Re-reading Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. We’ve seen romance and jealousy, and now as act I scene 2 continues, thoughts turn to murder.
We’ve seen Leontes of Sicilia enraged with jealousy over the perceived flirtations between his wife Hermoine and Polixenes of Bohemia, and wondered whether those flirtations are real or mistaken. Now it’s time for some classic conspiring. After shooing everyone but the courtier Camillo off the stage, Leontes asks Camillo about what people are saying in the kingdom about Polinexes staying longer. Camillo says it’s because of the queen. (Didn’t all this just happen a minute ago, though?)
Maybe Camillo cast a scrying spell.
Leontes starts to praise Camillo, saying he trusts Camillo with secrets like he would a priest, but then he turns on Camillo with more long speeches accusing Camillo of being blind to Hermonie’s infidelity. Camillo tries defending himself, saying he’s only ever been faithful. They go back and forth like this for a while, until Leontes says if his wife’s liver were as infected as her heart, she might not live an hour.
Plotting the plot.
This seems to put an idea in Leontes’ head, as he next tells Camillo he wishes he has a servant loyal enough to “bespice a cup” to give his enemy a “lasting wink.” Camillo says this crime can be done with a “dram” that can act just as deadly as a poison. None of my books have a footnote for “dram,” but the internet tells me it simply means a drink, most often in reference to whiskey. But Camillo is still unconvinced until Leontes makes one more speech about how certain he is.
At least it’s not this dram.
Camillo agrees to go along with the plan, so long as Polixenes is the only target, and the queen’s honor will remain intact. Leontes leaves Camillo alone, and Camillo gets an aside about how thinkable a situation this is. He says there are no examples of people who have killed kings and gotten away with it, and he still would not want to do this even if there were. This feels meta, as if Camillo has already read Shakespeare’s previous tragedies. Because ruin (or “breakneck” as he puts it) is his only option, Camillo decides to forego all his previous protestations of loyalty and forsake his king.
Does this look like a murder weapon to you?
I imagine that a proper movie adaptation of The Winter’s Tale would have this part be its own scene, with Leontes and Camillo meeting in some secret, shadowy location for some proper murder-plotting. You could even have Camillo pour a glass of the poison-like dram and push the camera in close as he does, only then for him to toss the glass on the ground or into a nearby fireplace for dramatic effect. If on stage, there’s still a lot to work with. Once of Leontes’ speeches has him describing the nothingness he feels, with the word “nothing” repeated over and over. Another has a long list of things he’s suspected Hermoine and Polixenes doing, which is descriptive and evocative. A clever actor can make the most of these speeches so that Leontes’ behavior is more than just a bunch of angry rants.
“It was… the nothing!”
The Winter’s Tale is a fantasy play, although the magical elements aren’t as overt as they are in Midsummer Night’s Dream or The Tempest. With that in mind, could Camillo be interpreted as a magical character? As we’ll see, he’s going to move in and out of the story, often changing events and putting characters on different paths. He can’t know the future, because otherwise he’d stop or avoid tragedy to come, but he could be portrayed as having supernatural empathy of what people are feeling and what is occurring outside his physical awareness. Just a thought.
Next: Camillo’s excellent adventure.
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
Tim Burton rewatch! Burton returns to episodic TV for the first time since the ‘80s, directing the first four episodes of Wednesday and producing the entire series.
Here’s what happens: After a piranha-based incident at her old school, Wednesday Addams must relocate to Nevermore Academy, her parents’ supernatural alma mater. Wednesday clashes with her werewolf roommate, a siren bully, and a handsome boy working at the local coffee shop. Wednesday believes herself to be above the usual urban fantasy boarding school drama, but she can’t help but be drawn in by a mystery involving a creature roaming the woods nearby.
Origin story: Charles Addams, a New Jersey native and art school grad, got his start as a designer and layout artist for various 1930s pump magazines. His distinctive cartoons earned him a recurring spot in The New Yorker, giving him and his cartoons worldwide fame. His Addams Family characters originally had no names, but for marketing and the 1964 TV deal, Addams had to name each of them. Wednesday Addams was the first named, as a Wednesday doll was produced in ’63, to promote the upcoming series.
Outsider theory: Nevermore Academy and the surrounding town are made up of “outcasts” and “normies.” But the normies are clearly the second-class ones, with the outcasts running the place. Wednesday might not fit in at Nevermore, more because of her attitude than because of her strangeness. She’s smarter and more capable than everyone else, and has the ability to see through everyone else’s B.S. Thinking to Burton’s previous work, Wednesday has quite a bit in common with Batman.
Reality breaks through: What to make of the opening scene, in which Wednesday dumps piranhas into the school swimming pool, injuring and possibly killing a whole bunch of her fellow teens? A lot of the humor of the Addams Family is the characters talking about ghoulish things they’ve done, leaving the visuals up to the viewers’ imaginations. For us to spend an entire series with Wednesday boasting how she’s the baddest one around, we need this scene at the start to show she’s not all talk. When Wednesday threatens to kill you, she means it.
Best bits: Wednesday: “I act as if I don’t care if people dislike me, but deep down… I secretly enjoy it.”
Thoughts on this viewing: It’s easy to see why Wednesday was such a hit, as it remains fun and engaging today as it did on its big debut weekend. And it’s a big swing back upward for Burton. I’ll admit that the overall mystery plot isn’t all that engaging, but Wednesday succeeds in its big atmospheric moments, such as Wednesday furiously playing the cello, her solving a puzzle in an underground chamber, and especially her bizarre dance that you saw everywhere on social media.
