Thinking Out Loud: Cap/Buck

There is quite an internet following for the "shipping" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Captain America and Bucky as being in a homosexual relationship. Though "shipping" is not a part of fandom I've been particularly interested in, I must admit I've indulged here and there, and certainly see no harm in it, if that's your bag. Captain America is no stranger to the Gay Community, having been something of a Gay Icon for decades now, with many a Cap to be spotted at Pride celebrations and Mardi Gras. Again, I personally find that great and see no issue with people viewing the character that way, especially as most of Cap's romantic relationships from the comics have been forced and uninteresting. In fact, next to the MCU Steve and Peggy arc, the enduring friendship between Cap and Bucky is probably the best presented relationship for either of those characters. So, if I like the relationship, don't care about shipping and am already pro-queer, why bother writing this article? Well, I do have one niggling issue... 

So, ever wonder why men in pre-World War 2 films are a bit more "touchy-feely" than tends to be considered "ok" for straight guys these days? Well, you can thank the USA for that. To, grossly oversimplify, a huge cultural shift in the wake of WWII, whilst Britain and France became more socially minded (read: Left-Wing) in an atmosphere of having less and rebuilding, the Americans profited greatly from the war and drifted towards the "right". Weird how wealth makes you care less about other people, huh? Anyway, in parts of "the West" homosexuality (specifically male/male relationships) was partially tolerated, so long is it wasn't public and the cops didn't feel like beating your head in that day. Think British Public Schools or "love in foxholes" if you can't imagine it. Because there was no "Gay Panic", men touching each other was pretty normal and ok, with close friends and brothers even kissing and hugging when greeting one another. Please though, don't take my word for it, there are plenty of great articles about the loss of platonic male touch after WWII online, I first came across it in The New Yorker, because that's the kind of pretentious, elitist academic I like to think of myself as. 

So, when people look at Cap and Bucky and read their close friendship and platonic touch as homosexual, or at least homoerotic, in nature, sure, that's not harmful, but it bugs me a little that we miss something. Even in the 2020s, the fact that I hug more than a few of my male friends as a greeting, will even give a kiss on the cheek on occasion and/or advocate for platonic male touch in my mental health work, raises questions; about my sexuality, about why I choose to work with young people and what my motivations are. When I see Cap and Bucky gaze lovingly at each other, hug or even tear up when parting, I see the last vestiges of a dead era asserting itself. I see a great example of non-toxic masculinity demonstrating that touch is not forbidden and need no be sexual. I see a future where telling a close male friend that I love him without having to qualify it or risk social standing. That's why I'm not personally keen on the Cap/Bucky ship, even if it isn't at all harmful, because it obfuscates something I really care about, that I advocate personally and professionally. Please, enjoy shipping if that's your bag, but maybe also tell your best friend you love him, ok?

Superhero Media: Guardians of the Galaxy

Talk about a shock hit, right? None of it really looks like a sure thing; a comedy actor in the lead role, a director who cut his teeth at Troma, a comic so obscure, that even I had to look it up (I was thinking of the Silver Age team) and somehow it came together to be one of the biggest brands in the MCU stable. Guardians of the Galaxy was such a breakout hit that the Thor series took a leaf from James Gunn's book and made the best film in that series so far too. Kidnapped from Earth shortly after the tragic death of his mother, Peter Quill grows to manhood in space, being part of the Ravagers, a crew of space pirates led by Yondu, easily the best Michael Rooker performance ever. Though cosmic coincidence, Quill (calling himself Starlord), Gamora (daughter of Thanos) and Rocket Racoon and Groot (bounty hunters) find themselves thrown together when Quill unknowingly steals an Infinity Stone from an ancient temple, landing the group in prison and in the cross-hairs of Ronan the Accuser. In prison, Drax the Destroyer joins the motley crew and the team comes together. 

I can't recall if I've mentioned it before, but I love the Marvel space stuff, especially things like the Nova Corps, Cosmo the Spacedog, Knowhere and Ronan the Accuser, so the fact that Guardians of the Galaxy is packed with references and cameos delights me no end. Sure, I'm a little disappointed that Ronan is killed at the climax and the Nova Corps aren't rocket-powered superheroes with bucket hats, but letting my fanboy wants override the brilliance of the film would be silly. When Guardians of the Galaxy first came out, I posted a short review on my facebook page for my friends which mentioned just how good the sound editing on the film is. I watch a lot of cinema, and many action films don't mix their sound correctly, with quiet dialogue and loud action, making them hard to watch; Guardians of the Galaxy is beautifully mixed, with language audible during all the big fight scenes and quiet moments kept subtle. Good sound mixing doesn't really get enough credit, so I like to laud it where I see it. 

