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Unworthy Reviews: Superman: Man of Tomorrow

SPOILERS! In this article I discuss plot and major themes about Superman: Man of Tomorrow. I also discuss Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.

Superman is one of my favourite superheroes ever created. Everything about him is iconic; the cape. the shield, the strength, the Lois Lane-Clark Kent triangle that exists, the rivalry of Lex Luthor, the over optimism about humanity and always “saving the day”- the list goes on. These are some safe, recognisable attributes of Superman. However, I think Superman’s greatest strength as a character is his ability to narratively tackle bigger issues that reflect real life. Enter Superman: Man of Tomorrow (MoT), the first “reboot” or “restart” of DC animated movies that started in 2020.

After Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, (a movie which basically ended the story line of animated movies with a bloody, gruesome tale about Darksied effectively winning and killing off almost all of the DC cast), Flash starts running and creates a reboot. So this is where we have MoT, a clean slate to start the ball of animated movies rolling again. For what is a very focused origin story about the Man of Steel, I really liked it based on a variety of factors including art, plot structure, and themes. Everything feels tight and delivered with purpose in the wake that the audience watching most likely knows how Clark Kent becomes Superman. His general origin is neither unknown or new based the fact that Superman has been an established character in fiction for nearly a century. In fact, if needed, his origins can be effectively summed up in one page. All-Star Superman, created by Morrison and Quitely, still holds down the most simple aspect of Superman’s origin to date.

All-Star Superman #1, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

But then, why do I think MoT, an origin story of Clark Kent, is one of the more interesting and refreshing movies to come out from DC? Let’s find out.

Art

Readers. The art in this story is so refreshing from what is usually presented from the DC animated department. I love Jim Lee. His art and style (use of dark shadows, detailed faces, costume design, etc.) clearly makes him one of the most respected artists of my generation. However, most of the movies for DC animated felt like they were all in his art style. This is not a bad thing, but Superman always feeling like he’s the same pallet tone of Batman got boring with every movie they were in. To me, the visually dark tone, while working with the themes of most of the movies, became too similar.

In complete contrast, I can’t really tell what artist was inspired for this Superman, so it naturally feels like a new style that hasn’t been done for a while. The lines are crisp and bright. Shadow doesn’t engulf all the characters. Finally, you can see all the characters and they don’t blend into darker background.

Image 1 – https://coletivonerd.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/superman-man-of-tomorrow-animacao-coletivo-nerd.jpeg

The characters look modern but at the same time the art feels like it belongs in a different decade. The black and white alien movie the kids watch at the beginning along with Superman trying aviator goggles makes me feel like it’s aiming at 1950’s? Regardless, for a character so bright and uplifting as Superman, it’s a warm welcome to have a visual flair to match in this movie.

One final point in the art. It’s difficult to describe but all the characters and movement seem to flow properly with the animation. If Clark is fixing his glasses for instance, (Image 1), his whole body is animated; moving slightly as if all every part of his body is connected instead of having a freeze body with movement on the hand only. The animation feels slower, like it’s taking its time and each breath a character takes changes movement in their entire body, like in real life.

Theme

For a plot that consists of an origin story about a character who has so many new reboots in the comic book medium, MoT does a lot to invert ideas and shifts an otherwise known origin story. What makes this movie unique from other Superman origin stories is the heavy theme of xenophobia. For those who don’t know, Xenophobia is a real concept of fear or hatred against strangers or foreigners. Superman being a literal alien from space, has a lot of worry about not being accepted as an adopted son of earth. Clark doesn’t really know who he or where he comes from, but is making an active choice to start saving people from danger as this mysterious flying man. People already know that they live in a world of superheroes (Batman already exists in this universe), so Superman feels that he could eventually win them over and be accepted if he does announce to the world that he is alien.

Putting the theme of xenophobia is cleaver way for Superman to challenge a real idea and act as a champion of justice in both the fictional/ real world. And the thing is… xenophobia is brought up from the very beginning using media.

The opening shot of the film is a young Clark Kent watching scary movies with a friend. He notices the friend jump as soon as they reveal the movie monster alien, and that’s the big concept; Clark feels unaccepted because the media (in this case, a horror film) is representing him in a negative look. Aliens are scary. People will be afraid of Clark if he ever came out as an alien.

Furthermore, the news media is also shown to perpetuate the idea of xenophobia through the hot topic of having more coverage on aliens. Superman (the flying man) is no longer the discussion at the Daily Planet due to non human like aliens (Lobo and Martian Manhunter) popping up. Again, it relates to the idea that the unknown aliens are to be feared.

Finally, and maybe the best idea about this theme happens toward the end with the Parasite monster. Parasite looks like a giant alien being who does supernatural scary things to people. But realistically, he was infected by earth science and transformed into an energy sponge; albeit still human. People in the movie don’t see a difference and treat him with hostility, because, quite frankly, he doesn’t look human, so he must be a dangerous alien. Superman towards the end of the film confronts the angry and scared mob, declaring Parasite as an unfortunate human who was changed because of human science, and claims that he himself is the alien. Not everyone is 100% on the idea, which is a realistic outcome, but he still believes that humanity will accept him even though he is an alien with the good deeds he does.

It ends with the three aliens (Superman, Lobo and Manhunter) discussing how they all may not be the last of their alien race, and really pushes the idea that they are just 3 immigrants from a place that is not earth (Image 2). The story revolves around these characters and challenging the views of xenophobia in society. Superman stays as earths adopted champion and knows, that in time, people will accept him as the Man of Tomorrow. It’s a cool idea for a theme that stays consistent throughout the entire animated film.

Image 2- https://www.theaterbyte.com/wordpress/storage/2020/09/superman-man-of-tomorrow-2-600×333.jpg

Readers, again, this movie is great because of its bright and vibrant art presentation delivery and challenging real life topics. More so, it sticks to it’s theme of xenophobia and the misplaced belief in society; challenging the idea of acceptance regardless on how people look. Superman has always been an alien from space, but MoT goes the distance and discusses how society views people who are different. Indeed, this is Superman at his best, challenging and tackling bigger issues that exist not only in his universe, but in ours as well.

I give Superman: Man of Tomorrow 8.5 Lobo cigars out of 10!

Thanks for reading!

Resources:

Morrison, Grant; All Star Superman; DC Comics; New York; 2007
Image 1 – https://coletivonerd.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/superman-man-of-tomorrow-animacao-coletivo-nerd.jpeg
Image 2- https://www.theaterbyte.com/wordpress/storage/2020/09/superman-man-of-tomorrow-2-600×333.jpg

Unworthy Review: Wonder Woman 1984

SPOILERS! I discuss Wonder Woman 1984.

Hello everyone!

