Why 'Superior Spider-Man' Writer Dan Slott Is The Vince Gilligan of Comic Books

Hello, WORLD!! Smokke here again with another confession: I was a geek when I was younger. Since I'm being honest, I'm still sorta in geek mode but we're all a bit geeky these days, aren't we? The way some people fawn over TV shows like The Walking Dead, Hell On Wheels, The Simpsons (my personal favorite), or classic TV shows and characters like Star Trek and Dr Who, or any of the millions of lame-ass reality TV shows proves that. But right now I'm geeking out over the geekiest of all topics: comics.

The main reason I've been actually reading these nerdgasms again is because of the death of one of my favorite heroes of all time: Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man....sorta. Writer Dan Slott, the master minded behind the last 50 + issues of the Amazing Spider-Man, felt like Spidey needed a make over. A lot of people disagreed, even going as far as stupidly making death threats to Slott's life.

For the uninitiated, as of issue 700 of the Dan Slott-helmed Amazing Spider-Man (the last one in the series) the Spider-Man we all knew and loved is no more. But there's still a Spidey running around and he's still the original Peter Parker bodywise... but this new version of Spidey is none other than Dr Octopus, who came up with the brilliant idea to switch his dying body with that of his arch nemesis. And it worked, but as Peter (in Doc Ock's body) was dying, he forced Spidey-Ock (SpOck) to see his memories via some kind of mental connection they had established thanks to that body swap. And doing that showed Ock why Peter was Spidey in the 1st place. So there's still a Spidey saving New York because SpOck then vowed he would carry on Parker's legacy.



Still with me so far? OK.

The Amazing Spidey may have died but according to the man formerly known as Otto Octavius, the new Spidey would be better than the first one, a 'superior' Spider Man and there's now a new Spider-Man series called 'Superior Spider Man' detailing this Spidey's crusade against crime.

18 issues into this new series and the anger from fans who were pissed this even happened (myself included) has turned into something else entirely, an addiction to one of the most memorable comic book storylines I've ever read. Ever! This young series has already had TONS of WTF?!!?!?! moments including issue #9. I won't mention anything about these previous issues because you MUST check them out to even believe them, with #9 probably being one of the most depressing comic books I've ever read. It has these... moments
worthy of their own blog posts. Trust me. These early issues establish a fast tempo and a storyline that gave the reader a sense of hope that Peter could somehow revive from the dead and get his body back but all of that hope is muted by the end of the ninth issue, just the way Slott intended.   

From issue 10 on, all bets were off and the latter issues got even more intense. Why? The element of surprise. See even though Ock has taken over Parker's body and is actually trying to be a hero, he still has a villain's mentality and he applies that to his crime fighting. This Spidey ain't the friendly-neighborhood guy you grew up with. This Spidey has no problem killing, even shooting one villain in the head at point blank range. What else unhero like has this Spidey done? Well, how about hiring henchmen, even calling them 'Minions'? Or what about have the current mayor of Spidey's New York, former Daily Bugle editor in chief and another Spider Man nemesis J Jonah Jameson, FINALLY show support for Spidey only to have SpOck blackmail him into giving him his own headquarters and spoiling that rare peace between them? And the funny part is everybody and I do mean EVERYBODY knows this isn't gonna be permanent, despite what Dan Slott, the mastermind behind the Superior series, has said. Peter Parker will come back somehow.

How? Who knows? The fact that it doesn't even matter how at this point is proof that Slott is a genius at storytelling. We all want our original Spidey back. That hasn't changed. What has changed is we're in no rush for him to get back. Is that really the case? Maybe, or maybe we don't want to see SpOck gone just yet. My preference is that both Spidey's coexist at the same time. Why not? We already have Scarlet Spider, a Peter Parker clone, running around too and he's already clashed with the new Spidey. And thanks to the events of Marvel's huge company wide Summer crossover series The Age Of Ultron, the time stream itself has been broken and the current issues of Superior Spidey have him fighting the Spider Man from the year 2099. The one thing that is irking me is all of this that has transpired is all just undercards to a main event Slott has been setting up since day 1: Dr Octopus (as Spidey) vs the Green Goblin, a Goblin who may or may not be the original, Norman Osborne. Another future story line has Octavius battling the former Spider Man suit that turned out to be a parasitic alien, Venom, who is currently using Parker's high school friend/bully Flash Thompson as it's host. One more storyline has Dr Octopus along with the Indestructable Hulk and the all 'new' X-Men, which is a joke in itself since these are the original X Men who've been brought to the future because they may be able to stop their own future selves' actions (I know ??????, right?), fighting a villain named Dr Octopus. Yeah. Its getting crazier.