Many of the best MCU films are ensemble pieces, and Guardians of the Galaxy is no exception; even if Starlord is the protagonist and point-of-view character, it is the cast that makes the whole. It's pretty easy to dismiss Groot, Rocket and Drax as "comic relief", but each has some emotional depth, borne from pain and love; Groot's love for his friend being enough to make him willing to sacrifice himself. All of the heroes in Guardians of the Galaxy start out as either morally ambiguous or outright criminal, so is this the better version of Suicide Squad? I mean, The Dirty Dozen is the best version of that concept, but Guardians of the Galaxy is a pretty good take on it too. Hell, in the next film, Yondu joins the team briefly, racking up a major body-count in the process. Yes, I don't think superheroes should really murder too many bad guys, but these antiheroes are on a journey, where they're trying and will get better over time. The galaxy is a rough place, maybe the Guardians are the heroes we need, not the ones we want.

From the Archives - 8

Some of these miniatures have been in my collection so long, I'm honestly shocked that I have no pictures of them anywhere.

Swamp Thing: Swamp Thing is one of the earliest comics I can remember reading, I'd like to know where my parent's got some copies, but I don't think I understood what they were about until years later. Heroclix. 

Leafeon: The last of the three "Eevees" in the vending machine capsule I picked up years ago. I wish I could find more of these 1/43 Pokemon, they're perfectly scaled for Heroic 28mm. Toy. 

Destiny: One of the Villain Teams I went to work on pretty early was the Brotherhood of Mutants, because I had quite a few left from my days of playing Heroclix. Destiny was a good piece in the early game, so I had a few of her. Heroclix. 
 

Snowflame: Like many, I discovered obscure DC Villain Snowflame, the man powered by cocaine, through the Linkara review of a New Guardians comic. He's become a bit of a meme since then, but a cocaine-powered villain with some of the best insane dialogue in comics is pretty much a must-have. Converted Heroclix. 

Mysterio: Despite being a huge Spider-Man fan, it's taken me a while to get some of his more sinister foes onto the table. That said, Mysterio did see play in one of my first display games, using his powers to keep the heroes flummoxed. Heroclix.

Two-Face: One of my favouite Batman villains, Two-Face was an early paintjob for me, though he's had the odd update here and there. Again, I'm thinking I should run that No Man's Land campaign to get some of these guys on the table more often. 

Superhero Media: Spider-Man (2002)

Is this the best Spider-Man film? Some seem to think so, but I'd have to rate it around fourth or fifth if I'm being honest. Not that Sam Rami's Spider-Man is a bad film, or even overly flawed, just dated and built on a very particular take on the comics. The film that Spider-Man reminds me of most is the 1989 Batman, which I also love, but is probably not the best representation of the character. For example, the Spider-Man costume looks great, as do the stunts and web-slinging, but Spidey is curiously silent during fight scenes, only having one or two quips throughout the film; this bugged me back in 2002 and it still bugs me now, even The Amazing Spider-Man did this better. Also, I'm not a fan of Tobey Maguire, he's a bit too mopey and sad for the role, which I realise is an attempt to recapture the motifs of the Silver Age comics, but fell flat for me, as I grew up on 1980s and 90s Spider-Man. I honestly get the feeling that Rami hadn't read a Spider-Man comic since he was a teenager and had a bit of tunnel vision on this. Again, I really like almost all of Spider-Man, but a very Silver Age film set in the early 2000s has something of a jarring tone. 

Willem Dafoe, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons are all brilliantly cast, Simmons as J Jonah Jameson particularly and we'll get back to that in a moment. With the value of hindsight and the Marvel Cinematic Universe films casting actual teenagers, some of the younger cast members are hilarious, with Flash Thompson looking around 35 in most scenes. Seriously, it's like an old WB sitcom from the '90s where the "head cheerleader" is older than some of the teachers. Green Goblin is a villain performance for the ages, and probably one of the best in superhero film history, right up there with Terrance Stamp as Zod and MCU Thanos; the scenes where Norman Osborn talks himself into murder are brilliant, and there's no effects there, just Dafoe on set. Hell, he's so good, they bought him back for cameos in the next two films, despite the fact he was dead, pretty sure only Jor-El (Brando) and William Striker (X-2) can lay claim to that honour as well. 

