The Week In Geek 12/24/14

So, this week saw me with a pull list WAY over my usual budget which is good because it takes a lot of comics to wash the taste of AXIS out of my mouth. I feels like my editor and I (we took turns reviewing it for Black Nerd Problems) are finally free from an evil curse placed upon us by the Comic Gods. I was going to do an "Anatomy of a Comic" piece, dissecting why it was so horrible, but honestly, I'd like to relive as little of that as possible.

This is probably why I think the Comic Gods for the existence of Black Science. This is easily one of my favorite comic books of the past ten years. I mean, if you're into comics and not reading this book, you're doing yourself a disservice. It's so good, it's sort of hard to mentally resolve the fact that Rick Remender writes this AND Axis. He takes the Lost in Space concept and completely turns it on its ear so effectively that the book's Evil Dr. Smith ends up becoming the hero. And Matteo Scalera's artwork is essentially above reproach. For him to create so many new, unique seeming worlds for the characters to jump to without much repetition is a fairly outstanding accomplishment. For me, someone who reviews books weekly and tries to be as meticulous as a comic reader can about his budget, the highest compliment I can give is that I have NEVER finished a single issue of Black Science, wondering if I was going to be back for the next one. There have been times when I was ready to drop Batman Eternal and I love that book. Furthermore, it's one of those books that makes the case for non-superhero comics. Image is really prevailing as a top shelf refuge for people that want a break from the Big Two. It comes with as high a recommendation as I can think to give outside of just walking around and handing the goddamned book to people.

My reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. This week, I took a look at....

Avengers/X-Men: Axis- (see first paragraph)

Batman Eternal: Although I really enjoyed this issue, it's a shame the action slowed down because this book is proving to be at its most effective when Batman is punching people in the face while teaching Alfred's daughter how to run operations for him. The whole "Batman on a Budget" concept is pretty awesome, though.

Uncanny X-Men: As much as I enjoy reading Cyclops having it out in a duel of ideologies with pretty much every branch of the X-family there is (because that's a lot of what this book has been thus far), it would be really nice if this book picked up speed again only because I want to know more about Charles Xavier being married to Mystique. Because at this point, she could write a tell all book about the men of the mutant community a la Karrine Steffans.

The Week In Geek 12/17/14

My comic reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. As always, feel free to click, like, dislike, agree, disagree and share at your leisure (and your supreme leader's bidding). This week, I took a look at.....

Batman: I love what Scott Snyder's doing with what I call "The Last Joker Story," but I have to say I feel bad for whoever has to come after him. It was a couple of years after "Death in the Family" before Snyder himself could use Joker again just to give him the proper gravitas. If Endgame is headed towards an appropriately horrifying conclusion like I think it is, it's going to be tough to follow up.

Batman Eternal: So, the issue slowed the main plotline down a little bit, but the creative team definitely has a better handle on juggling multiple storylines. However, Jason Bard's character feels a little too whiny now that he doesn't have any real power and basically bungled his takedown of Batman. It was a good move to create some degree of sympathy for the character, but this version of Bard that seems to kick himself when he's down and is desperate for friends now that he's fucked up is a little depressing.

All New X-Men: For a story that has been moving so slowly, this book is SUPER entertaining. Young Beast taken captive by Doctor Doom, spilling his feelings for Jean Grey is worth its weight in gold. And Young Iceman versus the Mole Man's monsters was outstanding. Young Bobby Drake is proving to be this book's Spider Man (because every Bendis book needs a voice like Spider-Man's).

Making the Case for Spider Verse....

It has come to my attention that some of you Spider-Man fans out there are not reading Spider Verse. I am encouraging those people to break themselves of this habit immediately. Now, I know SM fans (myself being one of them) tend to be divisive in their ideas of what makes a quality Spider-Man story, but I encourage you to give this one a shot no matter what side of the fence you're on.

1). Nostalgic Value: Every other beat calls back to the fun ridiculousness of the 90s animated series. As a matter of fact, the plot itself calls back to the final episodes of the series where Spider-Man had been chosen to lead an army of Spider-Men against (I shit you not) Spider-Carnage. Oh, it was delightfully silly. Basically, Peter was the only Spider-Man with enough compassion and caring for his fellow man to realize that all Spider-Carnage needed was to see Uncle Ben again and he would give up trying to destroy all of creation. I'm not kidding, by the way. Peter went and got Uncle Ben from another dimension and defeated Carnage with Love. Granted, Spider Verse deals with a far more vicious bad guy from the JMS era of Amazing Spider Man, but yeah, it's a lot of fun.

2). Dan Slott: He's quickly becoming the guy who takes a premise that should be really stupid and making it work because of the unique voice he brings to the project. Last year, I was at the head of the "Superior Spider Man Sucks" Chorus, going off about how it was a travesty and how Marvel was out of ideas blah blah blah, but the second half of the series (that dealt mainly with the war of the Goblins and Norman Osborn basically tearing down New York) really turned things around in showing that shit goes wrong when Peter Parker isn't Spider Man. If Slott can change MY mind, he can change anyone's mind.


3). The Art: Oliver Copiel is at the absolute top of his game here. Shut up and look at this gorgeous panels!

4). The Themes: The thing I personally find to be the most interesting that didn't happen in the animated series (see #1) is that instead of power and responsibility being the thing that makes 616 Peter so special, it's the thing that links all the Spiders together. It's their nature. It essentially MAKES them Spiders in the same way willpower and fearlessness makes Hal Jordan a Green Lantern. Their foes, the Inheritors basically have everything they have because they took it by force because they could. Even their name "Inheritors" implies that power is something they're supposed to have just because. "Might makes right" is their nature.

5). It's the best event Marvel's had in a while: I loved Infinity and ever since, Marvel's crossovers and tie-ins (except the Trial of Jean Grey) have been pretty questionable. X-Men's Battle of the Atom was awesome and so many things to love right up until you figured out it had absolutely no point. Original Sin is probably the WORST crossover event I've ever read. There were eight issues and at least three of them were a bunch of superheroes standing in a room either a). listening to a story or b). responding to the story they just heard. And Avengers/X-Men: Axis is a traveshmockery. My editor over at Black Nerd Problems, Will Evans and I split review duties on this book and every time it comes up on the assignment list, we both cringe like it's our turn to mow the lawn. Spider Verse takes place away from any other happenings in the Marvel Universe and so it doesn't suffer from too many shoehorned personalities that the story doesn't need unlike Axis and its Deadpool fetish.

Spider Verse isn't just another event. It's not even just The Best Event Marvel Has Right Now. So far, at least as far as the 21st century is concerned (showing much respect to the greats like Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and so forth in the 20th century), this book makes the case for Spider-Man. I can't speak for All Fans Everywhere, but that's why I think Spider Verse at least deserves a shot from anyone who fancies themselves a fan. Then again, I could be wrong.

