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prettylittlebrownskingyal · 5 years ago

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Your commentary on titans 👌👌 give us the full review

My main problem with Titans is that there is (a.) no logical and solid justification for these characters and their actions and (b.) this may just be the film nerd in me— but there’s no emotional payoff.

What irks me more is that the cast is incredible. They’re likeable and capable of handling emotion and they can clearly deal with more than they’re given.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure from writers to showrunners to directors and crew— a lot of work and time and energy has been put into the production of this show. But these characters are so iconic and in my nitwit opinion, it’s almost painful to see their potential go to waste.

And I say potential because there are moments— mystical and magical, full of hope and wonder and rich comic goodness that make you want more. But they fall flat.

“Families can be fucked up.”

Titans is supposed to be about family. They literally end the last episode with the song “We are Family.” So why would these people— who supposedly view each other as found family— abandon each other at every given opportunity?

They gang up on Jason in the tower when only moments before they were all fired up about saving the kid from Dr. Light. Gar gets left behind by himself with an unconscious, cleary dangerous super clone. Donna and Dawn fully agree to let Dick rot in prison.

These actions do not reflect people who care for each other. Who want to protect and keep each other safe. Why would this be the core emotional catalyst for any development whatsoever when no actual families are portrayed?

Also, here are two established families featured this season and there were no attempts to have them act as foils for each other even though that would have made clear sense. The Wilsons and the Waynes. Two kids that share stoic father figures that are linked to their trauma. Rose and Jericho have no relationship. No communication. No reason to trust each other. Also, why does Rose immediately give up her life for her father?

Dick and Jason’s relationship had some moments that could have been great to both of their character developments. Dick is his best when he’s being a big brother to Gar and Rachel. Why not let him be the same for Jason?

Here are some things I’d do differently.

1.) No Conner storyline

Conner, Krypto and Eve’s episode (episode 6) was quite possibly the best of the season. It’s because a family dynamic is clearly established. (It’s a little weird, I’ll admit) But these characters rely on each other. They look out for each other. They care. (“You didn’t abandon me”// “Can I call you mom?”// “Hot dogs? Get it?”– i ate that shit up)

That being said, it also feels like Conner was just created so they’d have someone to save Jason from his fall.

The introduction of CADMUS as another antagonist when Slade is a major, overpowering one feels like too many things to juggle at once. If they’d held out, Conner and CADMUS would have been great as the main focal point for a whole season.

2.) More Jericho

Jericho was essentially the highlight of the season. I can’t tell if it was the way he was written or the way Chella portrayed him but that’s what Titans really needs.

humanity. kindness. friendship and family ties.

why couldn’t he have had more time with the Titans? why couldn’t he have a relationship with Rose?

I’d have let him explore his abilities more. His relationship with his mom, with Slade, with each of the Titans.

They needed to have actual bonding with him. Not just a shoddy backstory.

3.) Better treatment of Rose

Rose Wilson could have been so much more than just a plot point. More than an informant. All she did this season was eat cereal, say “i’m out” and then solve a major fight plot point in fifteen minutes. We needed more of her training, her relationships, her justifications to just pick and fall into a life of an assassin.

She and Jason had some decent moments of believable cheesy teen behaviour between them but not enough to cover the gaping hole in Jason’s storyline.

4.) Jason needs more emotional moments!!

Not going to lie, I wasn’t sure Curran Walters could do big emotional scenes or make me care as much as he did. But he did. He’s got the bratty, troubled Jason down but he needs to be more fleshed out.

Like Rose, he feels like a caricature of a troubled teen. Where’s his interaction with Bruce? His backstory? His impulsivity and need to prove himself to Dick should be established but it’s not.

That scene where he learns that Rose has been using them all along? That was better than most of what we’ve seen him do.

5.) Donna as a big sister// Donna’s relationship with loss

You’re telling me “older smarter prettier”// “you can crash at my place” Donna Troy who took care of Dick would not look at these kids and want to help? After all Diana’s taught her? WACK

Also Donna and Garth’s relationship? It felt forced. He literally said “I love you” and then died. C’mon man, really? At least give them a pre-established relationship.

6.) Kory?? what happened y’all?

She felt so underutilized this season. Anna Diop is a star. She delivers her performance so well. The moment she heals Conner, her rushing to save Rachel— she has this essence of kindness that fits so well with her strength and the potency of her powers.

She’s a gifted, royal powerhouse.

So why give her a runaround, stretched out storyline? Why make her kill someone she cared about?

7.) Hank and Jason?//Dawn, Donna and Kory?// Dick & Gar

The dynamic between these characters whether seen or hinted at could have literally carried full episodes. Why consistently break them apart? Or make them fight or ignore each other? Why not let them play into each other, learn from each other? INTERACT??

8.) Bruce// Dick’s version of Bruce

I like Iain Glen as an older version of Bruce Wayne. I like that he’s a bit quirky, snarky, an asshole and he says things like “no shit.” But he doesn’t serve much of a purpose and he feels like an instant solution in certain situations. Plus he has no interaction with Jason.

That being said, the use of him as Dick’s voice of reason/subconscious does hone in on the question that Dick keeps trying to run away from— “What would Batman do?” That works for his character. It works for his growth. Their dynamic is wonderful but ultimately, not necessary.

9.) Donna dying?

That WHOLE scene was so out of place. Why would that have happened after the climax of the story? As an extra source of angst?

Again, the Titans are separated by death. Again, a sense of a family is built up and torn down. No one should have to die for a real sense of familial bond to be established.

10.) Deathstroke’s character//takedown

He’s supposed to be the main antagonist and they all have beef with him. Rightfully, everyone should have gotten a chance in that battle. It happened way too quickly and was very anticlimactic for the old Titans.

Also, Slade killing one of their friends with one, single bullet to the chest literally does nothing for me. Especially since Aqualad is supposed to be a Titan. There’s no real conflict, no tangible establishment of hate. Where’s the torture? the real hurt?

11.) Gar, Dick and Hank and their repeated storylines

they all went through the same arcs again. Dick with his Batman struggle. Hank and his own darkness. Gar and his struggle with control and being controlled and experimented on.

This season should have been about Dick coming into his own as Nightwing. About Gar finally having some normalcy and a place that he feels safe in. He should have gotten some redemption as a hero. Hank (and i hate to say, i hope i don’t sound ridiculous but) should have gotten some resolution with Dawn. Either they’re in or out because the back and forth they do with each other is incredibly toxic and they’ve been established as smart enough to see that.

It wasn’t all bad though and I’ll probably end up doing a re-watch sometime. Since I’ve pretty much spouted asshole nonsense, here are some of the best moments:

The end of the first episode where they’re all standing around their cars and laughing? GOLD. More of that cheesy, established friendship.

Jericho hugging Dick, Dick being unsure how to deal with warmth and forgiveness. Everybody say thank you to Chella for improvising that.

Kory and Donna being detectives and arguing over jelly doughnuts? Yes, please! I love them together. How they clearly knew each other, how they worked well together to take out Shimmer.

Kory speaking Kryptonian. Anything that furthers her development brings me joy.

Conner saving Jason. That was pretty comic book like— I liked it.

All the scenes Krypto’s in.

Hank telling Dawn that he knows what Jason’s probably feeling. That was emotional and heartfelt. Also, Hank going “Atta boy” when they were on the phone with Slade. I’m really upset they couldn’t have a brotherly relationship because their characters are quite similar.

Gar, Jason and Rachel interacting like friends/teammates/siblings. Their dynamic works. I’d love to have seen the three of them take on a challenge together.

#ar.txt #asks #prettylilanons #ar watches Titans #i have more thoughts but i can't form them right now.#Anonymous #titans #dc’s titans

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that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years ago

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TV Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Spoilers)

Part Two: Batwoman

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the episode airs in the U.S. so if you haven’t yet seen the episode or are waiting to watch the crossover all in on, don’t read on until you have.

Overview:

I was right, and I’m so annoyed they couldn’t keep the high momentum of the first episode here. Where Part One felt like an epic and grand high-stakes crossover opener, Part Two feels more like the typical and somewhat formulaic Arrowverse episode. The problem with that is, it’s supposed to be both! I don’t quite get how the episode that had the most elements I was looking forward to fizzled this much.

But now with the true enemy finally revealing himself, and the promise of more Paragons to find, can Crisis save itself while it destroys the Multiverse?

