#i am not going to do oodles of marvel characters

[topazadine]

How NOT to Write a Character

I recently read How Not to Write a Novel, which is a truly marvelous text of everything that is wrong with you, me, society, and the world at large. Perhaps not the last two, but definitely about you and me. Or our writing, at least.

In the vein of this, my new fascination, let’s talk about characters.

As always, this is my opinion and my perspective as someone who has been writing for 15 years. You may disagree, and that's okay. There are very few hard and fast rules in writing, and anyone who acts like the ultimate writing authority is stupid. Don't listen to them.

Characters are hard.

There are quite a few human beings on the planet, or so I am told. I wouldn’t know; I exist entirely within a white room with absolutely no ornament.

We need our characters to somewhat resemble such human beings, but also move our plot forward and make interesting choices. It’s a difficult balancing act, and one that even the best writers do not always succeeed at, much less the rest of us dweebs.

Cormac McCarthy’s characters in The Road are so plain and boring that I was hoping they’d get eaten by something. Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six has such nauseatingly unlikable characters that I had a hard time picking which one I wanted to die.

You do not want to do that unless you, like Cormac McCarthy, are so talented that no one cares if your characters are composed entirely of paper shavings.

I, most certainly, do not always succeed at characterization; it took me ten years to make slightly interesting characters. I still remember walking out of a creative writing class, almost in tears, because the professor told me my characters feel more like plot devices than people. She was 100% right though, and I hate that for her.

Enough about my trauma, though. Back to the matter at hand.

Sometimes knowing what not to do is more instructive than learning what to do. Then we can turn our noses up at such mistakes as we compose, remembering how it felt to be mentally swatted by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman.

So let’s be sad together as we think about all the characters that we ruined!

A lot of this is essentially what better writers than me have discussed in their fantastic book, but for free.

The Perfect Angel

Hot-bodied Teresexy has the perfect job, the perfect body, the perfect home. Despite having oodles of family wealth, she chooses to work at a meek and modest job that is super quirky and, if she weren’t absolutely loaded, utterly unsustainable in today’s capitalist hellscape. Excelling at her fun and super cool job, Teresexy is totally embarrassed by anyone noticing that she spends all of her free time walking dogs at the shelter while simultaneously reading to underprivileged children – and dropping copious amounts of cash into every beggar’s hat that she sees. Despite this clear reluctance to gain any praise (she’s so humble!), people fawn over her, practically throwing themselves at her to reward her with anything her heart may desire. She modestly downplays her accomplishments because she just cannot fathom anyone being totally amazed by her.

I need some anti-emetics right about now.

Your reader is going to hate your MC with a burning passion because, to be honest, we are very jealous.

The rest of us work boring jobs that pay the bills but don’t always fulfill us. We’ve got a few extra pounds that we refuse to admit come from the Extra Large Double Caramel Cappucino that we guzzle down while we’re late to yet another stupid dumb meeting that could have been an email.

More than that, your character feels … fake. They feel like your personal power fantasy, where everything in your life is perfect and everyone loves you. We can practically feel the insecurity oozing off the page because we, too, want that life, and we cannot have it.

Your character needs flaws.

Maybe Teresexy has a super cool cancer-curing job but she is wracked with student debt and her parents refuse to share their wealth no matter how much she begs. She feels unappreciated and people take advantage of her niceness to the point where she feels utterly drained at the end of the day.

And maybe she's a covert narcissist who just does all these things to get attention and manipulate people. That'd be a fun twist.

A character's flaws could be personal – maybe Teresexy is an utter doormat until she snaps with frustration – or they could be situational. If she is a really nice person but she keeps getting thrown into awful situations, we feel bad for her and want her to prevail.

If there is literally nothing wrong with her life and everything always goes her way, we don’t want her to prevail: we want her to fall flat on her face and get some comeuppance.

The Suckup

Syche Lofable loves Teresexy. Everything Teresexy does is perfect. She is her bestie and, of course, her greatest supporter. Whenever Teresexy does anything the least bit interesting, Syche is right there to woop and scream “yaaas girl!!” For Teresexy’s birthday, she wrote a giant list of all her bestie’s best qualities and read it at the party that she threw in her main girl’s honor while Teresexy blushed and modestly proclaimed that it was too much praise. She is always there for Teresexy, hanging on her every word, celebrating her every achievement; she serves as her friend’s cheerleader and marketer. Sometimes, she even pops in during a workday just to give Teresexy a pep talk, and any time her friend achieves something, Syche is right there to write a press release and talk about it to anyone who will listen.

