Mission: Inscrutable
Somewhere outside the realm of logic and linear time lies the Akashic Library, its phantasmagorical shelves stretching off endlessly into the distance. What arcane esoterica shall we uncover there today? Read on, traveler . . .
I hate to be a downer but I must admit, friend, that things are not great here in Connor Central. The last couple of weeks have been very difficult for my family, for reasons I am not at liberty to disclose. Serious reasons. However, it could definitely be worse--I've had multiple friends recently suffer from serious illnesses, and I'm incredibly fortunate that my wife and kids and I are all doing fine, in terms of our physical health. It's a blessing that we shouldn't take for granted. We've taken a blow to our financial health . . . But! We're working on getting that resolved.
Speaking of working, Blu and I keep working on our RPG book Swann Castle so that we can hit our goal and ship physical copies to the Kickstarter backers this summer. We just finished a full draft of the text and shared it with the editors, and we've received a lot of the art--we even have all three versions of the cover, and they're beautiful!
INSCRUTABLE COSMIC BEINGS
Chapter 6 of Swann Castle is called Pathways to the Multiverse, and it includes background on different worlds and beings that travel between dimensions. Here are three sample cosmic beings--in the classic RPG tradition, they're embodiments of Chaos, Law, and Neutrality. Plus, we commissioned Evlyn Moreau to draw an illustration of Eris for us, and it's stunning!
Eris
Physics tells us that systems tend toward disorder, and what is “disorder” but another word for “discord”? Eris is the Greek goddess of discord. She is a primal force, a humanoid embodiment of Chaos Itself, but unlike yucky chaos entities like the Ur-Beast Leviathan, she’s really fun at parties. In the Principia Discordia Malaclypse the Younger describes her as “a splendid woman whose eyes were as soft as feather and as deep as eternity itself, and whose body was the spectacular dance of atoms and universes. Pyrotechnics of pure energy formed her flowing hair, and rainbows manifested and dissolved as she spoke in a warm and gentle voice." Eris once started a war by tossing a golden apple; she once created a world because she wanted some good cheese. Her motives are inscrutable, her actions are unpredictable, and her style is impeccable.
Stardust
Stardust is a “super-wizard,” a godlike entity who looks like a massive, muscular man but who is in no way human. Stardust proclaims himself law and order’s staunchest champion—an implacable foe of evil and treachery. In practice, he acts much like an Old Testament deity, raining his fierce wrath upon the wicked. He observes various worlds from his private star, grimly judging all he surveys. He only occasionally ventures forth to execute his harsh justice but when he does, the results can be apocalyptic. Stardust has followers throughout the multiverse who dedicate themselves to his cause. He expects them to maintain high moral standards, remaining pure of thought and body, and destroy evil wherever it lurks.
The Keeper of the Way
The Keeper of the Way is known by many names–the Thousand Eyed Gate, the Black Path through the Pastures of Heaven, the Beast of the Void. The Keeper sometimes appears in a humanoid form, normally that of a round, kindly-looking bearded man. This is the form the Keeper uses to travel through the Nullity, the no-space that acts as a wall between the Aether, the higher universe, and the Broken Spaces below. In its true form the Keeper exists as a vast tree rooted in the Silent Hill, the axis around which the Nullity, the Aether, and the Broken Spaces revolve. The Keeper maintains the balance of existence, protecting the sanctity of reality from those that would destroy it. The Keeper does not usually act directly, but employs agents such as the Vortex Guardian and Ricky Imes to act across time and space.
(The Keeper of the Way was created by Matt Kish, Stardust was created by Fletcher Hanks, and Eris was created by Zeus and Hera.)
LIGHTNING MAN #3
I continue to work on Lightning Man #3. As of right now I've finished 20 pages. I was shooting for a 24 page story, but it's going to end up being 26. My dream was to get it finished and printed in time for SPACE, the Small Press and Alternative Comices Expo in June, but I've jusssssst about hit the point where that's impossible. It's okay, though, I'll have copies of issue 2, which I didn't have there last year. You don't have to wait for me to finish to read the story, because I've been serializing it online. Issue 3 begins here; if you haven’t read the previous two issues, start here.
HOLY MOLEY, I HAVE BOOKS AVAILABLE THROUGH KINDLE VELLA!
