The Week In Geek: 3/16/16 - Never Too Many Daredevil Posts

Yesterday, the second season of Marvel's Netflix series, Daredevil, happened. Since I had the day off and I needed something to discuss today, I got up early and binged the whole goddamned thing in a day while I cleaned around the house and got drunk. I'll admit that I was a little worried at first that the show might lose a little bit of fire in the belly since the showrunners seemed to go for broke right out of the gate in Season 1.

First and foremost, Jon Bernthal was pitch perfect as the Punisher or, as I think of him, Who I See Myself As When I Play The Division. Though there have been some good portrayals (despite being in heinously bad movies) over the years, Bernthal has Frank Castle down so well, it's actually a little unsettling to watch. In the first season, the Kingpin was mainly a behind-the-curtain type of villain for the first episodes where we didn't get to see much of him for a while. Season 2 blatantly has no time for that shit. This time around, they get right down to business, throwing us right in the middle of Hell's Kitchen becoming a pot ready to boil over thanks to the new "hero" in town. Punisher's body count in any one episode resemble Steph Curry's season average. The fight scenes are twice as brutal as the first season. Last year, there were a lot of parallels drawn between Daredevil and Batman (the Nolan version) when the show premiered. Clearly, Marvel wanted desperately to distance one character from the other since we're a week away from Dawn of Justice because this season puts Matt Murdock through twice the shit he went through physically last time.

Character development was a bit more interesting. Karen Page definitely evolved from "step into harm's way constantly" to "stepping into harm's way for a good reason or at least good intentions." She's learned a thing or two from being around two friends who are entirely capable of handling themselves despite not being conventional tough guys (as far as she knows). For a show that borrow so heavily from Frank Miller (who has always been trash with writing women), this is a vast improvement. Foggy Nelson develops into someone with a little more personal agency once he realizes his blind best friend isn't exactly the handicapped person he thought he knew in Season 1. He blithely throws himself into some wildly dangerous scenarios without thinking it all the way through, but you feel his need to prove he can handle things on his own since his good looking, confident, silver tongued partner has essentially abandoned him. Even Claire Temple is basically just trying to either a). keep her job, b). DO her job or c). give the main character what they need so they'll get the fuck out of her face so she can get back to keeping/doing her job. You can watch each one of these characters play out their particular issues and be perfectly entertained without looking at your watch, waiting for Daredevil to fly through a window beat the unholy shit out of everyone....though that is usually a plus. The Elektra storyline doesn't have as much emotional resonance as the Punisher plot does, but it's still very well developed and wrapped up about as neatly as could be expected. Scott Glenn is still an absolute godsend as Stick. There simply isn't a single scene that isn't that much better because he's in it. Also....DAREDEVIL VS. NINJAS!!!

Will there be a third season? This series certainly deserves one, but with Iron Fist happening and The Defenders soon after, I could imagine there's some uncertainty as to when they'd get to churn out another Daredevil season. Of course, that was the case with the first season and we were promptly gifted with another, so we'll see.

My comic review for the week on Superman: American Alien

as well as my article on the upcoming Black Panther comic series are both up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your reading enjoyment. Feel free to like, comment or share your leisure.

Also, we're back with part 2 of Chapter 1 of our ongoing fantasy webcomic, Neverland: The Untold. So, definitely check that out.

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.

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.

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.

The Week In Geek 2/4/15

This week, Netflix announced they're developing a Legend of Zelda live action television series. It's awesome that this came along in the wake of the Daredevil trailer because it sends a strong message that Netflix wants to be in the nerd business in a big way. These sort of projects have way more opportunities than they did when I was growing. I remember when we were stuck with Captain Lou Albano as Super Mario inviting pro wrestlers and Cyndi Lauper over to his fake house in between short Zelda cartoons (remember when Link was basically a rapey dudebro with a sword?).

Also, Brian Bendis announced he'd be leaving the X-Men books after he finishes the current arcs. Despite my being a huge Bendis fan, I think it's good that he's getting out. The longer a high profile writer stays on a book, the stronger the trolls get. For everyone out there that exalts Chris Claremont for his tenure on X-Men, there are people (like me) who struggle to understand what the big deal is. My only regret is that it looks like he won't get around to explaining how the hell Charles Xavier got into bed (literally) with Mystique.

My comic reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. Feel free to like, share, comment or whatever makes you happy. This week, I took a look at....

Batman Eternal: ACO's art was incredible this week. Great follow up to David LaFuente's turn at bad. As far as the writing, I ge t that there's the impulse to throw material at the reader rapid fire to close all accounts, but this sort of thing got easily convoluted in the middle of the series and you definitely don't want anymore tangles in the cords towards the end.

