The Decline and Fall of Assassin’s Creed

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

This past week, we posted up our review of the recently released Assassin's Creed Odyssey! While we really enjoyed the game, there were some issues, but chief among them was the fact that while it may have been a great game, it was not even close to being a true-to-form Assassin's Creed experience. So I thought it would be interesting to go back and take a look at the progression of these games to lead to the departure of form that we see not only in the recently released Odyssey, but in the previous installment as well: Origins.

The first Assassin's Creed game was released way back in 2007, the game followed a guy named Desmond Miles who was reliving the memories of one of his ancestors in a redemption story of the assassin Altair Ibn La'Ahad. The game took place in the Holy Land during the Second Crusade. In this game, they established the staples of this franchise: lots of free running across rooftops, scaling large buildings, stealth assassinations with the hidden blade, and a counter-attack based combat system. Over the next several years we got to see the franchise grow and expand as they took on different time periods and introduced new Assasins. In Renaissance Italy, we met Ezio Auditore di Firenze who would be a protagonist for three games. In the games, Ezio traveled all over Italy and finally ended up in Turkey during the height of the Ottoman empire to find out the secrets of his predecessor, Altair. During the time of the American War of Independence, we got to meet Connor Kenway, a half Welsh, half Native Assassin hunting for revenge, and ultimately the decline of these games began here.

Assassin's Creed III is to date probably this franchise's most publicized entry. Promotions were everywhere as the franchise was brought to the literal defining moment of American History, and with as much time was spent in making Connor as authentic as possible, the hype behind this game was immense. However, Assassin's Creed III was met with a mixed response. While the game certainly was praised for its gameplay mechanics, it was heavily criticized for its narrative and portrayal of the protagonist. This would lead to a bit of course correction for the next game of the franchize.

One of the most popular aspects of Assassin's Creed III was a newly introduced Naval Combat system. Connor would occasionally captain a personal vessel of his own. With this in mind, the next Assassin's Creed game was one that would go all in on this mechanic as the driving force of the game. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is to date probably the best-received game in franchise history. Investing in the naval combat paid off, and the choice setting of the Carribean during the height of the Golden Age of Piracy was a fantastic choice. The story of the game was fantastic as well, sporting probably the most popular of the protagonists of any of the games, Edward Kenway. Sailing around the Carribean and being a Pirate was a dream come true for most, however, there was a big issue. It was not really an Assassin's Creed game, and in all honesty, the main character is only an Assassin for like 10 seconds at the end of the game. This was the first sign of the true start of the decline of the franchise.

With the hype of Assassin's Creed being back up due to the wild popularity of the Black Flag, Ubisoft decided to push Assassin's Creed the way most companies try to push their triple-A titles, push quantity over quality and so they tried to push out 2 games at the same time, one for the next generation consoles (PS3 and XBox 360) and one for the, at the time, recently released generation now consoles (PS4 and XBox One). The next-gen consoles would receive Assassin's Creed: Rogue which was the story of an Assassin gone Templar, and the gameplay was essentially just a port of Black Flag in the far less colorful setting of British Columbia during the Seven Years War, and for the generation now we got Assassin's Creed Unity which was to be set during the French Revolution (a time period that I had been advocating for years prior to this game's release).

Assassin's Creed Unity promised to be a return to form for the franchise. The cinematic trailer was very reminiscent of the old trailers for the Ezio Games as we saw our new protagonist running along the rooftops of Paris, following the massive mob of Sans-Culottes as they storm the Bastille. The game even teased the ability to invite friends along to assist on missions and explore Paris together. With the credibility of the franchise back to top form, the anticipation for the game was very high.

Now ultimately, Unity just didn't live up to any of the expectations. The game was released before it had been properly tested for bugs, and so players all over had horrifying glitches during the game. Even more than that, however, the story was terrible. The game's protagonist, Arno Dorian, is a pale imitation of Ezio from previous Assassin games, and the plot felt like a cheap knock-off of an Alexandre Dumas book, most notably: The Count of Monte Cristo. In  addition, the game's story had little to nothing to do with the events going on at the time, something that previous games in the franchise made sure to put focus on (in the Ezio games you had the rise and fall of the Borgias, Connor was instrumental to the efforts in the American War of Independence, Edward was a silent partner at Nassau and was an instrumental figure in the Golden Age of Piracy that brought the big names together). The game lacked appearances from substantial people of the time and some of the people that do make it in the game have such a limited part for the very grand role they provided to the Revolution. Worst of all however was the blatant slap in the face to the French by having all the characters voice by British people, an even larger slight considering that while exploring Paris all the people around are speaking in perfect Parisian Dialect French, only to be interrupted by a BBC program whenever one of them talks to you (talk about immersion destruction).

At the end of the day, all those negative things compounded snuffed out the positive points of the game, like a truly enjoyable co-op based around ACTUAL events of the Revolution, or the smoothest free running of the games, and the massive crowds that you can literally disappear into upon assassinating people. What's sad is that the things the game does right, it does exceedingly well and after playing Odyssey and experiencing its hollow RPG mechanic, it's an even bigger shame because this game could have actually been a true RPG with a meld between single player and multiplayer. It could have been a game where you can play the main story either by yourself or invite others and invest skill points in your character to make them unique in a squad of assassins. They could have also allowed you to choose the origin of your Assassin as both Women AND  Persons of Color were instrumental in the French Revolution. Most importantly though, it FEELS like an Assassin's Creed game. The Urban setting of Paris is perfect for free running, and with buildings like the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Toulerie Palace, there are plenty of large buildings to scale for Viewpoints. The game promotes stealthiness, and while you can take on droves of enemies, the range and damage of rifles and pistols make doing this far more of a challenge than before. Sadly this all doesn't count for much as the thing that sells a game like this are the very things that game failed to provide: a captivating narrative, an enjoyable protagonist, and world immersion. So when Ubisoft saw the numbers for this game it was all but dead.

Assassin's Creed would release one more game prior to Origins, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, which took place in Victorian London. Despite the intrigue behind the setting, people didn't pick up the game. While those who played the game did enjoy the game, lauding it for its story and two main characters, the failure of Unity had destroyed most people's faith in the franchise, so it was time to hit the reset button. They brought back the team who did Black Flag and gave them a new project, set in Ptolemaic Egypt. They continued in the same vein of Black Flag in making a game that was Assassin's Creed in name only, and while the pay off certainly did come through as Origins was well received and sold very well, the death notice of the Assassin's Creed template of the game was signed. While the franchise may be alive and well, Assassin's Creed will never truly be Assassin's Creed again.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! we hope you enjoyed and we’ll see you again soon

Farewell to a Friend: Tribute to Stan Lee

Welcome Back to Another edition of Comic Relief! Where we talk about all that is going on in the world of nerd!

Sadly, that world is one in mourning as we grieve the passing of one of, if not the most iconic name in the industry. Stan Lee, the prolific co-founder of Marvel comics, passed away today at the age of 95. If you have been following this page for a while, one of the first pieces I wrote was on Stan: The Man. It talked not only on his legacy of characters he bequeathed to comics but his stand against censorship from the CCA (Comic Code Authority). We have truly lost a great man today, however, I feel that with as much sadness as there is in the world, sadness would be the last thing he would have wanted. Instead, I propose we take a moment to celebrate the life he lived, and the gifts he gave to us in his stories.

