Short Effects: Why You Should Watch Jessica Jones

Marvel's Jessica Jones hit Netflix last weekend. Like last spring's Daredevil it earns its MA rating, but what makes this show great is not its blend of realism and fantasy in fight scenes or the fairly sexy content. I would argue that this show has layers that make it interesting in a few ways.

On the surface, the character-based conflict is compelling enough. Jessica, played by Krysten Ritter, is a private investigator with a slight drinking problem who's given up the idea of being a superhero despite her super-strength. She's forced back into the game as a man named Kilgrave resurfaces. Played by David Tennant, Kilgrave is a great villain because he actually believes what he does is okay. Since childhood he could force people to do exactly what he wanted just by uttering the words in earshot. Growing up like this twisted his worldview making him believe he can win Jessica's affection even though he seems to leave a wake of pain and destroyed lives and controlled her for months. He's directly responsible for darkest period of her life, but he's back because wants to show her he loves her. Jessica, after giving up therapy for the comfort of whisky, is driven to stop him when she finds out he's not only still out there, but may have taken control of a younger woman, doomed to whatever fate Kilgrave dictates.

Being a Marvel property, there is of course plenty fan-service. I'll go through the big references. Luke Cage, who in the comics eventually has a child with Jessica and marries her, is the love interest in the show. The first time you see him, he's wearing a yellow t-shirt, the comic character's iconic garb, unless you count his original straight-outta-disco leisure suit look. He comes already powered with invulnerable skin exactly as in the comics. Though Kilgrave, known as Purple Man in the comics, is not entirely purple is usually wears purple suits, and when Jessica is hunting him there are often purple lights signaling his trail and flashbacks to her time under his control are sometimes shot with a purple filter.  His skin briefly adopts a purple hue later in the series after an attempt to enhance his power. Other references were much more subtle. Jessica is aided by a police officer named Will Simpson, who secretly participated in a military experiment is shown taking red, white and blue pills that alter his adrenaline, boosting his strength but making him overly aggro. In the comics, a Captain America villain named Frank Simpson underwent an experiment to recreate Cap's powers and also takes red, whit and blue pills. I missed this because I'm used to Nuke's face tattoo of the American flag. Another one I missed is Jessica's sister by adoption Patsy Walker, child-star turned martial arts heroine, Hellcat. In the show she goes by Trish, but was called Patsy as a child actor. She is also shown training in martial arts in a private lesson. In the last episode, Rosario Dawson reprises her role as Claire Temple from Daredevil. Known as Night Nurse in the comics, she provides medical care to vigilantes. True to character, she aids Jessica and Luke and they trust her to keep their secrets.

Luke Cage, Patsy Walker, and Nuke as they appear in the comics.

Jessica Jones is very much a departure from your traditional superhero story. As much as I love the genre the market is becoming more and more saturated with superhero and comic stories, and not all of it is distinct. The content must diversify to stay fresh. Being Marvel's first property with a female lead is a great start. Jessica and Luke both operate discretely and never use code names, costumes or other familiar tropes. Jessica even rejects the costume and identity suggested by Trish in a flashback. There're no origin scenes or talk of destiny, just driven characters trying to stop a man from hurting innocent people.

On another level Jessica Jones is a positive feminist example. She's independent, never plays the victim, and is not afraid to speak her mind. By not adopting a superhero identity she rejects societal expectations and refuses to have her role defined for her. In the show doors are often used as symbols either for protection or as barriers. In the opening scene, she breaks her door literally throwing out a client who started to get rough with her. Men who enter her office (unaware of her superior strength) always point out the broken door and insist she needs it fixed being a woman in the city. Jessica couldn't care less as even after it's fixed she breaks it again in a later fight. Also, whenever Jessica encounters a locked door in her investigations she simply breaks it with her bare hands rendering them useless as a barrier. The phrases "behind closed doors" and "the glass ceiling" come to mind, which describe how women historically have been held back in business. Jessica could just leap right through that glass ceiling.

What was Cool about Marvel Now: The Avengers pt 1

What exactly is "Marvel Now"? Like the "Heroic Age" "Dark Age" before it, "Marvel Now" and the subsequent "All-New Marvel Now" are stamps branding certain Marvel comics to mark out distinct time periods, like any show's seasons or Marvel Studios phases of movie releases. For the purpose of this series of articles we'll call "Marvel Now" is the period from the end of 2012's Avengers Versus X-Men until the 2015 event Secret Wars. Overall the spirit of "Marvel Now" has been all about taking titles into bold new directions while simultaneously celebrating Marvel's long history.

