Legion: “Chapter 1”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Legion is an ambitious drama about mental illness set in the world of Marvel’s X-Men. It’s gorgeous. It’s well directed and acted. It’s exhibit A for a comic book show as art. It’ll be a critical darling. But it may not be for everyone.

I enjoyed Legion’s pilot, of course I know the character’s history and that helps more in this show than most other shows based on comic books, but I enjoyed it. Legion will get tricky to cover. How about I break it down in a few sections? Let’s start with the comics.

Legion in the comics

David Haller or Legion first appeared in New Mutants #25 (1985). He’s Professor X’s illegitimate son. Neither Charles nor David know this when Legion joins Professor X’s team of young mutants. When David finds out his parentage, he accepts Charles, but eventually lashes out at Xavier because to David, Charles abandoned him. David’s also one of the most powerful mutants in the world, but he suffers from dissociative identity disorder or multiple personalities.

Each one of David’s personalities owns a different mutant power. Kind-hearted assassin Jemail Karami controls David’s telepathy, rebellious teen Cyndi possesses David’s pyrokinetic powers, and womanizing adventurer Jack Wayne commands David’s telekinesis. Over the years, Legion has developed dozens—if not hundreds—more personalities, but Jemail, Cyndi, and Wayne were the first and most prominent for years.

Writers have toyed with Legion’s personalities and mental state for decades, but that’s all you need to know about the comic book Legion. Let’s get back to the TV show.

Legion’s Point of View

The audience only sees things from the viewpoint of David Haller. David’s been committed to a mental institution for paranoid schizophrenia, so the narrative is by no means linear. And you can’t trust anything you see or hear. To say David’s point of view is untrustworthy would be an understatement.

David’s point of view is a bold choice and Legion does a great job of showing the fragility of David’s mental state, but again, this won’t be for everyone. It’s difficult to follow. Objects break and then they’re fixed in the next sequence. So, did they break? Minor details change with each retelling of flashbacks. If you take the time, you can spot them, but even if you don’t, you get the sense something changed. Legion keeps its viewers off-balanced.

Legion could’ve gone the route of Bates Motel. In Bates Motel, the audience is given the viewpoints of Norman’s mother, brother, and a handful of other characters to ground the show in reality. The Bates Motel started in the shallow end of a pool and walked its viewers into the deep end. Legion jumped into the deep end.

The pool analogy is appropriate because at one point in Legion David sinks into a pool as his rescuers get rid of his captors. One of David’s rescuers uses telekinesis and another chars his captors with pyrokinetic powers. Those two of David’s rescuers could be two of David’s personalities. David sinking into the pool could be a metaphor for him giving his other personalities control.

David’s therapists may have misdiagnosed him as a schizophrenic. The show could still work if it did change the form of David’s mental illness, but I’m not so sure, and there were hints in Legion (like the pool one above) that David does have multiple personalities. Ultimately, Legion does a great job of showing its audience there’s something wrong with David, but as of the pilot, it’s an undefined mental illness.

Syd Barrett

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Legion’s great soundtrack. The Who’s “Happy Jack” set the stage beautifully. The show also had a Pink Floyd reference with David’s love interest: Sydney or Syd Barrett.

Syd Barrett was one of Pink Floyd’s founding members. He had to leave the group after he was hospitalized under speculation of mental illness. Does Legion’s Syd exist? Could Syd be another one of David’s personalities? We’ll have to wait and find out.

X-Men

Some folks will be disappointed that Legion is set in the world of Marvel’s X-Men, but if the first episode is any indication, the show will keep as much distance from the X-Men as it can. That’s okay by me. Legion isn’t your typical X-Man. I’m sure we’ll see more super-powered goodness, but Legion isn’t your typical superhero TV show. In fact, David Haller could hardly be classified as a hero or villain. With so many people inhabiting David’s mind how could he be easily defined?

Verdict

Legion is an Avant Garde television show with superpowers. It’s a singular experience.

If you’re looking for a linear, easy-to-follow story, Legion will let you down. If you heard X-Men and wanted a familiar X-Man or two, you might be disappointed. But if you don’t mind watching a crazy diamond shine, you should give Legion a chance.

Thanks for reading.

Arrow: “Bratva”

Jim’s Thoughts

“Bratva” didn’t offer any surprises until the end. The entire time Ollie and company were in Russia, I kept thinking, “How is no one going to find out about this and connect the dots?” When Ollie’s reporter girlfriend and her partner in snooping did that, I got my answer. There’s no telling how this will pan out, but it could be something a little different.

