#btw its so fun to make low quality comics like this

[sunnfish]

[Image Descriptions: a redraw of the “it is pride month, you know what that means” meme with Hanzawa and Ogasawara from Sasaki to Miyano. The first panel shows Hanzawa speaking to Ogasawara, saying “it is pride month ogasawara. you know what that means,” to which Ogasawara responds “huh / what.” The next panel shows Ogasawara with his arms out in a confused gesture while Hanzawa is turned away, smiling. The first iteration of the comic has Ogasawara saying “do you want us to read like / gayer manga / what”. The second says “do you want us to get like / gay piercings / what”. Behind Ogasawara is a very low quality drawing of Sasaki and Miyano making out. /End Descriptions]

The people (my 4 friends) have spoken

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man: Far From Home Thoughts Part 1 a.k.a. MCU Chapter 23

As I did for Homecoming I’m going to split my thoughts on the film up based on looking at it as a film unto itself/part of the MCU and then separately looking at it in terms of being an adaptation. 

However in trying to write the former section I soon realized it was more practical to further partition coverage of the film.

Because MCU films can be looked at not merely as part of a film trilogy/quadrilogy (or as the latest chapter in a specific character’s arc) but as installments in the wider MCU story. Spider-Man: Far From Home is in essence simultaneously ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man 2′ and ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe Part 23′. And those two lenses do affect how you evaluate the film.

So as such I’m going to have three sections across...however many parts it takes. These posts are something of a stream of consciousness so I’m aiming for 3 parts but we’ll see what happens.

Let’s start with how this stacks up as the latest installment in the MCU Saga.

On a scale of Iron Man 3/The Dark World/Captain Marvel to Winter Soldier/Civil War/Endgame, Far From Home sits comfortably in a middling position, much like its predecessor.

Like Homecoming it’s a mostly entertaining time killer, decent popcorn fun...just not quite as high quality popcorn fun as say Avengers 2012 or Iron Man 2008.

Speaking of Iron Man his post-humorous presence in the film illustrative of a strength and weakness of the MCU’s narrative style, hence I’m going to talk a lot about it here.

Whilst the MCU is often touted (even by Disney themselves) as replicating the comic books’ shared cross continuity nature, in truth it doesn’t.

In Marvel comics one can mostly follow Iron Man or Spider-Man or Avengers runs on their own. The shared universe is there and comes into play at times, but really you don’t need to follow everything.

With the MCU, whilst a lot of the films are accessible you really couldn’t just watch the Iron Man Trilogy and call it a day because Tony’s arc plays out across other films too, it climaxes 5+ years after his last solo film. In essence the MCU is like a TV show wherein you get 2-3 episodes per year and the season finales are the Avengers movies.

This is relevant to Far From Home because, despite what anyone tells you, this is the start of Phase/Season 4 and it feels that way (it more or less states that to you at the start of the movie). As such the film acts as MCU Spider-Man 2 but also MCU Chapter 23/MCU Book 4 Chapter 1 and HAS to address the fallout of the last episode/chapter/season finale.

Thus Peter’s arc in FFH gets hijacked as a kind of Endgame/Tony Stark post-mortem...sorta. We’ll talk more about that in another post, but understand that in so far as Tony’s post-mortem does hijack the movie it undermines Peter’s personal narrative.

However, in regards to the post-Endgame state of affairs it is rather unsatisfying, almost disrespectful.

And by disrespectful I mean that as the Marvel Studios logo opens up we have a rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You’ (the Whitney Houston version I believe) over poorly picked out, low res stills of all Avengers who died or didn’t come back in Endgame; to the film’s credit it does look like something a high schooler would make. That is followed by the first of two clunky exposition drops played for laughs and repeating the unrequited romance joke between Betty and Jason from Homecoming, complete with a focus upon Jason’s bewilderment over now being older than his little brother. Oh and let’s not forget the gag about the high school band turning to dust and then reappearing in the middle of a basketball game to wacky effect. The film even makes a point of not  addressing if the Avengers are even around as a team anymore, which is likely a meta commentary as well.

I’ll give the movie this, it made it’s intentions clear. It was not going to really treat the aftermath of the biggest MCU movie with much weight, it was going to be a superfluous, light, fluffy funfest. That’s a stupid direction to adopt after Endgame but at least it didn’t try to trick the viewers that it would be anything else.

Now in spite of that tone and approach the film could still explore how the post-Endgame world has changed. Maybe we won’t get anything dark or dramatic per se, but at least we’ll get some information right?

In fact, as much as I had disdain for this film going in, seeing the post-Endgame MCU was what I was really interested in. And the film delivered on that...initially...in the very same clunky exposition drop played for laughs.

We don’t talk about the blip again apart from 3 or 4 quick references, one of which explained who Mysterio was and why he could’ve duped Fury.

As for how this affected Peter, it didn’t. Many speculated Aunt May might’ve survived the blip but no, we’re told very explicitly she disappeared too.

This is very much a mixed bag for FFH as an MCU film and as a Spider-Man movie (yes I know I said I was separating those two things but it’s more efficient for this next part).

On the one hand for those who want to follow the broader MCU story FFH gives them answers but brief ones. It’s the equivalent to simply googling the answer to a murder mystery rather than experiencing the story unfold towards that answer. We had a huge opportunity to examine the ramifications of such a globally changing phenomenon but we simply acknowledge it happened and then press on as though it didn’t. The same opening exposition makes that clear too when it says that they’re moving on.

On the other hand were the film to properly explore the ramifications of the blip it would hijack the whole movie, even more than the Iron Man post-mortem already was.

On the other other hand having everyone of relevance to Peter’s life (sans Happy and Tony) die and come back, keeping them all ‘synched’ with him basically, is extremely convenient.

On the other other other hand it’d derail his narrative in a huge way if MJ or Ned or May (who’s still not ‘Aunt May’ btw because fuck this movie) were suddenly in their 20s.

On the other x4 hand the presence of such a massively fantastical event like death and resurrection (along with aliens and space technology) has already derailed the verisimilitude of his solo films which began by painting themselves as comparatively more down to Earth and ‘friendly neighbourhood’ even in spite of alien tech being repurposed. The same applies to having him go on international adventures; yet another inconsistency between this and the last Spidey movie.

So it’s very much a case of pick your poison.

Getting back to this film as a Tony Stark tribute, when viewed as part of the ongoing MCU saga it’s presence and handling succeeds more than it fails.

As I said Tony began the MCU and along with Cap was one of the twin pillars holding it up, so his death demands examination. On a metatextual level we need a film grieving Tony Stark before we can move on to the next step.

So in this regard the film giving so much attention to the hole left behind by him and how that’s really the impetus for the entire primary plot of the film is incredibly fitting.*

This applies to Mysterio in a sense.

I’ll talk more about his place when compared to certain other villains in a future instalment, but in the context of this movie his role as a kind of evil Iron Man/pretender to Iron Man’s throne works well. In fact he’s an exceptionally great villain...for Iron Man.** You see where I’m going with this, but that’s for another post.

Lets switch gears a little and discuss another wider MCU element, Nick Fury. At certain points of the film I felt Fury was out of character and a huge jerk. But twist at the end that it was actual Talos mitigated all that, it made sense. It also addressed another huge problem I was having with the movie up until that point, the absence of other heroes.

Like in the trailers the movie takes strides to address why Thor, Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange can’t help out against the Elementals. But of course this leaves the huge problem of literally everyone else. You could make a case for Falcon and Winter Soldier being of little use against such seemingly powerful foes like the Elementals, but what about Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Valkyrie, etc? Thankfully the Talos reveal addresses this as Talos is ultimately not Nick Fury so wouldn’t have access to all those heroes.