For those readers who have followed my blog for a while, you know I try to find the positives in everything I see and view. I enjoy watching movies/films and discussing about them because it is an subjective medium. Off the bat, I can tell you that Wonder Woman 1984 (WW84) is not a perfect film. It has it’s flaws, most of it I found was pacing/ length time, but overall it is a movie worth seeing and supporting because you don’t see that many superhero movies that follow this approach anymore. Let me explain…

Theme/Plot structure:

The story structure functions as a wish fantasy adventure. If you have ever seen a movie with a wish fantasy plot (13 Going on 30, Aladdin, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, etc), they tend to follow a similar pattern; A character makes a wish, they get what they want, and learn that what they wished for has consequences. WW84 plays like this to an extent-the movie is showcased as a fun natured comedy/superhero hybrid. This is given the first time we actually see Wonder Woman; stopping cars with a push of her foot or ending a mall heist by toying with the criminals. In this film, Wonder Woman is always the most powerful person in the room, and it’s a welcome joy to see her take out crime with a playful nature that recons back to the wholesome silliness of Superman (1978).

Character Dynamics with plot:

In WW84, there are several characters at play that work well against the central plot of a wish object; Wonder Woman/Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) casually wishes for her love, Steven Trevor (Chris Pine) to come back to life; in trade of her god like powers. He finds her and Diana could not be happier. The writers have a similar, yet reversed, relationship that mimics the fish out of water dynamic of the first film. Gadot and Pine have great chemistry together and

Furthermore, Diana’s coworker, Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) is a clumsy, meek, “unattractive” * yet brilliant woman who is underappreciated by her colleagues and is in the definite shadow of Diana’s confident persona. She uses the relic to wish to be like Diana; her good looks, and unknown physical strength. She loses her personality/ love for humanity. Wiig works well against Gadot as a character because their respective wishes/drives complement each other. As adversaries, Barbara becomes continually more selfish for her motive of being beautiful and powerful against Diana’s strong sense of love for humanity. The conflict works because the characters drive conflict perfectly and balance off each other until the end.

*One of my favourite plot tropes from the 90’s, is the idea that a girl is unattractive/ unnoticed because she has glasses and frumpy clothing. It reminds me of the movie She’s All That where someone becomes gorgeous by essentially taking off her glasses. Is it a small nod to the films in the 90s? I mean, Kristen Wiig is an attractive woman regardless if she has weird clothes on or not. It’s a funny concept they used and I love it.

One the other side of the story, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), somewhat of a conman/failing business man, wishes to become the relic himself, fusing the powers so he can make wishes for people and take what he wants from them to gain more power/respect. He is an interesting character to have as a villain because he is not a one dimensional bad guy. Maxwell wants to provide financially for his son Alex and prove that he is not a loser. This doesn’t view as a trait of a villain; Maxwell’s goal is to give everything he can for his son. This works so well in the concept of wish movie because Pascal shows great skill at being a sympathetic father and a sleazy salesman trying to make the next big deal. Furthermore, as a character, Maxwell literally gets everything he wants in the world, but realizes in the end that he doesn’t need his wants because he has all his child (the motivation for his character arc) all along.

The overall theme and why this movie is so satisfying to watch:

In the first 10 minutes, the main theme of the movie is presented clearly- The truth is you can’t cheat to get everything you want. This isn’t a “work for your dreams” morale, but more of a “people have conflicting wants and needs and there is no way to actually fulfill wants without destroying yourself.” There is no perfect answer to your problems and you can’t selfishly wish your desires to come true.

Wonder Woman learns this by accepting Steve’s death. Her strength gone because of her wish puts Diana at odds with her love of helping people. This lesson helps her defeat Lord (now a powerful god-like character feeding of the desires of the world) by revealing the negative consequences of being selfish. Even Maxwell understands that his craving of power by giving wishes is actually against his main goal of providing for his son, as his son becomes in danger due to the many wishes society craves.

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love this ending. Wonder Woman defeats Maxwell Lord by not throwing a fist but helping people understand the repercussions of cheating/being selfish. Maxwell finds his son and realizes he had his sons love all along.

Wow.

It has been so long since I’ve seen a super hero movie where the end result doesn’t lead to murdering the villain. Furthermore, Wonder Woman doesn’t kill a single person in this movie! I was so happy to see a staple character in comics that represents justice, hope and love, actually value human life. It sounds strange, but this value of life in a superhero movie has almost been forgotten between the DC big 3.

Results:

In the end, WW84 is not a perfect movie. However, this movie succeeds with the charm/humour of a wish fantasy movie and has a great overall morale about not being selfish. Wonder Woman is a staple character in the DC franchise, and this movie is a good contender for the top DC modern movies.

I give this movie 8 invisible planes out of 10!

Thanks for reading!

Unworthy Review: Paper Mario: The Origami King

SPOILERS! But like… super minor spoilers (the general plot of a Mario game or the fact he can jump on a goomba). Also, no pictures cause I don’t have the rights/ don’t want to spoil the game visuals.

Finding a true successor to the Paper Mario Series.

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to review Paper Mario: The Origami King for the Nintendo Switch. I’ve seen a lot of reviews out there (most negative for some reason?), so I thought I would unfold my opinion on this game. First and foremost, as someone who generally likes the Paper Mario series and has played most of the games (didn’t have a Nintendo DS for the Mario/Luigi Saga), I think Origami King (OK) might be near perfect of a game.

Woah! I know what you are thinking… but hear (read?) me out. There are many different aspects to discuss on how this game is well crafted. Without spoiling too much (I guess this is a review so how can I not?) here are some aspects of the general game that I found both charming and challenging.

1. PLOT

The general plot of this game is mysterious new villain, named King Ollie, has taken capture of the mushroom kingdom during an origami festival; it’s up to Luigi, and his less charismatic brother, Mario, to save the day and stop this new king from converting the paper thin characters of the world into more three-dimensional origami minions.

It is, for the most part, a bare bones excuse for Mario to go on a journey with his new companion Olivia, collect stuff, and fight the big bad guy. For the plot, it is very straight forward; not much to unfold that will surprise anyone who played a basic RPG before. Most places you visit lead into the next big place when you are done. It’s not so much a rinse and repeat, as each new area has Mario do different things, but it’s really hard to not know what the current (or next) goal is as the game foreshadows a lot of the events and directions on where to go.

2. ENVIRONMENT

This game is gorgeous. All the environments are fun to explore as they are not altogether too massive. Outside of the straightforward plot, OK offers much creativity in puzzles by using the most it can out of the environment. Every town, pathway and dungeon has its own distinct charm and architectural surroundings that bloom in personality. In fact, the game encourages you to explore the environment to its fullest in order to find better items, collectables and mountains upon mountains of coins. Seriously, if you explore enough, you can easily find over 30000 coins by half way point of the game. The high coin amount is there for many reasons, items to use/purchase, scripted in game sequences, and my favourite, game play.

