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Waterhaul
Nov 5, 2005


it was a nice post,
you shouldn't have signed it.



Yeah we don't know what his powers will be like when he returns (other than presumably just being telekinesis) but the guy has regular dudes distract him while scientists come up with a plan that just might work written all over him. Personally I'm more interested in how they decide to render him given that I presume he won't be a full CGI character despite last weeks ending.

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Dr. MonkeyThunder
Sep 21, 2005

All is, if i have grace to use it so...

I was really surprised neither of these got picked up. For Frequency I assume they looked a little closer at the content of some of the later issues or it was a two expensive with the digital effects cost of 2005.

Aqua-man I don't know, it was just as 'good' as Smallville and that's clearly what they were going for. They even had in a built in excuse to have the lead wet and shirtless as much as possible. Maybe Aqua-man is still just too goofy to most audiences.

muscles like this!
Jan 17, 2005


From what Warren Ellis has said, Global Frequency died mostly because of one executive who got pissed off about the pilot leaking online.

mind the walrus
Sep 22, 2006

Dr. MonkeyThunder posted:

Aqua-man I don't know, it was just as 'good' as Smallville and that's clearly what they were going for. They even had in a built in excuse to have the lead wet and shirtless as much as possible. Maybe Aqua-man is still just too goofy to most audiences.

As someone who likes Aquaman I can assure you--no one outside of comic fandom knows anything about Aquaman beyond Superfriends and Entourage jokes. Meanwhile everyone at least knows Superman is "important" as a superhero, even if they had gently caress all idea he was raised in Central Kansas. A solo Aquaman project is just never going to gain any traction, and not for a lack of trying over the years.

Error 404
Jul 17, 2009


MAGE CURES PLOT
I had never heard that they were planning a Global Frequency show, and now I'm sad that we won't get it.

That would have been a kick rear end show.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
I'm sorry, but I have to bring up the Justice League of America pilot from 1997.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0kHSllsVOE

I'm so sorry. :(

This is the only pure clip left on Youtube, but you can find the whole thing on shadier video sites if you're curious. It's really, really dire. We owe CBS for never greenlighting this thing.

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
Two more openings...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqB36FsglEE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnSU2AalfKg


and the 7 minute Batgirl Pilot...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5GdStZKIxU

Rohan Kishibe
Oct 29, 2011

Frankly, I don't like you
and I never have.

mind the walrus posted:

Meanwhile everyone at least knows Superman is "important" as a superhero, even if they had gently caress all idea he was raised in Central Kansas.

Superman's origin is so well known and so ingrained into the general culture that kids practically come out the womb knowing he's the Last Son of Krypton, so yeah it's a pretty big difference.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine

MelvinTheJerk posted:

Well to reiterate, his greatest weakness is that he's a lovely person always focused on the wrong goal. In the mini series he's focused on trying to become a crime boss. In the above issue he's trying to embarrass the WCA and, I poo poo you not, set up a floating island where he can keep Tigra as a sex slave. Again, this is a dude who controls GRAVITY. When he brags all the time about having god like powers, he's not making GBS threads you. He really is that powerful. He just can't control himself, so he's a joke.

The best Graviton Moments, like the best moments for many characters, is in Thunderbolts. Evil Psychologist Moonstone is basically pressganged into being Graviton's shrink, and finally after simmering as a subplot for a couple issues while the Thunderbolts are off being excellently written elsewhere, Moonstone finally has a breakthrough with Graviton about how petty he is.

The next issue is Moonstone and the Thunderbolts finding out that Graviton decided to turn part of California into a floating island with his face on it and give the power of flight to basically a group of mallrats. The man is just built pathetic.

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





Mr. Maltose posted:

The next issue is Moonstone and the Thunderbolts finding out that Graviton decided to turn part of California into a floating island with his face on it and give the power of flight to basically a group of mallrats. The man is just built pathetic.

Which is why the new version for AoS is such an improvement. He's got a cause and, even if his methods were brutal, his basic point is more or less sound. There 's a lot of dangerous poo poo out there and fighting to keep people safe is exactly what SHIELD is all about. It's just that after the Battle of New York, Hall's decided that SHIELD itself can't be trusted and so he's got to take matters into his own gravity powered hands!

