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Giving the Devil his Due: Overall Thoughts on Netflix' Daredevil

I have found it difficult to figure out the best way to discuss the various Netflix original series. House of Cards is a structural mess, if not bit formally interesting. Orange is the New Black is a clear high water market, but it functions more as a typical television series and doesn’t display some of the unique capabilities Netflix offers. Though it’s producers/cast and crew certainly makes it unique. Marvel’s Daredevil, the first of five original series for the digital streaming service, provides me with a good jumping off point of interesting Netflix traits and storytelling juxtaposed against Marvel Studios blockbuster releases.

I think I’ve come up with a potentially useful way to orient myself in thinking about Daredevil and Netflix series in general. Instead of thinking of Marvel’s Daredevil as a traditional television series, think of it as a trade paperback or original graphic novel. To split hairs a bit, Daredevil falls more on the OGN side of things. Whereas traditional television like Arrow, The Flash, would be more akin to trade paperback with their post release volumization. This way I can think about (and watch) Daredevil in large chunks and still look at it on an individual episodic level. This also allows for easier navigation of episodes that make small incremental movements or do not make for interesting avenues of criticism.

So that’s the plan. This long piece on Daredevil as a season of television, and other pieces centered around episode(s).

Perspective Episodes Being Covered

  1. “Cut Man” – What isn’t Shown
  2. “Rabbit in a Snowstorm” – An articulation of the base-superstructure
  3. “Shadows on the Glass” –Is this a dagger which I see before me?
  4. “Nelson v Murdoch” – Friends
  5. “Stick” – Old Masters and Battling masculinity
  6. “DareDevil” – I’ll come up with something
  7. “World on Fire”/”Condemned”
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I have made it quite clear that I am bored with Marvel Studios film product. They are entertaining and recent films like Winter Solider are among the studios best works. As films, however I find them tedious with how predictable in structure and spectacle they are. This is all a byproduct of their commercial success.

Television is the realm in which Marvel Studios has not met overwhelming success. Agents of SHIELD has improved but I’ve stopped watching it. I don’t care about any of their characters, no matter how often you say “InHuman”. Agent Carter was a good overall entry and sign that Marvel knows how to do things. However, despite a different medium both series were tonally a piece with Marvel’s blockbuster output: bright colors, quips, and a macguffin chase. These among other factors have created a more of the same feel for Marvel Studio products. They have made half hearted attempts at fusing genre (Winter Soldier is a half backed conspiracy thriller) but in the end their true genre is the blockbuster spectacle and all is brought to kneel before it.

The best thing to happen to Arrow is The Flash. It has created an in universe stylistic spectrum that informs each series while existing separately from one another. Marvel finally has this spectrum with Daredevil, something that is both stylistically and narratively apart from its contemporaries. It is Marvel doing dark and gritty. This is said without irony or snark. In this case it is literal; DareDevil is extremely dark from a lighting perspective. The grit comes from the visceral presentation of violence, and tonality of the series, framed by its crime. The first half of this series has several moments of brutal violence, that should rightly make you cringe as people are stabbed or have limbs broken with bones or other objects protruding from the skin in the after math. Showrunner Steven S. Deknight described the series as “PG-15” and that fits. There is some near nudity but the series is more concerned with the violence at hand than sexuality.

Painting its villainess Cabal of organized crime under Wilson Fisk as nothing more than carpet bagging gentrifies gives Daredevil access to social themes greater than the half hearted critiques of the surveillance state or military-entertainment complex we’ve previously seen. They fall in line with the ultra capitalist villainy found in Iron Man but with a smaller area of interest.

The series has a strong visual foundation laid by the direction of Phil Abraham (Mad Men), who directed the first two episodes. Abraham and the following directors let things breathe as characters grapple with their inner demons. Unburdened by the need to produce a densely packed 140 minutes, Daredevil with its 707 minutes lets things breathe. This leads to several episodes that go off into their own world, focusing on singular characters or small groupings and episodes that switch the conventional A/B plot threads. Daredevil has room to experiment and watch its characters in ways the films can never achieve.

This is not a $150 million blockbuster, something that is planned well in advance so that VFX houses can begin to create the CGI set pieces. Marvels uniform cinematography and editing is derived from this partly. This cannot afford to nor would it look right to have the frame with pixilated movement. This allows for the cinematography to not be over edited during action sequences, it largely is allowed to breathe. There is a sequence at the end of episode 2 "Cut Man", a pseudo one shot that is a phenomenal bit of direction, its use of the stage to create tension and limit the pov of the audience is one of the best moments in the MCU. As in television, the direction has its ups and downs after Abraham’s episodes. None of these episodes are “bad” but they also lack the sheer artistry that earlier episodes had.

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The Daredevil character was a smart choice for the first Netflix series. He is a long running character with prior appearances in television (live action and animation) and the subject of a feature film (the director’s cut is solid). More importantly he is a hero that can exist in a variety of tones and genres, going back and forth as writers see fit. DareDevil can be a nighttime street level vigilante and a quippy Spider-man daytime hero. DareDevil is heavily influenced by Frank Miller’s run on the character, Man Without Fear in particular. Another influence is the art of Alex Maleev from Bendis’ tenure as writer. Matt Murdocks apartment is straight out of that run. Together they take Millers grimy crime pulp setting but drenches it in neon lights, a neon-noir (sadly not like awesome neo-noirs of the ninties). This combination is a bit of a tonal tight rope to balance on, the inherent melodrama (which often could lead to a pretentious seriousness) with some subtler one liners and site gags. Daredevil isn’t a zany wacky comedy but it isn’t humorless either. Most of which is provided by Elden Henson as Matt Murdoch’s best friend Foggy Nelosn

Daredevil is extremely light on genre typical super villains, this due to the Born Again influence. As much as modern Miller work is laughable, his mediation of original pulp heroes and modern superheroes with works like Batman: Year One and Man Without Fear is the evolution of cape comics. In both works, Miller shows that supervillians and their craziness did not magically spring up but are merely filling the void left by organized crime, that was weakened by the vigilante. Like the first season of Arrow, the series writers have used names of Daredevil/Marvel villains but stripped some of their more cartoony ‘super’ characteristics. Fisk is treated as an ambitious crime boss but not an unstoppable sumo machine. Leleand Owsley aka The Owl isn’t a cape wearing monster but Fisks money man making the casting of Shawshank Warden, Bob Gunton in the role of Owsley even better.

