#my boy captain has lore everyone! i will post the comic about it when its done

[acy-art]

any ideas on who this guy is? he keeps popping up in my research and its making me confused

[luminantrondo]

4, 5, 14, and 15. (I don't know if I sent this or not, my memory is spotty. If I did send something before, ignore it.)

(nah, didn't send smth in before, no worries. Thank you for sending these ones in!)

tales ask meme

4. something you wish to see in future games

Another female protagonist would be cool, esp if they kept her girly but still kicked ass (like Zelda in Echoes of Wisdom lol). I'd also like some interesting antagonists that aren't 1-dimensional like Ve//speria and Ze//stiria's.

5. something you hope never is used again in future games

The Arise-style skits (wtf is this, a comic book?), a "main couple + pair the spares" (...again, Arise), and no Tales traitor. That trope is so overdone and sucks, tbh.

15. a side quest that stuck with you

I have one for Vespy, Abyss, and Symphonia. For Vesperia, it has to be the brionac quest + Hermes' notes. It's the closest we get to Judith lore (in the game) and Judith & Rita's relationship is well done. I also liked the Sword Dancer one, too, if only to see Flynn lose his cool a bit. For Abyss, I like the Tear's pendant side quest, and I remember farming the last bit of Gald just to get it back. If you know me, you know I don't ship these two together, but I think their relationship and how it naturally grows is one of the best in the series. It's so sweet of Luke and a huge change from how he was in Act 1. For Symphonia, it's the Virginia Sage one, where Raine and Genis find their mother again. The voice acting in the scene (in English) is phenomenal, it really caps off Raine's conflict (even humanizes her more), and there's a sweet follow-up skit between her and Genis. I rambled about this scene in a previous post of mine, so I'll spare you my babbling lol...

14. an unpopular opinion

(lmfao. i have so many that i could make it its own post... but i'll go with the one that's been on my mind lately.) (i got wordy, rip)

Flynn Scifo was not a "bully" to Yuri in the beginning.

A large chunk of fandom (or maybe early fandom and isn't so prevalent now) think he was a bully to Yuri in Act 1, "harassing" him to rejoin the knights. In all the pointing fingers at Flynn, I never see anyone look at Yuri or try to see it from Flynn's POV. I know it's because Yuri's more popular and because he's the main character. But Flynn has a point when he calls out Yuri in Capua Nor (or was it Torim? Idfk). What has Yuri changed since he quit the knights? All he's done is sat around in the lower quarter since he left. Yeah, he doesn't know what to do because the knights was basically the "dream job"/ticket in to enact change. But Flynn's right. The reason Flynn keeps asking him to rejoin the knights is because that's what they planned on doing to change the world. To Flynn, Yuri walked out on their hard work, so he's understandably bitter, too. In fact, this is exactly why things are so rocky between them at the start of the game. I also have to wonder if it's a translation thing, too, because I'm aware a lot of lines were rephrased to make Yuri sound more aggressive at parts and Flynn sound more... demanding (referring to Nordopolica scene), for lack of better wording. And before you ask, I can read and understand Japanese, so it's not a "he said, she said" scenario. I think the reason everyone calls Flynn a bully is because he not only succeeded in his dream, but he doesn't beat around the bush when talking to people. Like Judith, whose bluntness people are more aware of, Flynn's blunt. He tells it like it is, and that's probably because he's captain of the knights...? Think back to that one event where he and Yuri stop some thieves, and the little boy that tried to help says he wants to be a knight when he grows up. Does Flynn pat his head and go "wow you were so brave"? No. He tears the fucker down by calling him out on his recklessness, saying that just because he wants to be a knight doesn't mean he will. Granted, he does bandage the wound a little when he commends the kid's courage, but the compliment doesn't come after a lecture. And lbr, no one likes being told the hard facts. No one likes being called out. I think Flynn hit a personal sore spot with the "Flynn's a bully" crowd. Yuri's not the special snowflake, depresso espresso protag that he's praised to be. He's a good character, don't get me wrong, but he's not always in the right. It's just jarring to see when it comes to the romantic side of Flynn and Yuri, there's a heavy bias for Yuri, yet Flynn somehow gets villainized in some form or another. Like the narrative molds itself around the fact that while both characters fucked up, Flynn's the bigger fuck up because in canon he's a "bully." Flynn calling him out isn't to pressure him back into the knights. The way he sees it, Yuri sits on his hands and bemoans how the rich suck ass and should stop being assholes to the poor... but he doesn't do anything about it. He just keeps getting thrown in jail for harassing the Tweedles. Flynn's basically telling Yuri to back up his words with action, and he says the knights because, again, that was the only way they thought they could change things. And no, Flynn does accept that Yuri's way of doing things is ultimately different from his own. You even have a fucking skit to showcase this (the skit where Yuri wears the knight's uniform). I honestly think the whole "rejoin the knights" by act 2/3(?) is said not in the same way it was in act 1, but more of a jest. Because by then, Flynn's seen that Yuri has made changes - more than he has. He's got no room to drag Yuri back to where he doesn't want to be, and it wouldn't make sense for his character to do so. Flynn's got a lot of issues and he's not the sweet, perfect, somft knight boy that he tricks people into thinking he is. But him being Yuri's "bully" is definitely not it, chief.

