Monday is Just Another Fun Day
December 6th, 2004This weekend I finished up the McSweeney’s book and was pointedly underwhelmed by the Oates and Straub efforts. Now that I’m done I’ll stick with my initial prognosis that only the Mitchell, Handler, Roberts, and Mieville stories are any good. The quality of the collection is anemic compared to the first one, and compared to anthologies in general. Very disappointing.
On the other hand, I have found some gems in the most recent Escapist comics. (In other words, I spoke too soon.) It all started way back in the second issue, with Glen David Gold’s story. (That man hasn’t disappointed me yet!) There are still some unimaginative duds, but some individual contributions are stand-outs. I’m looking forward to rumored future developments:
- Stories written by Jonathan Lethem and Dave Eggers
- An entire issue written by Michael Chabon
- Long-term story arcs, which are of course more the norm for comics these days. This would make the effort feel less like a novelty and more like a comic book.
December 6th, 2004 at 12:40 pm
Sorry to hear about the quality of McSweeneys anthology #2. Maybe I’ll put off picking it up for a bit - I know I’ll get it eventually.
The Glen David Gold-written, Gene Colan-drawn “The Lady or the Tiger” was a great story, almost worth the price of the first collection all by itself. Haven’t picked up the second one yet - is it out?
December 6th, 2004 at 12:51 pm
The second trade paperback (which collects issues 3 and 4 of the series) just came out in November.
December 9th, 2004 at 5:22 pm
Hi, LTR! Thanks for the kind words about my story in “McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber” and the link to my site. I actually thought that while the results were mixed, the anthology had more spot-on efforts to write in the genre spirit than did the first anthology (”Thrilling Stories”). I’m just grateful to Chabon for taking up the gauntlet of imaginative fiction in the first place.
December 9th, 2004 at 5:41 pm
Great to hear from you, Jason! Looking forward to reading THE GENTLEMAN IN THE DISTANCE when it comes out.