Do not (do not) have characters that solely exist to gas up the MC.

We will hate them, and we will hate the MC more because of it. All you are going to do is make a one-dimensional, annoying character that we want to turn on the MC and stab them in the face.

It’s fine to have supportive friends, but they need to also have their own lives, and they need to not obsess over the MC. They are allowed to disagree or have a bad day, and sometimes their friend comforts them instead of the other way around.

Any time you find a character that is always, always orbiting around your MC, tone it down or, better yet, make them turn on the MC, shattering the relationship and causing some serious drama.

Or, honestly? Make them hook up. I think Syche might have an itty bitty crush.

The Strong Female Badass

Blasda Tuffi can do everything a man can! She can fight, she can crack open a cold one with the boys, and damn, can she shoot a gun. She doesn’t have any of those typical icky woman qualities like crying at sad movies or gobbling ice cream on her period. In fact, when she’s PMSing, she trains even more, and harder! Despite this, all the men want her because she’s one of the boys, but she coldly rejects them all because she cares too much about her career, which just involves punching people and looking cool. Oh, by the way, she’s super pretty but never bothers to put on makeup or nice clothes because she doesn’t care about such superficial things.

We get it. She’s a tough broad. She’s basically a male superhero but with lady woman parts.

She’s also annoying because she’s such a stereotype and, frankly, pretty misogynistic.

A female character can be tough, but she needs to have flaws and a mixture of both traditionally masculine and feminine qualities, or you have basically just written a man with lady woman parts because you want to seem progressive.

Blasda occupies a strange space between masculinity and feminity, beseiged on all sides because she can’t rectify these things. That can make her an interesting critique of gender roles rather than just a way to win feminist brownie points.

The Antihero (But Not Really)

Tiberius Wolferson had a tough life. He was raised by an alcoholic and a mother who was too busy working at the Puppy Kicking Factory to give him any attention. Despite all this neglect, he’s cool. He’s stoic. He’s firm. He’s a badass. During his childhood, he fought many other kids – but only because they deserved it. This hardscrabble mentality has bled into his career, which is brutally and coldly slaughtering anyone who crosses him; this means he kills a lot of bad guys, but he never really feels bad about it. We know he’s not a good guy because he smiles as he tortures people to get more details about how they are intending to use orphans as bait to bring down a mob boss. Tiberius spends a lot of time telling us that he simply could not give a flying fart about if people die. That’s just what people do: they die. At his hand. Gruesomely. But only if they actually deserve it.

This is not an antihero, this is just a hero who the writer is trying very, very hard to turn into an antihero by writing nasty murder scenes and indulging their inner teenage boy, who loves the idea of getting back at all their childhood bullies.

Being an antihero isn't quite the same as being morally gray. Characters can do disdainful things, but we can still root for them because we understand that it was for the greater good. One of my characters, Mordrek, is introduced to The Eirenic Verses when he steals a mule, flees the scene, and then kills the owners.

Is he an antihero? No. He's a spy who does what he's gotta do. Those guys stood in the way of his work; it wasn't personal. He's morally gray.

But antiheroes need to be a bit more than just a little gray. They need to be full-on, blaring gray, edging toward black. We need to dislike, or at least disdain, an antihero.

Antiheroes are, quite honestly, one of the hardest characters to write because they need to toe the line between awful and likeable, never really falling into either. If you are not absolutely sure that you have great characterization, leave these guys to the pros.

The Overly Villainous Villain

Vila Crualton is a rich supervillain who somehow has a sycophantic crew of lackeys who will do whatever he wants. By the way, he does not pay them well, and he also kicks them a lot. He personally invented the Total Death Ray that also gives people cancer and also several diseases that are previously unknown to science. (Teresexy is throwing gobs of money at the problem and personally committed to fixing it herself.) In his free time, he does some shifts at the Puppy Kicking Factory, which has put him on Tiberius Wolferson’s hitlist because Tiberius has a lot of trauma about his mom walking out on him because she got addicted to kicking puppies. Vila’s main goal in life is to give everyone cancer. Why? Because he’s evil. That���s all there is to it. He loves kicking puppies, abusing his lackeys, committing tax fraud, and inflicting horrible suffering on other people just because.

Look, let’s get it out of the way. Some people just suck. Some people are total and utter sociopaths, and they really do feel like the ultimate villain. They have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and they ruin everything they touch.

This is, of course, not from personal experience. Not at all.

