David Walton
@benreilly149.bsky.social
Ditko put a very distinct stamp on Peter Parker and his world. Referencing his influence should mean more than "Peter's in high school."
This show may be a truly great interpretation in its own right, but the imagery isn't Ditko in the slightest. Peter should be tall and lanky with sharp, angular features, as well as placement and body language that convey alienation from his peers.
YOUNG SHELDON stuck the landing and easily ranks among the most emotional and satisfying series finales. Much love for everyone involved in taking us on this journey with the Coopers.
The YOUNG SHELDON finale stuck the landing and perhaps gave us the best rationale possible for the way Mary and Sheldon speak of George Sr in THE BIG BANG THEORY; it's the manifestation of their unresolved anger and guilt.
My favorite father-son moment from YOUNG SHELDON.
"You ok, Mr Spock?"
"Doing my best, sir."
Young Sheldon flies in Airplane first time to see Stephen Hawking
Meet a child genius named Sheldon Cooper; (already seen as an adult in The Big Bang Theory (2007)) and his family. Some unique challenges face Sheldon who se...
youtu.beOne of my favorite father/son moments from YOUNG SHELDON.
Young Sheldon - The Mitten
Meet a child genius named Sheldon Cooper; (already seen as an adult in The Big Bang Theory (2007)) and his family. Some unique challenges face Sheldon who se...
youtu.bePerlin was such a gifted storyteller, and nowhere was that more apparent than "A Very Wrong Turn!" where he navigated the absurdity of the Seussian world while playing Namor perfectly straight and conveyed the other Defenders' unique character-driven reactions.
Fantastic, love them both! Sasso was hilarious on $&% MY DAD SAYS and if the show had built on his chemistry with Shatner I think it would have lasted several seasons.
Will Sasso & Rachel Bay Jones Return As Mandy’s Parents In ‘Young Sheldon’ Spinoff
Will Sasso and Rachel Bay Jones, who recurred as Mandy's parents in Young Sheldon, return to reprise their roles as series regulars in spinoff series.
deadline.comLance Barber did phenomenal work re-creating a character who was previously a punchline and now George Cooper Sr has entered the ranks of television's most beloved fathers.
'Young Sheldon's Changes to George Cooper Were Intentional, Says Lance Barber
Young Sheldon star Lance Barber says the changes made to George Cooper based on his Big Bang Theory mentions were intentional.
collider.comFrom UNCANNY X-MEN 299 by Scott Lobdell, Brandon Peterson and Dan Panosian (Feb 2 1993)
Generally skeptical of digital deaging but I want Shatner to get the exit he deserves, which "Generations" was not. (It's a fine TNG movie but not a good Kirk story.)
William Shatner Open to STAR TREK Return as De-Aged Captain Kirk
Willam Shatner says that he would return to Star Trek as a de-aged Captain Kirk if there were a real reason for his character to return.
nerdist.comMichelinie's answer to the question "where can the Vulture possibly go from here" anticipates the Clone Saga's attempt to de-age Spider-Man and dispense with Peter Parker's perceived continuity baggage.
In many ways, Adrian Toomes' trajectory mirrors Peter Parker's; the stretch from the Stern/Romita Jr ASM through DeMatteis/Buscema's SSM (Oct 6 1981-Mar 23 1993) was his greatest decade, too, and has never been topped.
Toomes' repeated attempts to receive May's forgiveness culminate in his capture and a final exchange where she points out that the external validation he's seeking isn't possible and he must search within.
As part of his unfinished business, Toomes begs May Parker's forgiveness for his part in Nathan Lubensky's death.
Dying of cancer, Adrian Toomes resolves to settle every old score before shuffling off this mortal coil.
Adrian Toomes' strongest decade culminated in what is arguably the greatest Vulture story ever, "Funeral Arrangements" by @jmdematteis.bsky.social and Sal Buscema, which ran in SSM 186 (Jan 28 1992), 187 (Feb 25 1992), and 188 (Mar 24 1992).
History would later repeat itself, this time with tragic results, when Toomes attempted to take Aunt May hostage, unaware of her connection to Lubensky, who intervened and fell to his death. (ASM 336, Jun 12 1990)
The Vulture formed a rare human connection with Nathan Lubensky, so much so that when he realized he had unlnowingly taken his only friend hostage he let him go.
Stern consciously grasped what Lee stumbled on: whether it's Blackie Drago or a rehab center intern, readers find it satisfying when those who underestimate Toomes on the basis of age get their comeuppance.
In an ironic twist that would have ripple effects for years to come, Aunt May's beau Nathan Lubensky snapped Toomes out of his funk over aging and unwittingly inspired his escape.
