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rappaccini · 1 year ago

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Hello! I came across your arachnophobia fic and I must say its quite the masterpiece and every fan of spider gwen should read it--but I do have a question. I keep seeing people say Gwen is handled better in the movies vs the comics, but you seem to think otherwise. Can you explain why, and what are the differences, cause I honestly felt they're going the same thing

first, thank you! second, you're not gonna believe how long this is. instead of an essay, have a dissertation. hopefully it makes sense:

gwen's age:

in the comics, gwen is bitten by her spider at seventeen, kills peter at eighteen, is nineteen at the start of her story and is currently in her early twenties (miles is still in high school).

in the movies, gwen is bitten at thirteen, she's fifteen in itsv and 16-17 in atsv.

gwen's appearance

spiderverse gwen doesn't wear a headband, has a pierced eyebrow, and dyes her hair pink in a reference to the marvel rising cartoon's gwen. she also has a side-shave. comics gwen wears the classic gwen stacy headband, has no interesting piercings (her dad made her take them out), and doesn't dye her hair.

spiderverse gwen wears ballet slippers, which she trades for chucks. comics gwen wears chuck soles stitched into the bottom of her costume.

gwen's powerset and fighting style.

both spiderverse and comics gwen begin with the basic starter set of spider-powers.

a year and a half after her origin story, comics gwen has lost her powers and now uses a symbiote instead. she's her world's venom. comics gwen at this point has all the basic spider powers back, but thanks to the symbiote she has new ones that are totally unique to her. presumably she can do everything venom can do, but so far we've seen her use it to protect her from suffocation and burn damage in fires, heal from serious injuries, camouflage so well she's nearly invisible or generate any outfit she can imagine, and send out sentient pieces of her suit to spy for her or track people. also, organic webbing. always fun. she also has a unique set of weaknesses: yeah she's got damage protection from fire but it fucks her symbiote up for days, she has to change her diet and control her emotions to make sure her symbiote doesn't go rogue and hijack her. and unlike other symbiotes, hers is resilient against sound damage and doesn't give a shit about the symbiote home planet.

a year and a half after her origin story, spiderverse gwen... still has the starter pack.

except for one new power: a spider-sense that is linked to miles and can sense him across dimensions.

spiderverse gwen is far more competent than comics gwen. she's graceful, precise, a quick thinker and fights with the "skill and discipline of a trained dancer." she's a ballerina who incorporates her pointe shoes into her costume in itsv, and her dance moves into her combat moves (and since her dad has a visions gymnastics sweatshirt, she's probably a gymnast too). comic-gwen is a klutz who uses all her moves from kung fu movies, brute forces her way through situations, and was never a ballerina or gymnast. comics gwen is such a fucking loser at fighting that after she's conscripted into the hand and they try to give her ninja training, they give up because they find her unteachable.

gwen's personality.

in itsv, she's a cardboard cutout with 'strong female character' scribbled on the torso. she's trinity syndrome personified: she's the stoic, confident, hypercompetent female character who for no reason at all just hangs around not contributing to a plot she should be able to fix on her own, so the writers can say 'strong female character! we're not sexist!' while getting to live their fantasy of having their relatable male lead win a cool, confident girl's respect for rapidly becoming even more competent than her. she's the wyldstyle of this movie-- which i mention because the lego movie was made by lord and miller, the brains behind the spiderverse movies.

but hey, they acknowledged that she likes to play the drums in one line, which she shares with her comics self.

in across, she finally has some of the attributes of her comics self: gwen is an impulsive emotional mess who compulsively lies to avoid rejection from her loved ones and distances herself from them when she's in emotional distress. she's extremely guilty about the death of peter parker. she's a smart mouth with a corny sense of humor, geeky interests and a passionate artist with a love of rock music. she's constantly walking on eggshells around other spider-people because of how badly she wants to fit in around them, even when they put her in situations that hurt her.

BUT. she does not have comics-gwen's temper (i don't just mean 'denting a storage container when she's mad' i mean getting genuinely homicidal even before she gets her symbiote), her total indifference to romance, and her lack of interest in getting male validation. comics gwen would never pine for a boy she barely spent one day with for seventeen months and break the rules of her spider-team to sneak away for a date with him. spiderverse gwen's character is driven by her desire for a romance, and all the other aspects of her development are secondary to it.

spiderverse gwen is an almost straight-a student, and a sci-fi nerd who likes action figures. comics gwen was a fantasy nerd who played dnd and liked game of thrones.

spiderverse gwen craves a team of heroes to work with. comics gwen mostly works alone and doesn't mind it.

gwen's queerness

[edit: wrote a monster post on this. comics-gwen has been queer the whole time and slowly but surely building towards coming out]

so i'll keep it brief: spiderverse gwen is trans-coded, but definitely written, directed and performed as heterosexual. all her romantic interests are male, she shows no interest in other girls even platonically, is driven by a desire for a romantic relationship that has a happy ending, seems to like kids, and there's even a deleted shot in the gwiles swinging date where they photobomb a wedding in place of the bride and groom.

yes, spiderverse-gwen's speech to her father screams coming-out speech. said speech is lifted directly from the comics, where gwen's original run is basically one long allegory for coming out as queer.

comics-gwen could be read as trans, but is absolutely 100% intended to be queer. she has chemistry with women as well as men, she hangs out with a queer female friend group, she ducks out of romantic relationships like she's playing dodgeball, she's constantly encountering gwen variants who are even more overtly queer-coded, she has zero maternal instincts, and she's repulsed by the idea of a future where she's happily married to a man with biological children.

gwen's backstory

for starters, a note: at the time itsv was made, comics-gwen went by "spider-woman." after itsv came out she got a rename to make her distinct from the dozen other spider-women. she's gone by "ghost-spider" for about five years now. atsv gwen still goes by spider-woman, because they either wrote the script before the name change and couldn't swap out the dialogue in time, or they decided to just stick with it to avoid confusion. no shade, but it is a difference. and it is worth noting that spiderverse-gwen has an alter ego name that isn't unique to her.

we meet gwen two years into being spider-woman in both the movies and comics. spiderverse gwen is still in high school. comics gwen is out of high school and either a college dropout or hasn't applied yet.

spiderverse gwen goes to visions academy, and lives in an apartment in chelsea. comics gwen went to midtown high, and lives in a house in queens.

comics-gwen and her father are irreligious, but her mother had a christian funeral service, so they presumably left the faith when gwen was young. spiderverse gwen is saying grace at the table as a teenager, so at the bare minimum her father's still a christian, if not her too.

spiderverse gwen was already a hypercompetent superhero by the time peter dies. comics gwen was an irresponsible vigilante half the city hated.

spiderverse gwen's lizard fight is sanitized: gwen's best friend peter parker was pushed too far by a bully and gave himself powers to defend himself and be a hero, like spider-woman, who he knows is gwen. he attacked the prom when triggered by a bully, targeted the bully, and was killed by mistake when rubble fell on him.

in the comics, gwen's best friend peter was still a victim of bullying who gave himself lizard powers, but he did it because he was embarrassed that a girl (gwen) was sticking up for him. he's still bullied at the prom right before he lizards out, but he attacks gwen's date, not the bully, because he's angry that gwen wasn't going to the dance with him. and gwen killed peter (who didn't seem to know it was her) intentionally by beating him to death after he stopped fighting her, tried to retreat and begged her to stop. it's not a terrible misunderstanding by a cop who didn't read the situation right-- it's exactly what it looks like: gwen committed manslaughter.

idk man i find it interesting that a spider-hero story all about learning responsibility... refuses to let gwen be responsible for the most important event in her origin story.

like comics gwen, spiderverse gwen is hunted by the police, led by her dad, after peter's death, quits her band due to her stress and grief, and after taking down a supervillain that threatens his life, she's caught by her father and reveals her identity to him to stop him from arresting/shooting her. in spiderverse, gwen takes down an alternate vulture in the guggenheim with miguel and jess-- and she quits her band first. in the comics, the kingpin sends the rhino to a mary janes gig to kill captain stacy because he wants to impress spider-woman and gwen protects her father.

like comics-gwen, spiderverse gwen then encounters a recruiter for an interdimensional team of elite spider-people and joins him. spiderverse gwen meets miguel and jess, and is an accidental recruit to the spider-society after jess begs miguel to take her when her father tries to arrest her. comics gwen's dad lets her escape, and afterwards she meets spider-britain, who does find her worthy and wants her for the team, but it's the spider-army, and their goal is to protect other spider-people from a villain that's hunting them down, not the multiverse as a whole.

and she's still part of the band at this point. she quits after returning from the spider-army, who she's with for a few weeks instead of spiderverse gwen's five months.

that "my mask is my badge" speech is lifted word for word from the comics. in spiderverse, gwen gives it to her father after returning home. in the comics, gwen gives it to her father as soon as she's caught and it's what makes him decide to let her go. when spiderverse gwen joins the society, it's while believing her father wants to hurt her. when comics gwen joins the spider-army, it's while knowing her father is looking out for her.

also, it seems like itsv made gwen's first foray into the multiverse that moment in the timeline given the peter death angst... but decided to double dip and replay the same beat again for atsv. it works, but it is interesting.

in itsv, we meet gwen at the start of her arc right after peter's death. in atsv, spiderverse-gwen's status quo hasn't changed at all after a year and a half. she's still mourning peter parker, still on the run from the cops, still on the outs with her band. for reference, after a year and a half of in-universe time since peter's death in comics-gwen's continuity, she's revealed herself to her friends, family and entire city, rejoined her band, lost her powers, joined her nemesis's criminal organization in exchange for pills that temporarily give her powers back, nearly got pressured into an arranged spidermarriage with miles by interdimensional omniscient observers that are a metacommentary on the writers and fans of the comics, quit the gang, gotten a symbiote, went on a murderous rampage with said symbiote to avenge her comatose father, bonded with said symbiote, made good with her supporting cast, taken down her nemesis and his organization, been arrested, gone on trial for peter's death and gone to prison. the manhunt is over, gwen has forgiven herself and been redeemed for peter's death and her city has accepted her as a true hero.

spiderverse gwen has spent 2 years in comics-gwen's first issue.

gwen's relationship with miles

needs its own section

spiderverse miles is gwen's most important relationship. you know they're the big romance of the story. they're in love, somehow, even though they went on one bus ride together and spent a grand total of probably about twelve hours together across two movies and seventeen months. they're ~linked across dimensions~. they spent a year and a half pining for each other, ignoring everyone in their lives in favor of a hypothetical relationship with each other. they leap into the multiverse to find each other. they're going to defy canon for each other. they're almost certainly going to end up together.

comics gwen and comics miles aren't even friends. yes, they kissed, once, infamously. but gwen immediately regretted it, got him to agree to remain friends, and while miles carried a torch for a few years before moving on, gwen IMMEDIATELY stopped mentioning or thinking of him. she never missed him. she didn't pine for him. she didn't steal away to miles's dimension to see him again, and when she was in his dimension to go to college she made no effort to come see him. she didn't care at all that he wasn't around, she's friendly with him when they hang out during crossover and spiderverse events but she otherwise has no interest in him, and the one time she brings him up in every single spider-gwen issue since the miniseries that shipped them, it was to say "fuck off miles, i can turn invisible too, you're not that special."

(again, spiderverse gwiles have a fifteen month age gap. comics gwiles have a four year age gap with miles in high school and gwen as a college dropout, so them hanging out together casually would be weird as hell. yes, that scene of them kissing on a rooftop in the moonlight is a 20 year old woman making out with a 16 year old boy who had to sit outside like a kid waiting in the car for his mom to leave the grocery store while she went to the club. yes that happened in sitting in a tree. yes it was awful.)

to be honest the only reason gwen keeps getting trio'd off with miles and peter is synergy with the spiderverse movies. they only started doing it after itsv. miles and gwen are not friends, they're like coworkers at the same job who have a common friend in peter the manager, who occasionally end up on the same shift, who made out once at the holiday party and never spoke of it again.

though spiderverse gwiles have the chemistry and sincere emotional connection comics gwiles never did, the ship still has all the fundamental problems.

spiderverse miles is being framed as the guy who's going to break gwen's canon and set her free. in reality, like in the comics, he's the guy who will succeed at taking her independence away. the comics understood this (or at least, gwen's creator did). the movies definitely don't.

gwen's other relationships

her mother: like in the comics, spiderverse-gwen has a single dad and an absent mother, though we don't know if she left or died; and if she died, at what age? was it when she was a baby, like comics gwen? given that gwen has a present signed by her mom in her drumset, it seems like her mom was in her life longer.

her father: like in the comics, spiderverse-gwen's dad is the police chief hunting her alter ego, who discovers her identity and quits over it. unlike in the comics, her father tries to arrest her and takes months to change his mind. comics-gwen's dad instantly starts protecting her from the police. however his quitting the force is only temporary-- he rejoins later.

peter 616: comics gwen and peter-616 are close, with the kind of mentorship spiderverse-peter b and miles have. they have an older brother-younger sister vibe. they're constantly teaming up and working together, and gwen is especially protective of him. spiderverse-peter b and gwen are coworkers at most and peter b is nice to her, but doesn't bother to spend time with her, teach her things, or help her when she's in trouble.

hobie brown 138: spiderverse gwen and hobie are close friends with a romantic vibe that's definitely going to be played down and kept platonic in favor of gwiles. comics gwen and hobie are also close friends who met during an interdimensional teamup, and also have a romantic vibe but the context is different-- in the comics, when the spidergeddon event that the writers definitely used as inspiration for atsv since it features the only appearance of margo kess and the miles-gwen-hobie love triangle, comic gwen and comic hobie are the ones with the stronger romantic connection, and the scene where someone in the love triangle appears to die, a member of the love triangle panics and when they arrive they have a shippy moment with someone? in the comics, gwen gets the death fakeout, and even though miles flips out, hobie is the one who gets the shippy moment with her when she survives.

anya corazon: spiderverse gwen doesn't interact with her at all. comics gwen, during the time she joins a multiversal spider team where pav and hobie are also present, hangs out with anya more than pav. pav's around, but they're more acquaintances who work together than actual friends.

miguel o'hara: spiderverse gwen works for and looks up to him, before losing faith in him and finding the courage to stand up against him. comics gwen barely knows his ass.

