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animatedminds · 4 years ago

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Let’s Get Dangerous Review!

It’s dangerous. In a good way. <cue dramatic music> Okay, obviously there’s more thoughts than just that. I’ve been waiting for it for weeks, and it arrived just as awesome as I hoped. For the first time, let’s give my full movie style review to the double length Ducktales special: “Let’s Get Dangerous.”

The spoilers are open and widely discussed, so maybe don’t look past the following image if you haven’t seen the episode yet.

To note, I’m not entirely convinced that this was actually meant to be a pilot. It definitely does introduce a new status quo for the Darkwing trio of characters (minus Honker for now, here’s hoping they haven’t forgotten him), but it’s also a very remote story that still tries to take place within the context of Ducktales’ universe, so it really depends on what they choose to do.

But let’s just get down to it.

First off, as I mentioned in my earlier post… Taurus Bulba. He was maybe the biggest and most eye-catching aspect of the first part of the episode, as one of the few elements we hadn’t already seen yet, and his reputation as a really, really bad guy has quite preceded him. As I may have gushed somewhat about, he’s one of the best parts of the special.

James Monroe Inglehart, for those living away from the Disney scene for a decade, is an actor and voice actor most famous for being the original Genie on Broadway’s Aladdin. A grand, bombastic presence, he generally plays characters who - much like the genie himself - a big, jolly, kind but maybe a little mischievous souls that take the attention of a room and brighten up the characters’ day - like Lance, in Tangled the Series. The most interesting thing about Bulba is that Inglehart brings that exact same energy to the role, and so Bulba keep that jollity and lofty personality in a package that becomes increasingly less nice as the story goes on. As someone who keenly remembers Taurus Bulba as cruel monster willing to hurt kids and capable of crushing Darkwing like nobody’s business, the contrast was immediately fun to watch - and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In this story, Bulba is recast from a crime lord intending to use a super weapon go on an endless plundering spree to a FOWL scientist with a respectable reputation who intends to use a super weapon to take over the world, and the transition goes off fairly well. The end result is a pretty standard mix of superhero fight and Bond plot, as Bulba ends up holed up in his lab with his squadron of elite supervillain minions - all plundered a particular fictional universe - with the heroes having to break in / escape from his captivity and stop him before he destroys everything. It’s very Silver Age, with Bulba in the role of maniacal villain, and he’s contrasted very well with Bradford - who is as always an antagonist who prides himself on pragmatism. This contrast leads to some great moments: Bradford’s increasing frustration with the cavalier attitude of both the heroes and the villains gives him the best stint of characterization he’s had since the beginning of the season - he basically spends the whole episode arguing with everyone about how badly thought out their actions are, while also badly hiding his own secrets.

The Fearsome Five (of which Quackerjack is voices by his original actor) are great to see, though used minimally. If you’re expecting to see classic show dynamics between the villains and Darkwing, that’s not really what they’re used for. Mostly, they’re minions with personality, and they’re more there to establish both to the audience and to Drake the character himself that he is ready to take on really big threats even with his lack of superpowers.

But enough about the villains, on to the heroes!

A couple episodes ago, with the Halloween episode, I criticized that story for not balancing its A and B plot all that well. This episode does not have that problem. The story is actually maybe about three fifths Darkwing’s story, and the rest of it is Scrooge and the nephews as they figure out what Bulba is up to independently of Darkwing and try to stop him themselves. It’s somewhat similar to Timephoon, where they’re there constantly and are doing their own bid to solve the story but the focus isn’t primarily on them. Instead, we have some of the best “HDL actually matter to the story” bits of the show, where they escape Bulba’s prison on their own and lead Bradford out, all the while slowly figuring out that something is shady about the guy. Meanwhile, Scrooge gets stuck in the original Ducktales universe’s most memed scene, which was a fun gag (but not the best gag - that would be the one and only Bonkers D. Bobcat as the Harvey Bullock-style cop in the Darkwing show).

Which I suppose can lead to a digression about the mad science bit here. The alternate universes here are… interesting. I always pay special attention to how things like time travel or other dimensions or alternate universes work in a series, and this one reminds me the most - I think - of DC’s Dark Multiverse: a collection of universes that are both explicitly fictional but made real because people created them. Ultimately, it’s less as if the OG Darkwing universe exists independently of the Ducktales universe and more that the in-universe Darkwing show as a world based off of it that the characters can reach into. I wish the episode had delved into that more, and now you’ve got people trying to use it to look for more establishment of OG Darkwing elements (though I was fine with it being separate, perceiving anything else as rather needlessly inexplicable), but ultimately that is not specifically what the episode is about, and is kept rather separate.

So what is the episode about? Like you didn’t already know…

As always, Gosalyn Waddlemeyer is a little girl whose grandfather was done away with by Taurus Bulba, and who falls into Darkwing’s lap over the course of his adventure with him. Here, her grandfather is (possibly) still alive, just lost in the ether a la Gravity Falls’ Grunkle Ford. And like the mighty glazed McGuffin, Darkwing’s goal in the episode is less strictly defeating Bulba as it is helping her get her grandfather and her home back. Gosalyn here is self-sufficient and action oriented (it may be my inner Brooklyn 99 fan talking, but I loved Stephanie Beatriz as her, and kind of wish she had gotten a wider range of lines), taking on her own crusade against Bulba until she realizes she can go to Darkwing for help, and is constantly trying to pull him into the fight - even while he is reluctant, and no matter what the danger - so that they can win and she can get justice. But in the end, she has to accept that they might not be able to.

As a longtime Batman fan, I immediately recognized a plethora of Robin references with Gosalyn. She’s a kid who’s family was taken from her by a villain, given a surrogate home by the hero - like Dick Grayson. She’s a street tough who originally met the hero committing a crime, and who is both skeptical of his heroism and heavily critical of his flaws - like Jason Todd. And she’s a young genius with a lot of scientific knowledge, tech skills and common sense - just like Tim Drake. There’s even elements of Carrie Kelley or Terry McGinnis there, in her determined if not gung-ho approach to heroism despite her circumstances and the hermit-like behavior of the hero.

And in the end, this is a fairly apt comparison, because Gosalyn essentially ends the story more as a Robin figure than previously, now as Darkwing’s more of a ward and official sidekick alongside Launchpad. The story does not, to note, involve her being adopted by Drake or becoming Gosalyn Mallard. Indeed, they don’t really end up having that sort of relationship. They’re distant and don’t really know how to relate to one another, and not about to broach the subject of family except in distant terms. There’s ultimately far less emphasis than before on Gosalyn and Drake being similar and hitting it off on a personal level, or even really Drake keying into Gosalyn’s potential and spirit as a person vs an element in his adventure. Throughout the story he regards her as a victim to be saved, then ultimately as an ally with potential to be respected, and in the end he gives her an offer to take up the mantle along side him while they search for her family… which ultimately creates something very different.

For people expecting something a little more akin to the implications the show made with Gyro and BOYD, Gosalyn here. The implication that they could be a family is brought up by Launchpad, but neither Drake nor Gosalyn are really there at the end of the story - I want to say they’re not there yet, but the way the story goes gives off the impression that the dynamic duo dichotomy is the relationship for the two the writing is most comfortable giving them.

Again, I’m a longtime Batman fan, so I understand and appreciate the nod. It gives them a really cool status quo that’s distinct from what came before it. Still, the strong father/daughter relationship between the two was very much the heart and soul of the original show, an endearing quality that created the character traits we love about both characters, and ultimately one of the primary characteristics that set the Darkwing family apart even from most comic book superhero stars - so even if they made something great out of it, it’s a shame to see Ducktales ultimately keep that relationship at arms’ length.

But that’s less a criticism and more just something I wish they had chosen to do differently - and it makes sense for the 2017 team’s take on Darkwing, which has always been more focused on “irrepressible hero who doesn’t give up” - a pluckie rookie growing into his competence - than “former fool whose great potential is unleashed through the people around him.” The latter is there, sometimes, but it’s not prominent. Original Darkwing was a man made better by his daughter, while the modern Darkwing doesn’t quite need that to find the hero within.