The Week In Geek 12/10/14

So, this week's midseason finale to The Flash kicked several levels of ass. The fight between Barry and Reverse Flash...who is TOTALLY Dr. Wells (sorry if that's a spoiler but if you haven't figured that out by now...)....was pretty incredible looking for primetime network television. I've been hearing a lot of complaints about Iris West's character, but I'm sorry....I love a pretty brown girl as the leading lady in an interracial relationship. By the way, I don't seem to remember all that complaining when Lana Lang was the leading lady in Smallville and that was maybe one of the worst shows in nerd history. Just saying. At this point, the complaints that "it's so CW" just have to stop. We (I'm speaking to my generation in particular) have to learn to get used to the fact that comic culture HAS to attract younger viewers to survive. I mentioned this in an article a while back, but fans have to get better about sharing. Otherwise, we end up looking like insiders and troll. Just ask the Gamergate trolls.

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

Thor: I am more convinced than ever that the new lady Thor is actually, Roz Solomon, Odinson's SHIELD girlfriend. That's why she was so desperate to get the hammer back before she turned back into Someone That Roxxon Would Recognize (from the Last Days of Midgard story). Anyway, I do appreciate that the hammer kinda offer tutorials in how to be Thor like Green Lantern's ring. Other than that, there's not much else to say. Jason Aaron is going to be remembered as one of the premier names when they talk about Thor in the 2010s.

Avengers/X-Men: Axis- Okay, this week was slightly better for Axis but not by much. I know Deadpool is supposed to something of a hood ornament to uptick your sales a little bit, but it just didn't work out here. Spider-Man, as usual, was something of a boon to the story and Scarlet Witch looked great and all, but this plot is so rough. It literally pains me to review it.

Batman Eternal: The funny thing is that the whole Jason Bard plotline hanging over the book has basically made plot "A World Without Jim Gordon", furthering DC's initiative to make Commissioner Gordon into a nigh-superhero. I've said this before, but aside from Batman, he's the only other thing saving Gotham from descending into Hell. This is, in part, why I'm so disappointed that the Gotham tv series sucks so bad.

No, I'm NOT Calling The Flash and Arrow "Flarrow"......

So, this week was the big two night "Flash vs. Arrow" crossover event and despite my mild skepticism (a "versus" scenario would have been a bit more plausible a few weeks ago before Barry did Mach One to put Not-Quite-Colossus on his ass), it was actually much better than I expected. One thing it did very well was establish a clear tone for each respective show in this one universe. And love or hate them, you can at least say that these two shows know exactly what kind of shows they want to be. You've got a shitshow like Gotham that has virtually no identity and, at the same time, EVERY identity. Sometimes, it wants to be a by-the-book procedural cop drama set in a famous fictional city. Every once in a while, it's a Batman prequel when it needs to bring back viewers. Other times, it wants to be Boardwalk Empire set in a famous fictional city. Some days, it's Rise of the Penguin. And sometimes, as evident by the many larval stages of Jada Pinkett Smith's wig, it wants to be a Bronner Bros. hair show in Atlanta. Arrow, makes a very clear statement in almost every scene that it's a primetime Batman surrogate. The Flash is obviously meant to be a Superman replacement (because we will NOT see Superman on primetime television again for a while; Thanks for nothing, Smallville), far more hopeful and cartoonishly optimistic than his gritty counterpart. It's actually the kind of dynamic I hope will take place in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (despite Henry Cavil's sad eyes). DC gets a lot of crap for being so slow to the starter blocks in competing with Marvel's unstoppable engine of movies, but as far as TV goes, they know how to sell a product. Then again, I could be wrong.

A Few Things About Interstellar.....

So, I watched Interstellar yesterday (loved it, by the way) and I noticed a few things:

-Hans Zimmer is scoring movies as if he's trying to dethrone John Williams.

-When your movie is so star powered, Matt Damon is the unbilled star, that's a REALLY star powered movie.

-Matthew McConaughey's character, Joseph Cooper, for him to be the "practical one," was like the happy go lucky version of Rustin Cohle from True Detective.

-As right brained as Christopher Nolan's work tends to be....he's kind of a big softie. For a space movie, the teary eyed close-up scenes seemed to steal the show. The scene where Matthew McConaughey is holding his weeping, angry daughter seems to be the moment that serves as the driving force for everything they both do from that point onward. The movie spends every bit as much time on philosophy and feelings as it does on quantum physics. Anne Hathaway has a whole monologue where she ponders whether or not love can transcend time and space (which is the sort of thing, I'll admit, I'm a sucker for in movies). Having said that....

-If Neil Degrasse Tyson can learn to let go, we can all learn to let go. We are a cynical generation that can't enjoy a movie if it has the smallest of plotholes that don't really matter to the story as a whole. If America's Science Czar can note the scientific inconsistencies and still enjoy a movie that, in its own way, embraces love as a science unto itself, so can we. Granted, let's not get crazy. When you have too many plotholes that leave you asking wildly unnecessary questions, you end up with Transformers 2 and 3. Still, learning to let go is an integral part of the moviegoing experience.

The Week In Geek 11/19/14

My reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. You know the drill. As always, feel free to love, hate, comment, like, share as you see fit. This week, I took a look at.....

Uncanny X-Men: Brian Bendis' work doesn't move as fast for some as they'd like but honestly, I think this particular story arc is probably the strongest structured of his tenure so far. I really do hope both X-titles delve more into the Fall of Hank McCoy. It's actually reminiscent of Doctor Strange's arc recently where he started channeling the Dark Arts to be more powerful which was awesome (would have been more awesome had Marvel not done that already during World War Hulk). This story has been powerful because we've seen certain characters (Cyclops, Iceman, Beast) at their most vulnerable and in a book where the principle characters are basically family, that's an important aspect to show, moreso than these grand, repetitive action beats every 9 pages.

Batman Eternal: You would think Batman would have learned his lesson with making heavy artillery for all these Defcon 1 scenarios just for someone to steal from under his nose. Alas, Gotham is under siege once again thanks to a Batman plan. And, of course, Wayne Enterprises is going to up to its nose in legal red tape because Bruce Wayne funds Batman Inc. And Batman wouldn't be Batman if he didn't leave Lucius Fox holding the bag.

When Creator Credit Matters

I'm going to regret this, but I get approached in public with questions and topic pitches enough that I'm taking them as serious requests to discuss here in the blog.

So, a coworker and I were talking comics and Rob Liefeld's name came up. My coworker asked, as many people (including myself) do, how he keeps getting work. I corrected him by saying that, in fairness, he only keeps getting work with DC because they're the main ones that keep banking on him against all odds (If you need proof, ALL of his New 52 books failed within 8 issues at the beginning of the reboot). As far as Marvel goes, he doesn't do much for them anymore but then again, he doesn't really have to when he keeps beating his chest about how he created Cable and Deadpool.

So, this left my coworker wondering: Does laying claim to being "the creator of..." really hold a lot of weight in comics? And it's a good question. After all, the praise fans shower comic creators with doesn't necessarily translate in every industry the same way. Just ask 90% of game developers.

Honestly, depending on who you ask in the comic industry itself, you might even get mixed answers there, too.

So I contacted DC about the mistaken "created by" credit on Vibe. Helpfully, they're removing the "created by" credit entirely.
— Gerry Conway (@gerryconway) February 22, 2013

(Before I go on, let me take this moment to say that in terms of compensation and publishers' treatment of their talent, creator credit should ALWAYS matter and that DC treatment of Gerry Conway in this case is indefensible. There's just no two ways about it. However, what we're discussing the semantics of how much it should/shouldn't matter from a reader's perspective.)

