Superhero Media: Danger Mouse

Yes, I watched the entirety of the classic Danger Mouse, and I don't recommend that you do the same. That is not to say that Danger Mouse is bad, which it is, of course, not, just that binging it quickly kind of killed the enjoyment I was getting. The World's Greatest Secret Agent, Danger Mouse, and his mostly-useless assistant Penfold, battle the nefarious foes of freedom across the globe and Willesden Green in mostly unlikely circumstances. Like many programmes of its era, Danger Mouse has dated, mostly around stereotypes and backwards attitudes, especially against Mexicans, for some reason, but it holds up despite being steeped in ideas of Empire. If you can handle wacky, then Danger Mouse is a heady draught, with skouse aliens, giant bananas and more episodes in space than you would think for what is, ostensibly, a spy adventure. 

The jokes are repetitive and often deliberately bad, but there is a charm to Danger Mouse that transcends the surface quality, or lack thereof. Like I said, don't watch a lot of this back-to-back, as it starts to grate after a while, but if Danger Mouse is an old hazy memory or something an older relative talks about a lot, then dive in for a little bit and see how you go. The review of the newer seasons is actually one of the most viewed articles on this blog, so clearly there is a love of Danger Mouse and Penfold to be had out there. Such is the nature of the programme that I really can't recall too much about specific episodes to recommend, though images of sentient bagpipes, golfing Martians and ghost busses haunt my dreams. 

If you really want to game Danger Mouse (might work as a Pulp Alley game?) there are a few free STLs around for 3D printing, I'm eyeing off one of Danger Mouse and Penfold in the X-1 for printing at about 6mm scale, which should look right next to 28mm humans. I've never been one for gaming in a comedic tone myself, but it's worth remembering that Danger Mouse does shockingly little fighting in the programme, mostly resorting to a combination of dumb luck, puns and contrivance. Danger Mouse may be the world's greatest secret agent, but Danger Mouse isn't really the best programme, being very much throwaway entertainment for kids more interested in colour and movement than a maligned classic awaiting reappraisal. Still, I love it and will probably go back for more at some stage. 

Superhero Media: The Avengers (1998)

Based on a long-running British television series, which has enjoyed more than one incarnation, The Avengers follows the adventures of Mister Steed and Missus Peel as they battle the menace of August DeWinter. Quite a few years ago, in 2012, many YouTube film reviewers latched onto The Avengers as a quick source of content, as the Marvel Studios version was due soon and provided handy clickbait. I quite enjoyed many of these videos, as they were predominantly American in origin, and there were many laughs to be had in the lack of understanding of the, very British, humour of The Avengers. Cries of "Is the joke that they're polite?" were met by my friends and I chuckling; "No, the joke is that they're British." And that's the trick to The Avengers, if there can be considered to be one, if you can't buy into the, very British, absurdities and behaviors, you'll never enjoy the film, as it's full to the brim of a bowler hat of the very same. So if jokes about tolerable additives to tea (lemon and honey, please mother) or umbrella etiquette aren't for you, maybe give this one a miss. 

For me, a viewer of The New Avengers, Adam Adamant Lives! and The Prisoner, The Avengers does it for me very nicely thank you very much. It's honestly not as good as the classic programmes, but much easier to come by and watch when I need a quick fix. Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman perform admirably in the lead roles, but it is Sean Connery, yes, Sean fucking Connery, as August DeWinter, the camp, scenery-chewing evil mastermind, who steals the show. Seriously, Connery may be a somewhat "limited" actor in some respects, but he does what he does well, and his style lends itself well to the "No Sex Please, We're British" jokes and double ententes straight out of Are You Being Served?, I guess it's the great British pantomime tradition? Whilst I'm on a British cultural binge, the soundtrack features music from Skuggs, of Madness fame, and whilst it's not his best work, I'll take my Ska where I can get it. Fun fact, "Steed" and "Peel" were the PA callsigns for security at Coles Supermarkets when I worked there, that's how embedded The Avengers is in British/Colonial culture. 

