The Aquaman Experiment

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember during the summer when I took daughter to watch Ant Man 2 I as a bit of fun bought a hardback comic (I refuse to call them "graphic novels". I'm old) for my daughter and one for myself. Much to the contempt of the wife. Well now I've got round to reading it.

It was Aquaman. Volume four (Death Of A King) of a series but that didn't matter. I learnt as a child that for most series you can get stuck into the story no matter where you are. And that is the case here.

Apparently this was reviving the Aquaman brand. A task given to Geoff Johns.

This was to be then the first comic I'd read in well....decades.

With hindsight, and allowing for the fact that it was bought at a general discount bookstore not a comic book place, it was a mistake picking the man from Atlantis. I wasn't really enamoured with him as a child. I suspect subconsciously because I couldn't swim (and all of these years later I still can't). But I did want to pick a character I knew and the choice with that criterion wasn't great.

Having read it my views on the watery one hasn't changed. Whilst I might be jealous being able to swim underwater without a wetsuit and oxygen tanks and talk to sea animals does not a hero make. He's not Spiderman. He's not even The Flash.

If he swims underwater why does Aquaman never come out as if doing an impersonation of a dripping tap? Also that short blond hairstyle. Really? (Interestingly the Aquaman hairstyle from the forthcoming film, long and straggly, seems more reasonable).

The storyline (which I won't spoil) is certainly readable. The biggest irritation I had with it all though was with the artwork and colouring. The artwork because a lot of it appeared to me as if the artist was hoping some of the stills would appear in a gallery to I would such detail it detracted from the story.

Also the colouring seemed to be in a darker shade of gloom. Why? They weren't like when I was a lad. Even for Batman. Is that an appeal to adults thing? I've no idea.

So at the end of the day what have I learnt?

I'm an old man.

And whilst I'm not saying I wouldn't read another one again there would have to be a good reason to do so.

Until the next time.

Is The Reason I'm Suddenly Into Watching Comic Book Shows The Fear Of A Hard Brexit?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday. Whilst the wife was out for the evening helping a friend I and daughter spent the time watching comic book shows on the TV. And we had a good time. I'll chat about the shows we watched later on (though some of them I've chatted about before) but as we were viewing the thought entered my brain.

"Why after all these years am I into comic book heroes again?"

I had assumed as I've written about before simple nostalgia was the reason. The Flash seems to be like a comic book made flesh. Fantastic in effect and plot but done in a way that your belief as an adult is suspended.

Now though I'm wondering something completely different. I'm wondering whether in the face of Brexit, with the possibility looming of a hard Brexit (where even today the morning's headlines are of warnings from the NHS over a shortage of medicines) my subconscious is seeking some sort of rescue where impending disaster is averted at the last minute.

I've not hidden my desire that the UK should be broken up. But as I've also said no nationalist wants the UK to be broken up because of a hard Brexit (even if it turns out that it's the best thing to do and has to be done) because of the misery that the hard Brexit would have inflicted upon families across Britain (except of course for the rich Brexiteers who helped cause this and would have probably gone into foreign exile by then).

What the United Kingdom as a whole needs is a hero/heroine. What it's getting are villains and idiots.

And so to yesterday evening. Daughter and I watched:

The Flash: Having gone through series one daughter and I have moved to season two. And it works. We watched two episodes and daughter was quicker to understand the possibilities of parallel Earths than me. Episode three ended with the return of Tom Kavanagh as chief villain(?) ...we shall see.

(As a quick aside I must see if I can download Ed, a show Tom Kavanagh starred in. One of those quietly seemingly simple but effective shows not unlike the Gilmore Girls that America does produce well).

Krypton: This was the new show. Where the hero is apparently Superman's grandfather. Being in his twenties he doesn't know that yet. Instead he's doing what men in their twenties do. Drinking, fighting and having sex (thankfully not shown - my finger was hovering on the remote at that point).

Krypton is, interestingly run as a dictatorship at that time through a mysterious masked figure. It also has wealthy and poor areas. It is, essentially a futuristic Gotham city.

Everybody speaks in British or Irish accents, except an American from the future. He warns Superman's grandfather of the arrival of Brainiac (I remember him from the comic books) from the future intent of destroying Krypton and therefore destroying Superman before he's even born.

