#IReadsYou Review: THE SCUMBAG #2

THE SCUMBAG No. 2
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Rick Remender
ART: Andrew Robinson
COLORS: Moreno Dinisio
LETTERS: Rus Wooton
DESIGN: Erika Schnatz
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Andrew Robinson
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Matteo Scalera; Joshua Swaby with Moreno Dinisio
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S.(November 2020)

Rated “M/ Mature”

The Scumbag is a new comic book series from writer Rick Remender.  Described as a “comedy espionage series” by publisher Image Comics, The Scumbag's tagline reads, “The fate of the world rests in the hands of the worst person on it!”  The series features a rotating crew of illustrators.  Thus, artist Andrew Robinson; colorist Moreno Dinisio; and letterer Rus Wooton complete the current creative team.

The Scumbag introduces Ernie Ray Clementine.  He is a rundown, raggedy, filthy man.  He is a profane, illiterate, drug-addicted biker and ne'er-do-well with a fifth-grade education.  But thanks to a power-imbuing serum called “the Formula Maxima,” Ernie will be the only thing standing between humanity and total Armageddon... because he has suddenly become the world's most powerful super-spy.

The Scumbag #2 opens in “Simon's” dive bar, where Ernie Ray is regaling people with his recent supernatural adventures, which he, of course, thinks are drug hallucinations.  Then, Sister Mary of “Central Authority” shows up and starts barking orders … and offering things that Ernie Ray likes.  Meanwhile, Scorpoinus and “The Prosoma” make their golden move, which leads to a … monsters of rock misunderstand.

THE LOWDOWN:  I didn't have a lot to say about The Scumbag #1.  I have more to say about The Scumbag #2.  I like this issue's art team of illustrator Andrew Robinson and colorist Moreno Dinisio, which delivers some pretty art and some fast-moving storytelling.  Rus Wooton's lively letters continue to capture the right vibe for each particular issue – this time, action-comedy.

As I said before, I have enjoyed what few Rick Remender comic books I have read, and I found myself enjoying The Scumbag #1.  I really wanted to be cynical about the first issue, but I had to admit that I liked it.  I like The Scumbag #2 even more.  After introducing the concept, Remender continues the introductions, but while reading the second issue, I got the feeling of a writer freed up to do a little more action.  This issue is a wild ride, and I kinda wish that Sister Mary was the star of this series.  The pace of this issue seems more suited for her to be the star.

I don't know about The Scumbag comic book being “the next Deadpool,” as some have speculated.  However, it has the potential to offer a brief respite from the traumas of the world with some regularly delivered salacious fun, and it has already started to do so.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Rick Remender, of mature comedy, and of reprobate-type anti-hero lead characters will want The Scumbag.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/Remender
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#IReadsYou Review: ONE PIECE Volume 35

ONE PIECE, VOL. 35
VIZ MEDIA

CARTOONIST: Eiichiro Oda
TRANSLATION: JN Productions
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Megan Bates
LETTERS: Elena Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3451-0; paperback (March 2010); Rated “T” for Teen
192pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda.  It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 1997.  VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series, beginning in September 2003, under its “Shonen Jump” imprint.

One Piece focuses on Monkey D. Luffy, who wants to become the King of the Pirates.  The enchanted “Devil Fruit” gave him the ability to stretch like rubber, but it also took away his ability to swim.  Not deterred from his dream, Luffy set out to sea and gradually enlisted his very own pirate crew, known as the “Straw Hats.”  They sail the oceans on their ship, the Merry Go, searching for the legendary treasure known as “One Piece.”

One Piece, Vol. 35 (Chapters 328 to 336; entitled “Captain”) finds the Straw Hats in The City of Water on the island of Water Seven.  They are going to use the gold they found during their Skypeia adventure to repair the Merry Go.

The gold nets them 300 million berries, but all that money earns them the attention of the Franky Family, a band of ship dismantlers and part-time bounty hunters.  Meanwhile, the newest Straw Hat, Nico Robin, goes missing, and Luffy makes a shocking announcement that puts him at odds with shipmate, Usopp.

THE LOWDOWN:  At less than 190 pages of narrative, One Piece Volume 35 reads like a graphic novel twice its size.  Featuring visually potent art, this volume of One Piece has intrigue, superhero-like fights, an assassination attempt, a shocking announcement, and a fight between brothers.  The weirdo characters and outlandish settings are in abundance, and there’s the ever-present cliffhanger that will make you return for another volume of pirate goodness.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers looking for top “Shonen Jump” titles will want One Piece.

