#the only superhero i like is miles morales. he's not even from the same entertainment company lmao
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here’s the entirety of the paywalled businessinsider article interviewing charles beacham about marvel’s racism in staffing and editorial decisions!
In the early 2010s, Marvel's comics business focused on a diverse slate of new characters, but by 2017 comic sales had fallen, which resulted in the exit of editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.
Three former Marvel editors and one current editor told Business Insider that in the years since, Marvel has recommitted to nostalgia and classic, mostly white characters, often at the expense of some of those diverse characters like Miles Morales, a biracial teenage Spider-Man.
That shift was guided by an editorial department that lacked diversity, particularly in leadership roles. Today, there are no Black staffers on Marvel's editorial team of about 18 people, and only two people of color, Marvel confirmed.
"My voice and what I brought to the table wasn't valued equally," said Charles Beacham, one of two Black editorial staffers to work at Marvel in the past five years.
Have a tip? Email the author at [email protected] or DM him on Twitter @TravClark2.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Miles Morales was the character who pulled Charles Beacham into the world of comics.
Beacham was studying journalism at Brigham Young University, in Utah, when he walked into a comics shop in 2011 and picked up a copy of Morales' first appearance. Beacham, who is Black, said he was amazed to see Morales — a teenage Spider-Man who has a Black father and Puerto Rican mother — in its pages.
"When I was growing up, I always wanted to be the red Power Ranger, and the other kids would say I had to be the black Ranger," Beacham said. "The same thing happened with Spider-Man. They'd say, 'You can't be Spider-Man because Peter Parker's not a Black dude.' Seeing Miles Morales made me wish I had that as a kid."
Morales propelled Beacham into comics and into Marvel itself, where he worked as an assistant editor.
"I didn't have job prospects when I moved to New York in 2013, but the goal was to work for Marvel because of Miles Morales," Beacham said. When he landed a job at the company the next year, he loved it.
But Beacham, now 31, was living in New York City with a child on a $38,000 salary. He said that after three years as an assistant editor, from 2014 to 2017, without a promotion, he was ready to leave. It wasn't about the money as much as the lack of a path forward.
"I thought I'd be at Marvel forever," he said. "If they had promoted me I'd probably still be there and surviving on ramen."
Beacham is one of two Black editorial staffers to have worked at Marvel in the past five years, the company confirmed. The second Black staffer, also an assistant editor, left this year after five years without a promotion or raise, a person familiar with the matter said. The editorial team of about 18 people now has two people of color.
"I want to be back there all the time," Beacham said. "But when it comes down to it, my voice and what I brought to the table wasn't valued equally."
Disney-owned Marvel has grown into a cultural force that extends beyond its comic books and into movies, video games, and other media. The comics are the foundation for it all, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has become the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time.
The stories that Marvel's small editorial team helps shape are central to popular culture in the US and around the world.
"Who works on these stories can help broaden them," said Regine Sawyer, the founder of Women in Comics Collective International, which helps to spotlight the comics work of marginalized people.
That was clear from 2011 to 2017, when Marvel ushered in a new era for its comic books under then editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, who is Mexican American.
New and diverse characters like Morales took center stage instead of Marvel's decades-old classic characters, who were primarily white. These characters inspired new fans like Beacham, and continue to inspire new fans as they make their way to other media.
But by 2017, Marvel's comic sales had fallen. Marvel's president of sales, David Gabriel, publicly blamed it on diversity. Alonso exited the company and was replaced by a white man in the role of top editor. Marvel reversed course.
Now, in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed, Marvel is promising to once again introduce more diversity to its ranks and its stories.
Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter sent a letter to employees on June 18 saying the company would "support more Black voices."
And in a memo to staff sent July 6, Marvel's president, Dan Buckley, outlined three areas of focus for Marvel moving forward:
broaden Marvel's creative landscape, which includes identifying "what has traditionally prevented us in the industry from recruiting and fostering more BIPOC talent."
build a foundation of lasting growth by "examining our internal culture and rebuilding our long-term process for talent recruitment, retention, and outreach to communities of color."
create new initiatives and expansion opportunities by "looking to explore new projects that will enable us to reach and represent an even broader audience."
In addition to Beacham, Business Insider spoke with two former Marvel editors and a current editor. Aside from Beacham, the Marvel insiders spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their stance at the company or job prospects. They said they weren't confident in Marvel's latest initiative.
"The guy who made a commitment to diversity and wanted to try new things was fired," a former Marvel staffer said, referring to Alonso.
'Spider-Man with an asterisk'
Alonso led Marvel through a bold era during his time as editor-in-chief starting in 2011, helping to establish a diverse slate of characters.
Jane Foster was the new Thor. Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, a Black character, replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America. Riri Williams, a Black girl, was introduced as an Iron Man-like character named Ironheart. Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American Muslim teenager, was the new Ms. Marvel.
It wasn't a new phenomenon in comic books. Characters are regularly passing on their mantles, at least for a while. Dick Grayson, the first Robin, was DC's Batman for a time in the early 2010s, for instance. Sam Wilson wasn't the first person to take over as Captain America. This era at Marvel Comics, however, was notable for how it emphasized diversity.
But by 2017 — Alonso's final year as editor-in-chief — the company's print sales had plummeted (Marvel in 2014 said that Ms. Marvel's solo title was a top seller digitally, but digital comics sales aren't released to the public).
"What we heard is that people didn't want any more diversity," David Gabriel, the vice president of sales at Marvel Entertainment, said that year in an interview with ICv2, a website that covers the comics business.
"I don't know that that's really true, but that's what we saw in sales," Gabriel said. "Any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up."
What Gabriel meant by "core Marvel character" were the classic, decades-old characters being sidelined for new, younger, and more diverse characters.
Seven months later, in November 2017, Marvel's Alonso stepped down from his role and was replaced by C.B. Cebulski, a white man who faced controversy when he was hired after admitting to writing comics in the early 2000s under a Japanese pseudonym.
"The comics that [Alonso] made me think I could work in comics," Beacham said. "But when a Latinx guy is scapegoated for diversity and replaced by a white dude, and the sentiment was that Marvel was 'getting away from its roots,' what does that mean?"
In a statement after his 2017 comments, Gabriel emphasized that "our new heroes are not going anywhere."
But in the months between that retailer summit and Alonso's exit, Marvel introduced an initiative for editorial staff that had been discussed internally for some time: Phase out the familiar superhero codenames for some newer, diverse characters and give them their own, two former assistant editors including Beacham said.
Marvel confirmed to Business Insider that it had previously considered stripping Morales of his Spider-Man title and giving him a new name, but has no plans to do so right now. Marvel added that it discusses status quo changes for all of its top characters.
Today, some of the classic characters have been thrust back into the spotlight. Steve Rogers has taken back the mantle of Captain America, and Thor is a man again. Miles Morales shares the Spider-Man title with Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man.
Morales has grown in popularity beyond comic books, having starred in Sony's Oscar-winning animated "Into the Spider-Verse" movie in 2018 and in a coming PlayStation video game called "Spider-Man: Miles Morales."
Beacham said he was glad that Morales continued to be a Spider-Man.
"It would have made him less important," Beacham said of Morales' losing the Spider-Man title. "He becomes Spider-Man with an asterisk. It takes away the power for kids who relate to this character."
'There's not a lack of people who can do the work'
Now, Marvel's comic-book slate is once again largely focused on classic characters, though characters like Morales and Khan remain. And there are some comics starring diverse characters from creators of color, like Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Black Panther." But their stories are in the hands of an editorial department run by an establishment of white male leadership.
"There's not a lack of people who can do the work," said Yumy Odom, the founder of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, which helps to showcase the talents of creators of color. "But it's about how receptive the industry is to them. I can think of 20 creators, mostly African Americans, who would be ready to work at Marvel."
Women faced an uphill battle at Marvel as well, the Marvel editors said. A female former assistant editor told Business Insider that she was never promoted or given a raise from her $30,000 salary in her three years at the company. She said she got promoted within a year at her new company, a different comics publisher.
Marvel declined to discuss employee salaries.
The Marvel insiders said a notable exception was Sana Amanat, who is Pakistani American and a former editor. She is now Marvel's head of content and character development, a leadership role outside the editorial department.
'There's a whole cohort of young readers'
Marvel has significantly bounced back from its 2017 sales decline, which might suggest that the refocus on its classic characters reeled longtime readers back.
Of the top 100 best-selling comics of 2020 so far, 69 belonged to Marvel, as of Wednesday, including four of the top five, and the company has accounted for 41% of comic sales this year, according to industry website Comichron. Three years ago, Marvel was lagging behind DC, its biggest competitor.
An example of the start of this resurgence was the first issue of Marvel's "Amazing Spider-Man" relaunch — starring the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker — which ranked fifth in 2018 out of all comics, according to data from Comichron. In contrast, when Marvel launched a series called "Miles Morales Spider-Man" in that year, the debut issue didn't crack the top 200 best-selling comics.
"People of a certain age have a connection with Peter Parker, not Miles Morales," a former Marvel staffer said. "Years from now, that may be different."
The current and former Marvel staffers Business Insider spoke with said they were hopeful that readership could broaden, particularly now that characters such as Morales and Khan are being introduced to audiences in other media like movies and TV. Khan is to appear in a Disney Plus TV series and the upcoming "Avengers" video game, for instance.
There are signs that the comics industry is going through a larger shift in how people read and who is reading, which could also spur change.
Last year, comic sales through the "book channel" — which includes chain and independent book stores and online retailers like Amazon — surpassed comic-book stores for the first time, driven by the increased popularity in children's graphic novels, according to an analysis by ICv2.
Milton Griepp, the chief executive of ICv2, said at the New York Comic Con conference last year that the shift could usher in a new audience for superhero comic books.
"There's a whole cohort of young readers that are being introduced to this medium and may graduate to other forms of content in the comic format over the course of their lifespans," Griepp said.
Beacham said: "Marvel needs to figure out the next stage of its core demographic because it could change rapidly."
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Thor and Hulk are at it again. The Avengers' helicarrier is under attack by a swarm of robot minions under the command of MODOK, the head of a tech company who became a super-powered Inhuman villain after a catastrophe known as A Day — and still the raging green muscle finds time to hurl a projectile at Thor’s head. “Just like old times,” says the Asgardian, referencing a bit from 2012’s Avengers movie. Only this isn’t their next blockbuster sequel. It’s their first blockbuster video game.
Since the MCU has been put on indefinite hold in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic (see: Black Widow’s release date, production on the next Spider-Man movie), games — and, specifically, Marvel Games — are rising to meet the need for fresh stories. This year alone will see the debut of Marvel’s Avengers (Sept. 4) from the Tomb Raider team at Crystal Dynamics, plus Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (holiday 2020), a separate spin-off of Insomniac Games’ 2018 Spidey adventure that revives the breakout Spider-Verse star.
“We always believed in the power of video games,” says Bill Rosemann, who’s like the Kevin Feige of Marvel’s gaming division. “We’re happy that more people than ever are discovering — even though you may be physically in different areas — [that] games can bring you together and create connections."
This next phase (to use an MCU term), which finally gives fans playable Marvel adventures on large console platforms, began with Spider-Man. Earlier attempts to make games of this scale, like an Avengers project planned to coincide with the original movie, fell apart. Leaked footage of this first-person effort, as well as a canceled Daredevil game, exist on YouTube as a glimpse of what could've been. The 2018 release, Marvel’s Spider-Man, finally webbed a green light because it was “all about timing,” says Rosemann. “It's all about what talent is available? Do they want to work with Marvel? If so, what's their passion? When you have all those things align, that’s when you can create something great.”
Jon Paquette, the lead writer of Marvel's Spider-Man, noted how one of their mantras "was to design an experience that felt like you were playing a Marvel movie." Out of that mission came a story about Peter Parker, a little more experienced in his years as New York's friendly neighborhood... you know, interwoven with a battle against a sinister rogues' gallery. It became the best-selling superhero game of all time, at over 13 million units. “We had a feeling it was gonna do that,” says Bryan Intihar, Insomniac’s creative director. "I mean, you don't [really] know. There’s this ultimate fear of screwing up one of the most popular characters.” When celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda and LeBron James began sharing images from the game on social media, they knew it had “reached another level."
They still didn’t know if they could make a sequel. There were two post-credits scenes that teased big things to come — another element borrowed from the movies — but that was them "stacking the deck," as Intihar put it. One stinger revealed that Miles Morales, an Afro-Latino teen from Harlem and a playable side character, also developed powers after a bite from a radioactive spider once held in Norman Osborn's secret lab.
“We knew really early that [Spider-Man] was going to end with him getting the spider bite," Intihar says. “We would tease it during development. I think everybody was focused on, 'Can you make the first one really good and we'll worry about the other stuff later?' But we wanted to have that set up so if it became a reality [to do another game] we could pull it off." At one point during an early workshop session, Miles was going to be a post-credits scene reveal and nothing more, but Intihar says the team determined it was important to "see the roots of him being a hero before he even had spider powers." Intihar adds of the final end-credits tag, "One of the reasons we put that out was to hopefully convince people that ‘He’s a Spider-Man now. Can we have a game with him?‘”
It paid off, partly because Insomniac went from being a partner with game publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment to being an official member of the Sony family once the company acquired Insomniac in fall 2019 for $229 million, per the company's financial statements. After that, "they were fully on board with the idea" for a sequel, Intihar says. Rosemann thinks of that first Spider-Man as "proof of concept." Now, for the holiday 2020 season (COVID-19 willing) Miles’ own game will further expand this virtual world.
In Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, set in winter one year after the events of the previous game, Miles' Harlem home is on the verge of being torn apart by a war between an energy corporation and a criminal organization armed to the teeth with advanced tech. It's not a formal sequel to Spider-Man. That, if the coy responses from the creatives are any sign, may or may not be coming later. It's a shorter spin-off, likened in scope to the Lost Legacy game in the Uncharted series. Nevertheless, Intihar promises "it has a lot of heart."
"This is a full arc for Miles Morales that started in Spider-Man," Brian Horton, the game's creative director, says. "We really are completing this hero's coming of age in our game. It is a complete story."
The choice of a smaller narrative came amid discussions of what that hero's journey looked like for Miles in the context of Insomniac's games. After all, Miles, according to Marvel Comics canon, doesn't typically exist in the same reality as Mr. Parker. "When we started crafting it," Horton recalls, "we realized that, with a little bit more of a compact storytelling style, we could tell a very emotionally impactful story that would fit really well as an experience that would take Spider-Man 1 and [Miles Morales] and do justice to this character."
Miles may be training with Peter to hone his Spidey skills, but Horton and Intihar see him as "his own Spider-Man." The animation, the movements, the mechanics, even his powers (including bioshock and invisibility) aren't just unique tricks for this character, they are metaphors for that hero's journey the pair keep mentioning. Peter's origin "was born out of tragedy" — i.e. the death of his Uncle Ben — but Horton mentions Miles "is more so born out of family. What I think is really compelling about Miles as a character is he has friends that he could actually let into his world — his human world and his Spider world. He's a little different in the way he approaches it."
