The Week In Geek 4/20/16

So, This Week In Excuses to Move On From Batman v Superman.....It's recently been announced that Marvel/Disney's Inhumans movie, previously scheduled for a July 2019 release, no longer has a release date. That's not to say that it's no longer on the schedule but usually when things like this happen, it's because the studio has to make room for an impending franchise (**cough** Spider Man) because his appearance in the previews for a certain upcoming film (**cough** Civil War) has tested well thus far, so it's probably a good thing that they're staying flexible with this Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, they should probably have time to rethink whatever they had in mind for the film since Agents of SHIELD has spent the past two seasons mining the whole Inhumans thing with their Secret Warriors plotline (which has successfully reinvigorated the show with a new sense of identity).

Also, there's the whole rumor that Marvel might be coming to an mutual X-Men deal with Fox to use them....but I don't believe that shit just yet, so we'll move on.

This Week in Superhero Television.....It turns out there is a script in the can for Krypton, a Gotham style Superman prequel show. Apparently, the pilot is set two generations before Krypton's destruction where Superman's grandfather tries to bring honor back to the House of El. Here's why this is stupid. Why the FUCK are we doing a show about a planet we KNOW is going to die. I mean, we actually know how this is going to end. There are literally NO STAKES involved. Now, there is a chance that they could take this in a psuedo-Game of Thrones direction where upper crust Kryptonians wrestle for political and military power, which would wipe away the time honored "We were a peaceful, technologically advanced and unilaterally boring as fuck civilization that basically sets the stage to let our future protagonist grow up with abandonment issues" approach we've seen for God knows how long. However, this premise as is has the same problem Gotham has: primetime superhero television's compulsive need to appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator viewer that will be perfect happy just to name drop popular names from the comics wherever possible (which, in a show two generations before anything relatively Superman happens, consists exclusively of Zod, Jor-El and maybe Brainiac depending on what version you're going with). And sure, Titanic took place in an ill fated setting too and it made tons of money, but this is primetime (probably broadcast basic cable at best) television so it's highly doubtful that any network that falls under that umbrella is willing to shell out that level of production quality to a show about Superman's grandfather. So, we'll see.

My comic reviews for the week on Tokyo Ghost, The Mighty Thor and Superman: American Alien are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure.

And don't forget about my the latest page of my comic collaboration with Katie Coats, Neverland: The Untold. As always feel free to like, share and comment at your leisure. You know the drill.

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.

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.

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 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.