Playing Marvel United

Well I'm way behind on getting to this one, but I finally got a chance to play Marvel United, a board game series that I probably would have collected pretty hard if I hadn't found Unmatched. Thankfully, I have a gaming friend with poor impulse control who works for a rival FLGS, and he seems to have plenty for us to mess around with. For those that don't know, Marvel United is a cooperative board game featuring almost every Marvel superhero you can probably think of. The minis are "SD" or chibi style and different enemies change up how the game flows.

So, of course, for the first game, I picked the best Avenger, Hawkeye (Clint Barton) as Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) wasn't available and there isn't a heroic version of Doctor Doom currently available.

See, they're pretty cute, right? I'm not sure I'd want to paint an entire set in that cartoony style, and some look better than others, but that's definitely Clint Barton. I probably would have liked a more Fraction/Aja version in tracksuit pants and a bandaged face, but I won't be mistaking him for anyone else.

Our first game was against Ultron, who kicked our butts, but that may have been my fault, as I didn't know how the game worked and kept saying "this looks bad" and calling everyone "bro". But the great thing about games like Marvel United though, is that we can reset and get going again quickly.

This time, I decided to play Jessica Jones, who looks pretty naff really, but I guess that'll happen when you don't really have a costume. We did better that game, against Onslaught of all people, narrowly losing on the last couple of card flips, which tends to happen with these kind of games.

For the final round, against Loki, I played as Blade, with the rest of the team being Squirrel Girl, Howard the Duck and Shadowcat, which turned out to be a pretty brutal combination, except poor Kitty, and we mopped up the God of Mischief in short order. Marvel United is a lot of fun, though I probably prefer other co-op games like the D&D series, Sentinels of the Multiverse or Pandemic. The minis are cute, but not really usable for other games, unlike my Unmatched characters. If you wanted a fun collection and a game to play with friends that scratches your obscure Marvel character itch (there's Alpha Flight!), then this is probably the game for you.

Superhero Media: Spiderman

Emissary from Hell, Spiderman! Yes, you may know Spiderman (note the lack of hyphen) as either Japanese Spider-Man or Spuidaman, depending on where you first heard about it, but the title is Spiderman in the opening credits, so I'll be sticking to that. Our story begins when aspiring professional motorcycle racer Takuya Yamashiro is caught up in the centuries-old battle between the Planet Spider and the Iron Cross Army, led by Professor Monster. After the death of his father at the hands of the Iron Cross Army, Takuya encounters Giaera, the last survivor of Planet Spider, who gifts the young man his blood so that he may become Spiderman! With his new suite of powers, as well as the supercar Spider-Machine GP-7 and the transforming spaceship Marveller, Takuya is ready to battle evil. Up against him are the Iron Cross Army, with legions of soldiers, Amazoness and her increasingly-terrible wigs and a plethora of cyborg monsters known as Machine Bem. It's pretty fucking amazing.

Like most Sentai and Toku, Spiderman is pretty repetitive, and you really don't need to watch all 41 episodes like I did to get the feel of it, but it really is a lot of fun if you can stick with it. Although Super Sentai technically predates Spiderman, this series codified many of the themes and tropes that would become the standard in the genre, such as giant robots, transforming vehicles and enemies growing giant in the climax. Although you can jump into pretty much any episode of Spiderman and not have to worry about continuity, there is some development over the course of the series, such as the Iron Cross army suspecting that Takuya is Spiderman, Spiderman working with INTERPOL and a recurring Youth Detective Club. Should you just want to check out a few episodes of Spiderman, the first four and last two do quite well, with a surprisingly solid climax that sets an injured and desperate Takuya against the last vestiges of the Iron Cross Army. It's pretty damn solid given the genre and era.

Despite being reasonably obscure outside of Japan, the internet has, almost miraculously, brought Spiderman back into the cultural consciousness. Aside from appearing in the Spider-Verse comic crossover event, Spiderman has been referenced in cartoons, video games and is set to appear in an animated film. Naturally, I've had one in 28mm for a while, though I'd be up for an Amazoness and Professor Monster if I could get them, and it's an easy conversion if you want someone other than Peter Parker filling out the red and blue for a few games. Hopefully, Spiderman is here for many years to come, and Takuya takes his rightful place alongside other alternatives like Miles, Gwen, Miguel and Ben, because he really is just as good and deserves more exposure. It may seem like a big ask, but go track some Spiderman down and give it a watch, trying to push past your cultural expectations and aversion to rubber suits and see what's there. It's not a great programme, but it's bloody interesting and certainly good enough to fill up a slow afternoon.

Ultimate Alliance - China: Part VIII

Hidden deep in the wilds of China's mountain ranges, the massive underground complex which housed The Most Perfect Science Division hummed like a city, for indeed it was. Intended to preserve superior Chinese technology in the event of global catastrophe, the staff of the complex would often not leave for years, telling friends and family that they worked overseas or on isolated ships. The complex housed everything the Party deemed necessary to a productive and healthy life, including an arboretum and a small zoo, including mostly endangered species native to the mainland. Children occasionally were born and grew up in the complex, though those sired without prior approval were taken away to be raised by the state and the parents suitably punished for their indiscretion. The management of the complex was difficult and expensive, but seen as utterly necessary for one of its outputs; the complex provided China with superhumans.

From multiple iterations of the Crimson Dynamo to many of the now all-but-defunct Great Ten, The Most Perfect Science Division had provided their nation with the superhumans needed to compete with the Western "heroes" for decades. Despite having gained his powers through training and study, Most Accomplished Perfect Physician was well familiar with The Most Perfect Science Division, and had no need to follow the broad route lines painted on the floor to help people find various divisions and facilities. Walking along with Most Accomplished Perfect Physician was a sextet of generals and high-ranking Party members, mostly engaged in a circular and pointless argument about the current superhuman conflict in Hong Kong. Every member of the group had a strong opinion they felt the need to voice, though Most Accomplished Perfect Physician noted silently that none had a genuine idea of how to resolve the crisis.

