MHA: Two Heroes Delivers Jaw Dropping Hero Film

Welcome Back to Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!


With lackluster looking films like Venom or X-men: Dark Phoenix being shoved down our throats, it can be difficult to find a breath of fresh air. Don't worry, everything is going to be okay because IT IS HERE! My Hero Academia's first feature film Two Heroes has arrived, and folks if there is any movie to wipe the thoughts out of bad super hero films away, this is it because not only is it amazing, it's probably one of the best superhero films I have seen in quite a while. It has been a long time since a super hero movie has made me leave the theater with that kind of energy. So let's talk about My Hero Academia: Two Heroes.

The title of the film is actually surprisingly layered. At first glimpse one would think that it's in reference to the series protagonist Izuku Midorya and his mentor/ predecessor of One for All, All-Might. While this is certainly the case, it equally represents the friendship of All-Might and his old partner while he was "heroing" in the States, David Stallion, as well as the rise of two heroes of the film: Midorya and David's daughter Melissa. However, I don't want to go so far as to spoil how the film accomplishes these things, so the synopsis is that All-Might has received an invitation by an old friend's daughter as a surprise to a MASSIVE tech expo on this place called I-Island. All-Might brings his protege along to meet an old ally in crime, but while things seem to be going well at the surface, something evil is brewing. A band of criminals led by a sinister villain takes the expo hostage and it's up to Midorya and some classmates that have also made it to the expo to free the heroes and allow them a chance to save the day.

It's hard to pinpoint an exact thing that makes this movie as good as it is. The animation allows for a better suspense of disbelief that you just don't get in live action, so over the top moments have a lot more weight to them. With the characters already established from the show, exiting character tropes from the series allow for jokes, drama, and action to have just as much impact as they do in the show's episodic format. However, I think what really punctuates the entire experience is the final action sequence. A while back I came upon a video that brought up some good points about the fights in My Hero Academia being a bit dull visually. That the fights were used as a means to expand the universe. However, in this final fight sequence we get some of the best animated fight choreography not only in this show, but in most modern anime I have seen. This movie finally gives a phenomenal look at just how much a force All- Might is to be reckoned with. While this is something that is shown throughout the movie, it is especially capitalized on in the final fight. I would say more but honestly, my words could not do it justice.

As with all things the movie isn't perfect, yet it's imperfections don't really take away from the experience. There are a few times where you scratch your head and go "why didn't they think of that earlier," but these moments aren't annoying enough to take away from the movie, and after all they are just heroes in training. The other thing I will say is that if you haven't watched the show up until this point, I don't recommend seeing it. It's not that you won't enjoy the film. The opening does a very good job of explaining the background of what has happened so far in the series, but it's not the same as taking the time to be invested in these characters and seeing individual arcs play out in this movie. In the end, while these faults are here none are enough to hurt the movie for me. I am someone who gets enthusiastic about films that I enjoy, and sometimes that enthusiasm can get in the way of giving an unbiased opinion. However, I feel that as long as you have watched the series through at least season 2, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes is a solid 10/10 film, and to those without that context it would still be a solid 8.5 or 9/10.

Sadly, My Hero Academia Two Heroes has a limited release, so if you don't get a chance to see it in the next week or so, you'll have to wait until the film is released on DVD and Blu Ray, which I can only hope is within the year. If you haven't yet watched My Hero Academia, I highly recommend it and if you want some extra incentive here's a character analysis I did of one of the chief characters, All-Might.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we will see you all again soon!

'Dark Phoenix' Trailer Previews a Potentially Better Rehash of 'Last Stand'

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

A long awaited, or dreaded moment happened yesterday. The first trailer for the last FOX installment of X-men: Dark Phoenix was dropped. This marks the seventh X-men movie that Fox has made, and the fourth in the line of films started by the reboot of X-Men: First Class. The movie is set to adapt the iconic Dark Phoenix storyline from the books (if the title weren't enough of a giveaway) for the second time in the franchise's history, the first being the ever infamous X-Men: Last Stand which killed the momentum of the initial franchise in the early 00's. Before going any further let's take a look at the trailer below:

While this trailer is not the absolute disaster I was expecting, it is still not great as actively nothing happens. It's intensity is only really held up by the two things that have held up the previous 3 films in the performances of James Mcavoy and Michael Fassbender. The voice overs they have in the trailer are testament to how good these two are in their respective roles and are the only thing we will actively be missing out on when the franchise is rebooted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The rest of the trailer is pretty unspectacular as the X men costumes look very bland and cheap, and they still apparently haven't learned that not all bad guys should wear trench coats as both Jessica Chastain's character and Jean Grey sport them throughout the trailer. It seems that the only thing they have learned since Last Stand is that Jean Grey should get this power in a cosmic scenario and that having Cyclops be around while the love of his life becomes an uncontrollable and evil force hell bent on universal destruction could be an interesting angle for the character to have.

In addition to the recurring cast of the First Class films, it appears that we are adding even more characters (because that worked so well for Apocalypse) with introducing X-men Villains like Selene and we are getting overloaded with multiple stories once again as Magneto has apparently established Genosha in the time between Apocalypse and this film. Really guys? Just going to through Genosha under the rug like a second fiddle storyline? Didn't you learn anything by trying to slam M-Day alongside Phoenix? You don't combine MAJOR storyarcs, you can pepper in some minor story arcs to aid the primary, but you don't just say well Genosha's cool lets have it compete screen time with Dark Phoenix and vice versa. YOU GET ONE! Pick it and focus on it! 

Genosha: Mutant Paradise

Needless to say I don't have especially high hopes for this film. After X-Men: Apocalypse I have found my taste for Fox's X-men franchise to have soured. I am just eagerly waiting for Kevin Fiegie to slam the reset button over at Marvel the moment the ink dries on this merger. 

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we will see you again soon!

Affleck Seen Entering WB With a Script and Matt Reeves Talks Up Batman

Welcome Back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

Before I get into this particular part, I made a promise during our Cavill-gate piece that I would bring you guys facts with quality written pieces, I am not breaking that promise today, but as a disclosure the first part of the article will deal with speculation BEHIND facts. Now that it's out there we can move forward. One of the biggest issues that the DCEU has faced since Batman vs Superman's release back in 2016 is the length of Ben Affleck's tenure as Batman. Every month it seems that there is some new rumor on the actor's status in the cowl. While there are many critics of the film BvS, Ben Affleck's performance was considered by many to be the film's silver lining, and so a lot of fans have hoped he retain the role till he could at least stay till he could do his own solo film. This solo Batman film has had quite the bumpy rode as it has shifted hands from initially being produced, directed, written, and starred by Ben Affleck, to be cowritten with Geoff Johns, to the initial script being scrapped and Matt Reeves replacing Affleck as the director. The whole process has been a mess and with the poor box office and critical reception to Justice League, a lot of people thought Ben Affleck was done for good, yet there may be hope on the horizon.

It has been reported that just yesterday, Ben Affleck was seen walking into Warner Bros headquarters with a script in hand. This is big news because just the day before WB announced that Matt Reeves' script was finished and that it was going into editing phase and that they were hoping to start production in the summer of 2019. While nothing is confirmed, this could be a very good sign for those of us who hope that Affleck will do Matt Reeves' film. Contract negotiations for Affleck were reported to begin around this time and with Affleck walking into the studio with script in hand, there is only so much room for coincidence you can allow before it becomes an issue of A+B=C. While I am not going to allow myself to get too hopeful, I will say that this is a promising sign and I do truly hope that Ben will stay with the role. That being said, whether Ben stays or goes we will more than likely have an announcement about who is playing Batman in the Matt Reeves film here before the end of the year as production is planned to begin by the summer time.

However, that is not the only Batman news that we have. As stated previously Matt Reeves has finished the initial script for his standalone Batman film and it is reported that Warner Brothers is singing it's praise far and wide. Since then he had an interview with IndieWire, in it Reeves reveals a bit about his inspiration for writing this movie, and it's good:

I think that it’s interesting, because one of the things that I’ve found interesting, just as we’re working on the story, is looking back at Jekyll and Hyde, and the idea of your shadow-self, and the idea of, we are all multiple things. It’s different aspects of who we are, and I think there are times when maybe the surface of Bruce is not really who he is, but that’s his disguise. There are times when Batman’s the disguise, but there are times when his true essence comes out, because by being veiled, a kind of instinctual side comes out that’s very pure.