Star Wars: Considering the fact that John Cassaday managed to crank out not only one but two books on time (early, in fact), it's only appropriate to say that lightning has offcially struck twice with this book. It's very quickly becoming one of the absolute best titles in comics. Jason Aaron's Darth Vader is just about pitch perfect right down to his asking Luke Skywalker "Who sent you here to die like this?" 

Anatomy of a Comic: So You Wanna Write a Shitty Crossover Event.....

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Okay, so usually, if it comes down to the Big Two, I commonly prefer Marvel crossover events to DC's. Usually, even when they're not great, they're fun reads for the moment (absolutely excluding Age of Ultron). Original Sin is trying, but it's not succeeding. In fact, I will go as far as saying that it is indeed failing. Mike Deodato's artwork is probably the one prevailing awesome is this series, but as far as plot and marketing, I don't understand what this book is going for. It's been a very schizophrenic title thus far. Sometimes, it's a murder mystery....and then it's 28 pages of characters not liking each other....then it's The Secret History of the Secret History of Nick Fury. There's one more issue to go and I still don't understand the point of this book.

-The first problem with this week's issue? The cover:

Daredevil is on this cover....but Daredevil is NOT IN THIS BOOK! He's really not even very involved in the Original Sin event at all with the exception of the big scene where everyone's secrets get revealed or something. It's not even as if it's some kind of quirky "Deadpool Is On Every Cover This Month Because It's Quirky But It's Really Obnoxious" kind of thing. He's just on the cover....for some reason. In a crossover event, every single aspect of the cover (or, really any comic) should be symbolic of or selling you on something taking place IN the book.

-This issue spent a lot of time in flashbacks to tell us that The Orb, Exterminatrix and Dr. Midas are the bad guys in this book. This would be awesome....if we hadn't already known they were the bad guys in this book since the second issue. In fact, was their being in this book at all wasn't very exciting. I mean, Dr. Midas turning things to gold was kinda cool but other than that, these are NOT memorable characters by any stretch of the imagination. In a crossover title, even a shitty character should stick with you. With the right writer, even a stopped clock can be right twice a day. Take DC's Identity Crisis, for example.....

Dr. Light is, for the most part, a shitty villain (I can't possibly be the only person who thinks of Mega Man when I hear his name) and was largely a plot device to facilitate this faction of the Justice League crossing the line in dealing with him, but he's still memorable. He was set up properly without having to involve him in a tie-in somewhere else. His attack on Sue Dibny didn't exactly feel forced (though, to this day, I don't agree it should have gone that far). This is how you create a memorable moment for a bad guy in a big event even when your bad guy sucks.

-So, this big fight with Nick Fury....Aside from Thor, Falcon and Iron Man, should the Avengers be able to maneuver so well in zero gravity?

-Has anyone else noticed that Moon Knight isn't very....Moon Knight-ish? Don't get me wrong. I understand that big companies like Marvel aren't always some well oiled machine between creative talent so, yeah, I get that one hand doesn't usually know what the other hand's doing. But when you have such a memorable incarnation of Moon Knight as the one Warren Ellis has left us with (Brian Wood's got a hell of a challenge following him up), you usually want to incorporate at least SOME pieces of that version in a high profile crossover title.

Come on. Look at this boss!!!

Imagine this guy, Mr. Knight standing in the presence of all these heroes in an all while business suit taking cues from the vengeance god Khonshu (think Norman Osborn in Dark Avengers hearing "the Goblin"). Now, that would make for an interesting addition to this mix of this unlikely (if you don't consider that a lot of either have a movie or are going to have one) cast of characters. Speaking of which....

-This makes (correct me if I'm wrong) the fourth issue where at least half of this large cast is just standing around in a room not liking each other and not understanding what's going on although, in their defense, neither do I. You could have possibly gotten away with this when it was Nick Fury explaining that he's a Secret Guy Whose Secret Is That He Has Secrets, but come on. I mean, you've got guys like the world's best mass murderer (Punisher), space renegades (Gamora and Rocket Raccoon), a super spy type (Winter Soldier) and a guy whose specialty is shrinking small enough to remain out of sight. No way would they have a big fight with Nick Fury robots, be seen with Nick Fury who, for right now, looks like The Bad Guy, not help the Avengers.....and just stay at the scene of the fight, talking.

In a crossover event with a cast this big that affects the rest of your universe, it's okay to move around a little bit. DC's 52 was a good exercise in this point. Granted, I acknowledge that they had a LOT more issues to execute this with, but every aspect of the ongoing story had time to breathe and get its proper development. Much like Game of Thrones, the story was never in a hurry to get back to one thing or the other.

