RDJ. Ego. Imagination. Doomsday.

First, some things you probably already know:

This December, Joe & Anthony Russo are returning to direct the film Doomsday for the MCU. Robert Downey Jr. is returning to play Dr. Doom, as Marvel’s Multiverse Saga nears its completion.

But before the movie hits, there are a few things you should know about the character of Victor Von Doom, also known as Dr. Doom. You should know the established character under the mask.

Dr. Victor Von Doom  is *arguably* the greatest villain in the history of Marvel comics. He’s the arch nemesis of the Fantastic Four — especially Reed Richards, but he’s basically mixed it up with all the heavy hitters in Marvel over the decades.

Von Doom was born in Eastern Europe of Romani descent. His mother was a sorceress who was taken to hell by demons when he was very young. He often rummaged through his mother’s books of spells and incantations. The rest of the time, he observed his father at work.

Von Doom Sr. was a doctor of medicine, who ran afoul of authorities in the small country of Latveria when he couldn’t save the life of its king. Von Doom went on the run, taking his young son with him. He died on the trail, but his son was a survivor, and a brilliant student, who in time found his way to America to study science.

It was at university where the arrogant and entitled Von Doom met fellow student Reed Richards, the only other mind on his level. Victor’s subconscious inadequacies saw Richards’ intellect as threat. Before an experiment, when Reed tried to point out a dangerous error in Von Doom’s calculations, Victor became enraged, throwing his rival out. The experiment in question was an attempt to reach the afterlife, crossing over to find and save his mother. But Reed’s calculations were indeed correct, and Victor’s mistake caused an explosion that left his face horribly disfigured. A living hell for anyone, but for one as vain as Von Doom, it drove him toward an unyielding anger and the brink of insanity. He blamed the accident on Reed. 

Because of the danger the experiment posed to the university, Von Doom was also expelled. 

Left with almost nothing, he travelled to the far ends of the earth, finding himself amidst a sect of monks who sensed the power and the greatness within him. Then came the day when he prepared himself to reenter the world, not only to exist in it, but to rule over it. He ordered the monks to fashion him a suit of armor as part of his new identity. Then, all that was left was the metal mask, that would forever hide his face from humanity.

But his servants cautioned that it was still red hot from the forge. Doom didn’t care. 

He returned to the Romani camp of his birth to gather his parents’ belongings, then traveled to Latveria, where he overthrew the old regime, and took the throne by force.

It was soon after that when he learned of the existence of the Fantastic Four, led by Richards. 

They’d have many battles throughout the years, as Doom would grow more and more powerful, with his intellect, technologically advanced armor, and an ever growing knowledge of sorcery.

I just thought you should know a bit about Doom as he’s been portrayed over the years in comics. In the movies, they’ve never gotten him anywhere near close to correct. He believes himself to be deserving of ruling the world. He’s delusionally egomaniacal, with a fiery temper, but at the same time, he has a code of sorts. He’s not a barbarian. He’d never abuse women or children. 

In his country of Latveria, he rules with an iron fist, demanding his subjects be happy, and give him their love and loyalty as he generously protects them from everything, including freedom.

If you question, mock, or underestimate him, you take your life in your hands. 

These things are all part of what makes him a wonderful villain. And a HUGE part of that is the mystery of his eternally hidden face. You never see his face, as it’s the disfigurement that drove him to the edge of madness and truly created Dr. Doom. A brilliant, powerful being, trapped forever behind a mask, where you only ever see what’s in those eyes. The pain, the power, and the anger. 

Alfred Hitchcock was the master of suspense because he was smart enough to know that the audience’s imagination was the most powerful tool he had to work with when crafting a terrifying tale. 

Never seeing Doom’s face is a big part of his allure. That darkness, the mystery of what’s underneath the mask— your imagination is doing the heavy lifting. Unfortunately, we live in an era where instant gratification rules and there’s little to no mystery. Many creators can’t wait to kick open the doors and take that mystery away. The most unimaginative of them in the comics have even taken away Doom’s mask once or twice. Much like the Joker over at DC, where at different times, in comics and film, the stunted imaginations of certain writers have given the clown prince of crime a real identity, revealed there have been more than one Joker, told his backstory, and that he’s immortal. They’ve demystified the Joker, opened him far too much, and over saturated the market with him. 

I’d rather they don’t denigrate Doom’s character the same way.

So you might see where I’m going here in regards to Doomsday. There are a couple potential issues here in regards to the character of Doom.

One: ego—-RDJ often tends to show his face. He’s an actor after all. And as just about anyone will tell you, they’re paying him 100 million to be in it, so it’s very likely that they’ll be showing his face. BUT the second they show his face… “Hey, it’s Tony Stark!”, a reaction that will probably take you out of the film, basically derailing the whole Dr. Doom thing. It’ll be all about Stark. Is he a variant? Adopted? 

The above pic could be a fake, or just between scenes, as he’s got the mask in his hands.

Maybe he is Victor Von Doom—RDJ has said exactly that, that he’s NOT playing Stark. He IS Von Doom. That’s great, but it won’t matter. Not a bit. BECAUSE OF HIS FACE. 

When that happens, all things Von Doom will be pushed aside, which would be an incredible loss, throwing away such a great character, all on a gimmick. Basically, he won’t be the “real” Dr. Doom.

And all because of the Jonathan Majors criminal situation. That’s why Kang was out and they pivoted to Doom.