A final, long corridor brought the group to one of the most secure labs in the complex, though technically it existed on its own separate branch that tunneled deep into the mountains. Although the majority of the labs in the complex gave aesthetics over to functionality, this particular one could only be described as deliberately brutalist, calling to mind incarceration more so than research. In many ways the lab was a prison, designed to resist all but the most powerful assaults from both without and within, as it was this very lab where the most powerful members of the Chinese Superheroes were created. The current occupant, the latest incarnation of the Crimson Dynamo (occasionally known as Socialist Red Guardsman) was the focus of the impending meeting, though fixed as he was to a repair rig, he made for a less than impressive sight, despite the bulky armour and ominous red glow.

After a moment of reverent silence, the argument of the generals reached fever pitch, squabbling like children over the need to deploy the new Crimson Dynamo in Hong Kong to stop Inframan and settle the riots once and for all. To describe the option as "nuclear" was not unwarranted, with the latest few iterations of the Dynamo being atomically powered with technology reverse-engineered from observations of the Atomic Robo; it was, in many ways, literally a walking bomb. Accomplished Perfect Physician noted that any scientists, technicians and other civilian personnel had faded to the far side of the room so as to not catch the attention of any of the Generals, having learnt from past mistakes that being the voice of reason was only something that worked in terrible American cinema.

In a style typical for compartmentalised bureaucracy, with which Accomplished Perfect Physician had become intensely familiar since joining the Great Ten, the generals weren't arguing over weather or not they would deploy Crimson Dynamo, that had already been decided, the man/machine hybrid would be going in. The sticking point was as to whom would be taking responsibility for the destruction and all-but-guaranteed civilian casualties that would result from a major superhero fight in a populated area. If things went wrong, like Dynamo getting out of control, the Western superheroes getting involved, or a nuclear incident on what was considered Chinese Soil. Watching the argument circle in the reflection of the Crimson Dynamo's face-plate, it took Accomplished Perfect Physician a moment to register that the 'pilot' had woken up and was silently watching the proceedings. They locked eyes through the red-tinted porthole for what felt like an eternity.

Superhero Media: Luke Cage - Season 2

What can I say about the second season of Luke Cage that I haven't covered already with other Marvel Netflix efforts? It's about three episodes too long, it wastes the potential set up by the first season and it's clear the writers were more interested in making a Crime Drama than a Superhero programme. And it's a real shame, as the first season of Luke Cage was a big deal, full of big ideas and it had a big impact, so that the second doesn't really take many risks or try and do much more than round off plots left hanging is truly disappointing. The overriding 'theme' of the season is the fate and soul of Harlem, and who will be the new king, but honestly, it really should have been about getting the Heroes for Hire together. And I'm not just saying that because I am a big comics nerd, the best parts of this season of Luke Cage are the team-ups and hints that something like the Heroes for Hire are coming.

The new villain for the season is Bushmaster, sadly not the guy who's half-snake, a member of the Yardis criminal gang out of Jamaica, and whilst this adds an interesting element of a new Colonial perspective of Blackness, that the decision was made to have him be almost as strong and tough as Luke really undercuts the conflict. There are some really smart scenes where ordinary criminals try clever ideas to get around Luke's invulnerability, and because the power is so straightforward, the fights look great on-screen. But whenever Bushmaster turns up, it's just two guys punching each other again. Not that a low-powered beat up can't be fun to watch, the fight with Misty Knight and Coleen Wing and some drunks in a bar is one of the better in the season, and feels like a lead-in to more, but it isn't. Similarly, the episode where Iron Fist turns up to help is probably the best Danny has been outside of The Defenders, but it's just the one and nothing else happens. I know that with budgets and contracts and all, Heroes for Hire was unlikely to happen, but it just seems as if it would have been much better than this.

Even musically, the second season of Luke Cage pales to the first. Yes, there is still plenty of great African American music, but not much in the way of Jamaican genres, and the cleverness is gone. Remember how the first season coded Hip-Hop as "bad" until Luke takes down a drug den with "Bring da Rukus" blasting? Yeah, none of that here, just some kind of mixtape of Black music that really doesn't feel thought-out. Given the distance of time that I now have from the Marvel Netflix experiment, I'm wondering if the team behind Luke Cage already suspected that the writing was on the wall and that there would be no third season? The set-up of Luke as the new crime boss of Harlem has some merit, but feels forced compared to the sheer joy of the Heroes for Hire segments. Again, I'm not all that sad to see the back of this series, as it didn't seem to be going anywhere that I want to follow, and the first season remains "in amber" for me to enjoy whenever I feel the need. Just one more of these to go, now.

Thinking Out Loud: The Big Bang

Look out folks, I'm back on my Stardust the Super Wizard bullshit, so this one's going to get pretty esoteric. For those who are new to this blog or just skip over everything that's not a film or television review, Stardust is the titular character from an almost-forgotten Golden Age writer, Fletcher Hanks. Think Golden Age Superman with less of an ethical framework and no real limit to his powers. Stardust has enjoyed a strange popularity in certain corners of the internet, being truly a unique character who's Public Domain and kind of like Superman if you squint hard enough. The entirety of Stardust the Super Wizard is available online if you look, and is worth reading at least a couple of issues. Fair warning, Fletcher Hanks himself was a terrible person, so if Family Violence is going to upset you, don't dig too deep into his personal history.

Most retellings of Stardust, with one notable exception, tend to make the character more heroic, which is pretty interesting, because although he certainly 'fights evil' in his own comics, it would be hard to call him a hero in the traditional sense. Stardust turns up after the damage is done (or at least after it has started) to punish the perpetrators, often lethally, sometimes fixes the damage, if he feels like it (or if Hanks left enough panels) then zooms off into space once more. Alan Moore chose, in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, to paint Stardust as a villain, defeated by Captain Universe (probably not the one you're thinking of) and imprisoned for all eternity like one of his own victims. But that's not really what I wanted to get off my chest today, I'm here to answer an important question (or, at least, important enough that I think about it way too much), just what is Stardust?

