Review - Ms. Marvel Episode 1

 

We have already discussed how being under the wing of Disney has played in Marvel's favor in terms of media payoff. They are like the entertainment mafia. If they can't pay for it then they have built in social armor to defend their lackluster efforts by creating the narrative that if you do like what they do you are a racist, or a fascist or some other baloney. With this show the armor applies. However, it is not as bad as I feared but not great either.  The acting is the CW level and writing not refined enough for an editor to have given this the green light on a Disney level production making it feel at times like a live action "Turning Red". The first episode shares some of the same plot points. Its strength is how it embraces being in the Marvel Universe. The very fact it does not apologize for being a comic book adaptation puts it above the shows and movies that do. The use of animation is also another strong suit. But these struggle to balance out where it is flawed. It might not apologize but it fails to see what made the character work and finds it mirroring Shang Chi  

In her origin where to have introduced the Inhumans again would have given them a chance to reboot even softly their place, especially since the Dr. Strange Sequel left the door wide open for them to do so. Could they go back and say this bracelet was an artifact from the Inhumans? Sure, but I do not see them going that way and it is like going to be some kind of djinn magic. The diversity problem is another issue because much like Shang Chi, when you try too hard, you end up working off the worst stereotypes and playing like this is yet another American child trying to reject their heritage, which is not what they comic does Kamala embrace who she is on that side but is trying to not let her family be affected by the fact she has superpowers. Another problem is this character is so new, she lacks enough depth to her story to even have a rogue's gallery or an arch nemesis to put her against. I can see this becoming a similar problem to the one the second season of Jessica Jones faced.

It's Wonder Years meets Sabrina at times in terms of narrative. There is no real chemistry between characters which is a problem that has plagued the Marvel stuff for a minute, now nothing has really gelled aside from Spider-man since "Wanda Vision" .  Even in Dr. Strange's sequel things were awkward at times with America Chavez, who is a character that would have worked in this series. God knows Chavez could not hold her own movie or series. Instead we get her high school friend  and brother.  The action almost nonexistent with just one scene , where she saves the day from falling props. Damn those are some high stakes to wanna make ya keep watching. With the Inhumans there would have been more threat, Marvle has tons of alien races we might still see get involved and they could always bring in someone she faced in the comics while a member of the Champions. Who know it was entertaining , but frustrating at the same time so I have mixed feelings, but not as dismal as it appeared.

This Week In Marvel 2/10/16

The big even this week isn't on the shelves , but in theaters as Deadpool comes out. I am not going to see it opening weekend. In fact Dr. Strange might be the last Marvel movie I go to opening weekend. I'm not sure about Civil War, I think it's going to take the Avengers side of the coin into a bad direction. Super hero fatigue is going to be setting in soon after that one when those characters begin to be re-cast. The second issue of Shield, keeps with the tone of the show while setting things up for the Civil War 2 story that is coming. Overall it's a little on the luke warm side. The art doesn't help matters. Weird World has some wacky art, but a story I just can't care about, I will only keep reading it in hopes some one more interesting shows up, like Man-thing or Crystar. Another book with great art wasted on a boring story is the Ultimates.  Not a big fan of the Blue Marvel or the America girl, but you would think the others would do more than just support a Blue Marvel story, which is what the book is turning into. Black Knight loses some of it's charm in the 4th issue, there is only one left and the book is getting the plug pulled on it. I think it would have done better without some much of the Uncanny Avengers, as Dane becomes more of a supporting character.The 3rd issue of Red Wolf finds the book getting dull, they just need to bring in the Texas Rangers, since he was only good as a part of that team. Spider -Gwen has really gone down the toilet. I stopped reading the 5th issue mid way into it. The art is terrible and the story which is trying to be a Netflix drama already is overly dramatic and loses the voice of the main character. Ms Marvel really continues to be a waste of time, its a super hero comic book for people who don't like super hero comic books. Meaning poseurs...


