Not Comic Review: Consider Phlebas

You know, for a webcomic review site, I should review webcomics once in a while. In the meantime, let's talk about a book.

Not Comic Review:  Consider Phlebas By Iain M. Banks

I'm a fan of the Culture series of books by Iain Banks, who passed away this past year. I own all of them now, and I went back and reread a few of them. Use of Weapons, Look to Windward, and today's topic,

Consider Phlebas. What is the Culture? Well it's a sci-fi series, but honestly, the best way to understand the Culture is to go read Look to Windward, it's not the best book and story, but you'll learn more about the nature of the Culture than anything else. Beyond that, it's just a big, very advanced, civilization in the galaxy.

I could review any of the books, especially Use of Weapons which is one of my favorite books period, but Consider Phlebas stands out because, well, it's not very good. Or at the very least I don't like it very much. For a fan of the author and universe, this is hard to really critique, and even harder to describe why. But after doing a big long series of articles about how I'm a critic, I guess I should dive in.

It's certainly the weakest of the series. The reasons are many, but there is one key one I'll get to later, but first, what it does right is something the rest of the series isn't quite known for: action. Oh there are some great action scenes in this, gripping ones that get your heart pumping, especially a great chase through a space port. I believe Banks once said this book would make the best movie, and I think it's because of these action scenes.

Which is odd because, well, I couldn't remember any of it. I had read the book before, not the first book of the series I read, but an early one, and the only thing I could recall, roughly, was the part of the framing device. As I read it, I recalled more, but I can easily recall many of the major plot points of the rest of the books in the series, but not this one. It's got a lot of great ideas, from an elaborate underground nuclear rail bunker, to a city sized ocean ship and more. Yet, it's completely forgettable.

Part of the reason is that the main character Horza could be anyone. Oh, he has specific character traits, but no arc. There's no growth, development, or self discovery. He's just there to do all the wild action sequences, act as the counterpoint to the Culture (there's a war, he's on the other side), and that's about it. In fact, none of the characters are really interesting. Which is fine since nearly all of them end up dead. They're all cannon fodder, even the one character who actually gets a touch more than no development. I liked her, of course she dies. Everyone dies. It's a rather dark book in that sense.

I suspect that was kind of the point. The pointlessness of the deaths were meant to reflect the pointlessness of war. That bunker rail thing I mentioned earlier was designed to protect military leaders from a nuclear attack. In the end, the entire population of the population died anyway, of a biological weapon. The theme is well established, and it works, but that's all there is, and there isn't much that the characters do to help it along.

It's also a weird mix of events. They string together well, but they do feel random. First a raid on a temple, then an escape from a city sized ship crashing into an iceberg, an island of weird cultists, a game where lives are bet as much as money, then a mad dash through a shipyard, then they finally get to the final destination, which is random movement through that rail bunker.

The writing is good, the descriptions of the events and locations are pretty clear, and rather awe inspiring. The action, as I said, is quite clear and is rather smoothly done, it's not jarring is what I mean. The individual events are actually quite interesting and fun. Any one of them could be an entire book on their own if he had wanted. They flow together, as I said, but they are so different from each other, they don't feel like they really belong together.

Compared to the other books, it isn't really that different in that regard. Use of Weapons bounces between locations as well, but it also moves through time, both forward and backward. It has an interesting structure is what I'm saying. Look to Windward also moves between a few locations, but because both books have a point to unite together, the characters. You WANT them to live, you want them to succeed. I never get that in Consider Phlebas, and that is the biggest failure of the book.

But I know why. It was the first book of the series. Banks has written many books before it, but only a few. It was the first dipping into what proved to be a massive, wonderful universe, but one that needed refinement before it could really get going. Once he locked down the scale (the second book, Player of Games managed this) and changing perspectives a bit (most of the books are NOT from the Culture's perspective, or anyone that could be considered a peer) the series got more settled. For the first book, the rough edges are understandable. I still don't think it's very good.

If you want to see what this series is about, again I recommend Look to Windward to start. It manages to really define the Culture as an entity, followed probably by Use of Weapons or Player of Games to see how it relates to the rest of it's universe. After that, the books can be read in any order (I haven't gotten to Hydrogen Sonata, the last book, yet, so no opinions on that) but Excession should be saved for last, I think it fits well there. Consider Phlebas, while the weakest of the series, shouldn't be read until the middle of the pack, no reason to spoil the series with a weak edition.

Next time, I will hopefully have something to do with comics. We'll see, until next time kiddies.

Dreams of Stars Part 1

So the story begins.  Questions will be at the end.  Be honest, say why and enjoy.

