CAPTAIN MARVEL hit theaters last week, and I finally made it to the theater to see it. The theater was not packed, but there were plenty of people there. I've heard claims of some showings being completely empty, but with all the things being said about this film, everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. So, let's get with it.
I have to start with the Stan Lee tribute at the start of the film. It was perfect. Just as his cameo was in the movie itself. His appearance got a reaction from the audience as one would expect from people seeing pictures of a dear, departed grandparent. And yes, I did choke up a little.
As for the movie itself, it was alright. I wouldn't put it in the dead bottom of my list for MCU movies. It wasn't unwatchable, but it was also took a bit for me to stay in it and go along for the ride.
My problem was Carol. I do understand that this is a character that is being told and trained to keep her feelings in check. Unfortunately, Larson's portrayal came off really wooden. I cared about the plot, but really was not sold on the character in the film. This is a bummer because I like Carol Danvers in the comics. There was a pretty big overhaul concerning her origin story, but it works well. A lot of it was that I never felt the character was in any real danger. She was really powerful, and then went on to be super-duper powerful. Also, we never really get much emotion from her when memories come back, and she learns a bit more about her past.
As for the nitty gritty of the film, the story is pretty solid. Nothing ground-breaking, but had enough intrigue to keep me from zoning out. Some of the humor fell really flat and came off as awkward when you have aliens using phrases that one would expect from a human, not a creature from another planet. The fight scenes boasted plenty of action, but unfortunately much of it was hard to follow.
I did like the soundtrack. I came of age in the 90s, so much of it was right in my wheelhouse. The bit exception was the use of No Doubt's "Just A Girl" in one of the big fight scenes. It took all the potential edge off the fight, and I suppose they were going for campy, maybe. It was really cringe-inducing though.
I guess I should address the cat. Everyone loves the cat. The cat is cute. My kids love the cat.
Where the hell did the cat come from?
I'm dead serious. It's an alien just wandering around Project Pegasus with NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER!!!
And how did little Monica figure out how that change the color of Carol's uniform so quickly and intuitively?
I'm finding that the more I think about the movie, the more annoyed I get. So, I'm just going to let this one rest, and wait for AVENGERS: ENDGAME. I could have done that anyways as this movie does not tell me anything that I really need to know going into the next film aside from Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel and she's super powerful. That's literally all you need to know.
It wasn't terrible, but I have no desire to see it again.
Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts
Captain Marvel Incoming
Marvel's latest offering is heading out way, and unfortunately there's controversy around it. I've been busy and unfortunately by the time said controversy came onto my radar, both camps had dug in and gone full retard making up all sorts of weird stuff. It boils down to the lead actress, Brie Larson, having some concerns about things possibly not being inclusive enough. Some study was brought up. A few things probably could have been worded clearer, but unfortunately that's more than enough for battle lines to be drawn. Larson has clarified things, and I was going to see it anyhow, but it did kinda damper my excitement for the film. Early trailers were kinda lackluster. Too much time was spent by the press focusing on the feminism aspects. Not enough was spent trying to get everyone excited. Marvel has recently put out a lot of great behind the scenes stuff that has really caught my eye in a good way.
It is way too easy to get caught up in the pointless bickering, and I was guilty to buying into the articles and headlines that has a vested interest in keeping the fight going for the sake of views. The main concern I have is that any legitimate criticisms that may arise from the film will result in the person voicing said criticism as "sexist". I've had a few people online claim my dislike for BLACK PANTHER is the result of some sort of weird latent racism on my part. This is ridiculous, of course, and a symptom of the current culture of "everyone who doesn't agree with me must have some sort of terrible character flaw". With the movie still yet to be released however, we'll have to wait to see how it turns out.
There are a couple of issues that I have seen brought up online that I do want to address: "Carol Danvers is a c-list character" and "Captain marvel is a white guy".
Captain Marvel is indeed a white guy... if you're talking about the DC Universe. Actually, I'm pretty sure that they are just referring to him as "Shazam" now to avoid confusion. In the Marvel Universe, Captain Marvel hasn't been a white guy for decades. The character was killed off about 40 years ago. When I was a kid reading comics, Captain Marvel was Monica Rambeau, a black woman and really cool. She was an Avenger, part of the SECRET WARS event back in the 80s. The character is still very active and now known as "Spectrum", and still very cool. Carol Danvers took up the title a few years ago and currently uses it. So, it makes sense that the current version of the character is what will be featured on screen. We're still hoping beyond hope that people may watch a superhero movie and then actually buy a comic book. One day, it may happen!
Now let's address the "c-list" bit. This seems to be stemming from people trying to shoehorn Captain Marvel in being Marvel's answer to Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is a trinity character. She is the direct representation of one of the three key aspects of the superhero genre in the DCU. In the Marvel Universe, that particular aspect (science fiction) is represented by Ironman, and I don't think anyone is going to be replacing him any time soon.
So, Carol isn't a trinity character, but "c-list"? No. This is a character that has been around for decades. My first exposure to her was in the pages of THE AVENGERS. It was right around #200, but fortunately not that particular issue because holy crap how did that weird story make it past editorial? Seriously, I'm old and jaded, but I even I read that thing and said "This thing is problematic". She was still Ms. Marvel at the time, but not for long because a few years after I discovered her character, the battle with Rogue happened, and Rogue stole her powers. This was a huge deal, because Carol spent years without her powers. We've seen those stories where a character loses their powers only to get them back a few issues later. This went on for years.
She was still active though. Years later, Carol received a new power set and became Binary, and went off to have awesome adventures in space. She has since regained her old power set, as well as the Binary power set. She was known as "Warbird" for a while and recently took the title of Captain Marvel. She's currently a member of the Avengers and head of Earth's defenses against alien threats. So, she's a big deal.
This brings us to the problem: this character is at her best in a group dynamic. Her solo titles have struggled a bit. Meanwhile, her tenures in THE AVENGERS, THE ULTIMATES, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY have always been really cool. This isn't a bad thing. Some characters just work better under those conditions. In this regard, she's top notch and definitely an asset for writers to use to play off of other characters, and great for beating the crap out of baddies and blowing stuff up in dramatic fashion.
So why feature her in a solo film?
With the Thanos saga winding down in the films, the MCU is going to need a new direction to explore. This film may give a few clues as to what's to come with more of the Kree explored and the introduction of the Skrulls. Also consider, Ant-Man is also in the group of best on a team, and the movies of that character were both really great. Carol's also a character that's fully realized and while she started in relation to Marvel's original Captain Marvel, she's moved up to make the title her own. There is a market wanting woman led superhero films. Many fans have really wanted a Black Widow film (I'm definitely among them), but with the character's popularity, Marvel seems to be taking their time wanting to really get it right.
Ultimately, we hoping that its a good movie. I've been keeping my expectations low in hopes of being really pleasantly surprised. We'll see soon when it hits the theaters.
It is way too easy to get caught up in the pointless bickering, and I was guilty to buying into the articles and headlines that has a vested interest in keeping the fight going for the sake of views. The main concern I have is that any legitimate criticisms that may arise from the film will result in the person voicing said criticism as "sexist". I've had a few people online claim my dislike for BLACK PANTHER is the result of some sort of weird latent racism on my part. This is ridiculous, of course, and a symptom of the current culture of "everyone who doesn't agree with me must have some sort of terrible character flaw". With the movie still yet to be released however, we'll have to wait to see how it turns out.
There are a couple of issues that I have seen brought up online that I do want to address: "Carol Danvers is a c-list character" and "Captain marvel is a white guy".
Captain Marvel is indeed a white guy... if you're talking about the DC Universe. Actually, I'm pretty sure that they are just referring to him as "Shazam" now to avoid confusion. In the Marvel Universe, Captain Marvel hasn't been a white guy for decades. The character was killed off about 40 years ago. When I was a kid reading comics, Captain Marvel was Monica Rambeau, a black woman and really cool. She was an Avenger, part of the SECRET WARS event back in the 80s. The character is still very active and now known as "Spectrum", and still very cool. Carol Danvers took up the title a few years ago and currently uses it. So, it makes sense that the current version of the character is what will be featured on screen. We're still hoping beyond hope that people may watch a superhero movie and then actually buy a comic book. One day, it may happen!
Now let's address the "c-list" bit. This seems to be stemming from people trying to shoehorn Captain Marvel in being Marvel's answer to Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is a trinity character. She is the direct representation of one of the three key aspects of the superhero genre in the DCU. In the Marvel Universe, that particular aspect (science fiction) is represented by Ironman, and I don't think anyone is going to be replacing him any time soon.
So, Carol isn't a trinity character, but "c-list"? No. This is a character that has been around for decades. My first exposure to her was in the pages of THE AVENGERS. It was right around #200, but fortunately not that particular issue because holy crap how did that weird story make it past editorial? Seriously, I'm old and jaded, but I even I read that thing and said "This thing is problematic". She was still Ms. Marvel at the time, but not for long because a few years after I discovered her character, the battle with Rogue happened, and Rogue stole her powers. This was a huge deal, because Carol spent years without her powers. We've seen those stories where a character loses their powers only to get them back a few issues later. This went on for years.