The only (and I mean only) criticism I have is the way the characters kind of jump around in how they respond to things. Drake wanting more crime, and then freaking out when super crime shows up and it’s way more than he thought he can handle is fine, and is one of the better character bits in the special. It being unclear whether Drake is against fighting supervillains because he thinks they’re too powerful vs because he doesn’t want to risk Gosalyn’s safety is another thing, though - it seems the show intended to imply the latter but forgot to include the line somewhere, so it’s not inferred until later and Drake suddenly benching Gos towards the end lacks set-up.

For her part, Gosalyn is suddenly and quickly afraid to fight for a brief moment so Launchpad can inspire her to face impossible odds, even though it was hardly the first time she had done so in the special. The ending I think wanted the characters to be somewhere that the rest of the special hadn’t gotten them to yet. But it’s all good - it ends well, so all’s well. Best gag of the episode, btw? Fenton, who is awful at keeping his secret identity secret, has hooked up Darkwing with his own hi-tech hero lair. Darkwing, despite supposedly being a detective (or at least an actor playing a detective), ends up as one of the two or three people remaining on Earth who hasn’t figured out that Fenton is Gizmoduck. Darkwing considers himself good friends with Fenton, despite hating Gizmoduck. It’s actually very funny.

It’s as of now unclear what is coming up for Darkwing. We know the St. Canard characters are going to factor in more as the FOWL plot progresses, and this episode kicks that plot into high gear - the characters now know about FOWL and their intentions, and are preparing themselves for a far more dangerous fight than usual. In short, with the midseason comes the renewed focus on the primary plot of the season, as per the usual. Like I said before, while I’m not as on board as most with the idea that this was a pilot, St. Canard was definitely established here - with series regular Zan Owlson as it’s new mayor, and a general aesthetic and set of protagonists. It wouldn’t be remiss for a future episode this season to take place there (though we know Negaduck isn’t happening this season).

The new few episodes, however, are focused more on the quest for Finch’s treasures and FOWL, so that’s going to have to wait for a while. We’ve been promised, as I recall, an episode that brings all the kids together (unless that’s part of the finale), which is nice - I may have mentioned before that the best episodes of the series have been the ones that put the kids (who are the characters with the most focus throughout its run) together and let all their personalities run through an adventure together - and with the cast growing somewhat constantly, it’s nice to know that no one is being forgotten.

Either way, I give the episode a great deal of recommendation - I only had a couple things that bothered me, and a few wishes for different choices, and ultimately I’m planning on watching it a ton of times just like I did the first Darkwing episode. From a classic Darkwing fan, and in the words of Bat-Mite, it’s a different intepretation to be sure, but not at all one without merit.

So thanks to Frank Angones, Matt Youngberg and the Ducktales crew! I hope my virtual thumbs up reaches them somehow, but either way, it was a good day to be dangerous.

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ghost-bxrd · 6 months ago

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ok but bruce defrosting calvin as a talon who imprints on tim but also kinda recognizes dick

so they hang out and be friends in their weird talon way and both of them will protect the other ones human

this also means that tim and jason will have to start getting along

Ksksks the Talons gushing over how adorable their respective owlets are, Calvin always giving Dick the bombastic side eye when he claims Jason is the most cuddliest and sweetest hatchling while referring to a six foot, 200lbs, murderous crime lord, and Calvin then just pointedly tucking Tim under his chin. 😭🤣

#owl song #some thoughts #Calvin rose #Tim drake #talon dick grayson #jason todd

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mizulekitten · 7 years ago

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I wrote a thing. It’s an Original thing, and I like it. It’s for my creative writing class -to the person in that class following me... you get a sneak peek, woo- I uh really like these two characters? And I might write more with them? Idk

Word Count: 3709

Summary: Sam has been called in to charm creatures of various origins for even more various reasons. It’s nothing unusual to them. It’s a usual day when they get a call from a nearby town and military to take care of another problem. This time it’s a dragon who’s hoarding... furniture? Furniture is going to be the least of Sam’s concerns by the end of this.

“Who the fleg thinks climbing a mountain is fun? Who?” Sam asked the air with a huff as they tugged their body over the ledge. Their arms screamed at the continued exertion, but it’d all be worth it once Sam pulled themselves up.

They rolled across the rock as soon as they were able, their sword and waterskin jabbed into their flesh through their clothing as they went. Sam wanted to put ample distance between them and the ledge, lest they fall to their untimely death. They lay spread eagle across the stone, chest rising and falling. Bits of rock dug painfully into their back, but they couldn’t bring themselves to care.

“Horses can’t climb a sheer cliff, so I get to do it! Doesn’t that sound great?” Sam waved a hand in front of them, continuing to talk to themselves out of pure frustration, “All so I get to talk to a flegging dragon.”

They sat up, voice rising, “What am I? Slave labor? Who else is crazy enough to go talk to a dragon? Not the mayor, that’s apparent.” They tugged their waterskin from their side with more force than necessary, “The moron didn’t even think about calling in a Creature Charmer. No, let’s call the army instead, and for what?” Sam took a swig. They slammed the container down, and water sloshed onto their hand. “For a dragon that hoards furniture.”

Sam looked out over the landscape. They spotted the large cave mouth, and glared. “Called from home and forced to climb a flegging mountain all for a furniture hoarder. What happened to the gold and gem days? No, now they’re hoarding handmade flegging furniture.”

Sam let out a loud sigh, fighting the urge to fall back onto the hard rock. Logically, they knew the military’s decision to call in them was a smart one. The dragon was only hoarding furniture. A Creature Charmer was honestly the best bet. After all, which sounded better: a person with a natural affinity and magical charm with creatures passively talking out a compromise, or an army that was bound to get burnt to a crisp/end up with a dragon corpse?

Even if it made sense, Sam didn’t have to be happy about it.

“Goddess and celestial spirits above,” Sam tilted their head towards the sky, desperation lining their voice, “give me strength, and next time? Tell me to take the fae job.”

With one more sigh, Sam stood and dusted themselves off. Better to get it done and over with then sit and complain. They took care to be as loud as possible as they approached the cave mouth. Sneaking up on a dragon was bad news, and even a Creature Charmer’s natural aura wouldn’t necessarily save them from a startled dragon.

Sam did a double take upon entering the cave. They had expected a messy cave, filled to the brim with mounds of gold, or in this case furniture, but this cave was deliberate in its organization. The middle was cleared, but to the side the furniture was placed in mock set ups. There was a small “living room” fit with two couches, several love seats, and an elaborate coffee table made of some stone. Each seat had an end table next to it, all in a similar design.

Sam whistled, amazed at the variety. There were several other room set ups against the walls, all as detailed as the next. The furniture matched the others in each set, as if a noble lived within the cave and had hired the best of the best to decorate it. It was impressive how attentive to detail the dragon seemed to be. It almost made the fact that it was hoarding furniture less laughable.

“What do you want, puny human!” The dragon’s voice boomed through the cave, vibrating through Sam’s body. It was only through prior experience with this effect that Sam didn’t flinch.

Sam turned to look deeper into the cave, and watched as the towering beast crept closer. The deep brown of its scales shifted with every movement, expanding and settling. Every intake of breath caused the blue and pink chest scales to glitter dimly in the dark. Four sets of horns, the same color as its chest scales, sprouted from its skull into perfect weapons that could easily skewer Sam if they weren’t careful.

It did little to intimidate them.

Sam shook their head at the power display, plastering on a large smile before they looked up at the beast, “I come on behalf of the townsfolk you’ve been,” Sam paused. Dragons were finicky about what their hoarding was and wasn’t referred to. Sam had made that mistake before; they didn’t want a repeat, “acquiring your hoard from.”