For the story DareDevil tells over its 13 episodes, starting in this darker, grittier, angrier place makes sense. This is about becoming the Daredevil and figuring out the difference between fascistic vigilantism and super heroics. Matt Murdock doesn’t receive the nom de plume Daredevil until the final episode. Prior he is simply the Man in Black or the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Dave Gonzales on Thought Bubble, describes how Marvel Studio’s output as a slow build towards something weirder. We didn’t start with InHumans and alien-gods. It was a man in an iron suit and once the masses bought that they went to the next level. This holds true to the season, building towards the more mystical ninja side of DareDevil while emphasizing an immediately palatable fight with a crime syndicate run by Wilson Fisk. The series is a little vague on the exact plans Fisk and Co. have for Hells Kitchen beyond redevelopment.

There are many theories on what constitutes or makes for “quality” television. A useful tool I’ve found is Javier Grillo-Marchu’s operational theme. This is “a situational vector that cleanly delineates the potential variations of action in service of the protagonist’s consistent emotional need.” It is the dramatic fuel that is front in center in most if not all scenes driving the series forward. In Daredevil the operational theme could be seen as the conflict between true and perceived natures. Both male leads, Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk find themselves at odds with what they do and how they feel about it. Before throwing a man off a rooftop in episode two, Murdock tells his victim that he does this both as a means of cleaning up “his City” but more insidiously because he likes it. Conversely on their second date, Fisk tells Vanessa that he has “done things that I'm not proud of, Vanessa. I've hurt people and I'm going to hurt more. It's impossible to avoid for what I'm trying to do. But I take no pleasure in it, in cruelty.” These mirrored responses come in and out of conflict with one another as the season progresses and each character learns more about themselves.

Another contributing factor for me in quality television is the setting. Television is best when it is as much about the character as it is the place they inhabit and the effects it has on the characters. Look at socio-economically stratified Harlan County of Justified and the effect that has on its residents. The Hell’s Kitchen of Daredevil drives its two sons as Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk to struggle over what is best for “their” city. The ability to shoot exteriors in New York City proper (and not Toronto) helps add character and a degree of authenticity to the series. Even if the depiction of a crime ridden economically downtrodden Hell’s Kitchen is dissonant to the contemporary location.

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While defiantly Daredevil’s origin story, it is an interesting example in telling it. Yes, there are the events that blinded young Matt Murdock, his father, and tutelage on Stick all shown in flashbacks. But these expository events are not over emphasized since they are not relevant to the story being told. When DareDevil starts, Murdock is already a mask wearing street ninja. His training under the tutelage Stick is shown in a ‘B’ plot over halfway through the season (episode 7). The series also doesn’t spend too much time representing how Murdock “sees” the world, Episode 5 “World on Fire” being the single sequence where we see this. It’s a smart move; those effects cost too much money and take the viewer out of the world created to easily. More often his power set is represented by close focus wide angle shots, signaling out a person or object. Marvel rightly plays on audience extra textual understanding or just willingness to go along with such things.

Charlie Cox is simply well cast as Matt Murdock. Cox dosen’t steal every scene he is in or dominate it because that isn’t what his character is. He’s someone off to the sides, the kind you don’t really think about. It affords him a degree of maneuverability that makes some of the weird super hero tropes work more than they normally would. Matt Murdock is an affable friendly good person and that’s what Cox portrays.

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Marvel Studios success with making their heroes stars hasn’t been the same for their villains. The majority of the time this is due to being underdeveloped within the script. Thanks to having roughly 13 hours of screen time, Wilson Fisk is in no way underserved; he even gets an episode essentially to himself with 1x08 "Shadows in the Glass". This season is just as much about the origin of DareDevil as it is the Kingpin of Crime. Vincent D'onofrio makes his presence felt in his sheer physicality playing that girth against expectation. The Fisk of this series is something of a mixture between Machiavelli and impulsive child. After a minor slight he rends the head from one of his partner’s body with a car door in a fit of rage. He plays Fisk as a pot ready to boil over at a moment’s notice. Daredevil is allowed to build the characters psychology and our understanding of him like Loki has over several appearances. Even though his plan to rebuild Hell’s Kitchen is kind of vague. The Kingpin is easily among the best villains in a Marvel property.

If the tepid response to Avengers: Age of Ultron didn’t make it clear, the game has changed. In the interceding 3 years from the last Avengers film, television has most definatly jumped far ahead in terms of cultural taste making craft, while major Hollywood studios continues to circle the wagons around their derivative globalized big tent blockbusters. If Marvel Studios as a producer of content is going to continue being among the top global producers of culture they must adapt. Daredevil isn’t among the best television has to offer but it’s more than good enough. It is a refreshingly different piece from their normal line giving me hope to find renewed interest in the House of Ideas with these Netflix Marvel Knight series.

I am Michael Mazzacane you can follow me on Twitter and at ComicWeek.org

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THOUGHTS: JL: Gods and Monsters Chronicles "Big"

With “Big” the short focusing on the Wonder Woman of Gods and Monsters, the New God Bekka, Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles season 1 comes to an end. The second season will be 10 episodes debuting sometime in 2016, no word yet on if they will be more substantial in length or shift to a more serialized structure.

In my thoughts on “Twisted” I mentioned how Batman, and really any long running piece of transmedia IP, exist in a nexus of symbolic understanding. This is part of the reasons we get post-modern art, like the work of Quentin Tarantino or Grant Morrison. We see the patterns and sometimes use that to speak to the art being created. To a degree all the episodes of Chronicles featured this. “Twisted” sees Batman transformed into a vampire as his name but places him still in the detective role. “Bomb” features a Superman, in a classic Superman plot with contemporary references to Akira (amongst others) but instead of subverting expectation as in “Twisted”, shows the universality of the moniker.

“Big” features references to two other pieces of DC animation. From a scenario perspective, “Big” is a lot like the teaser from Batman the Brave and the Bold Season 3 Episode 4 “Scorn of the Star Sapphire”, wherein Wonder Woman jumps into save Batman and Steve Trevor from Baroness Paula Von Gunther. Sadly “Big” does not feature an awesome Wonder Woman theme song. Also the egg (or maybe it’s a transport rocket) Giganta bursts out of is the same design of Owlman’s bomb in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.

The magic word isn't Sunstone
The magic word isn't Sunstone

As far as character, “Big” features a Wonder Woman in a flirtatious relationship with Steve Trevor that also plays into the BDSM subtext of the original Wonder Woman comics by Charles Moulton. Remarking in the midst of battle that she realizes that he likes to think he’s in charge. This Wonder Woman lacks a lasso to subdue her foes (or friends if they want) with, instead she knowingly waits for Steve Trevor to ask for her help in combating the Giganta robot. And no, just because Steve Trevor asks for Wonder Woman’s help he isn’t damseled. He was shown being rather physically capable and self reliant prior, killing various henchmen (KOBRA ones?), before picking a fight with a gigantic gynoid. Sometimes you need help when taking on gigantic killer robots.