It's much better than "loser who lucks into godlike power" angle from the comics. This version of Hall is basically Magneto, a supremely powerful guy with a good point and a "ends justify the means" point of view.

Shirkelton
Apr 6, 2009

I'm not loyal to anything, General... except the dream.
A constant gently caress-up, neurotic and petty loser with immense powers sounds way more interesting to me as a villain for Agents of SHIELD than Magneto 2.0.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine
Yes, exactly.

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





We'll have to agree to disagree, because to me it's much more interesting to have a villain with depth and a reason to do what he does rather than a moron with superpowers. The latter is a one episode and done affair while the former is something that can become an ongoing tragedy if handled correctly.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine
You're right, if only there was a supervillain who was more than just a dumbfuck in a costume. Oh woe, where is a villain with actual depth in the Marvel Universe.

Graviton isn't a moron. He's small minded. He's petty. He doesn't always think things through and he constantly underestimates his potential. He's what a regular dude would be with superpowers. If anything, Marvel suffers from having a glut of super villains who stand as A Superhero But Over The Line.

Graviton is a tragedy, because he is among the strongest people on the planet but is so self defeating he commits only base ego-powered supervillainy. It's not him going adoyhadoydoy time to get my face punched, it's every human being alive who could be something but is weighted down by their own issues. Calling him a moron is honestly an insult to the character.

Mr. Maltose fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Oct 16, 2013

Shirkelton
Apr 6, 2009

I'm not loyal to anything, General... except the dream.
When you reduce every other idea down to a bumbling, Mr. Magoo style cartoon, I imagine turning every villain into Magneto does seem quite deep and compelling.

Timeless Appeal
May 28, 2006

Prison Warden posted:

Superman's origin is so well known and so ingrained into the general culture that kids practically come out the womb knowing he's the Last Son of Krypton, so yeah it's a pretty big difference.
A couple of years ago, I was ending the school year and my students were getting a bit restless. So, I decided to do a couple of classes on film literacy, and I used the Donner Superman film to just show off some basic camera shots as I figured enough kids were familiar enough with Superman that I could show a scene without too much explanation.

I was wrong. Kids might know flying guy in cape, but some of the basics like Krypton, Lois, and the Daily Planet aren't as ingrained as you'd think.

Opopanax
Aug 8, 2007

I HEX YE!!!


Waterhaul posted:

Yeah we don't know what his powers will be like when he returns (other than presumably just being telekinesis) but the guy has regular dudes distract him while scientists come up with a plan that just might work written all over him. Personally I'm more interested in how they decide to render him given that I presume he won't be a full CGI character despite last weeks ending.

Probably t-1000 style; have him CGI for some quick, moving around shots, then he reforms as himself

Snowglobe of Doom
Mar 30, 2012

sucks to be right
The latest episode of Agents of SHIELD featured some mysterious unexplained 'alien' text:

Anyone recognise that alphabet? It could be Doop language for all I know.

Waterhaul
Nov 5, 2005


it was a nice post,
you shouldn't have signed it.



I'd presume that everything alien on the show for the next while is just going to be Chitari/Thanos stuff.

Daler Mehndi
Apr 10, 2005

Tunak Tunak Tun!

Snowglobe of Doom posted:

The latest episode of Agents of SHIELD featured some mysterious unexplained 'alien' text:

Anyone recognise that alphabet? It could be Doop language for all I know.
The SHIELD thread points out it's Skrull.

Dr. MonkeyThunder
Sep 21, 2005

All is, if i have grace to use it so...
If Doop became a regular character I wouldn't watch anything else, just buy the DVD set and put it on loop.

Hakkesshu
Nov 4, 2009


For best results he should be a green screen puppet like Slimer and not CG.

The Question IRL
Jun 8, 2013

Only two contestants left! Here is Doom's chance for revenge...

