#alvaro's progression in these scenes is quite a thing

[ladysophiebeckett]

they're only dating in one of these caps but out of context it looks like they've been dating the entire goddamn time.

[sleepingfancies]

30, 40 and 48 ✌️✌️✌️

Favorite idea you haven’t started on yet?

That would be my idea for a WIP titled Godsbane. I haven’t wrote a single chapter yet, and I have some reservations about the idea, but I like the characters I’ve made for it. Essentially, it’s about challenging the concept that change can be achieved by one single person who receives all the credit. There are risks and dangers to considering one person the sole source of progress, and progress itself is stronger when led by the masses.

Share some backstory for one of your characters.

From my WIP titled A Thousand Shrouds, my character Marisol Haronvek comes from people who are famously known for their (believed extinct) magical abilities. She’s a pyromaniac, and for the majority of the story believes her hidden magical ability involves some kind of connection to fire (spoiler: it’s not, she just loves fire). She grew up being told not to challenge the status quo because the Alvaros (the ruling class family) were dangerous, and had no qualms about killing those who spoke out against them. But Marisol watched her sister Catalina suffer as a maid to the Alvaro family, and decided when she was 12 that she would use her ‘connection’ to fire to bring havoc to the Alvaros.

What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?

This is exposing me SO bad but a couple of friends can attest to this -- by and far, my character Conall Vellym from my WIP Arbor of the Wicked. He’s a young man with a very gentle soul, who’s a sensitive, anxious dumbass with a few very self destructive and self sabotaging habits. He’s been manipulated by his mother in such a way that he will do anything for her attention and validation (thankfully, my relationship with my mother is not the model for this). He has a shockingly brutal temper when pushed, which is a direct result of emotional abuse trauma. Throughout the story he desperately clings to any manner of validation he can find, all while believing he is entirely unlovable (my insecurities say hello). His whole arc is essentially a journey to figuring out that his kind heart is not a weakness, that he is not unwanted, and that he is not to blame for the instances where someone who should’ve loved him unconditionally, never did. These are things I wish someone had told me in my lower moments, when my insecurities overwhelmed me and I believed there was no one in the world who valued me, or would choose me over somebody else. My friends can vouch for my own sensitivity and dumbassery, and quite frankly how Conall responds to trauma is an exact mirror of my own trauma responses, whereas the other POV characters respond quite differently from how I would. If I were less shy and puritan, I’m absolutely positive his self destructive habits would be mine, as well. I’m honestly not ashamed of him, though. As far as self-inserts go, I think he turned out alright.

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 8.8.2017

Okay quite a huge week for my pull list, though with a few sad farewells as a result of that. Will everything pass the muster? Or have we got some duds in waiting? 

Just kidding everything’s wonderful and I’m going to explain why that is.

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine, DC’s Detective Comics, DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester, Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists, Dark Horse’s The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, Marvel’s Silk, DC’s Titans, IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine (2015-present) #23 Tom Taylor, Leonard Kirk, Michael Garland, Erick Arciniega

Probably my favorite Marvel book coming out right now is All-New Wolverine and I think nothing has helped my appreciation for Tom Taylor as a writer grow than this book. It’s everything I’ve always wanted for Laura and more, but I won’t waste time. Let’s just dig into the specifics~

Story: We’re in the midst of an arc that’s meant to completely avoid the stink of Secret Empire but also probably will limit exposure to Laura that will be given to the stupid asshole male Wolverine they replaced her with on the main team I meant that is meant to bring us into Laura and Gabby’s first big space opera adventure, which is a proud tradition for all Marvel A-listers, and especially familiar to the X-Men. But Laura’s not with the X-Men on this trip because a forced romance with Warren isn’t being shoved in our faces. She’s here with the Guardians of the Galaxy who are enjoying their rise in Marvel prominence quite a bit, I believe.

In any case, the Brood have kidnapped Gabby and this is pissing both of them off immensely because Laura’s protective of Gabby and Gabby’s protective of Jonathan their pet Wolverine, and everybody is trying to get in the way of the Wolverine ladies living a happy life that they deserve. 

Now I don’t often give summaries but it’s difficult to really parse what this story gets right and why even as the crotchety woman that I am who usually doesn’t care for superheroes in space, I am enjoying the aliens and the epic giant crossover and the cast of thousands. And that’s because this story and this comic series is about Laura and Gabby. It’s about the sisterhood, the mother-daughter relationship, the friendship, and the just general goodness that they’ve provided for each other throughout the past 23 issues that makes all the dressing not matter nearly as much as the moments where Laura declares her commitment to getting Gabby back or Gabby’s stern rebuttal to the idea that any outcome would be possible besides Laura coming for her. That faith and trust has been earned for over 20 issues and it’s the thing that really makes this comic stand out from the majority of the comics I’m going over this week. 

This is a comic that has always been about these two characters and the loving bond that they share for one another. And it is exactly why it works to the point that I can give a hilariously complex summary like the one above without it making a real difference, and it’s why the final page is so gut wrenching for a cliffhanger.

Art: Leonard Kirk, I believe, has done the majority of the artwork for this series so far, and I really appreciate the look he gives to the title and specifically to Laura. She’s treated with every ounce of power and intimidation that you expect of Wolverine and the sexy costumes or posing are brought down to a severe minimum. Really, his designs for everyone are great and service the action of the story well because with so many aliens and sceneries to be had, the precise and direct approach makes the comic easy to follow. And I like that it manages all that without sacrificing action scenes or Kirk’s own style. 

It’s solid comic art through and through.

Characters & Dialogue: For the most part I’ve said everything that needs to be said in the story bit, but I need to again give accolades to Taylor here because of the subtle character growth he’s allowed for in the way Laura and Gabby’s world views are evolving. 

The dialogue for the two of them is very specific to their characters, but now we’re starting to see the way that they talk is having an effect on the other. Laura has become more artfully expressive about her feelings and love of others, especially Gabby, which is a change that took a long time for her and also is something her father never quite learned as well. We are a long ways away from the Laura who was ready to give Gabby up to the Jean Grey school and not look back. Likewise, Gabby has become more stern, more encouraged. She relies on Laura and believes in her so much that she doesn’t fear, another far cry away from the Gabby who was abused and misused by the lab that created her. 

Basically the characterization isn’t just good, it’s subtle and full of depth beyond what people would be expecting from a giant space opera adventure trying to avoid a storyline centered around Captain Fascism. 

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #962 James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson

So, I think my Roundups are a pretty fair record for how tumultuous my relationship has been over time with Detective Comics. It’s a comic and characters I love fiercely but it’s also often subject to fair criticism of being fairly unpolished, rushed, and just generally misses a mark from time to time that’s just difficult to overcome.

A mixed bag if you will. 

And we’re coming to the close on this particular storyline “Intelligence” and I think it’s as good of a place as any to really get into the nitty gritty of what the pros and cons of this Detective Comics run is.

Story: I only recently have begun reading Jean Paul’s original solo series Azrael thanks to DC’s new campaign to volumize old comics and it’s been a surprising read. But I’ve always been familiar enough with him as a character to be fairly curious about what more stories centered around him -- and not Azabats him but him him -- would be like. And I’ve stated before that I enjoy seeing the development of his friendship with Luke and would love to see it feature more prominently. 

And in all those respects, I feel like this conclusion and really this whole storyline paid very good tribute to Azrael and Jean Paul in ways that even contemporaries of Denny O’Neil tended to miss the mark on. The complexity of his relationship with religion while also dealing with the additional stress and pressure that has placed on him with his abusive past, the allusions to mental illness which serve throughout his stories. And really just Jean Paul getting a chance to be a character in a way he certainly wasn’t in his re-introduction through Batman and Robin Eternal worked out very well with me. And I’m grateful that his injury in this battle and his paralysis are not going to be immediately erased while they do acknowledge that in this universe that’s a possibility.

I don’t really like the state reasoning for the decision or the near certainty that his disability will eventually be “overcome” but it’s better than the nothing that DC has basically given us in the way of the major titles for a while now.

Plus, consequences! It’s nice to have consequences that matter.

The magic part... well I enjoy Zatanna as a character to an extreme degree so my ability to be completely unbiased here was always going to be difficult. But this is one story where the magical elements being blended in with the spiritual.. I’m not really sure if it worked for me. It’s nice to see Zee, but in an ensemble book I’m getting a little tired of all the excuses being fit into the narrative to excuse not ever actually being about the ensemble.

oh look tim’s alive and ra’s al ghul’s behind it all who saw this coming

At least we don’t have another new made up organization that secretly spans across the whole world and Batman didn’t know about it ever. At least they’re finally converging a bit because that shit was getting ridic.