Two— another part of what has made Doom an incredible character is his life long hatred of Reed. But there’s been no build up, no acknowledgement that he’s ever existing as far as the FF First Steps movie goes. The rivalry is non-existent. So no pay off there. No satisfaction there. 

I’d almost rather they’d recast Kang. After all, they had an entire council of Kangs. Just pick another one. After all, he’s an actual Avengers villain, with some previous screen time and build up. Just plopping Doom down in his place, on the face of it, feels like Doom’s a throwaway, or substitute character. 

RDJ originally auditioned to play Dr. Doom in the 2005 Fantastic Four movie. Considering how they ended up handling Doom in that film, I’d actually say he dodged a bullet. But it does seem as though he’s committed to this new part in some way. RDJ has shared sneak peeks of him with old school comic book pics of Doc Doom from the ‘60’s. That’s nice! But as we saw in the post credit scene of First Steps, Doom apparently removed his mask and showed his face to young Franklin Richards, but instead of the child looking scared, he’s smiling, or maybe instinctively using his powers to fix Doom’s face. We won’t know until later, but again, unless, they CGI a different puss on him or apply some prosthetics, same old Tony-face issue. 

And even though every YouTube “creator” with editing software keeps putting out videos with RDJ in Doom’s armor, without his mask, staring everyone down (gosh, they’re so creative), that’s got nothing to do with what actually’s going to be in the film. 

I don’t know. I suppose it’s still within the realm of possibility that RDJ goes the respectable route of Hugo Weaving in “V for Vendetta”. We never once see Weaving’s face in the film, and yet it is a master class in acting. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the man, putting his ego aside, and embracing his passion for the craft, and truly inhabiting the role of “V”. Truly a tremendous portrayal. Phenomenal. And he didn’t even have the advantage of the audience seeing his eyes at any point—-Something Downey *would* have available to him, peering out through the mask.

I usually have nothing but faith in the Russos. The four films they’ve directed for Marvel have been the best by far. At the same time, they’re not above catering to certain actor’s inane requests. Case in point: Endgame’s silly, fat Thor. And in this film, RDJ is also calling a lot of the shots. He said he’d only come back, and as Doom if the Russo’s came back to direct. He’s also giving a lot of input, with Stephen McFeeley (the writer*) and the Russo’s.  So I feel as if this is mostly his baby. 

*Another concern is that Christopher Markus is not involved. He was McFeeley’s writing partner for “Captain America: The First Avenger”, “Winter Soldier”, “Civil War”, “Infinity War”, and “Endgame”. So this has been a well established two man writing team since the beginning of the MCU. Now, they’re down one pretty important contributor.

Yes, the entirety of the MCU and more will be in this film. Loads and loads of heroes. But for me, this success of this whole thing hinges completely on Doom. 

I really hope they don’t screw it up.

Beauty, Grace, and Song: Catherine O’Hara

One of the many unfortunate things of getting to an advanced age, is that almost every day, you hear about the passing of some entertainer you grew up listening to or watching.

So it is with the loss of comedic legend Catherine O’Hara. Now, there’s been a lot of coverage on her past accomplishments over her long career, her background, etc., complete with interviews with those that knew and loved her, so here, I’m going to just add a couple notes of my own in honor of her life.

I first saw Catherine in SCTV in the late ‘70’s, and then after that, mostly in the Christopher Guest films. “Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show”, among others, but my personal favorite is “A Mighty Wind”.

The premise is that there’s to be a big, televised reunion special of three different folk groups, all of whom used to record for an old time producer. The story revolves around the organization and prep involved in putting on the show. Highly, HIGHLY recommended. As is the norm with the Guest films, it’s mostly improv, with a host of top level improv comedians creating the world as we watch.

But the most amazing thing to me is that these comedians did all their own singing, played their own instruments, and mostly wrote the songs they performed, and did so brilliantly. The three groups: The Main Street Singers was a large group headed by Jayne Lynch, John Michael Higgins, and Parker Posey, along with another half dozen background group members. Higgins actually assembled the 9 part harmonies for each song himself. The Folksmen were Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, who proved years earlier that they could write, sing and play as Spinal Tap, so no surprise there. After crafting a dozen heavy metal comedy songs then, they did it all over again with a batch of folk songs.

The mind-blowing surprise *to me* was the revelation that was Mitch & Mickey, played by Eugene Levy and O’Hara respectively. According to the film, back in the duo’s hey day, they were in a relationship, and when it ended, so did their partnership. The movie sees Levy’s Mitch as a very confused, laid back, somewhat damaged and distracted Mitch, coming back to reunite with O’Hara’s Mickey, who’d moved on in life, and got married. 

It’s Mitch and Mickey and their relationship that form the backbone of the movie. In their younger recording days, they were in a relationship, but Mitch had trouble committing and Mickey finally had to move on. 25 years later, the question on everyone’s mind is what’s in their hearts now? And can they bring back the magic? It’s to Levy and O’Hara’s credit that we pretty quickly are taken with these two, and of course, we’re rooting for them. 

Then comes the night of the big performance. When filming, all the performances were filmed live on stage. We see The Main Street Singers, The Folksmen, and finally, after a bit of nervous drama, Mitch & Mickey.

Okay.

Enough of my spoilers—- go rent, buy, see the movie. And please, please PLEASE find and listen to the movie soundtrack. It’s got all the songs from the movie, with extra cuts that didn’t make it into the final edit. Most of the songs that didn’t make it in seem to be from Mitch & Mickey. Why is that?

