#The Sonic Movie and Black Panther jokes are the best

[funtimespringscare101]

Also Bob’s “Uh oh” expression XD

(Continued from the last Ask)

~ I am planning to make a “Sophie and Jenny” one but I’m waiting for Episode 4 to see how it goes and how I’ll interpret it into the AU.

[steve0discusses]

S4 Ep 39: Pharaoh Can Fly (Selectively)

Guys, they’re back

Best storyboarder is back, and the visual difference between last episode and this episode is like when your art teacher picks up your charcoal and just fixes everything wrong with your gesture drawings. It’s like...I mean look at this:

I just really love and appreciate how illustrative this storyboarder is. And I say just storyboarder because this had about the same budget as the last episode--there wasn’t that much actual animation as per usual. But, all of the scenes were drawn so well, like panels out of a good manga. They just...they always nail it when they’re at the helm and I don’t know why they’re on Yugioh, but bless this storyboarder.

Plot wise, everyone got pulled into the dragon by gooey tentacles that came out of it’s stomach, don’t think about it.

Meanwhile, all of the minibosses could communicate with them and beg for help, yes, even the same miniboss who may have dressed up like Pegasus and catfished Seto Kaiba.

(keep reading under the cut)

The whole process of getting absorbed into the Orichalcos demon was a whole lot of symbolism and it was...kinda gross. Also kinda sketch. Also, for Kaiba it is a neat little nod to S1 when he had a vision that his brother was absorbed into a dragon mass.

I don’t think that the makers of the show remember S1, but either they just really like goopy dragons, or it’s a coincidence or I dunno, on purpose? Probably a coincidence.

And like I made this joke and realized...what if they actually meant to make that parallel though? This is the America crossover season, and they have referenced America’s love of trickster rabbits before with Pegasus but do they know about Br’er rabbit in Japan? Do they know? It’s a pretty Americana Deep-cut, and I have no idea how common this folktale is outside of the states.

I see anime busting out absorbing goopy masses all the time so I’m gonna assume that there might be a Japanese folklore I don’t know about which uses a similar structure (although I’m also assuming it has an extremely different history and association ((which I won’t be going into because I don’t feel like putting a trigger warning on this recap)).)

And looking at Wikipedia, there’s people that think the original reference to moist, absorbing creatures could have even come from as far as India. Which is...fascinating to how it also developed in Africa, and then the Cherokee also made the same story independently and then it fused together here in the States to make it what was eventually made into a Disney movie that will never be released again--this is just a really old ass story, all in all, possibly like over a thousand years old.

And a FASCINATING google deep dive I won’t go into for obvious reasons but knock yourself out.

Also, lets get distracted for a sec and see how well this storyboarder drew a fitted jacket at that angle. Dear Lord, did they get reference for that or did their brain just already know that those folds would be there? You can even tell that Pharaoh has just a little bit of padding at his shoulders. Ugh. Guys this storyboarder is so freakin good at these little fitted jackets.

So, once Yugi and his friends are absorbed into the mass, where they should have died...and maybe some of them did, but I don’t know if I should add that to the Death Count because like...they could have held their breath in the amount of time they were stuck in there...maybe...Anyway, they are saved by being tossed into the figurative briar patch--by the souls all hanging out in the Leviathan’s stomach--which again makes me wonder...did they pull a folklore on us? Again, I have no idea.

Like a lot of the people in this dragon have been thorns in their side this entire season, they’ve all tried to kill them at one point--all the minibosses, Mai, Pegasus--but now they have decided to team up with Pharaoh (along with the rest of the human race) and offer whatever they can to free them from the grip of the gross dragon mass.

And like, the ending of the folk tale is that the thorny ass briar patch is also where the rabbit lives usually. It hurts everyone else, but the rabbit--the rabbit can deal with it. And likewise, Pharaoh is freakin dead. He’s at home here. He’s surrounded by spirit power, his friends and their friendship power, this is like his zone, and now he’s crazy powerful for it and will be for the rest of the episode.

And like Yami is a very trickster God (especially Season Zero Yami) so like...it does make sense that he would mirror a folk tale based on trickster Gods, even if it is by complete accident.

So Pharaoh imagines everyone’s tears as individual drops in a glass or something--it’s not a literal glass or anything--it’s just there because the only thing actually happening on screen was his hand hanging out of this dragon’s weird puss skin.

And he’s now a fully charged Sonic the Hedgehog and no longer needs Kaiba or Joey at all. Just gonna grab his God card demons and take charge of everything else from here on out.

By first exploding his buddies right the hell out of this lizard and across hundreds of feet of open ocean.

Joey decides to remind Kaiba that he lost the Battle City tournament.

Seto’s roast was actually in the show, PS. He is not super excited to be reminded that Yugi owns every card that he spent 2 seasons failing to get.

And then Pharaoh did something really, really...

...just really really wild.

OH OK.

YEAH JUST TAKE OFF.

GO AHEAD THERE’S NO REASON THIS WOULD BOTHER ME.

I mean he IS super powered right now but like...

Like...WTF?

4 SEASONS. 4 SEASONS I thought this guy was glued to Yugi like Peter Pan’s Shadow and apparently--he can bounce.

Can Pharaoh do this every time Yugi asks Tea out on a date and tries to instead make the ghost in his head do all the work now? Can Pharaoh just be like “NOPE” and then phase out of the house, leaving Yugi to actually do the hard stuff?

It really adds a level of complexity to their relationship if Yugi can get a room.

(If not a room for romance, but at the very least a room to poop in.)

OR has he been able to allow Yugi to wicked poop in peace this whole time, but the show just never felt like telling us because they felt like it wasn’t important (although it is crazy important)?

Either way I am just...floored at this character development.

Yami just let Yugi out of his sight for like...I want to say 8 full minutes. Just incredible amount of trust on Yami’s part. Incredible. Knowing Yugi’s track record, he should have died in those 8 minutes but...he was being babysat by both Kaiba and Joey.

So Yami summons the Gods and they shoot lasers--you kinda expect this sort of thing.

And this is...probably...the real reason why Dartz didn’t bother trying to attack Pharaoh 5,000 years ago.

I can still think it’s because of Bakura but like...this is probably the real reason. It felt pretty chump to just shoot a laser at the bastard. Pharaoh just had to be reminded that this is a thing he can just do. If he felt like it.

Which he never feels like doing, because he’s too busy watching Yugi’s every move, and getting distracted by High School shenanigans.

After this happens, the giant snake falls to the ocean, splitting into just sooooooo many ghosts.

Over 7.8 billion ghosts, if we’re to assume that this is most of the population on Earth.

(thinking the weird-o in the hat is probably a Duel Monsters card? The duel monsters were throwing themselves into the Leviathan at one point so this is probably like a dark magician boy or something...I just don’t get very attached to the monster cards so it was like...whatever. The cards die like constantly so who cares?)

It is a pretty set dressing. Like Christmas lights but...dead people.

We also find out that the lost family of our minibosses Alister and Raphael, have indeed spent the last many years inside the Leviathan stomach, which is pretty tragic. We get a bitter sweet conclusion to Alister and Raphael’s story--although it’s not a full on ending for either character. Their life still hella sucks, they are in therapy for basically forever.

Where is Gurimo?

I don’t know what sort of job or life these two are qualified to have now, but youknow...Marik’s boat probably has jobs available.

Hold up. Can we talk about the windows?

I know absolutely none of you care about this, but I do, not to be picky or condescending to an overworked art team, but because I just want to know what they were trying to aim for.

There’s an iron stained glass style windowpane thing going on and that’s what’s really getting me. Like...I know these guys were technologically advanced, but why did you use this WW2 background? What happened to Ancient Greece that you were doing before?

Like doing a super past with future tech is so cool to me--I love that sort of concept art. That’s going into like Black Panther stuff where you’re referencing the earliest stuff in Africa and then blending it with stuff beyond our science. But Atlantis is a real big shrug and a “listen we ran out of time and had to press print,” and it’s such a shame. It feels less cohesive than even when this show does Egypt.

And yo this show and how it draws ancient Egypt--I feel like I’ve already talked about that. I have a feeling I’m going to talk a lot more about it next season. I’ll get to it when we get to it. I’m hoping that they have more time and budget to actually DO Egypt for once. (I say knowing they won’t)

Like it’s one of those things where this isn’t a history show, like at all, and it’s very much a fantasy. I’m not going to be like those sewing people on youtube that get annoyed because their TV show doesn’t have handsewn stitching in their Victorian bodices they rented from the costume department from an LA discount warehouse. Because, yo, it’s TV, and I can stretch my own imagination because it’s acting. (although I confess, I watch every single one of those videos).

But...the potential, y’all...the potential.

Anyway, Dartz isn’t dead. He was just taking his toot sweet time getting down the steps of his Gazebo.

This is where things get very anime. I get this problem a lot with anime, I really do--and maybe it’s just me. But like...sometimes it feels like anime changes the rules during the boss fight.

That happens a lot, right? Where suddenly the final boss reveals something that like...should have been addressed way earlier? And he’s alive but you don’t get why?

Anyway, Pharaoh reacts by getting maybe way too attached to his newfound independence.

Which like...I can understand Tea forgetting that Yugi is one people that is two people all the time, but the writers as well?

And what’s kind of great about this scene is that Dartz does see Yugi as two people here. He doesn’t look at Yugi, he looks at both. When Pharaoh is like “Leave me, Yugi!” Dartz heard all of that.

Just kind of a neat thing that we finally have a dude that can just...see Pharaoh for what he is, but it probably won’t matter because there’s like only one more episode left of this season.

Anyway, Pharaoh and Dartz have a chat about where evil comes from...and like...it’s some Yugioh lore, all right.

So before the show decides to give us the Genesis on Yugioh and reveal where the evil of the Orichalcos comes from, or if all evil was created by Orichalcos itself (which is IMPLYING stuff about Orichalcos) the snake shuts him the hell up.

As it should. Leave that Pandora’s box freakin closed. That’s going into extended universe of Star Wars books territory (RIP.)

As an aside--pretty sure that Yugi is standing outside that tornado. Maybe it was just the editing of the episode but like...

Yo I’m pretty sure Yugi is just standing there. For the first time, it’s not his nuts getting roasted. Wow. Tables have turned so much since he was dead.

Anyway, here’s the link for new people so you can read these in order

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

There’s only one left! We can do it! We can finish this season in 2020! And actually get back to recapping Full Metal Alchemist! ~~Woooo~~

Oh man that movie better still be on Netflix or I’ll have to buy it lolol.