Art: Of the rotating art teams that we have for Detective, I have to say that this is one of the best and most consistent. There’s a good variation between splash pages and regular paneled format, there’s a proper use of shifting and varying panel differing. And overall it’s just a pleasing comic to read with easy action to follow and a great use of color and inking despite being a literally dark comic.

It is not the most stylized comic for those who prefer styles that are Out of House as opposed to the Big Two’s normal aesthetic, but it is a good comic and easy to read without being redundant. 

Characters & Dialogue: Detective Comics has way too many characters. Tynion gives all of them good voice, and everyone who’s featured gets quite a lot to do, but there is not enough balance for the ensemble and the constant addition of new characters, new villains, etc. makes even less room for development and especially for relationship building between characters. 

Like I guess Cass is just the only kid in the Belfry period now. Alright. 

Cass, Kate, Luke, and... *sigh* Clayface have very little to do in this issue, though I’d argue that their small parts are some of the best content when one’s reading. And while it’s more than okay to center different arcs on different characters and Jean Paul getting his long, long overdue dues is more than welcome, there’s still the problem of giving everyone something that pushes their own plots forward, or at the very least, let’s us see the progress that has been made as a culmination of the previous storylines. 

Cassandra is still not even adopted by either Bruce or Kate yet for chrissake. Someone give Cass a family.

Zatanna was good and if I have to measure a Bruce this Bruce is good for my tastes, but again there’s just so many characters it’s very difficult to fully dive into their various developments, especially when it’s hard to tell if there is one.

At the very least, I can give this comic thanks for getting Cass’ speech pattern back to normal. I have to agree with some other fans who have contacted me and said that it’s not too terrible if from time to time Cass learns and memorizes a Shakespeare verse thanks to her time with Clayface, but not showing any of the characters working with Cass to teach her to read and speak and then giving her full sonnets or soliloquies is way too much and is painfully out of character to read.

DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016-present) #12 Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, Becky Coloonan, Adam Archer, MSASSYK, Sandra Hope

After a few years of this fun, YA tale of mystery and friendship, we sadly come to a close on Gotham Academy with this final issue wrapping up the series that was very beloved by myself and a number of my comic reading friends here on the internet. It’s a different type of story in the landscape of DC’s Batbooks and it’s going to very much be missed, regardless of how well or not this last issue was going to do. 

But, with this cancelation, did the finale manage to feel like it came to a conclusive resolution for all of our favorite Gotham Academy kids?

Story: Given that this is the finale of both this storyline and for the series as a whole, going into story is a much bigger deal than it has been before. I mean, we’re talking about a narrative that really started back with Gotham Academy (2014-2016) and has come to its end here, a reboot and a year later. And it all, as it should have, revolved around the titular friendship between Olive Silverlock and Maps Mizoguchi. 

Of course all the friendships, all the support that has been built up for Olive throughout the series still play a fairly important role to her conclusion here, but it was always going to be the friendship that held Olive and Maps together that would be what drove the story at its core, and in that way this ending doesn’t feel forced or strained, but simply like a natural testing of friendship when both have made mistakes and are wrong for various reasons -- for Maps it was coming to terms with her treatment of Olive’s mental illness and accepting her for it rather than simply ignoring that it was a factor, and for Olive it was about relying on Maps and trusting her to be there for her whenever she should fall. 

That is what affects the narrative the most and that’s what the resolution to this story got right the most here. 

Still, the cancelation of GA has come at the cost of the resolution of a lot of other elements that had been built up over the series. An unfortunate affect of having spent so much of the bulk of the series building up the world, the supporting characters, and more for what was no doubt many more mysteries and subplots to come, but it’s ultimately a little lost here. Colton’s confession to Kyle doesn’t see some real focus in the finale due to time and that’s made all the more a painful thing to see cut short considering the confirmed LGBT+ elements of Gotham Academy never received direct attention in ways I know I wish I could have seen. And likewise some resolutions felt missed entirely or unnecessary, Tristan’s apparent comfort with his bat form by the end as an example of the former and Pomeline being in a romantic relationship again with oh-whats-his-beard in the final pages. 

I would not have wanted any of the final issue’s focus to have left Maps and Olive at all, as I’ve said, they are the driving force of this comic, but as understandable as it is that these shortcomings happened under the circumstances, they’re still shortcomings nonetheless. 

The one that’s the most glaring, however, is the way that Olive’s disdain and distrust of Batman ended up coming to an end here. This is a character trait that was built up with Olive since the first issue of the series, and that relationship complicated between her, her mother, Batman, and Bruce Wayne, began dropping off the radar the moment we came into Second Semester and became more and more lost only to give us this moment in the finale where she comes to terms somehow with the fact that Batman was just trying to save her mom? I don’t know. 

Speaking of which, this all coming down to magic and a secret society using Olive’s ancestral blood to control her or whatever reminded me exactly of when I was watching Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated for the first time and I adored that first season SO much and loved how it stuck to the tried and true Scooby-Doo formula of skepticism winning over superstition and the paranormal, only for the second season to... make a 180 and everything was due to magic after all. That’s kinda how I felt about Gotham Academy, we spent the first series constantly solving mysteries of Gotham Academy through the eyes of the Mystery Club and time and time again the lesson seemed to be that the legends and tribulations of the people at the heart of these things were just that -- they were people and they were real, and their problems paralleled the cast’s for that reason. 

Only for that to be somewhat wasted due to the fact that... it was all nobody’s fault and the strings were being pulled by the occult the first series had proved were false. And I suppose that’s okay, save for how it feels as though it tries to use this to wave off the genuine symptoms of mental illness Olive has shown throughout the series. 

It’s something I’ll have to chew on for a while, honestly. It’s given me a lot of complicated feelings. 

Art: Ah, the most contentious part of the series has been the massive shift in art. Karl Kerschl was the original artist for the first few volumes of Gotham Academy and his style remains a truly unique, very stylized, and very character driven style which was a huge contributing factor to launching Gotham Academy and getting it off its feet with a unique flare to draw in audiences that weren’t necessarily picking up other Batman books at the time. And his presence has been missed since he left the book, without a doubt. I’ve had people tell me personally that a big reason for dropping the book when they did had to do with the change up in art. 

I’m not condemning Adam Archer here for not being Kerschl, make no mistake. What I think has truly hurt this book, however, is that Archer either chose or was directed to attempt Kerschl’s style as close as possible which comes off as not feeling natural to Adam Archer’s own talents. That’s unfair because Archer’s work is unique, fun, and lovely n its own without this attempt to mimmic a style that was less his own. I think we would have all appreciated the art more in that respect, since other guest artists between the two like Chen were better received for their issues. 

That being said the art for this issue is not bad, but it’s not great, and missing that feeling of sincerity that was connected to by so many readers before. 

Characters & Dialogue: Considering how character driven this series is, it’s fair to say that the characterization and dialogue of these new Gothamites is unquestionable. They were always well rounded, interesting, and full of intrigue, and all the way to this conclusion, that remains to be the case. The big difference here would be that because we needed to focus on Olive and Maps, the other members of the Mystery Club were less involved than I would have liked though they very much did at least get to play a part in stopping Calamity (pun intended).

The good thing about having a single team writing from the very start of the book is that we get very strong voices throughout for all of the characters, and that remained true to the very end as well. Really, the characters were the best part and it made this feel like a very deserving farewell to our Gotham Academy family. 

Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists (2017) #2 (of 6) Kaare Andrews, Afu Chan, Shelly Chen

Well, guys, never say that change isn’t real and tangible, because it almost looks like Marvel learned something from the reception of Immortal Iron Fist on Netflix and is creating a legacy from the title that shock of all shocks actually contains Asian characters for once. I know, I was stunned as well.

In all seriousness, I was super interested in this series when I first saw it with issue #1 but hadn’t bought it by the time I was doing my weekly reviews for that week. Obviously, that has since then been remedied and has left me open for a good ol’ review of the new Marvel Infinite series Immortal Iron Fists.

Story: We’re still very much in the early part set of this story, which is a combination of Danny trying to navigate the trials of adulthood while being a complete human disaster, Pei is attempting to fit in her new public school which is middle school and thus inherently filled with racist little sociopaths in training just like real life high school, and also about the two Iron Fists trying to harness all of these magic scrolls which are currently possessed by demons which increase in power each scroll before culminating into this Mega Awful Demon that is the mortal enemy of the Buddah.

So yes. Immortal Iron Fists is basically ripping off Jackie Chan Adventures and believe it or not I am absolutely fine with that, in fact I think it might be the most fine I have been with a Marvel concept in ages. It’s like making Laura Wolverine, creating Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and now this. There, I had my arm twisted and admitted there are positive things about Marvel this week.

The story itself is a very soft, even light narrative considering the complexity of Pei’s origins and even her connection to Danny, but it’s also at the same time so fitting for what I assume is the intended audience (children and YA) and especially fitting with the art that is positively adorable and awesome. 