Could be that they were cut for time, or they just didn’t fit some of the comedy scenes. And why is that? Well, Levy & O’Hara wrote most of their own songs, with the exception of “There’s A Kiss At The End Of The Rainbow” which plays a big part in the film, that was actually written by Michael McKean and his wife, Annette O’Toole. 

But here’s the thing. It’s a great song, but I think I like the other M&M songs even more, particularly “When You’re Next To Me.” the song that gets played over the ending credits. Levy sings and plays guitar, while O’Hara sings and plays the auto-harp. While “Kiss” was indeed a powerful, beautiful, impactful song….. when I heard “When You’re Next To Me”, *that* song melted my heart. 

Did O’Hara actually go to the trouble to learn how to play the auto-harp for this? Given the quality of the songs, and the lyrics, I can only guess that she’d had previous experience, but it doesn’t really matter. After hearing the soundtrack, and being SO moved by their songs, my first thought was “Oh my god, I wish they’d put out a full folk music album.” And I’ve barely ever gotten into folk music, but when something like those songs strikes a chord within you, it’s something that’s hard to forget.  

I also suspect that after listening to the other folk songs written by Levy & O’Hara, I think they did their job too well. These were touching, emotional, powerful stories put to song. Truly magnificent. But unlike the funny or goofy songs written by the other two groups, these simply weren’t funny. They were fantastic, but it would be too easy to get swallowed up by them, making the shift back into improv comedy all the more jarring.

While it may seem unusual to spotlight Catherine O’Hara for her musical talent, after over 50 years of her remarkable comedy, if I don’t do it, I’m not sure who will. Do yourself a favor, and watch A Mighty Wind. 

And enjoy “When You’re Next To Me”

Thank you Eugene, and thank you forever, Catherine. 

Wasting the day away, at the bar with The Swede: Casino Cruise

I thought I’d take this opportunity to showcase one page from my latest graphic novel featuring The Swede–Book Six: Casino Cruise. In the story, our favorite hit man is on a cruise to observe his target. Of course, having a whole week to observe the intended victim, the Swede does have some time to unwind. Here’s the page in question.

The whole point of this page is to illustrate the passing of an entire day at the bar. This is the kind of challenge I like, utilizing nothing but light and shadows, along with other subtle visual cues to get the message across.

The Swede – Book Six: Casino Cruise is available for purchase at the link HERE.

And for more previews from the rest of the collection, please visit the killerswede.com

The Swede – Book Six: Casino Cruise

The latest book in the Swede series has arrived.

This 60 page graphic novel focuses on just one assignment. The Swede’s target this time will be on a week long cruise, participating in a Texas Hold ’em tournament. Of course, with a whole week to observe his target and plan out his kill, our hit man will be confined to one ship wandering around outside the 3 mile limit, have a bit more time to relax, and maybe make a friend or two. Things don’t go exactly how the Swede imagines it, but he’ll have to adjust on the fly. Before the killing begins.

This is the biggest, longest adventure I’ve ever put together for my Nordic kinsman, and I hope you enjoy it.

you can find previews and links to the entire series at thekillerswede.com

OR, you can order Casino Cruise directly HERE.

Stuff, Stuff, Appearances and Stuff!

Just thought I’d mention that on Saturday, November 15th, I’ll have a table at artist’s alley at…

And I will have a table that will look *something* like this, only in a library…

Yes, I will be selling copies of my comics, including:

The Swede graphic novel series, which you can find out more about at thekillerswede.com —HERE.

Along with copies of Mickey & Maj, Super Unicorn Mega Chop, 100 Covers, Sheriff: Black & Blood, The Bombardier, and Monsters Out of Time, most of which, you can find over on Indy Planet HERE.

Plus, I’ll be selling my art prints of superheroes as well, both modern and retro prints.

And over at Teepublic, you can find over 200 of my designs available on a ton of merchandise, HERE.

And even more designs can be found at my RedBubble store, found HERE.

And finally, is my first novel, “Where Have All The Heroes Gone?”, available at Amazon in hardcover, paperback and Kindle formats HERE.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but you get the drift. If anyone happens to be in Lincolnshire the day of the con, I look forward to seeing you. Until then, the Thing IS.

Unclenching and The Code

Being a comic book fan for most of my life, I was of course thrilled when the characters I knew began popping up in live action films. Were they perfect? No, but a couple of them sure came close, because they were excellent. 

AS a comic fan, I, like so, so many of my brethren, can get very picky about how our characters—and their most acclaimed stories— are presented on film. It’s of course up to each fan as to where they fall on the Anal-Retentive Scale, or ARS. Where they draw the line on what is and is not acceptable. Some examples…

1978’s Superman. I was 16 when it came out and I went to the theater at least 4 times to see it. I think the stage in your life in which you watch something has a bearing on it too. Back in ‘78, I was sometimes struggling to get through the first hour because I wanted to see Supes in action and get the all inspiring John Williams theme kicking in big time. In the decades that followed, I appreciated the lead up more and more. The campy elements—mostly Ned Beatty’s Otis, was the low point, but the rest of the movie was so spectacular, I could overlook that. That was the beginning of what would eventually become the Code.

‘89 Batman was a glorious comic come to life, and we all kinda looked the other way when he started killing guys, even indirectly. The subsequent ‘90’s Bat films got worse with each film. 

