#She was also the only normal one in a group of magical and scientific weirdos

[stoneshipmapper]

Intz, my Pokemon TTRPG character from a few years ago.

[aion-rsa]

WandaVision: Who is Agent Jimmy Woo?

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This article contains WandaVision spoilers.

Now that WandaVision episode 4 has expanded a bit to show more of what’s going on, it really ties into what made the first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe work, but in a very surreal way. The first Avengers movie was about the culmination in connections and bringing together the top heroes that existed so far in continuity. Now that we’re four Avengers movies in and we’re taking our first step into the era of Marvel’s Disney+ TV shows, we have such an odd collection of characters from all over the MCU converging.

Really, it’s pretty wild. We have two Avengers who otherwise never had all that screentime. We have a supporting character from Captain Marvel who first appeared as a child now a central character all grown up. We have the comic relief from the first two Thor movies. Then there’s that FBI agent from Ant-Man and the Wasp, whose only role was to be a pestering doofus to the hero.

Yes, Agent James Woo (played by Randall Park), the guy who tried to make sure Scott Lang was making good on his house arrest, is trying to figure out what the hell is going on in Westview, New Jersey. That goofball from Ant-Man and the Wasp is the guy talking over Wanda Maximoff’s radio in episode 2 to try and figure out who is controlling her.

Dorky or not, Jimmy Woo has a long history with Marvel. In fact, he predates all the other characters on this show. He even predates Marvel itself!

He first appeared in Yellow Claw #1 from Atlas Comics, created by Al Feldstein and Joe Maneely, though Jack Kirby pretty much took over as of the second issue. The Yellow Claw was a Fu Manchu-type yellow peril villain and FBI Agent Jimmy Woo was the agent assigned to track him down. With Yellow Claw being one of those awful racist caricatures that the era was known for, Woo was seen as almost revolutionary in comparison. He was Asian, but not a walking joke based on his nationality.

Yellow Claw only lasted a mere four issues, but its status as a comic book footnote would ultimately help out Woo in the long run.

Woo was brought back in the late-60s as an agent of SHIELD. He spent the next many decades being a run-of-the-mill go-to SHIELD guy. Someone you would merely throw in a scene, even though the focus was on someone like Nick Fury or Dum Dum Dugan. Really, one of his more notable appearances was in the late-70s Marvel Godzilla comic. He admittedly didn’t do much, but he survived a few confrontations with the King of the Monsters and that’s awesome!

The late-70s also laid some important seeds for Woo’s future in an early issue of Marvel’s What If? series. The anthology comic was usually about Uatu the Watcher focusing on an alternate reality and seeing how things would have ended up if history had zigged instead of zagged. A world where Captain America wasn’t frozen, a world where Spider-Man prevented Uncle Ben’s death, etc.

The ninth issue, “What If the Avengers Had Fought Evil in the 1950s?” was written by Don Glut and drawn by Alan Kupperberg and Bill Black. As a framing device, the story was being watched by Avengers members Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Vision, and Beast. Looking into the past of an alternate reality, Iron Man saw an adventure where a bunch of 1950s characters teamed up and called themselves the Avengers.

The team was made up of:

Jimmy Woo, still trying to hunt down the Yellow Claw.

Marvel Boy, a twist on Superman’s origin where a man tried to escape Nazi Germany by flying he and his son to Uranus on a rocket. The son grew up to be a hero using gadgets and enhanced scientific knowledge.

3D Man, with the speed and strength of three men. He was sort of a cheat, as he was introduced in the 70s with his story taking place in the 50s.

Venus, the Goddess of Love.

Gorilla Man, who is like Tim Allen in the Santa Clause if you replaced “being Santa” with “being a talking gorilla.”

The Human Robot, a malfunctioning 1950s robot from a horror comic.

There were also appearances by Namora and Jann of the Jungle. Pretty sure one of the villains showed up in one of the obscure “Commie Smasher” Captain America issues.

Anyway, after the good guys won the day, President Eisenhower told them to disband. The way he saw it, the world wasn’t really ready for a ragtag super team of weirdos. Watching this, the mainstream Avengers noted their similarities to the members of this alternate lineup. Captain America and 3D Man were cut from the same cloth in terms of fighting style, Iron Man and Marvel Boy were both geniuses with cool gadgets, Thor and Venus were both gods fighting alongside mortals, Vision and Human Robot were both androids with heroic hearts, and Beast and Gorilla Man were both smartass talking furballs.

The Watcher appeared at the end to remind the reader something important: just because Iron Man saw this in an alternate reality doesn’t mean it didn’t happen in regular continuity. After all, who’s to know? It was a neat team-up that was quickly swept under the rug and didn’t have any lasting complications.