The Avengers have always been about bringing together Marvel's popular characters to face large-scale threats, and for decades their numbers have increased adding more classic characters like Captain America, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Ms. Marvel and, at times, Beast and members of the Fantastic Four as well as original characters like Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Vision. 2005's New Avengers famously added Wolverine, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Power-Man and newcomers Ronin, and Sentry (whose secret origin is interesting enough to be its own article). In "Marvel Now" the Avengers titles continued this tradition by increasing their ranks both in number and in diversity. In 2012's Avengers series writer, Jonathan Hickman, shows us Tony Stark and Steve Rogers actively trying to increase the team's scope by creating distinct units each led by a veteran Avenger. Captain America's unit brings in classic New Mutants/X-Force characters, Cannonball, and Sunspot, new versions of Captain Universe and Smasher, and one of my favorite additions, Hyperion. He's a lone survivor of a lost world where he and other heroes fought a seemingly endless battle for truth and justice. If that sounds familiar, its for a good reason Hyperion was originally created as a proxy for Superman in Squadron Supreme, a Marvel parody of DC's Justice League (btw the spoofing was mutual; look up Lord Havok and the Extremists). In essence Hyperion is the closest Marvel could get to actually using Superman without infringing on the expensive copyright. Along with new characters, Nightmask and Starbrand, these Avengers face cosmic scale threats. Expanding the Avengers not only in numbers, but also its structure is the "bold new direction" for this family of titles. Although there have been different co-existent teams in the past (like West Coast Avengers) there's never been a greater variety of teams, each distinctive yet 100% Avengers.

Another Avengers unit is led by Luke Cage (formerly Power-Man, one of Marvel's early black heroes). In the pages of 2013's Mighty Avengers by writer Al Ewing, Cage is joined by Falcon, a new Power-Man, White Tiger (a heroine whose powers are related to Black Panther), Spectrum (who served as an Avenger as the second Ms. Marvel),She-Hulk, Superior Spider-Man (who will be discussed in depth in the upcoming "What was Cool About Marvel NOW: Spider-Man), and a few other interesting additions. A new version of Ronin comes in. Ronin is a guise used by several heroes to further conceal their identities, most notably Clint Barton secretly joined the New Avengers as Ronin while a shape-shifting Skrull was masquerading as Hawkeye. In Mighty Avengers after a mysterious hero enters a battle wearing a knock-off Spider-Man Halloween costume, he later dons the Ronin costume to join the team properly. The reveal of this Ronin is a cool moment, but if you don't mind the spoiler, highlight the grey text here. It's Blade. Another noteworthy member is Blue Marvel. Technically a new character, he was introduced in 2009's Adam: The Legend of Blue Marvel, as Adam Brashear, a longtime hero who was asked to retire by President Kennedy when it was revealed that he was a black man as the public in the 1960's could not accept a black hero.  As a concept, Blue Marvel is commentary on comics' history, pointing out the lack of diversity in the so-called "Golden" and "Silver" ages of the comic industry. I would argue that since the 60's there have been many strides in regards to diversity in comics in general. Mighty Avengers is certainly a step in that direction being the first Avengers team in which the majority of members are black characters.

Another "Marvel Now" Avengers book that addresses diversity is Uncanny Avengers. While it's not really about racial diversity in the traditional sense, the unit featured here is made up of mutant and on-mutant heroes. Formed after the event's of Avengers vs X-Men, in which those two both teams were at odds over what to do about the approaching cosmic entity known as the Phoenix. The conflict brought out some deep down resentment, magnified by the fact that mutants had been on the brink of extinction since the House of M storyline. During a scuffle Cyclops accuses Captain America of never supporting the mutant cause, that though he was never against mutants, he never stood up against their oppression and in his silence condoned it. After the dust settled, and Cyclops was in jail, Cap decided it was time to make a difference in this fight. He started by reaching out to a respected mutant leader, and former government agent: Alex Summers and asking him to lead his own unit of Avengers. In the wake of his brother Cyclops' actions in AvX Alex, or Havok was the best choice for Captain America to show people that not all mutants are bad. Whatever you may think about Cyclops (whom you can read more about here) if you saw Havok very publicly stepping up as an Avenger you'd think "Oh there's that guy's brother. I guess maybe mutants aren't all bad." The rest of the team are a delicious blend of classic X-Ment and Avengers: Wolverine, Sunfire, Rogue, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Thor, and Wasp. Dubbed the "Unity Squad", the idea is to try to set an example just by being who they are and working together. Some adversaries they face are Red Skull with the transplanted powers of Charles Xavier, and the Apocalypse Twins: Eimin and Uriel. Who are metaphorically perfect for the intentions of this book. Red Skull, a Nazi is a remnant of bigotry and the idea of racial purity. Eimin and Uriel were raised by isolated cultists who worship Apocalypse, to eliminate the human race so mutants can take their place as the dominant species. So of course, the team that exists to promote cooperation across lines that fascists would use divide humanity, work against actual fascists.

