Of Geniuses and Giants

COMIC COMMENTARY
Golden Age Greats

- Adventure Comics #77: I finished this issue.  There is a new strip, Genius Jones, a boy genius due to being stranded on an island with nothing to do but read the same 700 books repeatedly who opens a detective stand.  Its a humor/action strip that pokes fun at some of the mystery men conventions of the day.  Since Genius wears long johns and a cape (he borrows clothes from a theatrical troupe when his only real suit is ruined), his inclusion in the series makes Adventure an all mystery men/super-hero title.  It's one of DC's first, if not the first, monthly to make the leap.  All of the others have either a war, detective, or western strip remaining.  Simon and Kirby have two features in the issue, a Manhunter, and a Sandman.  Both have very dynamic art.  The Sandman story revolves around dreams (in a fashion), and its the first time Simon/Kirby have done a Sandman story involving a dream in the plot since they've taken over.  Their art and scripts have been action-packed, but Sandman has lost most of what made him different from his peers.  Currently, there isn't anything to distinguish him from Crimson Avenger or the Tarantula, so I hope they continue to work in a dream angle in future installments.
Silver Age Spotlights

-Avengers #29: There is a wrestling term, "put over", which is when a promoter uses various angles to try to enhance the popularity of the wrestler in the eyes of the fans.  In this issue, Stan and Don try to put over Goliath.  The age of the kooky quartet ends with the addition of the Wasp and Goliath (nee Giant-Man) back to the team.  Goliath has been saddled with a ridiculous limitation of being stuck at 10 feet, so he can mope around Marvel-style about being a freak.  I get it to a certain extent.  In their own strip in Tales to Astonish, Giant-Man never completely abandoned his shrinking tactics, which often outshown the Wasp who only had her sting to make her unique.  Not having Hank shrink differentiates him from Jan and makes her more unique.  I just don't see the need to limit his effectiveness and give him this particular Marvel hang-up.  I would have preferred an approach to where maybe he is reluctantly back, only there because of Jan, and constantly trying to balance his Avengers duties with his scientific work.  I am glad that he's back.  Hank has always been my favorite founder, and he brings something to this particular line-up which has neither the scientific expertise of Iron Man or the strength of Thor.  The team faces a villain team of Black Widow, Swordsman, and Power Man, who capture all of the individual Avengers, until Goliath comes and saves them.  He doesn't necessarily beat the team single-handedly and everyone gets something to do, but no one really gives Goliath any trouble like they did the others, and Goliath is easily able to manhandle Power Man (Erik Josten -- not Luke Cage)  who would later be way out of his strength class.

TELEVISION TIDBITS

Doctor Who (1963), Season 2 Episode 3: Crisis: This episode wraps up Planet of the Giants in a satisfying fashion while maintaining the angle of the crew never really interacting with the villains of the piece.  In the A plot, the Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara having realized the Barbara is poisoned must make it back to the TARDIS, but first decide they must do something to draw attention to the plight of DD6 or attempt to destroy it first.  In the B plot, the phone operator is suspicious of Forrester and convinces her police officer husband that something funny is going on.  The TARDIS crew use a gas tap, an aerosol can, and a lit match to cause the aerosol can to explode which prevents Forrester from killng Smithers, the scientist, and allows the cop to get the drop on both of them.  The overall story is better than its reputation, but the last episode is a little odd.  This was originally slated to be a four-parter, but Donald Wilson found it boring and truncated it to 3 making the last episode an amalgamation of 3-4.  The resulting edits strip out most of the drama in which the team debate whether they should try to do something about DD6 at the risk of Barbara dying, or head straight to the TARDIS to save her.  I also watched the special features which were light.  Only William Russel, Carol Ann Ford, and Raymond Cusik were alive from the original cast and crew.  There are interview excerpts with Carol Ann Ford and Verity Lambert from a 2003 Doctor Who Documentary, a reconstruction of episode 3 and 4 as originally written, and making of reconstruction featurette.

MOVIE MADNESS

Now You See Me 2: The Four Horsemen, with a new member to replace the pregnant Isla Fisher, are exposed, kidnapped, and forced to pull a heist.  A clever film with some neat set pieces, but there wasn't the same air of mystery to it as the first.  You know that nothing is as it seems, so you just wait for the eventual reveal.  Definitely worth at least a rental.

BLOG BITS AND BOBBLES
Last post I forgot to state my spoiler policy.  If I go into anymore detail then the basic tagline or solicitation information for any comic that was released within the past 2 months, a television episode aired within the past month, or a movie that was released this year, then I will post spoiler warnings.  Any television episode older than a month, a comic older than two months, or a movie older than a year, I consider to be fair game.