“Do they wish to make me more wares?” The dragon perked up, two pink dots beside each sapphire eye seeming to light up at the words, and too sharp teeth formed an attempted grin. It’s voice was still loud, as if it had a need to shout everything it said. “Must I go collect?”

Making and collecting, that’s how it was wording it. Great. This was going to be a fun talk. “The townsfolk,” Sam thought for a moment, carefully planning out their next words, “would appreciate some level of… compensation for their goods.” The dragon’s stare was unwavering, not even a blink to betray what it was thinking. Sam forged on, “They spend many hours working on their wares, and it is only fair that they receive… something, in return.”

Some dragons could be discouraged by the notion of giving back. Dragons collected things that fit their aesthetic and nothing more. The idea of exchanging anything was scandalous for a dragon. It was betraying their hoard. Sam could easily manipulate that.

“I do not understand,” the dragon said, voice losing its bombastic tone.

Sam nodded; this was easy enough. They had a rehearsed phrase that they had used before with a dragon they had encountered that hoarded accessories made of rubies. “In human culture it is common to exchange hoard items for other hoard items.”

The dragon blanched, jerking back in disgust. The scales by their eyes flared and then dimmed. “Humans cannot do that! It is unnatural!” It wrapped its tail protectively around its body, as if speaking the words could hurt it.

“I see,” Sam slumped and looked down. Putting on an act, despite a Creature Charmer’s natural aura, was important. It helped sell the argument. “Then it may be better that the townsfolk and you do not do business.”

The dragon stared down at Sam, eyes becoming cloudy as it lost itself to thought. Sam could wait; the sun was high in the sky when they had entered, and talks didn’t usually take long periods of time.

The dragon’s eyes refocused on Sam, “That is-” the dragon blinked slowly, head tilting to the side. Its eyes and face scales lit up once more, “No more business with humans?”

“If you are so gracious to agree,” Sam replied, laying the praise on thick. The last thing they needed was to offend the dragon at the end of making the deal.

It gave Sam a once over, and Sam could feel their skin prickle at the action. The dragon hummed in the back of their throat. “What is your name human?”

Sam regarded the dragon carefully. “Sam... What’s, uh, what’s yours?” They were unsure where this was going, paranoid, but not afraid.

“They call me, Tim.” The dragon - Tim, the dragon’s name was flegging Tim - held his head up high, as if his name gave him a higher status.

“Pleasure to meet you… Tim.”

Tim’s grin was back in place. It was mildly concerning, and Sam continued to watch the his moves. Being a Charmer generally dispelled the more nasty repercussions that conversing with Creatures often brought, but there was still the chance for things to go wrong, even with the best charmer. Sam’s hand moved closer to their sheathed blade.

“Sit, sit!” Tim said with a wave of his paw and a flutter of pale blue wings, “You climbed mountain! You must be tired!”

Sam nodded slowly, “Yes, I am… I guess.” They did not make a move towards any of the chairs.

Tim seemed to take that as an acceptable answer, regardless of the fact that Sam had yet to move. He turned on his heel. Sam had to duck the swing of a large tail- small tail- smaller tail- Oh Goddess, the forsaken thing could use diminution.

A much smaller dragon, about as big as a draft horse, strode away deeper into the cave. It gave Sam a perfect view of the smattering of blue and pink dots on its rump. Caution was replaced with annoyance as Sam ran a hand over their face, fighting back a sigh. The thing had been huge to intimidate them. Sam shouldn’t even be surprised; Tim practically yelled everything he said. Of course, he’d use a larger size. Of course.

Sam shrugged to themself. Ultimately it didn’t matter. If worse came to worse, which Sam doubted would happen, they had their trusted blade on their side and a plethora of tricks up their sleeves. Plus, it wasn’t like Sam hadn’t experienced run ins with any other large creatures before -a giant, merfolk of the whale breed, and others-, and at least now that Tim was smaller they didn’t have to crane their neck to speak. If anything, the smaller size made Tim seem cuter anything else.

They looked over at the living room set up, and walked towards it. They could understand why the villagers wanted their furniture to stop being stolen. It really was beautifully engraved, and Sam could only guess the hours dedicated to the art. They ran an appreciative hand over the sofa. They wouldn’t mind owning some of this stuff if it wasn’t so expensive.

After some moments passed, Tim came back, precariously waddling on his hind legs with a tray grasped between his claws. Sam watched, eyes wide, waiting for them to fall at any moment. It’d be a tragedy if it did fall. The cups looked ornate, and even the tray, when Tim had waddled closer, looked to be hand carved.

He placed the tray on the table, the wide grin from earlier looking much more pleasant on the smaller dragon’s form, even if it still towered over Sam. He shuffled back, watching Sam all the while. The hairs on the back of Sam’s neck rose, mind trying to comprehend what the fleg was happening.

“Pick up cup!” Tim sat back on his haunches, the grin not wavering. His tail slowly dragged across the ground behind him, waving back and forth, pushing pebbles and dust around the cave floor.

Sam narrowed their eyes at Tim, looking down at the empty cup and then back up at him. They took hold of the cup, muscles wound tight, ready to grab their sword at the smallest anomaly. Not that anything about this wasn’t far from Sam’s norm.

Sam raised the cup, “Like this?”

Tim’s tail waved faster behind him, “Perfect!”

“Why did you have me pick up a cup?”

“To see if you would fit in!” Sam’s blood ran cold and their eyes widened. “You are perfect for my hoard!”

By the Goddess, what did Sam do to deserve this?

Sam grasped onto the first argument that crossed their mind. “Tim, I hate to break this to you, but I am not a part of your aesthetic I am a human, not furniture,” they placed the cup down, gesturing between themself and the couch they were sitting on.

Tim rolled his eyes and huffed, “I know that!”

“If you know that, then you know that I’m not part of your aesthetic-”

“You are!” Tim interrupted, the scales glowing once more in what Sam was beginning to suspect was a sign of excitement. “I like homes! Human’s are part of homes!”

“Wait,” Sam held their hand up, trying to process the information, “so your hoard… your hoard is a home hoard?”

“Yes!” Tim grinned. “Is it not great?” His gaze swept through the cave, soft and loving as if a parent looking upon their child for the first time.

The softness of the moment did nothing to quell the exasperation within Sam.

They covered their face with their hands. This didn’t make sense. Well, it did. It made perfect sense, but Sam didn’t want it to. “I can’t believe this. I got called up to talk to a dragon that hoards homes.” They froze, eyes widening as they looked up at Tim, “Wait a sec- you were going to eventually kidnap someone?”

“Not kidnapping, hoarding!” Tim chirped as if he was proud of himself. “I needed to furnish my hoard first, so they would be comfortable!”

“That’s… oddly sweet,” Sam shook their head, “but still what the fleg, Tim? You can’t kidnap people!”

“Not kidnapping! Hoarding! I am hoarding!” Tim urged, clutching onto his tail

“Tim, this is not hoarding-”

“You were not made by builders so I have no reason to give something back!” he interrupted. If Sam hadn’t been looking at Tim to know that he was a dragon they’d think they were talking to a petulant child. “No exchange! It is hoarding!”

“I swear to the Goddess above-” Sam ran a hand through their hair as they tried to regain their thoughts. “Tim. Tim, no. You can’t hoard people. That’s bad. Hoarding people is bad.”

Tim pouted, falling back onto the carpet with a loud huff of smoke. He had shrunk down again, now about the size of a large dog. “I do not understand,” he whined.

Sam hadn’t ever been called in for a Princess hoarder, but if they were anything like Tim then Sam was glad that they hadn’t. “That’s okay,” Sam tried to start again. “You don’t have to understand, you just have to let me leave. I- I can’t stay-”

“A dragon never separates from their hoard!” Another round of smoke pooled around Tim’s head.

Sam could feel the frustration burning in their veins, fighting to come through into their words. They took a deep breath in an attempt to calm themself. “I’ve been here 10 minutes at most. How is that long enough to make me a part of your hoard?” Sam tried to reason, “Surely you couldn’t have decided so quickly?”

