#poison ivy is my co-pilot

[longnurse]

Lego batman movie 2

LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 2 HOW TO

(Joker's face is slowly saddening) I don't need you. Joker: What? Batman: As in relationships. Joker: Are you seriously saying that there's nothing, nothing special about our relationship?! Batman: Whoa! Let me tell you something, J-Bird. So when people ask you who's your number one bad guy, you say. Joker: Okay, look, I-I'm fine with you fighting other people if you wanna do that, but what we have is special. Joker: Stop him before he starts singing! Let's get nuts! Because I just wrote a song about how I'm going to kick all of your butts. Joker: Batman?! What are you doing? You are completely outnumbered here! Are you nuts?! Batman: You want to get nuts? Then come on. Freeze! Penguin! Crazy Quilt! Eraser! Polka-Dot Man! Mime! Tarantula! King Tut! Orca! Killer Moth! March Hares! Zodiac Master! Gentleman Ghost! Clock King! Calendar Man! Kite Man! Catman! Zebra-man! And the Condiment King! Pilot Bill: … Okay, are you making some of these up? Joker: Nope, they’re all real! Probably worth a Google Joker: And let's not forget Clayface! Poison Ivy! Cop: Freeze! Mr. Joker: Catwoman! Catwoman: Meow-meow, you're in, meow-meow. Joker: Two-Face! Two-Face: We need that door open baby. Riddler! Scarecrow! Scarecrow: Pizza delivery! Joker: Bane! Bane: Hello. Joker: Your city is under attack by Gotham’s greatest criminal masterminds! Including. Pilot Bill: Like that time with the parade and the Prince music? Joker: Hey, quiet! Joker: Well, tonight is going to be different! Tonight is my greatest plan yet! And trust me, Batman’s never gonna see it coming. Joker: No he doesn’t! Pilot Bill: Like that time with the two boats? Joker: This is better than the two boats. Joker: Pffft! Pilot Billson: He always stops you. Joker: What? Pilot Billson: Batman will stop you. I will be taking over the city! Pilot Billson: Mmm. with a smile! ( Pilot Billson stares unimpressed) Joker.

You're a fish! You're a frog! You're a fish-frog!ĭialogue Joker: I’m afraid Captain Dale had to bail! I’m your new co-pilot! And I always come to work.

Hi there! I'm from Phantom's Own Laundry.

I sure do! Time for operation "Take Out The Laundry!".

Sir, if you don't mind my saying, I'm a little concerned.

If you call me "Batgirl", can I call you "Batboy"?.

Hey Batman! I'm rubbing my butt all over your stuff! Gonna have to rename this the "Buttmobile".

This music fills me with rage! Let's use it!.

What am I gonna do? Get a bunch of criminals together to fight the other criminals? That's a stupid idea!.

The first lesson is: Life doesn't give you seat belts!.

LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 2 HOW TO

How dare you tell me how to parent my kid I just met!.I can only look you in the eyes right now.reading: "If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make that change. Not sure what RatPac does, but that logo is macho. edgy, scary music that would make a parent or studio executive nervous. All important movies start with a black screen.

#Lego batman movie 2

[amandajoyce118]

Ant-Man and the Wasp Easter Eggs and References

I never posted this. Whoops. Since I’ve been lacking on the six-sentence Sundays, have this instead.

Obviously, there are going to be spoilers for the movie. Since it’s been out for a while now, I probably don’t have to warn people about that, but… just in case, you’ve been warned.

(Also, I’m going to be honest, while typing this up, I realized it’s been so long since I made my notes, that I couldn’t even read some of them, so there’s probably a reference or two missing.)

The Original Wasp

The original costume that we see for the Wasp is muuuuuccch closer to the comic book costume than the one Hope wears. Funnily enough, her clothing in the Quantum Realm is also what she wears when stuck in the Microverse after being shrunk down because she was turned into a living bomb. Good times. Fun fact: Janet actually designed all of the Avengers’ costumes in the comics. She was a fashion designer in addition to being a scientist and a hero.

The Red Queen

On the wall of Hope’s childhood bedroom is a print of what looks like the Red Queen from Alice Through the Looking Glass. In the comics, the Red Queen is Hope’s supervillain name. Yes, she’s a supervillain in another universe.

Cassie

Cassie’s really good at the game to steal a priceless artifact for a little kid, isn’t she? In the comics, she becomes a superhero in her own right, and this whole sequence just made me think she’d be pretty good at it.

The Accords

For the reason Scott is on house arrest see Captain America: Civil War. Is this really an Easter egg at this point? I don’t know. But it was in my notes anyway.

X-Con Security Consultants

It’s not a subtle pun, but I love it all the same. It’s also a nod to the fact that when Scott gets out of prison in the comics, he also started his own security company.

“Snap your fingers.”

