soc_puppet | Comic review, Canadian, Please, and Creativity link

Review: Secret Identities, the Asian-American Superhero Anthology:

I'll be honest, after first hearing about it, and then letting it build up in my mind, and then waiting for it to get into the library (and the person who had it before me had it six days overdue, and I had a hold on it, but I'm trying not to be too pissed about it because for all I know they may have been in need of heroes), I was worried that reading it would be anti-climactic. That I had let my anticipation get the best of me, and it would never be able to reach my expectations.

Well, maybe I managed my expectations better than I thought, or maybe it really is just That Good, because I heartily enjoyed it.

I don't know what I liked best about it, either. I don't know that I can say there was a best for me to like. The introduction had me in stitches, I kinda really loved the historical and patriotic ones, and some of them incorporated Eastern elements brilliantly. Hardly any of the stories were more than eight pages long, and at the end there was a table that showed how they all hooked up with an over-arcing plot. There's a number of them I would love to read as ongoing series, as well.

That said, there were some problems. While I loved much of the art, there was, as is always the case with anthologies, some I didn't care as much for. Lady superheroes were, once again, in the minority, and ended up with their own section of the book dedicated to them. Within that section, there were two instances of fat-hate that made me rather uncomfortable, in two otherwise incredibly fun stories.

Of all of them, though, there was only one story that I downright disliked. While it definitely had Asian-American elements, it felt way too stereotypical to me, and had what I'd probably call the most problematic costumes in the entire book. Both the storytelling and the art style were too old-fashioned for me (and, especially in the case of the art, sexist).

Still, for there to be only one real miss out of twenty-six stories, I definitely gotta give credit where credit's due. Percentage-wise, this is still well into the 'A' category. A low 'A', admittedly, but an 'A' nonetheless. If you get the chance, I'd say, give it a shot.

Other news, part the first: To the best of my knowledge, I have never even tried poutine, nor is any piece of furniture in my apartment a chesterfield, and I'm almost positive I have never bought my milk in a bag. I still feel compelled to link you to Canadian, Please. It is quite catchy, and I must have listened to it/watched it at least twenty times since it was linked at Shakesville on Sunday. ~~Also, the "we invented the zipper" part was uh. *_* Y-yeah.~~ Anyone who gives it a shot, check out the artists' channel; there's an update video, and a deleted-scenes video, both of which are great fun. Oh, and try out their other songs, too :3 I have very mixed feelings about Mother Nature, but the other three are quite interesting/pretty.

Other news, part the second: Calling anyone who is interested in non-European fairy tales! Especially writers (origific variety) who have an interest in possibly making a little cash and also helping level out the equality playing field in Sci-Fi/Fantasy! Do check out this notice at