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androxys · 1 month ago

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Androxys' 2024 Comics Wrapped

Tis the season for reflection and reminiscing and big lists, so I guess it’s time for me to review what my year of comic reading looked like! As always, this list is not guaranteed to be 100% perfect, as I’m only human, and keeping a big spreadsheet and LOCG sounds great until you mark one and forget the other.

Per my tally, I read 836 comics in 2024. If we assume each comic is 22 pages long, that’s 18,392 pages of comics. Of course, some issues are oversized, but some issues were also originally backups that were later collected, so I’m assuming it all comes out in the wash.

Top 10 Characters/Teams I read for…

The Legion of Super-Heroes: 116

Batman (Bruce Wayne): 77

Supergirl (Linda Danvers): 46

Wonder Woman: 42

Nightwing: 41

Amethyst: 39

The Dreaming: 32

Poison Ivy: 24

Batman (Dick Grayson): 20

JLA: 19

Top 5 Titles:

Legion of Super-Heroes (2004) - 50 issues

Supergirl (1996) - 46 issues

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1949) - 35 issues

Detective Comics (2016) - 32 issues

Wonder Woman (2016) / Nightwing (1996) - 30 issues each

If you want to see my full 2024 reading, check below the cut.

Absolute Power: Origins (2024) #1-2 [2]

Action Comics (1938) #858-863 [6]

Alan Scott: Green Lantern (2023) #1-6 [6]

Amethyst (1983) #1-12 [12]

Amethyst (1985) #1-16 [16]

Amethyst (1987) #1-4 [4]

Amethyst (2020) #1-6 [6]

Amethyst Annual (1984) #1 [1]

Anarky (1997) #1-4 [4]

Anarky (1998) #1-8 [8]

Aquaman (1962) #40-48 [9]

Arkham City: Order of the World (2021) #1-6 [6]

Arkham Reborn (2009) #1-3 [3]

Batman + Arsenal (1997) #1 [1]

Arsenal Special (1996) #1 [1]

Batgirl (2024) #1 [1]

Batgirl Special (1988) #1 [1]

Batgirl: Girlfrenzy (1998) #1 [1]

Batman and Robin (2011) #1-8 [8]

Batman Incorporated (2022) #1-12 [12]

Batman: Batgirl (1997) #1 [1]

Birds of Prey (2023) #5-14 [10]

Birds of Prey: Batgirl/Catwoman (2003) #1 [1]

Birds of Prey: Catwoman/Oracle (2003) #1 [1]

Black Lightning Year One (2009) #1-6 [6]

Chase (1998) #1-9, #1,000,000 [10]

City Boy (2023) #1-6 [6]

DC Universe Legacies (2012) #1-10 [10]

Dead Boy Detectives (2014) #1-12 [12]

Dead Boy Detectives (2022) #1-6 [6]

Death of the New Gods (2007) #1-8 [8]

Detective Comics (1937) #644-653; #846-850 [14]

Detective Comics (2011) Special Edition #27 [1]

Detective Comics Annual (2021) #1 [1]

Detective Comics (2016) #1034-1065 [32]

Far Sector (2019) #1-12 [12]

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds (2008) #1-5 [5]

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville (2023) #1-6 [6]

Batman/Catwoman: Follow the Money (2010) #1 [1]

Gotham Academy (2014) #1-18 [18]

Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy (2016) #1-6 [6]

Gotham City Sirens (2024) #1-4 [4]

Hawk and Dove (1988) #1-5 [5]

Huntress Secret Files (2021) #1 [1]

Jay Garrick: The Flash (2023) #1-6 [6]

JLA: Incarnations (2001) #1-7 [7]

JLA Year One (1997) #1-12 [12]

John Constantine: Hellblazer (2019) #1-12 [12]

Justice League Elite (2004) #1-12 [12]

Kingdom Come (1996) #1-4 [4]

Batman: The Last Halloween (2024) #0-2 [3]

Lazarus Planet (2023) [7]

Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods (2023) #1-4 [4]

Legion of Super-Heroes (2004) #1-50 [50]

(Superboy &) The Legion of Super-Heroes (1946) #234-268 [35]

Legion of Super-Heroes in the Silver Age [24]

Man Bat (1996) #1-3 [3]

Man Bat (2006) #1-5 [5]

Midnighter (2015) #1-12 [12]

Midnighter & Apollo (2016) #1-6 [6]

Millennium (1987) #1-8 [8]

New Krypton (2008) [13]

Nightmare Country (2022) #1-6 [6]

Nightwing (1996) #71-100 [30]

Nightwing (2016) #110-119 [10]

Nightwing Annual 2024 #1 [1]

Our Worlds At War [9]

Poison Ivy (2023) #1-18 [18]

Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death (2016) #1-6 [6]

Prez (1973) #1-2 [2]

Ragman (1991) #1-8 [8]

Ragman: Cry of the Dead (1993) #1-6 [6]

Ragman: Suit of Souls (2010) #1 [1]

Resurrection Man (1997) #16-17 [2]

Robin Argent Double Shot (1998) #1 [1]

Robin Plus Impulse (1996) #1 [1]

Saved by the Belle Reve (2022) #1 [1]

Stargirl and the Lost Children (2022) #1-6 [6]

Stargirl Spring Break Special (2021) #1 [1]

Steelworks (2023) #1-6 [6]

Strange Adventures (1950) #205-213 [9]

Streets of Gotham (2009) #1-14; 16-21 [20]

Supergirl (1996) #1-43; #1,000,000 [44]

Supergirl (1996) Annuals #1-2 [2]

Swamp Thing: New Roots (2020) #1-9 [9]

The Brave and the Bold (2007) #1-6 [6]

The Cult (1988) #1-4 [4]

The Dreaming (2018) #1-20 [20]

The Dreaming: Waking Hours (2020) #1-12 [12]

The Hawk and The Dove (1968) #1-6 [6]

The Long Halloween (1996) #1-13 [13]

The Question: All Along The Watchtower (2024) #1 [1]

Titans (2008) #1-11 [11]

Titans East Special (2007) #1 [1]

Two Face: Year One (2008) #1-2 [2]

When In Rome (2004) #1-6 [6]

Wonder Woman (1987) #36-48 [12]

Wonder Woman (2016) #1-30 [30]

World's Finest (2009) #1-4 [4]

Young Justice (1998) #13-14 [2]

I also read a few of the DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults, which I’ll include here as relevant. As an overall series, I’ve gotten the impression (and been told) that the characterization and intention of the books can wildly vary–one book can be intended as a serious, main-continuity story of a character while they were a young adult, while others are AUs or what-ifs that take characters and change them or their surroundings. I found all of these to be enjoyable reads for what they are, recognizing that I am not their target demographic. (Bad Dream, I have to say, was probably my favorite)

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld (2021)

Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story (2024)

Barda (2024)

The Oracle Code (2020)

This Land is Our Land (2024)

#chit chat #androxys reads comics #androxys comics wrapped #dc comics

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nick-cassidy · 3 months ago

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tagged by @cunty-pink-porsche & @carslaying thaaaaank yaaaaa

last song: fashion killa a$ap rocky . Mentally im still in 2013

favorite color: yellow !!!!! Hasn’t changed will never change

Currently watching: re watching all the saw movies 🙇🏽‍♂️🪚 tis the season of Halloween and all that

Last movie: saw 4? Idk I can’t read roman numerals . my review down below . soz for spoilers but it’s from 2007 so it’s probs fine

Current obsession: I watched Batman forever w my friend Zach on Friday and since then I’ve been thinking of Harvey dent 24/7 . I infected both of our minds . I’m actually gonna make him watch Batman : the long Halloween (2021) wiff me . and explain every single second .

Relationship status: single 😮

Last thing I googled: holger rune . from this morning bc I was checking if he had beat matteo

#I just wanted an excuse to speak LOL 😭😭#love this game . never doubt tagging me in this one

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comicbookclub · 13 days ago

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Batman: The Long Halloween - The Last Halloween #4 Review: The Best Issue So Far

Batman: The Long Halloween - The Last Halloween #4 from DC Comics isn't just the most emotionally raw book Jeph Loeb has written in years, it's also an incredible artistic achievement from Cliff Chiang.

#Batman #cliff chiang #jeph loeb #Marvel

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comicbookclublive · 13 days ago

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Batman: The Long Halloween - The Last Halloween #4 Review: The Best Issue So Far

#Batman #cliff chiang #jeph loeb #Marvel

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sunnydaleherald · 3 years ago

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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, September 17

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

I’m a lilac and you are my sun (Harmony/Tara, G) by backwvengeance

Come Back to Me (Buffy, Dawn, Not Rated) by DeamonQueen

[Chaptered Fiction]

Damaged at Best Chapter 3 (Faith/Tara, PG-13) by BuffyBot3000

Forever My Willow Tree Chapter 5 (Tara/Willow, NC-17) by Eagleblaze

what you make Chapter 8 (Giles/Jenny, PG-13) by The_Eclectic_Bookworm

Seven Chapter 2 (AtS Ensemble, R) by Ren (mizdarknezz3)

(wishing only) wounds the heart Chapter 11 (Giles/Jenny, PG-13) by summers-maclay-lehane (ofstormsandwolves)

Meet Me at Midnight Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Dusty87

The Tiger is Out Chapter 21 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Hannah

Summer Schooling Chapter 2 (Cordelia/Drusilla/Spike, PG-13) by kasey1939

Backfire Chapter 6 (Spike/Xander, NC-17) by daedream_fanbot

If I Loved You Less Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by MillennialCryBaby

Bargain Chapter 13 (Spike/Xander, NC-17) by immortal_katharina99

Impression, Sunrise Chapter 14 (Buffy, Star Trek xover, G) by Energybeing

Willow Rosenberg and the Empty Cloak Chapter 8 (Willow/Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter xover, PG-13) by zedpm

Athena Luthor - Vampire Slayer, Kinda Chapter 3 (Buffy/Clark Kent, DCU xover, Not Rated) by Hermione2be

A Power against the Devil Chapter 14 (Faith/Matt Murdock, Daredevil xover, PG-13) by Aragorn_II_Elessar

You Can't Fight Fate - But You Can Probably Piss Him Off Chapter 17 (Faith, Batman xover, R) by Hermione2be

Averting Disasters and Other Ways to Avoid Your Problems Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, R) by JaneRemmington

The Tiger is Out Chapter 21 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Cosmic Tuesdays

How Long Was I Gone? Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Raina2000