In this issue Pei makes her first friends, learns that there is a string of missing cases, and also decides that unlike everyone else in middle school she’s not going to be a “key to a single door” but keep all her doors open and try to bridge the gap between the various cliques, who were introduced to us Mean Girls style and it was hilarious. 

It’s just a fun read overall, but it’s also a fairly quick read so given that ever high Marvel price tag it’s hard to argue with the assessment that this one could be a trade wait for a lot of you.

Art: As I mentioned before, the art is very soft, gentle, and light. The colors pop, everyone is incredibly stylized, and the action scenes are surprisingly varied and plentiful. While they’re still simple enough to read for beginning comic readers, there is a flow to them, such as the sequence where Pei gets some revenge on some bullies at school through one extended fight sequence across a panel. 

I just really enjoyed the art and I’m glad to see so much variation in comic art lately. It’s been a long time coming.

Characters & Dialogue: Pei and Danny are the focus of the comic, obviously, and they play their roles incredibly well. Danny is ... I mean, he’s Danny Rand, he’s a complete disaster of a human being trying to Adult it with an inheritance he never cared about or really earned and as such everything rolls in and catches up with him. He literally can’t teach Pei how to clean the house without tripping on soap, and I feel like that is a perfect summation of everything anyone has ever needed to know about Danny Rand. 

In contrast, Pei is a reserved little girl, fish out of water, and drowning in a culture she has no familiarity with while also harnessing power and skills beyond her years. What I find interesting and subversive about this, though, is that Pei neither yearns for normalcy nor does she completely rebel openly against Danny’s orders for her to restrain herself and act normal. It’s honestly a relief to have a character whose problems are so relatable and have her just... treat it with the actions of a kid in the moment: uncertain but trying to play everything out until she decides she doesn’t fit the necessary mold. And she’s pleased with herself for not fitting the mold. It’s honestly kind of inspiring to see that in a kid character these days. 

But the big part of this issue was arguably building up the supporting cast, including the nanny Danny has hired for Pei and most of all the kids in Pei’s school. And how there’s apparently no point to her hiding her identity as the tiniest Iron Fist. It’s well paced and all the kids, right down to their overwhelming cruelty to their surprising generosity, are definitely acting like kids.  

Dark Horse’s The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars (2017-present) Part One Michael Dante DiMartino, Irene Koh, Vivian Ng

Ah, at long last!

While I was not in on the hype for The Legend of Korra as it was airing, my appreciation for what it’s become has grown over time, and more importantly, I fnd that it provides more possibilities and more opportunity to the world of Avatar, which is always a good thing.

As such, I’ve been waiting for this comic series to come out for quite some time! ... and then had to wait longer because for Reasons we don’t get the comiXology release at the same time as the regular issue’s release in stores. Oh, Dark Horse. 

But now to get into the specifics. 

Story: It’s always difficult to gage story with just the first issue, but in all honesty I think that the fact that the TV series ended on such an open note really helps the comic in this matter. “Turf War” is an interesting name for the story, but at the same time it’s oddly blunt and fitting. There is a war erupting between the Spirit World, the human lands and property settlement, and with the ever present Republic City triad gang wars. We follow all of these through the Krew members who are exactly where we last left off with them. 

Some of the stuff that deserves a lot of attention is the cementation of Korra and Asami’s romantic relationship, which is given a good amount of page time for the first half of the book. They confess true feelings for each other, share a first kiss, have a beautiful vacation together, and we ultimately get to see Korra’s blunt and protective nature play out accordingly. She rushes in to Asami’s aid and frets over her pretty consistently, which could be seen as a callback to the series itself when, as Korra was most down, Asami cared for and nurtured her. 

We also get to see Mako and Bolin working together as partners in the Republic City police. They deal with the triads and the general unrest that has come about as a result of Spirits and Humans openly interacting again for the first time in centuries. And this honestly felt like some greatly due development for the brothers’ relationship since in the series it felt like they had grown apart without it ever being explicitly addressed in the text.

And while all this turf grabbing is happening, we also see a parallel drama being played out. And that would be the story of how Korra and Asami choose to come out to their friends, family, and even the world. As usual, Korra barrels in half cocked and not thinking of repercussions, figuring “damned if anyone judges me” whereas Asami is more thoughtful, planning, and reserved. She’s nervous about coming out to people, and she’s nervous about how boisterous Korra is being about it. 

But they haven’t communicated this detachment between their processing of the situation yet. It’s fairly obvious that a portion of Turf Wars is going to come to a head with Asami and Korra having to address being respectful of each other’s needs to come out in their own ways first. 

In any case, it was a real great start and had lots of little moments to help explain the world without acting as though the intended audience wouldn’t have some more than passing knowledge about what was coming up.

Art: One of the most widely praised and beloved aspects of The Legend of Korra from the very start had been the beauty of its animation, so much so that the same animation house got to move on to other passion projects like the current reboot of Voltron. And one of the things that makes the world of Avatar so unique is that aspect of Eastern philosophy combined with different disciplines which inspire the forms of bending in the series. And, as was pretty clearly seen before in the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, that is not something that is easy to translate into a more still and less fluid medium like comics.

And that mostly goes the same here. There’s a distinct lack of bending compared to what you would see in an episode of the show, but at the same time that isn’t to say that there isn’t a lot more than I thought there was. It simply did not have that many creative takes on what to do with the bending. No splash shots into the next panels, no using the elements to transition. The sort of things you’d expect from a comic inspired by a show which was all about the uniqueness of bending. 

Still, the comic did a fair job of keeping to the style of the series without the character art seeming stagnant and stationary which is usually a problem with cartoons that are adapted into comics. Hair in particular was treated with much more fluidity than I remember the show being able to give it. And the styles of the various nations and cultures were well designed while also fitting. 

Everything was well compositioned and especially the events which took place within the Spirit World were beautifully colored, though that came at the seeming cost of a duller color pattern used in the “normal” world. 

It’s a good start, and I’d argue it’s better than if it had tried to strictly stay to only the style of the series and not rely on the personal style of the artist. 

Characters & Dialogue: Given that this is an ensemble story and there was a limited amount of time to dedicate to each of the characters, we did not get as much individual development for the wider cast. But Korra and Asami got relatively large roles and since they and their relationship seems to be the driving force of the narrative, it worked out well for this issue. 

Korra was brash to a fault, but as always it is her conflict and emotions and her validity that moved the plot forward. For a character it is always important that her purpose and her growth be the defining force. And I think we definitely got that.

Asami on the other hand was the quieter personality, yes, but her hesitation and temperance also did a lot to build suspicion for future conflict in the relationship between her and Korra and also in just the world itself. Her perspective and her concerns are as real and as valid as Korra’s which means that our concerns for their coming out narrative are validated here, too. 

The dialogue is a bit harder to pin here, as again there aren’t many characters with specific inflections that really pop out, so we’ll have to wait for more issues to get a larger grasp on how the dialogue changes between characters.

Marvel’s Silk (2015-2017) Vol. 3: The Clone Conspiracy Robbie Thompson, Irene Strychalski, Tana Ford, Ian Herring

I can’t believe I’m having to say goodbye to so many books this week. It’s like my personal Cancellation Day, and the only prize is disappointment that more series I enjoyed aren’t coming my way. I’m supremely sad to see Silk go, as Cindy Moon is a hugely inspirational and important character both for being an Asian-American superhero with her own book and for narratively dealing with anxiety in depression. 

And it’s also extremely sad to see her go on what was mostly tie-ins to yet another endless Spider Event. I won’t be going into a full review for that reason, it just doesn’t seem fair to recap the end of the series knowing that a lot of the context for The Clone Conspiracy is not included in this book, nor should it really have been, but I do want to say to fellow Silk fans that there’s enough of Cindy and enough closure to her narrative that it will be worth your collection and time, but yeah there will be some lackluster stuff in the majority of the issues in this since it is a tie-in. 

And I hate that, I hate how much endless tie-ins have felt like they’re killing books lately. 

But Robbie Thompson was a fantastic, thoughtful, and well articulated writer throughout this series and for Silk before this series, really making her a real character where her initial introduction was... not that... ugh pheromones and gross twitter trolls. Anyway, Robbie Thompson truly made a character to love in Cindy Moon, and the two artists who contributed throughout the series -- Irene Strychalski and Tana Ford did amazing very stylized work and weren’t afraid to experiment with style and page correlation.

It was a great read and I’m going to miss it a whole lot.

DC’s Titans (2016-present) #14 Dan Abnett, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Andrew Dalhouse

Hello, world, it’s me, the Titans fan who wished upon the monkey’s paw that her favorite heroes would be restored to their former glory and that their friendship would be allowed to flourish on the page once again. And in return I got Roy’s stupid hat. 

