My Favourite Characters - Peridot

I feel like eventually I'm going to do every character from Steven Universe because goddamn it's just so good. Well, the first one up is Peridot, the once threatening and intellectual villain of the series, stripped of her equipment and rank and trapped on Earth with the Crystal Gems only to eventually become their ally, friend and eventually one of them.

Peridot has probably one of the most satisfying and well paced 'villain to hero' story arcs I've ever seen. When she first came to Earth she was raised on Homeworld's ethics and thoughts. She was born with a limited amount of knowledge and personality to help her do the job she was made to do, she didn't have her own personal goals or beliefs, just what she was programmed to do. Once she was stranded on Earth and she lost everything that made her a threat, she still treated the Crystal Gems like enemies and feared them, it wasn't until Steven showed her multiple acts of kindness and being forced to spend more time with the Crystal Gems to learn about why they do what they do that she started to open up to them. Amethyst taught her to relax, Garnet taught her to experiment, Pearl taught her to be inventive, Steven taught her to be kind.

Being on Earth allowed her to experiment in new ways and learn to be her own person, developing her own relationships and interests that she was eventually able to share with Lapis, another gem trapped on Earth with no allies or places to go, and now the two are best friends (And possibly something more, wink wink). This all came to a head in the episode 'Earthlings' where her former Homeworld ally berated her for her traitorous and baffling actions to protect what Homeworld only sees as a shell of a planet. And what did Peridot respond with? 'It's not a shell. There's so much life, living here! That's what I'm doing, I'm living here! I've been learning new things about myself all the time! Earth can set you free.'

When you look at why The Crystal Gems protect Earth, they're mostly for selfish reasons. Garnet feels safe and free to live her own lifestyle, Pearl does it at out loyalty to Rose's cause rather than her own, Amethyst because she was born there. Peridot was an external figure that came to Earth with the intent to destroy it, but after seeing how curious, new and interesting it was, she connected with it and sees how not only fascinating and freeing it is to be there, but how it can do the same for other Gems as well. Help others find who they really are, experiment with something new and learn things about themselves and others they never would have before.

Also there's the fact that she's so damn funny, at times even feeling like a Looney Tunes character with her exaggerated and cartoonish expressions. Which apparently the people behind the show thought the exact same thing seeing as they recently did a Looney Tunes tribute episode where Peridot and a corrupted gem reenact classic Road Runner shorts. It makes me wish Peridot was an actual Looney Tune considering how well she would have blending with them, like a mixture between Marvin the Martian and Daffy Duck.

To wrap up, Peridot has had an amazing arc this past season, every episode she's in is instantly a classic, her relationships with every Crystal Gem is interesting to watch, she's a very funny person and is one of my all time favourite characters.

Why Doesn't Cyborg Work On His Own?

Cyborg has gotten a lot of crap in recent years, mostly because DC hasn't done the best job of handling the character. Ever since The New 52 DC has really tried hard to make him an important member of the DC Universe, making him one of the big members of the Justice League, giving him his own comic and his own movie, and of course like anything forced down audiences' throats, they tend to reject it. Lots of people making fun of Cyborg and pointing out how he's not really that interesting of a character and most likely can't hold his own movie and...yeah in someway's that's true.

But thing is, Cyborg isn't a bad character, he's just been badly handled. For me, and for a lot of people, Cyborg belongs with the Teen Titans, that's where he's always seemed the most comfortable and fitting. He behaves a lot like a football jock in high school, he doesn't fit in next to gods. He's the adult of a group of teenagers, making him the kid in a group of adults completely changes that power dynamic and is not where he belongs. Cyborg is mature, but he is still a rambunctious and energetic teen. Making him a member of the Justice League where he has to behave all serious and mature isn't his style. That's why he doesn't work as part of the Justice League and why he doesn't work on his own. Hell, this year's animated movie Justice League Vs Teen Titans kind of supports that as well, even though Cyborg is a member of the Justice League he spends most of the movie with the Teen Titans and seems much more comfortable spending time with them than he does any member of the League, even going as far to throw a pizza party with them.

