Proud to be an American: Thanksgiving Edition

The last time I wrote one of these, I talked about my family fighting in the Revolutionary War.  There are some good stories to share from that, and it was fun to write.  So with today being Thanksgiving, I want to talk about two groups of ancestors that I am proud to be descended from.  The first group is people that were Pilgrims, and the second group is my Native American heritage.

My 13th great grandfather, Richard Adams, and his wife Mary Carver are listed on the registry for Mayflower Births and Deaths.  John West was the father of my 9th great-grandfather Col. John West, who became the second Governor of Jamestown.  This family also is responsible for the land that has become known as West Point.  My 10th great grandmother Anne Claiborne (166), and my 8th great grandmother, Mary Burgain (1695) were born in Jamestown.  And my 10th great grandmother Elizabeth Yeardley died in Jamestown in 1636.

Captain John Clay came to Jamestown, Virginia aboard the "Treasurer," in 1613.  A soldier in the British army, John gained the rank of Captain by the age of 21 and was sent to Virginia to control  problems developing in the area. Clay, known as, "The English Grenadier"  was put in charge of the fifty Musketeers aboard Captain Samuel Argal's ship, the Treasurer which was sent to protect the settlers in Jamestown.  Captain Clay eventually became sympathetic to the cause of the settlers and resigned his military post.
Perhaps the best way to transition between Pilgrim's and Native American ancestors is looking at my 9th great grandfather Simon Willard. In some biographies, I have seen him argued to be the most important single individual to the founding of Concord.  Simon made friends with the Native American's and learned to speak their language so that he could do business with them. He is recorded as a very honest man, who never cheated them, and they trusted him; so there was never any trouble between them, and that led to the naming of our town because the settlers lived in peace and harmony and "Con-Cord" with the native people.  In negotiating for the land that would become the town of Concord, one thing that he did was make sure that the Native American's could keep their hunting rights which were very important to them.

My Native American heritage is a bit less firmly rooted than my connections to Jamestown.  There are many instances where we appear to be tied to this people group, but we do not appear on the registries or rolls, in essence, I can't prove it.  Such is the case with my 5th great grandmother Mary Short, a Cherokee woman who was so named because she was of a diminutive stature.  However, we do know that her husband, Nimrod Brewer marched on The Trail of Tears with her.  He sent three of his sons ahead to buy land in Missouri, but 10 family members still died on the journey.  

Alabeth Freeman is another such case.  I believe the history that says she was of Choctaw descent but I cannot demonstrate it conclusively.  The story is that she went from Missouri to register in Mississippi.  However, when she was prepared to sign up, the military man in charge was evidently drunk and in a rather boorish mood, as such she left before registering, quite offended.  She does appear on MCR 7113 filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs though.  She and her husband Aaron were among the first 10 homesteaders to settle in Douglas county Missouri.

The one connection that I do not remotely question is my 13th great grandmother.  The Princess Matoaka.  She died as Rebecca Rolfe, but is best known as Pocahontas.  Her father was chief Powhatan of the Algonquin tribe.  The story of her saving John Smith is legendary. But she also became the first Native American to convert to Christianity.  This was not necessarily the peaceful conversion some would mythologize it to be.  She traveled to England where she did meet King James I and the royal family.  However, she died while preparing to return to America.

It isn't popular today to really celebrate Thanksgiving that much.  We take the day off and overeat, but it seems more and more like we are more interested in the holiday sales than in actually giving thanks.  I think there are two reasons for this.  The first is that we've decided to revise our understanding of the historical context of the day.  In some circles, we are now considered to be celebrating the oppression of indigenous people groups, and if that were so that would be quite wrong.  I say revisionist history because it ignores the role of Tisquantum in helping the colonists survive.  True, it might not have been the fairy tale version of Thanksgiving that lives in our cultural mythology.  Neither of these simplistic narratives really paints the full picture.  

The second reason the holiday might be struggling is that the nature of this holiday is innately religious and distinctly American.  Neither of those things seems to be all that popular to celebrate being in this day and age.  The idea was that you were going to thank God for the bounty he had blessed you with.  I'm unaware of another society that has created a holiday specifically for the purpose of being grateful.  But today I am very grateful.  I am grateful for the good Christian gal I have in my life.  I am grateful to have enjoyed the day with my family and a fantastic feast prepped by my sister.  I am grateful for the job I have been given that lets me live and even enjoy some extras.  And I am grateful that my ancestors came together to celebrate this day.  My heritage is a mixture of the two parties at work for the first thanksgiving, and I am thankful for that blessing.  I am proud to be an American, to live in a land where I can openly be grateful for the blessings God has given me.  And I am proud of the heritage I have from those that came to this land and those that welcomed them.

Suicide Squad

And yet again, the critics just got it wrong when it comes to a DC movie.  Seriously, I'm starting to wonder if they are simply in Marvel's back pocket and just are trying to predispose people to not go see these films.  DC is not Marvel, to be honest I think a part of the confusion at this point is people may be trying to put these films into the MCU because they have decided that is what a comic book movie is; and they have no place there.  These films are intentionally more serious in tone and they also are a lot more intricately tied together than the MCU films.  The MCU could be viewed as a series of franchises that are all tied together with connecting threads.  On the contrary, the DCEU is one very large franchise with each chapter dependent on the others.  Suicide Squad is far from perfect, but it does a great job of being really entertaining.  I'd say it's a good blend of Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy, sorta like the A-Team if they had been villains perhaps.  So that said, if you don't want spoilers for Dawn of Justice then you need to see it before you see Suicide Squad.  And as this is a review, yes, spoilers are about to commence.