What's crazier is the world Peter Parker will have to deal with once he does return. Superior Spidey has done so much damage to the already fragile life of Peter Parker and the image of Spider Man that maybe Parker is better off dead. He's alienated himself from his friends, particularly the former Mrs Parker, Mary Jane. Recently he's gotten Peter fired from his job at Horizon Labs. He's even has his hero allies like his teammates the Avengers, who have him on 'probation' following a very brutal televised beating of two d-list criminals, raising there eyebrow at him. None more dangerous for Otto than Police Chief Yuri Watanabe who knows Peter is Spidey, knows there's something not quite right bout this Spidey, and is actively investigating what the change behind this Spidey is all about.

Which brings me to another great aspect of this series. The other shoe hasn't dropped yet. Otto's plan working, to some extent, is one thing. It's very interesting to see Otto face the same challenges that Peter faced, easily overcoming some like getting proactive on crime as Spider-Man, failing with typical Parker flare with some like Parker's love life. The other thing is somebody is bound to find out that this is Dr Octopus. He may be in a hero's body now but he's still a comic book villain; no comic book villain succeeds for long. What happens when the truth comes out? What happens if that truth comes out and it's our beloved Petey back in the Red and Blue costume? Fireworks, and storylines galore, for sure.    
 
Yeah I'll admit that when I first heard this idea, I hated it. Spidey is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. For him to go through this is crazy but crazier still is Slott himself has got to be a bigger fan of Spidey than I am. The history Slott has turned over and over and reworked into this current series is incredible. Also the similarities between the two characters, Peter and Otto, have been made quite clear thanks to Slott's plotting. One was bullied, you say? Well, which one? He's also a genius? Could you get a little bit more specific? The one that lost his parents? Well, Peter's died but Otto's parents....  It's genius how all of it comes into perspective, all the while still telling a fresh story that never seems to let up on the surprises as well as really highlight what being Spider Man means. Slott's characterization also gives the world a Spidey I know a lot of people actually wanted for a long time: a take no prisoner type of hero. Maybe not how everybody expected but that's what we got. He's saved the day numerous times so far but everybody, and once again I do mean EVERYBODY, knows that Otto's downfall is coming.

I'll give you a few moments to gather all what I just said. Got it? Good. Now go read the most fascinating story since....IDK.

Actually, duh! Yeah, I do.


The only thing I can even come up with that can even compare to how exciting this book has been is the tale of a certain chemistry teacher who finds out he has cancer so he starts cooking meth to leave behind for his family to be financially stable after he's gone.

Sound familiar? It just won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama series this year.

Yep, I'm talking about Breaking Bad. There is no denying that AMC's revolutionary show is fascinating TV. Each week there's something of a sense of dread that creeps up on you for no reason whatsoever some of the times but often it's most certainly warranted. Bryan Cranston's antihero Walter White is the most original character we've met in a long time. We love him but we shouldn't. He's not a good guy. He started in the meth business because he wanted to support his family but as the show went on, we've learned that's not quite the case, is it? Some of the things he has done has not only jeopardized his family but cost him a member or 2 maybe. I won't spoil nothing for the uninitated, all 2 or 3 of you, but you've got one week to cram 5 1/2 seasons into before next Sunday's series finale. Be forewarned: you're probably gonna need a doctor before you make it to Season 4. It's that intense.

What 'Breaking Bad' creator Vince Gilligan has done has been phenomenal. This TV show may be coming to a close but the legacy of what it was able to achieve will be talked about for years. I believe that a great story isn't about what happens to what characters. It's about caring for all of the characters themselves, even the villains. If we didn't care, we wouldn't watch. We love Walter White; he's just not a hero and he's not a role model. He's a liar, a killer, a drug dealer, and he's a manipulator but we care about him. Why? I have no idea. His wife, Skylar, has done stuff we don't like but we're not against her either. Her sister Marie and her DEA agent husband Hank, one of Walt's nemesis, aren't bad people either. Jesse, Walt's former student turned partner in meth selling? Lovably dense. One thing all of them have in common is we hope they make it through the series end alive, which if you've been paying attention definitely is not gonna happen now. Over the last 2nd half of the 2 part Season 5, particularly the 'Ozymandias' episode, we've seen Walter stripped down to his bare essence. What we have left is disheartening not because he become a monster but because we understand why he become a monster. Couple that with the fact that he started off just like any normal person would and you could see how we got to this point. And even though Walter has done too much for us to assume he'll be redeemed by Sunday's series finale, aren't we asking for that anyway? We want to see him walk away from this ordeal alive, He certainly doesn't deserve that kinda happy ending but we're gonna be glued to the TV sets regardless just to see for ourselves.

