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butwhyduh · 3 years

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A Date to Remember

Damian Wayne x Superman’s daughter reader

Damian is 20, reader 19, Jon is her little brother at 18 and Kon acts like an older brother to her.

Warning: angsty and kidnapping

You’d always told Damian that the sunset on the Kent farm was the best in the world. Damian smiled a little as he drove down the long road to Smallville. Damian had thought about classic dinner date in one of Metropolis’ fanciest restaurants but you insisted on meeting him in a barn.

He felt underdressed. Blue jeans and a flannel shirt. Why did he let Jon help him get dressed? He felt ridiculous but at least he wore sensible shoes. But deep down Damian knew you world like it. And he was certainly willing to feel a little foolish for you.

Clark was off world and Lois was on a mission. Jon had his own date in the city so it was the both of you alone tonight. How long had it been since the two of you were alone without someone around? Between his half a dozen brothers and your family with literal super hearing... yeah it’s been tough. So being 50 miles from everyone was kind of a dream.

Damian pulled in the driveway with some flowers and walked up to the house. He knocked on the door only for it to swing open. Damian noticed the splintered door frame and his heart sped up. He called your name. Act like the rich billionaire son while working like Robin, even though he wasn’t quite sure he still wanted the name.

He scanned every surface and he noticed a small scratch near the back door after looking through every room. Most people wouldn’t even notice it. You weren’t there. He looked closely and saw drag marks in the gravel path to the barn. His heart was thundering at this point. You weren’t in the barn either.

You were half Kryptonian but the genetic inheritance was complicated. Jon had won the lottery with having most of his father’s powers and not being as sensitive to Kryptonite. You had lost it. Hypersensitive to Kryptonite and only some speed and increased hearing and strength. Barely about the average human. You weren’t a fighter.

Damian pulled out his phone to call Jon.

“Bit busy here, Damian,” Jon said, sounding far from amused. Damian could hear kissing noises in the background and frowned. He didn’t want to hear that.

“Your sister is missing,” he said and he heard a lot of movement on the phone.

“What??”

“The door jam was kicked in and there are scrap marks of her being dragged away. I think she’s been kidnapped,” Damian said. His voice felt tight. He, son of Batman, let his girlfriend get kidnapped. “Whoever it was clearly waited until she had no other Kryptonians around to grab her. It wasn’t a coincidence that she was taken tonight. Can you get out here? I’m calling father to try and trace her. Her phone is missing too.”

“I’m leaving in 5. Damian, if Luther has her, she can’t handle Krytonite,” Jon said, worry bleeding into his voice. “It’s like it poisons her.”

“I know. But we don’t know who has her. Let’s hope they don’t know she’s part Krytonian,” Damian said, already mentally moving on to his next step. Contact Bruce. Get the bat computer to trace her. Look for more evidence. Don’t freak out completely that she might be poisoned by Kyrotonite.

“Okay. I’m about to fly. I’ll see you soon,” Jon said before hanging up.

——————————

You woke up with a cough. You head throbbed and your stomach rolled as you laid in a bed? Maybe a couch? It was a horrible feeling but you knew exactly what it was: Kryptonite. You couldn’t forget what how that stuff made you feel. You tried to look around to see it but the room was completely dark. Night vision would be nice but you got human eyes. Your slightly enhanced hearing heard nothing but the wind outside. Okay, you were ground level or higher.

You tried to twist in the cuffs that bound your hands only to cry out. There was the Kryptonite. It was on the outside of the cuffs and you almost threw up at it touched your skin. You were cuffed with Kryptonite to a hospital bed, you figured. What other bed had areas perfect for cuffs? Your legs were equally restrained and you felt so exposed in the dark room.

Your dad was off world. He wouldn’t hear you if you called for him. But Jon might. But if you yelled, someone might come in and who knows what they would do. You’d wait a little bit longer. You wanted to fall asleep. The Kryptonite made you feel so dull. Like the first time you were exposed to it.

You were all of 4 years old. Your dad had brought you with him to the Justice League meeting. Relatively safe and Batman promised Robin would watch you. Dick was so excited to be a babysitter. You had hugged him tight enough to hurt before running to the climbing wall.

“Hey!” Called the 16 year old. “I brought games instead!”

You warily walked back over to him and card games and board games fell out of a duffle bag as he opened it. Half the stuff you were far too young for. You bent down as he scooped up his gameboy. You pulled out some games and open a side pocket to grab a small metal box. Dick sat down his gameboy carefully before turning back to you.

“Don’t open th-“ he started before you pulled open the box to show a bright green stone. Followed by you throwing up all over his bag of games. You dropped the box and sat on the floor. Dick quickly closed the box with the piece of Kryptonite and put it in his pocket. He had boroughed one of Bruce’s bags that apparently wasn’t fully unpacked.

“Dad, I don’t feel good,” you said as Clark ran over. Dick looked at you so guiltily.

“I didn’t know,” he swore. “I’m so sorry.” Bruce stood by quietly.

“We need to talk later,” Clark had told Bruce and yeah, they were mad at each other for a while.

——————————————

Jon arrived shortly in a dress shirt and slacks and he looked at Damian just as weird as Damian looked at him. They had basically switched clothing.

“Not to judge but that’s date clothing? You told me to not wear flannel,” Jon said accusingly.

“That’s because your sister wanted me to wear this,” Damian said back. “Let’s focus on finding her. Father’s calling me now. We’ll change in a minute.”

“Hello, you’re on speaker phone,” Damian said.

“Her tracker is showing a warehouse owned by Luthor Corp in downtown Metropolis,” Bruce said. “Do you need help? I can see if Dick is nearby.”

“No thanks. Jon will help me. Thank you, father,” Damian said before hanging up.

“Luthor. I knew it,” Jon said with a frown. “Wait, you put a tracker on my sister? Does she know?”

“Now is not the time. Let’s get to Metropolis,” Damian said, changing the subject while both got dressed. Jon nodded and offered his arms. “I’m not being carried like that. I’ll hold on your back,” Damian said. Jon rolled his eyes and nodded again.

As they flew over corn fields and pastures, Jon began to question Damian. “So when did you put this tracker in? Does she even know? Where is it? Do I want to even know?”

“It’s sub-dermal in her forearm and I haven’t told her yet. And it’s irrelevant right now as it might save her life,” Damian said and Jon looked disgusted. “We need to focus on saving her and then you can be her angry brother.”

“Wow...”

————————————

You moved and the cuffs burned your skin. You gasped and screamed “Jon! Kon!” You called out to them hoping one of them would hear you.

“Dad!” you cried frantic. There was no way he would hear you. “Damian! Jonathan! Conner!”

You panted and your head pounded. You were so tired. You’d lose consciousness if no one saved you. Then who knows what they would do to you.

“Superman!” You screamed desperately before finally passing out.

——————————

“Did you hear that?” Jon said as they flew towards the Metropolis skyline.

“No all I hear is wind. What did you hear?” Damian said.

“Y/n. She’s calling for us,” Jon said speeding up.

“Is she okay?” Fear bled into Damian’s voice.

“I can’t tell. I’m trying to hurry,” Jon said flying quickly towards the industrial area of the city. He landed on the roof of a warehouse. Jon’s eyes glowed as he looked through the building.

“7 men. 4 posted outside the door to the room that’s she’s being held on the 2nd floor. Her heart rate is steady and she isn’t screaming any more. Almost sounds asleep,” Jon said after his analysis.

“Probably tranquilizer. Father’s data said this building is used for research purposes. Does that fit?” Damian asked.

“Uh more like research subject holding. Maybe a small lab on the first floor but other than cameras everywhere, there isn’t much science stuff that I can scan. But also the basement is sealed off,” Jon said.

“How?”

“Lead bound. You can check it out while I rescue her. 4 guys is nothing,” Jon said making a fist.

“Hold on. Luthor would probably have her surrounded by Kryptonite. Just in case one of you look for her. And that’s the last thing we need,” Damian said. “I’ll rescue her and you look for the basement. Knowing Luthor, it’s probably an entire facility of experiments below. He just hadn’t gotten her room ready yet.”

Jon looked frustrated. “Fine. You rescue her but be careful. She is the weakest of us. She’s not invulnerable to bullets or anything.”

“Most of the people I rescue aren’t either,” Damian reminded him. “And I’m certainly not taking a chance with my beloved.”

Jon looked over to respond but Damian was already gone. Just like the rest of the bats: silent goodbyes. Jon quietly moved down to the first floor. He was working but at the same time, his ear was trained on his sister’s heartbeat. Jon might be the younger sibling but she didn’t have powers and he felt so protective.

—————————————

Damian rolled his eyes at the 5 ways he could see that the security sucks in the 3 minutes he hung out the window before climbing in. Large rafters and guards who didn’t bother to look up. Not to mention the fact that they let there be a solid wall between the set of guards which meant that Damian was easily able to jump down to knock them out in pairs without the other set knowing. If the security was any worse they would leave the door unlocked.

The door wasn’t unlocked but it was a deadbolt that Damian easily disabled. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it was on purpose. He gulped before opening the door. What if you were really hurt? Or dead? Ignore and get in there.

Damian opened the door and he felt white hot rage. You were tied to a bed and were unconscious. You were in a nice dressy shirt and sweatpants. They’d clearly taken you while you were getting dressed. Damian wanted to kill them. He had to take a breath to help you. Jon was taking them out and Damian was on rescue. He had to stay level headed.

Even the cuffs on your wrists were inadequate. If they had attempted to restrain Damian, he would have gotten out in 3 minutes. When he was 6 years old. The Kryptonite had left nasty red burns on your skin and he clenched his jaw at the sight. Jon better be punching extra hard.

Damian picked you up bridal style and you groaned a little before turning your head against his chest. The farther he got you from that fucking Kryotonite the better you were. He took you to the roof and you started waking up.

“Damian,” you said softly and a little confused.

“Hey you’re awake. How are you feeling?” He asked looking all over your face for injury.

“Kryptonite. I hate that stuff,” you said. Damian grabbed your hand and you hissed. He looked to see bright red knuckles. You’d clearly fought at some point. He certainly knew the signs of punching someone.

“You fought back?”

“Yeah and hitting someone in a helmet and body armor sucks. I got just a few in before they pulled out the damn rock. I throw up every damn time,” you said shaking your head.

Before Damian could comment on how brave and stupid it was to punch body armor, there was a huge crash down on the first floor as someone flew in the building through the window. You grabbed him tightly.

“What the hell is that?”

“Kon. Conner’s here. I’m up here,” you yelled.

