Legal Advice: The Questionable Ethics of one J. Jonah Jameson...

So this came up over the weekend and I thought it bore further examination.  In “New Avengers #15” Spider-Man, newly appointed member of the team, voiced concerns about what his reputation would bring to the venerated superhero organization.  This is after the Avengers Disassemble story arc.  For more details on that, I recommend picking up the collected editions of “Avengers Disassemble”.  So when New Avengers came out, it literally was a splinter group, an off the books kind of situation led by Capt. America and consisting of Iron-Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and a rotation of Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Daredevil and Ronin.

However Spider-Man isn’t wrong about his misgivings about joining the team.  At this point, Peter Parker is no longer working for the Daily Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson is in full swing with this anti-Spider-Man campaign.  Spidey is right to think his presence on the Avengers team will draw bad press.

Here is where Tony Stark comes up with a brilliant idea: make a deal.  Believing that Jameson is first and foremost a capitalist, he tries to broker a deal with the newspaper publisher offering exclusive coverage of anything the Avengers get involved in to the Bugle in exchange for him laying off Spider-Man.

 

Here is the problem with this idea: Jameson isn’t strictly a capitalist.  I would hesitate to call him a Republican.  He’s more of an independent conservative, and thus will not bend what he believes is right in favor for anything.  Jameson meets with Stark, shakes Spider-Man’s hand (much to the shock of everyone), then the next day blasts the New Avengers for their attempt at bribing him.

On this surface this seems like unethical move, and the team is justifiably outraged because now he’s not only targeting Spider-Man, he’s dug up dirt on almost the entire team, which unfortunately for them wasn’t that hard.  Luke Cage had done prison time for heroin dealing.  He cites that it’s a false accusation; however that won’t necessarily sway the American people.  Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman, is a former HYDRA agent, that’s not a good PR thing.  Sentry, when he is on the team, is mentally unstable, and then there’s Wolverine, a guy who’s left more bodies in his wake than probably any other “hero” this side of the Hulk.  Frankly at this point I had no idea that Wolverine was a publically known superhero, I just figured the X-Men just flew under the radar for the most part.

The point is that while they are outraged, you have to wonder if Jameson was actually wrong for what he did.

Let’s look back at what transpired:  Tony Stark offers Jameson a bribe.  He’s offering exclusive coverage for good press; he’s trying to purchase public opinion.  I’m surprised that anyone was surprised that Jameson took exception to it.  He’s never been one to take a bribe.  Does he unfairly vilify Spider-Man, absolutely, but he doesn’t do so at the expense of his ethical character.

Jameson truly believes that Spider-Man is a menace.  He’s not doing it to sell papers, he can sell papers with any story, but he follows his single minded crusade against the wall-crawler because he believes he is right.  Tony Stark actually severely insulted him on an ethical level by assuming he could purchase his opinion.  The message that Stark sent was “I think your values are so thin that I can bribe you to give my team good press, no matter who they are or what they do.”

Tony assumes he’s going to take the deal, which also says a lot about Tony because clearly this is the kind of deal Tony would take. 

 

Of course Jameson spits the deal back in Tony’s face, and he’s justified to do so.  Then he writes a piece that absolutely blasts the team (see above).  They are outraged, no doubt a few of them are thinking of legal action.  Spider-Man in the comics at one point filed a liable suit against Jameson for defamation of character, so maybe that could work here.  I’m sure that crosses Tony’s mind.

Here’s the legal advice part: It won’t work, because there’s nothing in that article that isn’t true.  All it does is cite the pasts of the individual team members, which he didn’t make up, he used facts.  You can see it on Jessica’s face as she reads the words (brilliant art by the way) that this is absolutely true: she was a member of a terrorist organization; she chose to hurt innocent people.

The blasting of Stark’s attempt at bribery was, in fact, very true and something the public did need to know.  Tony Stark is one of the most high profile superheroes and icons of business in the Marvel Universe.  Everyone knows who he is and/or has supported his business in some way.  That makes him a very influential man, and for a man of that profile and influence to attempt to bribe the media for good press coverage raises a lot of red flags.

Legally, there isn’t anything the team can do.  They cannot demand a retraction or an apology, they have no legal ground to stand on.  The best they can do at this point is lick their wounds and go about their business.

Now the obvious counter is that Jameson violated a contract.  He shook Spider-Man’s hand, which indicated that he accepted the deal, but he never signs any paperwork, he never even verbally says he’s going along with the idea.  He hears Stark out, he meets the team, he shakes Spider-Man’s hand, and leaves.

