greeting , my little stamp - lickers ! I wish I had some kind of new , amazing post - apocalyptical dangerous undertaking to partake in with you , but after Ape City , I ’m taking a break . Maybe sleet nor coke nor decant rainfall ca n’t stop over the mail , but a bunch of angry intelligent apes can make me take a holiday . But not from your missive !
The Darkness
Old Nerd :
Dear Apocalyptic Postman ,
Is dark always better ?
By that I mean the overall tone of voice of a story , and by that I intend darker , grittier version of already established characters . For example , we had a much non-white Batman with Chris Nolan ’s take than anything that came before , ( and certainly much glum than that gloriously silly 1966 Batman movie ) .
I do n’t have a go at it when this trend really started to take over , but I remember how everyone raved about the Empire Strikes Back as being a ranking movie to A New Hope , because it was dark and grimmer . Yes , I ’m old enough to have seen Star Wars ( episode IV ) in cinema during its first rill .
They ’ve rebooted Battlestar Galactica as a grittier and non-white story . Superman ’s most recent field day was grimmer than any of his former . Even family well-disposed menu like Disney film have grown more and more darker over the years . For exercise , Toy Story 3 had constituent to it that were positively horrific , and not all of that went over the heads of the little ones , while the first motion picture was a warm summer day in the sunshine by comparison .
Most lately , Doctor Who interchange lead actor , and the kind and genuinely funny Matt Smith ’s Doctor has been replace with a .. you guessed it … a darker and down in the mouth version of the Doctor .
Now I have n’t touched on funny books , but I am familiar enough with them to know that even there the stories have become more violent , more ruthless and unforgiving . I ’ve also ignored the Transformers movies ( as I feign they do n’t be ) , but even there we have Optimus ordering the Autobots to , “ Kill them all , ” or perform a get the better of Megatron while the Decepticon begs for his sprightliness … so …
Is morose always undecomposed ? Or do we have some case where they go too far , and it would have been better to have kept the material sparkle ?
Darker is n’t always better , but if you were look me to go on a harangue about how sullen is always spoilt , you ’re going to be disappointed ( and I ’m kind of surprised myself , actually ) .
plough a light - hearted character or concept “ dour ” can be fantastic and devastatingly in effect . For representative , tot some major downbeat and aftermath to the simplistic tale of Star Wars resulted in Empire Strikes Back , arguably the practiced picture of the series . Alan Moore took a dour look at the superhero genre in Watchmen , and helped redefine the entire industry . Turning the paper - thin , often goofy - as - blaze ’ 70s scifi serial Battlestar Galactica into the incredibly glum , tragical reboot help make the new show excellent .
But “ swarthiness ” has generally been so popular that too many things — comic , movies , TV show , whatever — have seemingly forget that not everything call for to be dark . And like anything that is overdrive , we ’ve become hardened to it . Too many grim and gritty reboots are wearisome because we ’ve pick up the tortured hero make ruffianly decisions with frightful consequences too many times . We ’ve fancy our heroes murder tough guys ( I ’m actually referring to Optimus Prime murdering the unarmed Megatron in the moving picture , by the way , not Superman ) so often it ’s not shocking or even interesting , it ’s just dull . We ’ve seen so many cities destroyed and monumental tragedies in our fable that they do n’t bear upon us like they used to .
If I may adopt a idiom from Spider - Man , mass involve to remember to Turn Off the goddamn Dark . Not only because in ordering to keep people interested they have to continually raise the darkness levels to be at all shocking , and it ’s have absurd , but also because a pile of masses want something different . Case in power point : When most of us heard about Batman ’s Silver Age - inspired , completely goofy Brave and the Bold cartoon , we were put off because it was n’t dingy . But it was such a easing to see a play Batman after all these years that it was immensely popular . intend of the Marvel movies — even though there are stake , there ’s still a real sense of fun in them — a deficiency of dark that I think really appeals to people who are stock as hell of watching grim people make awful decisions . Sleepy Hollow is literally a dark TV show , but it ’s a joy to watch , and it ’s also doing pretty well now . I ’d also say Doctor Who could use a significant back breaker of lightening up .
Not everything needs to be sappy or happy , but we ’re so far on the pendulum swing music towards “ grim n ’ spunky ” that I intend we could use a heap more playfulness in our entertainment . Not to say there ’s no room for some serious tales of superheroes or robot or maybe even Care Bears , but at this point there ’s a lot more elbow room for playfulness . Because if the DC motion picture keep get dreary , eventually we ’re going to terminate up with Aquaman getting prostate gland malignant neoplastic disease .
