and himself, because he truly believes males are obsolete.

More Dragon Lance: The Second Generation

Yes, I finished Test of the Twins; very quickly in fact. But not quick enough that I don't have a few more yet to read. I am now working on The Second Generation. At first I was skeptical, I couldn't get into the characters, especially after the traumatizing events of Test. I have to keep in mind that this was written barely less than 10 years later. The writing style is rather different. The Second Generation is 5 short stories. The first one I read, The Legacy, is about Caramon's son, Palin, and his Test at the Tower of High Sorcery. The mages in Wayreth basically tricked Caramon into letting his son take the test, because everyone knew he would never let him. So Palin's test consisted of meeting with his Uncle, Raistlin the Archmage, and considering whether or not to free him from the Abyss, where he is tortured and eaten every day for eternity by the Dark Queen. Palin thought about it, almost did, but realized it was a bad idea because he could end up letting the Dark Queen into the real world by accident, and then he would be the cause of the end of the world. So Palin sent his uncle packing back to the Abyss realm where he would continue to live out his tasty fate. Palin also gets his uncle's staff. The staff of Magius. SHIRAK!

Gen X Sucking

Why. Why did Chris change up his style? Why did Lobdell leave? Why is Joe Q such a turd? Ok, I guess Joe Q had nothing to do with the failure of Gen X back in the late 90's but I still like to blame things on him.

All was well up until about issue 25; not about, exactly issue 25 in fact. On this 25th anniversary issue the hints to Bachelo's change in style are vague and few. I didn't even notice it until I went back to look at it after reading subsequent issues. I've never seen such a immediate and stark change in artistic style, especially in someone whom I've held in such high ranks of comic book artdom. Issue 26 features a guest artist, then 27 features the new, un-improved Bachelo. It seems decent at first, the wacky Bachelo-isms, the disregard for realism, things I love about him. With Bachelo it never seemed forced. It never seemed like he was purposely trying to abstract things and fill the page with the surreal; it just came natural. Natural abstraction, if there is such a thing. But here I see the work of someone who doesn't care anymore, like he has a quota to fill.

I would like to know more about the politics of business surrounding and affecting the creators during this time period. In my, albeit uneducated, mind I feel like this was a tumultuous time for Marvel studios: the late 90's. Things were falling apart internally, I think they went bankrupt at some point around here... let me confirm that. Wikipedia says so-- it must be true. Though it doesn't tell me the date, it says "they escaped from bankruptcy" in 2000. So anyway, I'm guessing this had an effect on everyone involved in the business, and in our immediate concern, Bachelo and Lobdell.

So Lobdell leaves in issue 28, and Bachello is not far behind. So here I am stuck on issue 33 with 3 more issues to read in my collection of the series, and I'm not sure I can do it. Its not that the issues are exceptionally bad, but comparatively, its just not the same. But I will do it. I promise. For you.

War of the Twins in Two Paragraphs

It occurs to me that I haven't posted on War of the Twins since I finished the other book. Well here's a brief rundown on whats going on. After the Cataclysm, Caramon, Chrysania and Raistlin/Fistandantilus were transported by Raist's spell to 100 years later. Still 200+ years before their own time. Tas, feared dead by many, including me, was taken to the abyss by Takhisis unintentionally, along with the cornerstone of the tower of Istar, which would later be supplanted in Neraka in a perverted form.

Raist realizes that the portal through which he hope he could cross into the realm of the Gods, and kill the Dark Queen Takhisis, is not there; there where it would be some 200 years later. Caramon, Chrysiana, and Raistlin travel from the Tower of Palanthas south along the lands of Solamnia in search of the portal at its new location. This new location being below some place owned by dwarves. Through some events I wont bother with, Caramon and Raist take command of an army of thousands. This army marches towards the Dwarves to do battle, but Raistlin's true purpose is to reach the portal. Yadda yadda yadda, Raistlin gets stabbed... AND NOW I HAVE TO GO READ THAT PART.

Generation X Bachelo is Back!

About three months after the Age of Apocalypse, Bachelo took a break from Gen X, and went to do a DC book I believe, can't remember the title. Tom Grummet, among others, took over pencils for the time being. But now, issue #17, Bachelo marks his triumphant return. Although Scott Lobdell is a great writer, one of the 90's best, he and Bachelo define the book as a team. Without Chris, Scott Lobdell was able to keep my attention-- not only that but accelerate the story impressively, but still, without the promise of a return from Chris, I may not have been able to hang on.