So why did he shake Spider-Man’s hand?  Well, again, he’s been at a press war with the superhero since day one.  He shook Spider-Man’s hand to say “Good play.” He wasn’t accepting defeat, he was saying this battle was over and he was about to bring it up to the next level.

 

As always, the Avenger, and all associated characters are the rights of Marvel Comics, this post is generated under fair use, and no financial gain was obtained through this post

Thanks for reading.

Whatever Happen to Scar?

Arguably one of the most compelling villains Disney came up with over the last twenty or so years has to be Scar from “The Lion King”.  Voiced by Jeremy Irons and Jim Cummings in the film, the character was the epitome of underhanded evil and deceit.  But just where did all this come from, what is this character’s history?

Scar was born Taka, the second son of King Ahadi, it was pretty much accepted that since Mufasa was stronger, braver, and wiser, that Taka would never be king.  Plus, Mufasa was older and the first born is always next in succession for the throne.  Taka was not out of the loop entirely though, being the second born he had access to the Roar of Elders and lead the Lion Guard, which were essentially the Delta Force for the lion pride.  They were the bravest, the strongest, the fastest, the keenest of sight, and were traditionally led by the second born lion prince.

Using his incredible power and his fighting force, Taka battled in the name of the Pride Lands, however he saw this as an opportunity to usurp Mufasa’s power.  The rest of the Lion Guard disagreed and stood against Taka in battle, resulting in Taka eliminating them with the Roar of Elders.  This abuse of his power cost him the Roar of Elders and the ability would pass into legend until Simba’s second cub was born.

The battle left Taka with a scar, which he now used to identify himself, presenting it as a badge of honor and re-naming himself “Scar”.

This leads us into “The Lion King” proper, where the story picks up with Simba being presented to the Pride Lands.  Simba’s birth took Scar completely out of the running for kingship, which he did not take lightly.  He assembled an army of hyenas and orchestrated Mufasa’s death.

This is where Scar stands out against other Disney villains, as Scar actively kills Mufasa on screen, where others previously arranged circumstances and situations that would lead to someone’s death.  Scar throws Mufasa off a cliff into a stamped.  The event devastates young Simba and Scar convinces him to flee into exile, citing him as the cause of Mufasa’s death.  He then dispatches three hyenas after him, but they fail to kill him, content with him in exile.

Scar takes over the Pride Lands, but his rule sends the land into ruin and desolation because he forces the lionesses to over hunt.  This is actually a scientifically valid situation, as when you have a predatory force that is over taxing a population, it can lead to ruin in the landscape itself.  As things come to a head for Scar and the situation is dire, Simba returns and confronts his uncle.

During the battle, Scar reveals that he caused Mufasa’s death, not Simba, and the pride turns against him.  He falls from a cliff and into the clutches of the hyenas.

Here is where things get, theoretical, because that’s not the last we see of old Scar.

                It’s at this point we have to use a little bit of deductive reasoning to determine what happened to him, but its sufficient to say he probably didn’t stick around Africa, either in the Pride Lands or the Outlands, because he simply wasn’t welcomed.  The next time we see anything that remotely looks like Scar in Disney cannon is in “Hercules” where it’s heavily implied that he is the Nemean Lion, but then the movie doesn’t make that 100% clear.  When we see Hercules battling a lion, it’s a massive beast as seen below.

 

Note that this creature lacks a facial scar, which is pretty definitive for Scar.  But later we are treated to this little Easter Egg:

 

 

Now that is certainly Scar.  But does that mean that Scar is the Nemean Lion? Not necessarily, but it could mean that Scar is a lion of mythic proportions.

 

The story of the Nemean Lion is as follows: There was a vicious lion that was kidnapping women and holding them hostage in a cave.  When heroes could come to rescue said women they were lured into the cave by a woman lying on her side apparently injured.  When they got too close, the woman “turned into a lion” and killed them, offering their bones to Hades as tribute.

We actually don’t need to get into a lot of magic to make this make sense, we just need to understand that this creature:

 

Probably isn’t the creature from the story.  It’s way too big and doesn’t look at all like it would need to lure anyone into a trap for anything.  This looks more like the lion of Cithaeron, a far less famous tale, but one about a lion that was devastating herds and flocks and met its end against Hercules’ brute strength.  That story matches much better with what we see in that image.

