Saturday, December 19, 2015

The Week In Geek: Star Wars Edition

So, This Week In Star Wars....Star Wars happened this week. So, it's should be pretty obvious that this week, I am going to be discussing Star Wars. With that in mind, if you haven't watched The Force Awakens yet, now is the time to jump ship because there are going to be spoilers after the jump. Last chance so there's no excuses.


Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Week In Geek 12/2/15

Last Week In Movie Stuff: The trailer for Captain America: Civil War dropped last week. If a trailer's purpose is to whet your appetite for what's to come, then GODDAMN, this was 2+ minutes that would make any Marvel fan drop to their knees and thank the geek gods. I'm not going to bother doing a whole breakdown of the trailer because a solid week has passed so EVERYONE has likely done a breakdown of the trailer by now and in the immortal words of Ricky Bobby, "if you're not first, you're last." So, I'll just point out a couple of awesome things about what I saw.

First and foremost, the best thing they could do to adapt Civil War from the comics is keep it firmly in Captain America's wheelhouse. They don't have enough established heroes (or villains) to make it a standalone Marvel event and the plot itself is flawed (giving the most irresponsible superhero in comics government oversight), but tying it directly to the existing Cap timeline is smart. "Cap loses Bucky, Cap finds Bucky, Cap fights for Bucky's freedom." That's about as straightforward of a trilogy as you can possibly get while still conveying a basic theme of the bonds of war (which is a big selling point for movies about soldiers from The Greatest Generation). Having said that, the thing that worked the best about Winter Soldier is that it worked independent of the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, free from having to sell other movies. After the middle-of-the-road response to Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel has to prove that they can balance a large cast of characters effectively. Sure, the pulled it off in the first Avengers movie, but now there's twice as many characters to cram into one movie (including Spider-Man's Marvel debut which, I suspect, will be a post credits scene). The only other time we've seen so many superpowers on the screen at the same time is probably Fox's X-Men movies and it's arguable that was way too many.

Also, there's the little matter of the Black Panther. We didn't get much to go on, but judging from what we're given, the Panther seems to be fighting on Iron Man's side against the Winter Soldier. I hypothesized a long time ago that he might appear to bring Bucky to justice for some former Hydra crimes committed against Wakanda. It's entirely possible that they might set Bucky up as being T'Challa's father's killer while he was brainwashed by Hydra, adding to Cap's whole "Bucky's a changed man" thing. Black Panther is such a long hyped character that we've waited for, I'm going to say that, to make the fans happy, T'Challa is going to have to dole out no less than three ass whuppings. The first is to prove that his fighting prowess is comparable to Cap (who has taken on Georges St. Pierre Da Gawd), the second is prove that he can take on Bucky, who has stood toe to toe with Captain America himself. The third is just for awesomeness' sake.

Meanwhile, This Week In Movie Stuff....The new Dawn of Justice trailer debuted and umm...I don't know if they grade trailers on Rotten Tomatoes, but if they did, the general public so far would have rated this one somewhere between Alex Cross and Stealth. Personally, I feel like the trailer is taking it in the teeth a little worse than it deserves. The whole thing was "meh" and for some reason, people in this 0 to 100 culture have decided that "meh" immediately equates to bad and it really doesn't.

I WILL say that the trailer shows way too much of the plotline even though most of us had guessed the plot long before we saw any trailer. "Heroes don't get along, they get manipulated, they fight, they join forces to beat manipulator." That's a long standing trope of superhero lore that has carried this whole Batman/Superman rivalry for ages now. So, I don't understand why fans are pretending like they're disappointed as if they didn't at least entertain the notion that this was where the movie was going. Part of the backlash is very clearly due to the underlying notion among the collective consciousness that Marvel is basically reigning supreme over this film genre and DC is desperate to play catch-up (I mean, they are), so in many ways, it's become cool to piss on DC. At the same time, I guess they're making it easy, so there's that.


My comic reviews for the week on Star Wars, Invincible Iron Man and Cyborg are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. And don't forget the latest page of my ongoing webcomic series, Neverland: The Untold.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

The Week in Geek 11/17/15

This Week In Superhero Television....Jessica Jones premiered this Friday as part of the Netflix division of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Of course, I haven't finished the series because it's 13 episodes and my geek devotion only goes so far in one day, but thus far, it rates as "pretty damn good." There have been attempts at recapturing the feminist narrative feel we got from Buffy (some of them, unsurprisingly, from Joss Whedon), but few have actually succeeded. Now, I'm not saying that Jessica Jones completely succeeds. It's not quite a perfect show and it definitely does not surpass Daredevil (because Daredevil didn't have too much of the burden of selling other possible properties), but if I had to make a list of shows that rate alongside JJ, it would probably rate in the top 5 above maybe Agent Carter. The ways the series differs from the Alias comic series are basically either minor or necessary for television, but they create so many layers for modern day gender politics and themes. From Jeri Hogarth being the catalyst for a toxic relationship or Jessica Jones herself being victimized in an abusive one, modern day womanism is alive and well in this show.

I mean, who better to play Killgrave, a somewhat charming man who is driven by his need to control everything and ends up remorselessly hurting everyone he allegedly cares about....than David Tennant, the guy who played the Tenth Doctor, a somewhat charming man who is driven by his need to control (or fix, as it were) everything and ends up hurting people he cares about.

Also, the whole thing's got me excited to see Luke Cage's show. Mike Colter is playing a very layered version of Cage. The whole hardened "Shaft with superpowers" deal works well with the version Brian Bendis established in the comics back in 2000, but it's nice (necessary, in fact) to see characters of color with multiple dimensions, who are taken out of their comfort zones while still not compromising their principles. And Luke Cage is nothing, if not a man of principle.

All in all, this makes for an excellent piece of standalone superhero noir as well as a fantastic addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Plenty of replay value.

My review for the week on The Mighty Thor is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. And don't forget about my weekly webcomic with Katie Coats, Neverland: The Untold, which updates weekly. Feel free to like, comment, share and spread the word as you see fit.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

The Week In Geek: 11/4/15

This Week In Bad Journalism....Complex Magazine just established themselves as the most irrelevant rag in hip hop right now. Recently, Complex just dropped an article basically slandering Kendrick Lamar's latest album To Pimp A Butterfly in a roundabout fashion. In response, the internet lost its shit as it tends to do. Granted, social media is a breeding ground for kneejerk reactions, but it hasn't even been a year yet and we already have think pieces looking back on an album that dropped a little more than six months ago, dissecting it the way Vulture examines The Karate Kid or The Breakfast Club. 