In the classic comics, Stardust is referred to as a "man", who has gained his abilities through mastery of science, but in that he may not necessarily be human. For starters, Stardust is huge, only shown to be shorter than characters referred to as "giants", and his physique is often exaggerated and vaguely inhuman; almost like something trying to look like a human but not quite getting there. Uncanny valley, if you will. In the webcomic, Super Wizard Returns, the author posits that Stardust is some kind of living solar entity and the physical body that interacts with the universe is merely some kind of projection or shell for consciousness. Well, at least I believe that's the intention? There's room for interpretation there. That idea kind of works for me, as it opens up ideas of characters like Solaris, The Tyrant Sun and even Great Old Ones and the C'Tan from Warhammer 40,000. With the reading of Stardust not being heroic so much as brutal and borderline malicious (or at least capricious), his being an alien entity impossible to comprehend makes a certain amount of sense, right?

So let's borrow some ideas from Warhammer 40,000 and Lovecraft's inheritors, and posit that Stardust is an intelligence born of a star; something so removed from human experience that we simply cannot understand each other and with a power scale nearly immeasurable. After eons of existence, the intelligence becomes aware of other life in the universe, but all attempts to make contact result in immolation and destruction. Perhaps there is a moment or two of pure awe in the mortals this being contacts, before they are killed by its very presence, and it comes to crave that devotion. After better observation, this being comes to understand something of temporal and three-dimensional existence, though its logic is flawed, and it crafts itself a suit, a skin of starmetal. With a name it has chosen for itself, Stardust, the solar being sets out to get the awe and worship it craves, but how? Well it just so happens that something new has entered human culture, the Superhero.

Stardust enters the human world in the wake left by Golden Bat, Superman and Namor, seeing the love, fear and awe that they inspire with their heroics; and he wants a piece of that action. Of course, Stardust doesn't understand any of the nuance of what he sees, so his approach to crime-fighting is direct, brutal and with little consideration for justice, it's like a child playing cops and robbers. At first the other heroes of the Golden Age admire Stardust, as he turns back tidal waves, returns gravity to the planet and deflects asteroids, but soon doubt creeps in. Stardust's violence and wholesale murder begins to escalate, actually raising tensions between nations due to his preference for the United States and drawing the globe closer to a second World War. The time has come to do something, but can even the combined power of Earth's Mightiest Heroes stop this alien monster birthed in the heart of a star?

Miniatures Finished: 12/07/2023

Just a few things off the painting table, mostly bits and pieces that I was working on between other projects.

The Raven: A little kitbash I threw together for this Frew Comics character that I've come to enjoy quite a bit. Converted Heroclix.

Alan Moore: Yes, I did find a 28mm Alan Moore after a little searching, so now this Anarchist Wizard can join in on some of my games. Smog.

Miss Marvel: Whilst I'm personally not a huge fan of this character (more that I can take or leave her than an active dislike), Miss Marvel has become such a big part of the Marvel Universe that I had to include her somewhere. Heroclix.

Viper: Given the price, I really feel that some Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures are fairly low quality. Viper here has very shallow detail on her face and hands, which is disappointing. AMG.

Sin: In contrast, Sin here, who came in the same box as Viper, is really nice and was a joy to paint. The detail is crisp and the model looks great done. AMG. 

Krillin: Whilst my quest to get more Dragon Ball characters in 28mm has stalled, there are plenty of options for them in Marvel Crisis Protocol scale. Damange 83

Superhero Media: Warlock by Jim Starlin

In case you're new around here, I love Marvel Comics' Cosmic elements and characters. Although I do enjoy the newer versions of say, The Guardians of the Galaxy, my real faves are all from the 1970s and almost all written by Jim Starlin. Now, I'm not saying that Starlin was on a lot of drugs or anything, but comics like Warlock really do seem to have been written whilst under the influence of a great deal of drugs. For those who don't know, Adam Warlock was created by a science wizard to be the messiah of Counter-Earth, where he died to save a race of animal-people from Dog-Hitler and was later reborn when Starlin needed a new project. Thankfully, all that Counter-Earth nonsense is background to the story being told in this run, but it's still pretty crazy in the best ways, as classic comics tend to be. So strap yourself in for time travel, space gods, New-Age spiritualism, evil churches and buckets of "WTF". This is Adam Warlock, the best Marvel Comic you've never read.

Ok, maybe that's overselling it, but Warlock is really nothing like almost anything you would have ever read. Almost as dense in philosophy as it is in Space Opera, Warlock is has little to do with the rest of the Marvel universe at first glance, with his foes being the Magus and the Star Thief, one can forget that these comics also mark the first appearance of Gamora and form an important moment for The Avengers, with their second encounter with Thanos. The style of Starlin's writing and art can be jarring for those who have only read newer comics, with huge, sprawling walls of text punctuated with psychedelic artwork and splash-pages worthy of Jack Kirby. As Adam Warlock flies through space, the endless void is a beautiful cascade of stars, planets, nebulae and spacecraft so fanciful, they belong on a Prog Rock album cover. In the cold light of the 21st Century, the philosophy and ethics of Warlock can seem backwards and lacking intersectionality, but a lot of this was pretty out-there stuff to have in a Superhero comic back in the 1970s.

What may actually be one of the most amazing facts about the Warlock series is just how relevant it remains fifty-odd years later. The Infinity Gems, Gamora and Thanos are pretty obvious, but it's shocking how often The Universal Church of Truth, The Magus and even Kray-Tor show up or are at least referenced in current Marvel titles. Starlin remains a controversial figure in comics history, though for my money, usually seemed to be doing what he thought was right in his dealings with Marvel and Image, Warlock is an astounding legacy for any creator to have at a major publisher, and that doesn't even factor in his work on other books, Captain Marvel especially. I've been talking with one of my regular gaming groups lately about getting into some Science Fiction skirmish wargames in our own setting, and I've leapt back into my Jim Starlin to get some inspiration. As much as I love my "Hard" Sci-Fi, there is a part of me that wants some out-there fantasy in my space empire, or whatever I choose to go with. If you want to read something different, but still oddly relevant to the rest of the Marvel Universe, Warlock is hard to beat.

