Lessons of Joy, Hope, and Love: The Gift of Wonder Woman 1984

This month marks the 80^th Anniversary of Wonder Woman!!!  I didn’t read her comics as a kid but Diana of Themyscria is a character who’s come to mean very much to me.  As Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman (2017) was my gateway to Diana and her world, it felt apropos to mark this occasion by (finally) posting the piece I wrote after seeing Wonder Woman 1984.  I LOVE the movies.  Since I got my driver’s license, rarely more than a week went by in between trips to the theatre.  However, after a 10:05 pm showing of Brahms: The Boy 2 on 7 March 2020, lockdown hit.  So when I saw Wonder Woman 1984, it’d been over TEN MONTHS since I’d went to the movies.  I wanted my return to be special and WW84 was the logical choice.  I wasn’t disappointed!  Wonder Woman 1984 was a worthy successor to the masterpiece that was Wonder Woman.  Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot did it again!  They captured lightning in a bottle twice…at least as far as I was concerned.  I was stunned when I began talking to friends – close friends who often share my opinion of films – and learned not everyone felt the same.  Some did, but some didn’t.  Granting all art is subjective, I still became curious, wondering what they saw in this film.  Many conversations followed and this piece was born of my side of those conversations.  This is an exploration of all I see in WW84.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the Weight of the Shield

I just finished the third episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and I’ve had a question bouncing around in my head since the first episode.  It never once occurred to me reading about these characters in comic books but it rises when you place them within the nature and structure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The piece will have light plot spoilers for the first three episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Solider so if you’ve not seen any of it and you don’t want anything spoiled, feel free to click away now.  I enjoyed your visit!  If you don’t mind light spoilers, then by all means read on.  You do you :D.  With that being said, this piece will consider the question of the emotional and moral weight of trying to carry Captain America’s shield once Steve Rogers himself is gone.

Wild and Weird In All the Right Ways: Donny Cates’ Guardians Of The Galaxy

I like to do these pieces where I’ll examine the entire run of a writer on Guardians Of The Galaxy.  It began when I first read all the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning comics which inspired James Gunn’s film.  I fell in love so they naturally led me to Brian Michael Bendis’ run.  Then I read Gerry Duggan’s.  His All-New Guardians Of The Galaxy was a painfully forced attempt to make the comic feel exactly like the movies, disregarding ten years of narrative character development.  It also setup Duggan’s Infinity Countdown and Infinity Wars which may be the worst comic crossover I’ve ever read.  Then Donny Cates comes along…and totally redeemed everything!!!  Seriously, if I ever meet this guy I’ll buy him a drink or dinner or dinner with drinks.  He’s earned it.