Tim waved his paws in the air, “No more humans means I have to pick you!”

“That’s- So you’re only picking me because I’m the last human you’ll see?” Sam wanted to hope that meant Tim would let them go easier, no bond having been formed, but at the same time they couldn’t stop the bit of offense that stabbed their heart.

Tim tilted his head up, a pout permanently etched on his face, a single tooth peeking out. “No! You look charming! I like you!” Tim’s eyes widened in shock, “Do you- Do you not like me?”

Sam let their head fall back against the couch. A dragon that hoards homes, was currently hoarding Sam, and was insecure. How did Sam land this job? The fae job would’ve surely been simpler.

“I like you, Tim,” Sam began as they leaned forward with every intention of letting Tim down easy. They made the mistake of looking at Tim in the eyes, seeing the tears swelling there. Oh, Goddess. “I like you well enough, but I can’t stay with you. I have a job, friends, obligations. Didn’t you say that you wanted your human to be comfortable?” Tim nodded slowly. “I’m not comfortable here-” That was a lie, the couch was the softest thing Sam had ever had the opportunity to sit on, but they couldn’t tell Tim that, “-I need to go back to my people.”

Tim let out a loud whine, shrinking even smaller as he wiggled on the carpet. He rolled over onto his side, curling up into a ball. A muffled, “No,” barely reached Sam’s ears.

“Come on Tim,” Sam reached a hand out to pat Tim’s flank. Sam was annoyed, had every right to be, but they found themselves feeling some pity for Tim. “We can find something else to replace a human. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

Tim lifted his tail up from where it had fallen over his face, “Really?”

Sam fought the urge to clutch their heart. As frustrated as Sam had felt, they were not made of stone. The image should not have been as cute as it was, and Sam should not have been feeling this fond over the fire breather.

Despite those thoughts, Sam gave Tim a smile, “Of course.”

Tim sat up, and padded over to the couch. He jumped up on it, settling his head in Sam’s lap. This was progress- “No. I will not like it. I want Sam.”

-Or not. Sam bit back a groan, and they opened their mouth to continue pleading their case.

“I do not want to be alone again…”

Sam froze, mouth falling shut with an audible click. They looked down at the curled up dragon on their lap. Tim was not looking up at Sam, and his tail had fallen over his eyes once more.

Dragon’s were long lived, everyone knew that. It was also common knowledge that before Creature Charmers began to be widely supported and funded by the crown that the common practice was to kill the beasts. It still was in some areas. How many friends had Tim seen die, unable to fight back? How many had dropped off the radar, never to be seen again? How long had Tim been alone, isolated up in the mountains?

More importantly, what would’ve happened if Sam had not been called?

Sam lowered the hand towards Tim, but drew back before they could touch. They weren’t often called to comfort actual people. Their specialty laid in diplomacy, as surprising as that was considering Sam’s temper, not consolance. Sam looked away for a distraction as they lowered their hand again. They ran their fingers gently down Tim’s scales in the only form of comfort they knew how to offer. From where they were sitting they could see a library-esque setup, with tall book cases and arm chairs. Overall, it really did look like a home. Tim had outdone himself in that regard. There was only one thing that could make this better, besides Sam being allowed to leave, and that was-

Sam sat up straight, their lips morphing into a grin. “Sam, you flegging genius.” Tim made a confused noise, followed by a surprised chirp as Sam lifted Tim up by his armpits so that they were eye level. “Hey, Tim, want to know what would make your hoard even better?”

Any complaints that were about to be spewed Sam’s way died as quickly as they came; Tim nodded eagerly.

Perfect.

Sam paused outside the wooden fence that led up to their cottage. They took in the worn wood, the way the garden path weaved to the front door, and smiled. It was quiet save for the wind whispering in their ear. It had taken awhile to get back to their home town; between assuring the mayor and the military that Tim was no longer a problem, collecting their money, and actually beginning the trek home, night had long since fallen.

“Well, this is it,” Sam said. Their vest pocket squirmed, the button shifting and turning to no avail. They peered down at the pocket, eyebrow raised. “Do you want me to open my pocket for you?”

“No! I am able!” the pitched reply was immediate.

“Of course. Of course,” Sam did very little to keep the amusement from their voice, “I didn’t mean to offend.”

Sam felt a small bit of heat and when they looked down the button had fallen away, and smoke was coming from where it had once resided. “Did you really burn my button off?” Sam groaned. This agreement was not going to work out if Tim’s response to problems was to burn them.

Tim’s tiny head peeked out from the pocket, a happy chirp being the answer. Sam didn’t have time to scold as he was turning towards the cottage and chirping again. “It is pretty! I like it! It is quality home!” He crawled out of the pocket, scaling up Sam’s vest so that he could perch on Sam’s shoulder. His claws tangled in Sam’s hair for a grip. “We live there now? That is home you promised?”

Sam nodded, patting Tim’s head with a single finger. “This is it, buddy. Home sweet home.”

Tim jumped from Sam’s shoulder, growing in size to that of a house cat before running through the small garden. Sam couldn’t help but laugh at the excited chirps that filled the air.

The laughter faded quickly at the sound of a crash, and Sam flinched. “Tim!” they shouted a warning as they walked toward the source of the crash.

“The window looked open!” Tim yelled back before snickering, “now it is always open.”

“By the Goddess-” Sam grumbled. “Don’t break anything else, please,” Sam peered in through the broken window. They ignored the bits of broken glass and the prospect of cleaning it up in exchange for watching Tim poke around the living room.

“Why is all your furniture tacky?” Tim looked at the worn couch in disgust. “It is ugly. Do you not have standards?”

“Yeah, well, not all of us can hoard furniture.”

Tim threw a pout towards Sam. “Homes! I hoard homes!”

Sam rolled their eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Do you like the place or not?”

“The living room is horrid! My furniture will need to replace it!” Tim retreated back from the “tacky” couch and started to trot towards the hallway leading to the kitchen. “I look in other rooms now!” Sam rolled their eyes again before walking back towards the front door. Their was a clatter from the inside. “This kitchen set is quite cute! You do have taste!”

Sam looked towards the sky, “Goddess and celestial spirits above,” there was another crash from inside and Sam groaned, “don’t make me regret this decision.”

#Mizu Writes #original work #Woo #idk if I should start tags for Sam and Tim or not so like #I'm not for now #but if you guys are like #interested in knowin more #I dont mind ya know #ramblin about them #or answerin' questions #also if you have title ideas #that'd be stellar

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bringinbackpod · 4 years ago

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Interview with The Score

We had the opportunity to interview The Score

Please share while we are #togetherathome 🏡

The harder we hustle, the more we push the envelope. A one-two punch of old school grind and modern adventurism quietly asserts The Score as a new paradigm for rock music. For the uninitiated, the boys cook up a signature style akin to Yeezus producing FooFighters—stadium-size anthems uplifted in equal measure by speaker-busting distortion and glitchy 808s.

A five-year journey brought the Los Angeles duo of Eddie Anthony [vocals, guitar] and Edan Dover [keyboards, production] from a tiny Upper East Side apartment to gold plaques, nearly three billion streams, one million-plus YouTube subscribers, sold out shows on multiple continents, and a fan base of millions who sing along to every word. Thus far, the trip culminated on the band’s 2020 second full-length album for Republic Records.

“As artists, we’re always striving to get to the next level,” exclaims Edan. “There’s an impatient anxiety to do so. After all of this time together, we reached real gratification and a moment of peace this year. However, we keep going. We want to play arenas around the world and reach as many listeners as possible.”

“Touring internationally, we got to meet people in places we’d never been, and it was really eye-opening,” adds Eddie. “We do this out of love, so it’s humbling to get to this point. Growing up, I always heard my favorite artists say, ‘It’s all about the fans’. It couldn’t be truer for us at the end of the day.”