The bulk of the episode seemed to rehash a lot of the same things the show has been exploring all along. Diggle found himself in a position Oliver’s been in a hundred times, weighing a thirst for revenge against his humanity. There wasn’t a lot to build on. Dinah having a heart-to-heart with Oliver rang false because she’s been on the team for about a cup of coffee, and she’s plenty haunted by her own past.

Rory’s robes stopped a nuke. That is a thing that happened. Do you buy it? No, I don’t either. It’s actually a little reassuring he’ll be leaving the team for a bit, because he’s clearly powerful enough to not need anyone else.

I’m still waiting for some hint as to why Talia needs to be in the picture. Oliver’s past with the Bratva in Russia is looking like an aborted storyline, with the exception of it coming into play this week. I get that Talia is bringing him full circle to becoming a vigilante, but I have no idea why she would care. Her character in the comics certainly wouldn’t.

We need more than references to Prometheus at this point. It’s good that we closed off John’s legal troubles, but Prometheus is the main story. Let’s get back to it.

Kyle’s Take

Well, Arrow closed off John’s legal troubles last week when he was exonerated of all charges. “Bratva” was a pathetic excuse to keep General Walker relevant for one more week—looks like anyone can walk out of a federal prison’s front door—because Arrow needs to pad its number of episodes, and Diggle could make the decision not to kill Walker, proving Ollie right. It’s the same old, same old, only with Arrow shuffling its deck of characters. I wonder if Arrow writes its scripts using an Arrow character deck of cards. 52 cards and we still haven’t drawn into Thea or Prometheus.

We did see the last episode that will center on Diggle for a while, so I’m sure we’ll get back to Prometheus. Arrow’s so disjointed that I don’t know what is the main story this season. Ollie’s main story should be Prometheus and he is the title character, but Bratva continues to be a player, Arrow can’t drop its superfluous flashbacks, and there’s an argument to be made for another character taking over Ollie’s role as the lead. The trump card right now is Felicity.

I’m sure we’ll see plenty of Felicity and her abuse of stolen government documents. Who doesn’t have a flash drive filled with every nation’s secrets? Arrow wants to make Felicity the main character. Most of what Ollie does is Star City centric, while Felicity is worldwide.

I guess Ragman’s outfit can stop a nuke. Sure. That suit could’ve come in handy at Ravenrock. Arrow needed to depower Rory, so the show can tack on another five or six episodes, and his short exit should make room for returning characters. I can hear the character deck shuffling.

Like I said last week, Talia is another way for Arrow to hitch its wagon to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. Ra’s trained Bruce, so Talia must train Ollie. It makes no sense for her character, but it further links the two franchises. It’s pandering.

The only development I liked during “Bratva” was when Ollie’s new bed partner figured out he was the Green Arrow. The media getting ahold of Ollie’s secret identity could make for a nice twist, but it’s another story line that could dominate an entire season if Arrow didn’t try to jam every remnant of a story into its quiver. I’d like some clarity.

I’m sure we’ll get some clarity next week. Perhaps Arrow will get back to Prometheus, or maybe Felicity will overthrow a small, island nation.

Thanks for reading.

Flash: “Untouchable”

Jim’s Thoughts

This week’s episode of Flash still didn’t do much of anything to advance the main story with Savitar. That’s something Kyle and I have gigged the show for these last few weeks, so I have to mention it now. The key difference is this week managed to serve as filler without feeling quite so much like it.

Cisco’s “vibing” is still pretty loosely defined, and this week took advantage of the gray area to advance the plot, but it took focus of the episode away from the weaker areas. It was nice seeing some attention brought back to Caitlin and her inner struggle to control Killer Frost. It was also nice to see Julian get some screen time helping her accomplish that. It could have been much better executed, and I’m afraid they’re using that moment to pair the two off in yet another groaner of a romance angle, but for now, it was something different.

We got another Villain of the Week. I doubt he’ll figure back into the plot later, and he was forgettable enough I’m not sure I’d remember him anyway, but Wally did take the opportunity to learn to phase. If nothing else, there’s a tiny bit of development, and that’s something to hang a hat on.

Looking ahead, Flash is advertising a two-episode-event with Gorilla Grodd on Earth 2. What that says to me is more stalling to fill time, but going back to Gorilla Grodd and the comic book lore might at least entertain me enough to not mind.