The Burning Wheel Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Ginger

REMNANT : Buffy meets Batman and the Red Rider Chapter 37 (Buffy, DCU xover, PG-13) by DARandall

Echoes of Beljoxa Chapter 41 (Buffy/Spike, R) by myrabeth

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:Giles manip by dawdlingbiscuit

Artwork:Spike fanart by mariemarion

Fanvid: Enemies With Benefits (Buffy/Faith) by BobbyMcGriffin

Fanvid: My Tears Ricochet (Buffy/Faith) by SmoothEcho

Fanvid: This is tragic (Buffy/Spike) by ZNellyZ

Fanvid: In The End (Buffy) by x burning crystal x

[Reviews & Recaps]

S3. Ep1. Anne by becomingbuffypodcast

[Fandom Discussions]

Both Bangel and Spuffy are really good by oveliagirlhaditright

my notes on Buffy’s office in S7 by millennialslayer

unpopular opinion: episode 19 of Angel was kind of toxic by atlasshrugd

Halloween - some thoughts and questions by Stoney

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Bleeding Cool: Buffy Summers In Her 50s, In Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer Comic

Paste Magazine: It Still Stings: Angel's Lost Redemption

Cult of Whatever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Twenty five years later (Part five)

#btvs #buffy #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #ats #angel the series

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Amphibia Reviews: The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers/A Day at the Aquarium

Last full episode before hiatus! The Kids have a sleepover in the castle that starts like the Princess Diaries 2 and ends in unspeakable horror, while the Plantars try to spend one final day together without getting sad. Sort of like everyone these days without the final part. One last ride under the cut.

Whelp it’s the end for this batch of episodes which is sad, and i’ll genuinely miss covering these every week. Yeah I have other coverage incoming with Ducktales coming back, eeeee, and current Loud House coverage.. but it was still nice to have something to cover this summer and something to watch every week during this blighted year, as i’ve mentioned before there weren’t any BAD episodes just hard to cover ones and I think by the end I figured out how to do that.. mostly by stopping straight up recaps for more condensed ones. Point is I had fun, grew as a reviewer, and it was a good way to kill a few saturdays, sundays and one or two mondays, and that ain’t bad at all. So before we come back for halloween, let’s send off weekly amphibia coverage in style for now, unless it comes back in November and I look stupid, with this week. Let’s go.

The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers

Well this one took a turn. It was also an excellent one as we got more insight into Marcy and Anne’s friendship with Sasha, and some truly excellent horror. Yes, horror. The Plantar kids head to the castle for the evening for a Sleepover. Turns out the king finally did find something, as did Marcy who’s playing coy about what they found in the hidden library I forgot to mention last time because I was covering 4 episodes at once. Anyway King Keith David has a meeting with them tommorow. So the kids are staying with Marcie to have a fun night together while Hop Pop has a night without the kids to get something head to toe.. it’s better not to ask. They also annoy Olivia who goes off to drink.. juice. Yes the hard juice that comes with a lemon wedge and speedoed servant newt.

It’s also our ambigously gay duo’s first sleepover without Sasha, but their confident they can do this themselves while Sprig is hoping i’tll be good as his first sleepover (And has a creepy closeup about formative memories) Cue a fun montage of everryone annoying olivia and getting into hyjinks round the castle from sillys tring, which is shot from critters, to painting moustaches. It’s fun stuff. Then we go from fun stuff to...

As , in order to stay awake, as being the bastion of pleasantness she is Sasha refused to let them sleep till sunrise, Marcy and Anne initate a SCARE DARE! A SCARE DARE! is a scary dare where the person who dosen’t complete it goes in the book of losers. Which of course was Sasha’s idea, both in general concept and the dares done. What a well adjusted young lady! So naturally our heroes go into the basment they were told to stay out of. They get pass Lady Olvia because she’s passed out drunk on hard lemonade, living the dream as it were. ,Anyway they. find a bunch of tombstones, and then Marcy and Anne taking a selfie (Say desecration) wakes the dead... all because they were both playing chicken. One has to imagine how the kids talking with hop pop would go

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So yeah the ghostly horror terrors chase the kids, who somehow end up in Marcy’s room. So she just has a passage from a floating graveyard contaning horrifying eldtirch ghosts to her room.. a room the king put in for her. Someone protect this child.

So our heroes soon have to deal with the ghosts but luckily sprig’s mirror catching it reveals the mirrors, which were foreshadowed earlier by a hall of mirrors leading into the corpse room, making the ghosts solid and allowing our heroes to fight htem back. Our heroes are exausted, Marcy and Anne reveal that they also chickend out on the scare dare so it’s okay, and Oliva arrives. It’s go time. Final Thoughts: A fun episode that quickly pivots into a great and nightmare inducing one perfect for spooky season coming up soon. I do generally wonder just WHAT those things are, and it’s great setup for whatever’s abotu to come. And while I didn’t mention it in the recap we also get sprig finding some sort of painting and it being of the king, a toad and a frog.. we don’t get to see it clearly so it could be someone else.. but.. it’s clear the king likely has ties to what happened before. But what DID happen before? what are those ghost things? what’s the king’s angle?

Yeah I have no answers for now on what the king’s plan is, or how inocent he is or if that’s his dad, just that something’s clearly wrong. And the omonious chess metaphor told us that.. yeah I do think that bit was kind of a mistake as otherwise while we’d probably still question the king, we would be more conflicted as evidence piled up versus “yeah something’s clearly wrong. “ Then again we genuiely don’t know what his motives or plan is or how well intentioned he is or anything other than he SEEMS nice, and that said game could be a necessary evil for all we know. We just don’t have enough information, even with the ominus bits, to truly know what’s going on and what kind of villian the king is. If he is one at all the show could pull a massive swerve on us.. I mean I doubt it he probably is evil, but I wouldn’t put it past the show. For now let’s move on so I can do more wheel spinning and what not...

Day at the Aquarium

So it’s time for another audience with the king. Turns out he and Mar-mar found out a LOT. Or Marcy did at least, as the above makes clear the king may of known ALL OF THIS already, and just needed Marcy and Anne to think he didn’t long enough for his evil plans. But we do learn a LOT about the gems, the box, and what it does as well as how to fix it...

So let’s not waste time since some of you probably don’t have episode acess this early and want to know: Turns out the calamity box is an interdimensional travel device, and, as far as the king tells us anyway, the king’s ancestors went around from world to world as explorers, possibly the group seen in the picture and just as likely the king himself hiding his role in things. Now how much of the explorer part is TRUE remains up in the air, especially since history also painted Columbus an explorer, including when I was in school, and not you know.. an idiot and a colonizing bastard. History is written by the winners after all so it’s hard to know what’s true, only that the book is likely real: While the king COULD’VE planted it to lead marcy, or had one made up, a fake would’ve been spotted immeditly as we’ve established Marcy is a master detective with batman level deductive skills. Or Elongated Man but I wanted most of you to get the refrence and his adaptation versoins so far haven’t been the kindest to ralph. Anyways, point is that con wouldn’t work on her so the book IS real, as is it’s info on the box.. i’ts just hard to tell what was left out or if this was written before utter diastaer and apocalypse insued. After all Gravity Falls Journal 3 is all fine and dandy about bill before the giant passage about bill not being trusted written in blood and Ford going into a paranoid tailspin after realizing his friend is actually a horrifing monster, literally and figuratively, so we don’t know WHAT could’ve been hidden in a nother book the king could’ve removed at any time before Marcy got there or while she was away on a mission. But yeah while we know there’s probably more to it this is sitll big information, the box connecting to 4 other worlds other than amphibia, which not only opens up the story possiblities but the fan fiction, and that each of the gems can be recharged at three temples, each one of the gems responding to a diffrent trait judging by the symbols, each representing our girls; Purple is strength, and thus sasha, Blue is Heart, Anne, and Green is Brains, Marcy. I do like thisd as it tells us more but only raises further questions, hooking the audience more. It’s great stuff. But our heroines now have a goal.. but unforutnately the Plantars need to go back and Anne can’t go with as Marcy wants her close. It’s harvest season soon and the Plantars have been away long enough. So they have one last day, though both marcy and the king are apologetic and the king offers them a large tissue and upon getting no response just gives it to them as next time we see them with it. it’s both a great gag, and a nice show of kindess from the king and possible diabolical mastermind.

So the Plantars decide to spend their final day with Anne at the aquarium, as it always cheered her up. This goes south as eveyrhting from the eels to the giant kraken to the coral reminds them of their past and leaves the poor group sobbing. Even a water show goes sideways as Sprig sees an eel, but it does lead to the group fighting off the stingrays at the show in an utterly stunning fight sequence. Not the best i’ve seen this month.. but only because I binged what I missed of rise of the tmnt this month and that show’s final figh tis an utter showstopper, as are most of it’s fight, but this is easily on par with most of them. Fluid, well done and emotoinal. Our heroes get thrown out of course, but the thought counts and they decide one last throughly them memory is better than nothing. The final scene is naturally an utter gut punch as we get tearfull goodbyes (sprig and anne forever). Their crying, i’m crying we’re all crying and Hop Pop promises they’ll see each other again. Because family always finds each other. My heart.. it’s too full. here have an apporiate song...

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Let’s see how i’m doing.

Yeah so two things: I’m not going to be able to stop sobbing thinking of this scene so let’s move on and how have I only NOW refrenced gilmore girls on this blog?

But yeah the scene is utterly moving as the Plantars leave and Marcy realises something. She likely was keeping Anne close because she just got her back... but realizes she’s being selfish. It’s not SAID on screen but it’s clear both in Hailey’s voice acting and from the animation what’s going through her head. It’s utterly captivating stuff. So she tells Anne to go with them.. offically because they should have someone they can trust keep an eye on the box, which is a good idea honestly given just giving it to a royal messenger is just asking for it to be stolen. So Marcy will stay behind and prepare, and since she mentioned it before likekly try to find Sasha as she earlier stated they HAVE to find her.. and given what we see with the recharging that’s both because she misses her friend no matter what she’s done, and because she’s vitally important, while Anne goes with the Plantars to get the box and have some more time before they say goodbye forever, with Marcy coming to wartwood to pick it and anne up for the first temple. Because nothing terrible’s ever happened when a plucky youth with a sword went to three seperate temples, especially involving a guy with a beard and full plate armor.