It also sets up for future films, implying the Kree/Skrull War is far from over and that we will soon be seeing S.W.O.R.D.

Really that’s all there is to say about the movie moving forward into the MCU.

We get answers but they’re underwhelming and unsatisfying whilst getting a movie grieving Tony Stark and making the audience feel his loss.

If only Spider-Man himself seemed to feel as upset...

*Too bad all the comedy and light teen drama crap undermines it.

**In fact the entire villainous crew and villain scheme revolves around Iron Man’s legacy. I guess that makes this film also a.k.a. Iron Man in Memoriam 

[lucyreviewcy]

An Ode to Taylor Swift’s Approach to Self-Branding

In his book Stars, Richard Dyer discusses the way that movie stars’ personas are built and developed both within and outside of their films. Dyer suggests that the kind of characters that stars play feed into the overall narrative of their career. Taylor Swift isn’t a film star, unless you count a few brief cameos, but her persona is unique in that her personal presentation (Instagram, interviews and anywhere where she is pretending to be herself) and her performance persona (in photoshoots, music videos, live performances and arguably her music) are so nakedly constructed.

While she once may have claimed to have something in common with the girl she plays in the videos for Picture to Burn or Tim McGraw, these days, Swift is no stranger to drawing attention to how her image is created. If you don’t believe me, just look at the video for …Ready for It. She’s literally making a new Taylor.

Whenever T Swizzle releases new music, her fans are chided for combing through the lyrics and accompanying images with a fine toothed comb to find hidden clues or references to other parts of the Swift Mythos. Swift’s music videos are rife with call-backs, her lyrics shot through with veiled (and sometimes…not veiled at all) references to events in her personal life or previous work. As she proved with the Look What You Made Me Do video, you don’t need a cast of thousands of Hollywood stars and decades of comic books to create an extended universe; she did it with one name, one persona, reinvented over and over.

YouTube film academic Lindsay Ellis has pointed out that any text or product exclusively targeted at teenage girls (Ellis refers to the Twilight franchise of books and films) is received by audiences as being universally poor quality and worthy of spades of parodies and mean-spirited hot takes. A lot of media that is cherished by and targeted at young girls is considered extremely low art, and Taylor Swift, despite being a prolific songwriter and a consummate performer, is often dropped into this bucket with a loud, gangly thud. Regularly commenting on how much she loves Tumblr (a site often associated with the obsessive, single-minded fandom (you can read my Timeless reviews on this very blog btw)) as a way of connecting with her fans, Swift makes a big point of trying to connect on a personal level with the hordes of young women who connect with her music.

EM Forster wrote: “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.”  Swift seeks to connect with her fans who connect with her art. She’s attempting to turn a one-sided exchange into a kind of contribution triangle, whereby she’s inspired by her fans who are inspired by her work, and both contribute in the resulting music. By creating this pseudo-give-and-take, Taylor’s music and images become something more than a disparate set of marketing images and tunes, but one mythology – “fragments no longer.”

I think it’s admirable for any star to try and do this. As I mentioned at the start of this article, Swift’s persona is fully constructed. Her desire to connect with fans is extremely marketable and played up in interviews and even the way that she speaks to the literal thousands of audience members at her concerts. However, Swift’s detailed, complex mythos, full of symbolism and self-referential intertextuality is the net result of all that connection. It is a mad and brilliant scheme that ultimately acts as a cultural studies training level for her fans.

It starts when Taylor’s hidden a clue to her album title in her latest music video. Her fans interrogate the text, which is a CGI ridden 4 minutes that is so unreal in its aesthetic that every element has been consciously constructed. They dissect, they discuss, they write about their findings. You know, just like when a big controversial movie comes out. That’s right, I’m saying ME! is the Roma of the Taylor Swift world.

I’m a fan of Swift’s music (eye-roll all you want, she writes good tunes, bite me), but I recognised literally none of the symbolism that fans and super-fans and beleaguered entertainment correspondents across the globe are writing adrenaline-fuelled blog posts about. I’m 25, I work in media and I’m doing a masters in film – did I notice that the seven suitcases represented T Swizzle’s albums or that the whole damn video takes place inside a cocoon? No. I did not.

While the details that fans are going nuts about might not be ground-breaking or important in the oeuvre of film and cultural studies, it is so important that these fans are being encouraged to explore and interrogate these texts. They’re sharpening their teeth for tougher meat. Not every Taylor Swift fan will grow up into a film studies academic (although I would read a sci-fi short story where this bizarre phenomenon happens and somehow brings down society) – but the fans that engage on this level are learning how to explore media as constructed work in the context of its creator. THANK YOU TAYLOR! She’s not the hero that media studies wants, but she’s the hero it deserves…

We live in a media dominated age. Our politicians fight in snarky twitter battles, news breaking across the world is available to us pretty much as it happens, and our sexy looking lunches are tiny headlines broadcast from our social media accounts. Interrogating media is a really important skill in this age. Young women and men reading “too much” (don’t get me started) into Taylor Swift videos are learning three things:

1)      Sometimes there is more to a media text than meets the eye, subliminal messaging is a thing.

2)      Taylor’s persona is constructed and she’s consciously creating each new incarnation.

3)      You can question the media that’s put in front of you, even if it is put there by someone that you like.

The way that people often dump on media studies and related fields as “reading too much into things” and “all bullsh*t” is frustrating. Not only is this argument kind of rude, it suggests that there really isn’t much more to a text than meets the eye. There is! Films, movies and music influence us every moment of every day, having the curiosity to ask how they’re doing that is not a bad thing. You’re not “making it all up” if you say that the way that Harry Potter valorises unrequited love is actually quite dangerous, or if you point out that the 2017 Baywatch manages to gently reinforce all the bad gender politics of the 1980s original (WOAH SHOCK) or if you want to write a gosh-darned 7,000 word essay on the bit where the snake bursts into a cloud of butterflies. That curiosity is empowering and exciting and exploring texts this way is fun.

There are caveats to this. Not everyone likes reading texts this way, and it is important to maintain your love for the movies, music videos and other texts that you explore even while you hit them with some cold hard theory. So here is my message to any Taylor Swift fan and budding media genius, stepping out into this wild world of media. Keep these things in mind:

Not everyone will share your passion, but that doesn’t mean your passion is bad - it just means that you might need to have other topics of conversation up your sleeve for when people just aren’t interested. 

Be sensitive to your friends and don’t dump on all their favourite movies and musicians.

Be aware that a lot of people might not share your opinions.

Be quiet in the cinema because shouting “Dutch angle” every time there’s a Dutch angle will make people really mad.

But don’t ever be embarrassed to read into a text and ask questions about how and why it was made.  T Swizzle has felt the brunt of a media age that says what it wants and airs your dirty laundry. She writes songs about how it feels to have a reputation you have no control over. Then she says to her fans “Hey, I’ve reinvented myself, come see if you can figure out what I’ve done! Dissect every frame of my video and every lyric of my song, and every damn pixel of my Instagram.” She sets up the media world as a puzzle which can be pieced together, and if not solved, then thoroughly explored.

Taylor Swift actually wants her fans to do this, and so do I.

[popwasabi]

All 18 MCU Films Ranked Because Why The Fuck Not?

Ten years, eighteen fucking movies. Holy shit.

Yup it’s been a whole decade since Samuel L. Jackson showed up in the “Iron Man” end credits to tease the hell out of fans at the mention of the word “Avengers” but I don’t think even in most fans’ wildest dreams did they believe such a mega franchise would blossom from that moment.