Despite all this spin-off talk, Rosemann isn’t actively overlapping his universe of interconnected games — at least not yet. It's more like a Spider-Verse. "Each game is in the Marvel universe, but they're in their own reality, if you will," he says. "Currently, our plan is to keep each game set in its own Marvel universe." It's part of his goal to give game-makers as much freedom as possible to craft the stories they want to tell. So, while this year’s Avengers won’t be linked to Spider-Man, it has its own web-slinger. Spider-Man has been confirmed to arrive in Marvel's Avengers as a DLC story sometime after launch. But when the game drops, it will also come with a lead character who maintains certain parallels to Miles.
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A Kinda Long but Not Very Detailed Review of Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover - an intro + chapter 1
David Liss's Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover is the official prequel to Marvel's Spider-Man, which I'm a huge fan of. I have yet to read any reviews of it, so I'm going in with a nearly open mind (I talked to my friend @spiderzaap about their thoughts on the chapters they've read). I'm enjoying it so far! But I also have complaints. So let's get into them! (Disclaimer: both the game and its sequel are greatly influenced by comics, but I have yet to read those, so I can't comment on that. I can only say how I feel about this particular take on the characters and stuff.) (Disclaimer #2: These reviews will not be spoiler free.)
Before I even start to read, I know this book won't have the same emotional impact as the game. The game's ending demolished me in a way I can't see the book doing. Especially since it's a prequel; I already know what's gonna happen. No matter what happens to the characters, I know what'll happen to them later. And that's another problem I already have going into this - I know what will happen, more or less.
The back of the book raises the questions,
"When a new threat-a deadly doppelganger with Spider-Man's suit and abilities-wreaks havoc in the streets, can the real wall-crawler prove his innocence? With the clock ticking and lives on the line, can Spider-Man stop the brutal rampage of the Blood Spider? Will Spider-Man fall to his fears and foes, or will he rise and be greater?"
Lemme guess: yes, yes, and rise and be greater?
So the stakes don't feel very high, do they? If there are other characters or events introduced, there can still be suspense and such, but that can't change that at the end of the day, I know Peter will succeed. I know he'll live to see another day. I know that, even if his enemies win, it won't have a monumental impact. And so on...
Another thing: no Miles. :( I mean, as long as the book ends before the game begins, which I'm sure it will. Even if I'm wrong, I doubt we'll see Miles, which sucks.
But despite all that, I decided to go into this with an open mind. After all, I've always loved prequels. Something about seeing what life was like before the main action of a story is fun to me, and I love learning more about my favorite characters. So while I'm talking about it, what are some things I hope to see as I read? Clearly, Miles lol
And Harry! I want him to have face to face interactions with his friends, I wanna see more of the impact of Emily's death. I wanna see subtle hints that he's not going to Europe like he says. I also want Peter and Norman to interact more, out of pure curiosity. I'll be sad if I have to see more bonding moments between Peter and Otto, but I definitely want it to happen anyway. And two of my favorite aspects of the game are the social media feed and the encounters Peter has with normal civilians (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is best Spider-Man). So if that carries on into the prequel at all, I'll be happy. :)
chapter 1
Right off the bat, the first page weirded me out. I really wasn't following. Something about the way the snake thing was introduced was weird but I can't quite put words to it. However, I'm glad to know the amazing Spider-Man is afraid of snakes, or at least grossed out by them. ("...it was a snake and it was icky.") (To clarify, the snake thing is a robbery conducted by a lone guy in a reptile store. When he spots Peter, he makes a break for it with what seems to be a bag of snakes, leading to a short chase scene to the nearby docks, where he's quickly webbed up.)
The intro to Peter and explanation of his powers felt useless but didn't take up too much time in my opinion. I guess it's good to include for people new to Spidey. Still boring to read though if you're already familiar with the character.
Then we get our first taste of action in the form of the aforementioned chase scene. It was fairly entertaining and kept my attention. Didn't have me on the edge of my seat or anything, but I can excuse that, especially since it was a fairly simple chase (young guy with no super powers running down the street for awhile before being easily taken down). Even so, it's kind of disappointing to start with a lame action sequence?? That's kind of the appeal of the whole superhero thing. :/ I'm sure there's better stuff like that later, but still-
The criminal in question, Andy, was kinda fun. I felt his cluelessness on an emotional level and I like a criminal who can and should be redeemed. I was really rooting for him and wish he could've gotten the chance (more on that in a later post). I'm also glad that Peter tried to give him that chance; it gives an early look into Peter's morals better than any exposition ever could (actions speak louder than words, as everyone says all the time).
Oh yeah, and Peter and MJ are together, which means we'll get to see what their relationship was like (PeterMJ stans, rise up). Plus we'll get to see them break up, right? I'm curious to see how that went down, including the buildup to it, which starts immediately as Peter calls MJ several times in hopes that she'll pick up. Too bad she's busy doing something she doesn't want him to know about. So basically, the same dynamic the game presents us with. Nice. 👌 (And here's to hoping that that's not the only kind of interaction they have.)
Another fun thing about this chapter is the humor presented in the Snake Store Incident™. There are some good bits along the lines of the earlier comment about Peter not liking snakes. I'd include them but I can only focus on one thing for so long.
All in all, I expected more but also got things I didn't expect. So this was a decent first chapter and I can tell it's gonna get better from here. I'm pleased with Peter's characterization and the writing style is nice. I'll probably edit this post to add more, but for now, this is it. Next up, a review of chapters 2 and 3.
#marvel's spider-man#smps4#video games#spider-man: hostile takeover#hostile takeover#david liss#insomniac games#book review#spider-man review#bispideyreadssm#peter parker#peter parker ps4#ps4peter#miles morales#ps4miles#harry osborn#norman osborn#otto octavius#mary jane watson#petermj#death tw#tw death#death mention#blood tw#tw blood#blood mention#userbispidey#tag later
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My Top 10 Favorite Comics of All Time (2019 Update)
Hi guys,
A few of you have been asking what are my favorite comic books? I usually send them to a post I made a few years back about this same question. But as time goes on and more books are discovered, my favorites have changed a little. Apparently not as much as I thought but enough to update the list. Judging by most of the panels I post, you can tell I like humor. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the books I gravitate toward aren’t heavy in darker tones. Not saying I don’t read them too, just saying they aren’t my favorites. So here are the top 10 books I enjoyed the most. Please leave your judgments in the comment section.
10. Invincible The tag on almost every issue says “The best superhero comic book in the universe,” and I have to say, it holds up. Invincible is the story of Mark Grayson, son of the greatest superhero of all time. When Mark finally gets his powers he becomes the hero Invincible to keep on the family legacy. Robert Kirkman does a great job of telling the story of a teenager discovering his powers and finding out his origins may not be what he’s been led to believe. This book is just fun. No more explanation needed.
9. New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis This book will always have a special place in my heart. It’s the book that brought me back to comics and I loved every moment of it. 6 months after the Avengers disbanded, a massive prison break forces Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Sentry to come together to put an end to the riot. The book follows the newly formed team on their mission to track down the 42 escaped prisoners, all while trying to solve the mystery of who started the break out and why? New Avengers also brought some of the best characters in Marvel including Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and more, to join the team. The book became the center stage for Marvel Comics from 2005 until 2012 running through events like House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, all the way to Avengers vs. X-Men. It’s a fun super hero book that really throws you into the world of Marvel Comics.
8. Paper Girls If you like the show “Stranger Things,” you’ll love Paper Girls. Taking place in the 1980s, 4 middle school girls, on their morning paper route get caught up in the strangest day of their lives. To ninjas, dinosaurs, time travel, clones, to apple products, Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang hit you with a sci-fi nostalgia story that will keep you guessing where the next turn is.
7. DC The New Frontier A book paying tribute to the Silver Age of DC Comics. Focusing on the Macarthy era, a time where America couldn’t be less trusting, the story focuses on the super heroes, once praised for their services, now find themselves ridden off as outlaws. Multiple perspectives from Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Flash, Superman, etc, as they fight for truth, justice, and the American way, all accumulating to the upcoming battle with “The Center.” Darwyn Cooke tells an amazing story that you all should check out.
6. Ultimate Comics Spider-Man volume 2 For years my favorite super hero was Spider-Man but then in 2011 I was introduced to a better one, Miles Morales. We all saw “Into the Spider-Verse” so you know what’s up. Brian Michael Bendis’s run on Ultimate Comics Spider-Man makes you really love the character of Miles. The story of what happens after Peter Parker dies and a new clueless Spider-Man must fill the void, is nothing short of great. It puts you in the shoes of a new character trying to figure out who he is, all while trying to keep the memory of Peter Parker alive.
5. Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Two Avengers books on one list? That’s right. In my opinion the greatest era in Avengers history. Jonathan Hickman pulls double duty writing two parallel stories of heroes at their greatest and heroes at their worst. On the one hand, the Avengers are expanding and they are responding to bigger and badder threats. From Ex Nihilo’s attempt to terraform Earth, to the universe eradication of the Builders, to Thanos invading, to the attack of evil Avengers. One the other hand unknown to everyone but Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Beast, and Namor, parallel Earths are crashing into each other, destroying the multiverse. The only way to save their own is to destroy worlds. But after you destroy a world is there anything left of your humanity?
4. Justice League International The late 80′s had one of the greatest Justice League runs of all time. Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis pumped out some of the funniest and most entertaining comics to date. Focusing on the Justice League as a work place comedy, this massive run follows the adventures of a newly formed Justice League made up of mostly second string characters. The satisfaction of Batman punching out Guy Gardner, the comedy duo of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, GNORT! If you want your super hero books to be fun and hilarious, this is the book for you. Starting in Justice League #1 through 6 and transitioning to Justice League International, then splitting between Justice League Europe and Justice League America.
3. Saga If you’re not reading Saga, you are missing out. A Romeo and Juliet story set in a sci-fi fantasy space adventure. In the middle of an intergalactic war, Alona and Marko leave their worlds behind to risk everything for the survival and protection of their newborn Hazel. Hunted by both sides of the war, the two travel across the stars and encountering creatures from all over the galaxy who either want to help them or want them dead. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples take a story about the ups and downs of parenting and throws it into a cosmic and crazy story of awesomeness. Look out for Izabel, Prince Robot the IV, and Ghus. You will smile every time they are on the page.
2. Scott Pilgrim I cannot recommend these books from Bryan Lee O’ Malley enough. 6 graphic novels in total, focusing on Scott Pilgrim’s desire to date Ramona Flowers, his journey to defeat her 7 evil ex’s, and the challenge of being a responsible adult. This book is filled with post high school confusion, punk rock, video games, anime style action, and heart. If you liked the movie, I promise you, you’ll love the book.
AND NUMBER ONE….
1. Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads Everyone should read this book even if you’re not a New Gods fan, it’s amazing. Mister Miracle and Big Barda are two of the greatest comic book characters of all time and in this book it really shows. Scott Free is royalty among the New Gods of New Genesis but Scott would rather live in Los Angeles and be the world famous escape artist known as Mister Miracle. Scott eventually grows bored of his stunts and attempts suicide in order to escape death. The book follows Scott and Barda through their responsibilities as New Gods in the war with Apokolips, to Scott’s performance work, to their marriage, to Scott’s suicide. It’s a beautiful book filled with action, humor, great art, and a whole lot of heart. Of everything on this list, Mister Miracle is an absolute must read.
#comics#marvel#dc comics#invincible#avengers#spider-man#spiderman#spider man#captain america#iron man#thor#black widow#captain marvel#justice league#new avengers#justice league international#saga#scott pilgrim#scott pilgram vs the world#dc the new frontier#batman#wonder woman#flash#green lantern#superman#miles morales#mister miracle#paper girls
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Michael in the Mainstream - Spider-Man: Far From Home/Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
It really is a good time to be a Spider-Fan.
This guy is hitting all the right notes lately: he’s got a great video game beloved by all who plays it, he’s one of the golden boys of the MCU after only a handful of appearances, and he featured in one of, if not THE greatest animated movie of all time. Now if only his comics would undo One More Day and they renewed Spectacular Spider-Man and gave it the finale it deserves, things would be absolutely perfect.
So with me being a big Spider-Man fan, I think it’s about time I talked about his greatest cinematic achievments: Into the Spider-Verse and Far From Home. That’s right, Spidey is so good he’s conquered two mediums and delivered his best stories within a year of each other. My only regret is not talking about both of these films sooner, but I suppose that just gives me the opportunity to praise them both at once.
The greatest common factor these two movies have between each other, and what makes both films infinitely relatable and entertaining, is how both films feature a young protagonist who has great responsibility thrust upon them and they must find some way to deal with it. In the case of Peter, he is saddled with the pressure of being able to live up to his mentor, Tony Stark, in the wake of Endgame’s finale and Tony’s sacrifice. Frankly, Peter just wants to be a normal teenager, get the girl, and have a good vacation – it’s perfectly understandable, and while it may come off as a bit selfish, Peter is still a young man, a young man who has suffered through numerous traumas in his life and is probably upset he can’t just be normal for once. Of course over the course of the film he remembers that with great power comes great responsibility, and he rises up to save the day.
Miles, on the other hand, while initially a bit confused and unsure of himself and what to do, really does want to live up to the memory of Spider-Man, who he only knew a brief time before his death. However, he lacks training, he doesn’t understand his own powers, and he just lacks faith in himself. The entire movie builds up his character, his relationships to others, and all he does so that moment when he takes his “leap of faith” is well-earned and solidifes the moment when he goes from merely being a Spider-Boy to truly earning the name of Spider-Man. I find it very interesting how the two Spider-Men in the two best Spidey movies have sort of opposite motivations – one is being crushed by the pressure to be a world-saving hero while only wanting to be normal, while the other wants to live up to the destiny thrust upon him but initially lacks the skill and finesse to do so – before coming to the same sort of ending. More than the man in the comics who sold his marriage to a demon because he couldn’t deal with the consequences of his actions, these Spideys realize the immortal phrase from Uncle Ben that I need not repeat.
Of course, what would a hero be without a villain to oppose them? Thankfully, both films deliver some of the best superhero movie villains anyone could ask for. Far From Home is a bit more focused, giving us one major antagonist: Mysterio, in the least shocking movie twist of all time. But it truly is a testament to how great an actor Jake Gyllenhaal is and how good a character Mysterio is that he is able to sell you on all of his hero garbage right up until the reveal, and even afterwards he never once drops that affable charm and charisma that belies his true nature as a petty sociopath. Mysterio has always been a character who has struggled to find good use in the comics due to writers not knowing how to use him; he does not have that problem here.
Into the Spider-Verse, on the other hand, goes for what most Spider-Man movies tend to do: cram a bunch of villains in and see what sticks. Thankfully, they manage to hit home runs three out of six times and only whiff twice. Let’s get the less impressive villains out of the way first: Tombstone and Scorpion. While Scorpion’s design is cool and he gets some decent fight scenes, he really could be swapped out with a generic mook and it really wouldn’t make any difference either way. Tombstone, on the other hand, is an absolutely pointless waste of a character, which is a real shame. He’s the bodyguard for a guy who killed Spider-Man with his bare hands and has superhumans and cyborgs under his employ, he’s frankly a bit superfluous. Green Goblin is the only middle ground villain, one who isn’t amazing but is certainly cool enough in his own right to leave an impression despite only having a single scene. His monstrous design really goes a long to selling his threat level and his brutal fight with the original Peter really is impressive. Sadly, he dies at the end of the fight and is quickly overshadowed.
