Hello, and welcome to Not-White Month 2015. The month where I take a look at comicbooks that, believe it or not, DOESN'T have a white guy as the main character, even though it's "normal" and "to be expected". As a half-Persian, I have always been irritated over the assumption that being white was considered normal, something that has bugged me ever since my teacher from second grad told me that I had made a mistake by painting the father in my color-book brown.
But enough of that, let's get this theme month started with probably the second-most successful black superhero known to man; the Black Panther.
"Who Is The Black Panther?" is a TPB that has the first six issues of the fourth Black Panther series. It has the retold origin of the mighty king of Wakanda as well as introducing us the his country and it's culture.
Even though I like the series, I'm not sure how to feel about the... retcons. YES, retcon is a regular thing in comics, and is close to impossible to evade when we talk Marvel, since they don't have events like DC to excuse shacking up the continuity. But... WHY is Klaw a stereotype assassin with a mechanical arm? How come the Radioactive Man is Russian? How come The Black Knight(one of the few great British superheroes) has been reduced to a religious nut? Sure, it's not the end of the world, but imagine if we retold Spider-man's origin and mad Shocker a criminal headbanger without powers, Doc Octopus a drug addict and Vulture a mean-spirited banker. Sure, you COULD do that, but... WHY?
Another thing is, well... do we really need Black Panther to stick it to the white man, showing that he doesn't need America and that they can go to hell for all he knows? Do we really need a black power story? Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it has been done before. Besides, Black Panther is awesome BECAUSE he is awesome, not because he is a black superhero. I mean, seriously; he is the sponsor of Mandela? MANDELA?! Do we REALLY need Mandela in this series? We get it, HE IS BLACK! Gee...
Besides that, it is a pretty cool start or the series, with a lot of action as well as some surprisingly good social satire. I will eventually get the second TPB in order to follow the adventures of the mighty ruler of Wakanda. The "Who Is the Black Panther?" TPB also has the silver age origin if you
That's all for now. Next time, we will take a look at an Asian superhero.
It's a illustration on a piece of paper. Nothing more. Cartoons creates an illusion of it being alive by using several pieces of paper, making it look like movement. It's not real.
So how the HECK can it makes us feel so emotional about it, knowing that it is noting but streaks on a piece of paper? And how come there are so many tear-jerking moments in animated shows that are suppose to be for children?
Cartoon Month is about to end, and I think I will take a look at some of the sad moments that animation has brought us.
OBS; These are not necessarily the saddest moment, but just my favorite sad moments. And it's without counting scenes from movies and anime.
Anyway, here is my top 5 favorite sad animated TV-show moments.
Number 5; Grunkle Stan fails as adult.
I think we can all agree that Stan from "Gravity Falls" may not be the perfect uncle, but he still cares for the Dipper and Mabel, and in his own twisted way tries to be an adult for them. So seeing him give up in "Gideon Rises" is pretty heartbreaking. He starts off by lying(how he usually solves his problems) to the twins parents over the phone, claiming that he has the situation under control. But he realizes pretty quickly that he can lie all he wants, but it won't change the fact that he can no longer provide the kids a roof over their heads. He can't even get them something proper to eat. It breaks Dipper and Mabel's heart, as well as his own, but he has to send them home.
Number 4; Tale Of X9.
X9 is one of Aku's many robots, build to destroy Samurai Jack. But what makes X9 special is that he has a personality chip, which gives him a reason and will to survive. But it also gives him other human-like traits, such as being able to love. We knows that he has to be destroyed, since he works for Aku(even if he does not wish to) but it doesn't change that it's a hollow victory when Jack defeats him. With his dying breath, X9 asks Jack to take care of his dog; Lulu.
If you didn't feel anything after watching this, then you are not human.
Number 3; Amethyst tormenting Greg.
The "Steven Universe" series got a lot more depth after the revealing of the Kindergarten, and the show turned a bit darker. One of the more depressing episodes is "Maximum Capacity" that shows a part of grieving that we do not see very often in cartoon shows; the anger.