The Nemean Lion relied on trickery to accomplish its goals, and feared death so much that it needed to make a deal with him to stay alive.  That’s sounds more like Scar’s methodology.  Plus, with almost mocha fur and a very dark, almost black mane, Scar laying on his side in the dark would certainly fit the silhouette of a woman lying on her side.

But there’s a few things wrong with this.  1) The Nemean Lion is said to have impenetrable skin, able to be cut only by his own claws.  And 2) if you take into consideration that Disney suggests that the Pride Lands are in Tanzania, then Scar would have to travel almost the length of Africa, and cross the Mediterranean to get to Nemea.  Take a look at the map below.

 

That’s quite a jaunt for a lone lion, unless that lion was more than just a lion.  Going back to Scar’s family line and what we know they can do, the male lions of Pride Rock seem to have almost supernatural abilities.  Yes, we said that overhunting can cause landscape changes, but the speed at which we see the Pride Lands change back is beyond natural.  Further, there’s that Roar of Elder’s thing.  That’s certainly otherworldly.  But finally let’s look at what we don’t see.  We don’t see any male lions of Pride Rock hurt by anything other than blunt force trauma, as in Mufasa falling and being trampled, and another male lion’s claws.  Even Simba defies all expectations by surviving the trek across the outlands into a lush green jungle, a trip that probably would have killed any conventional cub.

Suddenly a supernatural lion traveling a distance of 9,631.5 kilometers or 5,984 miles doesn’t seem so farfetched.  This averages out to a trip of about 80 days or about 2 ½ months.  Completely do able.

Getting across the Mediterranean would simply be a matter of stowing away on a ship, since this is ancient Greece were talking and the shipping business was in full swing.

So there you have it, Scar was born in Tanzania, migrated north, and was killed by Hercules.

Magical Matter: Everything has to be made of SOMETHING (a Harry Potter Theory)

So I was watching a video by Super Carlin Brothers on YouTube and they addressed how the Pensive, the Mirror of Erised, and the Veil may be related to the Deathly Hallows.  I won’t get into their full theory here, but I will say that they theorize that they are precursors to the actual Deathly Hallows.  One of the things they touch on very briefly is that they may be connected to thestrals, the invisible flying horse-like creatures that are featured in the books.

 

They point out that the thestrals can only be seen by someone who has seen someone die, like Harry and Luna, but also only Harry and Luna can hear the whispers from the Veil.  Why does this matter?

Because I think that these three possible proto-hallows may actually be made FROM thestrals.

 

Basically, anything that is has to be made from something.  Matter matters, as it were.  Therefore these three objects must have been made from something.  Let’s look at the more basic: The Veil.  In the simplest terms, a veil of any kind is a piece of fabric, which is made up from threads woven together.  We know that the Elder wand contains a thestral hair.  Now here is a picture of a thestral…

 

Not exactly known for its hair, is it.  Well its specified that it’s a “tail hair”.  Now you really can’t have access to a thestral hair unless you…have a thestral.  It’s talked about briefly that the Peverell brothers who were closely associated with the Hallows, possibly having made the Hallows, had access to a herd of thestrals, which would explain easy access to thestral hair.  Which brings us back to the Veil, because that veil had to be woven from something and since it’s a veil leading to the land of the dead, it makes sense that it would be woven from thestral hairs.  Pretty sure if you have a herd of thestrals, finding enough hair without being detrimental to the herd should be a pretty easy task.

So there you have it, the Veil is probably made from thestral hair, and magic.  But mostly thestral hair.

So what about the Pensive?

The Pensive is a little more tricky because its liquid contained in a bowl, but which is the magic, the liquid or the bowl?

Well let’s look at this from a more existencial view, what are memories made of?  When we see them in the film they appear as kind of a liquid, and are dropped into the liquid of the bowl.  Memories are basically dead events, events from the past which have already happened.  So how could a thestral possibly connect to a bowl of liquid?  The bowl that is the Pensive, whether it be the metal or the stone one, is decorated with runes.  These runes could be etched with either a piece of a thestral, such as a hoof or a bone, but rather that getting that gruesome, I’d prefer to think that the etched runes are actually treated with thestral tears.  Thematically it makes sense, even if I’m personally not fond of a crying animal, but it makes the element that much more rare and special.

