Game Pitch: Here Comes Daredevil

So, I use RPG Maker a lot. I've been using it since I was 16 (For the record, I'm 30 now). And for the moment, I'm going to play pretend. I'm going to pretend that I was going to make a game based on Daredevil.

Before we go further, I should point something out: I'm going to pitch games based on my ability to make them. This means, unfortunately, no three-dimensional environments or characters. These games are going to be mostly 2D, and something that I may make later on- we'll see.

History of Daredevil in Gaming

Outside of games that feature the wider Marvel universe with Daredevil as an option for playable character, there has only been one game made for Daredevil (well, only one that actually got published). It was this one for the Game Boy Advance in the early 2000s:

If the game looks like a stock-standard beat-em-up, that's because it is. Every now and again, the screen will flash, indicating that Daredevil's radar sense detected something, but that's about it. There were  main console games planned for the PlayStation 2/Xbox and the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360, but they were both cancelled.

The Challenge

Thankfully, I don't have to try and make Daredevil popular at the moment. Before 2013, I doubt  I could say that, but thanks to Charlie Cox and his appearances on Netflix, Daredevil's gotten enough of a mainstream appeal that I don't have to sell the character's appeal to people who aren't comic fans anymore.

The problem instead, will be to deliver an experience that makes the player feel like Daredevil. The first-person Daredevil game is a meme that will never die as long as people are talking about superhero games. The thing is: just making a regular fighting game and putting a Daredevil sprite in it doesn't feel like you are playing as Daredevil. It makes you feel like you are telling Daredevil what to do from a distance.  Therefore, the first major challenge will be to put the player in a position where he feels he sees the world as Daredevil instead of someone who is looking at him.

The second problem, and this is one that is going to loom over superhero games forever, is that there's already been a game that does punchy-stealthy gameplay for a character with pointy bits on his mask that covers everything but his mouth. Which begs the question; how do you make a game that makes you feel as though you're playing as Daredevil without people thinking you just reskinned Arkham? The game needs to feel like it's distinctly its own thing, or what's the point of it existing, honestly?

 Story

Before we go too far into any of these questions, I want to get the story out of the way. Not because it's insignificant, but because it will set what kind of world Daredevil inhabits. It will also allow us to figure out what kind of bosses the man without fear will face.

It's a pretty simple one, really. While on a mission to find out why one of Matt Murdock's clients has been kicked out of his home, Daredevil finds the dead body of the Kingpin. Naturally, news of this gets out, and now everyone wants a piece of Hell's Kitchen- the Hand, the Serpent Society, Owlsley's gang- they all want to be in charge of the Kingpin's vast resources for different reasons. Daredevil's in for a long fight as he rushes frantically around trying to stop a slew of villains who have now taken a sudden interest in his stomping grounds.

World and Traversal

This sets Daredevil very firmly in his home turf of Hell's Kitchen. Visually, the world is going to look fairly minimalist. See an example of the environments below:



The look I'm going for here is Daredevil's vision from Mark Waid's run in 2011:

 The environment will fade in and out according to how much sound is in the area. As noise increases, secrets around the level will appear which will encourage the player to undertake various puzzles. Enemies and things with a more biological element can be smelt and they appear as a different colour to the background (Grey for unfriendlies, brown for trash cans and, yellow for friendlies).

Traversal will include certain things I've seen in cancelled Daredevil games, you will be able to travel on rooftops and "rail grind" over electrical cables between buildings. I'm going to avoid grappling hooks to stop the game from being "too Arkham-y".

Throughout the game, the player will be able to perform tasks for his clients- mostly evidence-gathering for clients who need help. As he gains them, he will earn points that can be used to upgrade Daredevil's stats.

I know the big question- will the game be open world? In short; basically. It will be open in the same way that The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is open. You will still have to take on various levels, but the map will be more a matter of asking "what can I find here?"

Combat:

Okay, here's the difficult part. I had to form a system that was different to Arkham. So here's the way
things go. The three pillars of Daredevil's combat style are his own martial arts, his billy club and his acrobatics. Therefore, we have one key for a regular strike, one for a special application of the billy club (which can be changed with the number keys) and one to jump. It's a simple enough system that will progress as your repair the billy club that gets broken early on in the game.

