#there’s this whole plotline in I don’t remember what comic I’ll look for it later but it

[yuripira4e]

I think we too often gloss over the fact that Kurt is canonically homophobic *in some timelines

[superman86to99]

Superman 1993 Annuals

A bunch of aliens who look like bodybuilder xenomorphs come to earth to feast on our delicious spinal fluids. What they don't know is that, for some reason, some of the people whose spines they suck up gain superpowers instead of dying. That's the premise of Bloodlines, the crossover running through DC's 1993 annuals, like Eclipso: The Darkness Within did the year before. Also like Eclipso, most of these are kinda lame. The Superman annuals are probably the most (only?) noteworthy ones because they at least feature the four Supermen from “Reign”, so they’re technically also part of a far better storyline.

First up is Man of Steel Annual #2, in which Steel's gym buddy, an 18-year-old named Tom, becomes one of the first victims of the spine-sucking aliens. Tom ends up among a pile of corpses the aliens hide in the sewers. When some Underworlders stumble upon the bodies, they witness Tom waking up transformed into a guy who can shoot shards of glass from every part of his body. After their obligatory fight scene, Steel and Tom team up against one of the aliens, and Tom's little brother names him "EDGE". Totally rad name!

Then comes Superman Annual #5, the most interesting of the bunch because it actually features a character we've seen before: Sasha Green, the personal trainer Lex Luthor Jr. killed on a whim soon after Superman's death, because who's gonna stop him now, Gangbuster? Her body ends up in a landfill, where the trashiest of the spine-sucking aliens feeds on it. Murdered in a locker room, tossed in the trash, molested by an alien, appearing in a Bloodlines annual... is there no end to the indignities they'll put this poor woman through?

Anyway, Sasha comes back as a being called Myriad who can absorb other people's identities and control them. Lex is worried she's gonna rat him out so he tries to re-kill her, but she ends up faking her death in a helicopter crash and escapes, free to get her revenge one day! Yeah, you and Dr. Stratos.

Next, Action Comics Annual #5 follows a disabled, suicidal police detective (a "loose cannon") who is assigned by Inspector Maggie Sawyer to investigate those piles of dead homeless people that have been turning up everywhere lately. While doing that, he gets lured into an alley by a sexy alien and jumped from behind by her friend. He awakes transformed into a giant blue Fabio who turns purple or red depending on how he's feeling. Again, he gets into a tussle with one of the Supermen (the Last Son of Krypton, in this case) and again, they eventually join forces to fight the aliens and end up as the best of buds.

Finally, Adventures of Superman Annual #5 is about a teen girl named D.C. and her uncle, a werewolf, who come to Metropolis because she WANTS to get bitten by the aliens so it'll activate her metahuman gene. Meanwhile, Inspector Maggie asks Superboy (who's still recovering from a freaking missile blowing up on his face) to look into the whole alien murders thing, because she’s a little short on staff. The Kid fails to prevent D.C. from getting attacked, but it's okay, because she comes back as an electric-powered being called Sparx. Also, unlike the other new characters, she immediately hits it off with her Superman.

Character-Watch:

Something I just realized about Sparx: she can turn into a being made of electricity and was co-created by Karl Kesel, who is also the one who said “Hey, why don’t we make it so Superman can turn into a being made of electricity?” some years later. The good thing about creating an obscure character is you can recycle the idea later and no one will notice.

Anyway, Sparx went on to appear in the Bloodlines spin-off series Blood Pack and Kesel's Superboy and the Ravers, while Loose Cannon had his own solo miniseries. Both had the honor of appearing in crowd scenes during various Crises, even during the present century! Sasha/Myriad had a couple of minor appearances I'll cover in the future, and... I already forgot about the other guy. Jim-Jam? Barfloom? No one cares about him.

Plotline-Watch:

Fun fact: The "Death and Return of Superman" collections didn't bother including these annuals until recently, when DC was like "Hmm, what can we add to make people buy this again?" and remembered they existed.

Continuity wise, the most important event in these annuals is when Superboy goes into the Ace O'Clubs and meets not just Bibbo, but Krypto, his future pet. The encounter is short lived, though, because Bibbo takes underage drinking laws very seriously.

Creator-Watch: The Superman annual was penciled by David Lapham, who would later create the indie series Stray Bullets, while the Action one is written by Jeph Loeb, one of the scabs who took away the Super-Squad’s jobs in 2000. Boo! Boo!

The Last Son doesn't just learn about friendship in his annual, he also gets a little romance when the sexy alien (who looks exactly like Maxima) kisses him. Lots more kissing in these annuals than I remembered.

Commissioner Henderson doesn't trust the Cyborg at the start of the Superman annual, even suggesting he might be responsible for that pile of corpses in the sewers (Cyborg's like "Kill people? Moi?"). Great police instincts! Or not, since Cyborg earns his trust by the end. No kissing this time, though.

Superboy is worried about Maggie looking at his junk while he changes, and later tries to ask her out. Barking at the wrong tree, kid. (Maggie’s girlfriend, Daily Star reporter Toby Raines, plays a big role in that story.)

The most unbelievable part of these annuals is the fact that Steel's tarot reader pal, who seemed to be full of shit in Man of Steel #22 (she said John Henry had Superman's ghost living inside him), actually gets something right this time: she senses that something will happen to Steel’s friend before he gets attacked by the alien. Maybe the aliens attacked her off-panel too and gave her real psychic powers?

[daresplaining]

thoughts on the Inferno arc from Dematteis?

    I have to admit, that arc isn’t one of my favorites, and I’m not a big fan of DeMatteis’s run as a whole. It just doesn’t do much for me. The dead sex worker plot point is one of my least favorite parts of Man Without Fear, and I dislike that DeMatteis felt the need to drag it into 616 continuity. Matt already killed someone during his first outing as Daredevil, as established way back in DD #1, so all that addition/retcon/whatever it is did was muddle up the timeline. It’s also one of the few Daredevil stories that depicts Matt as kind of religious, which is a characterization that, personally, isn’t my thing. (There’s nothing wrong with it, of course! I just don’t find it interesting, and I’m often baffled that so many people seem to see it as an integral part of his character, since it’s practically nonexistent in the comics.) And Sir is an uncomfortable villain for a number of reasons, mostly involving depictions of transgender characters in media, which I don’t feel informed enough about to properly discuss. Thematically, their story aligns with Matt’s plotline of self-discomfort and repression, but character-wise, I will say that I don’t find them to be a particularly interesting or memorable antagonist. Overall, it’s a strange, somewhat convoluted story. 

    On the other hand, there are parts of “Inferno” that I really like– most notably, the reintroduction of the “real” yellow-suited Daredevil as a symptom of Matt’s identity-centered mental breakdown. 

[ID: Two panels from DeMatteis’s run. Foggy is sitting in his office at his desk, and Yellow Suit Daredevil is perched on top of the desk.]

Matt: “Better spread the word, counselor: Daredevil’s back. The real Daredevil. And tell that phony running around abusing my name– to watch his back!”

[ID: Foggy watches in shock as Daredevil jumps out the window.]

    The identity issues in this arc and the arcs that come both before and (especially) after it are a little difficult to follow, since they are so abstract, but conceptually, I find them interesting and fun. DeMatteis’s run takes place after Matt has faked his death and reinvented himself yet again. He is isolated from his loved ones– Foggy and Karen at the time– and is living a life that is, by design, almost entirely separate from his existence as Matt Murdock. His civilian identity is a con artist, and his Daredevil identity is notably dark and brutal. He has been through two major psychologically-jarring experiences: Elektra’s resurrection and Glori’s sudden violent death, the latter of which serves as a direct catalyst for his mental breakdown in��“Inferno” and the following arc. As much as I’m not a fan of the actual reason for this– the Man Without Fear plot point being clumsily integrated in 616 Matt’s past, as discussed– I do really enjoy the side-effects of Matt’s shattered psyche. We learn that he has repressed a horrible memory– a memory that directly impacts his sense of self by making him feel like a murderer. Even before he fully unearths the memory, it causes him to feel like he doesn’t know himself. And this, coupled with his mental breakdown and lack of tethers to his former life, causes his decades of identity compartmentalization to come to the surface and make him literally feel like multiple separate people.

[ID: A panel of Yellow Suit Daredevil posing dramatically on a rooftop in the rain. The faces of other DD characters are outlined in the cityscape behind him.]

Caption: “He’s haunted… as much by what he can remember as what he can’t. He knows who he is, at least: Daredevil. The real Daredevil! The one who stopped the Owl, the Purple Man, and Mister Fear– the Daredevil people admired and emulated. He knows, too, that something drove him away from this city. From his friends: Karen, Foggy, Matt. Matt? Was Matt his friend? Maybe once. A long time ago.”

    Yellow Suit Daredevil insists that he is not Matt Murdock, that he is a Daredevil who existed before Matt Murdock took on that identity. In other words, he is a product of Matt’s very earliest approach to heroing and the first Daredevil creative team’s way of presenting his identity. He is, in fact, this quote from Daredevil #1 brought to life:  

“I’ll see to it that Matt Murdock never does resort to force… but somebody else will…! Somebody totally different from Matt Murdock…”

    This initial compartmentalization was necessary for Matt to allow himself to directly disobey his father’s wishes. It was only later that Matt Murdock and Daredevil stopped being written with two distinct personalities, and Matt relaxed that sense of identity separation. In DeMatteis’s run, Yellow Suit Daredevil doesn’t think he has hypersenses– because he’s not Matt– but he doesn’t know who he actually is. (Technically, he’s… probably Mike. I’m just sayin’.) Yellow Suit DD identifies himself as the happy, upbeat Daredevil, the one people look up to and admire, and resents Matt Murdock for becoming a darker and more morally complex figure after taking on the identity. In a metafictive way, DeMatteis is commenting on the tonal shifts in Daredevil comics over the years, and I love that. 

[ID: Two panels of Yellow Suit Daredevil punching a heavy bag.]

Caption: “He’ll stop Murdock the way he stopped Batlin. No more frauds. No more liars. It’s time for Daredevil to be a hero again. A real hero. Not some cheap, soulless thug hiding behind a hero’s mask.”

    In-universe, the implication is that Matt, as part of his mental breakdown surrounding his repressed memories of committing murder, is reverting back to that first DD identity– the safe one, the uncomplicated one, the PG-rated Silver Age one who would never kill anyone– at least, not directly. (This in itself is funny, because Matt indirectly killed people all the time in early Daredevil comics, but this story is more about Matt’s warped view of the Good Old Days than it is about accuracy). From that safe vantage point, Matt feels comfortable resenting himself for all of the darkness in his recent life. His discomfort with his own actions causes the identities he has built for himself over the years to literally manifest separately in his mind. This becomes exacerbated in the following arc in wonderfully mind-bending ways. I don’t think that’s how mental breakdowns actually work, but this is comics, and I find it compelling… if a little hard to follow, logistically. 

   I also enjoy the fact that this horrible point in Matt’s life is when Foggy learns his best friend is Daredevil.

[ID: Karen is kneeling on a bathroom floor, holding Matt in her arms. He is wearing the yellow Daredevil suit but his mask is off. Foggy is standing over them, scratching his head.]

Foggy: “I don’t understand any of this! Matt’s– alive?! Wh-what’s he doing in that costume?! How did he–?!”

Karen: “Not now, Foggy. Not now.”

    It’s random, it’s accidental, it’s incredibly upsetting, and it is a while before Foggy is even able to discuss it with Matt, at which point Matt basically brushes it off and they both move on. On the one hand, I would have loved to see more emphasis placed on this moment– arguably one of the biggest events in DD history– and I was delighted that the Netflix adaptation gave that to us in Season 1 episode 10. But I also enjoy the imperfections of the 616 version. It’s not a big fairytale moment, and something about that messiness appeals to me.

[quintessence-sentimentalist]

quintessence-sentimentalist Takes on 30 Days of W.i.t.c.h.versary!: Week Two

Another week, another seven days of WITCHversary! Days 8-14 below the cut!

