Controversial Opinions (For Everything Other Than DC Comics)

[newparisian]

Y'know how in that bus scene from Shang Chi that neck beard dude says well I took a couple karate lessons so I'm qualified to comment on this fight? That's 99.9% of people on message boards.

[CaptCleghorn]

I remember a Domino's ad stating that their app allowed you to order pizza with your phone. Surely such a thing was unheard of in the early days of smart phones.

[CaptCleghorn]

Y'know how in that bus scene from Shang Chi that neck beard dude says well I took a couple karate lessons so I'm qualified to comment on this fight? That's 99.9% of people on message boards.

I think your numbers may be off. I'm not sure 0.1% is sufficient for the spammers selling an unrelated product.

[newparisian]

I think your numbers may be off. I'm not sure 0.1% is sufficient for the spammers selling an unrelated product.

Well I left some room for legit insiders like creators that post here and elsewhere.

[newparisian]

I can't get into Conan as a character, other than Savage Avengers. I think it's because Conan's own comics are still written like they were in the 70s, with third-person narration boxes and basically similar stories (he kills people, fucks women, fights a sorcerer or two, there's badass dialogue like "you thought you would kill a Cimmerian? Well NOT THIS DAY!!). It's still your daddy's Conan. The character needs to be updated and written in a modern way. Oh and stop adapting the same few Howard stories over and over.

Like, James Bond also has a similar formula. But then you get a blond Bond and then Skyfall. So I don't know, change it up.

I love the RDJ Sherlock Holmes, for example. Yes yes it's not fully true to Doyle and I must not be a true fan if I don't like Rathbone or whoever. But it was an update for the modern sensibility and super fun to watch, while retaining most things that makes Holmes who he is.

Let's not be afraid to be less precious with these kinda things. Same goes for Star Wars. The storytelling aesthetic of all 11 films is very similar. They feel like Captain America the First Avenger, whereas I'm ready for the Winter Soldier of Star Wars, y'know.

[achilles]

Y'know how in that bus scene from Shang Chi that neck beard dude says well I took a couple karate lessons so I'm qualified to comment on this fight? That's 99.9% of people on message boards.

Well, perhaps they stayed at a Holiday Inn. And had a Snickers.

[MajorHoy]

I can't get into Conan as a character, other than Savage Avengers. I think it's because Conan's own comics are still written like they were in the 70s, with third-person narration boxes and basically similar stories (he kills people, fucks women, fights a sorcerer or two, there's badass dialogue like "you thought you would kill a Cimmerian? Well NOT THIS DAY!!). It's still your daddy's Conan.

I don't know if my father ever read any Conan the Barbarian, though he did enjoy reading Prince Valiant every Sunday in the New York Daily News comics section.

[newparisian]

I don't know if my father ever read any Conan the Barbarian, though he did enjoy reading Prince Valiant every Sunday in the New York Daily News comics section.

I picked up the Fantagraphics oversized Prince Valiant series and was blown away by the artwork. The storytelling is all captions, no dialogue. But for some reason I liked it. Will pick up vol 2 at some point.

[godisawesome]

This is kind of a spill over from a Star Wars and Star Trek discussion elsewhere, but…

JJ Abrams isn’t a hack, or a shill, or some other phrase declaring that he can’t be an artist or make good films because of his style and preferences. Hell, he’s not even a true brain-dead blockbuster guy like Michael Bay is. He’s a geeky fanboy creator who’s magnificent at casting, has a strong production game, excellent rapport with his casts, a preference for clear and human character arcs, and his weaknesses aren’t unusual for much of Hollywood *and* art school, sadly; even great artists can overlook or be apathetic towards plotholes, or embrace mystery without planning for an answer.

He gets **** because, unfortunately for a lot of other creators and would be creators, he can knowingly make a shitty movie like they would in a bad situation screwed over by a studio, but still make more money from it than they would (The Rise of Skywalker), and in that even most of his good movies show what mainstream audiences and even significant chunks of hardcore fans ultimately value more than other trappings and core elements.