Dreams of Stars

There is an old theory that says all great adventures begin in a bar of some sort, not that she believed in that old theory. In fact, Quinn himself, despite being the originator of the theory, openly denied it every time it was mentioned. "It was just a damn joke," he would say. Still, there were those that found an inordinate number of quests, adventures and journeys all seemed to start, or nearly start, in a tavern or bar or some place or another where alcohol was served.

Lcorn Llorne didn't believe in the theory, regardless of the evidence brought up to support it, and would have much rather not come into this place and swirled an awful brew of chemicals in her mouth and down her gullet just to 'fit in,' but the fact was she was out of options. Her last lead had dried up in this poor city on an under populated rock on the outer edge of the galaxy and she was left with nowhere else to go. So she decided to play the odds.

Nothing good had come up so far, especially not the alcohol the bartender insisted on feeding to her. It honestly tasted as if he had brewed the bulk of it in the basement, through an old pair of underwear and socks. He hadn't, a quick glance revealed that there was no basement, but he was certainly watering the stuff down with something that only vaguely resembled water. She took another sip and shivered at the taste. "An authentic experience is required," the article that suggested the bar theory had said, but Llorne was thinking that perhaps she could at least tweak the taste of the drinks to make them a bit more palatable.

"Hey sweetheart, you looking for a good time?" The drunk's breath hurt her nose and eyes, but she didn't let it show much. He was certainly in bad shape, probably had spent the better part of the day in this place trying to drown whatever it was that had driven him to drink. It was obvious that he hadn't bathed in sometime, his greasy, messy hair sat more like a piece of road kill on his head than actual hair and his clothes were tattered, worn and dirty. Llorne had no desire whatsoever to speak to him at the moment and figured that if perhaps she ignored him, he would go away. It would certainly keep with the ‘authentic experience’ that was for damn sure. "Damn it woman, when I talk, you're gonna listen!" He reached up to grab her shoulder and suddenly found he couldn't move. Every muscle locked at the same time, only the delicate ones of the eyes and the diaphragm seemed to be able to continue their natural movement cycle. There was a groan as he tried to move his hand at first closer to her, then simply at all.

"Why don't you head on home?" Llorne said quietly. "I'm sure you'll feel more rested in the morning, don't you?" As she finished, she turned to the almost frozen man and gave him a sly smile, confirming the fear that had started to grow within him that she had, somehow, caused his current predicament. With a gasp, he regained control of his body and muscles and moved once more. He grabbed at his wrist, looked at her with drunken fear, then blundered his way out of the bar, smacking several of the other patrons as he left.

"What's with him?" The bartender picked up the empty glass the drunk had left on top of the bar.

"No idea," Llorne replied. A couple of credit chips landed with a clack in front of her. "Thanks for the drinks," and she left, the bar theory being a complete flop. Flop or not, though, it was time to move on. He had to be somewhere on this planet, or nearby, everything said he was here, even briefly and he would most certainly left some sign of his passing. He always did. She stopped in front of the bar and looked up into the cool night sky. "Where are you Ritch 'arrd?"

---------

Every star hung in the sky like a bright speck, highlighted by the smoke like trail that made its way across the sky. She lay on the grass staring up at the trail, wondering not just what it was, but where it was going. And what of the stars, what purpose did they serve? A rustle pulled her eyes away and she looked up to see him standing there, staring up into the sky as well.

"They are quite pretty, aren't they?" he said.

She sat up on her elbows and glared at him. "What do you want?"

He turned towards her, a smile spreading across his lips. "Why don't you like me? The others all do."

"There's something wrong with you. You're not normal." She dropped back down to the ground and returned her gaze to the sky.

"Well then, I guess you're more perceptive than the others," he spoke with a grunt as he sat down next to her. "Of course, some people just don't want to see the truth, no matter how obvious it is to them."

"Go away."

"Now, now, I just got here. Besides, I can't tell you about the stars if we don't talk a bit."

She had to look at him, half with curiosity, the rest animosity. "You don't know anything about them."

"I know what they mean to you," he said. "After all, they wouldn't call you Lcron Llorne if they didn't mean anything to you." She snorted a reply and turned back to the stars. "But I do know everything about the stars. I could tell you about them, if you want."

"I can't trust anything you tell me."

"Well, I'll just have to change your mind about that." He waved his hand up into the air. The stars, at once frozen to the sky, began to move. The swirled around his hand and as he pulled away, they continued to move, dipping and dancing around one another. Llorne seemed frozen to the ground, her eyes locked on the moving dots of light high in the sky. They slowed, finally, and carefully returned to their own positions as if they had never moved at all.

