Healy's Journal

Today, September 25, is my birthday. Happy birthday, me! To celebrate, I'm gonna talk Gravity Falls for a minute here.

Last Wednesday, Alex Hirsch teased the possibility of Gravity Falls comics. Most people asked for typical pie-in-the-sky stuff (Ford's adventures in the Portal! Stan O'War II adventures! Dipper and Mabel's next summer at Gravity Falls!). Me, I tried to temper my expectations; I figure we're not getting anything with Ford solo so soon after the Journal, and sequel stuff is probably best left to, like, an actual new cartoon. The most likely scenario is old storylines from the show they considered but never actually did, like the one where Stan and Wendy rob the museum. Not that that's such a bad deal, mind! Just so long as we get more of Stan.

But I've also been considering a different tack they could take with this. Consider, if you will, a Gravity Falls anthology series. Each issue, we'd get a couple stories about various characters from Gravity Falls. Maybe Wendy's mom would be the focus of one, perhaps we'd get Gideon's full origin story in another. It'd be a good chance to look at some underused characters, too, like the Manotaurs, or Wendy's teen friends. Best of all, this approach wouldn't preclude the occasional foray into any of the above-mentioned approaches.

But of course, we all know the truly best way for this to all go down: 12 issue Quentin Trembley maxi-series.

Hey there. Sorry for the delay. I'm not sure what happened there. I've been around, just... distracted.

So! Currently I've been reading a whole bunch of things: some of the earlier Hellboy volumes, Astro City: Family Album and Local Heroes, a few volumes of Batman: Black and White... I've even tried reading an actual, no-pictures type novel, like Moby Dick! It's... slow going, so far. I could do without all the digressions about whales, to be perfectly frank.

But the book I really want to talk about today is Gravity Falls: Journal 3, by Alex Hirsch and Rob Renzetti (diegetically written by Stanford Pines and company). Most of what I have to say about it has already been said before: it's a good book, full of secrets and new info about all your favorite characters, with a touching send-off that emphasizes how far the character of the Author has come by the end of the series. But earlier this week, Alex Hirsch and Rob Renzetti released an interview about the Journal, in which Hirsch had this to say:

The internet never ceases to impress me. For all the talk about how the upcoming generation has a short attention span, the moment you give these kids a riddle they drop everything and suddenly work together in perfect harmony like a military-level SWAT team to crack the code. It’s incredible. That being said, sometimes fans are often so focused on code-cracking they miss what’s in plain sight—the actual text of the journal! There are connections in there that even the savviest fans still have yet to notice.

The fandom's general response to this has been, "Well, clearly he hasn't been paying much attention to us." I mean, we've already figured out that the party Stan throws in Double Dipper was likely in celebration of his own birthday; that when the Oracle tells Ford that he's got the face of the man who'll defeat Bill, she's actually talking about Stan; that the splotches on the two "Dream Hipster" pages suggest that Ford was more scared of his dreams than he'd like to admit; plus more theories about the true nature of the Oracle from Dimension 52 than I care to go into right now. But not me! For, you see, I have made several theories and observations about the Journal that I have kept to myself. Could these be the connections Alex Hirsch is talking about in his interview? Probably not, but eh, it's worth a shot, writing them down here.

