Yes, it has been a while. The holidays are pretty much over. I for one am glad; I hate spending so much money at one time, and that time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is just throwing gobs of it at people in stores that I don’t think need to exist (why is there a store where you can build a stuffed animal that you can buy already made in almost any other store?) I wasn’t a grinch this holiday season, I saved it up just for you all, and I have actually enjoyed the time with family in Ladoga and other places.
Today:
I finally managed to steal some time away to post Outtakes 2, that is dedicated solely to Roy’s Critic, from the Volume I run of Stone Hand (leaders and Leadership). Roy’s sonnets are not sonnets in the truest sense. He obviously has some idea of meter, but the works don’t adhere too closely to pentameter; he knows how to rhyme, but he bucks the rhyme scheme. He says that he calls them sonnets because they follow the superficial standards of the form, the line count and the syllable count, and he has been working for some time in those parameters to familiarize himself with expressing an idea in the limited space it affords.
The Critic character is an interesting one. I read him as Stone Hand’s antagonist; the hater from the sideline. But the Outtake poems reveal him to be more than that, almost a slave to his own need to nitpick. They also reveal the essential nature of the Critic. Art without checks is just clutter at the end of the day, the Critic has to come through with his “sturdy yoke” to establish some order.
And before I go, I have to mention that the Volume I remix Roy promised will actually be the conversion of the text issues into the printable, layout versions of the issues. We’ll do a rerun of the Volume I Issues starting in February 2015, and you’ll finally get to enjoy the PRL Serials in all of its 3-columned, outlined, and illustrated glory.
Come back soon for outtakes from the Volume I run of Made in America, when Wes gives us more of Wendy, the IBF Receptionist. Also, I’ll have one last Old Man Young One-Shot for you before Volume II starts.
I hope that your 2014 was good to you, and if it wasn’t, it’s over now so leave it in the past. Happy New Year everyone!!
PRL Serials 