Kyle’s Take

“Untouchable” may not feel as much like filler because it mentioned Flashpoint. I can’t speak for Jim but I still think Flash intends—or needs—to return to Flashpoint and resolve the issues caused from the event. And Flashpoint is where and when Cisco vibes.

Cisco “vibing” to a timeline that no longer exists causes viewers to leap into disbelief or into the Atlantic-sized gray miasma surrounding how his powers work, but it does advance the plot. I guess that’s something. But between Flash and Vibe the Flash has a reset button for any occasion.

Refocusing on Caitlin’s struggle to control Killer Frost was a nice touch, but Flash only did this to reestablish her as a potential villain. Still, it’s a nice change and she’s a character that needs more development and screen time. It’s always nice to see Tom Felton (Julian/Alchemy) get more screen time, but romance can’t be too far away between he and Caitlin and if that happens, it’d be a shame. The few episodes Caitlin struggled as Killer Frost were the only times she was seen without a romantic interest, so she might devolve from the two-trick pony she currently is back to a one-trick pony.

To be fair the villain of the week served a similar function in Flash as he did in the comic book. In the comic, Clive Yorkin was believed to have killed Iris Allen, but it turned out to be Reverse-Flash. In the TV show, Savitar (a stand-in for Reverse-Flash) will kill Iris Allen-West, but “Untouchable” suggests that it might be Yorkin. Spoiler alert: Yorkin isn’t Iris’s killer. Clive Yorkin was mostly forgettable in the comics so I’m not that choked up that he’s forgettable in the TV series. He’s no Mirror Master, Dr. Alchemy, or Grodd.

I like seeing Grodd, even if venturing into the comic lore is nothing more than misdirection. The plot’s going nowhere, but look at the shiny. My preference would’ve been Grodd being developed more and becoming the big bad this season, but perhaps Flash has future plans beyond making Grodd a fun distraction.

I’m not sure I agree with Flash’s reintroduction of Earth-2 Harrison Wells at this moment. More than Wally learning how to phase, the biggest development was Barry’s transition from mentee to mentor. It’s done in Flash’s typical heavy-handed fashion, but mentor is a role Barry—and to a point Cisco—has never had prior to this season. Bringing back Wells could disrupt that development. We may be looking at a one step forward, two steps back scenario, but I’ll yell at that bridge if or when we get to it.

Overall “Untouchable” had most of the problems Jim and I have been moaning about for weeks, but it was watchable. That’s a step in the right direction.

Thanks for reading.

Supergirl: “The Martian Chronicles”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Well, I messed up last week’s writeup. The title of last week’s Supergirl was “We Can Be Heroes.” This week’s episode is the real “The Martian Chronicles.” Sorry for any confusion; I’ve fixed the titles so we should be good. Bad Kyle. Let’s get to this week’s episode of Supergirl.

“The Martian Chronicles” continued Supergirl’s recent trend of solid episodes. My largest complaint—and it’s a minor one really—is that Supergirl whipped through a lot of story in short order. It could’ve taken its time with the moment when someone was a shapeshifting, white Martian spy, and the means with which the gang figures out who’s who was too quick and easy. But I liked that Supergirl went this direction. With how “The Martian Chronicles” ended I’m sure we’ll see more Martian stories.

Supergirl’s development of white Martians as antagonists is the closest thing the CW has come to its development of Deathstroke. Furthermore, the CW did a better job relating a Supergirl storyline to our nation’s climate in “The Martian Chronicles” than it did earlier this season in “Welcome to Earth.” M’gann struggles with who she is, what she did during wartime, and her culture. She’s proof that not all white Martians are killers, and that message could be applied to several groups of people today, whether it’s ethnicity, political affiliation, or religion. It’s a universal theme that should have relevance years in the future.

The romantic interests continue to evolve and change, and that’s why I don’t mind them on Supergirl. The CW doesn’t do a good job with romance. Jim and I have dinged all the CW superhero shows for bad romance, but Supergirl comes at the subject from different angles. Unrequited love, missed connections, social awkwardness, and sexual preference (in a non-sensationalistic way) are at home on Supergirl. It’s refreshing. It rings true, or at least truer than any other Arrowverse show (in terms of romance). My only gripe—and it’s another small one—is that “The Martian Chronicles” ended with a romantic note. This marks the second week in a row Supergirl ended with romance. It’s not bad, but I’d prefer if Supergirl varied its episodes’ punctuation.