"How did you do that?"

"The real question is how would you like to be able to do that?"

"You can teach me?"

"Of course," he said. "I wouldn't have suggested it if I couldn't."

She looked at him, tracing his figure with her eyes. "Will you?"

"Yes, I will."

---------

Questions

1.  What kind of person is Lcorn Llorne?  What does she look like (in your mind)?

2.  Does the setting seem fitting?  Would you like to know more?

3.  How did you pronounce Lcorn Llorne's name?  Just get as close as you can.

4.  What do you think of Bar Theory?

5.  Who do you think the man in the second part is?

Going Critical: Exposing myself

One last thing, and this one is about me.  I mentioned early that I have a story.  The reason for this entire article series (aside from being in Texas) was because I was sitting down and working on the story again, finishing the editing and finishing it up.  Is it done?

Kind of.  See, I need some honest criticisms of it, and that's hard to get.  I've got some, which did improve the piece quite a bit, but not enough.

So this brief article is setting up what I'll be doing for the next, um, well it's going to be a while.  I'll be posting it, here, on the blog.  I know, it's not a webcomic, but the only other place I can post it is deviantart, and I really don't trust criticisms out of there.  It'll be a midweek post, Wednesday, while Friday will still be my more normal fair.

I'll be including questions that I have about my work that I'm unsure on some answers.  A few will be general questions about the story, and posted over and over again.  It may seem repetitive, but the story is meant to show an evolution of characters, so from one section of the story to the next, the answer can change quite a bit.  And there's some more specific stuff as well (I have an issue with settings).

So next week, the first section of the story will be up.  It's 105 word pages long, and each section is about 2 pages long.  Could take about a year to finish up.

I'm still nervous, of course.  This story has seen the wild once before, but it's still something I've been working on for a LONG time.  I'm almost over protective of it.  Do NOT be gentle, of course, I want an honest response.  No matter if you like the story or not, say why.  Be as clear as you can.

Also, grammar issues aren't that important to me, unless they cloud the meaning of a line.  If it's not clear, please point it out.  Misspellings, incorrect word usage, fragments and run-ons, while things that should be corrected, aren't high on my priorities list.  Story and character come first.

Next week, I again don't talk about webcomics.  Yeah, strange pattern isn't it?

Going Critical: Conclusion

I don't think I really made this clear, so I will say it out right:  Critics do not want to HATE anything.  They want it to be BETTER.  Well, good ones do.

At the very least, I never go into a comic, book or game wanting to hate it.  I love reading comics, I wouldn't have 90+ comics on my read list if I didn't.  When I look for a comic to review, I look for one I want to read.  Even Blade Kitten I went in more curious than anything else.  I want to add comics to my read list, it's something that makes me happy.

That doesn't mean those comics couldn't be better.  I loved Perchance to Dream, as a concept, but it was so frustrating the way it played out, to the point I STILL kind of want to rewrite it.  Sluggy Freelance has had it's bad moments (it's gotten better recently), and it deserves to be criticized for it's failings.  Sinfest has been changing it's general direction for a while and maybe that's not for the best.  Just to name a few.

The real point is how the creator takes the criticism.  I already highlighted a moment when the author of a fanfiction reacted poorly to my criticisms.  I guess my best suggestion is to at least understand WHY something is an issue.  Whether it's an issue to you or not doesn't matter, it's why it's one to them.  Don't try to please the critic, but understand why they aren't pleased and use it as a reference for if your work could be improved, even if it doesn't strictly go the way they want.

The best way, though, is to ask questions.  Ask the critics to clarify their points.  Express your own concerns over your work and see if they agree.  Maybe even ask if they have a suggestion or two.  Don't ignore the destructive criticisms, but don't take them personally.  Remember, good critics want your work to be better, they aren't there to destroy it and make you cry.

Finally, remember that you're your own worst critic.  And I mean you're awful at it.  You will ignore your own mistakes more often than not, over focus on things that aren't issues, or just decide it doesn't need improvement at all.  Knowing that is the first step to being a better creator, and a better critic of others.  I tried to highlight some of my issues writing this blog, but there are so many posts (200+ at this point) and so many topics and comics, I just can't remember them all, or read them all.  I know I've missed things, made mistakes or haven't described them as well as I intended.

In the end, I do the best I can, and I will continue to for as long as I am able.  That's all any critic or creator can ever do.  Working together though, we can hopefully make each other better.