Other than a minor appearance in Avengers Forever, the What If? issue finally got the callback it was looking for in the mid-2000s. The team of Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk did a miniseries called Agents of Atlas. The idea was that while they didn’t call themselves the Avengers, those 1950s heroes did indeed secretly team up back in the day.

For the most part, the characters were the same, but there were plenty of tweaks. Since their origins were tied to the 1950s, Jimmy Woo was aged up immensely for it to make sense, only to be de-aged through Marvel Boy’s technology. Marvel Boy himself was renamed the Uranian and they altered his backstory since one doesn’t really live a normal life on the surface of Uranus (tee-hee). Human Robot was referred to as M-11 and would rarely speak. 3D Man wasn’t part of the team, but they eventually brought in the hero Triathalon to fill in the role. As for Venus, she was retconned into being a guilt-ridden siren of the sea who for a time believed herself to be the goddess.

Most importantly, it gave us this panel.

Sadly, despite its high-quality and Marvel trying again and again, Agents of Atlas never truly caught on. It did last roughly as long as Guardians of the Galaxy did around the same time and we all know how successful that was once it became a movie. Come on, Marvel! Give us some cinematic Gorilla Man! You already know that people love wise-ass talking animals!

Marvel rested the concept for a few years until bringing it back as a new all-Asian superhero team led by Agent Woo. So Woo still has stuff going on.

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Maybe WandaVision will be a stepping stone from learning close-up magic to actually being the leader of his own group of heroes. One day…

The post WandaVision: Who is Agent Jimmy Woo? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[recentanimenews]

10 Journeys Further Than the Universe

Today we bid farewell to A Place Further Than the Universe, perhaps the most emotionally poignant anime of the season, showing us a group of young girls embarking upon a tremendous undertaking together. Whether Antarctica represented an adventure, a job, an escape, or a reunion, their common destination, and the trials they underwent to reach it, brought them closer together and allowed them to learn something about themselves. Whether you enjoyed the anime because of its coming of age themes, its long journey, or its ensemble cast of friends, rest assured there are more destinations out there for you to discover. If you don’t want your journey to end just yet, here are 10 more anime of adventures, undertakings, and friendship!

SHIROBAKO

The story of 5 women who formed the animation club in their high school and each go on to work in the anime industry from different directions. Aoi works as a producer in an anime studio, introducing us to the ins and outs of how anime is made as she navigates the challenges of modern animation production. Like Space Brothers, Shirobako tackles both sides of the animation industry, introducing the aspirational elements of creating a work of art together along with the realities of budgets, demands from production committees, and time constraints that influence the final product. We’re also treated with multiple perspectives as her friends find work as traditional and CG artists, a voice actress, and a writer. Although their work doesn’t always bring them together, they share and support one another in their common dream to make anime.

Sound! Euphonium

The Kitauji high school concert band decided together that they would do their best to win a gold medal at the national championship. Not quite traveling to the bottom of the globe, but no less ambitious, especially since their school hasn’t even reached the qualifying tournament in recent years. Although the club only embark upon journeys to training camps and competitions, Sound! Euphonium is just a great exploration of its characters and their drive toward a common goal as A Place Further Than the Universe. Through the perspective of its nosy first-year Kumiko, we’re introduced to the unique personalities and motivations and its many members as they come into conflict and ultimately learn to work together. Sound! Euphonium takes a deep dive into the technical aspects of concert bands, from instruments to harmonization and we learn what goes into winning is more than many individually skilled players.

Space Brothers

Antarctica may be further from Japan than space, but what about the moon? Mars? Space Brothers tells the story not only of the Nanba’s brothers, but an extended cast of individuals whose dreams rest among the stars. This anime of space travel may have its head in the clouds, but is firmly rooted in scientific fact. Just as we were informed of the unique challenges of attempting to reach and reside in Antarctica, Space Brothers takes a deep dive into the application and training process for aspiring NASA astronauts, navigating politics and its meritocratic system to be chosen for a mission. The characters are diverse and charming and the content is fascinating, buoyed by their starry-eyed fascination with space travel. At its core, Space Brothers is every bit as aspirational as A Place Further Than the Universe, communicating the indescribable desire to venture into the great unknown.

March Comes in Like a Lion

Rei Kiriyama is on a long a lonesome journey to a distant island happiness. He doesn’t know where it is or how to reach it, but he’s sought it out for years through the dark, suffocating waters of depression. Rei is a kindred spirit with Shirase, a social misfit traumatized by the loss of his family early in his life. Although he tries to make it on his own, he encounters other characters along the way who help lighten the load. His self-proclaimed rival Nikaido and the Kawamoto sisters become emotional refuge that help keep his head above water and bring light into his life and he tries to discover his happy place in the world. Rei’s growth comes in learning to let other people in and, eventually, finding satisfaction in returning the compassion of others to find a new family for himself. Although his journey is introspective, it’s just as fraught as a quest to Antarctica and made easier by the support of friends.