The band cultivated a fervent fanbase through a steady stream of releases. The 2016 UnstoppableEP paved the way for their full-length debut Atlasa year later. As album highlights “Legend,” “Revolution,” and “Higher” exploded, “Unstoppable” achieved a gold certification from the RIAA. The 2019 PressureEP yielded audience favorites “Glory” [38 million Spotify streams], “Stronger” [37 million Spotify streams], “Born For This” [20 million Spotify streams], and “Dreamin” with blackbear [17 million Spotify streams]. Among dozens of high-profile syncs, their music appeared in the NETFLIX blockbuster 6 Underground and soundtracked campaigns for Jeep, NBA, and many more.

A 2019 European headline tour pumped up The Score to craft what would become their sophomore effort.

“The shows evolved” Eddie. “We tried to make a batch of songs that you could hear at festivals. Thematically, the music still had our DNA. The songs were empowering and fun, but they were a little more personal to us.”

“We’re maturing,” agrees Edan. “We’ve experienced a lot on this journey. We’ve evolved individually. In turn, that evolution is reflected in the group. We dug deeper below the surface and explored some other ideas.”

Working primarily out their L.A. studio, they strengthened the sonic framework with fresh flourishes in the overall production of their sound. Additionally, they welcomed collaborators such as Pete Nappi [30 Seconds To Mars, Dreamers, Shinedown] and Tim Randolph [Imagine Dragons] into the fold.

“It’s The Score, but it’s a slightly more organic version of us,”assures Eddie.

The first single “Best Part” evinces their evolution. Produced and co-written by Nappi and Steve Aiello, a bombastic beat seesaws between a distorted groove and a chantable chorus, “I can be a liar, I can be a cheat, I can be neurotic, I can be a freak, I can be everything in between, but you always find the best part of me.”Accented by a hummable guitar solo, live bass, and rollercoaster crescendo, it immediately invites a singalong.

]“Some days, you feel like a piece of shit,” admits Eddie. “You’re just down and out and don’t feel good about yourself. However, there’s always that one person who finds the best part of you, no matter what. This person doesn’t have to be a girlfriend or boyfriend, but could be someone close to you who sees the best in you even when you don’t.”

Elsewhere, whistles and bright riffs underscore a massive refrain on “Carry On.” Originally conceived on an acoustic, the dynamic vocals ring out with purpose and power.

“The world will try to kick you down and literally bury you,”says Eddie. “You have to find a way to carry on.”

“Run All Night” keeps up the pace with intimate vocals and sky scraping guitars. Meanwhile, “Don’t Need A Hero” offers up a different message for the guys.

“There’s a lyrical flip,” Edan reveals. “We’ve written a lot of songs about heroes and being legendary. This song shows strength in the opposite way. The message is, ‘I don’t need a legend or someone unstoppable to save me; I’ve got this on my own’.”

In the end, The Score continue to forge ahead on their own path by getting more personal than ever.

“Eddie and I are writing about our lives,” Edan leaves off. “We hope listeners can relate to the themes we sing about. When you’re having one of those days where everything seems out of reach, maybe you can put on our records. We always want to encourage you to pick yourself up, get out of that rut, and move forward.”

“It’s like therapy,” Eddie concludes. “I grew up seeing groups like Fall Out Boy and finding inspiration. If we can rock some kid’s face off at a show and inspire him to start a band, there would be nothing better.

We want to hear from you!

Please email [email protected]

www.BringinitBackwards.com

source https://bringin-it-backwards.simplecast.com/episodes/interview-with-the-score-Kg_DA_gf

#podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #music #aspn #americansongwriter #americansongwriterpodcastnetwor

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renaramblesaboutcomics · 7 years ago

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Wednesday Roundup 8.23.2017

Whooo weeks where I have more than one trade to review at once are always difficult and this week I got two massive ones for sure. We’re, maybe for the first time since I started the Roundups, fairly Marvel heavy this week so it’s going to be a game of determining whether or not that makes it a cakewalk for the Mouse’s favorite leaking sieve of potential movie rights.

Or maybe, y’know, I just read a bunch of good comics and it’s not nearly as competitive as I make it out to be. You decide~

Marvel’s Deadpool, DC’s Detective Comics, Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists, Image’s Lazarus: X + 66, Marvel’s X-Men Gold

Marvel’s Deadpool (2015-present) Vol. 8: ‘Til Death Do Us... Joshua Corin, Gerry Duggan, Christopher Hastings, Iban Coello, Salvador Espín, Scott Koblish

You know, if Marvel is attempting to use these endless crossover events as a way of pushing readers to only buying books in trade rather than subscribing individually, I will have to admit to their amazingly successful marketing campaign. Because no book has made me more relieved that I wait for the trade than this collection of Volume 8 of Deadpool (2015-present) which has the entire storyline of “’Til Death Do Us...” which only includes two issues of the actual titular Deadpool (2015-present) series. How can that possibly be? Well let’s find out together.

Story: So this is a massive event crossing all of the Deadpool titles. Because, as I’ve said before, there are a lot of them. Much like Wolverine or Spider-Man before him, Deadpool is being used to prop up so many books at once that it’s to the point of insecurity. Comics and their need to oversaturate a character.

In any regard, this particular storyline brings to a head the relationship between Wade and his wife, the Queen of Monster, Shiklah. Which, as Wade himself has joked about before, really had no chance of anything but imploding upon itself. In this case, it involves the invasion of monsters on New York City, a cross-world roadtrip with Wade and Peter, the Mercs for Money... existing until eventually helping manage the epic final battle, and the dissolution of Wade’s marriage in favor of a union between Shiklah and Dracula himself.

It is a very bloated story, and considering I only regularly follow Deadpool and Spider-Man/Deadpool out of the crossover comics included, it’s easy to see how my investment in this entire crossover was a matter of waning in and out between the characters I care about the most and how much any of them had to do per couple of pages. I mean, Hit Monkey only really got to make out with a Goblin and I think that spells out exactly how divided the amount of stuff there was to do was.

Even in that case, there were a lot of good moments, arguably the best being any time Gerry Dugan was at the helm and helping to mold the Deadpool I have come to love so much over the years. The story is slapstick and ridiculous, the characters wild and arguably dysfunctional, but even as it comes to an end that feels like it was the only way things could have ended, there is that sense of regret, sadness, and just pure depression that weaves its way into Wade’s stories when the mania dies down. And all of which is positively amazing in how much it does work beyond all reasonable expectations saying it shouldn’t.

Art: Given this was a crossover event, there were many artists collaborating on this entire book and while the styles differed between issues, there is no denying that the layouts must have been fairly meticulous because the story flowed easily from book to book. There was never any feeling that despite style differences something didn’t belong in the story as a whole and it was a refreshing consistency to how it all came together. There were great monster designs, I was glad to have every issue separated by their cover art. It was seamless work and much appreciated as a whole.

Characters & Dialogue: Oh boy. So, obviously only reading two of the books which were involved with this crossover, I can’t speak for most of these characters’ portrayals -- maybe Peter Parker and Aaron Stack, but those can be summed up as “modern Peter gives me aneurysms” and “everything with Aaron makes me miss Nextwave.” So I’m going to focus instead on Wade and Shiklah.

While there’s some variation between books, obviously, it is just amazing to me how after years of reading Deadpool, Wade’s voice and character has been really shaped by Gerry Duggan and his years long work with the character. Everything pays off and feels right, and you can see other writers shaping their own writing of the Merc with a Mouth to match. And I mean that in the absolute best way. There’s something inspired about having a character so known for ridiculousness and mania have such a strong and tragic underlying narrative beneath the layers. You can feel how bad Wade feels when his marriage to Shiklah comes apart and how much responsibility he feels for it, but also just how resigned he is to the fact that he messes up his own good things in life. And I love that pathos.