Superhero Media: Dirty Laundry

Knowing that I still had a season of The Punisher on Netflix to get through, I decided to save Dirty Laundry for last on my little Punisher re-watch. Dirty Laundry is a short film, around ten minutes, starring and directed by Thomas Jane; yes, really. When it became clear that Jane wouldn't get to don the iconic skull-shirt again, he decided to make his own follow-up, so much did he enjoy playing the character. If you want to watch Dirty Laundry, and you really should watch it, it's great, it can be found on YouTube, though there are a few different versions and qualities going around, so be careful. There is one really low quality version that's too easy to find with a looping 30-seconds of The Dark Knight soundtrack that really grates. As, essentially, a fan-film, Dirty Laundry is a little cheap-looking and neither the special effects nor actors are always the best, but Thomas Jane and, of all people, Ron Perlman, are there to carry the narrative through.

As the name suggests, the framing of Dirty Laundry is Frank Castle needing to wash some clothes, stopping at a local launderette and getting caught up in gang violence. It's a little iffy that the local gang are all African-American and the heroic characters, Frank and the shop owner, are White, but given the team from whom this story comes (Bootleg Media), I feel that any racist messaging isn't deliberate, though you may vary on that one. Although Frank clearly wants to keep a low-profile and just do his washing, a local gang hassling sex workers and beating and robbing a child eventually force him into action, which he does, not with guns as is typical, but with a bottle of Jack Daniel's and his combat boots. Although brief, the fight is brutal and more intense than most scenes in the Netflix series, making great use of the slow build and just exploding in the climax. It's really well-directed and well worth checking out for how to do a build-up properly, rather than just having Frank sit around making soup.

Yes, I'm very much of the opinion that Thomas Jane should have gotten another shot at playing Frank Castle, and that it's not too late for the MCU to bring him back as an older, The Punisher MAX style version of the character. It's not just that the film Jane was in is one of the best versions of the character, or that he is a big fan of the character and puts his all into his performance, but because he's a fucking good actor who has never got his due. A big Disney/MCU paycheck and a series of films based on the Garth Ennis comics could really cement Jane as a great in the way he deserves, but never seems to get. The MCU has become a great vehicle for actors, directors and just about everyone in the film-making process to get out into the public consciousness and get to deliver on their own passion projects. As much as the homogenisation of popular media under Disney is not a good thing, that it helped launch the careers of Ryan Coogler, Taika Watiki and Tom Holland to new heights is a great boon to the medium.

Superhero Media: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

In what is hopefully the last change for a while, Lead Capes is moving to Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

I'll admit that I was a little apprehensive about the MCU moving to a streaming model for some projects, as Agents of SHIELD, the Nextlfix series and The Inhumans had all swung a great deal in quality. For all the criticisms that one can lay at the MCU, "looking cheap" isn't one of them, but television pretty much always looks cheaper than film, and the idea of Anthony Mackie hanging by an obvious harness in front of an obvious greenscreen just wasn't something I was ok with. What I got, however, was a seamless, engaging, exciting geopolitical adventure right in the vein of Winter Soldier and Civil War, essentially another Captain America film, just a little longer and something of a 'soft reboot' for the franchise. Feeling the weight of responsibility on having been handed the shield by Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson opts to remain the Falcon and donate the shield to the Smithsonian, not willing to be the new Captain America. Meanwhile, James 'Bucky' Barnes is working through his therapy and trying to put a life together post-Winter Soldier. Also there's a pseudo-anarchist, pseudo-terror group called the Flag-Smashers who want to return to the world as it was in-between Infinity War and Endgame.

I'm not going to get too much into the politics of Karli Morgenthau and the Flag-Smashers here, as I have another piece discussing that in the pipeline, but it is pretty cool that a form of anarchist movement aren't immediately demonised and have legitimate concerns the heroes engage with. As they aren't technically affiliated with the American government, Sam and Bucky can work in the grey areas, with Sharon Carter and even Baron Zemo alongside them for stretches as the new Captain America (John Walker) closes in on the Flag-Smashers. "Grey" is one of the best words to describe the tone of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, as every character's point of view, assumptions and personal politics are repeatedly challenged throughout the programme; which is where the real genius of the series lies. Zemo is right, uncontrolled super-soldiers are dangerous and cannot be allowed to proliferate, but he is also a murdering psychopath who uses his wealth as a weapon. Elijah Bradley is correct in that he was used as a commodity by the US military because of his race, but he makes the wrong call about Sam donning the Captain America mantle. Even Sam needs to be open to new ideas and to growth and change in order to get to the place where he can comfortably carry the shield.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier may be, other than Wandavision, the thematically deepest of any MCU production to date. In a programme about super-soldiers chasing terrorists around the globe, we are introduced to basic tenants of contemporary Anarchism, the disgusting treatment of African Americans in the military that continued well into the twentieth century, the dangers of tribalism and partisan politics and even the limits on compassion that borders and capitalism impose. Although Karli and her team are dead by the closing credits, their ideas aren't, and even Sam Wilson, Captain America, is advocating for change to a global system that creates the displacement and massive wealth disparity that drove the Flag-Smashers to revolt in the first place. A truly cynical reading of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier may say that it only exists to set up a new status-quo for the next series of films, which it does, but that seems to willfully ignore all of the meat on those continuity bones. Yes, Sam is Captain America now for the next time the Avengers assemble, but he's a different Cap coming from his own unique place with his own agenda. If this is the quality we can expect moving forward, I'm keen for more MCU.