Now, my coworker isn't necessarily a die-hard comic reader, but from the outside looking in, his question is completely valid. After all, let's say I create a character that ends up having some minimal success if any at all. Someone else like Scott Snyder comes along, completely retools every aspect of my character and suddenly, it's a huge success and a household name. Do I still get lay claim to being the pioneer in this situation?

Answer: Sure, but not really. In other words, if my character ends up being a cartoon, do I have the right to have my name under the creator credits? Absolutely. Without question. Unless, of course, the studio decides to say something like "based on story written by Scott Snyder" so they can directly credit the mind behind the version people actually liked.

For the ideal situation, let's take Spider-Man. Even in uninitiated circles, you'd have to go pretty far and wide to find someone who didn't know that Stan Lee created Spider-Man. No matter who else writes him and receives tons of well deserved praise for their take on the character (Dan Slott, JMS, Brian Bendis), Stan Lee is the heart and soul of Spider-Man. Why, you ask? Because no matter what changes they made to him or what different avenues, they take him down (give him Spider Cancer, magic totem powers, give his life to kill Norman Osborn, Doctor Spiderpus, selling his marriage to Satan, whatever), all of those stories usually wrap with Spider-Man, perhaps a little wiser and worn for the experience, going back to factory settings. As in "how Stan Lee intended him."

You can even repeat this with Superman. Yeah, we all know he's had a few breaks from the norm

Now, let's plug Rob Liefeld in this formula. Liefeld will forever be tied to Cable and Deadpool mainly because he himself will never let us forget that he created Cable and Deadpool. But as many hands as Deadpool has been in, can we really say that the character as we know him now (basically, the Daffy Duck of Marvel Comics) compared to his first appearances in X-Force and New Mutants really what Liefeld seemed to have in mind? I don't know because I'm not actually in Rob Liefeld's mind, but it sure doesn't seem like it. In fact, speaking of X-Force, another one of Liefeld's brain children, if you look at the line up, their purpose, really anything about them....does the X-Force most people know X-Force to be look anything like the one Liefeld started us off with? Probably not.

So all in all, does being "the creator of..." really matter? Answer: It depends. (Unless you're Rob Liefeld, in which case, not really)

The Week In Geek 11/12/14

My reviews for the week are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to love them, hate them, comment, share them as you so please. This week, I took a look at....

Batman: The Joker's return is likely the best highlight of the week. Snyder is leaving a terrific and unique fingerprint on the Batman mythos that we'll be talking about in ten years guaranteed, but more importantly, as a Superman fan, I have to point out that Batman said it himself, "If Superman wanted to kill you, there's probably nothing that could stop him." There. He admitted it. He said it himself. It's officially canon.

Batman Eternal: I have to say I do love the New 52 idea of the Spoiler, a kid who deals in information throughout Gotham, stays a step ahead of everyone (including Batman) and feuds with her C-list supervillain father. That said, I really enjoyed her teaming up with Batman to throw down against Hush only to pull Batman's own disappearing trick in him.

Thor: I love that the Thor's ancient magic hammer basically comes with built-in tutorials and helps you learn how to use it. Also, I'm sticking firm to my theory that the new Thor is actually Odinson's SHIELD agent girlfriend, Roz Solomon, but listen, guys, don't start emailing me the plotholes in my theory. It's just a theory. Besides, plotholes or not, there's precedent for EVERYTHING in the comics.

Axis : I don't even have notes on this book. It's getting worse and worse by the week.

So...Whatever Happened to Elseworlds?

"I'm just saying, guys, Cap never has to
chase naked people."

So, this week, the big announcement went out that Marvel would be doing a major crossover with Attack on Titan. No, I'm not kidding. The "female" Titan from the series will be attacking New York City so it'll be up to the superhero citizens (of which there are many) to stop it before it...umm...kills people, I guess. At first my reaction was, "Okay, but why?" Did anyone ask for this? I mean, I knew Attack on Titan was really popular, but I didn't know it had reached Random 90s Style Crossover Status. I also didn't realize that Marvel was moving so fast towards Total Media Saturation (imagine that I said that in my Spock voice). But then, the real question occurred to me: Why isn't DC doing this?

I mean, I can't be the only person who remembers when this kind of shit was their bread and butter. DC Elseworlds has been around for decades (and yes, I'm counting the years before it was an official imprint) in one way or another, always making a much bigger splash than Marvel's What If? stories even though, to be fair, that's really an apples/oranges comparison (What If stems from an existing place in Marvel's canon where Elseworlds stories exist in a whole different universe). And there are plenty of notable cases where, although they're not considered canon in the main DC Universe, some Elseworlds stories are still considered gospel among fans. Despite their failed attempts to fold it into the existing timeline, Kingdom Come is STILL hailed by many (including myself) as one of the greatest Superman stories of all time.

The Dark Knight Returns, though it is STILL not counted as Elseworlds for some reason (I suspect DC is still looking for an opening to make this fit within the main timeline), is the source for a lot of how we view Batman today. The story planted the seeds necessary for Tim Burton and Anton Furst to take Batman out of the '66 Adam West version pop culture had known him for and into the gritty, gothic wonderland we know him and Gotham for now.

With all that said, it's really weird that DC doesn't seem to put a whole lot of effort into Elseworlds. Now, I can understand not seeing anymore of the company crossovers (remember the mid/late 90s when it looked like Marvel and DC might pretend to get along?) since it is entirely likely that DC has burned so many bridges with their "Conquer or Copy" initiative that Marvel or any other self respecting major publisher would rather sell their left testicles to One Direction before ever working with them. But playing around with their characters (usually Batman and Superman), giving readers exciting alternatives within their own company is one of those perks that made DC itself that much more fun. In the era of the New 52, not having that around anymore leaves them feeling sort of rigid....which seems to be the one problem DC never seems to have ANY interest in fixing.

I get that alternate universes can make it confusing when you're trying to invite new readers in from the movie theaters (even though the New 52 is now up three different Earths and an ongoing Grant Morrison series about parallel dimensions). I even get that DC's trying to align their movies and their comics to a point where the graphic novels are just movie companions. I would, however, feel a little better about it if they could at least pretend they were doing more than streamlining their brand for the sake of blatant cash grabs. Then again, I could be wrong.

Why Starlight Is So Awesome

Disclaimer: Yes, there are minor spoilers in my explaining the plot, but for the most part, they're confined to Issue One. Of a six part miniseries. So, I don't consider it a big deal. But there are spoilers. Enjoy.

With all the big news happening between the Big Two, one of the great things that slipped through the cracks in the past couple of weeks was that Starlight finally ended. Now, I realize that there are several people who didn't bother with this comic once they realized Mark "Put That In Your Shipping Date And Smoke It" Millar was writing it. I also realize there were people who gave up on it at some point because with Mark Millar, it's only a matter of time before you end up waiting three months for the story wrap up. Well, I'm happy to report that those of you who though Millar wouldn't come through on time (myself included) were wrong and those of you who didn't give this a shot in the first place really missed out on some good reading.

