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John Ostrander: Should This Man Be Considered A Role Model?

“I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me.”

—Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1

Joss Whedon created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is credited with writing strong female roles and espousing feminist ideals – but not by his ex-wife, Kai Cole, who on the blog The Wrap accused him of being a serial cheater during their marriage and was a “hypocrite preaching feminist ideals.” This has led to a number of (now ex) fans venting their anger and feelings of betrayal.

Is it true? I dunno. I don’t know Whedon and Cole personally. Could she be lying? Possibly. Could he be an asshole? Possibly. It’s not the point of this column, however. The question I want to consider is – should Whedon, or any artist or celebrity, be considered a role model?

A role model is someone who is held up as an example to be emulated. They can come from any walk of life; indeed, they don’t have to be living or real. Isn’t Superman a role model? Sherlock Holmes? Wonder Woman?

Barack Obama is a role model to many, although probably not to those who think of Donald Trump as a role model (shudder).

Charles Barkley once famously said, “I’m not a role model… Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.” He caught a lot of flak for that at the time but I tend to agree. The work can and must exist apart from its creator. Edgar Allan Poe was a drug addict. Picasso had multiple mistresses. Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston, lived with both his wife and a lover in the same house. Bill Cosby was a role model and look at how that turned out.

Who should be role models? Parents, siblings, family, teachers – anyone who has a direct and actual effect on the child’s life.

I once had my character GrimJack shoot a character in the back, an act that offended some fans including some that were my friends. My defense was that I never said Gaunt was a role model. He wasn’t; he was an anti-hero from the get-go.

Who the creator is goes into the work but, if it has substance, the work can and must stand apart from the creator. The two ultimately must be judged separately.

As Barkley’s quote above suggests, many who are called role models never sought that job. Perhaps it just comes with the territory. Barkley, like others, made his name into a “brand”; he made the Nike commercial where he gave that quote because it was perceived that he had influence with the buying public. Perhaps being a role model is part of the price for the individual.

Maybe the complaint with Whedon is that he sought to be seen as a feminist. He gave a speech to a women’s rights group, Equality Now, on receiving an award from them, and in it he noted that reporters would ask him why he insisted on writing “strong female characters”. He would reply, “Why aren’t you asking a hundred other guys why they don’t write strong women characters? I believe that what I’m doing should not be remarked upon, let alone honored.”

Given how he treated his wife, does that make him a hypocrite? Or could he be sincere in his feelings even while he is cheating? Isn’t what he said still true? Does it have to be all one thing or the other? In characters that I write, I look for opposites because that’s where I find true character lies.

As I said, I don’t know Whedon or Ms. Cole personally. Based on what she has said, will I stop going to see his films or enjoy Buffy or Firefly? No. The work is the work and stands on its own.

Even if the creator is a SOB.

Marc Alan Fishman: “When Are You Going To Stop This?”

As I placed the final piece of the puzzle into the floppy copy of The Samurnauts: Curse of the Dreadnuts #4 (ironically it was an ad for ComicMix, what synergy!) a fleeting thought tripped me up. Throughout the production process of creating Curse, Unshaven Comics has faced one teeny-tiny nagging question from a few people very close to our hearts. This single question – phrased and rephrased in both passive-aggressive and totally-aggro ways has come to represent a choke point for me and my l’il studio.

“When are you going to stop this?”

For the sake of clarity? The question was posed to us by close family members – none of whom share room and board with us. All three Unshaven Lads are beyond lucky to have wives (and children) who are always fully in-support of our indie comic dreams; so long as we work hard to be good husbands and dads… which we are.

This gentle nag comes out of place of love mind you, and it bears some defense. Making comics, attending comic conventions, and running a small business takes time, energy, and money. Three things none of the Unshavenauts have a plethora of. And as girlfriends became wives became mothers of our children, all three resources continued to become even more important. Imagine leaving a frazzled new mother with a screaming infant while her pie-in-the-sky-publishing-father-of-the-doomspawn traipses across the country to go sell comics for just enough money to afford going to the next show. When you phrase it that way? Well, me and my brothers-from-other-mothers are downright villainous, aren’t we?

But we’re not villains.

The nagging question comes fully loaded with the bigger picture in mind; to what end did we envision all this comic bookery doing for us?

When we began… perhaps it was hubris and optimism that made me think it’d land us on the doorstep of a great publisher like Boom!, Avatar, Image, or Dark Horse. As issue 2 and 3 dropped, that dream shifted a bit towards even larger goals like licensing and multi-media expansion. When we launched our Kickstarter, the promise of a graphic novel brought with it this feeling of making a statement – that we had arrived, and soon Samurnauts would morph into a vehicle to break us away from our normal day jobs, and allow us to live the life we’d spitballed about during those lengthy drives across the country.