If you were looking to know Stan, I feel that there is little else that needs to be known other than that even in fading health, in the wake of losing his wife Joan, he still dedicated himself to being there for his fans. Even with his poor health, Stan made it out to conventions all over the country, maintained a fairly heavy social media presence, and made sure to let us fans know that as much as we appreciated him for the characters and worlds he gave us, he appreciated us just the same. Normally I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable calling someone I met for only a brief few seconds by there first name, but just like a certain wall-crawler we all know and love, Stan Lee was your friendly neighborhood kind of guy, and I believe he would be friends with everyone. In fact, if you look at his work in the industry, I feel it only reinforces that. To Stan Lee, there was no such thing as a stranger or an outcast, only a potential friend to make.

During times of adversity, Stan Lee used comics to fight institutions of hatred and bigotry. Titles like X men and Black Panther tackled civil rights issues in complex and nuanced ways that allowed people to appreciate people for more than the color of their skin, but their actions. Characters like Peter Parker shine a bit of Stan through as a person that wants to see the best in everyone and tries to do right for others more than himself. Stan Lee was about telling human stories through fantasy and sci-fi, so, to him, a person's sex, ethnicity, beliefs, it didn't matter, what mattered was how a character overcame adversity, in whatever form it may have come.

Thank you, Stan Lee, for the gifts you gave us: every character and every issue. While it is sad that you are no longer with us and can no longer grace us with more brilliant cameos, the ride couldn't last forever, and so on behalf of the entire world of nerd: Thank you for it all, it's been a blast! I am not a particularly religious or spiritual person, but I do hope that you are with your wife and are watching over us. Excelsior!

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

A Much Needed Apology to a Great Series: 'Titans' Review

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

Today marks the day of the 5th episode of the DC streaming service exclusive show, Titans. With the first being comprised of 11 episodes, we have finally reached the midway point of the season and so I feel like I can give an official verdict on the show overall as a whole. The first thing I want to say is that I owe an apology to this show. When those set photos and that first trailer came out, I was objectively against this series. I wanted it to fail because I refused to see how anything about this show could be good. While the first episode certainly didn't quell all my fears about this show, the increased quality of writing and acting throughout each episode has more than earned its due, so before anything else, Titans I am sorry for misjudging you, I can't promise I won't continue to evaluate how I think something is going to turn out based off of what I am seeing, but I have to admit you have certainly proven exception to the rule. Without further ado, let's talk Titans, the best live action, Superhero-Team Show!

The Good

So let's talk about all the good in the show. The most obvious is the writing, having comic legend Geoff Johns write the screenplay for this show so well proves two MAJOR things: 1) comic writers should be the people writing any comic adaptation, film or tv, and 2) that investing in high budget Super Hero TV shows is the best way to do justice for your characters while establishing a connected universe. In this first half of the season of Titans Johns effectively establishes an overarching universe far more successfully than ANY of the DC films have. The reason it has been so effective is due to the episodic nature of a comic book that lends itself perfectly to the TV format. One season of a show can effectively set up more than 4 movies can and they can do it in far less time! 

Moving onto the next good thing is the cast. By this point in the show, every character is shining. Some shine brighter than others, Dick and Gar are easily my two favorites of the show, there is no member of the cast that still feels awkward in their respective roles. While these characters are not exact adaptations from the pages, the spirit is there and they become more like their comic book selves each episode. What's more is that these characters are at their best when they are together (which is ironically the name of the 5th episode) as you see both their personalities as characters and fighters play off one another. I am very much looking forward to all the transitions that will be made for these characters over the course of the second half of this season, in particular, a certain boy wonder turning into Nightwing. 

The Bad

While this show has very much surprised and impressed me, it's not without its flaws. However, the two biggest ones I feel are somewhat connected. The first of these issues is the very clear cheap production budget. It is no mystery that the biggest thing that turned everyone against the show in the first place is the poor character designs shown from st photos and character posters, and sadly this cheap aesthetic is almost a universal constant. With few exceptions, nothing really looks cinematic in quality and this really hurts the series as I am actively paying 5.99 a month for this subscription service. I would hope to see costumes and action on par with the Netflix Daredevil series if it feels like I am the one picking up the tab actively. Which leads to my next point, the forced use of gore during the fight sequences.

If there is one bad trait this show inherited from the DCEU it's being edgy for edgy's sake, and there is no better example of this than the over the top gore effects in a lot of the fights, especially in the first 2 or 3 episodes. Goreing and maiming people should not be the objective of portraying these characters. While the Titans books of the past certainly dealt with a lot of drama and teenage angst, brutalizing a man's genitals with garden sheers and slicing out the back of people's knees, isn't exactly the repertoire of these characters. While I am fine with some of these being used as shock value to show, in particular, Dick Grayson's struggle with his own personal demons that will lead to the transition of Nightwing. Moments like that are hindered when you watch a fight scene that shows the character years before, being less brutal for sure, but he still appears to be murdering people (it just doesn't seem to bother him as much) because blood is flying in every damn direction the moment he hits a thug with his bo staff. This is not conducive to the story being told and actively hurts it! Hopefully, both of these problems will be resolved by the next season as the show has already been approved for a second and third season. The show can only become better if they continue down the path that they are in, and so long as these characters continue to develop and don't remain stagnant. 

All in all, Titans is a great show, at the end of every episode I have been excited to watch more and I patiently endure my week wait for the next episode to drop. I would give Titans a solid 8.5 out of 10 and my official backing for anyone on the fence to go on ahead and binge the episodes they have. Episode 5 of the show, Together, was released this morning and episode 6, Jason Todd, will be released next Friday. 

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

An Odyssey Through the Aegean: Review for 'Asssassin's Creed Odyssey'

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! 

I apologize for my hiatus, it's been far too long and that's unacceptable, however, it's not without reason. The next piece I wanted to deliver to you was a review of the recently released: Assassin's Creed Odyssey. This has been a game I have been anxiously awaiting as I have always dreamed of an open world, sandbox set in the Peloponnesian era of ancient Greece. With the amazing job that Ubisoft did in Assassin's Creed Origins, completely redeeming the hatchet job of Assassin's Creed Unity, I was eager to see how they handled my favorite time period in history. Let's just say they did not disappoint. I have been gone for so long because I have been very busy exploring ancient Greece, and selling my sword to the highest bidder in the first Peloponnesian War. Without further ado, let's talk about the game, what I enjoyed, and what problems there were with the game.

The Good

Normally when I do these reviews, this would just be a long summary paragraph talking about all the things I enjoyed, but a game of this scope deserves a bit more than that. I am going to be talking about each of this game's facets it brings to the table in a great deal of depth, for quite possibly my lengthiest review I have ever done. 