peter 65: spiderverse gwen was clearly in love with peter-65, wanted to be his girlfriend so bad she's projecting peter onto miles for a do-over, and his death was a terrible accident. comics gwen was never attracted to hers, was uncomfortable with his crush on her, and is personally responsible for killing him after he pulled a 'quiet kid brings a gun to prom to punish the girl who turned him down by killing her date.' spiderverse peter admires spider-woman, crushes on gwen and his candid photos of her are framed as flattering, and comics-peter had a pepe silvia conspiracy wall shrine dedicated to her that is framed as a toxic obsession. i really, really hate how the spiderverse writers decided that he was just a nice guy who was pushed too far, and gwen would have loved to be with him. the whole point is the opposite.

harry osborn: speaking of comic gwen's date: harry osborn. comic gwen went to the prom with harry. she, harry and peter were a trio of best friends. spiderverse gwen went with peter, and doesn't seem to have a harry at all.

jessica drew: both gwens are mentored by a jess from another dimension. spiderverse gwen is constantly strung along by jess, who doesn't give her any emotional support and ultimately refuses to protect her. comics gwen gets along great with her, and their relationship is far more egalitarian because comics-gwen is an adult and not a minor.

the mary janes: spiderverse gwen doesn't seem to regard the mary janes as her real friends ("i never found the right band to join" = "it's not just my grief that's separating me from them, i sincerely don't relate to them"). comics gwen loves her friends even when she's grieving peter and always, always tries to find her way back to them, even when she can't be honest with them. also, betty brant and glory grant's personalities, styles, and instruments have been swapped around. in the comics, glory's the keyboardist with the super gay vibe who takes gwen's place. also, comics-em jay is white, spiderverse em jay is black; comics em jay grew up with gwen and is her closest friend now that peter is dead (and seems to have feelings for her), spiderverse em jay... who even knows.

her villains: spiderverse gwen's doc ock is ripped right from the raimi movies. in the comics, gwen's doc ock is a goofy villain of the week who's a lackey of another big bad, and whose octopus is a literal giant blue octopus. spiderverse gwen's kraven is ripped right from the comics, and her last canon event was kraven's last hunt. comics gwen's kraven was another goofy villain of the week who instead of hunting animals, controls a giant safari of exotic animals and uses them to hunt people. comics gwen hasn't had a kraven's last hunt canon event and never can because her kraven would never do that. i mention this because movie gwen's rogues gallery is unique to her world and full of fun and interesting original takes on well-known characters. spiderverse gwen's rogues gallery just rips from what's been done somewhere else without bothering to do something new.

related: spiderverse gwen's j jonah jameson is a reporter, like he is literally everywhere else. comic gwen's jjj is the mayor of new york city.

spiderverse gwen in general is a guys' girl. all her friends are guys, all her mentors minus jess are guys, and all her significant relationships that are positive are with men. all her validation comes from men (her father, her love interest, her friends). comics-gwen has some male friends and allies, but generally regards them with a lot more trepidation because they usually end up coming onto her or trying to control her.

in the comics, gwen’s greatest supporters are women. the mary janes. janet van dyne and her captain america. jessica and anya. gwen-617 and the literal council of spider-gwens who exist only to protect each other. gwen's clones. the alternate gwens who are avengers in their respective worlds. she prefers the company of other women (the mary janes most of all) to guys. spiderverse gwen's relationships with women are all negative: she's jealous at margo over a boy's attention, she seems to have not reconnected with peni, she has a strained relationship with jess that falls apart by the end of the film, she quits the mary janes, which does happen in the comics, but given that she ends the movie declaring she "never found the right band to join" she's implying she doesn't intend to be friends with them now that she... sigh, has a band of guys. and two girls who aren't her friends and aren't there for her.

gwen's arc.

grief and guilt: both gwens are grieving the death of their best friend and feel guilty over his death.

-> when comics-gwen gets over her grief and guilt about peter's death, it's by taking responsibility for killing him. she apologizes to his friends and family. she completely changes her fighting style to pull her punches and tries to empathize with her villains so she'll never kill anyone who could've been helped again. she goes to jail willingly and stays there to serve out her sentence despite being given opportunities to leave early. she does it for the people she and peter love, and for her own sake.

-> spiderverse gwen seems to be getting over her grief and guilt over peter's death by latching onto miles and transferring all her feelings about peter onto him. if she can protect miles from bullies (... like the spider-society), keep him safe and alive, and successfully become his girlfriend without someone dying in the process, she's done it. also, the context of her guilt is totally different: spiderverse gwen isn't guilty that she killed peter, she's guilty that she outlived him.

redemption and responsibility. both are seeking redemption for a bad thing they did at the start of the story to someone they care about, that got that person seriously hurt. they get it by accepting responsibility for that action and making amends.

-> comics gwen's entire first run is essentially a redemption arc. she begins the story as a selfish irresponsible vigilante who recklessly gets someone killed and has such a bad reputation that the city's villains think she's one of them. and she spends 30+ issues of comics changing her ways, realizing how corrupt her nyc and its courts and police are and becoming a hero to protect the people from them.

-> spiderverse gwen's crime is lying to miles (about the society, what it does, why he's not in it, her runaway situation, her feelings, his father's upcoming death...) and not sticking up for him when the spider-society turns on him. she's redeeming herself by searching for him through the multiverse, and intending to apologize to him, be honest to him about her feelings (and probably the gwen stacy death canon event) and take him home to protect his family.

girlbossery, acab and radicalization. both gwens mean well but have blind spots about certain structural inequalities due to their privilege that they shed after they cause harm to a loved one. they radicalize throughout the story thanks in part to hobie brown, and both of the stories they're in have a strong acab theme.

->comics gwen begins the story as a girlbossy white feminist. i am dead serious. she was (a variant of gwen stacy 616, who had a white feminism problem nobody remembers) created in the mid-2010s, in the middle of the girlboss feminism heyday, the arrival of the first wave of Strong Female Characters, and right around the time discussions of police brutality started gaining traction in the mainstream. and comics gwen is a commentary on those things. she initally uses her Great Power to be irresponsible, but is held accountable for that irresponsibility: just because gwen's a girl doesn't mean her power is inherently empowering if she's using it only to benefit herself. it is extremely relevant that gwen's called out for fucking around and calling herself a hero while actual structural issues hurting the city's people are going unchallenged by her world's hobie brown-- and she listens, realizes he's right, and shapes the fuck up. see: her redemption arc.

-> her killing of peter parker is framed as an act of police brutality, and the entire first run of her comics is a giant acab thesis. the "my mask is my badge speech" = gwen initially sees herself as a cop. her frank castle/punisher is a murderous cop. gwen's dad is a whistleblower, and his departure from the police force and gwen's radicalization are paralleled on purpose. half the cops are working with the criminals, the other half are reckless or incompetent, and all of them are out to get gwen. even the One Good Detective character is still an antagonist to gwen in the end, and she hands her over to another broken, abusive system- the prison system. it's not subtle. comics gwen's arc is about how a cop becomes a hero.

-> i should point out that the reason gwen's comics after the first run keep failing to connect is that all the writers who've handled her since her creator don't seem to realize this. the girlboss vibe is back and it's awful.

-> spiderverse gwen was 100% given that girlboss vibe in itsv, so it's there. and since peter's death is a misunderstanding, the vigilante aspect of comics-gwen's arc doesn't exist here, nor does the girlboss deconstruction.

-> her father's mishandling of gwen at the scene of peter's death and the guggenheim still works as a critique though. the "my mask is my badge" speech is still here and her dad still quits the force for her. and the spider-society are cops. her naivete about them causes her to lead to miles into a dangerous situation that she does not protect him from, she becomes disillusioned after he is harmed, and hobie gives her a way to go against the society to protect miles and his family.

-> there's another element to spiderverse gwen's arc that's unique to the movies: race. gwen and miles are an interracial couple. gwen's a white girl bringing the black boy she likes away from his community into a society where he is not safe because he is black, and where she fails to stick up for him when he and his family are threatened by said society. and when gwen meets miles's family, they rightfully doubt her intentions and don't accept her until she proves she understands how important they and his community are to him, apologizes for trying to take him away, and commits to bringing him back and helping him protect them. again, gwen radicalizes because of and for miles. (... and for some reason, not hobie, even though she's spent far more time with him and he's far more political)

... are we noticing a theme in why these changes are being made?

gwen's metanarrative

who is gwen stacy?

-> gwen stacy is the girl who only appears in spider-man's story to be his love interest, who's challenging to win the affection of, and unattainable because she's out of his league, she's not from his world and her father figure is out to get the hero, which means when the hero finally gets her, you know he's really special. and she's the girl who dies, totally helpless, so the hero can look even more special for trying to save her, because the trying's what really matters, right? and even though she's in a world where people come back from the dead all the time, she never does. she's cloned a few times, but they're all just copies of her who drop dead quickly. she's resurrected a few times, but that's just to tell spider-man she loves him, she forgives him, she doesn't forgive him, she's disappointed in him. it keeps going.

-> and every time the story's retold, and gwen is in it, it happens again. because nobody telling the story wants it to change. they like it best this way. it's like this for forty years. 1973 to 2014.

who is gwen stacy?

-> gwen stacy was the most beautiful girl in school. she was also a science whiz who was her boyfriend's intellectual equal. she was a fantastic student at the top of her class. she was a party girl and a night owl. she was temperamental and selfish. she was a devoted daughter to her cop father and a great friend who came back to nyc even though she left afraid for her life because her friends and boyfriend were there and that was worth the risk. she was peter's first serious girlfriend. she dated flash and harry too, sometimes while also seeing peter. she was a feminist who objected when peter was sexist to her and treated her poorly. she was totally fine with disrupting campus vietnam war protests when they got in the way of her education and contemplated campaigning for a racist fascist politician if he promised to lock spider-man up too. she hated spider-man. she loved peter parker.

-> nobody talks about most of that. just the first thing, and the last, and the one in the middle about her being the hero's first love. everything else dips in and out, usually to contrast her to mj.

why is the death of gwen stacy such a problem?

-> because for forty years, nobody wanted to do something different. because nobody remembered that she was a person.

-> that's what spider-gwen is for.

spider-gwen's metanarrative is about being a gwen stacy in a spider-man story. it's about being a female character in a story written by, for and about men. it's about being a young woman (specifically white and queer) in a world made by, for and about men

-> gwen stacy dies because she's a girl in a world that doesn't see her as a person, just an extension of a more important man.

-> spider-gwen lives because she's in a world where it's possible for her to be her own person, and she has a story designed to give her the power of the protagonist. she gets to leave the male gaze behind and be in stories that aren't about her boyfriend.

-> in the comics, we first meet her at the age original gwen died. and she passes it. in order to do that, her first villain, who she has to kill to access a story where she gets to be the protagonist, is the boy the story's usually about, peter parker. she kills him and incites the hate of her city by, direct quote: "breaking his heart."

-> gwen's world and her narrative know she wasn't supposed to be the hero, to not be interested in peter romantically, and to outlive him. they punish her for it. she's gwen stacy and this is a spider-man story. it's trying to kill her. her friends and family hate her and hunt her for peter. she's constantly swinging past billboards deifying peter as a sweet boy who never would have tried to murder his friends, with a hotline for spider-woman tips called 1-800-for peter. when she's sent to prison, it's for peter. and after she gets out, her world and it keeps trying to spit her out and send her to 616. where peter parker-616 lives. but she's not being sent there for peter. she's being sent there for miles.

-> when comics gwen and miles go on their one date in ten years of publication history, gwen encounters omniscient watchers that show her a utopian future where she is a loved superhero, and the wife of miles morales. those two things are linked. the watchers, who are stand-ins for the spider-man writers and fandom, have decided that spider-gwen can be tolerated, but only if she belongs to a different spider-man. gwen sees through the manipulation, turns miles down because she wants them to challenge fate and make their own choices, and hasn't relented in close to a decade.

-> her alternate selves form a secret society to protect their narratives from people who want to take their agency away. gwen's creator ends his run on her comics by inserting himself into the narrative as an alternate gwen speaking directly to the reader, whose insert is a salty watcher who's pissed that gwen hasn't left her world to go hook up with miles and pump out his babies yet, telling them gwen deserves a world of her own and a story that's new. and what's not new is being the hero's girlfriend. what's new is being the hero, with stories about her as an individual. -> comics gwen doesn't need miles to teach her that she can imagine something better for herself. she does it on her own. and she's the one who tells miles he should do the same.

-> spiderverse gwen never kills peter with a power he was supposed to have instead of her. she even loves him back. her world still turns on her anyway. the problem was never that she did or didn't kill him. it was that she got a story of her own. then she enters the spiderverse, meets miles, and her story isn't hers ever again.

-> spiderverse gwen gets a pov in atsv. her pov is about she how loves miles, thinks he's so special, has been inspired by him to do things differently and wants to be his girlfriend. she gets a story. the story is about becoming the kind of girl miles needs. she gets a metanarrative. the metanarrative is that maybe, if she gets with a different boy than the usual one, it'll work out. -> even then, spiderverse gwen has to get this idea from miles, and she doesn't believe in it until he inspires her to try.

superficially, they look and seem the same. but in execution, they are very, very different characters.

for what it's worth, i don't want every adaptation of spider-gwen to be like the original. if you're adapting to a different medium, that brings with it different drawbacks, opportunities and needs and satisfying those to tell the best story possible is more important than being 100% accurate to the story.

and with spiderverse gwen, i like some of the changes. i think they have great potential.

gwen's age: yes, it's relevent in a meta sense that comics spider-gwen is at the age original gwen dies, but kids have trouble relating to characters older than high school age, and kids are who these movies are for. aging gwen down so we first encounter her as a high schooler makes her more relatable to them. it also makes her need for male approval far more believable; a 15/16 year old girl would be this desperate for a boyfriend, a 19/20 year old wouldn't, and hey, maybe gwen could still grow into that person.

gwen's appearance: i like that gwen isn't wearing the headband and gets an edgier hairstyle. comics characters have to have the same hairstyle all the time because comics artists can only draw so many faces and it helps keep them straight, so gwen had to keep the headband so people would know she's a gwen. it's great that a movie that doesn't have that limitation did something new.

gwen's fighting style: making gwen less klutzy was necessary in itsv because it would've undercut how miles was the clumsy one, as the character newest to his powers. i like that gwen is the one with more experience. and i think making gwen a ballerina is a great idea, now that atsv has gwen ditching the pointe shoes for her chucks.

-> it marks a development in her character: gwen begins as a girl who aligns with more traditional expectations of femininity, and through being spider-woman, finds the confidence to reject them and do her own thing. it works even better since spiderverse gwen is younger than comics gwen, who's much more comfortable not fitting in. it makes sense that a 15 year old girl would be less comfortable with being herself than a 19 year old.

