Writer Blocks - Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Volume 3

Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Volume 3 is the Resolution and Dénouement of Miller’s “Three Acts” during his first run of Daredevil.  Here he resolves any loose plot threads, including the vague fate of Elektra, and ends with my single favorite issue of Daredevil EVER.

The volume starts with an anti-drug two-issue story co-starring a new character called The Punisher.



Miller does a fantastic job with this story, which was the last he would illustrate with Klaus Janson.  Beginning with Daredevil # 185, Miller handled script and layout duties while Janson took care of pencils, inks and colors.  While not Miller’s style exactly, having a single artist, and one as accomplished as Janson, on the complete visual package made the transition from Miller’s art less traumatic to a reader.

Daredevil #185 is a great Foggy Nelson story, heavily inspired by Will Eisner’s The Spirit and the writing of Elmore Leonard.  It’s a crime story with Foggy as protagonist and narrator, Daredevil playing the role of “guardian devil”, making sure Foggy gets out of his scraps with Old Man Slaughter, Turk and The Kingpin in one piece.

The remaining stories conclude the Hand, that evil Ninja organizations subplot, as well as ending, in a rather ham-fisted way, the relationship between Matt Murdock and Heather Glenn. There is a final appearance by Elektra, one with a prologue and epilogue that hints of her resurrection, which would come years later in a beautiful graphic album by Miller and Lynn Varley.

That is the Resolution of the story.

Next - the Dénouement.



Daredevil #191 is a standalone story called “Roulette”.  This is inked by Terry Austin, and it’s obvious from the layout and difference in Miller’s art that he has been experimenting while away from Daredevil.  That experiment would become Ronin from DC, and the influence of Moebius and Lone Wolf and Cub Manga is evident from the first four panels.



As a story, “Roulette” ends Miller’s run at its core:  Daredevil facing off with Bullseye, discussing the relationship between fathers and sons, a theme at the soul of the Daredevil mythos.  Bullseye is paralyzed, lying helplessly in a hospital bed, recovering from the wounds inflicted on him by Daredevil after killing Elektra.  Daredevil sits at his bedside and proceeds to play Russian roulette with the villain, pointing the gun first at his own head, then at Bullseye’s.  He tells a story about a young boy who worships Daredevil, ultimately witnessing Daredevil taking his father down in a blackmail scheme.  This pushes the boy over the edge and he shoots a child, wounding him and being committed to an asylum.

Daredevil then tells a second story about his father, who forced him to excel at his schooling, striking him one night in a drunken rage. Young Matt Murdock spent that night on the Brooklyn Bridge, deciding in that moment to become a lawyer.

Miller ends his run on Daredevil with a soliloquy on the meaning of heroism, on the influence parents have over their children, and with Daredevil, down to the last shot, the chamber sure to hold the lone bullet, aimed at Bullseye’s head. He pulls the trigger . . .



I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Frank Miller made me want to create comic books, and his Daredevil run in the early 1980’s showed me how a continuing narrative like an ongoing series doesn’t have to rely on past continuity and boring tropes.

It can create new experiences, new paradigms, new structures and new characters.



It can create new creators.

Next Week – Born Again

From Day Dreams to Comics Reality: part 1

Welcome to the first of a multiple of pieces as I try to explain the ins and outs of creating comics. Ergo, the first piece should logically be about why would any semi-sane person undertake this sort of art. While the notion of being a comics creator is cool upon first blush, it is a much more daunting undertaking upon the most cursory of examinations. While the reasons why vary from person-to-person, I can only touch upon why I am doing it.

The comics bug bit me at an early age; and as an immigrant kid (family emigrated from Brussels, Belgium to Los Angeles when I was six), it provided a world to retreat into when the larger one was often not the most pleasant. The comics world I retreated into was one where bullies got their comeuppance, a marked contrast to the reality of the schoolyard.

[caption id="attachment_977" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Moebius' Blueberry[/caption]

My comics world was particularly broad, as it also included Bande-Dessinee works such as Tintin & Asterix. My parents divorced soon after arrival, and the highlight of my weekend visitations to my Dad’s house was to read his extensive collection of BD’s albums in the original French. Of course, I began the hobby of comic collecting that I pursue to this day.

As I grew up, it became apparent that mastering basics of drawing such as perspective would be an ultimately futile attempt. Similarly, and at almost the same time, I was forever entranced by punk rock. Foremost amongst punk’s credos is to embrace ‘Do It Yourself’ (DIY).



