All good things...

When I read the articles about Stan Lee, I kept wondering why most of them didn't take the time to explain why this modern day P.T. Barnum who made himself out to be a literary Edison was so racially sensitive. Maybe it's because he was Jewish, and had adopted the name Stan Lee because he wanted to save his real name for when he wrote the great American novel.

Stan's passing is tragic. I remember sometime ago reading something, on twitter or someplace, about how one day we'd watch a Marvel film and there wouldn't be a cameo. That's when it would hit you, because the films now almost need a cameo. I hope that they'll continue in some fashion - maybe for Spider-man movies it's advert on a passing bus with Stan's face - or his portrait in an embassy or the UN in the background of the next Black Panther film. Something. I'm just saying, it's an idea.

Damn. I must be getting old.

With great power, comes great responsibility...

MCU, I still see you.

Ramblings Post #346
Sometimes a change of medium is good. I have only ever read ONE of the Harry Potter books. Okay, it was like the first 100-125 pages. Not doing that again. But translated into film, the story came alive for me. And now we live an age where a great deal of what I read years ago, what I used to imagine was alive has come alive - on screen. Marvel you have a fan in me. And having read the aforementioned source material I know this eternal truth : In the Marvel Universe - the only person who ever stays dead is Ben Parker.

So. Infinity War.

I understand that people were upset at the ending. I actually saw one photo of someone being carted out to an ambulance. Wooo. Big stuff. A lot of non-comic book people are confused, hurt and feeling some kind of way about it. Honestly, I figured they'd end it on the finger snap, but then I guess some of the dramatic effect would have whooshed over non-comic readers heads. And I know a lot of MCU fans are hurt because the director did say that what happens here is permanent.

I'm going to give those who didn't see it yet a couple of more days while I figure out what I'm going to say about it. There is a lot to unpack. Changes I mean, from the source material. A lot to unpack.

From the first Avengers - but it could be now...

You know, they probably shouldn't have left off the sub-title Part 1. Just sayin.

Barkeep, pour me up one for my "dead" homies. 
 

I see you MCU...

Ramblings Post #305
Ever realize you forgot to do something. Like eat. Or wash your clothes. Or take your ass to the comic book store. And then, out of nowhere something reminds you, like suddenly discovering you have no clean underwear. I watched the trailer for the next Captain America movie, realized I still haven seen the second Avengers movie - my cheap ass - and wondered just when I would catch up with popular America. Um, what is the Nae-Nae?

I might be the only person in the country not impressed by the MCU's Civil War trailer, other than those shots of the Black Panther which were wicked cool.

T'Challa v. The Winter Soldier

Maybe it's because I can already see from the trailer that in this film, as in the Winter Solider, the titular character comes off like a self righteous ass who believes in tearing something down rather than fixing it and loyalty over the law. I realize that a film is a limited medium for this type of epic storytelling, so a lot gets glossed over and simplified, but I'm of the opinion the writers went a little too far with this one. Sure SHIELD had been corrupted, but it still served a purpose, and history has repeatedly taught us that single mindedness is not a good thing. Maybe there is no Middle East in the MCU? Further, this Captain America is the living embodiment of "friends help you move, real friends help you move bodies." Him trying to help his buddy as opposed to bringing him in? It's that scene from The Town, only with costumes and superpowers.

But then I've never really been a great fan of the films. The simplification I mentioned is one big reason, but also important is that after 20 minutes of screen time between action scenes the the heroes are just way too quick to snatch their masks right back off, as though they get paid by how many minutes their actual faces appear on screen. My opinion has been, is now, and will be that if they don't want to wear the mask of the hero they portray, then maybe we get someone else to play the character. They are actors and wearing the damn mask is what the damn role calls for. You don't want to do it, then don't take the role. Yeesh.

I think the MCU films all need less characters and more story. Too many characters mean no real chance to explore the core group. I well aware that the Avengers films are big set pieces, but "single" character films should have been designed to explore that individual character, what drives them, the small nuances of who they are. But instead of giving the actors a real chance to flesh out the characters, some of whom have hundreds of issues of backstory they could work with, they feel just as crowded as the group picture, all explosions and quick cuts. Civil War seems to double as Avengers 2.5 or something. Which again, in my humble opinion, weakens the whole MCU.

