Morbius

This image is as dumb as the movie itself

I'm not going to bury the lead here. This movie is extraordinarily stupid. It should not exist. For those not in the know, Sony has the rights to a number of Spider-Man characters, but share actual Spider-Man with Disney right now. So in an effort to keep the rights, they pump out Spider-Man adjacent nonsense like the Venom movies or THIS movie right here. A movie absolutely no one asked for. Morbius is a C list Spider-Man villain on his BEST day. A sign that Sony should have moved on. Yet, here we are. I'm sure the egotistical Jared Leto thought he could somehow elevate this property. He is sorely mistaken. 

Part of my main problem with this movie is they take a stupid comic book concept and try to play it straight like it is believable. A guy is like, "Imma go get bit by a bunch of vampire bats cause science blah blah something something" and they just roll with it. Then he gets powers but is like a vampire, but not. The bats he gets bit by don't demonstrate any of these traits, but he damn sure gets super powers that get made up on the fly.

The other cardinal sin (of many), is this movie is completely predictable. You can see the villain coming from a mile away. These movies (Marvel is not exempt here) always want to make the bad guy a different side of the same coin. So instead of having a vampire fight a monster or the mafia or ANYTHING, he fights a mirror version of himself. So exciting. Also, this is one of those movies where all the problems would have been fixed by simply talking. For like ten minutes.

The most egregious offense to me, (SPOILER!)was including Adrian Toomes in a cameo appearance and as one of the stingers. How DARE you waste Michael Keaton like this. He's great in the real Spider-Man movies, but he is brought in here like he is going to save this sorry film. I was screaming, "No! NO!" when he showed up.

The special effects are about what you expect. Full disclosure, I watched this a few weeks ago and all the details are hazy other than, this is a dumb film. Should I have watched it? No. But everyone who knows me, knows I am somehow obligated to see all Marvel films, so here we are. I clearly have a problem. But not as big a problem as this movie. Zing.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special

Hi there. It's that friend you have that is in to comics. I know this blog should talk more comic stuff, but there's SO MANY SHOWS based on comics, my focus has shifted a little. So the topic of this post is that Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday special that popped up on Disney+ a week ago. What I am going to say is independent of this review, but I gotta say it. I don't love the exponential increase in Marvel content Disney has been pushing out. This is going to accelerate people's super hero burnout. We have long ago reached a oversaturation point. Have they been good? Mostly, yeah, but they have not paced themselves. By the time they get to the bottom of the vast list of characters, no one is going to care anymore.

Sorry. This special. James Gunn has been hit or miss for me. I loved Guardians of the Galaxy and Peacemaker. I hated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 and The Suicide Squad. What did I think of this? I think it falls in the middle. It was fun and I liked it a little bit, but I definitely didn't love it. 

There are some good music numbers here and sorry if this is a spoiler, but we get Kevin Bacon, a fun payoff to a joke way back in the first movie. 

My issue with this special is it feels like they didn't have the actors' schedules lined up, so it was mostly a "Who's available and let's push a thing out." kind of thing. Unfortunately for me, that meant spending time with two of my least favorite members of the team, Mantis and Drax. Peter Quill, Nebula, Rocket and Groot make what feels like cameo appearances in something that should have had more of them. 

Also, Drax and Mantis feel like an odd pairing. They did what they could, but I found myself trying to make myself like this more than I actually did. That told me how I really felt. I think they could have gone with a fun, "Previously on Guardians of the Galaxy" to get us up to speed at the beginning because it has been a long time since we've seen this group on their own. I know they appeared in Thor: Love and Thunder, but here they are on Nowhere, set up as leaders, etc. and I don't remember ANY of that happening before. They don't mention any adventures with Thor either, so where in the timeline does this even sit?

I mean, I really don't have much else to say about this, other than the song about Christmas by this band, 'The Old 97's' that plays over the credits. I have high hopes that they will be on track for the third movie, then they lose James Gunn to DC for the foreseeable future. A loss for Marvel, because he fits their aesthetic to a T and now he is going to bring that humor to DC, where it is sorely needed. It's Christmas time, so get your Christmas fix.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

I'm going to save my usual pre-amble nonsense and just jump into my review of the movie while it's fresh in my mind. Did I love the movie? Yes! Was it better than the first one? Well, no, but that's not a bad thing. It's different. I would give it a 9/10 if we want to put numbers on things. That first movie was fueled by the unmistakable charisma of the late Chadwick Boseman.

We are at a unique moment right now. I've never recalled an actor being so closely tied to a character that his actual death was tied into a movie that felt like a loving eulogy. Chadwick Boseman is clearly missed and this movie does not shy away from it. There is such a palpable sadness in the beginning of this movie that is really a gut punch. There is a long moment of silence for when the Marvel logo pops up and I want you to pay attention to it because it is different. 

Let this be a warning to you, there is a lot of emotional, gut punches in this movie. Did I cry a bit? I would be lying if I said I didn't. Beneath this sadness, there is a beautiful movie with a lot of poignant touches. I re-watched the first Black Panther movie before this and I forgot how many themes were running through it. In this movie, that trend continues. This movie has something to say and it is way more than just a super hero movie to some of us. I can't properly express the depth of sadness we feel watching this movie that almost becomes too much at times. It is painful to watch our people suffer because we know that suffering. We feel what the actors feel in this one.

In the story, we have two uniquely ancient and powerful nations that come to odds with each other. I LOVED what they did with Namor and his origin here. Tying him to Aztec culture and history makes him more relatable and gives another chance for marginalized people to see themselves represented in a big budget movie. There is a rich and sad history for Namor's people and you will empathize with him. This movie is secretly a Namor origin story and launch point. Tenoch Huerta is a delight on the screen. Equally charming and menacing.

My hope is that indigenous people have a chance to see themselves represented on screen the way we as black people did in the first movie. Also, each of us have our own signature greeting we can use in real life.

This movie deals with loss and how one can rise above it. All the characters deal with it in their own way. Wakanda and the newly introduced city of Talokan, Namor's city. Each setting is beautifully rendered and represented.

I would be remiss if I didn't call out the outwardly strong, black female cast in this movie. They all get to shine and it was one of my more favorite aspects. Angela Bassett is still out here doing her thing and reminding you who she is. She is fantastic and a force to be reckoned with. You can not take your eyes off her when she is on the screen and seeing her go toe to toe with many different invading nations, on the battle field or in a political setting. The movie is also about Shuri's arc, as she deals with the death of her brother. Then we have Okoye and Nakia, not to be outdone but also get a chance to truly shine in this movie. Last, but certainly not least. The Dora Milaje. A fighting force like none other. The Black Women are front and center here and all the men are pushed to the back and it is refreshing. M'Baku is fantastic as usual, but he is more of an advisor to Shuri as she goes on her journey.

There is so much more I want to say, but I want to keep this as short as possible so that you all get to see it. The battle scenes are sweeping and beautifully shot. I'm deliberately ignoring all the extra characters we get introduced, not because they're not important, but I don't want to color your opinion. This is another cultural moment and Ryan Coogler should be celebrated as a genius for the way he respectfully shows each of these cultures, giving them proper space to breathe and bringing up different topics that can lead to poignant discussions. It opens the door for more characters to be birthed from this rich tapestry he's created. This man deserves his props and so much more.

Black Panther (Vol. 9) - What is this?!?