She was still active though. Years later, Carol received a new power set and became Binary, and went off to have awesome adventures in space. She has since regained her old power set, as well as the Binary power set. She was known as "Warbird" for a while and recently took the title of Captain Marvel. She's currently a member of the Avengers and head of Earth's defenses against alien threats. So, she's a big deal.
This brings us to the problem: this character is at her best in a group dynamic. Her solo titles have struggled a bit. Meanwhile, her tenures in THE AVENGERS, THE ULTIMATES, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY have always been really cool. This isn't a bad thing. Some characters just work better under those conditions. In this regard, she's top notch and definitely an asset for writers to use to play off of other characters, and great for beating the crap out of baddies and blowing stuff up in dramatic fashion.
So why feature her in a solo film?
With the Thanos saga winding down in the films, the MCU is going to need a new direction to explore. This film may give a few clues as to what's to come with more of the Kree explored and the introduction of the Skrulls. Also consider, Ant-Man is also in the group of best on a team, and the movies of that character were both really great. Carol's also a character that's fully realized and while she started in relation to Marvel's original Captain Marvel, she's moved up to make the title her own. There is a market wanting woman led superhero films. Many fans have really wanted a Black Widow film (I'm definitely among them), but with the character's popularity, Marvel seems to be taking their time wanting to really get it right.
Ultimately, we hoping that its a good movie. I've been keeping my expectations low in hopes of being really pleasantly surprised. We'll see soon when it hits the theaters.
Netflix IRON FIST review
OK, let's do this. There's been a lot said about this series even before it came out. The character was created in 1972. He's a kid who got stranded in the montains after a plane crash left him the sole survivor and was taken in by monks who taught him Kung-fu.
There's a ton of people upset that the ethnicity of the character was not changed from white to asian for the show. These people are at best in need of a real problem to be concerned about and at worst racist. There are plenty of people who have gone to Asia, learned martial arts, and become quite good at them. I'm living proof. To insist that a character be asian because they become a kung-fu champion pushes a nasty stereotype. Quite often those are making these complaints rave of the virtues of multiculturalism; but upon seeing someone they don't approve of based solely on their skin color benefitting from being immersed in and benefitting from a foreign culture, scream 'cultural appropriation'.
Now that the stupid part is pushed aside, let's look at the show. Yes, there will be SPOILERS. You've been warned. Also, this is going to be more of a book report in that if you want full explanations of who all these characters all WATCH THE SERES!
Its a thirteen episode slow burn. It doesn't rush, because with this story, you can't. Our hero, Danny, has returned to New York all grown up trying to figure out what it is to be Danny Rand again. Everyone believes he's dead and it takes quite a bit of effort to convince people he is who he says he is. His childhood friends run the corporation that their fathers started. They, Ward and Joy, are understandibly sceptical because Danny is worth a ridiculous amount of money. Danny, to his credit, is more concerned with helping people and getting his life back than he is about the money.
What follows is an incredible web which is just a beauty to watch play out. This brings us the theme of the entire show: manipulation.
From Merriam-Webster: manipulate: to treat or operate with or as if with the hands or by mechanical means especially in a skillful manner
Quite appropriate that the foes Danny faces throughout the series is The Hand. The Hand first popped up in Netflix's Daredevil series and was featured prominently in season two. In Iron Fist we see a lot of their inner workings, especially as Danny tries to fulfill the mission he was given: to destroy the Hand. That's only part of his problems in that everyone he encounters, with the exception of Claire, is either a manipulator or a pawn.
The bottom keeps dropping out from under Danny and the viewer during the series. Every time you think you have a good handle on how this is going to play out and where everyone stands you get a new bit of information that changes everything.
Hands are a powerful motif that repeats over and over throughout the series. The hand being the name of the organiztion Danny is facing. You see a hand print on Harold's window when he leaves his confinement and they let him know they are watching. Harold later slices off a finger showing subservience and his lack of influence within the hand. His finger returns showing that he still has quite a bit of power and influence upon his return. At his lowest when Ward is in need of drugs he injures his own hand thus showing his lack of ability to control himself and others. That lack of control is quickly evident when he fails to get the drugs he wants. A handprint is necessary to enter Harold's penthouse. Danny's hand getting shot in the final battle as he's desparate to clear his name stop Harold, only to be fully healed once he comes to terms with himself and the path he's on. Showing of handprints let's you know you're being watched. An injured hand shows a character losing their power. Healing of a hand shows a return of their power and their control (either over themselves or others).
There's all these little pieces that make this so delicious. The sale's women manipulating people into buying their drugs. All the insults Danny is subjected to in hopes of making him angry and controlable. The entire challenge match Gao sets up is completely about control. She even manipulates the outcome. Gao is fascinating here in that she's just as manipulative as eveyone else but she's honest about it. Truth can manipulate as much as any lie when truth is controled. And the name of Colleen's dojo, "Chikara". Translated from Japanese it mean "power", "capability" or (pay attention) "influence". Also, for a nice subtle one, the kata that is being practiced by the group inside the compound when Danny is being shown around is named Seienchin which means "to push or pull in battle" or "control".
The show is worth the ride for the brilliantly executed themes and motifs alone. Add in really great performances from the entire cast and so excellent fight sequences and its a definite winner. Its not a front to back kung-fu action piece. The action is earned and not gratuitious. The fight scene themselves get more and more interesting and intense as the series progresses.
And I'm going to make a quick note here about the "hallway fight". The original hallway fight was in season one, episode two of Daredevil. Its an amazing piece in that it firmly tells a story and is down without cuts, meaning you maintain one camera shot and its done in one continuous take. Its insanely difficult. They did it again in season two. Since then, people were trying to see "hallway fights" in later series Luke Cage and Iron Fist. They aren't there. Just because a fight scene takes place in a hallway does not mean the writers and directors were going for something as grand as they did in Daredevil.
Bottom line: while I hold Daredevil as the high water mark of Marvel's Netflix shows, Iron Fist is right behind it. Its smart television with great performances. Definitely worth your time to watch.
There's a ton of people upset that the ethnicity of the character was not changed from white to asian for the show. These people are at best in need of a real problem to be concerned about and at worst racist. There are plenty of people who have gone to Asia, learned martial arts, and become quite good at them. I'm living proof. To insist that a character be asian because they become a kung-fu champion pushes a nasty stereotype. Quite often those are making these complaints rave of the virtues of multiculturalism; but upon seeing someone they don't approve of based solely on their skin color benefitting from being immersed in and benefitting from a foreign culture, scream 'cultural appropriation'.
Now that the stupid part is pushed aside, let's look at the show. Yes, there will be SPOILERS. You've been warned. Also, this is going to be more of a book report in that if you want full explanations of who all these characters all WATCH THE SERES!
Its a thirteen episode slow burn. It doesn't rush, because with this story, you can't. Our hero, Danny, has returned to New York all grown up trying to figure out what it is to be Danny Rand again. Everyone believes he's dead and it takes quite a bit of effort to convince people he is who he says he is. His childhood friends run the corporation that their fathers started. They, Ward and Joy, are understandibly sceptical because Danny is worth a ridiculous amount of money. Danny, to his credit, is more concerned with helping people and getting his life back than he is about the money.
What follows is an incredible web which is just a beauty to watch play out. This brings us the theme of the entire show: manipulation.
From Merriam-Webster: manipulate: to treat or operate with or as if with the hands or by mechanical means especially in a skillful manner
Quite appropriate that the foes Danny faces throughout the series is The Hand. The Hand first popped up in Netflix's Daredevil series and was featured prominently in season two. In Iron Fist we see a lot of their inner workings, especially as Danny tries to fulfill the mission he was given: to destroy the Hand. That's only part of his problems in that everyone he encounters, with the exception of Claire, is either a manipulator or a pawn.
The bottom keeps dropping out from under Danny and the viewer during the series. Every time you think you have a good handle on how this is going to play out and where everyone stands you get a new bit of information that changes everything.
Hands are a powerful motif that repeats over and over throughout the series. The hand being the name of the organiztion Danny is facing. You see a hand print on Harold's window when he leaves his confinement and they let him know they are watching. Harold later slices off a finger showing subservience and his lack of influence within the hand. His finger returns showing that he still has quite a bit of power and influence upon his return. At his lowest when Ward is in need of drugs he injures his own hand thus showing his lack of ability to control himself and others. That lack of control is quickly evident when he fails to get the drugs he wants. A handprint is necessary to enter Harold's penthouse. Danny's hand getting shot in the final battle as he's desparate to clear his name stop Harold, only to be fully healed once he comes to terms with himself and the path he's on. Showing of handprints let's you know you're being watched. An injured hand shows a character losing their power. Healing of a hand shows a return of their power and their control (either over themselves or others).
There's all these little pieces that make this so delicious. The sale's women manipulating people into buying their drugs. All the insults Danny is subjected to in hopes of making him angry and controlable. The entire challenge match Gao sets up is completely about control. She even manipulates the outcome. Gao is fascinating here in that she's just as manipulative as eveyone else but she's honest about it. Truth can manipulate as much as any lie when truth is controled. And the name of Colleen's dojo, "Chikara". Translated from Japanese it mean "power", "capability" or (pay attention) "influence". Also, for a nice subtle one, the kata that is being practiced by the group inside the compound when Danny is being shown around is named Seienchin which means "to push or pull in battle" or "control".