But in truth, I’ve been fairly pleased with Titans since the very first issue in Rebirth and have felt taken aback by just how much the creative team seems to love the characters, their relationships, and their history. But now we’ve got to answer that ultimate question: a year later with those rosy tinted glasses still firmly on my face, am I starting to eep out of the honeymoon phase? Or it this book still living up to unrealistic expectations?

Story: We’re in the middle of the sleeper agent storyline and it’s probably more difficult to gage how good a story is doing by its middle than it is by its start, in all honesty. All the same, the distrust running through the Titans, the pain of conflict and second guessing each other’s friendships and so on. It’s not a bad way to flesh out the arc, and I wouldn’t say that like a lot of storylines’ mid-issues this one felt useless or flat. 

There is a definite escalation throughout the issue of how the Titans are beginning to fold in on each other, how HIVE’s master plan to destroy them from the inside may be working before we ever get confirmation about a betrayer. And the testing of the relationships among the Titans in that delicate web they weave cause everyone to trip over each other once they’re really put to the test. 

That being said, it’s still not hitting all those points perfectly. While you can see an organic build to the relationship of Lilith and Garth that’s been pretty fun and true to the characters so far, the love triangle between Wally, Donna, and Roy is something I’m pretty confident in saying no one wanted. I have seen no one say they wanted this. And weirdly it continues to put all the female characters in romantic relationships as the crux of their developments while we still have at least Dick and Gnarrk on the men’s side who don’t have to be motivated by this bull. The best part of the love triangle so far has been Donna throwing Roy and Wally both when she realizes what’s going on.

As for Dick being the sleeper agent well, I guess it’s one of those... shoulda seen it coming because of course we have Dick involved with another covert secret underground all powerful world corrupting group in another book. I don’t know why I was expecting different. But at least in the defense of Titans, it does feel like a good call back to the original New Teen Titans storyline with the cult of Brother Blood where similar happened and it was Dick again. 

People just really like mindfucking with Dick, there’s not really much else to say about it. 

Art: Ever since Brett Booth first appeared on my radar I’ve been fairly critical of him as an artist. His style was never really my taste, but he’s proven again and again on Titans to really pull some variation in body types and physicality that I hadn’t seen on his previous works. I like that the guys all have different body types and that the girls’ costumes and personality are reflections of themselves. 

That being said, we still have a problem of Sameface with the girls at the very least, where honestly some panels the only difference between Donna and Lilith is hair color. But the colors are vibrant and the panels are all full of details, no space wasted.

Which is both a compliment and a criticism since, to be frank, the absolute refusal to have any normal panels basically gives us the opposite of my criticism of Turf Wars which is that there seems to be no real complexity because of the constant unstable panel work. 

This is the comic book equivalent of shooting every scene in a movie with dutch angles. There’s no dramatic or narrative reason to have these panels slanted and all over the place, but every panel will be that way. Even panels where we’re literally reading the characters talking about pizza. 

It gives us no real change between action sequences and normal sequences so it’s just kind of boring in spite of the dynamic panels. Which I’m pretty sure is the opposite of what they wanted.

Characters & Dialogue: If it wasn’t clear in the story portion, I’m not a fan of how when it comes to individual character development, we have conveniently gotten all three of our female heroes into romantic subplots with at least one (now possibly two? if we’re hinting at Tula like I think we are) love triangles in the mix. It just feels like it’s 2017 and we should be beyond that sort of “what kind of subplot do we give the girls? love I guess”

That being said, it’s really been amazing to me, personally, to see just how good this comic continues to be at making these characters feel like the ones we knew and loved prior to the New52. Not exact, not perfect, but pretty close to the preferences for each of the characters as we can get with the current character histories being what they are. Like, personally, I’m much more enthusiastic about Dick and Wally in this book than I am about them in Nightwing and The Flash because it just feels like them, Wally’s current romantic entanglements aside. 

Still, it’s a fun book and for what it lacks with some characterization quirks it always tends to make up for later in the story so for the current storyline I’m willing to wait a touch longer.

IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One (2016-2017) #12 Mairghread Scott, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Joana Lafuente

Wow. Another one of my favorite ongoings is ending today and I’m starting to worry it’s me. I hope I’m not actually the kiss of death to these comics because, full stop, Windblade and Till All Are One have been some of the most enjoyable comics I’ve read in the last several years and there’s probably no comic getting canceled this year that makes me sadder than this one. 

So, how does Till All Are One leave us?

Story: Mairghread Scott has absolutely blown me away over the last year with her comics and just her obvious, obvious love and understanding of the expansive Transformers universe. Her world building has spanned over several series now and her character work has truly been put to task by having to stand up against fan favorite TF writers like John Barber and James Roberts. And I think nothing has proved her talents more than Till All Are One, where all that build up and all that character work is allowed to at long las come to fruition. 

This conclusion could have been use to tease us with the ideas and storylines that Scott obviously had planned (and if people are curious I really encourage you to look up the storylines she had planned and posted to her tumblr), but Scott instead made this a solid ending and a celebration of the comic she was allowed to make. And much like Gotham Academy, she did so by bringing it back home to the characters which have driven the series the most: Windblade and Starscream.

The tumultuous relationship between the two same yet so very different jets has been something that I’ve adored watching play out. Their distrust of each other, their manipulations, their political games, and ultimately their teamwork for the greater good. It’s been fascinating and also has put me on the edge of my seat. 

There is nothing more uncharacteristic, nothing more selfless than what Starscream did by putting his own life at risk in order to save Windblade, and the fact that Windblade at last got the confirmation she’s desired about Starscream’s true self feels like a great resolution to all the buildup over the years. This is a very triumphant ending, to the point that 80s Business Woman style Windblade ended by strutting out the door. 

I sincerely hope we are going to be blessed with more of Scott’s signature Transformers writing in the IDW’verse and I desperately hope that this is not the end of Windblade who has quickly risen as one of my favorite Transformers. 

Art: The majority of the artists on the Transformers titles for IDW are honestly so good and so amazing that I barely know what even to say about the art. The art standard for bringing these robotic transforming cars with heart is so high that it leaves one baffled when it comes to what’s left to say about them, any of them. And even with that standard, Sara Pitre-Durocher manages to amaze me.

Of the Transformers artists I would say her style serves to be the most sleak and the most expressive. Theres not necessarily any time where you think of the Transformers as being “soft” or “pliable” -- they’re still metal and wires with all the complexity therein -- but there’s a believability to the phrase “living metal” that doesn’t always come across in some other artist’s work where the bulk and construction of the Transformers seems more prominent than their expressionism and agility. 

The fact that this book gets to at least end with having had consistently amazing art throughout is a highlight and why I think it’s going to be one of the titles returned to the most fondly of the IDW’verse.

Characters & Dialogue: Starscream’s duplicity is his most iconic character trait, of course, and I’ll be the first to say I’m sort of worn out with classic villains being “reexamined” and given redemptions and whatnot these days, but I love how malicious and cruel Starscream has remained in this series while simultaneously showing us and himself through Windblade and Till All Are One the kind of character he could aspire to be (hello Armada allusions) and therefore making it more frustrating and even tragic when he boldly makes the decision to be the opposite of his own potential. 

Windblade on the other hand has grown as a character since we first met her. Her naivety and pure intentions have been warped and she now understands how to play the game of politics, but also what it costs -- her honesty, her friends, her belief system. And she was willing to sacrifice herself despite learning all of that -- she was willing to put herself in mortal danger knowing that it wasn’t a perfect, harmonious society she was doing it for but a deeply flawed one. And the fact that she ultimately survived and is now capable of moving forward for herself with the new ambition of being open and speaking for herself more than being a figuehead or politician feels like an arc that was built up to through all this time and yet at the same time was something surprising and unexpected.

Other characters didn’t really play much of a significant role in this ending, which puts it like a lot of the other story bookends this week where a large cast doesn’t really get to close out with homage to the majority of those characters. But this felt more solid, at least to me, because of the wisdom Scott had in using the last several issues to bring the focus in particular to Starscream’s POV and then building up to Windblade’s. It feels like what loose ends for other characters are left are left in ways that are going to be easily picked up by another book or by another creative team entirely rather than everything simply being cut off. 

Just an awesome book and I’m so sorry to see it come to an end.

It’s another difficult pick of the week but for me, I absolutely have to give this one to Transformers: Till All Are One. It’s one of my favorite series in a long time and it ended on a resolution that made me honestly puff up with pride for the main characters. It’s a comic which embraces history of its franchise while growing it, a comic that embraces questions of politics, identity, gender, sexuality, and more. It’s been a beautiful ride and I wish the best to the entire creative team.