Since I'm commenting, I also think that after the stylish period piece adventures of Agent Carter that its weird that the MCU's next female hero (Netflix's Jessica Jones) focuses on a heroine who is in part recovering from sexual assault. I know it's a direct take from the original source, but still it's not like they haven't played fast and loose with the rules before. Wasn't Nick Fury white? Is there no iteration of her story where she couldn't maybe just save the world? While nicely unconventionally gritty, Jessica Jones seems less like a superhero story where the hero just happens to be a woman and more like a lifetime mini-series where the victim just happens to have super powers. I would have chosen something more along the lines of Nightwing Restorations, which would have provided a black female and an Asian female lead. To me something like that would lend itself better to the serialized nature of television, and provide a broader creative base to work from while still covering the same ground. Of course it maybe that I'm a little miffed that in JJ they have future Avenger Luke Cage as just a bartender, although I hear he's next in line for series.

Hey, since I'm here, Luke, hit me with some of the flavored vodka. No, I'm kidding. Who drinks that? 

About this Superhero thing...

Ramblings Post #289
Peter Parker is Spiderman. Period. I know the kids really like Miles Morales, but let’s just keep our heads here people. For a less iconic superhero I might be okay with a change – see all them damn Green Lanterns – but Spiderman is more than a suit and powers. He’s the original hard luck hero.  The hero with bills. With great power comes great responsibility. And there are just some stories that should not change. Omigod, I cannot believe I just wrote that.

I love comic books.

I started reading comic books back when they cost fifty cents and every plot didn’t involve tearing the universe asunder or a galaxy spanning conspiracy. Back when Spiderman was referred to as “your friendly neighborhood Spiderman” and good and evil were a bit more cut and dried. And I was more of a Marvel guy than a DC guy as well, as I thought them more grounded. Even so, I moved on from the big titles to smaller ones as I grew older, the smaller titles usually less grandiose in their ideas of what villainy might be, where every scheme didn’t involve global domination. I’d still pick the stalwarts though from time to time to stay current – Spiderman, Batman, Wolverine, the occasional mini-series or trade paperback. I dabbled more than anything.
But as of today I think a little movie success has caused them folks at Marvel to lose their minds.

In setting up their new Once a year super crossover “hey, let’s get you interested in a another character so you’ll buy that book too!” you got to be kidding me jeez not again with this crap again Spectacular, they’re going to so far as to stop printing thirty three regular titles. Sigh. I’ve never really been one for the retcon – the comic book writer habit of rewriting years of established history to fit the story they came up with last week – but this is one for the books. (that pun was not on purpose.) Reading through the promo I’m not even sure how it all fits together, and I'm not even sure I want to find out.

I bought the first Secret Wars series, which made sense to some degree, taking all the top end superheroes and facing them off against the high end super villains away from the billions in destruction they would have surely cause on Earth. Okay, it made comic book sense. It gave us Venom and Carnage and new character arcs. The second Secret Wars kinda made sense as well, the impetus behind the first Secret Wars coming to Earth, although it might be better executed with the broader scope writers of today are afforded. But this monstrosity of crossover, I'm like really? This is a complete and total exodus of the idea of subtle and nuanced for the grandiose demonstration... which if you're paying attention will be undone three years from now in another grandiose demonstration. I understand crossover pollination, but damn. I'm scared to go the Comic Book store and get caught up in this mess.

It's like the Hollywood mentality is taking over comic books and not the other way around. Comics are a hard medium to write for, as the characters are so firmly established. And the nature of the medium means the world can't be at stake every month, you have to build up to things. Film by comparison is short, picks and chooses from the canon what it wants to use and seemingly necessitates the spectacular with every outing. This is both tiring and messy for the fan to watch even as we're excited to see our favorites come to life. And now it seems like those film directors who didn't understand the characters they've been handed are infecting the writers and editors who were passed down the characters they were supposed to care for that we've come to love.

I want comics to get back to stories that developed character and involved small things, or at least didn't involve extra dimensions and six different clones every issue. A little skirmish. Every battle need not be World War Three in fifteen pages to be interesting. Maybe I got spoiled. Or maybe I just need to stick with the independents and the small stories.

Just one more Spidey though. I can quit anytime.

Barkeep. A mixing bowl, a spoon, a big box of Rice Krispies, some sugar and milk. Seriously.

The Black Panther....finally.

Ramblings Post #274
As a black nerd, yes they exist, I have learned a lot about how people view other people through fiction. Although derided as fantasy, the truth is when you put your imagination on display in a comic book or novel, you reveal a lot about yourself...and the society that you're holding a mirror up to. 