And those dreams, shared with our friends, family, and fans eventually came full circle. Here we are on the verge of actually collecting together the graphic novel (and finally fulfilling our promises to our now-rightfully-mad-as-hell backers), no longer hell-bent on stardom or fame. The journey has been the reward staring us back in the face all along. Money would be great; but a big break comes much like love does. Always be open to it and ready for it… but never demand it or expect it.

So…“When are you going to stop this?”

It’d be so easy to quit. While our nemesis enjoys the ending of his biographical comic by way of a now-viral-sensation and we see plenty of our compatriots releasing more material than we ever could in the same amount of time, I can’t lie – the not-so-secret jealousy of their good fortune (well-deserved as it is) makes it feel like perhaps we missed the boat on that next level we aspire to be at.

Like I said, it’d be easy to turn the lights off and walk away. A single graphic novel that represents the very best of what we built together, ultimately delivered to the fans we made along the way. It sounds great on paper, right?

As it stands, the Unshaven Lads have all taken on extra work to keep our home-lives comfortable. One of us moved a state away (yeah, it’s like two hours away from us, but that can feel like half a country some days). And our kids aren’t getting easier to keep a handle on. To spit in the wind triumphantly and declare “This is just the beginning!” Would feel like the prattling optimistic idiocy we blurted out to Mike Gold the very first time we met him. We’re older now. Wiser. Exhausted.

Forgive me now, as I ascend my last remaining soapbox. And I know I’m being a bit long-winded about all of this. But fuck all, I don’t care.

The Samurnauts to date has seen the toil, sweat, and tears of over a thousand hours to produce from stem to stern. We have sold over ten thousand copies of them from Chicago to New York… and this is before we release the final issue of the first series at the upcoming Dragon Con in Atlanta. Beyond delivering what we promised to our 125 backers, we owe thousands of people the conclusion to this first story. And damn it all, they will get it. And after the dust settles on the graphic novel production to come here in the forthcoming month (collecting 4 comics and bonus materials doesn’t just happen overnight), guess what?

We’re starting three more Samurnauts series. This doesn’t end. This will never end. The drive to create… the bond built over 20 years with my best friends who I would take a bullet for each… the bonds made with all our fellow creators sharing in the same experiences on the road… the smiles on the faces of random kids and adults who hear our pitch and buy our book. That’s a drug I refuse to ween myself off of.

“When are you going to stop this?”

Never. Samurnauts. Are. GO!

Win a Copy of Killing Hasselhoff

Win a Copy of Killing Hasselhoff

  • News
  • August 25, 2017

We’re not sure exactly when David Hasselhoff moved into the space celebrity space as William Shatner, but he has now become a meta celebrity as witnessed by his Guardians of the Galaxy music video and now as the subject of the film Killing Hasselhoff, out Tuesday.

Ken Jeong (The Hangover, Ride Along 2) and David Hasselhoff (Baywatch, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2) star in the outrageous comedy, Killing Hasselhoff, available on DVD and Digital on August 29 from UPHE Content Group. Or, you can win a copy of the DVD courtesy of our friends at UPHE. All you need to do is give us an inventive way you would kill David Hasselhoff and explain why he must die. We want your entries no later than 11:59 p.m., Friday, September 1. The contest is open to North American readers only and the decision of ComicMix‘s judges will be final.

Co-produced by the team behind 2017’s Baywatch and David Hasselhoff himself, the laugh-out-loud movie is packed with a host of celebrity cameos including comedian Howie Mandel (America’s Got Talent, Deal or No Deal), musician Kid Cudi, and The Hoff’s original Baywatch partner in life-saving crime, Gena Lee Nolin (Baywatch, Sheena). Rounding out the cast is Jon Lovitz (The Ridiculous Six, Grown Ups 2), Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, The Boat That Rocked) and Jim Jefferies (Tainted Love, Legit).

What started out as a regular week quickly turns into the worst few days of his life when Chris (Jeong), a struggling nightclub owner, fails to pay back a loan shark and decides the only way to get the money is to kill his pick in the annual “Who Will Die This Year” celebrity death pool: David Hasselhoff. Aided by his friends Fish (Darby) and Tommy (Jefferies), Chris desperately tries everything he can to off the master of slow-motion running and claim the jackpot. But the task is not as easy as he thought, especially when your target is The Hoff!

Killing Hasselhoff, available on DVD and Digital, comes filled with exclusive and hilarious deleted scenes taking viewers further into the film’s crazy adventure.