Lastly 2013's New Avengers also by Jonathan Hickman follows the secret goings-on of Marvel's Illuminati following the death of Charles Xavier. Xavier along with Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Black Bolt, and Sub-Mariner formed the Illuminati as a secret "think-tank," after Iron Man realized that the Skrull/Kree War could have been avoided if these six had shared they'd shared information better. Since then, the Illuminati gathered to deal with the Infinity Gems (which they divided between the six original members), guys like the Beyonder, the Sentry and other large-scale threats, best dealt with in secret. Over the years the group has been disbanded but reconvene when circumstances are dire enough to force them together. At the start of this book Richards, and Black Panther discover what they call "incursions" which seem to be a result of the collapse of Marvel's multiverse. In one of these events another Earth will seem to appear in the sky, but only visible to people directly in the "incursion zone". The way Richards spells it out, there are only two ways for an incursion to end, the planets collide destroying both universes or if one planet is destroyed, one is spared and both universes survive. Black Panther was the first to witness one. Shortly after he saw a planet appear out of nowhere, he spotted some figures leaving the planet just before it exploded. This is our introduction to the mysterious Black Swan. The Illuminati capture her and we learn that she worships a cosmic being called Rabum Allal, and travels the multiverse using the incursions, always destroying the planet before abandoning it for the next one. According to the rules of the incursion, she actually saved Earth 616. She also mentions that a Black Swan is by no means the worst being to encounter through an Incursion, and that the heroes' destruction would've been assured against their competitors the Black Priests, or the Mapmakers. Initially to try to stop an incursion the Illuminati decide its time to break out the Infinity Gems. Before he died, Xavier left a secret telepathic will in the subconscious of longtime X-Man, Hank McCoy telling him how to retrieve the Mind Gem, forcing Beast into the Illuminati. This series is also important for Iron Man's character arc. As Marvel's premier weapons maker, can/would/should he make a weapon capable of destroying a planet? Also, at first Captain America helped with the group's decision-making, but when destroying planets to save their own started to look like a viable option, Cap refused to consider it. The Illuminati's shocking solution to kicking Captain America out and keeping him quiet is a pivotal moment in which the illuminati turns on him and Dr. Strange wipes his memory. This story unfolds for two years, as Hickman continually pushes the Illuminati past moral lines to preserve the planet as the incursions become more frequent, and the pressure increases as the Illuminati are opposed by multiversal threats as well as the Avengers themselves. New Avengers ends in a crossover with Hickman's aforementioned Avengers called "Time Runs Out." When Cap finds out what they did and that Tony's drive to expand the Avengers was a way to keep him distracted, he enlists Hawkeye, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Captain Marvel and S.H.I.E.L.D to hunt down anyone associated with the Illuminati. Also Sub-Mariner breaks off from the Illuminati and starts a group called the Cabal. Namor brings together Thanos, two of his lieutenants Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive, Black Swan, and Terrax from another universe stranded on Earth 616 since a previous incursion (which happened to solve itself as that universe's Galactus devoured the earth before it could collide). Namor assembled this group to do destroy planets in any subsequent incursion. But they begin to relish in what the Illuminati only would do out of desperation, and the Avengers are caught in the middle as the three groups prepare for the final incursion in which Earth 1610, the world from Marvel's Ultimate line is set to collide with 616 leading directly to the 2015 event Secret Wars in which the surviving heroes try to make sense of what is left.

Somehow without anyone knowing Doctor Doom has prepared an insane plan in preparation for this scenario. With the help of Molecule Man and Dr. Strange to defeat the Beyonders and steal their power, Doom was able to create a world using fragments of many worlds throughout the history of the multiverse. Each fragment became a different region of what's known as Battleworld. There's one from an Earth where 2005's Civil War never ended, one from a future earth decades after the events of Days of Future Past, and many many others that allow writers and artists to explore what classic Marvel stories would look like if they had never been resolved. Along with a multitude of titles exploring these regions the Secret Wars title shows us Doom at his seat of power in control of the whole planet whose history was re-written so that the populace believes that Doom is God save for the handful of "rebels" who seek to end his reign. After which will come the next "era" called "All-New Marvel."

"But what about the solo-Avengers books?" I hear you asking. Check out the upcoming "What was Cool about Marvel Now: The Avengers pt 2."

What's the Deal with Marvel Comics' Reboots?

Comic readers know at this point how the big companies will reboot their respective comic universes to keep content fresh, and to reorganize their properties into a new status quo.  There's a dire situation, heroes may band together, but despite their efforts either lead to a "reality shattering" event, possibly a time travel mishap or parallel worlds colliding. When the dust settles, readers are re-introduced to a new world with characters and elements, some familiar, others revamped for a more contemporary re-telling or to blend acquired properties and alternate timelines into continuity. DC did it in 1985 with Crisis on Infinite Earths,  which famously destroyed the multiverse and combined the company's disparate properties, onto one earth. And again in 1994 when Zero Hour altered the timeline to include golden age versions of the Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman in WWII (except Superman who always seems to have landed on Earth a couple decades ago) while modern versions continue their legacy in the modern era. In 2006 the series 52 revealed that events of the previous year's Infinite Crisis had separated the single earth into fifty-two identical earths, and by the end of 52 a time-traveling creature altered the timeline altering the parallel earths effectively recreating the multiverse. In 2011 DC broke their ten-ish year rhythm with a story called Flashpoint in which the Flash has to restore the timeline and in doing so altered the entire multiverse. The appropriately named New 52 relaunched the entire DC line with fifty-two titles, mostly relaunches of old titles, some new ones including properties from the defunct Wildstorm comics. Now it's 2015, so I guess it's time for a reboot again. Since my return to reading current books, I haven't caught up on the DC titles, but I've read a whole bunch of Marvel, who are also rebooting their multiverse, so this series of articles will break down what I loved about the era called Marvel Now! (I wanna be clear, this is not a declaration of tribal preference for the company, it's just that the frequent sales on the Marvel app have made it easier to catch up digitally. I'd love to talk about some New 52 Bat-titles when I am properly read-up on those).