No matter how you feel about Millar's work (no, I'm not going to bring up Civil War because everytime you talk about what worked and didn't work with Civil War, you find yourself in an hour long debate about Civil War and I'm way too sober for that), you should take it as a high recommendation on my part in saying that this is some of his best stuff by far. The main complaints that come from a lot of the comics Millar writes is that:

a). They're overly cynical- Remember the time Iron Man, maybe the most irresponsible superhero of all time, was put in charge of the government oversight of all superheroism? Or the time in Ultimate Comics when the Hulk was a black drug dealer named Tyrone Cash? Or when Kick-Ass turned out to be Millar taking a piss at cosplayers, characterizing them as sociopathic jerks detached from reality.

b). They get away from their own points.- Remember when Civil War started off with the Superhero Registration Act in place, putting certain heroes on the run as enemies of the state and then ENDED with the Superhero Registration Act in place, putting certain heroes on the run as enemies of the state.

c). They spend a lot of time deconstructing superhero culture- Wanted: What if the bad guys had already won decades ago and were just ruling the world out of sheer boredom? Civil War: What if the government got involved because superheroes were a bunch of reckless glory hounds breaking shit all the time (even though they've been getting the job done for 40 years prior to Civil War)? Nemesis: What if Batman were the greatest villain ever?

Well, Millar rails against a lot of his worst habits except (c) because Starlight is a deconstruction (and really, only a minor one) of old school, pulp space opera heroes like Flash Gordon, John Carter and Buck Rogers. Duke McQueen is what I imagine Captain America would grow up to be like if he ever aged. A well-meaning, ass kicking old war horse who has a serious problem with bullies. As a young man, McQueen was an Air Force pilot who'd been sucked out halfway across the galaxy to a remote planet, Tantalus. While there, he'd fought alongside the people there to defeat an evil tyrant and liberate their world. He finally went home as their greatest hero. Of course, when he returned...nobody here on Earth believed him. Nobody except his loving wife.

Many years later, his kids are grown adults who ignore him almost completely, sick of his outer space tales, his wife has passed and he finds himself trying to adjust to his life as an old man with awkward results at best. One day, he receives a visit from some kid claiming he's from Tantalus and that his world needs McQueen once again.

In Starlight, Millar finds a more nuanced, mature voice than we're used to from the writer of Wanted. His characters, even the minor ones, even the evil ones, all feel genuine on one level or another with less of his trademark bravado. This is all most notably so in the case of our hero.

I apologize in advance, but for this point I'm making, the best example I can come up with is The Expendables. This movie was one of my least favorite cinematic experiences EVER in my 31 years of owning a pair of eyes because it didn't completely deliver on what was promised. If you'd believed early marketing, you'd have thought you were getting a bunch of old tough guys shaking off the cobwebs, showing the youngsters how it's done. And in fairness, there was some of that, but there was also a LOT of whining. I swear there was a whole five minutes where Jet Li went on a whole diatribe about how much it sucks to be short. The thing a lot of movie writers don't seem to understand (aside from the fact that whining is NOT always the same as actual character development) is that when your lead character can swordfight with space pirates or fly a cargo plane into heavy gunfire, whining doesn't make your character relatable or "an everyman." It kinda makes him a pussy.

Duke McQueen understands this a lot. Granted, he has a hard time believing all of this is showing up right at this time in his life, but he never truly resists. I mean what does have to complain about. He's still pretty spry, he's built like a linebacker and he has a stature erected in his honor. Any reservation he has about taking up the "hero" mantle again fade away fast. McQueen is rarely unsure of himself or a stumbling over his words. You won't find a scene where he's captured by the enemy, void of hope, doubting whether he was ever of sound mind to take this adventure on again. He knows the people fighting behind him can't afford to hear that shit or else nothing will get done. He doesn't just believe in himself but also his ability to inspire other people to save themselves.

Because, ultimately, whether it's Batman always believing there's a way to win even after all options have been exhausted, Superman's tireless belief in the better angels of humanity's nature or Spider-Man's belief in doing what's right even when it sucks and people may hate him for it....belief is one of the greatest abilities a hero can have.

In this same regard, the story itself carries that same virtue. Rarely rude, gory, vulgar or cynical (all of which are things often associated with Millar), Starlight ends up being less of a send-up of an old genre and becomes a worthy successor. Though the tough old swashbuckler never questions his ultimate purpose, Millar, doesn't ask if heroes like this still exist so much as questions whether or not we still have the capacity to believe in them. And, at their heart, this is one of the primary functions of comics (the truly good ones, anyway). And that's what Starlight is: a return to belief. Because we can always use a little more of that, right?

The Week In Geek 10/29/14

Okay, so the Geeky Thing That Happened This Week is obviously the big Marvel Event in Los Angeles where Marvel once again curb stomped DC like they held out on milk money. Barely two weeks after Warner Bros. tosses out a sort of lackluster (at least in reception) list of proposed titles and times for their Cinematic Universe. The blogs start making the rounds about how DC is going to be first to have feature films with female leads and/or a lead character of color (which is not true) and then Marvel suddenly hit their rivals with a surprise attack.

"I will see your Cyborg and Wonder Woman movies and raise you Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther, the female Captain Marvel that everyone loves so much and Benedict Fucking Cumberbatch at Dr. Strange."

I went on about this before but the one reason Marvel smokes DC every time with these little stunts is because they put out a reliable product. You would think putting out some rigid schedule of movies you want to make in the next five years or so would feel stuffy, but it doesn't. Marvel has established several times that not only do they make good product but it has the capacity to get better over time (Captain America 2). When you do good work, people want to know when you're doing that good work again. Of course, when there's delays, questionable casting choices and basically a 24 hour news cycle built around the possibility of your project's failure....well, ask DC.

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

Batman Eternal: This was pretty epic, I'd say. From the awesome looking scene of Batman diving head first into a crater amidst gunfire from the police, the wholesale destruction of Arkham Asylum and the long awaited appearance of the Spectre which was here and gone way too soon....this is a better resolution than any to one of the book's many conflicts.

All New X-Men: Although the plot itself has begun to move in slow motion, I must say there are some things to enjoy with the current status of the book. Angel trying to teach X-23 just to be a person let alone a girlfriend is pretty entertaining. And watching Beast and Ultimate Doom in a room together has so much potential for mayhem and comedy, I can barely stand it.. Hopefully, the pace picks up next issue, but I'm okay with where it is for now.

Should One Man Have All That Power?

Since I've started working for Black Nerd Problems, the feedback for my articles and even The Blog has definitely evolved. I get my share of trolls just like everyone else, but for the most part, I like you people. Even when you don't agree, you get it. But there's always a bit of an oddball that just has to stand out. Recently, I received an email about an article I did a few moons ago on what the moral to a good Black Panther movie should be. One response I got (which my editor refuses to run and rightfully so because as well written and thought out as it is, the goddamned thing has a higher word count than War and Peace) was a letter to Marvel, griping about the direction in which they've taken the Black Panther in the past ten years or so. And yeah, it's totally valid to say he's been put through the ringer. He's lost his kingdom to his sister (by the way, I've never liked the way fans talk about that with this overtone that sounds a lot like misogynistic "you lost your throne to a girl" bullshit), he got divorced from Storm who moved onto a relationship with the dearly departed Wolverine. He became the keeper of the spirits of all Black Panthers before him and lost that. He's lost Wakanda thrice to Doom, Namor and Thanos. I get it. He's had it hard.