After years of speculation, er, hoping by black nerds everywhere, Marvel finally went ahead and made it official: The Black Panther is getting his own movie. It's a few years away, the end of 2017 - but I can go ahead and put it on my calender now. I also like how they're going to work him into the next Captain America movie...and provided I see the last one before then (come on, HBO!) and evaluate it properly I might have to increase my movie collection. But they'll need to show me something before I can add it alongside my James Bond, Pirates of the Caribbean or Cosby/Potiter collections.

The only other troubling part I had was the favorite for the role - Idris Elba - already exists in another role in the Marvel Movie Universe. Seriously, we fans have considered everyone for the role, including Will Smith, Morris Chestnut, Donald Glover and even Vin Diesel for some reason. And although I would have gone with Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 years a slave), Dijmon Hounsou or maybe even Colin Salmon (though he might be a bit old now), the selection of Chadwick Boseman isn't horrible. I would have preferred an English accent, but Boseman seems to be a flexible enough performer, but I think he'll need to put on some muscle and add some gravitas to play T'Challa. Here's to hoping they write the character as a multidimensional person with his own concerns and not just a caricature or an African version of Tony Stark. 

T'Challa:   And who do you think you are to give me ultimatums?
Tony Stark:   Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.
T'Challa:   *smirks* Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, legendary warrior and king of the most powerful and technologically advanced nation on earth.
Tony Stark:   . . .

It's become clearly evident that the Marvel Movie Universe is going to be drastically different than the Marvel Comic Universe, but then that's okay. Over at DC you have to remind yourself which Earth you on, so this is no biggie. Hopefully they'll also use Wakanda as the backdrop, and show it not as mud huts but just as it is in the comics.

Now, Marvel, when is Luke Cage getting his movie? Oh, he's an Avenger now, and Avengers get movies. And yes, ya'll done started something.

Barkeep. Champagne all around. The good stuff too, not that soda water.

Wait, they named who as the next Batman?

Ramblings Post #233
Sure we all thought that Daniel Craig would be a horrible Bond, because we had an image of Bond looked like and Craig wasn't it. And yes, we were wrong and pleasantly surprised when he turned out to be very, very good. And yes, it's true that after looking at the dailies of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, the studio head complained that Depp was ruining the movie. And yes, he was wrong because Jack Sparrow is a great cinematic character. And yes, we all were sure that the Micheal Keaton was going to horrible in the role, but were proved wrong. But then, this is Ben Affleck we're talking about. Ben Affleck!

The death of Thomas and Martha Wayne - the catalyst.

If Ben Affleck is the Batman we deserve, then we as a people to pause on reflect for a minute, because we have a lot to atone for. A whole lot.

We can all agree, after Argo, that Affleck is a damn fine director. We can also agree after Good Will Hunting, that the man can write a script. And I'm not sure, but I thought we all agreed after Daredevil and it's follow-up Elektra that it's best if he not play costumed superhero anymore. Sure he fills out the suit, but there is more to acting than looking like the hero. Didn't we have a big meeting about this? Remember, we got mad because the coffee wasn't Colombian? Remember? Mary got all confused and thought were asking Matt Damon to play Daredevil in the sequel? Why does no one remember this?

Now, if you want Affleck to direct the Batman/Superman movie, there is no problem. If you're suggesting he tweak the script a bit, sure. But as Batman? Whose idea was this? Do you know why Batman movies fail? Because you pick a guy to play Batman, and that means you're doing it wrong. To make a successful Batman movie, you pick a guy to play Bruce Wayne. The brooding, slightly demented, heroic man who dresses up like a giant bat because his parents were killed by criminals. That's why they picked Keaton, remember? And if you think Ben has the chops to play Bruce Wayne, then we might just need a brand new producer as well.

Next thing you know, they'll want DMX to play the Joker. 

Barkeep. Seriously, I got this idea for a James Bond movie, but where James Bond is old so we can try to talk Sean Connery into playing him again. Less shoot-outs, more where Bond is a thinking man's secret agent. What? You just serve drinks...I see.

I liked the Black Panther

Ramblings Post #222
The comic book world is funny about black superheroes. Let's just say that the National Assoc. of Superpowered Colored People could, in my youth, hold their meetings in a living room. You had Falcon, Luke Cage, Storm of the X-Men and um...well, the Black Panther. Technically, you could have had that meeting at the kitchen table. Maybe even in the breakfast nook. There are more now, but much like when the only TV was the basic three and today there is cable...you have no idea. 

The Marvel character the Black Panther is a problem. He is his country's version of Captain America, but with a genius level intellect and the resources of Tony Stark's Iron Man. He's Batman from Africa. He is the strong intelligent black superhero.

And Marvel just snapped his neck like he was a character called Paste Pot Pete.

