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We all know, except for those who don’t want to admit it, that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has fallen from grace. Stories that attack fans, creators that seem to hate continuity and proper adaptation, and at least one Marvel Studios producer openly saying he only wants writers who know nothing about the comics, aka the source material without which they wouldn’t have a job. Disney has been mistreating the SFX people to the point that they’re planning to unionize against Disney, and MatPat recently went over a host of other mistakes Marvel Studios are making with the movies and Disney+ series. What started out as something comic fans and casual moviegoers alike could enjoy has been ruined by activists and the “everything for meeeeeeeeeeeee” crowd.
So with curiosity I looked into an article by Fansided’s “Bam! Smack! Pow!” section about “9 Things No One Want To Admit About The Marvel Cinematic Universe“, though I thought article titles were supposed to be all capitalized. Apparently not at Fansided, and it’s one of the articles that makes you go through multiple pages so they can push multiple ads, except they don’t bury you in useless information to get you to the part you actual came for until you give up in disgust and learn nothing except “don’t read this site anymore”. It’s still an annoying practice. I’ve done this once or twice because the article is so long, with a set of links to the part you’d actually want to read but sites like those or articles like this is why I stopped. I’ll try to summarize with the right amount of context but you can check the full article for the entire post. It’s nine things over five pages so it won’t be as bad as some other sites. Let’s see what bothers writer Cody Schultz versus what bothers me about the current state of the MCU.
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The ComiXology version I have only features the debut of Namorita. The stories featuring Human Torch (the android version), Miss America, the Young Allies, and Captain America are sadly not here. It’s a Golden Age comic so you shouldn’t be surprised there’s more than one story here. At least I had a reading break.
You invited a robot whose power is being on fire to your pool party?
Marvel Mystery Comics #82
Marvel Comics (May, 1947)
Apparently the story was reprinted in two separate Agents Of Atlas books and Giant Size Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #1.
“The Coming Of Namorita”
By Ken Bald and George Klein
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If Rian Johnson wasn’t so obsessed with “subversion” there actually is a way to get the Luke they wanted for this movie (though we still wouldn’t get a proper redemption) without ruining Luke’s character, and Anakin gives us this. In the prequels Anakin is getting visions from the Force warning of Padme’s death and throughout Revenge Of The Sith this is his motivation. In the end it’s Anakin, aka Darth Vader, who kills her because the Force was warning him that the path he was on would take away everything that mattered to him and turn him from Jedi to Sith. Because he couldn’t/wouldn’t go to another Jedi for help due to the silly Jedi code against marriage (and concerns because she was a Senator) he was only getting answers from Palpatine, nobody suspecting he was Sith, not even the other Jedi. That’s how well he hid his actions.
So what if Luke’s response to the visions of Ben Solo leaning towards the Dark Side wasn’t to break out the glowing slicey stick but that he was working harder to lead Ben away from the Dark Side but that he inadvertently was pushing him the wrong way. Maybe the other Padawans and younglings were jealous of his getting extra help, or Ben was embarrassed at Uncle Luke’s seeming favoritism. Remember, Luke’s training was only as complete as it could be because he started late and left early to save his friends, and when he was able to return to Dagobah, Yoda was dying after 900 years. So he could make the same mistake the Council did and not recognize Snoak as manipulating Ben towards the Dark Side as we saw him do in The Last Jedi by trying to set up events to convert Rey as well (and Rey was rather easy to temp, as we saw at one point). This could have had Luke see the same pattern with him that happened with Yoda and even Ben, who realized something was wrong earlier but not early enough to save the youngling students. That would have been a more in-character reason for Luke to give up on the idea of Jedi, because in the end the same pattern would repeat in his eyes at the time.
However, that’s now what Mr. Subversion went with and thus we got The Last Jedi.
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Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
PART 2: KNIGHTQUEST
We’re only a few chapters away from part 3 so we need to get this current case done and have Jean Paul’s final screw-up before Bruce decides to get his cowl back. So apparently in the comic Jean Paul did have the Azrael-inspired armor by this point If I follow a recent hour-long Batman retrospective correctly though there’s no indication of it in the novelization outside of the gauntlet, which I figured he wore over the regular Batsuit.
Last chapter not-Batman had to be convinced by Alfred to act like Batman and protect former Batman from his own dumb plan, and it is a rather questionable plan given the nature and abilities of the guy he’s facing. Curious to see how this team-up will go.
We’re at that point in the novel where I start having trouble finding topics. Once part 3 of the novel happens and Bruce begins his trek back I may have more to discuss but I think I’ve dissected Jean Paul and even Bruce all I can in these intros. The story has to reach the part where the hero comes back but right now isn’t going to be that part.
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Your average artist sketchbook.
Donatello, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Mirage Publishing (August, 1986)
“Kirby And The Warp Crystal”
WRITERS/ARTISTS/CREATORS: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird
LETTERER: Steve Lavigne