[palmett-hoes]

Hi, I really loved your post with the monsters as Birds of Prey! Was wondering if you had any thoughts on the Foxes as Marvel or Mcu characters? I feel like I could see Dan as Carol Danvers and Andrew for sure is Jessica Jones, idk about the rest.

oh wow old post!!

haha unfortunately i’m not really a comics person so i don’t feel like i can really give the best analysis possible, but i have seen most of the mcu movies and bits and pieces of the netflix show so i’ll try my best. also im using dc characters too bc i want to

1. Dan: I think your instinct with Dan as Captain Marvel is spot-on (at least uhhh,, based on the movie lol sorry comics ppl). Her direct, forceful powers and fighting style are definitely reminiscent of dan’s no-nonsense leadership approach. similarly the themes of overcoming sexism and acceling in a male-dominated industry in the captain marvel movie is pretty much the same as dan’s story establishing herself as the first female exy captain (tho sports is way more valid than the military). plus there’s a lot of emphasis on love and friendship between women that dan is ALL about. also lashana lynch would be a god tier dan wilds fc. Dan could also def have that lawful good Okoye from Black Panther energy. Loyal, disciplined, no-nonsense leader. no powers except discipline. no hair. also danai gurira in 2012 with the dreads and the sword and the cape on TWD was definitely part of my middle school sexual awakening

2. Kevin: Aquaman. this is based pretty much exclusively on the fact that jason momoa is my #1 kevin fc and also that Pasifika kevin is phenomenal and mandatory, actually. otherwise i think he has a decent amount of stick-up-the-ass cyclops energy. or dick grayson nightwing energy but i don’t have any evidence for why. kinda looks like him tho

3. Andrew: andrew gets the most characters bc he’s my favorite. i think ur jessica jones instincts are absolutely correct, both in her storyline (i only watched the first season) and her powers. i’ve seen some powers au and the tendency seems to be giving andrew like,, psychic powers or the like, and i don’t really agree. andrew is a very direct character. he’s pragmatic, he confronts problems head on, and he doesn’t muck about in details. to me this really translates best into physical powers like super strength that help u big punch straight thru all ur problems. also i def think andrew would be not just a solo hero but a mercenary (or a detective) because he’s not altruistic enough to be a standard vigilante. he doesn’t care enough about other people to hang out on rooftops all night waiting for Crime to occur. there’s a price for that.  which brings us to the NEXT andrew hero: deadpool. maybe in personality more of a drugged andrew but the superpowered mercenary is really a perfect fit for andrew. also, healing powers have a decidedly tragic poetry to them on andrew. already he’s self-destructive, if he had a healing factor his concern for his own well-being would be so beyond rock bottom it’d be in the earth’s core. even worse when you remember that with a healing factor, as opposed to indestructibility, you still feel all the pain. which brings us to Wolverine and X-23, who have the same thematic points as deadpool but are much more of a personality match and they have knife hands, which i really think andrew would appreciate. ending that sadness train and onto another tho, andrew’s aesthetic and Vibes fit the Winter Soldier just SO well (just that movie tho, not really civil war or anything past that) and a reinterpretation of the captain america story using the twinyards would be incredibly interesting. and finally, one last hero that would work really well for andrew: rogue, only remove the angst around not being able to touch people, andrew would love that. one touch and their comatose? baller. don't fucking touch him.

4. Matt: Shazam. I didn’t see the shazam movie but my dad and brother did and they said it was very funny and all the trailors looked like it had a lot of fun himbo energy and i really think that fits. in terms of matching himbo disaster energy i think i’ve heard good things about comics hawkeye (not mcu). thor?

5. Aaron: Mr. Fantastic. now this might be a stretch but aaron is a character who uses a skin-deep veneer of anger to cover the fact that he’s actually quite pliant and bends to other people’s wills. and he’s a doctor or w/e. he could alse be like,, antman. he’s smart right? hank pym not paul rudd. katelyn can be wasp

6. Seth: Arm Fall Off Boy. no i will not elaborate.             ..... ugh fine, but i'm using my favorite piece of superhero media of all time: x-men evolution, the one where they're all teenagers in public high school. seth can be lance alvers/avalanche who’s a bit of a jerk and has a lot of issues with authority and has a rivalry with cyclops very reminiscent of seth with kevin, but still there’s the recurring theme that he’s lashing out because of low self-esteem and a bad situation and he’s a surprisingly sympathetic character who i’m very fond of. his power is earthquakes but i think the name makes that pretty self-explanatory

7. Allison: Iron Man. cocky, bitchy, and rich rich rich. sounds like allison to me. then to elevate it a level higher: emma frost, rich bitch extraordinaire. also if allison had telepathic powers she would be unstoppable. plus one more bitchy, morally-gray blonde (but chaotic this time): Harley Quinn

8. Nicky: Okay so I do wanna give a quick shout-out to Northstar, the first openly gay comicbook superhero, who’s a speedster which I’d actually say fits Nicky pretty well. However, if i had to choose a superhero to represent nicky in presence and powers it would have to be Jubilee from x-men (... from what i’ve heard lol. i’ve never actually consumed any of her Media hahaha anyway) she’s a joyful, energetic presence and her powers are setting off fireworks which i think is a good balance of nicky being a supportive cousin-parent AND a chaotic train wreck garbage trash man. also gonna throw in johnny storm for a cheap 'flaming' joke

9. Renee: Thunder/Blackbird from Black Lightning bc she’s a fufkin lesbian lol. (i don’t watch the show but i do follow nafessa williams’s tag). now the fr ones i’m gonna do together because to me they have the same Vibes so i chose them for the same reasons. Wonder Woman and Storm who to me have the same  reserved, impartial, regal energy. honestly ethereal and somewhat otherwordly, and quite literally goddesses. also op as hell.  black widow and her “red in my leger” looking for redemption story also fits thematically.

10. Neil: okay lazy answer first: the flash or quicksilver. get it? because they run fast? and neil run too? yea i like to think i've proven myself to be better than such a surface level interpretation but worth the mention ig. so for srs now, mystique and her shape changing powers would be an interesting interpretation of neil's identity issues, but i wanna push it a step further. nightcrawler would actually be possibly the MOST interesting hero to apply to neil 1. because powers still very movement go fast place to place 2. because of the thematic focus on neil's unusual looks and the lengths he goes to hide them, very much in line with the way nightcrawler will use a hologram-projector in order to look human, yet in both cases it's only a surface-level illusion, and 3. his parentage. here, mary would be mystique, which i also think works very well considering mary seemed to be the far more effective chameleon on the run than neil, and also fits with her place as a morally grey character, as mystique herself is often a villain or an antagonist, with her own agenda and shadowy motives. then nathan matches well with nightcrawler's father: azazel, a literal demon, and also where kurt gets his appearance. it's a shockingly coherent narrative between the three of them. then, to also give neil some powers that aren't contingent on his fucked up geneology and rather on his own merit and abilities, Black Canary and her sonic voice parallel the way that neil began to anchor his identity and take ownership over himself through his voice and his sick roasts

and 1 extra, wymack: batman, on account of his altruism, his dedication to second chances, and his many, many adopted children

---

anon, ik it's been a sec since you sent this, so i hope it gets back to you. i had a fun time with it and it prompted like,,, 7 different au s that i'll never write

[davyrush]

Tag Thingy!

The one who tagged me: The paw-some @youronetruepotatocat​

Those who shall bear the tagged sigil: @giraffealamode​ @fussy-prince​ @furry-gamer17​ @littlejavi​ @psi-daydreamer​ @nekosquidboy​ @thenekopastel​ @fabiolaheartilly​

Disclaimer: No need to do this. Do as you please or if bored XD.

1. Name/Nickname: Name’s David, although no specific names are given outside a few friends from which I get a nick or two; things like kirby guy, mankey and such.

2. Gender: Male

3. Star sign: Butterfly, Star Butterfly~ (In reality, Leo).

4. Height: 1.68cm, 5′5″ for mah american friends.

5. Hogwarts House: Sssssssssslytherin <3.

6. Favorite animal: Foxes, Monkeys and cats.

7. Hours of sleep: About 7 I think; it’s becoming a new standard.

8. Dogs or cats: Cats are the greatest pet to grace our existence, as we came to the world not to be served, but to serve ;P.

9. Number of blankets: *The Count’’s voice* Three, three blankets for a twin bed, ha ha ha~. It’s the thin sheet that serves as a layer between the bed and the warm blanket, the previously mentioned warm blankets, and the thick one used to cover everything. Think of it as the top of a burger bun; fluffy and made to be instagrammed a lot (since I take my game pictures there XP).

10. Dream trip: Considering I somehow became the heir to Scrooge McDuck fortune or something, I guess I would visit France along two or three friends. A trip is nice and all, but having someone to share it with is what makes it really magical X3..

11. Dream job: School counselor, I would love to help the younger generations on their path to become better people and on their academic success. If not, a librarian; I may not read a lot, but my neatness would keep a library in perfect order. Sadly, both of those require a master’s degree and I can only go the distance so far... Teacher assistant shall be the next best thing I suppose, or working at a hospital ^w^.

12. Time: 12:00PM.

13. Birthday: August, the 17th. The day the sun shined upon my humble hometown and made narwhals fly too.

14. Favorite bands: Daft Punk and Crush 40 are the only bands I recall getting more than two CD’s from so… I’m more of a remix / orchestra / solo artist kind of guy.

15. Favorite solo artists: Owl City, Troye Sivan, Toby Fox, String Player Gamer, Pogo, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn; insert others XD.

16. Song stuck in my head: “Big Band! Kirby” (The smooth jazz rendition of Aqua Star from Kirby 64 and Save Point from Super Star are just sooooo good <3.)

17. Last movie I watched: High Speed! -Free! Starting Days- if we count what I see in home, for theater releases please see Black Panther.

18. Last show I watched: Sonic Boom -Season 2- Finally catching up to it! XD

19. When did I create this blog: May 2012, and the people who introduced me to it left it 5+ years ago XD.

20. What do I post/reblog: Personal opinions, aesthetics, gaming favorites, yaoi ships, the nintendos, Game Grumps, Kingdom Hearts, Sonic the Hedgehog, other SEGA IP’s, sh*tposting, NSFW yaoi/shota, occasional shots of IRL me and my gaming addictions, coffees, psychologies... basically, anything that I want to share or express, along with things I hold dear <3. I’ll give it points that most of the NSFW stuff is something I wouldn’t talk to you about IRL, but here’s like the only place I can loosen up a bit XP.

21. Last thing I googled: “Butter Building.” I was looking for good fanart of the famous Kirby level. Did not find much visually speaking, but musically it was a treasure of remixes galore <3.

22. Other blogs: Nope. Everything is in one place only, hence why I post NSFW here too XP.

23. Do I get asks: Mmm, usually when I do ask games only. Once every blue moon I get an ask out of the blue, but hey, if you want to ask me something, feel free. I don’t bite, not even growl XD.

24. Why I chose my url: DavyRush has been an online nickname I have since high school. I wanted consistency on that sense (and also, to not have someone claim the name and people confuse me with them X’D).

25. Following; 832 b-blogs! I’m calling out a purge soon, omg XD.

26. Followers: I’m racking 286! Out of them I probably like now on a more personal level about 20 at most XD. Thanks to all the sempai for noticing me ///w///.

27. Lucky number: 6. No less, no more.

28. Favorite instrument: Piano is probably the only instrument I know of that can cause fear and joy, sadness and happiness. Violins are cool too, but piano, mmm~.