Miniatures Finished: Unmatched - Hell's Kitchen

I was a little iffy on picking up the Marvel Unmatched sets at first, not that they didn't look fun, but I already have so many games where I can play Marvel characters, you know? However, Hell's Kitchen is kind of perfect. Not only are these three characters kind of a match for each other, they have a reason to fight each other and the entire set evokes a classic Frank Miller Daredevil comic. If I was just going to get one Marvel Unmatched box, it was going to be Hell's Kitchen, for sure.

Daredevil, Elektra and Bullseye, unlike the regular Unmatched sets, the Marvel ones have sculpted detail on the bases.

Superhero Media: The Punisher - Season 2

Ok, I get it now, this is neither Frank Castle nor The Punisher, this is some original character the writers came up with and slapped a skull shirt on to make their contract. Seriously, there is maybe, one or two scenes in the entire series where I was like, "oh hey, that's the Punisher, neat", but the rest of the time I felt like I was watching something else. Once again, far too many episodes are drawn-out conversations about ethics or psychology, which are fine, and some are even well-written, but I'm tuning in to see Frank shoot people, not, yet another, manipulative psych antagonist. Seriously, I may be a Psychotherapist, not a Psychologist or Psychiatrist, but I still find that trope pretty damn offensive, all the more so because it's so common. I think The Punisher wants me to read it as Jigsaw manipulating his psych, Harley Quinn/Joker style, not that that's really at all "better", but the framing is that she falls for her client and forsakes all ethics and training to pursue a relationship with him, even attempting to murder a federal agent for him. Fuck off with this shit. It's not clever, it just increases the distrust people have for therapy and makes my job harder.

Man, I can't even talk about The Punisher now, I just hate that trope so much and it's a major narrative in the programme. I call the character Jigsaw, but fans of the comics will barely reconise what is presented, with minimal scars and a simmering hatred for Frank Castle that barely causes anything to happen in the story. In fact, Jigsaw is already dying when Frank Kills him, having been shot by the female agent he was sleeping with in the first season and I can't believe she's even in this season as well, seriously, she has nothing to do other than KEEP FUCKING TALKING WHEN FRANK COULD BE SHOOTING PEOPLE! What's worse than that is that Jigsaw's arc, involving turning disillusioned veterans into a fearsome organised crime syndicate, is actually really interesting and would have been great in any other programme, but here is just an excuse to have someone who's not Frank shoot people. Oh, remember back in my Garth Ennis Punisher review how Frank had to be clever to work around his own moral code to fight Delta Force tasked with his capture? Well, here Frank just shoots and kills fellow veterans, because heaven forefend we actually have something engaging and clever happen.

Oh wait, Frank's friend who runs group therapy for veterans, something I have done myself, by the way, is also ok with killing his former clients, except for this one scene which just kind of derails the shoot-out Frank is in at the time. Look, as I've said before, I'm not a violent person, I'm all for complicated narratives with superheroes and some of my favourite Punisher comics confront the reality of the mass-murder Frank Castle commits, however, this series does none of that well. The writers have plenty of clever ideas, but they come too thick and fast for any of them to really land and the result is a blur of bland scenes and too few gunfights for a series about a character known for gun-play more so than just about any other in comics. The veteran mafia, Pilgrim and his mission to protect the homosexual secrets of a Republican Senator, Frank trying to protect one young woman as a form of redemption, all of these are great ideas that would work with The Punisher as a protagonist, but none of them coalesce, leaving an unsatisfying ending that thankfully will never lead into another season. I really hope Frank Castle comes back to the MCU, but I also hope it looks nothing like this series, as there is so much that can be done with the Punisher that has yet to be explored in this medium.

Superhero Media: The New Mutants (2020)

So where the hell was this languishing for years? Seriously, The New Mutants is probably one of the best films in the "Fox" X-Men series and it was almost forgotten the instant it came out, despite several years of hype and re-edits. The New Mutants is pretty much exactly what I picture when I promote the idea of smaller, more nuanced, often cheaper, superhero cinema on this blog. There are maybe, ten actors in this film? Yet it manages to be more engaging, exciting and character-driven than many of the bigger ensemble films, especially in the X-Men series. Barely escaping some kind of supernatural attack, Dani Moonstar awakens in a mental hospital with four other teenage mutants, Rahne Sinclair, Ilyana Rasputin, Sam Guthrie and Roberto de Costa. Or, you know, Moonstar has been thrown in with mentally unstable versions of Wolfsbane, Magik, Cannonball and Sunspot. Now, I've never been a big X-Men fan, so I'm only passingly familiar with any of these characters, but I have to say I empathised with each of them pretty quickly and any changes that were made played to the strengths of the story, as far as I could tell.

Being a tight ninety minutes, The New Mutants doesn't waste much time trying to make the Essex Hospital (because references) seem at all innocent, with super-technology drops and strong supernatural horror beats pretty quickly. The links to the main X-Men films are pretty thin on the ground, which I like, because the last thing The New Mutants really needs is a Wolverine cameo that goes nowhere. Although there is almost no telling how much of the "original" film survived the various edits and re-shoots, the version of The New Mutants that's on my DVD copy really seems to trust the young actors with the material, and whilst the emotions are writ large, as suits both teen drama and comic books, the feelings read as genuine, and I can see plenty of adolescents connecting with this film just as I did with X-2 back in my day. Also I love that the queer characters are just kind of there, and their sexuality has nothing to do with why they are being hunted by nightmares, its just who they are.

Where the edits and reworking hurts The New Mutants the most is in the third act, where Dani is pushed to the background by Magik, because, by then, Anya Taylor-Joy had become famous through Peaky Blinders and The Queen's Gambit. I have mixed feelings about Taylor-Joy, as I suspect she's a pretty decent actor, but is constantly sexualised by the camera, so I simply cannot tell; a lot like a young Scarlet Johanssen, actually. Now the shift in focus in the film is not overly jarring, and there is an attempt to tie a "friends as surrogate family" narrative in at the end, but I wonder what a version of The New Mutants where Dani stayed in the fore would have looked like. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Fox X-Men has wrapped up and won't be continuing, but The New Mutants is a high note to go out on and I really hope it gets some cult love at some point, as there is a lot to like, and not just for angsty teens. I know that I'll be going back to this long before others in the series myself, now that I know what's there.