I’m not sure what Supergirl’s endgame is this season. Since white Martians have been resolved, I’d imagine the Luthors are back in play. The Luthors could make a compelling big bad, but Supergirl must re-establish this arc before long. If next week’s episode is any indication, we could be in for a thrilling Luthor misadventure.

Thanks for reading.

Justice League Dark (DC Animated)

Jim’s Thoughts

Over the last few years, the common wisdom has been while DC’s live action film universe has been lacking (that’s my diplomatic way to put it for those who don’t hate Man of Steel), their animated projects have been pretty good. I’ve echoed that sentiment until the animated adaptation of The Killing Joke came out. I was so irritated with that one that I didn’t even cover it for ‘Geekly. With the release of Justice League Dark I hoped DC was getting back in shape, and while the results were far from great, they were a step in the right direction.

First, let me say that this is not a great jumping on point for those who aren’t familiar with the characters in this offshoot of The Justice League. It wants to be accessible, and to that end they shovel in a couple origin flashbacks for characters like Boston Brand/Deadman and Jason Blood/Etrigan, but it’s not quite enough. There’s a lot of backstory hinted at with Zatanna and Constantine. In fact, there’s a lot of backstory hinted at as to why every character they run across has a grudge against Constantine. If you’ve read Hellblazer or you follow Justice League Dark (the comics), you’ll get it, but if not, you stand around wondering why anyone is supposed to root for this character.

It struck me as clear the people behind the film didn’t trust the audience to know all this backstory, and that’s why I assume they insisted on attaching Batman to the movie. They wanted a recognizable DC hero with broader appeal, and that seems to be his sole purpose in the movie. The rest of the Justice League proper show up in brief supporting roles, but Batman tags along for the ride. There are some decent moments with him, and though Jason O’Mara is no Kevin Conroy, he does well enough with the voice acting. The problem comes mostly when Batman slings batarangs at demons, and the movie’s internal logic about how magic and the physical realm interact get murky. In short, they sacrifice internal consistency to fit Batman into the story.

If you’re a fan of these characters already, I think there’s enough of what makes them interesting to win you over, and you’ll probably enjoy the film well enough. If you’re a hardcore fan, the only character you might feel cheated by is Swamp Thing, whose role in the movie is just a little bit greater than a cameo, so go into it knowing that.

All things considered, this is more like what we’ve seen from DC in the animated film department. While it doesn’t give equal footing to all characters, I don’t think it guts anyone the way The Killing Joke did. I don’t think this is a movie you’re going to feel inclined to own, but if you’ve been hankering for a bit of John Constantine, it’s worth a rental.

Powerless: “Wayne or Lose”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Powerless is DC’s version of Marvel’s Damage Control, a comic focused on the people who clean up after superhero battles, and an answer to last year’s Deadpool. The individual parts of the cast are excellent, but they don’t add up to much in the show’s pilot “Wayne or Lose.”

The show roped me in with Danny Pudi (Community), Ron Funches (standup comedy), and Alan Tudyk (Firefly) in starring roles, but “Wayne or Lose” was nothing more than an Eighties comedy plot in the world of superheroes. A group of downtrodden misfits (Pudi, Funches, and Christina Kirk) lose their will to fight their oppressive boss Tudyk, who wants the group to fail so he can relocate to Gotham. Along comes a “we can do it” motivator Vanessa Hudgens to save everyone’s jobs.

Set that story at a university (with Tudyk as the dean) and you’ve got every 80s-college comedy. Change the characters to cops and you get Police Academy. The brand of comedy is stale, but there’s the superhero aspect too.

I liked Deadpool. I’m not sure if Deadpool marks critical mass for comic book themed shows. Universal monsters were as popular as superheroes once, until Abbot and Costello Meet movies, which lampooned the oversaturated genre, trumpeted the end of the era, but that’s a discussion for another time. Regardless of whether this is the beginning of the end for superhero movies or not, the first parody/satire is usually the most effective.

Powerless is no Deadpool. The “sorry, not sorry” brand of humor worked better coming from the Merc with a mouth. Making fun of a super powered jump while still showing a super powered jump provided a chuckle. Having six or seven characters connect the dots between Bruce Wayne and Batman but refusing to make the connection turns them into fools. It also questions the intelligence of everyone who doesn’t know Batman’s identity in the DC universe. Plus, the show’s name is Powerless, even though we see plenty of characters with powers.