[felassan]

Thoughts on Dark Fortress #2

(This post is under a cut due to spoilers.)

So late with this one! some stuff irl was keeping me really busy and hyper-distracting me lately, but it’s finally over now so I’m back on my bioware bullshit. :D

Overall there were a lot of beautiful or awe-inspiring scenes in this issue, and a lot of great, meaningful / poignant character interactions and moments between characters. It’s pretty impressive actually how much was able to be packed in. I posted some of my favorite panels here. also omg! the action sequences! the big reveal! the ending!! woww

cool scene-setting, panned out shot of Neromenian and behind it, the Dark Fortress, to immediately pull you back into the world and ‘where we left off’. the combination of ruined dead trees, red lights, lightning and fire/smoke is very atmospheric and hints at what’s ahead

“From this... city, if we can call it that” is a sick burn and reminds you that the Qunari are technologically more advanced than most of the rest of Thedas, from their cannons to their aqueducts

more individually distinct Qunari soldiers, sth I again appreciate

! last issue there were big ‘You haven’t seen the last of Tractus!’ vibes, naturally, but I didn’t expect him to escape by stabbing and killing the Qunari using a chair-leg..!!

the last panel on the first page of Karasten is really good. the way it’s colored, the way it’s lit, the light and shadow, the fiery backdrop, cinders floating, the details of his expression.. 👌 it also makes me think to the possible future, to DA4 when mainland Thedas may be continuing to face the entirety of the Antaam

in Vaea’s acrobatics scene on the bridge, I know rationally that she’ll be fine but couldn’t help but worry for her. again I like how they don’t shy away from showcasing Vaea’s specific abilities. also the attention to detail - you’d think some rocks are just some rocks, but it highlights the risk she’s undertaking that if she falls it’s into rough seas which could dash her against the jagged rocks :’S. Vaea, gooooo!

Fenris’ “Enterprising girl” line has big “Clever girl” meme energy :D

my heart can’t take Fran and Autumn leaning over the edge after Vaea in worry ;; or Aaron looking back in concern over his shoulder ;; or Fran’s tender reassurance ;; or Autumn’s Worried expression ;; the care and bonds which have grown between this group of characters ;;

notice Aaron starts drinking when Vaea’s away from them and they’re beginning to grow worried about her safety. the poor man’s nerves and stress levels

Fran touching the vegetation while she’s considering if she could use her magic to open the entrance from the outside is a nice touch

did Marius leap in front of Fenris and Fran there when the entrance opened?? damn, he’s quick. and the three of them look all scary and formidable here ready for combat. notice how the curve of the door and the spikes that go into the ground, and the composition of this panel, make it look like they’re standing in front of an opened dragon’s maw? ‘teeth’, a rumbling ‘roar’.. some nice foreshadowing here.

the reunion panels are so cute. Autumn’s lil tum as she jumps and Fran and Fenris’ lil smiles of relief and at Autumn’s reaction to seeing Vaea, then a rare happy beam from Aaron.. feel.. the love ;__;

red lighting in the tunnel sets a dangerous, dramatic build-up mood

👀 more info on Fenris’ past, on the specifics of the process which gave him his markings. in the panel where he says that it took a long time, his shadow on the wall behind him reminds me of the shadow of his past that has dogged him for so long :(

Fenris and Marius height difference

discussion of the process shows the power difference between blue and red lyrium. blue lyrium took a long time, red lyrium is almost instant

Autumn is such an intrepid little explorer and alert scout, tail and ears up, head forward. good girl!

“I just... worry about you, my girl”  ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚  I’ll be so sad if these are death flags for Aaron and he doesn’t make it out of here. also note Fran in this panel, who recently had to kill her own father and is still dealing with that, watching the strongly paternal moment between Aaron and Vaea :(

love Vaea’s faith in Aaron and her sense of humor. also I don’t know why, maybe it’s because Vaea met Sebastian, but her “Maker, no!”, although in a completely different and light-hearted context, reminds me of Sebastian’s “Maker nooo!” at the end of DA2 hh

the reference again to Hawke, who Fenris saw haunted by what they tried to do - save their mother - and couldn’t :’(. also with the shadow in this panel, here’s another person struggling with the shadow of his past qq. this is later emphasized again in Aaron when he continues to talk about his past and in the panel is a chain and manacle. smart visual metaphors, a must in the comic medium with limited space

mushroom skull 💀🍄

“It isn’t about what I’ve done. It isn’t about my failures. Or my choices. It’s about their impact” - he’s misty-eyed here as he thinks back to Ostagar.. does this line btw seem almost meta to anyone else btw? :D it feels like a meta reference to the experience of DA players and PCs, who are always having to deal with the impacts of their choices

I wanna point out that I was right on reading issue #1, when I said “I’m positive that in panel 2 here, it’s the exact moment when he sees Cailan die” ;;