Though quality certainly varies from film to film and some have aged better than others, what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done is still nothing short of remarkable. This series is basically pumping out two to three sequels every year and somehow all these films connect to one another in mostly coherent ways. Fans and general movie going audiences have for the most part adored the movies, much to the chagrin of screaming DCEU fan boys and now we finally appear to be reaching some sort of end game (at least for this particular chapter of the MCU-verse) in “Infinity War” premiering at the end of the week.

Now anyone who knows me well knows I’ve been pretty lukewarm on this franchise since the beginning. Outside of some clear gems, the MCU has been mostly one big, largely one dimensional bag of popcorn flicks and action comedies and while that’s not the worst thing in the world (we all know what is) it’s at the very least a little mundane. The MCU tends to over rely on the Joss Whedon school of film-making, littering almost every scene with a punchline, thus over-saturating the story with bathos (my new favorite word btw) to the point the story loses its sincerity and almost becomes a parody of itself.

That said, there are worst super hero films to watch in the world besides the MCU series and rarely have I left a movie going “well that was a waste of time” so without further ado here are the 18 MCU ranked by yours truly (which I’m sure will piss some of you off). Enjoy...

 18. Thor: The Dark World

*Sigh* I had high hopes for this one when it came out many years ago because I was hoping I might see a bit more of the Thor I’m familiar with in the comics but instead we got a boilerplate of the most consistent problems MCU films tend to have: Uninteresting plot, a one-dimensional villain, flatly directed scene creation, bad jokes, and a bland female love interest. The first half of this movie is a fucking slog to get through and Natalie Portman is as dry as sand paper inheriting the plot device for no other reason than to give her something to do. Really, the only thing that saves this movie from being completely unwatchable is Tom Hiddleston as Loki who carries the film like Kobe Bryant did the 2006 LA Lakers, keeping it just barely above completely terrible. The Thor films are generally speaking not that good on most levels but “The Dark World” is exceptionally bad.

 17. The Incredible Hulk

Can we even count this as part of the MCU anymore? Virtually none of this film’s contents make it to the rest of the MCU including Edward Norton as Bruce Banner and most people, including myself when making this list, forget the movie even existed. Not much interesting happens in this movie but hey, at least it has a pretty decent fight for the finale that kind of saves the movie.

 16. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

This is probably where I’ll start to piss a few of you off but I just don’t care for this sequel that much. This is a movie that really over does it on the bathos, with another one-note bad guy and just seems to rely too much on the wit and charisma of the cast to carry it (as good as they are). The film takes zero risks from the original and seems to have a punchline for virtually every scene in the movie to the point it becomes tedious to get through for me. I get that movies like this, and the original, are meant to be lighthearted and goofy but the film needed way more quiet and sincere moments to balance it out more. For what it’s worth though Michael Rooker kills it as Yondu and the best moment of the movie is his and *gasp* it’s one of the few moments where we don’t get a punchline! What a concept!

 15. Iron Man 2

Generally considered to be most fans least favorite MCU flick, (until they remember “The Incredible Hulk” and “Thor: The Dark World” exists of course) “Iron Man 2” is a mixed bag of good to bad moments. In terms of the good, Mickey Rourke, when he’s onscreen at least, is menacing and enjoyable and Sam Rockwell is a natural delight as well but at the same time both villains are half-baked once again and don’t do much of anything that interesting in the story. Terence Howard was recast with Don Cheadle who in my opinion is miscast as James Rhodes aka War Machine and the whole script feels like they were making it up as they go. That said, it’s a decent one-time popcorn flick and the race scene is genuinely fun even if it’s short.

 14. Dr. Strange

Let me first say that this character will always have a special place in my heart because this is my dad’s favorite comic book hero and I grew up reading a lot of old “Dr. Strange” comics because of it. But with that said I really don’t get the love behind this movie. It’s a pretty straightforward origin story comic book movie and aside from some dazzling Inception-like visuals I was bored through most all the movie. Benedict Cumberbatch is fine as the sorcerer supreme and even with the white-washing in mind I guess Tilda Swinton is decent as the Ancient One but there’s not much to hang on to here. The film wastes the talents of Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius (again a recurring theme with these villains) and has another one-dimensional female love interest that lends virtually nothing to the story. The film’s not bad so much as it is just simply not that interesting even with all its magic in play. But the film does have a genuinely good sequence with the “I want to bargain” scene which is both funny and clever, so it had that at least (But what a waste of a character like Dormamu too).

  13. Avengers: Age of Ultron

It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what makes this movie not work. Between a shoehorned in romance between Black Widow and Hulk, lazy writing behind the character of Ultron (despite James Spader doing his best), and lack of knowledge on the goings-on of the “Agents of Shield” TV show going in,  the film, for lack of a better description, just isn’t good. It has some decent action scenes and again Spader does the best with what he has but I think the movie just struggles from having too many moving parts going at the same time. The film does have a pretty great scene that I’m glad wasn’t cut from the theatrical release and that’s the Scarlett Witch hallucination sequence which gave the characters some real depth for a moment. I should say, I don’t hate this movie so much as I’m just not all that impressed by it is all.

 12. Thor

I think this movie gets a little more crap than it deserves but the first “Thor” really wasn’t as bad as some fans will tell you, in my opinion. Perhaps I’m looking back on it with the rose-tinted glasses of a Thor fanboy who was just so happy to see his favorite Odison on the big screen for the first time back in the day but really there isn’t much that was thaaaat offensive about this movie. It’s cheesy, yes, with it’s family fun level violence, corny jokes and again flat female love interest but it was fun at least and not a bad time at the movies back in 2011 (wow). The story is simple and the action is entertaining and for its time that was enough. Is it a great comic book movie or even a great MCU movie? Hell no! But it survives on the talents of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston and that’s enough to make it not a bad movie at least.

 11. Ant-Man

For what it’s worth, this movie had a lot of things going against it before it premiered and still ended up being a genuinely fun, campy super hero flick despite its flaws. The original director Edgar Wright (one of the best directors of this era, in my opinion) bowed out over creative differences with the studio which is a real shame and the new director basically had a year to rewrite and shoot everything. Despite this, it was still a fun movie even if it was kind of whatever too. Paul Rudd is great as Scott Lang who plays off Michael Douglas’s as Hank Pym well and Michael Pena is funny as the wise-cracking, story-telling Luis. The film does have perhaps one of the worst one-dimensional villains of the series in Yellow Jacket but ehh it’s still a fun movie and easily the best sequence is the miniature fight between him and Ant-Man on the train set.

 10. Iron Man

*Gasp* I know. “This low on this list?” You’re damn right. I don’t care what anyone tells me, this is one of the most overatted super hero flicks of all-time. How people could compare this to “The Dark Knight” back in 2008, unless you’re rabid Marvel comics fan boy, is beyond me. With that said it’s not a bad movie, it’s just a fairly straight forward popcorn flick is all. Robert Downey Jr. of course carries the film with all his natural charisma and the action sequences are a lot of fun on screen but that’s just it; there’s not much else there beyond it. It’s an origin story film that certainly works but doesn’t rise beyond its genre in the same way perhaps other better origin movies have done. Again it has a one-note villain, even if he is played by The Dude himself Jeff Bridges, but the final fight, as short as it is, is fun too so there’s that at least. All in all this isn’t a bad movie but I seriously do not understand people’s love affair with this film. It’s a popcorn flick and not much deeper than that, fam.

 9. Iron Man 3

“That one??” I can hear a few of you saying reading this. Yes, that one. 