2000’s X-men had unrecognizable costumes on, but since they’d had matching costumes on in the past, and they were a team, fairly easy to look past that.

But it was 2002’s Spider-man that caused a dilemma for the anal-retentive fan. Director Sam Raimi was a huge Spider-man fan growing up and his love for old school Marvel and Spidey was evident. Which made it all the more confusing when he gave Peter Parker bio-webshooters. 

This was indeed a controversy, because in the comics, genius student Parker, after getting his powers, *created* mechanical web shooters, with which to swing around the city. To this day, I don’t know if Raimi has ever really explained his reasoning on the change, but frankly, the decision was baffling. If he just thought it might make sense to add the ability? If so, he must have known the jokes would come about where he realistically *would* be squirting webs out of, yada yada. 

But here’s the thing— as “wrong” as the bio-web shooters were, they did add some interesting twists, and bottom line, the movie was just so good, the major complaint became a minor gripe. This was born my code, my mantra, what have you:

“As long as the quality of the movie exceeds the deviation from the source material, I’m good.”

Spider-man and Spider-man 2 even more so, were so, so good, that I had to chuck away the complaint. And in 2, the bio-web shooters actually played a larger part in the narrative, so I think I see where Sam was going. We sometimes forget that a filmmaker has to approach a film far differently than a writer and artist approach a monthly comic book series. 


Sometimes, a film does not exactly meet the requirements of the code. 2005’s Fantastic Four gave us some good representations of Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny, but their utter failure to give us even a moderately decent Dr. Doom or Galactus, permanently puts both films in the “pretty good/okay” ranking. Saddling Doom with a bad actor and turning the big G into a cosmic storm is just way too much of a deviation for what semblance of quality we got otherwise. 

Jumping to 2006’s X-men: The Last Stand, this was a bizarre one. It told the tale of Dark Phoenix, but it was completely different from the comics, and the first time I saw it, I hated it for that reason. My knee-jerk reaction took me far away from the code, as the deviation was off the charts, and there were certain story beats which prompted a lot of WTF reactions from me.

But after I unclenched a bit, certain truths landed. First, the comic version of Dark Phoenix was one of the biggest epics in the history of comics. But it was also a story spanning 8 issues of the main story, plus an additional year and a half of subtle build up. 

There was no way on earth that one film, even with a small amount of build up from the one before, could pack everything into one film, so they went another direction. And in later rewatched, I came to appreciate why they did what they did. 

Years later, Fox tried again with Dark Phoenix, and all in all, that too, is a good film, but although a tiny bit closer to the comic, they backed off giving us a climactic and comic accurate battle on the moon, but they had their reasons. Either way, DP is not considered a classic.

Instances such as these have shaped the way I view these films to a certain extent, now realizing certain things don’t have to be comic accurate. If they can accomplish this, and do it well, excellent! Deadpool & Wolverine gave us Wolverine in his actual comic costume for the first time in a quarter century. And people went WILD when he put on the cowl.

Yet in the first Avengers movie, they tried the comic accurate Cap outfit… and it, especially the cowl, didn’t quite work—but they tried. 


In Avengers Infinity War, I know at least one person who had a big problem with Steve Rogers not having that white star on his chest. But in that film, he was not Captain America. He went by either Steve or even “Captain”, but he gave up the title of Captain America, along with the shield and the star at the end of Civil War. An important statement, him blacking out the star. But in-story reasons for those small things, no matter how valid will not always satisfy the larger comic book fan. Everyone draws the line at a different mark.

But the images, stories and characters we’re raised with, that imprint certain things so indelibly in our minds, that sometimes, it’s hard to shake. But that’s where the Multiverse comes in. When they serve up an infinite variety of alternate varieties, it changes the rules a bit. Makes. Certain things not only become a bit more acceptable, but also more intriguing at times. 

Going back to Spider-man——when they rebooted the franchise to feature the Andrew Garfield version, it was so soon after the Maguire run ended, and we had to see the origin again, it felt like a drag, regardless of the movie’s quality. Just too soon, imo, to throw yet another Spidey on the pile. Almost as ridiculous as the revolving door of Batmen in the ‘90’s. The MCU has done right by us by giving us good films featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-man, and the Code’s very much in play here even with this being the third version within a decade. 

But in Spider-man: No Way Home, they brought all three Peter Parker’s together, and for me anyway, it grandfathered in, or made all of it acceptable. It felt less like a corporation just churning out more and never ending versions of the same hero, and more like the realization that all this time, we were peering through a dimensional vale at how these heroes came to be in other realities. 

It felt like a sort of vindication. 

Of course all this still IS a big, soulless corporation churning out more and more crap… but when they hire certain guys such as Kevin Fiege and Michael Uslan, who truly love the characters, it becomes couched in a more positive light. One that this old fan can appreciate. 

But the whole multiverse angle has open more than a few doors and made things that much more acceptable. My final example is Fantastic Four: First Steps. 

You’d be hard pressed to find a bigger FF fan than me. In past blogs, I’ve gone on and on about how wonderful the film was, and one of the most engaging, magical superhero films I’ve ever seen. I seriously think I have to rank it in the top five MCU films ever, and the top ten of all superhero films period. 

Yes, there were a couple nit-picky bits, but only if you judge them by the standards of the old comics, and yeah, those old memories are hard to shake, but considering the film takes place on a completely different Earth (818), they’re easily swept away. The minor decisions at odds with the comics are all acceptable within the story being told in the film.   