Superhero Media: She-Hulk by Dan Slott

When I think of the best runs of Marvel comics in history, the Dan Slott She-Hulk is right up the top of my list, usually only a little behind Brubaker Captain America and Lee/Kirby Avengers. Losing her job with the New York DA thanks to too much partying, Jennifer "She-Hulk" Walters is recruited by the firm of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway to practice 'Superhuman Law'. What follows is an enjoyable mix of superhero action and legal drama, showing a side of the Marvel Universe that isn't often seen, but serves to ground all of the cosmic gods, animal-themed villains and assorted costumed nonsense. Just to give you a taste, there is a scene where Shulkie sites precedents including "Plunder v Plunder" and "The People v Thanos", among others. Add to that speedster-couriers, shape-shifting process-servers and Awesome Andy, the intern, and the fantastic blends perfectly with the more mundane legal setting. Of course, there's still plenty of Shulkie smash in the series and lots of guest stars, particularly from the Avengers and the broader Hulk series.

Much like previous comic series I've covered, like X-Factor and Captain America, the poorer bits of She-Hulk are those that are required to interact with the crossover storylines, like Civil War and World War Hulk. This being a She-Hulk story, however, that's just more fodder for the jokes and stories involving lawyers, especially with Jennifer promoting the Superhero Registration Act and doing a lot of the paperwork to get other heroes signed up; in fact, her tie-in issue has almost no punching, which is kind of refreshing for that particular event. There's quite a lot of justifying various "plot holes" in She-Hulk's history in this run, but the sense of fun and playfulness in which it is done just adds to the enjoyment. The concept that a superhero would be sick of their fans pointing out the gaps in their "continuity" is utterly hilarious to me, especially as Marvel Comics are published and widely read in the Marvel universe. No, really.

Stu Westin's (a supporting character in this series) view on comics, continuity and fandom, shown above, is one of the best moments in She-Hulk, and something I pull out pretty often when my more rabid friends get into a nerdy argument. There is a sheer joy to She-Hulk that I just love in comics and is rare in the better-selling Marvel and DC books, this series is unafraid to be fun and silly when it needs to be, embracing the nonsense of earlier Shulkie stories and the twisted continuity and giving the reader a damn good story on top of that. With all of two omnibus volumes (or four trades), She-Hulk is something you should probably own, as it's great and not all that long or tied in to too many other stories. Plus, more people really need to know about Awesome Andy and the Silver Sufer's love of '80s power rock ballads. Grab these books and read about Spider-Man suing Jonah Jameson for defamation, Two-Gun Kid enforcing Bail Bonds and a legal library filled with longboxes, it's a great corner of the Marvel Universe that not enough have seen.

Superhero Media: Wandavision

If you're Marvel Studios, what do you do after releasing one of the most successful films of all time, leaving an impact on popular culture so large people are still talking about it and having your longitudinal plans scuppered by a global Pandemic not seen for 100 years? Well, you put together a television series that is somehow true to tone, explores deeper content than you ever have before and encapsulates the global mood brought upon by that same pandemic. Fuck Marvel Studios knows their shit. After the events of Endgame, Wanda finds herself living in a, literally, sitcom-perfect small New Jersey town with Vision and they move through the decades of broadcast television, even raising a family; but something is off. The first half of Wandavision, inspired by David Lynch and possessing an altogether stranger and darker tone than many Marvel Studios productions, is something to behold, and whilst I can understand the disappointment some felt that the programme reverted to standard MCU fare by the end, I still believe the complete product to be excellent.

Marvel Studios are easily the best in the business when it comes to fan management, which Wandavision handily demonstrates at both ends of the fandom spectrum. Quite a few fans picked Agnes as Agatha Harkness before the first episode aired, but rather than scramble and make a last-minute change, Marvel trusted in the strength of their narrative and delivered a compelling antagonist that people really responded to. The YouTube 'response and speculation' industry found clues in Wandavision for everything from Squadron Supreme to the High Evolutionary, but the studio kept to their guns of keeping the MCU oddly grounded for a setting which includes magic, aliens and robots. That is, at least, as things stood at the time; staring down the barrel of Avengers Doomsday certainly puts things in a different light. 

Look, I'm a comics fan, I'm all for alternate timelines and multiverses. Even my "Equalisers" setting has a multiverse and evil-universe doppelgangers, so I'm not against the concept. But. I don't think the MCU has been improved by moving out of the one reality, sorry, but I really don't. Remember, the MCU is the simplified, accessible version of the comics stories, like the old Ultimate Universe, so adding in all that extra crap has only alienated the broader audience that don't read the comics. As much as I kind of want to see characters like Maestro, the Council of Reeds and Ravage grace the big screen, I'm perfectly happy to continue as things are for quite a wile longer yet. Especially if we're going to get programming of the caliber of Wandavision. Though I couldn't get the phrase "Monica Rambeau, leader of the Nextwave squad, lies all the time" out of my head while watching.

Superhero Media: Nextwave Agents of H.A.T.E.

Nextwave is a Pirate Superhero Comic about five superheroes defending America against a terrorist organisation masquerading as an anti-terror group and may be some of the best twelve issues that Marvel Comics published in the 2000s. Put together by the Warren Ellis/Stewart Immonen dream team that made some of the best Ultimate Universe comics, Nextwave brings together Monica Rambeau, Machine Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Tabitha "Boom Boom" Smith and introduces The Captain, as this ill-formed team punches their way through broccoli-men, exploding koalas and Fin Fang Foom. Despite being silly as all get-out, Nextwave is bitingly smart, thoroughly complex and somehow even more poignant a read in 2026 than it was when I first picked it up. Although clearly a product of Bush-era anti-war protest and resistance, Nextwave's reactions to the trends of the Comic Industry and backlash of fans of perceived slights, it seems truly more prophetic than timely. Tabby's satirical X-Force flashback alone, in which '90s Cable gets a brilliant one-panel roasting, is worthy of highlighting in what is one of the best stories in the run already.

