Reichenbach (and broken backs)

[melannen]

Dear Sherlock fandom: Just to let you guys know, he's not really dead.

(No I haven't seen the newest episode or been spoiled beyond the title, I'm just being a brat. That one's even older than 'Vader Is Luke's Father.' But not quite as old as 'there's a flood, everyone dies except the MC.')

****

When I lack the brain to do other things, I've been reading through Escher Girls and Boobs Don't Work That Way since somebody or other linked to them, and here are three things:

1. I want a superheroine called Escher Girl now. Who has super-flexibility, minor shapeshifting powers, and detachable body parts. And she should be in a comic book where all the other female characters are drawn realistically.

2. Is there a blog/tumblr anywhere that's the inverse of this - showcasing examples of mainstream comic book art where women look and move like human beings? Because I really need a palate cleanser now. Of course I'm starting to doubt that there are enough examples for that to work.

3. In a moment of weakness I thought to myself "okay, there's about a dozen tumblrs now that you check with some regularity, it might be nice to have them aggregated, maybe you should just get an account" ...and OMG people, when you have a dashboard, tumblr is even harder to use and uglier than it was before. I think I am going to forget I did that and keep checking them one at a time, thanks. *shudder*

Edit to note on this bit: I should say that there is a certain amount of disablism/body image enforcement going on in those blogs; it hits me because actually, my feet do look like I'm wearing high heels when they're at rest, and yes, I can bend my ankles like that painlessly, because I'm a toe-walker; and there are women with bodies that naturally do some of the other things people complain about in comic book art. Even if the body image you're enforcing is closer to reality, you're still excluding some people, and some of the language on those blogs does bother me. However: even women who do have bodies that can look like that aren't going to act the way the comic-books show it. I wear boots that give lots of ankle support when I'm going adventuring, personally...

Comments

[naraht]

Dear Sherlock fandom: Just to let you guys know, he's not really dead.

Oh man, I came this close to making the same post. Better you than me...

[melannen]

I couldn't resist the temptation. The wailing! The gnashing of teeth! And I figured if I was going to do it, it ought to be when I can honestly say I don't know any spoilers for the episode yet. (He does 'die' in it, right? I'm just assuming he does, based on the wailing and the gnashing of teeth.)

[seekingferret]

If Moffat were really serious about modernizing Doyle, he'd do Sherlock in and make it stick.

[lannamichaels]

re: tumblr: I recommend using an RSS reader.

[melannen]

I was thinking about just syndicating them to DW, but on the other hand, it's not like I *need* extra mindless stuff to look at on the internet, so I can probably live with just checking the pages every so often.

(Do image-heavy tumblrs work well as RSS feeds? I was also thinking it would do things like thumbnail the images - which happened to a couple of them on the dashboard, even - or make it even more impossible to find/follow the comments.)

[mllesays]

My level of eyeroll at the Sherlock fandom is approaching critical mass. And I'm a fan of the show! :/

Also, this is not exactly what you asked for, but fuckyeahblackwidow generally posts bits in which Natasha is not twisted around in impossible ways. It also does a really good job of calling out times when those bits occur. It focuses a lot more on her as a person, with interesting character/continuity commentary too.

[melannen]

I think what really pushed me over to making this was hearing about people trying to come up with elaborate, logical explanations for why he's not really dead. It's the ancient and secret Japanese wrestling techniques of Baritsu, obviously!

...if even Conan Doyle couldn't be bothered to spell his deus ex machina right, I'm not sure why the fandom expects something better from Moff.

And that tumblr sounds interesting, I'll check it out.

[terra]

Oh, heh, that is my tumblr. Thanks for saying nice things about it!!

[kittydesade]

I still don't understand how chopping off the 15 seconds in which it is revealed that Sherlock is still alive would have made it any better. Surely that can't have come as a surprise to anyone. Ever.

Even to the 136 people left in the world who didn't know that already, surely the laws of narrative inertia mean he's still alive.

