I have not been so happy about a movie in a long, long time. I walked out saying I liked it almost as much as Winter Soldier, but the more I've talked about it with friends, I think in many ways I liked it even more. And unlike a lot of people, I thought it fit much more as the follow-up to Civil War than as Avengers 2.5, at least in terms of tone and storytelling strengths. (Obviously, Age of Ultron had to happen just to get the characters in, but still.)

( disorganized squeeing, some hate, spoilers )

A brief look at current fannish joy (minus Furious 7, because it will have its own post):

iZombie

J and I started watching iZombie, and I find it charming and fun. It doesn't quite fill that Veronica Mars season one hole in my heart (but, to be fair, Veronica Mars doesn't fill that hole, either, even though I mostly enjoyed later season, the movie, and the two books), but it's a lot of fun. (It could be much, much better about diversity, though.) I love the hell out of Ravi and Clive in particular, think Liv is a delightful main character, and wish we'd see a lot more interaction between Liv and Peyton. (Who I just learned is Aly Michalka. Man, I failed hard at recognizing her there. I freaking love Aly & AJ/78Violet, though AJ has always been my favorite. She just charms the hell out of me.)

( Spoilers )

J is the one who suggested we give it a try, and was then aghast when I told him it was a comic book show. He swears he hates comic book shows and movies. I pointed out he loves Walking Dead and Gotham, and now that he's figured out James Spader is in Age of Ultron, he wants to watch that too. Preeeeeeetty sure you're coming over to the comic book side, J.

MCU

Before J decided he wanted to watch AOU, I bought tickets to go see it with MJ, one of our friends. I tought about heading back to KC to do one of the movie marathons, but in the end, decided it wasn't worth the trip when I'm not living up there anymore. The theater here we use isn't my beloved KC theater, but it's still pretty great, and MJ and I have great seats. I can't wait.

While I'm not marathoning anything myself (not yet, at least), I love owlmoose's Mega Marvel Rewatch: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2 so far. I can't wait for the rest.

I am both incredibly excited about AOU and worried, because I do not trust Joss Whedon not to fuck shit up. He's already done so with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. I hate that he's touted as this great addition to MCU (and anything else he touches). I loved BtVS/Angel and Firefly, flaws and all, but he's not getting better, and my anger grows.

The 100

J got me watching The 100, and I still haven't seen all of season one, but there's so much talk about it on my reading list right now, and I love it. I have so many feelings about this show, mostly GIRLS ARE AWESOME and TEENAGERS *HEART EYES* and GOD EVERYONE IS TERRIBLE AND WONDERFUL AT THE SAME TIME.

marina has a great post about it: sci-fi aimed at women and interesting moral dilemmas.

coffeeandink talks about The 100 being shaped by Passover.

musesfool talks about the characters.

Raven Boys

I first read THE RAVEN BOYS a few years ago, by which I mean, I ended up with a free copy of the audiobook and listened to it sporadically on road trips across Missouri. At the time, it was okay; enjoyable enough to pass the time, but the reader really put me off when he voiced Blue. I didn't think much about it after I finished listening. Sometime last year, I found a great deal on the second book in hardcover, so I grabbed a copy of the first book, too. (The audiobook had since expired, and I had no interest in ever listening to it again anyway.) Sunday, I unpacked THE DREAM THIEVES (the second book), and realized I didn't remember how THE RAVEN BOYS ended. I grabbed it off the shelf, expecting to skim it for the next week or so, and ended up devouring it in a couple hours. Reading it for myself worked a lot better for me than listening to it, and I found the characters and their friendships utterly compelling. I'm now forcing myself to read THE DREAM THIEVES slower, because BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE won't be here for a couple days, and of course the fourth book isn't out until this fall. Preordered it, though, which is something I rarely do. Until this point, Stiefvater is not an author I buy her books new, much less in hardcover; I've never managed to finish SHIVER, despite werewolves, and while I like her short stories well enough (I'm a big fan of Tessa Gratton, and their writing group puts out books of short stories sometimes), I've never been caught by any of her other works (I don't like stories about faeries, and skimming THE SCORPIO RACES didn't capture my attention, despite horses and racing, though I'll give that one another try). Pretty pleased with this series, though.

I've saved a bunch of fic to read once I'm caught up, too.

Incryptid

POCKET APOCALPYSE WEREWOLVES OMG YES PLEASE FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER.

I really don't have much to say about this series, except I love this family and this world, and I need to do a full series reread soon. There are four main books, plus a ghost story novel, plus short stories. I love this series so much.

(I'm so glad I do, too. I've been reading Seanan McGuire's blogging for years before she was published, and I wanted to support her writing, but again, I don't like stories about faeries, so had no interest in October Daye, her first big series. I enjoy the hell out of her work as Mira Grant, but I wanted a big, grand epic supernatural adventure series to love, and the Incryptid series is that. And now it has werewolves. SO MUCH JOY.)