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Comics

A Look Back on Guardian Devil

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The 1990s could have been better to Daredevil. Not to say that there was some good work with the character, but there was a noticeable decline. Daredevil was considered one of the less popular characters during the majority of the decade. But then, Marvel decided to create the Marvel Knights imprint to focus on breathing new life to a handful of characters. With art by Joe Quesada and the story from Kevin Smith – yes, the same guy behind movies like Clerks & Chasing Amy – Daredevil was brought back into the spotlight. “Guardian Devil” made people care about the character again. But now that so much time has passed, is it worth reading?

Here is a brief breakdown of the story. It starts with Karen leaving Matt a letter. She decided to take a job on the west coast. Shortly afterwards, a young girl comes to Matt with a baby she gave birth to despite claiming she is a virgin. But a mysterious man behind an unknown organization is also after the child. While the mother claims that her child is destined by God to be Earth’s savior, the man claims that the child is the Anti-Christ. Matt is left paranoid and conflicted on what to do and his mental state begins to deteriorate. That is the non-spoiler version, so from this point on, you’ve been warned.

Let’s start easy with the art. It’s decent. Honestly, there isn’t much else to say beyond that. I’m familiar with some 90s artwork so I know it was better than some other titles from the industry. But ti isn’t really special compared to today’s artwork. It’s for the best that we don’t spend too much time on the artwork. Kevin Smith is a good writer, but when it comes to comic books, he is known to often make controversial decisions. And we’ll get to that shortly. But I do want to address some of the strong points as well.

By the final issue, it is revealed that the super-villain behind this whole affair is Mysterio AKA Quentin Beck. This is a genuine surprise, considering he’s often associated with Spider-Man. It’s revealed that Mysterio has Cancer and since that diagnosis, he’s been working on what he calls his swan song. Researching Daredevil/Matt, manipulating people to set-up the story and use his expertise in special effects to help sell the lie. All to mentally torture Matt and force him to kill Mysterio. Yet when the moment finally comes, Matt doesn’t do it. He criticizes him for never coming up with his own plans, getting his scheme ideas from other villains. This leads Mysterio to take his own life. You could make an argument, that based on how the scene plays out, Matt could be at fault for basically talking Mysterio into such an act. But once you realize just how much destruction he brought down on Matt, his friends, and so many other people, we can let Matt use the Batman Begins loophole of not actively saving the villain.

That actually ties into one of the larger themes of the story. Part of the focus is on Matt’s faith and how he often struggles with it. There are parts of the story where Matt does come off a bit as being extra broody. But other characters do point out to him the silver lining of events and what he does in general. And those facts do help ground Matt and make him realize what’s important and why what he does is needed. This could be seen as the story subtly undoing the 90s mindset of how dark superheroes should be. But instead of making fun of how extreme those tropes can get, it points out the reasons why heroes are heroes in the first place. It helps reconnect Matt with his sense of purpose.

But going back to the dark stuff, there are a couple of things in the story that haven’t really aged well. And unfortunately, both center around Karen Page. She does end up returning to Matt during the story. But during a scene at a church where Bullseye goes on a killing spree, Karen jumps in to protect Matt and is dealt a death blow. Pretty much turning this into a “fridging the girl” trope. In addition to the death of such an important character, she discovers she is HIV positive and during an argument with her, Matt blames that on her being a junkie and sleeping with “God only knows who and how many people” in his words. Yea…this is a character that Matt has loved and been in a relationship with for years. And he tells her that she and her reckless behavior are to blame for getting the disease.

This in isolation is bad! Even looking at it from the context that Matt is being mentally tortured and manipulated doesn’t really make it better. Also…this does point out a serious issue in their relationship. Karen’s letter to Matt back in the first issue highlights how she is always going to feel indebted to Matt. Keep in mind, she did sell Daredevil’s identity for a fix. And he forgave her for that, yes. But he doesn’t forget that kind of thing. So Karen always feels like their relationship is based on him letting her back into his life. That he is more in love with the idea their relationship can triumph over any problem, including the ones she causes. They were constantly breaking up and getting together, each time showing their relationship is pretty toxic and destructive.

