funkierthanthou

TKJ is, obviously and unfortunately, connected to the origin of Oracle but it deserves none of the credit for creating Oracle and revitalizing interest in Barbara Gordon as a hero. There was never any intention, from what we currently know, that Babs would ever be used as a substantial character again or if she would end up limbo’d until there’s a need for Jim Gordon/Batman angst.

The killing joke was supposed to put an “end” to Babs as a hero for good. She was just a plot point in the book. A plot point that could have destroyed her career as a usable character for years to come if not for Kim & John.They’re the ones who saved her and gave the world Oracle.

So no, The Killing Joke is not what gave us Oracle. If anything it’s the book that tried to get rid of Barbara Gordon for good. 

TFA did this really interesting (and annoying) thing where a lot of important background information was buried in the tie-in material, and this is leading to a really weird thing where people’s whole concept of canon is different and contradictory, yet equally based on what’s actually made explicit in the movie.  Stuff like the position the Resistance holds with regard to the First Order and the New Republic, bits and pieces like that.  

But also, and most jarringly for me, regarding Ben Organa/Kylo Ren.  

People who have read the background stuff: “Oh my God, Ben was groomed and brainwashed from early childhood by Snoke, despite Leia’s attempts to use the force to protect him!  The subtext is grotesque! Does he have agency at all? No wonder he’s conflicted and prone to breakdowns when he’s literally had an abuser in his head since he could walk!”

People who have not read the background stuff: “Ren chose his actions, has complete agency, and is basically an MRA school shooter.”

In the case of Star Wars, he kept the scenes with Biggs going off to fight the Empire. You can see these same scenes in the Marvel Conics adaption too, but here he filled in the gaps of the characters thought processes and a little of the background. Just like TFA.

He also played up the romance angle, since, despite his later claims, Lucas had not decided Vader was Luke's dad, nor that Luke/Leia were siblings. The book now feels very 'off' and I doubt it's canonical. The same will be true of the latest one.

As an aside, ADF had a deal where his Star Wars novelisation was credited to George Lucas and he got to write a sequel, which would be considered as the source material for the next film. This was Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and it shows just how different the vision for Star Wars was in 1978: it's the second of the 'Adventures of Luke Skywalker', doesn't feature Han or Chewie or 3PO, and Leia only features when Luke's wondering whether she fancies him or not. Oh, and he fights Vader, who confirms he killed Luke's dad.

It's an appropriate follow-up to the first novelisation, but about as accurate as the original Marvel run's Jabba the Hutt in terms of the films.

So lately I’ve been playing the original two Monkey Island video games and I’m laughing like a hyena nonstop. These are probably the funniest games I’ve ever played, and are filled with so many great bits of dialogue. One of my favorite bits is a tombstone that says this line: 

Marco Largo LaGrande, Hell on sea or on land The Good news: He’s dead The Bad news: He’s bred

And of course there’s the classic Insult Swordfighting, where you defeat your opponents by dishing out sick burns like 

You fight like a dairy farmer!

How appropriate, YOU fight like a cow!

It’s a real shock to me that so many games have terrible writing when these LucasArts games from over 20 years ago are 10,000 times more witty and endearing. 

I also am really enjoying the artwork, particularly in Monkey Island 2. Although the artwork appears in pixel-form in the game (like the image above the paragraph), they actually come from a ton of lovely marker drawing scanned into a computer and translated into pixels. On the top of this post are a ton of great examples.