Level Design

This is an action game, first and foremost. To separate the game from Arkham, I'm not going to include stealth sections. In it's place, I'm going to include tracking sections where you take advantage of Daredevil's sense of smell. Basically, you find something with a character's scent and follow it to rescue or attack them. Tracking will occasionally allow you to follow certain significant enemies at a far enough distance that they can't attack you.

Otherwise, the game will sell itself on combat against large numbers of foes. I'm thinking 10-15 at a time. The levels will also be puzzle-based in a way that requires clever use of movement to solve.

And that's about it. If I see enough positive feedback on this, I may even try for a tech-demo on this one.

Batman: I am Gotham (Rebirth) Review

Batman Volume 1: I am Gotham (Rebirth)

 

Writer: Tom King

 

Artist: David Finch

 

Collects: Batman (2016) #1-6, Batman: Rebirth #1 

 

Background Information:

 

DC gets very precious about Batman. It must be awful for the rest of the superheroes knowing that no matter what they do, they'll never be loved as much as papa WB's miracle child. It's only Batman that gets the hot new writers. Only Batman gets the weekly series. Only Batman that gets to beat up literally everyone else in the universe. Well, now Tom King has signed a permanent contract with DC, and guess who gets the grace of his widely-praised pen. Superman? Don't make me laugh!

 

Review

So now the man behind the much-gushed-about Vision takes the caped crusader and while I Am Gotham is certainly good, it would be a strain to call it original

"But T Vulture," Tom King protests with all the calm logic of a paranoid chimpanzee, " I'm the best thing to happen to Batman since two-for-one funerals. How could you not worship at my feet in the hope of my blessing?"

 

"Excuse me Mr King, but isn't the new antagonist basically Superman? And haven't we seen Batman fight Superman so many times that stale becomes an understatement, and we've now moved on the term "fossilised?"

 

"No, no, no," explains King as he pulls at his collar. "For starters, my character's name is Gotham and that's a completely different word. So there!"

 

"Is he super strong?"

 

"Yes..."

 

"Can he fly?"

 

"Yeah, but..."

 

"Does he fight a billionaire?"

 

"Well..."

 

"Does a have a blonde female sidekick who wears a skirt and is related to him?"

 

"Ummmm..."

 

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

 

"Okay."

 

I'm not exaggerating either. Gotham is basically what happened if Frank Miller got his way and Superman just realised that Batman is the most super-cool guy on the planet. Now he wants to help Batman with his sidekick... urgh... Gotham Girl.

 

That's another thing, Tom. Are so many possible super-hero names taken that we now have to call heroes after the town they came from? And if so, doesn't that limit them to defending their that town? For crying out loud; I can imagine the scenario if this guy ever joined the Justice League. Sorry guys, but if I go fight in Metropolis I lose the copyright. I guess Darkseid wins after all.

 

Thus far I've made it sound like I don't like I Am Gotham, but really, I don't. There's an interesting degree of psychology that's woven into Gotham and Similarly-Named-Girl so that the whole mystery around how they came to be becomes quite intriguing. On top of that, Gotham not being weak to a certain green McGuffin means that Batman really does have to use his wits to defeat him this time. Without spoiling too much, it doesn't go to well and this is where Tom King really highlights the main thing that has always made Batman feel realistic... well comparatively. There's a real sense of Batman being out of his depth despite the stakes feeling nowhere near as high as they did in Scott Snyder's run.

 

That said, though, it's not like King ignores Snyder completely. Right from the opening of issue #1, King references the major moments in the New 52 such as the Court of Owls and Zero Year. Batman even has a new sidekick in the form of Duke Thomas, an African American kid that Batman can use to prove to people on the internet that he's not racist. Though not in the field yet, Duke is highly likeable and his interactions with Gotham Girl are pretty heart-warming. He feels like a distinct person which, considering how each Robin has offered a take on "young sidekick" that many in the industry have tried to ape, is quite a feat.

 

Another thing that King does very well is action. He has this ability to put Batman in peril in such a way that I found myself thinking that this was it: they were really going to kill off Batman. That's something I almost never feel when reading comics and it was great to be taken to edge of my seat once again. David Finch's detailed-yet-dirty art style helps to convey this detail perfectly to such a degree that even though you first see Gotham and Gotham Girl looking very Superman-and-Supergirl-y, you still feel tense around them.