FILMMAKERS:

Cast: Ken Jeong, Jim Jefferies, Rhys Darby, Jon Lovitz, David Hasselhoff
Directed By: Darren Grant
Written By: Peter Hoare
Produced By: Ashok Amritraj, P.G.A., Michael J. Luisi, P.G.A, David Hasselhoff, Michele Berk, P.G.A, Patrick Hughes, Warren Zide
Executive Produced By: Eric Gardner, Manu Gargi, Peter Hoare, Ken Jeong, Brett Carducci
Associate Producers: Michael Berk, Michael O’Connell, Richard Lowell, Marc Fiorentino
Director of Photography: Joseph White
Production Designer: Dins Danielsen
Edited By: Ryan Folsey
Music By: Nathan Whitehead
Music Supervised By: Paul Stewart, Doug Bernheim
Costumes By: Caroline B. Marx
Casting By: Nancy Nayor, C.S.A.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION DVD:
Copyright: 2017 Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Selection Number: 61188259/61188263 (CDN)
Layers: Dual
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Rating: R for language and strong sexual references throughout, some nudity, drug use and violence.
Subtitles: English SDH, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Thai
Sound: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Run Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

The Law Is A Ass #418: HELLCAT IS NOT HEDY’S PATSY

The Law Is A Ass #418: HELLCAT IS NOT HEDY’S PATSY

Childhood friends turned bitter enemies. Sounds like the stuff of soap operas, not to mention more than a few recent comic books. And so we have former childhood frenimies and comic book characters Patsy Walker and Hedy – not Hedley – Wolfe. Nowadays, when they think about their shared past it’s angst for the memories.

All because of Patsy’s mother. When Patsy was a teen, her mother, Dorothy Walker, exploited Patsy by writing a series of teen humor comic books starring Patsy and Hedy. Patsy was embarrassed by them, but her mother wouldn’t stop writing them. That caused a rift between Patsy and her mother. Of course, the fact that when Patsy’s mother was dying she tried to sell Patsy to the Devil so that Patsy would die instead of her probably didn’t help their mother-daughter relationship. It makes Joan Crawford’s hanger management issues look like Mother-of-the-Year stuff.

Dorothy and Patsy didn’t get along. Hedy, on the other hand visited Dorothy frequently and paid Dorothy’s hospital bills. So Dorothy asked Hedy to write up a contract granting Hedy all the rights to the Patsy and Hedy comic books, which Hedy did. Now Hedy is reprinting all those comics, much to the rekindled embarrassment of Patsy. And her re-Nooked embarrassment, too.

Patsy, who is also the super heroine Hellcat, hired Jennifer Walters, attorney-at-law when she’s not being the super heroine She-Hulk, to represent her against Hedy and recover the rights to the comic books. Jennifer, in turn, hired former super heroine and now owner/operator of the Alias Detective Agency, Jessica Jones to investigate the case. (Hellcat? She-Hulk? Jessica Jones? I think this book has a heroine addiction.)

Jessica’s investigations led her to believe that a dresser Hedy had in her living room deserved to be checked out. So in Patsy Walker, A.K.A. HELLCAT! # 7, Jessica and Hellcat broke into Hedy’s apartment and found Dorothy’s medical records in the dresser.

Jessica took a picture of the records and texted it to Jennifer. From those records Jennifer learned that when Dorothy signed the contract with Hedy, Dorothy was on a heavy morphine drip and mentally incapacitated. How incapacitated? Well, let’s just say she tried to sell her own daughter to a demon so she was like a mint tablet that couldn’t be turned into fertilizer; non-compost Mentos.

Because Dorothy’s morphine drip prevented her from having the mental capacity to form a contract, her contract with Hedy was null and void. A contract is a meeting of the minds and you can’t have a meeting of the minds when one of the minds isn’t there because it isn’t all there.

That was Jennifer’s legal argument, anyway. Hedy’s counter argument was that the evidence was obtained illegally so wasn’t admissible. As this is Patsy’s comic book, guess which argument won. If you guessed Patsy, then you won.

Evidence that’s obtained illegally is perfectly admissible in court. Iago famously said, “He who steals my purse steals trash,” but if they were prosecuting Othello for stealing said purse, do you think they’d introduce trash as evidence or the purse? Evidence that was illegally obtained by theft is admissible in theft prosecutions. So, yes, evidence that is obtained illegally is admissible.

Okay, our case isn’t a theft case, it’s a civil suit over contract and copyright issues. And my stolen property argument is a more of a straw man than Ray Bolger. The question is, if someone in a civil trial obtains evidence illegally and gives it to one of the lawyers, can that lawyer use the evidence in the case?

The general rule is that if the lawyer wasn’t involved in obtaining the evidence and didn’t know how it was obtained, the lawyer can introduce it. The story clearly established that Jennifer had no idea what Patsy and Jessica were doing. So in most cases, Jennifer would have been able to introduce the evidence against Hedy even though it was obtained illegally.