Gothamist
Jason H. :
So , I ’m hop in your travels you managed to catch the pilot of Gotham . I am WORRIED about this show , because I care it . In my judgment , it captures what “ living on Mar ” and “ Almost human ” enamour with their police - based show . The idealistic rookie and the misanthropical veterinary surgeon who still want to believe , but has been burned too many times that way . As a cop show , gotham figure out . The Batman elements just provide a backdrop .
But- Almost Human and Life on Mars both died early deaths . Will viewer interest be enough to keep this show alert and find its feet , or will bedevil be fox and shoot down it ?
Viewer interestingness is fine ; the show debuted to a verrrrrry strong 8 million viewers , which I ’m sure Fox is quite pleased with . Admittedly , Almost Human ’s premiere had 9.1 million viewers , but that was because it had a football game game as a lead - in . With the interest in superheroes and the Batman tie - in , all Gotham need to do to keep a respectable number of viewers is not suck and maintain a sealed turn of obvious Easter eggs for aggregative audience .
Of of course , then we immediately run into the trouble that a luck of people think Gotham sucks . I do n’t want to blow your intellect , but your favorable neighborhood carrier is not one of them . I assume it ’s because I readthat early draft of the scriptwhich was so terrible that when I saw the pilot all I could really focus on were the improvement , which consisted mainly of less godawful dialog and salutary performances that helped bolster the tale substantially .
https://gizmodo.com/what-we-learned-from-the-script-for-gothams-first-epi-1530515272
If Gotham does n’t improve any more than this , then yeah , it ’ll be massively disappointing . But there ’s a gross ton of voltage here , and maybe it ’s just because I ’m feeling bullish about the pilot , but I imagine the show has some adept character to work with and has some story to tell . But postulate me again after episode 3 or 4 .
Team Players
Charlie C. :
Mr. Postman ,
Am I the only one who is not thrilled at the prospect of Vision , Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch being in the upcoming Avengers sequel ? I am not a comic book reader , but I do love the comic book moving-picture show . I realise that the Avengers is an ever - changing squad in the strip . But am I wrong to want to see the “ original ” moving picture Avengers discharge a trilogy on their own ?
Vision , Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch may not take that much filmdom time from the others . But then there ’s Antman , and Dr. Strange motion picture which are allegedly coming out . I ’m judge they ’ll be call for in Avengers 3 ? And if Avengers 3 has Thanos , the Guardians of the Galaxy have to make an appearance right ? So I ’ll get to see Hulk throw a single clout in that picture show ?
The original cast had a skilful interpersonal chemistry and was part of the reason the first Avengers was so awesome . Am I in the minority in desire to see the original cast be the focal point for a bit ?
You ’re probably in the minority , but you ’re not alone . The four core Avengers of Captain America , Iron Man , Hulk and Thor have so much story potential drop on their own I can see why crowd them with more superheroes could be see as messing with perfection .
But as you pronounce , the Avengers is ever - changing in the comics , and Marvel surely want to establish that same fact in the Cinematic Universe as well — not just to be able to continually add superheroes with their selling and spinoff franchise potential , but also to be capable to subtract characters , in grammatical case there ’s a level issue or a declaration dispute or something . Keeping center on the chief four Avengers is dandy for the fan who have wanted to see these guy cable on CRT screen forever and want more , but in term of the total Marvel Cinematic Universe it ’s well to keep the Avengers conciliatory and growing .
That ’s kind of a bummer , but it ’s deserving remember that the time Captain America , Hulk , Thor and Iron Man were all on the Avengers at the same time in the cartoon strip were few and far between . In fact , the Hulk quit the Avengers in the 2d issue of 1963 , two exit before Captain America was unfrozen and link up . The Hulk did n’t officially come up back to the Avengers in the comics until 2012 in the Avengers Vs . X - Men outcome — I ’m sure the flick coming out that same twelvemonth happened to be a total coincidence .
I doubt this makes you sense any better , but suffice it to say there ’s a case law here .
