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My Life Has Become A Boring Pop Song

@benskaggs

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benskaggs

Evan Peters’ Quiksilver is the Perfect Introduction to Mutants in the MCU

Spoiler Alert: This week’s episode of WandaVision, “On a Very Special Episode…”, brought back an unexpected character to the MCU, Pietro Maximoff, aka Quiksilver, albeit with a twist.

Fans will remember that Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) was first introduced in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron alongside his sister Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) as twins who had been test subjects in a Hydra facility in Sokovia. Pietro would later on sacrifice himself nobally to save Hawkeye and a Sokovian child during Ultron’s final assault. But this isn’t the only Pietro who exists on film.

Because of the complicated nature of both Wanda and Pietro’s origins in the comics, both Disney and Fox could use the characters as long certain aspects of their history were ignored. This meant that Disney couldn’t mention that Wanda and Pietro were mutants and Fox couldn’t mention the twins’ ties to the Avengers. This led to two versions of the character debuting within a year of each other - Taylor-Johnson in 2015 and Evan Peters in X-Men: Days of Future Past the summer before in 2014. Peters’ version of Pietro is most certainly a mutant and had a memorable scene-stealing moment involving security guards in a kitchen.

So when Wanda’s speedster brother comes knocking on her door at the end of Episode 5 of WandaVision, it would make sense to assume that we would be seeing Aaron Taylor-Johnson reprising his role but that isn’t the case. Instead we are treated to the sight of Peters back sporting grey hair in a shocking reveal. This has kicked the internet up into a frenzy with theories flying left and right about what this might mean for the MCU and it’s long-awaited and inevitable introduction of mutants. Many have wondered how Marvel would introduce this cavalcade of characters this late in the game but WandaVision might have given us a much simpler solution.

When her boys ask about resurrection following the death of their new puppy, Sparky, Wanda shoots them down and insists that it isn’t a good idea to bring people back from the dead. This is preceded by a conversation where her twins ask about their deceased uncle and Wanda, curiously, says that he is “lost” rather than dead. So if her real brother is dead and resurrecting him isn’t an option, then maybe Wanda has “borrowed” another version from out in the multiverse (Elizabeth Olsen is appearing as Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness afterall). This could open up the doors to Wanda bringing mutants to the MCU through these reality-altering shenanigans rather than Marvel having to come up with a convoluted explanation about mutants hiding in plain sight all this time or something along those lines.

But, of course, this could all be a giant red herring as well. There are still four more episodes of WandaVision to go so we’ll have to wait and see how this new Marvel mystery unfolds, but it does potentially point to exciting developments for X-Men fans.

benskaggs
mattfractionblog

So About That Whole Thing

LONG COMIC BOOK RANT INCOMING:

Okay some things need to be said:

1. If you’re going to write a smug thunk-piece about the “failure” of “diversity” in comics, maybe don’t use the cover image of a book that’s had 4 collections on the NYT graphic books bestseller list, won a Hugo and cleaned up at Angouleme. Just because you HOPE it’s on the chopping block, oh Riders of the Brohirrim, doesn’t mean it is.

2. I will tell you exactly why Ms Marvel works: it didn’t set out to be Ms Marvel. We were originally going to pitch it as a 10 issue limited series. I had a 3 issue exit strategy because I assumed we were going to get canned. There was no “diversity initiative” anywhere–getting that thing made at all was a struggle. It was a given that any character without AT LEAST a 20-year history would tank. Everybody, myself included, assumed this series was going to work out the same way.

3. That freed us–by “us” I mean the whole creative team–to tell exactly the story we wanted to tell. We had nothing to lose, nothing to overcome but low expectations. That gave us room to break a lot of rules.

STUFF THAT IS DIFFICULT TO REPLICATE AND IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAN:

1. Unexpected audiences. We are at a point in history when the role of religion is at a tremendous inflection point. What I didn’t realize was that the anxieties felt by young Muslims are also felt by young Mormons, evangelicals, orthodox Jews, and others. A h-u-g-e reason Ms Marvel has struck the chord it has is because it deals with the role of traditionalist faith in the context of social justice, and there was–apparently–an untapped audience of people from a wide variety of faith backgrounds who were eager for a story like this. Nobody could have predicted or planned for that. That’s being in the right place at the right time with the right story burning a hole in your pocket. Plenty of other stuff I’ve written and liked has fallen with a huge thud. That’s the norm. Exceptions are great when they happen, but hard to plan.

2. The paradox of low expectations. The bar was set pretty low for Ms Marvel, but because of Ms Marvel’s success, that bar got set much higher for similar books that came later.

STUFF THAT IS ENTIRELY AVOIDABLE:

1. This is a personal opinion, but IMO launching a legacy character by killing off or humiliating the original character sets the legacy character up for failure. Who wants a legacy if the legacy is shitty?

2. Diversity as a form of performative guilt doesn’t work. Let’s scrap the word diversity entirely and replace it with authenticity and realism. This is not a new world. This is *the world.*

3. Never try to be the next whoever. Be the first and only you. People smell BS a mile away.

4. The direct market and the book market have diverged. Never the twain shall meet. We need to accept this and move on, and market accordingly.

