#daredevil review

[co-mixed]

Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky Pt.1

It's not easy to sum up a run like this. Nah, it's actually pretty impossible. It's a long road with so much going on with so many faces, you have to record every single one of your thoughts. So I’m gonna go character by character, taking every arc and dissecting it. 

I have, in fact done it a while ago, right after I finished the run, but it took me some time to post it. And I wanted to make it feel more like a review but that didn't quite work out, so here it is, my essay or analysis of some of the character arcs in this run. Spoilers ahead too!

Zdarsky’s run finds Matt right after the short rehab series. And I have to talk about that a little: the truck that kicked Daredevil out of the game, poetically replaying his childhood accident, left him dealing with all the old injuries. In DD’s line of work, those tend to pile up. So the few issues were a short detour into Matt’s identity crisis as he was about to give up and had to seek help from his fellow Defenders. It was a very recovery-focused story with flashbacks and the fears that haunted him. For a man without fear, he sure has plenty of nightmare scenarios so questioning and reevaluating this status is a constant process for him. This idea circles philosophy but to me, it just reminds again and again of how much Matt Murdock depends on the way people see him. 

When Zdarsky’s run starts, Matt is already going out at night and throwing his clubs around. But he’s not exactly living his previous life anymore. Here, the status quo is fully restored after Waid’s detour and the brooding hero on the roofs in the rain is back. Well, almost back. He can’t fully heal his body or his mind so he ends up accidentally killing a man. And then Zdarsky finally pushes Daredevil into the trap that's been sprung for him ever since he killed Bullseye. At the time, I was a bit disappointed that Waid allowed Matt to walk away into a new life, never having to deal with emotional repercussions. It felt to me like he was repressing that event so hard, his entire personality had changed. While the run was good, it felt like a bizarrely loud cry for help. I felt like that was not Matt, at least not the ever-guilty martyr we all know. 

But now, here, he gets a chance to live through this hell. The beautiful part, in terms of narrative, is that Daredevil right away becomes erratic and paranoid: he goes digging through his enemy list, convinced that someone had set him up. And he fools you easily. Despite him being off his game I truly thought there was a Fisk handprint or just The Hand behind it. But you know what? No. It was just an accident. Probably caused by Matt's lack of trust in Daredevil or his not being at 100%. 

DD gets so bad, he actually ends up getting a talking to from none other than Spider-Man. Aside from the usual suspects that is. Which, think about it, all heroes have gone through trauma at one point. But compared to a spiraling Daredevil they still seem very together. Granted it's his book so the main drama has to come from him.

There’s a moment when he’s in a room with Jessica, Luke, and Danny, and he calls them all murderers, quickly correcting the ‘you’ to ‘we’. It’s like a new light in which he sees the whole superhero game: like he thought they were truly above the law because they made no mistakes. So yeah, after all these years he saw for the first time how flawed each one of them truly is. 

What he refuses to see is that they are all working through that, not dividing the world into the good and bad. Meanwhile, Matt has Daredevil on a pedestal as someone who must never allow the line to become blurry.  

Matt's disturbing as hell. And yeah, have to admit I like him more when everything is awful, simply because he always knows how to make things worse.

For a brief time, Matt hides the costume in his closet and works as a parole officer. But it turns out he is actually terrible at compartmentalizing and he's even worse at self-inflicted penance. 

I believe the culmination of his incompetence in life is an affair with a married woman. Married to a mob boss’s son. It's truly classic Matt Murdock at this point - got no one to cheat on, well, at least she does. He is Exupery’s drunkard and he's brilliant at that. He wakes up next to Mindy thinking about the terrible sin he’s committing. Gotta give her credit though, she gave him a piece of hell for making it about himself. 

And then his circle of violence as he calls it (courtesy of late Vanessa Fisk), pulls him back in again. 

He has doubts and fears about putting on the costume again and we'll, it's hard to blame him. But he still lives in Fisk’s city and the city is getting worse every day. 

When Matt came face to face with The Purple Man, he said that the thing he fears the most is hearing all the tragedy and doing nothing. Zdarsky just puts him in this reality and Matt's got no other choice than to put on the mask. Before he fully embraces it, he trains with Elektra. Did he break up with Mindy? No, of course not. He just ghosted her until she needed help. The good ol' Matt. 

But with Elektra, this time it's different (not really - she has her own plan as she always does.)  I have to admit, the more they get together the more I realize one thing - Matt really can't break up with women. They have to die, otherwise he’ll be hung up on them for years. Elektra is the love of his life no less than Karen was. She just came back from the dead, unlike Karen, and I’m pretty sure deep inside Matt thinks it's for him. Plus, she knows his identity which makes it so much easier. And she's deadly which makes her so less killable. 

But most importantly Matt’s obsessed with Elektra because she's from his past and he’s notoriously bad at moving on from his past (see Exupery's drunkard again). Here’s why I kind of root for them: I do like the adversary/lover connection they have and they exist in the same world. Can they make it work? I doubt it. 

Before I get too deep into more of Matt's disastrous relationships (and believe me you, there is more) I should refocus on the arc.

We got Matt running from the law while making adjustments so he could represent that same law. And he has an interesting new addition to the cast in the form of detective Cole North. I’m gonna talk about him later since he's one of the narrators in the run. But North is hell-bent on holding vigilantes accountable and Daredevil is his idée fixe just as he is for Fisk. 

Daredevil manages to sway North by saving his life as corrupted cops attempt to kill him and that leads to three interesting events.

One - his parolee learns that he is Daredevil. And his parolee is none other than the brother of the man he accidentally killed. 

Two - North starts seeing him as a protector rather than a criminal. But he still wants to hold him accountable. 

Three - it sets the tone for the rest of the run, showing the cracks and imperfections of the US criminal justice system.

Either way, that day Matt goes free. And when he puts on a costume again, he is convinced that now he's gonna act smart (because Elektra told him to gather information before leaping into action, duh. All that education and you couldn't figure it out on your own…) It's also a different costume and Matt even convinces everyone who’d listen and a couple people who won't, that he is now a new and improved hero who is not Daredevil at all. Yes, he actually believes it and I think it's still his desire to wash his hands off of everything connected to the accident. He thinks he sees things clearly now but it feels like he's never been more blind. Yet somehow, he will be. 

This repetitiveness becomes very noticeable when you read through run after run. It’s a very clear pattern that Matt goes through: every time something changes he makes the decision. This time… this time… this time… and it always comes back to the same conclusion. 

He immediately gets duped by Elektra into stealing money from the bad guys, of which she pocketed some. And then the bad guys rain Inferno upon Hell’s Kitchen. 

That's a fun little event during which another one of Matt's exes, Typhoid Mary, reappears: prior to that she's been therapied into a nice nun who's been helping Matt whenever he ended up in church. The first time I saw her I thought “Oh no, he's not gonna sleep with a nun…” but then, he already had. Uhm, anyway, the nice uplifting moment was the people of the neighborhood dressing up as Daredevil, turning him into a symbol. They'd been doing it for a while and some had been moderately successful too. But when the battle was won, one of them died in Matt's arms, so he turned himself in as Daredevil. 

Now that's the thing, that's where the main idea of this run starts really growing. And not because Daredevil goes to prison or refuses to fight for his freedom, but because of what's awaiting him there. It's not the superpowered villains, it's all the people he’s been sending there for years. It's such a simple thing - to take these “street level” bad guys, put them face to face with Daredevil, and tell their stories. 

Daredevil in jail is a stupid idea. Smart from the narrative point of view yet stupid for him as a person on many levels. First of all, he is doing it out of misguided loyalty to the law. He's still a lawyer after all. He's also religious but he kind of sorted that out for himself already. He says he wants to show everyone how even superheroes have to be held accountable if they step out of line. 

He wants to feel good about himself and again, a part of me thinks he wants to feel like he's better than the others: he loves that moral high ground, and whenever it shakes underneath his feet, everything around him falls apart. Mostly because he destroys it, but he doesn't focus on that. 

Cole, Kirsten (yeah, she's back too), and Foggy, they all tell him he's wrong. And they are absolutely correct too. He wants to be an example, sure, but he really needs people to see him the way they did before. It's not about his guilt, he's been forgiven in fact. 

The one big regret I have is that this run and this prison time didn't give him more therapy. Because the therapist calling him out on his usual BS was incredible. And she, along with another inmate reminded him that he's fooling himself and trying to fool others. All that makes more sense considering he still hides his identity, so whenever he chooses to leave, his crime and his time won't affect anything. None of that will ruin his life. 

The way the story leads to this social or rather political issue, it's very organic. It's something he’s been dealing with for years as both his personas: the revolving door between a police station and the streets, the poverty and desire for a better life that lead to crime, the mean streets. He's the perfect hero for this story and his flaws are most vivid here. He had both put people in jail and kept them out of it, he'd been a mayor, and he’d been accused and stood trial. But all of that he had been doing from his high horse.  

The truth in that story is grim and realistic - prison isn't helping reform anyone and only serves billionaires in their quest for more wealth. 

As Daredevil discovers that and makes a deal with the FBI, he gets released. And once again, he wants to go for that one big win. He always falls into that same trap, he always attempts to stand alone or with friends and win everything, save everyone at once. He’ll keep trying to, all the way to The Fist saga. 

But to get there, he needs to step over one considerable obstacle.

Wilson Fisk

Like I said, Daredevil and the rest live in Fisk’s city. He is still the mayor and he is going after all vigilantes and I mean all, including the Avengers. But that’s just a part of it. Fisk has an interesting story as he decides to move from the underworld politics to the real thing. He makes a decision, he retires the title of Kingpin of crime, but he forgets the one crucial part – he can’t retire his persona. He will go on to the next level with his hands still soaked in blood. And that’s something he shares with Matt: where Matt needs to be absolved, all Fisk needs is to just turn around and pretend he’s done nothing wrong.

The ironic detail is, he’s so used to doing his dirty work himself, he finds it impossible to fit in with polished high-class criminals. Politics seems like a natural next step for him but somehow the shadow games turn out to be more than he can chew. Thus the Big Bads of this run are Stromwyns - the richest people in New York. They pull the strings and even Fisk struggles with that idea. 

In all this, he has a few defining moments:

He wages war on superheroes, including mutants, which leads to X-Men Devil’s Reign

He goes to fight on the ground during Inferno (which was organized as you might have guessed or known already, by the Stromyns).

He kills Mike Murdock thinking he’s Matt Murdock. 

Oh, right I forgot to mention that Mike’s back. And he is seemingly real now, has his own arc, although still can’t escape the title of a spare Matt Murdock. 

Anyway, back to Fisk. Of course, when the time comes for reelection, Fisk wants not just to run but to guarantee his victory, which is not surprising at all. I mean take a criminal who gets a fraction of power, would they ever let go of it? In this regard, Fisk is your classic villain. And just like every other villain, he decides to cheat and use The Purple Man’s power to sway the voters. All of that leads to his ruin and retirement.