The show is worth the ride for the brilliantly executed themes and motifs alone. Add in really great performances from the entire cast and so excellent fight sequences and its a definite winner. Its not a front to back kung-fu action piece. The action is earned and not gratuitious. The fight scene themselves get more and more interesting and intense as the series progresses.
And I'm going to make a quick note here about the "hallway fight". The original hallway fight was in season one, episode two of Daredevil. Its an amazing piece in that it firmly tells a story and is down without cuts, meaning you maintain one camera shot and its done in one continuous take. Its insanely difficult. They did it again in season two. Since then, people were trying to see "hallway fights" in later series Luke Cage and Iron Fist. They aren't there. Just because a fight scene takes place in a hallway does not mean the writers and directors were going for something as grand as they did in Daredevil.
Bottom line: while I hold Daredevil as the high water mark of Marvel's Netflix shows, Iron Fist is right behind it. Its smart television with great performances. Definitely worth your time to watch.
Bad nerd!
Hello, my name is Marty, and I am a bad nerd.
This not a good time to be a bad nerd. There's all these nerdy things all about us in various media. I have many nerd friends (people I only know on the internet still count as friends!), and they're all very excited. I can't go on much of any social media without seeing something about recent nerd movies/TV shows/ whatever or one of the same coming out this year.
And I just don't care.
And this is troubling to me! I'm not trying to be Hipster Nozz over here! I wish I was excited about all these things that're coming out! Aside from the Marvel Netflix stuff and some of the comics I read nothing is really getting me stoked. Its really depressing. Not totally terrible of course. I still have The Walking Dead comic, and a lot of the Marvel stuff since the re-launch has been a lot of fun.
However, much of what a lot of people seem to be excited about doesn't appeal to me. And its weird in that much of it has gotten so mainstream that the people I know who aren't really part of the "nerdcore" see it, like it, and think of me. "Marty must be really excited by all of this!"
And I'm not. Let's review my bad nerd credentials.
* I hate the new STAR WARS movie. I really do. Its not a bad movie. Its very well done. I wasn't terribly excited about going to see it. The Missus wanted to check it out, so we went. If you haven't seen it yet I'm going to dance around a spoiler as best I can.
If a fictional character that I have loved since childhood, one that was the epitome of cool for me as a kid, and my favorite thing in that entire fictional universe, gets horribly murdered in a film, I'M NOT GOING TO LIKE THAT FILM!!! That's the only thing I think of in regards to that movie. All the other stuff has just become a grey haze to me because of that one part. I'm seriously to the point where I want nothing to do with STAR WARS because of that one thing.
There's no logic behind it. Its purely, 100% emotionalism. The last thing that really had me vested in the franchise got bumped off, and with that I've out grown STAR WARS.
* I hate THE DARK KNIGHT. This is not news to those who have followed me for a while. The movie that a lot of people hail as the most amazing Batman movie ever, I rank it right down with BATMAN AND ROBIN. It was a great Joker movie, but made Batman out to be a two-fisted moron with Morgan freeman there to do all the heavy thinking for him. I found it just hard to watch.
And unfortunately it started a trend with Warner brothers to which ever Superman got very grim and gritty. MAN OF STEEL looked like something I needed to keep my children away from, and like the brilliant writer Greg Rucka put it "Any Superman movie that you can't take your kids to isn't a good Superman movie."
So, no I'm not excited at all for the SUPERMAN VS BATMAN movie. Ben Affleck does look like he'll make a great Batman, but I have no interest in a movie which Martha Kent tells Clark he doesn't owe the world a thing. In these movies, Ma and Pa Kent are the worst parents ever. And honestly, I don't feel like going to a movie to watch two superheroes I like beat each other up. Go fight a villain. You've both got plenty of them.
Which brings us to...
* CIVIL WAR. Damn it all anyways. Why? Why on earth do people praise that comic? Its terribly written. The artwork is really nice, but the book portrays Captain America as being a freaking nut and not much better than the Punisher. And ever since then Ironman has been a almost a villain with no one really trusting him. Now, we've had a reboot and Ironman is really awesome again! But now there's going to be another CIVIL WAR comic which pits Ironman against Captain Marvel. Yes, the Captain Marvel that's going to be getting her own movie in a couple years. We couldn't go six months since SECRET WAR in which everyone got along and fought bad guys?
Oh and the movie?
OK, let's take two characters that we've been made to like and put them against each other. And that last scene with Cap and Bucky being the crap out of Ironman was disturbing. They looked like a couple of bullies. This may well be the first movie that Marvel studios puts out that I full on avoid.
* Speaking of Marvel movies: screw DEADPOOL. I hate that character. I'm annoyed by his rabid fandom. I'm absolutely stunned that a movie actually got off the ground and fully expect this thing to flop, because I think more people will just illegally download from somewhere instead of shelling out the bucks to go see it.
* SUICIDE SQUAD. Yeah, concerning that: I've taken all of my f--ks and put them in a time capsule which is not to be unearthed until well after I'm dead because i won't be giving any of them.
Fortunately there's still so good nerdy TV for me to enjoy. I really wish LEGENDS OF TOMORROW was going to be on on a night that I won't get home until after its over, but those are the breaks.
There's all these things out there that people are going to be buzzing about. It'll likely come up at shows when I'm trying to sell my comic, and I'll smile uncomfortably and make some excuse about not finding time to go see it, but I'll catch it of DVD, and hey, let's talk about my book.
Its very frustrating. I want to enjoy these things, but its just all so wrong to me. I'm having people who didn't start out nearly as nerdy as me knowing a lot more about some of this stuff than I do. I've gotten pretty good at smiling and shrugging my shoulders over it.
I will say this, its kinda tough when the stuff everyone's so excited about bums you out.
This not a good time to be a bad nerd. There's all these nerdy things all about us in various media. I have many nerd friends (people I only know on the internet still count as friends!), and they're all very excited. I can't go on much of any social media without seeing something about recent nerd movies/TV shows/ whatever or one of the same coming out this year.
And I just don't care.
And this is troubling to me! I'm not trying to be Hipster Nozz over here! I wish I was excited about all these things that're coming out! Aside from the Marvel Netflix stuff and some of the comics I read nothing is really getting me stoked. Its really depressing. Not totally terrible of course. I still have The Walking Dead comic, and a lot of the Marvel stuff since the re-launch has been a lot of fun.
However, much of what a lot of people seem to be excited about doesn't appeal to me. And its weird in that much of it has gotten so mainstream that the people I know who aren't really part of the "nerdcore" see it, like it, and think of me. "Marty must be really excited by all of this!"
And I'm not. Let's review my bad nerd credentials.
* I hate the new STAR WARS movie. I really do. Its not a bad movie. Its very well done. I wasn't terribly excited about going to see it. The Missus wanted to check it out, so we went. If you haven't seen it yet I'm going to dance around a spoiler as best I can. If a fictional character that I have loved since childhood, one that was the epitome of cool for me as a kid, and my favorite thing in that entire fictional universe, gets horribly murdered in a film, I'M NOT GOING TO LIKE THAT FILM!!! That's the only thing I think of in regards to that movie. All the other stuff has just become a grey haze to me because of that one part. I'm seriously to the point where I want nothing to do with STAR WARS because of that one thing.
There's no logic behind it. Its purely, 100% emotionalism. The last thing that really had me vested in the franchise got bumped off, and with that I've out grown STAR WARS.
* I hate THE DARK KNIGHT. This is not news to those who have followed me for a while. The movie that a lot of people hail as the most amazing Batman movie ever, I rank it right down with BATMAN AND ROBIN. It was a great Joker movie, but made Batman out to be a two-fisted moron with Morgan freeman there to do all the heavy thinking for him. I found it just hard to watch.
And unfortunately it started a trend with Warner brothers to which ever Superman got very grim and gritty. MAN OF STEEL looked like something I needed to keep my children away from, and like the brilliant writer Greg Rucka put it "Any Superman movie that you can't take your kids to isn't a good Superman movie."
So, no I'm not excited at all for the SUPERMAN VS BATMAN movie. Ben Affleck does look like he'll make a great Batman, but I have no interest in a movie which Martha Kent tells Clark he doesn't owe the world a thing. In these movies, Ma and Pa Kent are the worst parents ever. And honestly, I don't feel like going to a movie to watch two superheroes I like beat each other up. Go fight a villain. You've both got plenty of them.
Which brings us to...
* CIVIL WAR. Damn it all anyways. Why? Why on earth do people praise that comic? Its terribly written. The artwork is really nice, but the book portrays Captain America as being a freaking nut and not much better than the Punisher. And ever since then Ironman has been a almost a villain with no one really trusting him. Now, we've had a reboot and Ironman is really awesome again! But now there's going to be another CIVIL WAR comic which pits Ironman against Captain Marvel. Yes, the Captain Marvel that's going to be getting her own movie in a couple years. We couldn't go six months since SECRET WAR in which everyone got along and fought bad guys?
Oh and the movie?
OK, let's take two characters that we've been made to like and put them against each other. And that last scene with Cap and Bucky being the crap out of Ironman was disturbing. They looked like a couple of bullies. This may well be the first movie that Marvel studios puts out that I full on avoid.
