Multifandom recs

[selenak]

...all gen, all with female main characters, from the excellent femgenficathon_

Farscape:

With bitter joy, the sound of wings: an Aeryn portrait through the years. Aeryn fanfic that doesn't focus on her romantic life is rare to find, which is a shame, considering the show (s4 excepted) offers us so much more. This captures Aeryn in all her multiple facets.


Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed: an X-Men/Superman crossover, in both cases the movieverses, with Lois Lane and Rogue as the main characters. There are so many aspects I love about this story: Lois as a passionate reporter, the likely aftermath of X2 and X3 regarding everyone's views of mutants and their legal status (all too plausible and scary, but not without hope), a plausible version of a somewhat older Rogue, great connections between universes (what makes a boy like Jason different from a mutant, really?) and oh, yes, a background threesome which is no big deal. Among the many good stories this ficathon produced, this is probably my favourite.

Chloe liked Olivia: an Iron Man (movieverse) story, in which Pepper Potts and reporter Christine Everhart take another look at each other, and rethink some assumptions each made during the film. Both Pepper and Christine come across as strong and interesting; I really enjoyed reading this (and the Tony cameo at the end is priceless).

We have no choice but to carry on: more movieverse Pepper Potts, this one about her during Tony's captivity, which she doesn't spend pining but being awesomely competent. Not that the films based on Marvelverse comics offer much competition, sad to say, but Pepper was really refreshing: despite some UST with the lead, she wasn't the love interest, she didn't get captured by the villain as the climax, needing to be rescued, but got out such a potential situation by herself and by sensibly using the legal authorities... and of course she spends her fanfic existence being the romantic lead. Not here!

Comments

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you so much for promoting FemGen. I really appreciate it!

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

...you know, I've seen so much fic about these Pepper and Tony people that I may have to start reading comics. Or watching the movie? Which would be better?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, now you've put me in a difficult position. Because some of the comics are awesome (and far more layered than the film), but otoh, some suck. As tends to be the case with decades of canon. Also, the movie is way more accessible if you have no idea who any of the characters are than most of the comics. There are exceptions. Warren Ellis' Extremis, for example, was written especially with the idea of a restart in mind - including a flashback retcon of Iron Man's origin story - and is very readable if you haven't read a single comic before.

So: rent the movie, then read the Ellis, as an introduction, that should work to either movieverse or comicverse. If either has awakened your curiosity, I can recommend trade volumes that require a bit more background.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's a fabulous ficathon, and you deserve all the applause in the world for organizing it!

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs.

I don't know if you know, but the new episode of Dexter is out on the Internet

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

Hmm. The more I hear about Iron Man, the more eager I become to see the movie. I'll have to Netflix that one of these days.

Also, I was thinking about buying a DVD of the Godfather movies, but the different cuts/versions are confusing me. Do you have any advice on which one to choose?

[xenokattz.livejournal.com]

A friend linked me here and... OH WOW.

I'm kind of giggling I"m so flattered by your review. Thank you so much! I really appreciate this, not only 'cause it's a positive review ;) but because you had very specific examples of what worked.

Thanks again!

Godfather

[selenak.livejournal.com]

This one (http://www.amazon.com/Godfather-DVD-Collection-Part-III/dp/B00003CXAA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1222631174&sr=8-1). As Coppola said, the films are meant to be seen with the flashbacks, not in that tv cut which puts events in a chronological order (and thus destroys the careful structure of the films with their parallels and contrasts drawn, not to mention that it ruins the climaxes and epilogues).

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome, and I really adored the story. Ever since I watched Lois and Clark in my early 20s, I love Lois Lane in any media, and fanfic that takes the trouble to think the society it is set in through and comes up with such a great social commentary is my favourite kind, so I was definitely your target audience!

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot for recommending my Farscape ficlet! It was my first foray into that fandom (um, yes, I only got into the show about half a year ago and fell in love with Aeryn Sun instantaneously...), so I'm glad that it appealed to an 'old-timer' fan such as you.

Re: Godfather

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent! Thank you.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am a middle-aged fan rather than an old timer.*g* (I.e. I started watching in the hiatus between s3 and s4, catching up in a marathon.) But falling for Aeryn is completely understandable, and if you go back, you'll see the Multiverse crossover stories I recced almost always have her in them if they are partly Farscape. This being said, I, predictably enough, went for Rygel as my favourite character. *g*

[kaena.livejournal.com]

I know this is an old thread, but can you recommend these volumes?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Your wish is my command. I'll link you to my original reviews of the volumes I can recommend, so you know a bit more about each:

There is the whole Civil War affair which engulfed the entire Marvelverse, which is a big, big thing in terms of current Iron Man characterisation:

The Road to Civil War (http://selenak.livejournal.com/288693.html)

Civil War: Spider-man (http://selenak.livejournal.com/289569.html#cutid2)

Civil War: Iron Man (http://selenak.livejournal.com/302902.html)

Then there are these volumes, one of which - Extremis - I'd recommend wholeheartedly as a comicverse start, while the others shouldn't be a start but have good character stuff later on:

Extremis, Execute Program and Director of SHIELD (http://selenak.livejournal.com/322702.html)

Going back a few decades, the most famous Iron Man storyline before Civil War was the one in which he became an alcoholic, which, late 70 cheesy language not withstanding, remains a deserved classic and impressive way of dealing with an addiction story in a format that you'd think doesn't allow this:

Demon in a Bottle (http://selenak.livejournal.com/402956.html)

And lastly, something more lighthearted. Though just for us readers, not for Tony. There is canon Tony/Armor slash (http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/3123563.html)!

[kaena.livejournal.com]

Thank you and Merry Christmas!