Avenging the Fallen:

So the episode opens with the three main women of the Arrowverse, Kara, Sara and Kate, drinking in memory of Oliver. I have to say, I know this is a Batwoman episode and these three women in particular do often preach girl power and all that, but the fact Ray isn’t there at least does just make it seem like they wanted this girl power moment, and as Kate said, the Multiverse is still in danger.

As I mentioned when talking about Batwoman in my Elseworlds review, there were problems that fortunately have been fixed by Batwoman the TV series mostly, I still don’t like the fact she’s not a red head, I still don’t like how similar Ruby Rose and Erin Richards look because it’s distracting to me. Even a choppy bob style as Kate has in the comics would differentiate the two more for me.

That being said, Ruby Rose sold the dry cynical humour here as she does in her own series. I loved how she left the drink here but later wished she hadn’t, in that same scene when the Monitor reveals Batman’s secret identity how she demands discretion from the team was funny, Kara finding Earth-99 Luke Fox attractive and Kate finding it weird I thought was hilarious and Ruby Rose sold that very well for me.

Also, for all Kara’s mourning about her lost planet, there was no confirmation on where Alex, Brainy, J’onn, Nia, Kelly or Lena were after the climax of Part One. I know Brainy and I think J’onn are in future parts of this crossover but it would have been good for a side comment saying where they are.

Speaking of mourning, my god Mia goes hard here. It’s funny because in last week’s episode of Arrow, Oliver was all for Diggle finding a way to get Mia and William back to 2040, yet Mia is still around and making understandably emotion-driven but drastic decisions and both Barry and Sara, who are supposed to be older, wiser and more level-headed particularly in this area, are going along with it.

Barry especially, I believe, feels that if he can help Oliver cheat his fate then maybe he can as well considering that Iris has now got the idea that with The Monitor being wrong about how Oliver died maybe Barry won’t die either, that’s just stupid to give someone who has already accepted his fate and has been known to make the stupidest decisions going (Flashpoint) when he feels he can change it.

Mia decides to use a Lazarus Pit to resurrect Oliver and, like I said, both Barry and Sara agree. Sara does need some convincing I grant you and Caity Lotz does sell that she is never fully on-board with the idea, and why would she be because she knows first hand what the pits do.

I did appreciate the Nyssa mention, I just wish she had been their guide to the pit on Earth-18, instead we get a mini-fight between Mia, Sara and an unaltered Jonah Hex.

I did kind of guess Hex would appear as soon as the location was revealed as North Dakota, and to be fair I didn’t really see where Jonah Hex would fit into this crossover, so I am glad they found a space for him.

I also like that Constantine has something to do finally, because I am tired of just seeing Sara and Ray, as much as I love Sara and tolerate Ray, it’s called Legends of Tomorrow and currently I think has the biggest main cast out of these shows...so why am I being drip-fed Legends with now the addition of Constantine and Mick...again I do enjoy both of them but give me the god damn team.

Barry and Constantine bring Oliver to the Lazarus Pit and, as expected, Oliver emerges as an out of control rage monster that Stephen Amell does not sell quite as well as Caity Lotz or Willa Holland previously have.

I guessed Oliver would somehow be brought back, because while the Arrowverse execs try to say “We killed him off in part one to show no one is safe”, it was an eye-roll for me because you’re not going to kill the original main star of the Arrowverse in the first part.

My only issue with it is it happened so quickly, there was no time really to miss him because he was dead at the end of part one and suddenly they’re talking about bringing him back.

Sara had an entire season between death and resurrection and Thea’s resurrection came with great sacrifice on Oliver’s part joining the League of Assassins. Here, we had Constantine saying that the antimatter was making him lose his magic so he couldn’t bring back Oliver’s soul like he did for Sara, which only makes me wonder why they’re wasting time trying to bring someone back rather than stopping existence from dying.

Paragon Pursuit - Bat of the Future:

Okay so, apparently The Monitor has recently discovered seven Paragons across the Multiverse that can come together to defeat the Anti-Monitor. He knows this from retrieving the Book of Destiny from the timeline which was the McGuffin in Elseworlds last year.

Fortunately four of these paragons are known to The Monitor, the Paragon of Hope is Kara Zor-El and the Paragon of Destiny is Sara Lance. I got why this worked because Supergirl’s main brand is all about hope and she’s from a parallel world while Sara is of Earth-1 tying into the fact these seven Paragons are spread across the multiverse.

The Monitor tells the team that two more Paragons are to be found on different Earths, the first is the Bat of the Future on Earth-99 which Mar-Novu name drops as Bruce Wayne, much to Ray’s surprise and Kate’s annoyance.

Again I am actually enjoying Brandon Routh in this crossover, and cannot understand why he isn’t at this level on his own show.

Kate and Kara go to Earth-99 where they come across a dilapidated Wayne Manor, which looks more dishevelled than the one from the DCEU, and meet Earth-99 Luke Fox...who I had to double-take to ensure it was in fact Camrus Johnson partly because of how different he looks not geeked up and also because he is the only other main character of Batwoman to appear in this Batwoman episode.

Now I get that none of the other supporting players are vigilantes at this point, but not even Earth-1 Luke Fox making an appearance is slightly unfair, and you could argue that during Invasion! None of Supergirl’s supporting players were involved, but Supergirl still had an episode in that week which featured its main cast.

Again also Kate’s reaction to Kara finding this Luke attractive was probably my favourite moment in the episode.

Once forcing their way inside, Kate and Kara meet Earth-99 Batman, Mr. Kevin Conroy. I was so looking forward to seeing this veteran Batman voice actor in live-action and when you don’t see him talking, he sounds a lot like Batman of the DCAU, the only problem is I was promised Kingdom Come Batman and didn’t really get that.

I don’t know Kingdom Come that well but I thought Batman was supposed to be the main force of good left in the world, yet not only is he killing his rogues as displayed in his trophy case, including a Riddler cane which I also own, but he also killed Superman.

It’s at this point that Kate and Kara realise that this Batman is not the Paragon of Courage they were sent to retrieve and at that point Batman turns on Supergirl apparently hating Kryptonians.

Now this is where it gets interesting because before this, there is actually some good character moments for Bruce and Kate where Bruce tries to make Kate see that where he is in his mindset is where she should be, not trusting anyone, not believing in anything, just becoming the night basically.

It echoes similarly to what Lex Luthor tried to install in Lena last season which eventually worked as we know and it apparently maybe worked here because, even though Kate saved Kara from her doppleganger cousin, she still kept that Kryptonite wrist strap of his...what does she plan on doing?

Anyway before the Kryptonite reveal, we see Kate and Kara return to base where they tell The Monitor they failed retrieving the Paragon, but The Monitor reveals that the Bat of the Future and the Paragon of Courage is in fact Kate herself.

I don’t know how to feel about this, I love the fact Batwoman is being spotlighted even though she is the new girl, however, it does seem like the only reason she is the Paragon is because this is her show.

Also to have two Paragons from the same Earth? Not exactly far spread out.

Paragon Pursuit - Reign of the Supermen:

While Kate and Kara are on Earth-99, Earth 38′s Clark and Lois, and Iris for some reason, scourer the Multiverse for the Paragon of Truth, which is revealed to be a Superman...but which Superman.

Well just before they head off a spanner is thrown into the works in the form of Earth-38s Lex Luthor. We knew Jon Cryer would be back, I thought he would have returned in the Supergirl episode but we also see at least three other versions of Superman here so why not.

Anyway Lex steals the Book of Destiny because the Monitor apparently brought him back to be duped by the supervillain, shocker, and Lex travels the Multiverse killing off Supermen.

Clark, Lois and Iris first arrive on Earth-75 where they are too late because Earth-38 Lex has already killed this version of Superman who lies dead on the big screen with his Lois mourning the loss.

Their second attempt sees them arrive on Earth-167, which is the vaguest Easter-Egg reference going as it refers to Smallville co-producer Al Gough’s year of birth 1967...

When Tom Welling said he and Erica Durance were only in one scene they weren’t kidding, however I loved it. I am a massive Smallville fan, it was my proper Superman introduction, these versions of Clark and Lois are my Clark and Lois and that’s not going to change.

The decision for Clark not to have powers here is a weird one because they highlighted the fact that the Smallville Comics which followed the TV series would count as canon, yet aside from returning to the Kent Farm nothing we learn about Clark and Lois here was mentioned in the comics.

Also Clark and Lois have daughters, I’m not sure who they’re supposed to be but I’ve only ever known them to have a son...Jonathan...and since when did all the Supermen need to be Superdaddies anyway?

