Sometime last week a colleague and I spent our lunch break playing the classic game hangman. The category chosen was Marvel Comics characters, and the character my colleague picked was Douglas Ramsey, aka Cypher. Marvel nerd though I may be, it took me awhile to guess the character as he is relatively obscure and I have not been reading a lot of X-Men comic books lately. As I got it, my colleague said, "he's got a lame superpower" or something like that.
Up until exactly that point, I actually agreed. Of the New Mutants, the team into which the character was introduced in the 80s Cyper was arguably the weakest, as his power involved neither physical force nor some form of mind control but the ability to translate language and nothing more. Of course he would look like a complete wimp next to the likes of Sunspot, Cannonball, Magma, et al. It's sad because Chris Claremont created and wrote him to show that heroes don't need to be powerful to be, well, super, but in the end it clearly didn't work that way.
What occurred to me at exactly that moment, though, was the question: what if he was taken out of the context of the X-men and put in something else, as, say, a superspy?
In Captain America: Civil War, which I had watched not too long before that hangman game, Bucky tells Cap of the threat of several other Winter Soldiers whom he believes the villainous Zemo intends to bring out of deep freeze. In describing them as possible world-destroying threats, Bucky mentions, as one of their talents, the ability to speak 30 languages. Remembering both this line and Cypher's lone superpower, I thought, wouldn't the ability to speak any language one hears, make someone a truly formidable hero? Spy movies like the Mission Impossible movies and the Bourne series play up the lead character's ability to blend into an environment, and in Bourne's case that usually involves the ability to speak the local language. A character that can do that naturally could be an amazing spy, especially if he was able to hone those abilities through training, which he could easily get from S.H.I.E.L.D.
Essentially, this is my pitch to the people who make Marvel Comics (not the movies), to do something with a long-existing, not particularly prominent mutant property other than kill him or retroactively alter his sexual orientation.
Cypher is a fantastic Marvel character in that, unlike Steve Rogers who went from being a 98-pound weakling to being the ultimate fighting machine, he actually stayed the 98-pound weakling, even after getting his superpower (which for mutants like him, happens at puberty).
A few years back in the "Necrosha" storyline I think Marvel took up a long-standing fan suggestion to have Doug's language-acquiring powers include the ability to learn fighting ability as a form of "body language" which led to him defeating his entire team, the New Mutants. This was a bit of redemption for the character, and they followed it up (sort of) by including him in a new X-Factor team formed by a writer whose work I enjoy, Peter David.
Now, as much as I enjoy David's writing, I think to keep Cypher in an ensemble book full of fantastical characters (even if they're playing detective, as I think they are in this book) is a waste of his talents, which are more suited to the kind of work that the Black Widow and Winter Soldier do than to traditional "superheroing."
Not that I think Cypher deserves his own book; if sales warranted it he would surely have had one by now. I do think, though, a change of scenery is in order for this character.
I don't know if you ever get to read this, folks at Marvel, but if you do I hope you consider it.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Friday, May 6, 2016
Quick Looks: Spider-Man/Deadpool #4
written by Joe Kelly
drawn by Ed McGuinness (pencils) and Mark Morales (inks)
colored by Jason Keith
Spider-Man and Deadpool double-date. Deadpool brings a succubus for Spider-man to date and manages to trick the new Thor into showing up as his...date? Also, Deadpool also finally gets around to doing something he's been meaning to do since issue one.
This issue is a bit more low key than the first three that came before it; there are no punch-ups, for one thing, and I have to say I didn't particularly care for it, much, either, as it basically involves Spider-Man being somehow complicit in a rather sleazy, sexist trick Deadpool pulls on the aforementioned succubus and Thor. It backfires and is supposed to be played for laughs, but for me the jokes, including one in which Spider-man uses an image modifier to pose as a black man named Leonardo diCaprio (seriously), fell flat.
McGuinness shines as always but Kelly's joke that's basically stretched out over an entire issue really didn't work for me. Anyway, the cliffhanger (and the series' general standard of quality) will ensure that I'll be back for the next issue.