29. What am I wearing: A Kirby Planet Robobot shirt, a blue sweater and brown pants. Either I’m a color palette gone wrong or I am making Van Gogh proud right now XDDDD.

30. Favorite food: Sushi, pastas and chicken. Basically anything with rice, chicken or fish (except mole cause... chocolate and spicy on chicken? I have mixed a few odd things in the past but... c’mon XD).

31. Nationality: 100% Mexican; the only American thing I have is a passport, really XD.

32. Favorite song: Press Garden Act 2. Listen to it with your eyes closed and you’ll see, no, FEEL it <3.

33. Last book read: ... does “The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/ Oracle of Ages Perfect Edition” manga counts? XD

34. Top 3 fictional universes I’d like to join:

Kingdom Hearts: Traveling through various Disney worlds, living in Daybreak town, trying to unravel the secrets of the universe, fighting heartless and more importantly, a way to be in The Grid without taking a slot on this list. Yeah, I would love to do that, please XD..

Animal Crossing: Literally a tiny paradise, filled with friendly animals and plenty of things to do. Sometimes I still pop the game open just to take a virtual coffee and see the ocean. It really feels like a break from reality, and to live in such a serene world would be a bliss <3.

Any Tales world: A place where magic exists, the world seems ever expanding, and everything ain’t as black and white as in other video games. Sometimes we are forced to fight, sometimes the bad guys have good intentions, but we can always count on the good times, the jokes, looking awesome and drama, drama galore XD.

CONGRATS! on making it to the bottom. If you would like to do this ask yourself, please feel free to do so and don’t feel left out of the tags, please ;w;!

[fakesam]

Belated Black Panther Thoughts

Everything happening regarding Black Panther right now feels like a miracle. You can only congratulate a giant, increasingly powerful conglomerate so much for realizing black money runs the same as white money, but it is still a moment to be celebrated. Seeing a movie this proudly black in the limelight, with such a large budget and plenty of promotional backing, is delightfully paradoxical given the toxic whiteness infecting the national atmosphere from the top down. This movie dropped at the right time. The biggest individual piece of promo comes courtesy of Black Panther: The Album, curated by Kendrick Lamar and the rest of the Top Dawg Entertainment braintrust. Licensed movie soundtracks have experienced something like renaissance over the last couple years, a business maneuver congealing the interests of film studios looking for anything to boost social media traffic and musicians to get some extra exposure and a decent payday. The results of these partnerships has been mixed at best, even when the Best Rapper Alive is involved. Remember when Kendrick rapped over an overly macho remix of Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”? Most people don’t.

Even with this project, it was easy to develop some cynicism about the final results. Kendrick has become more and more intransigent about being the voice of the voiceless, but he’s hasn't been above easy mainstream pop dollars in the past. Man gave verses to Taylor Swift and Maroon 5, and performed with Imagine Dragons. “All The Stars”, the most successful single off The Album, is a pleasant enough pop-rap hit that struts perfectly over the end credits of a blockbuster, but it lacks the depth of feeling that has made Lamar the current Poet Laureate of Black America. There’s also “Pray For Me”, a Weeknd and Kendrick collab that sounds like it was salvaged off the Starboy cutting room floor. These songs are fine, but eminently forgettable. Thankfully, these tracks are clear outliers, the lone examples of mainstream genuflecting across the entire project. The uniqueness and specificity that makes Black Panther so appealing as a film is also apparent in the sprawling sonic odyssey of its soundtrack. It’s better than anyone could've hoped for.

The playlist era of album design, gives credence to the worst impulses of people just trying to get paid, narrative coherence be damned. Migos’ Culture II was ruined by an engorged tracklist that led to a runtime comparable to most of the nominees for Best Picture at the Oscars. Twenty-four songs was at least ten too many, but who needs an editor when the penalty for choosing quantity over quality is so minimal? But it’s the perfect format for a movie soundtrack.

Kendrick’s ability as a tastemaker has never really been a thing to consider until now. His albums are hermetically-sealed portraits of his psyche, exploring his personal tensions and how they’re informed by his personal history and the lineage of black strife in America. This intricate exploration of his inner self doesn’t leave much room for other voices - the featured artists welcomed into his world are brought in for a very specific purpose. Kendrick is also very selective about the songs of other artists he’s willing to jump on. Combine that with his social media reticence, and the lists of contemporaries that Kendrick listens to are tantalizingly vague. There’s an undeniable intrigue to learning who a near-consensus superstar genius deems worthy of the aux cord. Consciously leeching on to the burgeoning movements of younger rappers is a tactic that Drake has perfected over the years. The two current titans of hip-hop have been acting out a musical cold war for the last couple years, so it’s tempting in a sense to think of Black Panther: The Album as Kendrick running with Drake’s idea of a “playlist project” that he tried to make happen with the release of More Life.

But it’s much more tempting to talk about the sumptuous quality of this music on hand. The litany of artists brought together to assemble this album, a mix of established stars, burgeoning upstarts and total unknowns, bring disparate genres and musical approaches to the table, all cohesively strung together under the diasporic flag of black excellence.

It’s obvious in hindsight to see why Kendrick was so attracted to the project that he asked to oversee the entire soundtrack after watching snippets of the film during its production. The divide between T’Challa and Killmonger’s views on progress mirrors the internal strife that has Kendrick has been ruminating on his entire career. TDE took their role as gatekeepers seriously, drawing delineations between the conflicts of the movie and the endless struggle that is sadly inherent with the black experience. Black Panther could never have the intimate complexity of a solo Kendrick record, but it details the black experience with more nuance than many albums told from one perspective. The strokes are broad, but the completed painting is still worthy of admiration.

Most of TDE shows up in some form. SZA provides the hook on the aforementioned “All the Stars”, Schoolboy Q reminds us of his undeniable charisma on “X”. Ab-Soul puts together his first good verse since his 2012 album Control System on “Bloody Waters”. We even get a glimpse of the lesser seen, frivolous Kendrick on “Big Shot”, a bouncy, “New Freezer” interpolating Travis Scott collab that doubles as the latest entry in the “Dope Rap Songs built around a Flute Sample” pantheon. from rap to pop to heavily indebted house music from South Africa. But it’s the newer faces that making their formal introduction to larger audiences that makes this album genuinely exciting. SOB x RBE have received most of the acclaim for their scene-stealing performance on “Paramedic”, and that praise is warranted, but they’re not the only up and comers who killed it. Jorja Smith makes a war march sound like heaven on “I Am”, and South African artists Yugen Blakrok and Babes Wodumo make their case for international renown on “Opps” and the South African house jam “Redemption”. Kendrick is present on every song - his contributions ranging from being the best rapper alive to windy background vocalist - but he’s very much a secondary figure in the works of others.

It’s bears repeating how remarkable it is that this thing has been allowed to exist. That Future inhales a bunch of helium, interpolates Slick Rick, and asks for a blowjob with one absurdly entertaining turn of phrase. Someone at Marvel signed off on all of this. We should all be thankful for that man or woman or committee of persons. What could’ve been a simple cash grab for TDE becomes something much more stirring and exciting thanks to a commitment to take the source material seriously enough to use it as a launching point for work that is both evocative and entertaining. A perfect table setter for the main event.

As I sat in the chair of the theater waiting for the movie to start, I was slightly nervous about the quality of the movie. The hype cycle had spun into overdrive had built the movie to stratospheric heights. Black Panther stopped being a movie and became a religious communion. That’s a lot to live up to. Aside from the inescapable expectations created by fans, Marvel’s cinematic spell lost their power over me years ago, as the negative aspects of the “Movies as TV episodes” system became more glaring. Nothing of consequence ever happened and the action scenes were overwrought and anticlimactic, antiseptic, CGI-soaked action that put me to sleep. The last comic book movie I enjoyed without much reservation was the first Guardians of the Galaxy, way back in 2014, 87 years ago. Even Wonder Woman, one of the rare superhero films allowed to take some risks - as much as giving women the chance to be all-powerful warriors without the prompting of a man counts as a risk to some people - lost me during the third act when Gal Gadot fought a Bloodborne boss yelling corny “Give In To Evil and Join Me!!!!!!!” dialogue in the middle of a flaming airfield. When comic book movies go extremely comic book-y, I lose all interest. My expectations were middling despite the widespread adoration of the movie that compelled me to go see it in the first place. Not quite as cynical as I tend to be, but not wearing a T’Challa costume to the theater.

By the time the entire elite class of Wakanda was shimmying from on high while T’Challa fought for the throne of this Afro-futurist utopia (the first time this happens), I realized how wrong my assumptions were. I didn’t realize how much I needed this movie to exist. Just witnessing this much blackness - a proud, intelligent, secure version of blackness - actively enriched me while I was watching it. The power of representation isn’t lost on me, but I believed I was past the point where I would experience such gratification from a giant blockbuster. I underestimated how affirming it would be to see this much black prosperity on film. It’s amazing how impactful the casting of black actors in roles usually given to white people can be. I’m jealous of little kids who can look up to Shuri or T’Challa or Nakia and feel a little less ashamed of themselves at a young age. M’Baku’s capacity to be large and menacing and also capable of telling jokes about cannibalism is magical. I would watch all of these characters do anything for hours. Instant icons, all of them.  

Black Panther also solves the eternal villain problem that’s been flummoxing superhero films since Heath Ledger died. Killmonger is incredible. He is still a villain, since his endgame of choice is to start a literal race war, but his motivations and reasoning up to that point are totally understandable. From an outsider’s perspective, Wakanda is this hovel of selfish conservatism that does nothing to stop systemic oppression and kills anyone who whispers about their existence too loudly. Sitting pretty in their Vibranium-powered towers above the struggle. It’d be easy to resent Wakanda if you’ve never seen Shuri pranking T’Challa in her lab. The most logical emotion for him is anger. He went out like a G, too. That last line was perfect. I would have liked to see more of a conversation between Killmonger and T’Challa before he took over, but you can only hope for so much civil rights philosophizing in a blockbuster. It was enough to feel like the obligatory third act battle was had actual stakes. Black Panther finally made the Game of Thrones fandom sensible to me. Political maneuvering can be way more engaging than I realized. Blame George Lucas for that train of thought.

I find it hard to think about this movie in any critical sense because I’m so happy that it was allowed to exist in this form. After sleeping on it, I will concede that the South Korea sequence didn’t need to be that long. The “Andy Serkis is a Soundcloud rapper” goof was an airball. But anyone who would rather complain about about the scene’s usefulness as a plot device more so than celebrate the badassery of Chadwick Boseman and Danai Gurira is not to be trusted. Same goes for the fact that this movie has a sense of humor that can’t be reduced to just Tony Stark saying something snarky or tryhard quirkiness, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 style. They really let Ryan Coogler do that shit. Black Panther is the first Marvel movie that was clearly in the hands of an auteur, with a vision uncompromised by studio notes or the compulsion to tie itself to the rest of Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie never feigns interest in the machinations of the Avengers or whatever wold-destroying portal they need to destroy, and thank god for that. The narrowness of the story lends itself to much more in-depth character development and a sense of place. It rarely feels or looks like other Marvel movies. Wakanda is too good for reality, but the open designs of the shopping areas and the impeccable fashion of the citizens tied into the history of African culture in a way that's easy to intuit. Shoutout to the Codeine Crazy-esque skyline in T’Challa’s first herb-induced vision. Shoutout to the guy with the giant disc in his mouth. Man had fits for days.