Conner flew up to the roof. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“Kidnapped. Damian and Jon saved me. He’s still down there actually. Can you check on him?” You said. Damian suddenly stood up.

“What if you were a distraction and the real problem is downstairs?” Damian suddenly said with clarity. The Kryptonite alone was enough to hold you down. The half ass security was to hold their attention when they rescued you. Jon was already flying back down before Damian could say more. Damian weighed his options: leave you alone, bring you with him, or stay out of it and while the last sounded nice, he’d have to go in case of more Kryptonite.

Before Damian could decide, Kon was back on the roof. “You’ve got to come see this.”

Downstairs was a lead lined basement. That alone had you nervous. Jon stood by the door. Little spattering of blood could be seen on his hands. He had a hard look.

“Warning: this is going to be messed up,” he said and you were even more worried. You walked in to see cages. Kids. Unconscious adults lay around in the hallway. “They were experimenting on them.”

You felt nauseous.

“My father is on the way. This is much bigger than I thought,” Damian said messing with his comms. His free hand was on your shoulder protectively.

There were 8 kids in cages. Bruce was running tests on their blood and investigating the area as you helped to get them out of the cages. What a terrible Valentine’s Day.

“Beloved, let’s get you home. We can stay at the farm tonight. You need sleep,” Damian said worried. You looked at him distracted.

“They’re just kids.”

“Come on. Let’s go. Kon is going to stay there too. Just for the night,” Damian said helping you up. Kon flew you both back to the farm.

“I’m going back to help. You okay, kid,” Kon asked as Damian inspected the house.

“I’ll be alright. Just help those kids,” you said.

“Yeah, of course,” he said ruffling your head. You rolled your eyes. “But seriously, the way you screamed I thought you were being murdered.”

You stiffened. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

Kon knew when to quit. Something he had learned from Tim. He gave you a big hug and flew off towards Metropolis.

“Hey. I made your bed so you can sleep,” Damian said quietly. “And a change of clothes.”

You nodded and went upstairs. Damian helped pull off your shirt and put on a sweater. He looked at the marks around your wrist and red knuckles but didn’t note any more bruises or cuts. You pulled on sweatpants and climbed in small twin bed that Lois kept for guests. The pink and yellow flowery quilt felt warm and comforting on your skin. Damian lay beside you after changing and looked at you seriously.

“What is it,” you asked.

“I was so scared tonight. I have been doing this for years and I’ve never been so worried,” he said softly and you looked down and flushed. If you weren’t so freaking sensitive to Kryptonite this wouldn’t have happened. Damian gently lifted your chin and you looked at him.

“I was scared to lose you,” he said running his thumb across your cheek. “I’m going to drive you absolutely mad because I don’t want to take my eyes off of you.”

“Yeah?” You said with a little smile.

“Uh hm. But first sleep,” he said and your body certainly agreed. You curled into him and rest your head on his chest. His arms held you tightly before rubbing your back. You fell asleep to Damian staring at you. He stared at you all night, not even sleeping when Kon came in a few hours later.

———————————

“I have to know what all that was, Bruce,” you said at the Batcave the next day. “I was in there.”

He looked at you for a minute. “They were experimenting with meta DNA. All of those kids have gifts and they wanted to take you too. There were even plans to inject those kids with your blood to see if it would affect them.”

You shivered a little at the thought. Lex Luthor and his obsession with Kryptonian DNA.

“All the records were burned. Most of the warehouse too. Your brothers were.... thorough. And Clark will be home in a few days,” Bruce added.

“Really?”

“Yes. And he’s furious at Luthor. Probably will call soon. He wanted to let you sleep earlier. We’re just running programs here. Why don’t you and Damian go upstairs,” he suggested.

“Bruce Wayne,” came a stern voice behind you. You turned to see your mother, Lois Lane, looking like she was going to beat up Batman. “You put a tracker in my daughter without her permission?”

“You what?” You said.

“Actually that was Damian. Though I want to point out that it helped save her life,” Bruce added. Lois slapped him soundly across the cheek. Bruce just blinked and rubbed his cheek.

“Damian, you put a tracker in me?” You asked shocked. You’d assumed Jon had heard you or Damian’s detective work brought them to the warehouse. Not an invasive tracker in your body. “What the hell?”

“Well I can explain..”

#Damian Wayne x reader #damian al ghul x reader #robin x reader #Damian Wayne angst #valentine fic #batboy x reader #dc #fns

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themyskira · 6 years

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Wonder Woman #50 postmortem: “You know how strident Wonder Woman fans can be”

I want to cap off my readthrough of this unmitigated shitshow with a look at a recent interview James Robinson did with Newsarama, reflecting back on his twenty-issue Wonder Woman run.

I’m doing this for two reasons: One, because having read the full run and formed my own impressions (and, dare I say, some rather strident opinions), I genuinely do think it can be interesting to see what the writer has to say about it, what they were trying to achieve with it and, looking back, how they feel about the run.

And two, because having read what Robinson has to say, HOOBOY, I HAVE A FEW THOUGHTS OF MY OWN.

Newsarama: James, the one through-line of your entire run is Wonder Woman's twin brother, Jason. I know he was the motivation for you working on this book. Did you know the whole story before you started? Or did this story evolve as you wrote it?

James Robinson: I knew to a degree. As you said, I was specifically asked to pay off the gigantic plot point that Geoff Johns had left at the end of "Darkseid War." So it was always part of my plan.

Are. You. FUCKING. KIDDING ME.

The entire premise of this run. The wholesale derailment of Wondy’s Rebirth story. The rampant shredding of her newly-established Rebirth backstory. Sidelining Diana for the better part of a year in favour of a repulsive twin brother and some shit with Darkseid.

ALL OF THAT.

Served no wider purpose.

Was not intended to build towards some Rebirth metaplot or contribute to an overarching Justice League story.

Was mandated, in fact, for no other reason than that Geoff motherfucking Johns wanted to TIE UP A DANGLING PLOT THREAD FROM TWO-YEAR-OLD CROSSOVER.

He goes on.

Originally, I was going to be on it for a shorter period of time. I had originally planned to be on it for about eight issues, I think. And then when I was getting the twice-monthly book in on time (which is tough; they really beat you up), they asked me to stay on.

There are better, more eloquent arguments against the fortnightly publishing schedule — which is incredibly punishing for creators and prioritises quantity ahead of quality — but none, perhaps, are more simple or succinct than James Robinson got to write twenty issues of Wonder Woman because he got his scripts in on time.

And that gave me more time to develop Jason and play with him more.

I was careful to make sure it wasn't only about Jason, however. I was already getting crap from social media about how this is Wonder Woman's book and she should be the center of attention at all time. You know how strident Wonder Woman fans can be.

Well, that’s an interesting and thoroughly disingenuous interpretation of the critique.

The criticism was not that Wondy must be “the centre of attention at all times”, and therefore Robinson was wrong to spend any time developing any character other than her.

It was that Robinson turned Diana into such a passive, reactive — and, frankly, incompetent — character that she became barely necessary to the story at all. You could remove her from most of the issues in the Darkseid arc without affecting the progression of the plot at all, because she never does anything.

Yes, I got irate when Diana would routinely show up in six or seven pages of an issue, if she appeared at all. Funny thing, when I pick up a book titled Wonder Woman, I expect to occasionally see some actual WONDER WOMAN.

But that was the symptom rather than the problem. Because even when Diana was on the page, she was absent from the story.

And part of this is also about the characters Robinson chose to focus on instead of Wondy: Jason, Grail and Darkseid. Three characters that a lot of fans weren’t interested in, didn’t like and frankly resented having shoehorned into Wondy’s story. True, Robinson may have been asked to include them in the story, but it was his choice to prioritise them over Diana, and it was his writing that shaped Jason into such an odious character (something he confirms in the interview: Johns came up with the idea, he says, but “Most of who the character is now is stuff that I've actually come up with.”)

Put it this way: I didn’t see anybody complaining in December 2016 when Greg Rucka devoted an entire issue to Barbara Minerva’s backstory, did you?

But oh, I’m sorry, was that too strident for you?

Nrama: During your run, you tied into several events that were going on elsewhere in the DC Universe. Even this current story arc ties into Dark Nights: Metal and involves the Justice League. Was that a goal, to make Jason part of the greater DCU?

Robinson: Yes. I always do that stuff, though. I always try to tie into bigger stories. Whether it was my stuff at DC or what I did at Marvel, like Fantastic Four and Invaders and what-not, I always enjoy that about comic book universes. I like when writers try to embrace the whole place.

Here’s the thing about this.

I like the sandbox nature of a shared universe. I’m not a fan of event tie-ins, which have a tendency to derail the stories of individual books in order to aggressively market some company-wide crossover that I couldn’t care less about, but I like that there’s this whole wider world of heroes and villains and settings and mythologies that writers can draw on and play with. And you can tell some really cool stories out of the collision of those different mythologies and characters — think Phil Jimenez’s ‘Gods of Gotham’, for instance, where the Wonderfam and the Batfam are forced to team up when some of Batman’s most powerful rogues are possessed by Ares’ children.

That’s not the way Robinson loops the wider DCU into his stories, or at least it wasn’t in Wonder Woman.

Robinson goes for insider references, often obscure ones, of the sort that will only make sense to people who’ve been reading the same comics as him over the past three decades.

In WW #33, he introduced and then immediately killed off a rebooted version of the Atomic Knights in a four-page sequence that added nothing to the plot.

In WW #42, he featured a flashback to Jason fighting the Deep Six, a group of Jack Kirby villains. Ostensibly this is framed as a set-up by Grail to orchestrate her first meeting with Jason, but Robinson milks it to crack jokes about Kirby’s 1970s dialogue — and if you’re not familiar with the characters (as I wasn’t), their inclusion makes little sense.

In the same issue, Robinson also works in the Wild Huntsman… apparently for no other reason than to amuse himself… and again, if you don’t know who he is, you’ll have no idea why Grail is trying so hard to kill him or why you should care.

And then there’s the Metal tie-in.

Like I said, I don’t like event tie-ins, but it is possible to make them work. G. Willow Wilson’s Ms Marvel has been looped into a number of crossover events over the course of its life, and while I’d prefer that clusterfucks like Civil War II stayed the hell away from Kamala and her pals, Wilson has done an effective job of using these events as a springboard for some really interesting personal conflicts and character work. There’s no extra required reading for these stories; she gives you everything you need to know, so those who aren’t following the event aren’t at a disadvantage.

Robinson gives you nothing.