6.5/10
drawn by Ed McGuinness (pencils) and Mark Morales (inks)
colored by Jason Keith
Spider-Man and Deadpool double-date. Deadpool brings a succubus for Spider-man to date and manages to trick the new Thor into showing up as his...date? Also, Deadpool also finally gets around to doing something he's been meaning to do since issue one.
This issue is a bit more low key than the first three that came before it; there are no punch-ups, for one thing, and I have to say I didn't particularly care for it, much, either, as it basically involves Spider-Man being somehow complicit in a rather sleazy, sexist trick Deadpool pulls on the aforementioned succubus and Thor. It backfires and is supposed to be played for laughs, but for me the jokes, including one in which Spider-man uses an image modifier to pose as a black man named Leonardo diCaprio (seriously), fell flat.
McGuinness shines as always but Kelly's joke that's basically stretched out over an entire issue really didn't work for me. Anyway, the cliffhanger (and the series' general standard of quality) will ensure that I'll be back for the next issue.
6.5/10
Quick Looks: A Review of Daredevil #6
written by Charles Soule
drawn by Matteo Bufagni
colored by Matt Milla
After spending the first story arc dealing mostly with Matt Murdock's new environment and supporting cast, writer Charles Soule kicks off his second arc with a most welcome blast from Matt's past: the assassin Elektra. She drops in on him at his new job with the Early Case Assessment Bureau as he debates over the proper bail for an accused, and has dinner with him shortly thereafter. Then, later in the evening, she tries to kill him.
Interestingly enough, this is the first encounter between these two characters in the context of Matt having magically deprived everyone except Foggy Nelson of knowledge of his secret identity, through means still not disclosed. It's an interesting situation considering that all of the romantic history between Matt and Elektra, as well as Daredevil and Elektra, remains despite the magical mindwipe, which is a first in the characters' entire shared history. Soule only touches slightly on what this implies before ending the issue with yet another twist. I rather liked this issue as it is the first issue of this new series that really explores just how different Matt's status quo is, and Soule does an interesting bit of striptease here with how things have changed.
The first arc, while it certainly had its good points, was, at its core, just another crimefighting adventure, albeit with some new faces and situations. Here, Daredevil finds himself facing the fallout from whatever "reset" button it is he pressed on his secret identity, and I have to admit Soule really has me looking forward to what's next. The art from newcomer Matteo Bufagni, while tonally consistent with Ron Garney's, (especially with series regular Matt Milla lending his noir-inspired color palette to this story as well) is, to me at least, notably cleaner. It would have been really nice had the interiors been drawn, as the cover was, by the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz, but as it is I'm happy enough to see a cover from this fantastic artist.
This story arc looks like it will only be a two-parter, but I'm hoping the next issue is generous with details on what really happened to Matt between the last volume of his book and this one.
7.9/10
drawn by Matteo Bufagni
colored by Matt Milla
After spending the first story arc dealing mostly with Matt Murdock's new environment and supporting cast, writer Charles Soule kicks off his second arc with a most welcome blast from Matt's past: the assassin Elektra. She drops in on him at his new job with the Early Case Assessment Bureau as he debates over the proper bail for an accused, and has dinner with him shortly thereafter. Then, later in the evening, she tries to kill him.
Interestingly enough, this is the first encounter between these two characters in the context of Matt having magically deprived everyone except Foggy Nelson of knowledge of his secret identity, through means still not disclosed. It's an interesting situation considering that all of the romantic history between Matt and Elektra, as well as Daredevil and Elektra, remains despite the magical mindwipe, which is a first in the characters' entire shared history. Soule only touches slightly on what this implies before ending the issue with yet another twist. I rather liked this issue as it is the first issue of this new series that really explores just how different Matt's status quo is, and Soule does an interesting bit of striptease here with how things have changed.
