Daredevil: Visionaries

Title:
Daredevil: Visionaries

ISBN:
0785107371

Price:
$19.95

Publisher/Year:
Marvel, 2000

Artist: Joe Quesada

Writer:
Kevin Smith

Collects:
Daredevil Vol. 2 #1-8

Rating:
3.5/5

The
eight issues collected in Daredevil Visionaries: Kevin Smith are the first
eight of Daredevil vol. 2, and they serve less to reintroduce the Daredevil
character as to salute him with a sort of medley of fictional themes. Thus we
get writer Kevin Smith's twist on every ringer other Daredevil writers ever put
the long-suffering hero through, including woman trouble, suicidal urges,
lawyeristic mea culpa’s and, of course, a Secret Villain out to Ruin
Daredevil's Life. (Where would Daredevil be without the villains that obsess
about him enough to destroy him, over and over again?)

And
it's all fabulous, because Smith knows exactly what he's doing. The very clichés he employs here in these eight issues are fodder
for commentary from him through the characters, and also serve as an
opportunity for him to shine by wringing freshness out of stale situations.
Often when a villain is out to ruin a hero's life, the hero acts as if it has
never happened before; unless continuity comes into play, the hero will exhibit
almost complete amnesia about similar situations. Smith is different; he allows
Daredevil to muse on the relative effectiveness of the villain at work in
Visionaries with the clear-sightedness of someone who remembers his past and
can critique it.

The
story arc found in Daredevil Visionaries: Kevin Smith spends much of its time
in and around the Catholic Church, as Daredevil deals with a mysterious baby who
has suddenly landed in his lap. The baby might be the returned savior, or might
be the old Son of the Morning, or might be none of these. But people seem
willing to kill on all sides, and soon the hero is teetering at the edge of his
sanity, tempted to slay a child that might be Satan himself.

Smith,
a sort of star guest who came over to write Daredevil after writing and
directing Dogma, brings to this comic much the same irreverent humor and
genuinely loving keen eye for Catholic detail as that film. In his comic,
however, given more time and more characters, Smith provides a more layered and
human story. Smith is genuinely interested in questions of faith, and puts
meditations on faith in every character's mouth. Daredevil himself is a lapsed
Catholic who still inclines towards belief in the mysteries. His mother is a nun,
whose only shame is her son, a relationship Smith explores with expert
precision in a scene between the two, as mother and son tiptoe around one
another, dispensing equal parts rage, shame and adoration.

Daredevil's
girlfriend, a DJ named Karen, has just broken up with him for one of those
delightfully meaningless reasons that I'm sad to report actually exist. Hers
goes something like: 'You love me even with all my faults, which is a very good
and generous thing, so I must leave you.' Or something. Anyway, she's outta there
and Matt Murdock, the attorney who is Daredevil, wastes about five seconds
before he's calling Natasha the Black Widow, an old girlfriend. (This is
another dead-level accurate Smith detail.) Natasha here is sexy, sarcastic and
not a little bit slutty, although she does have the decency to point out that
she'll drop Murdock for Tony Stark any day. Natasha, Smith tells us, has
'embraced the baggage that comes with being human.'

Smith
spends a little time with the other side of Daredevil's life, that of attorney
Matt Murdock. As someone who actually went through law school, I've always
enjoyed the idea of a lawyer so brazen as to go out and commit crimes every
night, as Daredevil certainly does with all his trespassing, destruction of
property, assaults and batteries. Technically an attorney is an officer of the
court, with a higher level of responsibility not to misbehave. I can assure you
Murdock flirts with disbarment every time he dons the little red horns.
(There's a story I'd love to see, if not write.)

But
Smith uses the attorney aspect well: Foggy Nelson, Murdock's partner, is
accused of murder, only to have the senior partner (Foggy's mom, no less) fire
him rather than bring shame on the firm. At first we can't imagine such a
horrible betrayal, but Smith has the senior partner point out that the firm
must represent many clients, and any shame Foggy brings on the firm may reflect
badly on their clients in court. And lest we think she's just being mean, we're
reminded that attorneys have taken a vow to zealously represent their client's
interests opposed to each other's. She has fired her son, and ethically, the
argument goes, she can do nothing else. There's a lot more to explore here, but
Smith has hit on the basic horror of the law: not that it forces you act to
like a monster, but like a machine.

It's
so refreshing to read Smith's work on Daredevil, which invents little and yet
explores the places Daredevil has already been with such freshness and even
joy. There's a tongue-in-cheek feel to the whole work, as if Smith can't help
but give to his characters the sense that this story, this tragedy, this
villain, this fight, is exactly how life for them is supposed to be. Matt
Murdock will always be an attorney who feels sorry for himself despite being
surrounded by the most beautiful women in the Marvel Universe, and he will
always have arch-enemies who seek to destroy him in grand, operatic gestures.
In fact, the whole plot of this story arc is actually a comment on one of Frank
Miller's. This is a thoroughly post-modern Daredevil.