But not before he marries Typhoid Mary. Can’t call the ceremony lovely really because they both creep me out and I’d like them or at least Fisk to pay for his crimes. It’s not just the fact that he never does or it never sticks, it’s that later he’s received diplomatic immunity from Krakoa, and sure, he helped them during Fall of X and the drama with Orchis. But it’s still the same damn Kingpin. That hasn’t changed and he will return to make everybody’s life hell again. 

Why? He’s absolutely evil and we see that in a panel during Devil’s Reign. There’s no non-evil or non self-serving for him. 

Yeah, Fisk and Mary rowed off into the sunset but not before Fisk killed Mike. And really, that’s another opportunity missed by Matt. Could’ve played around scaring him in both his personas instead of going after him right away and revealing his existence. But I get it, he had other engagements including his actual engagement to a woman we all know all too well. 

I ran out of the images limit, so there is a Part Two.

[cranes-menagerie]

Ok, having watched echo....yeah this thing is a much needed breath of nice, fresh air

Yeah it has it's flaws, but they're much less common then stuff like secret invasion,quantumania,she hulk, and what if. I love the dynamic between Maya and her family. And as much as I love daredevil, I'm glad that they didn't make his scene all about him.

It seemed more like Maya was just one side of this much larger battle. Kind of like if they made a story about a goon encountering batman, rather than batman himself. Kingpin is terrifying in this show which I love that we finally get something like the Netflix shows. I'll admit it is not a perfect rendition of the Netflix type of marvel, but it is very reminiscent which is great. The only other show to give me this vibe is moon knight which is my favorite Disney plus show that marvel has put out. Echo is amazing and I highly recommend watching it

[kendallsroyco]

Charlie Cox as Jerry in Betrayal >>>>

I think if every Charlie fan saw him deliver the monologue at the end of this specific scene in such a raw, poignant way they would've bawled over. A gorgeous scene fantastically delivered by Charlie. Still living in my mind rent-free after almost 4 years:

[foodfightnovelization]

Foodfight! Deluxe Sound Storybook Analysis and Discussion

So here it is, here's the book we're going to read together. That's right, I finally got my hands on a copy of the Foodfight! Deluxe Sound Storybook. Now you might be asking what's so interesting about this, since it's clearly a picture book for children even YOUNGER than the novelization's intended target audience, but if you're as fascinated by Foodfight! as I am, it's an absolute treasure. The front cover is made up of various concept art for the film, drawn by Foodfight! character designer Jim George, and the rest of the book consists of absolutely beautiful hand-drawn illustrations by artist Ron Zalme. It's like looking into an alternate timeline where Foodfight! was animated in the style of classic Disney films like Pinocchio or Snow White. Just getting to see versions of these characters and this story that are actually visually appealing is delightful, and it's reminiscent of the early footage of the film before it was retooled into what we know today.

The book inexplicably commands a high price on eBay, which is why I haven't had the chance to talk about it before, but now that I finally have a copy here in front of me (next to the multiple Foodfight! plush toys I own because I'm NORMAL about this movie), it's time to snap, crackle and pop our way into this book and see what lies within.

Now, before I get any further, I'd first like to take a minute to discuss the "sound" element of this book. This is a Deluxe Sound Storybook after all, which means small icons will appear next to words or phrases throughout the story, indicating the reader should press the corresponding button from a soundboard attached to the side. Given these types of books are designed for the very young, I'd imagine the purpose is to help teach word association and auditory learning. Plus, kids just like funny noises! This book in particular contains 16 different sound effects, which the front cover describes as "yummy" seemingly assuming the reader has developed the ability to directly taste sound. Given this is a movie-based storybook, you'd probably assume the sounds are taken, at least in part, from the movie itself right?

Well, you'd be wrong! As you can probably hear from the audio I included of all 16 sound effects (played in the order they are on the soundboard seen above) almost NONE of the characters are voiced by their actual actors, and the rest of the sounds are just miscellaneous foley. While I can't say if this is common for books of this nature, it's interesting to listen and hear just how different the voices are. Mr Clipboard sounds far more menacing and less deranged than Christopher Lloyd's interpretation of the character, Hairy Hold's voice is far more nasally, and Polar Penguin is just portrayed by generic blubbering.

The only character to be voiced by their actor from the movie is Kaptain Krispy, and given that he was voiced by Foodfight! producer George Johnsen in the film, this makes sense as he would've been readily available for recording something like this. Some characters don't even HAVE voice clips- for instance, despite being the main character of the film, Dex is represented only by the sound of a spatula flipping. Overall though, the sounds are remarkably well-done considering they clearly didn't have access to any of the main cast members. You'd easily be forgiven for thinking Lady X and Dan actually WERE voiced by Eva Longoria and Wayne Brady in this, as the impressions are surprisingly convincing. I'd say for what they were trying to do here, they did a great job. Now with that out the way, let's talk about the book itself!

Normally I'd start by discussing the inside cover pages, but there really isn't that much to talk about here. The only noteworthy element I can see is that the copyright date is listed as 2007, whereas the novelization is dated 2008, suggesting this was in the works long before the novelization was. But given that these books take a while to print and publish, and that the Sound Storybook didn't make it to stores until 2008, these dates are fairly non-indicative.

That does bring me to another interesting point of discussion though- unlike the novelization, the Deluxe Sound Storybook was actually published and sold at retail, with various websites and blogs from the time being suitably puzzled as to why tie-in merchandise was being sold for a movie that not only wasn't out yet, but didn't even have a concrete release date. If I had to guess, considering the movie was at one point set to release in 2007, it's possible the Sound Storybook was already printed and shipped out to stores to match that release, only for all the copies to start gathering dust when the movie didn't come out. Retailers, likely not wanting to destroy stock they'd been sitting on for quite some time, sold the books for cheap in the hopes that SOMEBODY would buy them. And thankfully somebody did, which is why we're able to talk about it today! Despite this book being far more expensive than the novelization, it's also far easier to find a copy given it actually made it to shelves, making it easily the most accessible of all the Foodfight! books. So if you ever feel like dropping way too much money on a children's book from over 15 years ago, eBay has you covered.

Just like the movie, the book opens with Mr Leonard closing his store for the night as the last customer of the day leaves, only obviously presented in a way that's far more aesthetically pleasing. Of note is that he appears to be locking the doors from the inside, trapping himself in the building as it transforms into Marketropolis. The man's going to have a heart attack when he sees the what the cereal mascots do after dark... (seriously though, I think it's just for practicality's sake, so we can see both the inside of the store AND him on the same page)

This beautiful illustration is accompanied by some narration from our hero Dex Dogtective, telling us how even though we may think a supermarket is just a place to buy food, we'd actually only be half right. I find it interesting that he mentions you "might recognize him" from the Cinnamon Sleuth cereal box- given at one point there were plans for a real Cinnamon Sleuth breakfast cereal to be released in stores, it seems like they were trying to allude to this while also leaving it somewhat ambiguous in case the food licensing deal didn't come through and no actual cereal ended up being produced. Which is what ended up happening, so it's a good job they just said you "might" recognize him! I also find it funny that Sunshine's raisin packages are the same size as the boxes of Cinnamon Sleuth- who's ever going to need that many raisins? Maybe if you were manufacturing your own Raisin Bran and needed to add two scoops to every delicious bowl, but that's still too many! I always imagined Sunshine Goodness raisins in those tiny snack-packs like Sun-Maid or something, not a giant 17oz cardboard box...

The store transforms into Marketropolis, and I know I've said this already but these illustrations are absolutely FANTASTIC! The character designs look so charming in this artstyle, and it really makes me wish the whole movie could've looked like this. Seeing Marketropolis actually resembling a city at night is fantastic as well, given that it's so horribly lit in the finished film it always looks like it's the middle of the day (despite the basic premise of the film literally being this is what happens when the supermarket closes at NIGHT). Dex and Sunshine look really cute together, and I think it's adorable how he refers to her as "his gal" in the narration. Dex talks about how this is where him and all the other product icons reside, and I can't explain why but I really like the way it's phrased as "At night, this is our world. This where we all live." Dex then goes on to talk about his best friend Daredevil Dan, describing him as "the world's greatest stunt pilot flying squirrel on a chocolate bar wrapper", which is perhaps the most overly narrow superlative I've ever heard. Just how many other stunt pilot flying squirrels are there on the front of chocolate bar wrappers?

Dex goes on to explain that not everyone's as sweet as his Sunshine and that he often has his hands full keeping the aisles safe, as we're treated to another fantastic illustration, this time of him fighting Fat Cat Burglar off with his price-tag gun. I don't have too much to say about these two pages, other than once again mentioning just how much I love the art in this. Part of why I bought the Deluxe Sound Storybook to begin with was so I could share the artwork with everyone, as I simply LOVE how it looks- even Fat Cat Burglar looks great when drawn like this.

Dex attempts to propose to Sunshine, only for Dan to crash his plane while attempting the loop-de-loop, with her disappearing on her way to check on him. What's described here more or less happens the same way in the film, but the artwork depicts it very differently. In the movie, this all happens outside whereas here it's in some sort of restaurant or club. In addition, Dex is wearing his white tux but at this point in the movie he's still in his Indiana Jones gear, and Maximilius is also in a white tuxedo while in the movie it's purple. (However in the case of Maximilius, this is just down to to the white being an earlier look for the character, as on the cover and throughout the rest of the book he's still wearing it)

I have to say, it's crazy how much of this is dedicated to what happens in the first 10 minutes of the movie. We're nearly halfway in, and we've only just gotten to Sunshine's disappearance- not that it's uncommon for storybooks like this to take liberties with the plot, but it does mean the majority of the movie's events are crammed into approximately ten pages and so have far less time to breathe than the first half of the book.

Following Sunshine's disappearance, Mr Clipboard arrives at the supermarket pushing Brand X products, and we're told customers are going crazy for them. While this does happen to some degree in the movie, the art we're seeing here is of a scene that was cut out of the finished film and we've only previously seen in the novelization. In said scene, Mr Clipboard has had a giant Brand X display set up in the store, with a cardboard washing machine that sprays Elixir into the air and attracts customers into buying Brand X products. This scene is important for two reasons- not only does it establish how a washing machine ends up in the store (explaining how Dex and Dan end up trapped in a dryer later on) but it also shows how Brand X's plan is affecting the real world, and the danger it poses to not only the store but to people everywhere as well. On top of that, it's cool to see the way the Brand X display resembles Lady X's tower, as in the movie we don't get to see what it looks like during the day.