And how fucking amazing is Simmons as J Jonah Jameson! He's so good, they brought him back for the MCU. He's so good, he plays the same character in several episodes of The Simpsons, up to demanding pictures of Spider-Man from Homer. Simmons has also reprised the role in cartoons and video games, much to my personal delight, because I never tend to know in advance and the surprise is wonderful. If I've come across a little critical of Spider-Man in this review, I don't mean to dismiss it or your love of it, but I've run into a few people in my time who will tout this film over all others and, sorry, it's not that good. It's good, yes, but the versions that came afterward took what worked and built on it to create something better. Nostalgia is powerful, and I remember my parents surprising me with opening night tickets and loving this film and the entire series, but I'm older now and can appreciate Spider-Man for what works and what doesn't.

The Pitch - Last Son of Krypton

In the last entry, we made an extended explanation of why Superman doesn't kill and is more interesting because of it disguised as a film pitch. This time, we're diving into what Superman "means" in a cultural context and why the character is still important nearly 100 years after his creation. For inspiration, we'll be drawing almost exclusively from the works of Richard Donner; notably Superman The Movie, Superman II and his comic run "Last Son of Krypton". For those familiar with the above, you'll likely understand why we laid in stuff like the Phantom Zone and Lex Luthor last time. 

Last Son of Krypton 
Our action begins with a crystalline alien craft screaming through the atmosphere, punching through clouds and trailing smoke as it begins to crash. Just as the audience expects a landing in a Kansas field, the craft is scooped up in the hands of Superman and the camera zooms out to show the soaring towers of Metropolis. Titles roll. 
Much as I tend to not be a fan of this device, the clock rolls back a little for the first act, to Lois and Clark spending intimate time together in the Fortress of Solitude, talking about their relationship, the importance of maintaining Clark's secret identity and taking a bit of a look around, much as depicted in All Star Superman. The big takeaway point for the audience will be that the pair can't conceive a child naturally, because Human and Kryptonian DNA aren't compatible. This is interrupted by a call for help, probably from Jimmy Olsen's signal watch or maybe the Watchtower if we're feeling like fan service; a spaceship is crashing in Metropolis and Superman has to rush back to meet the start of the film. The pod contains a small child, who, it is quickly discovered, speaks Kryptonese and is superhumanly strong. After a misunderstanding with Checkmate trying to take the child, Superman abducts him and works with Lois and Ma and Pa Kent to forge adoption papers (Batman helps from off-screen) and Chris Kent is the new child to Lois and Clark. 
Before long, the happy spell is broken when it is revealed that Chris Kent escaped the Phantom Zone and is the son of Zod and Ursa! Zod leads the escape of an army of Kryptonian Criminals, trapping Superman in the process and shortly overwhelming the Earth. Superman wanders the Phantom Zone briefly, leaning about the history of the place and the inhabitants before he is rescued by Professor Quintum, who has built his own Phantom Zone viewer.
Free from the Phantom Zone, Superman discovers that many of the other heroes have been captured by Zod's forces, so the only person he can turn to for help is Lex Luthor! Working together, Supes and Luthor fight their way though to Zod's headquarters, rescue the trapped heroes, and reverse the machine keeping the prisoners free of the Phantom Zone. Sadly, Chris Kent is also sucked back to the Phantom Zone, but Luthor is caught thanks to some quick action from Lois. 

What are we doing here? 
So all that above seems like a lot happening all at once, and it really is, but, as with the previous film, we're setting stuff up here and making a statement about Superman. Superman as an agnostic messianic figure may feel "overdone", but it's a core element of his character and can really be explored better than the heavy-handed metaphor of Man of Steel. There is a tragedy underscoring Lois and Clark's relationship, in that they can't have a family, even if that's something Lois has never really wanted, not having the option can be devastating. Chris Kent gives our leads a chance to explore the possibility of family, before having it turned on its head and losing it forever. We're taking Supes and, by extension, the audience, on a journey about loss and identity, and, as the second in the trilogy, Last Son of Krypton should leave the audience grieving and wanting closure. Of course, they'll have to wait for the next film for that. 

Fan Service 
Ok, so I've covered some of the world-building elements and fun little nods to the broader DCU above, but here's the other stuff I'd be dropping in along the way. The post-credit sting (yes, there would be one, people love them) would be the beginning of Lex Luthor's trial, which will be a plot-point in the next film. If we have to cut to the Watchtower in Act 1, someone like Mister Terrific or Metamorpho is going to be passing on the message, no one who's been in a DC film to date. Similarly, we'll mention Batman, but won't see him, as that will be all everyone talks about. Other stuff will get sprinkled in, like Kandor in the Fortress of Solitude, Professor Quintum's super-science and Jimmy Olsen, as those will be important in the final film. 

