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[sagaiv]

I'm bored so I've decided to make a list of my favorite series from certain comic book writers and what I think is their most underrated.

This is just for my own entertainment. If you like these writers and have a different series you believe is their most underrated or you have a different favorite of theirs let me know. I really like hearing these kinds of things!

Brian K Vaughan

Favorite series: (oof this is a hard one, so I'm already going to cheat) Y the last man and Saga are both top 5 series for me for different reasons. But both will absolutely emotionally destroy you in the best way and stick with you long after you finish them. I truly believe everyone should try reading both of these series.

Most underrated: Ex Machina easily. This is one of my favorite series ever and one of Brian K Vaughan's most nuanced stories and protagonist, but it rarely gets talked about. I really hope more people discover it.

Robert Kirkman

Favorite series: Invincible. I know I'm not unique with this opinion, but I adore Invincible. I have the compendiums sitting on my desk to read whenever I get bored or want to revisit a certain storyline. I am so glad it has such an amazing animated adaptation! (season 3 is going to be amazing.)

Most underrated: Outcast. This series is one of the most hard hitting of all Robert Kirkman's comics. The first 4 volumes are some of the most consistent and emotionally raw that Kirkman has ever written in my opinion and it covers topics of abuse and healing in a way that really resonated with me.

Alan Moore

Favorite: Watchmen. Another basic choice, but hey this is one of the most influential comic books of all time for a reason. If you don't know what Watchmen is all I have to say is: Read it. You won't regret it.

Most underrated: Miracleman. Another easy choice. I adore this series. This is Alan Moore's first foray into superhero deconstruction and one of his most harrowing. This was the precursor to Watchmen and deals with a lot of the same themes and points of deconstruction that story does. The third volume Olympus is absolutely incredible and I think stands among Moore's best work.

Tom King

Favorite series: Mister Miracle. This is another series that absolutely gut-punches me. It's a fantastic character study of Scott Free that takes a deeper look into his life, past, and the realistic trauma that comes with everything he's experienced than any other series centered around the character with an ending that cements it among my favorite mini-series.

Most underrated: I'm not sure which of his series are considered underrated, but one that I feel people rarely talk about now that deserves a new wave of readers is the Omega Men. This twelve issue comic is another of King's fantastic mini-series. It's one of the most complicated looks at oppression, revolution, and war that I've seen in a superhero comic.

[sagaiv]

The Flash (2023) Non-Spoiler Thoughts

I managed to see an early screening of The Flash last Thursday and I have a lot of thoughts on the movie. I’m going to keep this completely spoiler free because the movie hasn’t released yet.

My feelings towards this movie are complicated. The parts of this movie that work really hit and I absolutely loved, but there are also quite a few parts of this film that really fell flat. It had a fun, if a bit clunky, opening and a very engaging middle portion that showcased everything that I wanted from a flash live-action movie. But the end is where the film falters for me. The emotional beats surrounding main Barry and his mother work really well and make for some very emotional moments- some of the best the DCEU has to offer- but the rest didn’t work to nearly the same degree.

This movie is steeped in nostalgia. That’s not really a secret since it’s been a heavily emphasized part of the marketing material and I’d say most of the callouts are really fun with Michael Keaton in particular being amazing, but it can get a bit over-indulgent at points and pull focus from the core of the story. 

Keep reading

[sagaiv]

Across the Spider Verse Thoughts

Across the spider verse was my most anticipated movie of 2023. I came in with sky high expectations and yet somehow the movie managed to surpass them.

By the end of the opening sequence across the spider verse had me sold that this was going to be one of my favorite spider-man movies and when the movie finished that belief held true. Spider-Man across the spider verse is easily one of my favorite superhero movie sequels of all time (I actually think it might be my favorite). The movie just came out and I’ve already seen it, what my brother has dubbed, “too many times” (Though I vehemently disagree with him on that point).

It’s a movie sold on its scope and love for all of spider-man and his lore and yet it never loses its heart in the spectacle. It manages to be a fantastic middle chapter to what is quickly becoming one of my favorite film series of all time.

There’s a lot I want to talk about so I’m just going to get right into it.