A-
7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Movie Review: THE NEW MUTANTS

The New Mutants (2020)

Running time:  94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violent content, some disturbing/bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material
DIRECTOR:  Josh Boone
WRITERS:  Josh Boone and Knate Lee (based on the Marvel Comics characters)
PRODUCERS:  Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Karen Rosenfelt
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Peter Deming (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Andrew Buckland, Matthew Rundell, and Robb Sullivan
COMPOSER:  Mark Snow

SUPERHERO/HORROR/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, Alice Braga, Adam Beach, Thomas Kee, Colbi Gannett, and Happy Anderson

The New Mutants is a 2020 superhero movie from director Josh Boone.  It was 20th Century Fox’s thirteenth and final film film based on Marvel Comics’ X-Men comic book franchise.  The film uses comic book characters and stories created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod and Bill Sienkiewicz.  The New Mutants movie focuses on five young mutants held in a secret facility where they try to deal with their powers, pasts, and sins.

The New Mutants opens with Danielle “Dani” Moonstar (Blu Hunt), a young Cheyenne Native American, experiencing the devastation of her entire reservation by what seems to be an “F5” tornado.  After falling unconscious during the tornado, Dani awakens in an empty hospital room to find herself secured to a bed by restraining straps.

Dani soon meets Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga), who comforts Dani.  Dr. Reyes explains that Dani is not an ordinary human being, but is rather a “new mutant,” a mutant who is just awakening to her mutant abilities and powers.  Dr. Reyes also explains that Dani will be confined to this mysterious and unnamed medical facility until they discover what exactly Dani's mutant power is and also until Dani learns to control that power.

Dani is introduced to four other new mutants:  Sam (Charlie Heaton), Illyana (Anya Taylor-Joy), Roberto or “Bobby” (Henry Zaga), and Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams).  Rahne befriends Dani and the two set out to discover the secrets of both the facility and the identity of the mysterious entity (Essex Corporation) that controls it.  Dani discovers that she isn't the only one trying to escape the traumas of her past.  Will her mysterious power and her past, personified by a mythical creature called the “Demon Bear,” destroy not only Dani, but also the other new mutants.

Apparently, Josh Boone, the co-writer and director of The New Mutants,” described the film's same-sex love story and subplot between Dani and Rahne as “character-driven stuff.”  That pretty much describes the character drama and development in The New Mutants; it's all just stuff.  Dani and Rahne's gay-teen-puppy-love is actually sweet, and when The New Mutants focuses on that, the film is actually enjoyable.  All the other character-driven … stuff is the usual young adult tropes:  (lame) bullying; (lame) guilt, (lame) grief, and (lame) teen squabbling and conflict.  And the rotten cherry on top is Anya Taylor-Joy's awful, lazy, and deplorable Russian accent as Illyana.

I am a decades-long fan of The New Mutants, going back to the original Marvel Graphic Novel (written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Bob McLeod) in which the characters made their debut and to the first issue of their own comic book, The New Mutants #1 (cover dated: March 1983).  The screenplay for The New Mutants film is not so much an adaptation of any particular New Mutants comic books, but is rather a cherry-picking of a few elements from particular stories like “The Demon Bear Saga” (written by Claremont and drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz).

The New Mutants is an explosive concept, especially considering that it follows kids with traumatic pasts who have largely unknown and untested, dangerous extraordinary powers.  The New Mutants film is a misfire instead of an explosion.  It is not that this film's story is incoherent; it is simply an easy-to-follow, but boring story.  I wanted the characters to save themselves and to have a happy ending because I simply wanted this tiresome and uninspiring movie to end.

When I first heard that 20th Century Fox was making a horror movie set in the X-Men franchise, I thought that this film could be a disaster, but I secretly hoped that they could pull it off.  But my first instincts were right, and luckily Disney absorbed Fox and put an end to Fox's parade of trashy X-Men movies.  As bad as The New Mutants is (and it is awful), its ending also signals the end of a nightmare series of movies in a franchise that had a very promising start back in 2000 with the film simply entitled, X-Men.  I won't recommend The New Mutants to anyone, even to the fans that feel they have to watch every X-Men movie.