Not only that, the character enemy redesign of transforming into “origami” is visually interesting as well. Enemies are played for laughs when moving around, such as the origami Shy Guys often tripping over themselves while chasing you. Nothing tops the Ninji, however, who are little characters who hide in the environment and chase Mario with the quick, yet realistically ineffective, “Naruto run!” Every character enemy in this game is uniquely designed and their movements reflect a sharp, charming personality.

3. GAME PLAY

OK tried to do something a little different with the game play mechanics. At its base form, Mario runs around (a little too slow sometimes for backtracking), jumps, talks to people, and with his hammer hits EVERY. SINGLE. THING. POSSIBLE. There’s this fun finding quest, in which toads are spread across the land folded up in many origami figures, and most of the time Mario has to discover and then hit them with the hammer to rescue the toads. It is very satisfying to hit things…

Speaking of hitting things, the combat is a unique blend of turn based strategy with a greater emphasis on lining baddies up so you can unleash Mario’s hammer or bombastic boots. If the minor puzzle is complete, Mario gains an attack boost. Likewise if the attacks are timed properly, Mario gains additional attack as well as coins for each perfect manoeuvre. It’s engaging in a way that Mario can fight 8 (a suggested number, most of the time there are many more) different baddies with their own strengths/weaknesses, line them up properly with the puzzle mechanic, and defeat them before they even get a chance to counter attack. The game knows is aware of this too as it rewards you for not taking damage or solving the puzzle each time with more coins. Furthermore, you can spend coins to bypass the puzzle mechanic all together in case the line up looks too imposing (most of the time spending coins gets you recovery/ attack items as well which works in your favour for difficult battles). Add different equipment items (boots and hammers) that break, and you have a mix of Breath of the Wild combat with position strategy of Fire Emblem. The combat is nice because it rewards quick thinking puzzles with perfect timing attacks to speed through the challenge and get more coin reward. I mean… it’s never going to be Devil May Cry, but the combat is interesting enough.

Experience points aren’t rewarded after battle, meaning you don’t grind battles to get stronger. Your strength is rewarded with exploration; finding permanent hearts to increase your HP as well as a boost to Mario’s attack. It’s hard to tell Mario’s strength without experimenting, which may be one of the only negatives I found in this game. As you progress, however, a baddie that hit hard earlier can be defeated with a normal jump; so watch out Goombas!

4. WRITING

My god!

The writing in this game is on a completely different level in turns of comedy. I played this game for about 15 hours and the writing has never been inconsistent in the entertainment department. It seems like every 2 minutes the game is making a different clever reference from the Mario universe and beyond. Like, did you know Luigi is obsessed with keys? They added this quirk in the game as a running gag, which is weird on its own, but it could possibly be a reference from Mario Party 2; keys are literally his favourite item in the game. Seriously, look it up. Add visual references to other games and this game is full of easter eggs and other clever nods. I’d rather not spoil it, but man there are several moments in this game that commit/sell on the references. Every time is deliberate and the game is carefully structured in a way that the writing is always fresh and exciting (the horror dance sequence comes to mind as being the absolute best reference in the game).

I posted earlier that the characters have a certain charm and humour to them. Nothing makes this statement more accurate than looking at the toads. Every single one of them have something clever to say or funny action to do. It makes it even more enjoyable because realistically, the toad characters are interchangeable; any toad can say something but it doesn’t actually matter in the grand scheme of the story. They are all treated the same, and although they all say funny things, none of them outside of specific characters share any kind of distinct personality. Therefore any dialogue with them is an opportunity for comedy gold. Same can be applied to Shy Guys, Goomba’s, and Koopa’s… every character has something hilarious to say.

CONCLUSION

Paper Mario: The Origami King does differentiate from a more classical RPG. The combat is new twist to classic Paper Mario games, and levelling up has a completely different aspect to it. But once the game starts to unfold, OK does a terrific accomplishment in personality, visual exploration, and writing; creating a consistently enjoyable adventure that lives up to the name Paper Mario.

I give this a rating of 9 Luigi Keys out of 10!

Thanks for Reading!

Smallville Series Review: Pt. 1

Smallville Season 2 DVD cover, I couldn’t find season 1?

SPOILERS- Theories, Ideas and concepts based on Smallville seasons 1-4

Hello everyone!

When Smallville the television show first aired back in October 2001, I was at the perfect age to get into a new teen drama about a young Superman discovering who he was and eventually becoming the classic superhero everyone knows and loves. I was, to no surprise, a teenager when this television show aired; making me the target audience for this new series. As I watched Smallville for the first time, I thought there was something new and different about this show. 10 years later in 2011, the show was finished, leaving a legacy for future teen drama/ superhero hybrid television shows. The series helped re-vitalized live superhero television shows and created a new trend in comic book/superhero series. But as of today, is Smallville still worth the watch?

Well…

Here’s the thing. Smallville went through a few stages of what it wanted to be and what target audience it wanted to have. Realistically, the first four seasons is a more classic high-school “what will I become” storyline for many of the characters on the show (where did Clark Kent come from, what will he do after high school, how does Clark deal with family dynamics, etc). Whereas the later seasons start to follow the bigger, more recognisable arcs of Superman; trying to link what is happening on the show to what a general audience knows about Superman (He fights Doomsday, gets into a relationship with Lois Lane, Clark aids several iconic DC teams, etc.). Because of this, there is a crisis on what the show actually wants to be (All big DC events have a “crisis”, this show is no exception).

But to talk about a show that lasted 10 seasons… reviewing all 217 episodes (trust me, I binge-watched them all this year thanks to the quarantine- SOMEBODY SAVE ME!), is a feat that not even Superman can achieve. For that reason, I am breaking up my analysis into a 4 part series. Let’s begin with a few general ideas on what I think made this series so successful to begin with…

The Beginning: Seasons 1-4

Smallville did well with blending with what worked as a drama/ superhero series. There were series before that covered superhero antics (Lois and Clark, The Flash), but Smallville had a number of factors that made it a great show that targeted multiple audiences.

Image 1-Smallville: cast of main characters

Familiar television/movie stars that were recognisable: The main supporting characters in the show (Image 1), like John Schneider, Annette O’Toole, and John Glover were recognisable by the older audience (O’Toole played Lana Lang in the original Superman Movie to further connect the show to Superman). This gave the show actors outside of the teen demographic to enjoy. The concept of older actors whom are recognisable for other media is a sure fire way to broaden your television show audience. John Glover (one of the best actors on this show) is a well-known theatrical and movie actor. John Schneider will always relate back to Dukes of Hazzard and has a real physical presence when he is on the show. Annette O’Toole has experience and a wide range of acting talent as she has been performing on film/tv since the 70’s. Point being is that having strong, familiar actors as a support character help engage older viewers.