But bad people IRL have a reason for what they do. Maybe they were abused and know no other way of interacting with people. Maybe they got addicted to drugs and don’t care how their next fix comes, just that it does.

That’s not to say all drug abusers are evil, of course, but a serious addiction can turn people into villains. They need help, but some refuse to get it because they’re afraid of losing the one thing that brings them comfort. It’s possible to redeem them, though it doesn’t always happen.

Or maybe a villain has a pretty simple reason for what they do: they love power and money. They want fame and don’t care who they step on. They want to get the pretty girl because she’d look good hanging off their arm, and how she feels about that does not matter because they do not see her as a real person due to misogyny.

But whatever the goal is, we can understand it, even if we have never been tempted down that same path, because we have seen it play out in other people or in historical figures.

Your villain does not need to be likable. They just need to be comprehensible.

The Miserable Cinnamon Roll

Doloria Lachrymis has had a hard life. Every member of her family was murdered when she was only five years old at the hands of Vila Crualton, who threw them into a comically oversized Blendtec blender after sewing her eyes open so she had to watch. She was then evicted from her family’s modest bungalow because, being five years old, she could not continue the family’s proud legacy of trash farming. Their completely unlucrative trash farm was foreclosed on, leaving her with nowhere to go. Sad little Doloria then fell into the cruel hands of one of Vila’s henchmen, who performed nightly bloodletting rituals on her delicate little feet because he believed that child blood would make him younger. Not only was she basically incapable of walking because of all the cuts on her feet, but she was constantly reminded of Vila’s evil nature because he would come into her mice-infested hovel and turn on a blender to make her cry.

Many of us love to put our characters in metaphorical blenders (sorry, Doloria) and make them suffer. However, it gets to a point where it’s just ridiculous.

You need to know when to lay off on the misery, or your character becomes trauma porn, as I have discussed before.

I had quite a difficult upbringing myself – it literally caused me to develop fibromyalgia – but it was not all bad. There were moments of joy, accomplishment, and serenity. Most people who have gone through trauma have similar experiences, even if the good times were fleeting.

We feel for characters more if we see them go through both positive and negative experiences, because we see them as real people whose lives are complicated – just like our own.

The Side Characters That Are There for No Reason

I can’t really sum these up because, well, I have no reason to. They are just there. They exist. They do not do anything interesting on their own, though they may happen to pop in for some reason, say some words, and immediately disappear again.

The random aunt that appears to drop off cookies. The wife of some other background character who says hi and then just stands around. The coworker who you describe in exhaustive detail for him to go, “Hey, how’s the cancer cure coming along?” and then walk off.

Go away! I don’t care about you! I don’t need to know your backstory! Get back to the MC fighting dragons!

A lot of writers worry that their stories are underpopulated, so they throw in a bunch of characters who are named and who have relationships with other characters, but nothing else. These characters are the equivalent of your grandmother’s collectible plates that you inherited and prop up around the house out of guilt, but that do nothing but collect dust that you must clean off every few weeks.

Throw them out, please. It is better to have an underpopulated book than an overpopulated one, where your MC gets lost in the shuffle and your readers are trying desperately to keep track of all these characters who are introduced once and then disappear into the ether.

If a character is just there to offer back chatter and shoot the breeze, banish them, or better yet, turn them into a likable character and then kill them.

Character Suggestions for Fun and Profit

Okay, so you have wept over the fact that one or all of your characters fall into these categories. Never fear! We can fix them. But how, you ask? Consider these options.

Never Make a Character’s Life Perfect

Your MC should not be rich, pretty, successful, and modest. They should not be talented at everything they do but also tenderhearted and willing to share.

Quite frankly, people don’t like to read about rich people unless they are jerks, because most of us are not rich and super talented. (Or maybe I am projecting.)

We want characters we can relate to!

Dead-end jobs! Shitty apartments! Ugliness! Toxic family members! Weird dynamics! Lusting after the one person we can’t have! All good, all valid.

If your character reflects exactly what you want your life to be like, remove something, or many somethings. Give them a flawed circumstance that you dislike about your life (or yourself) and play with that.

Pick a Major Character Flaw and Stick With It

Your MC needs a flaw so they don’t end up like Teresexy. A big flaw that infests everything they touch. It causes problems. It makes other characters hate their guts. Despite that, we can like them and relate to them because they have good traits, too.

