Stripped (2014)

This weekend I watched an interesting documentary on Netflix called Stripped which is about comic strips, those things in the newspaper. In the documentary it talks about the state of the newspaper comic strip as well as a history of the comic strip and it gives an overview on how syndicates work. The movie talks about how some people are saying this is the golden age of comics as there are so many people who are making comics and the subject matter is so wide so these early digital comics. Sure it talks about newspapers but the prognosis that the creator of comics have isn’t that grim they say that in the future major cities might only have a newspaper but we need to look at the radio as everyone’s got a radio and it is anything but dead. They believe that newspaper might only be online but the newspaper won’t be going anywhere.

The film talks to a wide variety of comic creators both in papers and online. This list includes some of the old guard like Mort Walker of Beetle Bailey as well as some of the online creators like the guys from Penny Arcade and Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant. I thought it was a cool little documentary as I never really understood how comic syndicates like King Features Syndicate or Uclick worked and they have a section in the film about it.  The one thing that it could of had more of was a bit more of the history of comics and how Little Nemo and other early strips were full pages and in color while today the comics are pitifully smaller. If you like any of the comics in the newspaper it is worth the time to watch this film.

Daredevil

I finally made my way through the first season on Netflix and it is a good show. I didn’t see the movie when it came out with Ben Affleck so I have nothing to really compare to it. It was a well put together season unlike some other Marvel Cinematic Universe shows (Agents of SHIELD) which seem to get stuck due to the movies Daredevil is loosely connected to the Universe at this time. However I’ve read rumors that the Netflix shows might eventually make their way onto the big screen. Spoilers to follow

Daredevil is Matt Murdoch the son of a boxer who was blinded at a young age. Matt and his best friend Foggy Nelson are lawyers and have a law firm together. If you haven’t gotten around to watching the show sure you can wait until after the Avengers movie comes out, but you are missing an exciting show. So Matt lawyers by day and fights crime by night in Hell’s Kitchen, NY.  Matt and Foggy’s first case brings in Karen Page who becomes Matt and Foggy’s secretary. The first season is about the rise of Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) and Daredevil after the destruction of New York in the first Avengers movie. I wonder if we might see Kingpin in an upcoming Spider-man movie. This first Netflix\Marvel venture worked out well hopefully the other show do the same.

 

The Star Wars

I finally got around to getting and reading The Star Wars the eight issue comic series from Dark Horse that has been complied into a Trade Paperback.   It is a graphic novel based on the original rough draft of the screenplay by George Lucas for Star Wars. If you are a fan of Star Wars this is a must read as it gets deep into the creation of the universe. To start the is a non canonical story, we have some of the same characters a General Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia but they are all a bit different from what we know. Luke is already a Jedi and he takes Obi-wan’s role teaching a young Jedi, Han is a green alien, and the Princess is basically the same. The story that The Star Wars tells is about Annikin Starkiller continuing his training under Luke Skywalker in the ways of Jedi-Bendu as he started under his father. Kane Starkiller. It would have been cool if this was the Star Wars universe but it is a vastly different place at times it’s like looking into a carnival mirror, since we’ve seen the scene in the movie and it’s similar but different. However for only being a rough draft you can see some pieces already in place.

This was one of the last Star Wars comics to come from Dark Horse as Marvel took up the rights in 2015 due to perhaps the Disney acquisition of Star Wars. If you are a fan of Star Wars this should be on your to read or at least peruse list. All in all the story is fast paced I read all of it in a day and this was with getting in at like noon and a couple of breaks in between reading it as well. Pick up a copy and visit with these bizarre version of the characters we know and love.

News Roundup

Movies: Marvel has worked out a deal with Sony so that Spider Man will now be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It looks like this will signal the end of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. There is some speculation that this calls for another reboot of the series and many people around the internet are hoping that we don’t get another origin story for Peter Parker but we get Miles Morales instead. This would be a big change as Miles Morales would be the first major non white superhero and this is something that needs to happen as so far they have all been white.

Television: Yet another shake up in the Late Night world as Jon Stewart has announced that he will be leaving the Daily Show. Although this doesn’t mean the show is ending but it will be the end of an era since Stewart has hosted the show since 1999. There is not official last date for Jon’s last day but there is bound to be some extended farewell Jon event later this year. This seems logical for Stewart to leave this year since the next presidential election is in 2016 and although there will be some jockeying for the nomination this year the real meat of the election begins January 2016. Who will take over is the biggest question, will it be one of the correspondents like Samantha Bee, Jason Jones or Assif Mandvi or could John Oliver be brought back from HBO or will they pick someone not connected with the show in any way shape of form and perhaps a woman. We will have to wait and see what become of this transition.