Tons of feelings are involved in a person's death, not just the sadness over loosing her. Anger is surprisingly very normal. And Amethyst is VERY angry. As she and Greg revive their former friendship, they quickly remember WHY they stopped being friends to begin with; Amethyst blaming Greg for "taking away" Rose from her. She even goes so far to transform into Rose, while she mocks Greg who is paralyzed by despair over seeing his dead wife(?).
Seriously, that's messed up!
And very sad as well...
Number 2; Simon gives up his sanity.
I know that "I Remember You" from Adventure Time is by many considered THE tearjerker of animation(suck it, Bambi!), but I think that the story about HOW Simon completely lost his sanity and became the Ice King(in the episode "Simon And Marcy") is even sadder.
A few years after the Mushroom War, a more or less sane Simon does all he can in order to protect and take care of the little Marceline. When they end up being corned by some sort of zombies, Simon knows that the only way he can save that little girl is by breaking his promise as well as her heart by using the magic of the grown. We get a bit of false hope as he takes it off and gets Marcy the chicken-soup she needs, and he seems normal.
Aaaand then we get kicked in the emotional balls as he calls Marceline "Gunther."
Number 1; Molly learns the truth about her mother's death.
Despite it's flaws, Oban Star Racers is still my favorite animated show of all time. The main reason for it is episode 11, where Molly is going to race against an alien she recognize as the murderer of her mother, the shape-changing alien Spirit. The race gets ugly as Molly tries to avenge her mother by making Spirit crash, but ends up destroying her own ship, almost killing herself.
As Molly lies unconscious in her wrecked racer, Spirit decides to find out why the young lady tried to kill him, and... I can't do it justice, you have to see it to truly understand this great scene:
The music is just perfect for the mood, and that we see that Spirit not only was innocent but also felt great sadness over the tragic day... it takes you by surprise, since everything about him screams "angel of death". And the fact that Molly's attempt or revenge not only wrecked her ship but also was for nothing makes it even more tragic.
And that's the end of Cartoon Month. Hope you enjoyed and that it may have introduced you to some good shows you didn't know.
... I don't know what to say.
I have to, obviously, or else it wouldn't be a very good review.
This show...
I love strangeness. Especially in cartoons. I grew up with Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Lab and the Powerpuff Girls, all of them bizarre and utterly disgusting.
But this show...
Try to imagine that the Care Bears and the Powerpuff Girls had a baby. An ugly, evil, deform baby who shoots lasers out of it's eyes.
And then that baby started to hurl up rainbows on fire.
And then a kitten ate the puke.
And then it threw up a hairball.
That hairball would be considered normal compared to this show!
And that is EXACTLY why you should watch it!
I like that cartoons have evolved a lot the last couple of years. But sometimes, what you really need is a bucket of strangeness. And "Star VS The Forces Of Evil" delivers that.
That's all for now. I'm Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.
They all have such great build-up. We don't just get backstory and such slabbed in the face, it slowly builds up, we get small hints, and tons of the episodes has stuff that may not seem that important until it has been taken up in a later episode. We get that in Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and today's subject; Steven Universe.
Here is a list of 9 things that haven't been explained yet, but that I hope one day will be explained. I took the liberty to write what I think could be revealed, and would like to hear what you think as well.
Because that's what the internet is for; trying to predict what is going to happen, even though you do not have the faintest idea, and then feel humiliated because you realize that your theory was stupid and that you should never have posted it online to begin with.
Ladies and gentlemen; my top 9 loose ends in "Steven Universe".
Number 9; Is Garnet the first fusion?
In "Jail Break", Jasper claims that fusion is "a cheep tactic to make weak gems stronger", so it could be speculated that it is a common thought in the Gem Homeworld. And in "Keeping It Together", we see that Homeworld apparently does not understand what fusion is about, as they experiment on shattered gems, making them force into fusion monsters.
Garnet was overwhelmed by guilt as she saw the fusion experiment, and almost defused into Ruby and Sapphire, while Sapphire trying to tell Ruby that they couldn't know that this would happen. Sure, it could be that she(or they) just felt guilty about not being able to save their fallen comrades, but is it possible that Garnet felt guilt because she was the very first fusion? Is it possible that Ruby and Sapphire invented(or discovered?) fusion?