Even my mom loved it. I saw the movie with her and Danai Gurira’s performance was so good that she thought about shaving her own head in her honor. She also said she wanted braids like Angela Bassett’s character, but quickly decided against it because of the time commitment to getting such a hairstyle. But getting that level of inspiration from a Marvel movie spells out how special Black Panther is. I rarely watch movies with her anymore. Our tastes have mostly split as I’ve grown up. I haven’t seen her that giddy walking out of the theater since… ever? Her love of the movie really made it clear how special this moment is for the culture. I kinda hate that I said for the culture, but I don’t know how to end this.  Many thanks to Ryan Coogler and company for giving me that moment. Uhhhhhhhhhh bye.

[jamesnelsonart]

Black Panther Review (spoilers)

Marvel movies! Seems like every dang week there’s a new Marvel movie. They’ve been coming out for awhile now and have often (justifiably) received criticism for being similar to each other, be it through forgettable musical scores, bland, unoriginal villains or underutilized supporting actors who mainly serve as props to make an origin story happen, or being crammed with unnecessary references in order to pave the way to more sequels. Thankfully Black Panther is not guilty of any of these things because Black Panther is good. Black Panther is great, actually!

 The first way the movie begins setting itself apart from other Marvel films is the art design and aesthetic. As you might expect, the fashion and architecture are heavily influenced by African art, which gives it a distinctive look. Let me emphasize the fashion-- it’s good as hell. There, I emphasized it. Nearly every character goes through three cool outfits in this movie(this is an estimate). It’s just nice that there was so much work put in the film to help create an atmosphere. This is technically a superhero film, sure. But as a story about secret, forbidden countries and royal family drama and successions, it is also very much a fantasy movie, which makes sense. Black Panther’s role as a king is a vital part of his characterization. The movie also thankfully doesn’t rely on tons of previous continuity. You don’t need to watch any Marvel movies to get this, it stands on its own. Also of note are the characters. Most Marvel films don’t give too much screen time to anyone who isn’t the main character, and god help you if you’re a member of the supporting cast who doesn’t have super powers, you maybe get a few lines and then lose all relevance later. Spider-Man: Homecoming and Civil War both averted the underwritten supporting characters that seem to plague a lot of Marvel Movies (don’t get me started on Dr. Strange, a movie in which everyone is boring as hell. Shit, his cameo in Thor: Ragnarok was more entertaining than his whole damn movie). Thankfully in Black Panther the supporting cast is both big and fleshed-out. Each of the characters have motivation but also have personalities as well, which allows the audience to really connect with them. There are clear relationships between each of the characters, which are important as it allows the viewer to understand the politics and traditions of Wakanda. It’s organic worldbuilding, which is the best way to world-build, and the faster the viewer understands your world, the faster you can get into the story and begin exploring its themes. But I can’t talk about the film’s themes yet. First I gotta talk about other people talking about the films themes.

 Now there’s been a lot of hype and attention around Black Panther. Some of it is due to the fact that Marvel advertises their films. The louder hype has been the political attention surrounding the film. The film has collected the attention of everyone from hoteps to nazis so you can hear some beautiful drama such as racists pretending they were assaulted by black people in the theater to hoteps getting mad that members of the cast are in interracial relationships to Ben Shapiro angrily proclaiming that “Wakanda isn’t Real!” despite that never being a thing anyone has seriously claimed.  And then there are right-wingers trying to justify begrudgingly enjoying a good film by saying Black Panther is essentially a black Donald Trump. My point here is that all this commentary is very fun. And by fun, I mean not fun at all. It fucking sucks logging on and reading everyone’s terrible opinions because there is only one good opinion: Mine. I do have to admit that it is pretty interesting that there is political drama surrounding THIS particular film. Oh well, it must be a complete and total coincidence. Better not discuss it at all. Haha, I’m fucking joking. Of course I have to discuss it because the film itself is actually quite political. Have fun.

 Thematically the film presents a battle of many ideas, mainly the ideas of imperialism and isolationism. Black Panther is torn between exporting his culture and helping others or keeping Wakanda isolated in hopes of maintaining his nation’s security. In a topical moment, his friend even shoots down the idea of inviting refugees as “they bring their problems with them”. So this is probably where some morons got the idea the Black Panther is black Trump or something and I want to congratulate those astute viewers for recognizing a message in a film. I also want to congratulate them for apparently turning their ears off after the first fifth of the movie as the isolationist, ethnostate ideas cause every fucking problem in the entire film and the pal espousing these views to Black Panther turns on him later in the film. Just because an opinion is expressed by a character in a work of fiction doesn’t mean the narrative is agreeing with that character. In terms of the isolationist ideas causing problems, just look at how they led to the origin of the movie’s villain, Killmonger. Despite being of royal blood and T’Challa’s cousin, he was abandoned as a child due to his status of being the son of a Wakandan and an American. He is judged despite having done nothing wrong. Throughout the film Killmonger is shown to be thoroughly evil, he doesn’t hesitate to kill anyone, be it his cousin or his girlfriend(he succeeds at the latter and comes close to accomplishing the former). Yet despite his evil actions, Killmonger is clearly portrayed as human. He misses his deceased father, clearly wants to return to his ancestral homeland that refused him, and he views enacting his own brand of proxy wars and imperialism as an action that will ultimately enrich black people around the globe. He’s a bad dude, sure, but you can see why he became the way he is which makes him rather tragic. The isolationist attitudes created him. Something interesting occurs once Killmonger takes over Wakanda: T’Challa’s isolationist friend allies himself with him. Why would two characters embodying two opposing viewpoints(isolationism and imperialism) come together? Well, because these two beliefs feed into each other. Isolationism closes you off from others, which breeds the idea that you are better than other people since nobody can really counter this belief. Imperialism makes the moral argument that because you are better you have free reign to treat others as you please. The general logic is you are doing others a favor by dominating them. These two beliefs feed into each other, breeding conflict.

 The script for the movie is tightly-written. Things like the sonic dampeners being introduced on the hover trains and later being a factor in the final fight are smart touches. There are no weak or boring moments in the film as there is either an exciting action moment that moves the plot forward or an interesting character moment that lets the viewer discover something. My only complaint is that the action can be a bit too quickly-directed and you can get lost in what exactly is happening during a fight. But as I said, that’s my ONLY complaint. This film was a fun time. I recommend you see it, and then see it again.

[geek-gem]

Spider-Man Homecoming Review

Well so I’m done with the shower. I mean I really wanna talk about this. Also gonna get Google up so I can look at the Wikipedia page for the movie. Mainly so I can spell the actors names right.

Alright got that just so I’m not gonna reveal any spoilers but I wanna mention parts yet…I’ll talk about them just in a way. Including this is my first viewing. I wanna try to see the movie a 2nd time cause I see a Spider-Man movie 2 times. The only one I haven’t seen in theaters was Spider-Man 2 I was young and some shit man. Including I can get a bit more of a understanding.

Yet the first time just seeing the film and studying it.

The last post and this is my intro for this. This is maybe my favorite Spider-Man film. This is just a personal opinion yet okay it depends its been a long time since seeing the first and second Sam Rami film.

Yet also just as a film I liked this a shit ton, this is also maybe my favorite MCU film I think yet…this is my first time I just seem so hyped up or excited just happy even if I’m not smiling also wearing my just kill it shirt like my last review no it doesn’t suck oh head.

Sorry I need to mention. I’m a Spider-Man fanboy. Whether that’s good or bad. I wanna talk about my experience with the whole thing of Spider-Man being in the MCU now also some short thoughts on the MCU.

Random thing gonna say saw the Black Panther trailer and Justice League trailer those were awesome seeing those on screen and that trailer fully of that Jumgji however you spell it a movie Sony is remaking or some shit I don’t know.

Yet really the whole what I call the I dub the Month Of Spider-Man cause of the Sony hack in December 2014. I was one of the many people who wanted Spider-Man to be in the MCU and when the announcement was up also the weeks leading up to it the Spidey Summit I’m amazed and some what stupid I thought it was gonna be something like the Marvel Phase 3 announcement even Armin from Comicbookcast2 joked about people thinking that. The announcement was unbelievable I couldn’t believe it. Along with seeing Peter Parker and also Spider-Man appearing in a MCU film was one of just…the best theater moments of my life man. Because I was so happy I was smiling and my Nana even saw me smiling. Including remembering my excitement from last year. To me this is as big as Batman and Superman being on the big screen together for the first time. Or the idea of a Sonic film in theaters.

Now about the MCU listen I know on Tumblr and other places, it doesn’t always have fans. The MCU isn’t perfect I agree. Yet to me personally I am amazed and grateful for just how this cinematic universe is working and Marvel Studios taking risks with trying to make movies of characters that aren’t known much. Including of how they started this universe. Listen I know Kevin Fiege isn’t the only guy. Yet I respect what this guy has done in fact it gave ideas and inspired other studios to do the same. The DCEU by Warner Bros, Legendary’s Monsterverse, and even Universal’s Dark Universe even if that had a rough start.

Listen I understand what problems people have. Even just what Jeremy Jahns said in his review of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 not all of them can be gold he said that some what. Yet I’m gonna say some bullshit yet I hope you agree.

Be grateful we aren’t getting pieces of shit like that God damn Fan4stic however people go with it, a film I really don’t wanna see. Or even those God damn Bayformers films by Michael Bay and I’m glad that film is not making much money now I haven’t seen the 5th and don’t want to. Why the fuck isn’t Tumblr attacking those God damn Transformers films no offense or…..fuck those films man. Even Zack Snyder and Warner Bros DCEU is better then that crap even if the Bumblebee movie sounds interesting. I’m saying that cause I like the DCEU despite some problems.

Sorry wanted to get that out of the way.

I should talk about this movie also it’s a review man. Just put the title just saying I became a fan of the MCU cause of Guardians Of The Galaxy and I was like what the fuck almost put tags ha. Yet also that film and I was in some sort of depression shit cause Transformers 4 broke me. I haven’t seen The Avengers or Thor The Dark World but yeah seen most of them man ha…also Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 haven’t seen it yet cause late night man ha…

Spider-Man Homecoming.

So got done with the intro…I’ll talk about that Spider-Man Dawn Of Avengers shit later man.

I’m gonna say this, one of I think my favorite version of Spider-Man is the Spectacular Spider-Man TV show. It’s such a great TV show and how it handles Spider-Man. I still love it after all these years. Just the way they handle Spider-Man and the characters as a compliment to me that series is like the Batman The Animated Series of Spider-Man cartoons. I’m talking about the 90’s Batman cartoon that people say mainly Nostalgia Critic Doug Walker says is the greatest cartoon of all time and people say their favorite version of Batman is that version.

