Female's in Comics

A Discussion About Female's And Misogyny In Comics

I feel that recently there has been a certain segment of the feminist population that have become outspoken about misogyny in comic books and I feel that some of their complaints are justified, but I also feel that some are not.  A lot of the complaints are directed at the big two companies and characters like Power Girl, Starfire, or even Wonder Woman and their dress, as well as a general need for more woman/girls in comics.  I understand the want for characters that are not hyper sexualized and drawn with outrageous anatomies but I like to point out that the big two also have a rich history of crossover and addition of female characters.  DC has one of the most iconic super heroes of all time and I feel like Wonder Woman has been a positive character since the 1940’s, not to mention the many different, six to be exact, Batgirl’s.  It’s not just super heroes, anti-heroes like Catwoman, and straight up villains like Harley Quinn are a staple of DC as well.  I understand the idea of dressing them different and not making them hyper sexualized, but I feel like skimming over the fact that these characters are mostly empowering is not doing them justice.  Both of the big two have some amazing characters and some of them have amazing histories, not just in comics but as back stories as well.

As far as DC is concerned I think that Starfire is under the most scrutiny, or under the most fire, pun intended.  Princess Koriand’r, or Starfire, is most recently a part of Redhood and the Outlaws in the New 52 but she was created in 1980 and has been part of other teams like Teen Titan’s so there is plenty of history, not all of it overly sexual.  I understand that she is often portrayed in a fairly sexual manner with little clothes but by focusing on only this detail we have been sort of unfair to her history and depth as a character.  I just don’t feel that a panel or two of her in a sexy swimsuit takes away from the rich history of her people the Tamaran or the world she comes from.  Not all men that read comic books stop at the pictures, many of us can see past the sexualizing art, and we appreciate Starfire as a really amazing character.  There are times in the series that Jason Todd or Roy Harper are standing shirtless, all buffed out and sexy, but I have never heard anyone complain about that, and I feel that is because the story continues to grip the imagination and people can see through the panel and frame it with the overall story line.

[caption id="attachment_1273" align="alignnone" width="640"] Jason Todd and Starfire[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1274" align="alignnone" width="247"] Starfire[/caption]

DC has made some strides towards comic book equality; the New 52 reboot has redone some of the staple characters like Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman, and recently added some new books like Gotham Academy featuring a teenage girl as the protagonist.  Even Harley Quinn got her own book, and if anyone wants to question the BA status of any of these characters then I implore them to read Suicide Squad and make an argument that Amanda Waller isn’t one of the most BA woman in comics today.  DC has heard the voices in demand of new female roles and heroes and believe me their creative wheels have been turning.  I feel that some of the ventures into female led comics have been dismissed because they were not successful.  Let us not forget a little book called The Movement that featured four teenage girls and two teenage boys as the team and also featured one of the girls as team leader.  It ran for a year but was cancelled after only twelve issues.

[caption id="attachment_1275" align="alignnone" width="640"] Virtue is team leader[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1276" align="alignnone" width="672"] Gotham Academy[/caption]

As far as the big two companies I like what Marvel has been doing the most.  Not to take away from DC but Marvel has really stepped up their game in the attempt to kill stereotypes in comic books; in fact, they have done such a good job it’s hard to know where to start.  I feel like one of the most important things is the success of the female Thor character.  According to the BBC, and every other news organization, the female Thor books have out sold the male books over shooting a lot of people’s expectations and silencing the critics of the change.  I certainly don’t mind the change but I also don’t dismiss the critics that ask why they had to take a male character and make it female.  I see it from both sides, but I don’t understand the hate over it.  As much as it doesn’t bother me they changed Thor I have to wonder why they didn’t just make a new female character that was different, but the feminization of an already existing character is nothing new so the critics should realize that as well.  I think the biggest difference is the lack of misogynistic hate that exudes from a lot of the female Thor critics, I have no malice in my heart over it, and I just feel that the need for female characters is better served with new and refreshing characters versus reinventing male characters.



Even though I feel new characters is a good idea I like the crossover and world building stuff that Marvel has been doing with the Spider-verse, it’s reminiscent of Batman and the variations of Batgirl.  Through the Spider-verse story line Marvel has been able to introduce some really killer female characters like Silk, Spider Gwen, and Mayday Parker.  Instead of reinventing Spiderman they took the idea and built on it.  In my opinion having Peter Parker lead a bunch of other spider people doesn’t dilute the Spiderman name like changing the characters sex does.  The preservation of the original is what has people like me upset, but it’s also the reason I would like to see new female characters.  I feel that the Spider-verse alternative is done very well because the other spider people are similar enough to get the Spiderman feel but it doesn’t dilute Peter Parker at all, Peter’s legacy as Spiderman is only enhanced by Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and all the other Spider-verse people and instead of shifting the emphasis they share it.  All the Spider-verse people are comparable to Peter and they can have their own books, best of both worlds, just like the Batman/Batgirl dynamic.



There have been plenty of times that I have seen a male character with an outrageously good body that was needlessly shirtless and ripped like a Greek god.  I feel that the big difference may very well be that I don’t care and that sight doesn’t draw out any negative emotions in me.  I’m certainly not trying to tell anyone how to feel or think about an issue, I’m simply drawing a conclusion that may or may not be correct.  For me, personally, I never thought about the issue of dress with female super heroes until I saw a few articles and videos on the matter, but touche to the people that noticed and wanted a change because I can see clear changes that have happened and I can see even more changes coming down the pipe.



