Amazing Spider-man #624 (spoilers)

This blog has awakened from its slumber to point out a really bad issue of ASM. I’ve been following ASM since the Straczynski run, and there were some stinkers along the way, but this is the worst one in recent memory. And here’s why.

The gimmick: Peter Parker loses his job due to forging an image with Photoshop. Yeah. I didn’t make it up. This just screams “we wanted to make headlines”. First and foremost, because it is out of character for Parker. Recent years had some pretty weird developments, like Gwen Stacy having Norman Osborn’s children, or Peter Parker and MJ getting magically unmarried, but this is different because it seems as though they made Peter a douchebag to make headlines. As a vigilante, Peter is no  moral saint, but here it seems as though Peter is not even aware of the immorality of his actions, and feels no remorse (which is one of Peter’s basic traits). Even in the context of the forging act saving Jameson’s reputation, this doesn’t quite sit with the character.

Another thing that makes this gimmick loathsome is that it seems they did it to make Peter/ASM “hip”. Asides from Photoshop forgery being the very opposite of hip, this just screams “Peter is really as young as you are and faces the same problems you do”. The current run, as opposed to the JMS run, has featured a younger Peter (which is where unmarrying Peter and MJ came into the picture). But when it’s forced down our mouths, Peter just seems like the creepy old dude who thinks he’s 10 years younger.

The arc: Well, supposedly this is part of an arc where Peter meets old enemies as part of some scheme by the Kravens to get revenge. The problem is this has gone on for so long that the term “arc” for this story has become somewhat loose. Sure, Electro broke out the Vulture last issue, but this last  issue didn’t even refer to the arc. Part of the idea behind the current ASM run is that some plot threads are left to dangle while others are dealt with. But since the story was so bad, it makes it look like the interesting plot threads were hung out to dry rather than left to dangle, such as evil aunt may. Even worse, the current story doesn’t make a reference to some details from the other plots even when it should (Such as JJJ’s dad being Parker’s step dad).

The writing: This issue reads like the Stan Lee stuff, and not in the good “Stan Lee knew characterization” way, but in the “it reads like it was written in the 60s” way. Spidey’s commentary in the spidey-vulture fight is way more over the top than necessary, and if there’s a giggle to be had from Peter doing Photoshop forgery and running out of web fluids in the same issue, I missed it. But other than that, something just doesn’t work. Even Jameson, who is the most complex character of this issue, somehow doesn’t manage to be interesting.

And then I looked at the credits and was stunned. This was written by Mark Waid. The same Mark Waid who writes Irredeemable, one of the best comic books currently out there. Obviously with Irredeemable he has more freedom as he created that book, but his last ASM issue is simply embarrassing.

I’m sticking around with ASM for some of the other rotating writers (specifically Dan Slott), but for me this run has sort of jumped the shark.

How I met your Mother 5×14 (Spoilers)

I was thinking of reviewing 5×12 (the one with the mother’s sister that ends with the Barney musical segment), but 5×14 has the same basic flaw: It’s really about Barney.

I’m not saying the occasional episode where Barney gets the A-plot is a bad thing, but the character could certainly use less screen time. This episode had Old Ted telling a story about Barney telling a story to a fictional character, which just didn’t work – by the time the show pointed to Barney’s low reliability as a storyteller, it was too little and too late.

If that sounds irrelevant to a show like HIMYM, it isn’t. Despite it’s frequent trips into the realm of imagination, it’s the show’s rather strong grounding and romantic tendencies that allow those trips. It’s true that Neil Patrick Harris is probably more talented than the other folks, but without Ted there can be no Barney. I recently watched the episode where Ted meets Victoria, and it almost seems as though the show has lost something since – The laughs are still there, but the show doesn’t bother to earn them anymore. In other words, the show’s beginning to look like the standard American sitcom.

Also, it didn’t help that each of the plots had one joke that was repeated over and over.

The Alias award for teaser length: The teaser hits at 5:54, which is after 1/4 of the show. By this time, all four jokes are set up.

The Futurama “Scruffy” award for recurring character: Wendy the waitress reappears. For those of you not following the show’s web presence, Wendy the waitress is the mother.

Avengers, Consolidate!

Canceling all four Avengers titles is certainly a ballsy move for Marvel. If indeed Marvel is consolidating the Avengers, this is a positive development for fans who feel that they have to follow too many titles to get the entire story, and for newcomers who would usually want to get just one. That said, we still haven’t heard what Marvel’s plans are beyond New Avengers Finale. So I proudly present my list of Top Ten Ways Marvel Can Screw Up The Avengers:

10. The Super Human Unregistration Act is legislated, plot starts going in reverse. Stories by Brian Michael Bendis suddenly make sense.

9. The Human Registration Act is legislated. Obama is quoted as saying it’s still more probable than him supporting Norman Osborn.

8. The Inhuman Registration Act is legislated. No one cares.

7. Avengers return after a mini titled: “Avengers: Reborn”, a psychedelic trip through the history of the Avengers . No one cares, but everyone buys it anyway.

6. Mighty Avengers become “Pym Avengers”, Avengers made up by Pym Particles, fighting supervillains on a subatomic level. Did I mention no one cares?

5. Bendis unveils the long hinted-at “Thought Bubble invasion”, before realizing you can’t use the tagline “Who do you trust” when you know what everyone’s thinking.