Every time Reeves talks about this film it honestly gets me more excited. Back when he first took on this project he talked about the film being noir driven and that he was consulting old Alfred Hitchcock movies for inspiration. Honestly, if we do get Ben Affleck in this Matt Reeves Batman film I fully expect a movie that will blow the Nolan films out of the water. While those movies are great films, I find that the more times I watch them, the more I realize they aren't good Batman films. They share a very similar problem to the Sam Raimi Spider-Man franchise. They have Bruce be far more reluctant to be Batman, constantly looking for a way out of the role so he can be with one of the worst written love interests I have ever seen. It's just not an accurate portrait of who and what Batman is as a character. In that regard it is very clear that Matt Reeves has a far better understanding of what that character is than Nolan did, and I am very excited and anxious to see the finished product!

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and we will see you again soon!

Heroes in Crisis: Tom King Spreads Mediocrity Beyond His Failing Bat-Title

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

If there is one comicbook writer that has more than earned the ire of comicbook fans in the past few months it's Tom King. While King had a lot of acclaim for his Mr Miracle book, his most notable work right now is the main Batman title that King has helmed since DC's 2016 soft reboot: DC Rebirth. King's quality of writing this book has alway fluctuated all over the place from some issues being worth their weight in gold, and others being worth their weight in fecal matter. That being said he pretty unanimously turned the entire community against him with the long awaited Wedding Issue of Batman #50 where after about a year of build up, King had Catwoman be a runaway bride and it was all a ploy by Bane. It is easily one of THE WORST issues of ANY comic I have ever read, and in all honesty it should have ended this man's career. However, instead he got handed a major crossover event because apparently there is no justice in this world. That crossover released it's issue one today, so let's talk Heroes in Crisis.

So the premise of this book had initially intrigued me when they released the synopsis some months ago: 

There’s a new kind of crisis threatening the heroes of the DC Universe, ripped from real-world headlines by C.I.A.-operative-turned-comics-writer Tom King: How does a superhero handle PTSD? Welcome to Sanctuary, an ultra-secret hospital for superheroes who’ve been traumatized by crime-fighting and cosmic combat. But something goes inexplicably wrong when many patients wind up dead, with two well-known operators as the prime suspects: Harley Quinn and Booster Gold! It’s up to the DC Trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman to investigate—but can they get the job done in the face of overwhelming opposition?

The initial hooks that grabbed my interests were things like PTSD clinic for Super heroes for one. I thought as topical as a subject as PTSD is, it was surprising that noone had really done anything with PTSD in books outside of the obvious subjects like Punisher. In addition I love Booster Gold, and what's even more was that Tom King has written Booster before in a 3 issue side story of Batman and absolutely killed it. That being said, it is Tom King, so my level of enthusiasm wasn't sky rocketing, but I had a little hope. That was until I read issue 1 this morning, and dear god was it bad.

I would write down a bit about how the story of this comic book fit together throughout the issue, what it was setting up for, but honestly I can't because I have absolutely NO CLUE about what I just read. This issue was such a mess I had to set down my ipad for two minutes, walk around my apartment and come back to it because I felt like I was missing something MASSIVE. I just had no clue what was going on. While this kind of writing may work in a film where you start off clueless and then things are enlightened for you later on, it has an adverse effect in a major crossover event where things are supposed to be fairly linear. You are already juggling several protagonists, and their stories, we don't need a constant time jumps it's a headache. Beyond this issue being just a huge headache to read, it also kills off two fan favorite characters. If you care about spoilers beware, but the two fan favorites are posted in the image below:

Wally West and Roy Harper are Dead....