Now…the mirror.  That is significantly more tricky to riddle out, so for that we’d have to look into some magical biology and the person most closely associated with it.  The Mirror of Erised is, by the Super Carlin Bros theory, the mirror is closely associated to the Elder Wand and Antioch Peverell.  What does the Elder Wand represent?  It’s the tool for which you can get pretty much anything you want, it’s the most powerful wand ever made.  The Mirror of Erised represents everything you desire, you can literally see what you want the most.  If Antioch’s primary focus is personal gain, then he probably isn’t that concerned about the welfare of others, or the animals under his care.

Let’s take a quick side street and look at unicorns in the Harry Potter universe.  When we see Voldemort feeding on the blood of a unicorn we see that it’s a thick, silvery substance.  Its reasonable to assume that most magical equines have similar colored blood, silvery.  Mirrors in the Renaissance period, about the time the Peverell brothers were alive, were treated with silver (or a silvery substance) and then pressed on with glass to maintain a shine.  Its possible that in making the mirror, Antioch slaughtered a thestral and used it’s blood to make the mirror.  Consequently killing a creature to make a magical object usually yields unfavorable results.  If Antioch was trying to make a mirror that would give him what he wanted, and slaughtered a magical creature to make it, then it wouldn’t likely give him what he wanted, just make him look at it.  Magical items are tricky like that.

I really don’t have much to close this out.  I recommend checking out the Super Carlin Bros video that led me to this rabbit trail, and check out their other videos as well.

Thanks for reading.

Supergirl Survivors and Flash Monsters...

Survivors and Monster, Supergirl and the Flash update:

It’s not that I don’t like Arrow…I just don’t talk about Arrow.  Because I don’t want to.

I do want to talk about this weeks’ episodes of Supergirl and the Flash.

In Survivors we get more backstory on Mon-El (is “El” like a common name on Krypton and Daxum?  Like Smith?) and a little more of his personality.  We also follow the teams investigation of the Alien Fight Club run by none other than Roulette.

When translating a character from page to screen, sometimes it can be hit or miss…but they completely nailed Roulette.  The revelation that Miss Martian was participating in the fight club wasn’t all that shocking, we knew pretty quickly that she had some secrets and I would have preferred they dragged that out a bit, but I guess they wanted to get it over and done with soon so they could get into her next shocking secret.  If you haven’t actually seen the episode, I won’t spoil it for you, but it explains why she didn’t want to mind meld with Hank.

Kara’s budding friendship with Lena Luthor, while convenient, does kind of smack of “Smallville”, letting us know that it’s going to emotionally hurt Kara when she discovers Lena is a villain.  I mean, she’s probably going to be a villain.  Probably.

The ended was good enough, it tied up pretty well as well as showing that Roulette would be back to trouble the girl of steel again.  Again, this was a pretty strong episode from a show that hasn’t had a bad episode this season.  But was it good as the Flash with “Monster”

No, no it wasn’t.  This week’s Flash touched on a lot of different notes, but all carried the same message: Fear can make you do strange things.  Caitlin fears what her powers are turning her into, Joe fears entering an intimate relationship, Barry fears he’s not in control of his life (when has he ever been in control?), Cisco fears the new Harry, or H.R. if you will, H.R. fears that he’s actually a fraud, and our weekly villain fears being a victim for the rest of his life.

The biggest reveal comes from Julian however, as he is so driven to solve the case that he nearly kills the teenage hacker responsible for the monster menacing Central City.  Finally after having his soul saved by the Flash, he comes clean with Barry that he lashes out because too is scared of the unknown and unpredictable meta-humans.  Barry invites him for a drink, which both men could probably really use.

So the monster in this episode was, clearly fear.  Many critics are calling this a filler episode but I disagree.  This is a developing episode.  It creates character development while planting seeds that may take root in later episodes.  Like, who is this kid that created the holographic monster?  Will we see him again?  (as of right now I have no idea who the character is supposed to be and all my research into the cast just lists him as “kid”).  I’d hate for him to be a one off character.

Pray for Daylight, Charlie Brown (rated PG)

The festivities had died down for the night.  He could hear the kids leaving the various parties, drifting off to their homes with withering conversations filling the air.  Suddenly he hear one or two scream in the distance.  His dog rose instantly to his feet, springing to the door, hunched low and growling, fur rising up on the back of his neck.  The boy left his easy chair and went to the door.  The screams were getting louder, rising in pitch and terror.  Something gave a low, gurgling chucked outside.  Street lamps went dark, and his dog, continuing to growl backed away from the door.  There came a pounding all at once.  Someone or something had slammed into his front door.