The Narrative

Assassin's Creed Odyssey does something unique that it has never done before, the choice between two protagonists: Alexios or Kassandra. While I have only chosen Alexios, due to my wish to maintain posterity with a semblance of Historical Accuracy, it honestly doesn't matter who you choose as both their stories are identical. Either way, you play as the descendant of Leonidas, whose family underwent a  horrible tragedy that left you stranded on the island of Kefalonia where you were brought up to be a mercenary by trade. As an adult, you are hired by a mysterious man to kill a Spartan general of great renown, and this sets you on an Odyssey across the Aegean Sea as you become an instrumental force in the Peloponnesian war, swaying the tides of war one way or another by aiding either Athens or Sparta, while simultaneously hunting a cult bent on spreading their dominion and influence across Ancient Greece. It is a story of revenge, redemption, and family and whether it be Alexios or Kassandra, there has not been a protagonist with so much heart since Edward Kenway. While this will be a statement that will undoubtedly spur some argument due to the very positive reaction of Bayek of Siwa, the protagonist of Assassin's Creed Origins, the reason why these characters are better are due to how much better the story of this game flows. Origins, for all its strengths, had quite possibly one of the worst narrative flows of any Assassin's Creed games that left me confused for a good quarter of the game. No such issues exist with these characters as their narrative flows very well and you feel for the characters throughout every step of their journey. 

'

Setting and Historical Accuracy

When I was a boy, the Iliad was my bedtime story. I was obsessed with Greek myths and by the time I was finishing grade school, I had filled myself with enough knowledge of Ancient Greece, it's culture and history, to give my teachers a run for their money, so when I got to experience this time period firsthand, I was overwhelmed with joy. Speaking to the Pythia at Delphi, standing before the statue of Zeus at Olympus, meeting the great Perikles and having discourse with some of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of any time, fighting in battles in the Peloponnesian war, it was all a dream come true. While Historical accuracy is also a problem I had with this games, those problems were mere the minor details that were things only classicists like myself would really care about. 

The Mythology

By far the BEST time I had in the game was fighting the monsters of myth and finding the legendary armor sets and weapons of the great Greek Heroes like Theseus, and Achilles. I don't think I have been happier in any game as I was when I entered the labyrinth and was led to the Minotaur by the thread that Theseus had used to ensure that he would not be lost in the labyrinth. What's more was that as a big fan of the Dark Souls series, it seems Assassin's Creed has implemented the multi-phase boss fights for these monsters of old, and what's better is that unlike the shitty 'Trial of the Gods' from Odyssey, each of the monsters are unique and have different move sets.

The Bad

That pretty much wraps it up for the good portion, now we get with the bad parts of the game. Now before I get started here, I feel I should clarify that MOST  of these are not big problems, they nitpick on minor details in the game. I want to make sure that is clear before anyone gets up in arms about anything I say here. 

The Combat

In Assassin's Creed Origins, the franchise introduced a brand new fighting mechanic modeled heavily after the Dark Souls series. This has become a very common trend for the fantasy/RPG game as it frankly is kind of the gold standard. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey we see that mechanic return in a very odd way. It's not that the combat is bad, it just doesn't seem particularly organic to the time period. The Combat of Ancient Greece, during this time period, was heavily reliant on the Shield. The hoplite formation dominated the battlefield as strength was found at it's greatest in numbers. The interlocking of shields to form a Phalanx created an impenetrable unit, good for both defensive and offensive maneuvering on the battlefield. Our character uses no shield whatsoever but instead uses an Isu (first civilization) tech spear paired with another melee weapon. While this is without a doubt a very fun mechanic. I feel it should have been that his shield was an artifact that allowed for these powers to be used, or to have made this the combat mechanic of Origins and this game have been heavily reliant on the shield. This is a good time to shift into my next problem: 

Historical Accuracy and Its effect on the Story 

So these problems are interconnected, and part of it is nitpicky, but it does lead to a MAJOR problem I have with the game. While the setting and the gist of Greek culture is done beautifully, it's on the minor details it fails, however, there are enough of them to leave a sour taste in my mouth at times. For example, this character was trained by their father to be a Spartan warrior and is a Spartan. However, he/she does not use a shield (to go back to the issue from before). The hoplite shield or Aspis was an almost religious artifact to the Spartans. The Spartans had an idiom: 

Come back with your shield, or on it 

While I understand that the main character did not complete the formal hoplite training that Spartans go through, it just doesn't feel right to be this Spartan mercenary without a shield. However there is a problem that goes hand in hand with the character's training and the game's story that becomes a massive problem, and that is how they handled the character of Kassandra.

As I said in The Good section, the story of these characters are IDENTICAL which means that where Kassandra was a baby in Alexios' campaign, Alexios is a baby in Kassandra's. Kassandra received combat training from her father, which is something that just WOULDN'T happen in this time. Now if Kassandra was just an exception due to her heritage as a granddaughter of Leonidas, that would be one thing, however, Ubisoft and the dev team of this game decided that rather than deal with the sexism of the ancient world, they would just ignore that it was a problem and portray the time period as something it wasn't. Where this becomes a huge issue for me is that despite the disclaimer that these events are in fact fictional, people look to these games as a representation of history. By doing this you allow people to have romanticized this time period as being something it's not, and this can be very dangerous. History is doomed to repeat itself if we don't commit ourselves to learn from the mistakes of the past. There was a lot of great things about ancient Greece, but it was a far cry from a society of gender equality that they show in this game. Female mercenaries, women who own property in Athens, women being able to attend symposiums and seminars with Socrates, it's all a fiction that NEVER happened, and that annoys me a great deal.

This is NOT, nor SHOULD it be an Assassin's Creed Game

My last problem with this game is that as great of a game as it is, it is a TERRIBLE Assassin's Creed game. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a cry for a new IP or at the very least admitting that Assasin's Creed has an expanded universe where new titles can exist while being attached to this overarching story. The weakest parts of this game were the parts that were forced to be associated with the Assassins, and big shock, they are, for the most part, all in the present. This game could have been so much better if it had the ability to run wild and actually explore the potential of being something new. I feel like all the assassin nonsense could have been replaced with being hired for mercenary contracts where you actually led your crew of mercenaries into an all-out battle to turn the tide. Instead, we got "WE NEED TO TAKE DOWN ABSTERGO!" that was frankly played out in the original games.

At the end of the day, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a great game, a solid 8.5 out of 10 for me. I had a great time exploring the Greek world and will definitely continue playing the game on days off. However, it is restricted by the fact that it's attached to a franchise that's, in all honesty, past due for extinction. That along with a lot of minor issues in historical representation compounding prevent it from being the perfect experience it COULD be. 

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! hope you enjoyed and we'll see you again next time! 

Netflix cancels Iron Fist...and no one is shocked except for "geek journalists"

Saturday evening it was announced that Netflix’s Iron fist staring Finn Jones as Danny Rand The Iron Fist and Jessica Hendwick as Collenn Wing would not be getting a third season and I had to stop and ask...is anyone gonna be upset about this? Like truly upset?
Are we gonna be missing anything?


Season 1 was a sincere let down on so many levels. Casting, choreography, story, costume design, characterization, getting any single thing about the books correct at all.

Let's start with casting.

Casting:
Finn Jones and Jessica Hendwick are both not who I imagine when I think of their respective characters for a lot of reasons.

But mainly, they don't look the part.

Finn is just not Danny Rand. I don't mean his face...

Does this guy look like a martial artist in pique condition? 
Marvel was also AWARE of this issue as they felt the need to get out in front of it by trying to get you to think of him as ripped as you can see with this tie-in book here. 