Of the solo Iron Man movies (emphasis on solo here, I’ll get into this later) this is the best Iron Man in my opinion. I’ve warmed up to this one more over the years, appreciating the little things it does well, such as putting Tony in a precarious position without his suit for most of the movie where he has to MacGyver his way out of trouble to survive his enemies and the twist, upon further review, is actually kind of clever (not great). The film still wastes another talented actor, this time Guy Pierce, as the main villain in the story, like most MCU films, but RDJ is his typically witty self in this and the movie works well as it always does with him. The movie didn’t need Iron Patriot, especially if Norman Osbourne wasn’t going to make an appearance, but there isn’t that much about the movie that is intellectually offensive at least. It’s another popcorn flick and nothing more than that but I enjoyed it when it came out many years ago, though I doubt I’ll ever feel the need to watch it again like most films on this list.

 8. Thor: Ragnarok

This movie is basically “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2″ but better in that even though it’s basically one punchline after another at least the humor is better this time around and doesn’t try to fool you into thinking it’s something more sincere. This one is perhaps the only MCU film that can 100 percent be classified as a comedy and though it was a bit annoying to sit through another joke heavy Marvel flick at least I laughed a lot. It’s funny, sometimes uproariously, and visually it’s a very pretty movie, especially compared to the drabness of the previous two solo Thor ventures. Mike Ruffalo’s Hulk has some great moments in the movie and plays off Hemsworth’s Thor well and the movie even gets a memorable villain for a change as Cate Blanchett hams it up as Hela pretty well (even if she has a criminally small amount of screentime). Maybe since I gave up on waiting to see a serious Thor movie ages ago I wasn’t offended by this as much as GOTG Vol. 2 last year but legitimately this is a fun movie to watch despite everything.

 7. Captain America: The First Avenger

Back in a forlorn period where punching Nazis wasn’t controversial, the first Captain America film came out and for all its cheesiness this is actually a pretty sincerely decent movie. It came out during a time where the angst of my teenage years was beginning to subside and my love for those types of cynical comic book heroes (Batman, The Watchmen, Constantine) became less centralized (still love all of those of course). I didn’t know it at the time but I needed a heavy dosage of optimism and a character who was just a genuinely good person trying to do the right thing. I started to warm up to the boy scout type characters such as Superman and after “Captain America” came out I instantly became a fan of his too. There’s a wholesome message in the film about simply being good and physical strength vs personal strength. Yes, Red Skull is another generic mustache twirler but it works in relation to the story better than most as there’s a nice conflict between him and Cap. The movie is cheesy and shot poorly and visually has not aged well at all (having re-watched it recently) but performances by Evans and Hayley Atwell, who plays perhaps the most three-dimensional female lead in the series as Peggy Carter, make the film worth watching. I had my doubts about how Chris Evans would do as Cap in this movie, considering he had only seemed to play wisecracks up to this point in his career but now I can’t imagine anyone else playing this character. He captures the quiet charisma and good natured calm of the super hero well in the same way Christopher Reeves did as Superman many decades prior and though I’m sure he’ll have a final curtain call in “Infinity War” (or its sequel) Evans will always be Captain America to me and he made me a fan because of this film.

 6. The Avengers

I’ve become significantly less enamored with this film since it came out in 2012 but with that said it was probably the most fun I had at the theaters that summer (Note: That I didn’t see “Dredd” until it came out on Blu-ray). It’s a pretty typical Joss Whedon witty action, blockbuster comedy but it’s a damn sharp one at least. The action in the movie is fantastic and with limited exposure to their interpersonal relationships we get a lot out of each Avenger in this movie that fans all around can enjoy. Tom Hiddleston hams it up beautifully as Loki and steals each scene he’s in and there are some very quotable lines all around in this movie from the other characters as well. The movie also introduced me to schwarma which is great too.

 Is it a deep movie? Not even close but it’s still a lot of fun at least.

 5. Spider-man: Homecoming

No, this isn’t the best Spider-man movie but damn it does it help wipe my memory of the worst one. “Homecoming” is less a Spider-man movie per se and more a typical Avengers style film that fits in fairly well with the rest of the series. It’s a movie full of light-hearted quips and typical Spider-man vigilante people-saving flair but it also stand on its own even if it is imperfect (Stealing a Miles Morales character for Peter Parker is a tad bit fucked up). Tom Holland does well as our friendly neighborhood Spider-man but it’s Michael Keaton who plays a sharper than usual MCU bad guy in Vulture that helps carry the film between the two. All in all it’s not a great super hero film but it’s a quality popcorn flick and in this case that’s better than “amazing.”

 4. Guardians of the Galaxy

I wouldn’t call this film as revolutionary as some have but it is very creative and the product of James Gunn’s clever touch. It’s a space opera, action comedy blockbuster in the best way and just a hugely entertaining film in general. The movie balances the charm of all its characters well allowing Chris Pratt to do his thing and have everyone else involved between Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista and Zoey Saldana play off that while creating their own memorable moments and catchy one-liners too. This is also one of the few cases where a one-dimensional villain wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as Lee Pace’s Ronan hams it up to 11 and is evil in the most hilarious way possible. The story isn’t super complex but it does allow for genuine quiet moments of real emotion (more than its sequel did) that gives the audience much needed breaks between the zaniness of its plot and setting. This is perhaps the only movie on this list where having a lack of grit wasn’t a bad thing and in its own way is a nice homage to the cheese of old 1930s and 40’s science fiction serials of the past.

 3. Captain America: Civil War

This movie is the second best Captain America film but the best Iron Man movie in my opinion. RDJ is the best version of Stark in this movie as we see his character experience more doubt and is allowed to be more distinctively dramatic than any of the previous movies. The narrative of this film though is what really carries the drama from start to finish and makes it stronger than most of the MCU. The story manages to construct powerful arcs for not just Cap and Stark but for its new arrival too in T’Challa aka Black Panther. Each of these characters have their own separate plot going and motivation toward their ultimate goal all relating back to Cap’s old war buddy Bucky. These plot lines converge powerfully at the film’s climax and sets up a truly satisfying ending that makes it not just one of the best MCU movies but just a great super hero film in general. The worst thing I can say about this movie, other than some bad jokes as per the usual MCU standard, is that its shot and edited fairly flatly. Action scenes are certainly fun but they are done in a pretty typical style that lacks creativity (Compare the staircase scene in this movie to the one in Season 2 of “Daredevil” of that same year and you’ll understand what I’m getting at). All in all, this film is one of the reasons The Russo Brothers have been given the reigns to the MCU’s biggest movie this summer and fans should be excited because of it.

 2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The first MCU film in this franchise that actually bared some teeth and made me actual feel real emotions for a change is The Russo’s first fore into the franchise in the widely popular Captain America sequel “Winter Soldier.” This used to be my favorite MCU film, until the next film on this list, but it had earned that spot by being the first MCU film to finally get dirty and get at something a bit more personal and even thematically more important. At its core “Winter Soldier” is about Cap’s struggle with the past and how he can never get it back; one of the film’s first scenes is a rather tragic reminder of that as he sits bedside with an elderly Peggy Carter who appears to be suffering from Alzheimer’s. In Bucky he see’s a chance to get a little of that old life back but obviously it’s more complicated than that. Meanwhile the rest of the story appears to have a lot to say about the surveillance state and how much power we are giving those who look after us. Is this true freedom? To Cap that’s a resounding “no” and that’s what makes him a particularly powerful hero in this story. The movie has some decent action of course and some good jokes here and there but it’s used more effectively in this movie than in most others in this series and it results into, at the time, the most satisfying Marvel film to date.