I am now on issue #19. In recent issues, the White Queen has taken the students to an old estate up in Canada. In September of '96, when this issue was published, Marvel was in the final stages of rising action for the company-wide Onslaught crossover. Emma was influenced vaguely by Onslaught, and brought the students here to keep them safe from him. She is stricken with guilt from the death of her previous students, the Hellions, back in Uncanny X-Men #281. So here she has them under loose mental control, keeping the students sedated. Toad lurks around the estate as well, plotting something evil of course. Why he happens to be there, I don't know yet.

Anyway, Bachelo's art is filled with a multitude of psychedelic detail, mixed with sharp lines that capture the character's expressions in unique way. There are ambiguous references, a copy Julius Caesar is barely noticeable piled under rolling hills of folderol. Numerous frogs, and amphibious types of creatures (which has always been a kind of tenebrous theme of his art in this book), act as spies for Toad. Thus they transcend from sort of a surrealistic fourth wall breach to characters with an active role within the story. This invitation to the reader to enter the realm of fantasy created by Lobdell and Bachelo is precisely why the title is so enduring; 10 years later and I still connect with it the same way I did when I was a teenager. Actually better.

Cowboy Bebop: Jamming with Edward

This is my favorite episode of Bebop. One of them anyway, I like Edward, even though this androgynous weirdo is the kind of anime character that I hate in other anime. Anime for example like FLCL; I can't really get into that. Its not really the over-the-top cartoonyness, its more because of those kind of standard anime conventions, jokes, and attitudes; too fast editing, then skipping over parts of the story that you might not need explained to you if you were raised within that culture, or watch enough of it to understand.

Ed seems like a character that might be out of FLCL, but I still like her. Jamming with Edward is the episode in which the crew of the Bebop finds Ed. Actually Ed finds them, apparently she has been tracking their exploits, and finds them sufficiently capable of maintaining her interests despite a severe case of ADD.

I haven't been watching the episodes in complete order because I've seen some of them so many times, and others none at all. I'm just going through the ones I've seen only once or twice, and haven't even gotten to the ones (later in the series, up to the end) that I've never seen.

Oh, plus, the music is great. They released like a five disc boxed set of the soundtrack that I once downloaded. It's full of winners, and a few unmentionables. Its a great soundtrack to sitting around doing nothing, or maybe reading comics. I'm hungry. Breakfast.

Age of Apocalypse review part III

Astonishing X-Men told the tail of X-Men co-leader Rogue, who went to the Midwest to stop the culling of hundreds of thousands of humans, by the hands of Holocaust, Apocalypse' son. Holocaust is cursed to live within life support body armor, which also serves as battle armor. Nemesis, as he used to be called, when he was human, discovered Magneto's secret base on Windegoo mountains, or something like that, and slaughtered all the remaining students, while Magneto, and his (at that time) fledling X-Men were on a mission, again, saving humans somewhere. So it also happened that Nemesis killed the scarlet witch, Magneto's daughter. Mags was pissed. He destroyed Nemesis, but did not kill him. Somehow Nemesis was given the life support body armor that he now wears as Holocaust. When Scarlet Witch died, Rogue was by her side; this gives partial credence, to me, for her 'present day' family with Magneto, but it is also sillily disturbing.

Right off the bat in Issue One Magneto makes reference to the whole Bishop thing. That, I will explain later, keep it in your mind though. Oh, and Joe Madureira (has his last name conspicuously absent from the title page so I can't tell if I spelled it right) draws this absolutely seminal rendition of Apocalypse sitting at his throne upon a monument comprised entirely of stories and stories of human bones. One of my favorite comic images of all time. The rest of Issue One further elaborates on Magneto's choices to dispatch his mutant army in various locations (i.e. each other spinoff title) and why he is sending his A Game team of mutants on a practically suicidal mission to free a legion of constrained and tortured humans.

So then we move on to Sabretooth and Blink, which is oddly reminiscent of the relationship between Wolverine and Jubilee. 'tooth needs Blink to transport him to where Holocaust is, and everyone knows it will probably lead to Sabretooth's imminent death, but he goes anyway. He goads Holocaust into revealing the hidden location of the Infinite processing plant (the plant where live humans are genetically altered and composited to be Apocalypse' super-soldier-mutant pawns), hearing this, Sabretooth lets Wildchild, his weirdo, semi-homoerotic, partner loose from his chain, to go relay the info to the rest of the X-Men, 'Tooth and Holo fight. Holo kills 'tooth, Not.

Issue Three, the rest of the team infiltrates the Infinite processing plant compound, and Holocaust kills Sabretooth again. Not.