Day 8 Favorite extra/special

If I’ve read all or most of the specials, I can only remember like three of them... That said, of those three I have to go with W.i.t.c.h. On Stage. 

The artwork... isn’t my favorite, and my judgment is it takes place on the cusp between the Ragorlang and New Power arcs (or New Power and... whichever one comes next), which is a time period I largely ignore, but what can I say, it’s a fun special! I’m such a sucker for “let’s talk about our adventures in the form of a fictional story” narratives (part of why I love Will’s potential future as a writer in issue 50), so this special really hit on that with the girls creating a play about being Guardians. Even more fun is the existence of M.A.G.I.C. to be their stars, although it still would have been fun to see the girls play a fictionalized version of themselves.

But most of all, this special has a [ahem] special place in my heart because this was how I discovered that there were more issues after the Ragorlang arc ended the English translations. Even though, again, I largely ignore everything that happened after that arc, it was still such an exciting time to find out that my girls still had many many more adventures after things seemingly ended.

Day 9 Favorite Guardian uniform

Ok, I’m doing Top 3 (in no particular order) because this is difficult and my favorites are favorites for different reasons.

1) Will, classic Guardian design: This is absolutely where my obsession with bell sleeves began. Also really loved those boots. I generally preferred the uniform tops to be purple and the bottoms green, so this worked for me on multiple levels. Will’s was the uniform I would totally wear myself (sporty but still with some fun, girly aspects via the sleeves), so I’ve always adored it. I don’t particularly like how New Power updated it (with the exception of the long fingerless gloves), so this is my preference for Will.

2) Cornelia, classic Guardian design: I’m in love with that off-the-shoulder neckline and the pointy sleeve hem and that long, elegant skirt. Might not be the most practical design for fighting, but it’s just so pretty that I love it regardless.

3) Hay Lin, New Power: Vast improvement over the classic design (which was cute but, well, threadbare) while still capturing its essence and Hay’s as well (all the ribbons). I also adore Hay’s buns and the rest of the hair hanging free - the change from the pigtails really made it hit home that these girls have evolved and grown up (granted, not that the narrative will let them age) over the course of the series.

Day 10 Favorite world/planet

Hmm, well, at the risk of sounding boring, I still think I’m going with Earth. I do love the design and bits of world-building we get from the other worlds (primarily with Meridian), but I appreciate how the girls’ home was developed, considering quite a bit of action still happened there.

I enjoy how Heatherfield is still something of a larger city, but also has a... not necessarily small-town feel, but I guess more like a college town or a neighborhood off of a major city. Like you still get the city experience, but there are also cozy local hangouts that’ll become your usual haunts. There’s the diner, and the dance school, and the old bookstore... maybe I’ve just lived in a few too many of these types of places myself (where I can walk into one of my favorite little shops and the cashier recognizes me immediately), but that’s the vibe I get. Plus, Heatherfield is home to a few eclectic non-magical characters who largely make up the supporting cast, so that’s fun as well.

And it’s not just Heatherfield I like. Redstone was a cool change of pace, sending some of the girls to the other side of the world and to what I still think is an awesome campus. I also liked that we got at least a glimpse at/general idea of Fadden Hills with the visits to Kadma and the Year Before special, instead of just leaving it as mere spoken reference to Will’s old home. We even get to see Open Hill after Eric moves, so I think it’s pretty cool that things on Earth aren’t just limited to the girls’ hometown like it’s the only city that exists. 

Day 11 Something awesome

Oh, I’m so tempted to do another Top Three/Top Five, but most of the ones I’d cover I’ve either already reblogged from someone else (i.e. the comic transformation sequences, the final battle in Z is for Zenith, etc.) or waxed poetic about before (*cough* everything about animated Shagon). So I’m just going to go with the top most awesome thing I have in mind.

Listen. “We Are W.i.t.c.h.” is still by far the most played song in my music library. The first time I heard the full version waaaaayyy back when was on Radio Disney during a weird hour of the day, and from then on I had the radio on every moment I could so I could catch it again. (I never did, not until I got the CD.) I still get chills and a major throwback whenever I watch the US opening sequence. Long story short, I couldn’t ask for a more kickass theme song.

Day 12 Something that made you cry

It takes some effort to make me cry (or I’ll cry at the most unexpected things), so I’m not sure anything has actually made me burst out in physical tears. But here are a few things that just get me in the heart:

1) Dormouse’s death: In the retrospect of having lost a beloved pet over the last few years, this one is more painful than I can say. Especially so when you think about it and how it was basically used as tragedy fodder after things finally start looking up for Will. (Her father’s dropped the custody case! Things are actually alright with her mom for once! They’re going for a walk to celebrate! Really, can the poor girl’s happiness last for more than two seconds???) The US English translations (via the chapter books) ended with issue/book 26, and this event is omitted entirely, with the story ending on the happy note of Thomas dropping the case and then the back-end comic excerpts being replaced by a scrapbook-like section of the girls’ adventures.

2) Cedric’s death: At least this tragedy had some sort of impact on the narrative rather than just being senseless, but it’s still painful and some of the effects of his death (read: the writing-out of Orube) are uncalled for and hurt equally as much. 

3) That first reunion with Yan Lin in Kandrakar: Tears. Happy tears, but oh so many of them.

Day 13 Something heartwarming

Hrm, that’s a tough one. My immediate thought is “everything about animated Will/Matt,” but let’s go for some new material from me for once.

Oooh! My second thought was the issue about Anna Lair and her old friends and how she came to be in Irma’s life. We don’t often have focus on the girls’ parents and who they are outside of their daughters, and Anna is fascinating because we don’t even find out until issue 25 that - despite their near-identical appearances - she’s Irma’s step-mother and not her biological mother. That reveal is dropped in as hurtful words in an argument, and this detail is pretty much forgotten for three story arcs, until we finally get this issue on Anna’s past.

It’s heartwarming to me because it hits on so many tropes I love: (flashback) focus on a minor character, a different character (in this case, Irma) bringing back around something meaningful from the focus character’s past (fulfilling the pact Anna made with her two friends and reuniting them at the beach all these years later), and a tie-in to the main plotline via the W.i.t.c.h. girls promising that - should life take them in different directions - they’ll one day meet again in Heatherfield.

And now I really want to reread this issue, it’s one of my favorite standalones...

Day 14 Something that irks you

I think we’re all in agreement when I say this, but New Power Matt is the woooooorst. And I’m just going to leave it at that because I have tried to block it from my mind as much as possible, and if I start dredging things up and talking about it we will be here for a while.

Okay, maybe just a little bit...

It just makes no sense!!!! If they framed it like Matt’s memories of Kandrakar had been sealed the whole time or he was an emissary who’d been reincarnated as a normal Earth human, and he only got his true memories back “when the time was right,” that would at least explain some things! Like yeah, his behavior would still be downright dickish, but at least I could spin him as a more sympathetic character - one struggling with who he has been and who he used to be/now is again, and that’s why he’s behaving so erratically. (This is my area of expertise when it comes to fic. I could easily and enjoyably pick apart New Power Matt’s mind if we had this for context.)

But noooooo, we’re told that he’s known about Kandrakar the entire damn time, and he just... what, flat-out lied to Will and pretended to be surprised about everything related to Guardianship? Way to make both Will and the readers feel like fools. If this the story we’re supposed to believe, was comics Will/Matt a sham this whole time, just New Power Matt trying to weasel his way into the Guardians’ inner circle until he can finally play his true role? Ugh.

Like seriously, screw this entire plot point and just give me that New Power Eric idea I had a while back that actually made sense and would have worked so much better.

[taiblogcomics]

Jason Todd Really Hates Mondays

Hey there, movies you can't find on streaming services. Well, another Red Hood adventure? More middle America supervillain antics? Sure, sounds excellent. Even if this plotline's dumb, you gotta admit, it's good for blogging~

Here's the cover:

Hulk smash American Gothic people! Hulk not approve of this cameo! Hulk also want remind you to see Aquaman, in theaters December 21st! That how behind Hulk is with reviewing this comic! Hulk not have anything else to say about this cover, it actually pretty good. So Hulk stop talking like Hulk now!

So we open where we left off, with Jason Todd and Batwoman cornered by the artificial Grundy knockoffs. This also includes a caption of Jason referring to himself as "the blackest of sheeps". Sheeps. Anyway, since they've concluded that their opponents are constructs, they can kill them without regret. Jason notes that this group attacking them now seem less human-like than the first guy, which Batwoman points out that means they were let out before being finished, so they must feel threatened. Lots of fighting ensues. Afterwards, they both get on a motorcycle.

We briefly cut over to the diner where Jason beat up some Underlife goons and then had a heart-to-heart with Batman about Roy's death. The FBI are looking into it, and I think the lady here is meant to be that agent he saved on the bus a couple issues ago? It's not a hundred percent clear, but I believe this to be the case. She's taking the waitress' statement, when another agent comes in and gives her the "you better come take a look at this" cliche. They open up the back of a truck, and one of the big truckers Jason beat up protests that he has a right to privacy while he's wheeled away on a stretcher. Inside the truck? A huge medical lab, hijacked from S.T.A.R. Labs not too long ago. FBI Lady reasons that Jason's leaving her a trail to follow. Unbeknownst to her, that guy Wingman is also following said trail.

Back in Appleton, the motorcycle ride is over, and Batwoman is using a hologram to plan their next moves. Batwoman stops Jason for a moment, offering him a kind word and an ear to listen regarding Roy's death. Jason says it's not necessary, but he appreciates the offer. Geez, Jason, when'd you turn into a halfway decent human being~? Batwoman also apologises for the time she got them all thrown in Belle Reve, which I don't even remember her being evolved in, so Jason's easy to forgive her for this as I am. That's when suddenly they're attacked from behind by yet another hulking grey man.

This grey man has long brown rocker hair, so he actually looks more like Blockbuster than Grundy. Yet another fight scene ensues, which does at least include a cool shot of Jason decapitating Long Hair Grundy with a chain, so that's something. Jason and Batwoman split up, since it's his book, so he should do the infiltrating. He arrives at the house Batwoman was displaying a hologram of, and is attacked by ninjas. Of course. He fights through the ninjas and enters the house, where a lady and a guy with a VR rig are observing the action. VR Guy is blown up, leaving only the lady. She turns out to be the one who foisted pie on him at the fair. She will thus be hereafter known as "Pie Lady".

Pie Lady and Jason get in a fight. See, Jason knew there was something suspicious the moment he walked into Appleton: no kids. She must be holding them hostage, and she does the "if you kill me, you'll never find them" bit. Jason retorts that Batwoman already found them before she even met up with Jason. Now he can kill her with impugnity, because guess what: she's also a Grundy construct. (They're called "Mondays", by the way, but that could come off as confusing. But now you get the joke in this review’s title!) In the midst of fighting, her face gets torn off, Terminator style, and she gives him both the name of a lab in Mexico and a name: Solitary. Yeah, that guy's gonna come back into play.

Jason leaves as Batwoman shows up, and the whole house explodes because it wants to make Jason look badass. Sorry, but not while he's still wearing that rummage sale costume. The comic ends with the kids being reunited with their parents (the ones that aren't members of Underlife, anyway). Jason and Batwoman have a chat, and she mentions she's also been on the outs with Batman. He later forgave her, and she thinks he'll forgive Jason too. Jason says the circumstances are different, and is about to imply Batman can do something rude with his forgiveness when he's interrupted by a car horn. Renee Montoya has driven up to put in a cameo, kiss Batwoman, and drop Jason off somewhere south. Ah, south. I hope that's not the direction this comic is going~

Honestly, if there’s anything to complain about in this issue is that it’s mostly fight scenes. That might seem an odd complaint for a superhero action comic, but it’s mostly that stuff like that doesn’t leave me with a whole lot to review. Unless someone’s making really awful banter during it, you can only describe a fight so much and have it be interesting. This issue’s fine to read, it’s just not something you can read aloud all that much. Also, “Mondays” is a terrible name for your goon patrol. Like, I get the connection--”Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday”--but it’s not a good collective name. Why not “Cyber-Grundys” or something. It’s not clever, but neither is “Mondays”~

Anyways, I’m not entirely sure this is the end of the story arc. I’ll have to check next week. You’ll know whether or not it is, depending on what I review next time~

[hoogiehowser]

MEDIA DIARY JANUARY

:::::::::: MOVIES ::::::::::

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) I liked this so much I ended up seeing it twice. The animation is on a whole different level from everything else in theaters I just can’t believe it. Nothing has immediately endeared me to a character more that when Miles gets to the place where he’s going to put up graffiti and yells “BROOKLYN!” to get the echo. Absolutely perfect. 