A good lead of newer, younger, actors: The three main characters, Clark Kent (Tom Welling), Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk), and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), had a very interesting dynamic between them. Adding to this tight cast of new growing actors, special guest stars were usually younger, yet well-known, actors. This includes Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who played this kryptonite infected teen able to split himself into two people. Adam Brody, who played a kryptonite infected teen with psychic powers. Or my favourite, Amy Adams, who played a kryptonite infected teen that had altered metabolism. If you notice a rinse/repeat formula with the guest stars, almost every episode in the first few seasons had this idea in mind. Guest stars (excluding maybe 3?) were students who became murders at the drop of a hat and died at the end of the episode by their own means. The characters were never talked about again in the series. I love guest stars!

Character dynamics of a teenage life: Because the main target audience of this show was the teen demographic, many plot lines consisted of tried and true ideas of teen romance. Clark, for all of his super heroic abilities, had the typical teen romance that exists in dramas like this – the love triangle. Most of the plots in the early show revolve around Clark having a crush on Lana and trying to get noticed by her. The issue? She’s dating the quarterback of the school! Add the fact that another girl, Chloe, secretly liked Clark the entire time creates this typical high school drama, except with Superman. Jealously happens back and forth between all of these characters in this teen soap opera so much that it’s just easier to image than actually describe.

Pete, Clark’s best friend, often helped with the plot of week and was the link between Clark and Chloe. If Clark didn’t try to hang out with Lana, Pete was the one he was with. In fact, it was often hinted that Pete had feelings for Chloe too, but nothing ever came of that. Pete didn’t like Lex because of various reasons so Pete also got to bounce of the dramatics of Clark and Lex too. Most plots with Pete and Clark range between friendship or jealously over Lex, as Clark has to play both sides of which friends he wants to hang out with. It’s actually a complex issue that fits with growing up and having several sets of friends in high school.

Smallville Season 3 DVD cover; All of the episodes revolved around Lex, Lana, and Clark

The best thing about these dynamics was in the plot structure: Most of the plots related back to each other in a consistent, moral, way. The guest stars were usually teenagers with different problems that teens often face (anxiety, fear of rejection, body image). This connected with Clark and his current issue (feeling isolated, not having a relationship, etc) in a very concrete way that reflected the A plot- the theme of the episode- with the B plot -new kryptonite bad guy guest star- cohesively.

Furthermore, the plot episodes would usually connect between the two main characters, Clark and Lex, to evolve their respective relationships with their fathers. There are multiple episodes where Clark will argue with his father about something; usually why he can’t have the things everyone has. While Lex tries desperately to upstage/impress his father; as a son and possible leader of the family company, LuthorCorp. Then, at the end of the episode, it would often show Clark being with his family and connecting with his father; Pa Kent will say something like “you make me proud son” etc etc. Lex, on the other hand, who seeks some kind of approval from his father, always gets lectured and pushed aside from Lionel; To become a better, more cunning/ruthless, business owner for the Luthor name. These episodes really pushed the ideal of what it means to be a father, and from a concept narrative standpoint, cause parallels between Clark and Lex; love over power.

Those episodes that focused on Clark/Lex family relationships were always my personal favourite! This was solely due to how interesting the relationship of John Glover and Michael Rosenbaum (father and son), were. Those two were clearly the most complex actors on the show and often saved a mediocre episode from becoming terrible.

Thanks everyone for reading this, I’ve run out of narrative space with my concept on how this show worked as a teen drama series. Next time, on my part two, I will discuss things that no longer stand the test of time with his series opening (Season 1-4).

As always, thank you for reading.

Unworthy Reviews: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #101

SPOILERS: For pretty much everything up to IDW TMNT # 101. I discuss content that happens in the #100 and relate it to #101.

Hello Everyone!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #101; S. Campbell, R. Pattison; IDW; 2019

Today I am discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, #101, written and illustrated by Sophie Campbell, colours by Ronda Pattison and published by IDW Publishing. This issue is a prime example on how to a time jump properly in a comic series to change the outcome of the characters. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a time jump/time skip is a narrative choice in a story to push the current time in the story to a specific time in the future. A fairly recent idea of this is Marvel movie, Avengers: Endgame. The group killed Thanos, with half of the universe gone, and then the movie jumped 5 years in the future to see where everyone else is. (For more info on my thoughts about it, see my earlier blog post—> Marvel’s Endgame Review part 1 https://unworthyreviews.home.blog/2019/05/23/marvels-endgame-review-part-1-time-skip-and-character-development/)

The Ninja Turtles do a very similar trick in this current story arc. A lot has happened in TMNT #100 including, but not limited to, the following: Karai and the foot where tricked by Kitsune- a supernatural witch- into summoning a giant Dragon with the purpose in destroying the earth, Old Hob has transformed a large group of people into a bunch of animal mutants, Shredder’s soul aided Splinter in stopping the Dragon, Splinter dies in the turtles hands, both Shredder and Splinter die and reunite with their loved ones, and Baxter Stockman wins the election for mayor with the help of April.

Readers, this is a series where the story escalates quickly and arc finales feel like a magnificent award of action and plot twists. A few lost issues can make an arc seem very confusing. (But this comic is 100 % perfect in every way TMNT.)

IMAGE 1; TMNT; S. Campbell, R. Pattison ; IDW; 2019

In issue 101, the story takes place right after Splinter dies (Image 1). The panel work of this page is elegant and uses body positioning in blocks to form a movement between the characters. This page indicates a variety of different story elements all through the use of subtext. Take, for instance, the page layout itself.

The first image the reader has are the turtles huddled up together with the exception of Raphael, who is standing on his own. The following 5 panels indicate movement as the readers eyes glance from the left (Leonardo), to the bottom right. These sequence of panels help show a connection between the turtles and each of their heads could join with following if the gutter wasn’t in the way. Raphael, however, actually isn’t connected to Jenny (The yellow banded turtle); instead his face is purposely pushed to the right along with half of his face cut off due to the panel border. Again, this implies movement on both a panel layout as well as establishing new narrative. Raphael leaving the group indicates a new change in character, as he drops his red bandanna altogether, signalling his abandonment from his family. With that, the next page time skips to 6 months later.

Likewise, this issue with the bandanna’s (or lack thereof) is also worth mentioning. From a general point (ignoring those readers that know the turtles because of the comic, tv shows, video games and movies), what is the easiest way to distinguish the turtles from one another? We as readers associate the turtles names/personalities with the colour they represent. If you look at the original black and white work by Eastman and Laird, the characters all looked the same and had very similar personality tones.

IMAGE 2, TMNT; S. Campbell, R. Pattison; IDW; 2019

It wasn’t until the turtles got a splash of colour through the bandanna’s that it was easier to figure out who was who. This comic almost inverts that idea. All the turtles are going through their version of loss while symbolically loosing the one colourful item that defines them in general (Image 2). These feelings of loss actually stunt most of the personality of the turtles. Leonardo, who wore a blue bandanna and had an active leader role with his family, now attends plants. He isn’t actively looking for Raphael, who has been missing for 6 months, and doesn’t get anyone back together.