 

As much as I like the book, though, I'm not sure I can recommend it. As I mentioned before, the main villain is essentially a Superman clone and we've had this so many times. Between this, The Dark Knight Returns, the Injustice games and comics, last year's Batman v Superman and Hush I think I can safely say DC need counselling, or at least Tom King needs to go and get into a fight with his significant physical superior just to get it all out of his system. Batman and Superman fights are fun, but so is eating a whole cake. Eating six whole cakes makes you a diabetic, and that's essentially what Tom King has done here.

 

As much as I'm not ready to recommend this Particular volume, I do recommend that you follow King's Batman run. He's got a lot of talent for pacing and tension and what are you going to do anyway? Read something else? HA!

 

This one gets three out of five diabetics.

I won't review: August Edition

Welcome to "I won't review" A short series of paragraphs where I give an overview of books I don't wish to review in depth. Mostly because they're rubbish. It's a new idea that probably won't last into next month.

 

GYAHH!! NEVER SHOW ME THAT SMILE AGAIN!

Amazing Spider-Man 2014- the whole run by Dan Slott

 

There once was a hero named Spidey,

Who said "my best days are behind me.

My marriage is gone,

puberty is prolonged,

and that's why nobody will buy me"

 

One out of five limericks.

 

Waste of a perfectly good Venom

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3: Guardians Disassembled by Brian Michael Bendis

 

Okay Brian, here's something to consider. If a month from after reading your book somebody says "Hey, what's Guardians Disassembled about? I need something to fill in the time between sticking my tongue in the toaster and gouging my vitals organs out with a spoon." and I can't tell them what happened, you haven't written a great book. I'm not even sorry.

 

Two out of five vital organs.

 

Nyawww... look at the widdle Thanos!

Guaridans of the Galaxy vol. 4: Original Sin by Brian Michael Bendis

 

I was going to say that my experience reading Guardians thus far has been like an alcoholic swearing he'd never drink again after a rager only to find himself puking all over his hallway the week after. I've got a better one now, though; it's an embodiment of the old idiom "beating the dead horse". Well, except Marvel have not only killed the horse, they've brought it back to life, killed it again have beaten it, brought it back to life again, killed it again and are now trying to figure out new and exciting ways to keep beating it.

 

Two and a half out five horses.

 

Gee, it would be great to have more Fantastic
Four books, wouldn't it, MARVEL!?!?

Civil War: Fantastic Four by J Miacheal Straczynski

 

Remember how I said I wasn't reviewing these books mostly because they're rubbish? Well this is the exception: a book that takes actual time and effort in between mindless jokes an dumb action to deliver actual character development and depth. In case the title wasn't clear enough let me drop you a hint: It's a Civil War tie in. And by that I mean the good Civil War. No, not the one where Captain Marvel stole the treatment for Minority Report, that's the bad one. No, not the movie that final answers the "will they,  won't they" question Tumblr's been assuming to know the answer to for years now, that's also the bad one. I mean the one written by Mark Millar and actually dared to suggest that things were actually happening in the Marvel universe that wasn't going to be retconned  by the following Tuesday. The entire FF deal with the fallout of what is basically Sue and Reed's divorce and it goes about a smoothly as you would imagine. That is to say as smoothly as the end to this not-review.

 

Four out of five "will they; won't they" questions.

 

 

Old Man Logan (Marvel) Review

This doesn't come close to the amount
of blood in this book.

Old Man Logan
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Steve McNiven

 

So is this an argument to get rid of the X-Men or to keep them?

Either Old Man Logan shows what awesome stories can be told when all of the X-Men are killed off, or it’s a testament to the awesome stories that can come out of what is, ostensibly, an X-Men book. Either way, I’m surprised that I’m actually writing a review, because if you haven’t read this WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?

It’s sometime in the future and everything has gone to hell. The villains have taken over the world, the world is a post-apocalyptic nightmare and every hero in the Marvel universe is either dead or broken.

Wolverine is broken; he hasn’t popped his claws in years, preferring life on a family homestead with the name Logan. When his family find themselves in trouble with the Hulk’s redneck kids (yep, you read that right), Logan puts his hopes on a smuggling run across the US with a blind Hawkeye.