This is how he links the Dark Gods’ story into Metal:

Diana [narration]: Could I really have summoned this? When we wielded the Tenth Metal against Barbatos, it had the ability to wish thoughts into reality.* Ed. note: * See Dark Nights: Metal #6! — Chris

And a couple of pages later —

Karnell [narration]: ...our beautiful world — which you regard as the ‘Dark Multiverse’ — we see as a paradise… where we were more than even gods to our worshippers… we were everything!

I didn’t read Metal and I’m not planning to. That’s not a value judgement, it’s just not something that sparks my interest.

But it means I don’t know who the bloody hell Barbatos is, and I’ve never heard of the Tenth Metal. I don’t know what the Dark Multiverse is, or how it works, or how it differs from the regular multiverse. When Robinson says Diana made an inadvertent wish while she was wielding this Tenth Metal, I don’t know if he’s picking up on a story point in Metal that I need to read up on.

So right off the bat, Robinson has alienated anybody who isn’t familiar with the event comic he’s drawing from.

And what infuriates me is that at the same time as he was doing all this, Robinson was getting muddled by Wonder Woman’s continuity, conflating superseded New 52 canon with (contradictory) Rebirth canon, inadvertently retconning things and failing even to keep his own narrative consistent. I’d argue he needed to spend less time making references to other comics and more time making sure he understood the one he was writing.

Robinson: [...] what I've always loved about Wonder Woman is her strength. Even when she was in that phase in the white costume, where she didn't have her powers, she had great strength.

Oh, you mean this era?

The era where Diana lost not only her powers, but all of her training and skills? Where she became a weepy, insecure romantic heroine, reliant on men to guide and save her from her own inexperience and her uncontrollable female emotionality? The era where she was constantly crying over her latest rugged love interests? That awesome era?

(Also misogynistic, racist and homophobic as fuuuuuck, but that’s another discussion.)

One of the reasons that era ended was because Gloria Steinham [sic] said, "Hey, she's Wonder Woman! She's a superhero and you've taken away her powers!"

But I actually thought her lacking powers was like saying, I don't need them to be a strong woman. And I think that was almost a more powerful message. I was surprised Ms. Steinem didn't get that, to be quite honest with you.

This is a characterisation of Steinem’s role in that period of Wondy’s history that I’ve seen before (always from men in the comics field), and it’s never sit well with me. It carries an unpleasant shade of gatekeeping.

The implication is that Steinem’s feelings about Wonder Woman (a character had loved since childhood) were less valid or even flat-out incorrect because she hadn’t read the right comics, that she was an ignorant outsider who ruined a good thing by coming in with a political agenda and trying to make Wonder Woman about feminism, that she didn’t have a right to complain about the comic because she wasn’t a ‘real’ fan.

And what Robinson doesn’t mention, as critics of Steinem and Ms. Magazine’s lobbying for a return to the classic Wondy rarely do, is that this campaign was set against a backdrop of unimpressive sales numbers and a struggle over the new direction that eventually gave rise to an ambitious and quite likely divisive ‘women’s lib’ arc written by African-American sci-fi writer Samuel R. Delany, which was intended to culminate in Diana triumphing over a group of male thugs attempting to shut down an abortion clinic run by women surgeons.

I have no doubt that Steinem played an important role in the way events panned out, but I’m also not surprised the ‘women’s lib’ arc never made it past its first issue.

(It was a truly dreadful first issue, btw, though the whole story behind it and what Delany was trying to do with it is fascinating.)

But that didn’t stop DC from kicking off Wondy’s superpowered return with the murder of a composite character representing Steinem and female DC editor Dorothy Woolfolk (whose name had previously been floated as editor for the book).

Then as now, Steinem got blamed by the gatekeepers for daring to interfere with Wonder Woman.

Nrama: Do you think Jason picked up some of her strength over the course of his story arc during your run?

Robinson: I think so, at least at the beginning as he was starting to develop. Now, technically, I suppose he's more powerful than her in that he has the power of their father Zeus and the power of storms and air control and things like that.

I like the fact that when he's given this armor, he realizes that his sister should have gotten it.

And he knows that the powers he has do not make him the better hero.

He knows his sister is the better hero.

So by the end of it, he just wants to be worthy of her, which I think was a nice character arc for him.

I can see how Robinson tried to achieve this character arc, but I wouldn’t call it anything close to a success.

Jason started as a deeply, deeply unlikeable character. He’s deeply selfish and emotionally immature. He doesn’t think about the consequences of his actions, mostly because he’s only ever concerned about how things affect him. When he learns about the mother he never met, when his adoptive father vanishes, every time Hercules leaves on one of his journeys, as he follows his twin sister’s heroics through the media — his thoughts are never about them and what they’re doing, or how they’re feeling, or if they’re okay. It’s always about how they’ve failed him, wronged him, abandoned him.

When we first meet him, he is helping goddamn Darkseid to systematically murder his own siblings. And it’s not because he’s being mind-controlled, or elaborately manipulated into believing that Darkseid is the good guy. It’s because he hates the guts out of Diana, the sister he’s never met, because he believes he’s entitled to the life that she has, and he wants to kill her for it.

If you want to get your readers past all that, you need one hell of a redemptive arc, and that’s one thing Jason never gets.

Because what happens next, after Jason gets an attack of conscience and switches sides, is that he freeloads off Diana, trashes her house, guilt trips her when she tries to set boundaries, and then when, heroism and glory don’t immediately come easily to him, runs away from home in the middle of the night.

The next time we see him is when he returns with the armour and a personality change. He’s still inexperienced, brash, impulsive and annoying, but that’s more or less the extent of it — he’s no longer the thoroughly objectionable character we saw in his first seven issues, and there’s no real explanation for the change.

Really, the vast majority of Jason’s character development takes place in the space between his disappearing at the end of WW #40 and reappearing at the end of WW #41.

Nrama: Wonder Woman #50 definitely feels like it's an ending to your time on Jason's character, and even his time in the book.

Robinson: It definitely has an element of finality to it, but Jason can be there for other writers, or indeed me, if I ever got to write him again.

Excuse me? If you ever got to what now?

Nrama: Is that a hint?

Robinson: I do enjoy writing him. I have this vague fantasy of one day doing a story and calling the comic Jason's Quest, which is an old DC title.

But no one's asked me so far and probably won't. So it's just something in my mind right now.

please, dear god in heaven, please let it stay there.

#the james robinson shitshow #comics talk

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davidmann95 · 6 years

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What kind of superhero comics should one read to truly appreciate Watchmen? I know you'll probably say it doesn't matter, but what if somebody really wanted to, to truly understand the conventions of the genre Moore was playing with?

It very much matters! Watchmen shouldn’t be someone’s first superhero comic; even in an age where most people have seen at least a few movies with the Avengers in them, those all exist in a post-Watchmen landscape, which means not only are some elements that book grapples with old-hat, but other conventions they wouldn’t be aware of at all because they’ve fallen so far out of the common usage. Granted, you could probably just read All-Star Superman or Batman: Year One or something and have a basic enough grasp of how superheroes work for Watchmen to have the proper impact, but if you really want to prime yourself, some suggestions:

We can get started with the basics of Superman and Batman’s first appearances in Superman, Champion of the Oppressed from Action Comics #1 (though I’d really recommend the fuller telling of the tale in Superman #1) and The Bat-Man: The Case of the Chemical Syndicate from Detective Comics #27. No high-minded reasoning here; they kicked off the genre Watchmen takes aim at, it makes sense to see what the ground floor looked like. I also have to suggest looking up the slim two-page Batman: Who He Is And How He Came To Be, the original psychological superhero origin story. And if we’re talking traditions Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons drew from, it would never be a mistake to track down some of The Spirit.

Skipping into the 50s and early 60s, I’d say try Jimmy Olsen: Foreign Correspondent! in issue #26 of his eponymous title - it’s a prime example of that era’s hijinks, but more relevantly it ends with Superman very casually overthrowing a corrupt monarchy with a mention after the fact of some ill-defined new democratic regime being installed, a pretty perfect picture of the extent of superheroes’ political engagement in those days (and if you want the logical endpoint of that line of thought, go to Superman #162′s The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!, an ‘Imaginary Story’ showcasing Superman being split into two intellectually superior copies who solve all the world’s problems in a tale that was clearly *very* influential on Alan Moore’s superhero work). I’d also grab the original Justice League/Justice Society team-up in Justice League of America #21-22, since it both establishes the idea of a shared superhero universe where everybody’s friends and the idea of generations of different heroes coexisting to some extent. And maybe Detective Comics #327 on top, the introduction of Batman’s ‘new look’ with the yellow oval logo and a classic breed of Batman & Robin vs. Strange Gangland Schemes adventure.

Into the later 60s and 70s, the obvious recommendation is Steve Ditko’s The Question stories - the introduction of the faceless Objectivist avenger who inspired Rorschach, and a prime example of Ditko’s aesthetic and moral bedrock that pervades Watchmen (as it was originally intended to be a story of characters primarily created by him) - but the only collections of those scant few comics I can find are DC’s Action Heroes Archive Vol. 2 from over a decade ago, and this “Gwandanaland Comics” collection on Amazon; his refinement of the character archetype and themes in Mr. A probably isn’t easy to track down either. In their place, you might as well double back and hunt down Spider-Man’s origin from Amazing Fantasy #15, seeing as it employs Ditko’s beloved 9-panel grid and features the appropriately horrifying story of someone in a more ‘realistic’ world using their powers in a less-than-superheroically-moral fashion and ultimately paying a terrible price for their lack of principle. Additionally, Must There Be A Superman? from #247 of his namesake book was a landmark in terms of placing superheroes in a recognizable world that they have to grapple with, falling short enough of what Watchmen does to preserve its impact while giving an impression of how much other superhero writers were starting to acknowledge similar ideas. Add Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ Detective Comics run (now collected as Batman: Strange Apparitions) and perhaps The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge! in Batman #251 as representations of the understood cutting edge of mainstream superhero work, and you’re set.

I recognize that list ends almost a decade before Watchmen itself, but I think it’s fair to say the Englehart/Rogers Batman was still considered to be at the head of the pack when it hit. Material such as Frank Miller’s or Moore’s earlier work, while stupendous, wasn’t remotely comparable in terms of what the average initial Watchmen reader would’ve been exposed to, and Moore while drawing from plenty outside the mainstream was mostly playing off the big stuff in terms of iconography and the conventions of the genre, particularly DC’s. Its most significant contemporaries aren’t very informative either; Crisis on Infinite Earths is an entirely different breed of superhero book, and while The Dark Knight Returns started earlier and may have had some influence, Moore’s earlier work already prefigured much of his Watchmen material, and moreover DKR had enough in just enough in common with Watchmen that reading it first would likely blunt rather than emphasize the latters’ transgressiveness.

