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Daredevil by Charles Soule

Let’s start with the wow. The same wow that comes after finishing a great run by a great writing team. Charles Soule and various artists alongside him took the several times reimagined, arguably the darkest hero of Marvel and gave him an entirely new life. Let there be spoilers.

Bottoms up

I want to immediately talk about the end of this run. It's a dream sequence, which is a notoriously difficult trope to pull off. Most people will agree that gotcha! dream sequences cheapen their own effect. But I can't say that the resolution felt cheap here. Despite watching it unfold throughout several issues, it was everything that Matt had ever wanted. From turning imaginary family real to having the final dramatic night with Elektra, to heroes assembling to take down Kingpin. It was so epic it was doomed to be a fantasy. 

But none of that would've happened had it not been for the previous events. The run starts with Daredevil in black, which is never a good sign for a hero. And don't for a second think that no one makes a joke about that. Spider-Man is first in line. But it's not only the costume that's different: the whole public identity cat is back in the bag. To be frank, it gets a bit confusing. So much so that I had to go back and recheck reading guides, to make sure I didn't miss a special where Daredevil makes a deal with Mephisto. He doesn't, in fact, when he gets the opportunity, he walks away. Good for him, I suppose. 

It takes 20 issues of city and overseas adventures to finally find out how and when he pulls off the restoration of the status quo. It's a pretty enjoyable arc for which the narrative style and the colors of Waid’s run make a temporary comeback. 

Status quo

But back to the now, to the beginning: Daredevil has his own Robin, a kid called Blindspot who wants to protect Chinatown like Daredevil does in Hell's Kitchen. The only one who knows Matt is Daredevil is Foggy and he's so salty about that, they're almost on the outs.

Kirsten had joined the extensive group of exes (I have a mental list of them so far) and a shorter list of exes who got away alive. Oh, and Matt was back in New York. It's been way too odd to see him in San Francisco. If the X-Men could thrive there, Matt Murdock definitely belongs in NYC. 

Connections

Let's start with the romantic life. There is none. Charles Soule manages to tackle every other aspect of Matt’s life, even religion. But he has no romantic partner for the duration of this run. Which means no woman has to suffer and die unnecessarily. Yay. 

Well... if you don't think too hard about their conscience.

And you know, Matt's inability to maintain a relationship is probably 30% of the fun in his books. Still, Soule manages to deliver a rich dynamic narrative without dragging Matt’s partners through hell. 

Matt is not left without a connection though, despite everyone forgetting who he is, he gets a partner and an apprentice. Now of course this kid, Blindspot, gets the short end of the stick. He is blinded by Muse, who is a new villain on the block. Gotta say he’s a pretty decent villain too. A very Batman villain, I want to say. Since he goes all out with his creepiness and finds a BS pseudo-philosophical explanation for his sick hobby. That always makes me think of Bats because who else has a rogues gallery so twisted? But like I keep saying, the characters share a lot of common features so it's only fair their villains do as well. 

Muse, in fact, shows up twice and both times cracks sickness up to 11, even throwing in a little social message here and there. 

He serves as both Daredevil villain and Blindspot's re-origin story. Although I can't exactly say I’m happy with where Blindspot ended the run. He had potential and he had a struggle with darkness which surely could be used better anywhere other than with a group of flying nuns fighting priests.

Before that, of course, Matt has to go to China and fight the Beast. Why not? 

The why we fight

When he comes back though, that's when everything hits the fan and brings the arc that to me holds this whole run together. Wilson Fisk becomes the mayor of New York. And that, to me, is it. The why we fight of it all. A raging obsessive and violent maniac becoming a recognized public authority figure. I knew right then and there that no matter what Matt or Daredevil tries, he is screwed. And how beautifully it's delivered: it's not just that Fisk grabbed a position of power, it's that people showed up to vote for him. They bought and believed his message. And no one stepped in. He twisted the system and he used it to grab more influence. He sketched an idea of an enemy and united people against it. And yes, he rigged the election but in the end, we find out he didn't have to. Because fear and hate, they always work, don't they? 

There were two moments when I felt this book bleeding realism. 

The first one is when Daredevil mistakenly says he has faith in the people of New York. He believes they know what Fisk is and they can't support him. That's a lie. Or wishful thinking. Either way, they don't. And they don't come to his rescue as he is declared public enemy number one. Even the cops he’s helped so many times, they are in fact the first to pick up tasers and advanced sound systems to join the hunt. 

The second moment is Matt's paralegal at the D.A. office, Ellen, saying she supports Fisk’s ideas since Spider-Man destroyed her car once. Well maybe not just that but you get where I’m going with this. It's always the seemingly small things. And it's always the unexpected people. Her reluctance to respond when Matt asked her who she voted for, it was louder than a poster at a rally and if you have experience fighting the good fight, you feel it like a bucket of ice water. Of course, Matt gets to shake it off and go swinging through the city. You don't, so you're left with the remaining issues of the run.

Talk to The Hand

The power struggle goes on and on, neither Matt Murdock nor Daredevil gets a win until Fisk is shot full of The Hand’s arrows, and due to a lucky break, Matt becomes the mayor. Everything works out in a questionable arc that I don't want to focus on too much. I'm gonna say, however, that “I can't see the light so I will be the light” is a hell of a powerful phrase. With this phrase, Soule does to the reader what Daredevil is supposed to do. The whole reason for his endless misfortunes, and battles, and losses: inspiration.

This is, actually, the message of this run. Not guilt, not responsibility. Inspiration. At one point, Daredevil mentions that people have to fight for themselves too. And maybe the fact that people hear that is why he believes in New York. 

This optimism under the darkest of circumstances is another thing that continues Waid’s narrative. Because the tone, that returns to a more familiar Miller-inspired brooding nature. If you ask me, that's good. That's where Daredevil functions best. He’s not great at wisecracking, he's not Spider-Man. He has to remain intense and on guard.

Let's talk colors.

