My New Icon

OK, there are SO MANY THINGS less trivial than this going on in the world, but I'm going to get all fannish and pissy anyway. Those of you not reading scans_daily may not be aware of this, but Marvel, specifically Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, has mandated a storyline which not only ends the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, but retcons it out of existence. A storyline which has been essentially disavowed by its writer, J. Michael Strazynksi. (Yeah, the "Babylon 5" guy. Whatever you thought of that show, he makes some good points about storytelling at the link. Also the level of editorial intrusion he documents is kind of amazing.) A storyline which, if one can judge by these (admittedly out-of-context) scans from an upcoming issue, seems to be the worst kind of mid-life crisis "if only I could be a swingin' single again" male wish fulfillment.

Joey Q. has been on record for a long time as being of the opinion that Spidey shouldn't be married, and his objections always smack of "OMG grown-ups are so boring" talk. I'm a pretty big cynic when it comes to marriage and relationships in general (OK, maybe I'm just a really bitter romantic), but MAN do I hate the message this sends. Fandom never wants to grow up! Fandom is made up entirely of adolescent boys looking for Girls Going Wild! (Read the scans. I'm not making that up.)

Superhero comics have a lot of problems, and they do a lot of things wrong, but I still love them and the Spider-marriage is was one reason why. It felt real, because Pete and MJ had lots of problems, but they loved each other and they worked on them like adults. Back in the day on the Buffistas board we used to tease some of the more adolescent Buffy/Angel 'shippers (and their spelling) by typing BUFFY&ANGLE4EVAH!!! whenever one of the episodes had a particularly schmoopy scene between the two. I'm applying the same formula here, only this time I'm firmly in the camp of the howling romantics. PETER&MJ4EVAH!!!, no matter what Marvel says.

The MiniAugur

The MiniAugur
Originally uploaded by Snurri

"While there were a handful of diviners at work in the city pre-Exile--Tarot card readers, palmists, carnival-style 'fortune-tellers' complete with crystal balls--in the aftermath, it seems at times that everyone has begun forecasting the future. Some, like the mystics of Compost Oracles Inc., make a living at it. Others, like the Chromatics, treat it as a hobby, comparing the color of the sky-shell to that of days previous and adjusting their expectations accordingly. There are people who predict the weather based upon the drifting of plastic bags, romantic futures based upon Chalkbot battles, and agricultural yields based upon the activities of the crocfather Mad Green. . . . Most of these, professional or otherwise, have demonstrated less accuracy than was once found in the Farmer's Almanac, but there are exceptions. . . . The most successful of the city's prophets is known as the Minfield Park Augur. His real name is unknown--he claims that his real name is unpronounceable by humans--although it appears that up until the time of the Exile he was known to area residents and police mainly as The Bird Guy. His age is similarly indeterminate; those familiar with him pre-Exile estimated that he was in his sixties then, and forty years later he is still gray, sharp-eyed, and agile. He used to panhandle and spend his money on bird feed, but nowadays the feed is donated by fortune-seekers. What the Augur himself lives on is anyone's guess. . . . The MiniAugur (as he is often called) successfully predicted the death of Mayor Faldbakken Jr., the manifestation of the Black Tower, and the catastrophic 'Day of Two Nights.' . . . Most of his predictions are based upon the flights of the Minifield Park blackbirds, which numbered in the thousands until May Day 2002, when an unexplained airborne confusion of gravity resulted in the deaths of 90% of the city's avian population (see p.446 & Appendix). Following that tragedy the MiniAugur stopped giving predictions for a time and went into mourning. . . . Two years later, his renewed predictions saved the staff and students of the Cesar Chavez Boulevard Bridge School when a structural failure led to its collapse." (p.47-8)

Third Post of the Day: Better Make It IMPORTANT

I was both encouraged and disturbed by the caucus results. Encouraged because I like Obama very much. (Anyone know where I can find video of his speech? I had to go to bed . . .) He's not as far left as I'd like, but the reality is that no one on the American political scene is or is ever likely to be. I also like Edwards--I stayed up to watch his speech, and he said all the right things--although I think perhaps the stink of failure in '04 may be following him.

Huckabee, on the other hand? Kinda scary. That's quite a trench between the two "winners" last night.