It's reflective of the overall problem with hip hop journalism. Even if you're just reporting on the bullshit like how Rapper A was seen at a club with Rapper B's girlfriend, journalism is meant to inform. Now, YES, I clearly understand (as is evident by this blog) the allure in the human element of op-ed writing. After all, information is only so useful without context. But when you're trashing an album that your own publication JUST GAVE 4.5 STARS OUT OF FIVE, it's blatantly disingenuous. I'm not going to go through and redline the whole article but this one passage sums up the overall problem pretty well.

"Why, in 2015, would a recently platinum-selling rapper make a jazz album with Lalah Hathaway, Ron Isley, and George Clinton?" 

I've read enough of Complex to know that they're not stupid, that they know their roots. They knew how powerful it was to have such greats as George Clinton and Lalah Hathaway on an album tailor made for an African American Studies course in college. So, why throw such "old fogey" shade? The answer is simple: somewhere along the way, Complex found it to be more profitable to become the inexperienced 19 year olds they're supposed to be informing. They might have had more credibility if this weren't an album they'd previously lauded for its chaotic sound, but then, this was clearly an attempt to be contrary for contrary's sake to fuel the fire of a conversation that isn't really happening. As much as we hate comment sections on the internet, we are bizarrely drawn to them at the same time. They're the new "train wreck". Gawker does opinion pieces about poignant exchanges within them all the time. The human equivalent of a comment section is not only running for President, but blue shelling his counterparts in the polls. So, it's only natural that, in the interest of selling clicks, there will be some organizations that become the Lowest Common Denominator and invoke a comment section mentality. But then, this is the way of hip hop publications. The Source handed out 5 mic ratings like free samples until they glad handed themselves right out of relevance. As hip hop evolves, the people chronicling it should evolve as well. Otherwise, you have old fogeys sitting on the mountaintop, preaching about a culture they're not actively trying to understand in its present form.

My review for the week on The Invincible Iron Man is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. As always, feel free to read, view, comment and share at your leisure. And don't forget about my ongoing webcomic, Neverland: The Untold.

Friday, October 23, 2015

The Week In Geek 10/21/15

This Week In Superhero Television.... Agents of SHIELD is really coming around. It's nice that this has finally turned into a full fledged show with an identity. Some people still aren't as excited about Daisy Johnson (formerly Skye) still being the focus, but I think if they look closer, they won't see the same character they did before. In fact, Quake was a character that mostly fun but never really got to see her potential reached.

I mean, really....what the fuck ever happened to Quake? I mean, she had this great setup as Nick Fury's protege that "will go on to do great things and be one of the best agents ever." She had her own team of young, DIVERSE superpowered agents, most of which we've never heard from again including Phobos, the goddamned god of fear. This is one of those cases where Marvel could have BEEN doing the All New All Different thing ages ago. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go ahead and take that, in retrospect, as a direct attempt on Marvel's part to not let Brian Bendis OR Jonathan Hickman be great (even though they are both clearly allowed to be great now), but I digress. I think the complaining about Daisy wouldn't be so vocal if it weren't for the fact that the Most Interesting Story On The Show (What the Fuck Happened to Simmons) has been relegated to the side story.

Meanwhile, on The Flash, some of the sins of Season 1 have come back to bite this show in the ass. This week's episode mostly dealt with Captain Cold's abusive father blackmailing him into a crime spree. Since the writers have essentially defanged Cold, making any episode with him involved into anime filler (at least until Legends of Tomorrow finally debuts) it took them bringing The Voice of Darkseid in to give The Flash a reason to get shot with the cold gun. It's always interesting to jump into the minds of villains and their vulnerabilities, but the fact that it's a CW show means there's always the possibility that the writers will give into their urges to pander to the Lowest Common Denominator. In this case, that means having Golden Glider sit in the hero's lair and make doe eyes at Cisco. By the way....if your sister is a supervillain that can turn things to gold, why the fuck are you still robbing banks?

And then there's Arrow.... Last time we talked, Arrow was at least TRYING to move back to a palatable direction that isn't Oliver Queen becoming an assassin god. Now, things have picked up speed and the writers have begun to inoculate the show against sins of the past. It makes sense for the characters, given the events of last season, but come on, Oliver and Diggle starting off the new season in a bromance quarrel is not quite the nail biter we'd like. So, Felicity locks them in a room and basically orders them to suck it up. This barely takes an entire five minutes to accomplish before the duo are back on the streets, kicking butt again. So, they're speaking again and Felicity solved a problem by doing something other than crying. Two birds in one stone. They even got rid of Oliver's horrible flashback wig (despite the ever looming problem that these flashbacks are still happening even though nobody really cares at this point). Now, if only someone would do something about Diggle's awful welding helmet. I mean, his superpower is a gun. Don't you need depth perception to effectively shoot people? The show started off with him missing a bad guy directly at his side and I can't help but think maybe the narrow ass slits might have been an obstacle. Oh, well. I guess we can't have everything we want.

My comic reviews for the week on Tokyo Ghost and The Invincible Iron Man are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. And don't forget about my webcomic, Neverland: The Untold. As always, feel free to like, share, comment and spread the word at your leisure.


Saturday, October 17, 2015

The Week In Geek 10/14/15

This week in Superhero Television....Arrow seems to be getting back on the right path so far. Season Three's heart was in the right place even though it got a little existential "when is the Arrow not the Arrow". Granted, it looks like the writers are taking the long way around, but it's nice that the new season is getting back to the good old fashioned swashbuckling action we loved this show for originally. I also have to appreciate the fact that John Diggle's concerns about Oliver Queen coming out of retirement and his disdain for the Arrow's behavior (I mean, he kidnapped the guy's wife, for fuck's sake) basically mirrors our own. The show fell pretty far...like Robin Thicke level far...and still has a lot of making up to do, but it's off to a decent start. So, there's that. 

This Week In MCU News We Would Have Rather Been Surprised With.... It's finally been confirmed that the Mark Ruffalo will make an appearance as the Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok, scheduled for July 28, 2017. This is a big thing because up until this point, it was said that we wouldn't see the Hulk again after Age of Ultron for a long while. The rumored plot is Thor and the Hulk somehow teaming up with Valkyrie for what Marvel has promised to be the darkest Thor story yet. First of all, let me stop right there and establish that "a dark Thor story" is NOT a very high bar to clear. As much as I enjoyed the previously two movies, in the sense of the scope that Marvel builds at, they're essentially romcoms (The Dark World moreso than its predecessor). Also, I get the addition of Valkyrie in the interest of adding some spice to the already shaky gender politics, but what about Lady Sif? She's pretty badass in the comics, she's already established in the previous movies and the only real notable screentime she's seen is her basically getting friend zoned for Jane "I Don't Need Saving Until I Totally Do" Foster (not to mention her appearances on Agents of SHIELD...gotta love her referring to Agent Coulson as "Phil, Son of Coul"). Hopefully, Ragnarok makes more of an effort to shine more of a light on existing female characters before trying to bring new ones into the fold.