Sometime after Brand X's arrival, Dan goes missing and Dex follows the trail right to Lady X. It's here we see yet another scene that was cut from the film and previously only in the novelization- Dex's first encounter with the Xobytes in Lady X's penthouse. (Dex even has two price-tag guns here, something I saw mentioned in the novelization and assumed was a mistake on the author's part as we only ever see him with one in the movie). I really think this scene should've been in the film, as it serves as a proper introduction to the Xobytes, as well as the threat they pose to Dex and the other Ikes.

Dex attempts to fight off the Xobytes with his price tag guns, but he's quickly defeated and wakes up in Lady X's dryer where he finds Dan. The fact that it's a dryer and not a washing machine gives some indication as to which draft of script author Justine Fontes was working from when writing this- the I Can Find It! book (which I covered in a previous post) was based on an earlier draft and had them trapped in a washing machine full of water instead, seemingly changed due to this being too difficult for animators to render. As such, we can hypothesize this book was likely based on the same draft of the script the novelization was, given it's a dryer in both (and later on in the story Brand X are defeated by a lightning storm, whereas in earlier drafts/the I Can Find It! book it's a flood)

Dex and Dan escape the dryer, only to find Brand X is building an entire army of the Xobytes encountered earlier. This scene goes down more or less the same as it does in the movie, but visually looks very different. In the movie Dex and Dan see the army of Xobytes while looking through an air vent, whereas here they spot them from around a corner. In addition, the Brand X War Room looks very different to the way it does in the movie, on top of the Xobytes' poison being green instead of black. However these changes are likely down to Zalme not having any reference images of the room to work with, and so instead coming up with his own version of the design (given even in early footage it looks the same as it does in the final film). In addition to that, some degree of creative liberty is always taken with these kind of books anyway- what looks good on film doesn't necessarily look good on paper, and so you have to come up with something that still looks dynamic and visually appealing as a 2D image.

The book then skips entirely over the part of the plot where they cross the supermarket during the day, visit the Expiration Station, and meet Vlad Chocool, and we instead go straight to Dex and the other Ikes waging a food fight against the Brand X army. While this is a mostly accurate depiction of the battle as it happens in the film, there are still a few changes. For one, Kaptain Krispy and Twinkleton (the blue elephant) are part of the scene, despite both having been rubbed out by Brand X at this point in the film. Granted, the book skips over this part of the plot as well, and they likely wouldn't have wanted to include characters being killed in something intended for very young children, so it's not surprising this change was made. However, it does mean the Ikes are waging a war against Brand X before they've actually done anything to wrong them. I guess Dex and Dan knew they were building an army though, so it was best to just deal with the threat before it became a more serious problem.

Dex gives the signal for his secret plan, and Cheazel T Weasel starts a an electrical lightning storm, destroying the Brand X buildings while the rest of the Marketropolis is safety protected by lightning rods. It's a shame Cheazel only gets a brief mention here- I would've loved to see how he looked in this artstyle, and given he was voiced by director Larry Kasanoff they could have easily got him to voice a line for the soundboard as well. Seriously, how did Lord Flushington get a button on there over Cheazel? One is a toilet frog who has maybe two scenes in the entire movie, and the other is a classic "lovable rogue" character who plays a key role in taking down Brand X, helps save the day, and was even important enough to get his own plush toy. The Brand X Mashed Potato Man is similarly absent from this version of the story, but despite my preference for the character, he isn't particularly relevant to the plot, so this makes sense.

In the midst of the chaos, Dex finds Sunshine at the top of the Brand X tower, and as I'm sure you already know from either watching the movie or reading my analysis of the novelization, it's revealed Lady X had her kidnapped. (I know this is all incredibly obvious, I just like describing the plot of things, okay?) As the building collapses, Dan finally gets the loop-de-loop right and saves both Dex and Sunshine, daring the day and flying away. And damn, I know I've said this at least three times already, but I still can't get over how fantastic these illustrations are! The characters look so charming in this artstyle and they're drawn so dynamically against the night skies of Marketropolis, it's just a visual delight to look at. The one downside to all this is the book's extremely short length- just two more pages and it's over already! I'd have happily read a version of this that was double the length, so we could see how the rest of the characters and story would've looked drawn this way. (We didn't even get to see the Copabanana in this version of the plot) Still, it has all the major beats of the film covered, so let's press on and see how it ends.

Mr Clipboard comes stomping through the store, threatening to destroy Marketropolis. Dex gets Maximilius to use a piece of dental floss as a tripwire, and as Mr Clipboard's head hits the ground it breaks open, revealing he was one of Lady X's robots the whole time. Once again, the Marketropolis is safe, and Dex and Sunshine can finally be together.

This is more or less how the ending goes across all versions of the story (except the I Can Find It! book which Mr Clipboard is entirely absent from), but it does leave out the Lady X revealing she used to be Priscilla Pussly, the Ike for a failed brand of genetically giant prunes, along with Sunshine beating her up so badly her plastic surgery comes undone and she's transformed back into the hideous prune she once was. I'm glad this was left out- as much as I've warmed up to Foodfight! over time, I always thought repeatedly hitting a woman so badly that it destroys everything she's done to feel good about herself was a pretty horrible way to end things. Like yeah, destroy her sense of image and humiliate her in front of everyone, THEN kill her? That's so cruel, aren't Dex and the other Ikes supposed to be the good guys?

Either way, with that we reach the end of the Deluxe Sound Storybook. Despite consisting of an incredibly trimmed-down version of the movie's plot, the beautiful artwork was worth the price of admission alone, and it was truly fantastic to see characters and environments from Foodfight! rendered so beautifully. I'd say it's up there alongside the novelization, meeting the (incredibly low) bar of versions of Foodfight! far better than the finished film. I'm really glad I got to share this book on my blog too- while the Deluxe Sound Storybook has been talked about across various places over the years, nobody made its contents available in their entirety before now. I hope you all enjoyed taking another dive into the fascinating world of Foodfight! merchandise, and shortly after this post I'll make my scans of the book available on the Internet Archive for anyone who wants to check it out for themselves.

If you can believe it, long before I started this blog, all I ever wanted out of Foodfight! was a copy of this book someday so I could see what the movie would've looked like if it hadn't been spoiled before its time. But then I stumbled onto the novelization and realized I just HAD to write about that, then ended up interviewing a cast member, and ultimately ended up getting involved in a documentary that'll satisfy everyone's curiosities about Foodfight! a million times better than the Deluxe Sound Storybook ever could. However, finally getting to discuss what I was originally so fascinated by makes it feel like my blog has truly come full circle. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I'll see you next time!

[formulaireone]

(Review)

it took me 39 days to watch Daredevil (charlie cox)

to say that i love this show is an understatement, now that i’m done with it idk what to say other than the second time i’ll watch it won’t be the same as the first

funny thing is is that i started watching Daredevil after I saw the movie with Ben Affleck in a Czech hotel. but i don’t think the movie has the same effect on me as it did with the show

you know that feeling when you’re watching a show and it’s so good but you don’t want to watch it all at once so you keep procrastinating to watch it?? i just had that feeling right now ☹️

i loved all the character arcs, the development, the background stories, the world building— the references to other franchises that i didn’t know could somehow co-exist as a movie in the MCU

and i never wanted to watch ANY marvel movie or show until daredevil- until NOW— and i finally found a branch in the franchise that lets me get the hype…

now that i finished it i can’t wait for DD: born again, totally can’t wait for Punisher and Bullseye

the end of an era ☹️ but i’ll be daredevil for halloween :)

[kindlythevoid]

SORTA SPOILERS FOR DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE BELOW

not really but I thought I'd be safe

SO ANYWAY I FINALLY WATCHED DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE AND BOY HOWDY AM I FEELING EMOTIONS!!!!

I'M NOT EVEN GONNA TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE IT WAS GREAT I ALREADY RANTED IN REAL LIFE (GOOD AND BAD BUT THE MOVIE WAS GREAT DON'T GET ME WRONG) I'M TALKIN' ABOUT THE FREAKING M U S I C V I D E O THEY PUT IN DESIGNED TO MAKE ME SPECIFICALLY CRY DURING THE END CREDITS!!!!

LIKE. FUCK. TALK ABOUT AN END OF AN ERA. ALL THOSE LITTLE ONE-OFF, TWO-OFF MOVIES, ALL THE TECHNICALLY-MARVEL-BUT-THEY'RE-NOT-IN-THE-SAME-UNIVERSE-BECAUSE-OF-RIGHTS-ISSUES MOVIES OF THE 80S AND THE 90S AND THE EARLY 2000S???? AND THE BTS VIDEOS AND THE INTERVIEWS AND EVERYONE FROM EVERYTHING AND AH FUCK NOW I'M CRYING AGAIN.

AND THE SOOOOOONG. IT TOOK ME A SECOND TO PLACE IT BECAUSE I WAS A) SAD AF WHILE WATCHING IT AND B) I GOT IT MIXED UP WITH "TIME OF OUR LIVES" BY TYRONE WELLS BUT NO SIREE NOPE NOPE NOPE THESE MOTHERFUCKERS PICKED "GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)" BY MOTHERFUCKING GREEN DAY. AND DAMN IT WOULDN'T YA KNOW THIS WAS THE SONG I SANG AT MY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION SO THIS IS ALREADY ASSOCIATED WITH THE END OF AN ERA BUT TO BE THROAT PUNCHED LIKE THAT!!?!? AT THE END OF T H I S MOVIE OF ALL PLACES???? WITH THE CALLBACKS AND THE BTS FOR ALL THE X-MEN MOVIES AND THE OG DAREDEVIL MOVIE AND ALL THEM AND FAAAACK THEY REALLY DID THAT. THEY REALLY PICKED GOOD RIDDACNE FOR THIS AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

TL;DR sad ranting about the end credits. no not the end-end credits, the clip before that. yeah, yeah, you didn't miss much in the sad, angry rant I just typed out, but you should definitely watch the movie with the end credits to cry with me okay? okay. k thx bye <3

Edit: Messed up just a little bit. I forgot, it was my middle school graduation, not my high school graduation. XD Sorry, sorry, but my point still stands.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

Women leading superhero films has a long and troubled history even before losers online decided to make it their life’s mission to bully Academy Award-winning actress Brie Larson for the crime of being in a mediocre MCU movie. 2004’s Catwoman is the film that is usually pointed to as the movie that poisoned the well in regards to superheroine blockbusters, but it takes two to tango; the following year’s Elektra is just as much to blame for the negative perception of these sorts of films.

And how could it not be? It was rushed into production, Jennifer Garner really didn’t want to do it but was contractually obligated, it was supposed to be rated R until more contractual obligations nipped that idea in the bud, and on top of everything else it was a sequel/spin-off to a movie that was already extremely unpopular (Daredevil vindication was a long way’s off at that point). With all that in mind, is it any wonder that it’s one of the lowest grossing films to ever be based off of a Marvel comic? The only films that did worse were Punisher: War Zone, Man-Thing, and The New Mutants. Even the Howard the Duck movie did better than this shit!

