Me playing with colours in Photoshop, and commenting on comics (mostly from the MDCU). If what I colour is yours and you don't want it here let me know.
“For example, it may be unclear which diagnosis should “principle” for an individual hospitalized with both schizophrenia and alcohol use disorder, because each condition could have contributed equally to the need for admission and treatment”
But Laura had a spark before Ananke got to her…through Lucifer, no?
In 1831 I feel like it’s made clear that Clairmont had been pursuing Byron/Lucifer but that he wasn’t interested in her until she ascended, which she achieved by killing Mary/Woden’s children for Ananke. Hence, the secret she shares with Ananke that she mentions at the beginning.
She had, of course. But i was referring to Ananke dismissing her as nobody at first. Just a girl close to Lucifer, a fangirl like many others. She said it took her too long to find her. And i wonder is that even true? Could she see her as a Persephone before, but only decide to act when she needed a victim?
And of course Ananke ‘corrected her mistake” in that case not because of her kindness, there’s a motive to all. Oh, so that makes Clairmont similar to the current Pantheon’s Woden as in the sense of Ananke’s accomplice. But that all does not explain the mechanism of ascension, apotheosis (do we have an official name?) tho. People get granted divinity in exchange for something or when Ananke saw something in them, and it’s clearly a part of the plan. It’s just a little frustrating, but also very fascinating and exciting, that we still get only glimpses of her intents, not a full picture.
I think Ananke may have been telling part of the truth when she said “They would develop without me, but I speed it along.” That some gods would emerge on their own without her intervention, but that the timeframe, the numbers, the geography and so forth would likely be completely disorganized and far less effective.
With Persephone, I think Ananke realized that night in Cassandra’s trailer who Laura was already becoming and decided that steps had to be taken to sort her out before she did more damage. (More damage? Yeah! Put aside Laura being a prime mover in trying to uncover the truth behind the judge, think about that Laura/Cass/Ananke scene: Cass is having a big time despair moment, the kind of low point where Ananke likes to swoop in on a god and say “Hey, how about suicide? Or maybe you could try murdering someone?” But before Ananke can take charge of the situation, Laura barges in and makes Cass feel better, makes her feel loved. This girl is a menace. She could wreck everything.)
Personally, I have always assumed the end game of WicDiv will be the revelation that everybody that is receptive to the mystery of transformation can become divine. Art as transformative magic.
The mystery cults seem to inform the story, provide some key deities, and perhaps inform the structure. It just needs someone to guide you through the ritual, help you enact your part, and reveal the hidden truth.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Clairmont analogue serves as a mirror for Laura.
SPOILERS EVERYWHERE YALL
Imma just drop it all in bullet points to make it easy for myself
First the Pantheon:
Woden as Mary Shelley
Morrigan as Percy Shelley
Inanna as Claire Clairmont
Hades as John Keats
Lucifer as Byron
Thoth as Poe
Perun as Pushkin
Morpheus as Coleridge
The Norns/Fates/Furies as the Brontë sisters
Hestia as Mary Wollenstonecraft
William Blake as something angelic, or Sunday related or cat related? (Tiger tiger burning Bright)
That leaves and unknown 12th but it should be noted that the Brontës, don’t necessarily have to forma triad. More on that later
Austen was 20 years dead my this point so not my choice for Hestia tho I’m not sure how much that matters
The Puzzles:
-This pantheon seems super unbalanced, heavily cthonical and/or dark, ???? Wtf
-Mary Shelley’s dead babies, if one can presume that this pantheon left no written works or less, due to their obsession with leaving something behind, is this a convenient allegory or something more indicative of what becomes of people once they go different, sleep food drink procreate, how much of that is still function and how much is just fuck it why not at this point ie, How human are they anymore?
-Are triads a necessary part of a pantheon? are they only ever triads? And most importantly for the sake of Cass and crew, do they ever make it to the end? Are pairs ever a thing?
-Does Ananke always have a patsy? Does she need one? Why did she want those babies dead? Are David and William Blake related and does she know about that?
-How much reoccurs in a reoccurence? Inanna and Lucifer always seem to find their ways to each other, and it always seems to have unfortunate consequences for the rest. Varying types of discord and infidelity is definitely becoming a thing. Even in 1924 there is palpable interpersonal discomfort in that room for all 3 pages that it’s intact
-Is Ananke for some reason now allowed to kill the final 4? She seems to prefer to let them take themselves out, she hunted down Inanna because she clearly had no intention to kill herself but, it’s super easy to see that she might have intended them to all die at the creatures hands in there
The Deep Shit
THE MOTHERFUCKIN CREATURE. Did Ananke kill it. I somehow don’t think so, my reasons. Pink woden and The bracelet Amaterasu wears in her first scene? Like straight up, pink woden is in know way just a straight up mecha. WODEN TALKS TO IT IN 14 AND IT RESPONDS. It’s horn shape matches Shelley! Woden too. Hades bracelet showing up on Amaterasu in that spread panel can’t be a coincidence either, there’s is way too much hand focus on that jewelry in this issue ya’ll, and Keats outstretched hand in first panel mimicks hers too.