-> from a thematic perspective: ballerinas are disciplined athletes and dedicated artists who are stereotyped as frivolous and delicate, and whose bodies are admired for their sex appeal instead of their strength. they're the pinnacle of ideal femininity: thin, (white), beautiful, young, graceful, silent, demure, sexy, in pain but smiling through it even as it literally wrecks their bodies and minds, interchangeable and easily replaced by the time they hit forty. becoming one is often imposed on you as a young child instead of something you choose, the culture is unbelievably toxic, the actual dancing is painful, and pro ballerinas have to put so much work into their craft that it destroys their bodies before they hit middle age. and many ballets are romances-- the most famous being romantic tragedies where the ballerina dies after a love gone wrong. making gwen stacy, the perfect, delicate, conventionally beautiful, rule-following too-good-to-be-true girlfriend who dies young a ballerina is a brilliant idea.

-> it also makes her more appealing to the girls she's meant to be for: many little girls have dance, specifically ballet, pushed towards them as an interest they're both supposed to like and be good at, and will be laughed at for liking. seeing a ballerina be this powerful and not be mocked for using her dance skills is important-- there's a reason why female fans latched onto it so hard. and gwen letting go of the ballet shoes for something punkier is just as relatable: many girls, as they grow older and start gaining more autonomy, often reject the traditionally feminine things that are imposed upon them. possibly even the same girls who watched itsv as children and atsv as teenagers.

gwen's powers: i don't mind that spiderverse gwen doesn't have a symbiote. i just wish that when she's in group fight scenes, she isn't stuck with just pretty-looking kicks while the other characters get to do more interesting things than her. jess has a motorcycle, miguel has fangs and claws, hobie has his guitar, miles has invisibility and bioelectricity, margo can clone herself and stretch her arms, peni pilots a giant robot, pav uses a unique weapon for his webslinging. and gwen... pirouettes and then bonks her head so she can fall and miles can catch her.

gwen's personality: craving belonging with the spider-society is necessary to the plot. if she weren't so desperate to stay with them, her motivation for lying to miles falls apart. and i like that gwen's dishonesty to other spider-people is an intentional part of the plot; when comics gwen withholds information from other spider-people and acts uncharacteristically peppy around them, it's because the people writing her in crossover events don't know she's out of character, because they haven't read her comics. being around other spider-people is bad for gwen, and the spiderverse movies are the first piece of canon to actually bring that up. her nerdy hobbies also get a moment to shine.

gwen's queerness: i love that we can add a trans-coded gwen to the long list of queercoded spider-gwens. and that a trans-coded girl is the subject of desire for multiple boys, without any creepiness attached to it. it also creates a more subversive reason for gwen's ballet background and need for a boyfriend: she's using those things to access the kind of femininity reserved for cis girls.

gwen's backstory: gwen living in the city distinguishes her from the peter parker derivative setting of queens. making gwen's dad religious adds another wrinkle to their relationship. i love the guggenheim fight and think it's a more visually dynamic scene and a better fit to introduce the spider-society as interdimensional cops. the shift from protecting against an existential threat to spider-people to canon cops is a better fit for atsv's acab theme.

gwen's relationship with miles: i like that miles and gwen are friends and peers. i love that the spiderverse movies made the connection that they are both in the same position: both are marginalized by a story designed by, for and about white men. them being spider-people is an existential threat to it (an afrolatino boy who's the hero instead of the side-villain; a queer girl who's the hero instead of the hero's girlfriend). both are punished for not being able to live up to harmful expectations about what they're allowed to be. they're in perfect positions to understand each other's situation and help one another break free.

gwen's other relationships: i LOVE that gwen got to have more time with her mother. i LOVE gwen and pav's friendship, and that even if it's never going anywhere and no one will admit it, everyone knows about the romantic vibe between gwen and hobie now. the creepy worst case scenario girldad vibe miguel has towards gwen makes my head spin. gwen and jess's fucked up foster mother-daughter vibe is fascinating. and racebending em jay helps distinguish her from mj-616.

gwen's arc: the one thing about spiderverse gwiles that i like is that gwen's projecting peter parker onto miles. her fixation on him makes sense in that context, and gwen having survivor's guilt over not dying in peter's place makes sense, especially after all the time she spent being exposed to the multiverse, and is very compelling. i like that gwen gets to lose her faith in the spider-people and connecting the spider-society to the cops gwen is often in opposition to was brilliant. and having some of her white feminism called out in any capacity is good, especially since that element of her character is missing lately.

gwen's metanarrative: i like that the movies are pointing out that gwen should be able to have a romantic relationship with spider-man that doesn't end badly. like yeah. she should. a girl should not have to be eternally single or shun men forever to be safe and keep her autonomy. heterofatalism is bullshit and if we act like it's not we're accepting men as inherently terrible instead of challenging them to be better than that. and the potential of spider-gwen's character will be fulfilled once she is able to have this relationship and no one even questions that she can live and retain protagonism of her own story.

i like these changes! i think they're a good fit to this version of the character, they enhance the spiderverse story, and they're great additions to spider-gwen's canon. i think if comics-gwen incorporates some of these original elements she could benefit from them.

but. the changes were not made for the reasons i listed. at most, they were happy side effects of the real reason the changes were made.

the changes were made for miles.

it's that simple. even though the spiderverse movies are all about the importance of intersectionality and representation, gwen isn't here to represent the little girls and women in the audience, or show the boys and men in the audience that girls can be the heroes of their own stories too.

she's here to be miles's girlfriend.

gwen's age: was reduced to make her a more appropriate romantic interest for miles. why 15, instead of 16 or 17? so she's only 15 months older than him. no one can object to that age gap.

gwen's appearance: she has an eyebrow piercing because comics miles's first love interest, who has the exact same 'sneaking a look at you in the visions classroom/watching you in the hallway' moments, is katie bishop, who has an eyebrow piercing and a punk vibe to her design. the entire itsv gwen-miles vibe is just miles and katie with gwen replacing katie. -> the side shave happens because of miles. she keeps it as a reminder of him.

gwen's fighting style: gwen has pointe shoes because the itsv animators didn't look closely enough at her design to notice she's wearing chucks instead of ballet flats (and realized it in time for atsv). and also probably because as the token girl hero, they wanted her to be graceful, and a dancer's more appealing to a teenage boy than a grungy drummer.

gwen's powers: were kept basic so gwen can accompany miles on adventures without being a liability but she can never outshine him. she might have more spider-person experience than him, but he catches up so fast it doesn't matter.

-> instead of retreading her origin, couldn't they have reintroduced gwen in atsv when she was dependent on power-up pills? she had a multiversal encounter with miles then, so there's even comic precedent. plus her father being in the hospital and gwen being in the custody of the kingpin would be even more frightening, because spiderverse gwen is a minor-- wanting to flee that situation and being willing to do anything to avoid returning to it makes perfect sense.

-> THAT could've been the thing that made her stand out during group fights: at any moment she could become vulnerable. especially if the spider-society's providing them, and quitting means she'll be entering the climax with only a few power-up pills left.

-> plus, she could get her symbiote in btsv.

instead? her one new power revolves around being constantly aware of her boyfriend's needs even when he isn't on the same plane of reality as her. no woman or girl would want this. every teenage boy would want the girl he likes to have it. so apparantly do the grown men who wrote atsv.

gwen's personality: is all about miles. when she's dishonest, it's for miles's safety. when she's running from her problems, she's running from her feelings for miles. when she plays the drums she thinks of miles. when she's a nerd, she likes, of all things, the exact same action figures miles collects, and has the exact same grades he does (including a b in a language course). when she finds the strength to defy authority and strike out on her own, it's to protect miles. her rage was toned down, and her need for romance was cranked up. for miles. and if gwen doesn't need male validation, keeping miles's approval would be a lot less important to her. gwen was a fantasy in itsv, and she's still a fantasy in atsv.

gwen's queerness: the trans-coding is important and not any less powerful than any other kind of queer representation. but it does feel like the creators decided on it as a way to acknowledge spider-gwen's queerness... while also making sure she was still attracted to miles and he didn't have any more competition for her.

-> oh my god the power-ups could have been an allegory for estrogen.

gwen's backstory: gwen goes to visions because miles goes to visions (note how they have more things in common because the writers are removing what makes gwen unique?). gwen doesn't kill peter because if she did, miles wouldn't find her attractive anymore. gwen liked peter back because if she didn't, she wouldn't respond well to miles's crush. gwen's status quo and her development as a character have stagnated for 17 months, while miles has grown into his own as a hero to fix the maturity gap. the only reason they're equals is that the writers stunted her growth.

gwen's relationship with miles: is being framed as a canon-defying epic romance that's never worked out before (not true; it has: see earth-8) but will this time. but it's only going to subvert canon and free gwen from her narrative if they don't get together. if they become a couple, nothing changes. she's still the girlfriend, even if she lives. and she will never be treated as his equal by the writers or the audience anywhere they're together.

-> gwen is all in on helping miles break his canon. but in btsv, will miles help gwen break hers? or will he stop short at 'well, i can break mine. but you can't because yours benefits me.'

gwen's other relationships: gwens' supporting cast was gutted to make her dependent on miles for emotional support. peter b isn't her mentor because he's miles's. jess can only redeem herself to gwen by helping miles. the miles-gwen-hobie love triangle was reconfigured so miles comes out on top. peter 65 is gwen's lost love, so she can find it again with miles. harry's cut from her origin story so miles has less competition. gwen's supporting cast and and villains are mixed up because the creators either never read gwen's comics past the first few issues, or did and didn't care what makes her world unique. gwen's a guys' girl so she can be the cool girlfriend who hangs out with your bros but would never cheat on you with one of them, and who'd never prioritize her girls over her boyfriend. gwen snips at margo because miles is so hot he's got girls fighting over him.

gwen's arc: isn't about becoming a better hero. it's about becoming a better girlfriend.

-> her grief and guilt can be overcome by successfully protecting and ending up with miles. why get over peter when you can replace him with miles? why die for your boyfriend when you can live for him?

-> she can't redeem herself by taking responsibility for the reckless, selfish actions she takes for her own sake. just the ones that harm miles.

-> her radicalization still happens, but on a different scale: she doesn't do it to be a better hero for her city. she does it to become a better ally to miles and his world. (remember the swinging date, when she introduces herself as HIS friendly neighborhood's spider-woman? why HIS neighborhood.)

every time gwen's punished by the narrative, it's for doing something that moves her away from miles, like lying to him or not having his back. every time she's rewarded, it's for moving closer to him, like sticking up for him in front of his parents or deciding to apologize to him.

when gwen resolves her conflict with her father, it's because she went home to get her photo of miles, not to face him. and it's resolved so gwen has her baggage out of the way and nothing's stopping her from pursuing miles.

when gwen decides to resist the spider-society and lead her own spider-team, it's made up mostly of people there for miles, their goal is to support miles, and she'll probably hand leadership of the team to miles when he joins them in btsv. it's not her team, it's his.

gwen's metanarrative: is now just 'hey gwen, if you choose a different boyfriend, and you're super supportive of him, maybe we won't kill you this time!' and she still has to have miles come up with it, and inspire her to believe in it.

because if she wants to be her own person, she can't be miles's person.

it's about miles. she was put in these movies to be his girlfriend, and was written from the ground up to be accepting of that.

fifty years after the death of gwen stacy and ten years after the creation of spider-gwen, she's being put back in the narrative of spider-man's girlfriend. the most change they're willing to make is that this time, the girlfriend will live, and the spider-man will be miles instead of peter. the most agency they're willing to give gwen is the agency to climb back into the girlfriend box herself so miles doesn't have to take responsibility for taking her story away from her.

that's the problem. that's why spiderverse gwen isn't handled better in the movies than the comics. comics gwen is the main character. spiderverse gwen is the main character's girlfriend.

sorry about the length. hopefully that answers your question.

-----

p.s.: even if she squeaks out of btsv single, will it be because gwen realizes she needs to be her own person? or will it be because miles comes to that conclusion for her? or hell, maybe it'll be that he isn't ready to be with her yet.

#arachnophobia fic #asks #spider gwen salt #spiderverse salt #spider gwen meta #spiderverse

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kcyars189 · 1 year ago

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Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind

In a rare interview, the Nobel Prize winner discusses mortality, drawing inspiration from the past, and his new album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways.”

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By Douglas Brinkley

Published June 12, 2020Updated Sept. 18, 2020

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A few years ago, sitting beneath shade trees in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., I had a two-hour discussion with Bob Dylan that touched on Malcolm X, the French Revolution, Franklin Roosevelt and World War II. At one juncture, he asked me what I knew about the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. When I answered, “Not enough,” he got up from his folding chair, climbed into his tour bus, and came back five minutes later with photocopies describing how U.S. troops had butchered hundreds of peaceful Cheyenne and Arapahoe in southeastern Colorado.

Given the nature of our relationship, I felt comfortable reaching out to him in April after, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, he unexpectedly released his epic, 17-minute song “Murder Most Foul,” about the Kennedy assassination. Even though he hadn’t done a major interview outside of his own website since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, he agreed to a phone chat from his Malibu home, which turned out to be his only interview before next Friday’s release of “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” his first album of original songs since “Tempest” in 2012.

Like most conversations with Dylan, “Rough and Rowdy Ways” covers complex territory: trances and hymns, defiant blues, love longings, comic juxtapositions, prankster wordplay, patriotic ardor, maverick steadfastness, lyrical Cubism, twilight-age reflections and spiritual contentment.

In the high-octane showstopper “Goodbye Jimmy Reed,” Dylan honors the Mississippi bluesman with dragon-fierce harmonica riffs and bawdy lyrics. In the slow blues “Crossing the Rubicon,” he feels “the bones beneath my skin” and considers his options before death: “Three miles north of purgatory — one step from the great beyond/I prayed to the cross and I kissed the girls and I crossed the Rubicon.”

“Mother of Muses” is a hymn to the natural world, gospel choirs and military men like William Tecumseh Sherman and George Patton, “who cleared the path for Presley to sing/who cleared the path for Martin Luther King.” And “Key West (Philosopher’s Pirate),” is an ethereal meditation on immortality set on a drive down Route 1 to the Florida Keys, with Donnie Herron’s accordion channeling the Band’s Garth Hudson. In it he pays homage to, “Ginsberg, Corso and Kerouac.”

ImageDylan says he doesn’t think about mortality in a personal sense: “I think about the death of the human race.”Credit...William C. Eckenberg/The New York Times

Perhaps someday he’ll write a song or paint a picture to honor George Floyd. In the 1960s and 1970s, following the work of black leaders of the civil rights movement, Dylan also worked to expose the arrogance of white privilege and the viciousness of racial hatred in America through songs like “George Jackson,” “Only a Pawn in Their Game,” and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” One of his most fierce lines about policing and race came in his 1976 ballad “Hurricane”: “In Paterson that’s just the way things go/If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street/Unless you want to draw the heat.”