Several artists work on the run and each one brings a different look. Keep in mind, that this run was happening at the same time as the Netflix show. So yes, at some point characters began to look a little too much like the actors from the show. Which isn't bad, just curious. Either way, all styles worked in their own way. 

But my personal favorite was the arrival of Phil Noto. It took his mastery to deliver the final blow, the final massive arc that might have been meaningless in a wider sense but did bring a fat bouquet of emotions.

There were many moments throughout Soule’s run when I laughed and praised his writing. Even if the stories didn't always go where I’d like them to, it was never dull. From taking a case to the Supreme Court (and delivering a hell of an argument splash page) to the last words “And I am not afraid,” this series remained surprising and moving. 

#marvel #marvel comics #comics #comic books #marvel universe #long reads #comic book review #spoilers #daredevil #matt murdock

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All Hell Breaks Loose (again)

Ed Brubaker’s take on Daredevil made me want to talk about so many things at once. 

Let's start at the beginning or rather at the source of all the problems - Matt Murdock. Before I start trashing him, and that is inevitable, I want to make it clear  - his never-ending list of personal flaws is what makes his books frustratingly enjoyable. And when everyone says that Miller created the foundation his future books stand on, it's that gray area in which his morals reside, that I look back on. He is a hero and he is not a good person.

That's arguably the most interesting type of character: one who believes they're doing the right thing and believes they're willing to sacrifice their personal happiness to achieve that. But in reality, Matt is extremely selfish and inconsiderate. He often gives in to his passions and anger, believing he has been pushed towards the edge. He blames himself almost as much as he does everyone around him. I would probably put him in the same bin as Angel or Batman. Except Bats can step away from his selfishness for his mission and Angel is kind of all over the place. Either way, this is as much of a compliment as it is a judgment.

Who the Hell is Milla?

Matt’s personal life makes up a good half of Brubaker's run. He gives him happiness and he takes it away in an old-fashioned damsel-in-distress way. Milla is a 100% cardboard lady who was created to advance the plot. We know this won't last and frankly, it still lasted longer than I expected. But she is an entirely helpless person thrown into Matt's bizarre world. Anyone who's not a superhero (or villain, hi, Typhoid), would be. She is an antipode of Echo and she is a pre-Nocenti Karen type.

She is also a rebound gone too far, whether or not Matt is willing to admit that. He is stubborn in his search for simple happiness and he keeps refusing the fact that it's either one or the other for him. I think he doesn't realize he's not Spider-Man and for a person, who's supposed to be clever, he makes truly unintelligent decisions. 

In a way too Batman arc, Milla ends up in a mental health facility, catatonic, as a result of being poisoned by Mr. Fear. What I do appreciate is that the effect, at least for the entirety of Brubaker's run, is permanent. To make matters worse, they are still married when Matt sleeps with Dakota North (who was conveniently reintroduced as a former model). And then Milla’s parents reasonably sue for custody. 

Now here is when my lack of respect for Matt Murdock hits a new low: he intends to fight them. He actually has the audacity to face her parents who very well know what he is and who he does, and claim that he should be the one responsible for her. As if he hadn't done enough damage, which is what they say. Yes, he eventually gives up but not for the right reasons. He just can't cut losses and accept yet another destruction as his fault. He fights it for himself and his conscience, which somehow still functions. 

What makes matters worse, he still insists on “making things right” with Dakota because what would he really be if he didn't drag one more woman into his mess? Meanwhile, Dakota is potentially a badass, and if anything, that relationship could've worked much better than the others. Especially considering how she repeatedly refused to be signed off as a helpless love interest. I guess that's not Matt's type.

I have a beautiful theory and maybe 30% of a long read on how superheroes should only date each other. This guy provides 70% of my reasoning. 

Speaking of Law...

Matt's disastrous love life plays very well alongside the action and detective arcs. I can't say it's focusing on the lawyer side of things: Foggy and Becky do most of the lifting in that department and half of the time their job is actually defending Matt. The other - Matt provides a stellar clientele in the form of his former rogues gallery or his wife (yes, nice and sweet Milla had accidentally killed a man.) Matt is running around town creating new problems. 

The run starts with Matt in Riker's. He ends up there after Kingpin makes a successful deal with the FBI. Considering he has already proven he wasn't Daredevil and a person can't be tried for the same crime twice, I’m not sure how this makes sense. Honestly, I’m not a lawyer so I won't try and get into that. Either way, Matt escapes prison parading as Punisher's hostage. Let me say, that was a brilliant plan and a masterful cameo. Frank sees the headlines and immediately gets himself arrested, knowing he will have to help Daredevil escape. This is a long shot too, as you see the events play out and pretty much forget Frank is there. Definitely one of the comic book whoa moments, that I think would play extremely well if it ever makes its way to our screens.

World Tour

After his escape, Matt charges off to Europe to track down the person seemingly responsible for all his misfortunes. That's such a classic move from him, you half expect it to be a setup. Well, you also know it is. And then the events get chaotic but lead to none other than Vanessa Fisk. 

We last saw Vanessa when she offed her own son, Fisk Jr, after he participated in an attempt at Kingpin’s life, poetically modeled after that of Julius Caesar. So here Vanessa is poisoned by what she's done and is dying. For that, she very fairly blames Matt and Wilson. And she delivered the truest thing I have heard in the run so far: how selfish and clueless about that Matt is. This is what helps her set him up, and this is why she knows he would do what she tells him. Vanessa gives a beautiful insight into the never-ending fight between Daredevil and Kingpin. And yeah, you know it's true even if they manage to achieve a weak semblance of peace. Vanessa warns you it's not forever and you don't doubt her words for a second. 

So Matt weasels his way out of Riker's. And at this point, you can see vividly the cracks in his image of a noble believer in law and justice. He hasn't believed in law for a long while now, and he breaks it every chance he gets. But now he lives in lies upon lies. 