Like, The Avengers is kind of up there with Doctor Who with certain generations, even enjoying an extended run in Germany under the title "With Umbrella, Charm and Top Hat", which I think we can all agree, is a better name for the series. In all fairness, The Avengers is not the best version of itself, that would probably be the original television series, but it does get the general idea across and is all done in 90 minutes if you happen to be, just as example, showing your girlfriend because she didn't believe what you were describing was actually real. That was a fun night. She did not care for it. If you want to broaden your concept of what a super-spy organisation can be beyond the SHIELD model, then The Avengers is a good place to start, with plenty of gadgets, fun henchmen (played by Eddie Izzard!) and a bonkers plot to ransom the world with a weather control device. Crooked Dice and a few other miniature makers do Steed and Peel models, so I may have to grab a set to go with my Archer and Lana and 3rd Doctor and Sarah Jane.

My Strange James Bond Head Canon

As of the time of writing, Sean Connery passed away a couple of weeks ago, and I've had some complicated feelings about it. I really like a lot of films that Connery is in, and he is a remarkable actor, one of the best I've seen in terms of occupying the lens with his physicality. However, as a person, he was, at best, a misogynist and a womaniser; my own mother suffered his verbal abuse once for asking for an autograph in the 1960s. Many of Connery's iconic films have dated poorly and really need to be viewed in context to be enjoyed at all. I'm not the kind of Film Graduate who ascribes too closely to the concept of separating art and artist, and I also believe that few individuals are worthy of idolization, but I'm still uncomfortable when James Bond slaps a woman, or outright rapes her in some of the early films. This one isn't really a superhero thing sorry, just some stuff that was on my mind as I watched old Connery films that I don't really have another forum to get out of my head and out into the world. 

If you want to enjoy a version of James Bond which follows a strong narrative and has a solid core of canon, what you want is the novels, especially the Ian Flemming ones, which tell the story about as best as one could want. Of course, this isn't enough for many, as most fans are focused on the films, as they are more easily found and digested, and tend to be better versions of the stories, as Flemming was not the best writer. It is hotly debated as to whether or not the Bond portrayed by different actors is the same individual, up until the Daniel Craig era, of course, with most fan articles I could find coming down on the "yes" side of the discussion. In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series, it is revealed that Bond (from the novels) was the original with Connery, Moore, Lazenby etc. being versions recruited by MI-5 to continue the myth in later years. Basically the same tack as the 1967 Casino Royale, which is an amazing film and I love it. 

My own personal take is pretty similar, but with a few twists. In the world of the films, I do believe that the Connery incarnation is the "original" Bond and that Moore, Dalton and Brosnen were agents given new names to play on the legend. However, I contend that Lazenby is not playing a new agent with the same codename, but the very same Bond as Connery, the "This never happened to the other fellow" line not withstanding. The deciding factor, for me, is Teresa Bond (ne Draco), the woman Bond marries just before she is killed in a revenge attack by Blofeld (played by Telly Savalas! Man, this film is underrated!). This seems like it may be something of a non-issue, until, the next film in the series, Diamonds Are Forever, opens with Bond going on a murder-rampage of Blofeld's men like nothing seen before in the series. Looks like a revenge-driven reckoning to me. Even in the books, the jump in tone after On Her Majesty's Secret Service is marked, as Bond finally had someone to love, and lost them to his own hubris and his greatest nemesis. That On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the few stories where Bond loses contributes to this shift in tone. 

Also of consideration to my "Head-Canon" is 1983's Never Say Never Again, in which it is strongly hinted that Connery is the original Bond, and has been brought back into action because his successor (Moore) isn't delivering in the same way. Sure, Never Say Never Again is just another Thunderball remake, but Blofeld (Max Von Syndow!) is never named and SPECTRE exists across most films in the franchise, so it doesn't require a great deal of mental contortion to get it to fit. Remember, none of the Bond Films are intended to connect narratively to more than a handful of the others, so this entire exercise is fraught from the start. If making sense of of the Bond series in a logical manner is something you "need" to do, I believe something along the lines of assuming each actor is Bond, but in a separate universe that runs more-or-less parallel could probably work, but I haven' thought too deeply about it. Honestly, I only really watch the classic Connery/Lazenby films regularly myself, so maybe I'm missing something vital, oh well.