My favorite version of Spider-Man is the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon seriously man.

What I saw in this movie. It was maybe I feel…this is another one of my favorites

Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Spider-Man I freakin adore him. I might feel a bit weird saying yeah this is basically the live action version of Josh Keaton as Spider-Man who voiced Spider-Man in that cartoon. Or just he’s as great as Josh Keaton with the work he was given.

It’s kind of like the same case people adore Kevin Conroy as Batman and Ben Affleck as one.

Also what’s good this is Spider-Man’s own film it’s not a small part. Which makes it better and I’m talking about his part in Captain America Civil War which they introduced him very well and just it’s great man.

What I like about Tom Holland just he’s great as Josh and some others even Toby Maguire from the Sam Rami films. Also Andrew Garfield was good. Yet over time I’ve thought to myself about The Amazing Spider-Man films the 2012 and 2014 films. Honestly I don’t mind Andrew honestly. Yet some problems I had like he looked too old to be in high school but mainly Sony messing those films up. Listen Sony wanted to keep the rights. While the first film was okay over time it feels kind of lifeless as times I’m sorry to say. Then with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 what Sony did even if I saw that film twice. That is my least favorite Spider-Man film. Their was cool stuff in it. But it’s one of the first their might be others before it but…it’s now one of the first ever since The Avengers was released Studios wanting to make cinematic universes. That film was so much of set up and other shit. Including controlling Marc Webb and Andrew it makes me sad. Along with Andrew was even upset. In a way Sony kind of destroyed Andrew’s of really being Spider-Man and including Andrew is really passionate about the character such as Tom Holland is. It’s honestly a sad case and…the Fan4stic case is worse when you think about it if you wanna look up stuff. Mainly Midnight’s Edge yes random advertising lol man stop oh head.

Yet back to the movie. Tom Holland is great. He’s both great as Peter Parker and Spider-Man he nails both parts. Including just can I say even before this I’m gonna say it theirs these Civil War videos released where Peter is recording events that’s there also just Tom Holland I’ve thought this and I think even said it. He’s adorable seriously he is…he’s one year older then me. He nails those comedic parts and even serious parts.

But okay it’s still about Tom Holland. I wanna talk about the themes or mainly the story. Listen I understand mainly on Tumblr and YouTube people are worried of Iron Man being in this film. I’m gonna confirm this he’s not in there much. Unless he needs to be. Including they use him well and I know Tony Stark can be a douchebag but what the film does.

What the story is basically and I know some or a lot of people are tired of Peter being in high school. Yet the way the story goes is like Jeremy Jahns says its like an coming of age story or something. I don’t wanna spoil much yet the story is basically Peter really wanting to show he can handle stuff on his own. He seriously wants to show others like Happy and Tony that he’s ready. Yet as the film goes he realizes some stuff. Including when facing the main villain and other events. I think the best way to say him learning how to mature more and that he doesn’t need to be at the top yet okay I don’t wanna spoil cause I feel you guys need to see this movie.

Because this movie is basically in a way Peter becoming more of a man. Just it’s told in a way I’m gonna reveal this it’s mostly a comedy seriously. Yet when the serious moments show up I adore them. Because it takes it time just…I love it man.

It seriously has very serious moments. I’m gonna say at some times even one I wanted to cry seriously I want to cry at certain moments cause of great character development. Including I’m such a huge fan of the character. The way they approch Spider-Man in this movie. Theirs even some sweet moments and even one scene not gonna spoil but Peter is by himself it’s I think during the movie yet…okay some what of a spoiler.

He’s talking to his suit. Also his new suit is by Tony Stark and when you see it you’ll know what I mean man.

Including I understand people just want a adult Peter now. Yet the way just…and the whole, “Harry Potter” thing where we see him grow up and people even mention To Story not Tony ha with Andy…Tony Story ha man…not Anthony.

It makes the film more rewarding and the idea that Spider-Man is gonna be Avengers Infinity War, Avengers 4, and a Spider-Man Homecoming sequel. In the next two years. It’s beautiful man that’s kick ass cause we have more Spider-Man to me I’m sorry this is a dream come true. So what I heard from Collidervideos the Homecoming sequel being two months after Avengers 4 holy shit dude ha. So 2018 and 2019 lol…..I wanted to well did make a post about this but was embarrassed it was from last week. When I was gonna get picked up by my friend. This video by Emergency Awesome man ha. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FAdBym7-IPQ

Okay checked the comments in case it was the same video and got back to Wikipedia.

Now let’s talks about Michael Keaton aka the God damn 89 Batman also From Batman Returns ha. So he was another one of my favorite parts.

Yet also he’s maybe one of my favorite Spider-Man villains we have seen in a Spider-Man movie. Along with the Green Goblin from the 2002 film and also Doc Ock from the 2004 film almost left Doc Ock’s actors. Also I don’t care what people say about Green Goblin’s look in the 2002 film he was one of my favorites how that role was handled.

But the way Michael Keaton is handled also even if before this he was rumored to be Norman Osborne but now he’s the Vulture. I’m gonna be honest again he’s one of my favorite parts.

He was menacing when he needed to be. Including you understand what he was doing.

I don’t wanna spoil it yet it’s also part of the story think it yeah relates to Peter’s story as well. The idea of how people have to deal with what happened after the Avengers. How they have to clean up their messes and I haven’t seen the Netflix shows. Yet I heard this from Comicbookcast2 that the Netflix characters hate the Avengers is that right. Or is that just, basically just how he hates how the Avengers don’t have time for them, and they have to deal with the shit they leave behind despite them saving them.

Including I know a lot of Spider-Man’s aren’t that personal to him except ones like Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Venom, Lizard, and maybe Hobgoblin. I’m not the biggest fan of the Vulture yet the way he’s portrayed is just very well done. He’s a damn good villain. Also he’s a person.

In fact some of my favorite scenes just it surprised me this scene I don’t wanna spoil it but this film has a lot of surprises. Yet theirs a scene with Spider-Man and Vulture…it’s just great or good whatever. I feel like it’s something I would come up with. Because it’s honestly clever actually I’m being serious. You’ll see it, just with not spoiling it, a scene with Tom Holland and Michael Keaton said that. It’s like a what the fuck moment and even as it went I’m thinking oh my God is it gonna get to that moment ha man.

Sorry yet I should talk about the other characters.

Let me say I love this cast almost left casting seriously this whole cast I love it a shit ton man. The character of Ned played by let me check his name, Jacob Batalon checked twice. This is maybe one of my favorite additions to this film. That also he’s Peter’s best friend and it’s not Harry Osborne ha seriously they are taking new routes to make themselves different. Also lots of diversity if you love that and I love that too a shit ton man ha seriously not kidding oh head.

But Ned just how him and Peter interact he’s like a comic relief yet he’s just very cool. Honestly how he and Peter interact I don’t know why. He’s just very likable and honestly funny. I’m gonna be professional but just he felt like a very nice addition.

Then we have let me check. Tony Revolori checked three times or some shit he plays Flash the bully who becomes Agent Venom when he’s adult great story shit kick ass dude. I was surprised by the rumored casting long ago. Yet the way they portray him. To be honest I thought this I don’t know who’s more of a douche Flash from The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon or this Flash. But what makes him unquie he’s not a typical bully he’s like and well found out from Amazing Spider-Man’s channel a bully who is mainly verbal by saying certain stuff. He plays a excellent douche ha I said that man meh it’s normal to smile. Seriously I mean I some what have nothing against him hey maybe have him as Venom…as much as I like Eddie Brock as Venom…also the I don’t trust Sony yet this bullshit of the Venom film being in the what Amy Pascal said in the same, “reality” what the fuck man, and Tom Hardy as Venom…

I don’t trust Sony after what happened with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 even if I was okay with Venom in Spider-Man 3…that could be better…I still like the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon version of Venom…it really says something about a cartoon from 2008 through 2009 where it still leaves an impact on your mind and how those versions stay with you cause they were so well done…had to put I behind s in versions ha man…kick ass…ha…

Okay sorry yeah normal to smile, now Liz Allen yeah she’s in the film. Just gonna say no Zendaya is not that character checked that name twice ha sorry or…yeah twice man.

She’s played by Laura Harrier checked again so two times. What I noticed in this short for the new Spider-Man cartoon so spoiler Liz Allen is in the short. I was seriously thinking are they gonna use Liz Allen as a new love interest. I’m not against that as all almost left well ha man…

Yet the only well mostly one version of her I know her so much is from Spectacular Spider-Man the cartoon again mentioning that. Where she was Latino wanna mention to people who like diversity and she was very good in that.

So I’m not against having Liz being more important in some Spider-Man movies. In a way she is like Peter’s love interest yet well she is important yet not a whole bunch. Including that’s not the focus of the movie. But she was great and very likable. So even before the movie found out on Wikipedia she’s a Senior I’ll warn you. Well maybe when Peter gets older I don’t mind if they wanna have well Peter and Liz. Okay she’s not as big as Mary Jane or Gwen Stacy that’s what from I know. It’s very nice and I don’t mind it.

Now we have Zendaya as well…Michelle I’m not spoiling it she was nice. Also likable…not a huge part and just saying I’ve seen comments spoil like who she is even before the movie I wanted to be surprised I didn’t know what to believe seen a thumbnail of one scene towards the end and mentions of the end credits scene.

Yet she was cool I liked her.

Marsai Tomai checked three times she’s Aunt May, she’s good too, not in it a whole bunch. Yet she’s very good and just likable all the cast is God damn likable. Well…except Vulture’s helpers…or…well their supposed to be criminals but they do a damn good job too man.

Jon Favreau checked four times or some shit Harold Happy Hogan yes the director of Iron Man 1 and 2. He did a good job too important a bit…well he’s seen a bit more.

Also Donald Glover almost left Glober twice ha stop it. I’m not spoiling who he is yet even from well thumbnails from Comicbookcast2 and Hybrid Network he did good too. Important a bit.

Seriously I wanna talk about other stuff.

The action is very good. Including just how I mean the way they are handled along with the Spider-Man vs Vulture scenes. Just also all of Spider-Man’s scenes I loved them a shit ton. Including at times it felt tense seriously it did man. The scene in Washington DC and the part with the Ferri those are all great.

Even the score was good like…well I can’t remember much haha sorry yet…it did good.

Really I feel…theirs more to talk about. Yet I am just very impressed with this film. Also during the film well before the film switched seats with someone he for h 7 but well his family was there or some shit. Yet I decided to be in c 16. It was close to the screen and to the left yet I still had a good time ha man…

Just I did remember yeah had some post credits scene spoiled yet it wasn’t much and not like a thumbnail I saw.

Yet the end credits scene…I don’t wanna spoil it. But the way just it’s funny and they said well didn’t see the video Comicbookcast2 multiple post credits scene their spoiler only two man ha. Yet the end one…..is unbelievable yet funny that the audience laughed too a shit ton well they laughed cause the way it’s portrayed.