Then we have the two side villains that really work: Prowler and Dock Ock. Prowler is the obvious one, as due to him being Miles’ uncle he adds a sort of tragic emotional connection, one that is only exacerbated once Prowler hesitates in killing his nephew and ends up becoming Miles’ stand-in for Uncle Ben. Dock Ock is a bit surprising, seeing as she is a somewhat unique take, essentially a genderbent original character version of Otto Ocatavius, complete with all that implies (yes, I am talking about the relationship with Aunt May). She’s been the big breakout villain of the movie, and with good reason: she’s cool, she’s cunning, and she’s hot, all hallmarks of a quality villain beloved by the masses.
And then we come to the big one, and I do mean big: Kingpin. Here, his size and intimidation is played up for all its worth, turning him into an absolute mountain of a man and giving him one of the slickest designs I have ever seen. He’s a brutal, ruthless thug, but he’s also given a legitimately tragic and heartbreaking reason to his actions, and while it certainly doesn’t redeem him, it does make him an interesting and complex character. If nothing else, it’s just really nice to see Liev Schreiber finally get to be the villain in a good superhero movie and a good animated movie villain, after getting the shaft in both regards on two previous occasions.
The ensemble casts of both films are great. Far From Home ropes in Maria Hill and Nick Fury, and finally gives Hill some more to do while letting Fury have a lot more fun and taking a more direct approach than usual. Aside from that, all the returning characters are improved – Happy is nicer, funnier, and a better mentor; Dash is still a jerk but he’s toned down and has a bit of tragedy to him; and MJ is fleshed out, given a personality, and has excellent chemistry with Peter. And then there is Peter’s best buddy Ned, who gets ne of the funniest romantic arcs I have ever seen in a movie. And I’d be remiss to not mention Peter’s bumbling teachers, who deliver some more top quality humor to the proceedings. I think it would be best to state now that Far From Home is honestly really funny, with pretty much all of its humor hitting the bullseye, and a lot of that has to do with just how well these people play their parts and dive into their characters with the sort of fun conviction you’d want out of Spider-Man characters.
Into the Spider-Verse has the heavily advertised Spider-Ham, Peni Parker, and Spider-Man Noir, but they actually only appear in the last third of the film and really only stick around to showcase how good the animation can handle other styles, fuel jokes, and help fight in some awesome fight scenes. Frankly, this is enough; they don’t really stick around long enough to overshadow Miles, but they’re also around just long enough to establish personalities and endear themselves to the audience. Out of the three, I find Peni to be the least interesting due to changing her mecha’s design from the more Evangelion-esque one from the comics as well as her just not really grabbing my attention all too much, but it’s easy to see why she has fans. Personally, I preferred the cartoony antics of Spider-Ham and the noir-tinged grittiness of Noir. Also, Noir is voiced by Nicolas Cage and Ham is John Mulaney. It would be a challenge for me to not love them.
The major supporting characters are Peter B. Parker and Gwen Stacy, and both manage to be great in their own right while, again, not overshadowing Miles, with Peter especially being an absolute blast, giving us the miserable, chubby, downbeat Peter we never knew we needed and having him go through a full arc of his own where Miles helps him overcome his hangups as much as Peter helps Miles. Gwen is a fun character, but she sadly doesn’t get quite as much of an arc as Peter, but that will definitely be expanded upon in sequels; she’s still a solid sidekick here. The rest of the supporting cast, such as Miles’ dad, are solid characters, and the film also gives what may be the best version of Aunt May ever (though all Aunt Mays are great and let no one tell you different); I don’t really think the supporting cast is quite as good as Far From Home’s overall, but it certainly does have memorable characters that will stick with you.
Before wrapping up, I of course have to address this: Spider-Verse has some of the most amazing animation I have ever seen. It truly captures that look of being taken right from a comic book, and there are just so many clever visuals and shots that it’s simply astounding. This is the pinnacle of CGI, and revolutionary in the field of stylized CGI. I hope other studios take notes on how to make CGI look good and stylish like this.
Into the Spider-Verse is just a stunning piece of animation. It has good characters, a solid plot, a lot of great humor, a lot of great emotion, and some really decent morals, all while paying tribute to the comics and the Raimi films and giving us some closure by adapting bits of the unused Raimi Spider-Man 4. It’s a beautiful tribute to everything we know and love of Spider-Man while also being a fantastic “passing the torch” story that gives Miles his own time to shine in the spotlight. This movie is basically what Big Hero 6 tried to be, but where that movie kind of stumbled over itself and felt more like a TV pilot for a series on the big screen, this feels like a fully fledged story unto itself. It also has one of the most beautifully poignant Stan Lee cameos ever, as well as what may be the greatest joke in Spider-Man history after the credits. If you love Spider-Man, see this movie. If you love animation, see this movie. If you love movies, see this movie. This might very well be the greatest animated film of all time, and it deserves to be seen.
Far From Home, meanwhile, is a fantastic achievement in live action Spidey cinema. It gives us a wonderful supporting cast, a love interest who actually has chemistry and isn’t a boring damsel that disgraces the name of her comic counterpart, an awesome villain, and genuine funny moments, and for once all of these things are in the same moment! This really solidifies MCU Spider-Man as being a fun, fresh take on a character who has been done to death in almost every medium; it keeps most of what we love while changing some details here and there so that Spider-Man can resonate more with modern audiences. What they do change tends to be for the better, too – I really have no problem, unlike a lot of people, with Tony “taking Uncle Ben’s place,” for a variety of reasons but not the least of which is the fact I’m frankly tired of seeing Uncle Ben die. Having him merely be the long dead motivator for Peter’s early heroics is enough for me. This is absolutely peak MCU, and a fantastic epilogue to the Infinity Saga. If you’re invested in the MCU or Spider-Man at all, this movie will be right up your alley. If you still need more convincing: they combined Raimi Jameson and PS4 Game Jameson into a character, and Simmons still plays him.
Both of these films are the cream of the crop when it comes to cinematic versions of Spider-Man, with Far From Home sitting comfortably up there with Spider-Man 2, if not surpassing it, and Into the Spider-Verse frankly taking on a league of its own, Both projects really alter the course of what can be done with Spider-Man, and it has me excited for all the future works involving the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man we might be seeing soon. With Spider-Verse getting sequels and spinoffs and Far From Home absolutely getting a sequel, it’s safe to say that anyone who loves Spidey will have plenty to love for years to come. And the best part is we will never have to worry about either Spidey making deals with Mephisto.
#Michael in the Mainstream#Review#movie review#Spider-Man#Into the Spider-Verse#Far From Home#MCU#Sony#superhero movie#superhero#Marvel
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The Quill Seal Of Approval Awards - The Best of 2018
Hello and welcome, dear reader, to the greatest, most important awards ceremony in the history of entertainment. The Quill Seal Of Approval Awards. The award of recognition that everyone on Earth covets even though they don’t know it. For the Quill Seal Of Approval is a most esteemed prize for hard work and artistry. Better than the Golden Globes, more prestigious than the BAFTAs and guaranteed to be more diverse than the Academy Awards. You know your film, novel, TV show or video game has achieved legendary status when some random nobody on the internet says it’s the best in some obscure top 10 list that’s read by only a couple of people. That’s the true sign of success.
First, a few parish notices. Obviously this is my subjective opinion, so if you disagree with my choices, that’s fine. Go make your own list. (also remember that my opinion is 100% objective, scientific, factual and literal truth and anyone who disagrees is clearly a philistine and a dummy and a poopy-head whose mum smells of elderberries). Also please bear in mind that I haven’t been able to experience everything 2018 has to offer for one reason or another. In other words, please don’t be upset that A Star Is Born isn’t on this list. I’m sure it’s as amazing as everyone says it is. I just never got around to watching it.
Okay. Let us begin.
Inside No. 9 - Series 4
BBC2′s Inside No. 9, written by the League of Gentlemen’s Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, is an anthology series that’s often sadly overlooked, but it’s really worth a watch if you’re into shows like Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone, and this series in particular has been fantastic. We’ve had an episode written entirely in iambic pentameter, an episode whose chronology runs backwards, a live episode that really plays around with the format, episodes containing tragic and biting satire, and one especially twisted episode that brings out a side of Steve Pemberton we’ve never seen before. Series 4 has been a real treat from start to finish, with each episode beautifully written and expertly performed. Inside No. 9 deserves to share the same pedestal as Black Mirror, no question.
Black Panther
I’m sure everyone knows about my less than flattering views on the Marvel Cinematic Universe by now, which is what made Black Panther such a breath of fresh air for me. Stripping away all the convoluted crap, Black Panther has often been compared to The Dark Knight, and for good reason. Like The Dark Knight, this movie uses the superhero genre to tackle real social and political issues. In Black Panther’s case, exploring just what it means to be black in the modern world. Boasting an impressive cast of black actors, strong female characters, an engaging and complex antagonist, fantastic special effects and truly excellent direction from Ryan Coogler, Black Panther represents a new benchmark for Marvel, the superhero genre and the film industry in general. It proves how important and how lucrative diversity and representation in media can be, and it unintentionally shows how flawed the Marvel business model has become. The reason behind Black Panther’s success is simple. It’s because it’s bloody brilliant. And the reason it’s bloody brilliant is because Coogler was allowed to realise his own creative vision without Kevin Feige and Mickey Mouse breathing down his neck. Perhaps they should take note of that in future.
Deadpool 2
Of course Deadpool 2 is going to be on this list. Are you really surprised?
The Merc with the Mouth goes from strength to strength in the rare instance where the sequel is actually as good as, if not better than, the original. The first Deadpool was a great origin story for the character, but Deadpool 2 felt like an adventure ripped straight from the comics themselves. Crass, ultra violent and hysterically funny, Deadpool 2 is the crowning jewel of the X-Men franchise. Fan favourites such as Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Colossus return as well as new characters such as Domino, played by the exceptional Zazie Beetz, Cable, played by the astounding Josh Brolin, and Firefist, played by Julian Dennison who deserves all the success in the world because good God this kid can act!
But of course the star of the film is Deadpool himself with Ryan Reynolds once again proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he understands this character back to front. Not only is he hysterically funny, capturing the character’s irreverent tone perfectly, he also absolutely nails the tragic underpinnings of Deadpool that make him such a wonderful character. In between the f-bombs and gore are moments of real drama and emotional pathos as the film tackles themes such as loss, discrimination, abuse and suicidal depression. All this whilst taking the piss out of 2017′s Logan.
Oh yeah, and it also features the first openly LGBT superheroes in cinematic history. Fuck you Disney! NegaYukio and Poololosus for the win! LOL! No, but seriously, now that you have the rights to X-Men back, if you try and censor Deadpool in any way, shape or form, I will kick your arse.
God Of War (2018)
“BOY!”
Yes Kratos is back, having successfully destroyed the world of Greek mythology and now has his eyes on the Norse Gods. And he has a son now. What could possibly go wrong?
Seriously though, this new God Of War is simply exquisite. While I have long admired the God Of War franchise for its interpretation and adaptation of Greek mythology, the previous games in the series have never exactly been the most sophisticated when it comes to storytelling (and the less said about the casual sexism, the better. Yes Sony, I promise I understand the thematic reasons behind playing a minigame that allows you to have sex with Aphrodite in God Of War 3, but it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s sexist as shit). God Of War 2018 changes all that with an intelligent and engaging story that allows us understand and connect with Kratos at a more personal level than we’ve ever done before. Taking place years after God Of War 3, Kratos is older, wiser and trying to raise his son Atreus in the hopes that he won’t make the same mistakes Kratos did in his past. Not only is the story amazing, continuing the franchise’s themes of vengeance and the strained relationships between parents and their children, the gameplay is also a ton of fun with many memorable moments and boss fights.
And as an added bonus, we get two strong female characters that aren’t treated like discardable sex objects. That was nice of them.
Incredibles 2
The long awaited sequel to The Incredibles finally arrived in 2018 and it did not disappoint. Incredibles 2 was everything I could have wanted and more. Continuing on from the events of the first movie, we see Elastigirl take the spotlight as she fights the Screenslaver whilst trying to persuade the worlds’ governments to lift the ban on superheroes. Meanwhile Mr. Incredible takes a back seat as he tries to reconnect with his kids Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack and prove he can be a good, supportive dad.
Continuing to draw inspiration from Fantastic Four, X-Men and Watchmen, Incredibles 2 is... well... incredible. Expanding the world he created, Brad Bird tells a smart, funny and compelling story that stands head and shoulders above the majority of superhero movie fodder we get nowadays. Elastigirl flourishes in the lead role this time around and the kids get a lot more development, the Screenslaver is a great villain that compliments the themes of the franchise wonderfully, and we get to see a whole bunch of new characters such as Voyd and the Deavor siblings as well as the return of old favourites like Frozone and Edna Mode.
Honestly, the baby alone is worth the price of admission. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another fourteen years for Incredibles 3.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Marvel’s Spider-Man is an amazing game. But of course you knew that already. It’s made by Insomniac Games, the same guys behind Ratchet & Clank. Of course it was going to be brilliant.
Simply put, this game does for Spider-Man what the Arkham games did for Batman. Not only is it a great game with brilliant combat and fun web swinging mechanics, it also has a great story worthy of the wall crawler. Unlike the movies, which seem to continuously yank Peter Parker back into high school with each new reboot as those the poor bastard were attached to the fucker on a bungee rope, this Spidey has been fighting crime for eight years. With great power comes many responsibilities as we see him struggle to juggle crime fighting, his new job as a scientist, his commitments to helping Aunt May at the F.E.A.S.T shelter and trying to win his ex Mary Jane Watson back after a six month split. It’s a brilliant story featuring many classic villains such as Shocker and Electro as well as lesser known villains like Screwball and the criminally underrated Mister Negative who finally gets to be the central antagonist in a Spider-Man adaptation. It’s fun to play, engaging, dramatic and really emotional at points. I cried real tears at the end. What a punch to the gut that was.
OOOOOH! And we might be getting to play as Miles Morales in the sequel! I sure hope so! :D
The Grinch
At this point I imagine many of you are scratching your heads.
“Really Quill? The Grinch? Illumination’s The Grinch? This deserves the Quill Seal Of Approval? Are you sure?” Yes dear reader, I’m absolutely sure. Just hear me out.
It’s true that the majority of Dr Seuss adaptations are shit. While the live action version of the Grinch starring Jim Carrey has a cult following and is fondly remembered by some, it’s still pretty crap, and even Illumination themselves screwed up royally with their adaptation of The Lorax. But this new Grinch is truly excellent. For starters, the animation is gorgeous. This is clearly the format that works best for Seuss movies. Benedict Cumberbatch does a really good job voicing the character, giving him depth and complexity beyond just being a big old meanie. The film also has something no other Seuss film has ever had before. Subtlety. Illumination have clearly learned their lesson after The Lorax. They’re no longer bashing you over the head with a moral message. They’re not trying to over-complicate a simple story by adding pointless sub-plot after pointless sub-plot. In fact the bits they do add actually feed into the main core of the narrative, as opposed to The Lorax, which just confused things. And while there are cute Minion-esque sidekicks like there are in a lot of Illumination films, The Grinch limits it to two (Max the dog and a reindeer named Fred), they’re both legitimately funny, serve an important narrative purpose and don’t distract from the more serious and emotional moments.
