My GAWD, Shame On Me For Not Talking About Westworld

Originally, I was going to do a post about the current state of The Walking Dead, but there’s probably nothing new I can add to that conversation other than the fact that this season is probably the most divisive I’ve ever seen among fans. 

Then, I was going to do a post outlining each part of the yearly Arrowverse crossover which now includes four separate shows, two and a half of which are particularly terrible. However, I could only sit through two episodes and it doesn’t feel right railing on a story when it’s entirely feasible (but probably not) that the conclusion featured in Legends of Tomorrow could have turned things around and made this event tolerable. So we’ll mark that as “to be continued.” 

Then I was going to update you about how Civil War II is going, but I don’t think anyone will be surprised to know that it’s still pimpled butt cheeks. The past three issues have been going over the same three points over and over: 1). Captain Marvel is strong and wrong; 2). The young heroes are sick of the old heroes and their shit and 3). Spider Man really doesn’t want to go to jail. So yeah, still awful.

And then I realized that while I’ve been looking one way, HBO’s sci-fi mind bender, Westworld has been low key becoming the best show on television. It hits all the obligatory markers of an HBO show….obscene budget, brilliant A list casting, first class writing. Clearly, the network is aiming for this to be the successor to the crown currently occupied by Game of Thrones which is officially on its way out. But the show goes a little further than that, ambitiously reaching past the story’s roots from the Michael Crichton movie. 

There are spoilers after this point. They are really MINOR spoilers but I'm still obligated (by the fact that I don't want to hear whining about spoilers) to tell you that there are spoilers after the jump. That's four times I've mentioned spoilers. Five now. So I don't want to hear any bullshit about it.

The Week In Geek 10/22/14

So, this week, the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron got leaked which seemed inevitable considering the buzz Marvel generated by stealth bombing San Diego Comic Con with a "special sneak peek" that nobody outside of that sound stage has seen to this day. I have to say that Marvel is really taking the whole thing in stride which does nothing but help their image at this point. To the surprise of nobody, what we saw in the teaser is very impressive. In particular, the shot of Hulk fighting the Hulkbuster armor looks absolutely incredible. Marvel gets better and better at capturing the essence of the mostly CGI monster every single time.

The trailer was supposed to make its debut on the upcoming episode of Agents of SHIELD (by the way, Tuesday's episode with "Mockingbird" was fucking awesome) and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel showed the SDCC trailer instead just to keep fans happy. Also, given the bizarre ratings drop of the season so far, they could use the viewers, so my suggestion would be to watch this week's episode anyway.

My comic reviews for the week are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. This week, I took a look at:

Batman Eternal: Okay, there's been some complaints about the book's tendency to divert from the main plotline to tell some side stories and tie off hanging plotlines, but honestly, that's no different from shows like Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. After al, the purpose for Eternal is to build a universe out of Gotham opposed to Scott Snyder's Batman, which is a more focused book that only has Batman himself to center on. With that in mind, I think it's a solid book despite some of it's issues in the art department at times.

Avengers/X-Men- Axis: Decent but sloppy. I have to appreciate the step up in the art department, but still. The resolution felt so circular. Avengers Vs. X-Men was supposed to jump start the resolution of the rift between the mutant community and the Avengers. Then, we got Uncanny Avengers as a result which was supposed to be the solution. Almost three years later, we're back to this "mutants and the government will never get along" shit. The whole thread seems to have chased its own tail.

Stuff I Read This Week 4/23/14

Original Sin #0: Unless you're a Marvel reader who has been living under a rock (not the one Cliven Bundy's been under, I hope), you know that the Original Sin even is imminent. Not much is known about what kind of event we're in for, but if you've been paying attention to the advertisments...."SOMEONE" is going to die. I don't know that this is something that anyone asked for, per se, but Marvel won some points as far as events go after Infinity (which ALMOST made up for the Shyamalan-esque travesty that was Age of Ultron), so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Issue 0 is mainly a primer going into the main even that lets new readers get to know Uatu, the Watcher. Most of Mark Waid's story is told from the perspective of Sam Alexander (Nova) while Uatu himself is silent just as he is in Nova's solo series (you're really missing out if you aren't reading that, by the way). The book sees Sam searching for more insight about his new alien friend's purpose in the cosmic community. He actually ends up being the perfect character to lead the reader along this journey because of his gung-ho innocence. Having a main character who looks upon this sprawling universe with a wide eyed wonder gives it a much needed feeling of accessibility. Jim Cheung and Paco Medina co-penciled this issue which is usually sort of a hazard when artists differ in art style, but the dazzling ink work makes it less noticeable, making for a gorgeous book in addition to being well written. Though the story itself isn't necessarily groundbreaking here, the look of the issue definitely makes it worth the price of admission.