Issue Four, Blink kills Sabretooth....not, the X-Men free all the humans. Here though, we also learn that Apocalypse has captured Magneto, and he and Rogue's son, take a guess, Charles.

This is the cool part of reading it this particular way. Though my review of the last two issues makes it seem trite, we have now learned the format of each AoA series. You must remember, though I never stated, there were One-Shot issues that bookend all the events of each spinoff issue, and the bookends spawn each issue's specific direction and lay the foundations to tie each issues cliffhanger together. Take a deep breath. Reconvene at a later date.

Age of Apocalypse review part II

Astonishing X-Men (Uncanny X-Men)
Generation Next (Generation X)
X-Calibre (Excalibur)
X-Man
Factor X (X-Factor)
Gambit and the X-Ternals (X-Force)
Amazing X-Men (X-Men)
Weapon X (Wolverine)

These are the 8 titles that make up the important meat and potat'as of the AoA universe; in parenthesis are the derivative titles from the normal Marvel universe (616? I don't know, who cares). Anyway, I'll do a little case by case evaluation on each one.

The reason I selected them in this order, as somewhat explained a little earlier, is because the fourth and final issue of each series, ends in that same order chronologically (according to one particular AoA chronology I've found). My goal was to create a sense of time-progression of the storyline, as well as maintaining the coherence of each individual series, as it's creators may have intended (or better to say as I would have intended for them). This method is opposed to reading each individual issue of the entire crossover in its retroactively researched and discovered Chron. order. For instance, here.

My attention span has grown short an weary, so once again I will continue this post later. That's ok, it makes for more posts, which makes me feel like I'm actually sticking to my goal of posting regularly.

Age of Apocalypse review part I

Reading the series in its whole once again cements in my mind that which was already cemented seven feet thick to begin with, the Age of Apocalypse epic is the single greatest work of writing, nay all of art & entertainment, ever to come out of humankind. The story is so huge, yet broken down into perfect increments that allow you to absorb what's happening up to, and no more than, exactly the point of saturation. Here's a sort of breakdown, feel free to skip if you are as cool as me and already know. There are several different branches of the storyline (eight I think
) that are all part of the same tree. Effectively, each branch is a four-issue-long mini series (derived from existing series' prior to the AoA, merging back into themselves after the AoA; but don't even worry about that), and each mini series describes the tale of one important facet to the overall story.

I'm bored of writing for now so I will continue this tale later.

Also, since I finished AoA I've had a little time to start reading War of the Twins once again; I thought I may have lost interest in it, but just a few pages reminds me of how cool it is. Prepare for further postage.

The first mutation of the purpose

I've decided to include a television show as available criteria to write about. Someone might say i should change the name of the journal, but I wont. This television show I bought on ebay, the place where you can always hope to get something great for cheap. Well it turned out to be a bootleg, and, astute as I thought I was, I never saw it coming-- until after I relooked at the listing. Here's a website I went to that helped me realize i had bought a bootleg: http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html Anyway the bootleg is near perfect and I can't tell any difference so far, I gave the guy positive feedback but linked to a bootleg awareness site in my feedback. Here's the weird part, I felt like I should help inform the people he's pirating, but that makes me a hypocrite. I was just mad because I wanted the official Bandai version that I thought I was getting. But since I don't really care when it comes down to it: prepare for Cowboy Bebop!

The Age of Apocalypse

I knew this would happen, I just didn't think it would happen so soon. Part of the reason Gen X appeals to me so much is because its creators, Bachelo and Lobdell, were major players in the all time greatest comic serial of all time, marvel's the "Age of Apocalypse." After Generation X issue #4 appears a ubiquitous segue into the AoA, and I realized, in order to experience Gen X in the untainted and original glory the way it was produced; in order to truly understand the progression of the writing, art and storytelling, I had to follow its evolution through the Aoa times.

At the same time, I realized that everything contained within the AoA universe operations under completely different laws of physical and psychological reality. In order to understand anything the happens within the AoA universe, the entire history of its existence must be examined simultaneously. In other words, I had to embark on one of the greatest journey's a comic book fan can travel: the complete Age of Apocalpyse legend in original single-issue format in chronological order. I've taken this journey three times before, once a little while after it first came out, once again later by myself, and once with Ben about 2 or 3 years ago. Each succeeding time I had acquired a few more important issues to complete the series, and now, on this forth of occasions, I have all but a small few of the issues that contain this epic, including the recent 10 year anniversary epilogue series that I read once, but can't even remember what happend.