Well, that's another series of articles done.  Mostly I did it because, well, I've been on the road this entire time.  Texas actually, looking for work.  So writing ahead gave me time to work on, well, getting a job that is more than flipping burgers or something.  I'm too old for that anyway.  Point is, next week, something to do directly with webcomics, I hope.  Until then kiddies.

Going Critical: Bias

If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, you'll note I try to link to every comic or website I reference.  I feel if I'm going to comment on them, I should at least let my readers read the site themselves and see if they come up with an alternative opinion, with one exception:  Penny Arcade.

I hate Penny Arcade.  And I was hating it before it went through it's recent issues with dickwolves (BOTH times now).  I won't link to it, not even in an article ABOUT it.  Why do I go to such extremes?  Bias.

I am biased against Penny Arcade.  Every thought about it brings with it disgust or rage, sometimes both.  I can't think rationally about it as a comic (as a business, I can, to a point).  Why?  I can't really describe it, not in words that don't default to nonsensical cursing at least.  Knowing I'm biased against it is kind of important because if I tried to review Penny Arcade, the review wouldn't be very good.  All comics deserve a fair hearing, and I would not provide Penny Arcade with one.

In this sense, the reader of a critic should be a critic of said critic.  Pointing out the critic's bias is essential to an active and informed audience.  Last week I linked to the Cinema Snob, which was created in response to Roger Ebert, who had a disposition against horror and other exploitative works of cinema.  Were his criticisms wrong about those works?  Maybe, but his bias resulted in him being more confrontational about those pieces than were necessary.  Does it invalidate any of his other reviews?  God no, nor does it mean his opinion of those pieces any less valid.  It does mean, though that reader must take that bias into account.

That said, it's quite easy to confuse a negative reception with bias.  Just because a critic doesn't like something doesn't mean they naturally hate it.  A bit ago the inspiration for this series came when I had a discussion with an IRC chat member about Blade Kitten of all things.  He really likes the game, and while I've not played it, just watching the Let's Play, I could see that mechanically, the game is pretty solid.  I told him what I thought of the comic and his reply was "everyone has different tastes."

Of course it wasn't about taste, I tried to enumerate that in my review, it's a badly executed comic.  Saying it's about taste is basically saying "you're biased against it because it's not what you like."  Just because I have a negative opinion about the work doesn't mean I'm biased against it.  I didn't go into it wanting to hate the comic, I NEVER go into a comic wanting to hate it, but what I found was poor, so I had to say so in the review.  I don't HATE Blade Kitten, not like I hate Penny Arcade or Diesel Sweeties.  I just found it to be a bad work.

He still assumed I hated it.  Which is funny considering he hadn't read the comic yet himself.  Still hasn't as of this writing.  Will his opinion change when he does?  No idea, but if he likes it, he likes it, life goes on.  My review is my opinion.  I tried not to be bias with it, and I don't feel I am.

Critics who say something is bad will always face this kind of reaction.  They don't necessarily hate it, they just see that it could be better.  The best defense is not go into something expecting to hate it, but that's the only way to get around the issue, and only just.  Still, not liking something means I have to take precautions, thus why I don't link to Penny Arcade, because I really don't want to deal with those who are biased the other way, they love the comic to death.  They might find this place anyway, but at least I didn't actively seek them out.

Well, that's enough of that.  Next week, we wrap this series up.  Until then kiddies.

The Standard: Appendum

I'd like to interrupt our current article series with the previous article series.  Because I can.

So Sluggy Freelance did something I don't think it's done in years. It made a reference to Oceans Unmoving.

Two references, actually. The first was the appearance of Uncle Time, who was last seen sending Bun Bun to and back to the prime Sluggy timeline/universe/whatnot (no, that wasn't a grammar error, BTW, go read the story). It wasn't highlighted as a reference, something Abrams has gotten in the habit of doing as his comic is just a touch long if you hadn't noticed. Easy to forget Uncle Time was even in Oceans Unmoving, especially as he was just a floating head there.

Then this happened. A direct, and clear reference to Oceans Unmoving, one that fully tied this story back into the Sluggy canon. So after so long, why now? Well, I'm pretty sure Abrams didn't forget Oceans Unmoving happened, nor did he want to pretend it didn't happen. No, it did, it was important, and eventually it would have to come back.

The reason why now is simple though, back in May, he concluded that Sluggy had entered it's final act. The drawing together of the various storylines left hanging had to happen. References to past stories abound at this point. From the big ones like K'Z'K and why he's the vowelless to the even the Deus Ex Ovum, though not quite in the same form (wonder how many fans caught that one, I only just now realized it). Referencing Oceans Unmoving was bound to happen eventually. Tying it in as deeply as he's done, that wasn't expected.