Shiklah, while a supporting character, has been one that I’ve genuinely enjoyed since Gerry Duggan first brought her into the Deadpool comics through “The Gauntlet” and I love that her fish-out-of-water and normalcy in the name of Marvel’s creature feature and monstrous side of the universe made a strange amount of sense for why she and Wade worked for each other for the time that they did. And I like that this has been something building up for a long time now and that Shiklah’s reasoning and perspective is respected by the narrative and, to an extent, by Wade himself.

I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll see of the Monster Queen but it is a good send off until we do see her again.

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #963 James Tynion IV, Christopher Sebela, Carmen Carnero, Arreola, Fitzpatrick

We’re getting back to what Steph’s doing out on her own and getting some semblance of what the Anarky plot is ultimately going to amount to. The real question I, and everyone else must now ask is, did that Anarky plot from pre-Rebirth Detective Comics have anything to do with this bc I don’t think anyone read it and if it is important or something we could be at just the start of a world of utter and total confusion. Lllllet’s find out.

Story: While this is the beginning of a new arc for ‘Tec, you could make the argument that the real beginning of this story was the one-off Spoiler-centric issue prior to the Zatanna/Azrael storyline we just wrapped up. We follow up from that story where Stephanie was attempting to put an end to the need for vigilante justice in Gotham by taking over cases meant for the Batfamily and completing them with little to no visual evidence of her involvement or credit given to anyone but the authorities.

At the end of that issue, Anarky had approached her to join his own, similar cause. According to him.

But the actual start of this issue was a flashback to Steph and Tim’s time together and romance. Which was not only a much better looking relationship than what they had in the preboot which was pretty uneven and full of some teenage shenanigans compounding Steph’s natural self-depreciation, but is also extremely necessary because ‘Tec absolutely dropped the ball in giving the start of the new series any time to establish these characters, show them training together, or grow their relationships before killing off people and breaking the team apart to the point where half the Belfry aren’t even children being trained anymore.

Not that we ever saw much training.

In any case, I’ve made it known before how much I dislike the use of flashback to make up for previous development and establishment so this kind of puts the new arc on a bad starting foot, at least with me. Especially with how creepy Anarky is around Steph (STRANGER DANGER) and how creepy it is that Bruce is stalking them from a distance to try to figure out what they’re doing (STRANGERER DANGERER). But we’ll have to see.

Art: While I have mentioned that the rotation of artists on the bimonthly books like Detective Comics and Wonder Woman has been something of a hinderance in other comics, I have to say I’m pretty impressed with the stable rotation of genuinely great art on ‘Tec every arc so far. Now, it’s not stylized the way I personally prefer, like when we get Marcio Takara’s turns to work on issues, and therefore can seem like a very good but standard house style for DC, but I really enjoy the consistency and appreciate how the female characters have reasonable body types and are not overly sexualized like has been part of the DC house style in the past. Steph’s actions and even her stance carries weight, and I increasingly like her new Spoiler costume each time I see it.

So all in all, great consistent art once more.

Characters & Dialogue: Tynion is usually the strongest when it comes to characters, and I think the beginning flashback between Steph and Tim highlighted that more than anything else. He obviously has a lot of love and nostalgia for these characters and it’s clear to see that that leads directly into direct homages all the way to bringing back an obscure Robin villain like Anarky. And that stuff’s good because, like I mentioned before, I do feel like Tynion has at least learned to be critical of his nostalgia and is righting things that were objectively not so great in the previous canon, like the treatment of Stephanie off-and-on in the Robin (1993-2009) series. Which is very nice.

That being said, I’m still waiting to be completely sold on Steph’s character here. I don’t dislike the change up of having her rebel against Bruce’s ways of doing things early and trying to forge her own path. And I don’t dislike the direction of her being critical of the way superheroes have grown in the public eye as authority figures and thinks instead they should go back to operating within the shadows and without bombast (apparently this is contentious in the Steph fandom? but i digress). But I do dislike that Stephanie, since her reappearance, has all but been refused the right to have her own secret identity. Which is ridiculous. Her identity gets immediately outed -- mostly by herself -- to nearly everyone, from her very first interactions with Dick to unmasking herself willy nilly here in front of a character named Anarky who is all but wearing a golden Guy Fox mask that he then refuses to remove in front of her for most of the issue.

Which brings us to Lonnie and the general creep factor I felt throughout this issue. Like. I don’t know. Hopefully the exact nature of their relationship will be built on later in the story, but to have him put her through the ringer and ‘test her’ only to then be so familiar with her as to brush her cheeks and put her mask on for her and use her civilian name. I don’t like. And being familiar with preboot Lonnie just adds to that.

Bruce is... Well, he’s Bruce.

Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists (2017-present) #3 (of 6) Kaare Kyle Andrews, Afu Chan

The adventures of Danny and Pei continue and my heart is still trying to recover from the roller coaster it was given in this issue. So let’s just jump straight into it.

Story: Much like last time, the real show stopper in this issue is Pei and how simple yet still nuanced the portrayal of a young, immigrant girl’s struggles are in a middle school.

Danny’s reluctance to teach the next generation of Iron Fist and his preferred concentration on superheroics and recovering the scrolls comes to a head in this issue as Pei finally unleashes after her attempts to fit in only cause her mentor to be frustrated and upset with her. Which is all kinds of terrible because Danny pretty obviously doesn’t realize that everything Pei is doing at the moment is being a normal girl growing into her own.

Including the yelling and rebelling.

What further frustrates the characters, and me as a reader, though is that while Danny is forbidding Pei from getting involved with the current fight for the scrolls and demons and whatnot, it’s not only forcing her to neglect her destiny but also ignoring the fact that even without her direct involvement, her friends and classmates are being hurt and effected already. It’s not only hurting Pei in that Danny’s not helping her embrace her new abilities, but it’s making her feel the burden of responsibility on herself and making her feel even more useless to her friends.

Of course, if they explained their problems we wouldn’t have a story to begin with.

Art: Like I said with the last issue, this art is just so adorable and, most importantly of all, so fitting for the story being told. It displays so much emotion and so much color without giving up solid sequential sequences when there is action to portray. And in that way I love it all the more. But of course, I’m a big sucker for style at the end of the day.

Having read quite a few of Marvel’s digital exclusives at this point, however, I do hesitate to not point out that this is laid out like a regular comic instead of really taking advantage of the new media’s abilities. Whether or not that would be fitting for the story that Andrews wants to tell is debatable, but it does fall into the concerns I have with DC Digital First comics which is that the “digital comic” aspect is not taken advantage of for the sake of future traditional prints of this comic. It’s a delicate balance and ultimately I’ll trust that this is just how the creative team wanted their story to be told.

Characters & Dialogue: Considering that this story is incredibly character based, ultimately most of my bases here was covered in the story section. Still I just want to emphasize that Pei’s arc has been incredibly interesting to watch, and I like that she doesn’t seem to reject any of the “cliques” in school in favor of others but seems genuinely dedicated to making friends with everyone, which is refreshing in storytelling since in a very Mean Girls-esque way it’s usually that the freaks & geeks are held up as the Real True Friends as opposed to the fakers. And the reason I find that relieving is because they’re all fakers. That’s just what middle school is.

That being said, I will say that as much as I’m not always the biggest defender of Danny Rand as a character or a concept (usually the opposite tbh), I do think that even with the excuse that we’re mostly seeing thing’s from Pei’s perspective, I don’t see Danny as someone who would be this unreasonable and callous toward Pei when she really hasn’t actively gone against his wishes. Perhaps we’re just channeling a little too much of the dynamic from Jackie Chan Adventures for this story when Pei is not a Jade-like character who arguably earns her scolding from time to time.

Image’s Lazarus: X + 66 (2017-present) #2 (of 6) Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Mack Chater, Aaron Duran, Arcas, Wynne

I really had no idea what to expect when this miniseries first came out, but you can thoroughly count me in the department as down for this world building and just general enjoyability that is coming from further exploring the world of Lazarus. As much as I would love to soon return to the regular title, this has been a great way to have more heartstrings pulled.

