What was there to truly celebrate this past year?
Not much in terms of mainstream, that's for sure. The Fort Smith Times Record published a fawning piece about what they claim is worth celebrating from 2017, but honestly, there isn't much to celebrate. Not in mainstream superheroes anyway. Let's see first what they say about TV adaptations:
They're not discussing Marvel very well either:
On the other hand, the Hollywood Reporter admitted that this past year was a disaster for Marvel, though even their coverage is fairly sugarcoated, not willing to admit the SJW alterations to Iceman, for instance, were some of their most ill-advised steps. Still, it more or less confirms 2017 was not a great year for Marvel, and if their comics suffered, that's why IMO, it's hardly worth celebrating the movies.
10. Horn of plenty: At the beginning of 2017, comic-based shows had already taken over TV. Seventeen shows filled my DVR: “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Arrow,” “Daredevil,” “Fear the Walking Dead,” “The Flash,” “Gotham,” “Iron Fist,” “iZombie,” “Jessica Jones,” “Legends of Tomorrow,” “Lucifer,” “Luke Cage,” “Outcast,” “Preacher,” “Supergirl,” “The Walking Dead” and “Wynonna Earp.”So, the Supergirl TV show made the list, no matter how ultra-leftist it's been preaching? And Legends, Arrow and Flash aren't far behind at this point. Runaways is also catching up in terms of social justice pandering. I don't see why those should be such a big deal. And what's this we have here from the New Gods connected books?
At the end of 2017, 10 more had joined that list. “American Gods,” “Defenders,” “The Gifted,” “Happy!,” “The Inhumans,” “Legion,” “The Punisher,” “Riverdale,” “Runaways” and “The Tick” all debuted, with varying degrees of success. (Yes, “American Gods” is based on Neil Gaiman’s novel, not Dark Horse’s comics adaptation. But 10 is a nice round number, so I’m including it.)
8. Dynamic DC: Despite tepid response to its movies, DC Comics had some of the best moments of 2017:Gee, I don't see why I'm supposed to be excited about a book where a guy tries to commit suicide instead of emphasizing his battle to win against evil entities like Darkseid. Does this mean Big Barda hasn't been restored to the living, assuming they're going by the premise of that stupid tale from 2007 where she was killed almost at the start of "Death of the New Gods", by far one of the lowest points in Jim Starlin's career as a writer? But even if she has been resurrected and the older story discarded, it's still dismaying if now, they're putting Scott Free in a bad spot.
‒ Shockingly, Mr. Miracle tried to commit suicide in the first issue of his new series. Did Darkseid make him do it? Or was it something more mundane, like depression or PTSD? Plus, what is real and what is he imagining? DC’s “Mr. Miracle” is a complex, hallucinatory, troubling experience that may be the best comic book in America.
They're not discussing Marvel very well either:
7. Marvel misery: Fandom Assembled rejected Marvel’s “Secret Empire” crossover event, at the center of which was a fascist Captain America. Is that event fatigue, or Trump fatigue? Either way, it left Marvel begging fans to give the story a chance and read it to the end.And we're not doing that, because all it does, from a financial perspective, is reward Marvel with dough they don't deserve. To buy it would send the wrong message. And it's just like these revolting propagandists to throw in a subtle attack on Trump to boot. It's not Trump fatigue, but event/crossover fatigue, plain and simple, so quit making nasty jabs at the POTUS, which are undoubtably for all the wrong reasons.
To right the ship, Marvel booted Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, and promoted an outsider to the U.S. wing of the company, C.B. Cebulski. who was previously vice president of brand management and development, Asia. But the honeymoon ended quickly when it turned out Cebulski had used a Japanese pseudonym to write for Marvel a few years ago while keeping his day job as an editor. What’s the Japanese equivalent of “Oy vey”?So the party was over because of a mere pseudonym, not because Cebulski might allow Joe Quesada to dictate whether Mary Jane Watson's allowed to be Peter Parker's wife again? I'm so not impressed with this lazy blather here, proof the mainstream press never was a fan of MJ to start with.
Meanwhile, Marvel tried to counter DC’s successful “Rebirth” initiative with its own back-to-basics soft reboot called “Marvel Legacy.” However, the effort seemed lackluster and superficial to critics, leaving some retailers calling it more label than labor. Sales did not improve, and almost a dozen titles have already been tagged for cancellation.There's always a chance it'll seem more like "down", if some key elements aren't restored, not the least being Mary Jane's status in Spider-Man. That's just one reason why "Legacy" didn't take off. Say, how do we really know "Rebirth" actually did? Without sales in the millions, you can't just go along and say it was a financial success.
Whatever happens in 2018, it will probably seem like “up” to Marvel Comics.
6. Mayhem in the multiverse: All the DC heroes on The CW — from “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl” — teamed up to fight Nazis on a parallel Earth where evil versions of themselves ruled with lethal efficiency. Even if you don’t watch the four shows regularly, “Crisis on Earth-X” is a must-see.Not with the leftist propaganda permeating the script, including a subtle attack on one of Trump's campaign slogans. Something that goes noticeably unmentioned in this puff piece. Which also brings up movies of varying results:
5. Horn of plenty, the sequel: 2017 was perhaps the biggest year yet for geek fandom, with more than 30 genre movies. Adaptations led the way, including:Hmm, I thought it did mention earlier the response to the DC movies was tepid, but I guess in the end, it doesn't matter to these phonies, does it? The movies marked in boldface were mostly failures, and even the latest Transformers movie got a pretty lukewarm reaction. Indeed, that film franchise has to be one of the most overrated, otherwise useless in modern film business. It practically gives the toys it's based on a bad name. I honestly hope Paramount will just let it go already.
‒ Children’s books (“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”)
‒ Comics, American (“Atomic Blonde,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “Justice League,” “Logan,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Wonder Woman”)
‒ Comics, French (“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”)
‒ Comics, Japanese (“Death Note,” “Ghost in the Shell”)
‒ Fairy tales (“Beauty and the Beast”)
‒ Mythology (“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “mother!”)
‒ Novels (Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower,” “IT”)
‒ Toys (“The LEGO Batman Movie,” “Transformers: The Last Knight”)
Franchises like Alien, Blade Runner, Kingsman, The Mummy, Planet of the Apes, Power Rangers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Resident Evil, Star Wars and Underworld all provided new entries. And Hollywood even managed some original SF/fantasy material, like “Bright,” “Downsizing,” “Life,” “The Shape of Water” and “The Space Between Us”
In comics, movies and TV, at least, 2017 was a very good year. Bring on 2018!I'm sure there were plenty of good moments last year in creator-owned comics. But mainstream superheroes? Marvel had one of its worst, and it'd be ill-advised to think DC was doing better in every way. To say it was a great year for Marvel after they turned Cap into a nazi is definitely missing the boat.
On the other hand, the Hollywood Reporter admitted that this past year was a disaster for Marvel, though even their coverage is fairly sugarcoated, not willing to admit the SJW alterations to Iceman, for instance, were some of their most ill-advised steps. Still, it more or less confirms 2017 was not a great year for Marvel, and if their comics suffered, that's why IMO, it's hardly worth celebrating the movies.
Labels: dc comics, indie publishers, licensed products, marvel comics, msm propaganda
