I would like to like Worlds' End more than I do because I should ostensibly love it, given how I go on and on about how I love story. And of course I enjoy the conceit of a bunch of travelers telling stories to each other to pass the time, and I am amused by the fact that these stories sometimes have stories within their own narratives (and those can have nested stories as well), and then at the end a surprise layer of narrative is peeled away. Charlene kind of speaks for me at the end with her discontent. Most of the stories didn't really grab me, and I found some a little confusing.

I really like "Tale of Two Cities," especially for the art. It's very, very different from anything else in the series, but it works perfectly for the story. And the idea that cities have dreams is rather lovely.

"Cluracan's Tale" is one I felt okay about not liking a lot because Cluracan himself kept saying it was boring and insipid. What I did like was the notion that he'd embellished the tale with a swordfight, among other things. Mainly, I couldn't make sense of the faerie politics (psychopomp? carnifex?) and thus couldn't understand the big deal.

"Hob's Leviathan" was all right, a nice little sea story with a sea monster spread. And I liked the tale of the immortality-giving fruit, especially since it was told to Hob, of all people. And the denouement touches on a theme that pops up a lot in the series, humanity's disbelief in the fantastic. Even though Jim saw the sea serpent with her own eyes, no one will believe her.

I liked "The Golden Boy," which also had very nice art. Boss Smiley is amusing. And I just liked the character of Prez, his unflagging idealism and the way it was tied to the desire to fix watches.

"Cerements" was similar to "Cluracan's Tale" in that I couldn't really understand the world, so I found the stories confusing. I liked Destruction's cameo, though.

The Chaucerian frame story was a nice one. The first thing I noticed was that the art was more similar to what I'm used to these days, with the characters much sharper and distinct (plus the color gradient in the narration boxes). Most of the art in the series has been kind of scraggly (although I really did like the original penciller who quit after a few issues). But the story itself was good too. My guess is that the reality storm is a result of Death's shedding family blood, but the funeral march of the Endless makes it seem to relate to the death of whichever Endless was destroyed so long ago. And, well, since time is all a muddle at the end of the worlds, maybe that's what it is. Unless another Endless just died, in which case...uh.

It's a strange tale, this one.

Aw, fuck. I knew I shouldn't even be SKIMMING the introductions. I mean, I had a slight inkling Dream was going to die, what with the final book being called The Wake, but I still hate being actually spoiled.

And I just liked the character of Prez, his unflagging idealism and the way it was tied to the desire to fix watches.

Not sure if you know this, but there was a short-lived comic called Prez back in the 70's that starred that character. Short-lived as in 4 issues, I believe. [ yep: [link] ]

I didn't know it when I read it, but I have since been notified.

Re: "It's about family," I feel very much that "Brief Lives" is more about change than family. "You can stop being anything." Destruction is change, so he changes and stops being Destruction. This to be contrasted with Dream's resistance to change in himself, though he's already undergone some of it despite this. Delirium having such a large role points at this further. Together they are, in order, one who has changed and become something other, one who has neither changed (much) nor left the Endless, and one who has changed and stayed Endless. They almost describe a cycle in three persons.

(I'm reading along at this point. Damn you.)

I finally had the chance to read this week's comics after work today.

The very first comic book I can recall buying with my own allowance money was All-Star Comics #64 back in 1977, featuring Power Girl and the Golden Age Superman and Flash. So it's fitting that those same characters are also in Infinite Crisis #7, the last DC comic I will ever buy. DC has just pissed away 29 years of loyal readership and lost my business forever.

Not sure if you know this, but there was a short-lived comic called Prez back in the 70's that starred that character.

I had those comics!

DC has just pissed away 29 years of loyal readership and lost my business forever.

You can kill characters. You can fuck with continuity. But when you do both at the same time you piss people off.

Not sure if you know this, but there was a short-lived comic called Prez back in the 70's that starred that character. Short-lived as in 4 issues, I believe. [ yep: [link] ]

Holy crap! I have a (sadly beat up) issue of this that I can't remember how I acquired. It revolved around a US/USSR chess tournament (Bobby Fischer was big news at the time - probably the only time in US history that chess was a trendy topic). I knew it must have been short-lived, but I didn't realize how short-lived. In case it's not incredibly obvious, I haven't gotten around to WORLD'S END yet. Go Neil with the obscure character use, though.

The art on that is by Mike Allred, who did stellar work on the X-Statix comic.

Edited for clarity to say: I mean the art on the Prez section of World's End.

I think I had two issues of Prez back in the day (#'s 1 & 4), but I sold them off years ago.