Happy Death Day (2017) The trailer looked good but the trailer for the sequel looked even better. Good time repeating movie. Way better than Blood Punch. I’m excited to see more of this.

Alien: Covenant (2017) Had no clue what to expect going in but I actually dug it. It’s just Alien again like every Alien movie but what they do with David from Prometheus makes it really interesting. There’s also some straight up slasher movie sleaze that definitely appeals to me.

MacGruber (2010) It’s just a bunch of dick jokes while a bad action movie happens. There’s no clever spin to it.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) Wanted to watch this due to the Fast & Furious connection. It’s a great movie about overachievers and getting away with shit. I think Justin Lin is a great director and his unique voice benefits every movie he does.

Collateral (2004) I didn’t realize until the credits that this was a Michael Mann movie but it was so obvious in hindsight. The premise is simple, Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are great, and everything comes together in a genuinely cool film.

Wilson (2017) Based on a comic I don’t particularly like from Dan Clowes’ grumpy old man phase. The cool thing about the comic is that each page works on its own and has a different art style. The movie can’t do that. But it’s still faithful to the book which means it feels like a series of one page gags strung together until it finishes. Woody and Laura Dern are great though and it is pretty funny at times.

Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare (2018) There was another truth or dare based horror movie a year before that was a Syfy original. The Syfy one is better. The problem with them both is the supernatural contrivances that make people play truth or dare against their will. It’s such a strained premise.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Guy Ritchie made a King Arthur movie and it feels exactly like you’d expect. 

Thoroughbreds (2017) Girl who can’t feel emotions befriends girl who is very politely hiding her extreme emotions. Things get bad when they start to think about murder. Anton Yelchin plays a druggie scumbag loser. It’s such a good movie. 100% my kind of thing.

:::::::::: TV ::::::::::

The Great British Baking Show (Beginnings, Collections 1-4) Got addicted to this one. I love cooking competitions shows and pleasant ones are usually the best. I like seeing competitors that like each other. I like Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry not trying to tear people down. I love Mel and Sue. It’s just a nice show for the nice people.

Toei Spider-Man (Episodes 1-5) I’m not a big toku guy but Spider-Verse got me curious about various Spider-Men. Takuya Yamashiro wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider, he was injected with blood from the last survivor of Planet Spider and carries out a mission against Professor Monster’s Iron Cross Army to avenge Planet Spider and his own father. Next to nothing present from the classic Lee/Ditko Spider-Man and that’s totally alright. I’m going to try to watch more because the episode where Spider-Man has to donate his blood to hurt child has some serious heart.

The Prisoner (Episodes 7-17) I started watching this a while ago but only now got around to finishing. Mostly super clever plots and the atmosphere is always great. Patrick McGoohan sells it every single time. Some of the later episodes go really off the rails though. There’s an entire wild west episode. Nothing in this stretch tops my favorite episode, The Schizoid Man, where Number Two brainwashes Number Six to act differently and then forces Number Six to pretend to be Number Six while a different man is already pretending to be Number Six. The ending is solid though and carries a really good tv series to a confusing, surreal end.

Cutthroat Kitchen (Season 7, Episodes 1-7) Polar opposite of The Great British Baking Show. It’s the Mario Kart of cooking competition shows. Everyone tries to fuck each other over and Alton laughs at them the entire time. It’s brilliant.

:::::::::: PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING ::::::::::

TJPW Tokyo Joshi Pro ‘19 (January 4) I don’t follow TJPW and don’t know any of their wrestlers besides Meiko Satomura but I watched this because it was on before Wrestle Kingdom. Meiko vs Reika Saiki definitely made the show worth watching and the rest was pretty alright. Lots of fun, new personalities that I like.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 (January 4) Probably the most I’ve looked forward to a show and it absolutely delivered. For the past few years I’d watch WK and recommended matches but in in July I started following everything NJPW. That added investment made this WK special. Ibushi/Ospreay tore it up and I really hope Ibushi recovers soon. Jay White/Okada shocked me. Naito/Jericho was fucking brutal. And Kenny Omega vs Hiroshi Tanahashi was a match I was so invested in that I thought I was going to cry. If you haven’t checked out New Japan yet this show would make an excellent start. GO ACE!

Impact Homecoming (January 6) Impact has gotten pretty good. I’ve only seen a few of their most recent ppvs but it’s obvious that they have a wealth of talent and they’re willing to tell the kind of dumb stories that I really like. Since Homecoming was in Nashville I went and it was one of the best shows I’ve been to. The energy was insane all night and LAX vs Lucha Bros has to be the best match I’ve seen live. Now that they air on Twitch I’ve been following the weekly show and enjoying it quite a bit.

WWE Royal Rumble (January 27) I always love the rumble but the rumble was weird. Both rumble matches were okay but filled with dumb stuff and way too many recovery spots that were immediately deflated by the person getting eliminated. I like the winners. AJ/Daniel didn’t deliver like I wanted. Sasha and Ronda had a good match. I loved how Finn Balor worked Brock Lesnar’s diverticulitis. Fun show.

NXT UK Takeover Blackpool (January 12) NXT UK doesn’t really grip me aside from the women’s division. I liked this well enough but nothing really changed my mind. Finn Balor made a surprise appearance and he looked like such a star compared to everyone else. Excited to see what WALTER can do here though.

GCW 400 Degreez (January 12) GCW’s brand of hardcore indie nonsense is my absolute favorite. 400 Degreez isn’t the best they’ve done but it was full of disgusting beautiful deathmatch bullshit. Markus Crane vs Nate Webb especially.

NXT Takeover Phoenix (January 26) Takeover always delivers. Johnny Gargano vs Ricochet was definitely the match of the night. I don’t dig the War Raiders schtick but their match was great. Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler also killed it.

:::::::::: COMICS ::::::::::

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Volumes 1-10) I wanted something long to start reading so why not One Piece? Enjoying it so far. I like getting the crew together and Usopp’s story in particular is great. Oda is a master cartoonist. I love every time we get reaction faces.

Spider-Man: Fever by Brendan McCarthy Spider-Man fever got me wanting to revisit Spider-Man: Fever because I remember liking it. I still like it. Doctor Strange accidentally opens a doorway into a spider dimension and Spider-Man gets caught in Doctor Strange’s bathtub and the alternate dimension spiders take him. All this and McCarthy’s art make Fever pretty far out. 

Spider-Man 2099 by Peter David, Kelley Jones, and Rick Leonardi (1-15) Miguel O’Hara wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider, he had Peter Parker’s DNA put into him by weird future DNA machine and he wages war against the gigantic corporations that control everything. I like Spider-Man 2099. Miguel is so different from the Peter Parker archetype and he’s got claws and fangs. He’s brutal. It’s got a neat post-hero future kind of like Batman Beyond. I stopped reading because the next part is a crossover with Punisher 2099, Ravage 2099, Doom 2099, and X-Men 2099. I’ll hopefully pick it back up because I want to know what happens with the hologram that’s in love with Miguel. 

Spider-Man by Kazumasa Hirai & Ryoichi Ikegami Yu Komori was bitten by a radioactive spider and he definitely wishes he wasn’t. It starts off a lot like our usual Spider-Man but the villains are so much more tragic and Yu deals with some heavy shit. Ikegami’s art evolves from cartoony to serious as the tone of the book changes. He’s a really incredible artist who is consistently pulling neat tricks and trying new things. I really liked this and it may top my favorite Spider-Man comics. It’s just so bleak and unforgiving to poor Yu. By the way, the final plotline is exactly the same as the Sonny Chiba movie Wolf Guy. Turns out the comic that movie was based on was written by the same guy that write Spider-Man. An odd find.

:::::::::: VIDEOGAMES ::::::::::

Axiom Verge Had my eye on this for a long time and finally picked it up on sale on my Switch. It’s okay. There are a lot of clever ideas here that I don’t think work for me. But I do like the decorrupter and the teleport. Some of the movement feels great but some stuff like the grappling hook feels awful. I hate the story. Completely incoherent sci-fi nonsense. But it’s a fun game and I enjoyed my time with it.

Hollow Knight I’ve spent about 30 hours on this game and I feel like I’m close to the end of the story. I absolutely love it. The movement, the combat, and the exploration all feel excellent. I’ve played over ten metroidvanias in the past year (I really like them) and this might be the best. My favorite part about them is how you’re almost never wasting time because there are new secrets to discover all across the map and Hollow Knight does such a good job with that.

[sunlitroom]

Gotham, s4e01 – Pax Penguina

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham.

the Tetch virus was released - enabling lots of people to be ooc all at once.  We had general bedlam.  We had Ra’s.  Bruce killed Alfred. Oswald forgot all his own backstory and talked about the one time love weakened him.  Ed got iced. Bruce was an ass to Selina for no good reason except to enable her to turn to Tabitha.  We are reminded of that poor, poor Crane boy.  Bruce decides to find himself, and finds himself mostly brooding on building ledges

As always, long post will be long - monstrously long.  There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot will appear – because the Gods have chosen to bless us this week (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)). There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism.  Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

We open with more moody ledge standing from Bruce, staring down at the city.

Now – seriously: Is there some reason all these well-off couples in Gotham insist on wandering down the fucking dodgiest alleys ever seen?

Bruce spots their inevitable mugging taking place, and leaps into action - complete with an experimental gravelly voice.  Maybe it's be less recognisable if he went for an accent instead of hiding the actual tone.  Southern Batman.  French Batman. Dutch Batman.

Fighting happens. Bruce is wearing a beautifully tailored coat.  Bruce bests them.  The mugger says he had a license for misconduct, which Bruce takes from him.  Bruce strolls off in his expensive clothes, and Ra’s watches from a shadowy doorway in his expensive clothes

I have tailoring envy

The show just rickrolled us. We are at a wedding reception in full flow.  Masked men walk in

They look ill-groomed. They begin to rob everyone – until halted by a whistle. Turning – they see that a relaxed Victor is sitting watching proceedings.  He tells them crime now needs a license.  They don’t like the idea of Oswald-issued licenses, and call him ‘a little creep’.  Victor doesn’t like that.

Proving that they’re cataclysmically dumb as well as probably bad-smelling, they try to intimidate Victor, who promptly shoots the ringleader’s finger off.  He reiterates:

No license; no crime

He tells them to drop the loot and blow.  The bride tries to thanks him – but he tells her not to bother, since the gang that’s just arriving does have a license.  He slings a ‘seriously?’ at the groom for what’s presumably a shabby engagement ring – and then grins.

Best wedding ever!

Oswald in the mayor’s office.  The police commissioner is also there.  They’re telling him they appreciate what he’s done for the city.  Oswald smiles – looking just the tiniest bit manic round the edges – and asks if they really do.

(An aside – Oswald is touchy as hell about gratitude.  It’s possibly one of the reasons he responds reasonably well to Bruce later)

Apparently – Oswald promised to halve crime in the three months since the virus and has done so – bringing the underworld to heel.  

(An aside – it’s kind of frustrating that we hear of all the stuff Oswald achieves in terms of control between seasons – but then see him inevitably crumble in some way.  How many times now has managed to take control of the whole underworld despite his own setbacks?)