While I said Abrams likely wouldn't have forgotten Oceans Unmoving, there does appear to be a trend to avoid it as much as possible. I suspect that the deceleration of the final act is what prompted him to stop avoiding it and start looking at how to use it.  Either that or he read my article about how it didn't actually suck, but that would be me stroking my own ego.

Way, WAY back, I divided my comics up into 4 categories, with Sluggy Freelance representing the “Adventure Comic” group. Of course, I also laid out that adventure comics can evolve into “Epic Comics,” and by finally bringing all these pieces together, I think Abrams is well on his way to converting Sluggy over. Oceans Unmoving, for all it's faults, is the perfect connector between the various storylines he has laid out, a kind of neutral ground that can give all this nonsense elbow room. I doubt, however, we'll see the pirates from Oceans Unmoving make an appearance. The story probably isn't of much use in the comic as a whole. It does, however, give Abrams room to possibly resurrect them outside of Sluggy Freelance, where they belong.

And it's not over. There's still various little storyline bits floating around that need to be linked up and merged into the larger story. Though one that I'm not exactly thrilled with is the term “Sluggy” being used as Bun Bun's original name. It does fit, but I don't think it does any good for it to exist in this way. It's not bad, just unnecessary.

We'll see how it goes, especially as the comic has, temporarily at least, switched to a M-W-F format (it's staying on my Daily list, BTW) to help Abrams handle the pressure from it, and from real life a bit better. The comic has certainly drawn me back in, and as long as he keeps us updated on the status, I'm fine with that. Oceans Unmoving's influence is still felt, as he probably would have pushed himself to keep updating, even if wasn't a wise move before it.

Next week, back to Going Critical. Later kiddies.

Going Critical: Are You Entertained?

Most things critics ply their trade on is entertainment and art, and there's often very little difference between them.  There are critics for everything from webcomics (naturally) to pornography.  They aren't meant to be entertainment in and of themselves.  Sadly, however, they often are.

Especially with the growth of the internet.  The internet offers an open forum for opinions of all kinds to cross natural cultural, geographic and whatnot boarders, but it also means those opinions kind of drown underneath everyone else's opinions.  Criticisms are even harder to get through because, well as I said, critic is a dirty word to many.

Thus begins the rise of the "internet reviewer."  Reviewers are not strictly critics, but in general they are, well, entertainers.  Typically they end up on Youtube or Blip.tv where they show clips from a movie or TV show which they then make fun of.  Are they critics?  Well, kind of.  Their comments are critical that's for sure, but often it's in pursuit of a joke.  No one watches the Nostalgia Critic to get his honest opinion on a movie, they go to watch him rage about something.  That's the CHARACTER of the Nostalgia Critic, however, Doug Walker, the actor, is much more of a critic when out of character.

This trend means the most popular "critics" are usually just entertaining.  They rage, and cry and make jokes, but rarely do they do any actual criticism.  I've done it, as far back as my old Earthbeta review, albeit in my brief way.  Even my Blade Kitten review taps it, though it is far more reigned in than it could have been.  There's nothing wrong with being entertaining, at all, but if it falls back on destructive criticism, then has it done any good?

Criticism is about leading to better products, and most entertainer critics don't do that.  They are there just to yell at the product.  I suspect that a lot of the rage against critics stems from here because they don't really make constructive comments, or if they do, they're buried under jokes.  Worse, the really popular ones often have legions of fans who will agree with everything they said about the product.  This leads to entire comment sections filled with people who don't know WHY something is bad and how it might be fixed.

It also comes off as hateful and agressive.  Again, people don't watch Nostalgia Critic for honest opinions, they watch him for the rage.  His raging is funny, but it's not actual hatred for whatever he happens to be doing, usually.  Still, it comes off as trolling, as insulting just for the sake of insulting, when it's more in line with the tradition started with Mystery Science Theater 3000, of making fun of something just to have fun.

Of course, critics end up always riding that line.  Reading a critical review of anything is, well, not all that interesting.  So there's some spice to keep it interesting, or it's far shorter than it should be.  Otherwise all that remains is this kind of snooty commentary that is the opposite end of the reviewers, the snobs, whose opinions may be valid, but come off as condescending and insulting.  Of course, they then open themselves to mockery, otherwise the Cinema Snob wouldn't exist.  I try not to go into snob territory (might have crossed the line in Blade Kitten), but even honest commentary can get confused with snobbery.

Next time, I get into the real pitfall of being a critic, bias.  Until then kiddies.