Final Task: Fandom Wars

I got the idea for this final task from one of the many things in fandom culture that frustrates me. The pointless arguing about whether thing A or B is better. I mean there's nothing wrong about talking what you like and don't like or disagreeing with people, but it's gotten ridiculous. For example year ago when Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released, the people who didn't like the film got so mad they started to threaten and harass the creators of the film.

While the Last Jedi case is one extreme example of this,  I keep seeing these pointless fights going on. What is the better console? Who makes the best superhero films or comics? While there might be some good points too, mostly it's been just as pointless as fighting whether blue or red is the best colour. 

In this one page comic I try to illustrate what I'm seeing. The arguments people have online are represented by an physical fight in my comic. Both participant thinks of themselves as a huge and powerful warrior, fighting for the most important thing in their life. However, in the end we see that the two are actually pretty much the same, with their preferred choice of colour being the only visible difference.

Process

My process of making the comic was pretty simple. I used Adobe Photoshop and Wacom drawing tablet at school. I'm not especially great at painting or drawing, but I had good time doing it.

1. Sketching. I draw a quick simple version of the panel

2. Coloured shapes. Under the sketch I paint the characters.

3. Shadows and lights. I simply use Photoshop's dodge and burn tools to give some life to the characters. 

4. Faces. I give the characters facial features and their glasses.

5. The rest. I create the needed effects or weapons and make the simple backgrounds.

The paintings are not perfect but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Fandoms represented

Should be mentioned that the comic is based on my own experience in the past with reading things online and meeting people in real life during these 25 years I've lived. So if you haven't personally witnessed these arguments it doesn't really matter.

• Naruto vs. One Piece. Japanese comics. Represented by throwing star and stretching arm respectively
• DC Comics vs. Marvel Comics. The two big companies telling superhero stories. DC represented by Batman's bat-shaped throwing stars and Marvel by shield of Captain America
• American comics vs. Japanese comics. First represented by cape and heat vision of Superman, the second by Kamehameha-wave from Dragon Ball
• Star Wars sequel trilogy vs. Star Wars prequel trilogy. Sequels represented by crossguard lightsaber of Kylo Ren and prequels by double bladed lightsaber of Darth Maul. CALM THE FUCK DOWN.

The Comic

Here it finally is: 

Hah, that sure was silly.

Final Words

Just maybe instead of yelling about whether strawberry or raspberry is the superior berry, just celebrate how much cool stuff we have available for us? And if someone else likes something you don't try to be happy for them and get yourself something else. And have fun. And most of all love and respect each other <3

-OK

OK MCU Media Diary Part 6: Day Unlike Any Other... (The Avengers, 2012)

In 2012 when I was in full Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) mode. I had watched all the films and even forced my younger sibling to watch them as well. We were super excited for the upcoming team up film. The characters were so fun that even if the film would end up bad, it would still be good time. I know we didn't, but in my memories I see us running excited to the cinema.

The Avengers did not dissappoint. It was exactly what I wanted from a big team up movie. Lot of fun action for sure but most importantly a group of different colorful superheroes coming together and interacting with each other.

Through the years I've seen The Avengers again and again. Always loving it. It still does the job, even if I can see some flaws in it too.

The Avengers

Directed by: Joss Whedon
Screenplay by: Joss Whedon
Story by: Zak Penn, Joss Whedon
Produced by: Kevin Feige
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson
Based on a team created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The Avengers is the sixth film in the MCU. When Asgardian god Loki (Tom Hiddleston) proves too big of a challenge for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D, Fury assembles team of superheroes to fight the battle regular humans couldn't. Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) must overcome their differences and unite in order to beat Loki and his evil alien army.

The Avengers is a blast. Superheroes from their own individual movies coming together and interacting is a blast to see. The actors play excellently together. The action in this film is just blast. Many have described it as taking your action figures as a child and makinh them fight. And that's a beautiful idea.

Avengers Assembled

The most important thing about the big team up movie is seeing your favorite heroes interact. Even though it takes about 30 minutes to get the characters together, it really is worth the wait. The whole cast does a great job portraying their characters and the quippy dialogue compliments their talent.

Especially the chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Steve Rogers/Captain America respectively, is a joy to watch. The verbal clash and the contrast between modern tech genius and a soldier from the past is really great to watch and it's truly satisfying when they join forces in the end.

All the other players do good job as well. Mark Ruffalo takes the role of Bruce Banner/Hulk from Edward Norton and does a really great job bringing certain every-mannes to the role. Scarlett Johansson gets a bit more to do as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, especially the intense interrigation scene with Tom Hiddleston is great.

The Big Brawl

The Avengers is filled with action. It starts with a car chase which maybe isn't that exciting way to start a superhero film, but later when heroes get to fight it's fantastic.

The geekiest of comic book readers have always been arguing whether Hulk or Thor is the strongest Avenger, so of course film has them fighting against each other. Hulk fighting had never looked this good before.

The most important action scene is the end when all six Avengers are together fighting an army of aliens together. It's a huge long celebration of all the work Marvel Studios had done to get to this point. And it's a blast to watch.

Seeing the heroes work together all with their different power sets makes the fight really enjoyable. It doesn't matter whether each one of them has a power set as strong as the other as long as they look different enough. Some use martial arts, one uses arrows and one lightning. The feeling of unity and togethernes really comed through. And it's always great too heroes saving people why they fight.


Universe building

The Avengers is where all the previous films were aiming for. In that sense the film is more about playing in the universe the previous films set up. It still does work pretty well as it's own thing, even though they don't get stuck on who's who for long.

For the future of the franchise The Avengers introduces Thanos in the mid-credits scene. He's only seen for a moment as the bigger bad who gave Loki his weapon and army for this film. Thanos would be teased as the big bad of the whole MCU for years to come, until he finally became the main character of Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

In the comics...

The big difference that first comes to mind comparing The Avengers film and the first issue of The Avengers comic book is the team line up. Iron Man, Hulk and Thor can be found in both, but comic book also had Ant-Man and the Wasp. Captain America joined in issue #4, Hawkeye a bit later and Black Widow way later. Since then all of them have become recurring members with Captain America, Iron Man and Thor being considered the core three.

Team line up had changed a lot through the years and there have been several different Avenger teams and comic book series. Personally I've enjoyed New Avengers by Brian Bendis, Mighty Avengers by Al Ewing, All-New, All-Different Avengers by Mark Waid and countless others.

Like the film, Avengers comics are all about bringing your favorite characters together to interract. Sometimes they don't get along, sometimes they do and it's always joy to see them together and fight their way to victory in the end.

Speaking of the end

Avengers still holds up in my books. It was a never before seen phenomena that made all the other studios want to make their own cinematic universes.

The movie can be viewed as a pure spectacle, but it really is also about coming together for bigger cause. I think it's never a bad time to remind people the importance of working together.


Now next time... I'm writing something else. Watching my favoite films as homework feeled like a great idea, but made watching them and writing about them too big deal. So I'll focus on something else in my next blog posts. Maybe some other films I'm watching or game I'm playing. We'll see.

As always, have fun, love and respect each other.

-O.K.

P.S. No pictures or videos today. I wrote this on my phone. Sorry about the possible quality drop.