So Aaron is also a veteran of the Battle of Denerim

reference to the Hero of Ferelden - “Those were someone else’s battles”. I’m being captain obvious here but I can’t help but [heart pitter-patter] at any and all references to the HoF

I like the.. parallel? is that the word? Aaron’s stories were him trying to inspire people to make a change, or him trying to convince himself of that. and now here’s Vaea, inspiring Aaron with her words in these panels. the little guys can make a difference! in the world of Thedas, you don’t need to be a big bombastic hero or a Player Character to have an impact 

lmao Fenris right on cue. the moments of humor/light-heartedness are nice because they break up the tension and are sprinkled throughout without derailing build-up or taking away from dramatic story impact. yknow?

yeah Aaron!! leave it behind. leave it to rot with mr mushroom skull (and hey the mushroom skull was there for a reason). again tho if this is a death flag i 

Fenris straight down to business with the tactics

its cute how close Autumn has been sticking to Fran

Tessa checking in on Fran again, as she did in issue 1

Could Vaea’s “Well, shit” be an homage to Varric? :D they have met

I also wanna point out that I was right on reading issue #1, when I said “My guess is that the thing Tractus shows Marquette and Nenealeus is probably a chained up dragon or similar”

the poor dragon :’( big dragon the Qunari had in Trespasser vibes

the sword has a really cool design, kind of reminds me of something a samurai might be depicted wielding

👀 lore-drop! so ancient elven arcane warriors used lyrium-infused swords. this seems to confirm the sarcophagus is an ancient elven artifact, no? makes sense, wasn’t it said that the sarcophagus’ design was based on the architecture/outfit-design type elements of a specific faction, and that this was done intentionally? it looks kinda ancient elfy in make, right? also about the lyrium-infused swords of the arcane warriors, well well well.. remember that the Evanuris and the ancient elves mined the bodies of Titans for lyrium, for power and to use as a resource. here’s an example of that use

as I read through this portion I became increasingly concerned for my boy Shirallas.. we really are in it now aren’t we 😭

the Qunari are launching STRAIGHT-UP ROCKETS ohhhh

pretty ‘lightshow’ over the wall in the “Let’s hope the fortress is as secure as Danarius boasted” panel hh

protective older brother Fenris, impish younger sister Vaea. love that dynamic, we love to see it. sheepish and exasperated Fenris is so cute

the Bone Pit dragon fight with Hawke and co reference!

I wonder how long the dragon has been captive here, and how Danarius/Tractus was able to capture it

lore-wise what are the implications here? when Fenris’ ritual was being undertaken, the sword and the sarcophagus were bombarded with magic, fire spells. in this one they aim to have the dragon bombard it with fire-breathing. is it just fire that makes it work/powers it, or is there magic in dragonfire, in dragons? it reminds me of “Your heart beats with the old blood, as well. Where do you think it comes from? It sings of a time when dragons ruled the skies. A time before the Veil, before the mysteries were forgotten. Can you hear it?”

purple color for the dragon’s growling sounds/typeset is a great idea

lets.. goooo!!!!

Marquette is such a nerd. later on when he activates the sarcophagus he has mad scientist vibes

the dramatic reunion face-offs begin!! as the prophecy foretold!!!!1

true to form, Marius DOES have nothing to say ahahaha, even at this, his personal climax. maybe Marius dies in the next issue, but Tessa lives and gets to go back to Charter

these Venatori look almost Star Wars

Shirallas my boyy.. nooo... don’t do it 😭

ah ah ah! try casting magic with no ARMS

Francesca a beacon of blue light and goodness

the splash combat page is masterful. everyone playing a part, so much going on, everything happening at once. a thing that sticks out to me about it is Aaron’s outstretched hand and alarm as he watches Fran fall 

Autumn with her lil hackles raised

“The Venatori have returned” dun dun dunn

goodbye Shirallas 😭😭😭

the composition of the second to last page with triangle/diamond-shaped panels and the framing of dragon wings is awesome

the Dread Wolf rises, “the Tevinter Imperium will rise again”.. on-point on-point cohesion

there he is, the red wraith

Super Saiyan Shirallas

what a note to end an issue on

wow wow wow!!

and separate to the above, some speculation based on the cover of Issue 3: the piece of metal looks like a broken collar coming off Shirallas, like the one there was on the cover of Issue 2 coming off the dragon. also he’s all bulky now with draconic talons/claws (reminds me of in-world legends of Reavers who dug too deep of their own power after drinking dragon blood and whose bodies consequently began to manifest subtle reptilian traits actually). I’ll be interested to see what results of this allusion between Shirallas and the dragon!!

[thebiblesalesman]

Thoughts on Genji in Storm Rising

Storm Rising reframes the beginning of Genji’s journey and his interaction with the original Overwatch. Gone is the Genji who “single-mindedly set about the task of dismantling his family’s criminal empire” and abandoned Overwatch when his mission was complete.

