Things We Love: Week of 9/06 – 9/12

by PCR

Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 08:23 AM EDT

It’s that time again! Every week, we here at [Insert Pop Culture Reference] each like to share something that we loved this week. Because being a fan is all about spreading the love, and we’re all big fans of well, pretty much everything under the sun. Comment and tell us what you’ve been loving this week!

Scott: I ended skimming the entire first story in this week’s new Models Inc. comic, to the degree that I couldn’t actually tell you what happened in it (one of the characters is a lesbian, though. I can remember this because it comes up on every single page). The second story, however, deals with Tim Gunn attending the opening of an exhibit devoted to superhero costumes. I probably would have adored it for the crack at Liefeldian pouch-happy costume designs alone, but then, as heavily advertised, he ends up putting on the Iron Man armor to foil a robbery. It is everything one could have hoped for.

Stefanie: I already wrote about the album at length, but it bears repeating. After multiple listens (read: this CD has been on repeat for a week), I’m pretty much in love with Ingrid Michaelson’s new album Everybody. It’s become the background to everything else (including reading that Tim Gunn comic Scott mentioned — so awesome). Apparently, it’s just one of those great albums that gets better the more you hear it.

I also just read last month’s Wolverine: First Class for the first time this week. I’m not sure how I missed it before, but the issue-long discussion of the meaning of Jamie Madrox’s power and his dube-absorbing ways is both fascinating and beautiful, while punctuated with enough humor to keep it from getting too heavy. Issues like this are the best possible argument against the idea that comics are just for kids.

Angel: A few months back, a friend strongly recommended that I watch Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now, I’ve never been one to dismiss a show based on the network on which it airs or on the fact that it’s animated, but for some reason, Avatar never seemed like something I would enjoy. I’m in the pre-Spongebob generation, and beyond the ocassional evening where I’ll decide to fall asleep to reruns on Nick At Nite, I haven’t actually watched anything on the channel for years. This week, the show popped up on Netflix instant watch, and with the movie coming out sometime next year, I figured I’d finally give it a shot.

It’s completely and absolutely fantastic, and I didn’t think I’d ever be this impressed by a Nickelodeon show. Avatar takes cues from Japanese anime in both animation and content, the storyline is complex and intriguing and the characters are three-dimensional and interesting. I’m not sure if this show was entirely written for children (like most shows on Nickelodeon, at least in the pre-Spongebob era), because the humor is still enough to make me double over with laughter. I finished up the three-season show earlier today, and while I wish there was more still to watch, it ends absolutely beautifully.

Now, the countdown to when Hollywood irrevocably ruins it.

Chantaal: Yes, yes another comic book option for me, but I’m still a novice at this and discovering new people and titles is half the fun, isn’t it? Over the past few weeks Ms. Marvel has been popping up more and more in what I’m reading, and for some reason I realized I absolutely had to find out everything I could about her. I’ve seen her here and there (especially when I read everything Civil War), but she never stood out to me. I’m still not sure why she finally pinged on my radar, but she did, and I am so glad for it.

Reading the old 70’s series, Ms Marvel really was the sort of heroine girls could look up to (costume aside), and she had some damn good writing going for her. The original tug of war between Carol Danvers and Ms Marvel when she first got her powers is fascinating, especially as I’m reading her most recent run at the same time. The writing’s changed, the art’s changed and she’s been through a lot, but she’s still Ms Marvel at the end of the day, and I’m absolutely in love with her.