For example, Ben’s attire. For most of my life, in the comics, the Thing usually just had his trunks on when in a fight. That’s just the way it was. But in the movie, he wears the costume. It worked for him in the context of the story, so I had no problem accepting it.

A big part of the story featured the world keeping the lights off to power up a teleportation device. Ben, who’s always been covered in an organic rock like substance, stop shaving with his rock sander to pitch in on the power saving. He grew a beard over the next few months because of it. No big deal. I prefer him without it and I would assume he’ll go back to shaving, but that, like the costume, worked for me in the context of the story. 

I look forward to Avengers: Doomsday next year, as that, along with Secret Wars the year after, will bring the Multiverse Saga to a close. While on one hand, it’s presented us with interesting variants of all our favorite characters, but at the same time, I’ll be okay with shutting the door on the whole thing and moving forward to what comes next. 

I can unclench, sit back, and enjoy the ride. Just make sure the quality is there…

Fantastic Four: First Steps – spoiler filled review

The Fantastic Four’s cinematic journey has been a long, winding road. 

In the early 1990’s, just to hold onto the property’s rights, Constantine films went through the motions and put out a low budget FF movie under the banner of Roger Corman’s studio. The cast and crew were given a measly one million dollars, yet they put their hearts and souls into doing the best they could with such restrictions. They were completely unaware that the film was never intended to get to theaters. Check out the documentary “Doomed” on a streaming platform near you. And in the end, it wasn’t quite as bad as some say.

In 2005 and ‘07, two more FF films were made. They were fairly decent as far as the four stars themselves, with the only let down being the watered down villains and small scale vibe.

2015’s attempt was merely another exercise in doing something to hold on to the rights. And this was the worst movie of all of them.

Then Disney bought the rights, handed the property to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and finally, things were looking up. But could Kevin Fiege, the MCU and director Matt Shakman finally deliver the goods?

Yes, they did, and with wonderful results. Their approach was unique, but fitting. In the comics, the FF debuted back in 1961 and kicked off the Marvel Age of Comics, a revolutionary turning point in the history of comic books themselves. They were a family more than a team, sometimes bickering, but always being there for each other. It’s also widely considered that the team’s best run was IN the 1960’s, produced by writer/editor/co-plotter Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby. Spider-man, Hulk, the Avengers, Daredevil, and Dr. Strange all came after the first family in Marvel comics.

In the MCU though, it was reversed. So how would one establish the FF as the first, best team, and family around? Simple, by showing us—in this movie—the alternate earth they came from. Whereas the Marvel film’s earth we’re all familiar with is listed as 616, this FF’s earth is 828 (and a slight nod to Jack Kirby’s birthday of 8-28).

And as a bonus, on *that* earth, cultural development has only entered the equivalent of our 1960’s, and it is a simpler, more optimistic time, similar to our ‘60’s era when we were living through the space race. BUT, on this alternate earth, it’s also futuristic in some respects, possibly because of Reed Richard’s influence, because yes, he’s the smartest man on earth. 

So in essence, we got our FF, AND we got the ‘60’s well. But although this is definitely the Fantastic Four, since it is an alt reality, they’re not *exactly* the same as the comic versions. There are small differences from the comics, but one of the few worth mentioning is Ben having a new romantic interest on this world in Rachel Rozman, played by Natasha Lyonne, instead of blind sculptress Alicia Masters in the comics. 

When the lengthy casting process began for the four main leads, they began with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, and what a piece of casting this was. Kirby OWNS a lot of this film. In addition to arguably being the most powerful of the four, whereas Reed might be the brains and the leader, Sue is the spokeswoman for the team. She gives a truly incredible performance as the Invisible Woman. 

In addition to being able to shove Galactus across the city, she gave birth, mid flight, in zero gravity, at light speed, all while being chased by an enemy alien trying to steal the infant from her womb. Yeah. The birthing scene is SO crazy, so insane, there’s no way it can work. But it *does*.

I’ve often said that in the Marvel movies, they take the comic characters and elevate them and that’s very true for Sue. This is the best version of Sue we’ve ever gotten. 

After casting Sue, they built the rest of the family around her, starting with Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards. This raised a lot of eyebrows at the time, and I myself was wary, but Kirby lobbied for him, and I was astonished. Kirby and Pascal are incredibly close off screen and it translates wonderfully on screen. Pascal NAILS Reed. A Reed who yes, IS the smartest man on the planet, but for him, it’s a responsibility, and often a weight around his neck, knowing so much, and realizing all the bad things that can happen, so he can find a way to stop them *from* happening. 

So often in the comics, of all the numerous FF writers over the past 60+ years, most illustrate Reed’s brilliance coming alongside a coldness, having him be overly logical, less human, or disconnected to every day life. A brain without a soul. Pascal surpasses all those attempts, giving us a very human, flawed character that is not all that comfortable with his massive intelligence. The film has also given us a superior Reed to the comics.

Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm is impetuous, not a teenager, and is smarter than one might think. He’s also not the hyper version from the Corman film, nor is he the misfit frat boy we got with Evans. He’s actually a fairly well balanced Johnny who loves his family. This is another character the FF writers rarely get right. Since he started off as a love sick, hotheaded teenager in the beginning, there’s been very little growth for the character in comics. He’s usually the misfit, or the womanizing himbo, or an idiot. Here, he’s still the guy who looks before he leaps, but he’s no dummy. Studying the transmissions from outer space for months, he’s the one who actually reaches the Surfer’s conscience.