4. Scarlet Witch says: “No More Avengers Titles”.

3. Quesada un-marries Jessica Jones and Luke Cage as the baby gets Mephisto-ed. Jessica suddenly seems to be 10 years younger and has a weekly series. Luke Cage: “Sweet Christmas!”

2. Bullseye-Hawkeye gets killed and promptly resurrected by Loki-Scarlet Witch, before having intercourse with her. him.

1. It all ends with the mega-event The Civil Invasion of the Dark Siege of M: Disassembled.

Chuck 3×01 (Spoilers)

Sometimes I just don’t get the idea of opening credits. If they’re the same every week, they steal precious screen time in a world where good shows get canceled way too often.  And if they change to reflect changes in the show, it’s a spoiler – as with Anna not being present in the credits in this episode. It actually gets worse, as this episode’s credits still feature the Buy More, while the teaser had me wonder whether the show is about to experience a retooling of some sort.

Instead, what we get is a “hero must overcome temporary slump in order to return to form” episode. The teaser sets this up by flash-forwarding to show us the supposedly spied-up Chuck, and once it becomes clear things aren’t as great as they seem, we flash back to learn why, and then flash forward again to see Chuck trying to get over it. It’s actually more confusing on screen.

Between all this confusion, the show manages its weekly dose of plot holes and transparent plot devices. For instance, Devon hangs a nice lampshade over Chuck being a target due to his spy past, but why Chuck is left unprotected is a question that I asked myself from the beginning of the episode.

In the general sense, Chuck overcoming the aforementioned slump is too clearly a plot device to maintain status quo, and it comes at the cost of the Chuck-Sarah relationship is not only in the plot sense but in the sense that things between them never seemed more forced. The only promising development in this episode was the concept of Chuck as potentially dangerous.

All that said, Chuck isn’t really a drama. Everything is eventually played for laughs, and laughs can certainly be had from this episode. If it’s Chuck’s downfall  into being a bum, or Emmet’s downfall into a stack of boxes – It’s all done with a silly tune and well-timed comic comebacks. It’s hard to be disappointed with Chuck when it delivers as a spy/action film spoof – It’s something that no one else does successfully on TV today.

A nice surprise was that the episode featured a lower-than-usual amount of product placement (even the Cheese Balls have their logo barely featured and are referred to as “Cheese Puffs”). Chauvinism and sexism are also barely present, which I think proves that Chuck can be funny without them.

Wait for it: The funniest scene would have to be Chuck doing his Latino guitar thing, but I got spoiled about this a few months back. So the funniest  moment for me was Jeff approaching Chuck as a model employee. A true moment of comic horror.

Welcome to the world of tomorrow: While I didn’t enjoy the flashbacks, I really loved the camera work on them. The second flashback specifically is obviously done with green screen, but the lighting gives is it a stylized-”Sky Captain and the world of Tomorrow”-feel. I was just talking with people about how Avatar is great in the sense that you don’t feel a green screen, but I guess green screen isn’t always a bad thing.

Speaking of Green Screen, here’s something you should see.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight #031 (Spoilers)

I’ll expand on this sometime in a general post about Buffy, but while I enjoy Joss Whedon’s TV work immensely, his comic books are hit or miss for me. Whedon just doesn’t have the same knack for what works in comics as he does in television, both visually and storytelling-wise (see the Whedon-penned Runaways issues for an example of this).

So while I won’t miss a Joss-penned issue of Buffy, I’m also ready to be let down every time. This time I wasn’t.

Joss seems to have finally gotten some handle on the re-introductory material needed in monthly comics,  given in sufficient amount and timely fashion. There’s something very right about beginning the issue referring to Buffy’s new flight ability, and only then recapping recent events in a Willow-Oz conversation (I was actually confused since I mistook the last panel in 30 to suggest that Buffy became giant-sized, but I blame Jane Espenson for that). That said, the new status-quo in which the battle is essentially over is somewhat sudden, and along with Willow’s re-powering and Buffy’s victory over the godesses seems like somewhat of a Deus Ex Machina.

But the overarching plot wasn’t the focus of this issue as much as the characters, specifically Buffy squaring off with Xander regarding Dawn and Xander’s kiss. Joss handles the dialogue for this superbly, with just the right amount of cynicism and emotion. As usual, Jeanty’s character art helps in recognizing and sympathizing with those characters (not to mention his great Lichtenstein-style cover. which as it turns out was Joss’ idea), but it’s Joss that does the heavy lifting.

Next month’s issue is the first of an arc by Brad Meltzer, who wrote DC’s Identity Crisis (recommended – clever and twisted). It’s interesting to see whether an experienced comic book writer can do better than Joss, but If he does as well as Joss in this issue, fine by me.

Best panel: Buffy and Xander’s conversation reflected in the mirror.

References and gags: Other than the obligatory pop culture references, there are some less obvious ones: The Domo on Kennedy’s shirt, “18″ on Dawn’s sleeve (yes, everyone, she’s legal), and the one I swear I’m not imagining – Willow happy over Xander and Dawn falling in love is her channeling How I Met Your Mother’s Lily. I’m certain Joss is a fan.

A Beginning is a very delicate time

A rather laconic introduction post, but the zero readers my blog currently has will have to excuse me. I’m Shai, and this is my blog about TV and Comics. In here you will find reviews, recommendations, and thoughts as deep as my short attention span will allow. I hope you’ll enjoy them.

An important disclaimer is that many of the posts will include spoilers. Titles of posts and paragraphs will detail what show/issue I’m referring to, but reviews will assume you’ve watched/read them. Thus endeth the disclaimer.