Flash forward to adulthood, and I had arrived at place professionally, personally, and financially, where the notion of creating and publishing my own comic is vaguely possible. It is at this point that the financial aspect be emphasized: making any money whatsoever in comics is very, very difficult if you are not one of the usual suspects (Marvel, DC, Image, IDW, etc.). A more realistic attitude to take that this is your art, and you are pursuing it for the same reason that any other artist does it…you want to express yourself. There are very few things more personally rewarding than taking in the words, “I really enjoyed your comic.” Just don’t expect it to feed you.

Another development that made what had been a hair-brained notion, creating and publishing my own comic, possible: personal computers. Before the personal computing revolution, indie comics were few and far between because of the quite daunting minutiae (expensive too) of printing: kerning, shooting blue line film, paper stock, etc. Computers and software such Adobe Creative Suite (particularly Photoshop, Illustrator, & InDesign) has made these formerly arcane tasks more accessible.

Thus with these factors, in place, I began my long trek from a day-dream to a finished comic…but you will have to come back next time for that tale.

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. A Fractured House Review (Spoilers)

Mockingbird Steps In to Step Up the Female Badass-ery on Agents of SHIELD: A Fractured House

As usual with my reviews, there will be spoilers ahead. Please stop now if you haven't watched this episode yet.



Agents of SHIELD continues to be good, not great, but still better than ever before. This week we saw Hydra lead an attack on the United Nations. The trouble is that they are impersonating SHIELD. So, all the nations of the world quickly jump on the hate train to put SHIELD down, led by Senator Christian Ward (Tim McKay), brother to former Agent turned Hydra, Grant Ward (Brett Dalton). Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to review last week's episode "A Hen in the Wolf House" for the début of Bobbi Morse aka Mockingbird (Adrianne Palicki). But nonetheless, I have been watching with excitement as Bobbi Morse has quickly become a leading character. At the same time, so has Lance Hunter (Nick Blood)... Lance is a decent character, but he just seems like the bad boy replacement for Ward. He is a bit two-dimensional, constantly playing up his role as the mercenary whose only allegiance is to money. Add in the obnoxious grudge match dynamic between Bobbi and Lance and I pretty much have no desire to watch his character. He did slightly redeem himself at the end, busting in on Hydra with a six-pack as if everything is cool.

In the world of the first season cast, we see Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) still struggling to deal with his brain damage. Things have gotten slightly more complicated since Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) has arrived back at the SHIELD HQ. Fitz feels that Simmons abandoned him when he needed her most.  He tries to open up to her and she only scoffs and walks away. Mack, ironically played by Henry Simmons, has become the new Simmons in the Fitz-Simmons duo. Over the last few episodes, Mack has made an effort to befriend Fitz and help him deal with fallout from his brain damage. He has been a true friend. Simmons is confronted by Mack and he tries to set her straight. It's a pretty touching scene where Mack tells Simmons he never knew the Fitz she knew, and this new guy is kinda weird, but he likes him. I enjoy the dynamic between the new Fitz-Simmons a bit more than I enjoy watching the old Fitz-Simmons work through their issues. I appreciate that the show runners wanted to set the stakes high and actually let us see a character (Fitz) truly get hurt, but the fallout is starting to drag on a bit. There was a good twist when we first realized that Fitz was imagining that Simmons was there. But then they let Fitz work through that and start to open up to his teammates. I think it's time to let the brain damage run its course and make Fitz useful or bench him.




The Skye/Ward mind fuck games continue in the basement as Skye (Chloe Bennett) is tasked with getting any intel on Ward's brother Christian. Ward is just truly creepy this season. Not only does everything about him feel skeezy, but he is literally a creep at this point. He uses his every interaction with Skye to try to woo her back to him, saying weird ex-boyfriend shit like, "I'll never lie to you." Look, dude, you were a covert Hydra operative. I don't think that line is going to fly, like EVER. Director Coulson (Clark Gregg) finally tells him as much after striking a deal with Ward's brother. Sen. Christian Ward gets custody of his brother in exchange for calling the nations of the world off SHIELD's back. Seems legit.... NOT. How do you go from being attacked by supposed SHIELD agents one day to a week later being like "ok, they're cool." You don't. I don't think this episode weighed the gravity of this particular plot point very well.



Speaking of shitty plot points, we later see Bobbi Morse going "undercover" back into the confines of a Hydra held science lab. She is tasked with getting her hands on the latest Hydra weapon, which is something like a throwing star that causes your body to disintegrate once it hits you. She gets into the lab no problem and begins talking to Toshiro Mori, who created the weapons... in Japanese. Surprise! Oh and another surprise, Bobbi kisses the dude. How convenient since your ex-husband is watching this whole thing. Then, the two settle down for tea and decide to start talking in English. This whole scene felt forced and stupid. Bobbi waits all of three minutes before she tries to get Mori to give her some weapons. Sorry, Adrianne Palicki is smoking hot as Mockingbird, but I don't believe for a second any dude with some wits about him would fall for this. And it seems Mori doesn't as a huge fight ensues and the Agents come out on top.