While Scott is learning about magic, he watches a video that features this line when discussing how to effectively use misdirection. Was this whole movie a big chunk of misdirection so that we didn’t think about the finger snap? Maybe. Was the finger snap itself some giant misdirection? Maybe. Who knows? I just like that it got a nod here too.

Agent Jimmy Woo

The FBI agent is a character from the comics. He worked for Agents of Atlas at one time, and later became the head of a school for gifted kids in Mumbai. (BTW, he’s also listed as a contact in May’s phone on Agents of SHIELD.)

Animal House

When Scott is being “kidnapped,” he was busy watching Animal House. Specifically, he’s watching a scene that involves Donald Sutherland theorizing about how small the universe really is.

Hank’s Cars

Much like his keychain of a tank he carried around in the first movie, Hank carries around a whole set of cars in this movie. He also carries around his shrunken lab. In the comics, he also carried a pouch full of things he shrunk down, just in case he needed them.

Sonny Burch

The guy dealing in black market goods exists in the comics. He was the chairman of Cross Technologies. We met Cross in the first movie. Funnily enough, the company used to be under Obadiah Stane. You might remember him from the Iron Man movies. (Geoffrey Ballard, the guy Sonny calls to give a tip about Scott and Hope to, is also a comic book character. He became the villain Centurion.)

Hydra Doesn’t Exist

According to the folks in this movie, anyway. Anyone who keeps an eye on the TV side of the MCU knows that Hydra is still kicking at this point in the timeline in the form of Ruby, her mom, and their soldiers on Agents of SHIELD. (No, those timelines might not exactly line up, but that’s probably pretty close to where we are.)

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is actually a mythical being, but it’s funny that this story is used in reference to Ghost. Why? Because there is a Marvel character named Baba Yaga. She was the Russian goddess of witchcraft and misfortune… and she also ran a branch of the mafia and set up base in Brooklyn because… why not? Ghost, of course, was also a character in the comics, but the story for the character has been completely reworked for the movie.

Elihas Starr

Father to ghost here, he’s also a comic book character. He was an atomic scientist who became a villain known as Egghead. He was once hired to kidnap the Wasp, amongst other things.

Bill Foster, Former SHIELD Agent

Bill was Hank’s lab assistant for a while in the comics. You know what else he was though? Husband to Claire Temple for a while. He also worked for Tony Stark. And he became a hero in his own right - Goliath. (BTW, Laurence Fishburne's son plays the younger version of the character in flashbacks.)

Team Caps

I’m sorry, but did anyone else find it funny that Hope and Scott decided baseball caps were how they would walk around without being noticed? It’s the same way Captain America and company try to stay under the radar. I guess it’s good Scott ended up on Team Cap.

The Chalkboard

I’m sure there are some Easter eggy things on the board that me, a non science nerd, wouldn’t catch. More eagle eyed fans will.

Project Goliath

Like I said, Bill was once a hero named Goliath. That’s also a code name used by Hank Pym when he was “Giant Man.” It’s also been used by other characters when they were supersized. It was also a project already mentioned by Tony Stark in one of the Iron Man movies when he was looking into old SHIELD projects.

“Janet was the one to endure…”

Bill says this about Janet’s working relationship with Hank. I found the wording purposeful. In the comics, Hank’s mental health disorders and experimentation with his abilities end up combining to create multiple personalities. One of them is Yellowjacket, who was abusive. His temperment in the MCU doesn’t seem to be all that different according to those who worked with him before.

“It’s them!”

Bill Foster says this when he sees a bunch of ants. Why is this a reference? Because it’s a shout out to the movie THEM! from the 50s. It featured giant ants. Hope, Scott, and Cassie, also watch it on a rooftop later.

Ava’s Place

There’s a nod to another Disney franchise in her home/lab. I spotted a Darth Vader helmet on one of her shelves.

Argentina

This is an interesting choice for Ava’s backstory. For one thing, we haven’t seen much of it in the MCU before. For another, the country is most often associated with Black Tarantula in the comics. Magneto has also gone after Nazi war criminals there, Maya Hansen (you remember her from Iron Man) has been kidnapped there, and portals to other realities have opened there. It’s a happening place on the page, so maybe we’ll start to see more of it on screen.

Truth Serum

The whole back and forth about whether or not truth serum worked reminded me of Skye being threatened with it on Agents of SHIELD in the pilot, only for it to be used on Grant Ward to gain her trust instead. It was made very clear that there was no such thing as a truth serum after the fact, but maybe there is.

Stan Lee

The 60s were fun, he says in his cameo. And he wasn’t kidding. It featured Jack Kirby’s psychedelic style, for sure. It was also definitely a good decade for Marvel. The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Daredevil all got their first solo titles that decade. (It was a good year for DC too. Poison Ivy and Batgirl both made their comic book debut during the decade.)

Tim Heidecker

You’ll recognize him as the boat captain from the big confrontation scene. He’s actually the co-host of a podcast. His co-host Gregg Turkington appeared in the first movie in a cameo as well.

