Mod Post - Off-Topic Tuesday

[icon_uk]

In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like. Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

As last week, current affairs are under a cut.


Protests around the world sparked by the murder of George Floyd have led to extraordinary outpourings of support, marches, protests, conflict, and attacks by the police, which have highlighted the very issues being addressed by the protestors

Such as two officers in Bufflao seen pushing a 74 year old man over being caught on video, and when they were suspended, 57 members of the force resigned their positions in protest, not at their fellow officers actions, but at their suspension. (Though the claim of solidarity has been disputed publicly by some of those who resigned, who give a different reason) 

And some potentially remarkable changes already taking shape.

Minneapolis City Council has vowed to disband the current police saying;

“In Minneapolis and in cities across the US, it is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” said Lisa Bender, the Minneapolis city council president, at the event. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period. Our commitment is to do what’s necessary to keep every single member of our community safe and to tell the truth: that the Minneapolis police are not doing that. Our commitment is to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”

Similarly, Democrat lawmakers knelt in silence for nine minutes, before unveiling extensive police reform legislation

Hopefully this isn't something that wil NOT die down, but continue to be in people's minds for a LONG time to come... especially November in the US.

I'm not even going to begin on Trump this week, apart from noting that it takes a staggering lack of comprehension, even by his standards, to say that he believes George Floyd would be “looking down from heaven” benevolently because of apparently improved (though statistically dodgy) unemployment figures. He added "This is a great day for him,” .

In countries around the world, Black Lives Matter protests have sprung up too

In the UK, a statue of Edward Colston, a noted 17th century slave trader, which has caused controversy for years, was literally torn down and thrown in the nearby harbour by protestors. It's highlighted some deep rooted issues with Britain and it's ability to gloss over some of the more horrifying aspects of it's history. Colston is a case in point, regarded by many as a generous benefactor to the city in his day, and responsible for many public works, and commemorated with buildings and streets named after him, but someone who derived his wealth from the slave trade.

The UK Government has expressed solidariity with the peaceful protestors, but has promised to crack down on those breaking the law, which as always with politicians, seems to be missing the point behind the anger somewhat.

I've been continuing to watch Stargirl and remain impressed. Genuinely shocked by episode 3, normally in these that's the point where the core team of support staff has been built around the hero, but here that was subverted, and Courtney had to deal with failing to save someone, one of the few people whos' actually been nice to her.

(I have to say I'm enjoying the show, but perhaps it's my age that makes me a little uncomfortable with the Courtney/Pat dynamic. I mean, I'm the last person to object to the driven, heroic teenager approach, it's laudable and admirable and as old as the genre, but Pat is Courtney's stepfather first and her sidekick second, so I'm sort of on his side a lot more than her's when it comes to dealing with the bad guys than I am on hers, so far.)

In unexpected news, Hartley "Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man" Sawyer has been fired from The Flash, following the resurfacing of some racist and sexist tweets.

Doctor Who Lockdown had planned to livetweet "World Enough and Time" and "The Doctor Falls" to end their series of events, but cancelled it when it was noted that a story where a black gay woman is killed onscreen, then further dehumanised by being turned into a Cyberman in the most bodyhorror Cyberman story in years, was perhaps NOT something to do in the midst of current events. A wise choice I feel, though the promised extra material of a sequel by Steven Moffatt (Who credits Pearl Mackie with some of the points raised) was released, which even addresses recent events and is, if you'll pardon the pun, just what the doctor ordered.

Daniel Radcliffe has reaffirmed his longstanding support of the trans community following JK Rowlings latest, highly problematic tweets on the subject

Has anyone watched Snowpiercer on Netflix? Worth a watch?

Oh and speaking of Netflix, it appears there's a teensy weensy little problem that the US might have with their Space Force... Netflix got the trademark first in Europe, Australia and Mexico.

And a mere 29 years after their last movie, Bill and Ted Face the Music finally has a trailer!



And a new Theme Week, is upcoming, so stay tuned (Yes, in the middle of Pride Month, but these things are not mutually exclusive)

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Well I hope the Essential Workers enjoyed their time in the spotlight, because now it’s the protests that corporations are pretending to care about.

Oh, look Yakuza 7 has a Western release date. 31 December 2020, I’ll be sure to try and get it amidst the end times. Or maybe I’ll wait six months and then buy a preowned copy. Who can say. I also hope to get preowned copies of Ghost of Tsushima and Cyberpunk 2077 when their on sale.

EA in a surprise move has released some of their game on Steam. In general, they seem to be more expensive than the prices on Origin. So, if you want a copy of say Dragon Age II, wait for a sale on Origin. The discounts also tend to be bigger as well.

Well that’s first semester done, got to work on finishing my assessments.