In all honesty, I was debating between giving the Quill Seal of Approval to The Grinch or to Bumblebee (the first legitimately good Transformers movie), but I decided to go with The Grinch because of how it handles the character and the story’s message. A lot of people scoffed at the idea of giving the Grinch a back story (and to the film’s credit they don’t force the issue or over-explain where the Grinch came from) but it’s honestly what makes this new adaptation of The Grinch so special to me. He’s gone from being a Scrooge-like monster to an anxiety filled misanthrope who associates Christmas with being alone. It may sound like a jarring change on paper, but in practice it honestly works so well and adds a whole new dimension to the Grinch. It’s treated with absolute care and sincerity and the film really earns its emotional moments, particularly at the end when we see the Grinch sit down to have Christmas dinner with the Whos.
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you give this new Grinch a chance. You might be pleasantly surprised :)
Doctor Who - Series 11
A woman?! In the TARDIS?! How absurd!
Jodie Whittaker made history as the first woman to play the Doctor and the new series doesn’t disappoint. Whittaker is predictably brilliant in the role, giving the character compassion, charm and wit. We also get a new bunch of companions (including the always brilliant Bradley Walsh as Graham) who all have some great moments in Series 11 and the relationships they form with each other is incredibly touching and fun to watch. But the writing, my God, the writing. Admittedly not every episode has been perfect, but it’s leagues above anything Moffat has given us during his disastrous reign. The majority of Series 11 has been well written and intelligent, tackling important and relevant social issues (something Doctor Who has always been doing and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot) and focusing on likeable and relatable characters rather than convoluted series arcs. We got to meet Rosa Parks, witness the partition of India, and ponder on the dangers of automation whilst the Doctor tries to save the world from bubble wrap. Oh, and the Daleks are scary again! I know! I couldn’t believe it either!
What makes this all the more remarkable is who the showrunner is. Chris Chibnall. A writer I’ve often criticised in the past for being derivative and shit, and yet somehow he’s managed to create some of the best Doctor Who I’ve seen in a long time. Not only has his writing improved dramatically since his Torchwood days, he’s also demonstrated a commitment to having diverse representation both in front of and behind the camera as well as in the scripts themselves. For the first time in what feels like an age, Doctor Who feels like Doctor Who again, and I’m ecstatically happy.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
How come we don’t see many animated superhero movies in the cinema? Considering the medium from which superheroes came from, you’d think it would be a no-brainer. Presumably it’s because Disney have got such a strangle hold on the animation market, but that’s hopefully going to change thanks to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (or, Sony’s Repentance for The Emoji Movie).
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. The animation is gorgeous. It’s pretty much an animated comic book and it stands out as one of the most unique looking animated films in recent memory. Spider-Verse is essentially a love letter to the legacy of Spider-Man as we see multiple different versions of Spidey, including Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham and Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider cosplaying as Spider-Man Noir, demonstrating not only the sheer variety of Spider-Men we’ve had over the years, but also exploring what connects them together. With all these different interpretations across many different universes, the idea of Spider-Man comes to the same thing. An ordinary person who experiences tragedy and becomes something greater. It’s hopeful and inspirational in a way Spider-Man films hasn’t been for a while now (Spider-Man: Homecoming sucked donkey balls. Period).
But let’s not forget that while the film explores the Spider-Verse, the main focus is Miles Morales who finally makes his cinematic debut. Not only is it a very faithful adaptation of Ultimate Spider-Man’s origin story, Miles himself is such a great central character for the modern age and arguably has more relevance to today than Peter Parker does. The characters are funny and relatable and the story is expertly crafted and impactful. But then what do you expect from the writers and directors of The Lego Movie? (if only Disney hadn’t interfered with Solo: A Star Wars Story. We could have had it all).
Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle
This one kind of snuck up on me toward the end of December, but I knew the moment I saw it I had to include it on this list.
Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle is an adaptation of The Jungle Book with Andy Serkis making his directorial debut. Yes the same guy who did the motion capture for Gollum in Lord Of The Rings and Caesar in the rebooted Planet Of The Apes movies and who totes deserves an Oscar for Best Actor (fuck you Academy Awards!), and he brings this same motion capture technology to this film. Unlike Disney’s Jungle Book, which merely rehashes the original animated film whilst somehow stripping all the charm from it, Mowgli sticks closer to the original Rudyard Kipling book. This isn’t a cheery musical. This film is often dark and intense as we see Mowgli (played wonderfully by Rohan Chand) struggle to find his place in the world. He knows he doesn’t belong with the animals in the jungle, but he doesn’t really fit in with the world of man neither. It’s an emotional and dramatic character piece brought to life by great writing, great acting and stunning special effects.
Andy Serkis has expressed a desire to do an adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and after watching this movie, I would love to see that. If you haven’t already, go watch Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle. It’s available to stream on Netflix and it’s truly amazing.
And that’s it for 2018. Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Quill Seal Of Approval Awards. Unfortunately we’re on a limited budget here on The Desolated Quill, so I can’t offer any sort of trophy or medal or anything. What I can do though is write the words ‘I’m an awesome cookie’ on a post-it note and stick it on your forehead. Will that do?
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There has been talk here and there about how the PS4 Spider-Man game was the first real attempt to give Spider-Man the ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ or ‘Arkham City’ treatment in video games.
For those who don’t know beginning in 2009 (possibly as a late attempt to do a tie-in for ‘The Dark Knight’ film) a video game called ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ was released. It started a massive Batman video game franchise and was not only hailed as the best Batman game but some regard it as the best superhero game ever and as redefining what a video game based upon an outside licence could be.
Not only were there sequels to the game (notably an mostly open world direct sequel called Arkham City) but an animated movie tie-in and other pieces of merchandise based upon the specific video game version of Batman.
To me the Arkham games ushered in a new idea for superheroes. In much the same way the DCAU and MCU versions of the DC and Marvel characters proved they could be highly marketable and popular unto themselves, having their own ‘universes’ within the wider scope of their respective brands, the Arkham games showed us that this is possible for video game versions of the characters too.
Unsurprisingly a similar sort of approach was taken for another DC video game ‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’. Although a fighting game (which tend to have fairly simple plots) the game offered a clear cut vision of an alternate DC universe and came out the gate swinging with a tie-in prequel comic book which led to even more comics and other pieces of merchandise.
In light of the Arkham and Injustice franchises the fact that people were talking about Insomniac’s PS4 Spider-Man as Spidey’s ‘Arkham Asylum’ might be more prescient than we realized.
Think about it.
Putting aside how much buzz surrounding the game, how much news was being dished out about it, how the promotional campaign surely went beyond what other Spidey video games have had, what was the first true piece of merchandise we got connected to the game?
A prequel novel.
And this is a bigger deal than you might think because aside from MCU related stuff and one Miles Morales YA book, there hasn’t been a Spider-Man novel in YEARS, possibly even a decade, and even longer for something which is clearly having Peter himself be the main character.
More than this PS4 Spider-Man is being advertised by Marvel comics proper in a way no other Spidey video game has ever been to my knowledge and in fact they are doing a whole event in part to promote him, incorporating him into Marvel Comics canon (albeit not in 616 obviously).
Let’s also consider that the number of Spider-Man video games that have truly attempted to have an entertaining story unto themselves that captures the essence of the character, as opposed to just something to facilitate the game play or a cool hook is relatively small.
Excluding the movie games because they were obviously based upon the films or else filling in the gaps from them (e.g. if you wanted to see Garfield’s Spidey catch Uncle Ben’s killer you better have purchased one of his video games) the only ones I can think of are:
Spider-Man 2000, my first and favourite Spider-Man game ever.
Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro
Ultimate Spider-Man, which for a hot five minutes was actually canon to the Ultimate Universe
Arguably Spider-Man: Edge of Time
And now Spider-Man PS4
Clearly, much like the Arkham and Injustice games, Insomniac want you to show up for the story as much as the gaming experience, hence people who aren’t even playing this game were hyped for it too.
Also consider that one of the major people behind the game when discussing the making of it said the whole point of the redesigned Spider costume was for people to look at it and instantly know that they’re seeing the Insomniac video game version of Spider-Man.
A creative stamp of ownership? Perhaps but equally it doubles up as just plain logical marketing...that is if you are planning on your version of Spider-Man to have a life BEYOND just the game itself.
Such as in...comic books, tie-in novels and other merchandise.
After all if he looks just like 616 Spider-Man then when you make a statue of him how would anyone know beyond seeing a logo somewhere on the box?
Whether by accident or design the idea of classic superhero characters having unique costumes for their video game counterparts is also true for the Arkham Injustice games.
In fact I suspect that in addition to wanting a more experienced Spider-Man simply because they liked it and because it’d be something different, having the video game Spidey be an 8 year veteran was a matter of creative/marketing practicality.
A 23 year old Spider-Man is younger than his canon counterpart and so has plenty of room to grow going forward with sequels. But equally having 8 years of untold stories gives you plenty of scope for expansion in the other direction.
This was yet another aspect of the Arkham and Injustice games I suspect Insomniac were looking to replicate. The Batman of the Arkham games has clearly been on the job for years, hence he’s already got a whole rogue’s gallery ready to fight and in the sequels Dick Grayson is already Nightwing alongside other Batman partners and proteges. Equally in the Injustice games the world has already fallen to Hell as the main story unfolds.
This allowed for further stories to be told in the past of each universe, with prequels comics for Injustice and prequel game for the Arkham series.
So I suspect going forward we will be seeing more stories set int he past that flesh out the world and characters of Insomniac’s Spider-Man.
His first encounter with Kingpin, MJ learning his identity, etc
#Spider-Man#Insomniac#insomniac games#Insomniac Spider-Man#SPider-Man ps4#spider-man playstation#marvel#marvel comics#mcu#marvel cinematic universe#incorrect dca quotes#dc animated universe#Batman#Justice League#Peter Parker#injustice: gods among us#Arkham Asylum#Arkham City#batman: arkham
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Brian Michael Bendis is the Eminem of Comics
”I created a monster, cuz nobody wants to see Peter no more, they want Miles, I’m chopped liver.”
Hey, Guys, it’s R.J. “Smooth” and I don’t have a slogan but let’s get into it.
It’s Black History Month and today I wanted to talk about one of comic’s most beloved characters, Miles Morales. Since the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales’ popularity skyrocketed and, after seeing it, could you blame it?
Everything about that film just oozed with love for the character. Everything from the setting, the animation to the very soundtrack, an insurmountable amount of credit goes to every single member of the crew that worked on that film. Just recently, the film even wound up earning a Golden Globe for “BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM” and went home to snag seven Annie Awards. The Annie Awards, for those of you who don’t know, [like I didn’t until recently] is a prestigious ceremony celebrating the works of animated films. Films like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Kung Fu Panda and even Shrek won Annie Awards for BEST ANIMATED FEATURE.
For better reference, Frozen, one of Disney’s best films both critically and commercially, took home five of these awards. Spider-Man went on to take seven. SEVEN ANNIE AWARDS! That’s almost unheard of and even I, someone who has a love-hate relationship with Miles Morales, gotta say it deserved every one.
In spite of it not doing so well financially, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is easily one of Spider-Man’s best films and possibly even best superhero movies of all time. However, none of this would’ve been possible without the help of one man, his creator:
Brian Michael Bendis.
Brian Michael Bendis is one of the best in the comics industry, having written for practically every major publisher: Marvel, DC, Image, Oni and Caliber. With titles such as: “House of M”, “Ultimate Spider-Man”, “Daredevil” and, currently, “Superman”, it’s no safe to say that Bendis knows has a genuine love for comics and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Bendis has a legacy spanning over a decade and has face some contraversy in his career, as well. Nevertheless, he still manages to pull himself together and continue to make great content and is loved by many. Not to discredit other comic writers, but you just know, whether it be good, bad, or somewhere in between, you know you’re in for some shit when Bendis is the one behind the pen.
Wait… Why does this sound familiar…?
Eminem had a similar career path, as well. Ranging from okay, to garbage to untouchably good, Eminem is very much the same. So, the question is:
Is Brian Michael Bendis the Eminem of Comics?
While not nearly as dramatic, it could be right in front of our faces this whole time. What makes this more interesting is that Eminem is no stranger to comics himself, often reciting lyrics, or “bars”, in his raps that directly relate to them.
“They call me Superman, leap tall hoes in a single bound
I’m single now - I’ll never let another chick bring me down”
-Superman
“Knife in hand, says their relationship’s hanging by a strand
So she’s been on the web lately
Says maybe she’ll be my Gwen Stacy
To Spite her man (Spider-Man)”
-River
“Parasite, and I probably ruined your parents' life
And your childhood too
'Cause if I'm the music that y'all grew up on
I'm responsible for you retarded fools
I'm the supervillain dad and mom was losin' their marbles to
You marvel that? Eddie Brock is you
And I'm the suit, so call me
Venom”
-Venom
Hell, probably the most overt callout to comics was when he was featured in a one-shot with Marvel titled: “Eminem/Punisher”.
Okay, okay, it’s one thing to callout comics in raps as something you may like but what makes Bendis the Eminem of his craft? Well, it’s a bit easier than one may think.
Starting out, Eminem was relatively unknown. He was known for being the white guy who battle raps and was often shunned because of it. The culture of Rap is black music and Em, in spite of his skills, wasn’t welcomed at the time. Even after the release of his first album “Infinite”, he still found no fame or no home to truly say he belonged in hip-hop. That was until his fateful loss at the Rap Olympics in ’97 got the attention of his future manager Jimmy Iovine and producer/mentor Dr. Dre.
Bendis, turns out, kind of had a similar path. Like most artists in the media/entertainment business, he’d seen little success as an artist for caricatures, but soon found his footing in writing, doing small bits in the 90’s for both IMAGE and ONI Comics. It wasn’t until he was hired by MARVEL Comics to write a new line of comics with the titular one being “ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN” in 2000. Coincidentally, it was just a bit after Eminem released “The Slim Shady LP” in 1999.
From there, both Bendis and Shady seemed to be on an unstoppable course for success. Eminem went on to release both “The Marshall Mathers LP” and “The Eminem Show” while Bendis continued to write for Marvel and continued “Ultimate Spider-Man” and other titles like “Ultimate Fantastic Four”, & “Ultimate X-Men”. The two were truly at the top of their games and nothing seemed to slow them down.
That is, until they kept going.
Eminem had his own torment in his life with the passing of his best friend and rapper, Proof, and nearly overdosed on sleep medication. It was a struggle to get back, but it seemed his drive for music got him back on his feet. Releasing works such as “Encore” and “Relapse”, the latter being after his near-death experience, but audiences weren’t nearly as enthused with his work. Eminem even mentioned it on his single “Not Afraid”, going so far to refer to his last CD [Relapse] as “ehhhhh”.
However, yet again, around the same time, the two hit another surge. Bendis released “Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man” (2011) and debuted to the world Miles Morales, only a year after Eminem released his newest, at-the-time, album “Recovery”. Again, the two were back to making solid content. Bendis, admittedly, wasn’t exactly on a slow streak like Shady was, but with such a new character and a drastic change to the status quo, he was met with a fair amount of controversy. (Something Eminem is no stranger to.)