Miles is a great protagonist

Miles Morales is a character that I felt Into the Spider Verse really elevated. I had read all of the ultimate comics spider-man run that was his debut series and, while I liked Miles, he was never in the top tier of my favorite superheroes, but that quickly changed with Into the Spider Verse. They managed to explore his struggle and hesitance to accept the Spider-man mantle in a way that was far more compelling than his comic book counter part.

Across the Spider Verse takes the already really strong basis that Into the Spider Verse created for Miles and builds on it through a brilliant meta narrative on what it means to be spider-man and asking the question of whether or not Miles really is spider-man.

Trauma is so ingrained into the creation and growth of spider-man as a character. Ask anyone to list what the most iconic moments in spider-man comics are and you are bound to get answers that include uncle ben’s death, the death of gwen stacy, the death of Jean DeWolfe, Captain Stacy’s death, etc.

There are a lot of moments of loss within the spider-man mythos that define the character and these moments are carried over into a lot of spider-man media outside of the comics. Miles’ rejection of this narrative and the necessity of loss to make a hero in this movie is what truly makes him become spider-man.

The first movie had him accepting the mantle but this is where he truly grows into the role.

Keep reading

[sagaiv]

THIS POST CONTAINS GOTG3 SPOILERS, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

so it was only through this movie that I realised how incredible nebula and rocket’s relationship really is, or rather could be if they had more screen time.

they have the exact same backstory. horrific and violent experiments were performed on them both by galactic assholes with god complexes, and obviously they have both been recovering and running from that their entire lives.

but also, their personalities are just super similar - closed off, rude, no-nonsense, angry, etc. and that means that they can relate to each other in the same way as each other. what I mean is, they have spent their lives suffering in silence, and are not the type of characters to have long heart to hearts and open up to those around them. but that’s okay, because they can suffer in silence together. they can wallow in their pain together. no words required, just pure understanding.

and the fact that they were the only main guardians left during the blip?? are we just going to overlook how close they would have gotten?? a close knit family unit reduced to two people?? literally the only people each other had left?? LIKE???

UGH and the fact that she gets him bucky’s arm for christmas. it was on a different planet. she had never celebrated or even heard of christmas before. but it was THAT important to her to give it to him?? and the looks on their faces!!?!? YES

and just that scene where nebula hears his voice again and just sobs. and mantis (a literal empath) looks at her and says to rocket, “we love you and we appreciate you and we are so happy you’re okay because you are our best friend.” because nebula, just like rocket, isn’t the kind of person who would feel able to say that herself. but actions and reactions speak more than words, and those tears spoke VOLUMES of the value nebula places in her friendship with rocket and it just makes me so feral

[sagaiv]

Guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 was absolutely fantastic. Rocket’s backstory was some of my favorite MCU content ever. It made me tear up. 

[sagaiv]

Pointless add ons

I couldn’t help but think about the Invincible quote “look what they need to mimic even a fraction of our power” when Black Adam says the human’s magic was weak. It made that scene more fun for me. Now you get to be stuck with that too.

I wish this movie said more about the ideas it puts forth. A lot of the superhero media that stands out nowadays has something to say about the genre like The Boys and Invincible that brings something new to the table. Black Adam has a lot of interesting ideas that are just dropped about colonialism, oppression, violence, and how black and white morality can be detrimental if you put your own ideas of right and wrong as absolutes, etc.

Black Adam Thoughts

I have been working non-stop so I don’t have the energy to write a full review, so I’ve decided to just make a bullet point list of my thoughts on Black Adam.

Doctor Fate was my favorite part of the movie. Pierce Brosnan does great in the role and easily steals the scenes he’s in even if he’s just eating a mint while the others are fighting. 

Doctor fate is a character I have always thought was criminally underutilized in DC’s properties. He has really interesting powers, drawbacks, and a backstory that makes him a fascinating character. I really liked getting to finally see him on the big screen. 

Lorne Balfe’s score is phenomenal. It got me excited every time I heard it playing.

The film didn’t really sell me on Black Adam being a threat that had to be taken out. It didn’t seem to want to commit too hard one way or the other, hero or villain, which made his arc fall flat to me. 

You could really feel Black Adam’s power. There was no point in the movie where I felt he wasn’t the unstoppable force everyone kept saying he was. DC has had trouble consistently selling the power of its heroes on the big screen in the past (when they were still trying to copy/play catch-up with marvel mostly) but that isn’t a problem here.