Take yourself back to a time where Kyuss released their final album, Fu Manchu was beginning their ascent, Biggie was teaching white kids how to behave. Things done changed. 1995 was the year of Apocalypse, well a third of that year anyway.

I've decided to approach this AoA journey in a different way than I had the past few times. There is at least one or two AoA universe list of issues in chronological order, I read the series by this list the past two times I've entered the realm, but this time I've decided to read each "offshoot title" as a whole, to experience the title itself the way it was meant to be experienced by the way the specific collaborates that worked on its creation may have wanted.

But i've connected order of each title along with how its final issue fit into the Chronological list, which happens to be: Astonishing, Generation Next, Calibre, X-Man, Factor X, Gambit, Amazing, and Weapon.

So far I've read all the intro one-shots that lead into the meat of the story. This includes, the recent AoA one-shot, Chronicles 1 & 2, Tales of, and X-Men Alpha. X-Men Alpha, the pinnacle of 90's garish comic covers. Most people diss that, but F them. X-Men Alpha is the best 90's cover, wraparound too of course. Oh by Joe Madureira, did I even have to say that?

So I am poised to read the first Astonishing X-Men series, before, of course, today's wildly popular Whedon and Cassaday series. With Generation X on a very short break, I will try to report back about AoA as often as possible, I think the AoA can get that out of me.

Comics! Generation X

I mentioned that I would be posting about novels and comics, so here is my first comic post.

So I have a mission. The mission is to read every comic I own before I move out west, and leave them all behind. I have three long boxes and two short boxes full, which is something in the vicinity of 750 or so, i think. Rough estimate; I guess we'll know when I'm done, because I plan on recording all of them as i go.

So I've decided to start with Generation X, a series I used to love as a much younger man, I was 12 when the first issue came out in 1994. Half the age I am now and I still find it entertaining. Chris Bachelo is possibly my favorite artist, and Scott Lobdell is a great 90's writer. I love 90's comics, a fie on the naysayers. Anyway, all I've read so far is issue 1, with a great color foil wraparound cover, not TOO much of a gimmick, comparatively. Here we are introduced to the main players, a few of whom we know already (already meaning prior to November 1994). Sean Cassidy, the Banshee, and Emma Frost, the White Queen, are the two Headmasters of this "next generation" of Students of Xavier's Dream. Most of the students are between 13-19, the age I empathized with most back then, and still do pretty much since I haven't really matured all that much in a dozen years. I won't bore you with descriptions of each of the characters, im going on the assumption that I'm the only one reading this, and that I already know what I, well, already know. (did that make sense? yes.) But I will explain that it is here we first meet the mutant Chamber, whom I'm pretty sure they had big plans for, but I notice he is conspicuously absent in the present day marvel universe (I think?). When he arrives at the airport, Emplate, an evil mutant who sucks the life out of mutants for sustenance attacks and the team must learn to pull together to fend him off, and "rescue" Jonathon Starsmore, aka Chamber. That's about it for issue one, and now I will go read two.

Finished: Time of the Twins. Started: War of the Twins

I don't know what it was about the book, but it took me forever to finish. Actually, I don't think I can blame it on the book, more likely a change of lifestyle. It took me about 3 weeks to finish the first Dragonlance trilogy, "Chronicles," and it has taken me over a month to finish this book. But oh well, its done and I enjoyed it anyway.

It seemed to move at a much slower pace than the previous novels, and it only focused on a few central characters: Caramon, Tasslehoff, Crysania, and a few different clerics from Istar, including the Kingpriest.

Raistlin has transported himself back in history, to the time just before the Cataclysm. Here he kills and takes over the persona of Fistandantilus, the greatest mage who ever lived (before Raistlin). Tas and Caramon too are sent back in time with Crysania, on a mission to destroy Raistlin. Caramon and Tas are captured and enslaved into a Gladiator-meets-professional wrestling style troupe that performs for the anciant people of Istar. Crysania, being a cleric, is welcomed into the holy home of the Kingpriest and the servants of good.

In the end, Caramon finally comes to terms with the fact that he must kill his twin brother Raist, and seeks him out to do so during the night of the Cataclysm. Meanwhile, Raistlin has tricked Tas into destroying the only means for himself to return home.

During all of the commotion that is caused by the Cataclysm, which includes earthquakes, floods, and eventually a meteor shower of some kind, Crysania chases Raistlin into the deepest basement of the tower, followed closely by Caramon, then followed by Tas. When Caramon is about to strike the killing blow, something unexplained happens and he fails. Caramon, Crysania, and Raistlin dissapear, presumably transported to another time (confirmed within the first chapter of book two, they have been transported 100 years beyond the Cataclysm.) Tasslehoff is left behind and his fate is not yet explained.