There is, however, a wrinkle to the general rule that would have some bearing on admissibility in this case. Jennifer hired the Alias Detective Agency to obtain evidence in the case, so there are agency problems.

No, not problems with the Alias Detective Agency, problems with the fact that Jessica was Jennifer’s agent. When Jessica and Patsy broke into Hedy’s home, they were acting on the behalf of Jennifer. The fact that Jennifer didn’t order them to do this doesn’t matter, they were still acting as Jennifer’s agents because she had hired Jessica to obtain evidence in the case.

Under agency law Jessica’s illegal act can be imputed back to Jennifer and make it as if Jennifer, herself, broken into Hedy’s apartment. If Jessica’s illegal act were to be imputed back to Jennifer, then Jennifer wouldn’t be able to admit the evidence.

Don’t think that settles the matter, though. We need to break out the starch, because there is a wrinkle to this wrinkle. Jessica and Patsy didn’t actually take the hospital bills, they just photographed them. So they didn’t obtain any evidence illegally, they only found evidence illegally. The evidence was obtainable through perfectly legal avenues. All Jennifer had to do was have Patsy, Dorothy’s next-of-kin, request Dorothy’s records from the hospital. After the hospital supplied the records, Jennifer would have obtained the evidence legally and it would probably have been admissible. When Jessica pointed this out, Hedy made like the Carlsbad Caverns and caved.

The fact that Jennifer needed Jessica to find this evidence in the first place makes me wonder how good of a lawyer Jennifer is. If I had a client who wanted to void a contract signed by a mother who was in the hospital and dying, the second thing I would have done was have the client request the mother’s medical records to see whether the mother was on any mentally-incapacitating drugs. The first thing I would have done is make sure the client’s check cleared.

Still, all’s well that ends well. One page and three days (according to a caption) later, Hedy settled out of court and surrendered all the rights to the comics back to Patsy and the Patsy-Hedy childhood rivalry story finally ended. And it was about time, if you want my fr-angst opinion.

Martha Thomases: “If You Have A Message…”

Martha Thomases: “If You Have A Message…”

The events of the last several weeks, while horrible, raise several issues that affect us not only as citizens, but as creative people and fans of the popular arts.

How do we respond to racism and other forms of bigotry in our government. Do we cooperate and try to change the minds of the people in power? Do we quit and make a statement? Do we resist? Do we perform non-violent acts of civil disobedience and fill the jails?

In my life, I’ve advocated (and disagreed with) all of these things. Different times in my life, different circumstances, different perspectives. Therefore, I hesitate to call out people who make different choices than I do, as long as we share the goals of a fair and just, egalitarian, non-hateful non-violent society.

When the artists who were chosen for the Kennedy Center honors refused to attend a White House celebration hosted by a president they considered immoral, I was pleased. I was even more pleased to see the result of their resistance.

And I was also delighted by the clever way in which the Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resigned, with a hidden message for people who love puzzles.

Should people in the arts resist? Should we try to change people’s minds with art? Should we use art to share our points of view in the hopes of understanding each other?

Absolutely.

My mom’s favorite author as a child was E. Nesbit, and she turned me on to those books as soon as my reading level allowed. I loved the fantasy, but I also loved the insight into the lives of children like myself, but also not like myself. Nesbit was a Fabian Socialist, but none of her characters or their struggles pit the proletariat against the capitalists.

Later on, a librarian gave me A Wrinkle in Time, with a heroine as committed to social justice and compassion for all people as I wanted to be.

Neither of those authors was marketed as political propagandists. Both heavily influenced my political development.

(Also, decades later, reading a dedication to Nesbit in the front of The Books of Magic started my friendship with Neil Gaiman.)

We watched a fair amount of television in my house, all gathering around our only set on Sunday nights to watch Ed Sullivan. Even before the Beatles, I loved the show because of the stand-up comics. Often New York Jews, they sounded like my relatives, only smarter. And then there were guys like Dick Gregory, who didn’t start out political (at least to my child’s ears at the time) and then became radicalized and inspired me for the rest of my life. I will miss him and his Twitter feed.

In comics, I was knocked out by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’s brilliant Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories, which, unfortunately, are still much too relevant.

Not everyone reading this will share my passion for these stories and story-tellers. Some of them will quote Moss Hart and say, “If you have a message, call Western Union.” That’s an easy way to dismiss work you don’t like, or that makes you uncomfortable.

ComicMix is sending a message this fall, with Mine! A Comics Collection to Benefit Planned Parenthood. I’m really excited about this project. Not only do I have a story in it, illustrated by the brilliant Bob Camp, but the book shows how committed our community is to making healthcare available to all.