I don’t wanna spoil it but the best comparison is the Deadpool end credits scene if you’ve seen it. But…it’s normal to smile because I can’t believe that was the end credits scene is unbelievable man. Okay not kick ass but…I loved it man put that again.

Okay I talked about the film a shit ton…just I loved this film. This is maybe my favorite Spider-Man film gonna think a bit. Yet also my favorite MCU film along with Captain America Civil War, Guardians Of The Galaxy the original, and also maybe Captain America The Winter Soldier. Along with maybe Avengers Age Of Ultron. Hey I thought the film was kick ass I saw it twice.

Now next we have Thor Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War, also Ant Man And The Wasp so kick ass dude ha man.

Also that first part about…really I find it kind of beautiful that Marvel had got the rights well their sharing it with Sony. Yet the way Marvel Studios, Kevin Fiege, Russo Bros, Jon Watts director of this film and other people how they introduced Spider-Man in this universe is almost beautiful.

Because I can’t imagine well maybe but I want to keep seeing Tom Holland as Spider-Man cause I feel he is Spider-Man.

That Spider-Man Dawn Of Avengers shit….. it’s weird funny idea imagine if the Marvel Cinematic Universe went kind of the DC route yet they have some films but what I said in my Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice Ultimate Edition review almost put MCU normal to smile man kick ass…

Who the fuck is gonna be our Doomsday….. Ultimate Green Goblin is cool but can he take on Captain Marvel or can she take him out easily and kick his ass lol…just…I’m glad we get to see this Spider-Man grow. Seeing the film made me rethink some stuff man. Put a tag almost left rag instead of tag ha normal to smile or…need to eat my McDonald’s

b edit 5 stars

[its-just-like-the-movies]

May Viewing List

Given that I now have two jobs that occupy a good amount of my week I’m so genuinely amazed I was able to get this close to last month’s number.

Casting JonBenet (17, B+/A-): As intimate with the actors as they are with their parts. Life experience as credibility in interpretation. - May 1, 2017 (review)

The Fighter (10, A-): O’Russell realizes the best possible version of this script to create a stunning, spiky showcase for everyone involved. - May 2, 2017

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (07, A-): An incredibly tense, textured portrait of two women in a time and place that’s slowly creeping back. - May 4, 2017

The Butler (13, C-): Gumpy, conventional plotting, odd casting & makeup undermines everything neat about Daniels. Amazingly broad. - May 4, 2017

Props to David Oyelowo for being the stillest thing in that movie, enhancing everyone else while giving a great, quiet performance.

Pitch perfect supporting acting. Great work, improves the lot, and you wonder why this isn’t a movie about him and the Black Panthers.

Don’t Think Twice (16, B): Spry cast, easy chemistry, remixed script beats elevate this tale of relocated dreams and success. Jacobs! - May 5, 2017

Nebraska (13, C-): Dern gets his Crazy Heart but instead fights flat, mean direction & plotting, false emotions & atmosphere, shitty musak - May 6, 2017

Face/Off (97, B+/A-): So deliciously, entertainingly Extra, finding the perfect tone to pull off this astounding nonsense. Cage! Allen! Woo! - May 7, 2017

Aladdin (92, B-): Feels like a different Disney musical than the 10′s movies. Lovely songs. Williams more magical than the Genie. - May 7, 2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (17, B): Such a wide color palette! Shaky til “Come a Little Bit Closer”, then becomes the space opera it dreamed of. - May 7, 2017 (review)

Who else thinks Guardians of the Galaxy 2 should’ve been a musical, and that the next one should just go for it?

Florence Foster Jenkins (16, B-): Great fun, especially the leads. Generous, but overly so? Seems to resist a deeper dive into her rise. - May 8, 2017

And with that, I’ve seen all the 2014, 2015, and 2016 acting nominees!

Nightcrawler (14, B-): Provocative, in distinct and generic ways, but strained. Wonderfully lit, creepy, and blunter than Snowpiercer. - May 8, 2017

The Innocents (15, B): Textured like a Gothic horror story. Milieu I’ve rarely seen in this genre. Intertwined, parallel narratives hit hard. - May 9, 2017

Autumn Sonata (78, B+): Bergman, Bergman, Ullmann, and Nyqvist just beat the shit out of me for ninety minutes and it was an incredible experience. - May 9, 2017

Dheepan (16, A-): I noticed so much more in practically every aspect the second time around. Camera, Srinivasan my favorite elements. - May 9, 2017 (rewatch)

Blue Jay (16, B+): Another one that spiked up for me. Dynamics even richer the second time around. Paulson and Duplass are so lovely! - May 10, 2017 (rewatch)

Blue Caprice (13, B+): Hard, risky, genuinely nightmarish. Symbiosis, paranoia as real bonding. Finds so many questions in its own answers. - May 11, 2017 (rewatch)

The Immigrant (14, A-): An operatic marvel, moving freely through every period of cinema. And so gorgeous! God rewatching things is great. - May 11, 2017 (rewatch)

The House of Mirth (00, B+): A warmer, more conventional, but just as impassioned cousin to Portrait of a Lady. Great look. Gillian shines. - May 11, 2017

The Lady Eve (41, A+): Lord why don’t they make them like this anymore? Quick, witty, lovely, silly, paced like a dream. Superb. Stanwyck!!! - May 13, 2017

I get how problematic the setup could be if made today, but it’s hard to image a modern comedy with this much genuine craft at all levels.

The Stanford Prison Experiment (15, B): Every element builds & improves as it goes. Not sure how much to credit any one part over source material. - May 16, 2017

Maybe because the real thing is so pervasive in the culture already but I’m not sure what I got out of this. Already thinking about B-.

Cool Hand Luke (67, B+): Lots to say about people, about one among many, and how we treat them. Newman makes it about a man. - May 16, 2017

We Own the Night (07, A-): Technical prowess and directorial strength ably fight off genre cliche. Tense, captivating, and very much Gray’s - May 16, 2017

Network (76, B+): THIS was the film so many adults have said I’d be inundated to because of the world now? Friend, that makes it stronger. - May 18, 2017

Malcolm X (92, B-): Artistically and politically valuable even in the sequences Lee is less interested in. Not always both at the same time. - May 19, 2017

That being said, Denzel is incredible, giving a massive performance in an epic that’s sporadically as alive as he is.

The cinematography, especially the lighting, is also really spectacular. It’s artistically strong across the board, just conventionally told.

Secret Sunshine (10, B+/A-): Grabs you by the gut with bracing handlings of trauma and religion, albeit with small hiccups. Jeon’s a marvel - May 19, 2017

The Wolf of Wall Street (13, D+): Is there anything to even say about it? No new ideas from scene one. Boring depravity. So visually dull. - May 20, 2017

Melina, after making a joke about snorting coke out of a stripper’s ass: ”Can women really have it all?”

Alien: Covenant (17, B-): The case against humanity, by David. Human stupidity as real plot logic. Sets, VFX even better than Fassbender. - May 21, 2017

After the movie I realized I almost have the same haircut that Katherine Waterston has. So that’s neat.

August: Osage County (13, C): Not all the pieces fit, especially with so many sharp edges shorn. But Streep’s incredible, Roberts gets it. - May 21, 2017

Passion (13, C): Weirdly uninspired style for such a pulpy tale. Awful sets balanced by great clothes. Score works. McAdams on point. - May 21, 2017

Love & Mercy (15, B): Limited in scope but what textures it finds. Separates art and madness even as they feed each other. Great leads. - May 22, 2017

All three really blew me away, and between this and the Manson You Must Remember This episode, hot damn are The Beach Boys interesting.

And on a totally unrelated note, Paul Dano can fucking get it. Oh yes. Yes he can. Young Brian did have a sweet bed. I’ll stop now.

The Final Girls (15, B+): There’s an even more inventive script in here, but so much more going on visually than I realized. Åkerman! - May 22, 2017 (rewatch) (review)

The Iron Lady (11, C): Damp rag baby of La Vie en Rose and The Whisperers. Messy camera and direction. How much really happened here? - May 24, 2017 (review)

Sweet Bird of Youth (62, B): Scrumptious. Not quite the play but expands nicely. Page a delectably seasoned ham, Newman a sweet hunk of meat. - May 25, 2017

Stage Door (37, A-): Is it a bird? A plane? No! It’s the inner lives of over a dozen artistic, intelligent women, right there on the screen! - May 25, 2017

Is there any point in film history where this project isn’t a miracle? Why hasn’t this been remade every ten years? God, was I in heaven?

Caterpilar (11, B): So confrontationally severe in content and style, even as it dilutes itself in the final third. Iffy taste, but it hits. - May 26, 2017

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (05, C+): No tweet (rewatch) - May 26, 2017

Me, watching Goblet of Fire: “Why couldn’t Ron have dated Hermione AND Krum?”

My mom, every time we watch a Harry Potter movie: “It shoulda been Harry and Hermione.”

Not to read too deeply into things but Ron being Harry’s person he has to save is Really Gay

Easy A (10, C+): Kinda spotty outside Stone, but boy does it care about her. And lord does she make it something special. - May 27, 2017

It’s abominable that with a filmography seemingly built on delightfully supporting women Stanley Tucci’s sole Oscar nomination is for Lovely Bones

The Banishment (07, B): Pace and length made me sleepy but Zvyaginstev’s formal control more than kept me awake. Oddly compelling. - May 29, 2017

The Miracle Worker (62, B+): Beats Arrival for conveying the power of language and understanding. Bancroft’s great, and Duke’s even better. - May 29, 2017

The Man With The Golden Arm (55, B): Sinatra does great work to elevate this semi-cliched tragedy, but Parker and the score hit a home run. - May 30, 2017

Paranoid Park (08, C+/B-): Never not overworked, especially sonically, but unbearable first half hour turns into a compelling yarn. - May 30, 2017

National Velvet (44, B): So kind to its characters, mature about their wants and ideas. Gorgeous, infectious, and well-acted to boot. - May 31, 2017

[gta-5-cheats]

The Americans, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and More &ndash; The Weekend Chill

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The Americans, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and More – The Weekend Chill

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Over the weekend, Amazon picked up sci-fi series The Expanse for a fourth season, after it had been cancelled by Syfy earlier in May. On Tuesday, Deadline brought word that Jamie Foxx would play the lead role in creator Todd McFarlane’s film adaptation of his comic book Spawn, about a black ops guy who dies, ends up in Hell, and is then sent back to Earth as a demonic warrior.

On Wednesday, Woody Harrelson confirmed in an interview that he does indeed have a role in the upcoming Spider-Man spin-off Venom, and revealed that he’s also signed up for a sequel. There’s no official word on his role, but rumours abound that Harrelson might be playing serial killer Cletus Kasady aka Carnage. We’ll find out when Venom releases October 5.

Also on Wednesday, Deadline said that Apple had greenlit a comedy based on 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson, with Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge of Seventeen) in the lead role. On Thursday, Variety reported that Westworld’s James Marsden had been cast for Sonic the Hedgehog movie, where he’ll reportedly play a cop named Tom who teams up with Sonic. The film is slated for November 15, 2019.

