filmic ennui

Trying to find my way back to a passion for film – not for the medium itself (I still adore it) but for the enjoyment of sitting by myself, deciding what to watch, then watching it. Thinking the root of the problem is two-fold: one, perhaps I've been looking at films from a "–maker's" perspective that I've lost the ability to just enjoy them for their own sake (not dissimilar to music when I left music school); and two, all of my people who I'd talk to about them are dead or gone. Books I don't have a problem with; comics, same. But I'm struggling to find my way back to that cinematic passion, the one who would salivate at the latest Criterion release or some other way to spend money on being in the presence of the promise of a cinematic experience. Thought I’d found my way back with a rewatch of THE MENU but, alas; maybe the answer is the same as it is for everything: accept it for what it is and know that it'll change eventually. Doesn't make it any easier.

WONDER WOMAN, Vol. 2, No. 223 (Rucka / Rags, Richards, Bair; DC, 2006)

Every Wednesday morning, I make a blind pull from Siri's (randomized) choice of one of the 20 alphabetically-organized shortboxes that constitute my comics collection, (re-) read it, write about it, and publish the resultant review/memory/whatever. Earlier installments live here.

(Box19): 2005-06 seems to be the years of years in these Weds Randoms thus far – with few diversions into the 90s – for better or for worse. I swear I have more than a few years of DC Comics in these 18 boxes, though now that I've added the spinner rack fully into the mix, I suppose I should add 19 to my randomizer...

Anyhow: INFINITE CRISIS / Maxwell Lord neck-snapping / Brother Eye-OMAC / Rucka era of Wonder Woman, post-IDENTITY CRISIS (want to revisit sometime) Rags Morales art. Something about this run that grabbed me more than any other effort – Azzarello's New52 series being a close second, though; I suppose that I have an affinity for odd pairings of creator to character that, on the surface, seem unlikely to work but that end up being among the best iterations of both – at Diana: love the collision here of warrior, international intrigue, and the perception of "superhero" that Rucka (unsurprisingly) exploits here – Diana on the world stage, superheroics and doing the right thing up against the perils of international diplomacy and bureaucracy.

And snapping Max Lord's neck.

Also: why am I thinking that Artemis is killed at some point soon after this issue? Didn't she replace Diana as Wonder Woman around the Doomsday / Knightfall / Emerald Twilight era? Vague memories, FTW.