1. So hey! How come none of the dates given on the show and in the book seem to match up? Well, in that big text dump of a coded letter Blendin sends the Pines, he mentions that his time-travel device got left out on a railroad track and was hit by a train. My theory is that this messed up the time stream around Gravity Falls real bad, so everything there lives in a kind of hypertime-esque haze. (Aside: Man, Hypertime really needs to make a comeback.)
2. So Dipper's real name is Mason. What I am proposing here is, what if that's Bill's real name, too? I mean, guy did admit that "Bill Cipher" is a nickname (in response to a question about Dipper's real name, no less!); maybe it's something they have in common? (And yes, I know, Bill says his real name's an unspeakable horror that would spell death to any who heard it, but frankly I don't trust him on this; he's a liar, right?)
3. Did you know that Ford's a hypocrite? Okay, so everybody knows that. But did you know about this specific example of his hypocrisy? Early on in the Journal, before he fell in the portal, he mentions using a giant's thumb as a coffee table. Later, after he comes back, he whines about Stan using the T-Rex skull as a coffee table. It's like, dude, he's hardly the first guy to use weird artifacts as furniture, step off. (Aside: Note the "Stan burning" imagery on the same page. Ominous! But not really, since we know he makes it out okay.)
4. The alternate dimension Ford labels a Better World has had people scratching their heads ever since the book came out. Why would Better World-Stan just take the first journal and go? How did Ford manage to work with Fiddleford again after their falling out? But re-reading this section again, I don't think we're supposed to buy Ford's account that the turning point of this timeline is Stanley taking the book and getting out of dodge; it's far more likely that Ford took Fiddleford's offer to stop the portal test, as detailed earlier in the book. As for why Ford didn't realize this, I dunno. Thirty years is a long time, and it's likely that the pages about it were ripped out or ruined, so maybe he just forgot it ever happened.
5. Speaking of Fidds, I just realized that the reason Ford recognized him so quickly in the finale is because he saw Dipper's drawing of him in the Journal. He must've been like, "Eeewsh!" at that part. Also, the reason why Ford's glasses are always cracked is because he keeps breaking 'em! That's why he kept a spare in the first place.
6. Mabel's beloved Dream Boy High series is a sham! It's clearly a foreign production, like from Japan or Eastern Europe maybe, if Mabel's comment about the lipsynching being off is anything to go by.

It's getting really late over here, so that's about all I feel like writing for now, but I will continue to scour the Journal for whatever secrets it may continue to hold. This is M Healy G., signing off.

(Technically none of these books are about Hellboy per se, but they take place in the same universe.)

Currently I'm reading a bunch of Mignola-verse books. First off is Witchfinder: The Mysteries of Unland, written by Kim Newman and Maura McHugh with art by Tyler Cook and Dave Stewart. It's about special agent Sir Edward Grey, paranormal investigator to Queen Victoria, and his misadventures in a newly industrial town that holds a lot of secrets. The art is beautiful, and the story brings that special Hellboy weirdness that I love so much. I don't think it's as good as the previous Witchfinder book (the one set in the Wild West), but I still enjoyed it bunches.

Next, we have the first two books in the Abe Sapien series, The Drowning, by Mike Mignola and Jason Shawn Alexander; and The Devil Does Not Jest and Other Stories, by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Patric Reynolds, Peter Snejbjerg, James Harren, and Dave Stewart. The first book, Drowning, was pretty okay, but it left me feeling lost at times; part of it may because I'm not too well-read on my Hellboy volumes (hey, I gotta work with whatever my library has in stock at the moment, alright?), but I think Mike Mignola has a tendency to just throw the reader in deep waters without warning when he's writing on his own. With a co-writer, like Arcudi in The Devil Does Not Jest, he seems able to rein things in much easier. The Devil Does Not Jest also has the benefit of being a short story showcase, which I think is where the Hellboy universe really shines. The epic stuff is alright, but it's pretty overwhelming, especially for a newcomer; the short stories deliver the weirdness in these great, bite-sized packages without the bloat. I liked both, but The Devil Does Not Jest is better.

Am I forgetting anything? Oh, yeah, I reread Darwyn Cooke's Parker: The Hunter this week, too. Verdict: still a great crime read, still not as good as Parker: The Outfit, Parker's surprisingly cute in this one, RIP Cooke mourn ya 'til I join ya. See ya next week!

For the past couple weeks, I've been going over games nominated for the 2015 XYZZY Awards that I hadn't played yet. Today, we'll be reviewing the last game in this series, Oppositely Opal, by Buster Hudson.

In Oppositely Opal, you play as a witch who is trapped by a rival in a cursed cabin. You have to get out in time to compete against her in a potions contest, but all of your spells keep going wrong. Can you work around it until you make the potion you need for your getaway?

Oppositely Opal was nominated for both Best Puzzles and Best Individual Puzzle (catching the pixie), so let's talk about that for a bit. The basic structure, of casting spells to change the game world, is reminiscent of Suveh Nux, one of my favorite games of yesteryear that doesn't get talked about often these days. There's a real delight in figuring out which form your tampered spells will take. Unfortunately, I got caught on a few parts and had to resort to the walkthrough to make progress; the nominated puzzle was one of them, so I'm afraid I can't judge how good it is on its own merits. I think some more cluing when you're on the wrong track would help here. For example, there was a bit in the pixie puzzle where I couldn't tell which spell would turn an object into a trap, and the responses I got when I had taken a wrong guess weren't helping me choose the right spell. In this case, I think including even a short phrase personalized to each spell used would be helpful in visualizing the solution the author wants.