Likewise, Mikey isn’t his typical self either. Usually the chatty heart of the group, who’s positive and childish antics adds a lot of life to the group, is found silent and non social. His orange bandanna is nowhere to be found in these panels. As a matter of fact, excluding a few pots, there is almost no orange whatsoever; the energetic personality of Mikey is subdued by both a personality change and lack of energetic orange colour.

*IMAGE 3; TMNT; S. Campbell, R. Pattison*; IDW; 2019

Donatello, seen in this page with Raphael (Image 3), also has a changed personality because of Splinters death. Donatello is the turtle with the analytic mind. He is focused on facts and computer skills. In this story, he walks to a shed and writes in a journal using a notepad. There are no computers and he’s actually working on self reflection, which is not a task or personality quip we expect from him. Again, no bandanna. In fact, if he wasn’t wearing a scarf (and not carrying his bow staff), it would be difficult to distinguish this character from Leonardo, as reflecting on circumstances or groups failure is something a reader would expect Leonardo to do.

On the other hand, Raphael has a less subtle change in his character. As the “loner” of the group, he does what would be expected. He leaves his brothers and becomes Batman; beating up mutants who are taking advantage of the new quarantined New York City with his cute dino-dog pet sidekick, Pepperoni. (It’s a pretty big plot line, but doesn’t really fit with the narrative I’m going with… so… it’s a good story beat, but I’ll bring up at another article.) However, this version of Raphael still fits with the abandonment of family/personality in time of loss, as his bandanna is no longer red and symbolises different stakes fro the character. Raphael is angry, vengeful, and internally guilt-ed for not stopping Old Hob’s plan to turn all those people into mutants in the first place.

More events happen in this comic, but can we go back to how awesome Raphael is with his dino-dog? It’s implied that hes been doing this vigilante thing over the 6 months since he left… and during this time he fashioned a completely new “winter wear” costume for himself, and (found?) a mini coat for his dino-dog, Pepperoni.

This comic is an interesting one to pick up. It makes a lot of new, exciting arcs for the characters (Again, this comic has more characters than just the four turtles … even though that’s all I basically talked about.) and opens up a few diverse plots where I can’t really say I know where it’s going.

Great work TMNT!

I rate this book 7 dino-dogs out of 10! With so many plot options open, I’m excited to see where this goes!

Thanks for reading!

References: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; S. Campbell, R. Pattison; IDW Publishing; 2019

All Star Superman: The Effectiveness of Panel Work with Bleed/Splash Pages

Hello everyone!

All Star Superman; Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

Today I would like to discuss the importance of panel layout in the comic book medium. I will focus on a few panels within All Star Superman, written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quitely, in hopes to explore the function of splash and bleed panel structure. These panels will include the use of gutters to create a visual concept or theme to the book, as well as emphasize the idea of Superman and how larger than life he is.

First thing is first, I need to run through some definitions on certain terms.

Panel- A framed image in a comic that holds images together. Sequential use of panels creates a visual story.
Gutter- The small space between the panel work.
Splash page- An image or panel that extends itself beyond a one page limit.
Bleed page- An image that has no border to create a panel. These images feel like they can bleed off the page and continue. (OR… imagine cropping an image on the phone, that image still exists, but that picture is cut to fit the size of what is important in the photo)

Again, this is more of a “compare and contrast” rather than an ordinary review. Therefore, there may not be a direct ending to this piece but a more specific look at how space in a comic can create different ideas.

As a character who has been around for over 80 years, Superman has a lot history on the various adventures he has been on. Everyone knows who Superman is because he’s a main staple in our pop culture; but what do we need to know to understand a new story about him? The very first page (Image 1) re-establishes everything we as readers expect of Superman. This first page is so important because all of the questions we are asking pre-read are answered are solved in eight words divided into four panels. The way the panels are lined up (clean, balanced and somewhat traditional), along with the written text giving us direct meaning to what is happening, we can create what kind of character Superman is going to act like based on our prior knowledge of him. He stands for truth, justice, and you know the deal.

The very next page shown is a full bleed image that takes up two pages of Superman flying to what looks to be flames of the sun (Image 2). The first thing noteworthy to mention is Superman, who is drawn flying over these two pages. This image gives the impression that Superman is a fairly large character; he is confident, determined, in a powerful wide pose, and the “S” on his is clearly showing us that he is doing something heroic and recognizable to his character traits. He is Superman; larger and bolder than life itself. At the same point, the fire directly behind him is also important. Superman is big, but this fire engulfs him and is literally putting him in a shadow. Furthermore, the fire is such a danger that it seems to go beyond the limit of the page.

These first few pages create a solid example on the Superman origins as well as whom he is. Paring the simple, easy to follow structure of the first page (balance in imagery and simple, direct text) to the expansive follow up bleed page is jarring in the best way possible. It’s the equivalent to seeing the Star Wars logo right after the familiar tag line. If there was audio music, John Williams would be playing his Superman theme as we gaze at that two page image. That is how impactful these first few pages needed to be in order to engage readers with the excitement of Superman to follow.

In direct contrast, Morrison and Quitely present the next big bleed page with more text and jolting panel layout. In image 3, Superman and Lois are discussing a heavy key that Superman uses to access the Fortress of Solicitude. It is an interesting bit of information readers get as Superman doesn’t really need a key to get to his artic secret base. But then again, that’s the unknown new idea Morrison is adding in this scene. Much like the first image, Superman having a fortress all on his own is something to expect in a comic. It holds the status quo on what we know about Superman. Unrelated would be the key, which may be an obscure reference to an older Superman comic, but most readers would assume Superman doesn’t need anything to enter his home (Who knows where the fortress is to go in there anyway?). Adding to the mixture is the panel layout. Comparing this image to image 1, they share similar layouts; they hold the story arrangement so it is easy to follow and is balanced in terms of gutter space structure. The huge difference is that image 3 has a bleed panel on the top and bottom. This makes the reading more dramatic and the bleed panel actually guides the reader into the next page, as if Superman is literally inviting the reader to his home.

Image 4 is another double page bleed layout, but works completely different than image 2. Image 2 solidifies our expectations of Superman; however, image 4 just leads into more questions. First off, this fortress is reminiscent of the Batcave, a (well known) somewhat barren cave where the hero displays artifacts like a gallery. What are these items to Superman? Are any of them important to the story? In truth, much like Batman’s Batcave, the fortress entrance gives readers insight to the many adventures and accomplishments Superman has. Readers somewhat grasp ideas of who Superman is through several easter egg items including the bottled city of Kandor (Might not be common knowledge?) and an airplane that Superman conveniently saves every other month. Other than that, however, Superman and all his trophies still remain a mystery to both the readers and Lois.