And then, you’ve got Ben Grimm. There’s no bigger Thing fan than me. He’s one of if the not THE greatest character in all of Marvel comics. He’s got a big sense of humor and an even bigger heart underneath all those rocks. So is Ebon Moss-Bachrach the best version of the Thing? No, he’s not. But I’d say he’s just as good, but a bit different in that he’s a bit more laid back, more of a gentle soul. Very similar to the comics though. Moss-Bachrach’s take resonated with me a great deal, winning me over.

For instance, in the comics, for the vast majority of his appearances, Ben would usually be stripped to the waist or just wearing trunks while in action. That’s fine and what we fans were used to. Here, his default take is wearing his costume, and watching the film, I found I didn’t care—in fact, for *this* Ben, it works. Just because something happened in the comics, doesn’t mean it HAS to be that same way in the film—-not if the film version *works*.

My mantra has always been “As long as the quality of the film surpasses the deviation from the source material, I’m fine.” It’s something I realized after watching the first Raimi Spider-man with the bio-web shooters. The movie was just too good to sweat the small stuff. 

Julia Garner portrays this reality’s Silver Surfer, a woman named Shalla Bal, who, like Norrin Radd (her lover) in the comics, sacrificed herself to be the herald of Galactus to spare her world, Zenn La from his consumption. Garner does the character justice.

Ralph Ineson, whose natural voice *sounds* like the end of days, is Galactus, and good god, he’s terrifying. And a tiny bit more malevolent than his comics counterpart. He wants Reed and Sue’s son Franklin to take his place as the force of nature which is destined to roam the universe for all eternity, destroying planets to sustain him. In fact, he offers to spare earth if they give him their son. They of course refuse, and back on earth, they even cop to this on national tv, and naturally, the mobs eventually gather, feeling betrayed. Sue brilliantly ventures into the middle of the crowd, introduces Franklin to the crowd, and says she won’t sacrifice her son for the world, but neither will she sacrifice the world for her son. It’s just another in a long line of brilliant scenes.

It’s long been known in the comics that Franklin Richards is THE most powerful entity in all of creation. Galactus can SENSE the power within him. I believe the entirety of Doomsday and Secret Wars is going to be dealing with the extent of Franklin’s abilities, over the next couple years/films. 

This is an intimate film about family, the downtime, the quiet moments, but then it’s also a huge, terrifying, emotional epic that virtually glides along through its 2 hour run time. You’re comfy, then you’re on the edge of your seat. Then repeat.

It’s been years since I’ve been engaged with a film on this level. Of course I know that Sue can’t die here, that Franklin would probably bring her back to life, but they had me worried! I know Galactus won’t tear Reed apart like an old rubber band, but I was freaking out! Director Shakman dragged me fully into this world. 

They begin the film with the Ted Gilbert tv variety show, celebrating the 4th anniversary of the team. We see the history of the FF, cleanly and succinctly laid out for us and we quickly get a good backstory without having to relive the origin for the first hour. Shakman’s storytelling ability is masterful. Within the first 10 minutes of the film, we find out about how they became the FF, their abilities, and several of their past exploits against different supervillains. Everything we need to know and no more. 

Michael Giachinno’s score is perfect, maybe the best in the MCU’S history. 

This film is honest, it’s real, it’s truly fantastic. I you haven’t seen it, at least twice, you’re missing out. 

I give this a 9.75 out of 10. One of the finest yet to come from Fiege’s crew.

Doctor Who: A Post Mortem

It’s no secret that I’ve loved Doctor Who since I first discovered it back in 1980. The concept itself, the character of the Doctor, the TARDIS, the companions, the monsters and the villains. It truly is unlike anything else out there in the sci fi entertainment world. It had already been going for 17 years and was an institution when I first saw it. In its now 62 years of existence, it’s had some incredible highs and some very unfortunate lows. We’ve just ended an 8 year period where things have gotten very, very low. 

So much so, that at this moment in time, I’m going to err on the side of the show being dead. Oh, it could come back, as the show is all about regeneration. It just needs the right “push”.  But that’s easier said than done, especially in this day and age. After all, there’s less and less scripted tv out there, it seems. No idea what it’ll be like in ten years.

Around 2022, when the BBC partnered with Bad Wolf Studio productions and streaming platform Disney +, they all gathered behind Russell T. Davies, the man who brought Who back in 2005, gave him complete creative control, and sat back to watch the triumphant return.

Many fans (including me), were happy to see Davies return, hoping for, at the very least, a step up in quality from the previous Chibnall era run. This would, most assumed, be better. 

Disappointment followed.

Davies engineered his new version of Who to appeal to what he thought modern day audiences wanted. Also, to what he thought Disney wanted. RTD was a big fan of Pixar stories and thought he’d bring some of that into the mix. Davies also tried to appease the world stage, to please everyone, everywhere. He also decided to lay on some heavy messaging, wag his finger a bit, get meta, and shift the show’s focus from science fiction to gods and fantasy. He dragged beloved, classic villains into the current series and made watered down mockeries of them. He’d also ignored or somehow forgotten any number of facts from previous eras, and changed canon to suit his own personal fan service. The fans weren’t crazy about a lot of this.

Oh, and he took several opportunities to circle back to divisive storylines by his friend and former showrunner Chris Chibnall, and reenforce those. This too, did not go over well with fandom.