 1. Black Panther

Did you really think this list would end with anything but “Black Panther?” This film is far and away the best MCU film to date by a wide margin (as good as the previous two were) and it stands clearly on the mountain top here. This is more than a super hero movie to me; it’s a quality film period. It’s a movie that harkened back a bit to the first generation of modern super hero movies that were more message-driven while also being quintessentially of this age and nuanced as well. It’s a movie that bares its teeth and isn’t afraid to go long stretches in its story without a fucking joke for a change and trust its audience will hold its attention through that span. It’s one of the only MCU flicks that feature any real stylistic editing and shot producing and an original soundtrack that actually feels distinct and powerful for a change too. It’s a fanciful setup with an Afro-futurist society and cat suit wearing super hero but undeniably the movie is also more tuned into reality with its theme than any previous Marvel flick to date. It’s a film where the lead actor puts on a great performance of his own but maybe is only the third or fourth most best character of the film, in a good way! It features multiple three-dimensional female heroes, who never rely on the lead for help and a villain that is both complex and sympathetic. It’s such a beautiful film in multiple ways that I’m still shocked the MCU made it! “Black Panther” is the gold standard for this series, in my opinion, and frankly, regardless of how “Infinity War” plays out this month I’m just glad we’re going back to Wakanda again. Hopefully Thanos doesn’t destroy too much of it.

Phew. So there it is my best of list. Hope I didn’t piss too many of you off but that’s just like my opinion, man. Let me know what you think in the comments. What’s your favorite and least favorite MCU film? Sound off!

WAKANDA FOREVER!

[stumperpumper]

What Anime Is Worth Watching This Season?

Hello Anime Internet! Welcome to another exciting passage of StumperPumper, the blog where “opinionated guy watches anime then talks about it.” So that you, the reader, can decide if you want to watch ‘said anime’ or not. This week we’re talking about the current Spring 2017 animes, and which ones in the pack are worth your time. Of course, I’ve reserved on writing this to give these series some time to develop before suggesting them to you, I don’t really believe in recommending after just one episode after all. So this is coming after watching about 4-5 episodes of each anime, so I can say with confidence that each of these animes has the potential to be really good this season. Now, let’s get on with it. 

Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor

First, let’s cover some history. Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor was a Japanese light novel series written by Tarō Hitsuji (his only true brain child as of the current date) and illustrated by Kurone Mishima (the same artist behind the original character designs for KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!), which published into eight volumes (starting back in July of 2014). The manga adaptation, with art by Aosa Tsunemi, began serialization in Monthly Shōnen Ace back in March 26, 2015, and has been collected in two tankōbon volumes. Now, the anime television series adaptation by Liden Films (the people behind both Senyu and, one of my personal favorite short-animes, Sekko Boys) is out, and it premiered in April (2017). The main character Glen is voiced by Sōma Saitō, who recently voiced Adlet Mayer in Rokka no Yūsha back in 2015.

I had to put this anime up first because it’s truly the first one to catch me off guard this season. I went in with really low expectations after watching through Clockwork Planet and KADO: The Right Answer, which were both laughable at best in my opinion. On the one hand, we could blame my low expectations for making me think this animes so good, but I really don’t think that’s the case. What this anime has, that few other animes this season do, is CHARACTER. So far, I’ve seen very few animes demonstrate such capability in forming a great character. Glen, in this anime, certainly fits the bill though, he’s an incredible character thus far and we’ve barely just met. He’s so damned interesting, funny, and even mysterious. 

Unlike a lot of animes this one doesn’t just blow its load all over you on episode one. A little problem I’m calling Premature Anime Ejaculation, the symptoms being mainly that ‘said anime’ tries to introduce you to every character, the plot, the world, everything, all in episode one; all while blowing most of their budget to do so. Not only does this more or less not work because it’s overwhelming for the viewer, but it also creates a trend of series drop off where viewers often expect to become disenfranchised after episode one due to a loss in quality. But this anime is steady, episode one does what it’s meant to, and the series shows an obvious awareness that they have 12 episodes (at least) to develop the things the want too. This anime doesn’t rush, but rather strives to tackle things as they need to be addressed. 

Overall I think this anime merits watching this season, keep an eye on it. I think it’ll probably shape up to a 7/10 and be the most incredibly average anime of the season. It’s certainly no ERASED or Re: Zero, but I think it’s definitely as good as an anime like Joker Game from last year. I’ll be watching this myself, mostly because I love Glen and ship him hard with some of the other characters. It’s got some decent feels, and I definitely think the way the magic works in the anime is one of the coolest I’ve seen in a while. Watch for sure if you like magic, a bit of a harem, light fan-service, light comedy mixed with well animated action and fight scenes. Story seems to be shaping up nice too, and the soundtracks not too shabby. 

My Hero Academia

History time! My Hero Academia is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi (author of another manga titles Oumagadoki Zoo, if you didn’t already know). It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump (the best-selling manga magazine, as well as one of the longest-running, in short “a damn good place to serialize”) since July 2014, and 12 volumes have been collected in tankōbon format. The series has been licensed for English-language release by Viz Media, and began serialization in their weekly digital manga anthology Weekly Shonen Jump (the English version of the magazine above) on February 9, 2015. The manga was adapted into an anime series; the first season aired from April 3 to June 26, 2016, and the second season premiered on April 1, 2017. The anime is directed by Kenji Nagasaki (who also directed No. 6, you’re welcome for that sweet bit of trivia btw), written by Yōsuke Kuroda (the screen-writer for other good animes: Honey and Clover, Highschool of the Dead, and Drifters), and features character designs by Yoshikiko Umakoshi (Mushi-Shi’s Character Designer, and Chief Animation Director) and music composed by Yuki Hayashi (who did music for both Death Parade (2015) a damn fine anime, and Kiznaiver in 2016). On top of that this comes from Studio Bones, one of my favorite studios who also produced an anime you may have heard of… Fullmetal Alchemist, and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (not to mention MANY other great animes). Essentially this animes got an all-star cast of stuff.

I almost hesitated to even mention this since it’s so damned obvious. My Hero Academia is back, and it’s obviously amazing. If you haven’t heard of this anime already then start watching now! I think it’s likely this will be on my list for anime of the year, because I’m a sucker for superhero shit. Regardless, this is great, the soundtrack is nice too. The animation is stellar. If I had to make a complaint I’d have to throw a fit about the ridiculous amount of flashbacks. I’m talking One Piece levels of flashbacks, like Christ. I get a certain amount of this because this is definitely for all age groups and it’s popular and a LOT of people are watching on simulcast. Which certainly calls for a certain amount of flashbackery to keep everyone on the same page, I’m just saying maybe not as much. 

The story is still cool, the massive amount of interesting Quirks is cool, the whole animes cool. I can’t exactly rate this series at all or even project a rating since it’s going for the long haul and probably has many more episodes to come. I think overall what makes this anime work so well is the setting of it all, coupled with really consistent quality animation. We all love the thought of super hero powers, and the variety of them in this show and how the society in the anime addresses it is just plain fun to watch. It feels like the Saturday morning cartoons from my youth. If you like shounens, superheros, action, or just a good ol’ lighthearted anime about a rising underdog then this is for you. 

Love Tyrant

A bit of history… Love Tyrant, also known as The Very Lovely Tyrant of Love, is a Japanese comedy manga series by Megane Mihoshi, serialized online since 2012 in Aplix's Comic Meteor website. It has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes. Most notable to me is the screen-writer Natsuko Takahashi (who wrote the screenplay for Bleach), she’s doing good work here. The main protagonist is voiced by Kenshō Ono, who voiced Slaine Troyard in Aldnoah.Zero and more recently Phichit Chulanont in Yuri!!! on Ice. You might notice the history on this is relatively small… That’s mostly due to the series being young and a lot of the people working on it are performing their specific functions for the first time. As such, the history isn’t as long. But this doesn’t detract from how well the whole crew is doing on this anime in the slightest.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on the blog but I consider myself a sort of connoisseur of quality harems. Frankly even I think the genre is sort of (overall) a lower quality type of anime. Mostly because it often substitutes good plot devices, character development, and delicate setting for male fantasies and petty fan-service tropes. That said, who fucking cares? I like to watch it, I fucking consume this garbage. Love Tyrant is obviously on my watch-list this season, it’s a hilarious harem. 

