Books
Wingfeather Tales, Andrew Peterson (ed.)
This book is an anthology of short works set in the universe of the Wingfeather Saga. Oh, do you not know what that is? Okay then! I have links to my old reviews here, here, and here. In a nutshell, though, the Wingfeather Saga is a Christian middle-grade fantasy series in which three children work to defeat a tyrant and restore their old kingdom. The original books are absolutely precious read-alouds; Peterson has a playfulness of style I'm convinced will captivate the younger set. But said books also have a mature sense of the fallen nature of man and are steeped in the sort of rich world-building that should appeal to the older set as well. "So does the anthology live up to the standards of its predecessors?" you may ask. Yes, for the most part. There are times I think the final story in particular is overwritten, but overall, the contributions in this volume keep to the spirit and quality of the novels that inspired it.
Comics
Recently, I signed up for a Marvel Unlimited subscription and - well - started at the very beginning. So far, I've read the first 30-ish issues of The Avengers, all the Iron Man stories from Tales of Suspense, and the first 37 issues of The Invincible Iron Man, v.1. Yes, that's right: I'm plowing through Iron Man because I've made it my mission to become an Iron Man quasi-expert (heh). And yes, you guessed it: I'm going to be talking about the early Iron Man comics for a bit for tomorrow's "Iron Man Blogging" installment. Today, though, I just want to encourage anyone who's frustrated with the Marvel of 2019 to retreat to the back issues. Though I find some aspects of the old style a bit jarring (like, for example, the stilted dialogue), I'm still having loads of fun with these Silver and early Bronze Age stories.
Now Playing
As those of you who follow me on social media already know, I did go see Far From Home -- and I generally enjoyed it. Spoilers below the jump!
I'm on record stating that I like the MCU's more child-like Peter Parker, so it's probably no surprise that I continued to like all the teen-related humor in this, the newest Spiderman film. The school's super-lame morning announcements, Ned's whirlwind romance, the dorky teacher-chaperones -- I laughed at all of that. Though the mid-credit scene strongly suggests that this Spiderman series is about to get far darker, I hope it never completely loses its connection to the travails of youth, for I think it's precisely that connection that keeps Peter grounded.
I do believe Far From Home has (at least) one serious weakness, though: the origin of Mysterio. This is the fifth movie in the MCU in which the villain is someone who is jealous of or was once humiliated by Tony Stark. I think we've tapped that well enough, no? And to all those out there writing think pieces proposing that Tony is the actual villain of the Spiderverse because of his "unconscious privilege" or whatever: N. O. P. E. I mean, Tony would probably agree with you if he were still alive (see also what Tony says regarding Aldrich Killian: "We create our own demons."), but we actually have zero reason to take what Beck says at face value. Indeed, the fact that Beck is willing to kill kids just to aggrandize himself - not to mention the fact that he pals around with associates of Obadiah Stane - pretty much confirms that SI was right to fire him. Also? When you work in an R&D department for a large corporation, whatever you cook up does not actually belong to you, and your boss has every right to do with it what he pleases (while, of course, paying you handsomely for your contribution). Sorry.
Oopsie. Did I just let my irritation with wokie Mysterio apologists show? My bad. Aaaaanyway...
Predictably, what I like best about Far From Home is the fact that it's actually one huge love letter to Tony (the aforementioned origin of Mysterio aside). In the wake of Endgame, that's 100% proper in every way. I love that the creative team chose to have Iron Man be the specter that haunts everything from the background details (the art on the bulletin board, the street murals, the in-flight documentary, etc.) to, uh, basically the central emotional conflict of the film? Matt and I were both hoping that Peter's next appearance would focus heavily on the premature loss of his mentor and his struggle with a responsibility he's not quite ready for, and we pretty much got exactly what we wished for. The scene with Happy on the jet, for example? As my Facebook followers know, that scene broke me with its extreme Tony-related accuracy, so YAY for that.
Overall, this movie convinced me that I should continue to follow Spiderman at the very least. We'll have to see if the rest of the MCU can survive its newfound "iron deficiency."
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