Instead Storm Rising is the latest bookmark of a Genji who invested himself in Overwatch for an extended period of time and has finally begun to encounter support and friendship as a part of the Strike Team. Perhaps most importantly, the mission shows us that Genji is already capable of responding to positivity and that his Retribution-era coldness was not so much an inability to be properly social as it was a reflection of the dark personalities around him. 

There are a few gaps between Retribution and Storm Rising that might be relevant to Genji’s personality shift: (1) we still don’t know exactly how his Shimada Clan mission went, or (2) the reason his cybernetics were upgraded (aside from his Blackwatch design looking very prototypy). We do know that one year prior to Storm Rising, Genji was sparring with Tracer while Blackwatch was on suspension and did not yet have his new cybernetics. In the year between Uprising and Storm Rising, a decision was made to export Genji to mainline Overwatch for some reason. Blackwatch is (kinda) back in action at the time of Storm Rising- I think I’ll talk more about that in a dedicated “plot developments” post.

We also know from other media that Storm Rising takes place within months of the destruction of Overwatch HQ. Any support Genji gained during his time with the Strike Team will be lost very soon, and I have to imagine that various revelations about Blackwatch and public opinion on Overwatch as a whole could do a lot of damage to someone whose body has been extensively modified to assist the organization. In the even more immediate future, Genji is going to be badly damaged by Doomfist despite his new cybernetics.

These defeats raise other questions, like did Genji perhaps avoid other members of the Strike Team purposefully after Overwatch ended, or did they simply not reach out to him? This is a particular quandary for the new character Captain Sojourn, who is shown in Storm Rising to be committed to supporting Genji as a fellow cyborg.

But there are a lot of routes the developers could take on explaining Sojourn’s absence in Genji’s life after Overwatch. For example, maybe Genji’s Nomad skin is literal rather than thematic canon and he actually disguised his identity in the most fashionable way possible. Maybe Sojourn was injured during the destruction of HQ and acquired triple amnesia. Maybe she was arrested after the arrival of the Petras Act. The possibilities are truly endless. It would really be nice to get some sort of media about the destruction of HQ and its aftermath...someday...

Genji’s persistent discomfort with his cybernetics seems like it should have been addressed by support specialists sometime before Retribution or in the two years since. Maybe it was, and there is just no interest in showing Genji’s psych evaluations as part of a poppy bright mission cutscene. Experiences like Genji’s don’t go away with one or two visits from a qualified professional, or ever, so it’s entirely possible Overwatch put as much support as they could into him and it simply was not helping. 

But it is interesting to me that Sojourn is the one showing some empathy to Genji’s condition, whereas the doctor who saved his life generally makes light of her role. Other interactions in Storm Rising do seem to indicate that Mercy is not very good with people, and I would be remiss not to discuss the Gency interactions in the mission, but I think I’m going to do that in a separate Mercy-focused post. She got a lot of love this mission too, and not just from Genji.

I think what’s got me scratching my head is the sanitizing effect the Storm Rising personality shift has on Overwatch’s disgraceful conduct toward Genji.

On the one hand, demonstrating Genji’s preexisting ability to be something other than an angry boy and showing off how he responds to positive people dovetails nicely into his eventual meeting with Zenyatta. The interactions in Storm Rising also elevate the other members of the Strike Team, showing how they are genuinely trying to be Genji’s ally. Contrast this to the Blackwatch team, who frequently refer to Genji as an asset rather than a person.

On the other hand there is a Marvel-like unwillingness to explore the ethics of the story Overwatch sets forth for Genji, but given the punchy comic book underpinnings of the lore I guess that should not be a surprise at all. There’s a hyperintelligent hamster in this game. 

And while there may be a lack of emphasis on certain human rights situations, the devs are very interested in covering how the heroes in Overwatch altered the trajectories of each other’s lives. Genji and Zenyatta was always the classic example of this, but now we know Genji was not a wall to everyone that came before. He is, in fact, quite human. :)

Just in case you left this mission with the sense of “why does he even need Zenyatta then?”, I’ll reiterate a few things. First and foremost, Overwatch is about to be destroyed, and then Overwatch activity is made illegal by the Petras Act. Genji’s hero profile still describes him as having “abandoned Overwatch”, but maybe it was more that he was torn from a purpose he was serving as a replacement for having a life.

I’m not convinced Genji has a sense of himself beyond his occupation in Overwatch even during Storm Rising. But whereas others in Blackwatch could be brazenly ignorant of what he was going through, the Strike Team seems to be mostly on-board with including him as a friend as much as a coworker, leading to interactions such as this:

Genji’s sense of humor is much more obvious in this mission overall (”mAYbE hE jUST liKEs to loOk at IT”), but his tone also oscillates wildly, going cold when there is a brush of conduct that sounds like Blackwatch work (”he’ll talk”) or when the subject turns to his cybernetics (”was that a joke?”, but he isn’t laughing). Most people have by now noticed elements of his behavior in the cutscenes such as him checking with the team about what he needs to do, then his arm shaking when he is not allowed to outright kill Maximilien. His embrace of the Strike Team could just be another prop to keep himself going.

When Genji says the ocean is beautiful in the quote a little ways above, he is looking at the sea under the influence of a hurricane, covered in lightning.