Next Time: The end of Superman!

Superhero Media: The Venture Bros. - Season 2

IGNORE ME! The world's greatest animated action/adventure/comedy/coming of age programme, The Venture Bros. explodes into its second season with the startling revelation that Hank and Dean are clones, the originals having died repeatedly through misadventure and, once, a gas leak; the silent killer. With the Monarch in prison and a new set of boys cooking in the vats, things look set to return to normal shortly, which means a great time for us, the audience. The second season of The Venture Bros. is bigger, better and bolder, expanding the setting, dipping into the histories of some of the characters and hinting at bigger conspiracies in the world. Now, The Venture Bros. has that same quality as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in that, in retrospect, it looks like a great deal of the series has been planned ahead of time, but probably wasn't really. 

Throughout the series, several characters that will become major players later on make their first appearance, such as Sergeant Hatred, Action Johnny and Hunter Gathers, as well as getting Doctor Orpheus his own team and bringing in the astoundingly-entertaining Doctor Henry Killinger and his Magic Murder Bag. God, I swear I could just list character names and episode plots to demonstrate how great The Venture Bros. is, even some of the one-liners are classics, like "Brock Sampson, slayer of men, slayer of hench-men" and "I hunt and kill black Draculas, I don't know what the PC term for that is". The pasts of Brock, Doctor Girlfriend and Phantom Limb get visited, though quite a bit still remains a mystery (and will until Season 7 and beyond, for the record), which I like, as James Howlett is way less interesting than Logan, know what I mean? 

Watching back though season 2 of The Venture Bros., I was a little shocked with how brutal the programme can be at times, no I don't mean jokes like cutting open the corpse of Edgar Allan Poe for a Star Wars reference, but some of the violence can be extreme. This is toned down in later seasons, but does serve to remind that The Venture Bros. is the product of a small team; much the same as the animation. For the most part, the animation is greatly improved over the first season, a scene where Brock is throwing knives is brilliant, but there are still glaring mistakes if that kind of thing bothers you. What's crazy is just how much better The Venture Bros. gets, even after this high watermark. By the time you realise how much you care about the characters, you'll be a few seasons in and it's too late, you have to keep watching. Don't wait for my reviews here, go check out more of The Venture Bros. now. IGNORE ME! 

From the Archives - 7

God I have a lot of these. Like, when do I hit "too many"? All I know is I don't have enough, and need to keep painting. 

Allan Quartermain: Not just good for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but also Colonial and time-bending adventures. Ironcald. 

Bucky: Another rebase and repaint for Weird World War II gaming, Bucky got a new hand and Tommy Gun from a plastic British soldier to replace the bent one. Heroclix. 

Eevee: Another of the annoyingly-difficult to find 1/43 Pokemon collectables, Eevee really is that tiny in scale, think terrier or pug. Toy. 

Constrictor: My Serpent Society has deep roots in my hobby, being one of the "villain" teams I started work on to balance out having so many heroes. Still not finished, of course. Heroclix. 

Budew: Just in case Eevee wasn't small enough, here's Budew, only around 3mm tall. The cool thing about the vending machine toys was that they came in evolution trees, so you'd get the basic form and the later stages. Toy. 

Clayface III: It's a pretty gaudy costume for a melting guy who burns people with a touch, but this version of Clayface was hastily touched up for my old Arkham escape game. Heroclix.

Superhero Media: Godzilla 1 - Planet of Monsters

Much as I tend to disagree with the conventional "wisdom" that Netflix Original Anime is terrible (I enjoyed both Baki and Neo Yokio), I really did not enjoy Godzilla 1 - Planet of Monsters. Now, I'll watch just about anything that involves Godzilla, I even watched the 1998 film again for this blog, but man, this was a dull mess and I'm really not looking forward to the next two parts. In the not-to-distant future, humanity has fled Earth, unable to stop the rampage of Godzilla. The remaining humans share a failing generation ship with two alien races who are so poorly designed, I kept forgetting they were aliens unless it was specifically mentioned. I'm not sure if they were alien species from other Godzilla media, but I really hope Planet of Monsters doesn't sully the franchise further. With food running out and mutiny threatened, the decision is made to return to Earth, where twenty thousand years have past, and fight Godzilla. The ecosystem of Earth has adapted to the presence of Godzilla, wither every plant and animal becoming genetically related to the kaiju. 