Music: I stumbled upon this article about singing. The article argues that there is no such thing as tone deaf people as research out of Northwestern University suggests that singing is not a talent but rather a learned skill. The study compared three age groups (kindergarten, 6th grade, college aged) on singing accurately. The study showed improvement from kindergarten to 6th grade and then a decline in the college aged, and the results of the college aged were around the levels of kindergarten. This indicates some truth to the “use it or lose it” effect. Should music singing become one of those required electives in the future? With so many television shows about singing or featuring singing can we remove the stigma from singing as a society. Everyone should know how to sing and should be able to at least carry a tune.

 

News Round Up

Sports: As per usual the off season is just starting  and the Washington Redskins have made a huge splash, and are once again looking to take home the off season banner once again. This is a brilliant development and the fans in Washington are sure to be thrilled with the upcoming announcement. The Redskins will have a GM, and one who is actually pretty good as well. Scot McColoughan it is said will be announced as the Redskins new GM. McColoughan was a pivotal figure in building the 49ers and Seahawks into what they are today, so will any luck he can do the same thing here in Washington, The Redskins have been without a good GM for a good long time, maybe all of Synder’s tenure as owner. This move signals hope for the future and there will be ever more good news coming soon as it has been reported that the Redskins are interviewing for new Defensive Coordinators.

Theatre: There was an interesting article up about High School Theater and Censorship. I found it to be an compelling read as I was involved in the drama program in high school and we did a wide variety of shows from the popular (Music Man and Our Town) to the lesser known (Once in a Lifetime and A Chorus Line), but time have changed. Sure when I did A Chorus Line, we toned it down a bit it wasn’t Tits and Ass but rather This and That, but the adult nature of the show was intact. My niece in now in high school and involved in the drama program as well and it seems at least with the musicals to have moved to a more younger appeal (Wizard of Oz, Once Upon a Mattress, Beauty and the Beast) it’s all cotton candy shows. There is hardly any deep though needed for these types of shows. Sure there could be some compelling musical done this year but it’s bound to be some other family friendly sugar coated look at the world. The article goes on about how censoring shows at the high school level is and perhaps always been done, but it seems to have gotten out of hand lately with the easy access to stories about censorship hitting the internet. They go on to wonder how we will be able to get new challenging works that will win Pulitzers.

Movies: The Ant-Man Trailer is out and I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Ant Man, but it look like it could be a good movie. I mean Marvel has made a bunch of decent movies lately and there haven’t been many stinkers, but who knows. This is the end of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and there is bound to be some connection in the New Avengers movie. Which just so happens to have a new trailer coming out on Monday night during the National Championship Game between the Ducks and Buckeyes.

News Roundup

Space: There was a little problem that happened with the Antares Rocket as it lifted off from Wallops lsland. Now this was one of the commercial resupply missions that was going to the International Space Station. This is a shocking event, although no one was killed in the accident it still is a shocking development for American Space travel. Orbital Sciences will be investigating what went wrong and hopefully they can figure it out. This was the first failure that Orbital has experienced.

Movies: Marvel has gone out and has announced Phase three in their grand movie universe. This is nine movies open over three years, we get another Captain America, Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy with the additions of Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, and The Inhumans. These along with a two part Avengers movie, where Thanos will get all 6 infinity stones by the end of the first one and then the second one will have then all fighting against Thanos or something like that. The Captain American movie will be based/adapted from the Civil War story with Steve Rogers and Iron Man fighting about Superhero registration as the government of the world are going to want to control supers after the events of the upcoming Avengers movie.

 

San Diego Comic Con 2014

The past couple of years it has seemed like Comic Con in San Diego has been a place where big announcement were made. Last year we had Batman v Superman announced and a lot of footage from upcoming movies. This year was a bit of a let down as the biggest thing people are talking about is Wonder Woman’s costume in Batman v Superman. Sure there was some teasers from upcoming movies like Ant-man, Avengers 2, and Batman v Superman. The biggest surprise to me was that they announced a sequel to Guardian of the Galaxy already before the movie comes out.

However this year seemed like it focused on television shows. With DC and Marvel both having success on television. Marvel’s got Agents of SHIELD which turned out to be a wonderful show this past year I for one like how it ties in with the movies, and it’s companion series Agent Carter. However there wasn’t a lot about their Netflix series which come out in 2015. Over at DC they have 4 new shows debuting this upcoming year on television along with the hugely popular Arrow. I believe some of the show debuted in San Diego this weekend (Gotham, Flash, Constantine) not sure how they went over as I will be waiting to judge them myself this fall. One of the biggest things that we learned television wise is that Ra’s al Guhl will be showing up on Arrow this season and characters from Arrow will be popping up in The Flash.

News Round up

Movies- The Batman/Superman movies just got longer. The new official title is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. So it seems like we will be seeing the formation of the Justice League, there is already Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg. We only need a Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash and The New 52 Justice League will be formed. I’ve read that the story will be influence by Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, filming on this has begun and we will have to wait until 2016 to see what all becomes of this.