Not saying that people are wrong to feel the way they feel and I’m not attacking people for feeling the way they do, but I would like to see some recognition for the good things going on within DC and Marvel.  They have made a concerting effort to do better and be better; I think that deserves at the least a golf clap of recognition.  I also feel that anyone yearning for more female protagonists should check out more indie books because there is no shortfall in female protagonists in indie books.  I have done reviews on a lot of stuff and a ruling majority has had either main female protagonists or at the least have had secondary female characters.  The Empty, Cluster, Magdalena The Seventh Sacrament, and Pregnant Bitches of War are all reviews I have done and they all have female protagonists; and everything else I have reviewed has at least a female character if not a strong supporting female protagonist.  If the success of the new Thor or the demise of The Movement has taught us anything it’s that comic book consumers care about one thing and one thing only… quality.  I feel like the best thing to do is to buy the books that feature great female characters and spread the word so others buy it too, that way creators can continue with their visions and let the market climate decide if they keep going, because as much as consumers like quality creator companies like money.  If an artist team has a hit like the new Thor it will show, and if not it will go the way of The Movement.

 

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What They Become Review (Spoilers)

What They Become Delivers Big Time

OK, as always, spoilers ahead. This week SUPER MAJOR SPOILERS. So turn back now if you haven't watched yet.



 

Wow, what an episode. I was genuinely excited for the entirety of this episode. I really didn't want the show to end, and that's a first for me and Agents of SHIELD.  This episode really delivered everything that both fans of the TV show and comic fans have wanted out of Agents of SHIELD.  Tonight's episode was pretty much all about Skye, or as we finally learned, "Daisy." I have to give credit to the Internet theorist for nailing it on the mystery behind Skye's origin. I have read theories for a couple of month's now that Skye was actually Daisy Johnson and that her father was Dr. Hyde. While some of these characters' back-stories have been ret-conned for the TV show, the theories are otherwise spot-on.  It was confirmed on tonight's episode that Skye is actually Daisy Johnson, aka Quake, an Agent of SHIELD from the comics who was trained by Nick Fury and also possesses "seismic powers." We also learned that "The Doctor" was in fact Dr. Cal Zabo aka Dr. Hyde. On top of that, the Obelisk was finally confirmed to be a part of the Inhumans lore when it opened to reveal a terrigen crystal which immediately blasted Skye, Raina, and Trip with terrigen mist. (Sad face, more on that later).



I'm going to stick with the same format for this review that I used last week and opt not to recap the whole episode.

The Good

The good stuff this week? How about everything! Truly, this was one of the best episodes to date because the show runners finally and truly capitalized on all the potential for this show. Lots of people love to hate this show, but I don't think people often put two and two together that Agents of SHIELD is based in the same universe as the MCU. To be honest, it's easy to forget. The scope of Marvel's TV landscape is not nearly as grand as the movies, but in the end, "it's all connected" as they love to remind us. For once, this week, this show really felt like an exciting part of the MCU. We are seeing the first inkling of the Inhuman lore sneaking into the MCU as a whole, and it didn't come from a teaser in an after credits scene on Age of Ultron. It happened on a Tuesday night in your living room. This kind of stuff is why Agents of SHIELD has so much potential. If they keep connecting the dots like this for the rest of season 2, it's going to be a hell of a season. On another note, tonight's episode really came through for the hardcore comic book fans. Seeing Quake and Dr. Hyde come to life in the show is what comic book fans live for and it's those same comic book fans who were able to puzzle out this season's mysteries before anyone else. I love this because it's like the show is written to literally reward dedicated comic book fans yet it doesn't isolate casual fans from the show. In other good news, we got to see some badass gun play from Coulson taking out Whitehill (less badass, more so just glad to see him dead) and Skye blasting Ward without a moment's hesitation (really badass).  One other highlight was Kyle MacLachlan's performance as the emotionally ravaged father of Skye. The show has tried to teach us to hate him, but once he told the story of losing his wife and daughter, it was really heartbreaking. MacLachlan truly killed it with a disturbing blend of psychosis, misery, and despair coming through the character.

The Bad

Not much this week that I can really complain about as far as the execution of this episode goes. The cast felt a bit lop-sided tonight with most of the Agents left on the sideline to Skye's story. Also, the bit about the hazmat suits and the bombs in the temple felt pretty pointless once it was all said and done.  In fact, this was all just confusing sometimes. Why did Mac get possessed in the temples but no one else did? What was the point of the hazmat suits when Fitz, Simmons, and Trip first went down to the tunnels? That can be forgiven considering that 95% of this episode was so good. The worst part of tonight's episode was the loss of Agent Triplett. They did a great job setting us up for a punch to the gut, first making us wonder if Mac was going to be alive. Then they let him go only to swipe Trip from us at the last second. It was super sad to see him crumble in the last scenes of the episode. At the same time, I don't see why it was necessary to kill him. It was truly a testament to the character of Triplett that after running toward four ticking time bombs and living, he stills dives in head first to save his friend Skye. One thing I feel completely justified in complaining about is the winter break before we get to see all this play out more. I can't wait to see more of super-powered Skye and all the Inhumans to come!

The Be All, End All

I can finally say unequivocally that I ams SOLD on Agents of SHIELD. It's sad to say it took a season and a half to reach that status, but they are truly there now. Taking a lesson from the Captain America: The Winter Solider crossover and keeping the bigger MCU within view more and more, Agents of SHIELD has finally become an essential piece of the puzzle. Before, you could simply have said that Agents was auxiliary to the overall story of the MCU, but now Agents is actually taking the lead on storytelling. With three years to go before the Inhumans come to the silver screen, Agents has a ton of time to play with and develop all the madness that comes with baby Inhumans running around the Earth. It's going to be a ton of fun and a welcome breath of fresh air for the often times stuffy show. Sure, there are just as many chances for Agents to mess up the Inhumans, but if Marvel has proven anything this year it's that when they take risks, they pay off big time.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ye Who Enter Here Review (Spoilers)

Ye Who Enter Here Helps Agents Finally Finds Balance with Penultimate Mid-Season Episode

Spoilers ahead. Go watch, then come back and read.