Anyway Earth-38 Lex shows up and Clark has the great confusion of wondering why Jon Cryer doesn’t look like Michael Rosenbaum, it is again sad that Rosenbaum didn’t reprise the role, but to have a Lex Luthor going up against multiple Supermen was still quite cool.

When Clark reveals he gave up his powers, most likely to be a father and family man, it did just seem like a cheat way for the writers to say “Yeah we have Smallville’s Clark Kent, but he won’t be part of the action”. Which as a Smallville fan is painful because I wanted to see Tom Welling in the tights, flights and action!

Also once Lex and the heroes disappear, Smallville’s Lois arrives and I have to say, she looks exactly the same as she did back in 2011 but different to how she looks as Alura Zor-El. Maybe it’s the choice of farm clothes as opposed to regal dresses but this is Lois Lane I had through my teen years, everything from the fashion to the hair, to the voice. I wasn’t crazy about the laugh because it seemed a bit forced, but she called him Smallville straight after and spoke in her high-energised way so I was happy.

The final stop was on Earth-96 which is a reference to the year the Kingdom Come storyline came out, it was confirmed that Brandon Routh would be Kingdom Come Superman but also the version of Superman from 2006 Superman Returns which Routh starred in.

We meet, or are reacquainted with,Routh’s version of Clark Kent. I have to admit I never much cared for Superman Returns, possibly because Smallville was on at the time and that version had already won me over. But I do know that Brandon Routh drew a lot of inspiration from Christopher Reeves and his portrayal of the character and you can clearly see that in both his fashion and acting.

I want to say it’s sad to see that pretty much all of Superman’s supporting staff at the Daily Planet are dead, Sam Huntington in my opinion was a decent Jimmy Olsen, but if this was Smallville’s Daily Planet staff all killed I’d be distraught.

Again I am comparing a lot but they are literally scenes apart from each other here.

Anyway, just as it’s confirmed that Brandon Routh’s Superman is the Paragon of Truth, Lex Luthor appears and decides he’s fed up with killing Supermen...we’ve only seen him kill one but there you go, and decides to turn Kingdom Come Superman against Earth-38 Superman in order for his now puppet to kill the other one.

I have to say, this was another weak battle sequence, I know it’s really CGI with two Supermen flying around, but neither Brandon Routh or Tyler Hoechlin have really sold flying as Superman to me that well anyway.

Lois finally does something and knocks Lex unconscious while she and Iris, who I cannot understand why she even came along at all, try to use the Book of Destiny to fix Kingdom Come Superman.

Eventually Lois gets through to KCS by appealing to his love for humanity and for his lost Lois. This breaks him free of the book’s control just in time before he snaps Earth-38 Superman’s neck.

With Lex detained, the heroes all return to base where they set up a machine to search for the rest of the Paragons.

Harbinger’s Headache:

This sounds stupid but genuinely is what happens, since the start of the episode when Mar-Novu reveals the Book of Destiny, Harbinger starts to get headaches, this does alert her to the fact Lex Luthor is stealing the book but also puts her in the pathway of the Anti-Monitor.

Yes we finally see the big bad of the crossover in all his...glory? He looks ridiculous! His concept artwork does make him look like Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse but the actual thing we get just looks ugly.

I will give a minor positive and say it is better to see him in the show than he looks on the promotional images because I get the feeling lighting is not this guy’s friend and we meet him in what looks like the hallway of S.T.A.R. Labs.

Mick Rory, Baby Whisperer:

Again, this sounds stupid, but I wanted to highlight this for a couple of reasons and to spotlight Legends of Tomorrow because it doesn’t look like this crossover is doing that.

Firstly, this Mick Rory isn’t our Mick Rory, this is in fact the Mick Rory of Earth-74...why is it called Earth-74? I don’t know because originally there were only supposed to be 52 Earths, then Earth-X came about and now we have Earth-167 so I’m making my peace with them making it up as they go along.

Anyway, Dominic Purcell has grown on me since he was first introduced on The Flash. I think once you accept the fact that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is essentially a piss-take because that is what it’s become then you accept why the characters do what they do, and not only turning a Flash rogue into a hero/legend is understood but also having him be a writer, have a rat as a pet and be good with babies is also understood.

We see that Earth-74 has a Waverider and did have its own version of the Legends before they all disbanded, Mick has taken command of the Waverider as seemingly his home where he is a struggling writer and his only companion is the Waverider’s A.I. Leonard...Wentworth Miller is back! As a disembodied voice, I would have liked to have at least seen his floating blue head but no we get the voice which is fine by me to be honest.

Once Harbinger commandeers the Waverider ad brings it to Earth-1 with Mick on board, he seemingly becomes the only person on board who Jonathan won’t cry for...not his mum, not his dad, not his aunt...a gun wielding alcoholic hot-head...great choice kid.

It is the lowest form of comedy side-story going but it is still nice to see them at least attempt to include the Legends and particularly Wentworth Miller in some form.

Easter-Eggs:

Superman III:

Alright so this is a clever throwback as this version of Superman Brandon Routh is portraying may be repackaged as Kingdom Come Superman, but he is also the same Superman Routh portrayed in 2006′s Superman Returns, who in turn is the same Superman Christopher Reeve played during the 80s, one movie Reeves was in was Superman III where Superman’s human and Kryptonian sides physically fought each other.

This plot point has also been done in Smallville briefly during the opening episode of Season 4 but not to the same degree as here or Superman III.

Smallville:

So many Smallville Easter-Eggs in one small scene, the first was the mention of Smallville’s Lex Luthor being the President of the United States of America. In a vision of the future Lex Luthor was indeed president and during the flashforward epilogue of the Smallville finalé he was running for president.

I also appreciated the time joke that Lois made when she said that it’s taken about a decade for Clark to “make a funny”. In real-time it has been almost a decade since Smallville finished as it was 2011, whereas now it is 2019.

Captain Cold:

Some things never change and whether he’s a doppleganger of the original or an A.I. version of the man, Wentworth Miller’s charm oozes out.

When Harbinger arrives on the Earth-47 Waverider, she notes that she is aware of who the A.I. is and he responds with his classic line “Always pleased to meet a fan”, this he has said a couple of times firstly in Season 1 of The Flash and then again with the Legends.

This was a great episode on reflection but in terms of ramping up the drama and grandeur of the crossover it did need work. Hopefully it’s only a minor bump before tonight’s third part, which promises a sizeable cliffhanger before the Christmas break.

So that’s my review of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Batwoman, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC TV Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

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facepalming-since-chernobyl · 6 years ago

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Troll’s main problems with 4x01

Let’s start with „Kara’s show”. I get it, Mel was on Broadway, so her time was limited and it’s going to get better…. Is it? They introduced 4 new characters in this ep (two are main, two are so called cannon fodder). So, we will get at least 10 more I think plus Russians… wait, “Kazniacs”, my bad. This ep was PACKED with characters, storylines and action and still I feel like not a lot happened. Because instead of doing something, they talked. Kara talked with J’onn 4 times I think? And if you think about it, they could deal with it all in two? What brings us to Kara.

“I don’t appreciate you questioning my judgment, which has been forever sound and has never led to our situation getting catastrophically worse” – this is what Kara said to J’onn. And later, we learn he was right since the beginning. Because you know, a guy with hundreds of years of experience vs 4 year of being hero. What pains me here, it’s Kara ignored J’onn and his advice, because she felt everything was fine, the world was at peace and everything was cool. And she wanted it to stay like that. By stubbornly sticking to her opinion. What is super childish and immature and I don’t expect behavior like that from a main character in freaking season FOUR. We can argue if her sticking to her mirages fucked up and caused more shit that could have been prevented (aka president’s exposure, J’onn’s friend death etc). And again, Kara feels not developed again, when she is going to mature? AGAIN? With that many storylines and characters?

What leads us to Kara’s ego. Because her flowery and optimistic idea of world at peace sounds like self-stroking her ego. Superman is out, world is on her shoulders (suddenly it’s not too much weight?) and she is responsible for it. Hate crime against aliens means she is not that good, huh? So, let’s ignore it! Because for sure it will help… Once again, I don’t expect behavior like that from a hero on this part of the series. I kind of feel: Kara =tumblr/twitter, J’onn Mahatma Gandhi = common sense. Also, Kara, sweetheart, you are loved by peasants because you are slender, beautiful, superpowerful goddess, who kicks asses and saves the day. And well… you are white. Basically, you are a cast above a cast of the privileged. And in s3 you had to throw away your heritage, mother and Kryptonian life to become “happy” and “at easy”. What it says about American immigrant policy – I do not want to know. And this is totally off when we look at the mentorship storyline.