My comic reviews for the week on Ms. Marvel and Batman are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. Also, don't forget about my ongoing fantasy webcomic, Neverland: The Untold. As always, feel free to like and share and comment at your leisure.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

The Week In Geek 9/30/15

So, This Week In MCU Excess.... The new rumor is that ABC is planning to make a comedy show based on Damage Control, the construction crew that ends up having to clean up after superhuman attacks. This has a 50/50 shot of either being outstanding or terrible. I mean, sure, Agent Carter was pretty much a win across the board, but Agents of SHIELD is pretty damn entertaining NOW, but it took them a long time and the best movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Winter Soldier) to get there. It's nice that Marvel is branching out to infuse live action comedy in their Unstoppable Fan Service Engine, but it's still pretty dicey.


This Week In Female Solo Titles.... Mark Waid and Chris Samnee are going to be dearly missed on Daredevil, but it's awesome that they're going to be working on the new Black Widow series under the "All New All Different Marvel" banner. It's awesome that BW is finally getting some A list talent on one of her books. Don't get me wrong; I've enjoyed the previous runs that I've read and I appreciate that they lended a hand in expanding her backstory a bit, but they've started hitting a lot of the same beats reminiscent of the Avengers movies ("I've got red in my ledger") and it'll be nice to see some fresh eyes on this project.

This week in Music Saving the World.... Erykah Badu covered Drake's "Hotline Bling" and Childish Gambino covered Tamia's "So Into You." I don't really have any commentary about that. I just kinda wanted to put you people onto some good music.

My comic reviews for the week on Ghost Racers and Batman Annual #4 are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Also, don't forget the latest page in my ongoing webcomic series, Neverland: The Untold. As always, feel free to like, comment and share at your leisure.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

The Week In Geek 9/16/15

This week in Douchebag Theory...Bill Maher has reached a brand new level of douchebaggery not seen before on his show, Real Time. Last night, Jorge Ramos was subjected to possibly one of the fiercest panels of jackasses Maher has ever had in one episode: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Presidential Candidate and presumed human George Pataki and MSNBC's resident rabid attack dog, Chris Matthews. On the topic of Ahmed Mohamed, the 14 year Muslim student who was arrested for bringing a clock to school, Cuban recounted a story of talking on the phone with the boy and telling the panel that he sounded apprehensive when asked to recount the events that led to his arrest, claiming his sister was feeding him answers and instructions. First of all, are we really surprised that a 14 year old boy didn't have a press kit and prepared statements in the event that his racist teachers had him carted off for showing off to his engineering teacher. I, myself, have been a performance poet, but at 14 years old, when speaking to people, I had to be told not to stutter and speak clearly almost constantly. It's not that unreasonable that a child might be uncomfortable talking about his evening in baby booking. Furthermore, Cuban himself stated that the boy showed the thing to three other teachers throughout the day who thought it was completely fine before Miss McFreakout decided to "contain the situation." So, now, suddenly the kid is supposed to have a prepared explanation outside of "it's a clock" for the one teacher who lacks a basic grasp of context clues? Bullshit.

Maher claimed that white privilege doesn't factor into the incident, but the fact that he, a rich white male, was attempting to justify detaining a Muslim child essentially "because ISIS", claming that the onus was on him behave within the parameters of his administrators' suspicions....is precisely white privilege. The bomb squad wasn't called, the police didn't report the situation to Homeland and the school wasn't evacuated, so it's safe to assume that outside of "it looks like something someone put together at home", there was no reason to believe that anyone involved had any serious concerns that Ahmed's project was a credible threat. What Maher and his circle jerk of white privilege didn't seem to understand was that, at the end of the day, the possibility of a bomb threat wasn't the issue being handled. A Muslim child was.

This Week In Keeping Hope Alive....It seems that previous reports that production for Pacific Rim 2: Maelstrom were exaggerated. Guillermo Del Toro is still turning in a budget and a script for the film in a matter of weeks, but he's filming another project in between if the studio gives him the greenlight. So, relax, folks. Hopefully, we'll still be canceling the apocalypse next year. 

This Week In Self Promotion....The day has finally arrived. My webcomic, Neverland: The Untold is finally launched as of this past Wednesday. The outpour of support has been overwhelming, humbling and exciting all at the same time. Several hundred views in the first day, 100 likes on the Facebook page....if I didn't know any better, I'd say you people were looking forward to this comic as much as we were looking forward to releasing it. It hasn't even been a week and it's already been an amazing experience. So, if you haven't already checked the website out, please do, leave comments, subscribe to our email updates. We've got a lot of good stuff coming and we're eager to show you what we've been working on. 



My comic reviews for Tokyo Ghost and Star Wars are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. Feel free to like, comment and share at your leisure. You know the drill.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

The Week In Geek 9/9/15

This Week in Fan Appreciation....Praise the comic gods. Bitch Planet returned at long last after a lot of delays and scheduling issues. Though the ending had some readers pretty fucked up in their feelings, the real attraction that deserves discussion is the letter column. In addition to a lengthy blog-type entry from Kelly Sue Deconnick, there was a pretty legit essay on victimhood from a GQ writer. Last week, Grant Morrison's series, 18 Days, included a letter column that included an essay from the Supergods author himself on the differences in the Eastern superhero myths and the post 9/11, militarized superhero films of the West. And, of course, there's Brian K. Vaughn's always engaging, charming "To Be Continued" section at the end of the Saga. It's probably the only time I've ever heard of a fan proposing to his girlfriend via an editorial section in the back of an indie comic before Saga came around. Guys, letter columns are starting to matter again. It was really just a matter of time, too. In the era of social media, readers like knowing the creators are accessible. It maintains the feeling that they're grounded. They also help to build the foundation, a watering hole for the fan base, if you will. And it's funny that the best letter columns seem to come from creator owned books. As much as I like Marvel and DC, the indie stuff seems to be vastly more adept at keeping an open line of communication with the fans. 


My comic reviews on Batman and Planet Hulk are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Like, comment and share at your discretion.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Week In Geek 9/2/15

So, This Week In Black Girl Magic, Netflix casted Simone Missick to play (very likely) Misty Knight in Marvel's Luke Cage series. The fact that Misty Knight is going to be in this show at all makes this one a promising venture....though I'm not counting on it being as awesome as Season One of Daredevil. But I'm more than open to being proven wrong. Luke Cage is also a great character that's overdue for another upgrade in visibility, so the show deserves a win.