Y'all know I'm a die hard Black Panther fan. I own almost 90% of his solo stuff that's ever been released. I've read some great stories and some not so great stories. Through it all, I never felt the way I do now. A few months ago I shared my thoughts on the first issue of this new run. Has it gotten better? No. Instead of giving this blanket statement, let me share my reasons why.

Over the past year or two, they've transformed Wakanda into a democracy. A modern take on an old comic book mythos is okay. I don't mind this. I've been reading comics for a while and something is going to happen where this is going to revert back. It's just the nature of the beast, so I don't sweat changes like this.

Where I have a problem is with the writing. I get that Marvel wants synergy between the comics and the movies. Black Panther was a C List character at best about fifteen years ago. Now he's become more prominent and is among the A-Listers. To try and build on the momentum of the movies (and let's be real here, Chadwick Boseman's portrayal), they keep trying to put non comic book talent on the books. Someone that is known in the mainstream and done influential work in black literature or television. I can only speculate that is why they had Ta'Nehisi Coates on here for a few years. 

My first problem is getting non-comic book writers writing comic books. Marvel is trying to bring in a new audience by bringing in someone with a built in audience. The cynic in me will tell you that those same fans are not comic book readers and most likely are not going to follow them around. Writing comics is flexing different muscles than writing a novel and for new writers, it shows. These books tend to be overwritten, with a million speech bubbles. 

I said all that to set up my next couple of points. They picked John Ridley, an academy award winning writer. That last part is important. What did he win for? 12 Years a Slave. He's also been a writer of a few episodes of Martin, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and some other stuff you may have seen. My problem is that Marvel sees this and think this is the black writer we need on Black Panther. I applaud their effort to get black writers on this book over the past few years, but I don't think they've gone deeper than that. 

My problem is everything about this run feels way off. I attribute part of it to Ridley being an American trying to write an African character. The voice doesn't feel right. T'Challa sounds too American, when he should in the very least sound like a king. Too many American idioms makes it's way into his speech. You could argue that maybe being around so many Americans has changed him, but that feels like nonsense. Ridley also writes the most asshole-ish version of Captain America I have ever seen. Cap is always condescending to T'Challa, chastising him for not focusing on his role in the Avengers when he knows damn well this brother was running an entire nation. A job he started to fail at because he was serving the Avengers. And now his country wants to be a democracy. Steve Rogers cares nothing about that and that is completely inauthentic to who he is supposed to be. Even worse, T'Challa just takes it.

Black Panther shows up in the Avengers books and does his super hero stuff there. I do not think his solo title should be a watered down version of that. Instead, they pair him up with some second tier Avengers to pal around in this book, when really we should be focused on Wakanda and Black Panther's role in it. The problem is, even the super hero stuff isn't good either. So this book is failing on multiple fronts. It doesn't know what it wants to be.

The most recent storyline that concluded involved T'Challa having a network of spies that was revealed to his country and that caused tension. This feels like an also ran story and also doesn't feel right. Trying to be a watered down spy thriller is not what this book should be.

I've spent a lot of time complaining about what this book is, but haven't said how I would personally fix it. Clearly, I'm very opinionated and I do have my own answers. First of all, there is plenty of talented African writers out there. I've read some work at Marvel, Image, DC and other independent companies. This book needs to be handed over to one of them. Black Panther's voice would be well served to be guided by someone that is actually African. This way the portrayals would feel more authentic. There are nuances that Americans will miss or think they know that causes this problem. Marvel is so focused on getting a big name to move books, that they are missing an opportunity to make a start out of someone that is relatively unknown. I doubt Ridley's name is really moving units. In fact, I would argue that the way comics are today, writers will not move that many more units.

Another fix, base the book in Wakanda. We don't need to see T'Challa globetrotting. His country is in peril and he seems inclined to do nothing about it. He says he's for Wakanda and then leaves them at the drop of a hat. Making him face his consequences and trying to earn back his peoples' trust is what they should be doing. A new writer could try to build a new rogue's gallery for him. Writers tend to put their political views into their work, I would love to see that put into effect here.

I mentioned an African writer, that goes double for the art. I think this book could use a new look and a new style to it. Lately it's been traditional comic book art, but I think this title needs to go in a different direction.

If I were an editor at Marvel, this is where I would put my focus to breathe some new life into this book. I hate that I feel this way about the book, but it is just not good. Something needs to be done.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1

I put season one, because there is no way this doesn't get a second season. It is more than deserving. Oh, hello. Welcome to my review of the recently finished She-Hulk series on Disney+. Another in an exponentially growing list of Marvel properties getting TV shows. The money train left the station a long time ago and it seems just about any and everything is getting green-lit. Fortunately, they have all mostly been successful in one way or another. I think this show falls in the success category.

I will put this out here. I'm a little biased. I've been reading every iteration of She-Hulk for almost the last twenty years. She does the fourth wall breaking that Deadpool does, but less annoying. Correction, Deadpool does the fourth wall breaking SHE does. It's just his property got released into the public first. Anyways, I was excited for this show when I heard it was happening. I was even more excited when I heard that the talented Tatiana Maslany was cast as the titular character. I didn't need to hear anything else to get me on board. They did tease that Mark Ruffalo would be returning as the Hulk as well. So I knew they would at least treat this right.

With all this being said, I truly enjoyed this show. It was a delight for me. With nine, thirty minute episodes, it was the right amount of show. I'm sure money is the reason, but I appreciate that Marvel keeps their shows short. They also get the right showrunners who have a vision that is unique to them (re: Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel). In this case it was Jessica Gao. So glad they continue to get female showrunners to run shows about their female characters. Shocking, I know. 

Let's talk about the amount of money spent on this show, real quick. With the initial trailers, I was very worried about the special effects. Behemoths like She-Hulk, The Hulk and Abomination need a big budget behind them to pull them off. So is that possible in a TV show? Eh, well they tried their best. They tried to write around She-Hulk not appearing ALL the time, but her CG was shaky at best. Not terrible in small doses, but the cracks would start to show the longer she appeared on screen.

Fortunately, I thought the writing was good. The humor hit all the right notes for me. There were a lot of deep cut jokes or Marvel Characters (El Aguila?! The Porcupine?! Mr. Immortal?!?!) that tickled me. I also loved the way the fourth wall breaking aspect of the character was worked in. Tatiana delivered them perfectly. I mean they just go and name drop the X-Men? Loved Jen's sidekick, Nikki and their interplay

For a Hulk show, some won't be happy that this show is lacking in the action department. I'm completely okay with that. I feel like it would expose the budget this show didn't have. I liked the focus on the seemingly normal problems for Jen as she navigated the world through herself or her alter-ego. 

I also loved that this show continued to poke the bear that is the white male dominated comic book fandom. This show exists to piss off fanboys like that and I am here for it. So much material can be provided to a show like this by them. With the penchant for fourth wall breaking and working it into the plot itself, they were able to poke at it. 

Finally, the cameos. I know it can play like a who's who of who do we have available, but I loved the choices here. Seeing Wong is ALWAYS a delight. I also loved seeing Tim Roth re-emerge as the Abomination. Then we get to see Charlie Cox return as Daredevil, with the red and yellow costume. The difference here is we get wise cracking Daredevil, not tortured soul, lapsed Catholic Daredevil. Thank god for that. There was just a different, fun energy about him. We're not used to seeing him ACTUALLY smile. Loved his involvement in the show. Oh, let's not forget to mention Madisynn. Spelled with two n's and one y and not where you think. It was a show stealing turn and I liked her unlikely friendship with Wong. Also, thankfully, they didn't go back to that well again THIS season.