This was the promo art they debuted at New York Comic Con before the launch of the show. We figured he would bulk up or train, or something. But apparently, he only had something like three months to get ready for the role. So, I could give them Leeway with that. Just cover him up all S1 and by S2 he would be trained up? But no.
{no idea why Luke cage and Matt Murdock's actors where selected pre jacked then?} 
But when your casting someone to do brutal, big fights and a show like daredevil to live up to, you would think let's get someone who can do martial arts?  Nope. 
Finns big break out role was playing a very well acted but and non-physical character Ser Lorass Tyrellon on Game of Thrones who like most everyone on that show, gets killed. And at first that didn't seem like such a huge issue as Charlie Cox doesn't do the majority of his demanding stunts cause Daredevil has a mask. That lets his stunt double make Daredevil look amazing with no need for Charlie Cox learn to be an actual muay thai fighter. Then we learned there would be no mask...and the majority of the fights would involve Finn really needing to do his stunt work....and it didn't get better in season 2.


Jessica Hendwick has a similar lack of character similarity but, on this, I'm much more willing to be forgiving as Marvel had an issue up until recently drawing Asian people seemingly. Sooo her looking the part is not as pivitol to me.

That Aside, she gets a second pass but as she brought something to the role that Netflix left out when casting Mr. Jones. Ms. Hendwick can fight. Her last role was physically demanding and had her train in martial arts. Again, your most recent introduction to her before Iron Fist was probably her role as Nymeria Sand on Game of Thrones, where she played one of the Oberyn brats and we saw her mix it up. She took six months of training to play the part of the sand snake where she learned to properly use a bullwhip in fights so, at the very least, she is familiar with physicality and training and could play the part of a martial artist.


Since the show's announcement, it's faced backlash over not capitulating to a small group of people who don't read comics representing marginalized people and communities. The same people who are losing their fucking minds "let down" that Ruby Rose, A open lesbian is playing an openly lesbian character where mad that a white guy was playing a character who was white.

Now there was a lot of heat about SJW's Demanding Danny be Asian cause a white guy using kung fu is cultural appropriation. Now in all fairness, Me personally, I didn't care if, for Netflix, they made Danny Rand Asian. I was fine if that happened. But i think this one decision, in particular, is a great example of why this whole show was so poorly run from start to finish. I'll be brief. 

Towards the end of season one, Danny faces Hand henchmen Zhou Cheng a master of Zui Quan the Drunken Fist style. He is portrayed by Lewis Tan. Tan was considered to play Rand, in his short 8 minutes on screen he outclasses Finn Jones and Colleen Wing in every way. I personally thought this fight scene was hands down the best of the show up till the utterly stupid and nonsensical end.

Sadly this was Tan's  only apperence in the whole series. He was never even brought him back? And there is foreshadowing in his first line that SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS IF HE DOESNT DRINK.  We never see this. I was hoping we would see him again later in the series or season 2?  I mean they fucking brought nuke back in Jessica Jones for Christ sake.
You might recognize Lewis Tan form his VERY SHORT recent appearance in Deadpool 2 as Shatterstar. His father was a Martial Artist and Fight choreographer, He has spent his life working on looking better than most of us AND being able to fight/preform violent ballet without hurting people. He's half Chinese and half British and could easily have been a ringer for Danny Rand that satisfied both Fanbois and Soybois. 
Instead of shooting scenes around stunt doubles with their hoods up, Tan could have done all the work, he LOOKS like he could wield something called the Iron Fist.  Fans would have been happy to have a Iron Fist who could preform martial arts and it would have satisfied the studio's guilt over SJW's screaming cultural appropriation. Well, probably not. They would have still lost their minds that he wasn't also an albino Eskimo who's pronouns where Blender/Blander and Xur but, the rest of us would have been fine.
Of course with the scripts we got it's prolly better for Tan that they passed. He has been doing well and is now gonna be appearing in Netflix's Wu Assasins.

The next part is the most head-scratching as it relates to the above and if done properly you could look past these surface level issues.   

The Choreography:

actual trash.

Let's say you're doing a show about a martial artist. Not just any martial artist but, ONE OF THE BEST IN YOU'RE WORLD. You have a star who is, say, not the best at it?  Wouldn't you want to choreograph scenes that hid that fact by having him fighting large groups with simple moves and lots of cuts? Distract from his lack of skill by making it look like fighting 20-30 guys takes nothing for him? Quick cuts to imply he is fast but really to cover up the lack of technique?  Especially when we have ALREADY SEEN one guy fight 10-15 guys and it be VERY hard for him and do it all in one take?
You would think. 

Instead the choreographer decided to have Mr. Jones take on bad guys one at a time like this is some Assassin’s Creed reboot? And to make it worse EVERYONE else on the show can actually fight, so when they did fight together,  other actors had to go down to Mr. Jones skill level.
That being said, you didn't see much of that as per the choreographer, for reasons I'm still lost on, put very few fight scenes in. But worse still, The use of the iron fist, Danny's core power, mostly involved him doing a ground pound knocking everyone down for like 20 seconds. That's the Dreaded Iron Fist. 
A very weak AOE with a 20-second stun.
A show like Daredevil was outclassing them in even their shortest fights.


Story:
The Netflix shows have done one thing right in their origins, Getting the story right. I don't mean being 100% accurate. I mean making the stories work.  Daredevil Joins Matt Murdock as an established lawyer frustrated with the system and starting to consider doing the vigilante thing.  We learn how Luke Cage got his powers in jail after being illegally experimented on and that he is debating how to use them for good or profit? Jessica Jones S1 debut deals with the Trauma her origin brought her. Not just in her guilt over what happened and surviving it but in how she chooses to handle her powers and the pain she goes through because of it. As well her surviving a horrific situation where she is held hostage for something like a year by the purple man in a physically and emotionally violent situation. Including being forced to kill against her will.  Jesica Jones season one is right up there with Daredevil season one.

....Iron Fist be like "I'm Danny Rand, and I'm the iron fist"
We hear this endlessly, and we have Danny explaining it the whole series. But you're left wondering if Danny is insane or if its true?  We never get the same kind of flashbacks or explanations of the origin we do in Daredevil or Jessica Jones. Or even just Danny Dialoging like Luke cage about the past, which Mike Colter does exceptionally well. When he talks about everything in K'un-lun even fighting a dragon the lines are delivered in an odd syncopated way that reminds me more of Don Quixote than a person trying to convince me they punched a dragon. Now you could say, well they are building up to S2 where we will visit K'un-Lun. So all this mystery is to build the lore up and they want you to question Danny's grasp on reality?  But you would be wrong. As by the end of S1 we see that when Danny returns to K'un-Lun, it's gone and can never be returned to { Insert sad trombone}. How convent for the budget.

Instead the show is spent going over the corporate ownership aspect and plays more like "Rand Vs. The Mechums: civil case 14518" And what makes it worse is Danny is a total incompetent boob when it comes to business.  I was really left siding with the Mechums.  Danny is the best example of why wealth mostly stays in a family about one to two generations.
But it doesn't end at the business aspect. Danny seems like he's a dunce about EVERYTHING. They try to play it off as he was out of society so long and he is a country mouse. That he is Nieve. Or that the virtuous nature and values of K'un-Lun he was raised with are so simple and pure and different from our world that Dannys woke-ness makes him unable to stand by the evils we have become accustomed to accepting but his altruism also makes him vulnerable to being taken advantage of.