Agents of SHIELD's penultimate mid-season episode, "...Ye Who Enter Here" goes up against high stakes and delivers. There is much buzz on the internet about the potential tie-ins to the Inhumans on this season of Agents. Tonight's episode, the final episode before the winter finale, really sealed the deal. Raina, the on again, off again friend of Hydra, came into the foray thanks to Patton Oswald's impressive umbrella cloaking technology. (Seriously though, that scene was genuinely funny, impressive on the visuals, and surprising, all things that Agents needs much, much more of.) Skye was beset with the task of "interrogating" Raina in hopes Raina's connection to Skye's father would create an emotional connection. It works and Raina not only gushes about Skye's father, but reveals that.... wait for it.... drumroll please.... KREE TECHNOLOGY is involved. Yep, you heard me right. Agents of SHIELD has gone Kree official. Now there are many things left to fall in to place after this revelation, but its seems 99% sure that the second half of season two will be highly connected to the Inhumans.

Normally, at this point, I would do an episode recap, but considering the Spoiler warning at the top, I'm assuming you've watched the episode. So, instead of a shitty recap (seriously, just go watch the show), I'll go ahead and lay out my analysis.

The Good

OK, what's good about Agents of SHIELD this week? The character development is truly on point. I am really starting to care about all the characters again. And I must say that I think this is the case because the ensemble nature of the show has expanded quite a bit. With so many characters in the mix, I don't feel forced to care about characters that I just wasn't compelled to care about before now. On the flip side, we've watched our core characters long enough now that I'm actually starting to care about them. The newest auxiliary characters, à la Mac, Lance Hunter, Mockingbird (can I really call her auxiliary?) have added a new tier of characters that might just be more interesting than the original crew. With enough history and dynamic between them, it's hard to deny the strong family vibe going on between Coulson, May, Skye, Fitz and Simmons. On the evil end of the spectrum, Ward has really come into his own as a nasty villain. As an antagonist, Ward is easy to hate, and what else could you ask for from a villain? He is far better as a bad guy than he ever was as an agent.

The Bad

The really shitty side of all this is that it's quite clear that Agents is stretching things out. Maybe, just maybe, next week's winter finale will be as good as tonight, but I highly doubt it. It's pretty clear that the show runners are setting up next week for a solid cliffhanger before a long break when we can hope the show picks back up with some Inhuman madness. I'm excited to see what Agent Carter can bring to the Marvel TV pantheon, but at the same time, I don't like it when Agents of SHIELD strings us along. Its pretty much the major exercise of the entire show, stringing us along. This show, like many comic book inspired TV shows, are trying to exercise a careful balance of telling great stories and telling frequent stories. It's something that you'd think serialized storytelling would lend itself toward, but there is always the struggle of budgets that TV just can't keep up like illustrated stories can.

The Be-All and End-All

Agents of SHIELD continues to be a show with immense unrealized potential. The only thing that keeps me coming back for more is that they are slowly, very slowly capitalizing on the latent potential. This week was one of the best. I literally was freaking out when Mac fell down that deep ass after Mockingbird tased the shit out of him. The dynamic between Fitz and Simmons was pretty heartbreaking. The father-daughter dynamic of Skye and Coulson actually has me caring about them. Agent May continues to be badass, even when she is just being impersonated by Hydra Agent 33. Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse are staring to feel like real people with a believable post-divorce, working relationship. (I know a lot of people love their bickering, but I frankly found it obnoxious.) I don't have high hopes for next week's show, but as I find myself saying again and again, I'll keep watching.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Writing on the Wall Review (Spoilers)

The Writing on the Wall Gives Us What We've All Been Waiting On...

So after a week off for the mid-term elections and Marvel's 75th Anniversary special, Agents of SHIELD came back really strong this week. Spoilers ahead!



 

This episode was the end of the "writing" story arc as far as I can tell. After teasing us with the meaning of the alien writing since season 1, Agents of SHIELD actually gave us some answers this week. While there is still much left to be explained about the alien writing, what we did learn did not disappoint. It's pretty important for any ongoing medium that its answers be as exciting and compelling as its mysteries. If the mystery is too good and the answers do live up to the fun of speculation, the show is setting up it's viewers for major disappointment. *cough* Lost *cough* Agents of SHIELD has found a good balance with this story arc. The mystery was compelling, but not so much that we weren't ready for the answer. Now that the writing has turned out to be a map, or a blueprint rather, I think the reveals to come will be just as interesting if not more so than the mystery.

Recap

Let's briefly recap where we're at in Agents of SHIELD and what happened this week on "The Writing on the Wall." We had two major stories playing out in this episode. We saw one group chasing down Ward, while the other group is trying to catch a murdering who is scrawling the alien writing on his victim's bodies. May, Hunter, and Mockingbird are all on Ward's tail, but he continues to be a step ahead of them. He spots Bobbi Morse at the bus station before even boarding the bus with her. Carrying a bag of C4, Ward threatens to blow up everyone on the bus if she tries anything. He escapes and makes his way to a bar where he attempts to rejoin Hydra. Ward continues to elude our agents, but he does give Skye and/or Coulson a "gift" in the form of Hydra agent "Bakshi."

Meanwhile, Coulson, Skye and Simmons are on the case for the murdering who is carving up his victims. This side of the episode was quite satisfying as it totally unfurled the story behind the Tahiti Project. SHIELD has been using the alien blood called GH-325 to save their critically injured agents, including Coulson and later Skye. GH-325 has some serious side effects, making the recipient basically lose their shit completely. In order to save them, SHIELD erased their memories and replaced them. All this because the alien blood was imprinting memories on the agents and their brains couldn't handle two set of memories. After having their brains reformatted, they were giving normal lives without any knowledge of their time at SHIELD. Except for Sebastian Derrick (played by Brian Van Holt). Derrick begins to remember his SHIELD days and continues to root out his old memories after learning that pain would trigger a relapse. Then after remembering everything that happened to him (which was all pretty effed up honestly, WTF SHIELD?) he targets all the other agents who underwent the alien blood transfusion. He wants them to remember as well,  but mostly just succeeds at killing them. This all culminates in a throwdown between Coulson and Derrick. Coulson finally realizes the meaning of the alien writing while choking out Derrick. Overlooking a sculpture by yet another agent from the Tahiti Project, Coulson puts everything together and then the crazy urges just stop. We find out in the end that the writing is a blueprint of a city and that SHIELD has to find it before Hydra.