Oh! One more thing! We need to talk about Larry from Perfect Strangers being in this show! Good for him finding work. Maybe he has been working steadily, I don't know. Doesn't matter.

This show was a lot of fun, didn't overstay it's welcome and I thought it brought She-Hulk into the Marvel Universe in a fun way. I can't wait to see other cameos at some point in future seasons. It has to happen. 

Werewolf By Night

Sneaky Marvel. This just snuck out to Disney+ with little fanfare, but what a nice surprise it was. I remember seeing a trailer for this a while back and then instantly forgot about it. Being as we're in Halloween season, it's perfect timing. Let me get right to it.

This is the Marvel short we didn't know we needed. It was a lot of fun. It harkens back to the old days of monster films. It's in black and white for the most part, with pops of color here and there to accentuate things. There's the cigarettes burns in the top right corner of the screen as if it was on a projector. The way some of the shots are framed and just the general vibe of it had an old monster feel. However, the action and special effects were not. There was some great hand to hand action mixed in here and that kind of stuff is my bread and butter. There were legitimate moments that made me go, "Oh SHIT", which is the space I like to be in when I see some cool martial arts moves come out of nowhere.

The horror side of Marvel I know very little about. It's not my cup of tea, but I can appreciate some aspects of it from afar. I didn't know anything about the Werewolf by night character, nor did I care. You get what you get here and I thought it was great. I know just a little more about Elsa Bloodstone because they've been trying to give her a push the past few years, including her in video games and more appearances in the comics. She's a certifiable bad ass and shows that here. All of the actors are perfectly mysterious and acted well.

We also get a very cool appearance by Man-Thing, the not Swamp Thing of the Marvel Universe. He looks really good here and I liked that he is used sparingly. Just enough that it makes you want more in the future. I just hope he doesn't get overused like Groot. 

What I really appreciate about this short is that they drop you in the action and you find out a few pieces about the characters as you go. Really it's about a game to win a prize and how cutthroat everyone is in getting it. That's it. For something like this, it is perfect. The musical score is also very appropriate. There's a bit with a tuba and flames to announce when a participant has entered the maze that I loved. Chilling! I highly recommend checking this out for Halloween. At just under an hour, it is the perfect bite sized chunk of content we all need. I wish more things were presented and wrapped up so neatly like this. 

My hope is that this is opening the door to some form of Midnight Suns. A team of Elsa, Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night is a good start. Perhaps Blade can be added at some point and a version of Ghost Rider. We'll see, but if Marvel wants to start dipping into the horror side of their catalog, I'm here for it. 

Thor: Love and Thunder

Life got in the way, but I finally saw Thor: Love and Thunder a few weeks ago. Since it's now on Disney+, this review can be relevant. I'll dive right in and try to keep this short. First off, I love the goofy, bumbling persona they have created for Thor in the MCU with the last few movies. This was the right direction to go in because he was so self serious, that he was boring. This direction breathed new life into him.

Did I enjoy this movie? Yes. Was it as good as Thor: Ragnarok? No. But that's not a bad thing. It's still easily one of the better Thor movies. One of the criticisms you may have heard about this movie is that some of the jokes don't work. I agree that it's true. My only defense is, what movie that has comedy had ALL the jokes work in it? None. So let's set that expectation. One running joke that specifically annoyed me are the pair of screaming goats that Thor gets. Yes, we remember this meme or whatever from a few years ago. I feel like that is a cultural reference that is past it's prime. Using it once or twice at the right time is funny. Unfortunately, they go to that well way too many times.

Another joke that was too much was during an initial fight scene where Thor does a split to keep two enemy ships apart. It's a dumb moment that is not needed. It is the kind of gag that can turn people off from the movie. They'll feel like, "Oh, is this what this movie is going to be?" Because it's been a few weeks, I can't think of other jokes that bothered me. All of these movies have a lot of moments of levity that can be a bit much at times. This movie gets serious when it needs to get serious, but maybe jokes a little too much when it's not.

I also take delight in those that hate on this movie because it has too many strong females, too many LBGTQ characters, too many people of color, etc. and etc. Sorry if these movies reflect the world around them. Sorry if the "wokeness" of the world means we get more representation outside of straight blonde white guys. Sorry you feel you the need to protect a "norse" god in a fictional movie. You're being replaced by fans that are more willing to be accept more differences than you.

Now that I'm off my soap box, I loved the collection of characters here. I am glad that the army consisted of our four main characters (Thor, Jane Foster, Valkyrie and Korg). I was worried that the Guardians of the Galaxy would have too big a presence here, but they only show up in the first act of the movie and then are gone. I was glad we finally get insight into Thor and Jane Foster's relationship. Previously there were offhanded comments about how they were no more and that was it. They finally show that here rather than tell us and it feels about how that relationship would go.

Now that I'm a father, I could relate and was on Gor the Godbutcher's side in this one. If something happened to my kid and no one did anything about it that had the power to do so, I would burn it all down too. I mean, those gods kind of had it coming to them, but I can see where Gor should have stopped at one. We can blame the sword that he carried for it, but I like to think it wasn't JUST the sword controlling him. Christian Bale did a good job portraying this character that was the main villain.

Now there are some good action scenes here, but it will not be the hand to hand stuff that I love. It's a lot of lightning bolts and energy blasts flying all over the place. That's fine. It may seem corny, but I liked the scene of an army of kids at the end. Again, I think as a new father, this hits a little different now.

I think Natalie Portman and the Jane Foster character finally get their due. Finally, she has something to do other than pine for Thor and she has some real agency here. Her arc is also sad and is another emotional beat in this movie. Tessa Thompson is also good, but this movie isn't about her, so she doesn't get as much time as I would have liked. They should really do a show on the politics of New Asgard with her as it's ruler. We only get a taste of it here.

Finally, it's clear that Chris Hemsworth is enjoying playing Thor and will keep playing him until the wheels fall off. I hope he does. He's got comedic timing and these movies let him flex those muscles. He seems to have hit on the right mix of buffoonery, but seriousness when the moment calls for it.

This movie is now on Disney Plus, so I say give it a watch there. I don't think this is a movie that is enhanced by seeing it in the theater. That's my recommendation.

Ms. Marvel - Season One

I finished up Ms. Marvel a few days ago and what a delight it was. I have so many things to say about this show, so I will just jump right in. I'll spare you the requisite "I've read the character since she came out, blah blah blah".

Before I dive into other stuff, I really like how Marvel is getting creators from the ethnic backgrounds their shows are representing. Furthermore, we get to spend times in those locations as opposed to New York. For Moon Knight, it was Egypt with an Egyptian showrunner. For Ms. Marvel, we spend time in Pakistan with actors and directors from Pakistan. Furthermore, it delves into the everyday life of a Muslim. Portrayed in a positive light, which as you can imagine in America, is not common. Let's be honest about that. Each of these shows had a unique, authenticity that is new for main stream TV. I'm glad that a wide audience will be able to watch these shows and potentially learn something.

If Marvel plays it's cards right, it still has many more teen super heroes they can follow and how they exist in their own spaces. Anyone can relate to a coming of age story, even if the ethnic background does not match your own. This show followed Kamala Khan as she gets new powers and learns how to use them while also trying to be a teenager. The main cast is all likeable and for a while, it was hard to determine who would be the villain because everyone had their own level of goodness about them. Fortunately we get, "the man" as a villain to allow some faceless soldiers to be punching bags. 