Marcy stares off, sad her friend and possible crush is gone.. but unederstanding that this is what she needs, and that she can’t hold her here.. Anne needs to see her family off.. and we get a tearful reunion as Anne chases after them, passing her friends from “Scavenger Hunt”, and reunites with her family. But of course we can’t end on a happy moment, as we cut back to Marcy whose utterly sad.. and the King who says he has a proposition for her, one she’ll find most agreable.

But yeah we end on that bit of ominus as we close till october.

Final Thoughts: Yeah if it wasn’t obvious this was a great one. Great plot progression, great animation, great emotional hook, good jokes which I dind’t get into for time, and tons of stuff to leave fans wanting more just before the break, but without a HUGE cliffhanger. Sure we don’t know what the King’s planning, but that aside our heroes are still together outside of marcy, and we haave a lot to look forward to whenever the show gets back. I’m hyped. Your hyped. IT’s a good note to go out on, especially since last weeks eps were also excellent and it looks like things are about to pick up. When next we meet it’s an inconsequential, probably, anthology episode, though it should be fun, then whenever new episodes return, wether it be just in november or more likely in February, our heroes return to wartwood! And we’ll find out what everyone’s been up to. Hopefully Ivy didn’t leave sprig. We’ll see. Until then, you can check out this blog for more recaps, as I said i’m covering ducktales as it comes back monday and loud house whenever I can get my meat hooks on the new episodes, and until then say safe and go team venture!

#amphibia #recaps #reviews #animation #day at the aquarium #the sleepover to end all sleepovers #marcy wu #king andrais #keith david #Anne Boonchy #hop pop #hopidiah plantar #sprig plantar #polly planatar #lady olivia #disney channel #disney

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bearpillowmonster · 4 years ago

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Arkham City (GOTY) Review

I've wanted to play a good Batman game for a long time, heck even a good DC game. The last good Batman game I played was the Lego Batman series, which I loved, but I could never bring myself to play the Arkham series despite hearing that it was incredible. I've seen gameplay and things of all sort but naturally I would want to start with the first game, Asylum, but I never had the system for it since I was team Nintendo so I tried the demo on my old laptop...it couldn't run decently enough to be comfortable with, my laptop was old and non-beefy and I wasn't even too big of a fan of what I played in that demo.

Arkham Knight came out and I had a PS4, along with that came ‘Return to Arkham’ but I didn't have enough interest to pursue either. Spider-Man for PS4 comes out and people compared it to Batman. I loved that game but I wouldn't care to see the same gameplay put into a different game. So, what made me break down and get Arkham City then? Well I can confirm that you play as Bruce Wayne. This very much interested me because I like playing both parts, I like the little bubble of ordinary inside of an unordinary world. I thought we might get a slice of life out of Bruce Wayne...but in reality, it’s just one scene at the beginning of the game and it’s a good sequence but not the Bruce Wayne I was hoping for (kind of representative of the game if I’m honest). I tried the demo out and it grew on me.

Not only do you play as Bruce Wayne but you play as Catwoman and with this Game of the Year edition, it comes with added costumes (which is kind of just a bonus since I wouldn't normally care about that) but I particularly like using the Dark Knight Returns outfit because it makes me feel like I'm Ben Affleck's Batman. I would use either the 70's or Animated one more but I can't help but feel they look out of place, it's not the game's fault though, I felt that way with some of the Spider-Man costumes. With that, this game has a pretty big cast of villains especially if you count the side missions.

Catwoman isn’t as involved as I would have liked. I remember seeing promos for this game and being like "Catwoman and Batman working together!" Well not really, you save Catwoman then you play as her to save Batman. Then after the credits roll Catwoman comes back? Why did the credits roll if the game wasn't over? Well Catwoman is apparently DLC. I'd be disappointed if I paid to get 4 episodes (missions) of playing as Catwoman, it's not even a proper cohesive story and barely ties into Batman's at all, I played the ending and didn't even know it was the ending of her story, I had to look it up because you just pick up the stuff and it’s over.

For the console version, you can pick specific episodes and pick the costumes through that but with the PC version (might just be GOTY edition, I don't know) you have to change it as if you would Batman's and the two extra suits (Halloween and Animated) you have to pick either Year One or Animated Batman and it automatically switches to her alternate costume, which is kind of lame that she doesn't even get her own menu. As for the challenges, you get a menu for all of them and even Harley Quinn's Revenge so I don’t know what to think. I'm not usually one for challenges but you can play as Nightwing and see (some of) Wayne Manor, which is pretty cool.

The gameplay is pretty much what a beat-em-up would be like in a 3D environment. They focus a lot on combat and for good reason. One thing I've known before I even played the game and kind of respected was that you know an enemy is down for the count when you hear that *crack* and then the slow motion for the final enemy in the group, if I didn't know better that Batman is a ‘pacifist’ of sorts, I would’ve mistaken him for a killer because there are some brutal take-downs and Batman is cold and merciless with his personality like he's fed up with your b.s. (Poor Tim though). The take-downs stay fresh, showing me combos I haven't seen before, so yeah it's kind of just button mashing but I'm okay with that, it has a lot of thought, care and effort put into every move on the developer's end and they don't really make it so easy either. I feel like Spider-Man made it more balanced but it doesn't feel like Spider-Man to me so I almost can't compare it. That could be because I played Spider-Man on PS4 and this on PC but I doubt it, I notice a lot of different things that Spider-Man did differently, maybe it just used some elements, so that inital concern is out of the window.

This seems like a very short game, the credits started rolling and I was like "Really?" I would've done more side-quests but I figured I still had a while, plus it doesn't always let you do them when some main missions have urgency. Speaking of, Batman just leaves some of the victims there, like the nurses and the scientists, he's like "Wait here" and then comes back late in the game and is like "You're good at hiding...so keep doing it." Like dude, you just abandoned these guys the whole game, I get the urgency and stuff but they're desperate and we never really even got them out (unless that's a side mission I don't know about but I really doubt it)

Now Harley Quinn's Revenge.

It made me realize that people play this game very differently, maybe they have a different difficulty set, the console version is very different or maybe they unlocked something I don't know about but I see them knocking out 3 enemies at a time then KO’ing each and every one, I'm not sure how they knocked that many out at once and I'm not sure how they got them to stay down long enough to take them down one after the other, not to mention mastering the Critical Hit meter. It's not a very long story though, I've seen videos that finish it in an hour, for me it took maybe 2 and I didn't even do the final boss, I just got fed up because I would do a part so many times, get to the end then not be able to take out the last guy, I just looked the cutscene up on YouTube.But I like Batman most for Stealth and Robin for combat. Maybe I'll play Arkham Knight some day, I don't know, I imagine it improves a whole lot. As I was saying, it’s a good game just not what I expected.

#batman #arkham city #review #goty #pc #game of the year #it was on sale

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rabbittstewcomics · 3 years ago

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Episode 323

Comic Reviews:

Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target 1 by Brandon Thomas, Ronan Cliquet, Ulises Arreola

Batman/Fortnite: Foundation 1 by Scott Snyder, Christos Gage, Donald Mustard, Joshua Hixson, Roman Stevens

Batman: The Long Halloween Special 1 by Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale, Brennan Wagner

DC vs. Vampires 1 by James Tynion, Matthew Rosenberg, Otto Schmidt

Task Force Z 1 by Matthew Rosenberg, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Adriano Lucas

Darkhold: Blade 1 by Daniel Kibblesmith, Federico Sabbatini, Rico Renzi

Spine Tingling Spider-Man Infinity Comic 1 by Saladin Ahmed, Juan Ferreyra

Mighty Marvel Holiday Special - Halloween with the Rhino Infinity Comics by Ryan North, Tom Reilly, Chris O'Halloran

It's Jeff 10 by Kelly Thompson, Gurihiru

Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters - IG-88 by Rodney Barnes, Guiu Vilanova, Antonio Fabela

Ant 1 by Erik Larsen, Mike Toris

Gunslinger Spawn 1 by Todd McFarlane, Ales Kot, Brett Booth, Thomas Nachlik, Philip Tan, Kevin Keane, Adelso Corona, Daniel Henriques, Andrew Dalhouse, Mikos Koutsis, Marcello Iozzoli, Marcelo Maiolo, Fco Plascencia

Hellcop 1 by Brian Haberlin, Geirrod Van Dyke

Nita Hawe's Nightmare Blog 1 by Rodney Barnes, Jason Shawn Alexander, Patric Reynolds, Luis Nct, Mar Silvestre Galotto

House of Slaughter 1 by James Tynion, Tate Brombal, Chris Shehan, Miquel Muerto

Hellboy: The Silver Lantern Club 1 by Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson, Christopher Mitten, Ben Stenberg, Michelle Madsen

Cross to Bear 1 by Marko Stojanovic, Sinisa Banovic, Djordje Krajnovic, Aljosa Tomic

Harbinger 1 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Robbi Rodriguez, Rico Renzi

Merlin and Hector 1 by Rodolfo Santullo, Jok

Rush 1 by Si Spurrier, Nathan Gooden, Addison Duke

All-Nighter by Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Paris Alleyne

Hello My Name is Poop by Ben Katzner, Ian McGinty, Fred Stresing

Sleepless Domain OGN by Mary Cagle

Graveneye OGN by Sloane Leong, Anna Bowles

Better Place OGN by Duane Murray, Shawn Daley

Another Kind OGN by Trevor Bream, Cait May

Additional Reviews: Star Trek: Prodigy, Batman: Creature of the Night, Last Night in Soho, Doctor Who: Flux

News: Dune Part 2, new artist on Savage Spider-Man, Bill Murray joins MCU, Ben Percy relaunching Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze, Iron Fist No More, King project with Elsa C, new Molly Knox Ostertag project thru Substack, Lego Ninjago comic from Skybound, Iron Fist replaced by new character, new Lemire/Sorrentino project, Image union, Taika Waititi to direct Tower of Terror, Chris Pratt is Garfield, Hulkling/Wiccan Marvel Unlimited

Trailers: Lightyear, Boba Fett

Comics Countdown:

Another Kind OGN by Trevor Bream, Cait May

Friday 4 by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, Muntsa Vicente

Black Hammer Reborn 5 by Jeff Lemire, Malachi Ward, Matt Sheean

House of Slaughter 1 by James Tynion, Tate Brombal, Chris Shehan, Miquel Muerto

Usagi Yojimbo 23 by Stan Sakai

Daredevil 35 by Chip Zdarsky, Stefano Landini, Francesco Mobili, Marcio Menyz

Robin 7 by Joshua Williamson, Max Dunbar, Gleb Melnikov, Luis Guerrero

Snow Angels Season Two 5 by Jeff Lemire, Jock

Batman: The Long Halloween Special by Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale, Brennan Wagner

Better Place by Duane Murray, Shawn Daley

Check out this episode!