Wally West's Flash and Arsenal are dead, apparently of a shooting (a fact that we only know from the synopsis as the issue didn't bother to tell us a single damn thing), and what's worse is that this is actively all that we see. I mean we JUST got Wally back at the beginning of Rebirth. HE JUST CAME BACK. This is so cheap, and honestly I shouldn't be surprised, I should have seen this coming. What's even more tragic is that as bad as these deaths were, they weren't even the worst part of the book. The worst part of the book is how utterly useless all the main characters are and how out of character they are written. Harley Quinn, a liscensed Psychiatrist declares that she doesn't believe Trauma exists. Batman, a man with an IQ of 192 is written like a man with an IQ of 2. Superman, just sits down and cries a lot this issue. Wonder Woman is making jokes while examining murdered heroes, and Booster just gets stabbed by Harley Quinn a lot and acts mildly annoyed saying "Stooooopppppp!"

Needless to say this issue is not worth your time as it's only saving grace is some fairly decent artwork. Tom King if you are reading this,this is the second time you have ruined comics for me in the past few months. Please retire your pen and paper and fade away because DC was better off without you in it. You were a lackluster replacement for the Snyder/Capullo team on Batman, and now you are going out to ruin the rest of these books, so please, on behalf of every person who reads DC, just stop.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we will see you again soon!

Titans: One Step Forward Two Steps Back

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

If there has been a single upcoming project that has personified the expression "out of the frying pan and into the fire," it''s the upcoming live action show Titans. The show is the premiere exclusive for DC's premium streaming app DC Universe. Ever since set photos leaked showing a rather lackluster look at the team almost a year ago, the show has been in an uphill struggle. At SDCC this year their situation was worsened by a trailer that upset most of the fanbase as it seemed the serieswas committing character assassination on the entire squad of the beloved super-team: The Teen Titans. The most notable instance was the horrible representation of Dick Grayson's Robin who sets the tone of the trailer by straight up murdering 6 people and punctuating the horror with "Fuck Batman." However, on Batman day this past week we got our first glimpse at Jason Todd interacting with Dick Grayson in the show and it delivered some of the first overall positive feedback:

This clip had even given me a glimmer of hope as I started to regain some interest in the show. The interaction between Jason and Dick felt organic and was just downright enjoyable. This minute long sneak peak at what I would see from these two actors in the show had me excited for exactly one minute. However, apparently the universe took action within a 60 second time period because it didn't take long for my hopes and dreams to be dashed upon the rocky shores of hopelessness that it is to be a fan of DC books. What could cause my hopes to come crashing down you may ask? Just look below:

It should be noted that this is a leak from a "report," so this costume has not been officially confirmed, but neither has it been denied to be official. That being said, given the cheap quality of everyone else's costumes in the cast, I am more inclined to believe that this is in fact the costume we will see Batman in the show. It's honestly infuriating that the production team would put so much effort into making Robin look fantastic, but decide to halfass everyone else's designs. This is supposed to be a cinematic quality show! Why does everything look like shit?! For all the problems DC has had in the cinematic department, they have never once caused fans a reason to doubt the dedication they have to these characters because at least their designs were on point.

Following this whole show has honestly been a disheartening experience. I had some serious hopes for this show at the beginning. I wanted it to do well, show people what DC was really capable of. I never would have thought in a million years that I would be dreading a live action Teen Titans show. However, this appears to be yet another flop that will add to the already tarnished DC reputation. I hope DC succeeds, I wanted Titans to be the first big step towards a road of wins for the company. However, that sadly doesn't appear to be the case here. I refuse to remain an optimist if this is the quality that they have accepted for their productions.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and we will see you again next time!

Venom Releases First Clip and It's Not Pretty

Welcome Back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

Well folks it's less than two weeks away and I would say that the anxiety is killing me, but frankly I am not having any real emotions as Venom hits theaters next Friday. That being said Sony has started to amp up advertising  over the past week. So far we have been hit with some promotional features and TV spots with some new footage. However, yesterday we got hit with our first clip of the movie and let's take a look at it below:

So the first thing that came to mind when I saw this was: "why?" Which honestly shouldn't come much as a surprise as I have found myself asking this question after pretty much every release this PR team has done for the film. The clip has fairly shotty dialogue accompanied by Tom Hardy overacting this part. While I get that they are trying to play Eddie up as this Michael Moore-esque conspiracy journalist, this whole interview just comes off as dumb. Usually you don't get handed a PR piece on a major corporation without going through some sort of vetting process to make sure you aren't there to destroy the subject of your piece. Honestly it feels choppy, especially toward the end when Drake tells Brock that "he's done." Eddie goes off the handle and starts to accuse the man of threatening him. It just feels so incredibly forced and uninspired. This brings me to my question of "why," which pertains particularly to this: if you were less than two weeks away from release, you have a box office projection of under 60 million for opening weekend, and your movie is supposed to be an action packed "antihero" film, why are you bothering with an exposition scene? No one cares about this. What little faith people have or had for this film was in action sequences. Why not release a more tame clip of Venom fighting off a bunch of goons, maybe tone down the violence for TV (oh wait I almost forgot you already had to tone it down since it's no longer rated R).