Mr. Maltose posted:

The best Graviton Moments, like the best moments for many characters, is in Thunderbolts. Evil Psychologist Moonstone is basically pressganged into being Graviton's shrink, and finally after simmering as a subplot for a couple issues while the Thunderbolts are off being excellently written elsewhere, Moonstone finally has a breakthrough with Graviton about how petty he is.

The next issue is Moonstone and the Thunderbolts finding out that Graviton decided to turn part of California into a floating island with his face on it and give the power of flight to basically a group of mallrats. The man is just built pathetic.


You are actually getting two (kind of three) Graviton storylines missed up there.

The very first Graviton storyline is where the T-bolts fight a robot Hulk sent at them by Zemo, purely to gently caress over his old team for daring to do stuff without him. The Hulk Robot was channelling energy which was used to summon Graviton from the loser dimension he was stuck in.
Graviton basically completely wipes the floor with the T-Bolts and the Great Lakes Avengers. The closest they have to winning is when Atlas jumps out of a plane, sizes up to maximum height and starts wailing on Graviton for a few pages.
And even then, Graviton basically defeats him after he gets half a second to recover enough to fight back. He is only defeated when Moonstone explains how he's going to lose because he thinks too small.

He leaves, and comes back in Issue 28.
At this stage Graviton shows up over San Francisco with a floating island full of an army of "thugs, low-lifes and Highlander fans" who he extends his superpowers to. The T-Bolts (and Angel) only were able to win when they got Machine Man to share his technology that negated gravity.
The T-Bolts beat on Graviton, and Moonstone tries needling Graviton about how pathetic he is. Instead of crumbling, he lashes out and very nearly destroys California, until they turn him into a Black Hole.

He returns in the third story. That's the one where Moonstone is pressganged into being his personal life coach and motivational person. She allows him to overcome his ego, and he masters his powers to such an extent that he was able to defeat every hero on the Marvel Earth at once.

In short, those are excellent stories, and you should totally re-read them.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine
poo poo, I got the order backwards.

Anyway, everyone should read Thunderbolts because the length and quality are mind blowing.

Waterhaul
Nov 5, 2005


it was a nice post,
you shouldn't have signed it.



So this weeks episode of Arrow had Ollie fighting China White and Bronze Tiger, while trying to deal with Brother Blood causing an uprising in the city AND then got Roy Harper taking up the Red Arrow mantle and still hasn't dealt with Black Canary around.

Basically it's the anti-Agents of SHIELD.

DynamicSloth
Jul 30, 2006

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

Waterhaul posted:

So this weeks episode of Arrow had Ollie fighting China White and Bronze Tiger, while trying to deal with Brother Blood causing an uprising in the city AND then got Roy Harper taking up the Red Arrow mantle and still hasn't dealt with Black Canary around.

Basically it's the anti-Agents of SHIELD.

It's also in it's second season, how many C-listers had arrow introduced by it's 4th episode?

I don't even understand the compulsion to compare the two shows, Arrow's never going to be able to do fun gags with X-Ray specs or wonky gravity adventures and SHIELD isn't trying to be the Dark Knight the tv show.

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





Through four episodes of Arrow you had...Deadshot. So yeah, not really any more than Agents did with Doctor Hall.

Waterhaul
Nov 5, 2005


it was a nice post,
you shouldn't have signed it.



DynamicSloth posted:

It's also in it's second season, how many C-listers had arrow introduced by it's 4th episode?

I don't even understand the compulsion to compare the two shows, Arrow's never going to be able to do fun gags with X-Ray specs or wonky gravity adventures and SHIELD isn't trying to be the Dark Knight the tv show.

Deathshot, Deathstroke had been shown, Merlyn, China White...

And they're both superhero shows and people have expressed dissatisfaction at SHIELD's lack of comic appearances.

muscles like this!
Jan 17, 2005


IDW has decided to get on the TV bandwagon and adapt some of their original properties. So far they're doing: Life Undead, V Wars and Brooklyn Animal Control. I've never read any of them so I have no idea if they'll be any good or not.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Waterhaul posted:

And they're both superhero shows and people have expressed dissatisfaction at SHIELD's lack of comic appearances.