D

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: FOOD WARS!" Shokugeki No Soma Volume 36

FOOD WARS!: SHOKUGEKI NO SOMA, VOL. 36
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

STORY: Yuto Tsukuda
ART: Shun Saeki
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
CONTRIBUTOR: Yuki Morisaki
LETTERS: James Gaubatz; Mara Coman
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1542-8; paperback (June 2020); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
248pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma is a shonen manga series written by Yuto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki.  Yuki Morisaki, a culinary researcher, also works as a contributor, providing the recipes for the series.  Food Wars! was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, from November 2012 to June 2019.  VIZ Media published an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series from August 2014 to June 2020 under two imprints:  first, “Shonen Jump Advanced” and then, “Shonen Jump.”

Food Wars! focuses on teenager Soma Yukihira.  He grows up cooking in his father's Yukihira Family Restaurant.  The 15-year-old wants to be a better chef than his father, Joshiro Yukihira (Saiba), so he hones his skills day in and day out.  His father decides to enroll him in a classy culinary school, Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, a place that prides itself on a 10 percent graduation rate.  If Soma Yukihira really does not want to attend Totsuki, how can he succeed?

As Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma, Vol. 36 (Chapters 309 to 315; entitled “Shokugeki No Soma”) opens, the “Blue,” a world-renowned cooking tournament for the best of the best young chefs from around the world, approaches its conclusion.  This year, for the first time, traditional chefs clash with the “underground noir” (or “cuisiniers noir”) chefs.  Soma has been eager for a rematch with the noir, Asahi Saiba, who defeated him.

Now, the two are facing off, and the judge is the impossible-to-please “Lady Mana,” who is Erina Nakiri's mysterious mother.  Like Erina, Mana suffers the “curse of the 'Divine Tongue',” and Mana has not found a dish that satisfies her in years.  As “the Book” (highest judge), Mana has demanded that Soma and Asahi prepare a dish that represents the “five grand cuisines of the world,” which are French, Chinese, Turkish, Indian, and Italian.

Asahi has shocked the audience with his dish, the “basty,” a soup covered with a lattice pie crust, and it represents the five grand cuisines.  Even Lady Mana is so impressed by what she tastes that she both experiences “the gifting” transfers it to those around her.  And what is Soma's answer to Asahi's basty?  It's fried rice?!

Can Soma win with what seems like a rather ordinary dish?  And finally, can Soma inspire the dispirited Erina to be herself again?

THE LOWDOWN:  The Food Wars! manga spent the last 30 or so chapters racing towards the conclusion of its narrative.  At the grand cooking tournament, the Blue, readers prepared to learn the answer to the question of who is the best chef?

Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma Graphic Novel Volume 36 is the final tankobon (graphic novel) volume of the series.  The English-language edition was originally published in June 2020, but I only recently had a chance to finish reading the last few volumes of the series.

What can I tell you, dear readers?  To the end, writer Yuto Tsukuda and artist Shun Saeki maintained the series' mix of competition, camaraderie, and cooking.  As he has been doing since the beginning of the series, Yuki Morisaki, wrote home versions of shokugeki recipes, which, in this volume, was Soma's winning dish.  It is that consistency that kept Food Wars! an exciting read throughout its six-year, 315-chapter, 36-volume run.

To the end, Adrienne Beck's translation catches the sense of competition and of comedy-drama in all their varies modes.  Letterers James Gaubatz and Mara Coman created a rhythm that kept this often dialogue-heavy story from overwhelming readers.  Of the foodie manga that I have read, I think Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma is the one most likely to continue to capture the interest of readers in the decade of the 2020s the way it did in the decade of the 20-teens.  I think it is a must for fans of Weekly Shonen Jump series.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Readers hungry for good manga will want the “Shonen Jump” title, Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma.

A
9 out of 10

The volume includes the following bonus features:

– Afterwords written by Yuto Tsukuda, Shun Saeki, and Yuki Morisaki

– The three-part epilogue, “Food Wars! Le Dessert,” that was originally published in Jump GIGA Summer 2019.  The three parts are entitled  “Le Presént,” “Le Passé,” and “Le Futur.”

