By now, I think everyone should be fully recovered from their Christmas festivities. Depending on how festive things got, your place might not be entirely clean. Kids and adults alike can make a hell of a mess when they’re excited on Christmas morning. I know this because I’ve made quite a few messes over the years.
Whatever the state of your holiday hangover, today is a momentous day of another kind. It marks the final New Comic Book Day of 2021. For comic book fans, that’s often noteworthy for a number of reasons. The end of the year often coincided with preludes, epilogues, and teasers for what’s to come in the next year. It’s also a chance to look back on everything that happened in the past year and just appreciate it.
Now historically, the last New Comic Book Day of the year has been fairly light in terms of noteworthy releases. You almost never see major milestone issues or the end of major events on this week. More often than no, a lot of filler issues get released this week and that’s perfectly fine. Not every week can be a blockbuster release.
Personally, I’ve often used this week to look back and see which comics or collections are worth adding to my collection before the new year begins. In the same way this week tends to be light on major issues, the first couple months of the new year tend to have major releases that are poised to set the tone. I’m already saving my money accordingly.
For this week, though, I’m content to enjoy the post-holiday afterglow with a simple stack of comics. They don’t have to blow my mind. They just have to help me relax and appreciate the conclusion of another holiday season. For those still recovering from the festivities, I hope this final New Comic Book Day does the same.
Here is my final pull list and pick of 2021. Enjoy and here’s to an awesome 2022.
When you love comics as much as I do, every New Comic Book Day feels special. Thanks to digital comics through Comixology, waking up on Wednesday morning often feels like Christmas. I get out of bed, grab my iPad, and see a nice collection of new comics to enjoy with my morning coffee. It’s nothing short of heavenly.
However, there are some days that are objectively more special than others. The New Comic Day before Christmas definitely qualifies. This year, the calendar has been extra generous. Today, I get to enjoy a nice batch of new comics. Three days later, it’s actual Christmas. That’s almost too much joy for me to process.
On top of that, comic publishers tend to release extra stuff before Christmas. I think that’s largely a result of many writers, editors, and artists traveling for the holidays. It usually means the week after tends to be pretty light. That only makes enjoying this particular New Comic Book Day more vital.
There’s just something inherently special about reading comics under the light of a Christmas tree. It’s enough to make me feel jollier than Santa himself. In recent years, it has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. I encourage all my fellow comic fans to give it a try. Christmas is already special. Adding comics to the mix only makes it better.
To that end, here is my rather lengthy pull list for this week, as well as my pick. Whatever you’ve got going on today, take some time to really appreciate this day. It’ll make the act of reading comics, as well as the holidays, even more special. Enjoy!
Once again, I’m breaking up my usual video release schedule to give everyone a reaction video to the “WandaVision” finale. Once again, Marvel Studios has risen the bar for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s safe to say now that their first TV show is a success. It managed to deliver the same satisfying spectacle that we’ve come to expect from the movies.
If you haven’t seen the show yet, I highly recommend you check it out. This video does contain major spoilers, so if you don’t want to undermine the experiment, watch the show first before you watch this video. Enjoy!
The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. I know this is a bit of a break from my usual video release schedule, but after the events of Episode 8 of “WandaVision,” I just couldn’t wait. I had to do a reaction video and honestly, I’m starting to enjoy making these videos. As with my first, this one contains spoilers and a revised fan theory that is very likely wrong. At the rate this show is going, I’ll be sure to develop plenty more. Enjoy!
I apologize for posting this several days after the fact. I know I’m late to the party with respect to reactions to Episode 5 of “WandaVision.” I don’t have a very good reason for that, other than being pre-occupied with my Super Bowl LV preparations.
In hindsight, that might have been for the best because the events of this episode were incredible. It was, without a doubt, the most impactful episode of this show to date. Both the fan reactions and the IMDB scores are proof of that.
I can safely confirm that my reactions mirrored the shock, glee, and astonishment that got this show trending the day it debuted. As excited as I was to watch the Super Bowl, I found myself more caught up in the implications of this episode.
Now, before I go any further, I want to disclose that there will be talks of spoilers for this episode. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you do. If you’re at all a fan of Marvel and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is one episode you do not want to miss. It has implications that could likely impact future movies in the best possible way.