Frankie Richards and his ball containing
the Heroes Reborn universe

Marvel have had their reboots and relaunches. Nothing as huge as a relaunch of their whole line, Marvel tends to preserve the "mainstream" continuity known as Earth 616. In 1995 Marvel announced that they were killing off Charles Xavier and cancelling all of their X-titles. They let the confusion from this news hang in the air momentarily before announcing the launch of the first Age of Apocalypse universe. For months, alternate titles replaced all X-books before the timeline was fixed creating a new status quo. The Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man were unaffected continuing their adventures in 616 until another event called Onslauht: Marvel Universe. This title was the conclusion of the Onslaught Saga, in which the title character was a being who had the powers of Xavier and Magneto had taken over New York and abducted Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four, in an attempt to add his reality-altering powers. The finale was a truly epic battle, in which saw the combined forces of the X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Avengers and even Doctor Doom. The non-mutant heroes were forced to sacrifice themselves, apparently lost forever. Secretly, or perhaps without knowing himself, the young Franklin Richards saved them all by creating a 'pocket universe' which allowed Marvel to launch Heroes Reborn, a world where the Fantastic Four and Avengers were got all-new origin stories and existed without the X-Men, who were back on Earth 616 watching over Franklin among other things, nor Spider-Man, who didn't show up that day. Interestingly though, during this time, Franklin was often depicted holding a blue ball which was thought to contain the Heroes Reborn world. This too, didn't last, and with the aptly named Heroes Return about a year and a half later reuniting the classic heroes with the rest of Earth 616. In 2000 Marvel introduced a rebooted universe, separate from the 616 continuity. Called Ultimate Comics this line reintroduced classics starting with Spider-Man, and X-Men and eventually the Avengers, and Fantastic Four. Since Ultimate Comics was a completely distinct continuity, it was able to continue without disrupting the rest of Marvel and has since has ended, was reintroduced as its popularity wavered over the years, and is also known as Earth 1610. This universe also introduced the young Miles Morales who, inspired by Peter Parker's self-sacrifice, took up the Spider-Man legacy (look for more on Miles in the upcoming "What was cool about Marvel Now: Spiderman"). All of these re-imaginings are distinct from those of DC comics, in that Marvel's main continuity persisted. 2005's House of M would change that, not through time-travel, or any world crushing event but because of the instability of one classic Marvel character: Scarlet Witch. Her mutant powers have changed over the decades but they were always described as "chaos magic" or "hex powers." In House of M, Dr. Strange explained to the New Avengers that there was no such thing as "chaos magic," instead her mutant powers gave her access to magic, but her lack of formal training just made it seem like chaos. After her lack of control caused the deaths of Hawkeye, Vision and Wonder-Man in the previous story Avengers: Disassembled the New Avengers and X-Men set out to confront her. Before they could, she suffered a complete mental breakdown and an eruption of her magic changed the entire world and its history. Magneto was a world leader, an all-mutant S.H.I.E.L.D. served as his royal guard, Scarlet Witch lived like royalty, Hawkeye never died and Vision not only survived, but was father to Scarlet Witch's twins. It was not technically an alternate timeline, this new world was still Earth 616 albeit magically altered. After having to overcome their magically altered memories, the heroes finally confront Scarlet Witch who restores the world mostly back to normal. Hawkeye stuck around leading to his popular solo series written by Matt Fraction. Scarlet Witch, whose instability and  seemingly limitless power also stuck around, de-powered the majority of the world's mutants reducing the population to about two-hundred, which was a consequence that the X-Men and the rest of the mutants have had to deal with since, and in terms of the brand, was a much needed change to the status quo that I will discuss at length in the upcoming "What was Cool about Marvel Now: X-Men."

In House of M Scarlet Witch changes the world with no more than four words

Throughout the years Marvel has avoided using the word "reboot" to describe these events. They could reasonably claim that the full-multiversal- reboot is more of a DC thing, and that Earth 616 has persisted since comics' Golden Age. This was true until just this past year when, as a result of Time Runs Out, a story Jonathan Hickman has been building since the start of 2013's New Avengers, Earth 616 physically collided with Earth 1610 destroying both the Ultimate and mainstream Marvel universes. Since everything is blowing up and starting over, I'd like to get into the last few years of Marvel, the era we call Marvel Now! and why it's got me reading current Marvel comics again.

Short Effects: More News

As much as I nerded-out over the current state of superhero shows in this article, things are about to get even more exciting. Announcements keep coming from both Marvel and DC sides. I'm just gonna run through some recent goings-on.