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! 

Superhero Media: The Venture Bros. - Season 1

This is such a great programme, which, really, if you look at it in isolation, it shouldn't be. Ostensibly a parody of "Saturday Morning" cartoons of the Johnny Quest vintage, The Venture Bros. eventually becomes a sprawling narrative of humanity, trauma and the journey to adulthood. In this first season, however, the themes are more obtuse, and the programme is clearly made quickly and cheaply by a small team. Well, I say quickly, but The Venture Bros. only manages to get a season out every few years, producing only seven seasons of around 13 episodes between 2003 and 2020; it can be a frustrating wait for more sometimes. The series introduces Doc Venture, a middle-aged super-scientist with a drug problem, his two teenaged sons Hank and Dean, both as naive as they are optimistic, and Brock Sampson, bodyguard and murderist extraordinaire. Menacing this atypical family is the Mighty Monarch, a butterfly-themed supervillain prone to ranting speeches and misunderstanding just how butterflies actually work, with his army of henchmen and sexy number two, Doctor Girlfriend. 

The "twist" of The Venture Bros. is that in a world of super-science and super-villainy, life is still pretty banal most of the time. There is an entire episode dedicated to Doc trying to get laid to stave off a feeling of getting older and less relevant, for which an attack on Marakesh by mutant lizard-people is forgotten. Yes, the story ends with Doc transmuting into a giant caterpillar, but even this is brushed off with "I'm in the super-science racket, this kind of thing tends to happen". Not to, for an instant, suggest that The Venture Bros. is anything short of thoroughly entertaining and utterly hilarious through and through; it is precisely the juxtaposition of the banal and the sublime that drives the humor of the programme. Early on, just seeing parody takes on characters like Baron Underbite (Doctor Doom), Richard Impossible (Mister Fantastic) and Doctor Orpheus (Doctor Strange) makes for an entertaining watch, but when these jokes become rounded individuals with compelling motivations, you know you're hooked on The Venture Bros. 

Despite it being brilliant, I tend to not recommend Season 1 of The Venture Bros. as the best starting point; it's fucking weird. To see if you can tolerate moments like Henchmen 21 and 24 arguing over Smurf taxonomy and any of Hank's dialogue, check out the season 2 episode "Escape to the House of Mummies - Part 2" and if you can stand that, go back to season 1 and start your binge. And yes, there is no "Part 1" to that episode. I've mentioned this before, but I could totally write a miniatures wargames rulebook for The Venture Bros., I already have notes and ideas and can think of a decent digital sculptor. On the off-chance anyone reading this knows Doc Hammer, Jackson Publik or someone in marketing at Adult Swim, please pass this on, I'll work for scale. If you can't tell, I love The Venture Bros. I really hope that there is another season or two for me to watch by the time this article works its way out of the backlog. Go team Venture!

Superhero Media: Men In Black

So technically, Men In Black is a Marvel comics film, as it draws inspiration from comics published by Malibu Comics, which Marvel bought out in the '90s. Does that mean Kay is the son of Colonel Chester Phillips? Probably not, as the MIB stuff has never been part of the 616 continuity. Anyway, Men In Black is something of a '90s classic, generally considered a great action comedy and has a brilliant cast. In fact, the film is so well loved that I feel silly just piling onto that, go check out Patrik H Willhiems YouTube video about the film if you want to see all of the great work in Men In Black. Naturally, I'm more interested in what a MIB style organisation would be like in a more "conventional" superhero setting. It's really not all that far-fetched, Marvel has SWORD and DC have something I can't recall right now, but how does this clash with the common knowledge that aliens walk around the world in the form of Superman, Invincible and Goku? True, a costumed alien battling robots and rescuing cats from trees is a far cry from abductions and tripods, but who gets to decide what is a good alien and what makes a bad one? 