Next: One day more.
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re in Marvel’s “never-ending crossover” mode as Dark Reign begins the second that Secret Invasion ends. But what does it mean for the FF?
What’s Dark Reign about? At the end of Secret Invasion, Norman Osbourne is the one who saved the day at the end, acting as leader of the Thunderbolts. This was seen on news cameras worldwide, making Osbourne a hero. What’s more, the US President made Osbourne the number one guy, putting him charge of the Avengers, the Thunderbolts, the Fifty States Initiative, and H.A.M.M.E.R., which is Osbourne’s new hardcore replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D. Oh, and he’s started his own version of the Illuminati, made up of villains.
Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1 tells us it’s been one week since the Skrull invasion, long enough for Osbourne to take control of the superhero community. Reed works in his lab, musing about how these events have him feel like he’s crossed a threshold and had a moment of clarity.
Then we’re reminded that the new Baxter Building was rebuilt from scratch at the end of Secret Invasion (should I start calling it the new new Baxter Building?). Alicia joins Franklin and Valeria on a shopping spree, because the building was restored but the FF’s personal belongings were not. Sue, Ben, and Johnny have some playful bickering while Reed’s reprogrammed Doombots move all the new furniture in.
The others check on Reed in his lab, where he’s tinkering with science instead of putting all the new stuff away. He says he’s invented an observation device that can show them how problems like theirs were solved in other earths. He calls it the Bridge. Sue asks him why he had to build it on moving day, and Reed says he has to know everything has gone so terribly wrong.
Then a bunch of military vehicles pull up in front of the Baxter Building. Norman Osbourne is inside one, giving orders to H.A.M.M.E.R. troops. He says the Fantastic Four are suspended from the Initiative, and today they’re being shut down. “Resistance is expected,” he says.
Inside, Reed prepares for a journey. Apparently, he must enter the Bridge in order to glimpse the other worlds. He says he’ll only be gone for a moment from the others’ point of view. Reed says some of his choices led to the world being messed up and his family almost dying. Reed disappears into the Bridge just as the H.A.M.M.E.R. soldiers bust through the building’s lobby. Sue, Ben, and Johnny enter an elevator, with Sue saying she wants this over in two minutes.
The soldiers reach the building’s generator and cut the power, making Reed notice something is amiss while inside the Bridge. Alicia and the kids show up outside, seeing energy waves coming from the top of the building. The power outage stops the elevator, so Sue has Ben tear open the door. On the other side is another world, filled with dinosaurs and what look like superhumans. Inside the Bridge, Reed gets the energy fields stabilized. He says, “Okay… here we go. Let’s have a look at everything.”
Issue #2 begins with Franklin distracting the H.A.M.M.E.R. troops with toy guns while genius Valeria builds a real weapon out of Reed’s science gear. This scares off the soldiers, who now say they’re not there to attack the FF, but to serve notice that the FF’s operations are to be shut down. There’s a few shots of Sue, Ben, and Johnny fighting the dinosaurs and other characters, and then we’re back to the kids. The power is still out, so Valeria gets to work on fixing it.
Inside the Bridge, we see Reed mapping out other universes where recent Marvel events went differently. Valeria gets the power back on, after which the dinosaur world seems to fade away as the caption states, “Variable space-time compressing…” Reed determines that only 418 alternate versions of the superhero registration act resulted in a peaceful solution. He tells the Bridge computer to feed those directly into his brain (!). He deduces that every nonviolent solution to Civil War resulted when Iron Man’s involvement was little to none.
Inside the compressed space-time, we see an Elizabethan England type of setting, with Sue sitting on a throne, surrounded by old-timey versions of other Marvel heroes. She learns there’s a peasant rebellion in the works, led by “a man with an iron heart and a silver tongue.” Outside the castle, we see Elizabethan Tony Stark talk about fighting for fairness and equality. He initially brags about being nonviolent and enlightened, only to draw a sword and says he will fight if dialogue fails. He leads his team of old-timey superheroes in chanting, “Republic! Republic! Republic!”
Reed continues to study other what-ifs of how Civil War could have been prevented. He finally concludes that the deciding factor is him acting alone, without Tony Stark or Hank Pym. No one else was there to interpret his ideas except for him. Reed tells the computer to show him more, after which the Elizabethan reality disappears into collapsed space-time, and Reed, Sue, and Johnny end up in yet another reality, where Johnny is a pirate captain, leading pirate Sue and pirate Ben are attacking another ship. But wait, the Elizabethan timeline’s Ben is also here, demanding to know what’s going on.
To be continued!
Unstable molecule: We’re in Dark Reign and Secret Invasion just happened, but Civil War is what’s on Reed’s mind, showing just how massive of a shadow that event cast over the Marvel Universe.
Fade out: With Reed inside the Bridge, Sue immediately takes the leadership role when the Baxter Building is attacked. Reed and Johnny know to take her orders.
Clobberin’ time: The Elizabethan version of Ben is “Chamberlain Grimm,” who wears a monocle. When the peasants revolt, he says, “M’Lady, ‘tis the clobbering hour.”
Flame on: Johnny bemoans the fact that he lost his list of girls’ phone numbers in the old Baxter Building.
Fantastic fifth wheel: Reed has multiple H.E.R.B.I.E. robots assisting him in the lab, after we’d been told he dismantled H.E.R.B.I.E. to use his tech in the repurposed Doombots. I guess there’s no rule that Reed can’t build more H.E.R.B.I.E.s. Freaking H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.