If you’re still here, then here’s a brief rundown of the events.
Wanda and Vision’s kids start as infants, but rapidly age to toddlers and then to pre-teens
Vision starts to suspect that something is amiss in their cheerful life
Outside Westview, SWORD is trying to make sense of the anomaly and starts sending drones inside
Wanda doesn’t like the intrusion and goes so far as to step out and warn SWORD not to interfere with the world she’s created
Vision is able to free some people from Wanda’s manipulations and confronts her about it
Before they can come to blows, a surprise guest arrives at the door and it’s Wanda’s dead brother, Pietro
However, it’s not the Pietro that died in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” It’s the Pietro from the X-Men Fox movies, played by Evan Peters.
After four episodes of teasing, mystery, and build-up, this episode gave us the first major payoff. Now, it’s a bit clearer as to what’s going on and what’s driving this story.
We know now that it’s not some outside agent who has hijacked Wanda’s mind and powers. She’s the one doing this on her own. She’s the one who created this strange anomaly around Westview, creating her own pocket reality that mirrors that of American sitcoms throughout the decades.
That’s a critical and potentially revealing detail, one that even Vision finds distressing. In addition to finding out that she’s the source of all this, we also learn that she’s the one who took Vision’s body from SWORD and she wasn’t polite about it.
She’s clearly not in a very understanding state of mind. Visions death at the hands of Thanos did not go over well and him not coming back in “Avengers Endgame” only made it worse. At this point, she has lost too many people that she loves and she’s willing to break reality to get it back.
That moment when she steps out of the bubble and confronts SWORD makes this clear. She has what she wants in this pocket reality. She has Vision, a family, and a life in which she hasn’t lost everyone who matters to her. That’s powerful in that it shows how much she was hurt by the events leading up to this show.
However, the biggest moment, by far, came at the end with the arrival of Quicksilver. However, the fact that the Quicksilver we saw was not the Quicksilver played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” was the most jarring. It also has the greatest implications.
This is the part where I’m going to start exploring some fan theories, some of which others have already developed. I think after this episode, we have enough details to make some less-than-wild speculations about where this is leading.
We know from the previous episode that Vision was indeed killed. It’s very possible that he’s only alive because Wanda is animating him. We also find out that as powerful as Wanda is, she has limits. She couldn’t make baby Tommy and Billy stop crying. She also couldn’t bring their dog, Sparky, back to life.
This would imply that, even if she wanted to bring the Aaron Taylor-Johnson Quicksilver back, she couldn’t. It seems that if someone dies in her universe, then they stay dead. She cannot bring them back. However, this may not apply to version of her brother from other universes.
We already know from “Dr. Strange” that the multiverse is a thing. Wanda may also be aware of this on some level, even if she didn’t consciously reach into another universe to find another version of her brother. The fact she found the same version we saw in “X-Men: Days of Futures Past” could be another telling hint.
However, I don’t think that means that the MCU is about to do a direct crossover with the Fox era X-Men movies. I think trying to incorporate that messy continuity into the MCU will be too cumbersome, even for someone like Kevin Feige.
I suspect that we’re getting this particular version of Quicksilver because he, and other mutants like him, have been in a pocket universe of their own. It’s why we haven’t seen any mutants show up in the MCU, at least with respect to the story. I understand the movie rights were the logistical reason for that.
The fact that Wanda created a pocket reality of her own means that someone or something taught her. I don’t know who it could be. Perhaps, it involves someone like Agatha Harkness, a witch from the comics who helped Wanda master her powers. Maybe it involves someone far more powerful, like Mephisto.
Whatever the source, I think pocket realities are going to be what plays into the events of “Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.” They’ll be akin to the disruptions or wrinkles in the larger fabric of reality, which was already disrupted by the events of “Avengers Endgame.” That domain could be where mutants reside.
Now, I could be dead wrong about that. In fact, I’m not entirely confident in that theory being true. However, there’s one other theory that I think is a bit more plausible. It’s not so much a theory as it is an observation of trends.
Wanda is becoming a villain and she will likely play the part of the MCU’s main villain in Phase 4.