“JUST PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR!” a familiar voice cried in panic.  The door swung open and in tumbled his best friend.  They both lunged at the door, slamming it shut and securing the locks.  He thought he saw something against the pale moon light.  Something like a thin tentacle and an orange orb.

“Linus…what is going on!”

Linus looked back at him, his eyes wide with terror.  “Oh God…” he slumped to the floor, his face buried in his hands.  “Lucy…Schroder…Patti…what did I do?  So much blood…so much blood…”

“What is going on, Linus?” he demanded.

Linus looked up, tears streaming down his face “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  He’s real!”

Charlie and Linus stared at each other for a long moment, the screams becoming a distant echo.  "What did you just say?" Charlie whispered.  His head spun, he must be dreaming, he thought.  This kind of thing didn't happen in their sleepy little town.  This kind of thing didn't happen at all.  "It’s...it’s the Great Pumpkin..." Linus whispered.

"That can't be." Charlie said, glancing at the window.  "The Great Pumpkin isn't...real."  With a soft pop the lights cut out.
"We can't stay here." Linus muttered.  "We have to go."

Charlie went for the only weapon in the house, an old air rifle his dad kept in the attic for combating the occasional farm it that made its way into their back yard.  Returning he found Linus curled up in the corner.  His dog came to his side and nuzzled his hand. "Where's Sally?" Charlie asked.  Linus stared at him blankly as if hearing the name for the first time.  "Where is my baby sister, Linus?" he asked again, emphasizing each word.  Linus blinked a few times.  "Marcie's.  She went to hang out with Marcie."

"Get up.  We're going to go find her."
"Why am I going?"

"You just said we can't stay here.  My sister is out there somewhere.  If we are going anywhere we're going to find her."
"But the Great Pumpkin...!"

Something slithered up to the front door with a heavy thud. Charlie motioned for Linus to be quiet and in turn Linus planted both of his hands on his mouth.  Carefully Charlie stepped across his living room floor until he reached the window.  He tipped the rifle's barrel into the thick blue curtain and edged it back to see if he could spot anything.  A long, thick, greenish black vine slithered slowly along the side of the house.

The window exploded into a shower of glass as an orange object bounced into the house with a gurgling roar.  Linus screamed, springing to his feet.  In rapid succession Charlie fired round after round into the object.  Without realizing it, a tentacle like vine whipped into the room but then dog leaped at it, chomping furiously until it was torn off.  Linus emerged from the hallway and beat the orange object mercilessly until it broke apart, revealing itself to be a large pumpkin.

Even after it stopped moving, Linus continued to pummel it, sobbing, until Charlie grabbed him.

"Is that it?" he asked. "Is that the..."

"No...its part of it, some kind of spawn.  They get thrown by the vines, and they latch onto people's heads.  They eat the head and drive the person's body.  That's...that's what happened to Lucy."
"Then we need to find Sally now."

 The town was quiet, with a thick hazy mist hanging in the air.  Charlie led Linus, tucking close to buildings, peeking around corners down deserted streets and alleys before darting across intersections.  Buckets and bags of candy lay scattered about the streets.  Torn costumes and masks hung loosely on shrubbery.  “Where is everyone?” Charlie whispered.  He didn’t know if he was talking to Linus or Snoopy or God, but the question hung there, unanswered.  Crossing the third intersection, they again tucked into the side of one of the houses where they heard a faint sobbing.  It came from the back yard of the house, surrounded by a six foot high privacy fence.  “This is it…this is Marcie’s house.” Linus whispered.

Charlie thought it looked different in the night.  He edged his way around the fence until he found the gate, swinging open from a broken hinge.  He saw her sitting next to her swing set, curled up in the fetal position, shuddering with sobs.  He could faintly hear her saying “I’m sorry sir…I’m so sorry…”

“Marcie!” he said in a loud whisper.  She turned and saw him.  She looked around before darting towards him in a low run.  “Marcie…what happened?”

“It was Pattie…Charles.  She…went crazy.  She came at me with a pumpkin mask on, like she was trying to eat me.  I…didn’t know what to do.”

“Oh…” Linus said.  Charlie looked to where he was pointing and saw Pattie’s green shirt wrapped around a mangled body, a crushed pumpkin for a head, and a bloody baseball bat on the ground.
“Where is Sally?” Charlie said with caution.

“She and some of the other kids ran.  They headed towards the library.  I don’t know if they made it.”