In the other universes, we see brief glimpses of FF alternate members Luke Cage, She-Hulk, and Storm.
Four and a half: Franklin spends these issues dressed in a cowboy costume he bought on the family’s shopping spree. My guess is he’s acting up in dealing with his little sister being revealed as a super-genius.
Our gal Val: Valeria reveals her “weapon” she invented on the spot to scare away the H.A.M.M.E.R. guys is really a communication device powerful enough to contact an orbiting space station.
Trivia time: The Marvel Wiki alleges that the dinosaur timeline is the same prehistoric Earth seen way back in Eternals #1. Sure, why not?
Fantastic or frightful? By this point in the characters’ histories, jumping from alt-universe to alt-universe is as much of a commonality as fighting Dr. Doom. Except this time, they’re doing it in the context of Civil War and Dark Reign. It’s an exciting start to the miniseries that really has you hungry for what’s next. But it’s getting close to midnight on Thursday, and I’ve got to get this posted.
Next: It can’t Reign all the time.
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
Let’s read Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. We’re still in Act I scene 2 as tensions are building and the plot kicks off.
I bought this version back in 1998, and I still have it. It has more footnotes than the 2024 one.
After exploding with jealous rage in an aside to the audience, Leontes then seems to make a sharp turn by heaping loving praise on his son Mamillius. Remember that this is the same kid that the two characters in the opening scene also heaped praise on. It’s all the “praising the beauty of youth” poetry that was everywhere in the Elizabethan era (era), except this is Shakespeare, so there’s something of a double meaning to it. Leontes’ extoling his son’s innocence is also him casting a light on his belief that his wife Hermoine is not so innocent.
So theatrical.
Leontes’ speech to Mamillius also contains some turns of phrase that go beyond being open to interpretation and into being unknowable. He thoughts seem to wander from praising his son to pondering his own situation. He says women are not to be trusted as “o’erdyed blacks.” My Pelican Classics edition claims this is a racial reference, which makes me uncomfortable, while my Folger edition says this is in reference to clothing dyed black to become funeral wear. In this context, Leontes is saying Hermoine is like someone who is dressed for a funeral but who is only pretending to mourn. Or he’s saying that the dying process has weakened the fabric, so Hermoine is similarly weak. (A production could easily have Hermoine wearing black in this scene to further this point.) My older 1998 Folger edition splits the difference by listing all these interpretations as possibilities.
But the Men in Black were NOT o’erdyed.
All my books and most of my online sources point to Leontes’ line “Affection, thy intention stabs the center” as something both hugely significant but also somehow impossible to interpret. On the surface, he’s saying that emotion, and the reasons behind the emotion, can cut through to the truth. Is this his own emotions showing him the truth? Once again, the 1998 Folger cuts through the noise and states that no matter how you read the line, it reveals Leontes getting more and more unhinged.
Aiming for the center.
This same speech is bookended with Leontes referencing his brows, meaning his forehead. He describes his brow has horned, while Mamillius has a perfectly smooth brow. Part of this is the always-wacky “cuckold” joke of Shakespeare’s time, where humiliated husbands were shown to have horns or antlers as a form of mockery. But in the context of The Winter’s Tale, Leontes uses it as an age thing. He says Mamillius has no horns because he’s so young and innocent, and that Leontes has horns himself despite his wife believing his brow is smooth like an egg. Just imagine a version of this play were this is literal, and these characters are actual horned demons in some sort of fantasy hellscape. Somebody Mike Mignola on the phone.
Hellboy’s brow has its own backstory.
Then there’s more cordiality – either genuine or false, depending on how you play it – between Leontes and Polixenes. They continue to praise Mamillius as well as Polixenes’ own unnamed son. (This son is Florizell, whom we’ll meet later in the play as a romantic lead.) Leontes does not reveal his jealousy to Hermoine and Polixenes, and instead encourages them to take a walk together in the garden.
Why is he turning his back to us?
Then Leontes has another fiery speech about his jealousy, this time using the metaphor of one man fishing in another man’s pond (a serious crime, apparently). What’s interesting is that neither of the speeches in this section are labeled as asides, and it seems like he’s saying all this stuff to innocent little Mamillius. The easy way to do this is have Leontes make these speeches while the other characters do background business. A more interesting way is to have Mamillius take in his father’s words and maybe be a little less innocent by the time he leaves the scene.
This is a lot for a short section, but it’s important to chew over as this very, very long scene continues. Because coming up next, Leontes makes a plan.
Next: Along came Camillo.
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Tim Burton rewatch! The massive financial success of Alice in Wonderland looms large over Burton’s career, so that in 2019 it was time for another Disney remake with Dumbo.
Here’s what happens: After World War I, a soldier named Holt returns to the circus he thought was his home. Down on his luck, he’s put in charge of pregnant elephant Jumbo and her eventual offspring, Jumbo Jr., not-so-affectionately nicknamed Dumbo. The baby elephant’s ginormous ears make him too much of a freak, even for the circus, until those ears give him the miraculous power of flight. Dumbo becomes a star, with Holt and family riding stardom with him.
Origin story: The creation of Dumbo is somewhat murky. Apparently, it was a children’s book by Helen Abseron-Mayer, Harold Pearl, and Helen Durney. But then the original Dumbo was also a prototype toy called a “Roll-A-Book.” Whatever these objects were, they were enough to inspire good ol’ Walt Disney to craft a feature about a flying elephant. The movie had a reduced budget and was made in the midst of a tense animators’ strike, but is (mostly) regarded as a classic today.