From the CW camp a trailer dropped for Legends of Tomorrow. The project will be a Justice League style team-up between various characters from The Flash and Arrow. Besides the title characters the team will include a version of Firestorm (Prof. Stein is still around but someone besides Ronnie will be the other half of the hero), Captain Cold, Heatwave, Black Canary, White Canary, and the Atom played by Brandon Routh with newcomers Hawkgirl and the time traveling Rip Hunter. A shot of the team from the trailer can be seen in the season finale of The Flash when Barry is running through the time-stream.  In other CW news, Arrow actor, Stephen Amell announced that he'll never be called Arrow again and that "Arrow is over." One would think this means the show is cancelled, but with season 4 still planned for this fall it's more likely that the character is finally adopting his true moniker from the comics "Green Arrow."

As most fans have heard, season two of Netflix's Daredevil will include classic Marvel anti-hero Frank Castle, the Punisher. Jon Bernthal, formerly of The Walking Dead will portray the gun-toting vigilante. Interesting casting since he played Shane who was often grim-faced and gun-happy on TWD. I predict the Punisher will prove a fitting foil for the title character, as Matt Murdock has frequently referenced his unwillingness to kill to achieve his goals, preferring to bring his adversaries to justice in the eyes of the law whereas the Punisher kills those he thinks deserve it, bypassing the entire system. Set for release next spring, just before Captain America: Civil War is set to debut, it would make sense for major tie-ins between the two stories. If Civil War is anything like the comics, a law called "The Superhero Registration Act" will divide the heroes into opposing camps. Punisher is just the type of guy that such a law is meant to rein in, and Daredevil, being a defense lawyer in his day job may be sought out by heroes who refuse to register.

Marvel recently announced its casting of its prodigal son, Spider-man. Young British actor, Tom Holland will play the Webslinger, set to cameo in the previously mentioned Captain America: Civil War. I'd comment more on the casting itself but I haven't actually seen anything with Holland in it. For more details on the deal between Marvel and Sony over Spider-Man's movie rights, click here. Personally I thought Sony would never share the character. Now, I can't wait to see what Marvel Studios does with such a popular character as they have a history of making lesser loved characters shine.

Movie Wars

The Movie Wars rage on.  The territorial battles are over film rights.  Each movie is a volley of mortar, while all the little news releases are smaller gunshots. Though Sony surrendered its battle over Spiderman, and Fox and Warner Bros. are currently reloading in between blasts, Marvel is by no means resting this year.

Avengers: Age of Ultron features Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. These twin sibling heroes are essentially neutral territory between Fox and Marvel. Though they are mutants and debuted in the pages of X-Men, they have a long history with the Avengers. In 1965, the original Avengers lineup, Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp, and the Hulk decide to take a leave of absence creating a void that is filled by Captain America, Hawkeye and both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Though they started as X-Men villains they've been associated with the Avengers for as long as Cap and Hawkeye.  Because of this history Fox and Marvel agreed that they could be included in both franchises.  The only question would be "Who's version is more accurate to the source material?" Longtime fans initially balked at the idea of presenting these two as anything but mutants and the fact that Magneto, known to be their father for decades, is still off-limits to Marvel Studios. With this apprehension, and last year's X-Men: Days of Future Past (which had a scene with Scarlet Witch that did not survive the final cut) expertly displaying Quicksilver's power to the tune of Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" (best scene in the whole movie btw) one would think Marvel might lose this fight. Marvel has a weapon that no other studio does: the comics. Wielding the almighty ret-con ("retroactive continuity"), Marvel will reveal that Magneto was not their true father, but rather Robert Frank, a golden-age hero called "Whizzer." Though mostly forgotten, it was Whizzer who was originally thought to be father of the twins until it was "revealed" to be Magneto. The reason for the confusion will take some explaining. Frank took his wife who was pregnant with twins to Wundagore Mountain, a fictional location where a being known as the High Evolutionary had experimented with the local fauna populating the mountain with evolved, intelligent animals. The two had been irradiated after an attack by a villain named Isbisa, and Wundagore was thought to be a place with advanced medical technology. They found help in the form of Bova, a midwife who happened to be an intelligent cow. After Frank's wife died in childbirth, Bova tried to pass another set of twins recently born there, as his own. These two apparently were the offspring of Magda, Magneto's wife. Magda hadn't revealed that she was pregnant before fleeing to Wundagore. She was terrified of Magneto after watching him destroy a village after the KGB burned their house and held Magneto down, preventing him from using his powers to save his only daughter at the time, Anya who was trapped inside. After learning that his wife fled to Wundagore and was pregnant Magneto, sought out Bova. Under duress, she told him that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were his, which came as a surprise since they had worked together on the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants team. Since they're already planning to reboot their multiverse after this year's big Secret Wars event, and there is already a "switched-at-birth" situation with an untrustworthy source of info in Bova, it would be easy to rearrange things to remove Fox's advantage. That'll teach us not to trust talking cows.