#Watchmen #Opinion

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apeaceofukraine · 7 years

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Summer Number два

Summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye, and it was surely one to remember. I’ve accepted the fact that I won’t be able to record all of the feelings, moments, and memories from this experience, which makes me feel like if I can’t do it justice, why write about it at all? Today something happened that makes me want to write another post, and I realize that if I want to write about today, I should at least try to summarize the gap of time between when I last wrote and now. Summer was amazing and magical and all of those things, but I will try to write about the biggest highlights because this post is already going to be pretty long.

I will start with Camp GLOW. In the summer of 2016, I was lucky enough to be chosen as a counselor at Camp GLOW. Camp GLOW is a worldwide Peace Corps Project that started in Romania in 1991, and since then has been happening in Peace Corps countries all over the world. It stands for Girls Leading Our World, and focuses on gender equality and leadership. This year, I directed Camp GLOW. Directing this camp was something that I dreamt about, but thought that I could never do. I’ve always been in assistant type leadership roles, or very close to the top, but never the person in charge. I really remember thinking, “wow, that would be amazing, but there’s no way I could ever pull something like that off.” Lo and behold, last year’s director believed in me enough to think that I could do it, and the task was mine. This camp was funded by a Let Girls Learn grant, and took months and months of planning and preparation with a team of very dedicated people, for whom I am very thankful. When it all came together, it went off better than I could have hoped for. About 50 girls from all over Ukraine, ages 13-18, spent a week at a sleep-away camp lead by Peace Corps Volunteers and Ukrainian counselors. We had lessons about gender equality, self esteem, safe and healthy sex and relationships, human trafficking, HIV/AIDs, leadership, project design and management, multiculturalism and tolerance, and so much more. Camp GLOW paired up with Camp TOBE (Teaching Our Boys Excellence) to further the conversations on gender equality and tolerance. Some lessons were together, and the more sensitive topics were covered separately. We played American sports like football and baseball, and they even got to try s’mores for the first time. There were pajama party discussions, dance parties, lots of hugs, and happy tears. I was surrounded by passionate, hard-working people who all believed in a shared vision of giving these girls a summer to remember and life skills to help them develop and grow, and together we made many dreams come true. Again, words can’t sum up this experience, but it was one that I will cherish for the rest of my life, and is one of the biggest highlights and achievements of my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Later that month, I helped to organize a small baseball camp for people of all ages at my site. Together with the local university and a few other Peace Corps Volunteers who came to my site to help, we spent a week practicing English, teaching baseball, and really just having fun with about 50 participants. There were people as young as 6 and as old as maybe 45, some of them who had been playing for years, and some of them who had never held a bat before. Baseball is not a common sport in Ukraine, but there are small leagues throughout the country, and we happen to have one in our city. Bobby received a donation of equipment from an organization in America, so he brought the equipment from his site (about 8 hours away), and the university also had some gloves and balls and bats. It was a blast, and I am really sad that I won’t be here to help with this camp again next summer.

Last summer, my cluster (the group that I learned Ukrainian with during training) and I went camping in Jesus’ village, and made plans that this summer, we’d do it again. So, together with our language instructor and a few other Peace Corps Volunteers and Ukrainians, our cluster met up to hike the highest mountain in Ukraine and go camping for three days. We started with another mountain, Pip Ivan, and then hiked along a ridge to the highest mountain, Hoverla. I have never been hiking before, nor have I climbed a mountain. It was hard, and I completely underestimated the amount of vulnerability it takes to let other people see you struggling physically and saying that you need help or to slow down. Many of them have climbed mountains before (they’re from California), or are just in better shape than I am, but I was always at the last of the pack. It literally brought me to tears when my friends came back for me and patiently waited for me to catch my breath and keep going. At the time I thought “this is horrible why does anybody climb mountains?” But reflecting back on the trip I realized how important it is to remind yourself that you’re not invincible, and maybe not everything will come easy to you, but if you keep going you’ll make it, and you’ll make it there a lot happier and easier with the help of friends. It was a humbling experience. Not to mention the mountains were breathtakingly gorgeous. At one point while crossing the ridge, we came upon a group of sheep and their herder, and there had to be hundreds of them running past us. The sound of just the wind blowing, the bells around their necks ringing, and the sheep baaing is one that I won’t forget. I also deeply treasure the time that I get to spend with my cluster. It’s not lost on me how lucky I was to be put with a group of people that I love so much. They have helped me get out of my lows and have celebrated my highs with me. They motivate me, and we support and understand each other on a level that only somebody else sharing this experience can, so this trip with them filled my heart and gave me the push I needed to work hard during these last months of service.

Now fall has made its arrival clear with the changing of the leaves and the surprisingly cold weather. It seems like it almost changed overnight from short-weather to heavy-coat-weather. I am back working at the pedagogical academy, and holding some weekly clubs in our local library. I have made the transition from learning Ukrainian, which I now feel comfortable speaking, to learning Russian, in which I apparently have a heavy Ukrainian accent. Both languages are complicated and beautiful, and I’m happy to spend my time learning them. I’ve always been more of a language person than I am a math or science person, so it gives my brain some good and enjoyable exercise. There are some people who have strong opinions about speaking Russian in Ukraine, but at the end of the day, I appreciate both languages, and I know that coming home with two languages on my resume will be more valuable than just one. If I can understand more people and speak with more people in the world, why wouldn’t I take that opportunity to learn a language from native speakers while I can? I also spend my time going to the local bazaar, hanging out with my friends, and cooking and baking. Last winter was rough-- enduring a harsh winter for the first time after living in the sunshine state my whole life, missing home, and still not completely knowing what to do here. Going into this winter knowing it’s my last, and having a more clear idea of how life in winter here is, makes me confident that this one will be much better.

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loudlytransparenttrash · 7 years

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This Week Within Our Colleges: Part 5

A University of Chicago student organization was pressured into changing the topic for an upcoming debate because some considered it to be “colonialism apologia.” The debate, hosted by the elite school’s “Political Union,” was initially set to ask if “the British Empire was a force for good,” but student outcry merely over the title of the debate eventually resulted in the name-change. “What is wrong with you people?” one student wrote on the group’s Facebook page, with another questioning why “you motherfuckers needed plenty of critical messages to see that ‘was the British Empire a force for good’ is deeply problematic? How many white people are in this RSO?” The organization changed the question of the debate to whether Britain should be forced to “pay reparations to its former colonies,” and apologizing for the way it had initially framed the conversation.

A black University of Pennsylvania student recently declared that his semester at the Ivy League institution was “traumatic” because he had three white professors who refused to acknowledge their white privilege. “Last semester was honestly the worst semester I’ve had at Penn so far. And all because of one thing: the white professors I’ve had at Penn. It appears that the term ‘privilege’ does not apply to them. Nor do they care to learn what it is.” Student James Fisher wrote. "My professor wanted to protect the voices of the white students who benefit from black oppression, the oppression unfortunately continued. It even led to me mentally breaking down in the classroom. With different emotions going through my head from not only this class but from the Trump election, I did not want to step foot into another white space until I made sure that my mental health was restored. The truth is, you as a single person cannot make up for the horrific things that white people have done to us throughout human history. But that does not mean that you do not have the power to stop yourself from oppressing the students that you teach every day.

American University is blocking whites from a cafe designated as a ‘sanctuary’ for nonwhites. As reported in my earlier posts, after black student activists issued a demand list to American University, the administration caved in and agreed to obey. One of the demands was a ban on white students using a new student lounge for the rest of the spring semester. The activists said they would take over the space as their own “sanctuary” and also demanded that all nonwhite students received extensions. They also asked incoming President Sylvia Burwell, to show how she will enforce “no tolerance for anyone creating a hostile environment for students of color” and punish such people.

A shocking new video shows a Western Washington University student screaming for at least two-minutes straight after seeing a Donald Trump sign on campus. The unknown student reacted to a street preacher’s pro-Trump sign by spiraling into a bizarre frenzy, at some points even splattering paint on the ground. Whether it was an attempt at an artistic protest or not, the fact remains: the bitch is bonkers.

The University of California, Irvine’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter once again disrupted and shut down a pro-Israel event, shouting “fuck you” at attendees. The SJP overtook a Students Supporting Israel event featuring Israeli veterans who are touring college campuses to share their firsthand experiences from on the ground. “You people are colonizers or occupiers and you should not be allowed on this fucking campus” they screamed and called Israelis “genocidal.” This is the same group that shut down a film-screening hosted by a Jewish student group on campus last year and as reported earlier, they have also been drinking cups of saltwater to show their solidarity with Palestine terrorists currently being detained in Israel. Nobody ever dares to question the vicious antisemitism inflicted by these students on campuses across the U.S and no one bats an eye when they refuse to condemn Hamas, because they are being funded by this terrorist organization who are hellbent on wiping out every last Jew. No one cares because they’re Muslim and saying anything would be Islamophobia.

A University of Hawaii professor recently claimed that universities should “stop hiring white cis men” until “the problem goes away.” Mathematics professor Piper Harron never gets around to specifying which "problem" would be solved by culling cis white males from academia, but insists that "real solutions require women of color and trans women." Piper Harron suggests, members of the “white cis” demographic should, “as a first step,” resign from their “hiring committee, their curriculum committee, and make sure they’re replaced by a woman of color or trans person.” “Having white cis women run the world is no kind of solution either,” she declares, pointing to the fact 53 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump. “Stop hiring white cis men (except as needed to get/retain people who are not white cis men) until the problem goes away,” she instructs university officials, adding accusatorially that “if you think this is a bad or un-serious idea, your sexism/racism/transphobia is showing.”

Black professors congratulate graduates who heckled Ed. Secretary Betsy DeVos at commencement. Over 200 black professors have signed a “love letter” to the Bethune-Cookman University graduates who booed DeVos during her commencement speech at the school last week. As mentioned in the last post, one professor alleged DeVos is representative of “white power.” The letter reads: “The world watched you protest the speaker you never should have had. We cheered as we saw so many of you refuse to acquiesce in the face of threats. Your actions fit within a long tradition of Black people fighting back against those who attack our very lives with their anti-Black policies and anglo-normative practices.”

At least DeVos got to talk even though she was still booed and heckled. Texas Southern University withdrew an invitation to Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to address its graduating students. The university disinvited Cornyn because it wanted students to remember their commencement “positively for years to come,” and that couldn’t happen if a white conservative politician was their speaker. The petition to have Cornyn banned from talking cites his vote in favor of requiring photo ID in federal elections and against continuing federal funding for sanctuary cities who refuse to carry out the law against illegal immigrants. Oddly, it also cites Cornyn’s 2006 vote for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, at a time when same-sex marriage was far more popular with whites than blacks. Then-Sen. Barack Obama opposed same-sex marriage in 2006 as well, and didn’t officially change his position for another six years but hey, only white people can do bad things.