Looking around the Internet, I notice some people complaining about our book and Planned Parenthood, with the usual lies and distortions about the services it provides. I don’t know where they get their information, but I know this much is true: Planned Parenthood is often the only place where people of all ages and genders can get cancer screenings, STD tests and treatments. Especially in rural communities, there might be no place else to get a PAP test or a mammogram. It might be the only place to get pre-natal care.

If you haven’t pledged already, please consider donating whatever you can afford. We have some really cool stuff for perks, and the book looks to be awesome. I’m sure a first edition is a terrific investment.

REVIEW: Alien: Covenant

REVIEW: Alien: Covenant

Amazingly, Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant opened in June and is already out on video disc. The film’s lackluster reviews and weak box office had 20th Century Home Entertainment get this out to begin bringing in the cash the film failed to generate. The good news is that the movie is better than you were led to believe and the disc’s special features are well worth a look.

Picking up 10 years after Prometheus, this film finally begins to fill in the backstory of the acid-spewing Xenomorphs. The biggest challenge with this entry is that Scott declares in one feature he wanted to scare the shit out of his audience but had to contend with viewers who have had nearly 40 years of chest-bursting, hissing, tail-wagging, nasty bug-like beasties chasing and eating humans. Thankfully, he’s up to the challenge by finding fresh angles and editing techniques to shock his audience even when we’re expecting the set pieces.

In the film, which boats a story from Jack Paglen and Michael Green and screenplay by Dante Harper and John Logan, the USCSS Covenant has landed on the world of Prometheus, discharging its 2000 sleeping colonists on the planet after receiving an S.O.S. from the last film. They find David (Michael Fassbender), the sole survivor, largely because he’s a wickedly clever android and less tasty to the Xenomorphs.

Meantime, Captain Oram (Billy Cudrip), Daniels (Katherine Waterston), her android Walter (Fassbender), Tennessee (Danny McBride) all find themselves reacting to this new, dangerous world, reacting in some interesting and fun ways. Daniels’ husband (James Franco) is among the earliest victims and her processing this sudden loss colors her for the rest of the story.

As you may recall, the Engineers were introduced in that film and now we expands on that

In addition to the Xenomorphs, we get some new creatures — the Hammerpede, the Trilobite, a Mutated Fifield – but they all lack that jaw-dropping wow factor. What is far more impressive are the Neomorphs which are the first glimpse of the Xenomorphs’ origin. David dropped a pathogen into the world’s eco system in the previous film and now it has introduced new life which introduces itself through the anticipated chest-burster moment but Scott wisely upends expectations.

From there, with Xenomorphs on the loose, the body count begins to grow, the blood flows, and it becomes a race to see who will be the last human standing. Visually, the movie is a strong production showing Scott is still an innovative director, even if the story isn’t as strong as it should be. He’s aided by interesting production design and a nice score from Jed Kurzel.

The film is out in the usual assortment of formats and the 1080p high definition transfer to Blu-ray is just lovely. It is well matched with the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (Dolby Atmos was saved for the 4K Ultra HD release).

The film comes with a nice assortment of Special Features including Scott’s Audio Commentary which is informative if not spectacular; Deleted and Extended Scenes (17:58), a dozen pieces that are interesting but not vital to overall film story; Master Class: Ridley Scott (55:25) is the behind the scenes piece, split into four parts; David’s Illustrations, a detailed look at the android’s designs with handwritten annotations so it’s a nice in-world piece; Production Gallery; and two theatrical trailers.

Dennis O’Neil: Team-Ups!

So it’s a ball boiler inside the Manhattan office building because although I’m pretty sure air conditioning existed it did not become ubiquitous until after the war that the good ol’ US of A was sliding into. What we’re looking at is an open window on an upper floor and somehow (are we pigeons?) we get inside and behold! Three middle-aged men, suit jackets draped over chairs, ties loosened, discussing the comic books they edit. They have had solid successes with characters a couple of young guys named Bill Everett and Carl Burgos brought in. The topic under discussion: more! More of Burgos’s Human Torch, of Everett’s Sub-Mariner: and yes, of course, more profits, and maybe this year’s Christmas bonus will be worth more than a subway token. Then one of the three (wise men?) has The Idea: Combine ‘em! Put them in the same issue…no, put ‘em in the same story.

And so they did, and a few months later your grandpa (great grandpa?) was sitting on a porch swing with his best gal reading about the meeting of Subby and The Torch, and being scolded by Best Gal for wasting time and money on those stupid funny books! (Okay, skeptics, can you prove that this stuff didn’t happen? Go ahead, Mr. Philosophy Dude, let’s see you prove a negative.)