They try to interject, and Oswald lunges forward.  Temper, temper.  This is why he gets on so well with Jim.

He tells the mayor he doesn’t envy him, and asks him what he thinks happened to the criminals who used to be on the street.  The mayor points put that he is suggesting professional, unionised crime -which will earn him a profit.  Oswald smiles

God bless America

He tells them they can have calm prosperity, or a return to the bad old days.

The commissioner and mayor say they’ll go along with it – but deny everything to the press.  They agree that the police won’t arrest license holders.

(Doesn’t the mayor just run the city, though?  Isn’t there a difference between ‘normal’ crime and federal crime in the States? Like – isn’t some stuff automatically handled at a higher level?  Or this is what TV and film has taught me, at least)

The mayor and commissioner haggle for their cut.  Everything agreed, Oswald excuses himself and leaves – he has to prepare for the grand opening of his club.  As he leaves, he tells them to smile – it’s a new day.

 A bar being robbed. Jim walks in.  Apparently, Jim gets his morning coffee from a bar.  It’s a licensed robbery – but this is essentially catnip to Jim, who gets to arrest someone, break something that looks suspiciously like a rule, and guarantee himself a nice charged meeting with Oswald later.  And all before breakfast.

Jim brings the guy into GCPD, where the other officers eye him balefully.  In his office, Harvey is talking to a bureaucratic looking guy about how the licenses will work.  He particularly mentions that Mr Cobblepot worries about Detective Gordon – he has a history. 

(Oswald, of course, knows first-hand Jim won’t go along with this - it’s what he gambled on way back when Jim had a gun to his head on the pier.)

The man sniffs haughtily at Jim, leaving as Jim enters the office.  Harvey and Jim talk briefly.  Harvey says that Oswald did help get the city back on its feet by exerting control over the underworld.  Jim says that every day the citizens look to Oswald for protection, they slip further away from GCPD.  Harvey leaves, and Jim has a nice glower to himself.

 At Wayne Manor, Bruce wonders how to turn Oswald's scheme against him.  Alfred tells him he’s supposed to be prepping for Ra’s.  Bruce feels guilty that the city got into such a state in the first place, though – because he was instrumental in the release of the virus.  Alfred warns him against mission creep – but Bruce thinks he can work towards both goals.

Oh no.  Arkham.  I hate this place so much.  I get that it’s a stylised comic book universe, but why must they do this horrible depiction?   

The foul unkempt gang has shown up. One used to be a warden, and remembered Jonathan talking about the fear serum.  That could help them in their vendetta against Oswald.

The deeply repulsive new director, who is virtually a lizard, allows them access. Jonathan is essentially constantly haunted and terrified – which he uses to control him.  He allows them to take the cowering boy away, in queasily paternal tones. I want this guy to die too, please.

(An aside - see - this is one of the things with Gotham. Every other character will view Oswald as the big bad and work towards his downfall - but we see that this doctor, and this gang are infinitely worse and more contemptible.)

At the former Dr Crane’s home, Jonathan is pulling up boards to hand over his father’s fucked up chemistry set.  He insists he can’t be there after dark – but they don’t care.  They’ve brought a scarecrow (the figure he fears most) as a means to control him.  He screams and begs – to no avail.

(See - I'd happily let Oswald kill these guys)

 A bank – where a robbery is carried out by the contemptible bastard gang.  When GCPD arrive – staff are ranting about fiery demons.  Jim and Harvey don’t think that this was a licensed crime – but a deliberate message to defy Oswald.  Harvey says that he hopes Victor comes by to kill them.  Jim decides he’s going to catch them first. Harvey is incredulous that he’d essentially race Victor just to thumb his nose at Oswald.  Harvey is apparently suffering from severe amnesia regarding the last three years.  

Jim says he suspects the fear serum – and points out that they should look for Jonathan.

 At Arkham, Jim and Harvey are interviewing the very vile doctor.  He says that Jonathan’s condition is fragile, and is generally slippery and evasive.  As we enter his office, we see a table with straps and random surgical instruments lying on it.  I want this guy dead so much

Harvey deliberately uses Oswald’s and Zsasz's names.  He tells the doctor that Zsasz is likely to visit soon.  He asks Jim how he’d describe Zsasz – who replies that he has a body that won’t quit is a homicidal maniac and sadist

Of the highest professional standards

The doctor caves

Jim and Harvey go to find the gang but are ambushed – with Jim getting a nasty kick to the ribs. They go on about the license system and call themselves ‘outlaws’.  Jim is kicked in the ribs again and again (please stop that) – I don’t think he’d have been able to spring up quite so quickly as that.

In what turns out to have been a training session, Selina beats up 5 guys in an alley.  Tabitha comes in and takes the last one out – and they go to get pizza.

Back at their apartment, Victor arrives and reminds them about the license system.  He says they’re understandably hard to find – given their shabby apartment, and asks Tabitha if she didn’t used to be rich. Tabitha claims that Oswald took her club.  Victor points out that Tabitha murdered Oswald’s mother and tried to kill him – so she should call it even.  Yes.  Thank-you, Victor.

(An aside – are we to believe that Selina was selectively deaf here?  We know her moral code is a bit different – but I’d like to think she’d draw the line at Gertrud’s murder)

Victor says that Oswald is willing to let bygones be bygones if they come to the club and show that they’re deferential.  He also asks hopefully if that pizza is pepperoni – but Selina closes the lid. Why will no-one let Victor share their food? I’ll commit crimes and order pizza if Victor will come visit me.

Selina is willing to go to Oswald – but Tabitha refuses to ‘work for him’.

(An aside -  I’m really not getting where Tabitha’s high horse is coming from here.  Tabitha is still pretty much the lowest of the low, for me.  She got her jollies listening to Gertrud cry and beg while she was locked up, before eventually stabbing her in the back. She’s never demonstrated any remorse, or ‘well – that’s business’ attitude.  There’s not the complication of mental illness or trauma that you get with Barbara or Ed, either.  If anything, the implication with Tabitha is always that she’s a straightforward sadist. I find it incredibly hard to remotely root for her or care about her.)

Bruce visits Jim at work. A tired and presumably sore Jim is now drinking while he broods, blood on his collar.  The smell of blood is gross – go change that, Jim.  

Bruce tries to find out what’s being done about the license situation, and nudges Jim in the direction of finding the probable master-list of crime and criminals. Jim says that the license system has the official OK – and going after the list would set off too many alarms.  Oswald will catch the gang, and it will reinforce the idea that GCPD is not needed.  Jim’s not happy about the situation - but his hands are effectively tied.  

Bruce suggests using Oswald to lead Jim to the gang.  Jim looks thoughtful.

Before he leaves – Bruce tells Jim to come to dinner sometime.  Jim actually seems vaguely happy at this idea – which is nice to see. He suggests getting something now – but as he turns, Bruce has slipped away.

 Os is promoting his club to the press.

Exclusive but welcoming, urbane but edgy

He’s super confident. He’s asked if he got the club from Barbara and where she might be – but bats the question away.  Ivy watches, smiling and seemingly amiable – which is worth noting, because I think her actions later seemed very out of the blue.

Oswald is asked about the license system.  He waxes lyrical about the Pax Romana.  When criminals start drawing Roman Empire parallels, they’re sort of asking for a hubris smackdown. it’s some kind of dramatic law of the universe. 

He changes the subject back to the club – and has Ivy dramatically light up the Edcicle.  He’s concocted a story about Ed having an incurable brain disease, asking to be cryogenically frozen, and then let him be out among the people.  It was the least Oswald could do to comply with his wishes.

Did he know he was being frozen?

Jim strolls in. Oswald snaps that he has affadavits from Ed’s doctor – if Jim wants to see them.  He walks quickly to Jim – and turns sharply to stop the press following him, because Jim and Oswald like a little privacy when they’re about to invade each other’s personal space.

He tells Jim he’s a little busy – what exactly does he want?  Jim’s here to deliberately provoke a response from him, of course – to get to the gang – and goes about it with some relish.

I’m here to tell you you're a fraud

He tells Oswald the gang have the fear toxin.  They’re not afraid of him, and soon others won’t be either.  

You’ve had a nice run, Oswald, but it’s over.

Oswald grabs Jim and hauls him close.  There’s an initial snarl – and then he switches to his sort of ardent tone for these encounters.

Oh Jim.

For his part, Jim looks like he’s just realised being the grabee is as much fun as being the grabber. This opens a whole new world of possibilities.  Now they can role play Big Bad Gangster and Innocent Detective as well as the usual Stern Cop and Flirtatious Gangster.

Oswald tells Jim it’s so hard to admit irrelevance – but he will find the gang and crush them, because he keeps Gotham safe now.  

Jim smiles at him before walking out.  Oswald calls after him that it’s always good to see his old friend, with an oddly shiny-eyed smile.

That was the most elaborate foreplay ever.

 Meanwhile, at a horrid flat, the gang listen to a statement Oswald made for TV, furious at the insults levelled at them.  Jonathan’s made the serum – but they refuse to get rid of the scarecrow, despite his begging) and shut him in the cupboard with it.

Oswald is monologuing at the Edcicle.  He’s going on about Ed’s accusation of being a slave to emotions (Ed, of course, being a paragon of self-control who strangled his girlfriend).  Oswald says he’s banished those feelings now…..

(Hey, Oswald - remember the last scene?  And then the ones before it?  And pretty much the whole episode?  You’ve banished precisely nothing.  In fact, you’ve seemed extra emotional)

ivy approaches as he continues to monologue.

….but at what cost?  Which of us is truly frozen?

That’s a godawful clunky and pompous line that even the most self-indulgent fanficcer would have hastily edited out – which means Ivy’s interruption works particularly well.

Him - like totally frozen

Oswald is not happy at his overly-dramatic posing being interrupted and tells her to go somewhere else. She does – but she’s pissed about it. It looks a lot like a big brother, little sister dynamic.

GCPD, where Jim is planning their strike at the club.  The other cops seem reluctant, and Harvey has to chivvy them.  Harvey clearly thinks Jim’s plan is reckless – deliberately provoking Oswald (who, let us not forget, is the master of his emotions now), who in turn provoked the gang.   He doesn’t blame the cops for being pissed.  Jim pulls a face and leaves to get the gas masks

(An aside – we seem to have looped back to something resembling season one Jim.  His fellow officers dislike him, and Harvey is going along with his plans under protest.  GCPD is happy with its relationship with the underworld, but Jim refuses to tolerate it.

Again reminiscent of s1 – there’s ambiguity around this refusal.  Jim talks about wanting the law to be in charge – but we know from promos that he’s going to go get help from Falcone, so the talk of law and order and public trust is kind of – you know…. bullshit, if your actual actions involve going to mafia dons for favours.  The whiff of moral hypocrisy here is familiar.  Also – lone wolf behaviour, and bucking against authority – that’s just essentially s1 Jim.)

Poor, poor Jonathan is still cowering in that fucking cupboard.  Why will no-one hug this child and make him tea?

The scarecrow starts talking to him – or at least Jonathan hallucinates this – and things get much worse.

 In the GCPD locker room, four cops corner Jim.  They like the current system – why does he have to rock the boat?  Jim can tell there’s no getting out of this.

Alright then - who wants it first?

He tries to throw some punches – but two of them hold his arms while the others beat him.  It’s quick but still horrible – I hate scenes like that.

 At the Iceberg Club – Oswald greets Bruce, who puts on an avuncular performance.  Alfred prods about whether Ed is still alive in there. Oswald says they’ll never know – but then scrambles to correct himself when Bruce reminds him that a cure might be developed for his ‘brain disease’.  Ha!

Bruce wants to personally thank Oswald for everything he’s done for the city.  It seems sincere – and Oswald seems genuinely grateful.  It’s worth remembering that Bruce – from what we’ve seen – at least tries to be compassionate and understanding with everyone he encounters, even the criminals.  Part of Oswald does genuinely believe that he has acted in the city’s best interests. Bruce is insightful and empathetic enough to recognise and acknowledge that – while still retaining his determination to put an end to his scheme.