Scale is a huge contrast to the previous images as well. Where Superman was the main focus in the first splash page, stretching out into both pages, he and Lois are the smallest things in this enormous fortress. Again, like Superman against the sun, the effect of a bleed page aids the lair to look like a mysterious giant; too massive in scale for the pages to hold in. A new edition to add to the mystery of these pages not found in the bigger superman image; is text. Superman’s dialogue, much like his scale size, pales in comparison to the title “Superman’s Forbidden Room”, which is conveniently on the top right side of the bleed image; as if the characters, as well as the readers, are looking into this void of empty space looking for an eerie answer to Superman’s fortress.

In conclusion, All Star Superman cleverly uses different forms of bleed and splash pages to create an engaging insight to the mythos of Superman. Morrison and Quitely use illustration, panel work and text to present their story of Superman in an applealing way to readers. Bleed pages were used to both make Superman look, well, super, and to create an eerie mystery of whom Superman actually is. In short, All Star Superman displays a creative use of panel work to make this story more powerful than a locomotive.

Thank you for reading!

Resources: Morrison, Grant; All Star Superman; DC Comics; New York; 2007

Unworthy Review: The Silent Hero; Player Immersion and Lack of Character in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

SPOILERS! Minor spoilers on Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Hello Everyone!

Recently, I’ve been playing a lot of Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Nintendo Switch. For those of you who do not know, Fire Emblem plays as a tactical role playing game set in a fantasy world filled with dragons, magic users and giant evil end bosses that take at least an hour of stressful game movement to defeat. It’s quite fun. For the most part, I do love a lot of what that game presents: the RPG style combat, the difficulty curve, the choice of artificial difficulty in level and unit design, the specific stat management, and the list of diverse and consistent characters in the story are always interesting to interact with. However, the one thing that bothers me, the one issue that stops this game from being a truly legendary game, is of course…

The main character.

The character, I aptly named Repello (because the name sounds epic and he repels attacks?), actually doesn’t have a character. That’s not to say that he doesn’t play a role in the story, on the contrary he certainly does, however, Repello is too blank of a slate to actually be interesting other than forwarding the plot around him. His role as the main protagonist is a mercenary who becomes a professor at a Hogwarts-like school; leading an army of RPG characters into various victories and saving the establishment. When Repello is not being a perfect tactician on the battle field, he gives note taking lectures and helps characters at the school.

But Repello doesn’t talk. Or show emotion. Or add anything to conversation dialogue that isn’t a head nod, a head-shake, or arm wave. Repello suffers from what I call Link Syndrome (The main hero from Legend of Zelda), where he yells, grunts, and quips on the battlefield, but says nothing in an actual conversation. Repello is a professor who lectures, teaches, and encourages characters in the game to be better than they are, but doesn’t actually talk or discuss things with people. It’s hilarious.

I find that in games with avatar selection, this is always a recurring issue for me. Whenever I get the option to create my own avatar and go on an adventure I always loose interest because the writing seems to be a little less tight because it’s there for player to feel more immersed in the story. The main story essentially becomes the players story. The avatar character is actually written with more flexibility so the player can see themselves in it. However, giving characters too many options is creating a character with no real sense or motivation. Add to the fact that most conversations where an avatar character is in doesn’t have actual choices (ie. leads to the same dialogue), it actually creates a narratively weaker main character.

It’s a shame then that the dialogue between all the characters is actually entertaining and it is it interesting to see the development of the story and how the characters react to it. All the characters seem to have history, banter and mannerisms with each other, except Repello. He has the issue of being the fish out of water to the degree where any option he uses to communicate (ie nods) is solely there to feed lore to the player by other players. It’s definitely against that “show don’t tell” notion of storytelling writing. Regardless of my statement, my character would still be fish out of water if they interacted or not, but the story would be far more compelling if I knew how Repello reacts to situations instead of me just assuming he doesn’t care.

That’s the overall issue I have with avatar characters placed in a story driven game. The writing suffers in situations where your character has choice because it leads to a scripted event anyway so your choice doesn’t really amount to much. Furthermore, the main avatar character is written that they don’t have emotions to situations or dialogue; it feels like the lazy when other characters are perfectly expressive in dire situations yet Repello responds like brickwork. I do really enjoy this game, and I will continue to play it because the RPG element is always top notch, I just wish Repello, my main character, had something interesting to say.

I give Fire Emblem: Three Houses a rating of, 7 nods and 3 head-shakes out of 10. Maybe throw a hand wave in there…

Thank you for reading!

Unworthy Reviews: Sonic The Hedgehog #19

SPOILERS to Sonic the Hedgehog issue 19. Read it if you haven’t already and then come back to this fun discussion about comic layouts!

Sonic The Hedgehog: Crisis City, Part One ; Flynn, Lawrence, Curry; IDW Publishing

Hey everyone!

Sonic The Hedgehog, written by Ian Flynn and illustrated by Jack Lawrence, is a good example of using character dynamics to convey an interesting story in an otherwise overused story arc.

1. Bad guy unleashes zombies into the world.

2. Main character may be infected by zombies.

3. The zombies are taking over everything.

4. Main character needs to save people/survive.

Man this plot has been done to death (hahaha)! And it seems that even Sonic can’t escape this easy plot. Dr. Eggman (in his more overzealous idea to convert the world into his twisted mechanic mayhem) has developed a metal virus that transforms all organic material into mindless metallic creatures. Using this metal he is quickly changing Sonic’s world into a silver landscape where all creatures listen to him. Again, this is not an original plot in the least (zombies are called zombots, so that’s pretty clever). However, Flynn and Lawrence use this basic concept to create an entertaining comic read about zombie attacks in the world of Sonic.

Figure 1 : Flynn, Lawrence, Curry; IDW Publishing

This works because the creative team understands the use of kinetic movement in the comic layout. If you like the Flash comics, this Sonic book has a very similar structure. I mean, come on, the title of this book is aptly named “crisis city: part one!” which could not scream DC any louder. Sonic gets infected with this metallic goop and has to continue running to burn off the infection. It forces Sonic, as well as the writer/artist, to keep Sonic perpetually moving (figure 1) making an entertaining movement across the two page layout for the reader. Using proper speed lines and multiple character images in a single panel captures how quick this character acts. Having really tiny gutter space between the panels also help convey that all these panels and action is happening quickly, like we as readers don’t have time to truly stop and focus at an individual panel.

*Figure 2 : Flynn, Lawrence, Curry; IDW Publishing*

Another concept that works in this issue is the character dynamic between Sonic and the others. Now, I may not be familiar with all the characters, as most have been introduced in the video games and get little introduction in this comic series, but Flynn writes a base note of how these characters act in relation to Sonic so the readers can pick up on drives and motivations (figure 2). The dialogue works because, like the panel layout, it’s quick and snappy.