5. Not for nothing, but there is a direct correlation between the quote unquote “diverse” Big 2 properties that have done well (Luke Cage, Black Panther, Ms Marvel, Batgirl) and properties that have A STRONG SENSE OF PLACE. It’s not “diversity” that draws those elusive untapped audiences, it’s *particularity.* This is a vital distinction nobody seems to make. This goes back to authenticity and realism.

AND FINALLY

On a practical level, this is not really a story about “diversity” at all. It’s a story about the rise of YA comics. If you look at it that way, the things that sell and don’t sell (AND THE MARKETS THEY SELL IN VS THE MARKETS THEY DON’T SELL IN) start to make a different kind of sense.

benskaggs

Letter Eight

Hey November,

The days are getting shorter and I’m starting to feel it in my bones. It feels like there’s just not enough time to do anything that I really want to do. I guess that’s why my letters to ya have sort of dropped off. But that doesn’t mean you haven’t been on my mind. It just the time thing you know? Why does it always feel this way, especially as the year starts to wind down? I always feel as if I’m running twice as fast but only getting half as far. The holidays are stressful and the lead up to them is tremendous. I’m starting to worry about flights home and presents for family and scheduling time for old friends and on and on and on forever. And there’s still a life to be lived here! I’ve got work and friends and obligations and a nice and neat routine. How am I supposed to do these two things at once? How can I be here AND there at the same time? When will these two halves of myself start to feel whole? These are the kinds of introspective questions you bring out of me, November. Hopefully you’ll grace me with enough time to properly digest and think through them.

Ben

benskaggs

Letter Seven

Hey November,

My weekend in the woods was a roaring success, but I definitely missed writing you. I hope to write some make up letters here in the near future to catch myself up. But anyway, I spent most of yesterday recovering from my great but busy and tiring weekend by watching way too much Netflix. Luckily, I got to tear through Aziz Ansari’s new show Master of None. It’s one of the most stylish and engaging half-hour comedies I’ve seen in a while. The performances are great and what Aziz is communicating hit home hard with me on more than one occasion. It’s great TV and I can’t recommend it enough.

One of the themes that stuck with me, though, was the idea that our culture and our generation in particular (millennials) are becoming more and more indecisive. Or I guess we have so many choices presented to us that it can become crippling. We take a long time picking a restaurant because it has to be the “best” otherwise what’s the point? We browse Netflix for hours because nothing sounds good. We have a hard time committing to relationships because apps like Tinder let us know that there are so many more options out there.

It’s a real problem and it’s one that I encounter almost every day in my real life in one way or another. I hate that I struggle with making a choice and being happy with or sticking with it. I want to be a person that doesn’t always need more; who doesn’t get tired easily of the things they’ve been given and the places that surround them; who doesn’t chase “cool” like a carrot on a string. I think it would be a much simpler and fulfilling existence. Maybe it’s time to take steps towards making that happen.

What do you say?

Ben

#november#letters#master of none#aziz ansari#life#choices#indecision#changes
benskaggs

Letter Six

Hey November, This will be my last letter for a couple of days. I'm getting ready to head into the wilderness on a retreat and I don't think I will have time or possibly even (gasp!) wifi to write you. I'm really excited though. I've been looking forward to this day for several weeks. In fact, I took today off so I could help my friend prepare and get all the supplies bought and ready for us to head out here in about an hour. I'm a volunteer at a youth group and this weekend we're taking our students off the grid to connect in an environment without distraction. It's such a good time for me to recharge my batteries, commune with nature, and spend time with some of my favorite people. I find myself becoming obsessed with things that don't matter and caring more about the people and things in my phone instead of the people and things that are in my life daily. And that's not to say that one is good and the other is bad but I do find myself losing focus and presence sometimes in my real life. So I need weekends like this to center myself again and find peace. So, if I'm being honest, I don't think I'll miss you too much for the next few days and that's okay. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Ben

benskaggs

Letter Five

Hey November,

I’ve had a pretty good night. I got to see one of my best friends, whom I have not seen in several weeks. It’s crazy what the presence of one individual can do to lift my spirits and make me feel like myself again. This friend is a person who I can absolutely be myself around and can share those parts that sometimes feel too dirty to share with other people. We struggle with some of the same problems so it’s nice to hear encouragement from someone who knows exactly where I am and exactly what I am going through. There is no false empathy or half-listening. He gets me and I get him. I’m so incredibly thankful that we talked when we did because I was beginning to go a little stir crazy with all these feelings. It’s nice to know that I have someone who will walk with me and help carry my burdens, as I carry his, when the load feels too heavy. And November, you just really seem to bring out those burdens. My problems feel far more tangible and real during the fall season. I think it has something to do with the process of dying that happens. The leaves fall, the trees die, the rains come, and life feels heavy. The problems feel problem-ier. Help me to remember that spring is coming. Life will come again and these are the growing pains that ensure that soon I will no longer be the man I am right now. There is hope. Hallelujah.