It seemed that the Chronicles trilogy featured many, many tales woven together, and compounded into three books. The Legends trilogy, seems to be just one tale, stretched and divided into three books. Thus it feels like far less actually occurs in the first novel.

I have started the second novel, "The War of the Twins" and I would like to see it broaden to a few more character story lines. One of the strengths of the Chronicles trilogy, was that there was always several different branches of stories, and characters doing things that affected one another only in the big picture. Legends so far is a "little picture" book; even if there are new characters or underused ones that have a more prominant position. For instance, I would like to go back to the "present" time of Krynn and follow Raistlin's apprentice, Dalamar.

Although I've read the first few chapters already, I won't discuss them here, I'll wait until later, whenever that may be. Hopefully you won't have to wait another month until the next post, then again who the hell are YOU anyway?

Time of the Twins p. 99-121

I only read twenty pages (so far) today, but now I'm distracted, and excited to post about it anyway. As a quick backstory, up to page 99 we are re-introduced to many of the characters from the previous trilogy, "Chronicles." Raistlin the evil mage, Astinus the librarian/record keeper, Bertrem, assistant of Astinus, Kitiara, the dragon overlord, Lord Soth, the apparation of a former Solamnic Knight turned evil,Tanis Half-Elven, Riverwind the plainsman, his wife, the cleric Goldmoon, Otik the bar owner, Tika the warrior-waitress, wife of Caramon, the once heroic warrior legend, turned drunken fool. And of course, Tas the Kender. We are also introduced to Crysania the, apparently "chosen" cleric of paladine.

Crysania meets with Raistlin hoping she can sway him from the dark and evil ways, and turn his powers to good. Soon realizing how daunting this task will be, she travels from Palanthas to Solace, guided by Tanis and Riverwind. Here she hopes to enlist the help of Caramon, who will guide her to one of the towers of High Sorcerery in the Forest of Wayreth, but finds him in drunken dissaray. She takes matters into her own hands and quests on alone. Tika, sends Caramon and Tasselhoff after her. They eventually find her in the woods and are attacked and nearly killed by Draconians, led by the ghost Lord Soth.

Meanwhile, back in his own Tower of High Sorcerery, Raistlin is alerted to these events by the Live Ones, and through the power of a magic "pool of seeing," he takes control of the Gully Dwarf Bupu, and brings Crysania back to life. Here we meet Dalamar, the dark-elf apprentice to Raistlin.

Dalamar has a secret he wants to keep from Raistlin, which is, evidently, that he was sent to spy, or keep tabs on the powerful mage. In fact, Raistlin happens to be the most powerful mage in all of Krynn. Its interesting that Crysania, a follower of good has fallen in love with Raist, and conversely, he seems to have a unique attraction to her, an attraction that we haven't seen in any of the other novels. Granted, Raistlin has need of her powers. In his quest for complete power, he is denied access to a room in the Tower, that can only be opened by "one of great and poewrful magic and one of true holy powers (121)." Raist is most certainly that, and we'll see if Crysania will turn out to be, though I guess it is implied thus far.

Finally a glimpse into Raistlin's laboratory. He has been performing all sorts of bizzare, twisted and evil experiments. The Live Ones are particularly intriguing. "Wretched creatures mistakenly created by magic gone awry (112)," the Live Ones are misshapen piles of various human body parts, bleeding and oozing fluids on the floor, eternally dammned to gaze over the pool of seeing, and report to their master. Also referenced are the Dead Ones, but only in brief, I look forward to their appearence.

Well thats enough for know, next time I will try to minimize the exposition and get more in depth with analyzation, but who knows. Good first post team.

Things I read

This blog will attempt to document my reading habits so that I can become more involved in the process of reading. It will, hopefully, serve to encourage me to read more regularly. The reading material will include both books, and comics, initially.

Right now, for books I am reading the "Legends" trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. I have recently finished the precedeing trilogy, "Chronicles". I am about 100 pages into the first volume, entitled, "Time of the Twins."

For comics, I would like to focus on reading some of the books I bought several months ago and haven't read yet. This includes "Lone Wolf 2100," "Solo," "X-Statix," and possibly some "Usagi Yojimbo." These titles may sometimes be preempted for other books as I see fit. Tomorrow I hope to start my first official blog entry sometime after my designated reading-period, which will be, oh say 5:30. Right after the Simpsons. Good bye now magical computer, and/or alien audience.