Aside of the fact Nia is basically Kara’s clone, that needs constant pep talks and transfers us to the good ol’ times of season 1 (sarcasm), I see two problems here. First, Kara is not Cat. Sorry not sorry, she is not even close of the level of maturity, experience and self-awareness. J’onn clearly showed that she still needs pep talks (it doesn’t matter it’s journalism or not). Also, in s2 she sucked as a reporter and Snapper was right. She had potential and the spirit but she lacked the most important thing aka objectiveness and the ability to keep your emotions at check. And in s4, suddenly, she slays as a reporter (this is the same off-screen shit they did to Mon-El between s2 and 3, it’s called sloppy writing). I simply don’t believe that Kara can ask important questions and listen to them and suddenly be a stubborn thick-head five minutes later. Secondly, writers want to “fix” her failure as Mon-El’s mentor. The problem is… that was not a complete failure. Being a mentor means you teach and help but you learn from your student too. You confront and you are confronted. Mon-El gave opportunity to face her flaws, her xenophobia, he kept her on her toes, he challenged her. Yes, she sucked as a mentor but she’s learnt so much from him (and he from her). From the first ep, I got an impression, Nia is going to be a sweet, adorable, Kara’s worshipper and well, does Kara really needs another person who is going to pat her ego? What she is going to learn from Nia? (btw, Nia is cool and I’m sure they are not going to screw her character). And the last thing, if we are going to get more “make a tsunami!” lines, I’m turning alcoholic.

The other obvious thing – Kara is still extremely easily outsmarted. She constantly forgets she’s faster than, for example, fucking BIKES. She can use her superhearing when she wants, but forgets it a disadvantage too. I know, it’s this kind of writing, but it pisses me off. I know fighting humans and fighting Reign is two different things but it still hurts, when you think about the battles from s3. And here we have, Kara screwed by two idiots. Yay.

Last thing about Kara – I’m not surprised she is happy, optimistic and moved on. It’s different than in s3, when she thought she had killed Mon-El. She knows where he is, she knows he is alive. Cool. Let her be happy (still, I am bitter as fuck that they could mention Sam or talked about Winn and the Legion, but Brainy misses his “friends”. Well, at least we are not baited, but the fact they erasure him like that is not nice).

Moving to the thing that pissed me off like nothing else. RUSSIA. Oh wait, not Russia, because they can’t piss Russians now, yes? Voting is coming, right? That’s why we got real Madrid (that was Budapest, in Hungary, but whatever, who cares about xenophobia, right?) and “fictional” Kaznia. The problem is, it’s Russia. Sorry not sorry. “Spasiba”? Old babushka wearing a COAT in the fucking summer? Fur hats aka ushatkas? Vodka? Friendly reminder, Red Daughter was “promoted” on twitter with hammer and sickle symbol. Smooth. Subtle. Etc. Basically, they are going to fucking swim in the worst Eastern European stereotypes. Usually, I ignore shit like that, I know American shows are made for American audience, but seeing this crap on Supergirl simply hurt. As a show that talks a lot about “beacon of light” and hope, it looks like it’s only for specific people, living in a specific country. The rest can get fucked.

What is funny (sad?), because this season focus on alien immigrants and their rights. I mean, do you see the shit? They are going to show us how hard life of aliens in America is, how they will fight for the rights - and it’s connected to modern American policy and situation - and in the same time they are shitting on Eastern Europe, using the most annoying stereotypes. And yes, I “believe” Russia-Kaznia is not going to be the big, communistic bad of the season :)

Other small things. James. Dude, stop being the macho, because you are not and let Lena do her shit. Lena. Honey. Stop doing shit behind people’s back. Also, are we again with the Lena is playing Lilian, who is played but in the end we realize Lilian played Lena, but Lena…. Should we also forget that Lena invited a device that can allow people searching for aliens? Also, TALKINGGGGG. Brainy. Dude, I know you are comic relief, but I feel your calculated comic-relief is going to start to annoy me in ep 2. This ep was not funny, btw. Villains. Smartass, dumbass and Darth Vader – call me excited and I will kick your ass.

I don’t know guys. Maybe I’m salty and bitter, because I have heard the reviews were nice and people enjoyed it, but here I am, smelling incoming bullshit.

Feel free to add more.

#my shit #anti sg #4x01 #salposting

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rhetorical-ink · 7 years ago

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Rhetorical Ink Reviews: “Justice League”

**JUSTICE-filled Spoilers Below**

As a kid, I grew up with DC and Marvel Comics (mainly Sonic the Hedgehog via Archie but I digress). When “Marvel vs. DC” became a film rivalry, I was really surprised. Marvel, which had been filled with gritty, political series, was now more light-hearted and comic-book-y, and DC, which had been colorful and full of comic book cheesiness (with the exception of solely Batman), was now darker, grittier, and more serious and political.

So, anyway, going into this movie, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Thus, here are --

My Top Ten Thoughts on Justice League:

10. I want to start with some things I liked (one of which I will save towards the end): The Flash. Ezra Miller was one of my favorites parts of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and he shines in this so well! His awkward, quirky humor, and his innocent charm works so well in this! He stole all of the scenes he was in, and I will have Pet Semetary stuck in my head for a while now, thanks to his macabre humor. He’s easily my favorite addition to the cast.

9. Likewise, while it took a little time to get used to his character, I really liked Cyborg; the actor that played him did a great job of balancing the humanity still inherent within him and the Kryptonian technology controlling much of his body. Plus, that “booyah” towards the end of the film had my younger brother very happy. I was worried he’d be a throwaway character, but he had plenty of time to shine and his interactions especially with Wonder Woman were great!

8. Aquaman was hit or miss for me -- when we see Jason Mamoa being completely badass as his character -- I’m all in and all for it. The updates to Aqua Man are great and he’s CERTAINLY not cheesy here. I will admit, his “bro humor” came off as flat sometimes, but he was a nice shot of humor when we needed it (and the lasso of truth scene was funny). However, there was just way too much rushed for plot convenience in this movie with him. I feel we needed an entire movie with Aqua Man’s backstory, him meeting Bruce, explaining his culture. You know Wayne Enterprises could have gotten a sweet submarine built that would let Bruce go down to Atlantis! There’s an entire scene that is completely rushed through that basically just sets up some weird antagonist-behavior from Amber Heard’s character, and sets up that Jason Mamoa has a trident-like-weapon. He could have just showed up with the weapon and we wouldn’t have questioned where he got it from...because...well, he’s AquaMan! Also, play that scene below on repeat -- forever.

7. This leads to things I didn’t like about the film -- the biggest flaw being that everything is so. rushed. I felt like this film had the same issues as the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film -- instead of breaking this up into at least two movies of set up and pay off, this movie sets things up VERY quickly, and then the pay off happens right at the very end. I liked being introduced to these new characters, but the introductions weren’t long enough to answer all my questions nor to get invested in these characters. I just wanted the movie to take its time, especially since we aren’t getting a “setting up” group of films like the Marvel Universe has done -- DC just kind of skipped that and went straight to the main event!

6. It probably doesn’t help that Steppenwolf is a generic villain -- world conquest, blah blah blah -- he starts out with interesting concept about turning people into para-demons...but we never see it in action! Wouldn’t it have been more gut-wrenching to see Cyborg’s father turned into one of those? Or another friend/guard on our side against them? I feel that he was a wasted opportunity and he just became “generic villain of the month #4.” And that doesn’t help any movie at all.

5. Okay, getting into some real spoilers here, but I just...didn’t care for the way they handled bringing Superman back. I wondered how they were going to do it...it doesn’t quite make sense, though, because at the end of BvsS, we see dirt rise off of the grave site -- but what brings him back has nothing to do with that...so what was its purpose at the end of that film? And apparently bringing him back means he has no memory -- until Lois Lane dues ex machina’s her self right there! While there was part of the Superman return I liked -- listed below -- I just felt it was too rushed, again, and that his “dark” side for the time it was out there, was just too much for the movie -- even if corn fields can turn him back to normal.

4. A tiny note, but I do love Jeremy Irons as Alfred. I think he does a wonderful job -- you know who also does a wonderful job? Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, though she’s slimmed up since that movie, and I’m not quite as much of a fan of skinny Diane as opposed to more athletically built women.