Minority students at the University of Michigan have expressed feeling intimidated by the interior wood paneling found throughout the historic Michigan Union building. Anna Wibbelman, former president of an organization that voices student concerns about university development, stated that “minority students felt marginalized by quiet, imposing masculine paneling” found throughout the 100-year-old building that is set to undergo a massive, $85.2 million renovation project.

A student group at the University of Washington held a teach-in Tuesday to promulgate the notion that America’s “food system is built on racism.” “It is a fact that today inmates, predominantly black Americans, harvest a lot of the food that we eat for less than $.50/hr,” the group explains. Let me get this straight, they want their rapists, pedophiles, wife beaters and murderers inside of prison, but once they’re there, they also want them to be paid and treated under the same conditions as law abiding citizens and if we don’t, it’s racism?

A Bethel University student issued an apology for wearing a Chicago Blackhawks sweatshirt to class after he was told the clothing was “offensive and hurtful.” The controversy unfolded during a class called “Social Perspectives, Human Worth and Social Action,” which delves into themes of culture, power and oppression in America, according to its online description. Student Cody Albrecht, who is from Chicago, came to the class wearing his home team’s apparel, then offered to turn it inside out “after becoming aware of the unease in his classroom because of his sweatshirt.” A week after he wore the sports apparel and after a “reconciliation” with the head of the Social Work department, his teacher and the whole class, Albrecht issued a formal apology.

Black students at the University of California, Los Angeles are demanding $40 million and their own “safe spaces” on campus as compensation for racially insensitive incidents. “Black students at UCLA are consistently made the targets of racist attacks by fellow students, faculty, and administration,” the Afrikan Student Union (ASU) begins. The first item on the list calls for “a physical location on campus to house the Afrikan Student Union Projects,” which would include “meeting/gathering/safe spaces” and be staffed by a director and an office manager who would be responsible for distributing funds allocated to the ASU. In addition, the ASU ultimatum demands a $40 million “endowment” to fund “a comprehensive effort to address the underrepresentation of African-American students, faculty, and staff at our university,” adding that the endowment should also provide financial aid to “dismissed black students.” The list goes on to ask that UCLA “deliver an anti-discrimination policy that assuages discriminatory and offensive behavior,” specifically “culturally insensitive” behavior, in conjunction with implementing mandatory “Cultural Awareness training” for all incoming students, faculty and staff members, and campus police officers. Finally, the ASU is insisting that UCLA provide “guaranteed housing for black students for 4 years, including on- and off-campus housing,” arguing that securing housing is especially difficult for black students due to factors such as “low socio-economic status and difficulties remaining financially stable amidst the rising living costs in Westwood.”

#college

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marilynngmesalo · 5 years

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ANGRY VICTIMS: Violent sex predator and killer gets parole in Nova Scotia, deported

ANGRY VICTIMS: Violent sex predator and killer gets parole in Nova Scotia, deported ANGRY VICTIMS: Violent sex predator and killer gets parole in Nova Scotia, deported https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

HALIFAX — William Chandler Shrubsall was a hockey star. He was a pre-med student. He was a devoted son grieving the tragic loss of parents.

All false stories the high-IQ sexual predator and convicted killer would tell.

The truth is that Shrubsall was a convincing liar whose tales changed swiftly to suit his narcissistic goals.

A former girlfriend, victims, the police officer who discovered his identity and the judges who convicted him all recalled this enduring trait of manipulative storytelling.

It would help the American slip into a life in Halifax after he fled his trial for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in Niagara Falls, N.Y., in 1996 — arriving at a local homeless shelter in Nova Scotia just days after crossing the border illegally.

For two years — until his capture after sexually assaulting another young woman — he concealed his identity as an escaped felon who had battered his mother to death with a bat and had stalked women on the streets of Niagara County.

It’s this ability to disguise the truth that leaves Shrubsall’s victims and pursuers frightened and angered by a recent Parole Board of Canada decision to allow his release and deportation to Niagara County.

They say in interviews they’d hoped his dangerous offender designation of 2001, the result of over two months of hearings and dozens of witnesses, would keep him in jail for life.

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“It is simply an absurd decision,” says T.C., a woman who was briefly his girlfriend until she realized the pattern of lies he’d been feeding her.

She met him on her street in November 1997. He quickly adapted himself to appear interested in her interests.

“His ability to be a chameleon is incredibly high,” she recalled.

“For instance, he told a lot of people in Halifax he was in medical school, because that would impress most people. He got a sense from me I was interested in the arts, so he said he was taking a masters in history.”

Still, her instinct was that something was “a little bit off,” and several incidents led her to realize even the name he was using, Ian Thor Green, was likely a fabrication. He has since legally renamed himself as Ethan Simon Templar MacLeod.

“He was also brazen,” she recalls. Shrubsall continued to stalk her in the last three weeks of February 1998 after she broke up with him and went to police.

Court records indicate Shrubsall let himself into T.C.’s apartment, without her permission, using a key she did not know he had.

He was advised to stay away, but persisted, turning up at her classes, walking back and forth in front of her apartment and looking into her windows.

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He also used a number of false names when in Nova Scotia, residing at a fraternity house, where he had his telephone service hooked up under a false name, and receiving mail there under a number of aliases.

Weeks after his breakup with T.C., another side of Shrubsall’s character is documented in records kept in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia archives: Periods of raw rage.

“He’s in a class pretty much his own. He’s so smart, he’s so dangerous, he’s so unpredictable. He can turn on a dime and the rage that comes out of him is unbelievable,” said Tom Martin, the former Halifax police major crimes investigator who worked on his case for over three years.

There are boxes upon boxes of files of evidence describing his actions.

On Feb. 12, 1998, Shrubsall entered the shop where a young woman, referred to in court documents as T.D., worked. He wore dark clothing, a dark toque and mirrored sunglasses, and carried a duffle bag with an aluminum baseball bat.

He swung it twice, once hitting her arm so hard it caused a “billy stick” fracture, and then striking her on the head with the bat. “The force of the blow was so powerful that her skull was fractured and depressed into her brain,” notes the decision.

T.D. was found unconscious and foaming at the mouth, rushed to hospital and intubated, later undergoing neurosurgery to reconstruct her fractured skull with 12 metal plates and 50 metal screws.

Shrubsall stole a total of $120, and he also grabbed her wallet, stealing her cash.

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The violence continued a few months later. On May 4, Shrubsall stalked another woman, T.J., after she left a bar in the small hours of the morning. “She had almost reached her destination when she sensed that someone was following her.”

She quickened her pace, but it was too late. Shrubsall grabbed her neck from behind.

She lost consciousness and Shrubsall dragged her into a driveway where he “savagely beat” her, pounding her face into the pavement.

On June 22, while on probation for his criminal harassment of his girlfriend, Shrubsall committed the aggravated sexual assault, forcible confinement and choking of another woman, K.C.

Martin remembers interviewing Shrubsall after he was arrested for that attack.

“We knew he was lying the minute he started talking to us,” he recalled.

“He gave a fanciful description of his mother and father. His father had died in a car accident and his mother had died in a fire up north. But there was nothing to corroborate these stories.”

In fact, Shrubsall had killed his mother; in fact, his father had died of cancer when he was 14.

“We told him, ‘You’re lying,’ again and again. It went on for weeks.”

Martin posted a picture of Shrubsall through the media and days later he had a call from New York State Police informing him of his suspect’s true identity.

Like T.C., Martin cannot comprehend the parole board decision, which is based partly on its reasoning that Shrubsall will be spending at least two years and four months in jail for his sexual assault of the 17-year-old before he can apply for parole.

Since Shrubsall was transferred last week, Niagara County’s district attorney is also seeking an additional jail term for Shrubsall’s flight from justice that could add several more years to that sentence.

There’s also a possibility the state district attorney can apply for an indefinite detention as his date of release approaches.

But Martin said he believes the Parole Board has been caught in the web of deception that has marked Shrubsall’s life.

“He’s a master manipulator. He’s thinking about something before it even takes place. In his mind, he will go over and go over and gauge his audience.”

The court files of Shrubsall’s two-month long dangerous offender file contains his letter of apology — two legal pages of eloquent, hand-written description of how he intended to pursue treatment he claimed he’d never had an opportunity to receive.

He apologizes to his aunt and other family members for his actions and says he “could not help but be moved,” by the testimony of the women he attacked.

But the sentencing judge, Felix Cacchione, seemed to accept little of it.

“His life was filled with examples of lying,” he wrote.

“On the night of his mother’s death, the offender lied to neighbours and to the police about a stranger entering the house and killing his mother.”

The judge noted that even while Shrubsall was awaiting trial for the third attack, he wrote to a former classmate from the University of Pennsylvania, saying he’d be travelling to Hawaii and wanted to meet with her, falsifying his achievements since graduating.

Cacchione wrote, “(Shrubsall) is a very intelligent man. He has an I.Q. of 124 to 132, placing him in the superior range on intelligence. He has a faculty of reasoning, logic, and intellect well above the average person.”

He was also class valedictorian and stood first in his high school graduating year and is the graduate of a prestigious Ivy League American university.

“Unfortunately, he is also manipulative, extremely violent, sexually deviant and lacking a conscience,” Cacchione concluded, before designating him a dangerous offender.

“His intelligence and history of deceit and manipulation would, in my opinion, make community supervision very difficult if not impossible.”

One of the victims, K.C., said in an email to The Canadian Press that Shrubsall successfully “pulled the wool over the parole board’s eyes,” and is manipulating his way back into society.

“We had the opportunity as a country to ensure the safety of women on both sides of the border and we failed,” she said in an email. “When he becomes a free man and has a whole new set of victims I hope the parole board will then understand the complexity of what they have done.”

The parole board has declined comment on specific cases, but a spokeswoman says in an email its members “do a thorough risk assessment” for each case.

Click for update news Bangla news http://bit.ly/2RjOaPN world news

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localdstvinstaller · 5 years

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From Tim Burton’s iconic Batman to the baseball-bat swinging Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, DC Comics superheroes and their villainous counterparts have been lighting up the box office since the 50s. With the launch of the M-Net Movies DC Heroes pop-up channel for DStv Premium subscribers, which is also available to stream on DStv Now, we’ve ranked every live-action DC comic movie ever!*

30. Stamp Day for Superman (1954)

Superman takes time from fighting crime to promote war stamps, used to fund the fight against the Axis powers of World War II. So it’s not the worst movie on this list, but it’s not actually a movie either - just something designed to be shown in cinemas.