The first arc, while it certainly had its good points, was, at its core, just another crimefighting adventure, albeit with some new faces and situations. Here, Daredevil finds himself facing the fallout from whatever "reset" button it is he pressed on his secret identity, and I have to admit Soule really has me looking forward to what's next. The art from newcomer Matteo Bufagni, while tonally consistent with Ron Garney's, (especially with series regular Matt Milla lending his noir-inspired color palette to this story as well) is, to me at least, notably cleaner. It would have been really nice had the interiors been drawn, as the cover was, by the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz, but as it is I'm happy enough to see a cover from this fantastic artist.
This story arc looks like it will only be a two-parter, but I'm hoping the next issue is generous with details on what really happened to Matt between the last volume of his book and this one.
7.9/10
Sunday, April 10, 2016
The Royal Treatment: A Review of Black Panther #1
written by Ta Nehisi Coates
drawn by Brian Stelfreeze
colored by Laura Martin
The last time I picked up a Black Panther comic book it was being written by filmmaker Reginald Hudlin. I stopped collecting after two issues, even though it was drawn by one of my favorite artists, John Romita Jr., because I honestly couldn't get past how badly written it was. Since then, the title character T'Challa, the King of Wakanda has not really gotten a whole lot of love from Marvel; he's even been replaced by his sister Shuri and has not really had the high profile relaunches that many Marvel books have gotten in the last five years, though he did replace Daredevil as the guardian of Hell's Kitchen a few months before Mark Waid relaunched that particular character.
This new series by renowned reparations activist Ta-Nehisi Coates and acclaimed artist Brian Stelfreeze is probably the most attention they've given the character in a while, undoubtedly in preparation for the character's eventual film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
T'Challa returns to the throne of Wakanda and his role as the Black Panther after a long absence, and in troubled times. He reclaims the mantle from his sister, Shuri who had ruled Wakanda as the Black Panther until her death during the country's invasion by Thanos. Wakanda, in fact, is no longer the indomitable power it once was, having been ravaged by a series of threats from both without and within its borders, and T'Challa himself can feel his people's discontent as he tries to engage in dialogue with Vibranium miners. A riot is ignited, and T'Challa tries in vain to capture the mysterious instigator of all this, a telepath named Zenzi, who eludes his grasp. Meanwhile, one of his elite female royal guard, the Dora Milaje, faces the death penalty for murder. This does not sit well with her fellow guardswoman and lover who goes to extreme measures to save her. Meanwhile, even as he seeks to find and eliminate the threat to Wakanda, T'Challa has another secret mission...
The first thing that struck me about this issue was the dialogue; Coates has quite a gift for it. I had no knowledge of his work before this comic book so I went and read an article of his in The Atlantic about Bernie Sanders' stand on reparation for slavery, and I have to say he brings an intelligence to this book that I don't think it's seen since the acclaimed run of Christopher Priest. Reading this issue I was struck by how far we've come from the days when Marvel was obsessed with hiring Hollywood hacks like Ron Zimmerman and, well, Reginald Hudlin.
As a human rights lawyer I was quite intrigued by the elements touched on its this first issue, such as T'Challa having to combat and subdue dissenters, the existence of the death penalty in a supposedly advanced society like Wakanda and its application to a woman who was basically defending other women from a sexual predator. I perceived a disconnect between the notion of Wakanda being an extremely sophisticated society and the idea that they could still be so out-of-touch with human rights and women's rights in particular, even though they actually had a queen ruling them for some time. For that matter, the notion of a monarchy instead of a constitutional democracy ruling such an advanced country feels like another oddity. Coates doesn't hesitate to point out some of these inconsistencies in his dialogue, and I am intrigued to see how they will play out over time. It may seem like low-key storytelling due to the absence of a world-destroying villain or any significant action sequences, but I'm extremely interested by the political landscape Coates is establishing here. His narrative feels a little disjointed though; while I like the concepts he's playing with here, I feel his storytelling could be little smoother. Still, he clearly has very interesting plans for this series and I'm quite excited to see how events will unfold.