* Speaking of Marvel movies: screw DEADPOOL. I hate that character. I'm annoyed by his rabid fandom. I'm absolutely stunned that a movie actually got off the ground and fully expect this thing to flop, because I think more people will just illegally download from somewhere instead of shelling out the bucks to go see it.
* SUICIDE SQUAD. Yeah, concerning that: I've taken all of my f--ks and put them in a time capsule which is not to be unearthed until well after I'm dead because i won't be giving any of them.
Fortunately there's still so good nerdy TV for me to enjoy. I really wish LEGENDS OF TOMORROW was going to be on on a night that I won't get home until after its over, but those are the breaks.
There's all these things out there that people are going to be buzzing about. It'll likely come up at shows when I'm trying to sell my comic, and I'll smile uncomfortably and make some excuse about not finding time to go see it, but I'll catch it of DVD, and hey, let's talk about my book.
Its very frustrating. I want to enjoy these things, but its just all so wrong to me. I'm having people who didn't start out nearly as nerdy as me knowing a lot more about some of this stuff than I do. I've gotten pretty good at smiling and shrugging my shoulders over it.
I will say this, its kinda tough when the stuff everyone's so excited about bums you out.
Not my Captain America?
The new Captain America comic came out last week and its caused a bit of a stink. For those who haven't been keeping up, Steve Rogers, the original Cap, no longer has the Super Soldier Serum in him and has aged. He chose a successor, his friend and long-time partner, Sam Wilson, the Falcon. There was a bit of a flap about Captain America being black and diversity running amuck, but for those who have followed the comics and characters for a long time, its actually pretty cool. Sam Wilson is a great character, and if someone had to step in for Steve Rogers I think he's the best choice.Now the new comic is out, and its written by Nick Spencer. I like Nick Spencer. I think he's a really amazing writer. I was excited to see what he;d do with the character, and then I read the issue. Things started out great. Sam is kicking butt and taking on Hydra goons and Crossbones. It a lot of fun. Then we find out that everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. is ticked at him and so is a good chunk of the public.
And its the reason why where I think Spencer has made a big mistake.
Spencer acknowledges that Steve Rogers kept his politics to himself as much as possible. He stayed out of partisan squabbling. I really like the quote that Hickman gave Cap when he was being told his values and ideals were archaic. His answer was "I don't judge people's lives, I save them." And that's just awesome. Captain America makes the right choices even in the toughest of situations. He's an ideal, and I think that's a lot of the ideal of America. Doing what's right, even when its hard.
But Sam Wilson doesn't seem to be reflecting the ideal of America, but more of the reality of America. He's come out on certain sides of issues, and its ticked off people who don't agree. This is so very disappointing. I saw Sam being Cap and being a minority as a step forward and we can judge characters and people by the content of their character and their actions. I had hope. I had hope that Sam, like Steve, would stay above politics and just be a force for good.
Instead I see the like of "You're not my Captain America" which reminds me of those who say Obama "is not my president". There's other parallels between Sam and Obama in the book. Its funny because there was hope for him too. Instead our president has focused on the divides in this country and pushing his side of things. I really don't want to see Sam go down that same road, but that's kind of how its looking it'll go.
The latter part of the book has Sam coming in to stop people from harming illegal immigrants. That's good. Captain America should be stopping those who would harm people unable to defend themselves. But at the same time, these are people who are willfully breaking the law, and I'm doubting Sam is going to tell them that what they are doing is wrong.
I follow politics, and its a tiring, soul crushing affair. I read comics to life my spirits and often inspire me as they did when I was a kid. I used to want to be a good, upright, moral man like Captain America. Now Captain America saddens me. It looks like just one more thing that's been sucked up in the political game of demonized and mocking anything or anyone that doesn't agree with you. Its even to the point that we're being presented characters in this book like Phil Coulson and Nick Fury Jr. who are heroes in other marvel books but are here shady individuals that we shouldn't trust.
But its only the first issue of this run. Perhaps Sam will learn that he's not Captain Democrat, Captain Republican, Captain Conservative, nor Captain Liberal.
He's Captain America. And I hope he's one I can admire and respect as much as his predeccesor.
Curse you, Hickman!
For those of you who haven't been following Marvel Comics, there's a massive event going on. SECRET WARS kicked off this month and writer Jonathon Hickman, is really taking things next level. He's been building up to this story for years with his runs on AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS. This is going to be the event that reboots the Marvel Universe.
I picked up the first issue in which pretty much everything and everyone was destroyed. Only a handful of people made it out. It was brutal. The proper Marvel Universe and the Marvel Ultimate Universe collided and destroyed each other. We're left wondering where could be go from here. Thankfully, we did not have long to wait because Marvel released the second issue the following week.
Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up that issue because I was picking up my own comic book, A-DAY PLUS, from the printers just in time for the recent Tidewater Comicon. For those who aren't familiar with my current project, four apocalyptic events occur within a 24 hour period. Chaos and stupidity ensue. I got my books but had no time to get to Comic Kings to getmy weekly fix I comics, including SECRET WARS #2.
Fine, I went the following day to get my books. They had sold out of SECRET WARS #2, but marked me down to get a copy the next time some came in. They did have a fancy pants variant cover one, but I figured I could wait.
Tidewater Comicon came and went. I debuted issue 2 of A-DAY PLUS, and that went well. I go in the following week to get my comics, and still no second shipment of SECRET WARS #2. I finally got my hands on a copy yesterday. I read it, and was really into it... until... we get to the Shield.
The Shield is a massive wall which separates the relatively sane parts of Battleworld from the horrible parts. What's in these horrible parts?
Zombies. Robots. Horrible creatures. Replace the buggy Annihilation Wave for something more squidy, and add in some homicidal flying saucers and this gets really damned familiar!
Beyond the Shield is A-DAY PLUS.
Of course, its obvious what has happened here. Its not uncommon the two different writers come up with really similar ideas completely independently of each other. In fact it happened to me a few years ago on MERE MORTAL back when I was writing that to the point that someone thought another writer was attempting to rip me off, which it turned out not to be the case.
So the truth is obvious.
That Hickman fella got a hold of my first issue and was so blown away by it, he had to work it into SECRET WARS. Now, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery aside from showers of cash, and I'm truly honored that he would think so much of my comic that he would so blatantly copy it for his current project. However, he has not asked my permission to do so. Not even a friendly hit up on Twitter like, "Hey, mind if I rip off your comic for Secret Wars? k thx"
As such, I'm going to boycott SECRET WARS until I get an apology for Hickman and Marvel comics, or until the next issue of SECRET WARS comes out! Whichever comes first!
I picked up the first issue in which pretty much everything and everyone was destroyed. Only a handful of people made it out. It was brutal. The proper Marvel Universe and the Marvel Ultimate Universe collided and destroyed each other. We're left wondering where could be go from here. Thankfully, we did not have long to wait because Marvel released the second issue the following week.Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up that issue because I was picking up my own comic book, A-DAY PLUS, from the printers just in time for the recent Tidewater Comicon. For those who aren't familiar with my current project, four apocalyptic events occur within a 24 hour period. Chaos and stupidity ensue. I got my books but had no time to get to Comic Kings to get
Fine, I went the following day to get my books. They had sold out of SECRET WARS #2, but marked me down to get a copy the next time some came in. They did have a fancy pants variant cover one, but I figured I could wait.
Tidewater Comicon came and went. I debuted issue 2 of A-DAY PLUS, and that went well. I go in the following week to get my comics, and still no second shipment of SECRET WARS #2. I finally got my hands on a copy yesterday. I read it, and was really into it... until... we get to the Shield.
The Shield is a massive wall which separates the relatively sane parts of Battleworld from the horrible parts. What's in these horrible parts?
Zombies. Robots. Horrible creatures. Replace the buggy Annihilation Wave for something more squidy, and add in some homicidal flying saucers and this gets really damned familiar!
Beyond the Shield is A-DAY PLUS.Of course, its obvious what has happened here. Its not uncommon the two different writers come up with really similar ideas completely independently of each other. In fact it happened to me a few years ago on MERE MORTAL back when I was writing that to the point that someone thought another writer was attempting to rip me off, which it turned out not to be the case.
So the truth is obvious.
That Hickman fella got a hold of my first issue and was so blown away by it, he had to work it into SECRET WARS. Now, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery aside from showers of cash, and I'm truly honored that he would think so much of my comic that he would so blatantly copy it for his current project. However, he has not asked my permission to do so. Not even a friendly hit up on Twitter like, "Hey, mind if I rip off your comic for Secret Wars? k thx"
As such, I'm going to boycott SECRET WARS until I get an apology for Hickman and Marvel comics, or until the next issue of SECRET WARS comes out! Whichever comes first!
Its all over for Marvel.
There's a big battle brewing for Marvel, and its not just a Super Bowl wager. Marvel is counting down to a new Secret Wars event which will in turn lead to Marvel rebooting its continuity. This, of course, has lead to much wailing and gnashing of teeth from fans who are quite reboot weary. The weariness comes from DC Comics being on their, I think, fourth reboot at this point. This has a lot of fan looking sideways at this and there's still a bit of a bitter air about DC's last reboot which has gotten mixed reviews.