Finally adding Spider-Man to their arsenal Marvel has the green-light to include one of their most popular characters in the growing cinematic universe. Their deal with Sony turned out to be surprisingly copacetic. According to this article from Variety.com Sony retains ownership of Spider-Man's movie rights, Marvel does not have to pay a cent of its profits from movies with cameo appearances and, likewise, Sony will keep all profits from the solo Spider-Man reboot set to premiere in 2017. Though its expected that the hero will appear in next year's Captain America: Civil War, no casting announcements have been made. Asa Butterfield, who played the title character in Ender's Game  is rumored for the role and would make sense as Peter Parker, but fans can't help but wonder "Is it time for someone else under the mask?" A fair amount apparrantly want to see Miles Morales don the webs.  Created by Brian Michael Bendis for the Ultimate Universe, is a black teenager who was bitten by a radioactive spider that hitched a ride in his uncle's bag all the way from Osborn Industries. At first, though he exhibited spider-powers, Miles didn't want to fight, deciding to leave the "Superhero stuff" to the real Spider-Man. Months later in the Ultimatum storyline, Peter Parker sacrifices himself to save his family from Norman Osborn. Arriving late on the scene, Miles is struck with guilt that he had the power to help but refused. Learning the lesson that Parker learned when his Uncle Ben died, Miles pledges to take up the Spider-Man legacy to honor the good man he could've saved. I wouldn't rule out this version of the hero yet. It was Avi Arad, producer involved with all previous Spider-Man movies, who said something to the affect of "Nobody but Peter Parker can be Spider-Man," which Bendis challenged, creating Miles Morales. Though Arad will produce next year's Sinister Six, and later Venom he will not be producing 2017's Spider-Man reboot, which is yet to be titled (all according to IMDB.com).  This is still just a small shred of hope as Peter Parker is still most recognized by the general public as the hero.  I'd like to see them set up a scenario like Superior Spider-Man. One of my favorite recent storylines, it features a Spider-Man whose mind was switched with an aging Otto Octavius as a last ditch attempt to extend his dwindling life. It's interesting because before becoming Doctor Octopus, his life was similar to Parker's. Both grew up with a love of science and physical bullying, but Octavius was abused by his parents rather adversely to the doting attention Parker received from his aunt and uncle. Still possessing Parker's memories, Octavius is forced to learn the tough lessons from Parker's tragic past and actually tries to improve on Spider-Man's ways incorporating advanced technology like patrolling Spider-bots and a computer enhanced visor not unlike Google Glasses. Some habits are tough to shake though as he eventually adopts a set of mechanical arms, amasses an army of henchman, and allows his violent nature to surface tipping off the Avengers and one of Parker's exes Det. Carly Cooper. I'm guessing it'll be awhile before we see this on film, though.

TV Wars

Fans of superheroes today are lucky to live at a time where so many networks are clamoring to get a piece of the live-action pie. Since AMC's The Walking Dead grabbed the mass's attention, other attempts to adapt comic stories to the television with various levels of success. Some miss their mark, though few have managed to balance a fresh take on its material while keeping its characters true to the source.

CW was first in these recent attempts at the superhero genre on prime-time with Arrow. The show found success delivering solid action and character drama, and bringing to the screen not only Green Arrow, but also Black Canary, Red Arrow, Huntress, the Flash and villains Deadshot, Merlyn, Mocking Bird, a very brief Harley Quinn cameo and one of my personal favorites Deathstroke. Also, there is a version of Deathstroke's young lady protege, Ravager whose identity is a twist I don't want to spoil. Other appearances from the books, not exactly accurate to the source are Brother Blood, the Royal Flush Gang, the Clock King, Shrapnel depicted as a serial bomber instead of creature composed of sharp metal and Solomon Grundy referred to only as Cyrus Gold, powered by an experimental serum instead of the Hulk-like undead monster-man in the comics.  While thrilling action scenes and character drama provide mass appeal, the variety of familiar heroes and villains keep longtime fans happy. For fans with sharp ears, the writers of this show like to slip in tongue-in-cheek references to writers and artists. In the season two epsiode "Suicide Squad" Amanda Waller, Mockingbird refers to a room in a hotel as the Ostrander Suite" name-dropping John Ostrander, a writer famous for his work on the Suicide Squad comic among other titles. There was also mention of a "Giffen Street" referring to Keith Giffen, the artist who worked with Ostrander on the same series.  And in the "Birds of Prey" episode the police are looking for the Huntress. Her location is announced over the dispatch: an abandoned building at the intersection of "Gail and Simone," of course name-dropping superstar DC writer Gail Simone who added Huntress to the lineup in her iconic Birds of Prey run. One of the most interesting elements Arrow brings to the table, is its handling of the hero's origin. Oliver Queen was stranded on an island for five years, until his return, seen in the premiere episode. As the show unfolds we get flashbacks of this time period where he learns to survive, making both allies and enemies.  At a rate of about one year on the island per season, the audience is treated to the slow transition from billionaire playboy to hardened vigilante, whose concern shifted from parties and women, to a crusade to free Starling City of corruption. One complaint with this adaptation is that the plot of the first season revolves around a list of names Queen got from his father in his last moments. Green Arrow starts his career crossing off each name by killing them, taking justice into his own hands. I found it hard to root for him as he constantly crossed this line. This flaw stayed in the first season, though. After the death of his closest friend, Ollie decided he couldn't go on killing everyone with no thought of the consequences and rededicated his career to bringing justice without the use of deadly force.