I think, thematically, this makes sense. After Thanos, the MCU needs a new villain to warrant a massive assembly of the Avengers. We’ve already seen this big, menacing villains who look, act, and sound evil. We got Ronan, Thanos, Dormammu, and Ultron. I think the MCU needs a change of pace after that.
Wanda would act as an entirely different kind of villain. This isn’t someone who is just an outright villain from the get-go. She’s a friend. She’s an Avenger. She’s someone who has lost nearly everyone she has ever cared about. If ever there was a hero you could understand breaking bad, it’s her. That’ll make fighting against her that much harder.
The moment in this episode when she confronted SWORD made it clear. She can bend reality to her whim and she’s willing to use it to get what she wants. That’ll make her both dangerous and volatile. She may end up being the main villain of “Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.”
If that’s the case, then Phase 4 of the MCU is going to be very chaotic indeed.
I’ve been in major withdraw of MCU content after 2020.
I say that because it’s likely to color my perceptions and bias, so I won’t bother hiding it. I imagine others share it, too. That being the case, let’s just put it out there. A lot of things got derailed in 2020 because of the pandemic, including several movies that were supposed to kick-start the next phase of the MCU.
These delays were understandable, given the state of the world. That didn’t make them any less painful. It marked the first year in nearly a decade that we had to go an entire year without any MCU content. As a lifelong fan of comics and superhero movies, words cannot describe how agonizing that was.
Now, the wait is over. The MCU is back. While it’s not in the form of a billion-dollar blockbuster, Kevin Feige and our Disney Overlords are adapting this wondrous franchise for the world of streaming. The first step in that process finally arrived last week in the form of “WandaVision,” the first ever MCU content built exclusively for streaming.
It marks a bold new era for the MCU, as well as another incentive for people to invest in a Disney+ subscription. Like it or not, “The Mandalorian” cannot do it alone, but it still set a high bar. Does “WandaVision” match that bar in the first two episodes?
The short answer is yes, for the most part.
The long answer is yes, it’s on the right track, but only time will tell.
Two episodes is simply not enough to assess the full quality of any show, but it does help create a foundation. In that sense, “WandaVision” definitely starts strong. It takes the winning formula of the MCU and adapts it into a quirky sitcom full of humor, mystery, and a glut of Easter Eggs.
I’ll get to the Easter Eggs later, but I want to focus more on the unique format of the show. Make no mistake. It is unique, if not downright weird. Then again, both Wanda and Vision are weird characters with a strange, but endearing connection. That has always been the case with their relationship in the comics. This show does plenty to channel that weirdness and to that end, a sitcom format works beautifully.
There’s no build or setup for that format. When the first episode begins, it runs like an old episode of “I Love Lucy” or “Dick Van Dyke.” It’s black and white. The setting is an idyllic suburb. Wanda and Vision are newlyweds, but they’re still very aware of their powers, abilities, and status as a couple in which one of them is an android.
Naturally, the MCU brand of humor emerges naturally from that setup. There’s all sorts of comments and quips that poke fun at their status, which is milked for plenty of entertainment value. In addition to plenty of classic sitcom tropes from that era, it’s a potent formula. You don’t expect it to work as well as it does, but it still works.
The first episode involves Vision and Wanda trying to host a dinner for Vision’s boss. There’s plenty of misunderstandings and mishaps, but it ultimately pans out.
The second episode builds on that, having Wanda and Vision try to integrate with their suburban community and participate in a talent show. Things go horribly and hilariously wrong when Vision finds out he can’t handle chewing gum.
Within these quirky sitcom antics, there are ominous hints and teases as to what’s really going on. This is taking place in the MCU, following the events of “Avengers Endgame.” Something or someone has warped reality around Wanda, who was not in a good place after the death of Vision. That instability comes into play on multiple occasions throughout the first two episodes, but nothing major is revealed.
This is where “WandaVision” shines and stalls at the same time. The sitcom format works beautifully and provides plenty of entertainment value. However, when it comes to explaining how they got there and who’s involved, the hints are exceedingly vague.