Pine Cove’s Library was a single story building, much like the rest of the town, and was spread out over about an acre of land.  They approached with extreme caution, coming at it from the side where low trees hugged the edge of the property.  “We can’t just walk in the front.” Charlie pointed out.  “We have to check the perimeter.”
“Right.” Linus agreed.  Marcie stayed quiet.

They checked all around the building but found no trace of the Great Pumpkin or it’s minions, so approached the front doors.  The glass had been shattered and long tables propped up against the doors to block entrance.  “Sally.”  Charlie said, trying to peer through the tables.  “Big Brother?” a small voice whispered from behind the barricade.

“Sally!” he said, almost crying.  Pig Pen and Franklin struggled with the tables, allowing Charlie and Linus passage.  Once through, they saw the survivors.  A group of scared children huddled among the long, narrow shelves.  Someone screamed “Its in here!”  Charlie turned towards the door but saw only Marcie.  “Charles!” someone called from the crowd “That’s NOT MARCIE!” He turned to see who was shouting at him.  It was Marcie, leaning on a makeshift crutch.  Charlie turned and leveled the rifle at the fake Marcie, who laughed with a low gurgle.  Her eyes began to glow as a weird grin crossed her face.  From under her clothes, tentacle like vines snaked out and lifted her into the air.  The Great Pumpkin-Marcie swiped at Charlie and Linus, knocking them over the librarian’s counter.  Vines shot out after the children who ran in all directions.  One caught the real Marcie by the leg and lifted her up as she screamed.  Charlie rose to his hands and knees and something caught the corner of his eye.  A flash light.  He looked back at the monster.  “It hates light.  That’s why it killed the street lamps and the power, it only comes out at night.” He looked at Linus who still had his baseball bat.  Charlie jumped onto the counter “HEY!  UGLY!” he shouted.  The pumpkin monster turned and growled.  The beam from the flash light cut the darkness, shining directly into the monster’s face.  It dropped Marcie with a roar.  She was caught by Franklin who moved her away from the fight.  It’s body reeled backwards, but it found itself tangled in the mass of tables.  It started to lower itself to the floor.  That’s when Linus pounced, bat held high and bringing it down with a fury.  Again and again he bashed the creature in the head as Charlie held it with the flash light beam.

 October 31st dawned bright and new.  Charlie wandered about his day.  He saw Lucy and Patty and Schroder.  Everyone was fine, physically, but also seemed to be reeling from some shared trauma, some kind of nightmare that had washed over the town.  The adults didn’t know what was going on, or why all the kids in town were acting weird.  For them, it was just another Halloween.

Dusk came, and Charlie had pushed out of his mind any normal festivities.  Maybe later, he thought.  But now, he felt he had a job to do.  He carried in one hand a baseball bat, in the other a flash light.  He found Linus already perched on the fence to the pumpkin patch.  He hopped up on to the fence with him.  Across Linus’ lap was his own baseball bat.

One by one the children arrived.  Patty, Marcie, Franklin, Lucy, Sally, even Schroder.  Those who didn’t have baseball bats brought their flash lights.  Charlie understood.

Call it God, or Vishnu, or Allah, or some other kind of divine intervention, something had given them a glimpse into the future.  A future that all the children of their sleepy little town were determined not to let come to pass.

As the sun set over the horizon, Charlie’s dog jumped to his feet, set his head low and growled.  Something in the patch stirred.

Credits and Post Script

Lets get the legal out of the way.  I do not own the rights to Charlie Brown or any of the Peanuts gang, and I am not making a dime off of this.  This is strictly a little story I cooked up over the last few days.  I want to thank Turtle Power over at Geekfandom for not only inadvertently inspiring this, but offering the creative freedom to actually post it some place other than BlogSpot or Fan Fiction.

That's really what this is, complete fan fiction.  I love the work of Charles Schultz and my family make it a point to watch the Charlie Brown holiday specials every year.  So this is kind of a love letter to all those specials, plus pretty much all survival horror movies, but especially "Night of the Living Dead".

Quick Hits: Supergirl "Last Children of Krypton" and Flash "Magenta"

On with “The Last Children of Krypton”.  Now I have no idea what happened when they moved Supergirl from CBS to CW, but it feels like the creative team is getting to flex some serious muscles and giving Supergirl a punch.  Superman is still hanging around National City, though again his presence doesn’t really overshadow Supergirl, so they are balancing it very well.  The Kryptonian cousins are flying around saving days and generally annoying the Martian Manhunter, who is still rather unhappy about the Man of Steel’s presence.  In case you missed the origin of their conflict, MM is keeping kryptonite at the DEO and Superman isn’t happy about that.  Both have very valid reasons for their standpoints on the issue, but honestly I do agree with MM’s logic, though I think more could have been done to safeguard such a rare and important substance.