I'll say again, the cast is very likeable. Iman Vellani is instantly charming as Kamala Kahn. She has an infectious energy about her and everything about her feels authentic. You can almost feel how she is enjoying the role. I can imagine that there is a lot of weight on her shoulders carrying the culture of South East Asia.

In the trailers and in the first episode, I was afraid that all the cutesy writing on the screen would appear throughout the show. Thankfully, they rein it in. It's fun at first, but it is something that was going to get old real quick. 

I also thought the pace of the show was good. Like all Marvel shows, you won't see the character in their uniform until the very end, but the journey to get there was fun. Also, the costume looks pretty good. They also restrained themselves and didn't have any cutesy cameos show up. There were also no other Marvel characters really getting introduced here outside of Kamala. This way the focus stayed squarely on her.

The big thing they changed here was her origin. At first I didn't like it, but as it went on, it made way more sense in the context of this story. To summarize for those that don't know. In the comics, Kamala is revealed to be an "Inhuman". What's an Inhuman? The poor man's X-Men. Or "The X-Men type of characters when we don't have rights to the X-Men.". Anyways, when a specific (called "terrigen") mist hits an inhuman, they get special, random powers. That is where Kamala's stretchiness comes from in the comics. 

Here, they do away with all that Inhuman nonsense and just give her a magical item. I initially didn't like that her powers come from an item, but they explain that only SHE can really use it like that, so I can forgive it. They also find a way to approximate her powers to look like the comics, but use it in ways that make it smart for the story. Again, I'm completely okay with it. If you rolled your eyes through her original origin above, you are right to. When I say it out loud, it sounds real dumb. Welcome to comics. I'm glad they tie this into the Djinn and explore that here. This is something we never see in American shows. A very different take than what we get in anything Marvel and I welcome it.

The fighting isn't great in this show, but that is not it's strength. The interpersonal relationships are what shine here and that is a good thing. If we didn't care about the characters, none of this would work.

I think the other thing this show secretly teaches us about is the partition that happened between Pakistan and India. I will be honest that I was never aware of it before a Doctor Who episode a couple of years ago. It is an event we should talk about more in history class and this show doesn't shy away about how harrowing it was. They don't go into the finer details, but you get enough to feel it.

I'm so glad that even though Marvel is stumbling around in the dark on all their phase 4 stuff, good stuff is coming out of it like this show. We know we'll see more of Kamala Kahn and that is a good thing. Here's hoping that will spill into a second season. They have it all set up to do so. 

I highly recommend watching this show!

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

A month after it's release, I finally got to see Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. To be honest, I thought it was okay. This phase of Marvel movies and TV shows has been haphazard at best. I don't want to hear how the pandemic changed things. There are important people that can figure this out. I am glad that Marvel is at least trying to reach into their toy chest and see what works. Right now, they are coasting on the goodwill they have built up over the last decade. 

Admittedly, it's hard to see where this movie and all their other recent shows fit into the larger tapestry. Unlike the other movies (Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi) though, this movie at least feels like it will have some larger implications for the MCU.

I think this movie and the last couple of shows (re: Wandavision) have been negatively affected by our expectations for cameos or easter eggs that are going to change the Marvel Universe. We KNOW Disney bought Fox movie properties, so we are expecting the Fantastic Four and the X-Men to make their appearance any day now. If we're being honest, Marvel has done about all they can without mentioning these properties, but that well is running dry. These characters will give a boost for the next ten years. They are arguably the two most important franchises at Marvel. I don't want to give away spoilers, but there were some cameos from certain characters that made me super giddy. I rode high on those cameo fumes the rest of the movie.

Sorry, I digress. This movie. I think part of your enjoyment of this movie comes down to whether you like Sam Raimi as a director or not. There is big budget Sam Raimi that did the Toby Maguire Spider-Man movies. Then there is Sam Raimi, cult favorite darling that brought us the Evil Dead movies and series. In this movie he tries to toe the line with both. What we get are some of the best and worst of Raimi. There are a lot of his signature shots (you know, the ground level zooming in of some mysterious force), the cameos (Bruce Campbell!) and the horror touches. This movie feels very much like a horror movie and in that respect, he is the right choice. You can almost tell though, that Marvel was like, "Cool, Cool. Love the movie. A few notes. We need you to add these things in here because we need it to connect to other movies and set up others. Fit it in where you want, we don't care. Just hit these marks."

At times, the story is moving along and then you get those weird Marvel touches that derail things a bit. For example, the inclusion of the Illuminati. Look, I love the cameos that come out of it, but it feels weird in this movie. It's one big easter egg that Marvel wanted to put in here to remind us this movie will connect to other stuff instead of letting it stand on it's own. Dr. Strange is strong enough at this point to carry his own movie without a bunch of cameos to buttress it up.

There are a lot of great shots and a lot of great Dr. Strange hero moments, which reminded me a lot of Spider-Man 2, which is a good thing. I also like that this movie keeps stressing that there is a cost to all this magic Dr. Strange is using which got exceedingly dark. I don't want to give anything away, but the last fourth of this movie is REAL dark. There is a scene where Dr. Strange is conjuring and controlling some evil spirits and a friend watching with me goes, "That is fuckin' metal." I am paraphrasing, but yeah, it is pretty fuckin' metal. And a cool visual. The special effects are fantastic in this movie.

The actors are great as always. Love Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange. Love Bendict Wong as...well, Wong. Elizabeth Olsen continues a good streak with Wanda. The ageless Rachel McAdams is even used in a better way this time. The afore mentioned cameos are cool as hell to me. There are two particular cameos that excited the hell out of me.

I think my biggest problem with this movie is the fact that the Scarlet Witch is the big bad. I only say this because after what we saw in Wandavision, we thought she was going to turn good or she had gotten her shit together. This movie showed that, no, she doesn't. But how long was the gap between that show and this movie because her motivations are weird, given what happened in Wandavision. Just a few lines saying that she found the Darkhold, been reading it for years and that corrupted her would make more sense. Instead, she morphed into a mustache twirling villain. Also, she is straight up murdering people in this movie, so it seems like there is no redeeming her at this point. I think it's a missed opportunity for Marvel. I feel like they took a weird path to get her to the comic book Scarlet Witch, give her the costume, acknowledge that she has magic powers and not "abilities" just to take her off the board. 

Before, I talked about the good and bad of Sam Raimi. There is a scene with musical notes in this movie that I was like, "Hah. That's kinda funny." Then it kept going and my inner old man jumped out and was like, "Ok, this is DUMB. MOVE ON." It was a moment where I started to turn on the movie a little bit.

Finally, my only other major gripe. I don't like that Dr. Strange is the one to go into the Multi-verse. It didn't feel right that Spider-Man also brazenly did it. These don't feel right. Other realms with magic? Sure. That's a better fit. Here it feels like Marvel has an end point, but don't know how to get there and they are just throwing everything out there and hoping it works. Bringing in America Chavez helps with this and I'm glad she is introduced here. She's great. It's just that Marvel is making some weird choices out here in these streets.