Not So Secret Identity

There's another element that Brubaker utilized well: everyone in New York knows who he is. Matt Murdock is Daredevil, which may be unspoken, and some people may claim he isn't, but everyone knows he is. So what happens next? Despite believing the world would fall apart around a hero whose identity is well-known, not much changes. People on the streets don't really care that much. Villains weigh their options when going against him. Those closest to him weren't safe to begin with. There's also a panel in one of the special issues, that shows Spider-Man’s monologue on the matter. And he says he always knew that would happen but expected he’d get there first.

And you know what? Spider fears aside, I think this is the most realistic interpretation of what having your secret identity leaked would be like. If you work it out with the feds and smooth out all the legal issues, people will quickly move on to the next thing. Everyone will be calling you by your name and there would be no need to look aside every time Bruce Wayne adopts a new kid and Batman miraculously obtains a new sidekick. But hey, at least Bats manages to train everyone around them, so he doesn't need to feel that bad when they die. 

Where to Next?

Brubaker leaves Matt's story on a high note, and his parting gift for Daredevil is another one of my favorite tropes. He gets the offer to lead the Hand. And when the offer is on the table, you know he has to take it. He doesn't even have extenuating circumstances like Angel did when he took over Wolfram & Hart, he is just that vain, tired, and selfish. He believes he’s doing it so it doesn't go to Wilson Fisk and he very well knows he's being manipulated by Izo. But something in him believes he will be able not to get corrupted. Of course, he believes that, and of course, I’m eagerly awaiting to see him proven wrong. 

Not All There Is

I am focusing on the writing here but an integral part of this run is art (mostly) by Michael Lark. His work follows Maleev’s style from Bendis’s run: similar panel structure and similar color scheme (I suppose that was more of a colorist+editorial achievement). But just like one run very smoothly morphs into the next, art continues to support the narrative. Daredevil comics work best with rainy, grainy, broody visuals and this duo certainly understood the assignment. I rarely talk about this, but we know that building a visual narrative is just as important as constructing a good word structure. And every close-up has to be in the right place and lead you to a massive splash page. Daredevil doesn't give you a lot of those, I believe, helps build and limit the scale of events. DD is an unfriendly neighborhood character and he doesn't need epic appearances. He stalks, which is best shown in this run’s art. 

To sum it all up, I enjoyed this run so much. It gave enough soap-level drama while keeping the interpersonal conflicts very human and very unheroic. It never steps into the realm of unrealistic, despite all the superpowers. It’s perfectly structured and split into interconnected case-like arcs that bleed into one another effortlessly. Most importantly, the creative team knows how to build up intrigue, where to pause and resume the story, how to leave you wanting more and give you a breather. So far it's been my favorite Daredevil run that dragged the devil through figurative hell and never quite brought him back.

#comics #marvel comics #marvel #comic books #marvel universe #comic book review #long reads #spoilers #daredevil #matt murdock #ed brubaker

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Daredevil by Ann Nocenti

I was planning on a short review but the more I read, the more details and elements kept popping up and I knew I would be wrong to not point them out. So here it is, a fully detailed review.

Take Your Time

Nocenti took over the title after Frank Miller (and if memory serves me right, several guest writers). It was not going to be easy, especially after the massive Born Again arc, in which after having his life completely shattered by Kingpin (and Miller), Matt returns to Hell's Kitchen to live happily ever after with Karen and opens a legal clinic/addiction hotline. He can't legally practice law, she is definitely not qualified for any psychological help, what could go wrong? Oh well, he's also still Daredevil and Karen still hates it, so there is that. Nocenti had a pretty tough task to rebuild everything and at the same time deliver good stories.

At this point, I notice when a new writer on a title is struggling for the first few months, while they try to establish their own take and find their footing. Once that's out of the way, everything goes smoothly (for most, anyway).

Nocenti's run gets a little chaotic in the beginning, while she starts to set the rules and draw the neighborhood around Daredevil and Karen. And if you expected her to go easy on the characters, you can rest easy knowing that she's put DD through hell. Literally.

Building Hell's Kitchen

Right away she involves some neighborhood kids and gives them all slow-burn arcs. In fact, she includes children in a lot of stories, and they provide a reflection of the dark and complex adult world. They react, they mirror the grown-ups and the things happening around them affect them in an unpredictable way. The arc of the kid who slowly, in the span of several issues, discovered his darker side and ended up being killed by a mob member, is something you barely notice happening at first. And then he keeps coming back, making a small but ultimately wrong choice, which eventually brings him to his demise. All that adds a sense of responsibility and urgency to Daredevil. Something he may have always experienced but didn't necessarily watch happen. Not to imply that no one has suffered from his misguided actions before (RIP, Heather). And not to say that he was responsible for the kid's choices, but said kid came to Matt repeatedly and Matt missed all the signs. If you want to direct the issue back to the kid's parents, I have to point out that most of them were ill-attended. The other kid story is Bullet's son Lance. He doesn't have much to do with DD but he's a reflection of how an impressionable child due to lack of attention can develop a full-on phobia. That's not something that I've seen in superhero comics that often. This darkness is fully developed by Nocenty and if you look closely, has its roots in Miller's stories.

The Origins of Evil

There is a series of one/two-issue arcs with guest stars and seriously messed up villains. And I don't use messed up lightly, I didn't necessarily expect this much darkness from the 80s (which is funny, since I've seen it before). In each story, there's a social issue mixed into the arc and exaggerated to the extreme. Nocenti doesn't just throw a bunch of villains at the hero. Even her minor [evil] characters usually have a rich backstory, which she isn't afraid to share. They can be victims of injustice, bad parenting, or circumstances. And then she gives them a voice and in some cases, it starts to sound reasonable before you actually see where they went off the rails (Not sure if Neya can be called a villain though).