This film has a lot to love about it, starting with the soundtrack.  The soundtrack is almost another character in the movie, it's that enjoyable.  The squad is formed as a knee-jerk government reaction to the events of the prior two films, dealing with the devil to try and achieve security.  It shouldn't be any surprise when that winds up going badly for people.  The complaints about the antagonist seem a bit unfounded.  I cannot speak to how well Enchantress was adapted from the comics because I honestly don't know the character that well.  But an ancient witch that is able to break free of her imprisonment with the help of her unknown brother and decides to take it out on the people that imprisoned her by mystically eliminating the world...  I really don't understand why people have trouble with this being a credible threat.

The surprise star of the film for me was Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.  We've seen the character in other
places over the years.  I actually liked the way that C.C.H. Pounder has always portrayed the character in animation.  Davis brought that same cold calculating command to the screen and it worked fantastically.  She is ruthless and heartless and it is fantastic.  This is Amanda Waller, you hate her, but you sorta respect her at the same time.  At her core, she is simply trying to do what she believes is best for her country, and she is willing to go to any lengths to do so. 

Like Enchantress, El Diablo is another character that I didn't know much about going into the film.  I found I really loved the character a lot.  I liked seeing the character unleashed, and I hope we might get to see some more of the lesser known characters explored like this.  Captain Boomerang I thought was more true to his comic character than he had been on Arrow.  Digger was a little too bright in that portrayal and was always just a little bit on the scummy side which was thankfully brought back for this film.  Katana was another character that was seen in Arrow.  I'm a little bit torn here.  Both portrayals were very well done.  This one tapped a bit more into the mystical aspects of her sword, but I loved what Rila Fukushima did with her.  Honestly, I felt that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was under utilized as Killer Croc.  He's a fantastic actor and I would have liked to have seen more of him.

Margot Robbie's character was every bit the fantastic version of Harley Quinn that I was hoping to get.  This is Harley, she brought the character to life perfectly.  Harley was brought to us in Batman: The Animated Series and this was like seeing the cartoon come to life.  She nailed the voice and the mannerisms.  Honestly, she was such a brilliantly chaotic character that she shouldn't have been believable at any point.  That's why Robbie's portrayal is so ingenius, I completely bought her character through the entire film.  There are some great easter eggs for her, from a moment recreating a rather classic picture to getting to see her original costume.  And things like yelling "you're ruining date night" while pulling out a gun were just so spot on that there is no room to complain about the character.

Now let's talk about Deadshot.  I'm torn here.  On the one hand, there was a lot to love about Will Smith's take on the character.  On the other hand, I find I really preferred the way that Michael Rowe portrayed him Arrow.  Smith was every bit the marksman, and the costume was far superior.  They also kept true to the core motivation of the character.  Everything he did was for his daughter.  But it felt like they changed his honor code a little bit. Smith did a better job of showing how cocky Floyd was, but his code was the code of a criminal and not a soldier. I also felt like I was watching a performance, for some reason he just didn't become the character for me in the way that Robbie and Davis did.  I believe that part of the problem is that the character was able to be much more fleshed out on television than in the film.  And that I loved what Rowe did with the character had me going in expecting something different than what I got.

There were a couple other issues with the film.  The first two character introductions seem a bit needless.  Because seriously, they are reintroduced to us at least once, sometimes twice.  I'm not certain why that was the case, but it seemed a bit unnecessary.  I understand that part of this was to show what sort of sleeze was running the prison they had been kept in, but it just felt a bit disjointed with the rest of the film.
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Affleck's cameo's were nicely done.  We see Batman having come back from the edge that he was pushed Dawn of Justice.  He isn't nearly as brutal here as he had become, and while extremely subtle I found it a great bit of character development.  We also got to see Ezra Miller show up in the Flash uniform, and I am beginning to make peace with his portrayal.  Though a part of me still wishes that we could have seen Grant Gustin given the roll as he has done wonders on The Flash series over the last two years.

Finally, let's talk the Joker.  Leto's performance is understandably not going to be for everyone.  I personally wish they had gone a different direction with some of the costume design.  However, he does bring to life a completely different Joker than one we have seen in a long time.  The Joker is the underbelly of Gotham in this take.  Nothing happens that he doesn't know about and allow.  Though Hush Returns is a poor sequel to Hush in the comics, this was a take on the Joker that I enjoyed seeing return to the story and one I am glad we got to see a little bit here.  I was thrilled with how driven the Joker was to save Harley in this movie.  He wasn't the hero at any point, but he was her hero.  In the comics, the relationship between the two has become increasingly abusive.  This is something I have never been comfortable with, and while I wouldn't even come close to calling this a healthy relationship I was glad to see him fight for her throughout the film.

So I encourage you to go see this movie.  It's a good action flick, and it does a nice job of showing us what the world does after Superman dies.  There is also a lesson to be learned from this film, very similar to the lesson taken from Civil War.  Do not make rash decisions out of fear when something bad happens, you may create the very monster you were concerned with. 

Star Trek Beyond: So close and yet ....

Alright, so this is going to be a brief review.  But I don't want everyone thinking I just love whatever pop culture summer popcorn flick comes out by default.  So with that said, let's look at the latest entry in the Star Trek franchise. 