It parodies Deathnote and has a lot of references to other animes that make for a good laugh. Lots of Yandere quality in here too, which is always fun to watch. The plot is actually quite good too, especially considering it’s a harem. Its on the level of The World God Only Knows, in the manner that it has more to offer than typical tropes and fan-service. It’s unique and obvious in it’s sources for inspiration. It’s an honest anime, it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. They’re very blatant when they do something “tropey” or parody another anime. It makes the anime unique rather than coming off as a copy or whatever. It’s just a good time to watch all around. 

In terms of characters there really isn’t much to be had, we’ve got a boy, a Tsundere, a Yandere, etc. Other than titles there’s not much CHARACTER to be had, typical harem. The soundtrack is whatever, the animation quality is sub-par. Overall the pacing seems rushed or otherwise a bit off in my opinion, I personally think Love Tyrant simply lends itself more to the manga medium. I think the pacing just got a bit off when moving from the literary context over to the cinematic context. It happens and isn’t a big deal, just a small gripe. This anime more than makes up for it in quality screen-writing, good voice acting, and a generous helping of comedy and over the top screenplay. I think it’s shaping up to be a solid 6 or 7 out of 10. Watch for sure if you LOVE harems or dating animes, parodies, comedies, or yandere nonsense. 

To conclude, that’s it for now. I haven’t had a chance to go through everything for this season yet, and I’ll make sure I post again if I find something I’d like to recommend. If you have any ideas of an anime I should watch, send me a message. OR, just reblog this and write something like “you should watch blahblah.” 

Thanks so much for reading, I do appreciate it. But what I’d appreciate more than anything is a bit of feedback. If you liked this post, give it a like or a reblog so I know what you guys are interested in reading. Because it’s the only way I can find out if you readers out there like something; save sending me a personal message which I’d appreciate just as much. Do any of the above, or if you don’t like the content then don’t do anything because that gives me feedback too; on what you guys don’t like, etc.

Naturally, following this blog tells me a lot too. So if you’d like to get more of this content, either when I post it or days later browsing through my Critiques section on my blog, give me a follow so you can do so. Thanks again guys, and take care of yourselves; happy watching!  

[comicteaparty]

August 24th, 2017 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on August 24th, 2017, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Tangled River by snowshadow.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning. Today we are discussing Tangled River by snowshadow~! (https://tapas.io/series/Tangled-River) For those new to CTP, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer so pay them no mind if you wish~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! Each chat a top comment will be picked and featured on an ad for this chat, so let’s have a great discussion~!

With that said, let us begin with this first question~!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

mathtans

I'm going to go with the scene just before Tanya walked into the council chamber. Basically telling her friends to vamoose, and the guy was like "yup, don't tell me twice" and Licorice gave attitude but left... felt very true to character, and like a turning point, and I think I was right about that.

RebelVampire

i found it really funny how licorice gave her attitude. until tanya told her what she was going to do and then was like nvm you are crazy bye

although man i feel like there is some really intense generational divide. which makes sense for the situation. but at the same time im really curious why they felt it was so dire they keep it to themselves that terra nova crashed

mathtans

Yeah... I feel a little awkward about that, actually. Because I'm older, and a teacher to boot, I have this tendency to shake my head a lot at the beta kids, because of some of the things they do. I am not necessarily the audience for this comic.

I feel like there may be a bunch of reasons, anything from it meaning they're not getting help, it's orbit has been decaying because it was affected by the rest of the tech stuff, to the exact opposite. It might be working and change the balance of power everywhere. Not something you'd normally tell people.

I guess what I'm saying is, I find myself on the side of the "interfering" adults a lot of the time.

RebelVampire

thats fair. i mean i dont disagree with them. albeit i tend to try and see both sides. cause i mean for sure the betas are kids and dumb. but such is the nature of kids. but i can understand their frustration. especially licorice cause i totally agree that in their situation its way more practical to learn survival skills than it is to learn history and such. not to denounce the importance of history. just being able to study history seems more like a luxury. but regardless i do think the comic means for you to see the adult side too and not just empathize with the kids.

mathtans

Yeah, I do have to give massive, MASSIVE props to the author for the realism there. They definitely feel like real kids with real, believable issues. Just, geez, the way they deal with authority... but that's my personal issue. It's good that you can approach it from both sides.

(But, y'know Tanya, if you HAD listened in geography class, like you yourself said... okay, okay...)

RebelVampire

haha tanya is admittedly kind of dumb. but im gonna give her some slack if only because her upbringing clearly was lacking. like part of me wtfs the adults' ability to parent because theyre like "ah yeah this woman here is depressed and looks barely capable of caring for her child. i could do something but nah, she can raise tanya probably."(edited)

mathtans

Licorice is actually a peculiar character. I took something of a disliking to her from the start. Just with the way she seemed to be "out for herself" more than caring about her friends. I've sort of warmed up, but I think it's a bit at the expense of Tanya, because of how she actually isn't as observant as she wants to think.

Yeah, Tanya needs slack because of the mom depression issue. I wonder if she's not prone to the same sort of symptoms down the road, or maybe there's already hints.

When you're basically taking care of your parent for years, you probably do think you can just trek out into the wilderness. Couple that with the fact that you want to STAY with the parent you've been caring for, and I can see why Tanya pulled the stunt she did with the medication. Still kind of a low blow though. I'm glad she told in the end.

RebelVampire

haha another moment where i questioned the parenting. like i know the alpha made her a promise, but this is one of those moments where if he broke the promise i dont think too many ppl would consider it bad parenting at least. cause tanya is clearly the most useless member on the team and putting everyone at risk, just like they thought she would. but at the end her motivations and actions do all make sense

also

i definitely do have mixed feelings about licorice. cause she is very selfish and tbh i think shes an awful friend. since she only ever seems to get tanya into trouble or gets mad at her for reasons even im still like "what why would you be mad about that child?"

mathtans

Oh, whew, not only me then. I wouldn't say she only ever gets Tanya in trouble (she did help kill that animal thing, and there's times when Tanya gets herself in trouble by bringing up the wrong thing in the first place) but we don't see her really caring on those times when Tanya's trying to do the right thing (like not steal the key, or is worried about where she went).

Licorice seems a good friend to Kobei. Less to Tanya, and yet Tanya's the one worried about their relationship. Like, if you have to worry that much, I'm sorry dear, maybe you need to find a new bestie.

RebelVampire

definitely a new bestie

QUESTION 2. Tanya’s life changes drastically after she witnesses Terra Nova crash to the planet. Having blackmailed her way onto the expedition, she and several Alphas travel out into the wild to find Terra Nova and salvage what they can. Do you think they will manage to find Terra Nova eventually, or will they retreat back to safety? If they do find Terra Nova, what do you think they will find, and how will it affect Tanya and everyone else?

mathtans

I wouldn't mind seeing more Licorice/Kobei, actually. Because obviously Licorice has good qualities, Kobei seems pretty on the ball about stuff.

RebelVampire

yeah i agree. itd be nice to see their relationships delved into more. albeit i also just like kobei in general cause kobei is pretty capable and also decently nice since he had more patience for tanya

mathtans

I don't see them retreating back to town. I might see them getting shanghai-ed back somehow, or Tanya somehow having to turn back, but they seem pretty committed. I have no idea what they'll find there though, I think more information has to come out first, like from her mom's fevered dreams.