This major flaw can be counterbalanced by their good flaws, but it needs to be realistic. Here are some examples:

Kindhearted but hotheaded

Affectionate but impulsive

Intelligent but lazy

Thoughtful but judgmental

Loyal but naive

Accomplished but abrasive

For bonus points, pervert one of their good qualities over the course of the story line. Maybe they start out very idealistic, but they become jaded and judgmental, assuming everyone needs to match their beliefs. Maybe they are kindhearted, but they take this to such an extreme that it ruins their life and they grow bitter.

Characters Should Make Mistakes

They don’t have to be big ones, but they need to be bigger than “tripped over something.” This goes along with the fact that they need to have flaws or we simply can’t relate to them.

If your character always makes the right decision, always has the perfect thing to say, and is always nice to everyone, then they don’t feel real: they feel like a plot device to get to some bigger conflict, and this reduces our immersion.

We want to cheer your MC on when they get back up after a mistake, whether that is a blowout argument with their partner or failing to kill the entire demon horde because they were too tired to go on. We want to see their guilt and their shame and their pain. This is what makes us excited and turning the page.

Characters Must Disagree

Not about everything, and not all the time. But your characters need to have personalities that rub up against each other sometimes. No matter how close these people are, they are not always going to agree with one another’s every decision.

Take my mom and I. We are very close; our personalities mesh well, and we like many of the same things. She is my greatest supporter, and in turn, she calls me to rant about all her work drama, because she knows I’ll back her up.

Despite this, we do butt heads sometimes. I hated someone she liked and told her in no uncertain terms, but she was convinced that he was a wonderful person who really cared about her. We got into several arguments about it until – surprise, surprise – it was proven that he’s actually a jerk and was exploiting her kindness. No, of course I’m not smug.

You can have a loving, close relationship with someone but still not get along all the time, because people are humans and humans sometimes do things that other humans don’t like. If your characters always agree with one another about everything, they feel undifferentiated, and we never really get to know them.

Character Trauma Should Mean Something

It is perfectly fine to have characters who had a hard life, or who go through terrifying things. I am not of the opinion that you should never discuss tough things like sexual assault, domestic violence, addition, or serious mental illness, but it needs to be done respectfully.

Trauma should not be included solely for shock value.

This, I believe, is where people get turned off by depictions of trauma because it is clearly included solely to add some action and excitement to the story, not to add forward momentum or flesh out a character.

Horrible things happen to a character, and then it’s just never discussed again, or it leaves them so broken that they morph into the Miserable Cinnamon Roll. This is bad. Do not do this.

Real-life trauma changes people forever: sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

Traumatic incidents don’t have to have a happy ending, and they don’t need to be wrapped up into a feel-good-plucky-protagonist inspiration glurge. But they have to have purpose in the story; they must move the plot, or create character growth, or provide motivations for a character’s actions.

As an example, my character Cerie's life is defined by the death of her parents when she was seven. It forces her to be taken under the wing of a magical society because she needs housing, and it fuels her hatred for the country who did this to her loved ones.

So, that trauma determines her life path, gives her motivation, and then spurs character growth when she’s confronted with that country and realizes that a people are not their nation. It’s sad, but it’s there for a reason, and it becomes a critical element of the plot. She would literally not be who she is, and would not be dragged along in my whims, without that trauma.

When you consider adding something tragic, ask yourself whether it has a purpose other than being sad. Does the character grow from it? Does it change their life direction? Does it motivate them, or move them away from a certain decision?

If it doesn’t, then say no.

Every Character Must Have a Purpose

Having a world that is populated by people is good, because most of us do not exist in a pocket dimension that consists of us, our pets, and our girlfriend. But this does not mean every single person in that world needs to have a backstory, a name, and a favorite color.

Do you know everyone person in your neighborhood, or are most of them just human-shaped blobs that occasionally wave to you? For me, I know a few of my neighbors, and the rest of them just happen to exist. Hell, I don’t even know the name of my local arch-nemesis, only that she lives at the end of block and yells at me every time my dogs so much as place a paw on her precious grass. (Maybe her name is legally Lawn Lady, as I have deemed her, but I doubt it.)

When you give a character a name, you give them a purpose.

They need to do something useful; they must be integral to the plot. There are a variety of ways they can help out:

Offering comfort or levity in tense moments

Creating friction between other characters

Spurring the MC’s character growth

Becoming the MC’s mentor

Providing key information

Serving as an obstacle

Leading to revelations

Causing problems

There is also my favorite reason to include them: making the reader like them over chapters and chapters of characterization, and then mercilessly killing them so everyone is sad.

If they are a short-term obstacle, then sometimes they don’t need to be named, either. Only when they have a consistent purpose do they require naming and some level of characterization.