Okay, let’s get the one criticism out of the way: this doesn’t really need to be a Wolverine book. I could picture a Captain America or even a Hulk book being done to this plot without too many major changes. Nobody that is particularly important to Wolverine’s history makes an appearance here (aside from Hulk). We get only a passing reference to other mutants. Jubilee has, what, three lines in the whole book? The supporting cast for the story are otherwise almost entirely new characters save Hawkeye, who, again, could have worked with anyone and nobody would tell the difference.

It gets THIS bloody...

Luckily, Logan isn’t really the star of this book; the world that he inhabits is. It’s a little bit Mad Max, a little bit The Magnificent Seven, a little bit 1984. Villainous America (which, for once, isn’t a new name for the Trump administration… well… not explicitly…) is a bleak and barren landscape. I’ve only ever spent a short amount of time in the USA, but from what I saw, today’s America is geographically diverse and has just as many green places as desert. Not so for this future. Both the east and west coasts are almost indistinguishable from the Nevada. It makes you wonder what on earth these villains did to make the world the way it is. Trying to interpret old Westerns into the modern age doesn’t quite work the way that writer Mark Millar wants it to; everyone but Logan and his family end up coming off as more redneck than homesteader; but the sense of tension throughout in perfectly indicative of a gunfight in a dusty, one-street town. The whole world becomes the most enjoyable part of this book and I’m livid that the All-New-All-Different Old Man Logan ongoing has left that world behind.

... and THIS bloody

That’s not to say that Logan and other characters aren’t well developed. Millar really runs with the idea that the Marvel heroes are completely and utterly defeated. Logan’s reasons for not popping his claws are highly believable. Just as interesting is Hawkeye’s character. He suffers from survivor’s guilt after the supervillains ignore him completely (because, y’know… Hawkeye). In fact, there’s an argument to be made that Hawkeye’s life affects the story of Old Man Logan to a greater extent than Logan’s.

The art here is done by Steve McNiven who also worked on Civil War. McNiven has a way of drawing action scenes that somehow make you feel every punch to the gut. Every stab, slash and puncture comes across with painful kinetic impact. Being the bloody, violent book that Old Man Logan is, this makes the whole story’s emotional impact stronger, honestly, than any other artist would be capable of.

Overall, though, Old Man Logan is an absolute classic. Not to bang out a cliché, but if you only ever read one Wolverine story, make it this one. Nothing else starring the character comes close to this story that gets four and a half out of five redneck Hulk children.

Batman Eternal Vol 2 (The New 52) review

Batman Eternal Volume 2 (The New 52)

Escaping from Hush's giant face!

Writers: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, Tim Seely, Kyle Higgins
Artists: R.M. Guera, Fernando Pasarin, Jason Fabok, Jorge Lucas, Dustin Nguyen, Andy Clarke, Javier Garron, Meghan Hetrick, Simon Coleby, Alvaro Martinez, Derek Fridolfs, Matt Ryan, Paul Fernandez, Juan Ferreyra

Background Information:

Thanks to a pursuit-gone-wrong, Commissioner Jim Gordon is now in jail. Without him, Batman and the Bat-Family (minus Nightwing because Geoff Johns) began running wild around Gotham chasing different disasters. Central to this, was a gang-war between crews own by the Penguin and Falcone. to the side, Batgirl found out that Commissioner Gordon wasn't responsible for the events that got him arrested at all, Red Robin joined up with Harper Row to investigate a mysterious sickness and Batwing joined the Spectre chasing down a paranormal threat in Arkham Asylum.

Review:

I  mentioned this in my review of Volume 1, but there are a few things you can say in the review of any weekly series, so I'll get them out of the way now.

There are a LOT of issues in Volume 2 that seem like filler more than actual story progression. There are too many moving parts to make it easy to follow. Many moments feel like they lead nowhere and nothing gets resolved in a satisfying way. Out of the way? Good.

Yeah, get back you dodgy-looking welcome sign!

Eternal Vol 2's main focus, as much as a weekly series can have a main focus at this stage, is Hush. His story is no different from the character's introduction; he rallies different Gotham villains against Batman in an attempt to become Bruce Wayne. We've heard this before and, honestly, Jeph Loeb did it better. That said, the worst story featuring Hush is still better than the best story featuring Bane, so I guess we're even.