Now that I've seemed to have worked out some issues, summing all this up, this movie feels like a mess. Too much is jammed in here. If it was a chase movie where the Scarlet Witch is after America Chavez and Dr. Strange is trying to protect her, that'd be great. The movie basically that at it's core. They just made it too complicated with all the multi-verse stuff. In trying to please a fanboy like me with cool cameos, you alienate the normies that you need to get on board with this. These movies are at a point where they are asking too much of the non-comic book reading audience. You can't skip movies now and come back and know what is going on. By connecting everything, Marvel hurt the one off nature that these movies should be. Same with the shows. I feel for my friends that are less connected to this stuff and have to jump through all these hoops to get any level of appreciation for these films. It's way too complicated.

I want to give this movie a high recommendation, but I can't. I also can't promise that anyone that is not at least a huge fan of Marvel can truly enjoy all the little things this movie hangs it's hat on. There are a lot of references that are cool to me, but are not explained very well to the movie goer. There is an arrogance to Marvel movies and shows where they are like, "We know you watched all the stuff, so we don't have to explain anything" that is starting to bother me.

I hate that this movie pushed me over the edge a little here. It's not a terrible movie. I have called it "fun" when telling people what I think. "Fun" does not equal "Good". It means it has some popcorn moments that are cool once, but probably won't hold up to subsequent views. It is a good film to watch in the movies because the visuals are pretty spectacular. That first time is the best time.

On to the next two shows and movies, Marvel. You know I'm your ride or die.

Moon Knight - Season One

Even though I finished this show weeks ago, I haven't gotten around until writing about it until now. At first, it was to search my feelings. Did I like the show? Am I only liking it because it's a Marvel product and I'm such a fanboy? Then it turned into, "Man, I don't want to talk about this, I don't remember anything."

However, I have an obligation as "that guy that loves comics" that you know, so here we are. Ultimately, this show is kind of a mess. Before I go further (and I will probably say this a lot), Oscar Isaac is fantastic. He and he alone is the reason to even give this show a chance.

I'll spare you my thoughts on what I know about Moon Knight. Like most of the audience, barely enough. He has always had a cool look, but in the Marvel Universe, there is a glut of characters all based out of New York, fighting crime. Not all of them are winners. Marvel has spent a lot of time trying to get a guy over that has a cool look, but not much else. They have even leaned into his multiple personalities as a way to freshen up his character. The fact that he has multiple volumes of a series, but never a sustained run in the past twenty years should tell you everything.

When it was announced they were making a show, it was one of those moments where I was like, "Cool! I don't care for him THAT much, but glad he's getting a shot." Disney is clearly digging deeper into that Marvel toybox to see what sticks. I can applaud that.

I will say that I appreciated that this show takes place in London and then Egypt, fully moving the character out of New York. All these shows are dead set on using new locales and I love that. It at least makes the shows feel fresh. I even love that they got an Egyptian director to add Egyptian representation to the entire show. That was obvious in watching it and I'm a big fan of that component. It makes it feel more diverse and different.

Unfortunately, here is where most of my praise will end. I wrestled with this and I don't think this show is particularly good. It's not bad, per se. It's just boring. Outside of Oscar Isaac playing essentially dual roles and infusing each character with a lot of differences, there's not much else going on. The show tries to be smarter than it needs to be with a lot of misdirection. It tells you, but doesn't show you. For example, the bulk of the show bounces between Moon Knight's multiple personalities. It cuts away when action is about to happen and then cuts back to the aftermath. As a storytelling device, it is cool AT FIRST. The fact they keep doing it and don't reveal to us what happens in between the spaces by the end of the series is annoying. We are told many times that the Marc Spector personality is a bad ass, but we rarely see it represented so we can believe it. The rest of the events are fine, but not particularly exciting.

So the show gets away with not showing us a lot of action. There's some cool hand to hand moments spread throughout, but it's not enough to make this show a joy to watch. I shouldn't have to wait 5 episodes to see a cool fight. I also want to add, the pacing on this show is really weird. Additionally, there are some real TV quality special effects here. I know Marvel puts some money behind these shows and probably why they are only six episodes each, but they didn't stick the landing on this one. There's a lot of digital stunt work with Moon Knight. Most of the time it didn't look like an actual human doing anything, which is unfortunate. It takes you out of the action.

I'm also being on the record of saying I like smaller stories that don't have world ending implications. This story grows in scope to have Egyptian gods fighting each other and I didn't like that at all. I got major "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" vibes at the end. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. I'll use one word. Animalities. Anyway, in a Cinematic Universe where we see large villains fighting the Avengers, it is weird to see one guy protecting the world like this. Moon Knight has a lane and it needs to stay in it. Small stories for a small character.

I also had trouble imagining where Moon Knight even fits into Marvel's larger tapestry. You know they can't resist bringing everyone together, so where will this guy even fit in thematically. I don't know. We deserve more Oscar Isaac and I love what he brings to the show. I just think this project failed him in a way.

Out of all the Marvel Disney Plus offerings we've gotten (and there has been a lot), this was by far my least favorite. Would I watch another season? Of course, because I'm a fan boy. They leave enough of a mystery at the end, but I don't think that means it will be great. This show is and always will be powered by the brilliance of Oscar Isaac.

The Thing - The Next Big Thing - Walter Mosley

A few months ago, I reviewed the first issue of The Thing mini-series written by Walter Mosley. It's been a few months and the series has wrapped. I thought it was time to come back to this and share my thoughts. Overall, I thought it was really good. As much as I like Mosley, I always worry when a novelist comes to write a comic book. It's a completely different medium and some writers understand that better than others. Less is more. You can convey actions in the panels without having to explain everything. You can be shown.

Here, Mosley clearly understood the assignment. There were many pages without dialogue, so that the action could happen. What was most surprising to me is that Mosley is a huge fan of old school Marvel. He fondly remembers those comics from when he was a kid. So with that kind of aesthetic and thinking, I thought this would harken back to those days of overwritten comic books where the pages were chock full of exposition and clunky dialogue. That was not the case with this at all. It moved at a breakneck pace, which really, is how his books feel. I mean that in a good way. They are easy reads.

You can tell that he let the artist do some of the heavy lifting and Tom Reilly was definitely up to the challenge. His art, not to be reductive, reminds me a lot of Chris Samnee. The cartoony-ness belies the skill and detail that goes into the panels. Emotions are conveyed very well, so in those silent scenes, you get a sense of what is going on in a character's head. I'm going to continue to keep an eye on his work.

The other thing that really stood out is the characterization of Ben Grimm. Throughout this story, Mosley shows again and again that he gets what makes the Thing tick. At times I didn't feel like the dialogue was 100% right, other times it was spot on. At it's core though, the sentiment was there. I think this book is a good primer for those that are not familiar with the Thing. And I don't mean his powers or his place in the Marvel Universe. I mean the character of a guy that was dealt a bad hand and still never gives up. That only wants to live a normal life and is destined to never truly have that. 

So let's talk about the actual story itself. This series is placed in an earlier era of the Fantastic Four and it has that feel. The smart choice here is that there is not a lot of technology on display so it can feel timeless in a way. If you see people using rotary phones or watching black and white tvs, it would feel a lot older. You can always wave a wand around anything you see in the Baxter Building because Reed Richards is a genius and he just builds things. We get a mysterious figure haunting Ben and that story plays out. I don't want to give too much away but it definitely effects Ben and everything around him. Throughout the story he interacts with some of the more deep cut characters in Marvel, which makes sense. Mosley was reading during an older era of Marvel and he clearly has an appreciation for it. I also appreciated that the Fantastic Four barely make an appearance here. It gave the story a chance to only focus on Ben. I read the story twice and the reveal of the villain makes a lot more sense the second time around because now you notice the breadcrumbs.