I didn’t like the pilot, but the cast could turn this around. I want to see Funches, Tudyk, and Pudi succeed. I’m just not sure they’ll be able to turn Powerless around before I lose interest.

Thanks for reading.

Arrow: “Second Chances”

Jim’s Thoughts

I want to start off with some good things about “Second Chances,” but “things” is a plurality, and I’m not sure I can fill that quota. Let me just say that fans of DC Comics might be happy that we have a slightly more true-to-the-comics version of Black Canary, even if buying in means believing it’s raining “Dinahs” in the world.

Last week I mentioned these writers don’t know much about The Uniform Code of Military Justice, and I excused them because they aren’t writing a Tom Clancy novel. This week they pushed that forgiveness pretty far. Having Felicity hack the NSA, then get that flash drive from the “hacktivist” group was lazy. It’s not the UCMJ at this point that’s being ignored, it’s common sense. Does anyone really think a court (ANY court) would permit a defendant to be exonerated using hacked (illegally obtained) information from a government database? Simply being in possession of that flash drive wouldn’t just get Diggle’s lawyer disbarred, it’d make him Diggle’s cellmate. Also, generals being investigated for treason aren’t allowed to launch special forces missions to begin with, so the whole thing asks too much of me in suspending disbelief.

On the Felicity front, her entire subplot was unbearable, even by her standards. Seeing a fangirl ooze over her was hard to watch. The dialogue was unnatural and uninteresting. My only hope at this point is that Felicity will take her call to action to return to hacktivism and leave the show.

The story with the new Black Canary didn’t do much for me. Recruiting her went pretty much the same as recruiting all the others in the new team. There was nothing surprising about it, and there isn’t much to her character beyond angry/revenge-driven person that we’ve seen from almost everyone.

The Talia flashback didn’t offer much. I’m not sure why we’re supposed to believe Talia cares about Oliver taking up the role of vigilante. Maybe they’ll explain it, but I have my doubts.

This episode wasn’t a step back, but it didn’t do anything to advance the story of Prometheus. As with Flash, I get the feeling the writers are dragging their feet.

Kyle’s Take

“Second Chances” came off as a desperate attempt to recapture a little bit of Arrow’s, and even DC’s, glory days. I’m okay with the attempt but it reeked of desperation.

Felicity’s flashback episode was one of the most highly rated episodes a few seasons ago. This week’s Arrow resurrected her past life as a “hacktivist,” and it’s clear her backstory is meant to replace Diggle’s incarceration, no matter how ridiculous the conclusion to Diggle’s arc. Arrow wanted Diggle back on the team, recapturing a little of what made Arrow popular. Having Diggle in prison was doomed to fail. Arrow and the CW was never going to express the military court system effectively. It was done poorly. I’m not sure if it could’ve been handled worse, but how Diggle factors into the show going forward remains problematic. Will Felicity’s “hacktivism” suck the air from any other side stories? We’ll have to see.

The show also spikes in popularity whenever a popular, new hero is revealed or when a new Black Canary (or Siren) is announced. Enter a new Black Canary. Her origin is a paint-by-numbers new recruit story. The show already has a large cast—and I’m still not convinced some things will be undone after Flashpoint is resolved—so added new characters makes Arrow even more bloated. We haven’t seen the last of (Laurel) Katie Cassidy.

And then there’s the callback to one of the cinematic DC’s glory days: an Al’ Ghul training a vigilante. Arrow teased that Talia Al’ Ghul trained Ollie. That doesn’t sound like Ras Al’ Ghul (Talia’s daddy) training Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins at all.

Arrow’s regurgitating story lines from its—and DC cinema’s—glory days. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not original and I’m not sure how much tension can be achieved with numerous episodes ignoring Prometheus.

P.S. Jim’s reference of “it’s raining Dinahs” got me singing and dancing. It’s raining Dinahs. Hallelujah! It’s raining Dinahs. Hey, hey, hey!

Thanks for reading.

Flash: “Dead or Alive”

Jim’s Thoughts

There isn’t a lot to say about this week’s episode of Flash. It came across as filler. The main story didn’t see any progress but for the teaser at the end where Barry tells Wally he’ll be the one to save Iris. That doesn’t do anything to fight that feeling of the show dragging its feet Kyle and I addressed last week.

I could go on about Iris being dull, but is there anything more I can say? I will concede it was kind of nice seeing her say she wanted a role in the world larger than daughter, sister, or girlfriend, but talk is cheap. Considering next week’s preview seems to put her in the damsel in distress role again, I’m not confident in a meaningful progression for her.

