Dropping some recommendations for the holidays

This post is dropping the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, so I thought it might be appropriate to do something a little bit different. Instead of a single comic, trade or story arc, I’m going to briefly recommend a number of genre-related items that might have made very small posts on their own. Several are genre-related shows and films currently streaming, just in case anyone out there is looking for something to watch. I hope you enjoy them.

First up is something I recently enjoyed on Netflix with my family and can’t believe I failed to mention a few weeks ago: The Netflix re-boot of “Lost in Space.” I spent some time this fall discussing some Lost in Space comics. If you missed those posts, you can find them here, here and here.

I can’t believe I failed to even mention this latest incarnation of the Space Family Robinson’s adventures when discussing the comics. I discovered the show on the streaming platform shortly after it debuted in 2018 and, while it was very different from the original, I very much enjoyed the presentation. The third and final season of the program dropped on December 1, 2021, and the show did not disappoint. Again, the characters follow a very different path in this re-imagining, but there are echoes of the original show and a few cameos, too. I and my entire family enjoyed the show and heartily recommend it.

Next up is a fun little animated film streaming on the Disney-Plus platform right now called “Ron’s Gone Wrong.” I heard of it in a friend’s Facebook post. He said the entire family watched and enjoyed the film and laughed all the way through it. I thought it might make a good family movie night for my wife, my 10-year-old daughter and I, and we enjoyed it, too. The film took about 10 to 15 minutes to set everything up and get rolling, but then it was full of laughs. The story centers on one unpopular boy and his efforts to fit in while everyone around him is obsessed with personalized robots and the tech giant that sells them.

Another Facebook post led me to my next recommendation: “Slugfest,” a Roku channel original documentary about the lengthy rivalry between DC Comics and Marvel Comics. This 10-episode series just dropped on Christmas Eve, but each episode is only about eight- to 10-minutes long, so it runs pretty quickly. I’m a longtime comics fan myself, and there was not much new information in this series, but it was very well and entertainingly presented. Kevin Smith narrates, and a number of comics pros contributed to the series. There are also flashback segments showing the comics pros as younger men and women in past decades, and these creators are portrayed by several big name genre actors and actresses. If you’re still not sure, you can find a trailer for the series here.

My next TV recommendation is the just completed six-episode Marvel series "Hawkeye," also on the Disney-Plus streaming platform. I watched the original Marvel/Netflix collaborations on “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist,” “Defenders” and “The Punisher” as well as the more recent “Wanda/Vision,” The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “What If...?” on Disney-Plus, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. But the latest, involving both Clint Barton and Kate Bishop was a very fun adventure. I’ve never followed Clint Barton in the comics much and don’t know a lot about Kate Bishop beyond the original Young Avengers series. But this was a nice little storyline with some interesting twists, creators playing on the expectations of comics fans and more development for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But mostly, it was a fun show to watch.

Switching from one archer to another and from one medium to another, I would also like to heartily recommend the two recent 100-Page Super Spectacular issues DC Comics devoted to the 80th anniversaries of Green Arrow and Aquaman. Both issues are collections of short stories taking place at various times throughout each characters’ publishing history. They touch on a number of favorite eras in each character’s history and include a number of familiar creators and co-stars along the way. Both books are great reads, but then I’m biased when it comes to these characters.

Lastly, I want to recommend one other creator and comic title: the Collectors webcomic by Eddie deAngelini. You can find the home of Eddie’s web comic here. Eddie write about himself, his wife and his collecting habit to very funny effect. I first came across Eddie’s art several months ago, once again on Facebook. I’ve read a number of his random comics in the months since then and liked them enough to back his recent Kickstarter campaign to publish the sixth annual collection of his comics. He’s a creative and funny guy I’m happy to support, especially because I can readily see myself and my non-collector wife in some of his comics.

