Civil War II
Marvel did a sequel to Secret Wars in 2015, it lasted far too long but it was worth it as the story was good. I personally didn't look through the tie-ins aside from Ultimate End, which was terrible, but I've heard there are a few worth checking out. But this year, we have Civil War II, clearly a gimmick to cash on their latest movie.
And oh dear lord is it a mess. Brian Michael Bendis works best with few characters in an isolated setting. Jessica Jones #1 is brilliant (the full review will come after the 4th issue). But when you give him an all-star cast to work with? This isn't very good. Spoilers folks but I need to establish what the conflict actually is.
So there's this inhuman made up for this event called Ulysses and has the power to see the future via complicated algorithms in his head. Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) wants to use his abilities like pre-crime in Minority report to stop disasters before they happen. Tony counters that it isn't 100% reliable and the equivalent of profiling. The deaths of 2 major characters solidify their stances.
To their credit, Tony doesn't act like an ass this time, he calls meetings and does everything he can to avoid fighting with them and only does so to rescue a prisoner S.H.I.E.L.D. have detained on charges not confirmed. The problem is there's literally nothing to convince me why Carol's side is right. At the very least, predictions are open to interpretation. The cliffhanger in the last issue will probably not play out how they think it will. From a story perspective, whilst there was an instance where acting saved lives, it was a poorly planned operation with a heavy cost. And then, well, you just have to look at what went down in Ms. Marvel's book to see how bad things can get. And then you don't know the motivations of most characters to join one side. Guardians of the Galaxy, notorious outlaws, sided with Captain Marvel because erm... bullsh*t!
From a logic perspective, there's another issue. Having the future mapped out like this is not a viable route for Marvel to go. It could not be successful in the long run, so Captain Marvel's side will eventually lost. This isn't like the Superhero Registration Act, it won't last even that long. I'm calling Ulysses death will end this event.
Once again, the series has been plagued by delays. It's all well and good having decent artwork and for the most part, it is decent artwork, but when there are consequences to the story that impact other titles, such as the 2nd Marvel Now relaunch (I know, 1 year after the last one) you'd best make sure the pieces are in place. I know that something is going to happen to Iron Man at the end of the series because he's being replaced in the solo titles, and he isn't part of the Avengers team in Champions #1.
Steven Universe
Now is the show entirely flawless, no, episodes dedicated to Lars and Ronaldo are the weaker ones (with a few exceptions for Lars) and honestly, some of the episodes do feel a bit filler-y. But I'm willing to look past that as they have so much good to offer
Arrow Season 4
True to my word I haven't seen every episode of Arrow season 4, I have seen a few and I've read general consensus on the others
Arrow season 4 was a bit of a mess. The first half had to dedicate a lot of time to the revival of Sara via the Lazarus Pit to set up Legends of Tomorrow. Then of course before it had time to do anything it got into a crossover, also down to setting up Legends of Tomorrow.
The plot device that was the grave in the flash forward in the first episode is one of my biggest concerns. The writers admitted at the time they had no idea who was going to be in that grave at the time of writing that scene. That shows a remarkable lack of forward planning and shows it was nothing but a lazy plot device.
What did happen was... ok. The consequences were certainly far felt as most of Arrow's cast had a reaction to this although the death itself was fairly shallow. Damian Dahrk was a great villain, with a great era of menace about him and with some magic-based meta-cr*p to back him up.
If there's one thing this season did right it was expanding the lore. Magic is totally a thing now and as well as your occasional Flash cameo you did see John Constantine (reprised by Matt Ryan) and Vixen make an appearance in the show.
One of the overarching themes of the show was that Oliver wanted to be a lighter hero but ended up falling further and further into the darkness until from what I've heard about the season 5 opening, he's taken several steps backwards. The one part about inspiring people, his running for mayor was a background plot that amounted to little and inspiring hope as now Green Arrow was really only done in the finale and as such it did ring a little hollow.
From what I've seen, Arron season 4 isn't as bad as season 3 but it's not good and still needs work to reach the highs season 2 reached.
The Clone Wars lost episodes
Whilst the show may have been cancelled owing to rights issues, there was some unfinished content that did find its way to release.
A death on Utapau/In search for the crystal/Crystal Crisis/The Big Bang
This story features Utapau, where the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobe and General Grievous took place in episode III. It was released only partially animated by fully voice acted. If you can get past the weird animation, there are some interesting points here. First off, this is the first time Anakin dawns his episode III look with the longer hair. Secondly, there's actually some mention of Ahsoka's departure, making me think this was intended to be an early episode of season 6. It's an ok scene, it starts off well but manages to dive into haha, it's ironic because Anakin will become Darth Vader a little quickly for my tastes, and it's kinda only mentioned in one scene when it should've been a full arc for Anakin. Also, and I'm only theorising here, there is a massive Kyber Crystal which Yoda claims the Sith once used to power super-weapons. Could we have been looking at a potential power source for the Death Star?