This section of fandom (because the guy who wrote the letter isn't the only one by a long shot) has a problem with this because the Panther, though an awesome, formidable hero, hasn't really been given a chance as a truly marquee character. They seem to think, as far as I can tell, that returning his throne to him and making him this indomitable Batman of sorts again will put him in the spotlight he deserves and...I don't know...maybe they think he'll finally be worthy of joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in his own film (which, according to some, is on the way sooner than we think).

The author of said letter also seems to believe that the Black Panther falling from grace is some kind of hazing unique to him that other characters (I'm assuming via context that he means white characters) are somehow immune to. Even though it's understandable as far as kneejerk reactions go (after all, we live in a country where it's practically a federal case if Jennifer Lawrence's boobs leak to the web but not Jill Scott's), it's still wrong.

Tony Stark, as karmic penance for being a war profiteer, has a piece of shrapnel from one of his own bombs stuck in his chest. He's also been a booze hound who has lost his company at least twice in recent memory, lost his memory, been an enemy of the state and, recently, engineered superhero death machines that he doesn't remember making.

Captain America, the Marvel Universe's greatest champion, has been on the run from his own country, shot in the chest, and even renounced his name when he didn't like the direction the country was going in.

And these are two of Marvel's biggest franchises we're talking about here. If Marvel were to absolve the Black Panther from being put through a gauntlet in his heroic and personal life (and this is what Reginald Hudlin lost sight of during his run), you're opening your character up to becoming a Goddamned Batman where the problem becomes that you've allowed your character to become too invincible in the eyes of the collective consciousness. And when was the last time that was exciting? 300? I mean, sure it was cool watching the Spartans be tougher than basically every other lifeform on screen, but that was only cool because we all knew they were going to die by the end of the movie.

"Excuse me, but you're in the shot. They can't
get my abs clearly."

(Having said that, it would be awesome to see a scene in the Black Panther movie where T'Challa is one deep against a horde of mercenaries charging towards Wakanda, giving them work like Gerard Butler did in that one scene of 300. But I digress.)

I mean, just think about Cyclops. After the years of fanwhining about how boring and vanilla Scott Summers was. Now, think about him finally losing his shit and, lately becoming the new Magneto. Who would have guessed that the Captain America of mutants would have turned into that wayward older brother who changes his clothes and rages against the machine to piss off his dead father figure? That's a much more interesting character!

It's natural to want the good guys to win. That's why comics are absorbed into pop culture so easily. No matter how cynical or apathetic our society becomes, we want to see someone triumph during those times when we don't think we can. Jerry Siegel's father was shot and killed in a department store robbery. When he created Superman, he was giving birth to the kind of hero he wished could have saved his dad, a hero who would never let us down in those times when our friends, our jobs or our justice system does.

But the connection between the hero and his/her reader can't always be so simple. Otherwise, the audience starts to resent the hero in the same way you hate hearing "I know how you feel" from your friend who gets all the pretty girls in high school. The greater the test put before your hero, the louder we cheer when they see their way past it.

Moral of the Story: It's not about the fall. It's about the climb back.

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.

Why I Left Gotham....

Friend: Okay, you've been keeping up with Gotham, right? I have a reference question.

Me: Actually I gave up on Gotham after episode three.

Friend: Which one was that?

Me: The one that came third.

Friend: Yeah, but...good one....what was it about?

Me: It was Jim Gordon vs. Balloons

Friend: That was a vigilante whose motif was balloons. I thought you'd like that one.

Me: So, you thought I was drunk?

Friend: Are you telling me you weren't?

Me: No, I got drunk after it was over. To numb the pain.

Friend: So, what was wrong with the Balloonman?

Me: First of all, his name was Balloonman. You can't get away with a name that stupid if you're a MegaMan villain. Hell, he couldn't even get away with being a MegaMan villain because if MegaMan absorbed Balloonman's power, I'm pretty sure he'd refund it back to the guy.

Friend: "Excuse me, Dr. Wiley, I got this from your associates about a week ago. I don't have a receipt but it's just not what I thought it was and I'd like to see about getting a refund on it."

Me: "Well, young man, my associate should have made you aware of our five day policy for returns on evil robot powers clearly indicated in our terms of service....."

Friend: "Well, I'll take store credit. You don't have any free song downloads or some shit? Candy Crush lives? Nothing?"

Me: The thing about Gotham is that it's trying to be some hybrid of a Batman prequel and quirky procedural cop drama. In other words, it's trying to horde the CW and CBS audience at the same time. The problem is that it sucks at both.

Friend: But what about Kid Bruce Wayne? Batman before he even thought about being Batman. That's gotta be worth something.

Me: It would be if they actually bothered to write a character for this kid outside of "Bruce Wayne's parents got shot and he's been creepy ever since."

Friend: But isn't that how it basically went, though?

Me: Yeah, but there's a reason the other origin stories skip right to Bruce learning kung-fu and Sherlock Holmes 101. Because all an eight year old can do at that point realistically is really just pout and be a complete snot. Unless, you want to do a whole series about young Bruce Wayne solving mysteries. And Young Bruce Wayne Mysteries is essentially just Young Indiana Jones. And doing Young Indiana Jones without River Phoenix is a punishable offense.

Friend: But you write for a website that HAS to cover this kind of thing to know what's going on and all that.

Me: I write for a website where ONE of us has to cover Gotham. We are well aware of his sacrifice for the greater good. It's basically like he's Batman flying Bane's atom bomb into the ocean every Monday at 7 and we are grateful. But other than him, I think every other staff writer has basically washed their hands of the whole thing. I mean, there are just better things to do with my Monday night than wonder how much worse Jada Pinkett Smith's wig is going to be this week.

Friend: But you're not worried you're missing out on landmark comic-based media even if it's kinda bad?

Me: The last time I had that thought, I ended up watching several seasons of Smallville when three would have worked out just fine.

Friend: But Smallville was necessary. We needed to know that comic-based television could get if a show was left on the air years after its worn out its welcome for advertisment's sake.

Me: No, we didn't. We knew that already because that describes any CW show that lasts longer than two seasons that isn't Supernatural.

Friend: I'll give you that.

Me: But your point is that Gotham is necessary because we haven't had Smallville to remind us in a while?

Friend: Not really.

Me: So, what's your point in defense of Gotham?

Friend: I was defending Gotham? Oh, man, that show sucks. I just had a question.

Me: **sigh** Good talk, man.

The Week In Geek 10/16/14

Since I didn't do a week in geek last week due to time constraints and the Day Job, I'll backtrack a little bit.