This is my first exposure to Brian Stelfreeze's sequential art; I've only ever seen his work on covers or the "Heroes" one-shot Marvel published right after 9/11. It's definitely not the flashiest I've seen, but it's a perfect complement to Coates' subdued narrative. With the exception of the opening splash, which was pretty powerful as it showed a bowed, wounded T'Challa apparently contemplating on his failings, Stelfreeze's art is mostly a restrained affair. As with Coates' writing though, there's clearly so much just bubbling under the surface.
Not bad for a self-confessed first-time comic book writer; not bad at all.
8/10
drawn by Brian Stelfreeze
colored by Laura Martin
The last time I picked up a Black Panther comic book it was being written by filmmaker Reginald Hudlin. I stopped collecting after two issues, even though it was drawn by one of my favorite artists, John Romita Jr., because I honestly couldn't get past how badly written it was. Since then, the title character T'Challa, the King of Wakanda has not really gotten a whole lot of love from Marvel; he's even been replaced by his sister Shuri and has not really had the high profile relaunches that many Marvel books have gotten in the last five years, though he did replace Daredevil as the guardian of Hell's Kitchen a few months before Mark Waid relaunched that particular character.
This new series by renowned reparations activist Ta-Nehisi Coates and acclaimed artist Brian Stelfreeze is probably the most attention they've given the character in a while, undoubtedly in preparation for the character's eventual film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
T'Challa returns to the throne of Wakanda and his role as the Black Panther after a long absence, and in troubled times. He reclaims the mantle from his sister, Shuri who had ruled Wakanda as the Black Panther until her death during the country's invasion by Thanos. Wakanda, in fact, is no longer the indomitable power it once was, having been ravaged by a series of threats from both without and within its borders, and T'Challa himself can feel his people's discontent as he tries to engage in dialogue with Vibranium miners. A riot is ignited, and T'Challa tries in vain to capture the mysterious instigator of all this, a telepath named Zenzi, who eludes his grasp. Meanwhile, one of his elite female royal guard, the Dora Milaje, faces the death penalty for murder. This does not sit well with her fellow guardswoman and lover who goes to extreme measures to save her. Meanwhile, even as he seeks to find and eliminate the threat to Wakanda, T'Challa has another secret mission...
The first thing that struck me about this issue was the dialogue; Coates has quite a gift for it. I had no knowledge of his work before this comic book so I went and read an article of his in The Atlantic about Bernie Sanders' stand on reparation for slavery, and I have to say he brings an intelligence to this book that I don't think it's seen since the acclaimed run of Christopher Priest. Reading this issue I was struck by how far we've come from the days when Marvel was obsessed with hiring Hollywood hacks like Ron Zimmerman and, well, Reginald Hudlin.
As a human rights lawyer I was quite intrigued by the elements touched on its this first issue, such as T'Challa having to combat and subdue dissenters, the existence of the death penalty in a supposedly advanced society like Wakanda and its application to a woman who was basically defending other women from a sexual predator. I perceived a disconnect between the notion of Wakanda being an extremely sophisticated society and the idea that they could still be so out-of-touch with human rights and women's rights in particular, even though they actually had a queen ruling them for some time. For that matter, the notion of a monarchy instead of a constitutional democracy ruling such an advanced country feels like another oddity. Coates doesn't hesitate to point out some of these inconsistencies in his dialogue, and I am intrigued to see how they will play out over time. It may seem like low-key storytelling due to the absence of a world-destroying villain or any significant action sequences, but I'm extremely interested by the political landscape Coates is establishing here. His narrative feels a little disjointed though; while I like the concepts he's playing with here, I feel his storytelling could be little smoother. Still, he clearly has very interesting plans for this series and I'm quite excited to see how events will unfold.
This is my first exposure to Brian Stelfreeze's sequential art; I've only ever seen his work on covers or the "Heroes" one-shot Marvel published right after 9/11. It's definitely not the flashiest I've seen, but it's a perfect complement to Coates' subdued narrative. With the exception of the opening splash, which was pretty powerful as it showed a bowed, wounded T'Challa apparently contemplating on his failings, Stelfreeze's art is mostly a restrained affair. As with Coates' writing though, there's clearly so much just bubbling under the surface.