Genji’s anger is not something that ever goes away, even years later during the events of Dragons. It is not something even Zenyatta can take from him, because the goal of healing is not to erase a feeling that exists, but to improve how we deal with it.

(As an alternative hypothesis, the shaking is not just anger but some issue with the new cybernetics. Considering how robotic the motion is...did something happen to his remaining arm? Note how Maximilien, who is completely machine, moves with far more grace and control in the same scene.)

I also want to note that Genji considers Maximilien “dramatic”, and his tone when speaking about Maximilien and his money tends to be disdainful. Genji comes from a rich criminal family himself, but no one on the Strike Team appears to pick up on that angle of his responses. I think it’s safe to say he is holding a few cards close to his chest and trying to stay macho about the whole situation, but that’s not really what he needs to heal. 

So get to it, Zenyatta.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Infinity Thoughts

 So I have something of a tradition of reading comics that will in some way tie into upcoming Marvel live action films. To this end with Avengers: Endgame approaching I read through, among other things, the TPBs ‘Avengers vs. Thanos’. ‘Rebirth of Thanos’, ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ and ‘Infinity’ volumes 1-2.

For the most part I rather enjoyed them. My respect for Jim Stalin grew and I’d argue Infinity Gauntlet may well be Marvel’s finest ever crossover event story of all time...Then I got to Infinity.

Hooooooooo-boy.

This was a lame story.

To be crystal clear the trades I read through collected the main issues of the event plus the tie-in issues of Avengers and New Avengers. Since all were written by Jonathan Hickman the tie-ins are actually essential to the reading experience and I was never exactly lost reading the story. There was a brief but well done reference to the Guardians of the Galaxy tie in issues that weren’t collected but that was it.

You know how I said my respect for Stalin grew through reading this stuff? Ell my respect for Hickman sunk...even lower than it already was.

First off reading Infinity seems to have been a waste of time for my personal purposes. Whilst I do not know what Endgame has in store Infinity War took precious little from this story. It just borrowed 4/5 of Thanos’ inner circle of henchmen (Corvus Glaive, Prixima Midnight, Ebony Maw) and also the Outriders, those four limbed footsoldiers Thanos uses to invade Wakanda. Speakin of which the mere idea of Thanos invading Wakanda was also borrowed from this story but it plays out drastically differently.

That’s not really a problem with the story just a personal complaint I had.

On the flipside something I can’t really complain about but will point to as a problem is that to follow the main story of Infinity you HAD to pick up the tie-ins I mentioned. A well written event shouldn’t price gouge you like that. Noticeably Infinity Gauntlet didn’t. Reading all 6 issues was a satisfying experience unto itself, I never felt like I was missing anything.

But saying Stalin is a better cosmic writer than Hickman would be redundant.

Another problem I discovered after the fact with this story was how the first 15 pages of Infinity #1 are literally just reprints of New Avengers #6 and the Free Comic book day Infinity issue. So 15/54 pages were stuff you’d either read before or could read for free.

This isn’t even getting into the writing problems in general. First of all Hickman had this insufferable habit of within issues themselves having like chapter breaks in the for of entirely blank pages with a grey title and symbol at the top. So you know...nice that you are paying for nearly blank pages amidst your £4+ comic books.

Second of all Hickman has this habit of like throwing meaningless lore at you.

In Infinity #1 for example he throws at you the brief backstory of this planet you have never seen before nor will see again as though it means something, complete with flashbacks and exposition about this planet’s great champion who’s already dead courtesy of the guy delivering the narration. And when I say it’s meaningless lore I mean Hickman has the guy say “Whatever happened to your proud champion to won the Water Wars and untied the tribes by defeating the Great Beast of Pol?”

Like...who gives a shit no one knows where or what Pol is or what the Water Wars were. The best part is that this is all adding up to this planet giving Thanos’ henchmen a tribute of several dead people.

Basically it stretched out 11 pages with meaningless lore to communicate Thanos is bad, Thanos has bad henchmen, Thanos’ demands defeated planets pay him tribute in dead people. Seems like you could accomplish that in maybe 4 pages at a push, especially for a villain everyone knows about already.

What makes this all the more confusing is that Thanos isn’t even really the central plot or threat in the story. This is in spite of being on the covers, mentioned in the solicits, the story’s name referencing stories that explicitly involve him and the story frankly existing because of his post-credits scene in Avengers 2012.

The story’s central conceit I guess is that it’s a war on two fronts.

Captain America leads most of the Avengers into space to join the Kree, Shi’ar, Skrulls, Annihilus and other alien races in a war against the army of the Builders. Meanwhile the remaining heroes (including Iron Man and the Illuminati) have to contend with Thanos who has invaded Earth looking for the sole remaining Infinity Gem and the last of his children, the half-Inhuman Thane.*

Essentially in spite of the advertisement Thanos is really just one of two antagonists in this story. And frankly clearly the one Hickman is less interested in compared to the Builders, whom shockingly, just so happen to be his own creations.