Which is why the announcement that he'll be appearing in The Flash movie makes perfect sense, one: it has a power dynamic where he's with someone in equal age, maturity and personality so he's most likely going to blend well with him. I could see the two having good banter and conversations that would make Cyborg an entertaining character, interesting or complex? Unlikely, but an enjoyable one.

-Danny

Does Mary Jane Need To Be A Redhead?

It was recently reported by The Wrap that 19 year old Zendaya would be playing Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming. Lots of people have been both for and against this in the hours since it was reported. Now before delving into this, everyone really needs to actually read reports before talking about them because as of right now, this is just a rumour. The report says two unnamed sources have confirmed this, meaning no one at Marvel, Sony or Zendaya has actually said she will be Mary Jane. So those unnamed sources could be anything from assistant director to extras who were on set for a day, so do not take this as 100% fact.

With that being said, lots of people are for this decision mostly for diversity reasons, having a woman of colour be playing a love interest would be a new step for Marvel, especially an interracial couple which isn't done that often in general media, let alone superhero stories. And heck, Spider-Man: Homecoming so far is the most diverse cast in a Marvel movie so it wouldn't be surprising if this is true. Now as for my opinion, I haven't seen Zendaya act before so I have no idea how she'll do, but everything we've seen from the production of this movie so far tells me they're taking it in the right direction, so I trust she'd do a good job.

Then of course you have the thinly arguments against her being cast as Mary Jane. Of course you have the racists who just don't like the idea of a woman of colour in the role, but then you have the thinly veiled excuses trying to pretend they're not being racist when they kinda are. "I just don't like the idea of changing a character's identity, why can't they just make a new character?" Yes, because the fact that MJ is white is a very defining part of her, lord knows how many stories have been told due to her being Caucasian and will now never come to pass...Then you have even dumber arguments like "MJ is supposed to be a redhead" apparently these people have never heard of hair dye.

But that's something that I actually found fascinating to think about, does MJ need red hair? Yes it is definitely one of her defining features and iconography can be important for a franchise. It'd be like if they changed Spider-Man's costume from red to green, technically nothing about the character has changed, but that doesn't mean people won't be upset about it. But a big difference there is the costume is nothing but iconography. Mary Jane isn't a costume, it's a person, she does still have a defined personality even without the red hair. She's sassy, she's an extrovert, she's supportive, she's brave, she's a quick thinker, there is much more to her than just being a red head so is it important for her to have red hair? No. Not really.

-Danny

Is iZombie the BEST DC Comic Book Show on TV?

So yeah, I just got finished binge watching through the first two seasons of iZombie and I am craving more (Puns!). iZombie is based on the hit Vertigo Comic of the same name, and Vertigo Comics is owned by DC Comics, which makes this one of many DC Shows airing on The CW right now. And as I finished the second season and started to collect my thoughts on it, something occurred to me: "There wasn't a single episode I disliked". Yes there were certainly average episodes, mostly in the first season, but nothing outright BAD. Nothing where I was rolling my eyes at and saying "Oh my god you people are so stupid". If anything, the show took a massive leap in quality from season 1 which was half average and half super enjoyable, to season 2 which was half super enjoyable and half insanely freakin' good!

Almost everything was improved, the show developed more of a style (Particularly with those food making scenes), the jokes were a lot more witty and satirical. The actors were given a better chance to show off their talents both comedically and dramatically. The main plot was engaging, tense and had several fresh twists. The filler episodes were creative and memorable. Even from a production design things had drastically improved with much more interesting sets. The biggest problem season 1 had in my opinion is that there's often very little you can do to make cloudy and grey Seattle look interesting over an extended period of time, but this season added more colour, gave a better variety of locations and seemed to put more effort in how the series looked. Also unlike the other Comic Book shows that are forced to a 22-24 episode structure, iZombie seems to be allowed to have as many as they want. Season 1 consisted of 13 episodes, season 2 with 19 and season 3 is back to 13, that means their storytelling is much more concise with far less filler, and even when there is filler, there is still story progression in some way.

