The Marvel Cinematic Universe adds not only a new character, but a whole new area to their shared world as the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, debuts, bringing magic with him. Earlier movies (Thor, Thor: The Dark World) made some half-hearted attempt to invoke Arthur C Clarke’s comment about, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” With Dr. Strange, magic is most definitely not the same thing as science.
Since Jane Foster took up Mjolnir, it’s been acting a lot differently than for anyone else who has wielded it. Last issue, it even helped keep her secret identity, much to the confusion of a few rabid SHIELD agents. This issue goes back and tells the origin of Thor’s hammer. In the past, there’s just been a passing reference to the dwarves of Nidavellir forging the hammer from mystic uru and that’s been about it.
“Suckas Need Bodyguards,” the sixth episode of Luke Cage, opens with a nice bit of a crossover. There are a lot of divided opinions over Luke’s recent actions, and they are being discussed on “Trish Talks.” That’s the radio talk show hosted by Trish Walker, best friend of Jessica Jones and a big part of her series, as was Luke in Season One. With this much public comment about Luke, I do wonder how long it will be until SHIELD comes knocking about Registration for the Sokovia Accords. A lot of the scenery under this is Luke jogging through the streets. Even supers need to work on their cardio, I guess.
Bendis takes another crack at Jessica Jones, following the smash hit of her Netflix series. The series was based in part around some of her earlier appearances, and I guess Bendis prefers her in that setting. Her more recent comic appearances have her in much happier circumstances with a much better life. But all that seems to have been shredded, and Jessica is back to being alone and miserable. This even contradicts the recent Power Man and Iron Fist series from earlier this year, and I have to admit, I don’t really like the change.
I’ve enjoyed all the Netflix series so far. I can’t point even a bad episode of any of them. But I have to say that “Just To Get A Rep” might be the best of all of them so far. It was an impressive piece of writing and acting. There was some action, but what was much more striking was the clash of ideas that took up the end of the episode.
The Agents of SHIELD go classic rock for their title this week, “Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire.” It opens with an interesting revelation- Simmons and Fitz are apparently moving in together. She’s very excited about hunting for an apartment for them, but gets a surprise. Daisy lured her there because she needed help. Since Daisy left Robbie in LA, she’s been having a rough time of things, and needs Simmons’ medical expertise. But Daisy’s not entirely mean, she set up a nice surprise for Fitz and Simmons.
Things are getting ugly for the Agents of SHIELD in “Uprising.” The team spends a lot of the episode scattered all over as they deal with various aspects of both the events of this episode in particular and some of the plots that are stretching over the season. It’s not a good episode for almost anyone on the team, really.
Several months ago, I picked up Mockingbird 1. I’d never heard of the writer, Chelsea Cain, but I’ve been a Mockingbird fan since the first time I ran across her in the Hawkeye limited series. I’ve really enjoyed the combination of action, comedy, and what I guess you could call superhero satire. It’s been a really amusing spin on a character I’ve liked for a while now.
The fourth episode of Luke Cage, “Step Into The Arena,” jumps back and forth between the present and the major portions of his origin. The present isn’t looking so good, since last episode ended with Cottonmouth launching a rocket attack on Genghis Connie’s with Connie and Luke inside. I’m guessing Cottonmouth doesn’t believe in the concept of overkill. They do make the title work on two different levels, which is a nice job.
The third episode of Luke Cage is called, “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?” and it’s a good follow up to the tragedy near the end of “Code of The Streets.” It starts off with a big firefight and people fleeing the Crispus Attaks building. After a couch goes sailing out one of the upper floor windows, Cage strolls out, hood up, carrying a large duffel bag. Then we get text of “Earlier That Day” to explain what we’re seeing and how Cage got here.
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