If this weren't enough of a red flag, it was also recently revealed that the film's review embargo would be lifted October 2nd, two days before the film hits theaters on the evening of the 4th, at 7:30pm PT or 10:30pm ET. This is NOT a good sign as usually this means that a studio has cause for concerns to allow those reviews to hit the web. It is to minimize damage to the film's image, so as to decrease the effect on box office numbers. Numbers which, as we have stated previously, are already projected to be VERY low.

Either way, we will see what critics are saying on the 2nd and Ill let you know what I thought of the movie as I will be seeing it on the 4th, opening night.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! see you next time!

The Perfect Spidey Experience

Welcome Back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

Over the past week or so there has been one topic on the tip of everyone's tongue, Spider-Man the recent PS4 exclusive that has been breaking records and making every owner of a XBox One just a little green with envy. Having beaten the game to it's absolute completion, I figured it was about time to share my thoughts on the game. If you couldn't guess from the titles of this piece, I absolutely loved this game, and I will go even further by saying that this game is not only the best Spider-man game ever made, it's the all around best Spider-Man anything ever made.

If I were asked to describe this game in one word it would have to be: free-flowing. Everything about this game has been tailored to that motif. Web slinging through Manhattan is smooth and seemless allowing you traverse distances with speed and grace better than in any of Spidey's preceding game IP's. The combat is designed to promote aerial combat, and using Spidey's webs to use his surroundings create a never ending string of combos that make you feel untouchable as you dodge around and sling up large groups of enemies.

As strong as the gameplay is, it's accomplanied with an even better story. PS4's Spider-Man has probably one of the best original Spiderman stories I have ever seen. One of the great things that the MCU has accomplished is finding a seemingly perfect middleground between source material and artistic liscense. This game sets out to do that perfectly. Spider-Man is a completely original story that even provides some major changes to some of the more iconic members of the Spider-Man rogues gallery. However, while the artistic libery is taken, they do not forget the roots of where these stories came from and in doing so you have an organic blend for a true and original Spider-Man story. I would furthermore like to say that while I love MCU's approach on Spider-Man, and while I enjoyed Spider-Man: Homecoming a great deal, this is the Spider-Man story that we should have gotten from them, a story that hones into every asset Peter has as a character: a scientist, a photographer, ajokester, a guy with terrible luck (especially in regards to his personal finances), and most importantly a guy whose city comes first before everything else. While it may be unfair to ask a movie to deliver all of that, AND tell a compitent story, it's hard not to expect more when this is sitting right there and it clearly exists in a shared universe.

This leads me to the last thing I would like to gush about. While the main story of this game is certainly rich enough on its own, it is amplified by the existence of a shared universe of characters. Easter eggs to major Marvel Properties like the Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Daredevil pepper the game as you zip around Manhattan and see Avengers Tower and the Sanctum Sanctorum, or pick up collectibles in old backpacks like a Murdock and Nelson business card. Hell, even Task Master appears in a fantastic side mission where he gauges your abilities through several challenges and even takes you on a few times. This particular mechanic is what most were hoping to see from Deathstroke in Arkham: Origins or Arkham: Knight.  Not only does this game create an atmospheric and expanded universe, it builds upon the foundation of previous games of the genre before and even makes ginormous improvements.