It's kinda the same thing with Otto. I'd love to see if this will make him a super hero when things do return to normal but he doesn't deserve to live after all he's done. Believe me, for all the good Otto as Spider Man he still hasn't redeemed himself for all the wrong that he's done. Just 50 issues before the swap, he tried to destroy the earth! What he's done is made us like him despite his less than righteous actions. We're starting to love the guy that killed Spider-Man. That's about as ludicrous as loving a high school chemistry teacher who turns into drug kingpin. Or any other villains, when you think about it.
 Either we're starting to root for the bad guys more or shows like 'Breaking Bad' and books like 'Superior Spider-Man' are doing a damn good job on blurring that once clear line between hero and villain. I've never been so amped up for a series finale in my life and at the same time, I wish it wasn't THE END of Walter's tale. I bet I'm gonna feel the same way when SSM ends too.

Til that day then. In the meantime, I'm definitely gonna stay tuned, WORLD. Dueces.

DON JON: JERSEY? SURE. BUT...

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee, back again after another screening. The movie I saw the other night maybe pokes fun at Jersey Shore and the guido mentality. I'm not sure myself, having never watched an episode. I would suspect based on the people you run across in this movie that maybe, just maybe, they're a little more likable than what I assumed. I can also say that this movie is my SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK of this year, which was my 500 DAYS OF SUMMER (another movie starring Gordon-Leavitt) of 2012. What I mean by that is these three romantic comedies, the one movie genre that makes me cringe each and every time, are not cringe inducing. Also they were the best romantic comedies of their respective years.

First time director Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and his HitRecord Productions gives us a movie that starts off with some of the most memorable moments of recent pop culture history. Read that as 'the sexiest'. If this opening montage is to be taken at face value, then sex, with all of its images and implications, is one of the biggest influencers of the people that we became. It certainly shaped Gordon-Leavitt's character. He stars as the title character DON JON, a guy who has anger issues, objectifies women, and seems to just drift through life one sexcapade after another, all the while keeping an impeccably clean apartment to boot. And that's his whole story, at first. Jon Martello, nicknamed Don because his success with the ladies is on par with that of legendary lover Don Juan, would be considered the typical ladies man except for one thing: he doesn't like ladies. No, he's not a homosexual. He's more of a, what, solosexual? Or is it mono sexual? Whatever.

Jon explains in the early goings of this film that for him, real life sex pales in comparison to the sex he sees in porn. He finds himself turning to porn religiously, sometimes even with that night's conquest still asleep in his bed.

Speaking of religion, Jon is definitely a devout Catholic, going to confession and giving very descriptive details of his sins for penence each week with his family. His father, Jon Sr, is played by Tony Danza almost as an older version of the Don himself. You can certainly see the apple hasn't fell that far from the tree. Youll see early on that his father is also a piece of work. Casting Danza in such a role blindsided me but Danza totally pulls it off. His mother, Angela (Glenne Headly, beautiful but underused) is one of those mothers that dote on their kids no matter what kind of oafish behavior they display, more than likely a side effect of marrying an oaf herself. And I found it extremely satisfying that Jon's sister, Monica (Brie Larson) is one of the most interesting people in this movie even though she says less than 5 lines during the whole movie. The looks she give whenever she does decide to take her eyes off of her cellphone, are priceless.       

Jon's nights are filled with hanging out with his friends (Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke) at clubs looking for 10s or extremely beautiful women. One night he meets Barbera (Scarlett Johansson) and even though he fails to score with her that night, he manages to track her down and starts to date her exclusively. She seems pretty wholesome, making Jon wait for sex until she feels they've known each other long enough. Oh, and they've hung out together with his and her friends. Oh yeah, and until she meets his family and vice versa. He doesn't want to wait but he does, partially because she has this particular talent that I don't want to even ruin for you. That said, she eventually becomes the object of his masturbation fantasies until they do finally hook up. Then, as you'd expect, he's right back to his porn. Barbera actually catches him looking at some porn one day, something she finds disgusting and he swears he doesn't need it. He swears it off but old habits are hard to break.   

Jon is at least attempting to get somewhere further in life than where he's at now. He takes night classes and it's at school that he meets Ester (Julianne Moore). She's...different, to say the least. And troubled, as she sometimes unexpectedly cries at random times. And very outspoken, even questioning Jon on his taste in porn when she catches him looking at some on his phone.

If you think you know where this movie is going, you probably do. I did. I also thoroughly enjoyed everything about it despite that fact. I found it interesting that there are no antagonist in this movie, per se. Or any over the top caricatures, which is what I expected. Gordon-Leavitt delivers us a movie that takes a closer look at a type of guido and shows that guidos are not as bad as people make them out to be. They've just been influenced by the wrong images, mentality. And if they meet the right person, even that can change.
Go see this movie, trust me.

A+   

Dueces, WORLD!

INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2: Announcing The New Horror Kings. Who SAW ThisComing?

Hello, WORLD! Smokke here. Finally, I can say I've seen a spooky horror flick in 2013 and it was the last

movie I thought it would be. INSIDIOUS, Chapter 1 I suppose, was a decent horror film but way over rated to me. It had one truly terrifying moment. You know which scene I'm talking about. Tip toe thru the tulips... The ending works only because it didn't cheat to get to that last scene. It doesn't save the whole movie but its enough to make it a modern cult classic. I:C1 introduced the Lambert family: the father Josh (Patrick Wilson, a frequent actor used by director James Wan), mother Renee (Rose Byrne) and their sons Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor). Josh and Dalton had a secret: they can travel into what is called 'The Further'. 'The Further' is later revealed as one realm for the dead. Dalton went to far into it and Josh had to go in to get him back. Dalton made it back OK. Josh...

If you haven't seen the first chapter, maybe you should see it before you see this one. The only reason I suggest this is so you can see for yourself how much Chapter 2 improves on the original. Chapter 2 picks up right where Chapter 1 ends after a flashback to young Josh's childhood during the time when it is first discovered that Josh can travel to 'The Further' and a psychic named Elise (Lin Shaye) hypnotizes young Josh to take way his ability to travel there (which she unlocks for the elder Josh in Chapter 1). We get a sense that there's something wrong with Josh early. WE (those of us who saw Chapter 1) know what's wrong but the family still needs to be convinced. It isn't until the Lamberts realize there ordeal isn't over quite yet that they start to get a better understanding of what's going on here.

The original demon is back and explained.

What else can I say besides I loved this movie! I loved the fact that Wan and cowriter Leigh Wannell (who also stars in this movie as part of a comic relief duo who worked for Elise) took time to explore the mythology they established in Chapter 1 and expand on it in detail here. I loved the fact that this horror movie got horrific and terrifying and stayed horrific and I'm more than thrilled that the backstory for the original's demon got explored and was just as terrifying as it should have been. Wan's other movie released this year, THE CONJURING, served as a good reminder why we should be paying attention to this guy's movies. I:C2 says that James Wan is the new king of horror and I doubt anybody takes this title from him anytime soon, something that the SAW series implied but could never fully back up. I'm ready for Chapter 3 of this series right now. Hell, I'm ready for the whole damn book!

A+     

Dueces WORLD!

AFTERNOON DELIGHT: A Different Section Of Revolutionary Road

Hello, WORLD! Smokke here with a confession: I love Kathryn Hahn! Every time I see her she's reinvented herself. From her turn as a brash car salesperson in the hilarious THE GOODS: LIVE HARD SELL HARD to her doting housewife that's been unattended to for too long in another comedy classic STEPBOTHERS, Hahn has shown she has an uncanny comedic ability, getting mileage from a look alone like the best comedians.

But it's her turn as the suburban wife of David Harbour's Shep Campbell in Sam Mendes' drama REVOLUTIONARY ROAD that's etched in my brain as the moment I knew I loved her.

 In that movie, Hahn and Harbour are next door neighbors to a couple of newlywed dreamers, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet). Although she was a supporting character in this movie, she still managed to shine here.That shine continues with her as the focal point in the very delightful, often funny, and sometimes deeply touching AFTERNOON DELIGHT.

AD opens with Hahn at an automatic carwash, with her alone inside the car bouncing from seat to seat, trying to decide if she wants to call her husband or not, just showcasing how indecisive she is in regards to some things. AD is a tale of a woman who knows what she supposed to do as a wife and mother but can't do, for reasons that are touched upon but not fully explained. That doesn't matter one bit. Hahn's Rachel is marriage Josh Radnor's Jeff isn't in trouble per se: it's just....not right. They sleep in the same bed but they haven't had sex in months. She sees a lesbian psychiatrist (Jane Lynch) who keeps bringing her own personal relationship anecdotes to the session. The thing that changes the schematics of this whole movie is when it is suggested that she goes to a strip club with her husband and while there, she gets a lapdance from McKenna (Juno Temple, just oozing sex appeal, confidence and OOOMPH) and that's where we finally see Rachel actually get actively decisive, even though she is doing something that even a blind person can see is a bad idea...

I could tell you more about the plot, these characters, the settings, etc. But why? You really wanna know if this movie is worth watching, right? I certainly feel it is. Director Jill Solloway takes a conventional story, throws in the unconventional element, and watches the story progress on it's own in a way that feels totally natural after the insane deed Rachel does. That deed is... nah. The suspense was killing me while watching this movie and I'm the type of person that likes to share my pains. If the release of the last scene is any indictation, Rachel will be the type of person who can share hers too.

Maybe.

A+

Dueces, WORLD.