What follows is essentially a cosmic war story all about military strategy and game theory and so on, with very smart people doing very smart things.

Now in fairness conceptually this isn’t a bad idea whatsoever.

So what if Thanos is just one of two antagonistic forces. So what if it’s a war story. Those are ideas that can be done great right?

Yep...except...they aren’t.

Let’s talk about Thanos first.

His central motivation to kill his half Inhuman son is contrived and whilst it COULD have worked it just doesn’t.

As the lead in issues to Infinity Gauntlet make clear with Nebula, who claimed to be Thanos’ granddaughter, Thanos finds the idea of reproducing an affront to his nihilistic beliefs.

Thnos of course is in love with Death. As in he sees Death as a woman he’d like to make out with. To this end he committed his life to mass slaughter to win her love.

Thus entirely logically his creator Jim Stalin established that Thanos would not seek to have any offspring because, duh, if your goal is to kill as many people as possible you aren’t going to create MORE life.

So on the most basic of levels, Thanos even having any children seems out of character.

But it could have worked because the story does establish Thanos has killed his other children too. So it is entirely possible to argue that Thanos, whilst no celibate, made a point of killing his off spring to balance the scales, possibly even seeing his kids as mistakes of his youth before he’d entirely committed himself to Death.

Except the story doesn’t say anything like that. Thanos simply states the idea of Thane existing keeps him awake at night. In other words one of the 2 central antagonists has at best vague motivations.

To make matters worse Thanos is defeated via a total dues ex machina. Basically Thane undergoes a mutation as a result of Black Bolt unleashing a Terrigen mist throughout Earth, this causes him to inadvertently and instantly murder everyone within a certain radius by waving his left hand. He can only control this with the help of a containment suit one of Thanos’ inner circle, Ebony Maw provides. Maw acts as a kind of evil mentor/advisor to Thane, think Wormtongue from the Two Towers but more powerful and sinister, but we’ll get to him in a minute.

Anyway Thane is captured by Maw and presented to Thanos and whilst Thanos and his last surviving inner circle (they’re called the Black Order btw) Proxima Midnight are beating the shit out of the Avengers. Maw then says some shit about wanting to see if Thane has evolved and how he’s the only one who can beat Thanos. So Thane waves his right  hand and encases Thanos and Proxima in a great big amber cube.

Oh and this comes out of exactly nowhere!

That’s the resolution to the final issue by the way. THAT is how this 2 volume event friggin ends. Pathetic.

More pathetic even than the already pretty pathetic motives and characterization given over to Ebony Maw and the entirety of the Black Order.

Look, the idea of Thanos having an elite entourage as opposed to just hordes of gneric nameless thralls** is a good one.

The idea of them worshipping him and/or Death is fine.

But beyond their looks we get little characterization from any of them. Glaive and Midnight are offhandily established as married. Black Dwarf is just a big dumb warrior thug. We get a mini-monologue about Supergiant’s childhood and why she follows Thanos in the pages just prior to hear death towards the end of the story. And Ebony Maw...nothing. We have no reason for why he acts against his master or what the fuck his agenda is.

What little we know of the Black Order comes from I kid you not a mini Marvel Handbook segment randomly inserted into the story that gives you like a short paragraph on each member and their abilities.

So you know...literally telling us instead of showing us who these people are and to boot it’s not even actually part of the story.

Then the story has the audacity to say that Thane, Hickman’s new underdeveloped character has and will become even worse than his Dad. His Dad who I will remind you literally caused universal genocide when he snapped his fingers and killed half the universe’s population...and THEN murdered all the cosmic beings. Oh but Thane is worse because he...can trap people in amber...?????

There is also precious little characterization or development lent to Thanos in the entire story, whereas the events its trading off of (Infinity Gauntlet, etc) absolutely did. Here Thanos is the big bad villain and little else. He isn’t even the biggest threat nor does he comprise the majority of the panel time.

That distinction goes to the Builders.

Oh lord...the builders. Who also count among their ranks the Gardners known as the Ex Nihili, the Alephs robot soldiers and exist in the superflow of the multiverse having created the Starbrand and other cosmic tools to shape the evolution of species across the universe.

Did any of that sound bland, boring, meaningless and simply pretentious mastabatory science fiction talk?

Well that’s only because it is.

Marvel has a robust cosmic lore to them. The first generation of that was really installed by Lee and Steve Ditko in Doctor Strange and to a much greater extent Lee and Jack Kirby in Thor, Fantastic Four, Avengers and other titles. That’s where we of course get guys like Galactus.

The second generation I’d argue was Jim Stalin who set up Thanos, Drax the Destroyer Adam Warlock, the Infinity Gems and also Chris Claremont along with his collaborators who birthed the Phoenix Force and the Shi’ar and so on.

The third generation was Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Keith Giffen. These guys added a few things to Marvel Cosmic but really their forte was more adopting stuff already in the Marvel universe and expanding it or using it in interesting ways. The best examples of this being their Magnum Opus, Annihilation which made Annihilus a Big Bad for the Marvel Universe, and ESTABLISHING the Guardians of the Galaxy that the movies took inspiration from. Whilst they didn’t necessarily create any of the Guardians they were the guys who essentially made them the space Avengers.