Let's break this on down.
For those new to this concept, a "reboot" is a resetting of the continuity in a fictional world. This sounds crazy on the surface as one would wonder why you want to ignore stories and risk alienating long time fans. People spent time and money reading these stories. They're invested. But now that investment doesn't matter?
It does matter, but there's a case to be made for reboots and they are necessary on occasion.
So, they had one big event to bring everything together. George Perez drew just about every character DC every had at some point. Its a classic story, and well worth reading.
* New Universe stuff! Hickman worked the White Event into his line and its was an interesting take on things. That and I have all the old PSI-FORCE comics and I still think Wayne Tucker was cool.
Let's break this on down.For those new to this concept, a "reboot" is a resetting of the continuity in a fictional world. This sounds crazy on the surface as one would wonder why you want to ignore stories and risk alienating long time fans. People spent time and money reading these stories. They're invested. But now that investment doesn't matter?
It does matter, but there's a case to be made for reboots and they are necessary on occasion.
WHY SHOULD THERE BE A REBOOT?
* If there is confusion as to continuity. I'm not just talking about a subject in the continuity that someone can read up on. If the question is "What happened to Mister Awesome?" and the answer is "Well, this happened to him. It was in (insert title of storyline here). You can check it out in (name the trade or the issue numbers here)." then you don't have a problem. However, if the question is "What happened to Mister Awesome?" and the reply is "Do you mean the main Mister Awesome, the Extreme World Mister Awesome, or the one from the other dimension that's currently being Mister Awesome while Mister Awesome is presumed dead but is really lost in the multiverse with a genetically altered chinchilla?" there may be cause for concern.
* You're planning on incorporating something you've acquired into your main continuity. Companies merge. Each have characters that would work great together. Parallel Earth team-ups are starting to get played out, and it time to properly get everyone in the same sandbox.
*Time has marched on. If characters have a specific tie to a specific ear they can get dated, and that gets awkward. Superheroes tend to have fountain of youth going for them, but even that fountain can't explain away a disco inspired wardrobe for a character that couldn't have been born in the 70s.
DC'S REBOOTS
DC rebooted everything in the mid-80s with their CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. At the time DC had a lot going on. Their main characters existed on "Earth 1". Their Golden Age characters existed on "Earth 2". Captain Marvel and his buddies had their own Earth as did Blue Beetle and the characters he shared a world with. That's a lot for keep straight.
So, they had one big event to bring everything together. George Perez drew just about every character DC every had at some point. Its a classic story, and well worth reading.
But the relaunch had a couple of flaws here and there at to the new continuity. Its a huge undertaking with multiple creative teams that really need to be coordinated with each other. So, years later DC released ZERO HOUR to try to smooth over some of these issues. The whole point was to try to streamline things, and it worked for the most part.
Characters moved on and the Silver Age heroes passed torches to a newer generation. Unfortunately, some people didn't like that and they somehow ended up being in charge. There ended up being more changes which culminated in FLASHPOINT and THE NEW 52. This went down because the powers that be at DC wanted their Silver Age heroes back in the saddle and Jim Lee could now bring in his Wildstorm properties over. It hasn't gone very well. There was an initial sales bump, but things are waning.
The reboot just seemed too forced, and the execution on the follow up was kind of haphazard. Also, some real fan favorite characters got written out. Fans of Stephanie Brown or Wally West were left shrugging their shoulders.
WHAT'S UP WITH MARVEL?
There's been a lot brewing with Marvel as to build up to SECRET WARS. Jonathan Hickman's runs on AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS have been leading up to this directly. The storyline has been really great. I haven't felt this gripped by a storyline since Morrison's Batman epic. The real question is: why is Marvel rebooting everything now?
Marvel released an alternative "Ultimate" line of comics years ago, and they've been a success. The continuity for the main Marvel Universe and the Ultimate universe are different, and both have their merits. In fact the Marvel movies have drawn from both as source material. There's also been other alternate realty stories that have gone on and there's some fondness for some of the characters that have appeared there, but not in the main continuities.
Remember what I said above about why you should consider a reboot? Marvel is there. If you ask about Captain America, you're needing to be more specific. Also, let's look at the Punisher and Ironman. Those are two characters who have their origins linked to America's adventures in southeast Asia. Punisher is a Vietnam War veteran. So, that would make him around 60 now. Nick Fury is in his nineties easily.
Time has moved on, and some things are needing a polishing. So, this reboot I'm all for.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
Yeah, everyone else has sounded off, and I'm following the herd. Moo.
* Ironman being more hero and less villain. Seriously, he's been shady as hell since that awful CIVIL WAR comic. It would be nice to put all that behind us and have him back as a proper hero.
* Miles Morales and Nick Fury from the Ultimate universe being in proper Marvel. These characters are well liked and interesting. There's plenty of room for them.
* Cyclops not being creepy and Jean Grey not dying over and over and over again.
* New Universe stuff! Hickman worked the White Event into his line and its was an interesting take on things. That and I have all the old PSI-FORCE comics and I still think Wayne Tucker was cool.
*That One More Day business being gone forever and ever. Seriously. That was just dumb. I'd even be cool with resetting Spidey back to his high school days.
* Deadpool not existing. Yeah, I know that's not going to happen. I just don't like Deadpool.
That's pretty much it. I think we've got some really great writers over at Marvel right now, and they'll do a great job with the relaunch. Just as long as they don't make it a habit.
Lead Up to Avengers Shake Up.
For those who saw these stories and are curious about what is going on and haven't been keeping up with the books, the whole thing is revolving around a storyline that Jonathan Hickman has been doing. There's going to be a time jump, and what's the point of the time jump if everyone is exactly as they are now. So, we get to see some fun change ups.
The problem is that this is getting some interest from people who haven't been reading the Avengers books and its honestly a lot to catch up on. So, here's a really horrible recount of everything.
Illuminati: "We be the smart dudes that make big heavy choices, and don't tell no one."
Black Panther: "A parallel Earth almost crashed into us! What's up with that?"
Illuminati: "We don't know. Join our club?"
Black Panther: "OK."
Reed Richards:"The multiverse is dying. We're all screwed."
Ironman: "We got this."
Reed Richards: "Another parallel Earth!"
Illuminati: "Get the Infinity Gauntlet! Who's gonna use it?"
Ironman: "Get Steve to do it!"
Infinity Gauntlet goes blooey.
Namor: "You dumb-ass! You wrecked our Gauntlet!"
Ironman: "We may have to blow up the parallel Earths to save ours."
Cap: "Not cool!"
Ironman: "Gotta do it."
Cap: "Don't be a dick."
Ironman: "You're out of the club. Enjoy your mindwipe."
Later.
Ironman: "Hey Steve, help me build a really awesome Avengers team."
Cap: "OK."
Weird stuff happens on Mars.
Weird stuff happens of Earth.
Spider-man gets turned into a douche.
White Event. Cause New Universe is cool.
Thanos: "Child support sucks! Killin' all my bastards!"
Ironman: "Something is kicking everyone's ass in space and is heading this way."
Cap: "We'll go help!"
Thanos: "The Avengers have split! Let's wreck their shit! Is my Gauntlet here?"
"Its busted, but the Time Gem may be around."
Thanos: "Cool. Go find it while we're here."
Gladiator: "The Builders are dicks. We're gonna kick their asses."
Cap: "We'll help."
Gladiator: "Whatever."
...
Gladiator: "Oh shit! The Builders are dicks and are kicking our asses!"
Cap: "OK, I've got this."
Namor: "Black Panther is a dick and has your Time Gem. Go kick his ass."
Thanos: "Hey, BP, all your base belong to me. Now, where's my kid?"
Black Bolt: "You're a dick!"
Thanos: "Screw you! Gimme my kid!"
Black Bolt: "Terrigen bomb! Suck it, you purple-faced douche!"
Thanos: "Dick."
Gladiator: "Thanks for kicking the Builder's asses. Thanos done took your planet."
Cap: "Well, guess we gotta kick his ass too."
Gladiator: "Got your back, homie!"
Thanos: "Gonna kill my kid."
Thane (Thanos's kid): "Nope."
Ironman: "More parallel Earth keep wrecking each other and some of them have people on them."
Reed Richards: "We got a bomb."
Hulk: "I know what you've been up to."
Ironman: "Join our club."
Hulk: "OK."
Reed Richards: "Here comes another Earth."
Ironman: "We gotta destroy it."
Dudes from parallel Earth: "Not cool! Y'all are dicks!"
Doctor Strange loses his shit.
Illuminati: "We really don't want to kill a bunch of people to save everyone."
Namor: "Y'all are pussies. Imperius Rex, bitches!"
Parallel Earth go boom.
Illuminati: "Not cool, Namor! You're a dick."
Namor: "Whatever."
...
Namor: "Got me me a new crew. Gonna wreck some stuff."
Cap: "I remember now! Tony is a dick!"
Ironman: "Chill!"
Cap: "You're a dick, and I'm gonna kick your ass!"
Time Gem.
Time travel things.
Cap gets back.
Cap: "Ironman is a dick and so are the rest of the Illuminati. We're gonna kick their asses."