Assuming they all survived that assult in recent pages. Wow, that went south quickly.

Kobei's an interesting window into life on the planet before humans arrived. Actually, related, I wonder how much of a language the author created. When Licorice and Kobei talk to each other, we don't really get to understand them, but I'm thinking there's gotta be a dictionary Snowshadow created.

RebelVampire

im certain theres at least a dictionary of commons phrases just to keep everything straight. idk tho. i mean i can definitely see leeway to take liberties.

in regards to the terra nova i dont think theyll retreat, albeit at this point it may be hard for them to even find their way back. although if those alphas did survive that assault maybe they go back while tanya and them go forward.

mathtans

They've still got maps. That should be helpful.

RebelVampire

part of me wants them to find nothing of substance just cause i cant imagine anything abandoned that long is in good shape and crashing into a planet is also not good

mathtans

Btw, I'm not sure you really answered Q1

I feel like there will be losses on this journey. I kind of want there to be something, even if it's just confirmation of some theory they had, to make those losses worthwhile.

Hopefully not more skeletons. That was kinda creepy.

RebelVampire

im gonna hope tanya finds like one book. maybe a cook book. a cook book sounds useful in their situation

and no i didnt answer Q1 O_O youve seen through my schemes

mathtans

Oh! Hey, excellent call, I'd forgotten about the rarity of books. As long as they're not all technical manuals, that could be really useful.

I am very clever about schemes.

RebelVampire

as for Q1...hmmm....i think my fave scene is actually when tanya witnesses the terra nova crash cause i feel like the imagery really kind of expressed how itd feel to suddenly see some giant flaming thing burning up in the atmosphere. cause i felt there was this sense of wonder about it since its kind of juxtaposed to the natural nature

mathtans

Actually, thinking of books made me think of history, and it's real interesting how the comic has this "history repeating itself" vibe, in terms of "trying to help them" [the natives], and it backfiring drastically, because maybe learn about what's going on rather than subjugating. I don't feel like that's "in your face" either, it just kind of works.

That's cool. It was also kind of "her thing", only she saw it.

(Refering to your answer in that last sentence btw)

Related to the history was in how there's that division in the adults between telling their children everything, and having them just learn how to deal with the aftermath as being the important thing.

Lot of thought put into this. Uncomfortable questions.

RebelVampire

yeah. i really liked the thing with the natives. cause i dont think it was portraying it entirely bad since to a degree there werent bad intentions. cause i mean trying to give ppl schools and such isnt inherently awful. but on the otherhand the alpahs definitely seem to have this sense of superiority in regards how they view the natives. like the comic definitely seems to know its a complicated topic

i really wonder if what set the natives off was the technology failing tho. cause the alphas are so reluctant to tell the truth, maybe something else happened

mathtans

Yeah... definitey makes one wonder a bit about the event that messed up all the technology, really kind of putting them on level footing. Licorice's remark about "giving them things that became useless" rang true. Was it a cyclical thing? Is that why they never have advanced to that state, they never get the chance?

I remember Kobei saying something about a thing happening every three generations.

Of course, it could also be something from their ship in orbit that accidentally misfired. shrugs

RebelVampire

yeah and for the natives its hard to say. cause theyre pretty spread out. like kobei's tribe did not look that big at all. and if you have the majority of your labor force working on other practical things like hunting and gathering then you dont really have the labor force to advance tech along.

in retrospect im concerned that in general they were okay with semi colonizing an occupied planet

the alphas i mean

cause they even built that huge roadway

as if it was no big deal to disturb the native population

mathtans

Right, and there seem to be a bunch of them - and everyone seems to have spots, including the animals. (Which must be significant, it was pointed out at some point even, but darned if I can figure that out.) Yeah, you probably don't really have a need for roads either... you're right about the alphas there.

Maybe they didn't have a choice. It was 40 years on a ship, maybe it was this or nothing.

RebelVampire

i wonder what their initial goal was? were they studying the planet?

mathtans

Which is not a very good reason for doing what they did in the way they did it, but.... hm. I kind of doubt that? I mean, it's true everyone on the ship seemed to be a scientist, but why introduce technology to a group you're trying to study? Wouldn't that mess up results?

mathtans

Oh, quick shout out to the start of Book 2. That was a really clever way of reaffirming the characters, looking at them in terms of who a hero might be.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. One of the biggest mysteries in the story is what caused all the technology to suddenly cease functioning. Despite the numerous scientists around, there are only really theories. What do you think caused the technology to fail? Was it natural phenomenon, divine intervention, direct sabotage, or something else?

mathtans

My inclination there is to say it was natural, but induced by the fact that the humans showed up (like a catalyst)

RebelVampire

oh yeah i really liked that moment where she was determining the hero and the villain. it was too true to life about how everyone is the villain or hero of someone's story. and i feel it was a bit meta too for the comic cause even tho tanya is the protagonist, i would not label her the hero persay. which is something i like about this comic. the ppl just are. some are jerks, some are nice. but theyre just ppl first and foremost.

wait gonna tie two questions together. what if what they were doing was studying the planet's magnetic field or something like that? and whatever their experiments did messed stuff up and took out the planet's powergrid?

mathtans

I'm vaguely reminded of the DS9 episode where that one colonist person had put a piece of technology in the woods to prevent the use of all other technology, and Sisko and O'Brien got trapped in that society for a while. I don't think it's necessarily like that (one scientist somehow using tech to screw with all the tech), but I think tech could have caused some electromagnetic interference or... I'm not that smart with tech.

Yeah, something like that, that's good!

But, like, took it out because it spontaneously caused trees to grow over something important.

The foliage on this planet must be impressive, given how they said they had to keep clearing the roads, and how overgrown they've become in less than 20 years.

Also, looking back at your remark about Tanya the protagonist, you're right, she definitely has flaws - some she acknowledges, others she doesn't like being aware of her situation - but she does seem like a good vehicle for the story. (Even though we havent' really seen evidence of the pilot being a real jerk.) Though, at the same time, I guess we know Tanya survives, if this is sort of being described in retrospect? Or is it?

RebelVampire

its definitely written in past tense. its just hard to say from which point. like is it after everything is done and she's safe at home with blef and a coffee. or is she writing soon after things happened? like each night adds a bit to the story but its in past tense cause it already happened. so i still feel tense about tanya's fate cause its hard to gauge her position she's writing. maybe shes trapped on terra nova on a cliff and is dying and is like "welp here are my last thoughts"

mathtans

Oh, totally random aside - did Ep 16 (All That Useless Stuff) load for you on Tapas? It didn't for me, but I just went to the author's personal site.

RebelVampire

no it didnt load for me. i had to do the same to read the page.

mathtans

Yeah, that's a good point. She could be writing it at any point in the future. (I think Blef's gone though... actually, that was something that bothered me at the time, she just went and released him without talking to anybody. Like she knew best, even though I'm not sure she does.) Wow, that would be dark though.

Just a note for SnowShadow to check that page then. ^^

RebelVampire

the blef thing broke my heart. but its cause i also thought blef looks like a baby. hes probably gonna get eaten in like 20 seconds

mathtans

Would Blef still be accepted back into a community after having been with humans? Some animals wouldn't be (at least here on Earth).

You're so dark tonight! Or I'm just not as cynical as usual.

Related to narration, the caption boxes are usually placed well, I find. Any thoughts about the art or art style? I have some thoughts.