One of the things I called out in my earlier review is that with Mosley writing, all the ancillary characters are black. It's not in your face in a bad way, but it is refreshing to see black characters rounding out the cast or just being in the background because they do exist. Something older style comics forgot.

All in all, I really liked this series. Would I want Mosley to take over the main title? Absolutely not. His sensibility is more geared to more classic tales. There's enough space in between the lines for him to play around in there. He's too prolific to spend that much time on a regular ongoing series anyway. I also don't feel like it would work. Now more mini-series? Absolutely and I hope he gets the chance to do more of these, if Marvel can lure them back.

I highly recommend checking out this mini-series. Like I said before, it will read very quickly in trade, but it was satisfying.

Peacemaker - Season 1

Wow. I didn't realize I hadn't written about this yet. The Peacemaker show on HBO Max. The show I didn't ask for, but didn't know I needed. After his appearance in THAT Suicide Squad movie last year, more of anything related to that movie is the last thing I wanted. However, like some invisible rope tied to me, I feel obligated to watch any comic book related thing. So I watched this show.

I have never been more wrong about my pre-conceived notions. I like James Gunn's sense of style and jokes in his movies. With Suicide Squad, I felt like it was a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Too much James Gunn and too cute for it's own good.

Here, it feels like he's more restrained, oddly enough. Maybe because of budget reasons he couldn't film big sweeping battles with CG everywhere. I don't know. He found the right tone with this show.

There are so many genuine, laugh out loud moments. This is a band of regular people who are screw ups, not the super powered ones we saw in the Suicide Squad. I also can't put my finger on what didn't click with me and John Cena in the Suicide Squad movie, but I loved him here. Maybe because he got to be goofy and tap into some real emotions. Whatever it was, this was the perfect vehicle for him.

Before I go any further, if you have never seen just the opening to this show, go do that and come back. I love choregraphed dance numbers and to know that the cast went all in can only bring you joy.

Let's go a little deeper. Why did I love this show so much? Gunn's style of irreverent humor hits all the notes for me. I can't explain it. It's just the jokes really hit home for me. I am a sucker for a bunch of losers that try their best. Vigilante is completely hysterical here. I could watch him and Peacemaker bounce off each other all day. Their goofiness starts to infect the rest of the cast and it gets even better.

This invasion of the body snatchers thing I was okay with to a point. I wanted them to take on just regular people, not try to stop an alien invasion, but whatever. I was here for the jokes.

Normally I would go on and on, but I'm trying to restrain myself more with my little reviews. So I'll end with this. The cast is all great and perfect for the roles they play. I hope to get more of this show's aesthetic and humor in the second season. I hope they don't get a bigger budget which I feel would make them get lazy (re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). 

Also, ten episodes is about the appropriate maximum length for any comic book based show. I hope this becomes the new standard. If you haven't already checked this out, I recommend it. DC is starting to find that Marvel magic in their more lighthearted shows. Keep it up and maybe we'll get some different, weird stuff when we get fully done with Marvel.

The Batman

When I heard this movie was announced a few years ago, I rolled my eyes pretty hard. Here we are with yet ANOTHER Batman movie. We were starting to get diminishing returns with this franchise. I get that they want to keep trying to make money, but maybe we need to let Batman take a rest.

Then I watched this movie and I take it all back. I only saw this a week ago, so I'm still in hot take mode, but this is EASILY one of the best Batman movies I have ever seen. Right now, I have Dark Knight first, this movie second and the 1989 Batman movie coming in at number 3.

There are just so many things this movie does right. It is almost a master class in how you juggle multiple villains. We also get to see Batman be, *GASP* a detective and try to solve a crime. Not in the ham fisted ways that we've seen in the past either. 

In no particular order, let me talk about what I loved about this movie. First of all, we don't have to get an origin story about Bruce Wayne/Batman. It's a story that has been told to death and they don't dwell on it here. We join the story with Batman having been around for about two years. So he's still kind of an urban legend and also figuring things out. This plays out when he encounters criminals early in the movie. They build up his appearance like it was a horror movie. Scenes are filled with tension as them and the audience don't know if Batman is about to appear. Then you hear slow, deliberate footsteps.

I also love that instead of being completely antagonistic with the Gotham PD, Batman/Jim Gordan are like a buddy cop duo. They work hand in hand and show the trust in each other that makes this a more refreshing take. What I mean here is that Gordon is actively involved, just as much as Batman. Not waiting for Batman to hand off every clue to him or order him to act. The fact that he is the only one that has Batman's back against his own squad shows the position he is in.

I love the ominous, simple piano theme they use for when Batman appears. When you hear it and Batman is around, some stuff is about to go down. In the trailers, I thought his car was stupid. The way it makes it's first appearance here and when is involved in a chase scene shortly after changed all of that. It's about as practical as a Batmobile will get. Also, in two years, clearly Batman hadn't ironed out his branding yet.

I hated the Riddler's look, but it works in the context of this film and he is a great, creepy villain. You almost side with him because he is like Dexter. He's only killing the bad people, so to speak. The cat and mouse game he has with Batman drives this film and it is fantastic. A friend or two compared this movie to "Seven" and I would agree with that. This movie has some of those vibes.

For once, I thought the action was filmed well and felt pretty realistic without going over the top. It's more brawling than full on martial arts. Which really, would have been silly since he's fighting regular dudes most of the film. He fights to the level of his competition.

I loved that the stakes for this movie was to just stop the Riddler and everything drives towards that. It's not some grandiose, save the world plot. It wasn't even really to save Gotham city for most of it, as it's about trying to just track a killer. That focus helped with the intrigue as you are invested in all the characters that get caught in it's wake.

This movie had three of Batman's rogues gallery show up and it didn't feel overstuffed at all. That's been a problem in past films as they try to juggle dueling schemes between the villains or finding some stupid way for them to team up. Everyone is caught up in it, but not playing for the same team. For those wanting to keep score at home, we get Catwoman and the Penguin along with the Riddler.

One major point I want to bring up here before landing this plane. There is a lot of Batman in this film. What I mean is, in most Batman films you get equal time with Bruce Wayne, if not less. Here it is almost 75/25 Batman to Bruce Wayne on film. I always figured it was because the actors want to have their faces seen all the time (I'm looking at you EVERY Marvel movie). It says a lot that Pattinson didn't seem to have that hang up. It really helps the film. No one is paying to see Bruce Wayne.

Let me finish by saying we get some great actors here and they are given stuff to do. Robert Pattinson was a far better Batman than I thought he would be. His Batman voice is worlds away better than Christian Bale. He's not trying so hard.  Jeffery Wright as Jim Gordon is inspired casting. Zoe Kravitz is fantastic as Selena Kyle/Catwoman. Colin Farrell is unrecognizable as Oswald Cobblepot and I mean that in a good way.

Props to director Matt Reeves. If Warner Bros. is hell bent on shoving another Batman movie down our throats, I hope they stick with his sensibility for a few more noir/crime drama films. I highly recommend checking this out.

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2021 - Part II

Let's carry on with Part II of my year in review. Now we get on to favorite writers, mini-series, events and favorite series. I have also started to read more graphic novels, so I now have a category for that as well.

