What I’m Watching: Stupid Superheroes Edition

I really shouldn’t watch superheroes. Well, Amazon supposedly has Garth Ennis’ The Boys in production, and The Boys cured me of reading superhero comics forever, it’s the best but last superhero story you’ll ever need to read. And I’m expecting Deadpool 2 to be the best sequel to the best romantic comedy superhero movie ever. I don’t really count the Marvel space fantasy comics or movies as “superheroes”.

But otherwise, it’s a disappointing genre. No, I haven’t seen Black Panther, not a fan of tyrants worshipped as demigods holding bloodsports in their isolated resource-extraction-economy kingdoms. I wouldn’t want a movie aggrandizing Dr Doom any more than I want a T’Challa movie. I loved the Joker in The Dark Knight because he’s an anarchist and having so much fun at it, but the real villain is WayneCorp’s stranglehold on the world economy, run by a crazy billionaire with military hardware beating up poor people “to stop crime” instead of, say, funding schools and jobs programs, and paying and screening cops to end police corruption. Gotham can only be a shithole if the Batman wants it that way.

Man, I miss the two Richard Donner/Chris Reeve Superman movies, and the two Tim Burton/Michael Keaton Batman movies.

So anyway.

  • The Tick: The Amazon series is weird. S1 was confused, almost grimdark ’90s foil-cover “Superman Is Beaten to Death Like Jesus and We Mourn for 24 Issues” shit, nothing like the surreal parody comics or the insane Warner Brothers-level zany animated series, or even the half-assed but occasionally funny Warburton live series. S2 is less confused, but still not good. Most of the show balances right on the edge of too serious to enjoy, with moments of ludicrousness.
    The Tick and Arthur have a good dynamic, but the Tick comes off strange, not wacky. I like his journey of discovery of self, but it’s in the wrong show. Arthur’s inadequacy and neuroses are semi-crippling until the plot demands him to act, and then he just does HEROISM while whining a bit. Any chance for humor is stepped over.
    Overkill’s a parody of Frank Castle, sure, but he’s not any funnier than the real one; in fact, I think Frank in all grimdark Netflix Daredevil and Punisher is funnier. Miss Lint is consistently smirk-worthy but not fully sexy, terrifying, or funny at any time. At one point some marketing people pitch an ad deck to archvillain The Terror, and commit violence at minimal provocation, which gets a “menacing chuckle” from Terror. Which is how I respond to this. Dangerboat’s behavior with Arthur plays out creepy and rapey rather than funny HAL-9000 with a cyber-boner parody which maybe they intended. Superion’s a smarmy bastard, but then lets his guard down to show… basic decency? He’s just not funny. The mad scientist has a funny physical condition, which gives sight gags but no jokes, probably just as well since they’d be offensive.
    Played completely straight, which this almost is, this could be just another shitty Marvel or DC series. Played for humor, this could be a great adaptation of the comics, they have the budget, CGI, and actors. But Amazon just dumped it down the middle.
    ★★☆☆☆
  • Jessica Jones: Started to watch S2E1, but it’s even more grimdark and seething anger, without any attempt at humor or irony. I got up to a douchebro asshole picking a fight with Alias and she gets arrested, bailed, and charged in the same day (man, the justice system in Marvel is fast, in my reality it’d take weeks to get on a court docket after an arrest). Nothing fun here, can’t take this bullshit right now.