What makes the story memorable, however, even what sets it apart from the previous volume, is Catwoman's story arc. Her transition from common their to lord of the criminal underworld allowed her to be more than the usual pandering to boys who have just figured out that girls are not as yucky as they once thought. It's honestly rediculous that this is the volume's B story because this is where the character development happens.

And I mean that. Harper Row and Red Robin's story takes break here; or, more accurately, so little of consequence happens during it that I didn't realize if it was actually happening at all. Batwing's story plods along at the breakneck pace of a slug who's ingested all of his grandmother's supply of medical cannabis. There's a weird and honestly creepy hint at a romance between Batgirl and Red Hood that makes me wonder if maybe the writers didn't get on to some of that cannabis too and Nightwing isn't allowed to exist because Geoff Johns was in a bad mood when writing Forever Evil.

Again, all of this is commonplace for big weekly titles- you get a tight publishing schedule, so writers tend to go with whatever first pops into their heads. That gets worse when books like these necessitate multiple writers. It's not really the book's fault, but that doesn't make the story any better.

Well well well, SOMEONE'S been watching a lot of HBO!

I understand multiple writers making a book seem messy, but what really hit me over the head was the inconsistent art. If this was a Marvel book, I wouldn't be surprised, but DC, especially during the New 52, had a "house style" when it came to art. With so many artists that seemed intent on imitating Jim Lee, the  selection DC has made for this book is, frankly, bizzare. One moment, Red Hood has a mouth, next issue, the mask is totally solid. One issue, Batman sports five o'clock shadow, the next sees him clean-shaven. It's distracting at best and plain annoying at worst.

But that's the way weekly books go, I guess and Batman Eternal is the weekly bookiest weekly book to ever weekly a book. It gets 3 out of 5 of Grandma's cannabis pills.

The Difference Between Bullying and Poor Taste

You would think there'd be nothing to hate about this team.

Oh boy.

This month saw the release of Marvel's new RessurXion (is that spelt right? I mean, it's not exactly a word, but...). With it, came X-Men Gold #1, a new team starring favourites like Colossus and Old Man Logan. The issue, to be honest, is quite good- we get a X-Men team that feels more like the well-received Astonishing X-Men than it does Uncanny X-Men.

Sounds great? So what's the issue?

The offending panel

Well, it turns out the issue's writer, Ardian Sayaf, brought in a few too many personal politics. See, X-Men Gold #1 he included a reference to a verse in the Qur'an that, according to some translations, forbids believers from making Jews and Christians their leaders.
Sayaf is Indonesian and right now, the Christian governor (or former governer, not sure), a man known as Ahok, was tried for blasphemy for a misstated comment on the Qur'an. Ahok's comments enraged the Indonesia's 85% Muslim population. Sayaf was obviously upset about this as well, because in

My first thought when seeing this was "how did anyone know to notice the verse here?"  My second thought was "this is possibly the worst comic to include this in."

See, X-Men Gold features a team lead by Kitty Pride; a Jewish woman who has been nothing but upfront about her heritage for many, many years. Let me make  it clear; she is the team leader in a book where the art suggests that people like her should not be leaders. For that reason, and that reason alone, Sayaf should be pretty embarrassed about his artistic faux pas.

In all likelihood, the verse was intended to criticise Ahok, suggesting that Christian was not the best choice for a Muslim nation, and if Sayaf had tweeted the verse with a #Ahok at the end, I 'm certain he would not have faced the same backlash (although, really, if you get political on the internet, don't expect people to leave you alone). The message would have been clear: Ahok should not be, or should never have been Jakarta's governor. In the context of the comic, however, it came off as "I resent contributing to a book about Jewish people". Before anyone jumps down my throat and tells me that I'm making assumptions; I know I am. That's part of what reading entails. But I don't imagine myself to be some great genius and if I'm a total idiot, then I'm hardly alone. If I can take that message out of the book, chances are a few others have as well.

She's Jewish. The verse was a bad idea.

In a past article, I spoke about Marvel's habit of bullying some of their readers into accepting a new status quo or ideology. I don't think that's what is happening here. Bullying has to be targeted and continuous. Someone calling you stupid once is not, for example, bullying. Someone calling stupid over an extended period is. This is the first, and likely the last time Marvel has done something like this. Moreover, Marvel's bullying tactics came from strawmanning an ideology that undesirable, but harmless, into something villainous and idiotic. It was something they did not once, but over and over again and it was certainly more overt than this. It was also unconnected to recent events, but more to a particular "out-group". Sayaf's art bears just about no similarity.