This Week In Geeky Non Stories That People Lose Their Fucking Shit Over....Force Friday is a thing that happened. Basically, it was the first big reveal of the new toy line for the upcoming Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Now, I won't talk about the fact that most toy retailers were so vastly understocked, fans almost started an uprising at their local Toys R Us. I won't talk about the fact that an 18 hour live stream of people taking toys out of the fucking box is easily one of the most psychotic thing I've ever heard of since the first Saw movie was in theaters. No, I'm going to talk about the questionable nature of some of these toys like this fucking thing, for instance....
Look, I'm really excited that Gwendoline Christie is involved enough in the plot to merit her own toy. I'm just as glad that they're bringing back the voice changer face masks like the Darth Vader ones they had when I was a kid. But I don't feel like kids want toys that say generic shit like "On my command, fire" or the ever iconic "Submit your blaster."
On the other hand, this is unbearably cool. It's highly promising when you go in expecting a few toys to get you hyped for what is already the most hyped movie of the year (short of Age of Ultron) and come out with a droid that could very well be the future of robotics to a certain degree. Voice commands, personality, intuitive app controls? Sign me up! Disney is pulling no punches for this ad campaign! And it's not even Fall yet.
My review for the week on Thors is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment and share as you see fit.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

The Week in Geek 8/26/15

So, This Week in Things The Nerd Sites Aren't Talking Nearly Enough About, Marvel just signed Ashley A. Woods, a woman of color. Now, it could very well be that this is in response to the somewhat deserved (and maybe not completely deserved) backlash they've received about not having as much black talent as they could. But honestly, a step in the right direction is a step in the right direction. And after seeing a sample of her work from Niobe, the comic she's doing with Rue from the Hunger Games, this is an impressive step in the right direction. I would direct you to more of her work, but apparently, her site is down due to all the traffic she's gotten since the announcement, so yeah, there's that.

And This Week In The Internet, anytime you feel down, any moment you feel as though life is giving you entirely too much burden to bare, watch this and I guarantee you will instantly feel better about your own bullshit. This happened for me. It will happen for you.

Also, This Week In Promoting My Own Shit, I was very happy to announce that my webcomic, Neverland: The Untold, is scheduled for its debut on September 15th. Katie Coats and I are unbelievably excited to be sharing this story with you guys. We promise to try and keep it as compelling as possible for you. The first story is unlike anything else I've ever tried my hand at. The website is just about finished, so thank you for all the email inquiries. We'll start building a database so I can keep you guys updated on everything including, events, new pages, fan art, etc. Thank you all for the outpour of support going into September. It means more to us than we can express. 



My review on David Walker's EXCELLENT Cyborg solo comic is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. Feel free to read, comment, share at your leisure as always. You know the drill.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

The Other Side of Representation in Comics

So, earlier this week, I was doing research online for what might turn into a Black Nerd Problems article sometime soon. And anyone who knows me or even follows me on Twitter or Facebook knows that my doing research on the internet equates to my finding a new awful inner layer of the internet that I never knew about before. Fortunately, I didn't quite find that but the past few months put me onto a new degree of naysayer geeks I didn't really know/acknowledge previously.

In this case, it's the New Marvel Defectors (that's not a thing, internet...it's just my term). New Marvel Defectors generally have a problem with the direction the company is taking in being more socially inclusive (more female characters, Black Captain America, Woman Thor, etc). The biggest complaint I hear is that Marvel's approach constitutes as lazy writing and that instead of repurposing existing characters to take up the mantle of an existing white superhero, they should just make new characters.

Now, let me first state that this IS AT LEAST HALF TRUE. Yes, the Big Two SHOULD be developing new characters and, mainly in DC's case, working a little harder to develop existing characters of color and non-binary characters. However, let's not pretend that this isn't something that's actively happening. There's been an all woman squad of X-Men in a series that's run right up until Secret Wars, I believe. Al Ewing had a great run on Mighty Avengers, a book about Luke Cage's Avengers team that consisted mostly of characters of color. All New Hawkeye is basically a buddy hero book that highlights Kate Bishop every bit as much as Clint Barton. And, of course, before that, Matt Fraction's Hawkeye basically splits up to two individual self sustaining stories, one with Barton vs. the Tracksuit Mafia, the other with Kate Bishop vs. Madame Masque. And of course, there's G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, which is a great look at identity, race and coming of age. The people that think original inclusion isn't happening just aren't looking close enough.

Second of all, even with creating new characters, it still misses part of the point of representation and what we're telling little kids (because sometimes, we forget that kids read this shit, too). I like Superman. I've liked Superman ever since I was a kid. My first example of what it meant to be a superhero was Superman. When I played Justice League with my friends, I wanted to be Superman. Once, a kid told me that I couldn't be Superman because he was white and I was black. I knew everything there was to know about Superman. I knew and lived by (or at least TRIED to live by) his ideals. But the kid boiled it down to mere skin color because that's all he knew. I'm not calling the kid racist, of course. For him, it was a matter of aesthetics although it speaks to so many levels of colorism.

Despite cynicism being trendy nowadays, the superhero is still hugely tied to the latter day mythologies of modern culture for now and for always. They are fables inextricably tied to the values by which we live, the hope we pass down from generation to generation. They link us. Sometimes, they even shape us. When you tell people to create new characters instead of breaking the gender/color boundaries of the existing franchises, you're telling a whole readership of children that no matter how much they look up to Captain America or Thor, being black or a woman or gay or whatever you are....means that Captain America will always be off limits to them on some level. You saying that a white person is allowed to take that character's place (as has been the case with Captain America, Batman, Daredevil that I can think of right off the bat), but never a black person or a woman. You're essentially chastising them for wanting to have the attributes of an awesome character that they really like.

Although some heroes' obstacles and outlooks on the world are undeniably linked and shaped because of their race, superheroes are not just men and women built on race. They're ideals, principles, morals and deeds. Yes, Static is an awesome superhero (who occasionally suffers from being in bad comics) and yes, he could stand to be built upon and really SHOULD be built upon, but Superman is a legend, an icon. As great a character as he is, Static is NOT Superman. Representation isn't just building a new foundation for an institution. It's about changing transcending barriers and rearranging the way we look at the old one.

My comic reviews for Archie and Star Wars are available for your viewing pleasure on Black Nerd Problems. Feel free to like, hate, share, comment at your leisure. You know the drill.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Self Care and Shit Like That....

So, there's no entry for this week due to my a). need to decompress and take it easy (or at least easier than usual) as well as b). I need to work on the comic. By the way, for those of you who have been keeping up with such things, Neverland: The Untold is still actively being worked on. Kate has finished some pages that are simply gorgeous and I have the majority of the first story arc scripted. Really, the only thing that's still under construction is the website. Our greatly appreciated tech lady is hard at work getting the site up and running, so we should be ready pretty soon.

