JD DeLuzio > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)January 2, 2026 at 2:18pm
I read that "last year." I liked it, but was not as overwhelmed as some people were and yes, it's difficult to know how many of the writing issues have to do with the difficulties of translating language and culture.
JUST HOW STUPID ARE WE? (Facing the Truth About the American Voter): I first read this in 2008 but I could have sworn it was more recent. Hard to believe this was written when George W. Bush was still President. It seems charmingly naïve today, yet it helps to explain much of what has happened politically in the U.S. since. (I wonder what the author would make of the Trump Presidency/ies...?)
Bob brought this book to my attention (see previous page) and I ordered it immediately. I received it yesterday and blew through it today. I don't agree with every conclusion writer Paul Cornell draws, but his opinions are certainly cromulent ones. Many of the points he makes I already instinctively knew, but I just never thought about them the way he frames them before. He divides the decade into six sections...
Roy Thomas (1970-1972)
Steve Englehart (1972-1976)
A Difficult Year (1976)
Jim Shooter (1976-1978)
The Greatest Fill-In (1978)
David Michelinie, Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant... and Roger Stern (1978-1979)
I think the more you bring into it the more you'll get out of it, and I enjoyed reading it very much. There are apparently three other books in this "Marvel Age of Comics" series: Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic, Daredevil: Born Again and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Captain Comics > Jeff of Earth-JJanuary 4, 2026 at 5:30pm
"I think the more you bring into it the more you'll get out of it"
I think this is the most brilliant review I've ever read. It encapsulates half of everything I've experienced, and explains a lot I've never been able to explain. I am stealing it.
John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye: Scalzi's first book drew comparisons with Robert Heinlein. This leans a little more Vonnegutian. It's about the consequences of the moon and all lunar material on earth turning inexplicably one day into cheese. Much of the drama and the humour derives from the fact that he has meticulously worked out the consequences that would ensue if the moon inexplicably turned into cheese.
Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties, Mike Davis and Jon Wiener: simultaneously crawling my way through the 800 or so pages of a history of LA in the sixties, focusing on police corruption, racial issues, and so forth.
Just finishhed reading The Luminous Fairies and Mothra, by Shin'ichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta. This is a novella that Toho had commissioned as a bit of "pre-publicity" for the film Mothra (1961). The novella itself is quite short, around forty-one pages, and is divided into three parts. "A Lovely Song from a Liittle Beauty in the Grassland, by Nakamura (about ten pages long), "Four Small Fairies on Display", byFukunaga (about fourteen pages long) and "Mothra Reaches Tokyo Bay", by Hotta (about sixteen pages long). I gather that these "round robin" type stories were common in Japan at the time. There is also a translator's note (about sixty-two pages long). This discusses the political situation in Japan at the time and how it is reflected in both the novella and the film, and also discusses the influence that the Dr. Dolittle novels (which had recently been published in translation in Japan at the time) had on the story of Mothra.
Overall: I'm glad that I read it. It's an interesting curiosity if you're a big Toho monster movie fan like I am, maybe not so much if you aren't.
I picked this on up yesterday on a whim. I hesitate to place it in the "besides comics" catagory because it is illustrated, but it's a thought-provoking look at death and friendship in the same way Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree is thought-provoking.
Replies
I read that "last year." I liked it, but was not as overwhelmed as some people were and yes, it's difficult to know how many of the writing issues have to do with the difficulties of translating language and culture.
JUST HOW STUPID ARE WE? (Facing the Truth About the American Voter): I first read this in 2008 but I could have sworn it was more recent. Hard to believe this was written when George W. Bush was still President. It seems charmingly naïve today, yet it helps to explain much of what has happened politically in the U.S. since. (I wonder what the author would make of the Trump Presidency/ies...?)
The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s:
Bob brought this book to my attention (see previous page) and I ordered it immediately. I received it yesterday and blew through it today. I don't agree with every conclusion writer Paul Cornell draws, but his opinions are certainly cromulent ones. Many of the points he makes I already instinctively knew, but I just never thought about them the way he frames them before. He divides the decade into six sections...
I think the more you bring into it the more you'll get out of it, and I enjoyed reading it very much. There are apparently three other books in this "Marvel Age of Comics" series: Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic, Daredevil: Born Again and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
"I think the more you bring into it the more you'll get out of it"
I think this is the most brilliant review I've ever read. It encapsulates half of everything I've experienced, and explains a lot I've never been able to explain. I am stealing it.
John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye: Scalzi's first book drew comparisons with Robert Heinlein. This leans a little more Vonnegutian. It's about the consequences of the moon and all lunar material on earth turning inexplicably one day into cheese. Much of the drama and the humour derives from the fact that he has meticulously worked out the consequences that would ensue if the moon inexplicably turned into cheese.
Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties, Mike Davis and Jon Wiener: simultaneously crawling my way through the 800 or so pages of a history of LA in the sixties, focusing on police corruption, racial issues, and so forth.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
I just finished Game of Sniper by Stephen Hunter.
I just started Road Work by Mark Bowden, best known for Black Hawik Down. This is a collection of some of his articles.
Just finishhed reading The Luminous Fairies and Mothra, by Shin'ichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta. This is a novella that Toho had commissioned as a bit of "pre-publicity" for the film Mothra (1961). The novella itself is quite short, around forty-one pages, and is divided into three parts. "A Lovely Song from a Liittle Beauty in the Grassland, by Nakamura (about ten pages long), "Four Small Fairies on Display", byFukunaga (about fourteen pages long) and "Mothra Reaches Tokyo Bay", by Hotta (about sixteen pages long). I gather that these "round robin" type stories were common in Japan at the time. There is also a translator's note (about sixty-two pages long). This discusses the political situation in Japan at the time and how it is reflected in both the novella and the film, and also discusses the influence that the Dr. Dolittle novels (which had recently been published in translation in Japan at the time) had on the story of Mothra.
Overall: I'm glad that I read it. It's an interesting curiosity if you're a big Toho monster movie fan like I am, maybe not so much if you aren't.
ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD:
I picked this on up yesterday on a whim. I hesitate to place it in the "besides comics" catagory because it is illustrated, but it's a thought-provoking look at death and friendship in the same way Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree is thought-provoking.
I also bought the sequel.
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