He asks about the license. Oswald seems disbelieving that he’d be open to licensed crime – but Bruce points out that if his scheme had existed three years ago , then his parents would still be alive.

Oswald nods – wide-eyed -

Exactly so!

We’re reminded of a parallel between these characters - Oswald and Bruce both lost their parents within the last three years, and in traumatic circumstances. Those losses shaped them both.   Again – it’s an effective moment.  Bruce doesn’t believe in the licenses – his comment about his parents is just a statement of fact – but there’s an openness to the comment: he doesn’t draw the ‘us and them’ line that Jim does.

Oswald tells Bruce he comes up with guidelines, but the nervous bureaucrat – Mr Pen – handles everything else – before leaving to mingle.  Alfred congratulates Bruce on finding out who is likely to have the list.

 Selina is also at the club. Victor approaches with Ivy in tow – and asks where Tabitha is, aren’t they a package deal?  Selina says Oswald has her – and that should be enough, but Tabitha arrives.

We're both in

Victor eyes her.

I should pat you down for weapons

Tabitha tells him he’d lose a hand.  What’s with this show and cutting off hands?

Ivy tries to say hi, but Tabitha rather meanly gets rid of her.  Selina is happy that Tabitha was worried about her.  Glancing round, though, she sees Bruce and Alfred, scowls, and walks away.

 At GCPD, Jim stares at his bloody nose in the mirror.  Jim’s still very upright for what looked to be a horrendous beating – what the hell? Harvey enters.  Jim tells him sullenly that they have no back up. Harvey suggests it was healthy for the cops to let off steam this way – which doesn’t go down well with Jim.

 At the club, the gang is hiding in kitchen, deciding to hit Oswald and Victor first.  Oswald strolls in with Victor, and asks them whether they think gas or a bullet would be faster?

Oswald knew they would be there, and is seemingly amused by Jim's ham-fisted attempt at manipulation. He’ll need to practice his role-play skills.  Possibly with a uniform and handcuffs - Oswald hasn’t decided yet.

Oswald has a special plan for these guys – and smilingly tells them so.

(Jesus - just let him do it: they're vile.)

Bruce has followed Selina to the roof.  She asks what he wants.  He says she knew he’d follow her.  She loses her smile and tells him he doesn’t know anything about her – a call-back to the hospital – for which Bruce promptly apologises.  She forgives him quickly, and tells him to get on the ledge if he wants to talk, which he does – to her pleased surprise.

He apologises again, and she tells him he was a jerk.  Bruce comments on her relationship with Tabitha, and says she’s not a good mentor. Selina says his opinion means absolutely nothing to her.  She’s a bit wobbly in her heels.  Turning – she dangles one foot off the edge, and asks if he wants to say something. He tells her that’s a lovely dress, and she smiles.

Alfred appears, and asks why they can’t just go to the cinema like normal teenagers.  He also tells Bruce they have a situation, and he runs off.  Alfred leaves Selina with a Miss Kyle – and she smiles.

Oswald is making a speech in front of the bound gang – about how he is ensuring peace for the future, and how - without him – this fear and chaos is what you get, the old days.

(An aside – you know – aside from Oswald’s sincerity that what he is doing is actually beneficial, that crime is inevitable, so why not control it – his behaviour is psychologically understandable.  No wonder Oswald is obsessive about control, after his experiences in Arkham, with his ‘family’, during his time as mayor.  He’s also going to have a professional horror of free agents like Ed and Barbara – who brought about complete chaos in the underworld, and who – as he pointed out – wouldn’t have even got to sit at the same table as Fish and Maroni and Falcone.)

Ivy watches, looking disgruntled.  I'm not getting why Ivy is suddenly dubious here, to be honest.

Oswald concludes by saying he keeps the city safe - not GCPD –adding a sarcastic, you're welcome!

Bruce tells Alfred his stuff is in the car. Alfred shakes his head.  Bruce tells Alfred that Oswald will kill those men.  Alfred says there’s a time for As-Yet-Unnamed-Mask-Man, and there’s a time for Bruce.

Bruce steps forward and loudly asks Oswald what will happen.  Oswald says he need not concern himself.  Bruce asks if they will be handed over to the police.

Oswald walks closer.  He says Bruce thanked him earlier – but how did he think this all happened?  He’s willing to do the dirty work required.

Again, Bruce’s response is important

I understand

There’s sincerity there.  He does understand Oswald’s reasoning.  He just can’t go along with it.  He tries again.

I'm asking you not to kill those men

Oswald’s mouth trembles (master of his emotions, everyone), and he looks him straight in the eye

You're young.  You have a good heart

Bruce and Alfred looks taken aback by this response.

Oswald is resolved, though.

No.

 Ivy wanders into the kitchen and switches off the power. This makes not a blind bit of sense – sorry. I can buy that Oswald’s snappishness has been progressively pissing her off. I can buy that they’re in a squabbly sibling dynamic.  But it just seemed to go from 0 to wtf way too quickly.  She’s been around Oswald for just over three months now.  She knew of him earlier than that – in fact, saw very similar attention-grabby behaviour at the opening of Sirens.  I get that she’s childish – and doesn’t really think things through before acting – but the idea that she’s suddenly not OK with that to this extent just feels too convenient.

As the club is plunged into darkness, Jim and Harvey come barrelling in, the gang break free, and Oswald is sprayed with fear serum.  He drops to the floor, screaming, and sees a monstrous, demonic Ed which – given Ed mentally tortured him by digging up his father’s corpse, makes sense.  It’s also interesting that Ed is looming over Oswald – slightly reminiscent of their first prolonged encounter – in which Ed drugged him to keep him docile and captive.

Zsasz and Alfred nearly shoot each other in the confusion, but give each other impressed little smiles.  Someone somewhere just started a side-blog.  Think of all the snacks Alfred could make him.

When the lights go back on, Jim punches the ringleader, who was laughing and gloating over a still yelling Oswald, and arrests him.

Oswald is still terrified and begging for help – but zeroes on Jim’s voice, grabbing on to him to clamber up from the floor, and then clutches at him, hiding his face against him and begging for help.

Jim has his disgruntled ‘I’m not a hugging person’ face on – but doesn’t push him off, and manages to shift his grip to move his hand from grabbing Oswald’s shoulder to press against the back of his head instead.

(An aside – yes, it’s played for some comic relief.  However, the fact remains that after everything, and despite all the bluster on both sides - Oswald still seeks Jim out for safety, and Jim doesn’t shove him away, but holds on instead. In a crappy dark universe, I’ll take what sweetness I can get.)

Harvey drops a newspaper on Jim’s desk – which is running what is surely now many Gobblepotters’ desktop image as their front-page picture.  Harvey shakes his head.

Penguin won't be too happy about that

Well – not publicly, Harvey – but I’m willing to bet that it’s made it into a secret scrapbook.

Jim shrugs

Screw him

(The fanficcers are on it Jim, thanks for helping)

 Mr Pen’s office.  Bruce is waiting at the door.  He manages to easily swipe the list, while Mr Pen ineffectually protests.

(Honestly?  This seems dumb.  Yes – Oswald would avoid seeing the list himself, but he’d have third party muscle guarding it.)

Bruce is on a rooftop, watching a licensed burglary through a glass sectioned ceiling.  Leaning on the glass, he falls through, lands awkwardly, removes his mask in apparent panic – and is only saved by the arrival of GCPD.  Ooops. Maybe he’ll get one of those cool mugshots, though?  David Bowie’s is the best.

One of the loathsome gang returns to the apartment for a more serum.  He opens the cupboard to find Jonathan wearing the scarecrow suit.

Jonathan Crane isn't here anymore.  Just the scarecrow

He sprays him with the serum and – again – fuck these guys, so good.

 General observations

Hard to find an overarching theme here – we’re more checking in to see where everyone is.

 The licensed crime thing doesn’t really work, logic-wise – but Gotham’s not really big on that. What you can take from it that’s interesting is Oswald’s view of crime versus, say…Jerome’s.  

Crime, for Oswald, is business.  It’s what he does.  He’s a gangster and belongs, in that sense, to the world inhabited by Fish, Maroni and Falcone – even given his ‘freakishness’.  From what we see of Gotham – it’s pretty entrenched in terms of rich, poor, etc.  For Oswald – second generation immigrant, wrong side of the tracks, with a mother who needed support herself, and with something to prove – organised crime probably seemed a pretty obvious option.

It does fulfil certain psychological needs for him: power, respect, and the venting of rage when he kills – but they’re sort of by-products of what he does.  Barring when he completely loses his temper, he will tend to kill/assault for business reasons.  An enemy had to be disposed of.  An informant had to be taught a lesson.  Even revenge serves a business purpose as well as acting as an outlet for anger: this is what you will get if you wrong me.

That’s a world with a rulebook and its own logic.  But it doesn’t really work for those who want to break the rules for the sake of breaking the rules.  Oswald’s rule would pretty much be the same to them as the rule of law.  Jerome’s furious at every authority figure he sees – it doesn’t matter who it is.  He needs to lash out at them, exert power.  Equally – it doesn’t really work for people whose murders are driven by psychological compulsion and/or a need to prove that they’re ‘better’ than the law.

Jim and Oswald.  Oh my.  Oswald’s still feeling a little stung – it seems, given his pointed comment to Jim about keeping people safe, but presumably the bulk of the blame has been assigned to the Tetch virus, since Jim is still hale and hearty.  They’re back to business as usual: inappropriate body space, inappropriate baiting, inappropriate grabbing, inappropriate staring, inappropriate clutching – general inappropriateness.

Oswald and Bruce’s interaction is interesting.  We know, from Oswald’s backstory, and his interlude after Arkham, that Oswald does have the capacity to be a good person.  It’s just been knocked out of him so often that he’s learned that it doesn’t get him anywhere.  But he still recognises and values goodness in other people.  It’s one of the major factors in his relationship with Jim (morally ambiguous though Jim may be).  And - like the reasoning behind his crime licenses – this acknowledgement of goodness is something that differentiates him from many of the other ‘villains’.  There’s arguably much more of a sense of ‘might-have-been’ about him, which is what makes him so relatable and sympathetic.

Jim – as mentioned earlier – has looped back to a version of s1 Jim.  I’m curious to see what makes him desperate enough to seek out Falcone.  It’ll need to be something significant, otherwise he’s just going to start to bring back elements of Unappealing Season 2 Jim, who was a massive hypocrite.

Sundries

Victor is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

Jim being the object of derision in GCPD is oddly familiar and comforting.

Poor Jonathan.  

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the week proceeding the movie opening in the U.S. so if you have yet to see the movie don’t read on.

Themes:

The main and frankly obvious theme in this movie is of the fatherly relationship/influence over a child. This is evident with Peter and his newly-found father Ego as well as his somewhat surrogate father Yondu, Nebula and her estranged adoptive father Thanos and even Ego’s guardian role of Mantis and Baby Groot being the baby of the team to some degree. This theme is played up very well in the movie throughout and also in these different plotlines showcases the different forms that this relationship has. Whether it’s about acceptance, nurturing or living through them. James Gunn deserves credit for getting this rather mature point across alone.

Characters:

So, following what I said in my non-spoiler review, I’ve decided to do the character analysis in order of favourite to least favourite in the movie.

Baby Groot:

It’s sad that I knew from the trailers that Baby Groot would be my favourite character but I have my reasons and they’re not just because he’s cute. Starting with that though I am glad they kept his as Baby Groot throughout this movie because while I said that Groot was one of the best things in the last movie, it did get quite old quite fast with what is essentially his character. Here they were allowed to play up the fact that he is a baby, he does make mistakes, he doesn’t always understand and this made for great comedic moments... Although I do think the whole not understanding thing was taken a little bit too far when he was tasked with finding Yondu’s prototype fin and came back at one point with a desk to which I actually thought would have the fin in it but it did not.