I ended up having to watch both episodes multiple times to really understand those hints. If you’ve been following the movies and are familiar with the comics, you’ll definitely appreciate them. If not, you will likely be quite lost.
This is not the kind of show you can come in blind and appreciate fully. It’s still fun, but you can’t get the most out of it without having a moderate knowledge of Marvel Comics and the MCU.
That brings me to the Easter Eggs in both episodes. There are a lot of them, too many for me to mention. Other sites have already highlighted them, but the sheer volume Marvel Studios threw in is both impressive and revealing. Some offer hints of past events in the MCU. Others hint at things only comic fans will recognize.
These Easter Eggs definitely enhance the experience. Again, if you don’t have that working knowledge, they’re easy to miss and they do limit that experience. Even without that knowledge, though, some of those hints are quite overt. It’s very clear that something is very off in this world and others are trying to get into it.
It’s still not clear if Wanda is trapped or if this whole world is just her own doing. There are plenty of hints that someone with less-than-noble intentions is playing a part. There are also some familiar faces, namely Monica Rambeau, who make their presence felt. What role she and others will play is still unclear, but the stage is definitely set for something big, literally and figuratively.
In just two episodes, “WandaVision” effectively establishes its own unique style. It has that familiar MCU polish, but it’s also very different from the big budget blockbusters we’re used to. That’s not a bad thing. Like I said, this show marks Disney and Marvel Studios’ efforts to adapt to the world of streaming.
It’s still too early to say for sure whether it’s a full-fledged success. After the first two episodes, I’d say it’s well on its way. I’m not going to give a score for “WandaVision” just yet. It’s too early to fully assess the show. I’ll just say that I’m so glad and so relieved to see the MCU back in action. I still miss going to the movies, but this show promises to tide me and my fellow Marvel fans over in the meantime.
This year has been a lost year for many things. I don’t think I need to go into reasons why or to what extent. It’s awful. We don’t need to be reminded of that. This is especially true for fans of superhero movies. To some extent, this year almost feels like karma after movies like “Avengers Endgame” dominated the box office for so long.
As bad as things have been, we’re still trying our best to inject a little awesome into this increasingly dystopian landscape. Like it or not, superhero movies and media still have a place in the entertainment landscape. This past year might have been a huge loss for the box office, but there’s still reason to be excited about the future of the genre.
That includes the entertainment behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When this year began, it promised to be a time of transition. With the rise of Disney Plus, Marvel Studios has a new medium to explore and evolve. Among those crop of shows is mini-series called “WandaVision.”
Then, the trailer dropped and my curiosity has only grown. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you check it out.
It looks weird. The setup is very strange. The visuals are all over the place. It’s hard to tell whether Vision is alive, dead, or part of some strange fever dream. There’s a lot of strange humor and odd mysteries. This show looks downright crazy.
That’s exactly why my hope and excitement for this show has been renewed.
If this trailer is any indication, she has not been coping well with Vision’s death at the hands of Thanos. That reaction would be perfectly in line with what happened to her in the comics during the infamous House of M event. That event is still a bit of a touchy issue for many comic fans, but it’s a perfect foundation for this show.
It puts Wanda in a position to deal with her many issues. However, given her powers and her unstable nature, that process is bound to be messier than series of intense therapy. It wouldn’t even be the first show that explored reality-warping people dealing with mental health issues.
“Legion,” a short lived, yet well-done show on FX did something similar. For Wanda, creating these pocket realities in which she’s still with Vision, living this ideal life with her lover, feels exactly like something she’d do. Giver her upcoming role in “Dr. Strange: In The Multiverse Of Madness,” it could act as a precursor for things to come.
I hope this sets the stage. I also hope this makes Elizabeth Olson’s take on the character more complex. To date, all she’s done is fail to protect her loved ones and lash out. I think she has room to do so much more. I hope she succeeds with this show.
I think Marvel and Disney need this show to succeed, too. With the world still such a mess, they can’t rely totally on the cuteness and merchandizing potential of Baby Yoda to see them through.
During times of crisis, be they global or just a string of bad days, you got to make the most of what little good you can find. One major benefit of being a comic book fan is that you get a nice shot of good once week, every Wednesday. For us, New Comic Day is like a free massage, a free meal, or a free lap dance that adds a silver lining to an otherwise shitty time.