The Infinity War Tie-In

Ant-Man ends up stuck in the Quantum Realm while everyone waiting for him outside dissolves into ash. This gives us an explanation for just what Scott was up to during the events of Avengers: Infinity War as the end of that movie is where we see all of that dissolving into ash. This movie apparently takes place over roughly the same time period, just like the last few episodes of Agents of SHIELD likely do as well, making this a very packed time period on Earth.

#ant-man and the wasp #MCU #marvel comics #marvel easter eggs #easter eggs

[fuelcut]

Revolutionaries wanted: it's time to create the world's biggest neighborhood

Reposting a personal note I drafted in early 2016. (This does not reflect any official POV of my employer then or now.) 

We recently moved into a new apartment on the UWS. My wife called me on move-in day to let me now she’d bumped into our friend from Palo Alto.. who we had also known from Seattle and who'd recently moved to NYC. Turns out we were neighbors! Out of millions of people, what are the chances? Perhaps higher than one would think...

We increasingly have two classes of Americans. Call them digital makers and digital takers who live in increasingly separate worlds - separated by location/land use, access to education, health and jobs.

Digital makers work in tech/media/professional services/finance, live in a handful of neighborhoods across the country (Mission, Capitol Hill, Park Slope, Santa Monica, Stamford, etc.) all connected by JetBlue and the same Facebook filter. They compete for prized childcare, prized school districts, prized ivy league schools, prized spouses and prized investment banks / consultancies (thanks for the chart below!) / de-risked tech companies - pecking each other out like aggressive chickens.

And then there’s everyone else. Digital takers. Waiting in line for EBT cards, watching Detroit ruin porn on Androids made in Shenzhen.. wondering when the free trade magic is going to trickle down. They’ve been left out of the digital economy. They're struggling to get by except for those perhaps with union jobs in govt or a regulated sector. And once they have that job, they resist any change further calcifying government and the economy.

Makers complains how slow Gogo Wi-Fi is on the plane, Takers drink lead-poisoned water from a utility they can barely afford.

Makers complains about the ETA for their Uber driver who’s stuck in traffic, Takers lives in fear of getting a 3 star rating from their Uber passenger that threatens their sharecropper status.

What’s driving this? Our pursuit of happiness over the last 50 years has led to cities that are less diverse (“protect us from apartment dwellers that might ruin our precious neighborhood”), less vibrant (“keep shop traffic far, far away..”) and reliant on the car for the vast majority of needs.

The result is a nation divided.

One where both camps (digital makers and digital takers) are increasingly frustrated and concerned about creating a better life.

America is ready for a revolution, but it won’t start in DC. And it won't be about redistribution or protectionism.

It will start in cities - the engines of opportunity. While zip codes may divide people into haves and have nots, in cities there's still hope that a critical mass of people can come together to make change.

From containing chaos to streaming it

The purpose of this urban revolution will be to take the digital technology that currently divides society and instead uses it to reimagine the policy and physical infrastructure of the city in ways that create new shared prosperity for all.

To do this, cities must not seek to contain urban chaos and human activity - for example segregating living by income level, segregating space by use..Instead, we need flexible cities that use technology to unleash human potential:

giving every single child or adult - regardless of income level - a safe place to live with the time and resources to learn and be healthy

enabling communities and businesses to easily form and take root

creating dynamic forms of governance that don’t constrain urban chaos, but rather take full advantage of it, orchestrating it into a delightful and constantly changing stream of life, work and play

What's It Feel Like? The World’s Biggest Neighborhood

"Think of the main streets of a thriving city. Commercial networks overlap with transport networks, political networks, family networks, friendship networks, environmental networks, etc. All these networks not only coexist, but actually enhance each other, constantly presenting unrelated people, ideas, and resources in unexpected juxtapositions." - @vgr

This new place will bring together the best of the neighborhood - safety, familiarity, community - and the best of the big city - opportunities, diversity, possibilities.

The result is the World's Biggest Neighborhood. BIG opportunities to learn and make a living, BIG fun, BIG diversity. It was once said of Busy, Busy, Town.. "Has there ever been a greater orchestrator of chaos than Richard Scarry?"

Yes - [this] City will use technology to beat Richard at his own game. We won't have car crashes or fires.. but we will have other forms of delightful chaos on our Main Street: the 3rd grade teacher feels safe holding class in the town square, pop-up restaurants come and go every week and autonomous fruit stands cruise down the road so people can pick just the right kiwi. Look a layer deeper and this [city’s] ability to manage chaos creates opportunity for everyone. 

A safety and real estate infrastructure empowers educational entrepreneurs to easily create a micro-school. Parents get a variety of schools to choose from - each with built-in child-safe transportation. Restauranteurs can startup with minimal risk in a location with foot traffic and nearly free delivery to 100k people. Urban innovators in a local startup center can pilot all kinds of new mobile businesses and interfaces enabled by AVs. Seattle's coffee reputation started with unregulated espresso stands. Who knows what this neighborhood's cultural contributions will be?