The career of director Rob Bowman as tanked because of this film, with his credits being relegated to TV. Garner, meanwhile, fared just as poorly, with her career cooling off and leading roles not being a thing for her after that point. But worst of all is the career of the poor boat house in this movie, as it ended up appearing in Fifty Shades of Grey. And obviously this film dragged down the idea of a woman headlining a superhero flick for about a decade until Genocide Barbie Gal Gadot stepped into Wonder Woman’s boots. And while Catwoman would receive better adaptations on the big screen, Elektra would get no such chance…

...Until it was revealed that Garner was reprising her role in, of all things, Deadpool & Wolverine.

While the film isn’t out as of the time of this review, the announcement of her presence in it really got me intrigued about the last time she donned the red ninja outfit. I’m a huge apologist for early to mid-2000s superhero garbage, so it only made sense to check it out in preparation for the massive Marvel crossover Deadpool was about to deliver. And you know what question I always ask when going in to an infamous film like this: Is it really that bad?

THE GOOD

This film is just hilariously corny when it wants to be. I think when it does stupid stuff other superhero films of the time did, it tends to do them at least a little better. For instance, like Ghost Rider it has a quirky miniboss squad full of boring flat characters who exist for Elektra to kill. But while the ones in Ghost Rider are completely forgettable and bland, this film at least has some striking visuals with Tattoo and hot forceful lesbian murder smooching with Typhoid Mary, something I’m sure awoke things in the five people who watched this.

Garner herself is really, really trying, and to her credit most of the action scenes she’s in are pretty ok when they aren’t being edited to death. As I watched the unrated version, the brief glimpses of insight into her backstory are nice, and I do love that bright red costume on her. If nothing else, she does sell how cool Elektra is supposed to be with how she carries herself, even if the writing isn’t doing her many favors.

The final act is where things really get fun, because we have a big stupid battle against magical tattoos, teleporting ninjas, and genuinely the funniest possible way to kill a villain ever. I legitimately burst out laughing when I saw this:

THE BAD

Unfortunately, no matter how funny Typhoid Mary taking a knife to the forehead after saying her only two lines in the movie, two lines that actually give her more character than every other villain in the film, it can’t really completely save the film from its two massive, crippling issues.

Literally everyone in this movie is a fucking moron. The biggest moron is easily Elektra’s buddy, who sacrifices himself so Elektra can escape from the bad guys… but his sacrifice is pointless because they pull the info from his mind with psyhcic powers. He would’ve been better off running away with them! But it’s not like the villains are much smarter; one of them chops down a tree, and then almost immediately forgets this and walks into its path before getting crushed to death. It is genuinely absurd how dumb these characters manage to get. The dumbest of them all, however, has to be Stick. I genuinely have no idea what the fuck this man is trying to accomplish at any point, because he is recklessly gambling with people’s lives here.

But hey, dumb decisions are fine in a trashy 2000s superhero movie as long as they lead to some enjoyably dumb scenarios, right? Well, about that… Barring a couple of ridiculously goofy action scenes, this film is pretty bereft of memorable corniness. Remember how I said the minibosses in Ghost Rider were not as good as the ones here? Sure, maybe it’s true, but no amount of murderous lesbian smooching makes this movie more memorable than Ghost Rider, which features over a dozen insane Nicolas Cage moments. But maybe that’s cheating, it’s not fair to compare a Jennifer Garner vehicle to a Nicolas Cage one… so how about Catwoman? As absolutely shoddy as that movie is, there are a bunch of cringey, campy scenes that have helped earn the movie at least a handful of ironic fans. There’s just nothing like that in Elektra. It’s trashy and stupid in safe, unimpressive ways for the most part, and it doesn’t do anything at all to really stand out from the crowd.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Yeah, I guess it’s bad, but the level of bad that it is is greatly exaggerated.

The movie I’d most compare this to is, of all things, Morbius. I love Morbius more than most people, and even I’m willing to admit it’s multiple bright spots of trashy charm are interspersed with the dullest shit imaginable, and Elektra has a similar issue. It’s just so goddamn unmemorable and dull for the most part, with only the final act being packed full of silly nonsense to latch onto. But even that comparison isn’t great, because Milo was sprinkled throughout Morbius and was genuinely hilarious the whole way through, while Elektra just plods along until it remembers to actually be a little cool for the finale.

I guess really the film is less “bad” and more “not good.” Like if you throw this on in the background as noise while you do something else, it’s not the worst you could do, though even then something like Black Adam would probably be better. If you want to watch a trashy 2000s superhero film, I guess it’s not unwatachably unpleasant, but why wouldn’t you watch Catwoman or Ghost Rider instead? It just is in such an unenviable position where it’s the bottom of the bottom of the barrel, the least engaging super-schlock ever made, a movie not good enough to be vindicated but not bad enough to deserve the hate it gets. Elektra is just a film that exists. That’s all there is to it and aside from the single funny death, I have no strong feelings about this movie. I think a solid 4 is where this belongs. Not good enough to be average, not bad enough to be awful, it’s just there.

All this being said, I’m honestly very excited to see Garner become a teleporting ninja assassin again. Every comic character who was in a crappy adaptation deserves a second shot, be it as a new character (Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger) or as a reprisal that improves on the untapped potential that was there (Jamie Foxx’s Electro in No Way Home). I’m rooting for Garner to get her due, and for Electra to get the respect she truly deserves… But I just don’t really think this movie’s going to be getting a reappraisal no matter how good she ends up doing.

[terrarium-of-mistakes]

Episode 3!

I am spamming the Defenders tag today. Eh, I'm also binging the show today soo

Notes:

I get why I was told seeing everyone interact was a highlight of the defenders

I give up, I'm just going to watch all of the shows. Luke and Danny getting locked in a room together, and then Jessica chasing after Matt just broke me.

I did not come into this expecting to enjoy this show so much (I just wanted to watch it so I could watch Daredevil season 3 lol)

Some of the transitions in this show... they are fascinating (editor, why do you keep flashing different locations in NYC? Am I supposed to recognize them? I don't, but that could be on me)

The ending: jegrcy9rtusifzxiyfjcxgkyyjffyjjg

[theimpalatales]

Reading Review 2023

From a book series that inspired a TV show to being inspired to read a series because of a TV show...

I finally watched Netflix's Daredevil early last year, and I am now an unrepentant Matt Murdock lover. The TV show is so wonderfully well-made that I highly recommend it if you've yet to see it – but this isn't a TV show review.

"Let all the bullies know—all of them—the kind that use knives and guns and the kind that use money—they have an enemy."

The only comics I'd read before are Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series. They are truly inspired works of art and have, perhaps, set the bar high for my comic book expectations. I couldn’t really imagine myself enjoying another superhero comic. After all, one of the main things I enjoyed about that run was how grounded and realistic the events and the tone of the story were.

Not only are Daredevil comics wonderfully gritty, they offer a more mature story than I had anticipated from a comic book (yes, I’m on my journey to open my mind to comic books as a medium). The dark tone isn’t there for aesthetic, superficial reasons, but provides the necessary backdrop to some incredibly complex emotional beats and a series of stories committed to delving into some deep philosophical conundrums.

The Man Without Fear is a great story, and I would say its strength, for me, lies in its protagonist and his character arc. This is a compelling tale of a man experiencing tragedy and loss, and struggling to do his best under challenging circumstances. This darker comic book character has a palpable relationship with his own humanity and the impulses that come with it. I recently delved deeper into the Daredevil mythos and watched an interview with The Man Without Fear’s writer, Frank Miller, on the superhero. His comments have given me a new appreciation for both the character and the style with which this comic is written and drawn.

As my Daredevil obsession becomes a worsening condition (particularly with the imminent Daredevil: Born Again show that is currently being filmed/edited), there are a number of DD comics on my list that I’ve been reading in 2024. One of those comics is written by Bendis, who also worked on The Avengers: Disassembled. I don't have much to say about this Avengers comic other than it is short and pointed. If you're a fan of the Avengers comics (and if you like Hawkeye like me), this fun comic packs a punch.

Buy the books (If you use my links, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org whose fees support independent bookshops.)

Read the reviews || 7/14

[canary-song]

Ah yes, the question I always return to: Should I re-attempt to slog through the Noir Daredevil run or call it quits and do non-90214 research of Daredevil to make up my own version

[42donotpanic]

FIC WRITING REVIEW 2023

Thank you @loki-is-my-kink-awakening for coming up with this!

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either.

(I just copied @voiceoffenrisulfr who copied @foxywrites thank you both for tagging me <3)

Before we start I want to note that I hope to post 6 more fics this year and make it to 100 posted works before 2024 ^^

Words and Fics

335,338 words published in 2023

70 fics worked on

62 completed fics

most productive month: July with 74,045 words

monthly words average: 27,945 words

Top 5 Pairings

Clint Barton/Matt Murdock [16]

James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton [13]

Matt Murdock/Franklin "Foggy" Nelson [6]

Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier [6]

James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark [6]

Top 5 by Comments

Purple and Red; all the same to me (AUgust Writing Challenge 2023) - 78

The quiet life - 17

Building a Relationship - 14

Safe Place - 13

3 Times Matt's date didn't take his blindness well (+1 where it wasn't the biggest surprise that night) - 6

Top 5 by Kudos

3 Times Matt's date didn't take his blindness well (+1 where it wasn't the biggest surprise that night) - 255

Couch already taken - 208

The Reporter and The Lawyer - The Devil and The Protector - 146

Daredevil: The Man with Trauma - 131

Fuck Ninjas - 122

Top 5 by Hits

The Reporter and The Lawyer - The Devil and The Protector - 2,251

3 Times Matt's date didn't take his blindness well (+1 where it wasn't the biggest surprise that night) - 1,725

Purple and Red; all the same to me (AUgust Writing Challenge 2023) - 1,724

Coming Untouched - 1,722

Building a Relationship - 1,529

Fandom Events in 2023

For this part, I'm only adding in Bingos that I was able to get a bingo/blackout for If you want to know more feel free to check out my masterlists in my pinned post <3

Bingos

[5/9] Any Fandom LGBTQ Bingo - Bingo

[5/5] July Break Flash Bingo - Black out

[9/9] July Break Mini Bingo - Black out

[25/25] July Break Bingo - Black out

[15/25] Marvel Rare Pair Bingo Round 1/2 - Bingo

[6/25] Masturbation Midsummer Bingo - DNF

[13/25] WinterIron Bingo - Bingo

[9/9] Writers Pride Month Bingo - Black out

Writing Challenge's

[30/30] Slash Mulitverse Daily Pride Prompts

[31/31] AU-gust Writing Challenge 2023

[5/31] Flufftober 2023

Upcoming Plans

Fic's I'm hoping to continue/complete next year:

[Clint/Bucky] Soul Marks and Metal Arms

[Clint/Natasha] To see the Bruises

[Matt/Foggy] Learning to Live again

[Clint/Bucky] Now I wear my scars just like Tattoos

[Clint/Rhodey] Bring them back (to get you back)

[Clint & Matt] Who even am I?!