– “Special Commemorative Illustrations on the End of 'Food Wars!'” from Eiichiro Oda of “One Piece,” Kohei Horikoshi of “My Hero Academia,” Yuki Tabata of “Black Clover,” and Tadahiro Miura of “Yuna of the Haunted Hot Springs”

– miscellaneous illustrations

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Movie Review: X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX Doesn't Get the "Phoenix Saga" Right, Either

Dark Phoenix (2019)

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Running time:  113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action including some gun play, disturbing images, and brief strong language
DIRECTOR:  Simon Kinberg
WRITERS:  Simon Kinberg (based on Marvel Comics characters)
PRODUCERS:  Hutch Parker, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Todd Hallowell
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Mauro Fiore
EDITOR:  Lee Smith
COMPOSER:  Hans Zimmer

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring:  James McAvoy, Sophie Turner, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Summer Fontana, Scott Shepherd, Ato Essandoh, and Jessica Chastain

Dark Phoenix is a 2019 superhero movie from writer-director Simon Kinberg.  It is 20th Century Fox’s twelfth film based on Marvel Comics’ X-Men comic book franchise.  This movie is also a sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).  In Dark Phoenix (also known as X-Men: Dark Phoenix), one of the X-Men begins to develop incredible powers that will force the rest of the X-Men to decide if this one mutant's life is worth more than all of humanity.

Dark Phoenix opens in 1975 and introduces eight-year-old Jean Grey (Summer Fontana) and depicts the automobile accident that changes her life and brings Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) into her life.  Then, the story moves to 1992 and to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.  There, Xavier has turned the X-Men into what some describe as a team of superheroes that steps in to protect and help mankind when no one else can.

The latest emergency involves a distress signal from a recently launched space shuttle, which has been critically damaged by a solar flare-like energy.  Xavier sends his strike team, “the X-Men”:  Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Ororo Munroe/Storm (Alexandra Shipp) to rescue the astronauts aboard the space shuttle.  Raven goes along on the mission, but she is furious that Xavier puts his students in danger for the rest of humanity, which she still regards with suspicion.

The X-Men arrive in their jet, the Blackbird, to find the situation rapidly deteriorating and the strange energy mass approaching the shuttle.  While saving the astronauts, Jean is struck by the energy and absorbs it into her body.  This apparently helps her to miraculously survive the blast of the shuttle explosion.  The X-Men and Xavier's other students start calling Jean “Phoenix” because of her miraculously survival.

However, the result of absorbing that energy causes Jean's psychic powers to be greatly amplified.  In turn, that causes her emotional state to begin to deteriorate, leading to tragedy.  Soon, the X-Men are hunting Jean Grey, and so are the X-Men's adversary/rival, Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and also the U.S. military.  Vuk, the leader of a shape-shifting alien race known as the D'Bari, is also searching for Jean, specifically for the power Jean harbors inside her.  Can Xavier and the X-Men save Phoenix, or will their act of salvation doom humanity?

Both film adaptations of the classic X-Men comic book story arc, “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2019's Dark Phoenix, fail to approach the riveting melodrama and enthralling soap opera that readers found and continue to find in Marvel Comics's The X-Men #129-138 (publication cover dates:  January to October 1980).  The writers of both films alter the core original story – to the movies' detriment.

Writer-director Simon Kinberg apparently directed some of 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past and much or most of 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, although Bryan Singer is credited as the director of both films.  I consider both films to be disappointments, one more than the other.  True to form, Simon Kinberg delivers in Dark Phoenix a film that is mostly a dud.

The storytelling feels contrived, and the screenwriting offers laughable concepts, especially the entire D'Bari alien subplot; that's just some stupid shit.  Dark Phoenix is one of two final films in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film franchise (the other being the long-delayed The New Mutants, which was finally released in 2020).  I say that Dark Phoenix is deeply disappointing, but honestly, I did not expect much of it, from the moment I first heard that it was going into production.  In fact, this film is a devolution from the franchise's peak, which was released 16 years prior to Dark Phoenix, the fantastic X2: X-Men United (2003).

Even the acting is bad.  Playing Vuk the alien is the lowest low point of Jessica Chastain's career, which includes two Academy Award nominations.  James McAvoy as Xavier, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, and Michael Fassbender as Erik are overwrought, and when they are trying to have serious conversations, they deliver hackneyed and derivative dialogue and unoriginal speeches.  Maybe their bad acting is a result of uninspired script writing.  However, I did find that Tye Sheridan as Scott, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt, and Alexandra Shipp as Ororo made the most of their scenes, especially Sheridan.  If his Scott Summers/Cyclops were the center of Dark Phoenix, the film would be much better.  Because of him, I am giving this film a higher grade than I planned to do.

Dark Phoenix just doesn't work, and it rarely connected with me.  I don't think that it will connect with audiences the way some of the best and most popular X-Men films did.  Oh, well – let's hope that Marvel Studios does better with its planned X-Men films...

C

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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