I actually enjoyed Into Darkness, though there are a lot of people out there that do not share that sentiment.  However, this story certainly felt more like Star Trek than its predecessor.  Some of this I can attribute to subtle things like the changes to the uniforms.  But the core of this assertion is in the story itself.  Simon Pegg is a fan of the series, and it shows in the story.  While this is indeed an action adventure flick, wrapped within it is the stories of discovery and the human condition that made the series what it was.  It also feels like a proper sequel to the reboot from 2009.  Some of that might be the soundtrack, which was honestly the best of the three most recent films. 

Overall, I liked the story tremendously.  The character development was tremendous in this film.  We got to see them expanded and utilized like we haven't before.  Like Karl Urban who was criminally underused in Into Darkness.  However, across the board there were great moments for all of the characters and they all seemed to be advanced throughout the film.  From the nod to Leonard Nimoy to the the "controversial" decision to make the character of Sulu homosexual, there were a lot of good nods in the film.  I was really glad to see Demora getting included to be honest.

However, I do agree with George Takei, it would be better to create a new character that is gay than to make a character that was never meant to be homosexual a homosexual.  This is a problem rampant in comics and film right now.  The solution to increased diversity has been to change a character.  I agree very much with what people like Michelle Rodriguez have said, even though she needlessly caught flak for saying it.  Changing a secondary characteristic of a previously male, straight, or white character doesn't really make that character representative of the group they now share a characteristic with because they still came from the same creator and have the same history.  It's harder to make a new character, but I ultimately do agree that it is much more worthwhile.  And the same problem goes for whitewashing characters like what has been done with the Ancient One in Dr. Strange, just a bad idea to ignore a characters history folks. 

Well, this means my blog will probably get read at least because there is sure to be plenty of vitriolic hate mail headed my way.  Okay, back on track.  Seriously, the movie did a lot of really great things for the franchise.  It told a wonderfully enjoyable story and it grew the characters and their relationships.  It fleshed out the world pretty nicely.  So why then did I start this off like I didn't enjoy the film?

Because while this is a wonderful story, it is a story that in my opinion is very badly told.  The overwhelming majority of this film was shot far too close.  I've enjoyed a number of films by Justin Lin in the past.  Honestly Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Furious 6 were all great films I thought.   But this time, and I don't entirely know why, he just shot way too much of the film close up.  At a few points I was waiting on the cast to break the fourth wall and point out the personal space bubble that was being invaded.  If the audience had been where the camera was putting us the characters would have been wondering if they were about to get jumped.  They built grand set pieces and then it was like they were afraid to let us take them in.  

There is a second issue that I take with this presentation.  There was an effect that was so ridiculously and needlessly over used that I was becoming nauseous watching the film.  They continued to do tracking shots throughout the film that spun.  I love tracking shots.  They are my favorite moments in the Avengers films.  Honestly, I love a well done tracking shot.  But these were horribly done.  You're keeping me in the moment, you're not supposed to spin me around and make me motion sick.  Many of these shots were very similar to one of the deleted scenes from Star Trek: Nemesis and that scene was rejected specifically because of how dizzying it was for the audience.

This was further compounded by the first issue.  Had they zoomed out, if they had stepped back a little bit it would have helped make these much more bearable.  If it had been one or two scenes that were shot this way it would be one thing, but we are talking about multiple scenes all shot the same way.  If I am honest, it felt like they got a new toy but didn't read the directions on the proper way to use it.  By not zooming out at all they failed to grant us the chance to, as the viewer, get context for the tracking shots and for what was happening in general.

Now, a lot of this movie does indeed involve the idea of feeling lost, of being directionless and anchorless.   And if the intention was to create a feeling of physical disorientation for the viewer in order to simulate the experience of the characters I can understand why that might have seemed like a good idea.  But, at least for me, it was a horrid idea.  And had this been the idea, when they got their grounding then these techniques should have stopped. 

So for me, on a scale of 5, this was a 4.5 film that is reduced to a 3 star film because of how unenjoyable this great story was to watch.  Back the camera up about 10 feet for the entire film and this would've been a great movie.

Proud to be an American

So while I listen to the fireworks exploding in my neighborhood, I find I am grateful.  I love this land for a lot of reasons.  I find it hard to say that at times.  Today it is more popular to point out the flaws in America and to ignore all of the good that this country has done.  But I am proud of my heritage and the culture that I have been given by those that came before me.  Some came here to escape religious persecution.  Others sold themselves into servitude in the hopes they could build a better life afterwards.  Some came to the New World for adventure, others to try and build a better life than they might have been able to obtain where they were born.  And others were already here when Europe began colonizing this land.  This holiday, I want to share some of my family history focused on the Revolutionary War, which began with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

When the War began, we were there on both sides of the conflict.  Joshua Perry came from a family of Royalists and with few exceptions did not fight on the American side in the Revolution.  However, they were distinctly military, serving prior to and enlisting immediately after the Revolution began. Meanwhile James Billingsley, was a patriot who lost his life when loyalists to the British cause invaded his home in April 1776. These Tories who had been harassing him asked for money. On being told there was none. They took him to a nearby tree and hung him. (This statement came from his wife Elizabeth Crabtree Billingsley who made notes in the family Bible.)

Gabriel D. Smith, entered the service of the U.S. Militia of North Carolina in Mongomery County August 1780 under Captain Thomas Childs and was marched to Mays Ferry where we had a battle or skirmish with the Tories. Childs was wounded by a ball through the arm and placed under the command of Captain Samuel Pond, and marched to Drowning Creek & Betties Bridge and had another skirmish with the Tories there.  He returned home and remained a few days.  Then having been reinforced marched to Betties Bridge and had another fight with the Tories. He was taken prisoner by the Tories in the fall of 1781, and kept about 3 weeks when he made his escape from them and returned home.

