Reviews and Comments

Endless

Endless-Reader@bookwyrm.social

Joined 3 years, 10 months ago

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I married a librarian and want to make a profile she'd be proud of. I love children's, YA, Fantasy, Linguistics, Philosophy, and History of Science. I study narrative as a mental technology.

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Andy Kubert, Tom King: Superman: Up in the Sky (2021, DC Comics)

Everything we love about Superman, boldly explored

Superman: Up in the Sky is very different than other Superman stories that I've ranked highly lately, such as the Earth One series that are performing a modified re-telling of Superman. Up in the Sky is noteworthy to me precisely because it is so classic: even the artwork seems like the quintessential superman. He flies, he champions, he never gives up -- like All Star Superman¹, he represents the best of Superman's uncompromising standards and pathos. The Up in the Sky volume so unapologetically takes up the Superman that has been beloved for decades and bald-facedly takes on the questions that have been asked in the meta-culture: if Superman raced Flash, who would win? Why is Batman great? What if Superman were stuck in an administrative help line for hours and hours? What scares Superman? What if Superman is forced to compromise his standards in order to save a child? …

Andy Kubert, Tom King: Superman: Up in the Sky (2021, DC Comics)

Superman: Up in the Sky is very different than other Superman stories that I've ranked highly lately, such as the Earth One series that are performing a modified re-telling of Superman. Up in the Sky is noteworthy to me precisely because it is so classic: even the artwork seems like the quintessential superman. He flies, he champions, he never gives up -- like All Star Superman¹, he represents the best of Superman's uncompromising standards and pathos. The Up in the Sky volume so unapologetically takes up the Superman that has been beloved for decades and bald-facedly takes on the questions that have been asked in the meta-culture: if Superman raced Flash, who would win? Why is Batman great? What if Superman were stuck in an administrative help line for hours and hours? What scares Superman? What if Superman is forced to compromise his standards in order to save a child? …

Lee Bermejo, Brian Azzarello: Luthor (GraphicNovel)

Superman has been called many things, from the defender of truth, justice and the American …

Well written and beautifully illustrated

I wasn't sure if this was an alternate-world story or not when it began, but it took a narratively ambitious goal of diving in to the mind of Luthor and the full reasons he hates Superman, making them understandable and almost relatable -- until the end, which is a conclusion true and tragic. True to the integrity of Lex Luthor as he fits into the Superman (and DC) world.

Dan Jurgens: Superman Blue (2018)

Meh. Not one of the better Superman pieces out there. Like so many, it just focuses on his powers. The powers are different than before and Supes has to learn how to use them, so that was mildly interesting. There's a tiny bit about Clark, too, who can now bleed and stub toes, so that was okay.

Stephen Jay Gould: The mismeasure of man (2008, W.W. Norton)

When published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man was immediately hailed as a masterwork, the …

A semi-academic look at attempts to estimate people by something called "intelligence" and the biases that have driven this effort through the centuries: racism, sexism, class-ism, and eugenics. This provides a formidable debunking that we can only wish administrators and policy-makers would heed.