To my above point if Ananke meant for the creature to kill everyone at the lake house, what did she intend to do with it after, a companion? She cops to feeling lonely in issue 10 when talking about Robert Graves. Perhaps the servant that she seems to always need, a consistent one to not have to die every 90 yrs
And lastly equivalence. Pantheon seems are clearly not identical. But parallel I guess? Morpheus = Dio, Thoth= Minerva, Hades=Nergal, and so on with the basics. But here’s the thing with now 2 near full pantheons, there are a couple weirdnesses. After this, I can’t thing of that black man as Baal or the little girl as Minerva, the archetypes don’t lay right to me anymore, not with Susannoo confirmed in the mix, and it should be noted that his is the only confined name there. The lightning bolts could be sigil for Baal or Susannoo and there are so many ram/horned gods that it’s crazy to thing that rams +lightning must equal Baal. As for the girl she’s either Lucifer or Morrigan, I’m honestly starting to think that the reoccurence of 1924 was almost as much a cluster fuck as the current one, between the insanely opaque gods and the slashed in half skull, something superbig ain’t right there.
I am pretty sure death does not matter, as these are apparently not the actual romantics and literary figures but analogues. The case for Austen seems too strong because of the 'pride' wording. Keats was also ten years dead I think, and that is an obvious one.
Not to mention the date for the Geneva trip being way out, again suggesting that these are not the events we know.
Thoth looks and seems like Poe but dying in Paris suggests Baudelaire the French poet and Poe translator.
I am also confused by the 12th not being present. Does make me wonder if the resurrected creature counts. As it is “the modern Prometheus” being a Frankenstein’s monster analogue it is possibly no longer Woden, despite probably still being alive today.
Also worth noting Perun is also a lightning and storm God.
Keats = Hades,
Inanna = Claire Clairmont,
Lucifer = Lord Byron,
Wodan = Mary Shelly,
The Morrigan = Shelly,
Morpheus = Coleridge,
Hestia = Jane Austin,
Angel of Soho, Urizen… = William Blake,
Three Lonely Sisters / Three Graces? / Fates? = The Brontes
Perun = Pushkin
Thoth = Baudelaire? (Translator of Poe, poet, died in Paris.)
? = ? (Am I missing a reference)
Are we to gather that the whole Romantic movement was wiped out in this apparently alternate timeline?
It is indeed systemic. I blame Nolan. He went dark and gritty and convinced everyone else that was the way to go. But it really isn’t.
But then I don’t rate his movies that highly. They are interesting but ultimately depressing. I don’t want my superheroes stuck in a cycle of grief: anger over crime, perpetual bargaining with an uncaring universe, serious trust issues, depressive tendencies when dealing with others and no sign of acceptance does not make for a satisfyingly story in the long term.
Batman is supposed to be intelligent and self aware, surely he would look up his symptoms online just out of curiosity. Yes we get to see angry men punch each other but that wears thin after a couple of films. I literally fell asleep during Man of Steel while all the fighting was happening.
I live in hope that someone at DC might look over the scripts and say ‘hey why is everyone so grim?’ But so far nobody has.
By the way, somebody needs to explain how the movie business works to the Cracked correspondent in the link. He seems to lump every Marvel movie together and recites the received wisdom nonsense about the X-Men deal. A little research would go a long way.
Captain America: Civil War is one of those movies goes that is bound to divide critics, or at least the hard core fans from everyone else. The Russo’s take great pains to play to the gallery, and ensure the core audience is not disappointed. Indeed the movie leaves me conflicted. The Marvel fan inside me was smiling for most of the film, but the part of me that demands a well written and self-contained story from any cinema visit was left disappointed.
The problem begins with the title. In many ways this is not a Captain America movie and it certainly isn’t about a war. While this movie directly follows on from The Winter Soldier, and continues with those themes, it would be wrong to suggest that the tone of that movie is maintained. This movie departs from the notion of Marvel movies being separate recognisable genre pieces, because the only genre this film fits into is action blockbuster, which is the genre usually reserved for The Avengers. If you are expecting the kind of hard boiled movie that we had last time you will be disappointed, a few more minutes in the saucepan would have helped.
Luckily this is not the kind of blockbuster that has you struggling to understand the action. Every moment of the overextended fight sequences serve to situate the viewer in the action. Each character is served well and nobody is left looking weak or underpowered. Fans of each character will be left happy. Unfortunately most of the main set piece at the airport is superfluous, serving a couple of beats, both of which are at the end of the sequence. This has always been the problem with action blockbusters, where set pieces often exist for their own benefit without serving the wider narrative. At one point, after the big chase scene, Cap even has to remind us why it was even taking place.