And now for perhaps my favorite story:

Ezekiel Billington, enlisted in the service of his country in the spring of 1776 (he was seventeen years old), and served as a private.  Later he enlisted in Capt. Camp's Company and was in a skirmish with the British near Newark.  He was taken prisoner and held in the Old Sugar House in New York until sometime in 1777, when he was removed to a British prison ship in New York harbor.  Rather than remain in prison, the soldier enlisted in the British Army during June and July and was stationed on Staten Island. He was afterwards put on the man-of-war ‘Experiment,' removed in two months to the 'Badger' and transferred to the transport ‘William.' Still with the Tories, he marched to Augusta, GA., and from there to Ninety-six, South Carolina, where he deserted from the British Army.  He joined Gen. Greene's army, served 12 months in Capt. Field's company and was in the battle of Eutaw Springs. Gen. Greene gave him a discharge and a recommendation explaining is imprisonment. He was 21 years of age at the time.  As he started homeward, he stopped in Cumberland Co., North Carolina, ‘in order to work to get clothing.'  It was here that he also seems to have met and taken a wife.

So, this Independence Day I want to say thank you to my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War.  Thank you for fighting to hand freedom to myself and my sister.  Thank you for taking action to secure liberty for my parents and cousins.  Thank you for sacrificing to give us a place where I can believe what I am persuaded to be true without fear of death, a culture that is working to see all people treated equally, even if we don't all agree about what that looks like.  I'm very grateful to live in a land that people still want to come to as a place where they can find some hope for a better tomorrow. 

Another day, we can argue about the way forward.  There will be time to discuss and fight and debate later.  We live in uncertain times, we live in an imposing world with problems that seem insurmountable.  So have others that came before us.  The American Revolution was a rebellion against the largest power the world had known at the time.  They faced an impossible task and ultimately they won.  And for all the bounty that I have been blessed to enjoy just by being born an American I am thankful.  Below are the names of the known revolutionary soldiers from my own ancestry.  Their sacrifice helped to make my life what it is today.

Peter Klingman	Richard William Oldham	Samuel Shannon
James Gilliam	William Absolom Littlefield Sr.	Aaron Freeman
William Mitchell Clay	Jacob Pyeatt	Benjamin Rush
Abia Clay	Richard Walker	John Cross
Simon Bright	John Webb Jr.	John Bethea
James Billingsley	Sgt. Arthur Hickman	Captain Moses Cavett
George Hiram Jewell	Drury Erastus Smith	John Hardin
Jacob Breyvogle	John Pyron	Capt. William "Indian Bill" Hardin
Ezekiel Billington	William Littlefield Jr	Richard Muse
Jacob Pyeatt I	Andrew M. McWilliams	Moses Hamilton Runnells
Samuel Smith	John Haile Mead	Joshua Perry
Isham Joham Huckaby	John Tankersley Sr.	Theophilus Easton
Moses Stephens	Gabriel D Smith
	Lt. Christopher Smith

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

So this weekend, my girl and I went to see TMNT: Out of the Shadows.  And I have to say, this was a really enjoyable film.  No, it's probably not going to win any Oscars, and it didn't answer any questions for me about human condition.  What it did was bring me back to my childhood and let me live in a fun world populated by mutants and ninjas.  This was also an improvement over the first film I thought as well.  I'm not willing to say this is my favorite Turtles film after just one viewing, but it's contending for the title.  And for those that are still saying "it's just not (insert personal favorite iteration of TMNT here)" LET IT GO!!!  If we don't give these properties and characters chances to adapt and change slightly they will stagnate and die.  That doesn't mean all adaptations will be successful (please reboot Transformers without Michael Bay directing), but as fans we ought to give them a chance.  Coming from someone that grew up on the first cartoon, had posters from the first movies up in my room, and loved the 2004 reboot all the way to Back to the Sewer, this was a successful adaptation of TMNT that stayed true to the core of the characters and the story (I haven't gotten to see the new cartoon).  Some spoilers will follow but hey, it's a review.

One thing I thought was generally improved moving from the first film was the character designs.  The character designs in the first film were a bit hard to swallow initially.  This was in part due to a departure from the more traditional design of the characters, but the new designs felt a bit more completed than they had previously.  The costumes, and even the Turtles, looked cleaner and better developed.  Another big win for the character designs were in Bebop and Rocksteady.  I loved these two.  They made the film in a lot of ways.  But they looked great.  The same can be said for Krang.  The way they adapted his suit was great. I did not want to see a giant fat dude in red underwear and a yellow vest on the big screen.  Giant robot that looks like the guy and kicks a lot of butt, that was great to see.  And the head was perfectly executed.  However, there was one character that just didn't get the same upgrade the Turtles did, the Shredder.  The costume for the Shredder was just.. boring.  For all the complaining I heard about the giant robotic suit before the first film came out, when I finally got to see it on the screen it was awesome.  The suit felt like it was sacrificed for budget.  Like seeing a guy gearing up in a stormtrooper costume that forgot half his armor.