The first real big red flag: Davies started his new reign (RTD2) in anniversary year 2023 by making some proclamations. 

Russell announced that Daleks creator Davros’ withered form would no longer be sequestered in his Dalek travel base because, according to RTD, it seemed like a wheelchair, and *that* associated wheelchairs with evil (?), so he transformed Davros into a middle aged guy who could walk. A once fascinating character transformed into “some guy”. This shocked, bewildered and angered many, including those Who fans in wheelchairs that loved the character and cosplayed as him. What would  this mean for the Daleks themselves, who ALL travel around in the same “wheelchair” bases? Would Russ turn them all into a bunch of run of the mill Nazi’s? Because that’s what they are at heart—it’s the globbiness, weapons and travel bases that MAKE them so popular. It’s very possible that Russ didn’t think it through.

For the 60th anniversary, Russ decided the new 14th Doctor would be David Tennant, coming back for a few specials. The first rehashed, recycled(?) Doctor, along with Catherine Tate back as Donna Nobel. Things went pretty well at first. At the end of the third special, Russell decided to not do a traditional regeneration, but a bi-generation, splitting the Doctor in two. Old Doctor Tennant was then supposed to go off and retire with his TARDIS (a scenario no one believes in the slightest). The new, 15th Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, took out a cartoon mallet, banged out a second TARDIS and off he went. 

This was a bombastic, joyous, gay Doctor that had a tendency to start crying in every story, and a tendency to call everyone “babes”. RTD also reintegrated romance into the program, just as he did in RTD1 years ago. It was Russell’s preference that the Doctor be more of a sexual being, more into human relationships, than the asexual alien being he’d been in the past. But although nu-Who fans who didn’t know any better, and bought the earlier relationship between Tennant and Piper, the sexualized version of the Doctor never sat well with the fan base who knew better. The Gatwa version fared even worse with fans.

It must be said though that Ncuti’s a great actor. I bear him no ill will at all. He’s an actor doing a job. And there were a few good eps through seasons 1 and 2. Overall, it was slightly better than the Chibs era. It’s how Gatwa’d been written as the Doctor that’s been the problem. Davies has been the problem. 

Davies’ even decreed the Sonic screwdriver would change shape to look more like a hand massager or remote control, because, says Russell, all the other past sonics “looked like guns”. *

*None of the Sonics ever even remotely resembled guns. They looked a lot more like screwdrivers, because yes, they were slim and cylindrical. It’s in the name. But the decree was made.

Russell also had characters speaking and winking to camera, and the show veered wildly into meta territory, plainly stating that this was in fact a tv show. It was all fiction. Worse, the impression was given that it was not only JUST a tv show, but more of a lark, not something to be taken at all seriously, just silliness. BUT…. if RTD didn’t respect his material, why should we?

Many of RTD’s choices were met with derision, but Russ would usually shrug it off or respond “tough” to critics, prompting many to believe that his all encompassing creative control prompted a higher level of arrogance from the show runner. 

At some point, these bizarre, nonsensical, fairy tale developments got many fans thinking that this couldn’t possibly be where Davies was REALLY going with the show. Something was off—surely these were red herrings. Some strange, dream-like adventure, and at some point, reality would come crashing back in, and some old foe like the Master of The Land of Fiction (From Troughton’s The Mind Robber) would turn out to be behind all this meta insanity… right?

It turns out that no, Russ was just having fun, being experimental, and doing whatever he wanted. 

Disney was not pleased, fans were not pleased, Disney subscribers bailed as soon as the season was over. Russell just naturally *assumed* from the very beginning that all his choices and stories would be a resounding success and that Disney would immediately renew, and Who would go on, year after year, with no gaps, a triumph. Didn’t happen. 

Rumors have it that there have been discussions between Disney and the BBC, and that for Disney to renew the agreement going forward, that Davies would have to go, and Disney would need creative control. The Beeb stuck by Russell. 

Disney has not renewed as of this writing, months after season 2 ended. Everything has ground to a halt, and the show is dead in the water. Currently, it’s Disney and the BBC in the room negotiating, presumably, about creative control and the massive Doctor Who back catalog. Neither Bad Wolf Studios or RTD are involved in these discussions. 

Gatwa has moved on to other projects. Many months ago, he appeared on Graham Norton, saying they were going to start filming season 3 at the beginning of 2025. The comment was later edited out.

But in recent interviews, Ncuti now says that the plan was *always* going to be doing only two short seasons. He then shifted to explaining that he left because he was just getting too old to play the part. Too much physical and mental stress. Bad knee. It should be pointed out that he’s 32, one of the youngest to ever play the role. 

RTD has also repainted history, now claiming that it was ALWAYS the case that Disney would make no decision on green lighting a season 3 until AFTER Season 2 aired. Yet he originally scheduled filming of season 3 to begin several months BEFORE season 2 aired. Back in ‘22, he said from the very beginning that he’d planned it so there’d be a new season of Who every year, with no gap years. Huzzah!

Russ simply ASSUMED that things would go so spectacularly, that Disney would okay a 3rd season immediately after season 1 aired. 

BUT….

Although Davies had total control on Who, he was dealing with Disney, who controls the approval process, the money, and the fate of the show. So Russell wrongly (arrogantly?) planned this whole Who schedule—-and talked about it at great length— ignoring the reality of the situation. And now, we’ve got no show, and a BIG old gap coming. No one knows how long it will be.