3.Ben Affleck is okay as Batman here -- he’s still no Keaton, but he’s alright better than Christian Bale. I thought at times, his character seemed “off” and the “gay panic” moment between he and Batman was just cringe-worthy. Come on, we know you’re setting him and Wonder Woman up together. I mean... But honestly, my biggest problem in the movie besides pacing was:

2. CGI. There was too much of it in this movie. I knew from a previous spoiler that Henry Cavill had his mustache for Mission Impossible 6 digitally erased -- I mean, couldn’t he have just shaved? It was such a distraction, having known it. Also, at times Steppenwolf and his minions looked like a World of Warcraft cut scene -- and the CGI was SO obvious when it was CGI versions of our heroes -- I could just feel the movie being dated as I watched it. I was just so disappointed by it. At least the Deadpool 2 trailer made the CGI look okay and as if it wasn’t completely filmed in front of a green screen...seriously, DC, you have the budget. Real sets. Less CGI green screen.

1. Now, I told you all I would save something I liked for last -- this movie, oddly enough, reminded me again of the DC comic book era. Once Superman comes back and isn’t in an amnesiac state -- the entire film took on this almost-charming, old school comic book atmosphere, without being the cheesy Joel Schumaker mess. Superman actually felt like Superman! It was good to see that -- I just wished that the movie had been less CGI, more consistent in tone, had more time to develop character and story, and had less of a generic plot and villain.

Justice League isn’t as good as Wonder Woman, but better than Batman Vs. Superman -- so take that for what you will and go out and see it for yourself if you can!

#Justice League #rhetorical ink reviews #my top ten thoughts #Batman #Superman #Wonder Woman #Aqua Man #The Flash #Steppenwolf

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davidmann95 · 8 years ago

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The Nightwing Problem

I mentioned this the other day in passing, but I’ve got more thoughts on the subject: I’m no longer convinced Dick Grayson as Nightwing is a good idea, damn cool as that costume may be.

I was convinced. Tim Seeley, Javier Fernandez and their collaborators really knocked it out of the park with the introductory volume of the new Nightwing book spinning out of Grayson; it combined the best of the world-trotting vibe from that with the acid-tinged death trap gimmicks of Morrison’s time with Dick as Fun Batman, and while I don’t think that’s incompatible with just making him Batman again, it’s still different enough from the regular model that it’s reasonable to distinguish it with a whole other identity. If you were able to entirely divorce him from what Nightwing has meant up to this point, and really grab by the horns what Grayson and that first arc of the new book set up for him - the dashing globetrotting super-adventurer who can journey into morally murikier territory than Batman himself, because he’s not vulnerable in the same ways Bruce is vulnerable - I think it could’ve worked. It might’ve still had some issues that I’ll get into, but it could’ve worked in spite of them.

But you can’t really do that; Nightwing had over a hundred and fifty issues to himself in that name before this came along. And as we were just reminded when Seeley journeyed into more familiar territory (I’m pretty convinced the first arc of Nightwing was at least in part really a reconfigured version of what would have been an arc of Grayson), the name doesn’t actually come with much other than baggage at this point.

To be clear: the recent Blüdhaven story by Seeley, Marcus To and company was by no means a bad set of comics. Nightwing is still one of the most underrated, purely entertaining superhero books out there right now, and I’m tremendously looking forward to the upcoming Nightwing Must Die pitting him against an army of his greatest enemies, from the Talon to Pyg to fucking Deathwing. I also know bringing him back to his iconic city was Geoff Johns’ idea that Seeley had to implement, as I expect was bringing back his old ‘rogues gallery’. But it’s still an arc - hot on the heels of an opening titled Better Than Batman - built almost entirely around reaffirming his status as a third-tier offshoot of the actual brand of importance. It’s literally him teaming up with the villains who couldn’t hack it in Gotham, and it draws a clear line between him and them as being in similar positions. I dig setting up his new haunt as the Vegas to Gotham’s New York/Chicago, but even that can’t erase the vague feeling that the characters’ had the keys to his nice shiny new car snatched out of his hands, and now he has to go back to the busted-ass old model his dad loaned him.

I get the impulse to hand him his own city - it gives a stable environment, obvious opportunities for building up a supporting cast, and a base to head back to even if he regularly goes globe-trotting - but as presented, Blüdhaven has always been Gotham-lite. Even now that it’s more pointedly distinguishing itself, it’s still a shadowy city of corrupt cops where Gotham crooks wander around. All elements that could work, but again, it’s straight-up established that the ex-villains here, the people it’s leaning into the nostalgia of Dick having once counted as arch-enemies...were the no-hopers who weren’t cool enough to be worth Batman’s time. Complete with Dick solving a stock Batman-style Whodunnit? hinging on one of the most iconically awful Batman villains in Orca the Whale Woman, and flirting with a morally ambiguous acrobatic lady supervillain. If Batman and Robin established Dick can work as an A-list superhero, and the last few years of Grayson and the beginning of Nightwing demonstrated a valid and fascinating new direction for him to be spun off into, this arc felt like it was reestablishing that whoa there son, don’t be getting too big for your britches now, you’re still Officially Worse Batman. Whatever you think of the stories themselves, that’s how Nightwing has been known for over 20 years, and that’s a narrative gravity I’m not sure he can escape as long as he has that name.

And even if he could, Nightwing isn’t his main identity anyway. The entirety of pop culture can chime in on that.

Not by a mile am I suggesting he should go back to being Robin (though Arkham Knight presenting an adult Robin working alongside Batman in Tim Drake has some interesting possibilities), but it’s more than just cultural weight that keeps that as his biggest identity, even in the comics. The thing is, Nightwing as a name doesn’t mean anything. Yes, I know Superman came up with it, and that these days there’s a connection with the Court of Owls, but those are purely abstract. There was some recent thing where he said “yeah, people think I call myself Nightwing because I’m like Batman, a flying thing at night, but really it’s because of Superman’s suggestion regarding a Kryptonian fairy tale”, but citing the nerd trivia explanation can’t change that the first explanation is clearly the actual reason he’s named that. That’s all there is to it; it’s a cool-sounding name. Robin on the other hand is an obvious pairing with Batman as a brighter flying creature, and if you think of it in the context of heroism you get the obvious connection to Robin Hood. And if you want to talk about him as an equal-but-opposite contrast to Batman’s Zorro figure, comparing him to a charming hero to the people so upbeat they called his partners his Merry Men goes a long way. Hell, Dick sure knew that, given Robin’s the title he picked as a crimefighter, Nightwing being a years-distant second choice. Robin is just plain a better name and identity, as evidenced by the fact that DC’s made at least 4 others of note to fill the void...Richard left behind. Nightwing again has a cool costume, but it can never be his iconic identity in even a best-case scenario; he’s not even Batman’s partner anymore, he’s just the off-brand. Short of showing up in a massively popular and acclaimed movie with virtually none of the elements that have established him over the years as a lesser Batman figure, I’m sincerely skeptical that any amount of momentum could change that forever. In a popular sense, it’s all he’s got.

What would I do then, unless that theoretical movie comes along? I say make him co-Batman again, and totally not just because my favorite writer did that within a year of me starting to collect comics. You can still do all the fun stuff Nightwing offers with him; he can have his own city if you really want, he can smile and go on fun adventures as Fun Batman now that Bruce doesn’t do that, you could even redesign his costume to be more in line with his sleeker Nightwing look while still being recognizably Batman. He gets A-list talent by default. DC sustained two Batmen for a year as equals, so it’s certainly possible. It’s simpler to explain too - when someone asks “Wait, what happened to the first Robin?”, “Well, now he’s Batman too, and Batman’s son is his Robin” works a lot better than “He calls himself Nightwing now and is his own minor superhero. Do you remember him as an occasional guest-star from the 90s TV show? No, he was Robin for that first part, the second part. Yes, there was a second part. No, he’s not on the Teen Titans anymore either. Anyway, he protects another city that’s basically shittier Gotham where he fights a bunch of crappy villains.”