I had a brief follow-up with Dylan, 79, one day after Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. Clearly shaken by the horror that had occurred in his home state, he sounded depressed. “It sickened me no end to see George tortured to death like that,” he said. “It was beyond ugly. Let’s hope that justice comes swift for the Floyd family and for the nation.”

These are edited excerpts from the two conversations.

Was “Murder Most Foul” written as a nostalgic eulogy for a long-lost time?

To me it’s not nostalgic. I don’t think of “Murder Most Foul” as a glorification of the past or some kind of send-off to a lost age. It speaks to me in the moment. It always did, especially when I was writing the lyrics out.

Somebody auctioned off a sheaf of unpublished transcripts in the 1990s that you wrote about J.F.K.’s murder. Were those prose notes for an essay or were you hoping to write a song like “Murder Most Foul” for a long time?

I’m not aware of ever wanting to write a song about J.F.K. A lot of those auctioned-off documents have been forged. The forgeries are easy to spot because somebody always signs my name on the bottom.

Were you surprised that this 17-minute-long song was your first No. 1 Billboard hit?

I was, yeah.

“I Contain Multitudes” has a powerful line: “I sleep with life and death in the same bed.” I suppose we all feel that way when we hit a certain age. Do you think about mortality often?

I think about the death of the human race. The long strange trip of the naked ape. Not to be light on it, but everybody’s life is so transient. Every human being, no matter how strong or mighty, is frail when it comes to death. I think about it in general terms, not in a personal way.

There is a lot of apocalyptic sentiment in “Murder Most Foul.” Are you worried that in 2020 we’re past the point of no return? That technology and hyper-industrialization are going to work against human life on Earth?

Sure, there’s a lot of reasons to be apprehensive about that. There’s definitely a lot more anxiety and nervousness around now than there used to be. But that only applies to people of a certain age like me and you, Doug. We have a tendency to live in the past, but that’s only us. Youngsters don’t have that tendency. They have no past, so all they know is what they see and hear, and they’ll believe anything. In 20 or 30 years from now, they’ll be at the forefront. When you see somebody that is 10 years old, he’s going to be in control in 20 or 30 years, and he won’t have a clue about the world we knew. Young people who are in their teens now have no memory lane to remember. So it’s probably best to get into that mind-set as soon as we can, because that’s going to be the reality.

As far as technology goes, it makes everybody vulnerable. But young people don’t think like that. They could care less. Telecommunications and advanced technology is the world they were born into. Our world is already obsolete.

A line in “False Prophet” — “I’m the last of the best — you can bury the rest” — reminded me of the recent deaths of John Prine and Little Richard. Did you listen to their music after they passed as a kind of tribute?

Both of those guys were triumphant in their work. They don’t need anybody doing tributes. Everybody knows what they did and who they were. And they deserve all the respect and acclaim that they received. No doubt about it. But Little Richard I grew up with. And he was there before me. Lit a match under me. Tuned me into things I never would have known on my own. So I think of him differently. John came after me. So it’s not the same thing. I acknowledge them differently.

ImageFrom left, George Harrison, Dylan, Little Richard and Mike Love at the 1988 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.Credit...Ebet Roberts/Redferns, via Getty Images

Why didn’t more people pay attention to Little Richard’s gospel music?

Probably because gospel music is the music of good news and in these days there just isn’t any. Good news in today’s world is like a fugitive, treated like a hoodlum and put on the run. Castigated. All we see is good-for-nothing news. And we have to thank the media industry for that. It stirs people up. Gossip and dirty laundry. Dark news that depresses and horrifies you.

On the other hand, gospel news is exemplary. It can give you courage. You can pace your life accordingly, or try to, anyway. And you can do it with honor and principles. There are theories of truth in gospel but to most people it’s unimportant. Their lives are lived out too fast. Too many bad influences. Sex and politics and murder is the way to go if you want to get people’s attention. It excites us, that’s our problem.

Little Richard was a great gospel singer. But I think he was looked at as an outsider or an interloper in the gospel world. They didn’t accept him there. And of course the rock ’n’ roll world wanted to keep him singing “Good Golly, Miss Molly.” So his gospel music wasn’t accepted in either world. I think the same thing happened to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I can’t imagine either of them being bothered too much about it. Both are what we used to call people of high character. Genuine, plenty talented and who knew themselves, weren’t swayed by anything from the outside. Little Richard, I know was like that.

But so was Robert Johnson, even more so. Robert was one of the most inventive geniuses of all time. But he probably had no audience to speak of. He was so far ahead of his time that we still haven’t caught up with him. His status today couldn’t be any higher. Yet in his day, his songs must have confused people. It just goes to show you that great people follow their own path.

On the album “Tempest” you perform “Roll on John” as a tribute to John Lennon. Is there another person you’d like to write a ballad for?

Those kinds of songs for me just come out of the blue, out of thin air. I never plan to write any of them. But in saying that, there are certain public figures that are just in your subconscious for one reason or another. None of those songs with designated names are intentionally written. They just fall down from space. I’m just as bewildered as anybody else as to why I write them. The folk tradition has a long history of songs about people, though. John Henry, Mr. Garfield, Roosevelt. I guess I’m just locked into that tradition.

You honor many great recording artists in your songs. Your mention of Don Henley and Glenn Frey on “Murder Most Foul” came off as a bit of a surprise to me. What Eagles songs do you enjoy the most?

“New Kid in Town,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Pretty Maids All in a Row.” That could be one of the best songs ever.

ImageDylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2012.Credit...Luke Sharrett for The New York Times

You also refer to Art Pepper, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson and Stan Getz in “Murder Most Foul.” How has jazz inspired you as a songwriter and poet over your long career? Are there jazz artists you’ve been listening to lately?

Maybe Miles’s early stuff on Capitol Records. But what’s jazz? Dixieland, bebop, high-speed fusion? What do you call jazz? Is it Sonny Rollins? I like Sonny’s calypso stuff but is that jazz? Jo Stafford, Joni James, Kay Starr — I think they were all jazz singers. King Pleasure, that’s my idea of a jazz singer. I don’t know, you can put anything into that category. Jazz goes back to the Roaring Twenties. Paul Whiteman was called the king of jazz. I’m sure if you asked Lester Young he wouldn’t know what you’re talking about.

Has any of it ever inspired me? Well yeah. Probably a lot. Ella Fitzgerald as a singer inspires me. Oscar Peterson as a piano player, absolutely. Has any of it inspired me as a songwriter? Yeah, “Ruby, My Dear” by Monk. That song set me off in some direction to do something along those lines. I remember listening to that over and over.

What role does improvisation play in your music?

None at all. There’s no way you can change the nature of a song once you’ve invented it. You can set different guitar or piano patterns upon the structural lines and go from there, but that’s not improvisation. Improvisation leaves you open to good or bad performances and the idea is to stay consistent. You basically play the same thing time after time in the most perfect way you can.

“I Contain Multitudes” is surprisingly autobiographical in parts. The last two verses exude a take-no-prisoners stoicism while the rest of the song is a humorous confessional. Did you have fun grappling with contradictory impulses of yourself and human nature in general?

I didn’t really have to grapple much. It’s the kind of thing where you pile up stream-of-consciousness verses and then leave it alone and come pull things out. In that particular song, the last few verses came first. So that’s where the song was going all along. Obviously, the catalyst for the song is the title line. It’s one of those where you write it on instinct. Kind of in a trance state. Most of my recent songs are like that. The lyrics are the real thing, tangible, they’re not metaphors. The songs seem to know themselves and they know that I can sing them, vocally and rhythmically. They kind of write themselves and count on me to sing them.

Once again in this song you name a lot of people. What made you decide to mention Anne Frank next to Indiana Jones?

Her story means a lot. It’s profound. And hard to articulate or paraphrase, especially in modern culture. Everybody’s got such a short attention span. But you’re taking Anne’s name out of context, she’s part of a trilogy. You could just as well ask, “What made you decide to include Indiana Jones or the Rolling Stones?” The names themselves are not solitary. It’s the combination of them that adds up to something more than their singular parts. To go too much into detail is irrelevant. The song is like a painting, you can’t see it all at once if you’re standing too close. The individual pieces are just part of a whole.

“I Contain Multitudes” is more like trance writing. Well, it’s not more like trance writing, it is trance writing. It’s the way I actually feel about things. It is my identity and I’m not going to question it, I am in no position to. Every line has a particular purpose. Somewhere in the universe those three names must have paid a price for what they represent and they’re locked together. And I can hardly explain that. Why or where or how, but those are the facts.

But Indiana Jones was a fictional character?

Yeah, but the John Williams score brought him to life. Without that music it wouldn’t have been much of a movie. It’s the music which makes Indy come alive. So that maybe is one of the reasons he is in the song. I don’t know, all three names came at once.

A reference to the Rolling Stones makes it into “I Contain Multitudes.” Just as a lark, which Stones songs do you wish you could’ve written?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe “Angie,” “Ventilator Blues” and what else, let me see. Oh yeah, “Wild Horses.”

ImageDylan and a host of folk-music icons at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963.Credit...Rowland Scherman/Getty Images

Charlie Sexton began playing with you for a few years in 1999, and returned to the fold in 2009. What makes him such a special player? It’s as if you can read each other’s minds.

As far as Charlie goes, he can read anybody’s mind. Charlie, though, creates songs and sings them as well, and he can play guitar to beat the band. There aren’t any of my songs that Charlie doesn’t feel part of and he’s always played great with me. “False Prophet” is only one of three 12-bar structural things on this record. Charlie is good on all the songs. He’s not a show-off guitar player, although he can do that if he wants. He’s very restrained in his playing but can be explosive when he wants to be. It’s a classic style of playing. Very old school. He inhabits a song rather than attacking it. He’s always done that with me.

How have you spent the last couple of months home-sheltered in Malibu? Have you been able to weld or paint?

Yeah, a little bit.

Are you able to be musically creative while at home? Do you play piano and tool around in your private studio?

I do that mostly in hotel rooms. A hotel room is the closest I get to a private studio.

Does having the Pacific Ocean in your backyard help you process the Covid-19 pandemic in a spiritual way? There is a theory called “blue mind” which believes that living near water is a health curative.

Yeah, I can believe that. “Cool Water,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” “How Deep Is the Ocean.” I hear any of those songs and it’s like some kind of cure. I don’t know what for, but a cure for something that I don’t even know I have. A fix of some kind. It’s like a spiritual thing. Water is a spiritual thing. I never heard of “blue mind” before. Sounds like it could be some kind of slow blues song. Something Van Morrison would write. Maybe he has, I don’t know.

It’s too bad that just when the play “Girl From the North Country,” which features your music, was getting rave reviews, production had to shutter because of Covid-19. Have you seen the play or watched the video of it?

Sure, I’ve seen it and it affected me. I saw it as an anonymous spectator, not as someone who had anything to do with it. I just let it happen. The play had me crying at the end. I can’t even say why. When the curtain came down, I was stunned. I really was. Too bad Broadway shut down because I wanted to see it again.

Do you think of this pandemic in almost biblical terms? A plague that has swept the land?

I think it’s a forerunner of something else to come. It’s an invasion for sure, and it’s widespread, but biblical? You mean like some kind of warning sign for people to repent of their wrongdoings? That would imply that the world is in line for some sort of divine punishment. Extreme arrogance can have some disastrous penalties. Maybe we are on the eve of destruction. There are numerous ways you can think about this virus. I think you just have to let it run its course.

Out of all your compositions, “When I Paint My Masterpiece” has grown on me over the years. What made you bring it back to the forefront of recent concerts?

It’s grown on me as well. I think this song has something to do with the classical world, something that’s out of reach. Someplace you’d like to be beyond your experience. Something that is so supreme and first rate that you could never come back down from the mountain. That you’ve achieved the unthinkable. That’s what the song tries to say, and you’d have to put it in that context. In saying that though, even if you do paint your masterpiece, what will you do then? Well, obviously you have to paint another masterpiece. So it could become some kind of never ending cycle, a trap of some kind. The song doesn’t say that though.

A few years ago I saw you play a bluegrass-sounding version of “Summer Days.” Have you ever thought about recording a bluegrass album?

I’ve never thought about that. Bluegrass music is mysterious and deep rooted and you almost have to be born playing it. Just because you are a great singer, or a great this or that doesn’t mean you can be in a bluegrass band. It’s almost like classical music. It’s harmonic and meditative, but it’s out for blood. If you ever heard the Osborne Brothers, then you know what I mean. It’s an unforgiving music and you can only stretch it so far. Beatles songs played in a bluegrass style don’t make any sense. It’s the wrong repertoire, and that’s been done. There are elements of bluegrass music for sure in what I play, especially the intensity and similar themes. But I don’t have the high tenor voice and we don’t have three-part harmony or consistent banjo. I listen to Bill Monroe a lot, but I more or less stick to what I can do best.

How is your health holding up? You seem to be fit as a fiddle. How do you keep mind and body working together in unison?

Oh, that’s the big question, isn’t it? How does anybody do it? Your mind and body go hand in hand. There has to be some kind of agreement. I like to think of the mind as spirit and the body as substance. How you integrate those two things, I have no idea. I just try to go on a straight line and stay on it, stay on the level.

Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and professor of history at Rice University. He is the author of “American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20230330042035/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/arts/music/bob-dylan-rough-and-rowdy-ways.html

Sent from my iPhone

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arthur-does-tingz · 3 years ago

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Why Viktor Was In Love With Jayce

Okay so I watched Arcane and I can say with conviction that it is my new all time favorite series (maybe even hyperfixation?? We’ll see) and as part of both being gay, a lil bitch, and too much of an analytic, I tend to overthink character relationships. Vi and Caitlyn I smelled from a mile away, Mel and Jayce were obvious, even Jinx and Silco???? (i don’t know what the hell is going on there and I don’t think anyone does,) but something I didn’t expect to find on the way were the hints hidden in Viktor’s actions that were GLARING at me during my first rewatch and as I watch compilations (thank god I’m not alone in this).

So because I need an outlet, ur welcome to read my scrambled thoughts about why Viktor was in love with Jayce, why its beautifully tragic, how its shown, and trying to construct the thoughts going on in Viktor’s mind.

Okay so first things first, let’s deconstruct the why.

