a few stray thoughts on recent comics
While every title in the Absolute DC line is fantastic, Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez's ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER is my favorite by far. Insanely good; invention pours off the page... At this point, I'm reading DAREDEVIL solely out of my love for the character - no matter how much I love seeing the black armored costume again: Ahmed's run is readable at best and moderately painful at worst; ideal team: Chris Condon and Montos from GREEN ARROW but please keep them on GA too because it's so good and it's nice to read GREEN ARROW again... ... ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS is at the top of the to-read stack every month (and Camp's THE ULTIMATES is my favorite of the line which makes sense given that he's writing ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER which brings me full circle to....
DEUS EX: THE CONSPIRACY(!)
Decided it was time to start a new game and SURPRISE! my favorite game of all time (ok, the PC version is still the best but I’ll take what I can get) is finally available on current gen systems. True test will be if the controls - it’s an emulation of the PS2 version - drive me insane but for now…
DAYS GONE REMASTERED (2025)
Finished it the other night and found it to be a - sometimes by turn, sometimes simultaneously - heartfelt, involving, repetitive, enraging, buggy, fun, cacophony of more-than-occasional brilliance that delivered that unicorn of my gaming tastes: an open world that, thanks in no small part to traversing the wilds of Oregon on a customizable motorcycle (though the inability to carry a spare fuel can was, by far, the most mystifying part of the experience) and its SOA-meets-RED DEAD-meets-LAST OF US pedigree, was a distinct pleasure to explore and/or seek out growlers, polystyrene, kerosene, and cultists that needed dispatching. Thinking: while it lacked the narrative heft and clear direction of THE LAST OF US, it's that very lack of heft and direction mixed with even more interesting characters that would've – should've – made it the obvious candidate for series adaptation. Far easier to surprise and take in different directions. Alas.
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READING :: BLINDNESS, by José Saramago
LISTENING :: I'm woefully out of the loop; need to dig for new stuff – though I've been listening to a lot of Sonic Youth and The Pixies.
WATCHING :: DUSTER, s1 (Max)... SEVERANCE, s2... a low dose of narrative series as it's the end of the school year and our brains can rarely handle more than a true crime doc which we've watched all the good ones.
PLAYING :: Wrapped up a replay of SUPERHOT last night and I'm riding 'round a post-apocalyptic Oregon killing zombies and marauders in DAYS GONE REMASTERED which is quite good save for a bug that's prevented me from clearing up one of the infestations LOOK I CAN ONLY BURN IT WHEN IT'S THERE EVEN THOUGH YOU SAY IT'S THERE BUT IT'S NOT BECAUSE I ALREADY FUCKING BURNED IT.