It was, however, in incredibly poor taste; not just because the issue's lead was Jewish, but because recent events (though sparked by the west) have likely put a lot of people who don't know better on edge regarding Islam; well, more so than they were before. The verse could be interpreted as inflammatory; particularly towards a predominately Judeo-Christian country like America.

This poor timing, poor taste and poor use of two letters, three numbers and a colon reflect poorly on Marvel. I feel sorry for him; his intended message seemed a lot more tame than media attention would make it seem. It was a dumb mistake and once he's felt the expected amount of embarrassment, I hope he continues to draw for the comics industry because honestly, his art is good. Marvel have since dismissed him. I think that was the wrong move for a silly mistake that editors should have picked up on. Lets just say that, with the kerfuffles of the last month, my opinion of Marvel as a business is fairly low.

Diversity isn't killing Marvel- bullying is.

All-New insults, All-Different standards

In a recent interview with ICv2, Marvel's Senior Vice President, David Gabriel, addressed the massive slide in company sales. And to be honest, he really had to. As of the most recent figures in February this year, Marvel only had two books in the top ten comics. Both of them were Star Wars books. To find a Marvel superhero book, you need to get to number 13, where Spider-Man #24 sits. By contrast, DC takes seven of those top ten spots.

So why are Marvel so far behind? It's not like the company's presence isn't felt everywhere you look. Marvel characters are more popular than they've ever been. Regardless, Gabriel's answer has left many unsatisfied, to say the least. According to IGN.com;

Essentially Gabriel said that, according to retailers he talked to and sales data, Marvel's push towards diversity was the reason for the sales drop. "What we heard was that people didn't want any more diversity. They didn't want female characters out there. That's what we heard, whether we believe that or not. I don't know that that's really true, but that's what we saw in sales." Gabriel later elaborated on those comments in an interview with ICv2. There he said, "We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against. That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked."

Now, the IGN article in the link above goes on to say that it isn't diversity that is hurting Marvel's bottom line, but bad business practices; namely, putting out 5USD per issue for series' that have absolutely zero traction (see Red Wolf- what? You forgot who that was? Exactly!). That's a fair point, but Marvel have been pricing themselves out of the market for months before trying the Red Wolf Schtick. Others have pointed to event fatigue, but that's a pretty old chestnut for Marvel and again, it never hurt them before.

I suggest that Marvel's problem is on a creative level, not a business one. No, I'm not saying that making characters diverse is the problem. DC have plenty of books featuring people of colour, women and LGBT+. The problem is more perverse than that.

It's bullying.

Let me demonstrate. In the early stages of the Mighty Thor, we saw this moment:

And here I am, at the height of "punch a Nazi", posting this.
I must have a death wish.

To some, this was where Marvel  made it very clear that having unfavourable opinions on feminism was worse than an actual, literal felony. I'll admit, I was on board for the new Thor until this happened. Once it did, I wasn't so sure. I have no problem with feminism (though I find it unsettling that the face of pop culture feminism is Anita Sarkeesian- it really should be Liana Kerzner), but this felt mean-spirited and petty. Like it was the author acting out their own fantasies and shaming people who felt uncomfortable with what passed for Feminism in pop-culture.

Last year, we got this from All-New Captain America;

Quick, put them in shadows or we won't know they're evil!



 In case you're not sure, that's the Serpent Society in the background, who have now become anti-immigrant. You can be sure, though, that Sam Wilson dispatched them with extreme prejudice. Again, I am actually pro-immigration (I am Australian, however, and immigration here looks different to what it does on the US border), but even I could see the unfair strawmanning of an opinion that the writer clearly didn't like.

And least you assume that I'm saying that comics need to "be more conservative", this moment from Captain America: Sam Wilson was equally concerning:

Someone actually wrote this as dialogue... and an editor approved it.
On the other hand, it means you can probably achieve anything!

And these panels are only a small sample of some of the more talked-about moments in Marvel comics.

