All Eyes on Me

Tenoch Huerta as Namor

2022-11-07T20:52:51Z

I am kind of fascinated by the presentation of Tenoch Huerta as Namor in the new Black Panther movie. Not just because of the Central American aesthetic; that was definitely unexpected, though very welcome to me, seeing as it’s gorgeously rendered and a very cool artistic inspiration from a culture not previously much referenced in the Marvel universe. More because of the vibe they gave him.

Namor, like every other long-running comics character, has been interpreted in a variety of different ways, from imperious ocean wizard to smarmy undersea fuck boy. I confess I’ve always preferred the latter, watching him “hey, girl” at Sue Storm in front of her husband and scoff at people too unsophisticated to appreciate the charms of the shrimp queen. For years I’ve been cracking, “I can’t wait to see what twenty-five-year-old underwear model they cast to play him.” I was picturing a chiseled, smooth-skinned boy-man, preening and lip-biting as he imposed himself through ego and brazen sexuality. While there is a basis for Slutty Namor(TM), I admit the limits my particular biases and tastes on the topic placed on my imagination.

But Tenoch Huerta and the way they present him isn’t any of those things. In the trailers, he projects ten thousand percent, pure, weapons-grade MAJESTY. In real life, Huerta is a cute guy, even kind of sweet-faced. And you don’t get cast as an MCU superhero unless you’ve got BODY. But his beauty is in a shock and awe sort of way, blowing you away with his presence, his costume nothing but a few adornments meant to emphasize his status. Torque, headdress, jade jewelry. The bareness of his body seems to not to have any of the usual semiotics of nakedness— it’s not about honesty, or vulnerability, or even sexualization. It’s like a declaration of power, that his lack of concealment or protection of any kind is because he is too mighty to need it. More than anything it reminds me, weirdly enough, of dark Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, beautiful and terrible as the dawn. Untouchable, imposing, and above all else, magisterial.

I was very surprised by it, but I’m super intrigued. This approach feels so fresh and I can’t wait to see what they do with it.

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HOWARD THE DUCK MAKES NO SENSE DIVORCED FROM CONTEXT

2019-02-11T17:47:52Z

Apparently they're going to be making a Howard the Duck TV series? Really, Marvel? You don't have enough going on that you have to go to THAT well too? UGH.

I've never been a fan, but that's not why I think it's a dumb idea. I was so annoyed when he showed up in that Guardians of the Galaxy stinger. I grouse about this any time anybody talks about the idea of the character being brought back in a modern work.

Howard the Duck is designed to be a parody, specifically of the "Funny Animal" genre of comics, of which characters like the Looney Tunes are examples. Llike many parodies, the central conceit of Howard relies on having that very specific cultural context in order for the satire to "read" or make any kind of sense. But we have so little presence of "Funny Animals" of the style Howard references in our current media— it's very much OUT of style now —I don't think most people are still familiar enough with it. The only real presence it currently has in modern pop culture is Mickey Mouse and his crew; in fact, I think Donald is the most direct inspiration for Howard. But even they've grown past a lot of the old conventions of their genre such that I don't think most people really recognize them.

Maybe the resurgeance of the new Duck Tales show will re-ground people in it. Though again, everything in present pop culture that grew out of the "Funny Animal" genre has changed a LOT. What the fuck would Howard even be about without that element of parody? I mean, a HUGE chunk of the joke was mocking the convention of "why is this person randomly an animal and nobody thinks that's weird" you so often found in the old comics? My guess is that it'll become a generic parody of children's cartoon media, like Duckman kind of was. But that seems dull to me; Howard isn't that interesting a character, and that just seems like a recipe to play up the crassest aspects, falling back on "Haha, isn't it funny that this guy who looks like a children's character is horny and swears and smokes cigars?"

So I really don't know what artistic perspective they could have for the character that's going to make sense. Do enough people really like fucking Howard the Duck to make it worth doing as a cash thing? Because I can't imagine what VISION somebody would have for him at this point. Comedy is the fastest of all forms to age, and parody goes with it once people forget what's being parodied. (See: Gilbert and Sullivan's "Patience," which if you've never understood that musical, that's why.)

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OF COURSE I like Namor

2018-03-22T19:39:31Z

I am surprised by the regularity with which people express surprise to me that I really want Namor to show up in the MCU. Basically whenever I say it, somebody's like, why do you care about Namor? Why would you want him around in the films? They are, like, SURPRISED.

I think Namor's interesting! He's definitely, definitely a dick, particularly to T'Challa, but I like the idea that T'Challa is challenged by a fellow-royal on issues of being a king. He's conservationally-minded, and has serious problems with how humans ruin the oceans. I like how he makes Sue Storm confront the problems in her marriage to a fairly self-absorbed man. He'd be an interesting character addition, particularly when the Fantastic Four show up!

And because they can cast a twenty-five-year-old underwear model, give him some FEROCIOUS eyebrows, and make him wear a scaly banana hammock the whole film. COME ON PEOPLE HAVE YOU MET ME?

Plus, he, like, canonically bangs the queen of the crustacean people and stuff. And she really does look like a giant sea monkey, and when people are weird about it, he admonishes them for their puritanical human narrow-mindedness.

NAMOR IS NOTHING IF NOT COSMOPOLITAN IN HIS TASTES.

I mean, really. It's like you people don't know me at all.

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