Most of all though, Dick thrives in situations that threaten to undermine him. With his and Bruce’s relationship threatening to fall apart, wondering if he can cut it as Robin after Two-Face beats him, worrying about whether he can escape the ‘shadow of the bat’, trying to hold onto his morals as an agent of SPYRAL, struggling to reform Damian, even being trapped as Slade’s apprentice. He works when forces threaten his sense of stability, and he as a fundamentally upbeat guy naturally finds having to be Batman - plus all the attendant baggage besides - the ultimate destabilizing force, far more so than basically still comfortably being Robin into adulthood. It’s a perpetual conflict generator that still allows him to do his own thing as a fun character while also positioning him as a major player - the most major player possible. And given Anthony Mackie or Sebastian Stan are probably going to become a new Captain America onscreen in the next few years, I think the public at large is going to be primed to accept the idea of there being multiple Batmen of reasonably equal importance far more easily than they could be swayed to care about the guy whose main popular trait is not being Batman.

#Nightwing #Dick Grayson #Robin #Batman #Tim Seeley #Javier Fernandez #Marcus To #Opinion

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dylan-hague · 8 years ago

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Chapter 10

July 5th, 2017. 6:24 AM.

“We have a serious problem.”

Damian stood, hands folded behind his back, before his drowsy teammates on the couch in the livingroom. He hated calling a meeting so late at night, but this was something that needed to be addressed right away.

“Dude…” Jon moaned, rubbing his eyes. “Whatever it is, can’t it wait until later? I’m tired…”

“No. It can’t…” Damian’s eyes shifted over to Raven. Her brow was furrowed in concern; he’d already explained the situation to her. This meeting, in fact, was her idea. Damian was planning on taking care of the problem alone, but he couldn’t not consult Raven. She managed to convince him to bring the matter to the group.

“Wait,” Garfield groaned, nursing his coffee, “where’s Terra…? We can’t have a team meeting without–”

“Tara is waiting on the roof. She can’t be here for this,” Damian replied flatly. “This meeting is about her.”

Kori walked in and stood behind the couch, crossing her arms as she began to see the urgency in Damian’s eyes. “You’ve learned something about her, haven’t you? Something that scares you.”

Damian nodded, his gaze stone cold. “The night Tara met Garfield was no coincidence. Her meeting us, coming here, joining the Titans… it was all completely orchestrated.”

Garfield cocked an eyebrow. “D, what… what are you saying?”

Damian sighed. “Tara has been acting as a mole. A spy, monitoring our every move, and reporting them to Slade Wilson. Or as you probably know him…”

“Deathstroke…” Starfire’s voice was hushed, a sliver of fear showing in her eyes. “This is… how did you…”

“Tara’s explained everything to me…” Damian continued. “Wilson captured her long before we found her. Among many other… unspeakable things he did to her, he’s outfitted her body with a full set of experimental cybernetic enhancements. Included in this system is a neural implant that acts as both a control override and an overclocking mechanism.”

“That…” Jon, now wide awake, scratched his head in confusion. “That sounds bad. What does that mean?”

“It means that, if Terra disobeys any of Deathstroke’s orders…” Raven’s voice was somber as she explained. “… he’ll take control of her body and put it into overdrive. She’ll become unbelievably powerful, and he’ll likely make her kill us all. But the strain of that much power output would be catastrophic for her upgrades. They would overheat, and destroy her body from the inside.”

“So how do we stop it?” Jaime asked, his frustration showing through his tone. “I mean, it might be dangerous, but can’t we go in and take the brain bug out ourselves?”

“I thought of that, but no,” Damian replied. “Any attempts to remove the implant ourselves would trigger the system to self-destruct. The only way we can save Tara is to bring her directly to Wilson’s base, and use his master control to deactivate the implant. Only once it’s completely shut down can we remove the implant from her brain.

"Unfortunately, the rest of her cybernetics are spread through her entire body. They’re far too extensive to remove, and were likely implemented gradually over the course of several months, maybe even years. Her body has repaired itself around them, adapted to them, and now needs them to function. Any attempts to take them out would kill her.”

“The only thing we can do is uninstall the neural implant,” Raven continued the thought. “She may never be completely flesh and blood again, but at least her body will be hers and hers alone.”

Gar sat unmoving on the couch, his eyes wide in shock. All of this information, all of these secrets. He had no idea about any of it. All this time, he thought…

“Garfield, look at me.” Damian stepped forward and put his hands on Beast Boy’s shoulders. “I know this a lot to take in, especially for you. But we need you to pull yourself together. We’re going to get through this, but we can only do it if all of us work toge–”

Before Damian could finish, Gar jerked out of his seat and bolted for the elevator. Jon stood up to go after him, but Damian put a hand to the Kryptonian’s chest and shook his head, and the elevator ascended, taking Garfield up to the roof.

“He’ll be there when we need him. For now, we need to come up with a plan to get to Deathstroke’s base and shut down that implant.” Damian crossed his arms and frowned. “It won’t be something we can just throw together and pull off today. Deathstroke is far too good for that. We need to think this all the way through, plan for every possible contingency… we need to be ready to adapt if things go wrong.”

“In order to gain access to Slade’s main controls, we’ll likely need to get to his central console,” Kori began brainstorming. “And in all likelihood, we won’t be able to do that if he’s still there when we try.”

“So we’ll need to draw him out into the open, way far away, before we get into his hideout,” Jaime expanded on Kori’s thought. “How do we do that?”

“We can’t call the Justice League for help, Damian’s dad’ll wanna lock Tara up in the Watchtower…” Jon stroked his chin as he pondered on the situation. “As cool as I think they are, we can’t let them know what’s going on.”

“We may have to split into two groups. One group will keep Deathstroke occupied, while the other group breaks into his headquarters,” Raven suggested. “But how will we keep him from realizing something’s going on? He’s bound to notice if we aren’t all there…”

“I actually have an idea about that. We can’t let my father know about this, which means we can’t tell the League, and we also can’t tell any of the others in Gotham, which includes all of the other Robins…” a half-smile slowly formed on Damian’s face. “… Except for one. And fortunately, this one is particularly gifted when it comes to attracting attention.”

For being as young as she was, Tara Markov had lived so much more than most people do their whole lives. She’d crossed entire oceans using a single chunk of stone. She’d slept beneath the shade of the grandest trees of the rainforest, and run with gazelles across the African plains. She’d danced in the streets under the bright lights of Las Vegas, and found tranquility in the sacred mountains of Tibet. She’d tasted delicacies from across the globe, but she found she better savored the taste of fruit that grew in the farthest reaches of the earth, untouched by man.

Through everything she’d done in all her days, she held fast to two truths: she was hers and hers alone, and every decision she made was to bring good to all life she touched. As long as she knew that these two truths remained intact, Tara was able to find peace wherever she roamed. But now…

From where she sat on the edge of the rooftop, Tara looked down at the bare skin of her stomach, which curved just enough to adhere to her toned abdominal muscles underneath. She pulled her shirt higher up, looking at the faintest shape of her ribs low on either side of her chest. As she gently pressed a finger into them, she could feel the presence of hard titanium intermingled with solid bone. She moved her hand down to her leg, and feeling the muscles in her thigh revealed wires wrapped around the firm flesh. Slowly, she brought her other hand over to the first, and ran her thumb across her knuckles, feeling the hard metal plating under her skin. Even just moving her arms, Tara could feel the mechanisms in her joints, all designed to make her a weapon, gliding in accordance with her will. She knew, of course, the day might very well come that they would not. Thus, the first of her truths had shattered.

Tara’s mind turned to the events of the past 104 days. Every fiber of her being screamed out against the deed she was ordered to carry out by the man… no. This was no man, at least not now. This was a monster that Tara thought once may have been something resembling a man. After the things he’d done… the way he’d defiled her body… and not just tearing her apart and putting her back together with this disgusting mechanical abomination inside of her, but… the things he’d done to her before… Tara was certain that whatever man once lived in that vile creature died long ago. But no matter how much she wanted to refuse, no matter how badly she wanted to spit right in his one good eye and tell him to piss off, it was no use. If she didn’t do it herself, he’d just seize control of her body and make her do it anyway. So for 103 days she lied to the closest friends she’d ever known. Even to the first person she ever really, truly loved. She kept tabs on everything they’d done, everything they were, and fed their lives directly to that one-eyed freak. She took their trust, their love, their kindness, and she crushed it all to bits. Cast it into the wind. And so the second of her truths had been torn asunder.

Tara Markov had lived a life of joy and good will for fourteen years. But two years ago, everything had come crashing down. And now, Tara Markov had done terrible things.