Not bad for a self-confessed first-time comic book writer; not bad at all.
8/10
Quick Looks: A Review of Spider-Man #3
written by Brian Michael Bendis
drawn by Sara Pichelli
colored by Justin Ponsor
After the punch-up between Miles Morales, a.ka. Spider-Man and Blackheart that basically spanned two issues, this is exclusively a talking-heads affair, with Miles' parents and grandmother confronting him about his bad grades, with a brief cameo by none other than Kamala Khan herself, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel. More interesting, however, is the meeting at the end of the issue between new crime boss Black Cat and old crime boss Hammerhead, in which they hatch somewhat sinister plans against the new Spidey, which will come to a head next issue, if the tease is to be believed.
Few people do talking heads issues quite as well as Bendis does; he's one of the few writers who is actually able to make these appear to be little more than filler, and this issue is no exception; its message is basically about the importance of staying in school, which is something Miles bitterly reconsiders after a scolding by his grandmother. It's a nice, compact little issue, aimed squarely at younger readers (and certainly not the 20 and 30 somethings who have either graduated or don't intend to go back to school), and I wonder if Bendis didn't have a little spat with his son about going to school before he wrote this.
Pichelli's art is incredible as always, but what's really worth noting here is her smoking hot Black Cat. I quite liked the foreshadowing that took place here and am interested to see how Miles will fare against a heavy hitter Black Cat, who has been a pretty nasty thorn in Peter Parker's side since she decided to go bad. Miles has had it easy so far, but maybe that's about to change.
7.5/10
drawn by Sara Pichelli
colored by Justin Ponsor
After the punch-up between Miles Morales, a.ka. Spider-Man and Blackheart that basically spanned two issues, this is exclusively a talking-heads affair, with Miles' parents and grandmother confronting him about his bad grades, with a brief cameo by none other than Kamala Khan herself, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel. More interesting, however, is the meeting at the end of the issue between new crime boss Black Cat and old crime boss Hammerhead, in which they hatch somewhat sinister plans against the new Spidey, which will come to a head next issue, if the tease is to be believed.
Few people do talking heads issues quite as well as Bendis does; he's one of the few writers who is actually able to make these appear to be little more than filler, and this issue is no exception; its message is basically about the importance of staying in school, which is something Miles bitterly reconsiders after a scolding by his grandmother. It's a nice, compact little issue, aimed squarely at younger readers (and certainly not the 20 and 30 somethings who have either graduated or don't intend to go back to school), and I wonder if Bendis didn't have a little spat with his son about going to school before he wrote this.
Pichelli's art is incredible as always, but what's really worth noting here is her smoking hot Black Cat. I quite liked the foreshadowing that took place here and am interested to see how Miles will fare against a heavy hitter Black Cat, who has been a pretty nasty thorn in Peter Parker's side since she decided to go bad. Miles has had it easy so far, but maybe that's about to change.
7.5/10
Quick Looks: A Review of Daredevil #5
written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ron Garney
colored by Matt Milla
The first arc of the new creative team of Daredevil comes to an end. The Hand have come for Billy Tenfingers, who stole their power, and this time they are not content to send a few dozen ninja; this time they send a giant corpse warrior, who in the course of his attack actually worse than kill Tenfingers; he exposes him to his followers as the coward that he is. Ruined, Tenfingers plans to kill his followers and start over, but Daredevil's new sidekick Blindspot might have something to say about that, so he calls out to Daredevil through a somewhat imaginative use of social networking, and in short order the man without fear is on the scene.
I approached this title with tempered expectations, considering my great affection for the creators that preceded Soule and Garney, and I have to say, while I still found this story all right, it really felt like a let down after the standard of quality that Waid and Samnee set for this title. I would have been more interested, truth be told, to see Soule explain what's been going on in Matt's life since this radical new status quo, but I suppose it'll sell more comic books to to reveal things a little bit at a time. As action-packed stories go, it was all right, it really didn't have anything I hadn't seen before, for all of the hype that's been made about Soule's being a lawyer and Garney's being a martial artist, neither of the creators' talents really contributed anything to the story.
