Category: Comics

Netflix and Marvel have launched their second attack on my free time, Jessica Jones.  It amazes me to say it, but so far I like Jessica Jones more than their previous outing Daredevil.  Which I loved.  It is because it is so different than anything else on TV.  Daredevil was Marvel’s take on what the CW has been doing well for awhile now, and that is the standard superhero TV show, but a little darker and with a slightly bigger budget.  Jessica Jones on the other hand is a completely different beast all together.

The show is about the titular Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) as she runs her Alias private investigation firm, but mostly as she tries to track down the crazy evil Kilgrave (David Tennant).  It starts off normal enough until you start to learn more about their powers.  Jessica is super strong and can jump really far (she calls it controlled falling), and Kilgrave can make anyone do anything he wants if tells them to do it in person.

Kilgrave’s power makes him one of the scariest bad guys Marvel has unleased.  Sure Loki could control people’s minds, but Loki had a certain charm to him that made his deviousness more palatable.  Kilgrave however is pure nightmare fuel.  He doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and his obsession with Jones.  Once a person has served their purpose they are lucky if they are left to go about their normal lives.  He is a spoiled child, and no one can tell him ‘no’.

The acting is top notch.  Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones is a very broken woman, but she insures that you see her inner strength pushing through it all and matching her outer strength.  David Tennant is putting the world on notice that he is not The Doctor anymore.  Kilgrave is one screwed up dude, and it will be hard to see Tennant any other way for awhile.  Mike Colter’s Luke Cage has me excited for his new show coming next year.  The Unbreakable Man should be a lot of fun to watch.

Jessica Jones may be Marvel’s darkest and most twisted tale.  It is living up to its TV MA rating, but it is great to see that Marvel has more up its sleeves than just dudes in costumes.  In this case a little sociological horror and some gumshoeing.  Netflix and Marvel have been really knocking these shows out of the park, and as long as they keep releasing them, I will be renewing my Netflix subscription.

Each episode of Supergirl gets better, but the problem is what isn’t on screen: Superman.  The show just can’t shake him.  They are always talking about him.  He is a major character of the show, and he has no screen time (well almost none)!  This is what I was worried about with Supergirl, and why I thought they should have gone with Kara’s Earth Two counterpart Power Girl.  By having the ‘S’ on Kara Danvers chest they are having to write around the most iconic superhero of all time.  That is not an easy task.

For now I think they would be best served by just not talking about him.  The show has established who Kara is, and that she is a hero in her own right, so now they just need to focus on her and her gang.  No more of this ‘what would Superman do’ crap.  He is not around, and this isn’t his show.  Heck it might even be good for Kara to get a new job.  That way they could make her less of a Clark Kent knock off.  Like I said, the show is getting better, and it is keeping its fun airy vibe.  It is nice to have a superhero that is enjoying herself, and there are much worse ways to spend an hour.

The Walking Dead season six got underway this last Sunday, and it was fine.  It was mostly Rick asserting himself as the leader while they covered what the group had been up to since we had last seen them.  Which was all good, but due to the episode being an hour and a half long it seemed to drag a little, and it was mostly a setup for next week, so there wasn’t a good conclusion to the episode.  They did do a fun alternating black and white to color effect to make it easier for the audience keep track of what was in the past and what was present. It worked really well.  I wonder if it is something they are going to keep doing?

I am excited to see what happens next week, so that is something.  The writing continues be solid.  Which means keeping Scott Gimple as the executive producer seems to be working out.  I just hope they can keep this show on the rails, and that it doesn’t outlast its welcome.  I don’t want to see any zombies jumping any sharks any time soon.  Zombie sharks on the other hand…