A single tear rolled down her face. She’d played along for as long as her broken heart could bear it, but somehow she let her guard down. Somehow, one of her targets… no, one of her friends had discovered her secret. She loved Damian dearly, she did. He was like a little brother to her. But when he found the tracer on her neck… her first instinct was not to come clean and ask for his help. Her first thought was that may have to… oh god, she was about to kill him. She had immediately planned to whip around, grab the boy’s neck, and crush it right there. If he didn’t asphyxiate with his larynx crumpled, the shattering of his spine would paralyze him from the neck down, stopping his heart. It didn’t matter that he was basically a kid Batman, killing him would be easy. But instead, her heart cried out, and she broke down. Threw her around him and wept for all the evil she’d been apart of. For all the deception she’d performed at her friends’ expense, for the flesh-and-blood life she’d never get back, for the sick memory of the one-eyed creature’s hands all over her… the thick wine of her pain burst the fragile wineskin that had been her facade, and she couldn’t keep her anguish down any longer.

And now? Now she had no idea what they’d do. For all she knew, the one-eyed freak already knew what she had done, and today would be the day she would be forced to commit her last, most paramount evil before the metal monstrosity inside her burned her away to nothing. Or perhaps her only friends in the world would simply cast her out before she had the chance to destroy them. Or maybe they would just kill her now before she could do any further harm… part of her deep down hoped that they would.

Her train of thought interrupted by the feeling of arms wrapping themselves around her, and the familiar scratch of stubble against her cheek as a kiss was pressed gently into her neck.

“Tara… I get why you didn’t tell me,” Garfield said, his voice a half-whisper into her ear. “We’re gonna figure this out. We’re gonna beat him. I promise, I won’t let him hurt you anymore.”

Tara sat motionless, completely blown away. After everything she’d done, after how she’d betrayed all of them… more tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She whipped around, throwing herself onto the Changeling and wrapping her arms around his neck. As the two Titans embraced, and weak sobs came up out of her chest, Tara made a choice. No matter what it cost her, no matter how brief it may be, this was home. For the first time in her life, she had a home. Jump City, Titans Tower, Garfield Logan… that was her home.

Park Row, Gotham City…

The young man’s eyes opened to the sound of vibrations against his nightstand. Last night had been a… particularly difficult night for him. He’d been tailing these chumps hiding out in the Industrial District for months now, after he heard they were smuggling weapons into Gotham for Cobblepot. Not just your standard street-tough peashooters, either; the crap these idiots were hauling was heavy-duty, military-grade stuff. It seemed like Penguin was winding up to take a shot at one of the other big-time gangs in the city, expand his territory. Unfortunately, that almost always meant civilian casualties, which he wasn’t okay with. So he decided to do some bud-nipping, see if he could stop this turf war before it started. Unfortunately, he didn’t take into account that these punks had said military-grade stuff, and apparently were competent enough to use it. It was a miracle he didn’t have to pull any rounds out of himself when he back at 2:30 this morning.

Either way, the big guy was here when he got back– told him he’d take care of the rest. Normally he’d put up a fight, tell the old man to stay out of his business, but frankly, he was just exhausted. He agreed, and he wasn’t gonna go back on his word to the guy. Not after everything he’d done for him.

But exactly none of that had anything to do with the incoming call on his cell phone that had jolted him awake. He took a quick look at the screen, chuckling as he read the words BABY BRUCE on the display, before picking up the phone.

“Thanks for the wake-up call, kid,” he said in a groggy voice before letting out a long grunt as he stretched. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You’ll forgive me if I dispense with the pleasantries and skip straight to the point.” Damian’s voice on the other end was just as dry as his old man’s. “We need your help with something pretty urgent. How would you like a trip out to California?”

Wow. The brat’s actually asking for help? He really has grown up.

“Well, little brother, it turns out you’re actually in luck.” A wry smile appeared across Jason Todd’s face. “My schedule just cleared up.”

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aion-rsa · 6 years ago

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Elseworlds, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and What it Means for DC TV and Movies

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Elseworlds revealed that the Arrowverse will take on Crisis on Infinite Earths. This has far-reaching implications for the DC TV Universe.

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Feature

Mike Cecchini

The Flash

Dec 12, 2018

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Elseworlds

DC Entertainment

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This article contains Elseworlds spoilers.

The concept of the Multiverse has been central to DC Comics for well over fifty years. At the center of that multiverse there has always been the Flash, and Warner Bros. wasted no time introducing the seeds of the Multiverse and Crisis on Infinite Earths influenced concepts in the first episode of The Flash TV series back in 2014. This was no accident, and as we learned from the conclusion of the 2018 Arrowverse crossover, Elseworlds, it was only the beginning.

The first appearance of Barry Allen in Showcase #4 (1956) is rightly credited for kickstarting the Silver Age of comics and rescuing superheroes from demise. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Unless you were Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, your prospects as a superhero in the publishing landscape of the early ‘50s were pretty grim, as readers had moved on to horror and romance titles. Adventurers like the original Flash and Green Lantern had long since faded into obscurity. But this revived Flash was the first blast of a superhero revival that soon led to space age versions of other masked adventurers like Green Lantern and the Atom. All boasted sleek, capeless costumes, science-based powers and scientifically minded alter egos.

further reading - Elseworlds: Every DC Comics Easter Egg in the Arrowverse Crossover

But practically coded into the character’s DNA from the outset was an almost metafictional take on the concept of comic book reality itself. Continuity wasn’t much of a concern at this stage of the game, and there’s no mention of Superman or Batman in Showcase #4. For all intents and purposes, Barry Allen may as well be the world’s first superhero. Why choose the name “the Flash?” Because it was the name of Barry’s favorite comic book character, who just so happened to be Jay Garrick, the Mercury-helmeted Flash who first appeared in Flash Comics #1 in 1939.

A simple enough explanation, but one that would be complicated somewhat with “The Flash of Two Worlds” story in 1961's Flash #123. With this, we have the first appearance of DC’s Multiverse in all but name, a kind of metafictional string theory, where alternate realities are separated by vibrations keeping dimensions apart. Of course, it’s easy for a guy who can vibrate his molecules to transfer between dimensions, and it’s fitting that Barry would learn that the comics that inspired him to take up superheroics were actually a window into another reality.

Earth-2 was shown to be the home of all of the golden age versions of characters (notably the Justice Society of America) who had been revamped (there was no such word as reboot in 1961). From there, they just ran with the concept. Earth-3 was the home of evil versions of DC heroes, where Alexander Luthor is the only superhero. Earth-S is where they put the Shazam family of characters, having kept them in limbo after acquiring them from rival publisher Fawcett after a lawsuit. Earth-X (recently made famous by an Arrowverse TV crossover of its own) is where the Freedom Fighters fought a World War II that never ended. You get the idea, and if you've been keeping up with The Flash, Supergirl, and related shows, none of this is news.

Eventually this multiple reality approach to storytelling proved unwieldy, and DC Comics decided it would be wiser to eliminate all of these parallel worlds in favor of a linear continuity more in keeping with what their main competition was putting out. The concept of parallel earths would be taken to its logical, and infinite, conclusion.

Crisis on Infinite Earths was a comic book event designed to simplify DC's continuity. This was done at the cost of Barry Allen’s life, which brings us to the newspaper from the future that has haunted The Flash since its very first episode. The "red skies" mentioned in that futuristic headline are a hallmark of DC's Crisis events (as we've seen over and over again, but especially on Elseworlds), and Barry Allen did indeed vanish as he disabled the villainous Anti-Monitor's anti-matter cannon (don't ask...it's too much to get into right now). It was a fitting (and shocking) ending for one of DC's marquee heroes. In 1985, you simply didn't kill a character with that kind of profile.

But Crisis on Infinite Earths didn't just off Barry Allen, it killed Kara Danvers, too. Supergirl had just headlined her own movie, but DC wanted to scale back Superman's Kryptonian supporting cast, and further prove they meant business, so Kara also fell in battle with the Anti-Monitor. Again, while fans have long become numb to the idea of heroes being killed and resurrected in comics, I have to stress that this wasn't a thing you did in 1985, let alone with characters who actually headlined their own books.