If I can pick on one small thing here, it’ll be this: why would Gypsy refer to her powers as “vibing?” Isn’t that just Cisco’s word? It’s a nitpick, but I was genuinely annoyed by it. Unfortunately, the larger gripe is that Cisco’s moment in the spotlight boiled down to him having another crush. Once again, the CW hits the romance button.

The scene with Iris freaking Joe out about having a baby with Barry made for a decent bit of levity. I credit Jesse L. Martin’s performance for that.

Again, this was a filler episode, but it still managed to be a step-up from last week, and that should say something. Flash needs to get its act together or it risks a two-season-long slump to rival Arrow’s.

Kyle’s Take

The dog days of CW shows hit Flash early this year. Usually we get a couple of solid weeks, solidifying the main story arc, but this season Flash hit filler right after the break.

I’m not buying Iris’s leap of comparing herself to her mother; it’s another way to slap fans with the West family drama that caused last season to crawl. I agree that Iris hasn’t done anything beyond serve as a damsel in distress. I don’t want her to take over Team Flash like Felicity has taken over Team Arrow, but Iris needs to become the reporter who writes the future article about the Flash. Currently, she isn’t. I could—potentially—get somewhat invested with the showdown Flash wants to herald as the season finale if Iris was more integral.

Arrow and Flash could take notes from Supergirl’s romances. Cisco doesn’t need to crush on every woman in which he comes into contact. That goes for every other character in the Arrowverse. I’m not devoid a romantic bone, but romance doesn’t need to be a plot device that’s used whenever you need to pad an episode to forty minutes. Build a relationship between the characters in question and romance can bloom.

I agree with Jim’s nitpick. Word choice is key. I’d be okay with Gypsy referring to the powers she and Cisco share as “vibing” if she hinted that she knew the Cisco (Vibe) on her earth. While it’s possible she could develop that term independently from Cisco, it’s improbable. It’s not like Cisco has telepathy, flight, or super strength. Vibing is a unique term.

The scene Jim mentioned (about Iris freaking Joe out about having a baby with Barry) was saved by Jesse L. Martin. I had a chuckle at that moment, but Martin had little to work with from his fellow actors in that scene. Jesse L. Martin is a stand out.

It concerns me that Flash has dropped two less than stellar episodes after the holidays. I’m strapping myself in for a long winter.

Thanks for reading.

Supergirl: “We Can Be Heroes”

Kyle’s Thoughts

I’m grading “We Can Be Heroes” on a curve. As far as I can tell this week’s episode had some great developments, but only time will tell if Supergirl can deliver.

Let’s start with a minor gripe. I’ve said plenty of times before that I don’t like Jimmy Olsen as the Guardian. Supergirl wants to turn him into an ersatz-Batman and, to the show’s credit, it does a good job of differentiating the characters (from the ones they’re replacing) to make this budding superhero relationship fresh. Still, the Guardian detracts from J’onn J’onnz.

The episode’s name “The Martian Chronicles” shows this week’s focus: Martian Manhunter. I’m glad the show hasn’t forgotten J’onn exists, and the teaser we got near the end of this episode (minor spoiler) is that the white Martians are coming. Bring on the white Martians. Supergirl’s development of the white Martians as a threat is the closest thing the CW has done to set up a villain (or group of villains) since Deathstroke, and I loved Arrow’s Deathstroke story arc.

My only concern—and the biggest reason I’m grading Supergirl on a curve—is that I’m not sure if Supergirl has too many irons in the fire that the white Martians are a red herring and there’s another, under-developed villain to take their place as this season’s big bad. But I’ll yell at that bridge if we get to it. Until then, I’m going to enjoy the renewed focus on J’onn and the build up to what should be a fun showdown.

Livewire was also back this week. Livewire is to Supergirl what Captain Cold was to the Flash, so I’m not that thrilled to see her, but Supergirl presented a new wrinkle to Supergirl and Livewire’s relationship. I’m cautiously optimistic for where the show might take them.

“We Can Be Heroes” may have concluded with Mon-El proclaiming his deep like for Kara, but romance continues to take a backseat on Supergirl, and for that, I’m grateful. The CW has gone out of its way to make Maggie and Alex’s relationship look normal when compared with the rest of the network’s relationships: no sister swapping. I’m hoping Mon-El and Kara—and potentially M’Gann (Miss Martian) and J’onn (Martian Manhunter)—will follow their lead. So far, so good. Mon-El and Kara have been playing footsie for half a season and it took some time for Mon-El to express his feelings. The CW could devolve these relationships to its customary bed hopping, but again, I’ll yell at that bridge if we get to it.