To this story’s credit, this part of the story is indirectly called out. Black Widow has shows up throughout the story but has an important conversation with Matt in the final issue. She points out to him that he seems to harbor an unconscious hatred for women in his life. His mother left when he was a kid, Karen sold out his secret identity, Typhoid Mary dated him only to get close and attack him. These are just a few instances of Daredevil’s troubled love life. This doesn’t really excuse what he said, but he is pushed to try and do some soul searching. But since this is the closest we get to him being called out for that statement, that problematic moment still has a sour tone to it. But is it enough to ruin the entire story? Speaking for myself, no. I’ve seen comics handle the HIV/AIDS topic far worse from this same time period. At least Matt’s attitude is called out to a certain extent.

With that out of the way, I do enjoy this story despite the major flaws. Although this isn’t a story that I want to have a physical copy of. But I can understand if a group of people have ended up hating how this story aged. Reading it once is probably enough for those looking to get caught up on Daredevil comics. But they should read the other comics from Daredevil’s second volume for a treasure trove of stories. And I think that’s the best praise I can give “Guardian Devil”. Good enough for the time to lead to other beloved stories featuring the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

Movie Reviews, Movies

Review: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

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SPOILERS!

I have read a lot of comics. A large number of them deal with the more abstract and mind-bending elements that can be utilized and explored so well. And yet, my brain still can’t comprehend that there is a character whose legal name is…America. That has produced some funny lines of dialogue in the movie. And yet no one in the film acknowledges that her name is weird. That kinda works and leans into the unintentionally funny aspect of using her name. I just wanted to get that out of the way before diving into the review proper.

Doctor Strange finds himself protecting a young girl named America Chavez. She has the ability to travel throughout the multiverse and is being hunted by someone who wants her power. That person…is Wanda Maximoff AKA The Scarlet Witch. She desires her power to travel to a universe where she can be with her children and she utilizes the Darkhold for the dark magic that will help her achieve her plan. Strange & America try and find a way to defeat her as they travel through other universes.

One thing that has been talked about is how this movie is supposed to have consequences for Strange’s actions in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and even his first movie. That isn’t exactly true. Those events aren’t explicitly mentioned in this movie. But this movie is supposed to have Strange realize that his stubbornness and need to be in control has put other people in danger and drives others from him. There is even a brief scene in the beginning where someone asks Strange if his plan to defeat Thanos was the best one, that there was no other way. While the people snapped did came back, this guy mentions how his brother had passed during those 5 years in between. It’s a moment of clarity that there are still people who will never be reunited due to how Strange’s plan unfolded. This is something that Stephen realizes and confronts by the time the movie ends. And that makes Strange one of the highlights of the movie.

One of the other major highlights is Wanda. I loved her as the antagonist in this movie. She has some great, intimidating scenes, really shows off what she is capable of. There may be a few people who aren’t quite on board with this development based on the finale of WandaVision. And I can understand where they are coming from. Personally though, I thought it made sense. Especially since she was pushed in that direction by the corrupting influence of the Darkhold. The other character that has a major role in this movie is America Chavez. She is…pretty much what you think she ends up being. The movie doesn’t really give her much room to establish a unique personality or stand out beyond being the person being hunted. That’s not to say I didn’t like her. She was fine and I see the potential for her in future movies. I just hope those future movies have her evolve and develop into a more interesting character.

There are a couple of things about this movie that keep me from really falling in love with the movie. While the multiverse is in it, we don’t spend a lot of time in other universes. We see glimpses of a bunch, sure. But only spend significant time in a couple of them. The trailers also showed that Mordo – Strange’s former mentor turned enemy – is back in the movie. But it is one from an alternate universe. However he is still pretty similar to the main Mordo. Which just makes it a little more frustrating that we haven’t followed up on that character since the first Doctor Strange movie. Finally, the first half of the movie does have some of the MCU traits that people are criticizing a bit more in recent years. All though there isn’t a lot of it and they are passed by fairly quickly.

With all of that out of the way…I gotta say, I still found a lot to really enjoy. Like previously mentioned, Strange and Wanda are two big highlights and I love their roles and arcs through the movie. But this movie is truly at its best when Sam Raimi is allowed to be himself as a director. There are multiple camera shots and angles that are unique to his visual style. Scene transitions similar to some of the transitions used in his Spider-Man movies. And of course – the horror elements in this movie will please Evil Dead fans such as myself. This creates some great visuals in the movie. Hell, there are entities called Spirits of the Damned and I’m totally convinced those are just the MCU’s version of Deadites!