As I said, the problem isn't that Marvel leans left- they and nearly every mass media company in the world has done so for the last fifty-or-so years to relatively little blowback. The problem is that the writers have been given license to routinely mock others and then be praised for doing so. I'm a teacher in a high school as my day job, so I find  myself dealing with reports of bullying from students. For something to be considered bullying, it has to be regular and targeted. Sadly, Marvel seem to be meeting both criteria.

And before people start telling me "objectivity doesn't mean treating all opinions as valid"- let me make it very clear that I'm not saying that it does. What I am saying, very loudly, is that it also doesn't mean giving page space to mocking those ideas. The opinion being put forth by these writers- at least, the one common theme amongst the above examples- is "people I don't like deserve relentless ridicule" followed, according to Marvel, by "and I expect those people to pay me to do so".

Says who?

In my job, we also teach students who are being bullied to leave the situation; that getting away is far better than being violent. How does this relate? Well, readers have been leaving Marvel. And why shouldn't they? Why should readers stay for material that makes them feel like dirt. That's not why we read superhero comics?

I miss these two so much!

So the next question becomes one of alternatives. How do we put forth a political opinion without putting down the other side? Well, there's no simple answer to that and I think pop culture, if they give a damn about their audience, will always struggle with finding the balance and nuance needed to communicate these ideas in a world were 140-word tweets make international headlines. That said, one good example to look at in Christopher Yost's Scarlet Spider. The Kain Parker-lead Spider-Man spinoff was deeply involved with the complexities of the immigration argument. It was unafraid to deal with the risks these immigrants took to care for their families, the challenges faced by illegal immigrants and the horrible situations from which many of them run. But it did so by highlighting those issues- not by making Kain put a stinger through the eye of every white person he ran into. The
X-Men, traditionally, have also been a great way to showcase the struggles of minorities to those who, without the assistance of the superhero genre, have found it hard to sympathise otherwise.

Please note; I have only mentioned Marvel books in the above paragraphs because in the past, Marvel have been excellent at dealing with a range of social issues. Hopefully, the books I've mentioned above are proof that they can be again.

Most comic fans are familiar with Stan Lee's slogan; "Excelsior!" The word is Latin. It means "ever upward". If that's truly the direction in which Marvel wish to travel, they have no space to stoop to lower levels.

Moon Knight Volume 2: Dead Will Rise (Marvel NOW!) Review

How many faces do you think we can fit on
one cover?

Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Greg Smallwood
Collects: Moon Knight #7-12

Background info:

Marc Spector was shot in front of a statue of the ancient Egyptian god, Khonshu. When he awoke, he had within him the spirit of Khonshu, the charge to become a guardian to all night travellers as Moon Knight and a case of dissociative  identity disorder (henceforth DID, which is a lame acronym). Throughout the years, his DID has manifested itself in different ways. At one point, he thought he was Wolverine, Spider-Man and Captain America. In the previous volume of this run, his personalities have manifested themselves as the vengeful Moon Knight, the more sophisticated Mr. Knight, and Khonshu himself (at least, that's how it appears).

Review (spoilers ahead):

No, this is really a comic

One of the main advantages to Moon Knight's previous volume, From the Dead, was the book's Dead Will Rise, this formula is done away with in favour of a six-issue story arc, and it weirdly comes off as just a good.
structure of multiple stand-alone stories. It was great to see a book that was focussed on telling great stories within the 18-pages of a single issue- something that hasn't really been seen much since the golden age of comics. In

When the ruler of an African country comes to New York, Wahalla, Marc's psychiatrist, sends an assassin to kill him. Marc now must match wits with her not only to save the leader's life, but to keep the spirit of Khonshu. What happens in these pages is the best character development seen in this iteration of Moon Knight.

Brian Wood has taken writing duties over from Colin Bunn, and it's clear that he's built significantly on that solid foundation. Nowhere is this more clear than the relation between Marc and Khonshu. Where the previous volume saw Khonshu standing over an otherwise obedient Marc we start to see real conflict between the two. What is especially interesting is the implication the Marc might not be best choice for Khonshu's powers. Nonetheless, it seems Marc needs the Moon Knight personally.

Just as good, though, is Wahalla's development. She's given a reason for wanting to kill the leader, but Wood goes deeper; giving multiple layers to her hatred. Make no mistake, the good doctor is far from virtuous and credit goes to Wood for resisting the urge to make her a sympathetic villain. When you discover her real reasons for wanting the leader dead, you're well and truly ready for her to be punished by Moon Knight.