This film expanded the cast of characters as well.  In addition to bringing back everyone from the first film, we got introduced to the previously mentioned Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang.  On top of these three, we also were treated to Baxter Stockman.  His character is a bit less nuanced than I would have liked, though it could be I just am a bit tired of the "scientist who gets wrapped up in the science and doesn't expect his boss to be THAT evil" trope.  I do hope that we get to see him return though.  However, while Stockman felt like a little bit of a let down, Stephen Amell's portrayal of Casey Jones was great.  True, the character was a bit of a departure from some of his other portrayals.  However, I think this was a successful adaptation of the character into this film universe.  He's a little more intelligent than he is usually portrayed, a shift I am really okay with.  Hopefully we see more of Casey in the future.  His friendship with Raphael, particularly with him being a better balance of brains and brawn, should have some great point/counter-point moments.  And I'm also really hoping we get to see a romance develop between Casey and April.  When done well, that has always been a great portion of the mythos and I think Amell and Fox can pull it off. 

And that will bring us to the films only other weak point.  April was instrumental in the first film.  It was as much her story as it was the Turtles'.  But she felt really underutilized in this film.  She still has the "willing to take risks and ask questions that people don't want asked" attitude.  However, she isn't as big a part of the film.  There were a just couple of moments that I really wanted to see her say "fine, I'll do it."  She didn't take charge like she had in the first film, and I missed that.  I suspect it was just a matter of trying to balance a fairly large cast in a limited amount of time that caused some of this, though perhaps her being pregnant might have restricted her ability to do some other things.  Splinter is also relatively absent, in this film, but for some reason I didn't miss him as much as I did April, perhaps because he has often taken a backseat to his sons in other iterations.  I was really hoping they would give the Turtles the last name of Splintersan as a way to incorporate him again, just as another quick nod to how important he was to them.

So if you want to see a movie that is going to change your life, maybe skip this one.  If you want to see the movie so that you can whine about how the original was better because it came out when you were 7, do us all a favor and just pass.  But, if you want to see a fantastically entertaining film, a film that makes you feel like you're a kid getting to see their toys come to life then go see this movie.  If you want to see a film where the people that made it were clearly having a great time telling the a good story, then go see this film.  If you're just interested to see how the Turtles have evolved for the next generation, then go see this film.  If you liked the first one, or you have kids that are just now discovering the Turtles, then go see this film with the whole family.  I am really excited about the direction they seem to be taking with these films and I can't wait to see the next chapter, because the possibilities begun with the Technodrome (which had me giddy) are astounding. 

DC Universe: Rebirth

So I will be honest, when I initially heard about Rebirth, I was not particularly thrilled.  And I still fear we are entering an era of far too frequent rebooting of the DCU.  But when I read some of the interviews about what they are hoping to accomplish, I found myself filled with hope.  Geoff Johns deserves the high praise he consistently gets.  Unlike many *coughDidiocough* who don't seem to really understand a lot of the characters in the DCU, Johns gets them.  Compared with the people who run the business side but don't really read the comics, he is a fan that lives this stuff.  And when he said that for him Rebirth was about bringing back Legacy to the DCU, I was ready to jump on board.


That is precisely what has been missing in the DCU since they rebooted in 2011.  And it should be noted that I can't go any further without spoilers here.  The biggest example of where Legacy was missing, I believe, was in the Flash.  This might be because this is the character who has made the best use of this concept historically.  I grew up on the second (or third if you count the JSA) generation of hero's.  My Green Lantern was Kyle Rayner, my Green Arrow was Conner Hawke, and Kon-El was my Superboy.  Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Roy Harper as Arsenal, and even Donna Troy - these were the characters I resonated with most.  And that also means that Wally West was my Flash.

With the Reboot, many of these characters were lost, and if they were not lost, their history was removed.  They started bringing Donna Troy back into Wonder Woman, which I was quite glad to see.  And I couldn't Thank Collen Bunn enough when I met him this weekend for finally restoring Garth to the Aquaman family.  Honestly, the return of Tempest made me so excited to see that I sorta fanboyed.  But there was still one character that was missing.  I like the new Wally West.  He's a good kid, and he has potential as a character.  But he doesn't have the history of my Wally, and I miss that.  So when I hit page six and I saw him return again, I couldn't have been happier.  I wasn't even mad that it had been spoiled for me, nothing could've dampened that moment.

Seeing him torn across the DCU by the Speed Force was a great way to tell the story.  And to make it better, it wasn't just seeing Wally return that we were given.  The Justice Society might not be too far behind.  The true legacy of the DCU might be restored at last.  This is enough to get me excited about these comics again.  Clark and Lois have been returned from the prior universe as well, though I expect more twists to come on that front (see Superman #52).  Some of the other twists that have been taken over the last few years are getting ironed out in other books.  For instance, Dick Grayson is returning as Nightwing, and I could write an entire review talking about how great the latest issue of Grayson was.

But I am going to focus on Rebirth.  The past of the DCU is set to be restored with the JSA and the return of Wally.  But the future is also being restored.  The Legion of Superhero's appears to be back as well.  In addition, we get to look at some other characters that have been relatively lost it seems.  Ryan Choi is back into the fold, and Ted Kord has returned (complete with The Bug).  There are some solid hints of things to come in this.  Some will doubtless be bigger than others. 

Another thing that I was glad to see again was the return of love to the DCU.  We've had some romance sprinkled throughout, but the historical power couples have been missing.  Barry and Iris have been a bit spotty.  Clark and Wonder Woman is a way to go, but many (myself included) would rather see her with Bruce.  And Clark and Lois have a lot of history, a history that was just missing in the last few years.  Arthur and Mera are back.  There is a Lois and Clark in the Universe again.  The moment between Wally and Linda is heart breaking, but I hope to see this relationship restored as well.  With luck, the attitude that superheroes don't get to be happy is going away. 