The episode wraps up with a big Hydra/SHIELD throw down in a SHIELD safe house in Belgium. This scene is pretty awesome. We get to see May and Bobbi kicking a lot of ass, but Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) steals the show again here with her fight against Marcus Scarlotti, Whiplash in Marvel comics. Scarlotti (Falk Hentschel) wields a chain with a knife on the end for some pretty exciting fight choreography. In the end, the Agents defeat Hydra, but only after they lose 6 of their own red shirt, faceless agents. General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) seems to be coming around to SHIELD, offering a handshake and condolences to Agent May at the scene of the fight.

One last stinger scene teases more mystery surrounding the alien writing that is clearly the central theme of this season. A new and unknown character (Brian Van Holt) shows up at a tattoo parlor and removes his shirt to reveal the alien writing all over his torso. I'm sure we'll be learning more about this guy next week.

Overall, A Fractured House demonstrates how this show is still on the come up. The fight scenes, the character development, and the choice of new Marvel c-listers added to the cast are helping to make this show more of what comic book fans want. The failings of this show could be summed up in criticism any bad comic book would receive. Stop talking so much. I'm tired of watching guys in suits standing around giving big speeches about how SHIELD isn't going to let this or that happen. It's like who wants to read a comic book with hundreds of speech bubbles all over the page? Most people don't. Not because we don't like to read, but because that is not what the medium is best suited for. You have to strike the right balance between showing and telling. I think Agents of SHIELD still has some work to do to get there. I only say this because I find myself waiting for the episode to be over. Whereas with The Flash and even Gotham, I'm pretty hooked until the end of the episode. Agents of SHIELD has made good on its second chance, bouncing back from a lackluster season one and winning back critics and fans. Now it's time to see if they can kick that same process up a notch to make this show something GREAT.

The Best Comic I Read Today Is . . . Rasputin #1

I’m a sucker for historical fiction, so when I saw that Rasputin #1, by Alex Grecian and Riley Rossmo was “based upon true-ish events”, I had to pick it up.



Rasputin #1 does what any good first issue will do – present the characters and provide a hook to keep the reader engaged and wanting to buy the next issue.  The hook here is that the framing sequence appears to be Rasputin, the “Mad Monk” himself, on the last day of his life, which he announces to the reader.  Then, through flashback, we learn a little bit about what made Rasputin into the man he would become.



We meet his abusive father and suffering mother, we are introduced to some strange power that the boy Rasputin has the ability to conjure, and a character meets his or her demise. The use of first person narrative, only evident in the framing sequences, sets a tone of foreboding and definitely accomplishes the goal of making the reader, and buyer, want to purchase the second issue.

If you do decide to give Rasputin a try, be sure to read the essay in the back where Alex Grecian explains the origin of the idea for this book, and tells a charming anecdote about when he died.

Almost.

- Aloha -

GOTHAM: Spirit of the Goat

Holy Ghost on a Bicycle !

This week's episode of Gotham opens 10 years back with the boy scout of a police officer, Harvey Bullock, hunting down a serial killer named Randall Milky, aka "Spirit of the Goat". Before Bullock takes him down, the Spirit of the Goat shoots his partner Det. Dicks. I think the reason Bullock is a rusty angry cop is all laid out in this opening scene. Cutting back to the present, Nygma and Bullock are investigating a murder that strikes back dark memories of the Goat hanging girls as a sacrifice. The girl that was murdered that night was named Amanda Hastings and Bullock takes it upon himself to find her father to ask questions.



Barbara is back into the show, still nagging at Jim Gordon to tell her everything that he knows about crime, murderers and everything that an officer of the law needs to keep private. Barbara (my least favorite character) gets Jim to agree with her and promise to be more open with her about what goes on at work. Barbara then goes and finds Montoya trying to get her to back off Jim, saying that she will tell Montoya everything Jim tells her. Montoya not wanting to have anything to do with Barbara's arrangements, admits to Barbara there's a warrant for Jim Gordon's arrest. Meanwhile, my favorite part of this episode is there is a whole lot of riddles from Edward Nygma as we find out about his crush on a girl named Kringle. As Nygma researches the Spirit of the Goat case, he takes it upon himself to make an impression on Kringle by organizing her files lateral like. Kringle gets frustrated and tells him to take a hike. Although he doesn't get the lady, we do notice a black question mark on Nygma's white coffee cup. Gotham is still doing a great job planting the easter egg like clues on their characters.



