World Enough and Time

So Joss Wedon's new show has been announced: it's SHIELD.

I adore S.H.I.E.L.D.. So this should make me very happy, right?

Why am I frowning?

No, really, I'm happy about it, I'm happy. SHIELD. One of my favourite things. It will be a little like having U.N.C.L.E. back.

But...

See, I don't trust Joss Whedon. Some of his Buffy episodes and themes are brilliant. Some are not. I couldn't even watch all of the last season of Buffy - didn't want to. The article says he's working with the writers of Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible, and I hated both Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible. I don't want to see S.H.I.E.L.D., which I love so much, turned into something I don't want to watch. I am reminded of all those filmed versions of Batman which I think are travesties of the hero I love.

It explains the extra feature on the DVD, perhaps. The cute-funny story about the Bonnie and Clyde who rob a bank with alien tech picked up from the Battle of New York. I liked it. It was funny. It's about S.H.I.E.L.D. But it's comedy.

I really don't want to see a comedy about S.H.I.E.L.D..

But... I love some of Whedon's work. Some episodes of Buffy, like in season two, are wonderful. I loved The Avengers. I loved Firefly - but Serenity (the movie) not so much ... I should have more faith in Joss Whedon, right? Look at his legion of fans. Look at how wonderful it will be if it's good.

And it may be.

But he probably won't feature my favourite S.H.I.E.L.D. characters - Nick Fury and Maria Hill - because he won't have the same actors. And they'd save Sharon Carter for the Captain America movies, I think. So... who? New characters created for the TV show? Or the return of Sitwell and Coulson? Well, if that meant getting Phil Coulson back, I'm all for that.

Trepidation...

I wasn't paying much attention. I thought it was just me, having connection difficulties with Archive of our Own, when I went there looking for Avengers fic.

Turns out - isagel says it, so I believe it - we broke the site with strenuous overuse. I'm not sure whether to be ashamed or proud about it. Info about it can befound here.

Such a nice site, and we ask so much of it. I feel I should send it a care package of blankets and cookies.

While I'm here, let me recomment resonant's Avengers fic at AO3. I was griping to lunacy_gal about how I was finding too much bad Avengers fic - and she steered me in the right direction. I especially loved her Steve/Tony slash story, Steven Likes Tony. Not only does it have exactly what I like in a fic, not only does it make good use of Steve Rogers' situation, it has spot-on characterization for both of them.

One of the things I've been noticing in the random Avengers fic I've been reading is that in a lot of the stories, the Avengers aren't Avengers. They're scientists who spend their time in the lab doing science, or S.H.I.E.L.D. aagents working for Nick Fury, doing whatever they do at home - "home" being Tony Stark's tower, usually, or his mansion. And, yes, they do that in the comic too, but in the comic (and for something like forty years of my lifetime of reading), they've always got a crisis going on, always have a supervillain attacking somewhere, or they're off somewhere in the Quinjet because the world needs them.... Not so much sitting at home eating toast and reading the newspaper.

Now, I see why people familiar with the Avengers from the movie alone would see this as the status quo and as the viable scenario they want to deal with. And that's okay. But I'd like a little more external action, myself.

Tempts me to write Avengers fic, it really does....

And if any other of you have recs - thanks to isagel for including a few today - if any of you have any more, do pass them on, okay? I'm a starving woman here.

30 Days of Marvel: Day 19: Best spin off series

The Young Avengers



It's a spin-off of The Avengers, with teen characters. Kate Bishop, a girl version of Hawkeye. Cassie, size-shifter. Teddy, a sweet Skrull prince. Billy, a gay spellcaster, and his brash twin Tommy, a speedster. Kang the Conqueror, before he was Kang the Conqueror. Eli, a black Captain America.

Could be hokey, right? And maybe should be. But as it happens, Young Avengers has been consistently well written, the characters are all interesting - and not, I'm happy to say, all reeking of adolescent angst. The stories have been bright, clever, and engaging.

I want to see more of them.

fairestcat alerted me to this from Dira's Tumblr: The Avengers, as if drawn by Maurice Sendak:



From ~agarthanguide's site on DeviantArt.

But it's a spoiler, if you haven't seen The Avengers.

( I have come to the conclusion... )

Another thought about The Avengers movie:

I mentioned some of the things that makes The Avengers an exceptional movie: the acting, the production values, the good dialogue and characterization.

That isn't the reason, excactly, that it's an exceptional comic book movie.

We've had years of people making movies based on comics who don't seem to understand what comics are all about, or who focus on the wrong things: the violence, the monsters, the costumes, the hokey plots, the mythic themes... They seem to either not understand the comics in the first place (quite probable), or they don't know how to translate that knowledge into a movie.

Joss Whedon gets it right: he understands that he doesn't need to be embarrassed that his heroes wear spandex. He understands that the hero's angst doesn't get in the way of his heroism. He understands that sometimes direct action is more effective than dialogue; and sometimes a witty quip is the best response.

Good writing is good writing wherever you find it, but an understanding of the semiotics with visual myth on the screen is as rare and wonderful as it gets.

Okay, now I've had a good sleep, let me talk about The Avengers. The movie. And what a movie. You know, I really didn't think it would live up to my hopes and expectations, and it exceeded them.



My fears: that the plot would be thin, and hokey; that there'd be too many explosions and special effects, and too little storyline; that Black Widow would be marginalized.

Black Widow is not marginalized in any way, and she is wonderful, and she is true to the character in the comic - not made gentle or nice, but not demonized either. A strong, beautiful, powerful portrayal of a strong, beautiful, powerful character.

And the plot is thin, and hokey too, and that turns out to be a strength rather than a weakness. It's a sort of homage to the old aliens-conquer-Earth theme, which used to be a staple in comics but which seldom happens today. And it's combined with the "narcissistic villain who wants to rule the world" theme, and somehow Joss Whedon makes it work because he sees the joy in both themes and makes them convincing.

There are many explosions and special effects. The explosions did not bore me - I was caught up i the drama every time. And special effects? Best I've ever seen. I can't even think of a movie that comes close; the special effects in Thor were good, but not this good.

Of course I am prejudiced: I have loved these characters since childhood. But that could be a problem, too, because my Nick Fury isn't this Nick Fury, and the movie characters aren't the same as the comic book characters, and when it comes to character, a near miss can be worse than a total failure.

Not so. The characters were all what they should be. (One exception, maybe, but also not a problem.)

Okay. ( Specifics... )

A Guide to the Avengers for the Extremely Confused.

I particularly liked the description of Iron Man/Tony Stark: " Tony Stark, a rakish technosuit-wearing billionaire genius who now uses his filthy, arms-dealing lucre for justice. Weaknesses: Arrogance and/or being too awesome."