Whatever the particulars, regardless of what did or did not actually occur, the Torch-Sub-Mariner stories went on sale and the few readable copies left are very early examples of what would later be a comic book staple, the team-up.

And then, the passing of years and The Justice Society of America, the Marvel Family, and a plethora of other costumed teams, until the arrival of the X-Men just abut the time when comics as a whole were getting a mighty, second wind and emerging from a decade-long obscurity, victims of the Eisenhower era witch hunts.

Comics were back!

And movies were following the trail they blazed. After a few single-hero flicks, the movies found the X-Men and a billion dollar franchise was born. Hold it! – not exactly born: rather, evolved from earlier existence as comic book characters. Fortunes were, and are, being made. More of them to come.

And the fossil who goes by my name can kick back and realize that the Netflix video enterprise, a first cousin to the movies mentioned above, is a super-group comprised entirely of character I’ve worked on. Yep, The Defenders, starring Iron Fist and Power Man, who were partners in their comic book home, and Daredevil and Patsy Walker.

Who?

Patsy made the giant leap from comics about post-teens to grim superheroic private eye Jessica Jones. Patsy’s light and bright escapades were closely related to other Marvel stuff like Millie the Model and if you didn’t know that, well, now you do.

As of this writing, I’ve only seen two of the Defenders programs and so have not earned the right to have an opinion about the whole series.

Catch me next week. Maybe by then I’ll have earned the aforementioned figured out the subject of the preceding 517 words.

REVIEW: Supergirl: The Complete Second Season

The biggest problem with the DC Comics series on the CW is that they are overstuffed, robbing the title character of the spotlight and forcing them to work as part of a team. The formula can be repetitive and stifling, demanding that the star rise above the noise to get noticed.

As Supergirl moved from CBS where it was a well-reviewed, low-rated buzz series, to the CW, changes had to be made. Calista Flockhart chose not to join the team in Canada so Cat Grant, one of the more interesting members of the cast, was gone but the crappy looking DEO set got a major upgrade.

With Supergirl: The Complete Second Season now available from Warner Home Entertainment, we’re given a chance to evaluate how the sophomore outing went. They certainly aimed high, opening with the inevitable arrival of Supergirl (Melissa Benoist)’s cousin, Superman (Tyler Hoechlin). Of course, once you add a second Kryptonian, you keep expecting them to see one another and partner when the stakes demand it, such as the concluding story arc. Still, his initially appearances were most welcome, a heroic super-hero who actually enjoys his work. The scenes of them flying and fighting crime with big smiles on their faces remain one of the best parts of the uneven season.

Along the way, we had plenty of aliens, both invaders and immigrants and there was an opportunity to use them as metaphors for the immigrant experience in America, but it was largely window and paid lip-service rather than grounding the show. The production team definitely intended this series to be frothy, female-power and little else.

Of the many storylines (too many that come and go with little in the way of proper story development), the best was clearly Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) discovering and accepting her sexuality then sharing it with her friends and family. Handled with taste and sensitivity, it stood out. Her growing romance with Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima) was certainly the best part of the show.

Considering its called Supergirl, that’s not a good thing. With Cat gone, Kara Danvers needed a purpose and she emulated her cousin, trying to be a journalist for boss Snapper Carr (Ian Gomez). An aside: since Snapper was a one-time supporting character in the Supergirl comics, it makes sense to bring him in; what makes no sense was taking him from scientist to older editor. Why keep the name? With no J-school training, she blunders ahead, making rookie mistakes time and again with little in the way of mentoring.

Over at the DEO, we now have the mystery of the occupant from the end of season one and it turns out to be Mon-El (Chris Wood), a Daxamite which opens the issue of race hatred between worlds, setting up the painful final arc. As Mon-El learns to acclimate himself to Earth, his character is either a sweetheart or an idiot or a jerk, depending on the needs of the story. The inevitable romance with Supergirl is a slow burn, finally ignited in the wonderful Flash musical crossover two-parter.

But we need time to focus on Martian Manhunter (David Harewood) and his romance with Megan along with getting comfortable being an out and proud alien on Earth, working closely with the US President (Lynda Carter). Her reveal later in the season feels silly and the ramifications of aliens easily invading Earth is a thread deserving follow-up on season three and I bet you won’t see it.

The first half of the season is largely the anti-alien schemes of Lillian Luthor (Brenda Strong), strengthening the friendship and alliance between her daughter Lena (Katie McGrath) and Kara. The second half brings Mommy (Teri Hatcher) and Daddy (Kevin Sorbo) El to Earth to bring their son, the Prince, home. When he refuses, Queen Rhea goes nuts, kills her “weak” husband and invades Earth intending to either destroy it or bring her son home.