That's not to say the game is not without faults, but they are certainly minor ones. The biggest two are that first, I felt there weren't enough boss fights. While it is certainly EXTREMELY fun beating up large groups of thugs and cranking up the combo numbers, a true testament of skill in a game like this are bossfights, and with Spider-man's massive Rogues Gallery, I was kind of hoping for a bit more in this department. While the fights we do get are stellar and really fun, there just aren't enough of them. This is issue is one that I am hoping gets rectified here soon, as they are releasing 4 story expansions over the next 4 months. The last complaint I have was all the mandatory missions of MJ and Miles. While both characters are well written and contribute to the story very well, I feel their missions were honestly just thrown in there to slow you down a bit. As I said before, free flowing is the best way to describe the game, and in fact movement is so fluid that traversing Manhattan from one side to another can feel almost instantaneous after you've fully upgraded your web slinging abilities, so I feel these missions were just a mechanic to force you to slow down, and while they certainly did their job, I came here to play as Spider-Man, which neither of these are (at least during the events of the game).

I wuld easily rate this game a 9.5 out of 10 with potential to get that perfect ranking once these DLC's are released. I earnestly encourage everyone to get ahold of a PS4 somehow and give this game a try because oh boy is it worth the time.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! See you guys next time!

Character Appreciaion: The Shadow Knows!

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

While this blog is dedicated primarily to talking about the current events of the industry, from time to time I have taken a moment to take a break from it all and talk about some favorite characters that are relatively unknown and that I feel you guys might find some interest into looking up. It's been a little while since my last one of these, so here is brand new character appretiation! Today's character is The Shadow

In modern comics the concept of darker heroes and anti heroes that fight evil with a similar darkness is a popular one. Characters like Batman to the Punisher have become some of the most popular in the genre as these characters hunt the criminal element through the shadows. Well before all of these characters were around, there was a man who knew the evil that lurked in the hearts of all men, The Shadow.

The Shadow has a very complex origin. Kent Allard was a soldier/agent in the first World War with a real vindictive streak. Following the war, Allard stayed behind in China and became an Opium lord in Tibet that went by the name Ying Ko. As Ying Ko, Allard created a criminal empire and was a terrifying force to be reckoned with. However, this would not last.

One night, Allard found himself kidnapped by a group loyal to a Tulku (a tibetan monk believed to be reincarnated to pass down a specific set of teachings that have been passed down). When brought before the Tulku, Allard was forced to confront the demon within. Terrified by what he saw, Allard sought redemption. The Tulku taught Allard the mystic arts of hypnotic persuasion. After years of training Kent Allard returned to New York posing as a socialite, Lamont Cranston, using Lamont's financial assets in the city and his mystical powers from the east, Allard uses his abilities and fininavial assets to fight the criminal element of New York.

Kent Allard has a vey long list of abilities ranging from the physical to the mystical, however, his most used is the ability to "cloud men's minds" rendering himself wholly invisible save the onething noone can hide, his own shadow (hence the name.) Aside from his mystical skills, Allard is also armed with dual colt .45 pistols and a network of informants all across New York made up of the people he's saved. His chief member of this network is a woman named Margo Lane, who has demonstrated limited telepathic affinity herself.

The Shadow has always held a special place in my heart. You see, back in 1994 they released a live action film starring Alec Baldwin that my dad and I used to watch together all the time, and if memory serves correct, is the first superhero movie I ever watced.While the movie was not critically recieved well and did not do well at the box office, I still love this film. It's not an amazing movie, but the performance by Alec Baldwin as The Shadow was so good that honestly I can't picture anyone else as the character. In addition the effects from the film are way ahead of its time so when you get to see the Shadow in action it's a genuine treat. However, what makes the character more fun is when you get to read his books.

What makes the Shadow so unique of a character is that Kent Allard may be on a path to redemption for his years as a drug lord, however, he's still an evil man. If I were to describe Allard's personality it would be the intensity of Bruce Wayne with the psychopathic humor and deadliness of the Joker. You see, The Shadow has another key defining trait, and that is that he laughs while he's fighting these crimnals, as if the whole thing were amusing to him. In some comics Allrad has been described as having the most twisted sense of humor that anyone has ever met. His laugh is unsettling in the tense situations where he appears. The point is that The Shadow is not a good guy, he's a monster that has been unleashed on smaller monsters and is enjoying ripping them apart.

