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pierrotdameron · 6 years

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1) Jean Grey: The Early Years

While X-Men: Apocalypse introduced a grown-up Jean to the First Class timeline, it turns out that Charles Xavier has a longer-standing relationship with her. “There are not a lot of flashbacks in the movie, but that foundational relationship between Young Jean and a younger Charles is one of the core themes of the film,” Kinberg explains. “The question of Jean’s relationship to her own powers becomes a big conflict for her throughout the film once she’s transformed by something that happens up in space, that has nothing to do with her childhood. It opens with a mission that takes them up into space that has consequences for Jean that ripple throughout the movie.”

2) The Professor’s Problem

In previous tellings of the Dark Phoenix story, Professor X has limited Jean’s capabilities after seeing the full potential of her power – and the Dark Phoenix trailer teases at a similar strand here. “Charles has been hiding secrets about Jean’s past from her that get revealed over the span of the movie, and only make her more unstable,” say Kinberg. “It’s the most inopportune time for this character to become unstable emotionally, because she’s becoming unstable in a much different way after this cosmic thing that happened to her in space. In this way, Dark Phoenix is the most intimate, emotional and personal movie we’ve made, and yet also has the biggest breadth in terms of spanning beyond our planet, even beyond our galaxy. There’s a sense that the things that are happening emotionally for Jean and what’s happening cosmically inside her is making her incredibly unstable, dangerous, destructive.”

3) Present Day

Cut back to the main timeline, and a reasonable amount of time has elapsed since we last saw Prof X and co. “It’s 1992, nine years after Apocalypse,” confirms Kinberg. “The X-Men have become the X-Men that many of us know from the comics – they are heroes. They’re still viewed as different by society, but they’ve been more embraced than ever before. And when the movie starts in 1992, they are a known superhero team.”

4) Suburban Outfitters

In a move sure to please many long-term fans, the X-uniform in Dark Phoenix finally brings in a classic yellow-and-blue design similar to the comic and cartoon incarnations. “I’ve been waiting to do that from the first time I ever got a call from Avi Arad,” Kinberg enthuses. “Avi and Kevin Feige were the chief two people that called me about an X-Men movie 15 years ago. We talked about the costumes, and what Bryan Singer had done I understood and liked, but they were very different to what I had grown up seeing in the comics. So I was excited finally as the director to have more of a say and clothe them in their classic costumes.”

The new look pinches elements from various designs seen on page and screen over the years. “I had a board full of my favourite images from the comics, and then I worked with our costume designer, who also worked on Logan, to create something that was incredibly loyal to the comics and then also had a little bit of its own feel. There’s little nuances from the cartoons, the comics, from whatever it is that if you were a fan you grew up reading or watching.”

5) Sense Of Mystique

While Mystique was primarily an antagonist in the original X-Mentrilogy, working alongside Magneto, she’s skewed more heroic as Raven since her introduction in First Class. At the end of Apocalypseshe chose to stay with Charles, and help establish the X-Men – and she’s still part of the group nine years on. “Raven is a part of the X-Men, but she’s critical of some of Charles’ methodologies, in terms of him feeling as though they can just dress up in those costumes and be considered the same as the rest of humanity,” Kinberg explains. “So there is a schism forming between her and Charles. That struggle has been present in every movie, and we do it in a hopefully slightly more subtle way in this film. She toggles back and forth between Raven and Mystique, and there is meaning to that as there has always been in the previous three X-Men movies.”

6) Star-Crossed Lovers

Jean and Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, both entered the prequel saga in Apocalypse, with sparks of chemistry between the two. In the comics and original film trilogy, the pair are a fully-fledged item – and in the intervening nine years they find themselves in a similar place emotionally here. “The love story between Scott and Jean is such an integral part of the Dark Phoenix saga in any iteration, whether it’s the comic book or the cartoons,” reasons Kinberg. “Obviously we don’t have Wolverine, so that’s one less part of that love story. It is very central [to the movie], and they are a couple. As Jean starts to become more unstable, there are people in the X-Men who don’t think she can be helped and saved, many of whom think the world and others need helping and saving from her. And so Scott is probably the most prominent person who’s holding on to the hope that Jean can be saved.”