[Clint/Matt] Hawkdevil AU

[Clint/Bucky] Domestic WinterHawk AU

[Clint/Matt] Building a Relationship

Writing Reflection

After I got back into writing fic this year it was something I really enjoyed all throughout this year. I discovered a bunch of fun challenges and servers, met many lovely people (sadly all online) and learned a lot. I have hyperfocused a lot, especially in the summer and I collected a boatload of prompts I would like to fill in the coming year.

I have a lot of fics already planned for the next year. There will be a lot of feels, fluff and angst/whump alike and I hope I can keep the run I had this year going.

A big thank you to everyone who supported me along the way, be it with ducking/spaghettiing fic ideas, sprinting with me, participating in challenges, commenting, sharing or even just reading and liking my fics. You folks mean the world to me and I love every single one of you. Take care and remember, as long as you do what you love you get a good grade in fandom <3

Tagging: @stripedscribe @ravenmold @endlesstwanted and everyone who wants to participate (totally not a cop-out because I lost track of my tumblr, no)

[co-mixed]

Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky Pt.2

This doesn't work without Part One

If you have read it, let's get back to the characters... and there are still serious spoilers

Daredevil/ Elektra 

This lady is working towards her redemption. After she showed up to help Matt and recruit him for The Fist to (be the king!), she gave him a chance to go to prison. It sounds bad but in their world, I guess, it was a good thing. She gives him the opportunity to decide whether he wants to pay for his crime by taking it upon herself to protect Hell’s Kitchen. I was legitimately audibly surprised when she showed up at the hearing and let Matt know that she both knew his identity and bought 90% of the neighborhood.

She had ulterior motives, of course, but it still felt genuine. It’s something she would never have done before and something that shows us and Matt that she’s ready for change. Speaking of, this run is full of wow moments. The next one actually comes right after, when Elektra becomes the new Daredevil. She wanted to earn Matt’s trust so she not only took care of his neighborhood but stuck around to do his job while he was resting in a cell block. With the costume and everything.

The detail I loved most was how she modified her sai to be blunt. It’s a small thing that I hadn’t noticed right away but it just proves the point – she wants to step away from being an assassin and do something good for a change. 

She goes full Bruce Wayne too, she gives away jewelry and adopts a kid. That doesn’t last because, unlike Bats, she realizes quickly that all the violence and “channeling your anger” don’t do any good for a kid.

Elektra makes a pretty great Daredevil. She feels like a more solid fighter, more likely to win. “Without fear” applies to her more because she’s done it all: died, killed, came back, succumbed to darkness, fought it. She has nothing to fear but her own limitations. Which she does, it’s quite a change for her to limit the violence and refrain from killing. But she is wearing the DD logo and she is representing him. She shows the people of Hell’s Kitchen that even without him on the streets, they are protected. That’s a hell of a thing. 

Elektra is new at that and is looking for her own take on Daredevil. She isn’t like Matt at all. 

Cole North

Now he’s a new character and one of the best ones in a while. Plus, he’s also a narrator in the run. He arrives as a cop from Chicago who has to catch and arrest Daredevil. He’s a very by-the-book detective, he believes in the procedure and well, he’s in for a ride. Right away he encounters crooked police on one side, a criminal mayor on another, the whole criminal underground, and vigilantes to top it off.

He sees Daredevil as someone who positions himself above the law, which comes at a time when Matt is starting to doubt said law. And they make for an interesting dynamic. Daredevil saves North from a bunch of his colleagues and kickstarts North’s downfall as a cop. Which is hey, also his rise as a decent person. Cole North is a fantastic addition, truly. He’s something that Daredevil’s been needing for a while since he never listens to Foggy or his girlfriends. He even, and again I’m jumping ahead, appoints Cole as his moral compass. A pretty decent idea, although Matt will probably mess that up too. 

Back to Cole North though. He goes through a transformation that’s masterfully shown through his thoughts (and let me tell you again, how much I appreciate different perspectives) and actions. It’s not his book but he’s one of the most memorable characters there. And despite never learning Daredevil’s true identity, he stands by his side, believing it’s possible to change the world. 

The next step is actually leading towards what seems to be a massive event. But I’ll be ready to talk about that after I finish it. 

This, Zdarsky’s run and Devil’s Reign - an event dedicated to heroes battling Fisk, are some of the best Daredevil comics out there. They don’t play around with Matt’s lighter side anymore and I, personally, like it. There’s something incredibly stylish and dramatic about Daredevil’s life going all the way off the rails. 

It leads to darker art and atmosphere, to more mature stories - I like that and that, to me fits the character. 

Zdarsky carefully navigates his way through further character development steps to lead to a relevant discussion of social/political issues. It feels well-paced and allows the narrative to flow freely. 

The fact that he introduces multiple narrators makes the story richer. We don’t just get one perspective and thus, one point of view, we are forced to at least attempt to sympathize with everyone. This pushes readers out of their comfort zone and gives additional depth to the villains. 

Meanwhile, Daredevil himself gets something new, something he hasn’t done or tried before. And even then, he still can’t escape his patterns. It’s as beautiful and entertaining as it is frustrating. But this is the kind of frustration you’d experience towards a friend who keeps making mistakes. That feels familiar and in a way, nice. 

The main artist on this run is Marco Chechetto. His work feels heavily inspired by manga but at the same time, it utilizes the best elements of Western comic book art. This symbiosis works well for this specific run. Chechetto’s ability to brighten up the color palette and darken the image when needed is something that allows the stories to play out both in text bubbles and in frames. It adds emotions and even adjusts them. Splash pages and dynamic battle scenes feel like real action. Throw in some street views and pretty epic full-height shots and you get a truly epic book. 

There are temporary artists, who take over for one or more issues like Mike Hawthorne. In his case, the change was hardly noticeable because the main color scheme was still followed. I believe in terms of style, there were just a couple issues by another artist that felt off to me. 

All in all, like I said, one of the best Daredevil runs. 

[comicsforyall]

Gene Colan Saves Daredevil, Pedal to the Devil #2

The Man Without Fear, or a Consistent Artist Halfway through his introductory run of Daredevil, Stan Lee faced two looming threats, artistic consistency and painful mediocrity. For the entire preceding run of the series, Lee had been unable to nail down long term artists. This resulted in a cycle of the book coming to a screeching halt just as it is picking up speed. The chemistry and collaboration between writer and artist never seemed to truly click, with the slight exception of John Romita Sr. However even Romita’s run would be quite short at the end of the day compared to Lee himself. Despite the rotating bullpen of artists, the book always looked good and the art was never distracting or particularly lacking. Being passable actually highlighted the main issue facing The Man Without Fear, his identity.

As outlined in the previous post for this series, there is a certain amount of crossover between Daredevil and Spider-Man design wise, with their bright red costumes and contraptions to swing across the city. Add on top that Matt Murdock doesn’t have flashy powers, and throw in some truly generic villains, and you have a recipe for the blandest superhero comic around, especially with Spidey on sale at the same time. The saving grace of the first half of Lee’s run is the melodramatic plots and character beats which essentially bookend each issue.

Nearly two years in though, something seems to click and the book makes some big changes. First and foremost, Gene Colan is brought in on pencils for the remainder of Lee’s run, barring the final issue, which is forgivably given to Barry Smith. Colan’s work will elevate the book from an amusing bit of entertainment history into a more digestible modern experience. Next to the artistic jump, the stories will actually revert, almost re playing the hits.

The plots bring back older villains, and puts the characters into positions where their development retreads, but does so with much more intention and room to breathe. It is as though the story takes a step back and realizes that it’s going to be much more long running than the creator’s initially predicted, and as a result attempts to flesh out the ideas that have already been presented. This rehashing may seem tedious to some, but the overall package is so much more enjoyable, it arguably turns the book around for the better.

Karen, Matt, and Foggy

The cast of Daredevil stays relatively consistent as the series extends past year two, despite the character’s frequent assertions and attempts to the contrary. Each of the main trio makes their own bold exit from the central law office, for varying durations and to differing degrees of dramatic success. The messy law office thrives off spontaneous decisions and some deep traumas.

There’s not a lot of personality deviation from their introduction, each keeping a facade of the mild mannered office worker, while sharing more petty and self serving thoughts with the reader. Instead of sweeping changes Lee opts to run back each of the characters and hit their best beats again and more thoroughly. The relationship between Matt and Karen, Foggy and Daredevil, or any of the cast’s career pursuits are mirrors of the previous storylines, but with more vibrant art and extended time.

This approach makes sense if the title and company was gaining lots of readers back on the publication date. There’s a good chance Lee and company had no idea which of Marvel’s characters would last for decades as opposed to months, so they would lead with their best foot forward. It does sap a bit of energy from the story’s momentum once the parallels become clear, but the extra development time elevates the neat aspects of the first portion of the run into genuinely captivating ideas.

The group is flawed and weird and petty and perfect. The three are all far from paragons of virtue, with a hundred things for which each one of them could be criticized. Their worse actions though are always clearly fueled by insecurities and personal woes, in a way that keeps the reader betting on these losing dogs. As the readthrough progresses hopefully there will be some long term shifts in the dynamics of the main group, as there will definitely be tonal changes for the entire book.

Mike Murdock, the True Daredevil

The most enjoyable story beat that Lee hammers home through his run is the third alter ego of Matt Murdock and Daredevil, that of his own twin brother Mike. With a completely flipped, extroverted personality, Mike does and says everything that Matt doesn’t. He zings Foggy and treats Karen with both open admiration and misogyny, which he otherwise would hold back. The interactions with Mike are consistently funny, and become quite distinct when conceptualizing just how broken a man has to be to deceive his two closest friends into thinking he is his own twin brother.

Matt, who is secretly Mike, who is secretly Daredevil, who is secretly blind, who secretly is also… Thor? The idea of a secret identity is explored rigorously by this series, and in many ways finds the limits of the concept. The book sees just about every combination of fake outs and surprise reveals between alter egos and costume swaps. Unfortunately superhero comics will fail to recognize tired tropes in perpetuity, making the entire concept feel a little like something that’s been seen before. However nothing out stays its welcome in regards to Mike, and the sheer absurdity of making an alternate personality such a prominent aspect of the story is an effective hook.