Illuminati: "Oh shit!"
And that's pretty much where we're at going into the next issues. Its going to jump ahead about eight months and the separate titles will be catching up over the next eight months. If you want you can go ahead and hunt down the trades to get a better idea of everything that's going on. Its good reading.
Have fun.
Words fail me.
There are times when I hate people for how they use language, and I'm including myself in this declaration. Yeah, as a former English Major I have been known to completely butcher the language, but I figure having a B.A. in English doesn't mean I have to be snooty about it. Sometimes though I like to use words and language as they are supposed to properly be used. When that earthquake caused the terrible tsunami in Japan I told my buddy I thought it was awesome how the effects of that quake could make it all the way to the west coast crossing the entire Pacific. I then caught grief from him about how could I refer to anything having to do with that quake as "awesome".
"Awesome" is currently the "cool". "Cool" is nearly antiquated now. Thank you, Bill and Ted.
When I referred to what happened as "awesome" I meant it in the classic sense. I was in awe of the effects of the quake. I saw the video of the waves coming into California. It really made me consider the power of our planet. Certainly I would not refer to a natural disaster which killed many people as anything ressembling "cool".
I'm bringing this up because of something that I talked about today with Federali and Joey Part Deux up at Kings. We were talking about Marvel's INFINITY storyline
and event. Last post I made a joke about how it was a tie in to the new Disney video game since they both kicked off inside of a week of each other. Here's the thing, this storyline is offically three issues in, but its been building in multiple books for a while. Hickman's set the stage for something that's really huge.
Let's look at what's going on.
A group called The Builders are taking out everything in their path. The Avengers have ties to the Kree and the Shi'ar, and the Builder's path is heading forwards Earth. Captain America has taken a team into space to join with the major players in the Marvel Universe to combat this.
Back on Earth the Illuminati have been busting their butts to try to save Earth and the Universe from the collapsing of the Multiverse and parallel Earths crashing into our earth. This process destroyed most of the Infinity Gems. And we have Namor and the Black Panther going to war with each other, so there's back-stabbery afoot.
To top things off, Thanos is looking to put the curb stomp on the entire planet and has sent his generals, the Cull Obsidion, to get the last Infinity Gem and put away anyone who gets in their way. As such, ironman and the Illumanati, instead of prepping to take on the Builders in case Cap's team and the rest of the Universe can't stop them, are in it up to their necks dealing with one fired-up mad Titan.
Seriously. Holy crap, that's a lot going on. And that's just a brief overview.
There we are talking about this storyline and there's just one word that I could think of to describe, and I didn't even want to use that word because of every goober online using it to describe anything remotely above average: "epic".
This thing is freaking epic.
This is like Hickman is saying to the funnybook fandom and the internet, "Yeah, that word you've been misusing? I'm taking it back."
Because, as the Missus said earlier and paraphrasing THE INCREDIBLES, "When everything is epic, nothing is epic."
"Awesome" is currently the "cool". "Cool" is nearly antiquated now. Thank you, Bill and Ted.
When I referred to what happened as "awesome" I meant it in the classic sense. I was in awe of the effects of the quake. I saw the video of the waves coming into California. It really made me consider the power of our planet. Certainly I would not refer to a natural disaster which killed many people as anything ressembling "cool".
I'm bringing this up because of something that I talked about today with Federali and Joey Part Deux up at Kings. We were talking about Marvel's INFINITY storyline
and event. Last post I made a joke about how it was a tie in to the new Disney video game since they both kicked off inside of a week of each other. Here's the thing, this storyline is offically three issues in, but its been building in multiple books for a while. Hickman's set the stage for something that's really huge.
Let's look at what's going on.
A group called The Builders are taking out everything in their path. The Avengers have ties to the Kree and the Shi'ar, and the Builder's path is heading forwards Earth. Captain America has taken a team into space to join with the major players in the Marvel Universe to combat this.Back on Earth the Illuminati have been busting their butts to try to save Earth and the Universe from the collapsing of the Multiverse and parallel Earths crashing into our earth. This process destroyed most of the Infinity Gems. And we have Namor and the Black Panther going to war with each other, so there's back-stabbery afoot.
To top things off, Thanos is looking to put the curb stomp on the entire planet and has sent his generals, the Cull Obsidion, to get the last Infinity Gem and put away anyone who gets in their way. As such, ironman and the Illumanati, instead of prepping to take on the Builders in case Cap's team and the rest of the Universe can't stop them, are in it up to their necks dealing with one fired-up mad Titan.
Seriously. Holy crap, that's a lot going on. And that's just a brief overview.
There we are talking about this storyline and there's just one word that I could think of to describe, and I didn't even want to use that word because of every goober online using it to describe anything remotely above average: "epic".
This thing is freaking epic.
This is like Hickman is saying to the funnybook fandom and the internet, "Yeah, that word you've been misusing? I'm taking it back."
Because, as the Missus said earlier and paraphrasing THE INCREDIBLES, "When everything is epic, nothing is epic."
To Infinity and... something...
Its not surprising that Marvel, being owned by Disney, would put out a tie-in comic to really get as many people as they could on board. The first issue of INFINITY came out last week, and Jonathan Hickman has guided his AVENGERS series to this event, much like the nice folks over at Gamestop have been collecting thos pre-orders. The cross marketing has been subtle, and fortunately Hickman has been very careful not to overplay things.
Both the comic and the game deal with multiversal concepts. The game does branch out a bit more as it allows players to explore multiple Earths wereas the comic just sticks to the Marvel U that we know. There has been a lot in NEW AVENGERS dealing with "incursions" which stem from a chain reaction caused by on universe in the multiverse being destroyed and the other universes reacting to that void. Has of yet I have found no such destruction of a Universe in the video game, although to be fair I haven't played through the MONSTERS UNIVERSITY segment of the game, nor purchased the CARS and THE LONE RANGER expansions.
These builders have gone a bit nutters and are wiping out worlds. They go after the Space Knights and the Kree in the comics. This is a clear cut message to old school ROM fans, there's a new age upon us and they have not qualms about breaking out the magic wand from the game tools and deleting whatever they don't like. However, it must be noted that these Builders are not the good guys. In fact Captain America is leading the Avengers into space to help confront them. This echos something unwritten in the game but the message is clear throughout much of the gameplay: "Its better to create and nurture an idea than to just wipe it away."
So my compliments to Disney and Marvel for such a great game launch and tie-in event comic. Many people were worried that Disney would lean on marvel a bit after the acquisition to put out book that push the Disney brand, but I'm happy to report that even though Marvel is paying its due to its parent company, its doing so in a very entertaining fashion.
Character find: Darla Deering
I've been far away from Marvel Comics for a quite a long time. With time having proven me correct for my reasons to begin my boycott, and DC not wanting my money, I decided to give Marvel another chance, and it was obvious to me where I should start. The Fantastic Four have always been special to me. The first comic book I ever got was a Fantastic Four comic. Marvel recently re-launched all of their titles in a bid to get those precious new readers, which I think is stupid but oh well, so I got on board with Matt Fraction's new run on boht FANTASTIC FOUR and its sister title FF.
Quick recap: the Fantastic Four are going off into space and it shouldn't be a long trip, but just in case they appointed a replacement team.
This brings us to Darla Deering. She's a new character and was described as a celebritant like Katy Perry of Lindsey Lohan. That induced quite as eyeroll, but the FF series was getting drawn by Mike Aldred, so I eagerly picked up the book. That description of Darla does the character no justice at all.
She's on the team because Johnny forgot to pick a replacement for then they were on their trip and when he got reminded hey got ahold of the first person he could think of, which was the girl he was dating. Shouldn't be a problem, after all they are only supposed to be gone for four minutes. She is a pop star, and apparently a pretty famous one. She has no powers at all. Honestly, at first glance she has no place at all on the team.
Then we watch her a bit.
Reed takes Johnny at his word. If he says that she is right for this, then that is good enough. So there's Darla face-to-face with an in stasus Moon Boy who really needs to get back to his own time and she askes a very imporatant question: "Are we going to help him?" There's this creature that looks barely human by our standards, but she empathetic to him. So much so that she goes back in time with Johnny to help get him home.
She cares. Great big heart-right-out-there-on-her-sleeve cares.
There she is in this whole new world that she's been asked to be a part of of surrounded by these amazing people. She's awe-struck at times. She's delightfully curious. She's also quite scared. More than anything that someone will get hurt because she does not think that she's cut out for the team. Everything we've seen her do comes from one motivation: she cares.
From the adorable scene with Artie and Leech on the roof, to her crying her eyes out because she felt that she let people down.
She is delightfully and refreshingly human. She's the character I want to follow through this great big weird adventure.
This brings us to Darla Deering. She's a new character and was described as a celebritant like Katy Perry of Lindsey Lohan. That induced quite as eyeroll, but the FF series was getting drawn by Mike Aldred, so I eagerly picked up the book. That description of Darla does the character no justice at all.
She's on the team because Johnny forgot to pick a replacement for then they were on their trip and when he got reminded hey got ahold of the first person he could think of, which was the girl he was dating. Shouldn't be a problem, after all they are only supposed to be gone for four minutes. She is a pop star, and apparently a pretty famous one. She has no powers at all. Honestly, at first glance she has no place at all on the team.