On the depiction of violence, “Big” might be the most Justice League like of these shorts. There isn’t an emphasis on blood, I think there is some squib effects when henchmen are shot in the background. Wonder Woman impales the leader with her sword but he does not start to bleed out. As far as barriers to distribution on television the obvious flirtatious elements and perhaps the Wonder Woman costume design would be a bigger barrier than the depiction of violence.

With all of these now released I again come around to wondering how “Twisted” just turned out so terribly. Depiction of Harley Quinn aside, though that is a major limiting factor, it lacked the same quality of “Bomb” and “Big”. The other two episodes also featured more speaking roles, where “Twisted” dialog is dominated by the babbling of Harley Quinn. All of them though do speak to the kind of quintessential scenarios these figures have faced.

So did Chronicles shock us into forgetting all we know about the DC Trinity? Not really. I think all they’ve done is reaffirm the universality of these characters. “Twisted” was the most shocking but it is still wrapped in the Batman visual and narrative grammar.

I am Michael Mazzacane you can follow me on Twitter and at ComicWeek.org

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THOUGHTS: JL Gods and Monsters Chronicles "Bomb"

I was less than impressed by “Twisted” the first short in Gods and Monsters Chronicles. It traded on our symbolic understanding of Batman’s oeuvre for nothing put shock value and wasn’t very efficient. “Bomb” similarly trades on our understanding of Superman to efficiently introduce us to the Superman of Gods and Monsters, the son of General Zod.

The setup is classic Superman: a monster, Brainiac, has attacked Metropolis and only Superman can save the day. Of course it isn’t that simple. Brainiac isn’t a colonizing alien from space, he’s man made by Dr. Sivana, standing in the Lex Luthor role, to stop Superman. He isn’t even an adult; he’s a scared kid out of Akira.

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The scenario presented in “Bomb” is a common conundrum Timm and his DCAU partner Dwayne McDuffie have presented to their heroes. How to save the day from a monster that didn’t ask for this? Across the multiverse of Supermen, the ones that don’t go bad are always linked in empathy. This isn’t Brainiac’s fault that lies at the US Government feet. But there is only one way out and it’s the empathetic choice. He’s suffering and asks for it. For a split second I was worried if the gore from “Twisted” would pop up with Superman dispatching Brainiac in gruesome fashion. Thankfully this isn’t the case.

A lot has been made of this version of Superman being the son of General Zod. It obviously allows writers to play in the nature vs. nurture question. This Superman may be brash and an arrogant but he still calls himself Superman. He still cares about people, and that’s what makes a Superman.

It’s interesting now to have a bit wider view of the world of Gods and Monsters. Batman, Kirk Langstram, has the clear visual signifiers of Batman and tendencies, he dose do a bit of detective work and it isn’t till the end that he is truly differentiated. Superman doesn’t have these clear signifiers, his costuming is modern but still has the traditional color scheme but displays all the qualities of Superman.

I am Michael Mazzacane you can follow me on Twitter and at ComicWeek.org

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THOUGHTS: JL: Gods and Monsters Chronicles "Twisted"

“Twisted” is the first of three animated shorts along with comics leading up to the release of Justice League: Gods and Monsters, an animated feature by Bruce Timm, Sam Liu, and Alan Burnett, on July 28th. Episodes two and three will debut on Machinima June 10th and 12th respectively.

Feature storytelling is all about efficiency; increase that by another factor when it comes to animation and so on when dealing in the realm of shorts. At about 5 minutes, “Twisted” lives up to the marketing promise that Gods and Monsters would be a far darker take on the Justice League. Harley Quinn is the equivalent of the Dollmaker and mutilated corpses abound. Kirk Langstrom shows off his vampiric side by refusing to take Harley Quinn into custody, instead doing what vampires do. It is something that was hinted at in the trailer for Justice League: Gods and Monsters. There is still some Timm style visual gags and overall deadpan delivery in terms of presenting the world.

Really Bruce Timm, this is what you design Harley Quinn in Really?
Really Bruce Timm, this is what you design Harley Quinn in Really?

That deadpan delivery is perhaps why I’m so off put by Harley Quinn’s costuming. It’s absurd, she is in lingerie and that’s it. It’s over the top and bright and tonally dissonant to the overall mise en scene of “Twisted”, making it serve no purpose than to look at this animated characters barley covered parts. Where Batman’s costuming looks like it exists with purpose, did anyone else notice the ear holes on the side of his helmet. She exists only to act as Other and reinforce Batman’ normality. While pursuing Batman, Quinn remarks how removed from his brand of crazy she is. He is fully clothed in tactical gear, quiet, powerful and surprisingly not sexualized (by vampire standards).Harley Quinn is in decidedly less than tactical gear, loud, and sexualized for no other purpose than audience gaze.

Batman represents the dark side of DC heroic spectrum, a certain level of grim and grit make sense for the character. As a short though and our first real look at the world of Gods and Monsters, it lacks context. Without this context of how Superman and Wonder Woman (Bekka) will be treated it just seems kinda exploitative and needless. The whole thing has the air of a some kids idea of what “adult” and “mature” because it is allowed to show skin and gore. Instead of uses those as tools to explore the human condition or make some thematic point.

In a recent interview with CBR about the release of Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, a series of animated short introductions ahead of the full animated feature, producer Bruce Timm talked about the planning behind this series

“Well, the initial three-episode webseries was deliberately designed to showcase each of these characters in a way that automatically smacks you upside the head and says, "Forget everything you know about who Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman is." These are all-new versions of those characters. In knowing that these were going to air before the movie came out, [I thought] it would be a great little mini-teaser of the characters. Each short was intentionally designed to be -- I'll be blatant about it -- they were intended to be shocking a little bit. We probably went a little bit further with each of them than we normally would have been inclined to do. But again, knowing that it was trying to make an impact, trying to make a statement, trying to be the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.”

With only “Twisted” to go off of, it appears Timm and Co. only half succeed. “Twisted” is defiantly shocking. In terms of making me “Forget everything you know about who Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman is” it defiantly fails. “Twisted” and Gods and Monsters in general, only works because it is crafted to play off of the audiences understanding of these characters. Yes each interpretation of a character has unique traits but those traits only are “unique” because they exist in a spectrum of symbolic understanding. Because of this extra textual knowledge audiences bring to the text we cannot be smacked upside and forget our understanding of "Batman" or any character that Timm uses to tell his story. Kirk Langstrom Batman is inexorably linked to Batman, the mythic figure, by symbolic assocation.His costume is remeicent of the Batman Beyond suit, save for color alterations. Harley Quinn's outfit signfies that she is "Harley Quinn" because of repurposed color scheme and diamond tattoo from the Injustice universe.