Well, Arrow is a show about a superhero, where Agents of SHIELD is a procedural show that happens to take place in a world with superheroes. It's okay to be disappointed that it doesn't have more comic jazz in it, but the show is trying to do its own thing. It essentially has zero SHIELD agents from the comics outside of Fury and Hill cameos (Coulson has made the jump from movies to comics, but that's different), so I went in expecting the comics material would be sparse. It's really an apples / oranges comparison because they're coming at their comics material from entirely different angles.

ToastyPotato
Jun 23, 2005

CONVICTED OF DISPLAYING HIS PEANUTS IN PUBLIC

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Well, Arrow is a show about a superhero, where Agents of SHIELD is a procedural show that happens to take place in a world with superheroes. It's okay to be disappointed that it doesn't have more comic jazz in it, but the show is trying to do its own thing. It essentially has zero SHIELD agents from the comics outside of Fury and Hill cameos (Coulson has made the jump from movies to comics, but that's different), so I went in expecting the comics material would be sparse. It's really an apples / oranges comparison because they're coming at their comics material from entirely different angles.

The problem people are having is that there is not really any valid explanation for why the comic material SHOULD be sparse and that the show so far seems to be going out of its way to avoid comic material, such as refusing to just admit that the secret big bad guys this season are either AIM, Hydra, or both. We've been introduced to both organizations in the movies already, so it is kind of stupid that they are avoiding using them so far, while dangling this "where is this mysterious supertech coming from, who could possibly be behind this?!" plot thread in front of the viewers in almost every episode aside from the Graviton one (which quickly defused AIM speculation by introducing a character who does not seem to be affiliated with AIM or Hydra as the source for THAT episode's super science funding group.)

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





They're playing the long game. That's how all the Joss shows worked, with clues and hits scattered throughout the first half of the season followed by a ratcheting up of pressure in the second half and a blowout in the season finale. Even if you have doubts, as I do, about how much Joss is still involved in the show, the remaining principles all worked on Spartacus and that had much the same structure.

If that's not to your individual taste, well that's fair. We all don't like the same things. But if you're expecting the show not to be playing the long game then you're ignoring the history of the people making the show.

Fred is on
Dec 25, 2007

Riders...
IN SPACE!

ToastyPotato posted:

The problem people are having is that there is not really any valid explanation for why the comic material SHOULD be sparse and that the show so far seems to be going out of its way to avoid comic material

Arrow isn't tied to a greater shared universe, though (to my knowledge?). On the other hand, whenever you introduce a new character in AoS, you're making it a bit harder to introduce and/or use them in potential future movies, which are obviously the big money-makers and take absolute precedence. They might also feel obligated to at least half-rear end a reason for why the characters they introduced won't be showing up to punch Ultron in two years, too.

There are ways around that, sure, but I think that would count as a "valid explanation". I don't know about the example you provided, either, since obviously they're trying to build up a mystery, and not "refusing to use" anything.

Hakkesshu
Nov 4, 2009


jng2058 posted:

They're playing the long game. That's how all the Joss shows worked, with clues and hits scattered throughout the first half of the season followed by a ratcheting up of pressure in the second half and a blowout in the season finale. Even if you have doubts, as I do, about how much Joss is still involved in the show, the remaining principles all worked on Spartacus and that had much the same structure.

If that's not to your individual taste, well that's fair. We all don't like the same things. But if you're expecting the show not to be playing the long game then you're ignoring the history of the people making the show.

That's fine. I just wish it was better now and not at some nebulous point in the future.

It's not bad, but it almost immediately squandered its own potential in favour of being as safe and inoffensive as possible. I guess the same could be said about the Marvel films, but at least they had more energy and creativity to them than this has had so far.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

ToastyPotato posted:

The problem people are having is that there is not really any valid explanation for why the comic material SHOULD be sparse and that the show so far seems to be going out of its way to avoid comic material, such as refusing to just admit that the secret big bad guys this season are either AIM, Hydra, or both.

Well, the Marvel movies have been relatively low-key, and they're following in that motif. It's not really aimed at comic fans - it's glad to have them along for the ride - but instead is trying to push Marvel material to a mainstream audience, and is making big ratings, so it's successful for the moment. Arrow, on the other hand, is unapologetically genre TV, and is very successful... for WB show. Arrow may have a firmer grisp on its viewers, but it's grabbing for a smaller piece of the pie.