That’s when John Corbin, sorry, Metallo makes a comeback.  Metallo is a minor villain that’s made appearances throughout all of Superman fiction, notably in Lois and Clark and Smallville, and I personally think they handled him better here.  More in keeping with the comic book/cartoon origins of the character he’s been “upgraded” by Cadmus into a kryptonite powered cyborg who gives the super cousins a run for their money before Supergirl “Terminate 2’s” his hand.

Meanwhile Kara is dealing with major changes at Catco as Cat Grant is stepping down, appointing Jimmy Olsen in her stead, and Kara is dealing with her new “boss”, who refuses to acknowledge her as an actual reporter, much less an employee.  Kara does not deal with change very well.

Cadmus steps up their villain game by launching Metallo 2.0, in the form of an actual second cyborg and Winn gets creative in generating armor to protect Superman and Supergirl.

What follows is probably one of the best battles I’ve seen in the series, not to mention some pretty organic character development for our major players.

I won’t get into major details but after the predictable defeat of the Corbin-Metallo, Supergirl uses the cyborg’s camera eyes to issue a warning to Cadmus.  Melissa being allowed to show that kind of rage and just the pure savagery of using your fallen opponent to send a message to your enemy was very well done and greatly appreciated.  Please check out the episode.

 

We follow this with Season 3 of the Flash, “Magenta”.  Iris and Barry are trying to kick start their romance but Iris is rather stand off-ish of Barry’s fast running ways and wants to be with “the real Barry.”  Predictably life gets in the way as they are summoned to STAR Labs because a breach has opened.  Lo and behold our favorite cantankerous scientist Harrison Wells has arrived citing he needs their help to solve a problem.  Namely his daughter Jesse has become a speedster and he needs their help.  Of course he notices some differences in the Earth 1 lab and comes to the quick and reasonable conclusion that Barry once again changed the timeline and gives him a little hell for it. 

But the team has other problems as a yet unknown metahuman (named Magenta) has attempted to kill a ban with a light pole.  Julian rightly deduces that the man’s adoptive daughter Frankie is the metahuman and the stress summons forth her alternate personality Magenta who wreaks havoc in the police department before escaping.  While they are dealing with Magenta, Wells is on one hand relieved that his daughter is okay, also wants the team to talk her out of using her powers to save people.  Everyone has different reactions to this, and Wally’s is by far the stupidest as he tries to get the situation to kick start his own powers, which go over like a lead balloon.  Ultimately Barry addresses Wells saying that he’s the problem with Jesse’s situation and the two men talk about coming to grips with their various mistakes and the consequences they’ve wrought.  Jesse comes to the aide of Barry in the climax of the episode and the team is left with the question of who the new villain Dr. Alchemy is and why he’s doing what he’s doing.

Personally I’m loving the new season of both shows and I can’t wait to see where things are headed.

Super Hero Tuesday Review: Paradox and the Adventures of Supergirl

Alright so there we have it, our first post Flashpoint Flash episode and our very first CW Supergirl Season 2 episode.  Now they went back to back, probably the two most popular television superhero franchises out there.  Arrow is…eh doing alright and Legends of Tomorrow hasn’t come back yet so we’re going to reserve judgement until then.

THAT said this is the first time we get to see Barry really dealing with the consequences of his actions, really in a way that we never have before.  So let’s jump into my favorite: The Flash, Season 3 Episode 2: PARADOX.

Paradox opens up shortly after where we left off last week, with Barry chasing down a motorcycle riding jewel thief.  After some witty banter he returns to STAR Labs and meets with team Flash, all of whom are dealing some serious tension.  Barry tries lightening the mood but the team isn’t having any of it.  It appears that the only thing that did cross time lines is Iris’ affection for Barry, which is fine, but to see Cisco giving him the cold shoulder and nobody wanting to talk about…anything.  It was Twilight Zone level creepy.  Carlos Valdes (Cisco) rarely gets the meaty emotions and I’m very pleased with the way he conveyed the mixture of sadness, grief, and anger towards Barry.  We soon learn that his brother was killed by a drunk driver and he (for reasons you’ll have to see) blames Barry.