It turns out that “originality” is something of an illusion most of the time, and that if you nail the character arcs well enough, most people aren’t going to care about themes or bold storytelling in comparison, while mysteries that end up with obvious answers (KHAAAAAN!!!) will always be better, even if sloppily executed, than experimental answer based wholly and entirely on surprising the audience (The Last Jedi.)

Some people are frustrated that a Star Wars fan made two pretty good and very watchable Star Trek films where long time stalwarts of the franchise failed or did not quite as well, or want to ignore that TFA was a genuine success and hit on all the important levels for a larger story because his mix of nostalgia, inversion, and improvised scenes for his main cast isn’t a bad thing, and that The Last Jedi was such a **** show where it mattered (even though Rian Johnson’s usually a better writer and more “artistic” director) that TROS is much more the fault of Johnson and LFL being myopic idiots than Abrams delivering what they demanded even when clearly unhappy himself.

I ain’t pretending he’s a great writer - but most successful producers and directors do what he does, and seek out writing partners to cover for that. The fact he wanted to make a crowd pleaser and made a better movie than some more “artistic” types angers people who are insecure about their talents or tastes, or who just don’t empathize with the larger audience.

[GOLGO 13]

I can't get into Conan as a character, other than Savage Avengers. I think it's because Conan's own comics are still written like they were in the 70s, with third-person narration boxes and basically similar stories (he kills people, fucks women, fights a sorcerer or two, there's badass dialogue like "you thought you would kill a Cimmerian? Well NOT THIS DAY!!). It's still your daddy's Conan. The character needs to be updated and written in a modern way. Oh and stop adapting the same few Howard stories over and over.

Not everything is for you.

"Needs to be updated in a modern way", why? You want "woke" Conan? Really?

[Jim Kelly]

I'm stumped why having third person narrative captions in comics is wrong--some prose fiction is told in the third person, some is told in the first person--neither is more modern than the other. And I don't see a change in Bond's hair colour as a change in formula (Moore was blond-ish, too). The Bond formula is more about a standard plot structure and recurring scenes in every movie.

[achilles]

I think all elected Federal offices should have term limits; we should not have career politicians. They should serve their term(s), whatever the limits for that office, and then go home. No people never having a real job with real person concerns, and just leeching off the public's dime for life.

As it is, we have an elite political class that is insulated from reality and the concerns of most Americans.

[Kirby101]

I think all elected Federal offices should have term limits; we should not have career politicians. They should serve their term(s), whatever the limits for that office, and then go home. No people never having a real job with real person concerns, and just leeching off the public's dime for life.

As it is, we have an elite political class that is insulated from reality and the concerns of most Americans.

The problem with this it will ONLY work with federally funded campaigns. If you have keep having new people run, those with the most money behind them will usually win and the big money will keep getting their person in office.
I would rather have a career politician whose voting record I know than people who serve 4 to 8 years and then go on to a lucrative life because they served their wealthy masters.

[newparisian]

Not everything is for you.

"Needs to be updated in a modern way", why? You want "woke" Conan? Really?

Why does modern equal woke?
And yeah I don't want the same old ****. Is X-men still written like Claremont?

I recognize not everything is for me. I couldn't get into Usagi Yojimbo despite multiple efforts. I keep trying with Conan because I did love him in Savage Avengers and most of Busiek's run.

[newparisian]

I'm stumped why having third person narrative captions in comics is wrong--some prose fiction is told in the third person, some is told in the first person--neither is more modern than the other. And I don't see a change in Bond's hair colour as a change in formula (Moore was blond-ish, too). The Bond formula is more about a standard plot structure and recurring scenes in every movie.

I meant excessive narration boxes. Didn't say it was "wrong". Sorry, maybe that's fine for older folk who grew up on that, and I too enjoy it in Claremont's X-men. But I don't want wall to wall text. It's not that I hate reading; I read plenty of prose books per year. I just have a harder time getting into Silver Age books where 90% of the art is covered up by yakkity yak. It should be a marriage. Controversial, I know.