So there you have it: a small collection of genre-related recommendations for the holidays. I hope you enjoyed them and maybe discovered something new along the way. Come back in two weeks for a more traditional post to kick off 2022. I’m thinking something from Image that proved to be a pleasant surprise for me. See you then!

I miss you, bro

“Marvel’s The Punisher” Season 2
Netflix
January 2019
 

Shawn died in 2000, nearly 20 years ago now. He was a son, a husband, a musician, a Marine, a prankster, a police officer, and he was my younger brother. He was 28 at the time of his death, so in just one more short decade, he will have been gone as long as he lived.

Time has passed. Life goes on. And there are many days when he doesn’t cross my mind at all. That’s life. But there are also random things that will bring his memory to the front of my mind.

One of the losses I feel most consistently on behalf of my brother are movies and television properties that he would have loved but missed. He was a huge Star Wars fan, yet he never got to see the second and third prequel films or the more recently realized but long-rumored sequels. He very much enjoyed “Phantom Menace,” and I have no reason to doubt he would have been thrilled by and enjoyed all of the films to follow.

The plethora of comic book films is another thing I think he’d have enjoyed. He was always more a Marvel fan than I was growing up. I remember crying when I saw “X-Men” in the theater for the first time in 2000 because he wouldn’t get to experience it, and he was always a huge Wolverine fan. The “Spider-Man” films began in 2002. Then the modern Marvel cinematic age began in 2008 with “Iron Man.” I think he would have loved the explosion of films since then from the various “Avengers” and “Captain America” films to “Black Panther” and “Infinity War.”

Another of my brother’s favorite comic book characters was always Frank Castle, the Punisher, and I’ve been thinking of my brother as I watch Netflix’s second season of "Marvel's The Punisher," starring Jon Bernthal. This is a phenomenal show, and everyone involved deserves kudos for the excellent product they have created.

The Punisher first appeared in Marvel Comics in Amazing Spider-Man No. 129 and was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The character went on to appear in various other titles for several years before starring in his own limited series in the mid-1980s. At the peak of the Punisher’s popularity in the late 80s and early 1990s, he starred in three concurrent monthly titles: The Punisher, The Punisher War Journal and The Punisher War Zone. There was also a short-lived black-and-white Punisher Magazine and other limited series and one-shots at various points along the way.

Shawn collected most of these titles by a number of creators, but the book that struck a chord with me was War Journal. This title, initially written by Carl Potts and illustrated by Jim Lee, would later feature creators such as Mike Baron, Mark Texeira, Chuck Dixon, Steven Grant, Tod Smith, Ron Wagner and others. Potts and Dixon stand out in my mind the most when I think back about favorite issues.

I’m not as familiar with Billy “Jigsaw” Russo, although I know he also existed in the comics. I’m not certain if the comic Jigsaw played a role in the deaths of Frank Castle’s family as he does in Ben Barnes’ portrayal of the character in the Netflix series. If not, the inclusion of that detail helps bring the two characters’ lives full circle in the show.

As far as I know, most of the other characters in the Netflix version of the Punisher are original to the program, but may have been portrayed in comics in some form or fashion. But I love how the ancillary characters add to the show’s drama. Karen Page and Brett Mahoney show up from the cast of Netflix’s “Daredevil” to add cohesion to the shared universe. And Curtis Hoyle, Dinah Madani and Krista Dumont add dimension to the proceedings of both seasons of the show.

Netflix’s “The Punisher” is definitely more gritty and bloody than I typically like my comics stories, but so was the Netflix version of Daredevil. Both worked well in the realities established for the series, and the visceral visuals of the programs don’t glorify violence. Rather they use it to emphasize the physical and emotional toll of these peoples’ lives and choices.

Jon Bernthal does an exceptional job of bringing Frank Castle to life in this series. The later comic series added some nuance and character beats to what could have easily been a one-note, disposable caricature. Bernthal and his supporting cast help do the same with the on-screen Punisher. Bernthal portrays an efficient killing machine on a deadly mission, to be sure. But he also shows Frank’s caring side without turning the brutal vigilante into a parody of the original creation.