What's our job?

[This developer’s] job is not to be a top-down master planner. In a dynamic and diverse world, "failures don’t happen despite planning and prediction, they happen because of them." We must distill our plan and platform to its core essence.

credit: Richard Scarry

Our job is to inspire and create urban revolutionaries - that will co-create and grow the city with us. We will arm them a platform and tools that enables urban innovation [... ] And jobs. The financial model for this city will be on Github, not in Excel. We will give them free software to visualize the city. We will provide seed capital, but tools like Kickstarter mean that residents can invest too.

We'll fund one City to start, but there are 100s of Cities waiting to be built - each one reflecting the hopes and dreams of their communities.

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

Gotham 4x02: A Liveblog

Well, it’s Friday morning, let’s go!

TL;Dr - Lucius is back! And nothing else matters!

Ohhh boy, it’s Scarecrow time. This should be good.

Awww, Harvey inviting Jim out on a date, good Harvey. Love you Harvey.

Wow, Jonathan, holy fuck... you’re... you’re clearly fine. You’re clearly... a-okay.

Also did your dad’s fear juice give you like super strength or something? You hauled a grown man onto that spike, how???

Meanwhile, Bruce is in jail. Good Job Bruce.

Jim’s here to be the Judgy Uncle

“We’ll talk more about this Bruce. But not tonight.” WOW, way to Disappointed Parent Jim

Also, why refuse to take bail from an actual billionaire? Holy shit. C’mon Jim, this place needs rebuilding every other week, you could USE that money

Burning files, that’s safe. That seems legal.

Estranged daddy Lucius! I still pet ship Lucius and Alfred as co-dads for Bruce X333

But also I’m just REALLY HAPPY to see Lucius Fox, holy shit!

Ahhhh, Gotham jumping on the It bandwagon, of course. How apropos

I must say tho, this fear sequence is shot beautifully, this is a really good way to describe what the fear juice does to you, good job show

Jonathan continues to be... fine. He’s fine.

Okay but... the IRONY in Harvey telling Jim to behave himself for Oswald and Jim pointedly refusing I... my my, how the turn tables.

I NEVER thought I’d see the day when Harvey would be brokering Jim and Oswald’s weird ass friendship

Ahhhh, see THAT’S the Harvey I know and love, mocking Penguin just for the fun of it, ahhhh, the good old days

Holy shiiiit, I think that’s the first time Oswald’s called Jim boyscout ^^; That’s Harvey’s thing what is the world COMING to? But clearly Oswald’s crush on Jim has moved beyond awe of him then into more of an outright rivalry, Oswald seems intent on locking horns with Jim these days, his admiration for him has tarnished. Probably because, you know, Jim is The Worst

Is the opportunity Zsasz? Oh god I HOPE IT’S ZSASZ! Would that I might see my baby twice in a row!

Oh... god. You’re not Zsasz.

So... unwelcome reunion with Barbara, dunno why she bothered to invite Selina, isn’t she only interested in Tabitha?

If it wasn’t for the fact that Babs is a canonical character who has to stick around to eventually marry Jim, I’d say just kill her ^^;

I see you have a sexy arsenal Babs, well done

Babs is a lot more restrained now, maybe she got some therapy ^^; wouldn’t that be nice? Actual therapy in Gotham

We’ll see how that whole thing plays out as we the audience know that Butch is not technically dead ^^;

But I miss him too Tabitha :c I miss him so freaking much

You’re So Good at making friends, Jim. Jesus, learn how to people

This is a weird time for Harvey to be saying no, mostly because this is eventually going to get undermined. Eventually, Jim will be proven to be in the right, Harvey will have to apologize for not believing him and that’s... that’s not what I want. Jim is WRONG, so much of the time, and he’s a DICK and Harvey DESERVES to righteously refuse him when Jim asks too much. Right now, Jim isn’t asking for too much, he’s taking an unpopular course, but... inevitably, Oswald’s plan will crumble, the GCPD will need to be reinstated as the authority, like... Jim will be right. And all this stand here will be is a mistake on Harvey’s part and that’s... really dumb, I don’t like that.

Just... this is DOUBLY worse because now it vindicates Jim’s feeling that he’s a lone wolf who ALONE has a sense of justice, who ALONE understands right and wrong and that is SO TOXIC for Jim’s personality. He becomes tyrannical and violent when he thinks like that. I just... this is all so fucking stupid and is done in service of Jim, and it’s UNNEEDED. We already KNOW all this shit about Jim, we’ve already seen this a dozen times. Harvey’s refusing Jim should have come at a time that MATTERED, not this bullshit, and it SHOULD have been done in the service of Harvey. Fuck this noise, I am NOT here to support Jim fucking Gordon and his vainglorious quest to be the most Holier-Than-Thou in all of Gotham. That just shoves Jim RIGHT back to where he started in the pilot, that’s not progress, that’s regression, and it ONLY makes Jim a monster, it DOESN’T elevate him, it DOESN’T make him more interesting. Holy fuck. LET. JIM. BE. WRONG. Stop having EVERY story line support Jim’s TERRIBLE decision, stop enabling him! Let him be wrong, let someone else be right, and let Jim SWALLOW IT. Let him be humbled! For fuck’s sake! Make Jim digest being wrong THAT is character development, THAT is redemption, THIS is bullshit.