Let’s be honest. It’s been a long time since things have been this shitty. The news surrounding the Coronavirus/COVID-19 is historically bad and keeps finding ways to get worse. For the foreseeable future, there can be no sports, no concerts, and no major gatherings of any kind. It sucks, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying a fresh stack of comics.
This feels like one of those weeks where every comic fan is entirely justified in spending more than they usually do. When you’re stuck at home or are looking for new ways to combat boredom, it’s the best possible time to pick up a new series or take advantage of one of Comixology’s many sales. You might just find something awesome.
The world will continue. The news will likely get worse before it gets better. Until then, every bit of awesome we can find is all the more precious. Below is my pull list for the week and my pick. A new batch of comics may count for much for some people, but in my experience, there aren’t many bad situations that cannot be improved by great comics.
Teenage superheroes are among the high risk/high reward ventures of superhero comics. When done right, teenage superheroes can create great characters who grow to become iconic heroes. Peter Parker is the gold standard for just how great those characters can be, as evidenced by his merchandising sales. However, he’s the exceedingly rare exception.
Most of the time, teenage superhero end up being superheroes with teenage angst. That’s why so few go onto become iconic. In recent years, Marvel has been reaping the rewards of putting considerable effort into their teenage heroes. Characters like Ms. Marvel, who is destined for her own Disney+ series, is probably their greatest success story. However, a comic like “Outlawed #1” reminds us that her success extends beyond her character.
A big reason why teenage superheroes have become so prominent at Marvel lately is because the adult heroes aren’t exactly raising the bar. Between superhero civil wars and mass Hydra infiltration, they’ve been letting the younger generation of heroes down a lot lately. They’ve been trying to make up for those shortcomings and it’s led to some remarkable stories and character growth, especially in books like Champions.
All those efforts finally hit an adamantium wall in “Outlawed #1.” Writer Eve Ewing does something different in taking a step back to see the bigger picture surrounding teenage superheroes. The story raises an important question that probably should’ve been asked much sooner.
Should teenagers even be superheroes?
That’s a question that Marvel’s top teen heroes, including Nova, Ironheart, Moon Girl, and Miles Morales try to answer. Even other adult heroes like Captain Marvel and Captain America chime in. Unfortunately, there’s a messy context to the question and it badly affects the answer.
“Outlawed #1” effectively sets the stage for the teenage superheroes of the Marvel universe to prove themselves. Like teenagers who have to prove they can be trusted with their parent’s car, they have to show that they can handle the duties and responsibilities of being heroes. On top of that, they have to do so after striking out on an incident that went so poorly, the government got involved.
Even the most irresponsible teenagers rarely let it escalate to that extent. While their intentions were always good and their ideals always solid, their youth and inexperience showed. The authorities they rarely respect have successfully made the case that teenagers cannot be responsible superheroes. Now, they have to prove that notion wrong.
It’s a daunting prospect that gives “Outlawed #1” a level of dramatic weight we haven’t seen in superhero comic for a while. It doesn’t just raise questions about teenagers being superheroes. It doesn’t frame them completely as one of those simplistic concepts that involves adults lecturing teenagers on responsibility.
There will always be a place for teenage superheroes, but it’s worth questioning how capable these young heroes can be when they lack experience, maturity, and perspective. They’re difficult questions, but “Outlawed #1” gives these heroes an opportunity to answer in a way that makes this book an easy pick.
Regardless of how you feel about irresponsible teenagers, they’re going to do crazy things that adults don’t approve of. That includes being superheroes. Let’s face it, there are worse things they could do with their powers.
However, given that this takes place in the MCU, the concept is already on a shaky foundation. While the events of “Avengers: Infinity War” established that these two characters are romantically involved, there’s little in terms of how that relationship developed. As a result, the tragedy that played out in the Battle of Wakanda had little dramatic weight.
It’s one of the few glaring flaws in an otherwise stellar narrative. However, the lack of romantic depth between Vision and the Scarlet Witch is only the most obvious symptom of a much larger problem that has been unfolding in the MCU since the days of “Iron Man” and “Thor.”