Princess Nine

Ryo Hayakawa, daughter of one of Japan’s most famous ace pitchers, inherited her father's arm and is a local menace as the relief pitcher for all-men Wildcats sandlot team. Although she plans to dropout of high school to support her family shop, but she’s scouted by Keiko Himuro, chairwoman of the Kisaragi Girls High School, for an athletic scholarship. Keiko is assembling an all-woman baseball team that will be meant to compete in and win the male-dominated National High School Baseball Championship. The anime follows the formation of the team, called Princess Nine, and its ensuing competition with Ryo as the pitcher and team captain. This is a longer series where each member of the team has their own story, personal dramas, and ambitions to prove themselves by seeing Princess Nine win the championship.

FLIP FLAPPERS

A coming of age tale in magical girl form, Flip Flappers follows Cocona, a studious girl who has lived her life meeting the expectations of adults, who now faces the end of high school and a decision. How to live her life for herself. Suddenly, she’s spirited away by the rambunctious Papika, who wants Cocona to become her partner going on adventures in Pure Illusion, an ever-shifting imaginary world. Although initially resistant, she finds herself drawn Papika and her strange journey and starts playing along. As they explore unknown worlds, Cocona begins to discover more about herself and begins grasping her own desires for the future. Like A Place Further Than the Universe, Flip Flappers is about a wild, unreasonable adventure helps a high school girl overcome her fear of getting older and, in this case, finding love along the way.

One Piece

Although superficially similar in that they’re stories about a boat and a crew, One Piece is similar to A Place Further Than the Universe in its themes of pursuing one's dreams and coming together under a common cause. Where the girls seek to reach Antarctica, the Straw Hats aim to circumnavigate the globe. Each member of the crew has a wildly different dream that points them in a common direction, the Grand Line and the New World beyond it. With a crew of heavy hitters, One Piece is unique among shonen for making one of the primary elements of its power scaling simply their crew's ability to organize and function as a unit. The challenges they face take on the form of actual enemies in rival pirates and the world government, but the crew overcome them all by working together and believing in one another. The world of One Piece is populated by big dreamers and the villains are often who try to stop others from reaching them.

Love Live! Sunshine!!

The second part of the Love Live! franchise, Sunshine!! takes place in Uranohoshi Girls' Academy, a school that is soon to close its doors and merge with nearby Numazu High School due to lack of funding. Inspired by μ's, Chika Takami decides to put together her own idol group to compete in the Love Live school idol contest to support her school. The eventual group calls itself Aqours and soon discovers that competing on a national scale requires personality, inspiration, and hard work. The drama has a bit more candy coating than most of the other shows on the list, but it’s present and accounted for, including a disastrous previous attempt to develop an idol group for the school. It shares the same atmosphere of girls with different personalities sharing a dream and supporting one another.

Eureka Seven

Renton thinks he’s boarding the Gekko chasing after the love of his life, Eureka, but embarks on a journey into adulthood. Like Mari, he needed the presence of another to take that final step into the youthful adventure he had felt was beginning to slip from his grasp. Unfortunately, his journey is considerably more painful. Where Mari finds a core of support in her companions, Renton struggles to connect with anyone in the lonely world beyond the hole where he grew up. He fails to connect with Eureka and is hazed by the crew and its captain who resents him. The connections he forms with others often become twisted or break just as he comes to rely upon them. Eureka Seven is the story of a child pursuing a dream he doesn’t quite understand and learning to stand upon his own two feet before he finds the connection he seeks.

Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions

Like A Place Further Than the Universe, Chunibyo is a story about misfits and a coming of age story, but with a lighter and considerably more awkward take on the formula. Yuta, a former chuni, moves to a new school intent on starting over as a normal student, but is discovered by Rikka, who possesses “The Wicked Eye” and wants Yuta to unleash his hidden “Dark Flame Master” and help her discover “The Ethereal Horizon” to be reunited with her deceased father. This imaginary place becomes a metaphor for overcoming her grief and discovering a shared place of happiness somewhere between their personal eccentricities and the expectations of polite society. Their introspective journey is to find themselves and each other in a series that seeks to show us it’s ok to be a little strange. They’re also joined along the way by a few more weirdos.

Whether it's traveling the world, making it to nationals, creating something that is truly your own, or just growing up, each of these anime take us along on a wild ride of personal discovery made with the help of some good friends. Hopefully, these shows will keep the fire of discovery alive in your heart and spur you forward to even greater adventures. Are there any adventures you’ve taken that you’d like to share? Did any of these journeys inspire you? Let us know in the comments below!

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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com