Good characters will do more than one of these things: they may be both the comic relief and the wise sage, or they make be a comfort but also cause friction.

Developing Characters Is a Journey

The funny thing is that the more you develop your characters, the more they change. They will do surprising things that you wouldn’t have expected, just like people do. This can be incredibly exciting and lead to fun plot twists that you hadn’t considered before.

Three-dimensional characters are dynamic and push the narrative along.

You can tell that your characters have grown realistic if you stop and realize that they are not the same person as at the beginning of the story, even if you didn’t consciously choose that. You also may notice that what feels right for the character is not what you intended to do at first; they are leading you as you carve their path.

Sometimes you won’t like the character you create, and that’s okay: we don’t need to befriend them, because they aren’t real. But if you and your (good) beta readers find them intriguing, then you’re on the right track.

Now, I would like to believe that my own characters, Uileac and Orrinir, are pretty good. They're assholes sometimes, sweet sometimes, and my god, do they tsundere.

Intriguing? You can read about them in 9 Years Yearning!

This fast-paced novel follows Uileac (the green guy) and Orrinir (the red one) over the course of their training at the Bremish War Academy. At first they sort of hate each other; then they beat each other up; then they become friends??? and then maybe more??

Horses exchange hands. Poems are written. Maybe some tears and maybe a few tantrums. There's a lot, oh so a lot.

But more importantly, do they kiss???

Well, you can find out.

If you do decide to read 9 Years Yearning, don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are so important for ratings on Amazon. So very important.

Why's that? Why am I huddling in the closet, begging you to leave some nice words or whatever? It's because Jeff Bezos comes to your house and puts your first-born child in a Blendtec blender if you don't get enough reviews on Amazon.

Please, think of my precious son.

[verdantwinter]

The Avengermon! (Part 1) This one was suggested a while back! I had a bunch of ideas for it, so I’ve been wanting to get back to it for some time. I am not an expert in Marvel Comics by any means but I wanted to give this a go anyway with a more... general approach to the characters! There are a handful of other team members still coming, so stay tuned for those!  Part 2 (Coming Soon)

If you want to see my other adaptations, check out my other Fandom Digimon to see creations like The Disneymon, The Pottermons, Super MarioMon, and The Sailor Mons.

[oosteven-universe]

Batman: The Impostor

Batman: The Imposter #3 DC Black Label 2021 Written by Mattson Tomlin Illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino Coloured by Jordie Bellaire Lettered by Steve Wands    The battle against the impostor poisoning the Batman’s name heats up, while Detective Blair Wong makes a deadly decision! Is there any way back for Bruce Wayne’s war on crime after the damage the copycat has done? Or was that war already lost before it ever began?    For whatever reason I wasn’t expecting this to be a three issue series.  I thought there would be more but these folks really manage to tie things up here exceptionally well.  The reveal on who the impostor is wasn’t what I was expecting to see and yet I should have seen this coming from a long way off.  That was definitely a highlight moment for me because I had been so fooled throughout the whole story.  I am also incredibly impressed with the way that this issue is crammed full of information, action and drama and yet it’s done in a way that doesn’t feel overly crowded, glossed over or left out.  Mattson does an excellent job with how he handles the oodles of things going on with the flow of the book.      I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told.  The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceedingly well.  The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in fleshing out the personalities that we see.  The pacing is amazing and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the mood, tone and feel of the story is  in a state of constant flux.    I’m impressed with how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen.  I am also liking the way that we see these layers open up new avenues to be explored.  His reveal to Choi and what he says to Leslie not to mention trying to clear up his reputation all this and more adds so much great depth, dimension and complexity to the story.  How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.      Because this is a Batman story the mood, tone and feel is incredibly dark and foreboding and this works given the circumstances.  The linework is impressive and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work is so exciting to see.  How we see backgrounds could be better because when we do see them they are exquisite and they enhance and expand the moments.  How we see the composition within the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is marvellously rendered.  The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a remarkably talented eye for storytelling.  The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works. ​    I am rather enjoying these Black Label stories as they basically are the Vertigo of the current age.  What if, DC style if you will and they tend to be dark and interesting in ways that allow the creators to really explore the characters in a way that we’d never normally see.  The writing is spectacular and the characterisation is intense while the interiors are completely bespoke to how the story needs them to be.  

[antialiasis]

The Avengers: Endgame

It was a very enjoyable movie. Oodles of people feeling bad, some real feelings, but also genuinely hilarious and just generally a delight.

Spoilery thoughts and complaints below.