And you’re punishing Harvey for no goddamn reason and undermining him, so fuck you. I know this is how Harvey always gets treated but... god damnit.

*siiiigh* Sorry guys, I’m just REALLY pissed about that. 

Meanwhile, actual Joker make up because LOL this is a show about Batman

Meanwhile meanwhile, Babs and Oswald... also Ivy??? and ZSASZ! are here! Zsasz who is now in a candy store of guns! 8DDDDDDDDD Oh my sweet baby, at least you’re here, I love you

“People tend to hold grudges when you shoot their boyfriends” And you should know Oswald. You should know.

Why the fuck are Oswald and Ivy butting heads so much??? What the shit? Oswald, you’re TOTALLY going to push her away and accelerate her into, you know, becoming Poison Ivy, the lady with the sentient plants who WILL murder you

And now Jim gets dosed, it’s about time

And it’s Lee dying, of course it is

Ohhhh good, and NOW we’re indulging Jim’s suicidal streak. Why does this show always feed into the worst parts of Jim and never force him to be better? Jesus

Goddddd can we stop kicking the dead horse of Jim and Lee’s relationship PLEASE, please, I give NEGATIVE FUCKS. PLEASE. I’m so DONE with that story line, just let Jim and Harvey get married, please please please, why do you always neglect the fact that the person Jim cars MOST about is Harvey? Fuck you show

Meanwhile, Bruce is doing So Well

Bathook! We’re working on it, we’re getting there xp

Good job Alfred, you are my favorite

Ivyyyy :c If you leave her friendless, you’re only going to make her a WAY worse enemy to fight. Y’all gonna regret treating her like crap

Lucius!!!! Right on time, I love you baby X3333 I love you X333

LUCIUS IS THE BEST DAD. LUCIUS TOO GOOD FOR THESE ASSHOLES, TOO GOOD FOR THIS SHOW

A hand for a hand, the new law of Gotham. Just... flawless justice we have here.

That was good tho, I’ll take that

Mmmm, this has to be Oswald’s best and most cunning grab for power yet. He’s not pretending not to be a criminal, he’s using that very criminality as a comfort blanket, that’s ingenious

Hmmmm... maybe they didn’t fuck up Harvey as much as I thought, maybe I will like this angle. Harvey always has had a better sense of strategy than Jim. I love you Harvey, I love you so much. Please, please, survive this man, survive this show

YES JIM, BE GOOD, FOLLOW YOUR HUSBAND, BE HUMBLE, BE APOLOGETIC YOU DUMB FUCK

Yupppp, here we go, I kept warning you. I don’t like the fact that this isn’t from Ivy’s own smarts, her own knowledge of botanicals, but... ehhh, this trash show, I’ll take what I can get.

Hmmmmm... wish they showed Harvey being more useful than this, but, again, this show is lowest fucking bar. Still, Papa Falcone coming back will make me happy. And this leaves Zsasz in an interesting position, as I currently have no idea where his actual loyalty lies or who his employer is. If Zsasz is taken from Penguin, that alone will weaken Oswald’s position considerably

Btw this is a show about Batman

#Gotham #Gotham spoilers #Ehhhh... #didn't like it as much as last episode #Not sure I'm even gonna like the season arc #Oswald's on point tho #And Ivy's accelerating so there's that #ED'S STILL IN THE ICE WHAT A MIRACLE

[jaydofmo]