29. The Return of Swamp Thing (1989)

This movie had about as much budget as the Joker has sanity. With that in mind, it does a respectable job. But only with that in mind - otherwise, this is just an awful low-budget monstrosity.

28. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Everyone had lost interest in making another Superman. But they were contracted to make one, so we got a fourth movie starring the man of steel. Its most memorable moment is how bad the special effects of the finale are. Yikes.

27. Catwoman (2004)

The first Batman character to get their own movie (other than Bats), there was a lot of hope for Catwoman’s maiden outing. Alas, very little is right here. It opted to invent its own story for the character, but just made a mess of everything. Not even Halle Berry could save it.

26. Batman & Robin (1997)

This movie shouldn’t be ranked so low. It’s funny and has some entertaining villains. But you know what? The entire thing was motivated to sell action figures. Seriously. Even the director apologised for it.

25. Steel (1997)

Back in 1997 nobody wanted to make comic book movies, not unless it was Batman. Steel, already a B-list DC character, got a low-budget straight-to-video movie. It doesn’t help that Shaq, who plays Steel, is not as good at acting as he is at basketball…

Download the DStv Now app from the Android or iOS.

24. Jonah Hex (2010)

If comic book movies teach us anything, it’s that actors should stick to the genre. It worked for Ryan Reynolds, Chris Evans and Ben Affleck. Ditto for Josh Brolin, who has portrayed three comic book characters. But even though he was a cool Jonah Hex, the movie not so much…

23. Green Lantern (2011)

Some comic characters are relatively simple and easy to put into a movie. Green Lantern is not, yet this movie wanted to make things even more confusing. Even Ryan Reynolds started making fun of it in his other films.

22. Superman and the Mole Men (1951)

It’s the 1950s, things are still in black and white, and Superman has the time to work out squabbles between frightened small-town people and underground creatures with big eyebrows. Most memorable as the first Superman movie and perhaps the first-ever true superhero movie.

21. Batman: The Movie (1966)

Back in its day, this was a big hit. But it’s really a case of “you had to be there”. Shot after the success of Season 1 of Adam West’s Batman, it’s a whole movie of WHAM! BANG! POW! and 60s pin-up girls gyrating with the dark knight to surf music. No, we’re not making any of this up.

20. Superman III (1983)

Superman III would have been forgotten today, were it not for three things: the Superman vs Superman fight, Richard Pryor’s non-stop jokes, and that scary android woman created by Lex Luthor’s supercomputer. Oh, and Superman dumping a frozen lake on a chemical fire. Ah, the 80s.

19. Supergirl (1984)

Superman’s cousin comes to Earth to retrieve a powerful artefact, while a wannabe witch uses it to amplify her powers. The result is a weird tale that stumbles and jumps through plot holes, but it’s still entertaining. Fun fact: Supergirl actress Helen Slater later played Superman’s biological mom in Smallville.

18. Suicide Squad (2016)

It is overstuffed, convoluted and had some nondescript bad guys that nobody can remember. Too much icing on too little cake. On the other hand, the main cast of characters are really cool and the soundtrack rocked, so it has a place in some fans’ hearts.

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17. Swamp Thing (1982)

It’s the DC movie you’ve never heard of - and the DC character you’ve never heard of. This quirky comedy would have been lost to time, were it not a campy cult masterpiece directed by Wes Craven long before he created Freddy Krueger.

16. Batman Returns (1992)

Tim Burton’s second Batman film is a little overproduced and lacks that raw shine of the original. But Michelle Pfeiffer is still the best Catwoman to appear in a movie and Danny DeVito is the perfect Penguin. Yet leave it to Christopher Walken to play a villain with no mask and no powers, yet still be the meanest thing in Gotham.

15. Batman Forever (1995)

Joel Schumacher’s first go at the Batman world is a clear hat-tip to the 60s era of the character. It was more fun and camp, and who doesn’t like George Clooney’s smirking Bruce Wayne, or Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones as Riddler and Two-Face? But it was a little too much at times...

14. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

The hopes were really high for this film and it was never going to please everyone. Lex Luthor’s inane and complicated plan sucks a lot of wind from its sails. On the other hand, the Batman combat scene not only saves the movie but shows why Ben Affleck is great as the character.

13. Watchmen (2009)

There are very few graphic novels more revered and complex than this epic - and director Zack Snyder tries to fit every bit of it into his film. Yet even after cutting a major sub-plot, Watchmen is still a long and dense experience. It’s got its fans, but like the comic, is the antithesis of superheroes. That’s not for everyone.

12. Justice League (2017)

Justice League isn’t perfect and its biggest problem is an overly generic bad guy that nobody cares to remember. But the team works well together, the fight with Superman is epic, Jason Momoa was born to play Aquaman, and we definitely want to see more of The Flash.

11. Superman II (1980)

The sequel to the original Superman movie was mired with problems, from losing its director and design consultant to being filmed right on the heels of the first film. But it holds up well, not least because Terence Stamp’s General Zod gives us every reason to remember why we need superheroes.

10. Superman Returns (2006)

Lex Luthor proves why he is as dangerous as any villain with superpowers, while the darker tone helps create a Superman persona that fits better with the 21st Century.

9. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

It gets a little tiring to hear how old and beaten Batman is and maybe Tom Hardy’s Bane does too good a job, overshadowing just about every other character in this movie. But as a conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, this was a classy send-off for Gotham’s saviour.

8. Man of Steel (2013)

Not only do we finally, after many years, get a new Superman movie, but some inspired genius casts Michael Shannon as the evil General Zod. It’s been too long and we’re happy Krypton’s son is back!

7. Constantine (2005)

At the time it was not a hit. But the first movie adaptation of the Hellblazer comics has since gathered a big cult following. Today it can claim a lot of fans because it’s actually really good. Hey, Keanu, where’s our sequel?

6. Batman Begins (2005)

Since 1989’s Batman, there have been other superhero movies that made their mark on the genre. Then Christopher Nolan shows up, hires Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, and turns comic book movies into crime thrillers. Brilliant.

5. Wonder Woman (2017)

A slightly weak third act doesn’t hurt the appeal of the Amazonian superhero in her first major movie outing. Let’s face it - nobody is panicking anymore about what might happen to Superman. Wonder Woman can take care of things.

4. Superman (1978)

There had been a few superhero movies before 1978’s Superman. But this set the stage: big effects, great hero, amazing soundtrack - and Gene Hackman deserves more credit for his mean Lex Luthor.

3. Batman (1989)

Tim Burton unleashes his quirky style in grand form, creating the superhero movie that still influences the genre today. Then there’s Jack Nicholson’s Joker, Michael Keaton’s dry wit and the original soundtrack by Prince. Enough said!

2. V for Vendetta (2005)

This dark tale of a near future under a totalitarian state is already a gritty and powerful movie. But Hugo Weaving as the antihero V just takes it to another level. On top of that, this is an experience with real purpose and a serious message underneath. Remember, remember, the fifth of November...

1. The Dark Knight (2008)

Why so serious? Heath Ledger’s Joker is just entirely in his own league. And not just him - everything in this movie fires on all cylinders. The greatest DC movie? No. This is the greatest comic book movie in history.

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furederiko · 7 years

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After a whole month* of absence, the Random-News-Digest has returned! It's the 1st of the month and also for the year 2017. *) Technically, it's around 2 months, since my last R-N-D was published on December 12th, 2016.

NOTE: Starting with this post, expect to see several news to be put in a joint category. For example, all things related to Marvel Studios will be put as one section, while Marvel TV's shows will be a separate one. Occasionally, some will show up as a standalone though, it all depends on the situations and conditions. It's an attempt to make the post more... shorter and concised. That's the intention, at least. LOL.

Disney Live Action

Back in the 90s, the classic animated movie "Beauty and the Beast" had an original song by the same name, that became a huge memorable hit. With combination of powerful vocals by then-rising star Celine Dion, and well-known soul singer Peabo Bryson, the duet took the world by storm. I doubt there's even anyone who have never heard of this song. Which is why, it's a huge task for the current generation of singers to deliver this song with the same amount of heft, as part of this year's live action remake.

And that privilege has been given to Arianna Grande and John Legend, while Dion herself contributed a new solo song "How Does a Moment Last Forever" to the movie's soundtrack. Walt Disney Pictures officially released an audio-only VEVO for this 2017's version duet, and if you have ever had any doubts about the quality of both Grande and Oscar Winner Legend, then well... you can stop worrying. I admit, they don't sound like Dion and Bryson. But you know what? A good singer needs to make a song their own, and in that regard, Grande and Legend have succeeded. All the while, the classic vibe and feel of the romantic song remains in tact. Uhmm... scratch that, they also made it sound... modern too. Sure, the music feels oddly like... karaoke, but when Legend's voice came in I felt the exact same shivers I had when I listened to the original for the first time.

You can also listen to the song, while it's serenading the movie's Final Trailer. Yep, Disney has released one last marketing push for the movie, although in my opinion it's really NOT necessary. And trust me, I advise you (especially those who have NEVER seen the animated version) to NOT watch it. Because well... it practically spoiled like 80% of what's going to happen in it *sigh*. Thankfully, aside from a few seconds of Emma Watson singing "Something There", none of the musical numbers have been used in the trailers. Which is perfectly GOOD, because I prefer hearing them directly in the theatres. Okaaaaay... I might have spoken a little TOO SOON. The Golden Globe TV spot has already featured Watson's version of her Belle's solo number by the same title... "Belle". Dang it Disney, STOP IT... just STOP! I know it's completely my fault for running into that video, but pleeeaseee! Keep everything else a surprise, okay?! *sigh*

DC Films

In case you've been living under a rock (which is perfectly cool, by the way, it's your choice), or have been removed from modern civilizations for the past few weeks (which is... also cool, because sometimes a retreat to the wilderness IS necessary), actor Ben Affleck has stepped back from directing the next Batman solo movie. Yes, eventhough I believe that's part of the deal when he jumped in to play grumpy murderous Bruce Wayne for DC Films. Talking to Variety, Affleck stated that he chose to focus on the lead actor role and handed over the directorial duty to someone else. Why? Is it because the costume will be too uncomfortable for him to work both side? That's a possibility. Perhaps he went a little anxious after his much-buzzed movie "Live by Night" failed to please... practically everyone? Or is it because, there's a brewing storm behind "Justice League" that gave him... cold feet? No matter the reason behind it, I think this is a huge loss for a potentially-great movie.