It took about 20 years, but DC eventually decided they were better off with a Multiverse and the infinite storytelling possibilities that it offered, and they brought it back, albeit relatively in the background compared to what it had once been. In recent years, thanks to ambitious stories like Grant Morrison's Multiversity, they've utilized it to greater effect, clearly no longer seeing it as a symptom of decades of convoluted storytelling, but rather as what it is: the very thing which helps set them apart from their chief competition at Marvel. The fact that Warner Bros. is now willing to put Crisis on Infinite Earths, long considered to be an impenetrable piece of superhero storytelling that only those steeped in decades of DC Comics lore could ever comprehend as the centerpiece of multiple TV shows says a lot about how far we've come in the last few years.

further reading - Who is the Monitor? The Villain of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Elseworlds Explained

Then again, DC and friends have been not-so-quietly sowing the seeds for their multimedia Multiverse for some time. Infinite Crisis, a video game named after another one of DC’s continuity-altering mega events, was the first serious attempt to place the concept of potentially infinite variations on beloved superheroes in the public eye outside of comic books. It was no accident that in 2014 DC Comics released a literal map of the Multiverse to promote Grant Morrison’s Multiversity, a series that previously would have been considered impenetrable to anyone but DC Comics scholars. That was the first indicator that DC considered stories that took place away from the printed page were part of their official continuity, by designating spots on the Multiverse map for animated series like Young Justice and Justice League Unlimited.

The Flash TV series dove headfirst into the DC Multiverse when it introduced its own Earth-2 (and original Flash, Jay Garrick) during its second season. And now, of course, the Arrowverse is well into exploring a Multiverse all its own. There are a couple of ways that you can look at the DC live action Multiverse at the moment. There's the "canon" Arrowverse Multiverse, in which it is understood that Supergirl exists on a different Earth (Earth-38) from The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow (which, if the TV Crisis on Infinite Earths fixes nothing else, it should be this), and then there's the "implied" Multiverse, where we know that Gotham, Black Lightning, and Krypton, all produced by Warner Bros. TV, do not exist in the same reality as those other three superhero shows, but have never been explicitly addressed or had Earths formally designated to them. And so far, all of this has only accounted for modern DC TV shows.

But that all changed with Elseworlds. The appearance of John Wesley Shipp, not as Jay Garrick, but as the original TV Barry Allen, rocking the classic costume he wore during that CBS TV show's brief run from 1990-1991 was a real statement of intent. If this Flash's Earth-90 can exist, then surely there is an Earth-52 where George Reeves' Adventures of Superman took place, Earth-66, where Adam West's Batman took on bizarre foes, or an Earth-76, where Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman had adventures. And there certainly must be an Earth designated for the Smallville continuity, what was (until recently) the most expansive exploration of a version of the DC Universe in live action ever attempted. This doesn't mean that the TV version of Crisis on Infinite Earths is going to heavily feature characters from every single DC show on the air (while the core Arrowverse shows film in Vancouver, Black Lightning is in Atlanta, and Krypton is in Belfast...these production schedules are tricky enough). But it wouldn't take much for a character to be observed through a dimensional window or monitor screen (and something tells me Smallville characters will make an appearance).

But what about the DCEU? Well, I can safely say that there is exactly zero chance that anything that happens on TV will have any effect on what happens in any upcoming DC movies, and they'll certainly never go out of their way to acknowledge the TV Multiverse, even in passing. Conversely, it's unclear if WBTV could even use footage from those movies to "unite the Multiverse" via monitor screen or whatever if they wanted to. But they don't need to. For DC fans, the implication is quite clear. There are infinite worlds in the DC multimedia multiverse, and thus fans know that there's an Earth-78 where the Christopher Reeve Superman movies took place, and an Earth-89 where Tim Burton's Batman movies exist. We’ll never get to see those crossovers actually happen, mind you, but real fans will know the truth, and we can take some satisfaction in that knowledge.

* A version of this article ran in 2014. It has been updated with new information. *

Mike Cecchini is the Editor in Chief of Den of Geek. You can read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @wayoutstuff.

from Books https://ift.tt/2PuNaYt

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ebonyskytalker · 7 years ago

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If Krypton is to survive...

I want to like “Krypton,” the SyFy’s new TV series. I love Superman and have since as far back as I can remember. I wrote about that here. I watched every episode of ten years of Smallville. I’ve seen every Superman movie released in theaters. And I’ve checked out all series featuring the Man of Steel, like Supergirl or Lois & Clark, though I might not have watched every episode or even most of them. In other words, I’m a fan of the House of El. Heck, El is even in my first name, after all. But “Krypton” has too many weird elements to it, and I wonder if those will allow it to survive. It also has a few intriguing elements, but those perhaps won’t be enough. Let’s start with those.

First, they made the house of Zod predominantly Black. That’s fascinating to me. They also made the house of Zod, including General Zod’s mother (I presume), a lover to Superman’s grandfather. For us, on Earth, it’s significant for those two reason that the house of Zod has been created the way it has. But what’s successful is that the complications of Lyta-Zod’s love with Seg-El, Superman’s grandfather, are more endemic to that world than by race or their descendants’ future history. That’s refreshing.

The show’s runners have paid enough attention to the show’s canon to create both their own take on Krypton and keep some long-standing elements, like Kryptonians don’t reproduce naturally and are divided by guilds, family houses and genetically determined social roles. Krypton is certainly an advanced civilization and the show keeps up with that. But...

THE STATUS QUO BELIEVES THAT OTHER WORLDS DON’T EXIST?!!! This doesn’t make a lick of sense. Seg-El’s grandfather is essentially branded a heretic and killed because he dared to believe and discuss life on other worlds? You have a civilization with hovercrafts, a dome to protect a city from the elements, and superior genetic testing and manipulation and they don’t believe in space travel? That’s crazy AND dumb. There’s suspension of belief, and then there’s making me a damn disbeliever. I nearly can’t believe anything else about the series.

My other beefs with the show are petty, admittedly. Yet, they’re important because the big issue about space travel and life on other worlds could be pushed to the back of my mind if other things weren’t so annoying. I’ll start with the pettiest issue.

Superman is a damn American icon. Now, I’m not nationalistic, especially about America. But I find it weird that nearly everyone on this show is British with use of their British (mostly central London) accents! Not one damn American? Even the putative American character, Adam Strange, is a Canadian actor. That’s just weird to me.

I wouldn’t mind a mixed English-speaking cast. But considering that the show is mostly produced in Canada, it wouldn’t seem too much of a stretch to hire North Americans. It seems that Krypton is more an analogue for the old metropole--England. And that’s like Game of Thrones and too many other shows that seem to make the tacit argument that we can only imagine another royal/feudal world as historically English.

That’s even more striking when you see that Kandor, the central city where nearly all action for the series takes place, looks a lot like a re-envisioned Victorian London, including with loads of dark back alleys. Overall, the show itself has piss poor lighting. Nearly everywhere is too dark, and that becomes a particular problem in a show that features so many Black actors. I keep having to turn up the contrast and brightness on my TV. Of course, the lighting is to set a mood that’s dystopian. We are talking about a doomed world, after all. But we don’t need to feel the world is doomed at the start of the series. I would think just the opposite.

Kandor also appears to be the only other city mentioned in the show. (After watching just 4 episodes.) That’s very weird. We’re talking about a whole world and civilization. I get that much of Krypton is a ice tundra, especially just outside of Kandor. BUT ALL OF IT? There’s no other city? Superman basically comes from a planet with one main city? He should be glad he got jettisoned to Earth and all its cities.

There are real plot challenges in the series, too. Including the ticking clock introduced in episode 1. Adam Strange travels across space and time to tell Seg-El that his grandson becomes Earth’s greatest hero. But he won’t be born if Brainiac (now more like Star Trek’s Borg) destroys Krypton. Strange brings Superman’s cape with the insignia for the house of El on it as proof. The cape’s disappearing from the hem as the ticking clock for how Seg-El’s progress against Brainiac.

Don’t think too deeply about that ticking clock unless you have super powers. First, Strange hasn’t revealed yet that Krypton is somehow destroyed anyway and that’s how Seg-El’s grandson ends up on Earth. Seg-El doesn’t seem to ask enough questions about that. Odd, since he’s supposedly so brilliant. Yet, if Braniac is so unstoppable that Superman’s advanced civilization couldn’t stop him, how will Superman? More important, I’m sure Seg-El and his son, once born, Jor-El, will work to save Krypton more than to ensure that Kal-El (Superman) makes it to Earth. In other words, Strange’s key argument for engaging this show’s hero, Seg-El, sucks. There’s a full-on fatalism here. And fatalism doesn’t make for good dramatic action, especially if we’ve decided to go back two generations before the world’s first superhero comes to Earth.

So, I think this show has already started in a deep, dark hole. I’m not sure the writers are going to find their way out. Or that I’ll come to like the show better. Too bad. I’ve already bought a season pass through Apple TV. #DahWell

#Krypton #Superman #tv show #review

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