But I thought all the comics were great this week and highly recommend you check them out! Of course I’d love to hear back from you -- agree with me? Disagree? Think I missed any comics I should’ve picked up? I’d love to hear from you.

Before you go, however, I need to share that I am in a bit of a financial crunch for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being the medical bills I’m paying for my dog, Eve, who experienced a catastrophic dog fight and underwent surgery just yesterday actually. 

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content. 

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

RenaRoo Patreon

RenaRoo PayPal

[thesportssoundoff]

“So Sup Mexico? We got a show for ya” A UFC Fight Night from Mexico

It's the LAST show for a good long while (unless you consider McGregor/Mayweather to be a show or the DWTCS stuff or the meh Bellator card a few weeks from now) so we might as well belly up to the UFC bar for one more shot before closing time. The UFC's advances into Mexico have been hit or miss (Cain Velasquez falling apart hurts) but they're back in Mexico!  This is the usual "card after a major show" where they roll out whatever they have to get by after a big week. This is not a good/great card but it is a vital card towards trying to figure out what's to come for the UFC's tryst in Latin America. It's got a really vital powerful headliner in Brandon Moreno vs Sergio Pettis where the winner is almost destined to get a title shot. The co-main event is a solid enough fight pitting Alexa Grasso coming off her first loss vs a surging Randa Markos who just upset former champ Carla Esparza. Rashad Evans gets a "Yo who thought this was a good idea?" fight vs Sam Alvey in his 2nd bout at middleweight PLUS a collection of Latin American prospects getting fights to measure their progression. Also hidden in there is an AWESOME welterweight clash as Alan Jouban faces Niko Price who has come out of nowhere to become quite a find at 170 lbs. Is it a good card? Not really BUT if you want to see the sport grow, it's one well worth the investment in time.

Fights: 12

Debuts:  3 (Joseph Morales, Humberto Bandenay, Roberto Sanchez)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 2 (Zhabit Magomedsharipof vs Hacran Dias cancelled/Chris Greutzmacher OUT, Humberto Bandenay IN vs Martin Bravo)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 3 (Rashad Evans, Alexa Grasso, Alan Jouban)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  3 (Sam Alvey, Rashad Evans, Henry Briones)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 4 (Sergio Pettis, Brandon Moreno, Jose Quinonez, Hector Sandoval)

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 21-20)- Joseph Morales, Roberto Sanchez, Humberto Bandenay

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 16-21)- Humberto Bandenay

Second Fight (Current number: 22-23)-  Andre Soukhamthath, Martin Bravo

Cage Corrosion (7-4)- Diego Rivas, Jordan Rinaldi

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Brandon Moreno vs Sergio Pettis is a tremendous fight on its own merit; the continued development of the younger Pettis brother clashing against an out of nowhere find from Mexico who has the ability to end a fight in a moment's notice. Whereas Sergio Pettis has had this really slow, really frustrating ride to this spot, Brandon Moreno burst on the scene and has rapidly risen up the ranks. Each fight he shows something new in his game which when combined with his tremendous athletic upside and his personality creates for SOMETHING different at a division begging for different. Can he beat Mighty Mouse? Maybe not BUT of all the challengers at 125 lbs, Moreno is the one who will generate the MOST buzz---outside of Sergio Pettis. Sergio Pettis has been hyped since the day he followed Anthony's steps into MMA, each performance scrutinized heavily. The fun thing is that while Anthony Pettis has taken steps backwards, Sergio has improved with each fight. He's the sort of guy who got pushed into the UTC too quickly and then had to learn on the job against fighters who were more experienced and well rounded than he was. Since then, he's taken massive strides even if it's been against so-so competition. So whether you love the flyweights or hate the flyweights, this is QUITE the main event.

2- Now having said all of that-----has Dana White's hatred of the champ and the potential removal of the 125 lb division dampened your excitement for this fight?

3- How big would it be if Brandon Moreno fought Mighty Mouse for the title in Mexico? Could do that on FS1 and pop a good number.

4- Rashad Evans vs Sam Alvey is a really weird kind of fight. Rashad's seemingly endless losing streak recently is somewhat overstated. Since the Jones fight, he's 2-4 with two of those losses being weird split decisions where he simply didn't pull the trigger. The other two were to fights where you kind of expected him to lose (Ryan Bader after a three year layoff and Glover Teix in a fight where he probably had no chance). Rashad's quick in spurts, aggressive in spurts, wrestles in spurts etc etc etc. Sam Alvey is the sort of guy who can take advantage of how beat up Rashad is---but he's also the sort of dude who can engage in a three round staring contest where Rashad's quick jab could carry him to a decision. It's a scary, scary fight though  for a dude who has had health scares in the past.

5- Alexa Grasso's last fight was frustrating for all sorts of reasons. It was a winnable fight, a fair challenge for her as she progressed up her career. The problem was she never got going against Felice Herrig, slept through two rounds and then started to get going way late in the third round. She's got Randa Markos; a hyper aggressive fighter who pushes forward and struggles with her striking. If Grasso is going to sleep walk, she's going to drop to 1-2 in the UFC because Markos is one of those fighters who can win close rounds on aggression and pressure alone.

6- Niko Price was one of a few fighters busted for pot by the Texas state Athletic Commission in his last fight and in turn, it probably cost him a bigger step up in the ranks. Thus far Price has finished both of his UFC fights and looked impressive each time out. He's got high upside in a divvision searching for new names and faces.

7- Brad Scott vs Jack Hermansson is such a weird fight for this card. It pits a Swede vs a Brit in Mexico when it would probably be challenging for a main card spot on a Fight Night from Europe. In truth, it's a pretty gritty fight between two brawler mauler types; Hermansson the bigger more versatile fighter while Brad Scott is a competent middleweight scrapper who tends to alternate between wins and losses.

8- Hector Sandoval was one of those guys who didn't get the call for TUF Flyweights (he had lost the Tachi Palace flyweight title) but has quickly proven his worth in the organization since getting choked out by Wilson Reis on short notice. He gets the stereotypical measuring stick fight in Dustin Ortiz. Worth noting that Ortiz has either lost to guys who have fought for the title (Reis, Benavidez and Moraga) or guys who are continuous #1 contender types (Moraga and Jussier Formiga).

9- One last note on the flyweight discussion; Team Alpha Male prospect and Cynthia Cavillo shout out-ee Joseph Morales makes his UFC debut off a Looking For A Fight set up. Morales faces RFA's Roberto Sanchez in another great flyweight clash, this one on Fight Pass.

10- Should Rashad Evans retire, win or lose?

11- Is Peru about to upset another TUF Latin America by beating prospect and TUF winner Martin Bravo?

12- For all of y'all who don't follow UFC's Latin America projects and don't know who is who:

Martin Bravo- Won TUF LAM 3, talented striker who goes to the body frequently and has solid cardio.

Diego Rivas- Really raw guy who is more athlete than fighter, explosive-y dude coming off a massive finish over Noad Lahat. Had a battle with cancer which has kept him out a long while.

Alejandro Perez- Chinny sort of scrambler/grinder who trains with AKA. Kind of sort of a not good fighter.

Henry Briones- A big cardio kind of guy with power in his hands, coming off two losses to good competition. Kind of limited athletically.

Jose Quinones- Showed serious strides since losing the TUF Latin America finals vs Alejandro Perez. Awkward striker who has a developing ground game and seriously squirrely ground and pound. Probably too reckless to progress up further.

Alvaro Herrera- TUF LAM 2 guy with power in his hands, suspect cardio and not much of a ground game.

Must Wins

1- Brandon Moreno

I don't mean this lightly. Brandon Moreno being a hit could be one of the few ways you keep the flyweight division around. He's a tremendous story and a great fighter, the sort of guy who can make a division special even if it's JUST as a rival for Mighty Mouse. Sergio Pettis is not an impossible out but he's a good tough fighter with a good camp behind him.

2-  Rashad Evans

There's simply no way for Rashad Evans to continue his career in the UFC with another loss. Sam Alvey is pretty much the VERY, VERY last top 20 MW or so that Evans could beat. It's the kind of guy Evans in his prime would have no problem stopping. Now we're waiting to determine if Evans can beat a guy he would've swamped in his prime. Life is weird sometimes.

3- Hector Sandoval

Another flyweight who could shake things up at 125 lbs. Dustin Ortiz is not an easy out, he's a guy who has only lost to the "elites" of the division. As such, a win from Sandoval would go a long way towards stamping his ticket towards the top 10 of 125 lbs.

Five Fights You Shouldn't Miss

1- Brandon Moreno vs Sergio Pettis

I mean it's the main event. Beyond that, there are so many wacky variables and sub plots in this fight that could turn this into a total shitshow in a good way. Both guys are headlining in the UFC for the first time, it's high altitude in Mexico City,  Pettis' style of controlled outbursts vs Moreno's wacky as shit scrambling game, potential title shot on the line, a rabid Mexico crowd.