#comics #podcast #podernfamily #rabbittstew

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Link Tank: James Wan Promises a More Mature Aquaman Sequel

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom director James Wan promises the sequel will be a more mature outing for the character, but won’t lose the fun aspect that made the original the most successful DC movie of all time.

“2018’s Aquaman was surprising in so many ways. Formerly a superhero punchline, Aquaman shocked audiences with an ambitious, balls-to-the-wall action-adventure. The film had everything: deep-sea monsters? Check. Octopus playing drums? Check. Julie Andrews voicing an ancient sea creature? Check. After Nolan’s self-serious Batman trilogy and Snyder’s humorless time helming the DC universe, Aquaman was a breath of fresh air. A colorful, silly romp that never took itself too seriously and provided enough CGI dazzle and actor charisma for a genuinely entertaining family-friendly time at the movies.”

Read more at Kotaku

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The post Link Tank: James Wan Promises a More Mature Aquaman Sequel appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3vpceGX

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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eldritchsurveys · 4 years ago

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981.

5k Survey LXI

3101. Would it bother you if your priest, rabbi or other religious leader (teacher if you are not religious) started wearing a plain black mask all the time? If yes, why? >> What... what kind of mask? Because at this point in history, wearing a mask is just normal, lmao. But if it was, like, a balaclava or a Batman mask from the Halloween store, or something, that’d probably be unsettling. 3102. Where do you look for the answers? >> What answers? 3103. If you are driving and someone honks at you does it ruin your whole day? >> I don’t drive. 3104. If you are driving and you get angry at another driver do you yell at them through their and your closed window? open the window and yell at them? throw things at them? stop the car and start a fight with them? do something else? >> --- 3105. I'm in the right lane on the parkway. There is an exit only lane on my right. A car pulls out from behind the pack into the exit only lane. When that car gets to the exit he is right in front of me only one lane to the right of me. Instead of exiting the parkway he tries to creep back in in front of me. I get pissed and honk the horn. He (I keep saying he but I couldn't tell) throws up his hands as he slides in front of me. I think this is funny and toot again. He throws up his hands again. I do this about three more times and each time I toot he throws his hands in the air. Then my exit clomes up and I have to get off. From the time he got in front of me until I got off the parkway we drove approx. 20 feet. What you think about this situation? >> I think that’s a lot of unnecessary action, personally. He definitely should have been more aware of what lane he was in, but sometimes that shit happens. I see it all the time as a passenger, and being obnoxious about it doesn’t really get anyone anywhere. Also, I hate honking, period, so there’s that.

3106. Do you live in reality or in your 'own little world'? Which one is better? >> I live in both. Obviously I prefer Inworld, but I wouldn’t pick one at the expense of the other because I really don’t have to. 3107. Who's your favorite soprano? >> --- 3108. Why is there porn geared towards straight men, gay men, lesbians but none really geared towards straight woman? >> I’m pretty sure there is porn geared towards straight women. You’re just not going to find it on, say, your average page on PornHub. 3109. Is there more to being human than chemicles and impulses? If yes, what? >> I couldn’t say. I like to think there is, but I wouldn’t argue about it. 3110. What if all the boys in jail could get out now together? >> Huh? 3111. If your shoes could talk what would they say? >> --- 3112. How many windows are in your house? >> Not enough. 3113. Did you walk around your house and count them all? If not what did you do? >> Of course not. 3114. Do you think people store memories as pictures or words? >> Pictures, words, sounds, smells, emotional triggers, vague impressions, bodily sensations... 3115. If you got sent to jail who would your one phone call be to? >> --- 3116. Pick a movie you have seen: Give a 2 sentance review about it using the word 'go': >> No. 3117. Pick a song you like: Give a 2 sentance review of it useing the word 'come': >> --- 3118. Pick a person you like: Give a two sentance description of them useing the word 'lunchbox': >> --- 3119. What do these 3 words have in common: hippo, camp, us? >> Say them quickly and it’s a whole new word. 3120. If you could save time in a bottle, the first thing that you'd like to do is.. >> No. 3121. Who is the most powerful person in the world that you can think of? >> --- 3122. If you were designing a mini-golf hole what would it be like? >> --- 3123. Why do you think certain people become targets for teasing in school or exclusion at work? >> There are many reasons, none of which I feel like getting into right now. No matter what the reason, it’s poor behaviour. Period. 3124. Why, in essays, is the word 'I' not allowed to be used when it is our own PERSONAL thoughts being expressed? >> I don’t know the reason, although I do know that there is one. It’s just not something I care about remembering. 3125. What song would you like your doorbell to play? >> I hate doorbells. 3126. Would you rather watch MTV or play GO FISH? >> Neither. 3127. What is an itch? >> ??? 3128. Why did the holocost happen? >> Are you kidding me? 3129. Would you be capable of torturing another person? >> Probably. But just because I know I have the capacity for it doesn’t mean I’m particularly keen on taking that sizeable hit to my mental / spiritual well-being. 3130. How did Hitler's army do this and still believe they were good people? >> There’s been whole books written about this, man. 3131. Do you like poetry to rhyme? >> I don’t care eithe rway. 3132. Does 'jewish' describe a race or a religion? >> Ethnicity* or religion. In which case, the answer is “yes”. 3133. How tall are you? >> 5′5″. 3134. If Hitler was capable of such cruelty to others, and he is human, does that mean that all humans are capable of this cruelty?/ >> Are we still on this? Yes, that’s what it means. Can we move on now? 3135. How long have you ever gone without sleep? >> About four days. 3136. Is a mouse a miracle? >> Probably. I don’t really call anything a miracle so I don’t have an internal framework for that concept. 3137. there are alcoholics, chocoholics, shoppoholics, practically anything can be an 'oholic. What's your 'oholic? >> I’m not addicted to anything. 3138. Does heaven have a phone number? If it did would you call? Who would you ask to speak to? What would you say? >> All I thought about was that god phone at Burning Man. 3139. Fortune time!! 1,2, 3, or 4? if 1: 5, or 6? if 2: 7 or 8? if 3: 9 or 10? if 4 11 or 12? >> 3 --> 9.

Now pick a letter between A and G: if A: 13 or 14? if B: 15 or 16? if C or D: 17 or 18? if E or F: 19 or 20? if F: 21 or 22? if G: 22 or 23? >> D --> 18. --------- you should now have two numbers. look at both numbers below and combine the sayings to get a fortune. 5: you are a very loving person 6: you will become very rich 7: you are too hard on yourself 8: cats will bring you bad luck 9: gremlins will eat all your cheese 10: you are going on a trip 11: someone you don't know will be watching you 12: you will get what you want --- 13. and your life will be filled with romance 14. but you will fall in love with a babboon 15. and salt is lucky for you 16. or you will inherit a cough medicine factory 17. and you will not come back 18. and you will lose the remote 19. or your favorite team will win 20. and you were born under a lucky star 21. but the next person who leave you a note is attracted to you 22. and you will have a stalker soon 23. or your best friend will take you to a movie >> Gremlins will eat all your cheese and you will lose the remote. 3140. Do you vote? >> Yeah. 3141. Are you always honest with yourself? Were you honest when you answered that question? >> Unfortunately not. 3142. What kinds of diary names or entry titles make you specifically NOT want to read that diary? >> --- 3142. Is writing an online diary more about being honest about yourself or entertaining your readers? >> My actual diary entries are private, because they’re for me only. When I make posts on tumblr or wherever, then it’s mostly about expressing myself, and hopefully connecting with others by that expression. 3143. What are you the last of? >> --- 3144. Who do you really appreciate and what have you done lately to show that you appreciate them? >> Hm. 3145. When people do good deeds are they really doing them because they are a good person or because they want to feel like a good person? Or both? >> Wanting to feel like a good person is a perfectly reasonable reason to do good deeds. The feeling that one gets from doing the thing creates a feedback loop of doing more of those kinds of things, which is a net positive all around if you ask me. 3146. Somewhere far back in the survey I asked if Bill Gates or Mothe Thereasa was more successful. The most popular answer I have seen is 'it depends on how you define success'. Well, this survey is about YOU isn't it? So how do YOU define success? >> I don’t have a definition for it because it means nothing to me personally. 3147. Are people making up reality as they go along? >> I mean, more or less, if you think about how our senses and sensory processing works. 3148. You may need a calculator for this one. Think of your weight. Divide it by 2.2, multiply the answer by .8 What do you get? That is how many grams of protein you need to eat every day to stay healthy. Do you think you eat enough? >> This sounds so fake. 3149. What is your feeling about republicans? >> I don’t have any feelings about the general concept of Republicans. 3150. What do you need to do? What do you need to stop doing? >> Vacuum, eventually. I don’t know about the second question.

#surveys #survey #5000 question survey

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dispatchdcu · 17 days ago

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Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #4 Preview

Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #4 Preview #BatmanTheLongHalloween #BatmanTheLongHalloweenTheLastHalloween #batman #DCEU #dccomics #comics #comicbooks #news #dcu #dcuuniverse #art #info #NCBD #amazon #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #batman #darkknight #capedcrusader #brucewayne #detectivecomics

Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #4 Preview: In 1996, writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale teamed up for Batman: The Long Halloween, an award-winning 13-chapter saga that spawned multiple sequels and stands as the most inﬂuential Batman story of its era. Now Loeb returns to the world of The Long Halloween for its long-anticipated ﬁnal act—Batman The Long Halloween: The Last…

#batman #Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween 4 #Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween 4 Preview #Batman: The Long Halloween #comic books #comics #DC #DC Comics #DC Comics Previews #Previews

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themanformallyknownaswelshy · 7 years ago

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Jigsaw Thoughts

HEAVY SPOILERS

Hello there.

So yeah, a new Saw film has just recently been released and I’ve been to see it … twice. I’ll admit to being very touched and slightly scared (in the best way possible) at the amount of requests I’ve been getting from people asking for my thoughts on the film. It’d been … what, 4 years since my last proper video on Saw and that people are still interested in my opinion about the series … that’s pretty awesome. Sadly, this can’t be released in video format at the moment (which isn’t saying it never will be) because I currently have a camera without a battery, a computer that no longer connects to the internet, a laptop that randomly shuts down and no audio equipment. Oh and we’re also saving for a wedding and a house. Priorities people!!!