-The Flash premiered last week and I can tell you without going into a whole fleshed out review since there's a perfectly good one that I kinda disagree with over at BNP....it was incredible. Honestly, if DC is keen on creating a primetime television universe (excluding Gotham because it's turning out to be a shit show that will probably on get a second season before completely tanking), this was a step in the right direction. The show really serves as the perfect counter to Arrow, which comes on the night after. Whereas Arrow has made its name on being a much more intense "ultimate" version of the Green Arrow mythos (because the idea seemed to be it to be a primetime Batman surrogate), Flash is Arrow's more earnest counterpart which, incidentally makes for hugely entertaining television. And Jesse L. Martin does this show ALL OF THE FAVORS. I mean, sure we've seen Bill Sadler and Tom Cavanaugh do pretty well, but Martin's performance does laps around the whole rest of the cast. And they've wasted no time teasing us with the promise of assembling the Rogues and even Professor Zoom. This show is definitely going to be the one to watch this season.

-Last week, Marvel announced that it would be bringing back the Secret Wars next year. They put out this epic poster done by Alex Ross (The GAWD) that features what looks like this epic showdown between heroes and a lot of their alternate versions with nods to the Ultimate Universe as well as Supreme Power. Now, I'm not going to comment on the "Marvel has run out of ideas" fanwhining because that's just a degree of circular logic where nobody really wins. However, I WILL point out how funny it is that there was NO sign of the Fantastic Four or the X-Men in the poster. With Fantastic Four having already been cancelled, this really just adds to the rumor that Disney bigwigs are attempting to completely snub Fox, who owns the movie rights to both (FF, of course, has that movie reboot coming up in....you guessed it...2015). While it hasn't exactly been an official mandate by Disney OR Marvel, the signs certainly point to some truth in the rumor more and more as time goes on. And, sure, Marvel pours too much money in to X-books to every cancel those outright, the timing for them to kill Wolverine off seems extremely convenient as well. At this point, they couldn't get anymore overt if they had Leonardo Da Vinci himself paint Wolverine giving Fox the finger while slicing through a picture of Michael B. Jordan.


Anyway, my comic reviews for the week are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Also, check out my reviews for episodes 2 and 3 of Nightwing: The Series as well as my opinion piece on the announcement of a Suicide Squad movie slated for 2016. This week, I took a look at.....

Batman Eternal: Okay, I glazed over this point in the actual review, but....Batgirl has become downright thuggish and I LOVE it. You can also tell DC is really making an effort (for whatever that's worth with DC) towards retooling the gender politics in their universe when you have a dope moment like Jason Todd openly admitting that Batgirl has always been the most formidable of Batman's proteges. Dope moment. As far as progress goes, you have to give credit where it's due.

Uncanny X-Men: So, Bendis had to take a departure from the familial shenanigans in favor of advancing the plot a bit faster since there's another "MostPowerfulMutantEverUnlikeAnythingWeveEverSeenExceptForTheLastTimeAndTheTimeBeforeThat" at large, but it's still a really strong story arc happening. One story I noticed they seem to be conveniently glazing over is the revelation that Charles Xavier was married to Mystique and, evident from the All New Brotherhood's attack in All New, had a kid. Are we going to sit down and have a talk about how Raven Darkholme is apparently comics' most notorious rolling stone? Seriously, man....it's just getting weird at this point.

Is Harley Quinn The New Deadpool?

So, the Suicide Squad recently got rebooted AGAIN. At this point, I think it's hot on the Legion of Superheroes' heels for "most times canceled by DC Comics." In fact, I'm pretty sure they're both at least one more cancellation away from a free Firehouse sub. I was really ready to give it a chance and decide on it myself except 1). I think I'm getting to the age where I don't have to test out every single thing that shows up out of curiosity (I still haven't seen Battleship because I KNOW it's trash) and 2). I've never seen a book that was voted off the island so unanimously. I mean, I haven't seen or heard a single positive thing about Suicide Squad this time around. And now, it's got me wondering: What is it that DC is getting SO wrong about the Suicide Squad? Honestly, the team seems to get generally positive responses in their appearances on Justice League Unlimited and, recently, Arrow. But the book never catches fire for very long.

It so happened that, as I was contemplating this, I ran into one of my readers (Yes, on occasion, I do indeed run into people who read the blog and engage them about what they've read) who'd noticed the same thing I had that the book just can't seem to get lightning to strike for some reason. Now, both of us are stumped on the franchise in general, but he had an idea about this incarnation in particular: Harley Quinn. I don't read as much DC as he does to have noticed it, but hypothesized that Harley Quinn is slowly becoming the new Deadpool. And he kinda had a point. I remember reading issue zero of her solo series and most of it was basically her breaking the fourth wall interacting with the readers and the writers, very similar to Deadpool's knowledge that he's a comic character in a fictional world. In DC's need to give her an identity aside from being the Joker's girl Friday (since Joker has been intentionally absent), she's become sort of a gag character. On one hand, if this is a mandated plot on DC's part, there is a chance it's not going to fly because the problem with DC's mandated plots is that they usually feel like mandated plots. It's as there are a bunch of old white men sitting in a boardroom listening to an intern talk about way to increase their humor quotient by 35 percent (Because let's face it, DC is the GOP to Marvel's Democrats).

On the other hand, DC could use some levity. I've remarked before that the problem with the New 52 from the start has been that it's not nearly as fun as it could be. Lobo used to be their joke character, but in keeping with the whole "the New 52 is because because it's all hardcore" thing, they've taken Lobo and allowed him to win enough pokebattles to evolve into Chris Cornell, so he's out of the "fun" column.

He just looks like he's saying,
"Lobo will sex you now."

So, in truth, there's the possibility that Harley Quinn COULD be DC's answer to Deadpool as long as they remember to value the character for actual gags and over just being there. The problem with Deadpool is that Marvel rarely uses him for actual jokes anymore. His just being on the cover of a book he has nothing to do with or appearing in the the book to break the fourth wall is joke enough for the writers even when Deadpool isn't actually doing anything funny. From what little I've read (and I invite any of you who've read more of her stuff to fill me in a bit more), it seems like she could go this route if left unchecked and, in turn, become unfunny really quickly.


They also have to put a cap on oversexualizing her. The amazing thing about Deadpool is that he is (or has the potential to be when he's not Marvel one trick pony gag) a hilarious character despite a rather depressing backstory. (Granted, Spider-Man is pretty funny despite a laundry list of horrible shit happening to him, but you can always fall back on the idea that he's laughing to keep from crying or pissing his pants that he's fighting a guy who throws exploding jack-o-lanterns. Deadpool is laughing because he's just plain crazy.) DC caught a lot of bullshit because of a fan art contest a while back where you had to draw Harley Quinn dying in these horrible ways. Never mind that DC was making light of suicide at one of the worst possible times of this generation to make fun of suicide. That's a whole other post. The problem was the context. Usually, you can get away with this shit when it's done under the "crazy" umbrella, but it wasn't. The main context was that Quinn is a ditzy blonde who giggles and squeals and doesn't know much better (although, the Bruce Timm version from Batman: The Animated Series was a big contribution to that, but that's also another post). Play up the crazy and it might work out, but we all know how horrible DC is with gender politics.

