First Lines of Catherynne M. Valente's "Deathless"

"In a city by the sea which was once called St. Petersburg, then Petrograd, then Leningrad, then, much later, St. Petersburg again, there stood a long, thin house on a long, thin street. By a long, thin window, a child in a pale blue dress and pale green slippers waited for a bird to marry her."

- Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

I've read a number of Valente's books before - Palimpsest, and part of In the Night Garden - and while I've appreciated her artful and moving prose and imagery, I've been left cold by an issue I have with a lot of fantasy writing: the stakes don't feel real. The fantasy gets in the way of true pathos. I did not have that issue with Deathless.

I picked this up, honestly, because of Koschei the Deathless's amazing role in Mike Mignola's brilliant  Hellboy comics. But Valente transforms what in the original myth feels like a muscly thug, a simple cypher for imminent death, and turns him into a sympathetic figure, as someone who revels in his role but has not yet become it. And yet he's a strangely distant figure in the novel - most of the book focuses on Marya Morevna's entry into and exit from mythology. This is Valente's genius: she writes not only an updated retelling of the Russian myths in their amazing strangeness and complexity (for example, there's a Tzar of Birds here) but also comments on a meta level on myth-telling in general. It's an odd dance and I can't say that I understood it all - but the book was a hell of a journey and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Hellboy: The Storm

I've been pondering this one for a while after reading The Storm, but I'm sorry, it's true: Hellboy's become boring. Sure, Duncan Fegredo's art - while not being as good as Mignola - is still pretty good, and the series still has some interestingly dramatic moments (represented here by the surprise attack in ish #1), the overall story seems to be coasting. Leaving aside the absurd idea that Hellboy is the heir to King Arthur, each of these mini-series feels formulaic: a first ish that sets up the plot with a brief summary of whats come before, a few issues in the middle where information is doled out slowly amongst much myth mongering and monster fighting, and then the grande finale, but which is constructed in such a way that its merely a step in a much grander plot/war. Hellboy is now series in which the storm is always threatening, but never breaks.

Having said this, I'm impressed that Mignola has remained so true to his vision of Hellboy. Part of the lack of drama in the book is due to the fact that Hellboy always disengages from the plots that are set afoot to ensnare him in evil messiah roles: Hellboy is, of course, a humanist at heart. He is the true "monster with a heart of gold," presented with such honesty that its hard to disparage the stories.

But it's just not as enjoyable as a read as I think it could be. I enjoy reading the short stories - such as last year's "In The Chapel of Moloch" - much more than the series now. Its like the last few seasons of the X-Files when the "one off"'shows were so much better than the "conspiracy" shows because they weren't carrying the baggage and could just have fun with itself. Hellboy was built to be fun, in a brooding, pop-art kinda way, but recent events have made it morose, like The Storm's ish #2's heavy handed "you suck" reprimand to the demon hedgehog. I still love the ironic, over-heavy b-movie mythological setups, but some essential spark seems to be missing, taking with it the series' joy de vivre.

I have every faith that Mignola will entertain me again. I'm also very curious to see how the Nimue's threat will be dispersed. I'm invested here and have faith that the story will continue hold up to its promise. I just hope it steps up sooner rather than later.

Drawing Hellboy

The artwork on the Hellboy series has been taken over by Duncan Fegredo. Duncan’s an excellent artist (and artist he is: he does his own inks like the best of them) but his does not have the sublime, humble simplicity, of creator Mike Mignola’s work.

Put pretentiously, Duncan’s the moon shining off of Mignola’s earth: luminous in his own right but overshadowed by the complexity next to him.

Quick Thoughts

Some quick thoughts I've had recently but I haven't had the time to write down:

Been meaning to mention that Bella’s leg is as healed as it’s ever going to get. She doesn’t limp anymore and is able to walk and run – and run away from Hunter - without any issues.

People that dismiss Suzanne Vega as the folkie that wrote Luka aren’t paying attention. Her subsequent work is complex, moving and musically adventurous. The Bound and Unbound songs off of the Beauty & Crime album are excellent examples of songs that could also work as poetry, but are accentuated by the wonderful music that accompanies it. And she sings like an earth angel.

I’ve been enjoying some films that revel in ambience more than plot, such as Blade Runner, Eraserhead, and Solaris.

The disposable nature of Birthday and Thank You cards have always bothered me. Why can’t we take care of this stuff online and get rid of all of the physical waste of the cards themselves?

The artwork on the Hellboy series has been taken over by Duncan Fegredo. Duncan’s an excellent artist (and artist he is: he does his own inks like the best of them) but his does not have the sublime, humble simplicity, of creator Mike Mignola’s work. Put pretentiously, Duncan’s the moon shining off of Mignola’s earth: luminous in his own right but overshadowed by the complexity next to him.

I finally picked up DFW's Infinate Jest these days, and it's everything
that I hoped it would be: smart, verbose, entertaining, and it sticks with me after I put it down. Hopefully, I'll have more intelligent stuff to write about it later, but for now i'm just enjoying myself.