Visually,
Daredevil Visionaries: Kevin Smith reminds me of The Insider in its use of
visuals to punch up a story that often stays far clear of action. Most of the
action here is strictly dialogue, as characters stand around in various spots
across the city. Consequently Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti give us the most
fluid, dynamic dialogue scenes ever, from as many angles as possible, always
with the suggestion of breezes to keep tiny parts of the art, hair, clothing, etc.
Moving. It's an exciting style.

Daredevil
Visionaries: Kevin Smith is a work by a writer who knows his comics and also
knows how to drag the world beyond them back into the Marvel Universe. The
result is a post-modern treat, and not one to be missed.

Daredevil Volume 7: Hardcore

Title:
Daredevil Volume 7: Hardcore

ISBN:
0785111689

Price:
$13.99

Publisher/Year:
Marvel, 2003

Artist: Alex Maleev

Writer:
Brian Michael Bendis

Collects:
Daredevil #46-50

Rating:
3.5/5

The
seventh volume of Bendis's Daredevil series brings his central story to a
close, while opening up new possibilities for the future. Daredevil is dealing
with the public revelation of his identity as blind attorney Matt Murdock when
his greatest enemy, the Kingpin, returns from the grave to rule over New York
City again. With him, he brings two of the hero's greatest enemies, the
unstable Typhoid Mary and the crazed Bullseye. But this time, Daredevil decides
to end these conflicts once and for all.

Bendis
writes this series as though it is a film; the Kingpin's return and rise to
power are straight out of a movie like Scarface : bloody, glib and dramatic all
at once. His pacing is superb, as the Kingpin and Daredevil run parallel
courses, building tension until they finally collide and battle through an
entire issue at the book's conclusion. If Bendis is writing a film, then artist
Maleev is drawing one—each panel is like a still from a movie on paper. When
this works, as in the kinetic fight scenes, it's thrilling and grandiose, but
it's less effective for tender moments, such as the romantic subplot involving
Matt Murdock and a new girlfriend who's also blind. Hardcore is engrossing and
broad enough in theme and character to absorb fans of Daredevil's adventures
from both the silver screen and the comic books.

Saga Volume 2

Title:
Saga Volume 2

ISBN:
9781607066927

Price:
$14.99

Publisher/Year:
Image, 2013

Artist: Fiona Staples

Writer:
Brian K. Vaughan

Collects:
Saga #7-12

Rating:
4/5

Saga
Vol. 1 left off on a completely new direction for the book. Not to say I didn’t
enjoy the first volume ─ I loved it ─ but I was a bit wary of how the next
volume would proceed. Without spoilers, Vaughan shifted both the location and
cast of the story, and those had been the most working elements present. But
not to worry. Saga Vol. 2 picks up where the first volume left off in stride,
and Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples weave another fantastic tale, without
losing the minuscule character moments that kept readers enthralled the first
time around.

In
Volume 2 we’re treated to the same illustrious cast from before. Marko, Alana,
Hazel, The Will, Lying Cat, Prince Robot IV, The Stalk, Izabel, and newcomers
Gwendolyn, Barr, Klara, Slave Girl, and D. Oswald Heist are all beautiful in
their own way. Let us not forget that we’re only twelve issues into this story,
and I’m already capable of discussing these characters by name. You know how
you see a movie, and then when you tell someone about it, you say, “Yeah, Emma
Stone’s character was fantastic.” Well, if Emma Stone played Izabel in the Saga
movie, we would call her Izabel.

In
the last review, I highlighted the previous major characters, so now I’ll go
into the new ones. Barr and Klara, Marko’s parents, provide some interesting
changes to the series construction, as they serve mainly to flip the
three-person familial element upside down. Barr is something special, though,
and his slow-burn bonding with Alana is something to think about, even after
reading. Izabel, introduced in the last volume as a trash-talking teenage
ghost, is probably my favorite human character ─ Lying Cat, waddup ─ and if you
need a laugh, she’s there for it. Slave Girl, I presume, will be explored
further in the next volume, as will D. Oswald Heist, though their brief arcs
are nothing to disparage. All in all, Vaughan exceeds at what he did so well in
volume one: building characters with enough hilarity and sadness, and with
which we can’t help but empathize.

Fiona
Staples is even better in volume 2. She was fantastic in volume 1, don’t get me
wrong, but a lot of that story revolved around introducing these characters and
opening up this fantastical world to the reader. In Volume 2, she gets to
stretch her style a little more, and an increase in action and mind-bending
twists allow for a bigger showcase of her diverse talents. Staples’ lengthy
arsenal is her biggest strength. There’s an anthropomorphic mouse and seal that
are adorable. There are demons with upside down heads that are chilling. She
does these transitions seamlessly, all while creating facial structures that
endow characters with gritty emotions, and it’s all done with absolute
perfection.

