Where, where, the Hell is Bill?

[stungunbilly]

Or ~billy.
Maybe off buying a flower torpedo. Maybe on a rocket to the dark of the moon. Maybe out surfing in a slow tornado. Maybe wrestling Norse gods in old saloon.

Or perhaps just caught up in the ebb and flow of the dreaded RL.
:O)

Hi folks!

So, world affairs=bigtime scary. Fortunately, there are many wonderful people doing their best to make things better again.

~billy affairs, you ask? Hmmm. I've been reading (when I can) Man from U.N.C.L.E. fic and graphic novels, watching Season Three Angel and the Band of Brothers series.

CLAMP's series of trade paperbacks (in English!), "Clover", is delightful. While not a chan-fan, I love all the characters and the fairytale/sci-fi plot. It is sad and pretty and, now that I've read up through #4, I can't wait to see what happens next. The story uses standard elements of manga, and yet has a fresh, original feeling to it.
"Wish" is cute and funny, and also intriguing. I admit to a certain fondness for the angel/devil stories typical of anime and manga, and especially find amusing the attempts to Americanize the genderbending by calling angels "she" and devils "he".

I've read "The Long Halloween", a trade paperback collecting a run of Batman noir comics. I found it interesting, weirdly homoerotic in the het scenes, and learned a new respect for the Joker (he scares me!). But there was no Robin.:o(
"Arkham Asylum" horrified and delighted me, with its references to H.P. Lovecraft and deliberate attempts to evoke emotional response directly in the reader through art and wordplay.
[spoiler warning!]
I enjoyed the crossover quality "Arkham Asylum" had, and its clearly being a fan fiction work was endearing. It made a deliberate attempt to add depth to the characters, though it wimped out in certain respects. For example, in some scenes the Joker refers to Robin and implies Batman has sexual feelings for him. Batman clearly reacts to this suggestion intensely, indicating that there may be some truth to the indirect allegations. But although later suggestions are shown in the comic to produce internal visions for Batman which we share, Robin never appears in the aspects of Batman's inner life revealed to us.

I just started reading "Astro City: Confession". QaF US fans will be amused to know that this comic, published in 1997, contains a main character with the name Brian Kinney. Coincidence? Probably not.

I meant to do some recs and post a drabble or two, but my time has run out.

Thanks to all of you for your humor, your sharing of your own stories, and the general goodwill I find on my friendslist.
::smooch::
I'll try not to be such a stranger.