I Just Can't Walk Away

Got my copy of the new SVT graphic novel, Sneaking Out and I have thoughts. Not good thoughts, but I'm not sure it would be fair to dump this on GR since most of them are on me and not the book itself, so let's sort through the chaos of my mind first and then we'll see what we've got.

1) Forever and always, 80's blond bully Bruce Patman will NEVER be my Bruce Patman. Seriously, he's so fucking wrong that even though I know he's got to be the guy all the Unicorns are swooning over when he sorta asks Jessica out, my brain is still like, "who the fuck is that guy?"

2) I spent the whole, and I do mean the WHOLE time bitching to myself that we had the original artist back and thought when I looked at the preview cover for the next book that she was also doing that one, which would've meant we changed artists just for Nora. This is untrue, venivididolli pointed out that we get Nora's artist for the next book too. Why are we giving them all the new rando girl at school stories? Also, if I don't get cute!Nora done in the next book original artist does for the series, I will riot.
But yes, I really did spend the whole damn book bitching to myself about something that wasn't even true/accurate. D'oh. That's why we vent here and not on GR.

3) It's a damn good thing we did get the original artist back (self, why are you so lazy, just look it up!) because that's the only good damn thing about this one. I have no real connection with the original book beyond digging the cover, so I'm not here to say it is not an accurate adaptation. It could be 100% faithful in everything but the artistic character choices and it still would not make me like this any better. Jessica spends 99% of the book being the ABSOLUTE WORST. There are only so many times you can see her blowing Liz off when Liz is asking for fucking fashion advice of all things before you just want to throttle Jessica. I cannot begin to count how many times she does this, btw. It happened pretty much every time Liz was in a scene, I can tell you that much.
It will never not be weird to me to have Jessica afraid of dogs since in SVH, Prince is HER dog. Hell, is she afraid of Sally in the original book or is it just she doesn't want to do the work? In any case, her over the top theatrics to get out of doing anything at all for HER dog sitting? Vexing to say the least.
Basically, I hated the story but at least the art was good and I do love Sally's sweet design. So cute.

4) Yeah, actually, no, I think the choice to make Alice look like... *gestures* is weird. She looks considerably older than Ned and always looks far too harried. I'm all for her not looking picture perfect, gliding through life with tweens and a teenage boy like it's no big deal, particularly while trying to get/keep her design business going, but Jesus, I can't.


Someone needs to point out that it's totally okay to have the visual cast of characters change according to who is in the book. There's no need for their ballet teacher to be shown when she's not IN the book. I get not wanting to put in the effort for one-off characters, but maybe throwing Bruce in instead would've been an idea? Think of this as less of a complaint and more a suggestion, since I'm still just happy we do have that cast of characters finally.

I did like that the Wakefield parents didn't just take Jessica's suggestion to tag along with Steven and his date, realizing he'd probably want to actually spend time with said date.

But any book where Janet isn't the absolute worst character is not gonna be my fave.

Cautiously optimistic for the next one, though I do hope the artist has improved or my expectations are properly set since I don't feel the same way about Brooke that I do about Nora.

I'm going to hold off on my ~official~ SVH: Academic All Star? recap until I have the physical copy in hand, but you know damn well I read the Kindle version yesterday.

( I have thoughts and they will be spoilery so click at your own risk. )

29. Favorite cover(s):

Double Love will always remain one of my favorites because it's classic. But I would be lying if I didn't say that I adored The Wakefields of Sweet Valley, The Wakefield Saga, The Fowlers and the Patmans of Sweet Valley. The Wakefield books edge out the other two but I will forever be a huge fan of stepbacks. So. Beautiful.



SVT:

I will forever love Jessica's New Look. Partly because I believe I was gifted this about the same time I first got glasses and partly because I think the SVT models are adorable and angry Jess is just so cutely pissed off.

27. Favorite scheme (Jessica or otherwise):

Jessica's creation of Daniella Fromage and Magenta Galaxy. Comedic. Gold. I also love the way that people who read SVH back in the day but haven't thought about it in years will get this look or get super excited when they remember this. It might not be the best scheme in any sense, but good lord is it memorable.