There’s the implication that Adrianna and Amon are direct descendants of Black Adam with the necklace that has been passed down in their family being seen on Teth Adam’s wife in the flashbacks, but this is never brought up verbally and is a detail that could be easily missed. This is something that could go a long way when it comes to explaining Black Adam’s desire to protect them and sell me on why he acts so differently from the villain everyone tries to portray him as. It could have been a redemption in his mind. He failed to save his family in the past and he doesn’t want to fail in the same way again.

I called the twist during the first scene of the movie. I knew which character Black Adam was immediately. If they really wanted this to be a surprise it should have played out a bit differently, but I wasn’t bothered by it.

I liked the visuals of the movie. I appreciate that DC lets its directors and cinematographers be creative. They all have their own distinctive visual flair.

The action was really fun. I liked the battles in the first and second acts and thought they did a fine job of bringing the spectacle I wanted when I entered the theater. The third act battle falls short for me though and it can feel like it’s a copy and paste of most superhero third act battles that only really separated itself visually in the one v one between Doctor Fate and Ishmael.

I actually liked that we got to see the human side of things within the film. Too often the human are completely ignored to focus on the “gods among us”. It works in the context of the story and I appreciate that they called out the Justice Society for thinking they know better than the people they are saving about what is best for them. 

One of the biggest problems with Black Adam is the fact that it asks so many questions that it just doesn’t answer.  The biggest example of this is how it criticizes black and white views on morality but it never looks deeper than the surface level. It’s not a particularly deep film.

This doesn’t have to do with the movie itself but I really like the passion that Dwayne Johnson clearly has for the role in all the promotions he’s done for it. 

Atom Smasher and Cyclone are really unneeded. I liked the visuals for Cyclone’s powers and thought Atom Smasher was funny but they don’t have arcs to undergo and remain unchanged and underdeveloped by the end of the film. 

The villain was really forgettable. I had to look up his name to write this.

The mid-credits scene was really cool. I would love to see Superman and Black Adam duke it out. (again wasn’t sold on Black Adam being an irredeemable threat that had to be eliminated but I would still love to see that fight)

[sagaiv]

Black Adam Thoughts

I have been working non-stop so I don’t have the energy to write a full review, so I’ve decided to just make a bullet point list of my thoughts on Black Adam.

Doctor Fate was my favorite part of the movie. Pierce Brosnan does great in the role and easily steals the scenes he’s in even if he’s just eating a mint while the others are fighting. 

Doctor fate is a character I have always thought was criminally underutilized in DC’s properties. He has really interesting powers, drawbacks, and a backstory that makes him a fascinating character. I really liked getting to finally see him on the big screen. 

Lorne Balfe’s score is phenomenal. It got me excited every time I heard it playing.

The film didn’t really sell me on Black Adam being a threat that had to be taken out. It didn’t seem to want to commit too hard one way or the other, hero or villain, which made his arc fall flat to me. 

You could really feel Black Adam’s power. There was no point in the movie where I felt he wasn’t the unstoppable force everyone kept saying he was. DC has had trouble consistently selling the power of its heroes on the big screen in the past (when they were still trying to copy/play catch-up with marvel mostly) but that isn’t a problem here.

There’s the implication that Adrianna and Amon are direct descendants of Black Adam with the necklace that has been passed down in their family being seen on Teth Adam’s wife in the flashbacks, but this is never brought up verbally and is a detail that could be easily missed. This is something that could go a long way when it comes to explaining Black Adam’s desire to protect them and sell me on why he acts so differently from the villain everyone tries to portray him as. It could have been a redemption in his mind. He failed to save his family in the past and he doesn’t want to fail in the same way again.

I called the twist during the first scene of the movie. I knew which character Black Adam was immediately. If they really wanted this to be a surprise it should have played out a bit differently, but I wasn’t bothered by it.

I liked the visuals of the movie. I appreciate that DC lets its directors and cinematographers be creative. They all have their own distinctive visual flair.