So anyway, before I address my thoughts on Jigsaw, I want to say something about Saw as it means to me. Keep in mind, this is going to be long as I have many thoughts and if this were a video, it’d probably clock in around the 30 minute mark. Now, it should be noted that I’m not blind to what Saw is and as I’ve previously said, I don’t view it as a masterpiece of cinema and for the people who don’t like it, I’d never be able to change their minds about it. My issue steams from reviews I’ve seen that label Saw (specifically the original) as torture porn and I simply do not agree with this statement. In fact, I informed one person of this once and this person accused me of being sexist and of attacking them for simply disagreeing with their claim, a disagreement I backed up but then I’m the same guy who managed to violate the … what was it, the second amendment with Dark Side of The Internet, so make of that what you will. For me, the Saw Series exists in a heightened reality with everything played at just that over the top level, from the scenarios all the way down to the acting. It’s a very fine line to walk and one Saw, from original to 3D managed to walk almost perfectly. The first 2 films in the series also didn’t have the budget to show the all out gore explosions that the later films became known for so to class the first 2 as torture porn is, to me, simply wrong. A comparison would be a film like Hostel or the Zombie Halloween films, especially the sequel. These films don’t walk the line, they have a very real, raw edge to them, the effects of the torture (blow torches to the face, heels being sliced, women beaten to bloody pulps) are shot very raw and very real and this moves both films beyond snuff (ala Texas Chainsaw) and is why I would class films like Hostel and Halloween Zombie as torture porn and a film like Saw as more a twisted morality tail and it’s sequel, part horror, part psychological thriller because the 2nd film IS essentially a game of chess between 2 players, Jigsaw and Detective Matthews. While the argument could be raised about the later sequels falling more into the realms of torture porn, all films still contained that heightened sense but more so than any of that, I believe it wasn’t the traps that kept bringing fans back into the theatres year after year but it was more so the story because, as convoluted as it was, and BELIEVE me, it was, there was a story that built and teased and, ultimately, provided the answers to many fan theories and questions.

Why have I mentioned this? Read on.

So, my thoughts on Jigsaw?

I liked it. It certainly was better than it had any right to be. The story moved along at a great pace, the traps as they were designed and shot were pure Saw and very Jigsaw in nature. By this I mean, the traps were all survivable, but the subjects were expected to sacrifice something of themselves in order to get out alive. It also played into something Jigsaw says to Hoffman in Saw V about anticipating the human mind, something Jigsaw was always very good at. As Jill Tuck said herself, with John everything was planned, nothing was left to chance. I obviously enjoyed Tobin Bell back in his iconic role like he’d never missed a beat, I loved seeing Billy with glowing red eyes (and I did BILLY when I saw him), the Jigsaw house of horrors barn and separate work shop was a delight and the score felt like a natural evolution with sweet call backs to previous themes. It also benefited from a bigger budget, the opening car chase being a prime example and the money shot that was the culmination of the final trap was a site to behold and I’ll now never be able to here the phrase “It looks like a tropical plant” the same way again.

I won’t lie, when I first saw the trailers for Jigsaw I was slightly concerned about how glossy and clean everything looked. The Barn appeared to take place almost entirely in day light and a lot of the film seemed to be taking place out doors. If there was one thing Saw excelled at was the rustic, run down, abandoned factory, enclosed and claustrophobic feeling and with Jigsaw, I never really got that feeling. I never felt like I was suffocating along with the characters in the environments they were finding themselves in and this seems to stem more from the way it was shot rather than the script. It’s also seemed to be setting up future sequels because a number of events occur in said film that raise greater questions. The film managed to keep the Saw style of walking the fine line of maintaining its heightened reality and felt like it easily slotted into the world as it had been previously established in previous films. It’ll certainly please fans to the series but won’t win or convert people who have never seen the Saw films before. It’s also a film that, while trying to restart the series, suffers if you’ve never watched the series before.

One of the big problems Saw encountered in it’s later life is it was essentially becoming a movie serial. You’d have needed to have watched the previous episode in order to understand what was going on. For someone like me, someone who had watched and re watched the films so many times I could quote them in my sleep, this wasn’t a problem and watching the newest entry always felt like a reward but for someone jumping in as a first time watcher, they wouldn’t have had a clue about what was going on. Leigh Whannell references this during his Saw 3 commentary in that he would get people coming up to him and saying they didn’t understand Saw 3 because they’d not seen Saws 1 and 2. Leighs reaction to this was simple, “Who goes to see a film with a 3 in the title without seeing the first 2 films first” and I agree with that. Jigsaw ultimately duffers from this because, while it is an attempt to perform a form of series restart, the people who will get the most out of this film ARE Saw fans. The biggest hook to the series is and always will be Tobin Bell and without him, you simply don’t have a series so while I can appreciate what they were trying to do with the film and there were many directions they could have gone, their solution I found to be very predictable, very uninspired and more specifically, and this is why I have a bigger problem with the film than maybe I should, very damaging to the Saw mythology.

So here we go … my problem with Jigsaw. From here on out there will be heavy spoilers from not only Jigsaw, but nearly every single Saw film, give or take. You have been warned, tread carefully, follow your heart, follow the white rabbit (oh wait, that was the Matrix) … whatever ... spoilers ahead.

Right off the bat, when I heard there was going to be a new Saw many ideas went through my head about what they were going to do. Was it going to be a total reboot, a soft reboot, were they going to retcon some of the story? Were they going to introduce a long lost family member? I’ll be honest, at one point in the film, Jigsaw refers to his late nephew and in my head I immediately pictured either Jigsaw having an identical twin brother or a sister that we’d never heard of and then we’d have had a female Jigsaw taking over the reigns of the franchise. None of these appealed to me and NO, it’s NOT because I don’t think a woman can be scary, bla bla bla bla. My concern was I didn’t want would I deemed to be a cop out, long lost relative ending. Sarah, my fiancée, had other ideas though, as you can see below…

John Kramer has an identical twin brother who has been jealous of his brother’s successes all those years ago. He felt John’s moral crusade pointless and would rather just kill people he wanted to torture. This brother first made an appearance in Saw 1 where he was skulking around Jigsaw’s hideout but was caught by Tapp - it was not John Kramer to slashed Tapp’s throat but his evil twin brother. He now has long flowing hair and a curly moustache.

As he proceeds to murder his next victim through torture he plays Cascada’s “”What Hurts the Most” and reveals that he is going to take control of Jigsaw’s legacy and unleash his new name on the world: The Sudoku Killer.

However during this revelation the doors fly open and John Kramer appears, cloak billowing. He announces that he is still alive and not happy about the whole Sudoku game his brother has planned. To his brother’s horror, John reveals that when they were born , there was another brother, so they were actually identical triplets. The third brother was adopted due to financial limitations but John had found him years ago. He had worked with his secret brother to set his vision in motion, but then his brother had cancer and another game was created in which Jigsaw could create a legacy even after death. His brother took John Kramer’s identity and died of cancer, whilst John Kramer lived in the shadows like Batman. It seemed his work had left a lasting impression as his death created more followers to his cause. However his evil brother’s foray into his own murderous games caused Jigsaw to come out of retirement and put an end to his dastardly plans.

Grumpily, Jigsaw reveals that he now has to start his work up again to eradicate all the wrongdoing his brother has done. He admits ta he doesn’t really understand Sudoku puzzles. He leaves his brother in the room to die, while lay his brother twirls his moustache worriedly.

Thank you Sar she is very proud of her theory and it’s one of the many reasons I love her.

So anyway, we didn’t get the secret family member ending, although there is nothing to say this still won’t happen seeing as Logan clearly had help through the film but what we did get was the reveal of another secret apprentice is this is what I have a problem with. Firstly, it just feels lazy because it’s something we’ve seen twice before but also, there has been literally no build to this reveal. With Amanda, she was set up in Saw as a survivor so the revelation of her being an apprentice made some form of sense. With Hoffman, he was introduced in Saw 3, pocketing a piece of evidence and then in Saw 4, placed himself into the game so again, the revelation had a form of surprise but felt natural and given that Jigsaw had access to so many criminal files, it seemed like a natural fit that he would have a cop helping him. Here, they have to effectively screw with the entire lore of the Saw Universe by implying Logan was helping John from the beginning and this is where I have my biggest problem because, as I’ve said, it was the story that kept me coming back to Saw and it was the handling of the series from Saw 1 onwards that made me truly fall in love with said story. When they wrote the first Saw, James Wan and Leigh Whannell had no concept of a larger story of multiple sequels. They were just 2 guys trying to crack into the movie business. With the success of Saw, Saw 2 was immediately green lit and to get a jump on the production, they adapted a script from Darren Lynn Bousman with Leigh (and Tobin) adding in the Saw story. Saw 3 was green lit even before Saw 2 was released and with the release of Saw 3, the studio announced a Saw 4,5 and 6. This allowed the storytellers to plan their story long term and to sprinkle in teases that would build through the (as I originally called it) Hoffman trilogy with everything due to culminate in Saw 6. The backstory of John Kramer and his death and rebirth into Jigsaw is told through Saw 2 thorugh 6 and makes sense in the context of these films.

People have often asked why I love Saw 6 so much and it is for this very reason. Saw 6 pays off many of the long term threads that had been teased since Saw 3. This long term planning of these films allowed the film makers to take their time with the integration of Hoffman into the world. He was shown briefly in Saw 3, he is revealed in Saw 4 as the apprentice, Saw 5 then allows us to see the meeting of Jigsaw and Hoffman and Saw 6 is the ultimate fan reward as we see Jigsaw, Amanda and Hoffman all share the screen together. While this is undoubtedly fan service, it makes sense in the context of the story because now we, as an audience, have accepted Hoffman working with Jigsaw, it would be more than logical, given his physical size, strength and position within the police force, that he would have worked with and assisted both Jigsaw and Amanda. If the scene between Jigsaw, Amanda and Hoffman had been shown in Saw 4 it wouldn’t have had half the impact nor would it have meant as much because it would have felt like a complete shoe in with the creators dancing around with a board saying “Look Hoffman was involved”. By taking the time to establish Hoffman and his relationship with Jigsaw, we see the contrast between himself and Amanda. The Jigsaw/Amanda relationship was very much like a father and daughter, The Jigsaw/Hoffman relationship is very much built on business with Hoffman clearly suppressing his true inner psychopath until after Jigsaw has passed. With Jigsaw they basically fast track Logan into the series as a secret apprentice and immediately show him working alongside Jigsaw which ultimately hurts the story as it has been established since the original Saw. Now they do try to cover themselves by claiming Logan was a prisoner of war for 10 years but Logan also says Jigsaw gave him purpose after the war, so I’m at a loss here as to whether Logan (in this new series) was absent during the original series of events (as a POW) or if he was present because if he was, where the hell was he because the original series has covered the time line from John Kramer, budding father, to cancer patient, attempted suicide, rebirth as Jigsaw, his start as Jigsaw, every single game played during that series from Cecil trap right up to Saw 3D trap, from his death right up to Hoffmans imprisonment in the bathroom and it handled this about as perfectly as could be expected given how insane the timeline can seem.