7) The Village Green Preservation Society

While Charles remained at his mansion to build the X-Men team at the end of Apocalypse, Erik Lensherr, aka Magneto, went his separate way. In the Dark Phoenix trailer, he’s in a leafy commune when Jean approaches him for guidance. “What you’re seeing is the beginnings of Genosha,” reveals Kinberg. “That’s where Erik is when we meet him. It’s like Magneto’s Israel – a land built for mutants, a homeland where they can be safe and self-sufficient. Jean finds him there because what’s happening to her is making her do destructive things, and she doesn’t know why. The only person she’s known who has done destructive and lethal things in the past but came back from it is Magneto. She feels he alone can give her answers because he’s lived both sides. He’s lost control and killed and hurt people, some of whom he even loved, and yet he’s also found a measure of peace and that’s what she’s searching for.”

8) Intergalactic Influence

The main new cast addition to the series is Jessica Chastain, who’s gone all platinum-blonde to play… well, we don’t know. But Kinberg elaborated a little on the origins of her character. “I can tell you this much. Jessica’s character is not of this Earth. She’s an extra-terrestrial character, an alien character,” he teases. “I won’t say much more in detail on the specifics of that. While everyone else is trying to control this power inside of Jean, she’s much more interested in essentially encouraging her to go further with it and try to be the peaceful side of herself. She is the devil on Jean’s shoulder, so to speak.”

9) Cosmic Jam

Cut to the end of the trailer, and we get a glimpse of the outer space incident that kicks off the whole Phoenix takeover. “Jean is in space, and what she’s taking in is a cosmic force that she thinks is one thing, and over the course of the movie realises is something far different, that our human science can’t explain,” says Kinberg. “But she needs to find a way to control it or she’ll destroy more than just her friends – and even our planet.”

10) Cracked Actor

Before the title card, we see Jean in Phoenix mode, face streaked with white lines – and she’s only just getting started. “That’s not maximum [Phoenix]. That’s a two or a three on the Dark Phoenix spectrum,” warns Kinberg. “It is a manifestation of her transformation from the Jean we know into Phoenix. Over the span of the movie we see different symptoms or iterations of that. The lines on her face let you know that Jean is losing control, and that force inside her is trying to escape, push through, take over. Those cracks are almost as if something inside her that’s more powerful than she is is trying to push out of her body.”

11) Earthy Tones

For years, the X-Men logo and title card has been emblasoned in bold metallic fonts – but not here. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (or simply Dark Phoenix, as it’s being called in the US) has a darker, more mellow typeface that Kinberg explains is emblematic of a new tone for the franchise. “The way I wanted to make the movie was very different than the aesthetic of previous X-Men movies, which I’ve been very involved in and proud of,” he says. “But I wanted it to feel more naturalistic, I wanted it to feel edgier, more handmade, more real. I was very inspired by what James Mangold did with Logan, and I felt like if I could bring a measure of that aesthetic in the film that all of the intergalactic and larger-scale things that happen in the movie would feel more shocking, more realistic, more emotional. They’d be grounded in some reality. And so, all of the movie – from the costumes, to the title card, to the set design, to the way the X-jet looks – all of that stuff is just more analogue in a way. More like, let’s say, the original Star Wars movies. Not that analogue, but the movies I grew up loving had this very gritty, edgy, cool, human feeling to them.”

#X-Men: Dark Phoenix #interview #Simon Kinberg #Jean Grey #Scott Summers #Charles Xavier #raven darkholme #Erik Lehnsherr

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renaroo · 7 years

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Wednesday Roundup

We have an interesting week! Not the least of which because of Saga’s newest volume release which I have been highly anticipating for months. There’s a lot of storylines beginning, ending, and everything in between this week, and we’ve got a spread between DC, Marvel and Indie. So let’s see how it plays out!