The Main Event(s)

But all these additional stories more or less revive around two main arcs - Typhoid Mary and Mephisto. Mary's arc is very impressive, and not just because it gives tons and tons of drama. Okay, mostly because of that. The worst way for a hero to lose everything is when they get hurt by someone they trusted. But also, Matt walked into this nonsense all on his own (with a little help from heightened senses, sure, we buy that). I've seen Mary before but never really got familiar with her backstory, aside from encountering her in the latest X-men runs when she married Kingpin. But here it's introduction time and literally the best possible way to know all there is to know about Mary. Her two personalities are interesting in her relationships with other characters (she mostly interacts with DD/Matt and Kingpin but only as Typhoid). But arguably the most definitive element is her parts trying to coexist or rather push each other out. Typhoid is a wild, unpredictable, manipulative, and murderous woman, while Mary is a wallflower, sort of like early Karen. They despise each other, obviously. One's qualities are incompatible with the other's. Typhoid manages to almost kill Matt, but ironically, Mary accidentally delivers the final blow. At this point, Matt's mental stability is shaken to the point from which he can't return on his own, so in true DD fashion, he skips town, reviving the Lone Stranger arc from Miller's run. It doesn't help that before he leaves, beaten and humiliated (rightfully, I might say), there's Inferno going on in New York, as in a literal Limbo opening. It takes an encounter with Mephisto and Inhumans to force him to find himself again and go back to New York. But overall, both stories are some of the greatest examples of how to properly torture a character.

I liked Ann Nocenti's take, it was brutal and harsh with the world showing its ugliest colors. She doesn't shy away from a righteous message and she delivers it in a way that resonates. Nocenti also doesn't reduce her female characters to mindless damsels in need of saving. She even outlines it in the arc of Number Nine. In fact, she didn't paint one or the other as the ideal, both Nine and Brandy learned something from each other.

The Big Picture

In my short review of Born Again on Instagram, I mentioned scaling, specifically Miller inviting the Avengers to deal with one of the villains Daredevil couldn't necessarily handle. Nocenti does a similar thing but again, brings it a step further - she lets Human Torch walk a day in Daredevil's shoes. While at first, he believes it's easier than his job in the Fantastic Four, since they deal with Galactus and other massive dangers on a daily basis. But quickly, he finds out that things aren't that simple. What Daredevil deals with, the famous "street level" is different from saving the world, but that doesn't mean it's easier. Saving one neighborhood with limited resources is something he can't handle. This is bringing value to a character that could easily be considered second-tier. Something that's both necessary and impressive.

Other Pictures

But if I get into this, I might end up rehashing everything that happened in the run. That is if I haven't done it already. I want to sum it up, and of course, it wouldn't be even acceptable without pointing out John Romita Jr's art, he was the main artist for the majority of the run and stood out too. It was dynamic and added the perfect amount of emotion to every character and the interiors that surround them.

All in All

See, when I read the first few issues by Ann Nocenti, I was sure I wasn't going to like it. I thought I was missing something so many people saw. But I kept reading and when it ended, I saw exactly what was there and what made it so unique. It's a perfect follow-up to Born Again, in every sense, and it manages to destroy the seemingly indestructible life the characters created for themselves. The best stories are all like that.

#comics #comic books #marvel comics #marvel #long reads #marvel universe #daredevil #matt murdock #ann nocenti #john romita jr. #typhoid mary #comic book review #spoilers

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Fall of X (either a breakdown or a rant)

Full of spoilers 

We all know Marvel has an affinity for soft reboots. It seems things are going to change radically. But then after a big boom nothing really changes. I personally am still wondering whether Fall of X is going to be like that or if it’s about to shake up the status quo (again). 

I don’t know. I hope changes are coming because Krakoa isn’t my type of setting. But even if not much is changing, I’m still here for the ride. Because the ride is really something.

What’s up

After yet another Hellfire Gala things go awry because of a series of simultaneously executed attacks. Because the majority of Mutants are forcibly relocated from Earth (supposedly), we are left with a small group. Among them are Kamala (who is still coming to terms with even being a mutant), Emma (who is rightfully pissed but surprisingly well prepared), Nightcrawler (who is now spider-man), Firestar (playing a traitor), Shadowkat (who now kills) and some others. 

See that’s why this arc works for me. Everyone is pushed to their absolute limit, and everything they do now is dictated by revenge and despair. Say whatever you want, functional and healthy doesn’t work in fiction quite as well as the opposite.

That’s why I already love this event. 

Nostalgic vibes

It started for me with Mutant First Strike. An attack on a small town is staged by Orchis to look like an act of mutant aggression. We see a Krakoan relief team at work and it’s quite enjoyable. Because the whole thing reminds me of the classic X-men motto - protecting those who fear and hate them. It’s an idea that Krakoa stepped away from and for me, it never felt true to the core idea of the series. 

And then, narratively, the story pushes you back to the good old Civil War days and Stamford. 

Naturally, you see propaganda at work, Orchis and comrades spinning the events to present a twisted image of what had happened. It’s vivid and very actual. But that’s when I felt that the classic X-men aren’t really that far gone. 

Reliving past experiences

The event sure has many great storylines. Like yet again Jean dies (or so, again, we think). This leads us to a story by Louise Simonson which kinda works as a stunning epilogue for the character. Jean goes back to pivotal events in her life and wonders what could she have done differently. A what-if style story that Simonson gets very right because come on, mutant legend here. The issue with time-displaced Jean stuck with me more than the rest. Maybe it’s because I genuinely enjoy AUs, or maybe it’s because Jean is still very much a plot device and her young version isn’t. She also makes a pretty sick old-school Magneto.

The other arcs are about Phoenix and Maddie. The former is as big and bad as ever, the latter just reminds you how lousy some characters have it. Maddie really deserves better (but that’d be boring).

Jean though… she comes to terms with all she’s ever done and accepts it. I mean… if there’s a perfect moment to let her die for good, this is it. But what are the chances… 

Origins

I love an origin story, the last one I got with Escapade (loved it!), but now it’s Ms. Marvel. Let’s skip the story of why she has to be a mutant and get to the interesting stuff. Kamala is all about her identity. Her hobbies, her family, her friends and teams, being inhuman, hero, etc. But as soon as she awakes on Krakoa, she embraces another identity. And see, I love how she almost immediately puts on an X-men uniform. (Unlike Disney’s Kamala who just throws away mutation as another label! What’s wrong with ya girl???) 