I'd love to see the most ridiculous comic nonsense featured, myself. "That's not Frank Castle, that's... some kind of... Franken-Castle!" But that's what the show is going to be about and I'm willing to just take it for what it is. It's not grand TV, but it's fine and fun enough for me to keep up for now and see if it has sharper hooks in the future.

DynamicSloth
Jul 30, 2006

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

ToastyPotato posted:

The problem people are having is that there is not really any valid explanation for why the comic material SHOULD be sparse and that the show so far seems to be going out of its way to avoid comic material, such as refusing to just admit that the secret big bad guys this season are either AIM, Hydra, or both. We've been introduced to both organizations in the movies already, so it is kind of stupid that they are avoiding using them so far, while dangling this "where is this mysterious supertech coming from, who could possibly be behind this?!" plot thread in front of the viewers in almost every episode aside from the Graviton one (which quickly defused AIM speculation by introducing a character who does not seem to be affiliated with AIM or Hydra as the source for THAT episode's super science funding group.)

Hydra are literally Nazis it'd be a bit hard to justify a main character being recruited from an organization whose public face is effectively a Hitler's scientists fan club.

I like Arrow fine, but I don't really get the point of naming a character Tommy Merlin or Speedy when they have nothing in common with comic character of that name.

I think Arrow is in far more danger of overreaching if it tries to introduce more fantastical comic book elements into it's mythos, when Flash and the superpowers start showing up it's going to really mess with the tone of the show.

DFu4ever
Oct 4, 2002

Hakkesshu posted:

It's not bad, but it almost immediately squandered its own potential in favour of being as safe and inoffensive as possible.

It hasn't even had time to reach its own potential. You want the show to do big things immediately, but big things don't have much impact when you barely know the characters involved. Whedon shows, as mentioned before, tend to be a slow burn at the start but the later payoffs are much better for it.

Also, how is the show being 'safe and inoffensive'? It isn't supposed to be Law and Order: SVU.

jscolon2.0
Jul 9, 2001

With great payroll, comes great disappointment.

DynamicSloth posted:

I like Arrow fine, but I don't really get the point of naming a character Tommy Merlin or Speedy when they have nothing in common with comic character of that name.

The point of naming him Tommy Merlyn is so that he can be related to that other Merlyn. :flashfact:

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

jscolon2.0 posted:

The point of naming him Tommy Merlyn is so that he can be related to that other Merlyn. :flashfact:

It was also a red herring as everyone thought that Tommy was going to turn into a villain like Smallville, but they turned it on its head with Barrowman :argh: Also they named her Speedy and gave her a drug habit, as there have been other Speedys.

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Barry Convex
Sep 1, 2005

Think of the good things, Pim! The good things!

Like Jesus, candy, and crackerjacks! Ice cream and cake and lots o'laffs!
Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Joe! Larry, Curly, and brother Moe!
Regarding SHIELD, it's a matter of balance.

Surely it should be possible to find a middle ground between the two extremes of "every character/thing the agents encounter is something recognizable from the original Marvel Universe" and "nothing but original characters plus references to/recycled plot points from the previous MCU films.

More broadly, it should also be possible to find a workable middle ground between having some wildly fantastic element like alternate dimensions/evil sorcerers/lost ancient civilizations with incredibly advanced technology/aliens secretly living on Earth in every episode, and feeling like it's set in a universe where almost none of those things could exist.*

But it hasn't found either yet.

*Based on interviews with the crew, this is in large part because those elements haven't been established firmly or at all in the MCU films yet, but that just means that this show may have launched a year or two too early to be allowed to fully realize its potential. Actually, SHIELD has arguably skewed MCU continuity a bit to make its universe more mundane than it ought to be; it's been largely written with the implication, most explicit in Skye's opening monologue and Hill's speech in the pilot, that the general public wasn't aware of the existence of superhumans until Avengers, which makes little sense given events in Thor, Captain America, and (especially) The Incredible Hulk.

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