Much more successful in my eyes is the character of Opal, who was nominated for Best Individual PC. She's a real riot, and her (somewhat try-hard) witchiness is what makes the game for me. A couple choice quotes:

Your black and gray striped familiar was found as a kitten in a trash heap somewhere. You decided to name him Lord Doomclaw, Prince of Darkness, and raise him to hate everything as much as you do. Unfortunately, he never grew any less adorable, and he only attacks people with soft meows, playful antics, and unremitting cuteness. You renamed him Killjoy.

and

A stuffed puffin—not stuffed like a cuddly toy, but stuffed as in a once-live puffin that was killed then stuffed. What a terrible fate.

UGH, no, that's not right. You meant to think it was a wonderfully evil thing to do cackle cackle cackle. You scold yourself for the slip in proper witchiness.

But there's also a sadness tinged around her edges, which we see mostly in flashback. I think what makes Opal so great is that she can work so well as both a comic and tragic character; all three of the endings I got in my playthrough were fairly sad, and this worked for me because the game had built up enough of that element in Opal that it didn't seem out of place. A good game to end on.

And that's a wrap for now! I do intend to review Spy Intrigue, which I tried on Wednesday but didn't finish, but that'll have to wait until after the award ceremony. See you then!

For the next week, I'll be going over games nominated for the 2015 XYZZY Awards that I haven't played yet. Today, we'll be reviewing Cape, by Bruno Dias.

Cape is a near-future superhero story about someone who gains mysterious superpowers after stealing a talisman from a townhouse. It's fairly linear, with a few optional sidepaths (I hear talk of a hidden sex scene from the author, but I'm not sure if that's just a joke or not ETA: This has been confirmed to, indeed, be a joke. Thanks, Bruno!). It was nominated for an XYZZY in Best Story.

I gotta say, I really loved Cape. I'm a big superhero fan, and it hit a lot of the story beats that I enjoy about the genre. It's very thoughtful about the role of violence in a way that most superhero stories aren't, and while the story is fairly "gritty", it's not gratuitously so, like in Long Halloween. Parts of it remind me of Astro City: Tarnished Angel, one of my favorite graphic novels. If I have one complaint, it's that the ending is a little anti-climatic, and didn't answer as many questions as I would like it to. (Perhaps they were left unanswered to save room for a sequel?) Despite this, Cape is still one of the best superhero games I've ever played, and could stand beside the best comic in the genre.

For the next week, I'll be going over games nominated for the 2015 XYZZY Awards that I haven't played yet. Today, we'll be reviewing two games: Neon Haze, by Porpentine and Neotenomie; and Beautiful Dreamer, by S. Woodson.

Both Beautiful Dreamer and Neon Haze were nominated for Best Setting (and only Best Setting), so I felt it would be appropriate to review them both at the same time. Both of them have a dreamy atmosphere, but they use them to very different ends.

Let's start with Neon Haze. If you're familiar with Porpentine's work, you probably can guess the milieu she's working with here. How would I describe the setting of Neon Haze myself, though? Um, if William Gibson's Neuromancer and a Kavinsky album had a baby, and you hooked up a fancy brain-imaging machine to watch that baby's dreams, what you saw there would look a lot like the world of Neon Haze. It's a spiraling rainbow cyberpunk dystopia, complete with memory hackers and fully-automated fast food joints. Porpentine's writing focuses more on allusions than straight-forward connections, breaking out razor-blade metaphors and tossed-aside details to set a scene; condensation on the city is said to "rain black and chemical", and air conditioners are described as muzzled sawblades. You can watch something called a "meme-wave opera" on a screen at one point, and there's a weather report that says "Opacity 80%, heavy kinetic water". It all adds up to a dark, hallucinatory nightmare. While I'm here, special props to Neotenomie, who did music and graphics for this game; their drony soundscapes and abstract art really help to set the mood of this game. Wear headphones!