In Men In Black good and bad comes down to treaties and registration, much like with immigration into most modern countries, which is of course the joke, as the opening sequence of the film makes clear. Well Superman is an illegal alien (in more than one sense), but I'm assuming he gets away with it because of all the help he provides, see also Invincible. Mind you, the MIB seem to keep better track of aliens on the planet than SWORD does, and can I just say that Rip Torn is amazing and was a great loss to us all. Torn plays a great mashup of 007's M and Nick Fury, who comes across as a gruff boss and tough taskmaster, but works in an irreverence and comedy to the role that gets overlooked. Although the giant cockroach in the finale isn't all that interesting, Edgar is a delight through the lens of Vincent D'Onofrio's performance; a Skrull Infiltrator, he isn't, but is weird enough to fly under the radar in New York City. The staggering, stammering and drooling creature in a rotting human shell is far more convincing than the farting green things in Doctor Who. 

I can't honestly say that I'm as sold on Men In Black as some are, but I enjoyed it well enough this time through. I like the concept of alien-hunting agents, but, me being me, already have a SuperSystem team to deal with aliens that is more Super Sentai inspired. However, it's such a cool concept that it may crop up somewhere for me down the track, maybe in a different game and setting though. There are plenty of miniatures in suits, and even a few Men In Black around if that's what you want to do, plus tonnes of aliens to run around catching.

Superhero Media: The Losers

You want deep cuts? We got deep cuts. The Losers is a film adaptation of a DC Vertigo comic of the same name which is, in turn, based on a Silver Age DC comic of the same name. Even given my wide reading of comics, the only familiarity I have with The Losers is in the prelude of Justice League: New Frontier, where the entire team is killed by dinosaurs. Man, I love comics. The Vertigo update, and, by extension, the film, follows the fortunes of a crack black-ops team, framed for a crime they didn't commit and trying to clear their names. If this sounds like The A-Team, I have another deep cut for you. The Losers came out in the same twelve-month period as The A-Team and The Expendables, all films about groups of gruff men on dangerous missions working outside of a traditional command structure. Oddly, I find The Losers to be the best of the three, but is also the least well known. 

There's not much to The Losers outside of a good cast and some solid action, with Jason Patric, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans and Idris Elba are the big names, but most of the casting is solid. Watching The Losers now is a bit of a trip, as it came out the year before Captain America: The First Avenger, and Chris Evans seems like the last actor anyone would cast to play Cap. The scene where his character, Jensen, has to infiltrate an office building may be the only use of Journey outside of The Sopranos that I can actually stand. The story is pretty bog-standard, with the titular Losers hunting a rogue CIA agent, played by Jason Patric, who last appeared on Lead Capes as Michael in The Lost Boys. Michael is trying to start a major war with sonic doomsday weapons made by South Asian stereotypes and escape with a pile of CIA cash at the same time. 

I like when comics dip into the Spy-Fi pool, especially when, like Nick Fury, they fit alongside superheroes at the same time, but even I found The Losers not worth much more than a casual viewing. Now, if Warner Bros got the gumption together to hire Evans and co now, and have them meet with Shazam and Wonder Woman, maybe even form Checkmate or one of the DC Spy groups. I mean, that's probably never going to happen, but it would be at least worth a reference or a cameo. Certainly more one for the action junkies than the superhero enthusiast, The Losers is still an entertaining watch and I'm shocked just how few people have seen or even heard of it. At the very least, it's good for conversations at parties, along the lines of "before he was Captain America, Chris Evans played a black-ops team member who does bad karaoke and talks about butt stuff". You can't buy that kind of trivia.

Superhero Media: Agent Carter - Season 2

Broken record on this one, but why is there only two seasons of Agent Carter? It's a much better programme than Agents of SHIELD and Arrow, both of which have enjoyed much longer runs. Peggy Carter is back, forcibly placed on leave when she doesn't back down from the Dottie Underwood case from season one. Heading out to California, Peggy is reunited with Jarvis and Agent Sousa and quickly drawn in to a conspiracy involving illegal experiments and wealthy political donors. As always, the set design, costumes and music are excellent, with Carter and Jarvis looking perfect for the period, plenty of vintage cars and great old Hollywood locations to shoot in. As well as the snappy 'gal-Friday' dialog, Agent Carter brings in elements of post-war racist backlash and bigotry, with Sousa still being passed over due to his bad leg, despite having been injured at Monte Cassino, and being awarded a Purple Heart and new character Jason Wilkes coming under suspicion merely for being black. 