As it stands “Twisted” is just shocking. Existing as a 5 minute introduction to a world of disembodied persons, reliant on our understanding of DC mythology in order to imbue any of what goes on with meaning beyond pure aesthetic enjoyment.

I am Michael Mazzacane you can follow me on Twitter and at ComicWeek.org

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THOUGHTS: On Marvel-Netflix Phase 2 and the Diversification of TV

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Umberto Gonzalez aka El Mayimbe, recently launched his own genre movie/tv focused website, HeroicHollywood.com. The self professed fanboy journalist recently posted an article focusing on the development of Marvel TV/Netflix Phase Two

Marvel is planning a Phase II that will include Defenders, however this won’t take place until 2017. As of right now, the plan is for two or three Netflix series a year, which means that we won’t get Defenders until 2017.

Daredevil season 2 is coming, but won’t air for a while. As for those Elektra rumors and the leaked audition tapes? They’re real. Elektra is coming.

The powers that be at Marvel have also been toying with the idea of adding characters like Punisher, Blade and Ghost Rider, but there are risks with each of those characters. Not only are they darker and more violent, but two of them require supernatural elements in order to tell their stories. The inclusion of these characters could send Netflix over to the goofy side, which is something they’re very afraid of Ghost Rider would also rely on CGI too much for the studio’s taste.

It would also be difficult to incorporate the stories of these characters smoothly. Blade and Punisher are perceived to be rather one-note to carry a series on their own. The heavy level of violence is also perceived to be a risk. They want a “hard PG-13,” instead of an R. And since none of the Defenders actively kill, throwing Punisher into the mix could be a challenge.

There have been rumors of Blade/Ghost Rider or even Midnight Sons television series for a while now, but nothing really substantive or physical to show for it. The reasoning listed above makes sense; they aren’t that dynamic a character and have had prior exposure in multiple feature films. There is also the CGI requirement for doing a character like the Ghost Rider.

Since the release of DareDevil, there has been renewed call for a Punisher series. It has been a call I’ve never quite understood. The Punisher while having several excellent runs, I’m partial to the MAX series, is a very dourer and very violent character and that doesn’t make for the most watchable episodic content. DareDevil featured a level of violence, not in terms of choreography but in its effect on the body, not seen in a Marvel property. It was breathtaking but even that couldn’t keep that pace up for the 13 run. Television is about the slow change over time and one of those changes was the transition from a vengeful solo view of violence too one that was a bit dryer and acrobatic. The Punisher by its nature can be nothing less than summary execution.

Gonzalez description of the television landscape within Marvel is also interesting

There’s no doubt that TV is in a weird place. Feature films have become king, and are only grudgingly cooperating with their counterparts on the small screen, leaving them mere scraps to work with. Instead of being in on the entire process, television programs are forced to adjust their series in order to keep up with the movies.

Some people have come to believe that the TV side of big superhero franchises’ are being pulled along for the ride. According to some of the latest chatter, they may have a point. Studio execs and writers have begun to feel as though the television side of the interconnected universe is more akin to an anchor than anything else. Their hugely successful cinematic universe and brand took years to build up. Rumor has it that Kevin Feige over at Marvel looks down on the TV side of the franchise, but has come to accept it as somewhat of a “necessary evil,” since Disney demands it. And with ABC insisting on getting their words in, it appears that there may be too many cooks in the kitchen for everyone’s tastes.

The tense negotiation between various corporate entities within a larger umbrella corporation isn’t surprising. It’s the idea that TV as a anchor for the cinematic side of things. I’ve never been much of a continuity minded person, broad strokes sure but otherwise I like good storytelling. As I’ve grown increasingly disinterested in Marvel’s big budget feature output, their television arm has grown more and more intriguing. Agents of SHIELD is still not interesting television and clearly the red headed step child of the film side, Whedon saying Agent Coulson is still dead in the “Movies” shows how disconnected they are. But Agent Carter and DareDevil both came out last year and they are something different from the normal formula. Yes, Carter still played with the basic tonal set as the films but its time period and protagonist was like nothing Marvel had produced before. Most importantly these two products feel disconnected from the convoluted year spanning cosmic myth the films are trying to tell at the same times as 10 other stories. They are allowed to be their own thing and only interact in small meaningful ways.

Television has increasingly become the cultural marker of quality and experimentation that studio film making used to be (ok not really but let’s wax nostalgia at the thought) and what indie stuff is now. With the diversification of delivery systems so to has its voices diversified, leading to a cornucopia of offerings compared to the same safe large bets the studios place every year. Television is the place Marvel could really expand its universe in good character driven ways.

I am Michael Mazzacane you can follow me on Twitter and at ComicWeek.org

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THOUGHTS: Game of Thrones "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" - An Iron Throne of Lies

"Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" Jeremy Podeswa Bryan Cogman

I’m in the final burst of yet another college quarter. One of the classes I’m taking is one on screenwriting. If you haven’t noticed, I kind of like to write. My Professor likes the quote that writers like to write to have written. It feels great to have written something. Writing though is kind of hard. I’ve had this half written for going on two days and this is about as well as I’m going to get it. So sorry if this is utter tripe. I just really want this to have finished.

Credit to Robert Gregsson @SsRP5 on Twitter

@jasondshep @jowrotethis @davechensky it's not exactly better in the books where all the rape happens to peripheral women and girls

No, that isn’t exactly better. It goes without saying that rape is terrible (not even if that word is the right word). Hell when Jamie rapes Cersi IN THE SEPT!!! I felt bad, Cersi one of shallowest worst Game players ever. Because she is still a human being and her personal sovereignty was violated. How I am I supposed to feel when it happens to Sansa Stark? A character we have been emotionally tied to since season 2 as she was tormented by a psychopath.

"Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" director Jeremy Podeswa dose deserve recognition for making an effective sequence. The camera hung on Sansa as she untied her fur/gauntlets, Sophie Turner’s hands just low enough on screen that you’d hope she’d reveal a dagger and plunge it into Ramsay’s neck. And pin it on Reek.

Speaking of Reek. Overall I’d wonder if perhaps you didn’t need to make it so explicit (an equally tenuous path), but is ending on a close up Alfie Allen’s face the right call? On some level he becomes an audience surrogate, we’re helpless in the corner forced to watch(barring changing the channel). At the same time the focus on Reek makes the scene about him and not Sansa. Which depending on how it is treated in subsequent episodes, could make this all the worse, another example of victimizing female characters in the pursuit of Man Pain? But Reek already has enough of that, we understand this. I’m just not sure if this sequence as it was done was necessary, we already know Ramsay is a terrible putrid person. Do we learn anything new?