I can’t say that I loved this movie. But I did find myself really enjoying this movie. Definitely something that I would revisit multiple times in the future. While it was shorter than I expected, it is kind of refreshing to have a lighter multiverse centered story as opposed to some others that go for the more epic feel and weight. I also appreciate how after something horrific happens, they usually don’t follow it up with a joke. They will let the weight of what just happened just be felt. Overall, it was worth the wait.

Movie Reviews, Movies

Review – Doctor Strange

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe is both impressive and frustrating. When you look back on what it’s accomplished – in terms of story-telling, making unknown characters/actors household names, and box office – there’s no denying it’s a huge achievement and should be praised. But when you have a franchise that lists this long with so many films )and now TV shows), a formula is created. One to help ensure their future installments become successful. And while the MCU should stray further from the formula and expand, it can still be executed well and enhanced by direction and acting. “Doctor Strange”, one of their installments from 2016, is a great example of that.

Dr. Stephen Strange is a neurosurgeon who loses the use of his hands to perform surgery in an accident. He ends up coming across Kamar-Taj in Nepal and meets the Sorcerer Supreme known as The Ancient One. There he learns the mystic arts and becomes involved in a conflict where one of the Ancient One’s former students attacks their Sanctums so that a being known as Dormammu can conquer Earth. Dr. Strange manages to defeat the being from the Dark Dimension, but with the iplication that the way he did it will have repercussions down the road.

This movie shares several traits that can be seen in other MCU origin stories. Several people have pointed out how Strange’s personality is similar to Tony Stark. There is truth in that. But I would argue that it takes Strange longer to move away from his more narcissistic thinking in the movie and that in future appearances he still struggles with his more arrogant nature. But he is still very like-able in this film, thanks to the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch. He also has an ally/kind of love interest, Dr. Christine Palmer. But they don’t go all the way with their romance. The closest we get is that they were once lovers before the events in the film and she gives him a kiss on the cheek before the climax. They could have changed that to just a hug, but I appreciate that the movie doesn’t have them end up together like most other MCU movies.

And that actually connects to one thing that makes this movie a little more unique. There is a supporting character named Mordo, one of Strange’s teachers in the film and allies. But by the end, he becomes disillusioned by the world of Sorcery. He is a strong believer in maintaining the natural order. But when he learns that the Ancient One uses power from the Dark Dimension to extend her life and watching Strange tamper with Time to save the planet, he ends up leaving Strange and the other sorcerers. Him leaving with the implication that he and Strange will go up against each other down the road is a little dark but in a good way. It does show some of the complexities or different philosophies when it comes to how people like Mordo or Strange should use their power. Most of the MCU films have the villains more clear-cut evil and easy to hate. It’s only in more recent films that we are getting more complex antagonists. And while Mordo wasn’t a villain or antagonist in this film, I completely get why he thinks the way he does and I understand his fears. And when he and Strange do go up against each other later on, I can’t really hate his reasoning or motivation.

But going back to Strange manipulating Time, that’s another thing that makes this film unique. When it comes to the final battle of Strange vs Dormammu, you would expect a big battle with great visuals. And while CGI is used to depict the Dark Dimension and there is action, it doesn’t play out like you think it would. The trick Strange uses is that he puts Dormammu in a time loop. So even though he is killing Strange, Dormammu is in actuality Strange’s prisoner. Eventually, he agrees to make a bargain with Strange to leave Earth and escape the loop. It’s actually a clever way to handle the final climax of a Marvel movie and I have to give credit for that.

But honestly, I just really like this film in general. I’ve always found myself more drawn to the supernatural characters of comic books. And some of the dialogue in this film reminds me why I like reading the comics I do, as well as just the types of stories I gravitate to the most. Exploring ideas and themes not usually talked about, or familiar ones from a unique perspective. And this film has some of the best visuals of any MCU film. There are several scenes that do look similar to “Inception”. But there are so many other visuals that are truly awe-inspiring. At the end of the day, this is one of my personal favorite films from this long running franchise.

Film Editorials, Movies

Can Sony’s Cinematic Universe Work?

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It’s no secret that Sony has been trying to create their own cinematic universe. Their most infamous attempt was using “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” as a launching pad. When they began working on Venom, many just assumed it would crash and burn like Tom Cruise’s “The Mummy” being used as the start of Universal’s Dark Universe. But despite getting mixed to negative reactions from critics, “Venom” made a lot of money and seemed to be liked by general audiences. This lead to a sequel, a Morbius film, and 2 more connected films in active development at the time this is being written. I want to explore 3 questions in this post. How has Sony’s universe changed since inception? What are the criticisms of this universe? And what can be done to improve it?