If you are interested in taking a look at this character I definitely recommend you start off with Matt Wagner's The Shadow: Year One, as it is a fantastic reimagining of the characters origin. Some other good reads on the character are: The Shadow: Fire of Creation by Garth Ennis (this entire run was pretty fantastic), The Shadow: Death of Margo Lane by Matt Wagner, and most recently the Shadow had two fantastic crossover arcs with Batman, the first of these being Batman/Shadow by Scott Snyder, and the second being Shadow/Batman by Steve Orlando.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and I hope you guys check out The Shadow!

What does 'Cavill-gate' Mean for Industry Related News Outlets

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

Two days ago an announcement was made that broke the internet. Online news database for the industry, Heroic Hollywood, released an article that Henry Cavill had exited negotiations with Warner Bros and would no longer be the Man of Steel. This threw the internet in an uproar and the rumor mill started running rampant. Eventually we got some statements, first of these was from Cavill's agent who reassured us that "the cape was still in the closet." and that Warner Bros would release a statement later that day. A few hours later and Warner Bros released there statement:

While no decisions have been made regarding any upcoming Superman films, we've always had great respect for and a great relationship with Henry Cavill, and that remains unchanged

This statement didn't really help much at all, as it actively said NOTHING, however, that's a subject for a different time. The point is that WB's lack of conviction in their statement allowed for rumors to continue to spread like a virus throughout the internet. Then that evening we got the answer we had wanted directly from the man himself on Cavill's instagram:

While there are some people who are apparently confused by this, the answer is very clear. Henry Cavill is still Superman, he has not left the project and is more than likely still amidst negotiations for a new contract with the company. This seems to be very much the case as following this, several credible news sources came forward by saying that this whole thing was fake. However, what is still so very sad, is that rather than retract their statements, sites like Comicbook.com and Heroic Hollywood have refused to post a retraction about this news. They have instead tried to twist everything to continue to stir the pot. So what does this mean for these sites?

Honestly it doesn't mean much, more than likely those pages will continue to run. However, they have taken a MASSIVE hit to their credibility. This is what happens when the only way you get your news is reguritating what other sites say. Telephone has always been a game that shows how information can be twisted, however, this is a lesson that these sites haven't learned evidently. The fact of the matter is that they don't care about providing quality content, they care about your clicks. So they will continue to stir this pot to get as many clicks as possible. This is the real tragedy.

 That being said, I am writing this post today because I want to make a promise to you all. Content is the reason I started this site. I love comics, I love movies, video games, all of it. I started this page to share that passion with as many who were open to hearing about it. So here is my promise, no matter how big this blog may get, I promsie that each of this blog's articles will be worth your time. I will not be posting click bait on this blog, it's the death of journalism and if there is a story that is big, but isn't something either myself or any of my writers can  write something worthwile about, then we will post the news on the fb page, but we won't waste you're time for a wasted click.

Thank you guys so much for reading this blog, I hope you have enjoyed this edition of Comic Relief! We will see you next time!

Diversity in Comics

Welcome Back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

Today I’m going to be talking about something that I feel pretty strongly about. While it may not be “breaking news” I do feel that it is something that needs to be addressed. In the comic industry there is a lot of division: DC vs MARVEL, Batman vs Superman, Iron Man vs Captain America. In a way the industry thrives on these conflicts, pushing itself to be better. However, there has been a topic of division that I feel has only hurt the industry of late and that is the topic of diversity in comics. Since 2011, the big comic companies have been pushing forward a more diverse roster of heroes. However, with this came a forced agenda that attached itself to the books, and it gave way to the rise of some pretty serious critics. The topic of the day is what about diversity in comics? is it really the scourge  to the industry like some claim?

In his review of the wedding issue of Batman, Richard Meyer, creator of the youtube channel Diversity and Comics and probably the leading detractor to the current state of the industry, said something that I very much agreed with.

This is a part of American Culture and myth

While Mr Meyer was talking specifically about Batman, this holds true for all comics and so on this fact we are both in agreement. Mythic heroes of old were meant to espouse the virtues that were cornerstones to their respective cultures. They were meant to serve as inspiration for the young to look up to and try to emulate. The comic book superhero isno different. Standing for moral platitudes of truth and justice, the comic book superhero is an embodiment of what we strive to be as a society.