*Figure 3 : Flynn, Lawrence, Curry; IDW Publishing*

The only time where it seems like the story and panels slow is when Shadow enters (figure 3). For those who do not know, Shadow is a complete foil to Sonic; different personality yet similar in power set that gives Sonic more defined character features. Whereas Sonic is mouthy and makes jokes, Shadow is serious and confrontational. Sonic is heroic and postures like he’s going to help someone, Shadow is consistently doing evil poses (clenching fist, arms dismissively crossed). Both characters are equally as fast, yet Shadow refuses to run. Correspondingly, the introduction to Shadow in this scene changes Sonic’s character beats as well. Shadow’s presence forces Sonic to be static; as if the panels themselves are forcing Sonic to not move. These are the only two pages in this issue that Sonic does not move more than once a page. He is stuck there talking to confrontational character that stubbornly refuses to run from fights.

*Figure 4 : Flynn, Lawrence, Curry; IDW Publishing*

If we want to go a little further on how this interaction between the two characters changes the pace of the story, we can also look at the panel work in the two pages. Throughout the issue, panels are divided by solid white lines filled with blue gutter. However, when Sonic and Shadow are confronting each other, there is no white stripe framing the panel. It’s this weird subtle change that actually throws off the reading momentum for the audience. Furthermore, panel work changes again at the end of figure 3 with red framing at the bottom page to represent the ego of Shadow. It’s interesting to illustrate this red frame as the only other time the comic uses it is at the second last page bottom panel where Shadow grips Sonic. This finally leads to the last page, a full bleed page of Shadow, now a zombot, standing in front of a whole army of robots (figure 4). This image breaks the norm, not so much because it’s an evil version of a Sonic character, but as the first time this issue there is a complete bleed page with no borders, no captions, no movement. Nothing except the sense of dread from Sonic’s point of view. It is an effective end note used as a conclusion for this chapter.

In conclusion, zombie attacks/themes in comics are a regular event and at this current time are becoming cliché twice over. However, Sonic the Hedgehog actually takes that premise and makes it interesting by giving Sonic a very kinetic feel in the book. Nothing gets stale because Sonic is consistently on the move and the comic layout brilliantly knows how to pace the reading of its audience.

Sonic the Hedgehog issue # 19 gets 8 Sonic spin dashes out of 10. I’m eager to see where this story goes.

Thanks for reading!

References:

Flynn, Ian; Sonic The Hedgehog issue 19; IDW Publishing; San Diego: CA; 2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home- Character Analysis Mysterio

SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Far From Home, Captain Marvel, and Endgame. If you haven’t watched those movies yet, watch them and come back for this character Analysis!

Hey Readers!

A lot of people have already discussed how Spider-Man: Far From Home was a movie about legacy in regards to Peter Parker encouraged fitting the role of as the new Iron Man. I’m just going to quickly state that director Jon Watts hammers this theme perfectly in the film in some subtle, and not so subtle, directing choices. My favourite is the very first scene of Peter Parker discussing vacation ideas with his best friend Ned. In the background there are several drawings of Iron Man which establishes the idea that Peter Parker cannot escape the pressure of living up to Tony Stark. This is a perfect introduction to the themes of legacy in this movie.

However, that’s not exactly what I want to discuss on today’s review since that topic is apparent in all other reviews that I have seen, so there’s a good chance that the discussion of “legacy” in this Spider-man film is a little obvious. I want to have a character analysis of Mysterio and how he was built up to be a great character in this franchise, even before the movie started.

A little backstory… Mysterio, in the comics, was this c-list villain of Spider-man who developed a real hatred for the wall crawler. He used his special effects knowledge to consistently trick Spider-man and became a staple member of the Sinister Six ( a group of six villains that always tried to beat Spider-man). However, he was never in the same tier as most of Spider-man’s other villains, such as Green Goblin or Dr. Octopus, so he rarely got a chance to shine. In comic book lore, Mysterio was on the same level as the Vulture (the first film fixed that issue too with Michael Keaton) and rarely received respect by hero or villain.

The way Far From Home advertised and displayed Mysterio was a clever trick, which actually had me second guessing what his role actually meant. Don’t get me wrong, Mysterio was going to be the bad guy obviously because he’s always the bad guy… but there were a few instances in the marking that made me question how.

Before watching the film:

It started with the first trailer of Far From Home, which depicted several new villains including a rock monster, a water monster, and a fire monster. My initial thought was that they were doing multiple villains in this Spidey story, Sandman, Hydro-man, and Molten Man (listing them off makes them sound like Mega Man bosses) with Mysterio eventually teaming up or betraying the elemental villains. Hey. I read a lot of comics and I’m gullible.
In May of this year (2019), Disney bought Fox in a lot of their movie rights (including X-men and the Fantastic Four) while Endgame came out in April, and Spider-man in July. The trailer of Spider-man shows Mysterio stopping monsters, so could be from another world? Especially now that all of these new properties are given to Disney? Did Endgame’s use of time travel and universe breaking events cause multiple riffs in dimensions? A similar idea was presented in the movie Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse (that was a pretty great movie by the way), so Mysterio could be from another earth right? Again, happens like… every 2 years in the comic book industry.
Disney/Marvel has been working on the one dimensional bad guys for a while and has proven that they can more subtle than they usually are. For the first half of Captain Marvel has Carol believing that she is the good guy working with the Kree- until the dramatic twist that the Kree have been manipulating her from the beginning. Does Mysterio fall under the same idea?

Watching the film:

There are a lot of references to comic lore. They mention 616, which is the main Marvel universe in the comics so I was like “Oh so maybe there are different earths”? There are different time streams as proven by Endgame so why not different earths?
If Nick Fury, who has a read on people, trusts Quentin Beck, why wouldn’t us as the audience? (Spoilers, it’s because Nick Fury wasn’t Nick Fury, that’s why the movie got as far with Mysterio’s trick as it did. Real Nick Fury would google that name… Does SHIELD use Google? Bing?)
Bad guys in Spider-man films are usually really easy to spot in their evil intentions (Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Venom, etc.). Mysterio didn’t show his hand to the audience until the bar scene, which was half way through the film. No actual origin story, until he shows the audience and it was pretty funny. Until then, Jake Gyllenhaal portrayed Mysterio as a likeable, charming character.

With these points in mind, it was interesting to see how they got to the end of the movie with Mysterio as it wasn’t as predictable as you would think towards the latter half of the movie. He is a charismatic conniving character that bounces off Spider-man’s core traits really well. Quentin respects Peter Parker for the intelligent kid he is but knows Peter has to die to cover up his sinister ways to Nick Fury. Mysterio plays on Peter’s gullible nature several times to his advantage in his first fight. It’s assumed that he has carefully orchestrated the whole CGI nightmare attack and uses Peter to essentially get information from him through his effects. Even when Quentin dies (allegedly), he still manages to mess with Peter’s life in the end credit scene. It’s also implied that Mysterio knew he was going to lose and set up all this information with his crew to frame Spider-man and change the dynamics on how Spider-man will work in the future.