Until then, as usual, you can check out my reviews on Planet Hulk, Batman and Ghost Racers, all available on Black Nerd Problems.


Peter Pan from Neverland: The Untold

Saturday, August 8, 2015

The Week In Geek 8/5/15

-So, Secret Wars is being pushed back AGAIN so it'll now be ending in October now. Man, I like this event a lot but for fuck's sake....I'd like it a lot more if Marvel wouldn't drag it along like this. DC and Marvel sometimes have a tendency to suck with these scheduling issues. DC shit the bed last year pushing Forever Evil back so far, rest of the books in the line had moved on past the event and basically gave away the ending. Now, with SW being delayed, there's so many moving parts in Hickman's story, the tie-ins have to be careful not to give away too much story. In truth, they wouldn't have so many problems with scheduling if they'd cut events like this in half. Marvel had the right idea when SW started off biweekly. Despite being so god-awful, at least Convergence got in, told its story and got out. Then again, considering Esad Ribic's artwork, it might just be worth the wait. 

-The Strain, the FX show based on Guillermo Del Toro's vampire apocalypse series, just got renewed for its third season. And despite my liking this show, I have no idea how that happened. I get that FX is doing its damnedest to stretch out this story with a little cinematic nuance and get the most out of the basic plot points, but Christ Almighty....it's the Vampire Apocalypse and the city's reaction to it is, at best, lukewarm. People feel completely comfortable, going to groundbreaking ceremonies, meeting in dimly lit parking garages, putting up "missing" flyers and flirting with cute latin girls in Indian food restaurants. So far, the most exciting plot points this season are a). the flashbacks of Abraham Setrakian Da Gawd and b). the Vampire Black Ops Team....and they just got snuffed out in stupid ass network television fashion, so that doesn't leave us much except the vastly underused Kevin Durand and Corey Stoll, Vampire Hunter which....umm, isn't all that exciting. The major problem is that in the era of existential horror/drama/misery porn like The Walking Dead where people can make the smartest decisions possible and STILL never have a single moment of happiness, it's getting noticeably hard to sit through a show where the characters seem to consistently make such awful decisions. I'm talking about the little stuff. They just stroll right into abandoned places, hardly ever clearing the rooms or even scanning them for vampires. Even Corey Stoll, Vampire Hunter's son, Zach is getting intensely annoying. But this is also a show where the high points maybe balance out the bad points, so it always ends up doing just enough of the right something to justify its continued existence. So, the result is an hour every Sunday where you keep hoping the good will start to actually outweigh the bad instead of just cancelling it out. But probably not.   


My review of this week's Ms. Marvel issue is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. As usual, feel free to read, like, comment and share as you see fit. You know the drill.


Saturday, August 1, 2015

The Week In Geek 7/29/15

So, this week was (depending on how you look at it) a big week in the world of hip hop....well, the closest Top 40 Radio can seem to get to the world of hip hop. The Drake/Meek Mill slap fight came to a fever pitch.

For those of you that don't know or care, Meek Mill threw a fit because Drake didn't tweet any promos for his album. In response, because Meek Mill is apparently a fifth grader, this led to him exposing Drake for having ghostwriters that wrote some of his songs (It's important that we acknowledge that "ghostwriters" are a long standing, behind the scenes part of hip hop and that the ONLY reason this particular case is news is because Drake is a top selling artist who is often lauded for his lyricism), kicking off a huge a much hyped rap battle for about a week. Long story short, Drake completely humiliated Meek and basically re-polarized the public perception of him and his relationship with Nicki Minaj. In the end, I highly doubt the majority of Drake's audience will give a shit who wrote what and the "ghostwriter" stigma will be left to the hip hop heads who are, sorry to say, in shorter supply by the day, but I digress.

SN: By the way, I'm not touching the whole rumored Drake/Nicki love triangle because I'm not in the mood to break down the stereotypes and problematic gender politics of the whole thing. 

But most of this is just context to my real point this week. Early in the week, (S)Hot 97's court jester, Funkmaster Flex threw himself into the beef in the same way Stephen A. Smith throws himself on the wrong side of EVERYTHING for attention, claiming Meek Mill had given him the reference tracks Quentin Miller had recorded that would prove to be a phony. True to form, when the appointed time presented itself for Flex to play the tracks, he just looped music from Rihanna and someone named Fetty Wap. In an attempt to save face, Ebro claimed Meek failed to deliver the tracks. Whether that's true, given their track record, is still in the "decided for yourself" pile. 

Let me break that down for you one more time. Rot 97 took sides in a beef when NOBODY asked them to. Then, when the beef turned out not to be as profitable as they blindly bet on it being, they then threw the person whose side they took when nobody asked them to....UNDER THE BUS. 

As you could imagine, Twitter lambasted Flex and deservedly so. Charlamagne Tha God from the Breakfast Club had the most accurate and poignant statement during his Donkey of the Day segment on why this marks the end of Funkmaster Flex and, ultimately, (T)Hot 97's credibility. 

More than that, it's a testament to why more and more people are walking away from terrestrial radio. It's been clear since the time Flex tried to go to war with Jay-Z over the histrionics of some Android app (if you haven't heard the Hannibal Burress parody, you should) that he and (S)Hot 97 are desperate to throw themselves into the bonfire because their marketing department says their listeners will watch the pretty lights their disreputable corpses make. But also because music just isn't the commodity for Terrestrial Radio it once was.

Comics are actually making some attempt to keep up with the digital age, but even then, we've established before that they have a pretty loyal niche following no matter how vocal the whiners and trolls are. And with newspapers, they're not as bankable as they used to be but even in the age of Google, you still have the attraction of good journalists and personalities that readers will stand by like Ezra Klein or Chris Hayes or....God help me....Charles Krauthammer. Top 40/Terrestrial Radio's attempt to follow that model (extreme personalities; shock radio) will always fail because the music is always going to be what's important (unless you just listen to NPR which is a different conversation because, let's face it, Funkmaster Flex and Ebro Darden are not and will never be NPR) and Terrestrial Radio is just NOT a preferable source to discover (I won't even say "good") new music anymore. Looking past the increasingly obvious fact that airplay is a bought and sold currency, you have wi-fi, bluetooth, smart phones, tablets.....commonplace gadgets that people use everyday before the thought of a radio even crosses their minds. Hell, at this point, cars have built in wi-fi hotspots and televisions have enough connectability to link your laptops and mp3 players (which are basically outmoded, too). I've been an Uber customer for a few months now and I have yet to see a driver that didn't have either Pandora/Spotify playing from their phone, linked to their car. We're at the juncture where if you don't want to hear the same 15 to 20 songs from the same 7 to 10 artists playing in the same two hour timespan (with 20 to 35 minutes worth of commercials peppered in for advertisting dollars), you just don't have to. Hell, we're three software updates away from having the song we want when we want it by literally snapping our fingers. But instead of changing with the times and trying to appeal to their audience, diversifying their playlists, allowing artists who deserve it the opportunity to crossover from Urban Contemporary, the Usual Suspects are breaking their tired backs trying to shuck and jive way too hard. And all it really amounts to is an insult to the consumers which are way smarter than they're given credit for....who you're already actively insulting by not giving them the diversity they're wanting.