You can read the entirety of my occult detective novel The Lobster-Quadrille on Kindle Vella. If you like hardboiled detectives, men with lobsters for heads, Nancy Drew, occult conspiracies, and/or the works of Lewis Carroll, go ahead and start at the beginning.
There are also 26 chapters available of my science-fiction adventure Armistice Hawkins and the New Architects of Creation. More will be coming this summer!
BOOKS I'VE READ SINCE LAST MONTH
The DeMultiverse, J.M. DeMatteis, David Baldeon, Tom Mandrake, Shawn McManus, Matthew Dow Smith, and various
The Last Ronin, Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, Esau & Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, and various
I'm not a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, but I'm old enough to fondly remember Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's original black-and-white comics from the 80s. If you've only ever seen the cartoon, The Last Ronin is probably shockingly dark; if you've read the old comics, it feels just right. The original TMNT comics were inspired by Frank Miller's Daredevil run, so it only makes sense to tell a "final" Turtles story inspired by Miller's Dark Knight Returns. It's a terrible dystopian future, three of the turtles are dead, and one remains to avenge his family in a final showdown with the Foot clan. Big fun! 
MOVIES I’VE WATCHED SINCE LAST MONTH
We Bought a Zoo
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible 2
I have a friend who, when she is feeling down, watches the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice over and over. I hate to play into traditional gender stereotypes, but when I am down and I need some comfort food viewing, I am less inclined to turn to Jane Austen and more likely to turn to movies where some dudes kill other dudes. As mentioned above things have been discouraging lately so I wanted something exciting that did not require a lot of emotional investment. And if you are looking for a series of movies that is all about spectacle and not so much about feelings, the Mission: Impossible series hits the spot.
My friends who do the Agents of C.O.O.L. podcast, which does deep dives into spy fiction, have talked extensively about the Mission: Impossible movies, and their M:I episodes are well worth a listen. I listened to those episodes years ago but since then the movies blurred together in my mind. To be fair, they mostly have slight variations on the same plot, and the names don't really give much of a clue--"We've been disavowed by the government, it's time to enact Ghost Protocol!" vs. "We've been disavowed by the government, we are now a Rogue Nation!" (The heroes are always getting betrayed, framed, and disavowed and then racing against the clock to clear their names while also preventing an apocalyptic terrorist attack.)
I remembered that the fourth movie, Ghost Protocol, was the one where Tom Cruise climbs the skyscraper in Dubai, which was a great scene, so I watched that one, and it's great. Just amazing action sequences. That motivated me to watch the next two movies, Rogue Nation and Fallout, which were also enjoyable. And now, for a limited time only, I actually remember what each movie is about. Okay, what they're "about" is Tom Cruise doing ridiculous action scenes, but I now remember which action scenes are in which movie (helicopter duel is at the end of Fallout, tricking the British Prime Minister is in Rogue Nation).
Tom Cruise is the creative visionary behind the franchise, and for the first five movies, he wanted to work with a different director each time. They're pretty big name directors (it was J.J. Abrams' film directing debut, but he went on to become a big name) and they all bring a different style and tone. Then McQuarrie came along and he clicked so well that Cruise kept him around.
I made this cheat sheet to keep track of the directors and release dates:
After watching movies 4, 5, and 6 I went back to the beginning and watched the first one with my kids. What I didn't realize at the time is that we watched the movie on the 25th anniversary of its release. Happy anniversary, Mission: Impossible! I recommend the article ‘Mission: Impossible’ At 25: Revisiting The Franchise’s Auteurist Roots, which talks about how, at the beginning of the series, each director brought their own style: "What’s most striking about 'Mission: Impossible' is how thoroughly it is, above all else, a Brian De Palma movie. From frame one, he’s having a great time putting his camera wherever the hell he wants and moving it every which way; he fills the picture with snazzy zooms, low angles, circling camerawork, point-of-view shots, attention-getting overheads, split diopters, and more Dutch angles than you can shake a stick at."
My kids didn't really appreciate the Dutch angles, and had a hard time following the (confusing) plot, but they liked the famous scene where Tom Cruise is handing from the ceiling. We moved on to 2, which they didn't love . . . I'm not sure if I can convince them to stick around for 3.
With or without them I'll watch 3 and finish the series, but then what? I need some more comfort food for the brain. Maybe I can rewatch the John Wick movies, or finally start the Fast and the Furious series. . .
What do you recommend? Let me know!
Your Pal,
Leighton