Throughout the season, we are also treated to Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan) moving from CatCo to the DEO because apparently, no one else had computer skills. His bromance with James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) evolves as the latter is tired of being the token non-costumed character and becomes the Guardian, borrowing a character from the comics with no connection to Supergirl. It doesn’t fit the character and is added merely to keep the character in the mix, showing how character bloat harms the cast. More interesting was Winn’s romance with an alien, who is still learning to trust humans.

The Earth vs. Daxam battle was far too concentrated on National City without explaining how this impacted the rest of Earth. Especially with Superman’s tardy appearance and no other heroes on that world (and Supergirl alludes to at least Batman operating in this world). The one-on-one finale was better as was sending Mon-El to the Phantom Zone where he can learn to grow up before coming back for a guest shot.

Kara Zor-El as Supergirl and Kara Danvers has learned a lot but more from observing than actually doing. She was ill-served by writers who have yet to figure out how to use her powers consistently. This was about a young woman coming to accept who she was and how to make a positive impact on the world. That strong season one message was overshadowed by too many alien invasions, too many other heroes, and nowhere near enough time to show, reflect, and grow.

All twenty-two episodes are presented in fine high definition transfers and the Blu-ray set comes with a Digital HD code. The other three parts of the “Invasion!” crossover or the Flash half of their crossover are absent. The fun Supergirl ad promoting Wonder Woman should be here but isn’t.

The discs include a handful of spread out special features including Supergirl: 2016 Comic-Con Panel; Supergirl: Alien Fight Night, Aliens Among Us, A Conversation with Andrew Kreisberg and Kevin Smith, comparing directing this show versus The Flash; Supergirl Lives Audio Commentary from Kreisberg and Smith, and Did You Know facts from the cast and crew for fans. All are entertaining, none are essential.

Mike Gold: Jack Kirby’s Moxie

Next Monday marks the 100th anniversary of Jack Kirby’s birth. For one horrible moment, let us consider the following question: what if that birth never happened?

No Captain America. No Fourth World. Probably no romance comics. No Challengers of the Unknown. No Kamandi. No “Marvel Age of Comics.”

Think about that last one for a moment. The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Hulk, Nick Fury, Thor, Silver Surfer, Black Panther… most likely, they would not have existed; certainly not as the astonishing successes they were.

I will avoid suggesting the American comic book medium would have disappeared decades ago if not for Jack Kirby, although a case could be made for that argument. If Marvel Comics didn’t happen the way it happened, it’s possible that direct sales to comic book stores would not have happened, and that little phenomenon certainly has kept this racket alive.

Nobody put more power, more energy, more excitement onto a single page. Even when he dialogued his own work when he created the Fourth World for DC Comics – and, to be fair, his dialogue was damn close to self-parody – his story, his concepts and his ability to deliver sheer entertainment were so strong the reader would forgive his few shortcomings. In fact, after a couple panels, we usually didn’t notice.

From time to time, artists of subsequent generations would be accused of being too “Kirby-esque.” Well, all artists (including writers, musicians, filmmakers, etc.) tend to reveal their influences, particularly in their early stuff. In comics, there always has been a fine line between influence and imitation. And that applies to Jack himself: the visage of Etrigan the Demon, first published in 1972, bears very close resemblance to a mask worn by Prince Valiant on Christmas Day 1937, drawn by the great Hal Foster. And Jack always was upfront about the source material.

I look at this “influence” thing a bit differently. Instead of accusing an artist of being Kirby-esque, I wonder why some of the others are not. In the early days of their careers, a little Jack Kirby moxie would have helped guide them to their own distinctive abilities.

Sometimes I wonder if some later generation of comics talent will not know of Jack Kirby’s work. I have met many a young’un who was sadly unfamiliar with the work of Alex Raymond, Milton Caniff, Wally Wood, Jack Cole… to name but a few.

I need not worry. If there is one person who has an indelible legacy in the comic art medium, it is Jack Kirby.

•     •     •     •     •

Plug number one: I will be at Wizard World Chicago starting tomorrow, and I will be on two panels: one discussing the bombastic Doctor Who convention of 1982, the first major big-time Who show in the States. For three hot, sweaty days Chicago’s Congress Hotel looked like the San Diego Convention Center on steroids. The other panel will be a tribute to legendary artist Jerry Robinson, on occasion of the publishing of Jerry’s last memoir, Jerry and The Joker. Both panels are on Saturday.