[melannen]

Yeah. Especially considering the WTF-y epilogues tacked on to both of the other episodes this season! (Now I wonder if the Belgravia epilogue is supposed to be post-Reichenbach. That would be logical, depending on how exactly they worked Reichenbach.)

[holyschist]

I still don't understand how chopping off the 15 seconds in which it is revealed that Sherlock is still alive would have made it any better. Surely that can't have come as a surprise to anyone. Ever.

I'm sure it would shock all the same people who were stunned, stunned in the theatre with the second RDJ Holmes, both when he went over the falls AND when he was campily revealed.

Sadly, I think the number is way higher than 136.

[petronia]

The teeth-gnashing and preemptive breakdowns from the fandom pre-episode were pretty hilarious, but I have to say the story itself is angsty... as it is in any good adaptation, frankly. The acting was very good.

The initial spate of howdunnit speculation is justified: there will definitely be a baroque reveal in S3 (which was signed at the same time as S2), the details of which are not that hard to put together based on information from the episode itself. XD

[melannen]

Well, given my opinion of the "clever" plots in the other episodes, I'm not holding out hope for the reveal in S3 to be better than Doyle's. :P But we can hope!

[stellar_dust]

I watched it! Now I just want the epic Life on Mars crossover.

[petra]

Not bouncing off of that episode, but there does exist a Sherlock/LoM story.

[melannen]

You have to write me Ghost Story/Life on Mars first!

[lindentreeisle]

But they suffer so beautifully!

[melannen]

I hope you are talking about John Watson and Sherlock Holmes and not the comic-book women! :D Beautiful, Liefeld art is not.

(I have to admit that while I enjoy John Watson suffering, I enjoy him kicking butt and taking names more. ...I just plain enjoy Sherlock suffering, though, he doesn't get to do it enough.)

[grey_bard]

The episode is pretty clear that he doesn't die. The wild angst is over ZOMG POOOOOR JOHN!!!!! Since Watson is pretty much destroyed at the end of the episode.

But hey! An excuse for pining "Nooo, I can never tell him! I must watch him mourn me! *sob*" and "I must live the rest of my life aloooone" angst fic.

[melannen]

Well, yes, I am sure there will be a lot of excellent angst-fic coming out of this! :D (Considering people have been writing post-Reichenbach angst fic since the first episode aired...)

[zellieh]

http://fixedart.com/ has some posts about fixed art, which helps.

And if you want more broken bodies there's http://fuck-no-greg-land.tumblr.com/

[melannen]

Ooh, I really liked the fixed art one! Too bad there's not more of it yet.

(and... too much Greg Land just makes me angry rather than lolzy, so maybe better not.)

[feanna]

There is this tumblr:
http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/
(which, with my luck, you probably know and have posted about, but in case you haven't seen it)

[melannen]

I have seen it before! But I don't think I've ever posted about it, and it's always good to get a reminder to catch up on it.

[kaptainvon]

"OMG people, when you have a dashboard, tumblr is even harder to use and uglier than it was before."

I am so, so glad it's not just me.

I can't work out if it's Not Being A Very Visually Oriented Person or what but I cannot get on with anything about Tumblr whatsoever. I don't get how or where the discourse is supposed to happen, or what the hell I'm supposed to use it for other than dipping into when I want amusing JPGs.


Also I would totally add Escher Girl to that all-female superhero team I keep saying I'm going to find a (decent, not comics!faily) artist for one day...

[melannen]

No, no, not just you.

I'm sure with me it's partly that my screen is cracked halfway up diagonally so I need to have a fair amount of control over how I use my screen real estate, which the dashboard does not give me afaict, but it's more than just that, it's pretty terrible in general, and I think a lot of people agree (and then... go on to use it anyway.)

If you're just using it for its original purpose - that is, a bunch of collections of interesting images - it works fine, but try to go beyond that and it's horrid.