RebelVampire

my thoughts are that its well done but it also reminds me of like comics from the 60s and 70s. cause a lot of the not mainstream stuff had that style, particularly one shot romance comics. not that that its a bad thing that its like that. just very unique and atypical for whats popular in webcomics atm

mathtans

Okay (I don't know the historical context myself), but I do find it rather unique. Realistic, in some sense, in terms of portrayal of facial features and the like. Also, WOW, I know I'm very basic in terms of what I do, but I tend to avoid hands... sometimes I'll look at a panel and think, if I were doing that, I'd totally have avoided putting the hand on the heart or the face there, but this person went for it, and did it well. Kudos.

Sometimes I'll wonder about the choice of a pose, but I never really get the sense that there's "cheating" to hide things the artist doesn't want to draw.

Of course, as an amateur, what do I know.

There's also the detail in the forest and things that I'd have blurred out or outlined.

RebelVampire

yeah i agree theres definitely not the sense of trying to hide flaws. but to be honest with this sort of art style ive always found the flaws add more character. cause back to me thinking the comic reminds me of comics of the 60s and 70s, the thing i remember most about those comics is they were quirky and things just werent usually perfect. like most of the comics i read the people were really flawed, so the fact there were artistic mistakes kind of fit that message of nobody is perfect. so i get that same impressiong from tangled river. that the fact there are quirks in the art just suits the fact these are not perfect ppl.

you remind me that one thing i really appreciate about the comic is the background details

there are a lot of parts where im like "yeah most ppl wouldve given up on that amount of detail"

mathtans

Characters could appear more "quirky" at times, you mean, when there's flaws?

RebelVampire

yes. cause i definitely notice sometimes when the pose is a bit off for the anatomy XD but it comes off as more quirky than it does flaw

which is kind of the ideal place you wanna be imo

mathtans

Gotcha.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. Due to the stress of the situation and generational gap, kids like Tanya find themselves lacking in a lot of knowledge about their parents’ past. The parents seem reluctant to talk about Tanya’s father, their relationships with the natives of the planet, the years they spent on the ship, etc. Which item from the past would you be most interested in learning about? Do you have any theories about one of these past taboo subjects? Why do you think the Alphas are so reluctant to share?

mathtans

Tanya's father, yeah, that's a whole question itself almost. How does she compare to the others agewise again?

I remember there was that one scene where they was saying there were 23 of them, and she was wondering about a boyfriend. (Weird to me how that particular thread was kinda dropped... related, weird that the parents wouldn't let them be with the natives, when there's obviously a gender imbalance, unless they figure some of the kids are LGBT.)

I wonder if the whole "Protocol 9" or whatever it was called (I'm bad with names) came about due to something related to Tanya's dad.

RebelVampire

oh i never considered that. that the one protocol that got licorice all pissy had something to do with tanya's dad.

honestly dont know the age relations tho. im kind of vague on their ages in general

outside of "not adults"

mathtans

I just randomly thought of it now while wondering about him.

RebelVampire

albeit we know tanya is the oldest of all the betas

mathtans

Yeah. It's not that integral to the story. She is the oldest though? Okay, I thought so, but wasn't sure if I misremembered.

If so, she could be the reason some of the protocols went into place.

And why some of the Alphas are reluctant to talk. They don't want to stigmatize.

(Totally random theories!)

Of course, the Alphas might also not want to share because, if the kids knew, they wouldn't be able to respect the older generation any more. Which would probably be an issue, and not just for the Alphas, presuming the kids decided to reject even the sensible advice.

RebelVampire

part of me wonders if the alphas really are kind of holding out for a ship. so they dont want to become too ingrained to life on the planet subconsciously. although id assume they dont want them getting with the natives cause they arent sure whats going on genetically. cause sure tanya seems super fine and healthy. but maybe she can catch a sickness humans cant or something. and so they dont want to chance it because they cant run tests. or maybe they feel tanya's birth is somehow to blame for her mother's condition. theres just a lot of unknown factors so i could see why theyd be not apt for it

speaking of which it occurs to me that tanya doesnt have spots

mathtans

They're definitely holding out for something (otherwise why keep all the useless appliances rather than trade with the nomads), but I have my doubts about a ship, particularly after that speech about how Earth would have had to start constructing a new ship shortly after they left. (Incidentally, there's clever little exposition drops like that when I least expect them.)

Yeah. Noticed that. Maybe the issue of breeding with the natives is that the result of the union doesn't carry a lot of the native genes. They don't want the species to die out.

Particularly not after facilitating them dying out from giving them appliances that no longer work and a bunch of them possibly had forgotten how to hunt by then.

Actually, how long HAVE they been on this world? The Alphas were taking anti-aging pills or something. Could have been a hella long time, right? Maybe that's another reason for secrecy.

RebelVampire

yeah cause we know they were on the ship for 40 years. but not really how long theyve been on the planet itself. and i doubt a roadway like that was constucted overnight. so theyve probably been around a long time.

this makes me wonder how far they are from earth tho

wait....

mathtans

Maybe not overnight, but I suspect a lot faster than we'd be able to do it now.

Waiting.

(Actually, the road had all those towers and everything, electronically activated... had to be pre-fabricated or something, right?)

RebelVampire

so i always assumed the 40 years on the ship were while it was in orbit but some of those years or all of them might have been travel time. so im gonna say maybe theyve been on the planet for twenty-ish years cause they mentioned a ship would take another twenty to get to them?

yeah all the buildings would definitely be pre-fabricated to a degree

or maybe they just have super tech

i really wish i knew how their space travel worked. cause if they found FTL travel that changes the whole time scope about help coming.

mathtans

Gotcha. I guess I assumed the 40 years on the ship were all travel time! Followed by at least 30 years before the tech went poof, and another 15 or so after that. Weird how people assume things.

Honestly, the space travel and that isn't that interesting to me. I'm more interested in Tanya's personal connection, with her father and her apparent interest in drawing which I presume came from something when she was young.

To each our own, of course; I've already said that as a teacher, who shakes his head at some of the (very believable) teenagey actions, I may not be the target audience.

Now that they're in a new city, we'll probably get a better sense of what's become of the world in the time they've been away. That may help with timelines.

Actually, the skeletons - how long does it take for people to, uh, decompose, wow, things I didn't really want to ask, hum.

RebelVampire

i only care about the space travel in this case for wrapping my mind around the timeline. but to be fair the fact we dont know makes me feel a stronger connection to tanya and the betas. cause were kind of in their same position where we wanna know stuff but they dont wanna give up the goods and wanna be all secretive about it.

not that long

which is vague but i remember it was quick

cause i looked it up once

mathtans

That's a good point. Not being in the loop helps empathize with Tanya that way.

Oh, okay then.

Hmmm, any final thoughts? It's kind of nice that Earth has worked out some of its differences, what with there being different nationalities represented on this mission. And seems a universal translator was not an item that ever got invented.

The worldbuilding was well done in general.

RebelVampire

only a year and thats if the body is buried. in the open air it happens faster

thanks google

mathtans

Heh. I wonder if they ever had gravesites after landing.

RebelVampire

my final thoughts are that while i found the comic hard to get into, it was overall a really unique and good setup cause few sci-fi these days focus on nature stuff when it comes to space stuff

mathtans

I can agree to that.

RebelVampire

and maybe. youd have to get gravesites eventually O_O

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party is now complete~! Thank you everyone so much for joining this week’s chat~! That being said, if you would like to continue discussing the comic, we encourage you to do so~! We want to give a big thank you to snowshadow, as well, for volunteering Tangled River for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support snowshadow’s efforts. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about CTP, please feel free to PM me, or e-mail me at RebelVampire@startfaire.com.

With that said, next week’s Comic Tea Party will focus on Alec in Wunderland by mintycanoodles. Please use this week to read as much of the comic as you would like. Hope to see you next Thursday (August 31st) from 5PM to 7PM PDT~! Until then~! Comic: https://tapas.io/series/Alec-in-Wunderland