The
only nitpick would be the last collected issue. No spoilers, but it’s
underwhelming, and I was left a bit confused as to why Vaughan chose that
direction. The series is taking a hiatus between volumes, so it was odd to see
issue 12 focuses on a character we’ve never even been one-on-one with. The
cliffhanger is solid, though, and I am excited to see where it goes.

Like
the last volume, Saga Vol. 2 is a must buy. Yes, it’s not kid-friendly, and
some images are incredibly NSFW, but there is nothing like Saga on the stands.
The epic storytelling of Star Wars, the comedy of Thursday night NBC, and the
subtle brilliance that made Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina something to talk
about. Why would you not buy it? Go! Now! Buy it, man. Jeez, why are you still
listening to me?

Taking a hiatus

Due to some changes in my life, I'm not going to be able to devote as much time to my RPG addiction after February 28, 2014. I'll update this blog when I can. I'll probably have to put my plans for my Pathfinder game on hold as well. I enjoy writing this, so it's not an end just yet. I'm not sure how long I'll be away, but I'll be back.

Saga Volume 1

Title:
Saga Volume 1

ISBN:
9781607066019

Price:
$9.99

Publisher/Year:
Image, 2012

Artist: Fiona Staples

Writer:
Brian K. Vaughan

Collects:
Saga #1-6

Rating:
4/5

Saga’s
been the talk of the comic town since it first hit stands back in March 2012,
and rightly so. Praise had been pretty much unanimous for this Brian K. Vaughan
and Fiona Staples series, with many reviews comparing its scope and magnanimity
to epics like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Though Saga does borrow from
specific science fiction and fantasy tropes, it’s by and large its own beast.
From the shocking first page to the charming final cliffhanger, Saga Vol. 1 is
a crash course in comic storytelling, written and drawn by two of the finest
creators in the industry. It’s absolutely marvelous.

Explaining
Saga to a friend is akin to relating a surreal Dalí painting realistically. In
a tale of star-crossed lovers, Vaughan weaves multiple arcs around the fate of
a couple, Marko and Alana, and their young child ─ the narrator for the story,
providing a creative means of necessary exposition,  while also implementing some of the strangest
characters fiction has ever seen. Marko is a liberal-mouthed, horn-headed man
from a moon called Wreath, while Alana is a hard-nosed, wing-strutted woman
from a planet called Landfall. These two worlds have been at war for some time,
and serve as the Montagues and Capulets of the story. But like Romeo and
Juliet, Marko and Alana find each other, fall in love, and have a baby, leading
to representatives from both sides hunting them down. And then the strange ones
appear.

There’s
a bounty hunter, The Will, freelanced to hunt for the couple with his cat,
Lying Cat. No really, she’s called Lying Cat. Why? Because she can sniff out
lies, duh. There’s Prince Robot IV, who is really just a gray man with a TV for
a head. A member of the Robot Kingdom, which has strenuous ties to Landfall,
Prince Robot IV is also forced to find the lovers. Along the way we meet a
spider woman, a monkey man, and a ghost missing half its body.

It’s
funny to think about how ridiculous these creations are, but in truth, they’re
some of the realest characters I’ve ever encountered. From page one, Vaughan
supplies Marko and Alana’s relationship with such a beautiful disquietude that
you can feel their need for escape. The reader opens to Alana in labor, Marko’s
head hidden between her legs, and no one thinks, hey, why does that guy have
horns? It’s the love that comes off the page, and when Marko steps back and
says, “You have never been as beautiful as you are right now,” it’s not corny.
It’s real. The Will’s a loner, and the emptiness of space seems to ring true in
his eyes. Prince Robot IV’s a victim of shell shock, as remnants of the war
appear on his screen. Vaughan’s knack for deep-rooted characters is nothing
new; he did it in Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, and Pride of Baghdad. But Saga’s
different. The characters in Saga feel like the friends you make in dreams from
which you refuse to wake.

Fiona
Staples was not just the right choice for this book, she was the only choice.
While Vaughan built the Saga world on these outstanding, fantastical ideas,
Staples built it on the tiniest details. From the shading on both planet’s
surfaces to the grotesque beauty of Marko and Alana’s freshly received
daughter, the level of detail here is unparalleled. Much in the way Star Wars
is memorable not just for its stories, but also for the look and feel of its
worlds, Saga has a look and feel all its own. It’s truly a testament to
Staples’ pencils that there is no Marko and Alana without her. In another
artist’s hands, it would feel contrived and ineloquent.

Saga’s
worth the hype. It’s epic in scope, but brimming with hilarity only found in
the most irreverent sitcoms. The characters are memorable, the situations are
unforgettable, and in the end, it’s a book worth reading not once, but over and
over again.