Now Saw 6 WAS supposed to the culmination of all of these hanging story threads. It was supposed to end with Hoffmans death and close off the franchise but between Saw 5 and 6, the studio decided they wanted 2 more Saw films. This resulted in Hoffman (thankfully because he was now awesome) being spared but when Saw 6 was released it found itself at number 2 at the box office because of the first Paranormal Activity. In a panic, the studio cancelled Saw 8 and Saw 3D became a combination of an attempted Saw 7 and 8 story and was marketed as the Final Chapter which is one of the reasons it is such a convoluted mess. As I said, Saw 6 was due to close off many questions, which it did, with the major remaining question (the fate of Dr Gordon) still being up in the air due to the ongoing lawsuit between Elwes and the studio. During 5 (to my knowledge) the lawsuit between Cary Elwes and the studio was settled and this allowed the series to bring Cary back to answer the series final question and it really WAS the series final question because Saw 6 had managed to wrap up pretty much everything. Fans went into 7 wondering what had happened to Dr. Gordon and hoping (because let’s face it, we were ALL on Hoffmans side here) Hoffman would get his revenge against Jill. As I’ve said, I’m not a fan of Saw 3D, although I loved the ending reveal that Gordon had been assisting Jigsaw for years, but it ultimately left fans with the biggest bitter pill to swallow in that we were robbed of what we had wanted for years, a movie dedicated to the battle of Hoffman vs Gordon. Face it, Hoffman had been built up as an uber bad ass since Saw V. This was a guy who had broken his own hand and ripped off half his face to escape the bear trap, he was also a man who set up a game involving being taken into a police station in a body bag just to get his hands on Jill Tuck. There was no way in hell he was going to stay in that bathroom. Eric Matthews broke his ankle to escape the shackle, Hoffman would damn near snap his foot off to get out of there.

Jigsaw, as it currently stands, almost seems to remove the entire Hoffman story from the Saw Lore. While Jill Tuck is mentioned, she was shown in Saw 3 so it might not seem as big a departure and when Jigsaw does appear, he is shown to still be wearing his wedding ring. My reason for thinking this is during the half way point of the film when Eleanor takes Logan to her warehouse which houses a number of Jigsaw traps. There’s the chest trap from Saw 3, the glass box trap and gun from Saw 2 and the reverse bear trap from the original Saw. As far as I can see (I may be wrong) there are no traps from the Hoffman series shown in this room. Now this might be the movies attempt to retcon any of the events of Saw 4 through 3D but this still hurts the story established in Saw 1 through 3 and, once again, leaves you questioning, again, what happened to Dr. Gordon. Now granted, what I deem to be the glass box trap from Saw 2 might actually be the water box trap from Saw V and if it is, I’ll be thrilled because it means the Hoffman series is still deemed canon, but it also raises the question as to whether Logan had any form of relationship or interaction with Amanda or Hoffman because, again, lets face it, Hoffman would have ground Logan into dust had they ever crossed paths. The nature of Logans message and whole MO seems to move away from what Jigsaw wanted as it was originally about cherishing your life with Jigsaw targeting people he had deemed to be unworthy of the gift of life. These were people he had either encountered through the clinic his wife worked at or through working with Hoffman and discovering criminals who were abusing the chances they had been gifted. Now, he seems to be speaking for the dead, which isn’t a far cry from what he says to William in Saw 6 “You think it's the living who have ultimate judgement over you, because the dead will have no claim over your soul.” but Logan now seems to have gone full Dexter and seems to be targeting out and out criminals with no real chance of survival. There is also the message of not coming from vengeance and yet, Logan seems to act out his game with vengeance in mind. People could argue about Jigsaw targeting Cecil out of vengeance in Saw 4 but the difference here is once Cecil was in his trap, Jigsaw does not touch him and Cecil has the opportunity to leave after freeing himself. In Jigsaw, after getting his confession, Logan kills Halloran, which is completely against what Jigsaw would want. The elaborate trap in the barn (complete with an electronic Billy with glowing eyes … a first for the series) also clashes with the trap lore because we’re made to believe that the trap in Jigsaw is from 10 years previous and indeed, we see Logan and Jigsaw making the reverse bear trap. The problem here? Saw 4 shows Jigsaw in his workshop, alone, working on his traps and his ideas. He has no one helping him and his first traps were very basic in design and execution. The trap he placed Cecil in was a knife trap, the bathroom trap was 2 people chained to a wall, the razor wire trap, barb wire maze. When exactly does this fit into the time line for Jigsaw to create such an elaborate trap at the start of his career, which Jigsaw leads us to believe was even BEFORE he placed Amanda into the reverse bear trap.

So yes, this is my main problem with Jigsaw. Even if it retcons the Hoffman series from the time line, it still leaves far more questions than it does answers that ultimately hurts the lore as it has been built. Was Logan aware of Amanda, was Amanda aware of Logan?

WHAT HAPPENED TO DR. GORDON...AGAIN!!!!

Now granted, all of these questions may be answered in future sequels as there does seem to be more story to tell so I guess we’ll see. Anyway, this was long and I’ve gone on for long enough and if you’ve reached the end of this then you deserve a cookie so go and grab one.

Night all.

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seven-oomen · 5 years ago

Photo

First, I swear I’ll explain about the picture in a minute.

Next, it’s totally okay, I understand completely. I, too, am prone to being a total space cadet sometimes. My top skills are remembering/thinking of things when I’m in no position to act on them (composing review questions while at work, thinking of phone call I forgot to make while driving, realizing I didn’t show my mom the sonogram my friend sent me right as I fall asleep, etc.) Really, I’m just happy finding others to talk about this stuff with who seem to appreciate and enjoy it as much as I do. :D

Omg, I’m SO EXCITED to see the necklace turn up, however that happens! And as someone who 90% of the time also uses drinkware featuring superheroes and other nerdery for their alcohol, I very much approve Derek’s choices, whether it makes it into the story or not. I also enjoyed both versions of the chapter flashback, but the first was definitely more “Oh My…”, and the redo more straight up fluffy and adorable.

And I love all that stuff in the ideas tag! With Corey there’s so much potential stuff that can be done with someone with those types of powers. I admit I don’t know too much about exactly how his are supposed to work. his powers are due to genetics and not outside forces in this, could it perhaps be connected to how Gerard has been able to do some of the things he’s done? (Could the wolves track him while invisible in the show?) And oh, my God, that is a total Moon Moon moment (resisting the urge to make a comment about why Ian was trying to fit a ball in his mouth). I choose to believe that Noah and Chris coordinated to trick Peter into doing that and managing to get it on camera. They threaten to make it part of the family Christmas card. Peter only agrees if they make it so that all the pictures used embarrass everyone equally. Which is where some of the BTS type stuff could come in. (My lord, they are all such dorks. I mean, I follow Ian, Linden, JR, and Hoechlin on Insta and or Twitter, so we been knew, really, but still. XD ) And I’m all for any plot points or incidents that allow Lydia to showcase just how awesome she truly is. Also, I will never turn down an idea that involves puppy piles and cuddle puddles. I’ve been in this fandom too damn long not to have developed a deep-seated love for damaged characters getting the affection and comfort they deserve.

I’m so glad you’re enjoying the examples of my often questionable musical tastes. ;D I think I first heard that song on an anime music video (for LOVELESS I think, of all things), and I was just like “well this is catchy as hell”. As someone whose musical tastes are all over the gd place, I like to imagine they all have some genre that they’re secretly a fan of but don’t want to admit to because it might clash with their grunge-y punk image (the other two totally know anyway.) Speculatively I’d say boy bands for Peter, bubblegum pop/pop-punk for Chris, and classic (read: dad) rock for Noah, but I welcome other opinions.

And jsyk, it really makes me happy to know that my reviews are helpful for more than just story ideas. Which partially brings me to the picture I’ve attached. I work in a pet supply store, and the item on the right is a dog toy we carry and every time I look at it, all I can think of is how much it reminds me of Deucalion. Like, I can’t not see it at this point. And nobody I work with would have the slightest idea what I’m talking about, so I finally made this so that I could share it those that might get why it’s so funny to me. So here it is. And if you are still in need of things for distractions, here is a list of some random incidents that have (mostly) occurred at my work in the last few days:

1) Someone left a 4 Iron in one of our shopping carts along the far wall of the store. We have no clue where it came from, we aren’t anywhere near any kind of golf or sporting goods store. (I checked and there was no sign of blood on it, so no one was ditching a weapon on us or something.)

2) I walked into our warehouse and asked “why does it smell like sparklers in here?”, saw a coworker standing looking out the back door, and walked over to see that there was a car on fire about a block away in another parking lot. (The fire department was already on scene putting it out, it looked like it started near the front driver’s side tire?)

3) A child ate one of the fancy dog treats we have on display (luckily that one is mainly yoghurt and peppermint extract), and then try to drink from the fountain we have set up for any dogs that come in. I don’t think mom ever noticed.

4) We now carry a special, highly filtered, and ph-balanced (and overpriced) bottled cat water (no really), that seems simultaneously like a brilliant idea (because UTIs), but also somehow one of the whitest things I’ve ever seen (and I say this as a white person who grew up basically middle-class).

5) One of the smoke alarms in my apartment started doing the dead battery warning beep at around midnight Sunday night. I unfortunately was out of the size I needed to replace it, so I just popped out the one that was in it. Turns out it’s also hardwired, so that did nothing. It beeped the entire night. I would have gotten worried about my neighbors, but they had one that they let beep for like a week back in Feb, so I decided I didn’t care. When I stopped to buy a replacement I also ended up buying two bags of candy with the justification that they were on sale and I might need them for the next chapter.