So that's all well and good, but that thought lead to another, comparing it to the other DC Shows on The CW. Flash had an amazing first season and a hit & miss second season. Arrow had two really good seasons and two really bad seasons. Supergirl & Legends of Tomorrow were for the most part average with some bad stuff thrown in every so often. So technically speaking, iZombie is the best DC Comics show on television (Don't even get me started on Teen Titans Go, it's horrendous). I mean if we're talking about which show has reached the peak of quality, it's Flash. And yes, iZombie is currently batting the same average as Arrow was at this part in its run. But even still, I can think of plenty of episodes in seasons 1 & 2 or Arrow I didn't like. But iZombie, i don't think there is a single episode that I would give a negative review for, there are maybe 6-7 I would say were simply okay, but that's still a positive review. But likewise, there are about 20 episodes I would say are really great.

*Spoilers in this paragraph*
Now that's not to say I don't have problems with the series. I wish the story with Liv's family got a proper ending in season 2, I feel Major's stories in both seasons had too many similarities, and for the love of god stop killing off Liv's zombie boyfriends!

Percentage wise, iZombie is currently at a 100% success rate, and that's not just me, but season 2 currently has a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Season 1 has 96%). So far iZombie has not put a step out of line, and even though Flash is still my favourite-again, when it comes to peak of success, Flash is on top-depending on where both shows go in their 3rd season the wind could start blowing in the opposite direction.

So in case it wasn't obvious, I kinda really like this show and highly recommend it.

-Danny

Are We In A New Age of Comic Books?

Comic Books over the past 100 years have popularly been divided into several time periods, defined by their storytelling, business practices and place in pop-culture. The Golden Age (1938-1950) saw the rise of comics as a storytelling medium and with the birth of popular characters such as Superman, Batman & Captain America, as well as most of the tropes and storytelling devices used today were created. However come the end of WW2 superheroes as a concept began to get less and less popular, thus leading to other concepts taking over such as Westerns and Romance comics. The Silver Age (1956-1970) saw superheroes return to popularity with new characters such as The Flash, Spider-Man and The Avengers. It also saw the Comics Code Authority take power which restricted and censored controversial plots, leading to most stories being wacky and over the top. The Bronze Age (1970-1985) saw the Comics Code Authority die down, allowing comics to begin tackling more serious and grounded issues, including death, alcoholism, drug addiction and the Vietnam War.

Then finally there is The Modern Age (1985-Present) or as I prefer to call it: The Dark Age. This saw the rise in popularity in stories like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns impact comic books across the field, suddenly every comic thought being dark & gritty was the way to go and the only option to be seen as serious storytelling. The Death of Superman, Identity Crisis, Cry For Justice-Okay so a lot of it was DC, but Marvel had their fair share of needlessly dark & gritty stories, you think Tobey Maguire gave us Emo Peter? Try reading anything from The Clone Saga; that is Emo Peter. Not to mention Spawn, Youngblood, Blade, all needlessly violent and gritty, even when it was done well (The Crow) it still enforced the idea this was the only way to tell stories. Even more so the actual industry itself was not doing well during this. The Rise and Fall of the Speculator Boom meant lots of new publishers were created and collapsed within their first year, meaning an over-saturation of material and a general downgrade in readership. Marvel even nearly went bankrupt in the 90s. It was truly a Dark Age to be a comic book fan, and it lasted for a long, long time.