The action was really fun. I liked the battles in the first and second acts and thought they did a fine job of bringing the spectacle I wanted when I entered the theater. The third act battle falls short for me though and it can feel like it's a copy and paste of most superhero third act battles that only really separated itself visually in the one v one between Doctor Fate and Ishmael.

I actually liked that we got to see the human side of things within the film. Too often the human are completely ignored to focus on the “gods among us”. It works in the context of the story and I appreciate that they called out the Justice Society for thinking they know better than the people they are saving about what is best for them. 

One of the biggest problems with Black Adam is the fact that it asks so many questions that it just doesn’t answer.  The biggest example of this is how it criticizes black and white views on morality but it never looks deeper than the surface level. It’s not a particularly deep film.

This doesn’t have to do with the movie itself but I really like the passion that Dwayne Johnson clearly has for the role in all the promotions he’s done for it. 

Atom Smasher and Cyclone are really unneeded. I liked the visuals for Cyclone’s powers and thought Atom Smasher was funny but they don’t have arcs to undergo and remain unchanged and underdeveloped by the end of the film. 

The villain was really forgettable. I had to look up his name to write this.

The mid-credits scene was really cool. I would love to see Superman and Black Adam duke it out. (again wasn’t sold on Black Adam being an irredeemable threat that had to be eliminated but I would still love to see that fight)

[sagaiv]

The Batman (2022) Initial Thoughts

So I just got out of a showing of The Batman and I thought it was amazing. This film was almost 3 hours long and yet I left the theater wishing there was more. I think that statement should speak for itself.

This is honestly just a great film in general as well as a great Batman film. It explores a Batman and Bruce Wayne that is unsure of his place in the world which is something no Batman film has really done before. The conclusion Batman comes to about his place in the city of Gotham is hopeful which is a breath of fresh air. So many Batman stories want to focus on why he has to be alone and why he can’t be happy, which can make for great Batman stories, but it neglects a lot of Bruce’s connections and heart. The fact that this film decided to end on that hopeful conclusion made me excited for the future because it is clearly interested in exploring a side of Bruce the big screen hasn’t yet.

The riddler has always been one of my favorite Batman villains and seeing how well he was used was great. I would argue that he is Batman’s most underrated villain. In the comics the riddler is an intellectual rival to Batman and this movie really showed that. He is able to outsmart Batman and leave him a few steps behind at almost every turn which makes him a believable threat and a fascinating villain. Paul Dano knocks it out of the park. The direction they took the character and the ideas they explore about what The Batman means to people is fantastic. My only complaint is that I wish there was even more of him in the film. 

The cinematography is amazing. There are so many shots that are breathtaking. I liked the lighter color pallet the movie used as well as its reliance on oranges and reds for the lighting. It brought a new feel to Gotham and Batman’s crimefighting that marched its more hopeful outlook on the two.

I could go on and on about this movie but it’s already getting really rambly. I hope other people enjoy this film as much as I did.

[sagaiv]

Comics I read in 2021

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Comics I read in 2021

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Comics I read in 2021

[sagaiv]

My Thoughts on Mark Millar

Mark Millar is a comic books writer I have conflicted feelings about. On the one hand he has works that I really enjoy and like reading but on the other he has some series that I really dislike. In his darker work he has a lot of trouble knowing where the line for too much is. Unlike a work like preacher, which has likeable characters and emotionally sincere moments to balance out the gross and messed up moments of the series, he tends to have unlikeable protagonists within his edgy stories and has many messed up moments that are purely for shock value and do little for the story. For every Superman: red son there is a wanted or nemesis. Which is disappointing because I think at his best he writes about some genuinely interesting ideas and can be heartfelt.

Even with his more popular works like Kingsman or Kick-ass I find that I enjoy the movie adaptations much more than the comics they are based on specifically because I think the movies do a much better job of not being purely cynical (Except for Kick-ass 2. That movie was a mess.). He does have good darker runs like his work on Old Man Logan and The Ultimates which makes his edgier works all the more frustrating because you know he can balance tone better than he is. I have more fun with his works that are like Superior and Huck because I don’t have to worry about a bad guy impregnating a girl with her gay brother’s sperm (Yes, that is an actual plot point in one of his books) and can just enjoy the ride. Also with him turning to the audio visual medium in recent years his comic books have been more like pitches for movies or tv shows than actual stories meant for comics. They just seem to have lost something that his earlier works had. He’s still a comic book writer that I’ll read the works of but I’m likely not going to buy his series and instead borrow them from the library or read online for free.