Bottom Line: Despite not having the most ambitious of plotlines, Mark Waid manages to bang out an engaging read that leaves us ready for the meat of Original Sin. 8 out of 10

Uncanny Avengers #19: It seems this book has started to pick up speed again. Who w It seems this book has started to pick up speed again. Who would have thought th ould have thought this book would make it's return to glory by doing something so revolutionary as actually making sense again? Rick Remender started this title so strong with the Avengers Unity Division taking on the Red Skull and then meandered off through time and space nonsensically until nobody knew or cared what was happening. Then, the series did something nobody expected that changed the game: it ended with the Unity Squad failing to save the Earth from ultimate destruction. 

This issue continues Alex Summers' fight to avenge the Earth while evading the ruling class mutants on Planet X. Kang and his recruits from all across time have joined the fray and it's probably one of the strongest points in the book. Usually, when comics deal with time travel, they seem to get bogged down in showing off alternative versions of known characters (which is ultimately to gauge what action figures the Big Two can hock). Rick Remender takes known alternate characters (Earth X May Parker, Doom 2099, Arno Stark, etc.) and makes them feel fresh and underrated instead of overused. Nobody ASKED for a Doom 2099/Blob fight, but we got one and it was pretty awesome. As far as villains go, Eimin seemed more engaging when she was a layered character who was being used by Kang. This story arc sees her become more of a typical, one dimensional villain. Meanwhile, Rememder is getting really good at writing Kang. His resolve to save the world so that HE can conquer it one day is a joy to read and his dickishness knows no chill. Daniel Acuna's artwork is spot on for this arc, really fleshing out this new world that's part Earth X/part Fifth Element.

Bottom Line: It is great to see this book finally getting its shit together again. 8 out of 10

Crowd Participation or Happy Free Comic Book Day

Craig "BBC" Long from Houston, TX wanted to hear my thoughts after reading the Walking Dead comics since I saw Seasons 1 and 2 first.

Well, Craig, I can say that the comic delivers better than I could have hoped. With the direction Swamp Thing and I Vampire went in, The Walking Dead is definitely one of the ONLY mainstream titles in comics that can truly lay claim to being a horror comic. One thing that is well preserved in its own way is the dichotomy of Rick and Shane. Not only do they define each other, they define the theme of the series as a whole. In the moments when it's not an epic zombie saga (easily one of the best of all time), it's essentially a morality play that constantly questions whether or not humanity is a biological or ideological state of being. Rick and Shane seem to be constantly at odds with themselves as well as each other standing on respective sides of the argument. I see where some fans take issue with the things altered in the the tv adaptation, but I think it's the aesthetically reasonable compromise network television could probably muster. No matter how iconic a comic is or how powerful a panel is, the sad truth is that there are just some things that look good in a comic that won't translate as well on television or on screen. That's why I like that geeks are actually being consulted about geek culture. Robert Kirkman works very closely alongside the production team on Walking Dead, George R. R. Martin is reportedly consulted often on the direction of Game of Thrones and Joss Whedon has more than enough nerd credit in the bank at this point to be trusted with The Avengers. At some point Hollywood decided that instead of being satisfied with the receipt for the intellectual property they bought as a stamp of approval, it might be better to actually ask the creator what they think about their work. I stand behind the "for nerds, by nerds" approach.

Johnathan Marroquin writes via Facebook: I need an honest opinion on the Amalgam universe circa 96-98. Potential or not?

For those of you who have no idea what he's talking about, in the late 90s, DC and Marvel were real fiends for cross pollinating their titles because...let's face it...nerds will never stop arguing about who would win in a fight between Superman and the Hulk ("...and then Superman threw the big green monkey into the sun and went back to work. The End."). So, they finally had a Marvel vs. DC miniseries where the best...at the time...of each company had a big slugfest because of some patchwork excuse like "the universes are colliding" (a writer's way of saying "for no good goddamned reason"). Anyway, somehow after the heroes kept the universes from colliding by beating the shit out of each other, the universes collided anyway. The result was a universe full of mashup characters. Sometimes, they made sense like how the "Challengers of the Fantastic" was a combination of the Fantastic Four and the Challengers of the Unknown....both Jack Kirby creations. Most of them, however, were shitty like putting Batman and Man-Thing together to get Bat-Thing. This was indicative of what the mid to late 90s was in the land of comics: a reason to sell cool covers instead of cool books. Assuming Johnathan's question is asking whether or not this same imprint would be a viable venture now, it's enough that DC treats their own artists like the mail room interns you steal ideas from without their knowing. It's enough that Marvel would hold their writers at gunpoint beneath a vat of battery acid and force them to write a "You Got Served" comic if they thought there was money in it. I shudder to think what the Big Two would do to each other.

Batman: No, Logan, I never would have guessed it was you under there.