Favorite Writer of 2021
Gene Luen Yang - Shang Chi (Marvel) - I have absolutely loved what Gene has been doing with his Shang Chi series that started in the middle of the year. I won't act like Marvel put this book out with good intentions. It was to coincide with their movie. I get that. However, Gene has taken his obvious love of the character and is doing something meaningful with him. I've said it before somewhere, but for characters that are non-white, it makes sense to have someone of that similar background write their stories. I'm not saying that white people can't, but there is a lot of nuance that they can never capture. This book has been a fun ride as Shang Chi interacts with the larger Marvel Universe once more. For years he's been relegated to the side, but now he is getting a push and I think it's past due. Put Iron Fist in the back and elevate Shang-Chi to the front. I think this is a good jumping on point for new readers. 

Honorable Mention: Brandon Thomas (Aquaman: Becoming (DC), Excellence (Image), Hardware (DC)), Donnie Cates (Thor)

Pleasant Surprise of 2021
Planet Size X-Men - The X-Men have been on another level lately and this was the culmination of some bonkers stories under the Hickman era. This book goes into painstaking detail (in a good way) detailing how the X-Men terraform Mars and then give that planet to someone else! The skill involved to tell this tale and make it believable is a site to behold.

Shocker of 2021
Runaways being cancelled - This was probably my favorite volume of this series since the original. Rainbow Rowell really had a feel for these characters and her spin on them was fresh. It was chugging along and right at issue #100, it was unceremoniously cancelled. Off all the books that come and go, I never suspected this would be one of them. It's a true crime. I'm still in shock that it happened.

Worst Mini-series of 2021
M.O.M (Image) - I talked about this before and I was not kind. I was so put off by it, that it affected me more than I thought. It was well intentioned, but very poorly executed. Maybe it got better, I don't know. However, it was the only thing that got to me in a negative way, so that is why it ends up here.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Mini-series of 2021
Fantastic Four: Life Story (Marvel) - Yes, my Fantastic Four bias is real. But hear me out. This book follows the Fantastic Four in real time, which is unheard of in comics. They've been doing this with a few other characters (i.e. Spider-Man) at Marvel. So each issue takes place in a different decade, so you see how people age. The through line is that Reed Richards saw that Galactus is going to come and devour the Earth, he just doesn't know WHEN. So he starts trying to plan to save the Earth and to the normal world, he comes off as a crazy, crack pot conspiracy nut. This has an obvious effect on his family and we see how it plays out. This has been a fascinating book about a whole different series of what ifs. I highly recommend this book to see how things play out if you are somewhat familiar with the Fantastic Four.

Honorable Mentions: Bermuda (IDW)

Favorite New Series of 2021
Shang-Chi (Marvel) - I sung my praises for writer, Gene Luen Yang up above already. So I think I said there what I would have to say about this book. It has a great writer and a great artist. It's been a fun series, but it is tinged with some seriousness and interpersonal workings that are going to come to a head. If you can get over your cynicism about why this book even exists, you will find that you can enjoy it.

Honorable Mentions: Robin (DC)

Favorite Graphic Novel of 2021
N/A - Unfortunately, I have not read any graphic novels this year. Anything I read was from the last year, so that technically cannot count. I have to be fair!

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Maxi-Series
Far Sector (DC) - Since this series ended this year, I can put it on this list and consider the totality of it all. The art from Jamal Campbell was excellent. Jemisin's voice for Sojourner feels like it is coming from an authentic place. When she's appeared in other books, it hasn't been the same. They should give Jemisin an ongoing title (provided she has the time) to let her flesh it out more. I'm assuming that DC can't afford her. Also, why would a novelist that is doing well, come do comics unless they REALLY enjoyed it. Sorry, the book. It was fascinating and really good sci fi/political intrigue. I recommend checking it out.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Series of 2021
Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel) - It kinda pains me to put this here, but it's here for a few reasons. There was a lot of issues this year. They went to a weekly format almost, had a bunch of .X issues (where you have an issue like #80.BEY instead of just GOING TO THE NEXT NUMBER) and previous writer Nick Spencer killed me with his long in the tooth arc about Kindred. It was exhausting and I realized I was not having fun. Spider-Man is one of my favorite characters, but his book is one I pick up and drop a lot more than I should.

Honorable Mentions: N/A - I can't think of any others that made me dislike them.

Favorite Series of 2021
Fantastic Four (Marvel) - I tried my damnedest to pick any other book for the year. When it came down to it though, no book made me feel joy or just got me all up in my feelings like this book. It has continued to be good old fashioned story telling and the stories with this group has only gotten better, as we've settled into their lives. We're starting to see more with the children and how they are dealing with things. A lot of real world scenarios have crept in to go with the Fantastic nature of their travels. It has felt very grounded and Dan Slott is doing some great work here. I can't gush about this book enough.

Honorable Mentions:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW), Shang-Chi (Marvel)

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2021 - Part I

I think we can all agree that 2021was ALSO a crap year. I had some big personal changes in my life during the year. I also read a TON of books. Probably more in a year than I ever have. Good thing I use a service to track my collection and I made a conscious effort to track all my books this year, specifically. Looking over the list, I forgot half of this stuff came out and I read it. For instance, DC had this Future State event that I completely forgot. I forgot that Marvel had it's King in Black mini-series as well!

This year did feature a return of movies to movie theaters, so I did venture out to see a few. As you can guess, they were all Marvel movies. There were also a lot of TV shows. I have been crushed under the weight of them, specifically DC. So I am way behind all of them except for Superman & Lois.

Overall, I probably picked up the same amount of DC books, if not a little more due to more Bat Family stuff. I still buy an insanely high volume of Marvel comics. My Image books have dropped off actually and I have been buying more from Boom Studios to make up the difference. I don't think I really added any new ones, but did sample more independent stuff.

So let's get into it. What did my old man brain come up with? Without further ado, here is part I of my review of 2021.


Dearly Departed (The Comics I dropped this year)
Before I get into the rest of my list, a moment of silence for the number of comics that I dropped this year after giving a good go at it:

• Wonder Woman - DC
• Challenge of the Super Sons - DC
• Anything Captain America - Marvel

Favorite Comic Book Movie of 2021 

Spider-Man: No Way Home (Marvel) - I already praised this movie earlier, but in a year that had a bunch of comic movies come out, this one wins out. Before this, I would have said Shang-Chi. It was a respectful treatment of the past couple of decades of Spider-Man. It was also surprisingly emotional and full of heart. Don't think I've been able to say that about any of the Spider-Man movies before this.

Honorable Mentions: Shang Chi (Marvel)

Worst Comic Book Movie of 2021
Zack Snyder's Justice League (DC) - I originally had Eternals in this slot, but then I remembered that this movie happened earlier this year to great fanfare. This is technically an old movie, but this new uncut version was treated as a new movie. It could be argued that it was so different that it WAS a new movie. However, this movie only proved why you need an editor on a movie or have someone to tell a director no. There is creative freedom and then there is just an unchecked ego that makes art that is fulfilling only to the creator. This movie was excessive in just about every way. It's greatest crime was that it did it all poorly. This movie has it's fans, I'm clearly not one of them.

Honorable Mention: Eternals (Marvel), The Suicide Squad (DC)

Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2021
Superman and Lois (CW) - Marvel had a lot of shows this year and they were all good. However, I have to pick one show and this show wins, hands down. I have fallen off practically all the other CW shows, but this one I actively watched. This is the best interpretation of Superman on the small screen. I would dare say that behind Christopher Reeves, this is the best Superman, period. I go into more detail here.