Besides reminding viewers that it exponentially sucks more to be a woman in Westeros, the rape of Sansa is another dagger to the heart of those who had hope. I always come around after Game of Thrones doing something that just rips the hope out of you in wonderment. Why was I so foolish to hope that this wouldn’t end poorly? Why? Because they had done such a good job building Sansa up, she began to exercise her own Littlefinger-esque manners and ways of controlling the situation around her. The scene prior to her wedding, she turns to Myranda fully nude and sends her away; rebuffing her attempts to frighten (or maybe it was a warning) her.

The credit sequence was also a bit of a fake out, it took a long couple of seconds for the credit music to hit. The show only goes silent when someone has died.

In his ‘Experts’ review, one written as a book reader, Myles McNutt hopes like everyone else that what happened to Sansa will not simply be brushed aside. Game of Thrones has been uneven in its usage of rape, it can either an avenue for character growth or hollow shock value. Dany’s led to a discovery of agency for the character. But Cerci’s led to her seemingly giving Jamie the cold shoulder for a couple of episodes before it was dropped all together. I want this to be like the former and not the latter. That’s the problem with episodic television criticism, as a series airs. We simply do not know what comes next until next week at 6 on HBO, only left with the hope it won’t be for nothing.

This whole thing is kind of hard to swallow when the delightfully feminist Mad Maxx: Fury Road opened this weekend, proclaiming that women are not things.

Well with that out of the way, the rest of the episode?

Game of Thrones as an episodic product with all its disparate plot threads can be understood via a mostly unifying theme. In this case I’d say the overall theme of the episode was the lies they tell. Everyone in Game of Thrones to quote the Elf buddy, “sit(s) on a throne of lies

Most pointedly this is expressed in the continually eerie setting of the House of Black and White. Now with revealed to be the makers of Mission: Impossible face masks. A couple episodes ago, The Waif tried to get Arya to play “The Game” only to be stopped by the Man With Jaquen H'ghar’s Face. The Game as it turns out is a test of one’s ability to lie. The Waif tells a story about being a Westerosi noble and hooking up with the Faceless Men after employing them to secure her birthright. Her story finished, The Waif asks Arya at the end if she was telling the truth. Massie Williams response to that question is perfect. Arya doesn’t play the game that well. Swatted by the Man with Jaquen H’ghar’s Face for each time he can tell she is lying; in particular her insistence that she hated The Hound and wanted him to die.

Good lies are ones always wrapped in a bit of truth, a skill Arya shows in killing the small girl several sequences later. It’s a lie wrapped in the love her father had for her which she wants to believe is still there.

Tyrion is a great liar, always quick on his feet. Making Ser Jorah out to be a Westerosii battlefield badass in an attempt to get them to both to Mereen and not dead or in the salt mines. Jorah dose his part by playing into the history with the Dorthraki and Khal Drogo to cement his status as Westerossi badass.

What is perhaps most interesting is the scene prior to all the lying and talk of cock merchants and the magical properties of dwarf penis. Tyrion rightly puts to Jorah the question, what would make Dany a good ruler? Because her father was King prior, a man who burned people alive for his entertainment. Something we’ve seen her due very recently. It comes down to Dany’s Dragons, the WMDs of the entire world. For Jorah they and Dany are something magical, her walking into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo and coming out alive was something of a Come to Jeuse moment for the character. This helps redefine Jorah’s devotion and affection for his Queen. He dosen’t view her as an object of lustful desire but as an object to be worshipped as a God Queen to him. The pyre sequence isn’t all that different from the one Tyrion experienced in the previous episode, seeing Drogon fly over the ruins of Old Valyria. Tyrion just has a few more questions.

Margery and Ser Loras are both caught lying this episode. When the first (or was it second episode) featured the sexposition regarding the geography of Dorne, who would’ve thought that’d be turned into a Columbo-esque One More Thing. They didn’t lie for bad reasons, the returning Lady Olenna points out that everyone seems to know about Loras and the late Renly. No one cared, except those jerks in the Sept.

The return of Dame Dianna Riggs is fantatic, and the mirroring of her scene with Tywin from last season was fantastic. Cerci is no Tywin, she will not work with anyone and certainly doesn’t have the long term planning like her father.

Bits At the End

There's been some solid writing on this episode so here are some links.

Game of Thrones Absolutely Did Not Need to Go There with Sansa Stark by Joanna Robinson

We Will No Longer Be Promoting Game of Thrones by by Jill Pantozzi

The New Game of Thrones Rape Problem by Scott Beggs

Ask the Maester: Sansa’s Horrific Wedding, the Bolton-Stark Alliance, and the Sand Snakes by Jason Conception

I am Michael Mazzacane. You can find me on Twitter @MaZZM and at ComicWeek andNXTDayTV.

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THOUGHTS: Game of Thrones "Kill the Boy" - And Become the Man

"Kill the Boy" Directed by Jeremy Podeswa Written by Bryan Cogman

Game of Thrones continues ruminations on power and the “right” way to rule with its first two starkly contrasting scenes in “Kill the Boy”. In Mereen, Daenerys Targaryen mourns the death of Ser Beristain Selmy in a way that echos her fathers mad legacy. The heads of Mereen’s major familes are rounded up and brought to the dragon pit at spear point and forced to march into the darkness awaiting dragon breath, teeth or claw. The Mereen aristocrat Red Shirt got all three. All the while Daenerys wraps herself in more maternal symbolisim as she shows her children the rod (the first breathing gigantic scaly rod). At the opposite side of the world, new leader Jon Snow seeks out Maester Aemon’s advice on what to do about his Wilding problem; his own Mereenese knot. The most learned man in the Night’s Watch rejects his new Lord Commander’s query for counsel, Jon Snow already knows what it is he must do if he has thought it through and thinks it correct. Aemon urges his young boss to do as the title of the episode suggest, “Kill the boy, and let the man be born.” Jon must steel himself if he is to be an effective and good leader and do what is necessary even when it isn’t popular.

