More Marvel Fiction

Because getting the Spider-Man: Homecoming dvd has put me in the mood. Incidentally, one of the extended scenes is an "Extended Cut" of Peter's home movie that sums up his part of Civil War, and in which we find out that, since as opposed to everyone else involved this wasn't an angsty occasion for him and he was still on an adrenaline high post-fight, he used his night in Berlin to swing through the city. (Btw, I'm impressed, because the view through Peter's hotel room window which he opens to start his exploration, on the Berliner Dom in front of the Museuminsel, was actually one you have from a Berlin hotel , which I know because I stayed there.) Which included passing through a rave club and saving Angela Merkel. (The next day, headlines say "Sticky Boy Saves Chancellor".) This almost makes up for the Avengers trashing Leipzig-Halle airport when they should have trashed the still unfinished one from Berlin.

Thus I start of with a Spidey tale:

Occupational Hazard: lovely ensemble tale about Peter post-Homecoming, working through it all, with well-written voices for Ned, Michelle, May and Tony.

On to the X-Men:

Adventures in Telepathic Miscommunication, or: how Jean Grey learned something about her Professor: postApocalypse tale which is as much about the Jean-Charles relationship as it is about Jean's view on the Charles 'n Erik one.

The Building of the House: also post-Apocalypse, a Peter-Maximoff-pov on finally breaking the news to you-know-who which manages both to be hilarious and touching.

And lastly, Avengers:

Silence: How Pepper finally accepted Tony's proposal...and then Infinity War happens. Both the banter and the Pepper pov are just right.

Book Meme, Day 3

3. One with a blue cover.

The German book club edition of Stephen King's The Dead Zone is blue, which is the one I possess, but the very first book that came to mind when I read this was Gustav Schwab's "Greek and Roman Myths". That one was basically an institution for at least ten generation of German children who got it either for their first communion (Catholics) or confirmation (Lutherans). At least if the gift givers could be reasonably sure they a) liked to read and b) would be into myths. Maybe it was seen as the natural progression from fairy tales? I don't know.

But get it I did. There are several editions for the Schwab collection, including a slimmed down one. The one with the blue cover I received was the most complete there is, from Greek myths about the beginning of the world to Mucius Scaevola and friends. Now, Mr. Schwab, born 1792, died 1850, did bowlderize the myths somewhat, as I later found out when we read some of Ovid's Metamorphoses in school. I discovered that he'd made the gods look a bit better, as for example Athena in the story with Arachne. In Ovid's version, which was the one Schwab in all other matters used as a basis, Arachne wins the competition with her tapestry depicting the Olympian scandals, and Athena is so outraged that she destroys the tapestry, plus Arachne ends up as a spider. In Schwab's version, Athena wins, Arachne is so ashamed of having competed with the goddess that she tries to commit suicide, and Athena changes her into a spider out of mercy. I wasn't surprised to learn Gustav Schwab was not a fan of the German aborted revolution which in the years before his death tried its best to get some progress done.

Anyway: bowlderized or not, that blue book got me hooked and made me fall in love with myths for the rest of my life. All hail Gustav Schwab.


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