Story: As I said, I didn’t know really what to expect with this book but I’m not understanding more that it’s something of an anthology of stories beyond the perspective of the Carlyle family, and honestly I really love that.

I’ve mentioned many times before that I feel like Greg Rucka, like few writing peers of today, understands the importance of making a storyline feel complete within a single issue, and his work with this issue really feels like his signature. We follow the Morray family and specifically Joaquim, their Lazarus. From start to finish we don’t waste a single panel getting to learn the turmoil within the story, Joaquim’s tragedy, and the way his actions in protecting Forever in the main title is having severe consequences for the main conflict of this story.

And that conflict rather simply is how much of Joaquim’s humanity can he maintain as a Lazarus that is growing more and more robotic than man, and how much of that decision is in his own hands as he is a product of a system that has been losing its humanity more and more, not only for the Morrays but for all the major families of this dystopian future.

Art: While not as dynamic or fetching as the usual issue of Lazarus, the art for this issue is still outstanding. There’s a lot of... intensive anatomical study, we’ll say, but there was also not a whole lot of action. It was mostly a conversational and expositioning sort of issue which comes with its own complications -- how to make conversations feel alive and dramatic without a whole lot of actual action taking place. To which I must confess that the art did a fairly brilliant job of, as there was quite a lot of expressiveness and uniqueness in setting throughout.

Characters & Dialogue: It’s difficult to completely parse out the characters here because there are so many and the only one we had a fully established relationship with through the regular series was Joaquim himself, who also had the honor of the most panel time and presence throughout the issue. But that isn’t to say that every moment seen of the Morray family, how they conduct their business, and what that all intended for Joaquim himself was not excellent and as well characterized as always. I genuinely appreciated the culture and the look into the family dynamics which are so similar and yet so different to the Carlyles.

Rucka’s great with character and it truly shows when he has only an issue to pt everything on the line because he fully delivers almost every time.

Marvel’s X-Men Gold (2017-present) Vol. 1: Back to the Basics Marc Guggenheim, Adrian Syaf, R.B. Silva, Martin

My renewed interest in the X-Men is getting costly and I completely blame Tom Taylor’s run on All-New Wolverine for getting me back in that groove to begin with because I was totally over my addiction before then. Now I’m here for the Guggenheim.

Story: When an opening arc to a story calls itself “Back to Basics” there’s a decent reason for your expectations to generally be that whatever people haven’t liked about the comics in the most recent Giant Change Up To Forever Break the Status Quo in Comics is going over like a lead balloon of sorts or that they finally wrestled a book out of Bendis’ hands. And there’s nothing in Volume 1 of X-Men Gold that really changes my mind in regard to that impression.

Which might not be entirely fair. Kitty in particular has been pushed more and more to the forefront of the X-Men in recent years and as a result, they had to erase her curly hair and also force her to really grow up. In a way, Kitty -- who was once the youngest of the X-Men and the student to everyone -- has become the teacher, mentor, and leader to what remains of the Mutant Race. Who aren’t doubles of past versions of themselves. And who aren’t living out of their late dads’ apartments. And who aren’t being killed by yet another serial race murderer.

X-Men Gold focuses on establishing the elder team to X-Men Blue’s younger mutants and gives us a team of fan favorites as a result. This first arc has them dealing with a very on-the-nose Ann Coulter analogue who has a No Spin Zone style show on Fact News (get it). She’s a race baiter attempting to stir up mutant prejudices again for ratings and also some sort of greater grudge I’m sure will come back later. It includes her hiring Mesmero to create a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to frame all mutantkind for their terroristic acts and encourage public calls for mass deportation of mutants. Get it.

Subtlety of a sledgehammer aside, I want to take this moment to point out that one of the Brotherhood’s new members is an alien lizard looking guy that no one’s familiar with. And from the time he appears until the time they learn gasp he’s an extraterrestrial and not a mutant at all, Kitty (and others but mostly Kitty) keep talking about his appearance and how he’s a creep or scary and I’m just like. Apparently the X-Men truly haven’t learned from their own prejudices. I mean, everyone was assuming this guy was a mutant but at the same time judging him based on his appearance? Like wasn’t this the whole point of having Nightcrawler, Beast, and Anole on the X-Men??? But whatever.

The second half focuses on Remy discovering the newest incarnation of the Sentinels which are now conscious and learning nanites which take three issues to take out and are only dismantled by Rachel having a Walkabout of sorts talking to her old selves, her mother, and her father which encourages her enough that she psychically blasts every single nanite. To the detriment of her eyes apparently bc now all the Avengers and X-Men now reflect in them. I’m not entirely sure about that cliffhanger.

Other than the little girl on the last page I thought for sure was Molly Hayes and could not figure out why she was in New York or where the rest of the Runaways were until I realized oh that’s probably just another kid and artists don’t know how to vary their style of drawing younger age groups bc lbr it’s not like it happens that often on most books.

Art: The art for both arcs was honestly really spectacular. There were strong, solid lineart with great use of colors, the characters all had varied designs, and explosions -- which are always important to X-Men stories, of course -- were fantastic and bombast. But it’s also that house style I like to mention so much so it’s also really hard to get into why it works or doesn’t work because it’s just the established good storytelling style that both of the Big Two are comfortable using on any book for good reason.

Characters & Dialogue: Since X-books are always filled to the gills with characters I can’t go into every single character or voice, but I’ll focus on the two most central characters to these first arcs: Kitty and Rachel. I thought both were written extremely well and there was real gravity to their interactions, a feeling of the importance and enormity of their histories. Sometimes that feels absent in modern books, especially for Rachel who seems to be a character most writers approach with apprehension, but we got to actually do a deep dive on both of them. And as a result, that maturity the book refers to through other characters and through Kitty’s inner monologue feels genuine.

One thing I have to stress, though: Marvel please stop pushing KittyxPioter. It worked back in the day once. It’s not really going to work again and it’s been too long and Kitty is 1000% right when she says she’s moved on. So have we.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I had so many ridiculously good issues at once to pick from but fortunately we have only three issues for singles to pick from this week. And even though I legitimately enjoyed all of what I read this week, there is just something special about the way Immortal Iron Fists pulls at my heart strings. I’ve really come to adore Pei, her unique voice in comics, and especially the way it’s developing Danny’s potential in ways we’ve never seen before. Not to mention I’m just incredibly partial to all-ages comics which aren’t afraid to tackle very mature problems and themes while still speaking to a young audience’s tone.

Now between the two collected trades here, we’re stuck between an Weapon X and a X-Men which I’m not sure how it happened to me since I’m fairly sure I’ve not had to pick between two choices like that since I was in middle school. It’s kind of astounding. But, bang for my buck, I’m giving this one to X-Men Gold. It was a solid introductory arc and also had the benefit of not being a massive crossover with more characters than it knew how to properly work in. The irony of me saying that about the non-X-Men book here does not escape me.

And those are my picks of the week! That being said, I’m sure there’s lots to agree and disagree with me on in this Roundup. Be sure to let me know one way or the other. Also, do you think there are any books I missed picking up that would be good reads for me?

And now it’s also that time of the week everyone dreads but not nearly as much as I do.

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 recently.

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

#Rena Roundups #Wednesday Spoilers #SPOILERS #Detective Comics (2016 )#Immortal Iron Fists (2017)#Lazarus: X + 66 #Deadpool (2015 )#XMen Gold (2017 )

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thisdaynews · 5 years ago

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How a liberal think tank is driving Democrats on reining in tech

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/how-a-liberal-think-tank-is-driving-democrats-on-reining-in-tech/

How a liberal think tank is driving Democrats on reining in tech

The Open Markets Institute has a bitter history with Google, one of the companies it wants the government to target for a crackdown. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

technology

The presidential race and rising anger at Silicon Valley’s power are giving new lift to the Open Markets Institute’s crusade against online monopolies.

A small liberal think tank has spent years urging Washington to crack down on the United States’ biggest tech companies — a lonely crusade that barely registered with the political establishment.