Outsider theory: Dumbo is an outsider, first being labeled a freak because his ears, and then spending the rest of the movie feeling alone after being separated from his mother. Holt and his daughter are also outsiders, him with a checkered past and a war injury, and her with an interest in science rather than ordinary kid stuff.
Reality breaks through: Bear with me on this one. The second half of the movie had Dumbo and co. becoming part of Dream Land, a gigantic city-sized circus run my a mysterious millionaire. Instead of being the main attraction, Dumbo is now one of many attractions. Could there be an art imitates life situation going on here, with a successful filmmaker getting swallowed up in the massive Disney CGI remake machine?
Best bits: Vandevere: “You have something very rare. You have wonder. You have mystique. You have magic. Come with me. Together, we can soar… on that elephant’s wings.”
Thoughts on this viewing: I was good during the beginning, with everything building up to Dumbo’s first flight. The pacing is relaxed but engaging, and I liked Holt’s relationship with his kids and the circus folk. But when the movie gets to Dream Land, that’s where it lost me. The second act is meandering and dull, and I was mentally checked out once it got to the action finale.
Next: What day is it?
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. The Secret Invasion crossover just keeps Skrull-ing along with issues 5-8, promising yet another big status quo change for the Marvel Universe.
Recap: The Skrulls having been living in secret among the Marvel heroes for a while, led by the Skrull Empress in place of Spider-Woman. As they’ve revealed themselves, the New Avengers are separated while fighting Skrulls in the jungles of the Savage Land, and a Skrull battleship unleashes hell over New York City. A Skrull posing as Sue infiltrated the new Baxter Building, seemingly destroying the top half of the building by opening the Negative Zone portal. Reed was captured by a Skrull impersonating Hank Pym and locked up inside one of their ships. When Agent Brand of S.W.O.R.D. (the outer space version of S.H.I.E.L.D.) got blasted into space, she ended up on board that same ship.
Issue #5 begins with Norman Osbourne, current leader of the Thunderbolts, appealing to the Skrull who had been impersonating Mar-Vell as a sleeper agent to regain the heroism he had in that role. Then Nick Fury and the heroes of the New York battle have retreated into hiding, watching as the Skrulls broadcast a message to Earth, promising to end poverty, hardship, and disease once Earth becomes a member of the Skrull empire.
In space, Agent Brand fights her way through the Skrulls and finds Reed. He regains consciousness and accuses her of being a Skrull. He then uses the ship’s computers to assess the situation on Earth. He says, “I know what we need.” The ship is under attack, and the Mar-Vell Skrull shows up. At the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the Skrulls have taken Maria Hill as a captive, but she out-Skrulls them with a life model decoy. While they fight her double, she sneaks off and wrecks the Helicarrier.
In the Savage Land, Tony Stark recovers from his confrontation with the Skrull Empress while the other heroes reunite and wonder who is or isn’t a Skrull. This includes a bunch of Marvel heroes as they appeared years earlier, who came out a Skrull ship claiming to be the original versions of themselves.
Then Reed comes crashing down in the middle of the Savage Land on board his wrecked Skrull ship. He’s developed a weapon, and with one shot, he reveals everyone who is a Skrull. It’s mostly the old-timey heroes. Now that everyone knows who is who, the heroes easily defeat the Skrulls. After seeing Mockingbird was a Skrull, Hawkeye, currently wearing the Ronin costume, swears to kill every last one of the Skrulls.
Issue #6 has the Mar-Vell Skrull tracking down Noh-Varr, a.k.a. Marvel Boy, who is a Kree. The Mar-Vell Skrull says the Skrulls have no honor, willing to lie or kill their fellow Skrulls to get to Earth. He says his time as a sleeper has shown him how good the Earth is, and he urges Noh-Varr to fight on Earth’s behalf.
A Skrull contacts the White House, explaining that humanity will be vastly improved by being a part of the Empire. He says the Skrulls have only attacked the superheroes who were aggressive to them, and that all hostilities will cease if the superheroes stand down. At Camp Hammond, home of the Fifty States Initiative, the Hank Pym Skrull and the Empress compare notes about Noh-Varr, the New Avengers in the Savage Land, and Reed’s escape. The Empress says the Wasp will be the Skrull’s backup plan. The New Avengers fly to New York, with Tony Stark swearing revenge against the Empress, only to find NYC trashed from the battle.
The Skrulls threaten civilians in New York, so Nick Fury’s new Howling Commandoes and the Young Avengers fight back. The Hood, who had recently taken over the Kingpin’s criminal empire, watches this from a distance along with a bunch of other villains. The Hood urges them to hold back, and not join the fight yet. There’s a weird bit where Thor and Captain America arrive (didn’t they do this at the end of issue #4?). This is the first time they’d been reunited since Thor’s death at the end of his series, with him having missed all of Civil War. He and Cap don’t trust each other.
There’s a big standoff at Central Park with the Skrulls on one side, and the New Avengers, Thunderbolts, Young Avengers, and Howling Commandoes on the other side. Reed does most of the talking, saying the Skrulls aren’t there to save the Earth, but to destroy it out of petty revenge. The Empress says, “He loves you,” which is something the Skrulls have been saying throughout all this. She adds that “he” refers to “God.” Stark has had enough. He does the ol’ “Avengers Assemble!” and the big fight breaks out.
