It's Thursday, this is Dora Reads, so let's get us some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
Repeat Anything That Seems To Work...
At the end of July, I put down my metaphorical CWU pen, giving this series time for a nice breather over August.
Sensing the pen-putting-down-age, Marvel jumped up and announced none other than ROBERT DOWNEY JUNIOR as DOCTOR FREAKING DOOM!
Warning: flashing images
via IGN
The interwebs obviously responded to this in a calm, collected, manner, and spoke eloquently at the nuanced potential-
Nah. I can't even finish that.
The interwebs went freaking batpoop.
MCU/Marvel stans were about ready to challenge each other to pistols at dawn over whether this was THE BEST THING EVER or THE WORST MISTAKE EVER MADE!
...There really was no better publicity moment ever conceived for the MCU.
In case you're entirely new to comics and/or Marvel movies (in which case: Hi! Hope you're enjoying my post! 😊) - RDJ's iconic role as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, is what kick-started the modern MCU, and, arguably, held it together for a heckuva long time.
So the return of RDJ to the MCU is a big deal to fans -
- whether that's a good thing or a bad thing doesn't really seem to make a difference right now, everyone's just busy shouting at each other, in the time-honoured tradition of the interwebs 😅
How exactly the man that fans know as Tony Stark is gonna turn up as one of the iconic Marvel villains has yet to be seen.
The general theory is that, since there's more than one Tony Stark alternate-timeline variant in the comics who is Doctor Doom, it'll probs be that.
...Because Marvel has an alternate-timeline variant for everything - and will not fail to repeat any that seem to work, lol.
Plus, y'know, they kind of had to think outside the box because of the whole Kang thing...
For those who don't know, the character of Kang the Conquerer was well on the way to becoming Marvel's next Big Bad™, and had appeared in several MCU properties already.
But [CW: domestic violence] Jonathan Majors - the actor who plays Kang in the MCU - was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend last year, and sentenced earlier this year to probation, including taking part in a domestic abuse intervention programme.
So Marvel dropped him, and had to do some serious rethinking of the whole franchise moving forwards.
...Basically RDJ is pulling their butts out of the fire, financially as well as creatively, because they know that RDJ + MCU = $$$!
Never Enough Klaus
Of course, the big thing for me over August was THE LAST EVER SERIES OF THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY (TUA)!!!!
...In case you're new here (again, hi!) - I'm a mahoosive TUA fan, both comics and TV series, as well as a mahoosive general Gerard Way/My Chemical Romance fan because despite never rocking the hairstyles or make-up, I am an OG emo child, and emo children never grow old 😅
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| Via Giphy |
Due to a variety of things, I didn't watch the series right away (le gasp!) and then I started seeing people online being like -
'55 Reasons Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy is so bad that it actually melted an ice-cap!'
...which concerned me, even though I know that the internet never found a form of media it couldn't hate with the kind of vehemence we should direct at war criminals instead.
(That analogy got darker than intended, but I think it's kinda right, so I'ma leave it in!)
So, with some apprehension, I watched the series and...
...it was OK.
Was it the best of the TUA series? No.
Did it kill a polar bear? Also no.
I can also confidently say it's in my top 4 of TUA series 😅
[SPOILER SECTION]
Look - most of the series was pretty good.
I have no idea WTF they were thinking with the last episode, but most of the rest was pretty decent, barring the odd plothole or continuity error:
- How did Claire know Klaus was immortal?! He had only just become immortal again and he didn't tell her!
- Where did the subway station even come from?!
- Why the HELL was Jennifer INSIDE a squid as a child?!
- How did Lila's family pop into existence in this timeline, but none of the other parents?!
- What about the other marigold children - like the ones who became the Sparrows? Shouldn't there be a version of them here? And if they did - surely they'd also be needed for the Cleanse?
- What happened to the Void?!
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| Via Giphy |
...a couple of these can be excused, but when they start to pile up like this, it really doesn't help with the overall view of the series.
Especially since - unlike the comics, where vampire chimp drug bosses are a thing which is never really explained and we just all kind of go with, the TV series has always tried to be a little more grounded.
(...Only a little. There is a tentacle-monster in Ben's stomach, after all 😅)
There were awesome parts though - Klaus' Hotel Oblivion comics storyline was def. the way to go.
And it showed, imho, that this was one of the only comics-based elements left for the show to play with (they'd run out of comics, fyi.) It just was so much better than a lot of the other stuff going on.
Granted, there wasn't enough Klaus in general, but then, there's never enough Klaus 😉
And the Baby Shark van thing was inspired!
Most of the Hargreeveses: *irritated at Baby Shark*
Me: *bopping*
Camera: *cuts to Klaus*
Klaus: *bopping*
...I love that song. Probably because I don't have any kids.
And I know, I know - people didn't like the Five/Lila thing.
I did. 😎😘
Not as a couple - God no! They're more of a train wreck waiting to happen than even Diego/Lila are. I'm honestly surprised they didn't kill each other.
But it made sense within the story and was acted impeccably - how can I argue with that?
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| Via Giphy |
The ending - I'm not a fan.
It didn't make sense, and was generally underwhelming.
You know what it felt like? It felt like they'd written themselves into a corner, and had to find a way to write themselves out of it somehow, in a short space of time.
Anyone who has ever written fiction without a plan (hi!) knows what that feels like, but - and here's the key - you need to resist the urge to do messy twist-sh** to fix it.
...Unless you're Gerard Way, who they definitely should have called and got to write the ending for them.
And yes, I'm biased - I admit it, but the man writes surprise endings consistently well in the comics.
None of the comics volumes end the way the TV seasons do - just, by the by.
They avoid the pressure to go big with the ending, and find simple and clever solutions to satisfyingly wrap-up the current story arc, while still leaving room for character growth and conflict in future volumes.
...Again, I'm well aware of how much of a massive fangirl I am 😅
[END OF SPOILER SECTION]
Because the comics know the most important thing about TUA - the plot is what the characters do, not who they are.
Season 4 was plot-heavy - probably because it was crammed into 6 episodes, and because they were trying to go big - to the detriment of the emotion.
TUA is character-led above all, and the heart of the series is its heart, OK?
And while this last series was by far NOT the terrible mess that a lot of people seem to think it was, it did lack the heart of the previous 3 series.
(- Not least because we didn't even mention the Void in this series, like, WTAF?! Chekhov's gun. All I'm saying. 😅)
So - Thoughts? Complaints? Letters to the editor?
Are you a TUA fan?
What do you think of RDJ back in the MCU?
Talk to me! 😊💬
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Previous Comics Wrap-Up Posts:
I skipped TUA section, as I haven't seen the last series yet! So I really don't know your thoughts on it lol. But from audience reaction, I am nervous.
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