But it just comes off like Danny is stupid and thinks the answer to all questions is punching with really poor form. And by season two we see K'un-Lun as this screwed up backwords place where everything is about manipulation, child abuse and they don't care much about anything except K'un-Lun. Like Multicultural Wakanda. {cause although it's in Asia everyone there is not Asian. The dynamic would have been better if it was so awkward cause he was the only outsider} 
This, in my mind, doesn't fall on Finn Jones totally. This is writing. The writers made Danny this way, and Mr. Jones just did what they asked of him and again, we really don't get much of Danny using the iron fist save ground slams once or twice even the Season 2 trailer is him fighting two guy...and instead of acting like Bruce Lee...He does a ground slam ...which is not really...that's not how it works.


Costumes:
This section will be really short as there weren't any. S2 we see a version of the traditional Iron Fist mask IN A FLASHBACK. That's it. That's your costumes. Moving on.


Characterization:
Where to start...
I'm gonna start with what I liked. The Mechums, (Joy portrayed by Jessica Stroup and Ward portrayed by Tom Pelphery) They were, for me, the most interesting part of the show.  You got to see what was originally a powerful partnership devolve into mistrust and chaos. The performance by Tom Pelphery was amazing really the MVP of the season. Not to be outdone by Jessica Stroup.  Seeing their alliance be slowly torn apart by Danny's reemergence and the meddling of the Mechums father was interesting and well portrayed. In fact, one reason I give Iron Fist such little praise is it didn't feel like the show was about the Iron Fist. I felt like it was about the Mechums. The show could have been better marketed if Netflix had just decided to make it Damage Control and have Iron fist be a pop in character. They were the standout performance in the season and THAT'S NOT GOOD.

I'm not saying this is like Daredevil Season one where Vincent D'onofrio's performance was on par with Charlie Cox's but more talked about cause villains usually aren't so complex and relatable. This is the Mechums were good and everything else sucked. And I'm sorry to the rest of the cast. As I said previously I put most of the onus on the writers. But the fact remains the same.

I pretty much covered Dannys flaws in the story aspect. so I'm not gonna restate them here. 
Although I praised Ms. Hendwick for being physically capable to play Colleen Wing, her characterization seems flat on many levels. And it's not all on the actress. This is one of those prime examples of a writer saying " I need this Character to do X and I don't have a reason so I'll just make it vague and about emotions and call it complex"

The super-powered heir to a multi-billion corporation wants to work for Colleen Wing,{ why? I couldn't tell you}  a non-super powered martial artist he just met. She rejects having a master of martial arts who's also a world-famous billion-heir teaching at her struggling Dojo? Why? I assume the show wanted me to think she was a strong woman who didn't need help but, it just makes her look either petty, stupid or jealous. 

Next, we are shown that Colleen is chastising students for fighting outside of the dojo, but then She is involved in a fightclub? I assume to show you she is tough. Yet her reasoning is illogical. She says she needs money and is breaking her morality to keep the dojo going? But Dany has offered it to her. He has also offered to teach at her dojo which would bring in more students. A guy with a glowing fist teaching how to kick peoples asses would drive membership plus bring free publicity being he is a celebrity. The Mechums offer her money, but she has to do it " her way".  
She has now been offered three separate ways to make money. One allowing her to say she didn't take a hand out in hiring Danny. She would have made a smart business decision, But no. She has to struggle on her own.
That's not how the world works. This isn't an 80's movie and she isn't some spunky protagonist. In reality,  if Colleen was behind on her mortgage/rent she would sink into debt and within months the late fees and leans on her property would be too much. She would have to declare bankruptcy and be foreclosed on. Ruining her credit and chance of ever getting a business loan.  When you are drowning and someone offers you a stick you don't swat it away and say you will drownd on your own power unless you have issues.

It would have been a better plot to have her struggle and either admit she needed help or lose the dojo and learn humility since her issue is trying to be strong enough on her own and being alone.
INSTEAD, they put this "you can't do it on your own" angle on Danny, you know, the guy who beat a ten-thousand-year-old dragon with his bare hands and has glowing fists as hard as iron? 
And in all this Colleens poor life choices are never addressed I.E. Joining a cult bent on world domination and immortality at any cost. So having her need help would have made more sense. and that would have bookended nicely with Danny's country mouse wisdom that they tried but never successfully landed.

The characterizations, baring Ward and Joy Meachum, in summation are insane. They are actually counter-intuitive to the idea of the show. Colleen Wing is shown to be just as strong as Danny in skill and even teaches him. Well if she is just as strong why isn't she fighting all these baddies on her own before him? Why isn't SHE the hero of the show and him her sidekick?
If that's the case why is he the Iron Fist then? The better dynamic would have been Rand is super powerful but naive and Colleen has to teach him to live in this world with his values and be street smart lie her, well he teaches her about inner strength and that its ok to rely on others. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT DYNAMIC. That would have had both of them being strong but needing each other. And that would have better facilitated the odd forced romance they failed to launch.
Why doesn't she just beat him and prove she is better? The show basically says that. How is this show about him? 

Then we have whole reveal that she was working for the hand?
Just...if I had a low opinion of Colleen wing before it's got worse then.
She is shown thinking it's this great utopian, a super socialist society that's just misunderstood. I give them credit for making the leader of the hand in this series, Bakugo,  not just evil for evil's sake. They really believe their organization is gonna make the world better. But if Colleen is such a strong, street-smart independent woman,  how come she fell for such an obvious lie about an evil cult?
Pretty much EVERYONE who knows about the hand realizes they are a criminal organization? Low-end street thugs like Turk Barrett know the hand are legit bad ass's not to be fucked with.  Oh and each finger of the hand {their high councle} also happen to moonlight as violent gang leaders. Is that normal in Colleen's view? I mean, her new found friend Danny keeps telling her about how HE, THE IRON FIST, HAS ONE SOLE PURPOSE. TO DESTROY THE HAND. CUASE IT'S EVIL!

BUT, they needed to show Colleen could be just as strong as the iron fist.
And in Season two they do actually realize that yeah, their show makes no sense so
Spoiler warning:
He gives the Iron Fist to her via some back ally sorcerers.

Why did K'un-Lun even have their selection process for the Iron Fist in the first place if it can just be passed to anyone via a nickel and dime witch?  IS the Iron Fist like a copy of pokemon? you can lend it to your friends and just get it back in a month? It's such bad writing. 
I imagine the decision to end the show was made well before Season 2 aired. They just said
"we're done here. This mess is too big to clean up."
Oh, and I almost forgot and to top it off Danny gets guns! That's right kids! Iron Fist has a new sidekick, Gun Kata cuck. Which is canon if he was Orson Randel, the Iron Fist of 1914.
If you watched this show and for some ungodly reason LIKED WHAT YOU SAW AND WANTED MORE, you would be so confused if you picked up an iron fist book. 



Summation:

So with all this in perspective,  Did we really lose anything? Iron Fist has been an abysmal disappointment. Be honest with yourself. Don't make excuses. The only people I have ever heard say Iron Fist was good where some YouTubers and Journalists who try to candy coat every failure.
"Comic book" sites who also seem to want to bring up the "Problematic nature of underrepresentation of marginalized communities".  Cause that's the only thing that matters in comic books. Not like the writing matters.  I know Dc is like an episode of friends but, Marvel has had Diversty'n'comics since before I was reading books. These same people lamenting that Iron fist was so promising when it ended in season 2 are the same who acted like all the leaks about Justice Leauge were "totally normal and nothing to worry about. Its gonna be fine" and reviewed it as a good movie.
I'm never sure if they are just afraid of being critical and the attacks that coe with not obeying or if they just have bad taste and truly like a lot of the garbage out there?

