Power Twins Comics

I know I’m late to this party, I only recently got HBO.

2 minutes in, “This already looks more real than Merlin.”

Do I like it?  I watched the first season on demand in two days, and made sure that the DVR will pick up new episodes when Season 2 starts April 1^st on HBO.

It’s a “hard” show, not for the faint of heart.  Within the first episode, there are orphaned puppies, a 10 year old boy pushed out a tower window, and “are they brother and sister having an affair?”  (Turns out they’re fraternal twins even.)

It’s a fantasy show set in a fantasy land, but illustrates well the self made trouble of medieval politics.

In a “traditional” fantasy setting there are four elements, through which the audience must be dragged, to understand the characters and their motives: geography, lineage, magic, and monsters.  Game of Thrones does a fantastic job of conveying everything you need to know about the geography in the opening credits.  Lineage, they are not as good with.  There are long family histories of blood and betrayal before the start of the first episode.  Even watching the episodes back to back, it was tough figuring out just who all the characters were to each other.  Of course that’s just a matter of perseverance, it is abundantly clear how they feel about each other.

Magic?  There is some, but they take a long time before we actually know it.  And of course, “are there monsters?”  Monsters, in a fashion, are what Game of Thrones is about.  There are monsters in the Seven Realms and across the Narrow Sea.  Most of them are men.

Exquisitely accomplished in this realistic fantasy, is the portrayal of the more fantastical elements.  The show makes you believe the story has some sort of historical accuracy.  When we see magic and supernatural monsters, we, the audience, have the same reaction, I think, as the characters.  Yes, we believed in the myths but knew they probably weren’t true… and holy $#!t did that corpse just stand up and pull the sword out of his own chest?!  Okay, can’t rationalize that, white walkers are real!

There’s also quite a lot of talk about dragons, conveniently extinct just longer than living memory.  When they discuss dragon skulls and dragon eggs which “time has turned to stone,” the paleontological anthropologist in me says “cretaceous fossils.”  Dinosaur skulls could certainly seem to be those of long dead dragons.  Then we see a skull, larger and definitely more dragon like than any dinosaur.  Why are dragons especially important?  The deposed brat “rightful” heir to the throne claims to be descended from them.

It reminded me of this video about dragon lineage:

For those who have seen Game of Thrones, I’ll point out that Khaleesi Daenerys demonstrated early on that she can probably kiss things thousands of degrees hot… while her brother’s crown sort of proved he could not.

I took a break from writing a story with a female lead to watch the pilot episode of a show featuring strongest female on television, and I was sorely disappointed with Supergirl’s treatment of female characters.

Let’s start with the Bechdel Test. This show should have been an easy “pass.” At this point, I am going to assert that the show fails. Every conversation between two named women included comparisons of Kara to her cousin, Kal’El, especially about how much better he is than her.

Let’s pause on how badly the show is at representing women to ask, “Why is it that movies and TV won’t call him ‘Superman’ anymore?” I mean, seriously, WTF, Mates? “The guy in blue”, “him” (hopefully lowercase), “this superlative man”? What is wrong with having the quintessential American mythological hero called by his name?

Instead of harping on each problem I have with the script’s treatment of each female character, I’m going to list how inebriated you would be if you played PTC’s Exclusive Supergirl Drinking game. There are several options, pick your item and take a shot each time it happens.

• Twig-like Calista Flockhart commands her assistant to get her a food item in an angry non-sequitur.
  • You are unsafe to drive. Good thing you only watch this show at home.
• Reference is made to Supergirl’s clothing being destroyed by her invulnerability and its normality (of course they are only talking about her cape).
  • You are probably seeing double.
• Supergirl receives a violent strike (from a male character) that sends her flying or appears to hurt her badly, though she isn’t injured so the visual effect really just makes her look like a weakling.
  • Unless you are a hardened alcoholic, you are unconscious.
• It is revealed that someone else knows Kara’s secret identity.
  • You are definitely unconscious, and your friends are getting out Sharpie markers.
• Someone has to convince Kara that she can do something heroic, because they believe in her.
  • You have died of alcohol poisoning; thank you for playing.

The real problem with the pilot episode isn’t the treatment of half the cast, though. It is the lack of character in all the characters. Everyone is a “one-note” personality. I.T. guy has a crush on Kara—interrupts himself to ask her out. Government agent hates aliens—literally says the line “I hate aliens” twice. Sister would rather die than have Kara reveal that she has super powers—her first response is, in effect, to call Kara “stupid”. The titular character doesn’t know if she can fly because she hasn’t flown in years—that’s right, she was able to fly as a child, her cousin can fly, but she doesn’t know if she can because–um, reasons?

We will probably watch the next two episodes because you really can’t judge a show by its pilot anymore, but it has an uphill climb before this Supergirl could be considered a positive role model.

Took a break from working to suffer a vertigo attack.  Unable to sit upright, I decided it was my duty to lie back and binge-watch The Tick (on Amazon Prime). I don’t recommend doing this in particular – vertigo is especially unpleasant.

The new live action version of The Tick is good, but different from what most fans are accustomed. It is edgier, darker, and (in this way) more like the original comic than either of the previous TV shows. Unlike the comic (except for three stories in the anthology “Heroes of The City”), the series is largely shown through the lens of Arthur (Griffin Newman). Instead of being a guy who takes a leap of courage into the enviable world of superheroes, this version of Arthur is knocked on the head and dragged kicking and screaming by the big blue balled up fists of destiny’s agent The Tick.

Honestly, Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick) would not have been on my list for the role. He is a good comedic talent, but the grandiose, ridiculous, and completely serious personality of The Tick is a hard mix. That said, he does a good job and grows on the viewer as the series progresses. The costume is a bit more armor-looking than fans will think it should be – more apparently a suit than the guy. But, this is a version of The Tick that can punch a guy who uses knives to stab The Terror’s henchmen.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The Tick punches a guy through a wall. That hasn’t happened since the comic. Punching was forbidden in the animated series, and the Patrick Warburton version was trying too hard to be Seinfeld for Superheroes. Though he does say of Overkill (Scott Speiser), “[his] methods are a little bit murderey.”

Every new (TV) incarnation of The Tick brings with it a new set of supporting characters. It has to do with intellectual property ownership. In addition to Overkill and his – er, roommate? – Dangerboat (Alan Tudyk), Amazon’s supporting characters are excellent. Jackie Earle Haley, who I adore as Rorschach, continues to impress as The Terror. He is aided by good writing like, “You were evil incarnate! Act like it!” Like Captain Liberty, Yara Martinez’s character “Ms. Lint” picks at conventional thinking of female stereotypes in superhero fiction. Not totally, because she is missing an eye, so of course she’s a villain.

I liked what I’ve seen so far. Though an abstract analogy and not a simile, about episode 4 or 5 I noted that it’s like “Gotham for Adam West’s Batman.”