What follows is a not-at-all satisfying mashup of Starship Troopers and Attack on Titan, where characters I can't muster any interest in throw themselves at Godzilla until they luck out and kill it. Even the design work is uninspired, looking like something from one of those online video games I'm not interested in, and engaging design work is kind of the hallmark of the Godzilla franchise, even in the not terribly good films. Once Godzilla is defeated, it turns out that this wasn't the real Godzilla, the real Godzilla was hibernating and is much bigger and just woke up in time for the next part. Dull. Dull and derivative. But wait! In a "killer" twist, one of the alien species worship Godzilla and had this planned all along somehow? Really? I let that crap slide when Nick Fury pulls it, because there's a great deal of winking and artifice to it, but here it's just dropped in the finale like a dog turd. I really shouldn't try and teach anyone writing technique, only really having blogs and a couple of published stories to my name, but "I planned it all along" is lazy and makes your writing look unplanned. 

Also quite a bit of Planet of Monsters' screen time is dedicated to a long-winded explanation of Godzilla's magnetic field and how that makes him hard to kill. Again, what is the point of this? To fill run time? That Godzilla has a "shield" and the heroes need to work around that is a fine conceit as to how/why they can defeat him with conventional weapons, but such a huge amount of dialogue is committed to belaboring the point, it feels like maybe this was the point of the film? Is the writer of Planet of Monsters a huge Godzilla fan who's been sitting on a pet theory about the King of the Monsters for years and finally had a chance to share it with a big audience? Man, this was a frustrating watch, and I'm not looking forward to the next two parts; "luckily" for me, I recently realised I'm currently watching/reading/playing 14 pieces of media for these articles and really want to cut that down, so it'll be a while before I'm back to this particular version of Godzilla.

Zuupah Dupah Supa Sayians - Part 5

Well, I'm back playing FuZion format and, for some reason, I've been building decks like a man possessed by an evil alien intelligence named Baby. After pulling a few more cheap packs from work, I had quite a few good cards in styles other than Sayian and Black, not to mention my boxes of older cards. First up, I disassembled all of my Retro decks, throwing out the proxies that were now illegal and getting a better idea of what Score cards I had. Incidentally, I now have quite a few card slips spare, which is nice, as the good ones are expensive. I had a good idea for a Namekian Piccolo deck and maybe something funny with Doctor Wheelo, so I stared with Gohan's Dad, which focused on regenerating damage as fast as possible and also pulling out Namek Dragon Balls for the win. Thanks to having three sets of Namek Dragon Balls to choose from (Score, Score Alt Balls and Pannini), there is some brutal synergy to be had with the right mix, including being able to shut down your opponent's Mastery and Sensei. I was pretty confident with the build going into my first game with the deck I was calling "Gohan's Dad's Green Balls". 

There's a fun naming convention to be had in card games that doesn't seem to get into other tabletop hobbies much. For example, there is a type of Magic the Gathering deck where one powerful creature is repeatedly upgraded with equipment, which is referred to as a "Voltron" deck, which is fun. I may have mentioned last time that I call my Garlic Jr deck a "Triple Threat", as it can with through all three victory conditions in the game. One of my regular opponent's decks is known as either "Broku" or "Squadku", where Goku is the Main Personality [MP], but has a team of allies to defend from attacks and deal extra damage. Naturally, I come up with silly names for all my decks, like my latest effort "Doctor Wheelo's Infinite Bullshit", which is a Black deck which makes my opponent discard all of their cards, but doesn't throw an attack ever. It's a lot of fun, and even though I thought it probably wouldn't work, it seems to run well, actually performing better than my Piccolo deck, which I thought was more likely to do well. Having the huge depth of cards from several versions of the game to choose from means that just about any deck can work now, even more obscure characters like Doctor Wheelo. 

Hell, my regular opponent, Ryan, is looking at several of the Celestial Games characters, like Tapkar and Caterpy, who I bet even hardcore DBZ fans don't remember the names of. Despite taking a big look at my old decks, I still haven't had a chance to fix up my Trunks deck, but did cut my Vegito deck down to run in FuZion format, despite the flack such decks are copping for being "too good" in the online groups, but Ryan is building a Krillin deck and, unlike the internet memes, Krillin is pretty gangbuster and I need something to compete. Starting tomorrow (as in 15/03/2020, backlog and all that) Ryan and I are going to running more of our friends through FuZion using our decks, hoping to temp a couple away from Magic Commander for a game or two. I think the insular nature of FuZion prevents a player base from growing, so I'm going to try and spread it around a little, maybe grow the local base, wish me luck.