But in my opinion, not only have we move passed that, but we are in such a good age to be a comic book reader. Now it’s hard to define when this happened, my estimates are somewhere around 2012 but this age didn’t really hit its stride until 2015/16. Now the big thing that jump started this new age is two things, one is the internet, because of this it is so much easier now than ever to have your opinion on comic books to be heard, before creators could only ever get feedback through letters, which meant the majority of their audiences’ opinions wouldn’t be heard. Now they could hear opinions and see reviews within hours of publishing, from thousands of people. Then of course there is just the general popularity of superhero stories thanks to their movies. Say what you want about the over-saturation of our blockbusters, but it’s no secret that superhero movies make big money these days. Everyone goes to see them, everyone knows and loves these characters. 10 years ago people would have laughed at the idea of Thor getting his own movie, but now? People scoff at the idea that there was a time where Hollywood was sceptical on if Spider-Man would work as a movie. And while comic sales still aren't what they used to be, they’re slowly picking their way back up in sales.

Even more so is how the industry works and how these stories are written. While DC and Marvel still dominate the majority of the market, lots of smaller publishers are getting a chance to shine in the spotlight too. Comic books like The Walking Dead, Saga, The Wicked + The Divine are considered must reads for any comic book fan. Mostly because of how accessible it is to publish, market and read these comics, again, thanks to the internet. There’s also much more an attempt to diversify comics, to be more inclusive and reach out to a wider audience. Kamala Khan as Ms Marvel, Miles Morales as Spider-Man, Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz as Green Lanterns. Hell, there’s something to be said about how big these stories got. Back in 1992 when it was announced DC were going to kill off Superman that was so big it made it to national news, that was insane to think a comic book story would be that important. But nowadays there’s a big story every few months that makes the news, a female Thor, making Captain America a Nazi, these all made headlines for how mind blowing they were. The focus on diversity also played a role behind the scenes too, more female writers and artists were brought on board, people of different backgrounds were given chances to tell stories, while granted this is an area that still isn’t perfect, it’s a lot better than it used to be.

Then of course there were two major events in the big two to shake things up. Marvel’s Secret Wars and DC Rebirth. Both publishers had major continuity reboots just a year apart and relaunched most of their comic books. While this was the mostly done as a way to invite new readers in on their stories, it also worked to completely rebrand their series. Marvel’s event meant ending their Ultimate Series, which was considered a more grounded version of their characters, when really it just turned out to be really angsty and mean spirited. While DC was joining their prior continuity with the New 52 continuity, overall making the majority of their comics far less dark in tone (Except where appropriate) and going back to what made their characters likeable in the first place, hell, in the DC Rebirth One Shot, the day is saved thanks to a hug…a hug. When would you have ever seen something like that in The Dark Age of comic books?

So to sum up, looks like The Dark Age of comic books is over, now we're in an age where our characters are diverse, our stories teach compassion and our audiences are more engaged than ever. So far, it seems like a fairly good age to be in, who knows where it'll go from here.

-Danny

Fandom Update

Story link here.

Oh hey, the Steven Universe fandom is yet again in the news for being a toxic, aggressive and inhumane fandom. Just after I did a blog post about how fandoms really need to stop thinking in this cult like manner or that the world revolves around them.

So in case you're not bothered with reading the whole thing, i'll sum it up. A storyboard artist and writer for Steven Universe shared her thoughts on Twitter on two characters possible relationship and fans who disagreed with that, thought they had the right to insult her, pick on her, tell her how offensive she is.

I can not believe there are people in the world who actually need this to be spoken to them.

ARTISTS DO NOT OWE YOU SHIT.

DISAGREEING WITH PEOPLE OVER SUBJECTIVE AND FICTIONAL WORK IS NO REASON TO INSULT PEOPLE.

DON'T-BE-A-DICK.

Especially for a show that preaches kindness, forgiveness and to see the best in people, how can scum who see themselves as "fans" not practice what is preached to them? Even worse that most of it comes from adults, people who are supposed to be functioning members of society and think because someone, somewhere had a different opinion on a fictional piece of work, they had the right to berate that person...and the fact dozens of people had the same thought pattern is sad and terrifying at the exact same time.

-Danny

What does it mean to be a fan?