I guess I have one other minor complaint: dialogue. CW shows aren’t the best example of good dialogue, and I tend to overlook most of those problems, but “We Can Be Heroes” had some cringeworthy moments. Characters fed us plot, moments were over-the-top and forced, and Livewire was her typical hokey self. Oddly enough, Supergirl’s dialogue worked best within the confines of its love interests. Mon-El and Kara were natural and appropriately awkward when Mon-El expressed himself and Kara didn’t reciprocate, and the bets Maggie and Alex made with each other where fun.

The dog days of CW shows (a month or two after the midseason break padded with filler) are around the corner, let’s hope Supergirl can maintain some of the momentum it’s gained over the past couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading.

State of Comics

Hey, all. For those of you who’ve been wondering where the weekly comics updates have been, let me just apologize for the lapse. As I’ve mentioned in my last handful of updates, DC switching to a twice-monthly schedule has buried me, and it’s too tricky for me to stay on top of it and to balance everything else going on in my writing life. I’m about a week behind right now, but I thought I’d take some time to do a post on where the big two are, and what I would like to see out of them in the new year.

Rebirth has been exactly that for DC. I don’t think I can name a single title that hasn’t benefited from the company returning to some of the statuses quo we saw before The New 52, and as a huge Superman fan, I couldn’t be happier. Supes had it rough in The New 52. While there were a couple decent arcs, none really stick in my mind as the character never really exceeded mediocrity. Since Rebirth, both Superman and Action Comics have been consistently good reads. While it feels like Action Comics focuses more on Clark’s family, it’s handled well. Lois and their son serve to flesh out Clark, but they aren’t treated as props. Also, the storyline with Lex Luthor is compelling, and it gives the title reason to delve back into the classic rivalry between Superman and Luthor that fans know and love.

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s run on Batman is one of the few highlights of The New 52. While I wasn’t happy with Jim Gordon as Batman, or much else about that final arc, overall, it was a terrific run. Even so, there’s something about the stories in Batman and Detective Comics that feels so much more grounded in Gotham City, and so much of what makes the character fun is rooted in that setting. While I miss Capullo’s art in the world of Gotham City, DC has done well to uphold a standard. They were never going to assign a B-team to the world of Batman, so even titles that didn’t necessarily need facelift are thriving under the soft reboot.

If I’ve found any weak point in the Rebirth titles, it would have to be the team books. That means Justice League and Suicide Squad, both of which I’ve dropped. It’s not that they’re bad, and to be fair, it’s been awhile now, so they may even have improved, but I found both of those titles to be flat. You could say those have felt familiar in a bad way, not as in going back to DC’s roots, but familiar as in having not enough to set them apart from other stories we’ve read in the past. Again, they may have gotten better by now, but with so many other solid books coming out of Rebirth, there’s no shortage of things worth your time and spending money.

As far as Marvel goes, I don’t have much good to report. I’ve dropped everything on my pull list there except Amazing Spider-man and Daredevil. I’m behind on both, but at present, Spidey and Daredevil are some of the only Marvel characters who are remotely recognizable. That’s much less a shot at swapping superhero identities than simply at the books not feeling like what we’re used to. Marvel is throwing one event after the next, throwing out every status quo, and giving me no way of finding my bearings in their universe. They’re making one foolish decision after another, and then doubling down on them. Frankly, it seems to me as though Marvel’s comics are being written by people who would rather be writing other things, and so they’re transforming what we know and love whether we like it or not. With all the heroes fighting heroes, what we need is a reason to smile. How bad is it? Well, a few months ago, I was reading Captain America: Sam Wilson and Captain America: Steve Rogers. Today, for the first time since I’ve had a pull file in my life, I’m not reading a Captain America title.

Marvel and DC are dealing with inverse situations. DC/WB is giving us awful, joyless films while publishing comics that capture everything people have loved for generations about their characters. Marvel’s film universe is a juggernaut that has yet to put out a true miss, but their comics are largely unreadable. The good news is if DC can right the ship, so can Marvel. If the MCU keeps raking in the money, maybe they won’t care about a dip in comics sales, but I’m hoping they’re better than that.