It’s been said that when they began pre-production on “Venom”, it was going to be a legit Horror film. One that took after John Carpenter & David Cronenberg that would have been a true Body Horror, psychological experience. But when “Spider-Man: Homecoming” made a lot of money in 2017, Sony wanted the option of a crossover and altered the film that was more action focused with some Horror inspired moments. I can’t say with 100% certainty if that’s what happened, but that’s the rumor and it does sound on brand for the studio. Every film released so far still has several scenes where it does still have that Horror inspiration. Moments with a dark atmosphere that show the potential of what they could have been if allowed to fully embrace it.

And that leads us to looking at the criticisms of Sony’s universe. So these films ended up focusing on more action than expected. Not a big deal. The movie “Underworld” did that but it still had a unique feel. But unlike that movie, all of the movies from this universe are PG-13. Look, you can have good PG-13 films that lean in a more dark direction. “The Batman” was PG-13 and it had a lot of dark and psychologically interesting material in it. But Sony’s films have an issue of using general plots and outlines that were used by comic book movies from the 1990s and 2000s. In “Venom”, it was executed in a way where it can be seen as an enjoyable throwback. I can’t say it’s an authentic portrayal of the character, but people looking to have fun could say they found it. It worked a bit in “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” but it doesn’t seem to be helping “Morbius”.

If you combine this with the fact that Sony won’t let them be true Horror films, that makes them look kind of stupid. Sure, from a business perspective it makes sense. You have comic book characters you want to adapt, some of them not very familiar with general audiences. The PG-13 rating has worked for a lot of comic book movies and you want to try and make your money back. But this also makes them seem behind the times. The tropes used in Sony’s films feel dated when you compare it to what is being put out today. Hell, movies like “Deadpool” & “Joker” show that R rated comic book movies can be very profitable. And that’s actually one of the main reasons there are so many Horror movies in the first place. They tend to not have very big budgets and it’s almost guaranteed you’ll make a profit. I look at “Venom” & “Morbius” and I see how they can take notes from some of the old Universal Monster films. Sony’s Spider-Man Universe could fill the hole that people wanting more mature content from Marvel are missing.

And speaking of which, let’s actually focus on the Spider-Man part of their cinematic universe. For a while, it seemed like Sony was working on a way to bring Tom Holland’s version from the MCU to their own for crossover. That makes sense from a business perspective as well as pleasing the fans of that version of the character. It seemed like we were going to get that based on what “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was marketing and the when Venom was pulled into the MCU in a post credits scene of his second film. But no, that’s not what happened. Tom Holland’s version is still in the MCU, Venom ended up being pulled back into his universe just as quickly as he was pulled out, leaving behind a sample of the symbiote. The marketing for “Morbius” showed that somehow Michael Keaton’s Vulture from “Spider-Man: Homecoming” ended up in Sony’s universe. The way he ended up in that universe was fine if a bit confusing. But the after credits scene of him meeting Morbius not only doesn’t match how it was shown in trailers, but you can clearly tell it was done at the very last minute. With neither actor actually being on stage together, and their reactions not matching what the other was saying.

Look, we knew their Sinister Six build-up was coming. But it has no real weight in this universe. The Venom movies don’t address the existence of Spider-Man until the post credits scene of the second film, and even then it was for the one outside their universe. And since he wasn’t mentioned until the post credits of “Morbius”, we don’t really know what that character feels about the hero. We don’t know if they have any history together. Sony hasn’t decided on who is playing Spider-Man or even which version of the character their using. How can you call this the Spider-Man Universe when we are 3 movies in and we’ve had only two clear references to the character who hasn’t interacted with either of these two characters? It seemed like they were preparing for Tom Holland to interact with them. But “Spider-Man: No Way Home” made clear that wasn’t happening, even though one of the villains from that franchise is now in Sony’s universe. It’s clear the executives at that studio have no clear idea of what they want to do or what they want to build up.