Oh yeah, it turns out Star Wars Resistance finally got a DVD release where I live. The Sequel era of Star Wars, is pretty much tainted for me, so I don’t think I’ll get it. The fact it was pretty mediocre doesn’t help either.
All the sales I can’t take advantage of....

I’ve been thinking about The Walking Dead. By my reckoning the show has about 2 and a half seasons worth of comics left to adapt. Let’s bump that up to 3 seasons. I wonder if they’ll change how they adapt stuff, will they start stretching it out more, or will they have more original stories? Or maybe the show will have ended by then.

[owlbrigade1]

Resistance had potential, it could have told some different stories. Sadly the ultra compressed timeline of TFA and TLJ robbed it of the chance to do so. There was just nowhere for it to grow its own adventures and identity in. TLJ really screwed the pooch on that one, amongst other pooch screwing developments. Rian Johnson let Dave Filoni down on that, lets hope that Filoni gets more control of the franchise going forward and is the one telling movie directors what is needed and not the other way around.

[owlbrigade1]

Okay, my second sowing of squash and courgette seeds has mostly worked. I still have no idea why the first sowing failed. The varieties Golden Balls [no sniggering at the back of the class now], zephyr, and crown prince have all germinated; but the courcourzelle have failed the second time too. I shall strike the latter off my list for the future. I just hope that, despite being a week or so late getting started that there is enough time for them to crop with our short growing season.

As for the rest of it all... I'm taking a leaf out of Douglas Adams book, specifically So Long and Thanks For All The Fish and I am declaring my house to be Outside The Asylum. https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/The_Outside_of_the_Asylum

[malurette]

Ooh pretty variety names! off to google what they look like!!
(I know I've tried to germinate Jack-Be-Little, butternut and maybe musquée de Provence but I don't remember what worked and what failed--now I'm waiting for the vines to grow and to flower; it'll be a surprise if I manage to get fruit in the end. Next time I'll try to remember to plant little flags next to my seeds.)

[zachbeacon]

This is more an ongoing thing that I forgot to mention last week but kpop fans have been bombarding far right wing hash tags with fancams in order to drown them out on social media.

2020 is such a weird year.

[icon_uk]

I think I lost track when Teen Vogue became one of the more trenchant political commentators out there back in 2016, so little surprises me in that regard any more. But good on them!

[crinos]

I am also really enjoying Star Girl.

I have some issues with Geoff Johns, but I love that he's digging up all these obscure characters in order to build, in essence, a teen justice society.

I also knew this weeks episode was going to be a gut punch and I was right. Poor Yolanda.

Also, I love how its just being unapologeticly comicbooky. I mean you got most of the injustice society out of costume acting like normal people, and then we go to Dr. Ito who is this fucking snake man in a green robe and hood looking like a goddamn real life cobra commander.

Also I like the Lady Fiddler. And that they are using the Thunderbolt and eventually Jakeem Thunder.

[zachbeacon]

Saw the first three last week. I haven't really made up my mind on how I feel about it.

Pros:

A superhero thing that is actually appropriate for kids.*

Heroes are flawed but still likable.

This is peak Geoff Johns.


Cons:

Can't get a grip on the time period. I think its set in the present ... in a town that seems pulled from the past (a DRIVE IN?) ... with a male lead that was pulled from the distant past ("Ford played for America". Who talks like that?). Also the WW2 heroes were active ten years ago.

(seriously, that car alone is so distracting that I had to check to see if they had modern cars on the street)

Icicle and co are a little too "Thanos" for their own good.

This is peak Geoff Johns.



*Pretty much the ONLY DCU original appropriate for kids ... but that's a fault of the service, not the show.

Also Starman is a dick. That's not a pro or a con, I just wanted to say it. Poor Pat.

[beyondthefringe]

The long-term fan in me appreciates that the first heroes Courtney is recruiting are the second generation versions of Wildcat, Dr. Midnight, and Hourman. If anyone recalls, those three essentially debuted together as a second wave of Infinity Inc recruits during/post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, so establishing them here as a group feels like a tiny nod towards their shared time.

Also, the presence of Brainwave and his son is another tie towards Infinity Inc. As is, of course, Sylvester Pemberton as Star-Spangled Kid (later Starman here, Skyman in the comics.)

Meanwhile, the roster of Injustice Society incorporating Wizard, Shade, Fiddler, Brainwave, Icicle, Solomon Grundy, Gambler, Sportsmaster and Huntress is basically a mashup of the classic Society and the Injustice Unlimited version which we saw in (say it with me...) Infinity Inc.

Also, the bearded janitor we see in the background, Justin, turned out to be Sir Justin, the Shining Knight, in the original Stars and STRIPE run. Dare we hope?