As a person who loves to analyze relationship dynamics in media (fancy way of saying I’m shipping trash) its important to also acknowledge that, such as in real life, not all close relationships are romantic and there’s no fixed or universal origin of romantic feelings. But HO MY GOD THESE BITCHES WERE GAY!

Even at first conversation, Jayce was a cloud of wonder and mystery in Viktor’s eyes. Like, “who tf does this guy think he is?” trying to artificially replicate arcane magic and all that shit. His ambition is further proved by every word they share with each other. It’s easy to be charmed by this well respected, hopeful BEEFCAKE of a man with dreams that are more radical than a 70s surfer. The image that Viktor fell in love with was one that was bathed in light and working closely with him for (we can approximate) like eight years?? As someone who never looked at him as an assistant but as an equal and a partner?? That’s just poetry.

NOW FOR THE TRAGIC SHIT! Viktor was a man doomed for darkness in both Piltover’s eyes and the eyes of the viewer (I JUST LOOKED UP HIS LORE AND I- hrrrrrrrrngh) . He was from the undercity, he was a “cripple”, and had chosen, as we see, horrible methods in order to try and extend his lifespan. HELL EVEN DESIGN WISE, he was a character surrounded and shrouded by shadows in like EVERY SCENE WE SEE HIM IN, ESPECIALLY when Jayce was there. Design wise, he was Viktor’s light.

And I could go on. Actually, I will.

Time and time again, Viktor is stuck in the darkness while trying to reach for Jayce’s light. EVEN IN THE LAST SCENE THE FUCKING LAMP IS ON JAYCE’S SIDE! And in the less obvious ones, Jayce is on the side of the light source while Viktor always has a side of him that’ll be stuck in the dark.

And of course, Jayce finds a new light. Mel, being a councilor, “saving the world.” And Viktor is stuck trying to chase after him. Always behind him in some way.

Until of course, Viktor tries to recreate that light and Jayce is stuck behind him in terms of their original dreams.

And its such a tragically beautiful dynamic. The only time that they get to be together, side by side, is when they are chasing their original dream together.

PLUS GIMME THE LONGING STARES!!!

(BTW moment above was when my gaydar officially started going WEE WOO WEE WOO) HE’S LOOKING DIRECTLY AT HIS FUCKING LIPS I-

Anyway, it makes it even more upsetting that Jayce will never see Viktor the same way, which is why it CUT BETWEEN JAYCE AND MEL HAVING SEX AND VIKTOR YOU CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE!!! And it fricking hurts. I think its why Viktor becomes even more engrossed in his work. He’s not gonna get the same level of hope and happiness that he got in Jayce and the dream of Hextech so he tries and tries to crack the code. Which elicits another parallel to arise. Sky and Viktor.

The reason why Sky was so important, at least from the perspective I’m trying to articulate, is because she is the Viktor in his and Jayce’s dynamic. Is that understandable?/gen. It’s like one of those comics where the shy girl is in love with the nerdy guy and the nerdy guy is in love with the cheerleader and the cheerleader is in love with the popular guy and the popular guy was in love with the shy girl all along. Except Sky is in love with Viktor is in love with Jayce is in love with Mel. And its this big cycle where no one is happy except for the fucking BEAUTIFUL heterosexuals. Sky’s death wasn’t pointless (okay is was kinda unnecessary but) because it showed Viktor just how far he was going into the arcane. And I haven’t FULLY looked at his lore. Really hoping he’ll turn out alright (though I know it isn’t likely.)

But Viktor was in love with Jayce and its a lens to put on the story that does nothing but enhance how fucking sad it is. BRING ME THE FANART CUZ I NEED TO COPE NOW!

#arcane #into the arcane #viktor #jayce #viktor arcane #jayce x viktor

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arctimon · 3 years ago

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The Beta Team That Never Was - Fanfiction Corner (BH6 Edition)

So all of this Peni Parker comic talk actually got me thinking about the process of her being included in my fanfiction.

I wish I could tell you it was a long and arduous process, but...

OK, maybe some of it was hard. But when you have a virtually endless supply of Marvel characters that you can use for possible teammates for Big Hero 6, you have to go with your gut.

We all know that the team will be Robbie, Aspen, Peni, Doreen (eventually), and Kate. But there were six other candidates that could have been in the mix as well.

And five of them have their emblems here:

These were made before I actually knew how to make hero emblems properly.

Some of them you might recognize. Some you may not. But we’re going to go through them all, from left to right.

And to start...it’s really hard to draw tiny hearts.

1.) Riri Williams/Ironheart - Ironically enough, it was around the time that Hiro started chasing Sirque around the town in “Portal Enemy” that I started brainstorming her. A teenage genius, stuck as to what to make, sees “Captain Cutie” and the chase on the news and gets brainstorming.

Thus, the Power Armor is born.

And she gets so excited that she bolts off to San Fransokyo to show her idol what she’s created.

And then, as per the Big Hero 6 Fanfiction Clause states...shenanigans ensue.

It was an interesting possibility, but the thought of Ironheart was really late into me doing the backstories of the people that I had chosen, so she was pushed aside. I don’t personally see me revisiting her in the future, but who knows?

2.) Nadia Van Dyne/The Wasp - Back when Karmi had first been pulled out of SFIT, there was a young woman who wanted to recruit her into a special organization. It was one that brought together the greatest female minds in their fields, and Karmi was on said recruitment list.

The organization?

Genius In action Research Labs, or G.I.R.L. for short. And it was led by the Wasp’s daughter, Nadia Pym (later changed to Nadia Van Dyne).

Plot-wise, this was probably the person that I got the farthest with, since the story would’ve been more of a focus on Karmi than anyone else. Also, the idea of writing someone with Bipolar Disorder (which Nadia was confirmed to have in her latest solo run) was intriguing if nothing else.

Unfortunately, it sort of dried up from there. A lack of a central conflict, uncertainty as to how many of the other girls (Taina, Priya, Shay, and Ying) to have, and how to handle her actual powers stopped it cold.

But seriously, how do you write in the ability to shrink to microscopic size? That’s not really a thing, even in a world as futuristic as San Fransokyo.

3.) America Chavez/Ms. America - The mere idea of a Superman-esque Latina teenager was enticing, especially because America, in her relatively short comic history, was with the Ultimates and the West Coast Avengers (meaning there was a possible Kate/Hawkeye angle). Making start-shaped portals was the Silent Sparrow angle, and the all-around badass, headstrong attitude would be the counter to Honey Lemon’s more nurturing personality.

But being from an alternate universe (which has very recently been retconned in the comics in part because she will be appearing in the MCU and Doctor Strange 2), no real villain to play off of, and becoming possibly way too overpowered for the BH6 universe, she was scrapped.

It’s quite a shame. I really like her in the comics that she’s in. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for her somewhere down the line...

4.) Alison Blaire/Dazzler - A pop star with light-based powers?

Or better yet, a struggling artist with acoustikinesis?

Her power to convert sound into light was what originally drew me to her. Something that could be made into a technological ability, unique enough to put a (pardon the pun) spotlight on it.

An actual blonde instead of whatever HL’s hair color is.

Heck, she even has a half-sister named Lois that could have been the antagonist (death tough, destruction waves, and the like).

But she quickly got lost in the fold. Better ideas (like Kate and Doreen) got more of my brainstorming, and she was eventually given up on.

But funnily enough...

It’s almost like she’s already in the show.

(See, for the people who may be new, one of the many Marvel theories that I’ve touched upon is that High Voltage is actually this universe’s version of Dazzler. Juniper is Alison and Barb is...well...Barbara London, Alison’s mom).

Hey, @baymaksu totally agrees with me kinda sort of.

5.) Cindy Moon/Silk - I knew right from the get-go that I wanted a Spider-person on the beta team. I also knew that I didn’t want Peter.

No offense to Peter Parker. He’s fine. But there’s a billion other Spiders out there, and I wanted someone out of the normal vein of Peter, as well as even Miles and Gwen.

And in came Cindy.

Locked away in The Bunker because of her spider powers manifesting, she was eventually released by Peter and thus began her entrance into the main Marvel world.

Her “unique ability” is her improved Spider-Sense, which Peter has said is even better than his own. That, plus her other powers, brought her the closest out of anyone to being a member of the Big Hero 6 Beta Team.

As we all know, however, Peni ended up getting the spot over Cindy (for the family angle with Hiro and the giant robot that she pilots). On the other hand, Cindy would later make her debut in the stinger of the last chapter of Along Came The S.P.I.D.E.R., along with Miles, Anya, and Joey.

Unlike Riri, Nadia, America, and Alison, Cindy and the rest of Peni’s little Spider Society are going to be showing up in future stories. And if I can get everything in order, they will be starring in their own story set in the Big Hero 6 universe.

Finally, I have no emblem for them, but the honorable mention goes to...

6.) Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Yes, there was a point in time where I was seriously considering putting a nine-year-old super genius and a giant red T-rex into my stories.

Ignoring the giant...”red flag” here, the reason why Luna never made it is the same reason why I haven’t put Rishi in anything yet. It’s because I don’t really know what to do with supergeniuses that young. Hiro is at least a teenager and thus has teenager-y problems to fall back on (like puberty and Karmi and all that jazz), but a nine-year-old? That’s a little too extreme for me.

When I was nine, I was busy playing with sticks in my backyard with my brother, not solving unsolvable puzzles from Bruce Banner.

...All that, and the giant dinosaur.

But hey, at least Disney is jumping on the MG/DD train. That’s good to see.

Crossover potential, perhaps?

P.S. - As I was finishing putting this post together, it occurred to me that I may get this possible question in the comments, so I’m going to head it off at the pass.

“You know that all of your possible superheroes are girls, right?”

First of all...sexist.

Second of all...true.

That was about 90% on accident. The actual team (Robbie, Aspen, Peni, Doreen, and Kate) has only one guy on it (two if you count Eli, three if you count Tippy-Toe).

I don’t really have a good explanation for that. I like all superheroes, but I think that the girl and woman superheroes need some spotlight, you know? I could have pulled people like Namor or Miles or the male Hawkeye into the mix, but to be honest, I find the characters I chose more interesting than a lot of the guy characters I was contemplating.

Of course, nothing is stopping any of you from using those characters in your stories. Be my guest, not that you really need my permission or anything.

But you can’t take Aspen. Aspen is mine. (Spoiler: Aspen is not mine.)

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amazing-spiderling · 2 years ago

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Do you ship Gwen with anyone in particular? If no strong opinions there, any Gwen headcanons?

You know for me it's really important that Gwen is able to exist as a character outside of any romantic relationships just because the original incarnation of the character was defined for so long as Peter Parker's dead girlfriend. And she was great and intelligent and when they wrote her death the concept of "fridging" wasn't a thing yet It was basically unheard of to kill off a love interest, but for decades we just remembered Gwen Stacy as the girl who died.

I think it was really important for them to not only define the fact that she didn't view any of her relationships as romantic, whether it was with Peter or with Harry or anyone else in her universe. There is a lot of complexity to those relationships, we even see MJ getting upset that Gwen is not cognizant of the fact that Peter holds her in such high regard if he isn't outright in love with her. Even Harry and Gwen viewed their relationship as something different from one another. And that's sort of great. Don't get me wrong we're rooting for Gwen the whole time but it does show how she can be a little bit oblivious to things that are happening outside of her own head. And I think that it's really important for a person to have a good sense of who they are before they start getting into romantic relationships with other people. Gwen is definitely still figuring that out in most of her comics. I think Gwen even realizes that herself which is why she pulls the brakes on any sort of budding romance between her and Miles. That being said if that ever happened down the line in future comics for real, I would kind of shrug and say sure that makes sense. Why not?

Now I think her platonic and adversarial chemistry with so many characters is amazing! The friendly rivalry that she has with MJ that turns to something pretty ugly and isn't ever really resolved (well I'm not entirely sure where we're going to stand after Gwen-Verse) is pretty meaty. The strange indebtedness she has to Cindy Moon for creating the spider that gave her her powers in the first place is certainly the kind of thing that can rock a person's foundations. And of course playing the unwitting hero to Murderdock's machinations is narrative gold. (I don't think it's any coincidence that the only way she is able to dig herself out of her hole is by facing consequences and standing firm in her sense of personal identity through them.) Right now I think it is the most important thing for Gwen to "date herself" because she'd be the first person to admit she still has a lot of figuring herself out to do.

And I don't think this would ever happen, especially considering recent spider verse events, but I think the juxtaposition of Gwen and Noir (who is much younger than his movie counterpart) could be really fun? He's classic swing jazz, she's rock and roll, what more can I say? (Okay really I don't think Gwen would date any version of Peter Parker because it would just be too weird for her but I do like the idea of the contrast between his muted universe and her crazy vaporwave world.)

I'm not sure if I have any specific Gwen Stacy headcanons but I do have a lot about Earth 65 in general. One of them is more or less supported by the comics but, I think that public opinion changed significantly while she was in prison. Well of course you can't get any group of people to completely agree on a matter, I think she went from having a much less divisive role in the public in her world, and it was her own actions and willingness to take responsibility that caused that. I think if she had been unable to go to 616 to attend school she still would have managed fine in her world, it just would have been more complicated because for every person who wasn't willing to give her a chance or a job there would have been two who were trying to use her celebrity to their advantage.

Also, I love joking about how Gwen would respond to a heroic Matt Murdock as much as the next person, but I think after an initial shock she would be totally fine. She's jumped all over the universe and seen all different versions of herself and Peter Parker, I think she's well acquainted with the fact that very little is absolute. If anything I think she would think it was funny and have hope she ran into Murdock or Nelson back in her universe again just so she could tell them and laugh at the confusion on their faces. But I also don't think she goes out of her way while in other universes to hunt for all the Easter eggs in all the ways their worlds are different. I think once you realize that in most versions of the universe you're dead and it's very sad and everyone is bummed out about it... You're probably less inclined to go poking around for no reason.

Oh, but if Gwen ever did encounter a universe like ours where the Spider-Man comics are just media that everybody consumes, I would really love for her to get her hands on the Mexican bootleg comics where the publishers refuse to kill off when Stacy like they were supposed to so they just continued the series as though she and Peter got married. I don't think she speaks Spanish but maybe she could bring it back to her roommates for a translation, and everyone would laugh and comment on how dummy thicc the comic book version of her was. XD

#thanks for the ask #gwen stacy #earth 65

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new-sandrafilter · 3 years ago

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How Timothée Chalamet Channeled The Blockbuster Pressure of Leading Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Back Into His Role – Venice Q&A

DEADLINE: In a few days Dune will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. You first met Denis Villeneuve about the role in May 2018 and started shooting in the early half of 2019. It was always going to be a long journey, but the pandemic stretched it even further. How does it feel to have finally arrived at this moment?