The 4th issue of the All- New Hawkeye, finds the book going in a decent direction, though weighed down with too much back story on Kate Bishop, who really just needs to get put on New Avengers in Clint's place and let him have a solo book rather than trying to balance between two Hawkeyes as we get into the too many versions of the same archetype.
The 5th issue of All New Wolverine, is pretty decent even with the art working against it. Sure Wasp/ Ant-Man shrink down to go inside someone's body and save them is kind of played out concept, they pretty much make it work. One of the clones dies , which is fine by me as why do you need more X-23s running around , that is the problem we already have with too many version of the same hero running around. In All- New X-men X-23 was also the focus as the issue looked at her relationship with the new Angel and in the span of one issue trouble arose in paradise as he began to question her masochistic need to take her healing factor to the limit. Then a beat down from Blob, who I don't remember seeing for some time goes down.This is some of the weeks best art.  What All-New Avengers's fifth issue had going for might not have been what was intended. my take away is that Vision wised up and got the kids kicked off the team. The whole Equinox thing was on the dumber side of things since he is really a Marvel Team Up level of heel. I am glad Foster turned human, the perfect time to kill her off.  She also shows up in Illuminati's 4th issue another comic marred by flawed art, it's a heist plot that is losing a little of the steam.

So things were looking up a little  on the Hulk end. We saw more of Banner's fate in the 3rd issue of Totally Awesome.One of the few books with good comic book art these days. Fing Fang Foom, no longer talks for some reason. Then in this weeks issue of Old Man Logan, Cho-Hulk gets mistaken for the real deal, which you think Logan's nose would have picked up on, so that was a slight fail, but there fight is good and end like most Hulk vs Wolverines , with Logan getting his butt kicked in, despite his healing factor.

The Week in Marvel... we're back

We are back up in this bitch . Obviously I was doing what I had been doing in terms of reviewing comics for Geeknthings so it would have been redundant for me to replicate that, but Geeknthings is gone to ground for the time being and may or may not climb back out so it's time to pick up where we left off. The big news is Steve Rogers is coming back as Captain America, because diversity is just a marketing tool over at Marvel and with the new movie coming out of course he was going to be back, Jane Fosters Thor days will also come to an end when the next Thor movie comes out. Ok now for a look at this weeks comics there's some good new and bad news , lets get the bad news out of the way first.



The bad news is that the Uncanny Inhuman's finds the book becoming even more obtuse and less entertaining despite some great art in it's fourth issue. When Black Bolt's song asks Johnny Storm, why he is there it and he can't come up with an answers, because it's just so forced , his lack of an answer reflects the tone of the entire story. I'm also beginning to slip away from New Avengers in it's 5th issue , which the arc it's self is going to be dealing with the corruption of Wiccan and turning him into the Demi Urge.The 2nd issue of Starbrand and Nightmask, doesn't really do anything for me. I'm a little hesitant on how they are starting off Sliver Surfer, it's about as serious as an issue of Howard the Duck, which doesn't reflect a tone that is most fitting for the character.The art work is the same and Ben Grimmm looks to be making an appearence soon so there is a chance for improvement.

As much as I don't like Kamala Khan the 3rd issue of Ms. Marvel serves as a much better sales pitch for the character. Uncanny X-men's second issue has great art and brings Mystique to the forefront with Monet and Sabertooth not far behind. The mutant hunting in this issue is smartly written. Ant-man is better than most in its 4th issue and I can see it beginning to get bogged down in it's soap opera , as if the writer watches too much "House of Cards" and the more soap operatic parts are all they latch onto. This new Giant-man is just dumb all the way around. Even if I'm not too fond of the whole prequel thing, the vibe continues to improve in the 3rd issue of "Star Lord". The art is some of their best. Speaking of space, with Kelly Sue Deconnick gone from the book, Danvers is soaring higher than ever. Not sure yet how I feel about the Alpha Flight being her underlings , but I have always loved that team, so good to see them back in action in some capacity, even if I question the voice they are written with it's still and improvement. The third issue of Hercules is o.k, not mind blowing a little tired of him having to use guns, the art is pretty decent in this issue.