@illusionremember / illusionremember.tumblr.com
Okay, enough of "what are the best/worst books you've read", I want to know what your favourite comfort books to reread are. What are the books you turn to and turn to again because they scratch a particular itch and make you feel a particular kind of joy? No justification required, no "I know it's bad but" or "I know the plot is stupid but", just the ones that you keep coming back to because they make you happy?
I thinks folks expressing incredulity at the quality of the writing and composition in Calvin and Hobbes are often missing the context that Bill Watterson is arguably the most influential sequential artist of his generation. Like, this is a guy who once told the editors of nationally syndicated newspapers to go fuck themselves when they wanted to mess with his panel layouts, and not only did he keep his job, he got his way. He could have had literally any gig he wanted, and he chose to be the Sunday funnies guy because that's what made him happy. He's basically the Weird Al of sequential art.
Watterson considers comics to be as true an art form as painting and films and literature, capable of reaching just as high as any other medium. Calvin and Hobbes isn't accidentally high art. Watterson made it what it is on purpose. And when he was done, he stopped. No movie, no spinoff, no reboot. He considers the comic to be its completed form, in exactly the medium it is supposed to be. He believed in comics in a way few others ever have, and he fought tooth and nail for the right to take his own work, jokes and all, seriously.
What I especially love about Watterson is that he consistently refused to do anything commercial with C&H. He fought against Universal Press Syndicate[1]* (which published C&H), which kept trying to push a terrible contract that could've gotten him fired and replaced to continue the strip without him. He even made a strip in the series talking about it:
*This footnote links to an Internet Archive of the above strip with Watterson's words on the matter. It's a brief read, but interesting!
GOD the ending of the martian (the movie) makes me so fucking mad compared to the ending of the martian (the book)
the martian the movie: i am the professor of badassery. you yourself can be badass too if only you learn to be completely self-reliant and say fuck you to everything
the martian the book: i am on a ship home. i am on a ship home because the entire world cared about me when by all rights i should have been a lost cause. long-standing borders were ERASED so teams of people who had never met could do EVERYTHING possible to save one solitary member of their species instead of leaving me to die where i should have been unreachable. it wasnt even anybody’s fault that i got stuck. they had every excuse to abandon me. instead, BECAUSE WE ARE A COMMUNITY…. maybe we do really deserve to be here among the stars
very strange to be a fan of a "classic" thing bc like. its overrated. its underrated. everyone knows OF it but its a toss up if theyve actually ever engaged with it. you want to talk to everyone about how good it is but its so culturally ingrained that everyone waves off your glowing review as "well duh, its [classic thing]". its dismissed and overlooked BECAUSE it is so good. you cant find anyone to talk to about it except for deranged ppl on tumblr bc the masses havent actively thought about it in 30 years. its been referenced in every form of media since it released. no one gives it a second thought. youre going crazy.
im literally always thinking about this you dont understand
Happy burn your house down day for my fellow Fullmetal Alchemist enjoyers ✨
Guys, guys, let’s get back into Animorphs!!!
They are all free to read with Applegate’s permission on the animorphs website!
Oh yeah babey
She has also written some absolutely amazing books recently.
These are just a few of them. I read The One and Only Ivan to my students every year (and there’s a sequel coming out in May!).
Every one of her books I’ve read has been beautifully written. Yes, they’re written for children, but you won’t regret reading a single one of them. Applegate is hands-down my favorite middle grades author.
Read. Her. Books.
Animorphs says trans rights
Once more, with feeling!
Alphonse is one of the characters of all time I think about him constantly. He’s a 14 year old boy’s soul stuck in a giant scary suit of armor. He’s a gentleman and he’s kind and he has good conflict deescalation skills but his body is a giant scary suit of armor. He befriends every evil henchman he comes across. He loves kittens. He’s a little shit to his older brother sometimes, as all younger brothers are. But his body is a giant scary suit of armor. Arakawa really popped off with Alphonse
““He seems perfect. Why did you tire of him?” She yawned. “Even perfection becomes tiresome. He was always brave, always courteous, always kind. I began to wonder if he was stupid. The thought tormented me, that I had spent nine months cosseting a stupid man, and two days later I slew him.””
— The Two Princesses of Bamarre
another year of me not having finished my two princesses of bamarre vows edit in time for destiel wedding anniversary 😔