I wonder if we'll ultimately end up seeing some of the other Infinity characters like Nuklon/Atom Smasher, Fury, Silver Scarab, Obsidian, Jade, Northwind... I mean, we can hope. With Geoff Johns and James Robinson both working in this, I anticipate plenty of deep dives along the way. I can think of plenty of characters they could probably wind up using who haven't already been overused in the greater Arrowverse. Especially if they're looking to resurrect a version of the JSA with second generation heroes. :)

[bruinsfan]

I tuned in to it based on what I've heard about it in various places, and I don't think it's for me. I'm glad it exists, as a counterpoint to the grimdark tone that pervades the CW's other comic book properties. (How was the show that started with a season arc about infamous criminals being released from Hell to cause mayhem on Earth the most fun and wacky series in their stable this year?) And I appreciate that the Justice Society is getting some respect on-air. But it's just too well-golly-gee earnest and reminiscent of kid's book series like Encyclopedia Brown for me to get into.

[leahandillyana]

There's a pandemic going on, the numbers are still rising, especially sharply in US & UK, yet your governments didn't issue even the basic hygiene rules, not to say a 13 weeks long lockdown that was in Poland and still turned out to be not enough to get the pandemic locally under control. People all over ignore the emergency measure anyways, after politicians acting as if they were infallible and better than an average man.

[icon_uk]

I actually nearly had a section about the relaxation of the Pandemic lockdown in the UK, but the rules are so odd and at times contradictory, that I felt it might do more harm than good.

[skjam]

Keeping on keeping on.

At my blog, I review a piece of silly fluff with some very nice songs: http://www.skjam.com/2020/06/07/movie-review-mamma-mia-the-movie/

[deh_tommy]

The violent actions displayed by police in the U.S. are abhorrent and this conversation should have happened a lot sooner, but in my opinion the kind of mindless violence people like looters or Antifa engage in does nothing but harm the cause for police reform and addressing systemic racism. And while these global protests are a nice gesture (though the issues in countries like mine or the U.K. aren’t really the same kind of ones that affect America), they couldn’t have come at a worse time seeing how the novel Coronavirus is apparently on the rise again, governments are easing up lockdown restrictions, and people are getting more lax about adhering to the guidelines. I’m also rather worried about how the actions of police in America will affect perception of the police on a global scale.

[matrix_dragon]

If police in Australia didn't want to be compared to US ones, not only should they not have so many indigenous deaths in custody, they probably shouldn't have cornered a peaceful protest in the train station on the way home and gone in with pepper spray and punches.

[dewinged]

Season 3 of Baki the Grappler dropped on Netflix US last week, after having aired in Japan last year. They announced it coming to the US in June of this year.

They announced this in mid March...And in the two and a half months since....it wasn't til it dropped last week that we found out the dub was delayed. They should have mentioned it any time beforehand. Of course there's no idea when we get the dub, like everything else.

Hartley Sawyer was rightfully fired. He did post an apology for the tweets from 5+ years ago, and took responsibility in said apology. But James Gunn did the same thing and everyone gave him a pass. Double standard much?

I see a lot of articles about the rise of LGBT+ rep in animation and such...And none of them point out that all their examples are wlw. And let's not forget the arrowverse. I feel a little trapped because if I bring up this severe imbalance I'm going to get hit with "lol what about the menz!?!1?"

That rumor about not recasting Kate and making a new character for Batwoman seems to be true. I feel this is a bad idea that makes things more difficult than they have to be, and no one has told the creators that. Since my favorite part of the show is the character dynamics Kate had with everyone, this has killed all interest i have in the show.

I've been working from home since March. my job has us home until at least July 2. In my apartment, by myself. I've followed every rule set down with the virus. All my plans for the summer have been wiped. Almost all media i am interested in has been delayed with no timeline for anything. I've just decided it's pointless and it won't pass and there's no end in sight and I'm losing interest in everything anyway.

[icon_uk]

IIRC the new CGI Ghost in the Shell series also debuted a couple of weeks before it's dub was available due to Covid 19 delaying things.

I'm in agreement with you on the lack of mlm representation in animation, so feel free to vent.

Even in She-Ra, the only mlm characters who come to mind were Bow's fathers (who were adorable dad's) and Roglelio and Kyle (seen briefly in a domestic situation) though, in fairness, that is a actually a significant %age of the male characters in the series.

And sometimes, there's one, but no one for them to be gay with so it seems more for the sake of it, than actually depicting two males in a relationship.