No wait, Paste Pot Pete got upgraded in one of those Spiderman titles to the Trapster, so in fact they killed the Black Panther like he was faceless character number #147. In the back of a second rate villain's title.

Really Marvel?

I don't read comics like I used to, they had gotten to formuliac and rusty in many ways. And it seemed like the artists I liked enjoyed doing work on stories I didn't care to read. But I actually started reading the Black Panther series when it came out.  The Africans were depicted like, i dunno how to describe it...like "people". There was no use of dated slang or the accompanying paper thin one dimensional characterizations that so often seem to plague non-white characters. And the people of his country weren't living in huts on the African savannah, but in modern cities and with technology that looked just like that in every other comic book. It was on some levels nice to see that maybe when kids picked up a comic they'd get a better version of Africa.

But no.

Okay, it's a comic. People come back from the dead all the time. So maybe it's not the end of the world. Still, that a major character...who worked with the Avengers, defeated the Fantastic Four and served as one Captain America's pallbearers when they killed him off...well, you see my point. Death in comics isn't forever. Usually. Still, dying behind a villain like Ultron? Ugh.

Black people dress up like Superheroes too, if you give them a good reason.

 Barkeep, a fine African Red wine to soothe my troubled spirit, for the possible loss of one of my heroes.

A Good Read

Ramblings Post #176
I am a reader. But I think I've said that. I read to make me a better writer. I read things I don't always find interesting, or things that I think maybe boring, if only to find out why so I don't replicate them. Which is how I ended up reading those Blaine McCraken novels by Jon Land (And no, I am not linking to those). Let's just say you need to read what you're not going to write, so you know not to write it. That, and I have a lot of free time since I'm off from school.

I love a good read. I started reading when I was young, with the typical for the time Hardy Boys and other fare. I lived in a fairly small town, and there was a time when my mother would let me and my older brother walk...across a major highway, the railroad tracks, a housing project and cut by the stream...to the county library. Unsupervised. This might have been when I was in the first grade, but I'm not sure. It was a while ago.

But I read everything. Historical novels, biographys, fiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance, westerns...most things written on paper. It has to be horrible for me not to read it, but if I get too far into it I'll finish it just because. But once I find something good, it pains me that I can't read all of it or that there isn't enough of it to satisfy me. In need something like Terry Prachett's Discworld series, now at thirty or more books or Battlefield Earth, which clocks in at a thousand plus pages. If the writer is good enough, and the story long enough you grow to like the characters and see them grow and mature which makes for a better read.

Lately, I've taken to reading webcomics. If you look around, what you get are basically graphic novels of a sort, comic books really, minus a lot of the reaching for the masses editing, while still giving enough of a story to read. And because they're webcomics...a lot of them go on for years, so as long as you're willing to hit next for a few while...okay, days...they get to be interesting.

The ones I'm going to list here are science fiction mostly, but the genre covers all areas, including Mary Worth style drama to High School Angst. I don't really read those, but I understand they are out there.

It might have been Monday when I started reading Schlock Mercenary, a series that once the art picked up has actually turned into something pretty good...and has enough width and breadth to amount something fairly intricately plotted. It started in 2001 and has run fairly regularly, with more than 3,000 strips since inception. It's a got a huge cast and continually oddly expanding storyline that just reads like one of those thick novels that has to list all the characters in the front so you can keep track.

Another I've been working my way through is Quantum Vibe, which posts five days a week. I only started a year or two again, and the art isn't as sharp as it could be, but then the author is on a tight schedule. I'm still trying to figure out where the story is going, but so far it's been readable. Mostly.

A new find of mine is Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, a swashbuckling epic. The heroine is... "a master of forty seven different sword fighting techniques, and has fought Sikh warriors, Conquistadores, a small pride of lions and a very large Mongolian man with a large sword, a small brain and a bad temper. " It's been an good read, with great art so far. I'm looking forward to the end.

Another one that only started in the last year is Spacetrawler, a story of seven people abducted by aliens to save an enslaved race...and that story just keeps taking odd turns. The characters are memorable, and extremely flawed however, which makes for great writing. It only publishes twice a week, so I'm getting a little anxious.

I also check in from time to time on one called Endtown, another where the hero is a cross dresser called Skin Horse (don't ask), and the positively existential Sinfest.

May all time favorite however is Girl Genius, the creation of Phil Foligo one of my favorite authors. The book, which I've discussed on here follows the adventures of the title character as she reclaims her family throne. The interesting part is that the story, which posts three times a week, has been at this for years and only recently has gotten to what I guess is the meat of the story.