 Review

While this episode was not as high paced or action packed as some of the past few episodes, it was still very good. Agents of SHIELD feels like it is on the verge of a huge revelation. The buzz all over the internet is that the alien writing is Kree and that the story is all leading toward an Inhuman connection. The city is rumored to be the great refuge of the Inhumans or possibly even Attilan. Personally, I really hope things pan out for the Inhumans coming to SHIELD. This would be a great injection of superhero powers to the TV show. Not to mention, this would be an unprecedented alignment of TV and movie storytelling. We know that Agents of SHIELD has a pivotal place in the MCU after The Winter Soldier, but this development could take that whole type of execution to the next level!



Brett Dalton is doing a great job as the skeezy bad guy creep so far this season. I find his performance to be much more compelling as an antagonist. His fixation on Skye is beyond creepy. (Side note: he kinda looks like a hunkier version of Mac from Always Sunny with a beard) The rest of the cast is also really gelling with the new additions of Hunter, Morse, and 'Mac.' Mac is one of my favorite supporting characters this season, but I feel the newly introduced dynamic of Simmons vs. Mac feels a little forced or just unnecessary. While the storytelling on this show has been elevated quite a bit this season, the set pieces are still dark, drab, and repetitive. I don't think I can stand to see another scene in the ominous, laser-beam-shielded prison cell in the basement. Even after letting Ward go, we end up back in that room again and again.

I still have to rank Agents of SHIELD somewhere on the lower end of comic book adaptations on TV, but the show is staying good. I'll definitely be watching next week.

Clickbait and Misinformation

Why We Should Let The Studios Do Their Job

I'm more than excited, like everyone else, for the new Marvel and DC movies.  I have seen nearly every comic movie in theaters, particularly the newest ones.  I love everything Marvel and DC, and I look forward to the movie slates that have been announced.  I’m not an inside man, I don’t get emails and updates from Marvel/Disney Studios or the WB Studios; I read news and get my updates just like everyone else.  I have a want and a need to know the latest just like everyone else, but I have a small request from my fellow fan boys and more importantly the news websites and perpetrators of hype news.  Please settle down and let the studios do their jobs.

Sometimes I feel like it’s a misinformation roller coaster.  Keanu Reeves, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joaquin Phoenix, it’s confirmed its Phoenix, it’s confirmed its Cumberbatch, when nothing is confirmed from the studio.  The leaking of the Avengers trailer, the batmobile and Batfleck pics, and the list goes on.  I have a deep desire for the newest news like everyone else and I want to know these things, but I want to know from the studios, not from news websites that can’t confirm but have a strange need to be the first to report.  I understand the need to be prompt with news, especially in this day and age,  but I don’t get the need to hype the unconfirmed.  My inner sweaty nerd gets excited every time I hear a piece of news that pertains to the MCU or DCCU but I’m somewhat sick of the misleading and jumping to conclusions.



I see three particular things that worry me about the way comic and news websites have been jumping to conclusions.  I wanted to get it off my chest.  I hope that everyone agrees and I welcome differing opinions.  Here are a few things that concern me.

The first thing is the spreading of misinformation.  Every time a site reports a piece of news that is unconfirmed they lose credibility.  This is a natural reaction to basically being lied to.  Sorry random news/comic news sites, but it’s true.  Every time they confirm something unconfirmed and get me excited, my excitement is less and less every other time I read their site.  It’s always in everyone’s best interest to tell the truth, it has been since the beginning of time.  The spread of disinformation is starting to make me cynical and critical when reading news.  I don't like the way news sites have become rumor mills.  I still think news sites should be held to a higher standard than a chat room.

The second problem I see is the way that Marvel and DC guard their ideas and properties.  During the big Marvel announcements they played around with us several times about some things like the names of projects.  They announced the name of Captain America 3 as Serpent Society before taking it back and revealing it to be Civil War.  I don’t hold it against Marvel at all, in fact I agree with it, they have to do something to stifle the misinformation and plug the leaks within their own studio.  It has gotten to the point where they can’t conduct business without having their necks breathed down and I feel like the only people that suffer are the consumers.  I’m glad that Marvel has so many ideas and a huge slate and I can wait to know for sure who is playing a character in a movie that is two to four years away.

The third problem I see is the fact that comic cons have made a living in all their versions of hall H and the big announcement from Marvel and DC.  Everyone loves the comic cons and they help smaller lesser known comics get foot traffic and some extra exposure.  The little guys deserve to be set up next to Marvel and DC and they deserve the foot traffic that may not have seen them otherwise.  It’s all part of the family and all part of the comic lifestyle that we all love, we need to let the studios do what they do so damn well and entertain us.  By letting Marvel and DC draw their fans, indie comics get the exposure benefits.  If Marvel announcements are drawing thousands of people and a slight percentage spends $5 or $10 on indie comics then it turns out to be a pretty nice win for those indie comic producers.



I love Benedict Cumberbatch and if he becomes Doctor Strange when it’s all said and done I will be ecstatic, but I can also wait to hear from Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios to tell me for sure.  I can wait for Comic Cons and official statements.  I can do without the misinformation and the jumping to conclusions because in the end I have loved everything they have done and I have faith I will love what they have planned.  Even though the big two are huge studios they’re still made up of people that are trying to create something worth while and they deserve the right to create without their ideas being passed as fact and the spread of disinformation.

This has been mostly a request for news sites and organizations to be more credible but also for fan boys and girls to be responsible about where they get their information and who they believe.  I know you love everything like I do, so do everything you can to support the process and the Comic Cons by stepping back and letting the studios do their best work without the perpetuation of disinformation.  I have a feeling that it will end up being primarily our responsibility until the news sites lose viewers.  Nothing motivates news sites like numbers, or in this case the loss of numbers.  In the end they will bounce back and the fans will start receiving real information again.  It will be a win win.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Face My Enemies Review

Episode 4 of Season 2, "Face My Enemies" Proves This Show Can Be Good

Spoilers ahead. Stop now if you haven't watched yet!

