All Eyes on Me

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.)

Apparently John Bernthal's performance in Daredevil season 2 on Netflix was so well-received that fans are calling for him to get his own solo series. And that is an absolutely terrible idea.

Now, I acknowledge Bernthal was really good, and easily the best representation of the character. I like but don't love the Daredevil series-- can't really put my finger on why, because I thought I would love it, and I can't exactly articulate what doesn't satisfy me about it --but I agree that Bernthal was one of the best parts of season 2. The thing is, the Punisher doesn't work as a character unless he's not the main focus.

Think about it. He has one of the lamest, most clichéd, dated stories of current superheroes. His family was fridged and now he kills everyone. There's not that much there. Plus, he doesn't GROW. His whole concept requires him to never grow or change in any way. If he does, he... has no schtick at all. He doesn't even have an interesting personality. A protagonist has to have something, some journey, some character to him! He has nothing to sustain a series that is interesting.

The Punisher only works if he's contrasted against another, more central character. He's supposed to make a protagonist question their own position in comparison to him. He did that on Daredevil, and that's a big reason, besides Bernthal's performance, why he worked. But on his own, what the hell would the series even be about? Just him killing lots of people? If he ever stops his mission, he has no point, and if he carries his mission on, who cares? What's interesting about a dude who just murders everyone with no personality?

So yeah. Fans deserve the ear of the creators of the properties they love. But they shouldn't be catered to, because they don't always judge with artistic concerns in mind.

Recently I saw an article reporting on some things Chris Evans said about playing Captain America. I found it on Facebook, in addition to the three or four people who sent it my way. I love how many people see a Chris Evans thing and immediately share it with me. No, seriously, I do, keep ‘em coming, folks, especially if there’s a picture where he looks good.

To my surprise in the article he expressed the sentiment of being happy to continue playing Cap as long as Marvel will have him. His contract was initially for six movies— with the general public being unsure whether that meant Cap 3 or Avengers 3 would be his last, depending on whether his cameo in Thor counted —and he’s apparently open to renewal. I was surprised because all of the rumors I’d been hearing indicated that he wanted out as soon as the getting as good. People said while he got along with the cast and crew and enjoyed the actually filming, the press tours were killing him. Supposedly his social anxiety made that stuff like torture and he wanted to get away from the constant Marvel grind of it. Having a touch of it myself, I can only imagine. Plus, he’s interested in moving into directing, at least eventually.

Now I never saw any actual hard evidence, like quotes from an interview, that he held that position, but it seemed reasonable, given what we know about his issues and his initial reluctance to even take the role because of them. But in light of this new article, I wonder if those rumors were completely wrong, or if he changed his mind. If the latter, I have to wonder if the money situation changed— maybe there’s a chance to make, like, RDJ-level money now and he’d be crazy to pass that up.

I’m having a more complicated reaction to it than I thought. When I first heard that he’d be leaving the role after six movies, I was really sad. I really love him in this character, especially speaking as a person who never liked Captain America and found him boring until seeing him in The First Avenger. On a purely shallow level, I think he’s most attractive with the Cap styling, the blond hair and the enormous muscular frame. It was in this character that he inspired me in a way that changed the course of my art.

But Bernie pointed out that meant he’d probably get a really meaningful death scene in the next few films. The character has always stood as the soldier who’s willing to lay down his life for others, and it would be a fitting culmination. Also— because I’m weird, I know —I liked the idea of taking him out of the story before they had the chance to pair him up with anybody besides Peggy. Yeah, yeah, I know, but I’d like to see one character for whom the solution to heartbreak was not to just move on to somebody else.

So now I don’t know how I feel. The only thing that really would make me unhappy, I guess, is if he dies and comes back from the dead. One of my least favorite things about the superhero media is how cheap death is— the refusal to ever really lose popular characters means that nobody ever really stays dead, which massively undercuts the drama of when one of them dies. I really wouldn’t like to see that happen with Cap, especially because a huge part of the character is that he’s willing to make a sacrifice that huge.

So I've decided I'm just going to post the draft of Lame Swans I handed in for school. As I mentioned, the images are not edited a carefully as I would like them to be, but I won't have time to work them over any time soon, and I'd like to share this mostly-completed work with you. The models who did so much for me deserve to see the results of their Labors. I'll post one scene of the book a week or so.

( Scene 1 - "The Lake" )

I got to be a guest on a really fun episode of john_in_boston's excellent Roll For It! podcast this past week. It was on a subject that is near and dear to my heart, the relationship of Batman and his faithful butler Alfred-- specifically, whether or not Mr. Pennyworth was a good parent to his tragically damaged young charge. I have pretty passionate feelings on the subject, as the relationship is one of my favorite parts of the Batman story, so I could not have been more excited that John so kindly gave me the chance to talk about it. This one came out pretty damn good, so give it a listen if you'd be so kind. John was especially cool to let me plug my (admittedly Batman-inspired) play Mrs. Hawking, and even gave it his own personal endorsement. :-)

As you may notice in the graphic, since I have appeared on more than three episodes, I have an avatar on the RFI! web site. I'm sure it surprises no one that I'm wearing a batsuit in it, given how often I bring the discussion back around to my beloved Batman. Still, though I don't think it looks much like me in the face-- the nose is all off --I am pleased to be represented.

Which reminds me. I never plugged the third episode I was on. That was called "Sidekick Endangerment," and was on the topic of whether or not sidekicks really make sense for comic book superheroes in the modern era. Besides "Alfred," this is my favorite episode I've been on, as I think the discussion is both interesting and extremely funny. We get into a lot of narrative theory as well as some social metacommentary! As much as I love just plain geekery, when you get into serious artistic crniticism it makes it all the more interesting for me.

I think John and his boys are doing some good work on this project, so check it out! Particularly the episodes I'm in. :-)

Been working away on my comic book Lame Swans. It's due on Friday, so I'm a little behind where I'd like to be, but it's coming along. I'm still in the stage of laying out all the pages, framing each raw shot to fit the panel size I've established. I've learned a lot about the way to do this as I go. I discovered that it's best to leave as much space around each image I want to capture, even if it's meant to be a close shot. That allows me to have the maximum amount of buffer zone for when it comes to cutting it down to proper panel size. I got better and better over the course of the four photoshoots.

Due to how little time I have left, I doubt I will be able to properly edit the images in time to submit the book to my teacher. I will just have to lay it out and put in the dialogue bubbles so that it is technically complete. But before I put it out there for public consumption, I'm going to want to go over the images in a Photoshop to tweak the colors and effects. Unfortunately I don't know if I can both acquire the right program AND learn how to make it do what I want in time for Friday.

Still, I think I'll give a little glimpse of where I am right now. Here is the layout of page sixteen. It doesn't have words on it yet, but I hope you find the images intriguing.