What is necessary is ending the millennial long feud between the Night’s Watch and Free Folk. Jon takes a very humanist stance on why, thousands of women, children, elderly and less fortunate will die north of the wall. But it is ultimately a pragmatic action; he does not want to add them to the Army of the Dead. The Wildlings who would theoretically settle in the Gift wouldn’t fight for him but with him once Winter has come. This is easier said than done as the feud has the personal nature of the Hattfield and McCoys mixed with arbitrary geography of the Israel-Palestine conflict. “Kill the Boy” dosen’t offer much closure on this front and both Winter and the end of the season (five episodes remain) is coming. Instead it focuses on the cost of Jon Snow’s actions. Edd is still loyal to Jon even if working with the Wildlings is a tough pill to swallow. Costlier is the relationship with Olly, the young boy who saw his family butchered in front of him. He cannot comprehend that this isn’t a trick, so certain in his distrust of the Free Folk. How could he or defacto Free Folk leader, Tormund Giantsbane (who finally shows up), this is a conflict that is deep with personal history and they will not forget it.

In GoT 4x03 “Breaker of Chains” Charles Dance dose what he normally dose and have a fantastic scene on multiple levels. The patriarch of House Lannister and Hand of the King, gives his grandson the soon to be King Tommen a philosophical question “What makes a good king?” This was our latest and clearest verbalization of the theme of power in the series since the riddle of Three Great Men posed by Varys in 2x03 “"What Is Dead May Never Die". It was also a nice vector to exposit some Westorsi history by briefly analyzing the rules of Baleor the Blessed, Orys I, and Robert Baretheon. Ultimately leading Tommen to realize that “Wisdom is what makes a good king.”.

“A wise king knows what he knows and what he doesn't.” Tywin counsels.

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Daenerys Targaryen is lacking in wise learned advisors (Tyrion and Varys can’t get there soon enough). She killed one of them. Threw the other one in the dungeon. And Ser Beristan sits on the slab in the entry way. But she still has Missandei, who gives her something along the same advice Tywin gave Tommen, that wisdom makes the best ruler and that also Daenerys knows how to untie the Gordian Knot in ways no one else does. Both her and Jon’s storylines this week give the idea that the best rulers do listen to their advisors but that an understanding of some larger ideology (in this case something resembling humanism) must be had in order for the ruler to have a sure rudder. As awkward as Daenerys white storyline can be at times, it beats watching her fall to the darker side of her lineage, one must always hope that people can change and become better.

Daenerys in a rather Queenly way admitting the fault in her actions towards the great houses of Mereen, righteous and redeeming. Her cultural blinders are lifted and the fighting pits will be reopened, with some new regulations. Also if she is to stay in Mereen for a while it is best to set down some roots and take a husband, Hizdahr zo Loraq is dutifully voulentold of his proposal. These kinds of political marriages never seem to go well; Ned and Catelyn’s marriage seemed to be the exception that proves the rule. Still, it was kind of funny seeing the gender roles reversed with Daenerys naming her husband without any sort of consent on Hizdahr’s part. He is left groveling in the cell wondering what it is that just happened.

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THOUGHTS: How Two Similar Trailers Give Two Different Reactions BvS & Star Wars 7

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This week has seen the release of two trailers for what will likely be two thirds of a trinity of major film franchises going forward. The second teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the first trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. They elicited two very different reactions from me. The Force Awakens had me in awe and ready to go back to that galaxy far far away. Dawn of Justice had me if not apathetic out right disinterested in the film. And I am a fan of both properties. Now my unique interest level in each of these going in certainly played a role in my first reactions to them. However, my reaction is also born from their trailer construction and it just so happens that both trailers are structured largely in similar fashions.

There is a key difference between the two trailers that easily influences our reception of their messages, their use of music. I’ve grown a bit tired of John Williams but that tends to happen when you write just about every iconic theme for over thirty years. That doesn’t mean the dude didn’t right a mean score to for the Star Wars series. Force Awakens uses “Binary Sunset” and “Yoda and the Force”, combined they make for a mysterious but adventurous musical base for the trailer, crescendoing to the end in epic fashion. Dawn of Justice will feature music by Hans Zimmer and per the norm; Zimmer composes an atonal beat that marches through the trailer. The generic music produced in the trailer is of a piece with most other major franchise trailers, but it lacks the embedded memory of Williams score.

Both trailers rely on voice over to build a narrative for the trailer and are composed as a montage of scenes revealed out of order.

For Force Awakens the dialog is a modification of Luke telling Leia that he is her brother from Return of the Jedi. The original quote being “The Force runs strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. And... my sister has it.” With the “You have that power too,” coming a line earlier with the beat removed. This makes it sound like Luke is talking to someone, potentially Rey or Finn. This narration also allows for Force Awakens to simultaneously access its past while showing the present. Except for the very end no original trilogy characters are confirmed in the trailer. Though Luke and Leia’s hands possibly appear.

Dawn of Justice dose not quote itself but spends the first half of its trailer (call it the Superman-half) accessing its past, Man of Steel. It features a cacophony of individuals pontificating and reacting to the events of Man of Steel. Holly Hunter, potentially Neil Degrasse Tyson, and Charlie Rose can be heard. Luthor speaks of knowing now that Devils do not come from the Hell below but from the sky, among talk of absolute power corrupting absolutely and humaniti’s checkered past with following powerful figures. All of this is a self reflexive reaction to Man of Steel, whose destruction turned many people off.

Both of these trailers are composed in montage style. The scenes and shots selected though are completely different. In film, the key differentiators between it and other narrative mediums is the use of camera and editing. Great films use these tools to create great moving images and motion within the frame to tell a story. Tony Zhou of EveryFrameAPainting has an excellent video essay looking at the movement of Akira Kurosawa.

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The Force Awakens trailer is full of movement, both in the frame and momentum created through each cut. The first half using the Skywalker quote features the camera moving in or around symbols of the Skywalker family, assuming the person being handed the lightsaber is Leia (the hand has a ring). After the “This Christmas” title card, the trailer kicks into high gear and is filled with controlled Bayhemic action. X-Wings fly down and out of the frame right. Kylo Ren appears at two points, cutting the frame with his broadsword light saber and than appearing to stop it, with the camera a dolling in. TIE fighters and the Milinuim Falcon battle through a downed Star Destroyer. The only shot of this section that doesn’t have a lot of movement, Rey outstretching her hand to Finn has plenty of background movement and John Boyega facial expression changing from tentative to sure.

Dawn of Justice doesn’t have that bombastic movement. Its montage is composed of more static images: Superman holding up a rocket, being revered by people in Día de Muertos costumes, and so on. The movement is created by the cross cutting between those images and a dolly in to the Superman statue, slowly being lit up and revealing the “False God” graffiti. I really like the first half of this trailer. Because this half has earned its seriousness or at least its composition and content allow me to take it seriously.

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The back half of the trailer, the Batman half, I can’t take seriously. From a movement perspective, it is largely static. It’s easily described as just Bruce Wayne/Batman staring into the distance or the camera hanging on iconography. The most movement comes from Superman crashing to the Gotham street before each hero delves into the titular versus battle.