Anyway, before she gets to snap on the X-belt, she has a fantastic exchange with Emma. Because let’s be fair, no one schools teens better than Emma. When Emma continuously tells Kamala that she has to be really careful because being a mutant on Krakoa and being a PR stunt for a thriving nation is one thing, but living what they’ve been living before is completely different. and now with Orchis getting the upper hand, it’s straight up terrifying. Of course, Kamala doesn’t listen, she actually rushes into it because she wants to stand with her fellow mutants and that’s amazing (regardless of her mutant power never having been activated). Which is another thing well approached. It’s not even about power, but it’s about who you are.

Multi-layered, right? From Hellfire Gala we spin into the story co-written by Sabir Pirzada and Iman Vellani. It’s a character story with a ton of self searching and it’s definitely something that hasn’t been as common for mutants lately. More of them deserve their own arcs away from teams. I don’t know how well Marvel’s gonna do with separating Ms. Marvel from the X-men but so far she has enough on her plate. Plus, the character’s pretty popular so… who knows. 

This was definitely one of my favorite runs in this event. 

Weddings (and still no funerals) 

But let’s get back to Emma. If life on 616 is a chess board, Emma is a queen. You always expect her to be two steps ahead of everyone and she’s been very very smug. But after the gala she, while still reasonably prepared, is devastated. She believes the cuckoos are dead, her teammates are scattered, and she is pissed at everyone. Plus, she doesn’t know it but Kate’s killing humans now. Things are pretty bad. 

She teams up with Tony, things for him suck too with Feilong taking over his company and tech. In the process, comics threw in giant iron-man-looking sentinels which is something I’d love to see in the MCU. So Emma and Tony accidentally come across each other while fighting an iron sentinel, and end up in sewers plotting revenge on Feilong. 

That’s what leads to their “wedding”. No, they aren’t actually married, and Emma didn’t even use her real identity. But you know what… you know what? Emma and Tony have always had good chemistry and despite this being an almost business relationship, it really should be more. I mean if anyone could be a power couple… they’d be like ‘Roro and T’Challa but without the crown. And we could use a power couple. Not like Scott and Jean who are pretty much just a couple and not like Emma and Scott, the living proof that behind every mediocre man, there’s a great woman. 

So yeah I’m rooting for them. Give me a fake relationship romance in the middle of my superhero story. Note - all the fun parts happen in Invincible Iron Man, not in any of the X-Men titles. 

Where the hell is Storm?

I already mentioned that Krakoa was attacked but so was Arakko. And this is where I have some room for a negative rant. I don’t particularly enjoy this sci-fantasy setting. It gave Storm and Sunspot a couple of good stories mostly showcasing their power and smarts. But really, I think they both should be on Earth. Arakko mutants are really random, their dynamic is very fantasy-like, they have no thought-out place in any story so they’re stuck between being an interstellar problem and something four or five mutants from Earth have to deal with. Neither really works. Not for me anyway, and this is my breakdown. 

The amazing Spider… crawler 

Kurt’s never been bitten by a radioactive spider but yet there he is, wearing Peter Parker’s backup suit, and getting into a complicated ship with Silver Sable. The fun part is he’s doing whatever (or whoever) a spider would do. All the elements of a classic spider story assist Kurt in trying to reimagine himself and atone for the little murder rampage. But of course, being a mutant and pretty much banned from Earth, how well do we think this is gonna go? I love this run because it’s a fun mix and again, character-centric. Plus, it has romance or at least strong character chemistry. And to make things more interesting a distressed delirious Mystique is running around. Meanwhile, in another book, Destiny is falling apart because she believes Mystique is dead. 

Let them people go

Actually, this is one of two other arcs I don’t particularly get. One focuses on the misplaced mutants on a piece of Krakoa with Mother Righteous, Hope, and Exodus with religious euphoria turned up to a 100. Does Krakoa sound more and more like a cult? Yeah, it does. 

And then Realm of X is Saturnyne again. I was tired of her after X of Swords. So I read it for continuity but I don’t really feel like talking about any of it. Skip. 

Everyone gets an arc

Iceman gets a solo arc. He’s dead and preserved by his inhuman boyfriend. The concept is certainly interesting and I’m excited to know what’s happening next. Because if there is poetry in it, I’d like to see where it leads. 

I love when mutants mingle with the rest of the world as much as possible. That’s probably why I was pretty happy to see Unity Squad back in action. It’d be absurd for the rest of the heroes to just ignore mutant issues like they often do. So only fair that they try and rebuild at least some of the trust. Can’t be easy with heavy propaganda but will definitely open up possibilities for creating good stories.

Here we go again

I definitely have to mention murderous Shadowkat. All her recent development culminates in that. And it’s pretty damn realistic. On one side, who can blame her? On the other, kill no human and all that. 

But to me, that’s what Krakoa was always about. Not peaceful coexistence (which may not even be possible) but a utopia that eventually leaves you hollow and angry. Which brings to mind parallels with Jasmine’s world peace from Angel s4. 

Also, this again reminds us how cultish Krakoa is (was?).

Kate’s actions though, like Emma’s are rooted in despair. Both are convinced that the desert-dwelling portion of non-combatant mutants is dead forever. That feels sorta like Age of X-man, in my opinion, unfairly hated for no good reason by many fans. I genuinely enjoyed that arc. But remember how Blindfold kept saying that this is forever and Scott was convinced she meant that everyone else is forever gone. Yep, same thing. (Except it’s with the Five alive and well so resurrection is still present. And still bugs me a lot.) 

I’m still not fully caught up on what’s up with everyone. For instance, I haven’t been keeping tabs on Rogue and Gambit, mostly because first their Excalibur stint bored me and then they lost the spark they had when they weren’t married. I might still change my mind but I’m not holding my breath.