Nextwave, the team, not the book, were put together by Dirk Anger, Director of HATE (the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort) to help field-test bizarre weapons of mass destruction on America, for profit. It's a take on the American Military-Industrial Complex so thinly-veiled as to make me consider it more varnished, at best, but Dirk's opening speech about the horrible drugs that make him immortal is so amazing that you stay sold on the character for the rest of the run. Hell, Nextwave takes on Police corruption, is pro-sex work and has a thoroughly diverse supporting cast years before those would become points of contention. Nextwave is one of those truly "smart" parodies that people insist that they're trying to do when being offensive, but, like the best parody, it punches up and loves what it's making fun of, the absurdity of comics, especially the Marvel Silver Age. The writing is sharp and even after one reading, you'll be muttering quotes like "Special Bear's dead" and "Come to Hate Mother now!" to yourself for at least a week. Also, every one of the six main characters is available as a Heroclix, just in case you didn't already know.

In case you can't tell, I love Nextwave. It's one of my go-to reads when I need to bring back a little joy into my life, or maybe just had a really bad day. It's silly, irreverent and may not actually be canon, but it is still damn good and has me laughing out loud despite having read it at least a dozen times. Nextwave is exactly the kind of comic I think the industry needs more of, especially as more versions of "even more grim and murdery Batman" fill the racks at your local store. As I write this, one of my friends is collecting a new Carnage series that's adult-rated and only coloured in black, white and red, it's honestly quite gross at some times, it could really do with an appearance by The Captain and some Broccoli Men farting and blowing up a puppy farm. Hell, get Zombie Dirk Anger on the Thunderbolts, put Elsa on The Avengers and give The New Paramounts their own maxi-series. If you're any kind of comic collector and you don't have both volumes of Nextwave on your shelf, get on it, as this series is brilliant and well worth owning.

Unmatched - Characters and Concepts I'd like to see

A little while back, I spoke about the Unmatched board games and my enjoyment of them. Since then, I've invested in even more and do my best to play the game more often than I buy expansions, though I don't always succeed. Unmatched has expanded since I wrote my last entry to include a couple of ideas that I had thought to write here,to include PvE expansions in the "Adventures" series. Of course, there is still room for improvement, I am not fond of the way all the Marvel expansions are entirely heroes and not villains, for example, but I'll discuss that more below. So that this whole exercise doesn't have too much of an air of wish listing, I'll endevour to give examples of how I feel a character should run, or at least what an idea would be bringing to the game that isn't there already. As I tend to go with these articles, I'll begin with what I feel to be more reasonable and within the realm of possibility, and then move on to more fantastic and fanciful ideas.


More Villains

Whilst this feels the most prevalent with the Marvel expansions, Unmatched always seems to focus more on heroic characters, and I feel a bit of variety in this regard would make for a better ludonarrative experience. With the whole "crossover" nature of Unmatched, the Battle of Legends boxes are fine, and Cobble & Fog only has the one heroic character in Sherlock Holmes, but a mix of "baddies" in there would be great. The Marvel boxes are especially baffling, with three heroes all fighting one another for no real reason; makes me wonder why there wasn't a "Secret War" or "Contest of Champions" overlay to the line. "Hells Kitchen" did it correctly as far as I'm concerned, with a "Hero", "Antihero" and "Villain" in Daredevil, Elektra and Bullseye. Of course, Marvel is done in Unmatched for now, and The Witcher sets did this better, but the upcoming Hellboy release could easily fall into this trap again.  


Another Cobble & Fog

Cobble & Fog was the first Unmatched I purchased, and I think it is a great little box, even if Sherlock is very strong compared to some other characters. I would think that "Cobble & Fog 2" would be an easy sell, especially as the four-character boxes always feel like better value. This would be a pretty straightforward box to get together as well, using the original as a basis. Throw in Abraham Van Hellsing to deal with Dracula (probably with some kind of open hand mechanic to represent his knowledge of foes) and James Moriarty to menace Holmes. I see Moriarty being a character that plays a lot of schemes and relies on their Sidekick, Colonel Moran, to do the actual damage. Then there's plenty of other ideas that would work, like Spring-Heeled Jack as a hit-and-run type and maybe even Fagin with a horde or urchin Sidekicks that pinch your cards.


Unmatched Adventures

The "Adventures" line offers a lot of opportunity for Unmatched, even without branching out too much further from ideas they have already executed. Obvious ideas include a "Cobble & Fog" version with Captain Nemo as the antagonist, Hellboy featuring the Old Ones and even Battle of Legends with a Hydra or Titan of some kind. I have one idea, however, and it is a very 'me' idea, using Superheroes of the Golden Age; it would fit with the Pulp idea of the first "Adventures" set and require no licensing whatsoever. Taking inspiration from things like "Super Wizard Returns" and "The Next Issue Project", I think the enemy being an all-powerful Stardust and the heroes being pulp standards like The Shadow, Lady in Red and The Spider would be a fun little box that adds some variety without being too far off the mark for the series.


Battle of Legends

If I had a favourite series of Unmatched, it would have to be "Battle of Legends". A crossover fighting game of mytho-historical and literary heroes is right down my alley and I'm a little shocked there aren't more of these than the Marvel versions, as they almost write themselves. There is a line of taste to consider, to be sure, like I'd avoid figures that are still broadly worshiped or are historically rather iffy, so probably no Shiva or Baron Samedi and certainly no Torquemada Corteaz or Davey Crokett (George Washington getting a character still baffles me). Still, that leaves a massive list of possible characters, just off the top of my head; M. Zenith, Herakles, Guan-Yu, Jack the Ripper, Hua Mulan, Quetzalcoatl, Maui, Brunhilde, Raffles, The Phantom of the Opera, Scarlet Pimpernel, John Carter, Raymond Carter, Carmilla, the possibilities are endless. We see this in many of the two-character boxes as well, so there's no limit to this theme except weird rights and good taste.