The Bad Batch/A Distant Echo/On the Wings of Keeradaks/Unfinished Business
This arc introduces introduces a few interesting concepts but they sadly don't have anywhere to go with them since this is the last episode. Arc Trooper Echo, who supposedly died in season 3 of the show was revived but a captive of the separatists. Rex, Anakin and a group of clones called the bad batch come to rescue him. Once again, this isn't completed animation, just what LucasFilm had before production was halted.
Son of Dathomir
Published by Dark Horse, this comic mini-series detailed what Siddeus' plans were for Darth Maul. Turns out he was using him to draw out Mother Talzin and destroy what's left of Maul's forces. Neither Jedi nor clones appear very much in this one, except largely as cannon fodder for Dooku, Grievous and Siddeus himself. Maul makes it out alive, barely and heads to Malachor for Rebels for some reason. It's a very good story with decent artwork.
Dark Disciple
Had this episode actually gotten released it would've been an ambitious 8-part episode with minimal focus on well known jedi and clones. The main familiar face we see here is Asajj Ventress, continuing her ways as a bounty hunter. With her we have Jedi master Quilan Vos, last scene in that weird episode with Ziro the Hutt. Oh, he's dead... I'm so sad... Anyway, Yoda claims in Rebels that the Jedi order had been corrupted by the Dark Side during the clone wars, and here is one of the more obvious episodes of that. It's a tale of corruption and redemption that sadly sees the end of the road for Asajj Ventress. Putting a merciful end to the "Ventress is the Seventh Sister" theories. It's a good read and I'm looking forward to the Ahsoka novel. There was purportedly an episode that showed a little of what she became but I'm not sure whether or not this will be based on that.
Justice League: Action
I'm basing my knowledge only on the theories from the trailers and what has been release. Teen Titans Go sucks ass, I'm just putting it out there. It had decent episodes every so often but you have to dig through the sh*t to find the occasionally gold nugget so small it's barely worth anything. I'm saying this with because the Flash animation and the 11 minute runtime, Justice League Action does seem to have some similarities.
What I've seen thankfully alleviates most of my concerns. I don't expect it to be story heavy in an 11-minute runtime but it's going to deliver classic superhero action, with a level of comedy to top it off. The voice cast is pretty spectacular with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill returning to voice Batman and the Joker respectively.
All I'm saying is I like what I'm seeing, even if I'm not sold on the designs yet.
Sorry this isn't exactly a funny post but... Ratchet and Clank review coming out in a couple weeks, normal schedule should resume from there.
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Images/clips used in this review are from Civil War II, Steven Universe, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Arrow and Justice League: Action and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use
From a logic perspective, there's another issue. Having the future mapped out like this is not a viable route for Marvel to go. It could not be successful in the long run, so Captain Marvel's side will eventually lost. This isn't like the Superhero Registration Act, it won't last even that long. I'm calling Ulysses death will end this event.
Once again, the series has been plagued by delays. It's all well and good having decent artwork and for the most part, it is decent artwork, but when there are consequences to the story that impact other titles, such as the 2nd Marvel Now relaunch (I know, 1 year after the last one) you'd best make sure the pieces are in place. I know that something is going to happen to Iron Man at the end of the series because he's being replaced in the solo titles, and he isn't part of the Avengers team in Champions #1.
Steven Universe
Steven Universe is up there with some of the best shows I've ever watched. But there are over 100 episodes and I'm not doing a full retrospective on it.
Steven is a hybrid, he's human but he posses a unique gem, given to him by his mother, who died giving birth to him (for a lack of a better explanation). This gem grants him various abilities which he unlocks through the series and they fight various monsters and other villains. It sounds fairly standard but whilst that's the premise it's hardly the focus
Steven Universe, whilst not often heavy on action is a very character driven series. Steven gets the bulk of the focus as it's primarily his coming of age story but there are episodes dedicated to the development of other characters such as the feisty but unsure of herself Amethyst, the proud but insecure Pearl, the jerk Lars, the bigger jerk Ronaldo (notable the only not in that photo), the possibly psychotic Onion, the rags to riches tale of Greg, Steven's father, the naive but loving Rose Quartz and the cool but sometimes unstable Garnet, just to name a few,
They do have a large supporting cast, but there's an element even more interesting to look at and it's fusion. Gems have the ability to fuse with each other to enhance their abilities. These new gems are an amalgam in terms of their personality and have their own distinct voice. Maintain fusion can be difficult if there are heavy burdens laying on the individual or if there's conflict between them.
Fusions are a metaphor for relationships, and whilst Gems are classified genderless to get this past the censors, they're all voiced by women and there's obvious lesbian subtext there. The creator of the show, Rebecca Sugar, is bisexual herself and wanted a show to promote love and understanding as well as having action, adventure and f*ck tonnes of lore. Seriously, the show's episodes dedicated to expanding the lore are amongst the best episodes of the show.
Not only do they have great characters (mostly) and great stories (again, mostly), they have some brilliant musical numbers. Stronger Than You is perhaps the most notable of them but all the musical numbers are well-written and sung, many of them could be released as singles. I haven't seen music this good since FreeFonix.