This show was always a mess. And it's dragging the Netflix/Marvel series down. They have not been doing so well since there respective S1's. Daredevil Season 2 started off strong but after the bait and switch with the Punisher, the rest of the season had a painful story that dragged and really bad everything else.  Luke Cage and Jessica Jones followed suit with cringe-worthy Season 1 follow-up that where praised cause this generation thinks theirs no such thing as constructive criticism. No one else had a Punisher moment in their Season 2's. 
Defenders was so badly received they just pretended it didn't happen.

Iron Fist was the most insanely idiotic adaptation I have ever seen. At no point in its rambling, incoherent story did it come even close to being considered a rational interpretation.
Everyone who has seen it is now dumber for having watched it. I give it a 0/10 and my god have mercy on the showrunners soul.

It's time to start trimming the fat. As it is the fate of the Netflix/Marvel shows are up in the air with Disney preparing to launch its own Streaming service in the near future. And with the non-stop missteps Disney has been making with Starwars it's safe to say they will want their most popular and profitable properties back. With Iron fist wrapping up and Punisher S2 not seeming to be anywhere on the horizon, it's possible that we might see Daredevil S3 put a bow on Matt Murdock and everyone's stories or start to wind them down.
"But Automatauntaun, they tweeted out a trailer with a skull saying 2!" Defenders 2 was also greenlit as where many DC films like Cyborg, Batgirl, Swamp Thing, Justice Leauge 2, Justice Leauge Dark ALMOST EVERY OTHER FILM THEY EVER ANNOUNCED. If things are going poorly, studios will pull the plug.  As we have seen.  I saw a VERY PROMINENT Youtuber the other day saying "Realistically, Third season {of Iron Fist} is gonna be the best" just in time for his upload to correspond with Netflix announcing they canceled it. Everyone says they are gonna do another now. You plan to be successful and you change course after you know the trade winds.
whatever the case, Daredevil S3 Looks to be correcting this. 
With the Return of the dynamic between Fisk and Murdoc and the introduction of Bullseye, Daredevils most fearsome foe. Too bad they already killed off Elektra...maybe they will just kill her again...cause she was horrible.

EDIT: Since the time of writing this article the, day of the cancelation, it has been announced that Luke Cage is also canceled. Leading to more proof the Marvel/Netflix verse is coming to an end. As well WB's The Flash film was delayed for what, the tenth time?  And Ben Affleck and Henery Cavil have been officially released as Batman and Superman so get ready for my long-winded "the DCEU was always getting reboot" article. I have been saying since BVS that the DCEU is dead and all of these new facts point to that if you don't stick to the source material, you better be dam well be creative cause although journalists might be kind in reviewing it, journalists don't watch enough to make you money.

'Titans' Provides a Promising Pilot, But Poorly Represents the Characters

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

If you have been following this blog, there are two properties that I have been extremely critical of in the past few months: the first being Sony's new Spider-franchise film: Venom and the second being the first original show to be debuted on the DC Universe streaming app: Titans. While my qualms with Venom prior to release were, in my opinion, provent to come true, it's a bit of a different story when it comes to Titans.

The pilot of Titans was released this past Friday, the 12th of October on DC's new premium streaming app. Since it's release I have watched the episode twice and came to the same conclusion after both viewings. The pilot definately has it's ups and downs, but there are definitely more ups in that journey, making it at the very leasat an intriguing pilot that has convinced me to invest my time into watching it and giving it a chance. That being said, while it is a decent pilot, I did find the representation of the Titans, whether you compare it to the books or the animated series, to be wanting.

The Good 

What exactly did I like about Titans? well for starters the narrative flows fairly decent, which, for a pilot on a super hero team show, is a fairly difficult task. They do a decent enough job of introducing characters and put them on the path of coming together. This is a team show, but they have not formed the team yet so there is a compelling story there. What I really makes the story strong is that while Rachel (Raven) may be the catalyst that seems to be driving everyone together, the heart of this team is Dick Grayson who has since left Gotham for over a year and is a Detective in Detroit. This leads me to my second point, which is how they portray Robin. 

Robin is honestly the absolute BEST part of the series so far. If you couldn't tell that before by the fact that his design is actively the only one it looks like it had any effort put into it, you definately will be able to tell when you watch the show. Now if you hadn't noticed, I am talking about Robin here, not necessarily Dick Grayson, and I will get to that here in a bit because I do want to differentiate. Moving on though, watching the Robin fight scene was fairly enjoyable, however it shows that whoever is incharge of the marketing for this show is either a complete idiot, or is the biggest genius on the face of the planet as in the marketing campaign Robin is shown murdering several people in this fight, when in all actuality he kills noone at all (that being said I did find his fighting style to be a bit too brutal in this, but again, we will get to that more here in a bit). What I found most impressive though was that the ever infamous "Fuck Batman" line is actually fantastic in context. 

Now before I move onto the bad I want to say two things, first off this is a pilot for a show listed to have well over 20 episodes, so there is not a lot of material I can really work with here. It is also important to note that the episode primarily focuses on Robin so that really comes to save the day for it's enjoyment, so keep that in mind while I talk about the bad. 

The Bad

I think the most on the nose thing in this show that sticks out is the poor budget and lack of cinematic quality. I realize that on the CW and shows on television you have a pretty restrictive budget, but this is one of the HUGE advantages of doing a show on an internet streaming service. Marvel's Daredevil on netflix has set a gold standard of what Superhero shows SHOULD be and especially on premium platforms. This show feels cheap. Slow motion special effects from the Matrix era of films come back and dear god do Robins "R" shuriken look terrible in his fight against the thugs. Even the props look bad, when Robin extends his staff to take out two thugs at once it looked cheap. While I do realize that this show's effects budget probably cut into stuff like that because of Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven, the physicality of the show is where you can really suspend some disbelief. However, they drop the ball there. Then there is character portrayals. 

Now as I had mentioned previously that I wanted to differentiate between Robin and Dick Grayson. This ultimately is why. The show's greatest sin so far lies in how it treats these characters. Now I can't say much about Beast Boy, as he is barely in this pilot at all, I have more than enough to say about the other characters, so since we are on the topic, let's talk about Dick Grayson. While I understand that Dick is clearly in the transition between Robin and Nightwing, I hate that he feels so joyless. Sure there have been dark periods for Dick, where he has displayed bouts of angst, but that has never stopped him from cracking jokes and having a wry smile. Then you get into the sheer brutality he displays as Robin. This no longer feels like Dick Grayson.This feels like Jason Todd's Red Hood. The other characters are even worse off. Rachel who is supposed to become Raven, has been written horribly and the girl who portrays her accompanies the terrible writing with an even worse performance. It's sad because in the books and the show Raven is this Phoenix like character that is able to control her abilities, but in order to do so she has to exhibit immense ammounts of control over her emotions. Titans has reduced her to a hot topic poster child of instability and that really sucks. Then there is Starfire. Poor Starfire suffers worst of all as they took this charming character with such a rich and badass backstory and use literally none of it. Instead Korriand'r is Korry Anders and her whole plot feels like a cheap imitation of The Bourne Identity as she is on an amnesia fueled search for who she is and what exactly she is doing in Central Europe. Sadly it seems they spent about as much time trying to write this character right as they did try and give her a decent looking design. 