Now the Open Markets Institute has become one of the most influential drivers of Democratic politics in the fight to rein in Facebook, Amazon and Google, seeing its ideas embraced by Elizabeth Warren and forcing presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Joe Biden to take a side.

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The idea that Silicon Valley companies are this generation’s monopolies? Open Markets has been banging that drum for a long time. The argument that the internet giants are a threat to American democracy? The group has been making that case way before it became mainstream.

Open Markets believes the major online companies need government intervention, including in some cases breaking them apart the way Standard Oil was split more than a century ago. And it’s seizing the political moment created by Donald Trump’s surprise 2016 election victory, which has put the tech industry on the defensive over everything from Russian disinformation to data privacy.

“When Trump won, it turned out that Google and Facebook were not magicians,” said Matt Stoller, an Open Markets fellow and former staffer on the Senate Budget Committee under ranking member Sanders (I-Vt.). “They were just marketers, and that was a massive hit to the prestige of ‘Big Tech.’”

The group had a messy split two years ago from its onetime parent organization, New America, after the two clashed over Open Markets’ praise for a $2.7 billion European antitrust fine against Google. Open Markets has also caught the ire of Facebook, which last year hired a public relations firm that targeted the group’s “George Soros connection” — a campaign that earned Facebook accusations of trafficking in anti-Semitic themes.

Despite its small size — 15 or so employees operating out of a shared WeWork space in downtown D.C. — Open Markets is exercising outsized influence these days, helping to shape Washington’s intensifying scrutiny of giant tech companies and their vast influence on American society. And the apex example of its influence is its relationship with Warren.

The ties to the Democratic Massachusetts senator go back to 2016, when Warren met with Open Markets’ executive director, Barry Lynn, to discuss her concerns about corporate concentration. Months later, she headlined an Open Markets-hosted event in the Capitol with a speech on “Reigniting Competition in the American Economy,” in which she called out Google, Apple and Amazon as platforms that can “become a tool to snuff out competition.”

This year, as a presidential candidate, Warren made breaking up big tech companies one of the central proposals of her campaign, saying the firms “have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy.”

Warren’s trust-busting plan has echoed through the Democratic primary, forcing her nearly two dozen rivals to either emulate it, offer their own versions or distance themselves from it.

Biden, the current Democratic frontrunner, said Warren makes “a very strong case” for breaking up tech giants, adding it’s “something we should take a really hard look at.” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) staked out a similar position. Sanders backed the idea of breaking up Facebook, but has yet to weigh in on other tech companies. Meanwhile, Booker (D-N.J.), known for his close relationship with Silicon Valley, has adopted stronger language criticizing corporate consolidation but said Warren’s proposal smacks of Trump’s bombastic rhetoric.

“I don’t think that a president should be running around pointing at companies and saying break them up without any kind of process here,” Booker said. “It’s not me and my own personal opinion about going after folks. That sounds more like a Donald Trump thing to say, ‘I’m going to break up you guys.’”

Fans of Open Markets see its fingerprints on the emerging debate.

“Open Markets and the people around them were the first to name the monopoly problem, plant a flag, and consolidate attention around it,” said David Segal, executive director of digital rights group Demand Progress. Segal’s group and Open Markets lead the “Freedom from Facebook” coalition, which is pushing the Federal Trade Commission to force Facebook to spin off its WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger businesses.

The group’s advocacy comes amid a broader swirl of events surrounding the tech industry, with antitrust enforcers at the Justice Department and FTC dividing up oversight of the major internet companies and the House Judiciary Committee launching its own investigation of tech firms. Democrats and Republicans have been hammering the companies over a range of issues over the past two years, from the way they handle disinformation and hate speech to data-privacy concerns to GOP complaints of anti-conservative bias.

Open Markets has its critics, among them pro-business organizations that say the group offers few fresh ideas and scorns honest debate. And its leaders have developed a reputation for pugnacious rhetoric, responding aggressively to legislative proposals, news coverage or analysis deemed insufficiently tough on the tech companies.

“OMI’s loudest voices are largely unencumbered by economic or legal education,” said Neil Chilson, chief technologist at the libertarian Charles Koch Institute. “So maybe they’ve raised the profile of the antitrust debate, but to my mind they aren’t doing much to help move that debate forward.”

Tim Wu, a Columbia Law School professor and Open Markets advisory board member, acknowledged the group’s combative nature, but credited it with expanding the idea of what’s considered reasonable for government to do in response to Silicon Valley’s power.

“They’re angry, but they also understand antitrust law,” he said.

Beyond Warren, the group has established a sprawling network of ideologically like-minded people in Washington and across the country.

Lina Khan, an Open Markets veteran, has drawn considerable attention as the author of an influential 2017 academic paper arguing that regulators are ignoring the threat posed by Amazon and should look past traditional price concerns when establishing if a company is a monopoly. Khan later went on to work for Democratic FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra, who has urged antitrust enforcers to issues penalties harsh enough to force both tech companies and their executives to change their ways.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes praised both Khan and Lynn, the Open Markets executive director, in his eye-catching New York Times op-ed in May calling for the breakup of Facebook. Hughes’s call-to-arms attracted enormous attention, given his role in starting Facebook with CEO Mark Zuckerberg in their Harvard dorm.

The group has also worked closely with Roger McNamee, an early adviser to Zuckerberg who has become an ardent critic of the company. McNamee credits Lynn with helping him to navigate Washington, including helping to get a magazine article published that would later become the basis for his best-selling book, “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.” (McNamee now sits on the group’s advisory board.)

Open Markets’ reach has at times stretched beyond the confines of Washington and Silicon Valley.

Ron Kim, a Democratic member of the New York state Assembly, credits Open Markets with helping him articulate arguments against Amazon as he helped lead pushback against the company’s planned second-headquarters expansion into Queens’ Long Island City neighborhood. “I ended up learning and growing tremendously as a lawmaker, because they have been doing this a lot longer than I have,” Kim told POLITICO.

Amazon abandoned its New York City plans in February, saying that “a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us.”

Open Markets has a bitter history with Google, one of the companies it wants the government to target for a crackdown.

The group’s 2017 split from New America followed an Open Markets news release congratulating European regulators’ decision to impose a $2.7 billion fine on Google. That was awkward because of New America’s close relationship with Google. The search giant is a key donor to the organization, and Eric Schmidt, then executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, had also served as chairman of New America’s board.

The New York Times later reported that Open Markets’ departure from New America came amid pressure from Google. At the time, New America CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter called that implication “absolutely false,” saying instead that Lynn had failed to live up to the organization’s expectations of “openness and institutional collegiality.”

Today, as a standalone group, Open Markets declines to disclose its donors, saying only that the roster does not include for-profit corporations. Asked to explain the lack of transparency, Stoller said “monopolies are vindictive.” Added Sarah Miller, the group’s deputy director and a former Hillary Clinton policy aide, “When you are going up against the world’s most powerful companies, it is probably not strategic to expose some of the people who want to fund that work.”

Open Markets says it focuses on teaching policymakers effective ways to talk about tech issues, through everything from one-on-one briefings to high-profile public events. But it also spends time trying to inject its views — often via Twitter — into Washington’s political bloodstream.

In April, after Facebook said it expects to shell out up to $5 billion for a settlement of the FTC’s privacy investigation, Open Markets went to work arguing that such a historic fine would be little more than a slap on the wrist for Facebook, which has a market capitalization of about half a trillion dollars. Stoller called it a “parking-ticket-level penalty for destroying democracy,” a statement that got an extra exposure when The New York Times made it a “Quotation of the Day.”

McNamee recalls that when he met with Lynn in 2017, “Barry said, ‘We’re going to bring antitrust back and we’re going to start with tech.’ I was flabbergasted.” Fast forward to this month, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, tweeted a warning about the dangers to democracy posed by the concentration of power in the hands of the online platforms. Wrote Pelosi: “The era of self-regulation is over.”

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