Then again, not just the studio (as proven by them trusting Zack Snyder and David Ayer over and over again), apparently the fans are more desperate and concerned about having the movie MADE, instead of having the right people come in to ensure its QUALITY. Proof? Immediately after the news went large, many fansites wasted no time to speculate and fan-cast their favorite directors, whom they hope will replace Affleck in the directorial chair. Although I bet the seat is still warm, Affleck's name faded from everyone's head so quickly! My condolences to him for experiencing what Tim Miller had with the second "Deadpool" movie. So yeah, one thing for sure, that tentatively titled "The Batman" WILL definitely see the light of day. Right now, Warner Bros is actively looking for Affleck's replacement, assuming they want to be on time for their schedule to release the movie next year (alongside James Wan's "Aquaman" and Margot Robbie's "Gotham City Siren"), of course.

Meanwhile, the same thing isn't happening with the other movie, "The Flash". After two consecutive directors walked out due to 'creative differences', WB has decided to do a page-one rewrite of the script, which if I recall correctly was done by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Who, by the way, were initially considered to direct the movie too, before moving on to "Han Solo: A Star Wars Story" at Disney. Joby Harold, a guy whose name I'm NOT familiar with has been tasked to do this ordea... er, I mean responsibility. This means, highly likely it will NOT be released in 2018 as previously planned. Why? Not only things will be restarted from scratch, lead actor Ezra Miller has a commitment to star in the second installment of "Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them", and the production is expected to begin around July. As I've said in November, the earliest for him to start working in this movie is Fall 2017 for a release date of Winter 2018. But that was when there's an existing script ready to be filmed.

What's happening with "The Batman", "The Flash", and the wise delay of "Justice League 2" (should we even be surprised? They kept releasing more uninspiring still from the movie) only proves that WB has yet managed to have proper footings with their DC adaptations. Let's just hope that those are just minor necessary setbacks from the DC Universe in order to move smoothly in the future. After all, "Green Lantern Corps" has hired Justin Rhodes and everyone's favorite person David Goyer to write the screenplay, while "Shazam" and "Black Adam" have been reported to be made into separate movies to accommodate more of Dwayne Johnson's star-power.

LEGO Movies

Feel free to call this shameless bragging, but I trust my gut instinct. Many times it has proven to be correct. A recent good example of this, is my genuine hype as soon as I saw the first trailer for "The LEGO Batman Movie". Ignoring the obvious fact that I always have a soft spot for LEGO's animated adaptation, I had this feeling that the movie will be fantastic. Which was, a complete opposite to when I saw any (yes, all) of the live action DC Films so far (don't get me wrong, 'DC Films' obviously refers to ones released prior to Nolan's trilogy). Guess what? Critics are loving the movie too!

The Guardian called it "a relentlessly funny superhero movie". Variety called it as "kicky, bedazzling, and super-fun". Den of Geek said that it's "a second straight victory for the Lego franchise on the big screen", and similar to Polygon, likened it to the famous "The Dark Knight". IGN gave it an 8,5 out of 10 score. You can check out many other sites to read their thoughts on the movie. As of writing, its RottenTomatoes' accumulated score (remember, the site only aggregates score from various places, not rates their own) is sitting at a comfy 98% out of 40 critics. Something that neither "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Suicide Squad" were able to accomplish. Nope, both started out under 50%!!! Of course, this score will fluctuate in the coming days and weeks, and it is the final score that will actually count more. But really, this IS a great sign.

You know what is the lesson that I hope WB would learn from this success? HIRE THE RIGHT MAN for the job and RESPECT the source material! Stop relying on snobbish arrogant hacks like Zack Snyder, David Ayer, and the likes who wants to have their way without honoring the comics. Hire the right people and DC Films will no doubt be equally a success. And now that I think about it... on a lesser note, why not focus on animations instead? Back during the Bruce Timm era, their DC properties have been nailing the animated superhero market for years. Completely towering over the competitor Marvel by a huge margin. Yet they somehow decided to focus on the dark, gritty, and gloomy live action adaptations (thanks to New 52), with ripple effects that ran through many mediums, including the DC animation movies (starting with "Justice League: Flashpoint"). That's when DC direct-to-videos animated movies became... dull and boring as well. "The LEGO Batman Movie" is a return to the fun escapades, an easy proof of what DC should've done. This movie, alongside the carefree "Justice League: Action" series are exactly what WB needs for their DC properties! Assuming they want to win over fans of all ages, of course.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to watch this movie at the theatres. With the current financial condition, I will need to wait until the home video is released. But hearing positive praises and recommendations from critics is already enough to make me happy. As in, FINALLY, there's a theatrical DC movie that's worth-watching after "The Dark Knight". If you're not convinced just yet, check out the 'technical' "Behind the Brick" featurette for the movie, or the fun "Gotham Cribs" specially hosted by Batman and his... uhm, roommate Bruce Wayne (who gives some shirtless fanservice too... Wooooo!!! XD). Want a song instead? Check out the official LEGO Batman theme, in the tune of "Everything is Awesome" from "The LEGO Movie". Yes, even if you're not a DC fan, according to critics, if you loved "The LEGO Movie" then high chance you're going to love this movie as well!

To complement the movie's success... there's also a recent news regarding "The LEGO Ninjago Movie". Yep, a title that will be released this year, the one I've completely forgotten about. Just yesterday, USA Today exclusively shared sneak peaks of the movie, and well it looked... uhmm... weird. I didn't have issues when I first saw the image of Garmadon, or Sensei Wu. But when I saw the Ninja, I seriously gasped. Honestly? I'm NOT too keen on how they look... different compared to the TV ones. WHY the need to change their hairstyle? To make more merchandise? Also, do we need big name actors to bring them to life? What's the problem of using the exact voice cast of the TV series? Do their their names not... selling enough? I have to say, as a devoted fans of the franchise, this reveal somewhat annoyed me.

Yes. The report also confirmed the voice cast. I have to use the word 'confirmed' because apparently, these names have already been leaked/revealed back in June 2016. Courtesy of fansite Brickset, who stumbled upon the names during the Licensing Expo 2016. I'm genuinely surprised that it went off radar that easily, particularly mine, who had seen all six seasons of the show and can't wait to see more. Anyway, the cast consists of Jackie Chan as Sensei Wu, and the newly announced Justin Theroux as Garmadon the big bad. The ever talented Michael Peña will voice Kai, Kumail Nanjiani as Jay, Zach Woods as Zane, and Fred Armisen as Cole. Garmadon's son (assuming the movie follows the plot of the series) Lloyd is confirmed to be the lead protagonist, and will be voiced by Dave Franco. While Abbi Jacobson is set to voice the odd-haired Nya, who (once again, assuming it's similar to the series) is Kai's sister. While admittedly these are great names, somehow I feel like some of them are... voicing the wrong character. For example, I figure Peña should be the one doing Cole (considering many fans have likened the character as hispanic), while Franco's playful voice would be better as Jay or even Kai instead of Lloyd. Jackie Chan is a terrific actor, but him as Wu? Hmmm....

But that's not all that concerns me. It's what Franco said that made me worried. "They may be really cool as ninjas and the Ninjago world adores them, but at school they’re the geeks and nerds who are ignored.". At... SCHOOL? And NERDS? Huh? People who are clueless about the franchise might find this to be 'good', but I honestly wonder if fans would be pleased with these changes. I know I'm not *sigh*. Oh well, I can only hope this movie will not prevent the 7th season from happening, because I'm more looking forward to that one. "The LEGO Ninjago Movie" is set to arrive on September 22nd, 2017.

Marvel Studios

It's Super Bowl time of the year, a time where people came or tune in TV for sport, and movie studios used it to tag along for promotions. True to the earlier report, Disney released two new trailers for their upcoming movies. Everyone's easy guess, was that "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is one of that, considering it's among the House of Mouse's first Summer movie of the year. And well, that was correct, with the other one belonged to "Pirates of the Carribean 5". Not long after USA Today released several new official images (which looked really good, especially Mantis), Disney officially released the Super Bowl trailer online.

It became the most watched and talked about trailer throughout the game, and true to director James Gunn's tease, fans have gotten their first look of Elizabeth Debicki's villainous Ayesha. To be honest, I never thought it's really that hard to imagine how she would look. Just photoshop Debicki with a golden skin, and you have Ayesha! Surprisingly though, she looked... a little different than the one shown in the official LEGO tie-in sets. Perhaps because in the trailer, she's covering her long wavy golden locks in that royal helme... er, tiara thingy? That might be the case. Don't believe me? Go ahead and check out the trailer's breakdown, courtesy of SlashFilm. Kurt Russel's Ego the Living Planet is the only character we have yet seen so far. Perhaps Marvel Studios is intent on keeping him longer in the dark to avoid... giving away too much of the story?

Marvel Studios also released a new official poster to accompany the trailer, and well... it also looked really good. Brilliantly artistic, I should say, because it works well with the 'Volume 2' title and also Chris Pratt's Star-Lord's personal signature. Despite looking funky, it does not go excessively beyond borderline ridiculous like those... uhm skwad ones (Yeeessh!!! who designed those?). Embargo for the set visits have also been lifted, and various entertainment sites have begun running their reports. Haven't had time to read these set visits, but will do it later today when I have the time. Or tomorrow. But to be honest, I don't need to know more about this movie. I'm already sold about it even before it is announced. LOL. With Gunn himself confirming on social media that Tyler Bates' score for the movie has been completed, it looks like the movie is very close to finish. After all, it will premiere earlier in various countries. I think it'll arrive in April here too! I'm personally curious and can't wait to hear responses from the early screening!

Skipping "Spider-Man: Homecoming", and moving on to "Thor: Ragnarok", director Taika Waititi has confirmed that actor Sam Neill will indeed have a role, albeit minor in his upcoming movie. And he's not alone as an alumn from "Hunt of the Wilderpeople", because he will be accompanied by another actor from the movie. Who is it? Waititi himself!!! LOL. In case you forgot, this quirky director is also an actor, and he did have a brief but really memorable part in that critically-acclaimed movie. Revealing what he played in "Hunt of the Wilderpeople" might be regarded as spoiler, so you've just got to see that movie yourself to know what it is (don't worry, it's HIGHLY recommended). But if you're looking for a quick sample to know whether the New Zealander can act or not, back in 2011 he played Hal Jordan's best friend in the critically-panned "Green Lantern". Arguably not the best example of his talent, but it'll suffice. Especially because he's one of the element that was good in that... uhm, 'bad' movie. My problem with "Thor: Ragnarok", is that up until now, we haven't had a teaser nor trailer for it! I was counting on the Super Bowl for the teaser, but that's not the case. So how the tone and everything else will fit is still everyone's guess. I do trust Marvel Studios though. I'm sure they fully believe in Waititi, so perhaps we should all just follow suit and rest at ease.

Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" has begun production last month under the working title "Motherland". Through its official announcement, Marvel Studios confirmed that Andy Serkis will return to reprise his role as Ulysses Klaue. Martin Freeman was also confirmed to return as Everett Ross, but this isn't new since he has been spotted alongside lead actor Chadwick Boseman, and actresses Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira before. In the comics, both characters are closely related to Wakanda, so their inclusion is more than obvious. The movie is also expected to have a big action scene in Busan, South Korea. Does this mean we can expect Claudia Kim to reprise her role as Dr. Helen Cho as well? Eventhough the movie has a high-calliber cast that makes everyone (including mine) shakes head in awe, this movie is still lacking some Asian-colors, am I right? Then again, Busan might simply work as a stand-in for the high tech nation of Wakanda, so the movie's setting might not necessarily take place in the East Asian country. I really shouldn't get my hopes up too soon.

At the same time, the much-anticipated "Avengers: Infinity War" has also begun production. This movie will be filmed concurrently along with the currently UNTITLED Avengers movie, that is set to be released on May 2019. Not just in Atlanta, the film will also shoot in several locations around the world, like London, Scotland, and likely others. Oddly, Marvel Studios has yet to release an official cast announcement for the movie. Possibly to avoid spoilering the story, or some other technical reason. So while we wait for that to happen, all we can do is observe movements and activites of Marvel Cinematic Universe's various actors on social medias to guess whether they are in it or not. Some names like Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner, Benedict Wong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementief, and others have been confirmed thanks to keen-eyed fans. This include possible new cast members, like Peter Dinklage who is widely speculated to play Pip the Troll thanks to his newly dyed red hair. Expect to hear more of this behind the scene scoops throughout the production. If checking various social medias sounds exhausting, not to worry, because fansite MCUExchange has been keeping track of who's in and who's not. You can follow their updates for convenience.

During the set visit for "Vol 2", Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige also revealed that Josh Brolin's Thanos will serve as the 'main character' of the movie. This is an interesting approach, and a conscious decision by the Studio as a response to the frequent criticism about their 'weak' antagonist characters. Feige is clearly aware of this much-talked about complaints, "A big criticism of ours is that we focus on the heroes more than the villains, I think that’s probably true. I don’t think it will always be true.". It'll be intriguing to see how this applies to "Infinity War", and moreso, critics and especially audience's reaction to it.

Marvel TV

Marvel TV has officially announced the core cast of their two upcoming shows! And both of them are YA titles...

The first one arrived for Freeform (formerly ABC family) and Marvel TV's first collaboration: Marvel's "Cloak and Dagger". MCUExchange initially ran a report mentioning Debbie Ryan and "Heroes" alumn Noah Gray-Cabey as the contenders, but the official press announcement immediately debunked that just a few days after. Young actor Aubrey Joseph has been cast as Tyrone Johnson, who will possess a 'dark' power to teleport others using his Cloak. While former Disney Channel's Olivia Holt has been cast as Tandy Bowen, who is able to manifest the power of 'light' in form of daggers. Just like the comics, the show will focus on both late teens's struggle with their new powers, as they fall in love with one another. Really, it's a YA love story, not unlike... "Twilight"?

Marvel TV's Jeph Loeb and showrunner/Executive Producer Joe Pokaski voiced their excitement and praises for the two young actors. In my opinion? I think the two looks great for the characters, particularly Holt. I'm not too keen on Joseph, but at least this one's much better than the previously rumored actor. Looks-wise, of course.

The second one, came for the more anticipated "Marvel's Runaways". Marvel TV officially announced that their collaboration with Hulu will star: Rhenzy Feliz as the nerdy African-American Alex Wilder, Lyrica Okano as the goth Nico Minoru (Sister Grimm), Virginia Gardner as the model-perfect Karolina Dean (Lucy in the Sky), Ariela Barer as the brash social justice warrior Gert Yorkes (Arsenic), Gregg Sulkin as the seemingly-dumb jock with untapped engineering skill Chase Stein (Talkback), and Allegra Acosta as the innocent Molly Hernandez. There isn't an official word yet, but this show has said to be ordered straight-to-series by Hulu.

To be honest, I'm not fluent with the comic series, and I haven't heard or seen any performances of these actors. But judging from their headshots alone, and comparing it to the character images the internet freely provided, I believe they look spot-on! They already looked like they jumped out of the comics, if you ask me, and with a simple touch of makeup, they will be even similar. So yeah, even I feel impressed by these names. And when people who are familiar with the series are saying good things, it seems more and more certain that the series will be good. Not to mention, Brian K. Vaughn who co-create the comics himself is onboard as Executive Consultant. This obviously gives audience a much higher assurance. For now, no names are confirmed for their 'villain' parents yet, nor whether this live action version of Nico will have any familial connection with Linda Louise Duan's Tina Minoru who debuted in last year's "Doctor Strange". I think it would be wise if they are indeed mother and daughter, to establish the show's place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But I'm not counting on anything, considering the gap that's been developing between the movie and TV side.

If the recent report could be trusted, then both series will begin production this month. "Cloak and Dagger" will start filming on February 14 (which makes sense, since it's a love story), with a working title "Shadows". It will take place in New Orleans, which is a change from the comic's setting, and the show is set to arrive next year. It is unclear when "Runaways" will begin production, but the show is expected to debut earlier, which is this Fall. Its working title is called "Rugrats".

Speaking of production, if another recent report is also valid, then Marvel TV's third new show is expected to begin production soon. Yep, Marvel's "Inhumans" is said to begin filming next month, between Chicago and Los Angeles. I'm not too sure about the source, but it makes sense considering the show has set a surprisingly fixed IMAX debut date in September. Not just those two areas, there was a report that said the series will also be filmed in Hawaii. Assuming these reports are true, that means we can also expect to hear casting announcement for Marvel's royal family pretty soon.

Marvel TV has already hired a director in Roel Reine to direct the first two episodes (which will be shot as an IMAX movie format), with a familiar Marvel TV-Netflix collaborator's name, Scott Buck as the showrunner. Although the Dutch director's name is still fairly unheard, and his portofolio in the US isn't actually... encouraging, he has indeed won the Dutch equivalent to an Oscar for a theatrical feature entitled "The Delivery". So perhaps, it's already in good hands? Anyways, that means all we need now is the cast, which for me personally, might very well be the make-or-break element of them all. Two actresses have been rumored so far, based on their social media activities, and honestly, I don't think they are a good fit. But rumor is just rumor until proven otherwise. So while I'm feeling genuinely worried, I can somehow be hopeful too.

If I had to choose which one I want to watch among these three, it's the second show that intrigues me most. "Runaways" easily comes on top, due to the talents alone. "Inhumans" comes next, though as I said, I can't help but feel more worried about it more than the others. I'm not too sure whether Marvel TV has the chops or creds to deliver such grand scale, but that's just a subjective perspective. "Cloak and Dagger" comes third is on list, eventhough I'm a fan of the characters in the comics. I don't know why, but I'm just not feeling it for some reasons. I hope I'm just alone thinking that way though, because expecting a new show to fail so early is just too despicable of an act for me to pull off. Of course, I also don't have any accounts for both Freeform or Hulu, and not planning to obtain ones just to watch one show. So the chances of me seeing two of these shows are VERY slim. Thanks to that, in the end "Inhumans" will likely be the one I'd end up watching. But let's just wait and see what happens when the time comes, all right?

Netflix

As for the Netflix side of Marvel, there are buzzes that we'll be getting a new trailer for Marvel's "Iron Fist" soon. Which is not surprising, considering all 13 episodes of the show will premiere in just a month and a week away! Several new official images have been released, showcasing the core cast of the series with no additional details whatsoever. This new series is the one I'm looking forward the most among the 'Netflix Defenders', so I'm crossing my fingers that it wouldn't disappoint.

At the same time, production for the next two shows continues to roll. Gettyimages has provided behind the scene photos of Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones together for Marvel's "The Defenders", possibly reenacting a particular scene from the comics. There are mentions that the production will also shoot on Staten Island, which feature a scene with Mike Colter's Luke Cage. The mini-series has been confirmed (through Entertainment Weekly) to be released in Summer, so we can expect the production to wrap up really soon. This announcement practically confirmed that Frank Castle's show will take the Fall schedule, and that the character miiiight not be in the mini series. Much to many fans dismay, of course, including me.

Meanwhile, identity of Sigourney Weaver's character has yet to be revealed as well. EW only revealed her character's name as Alexandra, which can refer to practically anyone, comic book rooted or not. Showrunner Marco Ramirez only stated vaguely that Weaver's Alexandra is "a very powerful force in New York City. She’s everything Sigourney is: sophisticated, intellectual, dangerous.". Once again, that can mean anyone... or anything, since we're dealing with The Hands. Personally, I'm leaning towards a politician who wants to regulate vigilantes and people with abilities. That would rhyme really well with the aftermath of "Captain America: Civil War", as well as what's happening in "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.". But that's just me and my theory. Don't quote me on that! LOL.

Another candid images of the production for Marvel's "The Punisher" has been making rounds in the internet. These images raised some... concerns among fans, because Jon Bernthal has been seen holding flowers. Hmmm... does this mean he's visiting a grave? Problem is, an old one (his family), or NEW grave (of a cast member, or character from previous series). Don't forget, this show is now expected to arrive at Fall. That means they might still be working on halfway through the series. Worth noted though, that filming doesn't necessarily follow the chronologic of the show. So whatever scene he's filming might always come from a needed flashback, something that occurs in the 2nd arc, or something that might happen later in the series' epilogue.

For the non-Marvel, Netflix has officially released the first trailer for the highly-anticipated second season of "Stranger Things" during Super Bowl. What a surprising move! This came directly on the heels of them releasing an official image from the show, that highlighted the children leads in their time-setting-appropriate Ghostbusters cosplay. I haven't seen this trailer myself (have to wait until after 1:00AM to be able to use bigger datacharge), but response to it have been... great. Too great even, so I'm REALLY curious. But you know what? I don't really need to see it anyway. I've already fallen in love with this show, so there's really no question whether I'm looking forward to see next or not. Problem is... season 2 will not arrive until Halloween. Well, that's a long wait, huh? *sigh*

Oh well, can't help it. Guess now I only need confirmation of when the 3rd season of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" will arrive, and I'm practically good to go!

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