6) Our pet bathing area re-opened, which meant we finally got a visit from one of my fave canine customers. His name is Jax, he’s an American Akita, and he is a gigantic, sweet, bear of a dog. Seriously, he comes to about my hip (I’m right around 5'4), weighs around 190lbs, and is a beautiful dark brown/black brindle all over. He is also one of the most calm, chill dogs I have ever met (he’s been coming in for years), and I love to watch other people react to seeing him for the first time.

7) While searching around my music files and Spotify for suggestions, I got distracted and ended up treating my neighbors to an impromptu concert that consisted mostly of 00s divas and 60s bubblegum pop (oddly, a lot of Herman’s Hermits and Ohio Express has a very similar vibe to Bowling for Soup, to me at least), because I had headphones in, and didn’t realize I’d started singing along for…a while. I did consider apologizing for that, at least, but ultimately decided to just ignore that it happened.

Anyway, I hope you are feeling a bit better now, and that some of the weirdness that is my life at least provides some entertainment. And that the therapy session at least feels like something you think will help in the long run, even if it sucks massively right now. I’m so proud of you for going, and sticking with it (I know so many who need to who don’t, for whatever reason). It is hard, and exhausting, and I am always awed by those that are determined to see it through. (Sorry if any of that comes across weird. My automatic supportive defaults tend to be humor and awkward sincerity, and I always worry that one will come across as the other and vice versa. Social anxiety is a hell of a drug.) So, I’m gonna go ahead and wrap up the verbal flailing for now, please enjoy whenever you see this tomorrow (I think? I’m terrible about keeping track of that sort of thing. Also, how is most of Europe just one time zone?! …anyway…)

Ok, I need to find out where I can get that crocodile/Alligator. for uh, for Mo...

Yeah for Mo.

(It’s for me, I would totally buy a dog toy if I thought it looked adorable.)

I definitely toned that scene down, though I kept some necessary exposition where Chris thinks on what happened between them. Might include some teenage raunchiness later, as someone pointed out to me, Peter would definitely be like that, as would Noah (probably). Chris would definitely be more reserved, he barely got a sex education aside from abstinence. ( Because I don’t see Gerard as the type of person who’d give his son the talk, honestly.)

And as someone who also drinks alcohol in superhero or Halloween glasses and mugs, I had to throw Derek’s very mature choice in there. Batman mug stays XD

I’ll admit, that was exactly what I was thinking with Corey’s power and how I could use it in the story. So I’m curious to see where I’ll go with it eventually, but yeah, that’s on my idea list.

.. must resist Ian & JR ballsy jokes.. you are not twelve Ben.

I am.

I really am. A twelve-year-old in a twenty-nine-year-old body.

I bet Ian wanted to prove what he could fit in there. He wanted to show some ballsy moves. It’s practice for-

Okay, I’ll stop.

And they are the biggest dorks, I follow Ian, JR, Colton, and Holland on and my lord, they’re such dorks. Definitely following Linden now too though. hehe.

I can see them trying that trick with Jackson, Malia, Ben, and Scott as well. Scott just falls face first and tries to fit a tennis ball into his mouth. Ben just looks at the tennis ball, figures that ain’t gonna fit and balances it on his face instead. Malia opens her mouth, notices the camera coming out, and just poses while smiling at the camera. Jackson though pretends to not understand what he has to do until Chris shows him how it’s done and then Jackson quickly points to Chris and while Noah films it laughing his ass off.

They make an awesome Christmas card with all of them doing something with that tennis ball.

Speculatively I’d say boy bands for Peter, bubblegum pop/pop-punk for Chris, and classic (read: dad) rock for Noah, but I welcome other opinions.

SO MUCH YES.

Also, Nickelback for Chris & Never gonna give you up. They're guilty pleasures. I would also like to suggest for Peter, either the Spice girls or like the Vengaboys. Gets him going but only when he’s alone at home and he’s wearing headphones. Because God forbids someone else hears it too. And I kinda wanna say Baby Metal for Noah. Idk seems like that might fit him and it’s hilarious to think about. Some headcanons don’t need to make sense.

Also, just for shits and giggles.

Caramelldansen in English and Swedish.

Makes these dads (and Melissa and Derek) move and dance around the new house like crazy, Ben joins in, because of the funny voices.

The teenagers are mortified.

MORTIFIED.

This made me so happy,

I feel like that’s basically toddler behavior. Also, Ben did this at some point. One hundred percent. He walked into the pet section at a store and started eating the dog treats. Chris didn’t notice, Peter did, asked him about it and went; well, it’s probably not toxic for him, so whatever. He did film it. Noah and Chris yelled at him.

That is the whitest shit I’ve ever heard. And yes I’m white too from lower middle class. But still...

But maybe that’s because I live in a country where I can drink tap water so that’s what Mo gets in his fountain.

And your stories made me smile my friend, every single one. <3 thank you for sharing these.

I wish I had funny ones really. Only one I can think of is some of my customers I run into as a tech support guy.

Customer calls me to tell me they don’t have internet. I ask, “Where’s your modem and how is it plugged into the network?”

Customer: It’s still in the box I received it in.. it’s wireless..”

Me:

Cue ten-minute argument on how it’s not wireless like that and how he needs to install his modem... yeah. People and technology...

But anyway, I’ll stop rambling now because it’s 1 am here and I need to go to sleep again.

1 am is in the Amsterdam/Berlin timezone where I live in.

That is 6 pm in NYC

And 4 pm in California.

So I am 7-9 hours ahead of the US, to give you an idea about timezones.

#ben says stuff #once upon a time comments #once upon a time scene ideas #submission

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samdukewieland · 5 years ago

Text

Stuck Inside Media Diary Week 2

New week. New movies I had never seen before. Only one was on the DVR so now it’s just like a glorified streaming guide and for that I apologize. There were three movies this week that I had seen before, but I’ve decided, because rules are important, that I won’t re-watch a movie until I watch a new one. Does this matter? No. But it has made me realize that I might be exposing my ass in the upcoming weeks, because we all lie about saying we’ve seen some movies when we actually haven’t. Not the case for this week, but it’s impending.

Sunday, March 29

Warrior, O’Conner 2011 [as of now this is available on Amazon Prime]

As a person who doesn’t really care about MMA or UFC or boxing or bum fights or bare knuckle brawls I went in under the impression that there’d probably be some kind of barrier in my way of enjoying it, despite knowing its esteemed reputation for being man-weep canon. Any movie that opens and closes with a song by The National is fairly transparent about the type of movie its going to be, despite having an extremely yolked Tom Hardy as one of the main characters. My first cry came at a very unexpected moment, especially because Frank Grillo had a significant role in making that happen (though I will say, I had no idea Frank Grillo was in this movie and about midway through I thought “man, that guy kinda looks like Grillo, but he’s kinda small and has a fashion mullet”). However, I’m a cryer, so I don’t want to set the expectation of you will cry at this you piece of shit! but you might and it’ll come out of a good place, because this movie doesn’t trick you into crying by manipulating you into it (okay, it does at one point, but it involves Moby Dick, so again, it’s kinda unexpected). It opens with “Start A War” and ends with “About Today,” a top 5 sad boy song by The National and I’ll be damned if I didn’t listen to it once a day all last week.

Better Call Saul

“Sunk Costs”, “Sabrosito”, “Chicanery”, “Off Brand”, “Expanses”

John Getz hive, assemble.

Monday, March 30

Working Girl, Nichols 1988 [as of now this is available on HBO]

Sometime in college, I think in a detective fiction class I took, we talked about knowing a reference to something before knowing what it’s either paying homage to or directly referencing. For example: the first time I read The Long Halloween (which is a Batman comic by Jeph Loeb) I had no idea that basically everything involving Falcone is just ripped from The Godfather, because I had never seen The Godfather at that time in my life; literally the first page of the book is “I believe in Gotham City.” Or in Django Unchained when they go to Mississippi and the title card moves across the screen just like it does in Gone With The Wind (Tarantino movies are generally just long homages and references to other things, so if you need another example, just look to really anything he’s ever worked on). There’s probably a German word for this feeling of recognition and I just don’t have the energy to look to see what it would be, but I felt it while watching Working Girl in two regards.

The first was that I didn’t realize that School Of Rock is essentially just Working Girl and when you have a realization like this, you feel kinda dumb, because you just assume everyone figured this out before you did. The second was that Joe Swanberg has tried to model his movies after Mike Nichols ones like his life depended on it and he just can’t or rather hasn’t. Also I’m not a person who was alive in the 80s and I’m sure there’s some modern day equivalent (potentially her daughter) who I defend out of some weird sense of contrarian obligation, but what’s uh, what’s going on with Melanie Griffith and her as actor?

Better Call Saul

“Slip”, “Fall”, “Lantern” [Season 3 finale]

BCS season 3 really stepped up to the heights of Breaking Bad and I think I might like it just a little bit better than it? I haven’t watched Breaking Bad in long time, I find it pretty difficult to re-watch (it’s very fire works factory for me) so I’m sure there are some BB highs that I just don’t remember fully, but that BCS can juggle being three different shows all at the same time and do it excellently really has me taken aback. It’s like watching the Coen Brothers jump from genre to genre and not be worried about the end result.

Tuesday, March 31

Say Anything..., Crowe 1989 [as of now this is available on Hulu]

I’m unabashedly in the can for Cameron Crowe, which is a semi-embarrassing thing to admit, but whatever. I saw Aloha in theatres and watched We Bought A Zoo when it was on FX once (in real time too, so that means with commercials-this was also the only time I’ve seen We Bought A Zoo, but I think I’d do it again); you can’t hurt me. I think I kept my distance from Say Anything... for so long, because it was one of those things that I’d be annoyed at because it’d resonate with me too much, because feeling that is kinda hacky and embarrassing, but if there’s one thing that Cameron Crowe movies put an emphasis on of importance on, it’s being sincere. And I sincerely loved it (hot, HOT take). Thanks to Russillo for recommending it on Simmons’ podcast last week.

Better Call Saul

“Smoke” [Season 4 premiere]

Wednesday, April 1

The Graduate, Nichols 1967 [as of now this is available on Amazon Prime]

Sucks that this movie has been used by a certain type of dude who use it as a blueprint for their life and how they view relationships. Other than that, good job everyone. [I definitely thought it would be clever to watch this after watching Say Anything... because I just assumed Ben Braddock walked so Lloyd Dobbler could run-I was kinda right, whatever]

Hot Rod, Schaffer 2007

While April Fools Day means nothing to me I do try to watch a comedy on the day, because...eh, why not. Hot Rod is maybe a perfect comedy and I think I could spend hours talking about it. I don’t know how there hasn’t been some kind of programming that’s been done around The Lonely Island and their catalog, because it seems very obvious.