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET: You know, I like to think that with every film I’ve done, whether it’s Call Me by Your Name or Beautiful Boy, The King, or Little Women, the character you play is almost a piece of your flesh. And that’s always true, but simply from the perspective of how long the shoot for Dune was, and also the arc that Paul Atreides is on, as well as the huge love and almost biblical connection that so many people have for the book and the original film, it really felt… tectonic, if that’s the right word for it. Just getting to this finish line feels like: phew.

And independent of what the film is now, and what it has become, the experience of making it was I was put in such a safe environment, which you can never take for granted as a human, as an actor, but especially when you’re just starting your career, and when this is the first film of this size you’ve ever done.

To get to work with Denis on it, to get to work with someone of his caliber, let alone on a book that he considers the book of his youth and one of the things he has connected to the most… When he would have it in his hands on set, his body language would become that of a fan; of a kid who had fallen in love with the book at home in Montreal. And when all the kids around him were wearing hockey jerseys with their favorite players’ names on the back, this was a kid wearing a jersey that said ‘Spielberg’ on the back.

For it all to come together, especially with the added challenge of the pandemic, it has all combined to make this moment feel especially spicy [laughs].

DEADLINE: The entire ensemble will show up in Venice.

CHALAMET: Right. And I just can’t believe it; Jason Momoa has the number one film on Netflix right now with Sweet Girl, which I just watched. And since we shot, Zendaya has had all this success with Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. Just to be part of this cast, period, let alone as one of the title characters, it’s really the shit you dream of.

And let me not forget, too—and I know I’ve told you this before—that The Dark Knight was the movie that made me want to act. That movie had a score by Hans Zimmer, and he has done the score for Dune. And it’s almost not what you’d think. It’s totally appropriate and excellent for the movie, but he has somehow managed to do something subversive, in my opinion. It’s a pinch-me moment all over.

DEADLINE: So, take me back to the start. Is it true you had a Google alert set up to track the latest news on this project before you were ever cast?

CHALAMET: Yeah, it’s true [laughs]. Not right away—Legendary had the rights and was developing it—but as soon as Denis got involved, I set up a Google alert and that’s when I got the book.

In total honesty, I think my understanding of Dune at that point was from a graphic novel I’d seen at Midtown Comics when I was shopping for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards when I was about 10. The year you and I first met, when I was there at Deadline Contenders with Call Me by Your Name, that would have been 2017 or early 2018, and Denis was there with Blade Runner. I remember I was trying to put myself in front of him as much as possible and set up a meeting with him. We had a night at the BAFTA where one of my good friends, Stéphane Bak—who’s also an actor—saw Denis across the room and was like, “Hey buddy, he’s right over there.” So, we went over to talk to him. I kept trying to put myself in front of him, but I didn’t really get a sense of the possibility [of working with him].

I was about halfway through the book when I got the call that he was going to be the president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was in London prepping The King. He asked me if I could come out there, so I quickly busted through the second half of the book as best I could. So, like, the first half of my copy is properly annotated and full of my thoughts, and then the second half I just raced through. And then I had that meeting with him, and it was such a joy.

I’m struggling with this even now, as I’m working with Paul King [on Wonka], because he’s another guy I have huge respect and admiration for, and it’s hard to feel on a level. Not that you ever are, because as an actor you’re a cog in the machine, and you’ve got to be humble to the vision of the director. But with Denis, he was pacing around the room, throwing ideas around, in some fancy suite in Cannes, and all I could think was that a year before I was just sat on a stoop on 9th Street in the East Village or something.

DEADLINE: Was that your first time in Cannes?

CHALAMET: Yeah. Well, bizarrely, my sister would do dance camps growing up. Ballet intensive programs in a town called Mougins, which is nearby Cannes, so I spent a lot of time there growing up, but never during the festival, and not on the Riviera. To get to be there for the festival was just nuts. I went to see the Romain Gavras movie, I think, and it was just a huge joy.

I got attached [to the role in Dune] a couple of months after that, and it was nerve-wracking from the announcement, because like I said before, the fans of the book, and the fans of David Lynch version, the computer game, and everything, there’s so much love and strength of feeling. And so much of our pop culture and films and books have been derived from Dune, and all the philosophy the book. I’ve been shocked to learn how many people have a next-level connection to the book. I compare it to how our generation grew up with Harry Potter, and that one makes sense to me. But it’s cool to see with Dune also, when you actually sit down and read it… It’s not that it’s a quote-unquote “hard read” or anything, but it’s not made to be consumed easily, I think that’s fair to say.

So, I was grateful to be working on something of this size not only with Denis Villeneuve leading it, who between Polytechnique, Incendies and Prisoners had nailed the smaller indie film across languages, and then had nailed Arrival and Blade Runner, but who, in his own words, he didn’t feel he’d made his greatest film yet. But also, to be working with this cast. I don’t know if there’s some nightmare version of a film where a young lead is not supported by the rest of his cast, where every one of them had been the leads in their own huge projects. But on this, everyone was there to support, and I think it’s because we all wanted to be foot soldiers for Denis, and I think we understood the potential, based on the script by Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts and Denis, that this could be something really special.

DEADLINE: I don’t have a connection to Dune; this movie is really my first experience of the story. What strikes me is this is clearly an enormous universe—a broad canvas being painted with various families and factions and politics and mythos—but that ultimately it comes down to very elemental, human themes, and we feel them through this character you play, Paul Atreides. Did those themes help ground the experience for you?

CHALAMET: Yes, and I would give the credit entirely to Denis. He would constantly say on set that he had some opposing drumbeat or something. In my diminished intellectual standing, I didn’t understand it, but it was like some vision for the movie based on how biblical the book is that tries to tackle so much that it doesn’t tackle anything. I think he felt the need to be close to a character in it, and Paul is that guy in the book. He’s a character that is still in formation, like a lump of clay, which makes him a great figure for the audience to mirror off.

It speaks, I think, to Denis’ premonition and his directing ability that there were times when we’d move on from a shot or move on from a scene, and I swear, literally, we’d go back because Denis wanted to get something over my shoulder, or push in on my reaction, just to make sure [it stayed on Paul].

And again, it’s something where I’m pinching myself. I had the best time on Interstellar, and that was one of my favorite films I’ve ever worked on, but it was very much something where I was aware of when I had the opportunity to do real acting. And on a movie like Dune, again, one could think it would get lost in the scale and scope. But I felt every day like my plate was full.

DEADLINE: One of those themes is fear, and Paul must overcome his to become the person he needs to be. When you are number one on the call sheet on a project of this scale, and the cast list reads like an address book of Hollywood in the 21st century, and Legendary has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into this production, and it’s all falling on your shoulders, I have to imagine fear is a theme you can readily relate to.

CHALAMET: Oh yeah, and they can bleed into each other for sure—not to diminish the other work that goes in. It’s great when your life experience can inform the role. That’s not at all to say I’m on some crusade in the universe or anything, but definitely… And I had that same good fortune with The King I think. My life is not nearly as significant or as exciting as Paul or Prince Hal, but we all share an unwitting needle in the haystack feeling. On The King that feeling was because I was so new to having a career. On Dune it’s because of, as you say, just feeling the pressure of the hugeness of the project in all those different ways. Those things can absolutely inform each other.

And then there are the moments of glee that come, too, like seeing Jason Momoa running at you at a hundred miles an hour, or just getting to shoot the shit with Josh Brolin, or getting to do a scene with Oscar Isaac. I felt so supported, whether it was Rebecca Fergusson or Charlotte Rampling. When Zendaya came, it was a total breath of fresh air, and she’s one of my favorite parts of the movie. I just got really lucky, and I can’t wait to see them all in Venice.

Denis split the book in half, and the hope is a second movie will get a greenlight. That’d expand Zendaya’s role in the story.

CHALAMET: Definitely, Chani will play a huge role in the next film. I don’t know if there’s a script yet, but just based on the book, along with Lady Jessica [Rebecca Fergusson], they have a lot to do together, let’s put it like that. And Zendaya was incredible in this movie; the moment she pulls the mask down, it felt properly showstopping and powerful. I was hiding behind the camera, counting my lucky starts, because I was there in month two of the shoot and here was a total powerhouse just coming in for the first time.

And as I said before, this was before I’d seen Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. She’s doing such incredible work and is just trailblazing her own path, and she’s so, so cool. She also happens to be in the most-watched trailer of the moment, too, for Spider-Man: No Way Home. I cannot wait for that movie, and I was there, by the way, with everybody else, clicking through the trailer frame by frame looking for clues [laughs].

#timmy #timothee chalamet #dune movie #dune 2021 #denis villeneuve

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kingday7 · 2 years ago

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Spider-Man: Into The Spider verse is not about black Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Into the spider verse is my favorite movie of all time.

I have been a Spider-Man super fan for as long as I can remember. I’ve dressed up as him for almost every year I could dress up, I’ve seen every movie several times, seen all the tv shows, and own a good amount of comics about him. So it’s say to say there was a bit of an obsession. The admiration didn’t merely end with physical items though, no. I loved Spider-Man as an idea, as a person. His morals. The way this normal kid is able to make such a difference, and not require a reward for it. Ask any of my friends my favorite quote of all time, and out of every single on you’ll here “With great power comes great responsibility” come right back out at you.

That being said, I have always admired peter parkers version of spiderman. Not that odd I hear you say, isn’t he just Spider-Man? Who else would you admire? Quick cut to August 2011. Everything changes. A new Spider-Man comic comes out, the normal thing…But wait.. Somethings different. The suit is different. The writer is different. Spider-Man is different. It’s in August 2011 when Miles Morales enters the scene as the first Black/Latino Spider-Man, and I was in awe. All these years, I’d been admiring Peter Parker, and I still do to this day and never will not, but there was always something missing. But now that there’s a Spider-Man out there that looks like me? Everything changed. Mile’s took the world by storm, and would continue to do so in the Oscar winning film, Spider-Man: Into The Spider verse. A story with for the first time in film history, Miles Morales as the main lead, with peter parker as a side character. It was mind-blowing. I watched the movie and hated it. I’m just joking, I’ve seen it 6 times and have a poster so you can guess my relationship to it. But the more I watched, the more something came to my realization.

This isn’t *just* a miles morales story.

Yes, the main character of the movie is Miles as he is learning to use his new found powers and save the day, that’s basic superhero origin. But it’s when you start introducing other characters that the narrative changes. The plot may be that superhero origin story we are all familiar with, but the underlying narrative of the story is the idea that anyone, can wear the mask.

From the beginning of the movie, we get an introduction to Peter Parkers Spider-Man. It’s just like we know him, fighting crimes and cracking jokes while doing it. But he takes off his mask, and he’s blonde. Hm. A little odd, but characters can change appearances through comics that’s no big deal. It’s then we meet Miles and we see him get bit by the same spider Peter did. Together they get entangled into some super villain business and Peter tells him he’ll take Miles under his wing and teach him all the things of how to be Spider-Man. It’s great, we know what type of movie this will be, sounds good!

Then Peter dies. What? From the first 30 minutes of the movie, you’ve killed off the character everyone knows and loves in front of us. And in front of Miles. This is where I believe the narrative shifts. The movie does this beautiful thing of pulling you into somewhere comfortable where you can understand how things will go, and completely change that expectation, drawing you in even more. This is where the narrative kicks in. The plot remains the same, but the overlying story comes in. From here, we start meeting other Spider people. Another Peter Parker from a different earth. Very similar to the one we know, but sadder. And older. And fatter. Then we meet Spider-Gwen, or better put Spider-Woman, where in her earth, Peter Parker died after trying to become the lizard. And the list goes on with an anime inspired Spider Girl, a noir inspired Spider-man and even a Spider-Pig. But what’s the point of all these new characters? What is the movie trying to get at? I’m glad you asked.

Back in 2011, a statement was made. One that was made long ago by the legend himself, Stan Lee, but wasn’t highlighted as it should be. Spider-Man, is not one person. They are a symbol. Back in 2011, it was shown truly, that anyone can wear the mask. No matter what ethnical or sexual background, heck even if you are a cartoon farm animal, you too can wear the mask. You can feel the hope and the strength carrying that role. Spider-Man’s mask exist for a reason. Heck, his entire design was purposely and intricately created, but that’s a story for another day. The mask on Spider-Man is to show that, whoever is under the mask is irrelevant. If it was so important to know Peter is under the mask, he could just not wear one. Or have an opening around the mouth or the hair. But its the idea that anyone can be saving you, and you wouldn’t know because it wouldn’t matter. I think that’s part of the reason I resonated with Spider-Man so much as a kid, was the fact that you can put yourself in that place. As a kid who is just trying to be the best he can be, and save lives without worrying about the ignorant prejudice or superstitions about you.

That’s the beauty of this movie, that’s the amazing narrative that was being weaved throughout. It’s not only about Miles Morales, its about all the little boys and girls who look up to their heroes, and in some way shape or form are able to insert themselves into these lives so just maybe, even for just a second. They can feel like a hero too. You can be the hero, and anyone can wear the mask. It's just a leap of faith.

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evilwickedme · 4 years ago

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ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...

#leverage #leverage meta #leverage redemption #leverage ot3 #parker leverage #alec hardison #sophie devereaux #eliot spencer #breanna casey #harry wilson #mine

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land-of-brains-and-chocolate · 4 years ago

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here’s the entirety of the paywalled businessinsider article interviewing charles beacham about marvel’s racism in staffing and editorial decisions!

In the early 2010s, Marvel's comics business focused on a diverse slate of new characters, but by 2017 comic sales had fallen, which resulted in the exit of editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.

Three former Marvel editors and one current editor told Business Insider that in the years since, Marvel has recommitted to nostalgia and classic, mostly white characters, often at the expense of some of those diverse characters like Miles Morales, a biracial teenage Spider-Man.

That shift was guided by an editorial department that lacked diversity, particularly in leadership roles. Today, there are no Black staffers on Marvel's editorial team of about 18 people, and only two people of color, Marvel confirmed.

"My voice and what I brought to the table wasn't valued equally," said Charles Beacham, one of two Black editorial staffers to work at Marvel in the past five years.

Have a tip? Email the author at [email protected] or DM him on Twitter @TravClark2.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Miles Morales was the character who pulled Charles Beacham into the world of comics.

Beacham was studying journalism at Brigham Young University, in Utah, when he walked into a comics shop in 2011 and picked up a copy of Morales' first appearance. Beacham, who is Black, said he was amazed to see Morales — a teenage Spider-Man who has a Black father and Puerto Rican mother — in its pages.