Lastly, we got a poster and synopsis for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which presents a romantic interest for the dragon Toothless. How to Train Your Dragon 3 is slated for release on March 1, 2019.

That’s all the entertainment news for this week. Welcome back to The Weekend Chill, your one-stop destination for what to watch, play, or listen to this weekend. Here are the best picks.

TV: The Americans Picking up three years after the conclusion of season five, The Americans finds the Jennings in a very different world. While Philip (Matthew Rhys) has moved away from the KGB spy life to focus on their travel-agency cover business, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) are now involved deeper than before. Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) has settled down and shuttered the Soviet task force.

The sixth and final season of the show – a shortened run of 10 episodes, which ended earlier this week – uses the time jump to push its fictional world closer to the geopolitical upheaval around the corner (the end of the Cold War), though it’s more interested, as always, in how people get caught up on the other sides of battle lines through no inclination of their own.

Critics are full of praise for the season finale, calling it a heart-breaking and excellent end to a terrific show, and some labelling it one of the top 10 finales of all-time. “Part of the reason The Americans became such a rare treat is because it so rarely bowed to the usual pressures of TV story-building,” Variety’s Caroline Framke wrote. “It allowed itself to be slow and insular in a deliberate way that almost always found a satisfying payoff.”

How to access: FX or Hotstar Time commitment: 1 hour, weekly

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock – the latter of whom served as showrunner for the former’s previous comedy 30 Rock – for Netflix, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt follows Kimmy, a woman in her thirties, who was rescued along with three others from a doomsday cult in Indiana, where Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) had held them for 15 years.

After getting out, Kimmy decides to move to New York City, where she meets gay, struggling actor, Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), and street-wise landlady Lillian Kaushtupper (Carol Kane), and gets a job as a nanny for high-strung and lonely socialite Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski). In the three seasons since, Kimmy adjusts to modern-day customs and slowly rebuilds her life, going to college among other things.

The show’s fourth and final season will air in two parts, with six episodes earlier this week and the other six in January 2019. Reviews have been positive: The Atlantic’s Sophie Gilbert noted how it “jokes, over and over again, about how injustice is ingrained within every level of society”, and Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson said “the darkness that’s always been present is finally breaking through, even though it’s also loaded with the same hysterical one-liners and fast-paced humour”.

How to access: Netflix Time commitment: 3 hours

Pose Prolific producer-creator Ryan Murphy, who recently signed a $300-million deal with Netflix, is back with a new show on FX: a musical dance drama called Pose, created by Murphy, Brad Falchuk (Glee), and Steven Canals. Set in the mid-1980s New York, it looks “at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world”.

Pose includes the largest transgender cast ever assembled, according to FX, with over 50 transgender characters in some form. Well-known actors include Kate Mara (Megan Leavey), Evan Peters (American Horror Story), James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek), Angelica Ross (Her Story), and stage performers Billy Porter and Charlayne Woodard. The show starts Sunday in the US, and will be available on Hotstar in India from Monday.

Reviews are mostly favourable. Entertainment Weekly’s Kristen Baldwin said: “For all of its ballroom flash and diva fierceness, Pose is a sweet, touching drama about finding your family, your purpose, yourself.” The Hollywood Reporter’s Dan Fienberg noted “an introductory quality to the opening episodes” and added: “Pose is poignant, funny and completely accessible, whether you’ve been part of this community or your only point of reference is Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ video.”

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How to access: FX or Hotstar Time commitment: 1 hour, weekly

Movies: Black Panther Set immediately after the events of Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to Wakanda, the technologically advanced African nation that poses as an agrarian nation to its neighbours. Now king after the death of his father, he finds his rule being challenged by factions within Wakanda, who seek to overthrow him.

Black Panther must work with members of the Dora Milaje, Wakanadan special forces, and CIA to prevent his country from being dragged into an all-out war. In addition to Boseman, the film stars Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis. As always, Stan Lee has a cameo.

Black Panther Is the King of Marvel Movies

Directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed), the film received stellar reviews upon release from critics, including us. Thanks to an impressive cast, three-dimensional characters (plus a great villain), stellar writing and direction, resonating themes, and a soundtrack like no other Marvel film, Black Panther is likely the best of the MCU lot. And it’s now available for purchase on Blu-ray and digital media.

How to access: Amazon IN, Google Play IN, or YouTube IN Time commitment: 2 hours and 14 minutes

Other mentions: Over in the world of streaming, Netflix had several worthy additions: Brad Pitt-starrer World War Z, 2018 Oscars nominee for Best Animated Feature Film The Breadwinner, Disney’s 1940 animated classic Pinocchio, and the critically-acclaimed Beach Rats (2017) and Eye in the Sky (2015).

Luke Cage, GLOW, The Avengers, and More on Netflix in June 2018

Amazon Prime Video now has Batman Begins, which was earlier only on Netflix. The first two seasons of The Magicians are now available on Amazon as well.

Video games: Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Edition For the thirtieth anniversary of its popular fighting franchise, Capcom decided to package the arcade versions of 12 Street Fighter games: the original Street Fighter, all five versions of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Champion Edition, Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Super, and Super Turbo; all three versions of Street Fighter Alpha: Alpha, Alpha 2, and Alpha 3; and all three versions of Street Fighter III: New Generation, 2nd Impact, and 3rd Strike.

Of these twelves, four titles – Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Super Turbo, Alpha 3, and 3rd Strike – also have support for online multiplayer, where four players can join lobbies. The game’s Nintendo Switch version has an exclusive eight-player local mode for Super Street Fighter II. Bonus features include a Museum Mode where you can view concept art from the past three decades, a music player to listen to tracks, and biographies for characters.

Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Edition has received good reviews. It looks good on modern hardware despite the respective age of the 12 titles (between 1987 and 1999), sports responsive controls, sounds great, and has a lot on offer in main content and extras. The only things we didn’t like were a lack of context in some places, and a higher price on the Switch.

How to access: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Steam for PC, or Xbox One Time commitment: 18 hours

Other mentions: Beyond that, you should check out Yoku’s Island Express, which brings together pinball mechanics, platforming and open world exploration. It’s getting good reviews, and it’s available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

This week also brought a new action RPG with rogue-lite elements, called Moonlighter. If that’s more your style, be sure to read our review, where it scored a 7 out of 10. It’s available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

There’s also Ikaruga, Sega’s 2001 shoot ‘em up, which has been ported over to the Nintendo Switch. It’s getting great reviews, so if you’ve Nintendo’s handheld and have been looking for a new game, try Ikaruga.

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[totesmccoats]

Doomsday Clock #3

The opening to this issue, which recreates some of the first pages of the original Watchmen comic perfectly illustrates the biggest problem I’ve had with this series’ art since issue one: the coloring. This isn’t to say that Anderson is doing bad work, just that the aesthetic he chooses for the Watchmen universe undercuts what Watchmen is, and makes its position relative to the DCU awkward.

What the “realistic” colors of the Watchmen universe in Doomsday Clock tells me is that the team behind the book forgot, or are ignoring that Watchmen is – first and foremost – a satire. It’s not parody, but it is heightened all the same, and Higgins’ oversaturated colors – like the red in the original Comedian murder sequence – help the reader understand that they are reading a heightened universe. And where the original Watchmen is a heightened version of the real world and the universes typically expected of comic books at the time, Doomsday Clock, in its coloring as well as its text, seems to position the Watchmen universe as a more realistic take on the superhero genre than the DCU, which, it’s not. While Watchmen ostensibly takes place in a universe that superficially more closely resembles the real world, it is and always has been exactly as fictional as the comics it deconstructs. Right now, the impression I’m getting from Doomsday Clock is that the DCU is some sort of cartoon world that the Watchmen characters are jumping into when that really shouldn’t be the case.

Doomsday Clock corrects this course with the characters of Marionette and Mime, whom represent probably the single best part of the story so far in terms of originality while also fitting perfectly into both universes; and whom have the best scene in this issue that also answers one of the most pressing questions the series has introduced.

Other than that delightful scene, this issue concerns the reunion between Comedian and Ozymandias in Lex Luthor’s office which favors mirroring their earlier fight for references’ sake rather than meaningfully add to the story this book attempts to tell. Rorschach gives Kovak’s journal to Batman to learn about, well, Watchmen; while we learn a bit more about the new Rorschach. And Johnny Thunder, still stuck in assisted living, waits for his children to rescue him while this book’s version of “Tales From the Black Freighter”, a noir movie, plays on a TV in the same room. There’s a lot going on this issue, seemingly lots of thematic set-up with the introduction of the noir movie parallel, but right now it’s mostly lots of scrambled pieces. Not necessarily a bad thing this early in what is ostensibly a mystery story; but a little frustrating that Doomsday Clock still doesn’t feel like it has a point to it beyond crossover appeal.

  Nightwing: The New Order #6

Well, it’s a happy ending, at least. Shades of Kingdom Come, for sure.

In exchange to make Jake no longer a target of the state, Dick leads the Crusaders to the Titan’s Metropolis hideout; but Jake refuses to just go home with his father. Managing to convince his father to switch sides – yet again – Jake and Dick return to try to turn the tides in the last stand between the resistance and the Crusaders by restoring the greatest hero of all to power.

I don’t know, there’s something about having Dick flip-flop one last time for the end of the story that feels unearned. And then the actual end of the conflict involves everyone suddenly dropping everything to fight a new third thing, and it feels like the book drops the ball on actually resolving it’s central conflict of fascism vs. antifa for something more easily digestible.

  Wild Storm #11

Skywatch and IO both continue gearing up for all out war, pushing the limits to get the other to cross the line first. Bendix tells Lauren of the last time the two fought head-on to prepare her for what might come this time. Spicia upgrades herself. Lucy warns Cole that things will get much worse than he expects.

The stand-out part of this issue is Bendix’s flashback, which presents itself as a black-and-white 50’s sci-fi B-movie, with fake looking flying saucers and cold-war panic included. Other than that though, the book continues it’s slow build up to…whatever it’s building up to.

  Amazing Spider-Man #794

It’s been exactly a year since Spider-Man threw Scorpio, the leader of the Zodiac syndicate, a year into the future to prevent him from using future knowledge to conquer the world; and he and Horizon are preparing for his return. Meanwhile, in a secret underwater vault, some Goblin agents retrieve a world-threatening object for their boss.

We’re three issues out from Slott’s last arc of Amazing Spider-Man, and judging from this issue, the next two are also going to be one-shot stories that also set up that last story. And, as long as they’re all as tight as this issue, that should be fine. This issue’s A-plot feels like a distraction in kind of the worst way, but it’s also fine; it’s a short, low-stakes Spidey story that Slott can probably write in his sleep by now. And Immonen, Grawbadger, and Gracia are still delivering some gorgeous art to go with it.

  Black Panther #169

I hope this issue’s cover didn’t get you too excited for a huge Black Panther, Avengers, X-Men team up because none of those characters are even in this one. As Klaw, Stane, Faustus, and Zenzi prepare to sacrifice Ayo to revive Klaw’s sister using a process that unleashes enough sonic energy to render everything else in the issue completely silent; Aneka frees herself from Klaw’s guards, breaks her chains, and goes to rescue her lover.