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, DC’s Detective Comics, Image’s Saga, DC’s Titans, DC’s Wonder Woman

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew You Vows (2016- ) #6 Gerry Conway, Ryan Stegman, Jesus Aburtov

We’ve officially gone into territories that I honestly hadn’t expected for this series to take, that being the confirmation as of this issue that this is a parallel universe where the Superhero Registration Act and Civil War never happened. But... oddly enough it seems to also be a world where Conway is happily ignoring Slott’s miniseries that started Renew Your Vows because the X-Men, including ones we very much saw were dead in the mini, are well and alive and running the Xavier institute just fine.

And just to add to weirdness, everyone’s in their 90s uniforms but Jean is married to Logan and they have an adorable daughter. How’s that supposed to work with my perception of reality? I have absolutely no idea, but Annie gets a possible future friend in little baby mutant so I think I can consider myself happy.

It’s interesting to see Gerry Conway, who in many ways as I revisit the various comics of the past (as you may have noticed through my liveblogging here) really is fundamental for me personally in how I perceive Peter, MJ, and their relationship, is writing the first book I’ve been able to read in a long time that feels like them. And it’s not perfect marital bliss -- there’s conflict, opposition, and a sense of flaws that both of them bring to the table.

Basically all the things that Slott and co. whined and bemoaned were gone simply because Peter and MJ tied the knot. y’know. Thirty years ago.

Still enjoying the book, but I’m extra curious/worried where our cliffhanger leaves us. Also wow, poor Beast.

DC’s Detective Comics (2016- ) #954 James Tynion IV, Marcio Takara, Marcelo Maiolo

*long heralding sigh and a wistful look into the distance*

We’re smack in the middle of this storyline and I’m sure there’s a lot of things that will be better once it’s fully played out, but I’m running out of ways to defend Tynion’s run on ‘Tec. Mostly because for all the frustration that I have with people being way too critical of this run -- which there more than has been -- I’m getting less and less out of Tynion’s work that fills me with the joy and exuberance that helps me want to defend his comics to begin with.

Probably because I have always said his pacing is awful, his reveals have almost no setup, he repeatedly robs us of emotional catharsis, his views of morality are about as black-and-white as someone can get out of a high school creative writing class, and just structurally I’ve never enjoyed his arcs.

What I do like from Tynion and have defended again and again is his understanding of the main team’s characters. The Belfry team, as written by him, have so many amazing character moments that they far outshine his stories and villains time and time again. He understands why people love these characters and he wants to share why he loves them, and that enthusiasm has repeatedly been a saving grace on issues that had everything else working against them during his run.

Soooooo This issue is completely devoid of those good things. Because our only goodguy left standing is Bruce. I continue to be... less than apathetic toward the Colony and the assassination of Jacob Kane’s character, or Ulysseus’ gamer-brat return. Bruce continues to be an IDIOT about this League of Shadows thing to the point that my brain breaks trying to figure out why in Detective Comics it seems like the World’s Greatest Detective can’t get a clue. And it all just blehhhhssss toward the middle.

Now for the controversy. Because god forbid we not have controversy every week ‘Tec comes out. Cass’ reentry in the last two pages is awesome for the first page and stupid on the giant splash page. yes, she’s going to be the one to take down the League of Shadows, and she’ll probably FINALLY get to say one of her famous lines herself for once (IMAGINE). but Tynion or Takara one dropped the ball on that last page by having Cass holding bloody katanas and make it look like she had actually killed Shiva’s ninjas. If this was a mistake, DC is... itself again and we’ll have to ignore it. If it’s meant to make us doubt Cass and that she’s taken Shiva’s words to heart it’s a cheap cliffhanger and we know better. If if if, doesn’t matter, it’s not what it seems and it annoys me.

I was annoyed by this issue and outside of Takara’s continued excellent work in the art department this is going to be lost in the overall storyline of this arc like every single other middle issue Tynion has written for this run. Nothing was gained for this experience.

Well, it gave me the energy to rant. And I know that’s what some of you come to this blog for, so it gave you that much.

Image’s Saga (2012- ) Volume 7 Brian K. Vaughn, Fiona Staples

Few comics hit the milestones and accolades which Saga have without stumbling across bumps in the path, and that goes nearly triple when it comes to pushing the envelope with themes of interracial relationships, multiethnic found families, clashing cultures, war, sexual politics, and discussions of sexuality and gender all at once.