Comic Book TV season opening reviews

Had a good summer? I didn't. I mean, I still had to work and all. Summers mean less post-30. Except for OzCon. That was awesome. I'm not going to be doing these blogs weekly like last year. Instead, I'll write reviews when I wish. Most likely if there's anything I want to say in the midseason finale. I'll certainly be reviewing more than one episode of The Flash this year over at my new blog, Dibny Diaries. The Defenders - The culmination of the Netflix and Marvel shows sees Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock and Danny Rand unite to defend New York City from the machinations of The Hand. The eight-episode format nearly makes this one of the better Netflix and Marvel shows, except for the sheer number of characters included. Not only do we have the four main characters, but their supporting casts also showing up and getting involved, and while this is done well, it can be a bit much on first time viewing. The plot is not the same high-stakes adventure that we saw in The Avengers, the first live action Marvel team up property. A good reason for this is right in the titles: The Defenders. Defense is preventative, while avenging means something bad has already happened. When viewed that way, the series is more satisfying. DuckTales - Disney XD revives the classic 80s show for the 21st century with a new voice cast (except for Donald Duck, who is still voiced by Tony Anselmo), a new look, and a brand new continuity. The original DuckTales was inspired by the comic book stories of Carl Barks, and while the new version is still proud of the original series, it takes a lot of inspiration from the Barks comics. The double-length season/series opener features Donald Duck leaving his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie with his Uncle Scrooge McDuck while he has a job interview. Meeting Webby Vanderquack—granddaughter of Mrs. Beakley, Scrooge's housekeeper—the boys get into trouble with Scrooge's treasures, which Scrooge helps them set right, reawakening his sense of adventure. After an adventure in Atlantis, Scrooge invites Donald and the boys to move in with him. The new series so far has introduced many elements of DuckTales lore around fun and exciting plots that are written so well that adults without kids should enjoy it as well. As of the fifth episode aired, we have Flintheart Glomgold, the Number One Dime, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose and his helper robot, and Magica DeSpell. New to the series is a running plot addressing what happened to the mother of Huey, Dewey and Louie, Della Duck. Fans of fun adventure of all ages should find quite a bit to like about this new DuckTales, so I recommend it. Inhumans - Marvel's third show for ABC was a collaboration between them and IMAX theaters, who ran an edited down version of the first two episodes in theaters for a couple weeks in early September. Now the first five episodes have finished airing. Running into a coup on the moon by his brother Maximus, Black Bolt and the other members of the royal family are forced to flee the city of Atillan to Hawaii, where they must reunite before returning to take back the throne from Maximus. The royal Inhumans can be compelling characters, but their in-character snobbery can make them off-putting. In the comics, the royal family was introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four, allowing a familiar and likeable team to be the conduit to meeting these characters. Inhumans doesn't have this luxury, with the Agents of SHIELD no longer on Earth and no other teams at the TV department's disposal. The series attempts to find ways to make them appealing, but considering this show is only going to have eight episodes and we've finished three and have only five left, this might be asking a lot from the audience to stick with it. Inhumans was originally announced to be a film before it was quietly pushed back indefinitely. This series was announced, and the television budget, despite being high thanks to funding from IMAX, begins to show, particularly on Atillan. Nowhere does it feel majestic or imposing. Lockjaw, the giant telepathic teleporting bulldog looks great, but the budget means we only get a few scenes with him. Inhumans seems doomed to get only one season at the moment. Aside from Lockjaw, there's not a lot that I'm excited about for it. The "give it a few episodes" advice doesn't help when we're looking at a small number of episodes. If you wanted the royal Inhumans in live action, check it out. Otherwise, take it as you will. The Gifted - The Strucker family discovers that their children are mutants. In a world where the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants have vanished, the only chance they have is to join with a desperate band of on the run mutants. The pilot sets up a lot and while fine, doesn't quite have enough time to make us totally get into the multiple protagonists. Thankfully, the second and third episodes gives us more of an idea where the showis going and gives us a much better idea of this world. Perhaps this isn't going to be quite as well crafted as Legion, but this seems to be a worthy X-Men TV series so far. Gotham - This season finds young Bruce Wayne beginning to master the double life of playboy socialite and vigilante he will become famous for in his years as Batman as the villains continue to rise. Gotham finally feels on track as "the Batman show without Batman" finally has Batman. Lucifer - Discovering that his wings have come back, Lucifer tries to remove them permanently while continuing to assist (loosely) with detective Chloe Decker's investigations. Tom Welling joins the cast as Lieutenant Marcus Pierce, who seems to be hiding a few things. Supergirl - While Kara misses Mon-El, life continues in National City, for her, Lena Luthor who has bought Cat Co., and Alex and Maggie who are getting married. Reports are that this season will introduce this generation of superhero TV's Legion of Super-Heroes. The Flash - Cisco manages to break Barry out of the Speed Force, revealing him to now be faster than ever before. Caitlin—hiding her Killer Frost identity—rejoins Team Flash as Cisco and Gypsy work on their relationship, as do Barry and Iris as they prepare to get married. Meanwhile, a new villain—the Thinker—watches the pieces of his plot come into place. Legends of Tomorrow - Finding various anomalies through time, the Legends have the Waverider taken from them by Rip Hunter's new time correction force. After getting it back from him, they convince him that they can help him correct anomalies through time. Meanwhile, a mysterious threat rises. Arrow - With Thea in a coma and Oliver now having to care for his son, things take a turn as a photo revealing Oliver as the Green Arrow is exposed to public, putting him under the eye of the FBI. Riverdale - As Archie's dad recovers from being shot at Pop's, the killer begins to target other people in Archie's life. That's what we've been able to tell from the shows so far. Frankly, I'm enjoying this season. Even Inhumans, though I'd say it's quite the weakest show. Here's some quick reviews of comic book movies that came out since the last blog. Wonder Woman - The first truly impressive DCEU movie features the story of Wonder Woman as depicted by Gal Gadot as Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) arrives on the island of Themyscira and tells the Amazons about World War I. Diana returns with him to find and defeat Ares, the God of War. Wonder Woman finally gives the DCEU an inspirational hero. Henry Cavill's Superman and Ben Affleck's Batman are promising, but their outings so far have rendered them as flawed without really having a victory without a major downside. In Man of Steel, while saving the world, about half of Metropolis is destroyed. In Batman v Superman, Batman makes the wrong judgement call and Superman is killed. Diana sets out to destroy Ares and even though she makes mistakes, she learns and emerges victorious. And it's done with a very good pace and amazing visuals. And furthermore, the message the movie makes is pretty welcome. Spider-Man: Homecoming - The first MCU Spider-Man solo film embraces the high school setting of Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) early years in his career as Spider-Man, being secretly assisted/monitored by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Peter comes across the weapons-running gang of the Vulture (Michael Keaton). Tony and Happy tell him to let someone else handle it, but Peter wants to prove himself. Just he needs to do that and balance his school life, especially if he wants to impress Liz (Laura Harrier). Homecoming is a lot of fun, but also uses some good intrigue to the proceedings with a worthy plot twist. The film clearly links to the larger MCU, but manages to create a world specifically for Spider-Man to exist in on the streets and neighborhoods of Queens. Giving Spider-Man a benefactor and a confidant (who is not a romantic interest) gives us something new that we haven't seen in any of the five previous Spider-Man films from the past twenty years. For once, Spider-Man feels like a young kid. He screws up, but he gets up and tries again. That's really what the character is about and Homecoming nails it. Batman and Harley Quinn - One of this year's DC animated movies finds Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Nightwing (Loren Lester) teaming up with a reformed Harley Quinn (Melissa Rauch) to foil the plots of Poison Ivy (Padget Brewster) and the Floronic Man (Kevin Michael Richardson). It goes for a bit more of a comedic take on Batman mythos while not betraying the characterizations. Some of the humor is a bit more raunchy, including a scene where Nightwing and Harley have sex. Overall, I had fun, but some fans have expressed displeasure. Batman vs. Two-Face - The follow up to The Return of the Caped Crusaders finds Harvey Dent (William Shatner) entering the world of the Batman 1966 TV show. After an attempt to drain Gotham's worst of their evil goes awry, Harvey is transformed into the villainous Two-Face, with Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) going after him. Both Julie Newmar and Lee Meriweather do voice work for the movie as well. Although still campy, the film feels a bit more serious than the old TV show, but it's all right as the audience for the show has changed and is more open to it. It has a good story, fairly good animation (it's still direct to video), and a spectacular voice cast. http://dlvr.it/Pwxkyj