-Did Nick Fury say "goodbye" to Captain America and fly away with the Watcher's eyes just to go to the moonbase....which is basically a few miles from the goddamned space station? Where he knocked Thor (who, despite not having his hammer, is still really strong and pissed off) and the Hulk to? What the fucking fuck?

-It's the 7th issue in an 8 issue series and I'm still not sure what the point of any of this is. In a crossover event, your purpose should be laid out clearly early on. Hell, it should be the reason we pick up the first issue. Civil War...superheroes fighting over the morality of government oversight in superheroism. Secret Invasion....nobody trusts anyone during an alien invasion. Siege....deposing a villain who wants to be a dictator. Original Sin....umm....ummm.....

Of course, the point of this could very well also just stop at "Because It's Crossover Event Season" too. That's a possibility.

Stuff I Read This Week Episode 16 or Cautionary Tales for Fanboys and Crazy People....

Kick-Ass 3 #1: Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Kick-Ass needs to die. I'm not quite talking about the character. I mean this story needs to be drowned in the bathtub quickly. The thing that's wrong with everything after the first Kick Ass is that writing satire is like telling a joke. The only real rule is to just tell the joke. Don't explain it. Once you have to explain the joke, it's immediately not funny anymore. When you get bogged down on explaining satire, it becomes obvious you're trying to say something about something.

This story was awesome when Mark Millar simply saying "A guy trying to be Batman in real life would either be dead or in the ICU in a day." It's become painfully obvious that, in its evolution, this series has become a platform for Millar to shoot fanboys in the kneecaps. In parts 1 and 2, at least our protagonists were likeable. In this issue, we get Dave Lizewski standing over his parents' graves in what should have been a sobering reflective moment of character development. Instead, he and his friend are musing about how must look awesome like Batman did. Taking brooding pictures by a family member's tombstone because he thinks it looks badass doesn't make your character relatable or realistic. It makes him an extinction-level asshole. The big upside to this book is, as usual, John Romita Jr.'s artwork, offering the right amount of levity to serious moments and awkwardness to funnier moments. Ultimately, time will tell whether or not Millar can bring closure to something that's really already run its course.

Bottom Line: One part entertaining....two parts beating a dead horse. 7 out of 10.


Daredevil: End of Days #8: Considering the fact that David Mack retweeted and reposted my review of this book last month (No, I'm NEVER going to stop talking about that...deal with it, humans...), I considered the idea that the cool thing to do would be to not review the finale, that it would be like the hero in a movie who kisses the girl, says goodbye and walks away without looking back. But I'm a writer, a blogger and a comic book nerd which is, more or less, a willing forfeit of the chance to be cool. No need to break tradition now.

There are more great things to say about End of Days than there are adjectives meandering about  the English language. It could be argued that the much sought meaning of the word "mapone" came across as slightly anti climactic, but with a book like this, the last thing readers deserved was something they actually expected. Besides, much like in life, the destination wasn't nearly as important as the journey that brought us there. It could be argued (and it almost certainly is) that this miniseries ended on more of a bang than a whimper, but this series ended in a way many superhero titles wouldn't dare to: with a prevailing sense of finality. With many of Marvel's "The End" future vision concepts, although they stay somewhat true to the essence of the highlighted protagonist, at times, they have a tendency to feel dated depending on the changes that character endures. With End of Days, we are offered a story that manages to offer closure while preserving the hard truths that we've come to know of a hero who concerns himself very little with the traditional tropes of heroism when it comes to justice. No matter what crossovers and costume changes may come from other writers over the years, this book makes a timeless, definitive statement about who Daredevil is even if it's not always a trite one.

We see cast of characters who have been as much a part of defining who this character is than the character himself saying goodbye in their own ways, some of which are clear even if they're not reflected through dialogue or action beats. Having said that, one of this issue's biggest weaknesses is the absence of journalist Ben Urich's internal narrative that has been the perfect voice to carry us through this semi-dystopic wasteland of an eulogy to the Man Without Fear. Still, no matter what point of view they offer us, Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack's voices are like old friends taking you for a drive through that part of town you grew up in, showing you how it's changed as well as how it hasn't and never will. And after reviewing two other issues of this book, there is virtually nothing left to say about the top shelf artwork from Klaus Janson and Bill Sienkiewicz. Rarely is there a comic where any given panel or page, if left by itself, could be a poster or printed on a t-shirt. There are no artists better suited to help tell a story like this. If they taught comic books in high school, rest assured that Daredevil: End of Days would be required reading.

Bottom Line: This book raised the bar for comics like a school bully playing "keep away" with your lunchbox. 9.5 out of 10.