Beautiful Dreamer, by way of contrast, has a more fairy tale-like setting, though no less dreamy in its own way. It is obsessed with the unreal: lunar moths eat the writing out of books and secrete their own nonsense literature; strange and wondrous monuments from precursor worlds litter the landscape; broadcasts from other dimensions can leech in and be heard on the radio; your bathroom is sometimes replaced by the Other Bathroom, where the showers are great, everything is always clean, and the giant creature that lives beneath the tiles is easy to ignore. There's a comforting mix of the fantastic and the mundane here. For example, thanks to corrupt zoning regulations, your apartment building was built above a submerged shrine that is rapidly emerging; thanks to this you're going to have to move out in fifty years, but hey! At least it makes the rent cheap.

Probably the easiest way to demonstrate the contrast between the two's approaches is to look at an NPC encounter from each. In Neon Haze, you meet a stalker with a mask of static, who tracks you down and assaults you to try to get some intel. The scene is creepy and violent; the stalker chases you across an empty parking garage before beating you up and taking you prisoner, they delete your memories in an effort to get you to talk, and you can end the encounter by crushing their windpipe (though I personally did not choose to do so). Meanwhile, in Beautiful Dreamer, there's a short conversation with the god whose shrine your apartment building is built on, and it's a much more pleasant experience. Topics can range from alternate worlds to other god-like beings to that shelf that keeps banging around, and the guy seems rather friendly, if a bit distant. Dreamer comes off as a light and fluffy eclair to Haze's cotton candy-flavored vodka. This is not to dismiss either game, of course! They're both very good, just for very different reasons.

Due to difficulties in getting my get-up and go into gear, the XYZZY Catch-Up review for Friday has been delayed to Saturday, or possibly Sunday. In the meantime, why not take a look at this video to help you calm down?

For the next two weeks, I'll be going over games nominated for the 2015 XYZZY Awards that I haven't played yet. Expect a new review Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week. For now, let's review tonight's game, Hana Feels, by Gavin Inglis.

Hana Feels is a short game about a young woman (named Hana, natch) who self-harms. You play as a sequence of four characters (a helpline volunteer, Hana's boss, Hana's friend, and an old man who runs a support group) who each try to help Hana in their own way. It's very heavy material; I had to take a couple breaks the first time I played because of how intense I found.

Hana was nominated for Best Individual NPC, so let's talk a little more about her. Because of how Hana acts as a focal point for the game, she feels closer to a protagonist than many IF NPCs. The obvious comparison here is to Photopia and Alley, but Hana felt more real to me, perhaps because she's less idealized, or maybe because we see her side of the story more, through both her responses and her journal entries which we see at the end of each chapter. I did think that she could stand to be a bit better characterized outside of her mental health issues, and sometimes it felt like her journal entries painted a rosier picture than would be possible in such a short time frame, but these flaws aren't catastrophic for the game (or Hana). And one thing I thought the game got really, really right is how it's often a bad idea to push someone who's hurting into a course of action, whether it'd be good for them or not. Hana Feels isn't a typical contender for Best Individual NPC, but I think it's worthy of the running.

Hi, guys! Boy, it's been a while since I updated this blog, hasn't it? Like, more than a month? Let's get back into it, shall we?

Currently I'm reading Astro City: Lovers Quarrel by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross. It's about a superhero couple, Quarrel and Crackerjack, who run into problems when they get older and can't fight crime so good anymore. Quarrel is mostly resigned to it, though this isn't to say she's happy about aging, but Crackerjack doesn't take things so well, and does something... foolish.

It's a pretty good look at a subject most superhero stories don't tackle; my main problems with it were that the art isn't always so good at conveying how old everyone is, and that Crackerjack's actions came off as a little too extreme, to the point where I stopped sympathizing with him for a bit. Still, it manages to rise above these issues, and the back-up story is about a talking gorilla who wants to play the drums, which is the kind of story you can't go wrong with. Maybe not as good as Private Lives, which is one of my favorite Astro City volumes, but still great.

[Error: unknown template qotd]Eh, music today is pretty good. Could be worse, could be better. Top 40 Radio isn't so hot these days, but then it's been like that for a while. As for contemporary artists I like, I think c2c is pretty good. (They're this French techno group.) The Mountain Goats are good, They Might Be Giants are good. I'm also a big fan of Toby Fox's work, which is not quite the same thing, but I really enjoy what he does.