The airport fight is key to both the strength and weakness of the movie. At no point does this feel like a war. A handful of heroes punching a similar sized group of heroes is a skirmish at best. But the movie hangs on this. It relies on this sequence to launch us towards the climax but contains the seeds of disappointment as you never get the feeling that the issues are resolved. The story ends up feeling half told, and you reflect back and realise it all started to come apart at this point.
- Spoilers follow
Civil War tries to square the circle, it tries to have two conflicting sides of an argument and yet not fully decide which is correct. That isn’t intrinsically bad, but because this is a Captain America movie, it takes pains to portray his side as being right and victorious. It is impossible to do this: if the issues remain unresolved then you can’t have a victory. This leaves the resolution feeling hollow. The denouement feels like the kind of montage sequence you get just before a final act, not at the end.
To focus in on one element, take The Vision pondering the fate of Wanda as he toys with the red queen from his chess board. Wanda’s arc ends up placing her in a worse position than she was under the watchful eye of von Strucker. The nascent relationship between Wanda and The Vision is pitch perfect, and acted flawlessly, but the actual resolution feels wrong. When Tony offers Steve the compromise of signing and retroactively wiping the slate clean, Steve takes Wanda’s plight as the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and yet his actions don’t in any way help her. He could have negotiated some kind of compromise at this point, that didn’t involve him signing, but liberated Wanda from a straitjacket, but no. Instead this plot beat is used to push the two sides apart, widen the conflict and leave half of his team literally at sea.
Issues like this leave a poor impression. In many ways Captain America loses in his own movie, because it was in his power to take a more considered position without warping the plot. It all feels unnecessary and probably hints at further fallout in the next Avengers movie
Many performances stand out. Robert Downey Junior is required to carry the plot and he plays his role with style. The weight of his role is another reason why this doesn’t feel like a Captain America movie, maybe the title should have been ‘Captain America v Iron Man’ although I suspect the Civil War title is more bankable. Considering he needed to be convinced to take part in this movie outside of his contracted appearances, it feels like RDJ has come a long way back into the fold from the days when Kevin Feige was talking about how replaceable he was. Especially with his expected part in the next Spider-Man movie.
Tom Holland is likeable even before he is on screen. I applauded as soon as we saw the establishment shot because it was instantly apparent by the choice of skyline that this movie understood Spider-Man. This isn’t a Spider-Man that lives a middle class emo existence. Even knowing he was a good actor beforehand I was surprised how well he captured the character of the young Peter Parker. His performance is so natural and unaffected it took we a while to realise he was doing an accent. I can’t tell you how relived I am that we have a decent Spider-Man on film. A Spider-Man balancing homework with heroics rather than teen angst, hoodies and girlfriends flying to Europe. The moment he effortlessly grabs Bucky’s fist demonstrates more about his strength and levity than the last three movies ever could. It is a testament to how closely Sony have been pulled into the MCU that the end credit sequence is a Spider-Man teaser, and not a Doctor Strange one.
Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa also needs to carry a lot of this movie. Indeed he is in many ways a dramatic foil for Stark, both dealing with parental loss and ultimately resolving their issues in different ways. Again we are in good hands, as soon as T'Challa appeared on screen I was immediately comfortable with the casting. His part in the movie has to skirt a fine line, serious and reflective while hinting at the weight of responsibility and tradition upon his shoulders. All of that while actually getting limited dialogue and less screen time than the other key players. Sometimes a lack of dialogue can help a character: Boseman does a lot of the work with his physical presence. He exudes charm and gravitas, you can instantly relate to him as cultured and thoughtful with charisma and intelligence. Black Panther has always been an intriguing character in the comics, and his most recent stories have been central to the meta-plot, so a lot of fans were hoping Boseman could pull this off. He does, and his performance will make fans eager to see Black Panther’s solo outing.
Sebastian Stan as Bucky, is the solid performance around which most of the plot hinges. Chris Evans plays straight man Cap as well as ever. Johansson’s perfect performance as Black Widow still begs the question why she hasn’t had a solo movie.
So much of this movie is great, the action, the acting, the casting, even most of the scenes. It is the overall plot that ultimately stops this taking its place alongside the greatest MCU movies. I can imagine many fans walking out of this with massive smiles on their faces and I am not surprised many of them are granting top marks. I find the many five star reviews in the press more difficult to fathom.
I miss this comic so much! A small slice of ice-cool crazy in the MU that is sadly missing right now.
Come on Gillen stop playing with those Star Wars miniatures, I know that black one is cool but the little red lightsaber always gets lost at the bottom of your toy box and the cape never hangs right.
Get back to the important job. Telling stories about young heroes with F¥‰€d up lives and great hair.
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