The villain is once again female, in Whitney Frost (aka Madame Masque), who, sick of being put upon by men who think of her of 'lesser', wants to harness the power of the mysterious dark matter to raise herself up. This version of Whitney was a child genius who worked on the Manhattan Project, but was bounced after the war and forced to take up a career as an actor. The scenes in which Whitney bamboozles the men around her with her scientific acumen are brilliant, with the actors making a real show of things. The tone is a little camp at times, but that has the air of being more around the style[s] of the era in which it is set than a dumbing down of any kind. The second-to-last episode opens with a big, glam musical number reminiscent of Gene Kelly, which I love and wish there could have been more episodes where that device was used. 

Howard Stark returns for a few episodes, and the introduction of Ana Jarvis (Edwin's wife) round out the core cast nicely, allowing the existing members of the team to grow as characters. Agent Carter is probably the second or third best MCU television production, and yes, I'm including Netflix in that one. The cast is excellent, the look is classic, it's basically MCU Mad Men, but no one ever really talks about it, or has really seen it. Two of the writers of this programme went on to work on Thor Ragnarok, which tells you how good they are, I truly am rather upset that this ended after two seasons. Agent Carter is clever, slick and a hell of a lot of fun, but is gone too soon, and we may never see either the programme or titular agent back. That's a damn shame. Get the DVDs and set some time aside and get to grips with this great series. 

Superhero Media: GI Joe - Retaliation

Ok, so why wasn't this the first film? Like, seriously, Retaliation is actually quite enjoyable, enough so that I've watched it more than a couple of times, whereas Rise of Cobra was affectingly dull. It appears that lessons have be learned, as the film opens with a fast-paced action sequence where GI Joe wrests Pakistani nuclear weapons from insurgent control after the country falls to civil war. Even without the bleeding-edge, near-future technology, this is a pretty cool set-up for any modern speculative wargaming for those interested in that kind of thing. From there, the Joes are betrayed, leaving only Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes and Flint alive to seek justice. Soon joined by Jinx and Bruce Willis (the original Joe), the leaner, more polished cast makes for far more engaging action. Cobra have replaced POTUS with Zartan and are disarming the world's nuclear weapons for nefarious reasons.

As I mentioned in the Rise of Cobra review, I'm not much of a GI Joe fan, but even I can tell that more effort was put into making Retaliation a better adaptation than the first film. There's a clear embracing of the absurdity of the source material, a factor I keep promoting as needed for this kind of thing, with more ninjas, Hiss Tanks from the toy line and absurd action scenes taking over the third act. Cobra are comically villainous, with Zartan quipping "The call it water-boarding, but I never get bored", and the master of the Ninja temple is played by the RZA, because why the hell not? In fact, there is an extended sequence where Snake Eyes and Jinx fight Cobra ninjas whilst abseiling on the side of a mountain and if that doesn't make you want to watch this film, I don't know why you even read this blog, seriously, ninja battle on the side of a cliff! 

The big Cobra plan turns out to be tricking the world into disarming their nuclear arsenal before revealing their orbital tungsten rod deploying doom weapons and only the group of surviving Joes can save freedom and America or whatever. In a weird way, Cobra kind of do more to save the world than the Joes, in that they permanently disarm all of the world's nuclear weapons, even if it is for the wrong reasons; there's probably an interesting comparison to be made between Retaliation and Superman IV, but I'm pretty overworked at the moment and don't have time to get into that. Part of the problem of Retaliation is that no one seems to have bothered to watch it. That does make sense, as Rise of Cobra was pretty terrible, but audiences still watch the Transformers films, so I don't know why GI Joe was an exception. I would have watched more of these, it's a bit of a shame this franchise didn't catch on. 