Batman is grim and gritty.  Green Arrow is a bit grim.  But these characters are symbols of hope and faith as well.  Barry is able to bring Wally out of the speed force.  There is a threat looming, a most interesting one that I'm not going to spill the beans on.  But even with all that has been lost (a decade by Wally's estimate), there is a chance that we might be returning to comics where the good guys really are good guys.  Where kids and adults alike can enjoy some of these tales.  (As fantastic as Morrison's run on Batman was - Bruce was a giant jerk for most of it) This issue did what I know Johns was hoping it would, it had left me filled with excitement for the future of the DCU. 

For a more expanded discussion of this issue and the implications involved, I recommend going here.

Movie Review: Dawn of Justice

The following is my review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  The short version is, “Holy Cow!  I can’t believe I just saw the movie that I saw.”  And for those who hated the movie, what is wrong with you people?  Have you ever read a bloody comic?  Go to a comics shop, grab one of the “essentials” guides and read through those and then go back and rewatch this film.  I actually suspected I would not like this film, but I loved it.  I should forewarn you, there will be MASSIVE spoilers ahead because I can’t properly discuss why this film was so good without giving elements of the story away, so with that said, stop now if you haven’t seen the movie yet.

 

And now for those still here, we can get into a bit more detail.  The thing that worked most for me is that this was a story.  A big problem the film suffered from was that people went in with a lot of preconceptions about what the film was and what it wasn’t.  The story component of super hero films has taken a backseat in the last few years.  The films coming out lately are character driven more than story driven.  When we meet these characters, we don’t know them well enough for that to be the driving factor.  Yet, an entire world was unfolded right before my eyes.  A rich world filled with fantastic and also flawed characters.  And to my amazement it was a world that I believed in from the second we saw Bruce driving through Metropolis.  

This movie wasn’t made for people who can’t appreciate the artistry of comic books, and I think that is responsible for some of its backlash.  Moreover, there is a lot of fan service here that means those of us who read comics will walk out knowing a lot more than those who don’t.  Throughout the film, Bruce experiences dream sequences or perhaps they were visions.  Some are myths that maybe he has told himself like the story of rising to the light.  Others are his worst fears realized, where we see nods to stories like Injustice.  Still others I suspect we will have to wait to fully understand, like the Flash appearing in a cloud of lightning to give Bruce a clue that will ultimately save them all is straight from the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths but has nothing to do with the story at this point.

We get hints of what is to come, and much as I was excited for the Avengers, I am now very much looking forward to Justice League, a film I was rather ambivalent toward up to this point.  And if it delivers in the same way that this film did we have a lot to look forward to for a long time to come.  This film had a number of nods and a lot of influences that were taken straight from the comic pages.  They range from little things like Bruce standing at the computer in full costume just without the cowl to larger elements like Luthor not trusting Superman because he doesn’t believe that he can be that powerful and also that virtuous.

This film is one chapter in a story that is being told.  This is not a stand-alone movie that then ties into a larger team-up film.  That’s the marvelous competition for the super hero market you’re looking for.  This is one chapter of a single story.  And for that reason it also might feel like a miss to some people  From the above mentioned appearance of the Flash to the showcasing of Parademons to a giant Ω on the ground in another of Bruce’s visions, there is a much larger game afoot.  My preference for a storyteller other than David Goyer aside, they are foreshadowing things that aren’t going to pay off for a number of films.  As such, the viewer who doesn’t know what these symbols mean is likely to feel things are much more disjointed than they actually are.  

That brings us to one criticism the film is getting: “When in doubt, [Snyder] simply slings another ingredient into the mix, be it an irradiated monster, an explosion on government premises, or the sharp smack of masonry on skull.”  This review by Anthony Lane is hogwash and I question if he was writing the review rather than watching the movie.  This is not a case of another ingredient being thrown into the mix at all.  This was organic storytelling.  It’s complex, not convoluted and there is a difference.  Everything makes perfect sense in the film.  This story is the natural progression of things being manipulated by Lex Luthor and tying together elements from Dark Knight Returns and the Death of Superman while laying the foundation for a shared universe that is distinctly different from the one Marvel has been building, and should be.


Then there is Leonard Maltin’s statement “When was it decided superhero movies shouldn't be any fun?”  When was it decided that superhero movies had to just be fun?  This isn’t a story about fun, this is a story grappling with ideologies and belief systems and the hard concepts of life.  In the words of C.S. Lewis ““Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. . . Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let villains be soundly killed at the end of the book.”  Fairy tales are not always fun.  Ancient and Medieval literature can be slow and plodding, but entertainment is not always their goal.  They were and are tools to teach and demonstrate principles and ideas, and that is the kind of film we have here; one that touches on and questions our ideas regarding justice and legality, good and evil, god and man.

True, I’m a DC fan.  Man of Steel I walked out having thoroughly enjoyed because we finally got to see Superman cut loose and not be bound by his powers.  That doesn’t mean that the film was without its flaws, but just because a film has a flaw doesn’t mean it’s not a good film.  And flaws can be fixed.  The color pallet for Man of Steel was far to stark, here it feels more vibrant, a distinct improvement.  But, like its predecessor, Dawn of Justice does have some flaws.  The biggest one for me is Lex Luthor.  I liked Lex and I thought he was an excellent antagonist.  I simply did not care for the way he was made a modern boy billionaire in this film.  I did appreciate that they got to show his genius on the other hand.  This was also something that was finally restored to the Bat.  Bruce was once again a detective.  The element of Batman that had been missing from the Nolan films, replaced by gadgets, was restored.