We don’t really get much in the way of explanation for why Iris and Joe aren’t talking; only that apparently Joe “did something stupid”.  But later it’s stated that Cisco revealed Barry’s secret to the police captain, so…we still have no idea what repercussions came from that.  Maybe it feeds into why Julian, Barry’s new work partner, isn’t exactly fond of him.

Let’s talk about Tom Felton as Julian Albert, CSI #2 to Central City’s police.  He’s a very different kind of character.  We’re not used to seeing someone not trusting Barry, and openly stating so.  Albert is a forensic scientist and for whatever reason he does not like Barry at all.  He’s also not stupid, and can pick up on Barry’s inconsistent stories very quickly.  While Patty Spivot from season 2 took literally all season long to work out Barry’s secret, Julian will probably riddle this out in very short order.

I’m jumping around a lot and I really hope you sit and watch the episode in its entirety.  Without giving away any major plot points, I will instead point out a really cool Easter Egg team either threw in intentionally or accidentally.

Namely it’s revealed in the reset timeline that John Diggle from Arrow doesn’t have a daughter anymore.  He has a son.  This is a call out to a film called “About Time”, which is a romance centered on a character with the ability to time travel.  Whenever he goes back in time and alters history, things are obviously changed in the present.  In one instance, after he has a daughter, he goes back to change history and when he returns he has a son.  It’s a very good movie, please go watch it.  It’s called “About Time”.  Go, grab your girl or your guy and go watch it tonight.

Where was I?

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERGIRL!

                Okay, prior to the jump I had not really given the show that much of a chance, and I regret that now.  Season 2 starts off really strong picking up literally where season 1 left off with the team locating another Kryptonian escape pod, this time with a comatose male inside.  The whole shooting match is taken to the DEO’s other location, which Kara rightfully complains that she never knew about and looks much better than the cave they had her hanging out in, and the inclusion of Winn as a probationary employee for the government agency.  Winn is a much better fit for the DEO than he ever was at CAT Co., so I was pleased to see that.  His tech savvy and personality work much better alongside their more unusual encounters, and his current assignment is to translate the data log from the crashed ship.

We also pick up with James and Kara’s first date, as they try to determine if this relationship-thing is going to really work out.  Long story short, probably not.  Also Cat Grant is making Kara choose a new job and has given her a deadline to determine what her new career will be.  I liked Calista Flockhart a lot better in this episode than I had in previous ones, because I think she was allowed much more range in her personality.

There was something else they added to this episode…what was it?

Oh yeah…Lena Luthor.  Taking over her now imprisoned brother’s company she tries to make a name for herself by re-christening it “L Corp”, which makes as much sense as Cat Co, but there you go.  Folks behind the scenes apparently have other ideas as it seems Lex has hired John Corbin to straight up murder his little sister.  Thanksgiving must have been fun.

The plans are, of course, thwarted by our heroes and Corbin is last seen being experimented on in Cadmus.

That can’t be all…what else happened.  Oh, Cat got a new assistant, Miss Tessmacher.  For those of you too young to know, Miss Tessmacher was the name of Lex Luthor’s assistant in the 1978 Superman movie, and Calista really nailed shouting that name out ala Gene Hackman.  A very nice call back.

Now what was that other thing they added this season?

Oh right…Superman.  Clark appears and lends an assist to Kara’s adventures and I do appreciate that they were very conservative with how they used him.  He was present, he made a difference, but he didn’t dominate the show, it still very much felt like Supergirl’s show.  Tyler Hoechlin did a very good job in both roles, portraying a Clark that was reminiscent of Dean Cain’s turn with a little Christopher Reeve thrown in for good measure.  They even reference his “clumsy” persona, with Clark sheepishly admitting that occasionally it’s for real.  His interaction with Kara was also really great as you can tell there is genuine affection for each other, and that they are family first and foremost, even giving each other a hard time every now and then.

His Superman was very well done.  I was genuinely surprised because they made it clear that seeing Superman is an event for a lot of people.  When he walks into the DEO and the soldiers and staff part, its like watching the president come in.  There’s a lot of respect both from those that encounter him and with the way he treats other people.  This is hugely different from Man of Steel/Batman v Superman’s take where there is a major divide between the hero and the people he saves.  Here he’s more connected with them.  They don’t fear him and he makes a point to say hello and be friendly with the bystanders.

All said and done, I’m really excited to see where this season is going for the girl of steel.  Ultimately I can’t wait to see how her show folds into the greater CW DC universe.

 

Thanks for reading.