But somehow, amazingly, Saga not only continues to maintain this path and always manages to find new and impressive ways to surprise me -- someone who I’d consider to be a pretty hardened veteran of nearly all forms of storytelling in comics at this point -- but it manages to make each punch still feel like a direct hit to my gut.

There is so much anguish in the trials of our space opera family for this adventure, so much loss that it’s hard to pin down what hit me harder -- the loss of a long time friend, the sanity of a former dignitary, the home of a beloved survivor, the respect of a former mentor, or -- as Hazel herself so eloquently put it in the last pages of this volume -- the loss of things that never were, the missing energy of what could have been.

There’s a lot throughout this, and as always Saga delivers. We continue to have one of the most badass trans women I’ve seen in comics to date, the fall from grace of Marko’s professed pacifism, and the fear of Sophie’s inevitable manipulations at the hand of The Will, something that will break my heart a thousand times more.

Fiona Staples’ art is next level comic storytelling, but I also need to emphasize just what a fantastic writer Brian K. Vaughn truly is. As someone very aware and concerned about portrayal and voices of women in comics, I have to say that Vaughn is up there with Rucka as some of the few male writers that write female characters in a way that truly speak to me on a fundamental level.

DC’s Titans (2016- ) #10 Dan Abnett, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Andrew Dalhouse

Our fight with the Fearsom Five comes to quite the stunning end, really utilizing all of our characters and their strengths as well as their weaknesses. But what really captured my attention here was just how well the comic did when it came to showing off how truly formidable the Five were, with maybe only Gizmo not getting a real moment to shine out of the entire lot.

The Titans were believably taken down, but not without showing off their prowess first and foremost, an that’s really all I ask for in a story where our heroes ultimately don’t win -- that their strengths are still on display and it’s believable how the battles’ outcome got to where it was.

Perhaps our Seventh Ranger’s late entry with Bumblebee really showing off her powers and surprising us all does seem like a cheap way to end a battle the Titans mostly lost, but I think that was softened by showing that, in return, Karen has lost something that we have spent many issues building up as being highly important to her: her family and the memories and love she holds for them.

That plus the reintroduction of H.I.V.E. and Deathstroke has me very curious about just how the “Lazarus Contract” is going to play out here, especially with its title’s obvious signifiers.

Very good issue through and through, really enjoyable.

DC’s Wonder Woman (2016- ) #20 Greg Rucka, Bilquis Evely, Romulo Fajardo Jr.

I have been incredibly curious to see what is Veronica Cale’s motivations in all of this and why she wants to get to Themyscira so badly, and it seems as though our past and present storylines have finally come to a head, proving my suspicions correct that the two Doberman that Cale has with her are the twins -- though I thought they were common disguise and not binding of them thanks to a revamp of Circe.

Now, of course, if you follow me long enough to know my Wondy opinions, you know that Circe is by far my favorite villain in Diana’s rogues gallery, and so I have been very excited about her turn to come into Rucka’s reimagining. And it didn’t disappoint, I rather like her modern redux.

And in all honesty, Rucka’s second time around with Veronica Cale has been delightful to see take form -- moving her motivations to something more powerful and more relatable than “women be jealous of other successful women” is just so much more engaging. There’s definitely been a lot learned since his last run of Wonder Woman and I appreciate it.

The art continues to be just beautiful for the past storylines, I mean beyond gorgeous and so colorful. Which just makes me dread the upcoming more dour, dark, and all around depressing take on the present.

And if that isn’t a culmination of my feelings about comic trends in general I don’t know what is.

If I didn’t think it’d be entirely unfair, I’d easily give this week to Saga which just continues to impress and amaze me every volume, but as I read it by volume rather than by monthlies, that seems completely unfair.

Usually my weeks are difficult because there’s more than a few standouts but this week I didn’t really have anything that really stuck out to me. But, ultimately I’m going to give my pick of the week to Wonder Woman. Rucka’s past storylines are just a joy over and over again.

#Rena Roundups #SPOILERS #Wednesday Spoilers #Saga #Detective Comics (2016 )#Amazing Spiderman: Renew Your Vows (2016 )#Titans (2016 )#Wonder Woman (2016 )

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