Issue #7 offers several pages of the fight, with dozens of superheroes and Skrulls battling it out. There’s a lot of drama as the Hank Pym Skrull chases after the Wasp. Bullseye, hiding out on the sidelines, takes out the Pym Skrull with a sniper shot. So now the Hood and all the villains join the fight. Reed is confronted by the Sue Skrull, and then attacked by a whole bunch of Skrulls all taking Sue’s form. The new Howling Commandoes fight off all the Sues. Iron Man has to leave the battle to go repair his armor. Spider-Man jokes about how this crisis isn’t so bad because the Watcher hasn’t shown up yet, only for the Watcher to show up.
Jessica Jones watches from a distance. She leaves her baby Danielle with Jarvis (not knowing this Jarvis is a Skrull) to join the fight. Then Noh-Varr flies into the city, landing with a huge boom. He proclaims, “This fight is over!” Jessica reunites with Luke Cage, Kate Bishop is injured, the Empress electrocutes Wolverine. Hawkeye takes a big shot, successfully arrowing the Empress. Then the Hank Pym Skrull, despite his sniper injury, enacts the backup plan. Wasp has a flashback of Hank (the Skrull) giving her a new growth formula to give her giant powers as well as shrinking ones. Wasp grows to giant size, unleashing some sort of dark energy onto all the heroes.
Issue #8 has narrative captions further explaining that the Skrulls implanted a bioweapon inside the Wasp in case all else fails. Thor summons a hurricane to contain the dark energy, after which the Wasp’s body fades away. Thor swears, “I will avenge thee, Janet.”
The Empress reemerges, healing from her arrow shot. The heroes surround her, about to attack, but it’s Norman Osbourne who takes her out with a gun. The caption says, “Only one person got the killshot.” Osbourne then takes charge, ordering all the heroes to defeat what’s left of the Skrulls, primarily the warships still in orbit. The heroes take out the ships while not killing Skrulls on board, for interrogation. Then Iron Man finds something interesting in one ship. This one lands in NYC. Inside are the real Spider-Woman, Hank Pym, Elektra, and everyone else the Skrulls replaced.
There’s a lot of catching up, and everyone’s still a little suspicious of Spider-Woman. The villains run off. Hawkeye and Mockingbird share a kiss, while Nick Fury silently turns his back on Maria Hill. When Jessica Jones sees Jarvis among the survivors, she realizes that she left baby Danielle with a Skrull. Jessica, Carol Danvers, and Luke Cage fly to their apartment to discover Skrull Jarvis and the baby are gone.
The we’re treated to several pages of Fantastic Four, as Reed and Sue rush to the new Baxter Building, fearing that their kids died when the Negative Zone portal opened. Then we catch up to the ending of Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four where Ben, Johnny, and the kids try to figure out the Negative Zone portal. Reed works his computer, and the Baxter Building miraculously rebuilds itself, so it’s like brand new. Whatever this backup plan is, it’s not able to recreate any of their personal belongings with it. Sue promises the kids a shopping spree.
The spirit of Civil War looms large as Thor tells Iron Man he abhors what Tony has become. Cap turns his back on Iron Man without saying a word. Hulking, who is part Skrull, negotiates with one of the Skrull captives. The captive said the Skrull Empire is dying, and Earth was their last chance.
Then the status quo change. At the White House, the US President says this invasion, combined with the heroes all fighting each other during Civil War, means that Tony Stark is out as head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not only that, but S.H.I.E.L.D. is being shut down permanently, in favor of a newer and more modern organization. The whole world watched the news cameras record the New York battle on live TV, and saw a new hero save the world. Marvel’s new number one superhero is… Norman Osbourne!!!
The President further explains that Osbourne now has complete control of whatever this new S.H.I.E.L.D. replacement will be, as well as the New Avengers, and the Thunderbolts, and the entire Fifty States Initiative! Osbourne promises a full investigation into Stark Industries to root out any criminal negligence. Later, at Avengers Tower, Norman opens a secret door. Inside, he has assembled his own version of the Illuminati, with Dr. Doom, Namor, Loki, Emma Frost, and the Hood. He says, “It’s a new day,” and “This is how it’s going to be…” And just like that, without so much as taking a breath, Dark Reign begins on the same page that Secret Invasion ends.
Unstable molecule: We’re not given any details on Reed’s Skrull-exposing weapon. It seems to work not by preventing the Skrulls from shape-changing, but by them retaining their green Skrull faces no matter what form they take.
Fade out: Reed being attacked by a gang of Skrull Sues is one of the series’ most eye-popping moments. This is the type of weirdness you can only get in a Skrull story.
Clobberin’ time: Ben’s suggestion on how to restore the Baxter Building is just him saying “Press the blue button” over and over. Reed’s actions suggest that it’s a little more complicated than that.
Flame on: Johnny starts to tell Reed and Sue about Lyja’s return in Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four, but he stops himself on the word “she.” Reed responds with, “I know all about it.” Does he?
Four and a half: After learning that all their personal possession couldn’t be restored, Sue promises Franklin a shopping spree at FAO Shwartz. (Wasn’t that in Times Square? She better hope it survived the Skrull attack.)
Our gal Val: Valeria tells Sue she knew the Skrull in issue #1 wasn’t the real Sue. Is Valeria that smart, or is this classic kid exaggeration?
Fantastic fifth wheel: As one of the main guys in the New Avengers, Luke Cage is front and center throughout the all the battles in Secret Invasion.