Honorable Mentions: Invincible (Amazon), Falcon and Winter Soldier (Marvel)

Worst Comic Book TV show of 2021
Don't got one - My time was limited and thankfully what I watched and made it through was good. Now I wanted to do worst anime tv show, it would be that new Cowboy Bebop. But if I make it through the rest, I WILL have thoughts.

Honorable Mention: N/A.

The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2021
Deadly Class (Image) - To be fair, I am still enjoying this book and I will keep buying it. However, it's schedule has been iffy all year and it comes out when it comes out. Problem is, I can't really remember what happened between issues most of the time. I'm glad I have this on my pull list, otherwise I would never remember to keep up. Sadly, the TV show didn't make it past one season and I wonder if that took some of the heat off this book. It hasn't made me want to drop it yet, so there's that going for it. Editor's Note: Yes, this is word for word what I said last year. This holds for this year too.


Favorite New Artist of 2021
Dike Ruan - Shang-Chi (Marvel) - Not only has this series been an absolute delight, it's been paired up with stunning visuals from Dike Ruan. I never heard of him before, but I hope he gets more work after some time on this series. His anime-ish, cartoony style is a look that real looks. He's a better looking Leinil Francis Yu to me. Has the same kind of scratchiness, but his art is dynamic too. It has to be given that it is a book about a martial arts character. Everything is rendered so well and all the Marvel Characters he has drawn so far are fantastic. I will be keeping an eye on him.

Honorable Mentions: Luca Maresca (Marvel)

Worst Artist of 2021
N/A - Unfortunately, I read so much this year, I didn't mark down the bad art I saw. I know it's out there, I just can't remember any of it, so this will be unfilled for now. Next year I will mark it down so it is easier to remember.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Artist of 2021
Dan Mora (Detective Comics (DC), Once & Future King (Boom Studios)) - He wins for his sheer body of work and consistency between TWO different titles. I don't know how he does it. Not only is he doing two different books, but it's also extremely good. He is a name that sells a book for me, despite the characters in it.

Honorable Mentions: Chris Samnee - Firepower (Image), Pepe Larraz -X-Men (Marvel)

Favorite New Writer of 2021
Jed Mckay - (Moon Knight, Death of Doctor Strange, Black Cat) - Now the spirit of this category is not that this is a brand new writer. They are just new to ME. I didn't read much of their work before this year and now I'm kicking myself for not jumping on the Jed McKay train a lot sooner. He also wrote one of the few GOOD Amazing Spider-Man issues this year and it featured one of my favorite teams of Misty Knight and Collen Wing, the Daughters of the Dragon. There is a sense of fun to the delivery of his dialogue in all his books. He is now a name that will move books for me.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Writer of 2021
Nick Spencer (Amazing Spider-Man - Marvel) - It pains me to put this here, because Nick Spencer is a good writer, but some things miss with me. I didn't like his Captain America or the Standoff Stuff he did. I liked this book at the start when it was a fun, classic Spider-Man feel. Then he had to go and decide that he also had a spin on Norman/Harry Osborne and we ended up with Kindred for like 40 issues. The fact this book moved to a more bi-weekly schedule and we started to get more exposed to this. This Kindred stuff, his sinister six, Kraven, all of it had classic Spider-Man elements, but it got too dark and overwrought. I wish him luck on the next thing he does, but I was close to dropping Spider-Man again.

Honorable Mentions: N/A. (I can't remember anyone else that should be on this list)

Hawkeye

Read past this point at your own peril. There will be spoilers

When this show got announced, I was like, "Okay. Thanks Marvel. Give us a series that literally no one asked for." I like Hawkeye in the comics just fine. I hate him in the movies. He's just this bland ass, flat character and Jeremy Renner's performance hadn't changed my opinion. I also feel like Marvel has, to use wrestling terms, tried to get him over. "Look, he's got a FAMILY. He's a family man." "Look, he's lost his family and now he is RONIN". Side note, Ronin is a character only the most hardcore of fans would even know or care about. So using him seemed to be throwing a bone to fans or something. In Avengers: End Game, when it came down to him and Natasha, I was actively mad it wasn't HIM that died. So yeah, not a fan of this guy. I was not excited about this series, but I am resigned to my fate to watch every Marvel Cinematic Universe offering. I'm flawed in that way.

All that being said, I loved THIS show. If I'm being honest, it's because of all the characters around Hawkeye, not Clint Barton himself. Haliee Stenfield's Kate Bishop's enthusiasm for everything was infectious and was the engine that drove this show. This is more about her journey than Clint's, mercifully. I was completely invested in her journey to try and do right. Just like many other well-meaning young characters, she always thought she had the best idea and ability.

I think this show had the best title sequence I've ever seen. I say this because they blow through Kate's origin to prepare us for the rest of the show. We don't need to see training montages, flashbacks, etc.  Her hero worship of Hawkeye also makes sense and they lean into that throughout the show. 

Another thing I liked about this show, was the scale. It was over a few days period, centered around a couple of crimes in the city and lost items. No world ending threat. No plot to take over the city. Just a threat central to our characters. There was not an abundance of stuff blowing up all over the place. I said an abundance, I didn't say there wasn't stuff that doesn't get blown up.

This show also goes deep into Marvel's cast of characters to pull out Maya Lopez, aka Echo. She's become more prominent lately, so I won't act like this wasn't a strategic move. They even stayed true to most of her origin by even bring in a surprise character from another Marvel show. So those Netflix shows now matter! Woo hoo!

Anyway, Maya. I like that they have her communicate using sign language here and is mute. In the comics, she's also deaf, but can read people's lips and talk to them. It is a conceit that is completely stupid in the comic books. People don't write her like she can't read lips, so she is chatting up people like it is completely normal. Only when she says a line like, "I can't read your lips to know what you are saying, but...". It personally annoys me. Make the artist learn sign language and have her do it in the books. It is also a visual medium, you know.

I also loved that we get some payoff to what we saw in the Black Widow movie, with Florence Pugh's Helena. She was the best part of that movie and her appearance for a few episodes here also elevates the show. She is fantastic and I am happy to see her take on the Black Widow role going forward. Every scene she is in, you worry for the other character in what she is about to do. I can't wait to see more of her going forward.

Finally, we get the return of the Kingpin by Vincent D'Onofrio who showed up in the Daredevil Netflix series. I'm so glad that they are bringing back characters and actors from some of the shows. While I am glad, he felt like an odd fit here. He is clearly powered up here versus how he was in Daredevil. I read that he is now up to his levels in the comic book, so it was a deliberate choice. It does make him too overpowered for the heroes in this show. He'll be back, so I will hold my judgement.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this show. The more grounded nature made me like it more and it is why I personally put it over WandaVision and Loki, if I am mapping out my ranking of the Marvel TV shows this year. It felt less like a set up for another movie and more like a setup for future seasons. This grounded sensibility is more of what I want from these shows.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

I wanted to sit with this for a few days. Mostly because I didn't want to let my rose colored glasses color my opinion of this movie. Now that I have waited and thought on it... It is still a great movie!! I'm still wrestling where it sits in my list of Spider-Man movies and Marvel movies as a whole because let's face it, Marvel's hand in these movies is what has made them great.

Let's dive right in. I want to warn you, there will be spoilers! I can't talk about some of the things in this movie without spoiling things. So if you haven't seen it yet, stop right here!