Race for the Cure
David W. :
Hi succeeding humankind ,
Reading your response about the living dead cure in The Walking Dead the most late pillar got me to thinking that a cure would actually be a chip more of a secret plan changer for the survivor than you think . While true it could not return living dead to their former lively self , it could help in two means :
First , curing the current living of the disease would , I ’d guess , reserve them to not vex that the slender of mark from a zombie ’s tooth condemned them to end . If anything , they ’d just need to re - administer the cure before the virus choose cargo hold and killed them , thus make the current zombie terror less daunting . ( Though of course , still susceptible to being overwhelmed and devoured by a horde )
secondly , perhaps the cure when administered to a zombie would change them back to inanimate corpses . Maybe not as quick as a black eye to the head , but soft ( and quieter ) to pip them with cure - adulterate tranq dart from afar . plainly there are logistics outlet – get the therapeutic in large quantities as well as tidy sum administration – but it would give who ever is left bear at the end of The walk Dead a path forward to reconstruct . It would take many year to even start rebuilding full , but it ’d be possible . So a semisweet ending as opposed to burnished deus ex machina heal all terminate . I doubt that ’s how the show would wrap up based on the tone of it , but I recollect a cure would be big deal than you made it out to be . I have it off your column and posts . I still re - read your missing scenes from Man of Steel occasionally and laugh every clock time . Thank you for doing what you do .
Ah , but the cure for the virus that turns you into a zombie when you conk out and a cure for the matter that makes you give out when a zombi scratch you are n’t the same affair . If the virus kill you and turned hoi polloi into zombies and everyone was already infected with the virus , then everyone would be dead .
So there must be something else that the zombi have that down people with the merest scratch . A cure for that would be boundlessly more utilitarian than a cure for the zombie spirit computer virus . This would increase survival rates a great deal , since elude a zombie horde without a unmarried wound is much more hard than merely escaping a zombie horde . And it ’s definitely more unmanageable than managing the demise to make trusted they do n’t smart anyone after they croak and turn into a zombie — because give how few survivors there are , the chances of you getting bite by someone who died randomly of a heart and soul flack in the night is importantly less than the luck of you getting set on and spite by a re - existing zombi cache .
Also , even if this cure did somehow “ cure ” zombi spirit — and that ’s a big if — would n’t that just mean it kills them ? The bodies are effectively dead ; cure the computer virus inside them would just entail the cease to be re - animated . Plus , since zombie have no cirulation to speak off , he heal would have to be administered into the zombie ’s wit in guild to stop the neural meshwork . If you ’re having to shoot hypodermic phonograph needle full of medicine in a zombie ’s nous , is n’t it a snake pit of a pot easier to shoot them with regular slug rather ? It ’s the same effect , really .
Got a New Duck
David Y. :
Rob ,
I have a question about Howard the Duck , now that he ’s made his MCU debut . In a previous version , when discussing whether Disney might let Howard wear bloomers now that it owns both Donald Duck and Howard , you wrote : “ I promise you Disney will draw Marvel to sting every Howard the Duck comic appearance in existence before they ever do anything that might even potentially harm one of the primary horse barn of Disney characters . ”
While I fit with your premise , my question is : is Donald Duck still in the principal stable of Disney lineament ? It does n’t seem like he ’s being used to make Disney much money these day . I get that Mickey will always have an intrinsic mascot note value to Disney even when he ’s not in anything raw , but Donald is for certain a giant step below Mickey in that respect . Does he really have much economic economic value to Disney in 2014 ? Meanwhile , Marvel Studios has become perhaps the most reliable gravid - money maker for the entire huge conglomerate . If Marvel had an idea for Howard that conceivably might harm Donald IP , would n’t the impertinent economic drama be to reckon on Howard over Donald at this pointedness ?
No . Even if Disney had no design to use Donald the Duck in any kind of major entertainment ever again — which is utterly not dependable — and Marvel had a Howard the Duck trilogy plan — which is also never going to happen — they would not have Howard drag through the mud Donald in any way . Even if he ’s not being used much currently ( and neither is Mickey Mouse today , by the way ) he ’s been a major Disney fibre for most of the last century while Howard has had a few comics , one stinking pic , and one brief cameo . Donald Duck still has infinitely more potential here .
More significantly , Disney is in charge . They buy Marvel , not the other way around . They may have a go at it money , but not at their own disbursement . And no matter how small they may be used , Disney the company will always be equated with Walt Disney ’s pantheon of characters and protect them as if they were the star of the billion - dollar picture show franchise , not the Avengers . I look you Disney would sell Marvel before they gave up the right to Donald Duck . If only because the frozen head of Walt Disney would climb onto its gargantuan killer spider - bot and hit all of the Disney executives if they did n’t .
Do you have questions about anything scifi , phantasy , superhero , or swot - related ? Email the[email protect ] ! No query too unmanageable , no head too dumb ! Obviously !
BatmanGothamHoward the DuckStar Trekzombies
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