As glad as I am to see Batman as a detective, I was equally glad to see him as the master strategist.  He orchestrated every aspect of his fight with Superman from where it started to where it would end.  However, there are some concerns with this character as well.  It is not that he uses guns.  Batman has ALWAYS used guns of some sort (grappling gun anyone).  There are people who got really upset to see Batman holding a gun in the trailers.  It never ceases to amaze how quickly people will jump to conclusions in this day and age.  There is this thing called context and it would be nice if we could all start waiting for it before leaping to conclusions again.  

The gun he was using in the trailers that stirred up so much controversy was a gas gun.  He previously used guns on his Batmobile and Batwing (1989).  In Final Crisis he literally shot Darkseid with a handgun so it’s not out of character for him to use that sort of weapon.  What is out of character is that he seemingly kills people.  I don’t particularly like this development.  However, it’s also clear that I’ve never seen this Batman before.  We see Bruce 20 years in.  He’s lost a Robin,that much we know.  The mansion has been burned.  He’s been broken and it has made him callous.  He doesn’t kill anyone that isn’t trying to kill him, and even then he kills as few as possible.  When he stops a grenade from being thrown it hurt fewer people blowing up where it fell than it would had he thrown it.  

However, Superman ultimately inspires Batman by the end of the film.  Bruce emerges from this storm a different and better man than he was when he sank into it.  Superman ends the film as Superman.  He sacrificed himself for the world, and the woman he loved.  And the silver “S” on the black coffin was beautiful.  He threw himself into the path of Doomsday in order to stop him.  And this was yet another character I feel they adapted him with great success.  I understand that this wasn’t panel by panel, but it was indeed the spirit of the character.  An abomination of Kryptonian science that gets stronger every time you kill it that Lex is ultimately responsible for… does it really matter how he was an abomination?

Though I would have preferred not having the somewhat awkward bathtub scene with Lois, the character fits in the modern world.  She is the same character we met in Man of Steel.  She is putting her neck on the line to get stories that no one else will and is able to connect the puzzle pieces of the bigger picture before anyone else.  Gal Gadot gives us a bit of an enigmatic Wonder Woman.  She works in the film but is not essential to it.  Much as she did in Bruce Timm’s Justice League cartoon she sort of just drops into the film to save the day.  I don’t consider that a valid complaint, because honestly that is my favorite portrayal of the character, but I would have liked her to get more fleshed out.  Fortunately, Wonder Woman is not far from being released.  And while I was concerned about Jeremy Irons as Alfred, I found I loved the way he handled the role.

So no, this is not a fun little romp into the world of superheroes.  This is an intricate story.  The manipulations of Lex are subtle.  Truthfully, I was on his side for the first 2/3 of the film, until everything was revealed.  The motivations for the characters are implied.  This history is in the background, not at the forefront of the film.  There are easter eggs scattered throughout that may just be fun nods, but more likely are foreshadowing events that are years from seeing fruition.  This is a comic book movie, not a superhero movie.  If you want to go on a fun little romp through the land of capes and tights, if you want to see the same story we've seen over and over again of guy becomes hero to stop villain or has to up his game because of new villain, then stay clear.  If you want to have an entire world and mythology built in front of you, then you must see this film.

He-Man: The Eternity War Review

He-Man: The Eternity War has now finished.  I know it was a few weeks ago, but as I’ve never tried to write this sort of thing before and it took a bit to reread and write this. I’ve read most of the Masters of The Universe comics published.  The original DC trilogy, and the issues from MV Creations (basically anything related to the 200x series).  When DC got the comics license to do MOTU comics I was excited.  The first miniseries was enjoyable enough, but the origins issues fell a little flat.  The DCU vs MOTU crossover was the sort of thing I love about comic books, yet the “ongoing” series on the other hand was a pretty big letdown.  Things finally picked up by issue 13 but at that point, between some horribly drawn chapters and a plot that just felt by and large disjointed, I was okay with the series ending.

So with the way they were billing this I came into the series with a cautious optimism.  The art for the series overall thus far hadn’t been to my taste.  A few issues not withstanding I won’t say it was bad, just not to my personal liking.  The storytelling though I was really concerned about, but the pitch for this series was really promising.  I let myself hope I would walk into a world of adventure that would rival the imaginings of every kid that had seen their bedrooms converted into planetary battlegrounds where the fate of the universe hung in the balance.  So with high hopes but low expectations I ventured into this series.

Overall, I am happy to say that I was not disappointed.  I am still not particularly fond of the art.  There were some grand moments, but there were also points where the characters were so completely out of scale with themselves that it yanked me right out of the story.  There were also some points where the pacing was way off.  There were a lot of big (huge) moments in this series and they all hit you so fast, particularly at the start of the series, that you don’t have time to savor them.  The pacing does slow down towards the end but then that feels out of place with the rest of the series.  However, I was given precisely the sort of story that I was hoping to get.  This is a child’s imagination run wild, creating a universe using every single toy in their toy box to tell a grand story. 

The series did a lot of good for building the mythology of the series.  We are given two very important artifacts with the Eyes of Grayskull.  What was begun with DCU vs MOTU was continued here.  Eternia is not just the seat of all magic in the multiverse, hidden in the walls of Castle Grayskull is the very source of all creation.  The scale of this is huge.  In securing the castle and returning to Eternia, Hordak is in a position to be able to control all of existence.  This series also takes us a bit deeper into the goddess/star seed/source of creation.  Using this as a driving part of the story gives us a chance to look deeper into the motivations of the characters themselves.