The time travel mechanics were left pretty unclear and I’m not sure they made sense, which bugs me a bit. I was also disappointed in how it turns out Captain Marvel basically, well, doesn’t really do anything that matters in this movie. But mainly, I didn’t find the ending entirely satisfying. I went into it expecting to see Tony die, and I looked forward to it; honestly, I could watch my favorite characters die all day. But I didn’t feel as much as I’d wanted, one way or another. Same with Cap, really, although I’ve never been anywhere near as invested in him.

I think, on reflection, that the reason for that is that Tony’s death wasn’t quite the culmination of anything. Near the beginning we see Tony and Pepper having built a life with their daughter, and it’s made clear that losing them is now the absolute last thing he wants, and that he really wants to live to go back to them. A sensible way for him to die as the culmination of this would be something like him having to make a choice between surviving himself and saving the current timeline (sacrificing himself for Pepper and Morgan to live on), or if he had an arc throughout the movie about the fact he’s (for once) unwilling to risk dying for the sake of the world, only for him to end up in a situation where he must make the choice to sacrifice himself anyway, and we get to really see his inner struggle with what that choice means to him. But what ultimately happens is he just ends up with the gauntlet because that’s how things play out, and then he snaps his fingers to dust the Thanos army. After he’s mentioned early on that he wants to survive, it doesn’t really come up again, and it doesn’t feel like Tony’s making this pivotal, meaningful choice there - he just does it because that’s what has to be done at this point to defeat Thanos. If it were just better built up, and different things had been emphasized in his story here, I think this could’ve been a lot more powerful than it was, and that’s a shame, because they did a really good job of making us care about his relationship with Morgan at the beginning.

Like I said, I’m not hugely invested in Cap, but if I am invested in anything about him, it’s Bucky - so it felt weird for his story to end with him going and growing old and I guess just never seeing Bucky again, and not even bothering to meet him when he returns and is older? It’s sweet that Bucky knew him so well he was totally unsurprised by this, but like, do you not even want to hug him again or anything? Really? It’s lovely he got to go have a life with Peggy and all (though I have a lot of questions about the time travel mechanics there), but it’s weird they didn’t actually do anything at all with his relationship with Bucky, which is obviously meant to be hugely important to him.

Oh well. To the next era! May there be characters I love as much as Tony Stark.

[angel-gidget]

4,11,16? Thank you!

4. Who’s your favourite Marvel superhero and why?

My first impulse is to say I don’t have a favorite. My second impulse is to say that Tony Stark is my favorite. I think part of that is that I’m way more invested in the relationships and dynamics between certain characters than I am in following the characters individually. This puts Tony front and center, because he has a very fascinating relationship with a lot of characters in the various films.

But of course, that’s in the movies. Comic-wise, I was into X-men hot and heavy as a teen. Rogue was my favorite, hands down. I’d pick up any issue with her in it and dig whatever she was doing. Though I was especially invested if it had Gambit in it as well.

11. Favourite MCU movie and why?

Infinity War. Because it gives me a satisfying balance of all the characters I’ve come to love, and there is not a single point where the movie truly slows down. Every scene builds a delicious sort of dread and the only respite comes in the form of witty repartee which is something I crave in my superhero films. Every scene is engaging and has something quotable in it, and it showcases so many relationships that endear me. It’s addictive. I’ve seen in it in theaters five times.

6. Which MCU sequel/future movie are you most excited about? Why?

Avengers 4. I dig the way they left me hanging, but I don’t wanna hang there forever.

As for the others, I’m confident that Spiderman 2 and Black Panther 2 will be oodles of fun. I have no doubt that I will enjoy Captain Marvel when it comes, but as I’ve been reading up on Carol Danvers, I find I have mixed emotions about her as a character. Marvel has done a lot to build her up, but I think a live action portrayal with go a lot further in helping me click with her.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1189

Monday, November 20, 2017

 Ottawa ComicCon put on a special edition Holiday con this past weekend so I went to check it out because it was FREE admission. Still had to pay $8 to park at the EY Centre though. The main reason I went was to pick up the book D&D&D (D)ungeons & (D)ragons & (D)oodles The Tabletop Fantasy Art of Tom Fowler since Tom was there. Much to my surprise Craig Taillefer was sitting next to him on one side and Ronn Sutton was on the other. I spent a happy half hour geeking out and swapping stories with them. After Tom signed my copy and generously drew a sketch inside I walked around the venue checking out the booths. It's been years since I've attended a con and I was impressed by some of the set-ups. Still, the comic vendors looked like the ones that sold stuff 30 years ago. Same tables of long boxes and makeshift walls for the wall books. I saw a lot of old Snail customers that I haven't seen in years. Some I recognized and some that I didn't. They all knew me though. The reaction of some folks was "what is he doing here?" looks that made me grin. I ended my sojourn hanging out with my Jee-Riz partner Chris as he helped at a friends booth. I can't say that I'll go to another con but I'm glad I went to this one.