However, he persevered and Miles Morales quickly became a household name.
Now, I could go on, and trust me there are plenty more parallels to go off of, but I feel the point is made. Both men are massive legends in their respective lanes and hard to be competed with in their craft. And, with Bendis now working over at DC Comics spearheading “Superman”, “Action Comics” & “Young Justice” and Eminem recently releasing “Kamikaze”, it seems that neither artist with stay down for long and will deal with an issues that come their way.
But I don’t know tho…
#marvel#dc comics#comics#eminem#slim shady#brian michael bendis#ultimate spider-man#ultimate comics#ultimate fantastic four#ultimate x-men#slim shady lp#marshall mathers lp#eminem show#relapse#recovery#infinite#kamikaze#eminem 2018#venom#superman#action comics#action comics 1000#miles morales#spider-man#into the spider verse#frozen#young justice#punisher#punisher s2#rap
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Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse Review
by Matthew Arce-Phillips
I have to admit it’s taken me sometime to write this review. Spider-man is a superhero near and dear to my heart and because of that it’s hard for me to type out my full feelings for this movie. Don’t get me wrong, as a HUMONGOUS Spider-Man fan I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. But I can’t say for certain that I loved it.
When I was first introduced to comics as a kid I was given 3 types of comic series. Spider-man, The Incredible Hulk, and Namor The Sub-mariner. Now, I didn’t care for Namor because I have a fear of the open ocean so fuck that guy. The Hulk ones were pretty interesting, but I really only looked at the pages when he was beating up someone or destroying something. But Spider-man... there was just something about his stories that held onto me as a kid. I would read his comics over and over again without ever getting bored of them! Every turn of the page, every word bubble kept my eyes glued stapled pieces of paper in front of me. Years later when I found out they were making a Spider-man movie, and my heart sank. I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m ranting, but I just feel the need to explain where I’m coming from and my love for the hero as well as the franchise. I have seen every single Spider-man film made by Sony and Marvel Studios. No biggie, but into the Spider-verse is and was different. It had to be. In order for Sony to compete against Disney and the MCU risks needed to be taken, and hell did it pay off!!
Everything about this movie is freaking amazing. The music, the art style, the voice acting, and every little single detail that made you feel that you were in an actual comic book come to life! This movie just totally blew all my expectations out of the water! Even the storyline was not what I was expecting at all! I’m so glad they didn’t ruin too much in the trailers, trailer story spoilers are a huge pet peeve of mine; but I also love to watch trailers for the hype so, eh.
Into The Spider-Verse wasn’t a retelling of the story we all know and love, it was a different perspective of the origin story. A fresh, never seen, totally new concept with the same meaning within its roots. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Personally that’s where I feel “The Amazing Spider-Man” movies went wrong, there wasn’t an emphasis on the meaning. Hell I don’t even think they said the phrase in either movies... but that’s a review for another day. Anywho, I don’t want to spoil this movie AT ALL because I truly believe everyone should see it as soon as possible! Even though it’s been a few months. But regardless this movie is spectacle for your senses inside and out! My favorite part of the movie or, should I say, favorite character in the movie was Old Spider-Man, Old Peter Parker.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Miles Morales and his transition into become his own Spider-Man, but Old SM was just the best and I adored him! Even as a secondary character every scene had so much meaning from start to finish. The introduction showed us our past that we’ve come to know. Spider-Man saves the day fights the bad guy, end of story. But as you find out, his life had taken a more realistic turn. You felt for him and his rejection of the mask, or at least I did. Now, the second best part of the movie, the way Miles took on the role himself and in my eyes truly surpassed the other Spider-Men. He represents the future of the hero and what he can become next, and going on the journey to be better than what was before him. Here’s my final thoughts.. Into the Spider-Verse is a damn good movie. Everything about it breaths excellence and something to look forward to with a new experience with every new installment into this “Spider-Verse” universe. Sony, you did any amazing job with this movie. Please, I repeat, PLEASE DON’T FUCK IT UP!!! You’ve created magic with this movie and it felt like experiencing the original Sam Raimi trilogy all over again. I give this movie 9 thwip thwips out of 10. Only because I wear nostalgia glasses like a motherfucker. Sam Raimi, I love you man and thank you for everything you did to shape my future as a child into adulthood.
Movies by Matt is the newest part of GBStudios’ team, looking to provide entertaining and informational reviews on all our favorite movies. You can follow @movies_matt and Gryndbox Studios on Twitter!
#spiderman#spiderverse#spider man into the spider verse#review#movie review#movies by matt#gryndbox studios
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Flash Forward and the Legacy of Wally West
https://ift.tt/31siq0R
Flash Forward #1 moves Wally West past the controversial events of DC's Heroes in Crisis.
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Heroes In Crisis was an incredible book. It told an extremely important story, delivering a critical message to an audience probably not used to hearing it. It also kind of breaks the superhero formula.
The biggest split between DC and Marvel characters has always been what the characters are best at doing. Marvel has the street level folks, the people with regular problems who also have to deal with being superheroes. DC heroes have always been the icons, the Olympian gods shining a light and showing us what we can be if we strive hard enough.
The point where they converge, though, is on legacy characters. Laura Kinney, Miles Morales, or Bucky all face their regular person problems in the Marvel Universe, but they also face problems fitting into or adjusting the iconography and archetype they’re filling as Wolverine or Spider-Man or Captain America. The inverse is true for DC’s legacy heroes: Wally West can have regular person problems - self-doubt, family drama, being broke - while also fulfilling the epic archetype that the Flash is supposed to.
In fact, Wally West is probably the exemplar of the legacy character archetype. While nearly everyone in the Justice Society of America had some kind of descendant (in name, power set, family tie, or motif) in the Silver Age, almost all of those second generation characters were the definitive ones for the superhero universes built around them - as great as he is, nobody’s first thought when you say “The Atom” is Al Pratt. Wally West was introduced in 1960 by Carmine Infantino and John Broome to be a sidekick to DC's ultimate legacy character, Barry Allen’s Flash. His primary role was to run around the DCU as part of team Flash, either with Barry or with his sidekick cohorts as a founding member of the Teen Titans. In 1986, after spending the previous couple of years with the speed force threatening to blow his heart out from exertion, he returned to full hero status for Crisis on Infinite Earths, and following Barry’s death, he took on the mantle of the Flash full time. He stayed the primary Flash until Barry was brought back to life in 2009.
read more: New Look at The Batman's Grave #1
So when this version of Wally was written out of continuity with the New 52, the fan outcry was predictable. Suddenly, the point of view character for the Justice League, the heart and soul of the DCU (according to one of the best episodes of, at that point, the most popular pop culture representation of the league - the Justice League animated series) didn’t exist. And the kicker: not only was the character functionally erased, but so was the legacy that was a defining motivation for Wally as a hero. Wally was able to transcend archetype because of his position as the legacy Flash: his struggle to live up to the greatness of the people who had his job before him was unique to him when he first got the job, and relatable in a way that “basically Hermes on Olympus, but he’s also always late” can’t be.
Heroes In Crisis told a story with a very regular person problem: it was all about surviving trauma. And it was really good! It was a masterful blending of the two styles - using icons to model behavior or tackle a problem for the audience. I think it worked in a lot of the same ways that the Young Justice episode about Harper Row’s abusive family did. Wally West has had his entire life ripped from him - a wife, kids, an entire world that he was torn out of. He went to get help, had a setback, hurt people he cared about and then compounded the error out of shame. HiC blended that down-to-earth problem with the big mythical path-illumination that DC’s heroes are so extremely good at.
It also left Wally in a rough spot. He sorta killed a bunch of people, and even though it was an accident, it’s not the kind of thing that can be handwaved away. But with every problem comes opportunity: Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth start putting Wally’s life back together (and setting him up for a big event in 2020, looks like) in Flash Forward.
Here’s the official synopsis from DC...
"His name is Wally West—and he was the Fastest Man Alive. That is, until the Multiverse was rewritten without him or his family in it. Wally returned and tried to make it work, but the damage was done. Spinning out of the events of Heroes in Crisis, follow the man who called himself Flash on an adventure to find redemption in a cosmos that has fought so hard to destroy him."
We’ve got an exclusive first look at the book for you here. Check it out!
And if you want any more information on what’s coming next for Wally or a deeper dive into why he’s provably the best Flash, stick with Den of Geek!
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News Jim Dandy
Sep 16, 2019
DC Entertainment
wally west
The Flash
from Books https://ift.tt/2ZZnJax
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Notes on “Spider-man: Far From Home” and other Spider-man movies from someone who maybe half-likes the MCU
Hey, who out there is like me -- maybe half-likes the Marvel Cinematic Universe at most? Ie, you go see the movies wth friends as a social event. Maybe you like Thor 1, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, the Spiderman movies. OK this is for you. Come along for the ride.
Alright, so I went to see Spiderman: Far From Home. Yep it’s fun -- I was entertained for 2hrs, it’s fun to see with friends, I kind of forgot everything by the next day, it’s a solid MCU movie, go see it.
Stuff I liked (mild spoilers ahead)
*Honestly? The scenery is really pretty. That’s not usually the first thing I talk about, but Venice waterways and those European forests and cities with carnivals? Serious eyecandy. I mean if Disney’s gonna throw money at something, I appreciate these beautiful set locations.
*Classmate interactions with Peter Parker. Fav parts of the movie. Cut out 7/8 of the CGI battle scenes and tech stuff; add more classmate stuff instead, thanks.
*Okay but out of the endless CGI stuff, the dream-sequence-ness was pretty cool.
* The bridge scene w/ Peter Parker and MJ. Peter doing an abrupt turnaround decision and blurting out his secret identity. MJ being 67% sure. The quips in the movie are good, as with a lot of the MCU movies. They know how to do funny lines.
* MJ Actually Not Being Here For It At All re: swinging across town with Spidey. I appreciate this because, honestly, who amongst us would have any other reaction than MJ’s.
H/C angles -- Hm, not actually the most interesting part of the movie for me, in this case. Anyway, Spidey/Peter Parker gets physically whalloped a bit, limps around, etc. Also there’s a lot of mourning for Tony Stark which I guess could be emotional hurt/comfort for some audience members. Too bad I’m sick of MCU Tony Stark and I would be okay not seeing his face or character again. So most of the movie was me being like “aaarrgh”... because guess whose face, in fact, kept showing up or being talked about.
Other notes (major spoilers ahead)
Alright, this is where everyone who is maybe only half-interested in the MCU -- because the MCU is mostly about men and mostly white men at that and it’s these processed corporate stories with like 7/8 more CGI fight scenes thrown in your face than needed and everything is packed into a breakneck pacing and there’s always some Alien Warcraft In Space and every movie is like the same. dang. thing. every time. -- Anyway, this is the space for ya’ll.
Okay, there are times that I did like MCU’s CGI fancy tech stuff -- like Black Panther’s afrofuturism. Very cool. Lots of designs I haven’t seen before. And subversive against a lot of media tropes. Also Thor: Ragnarock with Taika Waititi putting aboriginal flag colors on the ships and other indigenous people references through the movie. Also, in general, I liked those movies ‘cause they were being made with PoC and colonized people viewpoints.
Since I’m on the topic -- the appeal of the first Thor movie is, for me, that it feels like a weird Shakespeare story in Space with Epic Costumes and locations. (The director has indeed made a bunch of Shakespeare movies.) Also the movie has some romance book elements -- the women feel like solid characters and the lead woman demands the male protag to act better and he actually does become a more appealing, good person.
Also, MCU Spiderman. Because I’m here to watch Fun Superhero movies. (Not superhero movies where women get thrown off cliffs repeatedly as plot points. And where a first-year ecology student or a natural resource manager could give like 20 examples of why Populations and Ecology Doesn’t Work Like That and Also That is Some Seriously Racist and Colonizer Views You’re Helping To Spread Through A Mainstream Movie. You know, if the MCU producers or Russo brothers or whoever would have listened for like 2 minutes. Guess which blog writer didn’t think much of Infinity War or Endgame.) ANYWAY, so out of the MCU movies, the Spider-man movies are what I’m more interested in.
Oh, note on Tony Stark. The only MCU Tony Stark I like is in fanfiction. Fanfic people write MCU Tony Stark and write the IronDad SpiderSon thing in a way where I’m like, “Oooh okay I get the appeal now”. Fanfic writers, doing all the good work as usual. Otherwise, eh... I never liked the Tony Stark half-adopting Peter Parker thing. It just felt weird. Towards the end of Spiderman: Far From Home, you see the movie setting up Peter Parker being a mini-Tony-Stark as he messes with CGI holograms and assembles his own suit. And I’m like “Nooooooo, leave Peter Parker alone, don’t turn him into Stark.... And also blaaahhhh more CGI generic holographic tech sequences blaaahhh”.
Also, seriously not cool to all put this responsibility on some little “Haven’t Even Taken all His AP Classes or Started Applying to College” highschool kid. Honestly, earlier in the movie? I was thinking, “Yeah Peter you give those fancy (Likely-Weapons-of-Mass-Destruction) Glasses to there Fishbowl-Head-Man. You deserve better than this mess, MCU Peter Parker. Seriously, the kid probably doesn’t even know how to drive yet.” I was on-board with this plan. But, no, the plot had different ideas. I continue to blame Tony Stark or Fury or just all the adults in this situation honestly.
Also, TBH, as the credits were rolling, what I thought was, “Oh this makes me miss the 2000′s Spiderman 1 and 2 movies.” This shows which movies/versions of Spider-man I imprinted on.
I did re-watch the 2002 and 2004 Spider-man movies two years ago (after the first MCU Spiderman movie Homecoming came out). The 2000′s movies are still solid movies. A few notes:
Nostalgia Glasses OFF. Wow, Spiderman 1 movie = very White. We are in NYC, right? Why are all the students white? On this point, the MCU Spiderman movies and also the Sony Miles Morales spiderman movie is better and more interesting. (Actually... I’m putting the Miles Morales movie a smidge above MCU spiderman movies, honestly -- the animation is cool, there’s some weird jokes I dig, some really weird macabre jokes I dig, I like the main character a lot, I like that he’s mixed race and we get some references to that, and I like that we get to feel our Feels a little more thanks to more breathing room in the pacing.)
Also, 2002 spiderman movie, your homophobic joke about Bonesaw was never cool and hasn’t aged well.
What I Still Like: Ya know I just really appreciate some pacing and direction where we get to feel stuff, you know? Also, a standalone story for a movie! We focus on the main protag and a few other people. I like that the main character in this version is moving from senior year of high school to college and young adulthood and a lot of the serious themes about responsibility and stuff are overlapping with this. The way this is done feels more quietly grounded and real.
H/C angles -- Gotta say the whump and emotional hurt/comfort is still really solid in Spider-man 1 + 2. Very earned. Oddly, this time around, what stood out for me was Harry Osborn’s grief at losing his father. Especially that scene where he’s about to kill Spider-man in grief-revenge and he pulls off Spider-man’s mask and it’s his best bud Peter Parker, and Harry’s just whalloped. [Whumpy clip from Spiderman 2 with all that, YouTube]
What I also still like: So I guess the people making Spider-man 1 didn’t have all that much money? There’s a close-up scene where MJ is embracing Spiderman as they swing across the city. I think I read later, the actress playing MJ said the production team had to use a mannequin in that scene, so she had to hug the mannequin and pretend it was Spider-man. I didn’t notice this until I read it. But since then, whenever I see that scene and pay close attention, Spider-man does look a little off and I start laughing.