So either he was lying at the start and being naive to boot, or lying now about how all this was always the plan. Russ seems to think if he reinvents history enough, it’ll become true and people will just accept the new narrative. He seems to ignore reality a lot. 

I’ve glossed over a couple things, such as the bland search for Ruby’s mom in season 1, and the very unfortunate Rise, Fall and Marginalization of poor Belinda Chandra in season 2. Anyway, Davies’ last act as showrunner was to end the series by regenerating Gatwa into Billie Piper, who originally played Rose Tyler. She’s not credited as the Doctor though, and Davies claims even he doesn’t know who she’s supposed to be— even though HE arranged it. 

Just the latest gimmick with another returning actor from RTD1, just like when he brought back Tennant and Tate in 2023. The Piper gag was a last minute decision by Davies, filmed at the eleventh hour. 

Instead of ending with the Doctor traveling off into the sunset, or an open ended regeneration, Russ just left a mess for whoever might come after him. Or this might have been him saying “Now you’ve GOT to bring me back to fix this!”

This, surprisingly, led to even BBC shows mocking what Davies was doing with the show. Russ didn’t mind laughing at Who’s expense, and now people are laughing at him.

Going forward, the BBC is unwilling to produce the show themselves because they prefer having a streaming partner who will foot the majority of the expenses. So they still need a money man, be it Disney or whoever else they can hook.

Both Davies and the Beeb also felt that to be successful now, Doctor Who needed to compete with the special effects and budgets of all the other franchises, such as Star Wars, Marvel, Game of Thrones, etc., and that’s why they need the extra cash injection. Special Effects.

Unfortunately, they lost sight of the fact that Doctor Who became legendary in the classic era, specifically the 1960’s and ‘70’s, when they didn’t have a big budget for special effects. 

Doctor Who made its bones on stories, characters and acting. They weren’t entirely dependent on SFX like Star Wars and other franchises, but times change and evidently there’s less importance put on quality writing these days. Or the Beeb is just clueless, panicking and flailing about in a fog of uncertainty. 

No one knows how long this gap will last, and even then, should it return, what the next iteration of the show might be, or if future audiences will even still be interested in what used to be known as “tv shows”, if and when they happen to look up from their phones.

So, until a new deal is struck, somewhere, some *when*… for now… R.I.P. Doctor Who

Let’s talk about why you should go see “Fantastic Four: First Steps” (spoiler-free)

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It was a quiet moment. Reed was shaving, Ben was taking a bubble bath, and a soot covered Johnny Storm barged in, asking what the heck they were doing?! Were they giving up? 

This was in the middle of Fantastic Four issue #49, “If This Be Doomsday”. The middle issue of The Galactus Trilogy, a watershed moment in the history of Marvel comics. 

The Marvel Age of Comics kicked off with FF #1 in 1961, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who gave us a world of superheroes living right outside our window. Amazing characters doing amazing things in our “real” world. 

The FF was a family of superheroes. Reed Richards, his best friend Ben Grimm, the woman he loved, Sue Storm, and her kid brother, Johnny Storm. They took a rocket up into space, got belted by cosmic rays, and got superpowers. Reed, in addition to being the smartest man in the world, could stretch. Sue could turn invisible, Johnny could flame on and Ben became a rock covered monster. 

They tackled a variety of other monsters, madmen, and would be world conquerors. But their adventures up until that point were mostly based in New York City. They’d traveled into space a few times, whether it be the moon, or across the galaxy to square off against intergalactic threats.

But in Fantastic Four issue #48, the *biggest* threat in the universe came HERE, to our own backyard. This was “The Coming of Galactus”, and he was the Devourer of Worlds.

He was preceded by the Silver Surfer, his Herald, who sought out suitable worlds for him to feed on.

When this giant man descended from the heavens, the Fantastic Four rose to confront him.

This family of explorers and adventurers had defeated some of the deadliest, most powerful and dangerous threats known to man. But this was the *unknown*.

They were hopelessly, helplessly outclassed, and were brushed away like insects. 

So, they stepped back, regrouped, and got themselves cleaned up. Which brings us back to the bathroom scene.

Usually, when confronted with a world ending threat, some heroes, or teams, retreat to their watchtower, or war room, or their secret hideout, to try and figure out their next move. But those were other teams, other comics, other companies.

The FF got cleaned up while mulling things over with a shave and a scrub. 

The juxtaposition between this scene and pretty much every other comic in existence is startling.

Because what they did was normal. Human. Real. THAT was Marvel’s stock and trade. 

Their heroes squabbled amongst themselves, had real emotions, real problems, real lives. 

They weren’t your typical heroes. 

The FF were the first and best of them. They were *family*, and unlike any other superhero team anywhere, before or since.

Oh, they were also incredible heroes in action of course, and have been around for sixty four years, but the essence of these heroes, this family, is just how real they are, and the bathroom scene is a good example of this.

Side note: they eventually did win the day against Galactus, but I’d advise you to do yourself a favor and seek out Fantastic Four issues 48, 49 and 50, and treat yourself.

What does this have to do with Fantastic Four: First Steps? 

Well, that scene? That essence? The real family, that bond, the love… that is this movie. 

That, and suspense, terror, action, humor, and pulse pounding thrills, as they take on the Silver Surfer and Galactus.

Go see it. Treat yourself. ‘Nuff said. 

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