I might not like everything that’s going on but there are arcs and runs I enjoyed immensely and that’s more than enough reason for me to keep coming back to X-runs. 

All that writing and I still forgot Children of the Vault. What's even up with them? Idk but looks interesting.

#x men #xmen #marvel #marvel characters #marvel comics #mutants #long reads #comics #comic books #krakoa #fall of x #jean grey #emma frost #kurt wagner #kate pryde #iron man

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This bugs me every time. Not only no one needs that many reporters, it seems like they actually have even more on each ship for some reason.

And not to say I have no respect for the craft. Hell, I got a journo degree myself. All I’m saying is you have no colonies, a rushed political system that borders on tyranny and military dictatorship depending on a day of the week. Yet somehow, the journos survive just like cockroaches.

What’s there to report? What nonsense Laura said today? If you gonna be journalists at least go check out some other ships. Buggers never even leave the Colonial One. I bet at least 50% of those guys would be more useful anywhere else.

Not a single one covered the racist doctor killing Saggitarons. They were all napping somewhere or waving their mics on the Colonial One. The only one good at her job was D’Anna.

#battlestar galactica #why are there so many journalists

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“k so i don't think i'm gonna be a fan of xander”

😂😂😂😂😂😂

early buffy observations

baby alyson hannigan is so cute

cordelia is giving brooke mcqueen but less relevant

there's a member of this friend group i've never seen before which can't be good for this guy

giles has no personal space

this ain't about you xander

pour one out for jesse lol

"my body is your instrument" gay

ima be real i can't tell anyone with vampire face apart

k so i don't think i'm gonna be a fan of xander

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Charmed: Why the Reboot isn't Robbing You of Anything

I have recently rewatched the original Charmed, and it was a big deal. It was one of my favorite shows growing up. I’m talking full-on obsession with copying spells and writing down what happened in every episode. That’s how much of a fan I was of the original series.

Needless to mention, the news of the reboot back in the day made me nervous. Then I watched one episode and fell into that raging anger so many fans shared and still do. Why would they take something that meant so much to me and remake it for new audiences? Recast the characters, rewrite the lore? That’s heresy is what it is. Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought back then. After one episode I’d decided that this show is never going to compare to the original one.

I’m sure glad I grew out of that. And mind that in 2018 when the new Charmed showed up to take the stage, I was almost 30. So can’t blame it on my naive youth or the stubbornness that comes with age. 

It took me a couple more years to realize that the show wasn’t out to get me. It didn’t take anything away from my childhood obsession. It literally didn’t affect that. Neither my memories of Charmed nor my ability to rewatch it whenever I want. One thing had nothing to do with the other. More than anything, it’s the fans of the new show that opened my eyes. They may not be many, but somewhere someone loved it and it was as important to them as the original one was to me. Simple as that. If I could get comfort and joy from that show, I should be happy that other people found it in a show, even different, but with the same name and premise. 

This idea made me want to give the show another shot. And when I finally finished rewatching the og Charmed with the sisters and their manor, and their Book of Shadows, I decided that it’s time. Time to have another go at the new Charmed. Worst case, I’ll get a couple laughs out of it. But who knows, right? 

I was right. I wanted something of my own out if this new show. Something that’s already been told. The same characters and the same manor. But I got something else entirely and I’m happy I could find beauty and joy in it. 

The new Charmed are very different. They are literally different people so their stories aren’t and can not be the same. The new show still shares similar motives and callbacks to the original. Season one is trying to step into its big sister’s big shoes that are painfully unfit for demon-vanquishing. It plays in the same sandbox where the lives of three sisters are hijacked by magic (as well as demon boyfriends and cop girlfriends). At its core, this new show is still preaching the same ideas. And it’s right to be more vocal about that too.

The second season though. Talk about a show finding its footing. The characters get more comfortable in their identities, the stories and arcs get more personalized. It’s not a shadow of Charmed anymore, it’s the other Charmed. The show changes the lore and so many changes turn out to be improvements. At times it takes a darker tone, and it has an entirely different vibe. I’m binging the new Charmed and I can’t stop. It has me hooked as much as the original one did back in the day.

The whole thing reminds me of a band changing a lead or, you know what, the same og show replacing one of the sisters. Even that hadn’t been taken well by many fans. And some are pissed about that to this day. But the show survived and told its stories. And did it pretty well, too. If you go into it wishing to recapture something you had, don’t bother. Charmed from 2018 will never be the show I skipped school for. They never will taste like pre-school cereal and look like a small TV on top of the fridge. 

Those who enjoyed the show would tell you to let go of your attachment to the OG series. I’d say don’t, really, don’t even bother unless you’re prepared for something new. Because if you are, then you will be able to let it occupy a separate corner in the fandom hall of your mind. Just remember, it doesn’t take anything from you or your memories. It only adds something else. 

I loved being wrong about the reboot. 

#charmed #charmed reboot #charmed 2018 #charmed cw #charmed 1998 #long reads #tv seires #tv #tv shows

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Why Boom Still Can’t Get Buffy Right

My love for the Buffyverse is concrete but it has its limits. Yesterday I had a very unpleasant experience finishing yet another unimpressive Buffy run, courtesy of Boom Comics. It’s always disappointing to me because Buffyverse has so much potential and untold stories. It’s a goldmine that is constantly held back and simply can’t find its footing in the comics medium. Why is that? 

Boom’s been rather relentless in trying to make Buffy work. Several years and runs later, there’s still no big WOW story that can attract readers and viewers alike. Not just that, but even seasoned buffy fans don’t seem very interested in continuous attempts at rebooting the Slayer tale. You can blame the word reboot (it does tend to scare people) but the real reason is still Boom’s inability to deliver a good captivating story.

Boom had tried reinventing Buffy, sending her back to school, developing alternate realities and futures. But in every iteration, Buffy and the Scooby Gang were plagued with the same mistakes over and over again. 