Also, Willem Dafoe hamming it up. No, really. Hamming. it. up. So good.
#spiderman#reviews#hurt/comfort#whump#That scenery#fishbowl head man#mysterio#black panther#thor#thor ragnarok#MCU#Miles Morales#spider-man 2002#spider-man 2004#spider-man: far from home#spider-man#peter parker#MJ
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New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/07/14/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-71417/
West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/14/17
So, I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming. Unlike most of you, I didn’t love it. I really liked it, but didn’t love it. Part of the issue stems from the legacy of Spider-Man films. I kinda hate how every star has delivered a great performance as Spider-Man, yet the minute the roll is recast, fans with short memories start saying the last guy was “shit”. People love ragging on Tobey Maguire, especially after Spider-Man 3, but he was really good in those first two movies. There’s a Spider-Man for every generation, and he was the Spider-Man we needed in 2002. Sure, he wouldn’t work so well now, but to compare his movies to Homecoming is basically apples to oranges. I also kinda hate when people say “They finally got Spider-Man right!” Um, Tobey already got him right. Andrew Garfield, in his own way, got him right. And Holland is getting him right. For now. They’ve all brought something special and unique to the table, and I think it’s unfair to discount that because there’s some new, shiny thing to take your attention.
All that’s to say that I liked Homecoming, but it didn’t really offer anything new to me. I felt the same wide-eyed wonder seeing Holland do the ferry rescue as I did when Maguire did the same thing with the train in Spider-Man 2. Some might call that an homage, but it just felt…familiar.
What did I love? I loved Tony being there. I felt like there was just enough Tony Stark without the film becoming Iron Man 3.5. It’s always good to see Happy, and this movie did more with him than most of the Iron Man films ever did. I especially love movie Happy since comic Happy is no longer with us (sad trombone). I loved sexy, younger Aunt May, but I’ve loved Marisa Tomei ever since she filled out her college application wrong and ended up at that Black college. I loved the running joke of all the guys commenting on how hot she was. It’s a new concept for May, but it works. I loved the Miles Morales Easter egg (I won’t spoil it here if you didn’t catch it). I loved Not-Ganke (For those not in the know, Ganke is the name of Miles Morales Spider-Man’s best friend, who looks EXACTLY like actor Jacob Batalon), even if I don’t know why they insisted on calling him “Ned Leeds”. I loved that Damage Control was officially revealed. Keaton was great, even if he’s not an Adrian Toomes that I recognize. The Liz Allen swerve was cool, ’cause I really didn’t see that coming.
OK, now for the things I didn’t like. They introduced a good swath of Spidey’s rogue (Mac Gargan, Shocker), all at once as Vulture’s gang, only to be relegated to ancillary characters and henchmen. I know the MCU has a “Villain Problem” of wasting their villains, but this just takes the cake.
Now, this is gonna sound stupid, but I spent a good amount of time trying to reconcile the MCU timeline in my head. The movie starts immediately after Avengers, jumps 8 years to Captain America: Civil War, and then to the present day, which is shortly after the airport battle where Spidey debuted. Now, a big part of Act 3 is the fact that Vulture wants to steal a bunch of Avengers/Stark Tech on Moving Day – when everything was being moved from Avengers Tower to the upstate facility. Now, Tony’s rich, so it’s not like he can’t own multiple properties, but why is Moving Day happening NOW? I mean, the upstate facility debuted at the end of Age of Ultron, we saw it again in Ant-Man, and everyone seemed to be pretty moved in by Civil War. So, why the delay in moving everything up there? Does Homecoming maybe not take place when we think it does? Well, we know it’s post-Civil War because Cap’s hilariously referred to as a war criminal by gym teacher Hannibal Buress. If it were just a thrown away reference, I wouldn’t care, but the whole final action piece is based on this Moving Day concept. Anyway, I think it’s fair to say I probably wasn’t in the right headspace for this movie if that’s where my brain was going.
Oh, and the thing I hated most: that effing MJ reveal! First of all, it accomplished nothing. It was corny, and it was executed just as poorly as when The Dark Knight Rises did it. Secondly, at the end of the day, her name is MICHELLE, not MARY. You can call her “MJ”, but that does not make her Mary Jane. And to be honest, the movie would’ve been fine without her character. While she was funny, it seems like she was woven into the movie solely to make that hamfisted name reveal at the end.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll watch this movie a bunch more once it hits the premium channels, but I just didn’t fall in love with it as much as a lot of you did. I’m really sorry about that, too, ’cause I really wanted to love it. Something just didn’t work for me entirely, and I can’t put my finger on it exactly.
Things were heating up in the news world this week. Back when NBC announced they had hired Megyn Kelly from Fox News, Today co-anchor Tamron Hall abruptly quit, reportedly because her contract was about to expire. Industry insiders, however, believe it was because it was rumored that Kelly would be given the third hour of Today – where Hall was currently the co-anchor of Today’s Take. Well, that’s somewhat true, as this week it was revealed that Kelly’s show will premiere September 25th, and will feature a live studio audience, like a traditional talk show. It will, in fact, occupy the third hour of Today, sandwiched between the regular Today and the Kathie Lee & Hoda hour of Today. Not to be outdone, it was also announced that Tamron Hall is developing a daytime talk show with Weinstein Television. It’s also believed that, in several major markets, this talk show will go head to head with Kelly’s daytime show. Now the race is on to see which one of them earns the coveted “Fake News” label first!
In other television news, CBS announced an upcoming animated special called Michael Jackson’s Halloween, which sounds kinda sketchy. Apparently, it’s about two Millennials (there’s THAT buzzword), which is basically to say “two shits too young to appreciate the King of Pop’s music”. Anyway, they meet at a party, end up at a weird hotel, and crazy stuff happens – all capped off by a dance number by an animated Michael. If you ask me, he already contributed his greatest gift to the Halloween industry: “Thriller”! Unless this is just a one-hour animated version of “Thriller”, I don’t think the world needs this. Somebody tell his mama to stop letting his estate make crap like this.
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
John Cho joins Fox’s The Exorcist next season. While some are all, “Yay, representation!”, I’m like “Why the F is Sulu doing television?!” Well, I guess since Kumar’s already doing television…
In a move that’s somewhat baffling to me, Lucy Liu will direct the season 2 premiere of Netflix’s Luke Cage
Speaking of Netflix, Bojack Horseman season 4 will premiere on September 8th.
Fresh of the Boat dad Randall Park has been cast as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man & The Wasp
Netflix has also renewed the Castlevania animated series for a second season
Jeremy Renner essentially broke both arms while filming the movie Tag, though it’s not expected to affect production on Avengers: Infinity War.
Smallville‘s Lois Lane, Erica Durance, is taking over the role of Alura from Laura Benanti on Supergirl.
Despite flopping in North America, the Baywatch film is on track to make $100 million overseas
Showtime is planning a sequel to the hit lesbian series The L Word. If it were up to me, it’d be called The K Word, and it would be about non-binary gender Millennials as they make their way through NYC, but nobody pays me for these ideas, so…
After 27 years of voicing Kermit the Frog, it was revealed that Steve Whitmire was fired back in October, and it currently lobbying to get his job back. Apparently, it’s not east being Steve.
In probably the biggest TV news this week (at least for the geek set), it was announced that AT&T Lily herself, Milana Vayntrub, has been cast as Squirrel Girl in Marvel’s New Warriors on Freeform. I cared NOTHING about this show until that announcement. It still doesn’t really inspire any confidence for me, as I don’t know if the superhero comedy genre works on television (see Powerless), but I’m definitely more inclined to check it out than I had been prior to the announcement. I mean, who doesn’t love that chick?! I love her in the commercials, I loved her in Other Space, and I even loved her as a bitchy ex-girlfriend in Love. Here’s hoping this leads to the big break she deserves. It was a slow entertainment news week so, ya know what, Milana Vayntrub had the Breas…I mean West Week Ever.
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2017 Superhero Movies
We have four big superhero releases coming this year, one entry from 20th Century Fox, two from Warner Bros for the DC Cinematic Universe (or 'Extended Universe' as it's apparently being called) and 2017 marks the first time we get three entries for the MCU.
So, what have we got?
LOGAN
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that Hugh Jackman is finally hanging up his claws. Jackman has played Wolverine in every film to from the first X-MEN back in 2000, to the most recent X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. He's only missed an appearance in DEADPOOL, which was a bit of shame, but in his 17th year of playing the cigar-chomping Canadian mutant, Jackman has decided enough is enough. Director James Mangold returns from the last solo outing for the character (THE WOLVERINE), but this film looks like a very different beast.
The trailers and pictures popping up here and there online, show something more arty, perhaps? There's an aged tension there, with a beared Logan looking after a weakened Charles Xavier (played once again by Patrick Stewart, possibly in his last appearance for the franchise too).
For a simple explanation I'll now attach a poster, that Jackman himself put up on his twitter.
Whilst I completely understand Jackman's decision to retire (he's an aging actor that plays a character that's essentially immortal (*essentially*), but 20th Century Fox but realise they're about to suffer a huge loss. Sure they've now got Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, but we don't know how effectively they can sync the 'merc with a mouth' in with the rest of the X-Men team. They seem to be putting a few eggs in the Channing Tatum starring GAMBIT film (that was originally slated to debut in 2016 btw), and those rumours of Jennifer Lawrence making some solo turns as Mystique seem to have dissolved. Let's hope Jackman's last swan song is a fitting tribute to his previous appearances.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2
I'll be straight up with this one - THIS is the film I'm looking forward to the most in 2017 (at least when it comes to the big SH franchises). GOTG was a massively entertaining film and will certainly be a hard one to top. Director James Gunn certainly seems up to the task, with the first couple of trailers showing little, but entertaining a lot. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista reprise their roles has Star-Lord, Gamora and Drax respectively. Bradley Cooper also returns as the voice of Rocket Raccon, but already the star of the show looks to be Baby Groot (again voiced by Vin Diesel)
Michael Rooker (Yondu) and Karen Gillan (Nebula), both villains in the first one are reportedly to join the gang this time around, and we have lots of new characters to look forward to - Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha and Kurt Russell as Ego the living planet. (although, apparently we won't be seeing him as a planet?). There are also rumours that fanboy favourite Nathan Fillion will appear as Wonder Man, and Sly Stallone has a role! I, for one, cannot wait - and let's not forget, this is only the first of this year's MCU offerings! (Also remember, next year we finally get the team up we've all been waiting for, as the guardians appear in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, so it'll be very interesting to see when Gunn leaves these characters at the end of this film. Exciting!)
WONDER WOMAN
Okay, let's be honest, BATMAN V SUPERMAN was not the film anyone hoped it would be. One positive to come from the film though was Gal Gadot's turn as Diana Prince.
The DC Extended Universe has got off to a rocky start so far, but WONDER WOMAN may turn that around. It's certainly been a long time coming, but Gal Gadot does have the honour of releasing the first proper female-lead superflick. It's fitting that it should be WW. The trailer's look like we might be getting a sort of Captain America/Thor cross, with some dark and dank war-torn scenery contrasting some beautiful Amazonian imagery. STAR TREK actor Chris Pine gets to play Diana's love interest, and we have major roles for Robin Wright (HOUSE OF CARDS), Danny Huston (X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE) with Connie Nielsen playing Diana's mother Queen Hippolyta. Comedy will be coming from Lucy Davis (THE OFFICE - the UK version). With WONDER WOMAN the last entry before JUSTICE LEAGUE, it'll be interesting to see how direct a lead in it will be... and whether Ben Affleck has filmed any secret cameos?
Note: Director Patty Jenkins was originally meant to direct Marvel's THOR: THE DARK WORLD, but it didn't pan out for whatever reason.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
Well, it's been a rocky road for our friendly neighbourhood webslinger, hasn't it? First Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN and SPIDER-MAN 2 were loved by all, but then SPIDER-MAN 3 didn't live up to expectations. Rather that soldier on, and make the best SPIDER-MAN 4 they could, Sony cut and run... running straight into an ill-advised reboot, with Andrew Garfield replacing Tobey Maguire in a much darker toned take. If there's one good thing from it, it was the very workable onscreen chemistry between Peter Paker and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, but the dismal THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 shattered the studio's hopes of a 'shared universe' and the two sequels and possible spin-offs very all scrapped. It was sad, but also... lead to the most famous Marvel character being allowed to play in the same sandbox as the majority of all the other Marvel characters (minus X-Men and Fantastic Four, of course).
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING will be the first co-adventure between Sony and Marvel Studios, with Tom Holland having had a little try out in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. To prove that's a two-way process, Robert Downey Jr will be appearing as Iron Man (joined by Happy Hogan - Jon Favreau returning to the role for the first time since IRON MAN 3). Marisa Tomei will continue to play the hottest Aunt May we've seen on film, and whilst little is known about the story, we do know that Michael Keaton (BATMAN) will be playing the main villain, Vulture.
Of course, the main USP of the MCU's take on Spidey, is that they've actually cast a teenager as Parker, allowing for more school-time adventures... so it should come as no surprise a lot of the announced cast are 'young adults'. There are plenty of known actors in the mix too - notably Bokeem Woodbine, who will be playing Shocker, and Donald Glover, perhaps a nod to the fact he voiced Miles Morales, the next Spider-Man! (Don't expect him to play that character though). No sign of J Jonah Jameson yet, surely a character Marvel would wish to bring in asap. Or maybe have they already? They've been known to take liberties with race and gender (RE: Tilda Swinton in DOCTOR STRANGE), and let's be honest... we don't know who Tyne Daly is playing yet? Just saying...
THOR: RAGNAROK
I really liked THOR, it was a nice surprised. THOR: THE DARK WORLD, though... lacked something. So far though, everything points to RAGNAROK as being the best of the trilogy... and an all round solid entry for the MCU.
'Ragnarok' is, essentially, known as the Asgardian apocalypse, where pretty much all the Asgardians are likely die... all except Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and possibly Loki (Tom Hiddleston). That's a pretty big promise. Another promise is that we're not likely to spend as much time on Earth as we have in the previous films. This is good. It also means though we can expect no appearances from Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard or Kat Dennings on this occasion.
But don't be too upset, because who we're getting instead is far more impressive. Thor's fellow Avenger Dr Bruce Banner aka The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) will be featured heavily, in what very much sounds like a loose adaption of PLANET HULK, a popular story in the comics. Yep, we're going to see Thor v Hulk in a gladiatorial style arena. Brilliant. Also brilliant, as hinted at in a previous film, Benedict Cumberbatch will be appearing as Doctor Strange!
Aside from returning actors Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins and Jaimie Alexander (Heimdall, Odin and Sif, respectively), we get new blood in Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Karl Urban as Skurge, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster and Cate Blanchett as Hela!
Everything points to this film being epic, and a very important entry as we move closer to the epic AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. Rumours continue that Blanchett's Hela may stand in for Death... ie, Thanos' true love, the one he wants to get the Infinity stones for etc... interesting. Very interesting.
But on to our last Superhero entry for 2017...