[njawaidofficial]

How DC Is Betting on Tomorrow's Comic Book Talent

http://styleveryday.com/2017/08/10/how-dc-is-betting-on-tomorrows-comic-book-talent/

How DC Is Betting on Tomorrow's Comic Book Talent

With high-profile comic book projects like Dark Nights: Metal and Doomsday Clock waiting in the wings, it might come as a surprise that DC Entertainment is looking even further into the future. Wednesday sees the announcement of its Class of 2017 Writers Workshop, featuring six writers taking part in the company’s initiative to promote new talent inside its line-up, and to the industry beyond.

Heat Vision can exclusively reveal that the writers participating in this year’s Writers Workshop program are Magdalene Visaggio (Kim & Kim, Quantum Teens Are Go), Sanya Anwar (1001), Joey Esposito (Pawn Shop, Captain Ultimate), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Last Sons of America, Warlords of Appalachia), Robert Jeffrey (Route 3, Radio Free Amerika), and Ryan Cady (Big Moose).

The Writers Workshop is one of two parallel programs making up the larger DC Talent Development Workshop initiative (the other being, perhaps obviously, an Artists Workshop program). 2017 is the second year the initiative is in full-swing, with last year’s launch following a 2015 pilot program.

“It was like going to Hogwarts,” 2016 alum Ibrahim Moustafa told Heat Vision about his experience of the Artist Workshop program, which relocates all participants to DC’s Burbank offices for three weeks of classes and seminars led by DKIII‘s Andy Kubert and Klaus Janson, as well as DC Entertainment co-publisher Jim Lee. “I’ve been drawing comics for quite some time now — several years — and I learned things that I never knew in the class. It was incredible.”

Moustafa, whose work can currently be seen in the DC/Vertigo series Savage Things, said that the daily tutorials didn’t just help sharpen up the skills he already had — “I would liken it to being fluent in a different language and then learning better vocabulary,” he explained — but it offered important lessons in the theory and business of comics, as well.

“We had some really fruitful time talking to editors, talking about what they’re looking for from artists, what kind of things are required — scheduling, things that go along with production — a very well-rounded experience,” the artist says.

Being midway through a project (he was one issue into his Savage Things run when he started the course last November), the practical lessons proved invaluable, he says. “It was the type of thing that, right away, I could start working into my thought process … I think I can see a marked improvement in my work from that time forward. I’m much more thoughtful in how I draw a page now. I think the experience overall made me a better storyteller in general, and it’s something that I do every day all day, so it’s going to be there with me going forward.”