A talking point I’ve seen come up in the reaction to the first Dawn of Justice trailer is an appreciation that Warner Bros. with their DC properties is tackling “serious” ideas and actively trying to do something different. The latter point I whole heartedly agree with. But what defines serious and by extension a serious film? Marvel Studios provides a good case study in defining seriousness in blockbuster cinema. Over the past 9 years they have released a multifilm (and slightly genre) series that is generally upbeat, on a primary color pallet, with one liners, and all around fun. I would also never say that their films aren’t serious. They take the issues dealt with in their films in as much measure as they can from Winter Soldier’s anger at the surveillance state to the Iron Man franchise discomfort with the military industrial complex(and hyper capitalism that powers it). With their blockbuster multi hundred million dollar budget, they can’t get to overtly political but they manage to strike an agreeable and palatable middle of the road approach to most of these issues. Just tackling issues doesn’t a “serious” film make.

Creating good film is a complex endeavor relying on the synergies of several factors. One of these key factors is of course having a good screenplay particularly the screenplay’s understanding of character and the tie between that and issues the film deals with. A characters arc should be in some way tied to the issues of the film, forming the large idea of the story of the film. Marvel takes its characters seriously, choosing to accentuate and emphasize the necessary and universal elements as they adapt crazy fake god aliens, or a super soldier from WW II, or a man in an iron suit. They don’t turn away from the things that make these characters unique. They are treated with respect. By this I mean largely the protagonists, villains in Marvel films are largely there more as a plot device and have a pattern of being underwritten.

Star Wars the original trilogy or just the original in particular took its characters seriously. This is largely a byproduct of George Lucas’ effectively synthesizing his love for Kurosawa samurai features and classic sci-fi, all of which is strung up with Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey monomyth. Luke’s emotional transformation from country bumpkin pining for adventure to Rebel space jockey is treated with respect and importance. His emotional state and those of Han and Leia, as well matters.

Character and the proper articulation of that character is what matters to a good film. This is also the place where Man of Steel fails the hardest. Film Crit Hulk has an excellent two part breakdown of Man of Steel and character HERE and HERE. The way the film plots Clark Kent and his actions and how those actions are narrated to the audience is disconnected. He is framed consistently in Christ imagery, and the camera treats him as a benevolent force when nothing in the film indicates that’s who he is. Perhaps a source of this disconnect is that Clark Kent in this rendition is more in the Aristole tradition, one that is propelled more by plot than the other way around. He is forced to become Superman and dawn the symbols.

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So while Man of Steel biffed its narration of the Superman character, the Dawn of Justice trailers conscious access of the criticism of the film makes me hope Terrio has a better understanding of the character than Goyer, and by extension the film itself. The Batman half as previously stated I don’t care for. Zach Snyder may not be the greatest storyteller but the man knows how to compose great images (maybe just not great moving images). With Frank Millers The Dark Knight Returns serving as a visual and source foundation for the film, Snyder is easily able to appropriate Returns iconography. It provides him a much easier source material to adapt than Superman. Man of Steel had some of the characters signature poses but juxtaposed him as a Christ figure so often that I think Snyder didn’t have a good idea of how to actually make Superman look heroic.

This is where things get kind of tricky, with both properties. Being long running trans media properties, there is a extra textual understanding the viewer has for Force Awakens and Dawn of Justice. Neither Batman or the Force Awakens new kids have really spoken. Both are draped in contextual imagery, only one doesn’t feel hollow. The Force Awakens trailer presents its characters as important and human, Fin looks distressed several times in the trailer. Rey has an adventurous roguish glint in her eyes. Poe really likes to fly X-Wings. Even Captain Phasma, the Chrome Trooper, has a bit of character too her. Batman doesn’t, his presentation feels shallow with unearned seriousness. It is draped in Dark Knight Rises imagery and stoicism as audiences have not been properly introduced to the character. I may not like this rendition of Superman but we have been properly introduced. Batman is just presented in a way that hits all the iconographic check boxes and doesn’t come off as having earned them. So I can’t take it seriously.

As pieces of marketing material (one of thousands between now and release), their job is to expose in some way what their specific property is about. Other than rumors and brief talk from official sources, we know next to nothing about the Force Awakens’ plot. But that doesn’t matter because the characters and film at large has been introduced to us in such a way that we have some kind of an idea. The first half of the Dawn of Justice trailer does this too. The back half is where it falls apart and you have easy ammunition to throw at Snyder’s faux-serious aesthetic, leaving me apathetic to that films prospect while I cannot wait for The Force Awakens.

I am Michael Mazzacane and you can find on Twitter @MaZZM and atcomicweek.comand weekntv.com

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THOUGHTS: Furious 7 - Drones, Trains, and Autombiles all with MiniGuns

Directed by James Wan Screenplay by Chris Morgan Cinematography Stephen F. Windon Marc Spicer Edited by Christian Wagner Leigh Folsim Boyd Dylan Highsmith Kirk M. Morri
Directed by James Wan Screenplay by Chris Morgan Cinematography Stephen F. Windon Marc Spicer Edited by Christian Wagner Leigh Folsim Boyd Dylan Highsmith Kirk M. Morri

The Fast and the Furious franchise has been a very interesting one. How a series that started as a clear repurposing of 90s cult hit Point Break transformed into a international juggernaut built around heists and using cars to battle, drones, helicopters, busses with miniguns, and other craziness is a long windy tale. A book really should be written about this.

I would attribute much of its success to the partnership between franchise writer Chris Morgan and director Justin Lin, director of films 3-6. Morgan understandably hams it up and writes a thoroughly pulpy script, which is exactly what this franchise is. Through Justin Lin’s direction, franchise lead and patriarch Dominic Toretto, played by Vin Diesel, constant decelerations on the importance of family and being true to oneself are played straight. Not with an ironic wink, but straight and sentimental. These decelerations became the key foundation for the audience building legitimate emotional connections with this insane crew of street racing thieves.

But times change. Justin Lin did not direct Furious 7, citing fatigue due to a quick turnaround on Fast 6. So Universal brought in horror director James Wan(Saw, Insidious) to bring forth the seventh installment of what was now one of the biggest film franchise of our times – and one not linked at all to a comic book property. Than during production, co-lead Paul Walker tragically died in a car crash after completing most of his scenes. Tragic as Walker’s death is – which hangs over this film and contextualizes every action in a way not previously thought of – it could be worked around. And they do, fashioning something unheard of for a character trapped in an action franchise: a happy ending and finality.