Sure, the Meek Mill/Drake beef was funny and the desperation of Funkmaster Flex was, umm, sad....but the demise of Terrestrial Radio is a thing worth discussing.

My reviews for the week on Thors and Star Wars as well as my Top 5 Dead or Alive article on Superman are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to share, comment, like, Tweet at your discretion. You know the drill.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

The Week In Geek 7/22/15

Okay, so this week, it was announced that Spider-Man is getting another series which means Marvel is one more Spider-Man title away from getting a free footlong at Subway. This time around, it seems like they're rebooting the web-head's past...again. Spidey, will follow a teenage Peter Parker in his early years of maintaining his secret identity while balancing high school and home life, remaining in continuity with the current Amazing Spider-Man series. On one hand, I get that Marvel has to have some representation of a young Peter in the comics with Civil War less than a year away. I also understand that Young Peter Parker appeals to a super bankable demographic and that it's coinciding with ASM without actually replacing it (which is the upside in this), but come on, guys....we've seen this A LOT.

I agree that, at his core, Spider-Man has always been a modern day fable about a man in manchild's clothing, one of the archetypes for a younger superhero trying to make the Clark Kent dual identity thing work. And at his core, he'll ALWAYS be that, but I gotta be honest here....the past few years since the big Brand New Day reset, even when it was somewhat problematic for the character, have turned out to be an interesting character study of a man who has always turned away What He Could Be for the greater good finally making manhood work. Doing yet ANOTHER look at Teenage Spidey feels like a bunt when Marvel could be swinging for the fences. I mean, the allure of Spider-Man is that you feel like you know him. I get the need for Marvel to shoot for young audiences, but another great thing about comics (when it's done successfully) is when you get to grow up with a character. I know plenty of guys who juggle dozens of hats in the pursuit of happiness and making it work. Peter Parker holding down a job, maintaining a start-up, dealing with additions to his family like his step-uncle (who is Spidey's great enemy's father) and being an Avenger? That's good reading. In fact, I could see a "Hard Day's Night" style mini-series focused on Peter trying to get some rest while balancing his dozen jobs but having to deal with his personal shit (friends trying to set him up on dates, visiting Gwen's grave, trying to get in touch with Harry who we haven't seen in years). It would be not too much unlike Matt Fraction's Hawkeye except Peter isn't even CLOSE to the train wreck Clint Barton is. But these are lofty goals that dare not stand in the way of Marvel aligning the comics with the Cinematic Universe. And as I mentioned before, the teenage series isn't overriding the one about grown up Spidey so it's not that big of a deal. But as far as characters go, looking back AND forward at him, Peter Parker has come a long way....and that's worth mentioning.

My comic reviews for the week on Cyborg and Uncanny X-Men are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment, share...you know the drill.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Because I Got Shit To Do.....

Sorry, folks, no Week In Geek today. I have to catch up on getting the first Neverland story arc done as well as some stuff for Black Nerd Problems. However, feel free to get a look at my review for Planet Hulk which is currently available on BNP. View, comment, share...you know the drill.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Not Another Magic Negro Story

So, everyone who isn't at San Diego Comic Con has two big highlights in comics for the week. One of them was good, one of them was bad....both of them were Mark Waid's doing. Unbreakable, the one digestible film M. Night Shyamalan ever made, featured Bruce Willis as an invulnerable shmuck and at the other end of the spectrum, Samuel L. Jackson as the entirely TOO vulnerable intellectual. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Mark Waid's varying work this week: Archie #1 and Strange Fruit #1. Archie turns out to be genuine, endearing and heroic in a way you didn't expect like Bruce Willis' character while Strange Fruit is a brittle and ill-constructed constellation of good intentions like Samuel L. Jackson's character at the end of the movie screaming, "I am not a mistake!"

In other words, Strange Fruit is sort of terrible. Let's start with the fact that it's an "African-American myth" created by two white men. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Mark Waid and up until this week, had not read a single bad book from him. In fact, the fact that his name was on this book is the sole reason I even considered picking this up was because his name was on it. But even with that in mind, haven't we been down this road before? Wait...what am I saying? We go down this road all the time. We go down this road so often, we don't need GPS. We don't even street signs as markers. We can just say, "Turn at the mailbox next to the Sit n Sleep billboard." I would like to feel like we've entered a different era of intellectual property where the need for two white creators coming up with magic negro stories to make sure we're all on the same page about racism being wrong would be long past. Then again, I would also like to think the need for Jurassic Park movies would be long past as well....and yet here we are. Jurassic World is in theaters and Strange Fruit exists.


The basic premise thus far is that there's a big flood coming and the black people aren't working fast enough for the white folks' liking because racism. On the other hand, the black folks would probably work a lot faster if the white folks would actually help out but we know that won't happen because racism. Oh, and some black guy may or may not have stolen from his white employer, but he'll probably get hung somewhere throughout the series whether he did it or not because racism. The names are unimportant and the character development is even less important than that (I'm assuming this is the case because there is virtually no character development) because it is clear right away that the only character you're supposed to be focused on is Racism. In the midst of all this, a naked black man falls from the sky. He's super strong and takes no shit off of these white folks on horses. He then puts on a Confederate flag because dem white folk ain't gonna take kindly ta him walking around wit his swingin johnson all about. I want to be able to say that that this is Waid refurbishing the old Jewish "golem" myth for the Deep South, but we're not given any tangible indication that this story intends to go that heavy. So, essentially, what we're left with is a 1920's remake of The Brother From Another Planet or, as I like to call it, Not Another Magic Negro Story. 


But it's unfair to say that this is all Waid's fault. Artist J.G. Jones is every bit as complicit in this constellation of condescension as his colleague is. I wouldn't be able to accuse Issue #1's of trying too hard to be Eisner bait were it not for the final image of Naked Alien Black Guy's junk bulging through the Confederate flag, presumably symbolizing the white supremacist's implied fear of black phallus or some shit. I dunno. I don't really have any black dick jokes so, that's the best theory I can pry out of my guesses at Jones' logic. Worse yet, there's the rendering of the people of color in the book.