JUSTICE LEAGUE
As I've already mentioned, BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE was a bit of a disappointment. Too dark for it's own good, little humour, and some silly plot devices. Apparently director Zack Snyder and writer Chris Terrio have learnt their lessons and JUSTICE LEAGUE will be lighter in tone... but will still be BIG. And so it should be!
For many, this is the big one. This is the one Warner Bros and the DCEU need to get right. Joss Whedon delivered one hell of a film when he turned in THE AVENGERS for MCU, and now Zack Snyder needs to do the same. As you can see in the picture, we've got Ben Affleck returning as Batman, Gal Gadot back as Wonder Woman, and our first true looks at Ray Fisher's Cyborg, Ezra Miller's Flash and Jason Mamoa's Aquaman.
Let's not forget Henry Cavill's Superman will be back from the dead, and we've got a lot of other familiar faces returning too... Amy Adams' Lois Lane is likely to play a key role again, Jeremy Irons returns as Alfred, Diane Lane will be back as Martha Kent and Jesse Eisenberg is confirmed to return as Lex Luther (*grumble*, serious the worst casting it annoys me to even write it). We have new characters too, such as Amber Heard's Mera, Ciaran Hinds' Steppenwolf and JK Simmons brings us Commissioner Gordon, amongst others.
We don't really know the plot yet, but that's okay. Fingers crossed they nail it. Quite frankly, the rest of their film franchise may well be resting on it.
#justice league#wonder woman#thor ragnarok#spider-man: homecoming#logan#wolverine#guardians of the galaxy vol 2#hugh jackman#chris pratt#ben affleck#robert downey jr#tom holland#chris hemsworth#tom hiddleston#cate blanchett#michael keaton#patrick stewart#x-men#batman#superman#aquaman#the flash#gal gadot#mcu#dceu#superhero#zoe saldana#kurt russell#donald glover#baby groot
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In the '90s, Batman was at its best in Mask of the Phantasm
Before Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, the only movie that took Batman seriously was a cartoon.
Originally a direct-to-video release, Warner Bros. Animation rushed “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” into theaters 25 years ago next month. Created by the Emmy award-winning team behind “Batman: The Animated Series,” this feature-length animated film was thrown into theaters during the 1993 Christmas season alongside heavyweights like “Schindler’s List” and “Philadelphia.” Of course, “Mask of the Phantasm” flopped.
Even as Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel praised its 1994 home video release, “Mask of the Phantasm” existed as an overlooked stop-gap between Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher’s live action entries, 1992’s “Batman Returns” and 1995’s “Batman Forever.” However, “Mask of the Phantasm” did what Burton and Schumacher couldn’t—it gave us a reason to care about Batman. Until the ‘00s, “Mask of the Phantasm” was the only Batman movie that made Batman the subject of its film, not an accessory.
Directed by Eric Radomski and Bruce W. Timm from a story penned by “The Animated Series” vet Alan Burnett, “Mask of the Phantasm” shows The Dark Knight investigating another masked vigilante named the Phantasm. The new presence appears in a cloud of smoke, with a blade for a fist, attacking Gotham City mobsters. At the same time, Wayne’s old flame, Andrea Beaumont (voiced by Dana Delaney), has returned. Could she be the Phantasm?
Through film noir-style flashbacks, “Mask of the Phantasm” presents a vulnerable Bruce Wayne (voiced by Kevin Conroy) reckoning with his past while facing a violent future as Batman.
While other Batman movies flirt with Wayne’s haunted past, this is the main focus of “Mask of the Phantasm.” Not only did Wayne lose his parents at a young age, he also lost the love of his life, his only semblance of normalcy, in Beaumont. The audience is finally given displays of his anger, guilt and disappointment. In the midst of making another challenging decision, Wayne stares at his parents’ portrait in his manor, wondering if he’ll reconnect with Beaumont. In flashbacks, Wayne visits his parents’ grave, seeking advice about his love for Beaumont, and later asking permission to become Batman.
The movie also shows Wayne’s difficult transition into a superhero. A man who brazenly fights crime, be it in a ski mask or blue sweatshirt, becomes Batman. After these sequences, we see Wayne bloody, bandaged and bruised, which felt like a first at the time. Even after he has become the famed vigilante, Wayne perks himself atop a skyscraper as Batman. While in costume, Wayne is preoccupied with the past as he spies on Beaumont going on a date with councilman Arthur Reeves (voiced by Hart Bochner). The rain pours as Batman grimaces, focusing his binoculars on Reeves and Beaumont sharing a romantic moment. Those types of details were never delivered in live-action Batman movies until “Batman Begins.”
Unlike every live-action Batman movie, “Mask of the Phantasm” runs under 80 minutes. Rather than stretching out a movie over two hours, it excels as a lesson in tight storytelling. As Siskel noted in his review, “Every image counts.” Each scene moves the story along at a rapid pace. There are no lulls. Just as soon as the Phantasm is introduced, taking out crime boss Chuckie Sol, the film moves to Reeves yelling for Batman’s head, then Wayne hearing of Beaumont’s return.
Ebert added that “Mask of the Phantasm” worked well because “animation can do some things live-action can’t.” An obvious statement, but it’s spot-on and still applicable to modern day comic-book movies. Here, Wayne climbs the grill of an 18-wheeler and throws spiked bombs at its tires. The truck flips, creating an impressive sequence that countless action movies have duplicated with success and failure. Later, Wayne confronts a gang of punks, jumping towards one motorcycle-riding baddie and landing a punch. It’s an acrobatic stunt modern CGI still can’t replicate as naturally.
In contrast, Burton and Schumacher’s Batman movies are two-hour-long time capsules of each director’s style. “Batman” is dark, and then Jack Nicholson appears as The Joker, jamming some Prince. “Batman Returns” is full of Burton’s quirks (leather, prosthetics, an appearance by Paul Reubens) and not much else. Burton’s films are both more interested in their villains—Joker & Penguin/Catwoman—than the hero himself.
Schumacher’s aren’t really interested in anything at all. The director lit scenes with neon pinks, greens and blues, shot action at canted angles, and overstuffed his casts with big names playing meaningless parts (hello, Drew Barrymore, Debi Mazar, Alicia Silverstone, Vivica A. Fox and Elle Macpherson). Two decades later, even Schumacher admitted that “Batman & Robin” was a toy commercial.
In comparison, “Mask of the Phantasm” doesn’t feel like a product of the ‘90s. Instead, half of the movie feels like it’s set in the 1940s. The creators credited “Citizen Kane” as inspiration for the film’s flashbacks. You can find more examples of that classic feel in “Mask of the Phantasm”’s score, architecture and automobile design, and mobsters using Tommy guns. Even Mark Hamill’s performance as Joker is exaggerated with one-liners like, “So, what’s an old-timer want with a two-timer like me?” and “Very cute, but I can blow smoke too, toots!” More than anything, Batman’s chief occupation, in the early comics and here in the film, is that of a private eye.
12 years after “Mask of the Phantasm,” Christopher Nolan solved the live-action Batman dilemma with his trilogy, creating three box-office hits that were dark and had stakes. But by 2016, Batman was back to a supporting role, huffing and puffing in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Justice League,” and appearing out of nowhere in “Suicide Squad.” Nowadays, Batman is better served in LEGO movies.
While Batman himself may be in a transitional phase in American entertainment, DC and Warner Bros. Animation were ahead of the curve with “Mask of the Phantasm.” Since that release, the DC animated universe has continued to impress with direct-to-video titles such as “Superman: Doomsday,” “Batman: Under the Red Hood,” and “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths,” to name a few. But with the influx of movies in theaters and on demand, what isn’t playing on 3,000 screens can be easily ignored.
There is some reason to hope, though. Besides “The LEGO Batman Movie”’s success, DC released another animated movie this summer with “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.” While “Teen Titans Go!” wasn’t a box-office smash, it grossed more than $51 million worldwide, recouping its $10 million budget. “Mask of thePhantasm” couldn’t make its $6 million budget back. Like Marvel’s “Deadpool” and Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Teen Titans Go!” is also full of non-stop humor and gags that make more sense to adults (Nicolas Cage as Superman is a nice touch for geeks who wanted “Superman Lives”). But, here comes Marvel quick to respond with the upcoming “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” headlined by Miles Morales (voiced by Sameik Moore), a half-Puerto Rican and half-African-American teenager with Spidey sense.
Unlike “Mask of the Phantasm,” “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is backed by an unrushed promotional campaign, and an awareness that anything can be done with animated storytelling. Marvel knows it can add elements like Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), an older Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), and Daredevil villain Kingpin (Liev Schreiber). Sure, it’s a gamble, but “Into the Spider-Verse” will come closer to its source than any live-action adaptation possibly could because it’s drawn just like the comic books. Already, fans are salivating at the prospect of seeing a cartoon Spidey as its trailer has nearly 30 million hits on YouTube.
The likely success of “Spider-Verse” could lead to a number of other high-profile animated projects: Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Superman For All Seasons would be a perfect feature-length animated film; Martian Manhunter is the type of character whose story would get botched by CGI. And why would anyone try to make a live-action Watchmen again, when you could make that an excellent animated miniseries? With “Mask of the Phantasm,” DC seemingly knew how well its characters were served by feature-length cartoons. Now, 25 years later, it looks like DC and Warner Bros. Animation are once again chasing Marvel.
Like Bruce Wayne, DC is constantly reckoning with its past mistakes, trying to force a new future. If DC’s next move is to rush an animated feature out to theaters, no matter how great it is, it might take another 25 years for audiences to come around. With regards to “Mask of the Phantasm,” it’s a shame it took so long, because in the ‘90s, it was the only Batman movie that mattered.
from All Content https://ift.tt/2DbEe7w
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The Transmedia Convergence
Taking an existing form of media and turning it into another form of media is common place and has been prominent in the main stream since radio serialized such adventures of Superman, the Phantom, and Buck Rogers, to name a few. Popular stories and characters have continually branched out over multiple forms of entertainment to appease core audiences as well as win over others. In the 90s and 2000s, we saw worlds such as that of The Matrix push boundaries and tell varying stories with new characters or rehash some supporting characters within the films, and give those stories platforms all their own, such as the Animatrix (a collection of short, animated films), Enter the Matrix (video game following the characters Niobe and Ghost), and The Matrix Comics (webcomics ). In fact, the Wachowski siblings have stated that they really set out to make a comic book superhero film in The Matrix, but didn’t want to make the comic first. All that said, a term in this week’s reading stood out to me as something I would like to ponder on and share my thoughts with you; convergence.
Convergence, in essence, is taking various elements from other forms of media and directing them into one medium. A good example I can think of for this is in the 2007 movie Hitman. Hitman (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465494/) is based upon the video game series of the same name (https://games.gamepressure.com/series.asp?ID=71). The stories, respectively, revolve around Agent 47 and his fulfilling of assassination contracts. The reason I find this to be a good example of convergence is that, as a fan of the game series, the movie added one crucial element that won me over. It consisted of maybe 7 seconds of screen time, but one simple camera angle sold me on whatever the film would be. In the game, it defaults to a 3rd person style shooter, with the camera being behind and over the player character. In the movie, the same camera placement was used as Timothy Olyphant’s Agent 47 walks down a hallway. Here, not only did the filmmakers take an existing property and tell a new story with the characters, but they also took a cinematic trope of the games and incorporated that into the film. Little moments like that appease the core audience (players of the games) as they reach out to garner another audience (the filmgoer).
Which brings me to another point. Can there truly be convergence without the act of transmedia? If a property exists and is being adopted to another medium, that’s transmedia. But in adopting said property to that new medium, is it not also an act of convergence?
Today, superhero movies are front and center of mainstream media. Not only are there serious dollars behind these films, but I personally believe that as long as there is an emphasis on polarizing viewpoints and using scare tactics on the population at large, the masses will continue to gravitate to these types of stories as the heroes within are the best of us and what we wish we could be. And the “bad guy” always loses… but that’s a debate for another day. As I was saying, properties like the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow and take characters from comic books and bring them to life on the big screen. Throughout each movie, regardless of studio backing, are “Easter Eggs” of all sorts peppered throughout. Nods to future storylines and characters are often found, or perhaps just a reference to an origin. An example of this can be found in Spider-Man: Homecoming. In one scene, actor Donald Glover is interrogated by the titular hero and says that he has a nephew who lives in the area. This nephew, for those of you that are not up on your Spidey-trivia, is Miles Morales, aka the Spider-Man of the Ultimate comics. Glover himself plays “Aaron Davis,” the guy who eventually becomes one of Spidey’s villains, The Prowler. Even the license plate in this scene is UCS-M01 or Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, the first comic issue to introduce the character of Miles Morales.
(Find more Spider-Man Easter Eggs at https://screenrant.com/spider-man-movie-easter-eggs-homecoming-marvel/)
Are “Easter Eggs” a form of transmedia, convergence or a bit of both? Personally, I feel you can’t have one without the other and that efforts like this are made with the spirit of both in mind.
Speaking of Marvel, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) just had its 10-year anniversary. Multiple movies made over the last decade featuring dozens of characters have been on the big screen for audiences, familiar and unfamiliar, to experience and share, but to what end? “Phase One” culminated in seeing the titular characters and supporting casts of those films, all coming together with The Avengers. “Phase Two” of the MCU branched out even further and deeper. Now we’re coming up on the culmination of “Phase Three” where seemingly separate entities such as The Avengers and The Guardians of the Galaxy will share the screen. Avengers: Infinity War is bridging everything from the last 10 years of Marvel cinema into one film. It’s all “converging” if you will (see what I did there?) For me, this is an event (yes, event) that I’m not only anticipating to the umpteenth degree, but one that, (because I’ve read the comic on which it’s based) I am dreading in equal proportions.
(Avengers: Infinity War trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfuNTqbHE8)
In the end, perhaps I’ve not clearly distinguished a line between what is transmedia and what is convergence of media, but for me, they’re synonymous. As properties, such as video games, comic books, novels, and the like continue to spill over into other mediums, they will also be funneled to fit the new mediums operative parameters. A video game turned movie can’t (yet) turn the control of the protagonist over to the viewer, but the filmmakers can emulate the games style, camera movements, character fighting styles, or whatever the case may be.
To wrap up, I’ll say this. My feelings on where we’re headed in entertainment is going to either blur, or outright decimate the lines of division that we call medium. Movies, video games, even books, I think are all headed to the same place; virtual reality. 360-degree short films are already things, with major studios developing feature length films in this manner. Rides at amusement parks utilize the “motion odyssey” technology to make “stagnant” viewing more immersive. James Cameron is making his next film 3d without the need to wear 3d glasses. All of these things are headed toward the same end, a complete, immersive (and virtual) experience. I truly believe that the future, even mundane, will revolve around existing in another reality. Picture this: you’re tired after a long day and all you want to do is go home and read a book. Rather than picking up an actual book, or even a Kindle type of device, you enter into a virtual reality experience where now you’re on a beach, or in a lodge high in the mountains, or whatever you prefer as your “Zen” place, and you enjoy your book, “far away” from your life’s troubles.
This may not happen in any of our lifetimes, but reading the terrain of today, I whole-heartedly believe that that’s where we as a people are headed. Whether or not it pans out that way, I think we’re all in for some really exciting technological experiences due to the convergence of various mediums and the unique elements of each being integrated on seen, and unforeseen, levels. What do you think?