So, Moon Knight is a villain, too.

The art has also shifted duties, with Greg Smallwood taking over from now until Secret Wars. Smallwood continues the series style that remains iconic even after the relaunch. The pure, uncoloured white of Moon Knight's costume stands starkly against the darker colours of the backgrounds and supporting cast.

My only problem with Dead Will Rise is that it seems to end WAY too abruptly. I would love to see how this event changes Marc's life and his relationship with Khonshu, but the final issue in this volume doesn't give any hints to it.

Overall, though, this is a strong start for the new Moon Knight team, which earns it four and a half out of five lame acronyms.

Yeah, I DID that...

Okay, a lame pun, too.

**** 1/2

Batman Vol. 6: Graveyard Shift (The New 52) Review

Batman Vol.5: Graveyard Shift (The New 52)

Do you get the feeling that anything in
Gotham remotely bat-shaped
belongs to Batman? I mean, that ain't
the symbol on his chest...

Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo
Collects: Issues 0,18-20, 24, 34, Annual #2

Background information:

I'm back!

Scott Snyder's Batman has been killing it!

Yes, yes, I know,  Snyder's mono-named title is no more, and but for All-Star Batman, his work with the character has reached a permanent end, but there's something to his writing that makes me feel like this is the only Batman book I need to read. Snyder has shown us Gotham as a character in Batman's world with as much autonomy as any person living in it. He's been deliciously creepy and has dived head-first into the psychological depth that has given Batman his reputation amongst comic readers.

In the past, Batman trades by Snyder have focussed on one singular story. Because of this, it's easy to trick yourself into thinking that Snyder writes no fillers at all. More on that below.

Review:

No writer can avoid filler issues completely.  Like death and taxes, one day you'll have to write a story just to meet an editorial deadline and Batman had it's share

I mean, this has no bats, but there's no Batman yet, so...

So now we have Graveyard Shift the sixth volume in the Batman run that has ended world hunger,
eliminated world debt cured cancer and made sure we NEVER have another Shrek movie.

And oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Okay, I'm making it seem worse than it actually is. Graveyard Shift is a collection of issues that apparently didn't fit anywhere else (except for issue #0, which TOTALLY should have been in the first Zero Year trade). As such, there is just about no plot to speak of. Harper Row auditions for the Bat-family, Batman busts up Catwoman's mob house, Arkham Asylum gets haunted and Clayface does usual Clayface stuff.

These are all single issue stories and none of them are bad per say, but Snyder has always made stories that cover 10-12 issues; the kind that need to be told in two trades (Court of Owls and City of Owls, the two Zero Year volumes, even Death of the Family seems ready to get its second part in Endgame). To have stories this short feels like a waste of Snyder's talents. Usually this wouldn't matter, were these issues peppered throughout the actual series. They might have even been entertaining departures from the norm. However, because this is all we get, there's this constant feeling that you're at a fancy restaurant being offered nothing but appetizers.

A far deeper problem, though is that each one of these issues takes place at drastically different times in Snyder's run. We go from Zero Year, to just after Damien's death, to the middle of Batman Eternal, to just before Endgame. Because of this, the whole book feels ungrounded and you get the feeling that there is absolutely no point in reading it.

But see this? Totally has a bat and Bruce is just like "I'll take
THAT!"

Which is a crying shame, because some of the easter eggs in this volume are excellent. Most notable is the appearance of the Batman Beyond suit complete with wings and rocket boots, but you also have to appreciate Snyder's clever use of foreshadowing. I won't spoil it, but  there's one issue here that feels like it's going to matter a lot to Endgame.

Greg Capullo's art continues to be as strong as ever here. To him, Batman's world is vibrant and colourful and that gives Snyder's dark stories the feeling that this is more of an alien world than Gothic-inspired city. You know you've done something right as an artist when, even when things are clearly visible, you still find yourself terrified of what might be around the corner.

If you're a completionist like me, Graveyard shift is going to be a fairly compulsive buy. Let's face it, there's no way you're skipping from Volume 5 to Volume 7! What kind of savage are you? That said, it's best to keep your expectations low. This one gets a two and a half out of five Shrek films.

** 1/2