Now is the show entirely flawless, no, episodes dedicated to Lars and Ronaldo are the weaker ones (with a few exceptions for Lars) and honestly, some of the episodes do feel a bit filler-y. But I'm willing to look past that as they have so much good to offer
Arrow Season 4
True to my word I haven't seen every episode of Arrow season 4, I have seen a few and I've read general consensus on the others
Arrow season 4 was a bit of a mess. The first half had to dedicate a lot of time to the revival of Sara via the Lazarus Pit to set up Legends of Tomorrow. Then of course before it had time to do anything it got into a crossover, also down to setting up Legends of Tomorrow.
The plot device that was the grave in the flash forward in the first episode is one of my biggest concerns. The writers admitted at the time they had no idea who was going to be in that grave at the time of writing that scene. That shows a remarkable lack of forward planning and shows it was nothing but a lazy plot device.
What did happen was... ok. The consequences were certainly far felt as most of Arrow's cast had a reaction to this although the death itself was fairly shallow. Damian Dahrk was a great villain, with a great era of menace about him and with some magic-based meta-cr*p to back him up.
If there's one thing this season did right it was expanding the lore. Magic is totally a thing now and as well as your occasional Flash cameo you did see John Constantine (reprised by Matt Ryan) and Vixen make an appearance in the show.
One of the overarching themes of the show was that Oliver wanted to be a lighter hero but ended up falling further and further into the darkness until from what I've heard about the season 5 opening, he's taken several steps backwards. The one part about inspiring people, his running for mayor was a background plot that amounted to little and inspiring hope as now Green Arrow was really only done in the finale and as such it did ring a little hollow.
From what I've seen, Arron season 4 isn't as bad as season 3 but it's not good and still needs work to reach the highs season 2 reached.
The Clone Wars lost episodes
Whilst the show may have been cancelled owing to rights issues, there was some unfinished content that did find its way to release.
A death on Utapau/In search for the crystal/Crystal Crisis/The Big Bang
This story features Utapau, where the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobe and General Grievous took place in episode III. It was released only partially animated by fully voice acted. If you can get past the weird animation, there are some interesting points here. First off, this is the first time Anakin dawns his episode III look with the longer hair. Secondly, there's actually some mention of Ahsoka's departure, making me think this was intended to be an early episode of season 6. It's an ok scene, it starts off well but manages to dive into haha, it's ironic because Anakin will become Darth Vader a little quickly for my tastes, and it's kinda only mentioned in one scene when it should've been a full arc for Anakin. Also, and I'm only theorising here, there is a massive Kyber Crystal which Yoda claims the Sith once used to power super-weapons. Could we have been looking at a potential power source for the Death Star?
The Bad Batch/A Distant Echo/On the Wings of Keeradaks/Unfinished Business
This arc introduces introduces a few interesting concepts but they sadly don't have anywhere to go with them since this is the last episode. Arc Trooper Echo, who supposedly died in season 3 of the show was revived but a captive of the separatists. Rex, Anakin and a group of clones called the bad batch come to rescue him. Once again, this isn't completed animation, just what LucasFilm had before production was halted.
Son of Dathomir
Published by Dark Horse, this comic mini-series detailed what Siddeus' plans were for Darth Maul. Turns out he was using him to draw out Mother Talzin and destroy what's left of Maul's forces. Neither Jedi nor clones appear very much in this one, except largely as cannon fodder for Dooku, Grievous and Siddeus himself. Maul makes it out alive, barely and heads to Malachor for Rebels for some reason. It's a very good story with decent artwork.
Dark Disciple
Had this episode actually gotten released it would've been an ambitious 8-part episode with minimal focus on well known jedi and clones. The main familiar face we see here is Asajj Ventress, continuing her ways as a bounty hunter. With her we have Jedi master Quilan Vos, last scene in that weird episode with Ziro the Hutt. Oh, he's dead... I'm so sad... Anyway, Yoda claims in Rebels that the Jedi order had been corrupted by the Dark Side during the clone wars, and here is one of the more obvious episodes of that. It's a tale of corruption and redemption that sadly sees the end of the road for Asajj Ventress. Putting a merciful end to the "Ventress is the Seventh Sister" theories. It's a good read and I'm looking forward to the Ahsoka novel. There was purportedly an episode that showed a little of what she became but I'm not sure whether or not this will be based on that.
Justice League: Action
I'm basing my knowledge only on the theories from the trailers and what has been release. Teen Titans Go sucks ass, I'm just putting it out there. It had decent episodes every so often but you have to dig through the sh*t to find the occasionally gold nugget so small it's barely worth anything. I'm saying this with because the Flash animation and the 11 minute runtime, Justice League Action does seem to have some similarities.
What I've seen thankfully alleviates most of my concerns. I don't expect it to be story heavy in an 11-minute runtime but it's going to deliver classic superhero action, with a level of comedy to top it off. The voice cast is pretty spectacular with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill returning to voice Batman and the Joker respectively.
All I'm saying is I like what I'm seeing, even if I'm not sold on the designs yet.
Sorry this isn't exactly a funny post but... Ratchet and Clank review coming out in a couple weeks, normal schedule should resume from there.
Images/clips used in this review are from Civil War II, Steven Universe, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Arrow and Justice League: Action and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use
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