Hickman is essentially the headliner for the fourth generation and by far and away the most creative.

And by creative I mean he is very good at dreaming up ideas. He’s a classic ‘Big Concepts’ science fiction writer.

Where he falls down is in executing said concepts.

Whilst the past generation of Marvel Cosmic creators vacillated between going for something sweepingly epic or else fun and bombastic or something in between, Hickman’s work is devoid of the fun bombast of a Silver dude riding a surfboard in space but is also if anything trying way too hard to be ‘Epic Cosmic’ than anything the older creators did. And they at least were doing it at a different time when standards for comics were different.

Let’s take the Galactus Trilogy and Infinity Gauntlet as an example. In the 1960s presenting us a science fiction comic book antagonist who was an allegory for God was really impressive and him engaging in a debate with the Watcher about the nature of humanity was deep stuff.***

Similarly the Infinity Gauntlet was concerned with the burden of Godhood and acted as something of a bizarre love story between Thanos and death, the ultimate character study of the Mad Titan.

Hickman in Infinity though mostly just throws Big Science Fiction Concepts (tm) at you and expects you to be impressed by their mere existence, as though ‘the Avengers fight a big space war’ is something to be impressed by in 2013 when we’ve had how many stories like that?

Worse his Big Concepts aren’t just expected to be impressive via their mere existence but are also just...rather dull. There is little personality to the boringly named Builders and only slightly more in the pretentiously named Ex Nihili (Hickman loves throwing around very impressive big nonsense words for his science fiction crap, God forbid they be something simple and/or silly but memorable like ‘Galactus’, ‘the Infinity Gauntlet’, ‘Annihilus’, etc). The Gardners/Ex Nihili kind of look interesting but the Builders themselves are just the most boringly designed aliens ever.

When you see the Watchers or the Celestials you BUY that they are the oldest race in the universe, you buy they are cosmic beings on a higher plane than mere mortals. The Builders are just grey vaguely buggish dudes. Their footsoldiers the Alephs are worse. They’re generic Terminator rip off robots.

The art throughout the story looks pretty but it’s design sense is lame at best and it has the eternal problem of so many 2000s/early 2010s comics that the art looks beautiful panel to panel but is also stiff and looks like a series of very pretty portraits that lack life or the illusion of movement. Comic book art shouldn’t be  a series if paintings next to one another conveying the highlights of a scene but an organic flow from one panel to the next creating the illusion of movement. Want to see this done well in a big event story? Check out Mike Zeck on Secret Wars or Perez/Lim on Infinity Gauntlet. Or hell anything Ron Frenz draws.

Okay, they look boring, they sound boring, their concepts aren’t used that effectively BUT...surely the Builders storyline has merit? Surely this cosmic war story is at least a good war story.

Well...yes and no.

The military strategy used in the story is pretty realistic and well thought out, speaking as someone who isn’t familiar with military strategy history or stories rooted in that stuff.

If nothing else the core concept of Thanos attacking Earth whilst the Avengers are off fighting on another front and the X-Men are divided (because of Schism) is basic and interesting use of strategy.

And the space warfare for the most part seemed reminiscent of Star Trek, speaking as someone who’s got novice knowledge at best of that franchise.

Here is the problem though...it’s also painfully dull for anyone who isn’t hyper into that stuff.

Which would be fine...if the story was solely contained within the main Infinity book.

I’ve long defended Secret Wars 1984 on the grounds that as it’s own mini-series it wasn’t obliged to follow thematic conventions or writing conventions of the solo or team titles, it could be it’s own sandbox. So if it wanted to be a light war story/series of fun action set pieces, fine.

So if Infinity wanted to be an Avengers space military strategy comic book for 6 issues okay fine. Except it wasn’t, it roped in Avengers and New Avengers into it too.

And at that point the tie-ins at the very least needed to have something more. You know like...personality.

The single biggest problem with pretty much any Hickman story I’ve read is that far too often the characters talk stiffly and unrealistically, with a coldness to them, a functionality. There is precious little personality or emotion to them. Even when the art is showing us emotion you simply see it as opposed to actually connecting with it.

There are only the briefest of smatterings of truly emotional or personable moments in the entire story and as a consequence they kind of stick out like a sore thumb. Smasher and Cannonball hooking up (out of nowhere in the story like there was no inclination they had the hots for one another earlier) and Sunspot quipping about it is the most human moment in the entire story closely followed by Manifold expressing exhaustion over constantly fighting.

The closest thing to a charismatic character in the entire story is friggin Maximus the Mad!

How do you do that in a story with Captain America, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Reed Richards, Namor and friggin Thanos!!!!

All this and the story exists for anything but a genuine creative drive. It exists because

a)      Marvel needed to make bank off of Thanos’ cameo in Avengers 2012

b)      Marvel needed to remind people Thanos exists after his cameo

c)       Marvel needed to workshop some possible concepts for the then inevitable Thanos movie on the horizon

d)      Marvel needed to amp up the Inhumans via their stupid cloud unleashed in this story so they could begin their dastardly master plan to supplant the X-Men with them

 Ugh. I recommend you simply skip this story wholesale.