 Action Comics #991 - Dan Jurgens (writer & breakdown art) Viktor Bogdanovic (pencils) Viktor Bogdanovic, Trevor Scott & Scott Hanna (inks) Mike Spicer (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). "The Oz Effect" concludes with the question of whether Mr. Oz was Jor-El or not left unanswered. Throw in a mysterious super powerful villain and it's more than enough to keep me reading. I liked Viktor's slimmer Superman. He looks more natural than the muscle bound version that Nick Bradshaw & Brad Anderson drew for the cover.

 Runaways #3 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). It's time to catch up with Karolina Dean as Gert tries to get the team back together again. Karolina used to be one hot mess but she's a lot better now thanks to therapy.  I am really looking forward to next issue when the gang goes to find Molly, my favourite Runaway.

 Wildstorm: Michael Cray #2 - Bryan Hill (writer) N. Steven Harris (pencils) Dexter Vines (inks) Dearbhla Kelly (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). Michael's first assignment is to kill Oliver Queen. Yep, that Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow guy. His next assignment is to target another well known name. These characters are bad guys in the Wildstorm universe and I think that's cool.

 Spider-Man Deadpool #23 - Robbie Thompson (writer) Chris Bachalo (pencils) Tim Townsend, Al Vey & Richard Friend (inks) Chris Bachalo (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Spider-Man tries to arrest Deadpool and mindless mayhem ensues. So a typical issue of Spider-Man Deadpool. But wait, what's with this lovely art that looks like the old Doctor Strange comic book? Why yes, it's Chris Bachalo. I am so happy and will be ogling the rest of "Arms Race" with glee.

 Star Wars #38 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). "The Ashes of Jedha" starts here. We've got Luke, Leia and Han trying to contact fighters against the Empire on the planet Jedha. That's where the Empire wants to strip mine the planet's Kyber crystals. The partisans appear to not want to play nice though. We'll see how the gang gets out of this fine mess.

 Not Brand Echh #14 - It was difficult finding every issue of the 13 issue run of the original series on the spinner racks back in the late sixties but I bought and read every one that I could. This title made fun of my favourite Marvel comic books back then and this latest issue doesn't spare the House of (sometimes bad) Ideas. It got a couple of genuine chuckles out of me so that's about $2.50 Canadian per chuckle. Here are the comedy sketches and their creative teams. Secret Empire Abridged: Nick Spencer (writer) Scott Koblish (art) Nick Filardi (colours). Better Than Canon: Katie Cook (writer& art). Gwenpool Absorbs the Marvel Universe: Christopher Hastings (writer) Gurihiru (art). Marvel Behind the Scenes: Nick Kocher (writer) Brian Churilla (art) Chris O'Halloran (colours). Love Can Be Nuts: Ryan North (writer) Erica Henderson (art). The Not Next Issue Page: Chip Zdarsky (writer & art). Forbush Man Returns parts 1 to 4: Jay Fosgitt (writer & art). The whole issue was lettered by VC's Clayton Cowles (letters).

 Batman #35 - Tom King (writer) Joelle Jones (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). "Rules of Engagement" concludes with a terrific sword fight between Catwoman/Selina and Talia, Batman's ex. The verbal repartee was great and just as great was the one between Damian and Dick. My question is "where the heck did Holly come from?". I hope that this family adventure theme continues because I really like having Selina, Damian, Dick and Alfred around.

 Maestros #2 - Steve Skroce (writer & art) Dave Stewart (colours) Fonografiks (letters). This is a beautifully illustrated Game of Thrones and Wands with wizard warriors plotting against each other. There's a rekindled romance and a shocking twist that makes reading the next issue a must.

 Champions #14 - Mark Waid (writer) Humberto Ramos (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Worlds Collide part 4. He's no Blue Fairy but the High Evolutionary pulls a Pinocchio on Viv Vision and all seems lost. The heroes fight through but there's still a ways to go to prevent total destruction. We'll find out what happens when Avengers #674 hits the racks on December 6.

