Hey everyone and welcome back to The Strange verse, I'm your host, Ugo Strange and we're gonna have a chat about some random topics, some serious, some silly but always insightful and always on point I'll be bringing you my opinion on things not worth the full length of an article. So let's dive into another Strange Log!
So while I did an article on "Deadtube" I'm not 100% sure I should review it properly. Not because of how violent and crazy "Deadtube" is but because I kinda already share my thoughts on it. But I will say that despite some issues I think I can say The Justice Man Arc is probably my favorite just because Mashiro gets to cut loose. However, if I did review "DeadTube", one major criticism I'd have for it is that DeadTube's rules (the site) don't exactly make much sense, because it's not like Youtube where everyone uploads something...then again, it could very well be like that and our main characters are involved in a special section of DeadTube. Because Deadtube seems to be run by challenges like in the Betsuki Eri Arc where Deadtube provides for you a target to film and you just get creative with how you film. Not to mention the suicide challenges. Either way, I'm along for the ride and wondering just where this crazy group is gonna end up next.
In keeping in the topic of manga I've been drawn to reading much quieter mangas, a slice of lives, romances (kinda), comedy series etc. Hence why I've been reading "Komi Can't Communicate", "Rent-A-Girlfriend" and eventually being added to the mix "Don't Mess With Me Nagatoro" and "The Quintessential Quintuplets". I don't know why but manga seems more fun if the stories are quiet and pretty chill, I like my anime hard and flashy, hence why a friend put me up on "Darwin's Game" and I'm enjoying that thus far. I plan on checking out "High Rise Invasion" just because the story and the world sounds crazy but I'm not expecting to be blown away by it. I am looking forward to checking out "Uzaki-Chan Wants To Hang Out" but that's about it for now.
Since we're talking about popular manga, "Chainsaw Man" looks like it'll be getting an anime adaptation. I have mixed feelings about this, because on the one end "Chainsaw Man" has been getting a lot of play from the anime community and I'm wondering what the hubbub is, and on the other end, aside from Power (who is pretty damn hot, not gonna lie), there isn't much to the series in my opinion. I've been wrong before but aside from the gimmick of Denji turning into a literal Chainsaw Man, I don't see the appeal. We'll see, I might check it out once it hits stateside.
Switching gears, let's talk about comic books and Emilia Clarke's (yes, that Emilia Clarke) latest offering "M.o.M" or "Mother Of Madness", a comic book about a single mother whose powers are derived from her menstrual cycle. Now to be fair this is slated to be something of a comedy a'la Dead pool style according to the press blurb about it but I'm wondering just who the demographic is for this book? Furthermore, what is women's obsession with their menstrual cycle? On the one end if a man ever brings it up in a discussion about gender differences then he's a sexist and told that there is so much more to women than just that and yet on the other end you have things like this;
Where it's said as an exclamation...and again, someone seriously wrote that some editor looked at that and said " Yeah, that's fine?" instead of "No one says things like that and you should rewrite this nonsense.". I'm no expert on women but I know by in large most women don't really wanna discuss their menstrual cycle unless they feel safe to do so and most guys by in large don't care about it (we get it a natural thing that has to happen but it's still gross). But there's a group of women absolutely fascinated by it and wanna do nothing but talk about it, write songs about it, and now turn it into a superpower and for something as natural as taking a dump and yet so personal for women as to not generally discuss it, it just seems strange to me.
I can't help but think but that the impetus for this is no doubt the grimace from men when hearing about the premise of the book, but can you blame them? Hearing about a woman swinging on her armpit hair is simply off-putting (to say the least). But no doubt this book will die on arrival (aside from the obvious feminist buyers who'll buy it, read it, and like it simply because...well..."Holy Mensuration." (seriously, someone wrote this). Anyway, this isn't a review of the book since it's not out yet and even if it was I wouldn't review it (I don't Hate-watch or read anything) I'm just pointing out the logic behind Emilia's creation of this;
"My brother was a comic nerd [growing up], and I wasn't allowed in the shops!" the actress recalls. "I wasn't allowed to go in with him, because I was the loser little sister. And the moments that I was allowed in, there weren't a lot of women on the covers, and there weren't a lot of women in the shops. So I didn't feel safe to explore it at that age."
I'm so sick and tired of this cliche, I am BEYOND tired of this. Now granted, I can't speak for her situation exactly but I doubt her brother snatched comic books away from her and shunned her from entering into the comic book shop. I doubt that when she got there she found a "NO GIRLS ALLOWED" sign posted somewhere, if she was excluded it was because she excluded herself (as most women do). This goes back to the numbers games and statistically speaking the vast majority of comic book readers are WHITE MALES, being a Black Male, I am in the minority of comic book readers and as mainstream, as comic books are you'd still be hard-pressed to find people who read comic books and I don't mean casual readers, I mean people who've read series, followed runs of certain authors, can notice certain artists, who've debated whether or not Captain Marvel (the real one) can beat Superman (he can...FIGHT ME!). So Emilia Clarke writing this book for women is writing an indy comic (so not a mainstream one) for a smaller demographic (women comic book readers) of an even smaller demographic (comic book readers)...yeah, dead on arrival. At the very least the artwork will be good, Leila Leiz is someone I follow on Instagram specifically for her artwork so kudos to her, hope she gets better exposure for her work, but when someone with "Game Of Thrones" money comes knocking, it's kinda hard to turn down that paycheck. Getcho paper, Boo-Boo.