I can watch this show for what it is and enjoy it. I tend to think Shawn would have seen it as a more pure expression of the character than some of the various movie attempts. Believing my brother would have liked the show adds a level of appreciation to watching it. But it also makes me sad that my brother will never be able to see one of his “heroes” brought to life on the small screen in such an effective way.

I’m also very sad all of these Netflix Marvel shows have been canceled due to business concerns and we won’t get more of this version of the Punisher, Daredevil or Jessica Jones.

It’s time for a good scare

“The Haunting of Hill House”
Netflix

Tomorrow is Halloween, and since I haven’t read any good scary comics to talk about recently, I thought I’d take a small departure and talk up a great Netflix original series my wife and I recently enjoyed.

We both like scary movies and television shows, especially at Halloween time. We recently had a weekend to ourselves while our 7-year-old daughter stayed with her grandparents. We’d watched all of “Black Mirror,” a creepy techno-based anthology series, and the first season of “Creeped Out,” another creepy anthology, but this time aimed at and focusing on child protagonists.

We’d also just watched “Castle Rock” on Hulu and loved it right up until the disappointing cop-out ending. And we’d also just watched “Light as a Feather,” another new series this October on Hulu. Like “Castle Rock,” we enjoyed “Light as a Feather” until it came to a disappointing ending.

Let me clarify that I understand the impulse of so many shows to leave things open ended at the close of a season. Writers, actors, producers all hope their show will be a hit and run a long time. But leaving the season finale open-ended leaves viewers, even fans of the show, feeling like they were cheated. There’s no payoff at the end of watching the show. The conclusions of both “Castle Rock” and “Light as a Feather” had other issues, too, but the endings of both lacked a sensible resolution that didn’t feel like a cheat at the end, at least in my opinion.

“The Haunting of Hill House” does not share that problem, and I heartily recommend the Netflix series to anyone who is looking for something spooky and satisfying. If you haven’t watched this series but are a scare fan, you need to watch it soon.

The series centers on the Crain family — Hugh and Olivia and their five children, Steve, Shirley, Theodora and twins Luke and Nellie. The family purchases Hill House and stays there over a summer so the parents can renovate and flip the property, but the house has a history of hauntings. Part of the story takes place several years later as the now adult Crain children cope with what happened to their family over that summer and how those experiences continue to haunt them and shape their lives.

Hill House or some of the Crain family character names may sound familiar. That’s because the 1959 book, “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson, has spawned two other film adaptations. The first was a 1963 British film starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn; the second was in 1999 and starred Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson and Lili Taylor. I haven’t seen either film, but several of the character names recur, although the various players are not family members in the film versions. In fact, according to Wikipedia entries on each film, the family name Crain belongs to Hill House’s builders in both films. Making all of these various people family members adds several new dimensions to the hauntings and the impact, in my opinion.

What sets this show apart from some of the others that disappointed us is the solid ending to the series. Is there room for a season two if all involved are given the chance to do another 10 episodes? Absolutely. More stories could be told in this continuity and based around this house. But these 10 first-season episodes tell a complete story, giving viewers a satisfying and at times frightening slice of entertainment.

The woman who just wouldn’t quit Part 3

Jessica Jones Season 2
Netflix
2018

I know it’s been a few months since the second season of Netflix’s Marvel series “Jessica Jones” dropped, but my wife and I just finished watching it. We have a 7-year-old daughter, and sadly, most television and streaming programs these days are not created with a family audience in mind. I’m not personally opposed to anything in this series, mind you. I honestly feel that “Jessica Jones” is my favorite and consistently the best of the Marvel Netflix street-level heroes series of shows. “Daredevil” and its offshoot, “The Punisher,” were also excellent programs. While I had trouble getting into “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage,” “The Defenders,” which brought all four of the main characters together, was also good. “Jessica Jones” is my favorite, though. It’s just that some of the scenes and topics in the show are not suitable for my elementary-age child to watch while we’re eating dinner.