Superhero Media: G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra

I was born in 1986, so GI Joe was never a major thing for me, about all I really know comes from Robot Chicken, references in The Venture Bros and that episode of The Toys That Made Us. What I do know about the franchise makes it seem like there's a lot of potential for storytelling, with Cobra originating as domestic terrorists, the Joes being drawn from different countries and military branches and the whole clandestine international peacekeeping task-force that's always been done better in Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD comics. The film starts in pre-revolutionary France where a Scottish arms smuggler has a Dumas-esque iron mask welded to his face. In the modern day, a top-secret military convoy transporting bleeding-edge nano-tech missiles is ambushed by Cobra forces. Except that they're not Cobra. Yeah, Cobra doesn't actually appear in this film as an entity until the final minutes, the Joes spend most of the film fighting a rogue weapons dealer and his company "Mars". 

Again, I don't really know a lot about GI Joe, but isn't doing a film without Cobra kind of like doing SHIELD without Hydra? A lot of the iconic characters are there, like Storm Shadow, The Baroness and Zartan, but they're working for Mars and Christopher Eccleston, who, yes, becomes Destro at the end of the film, but isn't doing that right now. Duke and Ripcord are recruited into the Joes, team up with Scarlet, Snake Eyes and Heavy Duty and chase the Baroness around the globe, who turns out to have been Duke's ex-fiance. Even as someone who doesn't have a lot of interest in or emotional connection to GI Joe, I found the Baroness of The Rise of Cobra to be a grating character, not such much in performance, but in execution. From what I know, the Baroness is a classic femme-fatale, alluring but diabolical and calculating, dedicated to the cause but canny enough to keep herself alive at the expense of others. In The Rise of Cobra, the Baroness has been brainwashed into being Mars' seductress for a scientist they'll need for one scene and breaks free when she remembers how much she loves Duke.

I don't need to be a fan to know crummy storytelling when I see it. If a character is already one of the most popular in the franchise, they typically don't need a great deal of tweaking when being shifted to a new medium. The changes to the Baroness are even more stark when considered in contrast to Snake Eyes, who, aside from a costume update, remains essentially the same and is somehow the most compelling character in the film. As I mentioned above, there are some great ideas and concepts in the GI Joe franchise, and I'd like to see what could be done with it in better hands. This really isn't a film that I can recommend for anything, except maybe the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow fight (which you can see on YouTube) and putting Rachel Nichols in black leather for the entire film (which you can see on Google). The design is pretty slick though, and is easily a route that any SHIELD film could have gone down before Marvel Studios took over. 

Superhero Media: Nick Fury by Jim Steranko

Probably my favorite comic book artist of all time would be Jim Steranko. Naturally, I admire the foundational work of Jack Kirby, but for me, Steranko is the master of Silver-Age Pop Art comic madness and really needs to be lauded far more than he is. Steranko actually didn't make Marvel comics for all that long a period, but his impact can be felt today, his being the deciding hand behind much of the SHIELD mythos, characters and look that has followed through to the MCU. Whist the classic Lee/Kirby team birthed Nick Fury, originally through the Howling Commandos line, the iconic elements of the character are pure Steranko, including a great many SHIELD agents, like Valenta Allegra de Fontaine and Clay Quartermain, make their first appearances in these issues. If you consider yourself a serious comics collector, you really should have these trades in your collection. 

All the above praise still being genuine, there are a few flaws to Nick Fury that bear mention. The villain, "The Yellow Claw" is an unfortunate racist take on the "evil oriental", which really ruins an otherwise excellent story. If you have a low tolerance for Camp, Steranko's style may not do much for you either, though I love it and would like to see more of the same in contemporary comics. As well as combining a Silver Age Kirbyesque style with Pop Art, Steranko also employs cut-and-paste techniques, with one memorable splash-page of a SHIELD gadget being comprised of a bricolage of anything vaguely mechanical found in a catalog of some sort. I should probably mention that Silver Age comics tend to be more "wordy" than modern ones, but, suck it up? Unless you have difficulty reading for whatever reason, stick with the classics and you'll find them rewarding, despite the increased word count.