Beauty in Simplicity

For this run of Daredevil there is a distinct setup of a status quo vs unexpected interruption dynamic. Essentially the issue to issue plot revolves around the three person law office, vigilante and all, facing a threat that will upset their established everyday routine. Whether it’s a maniacal villain trying to murder Daredevil or a job opportunity for Karen, the obstacles facing the characters tend to be surprises that put the protagonist on the back foot. There is no overarching goal to the series or the hero, and they are both placed in positions where they are reacting as opposed to pursuing a specific end.

The organization of the story saps a lot of the narrative drama, as it is clear that most things will return to normal quite quickly, if there is even substantive change to begin with. However what it does establish is a reusable base, one that the creative team can use to create a consistent and long running comic. The tone and main cast become relatable and thorough as they are continually explored.

Each arc lasts only a few issues and generally starts with the simple premise of a vigilante and his law office. Quickly the convulsions of the series are added, with the heroes being as messy as the villains, and then all is right and finished with a bow at the end, and the good guy winning. The repetition makes binge reading a bit of a slog, but would have worked well for continually drawing in new readers or as a weekly pick up. The interactions are witty, the plots are bonkers, and the main drag for the series is it does not feel fresh.

Get Your Words Outta My Comic

The nearly twenty five issues of idling story are almost entirely saved by the work of the series' new artist Gene Colan. The step up in consistency and quality are an equal testament to improved comic making and maintaining a primary artist, as well as to the talent of Colan. When the plot is less than engaging, the propelling force of the book really falls to the art. In the case of Colan’s run he rises to the occasion, and brings Lee up with him. The longtime writer may be at the peak of his dialogue powers in this run, writing smart wit and snark more than obtuse unnecessary descriptions.

The fact may be that Colan’s vibrant and clear illustrations simply did not necessitate any of the extraneous bubbles explaining what the art is meant to be. Equally true could be that the quality of the work was lessened when crammed with too many words and white spaces. Either way an improvement in art direction and a more focused writing style proved to be a recipe to fix the more prevalent drawbacks of the earlier issues.

The best example from this batch of stories is when Daredevil faces the Jester. Much like the other recent arcs, the formula is a weird and specifically themed villain has shown up to fight Daredevil and be defeated over three or four issues. The Jester is actually one of the longer arcs and the story is a pure slog when revisited today when clown villains are among the most played out tropes in the medium.

The Jester saga is completely worth reading for the art alone. Colan decides to play with the panels in ways that are unique for the relatively tame title, and heavily utilizes full pages of art. The dynamism from the integration of these techniques infuse the series with a little more heart, and sparks a bit of interest. Together with the panel to panel quality and the longevity of the artist on the series, this becomes a clear leader in the title’s early runs. Issue forty nine is the last for Colan but only for a bit, as he will return to collaborate with new staple writer Roy Thomas in just a few issues.

Closing Arguments

With the well established creators Stan Lee and Gene Colan both firing on all cylinders, Daredevil becomes a comic that can stand against the test of time. The stories are dated, and by modern standards even the art may be considered simple. The dialogue and early forms of dynamism make all the difference, and present a package that is a lot of fun even from a contemporary view. It’s not necessarily a great binge, and substantively isn’t the deepest comic around, but with a little patience the book becomes simple, pure hijinks and melodrama.

Enjoyable at the peak and forgettable at the lowest points, issue fifty of Daredevil sees Lee’s run come to a close. Unceremoniously departing in the middle of an arc, Lee will transition into an editor role and hand the writing duties over to Roy Thomas. As iconic as his style has proven to be, it feels like the right time for a change in creative direction. Seemingly Lee had drained himself of any more Daredevil stories, but had laid the groundwork that would facilitate the ideas and work of other writers for decades.

Citation Station

The Cover Original Article

Daredevil, Issues 25-50

25-50 written by Stan Lee

25-49 art by Gene Colan

50 art by Barry Smith

Daredevil #33, Art By Gene Colan

[foodfightnovelization]

Interview With A Cast Member, Action Figures and More!

Hey everyone! It's time for another update. As mentioned in my previous post, I was lucky enough to be able to interview an actual cast member from Foodfight! a while ago. Her name is Holly Cruikshank (or at least it was when the movie was in production, today she goes by Holly Ireland) and she did the motion capture for Lady X! So yeah, I didn't score an interview with Charlie Sheen or Christopher Lloyd or anything- but did you really expect that from a small blog like this? Besides, it was wonderful talking to Holly and she made it clear from the start she had only good things to say about working on the movie- a far cry from a lot of crewmembers who unfortunately had a thoroughly miserable time on the project.

For example, this animator (who appropriately titles themselves "tortured artist") talks about their experience on Foodfight! with nothing short of hatred. A large amount of said hate is directed towards the director, Lawrence Kasanoff, who apparently made them clean up his dog's diarrhea and switched up what they were supposed to be working on on a whim, as well as ordering constant do-overs on scenes that had already been done countless times over. This really sounds like a terrible work environment, and as much as I have a sincere apprecation for Foodfight! it's clear there was some incredibly poor direction going on behind the scenes, and that Kasanoff treated a lot of crewmembers really badly. But there are two sides to every story, and in my interview with Holly she speaks of working on Foodfight! with people who were genuinely excited to be there every day and thoroughly enjoyed their time on it. So without further ado, here's my full interview with her, taken directly from our emails with each other (the purple text is me, and the black text is her).

This was a really lovely interview, and I was delighted to talk to someone who was so happy to discuss the movie and share their experience on it in a positive way. Some interesting things to note here are that the show she was doing was a Broadway play called "Movin' Out", and if you look up footage of that show online...

...the character Holly is playing in that show looks INCREDIBLY similar to Lady X! The dark hair, the red dress, etc... is it possible Kasanoff cast her because of how closely she resembled the character he wanted her to play? I can't say for sure, but it's definitely interesting. It's also sweet that she talks fondly of Larry, remembering him being kind, fun and supportive, especially considering how negatively a lot of former crewmembers speak of him. Not that said crewmembers are in the wrong for this- considering Larry's apparent behavior during production I'd say all their comments are justified, it's just interesting to get a different perspective on the matter.

She also mentions filming all the motion capture, then having to come back around a year later to do some more scenes- presumably this was down to either not having correctly captured some scenes the first time (the motion capture technology seems like it was quite temperamental) or script revisions requiring some scenes to be redone. I think it's also a really fun anecdote to share that when she did the motion capture she was in the early stages of her pregnancy- and by the time the movie finally came out her daughters were old enough to actually watch the movie! It really puts into perspective just how long it took for Foodfight! to get released.

I also completely agree that the creative team behind the movie had "an amazing story and idea" and I think it's fantastic she was excited to be a part of "something inventive and unique"- I really do think there's a hidden gem at the heart of Foodfight!, it's just hard to see with the horrible animation casting such a large shadow over it- I don't blame her daughters for not wanting to watch the finished film). Overall though it was a pleasure talking to Holly, she was so enthusiastic about the movie, as well as being very gracious and open to answering all my questions- even telling me to let her know if there was anything else I wanted to ask. A lot of people who worked on Foodfight! had their lives go in very different directions after they finished working on it, and with there also not being many fans of the film to begin with, I imagine this was the first time anyone had really asked her about it. It was really fantastic to get to talk to someone who worked on the movie, but I have other things I'd like to share in this post as well!

That's right, Foodfight! action figures! No, not the plush toys that were actually released and sold off in arcades and carnivals as prizes, these were prototypes that never made it to shelves. These pictures were found in the trademark registration documents for Foodfight! and show off a wide variety of Foodfight! figures and plush toys, none of which have ever been seen before or since.

First off, we have a line of small collectible figurines, based on all your favorite characters from the film! There's Dex Dogtective, Daredevil Dan, Sunshine Goodness, Vlad Chocool, Cheazel the Weasel, Polar Penguin, Maximillus Moose, an Xobyte, Lord Flushington, a Brand X soldier, Hairy Hold, Lady X, Lieutenant X, General X, and a variant of Dex in his fancy tuxedo. That's a pretty wide range of figures, 15 in all! Towards the back, you can also see a set of 5 of these figures packaged up, and on the box we can see these were made by Playmates, as opposed to Nanco, who created the actual merchandise released for the movie. Honestly, the way these figures are designed, the way they have no articulation, and the way they're packaged, they remind me a lot of Homies. You guys remember Homies, right? The little figures you could win in capsule machines (or buy sets of) that depicted various caricatures of Mexican-American culture? No? Well those would've been popular around the time these figures were made, so I wonder if they were an inspiration? In any case, these figures look ADORABLE and I wish they were fully produced, because I'd LOVE to have had a full set of them. They're so teeny and tiny and cartoony, they're adorable. At the very top of the first image, we can also see the packaging for something called "Dex Dogtective's Utility Belt", but since we can't see the rest of it, there's no knowing what it would've consisted of.

Onto the second image, and this is where it gets interesting. These are plush toys of various movie characters, but they're very different to the ones that actually came out (a given, considering these were prototypes and made by a different company). They're incredibly detailed and have hats and coats made out of different textured materials (with Dex's hat being a hard plastic for instance), and are seemingly the kind of plush toy with a hard wire interior so that you can pose them in various different ways. A sign below also says "We're electronic! We say movie phrases!" Again, none of the official movie toys are electronic (but it's debatable if even these were given they're just prototypes). And of course it has to be said, these plush toys look FAR superior to the ones that were actually released. Just for fun, here's a comparison between the prototype Dex plush and the one that was actually released.

I have to admit, I started laughing out loud putting these two pictures side by side. I'm reminded of that popular internet joke (look it up if you're not aware of it) of a character saying "this edible ain't shit-" and then cutting to to them looking absolutely wrecked. With that being said though, it's not entirely fair to compare a prototype to a mass-produced plush toy, and I still find the released Foodfight! toys to be endearing enough that I'm currently in the process of collecting a full set of them. (I'm hoping to collect every piece of Foodfight! merchandise at some point, I'll make a fantastic post showing everything off eventually). Regardless, it's an interesting look into what might've been with the world of Foodfight! toys, and it's fascinating to see them all presented this way- it makes me think of that scene from Toy Story 2 where Woody sees Al's "Woody's Roundup" collection and realizes he was famous. Everything here is laid out in a way that makes Foodfight! look like it was a smash hit. Not in this world though...maybe in some other world.

Anyway, I have one more thing to talk about in this post. Remember a while ago, when I talked about the various Foodfight! websites over the years? It turns out I actually missed one! In around 2008, the Threshold Animation Studios website had a section on Foodfight! containing some very interesting information about the movie. You can view it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20081003194856/http://thresholdanimationstudios.com/foodfight.html

Unfortunately, only the website's text has been preserved, so none of the images have been archived. There's a main page explaining the plot of the movie and a subpage about the cast, but that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about the Foodfight! Foundation.