Anyways, let's talk about "Invincible" and no, I've only watched the 1st episode but I'd like to talk about something that is confusing me and that is when adaptations deviate from the source material in a way that is not beneficial to the story at hand. By that I mean the character of Amber, in the show she's a Black girl and in the source material, she's White. Let's not re-hash the drama of Amber knowing Mark is Invincible and literally not giving a damn, let's focus on the fact that the 2 characters could NOT BE MORE DIFFERENT! One is your typical characterless social justice, feminist afro-centric girl, and the other is actually concerned about Mark's well-being.
Mark nearly dies during the course of the series and to cover for this he tells Amber that he was hit by a bus, now despite him being banged up but no less walking and talking and appearing fine, any rational person would immediately as "Are you alright?! What happened!?", but not Amber, she doesn't give a sh*t (now granted, she knows he's Invincible at this point so she doesn't believe he was hit by a bus...but he's still banged up). Instead of express any kind of sympathy for what he's going through (nearly dying/ either by bus or space Cat monster guy...both work) she decides to give him ONE. MORE. CHANCE at their "relationship". And that's what galls me, the complete lack of sympathy and understanding from this character, and her entitlement in believing that Mark should have immediately divulged his deepest and darkest secrets to her upon entering into their "relationship".
Meanwhile in the comics, Amber is concerned about Mark's unusual absences because she fears he might be a drug dealer and when he reveals himself to her after attempting to keep her in his life, they decide to part amicably after realizing that saving the world may be more important than teen romance, surprisingly mature...unlike animated Amber who is an immature brat who has to get her way about everything. Why change the character? I'd have been against making Amber Black, but give her the same arc and same characteristics and I might have been able to let it go, but they took Amber and made her Black and WOKE and shot themselves in the foot for doing anything with this character. But I digress. I suppose they added Amber because they needed a prominent Black character and they needed to throw in some wokeness in there to modernize it...shame.
What's not a shame, however (at least I hope not) is the "The Many Saints Of Newark", a feature-length prequel to David Chase's masterpiece series "The Sopranos" featuring Sopranos legend and Chrissy's dad, the late, great, Dickie Moltisanti as one of the main characters. Doing prequels are a tricky business, you risk retconning things that shouldn't have been, added origins for things that don't require them and worst of all, making the main character destined to be who they become in the main series *coughs* STAR WARS PREQUELS *coughs*, who said that? But what gives me hope is the fact that David Chase is helming this project, and with his steady hand on the wheel, I doubt this will fall into that category. Now, I'm not gonna lie, my reservations are that this film will be for the most part lackluster, like a filler Sopranos episode....which would be fine because even filler episodes of "The Sopranos" are better than most shows out today. I'm concerned about seeing younger versions of characters, specifically Paulie and Silvio, Silvio being my favorite character. Billy Magnussen is not an actor I know much about but from seeing a picture of a young Tony Sirico and seeing Billy as Paulie I can see the resemblance (kinda), my only hope is that Paulie has his laugh and Silvio has his hands (IT'S NOT SILVIO WITHOUT THE HANDS!). Anyway, I'm looking forward to it like a Dickens!
And now for something a little different, Amazon Prime has come out with "Tales From The Loop", a series based on the artwork of Simon Stålenhag and the TTRPG which I got to DM before it became a TV show. This show is very much under the radar as I haven't heard anyone say anything about it AT ALL. Out of curiosity, my wife and I watched the first episode and despite it being very slow we were pleasantly surprised. It's strange how certain shows manage to fly under the radar and some get blown up. "The Boys" and "Invincible" both got blown up due to the names attached to them and the producers behind them; Seth Rogan and Eric Kripke of "Supernatural" fame produce "The Boys" and Robert Kirkman the creator of 'The Walking Dead" is the writer of the source comic for "Invincible", but aside from Johnathan Pryce (who's not really a big name stateside) "Tales From The Loop" doesn't boast any big-name actors and I think that maybe part of its charm. I am interested to see where the story goes from the 1st episode, but thus far my wife and I haven't checked out anymore. If you have Amazon and enjoy slow-moving sci-fi give it a watch. Definitely worth it.
Switching gears finally to The MCU and I gotta say I'm gonna be done with The MCU. Now granted, I got some clean-up to do watching "Dr. Strange and The Multiverse Of Madness", "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Shang-Chi" but once I'm done with that I'll be done with The MCU. This is due to the MCU now trending more woke than before. You see now that The MCU has made its billions it can stop catering to fans and start doing whatever the hell it wants and that means catering to people who are not fans of the source material and simply wanna see "diverse characters" and stick it to Straight White Men (whatever that means). Honestly, if it wasn't for a lot of this I'd still be on board with The MCU but they're shooting themselves in the foot with stuff like this and I can't understand why. DC/Warner Bros. is doing the same thing too and this makes me sad as well, the Supergirl looks ridiculous, and all the news I hear from these studios gives me less and less hope each moment. Granted, I was done with DC/Warner Bros. and I still am, it's just crazy that there is SO MUCH superhero media out now and I'm not interested in any of it...So yeah, I'll pay my respects to The MCU with those last few films but after that, well, it'd take freakin' Galactus to get me back.
Lastly, I'm working on something in the background. I've taken on a project that is slowly but surely coming together and I'm really excited about it. I won't say much more than that but when it hits I'll be sure to at least drop a clue to you guys. Anyways, here's a list of upcoming blogs, and here's a GIF of my reaction to the upcoming slate of MCU projects. Ya'll be cool!
COMING SOON:
Body-Kun/Body-Chan Review
Discussion About "Dragonball Xenoverse 2"
Anime RE-Claimed: Featuring Several animes...
No comments:
Post a Comment