Is Harley Quinn becoming the new Deadpool? Not yet, but she could be. Then again, I could be wrong.  

Is It Time To Start Taking Fan Made Work Seriously?

So, this week, I wrote a review on the fan made project, Nightwing: The Series and I actually ran into some difficulty evaluating it. If you've read this blog before or if you've read Black Nerd Problem, you know reviewing stuff is something I do pretty often. In this case, it was sort of awkward taking a close look at Nightwing because I couldn't exactly take a jab at the project for being fan service. It's fan made, so of course it's going to be fan service. Teasing fans with Oracle's wheelchair, Nightwing's costume looking like it came out of Young Justice, the borrowed Dark Knight belt....all of this is textbook fan service.

I know this is a sin in professional circles, but where the superhero genre of film and television is concerned, you really do have to consider a whole other manner of approaching a review of its quality level. This is what I had trouble with originally and this is what I think other critics who aren't, shall we say, initiated in the comic world have trouble with. The genre itself has reached a point of variety where it's difficult to compare one project to the other. Because, more often than not, their goals are different. Agents of SHIELD is, of course, spun from The Avengers, but they're as different from one another as night and day (which seems like what fans are STILL having trouble understanding). As the production quality improves over time, Marvel gets better all the time at giving its audience the best cinematic representation of a comic book humanly possible, Guardians of the Galaxy being one of the best examples. With that in mind, Marvel films are comic book crossover events and Agents of SHIELD is a tie-in. Rarely in such tie-in comics do you ever see major characters like Captain America showing up to beat up Deathlok or Iron Man flying by to save Phil Coulson everytime he gets into something he can't get out of on his own. The purpose of The Avengers is to be the cinematic version of a superhero team-up (something I don't think had even been done before). The purpose of Agents of SHIELD is to keep Marvel on your mind and continue selling you their brand in between movies even if it's on a dog and pony level. Arrow has less of these restraints because it doesn't ever tie itself directly to any other property, but you see what I mean here, right? Nightwing's purpose, much like several projects like it (no matter how shitty they are), thus far seems to specifically be to give fans a piece of the DC Universe that live action movies and television seem to have made a point to steer around.

The other thing about Nightwing that makes it noteworthy is that its Kickstarter roots make it a good example of a trend fans should start looking at. I often hear people talking about how there's no good options in hip hop anymore. Usually, these people are waxing poetic about an easier time while listening to the radio. My suggestion to them is usually to find non-mainstream alternatives. I haven't given the radio a serious listen in almost ten years. I get along just fine. Truth be told, the same could be said for the superhero genre. Fans await their favorite hero's time in the spotlight in a feature length blockbuster film. I've written quite a bit recent about how it shouldn't be hard for Marvel to churn out a decent Black Panther film and I stand by that statement, but in The Era of Kickstarter, viable independent superhero films should really be explored.  I mean, how awesome would it be to see one of Christopher Bird's "Why I Should Write Doctor Strange" treatments brought to life with Kickstarter money? Besides, at the end of the day, a LOT of the things fans complain that their favorite superhero movies are lacking are basically things that would be considered fan service. And what venue for fan service could possibly be better than fan made shorts?

It's happened with Star Wars and Star Trek....both of which had perfectly satisfying results. Gaming culture has already tapped into this in the absence of watchable mainstream video game movies and given rise to projects like Mortal Kombat: Rebirth and Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist. At this point, there's really no reason aside from "It's Not Canon" (and even then, there's plenty of comics referred to as "source material" that aren't canon that are still considered gospel) that we couldn't start seeing more projects like Nightwing from fans.

Of course, I suppose there is always the possibility that if this did become a lucrative enough industry in itself, the Big Two (namely Marvel since they're working on exclusive Netflix content and you could imagine they're big enough at this point to just crush opposing clicks in the courtroom instead of competing if they so wanted) might intervene and step on fandom's neck by Falcon Punching independent creators with copyright infringement suits like the record industry did, but to do so would come across as a direct affront to fandom that might just move a number of readers to hit them in pockets. Marvel and DC do their share of stupid shit, but I don't see them giving fans the finger outright like that. Then again, I could be wrong.

The Week In Geek 10/1/14

So, this week, I did a review on Nightwing: The Series and honestly, it might have the best reception a superhero related project could ask for this week. And yes, I absolutely recognize that both Agents of SHIELD and Gotham also happened this week. My statement still stands. Gotham got quite a bit of chastisement for its episode, "Selina Kyle" and I'll have an upcoming post about why it was well deserved. Meanwhile, Agents of SHIELD took a bizarrely huge hit in its ratings which is really weird considering the new season improved upon its previous problems DRAMATICALLY. Hell, they even dipped into the budget to bring more black people on the show. Just goes to show how fickle a mob the Fandom Hype Machine truly is.

Anyway, my reviews for the week are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. This week, I took a look at:

Batman Eternal: I don't know...maybe this is some kind of sacrificial tribute thing where if we're going to have the incredible James Tynion IV writing the book, we have to have shitty artwork as a trade off. I mean, it's been just unforgivable the past couple of issues. The sad thing is I love the story so much and feel so invested, I don't have the heart to put the damned book down. However, it's only fair to say that odds are we'll probably have better art coming up. On the plus side, I have to appreciate the ongoing war between the Spoiler and her seemingly Z-List father, the Cluemaster. Hopefully, we'll see more of Stephanie Brown's daddy issues sooner than later.

Thor: Honestly, this one is an open/shut case. The name and art have changed, but Jason Aaron's master class in storytelling remains the same. Bit by bit, he's giving us insight into the Future King Thor he's teased us with throughout the course of the God of Thunder series and I love it. Very few writers are capable of making me enjoy a villain I dislike as much as Malekith, but Aaron is pulling it off.

The Week In Geek 9/24/14

Hey, guys. You probably noticed no updates from me last week. Well, I had some paid time off from the Day Job and decided to take some personal time for R&R. It's not that I don't love you guys, but self care matters.

This week saw two primetime comic shows premiering: the long awaited, long hyped Gotham and the returning Agents of SHIELD. I was interested to see how SHIELD opened up after really turning things around in their last leg, becoming the show that it really should have been all along. It had an awkward start because of the Marvel films it tried to capitalize off of, but once its plot in the second half of Season 1 borrowed from Winter Soldier, quality stepped up by leaps and bounds. Gotham had received much hype and understandably so. I mean, there's just no reason DC shouldn't be able to sustain a show about Young Jim Gordon. The Zero Year run of Scott Snyder's Batman is proof positive that, just beneath Batman himself, Gordon is easily Gotham's foremost champion of the law.

With all this in mind, Gotham started off with kind of a mixed bag. To its credit, the show does a great job of creating the right atmosphere for dark, foggy, hopeless Gotham City. And Ben McKenzie is a great pick to play Gordon. But there are some glaring problems with this reimagining. For one, we seem to see a lot a young Selina Kyle....but it's a LOT of her doing absolutely nothing. At all. Whatsoever. So far, her entire purpose on this show seems to be feeding stray kittens and standing on top of things for NO reason. It was downright irritating how little someone who appeared so much actually mattered in the plot. And the show really should consider toning down the Batman easter eggs. I understand that without the fun tidbits for fans, this would just be a regular procedural cop drama with a famous name, but at the rate the writers were cramming in stuff from every nook and cranny, they're not going to make it to Season 3.