My Tuesday afternoons are getting a bit difficult for decision making. Before the Fall TV season began, I would just turn on Chopped re-runs and zone out. But with Agents of SHIELD and The Flash both airing at the same time in my market, I'm having a hard time choosing what to watch. After The Flash premiered, I was hooked. I thought, "Sorry, Marvel, but DC wins this one." Then I watch episode 4 of Agents and I almost changed my mind... (not quite though).



This week's episode brought A LOT of ass whooping, and it was truly great. Director Coulson has been drawing crazy alien (presumed Kree) writings. We don't know why he is doing this, but apparently he can't help himself. At the top of the episode we learn of a prized painting that was the one remaining item that survived a burning church. The painting also happens to have this alien writing on the back. So, of course, the Agents of SHIELD are on a mission to scoop it. A nice little spy caper kicks off the first part of the episode. The team works together to get Coulson and May access to a fancy charity event where the painting is being auctioned. They run into General Talbot pretty quickly, blowing their cover. And then they find out that he's not actually Garrett at all, but a Hydra stand-in. Here's where the "face" my enemies part comes into play. The Hydra agents have some unexplained tech that they stick to their face and take on the identities of Garrett and later Agent May. The special effects are pretty decent this episode. Especially the climatic fight scene between May and her doppelganger. Who am I kidding, that shit was AWESOME. This fight scene has really raised the bar for this show. As you might guess, after a lot of ass kicking, the Agents recover the painting and some team bonding ensues in the final piece of the episode. Fitz, who has been struggling with brain damage and seeing hallucinations of Simmons, finally comes around and has a beer with the guys. It was pretty touching.

The character development on Agents has really come a long way. I'm actually starting to care about these characters as people. And with special effects and fight choreography that went into this episode, Agents of SHIELD is looking a real winner for the first time. I have to admit, The Flash will get my viewership in Tuesday nights, but I'm going to be damn sure to watch Agents on Demand as soon as possible on Wednesday.

Marvel's Civil War Coming to the Big Screen

Variety.com Reports Robert Downey Jr. In Talks to Join Cast of Captain America 3, Kick Off Civil War

In an earlier post today, we reported that Marvel would be reviving the Civil War crossover mega-event in new comic books for Summer 2015. Now in an even bigger development, Variety.com is reporting that Robert Downey Jr. is in the final negotiating stages to join the cast of Captain America 3. The key quote from the article reads:

Robert Downey Jr. is on the verge of signing on to “Captain America 3,” a move that would bring the Civil War storyline from Marvel’s comicbooks to the bigscreen and trigger the start of a new phase of movies from Marvel Studios.

While there have been lots of rumors flying about a possible Civil War based movie hitting the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future, there was much resistance to the idea from fans. The main problem being movie rights of certain characters in the Civil War story line, namely Spider-Man, are not owned by Marvel Studios. There have also been the normal bi-annual rumors of Sony being in talks to let Marvel use Spider-Man in the MCU just last week. Is this just a coincidence? Or is it all connected?

Either way, it seems that Marvel is set to ret-con the Civil War event so that Spider-Man may not be necessary. While that seems like a possibility, it's confusing that the promotional art for new Civil War comics prominently feature Spider-Man in his Iron Spider costume.

The Russo brothers and Robert Downey, Jr. have been teasing that big news would be coming sooner than later about Captain America and the future of Iron Man respectively. Man, they weren't kidding! This is pretty huge. What do you think this breaking development forebodes for the MCU?

Civil War Announced by Marvel for Summer 2015

Civil War Again for the Heroes of Marvel Comics?

According to a new article from ComicBookResources.com, Marvel has teased a return to the popular Civil War story line. There are literally no other details than this image of Iron Man and Captain America playing tug-of-war with Spider-Man in his Iron Spider costume. The image was rendered by Adi Granov with the familiar cover treatment from the original 2006-2007 crossover event. The event was widely popular, even spawning a variation of the story for the multi-player, button-masher video game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. There has been wild and unfounded speculation that Civil War might be the foundation of a future Avengers movie. But as many of us know, this would be a very different version of Civil War with so many of Marvel's movie rights held by other studios.

What is Marvel thinking here? And what are your thoughts on all these revisits to earlier events from Marvel History?

Nerd News: Goblins, Dark Crystals, and Spiders, Outrageous! (Truly)

Nerd News for Friday, October 10th

OK! It's Friday and the weekend is upon us. With so much interesting news coming this weekend from NYCC, I thought it might be good to do a little roundup of today's Nerd-related news.

[caption id="attachment_497" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Goblin King meme created by psbox362[/caption]

First up, news about a sequel to Labyrinth was snuck under the radar in a recent article from Variety.com. The item is literally in the very last paragraph of the article and provides no other details.  The original exclusive article was a feature with Billy Crystal about joining the cast of Which Witch. (Mmm Which Wich... now I just want a sandwich). Anyway, the article reads:

It’s also working on a quartet of legacy titles in the Henson library — a “Fraggle Rock” movie that’s been in development at New Regency; a sequel to 1982’s “The Dark Crystal”; a sequel to 1986’s “Labyrinth”; and a movie based on the Emmet Otter character.

Let's not just gloss over The Dark Crystal either. How have we not heard more about these? Oh my little fantasy loving nerd heart be still. Can we hope for a return of David Bowie as the Goblin King? I don't see HOW they could do the sequel without him.



Moving forward with more 80's nostalgia loveliness, IDW announced a new Jem ongoing comic. With a Jem movie in production for release in 2016, this development is not super surprising. I can't say I'm excited about the movie with what news I've heard, but let's hope the comic will bring more of that truly, truly, truly outrageous Jem that we all know and love. There aren't any details as far as who will be behind the book, but we know it's slated to début in April.