 Aquaman #30 - Dan Abnett (writer) Stjepan Sejic (art & colours) Steve Wands (letters). Atlantis Uprising. The revolution starts here. Orin joins the rebel forces and King Rath becomes more unhinged. Meanwhile, Mera is in deep water. I am enjoying this book again. You should give it a try.

 Mech Cadet Yu #4 - Greg Pak (writer) Takeshi Miyazawa (art) Triona Farrell (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). It's all-out action as the four cadets and their robos fight against giant alien crabs and orders from their superiors. The General is not pleased. Let's see what happens to keep them in their mechs and not get kicked out of the program.

 Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan #2 - Declan Shalvey (writer) Mike Henderson (art) Lee Loughridge (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This issue tells us why the two heroes are teaming up. Makes sense. I like these straightforward good guys versus bad guy stories with witty repartee that don't tax the brain pan too much.

 Superman #35 - Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi (writers) Travis Moore, Stephen Segovia & Art Thibert (art) Danei Ribeiro (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Hey, I thought Lex's armour was mostly green. The battle for the throne of Apokalips continues with Lois and Jon's lives still hanging in the balance. I still think that Lex will save the day in the end.

 American Gods #9 - Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art & colours) Rick Parker (letters). This is like reading the novel again but better. The art enhances the story so much.

 Defenders #7 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Marquez (art) Justin Ponsor & Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is the funniest comic book on the racks for the week. Yes even funnier than Not Brand Echh #14. Brian has a great sense of humour. I'm wondering now if all the great artists that he works with are also going to work for DC. That would be ideal for me because he really clicks with David Marquez and Sara Pichelli. The five page fight scene between Elektra and Iron Fist is the best I've ever seen. Just as good as watching Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon.

 Wonder Woman Conan #3 - Gail Simone (writer) Aaron Lopresti (pencils) Matt Ryan (inks) Wendy Broome (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). Some sorcery is added to the swords this issue.

 Mighty Thor #701 - Jason Aaron (writer) James Harren (art) Dave Stewart (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I must have missed Mangog's origin story back when Jack Kirby first drew him but Jason recaps it very well here. Mangog isn't the only long unseen character to pop up. The Odinson's best buddy reappears too. This issue is one awesome battle. The visuals are so striking I could feel each punch. What a great fill-in by James Harren.

 Super Sons #10 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Jose Luis (art) Scott Hanna (inks) Hi-Fi (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). I like the contrast between Jon's youthful enthusiasm and Damian's grim cynicism. The three year age gap feels like decades but each one is subtly influencing the other. This issue sets it up so that the two lads will be spending even more time together learning how to be heroes. This is one of my favourite comic books on the racks right now.

 Amazing Spider-Man #791 - Dan Slott (writer) Stuart Immonen (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Rain Beredo (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I am enjoying this point in Peter Parker's life where things are going well for him. His relationship with Mockingbird is sweet and chaste. His new job is challenging. The super heroics aren't too over the top and he comes out a winner this issue. I know the good times won't last but I will feel good while it does. My fanboy crush on Bobbi Morse is even bigger now because of the way Stuart and Wade draw her. Sigh.

 Incredible Hulk #710 - Greg Pak (writer) Greg Land (pencils) Jay Leisten (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Return to Planet Hulk part 2. Hulk has to survive a gauntlet to save lives and he smashes admirably. It looks like next issue swipes scenes from the Thor Ragnarok movie. I am looking forward to that guest appearance.

 Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #297 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Adam Kubert with Juan Frigeri (art) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Totally different Peter Parker. Totally different life from Amazing. The two titles aren't even trying for continuity and that's okay. I just want to read a good story and this one where Peter and Spider-Man are being pursued by the authorities is a good one. Throw in recent revelations involving Jonah Jameson and this fan is anxious to see what happens next. According to the next issue tease T'Challa will come calling.

 Star Wars: Darth Vader #8 - Charles Soule (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Daniele Orlandini (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). We are witness to some Jedi rage this issue along with finding out what the stakes are for the good guys. Wondering what Vader is going to do keeps me coming back.

 Weapon X #11- Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers) Marc Borstel & Ibraim Roberson (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The Hunt for Weapon H concludes. Will Hulkverine be a good guy or a bad guy? The jury is still out on that. I like this team and am enjoying their adventures so far.

 Spider-Men II #4 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Sara Pichelli (art) Elisabetta D'Amico (inking assistant) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Miles's search for his evil twin takes a terrible turn but he's got the Amazing Spider-Man helping out now. The two webslingers should be able to figure things out but you never know.

���{