It’s fine. Basically an issue long action sequence with a sneaky conceit that makes Aneka’s ability to stealthily go through Klaw’s base more believable. That cover is bound to set people up for disappointment though. Heck of a final page tho.

  Marvel Two-in-One #2

Ben and Johnny return to the site of their first adventure, Monster Island, to look for the device Reed left them to explore other dimensions. But instead of the device, they find themselves in the middle of a political dispute between Mole Man and the monsters over who gets to rule the island. Instead of an election, they agree that whichever side kills the interlopers will rule. And, there’s one more visiter to the island who could prove friend or foe.

Zdarksy starts the issue off with Ben in an uncomfortable place, having just told a huge lie to one of his best friends, and having to keep it going to keep that friend in high spirits. Luckily, Ben hides it well, and is able to pal around with Johnny as the latter discusses how he hasn’t showered or brushed his teeth since getting his powers. By the end of the issue, though, while he’s kept up the lie to Johnny, he’s also found a piece of deeper truth to hold on to from his friendship with Reed, a poignant memory regarding one of their other early adventures.

As with Howard and Star-Lord, Zdarsky settles nicely into his protagonists’ melancholy while also digging up what keeps them going. While Johnny is in this to rescue his sister and Reed, Zdarsky makes it clear that Ben is doing this for Johnny. He hates that he has to lie to the kid, but the responsibility he feels to keep Johnny going is also what’s pulling him back into the Fantastic Four swing of adventure.

  Sex Criminals #21

Six months after the break-up Jon grew a beard! Also, he works at the now Apple-Store themed Cumworld sex-shop, full of Zdarsky’s trademark hilarious background jokes. It’s fine, he’s fine. Suzie started dating a museum director whose fine and moved back in with her mom. Again, fine. Not great, but fine. And then they see each-other at a party, and are wearing the exact same outfit. Also fine. It’s fine. He’s fine. She’s fine. Everything’s fine. It’s fine.

Gosh this is a rough issue. Because if you can’t tell, everything’s not fine. Both Jon and Suzie have settled, and neither is happy with it. Not completely. Things are fine, and that’s a problem, because they could be better. On the bright side, Dr. Glass and Dr. Kinkaid seem happy together.

Comic Reviews 1/24/18 Doomsday Clock #3 The opening to this issue, which recreates some of the first pages of the original Watchmen comic perfectly illustrates the biggest problem I’ve had with this series’ art since issue one: the coloring.

[totesmccoats]

Saga #48

We catch up with Ghus, Squire, Upsher, and Doff as they starve on Quietus, waiting for the protagonists to return with supplies. Things are desperate enough for Upsher to consider eating Friendo, and so Ghus decides to take Squire hunting for a Dreadnaught – an invisible apex-predator that only Squire can see; well, he can see it’s innards.

Ghus, with his trusty “chopper,” leads Squire, armed with a bow, on his first hunt into the woods; and Squire asks him about his connection to Friendo and if he’s ever had to kill a person before. But, before things can get too deep, the duo are attacked by the Dreadnaught, which is only seen by Squire as a brain and eyes on top a pile of guts and veins. The creature breaks Ghus’ chopper, meaning Squire has to make the kill-shot. He looks into the Dreadnaught’s eyes…and he can’t do it.

As the two go home the next morning, empty handed, they notice smoke from their camp, and are in for quite a surprise.

I think this might be the first time that BKV and Staples end the arc with a palette cleanser, or at least not, you know, Kalima. Nobody dies; there are no sudden cliffhangers; everything is just kinda, nice. And Staples killed it with the Dreadnaught design, a pile of innards ambling around like some sort of gorilla is creepy as heck. It also appears that there’s been another brief time-skip in this issue, so next arc should fill us in on that. But we know of one very important development – fidget spinners exist in Saga now.

  Amazing Spider-Man #790

Peter and Harry have gone around the world, liquidating Parker Industry assets and apologizing to everyone the closing of the company hurts. They finish Pete’s apology tour by selling their most prized asset, the Baxter Building. But, tired of all the crap he’s getting as Peter, he decides to escape for a while as Spider-Man, taking pictures with his once-again fans, playing skip-rope with some girls, helping little old ladies with groceries, that sorta thing.

But, he’s got to bite this bullet eventually. Unfortunately, Pete’s not the only one mad he has to sell the Baxter Building. Johnny Storm is steamed about his old home going up for sale. And Pete, tired of not being cut any slack, boils over and decides that if Johnny wants a fight, he’s got one.Additionally, Clayton Cole – Clash – wants ownership of all of his work he did for PI, and is willing to steal it back. And his henchmen have plans of their own.

Christos Gage knocks out another issue as the series’ pinch-script writer, filling this book with sharp quips and just enough dialogue to keep the issue moving at a great pace, including the top-half of a spread long montage of Spidey goofing off. Immonen, Gracia, and von Grawbadger continue their run as one of the best art teams on superhero books today, with a distinct cinematic approach; and von Grawbadger in particular does some spectacular work with the Human Torch and how he acts as essentially a second sun, making everything around him seem that much blacker in comparison.

  Black Panther #166

Klaw has found a way to enhance his abilities by using Reverbium, and plans to ascend to godhood through Vibranium. He reveals himself as the voice in the ear of Wakanda’s previous threats over the run of the series so far, uniting Stane, Faustus, and Zenzi under his cause; and convincing the people of Azania that he is their new god.

The motivation behind Klaw’s latest efforts: the memory of his sister, who was lobotomized after having been beaten by their father and because she heard voices – voices that Klaw had always believed were real as well.

I got a really strong B:TAS Mr. Freeze sense from this issue, most likely because it’s the story of a scientist who was irreversibly transformed into a non-human by the product of their own research, and is motivated by the loss of a woman they loved. And being that Klaw is made up of semi-solid-sonics, it would even make sense that his voice would have the same reverb effect as Mr. Freeze. Well, the issue was fun to read with that voice in my head, in any case.

Unfortunately, the art in this issue just doesn’t stand out, mostly because so much of it takes place in gray hallways in Alaska. Klaw is still just a fun character to look at, because frankly he looks ridiculous; one of the worst-aged silver age character designs in my opinion, with his dumb satellite dish hand and featureless red and purple mannequin body.

  Batgirl #16

In flashback, Barbara and Dick drop in on some hackers that Ainsley used to work with, who tell them that they kicked her out of their group for designing nanobot-based drugs for the Mad Hatter. They find Ainsley shortly after and tail her to what ends up being an addicts-anonymous meeting, where they find out that she didn’t know she was designing drugs, and is a recovering addict herself. And after learning all this heavy information, Babs and Dick release some of their own emotional tension.

In the present, Batgirl and Nightwing follow the trail of bodies to a rehab clinic that Ainsley once checked into, but find it already under attack by the Red Queen’s tripped-out henchmen. Luckily, Babs remembers a way to hack the nano-drugs into making their victims docile. And afterwards, digging through the hospital records, they make three unfortunate discoveries: 1. Ainsley died of an overdose, homeless and alone; 2. She has a sister, now with the proper motivation and tools to become the Red Queen; and 3. They just let her slip through their fingers.

As with the earlier issues in the arc, the main draw for me is seeing the evolution in Dick and Barbara’s relationship, both as crimefighters, and as a couple. While there are a couple of quick fight scenes in the issue, Dick/Babs get a lot more mileage in their cases by simply sitting down with people and talking to them. Also by breaking HIPAA and digging through medical records, but hey – who hasn’t done that once or twice?

Wildgoose does a lot with smaller details in their pencils; things like younger Barbara kicking her legs as she sits with Dick on the edge of a building, or the anime-girl posters in the hackers’ apartment. And I’m really enjoying Lopes’ colors on this book, giving everything the impression of softer lighting – moreso in the flashbacks of course, giving a more washed-out effect to those scenes – while still saturating the primary and secondary reds, blues, purples and greens in the duo’s costumes enough to make them pop.

  Wonder Woman #33

Whoever it was that came up with Kid-Darkseid, Johns, Snyder, or Robinson; give them a medal. Kid-Darkseid is hilarious and I love him. I hope he doesn’t grow up too fast – they always do though, don’t they?

This issue is entirely from Grail’s perspective, as she goes around the world, killing the the Greek Gods to provide the energy to grow her baby Darkseid big and strong. But a mother worries: will he be evil enough? Feared enough? That’s not a joke, that’s in Grail’s narration in the book, and it’s darkly hilarious that even when you’re trying to raise the worst kid in the multiverse, you have parental fears that you’re gonna somehow screw up. Kinda reminds me of raising dark chao in SA2.

It’s also interesting for this story to fill in what exactly all these demi-gods have been doing with their immortality on Earth, which is overall, not much. Perseus became a Wall Street bro; others became librarians, fishermen, bears…like, just normal bears. Wonder Woman is the only one who it seems decided to do something good with her powers; likely because she was raised by the Amazons with a strong sense of moral justice.

  Nightwing: The New Order #3

Kate Kane gives orders to the Crusaders not to engage with the captured Dick Grayson in the slightest. One of them disobeys, asking if he’d at least like a glass of water, and Dick takes his opening to escape capture and begin looking for Jake. He goes to one of his oldest allies, Tim Drake, who hacks into the government files to find that they’re bringing Jake to a stasis facility in Central City. But before he heads there, Dick goes to Gotham to gear up. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to break into the Bat-cave, with it having been turned into a Batman museum shortly after Bruce died; but there are still sub-basements that only members of the family have access too. He grabs his old Nightwing gear and rides to Central City before being stopped by one old friend, and saved by a couple more. Congratulations. If you placed your bets on this story going Minority Report, collect your no-prize up front. Come to think of it, old-Dick even kinda looks like a taller Tom Cruise. The issue has the same pacing as that style of action movie, too; cutting from location to location; moving from action beat to exposition beat and ending on an action beat. The story has seemed to stray from the initial “Nightwing, but if fascist” angle, but that may be for the best. And it’s still there in softer strokes. The Bat-Cave museum, for one, is a genius bit of world-building; but smaller even, is that Tim reminds Dick that he was right to set the world on this path, despite what’s happening to his son. The desire to preserve order, any order, is a powerful one, despite the harm it could bring to even family members. The same applies to Kate’s reaction to Alfred’s death. It’s a personal loss, but not worth rocking the boat over. Plus a lighter touch really is just more fun, especially with a character like Nightwing, who was never as dark as other members of the Bat-family. McCarthy’s layouts continue to be awesome at conveying movement across the page. He uses non-traditional panel layouts, non-rectangular shapes, and overlappingoverlapping to match an action director’s camera motions: pans, zooms, cuts, etc.There are almost no gutters in the issue, as panels bleed into the next, making the issue feel fast and kinetickinetic.

Comic Reviews for 10/25/17 Saga #48 We catch up with Ghus, Squire, Upsher, and Doff as they starve on Quietus, waiting for the protagonists to return with supplies.