[caption id="attachment_496" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Spider-Gwen Fan Art by Knigge[/caption]

Luckily by February 2015, we'll have another awesome heroine to focus on, Gwen Stacy. That's right, Marvel announced today that Spider-Gwen will be getting her own ongoing series. I think that is a great idea. My love for Spider-Gwen is no secret to regular readers at NerdBinge. I have hoped that Marvel was seriously considering this property. There were lots rumors flying that all the buzz for Edge of Spider-Verse #2 had the studio considering the option. With the news that it's real, I'm a little bit giddy.  The same creative team of writer Jason Latour and artist Robbi Rodriguez will return to create the book.

Spider-Verse, Here I Come!!!

Send me straight to the Spider-Verse, no stops along the way!!!

The Edge of Spider-Verse event has officially begun and I couldn't be more thrilled. With the return of Spider-Man Noir in issue one, Marvel has set us up for a heck of a ride through "every Spider-Man ever." While I can't say this was the alternate Spidey I was looking forward to the most, I thought issue one was a lot of fun. The alternate version of Mysterio was clever and worked as a good one-off antagonist.

I've personally been pretty bored with the big events going on in both the DC (*cough* Future's End *cough*) and Marvel universes, but I really want to believe this one will be good. Personally I am a sucker for alternate universes and timelines, so maybe I should just reserve my judgement for another month or so... With that being said, let's talk more about Edge of Spider-Verse #1.

The best thing about this issue (and hopefully the whole event) is that it's basically a series of one-offs. While, yes, it's planned to lead into something with a slightly more continuity, you don't have to care about that right now. The story opens and throws us right back into the world of Spider-Man Noir. Without touching on spoiler territory, some time has passed and Spider-man hasn't been seen in sometime. While there is a good bit of exposure that feels slightly slow to develop at first, once the main plot kicks in, everything moves real fast.

I won't talk plot anymore because this book is just too quick to get into it without spoiling things. What I can talk about is what I feel this book did right. Within just 24 pages, you get to see plenty of noir versions of your favorite Spidey characters. The elements of this story run their course very quickly and lead into the bigger plot of Edge of Spider-Verse without missing a beat.

The art of Richard Isanove is crisp and believable and sucks you into the past. And then immediately leads you into the far future. If you've kept up with the latest unexpected issue of Superior Spider-Man, then you already know what's going on here. If not, I urge you to jump on board before you miss another installment of this extra-dimensional spider-tale.

I, for one, can't wait to see Gwen Stacy and Spider-Woman in #2!

Marvel Ultimate Universe on Life Support?

The Marvel Ultimate Universe looks like it's on a downward spiral and most people say its long past due. What happened to this imprint and why couldn't Marvel get it together?

With the recent reduction to only 3 books, and now the cancellation of Ultimate FF, the Marvel Ultimate Universe is in dire straights. While this alternate universe imprint was originally meant to breath a new energy into the existing Marvel characters, for some reason, they just can't get it right anymore.

I've read again and again over the years how Spider-man is the only real reason to keep the Marvel Ultimate Universe alive. Nowadays, frankly, I have to agree. With Ultimate FF gone after only 6 issues and the All-New Ultimates sucking more and more each issue, Miles Morales is really the only book worth looking forward to each week from the Ultimate line-up. Not only does the Marvel Ultimate Universe only have one good character to depend on these days, there are constant rumors that Miles Morales will find his way into the 616 universe. And that would be putting the final nail in the Ultimate U coffin.

I think many readers have had little faith in the Marvel Ultimate Universe for a while now. Yet it should be at least somewhat important to current day comic book fans because the Ultimate U has had a surprisingly strong influence on the pop culture translations of our favorite comic books. Look to the most recent Amazing Spider-man reboot. This representation of Spider-man and the villains are much more similar to the Ultimate U than the 616 universe. And it looks like we may be seeing that same trend in the latest Fantastic Four reboot as well. Not to mention Nick Fury in the MCU.

The Marvel Ultimate Universe is often compared to DC's New 52 as a forerunner of this now commonplace rebooting of characters. I think it's fun to see characters get a new life, but what's the point if the publisher can't get great talent to continue the work? I personally enjoy the work that Bendis does and has done, but many people don't. On top of that, the books not under Bendis are getting terrible reviews both critically and from the fans. See All-New Ultimate #2 review at IGN.com. This book has never broken a 7 out of 10 on IGN. Also, here's a short but dismal review of issue #3 from Inside Pulse. Personally, I was very excited to see this young team get its own on-going book. Also, there was much excitement for Michael Fiffe to make his Marvel writing debut. But ever since it started, I have been very disappointed. The greatest offense in this on-going is the change of Jessica Jones from Spider-woman to Black Widow. Needlessly confusing and pointless in the narrative, this change is nothing but frustrating. On top of that, they took the sleek and sexy Spider-woman costume and replaced it with a grunge-inspired garbage excuse for a superhero costume.



While Ultimate FF had a great concept (IMHO) it lacked in execution BIGTIME. More than that, no one cared about this line-up. How do you get FF fans on board with a team that has only one member of the Fantastic Four. Yes, I know FF is not strictly meant to be the Fantastic Four. But, come on, Falcon and Machine Man? These are not heavy hitters. If we're talking about a one in three chance of hitting a home run for the Marvel Ultimate Universe, I don't think I would have picked this line-up. I thought the concept of a special, Stark-funded team meant to track down and eliminate reality-destroying anomalies was actually a concept with some legs. Maybe it was, or maybe I was totally wrong. But either way, this creative team and this superhero line-up choked at the plate. The rest is history...