So yes, as bizarre as it sounds, Foodfight! was at one point planned to launch alongside a charity organization that helped cure world hunger and feed starving children. As admirable of a goal as this is, it's also insanely ambitious- cursory research will show the Foodfight! Foundation did exist at one point, but I highly doubt it was ever actually active or fed 10 million kids. It's fascinating to see how much of a hit Kasanoff thought this movie was going to be- sometimes it's good to have realistic expectations in mind.

There's one more thing on this website worth talking about- there's a section called Merchandising Program, and on there we see a list of tie-in merchandise they had planned for the movie. We see videogames, (which we saw a clip of at E3 2006- see a previous post for my discussion of that) amusements (Nanco is mentioned here, who were the company who made the actual Foodfight! plush toys released in stores) but...what's this under publishing?

That's right, it's a mention of the novelization of the feature film! The book that started this whole blog! This is the ONLY official mention of the book I've found anywhere on the internet, and it's fascinating to see it acknowledged in an official capacity by Threshold. This still doesn't answer my one lingering question about the book- WHY is there only one copy of it in the entire world? But if I had to guess, I'd say it was commissioned, written, published and printed just for the sake of showing off to potential investors in the project the merchandising potential the movie had. That's the only reason I can think of that there'd only be one copy, and it fits with the prototype action figures we saw above. But how did the novelization end up on eBay? How did the only existing copy end up in a Goodwill in Minnesota? (that's where it was shipped from) I have no idea...

I hope you all enjoyed this post! I know the topics I discussed here weren't particularly connected to each other and don't segue into one another very well, but I had a whole bunch of Foodfight! stuff I wanted to share and I didn't want to just post my interview with Holly by itself, since it was pretty short. So that's it for this round of Foodfight! facts, knowledge, and wild speculation! Tune in next time for something rather exciting...

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 3, Episode 8. Echo Review

The Stereo Geeks review Echo! The spin-off Marvel series is quite unlike the shows that have come before, and Ron and Mon had a lot of thoughts about it. We discuss the history of Maya Lopez, what worked for us in the show, what we would have liked more of, and why Maya 'Echo' Lopez is not like your average superhero.

What did you think of Echo?

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

Hello and welcome to a new episode of Stereo Geeks.

Today we're reviewing Echo.

And I'm Mon.

Echo is the first series under the Marvel Spotlight banner, which follows street level characters.

Essentially, it's made for non-MCU watchers who don't want to catch up on all the other stuff.

This has been a constant refrain from a lot of people that you just need to watch too many shows, too many movies to figure out what's going on.

This kind of explains why so much of the first episode of Echo is basically a recap of her adventures in Hawkeye.

Considering we only get five episodes of this show, it feels a little bit egregious for so much time in the first episode to have been dedicated to a recap.

Yeah, I have to say that one of the problems with this show is that it's quite short.

It's only five episodes.

I mean, you'd say four, considering the first one is really a recap.

If there is one criticism about this show that honestly I don't think anybody can escape, it's that it doesn't really feel like a full-fledged story.

It's half a story.

It's missing a lot of dynamics, a lot of explanations.

It's honestly missing a lot of motivations as well.

There are so many gaps.

And I'm not sure why.

You're saying this is the first show under a brand new banner.

You're saying this is basically not only just an introduction, but an entry into this sprawling universe that has been continuing since 2008.

And yet you don't actually respect it enough to give the writers, the directors, the characters the ability to tell a cohesive, full-fledged story.

And the fact that Echo, aka Maya Lopez, is the first indigenous protagonist in the MCU just makes this very weird optically.

Yeah, because to try and explain who Maya Lopez is, it's going to be a little bit tough.

She was introduced on Hawkeye, the Jeremy Renner show.

She was an antagonist.

There were connections between her and Kingpin.

Lots of excitement.

There's Kingpin in there, and she's got some kind of relationship to him.

And, you know, we see her making a very bold decision at the end of Hawkeye.

How does that affect her?

So I expected this show, which is a spinoff, to be not only telling us about Maya's history, but also who she is now, how she became the person who is connected to Kingpin.

Kingpin is a bad guy.

Anybody associated with him is a bad guy, but she's not.

Or is she?

So I just feel like there was a lot resting on this show, which four and a quarter episodes were never going to be enough.

But again, they could have done a lot, but it just seemed like there was too little time to actually give us an entire story.

What I really did like about Echo is the amount of history we learn of the Choctaw Nation.

This is basically where Oklahoma and Alabama are right now.

In the comics, Echo is Cheyenne.

She's not Choctaw.

And Alaqua Cox, the actor, is Menominee and Mohican.

I'm not entirely sure why they made this change, but I guess it works.

Also in the comics, Echo is deaf, but not an amputee.

The show actually adapted the character for Alaqua Cox's disabilities.

I think it's great.

I like the fact that they just quickly explain it away.

It's fine.

And we just move on with it.

I thought there were a few too many scenes where we were focusing on her prosthetic leg.

But then I was like, why not?

Well, that's actually something Alaqua Cox seems to have wanted to portray.

She wanted to make sure that people not only saw the prosthetic, but also that, you know, this is the person who has it and is using it.

And she was very, very insistent on not hiding it under her clothes.

So there's a few jokes about that in the show as well.

So I do understand it was like, oh, why another focus on this?

But that seems to be coming from the actor and not necessarily from a bad place.

So that's a good thing.

I am relieved to hear that.

And the thing is that there's so much action in this show.

And a lot of it, Echo is using her prosthetic leg to fight people.

And it looks really, really cool.

And it made me think we haven't seen anything like this before.

Even if we have, we haven't necessarily seen it from an actor who also has the same disability.

I think the show has got a lot going for it simply because it's doing this representation and it's doing it correctly, I would think.

That goes for the history of the Choctaw Nation that we get to see on the show.

So each episode is basically named after one of the ancestors and we keep building up, building up, building up until we reach Maya.

Everything will be explained when you watch the show.

But we get to see a lot of the history of the Choctaw Nation through these episodes.

I did try and look for a mythical Choctaw warrior called Shaafa.

I'm afraid she doesn't exist.

But in the second episode, they do play stickball, which was great to see.

It's basically what lacrosse is now.

And they actually allude to the fact that stickball was used to settle disputes at that time.

It was really very fun and exciting.

And of course, it has a story purpose as well.

Then in episode three, we get to see the Light Horsemen.

Unfortunately, I did search, but there were apparently no female Light Horse Police like we see in the show.

Well, none that we know of anyway.

Very true.

But the Light Horsemen were definitely a thing.

The show also has a lot of references to the comic books.

Yeah, let's talk about some of her similarities with her comic book counterpart.

She is related in quotation marks to Kingpin.

Her outfits, some of them have a sort of throwback to her comic book outfit.

And this is not a spoiler.

Everybody saw it in Hawkeye.

But when her father is killed, he leaves a bloody handprint on her face.

And the same thing happens in the comic books.

Noticeably, she does not have the handprint on her face as part of her uniform.

I'm okay with that.

I'm not sure what they were trying to do with that in the comics, but it's fine.

It's not in the show.

So in the comics, Maya basically has the ability to mimic anybody's movements.

She just has to see them at least once.

She does not appear to have those powers.

The powers that she does have is really her resourcefulness, her strength, her training.

So that's quite different.

I do understand why they changed that.

We do have a very similar character like that in the MCU.

But one of the things that confused me a little bit, or maybe it's because of my preferences, I don't know, there was something very real or realistic about Maya's story.

And then they have this sort of supernatural thing going on.

And I'm not sure I dug that as much as people might.

So I don't know how you felt about that.

So I was in two minds about it.

I really liked having somebody who didn't have any powers, who was literally just relying on her fists and her brain to get her through very sticky situations.

And when we did get to the part where there seemed to be something mystical about the energies around her, I thought maybe we didn't need this.

We have a lot of people who already have some kind of power, who can do something extraordinary.

Maybe we just needed somebody who was ordinary.

But I think the way it developed in the final episode, I really liked the direction they went.

I like that Maya is not the only one with this kind of power.

It just depends on who uses it for what purpose.

But I think a lot of our concerns about this particular story angle would have been addressed if there was maybe two, three episodes more.

We wouldn't have been thinking about it so much.

Yeah, I guess it kind of caught me by surprise because the two volumes that I read of Echo in the comics, yeah, that doesn't have any of this mystical stuff.

It has, of course, the connections to your past.

It was not written by an indigenous person, so not sure how authentic that was.

So apparently this is the first time that Maya Lopez, Echo has been created from an indigenous perspective, which is just shocking.

She was introduced in like 98 or something.

But I guess the reason why we're kind of excited about talking about this show are the characters.

I guess let's get into it.

Let's go first with Maya Lopez.

Alaqua Cox, her debut performance was in Hawkeye.

She was so good there, so good.

Now she's getting to carry an entire Marvel show.

She's fantastic.

It's unbelievable that this is just the second time she's actually in front of the screen.

Yeah, it just tells you when something is electric about an actor.

Her very first introduction in Hawkeye, I'm just like, I need to see more of this character.

And with every passing episode, I was like, okay, somehow we need to get more.

And I was really excited when they announced that Echo was going to be a show on its own.

I was disappointed when it turned out to be five episodes.

But having said that, Alaqua Cox is really brilliant.

Like, first, she's got resting bitch face, which is super relatable.

Like, her dad is dead.

Everything is going wrong.

Kingpin is a pain.

She is allowed to have resting bitch face.

But what I really loved about her is she imbues Maya with so much attitude.

It's just perfect.

She's perennially annoyed.

And she has these quirky little expressions when she's not happy with something.

And I feel like it's just so natural you don't see actors doing that.

So it feels like we're hanging out with a real person in a very difficult situation.

She's absolutely mesmerizing to watch.

I absolutely just loved seeing her in this show.

I honestly need to see more.

Like we need more of Echo in the MCU.

I don't care where she turns up.

I hope she turns up in everything.

Please.

She's just so fantastic.

I would love to see this character.

But Echo has this amazing community of people.

And when I say amazing, it's amazing because these people are so fantastic and I want to hang out with them.

But she doesn't always get along.

She doesn't agree with them.

They are annoying.

They've made mistakes.

And at the same time, you're like, I feel this person.

I get you.

I get why you're feeling this way, why you're acting this way.

It's a small, tight cast, but they're so good.

She's got two cousins, Biscuit and Bonnie.

Biscuit is a character who is a cliché, but he's so earnest.

He's Maya's biggest champion.

I love that about him.

And he's terrified of his grandmother, which is just so understandable.

And we have Bonnie played by Devri Jacobs, and we mention her because she recently voiced Kahuri on Marvel's What If.

She had a really small role, but I have to say, she has these looks, and I'm like, there is history here.