The Penguin takes a quick break from his conniving to visit his mother.  Back at the nest, Oswald lets his mother dote on him as he claims that he will someday rule Gotham. He feels so good about it, he even lets his Mom give him a sponge bath. Forget the Spirit of the Goat—Oswald and his Mother’s relationship are by far the creepiest part of tonight’s episode. In the next scene we learn Det. Dicks now lives in a retirement home, bound to a wheelchair and a grudge against Bullock. Bullock and Dicks surmise that Milky could not have been the only Goat killer, and that he was just one member in a larger conspiracy. Bullock and Gordon find the new Goat Killer and arrest him. As they are watching the creep in the interrogation room, Bullock notices his hand twitch real fast and starts to put the pieces together, Robert Hastings, who was the father of Amanda Hastings, sees a female psychiatrist to help cope with his daughters death. As Bullock is questioning the psychiatrist, he notices Mr. Hastings hand start to twitch really fast. The psychiatrist admitted being the Spirit of the Goat and using the Hastings' maintenance crew as means of murder. Hypnotized Mr. Hastings attacks Bullock while the psychiatrist tries to escape. Bullock knocks out Mr. Hastings and shoots the psychiatrist in the back of the leg.

While young Bruce Wayne is working late nights, Selina Kyle is still purring around Wayne manor (which since episode one I still don't understand). Back at the GPD, Gordan is cuffed with Montoya and Allen accused of the murder of Cobblepot. As Bullock cuts in and screams Gordon's innocence, enter the Penguin. Walking into the police department Cobblepot looks right at Jim saying "Hello Jim, old friend." Although this was not my favorite episode, I am still convinced that Gotham is taking very small steps in the right direction.

Marvel Studios Reveals Phase 3 Movie Line-Up

All the Groundbreaking News from Marvel's October 28th Event:

Marvel Studios went REALLY BIG today with a huge announcement of every movie slated for the MCU through 2019.



Captain America 3 will be released May 6, 2016. The crowd was faked out at first by a false subtitle: Serpent Society. Beware! Some websites are still reporting this as the official subtitle. Rest assured, the real subtitle is Civil War. Later in the press Q & A, Kevin Feige elaborated on what Civil War will be for the MCU. 

"Civil War [is the] Civil War of the cinematic universe, which will be greatly inspired by the Civil War of the comic universe, but we have very different continuity there... This will be the Civil War based off of all the other films that you’ve seen up to this point, particularly Winter Soldier and particularly Age of Ultron.”

For those wondering how the Civil War story line is going to work in the MCU with so many missing factors from the comics, Feige gave us a vague idea:

"I don’t want to give too much away, but needless to say, the generalities of the act are the same. Something happens, perhaps it’s cumulative for things that have happened though all of the movies leading up to this point. It has made the governments of the world say 'we need to have some oversight of these guys. They need to report to somebody.' So it becomes more… it falls under that umbrella, rather than 'you have to take off your mask.' It’s not about the secret identity thing, as much as it is about, overall, who reports to who, and who can agree to oversight committee. Because as of now, in Avengers 2, there is no more security council, there is no SHIELD, obviously. Stark is paying for it, Captain America is running it, and things occur that will make governments begin to question."

November 4, 2016 will be Doctor Strange. Scott Derrickson will be directing. No casting announcements about Dr. Strange today surprisingly. Feige later says that casting has not been confirmed or they would have announced it today.



May 5, 2017...the untitled Guardians of the Galaxy sequel! Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot more to report on this one except that the studio has moved the date up a couple of months from the previously announced date of July 28, 2017.



July 28, 2017 - THOR: Ragnarok! Feige explains "Ragnarok means 'The end of all things'"



November 3, 2017...Black Panther! CROWD GOES CRAZY, Chadwick Boseman announced as Black Panther.



July 6, 2018...CAPTAIN MARVEL! This is pretty exciting news. Feige confirmed that this Captain Marvel will be Carol Danvers. Carol Corps rejoice!



November 2, 2018...THE INHUMANS



AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Part 1, May 4, 2018 and Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2, May 3, 2019

Apparently, Dan Slott is a Twitter troll as he tweeted this ahead of the event:

Set your watch. Your next Spider-Man related freak out is on the way... :-O

— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) October 28, 2014

There was MUCH speculation that Marvel would make an announcement concerning Spidey's movie rights. But, alas, there was no such luck this time around. The only response Feige gave to all the rumors was pretty much a non-answer:

“Anything that wasn’t specifically and obviously revealed today is either not true at all, or still rumor until it’s worked out,”

In fact, for as much great news as we got, there were quite a few missing pieces. We didn't get any confirmation on the casting of Dr. Strange and there was zero new info on Ant-Man either. As for all the open space in 2019 (and beyond) Feige had this to say:

“If there are more years after 2019, there are more movies after 2019,”