25. Moment that stands out to you the most?:

You mean besides two different people plotting to kill the Wakefield twins and assume their identities only to team up and still manage to bungle the plan? :P The actual cover art for Double Love since it's used and recreated so much and Jessica's Evil Twin realization both pop into my brain more than is probably strictly necessary.

In SVT, my love for said series was cemented early on when Jess realizes that she's a better dancer but Liz is teacher's pet and no one believes her. I'm not sure if it works as well if you start with SVT and go to SVH, but if you're coming from SVH and going back, it's nice to see that Liz isn't always right and Jess isn't always wrong. I especially like that they set this up at the very start of SVT.

24. Pick a best friend for yourself:

  I'd never last with Lila. I'm too boring so I will go with my initial choice of Enid and it will be glorious. If I'm greedy, I'll go with Enid and Early!Liz.

And if we're going way, way back to SVT, I always thought Nora Mercandy was pretty spiffy. I might have a soft spot for the witchy ones because Druscilla was easily the best of Karen's sort of friends in the Little Sister books.

21. Fav Jessica moment:

Jessica's realization in The Evil Twin:
There's no going back, she reminded herself. I can't live my life over. I can't change what I did in the past. But what I do in the future...
Slowly, it dawned on her. I'm in charge of that. It's still ahead of me; I can choose how I want to act, what I want to do and say, who I want to be. The future is mine.

19. Thing you wanted to happen but never did:

(If you told me this was Nora and Margo trying not to murder everyone in sight, I'd believe you.)


I wanted more info on the Ken/Lila hookup. Why does he let her get away with all that shady stuff at the start of the series? I have so many questions!

Also wanted Enid and Jeffrey to actually go somewhere since they kind of headed in that direction in her Stars book and then it stalled and went nowhere. The DRAMA, dammit.

But mostly I wanted a What If? book where Margo (or Margo and Nora) managed to replace Liz.

17. SVU?

   I hate the Sam books because he's the worst, so let's get that out of the way. I remember being shocked, shocked I say at how quickly they changed so much about the twins and company when they jumped to SVU. Todd dumping Liz for not putting out (wtf), Enid becoming Alex and the ensuing drinking problem, Liz eating her feelings... And had it not been for the batshit crazy things like Celine and William, I probably would've been less than thrilled. I wasn't a big Mike/Jess fan and seeing Liz be so miserable wasn't fun, but I still somehow burned through these books like cotton candy. Their thrillers, though. Oooh. I never did understand why they sent Lila to Italy and basically just recreated her in Isabella only to bring Lila back and shove Izzy offstage in the weirdest way. So many strange choices were made and I'm not sure I'll ever understand but Lord, do I wish someone would try and explain the thought process there.

  But with all that negativity being said, I still get an odd 90's happy nostalgia trip from the earlier books and I still remember being SO EXCITED when I saw the teasers in the back of the SVH books for SVU.


When we return, we will discuss the impending AG release.

15. Thoughts on the TV show?:

  It's a complete dumpster fire of an adaptation and it is nothing like what I wanted the show to be like, but I'll be damned if by the end of the first season I wasn't pissed that the rest of the seasons still aren't on freakin' DVD. There are so many things wrong with it, the least of which being the evil 90's eyebrows going on for the twins, but I still want the option to see the rest of the series in decent clarity, dammit.

   I remember that the first time I watched it, I was horrified by what I was seeing. And this was in the first season as it aired. I'm not sure if I gave it a second chance or just knew this was not going to be my thing. In any case, a friend's little sister, who was at that point in my life probably the smartest non-adult (and smarter than quite a few of them) I knew, loved the show and it blew my mind when I found that out. I think I had to see it for myself because until then I was unconvinced by my friend telling me this, despite the fact that she was never the sort to make something like that up.

   Cass was so pissed that they switched the SVU covers to the Daniel twins that she kind of pretends the books stopped at the first Christmas book SVU did and I think of this pretty much every time I think of the show.