I’ve previously read and enjoyed much of Jessica’s brief history in the print comics, and you can read my thoughts about her two main series here and here. Hence this being “Part 3” when the previous two posts had nothing to do with this character. (Also as a side note: I re-read the issues in question before writing those posts back in 2013. I liked them so much upon re-reading them, that I sought out the debut hardcover of Alias, so I have now read those first nine issues of Jessica’s debut.)

The first season of Netflix’s version of Jessica Jones started in a familiar place for readers of the comics. Much of her past was explored by making Kilgrave — alias the Purple Man and amazingly, creepily portrayed by David Tennant in the show — the main villain of the season. Jessica herself is portrayed by Krysten Ritter as a no-nonsense, boozing, jaded private detective who cares more than she initially lets on. The show also includes Malcolm, played by Eka Darville, a young wannabe assistant to Jessica. In the show, Malcolm is also a former victim of Kilgrave’s.

Several other characters make it into Netflix's "Jessica Jones" from a variety of Marvel Comics sources. Claire Temple, alias the Night Nurse and portrayed by Rosario Dawson, is most closely associated with Luke Cage in the comics, but she was one of the earliest unifying members of all of the Netflix shows’ casts. Jeryn Hogarth is a character most closely associated with Iron Fist in the comics. A male attorney in print, Jeryn “Jeri” Hogarth is a female attorney in the Netflix Marvel universe and is played by Carrie-Anne Moss. Actor Mike Colter first brings Luke Cage to life in the first season of “Jessica Jones,” too.

But the most important transplant for the Netflix version of Jessica Jones is Patricia “Patsy” Walker, played in the show by Rachael Taylor. In the comics, Patsy Walker was the co-star of a teen romance/comedy title in the 1940s and 1950s. She was re-invented as a superhero named Hellcat in the mid-1970s. The Netflix show works Patricia “Trish” Walker in as Jessica’s sister after Jessica survives the crash that kills her biological family and is adopted by the Walker family. Trish was a child television star best known for a sitcom called “It’s Patsy” in the Netflix continuity, but she begins her transformation into the eventual Hellcat during the second season of “Jessica Jones.”

All of these nods to past Marvel continuity are a great bonus for a longtime fan such as myself. But the producers behind “Jessica Jones” do a fantastic job of keeping those things as Easter eggs for the longtime fans while not confusing fans new to the Netflix series. They tell you everything you need to know about each person to follow along. I know this because my wife watched both seasons of the show with me, and she not only doesn’t know all the comic book ties, but doesn’t really care. She doesn’t want to have to do homework (or listen to me explain everything ad nauseam) to follow a television show. She was not only fine simply watching what was presented, but she also enjoyed “Jessica Jones” more than the other Netflix Marvel programs.

So the show is accessible to non-comics fans. It also holds surprises for longtime comics fans. The Netflix series does not feel it has to follow the character’s history from the books to the letter. Starting off with Kilgrave was a smart decision because it is a compelling story and gets to the heart of the character of Jessica Jones. Attaching all of the other ancillary characters from other books was the first departure and has offered up a number of story directions different from the comics history of the character, for instance. I don’t believe any kind of foster family was ever introduced for Jessica’s backstory in the comics, for instance. Not only adding a foster family, but adding one with its own heroic history, opened up a number of possibilities. The second season of “Jessica Jones” further opens up the title character’s history by suggesting the possibility that Jessica is no longer the sole survivor of the car crash she believes claimed the lives of her biological family.

Netflix’s “Jessica Jones” is smartly written, wonderfully acted and well worth checking out if you enjoy a good drama. The other shows will allow you to learn more about the shared universe, if you enjoy this show, but it is not necessary to watch all the shows to understand any one. Give Jessica a try; she’s just conquered another medium, so she remains the woman who just won't quit!