"When I was growing up, I always wanted to be the red Power Ranger, and the other kids would say I had to be the black Ranger," Beacham said. "The same thing happened with Spider-Man. They'd say, 'You can't be Spider-Man because Peter Parker's not a Black dude.' Seeing Miles Morales made me wish I had that as a kid."

Morales propelled Beacham into comics and into Marvel itself, where he worked as an assistant editor.

"I didn't have job prospects when I moved to New York in 2013, but the goal was to work for Marvel because of Miles Morales," Beacham said. When he landed a job at the company the next year, he loved it.

But Beacham, now 31, was living in New York City with a child on a $38,000 salary. He said that after three years as an assistant editor, from 2014 to 2017, without a promotion, he was ready to leave. It wasn't about the money as much as the lack of a path forward.

"I thought I'd be at Marvel forever," he said. "If they had promoted me I'd probably still be there and surviving on ramen."

Beacham is one of two Black editorial staffers to have worked at Marvel in the past five years, the company confirmed. The second Black staffer, also an assistant editor, left this year after five years without a promotion or raise, a person familiar with the matter said. The editorial team of about 18 people now has two people of color.

"I want to be back there all the time," Beacham said. "But when it comes down to it, my voice and what I brought to the table wasn't valued equally."

Disney-owned Marvel has grown into a cultural force that extends beyond its comic books and into movies, video games, and other media. The comics are the foundation for it all, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has become the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time.

The stories that Marvel's small editorial team helps shape are central to popular culture in the US and around the world.

"Who works on these stories can help broaden them," said Regine Sawyer, the founder of Women in Comics Collective International, which helps to spotlight the comics work of marginalized people.

That was clear from 2011 to 2017, when Marvel ushered in a new era for its comic books under then editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, who is Mexican American.

New and diverse characters like Morales took center stage instead of Marvel's decades-old classic characters, who were primarily white. These characters inspired new fans like Beacham, and continue to inspire new fans as they make their way to other media.

But by 2017, Marvel's comic sales had fallen. Marvel's president of sales, David Gabriel, publicly blamed it on diversity. Alonso exited the company and was replaced by a white man in the role of top editor. Marvel reversed course.

Now, in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed, Marvel is promising to once again introduce more diversity to its ranks and its stories.

Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter sent a letter to employees on June 18 saying the company would "support more Black voices."

And in a memo to staff sent July 6, Marvel's president, Dan Buckley, outlined three areas of focus for Marvel moving forward:

broaden Marvel's creative landscape, which includes identifying "what has traditionally prevented us in the industry from recruiting and fostering more BIPOC talent."

build a foundation of lasting growth by "examining our internal culture and rebuilding our long-term process for talent recruitment, retention, and outreach to communities of color."

create new initiatives and expansion opportunities by "looking to explore new projects that will enable us to reach and represent an even broader audience."

In addition to Beacham, Business Insider spoke with two former Marvel editors and a current editor. Aside from Beacham, the Marvel insiders spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their stance at the company or job prospects. They said they weren't confident in Marvel's latest initiative.

"The guy who made a commitment to diversity and wanted to try new things was fired," a former Marvel staffer said, referring to Alonso.

'Spider-Man with an asterisk'

Alonso led Marvel through a bold era during his time as editor-in-chief starting in 2011, helping to establish a diverse slate of characters.

Jane Foster was the new Thor. Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, a Black character, replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America. Riri Williams, a Black girl, was introduced as an Iron Man-like character named Ironheart. Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American Muslim teenager, was the new Ms. Marvel.

It wasn't a new phenomenon in comic books. Characters are regularly passing on their mantles, at least for a while. Dick Grayson, the first Robin, was DC's Batman for a time in the early 2010s, for instance. Sam Wilson wasn't the first person to take over as Captain America. This era at Marvel Comics, however, was notable for how it emphasized diversity.

But by 2017 — Alonso's final year as editor-in-chief — the company's print sales had plummeted (Marvel in 2014 said that Ms. Marvel's solo title was a top seller digitally, but digital comics sales aren't released to the public).

"What we heard is that people didn't want any more diversity," David Gabriel, the vice president of sales at Marvel Entertainment, said that year in an interview with ICv2, a website that covers the comics business.

"I don't know that that's really true, but that's what we saw in sales," Gabriel said. "Any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up."

What Gabriel meant by "core Marvel character" were the classic, decades-old characters being sidelined for new, younger, and more diverse characters.

Seven months later, in November 2017, Marvel's Alonso stepped down from his role and was replaced by C.B. Cebulski, a white man who faced controversy when he was hired after admitting to writing comics in the early 2000s under a Japanese pseudonym.

"The comics that [Alonso] made me think I could work in comics," Beacham said. "But when a Latinx guy is scapegoated for diversity and replaced by a white dude, and the sentiment was that Marvel was 'getting away from its roots,' what does that mean?"

In a statement after his 2017 comments, Gabriel emphasized that "our new heroes are not going anywhere."

But in the months between that retailer summit and Alonso's exit, Marvel introduced an initiative for editorial staff that had been discussed internally for some time: Phase out the familiar superhero codenames for some newer, diverse characters and give them their own, two former assistant editors including Beacham said.

Marvel confirmed to Business Insider that it had previously considered stripping Morales of his Spider-Man title and giving him a new name, but has no plans to do so right now. Marvel added that it discusses status quo changes for all of its top characters.

Today, some of the classic characters have been thrust back into the spotlight. Steve Rogers has taken back the mantle of Captain America, and Thor is a man again. Miles Morales shares the Spider-Man title with Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man.

Morales has grown in popularity beyond comic books, having starred in Sony's Oscar-winning animated "Into the Spider-Verse" movie in 2018 and in a coming PlayStation video game called "Spider-Man: Miles Morales."

Beacham said he was glad that Morales continued to be a Spider-Man.

"It would have made him less important," Beacham said of Morales' losing the Spider-Man title. "He becomes Spider-Man with an asterisk. It takes away the power for kids who relate to this character."

'There's not a lack of people who can do the work'

Now, Marvel's comic-book slate is once again largely focused on classic characters, though characters like Morales and Khan remain. And there are some comics starring diverse characters from creators of color, like Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Black Panther." But their stories are in the hands of an editorial department run by an establishment of white male leadership.

"There's not a lack of people who can do the work," said Yumy Odom, the founder of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, which helps to showcase the talents of creators of color. "But it's about how receptive the industry is to them. I can think of 20 creators, mostly African Americans, who would be ready to work at Marvel."

Women faced an uphill battle at Marvel as well, the Marvel editors said. A female former assistant editor told Business Insider that she was never promoted or given a raise from her $30,000 salary in her three years at the company. She said she got promoted within a year at her new company, a different comics publisher.

Marvel declined to discuss employee salaries.

The Marvel insiders said a notable exception was Sana Amanat, who is Pakistani American and a former editor. She is now Marvel's head of content and character development, a leadership role outside the editorial department.

'There's a whole cohort of young readers'

Marvel has significantly bounced back from its 2017 sales decline, which might suggest that the refocus on its classic characters reeled longtime readers back.

Of the top 100 best-selling comics of 2020 so far, 69 belonged to Marvel, as of Wednesday, including four of the top five, and the company has accounted for 41% of comic sales this year, according to industry website Comichron. Three years ago, Marvel was lagging behind DC, its biggest competitor.

An example of the start of this resurgence was the first issue of Marvel's "Amazing Spider-Man" relaunch — starring the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker — which ranked fifth in 2018 out of all comics, according to data from Comichron. In contrast, when Marvel launched a series called "Miles Morales Spider-Man" in that year, the debut issue didn't crack the top 200 best-selling comics.

"People of a certain age have a connection with Peter Parker, not Miles Morales," a former Marvel staffer said. "Years from now, that may be different."

The current and former Marvel staffers Business Insider spoke with said they were hopeful that readership could broaden, particularly now that characters such as Morales and Khan are being introduced to audiences in other media like movies and TV. Khan is to appear in a Disney Plus TV series and the upcoming "Avengers" video game, for instance.

There are signs that the comics industry is going through a larger shift in how people read and who is reading, which could also spur change.

Last year, comic sales through the "book channel" — which includes chain and independent book stores and online retailers like Amazon — surpassed comic-book stores for the first time, driven by the increased popularity in children's graphic novels, according to an analysis by ICv2.

Milton Griepp, the chief executive of ICv2, said at the New York Comic Con conference last year that the shift could usher in a new audience for superhero comic books.

"There's a whole cohort of young readers that are being introduced to this medium and may graduate to other forms of content in the comic format over the course of their lifespans," Griepp said.

Beacham said: "Marvel needs to figure out the next stage of its core demographic because it could change rapidly."

#marvel #businessinsider.com is going to hunt me down like a wild animal

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wellhalesbells · 4 years ago

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✨✨ TOP FIVES FOR 2020 ✨✨

2020 was, i think we can all agree, a massively chaotic year but i have never consumed as much media before in my life, so i thought others might benefit from my slothery uh, connoisseur.... ship? yes, that. below are the books, comics, shows, and movies that got me through!

B O O K S .

the starless sea, by erin morgenstern - i loooove this book because it loves me back. it says: ‘oh, you’re a reader, well i have just the thing for you.’ it luxuriates in language and story and riddles and fairy tales and it feels like an entire library in a single tome.

they never learn, by layne fargo - oh fuuuuuck, this was satisfying. i thought it might feel a little exploitative as it is very aware of the zeitgeist and likely would not exist without the #metoo movement but it never ever did. this was a fucking ROMP, period. reading about a woman getting away with murdering skeezy guy after rapey guy after shitty human just made me happier and happier.

moonflower murders, by anthony horowitz - this is the second in the susan ryeland series (and the first was hardcore good fun too) and really feels very classic mystery with the artful twist of catering to the literary community. mainly because: susan isn’t a detective, she’s an editor and she gets drafted in this time because the clue to what happened to a missing woman is in a book she edited, if she can find it. both of the books in this series have such an excellent coming together moment that is rare af to find.

the invisible life of addie larue, by v.e. schwab - the writing in this is just so good. it has that feel to me where i just want to drop the book and open up my own page and let my fingers fly. it’s that inspiring kind of writing that reminds you of all the things language can do.

crown of feathers/heart of flames, by nicki pau preto - aaahhh, this series is SO FREAKING GOOD! why is there not more of a fandom for it, why???? it is so many of my favorite tropes all resting perfectly together to the point where you almost forget they’re tropes because they just so naturally evolved there. ugh, it’s just.... it’s so heart-bursty good.

.... number 5, part 2? raybearer, by jordan ifueko - this was just so original and i was invested af. like, what a brilliant idea though and an even better execution?? i loved every character and am so looking forward to the next in the series so i can get to know them even better!!

honorable mentions (sh*t i still liked a whole heckuva lot): you/hidden bodies, by caroline kepnes // writers & lovers, by lily king // i’ll be gone in the dark, by michelle mcnamara // the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home, by joseph fink & jeffrey cranor // girl, serpent, thorn, by melissa bashardoust // a little life, by hanya yanagihara // the guinevere deception, by kiersten white // obsidio (and the entire illuminae series), by amie kaufman & jay kristoff // the bone houses, by emily lloyd-jones // house of salt and sorrows, by erin a. craig // we hunt the flame, by hafsah faizal // savage legion, by matt wallace // blacktop wasteland, by s.a. cosby // crier’s war, by nina varela // the empress of salt and fortune/when the tiger came down the mountain, by nghi vo // upright women wanted, by sarah gailey // the monster of elendhaven, by jennifer giesbrecht // a deadly education, by naomi novik // you let me in, by camilla bruce // when you ask me where i’m going, by jasmin kaur // the lights go out in lychford/last stand in lychford (and the entire lychford series), by paul cornell // the devil and the dark water, by stuart turton // serpent & dove, by shelby mahurin // one by one, by ruth ware // ruthless gods (this was SUCH an upshot from the first book - it’s worth sticking with if you’re on the fence), by emily a. duncan // cemetery boys, by aiden thomas // the inheritance games, by jennifer lynn barnes // the fortunate ones (2021 release), by ed tarkington

C O M I C S .

cosmoknights, by hannah templer - the art was gorgeous, the gayness was glorious, and just.... hot HOOOOOOOOT lady knights in space?! a princess winning her own hand? find something not to love in there, i dare you.

don’t go without me, by rosemary valero-o’connell - wow. wow wow wow wow wow. the writing was stunning, so lyrical and atmospheric and deep, and rosemary has to be one of my favorite artists but even that managed to come as a beautiful surprise because it was just so freaking bold.

through the woods, by emily carroll - i loooove emily carroll, the convergence of spine-tingling horror and art that feeds into it, that is both visually and aesthetically pleasing, is hard to beat! p.s. i also read beneath the dead oak tree from her this year and it was also a BANGER.

the impending blindness of billie scott, by zoe thorogood - zoe is someone that i just want to follow. she’s just starting and i want to be there for every single step. i love her art style and her ability to tell a story with it.

above the clouds, by melissa pagluica - this was so unique, and such a baller concept, as nearly half the entire book is conveyed only through the art and yet you’re never once lost, never once confused as to what any character is thinking or feeling. it’s a story within a story and only one of those gets words though they both are chock full of emotion!

um.... number 5, part 2? crowded, by christopher sebela - everything about this series is fun af. crowd-funded assassination and a hirable bodyguard who’s rated like an uber driver??? and the chemistry between the two mains is so great and gay!!

honorable mentions: monster and the beast, by renji // long exposure, by kam ‘mars’ heyward // fence, by c.s. pacat // invisible kingdom, by g. willow wilson // ms. marvel, by g. willow wilson // heathen, by natasha alterici // not drunk enough, by tess stone // giant days, by john allison // die, by kieron gillen // be prepared, by vera brosgol // ascender (sequel to descender, which is also great), by jeff lemire // the unbeatable squirrel girl, by ryan north // bang! bang! boom!, by melanie schoen // gideon falls, by jeff lemire // life of melody, by mari costa // cry wolf girl, by ariel slamet ries // the tea dragon society, by katie o’neill // ptsd, by guillaume singelin // heartstopper, by alice oseman // solutions and other problems, by allie brosh // finding home, by hari conner // the magic fish, by trung le nguyen // something is killing the children, by james tynion iv // the weight of them, by noelle stevenson // spill zone, by scott westerfeld // skyward, by joe henderson // miles morales, by saladin ahmed

F I L M S.

parasite, dir. bong joon ho - oh it was satisfying, oh it was suspenseful, oh i had to watch some of it through my fingers but i loooooooved it. such a good story and so well made.