2- Alan Jouban vs Niko Price

Jouban is never in a boring fight and more often than not, he's in the "finish or get finished" discussion. Niko Price has finished both UFC fights and looked good each time out. Both guys are susceptible to getting hurt on the feet and we still haven't seen if Price's cardio can last into the third round.

3- Alexa Grasso vs  Randa Markos

Even though there's a very slim chance we'll get a finish here, Grasso is more action than not and Markos is a relentless pressure fighter who pushes a pace.

4- Jack Marshmann vs Brad Scott

This has fifteen minute wacky slopfest all over it unless Marshmann scores an early sub.

5- Jose Quinones vs Diego Rivas

Anytime two TUF LAM guys get in there, you can almost bet you're about to get a wild as fuck squabble.

[tonyduncanbb73]

The Ultimate Guide to 2019 Restaurant Openings Around Boston

It’s going to be a good year for food halls, French food, and exciting new projects from familiar faces

2019 is already looking to be a particularly active time in Boston’s restaurant scene, for better or worse — the early weeks of the year, and the final days of 2018, saw what felt like an unusually high number of restaurant closures, including a number of mainstays. But there have been lots of openings, too, with many more on the horizon: The bubble keeps growing.

Below, take a look at some of the most anticipated restaurant openings of 2019, a year that’s looking good for French food, Italian food, and beer, in particular. There will also be glimpses of Cuban, Filipino, and Mexican food — and lots more.

2019 is all about new projects from familiar faces — expansions of local brands as well as brand new concepts from big-name chefs. And don’t forget about food halls. It’s arguably just a fancy term for a food court, but whatever you call them, several are coming this year and next.

In terms of geography, perhaps unsurprisingly, the rapidly developing Seaport District is poised to welcome quite a few new spots this year; more surprisingly, they’re actually from local owners, an exciting development in a neighborhood that has seemed more like a magnet for big out-of-town chains lately. Outside of the Seaport, diners in Dorchester and Cambridge’s Porter Square may have a pretty good year, and farther out, Medford’s also looking lucky in 2019.

Read on to learn more about many of the upcoming restaurant openings within Boston and nearby. (Note: As always, opening timelines are rough estimates and often change. Stay tuned for updates as the year progresses.)

New Projects From Familiar Faces

Sarah Storrer/Eater

Meatballs — already award-winning — from the just-opened Tony & Elaine’s (sibling to Ward 8, Bodega Canal, and North Square Oyster)

First, the rundown on a few spots that already opened within the first few weeks of the year:

Karen Akunowicz is already a familiar face in the Boston restaurant scene (and beyond), even though her brand new restaurant, Fox & the Knife (28 W. Broadway, South Boston), is her first time as a founder/owner. Previously the longtime executive chef at Myers + Chang (where she eventually became a partner, too), she is also a James Beard winner, a Top Chef alum, and a cookbook author. Her new spot, which opened in early February, is an Italian-inspired enoteca, located in the former Maiden space in Southie, where she draws on the skills she learned studying pasta-making during a year in Modena, Italy.

Michael Scelfo has opened his attractive follow-up to Alden & Harlow and Waypoint: the Longfellow Bar (40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge), located in the former Cafe Algiers space above Alden & Harlow. There are fancy finger foods and bar snacks, such as cotechino pigs in a blanket, crab rangoon “nachos,” and burgers, as well as creative cocktails. Diners are encouraged to forego utensils and get messy.

Loic Le Garrec and Sandrine Rossi are behind South End hit Frenchie (Le Garrec also owns Petit Robert Bistro), and in early February, they opened a French restaurant on the other side of the river — Colette, located on the ground floor of the Porter Square Hotel (1924 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge). Cyrille Couet, an alum of Miel and co-owner of the now-shuttered Bistro Duet, is opening chef.

René Becker closed his Cambridge restaurant Shepard (1 Shepard St.) on New Year’s Eve and quickly reopened it as Luce, an Italian restaurant with more of a casual vibe and a menu of pizza, pasta, and more. Other members of the Shepard team are still onboard, including chef Scott Jones, beverage director Nic Mansur, and general manager Ben Weisberger.

Nick Frattaroli has added to his North End empire (Ward 8, North Square Oyster, Bodega Canal) with Tony & Elaine’s (111 N. Washington St., Boston), located in the former Amici space. The name refers to Frattaroli’s parents, who both spent years working at restaurants in the neighborhood, and the restaurant pays homage to classic red-sauce Italian joints while still having the young, modern vibe of Frattaroli’s other restaurants.

In other North End news, the spirit of the popular Carmen Trattoria, which closed in the neighborhood in mid-2016, lives on at Jeff Malloy’s new restaurant, La Cucina, at Somerville’s Assembly Row (400 Assembly Row). The restaurant serves pasta, flatbreads, and more, and the decor nods to the neighborhood’s automative history.

And here’s what’s still to come:

Tiffani Faison and Kelly Walsh will continue to build a Fenway empire in 2019. They’re already behind a Boylston Street trio — barbecue joint Sweet Cheeks, Southeast Asia-inspired Tiger Mama, and standing-room-only “adult snack bar” Fool’s Errand — and will add a fourth restaurant steps away. Orfano, an Italian restaurant, will join Nathálie Wine Bar in the Pierce Boston building (188 Brookline Ave., Boston) in summer 2019.

Nancy and Tim Cushman — the wife-and-husband duo behind acclaimed sushi destination O Ya, as well as Fenway’s fun izakaya Hojoko and several New York City restaurants — have a mystery project brewing at the Street in Chestnut Hill. They’ve referred to it as a “neighborhood” restaurant and said that it will open in 2019, but they haven’t shared any additional details yet. They’re also opening two spots at forthcoming Fenway food hall Time Out Market; jump to the “food halls” section below for more on that. (Tony Maws, Michael Schlow, Peter Ungár, and more will also be opening restaurants at the market.)

Michael Serpa, the longtime Neptune Oyster alum who left to open Select Oyster Bar in Back Bay a few years ago, is working on a Select sequel with his team. Grand Tour, named for European cycling races, will be a Parisian bistro located at 314 Newbury St., Boston, right around the corner from Select. Opening around fall 2019, it’ll be a two-story space with 50 seats and a seasonal patio. “I really just wanted to open a place that has a legit steak frites,” Serpa said. “It’s one of my favorite things to eat — simple, delicious, not fancy. I love a good steak frites.”

Bronwyn and Tim Wiechmann — of Bronwyn in Somerville’s Union Square, as well as the now-defunct T.W. Food and Playska — will open a 50-seat cocktail bar and wood-fired pizzeria steps from Bronwyn around May or June 2019. T and B Pizza will be located at 251 Washington St. in the heart of Union Square.

Chris Parsons — who was behind now-closed Winchester restaurants Catch and Parsons Table and was later a partner and opening chef at Steel & Rye in Milton (he’s no longer involved) — is opening a fried chicken restaurant, Lily P’s, in winter or spring 2019 inside the Genzyme headquarters in Kendall Square (50 Binney St., Cambridge). The fairly large restaurant (close to 200 seats) will also host live music, and there will be a patio. Parsons might also be behind a forthcoming restaurant called the Oyster Club, slated to take over the former Doretta Taverna space at 79 Park Plaza in Boston.

Chef and occasional Eater Boston contributor Steve “Nookie” Postal (Commonwealth) and Liza Shirazi (Crema Cafe) have recently opened two locations of their new cafe, Revival (Alewife and Davis). But keep an eye out for more from them in 2019: They’re also opening a lobby kiosk version of Revival at One Post Office Square in downtown Boston (and an employees-only cafeteria in the building), and they have other plans percolating as well. Mothership is still in the works in Alewife, for example. The early word was that it’d be a beer hall, but as of December 2018, the team “still need[s] to work out exactly what it is first, and then it will happen,” per Postal’s most recent Eater dispatch.

Brothers Alvaro and Andres Sandoval, who are behind the popular Tenoch food trucks and fast-casual Mexican restaurants, will open a full-service restaurant and tequila bar at some point this year, El Tacuba, right in Medford Square (35 Salem St.)

Over in Chelsea, Ciao Pizza & Pasta owners Edson Coimbra and Marvin Posada have been working on a new project in a nearby space for quite some time: Winnisimmet Lounge (73 Winnisimmet St.), where they’ll serve piattini (small plates), with a full bar. Construction is well underway, and it could open around late March.