[sagaiv]

My Thoughts on Brian K Vaughan’s works

I just want to starts off by saying I think Brian K Vaughan was my first “favorite writer” when it can to comic books. Y the last man was the first non-superhero comic I had ever read and it opened me up to so many new titles and ways to use the comic book medium. Brian K Vaughan has never failed to make me fall in love with his characters. I have so many fond memories of his comics. I went back and reread them all again this year and found that I loved them just as much or maybe even more than I did before.

He is very talented at exploring characters through the comic medium by using its specific strengths to do things that wouldn’t translate to other mediums and keep the same meaning or feel quite as sincere. This is just a complicated way of saying I think he uses the medium to explore characters in a way no other medium can. He is also much better at balancing humor, heart, and the serious aspects of his stories so that no one component feels too much. He loves giving his stories a bittersweet ending and for some reason I’m a real sucker for those kinds of endings. No character is safe in his series and yet I never felt like he went overboard with the “edginess” or tried to shock his readers just for the sake of shocking them. Rereading his series actually makes the seeds he plants for certain character’s deaths all the more obvious especially in Saga. Some of the deaths did shock me and I didn’t see them coming but it never felt gratuitous if that makes sense. 

My “brief” thoughts on his series are below the cut. (The ones I want to talk about anyway. I couldn’t fit all of his series. There are some spoilers below the cut.)

Ex Machina: This was a title where the longer I sat with it the more I loved it. It just has so many ways that the story can be interpreted and it has a lot to say about the idea of free will. Mitchell Hundred is such an interesting main character and the questions of the extent of his free will  keep me coming back to the series and character. This story is a tragedy almost anyway you interpret it. If he was acting 100% of his own free will then the descent of his character and morals in pursuit of power is sort of Shakespearean in it’s tragedy. There’s the questions on whether Mitchell was wearing a mask and the man he is at the end is who he really was all along. The plot point of him lying to Kremlin and Bradbury about the power canceling devices brings credence to the idea that he was being manipulative from the beginning. That he knew what he was doing in a way and once he realized he could gain more power by running for office than being a hero he manipulated Bradbury once again into making it so his win was assured. The loss of those around him was entirely his own fault. If he was being controlled or unconsciously pulled in the direction of his descent then it’s tragic because in a way his fate was sealed from the moment he got his powers, he was going to lose everyone in his life regardless if he wanted to or not. This comic really get you thinking and keeps you thinking long after you’ve finished and I love that.

Y the Last Man: Like I said above this was my first non-superhero comic book and returning to it could have been disastrous if it didn’t live up to the nostalgic memories I had of the series. Good thing Y the last man is a great comic. I really love the central trio in this series. Yorick, 355, and Alison Mann are all some of my favorite characters just in general. Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann all go through a lot of growth and it makes their goodbyes and endings all the more saddening. I was devastated by both 355 and Ampersand’s deaths. These were some of the most emotional deaths in any of the comics I’ve read.  “I’m so goddamn tired of killing.” The sadness of losing 355′s hard earned chance at peace in an instant, with no chance to fight back or even knowing she was in danger, was just so heartbreaking. She finally got a chance to break away from the suffering she’d experienced during life and the “being hard bullshit” and try to be soft for once. Her arc was just so well written that when it came to a close that way it was so heartbreaking in a way I hadn’t experienced with any other character until that point. And Ampersand has been through everything with Yorick so seeing his death was just as hard. Yorick’s growth was truly something special though. His journey from self-centered young man to a mature and caring last man was really something to see. He is a really great protagonist. BKV actually got me to tear up with this series and I have a hard time crying about any media (not because of lack of caring or empathy I just have a hard time letting myself show that emotion). I don’t know if there has been another final two issues of a comic book that hit me as hard as the ones for Y the last man. I really don’t know what I can say about this series that hasn’t already been said. I really do recommend this comic (just know that some views at the very start are a bit dated but by the end you can tell that BKV has a better understanding of those views. I wasn’t personally bothered by it but I know it’s something that people should go into knowing because not everyone is like me). I love this series and I love these characters and this is where I fell in love with BKV as a writer.