knives out, dir. rian johnson - okay, everything about this movie was amazing. every single character was fun as hell and i could’ve watched an entire movie about each of them. what a great fucking mystery!

blindspotting, dir. carlos lopez estrada - this made my heart hurt so damn much. what glorious writing, acting, and story!

portrait of a lady on fire, dir. celine sciamma - gooooorgeous cinematography, amazing chemistry, and such a soft, atmospheric film.

the farewell, dir. lulu wang - i cried and my heart felt so full and i love it so so much.

um.... number 5, part 2? someone great, dir. jennifer kaytin robinson - no part of me expected to love a netflix movie this much but it’s a love story that doesn’t get told that often?? the end of a relationship and the true love of friendship and i love these girls and i love jenny and nate’s broken relationship.

honorable mentions: eighth grade, dir. bo burnham // booksmart, dir. olivia wilde // midsommar, dir. ari aster // the curse of la llorona, dir. michael chaves // the secret life of pets 2, dirs. chris renaud & jonathan del val // jojo rabbit, dir. taika waititi // the invisible man, dir. leigh whannell // the favourite, dir. yorgos lanthimos // can you ever forgive me?, dir. marielle heller // troop zero, dirs. bert & bertie // ready or not, dirs. matt bettinelli-olpin & tyler gillett // brave, dirs. mark andrews & brenda chapman & steve purcell // the half of it, dir. alice wu // palm springs, dir. max barbakow // doctor sleep, dir. mike flanaghan // uncut gems, dirs. benny sadfie & josh sadfie // birds of prey, dir. cathy van // bloodshot, dir. dave wilson // the old guard, dir. gina prince-bythewood // enola holmes, dir. harry bradbeer // hocus pocus, dir. kenny ortega // always be my maybe, dir. nahnatchka khan // finding dory, dirs. andrew stanton & angus maclane // die hard, dir. john mctiernan

S H O W S .

black sails (2014) - this show, this shooooooooow. i cannot, it just makes me want to cry with how good it is. the characters, the EMOTIONS, the story, the plaaaaaan. like, the creators clearly had a plan for every single step of this show and it was a gOOD, GOOD PLAN.

the untamed (2019) - truly, cheesy good fun with one of the best gay romances ever. i love these characters and their relationships to each other and the way it glories in its own ridiculousness.

the righteous gemstones (2019) - one of the things that bothered me about my next choice (the ratio of female to male nudity) was so much more realistic in this one (i mean, we’ve all gotten five thousand dick pics and i know like three people? so the fact that there is so rarely male nudity in shows when there are tits everywhere..... no, how does that even make a tiny bit of sense?). this show was such great, wonderful, awful fun. they’re not great people and the show is under no delusion about that and it’s GLORIOUS!

the witcher (2019) - this was just hella fun, i loved the characters and the fantasy elements. i’m excited for the next season, it’s just entertaining swashbuckling through and through!

fargo (2014) - all of this was really very enjoyable with the through line being somebody fucks shit up and gets involved in something they really shouldn’t be involved in that’s going to swallow them whole. season one and season three were my stand-out favorites but they were all so violent, clever, and vicious!

um.... number 5, part 2? central park (2020) - um..... so many of the hamilton actors in a muscial cartoon drawn and written by the bob’s burgers team? WHAT ABOUT THAT DOESN’T SOUND AMAZING?! it was such a joy to hear daveed diggs and leslie odom jr.’s voices again!!

honorable mentions: schitt’s creek // the mandalorian // mr. robot // broadchurch // mindhunter // jack ryan // the good place // the end of the f***ing world // big little lies // elite // kidding // servant // letterkenny // curb your enthusiasm // i am not okay with this // ozark // buzzfeed unsolved: true crime/supernatural // you // runaways // dear white people // dickinson // brooklyn nine-nine // will & grace // 9-1-1 // dead to me // solar opposites // never have i ever // killing eve // what we do in the shadows // grace and frankie // avenue 5 // roswell, new mexico // the bold type // evil // tuca & bertie // impulse // the umbrella academy // watchmen // infinity train // corporate // search party // on becoming a god in central florida // a.p. bio // criminal: uk // the morning show // mythic quest // last week tonight // prodigal son // the great

#the starless sea #the invisible life of addie larue #the untamed #knives out #2020 favorites list!!#i tried to stick to shows i both started and finished in 2020 otherwise like schitt's creek and the good place would be in top five #same for comics #uh oh i've found the keyboard again

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In November 2013, Marvel Comics announced that Kamala Khan, a teenage American Muslim from Jersey City, New Jersey, would take over the comic book series Ms. Marvel beginning in February 2014. The series, written by G. Willow Wilson and drawn by Adrian Alphona, marked the first time a Muslim character headlined a book at Marvel Comics.[2] However, Noelene Clark of the Los Angeles Times noted that Khan is not the first Muslim character in comic books, which include Simon Baz, Dust and M.[3] The conception of Kamala Khan came about during a conversation between Marvel editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker. Amanat said, "I was telling him [Wacker] some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim American. He found it hilarious." The pair then told Wilson about the concept and Wilson became eager to jump aboard the project.[4] Amanat said that the series came from a "desire to explore the Muslim-American diaspora from an authentic perspective."[5]

Artist Jamie McKelvie based Khan's design on his redesign of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel and on Dave Cockrum's design of the original Ms. Marvel.[6] Amanat requested that the design "reflected the Captain Marvel legacy, and also her story and her background."[7] Amanat stated that Khan's costume was influenced by the shalwar kameez. They wanted the costume to represent her cultural identity, but did not want her to wear a hijab,[8] because the majority of teenage Pakistani-American girls do not wear one.[9] Amanat also stated that they wanted the character to look "less like a sex siren" to appeal to a more vocal female readership.[8]

Marvel knew that they wanted a young Muslim girl, but stated that she could be from any place of origin and have any background. Wilson initially considered making her an Arab girl from Dearborn, Michigan but ultimately chose to create a Desi girl from Jersey City.[10] Jersey City, which sits across the Hudson River from Manhattan, has been referred to as New York City's "Sixth borough".[11][12][13] It therefore forms an important part of Khan's identity and the narrative journey of her character since most of Marvel Comics' stories are set in Manhattan. Wilson explains, "A huge aspect of Ms. Marvel is being a 'second string hero' in the 'second string city' and having to struggle out of the pathos and emotion that can give a person."[14]

The series not only explores Khan's conflicts with supervillains but also explores conflicts with Khan's home and religious duties. Wilson, a convert to Islam, said "This is not evangelism. It was really important for me to portray Kamala as someone who is struggling with her faith." Wilson continued, "Her brother is extremely conservative, her mom is paranoid that she's going to touch a boy and get pregnant, and her father wants her to concentrate on her studies and become a doctor."[4] Amanat added,

As much as Islam is a part of Kamala's identity, this book isn't preaching about religion or the Islamic faith in particular. It's about what happens when you struggle with the labels imposed on you, and how that forms your sense of self. It's a struggle we've all faced in one form or another, and isn't just particular to Kamala because she's Muslim. Her religion is just one aspect of the many ways she defines herself.[2]

First appearance of Kamala Khan from Captain Marvel #14 (August 2013) by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Scott Hepburn

In the series, Khan takes the name Ms. Marvel from Carol Danvers, who now goes by the alias Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick revealed that Khan actually made a brief appearance in Captain Marvel #14 (August 2013) saying, "Kamala is in the background of a scene in Captain Marvel 14 ... She is very deliberately placed in a position where she sees Carol protecting civilians from Yon-Rogg."[15] According to Wilson, Khan idolizes Carol so when Khan acquires superhuman abilities, she emulates Danvers.[14] "Captain Marvel represents an ideal that Kamala pines for. She's strong, beautiful and doesn't have any of the baggage of being Pakistani and 'different,'"[4] Wilson explained. "Khan is a big comic book fan and after she discovers her superhuman power – being a polymorph and able to lengthen her arms and legs and change her shape – she takes on the name of Ms. Marvel," Amanat elaborated.[16] Khan is one of several characters who discover that they have Inhuman heritage following the "Inhumanity" storyline, in which the Terrigen Mists are released throughout the world and activate dormant Inhuman cells.[17]

In the series' first story arc, Khan faces off against Mr. Edison / the Inventor, an amalgam of man and bird. Wilson created the Inventor to be Khan's first arch rival in order to mirror Khan's own complexity. Wilson characterizes the Inventor, and the overall visual look of the opening story arc as "kooky and almost Miyazaki-esque at times", owing to the art style of illustrator Adrian Alphona, which balances the drama of the threats which Khan faces with the humor of Alphona's "tongue in cheek sight gags." During the storyline, Khan also teams-up with the X-Man Wolverine against the Inventor. Because Wolverine is dealing with the loss of his healing factor during this time, Khan is placed in the position of having to shoulder much of the responsibilities, as Wilson felt this was a role reversal that would subvert reader expectations that Wolverine would take the lead in such a team-up.[18]

At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International, writer Dan Slott announced that Khan would team-up with Spider-Man beginning in The Amazing Spider-Man #7 (October 2014) during the "Spider-Verse" storyline. Slott characterized Khan "the closest character to classic Peter Parker,"[19] explaining, "She's a teenage superhero, juggling her life, making mistakes, trying to do everything right."[20]

Beginning in June 2015, Ms. Marvel tied into the "Secret Wars" crossover event with the "Last Days" storyline, which details Khan's account of the end of the Marvel Universe. Wilson explained, "In the 'Last Days' story arc, Kamala has to grapple with the end of everything she knows, and discover what it means to be a hero when your whole world is on the line."[21] In the storyline, Khan rushes to deal with the threat in Manhattan. However, Wilson revealed, "She will face a very personal enemy as the chaos in Manhattan spills over into Jersey City, and she will be forced to make some very difficult choices. There will also be a very special guest appearance by a superhero Kamala—and the fans—have been waiting to meet for a long time."[22]

In March 2015, Marvel announced that Khan will join the Avengers in All-New All-Different Avengers FCBD (May 2015) by writer Mark Waid and artists Adam Kubert and Mahmud Asrar, which takes place in the aftermath of "Secret Wars".[23] A second volume of Ms. Marvel starring Khan by Wilson, Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa is also debuted following "Secret Wars" as part of Marvel's All-New, All-Different Marvel initiative.[24] Amanat said,

By the time this new launch comes around, it will have been almost two years since the premiere of Ms. Marvel—and boy, has Kamala Khan been through a lot since then. She's been slowly coming into her own, dealing with the challenges of navigating adulthood and being a super hero. But her training is over now and it's time for the big leagues; the question is can she handle it? ... As much as Kamala has a right to be there—it's still a bit of a culture shock. Dreaming of being an Avenger and then suddenly being one is a lot to take on for someone of her age. So, she'll be a little awestruck, a little overly ambitious.[25]

In March 2016, Marvel announced that Ms. Marvel would tie into the "Civil War II" storyline by releasing a promotional image illustrating a rift between Khan and Danvers.[26] "While "Civil War II" may have initiated this rift, we've known for some time that Kamala would eventually need to separate herself from her idols. Her journey centers around self-discovery and identity, and a part of that exploration includes separating yourself from those you put on pedestals. The rift between Carol and Kamala doesn't really have to do with right and wrong. It has to do with growing up and realizing that you perceive the world differently from even the ones you love," Amanat elaborated.[27]

In July, Marvel announced that Khan will join the Champions, a team of teenage superheroes who split off from the Avengers following the conclusion of "Civil War II". The team, featured in a series by writer Mark Waid and artist Humberto Ramos, consists of Khan, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Nova (Sam Alexander), Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Viv Vision, and a teenage version of Cyclops. Waid said, "The first three are the kids who quit the Avengers proper. That was an easy get. Those three, in and of themselves, form a nice little subteam. Their dynamic is great. They all show up in each other's books, and even though they have their arguments and stress points, clearly they're good together."[28]

In August, Khan made an appearance in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #10 by writers Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare. In the issue, Khan acts as a mentor to Moon Girl (Lunella Lafayette) who is also a young Inhuman that suddenly came into her powers. Amanat stated that Khan sees much of herself in Lafayette and by teaching her, Khan learns much about herself.[27]

In November, Marvel announced that Khan will join a new incarnation of the Secret Warriors in a series by writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Javier Garron that debuted in May 2017. The team, formed in the wake of the "Inhumans vs X-Men" storyline, also includes Quake, Karnak, Moon Girl, and Devil Dinosaur. Rosenberg stated that there is some conflict and friction amongst the team members explaining, "Ms. Marvel and Quake are really fighting for the soul of the team in a lot of ways, while Moon Girl will continue to really do her own thing. They will all be tested and challenged, they are superheroes after all, but they are going to do things their way."[29]

In March 2017, Marvel announced that Khan would team-up with Danvers in a one-shot issue of the limited anthology series, Generations by Wilson and Paolo Villanelle. Wilson stated that the issue would explore Danvers' and Khan's mentor–student relationship, but "at its heart, [it] is about growing up, and a big part of growing up is discovering that your idols have feet of clay – and forgiving them for their flaws as you gain an adult understanding of your own."[30]

In December, Ms. Marvel began the "Teenage Wasteland" story arc, as part of the Marvel Legacy relaunch. Wilson said, "Since the events of 'Civil War II', there's been friction between Kamala and her mentor, Captain Marvel. In this arc, we're exploring how complicated legacies can be when they're passed from generation to generation ... She's questioning a lot about herself and her mission. Her friends end up stepping into some very important—and unexpected—roles. So in a sense, the arc is really about a bunch of chronically under-estimated teenagers who pull together to fight evil."[31]

Ms. Marvel #31, the 50th issue of Ms. Marvel featuring Khan was released in June 2018. To mark the occasion, Marvel brought in additional collaborators for the issue including writers: G. Willow Wilson, Saladin Ahmed, Rainbow Rowell, and Hasan Minhaj; and artists: Nico Leon, Bob Quinn, Gustavo Duarte, and Elmo Bondoc.[32]

Beginning in March 2019, Khan headlined a new series titled, The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, written by Ahmed and illustrated by Minkyu Jung. Wilson stated that she had been planning her departure from the series for over a year, stating that she originally anticipated that the series would only last for ten issues and was excited by the fact that she had written 60 issues. Ahmed said the new series will have much wider scope, "while still maintaining that intimate tone that people have loved about it."[33]

In July 2020, Marvel announced that Khan would star in an original graphic novel, published in conjunction with Scholastic and aimed at younger readers. The book will be written by author Nadia Shammas. An illustrator has not yet been named.[34

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