Some parts of that problem are pure logistics. Building a cinematic universe on the scale of the MCU requires a lot of moving parts and, as a result, romance was often a secondary concern. Kevin Feige and the creative minds at Marvel Studios opted to prioritize other aspects of character development. Given the MCU’s unprecedented winning streak, it’s safe to say those priorities were well-placed.
Even the successful romances, namely Tony Stark and Pepper Pots or Ant Man and Wasp, had much of that success unfold off-screen. At most, a movie would show them getting together or enduring a major conflict, but there would rarely be any moments that fleshed out the romance in a meaningful way. Every bit of development only centered around defeating a villain, which is good catalyst for romance, but not much else.
Now, we’re getting an entire show about a couple who were on opposite sides of the conflict in “Captain America: Civil War” and inexplicably together in “Avengers: Infinity War.” In terms of meaningful romance, this is not a trivial oversight. If someone didn’t know their romantic history in the comics, then they would be understandably confused as to why they ended up together.
Not seen here is ANY hint that these two have been flirting.
It’s the same problem that the original “X-Men” movies made when developing the horribly flawed love triangle between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine. The narrative in the movies relied too heavily on assuming peoples’ knowledge of the source material in lieu of providing an understandably reason as to why this romance is occurring. Again, that’s not a trivial oversight.
How is anyone who only saw “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War” supposed to buy into the relationship between Vision and the Scarlet Witch? The movies only establish that they’re together. They don’t establish why, how, or what they went through in establishing their relationship. Everyone is just left to assume, which is rarely a good strategy for developing meaningful romance.
Even if the relationship between Vision and the Scarlet Witch were entirely platonic, it would still be quite a stretch to believe that they have a genuinely intimate connection. It’s possible that the upcoming show will help develop that connection, but there’s no getting around how underdeveloped it has been to this point.
The same could be said for other relationships throughout the MCU. Some are so underdeveloped that when intimate moments do occur, they rarely have much impact. Captain America’s relationship with Peggy Carter in his first movie probably had the best foundation, of all the MCU romances, but that only made him kissing her niece, Sharon, feel downright wrong. Haley Atwell herself has said as such.
Romance, even among fictional characters, requires some level of chemistry to go along with the narrative. While that can be difficult to fit into a single movie, it’s not impossible. Movies like “Man of Steel” and the first “Spider-Man” movie were able to establish the necessary chemistry with only a handful of scenes. Such scenes have been absent or underdeveloped in the MCU.
Ironically, the most fleshed out romance in the MCU is between Starlord and Gamora, two characters who aren’t an endearing love story in the comics. I would even argue that the scene in which Starlord sacrifices himself to save Gamora in the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie shows more romantic depth than any other MCU movie to date.
It didn’t take much to show that Starlord and Gamora have chemistry. From their first interactions to the many challenges they overcame over the course of two movies, they developed a powerful connection that just isn’t there for Vision and the Scarlet Witch. That connection is part of what made the events between them in “Avengers: Infinity War” so heart-wrenching.
That same sentiment just wasn’t there with Vision. We knew from the events of two previous movies that Starlord genuinely loved Gamora. We understood how strong it was by the time Thanos entered the picture. There’s none of that present with Vision and the Scarlet Witch. When they face a similar situation, it just doesn’t have the same impact.
It probably helps that Guardians of the Galaxy was a relatively obscure series before the first movie and has little history of iconic romances compared to the Avengers. However, it does show that the MCU is capable of meaningful romance. It just seems incapable of applying it to the more notable couples from the comics.
While such flaws haven’t stopped the MCU from succeeding on so many other levels, it still ensures that Vision and the Scarlet Witch have an uphill battle in terms of proving their romance is more than an assumed contrivance. It’s certainly not impossible, but there’s a lot to develop in terms of chemistry and depth.
Given on how “Avengers Endgame” played out, it may not matter how poorly past romances have been handled. However, the impact it has had in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies shows that there is a place for romance in the MCU. Perhaps Vision and the Scarlet Witch can be part of that with the upcoming show, but it has lot to overcome before it can be the iconic romance that the MCU needs.
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