New Locations for Familiar Projects

Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

Loukoumades from Greco, expanding from Back Bay to the Seaport District this year

Here’s a look at some of the upcoming expansions of existing Boston-area restaurants:

Gustazo, a Cuban restaurant in Waltham, will expand to the sizable former Elephant Walk space in Cambridge’s Porter Square (2067 Massachusetts Ave.). Backbar’s Sam Treadway is designing the cocktail menu. Hiring is underway; the restaurant will likely open early this year.

Paris Creperie, a casual crepe mainstay in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner, is opening up an enhanced location — complete with a cordial-based cocktail list designed by local cocktail personality Brother Cleve — in Boston’s Seaport District in 2019 (60 Seaport Blvd.). It’ll be in the same building as Tuscan Kitchen and the Grand.

Also expanding to the Seaport is Back Bay’s Greco, a fast-casual Greek spot with ties to Committee. Like the original location, Greco Seaport (which will be located in the Pier 4 office building) will serve gyros, loukoumades, and more; unlike its older sibling, it will also serve wines and imported Greek beers.

And that’s not all for Pier 4: Woods Hill Table out in Concord is coming to the Seaport District as well. Kristin Canty’s farm-to-table restaurant is currently slated for a late 2019 opening, likely around October or November.

Popular Jamaica Plain taqueria Chilacates has loads of expansion in the works, with brand new locations in Chestnut Hill and Mission Hill that each opened in early February and other outposts coming soon to the South End and Roslindale. The South End location could open in mid-February.

A&B Burgers, a full-service restaurant up in Beverly that focuses on burgers and has a full bar, is expanding to Boston’s West End — at the Beverly, 101 Beverly St. Expect cocktails, milkshakes, and more.

One of several pieces of good news for Medford in 2019: The Porch, previously located in Wakefield, will open in a large space at 100 Rivers Edge Dr., featuring Southern food, live music, a retail section, and a patio. It’ll likely open in the second half of the year; as of January, construction was scheduled to be completed in early June.

See the “food halls” section below for more details on the forthcoming Fenway food hall Time Out Market, but Anoush’ella and Union Square Donuts are both expanding there.

Another magnet for new outposts of local restaurants: Logan Airport. The airport is getting satellite locations of tons of Boston-area classics this year, including Shōjō, Santarpio’s Pizza, Sullivan’s, Saloniki, Alta Strada, Monument Restaurant & Tavern, Trade, Tico, Not Your Average Joe’s, B. Good, Mija Cantina & Tequila Bar, Tasty Burger, Monica’s Mercato, Temazcal Tequila Cantina, and (Portland-based) Otto Pizza.

Beer Here

Night Shift Brewing [Official Photo]

The future home of Night Shift Brewing at Lovejoy Wharf

First, the existing breweries that are expanding to new locations:

Popular Everett brewery Night Shift, which has also operated seasonal beer gardens (dubbed the Owl’s Nest) in Cambridge and Allston, is opening a huge new brewery at Lovejoy Wharf in Boston’s West End (1 Lovejoy Wharf, Suite 101) in early 2019. It will feature a taproom, an all-day coffee bar, season outdoor space (which will be dog-friendly), a full kitchen, and more.

Boston Beer Company is building a new taproom for its historically named Samuel Adams brand, right in one of Boston’s most history-filled areas, the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. It will take over the former Hillstone space at 60 State St. The original brewery (and fairly new taproom) will remain in operation in Jamaica Plain as well.

Framingham favorite Jack’s Abby is opening a taproom, Track Zero, inside Boston’s North Station, transforming an existing bar. As such, it’s a gradual transition, but stay tuned for a full official debut. Ultimately there were will be 10 taps of beers from Jack’s Abby and its offshoot, Springdale.

Chelsea’s Mystic Brewery is expanding to Malden (11 Charles St.), allowing the growing brewery to increase its output from 3,000 barrels a year up to as many as 20,000. The new space will be both a brewery and a taproom, with indoor and outdoor seating, room for food trucks, and potentially a cheese counter (think cheese plates, charcuterie, and grilled cheese.) Once the Malden facility is open, the Chelsea one will remain in operation in some capacity — it may continue to be a public-facing taproom, or it may just be production space.

And keep an eye out for these brand new breweries as well. (Note: For weekly beer-related updates, bookmark this page.)

Mystic Brewery isn’t the only forthcoming beer development in Malden: A brewpub called Faces — with ties to the defunct Lanes & Games as well as Faces nightclub — will open at 50 Pleasant St. Construction began in late January.

Plans for Brato Brewhouse & Kitchen have long been in the works; while the brewery and restaurant are being constructed in Brighton, near Boston Landing, the team continues to pop up frequently at events and locations around the Boston area, serving sausages, grilled cheese, and more.

Construction is underway for Distraction Brewing Company, opening in Roslindale at 2 Belgrade Ave. A few of its early beers will include Hoppily Distracted, “a smooth, hazy citrus explosion with hints of peach and tropical fruit”; Bank on Brown, “a malty, subtly sweet brown ale”; and RoslinPale, an “easy-drinking but full-flavored pale ale with a crisp, clean finish.”

Brothers Ralph and Vito Bruno, behind Boston Winery in Dorchester, are working on opening a brewery right next door, Bruno’s Brewery. The plan is to start with seven or eight beers, only available onsite, although the Brunos may explore distribution at some point. There will be a New England IPA, a porter, a stout, and more.

BearMoose Brewing Company is under construction in Everett (1934 Revere Beach Pkwy.) — and it’ll include Deep Cuts Deli, a sandwich-and-music-loving business that has been popping up around the Boston area since summer 2018.

And further outside of the city, there are quite a few more breweries and taprooms in the works for 2019.

Out-of-Towners With Expansion Plans

Taiyaki/Facebook

Taiyaki cones

New York’s Milk Bar and DC’s &pizza already arrived, opening together in Harvard Square in early February, but a number of other out-of-town chains are on the verge of opening in the area, including:

Bucktown Chicken & Fish: Bucktown in Providence is a counter-service operation focusing on Southern comfort food, including fried chicken. The Boston location — 1522 Tremont St., Mission Hill — won’t be exactly the same, with a little more space and an expanded menu, service, and beverage program, plus more seafood.

Double Zero: A vegan pizzeria from New York. It could open around spring 2019 at 163 Newbury St. in Boston’s Back Bay.

Falafel Inc.: It’s been taking a while, but DC’s Falafel Inc. is supposed to expand to Kendall Square at some point. The restaurant aims to help feed refugees and help refugees open franchises. Stay tuned for updates.

Poke Burri: The poke wave continues with an Atlanta-based spot that serves sushi “doughnuts,” sushi “pizza,” sushi “corn dogs,” and more. The company hasn’t yet revealed an address or opening timeline for its forthcoming Boston location.

Taiyaki NYC: Unicorn soft serve in fish-shaped cones. Taiyaki is slated to open in the Seaport District — 121 Seaport Blvd. — around spring 2019.

Tsurutontan: With locations in New York and Hawaii but roots in Japan, this growing chain showcases udon. It will be in the Hotel Commonwealth at 500 Commonwealth Ave.

Veggie Grill: This casual West Coast vegan chain has lots of expansion in mind, starting with a Harvard Square location that should be opening around spring 2019 at 57 JFK St.

Zuma: The London-based Japanese chain has locations all around the world. The Boston outpost will open at the One Dalton building in Back Bay in the spring.

And a few out-of-towners that already have Boston-area outposts are continuing their local expansion:

Gyu-Kaku: The California-based Japanese barbecue chain has hundreds of locations, including ones in Brookline and Cambridge. The new one will be at Boston South Bay in Dorchester.

Midici: This Neapolitan pizza chain, which is based in California, opened its first New England location at Somerville’s Assembly Row in early 2018. Like Gyu-Kaku, it’s expanding to Boston South Bay.

Totto Ramen: The New York-based ramen chain already has locations in Allston and at Somerville’s Assembly Row; like Gyu-Kaku and Midici, it’s headed for Boston South Bay.

Food Halls

Elkus Manfredi Architects

Rendering of Time Out Market Boston

There are multiple food halls slated to open in 2019 and beyond; get the full rundown here. Possibly appearing first: Time Out Market, heading toward a spring opening at 401 Park in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood. The food hall has already announced some of its vendors, including Tony Maws (Craigie on Main, the Kirkland Tap & Trotter), who will be serving variations on the popular Craigie burger; Tim and Nancy Cushman (O Ya, Hojoko, and a forthcoming Chestnut Hill project), who will have two kitchens at Time Out Market, featuring a blend of Japanese foods inspired by both O Ya and Hojoko; and more.

Bakeries and Cafes

Terrence B. Doyle/Eater

Union Square Donuts’ maple bacon doughnut

First, the expansions of existing local brands:

Blackbird Doughnuts: With locations in the South End, Fenway, and Harvard Square, Blackbird is expanding to Brighton next, opening soon at 100 Holton St. The sizable location will include production space as well as a storefront.