Hey, I’m not sure what I am, so bear with me here 

The characters from Buffy are some of the most well-developed characters out there. Each one has a point of origin, a story, and a final form. We love them because we know them. And we know them extremely well. 

Let’s take the fan-favorite, Spike. We’ve seen his whole afterlife and even bits of his life. We know how he became William the Bloody, then Spike, a neutered vampire, and finally, an ensouled champion. We know how, and more importantly, we know why. 

I’d hate to throw in one more why but there is a reason Spike exists in the show, and we know it. 

When you read Boom comics, it feels like writers stick him into every arc just because they like him. He brings nothing to the story, he has no soul or chip yet chooses to join the scoobies. That does not look like the Spike we know. That guy was in s2-s4, not s5-s7. That’s the guy from School Hard or the one who got the Gem of Amara and happily marched to kill Buffy. 

But there’s nothing stronger than the author’s desire to make things ‘right’. Hence this spike lookalike joining the team every time. 

The funny part is, I can very well imagine a soulless chipless Spike who’s not a monster. If Dru sires him and never sees him again, if she never introduces him to Angelus, if he keeps on writing his bloody awful poetry only forever. He probably would’ve turned out like that poor librarian guy whose glasses Dru broke or like Harmony who still tried to be decent. But it’s the writer’s job to explain it, to write it into the story, not just throw a character into a book and see whether they swim or go down. They will always go down. 

Spike is only one of the issues here. In the show, both Kendra and Faith exist to show us the perfect (according to the council) and the fallen slayer. Two possible realities for Buffy. They have their own arcs (well, Faith does) but the show is strong because supporting characters serve a purpose. Just like the people we meet in real life always serve a purpose for us. You might believe that one character pushing the development of another is cruel, but that’s still how good stories are made. That’s still why Buffy is popular 20 years after the show’s finale. 

Kendra and Faith did that for Buffy in the show. In the Boom comics they just exist. They show up for no reason and they just hang around. You can take them out of the story and nothing will change. At one point in the initial reboot there were three slayers at the same time, and that felt more like a fix-it fanfic than a quality comic book. Unfortunately, some slayers have to die and some have to turn evil. Besides, without her rebellious personality, Faith is meaningless.

I have one more bone to pick. I know that Buffy and Angel (still the OTP of the show!) are a complicated matter to many modern writers. And readers, and viewers. There’s no place to hide from the creep factor and even though I will defend this ship till the day everyone finally agrees with me, I can’t deny its presence. But that doesn’t mean you get to discard this ship and separate Buffy and Angel into different books. One doesn’t exist or grow without the other. There is no Buffy in love with a vampire without Angel. There is only Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire. 

Without Buffy, Angel is not in LA helping the helpless. He’s in New York eating low rats. Before trying to launch two separate books, how about Boom launches one good one, that provides background, even if revised and adapted to the modern days? 

I always worried what would happen when that b*tch got some funding

All this chaotic mess with the characters determines the stories Boom puts out. They tend to have an interesting start but by the time issue 3 comes out, it’s either Camazotz flying around Sunnydale, a giant crab taking over the main street, or whatever the hell Silas was (a soul eater?) Didn’t care for him much. Not even when we were evil. 

More often than not Boom writers suffer from the same disease that plagued Dark Horse comics – scale. Just because you can do anything doesn’t mean you should. Comics allow you to draw literally any kind of baddie but you are playing within a specific world, and suspense of disbelief only goes so far. Besides, in the show, it all grows gradually. You go from the Master to the First evil. In the comics… seriously, what the hell was Silas? 

From what I’ve read so far, Boom knows how to ask interesting questions: 

What if Buffy went to school today?

What if Willow took over as the slayer? 

What if Buffy was older? 

Those are all good what ifs but Boom has a problem following through. They don’t know the answer to this question and it feels like they’re making it up as they go along. If I’m being honest, it even feels like they wrote random ideas on pieces of paper, through them in a hat, and started pulling each time they hit a wall. 

Characters show up for now reason (hi, Tara from the latest run), they don’t feel like themselves, and the saddest part – none of it feels like you are getting your favorite show back. 

These characters deserve better than that. 

And there’s not a one who can say this ended well

At this point, I don’t know if Boom wants Buffy comics to succeed. I don’t mean to be this dramatic but every time someone mentions comics, fans think Dark Horse. Not because they are still considered canon, but because they had a connection to the beloved show. Boom comics don’t give you that, so you can’t look the other way when writers don’t deliver. It’s just how it works. 

I keep thinking what Boom can do to get out of this vicious circle. And I do believe there If they want to successfully play in the Buffyverse, they have to seriously up their game. It’s not impossible either. I mean, Something is Killing the Children is being released by the same studio. And what is that if not a more gruesome version of Buffy? So it’s not exactly magic. It’s doable. 

Personally, I still hold out hope that someone would dare explore the terrifying bloody past of the Whirlwind. Wouldn’t that be fun and gory? I’d like to see deep well-thought-through stories of past slayers. I’d happily read a well-illustrated comic run based on In Every Generation. And if we have to go back to Buffy variants, why not reinvent her story? But before we get to that, we’d have to work through every step of every character. Get them to where we want them, and start with a story that we want to tell, from start to finish. From her first day as a slayer to her last one (she didn’t have to empower the potentials after all).

That, of course, requires a lot of work. And if Boom isn’t ready to put in that kinda effort, they could just move from season 5, introduce a new slayer, and watch how her adventures unravel.  

Buffyverse is a hell of a property and there are too many stories waiting to be written. I’m probably still gonna give it a shot whenever Boom comes up with something new. I just hope I won’t have to write yet another long read complaining about it. 

#buffy comics #buffy x angel #buffy summers #buffy the vampire slayer #buffyverse #buffy x spike #buffysource #comics #comic books #long reads #boom buffy #boom comics #btvs #btvs comics #kendra young #faith lehane

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Every day

#catwoman #selina kyle #dc #dc comics #dc universe #batfam

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I didn't really like or get Lois until this.