Number 8; How did Lapis end up in the mirror to begin with?
It most likely has to have something to do with the war. Lapis told Steven that she "never believed in this place", and that she resents the Crystal Gems for only caring for the humans instead of other gems, so it's possible that she fought for the Gem Homeworld. Some believe that Lapis was Blue Diamond, a leader of the Homeworld, but I find hat unlikely due to two reasons; A: if Lapis ever had any authority on Homeworld, then she wouldn't have been treated so disrespectful by Jasper who bossed her around and called her "brat", and B; I'm not sure Lapis is THAT powerful a gem, since she appear to need water to do anything, and we haven't even seen her use a gem-weapon.
Number 7; Will Mayer Dewey ever man himself up and ask Pearl out?
Probably not, since it has been made pretty clear that Dewey is pretty pathetic. But a lot of episodes are about Steven helping out the people who lives in Beach City because he wants to be friends with everyone, no matter how pathetic they are(*cough*Lars*cough*). And yeah, Pearl would without any doubt have no interest in a relationship with Dewey, but it would be healthy for Dewey to get it out of his system.
Number 6: What is the Gem Homeworld like?
It has been hinted that the Gem Homeworld is very class orientated and that it has colonized several planets, but besides that, we know nothing about it. Sure, we have seen some of the ruins of lost gemculture on the planet Earth, but that was 5000 years ago. Lapis said that the Homeworld has become extremely advanced, and that she can no longer recognize it, so we have no clue what it's like.
Number 5; Peridot a cyborg?
I know, I know! Gems do not have actual bodies, it's projections from their gemstone.
But here me out.
Even though the gems' bodies aren't "real," they can still get hurt. If their body get's too damaged, they retreat to their gemstone in order to heal. And if the stone get's damaged, then it will affect their human-like form(as shown in "Indirect Kiss" where Amethyst's stone get's cracked).
So... could it be that Peridot's gem is damaged? Is her legs artificial?
It could be, since we in the episode "Friend Ship" see her cut her leg of in order to escape. She could in theory just change shape and get away that way. But if I'm right, then her arms and legs are replicas, ´meaning that she can't change their shape, due to them not being part of her gem-body.
Number 4; Whatever happened to Marty?
Yeah, he is a dick, but wouldn't you like to know whatever happened to Marty? Apparently, he went back to Beach City after Greg left him and had a relationship with Vidalia and impregnated her with Sour Cream in(I assume) the late 90's.
Apparently, he doesn't have any friends(no surprise there) and he is dead to both Greg and Vidalia.
Where is he now? Is a still a manager? Or maybe he is a broke loser with no friends? Or maybe he has changed?
Number 3; Rose and Pearl's relationship.
It's safe to say that Pearl was in love with Rose. But what I would like to know is whatever Rose were aware of that love. It has been hinted in "Wee Need To Talk" that Rose, even though she had a great deal of love for everything, had no idea how love as in "I love you" worked until Greg made her understand it. So maybe Rose simply unaware of the fact that Pearl LITERATELY worshiped the ground she walked on. Or maybe Rose did know, and saw it as a fixation rather than actual love? Or maybe Rose just thought of her as nothing more than a good friend, possibly a daughter?
Number 2; Lost and defective Pearl?
In the episode; "The Return" Jasper calls Pearl "some lost,defective Pearl". And Pearl has later referred to herself as "Just a pearl who needs someone to tell her what to do."It could imply that there are more than one Pearl on Homeworld, and that they, like real-world pearls, are easy to mass produce. It's possible that Pearls are some sort of drones, which would also explain why Pearl has to rely more on her skills than Garnet and Amethyst, which would add up with her "not been made for fighting"(Sworn To The Sword).
Number 1; What's Lion's history?
Lion is possibly the biggest mystery in the series. He doesn't have a gemstone, but he is obviously not a normal animal. He most likely has some sort of connection to Rose, but how come Rose never told Pearl about him, when she told her everything else? Some has the theory that Lion IS Rose, but I find that very unlikely.
I guess we just have to wait.
That's all for now. Next time, I will take a look at one of the comicbook series based on an animated show.
I'm Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.
