Willowhugger
06-16-2005, 10:44 PM
Brian, I'll come out and say it that you're a great writer. I never really expected this. I know you're a great comic strip author but I never expected you were actually GOOD (and I'm honestly surprised that Nuklear Age is Douglas Adam's quality and goes one step BEYOND by making the book one of the most poignant I've read).
However, I'm glad you inserted the apology.
(The below may or may not contain spoilers)
I don't think I'll want to read the sequel probably (oh who am I kidding, I'll read it out of the vague hope that Menace and Atomic Lad do the horizontal mambo). The reason is that the ending also was a sucker punch.
Nuklear Age has the benefit of being a story where you come to care about the big idiot and the characters because their lovable oafs. Then Doctor Genius, set up as the sexy but clueless dogooder effectively mindrapes and murders a little girl whose done nothing on camera but you come to know in the short description because its dealing with archetypes.
Its escapism turned violently into a box you can't escape because you need to know how it turns out. Characters you come to know as friends as much as you can fictional characters (at 500+ pages you get to know them very well) are tortured and murdered before the world is burned to a near cinder.
Like in the real world. The heroes don't do enough and the good die along with the villains. The character that evoked the most hate in Doctor Genius (she should KNOW better after all) gets off more or less scott free while its set up Atomic Lad will be alone for the rest of his life.
I'm sure it was your intent but it was a moving ending but one I don't know if I want to revisit since it killed a great number of people to tell an epic that ends on a tragic note.
It's probably betraying the spirit but I hope the sequel is more uplifting. Otherwise I feel like the book's theme was
"Fans, F*** you. It's not a insult to you. You'll thank me for the f*** because its good storytelling but nevertheless it was a f***."
Hope you don't mind me saying so. This is meant as a compliment, really.
(end spoilers)
However, I'm glad you inserted the apology.
(The below may or may not contain spoilers)
I don't think I'll want to read the sequel probably (oh who am I kidding, I'll read it out of the vague hope that Menace and Atomic Lad do the horizontal mambo). The reason is that the ending also was a sucker punch.
Nuklear Age has the benefit of being a story where you come to care about the big idiot and the characters because their lovable oafs. Then Doctor Genius, set up as the sexy but clueless dogooder effectively mindrapes and murders a little girl whose done nothing on camera but you come to know in the short description because its dealing with archetypes.
Its escapism turned violently into a box you can't escape because you need to know how it turns out. Characters you come to know as friends as much as you can fictional characters (at 500+ pages you get to know them very well) are tortured and murdered before the world is burned to a near cinder.
Like in the real world. The heroes don't do enough and the good die along with the villains. The character that evoked the most hate in Doctor Genius (she should KNOW better after all) gets off more or less scott free while its set up Atomic Lad will be alone for the rest of his life.
I'm sure it was your intent but it was a moving ending but one I don't know if I want to revisit since it killed a great number of people to tell an epic that ends on a tragic note.
It's probably betraying the spirit but I hope the sequel is more uplifting. Otherwise I feel like the book's theme was
"Fans, F*** you. It's not a insult to you. You'll thank me for the f*** because its good storytelling but nevertheless it was a f***."
Hope you don't mind me saying so. This is meant as a compliment, really.
(end spoilers)