#lois lane #dc #dc comics #superman #comic books

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It's my 4 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

(Well actually it was a couple days ago but I was busy)

#4 year tumblrversary #tumblr milestone

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The tee 😂

#barbara gordon #batgirl #the oracle #dc comcis #batman #batfam #bat family

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Hey am I the only one slightly obsessed?

#dc comcis #dc #ghost maker #batman #batman comics #characters #psychopath

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#wonder woman #diana prince #batman #bruce wayne #dc comix #dc comcis #out of context comic panels

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Tell me he brought the utensils from home.

“Alfred, pack grandmother’s silver! We are going to a dining establishment!”

#batfam #batman #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #damian wayne #duke thomas #nightwing #red hood #robin

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But that’s also what living with siblings is

#batfam #jason todd #red hood

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Your Favorite Characters Will Never be Perfect in Movies.

Remember how Hawkeye was nothing like in the comics? Or how Rogue never even encountered Gambit on screen? Or how the whole Titans show did its own thing? 

And are you one of those people who can’t help but mention that this-is-not-how-it-happened-in-the-comics? Yeah, I used to be one too. 

In my case, it was enough to part with my expectations for the things I’ve already seen to realize what I’m missing by dismissing (I swear I’m not freestyling here.) But there’s more to it than just working on my own hopes and dreams. There is a reason (a few in fact) why we don’t see page-to-page adaptations. 

Where do I begin?

I’m trying hard to get into DC and the aforementioned Titans only pushed me closer to it (yeah meet another show I absolutely love now). But what stops me every time is issue number 1000+. I have time and I’m a patient lady but I won’t start something I can’t hope to finish. Both Action and Detective comics are over 1k issues long. I’m not sure I have time for that. But I’d love to get to know the characters and so would many others. Lucky for us, each one of them gets an origin story and if you’re lazy, a dedicated segment in an encyclopedia of their respective universe. Movies and shows aren’t that. They always have room for improvement and a fresh look. What they don’t have to do is retell an old, sometimes outdated ~30-page arc. Been there done that. Take me someplace new. 

The Power of a Retcon

Name a character who's never gotten a retcon. I’ll wait. If the first name that pops up is someone who has 10 pages of panel time before being cast off into the roster oblivion, we’re thinking alike. Most prominent characters have had their origin replayed and rewritten. No matter what the reasons were (sometimes it’s just lazy writing), you can always count on at least 3 different ways the character discovered their powers. Now which one do we take to screen? The latest? The fan favorite? Can’t please everyone. Besides, sometimes writers gotta work with a whole different universe (Hey ya, MCU). No one illustrates this better than Wanda and Pietro. And if anything, it’s our weird attraction to canon that caused them to be disowned by Magneto (correction - he never disowned them but it was revealed that he’s not their bio parent, although he reclaimed them back as his own eventually). 

There are a few characters and types of characters for whom it’s important to keep their origin intact. In my opinion, one of them is mutants but even comics have been messing it up for a long time now (looking at you, artist formerly known as Apocalypse!)

With so many changes how do we even trace a character back to their origins? It’s really easier to capture their general sense and role.

Crisis on Every Earth

We get retcons in the main timeline but how about all the other ones? Remember how Marvel went ahead and built a whole Ultimate Universe? Gotta say I loved the experiment even with its shortcomings. And I’d love to see more of that (just give me a high-school Evolution-style AU already!) Oh and then Nick Fury and Spidey became so wildly popular- they made it to movies and 616 respectively, remember? That’s kind of the point. The versions of the characters we know and love aren’t always necessarily the best ones. But we won’t find out unless we give them a fair shot. And I’m all for that.

And if you already have a version you like then what are you actually losing by getting a new one? You’ve read them and you’ve seen them.

Too Many Cooks 

To build upon the previous paragraph, all characters have their creators and then they have dozens of other people who took their turn at writing them. Now which one did it best is quite a question (the best example will always be the X-men although let’s face it, they’re a team). The thing here is, under a new writer every character picks up new traits. There’s a huge difference between the original take, a take from the 90s, and whatever is going on now. Again, it comes down to personal preferences and the story you choose to tell. 

To change or not to change

That, and what to change exactly. Every character can essentially be boiled down to several qualities that you shouldn’t change no matter what. The rest is flexible. 

Yes, for some characters it’s their signature look that can’t be altered (but that’s far less common than most people want to admit). For most though it’s their values or a specific origin or their role in a team. Just because we don’t expect it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. 

The question of what exactly you can and should change, now this is a fun one. 

What works on paper doesn’t always fit into a frame. Like Superman’s questionable habit of wearing underwear as a top layer of clothing. Sure it works for a campy version but the truth is, he could look however the hell he likes as long as he’s a humanoid. His origin and personal traits are what makes him Superman. But depending on the story you wanna tell, you can change whatever and it will work for me. 

Toys and Sandboxes

Every character is shaped by decades of writing (good and bad). Events get added and erased but even if you get the origin right, the character won’t go through the same things as in comics. That is, unless you’re planning on retelling every story (I’m sure you aren’t.) Every slightest change of events will make them grow apart from their og version. By the second movie, it’s already a different AU version. That’s exactly what AUs are for. Exploring options, using opportunities. 

Our vision of characters always ties to when and where we see them for the first time. With our favorites it speaks to how much they resonate with us. And truth be told, that’s not always their originally intended personality (or look). I’ll go into DC, having a few expectations of my own, same as I watched the X-men movies with a clear vision of their characters. But teenage Jean Grey will never have the memories of teenage time displaced Jean, and  og teenage Jean was absolutely replaceable by a cardboard cutout. 

So there it is, something I will be holding on to when I finally go to see MCU’s take on mutants. And something we all should consider before judging any casting. 

#marvel characters #dc characters #characters #movies #comics #comic books #long reads #MCU #DCEU #cartoons #animation #comic book characters