The Overview

It's important to remember that this episode is a pilot and as such there is a lot of room for it to go either way from here. I have said a lot about this show recently, most of it negative, but after watching this pilot I do hope the show develops these characters into truer representations of what they are in the books. Ultimately the fate of this show will depend on how these characters develop throughout the season. As it stands, it's a far cry from perfect and I am of the opinion that this should have been a Red Hood and the Outlaws show instead of a Teen Titans show. Ultimately though, it will all be determined as the series continues throughout the year. I give the pilot of Titans a 7/10, and I to any who are looking at potentially watching this series or invest in the DC Universe streaming app, I'd wait until there are more episodes. As for me I will continue to watch the series as it releases a new episode weekly and will give an update after I have watched 10 episodes. 

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

CONFIRMED: James Gunn is the be the best thing to happen to the DCEU/DCFU/suicide squad 2 FIGHT ME

Tonight we have confirmation that James Gunn is at the least, writing the
Suicide Squad sequel.

in an announcement Dc daily host Tiffany Smith said:
"It's official that we have got a new member of the DC family: acclaimed writer/director James Gunn has been attached to write Suicide Squad 2. Gunn is poised to bring a completely fresh take to the franchise after the first film was written and directed by David Ayer."

Previously Gavin O'Connor was to draft the sequel screenplay.

He both directed and produced the Accountant starring Ben Affleck.

But when Birds of Pray was green lit, the two scripts were two similar? 

So he left and we get Gunn. which until I looked all this up I just assumed 

Birds of pray was on the ever-growing DCEU announced but scrapped heep. 

Ayer was obviously never coming back not just cause the film

was a mess but he himself has said he did not enjoy the process 

and was unsatisfied with the outcome, via studio interference.

Gunn is said to be bringing a completely new take on the Suicide Squad.
leaving me to wonder if this is a Sequal or a reboot? The Film, to date,
has no set release date but with Gunn joining, I'm sure that will change.

As well, The questions as to whether the most disliked interpretation of the Joker, portrayed by Self-fashioned method...actor. Jered Leto will return {please let it be no, PLEASE LET IT BE NO} as they don't have the best working relationship. As you will learn below James Gunn is a spicy Boi when it comes to tweets, like this 2012 doozy,Gunn Tweeted "Driving home from Vegas Treading stories about what a dick Jared Leto is" Gunn could be referring to Leto's Antics on the Set of SS or his difficulty on Blade Runner 2049. Where he insisted on being led around as if he were blind...because he was portraying a blind man. Or it could be some other thing between them personally.either way it spells trouble for the actor.

If you are even slightly connected to any news feed or YouTube channel that

covers all things pop culture or nerdy, then you were probably aware of the
rumors that the Infamous former Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn
was in talks to write and possibly direct suicide squad 2. The DCEU as been on 
shaky ground since it launched. Suicide Squad was met with mixed reviews 
but was a box office success. Panned by critics and lukewarm with fans. 
both praising the feel well bemoaning story and edtis. Like a majority of 
the trailers not appearing in the finished film.

That's why this could be the single best thing to happen to the

dceu/dcfu/dc-no-one-cares-till-you-make-a good-film-universe.

Now I find this hard to believe but some of you may not know the

hubbub around Mr. James “Edgelord” Gunn's termination form Marvels
Guardians of the Galaxy and taking over the universe building/planning
from Kevin Feige.

He got his start writing for a studio called “Troma entertainment.”

Known for their raunchy, edgy, exploitation, horror/comedy films.

Let’s just say they are not for kids, contrary to what the toxic avenger

Saturday morning cartoon might have lead you to believe in the 80’s.

His first, to my knowledge, writing credit was Tromeo and Juliet.

It’s a cute modern take on the Shakespearean classic. Set in NYC,

narrated by Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead. And involves things like

a father beating his daughter to force her into an arranged marriage

to an older man, a young boy witnessing a buxom woman he desires

have cunnilingus performed on her pretty intensely. And young Juliet
taking a potion that, I shit you not, transforms her into a hideous Gwar
inspired cow monster,  complete with a three-foot penis. This film was
a cult classic and released in 1996. Well before any Disney contracts
were signed.

as well as James Gunn did a mockumentary with his then-wife

Jenna Fischer of “The Office” fame called “lollilove”. Its 100%, not pg.

It’s probably closer to Nc-17 for the language and sexual themes.

As pretty much, you’ll note a pattern here, all of Gunn’s work and

life have been.

Probably the panicle of Gunn’s edginess was a 2008 web series

starring Nathan Fillion of Destiny fame and MANY porn stars called

James Gunn’s PG porn. You can read about it on your own.

But what caught Disney’s eye, we can gather, was Gunns success

writing the 2002 live action Scooby Doo starring Freddie Prinze Jr.,

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and

Rowan Atkinson to name a few.

The film cost 84 million to make and banked 275 million worldwide.

So it deemed a sequel. Now you may say, but Automatauntaun,

that movie sucked? It has a 30% on rotten tomatoes? Well, you probably

don’t have a relative or friend with kids. Cause out of the over 16 people

I know with kids 10 can give you a DEEP Synopsis of the plot of this film.

Burned into there memory. And if you didn’t notice Disney’s Marvel films

are targeted at family’s with kids.

I know?! I’m the worst! You want a Nc-17 X-men! And Iron Man! And

Capetian America! ( he is alone in a room with a woman, he then

apologizes and leaves)

But guess what?! You only go to see a movie once maybe twice.

And my sister and her husband take their 5 kids to see their favorite

film usually three times, at 20 bucks a pop. That’s way more profit

then you and your bff. Not to mention you don’t buy the overpriced

blocks and legos and all that. Nor do you buy each child their own copy

of the DVD because sharing is hard.

So you're not marvels core audience. Get over it.

Scooby Doo 2: monsters unleashed didn’t do as good but,
at 25 million to make, getting 181.5 million worldwide, it more than broke even.
Again not to mention the DVD sales and merch sales.

So Gunn proved he could do the family friendly thing.

But I feel the NEXT big thing James Gunn did that made Disney say

“that’s the no-name Pervy edge lord we want to direct our long shot family-

friendly film!” was 2006’s “Slither”.

Slither was a box office failure. Coasting 15 million to make and only

netting 12. The horror/comedy let down not only the studio but the distributors, who all distanced them self from the production. But it did the other thing Disney needed to see. It was a critical smash and a cult fave. Garnering buzz on all the right talk shows and podcasts.

Being praised by the likes Entertainment Weekly's #1 on their

"Must list:Ten things to do this week” of April 14th, 2006.

It garnered a positive aggregator score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Which was as good as securing him his next gig regardless of box office.

It went on to be in Peter Travers Rolling Stone magazine

"Top 25 DVDs of the Year". And Ebert & Roeper guest critic

Michael Phillips said Slither was his DVD pick of the week.

Ironically Ebert & Roeper Gave it two thumbs down when they got back.

These two things showed Disney that Gunn had the potential to make a film the

A: appealed to kids in the age range of 5-15

B: enjoyable for the youngn’s parents without making them feel it’s too

harsh for their precious snowflakes

C: Garner those ever so precious 18-24’s that detest being pitched too.

