Happy new year, everyone!
Saw Last Jedi today for the second time. ($6.50 for a 10am matinee. Woots value, but it’s weird watching a movie in the theatre before noon.)
It holds up! The fist pump moments were still there - Throne room fight, Luke striding out to meet the First Order, Holdo’s sacrifice. The slow bits didn’t get much worse (the casino, mostly). And I was even more impressed by the acting performances this time around. Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and Mark Hamill are riveting. I would have been happy with a movie with just those three. Plus the silence of a Mon Calamari cruiser ripping through a fleet of Star Destroyers.
Captain America 8-12
I’m focusing mostly on Andy Kubert’s art today, since the writing is questionable. Though maybe that’s an indication for me to focus on the writing. We’ll start there and see how it goes.
Issue 8’s part 2 of the Live Kree or Die crossover, which means we get another issue of stupid Captain Marvel. I did NOT miss her.
9 through 12 cover the American Nightmare arc. It starts out fine; Steve and Sharon Carter interact with a homeless family squatting in his vacant apartment before fighting the Rhino for a couple of issues. The former generates some fine character moments, which the latter is excellently choreographed and drawn by Kubert. When done well, there’s something very compelling about the nimble, acrobatic hero versus the lumbering, battering ram. (Spidey/ Cap/ Daredevil vs Juggernaut/ Rhino/ Hulk)
Then Nightmare reveals himself as the big bad fo the story, and it all goes downhill from there. Somehow pursuing the American Dream qualifies as sleep dreaming, so he’s able to twist it around, make good people evil, cascade it through the entire population to rule the entire country, and win game. The good guys win after all the dreamers kumbaya together to power up Captain America, turning the tables, and blah blah blah. It makes very little sense, even within its own framework of rules. Cap and Sharon are good in the dream world, evil in the waking world. So how come all the other people are evil in both? I get what Waid was trying to do, but it was just too wonky.
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| Cap in a bubble. I can't believe I'm looking at this. |
Which also describes some of Kubert’s poses. The guy’s more than willing to sacrifice realism for a dynamic pose. And I’m happy he does. There’s really no word for some of his panels besides ‘ridiculous,’ but damned if they aren’t fun to look at.
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| What martial art does this come from? |
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| So dynamic! |
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| We so rarely see Cap with a gun. Nice angle from Kubert. |
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| Not saying the shield effect doesn't look sweet. Doesn't make it a good idea. |
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| Somehow the safest place to survive a missile launch is directly beneath it. Cap literally says that. |
Regret buying? No
Would buy again? Yes
Would read again? Yes
Rating: Fine
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