That is the clever part of the plot. The Batman prequel on TV, Gotham, suffers because whilst you may not know the route you know the destination. You know the child Bruce Wayne is going to be the Batman for example. No mystery there. So the idea that a villain from the future is coming back to change history at the very least creates some tension.

Worth moving onto episode two anyway.

Krypton: A divided society facing impending danger. That's a Brexit metaphor. As is...

Black Lightning : A society teetering just this side of social collapse. It is realism with a fantastical edge alright.

I've chatted before that Black Lightning is not just a superhero for the Afro American community but also for mature men with wife and kids everywhere. He's tired. In this episode he faints. He takes medication. He's determined but weary.

(As an aside wife came back during the middle of the episode and on a particular scene. I told her to look and see if she recognised the actor playing a newspaper editor.
"Is that Huggy Bear?" she said.
And yes it was. Huggy Bear from the seventies cop show Starsky and Hutch.
Daughter looked as if we had just had a conversation in Mandarin)

But although a prequel where the original was based on a comic book perhaps the closest metaphor to a hard Brexit is a programme I've been watching without my daughter.

Fear The Walking Dead. Where slowly but surely disaster strikes and society as we know it is gone forever.

And that is definitely a hard Brexit metaphor.

Until the next time.

In Which Superhero Summer Continues As I Watch Ant Man And The Wasp, Buy A Comic Book For The First Time In Decades And Get Interrogated By Daughter Over My Comic Book Choices

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I mentioned in the previous post yesterday I took Daughter to the cinema to watch Ant Man and the Wasp as promised given her sudden and unexpected interest in comics. To be honest I wasn't sure what to expect, I could barely remember Ant Man in my comic reading past and I definitely didn't recall The Wasp.

Anyway on the drive to the cinema Daughter decided to interrogate me on my comic book tastes. Bare in mind here folks that these opinions are based on when I was her age so what these titles are like now I've no idea.

"DC or Marvel?"

Now this has the important caveat that either comic book publisher had many titles. Some I liked some I didn't. But with that proviso there was really only one answer.

"Marvel".

They were just, taken as a whole, better.

"Spiderman or Superman?"

Easy question. Given that I was not from the Planet Krypton I had more chance of being bitten by a radioactive spider. So with the schoolboy logic, and that the stories were better.

"Spiderman"

"Spiderman or The Hulk?"

Never really was into The Hulk.

"Spiderman"

"Spiderman and The Flash?"

As I said previously much as I've liked the current TV series I didn't like the original comic.

"Spiderman"

"Spiderman and Batman?"

"A tie"

Leaving aside the schoolboy logic that if I was a billionaire I too could be like Bruce Wayne the dark foreboding tales from Gotham worked for me. You know even viewed from the prism of aged and cynical adult eyes Batman has always stood the test of time.

The cinema was in the out of town outlet place that was Macarthur Glen just outside Bridgend. Whilst daughter got something to eat I quickly went to The Works shop there that sells books. Including large paperbacks and hardbacks of comics. I got daughter a Justice League of America paperback given it had a lot of the DC superheroes in there.

And....well...let's say my schoolboy years came flooding back and I couldn't resist buying one for myself..

Aquaman then - Better be good - Let's say the wife wasn't impressed

After we had a quick bite to eat we went to see the film. First there came the ads and the trailers. Won't bother saying much about them. Except perhaps you'll be surprised to learn that DFS has a sale on.

What did I think of the movie? Well not awful. A sort of light summer treat from all the heavily promoted Avengers stuff. Amiably acted (the daughter of Ant man - as my daughter noted - steals every scene she's in).

Also (and this is an important test in my dotage) I didn't sleep through part of it.

Not perfect though. Too many comedy moments for a superhero film and it could have done with a more interesting villain.

Still daughter liked it and that's the main thing.

Until the next time.

Meanderings Whilst Waiting For A Washing Machine...And It's Installer

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember a few posts back I chatted about waiting for the washing repair man? Well after a few trips the machine was pronounced finally dead early this week. And today (Friday) a day I'm not at work will be partly spent waiting for the machine to be delivered then installed. Another waiting for moment begins. Nothing I can really do until this is done.

So it's 7:45am. And the wait begins.