Stern, who had always regarded the Vulture as one of his favorite villains, made Toomes' age as central to his psychology as it was to his aesthetic.
One gets the sense that Lee merely acquiesced to fan sentiment without truly understanding why. It would be another thirteen years before Roger Stern & John Romita Jr.'s "Let Fly These Aged Wings" (ASM 224, Oct 6 1981) kicked off the beak-nosed septuagenarian's greatest decade.
Lee seems to have gotten the message that Adrian Toomes' age was a feature, not a bug; when Toomes returned, he didn't simply supplant Blackie Drago, he utterly humiliated him.
Fans defied Lee's expectation that Blackie Drago's youth would be received as an upgrade, demanding Adrian Toomes' return as the one true Vulture. His apparent death was retconned in ASM 63 (May 9 1968).
"Lifetheft" was not Marvel's first attempt to de-age the Vulture and even his co-creator Stan Lee underestimated the elderly villain's appeal, killing Toomes off and replacing him with a youthful successor in ASM 48 (Feb 14 1967).
SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES adapted Vulture's redesign and made his attempts to find the secret of eternal youth central to his character.
Adrian Toomes' youthful redesign debuted in ASM 387 (Jan 11 1994). He reverted to his original age and look three and a half years later in SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN 18 (June 4 1997).
Now before I get into the post-Michelinie buildup to the Clone Saga, there's one more aspect of "Lifetheft" I want to touch on: the deaging of Adrian Toomes.
The Clone Saga was largely perceived as an anti-marriage arc when Peter and MJ were being written out of the book, but post-OMD its reputation is that of a pro-marriage story.
Kavanaugh thought the marriage made Peter unrelateable, Mackie argued the problem was that Marvel never allowed it to go anywhere, DeMatteis was a huge fan of the relationship but envisioned Peter retiring to raise a family, & DeFalco said he secretly intended to bring Peter back
One reason why the Clone Saga continues to strike such an emotional chord with fans for better and for worse is because it gives weight to competing biases and makes use of the tensions its authors and its readers bring to the story.
All this said, Terry Kavanaugh was 100% right that the Spider-Man line was stagnant and needed a radical shakeup post-Michelinie, even if I strongly disagree with his contention that the Parker-Watson marriage was the root problem. The Spider-Cave had to go!
You can easily return to roughly 2/3rds of Michelinie's ASM run to illustrate the point that the marriage was never an inevitably stabilizing factor in Peter and Mary Jane's personal fortunes and Michelinie's later conservatism was a choice rather than an outcome.
Kavanaugh tends to conflate Michelinie's late-stage creative choices with the marriage itself, and saw them as its inevitable outcome. It's not so much marriage=mortgage as marriage=Spider-Cave, which simply isn't true.
While Kavanaugh often singles out the idea that Peter now had a mortgage as alienating to the target audience, I think that's misleading given that it's no more unrelatable to a teen's lived experience than leasing an apartment or being a post-grad teaching assistant.
While the Clone Saga creative team's feelings about the Parker-Watson union are diverse and more complicated than a simple yea/nay, Michelinie's final year contributed to the thought process that the marriage had cast Spider-Man as a more conservative, conventional hero.
I would also suggest that Michelinie's malaise colored the Clone Saga creative team's attitude toward the Parker-Watson marriage, its perceived limitations, and the need for a radical shakeup.
I would argue that Michelinie reached a point where he had said everything he wanted to say about Peter Parker and wasn't terribly interested in him as a protagonist anymore (but did still love him as a foil for Venom).
Since Michelinie's final MJ stalker incident is unconnected to the mystery of Peter's parents I think it's fair to say Michelinie's disinterest was more generalized at this point, especially when you see how energetic his "Planet of the Symbiotes" storyline is by comparison.
Truly believe Stories are our best defense against creeping dehumanization, a safe space to exercise empathy and bring that creative healing energy back into the world.
Systemic evils make it easy for otherwise thoughtful, sensitive human beings to be absorbed into the machinery of death. It's difficult to constantly be on guard for the multitude of ways in which dehumanization worms its way into our collective and individual psyches.
Tom Bacon 's recent piece on THE PHANTOM MENACE is really, really good, and filled with sharp insights. I just rewatched TPM yesterday and now I want to again with his realizations in mind.
8 Major Realizations I Had Rewatching The Phantom Menace 25 Years Later
An incredible experience.
screenrant.com
A monstrous and historically inaccurate representation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to justify contemporary war crimes.
Sen. Lindsey Graham says Israel should do 'whatever' it has to while comparing the war in Gaza to Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The GOP senator compared Israel’s military operations to the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Japan in World War II, saying, “Israel, do whatever you have to do.”
www.nbcnews.com