Trivia time: Turns out the Wasp isn’t really dead. In Avengers vol. 4 #32, we learn she was sucked into the Microverse at the end of Secret Invasion.
Jessica Jones’ search for baby Danielle continues in New Avengers #47-50. While the Avengers are dismantled to make way for Osbourne’s new team, Luke Cage and Bullseye eventually find the baby with the Jarvis Skrull. He wants to use the baby as a negotiating tactic to exchange for the Skrull prisoners from the invasion. Bullseye kills the Jarvis Skrull, and Luke, Jessica, and the baby are reunited.
The Marvel Wiki alleges that the Skrull language is a fictional “alienese” alphabet that Marvel letterers use to represent any number of alien speech. Attempts to codebreak Secret Invasion, however, reveals the Skrulls speaking mostly unimportant filler phrases or gibberish.
Howard the Duck appears briefly in issues 6 and 7, fighting the Skrulls with a handgun. I guess he was in New York at the time.
Fantastic or frightful? Whew. This crossover is all over the place. The big issue is that it’s all ensemble with no set protagonist. Iron Man disappears during the final battle so he can repair his armor. Hawkeye’s bloodlust for revenge could make him protagonist, but this doesn’t get much time spent on it. Noh-Varr has his big moment with Mar-Vell, but his big hero moment during the finale didn’t affect much. If anything, the Skrull Empress is the main character, as her plans work in the first half, and then unravel in the second half. The Wasp is barely in this series, only for her death to be the big shock moment. And yes, it’s all fighting and battles, and not enough of the who’s-a-Skrull-and-who-isn’t spycraft. In the end, Secret Invasion was only an excuse to have a bunch of Marvel heroes in one comic at the same time.
Next: Reign on me.
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
Let’s read Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale! Act I scene 2 is one of the longest in the play, containing a ton of story. The first part of it, though, sets the stage (heh) for everything that is to follow.
The original Hermoine. Could she have convinced you to stay?
One of the many reasons Shakespeare’s plays have endured is because of their adaptability. After hundreds of years, actors and directors are still finding new takes in the material. The setup of this scene is simple, which means there’s a lot of wiggle room. Upon first read, it feels like flowery poetry for the sake of flowery poetry. But when we approach it from a character/emotional point of view, there’s multiple ways to tell this story.
King Leontes of Sicilia and King Polixenes of Bohemia are childhood friends, despite their two nations being far apart. Polixenes has been in Sicilia for a cordial visit. He wants to leave to check on things back home, while Leontes wants him to stay a bit longer. Leontes has his wife Hermoine do some convincing on his behalf. Upon seeing Hermoine and Polixenes heap praise on each other, Leontes develops a furious jealousy.
Friendliness or flirtation? You decide.
The question is whether Leontes’ jealousy is unfounded, or if there really is something romantic going on with Hermoine and Polixenes. It’s all open to interpretation. A turn of events in act III will reveal Hermoine innocent of any wrongdoing, but can we trust that information?
Further, Hermoine is going to have a baby in act II, and many productions will depict her as pregnant during this scene. This could serve as a connection between her and Leontes, making his jealousy all the more false and unhinged. But what if Polixenes is really the father? Wouldn’t that be a complication, and it can be depicted all through looks exchanged by characters, by their body language, or by emphasizing a key word here and there.
“Don’t underestimate the importance of body language!”
In her offer to get Polixenes to stay longer, Hermoine talks about being a host versus being a jailer. This might foreshadow her upcoming imprisonment. Polixenes then tells her stories of his and Leontes’ youth, how as boys they had freedom to do what they wanted and had little to know knowledge of good or evil. Can we interpret this as romantic toward Hermoine, with him saying their affair doesn’t have be right or wrong? Or is this more foreshadowing, with the two of them being blind as to how this interaction in front of Leontes will lead to their downfall?
The boy kings didn’t know good or evil, but maybe they played this PS2 classic.
Then there’s Leontes’ aside, where he reveals his jealousy. This is a lot. He says his wife and Polixenes are too “hot” and that they’re flaunting “entertainment” in front of everyone. He says their actions stir his heart, and not in a good way. This speech is a great opportunity for an actor to shed all the formal, stately kingliness and explode with real anger.
There’s a lot more ups and downs before the scene ends. We’ll get to that next time.
Next: Along came Camillo.
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
So far in this blog series, I’ve done posts on The Nightmare Before Christmas and Alice Through the Looking Glass, which Burton produced but did not direct. I did this because I thought the two films were interesting points in his career, each in their own way. Might as well go down the list of the others he produced then, and see what we can see.
Cabin Boy (1994)
Burton was going to direct this at one point. Based on the date, I’d surmise he chose to helm Ed Wood instead. Chris Elliott plays a self-described “fancy lad” who ends up on a rough n’ tumble sea ship, having adventures of mythic proportions.
There’s a real meta element to Chris Elliot’s brand of comedy. His various gags always go in one direction when the audience expects it to go the other way. He delights in making himself unlikable to the audience, to the point where the audience, not him, is the butt of the joke. Cabin Boy is no exception. There are big laughs and far-out visuals, but the fancy boy never grows or learns his lesson. That last part will crack up some viewers, but leave a bad taste in others’ mouths.
Batman Forever (1995)
Batman faces a double threat as the Riddler and Two-Face team up to threaten Gotham City with a mind control device. There’s a character named Dr. Burton, played by Star Trek‘s Rene Auberjonois, who is named after and based on Tim Burton.