Meanwhile, Agents of SHIELD got off to an impressive start with their season 2 opener. For one, they're obviously spending more money on this show (at least as far as budgets for primetime network television go). It's nice that they have a bit more direction. Riding the Captain America 2 tidal wave worked out pretty well and they seem to be using the whole "new SHIELD regime" thing to their advantage. Skye is a far less annoying character now that she's a full on field operative with more to do than be a nondescript outline for a standard Joss Whedon character. The addition of some notable characters from Marvel lore certainly help the appeal of the show. Absorbing Man was a fun foil that I hope we see more of throughout the Marvel Cineverse. The possibilities for cameo appearances has always been way too wide for this show to just limit itself to being a promotional tie-in for movies And it's nice that the show is finding some focus aside from "Hey, look, it's Phil Coulson" and not leaning as much on Clark Gregg being the best actor on the show so far except for maybe Hudson's recurring gig in Season 1 (Yes, I know he's Bill Paxton but I will forever think of him as Hudson....because Aliens).

All in all, if I had to put one show or the other in the lead, it would have to go to SHIELD right now. Season 1 was an experiment and now they see where they went wrong and are improving and working out the kinks. Granted, no matter how much it improves, this is still going to end up being That Marvel Thing That's Definitely Not For Everyone. Meanwhile, Gotham just has too much uncertainty floating around it. The material they try to cram into a single hour makes me feel like they're going to blow their strongest gimmicks in three seasons like Lost did.

Then again, these two are just holding me over until Arrow and The Flash debut, so whatever.

-Anyway, don't forget to check out my exclusive interview with Christopher Bird and illustrator Davinder Brar, the creative team behind one of my new favorite webcomics, Al'Rashad: City of Myths. The book really is amazing and the guys are both class acts with tons to say on comics, movies and writing characters of color

-Also, as always, my comic reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. It was a light week for me in the review department since I've been taking it easy with my time off from the day job so think week, I only reviewed:

Batman Eternal: Listen. I know I've spoken before about how important artwork is when you have a constantly rotating wheel of creative talent bringing drastically varying styles and voices to the same set of plots, but fuck's sake did they ever screw the pooch visually. I'm not about to be that troll critic nobody likes. At the same time, the art was REALLY awful. I can't imagine there's anyone who was sitting around wondering what Batman would look like if he were doing a guest appearance on Bob's Burgers. I don't think R.M. Guera has worked on the book previously, but he just shouldn't. To call the art "laughable" implies that there something funny or endearing about looking at this shabby shit.

Anatomy of a Comic: So You Wanna Write A Shitty Crossover Event.... Part 2

Well, Original Sin wrapped up last week and I was sure bringing this event to a close would iron out the overt problems throughout the plot. If anything, it seemed to either a). create new problems or b). worsen the old ones. Mike Deodato is still The Thing This Book Has Going For It, but other than that, it was basically a hot mess.

He's got the last Pumpkin Spice scone! Rush him!

Once again, starting with the cover.....

I cannot stress this enough, but EVERY aspect of the cover should be indicative of what's happening in the comic especially when it's as "OhMyGodThisIsEpic" as Marvel would have you believe it is. Having said that, of the seven notable Marvel characters on this cover, only three of them are actually found in this book. No Captain Marvel, No Daredevil, No Iron Fist, No Mister Fantastic. You can't even say it's an huge exaggeration of something happening in the comic. It's just plain lying. One good example of a well done, symbolic cover (even though I got some shit from a few of you guys for using this example last time) is Identity Crisis.

Here you've got the Justice League which, at this time in the DC universe, was always characterized very much as a family. Everything about this picture conveys a very familial vibe. The broken picture is obviously representing the tragedies and breaches of trust that leave this family broken and divided.

Or if you want to make the comparison against another Marvel event, take Civil War.

Aside from the time honored trope of defeated heroes sprawled across a mount of rubble, it doesn't get much more literal than this. Captain America
and Iron Man, two generals on opposite ends of a major conflict, finally come head to head and beat the unholy hell out of one another. Simple. No hyperbole necessary.

But going back to the Original Sin cover, it says across the bottom "The Final Judgment." What the fuck does that mean? Anyone? Are the Watchers pointing down supposed to be the judges in this case? The Watchers aren't judges. They're Watchers....who just watch stuff. Their whole job description is the antithesis of judging. So, seriously....who's being judged and how? I shouldn't be asking MORE questions going into an event's finale.

And, holy shit, did this book ever leave the audience asking questions. For example....

"Take him apart. So I may drink his blood and consume his knowledge, one bite at a time."

Umm....what? This was the whole problem with Dr. Midas as a villain. Everything was so vague and unexplained. What occurred in this entire series that would lead him to believe that eating a corpse would make him all powerful?

Why have the Watcher's eyes suddenly turned murderous? Does this mean the Watcher's body parts can work independently of one another after he's dead? Is the Watcher a Castlevania villain? What the fucking fuck?

Now, it's a rarity that I would actively shit on the usually immaculate artwork of Mike Deodato, but he screwed the pooch a couple of times here. First of all, this is Black Panther, Dr. Strange and the rest of the heroes who teamed up (for some reason) busting in to fight...umm....someone.

Now, here's Black Panther and Dr. Strange at the end of the book in full outer space gear. Huh?

Also, if you look closely, here's Thor with his hammer firmly in hand. But wait a minute....in issue 7, Nick Fury whispered something to Thor that made him suddenly unworthy to hold the hammer. Now, he's totally holding the hammer.

And now later as the heroes are all leaving, Thor is left back where he was in the last issue trying to pick his hammer up. Shenanigans.

And when exactly did it get decided that Bucky was the new "Man on the Wall"? Did Fury choose him? When did he choose him exactly? The last thing he ever said to Bucky was "Get everyone back." You can't even dismiss that as saying it was unspoken tough guy talk and "he just knew."

Or this. So, Dr. Midas' severed hand turned the snake to gold when he bit it, but not the Exterminatrix (man, villains are really exhausting the shit out of the Big Book of Bad Guy Names) when she stole it? What?

Granted, I'm not saying there shouldn't be room to leave elements as "implied" in a story. But in an event like this where much of your story is extremely contained and doesn't need tie-ins to explain every fringe element (which is something that Marvel has been really good about in recent years)....it's okay to hold your reader's hand just a little bit. And inevitably, the fallacies here will laid at another writer's doorstep to explain how exactly Bucky became The Man on the Wall or who this new Watcher (I'm guessing that's who the glowing old man at the end is supposed to be) is. DC was really bad about this shit last year with Trinity War turning into a promo that basically forced you to buy Justice League and Forever Evil (which, to be fair, was pretty good) just to understand what happened in a 6 or 7 issue miniseries. 

Making someone interested enough in your characters to buy more comics is what a good comic should do. Insisting upon your reader buying comics to properly understand the vague collision of words and images that took place in another comic borderlines on extortion.