Then we watch her a bit.
She cares. Great big heart-right-out-there-on-her-sleeve cares.
There she is in this whole new world that she's been asked to be a part of of surrounded by these amazing people. She's awe-struck at times. She's delightfully curious. She's also quite scared. More than anything that someone will get hurt because she does not think that she's cut out for the team. Everything we've seen her do comes from one motivation: she cares.
From the adorable scene with Artie and Leech on the roof, to her crying her eyes out because she felt that she let people down.
She is delightfully and refreshingly human. She's the character I want to follow through this great big weird adventure.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Hey gang. Its Wednesday, April 8, 2012, and this is The Side. The Missus's trip to Kansas has gotten extended a bit. I'm pretty much exhausted, so I'm not terribly clever today. Being sick doesn't help either. Right now I'm functioning on vitamins, pills, and caffeine.
THE AVENGERS knocked it right out of the park. Pretty much the only people who didn't like this movie are snobby twit critics who take their jobs way to seriously. It broke the box office record, and a sequel has already been green lit. This is going to follow sequels for Thor, Ironman, and Captain America. There's a lot of expectations going around, so I'm going to share mine.
As far as over all, I like how they've handled things. Going into the next sequel cycle, I'd like some build up to a show down with the big bad they showed during the first extra scene in the credits. The Infinity Gauntlet was shown during Thor, so maybe play with that a bit.
As for the Thor movie, I think an obvious choice in villains is The Enchantress along with the Executioner. I'm not too stoked with piling on villains for movie sequels, but these two go really well together. The Enchantress can be a fun foil to the Natalie Portman played Jane, and make for an interesting pseudo-love triangle bit. Meanwhile you've got The Executioner there for the big time throwdowns that are a must for these flicks. And if during a big battle a certain glove gets lost and the six certain gems get scattered, I'm seeing no problem with that.
The Ironman movie is a bit trickier. Marvel isn't wanting to use Chinese characters as major villains in these movies for fear of a possible backlash and maybe accusations of racism. This sucks because a lot of fans are wanting to see the Mandarin, especially with everything they hinted at in the first movie. This also rules out The Radioactive Man. My next thought would be The Titanium Man, but using him right after the Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo gestalt seems too soon. Back-to-back Russian armor wearers might not go over very well. This is where we hit tricky ground because we're ruling out a lot of top flight opponents. I'm thinking its about the right spot to put in M.O.D.O.K. and introduce AIM. Probably won't have the goofy yellow jumpsuits, and the M.O.D.O.K. design will need a bit of tweaking, but I think that would make for a fun ride. Might also be a good place for a missing gem or two to be recovered.
The Captain America movie has no shortage of bad guys to pull from. The great thing is he's got a ton of Neo-Nazi baddies, and if you can't kick the crap out of a Nazi, then there's just no point anymore. Still, I think it would be a good idea to have the main baddie be someone more current, and not a WWII hold over. At this point, as we saw in THE AVENGERS, Cap is still getting adjusted to the modern world. Having a modern villain can really build conflict, not just between the two foes, but with Cap's whole situation. I'd like to have Crossbones for this. He's got ties to the Red Skull, and would be a good bridge character. Taskmaster trained him, so having him in there for a bit would also be fun.
After Mark Ruffalo's brilliant performance there's been a bit of buzz about a possible Hulk movie. I'm game for it as Ruffalo was really, really good in THE AVENGERS and the Hulk had many of the best scenes. Since I'm picking villain's here, I'd go with The Leader. Some of us got to chatting about this on Google Plus, so I've thought about it a bit. I'd have Banner up north, and have him run afoul a Wendigo. This way you get some good monster on monster violence. Have the Leader be behind the scenes a bit looking to tap the power of the Wendigo, but he goes after the Hulk instead. His quest for the Hulk's power turns him into the big headed green guy we all know.
There's also been a lot of call for an Ant-man movie. I really don't know about that one. Sure, I'd love to see The Wasp, but I don't think Ant-man as a character has enough to him to carry a movie. Yes, I do know he was one of the founding members of the Avengers. However, that's not quite enough to warrant getting your own major motion picture. Thor, Cap, and Ironman are the Marvel Trinity characters. Hulk as been immensely popular for decades. They make sense. Ant-man just doesn't rank up there. Introduce him in one of the sequel flicks and work him in there. The next Ironman film would be the best fit.
There's a lot of characters I think of when I think of The Avengers: Wonder-man, The Vision, Ms. Marvel, The Scarlet Witch, Beast, and The Black Panther. I doubt you'll be able to had too many more characters into the sequels as it would make AVENGERS 2 an unwieldy mess. We don't want that. Work in Ant-Man and The Wasp, keep the cast they have.
For the sequel, everyone's looking to have the team take on Thanos. May as well give the people what they want. Whether or not they use the Infinity Gems as a plot device is fine with me. My favorite Thanos stories involved the gems so I'm obviously biased here. Either way, it should be a bunch of good summers coming up if you're a fan of what Marvel's been up to the last few years.
That said, if you're wanting to check out the movie and haven't, go to a theater, and don't be a dick downloading the thing. The studio makes more money that they can use to continue to entertain us. besides which, watching these flicks on the big screen is completely awesome.
Yeah, been a rough few weeks, so I'm tossing this one on out there.
Off to work. See y'all Friday.
MOVIES!!!
THE AVENGERS knocked it right out of the park. Pretty much the only people who didn't like this movie are snobby twit critics who take their jobs way to seriously. It broke the box office record, and a sequel has already been green lit. This is going to follow sequels for Thor, Ironman, and Captain America. There's a lot of expectations going around, so I'm going to share mine.
As far as over all, I like how they've handled things. Going into the next sequel cycle, I'd like some build up to a show down with the big bad they showed during the first extra scene in the credits. The Infinity Gauntlet was shown during Thor, so maybe play with that a bit.
The Ironman movie is a bit trickier. Marvel isn't wanting to use Chinese characters as major villains in these movies for fear of a possible backlash and maybe accusations of racism. This sucks because a lot of fans are wanting to see the Mandarin, especially with everything they hinted at in the first movie. This also rules out The Radioactive Man. My next thought would be The Titanium Man, but using him right after the Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo gestalt seems too soon. Back-to-back Russian armor wearers might not go over very well. This is where we hit tricky ground because we're ruling out a lot of top flight opponents. I'm thinking its about the right spot to put in M.O.D.O.K. and introduce AIM. Probably won't have the goofy yellow jumpsuits, and the M.O.D.O.K. design will need a bit of tweaking, but I think that would make for a fun ride. Might also be a good place for a missing gem or two to be recovered.
After Mark Ruffalo's brilliant performance there's been a bit of buzz about a possible Hulk movie. I'm game for it as Ruffalo was really, really good in THE AVENGERS and the Hulk had many of the best scenes. Since I'm picking villain's here, I'd go with The Leader. Some of us got to chatting about this on Google Plus, so I've thought about it a bit. I'd have Banner up north, and have him run afoul a Wendigo. This way you get some good monster on monster violence. Have the Leader be behind the scenes a bit looking to tap the power of the Wendigo, but he goes after the Hulk instead. His quest for the Hulk's power turns him into the big headed green guy we all know.
There's a lot of characters I think of when I think of The Avengers: Wonder-man, The Vision, Ms. Marvel, The Scarlet Witch, Beast, and The Black Panther. I doubt you'll be able to had too many more characters into the sequels as it would make AVENGERS 2 an unwieldy mess. We don't want that. Work in Ant-Man and The Wasp, keep the cast they have.
For the sequel, everyone's looking to have the team take on Thanos. May as well give the people what they want. Whether or not they use the Infinity Gems as a plot device is fine with me. My favorite Thanos stories involved the gems so I'm obviously biased here. Either way, it should be a bunch of good summers coming up if you're a fan of what Marvel's been up to the last few years.
That said, if you're wanting to check out the movie and haven't, go to a theater, and don't be a dick downloading the thing. The studio makes more money that they can use to continue to entertain us. besides which, watching these flicks on the big screen is completely awesome.
MUSIC!!
Yeah, been a rough few weeks, so I'm tossing this one on out there.
Off to work. See y'all Friday.
Variation of a Zombie is still a Zombie
Its Sunday, April 22, 2012, if you're one of the every fifth people who click on this block you get to see the variant pictures, and this is The Side. I got into it over variant covers with some people this week. I've seen how ridiculous it can be. I was around in the early 90s when it was completely out of control. Now many of the books with the super elaborate covers that collector's though would be worth something one day are found in dollar bin in comic shops right next to the same comics that didn't have the fancy pants variant.
Its one thing if a comic has a variant cover by a different artist. When INFINITE CRISIS came out years ago Jim Lee did the covers and George Perez did the variant covers. I sought out the variants because I'm a big fan of George Perez's artwork. I certainly didn't buy two copies of the same book. I can even understand seeing two covers by different artists and really loving the artwork on both covers, and buying both if you're unable to choose.
But this business Marvel's doing with not coloring parts of the cover and calling it a variant. That's so freaking sketchy. I've got to wonder where they came up with such an idea..
Head Suit: "OK men, our movie franchises are a hot ticket right now, but need a good sales boost on our comics. Ideas?"