Tony Patrick, an alumnus of the 2016 Writers Workshop — and co-writer on the new Batman and the Signal mini-series — described the Writers Workshop as “an instant game changer” for his career, and for comics in general, due to the new voices it supports.

“I really didn’t think I was going to get in. It’s not something I really conceived of, it just felt like something I had to do,” he remembers. “Vita Ayala was in the [2015 pilot program], and I know her from [independent publisher] Black Mask Studios. She spoke highly of the program. From talking with her, I wasn’t exactly sure what was possible, but I asked her if I should do it, and she said absolutely. I really had no expectations — it was inconceivable that I would actually get into it. Then I did. It’s still yielding results for me in a lot of different ways.”

Unlike the Artist Workshop, the Writers Workshop is a virtual class that runs across three months, according to All-Star Batman and Dark Nights: Metal writer Scott Snyder, who leads the group.

“It’s 13 weeks, and we meet for two, two-and-a-half hours online in a Brady Bunch-style box of windows. I teach it in such a way that it’s all superhero writing for DC. I try and make each week a lesson about a particular technique,” he explains. “My job is not to teach you how to write by formula for DC. It’s for you to come in and write the stuff you’re passionate about in your own way. I don’t care if that’s funny political, light-hearted, dark, whatever. Your job is to come in and have something to say. My job is to help you fit it into the rubric of superhero calculus and to help you maximize that story: look at where you should beef things up, slow it down, be aware of pacing. You need to come here and have something to say.”

Patrick agrees. “The aim is for us to contribute something new to the DC Universe and, also, become part of this extended family,” he says. “The workshop gives you the space to look behind the curtains when it comes to the DC Universe, and the process, but there’s an equal opportunity to write in your voice — and to fine-tune and find your voice.”

As part of the program, each participant submits “two or three” scripts for group critique, which Patrick describes as a bonding exercise as much as a chance to improve individual writing chops. “Once you’ve turned your script in, a significant section of the class is dedicated to feedback,” he says. “I was working with very talented, intelligent, kind human beings who would take apart your script — just rip it apart — and the very next moment, give you feedback that would help you improve, give you inspiration and keep you going.”

Moustafa says the same was true of the Artists group, adding that he’s still in touch with his fellow graduates months later. “It’s nice to have somebody there to share work with, hold each other accountable if we’re starting to slip on any of the stuff we learned — somebody there to reinforce the good stuff that we learned, and just talk about our journey into comics together and discuss our growth. Having another eye that you trust is very, very valuable, especially someone who’s been through the same process, so they know what to look for.”

For Snyder — who jokes that “I have no business teaching just because of the workload I have,” despite having almost a decade of teaching experience outside comics — the chance to bring new voices to DC is what drew him to the program. “You always hope to leave things on the shelf, and I do hope to do that, but knowing that you’ve helped get some people in that make things that inspire you is really a point of pride … It’s making our bench, and the DC universe, much more robust and diverse, just in terms of the diversity of voices and the kinds of stories they want to tell. It’s inspiring.”

The Talent Development Workshop program doesn’t actually end when the workshops are finished. Bobbie Chase, DC’s vp and executive editor of young reader and talent development, and leader of the initiative, leads a team — including Sara Miller and Andrea Shea — that works with alumni to place them on projects after the classes are finished, with work from the 2016 group having already appeared in issues of Superman, Nightwing, Suicide Squad Most Wanted and other DC titles. (Patrick’s co-writer on the Batman and the Signal series is none other than Scott Snyder, who said that he enjoyed “putting my money where my mouth is” with that kind of collaboration.)

Additionally, Nov. 29 will see the release of New Talent Showcase 2017 No. 1, a special issue featuring short stories created by the collected alumni of both the Writers and Artists Workshops groups from 2016, behind a cover from Jim Lee. The solicitation text for the issue reads as follows:

NEW TALENT SHOWCASE 2017 #1 Written by ERICA HARRELL, DESIRÉE PROCTOR, DAVE ACCAMPO, AARON GILLESPIE, AL LETSON, TONY PATRICK and OWL GOINGBACK Art by SAM LOTFI, MINKYU JUNG, LYNNE YOSHII, SIYA OUM, MATT MERHOFF, LALIT SHARMA and JAGDISH KUMAR Cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS That latest graduates from the DC Talent Development Workshops show off their skills in stories starring some of DC’s greatest characters. In these tales, Poison Ivy fights an ancient demon, Doctor Fate is confronted by the cost of magic, Red Hood and Duke Thomas face off in a training day simulation and so much more!

More information on DC’s Talent Development Workshop program — including updates on graduates — can be found here.

#Betting #Book #Comic #DC #Talent #Tomorrows

#Betting #Book #Comic #DC #Talent #Tomorrows