Also I did love how cute he looked in the little Ravager uniform but was really sad by how the other Ravagers treated him as a mascot and soaked him so he was dripping everywhere. I would have liked Rocket to be more sympathetic but I’ll get to him later.

As I said before I also liked the fact he was the baby of the group, he probably doesn’t remember being adult Groot... It’s like in Once Upon a Time when August aka Pinocchio says “Just because the boy doesn’t remember being me doesn’t mean I don’t remember being the boy”...and so because of that I think also the team acknowledges that and rather than treating him like a friend who just so happens to now be a child, instead treats him like a child. That title sequence where he is dancing along that platform on the Sovereign planet where they’re fighting the Abilisk and all it focuses on is him. You have Rocket and Gamora telling him to get to cover yet he continues to be cute and dance, I didn’t get the Drax bit when he comes crashing down behind Groot so he freezes until Drax gets back up...I’m guessing it’s meant to be a throwback to the end credits sequence of him dancing to Jackson 5 but Drax knows he can move and surely that was not the time for him to freeze.

Like I said I am glad they didn’t age him up from Baby to Adult in one quick go, actually I loved the fact one of the five end-credit sequences was him as a teenager because again it ties in to that father theme where Quill is like the angry dad telling their delinquent teenager to tidy up their room. It’s funny and if Vin Diesel did do the voice he did a great job no matter how clearly synthesized it was.

Yondu:

So if you’ve seen the movie you’ve probably guessed the point that made me cry was Yondu’s death...Michael Rooker earns every tear shed not just in that emotionally powerful moment but in my opinion throughout the movie because it’s organically built up to. I didn’t rate Yondu in the first movie at all, in fact looking over my review of the first movie all I said about Yondu was that I thought he was thrown in at the last minute and the scene where he takes out that army of Sakaarans near the end of the movie was his best scene. He gets another scene like that here but it’s a lot cooler and richer because he takes out his former men.

On a side-note but talking about Yondu is relevant to it, this is one of the first MCU movies to actually have deaths that either matter or count. Thor: The Dark World tried with Frigga but nobody really cared then with Loki but he was revealed to still be alive, Phil Coulson in The Avengers came back but on TV and the only death to actually hit home for fans has been Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron but also The Ancient One’s death in Doctor Strange last year was quite harrowing. Here the movie isn’t afraid to kill, and kill a lot. A lot of Yondu’s loyalists all die, he in turn kills all those not loyal to him, then of course there’s his final scene.

Originally when he told Rocket to take Groot and go I genuinely thought that was the last we’d see of him, but then I was thinking what could happen and it actually happened in that the Holo-Suit and Jetpack that Rocket gives him would be used in the way they were used. He used the jetpack and gave Quill the holo-suit, got them both to safety in the vacuum of space and then froze to death but saved Quill. That line of “He may have been your father, but he wasn’t your daddy” was when I knew for definite he was going to die. I had already guessed it when he said goodbye to Rocket but the fact he saved his surrogate son and sacrificed himself in the process got me right in the heart. I never thought Yondu would be the character to do that to me and I didn’t think Guardians 2 would be the movie in which that would happen again...if you’ve read my Logan review you know that also did it for me this year.

And again I loved the father-son relationship between him and Quill, while it wasn’t as in your face as the one between Quill and Ego it was very subtle and very well done, more so than the first movie definitely. I loved how when the team first meets Ego and Quill says a flippent reason why Yondu kept him as a Ravager rather than take him to Ego as instructed, then later on in a conversation between Rocket and Yondu, Yondu gives the exact same answer when Rocket asks him, yet Yondu at least knew the real reason why and it is so powerful with the reveal in that one line just before his death that Michael Rooker deserves a best supporting role nomination or something. 

Nebula:

Yay Nebula! I love Karen Gillan so much in this role, I think even more than I do as Amy Pond. I think seeing an actor/actress who’s most notable role prior is a hero switch to playing a villain/anti-hero is so good both from a viewer’s and acting perspective. I also love the layers that Gillan added to her performance in both her history with Thanos and with Gamora as well as her character development from villain to anti-hero through the movie.

Firstly to those few nitpickers saying “They said Nebula was going to become a Guardian of the Galaxy!” Firstly they didn’t, all Gunn and Gillan have said about Nebula is that she goes through a development that leads her to the Guardians. She’s an unofficial member but then leaves at the end so you can’t say she’ll be a member going into Infinity War but hopefully she’ll become a member in Vol. 3. Also she somehow became a member of the Ravagers, albeit for about 20 minutes of the movie and the best thing about that, not only does she fit in with the gang because they are effectively space pirates and so is she, but also they gave her a costume upgrade. I definitely prefer the red outfit to the original purple outfit, because she is blue-skinned the original costume blended in with her skin more than the red leather Ravager suit. Also they played up her cybernetic parts more than the first movie, including a rather gruesome twist that Thanos would replace her body parts with cybernetic parts as a child to improve her as a fighter.

On that note, the relationship between Nebula and Gamora is made so much more genuine as a sisterly struggle rather than just rivals for their master’s respect as it came across in the first movie. I’m not going to talk about it much here because Gamora basically had nothing else to do and so will save it for talking about her but my two favourite parts from Nebula with her scenes with Gamora 1) Is when she’s prisoner on the Milanow with that whole non-ripe fruit schtick and 2) That entire scene from when Nebula leaves the Ravager’s ship to find Gamora, finds her and maniacally tries to gun her down, to that entire quiet scene where you actually get some raw emotion from this villain who’s supposed to be unsympathetic.

I do actually like the fact Nebula left again at the end of the movie, mainly because we know she’s going to be in Infinity War and her reason for leaving is to kill Thanos...who supposedly is the big bad of Infinity War although I do hope it’s revealed to be Hela instead. Nebula still remains one of my favourite characters both in the Guardians franchise and the MCU in general, she’s a great strong female character and Karen Gillan helps that so much.

Ego:

Who knew Kurt Russell could still act? I obviously don’t remember him as a child actor because it was back in the 1960s but I do know he was a jobbing child actor, I have seen him act as an adult in Sky High but didn’t rate him much...but here...firstly it’s obvious he was either the Glenn Close or Benicio del Toro of this movie, basically the older actor of a mainly younger cast that seems to be the MCU formula. But I was quite surprised he turned out to be the villain of the movie, both because I didn’t see it coming and because I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. Also the fact he’s a manipulative father villain is different for the MCU but not so much for Marvel Comics in general.

Now again I don’t know who Ego is in the comics, but I’m assuming a living planet isn’t actually Star-Lord’s father in the comics from what people are saying. I don’t even know if he is a villain, all I know is that he’s a member of the Elders of the Universe which also contains The Collector and Grandmaster the former of whom again I missed in this movie and the latter will be portrayed by Jeff Goldblum in Thor: Ragnerok...but they have yet to establish that they’ll use these characters in that way.

Also this movie has some of the best cinematics in the entire MCU courtesy of Ego’s Planet. The bubble orbs that when touched burst into dozens of multicolored smaller bubbles was a great effect. Ego’s palace looked like Asgard meets woodland and that room dedicated to his historical interactive diorama was gorgeous, it may have all been a sound-stage but it drew me in.

I am hoping 2017, and this movie specifically, is the start of competent MCU villains. We already have a good sign of things to come with Cate Blanchett’s Hela in Thor: Ragnerok but for an actual movie thus far Ego was a great villain. The fact that he not only put a brain tumor into Peter’s mum’s head that ultimately killed her, but the fact he passed it off as the right thing to do to keep him focused on his life-long goal was just so dark and so tragic for Peter to hear I bet that it definitely raised the bar in the MCU for the quality of villains. Loki topped the poll but because he’s fell more into anti-hero territory recently the likes of Ego and hopefully Hela will hopefully top him.

Overall I thought Kurt Russell was a great addition to both the MCU and Guardians franchise. The de-aging technology they used in the prologue scene was so realistic and he never chewed scenery once throughout the movie. So happy with the fact he’s still working and now part of the superhero business.

Mantis:

Mantis I feel will be the marmite character of this movie; on the one hand she is so lovable and, as Drax says, innocent that it’s hard not to like her. But from experience I know how naivety can be an annoyance for some people. I personally really liked the character from the trailers right the way through, her design was on point and her green leather-looking suit reminded me of Elektra’s new suit from the upcoming Defenders series.

I think the progression of her being Ego’s literal emotional support to her managing to stand up with the Guardians against him was very organic. Ego’s guardianship over her was very much one of fear, not only is this evident in her reactions to seeing Ego and Peter getting closer but even from when we first see Mantis standing beside Ego and she is so timid and her body language is so closed off that it’s almost like she’s trying to tell them how scared she is of him without actually saying it.

How Mantis will fit in with the Guardians I think will be shown properly in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 because with Infinity War not only will the Guardians have to be introduced to the Avengers but with the sheer volume of characters slated for this movie, as well as the fact that every other female hero in the movie will already have more development going in, I think it’s possible Mantis may be in the background.

While I believe Pom Klementieff is very much an underdog actress in the MCU with such big personalities like Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, even Hayley Atwell and the actresses on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I do think she can exist in he own space and get that fan following just as most of the other actors have had to do.

Drax:

I was surprised by the fact I actually liked Drax the Destroyer in this movie, considering I basically hated him in the first movie and didn’t really see how he could change my opinion about him. Surprisingly I found him quite funny in this movie. From his snipes at almost every member of the team aside from Gamora to his weird chemistry with Mantis. I do still think he is very much Vulcan-lite but at least in this movie we got some more development to do with his family history as well as the fondness he has for the team. Having said that I do feel he went slightly overboard at the end with the dramatic “Where’s Quill?!” bit.

But, surprisingly, I found Dave Bautista rather funny in this movie. From the gag about the Aero-Rig making his nipples chafe to the banter between him and Mantis. Honestly one of the best lines in this movie is Drax, in response to Nebula saying “All you lot do is fight and yell at each other”, he says “That’s right we’re family”. It sums up both how the Guardians interact with each other as well as modern day families anyway.

I still think Dave Bautista is bottom of the barrel in terms of acting caliber on the MCU heap but, like everyone in this movie, he impressed me a lot in this movie.

Star-Lord:

So why is Peter Quill towards the bottom end of my list? Because I feel he was very much sidelined with everything else going on around him. While yes his Celestial heritage was explored in this movie and the fact that with that he had powers...the fact they were lost by the end of the movie is a loss not just for Star-Lord but for Infinity War because without them I’m not too sure what Star-Lord will bring to the table in that ensemble movie. Not only is his wit and sarcasm already an echo of Tony Stark as well as his pseudo leadership role but also there’s going to be enough guy candy in that movie to open a superstore without him let alone with him added.

Also this Sam & Diane Cheers relationship he has going on with Gamora is definitely starting to feel forced to me. There’s no real time dedicated to it and it just seems brought up whenever the movie needs it to be. I definitely see them together, but I don’t see the relationship working in context of the movies, no relationship actually lasts in the MCU and I don’t see James Gunn dedicating time to make this relationship seem organic.

Also can we talk about Chris Pratt’s humour; When it came to that dramatic twist of him discovering his father killed his mother and the obviously less dramatic shot of Ego destroying the walkman his mother had given him, he responds by saying “You shouldn’t of killed my mother and squashed my walkman”...the first part of that is quite dramatic but much like the tone of the movie matching the light with the dark it counterbalances the dark adding too much light. Obviously his walkman is the last thing he has of his mother so the meaning and symbolism is there but in terms of him equating the two things I just found in poor taste.

While I do think Chris Pratt is a great leading man and his comfort zone is definitely in comedy, I just don’t think he pulls the focus to be leader of the team. To me the focus, for better or worse would go to any other character in this movie before going to him. I still think he was good and had some great moments but he wasn’t up there with say Iron Man, Doctor Strange or even Vision for me.