On Eternia there are three faces of the goddess: Serpos, Zoar, and Horakoth. There are also three groups of inhabitants: Snake Men, Eternians, the Horde that have lived and fought for Eternia.  The values of each people group corresponds to the aspects of the goddess that they see.  And with the Horde returning they see the chaos and fury and death that is embodied by Horakoth.  They view themselves as agents of destiny.  They don’t see themselves as evil, rather they believe they are inevitable.  This is a bit different from the other approaches we’ve seen taken in other media, and the story that comes from this is pretty compelling.  This is recognized within the story itself.  Skeletor has cheated destiny and is now actively rebelling against what is thought inevitable.

One idea connected to the Masters of the Universe world is that each character is the master of something.  True, in the original minicomics this wasn’t quite the case, there the Masters of the Universe were pitted against the Lords of Destruction.  This idea is given fresh importance as this particular story goes on.  The first is that Skeletor is revealed as the Master of Death.  Using a bit of time travel and a bit of magic, it is revealed that the skull atop Skeletor’s havoc staff is his skull.  Yet he defies the destiny that saw him die before he was even born and so in cheating death he is granted power over death. 

In addition, we learn much about He-Man through this story.  The power that he wields is not without price.  He has, at this point, gone a long time without being Adam.  And it is revealed that in not letting that power go he risks becoming the very thing he seeks to defeat.  So he breaks his sword for the good of Eternia and becomes Adam alone at the height of a war.  However, while He-Man is the strongest man in the universe, it is revealed to us that Adam is the Master of Eternity.  By the time we reach this climactic point in the story, the stakes could not possibly be higher.  With every death, Skeletor grows more powerful.  Much as Nekron sought to do during Blackest Night, he stands on the brink of ending all life.  Only this is not the life of one universe, but of all creation.

The growth of the mythology was in part done well because the characterizations were done very well.  The one exception to this rule might be She-Ra.  The changes to her origin story have her now cast as a somewhat more tragic and brutal character.  It makes sense given the way her origin was changed, and honestly works very well, but she does feel like she’s a bit off from the She-Ra most of us grew up with.  However, overall the characterizations are spot-on still.  Roboto is loyal to his friends, Duncan will sacrifice everything for Teela (and is not to be screwed with).  Catra and Scorpia are fighting each other to try and secure the spot as Hordaks top lieutenant and hate Adora passionately.  Fisto has a gruff exterior but a kind heart.  Other characters like Teela are nicely grown.  She and Evil-Lyn have always been matched up but until this series they’ve not been on equal footing, and that was nice to see.

The way that the mythology was grown throughout was accompanied by a rich showcasing of what had come before.  Through the introduction of a multiverse, we see every iteration of the Masters of the Universe exists.  So if you are a fan of the mini-comics, the Filmation cartoon or the Mike Young Productions cartoon, or if you prefer the universe you created yourself with the action figures, we see that all of these universes are considered to exist.  This goes even further, showing us glimpses of Pre-ternia and the others that have acted as He-Man through the centuries.  And it extends beyond this to include the future and the planet of Primus.  So every era of MOTU is also validated in this story (and yes that actually does include a nod to the movie).

While the art is not my style of choice, there are some really nice nods throughout this series.  We are given glimpses of lesser known characters like Octavia, Imp, and Entrapta.  Lookee pops up throughout the book quite nicely as well.  At other points you can glimpse Dare, son of He-Man and a number of concept characters showing up.  Perhaps my favorite cameo was when they had Adam don the armor of King Hsss.  Not only do we get to see this armor, but he is given the grabber from the MYP series that Snake-Armor He-Man used.  The vehicles are nicely used throughout as well.  We get to see Spydor, roton, and the Dragon Walker, come out in epic fashion.  And they did a great job of incorporating a lot of other things from the history of MOTU.  The Slime Pit, Well of Darkness, and Sands of Time all are important, as is the Temple of the Sun.  There’s more to be explored of the world.  We didn’t see Zalesia, Avion or Subternia for instance; but throughout the series it felt like a real world and these sorts winks to the fans were really nice to see.

The first time I read through these issues there were several things I missed, but looking at it now, I must say that Abnett deserves some praise for how well thought this story really is.  True, the pacing was a bit rushed for how big the reveals and ideas being revealed were.  But there is a lot of foreshadowing that lays the groundwork for how the story is going to go very well.  From Duncan being a strategic genius, to the way Adam is able to earn the admiration of Rattlor and how all of those pay off by the end of the story, the ground work is just well laid.  Nowhere is this more relevant than with Skeletor’s plan, the risks involved, the twists and turns that we get taken through by him, are on the level of Jokers plans in The Dark Knight.    

I would say that this series is a good read.  I recommend getting it as a graphic novel because reading it from start to finish I found much more satisfying than reading it month to month as it came out.  The art I will give a C up to a B.  But I want to stress again that this is simply not my style.  The writing however I feel made up for the artwork.  Even reading it monthly I hated getting to the end of an issue because I was left with a month of wondering what was going to come.  There are some seeds sewn that could see more stories come out of this, focusing largely on She-Ra, that I hope we see explored.  And if I’m honest, the last page shocked me a little bit and made me want to reach out my hand.  So if you want a universe in the balance, good vs. evil, character driven story this is one you should pick up.  If you are a fan of the Masters of the Universe franchise you should definitely pick this up, because this is exactly the sort of story I would liked to have had the toys and imagination to tell growing up.