Steven Spielberg is going to be making a Cold War movie soon and the Coen Brothers are writing it. According to Empire, the movie will star Tom Hanks and is about the lawyer who negotiated the release of Gary Powers the downed U2 spy plane pilot. It will be nice change of pace to see the Cold War being depicted instead of the current ones and World War II as it often times get overlooked.

History- It seems Lyndon Johnson is having a moment in the spotlight yet again with The Great Society turning 50 and CNN will be airing a special about The Sixties. Sure LBJ was a good President who got a lot of things done, it helps that it was a democratic Congress and that some of the elements of The Great Society which started under Eisenhower and Kennedy.  In 1964 Johnson introduced The Great Society in a speech in Michigan where he said “We are going to assemble the best thought and broadest knowledge from all over the world to find these answers. I intend to establish working groups to prepare a series of conferences and meetings—on the cities, on natural beauty, on the quality of education, and on other emerging challenges. From these studies, we will begin to set our course toward the Great Society.”

This past week The Washington Post had a series of article focusing on The Great Society at 50. Has this idealized Great Society that Johnson foresaw been even glimpsed yet? I know that we haven’t fulfilled all of the promises like “no child will go unfed” in April we heard from Shabazz Napier who played on the UConn Huskies basketball team  that he sometimes goes to bed hungry and he is not the only individual with difficulties in scrounging up enough for to eat. The Great Society did great thing with poverty dropping the rate from 22 to 12 percent of American living below the poverty line, there has been a little uptick recently and we currently sit at 15 percent that live below the poverty line. It also did wonders with racism it used to be blatant and now it is more discreet and currently the Muslim individuals are taking the brunt of racism in America. Can we still become this Great Society? I surely hope we are up for the task.

Star Wars Fun

The last time I went to the library I picked up some of Jeffery Brown’s Star Wars books Darth Vader and Son and Vader’s Little Princess. I thoroughly enjoyed both books, best part I passed them around my family this past weekend and they all enjoyed it. These two book imagine if Darth Vader were around to raise Luke and Leia, with Vader facing the same problems as a regular parent. There is another installment coming this summer called Goodnight Darth Vader, where Darth Vader has to put Luke and Leia to bed for the night. Brown also has a series set at the Jedi Academy 160 years before the Battle of Yavin. These are all non-canon stories but they are a fun mix of Star Wars and comics.

I also stumbled upon a neat video online that is a what if Quentin Tarantino had made Star Wars: A New Hope. The results are wonderful. It really make me want Tarantino to make a science fiction film now.

Captain American: Winter Solider (2014)

I am a huge fan of the Marvel films and the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a splendid ride. I’ve always been a Marvel fan a long time growing up I watched the X-Men and the Spider-Man cartoons daily. The MCU has been a huge success for Marvel films and although it would be real cool if any Marvel character could pop up in one of these movies that seems next to impossible. Even the television series Agents of SHIELD has turned out to be a great show, although there have been some rocky episodes that just didn’t go anywhere it has really picked up in the second half of the season.  Please be warned spoilers are to follow.

The film begins two years after the events of The Avengers we find Steve Rodgers trying to make sense of his life in the 21st century and catching up on all the pop culture he’s missed (a cool side note the list is different in different regions of the world). Rodgers is still working for SHIELD and has teamed up with Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow). On one of their missions to free a boat that was hijacked by pirates, Captain learns about a secondary mission that Natasha has for Nick Fury. When they return Rosgers goes and confronts Fury about what all happened on the mission and Cap is informed of Operation Insight (three helicarriers which can be used in conjunction with satellites to eliminate threats before they happen)

Nick Fury is then attacked on his way across town by the Winter Solider, Fury escapes and makes it to Rodgers home where he wait. Cap arrives home and is informed by Fury that SHIELD has been compromised and give Rodgers the flash drive from the pirate ship to figure out what it’s about.  Then Nick Fury is shot and dies. Rodgers is questioned by Alexander Pierce about what Fury and Cap talked about before Fury was shot by the Winter Solider, Rodgers say that Fury’s last words were “Trust no one.” After this meeting Pierce names Rodgers a fugitive and orders that he be captured.

Captain and Black Widow evade being captured and discovers that HYDRA has been in SHIELD for a long time and HYDRA is now going to emerge once again. Rodgers enlists the help of his friend Sam Wilson and his FALCON jet pack for help taking down SHIELD. On the way they are attacked by the Winter Solider and while they are fighting Captain discovers that it’s Bucky his best friend who he thought was lost during a mission. The film has a great ending but that’s why you go and see a movie so that’s as far in the plot that I go.

One of the unique things that I really like with what they are doing with Marvel films is that with the television show Agents of SHIELD these things are happening concurrently so we have the whole larger that life story unfolding before our eyes. It seem very likely that it will be picked up for another season which would be great as it just seems that the story is about to unfold.

To recap, go see Captain America and remember to stay to the very end, it’s got two bonus scenes and check out Agents of SHIELD.