Suit #1: "Make the best books we possibly can and hope readers and the market recognize this?"
Head Suit: "You're fired."
Suit #2: "I've got it! Variant covers!"
Suit #3: "We tried that back in the 90s. About the same time our bankruptcy attorney gave us our frequent filer card."
Suit #2: "No, no! It'll work this time! We've got Disney money backing us! Mickey Mouse cheddar, baby!"
Head Suit: "No, we're not going to use the Disney money to fall back on, but still this variant cover idea might have legs."
Suit #2: "Sure. We'll hit the nostalgia factor. If those guys across the street can bring back Barry Allen and get people to actually buy a book starring him after he's been gone for twenty-five years, I think we can run with such an old school gimmick. Its been twenty years, so its about time again."
Suit #4: "Are we going with the card stock, foil embossed covers with the holograms again?"
Suit #3: "Hold it. You've got to remember that we're still in a recession. Those bells and whistles will up the cover price. Money's tight and there's a lot of readers who won't pay too much more than they already do for one book."
Head Suit: "Yes, we need something that won't up the cover price much, if at all."
((Insert hours of pondering here.))
Suit #4: "What if we don't color part of the cover?"
Suit #3: "What?"
Suit #4: "Yeah, we'll not color a certain character on the cover."
Head Suit: "Oooo, I wonder how much we'll save in ink?"
Suit #3: "Probably not much, sir."
Suit #2: "Hey! Maybe we can get a kickback from Crayola, since someone will have to color those missing parts."
Head Suit: "Excellent thinking! Good work, gentlemen! Pie and hookers all around!"
THE WALKING DEAD #96 concludes the "A Larger World" storyline which is pretty pivotal. At the end of the last issue Rick was forced to kill a member of the Hilltop community in self defense. This issue we get a better idea of what Hilltop has to deal with, but its from description rather then Kirkman just dumping action on us. Hilltop has enemies. Rick and the others need what Hilltop has to offer in terms of supplies and food. Hilltop needs what Rick and others can provide by way of strength. This is so very fascinating from an anthropological point of view. We're seeing how countries are made. These tribes have formed a network to help each other. Now Rick's tribe has joined and we see what their contribution will be. How its going to work out is anyone's guess, but most likely Hilltop's enemies are going to have to deal with a very determined Rick Grimes as we approach issue #100 of the series.
THE SHADOW #1 kicks off Garth Ennis and Aaron Campbell's take on the classic pulp character. I'm a fan of The Shadow. I loved the Alec Baldwin flick. I still catch an occasional episode of the old radio show when the local high school radio station plays them. Ennis pulls no punches here. I love WWII comics, but haven't seen anything of his concerning anything from the Pacific Theater. The book opens with details of japan's brutal assaults on China. I'm not sure how much of it is accurate, but when it comes to WWII stuff Ennis tends to be very well researched. Ennis's version of The Shadow is a gun toting, avenging mystic, who seems very cold. Then we see him as being very smooth and debonair as Lamont Cranston. I wasn't really thrilled with how he acted towards Margo Lane, however that was only one scene and I'm thinking she's one that'll be holding her own. I find this version of The Shadow not very likable, but still entertaining. I do like Ennis as a writer, and he's good at writing characters which aren't terribly likable, but still sympathetic. Haven't seen it here yet, but its just the first issue and we'll see how it goes.
THE ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #2 gives us another trio of really great stories. This book has an excellent balance to it. We start off with a harrowing tale from the battlefield of WWII. Then its over to a fun little story with Cliff checking up on Betty while she's filming a movie. The last one is a great story from the one and only Walt Simonson with a charming little story. I do get a kick out of this book. We're treated to all these different takes of the same character by all these really talented writers and artists. Even with all the differences in the story styles, its still all obviously the Rocketeer. Great read.
RAGEMOOR #2 is just flat out freaky. I've read my fair share of really weird and disturbing comics, but this one has got to be up there in the ranks. It bangs about with the subtlety of a tire iron right to the face. The setting is just so intentionally horrendous, and Master Herbert tries to rail against it this issue for what happened to Anoria last issue. It just goes horribly and I have to wonder how on earth he and Bodrick the butler have survived so long in there. The answer is that the castle tolerates them and you don't screw with the castle. The creatures inhabiting the place are just so weird and freak that i have difficulty fathoming how the pieces of the puzzle fit. We know from the first issue how the castle was built, and how over time developed some sort of life of its own. Its almost like it is some Gothic, Lovecraftian entity that has all these little things growing in it like bacteria. Read it if you feel like getting weirdly creeped out.
MUSIC!!!
Caught this tune on the radio yesterday. I dug it.
That's it for me. See y'all Wednesday.
Its one thing if a comic has a variant cover by a different artist. When INFINITE CRISIS came out years ago Jim Lee did the covers and George Perez did the variant covers. I sought out the variants because I'm a big fan of George Perez's artwork. I certainly didn't buy two copies of the same book. I can even understand seeing two covers by different artists and really loving the artwork on both covers, and buying both if you're unable to choose.
But this business Marvel's doing with not coloring parts of the cover and calling it a variant. That's so freaking sketchy. I've got to wonder where they came up with such an idea..
BEHIND THE SCENES!!!
Head Suit: "OK men, our movie franchises are a hot ticket right now, but need a good sales boost on our comics. Ideas?"
Suit #1: "Make the best books we possibly can and hope readers and the market recognize this?"
Suit #2: "I've got it! Variant covers!"
Suit #3: "We tried that back in the 90s. About the same time our bankruptcy attorney gave us our frequent filer card."
Suit #2: "No, no! It'll work this time! We've got Disney money backing us! Mickey Mouse cheddar, baby!"
Head Suit: "No, we're not going to use the Disney money to fall back on, but still this variant cover idea might have legs."
Suit #2: "Sure. We'll hit the nostalgia factor. If those guys across the street can bring back Barry Allen and get people to actually buy a book starring him after he's been gone for twenty-five years, I think we can run with such an old school gimmick. Its been twenty years, so its about time again."
Suit #4: "Are we going with the card stock, foil embossed covers with the holograms again?"
Suit #3: "Hold it. You've got to remember that we're still in a recession. Those bells and whistles will up the cover price. Money's tight and there's a lot of readers who won't pay too much more than they already do for one book."
Head Suit: "Yes, we need something that won't up the cover price much, if at all."
((Insert hours of pondering here.))
Suit #4: "What if we don't color part of the cover?"
Suit #3: "What?"
Suit #4: "Yeah, we'll not color a certain character on the cover."
Head Suit: "Oooo, I wonder how much we'll save in ink?"
Suit #3: "Probably not much, sir."
Suit #2: "Hey! Maybe we can get a kickback from Crayola, since someone will have to color those missing parts."
Head Suit: "Excellent thinking! Good work, gentlemen! Pie and hookers all around!"
COMIX!!
THE SHADOW #1 kicks off Garth Ennis and Aaron Campbell's take on the classic pulp character. I'm a fan of The Shadow. I loved the Alec Baldwin flick. I still catch an occasional episode of the old radio show when the local high school radio station plays them. Ennis pulls no punches here. I love WWII comics, but haven't seen anything of his concerning anything from the Pacific Theater. The book opens with details of japan's brutal assaults on China. I'm not sure how much of it is accurate, but when it comes to WWII stuff Ennis tends to be very well researched. Ennis's version of The Shadow is a gun toting, avenging mystic, who seems very cold. Then we see him as being very smooth and debonair as Lamont Cranston. I wasn't really thrilled with how he acted towards Margo Lane, however that was only one scene and I'm thinking she's one that'll be holding her own. I find this version of The Shadow not very likable, but still entertaining. I do like Ennis as a writer, and he's good at writing characters which aren't terribly likable, but still sympathetic. Haven't seen it here yet, but its just the first issue and we'll see how it goes.
THE ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #2 gives us another trio of really great stories. This book has an excellent balance to it. We start off with a harrowing tale from the battlefield of WWII. Then its over to a fun little story with Cliff checking up on Betty while she's filming a movie. The last one is a great story from the one and only Walt Simonson with a charming little story. I do get a kick out of this book. We're treated to all these different takes of the same character by all these really talented writers and artists. Even with all the differences in the story styles, its still all obviously the Rocketeer. Great read.
RAGEMOOR #2 is just flat out freaky. I've read my fair share of really weird and disturbing comics, but this one has got to be up there in the ranks. It bangs about with the subtlety of a tire iron right to the face. The setting is just so intentionally horrendous, and Master Herbert tries to rail against it this issue for what happened to Anoria last issue. It just goes horribly and I have to wonder how on earth he and Bodrick the butler have survived so long in there. The answer is that the castle tolerates them and you don't screw with the castle. The creatures inhabiting the place are just so weird and freak that i have difficulty fathoming how the pieces of the puzzle fit. We know from the first issue how the castle was built, and how over time developed some sort of life of its own. Its almost like it is some Gothic, Lovecraftian entity that has all these little things growing in it like bacteria. Read it if you feel like getting weirdly creeped out.
MUSIC!!!
Caught this tune on the radio yesterday. I dug it.
That's it for me. See y'all Wednesday.
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