Fighting Games

So this is where I get a tad wish-list-y, Unmatched is basically a fighting game on a board right? So why not try for a fighting game license? Sure, there's huge problems with this idea and it's pretty unrealistic, but if it could be pulled off, it's tailor-made for Unmatched. Obvious ideas include Street Fighter (for that "Marvel Vs Capcom" vibe) or Mortal Kombat, but they're the big boys and will probably cost a packet to license. So how about some also-rans like Killer Instinct, Primal Rage or Rise of the Robots? Surely they're not asking the same money as Marvel, you know? I feel like I barely need to justify this one, as the ideas would translate almost straight across; big slow brawlers play the same, strike and fade works just fine and most of the moves already have elaborate names for the cards. Add in some retro pixel art for the fans and the whole package would be pretty neat.

Superhero Media: The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series

I was a little surprised when this series popped up on Netflix, as opposed to Disney+, but seeing that it was far shorter (at two seasons) than some other things I was watching, I gave it a go one slow weekend. And, it turns out The Spectacular Spider-Man is actually really damn good, probably one of the best animated versions of Spider-Man I've seen. Drawing on both the 616 and Ultimate continuities, The Spectacular Spider-Man hits a really good balance of keeping classic stories and characters whilst bringing them into the modern day. Or, at least, the early 2000s. Kids without smartphones just looks weird to me now. What this programme does which I haven't really seen in a lot of other Spider-Man cartoons is centre the relationships of Peter Parker and his peers, with several episodes that revolve more around teenage romance than fighting animal-themed villains.

Whilst the romantic elements are probably a turn-off for some, I found them really interesting, helping to build the supporting cast to be more than just a bunch of interchangeable kids. And it's written pretty well too, which is quite astounding. An ongoing thread has Peter dating Liz Allen whilst being pursued by Gwen Stacey, and it's handled with shocking maturity and accuracy to teenage development and relationships. Another really cool element of The Spectacular Spider-Man is that Peter's Rogues Gallery is actually factionalised, like in the comics, with Tombstone, Doctor Octopus and Silvermane fighting for control of the New York underworld as Spider-Man tries to stop them and the enigmatic Green Goblin running around in the background as an extra threat. Unlike most animated programmes of this nature, The Spectacular Spider-Man has threads that run through multiple episodes, rather than everything being a one-off with incremental growth; it's a nice change and still something not seen all that often.

My major criticism of The Spectacular Spider-Man is the animation, which is just slightly odd, with visible nostrils and eyes of different shapes on most characters. It's not a deal-breaker, and after one or two episodes, I stopped noticing, but the programme not looking like any Spider-Man comic is an odd choice. For the voice actor fans out there, The Spectacular Spider-Man features the likes of James Arnold Taylor, Clancy Brown, Phil LaMarr, John DiMaggio and more, so the talent is present and lifts up what is already a solid script. If you like your Spider-Man with references to Carl Sagan and James Joyce, which I really do, then the two short seasons of The Spectacular Spider-Man are well worth the watch, even if the broad strokes will be familiar to most fans already. I'm not sure that this is strictly the "best" animated Spider-Man series, but it is really good and mostly a joy to watch, I may even return to it one day, after I get through the dozens of other versions.

Superhero Media: Punisher War Zone (2008)

Before Frank Castle got his own Netflix series, the big argument between fans was which film was better, the '80s version, The Punisher from 2004 and Punisher War Zone. As you probably know by now, the Tom Jane version is my personal pick, but for a while War Zone was the favourite of many. Filled with stars of television, War Zone appears more to be an elaborate pilot for a cable series than it does the start of a new film franchise. In recent years, War Zone has become something of a cult darling, with the director, Lexi Alexander, doing a series of interviews in which she discusses the misogyny and obligations of the Hollywood studio system and how that came to impact the film. It's fascinating, but fails to distract from the fact that the film still didn't turn out all that great. Not that I'm implying that Alexander is a bad filmmaker, just that an interesting story doesn't always make an uninteresting film more engaging. Still, at least Frank shoots a lot of people and wears a skull shirt for most of the run time.

Taking a great deal of "inspiration" from the Garth Ennis The Punisher MAX run I've discussed before, War Zone is full of references to those comics, or at least pretends to be. You know how the 2017 Ghost In The Shell makes a lot of reference to previous iterations of the franchise, but they don't really mean anything? Same here. Sure, it's great to see Christu and Tiberu from "The Slavers", but their inclusion doesn't make any sense and they're just there to be a reference; same with a name-only version of Maginty from "Kitchen Irish", who, in War Zone is a freerunner on a constant meth high. That's not to say that there isn't a lot in War Zone to enjoy, it certainly does play like a Punisher story, with plenty of kills, a variety of guns and a nice bit of gore. The big fight just before the finale is reminiscent of The Raid or Dredd, taking place in an abandoned hotel, with Frank murdering his way through ranks of goons to get to Jigsaw and the plot device hostages in the penthouse. It's really well done and just a good action sequence to check out.

One thing I've noticed about the best Punisher stories is that there tends to be a character other than Frank who is eating up a lot of the plot. This is typically a good thing, as Frank doesn't have a lot of room for growth and tends to not have an arc of any discernible kind, so people have to react around him, rather than him reacting to them. Think Agent Carter in Captain America The First Avenger or anyone in Superman The Movie. War Zone dose have a few characters that exist around Frank, but only really the antagonist, Jigsaw, actually undergoes much change in reaction to Frank's actions; it's just not a brilliantly-written film, sorry. Again, this really feels like the kind of "movie-length" television pilot that was common for genre programming in the 1990s, and the cast being drawn from programmes such as Rome, Dexter and Lost tends to just reinforce that notion. If War Zone is your favourite Punisher film, I really can't fault you, but it just leaves me cold and wanting Tom Jane to return.