And

D: have the potential to get a profit off a franchise that has -5 name

recognition, and whose book counterpart sales never par with the big

names already on celluloid.

Gunn was willing to take risks, could make films others might shy

away from and had the street cred and pop culture knowledge so not

to be seen as...

When they made this decision they were both aware of the nature of a

lot of his work and the nature of his tweets in question.

So why then when Mike Cernovich brought some of Gunns decades old

edgelord tweets from his earlier career Disney/Marvel acted

like it was news too then? When a corporation like Disney brings you

in to direct a family film, pretty much all they make, they do a

deep dive on you. They KNOW what they are investing in.

It went up late July 19th early July 20th. On the eve of a large

San Diego comic con panel for marvel. And they moved with

shocking speed to fire him. Gunn posted an explanation/apology

to Twitter you can read here if you so desire.

Blame it on #meetoo, blame it on #Pizzagate, or like most of the

media try and blame it on trump {citation; seriously this article implies

Trump made Cernovich Mainstream and thus is at fault for Gunn's career

torpedoing, note you need a subscription on some platforms to read

because they are very much not obsolete as a platform}

But, in my humble opinion, It was cause parents just don't understand.

That’s why Disney fired Gunn. People like my sister and her

husband are are tired of having to explain to their kids all these

things they shouldn’t have too till they are, I don’t know, past the

age of 8 at least? Like why a tree is giving someone something

called s blowjob. Or why three men would rape a baby,  

( James Gunn really went there).The reason Disney dropped

Gunn like a Michelle Wolf comedy special was they feared losing those parents with 2-5 kids over losing you { the author is assuming

your one of those precious 18-24 they so keenly desire}. As they,

overall buy the toys. And that’s the real money.

They were aware because my next example is this blog from “ladygeekgirls”

entitled “James Gunn is a sexist, Homophobic Jerk.” Posting about his now

deleted “50 superheroes you most want to have sex with.” Blog

With raunchy comments like “[on batwoman] “I’m hoping for a dc-marvel

crossover so that tony stark can turn her; she could also have sex with

nightwing and still be a lesbian”

And urging her readers too “#boycottgunn #boycottgunn #boycottgunn

#boycottgunn #boycottgunn #boycottgunn”

And if you read the comments there was indeed a campaign...in 2014.

Make no mistake. Disney was WELL aware of all of this. As I have outlined

it's partly WHY they wanted him.

Now, you may be wondering why this winding, overly lengthy outline of his

career and the controversy I stated you are probably well aware of?

Well, it’s cause James Gunn is exactly the kind of Edgelord Suicide Squads

NEEDS. It's plot was literally a mess and a forgettable mishmash of one-liners.

From poor special effects, illogical characterization, and probably the worst

Villian. The film was the ultimate bait and switch pretty much removing ALL
of Jerad Leto's joker. {maybe a blessing} It’s only appeal was

lots of…Recognizable music and Pop cultural references.

Sound familiar? It also felt like something was missing?

Like...

It didn’t feel like they were in danger from the giant gray thing in the sky that

seems to be DC’s go to bad guy. I did not feel they were down and out. Like

they where maybe NOT the A, B or even F team. I felt like I was supposed

to believe they were the good guys? Not bad guys and flawed people I

liked besides that point. And most of them seemed too competent to be caught, the characterizations were all off. Well, slipknot...he seemed, just right.

The reimagining didn’t work

Well...ok. This did, this was maybe Jai Courtneys best work. But in

the Interest of keeping the age-old internet tradition of starting flame

wars alive

Fight me.

Now, a franchise in need reinventing dated characters that don’t

necessarily work on film, That has lots of pop cultural references,

Using modern pop songs as a backdrop and story device,

And a complex plot involving the scum of their universe well still keeping the

“villains” relatable, likable and memorable. Who could we turn to for that?

Oh, maybe the guy who took a lackluster book with no name recognition

in the general public or even most comic book fans and made it into a

773.3 million household name.  That’s who. And he would be right at

home in the black humor of the plot. He can turn people's heads being

blown off into laughs ( they have bombs in their heads if you didn’t know,

suicide squad, ya know.)  The psychotic nature of many of the cast would

play well into his writing style. The banter between them would be just

endlessly better than…that...thing we got.

His casting choices would probably be amazing. You KNOW dave Batista

is gonna come along for the ride as well as Michael Rooker and his brother

Sean Gunn {Nepotism, well and alive LITERALLY EVERYWHERE}

Not saying Will Smith and Margo Robbie were not good picks but...

everything else was….

Questionable…

The DC...films are in desperate need of that special something that

they are all missing. A cohesive script. A smidge of situational comedy

wouldn’t hurt either. All of which Gunn has proven HE CAN BRING.

Dc fanbois are always crying how they love the dark, monochromatic,  

visually hard to see, frowny, Prozac infused, color contrast-less,

snyderverse. Well, James Gunn would be the perfect man to bring

that to life!

But,  NOT HOT UNWATCHABLE GARBAGE.

James Gunn should not only write but direct the ss films. Dc is

in a bad place. WW2 might be good but so what? Her whole cast

and soon her universe is gone, save for Aquaman. Sure Wan and

Momoa’s film looks not as bad as Dc’s civil war Batman vs Superman.

But it also looks like a superhero movie that was trying to compete

with Sam Rami’s  Spider-Man. And I don’t know about you but the

Momoa letting out his millennial whoop bit is being beaten to death

in the trailer alone. I can only imagine how many “AAAAALLL RIIIIGHTS”

and “MA MAAAN”s we are gonna be bombarded with cause dc’s execs

be like

Which saddens me greatly as Momoa is the only person that I

think could rehabilitate Aquaman. Cyborg was never happening to

be honest. Flash has never moved despite the irony it’s a movie

about the fastest man alive. Superman/Man of Steel two is also, most

likely, never happening with news that script elements are being given
to the green-lit super girl film such as the villain and scenario.
If we do get a superman, its almost certainly being recast.

We have, and will, never get a Batman standalone film with Batfleck.

{Fight me} All due to poor writing, characterization, and reception.

And I'm not going into the SLEW of films DC announced that never

even got to casting. It's a lot. A lot of things have been made a big

deal of and canceled due to the poor receptions and returns of what

used to be the most financially sure superhero film label out there.
Tim Burtons Batman, and the Christopher Reeves series of films
WERE the standard.

James Gunn would be the witty, original, off-kilter shot in the arm the DC...

film...place...group need if they want to even attempt to compete with

Marvel who is retiring their biggest names. Now ending their phase 4

of films, the end of the story started with Ironman one over ten years

ago and setting up their phase 5 films and the new franchises that will

drive their overarching tale. And with Marvel/ Disney recently re-acquiring

their long coveted finale two pieces of the monetary triforce, the Xmen and

the first family, the Fantastic Four, DC is set to be left in the dust with NO

brand names, No universal continuity and NO plots that their own fans truly

feel are being done justice. I love DC. and I have been so insanely furious

with the way the studios have handled the choice of direction, casting tone

and plots. And when I say Studio it's not a dog whistle for

#Releasethesnydercut. Snyder shockingly was the wrong man to do...

literally anything apparently. But I want these stories.

I WANT a Capullo Batman. I WANT a Jim Lee Superman.

I WANT a Ostrander Suicide Squad, and I think James Gunn is our best bet.

And hopefully, we will get him as a director as well