Arrow's Ravager

...and her comic version

Spinning out of CW's has quickly become a personal favorite. I've read the words "My name is 'Barry Allen.' I'm the fastest man alive!" so many times that the voice-over in the intro-credits gives me chills.Taking elements from both Barry Allen and the younger Wally West Flash this adaptation shows much respect and love to its source material. Though the hero's classic rogues gallery provides a villain of the week like Captain Cold, Heatwave, the Pied Piper, Girder and the Trickster, the show stays fresh with longer story arcs featuring Firestorm and the Reverse Flash. Any longtime fan who knows the latter's identity as time-traveler, Eobard Thawne would be kept glued to the screen during his gradual reveal with a bait-and-switch, having Detective Edward Thawne rival Barry for the affections of Iris West.  There's also a team-up with Green Arrow and one with DC sci-fi staple, the Atom played by former Superman actor, Brandon Routh. Though some tweaks are necessary to bring comic characters to the TV screen, most of the important elements are true to the characters' original form. Cold earns his moniker with mean calm and ruthless cunning as well as his cold-gun. The Reverse Flash is completely devious and quick to anger. More recently, Gorilla Grodd was brought to screen as a truly terrifying sight to behold, a giant gorilla who paralyzes you with fear, looking like he could rip a person in two, then you realize his voice is in your head. Instead of being a scientist whose sole ambition is to rule Gorilla City and eat anyone who gets in his way, this Grodd was the result of genetic experiments. There are a couple nods to the short-lived 90's version. The lead from that series, John Wesley Ship plays Barry's father who is serving a sentence for the wrongful conviction of his wife's murder, which provides Barry's main motivation. Also, Mark Hamill reprises his role as the unstable Trickster for the third time (acting in the previous version as well as providing his voice in the animated Justice League: Unlimited series). My one complaint is that though the show shares a universe with Arrow, DC content outside of the CW network is off-limits. I would love to see this Flash help found the Justice League but the movie version will likely be different, as the Suicide Squad movie has already announced its cast alternately to the one featured in Arrow.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC was met with mixed reactions. Created by Joss Whedon it follows a diverse and quirky cast of agents lead by Phil Coulson who was introduced in the Iron Man film. Weekly they work on cases that deal with the fallout of the Marvel movie-verse as the larger mysteries of Coulson's return after his apparant death in Avengers and other main character, Skye's unknown past unfold more gradually.The major problem with this show is its lack of costumed heroes. Though they reference characters so obscure even I have to consult the Marvel Wikia, in the first season the only major superhero to appear was Deathlok. As thrilling as his reveal was having him in a handful of episodes was not enough besides the fact that most of the time he's being manipulated by the baddies for their own purposes. To be fair, in the second season they improve this situation by adding to the main lineup Agent Barbara 'Bobbi' Morse, known to comic fans as Mockingbird. She dominates fights with her Amazonian build and a pair of staves, her weapons of choice in the comics. Vice versa, Agent Coulson has been appearing more in the comics and in 2014 the rest of the show's cast  got their comic debut in a title called S.H.I.EL.D.

ABC's "Mockingbird"

...and her comic counterpart

When Agent Carter was announced I thought it would be a story/event within Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or a mini-series taking its place temporarily. Did we need another family-friendly S.H.I.E.L.D.-based show exploring the Marvel movie-verse? Despite my doubts, the show sets itself apart setting it's stories in the past and exploring the history of Howard Stark, Arnim Zola, the Howling Commandos and title character, Peggy Carter outside of the films. Carter provides an interesting perspective as one of the few people to know Captain America as a man as she hears the legends that arise in his absence. I enjoyed the pilot but I will have to wait to finish the season. As it happens, I missed a few episodes and the full season is not available to stream yet.

NBC has Constantine. Admittedly I am not extremely familiar with the character, but from what I do know this adaption is more faithful to its source than the 2005 movie. John Constantine is a blond trenchcoat-wearing Brit who practices black magic to fight demons and protect innocent souls, not as much the unblinking Keannu Reeves version that the film gave us. More than that, the framing, camera angles, lingering closeups, and dialogue feel very comic book-y. I hate using such a vague description, but watching the show I feel like I'm enjoying comic story-telling. The only problem I see has been the delays between episodes, but if they're taking their time in order produce the same level of content they can take as long as they need.