Hot Rod with Digital Shorts played before and after and then Wayne’s World

MacGruber and you play MacGruber shorts before and after and then whatever grotesque 80′s action movie you’d want, maybe Commando

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping with Lonely Island music videos before and after and then This Is Spinal Tap

The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience sing-a-long followed by The Lonely Island pilot and either a collection or the entirety of I Think You Should Leave

maybe this is all a lead-up to Palm Springs, a movie I have’t seen and know very little about other than they produced it and Samberg is in it

Thursday, April 2

The In-Laws, Hiller 1979

I wrote it as my letterboxd. “review” , but this thing’s 1979 funny until they go to South America and then it is actually funny. Falk is just gangbusters.

Better Call Saul

“Breathe”, “Something Beautiful”

Friday, April 3

You Can Count On Me, Lonergan 2000 [as of now this is available on Amazon Prime]

I say this as a very big fan of his, but! Timothée Chalamet, consider yerself on notice for borrowing heavily from the Mark Ruffalo school of acting. Also, I get it now with Laura Linney, who I’ve liked before, but thought she might kind of be overrated by some people. Also, Matthew Broderick made this after Election (and also Inspector Gadget), so quite the infidelity streak for Brody, probably not a double feature.

Better Call Saul

“Talk”, “Quite A Ride”, “Piñata”

Saturday, April 4

De Palma, Baumbach & Paltrow, 2015 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

The definitive documentaries for the directors of this friend group are basically perfect in their own ways. That this is just De Palma talking about himself and his career and movies, sometimes being incredibly critical of his own work and others. He seems pretty self-aware, probably the most of that group of directors, while still coming across as incredibly cocky. De Palma is perfect for Brian De Palma. However, if anyone wanted to make a 10 hour documentary on Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, De Palma and Lucas in this style or it’s just the 5 of them interviewing each other moderated by like Fincher or someone, man....I could really go for that. (I mean if Michael Jordan can get one, why not these guys?)

The Other Director Documentaries

Spielberg, 2017 (HBO) [Interviews and retrospectives about Spielberg’s career, with personal highlights. It’s essentially Spielberg in a nutshell: big, flashy with a lot of time on particular moments that are more important to him than they are to you]

Empire Of Dreams, 2004 (Disney+) [Ostensively this is about Star Wars, and it’s made by a company-man, it says so much about Lucas, a man who hated how institutions told him what he could do so he unintentionally created one that has copied what he hates]

Heart Of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, 1991 [A truly wild ride, tells you everything you need to know about Coppola]

Italianamerican, 1974 [While a new documentary about Scorsese is probably what I covet most, he’s a pretty open book about his controversies and he’d probably enjoy talking about other people’s work more than his own-catholicism’s a helluva thing]

The Godfather Pt. I & The Godfather Pt. II, Coppola 1972 & 1974

I don’t know if I necessarily endorse watching both of these back-to-back; I guess I’m glad I did it, even if the motivation was mainly to just see if I could. Obviously these movies are important and good and are about so much more than just gangsters and thugs, but a lot of the time it just feels like eating vegetables for me. I did not grow up in a household that emphasized the importance of The Godfather so maybe that’s part of it, but I’m definitely not as dismissive of these as I used to be (though part of that could be the mental Stockholm Syndrome Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey have given me). Once I finished Pt. I, I felt like I could re-watch it; once I finished Pt. II I felt like my eyes were melting out of my head and onto my hands (this could be because I had just watched 377 minutes of a story). I will probably never do it again, unless it’s the weekend after Christmas and AMC is just going for it-at least then I’ll have intermissions every 20 or so minutes telling me to go shop at Target.

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davidmann95 · 7 years ago

Note

Have you read The Metropolitan Man? I don't know what's your policy on fanfiction but it's a "realistic" take on Superman arriving in the 30s.

Haven’t read that one - looking over it briefly it seems pretty damn depressing, though I suppose that’s kind of the point. I’ll probably check it out sometime.

I’m definitely down for fanfiction, but there’s precious little with Superman I’m into - when I occasionally think of Superman fanfic I hope “cool, maybe there’s finally some cool cosmic adventure stuff in here given the comics so rarely go there, or some really insightful character observations of the kind writers too sparsely touch on!” and then it ends up being 7000 pages on a powerless high-school aged Clark’s torrid affair with Jason Todd behind Congorilla’s back or something. But keeping my eyes open, there’ve definitely been some over the years that worked for me:

* Superboy: A great little moment of growth for a young Clark Kent in a short animated comic by @jordangibson.

* All In A Day’s Work: Good chance you saw this floating around on Tumblr awhile back, this is another really great little short comic by Tom Gimlin and Marcellis Wentz, on the weight of the job.

* Superman’s Story: Opposite Number: An excellent short piece by @spectralspices based on an idea he was nice enough to bounce off me, as Superman goes up against a pair of challenges unusual even for him - one comedic, one very much not.

* Pop-Drama: Superman: I don’t know how much this really qualifies as fanfic in the traditional sense - it’s a broad story proposal by @andrewhickeywriter on an ‘end point’ for Superman - but it’s damn fun and satisfying. There’s also a follow-up article where he elaborates on a major plot point.

* Superman Lives: Another short comic, this time by Joe Otis Costello and Des Taylor, where the Superman of 1938 is beamed in a fight with Brainiac into the world of 2014, and Lois Lane naturally gets the exclusive interview with the returned hero, the story being presented in magazine format. The characterizations may or may not work for you - parts do for me, others not - but it’s an interesting exercise nonetheless, and Des Taylor’s work is absolutely gorgeous.

* @ck1blogs: Clark Kent’s reasonably infamous Twitter account. He is not good at the internet, or humans.

* @filmcriticsuperman: Less well-known than its cousin ck1, which is a shame; unlike most “Film Critic X” feeds, it’s actually…well, really good, courtesy of @charlotteofoz. It maintains the voice throughout and perfectly, and while half the feed is indeed movie reviews - always through the filter of Superman - the other half is just Superman talking about his day, and while it was coming out it was probably the best ongoing Superman material of the last several years. If starting at the beginning of the feed to get a feel for it seems too ominous, worth it though it may be, a good sample would be the more traditional short story she did connected to it, a Superman Halloween spooktacular by the name of Yellowfire.

* Kosmograd Blues: A short story by The Quantum Thief and Invisible Planets author Hannu Rajaniemi focused on a Russian Superman analog, it’s a beautifully written, somber story of a superman who’s long since lost what made his own life worthwhile, but knows he still has a job to do. This was to be one part of a series of superhero short stories set in a larger world he had built - he wrote a little more about the details of it once - but to my knowledge this was all that ever came out of it.

* Kahlil: An ongoing webcomic by Kumail Rizvi in which the last son of Krypton landed in Karachi; it’s been awhile since I last checked in on it, but I recall it being very good, with some spectacular artwork making the few moments thus far of super-ness really pop.

* Superman vs. The Universe: A spiritual cousin to Joe Keatinge’s Strange Visitor, this is the story of an all-powerful Superman at the end of time looking back on his existence as he prepares for his last duty; the prose is stilted in places, but there are enough great ideas and emotional moments in here to make it more than worth your time.

* Repairing The World: I’ll admit some bias up front since the author’s a friend of mine, but starlightify’s DCU series of fanfics - largely centered around Superman and Batman - are a lot of fun, very funny and heartfelt. Some good samplers with Superman would be Salutation and Canidae.

* Silver Age Superman: I’ve never gotten my hands on this semi-legendary bootleg 1990 comic by Ed Pinsent and Mark Robinson, but the likes of Al Ewing and phenomenal comics critic Colin Smith have both declared this comic - starring by my understanding perhaps the most alienated version of its title character ever - among their absolute favorite Superman stories, and their word is more than good enough for me; if you see it out in the wild, I’d absolutely say pick it up. And grab a copy for me, would ya?

* Luthor’s Gift/Starwinds Howl: Bizarre as it is to list any Superman work of Elliot S! Maggin’s as fanfiction when he’s one of the characters’ most beloved writers, I suppose that is what these two stories count as given that they’ve only ever been published online and maybe in a fanzine or two to my knowledge rather than with DC’s official sanction, and they’re absolutely of a piece with his novels Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday. The latter is his take on how Krypto arrived on Earth; the former shows how Superman finally left Earth around the end of the 21st century the way he often hinted at in his other works.

* Tales of Smallville: Near as I can tell, I’m the only person on the face of the Earth - other than maybe Elliot Maggin, who endorsed these stories himself - who’s aware that on the site supermanthrutheages, Samuel Hawkins posted a series of 4 Superboy stories; him revealing himself to the world, his first big adventure with the Legion of Superheroes, a memorable dinner with a guest, and Martha Kent on her deathbed. On these stories, I know two things. 1. Posterity will unquestionably not validate him. It’s a handful of Silver/Bronze-Age Superboy fanfics on an out-of-the-way fansite, no one will remember them. And 2. He is a Morrison/Ennis/Maggin-tier Superman writer. If I have ever written anything in my life on Superman that you’ve agreed on, for the love of god at least read Martha’s Story, it might honestly be my favorite Superman story other than All-Star.

So along with those recommendations, I do have to throw a request on top: I vaguely recall having once read a short story somewhere online years ago about a Superman-type hero found in a field as an infant by farmers - one’s an alcoholic and one sleeps around, but they clean up their acts for the sake of the kid. He grows up to become a superhero and occasionally fights a Lex Luthorish scientist with an appropriately alliterative name who accuses him of impeding societal progress. Eventually, the hero flies off into space once everyone he knows dies, returning occasionally to Earth as he feels drawn back, to defend it, or rule it, or just wander it in obscurity; his longest and last stay is when he falls in love with a woman who he meets at a restaurant, when she’s the first in all those thousands of years to make apple pie as good as his mother’s. Eventually, he lives to the end of the universe, where he finds himself rocketing back through time and de-aging, crash-landing in a field and completing the time-loop. If anyone could point me in a direction towards it, it’d be very much appreciated; I don’t even recall if it’s any good, but I’ve been trying to find it for years and it’s the principle of the thing at this point.

#Superman #fanfic #Opinion

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