There is history, there is pain, and I really want to know more about this character who is so astute and so calm, but there's just like this boiling, surging sea of emotions beneath.

And the performance that really got me by Devri Jacobs was in the final episode.

We're not going to tell you what it was, but it's a short scene, but it's so good, so powerful.

And then we have Tantoo Cardinal.

She is a veteran.

She's the grandmother, but man, you do not want to cross this lady.

She's so, she's so good.

She has this no-nonsense, gonna-hit-you-where-it-hurts kind of attitude, which is just so fun.

And yet she has this really nice emotional scene with Alaqua Cox, which is just, it just really humanizes her.

Graham Greene, he plays Scully.

I think he had the best role.

Like, he's this cheeky, funny, Q-like character who's just bringing this kind of crazy cool energy to the show.

I love that.

But we've gotta talk about Chaske Spencer.

He plays Uncle Henry.

And this is a man who has so much history, just from his expressions, his emotions.

I just wanna know where has this character been and why haven't we seen his story?

What I also really loved about everybody around Maya, despite the fact that most of them haven't seen her for a long time, they've all kept up with sign language.

And I don't know whether that's because they weren't sure whether she'd come back and they wanted to be prepared or whether they just wanted to keep this skill.

But it's such a stark contrast with somebody else that Maya really is very fond of, who doesn't bother to learn the language, despite also knowing her for exactly the same length of time.

I wish we had some behind the scenes to find out how much time and energy it took for the actors to learn sign language so well, because it's very natural and very organic.

Yes, they do talk rather slowly when they're doing the sign, but it felt like they were actually conversing with Maya.

And I don't think, again, that we've seen anything like this before.

I would say in genre fiction, maybe not to this extent, where the extended supporting cast is doing as much heavy lifting with the language as the main character who knows the language.

What I liked about this show was that they play with the sound a lot.

The sound editing is very interesting.

There are points when they do cut out all the sound.

There's still music playing.

There are other times when they're like, yeah, okay, we're going to give the actors the time to speak.

So sometimes they speak out loud and they sign.

Other times it's just whispering and signing.

It adds to the atmosphere.

It adds to what Maya is feeling.

There is especially, again, that last episode, there's a lot to say about it.

In the last episode, there's a very important point when they cut out all the sound.

In fact, there are two important points.

But the emotional resonance of the second time when they remove the sound and there's just this intense, soft music at the back, it not only highlights the performances, but it puts you in Maya's shoes.

And you're like, how is she feeling with this person reacting the way they are?

And she can't hear them.

She can only see what this person is doing.

It was incredible.

That was a really incredible choice.

That last episode and the kind of scenes and technical decisions that they made me wonder if they could have actually pushed the envelope a little bit more.

How about an entire episode with just Maya's point of view?

No sound.

Let's experience the world as Maya experiences it.

I mean, we did see that on Only Murders in the Building, right?

We had that episode in the first season completely devoid of sound because we were in the shoes of the character who was deaf.

It was spectacular, spectacular.

And I just think that there should be more episodes and more shows and more productions making an effort to do different things to make us all understand what other people's experiences are.

Because honestly, a lot of folks just don't realize lived experiences are different for different people.

And how can they?

I mean, look at the MCU itself.

Some 30 or so properties, and the majority of them have been about one very narrow lived experience.

And we're already seeing so many people being like, oh, we didn't need this show, nobody needs this character.

Really?

Really, we have two indigenous characters in the MCU.

Maya and Kahhori.

That's it.

And so because we have Kahhori, we don't need Maya?

We don't need everybody in Maya's life?

Yeah, I have nothing to say to that.

If people can't see this and understand why this is just the starting point, it shocks me that this is even a conversation to be had.

It's amazing that we have this.

Because, you know, when you're watching this show, you realize that there's not just one perspective that they're changing.

Look at the kind of different sizes and shapes that the actors come in in this show.

No one comments on it.

And I was like at first thinking, yeah, you know, there are different communities where different sizes are de rigueur.

They're accepted.

Everybody just understands it.

But then I saw, oh, there's this other white lady bad guy who's also a little chubby.

And nobody comments on that either.

And I'm like, well, why can't we have this in every single property that we watch?

People are different shapes and sizes.

They live life.

Nobody comments on it.

They're just doing their own thing.

They are good.

They are bad.

Whoever cares.

This show just seamlessly does that.

The moment I saw the first fat character, my heart kind of sank, and I was waiting for somebody to say something rude or make a fat joke.

And then we had the antagonist who was a fat character, and I was like, oh, are they going to say something mean about her and nothing happened?

And then we see more fat people and nobody says anything, and there are no fat jokes.

And I was like, oh my God, is this how everybody else lives?

They're not making a statement.

They're just saying different people live in the world.

You live alongside them.

Why does it matter?

I'm just so impressed.

Were the creators even thinking about what they were doing?

I don't think so.

They were thinking about what they were doing for people who are indigenous, for people with disabilities.

I don't know if they were going as far as thinking, oh yeah, different shapes and sizes are respected in this show.

But I think it's because of that and the respect that the creators have for the characters and giving us this fully-fledged feeling of being part of this community.

And when I say community, it's like this community of people who love each other, hate each other, get annoyed with each other, make mistakes.

One of the things that we've probably not interrogated about superheroes is the fact that they rarely have families.

And if they do, it's like, you know, just because they're going to be in danger.

But Echo really delves into the fact that Maya's family is made up of real people.

They react to their anger, their pain.

They let it take them over.

Maya does the same thing.

But at the heart of it, they all still really, really love each other.

And I like the things that they didn't tell us.

You have these scenes, and they just mention something like, oh, okay, that's why it's happened.

I really like the thought that went into this.

But again, it makes me think I needed more time.

Like, where did Biscuit even come from?

And there's this revelation about Uncle Henry, and I was like, oh, really?

How come we had no inkling that this was happening?

And especially when you see the scenes where Maya is with Kingpin, young Maya and adult Maya, they are so powerful.

And it's weird to say that about somebody like Kingpin, because he's a scary guy.

Now, I'll be the first to admit, I did not finish watching Daredevil, five episodes, and I fell asleep during the sixth.

But Kingpin in this show is calm, cool, collected, and his every second on screen is menacing.

I'm actually beginning to think I should go and watch Daredevil now.

Look, Vincent D'Onofrio, the way he captured the menace and scariness of Kingpin is the reason why people are clamoring to see him again and have been ever since he went off screen.

And he is so good.

And what I liked about it is that his scenes with Maya are just so great.

Like you want to see more of them interacting with each other.

It's weird to say, but I kind of wish we'd seen more of Kingpin.

But only Kingpin and Maya together, not just, oh, let's see what Kingpin is up to.

For me, the reason why I was invested in Kingpin in this show is because of his scenes with Maya.

So you're right.

I don't really want to see Kingpin doing his own thing.

I'm not interested in that.

The reason why Maya and Kingpin scenes work so well is because her reactions to him are widely different from everybody else's.

And that is just something that needs to be seen for a longer time.

I think we could have actually done with an episode just on the two of them.

That's why I keep coming back to the same thing.

Why was this just five episodes?

I think we've come to the heart of the issue.

This show was clamoring to be a character study.

A character study of Maya, of her family, including Kingpin.

But what it ended up being was more plot heavy, with a lot of character study thrown in, but it was disjointed and disconnected.

So sometimes the motivations weren't there, or sometimes the emotional impact on the character was not felt at the right time.

I'm not saying whenever the emotional impact was felt, we weren't all tearing up.

But for example, in the first episode, little Maya goes through a lot, a shock load.

But she doesn't react at all.

Like is it dissociative?

Is it shock?

What is happening?

But we never come back to that.

The adults are reacting in a particular way, but not her.

Again, those are missing beats, perhaps because, well, most of the first episode had to be regurgitated, and the rest of the series had to be curtailed.

So there's those angles which really, it undermines the efforts of this show, and of the show's creators.

But that being said, the best part of this show are all these characters, including, I will say, Kingpin, which I never thought I'd be saying.

Now, Denofeo has also said that this show does lead into Daredevil Born Again.

Now, Born Again, if I'm not wrong, is also part of the Marvel Spotlight banner, which is strange because isn't this banner all about you don't need to have any knowledge coming in?

But this would be the third, fourth thing that Daredevil's in.

You know, if you take Defenders as a separate thing, I don't know if they're undermining their own cause.

So are you telling me that Daredevil: Born Again's first episode is going to be a recap of Daredevil and Defenders?

And maybe a bit of She-Hulk?

And also some Echo?

So basically it's going to be five shows in one.

But here's the thing, we all know it's not going to happen, right?

Echo will have to face that situation where, oh, okay, you know, we never saw anything about Echo, we don't remember her.

But oh, Daredevil, we know it by heart.

It's just the hypocrisy.

I know we're harping on about it a lot, but to get into Echo, you literally had to watch one show.

One show, people.

You needed to watch more to get to know Kingpin.

Sometimes the optics of what Disney and Marvel do is questionable at best.

On the one hand, I love the fact that Disney and Marvel are giving us so much time with Maya.

We need her.

We need her history.

We need everything that comes with her experiences in the world as a person with two disabilities.

But on the other hand, five episodes.

One thing I'll say about media, entertainment media, what it does is, it gives us an introduction to histories and stories we would have never thought to learn about or even know about.

So here, you and I are learning more about the Choctaw people.

With Miss Marvel, for example, a lot of people learned that there was the partition of India.

They never even knew about this imperialist history.

So I do think that entertainment media is a good way for us to ask questions we never knew.

So that's where a show like this, which brings in all these new voices, is so integral, is so important.

Despite the fact that you and I think it's like half a story, Echo lives by its characters.

This amazing group of characters who I would love to see again.

I don't know how we will.

Where will they show up?

Can we have a season two?

But despite the many story issues, and there are, we're gonna have to admit it, there are story issues, I would highly recommend everybody watch this show.

This is an amazing entry into the MCU canon.

At some point, I would love to see Maya hang out with the Avengers, whatever makeup of Avengers we are going to get.

And maybe finally come to some resolution with her family as well.

I just really need to see more of Maya, her family, her very visceral action scenes.

Give us a season two Marvel.

And that's it from us for today.

We hope you enjoyed listening to us talk about Echo and I hope you will give this show a shot.

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[mylifeinfiction]

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller

Daredevil. He hated that name. He wanted to shove it down their throats. And now he wears it like a badge.

A fantastic origin story that doesn't skimp on the action and fully understands the drive behind not only Daredevil, but Matt Murdoch, as well. There's some great moments in here. I don't really have much else to say about it. It's a quick—and essential—read if you're a fan of the character. Plus, it's always interesting to see where the choices from the show came from, and it's never surprising that most of them came from Frank Miller.

8.5/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.