I don’t think we’ll ever know the full story of how and why Burton was replaced with Joel Shumaker for this high-profile sequel, but that’s how it all came out. Shumaker’s film is halfway between the dark Batman of Burton and/or Frank Miller, and halfway to the bright and campy ‘60s Adam West version. Plus a lot of, shall we say, disco flamboyance.
It always bugged me how Tommy Lee Jones went full clown as Two-Face, as if trying to do a Jim Carrey impersonation. It would have been much more interesting to have Carrey play the funny villain and Jones be the truly evil one. We’ve seen Jones go into dark places in other films, so why couldn’t he do it here? My favorite stuff in the movie is Bruce Wayne’s story, with his romance with Chase Masterson (named Chase because she chases Batman) and his friendship with Robin.
9 (2009)
When director Shane Acker’s short film of the same name was something of a sensation in 2005, Burton and Night Watch director Timur Bekmambetov, among others, stepped up to produce a feature-length version. The story involves tiny puppet men called Stitchpunks who awaken in a dystopia. They go on a quest to find out who they are and what’s become of the world.
The big issue with the film is the dialogue. The short was silent, but in the feature, the Stitchpunks speak. Elijah Wood’s voice is immediately recognizable and modern-day sounding, breaking some immersion in this far-out world. But the animation is gorgeous, and the creature designs are truly creative, making this one worth checking out.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
Bekmambetov must be one of Burton’s guys, because Burton is producer as he directs this historically inaccurate horror actioner. With that title, you’d think this would be a wacky parody film. But it’s serious business, rewriting Lincoln’s story so he always had a double life fighting the vamps.
There is some amusing absurdity to seeing the full-on Lincoln with the top hat and beard going all kung fu against a vampire on the roof of a runaway train, but the movie makes us wait to the finale to get to it. In the end, the movie is nothing horror fans haven’t seen before. Bekmambetov’s Night Watch is a far more interesting and engaging film.
Next: Baby elephant walk.
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. While the FF are more supporting characters in Secret Invasion, they got their own spinoff miniseries, which filled in gaps in the main series and brought back on of Marvel’s most notorious characters.
The Skrulls have secretly infiltrated the Earth, successfully posing as many of the superheroes. After Elektra was revealed to be a Skrull, they came out of hiding for an all-out attack on New York. This included a Skrull posing as Sue sneaking into the new Baxter Building and opening the door to the negative zone prison, seemingly destroying the top half of the building. Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four offers more detail on the hows and whys of this incident. This one’s written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who worked on Marvel Knights: 4, and the artwork is by the always-excellent Barry Kitson.
We begin with Sue in Vancouver, where she’s on a lecture tour. She calls home, where Johnny tells her Reed has run off with Hank Pym on a secret mission. Sue arrives at her hotel to find Reed there, surprising her for some surprise romance. Except this isn’t Reed. It’s a Skrull who subdues Sue with her own force field power.
The we get a longer version of the scene from Secret Invasion, where the Skrull Sue opens the portal. Ben gets Franklin and Valeria to safety while Johnny confronts Skrull Sue. She’s affectionate to him, asking him to forgive her. Then we see the apparent destruction of the New Baxter Building, except turn the page and it’s not destroyed. Instead, the top half of the building is now flying through the Negative Zone.
Ben protects the kids from an attack by giant bugs, while Johnny confronts Skrull Sue. She continues to be affectionate toward him, but he doesn’t buy it. He flames on and is ready for a fight. She tells him that Skrulls have infiltrated all the super-teams and are attacking New York, and she’s brought them to the Negative Zone to protect them. Johnny quizzes Sue on her favorite movie. When she doesn’t know it, she’s revealed as a Skrull. But not just any Skrull – it’s Lyja!
Okay, a quick refresher course on who Lyja is. She’s a Skrull agent sent to infiltrate the FF by impersonating Alicia and getting close to Ben. But then Ben stayed in space after Secret Wars, so Lyja switched things up by romancing Johnny. Somewhere along the way, her feelings for Johnny became real, and they married. But she maintained the Alicia illusion the whole time. Once her secret was revealed, she became an enemy of the FF for a while, then rejoined the team, then almost restarted her romance with Johnny. Her storyline (and several others) were left unfinished during Onslaught and Heroes Reborn, and she disappeared.
Issue #2 begins with a flashback to some (but not all) of Johnny’s past girlfriends. Then he and Lyja fight it out, flying out of the building and into Negative Zone space. She’s mad at him, accusing him of leaving her behind without a second’s thought. Johnny stays focused on the invasion, demanding to know what became of Reed and Sue. Then a police car comes flying at Lyja (through the portal, I assume) and Johnny pushes her out of the way to save her life. Their eyes meet, and they kiss.
Back inside the building, Ben fights more giant bugs and then confronts a big octopus-like alien. Franklin and Valeria help defeat the monster, co-piloting a mech suit Reed had built for them in case of emergency. Johnny and Lyja arrive, and everyone compares notes. None of them have the knowledge to repair Reed’s lab and get back to Earth. Franklin reminds them (and us) about the Negative Zone portal from Civil War. He says there’s got to be a supervillain in there with the smarts to fix the portal.
In issue #3, Ben, Johnny, Lyja, and the kids travel to the prison. Ben and the kids head inside, while Johnny and Lyja finally talk things out. Johnny reminds her (and us) that the last time he saw her, it was when she living as a human woman named Laura Green.