As a quick side note, I also enjoy the ironic nod that comic movies need these bombastic CGI set pieces. Quentin says to his crew that people will believe anything, and the statement works in-universe, when you have this big purple alien guy Thanos destroy the universe with a glove full of colourful stones, but again works in a meta- context, as this idea that Spider-man needs to be swinging through the air blowing up Mysterio robots as entertainment for the actual movie. Narratively, Mysterio doesn’t work as a character until there are crazy universe breaking events such as Endgame. At the same time, Mysterio, using a lot of special effects, wouldn’t have worked 5-6 years ago because the CGI of the actual movie wouldn’t have looked as good as it did in this film; it wouldn’t really sell as a movie.

For this movie, Mysterio was a great character and encourages smart marketing and writing on other Spider-man villains. I don’t really want to see any Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus characters in the next movie because Spider-man has the best rogues gallery of all time (I’m looking at you Batman movie/cartoon/game writers, use a different villain other than the Joker!). Audiences deserve to see more creative ways to showcase less unknown characters into the Spider-man universe.

For Spider-man: Far From Home, I give character development 9 Mysterio fishbowl ‘s out of 10.

I may do a shorter Spider-man movie review (other things that work, things I like) in the future. So I will keep you posted!

Thanks for reading!

Unworthy Review- Resident Evil 2 Remake Review (1998 edition)

SPOILERS AHEAD… but this game plot has been out since Pixar’s A Bugs Life, so I think it’s safe to talk about?

It’s been a few months now since the initial release of Resident Evil 2 (RE2). For those that may not know, (spoilers if you read the title of the article) this game is a complete remake of the first Resident Evil 2 from 1998. Here’s the thing… I was an awesome 90’s Nintendo kid, so instead of playing the spooky original play station Resident Evil series, I had Banjo Kazooie on the N64. Because Blockbuster/ Jumbo Video had a strict rule of renting mature games so I never got to experience the crazy twists and turns of horrific plots that was Resident Evil 2… until now.

The game is still clearly set in 1998 because of Resident Evil’s well established game lore. Because of this, I am going to give a nice retro feel to this new game from 98, full of classic lingo and references that are from 1998.

I won’t go too far into the game play, but the game is set as a giant puzzle- managing inventory slots and figuring out how to get the next big objective. That doesn’t matter though; I’m looking at the story in a whole, and not so much where the characters find keys to open doors to find more keys in which to lead to more doors (the actual game mechanic is a lot more interesting than this reads).

The two main characters, Leon Kennedy (A first day on the job cop) and Claire Redfield (A biker looking for her cop brother Chris), are attacked by zombies at the local gas station and decide that they need to dip into the city to find the local police station. They get separated, and it’s up to your character chosen for the campaign to cross the zombie “Armageddon”. In this review, I want to discuss the possibility that Claire is a better protagonist and has a better overall narrative, and to prove that, I’m using a lot of examples cause “I don’t want to miss a thing”.

For the most part, Leon and Claire have similar story beats: they both meet a dying police officer Marvin who gives them clues on how to escape, they both meet the unstoppable Mr. X (who’s game-mechanics are as annoying as the “whazzup” faze), and they both battle the constantly transforming G virus monster (Birkin) several times before the game ends. For that, the stories play rather similar. However, the biggest deviation of the story, are the side characters and how it affects the main character motivations. Leon meets up with this woman named Ada, an FBI agent with mysterious motives. Claire, on the other hand, meets up with Sherry, a young girl with missing parents that work for Umbrella.

From this initial set up, two specific character arcs emerge. Leon is tasked with gathering information for Ada; learning about the sinister plot through her but staying aloof due to his bogus belief that she’s actually there to help. Leon’s motives are therefore specific and watching his story gives the impression that he actually doesn’t change or develop into a hero, he instead is tricked into doing some dirty business for Ada (OH SNAP!).

Claire gets a more interesting plot approach because her decision to help Sherry makes the plot weave in a more dynamic way. Claire is constantly trying to take Sherry to safety and therefore the story links closer to how Sherry’s character plays into the narrative as a whole. For instance, Sherry is linked to the main monster Birkin (it’s her deformed father) as well as her scientist mother, Annette, who is desperately trying to cover everything up for her husband’s mistake. Because of that, story beats in Claire’s plot make more sense narratively as it gives Claire specific meaningful motivation (save Sherry and reunite her with her mother) compared to Leon’s simplistic naïve trust in Ada. You go girl!

This leads to a pretty great parallel in character with the final “monster” fight. Both characters get information about Birkin and learn that he secretly the creator of the G virus who infects himself. However, at one boss fight consisting of both main characters, Claire becomes an action hero and volunteers to kill a transformed Birkin, while Leon is shocked that he needs to defeat this monster. Claire is more interesting and heroic because she has an actual reason to fight him, to save Sherry/Annette.

Finally, Claire’s story is more concrete because of her final “final” Birkin fight. In the plot of RE2, there is this force of nature named Mr. X that hunts you down in both campaigns. Leon’s plot always shows Mr. X hunting him until after Leon fights a phat third Birkin monster form. This leads Leon to end his campaign by battling the Mr. X zombie; blowing up X with a rocket launcher. Whatever. Claire’s story is similar, being hunted by Mr. X through the beginning of her campaign, but this time Mr. X gets killed by the Birkin monster halfway through the story. In which case, Claire fights another gnarly mutated Birkin monster form with a response- a machine gun.

Therefore, the plot is more concrete in Claire’s story because Mr. X is killed early, Claire gets to fight a bigger, scarier form of the Birkin (as if). Leon doesn’t fight the end boss monster Birkin, and gives thought as to what happened to Birkin in Leon’s campaign? Why didn’t you get to fight this beast when you know it’s running around somewhere? Without that Birkin fight, Leon’s campaign feels like the last episode of Seinfeld… good but a complete missed opportunity for an ending.

Again, I understand the idea that these two campaigns are just remixing ideas of the same plot; they work as a side A and B to a cassette tape of the same album. I also admire the idea of several campaigns that follow similar plot structures with different start places and character interactions. However, due to the combination of monster fight set-ups that both player characters need to defeat, Claire’s campaign actually works tighter because it focuses on a more interesting, woven side character plot as well as a series of challenging monster transformation battles that lead into a overall satisfying game ending.

Booyah! (some of the few lingo terms of the 90’s that still survived till today… kind of like this RE reboot?! Yeah!)

Thanks for reading!