The Week In Geek 3/9/2016

It's been a while since I've done This Week In Superhero Television and it's seems like good time to catch up now that most of the shows worth talking about are on break at the moment.

As it stands, The Flash might still be some of the most compelling comic based television right now. The absolute best thing about this show is that it's not about to embrace its own hamfisted insanity. Usually, shows go to absolute shit when they start fucking with time travel and parallel dimensions, but Flash full on owns it in a way reminiscent of the strong points of Lost (the strong points it actually had). Delving into Earth 2 has been major fun and Zoom has been enigmatic to the point of ridiculousness and hilarity. Also, I feel obligated to point out that Jesse L. Martin has been a powerhouse as Joe West, superhero father of the decade. The way he doesn't allow himself to be overwhelmed with all the sensational superpowers and whatnot is refreshingly human almost in a Jim Gordon sort of way. I also have to applaud the writers for at least TRYING

Meanwhile, Arrow is still trying to atone for the sins of last season but it's a long way back to the top. For one thing, the Arrowverse is trying its damnedest to make Diggle a relevant character again by introducing his evil brother Itachi...I mean Andy. John trying to make what's left of his family whole again is a noble effort to re-establish him as the moral compass of thais show. And, MY GOD, does Arrow ever need a moral compass? Because TV Oliver Queen, being a Batman surrogate and all, is a great superhero but a dreadful man. And to my great dismay, Felicity Smoak has become just as bad thanks to the writing team. She used to be such a steadfast, grounded figure, but now her plotlines have mainly devolved into her crying over things that really don't deserve the tears. When Oliver admitted that the only way he was allowed to see his son was to keep him a secret, Felicity was fully aware that her fiance was placed in an impossible situation and walked out on him as he sent his son away for his own safety (since he'd been kidnapped by his nemesis and all). Now, sure, he could have told Felicity without anyone knowing, but a person trying to be a better man openly lying to the mother of his only child for his girlfriend is still asking a lot. It's the entire problem they keep creating with her character: "I know you were faced with an impossible, no-win situation where anyone else would have folded, but goddamnit, what about ME?" It borderlines on the stereotypical nagging wife of an old 50's sitcom.

As for Legends of Tomorrow, I actually haven't watched the show since the pilot episode and I'm not entirely sure if I intend to try. It's great that the Arrowverse is stretching its legs and trying things, but this particular attempt is just too much. The strong points are all there. The show is basically going to live and die off of the return of Sarah Lance, The Doct....I mean, Rip Hunter and Wentworth Miller's amazingly ridiculous performance as Captain Cold. But there were just too many problems to ignore right from the start. For one thing, I'm used to Hawkman being characterized as an asshole. But for fuck's sake, he proposed beating Hawkgirl up to settle a dispute. Also, he's supposed to be Egyptian and is as lily white as Ron Howard (as is Vandal Savage). Also, there's the matter of Professor Martin Stein giving his other half of the Firestorm matrix a date rape roofie to make him come on the trip to stop Savage. I won't even touch that.

"Where's the black guy, though?"

My comic review for The Mighty Thor is available on Black Nerd Problems for viewing enjoyment. Feel free to like, comment and share as you see fit.

The Week In Geek 5/14/15

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

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

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

The Week In Geek 3/25/15

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

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

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