Ravagers:

So the Ravagers as a group were definitely more developed than the first movie, I love how their pirate similarities were explored not just in how they conduct business but also their ship. Both the Eclector and the Quadrant are fantastic ships; not only do they look like pirate ships but the design of the insides of them. The fact we saw a lot of the inside when Yondu, Rocket and Groot escaped from the brig making their way to the Quadrant as the main ship was destroyed but then the fact the Quadrant has now become the new home for the Guardians because the Milano was destroyed towards the start of the movie was a very nice touch. Sort of a parting gift from Yondu to Quill.

There are a number of Ravagers to focus on, firstly Taserface. I honestly thought this was Brian Blessed the first time I saw him because his annunciation and manner was very reminiscent of him but now it’s some guy called Chris Sullivan. The fact he was basically a running gag because of his name which was quite clearly a chosen name not a birth name was very funny and allowed for Rocket to have some great lines.

In the same vein that Dave Bautista surprised me, Kraglin was a breakthrough character for me here. The fact Sean Gunn actually stepped up his game from the first movie and took, what I’m guessing was, a courtesy casting by his brother (the director of these movies) and ran with it to actually have one or two quite emotional and funny moments was brilliant. I know he also does the motion capture for Rocket so the fact Kraglin actually had more to do in this movie aside from just standing behind Yondu trying to look tough was great. When Yondu died and the Ravager funeral happened it was such a fist pumping moment when he realized what was going on. Honestly the fact this is the same guy who annoyed me constantly on Gilmore Girls is ridiculous and hopefully he’ll stick around with the team.

Gamora:

I can’t decide whether or not I’m happier in this movie or not compared to the first one. In the first movie she was the bad-ass kick-ass woman who got stuff done. In this movie it was more about her relationship both with Peter and Nebula. The fact that she is still the bad-ass now with the big guns is sidelined but still makes her interesting to watch.

I love the fact for the first act of this movie she was the voice of reason, when they were being chased by the Sovereign and Peter & Rocket were comparing girth sizes how she just said “Could you continue this after we win this epic space battle” and then basically went ape when the crash-landed on Berhert was brilliant.

Aside from that her relationship with Nebula had some great moments, like I said before that scene in the wasteland when Nebula tries to kill her then she takes one of the guns from her ship and attacks her before saving her life was brilliant. But the fact what Nebula said to her stuck for the final act of the movie resulting in Gamora trying to keep Nebula around but accepting she had to go was very much earned.

Zoe Saldana continues to be a great asset to the franchise, I am very much looking forward to seeing Gamora meet Black Widow and from what I hear about Vol. 3 being centred on her cannot wait to see what they explore.

Rocket:

I don’t know why but Rocket really bugged me in this movie, there are scenes where he is as hilarious as he was in the first movie an keep in mind he was one of my favorite characters in that movie, but there was something off about this performance, like it was just an afterthought that Rocket was even in the movie.

Stealing the batteries was a fun dig considering that basically set up the movie, him setting those traps to ensnare the Ravagers was very well done, as I said before his banter with Taserface was brilliant and the scenes with Yondu were definitely his best scenes. But the rest of the movie for him really fell flat because aside from those four things he didn’t do anything else. Groot accidentally taking one of the Ravager’s mechanical eyes should have been a great callback to the first movie where he set out escape or battle plans that ended with taking an artificial body part from someone but it just fell flat...fortunately it picked up when Groot somehow got a toe from one of them.

I also didn’t buy the fact that he and Peter had conflict to the point where they basically stopped talking to each other. It was a nice makeup at the end but I do not get why Rocket basically being Rocket somehow now is a problem for Quill because he was like that throughout the first movie.

Overall I think voice-work wise Bradley Cooper was on point as always but I didn’t understand the character choices for him in this movie. I’m waiting to see how he interacts with the likes of Tony Stark, the Hulk and Ant-Man so I cannot wait.

Sovereign:

Wow this a boring race, I mean seriously I think aesthetically they’re genius because of the all gold look and the fact Ayesha’s crown was mounted on her throne so when she got up she left the crown. I also loved the 80s arcade-style of how they were in combat with the Golden Drones, they even had the Pac-Man style sound effects it was hilarious.

Also clearly they were introduced to setup Adam Warlock for Vol. 3 especially with that end-credits scene and as secondary antagonists they basically worked like the Nova Corps from the first movie but I didn’t buy them as a credible threat. I know Ayesha is returning for the third movie so hopefully she’ll have more development.

Easter-Eggs:

Speaking of after-credit scenes we had a slough of them for this movie. Five in total which I am hoping is just a Guardians thing and not a new MCU thing because while I liked all five of the scenes it does leave you wondering why they couldn’t put this in the actual movie.

Before talking about them though I want to talk about one returning Easter-Egg in the actual movie which was Howard the Duck. I’m not entirely sure why they’re continuing to push him in these Guardians movies but I’m hoping they leave it as an Easter-Egg basis.

Now with the after-credit scenes, firstly Stakar Ogord and his Ravager team. Stakar was in the movie anyway portrayed by Sylvester Stallone and was effectively Yondu’s superior but the fact at the end we see him reassembling his old team who in the comics are the original Guardians 3000 team. What’s exciting about this, if they’re in the third movie, is the star-power in this team. Sylvester Stallone, Ving Rhames and Michelle Yeoh are quite high-caliber actors, the fact Miley Cyrus is now part of the MCU I am going to have to make my peace with because it’s just her voice, but the biggest shock to me is Stakar’s right-hand diamond-stud Martinex who is portrayed by Michael Rosenbaum aka Lex Luthor from Smallville. Not only did it take me two movies and my friend to point out it was actually him but the fact he’s in movies is so good I am so happy for him.

Finally there’s the most epic Stan Lee cameo in any Marvel movie. So during the movie Rocket accidentally sends the Quadrant zipping through space more times than suitable sending them all out of loop and they pass through various points in space...one of which is Stan Lee in an astronaut suit sharing his stories with the Watchers. A group of age-old beings whose job it is to basically take note of events in the universe. A lot of people think this makes him Uatu who is the head Watcher but I just think this makes it clear that all Stan Lee MCU cameos are the same person because he’s talking about his time as a FedEx man...i.e. Civil War.

Overall I give this movie a 9/10, it was such a solid movie, great for character development and so funny and on point with great emotive scenes towards the end.

So that’s my review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Marvel Movie Reviews as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.

[scrawnydutchman]

When Should a Franchise be Revived?

So as the common fan of film and television has more then likely noticed by now, reboots, remakes and revisions are everywhere. Pandering towards our collective nostalgia has proven to be far more profitable and less risky then creating a whole new original classic for our mass consumption. The people have voted with their wallets on what they’d like to see, and now EVERYBODY is doing it. Cartoon Network rebooted Powerpuff Girls and will continue to bring back Ben 10. We’ve seen reboots of Fantastic Four and other superhero properties in recent years thanks to the everlasting boom of Marvel comics popularity. Power Rangers, Smurfs and other nostalgic franchises of old are coming back. Even the animation powerhouses of Disney and Pixar, who can earn a profit simply by slapping their name on a film, have decided it was more worthwhile to continuously remind everyone of how great and ambitious they used to be . . . . rather then continue to be great and ambitious.

Yeah, as anybody who has read an article I wrote previously about the Beauty and the Beast remake in particular and just knows me in general will have figured out by now that I am HIGHLY opposed to this phenomenon. I think it’s a discouragement of mold changing ideas, it tells our future generation that the great idea they had for a new movie or show will be supported by absolutely no one, and it generally makes our culture come to a grinding halt. It’s especially ironic because these franchises we want to come back so badly are so great in the first place BECAUSE they challenged our sensibilities when they first came out, rather then pandered to them. They redefined what could be expected from our entertainment, they changed the way we look at a medium, they made all encompassing shifts in our culture. Remaking Beauty and the Beast doesn’t shift our culture, or at least it doesn’t shift us forward. It just holds us back. We could have put that same money into creating a new spectacular film that was so jaw droppingly amazing it RIVALED the original Beauty and the Beast in it’s majesty, instead of just trying to live up to it. Now, I have to come clean; I have not seen the new Beauty and the Beast so upon seeing it my mind could VERY much change upon a viewing, but I’m personally really self conscious about putting my hard earned money towards a mentality I greatly oppose, and truthfully at this point I might go in with a bias of “ready to hate it” where I don’t go in expecting a movie, I go in being like “okay . . impress me”, which for any art completely changes your outlook. When I see it, if I see it, I’ll have to take time to change my mindset in the name of being fair. On the other hand the whole movies marketing strategy is “remember the first movie?” so I’ll likely know exactly what to expect.

All of that said, bringing back a franchise is not ALWAYS bad, in fact sometimes I too get incredibly hyped about the news of one returning. There are certain exceptions of the rules, and I’m here to create a distinction between when you SHOULD bring a franchise back, and when you should just leave good enough alone.

1. It should be something that didn’t have a satisfying conclusion

One of my absolute favorite shows growing up was Teen Titans. Action packed, suspenseful, heartwarming, sometimes scary, hilarious and overall dripping with charm, this show was a clever blend of western animation and anime tropes brought together to make a really thrilling colorful ride with the unforgettable main case of Robin, Beast Boy (my favorite as a kid), Cyborg, Raven and the lovely adorable Starfire (who is my new favorite after rewatching this great series). As wonderful as this show was, it has an infamously unsatisfying conclusion. Without giving too much away to people yet to see this show, basically a major character from a previous story arc comes back without remembering who they were, one of our main heroes tries to help them but then has to leave them to continue crimefighting. And that’s it. That’s all we got. No answers to why this character came back, no answers as to what this means for the team, nothing about why their memory is lost. The show just ended without warning. If this show came back and kept telling amazing stories featuring our favorite motley crew of teenage superheroes and had an entire arc about how this character came back, you bet your ass I’d watch it. I WANT ANSWERS DAMMIT. Besides, part of the ingeniousness of the Superhero genre is that it’s so broad and limitless you can tell an infinite amount of stories with it. It just lends itself to being an ongoing franchise. Which leads to my next point.

And before anyone brings it up, yes, I’m aware of Teen Titans Go. I just try my best to forget about it.

2. You have a premise with potential for more stories. 

Coming up with a timeless premise is a difficult task. How do you come up with a plotline that’s timelessly epic or intriguing and is easily accessible to fans from every generation? Well, more often then not the answer is to make your premise as simple as possible, and to play towards themes everybody can relate to. One Piece is a great example, being one of the longest going franchises EVER and being SO successful it beat Spider-Man for the number 3 spot of best selling comic book franchise of all time (and at the rate it’s going it’s not unlikely it will beat Batman and Superman in the next few years). That’s because the premise is very easy to understand: Guy wants to become king of the pirates, to do so he must find the thing everybody is looking for, hijinks ensues and he meets a bunch of new friends along the way. With a premise as broad as this you can go ANYWHERE with it, and as a result this series has some of the most expansive lore out there where even the smallest character has the most intriguing arc. They’re always going to new islands, they’re always finding new bad guys to beat up, they’re always overcoming new bizarre challenges, and because the story essentially ends when our main lead finds his treasure, which could be at anytime, it can be as long as it wants. It also means if it were ever to end randomly without Luffy finding the One Piece it wouldn’t be out of place to just bring it back a few years later.