Since his heyday of comics, Jim Steranko has gone on to do art work in Hollywood, including being a production designer on Bram Stoker's Dracula and writer for Justice League Unlimited, X-Men: The Animated Series and more. He appears as a guest voice in the Lego Marvel Superheroes games and Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. For a guy mostly famous for drawing some fun but weird comics in the 1960s, that's a hell of a resume. The crews behind Agents of SHIELD and James Bond could really learn some lessons by reading these comics. One of my favouite Marvel series ever, from my favourite comic book artist of all time, grab yourself a copy of the trade or at least some scans to check out this utterly unique voice and see the contribution he made to the medium. Vintage stuff, right here. 

Superhero Media: Agent Carter - Season 1

I try to keep things pretty classy up in here, but damn does Hayley Atwell do it for me in this series. Yes, I feel pretty bad point this out before I discuss how good an actor she is in this and her other MCU appearances (and everything else I've seen her in), how she is accomplished academically and also a highly respected theatrical actor, but hey, I'm only human. Agent Carter takes place in 1945 New York and plays like a cross between Mad Men and Mission Impossible (the original television series, not the films). Our titular agent must work within and against her own agency (the SSR) to clear the name of her erstwhile friend and college, Howard Stark, of treason after his vault of superweapons has been looted. Thus begins a gorgeous, period Spy-Fi romp with cool gadgets and fun little references to the broader Marvel universe.  

Agent Carter is a damn-near perfect version of exactly what it's trying to be; a character-driven, prime time television tie-in to the MCU juggernaut. If I have one complaint about Agent Carter it's actually that it's too good. No, seriously, after watching the first season, I've just about lost all enthusiasm for The Flash, Arrow or even that X-Men show that never seems to materialise, I just want more Carter kicking arse to watch. And don't get me started on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., did they just send all the good writers over to Agent Carter? Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has it's good episodes, sure, but when contrasted with Agent Carter, well, I honestly can't think of a single bad episode of Agent Carter, or even one that didn't entertain me as much as the others. The characters are well written and interesting, the design looks great and the story is engaging, how did this not get a third season?
 

If you're the kind of person that's been holding off on biting the MCU bullet because of a lack of strong female protagonists, or a general disinterest in the hyper-masculine (bordering on homoerotic) world of superheroes, Agent Carter is a great place to start. It would be a damn interesting programme without the constant nods to Captain America - The First Avenger, but, even then, maybe it'll make you want to check out the strongest series in the MCU canon. Maybe if Agent Carter gets a big second life on DVD, we'll see it come back for Netflix or even give Peggy her own film at some stage, maybe even with some other Marvel Golden Age heroes. How good would it be to see Peggy leading a team including The Angel, The Vision, The Human Torch, Namor, Phantom Bullet, The Ferret and Blue Diamond? Hell, I'd watch the shit out of that. Do yourself a favour, get on Agent Carter.

 

Superhero Media: Danger Mouse (2015)

Although I've never been one to have the nostalgia goggles strapped on so tight as to cut off the blood to my brain, I was legitimately worried when I heard that Danger Mouse was getting a reboot. Danger Mouse is one of the few programmes that I have not found to be greatly diminished as I've aged. In fact, there is much more to enjoy in the classic Danger Mouse as I get older and appreciate references to Hammer Horror Doctor Who and The Avengers (the British one) for the first time. As soon as I found out who was in the new Danger Mouse, all concerns faded; Alexander Armstrong as DM, Kevin Eldon as Penfold and Stephen Fry Colonel K (also Brian Blessed as Father Christmas in a couple of episodes). There are changes, yes, which we'll get to below, but for the most part, Danger Mouse is just another season in a long-running franchise. 

How does it fare? Pretty damn well. Apart from updated animation and pop-culture references, it's pretty much the same programme. There are a couple of changes, like DM inhabiting a world of anthropomorphic animals rather than the human word, so he's living in a giant postbox rather than a normal-sized one; but I wonder if that was a choice to avoid confusing an audience that will be unfamiliar with the premise? That one, niggling, complaint aside, Danger Mouse is a fun ride from start to finish, with classic and new villains, flashbacks to episodes older than I am and more than one appearance of Count Duckula. The episode where the villain is a trivia-quoting DM fanboy is priceless, if a little insulting. 
 