Note how the principal character (light skinned in this case and a couple others) in the panel is rendered in an attempt at photorealism while all the other people of color in the background are drawn in an exaggerated blackface style that makes the mural in the opening credits of Good Times look like the Sistine Chapel.
Now, let me stop here and say that I don't think this necessarily qualifies as intentionally "racist" anymore than white people who want to touch a black woman's hair without asking. However, the intent doesn't always absolve the result or make the action any less offensive. That said, intentions are basically the only thing this book has going for it, but even that has it's limits. We're past the point where a book simply pointing out that racism is wrong and giving us a splash page with a black alien in the nude ain't gonna cut it.


It's not enough for comics to point out that racism happened a long time ago anymore. Even if the endgame of Strange Fruit (fully realizing that it's only the first of four issues) is to craft a old school superhero myth along the lines of Truth: Red, White and Black, race relations and society's understanding of race relations have to evolve past handing out pats on the head for rehashing the basics. I could very well be speaking too soon since there's three more issues to go. For all I know, this book could engage us in twists and turns that question the way we look at the history of systematic racism in America. But I seriously doubt it.


My reviews for this week's issues of Batman and Archie are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. As always, feel free to like, share, comment at your leisure. You know the drill.


Saturday, July 4, 2015

The Week In Geek 7/1/15

So, this week, we found out that Ava DuVernay walked away from the director's chair for Black Panther. Sucks, but I have to appreciate when black talent has come up in the world to a point where they can turn down million dollar franchises deals at their peak. Allegedly, they "had different ideas about what the story would be." It's not really my job to guess, but I'd say this is another case of the suits at Disney/Marvel stepping on their talent's neck. I mean, we all saw Whedon's frustration with certain mandates in Age of Ultron. At this point in DuVernay's career, I could understand wanting to maintain a certain level of creative autonomy.


Also, Marvel revealed the full roster for their All New All Different Marvel lineup after Secret Wars wraps up. Wolverine's a woman, Star Lord's a woman, Ms. Marvel joins the Avengers and, yep, Captain America is still black. The weirdest backlash is about Spider Woman turning up pregnant. It's gotten to a point where fans are upset just for the sake of being upset. Jubilee spent the better part of Brian Wood's all female X-Men book as Mutant Vampire Juno with an adoptive baby that wasn't hers. Marvel spent ten solid years developing Luke and Jessica Cage's baby from conception to a toddler to a future where she grows up to be Captain America. Fans pick bizarre moments to decide they're upset about a book that, statistically speaking, they weren't reading in the first place. Also, all we've seen so far is a cover. Fans are actually judging books by their cover now. On one hand, it's understandable since comics are a primarily visual medium. On the other hand, we STILL DON'T KNOW the actual context of what the book's about. Even if you want to go off of the cover and claim it's a judgment of art, we all know that the art on the cover doesn't always reflect of artwork of the actual book, so even that's a silly way of making determinations on a book you haven't read. So far, I'm reserving judgment until I lay eyes on some actual pages.

No Black Nerd Problems reviews from me this week. Had to put the finishing touches on my scripts for Issues 2 and 3 of my upcoming comic. The website's under construction at the moment but we'll be up and running within the next few weeks. Happy Independence Day.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

The Week In Geek 6/24/15

So, this week, it was announced that Marvel (and Sony) chose Tom Holland to play Spider-Man in the upcoming reboot and the next Captain America movie. For those of us keeping track, that makes three Spider Man reboots in 15 years. Two more before 2020 and Sony gets a free Subway sandwich but I digress. Clearly, by the look of him, Marvel has been mandated to appeal to Big Brother Disney's potential viewers with a SUPER young fresh face. It's actually kind of amazing that the superhero movie genre has come to a point where fans (and probably Marvel) are excited about Marvel actually getting to lay real creative hands on their own flagship character after almost 20 years of just being the hired help like DC is to Warner Bros.

Also, Marvel confirmed the theme for Season 3 of Agents of SHIELD is "Secret Warriors" which makes complete sense now that we know Skye's whole storyline has been essentially setting her up as Daisy "Quake" Johnson from the comics. You know, "Agents" is a show that has evolved in style and quality over the past two seasons quite nicely....better than its early detractors want to admit. The show does a good job of taking storylines that the movies might take too much time to develop and making them their own. And then there are times when they give you a piecemeal version of a story the movies are almost definitely going to revisit (Civil War, Inhumans) as a way of testing the waters or at least watering fan appetites for later. It's going to be very interesting to see how they modify Brian Bendis' old Secret Warriors story.

As per usual, my weekly comic reviews (this week, it's Planet Hulk) are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment and/or share at your discretion. You know the drill.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

The Week In Geek 6/17/15

So...Game of Thrones. Since a lot of you are super spoiler sensitive, we'll be talking about the season finale after the jump.


Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Week In Geek 5/14/15

It's sort of hard to explain how exactly CW is getting The Flash so right. This week's episode sort of brought back into focus a). Flash's standing as "the Superman of the Arrowverse" as well as b). the villainy sort of resembles professional wrestling. Captain Cold is admittedly part of the bad guy game specifically because he loves it. And probably because he's better at it than he ever was at being a small time crook. The implication of destiny being as much a factor for villains as it is for heroes is one of the major building blocks of superhero lore and shines through clear as day on this show. The only major problem I have with the show is its handling of Iris West. It made sense at first to keep her out of the loop of Barry Allen's identity, but in the meantime, in delaying the inevitable, the show has to find side plots for character development. It just so happens that these particular side plots have made her sort of intolerable not unlike Lana Lang on Smallville. Cockblocking Linda Park, making the Reverse Flash thing all about her, pulling Barry in and out of the Friend Zone at her leisure...not very endearing.

Meanwhile, the CW also dropped a first look at their next spinoff, Legends of Tomorrow. The best thing they could have done is bring back Caity Lotz as the White Canary or Canary Original or whatever they're going with. She was always the more entertaining opposite to the Arrow because Laurel is the WORST and has been for two seasons straight, suffering from a little more of Iris West Syndrome. The best I can figure is that this spinoff is in response to Marvel/Netflix setting up The Defenders starting with Daredevil. With the turnout Daredevil had, I doubt LoT is going to compete with that, but it shows that DC is at least trying to give fans what they want.


Also, my review for this week's issue of Thor is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to read, share, comment at your leisure.