3. The franchise has potential not fully realized

Now, after the recent success of the new Beauty and the Beast in the box office you’ve probably heard that Disney has a SHIT TON of remakes in the works for the near future. They’re basically remaking everything, regardless of how much sense it makes. Barf. But that said, there are a FEW Disney remake examples I wouldn’t mind seeing tbh. The biggest one for me is Treasure Planet, reason being that it was a passion project by originators of the Disney Renaissance John Musker and Ron Clements, that was held back since it’s inception (thanks Katzenburg) and once it FINALLY got released it essentially bombed in the low point of Disneys popularity at the time. Now it sits alongside it’s brother Atlantis: The Lost Empire as the nostalgic Disney films fans get to at the END of their marathon, if even that. It’s a shame because this really is a neat idea. Treasure Island in space with a steampunk vibe really lends itself towards incredible and imaginative visuals (even if this movie has sort of a weird style of not quite mesh between historical and futuristic). I’d like to see a live action remake of this because the first movie doesn’t get the respect it deserves, especially for being the passion project that it is (poor Musker and Clements) and live action CGI has potential for bringing this premise to life in a way that was limited for it’s time due to this idea being held back for years. Plus I’d like to see this movie fix the problems the old one had (and when I say fix, I mean ACTUALLY MAKE BETTER, not just address knitpicky bullshit like so many people who think they’re smarter then a 90s movie when they actually just demonstrate that they completely miss the point. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ISN’T ABOUT STOCKHOLM SYNDROME. okay, rant over). I for one would just blend the two styles a little closer together so it looks more like a steampunk mesh and less like .  . . regular pirate ships with rockets taped on. Also, get rid of the robot. Just cut him out entirely.

So yeah, those are the 3 reasons I think would make bringing a franchise back acceptable. If your franchise had an unsatisfying conclusion, has potential for more stories and perhaps was incredibly limited upon it’s initial release, I see no reason not to talk about it again. And if you can hit all 3 of them then man, at that point you have a DUTY to bring it back.

Now those of you who saw the top picture was probably wondering when the hell I was going to mention the new season of Samurai Jack. Well rest assured, I saw it. And it. Is. AMAZING!!!!!! Seriously, this is some of the most spectacular stuff I have ever seen in an animated series. You are doing yourself a disservice if you are not watching Samurai Jack right now. But incidentally, the franchise itself just so happens to fit all 3 of the criteria I mentioned. The Samurai Jack series DID have an unsatisfying conclusion; we never saw Jack return to the past. The simple yet ingenious premise of Samurai Warrior gets flung into bad past by arch enemy and has to get back to the past to undo the damage done by him lends itself a LOT to endless possibilities for storytelling. It’s beautifully broad and in a futuristic setting, so you can put Jack in any situation you want. A western? go ahead. A fairy tale? Absolutely. Scotland? Why not? An Alice in Wonderland homage? You bet your ass! Sometimes the premises just write themselves. And finally, this new season is the vision of Genndy Tartakovsky fully realized. It’s no longer held back by censorship towards children or a constraint in budget. It has complete permission to go all out. The scenery is more beautiful then ever before, the action is awe inspired, the suspense is intoxicating, the new use of gore is artistic beyond all hell, and it maintains everything great about the old series and improves upon them. THIS IS HOW YOU BRING A SERIES BACK.

Now, compare that to Beauty and the Beast. The original is also an awe inspired risk taking and breathtaking work of art that really challenges the conventions we used to know and love. But the facts are: it had a satisfying conclusion, there were no more stories to tell (despite the efforts of the terrible direct to DVD sequels) and it was it’s own potential fully realized. The remake has nothing to offer but nostalgia for a movie you can watch any time if you wanted and the promise that it will fix what was never broken. Beyond that, all it’s got is songs we’ve already heard, a cast of talented people, granted, but would frankly be better off putting their talent to a fresh idea that needs the exposure more, and cgi that’s nothing new from what we see every year.

BUT ALL OF THAT SAID . . . there is one factor that breaks all the previously stated rules and warrants the existence of a product no matter where it’s basis comes from . . . honest to God quality. If a movie is genuinely entertaining or enchanting or funny, for any reason at all, then it’s done it’s core job and that’s that. So maybe I will be pleasantly surprised by this new Beauty and the Beast, it’s totally plausible. I’ve heard friends of mine say it’s BETTER then the original . . . I can’t help but remain skeptical and a little pessimistic at the whole idea, but fun is fun so, if you enjoyed it, don’t let me stop you from doing so.

[superman86to99]

Superman: The Man of Steel #22 (June 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN CONTINUES! Presenting John Henry Irons, a.k.a. Henry Johnson, a.k.a. Shaq-- uhh, STEEL. John is the big dude we saw emerging from the rubble of the Superman/Doomsday fight in Adventures #500. Now we find out more about his backstory: he was a military weapons designer who quit his job/whole life for some reason, and has been living in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum under an unfindable fake identity (he just switched his first and middle names around). A few weeks ago, John was saved by Superman after falling off a construction site -- so when the Doomsday battle broke out, John decided he should return the favor and save Superman. This didn’t go so well (for anyone), hence the whole “buried in rubble” thing.

(Note the “energy” being passed from Superman to John as he saves him. Artistic license, or something else...?!)

Anyway, once John is out of the hospital from that little incident, he sits down and tells the tale of his namesake John Henry to some Suicide Slum kids (including Superman’s pal, Keith the Unlucky Orphan, because this is a really small neighborhood). As the kids are leaving, they get caught in the middle of a gang fight and one of them is literally fried by some sort of hi-tech gun.

“You BASTARDS!” (Sorry.)

John chases after the gang members, and as they try to kill him for butting into their business, he recognizes their hi-tech weapons as his own design. When he gets out of the hospital (again), John decides to do something about it. With Superman dead, someone has to step up and protect the city, so John forges himself an iron-- uhh, STEEL armor designed for crime-smashing. John debuts his new heroic identity against the same gang from before after they come back to finish the job and firebomb his building.

John kindly asks the gang members where they got such sci-fi-esque weapons. Just as one of them is about to talk, he’s sniped by a mysterious lady with a big-ass gun, “The White Rabbit”. She seems to know John from before, and decides not to kill him because he might be "profitable” in the future. (I’ve got bad news for you, lady.)

Meanwhile, Metropolis is abuzz with news reports of John’s exploits. A psychic lady he saved when that building blew up explains that he’s not “a” man of steel but THE Man of Steel -- according to her, Superman’s spirit has returned from beyond and possessed the body of a man whose own spirit left him (John, after whatever happened that made him leave his old life). The still bed-bound Pa Kent seems convinced, while Lex Luthor Jr. is at least intrigued by the idea, and who knew Superman better than those two? No one. Welcome back, Superman!

Character-Watch:

The White Rabbit actually appeared briefly during John’s segment in Adventures #500, but I forgot to mention it. Here’s a gratuitous shot of her shorts to make up for it.

Plotline-Watch:

Futher evidence that John is the one true Superman: he says that when he was buried in the rubble, he saw "Fog. Angels and demons. I think my grandfather. He didn’t want me to die.” That sounds like a spot-on summary of what Superman’s soul went through in Adventures #500.

Poor Lois Lane’s life is bound to take a turn for the better now that the love of her life has returned: I mean Jeb Friedman, her douchey ex. To be fair, Jeb did wait like a week (comic book time) after Lois’ fiancee was presumed dead before putting the moves on her, so he’s not that bad.

I should also mention that Myra the Orphanage Lady has the hots for John -- she gets a new Halle Berry hairdo when she and Keith visit him in the hospital. You may now begin shipping them.

Lex Luthor Jr. orders his crony Dr. Happersen to find out who’s furnishing street gangs with futuristic weaponry. That’s his job, dammit!

And my job here is done, so click below to read the great Don Sparrow’s section:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

Probably the most abrupt change from the Funeral for a Friend storyline comes in the pages of SMOS, where we’re thrown into  an almost entirely new cast of characters (aside from the much loved Myra and Keith), a great departure from the Superman comics we know.  We begin with the cover, which features probably the s-shield closest to the official one, with some slick, great looking Walk-Simonson-esque shading on the chrome of the insignia—this pattern will be a theme throughout the run of this character.

Inside the first page we get our first full look at John Henry Irons in full regalia, and it looks great.  The colours help a lot in selling the metallic look, and I love the elements of his costume that are a cheat—There’s no way a metal mask could so closely follow the contours of John’s face, particularly as he speaks and emotes.  But it looks awesome so we accept it.

As I mentioned, we can feel a bit lost being thrown into this story with a wholly unfamiliar character, so they subtly let us know which character we’re supposed to be following by helpfully putting him in the familiar red and blue as we first see him. 

To my eye, in this storyline, Bogdanove abandons his usual slick, fluid, Fleischer cartoon look for a much hatchier, urban feel.  The faces are more caricaturized (sometimes, perhaps, to a fault) and the action a lot grittier.  Indeed, I don’t remember so much violence in the first couple pages of story since before the Doomsday storyline.  The effect is intentional I think—we’re supposed to be horrified by the destruction these toastmaster weapons leave behind, but man, that smouldering skeleton of a teenager on page 4 is tough to take, as is the brock wall smeared with Irons’ blood at the bottom of page 5. 

Still, even in his first appearance, Bogdanove has this character’s physicality and wardrobe very well established and down pat.  The parachute pants go a long way in suggesting his athleticism, and also hint at a possible inspiration in the sports world, as Shaquille O’Neal was just entering the NBA (and rap and video game worlds as well) at the time. It might be a chicken or egg argument, but I suspect some of Irons’ look is based on Shaq’s, for better or worse.            

The flashback sequence of Irons’ inspirational meeting with Superman is well-told, and there’s some interesting imagery as there appears to be some sort of beam transferring between them on page 8, lending credence to the “spirit walk-in” spin this book put forward.  The full page splash on page 11 is a good one, as you really feel the heft of his hammer in his body gesture—though maybe a little more time could have been put into the face.

The low point follows soon after—no, not dead teenagers (though there will be more of them), something worse—Jeb Friedman makes his obnoxious return to Metropolis. Worse still, Lois dives into his arms knocking off his cowboy hat.  Oh, yeah, apropos of nothing, he was wearing a cowboy hat, by the way. [Max: He seems more like a fedora kind of guy.]

Page 15 has a great look at Irons’ mask, as he perches, Batman-style, on a rooftop before jumping in to bust the gun-runners.  More dead torsos follow as one of the gang gets disemboweled (and then some) in order for the Toastmasters to blast Irons.  The cracked image of Martin Luther King is an effective way of relating some of Irons’ guilt—his actions in the past certainly haven’t advanced Dr. King’s noble causes.  Rather, they’ve just made the streets a deadlier place.

We get a good look at Irons’ array of weaponry in the story as well, as page 19 features his gauntlet, which, appropriately for his namesake, drives steel railway bolts (I’ll just accept that Irons is a great shot, and ignore how utterly deadly that would be as a weapon).  We’re then introduced to the White Rabbit, our apparent villain, in booty shorts as revealing as a code book would allow at the time. [Max: See above.]

There’s a LOT of exposition to get through, and the issue does a good job of all of it—Irons’ guilt at having dedicated his life to weaponry, and donning a costume to atone (shades of the first Iron Man film), some interesting issues with power, race and inner-city crime (with both gangsters like the White Rabbit and big businessmen like Luthor trying to take full advantage) some history on Irons’ own tragic childhood, and also some upsetting scenes with Lois and Jonathan Kent dealing with the emergence of all these new characters.    

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Does John Henry have eyebrows?  They seem to be missing in his closeup shot on page 4, and elsewhere.

GODWATCH:  John Henry prays he’s wrong when he sees the what looks like an old weapon of his on page 4.

The story makes a couple mentions of Irons’ voice as being like Darth Vader, and later the voice of God.  Emphasiszing someone’s voice is an interesting way to establish character in a silent medium like comics, but definitely does help us flesh out who he is.

I’ll admit, I’ve heard better pickup lines than “Superman is dead and Clark is dead.” Bizarrely, it seems to almost work.

I remember reading an article (I think it was in Wizard magazine) about the spirit walk-in idea, and either Simonson or Bogdanove saying that the psychic would decidedly NOT sound like Mike Myers’ Linda Richman character from SNL.  In spite of their assertions (or maybe because of them), that’s how she sounds in my head, so they might have been better off not even bringing her up. [Max: Dang, now you’ve passed on the curse to me! Hey, maybe she was possessed by Mike Myers’ ghost?]