* STC news: I have a piece teasing developments in The Stand: American Nightmares, the second arc of Marvel’s big Stephen King adaptation, at Marvel.com.
* I think my favorite reaction to Bowie Loves Beyoncé thus far is Kiel Phegley’s: “Sean, you are going to cause such a disparate group of people to masturbate with this blog.” Here’s hopin’.
(via Loving the Alien: Never before seen pictures of David Bowie)
* They might make a Battlestar Galactica movie that has nothing to do with the Battlestar Galactica series? That is maybe the worst idea I’ve ever heard.
* Speaking of Kiel, he spoke to Bill Sienkiewicz four years ago, and the results have never been seen…until now!
* Vice speaks with Sammy Harkham, Jaime Hernandez, Dan Clowes, Rick Altergott, Johnny Ryan, Matt Furie, and Matthew Thurber about Kramers Ergot 7. In the interview, Clowes reveals he recently had open-heart surgery. Did everyone know this? Sheesh. I’m glad he’s still alive.
* CRwM wonders what we talk about when we talk about Friday the 13th.
* Stacie Ponder presents a quick and dirty guide to POV horror.
* Andrew Sullivan discusses kinder, gentler torture.
* Ain’t nothin’ wrong with Jeffrey Brown drawing Wolverine.
* Finally, I’m putting it at the bottom here so you can avoid LOST SPOILERS if you need to: Todd Van Der Werff does his weekly Lost review thing. It’s interesting to hear his complaints about making Jack the focal character of the episode where the Oceanic Six Five return to the Island: He argues that since Jack has been dead-set in favor of this since the Season Three finale, it leeches some of the drama from the proceedings. But I think that centering the episode on someone who’s completely resigned to returning to the Island, to accepting his fate, is what helped give the episode an appealingly fatalistic air. I think it was a part of that weird, engrossing tonal dissonance I discussed; and though I still don’t swallow the idea that he’d ignore the disappearance of Aaron to get his bone on with Kate (I buy Kate using sex to forget, but Jack had nothing to forget yet!), I definitely recognized and appreciated the grim contentment of their breakfast conversation the next morning as the demeanor of people who’ve just accepted something awful. Focus this episode on someone else and you may have lost that very effective bit.
My theory on the slighty schizy sex between Jack & Kate, fwiw:
This series (and this ep. in particular) is all about echoes. Kate experienced a second visitation by Claire, who’s come to reclaim Aaron same as Christian “rescued” his daughter. Kate, second only to Jack for failing to deal with weirdness well, goes running to the doc… only to remember that this is the guy who insists on blaming himself for every death since Cain. No way would he accept Kate’s story at face value, so she keeps mum and makes with the guilty lovin’.
Hm. It just occurred to me we still haven’t met Sawyer’s daughter. Kate has…