More reading of what I touched on:
James Cameron's glasses-less 3d technology
Transmedia Storytelling and The Matrix by Sam Shepherd
The Invisible Man 360 degree VR short film
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13) THE STEALTHIER APPROACH
“The early warning Spider-Sense is the ace up Peter Parker’s sleeve, although rarely does he use it to its full potential.”
You mean like synching it to his spider tracers, using it whilst he sleeps, using it to detect if items of food might be out of date or using it in combination with his speed to defeat heavy hitters like Fire Lord?
“Either he’s warned ahead of time that he’s about to be bonked on the head, while swinging idly around the Manhattan skyline, or he’s caught completely unawares by villains like Venom who don’t activate the sense in the first place.”
See above as to why this is bullshit.
“Imagine if he was more pro-active with it, using it to scope out enemy strongholds for weaknesses and danger before heading in.”
a) Peter has used it to avoid detection when infiltrating his enemies’ hideouts
b) No he doesn’t do much reconissence but kindly show me some examples of Miles doing that as I’m forgetting any at the moment
c) Peter doesn’t NEED to scope out enemy strongholds. Most of the time he leaves the way he came in or doesn’t have time to waste doing that because he has to you know, beat the bad guy and save the innocent lives. His decades long success rate at doing this basically disproves his need to adopt this approach at all
“That’s the approach of Miles, who along with the Spider-Sense also has the ability to “cloak” himself, going temporarily invisible so he can take a more stealthy approach to crimefighting.”
If Miles was that much stealthier he could just use his cloaking and spider sense powers in conjunction to his venom blast and end his enemies in one move.
Except he rarely does that.
Which is bad because t makes him look incompetent.
But it is also good because if you are trying to be the legit Spider-Man stealth is not what you got for. Spider-Man Noir as a Spider-Man variant being a stealth guy can work to a point. But Spider-Man proper should tend towards being fun and bombastic with jokes a plenty, which is anathema to being stealthy.
“It’s also susceptible to bad guys the trick doesn’t work on, but it’s an interesting addition to the arsenal which plays up the fact that the 14-year-old hero hasn’t quite the physical presence of his adult predecessor.”
Putting aside how Miles isn’t 14 currently this sentence doesn’t even make sense, I can’t figure out what they are trying to say here.
“That, in itself, makes for less-balanced and consequently more tense battles.”
...what?
If Miles has all of Peter’s powers, plus some extra ones, plus some training then in terms of his raw power he’s MORE powerful than Peter.
So fights might be less balanced but they are less balanced in MILES’ favour, not the villains, thus REDUCING tension not increasing it.
Peter couldn’t have hoped to sneak up on Juggernaut and administered a shock to his nervous system by just touching him.
“You truly don’t know if he’ll make it through most encounters unscathed!”
Yeah you do. Invisibility+Venom blast.
Or else you don’t know how he’ll win in the same way you don’t know how Peter will win.
12) HIS BITE
That isn’t a bite It’s a sting or a blast.
“The times they are a-changin’. As the might-makes-right approach of the traditional, outside-the-law superhero comes under closer examination in the modern age, the more upstart members of the Marvel Universe have started taking a different approach to the conflicts they find themselves at the center of. Squirrel Girl helps to rehabilitate her “enemies,” Ms. Marvel empathizes with them, and it turns out there are alternate routes to success than simply pummeling people.”
Yeah the times are a changing...into crappier times.
Look this genre is fuelled by an inherent good vs evil dichotomy. It’s what the movies work on. It’s what the public go to see.
SHOCKINGLY people WANT to see superheroes FIGHTING supervillains.
Now sure there are alternate routes to defeating some villains beyond pummelling them but what’s the end game of this?
All super villains are reformed meaning...there is no purpose for the heroes.
I mean Jesus Christ this is what this mentality (and like half of tumblr) seem to advocate for right?
They don’t want Super HEROES they want super powered social social workers. That’s not this genre. That’s not the appeal.
A real easy way to determine that is to ask would you as 1n 8-12 year old honestly be interested in 2 brightly coloured super powered people routinely just sitting down and talking about their feelings with little-no action at all?
The answer is Jesus Christ no.
People forget this but most of these characters aren’t intended exclusively for mid-20s or older people who’ve taken one too many sociology classes and want to deconstruct all forms of entertainment.
Look at the Wonder Woman movie. It’s ultimate message is love not war which is an awesome message that people did walk away from but it still entertained them and won accolades for having stunning action and involved a superhero going one on one with a super villain in a great brawl.
Shit look at the critical acclaim Captain America: Civil War scored or Mad Max: Fury Road got. Of course a lot of that had to do with substance.
But a lot of that also had to do with the action.
Jesus Christ how many video games (video games being the most popular art form of all time currently) involve action or physical conflict of some kind?
I’m not even saying we can’t have this in moderation, just not as the norm.
So maybe the times are changing. But the times changed in the 1990s too. And they changed into garbage.
So this is a bullshit point of praise.
“Of course, the antagonists Spider-Man comes up against aren’t always open to negotiation.”
No they’re not so why did you even bring up the last point?
“Traditionally, Peter Parker would give his enemies a jolly good thrashing before stringing them up in webbing for the cops to collect, but Miles Morales can just cut out the middleman. He doesn’t need to do any pummelling at all. Thanks to his ever-so-slightly different origin story to Peter, he boasts an alternate powerset, which includes a “venom bite” (which he delivers in a very similar way to a Vulcan nerve pinch) that has been shown to floor even big tough bad guys like Scorpion, without the need for further physical violence.”
Oh so he’s a superhero in a superhero action series who’s so powerful it negates the need for much action and conflict unless the story is written poorly to not do that for the sake of convenience.
Kewl I guess.
11) A STREAMLINED ROGUE’S GALLERY
“He may not have the best rogue’s gallery in comics, but Spidey surely boasts the largest.”
a) Pretty sure Batman has as large a rogue’s gallery
b) Technically the Avengers and Justice League have the largest rogues gallery ever
c) He doesn’t have the best...just the second best and best in all Marvel
“Almost every one of his main antagonists has inspired copycats (the various Goblins) or else ceded their mantels to younger replacements (Vulture, Venom). New creative teams are always throwing new enemies into the mix, with decidedly mixed results, from Typeface to Komodo. It’s not so much a rogue’s gallery at this point as an entire museum.”
Komodo wasn’t even in a Spider-Man comic book.
And...yeah...Peter has faced a lot of bad guys. What’s the big deal. It’s not like they are all relevant.
“It’s beginning to get a little overcrowded in Peter Parker’s side of the ring, which means that a returning foe is as likely to inspire a “who’s that?” response from readers as excitement or terror.”
This is potentially the single most asinine and straw grasping criticism of this article.
Spider-Man has too many villains so Miles is better?
Spider-Man the superhero who’s been around for decades has tried something new across those decades and been challenged by a whole host of different enemies which adds variety to his stories so he sucks.
I mean God almighty you realize that stories can just explain who returning characters are right? You realize it’s not like every character is mandated to return right?
You realize it’s not like every villain is required reading or needs to be remembered to enjoy any other future story.
“Even the classic villains are close to being overused, with Norman Osborn invariably trotted out as the one behind everything at the end of any huge story arc.”
This is utterly ignorant and a dated, cliché criticism spoken by someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about and has likely just heard something someone else has said.
The only BIG stories Norman was behind were
The Clone Saga
Marvel Knights Spider-Man
Sins Past
Goblin Nation
This current crap we’re being subjected to.
Now call me insane but FIVE big stories and a few smaller scale ones across 20+ years is objectively not overusing a character.
Especially when it’s you know the literal BEST Spider-Man villain ever.
“Miles has no such problem, with his nascent superhero career offering a far more streamlined rogue’s gallery, including existing Marvel villains, “Ultimate” takes on Spidey enemies and more!”
For starters Miles no longer has any of the Ultimate versions of Spider-Man’s villains to fight and wasn’t the author complaining about copycats just a minute ago?
And think about how desperate this argument is.
‘Miles is better because he has even LESS villains than Spider-Man and the ones he does have aren’t even the really cool ones that Peter has, just derivative Ultimate versions of them which don’t even exist anymore’
So basically Miles has a smaller, less interesting, and not even legitimately his own rogues gallery.
How fan tucking fastic for him.
I can’t wait to read the latest issue of Miles Morales to see what non-entity enemy from his meagre rogue’s gallery which offers less potential for exploration and challenge we’ll see next!
10) HE NEARLY BEAT GALACTUS ONE TIME
“In most cases, the appearance of Galactus on Earth is cause for panic, and for all the planet’s mightiest heroes to team up in desperate hope that their powers combined can beat back the eater of worlds. For Miles Morales, that’s just a Tuesday. ”
No for Miles Morales it’s called the world changing millions of people are dead and New Jersey is gone storyline literally called ‘Cataclysm’.
“Well, “Ultimate Cataclysm” didn’t specify when it was set, but you catch our drift. Peter Parker has had cosmic adventures, including a spell as Captain Universe in the early ‘90s, but his adventures are mainly earthbound and street-level. His dealings with Galactus are minimal.”
Good, Spider-Man doesn’t work well and shouldn’t have many if any cosmic adventures. No legitimate Spider-Man should.
“Miles is mostly a down-to-Earth kind of Spidey, too, but there are exceptions… like the time he fought Galactus. During a rupture between universes, the Ultimate Galactus (a sort of alien hive mind) merged with the original, who attacked the Ultimate universe and was only halted in his tracks — having already decimated New Jersey — after Reed Richards and Miles Morales ventured into the regular Marvel continuity to get some intel. He didn’t do it single-handed, but he got closer to beating Galactus than Peter ever did.”
So Miles is better because he got closer to defeating a bad guy that creatively speaking he had no business being involved with and whom Peter has never encountered or had an opportunity to try and overcome even though he could’ve done literally everything Miles contributed to the defeat.
9) HIS MOVIE LOOKS GREAT
“The upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming” appears to be taking as much from the Miles Morales version of the characters as the classic teenaged Peter Parker from the ‘60s comics, including a more diverse supporting cast and a best friend who looks suspiciously like Ganke.”
Yes and that is a BAD thing.
Also they seem to be racebending characters moreso than taking them from Miles’ series. So it’s more like the Spec cartoon.
“Tom Holland impressed in the title role during “Captain America: Civil War” and the ensemble is rounded out with an impressive collection of comedic and dramatic actors, but the unknown quantity in all of it? Director Jon Watts, whose resume behind the camera up until this point includes trashy direct-to-video horror “Clown” and indie darling “Cop Car.”
It could go either way with Watts. The big-screen debut of Miles, meanwhile, is as assured a hit as you get in Hollywood these days”
In other words it isn’t assured at all since Sam Raimi made 2 great Spider-Man movies then fucked up, Nolan made 2 great Batman movies then fucked up, Marvel Studios made 3 great Netflix shows then fucked up.
“an animated feature written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the endlessly inventive comedy geniuses behind “The LEGO Movie,” the “21 Jump Street” reboot and the upcoming Young Han Solo film. Throw in “Rise of the Guardians” director Peter Ramsey and “Dope” star Shameik Moore, and it’s a dead cert. ”
There is no such thing as a dead certainty.
““Homecoming” will be entertaining at the very least. The Miles movies has the makings of something special.”
How in God’s name is this at all evocative of Miles superiority to Peter?
In the unpredictable future Peter will probably have an entertaining movie but Miles will have an even better movie so Miles is better as a character.
a) By this idiotic logic Peter is a better character since he’s had at least 2 GREAT movies already which changed film making and superhero films forever and to some people even ASM 2012 and ASM2 had merit
b) What the Hell do the movie versions of these characters have to do with the actual original versions of the characters on an evaluative basis? Nada
8) HE’S AN AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
“Peter Parker is an autodidact… when it comes to superhero business, anyway. He flourished in the academic settings of high school and college, but when he pulled on the webs, he was on his own. Much of the pleasure of early “Spider-Man” stories was in seeing the hero fail, or succeed in spite of a scrabbling panic to save the day, compared to the more polished and confident adult Marvel heroes. It’s something that’s more or less been lost as he himself has entered adulthood.”
No.
Peter can still screw up and fail sometimes. He’s just learned is all.
You see great stories have this thing called character development. It’s where a character changes and grows as a person in response to the events they experience as part of the story.
So yeah we ‘lost’ the pleasure of seeing Spider-Man learn the ropes. But we GAINED the pleasure of seeing him blossom and thrive by putting his experiences into action as a seasoned pro hero.
Again, by this dumb logic 1980s Spider-Man kind sucked even because Peter wasn’t learning the ropes like he used to in the old days.
In other words the author is saying Spider-Man is worse now because he dared to develop as a character instead of staying stuck in motion forever learning like a screw up.
“Miles Morales, meanwhile, has the benefit of being a semi-self-taught rookie and having had a spell as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
So Miles Morales as Spider-Man (part of the concept of which is being the antidote to the Robins and Human Torches and otherwise mentored teen heroes) is better than Peter because he kind of had people to teach him what to do rather than the way more impressive independent route where you ride or die by your own choices.
I know he wasn’t fully mentored (but he is now...by Peter himself) but that still doesn’t make him truely independent.
See when Mayday Parker as Spider-Girl did this way before Miles it at least made a lot more sense conceptually. Her concept was not merely picking up a fallen mantle but being Spider-Man’s daughter in a world where the Marvel heroes were this legendary generation who still lived and thrived. The whole basis for the character and universe was the next generation inheriting things from the old one thus justifying Mayday bending the Spider-Man rules about having mentors.
Miles? That’s not his concept nor does it render him better in any way.
I’m not saying being mentored means you suck. But being self-taught and discovering and honing your craft by yourself on the streets is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more impressive.
To say otherwise is like saying as a character Robin is better than Batman because he didn’t have to go through as much training and travelling as Batman did.
“In the Ultimate universe, he was recruited (as Ultimate Peter Parker was) in pursuit of both stopping him from causing international incidents, and honing his abilities.”
So like the Ultimate Peter Parker Miles failed at honouring one of the most important core concepts of Spider-Man ever.
I can see why this renders him equal and a valid substitute Spider-Man for Peter.
“So, while the adult Peter Parker is mostly competent but frequently sloppy, Miles walks the line between well-trained and still technically a child, a dichotomy which makes his enemy encounters all the more fraught with tension.””
a) They aren’t fraught with tension. He can beat Blackheart by tapping him
b) Peter is only sloppy when he’s written poorly by idiots like Slott
c) Correctly written Peter Parker is almost always competent but can make mistakes because he’s human which is what makes him a vital and compelling character
d) Why is being a child somehow better as a character than someone who isn’t
#miles morales#spider-man#Peter Parker#CBR#Comic Book Resources#Venom#Firelord#Spider-Man: Noir#Juggernaut#Wonder Woman#Diana Prince#Wonder Woman 2017#Captain America: Civil War#Captain America#Mad Max: Fury Road#Batman#Avengers#Justice League#Norman Osborn#Clone Saga#Marvel Knights#Ultimate Spider-Man#Galactus#Spider-Man: Homecoming#Sam Raimi#S.H.I.E.L.D.#Human Torch#Robin#Spider-Girl#Mayday Parker
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