We then get a flashback to Lyja’s life as Laura, living in New York and working in a bookstore. She was happy for a while, until the Skrulls found her. They took her to Queen Veranke, who is now Empress Veranke, the Skrull impersonating Spider-Woman. Veranke convinced Lyja to rejoin the Skrulls’ cause. They restored her laser-fist powers and gave her a high-ranking ministerial post. But she’s not entirely loyal to the Skrulls. Her assignment was to kill Johnny and Ben, but she brought them to the Negative Zone to save them instead.
Inside the jail, Ben and the kids find the Tinkerer and ask for his help. He refuses, saying he’s safer in there from an alien invasion. He also tells them about how he was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. during Civil War while taking his grandkids out for ice cream. Franklin and Valeria appeal to his grandfatherly side, and he agrees to help.
Back at the Baxter Building, time passes while the Tinkerer gets to work. Lyja tells Johnny that she’s not going back, and that she will stay in the Negative Zone. She will make a new life for herself there, leaving the affairs of Earth and Skrulls behind. The Tinkerer gets everyone but Lyja back to Earth, but not the building itself. They stand atop the lower part of the wrecked building, looking out over New York in ruins. Ben promises the kids that they’ll find Reed and Sue, while Franklin muses about how nothing will ever be the same again.
To be continued!
Unstable molecule: Reed is only mentioned and not seen in these issues. Remember that during the main Secret Invasion series, he was ambushed by the Hank Pym Skrull and taken into space on one of their ships.
Fade out: We’re not given any details on what Sue’s lecture tour. The audience is entirely women, so I wonder if it’s part of Miss America, her new charity-based all-female super-team.
Clobberin’ time: There’s a running gag about Ben learning to cook. First he’s making coq au vin for Johnny and the kids, and later he exclaims “Now we’re cooking!” while he fights the giant bugs. I looked it up, and coq au vin is a French stew with chicken braised in red wine.
Flame on: The flashbacks to Johnny’s past girlfriends reveal Johnny’s first kiss, a girl named Hannah Henrickson. There’s also cheerleaders (plural!) as his high school girlfriends. Poor Dorrie Evans doesn’t warrant a mention.
Four and a half: This would appear to be the only appearance of Franklin and Valeria’s co-piloted mech. The Marvel Wiki labels it “Reed’s battle suit,” but doesn’t give it its own entry.
Our gal Val: It seems that Aguirre-Sacasa didn’t get the news that Valeria is a genius, because all dialogue in this series is all toddler-speak. Maybe she’s putting on the toddler act for fear that aliens might be watching.
Fantastic fifth wheel: The flashbacks to Johnny’s past girlfriends also include Crystal, Frankie Raye a.k.a. Nova, and even Namorita.
And then there’s Lyja. While this would appear to be the long-overdue resolution to her storyline, she’ll be back once we get into the whole “Future Foundation” thing.
Trivia time: The two other villains seen inside the Negative Zone prison are Spider-Man’s foe Stegron, and the Faceless Man, a character from back in the Tomb of Dracula days.
Is the Skrull who defeats Sue in Vancouver supposed to be Lyja? He (she?) doesn’t act like it. My guess is this is the Skrull who appeared as the 1960s style Sue stepping out of the Skrull ship in Secret Invasion #1.
Fantastic or frightful? Look, the whole “Alicia is a Skrull” story was a debacle, and it is still disliked by fans all these years later. But it remains a part of Marvel history, and Lyja was part of this series on and off for a good hundred issues or more. So it’s nice to see the character be given some respect after all this time, and giving her a new direction.
Next: And that’s no Skrull.
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech, strange creatures, and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first ten episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
Let’s read Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. This is often considered a “problem” play, and one difficult to put on stage. As such, it’s also developed a cult following among Shakespeare fans. In this blog series, let’s dig into it and see what we can see.
Press play now on “Legs” by ZZ Top.
Act I, Scene 1 is a short conversation between Camillo, a lord of Sicilia, and Archidamus, a lord of Bohemia. It’s expositional table-setting as they compare their lifestyles and their kings. The set-up is that the Bohemian king is visiting Sicilia, and the two are good terms despite not having seen each other in many years.
Stately lords.
The Winter’s Tale is sometimes criticized as two plays mashed together, with the first half a drama/tragedy set in Sicilia and the second a comedy/romance set in Bohemia. Shakespeare appears to address that in this opening, where these characters address the differences between the two countries.
OMG, Bohemians!
In today’s eyes, “Bohemian” represents the likes of hippies, beatniks, and other free-spirited folk. The Winter’s Tale is open to interpretation, but a cursory glance seems to portray the Bohemian Archidamus as a fun-loving free spirit, with Camillo acting formal and stately.
While Camillo will go on to be a main character, this scene is all we get of Archidamus. He gets the most fun and lively part of the scene when he offers to fill the Sicilians full of “sleepy drink” so their senses will be “unintelligent.”
This is Archidamus III from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Probably not the same guy.
Another interesting bit about the scene is that when Archidamus refers to Bohemia and Sicilia, he talks about them as countries, and about the people. When Camillo does it, he’s describing the kings as individuals – two childhood friends reunited after years apart. This shows a difference in mindset between the two characters, and possibly between their countries as well.
I imagine most live productions will cut out this scene entirely and start the action with scene 2, where everything gets rolling. But I like this opening. It’s a nice opportunity for the audience to get settled before things get dramatic.
Next: Things get dramatic!
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Want more? Check out my ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a sprawling city full of far-out tech and secret magic. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid full of action, romance, mystery, and laughs. The first three episodes are FREE! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.
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