Finally, we are left with the most recent rendition of Ultimate Spider-man, aptly titled Miles Morales: the Ultimate Spider-man. I'm not sure how many more variations on that title they can come up with for new volumes of Ultimate Spider-man. This current title is quite a mouthful, but at least it is slightly more distinctive than previous volumes that were very easy to mix up. Trust me. When I first went back to catch up on all the Miles Morales story lines, it was difficult to keep them separate from the Peter Parker stories. (Side note: I have a subscription to Marvel Unlimited, which I highly recommend for these binge catch-up sessions.) Miles Morales is still going strong because it's still in the hand of Bendis and Marquez. This was the creative team who wrapped up the last volume of Ultimate Spidey and really laid the ground work for the All-New, young Ultimates. As I read the final issues of those books, I was enthralled and truly drawn to this young team. The build up to them becoming a team wasn't exactly subtle, but it worked. And while Cataclysm, and then Survive, really failed to capitalize on this build up, I still had high hopes. My hopes for the young Ultimates have been dashed and the recent developments for Miles Morales have me on pins and needles as well. See the image below:



At first, many people thought this might be a joke, but recent September solicitations from Marvel have confirmed it's real. What does this mean, you ask? At first, I thought it was a solid indication that Miles was moving over to 616. But with the recent confirmation of this crossover, it was also revealed that, in fact, the All-New X-men were actually the ones doing the universe hopping. At this point, I have no idea what in the heck this development means for the Marvel Ultimate Universe, but I'm hopeful, and here's why:

The All-New X-men is another brainchild of Bendis and honestly, they need a new home. Time displaced from the past and unable to return, the All-New X-men are beginning to flounder. With a quick visit to 1610, the team may get the boost they need to stay relevant. On top of that, we're seeing the infusion of some excellent talent with more stories from Bendis coming into the Ultimate Universe fray and Stuart Immonen on pencils with his always crisp and graphic renderings in the mix.

Hopefully, the development within the Marvel Ultimate Universe over the second half of 2014 can help to revitalize this imprint. Otherwise, I hope they stop kicking this dead horse. We've seen the Ultimate imprint die and be revive numerous times, but it hasn't had the same "umph" that it had in the beginning for a long time. Miles Morales is the pillar that carries the entire weight of the 1610 universe, and it's about time he got some back-up.

What are your thoughts on the Marvel Ultimate Universe? Please share in the comments!

Cyclops #1 Preview

Scott Summers Gets a Do-Over on Life With Cyclops #1

Cyclops #1 is going to be an exciting bit of nostalgia mixed with an epic space opera. With this comic coming out in just a few days, I thought it would be nice to do a sort of Cyclops #1 Preview, if you will. This preview is very unofficial, but it should help you to get an idea of what to expect.



It is important to note here that if you haven't been reading comics in the ALL-NEW Marvel Now! phase, you might find Scott Summer's first solo outing a bit confusing. To get you caught up, the newest and youngest version of Cyclops was brought by Hank McCoy to the future. Beast's intentions were to show Scott Summers what he used to be with the hope that it would change the present day man back into a better person. But then things got sticky. Once the original X-men tried to return to their own timeline, for some unexplained reason, they couldn't and they were stuck in the present. (See All-New X-men to get really caught up on what's going on here.) Then things got extra-planetary.

There is a lot more to read about in The Trial of Jean Grey, but to get to the point, young Scott Summers meets his Space Pirate father and decides to adventure across the galaxy with him.  Leaving his one true love and his original X-men buddies behind, Cyclops is off to travel the stars.



I think this ongoing series has a lot of potential, especially when you weigh the young Scott Summers against his present day counterpart. While I will wholly admit that I actually like the revolutionary Cyclops a lot better than the goody-goody righteous leader that he has always played, there is just a lot of baggage on Cyclops right now. The Phoenix force came and took over his body and as a result, (spoiler alert) Scott ended up slaying Charles Xavier in cold blood. Now that the events of A vs. X are over, Cyclops has been a very heavy character to follow, and it's not without it's rewards. I love his new costume, his new crew, and his new attitude, but after a while, I start to wonder where its all leading to? With Bendis at the helm, I know that Uncanny X-men (the book with the central role surrounding Scott Summers and his team of X-defectors) has a good chance of staying excellent. But with Cyclops on-going series, we get a bit of relief from the darkness that Uncanny X-men just can't achieve. At least not for some time.

I am looking forward to an era where the X-men team will be whole again. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Marvel and its writers seem to have more fun destroying characters, teams, hell even entire universes right now than they want to re-establish the status quo. I, for one, look forward to Cyclops being a nice book to find some comic relief and possibly more light-hearted story lines. The father-son dynamic is sure to be filled with strife as well as heart-warming moments. Plus, setting the whole run in outer space opens the dynamics of this story up to unlimited possibilities.

In the very short preview that I have seen, the writing of Greg Rucka is quick and funny. We get enough exposure into the life of Cyclops without bogging the development of the story arc in redundancy. The art is beautiful. Russell Dauterman brings the youth and excitement of this Cyclops directly to the page. There is still much to be seen as far as what type of alien characters we will run into, but so far Dauterman brings the depths of space to life brilliantly with the help of colors by Chris Sotomayor.

Here's to new comic book Wednesday!

Check out a preview of the book over at Comic Book Resources:  http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=21456

The Future of Marvel Ultimate Universe

Miles Morales Returns to the Marvel Ultimate Universe Line-Up This Week!

The Marvel Ultimate Universe was in a very precarious place not too long ago, and to much chagrin and celebration (depending on who you are), the end of the world did not occur during the big Cataclysm crossover event. While the Ultimate Universe did survive, the lay of the land will never be the same for the remaining heroes in this alternate timeline.



"The lay of the land" is really different in two major ways. First, in the books, the world is drastically different. Galactus came and destroyed half of Manhattan amongst much more destruction that wasn't geographically specified, but it had to be bad, because he had a giant planet eating machine drilling into the planet's core. On top of that the array of Marvel Ultimate Universe comics is now much slimmer than before. The only books coming out on the Ultimate U side of things now are The All-New Ultimates, Ultimate FF, and Miles Morales The Ultimate Spider-Man. This is pretty slim pickings by comparison to the many other versions that have come before 2014. For me, this only leads to speculation about how much longer this imprint will continue to publish new stories.