Gotham on Fox is a show that I wanted to like. It follows the perspective of James Gordon just starting at his new post in Gotham City. He takes interest in a young freshly orphaned Bruce Wayne. While I really like the premise of the police procedural set in Gotham pre-Batman I have a few issues with the show. Some are superficial like Donal Logue's portrayal of Sgt. Bulloch. The gritty voice he's using sounds more like Batman than the Brooklyn accent from the animated version. Also the scenes with Bruce Wayne are few and far between. Other more major issues show problems with the entire structure of the show. The inclusion of characters like Catwoman, Bulloch, and other police Crispus Allen and Rene Montoya don't really mesh with Batman's timeline. These are characters who are depicted as less experienced than Batman and in this show they're all much older and in already in play. I can't see Montoya or Allen donning the heroic identities, the Question and the Spectre respectively if they're already adults maybe a decade or more before Batman enters the fray. Also the character played by Jada Pinkett Smith, Fish Mooney is an odd addition. She plays a believable crime lord, but I can't help but think that the role was created in order to shoe-horn in some star power. One error that I'm sure had Bat-fans everywhere scratching their heads, occurred in the premiere episode. Detective Gordon is chasing a criminal through an apartment building, when he encounters a young red-headed girl. You can see abundant plants inside her apartment and when he asks her her name she sheepishly replies "Ivy." If you had seen the acclaimed animated series (from the same network as this show, mind you), or read one of her many comic appearances you'd know that if this kid was supposed to be Poison Ivy, her name should be Pamela Eisley. Are we supposed to believe young Pamela is already experimenting with plants and has adopted her alter-ego after school? It's more likely that this is a blatant mistake that even the universally hated movie, Batman and Robin was closer to getting right.

Daredevil's costume in Season 1

Makeshift costume worn in Daredevil: Man without Fear

Marvel Studios' latest in the TV Wars is Daredevil on Netflix. The exclusive release has allowed Marvel to create content targeted towards a decidedly adult audience. Though violent, the show avoids being gratuitous, by revealing character details through action, relentless to the point of brutality and at least once, beyond. Early on Matt Murdock describes how his father, boxer 'Battlin' Jack Murdock would corner his opponents and pummel them relentlessly. Also his father was known for being able to take a brutal beating as well. As Daredevil, he does both throughout the series, honoring his father who was killed after standing up to the mob by refusing to continue taking falls for bribes. In twisted contrast, the main antagonist, Wilson Fisk was raised by an abusive man. In this case, the violence that formed his character was directed towards a neighborhood bully, as Fisk was forced to beat him by his father. Later his father mercilessly beats his mother. This history manifests in the adult Fisk in the show's most gruesome scene, as Fisk murders a subordinate in a rage that continues after his victim's death. Vincent D'Onofrio delivers a frightening performance, fitting Fisk, known as the Kingpin in the comics. One thing the show excels at is its fresh take on common superhero tropes. They avoid the cliche of the hero's origin by showing the perspective of his father, who finds young Matt just after the accident that took his vision and elevated his senses to a hyper-keen level. I like the depiction of his enhanced senses, which sets this adaptation apart from the 2003 film. By showing subtle reactions, actor Charlie Cox tells us he's aware of information most others are not. Daredevil doesn't don the familiar red costume until the final episode, instead wearing a more stealth-friendly black costume referencing a makeshift uniform he used in the story Daredevil: The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller. There are plenty of other references to the comic universe for fans to look for (which I don't want to list because youtuber, Mr. Sunday Movies beat me to it here.) There's one notable nod to the movieverse. Fisk talks about his ventures in reconstruction in the wake of an otherworldly disaster, establishing the setting in New York after the first Avengers film. Unlike the S.H.I.E.L.D. based shows, its link to the movie-verse is less of a crutch allowing for a quality show that stands on its own. I highly recommend Daredevil mostly because it satisfies my Bat-cravings far more than Gotham tries to.

Update: NBC has finalized their decision not to pick up Constantine Season 2. This bad news comes with a granule of hope. Showrunner, Daniel Cerone has begun shopping around other networks like Fox, SyFy and CW. CW acquiring another DC property is exciting enough, but Arrow actor Stephen Amell has shown interest in a collaborative crossover. We'll have to wait and see where this show ends up.

In other more recent Superhero/TV-related news, CBS has released a trailer for Supergirl. At over five minutes it plays like a short film. I didn't even realize this project was in production but I'd say I'm fairly excited to see it. I want to see how they present a world where Superman has already been operating and how they will deal with his absence. It may be perceived as anti-feminist to focus on a female who is forced to exist in her male-counterpart's shadow, but that's her main character arc. Supergirl has to discover her own identity, distinct from her cousin. She'll find that she can be powerful, smart, sexy and independent, and that there is no shame in being called "girl."

Comic Effects Update

Apologies for the lack of new posts. The last article up, I actually finished in late December. I just needed to add pictures. On January 1st, the unthinkable happened; my father died of a heart attack very suddenly. He was lively as ever until his last moments, never hinting at any problem. Even after a long tearful goodbye some days I still cant believe he's gone.

Needless to say it was hard to get myself to do anything besides trying to balance providing emotional support and needing it myself.

I returned to my day job, and in February I finally got the promotion I'd been working on. Though I needed the increased pay I gave up my regular schedule. This is an obstacle for my writing endeavors, but I plan to get back into game. I've got two articles on the back-burners and I finished watching Daredevil *ahem* twice, so watch this space.