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Blockbuster franchises become a genre unto themselves after a while. With the financial stakes so high, deviation from the formula is seen as far too risky. Even as Marvel Studios diversifies its film slate with plays into different genre they all still play by the same proven blockbuster formula with no major deviation. The Mission: Impossible franchise is perhaps the most open franchise, with five different directors for each of its installments and markedly different tonalities in between. James Wan sides closer to the Mission: Impossible franchise, downplaying Lin’s sentimentality and replacing it with his own cheesier (but not ironic) 80’s action movie tone. This hammy but less staunch delivery makes for some moments where the film seems aware of what it is (a major commercial venture) but they die down as the film goes on. The character work in this franchise has never been that great, largely built up over a series of films that work in that context but not individually. It may be a little weak hear but Wan rightly plays into and accesses Lin’s sentimentality when the scene calls for it. When it doesn’t, this film is insane. Roman (Tyrese Gibson) consistently talks of how crazy their predicament is but for once this is used to rightly underscore how insane Furious 7 is.

Perhaps one of the factors that helped developed this franchise fandom is the absurdity of its chronology. Mainly that the third film, Tokyo Drift which was at a time going to be straight to DVD, was retconned as to have taken place some in determent amount of time in the future. Fast films 4-6 all technically take place before the third one. That stopped with the post-credit sequence for Fast 6, wherein we see the death of Han recontextualized from accident to MURDER. Perpetrated by none other than Jason Statham, who is a rather effective villain. Statham’s Deckard Shaw is among the franchises most successful antagonist on both a physical and narrative level. Much like Taken 2, wherein the families of all the people Liam Neeson killed seek revenge, Shaw finds casts himself as an avenger for his brother. Wan treats Statham as a slasher villain always showing up at the wrong time putting our crew into grave danger. This is just one example of a franchise that has continually done excellent stunt casting for side characters, allowing celebrity to do all the work. Current UFC bantamweight (135lbs) champion Ronda Rousey and Tony Ja both make appearances and participate in well done action sequences.

Explaining the plot of Furious 7 would be pointless, while not poor it is convoluted and filled with a bit to many “and then” moments. Generically it is revenge film meets macguffin chase as Dom and the Crew is charged by Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) with acquiring the hacker Ramsey and her God’s Eye Device before terrorists can use it for evil. Further linking Dom and his crew with the US Government is an odd play for such an international franchise. Especially in a film that takes fears of the already existent surveillance state and places those in the film with nary a thought to what the “good guys” will do with this device.

O the phallic suggestions to be had when hypermasculine Hobbs struts with his mini gun out
O the phallic suggestions to be had when hypermasculine Hobbs struts with his mini gun out

The first Saw film wasn’t the gore porn its predecessors became. It was a calculated small budgeted horror film. Having seen Furious 7, I’m left wondering at what kind of gorey set pieces Wan could have directed. He brings a fun hand to the films multiple and varied set pieces. Cinematographers Stephen F. Windon and Marc Spicer employ handy cam footage to supplement traditional multi cam setups as a means of bringing the frame closer to the action. With so many cameras the potential is there for these set pieces to be over edited but thankfully aren’t. Wan also brings far more obvious CGI imagery to the table, creating a solid mixture of CGI and practical effects work. All of these things heighten and create the 80s action movie tone the film.

Furious 7 is by far the cartooniest of the franchise. They did drop cars out of an airplane after all. It exists in a context of loss, both in and out of the frame, but manages both being a fun action romp and heartfelt when it is called for. Is Furious 7 among the best in the series? Not really but it is still of enough quality that I am interested in a follow up.

I am Michael Mazzacane and you can find on Twitter @MaZZM and at comicweek.comand weekntv.com

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THOUGHTS: Earth 2 #32 "Grounded" and the End of Earth 2

With Earth 2 #32 “Grounded” the monthly title that was my first real stab at sticking with an ongoing DC title ends. Counting the pair of annuals, the series run comes out to 35 total issues a bit more if you count the Zero/Villians/Futures End Month titles (but really who wants to do that). But this isn’t ‘The End’. The weekly title World’s End still has a couple of issues to go. And even than it isn’t the end with the title relaunching as Earth 2: Society after all this Convergence business is taken care of. Superhero comics, they are a never ending battle.

I don’t think writer Daniel Wilson’s time on Earth 2 and World’s End has been a good indicator of really what he can/wants to do with this band of misfits once we get around to Society. The weekly title has been a great example of how comics as a medium fails to really create formal tension under a deadline plot. The weekly title has been largely a case of hurry up and wait, with some good moments here or there. Even with a weekly allotment of 22 pages, the plot spread out too many threads for any real meaningful plot progress (even less if you want to think about character development) to occur in a single issue. How than do you orient a monthly title around something like this that is by design very temporally linked? You don’t try to do that because that’s insane. Issue 28-30 were nice anthology books that went back or told self contained side stories. These last two issues have gone away from that and told a nice Khalid-Dr. Fate story. I have no idea where exactly this takes place in conjunction with World’s End, it all kind of looks the same and I honestly don’t really care.

Wilson dose hit upon the two things that drew me to Earth 2 in the first place in its final issue by showing the origin of Kendra and Khalid’s wondrous powers. The first time Khalid found the Helmet of Nabu and Kendra was touched by that spirit thing. We get a brief glimpse of Khalid, assured perhaps a bit too cocky, jumping into an ancient tomb. We see Kendra being chosen by that Egyptian God and forgiven for her trespassing. Each being paces on their title to a successor in this instance.

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, the DC Universe became one that operated on the idea of heroic legacy and while it made total comic sense (which is to say it didn’t really) that is a nice thematic idea to build and unify a story world around. It is why books like Justice Society of America vol 3(2006-2011) are an interesting read. This thematic touchstone was erased with Flashpoint and the birth of the New52. The great thing about themes though is that they aren’t tied to one continuity they can be applied anywhere. James Robinson, who wrote the book from #1-16, used it as the starting point for the book. Earth 2 is a world where the Apokolips War happened and the trinity died! He then skipped ahead in time and focused on the birth of a second generation of heroes, using the names of Justice Society members. This builds on the second idea that drew me to Earth 2, that this is a world that has gone through a lot and even if it is X Years post-Apokolips War those scars are still there and healing is a complicated thing. With the reintroduction of Huntress and Power Girl, the limits of separation and healing become even greater. Earth 2 was at its best when it used all of its history at once to juxtapose and link separate moments in time to explore ideas of legacy and healing.

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Earth-2 is barreling to it's finale. Can’t say I’m all that excited about it for a number of reasons. Here’s to hoping that Earth 2: Society is better.

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