Earth-1610 has been through many cancellations and reboots, but it still manages to hang on somehow. If a world-ending crossover event wasn't enough to put this world to rest, then it may have a healthy future ahead of it for sometime. With that being said, I'm excited for the release of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1 this Wednesday (May 7th). While there will always be controversy over a Spider-Man that is not Peter Parker, I for one cannot get enough of the work that Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez put out together. Don't get me wrong, I've heard all the complaints about Bendis, and they aren't necessarily wrong, but Bendis is the true visionary behind the Ultimate Universe. I think his relationship to this imprint goes a long way toward some great storytelling.

One of the most fruitful of Bendis's creations, in my view, is the new team of youngster Ultimates, aka The All-New Ultimates. This team had been slowly coming together over many issues of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man and with Marquez leading the art on the final issues of that book, it was a really exciting story arc to read. Now that the team has been formalized in its own series, I'm excited to see what will come of this ragtag team of teenagers. Unfortunately, I have not been a big fan of the art on that book, but Bendis and Marquez are back on Miles Morales, and frankly I can't wait to get my hands on it.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignnone" width="650"] Norman Osbourne returns in Miles Morales #1[/caption]

As for the one remaining book in the Marvel Ultimate Universe that I haven't discussed, Ultimate FF has the most potential, but that can go both ways. This book is based on a high concept that Earth-1610 is in dire dimensional straights. The new team of Iron Man, Sue Storm, Falcon, and Machine Man are working to stop dimensional bubbles that continue to appear from tearing their home dimension apart. While the art style is strong, and the concept is very intriguing, it once again leads to the ultimate conclusion (no pun intended) that this universe is headed to the grave. It has killed nearly all its big heroes and now the dimension itself is falling apart. I really don't know how long you can keep a series going based on the premise that the fabric of reality itself is going to shit. Either the crew wins their race against the dimensional decay and save the universe and the book ends, or they don't and the whole universe ends. The stakes are high either way, but I can say at least, for now, they've got me interested. Here's to new comic book Wednesday!

Catch a preview of the new Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man over at Comic Book Resources: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=21468

Original Sin #0 Kicks Off Marvel's Next Huge Crossover

A Blast from the Past, Marvel's Original Sin #0 Gets To Know The Watcher

I just gotta say that this book was surprisingly good. I was highly skeptical of Original Sin #0 as I started this out because of Nova. I really just couldn't get into the new, younger version of Nova. Although, I didn't try very hard, I had to give up on the latest volume of Nova pretty quickly. I really didn't like how they replaced Richard Rider with a 15-year-old kid. This feels like a move for the Ultimate Universe, but then the Ultimate U's version of Nova is (was) actually way cooler than this teenage Nova.

Anyway, I digress. Nova made me skeptical, but Uatu really held this book together and drew me in. They writers give us backstory into why The Watcher is a silent observer. (Basically, his father made a terrible mistake by intervening in the events of the universe. His "Original Sin," if you will.) But you should read that for yourself. Then we get to actually see ALL the stuff that Uatu has been watching, and I mean, really, ALL OF IT.  It's intense, so much so that Sam's Nova helmet continually sends him warning messages as if he is in danger just by seeing this stuff.



While the revelations of Uatu's past are really the main story arc here, the climax of the story is all about Nova. I won't reveal it, because you should read it yourself, but also, its not necessarily a huge payoff either. Once again, The Watcher is really the star of this story, which is appropriate for this book since Uatu is about to die after all.



While it makes sense that we won't necessarily get to see a continuation of this book's backstory, this was a really enthralling way to start out this event. The last major event, Infinity, left a little bit to be desired once it was said and done. And even the smaller crossover events like Battle of the Atom and the Trial of Jean Grey haven't been blockbusters. Original Sin looks to have a lot of potential. With as many comics involved in this crossover (practically every major franchise in the Marvel U) there are bound to be some bunk stories coming out of this event, but the bigger stories that are already making some buzz on the internet (i.e. Spider-Man, the Asgardians, and the X-men) look promising. Read more on all the upcoming stories for Original Sin on Newsarama here: http://www.newsarama.com/20954-c2e2-2014-marvel-s-original-sin-panel-live.html

All-New Ultimates #1 Review

Michael Fiffe Picks Up the Bendis Torch on All-New Ultimates #1

I wanted the All-New Ultimates to be awesome. I really did, but I just think that the art is so rough, it's really hard to overlook. I think that Bendis and Marquez did a great job in team building leading into the All-New Ultimates, but picking up the story without those creators is a pretty rough transition.

I think the harshest offense is the redesigning/rebranding of Jessica Jones from Spider Woman to Black Widow. There really isn't a good reason for this change and at the same time it makes the bigger Marvel universe even more confusing to the casual reader.

So, Jessica Jones is Spider-Woman, but she's a clone of Peter Parker, but only in the Ultimate Universe, but now she's Black Widow, but not Natasha Romanov... WTF Marvel...!!!!

And then this costume is realllllllly fucking awful. It's like as if "grunge" as a fashion finally weaseled its way into super hero design about 20 years too late.



The cover art for All-New Ultimates #1, including the variant by David Marquez, is really pretty awesome. (Check it out here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=20645) But once I got inside the book, the art is really lack luster and very 80's mutant-post-apocolyptic... I'm just not digging it.

I think that having Michael Fiffe writing this book has a ton of potential. And as many other reviews I've read have already noted, the dialogue between this gang of teenagers is much more nuanced and natural than much of Bendis's angle on this team. But in the end, Amilcar Pinna is really what kills this book for me. The anatomy of the characters is off enough to be disturbing at times. The consistency of the figures also varies wildly just within this one book. On top of that, the mutant goons who initiate the first real conflict of this book are so out of line with the overall world building of the Ultimate universe that it's nearly criminal.

While only a month ago I was afraid that the Ultimate universe was coming to an end, I'm not quite reassured that this future is better than an "Ultimate ending." I will give All-New Ultimates a few more issues to get its momentum, but more than that, I'll be looking forward to Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man for the continuation of the Bendis/Marquez teamwork.