Although nerds are always quick to cry "reboot", as if it's a racial epithet, that's not what this is. Danger Mouse is not a new series, devoid of continuity, but is a new series after a long hiatus. Hopefully, a new generation of nerds will be asking their parents who Duckula is and they'll soon find their way to Avenger Penguins. What? Kids need to appreciate the classics, not all this angry birds and Bay turtles crap. 

Superhero Media: Thunderbirds Are Go! Season 1

5... 4... 3... 2... 1! What the hell is this? Is that CGI? Where's the "Supermarionation"? I can't believe they did this to Thunderbirds! This is... pretty damn good actually. So the characters are animated, but the sets and vehicles all remain model work, done by none other than Weta Workshop, which do a great bloody job. The programme itself is nicely updated, keeping the themes of benevolent technology, humanism and global adventure from the original, but updating it for a new audience. The Tracy boys are back and it's time to defend the planet from disaster and the sinister machinations of The Hood. Ok, so it's not exactly the same as the original, but it's also not the first remake (Turbocharged Thunderbirds anyone?) and stays true enough to the original that complaining about it would be akin to complaining that Billy Hartnell is no longer on Doctor Who. 

You know what I like best about Thunderbirds Are Go!? It's a superhero programme. Well, duh, I'm writing about it here, right? But not simply that it is about superheroes, but that they are heroes who don't beat up the bad guys. Now, I don't believe that watching cartoon violence does any harm to children (or anyone), but I do like that there are alternatives like this out there. Thunderbirds Are Go! manages to be fun, exciting and action-packed with very few punches thrown or guns going off; in today's market, that's pretty rare and a bit special.
 

Maybe it's nostalgia, but I get a bit excited when the countdown starts. It's all I can do to not shout "Thunderbirds are go!" with the announcer. Due to the fact that it's the same for me with "Avengers assemble!", I'm not overly embarrassed by that, but I do try and not get too caught up. I love the idea of International Rescue and the Thunderbirds and I'd love to find a way to include them in my games, though I'm not sure quite how as yet. My hopes that Crooked Dice would rush some Tracy boys into production hasn't panned out and the idea of having a 1/48 Thunderbird 2 is a bit daunting. Still, I've plenty of time and opportunity to work something out, I'm sure before too long Ultimate Alliance players can shout out a countdown with me. 

Superhero Media: Future Weapons - Season 1

Ok, so clearly I've gone right off the rails this time, how can a show where a former Marine Sniper looks at developing weapons technology possibly relate to superheros? I guess if you have to ask, you've never read a Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD comic. I think that many comic fans forget just how far-flung and Sci-Fi the old Silver Age comics were; these days, Iron Man's "transistor-powered" armour seems clunky and old-fashioned, but in the '60s it was bleeding edge. Even in The Ultimates, Fury can turn invisible and walk through walls, so long as the budget holds out. Guns that shoot around corners and bombs that can seek out the enemy hiding underground all have their place in comics, either being used by government agencies or misused by Supervillains. 

As entertainment, I found Future Weapons a little lacking, it is essentially "gun porn" and not what I would typically go in for. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that any second Tony Stark was going to walk in and talk about repulsor technology. Watching Future Weapons back-to-back with Agents of SHIELD may be the best way to see how it can provide inspiration for a Spy-Fi or Secret Agent heavy Supers setting. I am left tempted to do an SS4 character with a massive Gadget pool and some crazy-looking (but very real) guns and battlefield materiel. 

So, if you have a thing for guns, or are interested in having your Iron Man deal with some "real-world" bad guys, Future Weapons is probably worth a look; there seems to be a fair bit of it on YouTube. Personally, I don't think I'll be revisiting it anytime soon, unless the SF gaming bug gets to gnawing me again. Oh wait! Metal Gear! There's something to this yet...