Tatte Bakery & Cafe: This local cafe chain has experienced explosive growth over the last year or so. Coming up next: a second downtown Boston location, the 12th Tatte. It’ll be at One Boston Place (201 Washington St.) and should open in March. The first downtown location debuted in January.

Union Square Donuts: The Somerville-based doughnut shop, which also has locations in Boston Public Market and Brookline, will be part of the forthcoming Time Out Market in Fenway (see the food halls section above.)

And a few newbies:

Goldilox Bagels: Coming soon to Medford (186 Winthrop St.), Goldilox Bagels will serve bagels on their own and in a variety of embellished forms — pizza bagels, egg and cheese sandwiches, bagel Benedict, and more.

Popover King: Slated to open at 74 Canal St. in Boston’s West End, Popover King will serve a variety of sweet and savory popovers, as well as breads, pastries, sides, local coffee, and more. The company is currently seeking investors. The buildout is already complete, and Popover King could open in the second quarter of 2019.

Vinal Bakery: Born as a pop-up inside Bagelsaurus, Vinal Bakery is getting its own space in Somerville’s Union Square this spring (222 Somerville Ave., the former Pizza Palace space near Bantam Cider). Expect to find English muffins and other New England-inspired baked goods.

This is not an exhaustive list of every expected 2019 restaurant opening in the Boston area — just a sampling of exciting spots to watch for. Keep an eye on Eater Boston’s restaurant opening news here; join the Eater Boston Facebook group to chat about all things Boston food; sign up for the newsletter (below) for weekday digests of the day’s top news; and email tips to boston@eater.com if there’s an upcoming opening that should be on our radar.

[doodlewash]

My name is James Nyika and I’m originally from Nairobi, Kenya in East Africa (currently residing in Maryland). Many years ago in my teenage years, I recall pouring myself into watercolor artwork in a way that I could neither explain nor resist. I had initially discovered great works of art at the British Council Library in Nairobi – a (possibly) embassy funded public library in the heart of that city that sought to help Kenyans hoping to study abroad in the ways of the British and American universities.

Some of the works I recall vividly include Constable’s “Hay Wain”, Vermeer’s ‘View of Delft’ and Caravaggio’s ‘Calling of St. Matthew’. All these works, while not watercolors, had one common thread – unbelievable light treatment and eye-popping color and realism. Watercolor however, offered a very different treatment of the same material when I could find it.

These were, after all, the days before the internet and all I could find were a few watercolor books with the works of the watercolor giants. But they were amazing. I wanted to be that person, who could produce the same kind of work.

In about 2012, I was looking for a hobby that I could take up that I was going to fully apply myself to. I remember my excitement at discovering watercolor in my youth and decided to explore it further.

A few searches on the internet revealed amazing bodies of work by my favorites such as Sargeant, Alvaro Castagnet, Herman Pekel, Joseph Zbukvic, Eugen Chisnecean, Keiko Tanabe and David Taylor. Keiko Tanabe’s story was particularly poignant because it illustrated that it was possible to transition from a busy employee role to a full time artist career. So I leapt into my new hobby and I have never turned back.

Energized and determined, I started painting in earnest in 2013. I could afford better materials and I was wiser about the need to set up a schedule in order to truly improve along the trajectory that I wanted. So as not to lose my momentum, I chose to focus very narrowly on subjects that interested me and that I would not open to judgement, not from anyone else, including myself. I schedule 1 painting a week and when possible at least 2. Each painting was done on a quarter sheet (larger sheets were too intimidating).

Each painting session had a few crucial rules

(Most important) No matter how dire it seems, you are not allowed to leave it unfinished.

No painting was to be discarded, no matter how much I did not like it.

Each painting should take no more than 1 hour.

Each painting focused on a theme, or specific lesson I wanted to work on.

Progress was slow and sometimes it still feels that way. I bought almost all the DVD video lessons from the greats mentioned prior and I would watch them repeatedly, listening for new details each time – while I did the dishes! To my complete and utter surprise, the painting improved. Since then, I have sold many paintings, received commissions and am now trying to broaden the knowledge of the work.

My Subjects

I consider myself an impressionist landscape painter. My goal is to render one perspective of any reference scene I want to paint. It is only an interpretation but one I hope others share and like. I also like technical subjects such as aircraft and, in recent weeks, I started painting more and more airplanes at the most exciting moments of flight. I have found that there is a great response to these and if enough people want a workshop, I might arrange one.

My Process

I begin by capturing reference material – photos mainly using my camera and from travels. I will then perform preliminary sketches and print out grayscales to better see values but not always. These days I can see the value changes quite well. I then decide what my focal point will be and then work the painting from light to dark, back to front.

I usually try to finish a painting in 3 washes. First the underpainting, a light series of washes to set the main chromatic hue of the painting and underlying colors. The second wash fills in shadows and darker tones and values. The third wave is really about using dry technique  and vibrant color to recapture highlights and create interest.

Challenges I Face

The most difficult things for me are:

Remembering and sticking to having a focal point. Cannot tell you how serious this can be.

Remembering to let the water do the work for you. It is watercolor after all.

Avoiding flat dead color – There is no such thing as a flat color, even in nature. The light will vary the hue. Shouldn’t you?

Returning to basics – review your color wheel every so often. Repaint basic scenes again and again to (re)discover a principle you forgot.

Managing Fear. This will never go away. Learn to recognize it and put it back in the box.

Materials I Use

Paints: Sennelier Professional Watercolor Paints (they activate easier than any other in the industry). For some esoteric colors, I use Holbein (Cobalt Turquoise, Lavender, Pyrol Red) or Daniel Smith’s Perylene Maroon.

My base palette: Ultramarine Blue, Royal Blue (sennelier color), Neutral Tint, Perylene Maroon (Daniel Smith), Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Indian Yellow, Titanium White, Indigo, Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna

Special highlight colors: Cadmium Red Light, Pyrol Red, Lavender (for getting warm greys with burnt sienna), Cerulean blue (the color of sky.. Like no other)

Brushes: All kinds but my standbys are Princeton (you need stiff brushes to do some of the detailed aircraft work), Alvaro Castagnet’s Neef brushes for washes, Isabey Mop brushes (squirrel) for my day to day washes and Pro Arte sword liners for fine detailed work.

Paper: Almost exclusively either Arches 140lb / 300gsm Rough paper in Pads or Loose 22×30 sheets or Saunders Waterford 140lb / 300gsm Rough paper in Pads or Loose 22×30 sheets. I have never used Cold Press or Hot Press paper.

  Lifesaver tools

Hotel Key cards – I travel a lot and I save these to help me with making marks on paper for buildings.

Spray bottles – minimum of two – you need these to add water liberally to allow the water to do its work

Paper towels – help achieve fading effects and catch messes before they ruin a picture

Pencils – a range of lead types but a good professional mechanical pencil is a must. Go for a Rotring as a starter.

Tracing paper – Technical subject are best traced if you want them to look good. Get a good tracing paper and graphite transfer paper.

Gatorboard – Light but strong for holding your work.

Tripod – I do not yet do as much outdoor plein air but I am going to be getting a ball head tripod for holding the gatorboard.

Some of my Guiding Principles

I have a few guiding principles with the work I produce…

First, painting in general, and watercolor specifically, provide an outlet for me. I believe that I do paint for myself. Others benefit because I am open to sharing my work, but ultimately, I first try to please myself. It helps me relax and takes my mind off of computers and software.

Second, the objective with all paintings is to evoke an emotional reaction – a fleeting memory of something past, interest, awareness, fear, – anything! If the painting does not do that, then it is merely an illustration (in the general banal sense – I am not knocking illustrators.)

Third, human beings are imperfect and so are paintings. A painting is a fiction. It is an illusion. It is something designed to evoke an image in your mind’s eye. For this reason, I generally believe that imperfection in paintings, and especially watercolors, is one of their main draws. As one of my mentors once said, ‘Paintings are the perfect expression of the perfect imperfection.”

Fourth, practice, practice, practice. But make it fun. Pick subjects you like, Make time to do the work and have no expectations other than to learn something new each time you paint.

Parting Words From Inside The Net

Here is the bottom line. Talent is truly overrated in my opinion. While we do have some very naturally gifted artists out there, they are the exception – not the rule. I have come to believe that you can achieve amazing work with patience, fortitude, a dedicated schedule, professional materials and good learning materials. It is truly up to you.

Take the leap. Believe. And do not stop. No matter what. Ever.

James Nyika Pixels Saatchi Art

#WorldWatercolorGroup GUEST ARTIST:"Leap And The Net Shall Appear!" by James Nyika #doodlewash My name is James Nyika and I'm originally from Nairobi, Kenya in East Africa (currently residing in Maryland).