I mean, I applaud wholeheartedly The Hollow cartoon making Adam, it's male lead, confirmed canon gay, but giving him a boyfriend we could see him with would have been nicer (He got one kiss in the entire two season run and it was from a girl who wasn't aware he was gay due to amnesia, and he didn't say anything to save her embarassment) (Again, to be fair, we did see another character's two dads cameo, which was nice)

Miraculous Ladybug has sort of equality by having it's two not-quite-confirmed-on-screen-but-the-subtext-is-positively-Claremontian be one female couple (Juleka/Rose) and one male couple (Nathaniel /Marc). Turns out Marc is based on one of the creator's friends, who is genderfluid and bisexual, and Marc is intended to be somewhat androgynous in appearance. Even his name is an LGBTQ+ pun; "Marc Anciel "-> Arc-in-ciel = Rainbow in French) SO JUST LET THEM KISS ALREADY!

Anyone would think that wlw being shown on screen might be appealling to some straight men, as opposed to mlm who don't have that avenue.

[lordultimus]

Mitt Romney joined a Black Lives Matter march in D.C., saying "We need a voice against racism, we need many voices against racism and against brutality. And we need to stand up and say that black lives matter."

Also, he and George W. Bush will not support Donald Trump in his re-election.

On a more off-topic note, I wanted to ask the mods: there's a comic that was going to be released as part of Free Comic Book Day, but since the pandemic led to that being canceled, that comic has since been released free online. Does that mean that I could post it in its entirety here?

[icon_uk]

Under those circumstances, I'd say yes, it could be posted in full.

If it was posted on one of the creators pages, it'd be nice to put a link to there, and the comic company involved.

[nightauditguy]

Lot of tone deafness going on in reality tv circles

And while not as important as everything going on in the world, the Bill and Ted 3 trailer is out

[icon_uk]

So it is, thanks. I'll add it to the main post!

[cygnia]

Elsewhere, in the food industry...

https://www.eater.com/2020/6/8/21284390/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport-resign-racism-brownface-photo

[thezmage]

Based on the thread from last time I checked out Bleak Expectations and it is exactly as funny and off the wall as advertised. If you’re in America (and maybe elsewhere) you can get all five series for very cheap off of Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Bleak-Expectations-Audiobook/B073HH6JC5?qid=1591590767&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=MB11D3YXS6HX2JMMBA4H

[mastermahan]

Maybe I'll go back and re-listen to it. When I first listened to it, the fifth series wasn't even out yet.

[malurette]

Waiting for the season #2 of Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts, scheduled to drop this Friday~

[long_silence]

Kipo is great, the music, the animation, the world building. It's seriously underrated

And Benson is a hilarious mlm character who isn't treated as a joke.

[cyberghostface]

Artemis Fowl is coming out on Disney+ this Friday. I wished it had been in theaters but at this point the enthusiasm has been pretty low and Disney probably figured this was a way to cut their losses.

[tripodeca113]

Well I'm not looking forward to that.

[iamrman]

I finally got around to reading the first volume of Sandman, Preludes and Noctirmes. It's a good thing I liked those issues because I have several more Sandman trades to read as well.

As for my Marvel reading, I am mostly moving in to the Bronze Age. I have finished the Lee and Kirby Thors, so now it is Gerry Conway and John Buscema. Roy Thomas on Avengers and Lee and Romita on Spider-Man.

As for the X-Men, it is going to be the Claremont and Jim Lee issues of Uncanny. The Acts of Vengeance tie-ins where Psylocke becomes Lady Mandarin and the like. Also, Savage Land Rogue!

[mastermahan]

Has anyone watched Snowpiercer on Netflix? Worth a watch?

Absolutely. Snowpiercer is a smart, well-constructed action movie. Chris Evans really shows his range in it.

[thezmage]

I believe Icon is asking about the series that airs on TNT in the US and Netflix in the UK

[werehawk]

General Spoilers (without details) for Stargirl below









Kids and I watching Stargirl and really liking it! (I was a huge Infinity Inc. fan). Sounds like they are making Icicle more than a one-dimensional villain too. My one concern (especially with kids watching) is that the death of a character was really her fault and while Pat is being more protective, the blame can be laid on his and Courtney's shoulders. If they hadn't picked a fight...And she basically got over it very quickly.

[icon_uk]

I don't think I can agree with that.

Icicle left a message for Stargirl, Stargirl adn STRIPE responded to it, but the decision to target a schoolbus full of innocent kids and THEN to specifically set Joey Zarick up to be killed by the truck was entirely on Icicle.

Some Tokusatsu shows

[silverzeo]

Heard that new episodes of Super Sentai Kiramager and Kamen Rider 01 will resume around the 21st of the month

Re: Some Tokusatsu shows

[icon_uk]

Oh, nifty! Glad that Rio Komiya must be back up and about.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Having seen both the series and movie, I gotta say, both Snowpiercers are worth watching.

The show changes enough to be sustainable, IMO and is well acted.

Gotta admit, it's odd that Snowpiercer and Stargirl are my new faves, but hey ;)