I'm sticking around for Elektra's appearance next issue, and I sincerely hope things start to pick up from this point onwards. The previews for the issue look promising, and I still want to know just what happened to Matt.
6.5/10
drawn by Ron Garney
colored by Matt Milla
The first arc of the new creative team of Daredevil comes to an end. The Hand have come for Billy Tenfingers, who stole their power, and this time they are not content to send a few dozen ninja; this time they send a giant corpse warrior, who in the course of his attack actually worse than kill Tenfingers; he exposes him to his followers as the coward that he is. Ruined, Tenfingers plans to kill his followers and start over, but Daredevil's new sidekick Blindspot might have something to say about that, so he calls out to Daredevil through a somewhat imaginative use of social networking, and in short order the man without fear is on the scene.
I approached this title with tempered expectations, considering my great affection for the creators that preceded Soule and Garney, and I have to say, while I still found this story all right, it really felt like a let down after the standard of quality that Waid and Samnee set for this title. I would have been more interested, truth be told, to see Soule explain what's been going on in Matt's life since this radical new status quo, but I suppose it'll sell more comic books to to reveal things a little bit at a time. As action-packed stories go, it was all right, it really didn't have anything I hadn't seen before, for all of the hype that's been made about Soule's being a lawyer and Garney's being a martial artist, neither of the creators' talents really contributed anything to the story.
I'm sticking around for Elektra's appearance next issue, and I sincerely hope things start to pick up from this point onwards. The previews for the issue look promising, and I still want to know just what happened to Matt.
6.5/10
Saturday, April 9, 2016
"Last Day On Earth" Indeed; A Review of the Walking Dead Season 6 Finale (Spoilers)
directed by Greg Nicotero
written by Scott Gimple and Matthew Negrete
When "The Walking Dead" comic book reached its 100th issue, writer Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Aldard marked the occasion by killing off a major character in one of the most brutal ways imaginable; having that character beaten to death with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. That was a momentous occasion given that the character killed had been with the book almost from the very beginning and was a main fixture in the television series as well.
As a result, this particular event got fans of the television series talking about when and how this particular story would unfold in the show.
And unfold it did last Monday (with several replays throughout the week) in the Season 6 finale. I have to say...I'm a tad disappointed.
I have noted, as of my last post, how I find the quality of this show to be declining and how I am taking issue with how the only challenge that seems to be facing the writers is how else to strip away all moral compunctions of the main characters as they make increasingly extreme decisions to ensure their own survival. I suppose Negan, played in the series by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and his Saviors are being set up as a way to show Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) how far they've fallen and how to rediscover their humanity.
Indeed, in this episode, the Saviors basically trap Rick's group, blocking their every attempt to escape the wide cordon they have established, and at the end, when Rick's group abandon their vehicle and attempt to escape the Saviors on foot, they are captured and the dreaded confrontation takes place, only not quite as we expect it to happen.
Elsewhere, Carol (Melissa McBride), who has left the group following her and Maggie's (Lauren Cohan) harrowing capture by and escape from several Saviors, which resulted in brutally killing their captors, is on her own, but is being pursued by avowed pacifist Morgan (Lennie James) who wants to convince her to return to the group. She is assaulted and overpowered by a wayward Savior, and Morgan must now decide just how important it is to him not to kill anyone, with Carol's life in the balance.
But to get back to the moment this entire season 6 has been building up to: Negan shows up, gives a chilling monologue, parts of which are lifted right out of the comic book, and beats one of the characters to death, but no one, knows who it is, and by no one I mean the camera switches to the point of view of the victim at the moment the beating occurs, so no one knows who got it, and the choices range from leader characters like Rick, Glenn (Steven Yeun), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Carl (Chandler Rigg) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) to perpetual wallflowers like Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) to relative newbies like Aaron (Ross Marquand), so it's pretty tough to narrow down. Not only that, but apparently when that scene was being filmed, none of the lead actors was present (with Dean Morgan basically just hitting in the direction of the camera) and none of the actors had been told who would die. I suppose that has since been remedied, but it doesn't change the fact that as cliff hangers go, this one felt somewhat mean-spirited.