The Ultimates Volume 1: Super-Human

Title:
The Ultimates Volume 1: Super-Human

ISBN:
0785109609

Price:
$12.99

Publisher/Year:
Marvel, 2002

Artist: Bryan Hitch

Writer:
Mark Millar

Collects:
The Ultimates #1-6

Rating:
4/5

In
the world of the Ultimates, Marvel Comics' reimagination of its superhero
history, the Nazis (with a little outside help) were the first to develop a
hydrogen bomb. They failed to win the war only because Captain America managed
to sabotage the prototype, a mission that ended in his own apparent death.

Flash
ahead 55 years, when industrialist/inventor Tony Stark, creator of the Iron Man
armor, is working to build a government-sponsored superteam with the aid of
S.H.I.E.L.D. head Nick Fury. His team includes Bruce Banner, whose previous
attempts to reinvent Captain America's super-soldier serum led to the creation
of the Hulk; physicists Hank and Janet Pym, who alter their sizes according to
their needs; and the Earth-loving Thor, who is possibly a god and possibly a
nutcase, but whose prowess with a hammer is inarguable.

The
discovery of Captain America, still breathing and suspended in ice, gives the
project the kickstart it needs. All that remains is a villain to fight -- and
someone on the team knows where to find one.

Like
Marvel's Ultimate remakes of Spider-Man and the X-Men, the Ultimates have
significant differences from the mainstream Avengers on whom they are modeled.
Captain America, for instance, is a little more Ramboesque, and his pal Bucky
-- more publicist than sidekick -- survived the war and aged at a natural pace.
The Pyms have no magically adaptive costumes, so -- unless they have time to
change after shrinking or growing -- they go into battle naked. Thor is more
aloof from his fellow heroes, more new-agey in attitude and chummy with the
normal folk who adore him. Banner harbors strong, subconscious libido issues
along with his secret rage, and Janet learns that sometimes the worst villain
is at home.

The
franchise, which has been growing stale, has a fresh start to build upon. Now,
where's volume two?

Cosmology of the Universe

I hope the title doesn't scare you away, but I'm actually going to touch on 2 topics in this post:

1. Religion in my upcoming Pathfinder game.


2. The planes in my upcoming game.

I don't intend on being preachy and I'm not a fan of any singular religion.



Religion-



In the current PF game I'm playing in, I'm the token Cleric and the church of my characters religion (which also happens to be the predominant religion for the empire) has started to spin out of control since the newest emperor happens to have been a high priest. Corruption shakes its very core, and inquisitors seems to be everywhere. Because the party I'm in is such a thorn in the side of the church, they have actively started to take action against us. (There's a longer story to this, but I hope you get the basic idea.)



At the moment, my character has claimed his birthright as county lord in one of the duchies of the empire, and he's seeking to form a new church based on the original tenants and beliefs he was originally raised on without the corruption of politics.



This got me to think about my own PF campaign. If anyone happens to decided to play a Cleric or (God forbid) a Paladin, I'm seriously considering creating a structure for their chosen religion rather than the "I visit the church and yada, yada, yada." I don't want religion to be a consuming aspect, but there must be more to a Cleric's faith than just the ability to heal and cast spells.



Religious holidays are an aspect that I don't think I've ever really encountered in any fantasy setting. In other games, I've never once seen a Cleric who was devout enough to actively tithe on a regular basis, confess, take part in regular church ceremonies (mass, communion, bris, etc.) or anything like that. I know it's not very conducive to an adventuring campaign, but I think there should be more expected from someone who has chosen to play a faith-based character.



My only issue on the topic of religion for my game is how it will be affected by the next topic...



The Planes-



My original concept was to run a campaign in a singular setting with a few key adventures/modules. As I worked to acquire the necessary books for this undertaking (Yes, though I do have the digital copies I still prefer to have the physical books), I started to re-think my original idea. This was born out of a question I posed regarding the interaction of the different campaign settings. I wasn't 100% certain if they were parts of a single planet or if they were individual planes unto themselves. The response I received from my query was that they are each individual planets, but could be traveled to via magical means.



So I thought long and hard on my options, and I think I will incorporate all the settings into my campaign design. But now the crux of my current dilemma... what about religion?



If a Cleric of Mystra were to travel to the lands of Greyhawk, what would happen to their powers? Greyhawk has it's own pantheon, but would the deities work together? As my personal belief system would welcome the thought of all the deities of the various religions being able to work together, I just don't see it happening with large groups of deities. Sure, I can belief that Jehovah, Allah, Yahweh and such can either be a single deity or work together, but for Zeus, Mystra, St. Cuthbert and Cthulhu I don't see it reasonably happening.




I guess the question I'm dealing with is how do I keep the plan of hoping settings intact without disrupting the abilities of Clerics or Paladin's? I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on these topics.