I do know what I'll be doing once daughter has woken up and gotten herself together. I'll have to watch more episodes of series one of Supergirl now she seems to have entered a comic book kick. Judged on the first episode it's not The Flash. Thing is The Flash took me back to when I was a child and enjoying the wonder that comic books (I refuse to call them "graphic novels") provided. Supergirl doesn't do that. I look at it through the weary eyes of a fifty four year old man.

I'm not saying that Supergirl is bad, and obviously I'm not the target audience. It's just not for me.

And further to this Superhero/heroine summer that it has apparently become will be going with daughter to see the Antman and the Wasp movie later today. Of course I say "intention" a lot of things are going to depend on the Washing Machine delivery today.

9:04am. Machine delivered. Hurrah. Now have to wait for the installer.

In the meantime mail has come. Swansea Grand Theatre's shows for Autumn/winter. Apart from an evening with John Hartson (the only ex Arsenal player whose performance for West Ham was just as good) it's of no interest to me. For the wife there's a dance show by ex-Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole. Email her. Ask if she's interested.

You know one of the best things about Twitter is it's ability to remind you of things. Just seen a clip of Terry Jones interviewing the writer Angela Carter in an eighties programme called Paperbacks. It reminded me that not only was Jones an actor (of course in Monty Python) but also a writer and skilled presenter. He had intelligence, knowledge and wit. The Stephen Fry of his day. It makes the fact that he's currently suffering from Alzheimer's even more of a tragedy.

10:45am. I get a call. It's my mother. Much as I love to chat about life, the universe and everything to her. Much as she has many considerable talents. She's doesn't install washing machines (though to be fair neither do I).

11:50am. Daughter still not awake. Had a very late night yesterday so unworried. Will wake her up at one. Meanwhile no installer and I'm hungry. Salami sandwich time nearly and a cup of tea.

12:33am Daughter awake. After she has a shower and dressed will be watching Supergirl Series One whilst hoping the installers will come and relieve me of this wait.

Until the next time

This Is The Year I Understood TV Series Can Be Discovered Like Books....Years Later...By Accident....in A Flash

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I should have of course realised this earlier in the year. When on returning from hospital in Essex when my mother was unwell I would ping a microwave meal as was too bothered to watch anything else. Slump in front of the TV and surf any channel until the moment I discovered Bones. Slowly I was hooked even though it was a twelve year old series that had finished the year before. There I was though watching repeats on a remote channel and very late to the party. But in the party I was.

Thing is. When I was child there was just three channels (Yes I'm that old). So you had a good chance of seeing all of the latest series for a couple of episodes and making a decision on whether you wanted to continue. Nowadays however with the gazillion and one channels available even if you have every pay TV channel available plus Netflix and Amazon Prime most people still do not have the time to look at every available series.

So what that means is that rather like books there is now a greater chance that TV series can be discovered by accident.....which leads me to The Flash.

Daughter had series one on DVD and asked whether I wanted to watch it. As it was raining outside (the British summer at last!) and as I'd nothing better to do I said yes, though grudgingly. I was aware of the show though I'd avoided it given that this first series started in 2014 and I was then forty nine.

The other reason why I was so reluctant was that I remembered the reading the comic (now called graphic novels....please) as a child and I was at best neutral. I mean he could run fast. So what?Hardly Spiderman now is it?

Well...I loved it.

The plot is simple. Barry Allen is struck by lightening and with the help of others becomes The Flash in which he fights various super villains. Obviously more complicated than that but I don't want to spoil it for you.

Part of the reason I think why I liked it was that it television form it seemed to capture what the best American DC and Marvel comics could do which was to mix the realistic with the fantastic. You believe in the world you're seeing.

It is basically a comic book on screen. And (though this is the varifocal lens of my memory) it's better than the original comic.

It's also helped by some familiar screen faces. Jesse L Martin as the police detective and surrogate father to Barry was part of the Law team when Law and Order was in it's prime when he partnered with Jerry Orbach. Tom Cavanagh was also in Ed. A favourite of mine in the quiet humorous hometown style of Gilmore Girls.

If it was a choice between Bones and the Flash Bones would always win. But for a few moments escapism in the mad place called Britain right now you could do a lot worse.

Until the next time.