In the building of its cultural identity, America became known as a melting pot of culture. Diverse culture, points of view all of it are integral to the American identity and therefore should be a core element to comics. This country has been a beacon for people from all walks of life. The initial settlers of this nation were political and religious refugees looking to start something of their own where they wouldn't face the persecution of the old world. When those colonies were established, the promise of the American frontier, of land ownership that would allow one to rise above such humble beginnings set in place by the "old world's" ancien regime, drew people from all over. Even the slave trade, horrible as it was, brought culture that became ingrained in our society. So if comics are in fact the embodiment of the American myth, they should be inclusive.

With all that being said, there is a standard that must be upheld, and sadly this has not been the case, and it shows across the board. There are two main contributions to this. The biggest problem is the laziness behind these characters. What made the silver age of comics great? It was all these brand new ideas. Every issue there was something, someone new. It was a comic book renaissance where some of the most iconic heroes of today were created. Sadly, the time of that innovation seems to be over. I get that it's difficult to come up with something new, however, if you want to make more diverse heroes, then you HAVE to. There is no reason why we should be race swapping, gender swapping, or even turning characters with years of backstory a different sexual orientation. Frankly it's insulting, not just to those who created these characters in the first place, but to every person of a different background looking for a hero of their own to look up to. The fact that the writers of the industry have evidently deemed it too hard to go back and create completely new characters to represent these many cultures is a sad insult. Even some of the better diverse characters don't even carry their own identity, they are riding the success of legacy rather than making one of their own.

The second big issue is that these characters should have much more than their diversity to bring to the table. In an interview back in 2012 famed Game of Thrones writer, George R. R. Martin, talked about character writing and said the following:

The main thing is empathy, it's saying "okay, how would I feel?" because the character is still a person, there is still this basis of common humanity, and that's true when writing about women, or writing about a dwarf, or writing about anyone. You have to start with the basis "they're more like me then they are unlike me," they have some special condition, that they have a different set of genitals than I do, but it's still the same old story. A fight for love and glory

Writing a superhero is no different. It's still the same old story, but treat the characters with respect and don't make their diversity a crutch that is being used to beat the audience over the head with. So many times a diverse character is introduced nowadays, we have to have that diversity shoved down our throats as readers. The moment that diversity, whether it's their race, their orientation, or whatever becomes the only asset they bring to a series, is the moment the character has been ruined. I am not saying that these things shouldn't be a part of the story. The struggles a character may face because of their identity is integral. Just look at the X men. However, character development should alway be the primary focus of any story.

They are heroes, or they are villains. They fight to protect the innocent, or they want the world to bend the knee to their will. The driving forces of this is what makes them right or wrong. A good man like prof. Xavier erased the minds of his students for his own gains and " the good of mankind" and magneto created an ethnocentric terrorist group cause he saw his people being murdered and prosecuted when they were clearly more powerful and showing restraint in the face of violence. these two juxtapositions of a good guy in Xavier and a bad guy in magneto made them COMPLEX and RELATABLE. you could both agree and disagree with both justifications.this made 2-dimensional people richer and better.

What we don't need is a black character that is constantly talking about BET, we don't need an LGBT character whose sole purpose is to complain about their love life or lack thereof. We need heroes, not reality tv. These concepts are not just identitarian, but they are in and of themselves stereotypes. These are flat and boring. But worst of all lazy and insulting. All black people don't watch BET as their sole source of all things. and LGBTQ people don't have horrible love lives.

There is a golden opportunity for a new silver age of comic books. We should not be settling for the lackluster parade of  legacy characters, and race swapping of old characters. This is not something we should be celebrating because the generation of tomorrow deserves better than that. Since the first story was told around a campfire, it has served to inspire the youth of a generation to be great and reach to the stars. Superheroes are just the latest chapter in that method of storytelling. I believe that every kid should have a character they connect with or relate to. They deserve characters that don’t just feel like after thoughts, they deserve characters that stand on their own, no matter how hard it may be to create them.

This is has been another edition of Comic Relief! if you enjoyed the piece be sure to follow us on the blog, facebook, and twitter. If you want to pitch in your own opinions on the issue feel free to comment!