X-Men
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MCU & Jessica Jones
I’ve watched the Jessica Jones trailer, which is not particularly usual for me, and I’m profoundly torn on it.
On one hand, FINALLY we get a female-led superhero story. Jessica Jones is a good character, long varied comic book history, popular following, etc: all of that is good. Like every character who’s had a showcase of (up until now, his) own, the Jessica Jones trailer has clearly got its own vibe: it’s pretty horror-movie-feeling, which isn’t a direction any of the others have gone. So that’s all to the good. And they appear to be using a major part of her early comic book story line as the plot for the first season, which is high-quality fan service, of which I approve.
On the other hand, the back story they’ve taken from the comic, and the direction they’re taking with it, is very difficult to read as anything other than, “She’s been a victim, but now she’s fighting back.”
And I really, really wish that the first female-led Marvel Cinematic Universe showcase was not based around “the girl is a victim.”
Especially, especially because the only other well-established, long-term female superhero–Black Widow–is also from a hideously victimized background. I am not saying Black Widow is, as presented, a victim; she’s not. But her history is *horribly* abusive, deliberately, Machiavellianly so, and she’s already done the Rise Above/Reject Her Past storyline, albeit off screen.
(I did not see Ant-Man, because fuck them, that movie should have been The Wasp, and I gather Evangeline Lily as Hope van Dyne was pretty terrific, but she is also, from what I understand, forbidden by the male figures in her life to go out and be a hero because her mother the superhero had died in an accident, and her overprotective father doesn’t want her to BECOME A VICTIM LIKE JANET WAS. So 1. fuck them, and 2. female victims, whee.)
Anyway, so I’m really torn about Jessica Jones. I’m going to watch it, or at least the first parts of it, and I hope I’ll be so won over that I’ll happily forgive the “the girl is a victim” setup. Because honestly, I really, really want the show to rock. I want to love it. I want Marvel to do well by their first female lead, and I want, for all that is holy and merciful, for to succeed wildly and kill the stupid goddamned “women can’t open a show” thing forever and ever.
#sigh Anyway, to end on a happier note, my friend Lithera posted this cover of Uncanny Avengers #5
and said, “Oooh, pretty! Of course, that card should be the Queen of Hearts. Not that anybody besides me and Catie care…,” which led me to be happy that she understands both me and the importance of little details like that. :)
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Picoreview: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut
Picoreview: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut: very disappointing.
There were enough longer scenes and stuff that it was clear we weren’t watching the theatre release, but we were expecting something called The Rogue Cut to, y’know, I don’t know, heavily feature Rogue, or something.
And it did, sure, more than the original, but ultimately Rogue did nothing more than what Kitty did in the theatre release, with every hope of payoff just…ffffsshhht. Washed away.
Spoilers ho.
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Downton X-Men
Not that I need anything else to do in my Copious Free Time, but last night I wasn’t even thinking about my Downton Abbey/X-Men mashup (did I mention that? the other day I had an X-Men/Downton Abbey dream and thought, damn, that could work. WWI-era superheroes, that is, more than actually fitting Downton Abbey to the X-Men (which could also work but I don’t see getting to do that any time soon :)) and I realised I could use that world to do Evil Hat Fred’s “World War G” idea, which was a thought he once had where instead of WW2 we had a World War Gamma wherein superheroes were largely created/powered by gamma rays, a la the Incredible Hulk, as the next stage in the Downton X-Men world.
I wish–on another comics note–that I could think of something to doodle for some kind of little web comic. I can think of a dozen ideas for a real artist, but just for me? Pssht. Nothing. Absolutely no clue.
In things I *can* think to write, I have hit 75K on MAGIC & MANNERS, and I get to spend the weekend writing, so it’s 90K or bust by Monday.
ytd wordcount: 26,100
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Picoreview: Days of Future Past
Picoreview: Days of Future Past: YAY
There was not a moment of completely suspended disbelief the way Nightcrawler’s opening scene in X2 took me in, but that was a thoroughly enjoyable film and had a moment *almost* that good. I want to see it again!
Spoilers right through the end of the movie behind the cut, so don’t click through if you don’t wanna know. :)
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a brief radio silence
For once I was actually prepared to post things and was thwarted by WordPress, for some reason, deciding not to let me in to my blog for two days. *shakes a tiny fist* :)
One of the things I was going to post was the next chapter of MAGIC & MANNERS, but because I couldn’t let people know here that it was going up, I didn’t, and now I feel that it’s past my appropriate window of opportunity, so the next chapter for Patreons will go up next week. :)
Another was that I’m writing a Regency romance so obviously I’m reading…science fiction. In fact, Ted actually commented on how I’d dropped the Regencies I was reading like they were a hot potato and had turned to something else, which is par for the course for me (I haven’t read any urban fantasy worth mentioning since about 2005, f’rex :)). Anyway, I’m re-reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s SCIENCE IN THE CAPITAL trilogy, which I’ve read at least twice, possibly thrice, before, and I seem to like it better every time I read it. Except for the part where it makes me feel like a failure as a human mammal because I can’t run more than half a block without dying. :)
And in more or less the last of “things I was going to post about”, the book is still not done. It has now gone more than 30% past projected length and is not yet done. Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
(In other news, I love my friends. A sudden passionate discussion about why Hank McCoy is incredibly sexy has just popped up on my Twitter feed. :))