This wasn't just another season-ender; this was meant to mark a huge milestone for the show. The entire season 6 has come and gone without a major character death, (though they had Glenn's "fake out" death during the first half of the season) and I figured they were "saving up" for this. What viewers got instead was a major cop-out, preceded by one of the most monotonous episodes I have ever seen in six years of viewing this series (with the Grimes' groups foiled attempts to escape getting tiresome pretty quickly). The sub plot with Carol and Morgan was utterly tepid. The only bright spot in the episode was Dean Morgan as Negan, and the performances of Lincoln and the rest of the principal cast as they contemplated their fate.
Such a waste...
4/10
written by Scott Gimple and Matthew Negrete
When "The Walking Dead" comic book reached its 100th issue, writer Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Aldard marked the occasion by killing off a major character in one of the most brutal ways imaginable; having that character beaten to death with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. That was a momentous occasion given that the character killed had been with the book almost from the very beginning and was a main fixture in the television series as well.
As a result, this particular event got fans of the television series talking about when and how this particular story would unfold in the show.
And unfold it did last Monday (with several replays throughout the week) in the Season 6 finale. I have to say...I'm a tad disappointed.
I have noted, as of my last post, how I find the quality of this show to be declining and how I am taking issue with how the only challenge that seems to be facing the writers is how else to strip away all moral compunctions of the main characters as they make increasingly extreme decisions to ensure their own survival. I suppose Negan, played in the series by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and his Saviors are being set up as a way to show Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) how far they've fallen and how to rediscover their humanity.
Indeed, in this episode, the Saviors basically trap Rick's group, blocking their every attempt to escape the wide cordon they have established, and at the end, when Rick's group abandon their vehicle and attempt to escape the Saviors on foot, they are captured and the dreaded confrontation takes place, only not quite as we expect it to happen.
Elsewhere, Carol (Melissa McBride), who has left the group following her and Maggie's (Lauren Cohan) harrowing capture by and escape from several Saviors, which resulted in brutally killing their captors, is on her own, but is being pursued by avowed pacifist Morgan (Lennie James) who wants to convince her to return to the group. She is assaulted and overpowered by a wayward Savior, and Morgan must now decide just how important it is to him not to kill anyone, with Carol's life in the balance.
But to get back to the moment this entire season 6 has been building up to: Negan shows up, gives a chilling monologue, parts of which are lifted right out of the comic book, and beats one of the characters to death, but no one, knows who it is, and by no one I mean the camera switches to the point of view of the victim at the moment the beating occurs, so no one knows who got it, and the choices range from leader characters like Rick, Glenn (Steven Yeun), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Carl (Chandler Rigg) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) to perpetual wallflowers like Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) to relative newbies like Aaron (Ross Marquand), so it's pretty tough to narrow down. Not only that, but apparently when that scene was being filmed, none of the lead actors was present (with Dean Morgan basically just hitting in the direction of the camera) and none of the actors had been told who would die. I suppose that has since been remedied, but it doesn't change the fact that as cliff hangers go, this one felt somewhat mean-spirited.
This wasn't just another season-ender; this was meant to mark a huge milestone for the show. The entire season 6 has come and gone without a major character death, (though they had Glenn's "fake out" death during the first half of the season) and I figured they were "saving up" for this. What viewers got instead was a major cop-out, preceded by one of the most monotonous episodes I have ever seen in six years of viewing this series (with the Grimes' groups foiled attempts to escape getting tiresome pretty quickly). The sub plot with Carol and Morgan was utterly tepid. The only bright spot in the episode was Dean Morgan as Negan, and the performances of Lincoln and the rest of the principal cast as they contemplated their fate.
Such a waste...
4/10
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