Saga: Brian K Vaughan’s magnum opus. I am so glad that it is returning this coming January. I just love just about everything about Saga. Marco, Alana, Prince Robot IV, Hazel, Squire, petrichor, and many more are all great characters. I love the way the comic shows the cycles of violence and how heartbreaking those cycles can be with their consequences. It touches on the cycles of violence in war, generational trauma and how that cycle can be perpetuated or broken, how violence shapes who a person is and who they become, etc. Violence has very real consequences. It can be the ptsd that Prince Robot very clearly has or the way the violence Marko and Prince Robot IV partake in in the first volume coming back to haunt them in the ninth volume or even in the ways Marko and Alana deal with certain aspects of their relationship and how they raise Hazel. You feel all of it. The series is about love, loss, and growth. This may be my favorite comic book series (my top 5 ish series flip flop a bit sometimes if I’m being honest but this is always within the top 3). The diversity of this comic is also a huge plus. It’s always refreshing to see a wide variety of genders, races, ethnicities, etc get the spotlight. I always welcome new perspective and representation so that others can see themselves in these characters. I know I always feel seen when I read about a character like me and it makes me feel less alone and knowing that there are many other people who can feel that way about any of these characters always makes me happy. I just love this comic a lot. (I’ve also personally struggled with intergenerational trauma and being a victim of the cycles of abuse so this story hit hard at a lot of points)

Paper Girls: I’ve seen this comic be described as Stranger things but centered around a group of girls instead of boys and while that is a great pitch to get people to read it I feel like it sells the comic a bit short. I love stranger things I just think that description doesn’t fully capture all the themes the story tackles about our time on this world and the mortality that we are faced with every day. It’s a bit ironic that a story that is talking about the importance of how we spend our time alive is based around time travel and I think that was fully intentional. The girls are all dealing with the reality of their futures and coming to terms with certain aspects of themselves that are a part of who they are. I really like the characters and concept. I wasn’t a huge fan of the fact that the character’s had their memories erased at the end because it felt a bit like the journey was meaningless. There were changes that stuck though and I liked that aspect at least. Mac has started developing feelings for KJ and has dialed back in her internalized homophobia and Erin isn’t as shy and is willing to ask to hang out with the other girls for longer than just their route. There is hope for a different future where the four of them remain friends instead of drift apart. At least Mac doesn’t have to live with the fact that she is going to die young and KJ doesn’t have to live with having killed a man to protect someone. Still a really good series just not as strong of an ending as the rest of his well known series in my opinion. 

Private Eye: This series is the one where I was the least attached to the characters. The concept, world, and execution are what really draw you in. I liked the idea of a world where the generational divide with technology is essentially the reverse of what it currently is. The collapse of the internet and desperation to regain anonymity in a world where all the previous generation’s private information and search history has been made public to everyone is just really fun. It’s a good spin on the typical private investigator story. One thing I love about BKV is his ability to put a spins on common story ideas or genres I should probably say. For the post apocalypse he made Y the last man, for Private Investigator stories he made private eye, for star crossed lovers he made Saga, for time travel he made Paper Girls, for the retired superhero he made Ex Machina and I wouldn’t say that any of these stories were stereotypical. That may just be me but I like how he makes something unique and thought provoking for every seemingly basic story concept. Brian K Vaughan and Marcos Martin are also a very good duo and I enjoy their collaborations on The Walking Dead: The Alien and Barrier (Side note: I really like the decision not to translate for English readers and the art is so expressive you can understand what’s going on regardless). They work really well together. 

Pride of Baghdad: I never thought I could feel this much about a pride of lions. That ending hurt me. I knew how it was going to end based on what I had heard of the real life events it was based on but I still wasn’t prepared when it happened. The optimism and cynicism of the characters towards their new situation contrasted really well. Safa was probably my favorite because of her tough outward portrayal contrasting with her fiercely protective nature especially towards Ali. The art was just gorgeous. I love what animation and comics can do with showing emotions on animals. The fact that I came to love these lions in the short page count is a testament to BKV’s character writing. I don’t want to say much about this title since not many people have read it. If you are reading this and haven’t yet picked this series up I highly recommend doing so.