And finally, we have to ask…what can be done to improve this situation? Right now, Sony has two more films in development for this universe. Kraven, which I believe is filming right now, and Madame Web. I don’t know much about her, but she might be a character that can do some multiverse abilities. Both of these films need to reference Spider-Man, during the main story and not just in a post credits scene. We need to establish there is a web slinger in this universe. We also need to determine which version of the hero we are dealing with. Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Gwen Stacey, Cindy Moon, doesn’t matter. We just need to establish which one and try and shine a light on what kind of history this hero has in this cinematic universe. It would be ideal for Spider-Man to actually show up in one of these upcoming films. Sony needs to make an actual commitment to something that will give audiences one of the things they have been saying exists for a while now.

And there is some work that needs to be done before we jump into a Sinister Six film. We’ll most likely get a Venom 3, meaning we need to use that film to actually address Spider-Man. Maybe a one-on-one fight, maybe build-up so that he can join other character to be a part of the Sinister Six. But we need to show they know he exists, how he views the web slinger, establish tension between them – at the very least. I’ll even go as far as to say we need a similar situation for “Morbius 2”. Yes, I’m advocating for a sequel to that film. The previous film showed he knows about Spider-Man in the post credits scene. For this sequel, we for sure need to have Spider-Man involved in the main plot to establish what kind of relationship the two of them have. If Sony does this – as well as actually address Spider-Man to a significant enough capacity in Kraven & Madam Web – the Sinister Six movie will have some actual weight to it.

Finally, Sony needs better writing for their films. So far, all 3 have just been all right. And they are relying on tropes from over a decade ago. Better writing and stories will get us more involved with these characters and actually get us looking forward to seeing them on screen. Fully embrace the dark atmosphere these characters – these super-villains – are known for. I also would like for them to include R rated movies, but I’ll settle for actually pushing the boundaries of what PG-13 can show. Make bold moves that leave some kind of impact, even if they don’t fully work. Because at least then I will remember these movies and start to actually care for them.

That should be everything. These are all of my thoughts on this cinematic universe, it’s problems but also the potential changes they can make. Hopefully something similar to what I outlined will actually happen.

Movie Reviews, Movies

Review – Morbius

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Marketing is very important for a movie. They can help ensure how many people are going to see a movie once it premieres. Back in the day, “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” didn’t make a lot of money when it opened in theaters despite how great of a movie it is. But that can be blamed on the lack of marketing there was for the movie. Both in terms of how much there was and in the low quality of the film’s marketing. And the marketing for “Morbius” wasn’t exactly stellar. Of course the numerous delays didn’t help. But now it’s out and people are already tearing it apart. And now it’s time for me to see how well the movie ended up being and it it matched how I expected it to turn out.

Overall, this movie is…all right. I know that all the trailers and TV spots probably make this movie seem lame. And there is stuff to not like about it. If you were to read the script for this movie, it’s clearly underwhelming and bland. But the main reason this movie is elevated to it being fine is thanks to the performances. While Jared Leto tends to play eccentric characters, he is more restrained and actually gives a good performance. Nothing amazing, but he does what any actor should do and get us invested in the title character. All the actors in this film give the performances they should and end up being good or good enough. Of course, Matt Smith is a stand out as he is clearly having fun. His character, Milo, grew up with Michael Morbius and they shared the same blood disease. And early on it clearly establishes their connection and you do enjoy how they interact with each other before they eventually turn on the other.

So performances all around are good. The effects are hit or miss, with admittedly more misses. Morbius has this echolocation ability that does look kind of interesting when used. The effects used to show his more monstrous form is okay. Nothing particularly memorable but I’ve seen worse. And it does have a vague vampire-like quality to it. But whenever he moves fast or jumps/glides through the air, he creates this smoke around him. Or I guess you can call it mist, I’m not sure what it should be called. There’s really no reason in-universe why it’s happening, but I think it’s used to cover the bad effects used for the action scenes. But the action overall is also okay. I’ve seen far worse when it comes to action so this didn’t really bug me. The story outline is very similar to other comic book movies from the 2000s, but it again executes it fine.

And that’s ultimately the film’s biggest failure. That it’s only fine. If this truly was as bad as most people saying it is, I would have a lot more to talk about. If this movie had tried more to add something unique or even eccentric – regardless if it worked or not – I would have something more to talk about. But I really don’t. Outside of the post credits scene – which is a clear example of how Sony has the poorest organization skills when it comes to mapping out their cinematic universe – I just don’t have much to say. There are small moments and scenes that do show the potential it could have been. But it really plays it safe all things considered. Take that for what’s it worth. Maybe not good enough to buy a ticket, but good enough to rent it or check it out on streaming.