Friday, May 8, 2015

A Few Things About Avengers: Age of Ultron

SPOILERS SPOILERS ::Okay, I'm a little too tired this week to write a full on review for Avengers: Age of Ultron, but I will say overall that I really enjoyed the movie as a whole. I thought it was "on par with" but not better than the first one which, in fairness, had a LOT less of a balancing act to pull off on many levels. For the interest of brevity, I'll just do a simple break down of what I liked and what I didn't like. :: SPOILERS SPOILERS

Likes:

More Hawkeye: Granted, we'll NEVER see a Hawkeye/Mockingbird romance thanks to Agents of SHIELD (where Bobbi Morse is a godsend), it was nice to get some more depth to Barton's character while still getting the smartass Avengers mainstay we all know and love. Not everyone liked the visit to Hawkeye's family, but I think it showed depth and agency in a character that we didn't get to know at all in the first movie because of Loki and The Shittiest Mind Control Of All Time. It also goes to show that we're at a point in the genre where people have to learn to let go and consider these movies as much of an alternative as Ultimate Marvel or Marvel Noir or Marvel Mangaverse and that's okay. Many readers like knowing that comic movies are all hitting the right story beats because it's a way for fans to evaluate what they're watching, but changing things in the narrative like Barton's family is also necessary and keeps readers on their toes so they're getting something fresh.
Anyone who didn't feel like a kid again at this
moment is lying to themselves.

Vision: Paul Bettany has always been a good fit as Jarvis, but the Vision is a great fit for him. Honestly, I never even thought a character like him would end up making it to the big screen, but Whedon really pulled it off visually.

Ultron: Anyone whose ever watched The Blacklist knows James Spader was the perfect voice for an evil robot who is, at times, a little too human for his own good. I know not everyone liked the quirkiness, but honestly, I was reading the latest original graphic novel, Rage of Ultron (amazing one shot, by the way) and the titular villain is a much more traditional version that longtime fans are used to. Even though Rick Remender did a masterful job of encompassing that classic voice for Ultron, the first thing I thought was "Thank God for James Spader." The Ultron that a lot of people were expecting, this dry yet self aware technological Frankenstein monster of sorts wouldn't have translated well. First of all, it's a hard sell that Tony Stark would create an artificial intelligence that didn't have any sense of humor. Second of all, yes, it wouldn't be hard to a more cerebral version of Ultron, but that "What am I? Why did you create me?" brand of existentialism just doesn't gel well with...let's face it...a popcorn movie. Just ask I, Robot.

Joss Whedon: You can tell there are certain points in the movie and the script where Whedon has a little more flexibility in making the film he wanted to make (You can also tell that there are points where he couldn't get the studio's foot off of his neck to save his life, but that's a whole other post). It's no secret that with these franchise blockbusters, the car is already built and the director just makes sure the thing doesn't run itself off the freeway into the river. But in this case, Whedon seems to have enough geek cred that Kevin Feige managed to climb out of his ass long enough to let him direct. This movie seemed to have more of his trademark snark and self aware characters. I think the importance of this Whedon's role in this movie is that

Dislikes:

Not enough Vision: He was pretty key to the story and the time we spent with him was worthwhile, but the downside to Whedon's balancing act of giving all the Avengers proper screentime was that we only spent a solid ten minutes with a brand new Avenger who was directly tied to the primary villain.



Widow/Banner Romance: Okay, I realize that, in attempting to humanize relatively static characters, the default way to go is usually to get them laid. But this....was a little weird. Don't get me wrong. Whedon gave them more than enough of that usual Whedon charm so that it wasn't unwatchable, but it was awkward. Bruce Banner is possibly the most self aware of all the Avengers in the same way someone with a terminal illness would be. There's really no need to keep hammering that point home by throwing a pretty lady at him. Making the Black Widow a big softie is the equivalent of making Wolverine a softie who weeps over Jean Grey's body. And don't even get me started on the problematic gender politics of that little Red Room speech where not being able to give birth somehow makes her a monster. I applaud them for trying to give Widow some layers that we're not used to because the mainstay things we as readers love about Widow could be dicey over time with a mainstream audience. But it was just odd.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

The Week In Geek 4/15/15

Since Daredevil dropped last week, it's basically re-polarized the way a lot of people are looking at superheroes on the small screen. Jordan Calhoun wrote a pretty comprehensive opinion piece summing up the overall sentiment and it's really good. But I'm not so sure it's completely fair. It's one thing to say that Daredevil has altered the standards for grittiness in the genre. I mean, it really is the best superhero television show out there. It does dwarf everything else in terms of a writing, casting and production. But it doesn't necessarily make it's rivals trash. Arrow and Daredevil both draw parallels to the more hardcore aspects of Batman, but they serve very different purposes. Daredevil is an elevator ride to the ground floor, the cracks and crevices of a world that thunder gods and super soldiers can't always see because of the latest alien invasion or robot uprising. Arrow was the beginning of a universe that very much takes that same elevator up to the fantastic. I dunno. I feel like you can accept Daredevil and Arrow simultaneously the same way people accept Arrow and The Flash. But that's just me. I could be wrong.

Anyway, you can check out my comic reviews for the week on Thor, Ms. Marvel and Uncanny X-Men as well as my recaps for this week episodes of Arrow and The Flash on Black Nerd Problems. You know the drill. Feel free to comment, share or whatever. Enjoy.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Week In Geek 3/25/15

It seems like I do more Flash updates nowadays than I ever cared to do before. I really have to find a way to get Will over at Black Nerd Problems to invest in some kind of "Talking Dead" type of thing where we sit around and talk about the episode of Flash we just watched or something. People seem to like that sort of thing.

Anyway, this week marks the episode in which The Flash turned into professional wrestling....which sort of puts it in dicey territory. At the end of the episode, Flash meets with Captain Cold and they come to some sort of terms where they don't hit one another too close to home and the Rogues don't hurt people. This is one of those quiet-as-kept landmarks where casual watchers who don't read the comics get to see a side of comic-based storytelling that we haven't seen in a while in the era of Marvel's "it's all connected" approach. As awkward as it came across in the show, this actually makes it more in line with a lot of stand alone comics. Sure, there are the big guys who lurk in the shadows, plotting the end game (Reverse Flash), but there are numerous villains in comic-dom who just keep showing up because they like it. Cold says it numerous times and he's just starting to have fun being a supervillain. Hell, his sister turns things into GOLD and he still just wants to steal things for the hell of it. I think this all lends itself to what people love so much about this show. The degree of investment isn't nearly as heavy as buying into a universe where everything is urging you to watch something else (as high quality as it may be) to get an even bigger effect. It's an amazing representation of comic storytelling that Smallville just never managed to pull off.

My comic reviews for the week are still and always available on Black Nerd Problems. This week, I took a look at Batman Eternal and Uncanny X-Men.