Two things about the stories that I like is that the characters don't fall into the normal characters that show up in every other story. They tend to move outside normal archetypes. Because the internet is such an inexpensive way to produce the stories outside the norm are possible. And the other thing I like is that the authors tend to embrace the new media of the internet properly. The sites generally don't charge for access. That's right, they give away the product for FREE. But Girl Genius and Schlock sell books of the collected comics...ala Doonesbury.. which actually sell well. I imagine most of the others will eventually if they don't already.

Their leveraging the product to build an audience for the merchandising. It's like when they sell books on Amazon for .99 cents. It's to build an audience.

Most of these I'll wait week to check out so I have a couple of days worth of work to read. And they usually post on a pretty good schedule. My latest interest is Drive, where the author was nice enough to tell you he had another project and the schedule was going to be off. It's a certain closeness to the product. The new medium makes that possible.

Barkeep, a bowl of Rice Krispies. I got some reading to do. Leave the box.

Comic Books Baby...

Ramblings Post #106
I like those things I like. I will not apologize for them. Well, not for the ones that aren't illegal (in which case I don't know what you're talking about). And what I've done as I've grown older, is learn to cultivate pleasure in small things. A good book. A quiet moment. Nudity. Those things that either cost little or nothing but enrich life and make the world a little sweeter. Because you never know when you'll be broke. Especially in this economy.

I love comic books. I have loved and read comic books since I was ten years old or so, when I bought my first one and was hooked. I used to have to hide them, as my mother - who was a school teacher and encouraged reading - was distraught over the clutter my continuing purchases would bring. At work I would slip down the block and half to this spot called the News Stand where they sold papers, comics and used books. It was there that my passion for reading blossomed, as comics were still fifty cents and I could buy books for $2.

I've always really been more Marvel than DC, with the exception of Batman. (Batman is just too damn cool) It always to me seemed like DC characters lived a little too far into a fantasy world, where nobody recognized superman when his only disguise was a pair of glasses. I remember one issue where Spiderman came home to an empty fridge, or where they had a duo who called themselves "Heroes for Hire". They just seemed a little more grounded.

I stopped reading X-men and Spiderman and the like when you realized you'd grown up by the characters were still and always would be 20 years old and ridiculously in shape. That and you had to buy all the various incarnations of Amazing, Web of, Spectacular, Pick another adjective Spidey and X-Force, Uncanny, New Mutants, or X-something else cool to keep up with the story lines. Even as the story lines got more mature, and alluding to things like racism and murder, I kind of drifted away. Well, not all the way away, if the art is good I'll still pick up a book.

For example, after reading Howard Chaykin's venerable American Flagg series, which involved a dystopian future, black market basketball, and politics so dirty you couldn't scrub them clean with steel wool, I found that good art is the key to getting me reading. I'll still read anything I can find by Chaykin, even though his hero always seems to look the same no matter the title.


Currently I'm reading Phil Foglio's Girl Genius, a deep and richly textured alternate earth gas light adventure, which has to be on what would normally be issue 55 or so. The characters have depth, there is a back story out of this world. And if you're halfway interested, the whole thing is online for FREE!! That said, I went out and bought the books he sells so he can pay the rent.
(NOTE TO RECORD INDUSTRY: See you can give the stuff away and people will still pay for it anyway. If it's good. Oh, wait, that if it's good applies, so never mind.)

I also just got into another online series, Spacetrawler, which a kooky little tale about ordinary people picked to save the universe, or something, who aren't quite ordinary. Unlike the usual assortment of brave souls, you've got your wackos, vegans, and pacifists all having to work out something. Throw in a perv, a man I can only describe as an paranoid nut and Russian tea cookies and suddenly you've got a story that so far actually has teeth.

On actual paper, a new title that picked up on a whim is Chew, another alternate earth story where due to the bird flu chickens are outlawed, and so the FDA becomes the most powerful police force in the country as it tracks down black market chicken. No joke. I sounds stupid, I know, but the lead is a guy who for whatever he eats (besides beets) can see its complete history. Which is a surprisingly useful tool. I picked up the first two issues because I thought it would be cheesy, but I'm now a fan.


My latest find is King City, by a guy named Brandon Graham. He reminds me a bit of Sergio Aragones, the infamous Groo artist who, if drawing a group of 100 soldiers would take the time to draw 100 different faces and expressions. King City's art is so dense you know some of the images you know are just throwaways, but the attention to detail is just cool. Even better, the story is engaging, but reads like a story should with no wasted exposition.

I love a good read.

Barkeep, let me get a nice tall whiskey and ginger.