 •     •     •     •     • 

mine-logo-150x84-1473747Plug number two: Martha Thomases said it best last Friday, and since I’m about to drive off to the above-mentioned convention I shall re-appropriate her words:

Just a reminder: If you haven’t already, get thee to this Kickstarter page and pledge some money for Mine! the anthology book ComicMix is producing to benefit Planned Parenthood. You might not know it from the Fake News Media, but Planned Parenthood provides necessary health care to millions of people of all ages and genders. In some communities, it is the only place where women can receive pre-natal and post-natal care. In some communities, it is the only place where poor women can get vital cancer screenings. In some communities, it is the only health clinic available, for women and men.

You might also want to pledge so you can get a cool book, with stories by Neil Gaiman, Trina Robbins, Rachel Pollack, Becky Cloonan, Stuart Moore, Mark Said, Amber Benson, Louise Simonson, Jody Houser… and Mike Gold… and Martha Thomases!

REVIEW: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

It’s been such a long, dreary summer at the movies that it’s hard to believe the season started with such promise in early May with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 which was a well-deserved box office smash.

A good sequel preserves the best of the original but expands the mythos, explores something new and enhances the experience. A bad sequel merely repeats the original’s beats and goes through the motions. Thankfully, Marvel Studios understands the difference and works to make each installment in a franchise something fresh.

In the case of James Gunn, he saw early on how special and different Guardians of the Galaxy was going to be and knew how to go further with the sequel, reportedly beginning writing it before the first opened. Gunn brought the disparate members — Star Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (David Bautista), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper, motion capture by Sean Gunn), and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) – together and turned them into a family.

Family weighs heavily on the team as we pick up months later in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as Star Lord gets to meet his father, Ego (Kurt Russell), Gamora is hunted down by her foster sister Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Drax laments the absence of his daughter, opening up for the first time. The film, out now from Disney Home Entertainment, balances these threads against the galaxy once more hunting them down.

After all, the team is found taking jobs to pay their debts including rescuing extremely valuable batteries. However, their pay this time was not money but the surrender of Nebula. When Rocket steals property belonging to the Sovereign People, its leader, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), sends her army after them. The space battle results with them landing on Berhert, hunted by Yondu (Michael Rooker), now on the outs with the Ravagers. There, they meet Ego and Peter Quill finally can learn of his past.

What he finds is at first fascinating until he comes to recognize that his father may be powerful, but the eons of isolation also made him quite mad. Then comes a final revelation that pits father against son setting up the cosmic climax.

Everyone gets something to do and shows off how capable they are on their own, but of course, we see how much better they are when together as this is now their chosen family. We get to meet Ego’s “ward” Mantis (newcomer Pom Klementieff), an empathic innocent who forms an odd bond with Drax. Baby Groot, when not stealing every scene he is in, is another sort of innocent, eager to please, but still learning how to make the right decisions and with Rocket as his mentor, that’s not always a good thing.

In addition to Ayesha, we also get a glimpse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the original Guardians, here a band of Ravagers led by Sylvester Stallone’s Stakar Ogord; Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex, Ving Rhames as Charlie-27, Michelle Yeoh as Stakar’s female counterpart Aleta Ogord, Krugarr, and Mainframe (voiced by Miley Cyrus).

The humor and action quotients are high with the latter somewhat prolonged beyond necessity but overall, the film is very entertaining and a satisfying entry. It ends with some hints of the team’s eventual connection to next summer’s Avengers: Infinity War, but it stands strongly on its own.

The movie has been released in the latest iteration of the popular Combo Pack, now boasting 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and Digital HD.  A featureless DVD version remains available. The Blu-ray transfer is superb with sharp colors and retaining the rich rainbow of worlds and effects seen in the theater. Word elsewhere is that the 4K/HDR UHD, presented at 2160p is amazing. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is equally impressive.

The Combo Pack comes with a 1970s’ style mini-poster that plays off one of the better special features. We get Gunn’s Visionary Intro (1:39) then the four-part Bonus Round: The Making of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:  In the Director’s Chair with James Gunn (8:36), Reunion Tour: The Music of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (7:37), Living Planets and Talking Trees: The Visual Effects of Vol. 2 (10:44), and Showtime: The Cast of Vol. 2 (10:41). Like the film itself, it is lightweight designed more to entertain than enlighten.

The highlight is the Guardians Inferno by The Sneepers(3:35) as David Hasselhoff and the cast remake a 1970s-era music video with cheesy edits, costumes, and video tape editing tricks that nicely recreates the feel. Clearly the cast, notably, Gillan, is having a blast. Look for the fun cameo at the end.

There’s the Gag Reel (3:41) and Deleted Scenes (5:04), featuring Adolescent Groot Extended, Memorial to the War on Xandar, Kraglin and Quill Talk Tunes, and Mantis and Drax Feel the Sadness Extended.

Finally, there’s Gunn’s Audio Commentary.

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