*The other 5 Infinity Gems were destroyed

 **By the way in Stalin’s stories Thanos’ armies comprised of a diverse group of alien baddies. Here...there are different kinds of aliens but they seem to be a few species who all look the same. Hardly what Stalin and other artists rendered, which gave you an idea of the scope of Thanos’ travels.

If we’re going to be paying more money for comics nowdays could they maybe put in at minimum the same effort as cheaper comics from 40 years ago!

 ***The Watchers and Celestials by the way, Jack Kirby creations, get supplanted by Hickman as the oldest and most powerful race in the universe for the sake of his boringly named ‘Builders’

[zenlosingit]

Buckle up folks it’s gonna be a long ride

So @stxrriea recently got asks about how the mcu is toxic and I wanted to make a post about it so bad that I got @stxrriea permission so here we are!!

I think one reason mostly why the mcu is so toxic is that everyone involved in creating the movies completely disregard comic canon that everything turns into a shit show. When Iron Man was released in 2008, a time where superhero movies were now getting popular, Marvel just wanted to finally create a movie around its characters, they didn't care about including facts from the comics, they just cared about setting up a story involving Iron Man's origin and getting it out to the public- then and there is where the problems first arrive.

Now, yes the first movies kinda stick to the comics origins involving Iron man, Thor, and Captain America, but when Marvel creates the sequels to these movies, the mcu derails from the comics. In my opinion, the second movies of each trilogy are poorly written, crappily made ooc movies. I hate watching the second movies b/c of the "dark" theme to them and the hard to swallow story lines (especially Thor the Dark World- I hate everything about it). As further along as the mcu universe expands the 'toxic masculine cishet writers' don't care about what is fact about the comics- and the actors are to blame too.

I have seen some interviews where some of the actors admit to reading the comics as kids, but even though some have read marvel comics growing up the majority don't care about comic lore, have never have read the comics involving their character, and are amazed to find out what their character has done/is like when someone- who actually read the comics- tells them about it!! Essentially the actors create their own version of the Marvel characters and the writers don't help with that. That's why Black Widow is a sexual Americanized spy and not a ex-soviet secret operative with a Russian accent; why Clint is a second-hand background character that has a family that makes him special, and not a hearing-impaired special operative; why Steve is a good boy "fuck the government" boy scout and not a understanding, educated man that knows the struggles of immigrants, poverty stricken ppl, lgbt ppl, and the roles women are forced into; why Scarlet Witch completely loses her Romanian accent when clearly she was raised in Eastern-Europe and spoke its native languages; and why Tony Stark belittles women and men around him and not a mentally ill man that is charitable and understanding to people who are suffering/struggling.

Not only do the actors and writers of the franchise have no knowledge concerning the comics, but they as well have no knowledge of actual human history and common sense! If you're going to create a story and have take place somewhere on earth the least you can do is do research of the place's history, language, politics, ethnicity, religion and more. What writers love to do is have a story based around a large populated city and sometimes do little to no research about the area- or even consider that if some major event happened in a previous movie, do you really think people in that area would be really happy about another event happening? Or at least think that there would be new safeguards in place to stop it happening again? The creators blatantly ignore a place's history and someone’s background that causes the character to fall apart from lack of detail and become ooc.

That's why there's a unnecessary grudge match between Steve and Tony, why Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's storyline is twisted and less of who they actually are, why Natasha and Clint are just used as background characters, why Thor's personality is always different and sometimes awful. And nothing ever gets better when the fans take hold of the characters and rip them apart to use and hate on one another because someone else's opinion of the character is different from theirs. And sometimes people look too much into the relationships and interactions between characters that they create pedophillic and incest relationships (I think why a lot of ppl ship Thoriki is since Loki isn't blood related it gives them an excuse to ship the two together b/c "technically they're not biologically related so it isn't incest" when it clearly is b/c being raised together and sharing platonic/familial love is what makes them family).

Because of the lack of action in doing any research in anything involving the movies the characters become separated from the comics and fall apart- even further when ppl examine the characters too much that they create hate and split ppl apart and create horrible relationships. Marvel should've incorporated more comic canon into the movies but they were lazy and just wanted to get cash that they didn't and won't change how the characters are portrayed.

You can take this with a grain of salt, I've never read the comics before, however I've been here since the 1st avengers movie was released- still before when my parents rented the 1st Thor and Captain America movies and I fell in love- and I've watched the change happening to the characters and learned info on actually how the characters are in the comics.

(Also the anon stating they've never seen the X-Men movies I've only seen 2- and that was like last month when I had the house to myself- and I can't exactly say how good or bad they are. There were, however, a lot of points in the movies that I disliked and wished they treated it differently (1 of the movies plot was basically the gov. found a "cure" to mutantism and the response between society, mutants, and extreme "all normals must die" mutants was awful to watch) so- in my opinion- they're no better than the mcu movies.)