'Fandom' has become somewhat of a toxic term these days. It was the 'Fandom' of Ghostbusters that tried to make a movie fail before it even came out. It was the 'Fandom' of Beyonce that doxxed a man's home address simply because he made a joke about her baby. It was the 'Fandom' of Steven Universe that drove a person to depression from the harassment she received simply because she did some fan art where she made a fat character skinny. I mean I guess we shouldn't be surprised, fan is short for fanatic, and boy do some of these people really want to live up to that name...

Now obviously the first thing to address is that not obviously everyone who likes a certain product with an aggressive fanbase is a bad person. Hell, I myself are a fan of plenty of products that have not had the best reputation recently. DC, Video Games and the previously mentioned Ghostbusters and Steven Universe. I'm sure the worst of these fandoms are the vocal minority, but here's the thing, when even 1% of a product with literally millions of fans around the world focus in on harrassing one person, that is still going to feel like an infinite amount of people hating on them. Especially when it's for an incredibly stupid reason like "They did fan art and I don't like it". I think what made it even worse is when we started naming said fandoms. "SuperWhoLockers" "Bronies" "One Directioners". I'm sure the intentions behind them was innocent, trying to give a sense of community of these people brought together by similar interests, but like most things, once it gets too big to control, things get out of hand real quickly.

Eventually we reached a stage where people didn't just appreciate these creations, but started to make it a part of their identity. Started to get so involved that an attack on the work was an attack on them personally. A guy on YouTube made a joke about Beyonce's baby? WE MUST END HIM! When really if they just took a second to think about it and realise...does it really matter? Do you think Beyonce is offended some random guy made a joke at the expense of her baby? She's famous, she knows how to deal with trolls, besides, that kid is already living a better life than any of us, I don't think this'll sway her much.

It goes as far as people to get offended over "shipping". Yeah, we're at the point where people get offended is someone doesn't like their fanfic version of characters. I literally saw someone on Tumblr get upset because someone said it was ridiculous to draw Rey and Kylo from The Force Awakens as a couple...Oh my god who the hell cares!? You're upset that some stranger on the internet things your fictionalised version of a fictional film is stupid!? Really, just for one second think about that. Yes it's rude of them but that doesn't actually mean it's something worth getting upset over. For one thing shipping itself is inherently a dumb concept to take seriously, it's supposed to just be a what if scenario, a fun little "Oh wouldn't it be cute if these two ended up together?" But people get seriously offended if the people who work on the actual series don't make it canon. Oh you want Bucky and Steve to be a couple but they would never do that in the movies? Hey good news, they're not real people! If you want them to be together then write your own story! Of course this goes into the idea of canonical storytelling in multiply adapted stories, so that's a topic i'll save for another time.

Point is people really need to learn to grow the fuck up. Art is an important part of our culture, it always has been, and it makes perfect sense that if something that you're connected to and means something to you is attacked that you'll be offended. But like everything, there needs to be a line drawn. Meaning no doxxing people's personal information, no making stupid petitions because a bunch of critics have opinions you don't agree with, and absolutely no harassing people. Even if someone misrepresents a character or has a different interpretation from the norm, you never have the right to be an asshole to someone. Especially over a fucking piece of fiction.

So okay, that's all of what being a fan shouldn't be. So what should a fan be? Well that's harder to describe. You often hear people online debate about what makes a "true fan". "Oh? You haven't seen every single episode of every single Star Trek series? Then you're not a true fan!" "You didn't play the original Pokemon games? Then you're not a true fan" "You found this band through a different way that i did and at a later date? Then you're not a true fan". So let's just put this to rest. There is no such thing as a true fan. There is no one way to appreciate a product. There is no certain time or criteria you have to meet in order to consider yourself a fan of something. For my personal interpretation, being a fan just means you have a huge liking for something, understand the basic meanings behind it, wish to explore more and like talking about it. It doesn't mean blind love of everything it does even when it's bad, it doesn't mean nitpicking every slight difference or continuity error in a new adaptation. It means liking it, knowing why you like it, and being interested in talking about it, not shouting your opinions at people until they agree with you and assuming everyone different is wrong.

TL;DR: Enjoy what you like but don't be a dick about it.

-Danny