Ben

#november#letters#fall#friendship
benskaggs

Letter Four

Hello November,

Today was a long but good day. A highly anticipated run on the X-Men by a writer I like began and I made the rare trip out to the comic book shop to buy the first issue. I very deeply love comic books. Ask anyone who knows me. I talk about them often and have even written a few essays about them on this blog. I know that to many they are”pointless” and considered “low art” but I think that’s a very narrow-minded approach to my favorite medium. Comics  have this beautiful way of combining words and pictures that is unlike any other kind of art form. And the fact that you have artists who are able to produce 22 pages of line-work each and every month is astounding. But the thing that gets me most is story. I’m a sucker for story. I am an avid consumer of all kinds of story; movies, tv, books, music, stage plays, etc. Tell me a good story and I’m hooked. And comics tell GREAT stories. They tell classic and universal and deeply personal stories. Gah! I love them so much. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs on why this medium is important and, actually, I think I have once before in the past. It is my genuine wish that everyone would have at least one comic that they read religiously. I think the world would be a better place for it, or at least it’d be easier for me to strike up conversation with strangers. And that’s what we’re really here for right?

Ben

#november#letters#comics#comic books#x-men
benskaggs

Letter Three

Hey November,

I nearly forgot to write you a letter today. It’s just after 9 PM here and I was getting ready for bed (because I am an old man I guess and work super early in the mornings) and I felt like something was missing. And you popped into my head.

Funny isn’t it? It’s only day three but I’m already feeling a sense of in-completion without writing. It relaxes me and helps me reflect on my day and assess my emotions and how I’m feeling. It’s good. I’ve always enjoyed writing. I’m not sure why I don’t do it more often. I guess sometimes I feel inadequate when it comes to expressing myself on paper. I read tings that other people post and they’re either much more poetic or much more informative. And I’m just a dude with a keyboard, so that is the excuse I use I guess. Thanks for giving me a reason to write down whatever the day leads me to write, whether it’s poetic or barely coherent. Not much else on my mind tonight and I think that’s okay. 

Ben

#november#letters#writing#blog
benskaggs

Letter Two

Hey November,

I just got home from dinner with a dear friend of mine and her mom and we talked a lot about friendship. We talked about that handful of people that we all have who we can be completely and totally ourselves around. Those people that love us in spite of our faults and love hearing about any and all aspects of our lives. I was thinking about how sad it is that we limit this to just three or four people. I do anyway. 

Why am I so scared of letting people in? Why do I always assume that if they saw my real quirks and flaws and shortcomings they would run away from me as quickly as possible? It’s something that I’ve been talking a lot about recently in therapy and it’s something that I struggle with in a real way, to a crippling degree. I don’t have all the answers tonight. I’m not sure I ever will. 

I guess I just hope that through the painful process of opening up and sharing the muckier parts of myself, I’ll learn that true friendship cannot happen on the surface level. And why would I want it to? If I am constantly having to wear a mask that presents a shinier and more pleasing version of myself then I am failing to grasp what “doing life together” looks like because I am not living an honest life. I knowingly keep myself from bringing anything worthwhile to the table and I don’t want to do that anymore. I want that number of people who know the “real” me, warts and all, to grow by leaps and bounds and I want to get to know the warty version of all of those who are in my community.

Ben

#november#letters#friendship#honesty
benskaggs

A First Letter to November

Hey, November:

A girl on the Internet is writing letters to you every day because you're her favorite month and you're my favorite month too so I want to join in. Work can be crazy and life has many stresses but I'm going to do my darnedest to write you every day, okay? 

For as long as I can remember, you've been my favorite month. It was easy when I was little because it meant my birthday was quickly approaching. I love having a November birthday. I love having the topaz birthstone and I love being a Scorpio and I love all the things that come with you. I love that it really feels like fall (my favorite season) and that the air is crisp and that the rain comes and makes everything feel clean and new. 

Thanksgiving is also fun and feeling the general air of thankfulness that surrounds this month is encouraging and convicting. I take too many things for granted I think. I wake up each morning and it all feels the same even though tomorrow is never guaranteed to us. I go to the same job and do the same work and come home and read or watch tv or make silly six second videos and it all feels the same. I've been complaining to my friends about feeling complacent and being in a rut and maybe some of that has to do with my attitude. Maybe I'm in a rut because I choose to be. I wonder what would look different if I woke up each morning thankful that I get to see another sunrise; thankful that I get to go to a job that pays pretty well and allows me to be independent; thankful that I learn and grow through what I consume and create. 

I think that's what I want to do this month, November. You always excite me and bring good things to my life but this year I want to learn thankfulness. I want to learn to see the world with fresh eyes and see the beauty of creation all around me.

#november#letters#thankfulness
benskaggs

Starting to get the hang of this ukulele thing. "Chicago - ol' Sufjan Stevens #cover"

#cover
benskaggs
kateordie
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jimzub
Anonymous asked:

According to Bleeding Cool DC is using "affirmative action" to ignore talented writers and artists. Marvel is doing the same thing. People read your blog and follow your advice on comic making. You should take a stand and tell the Big 2 to hire based on skill not arbitrary libtard statistics to please feminists and radical leftys.

jimzub answered:

I wish I was the comic writing prophet you seem to think I am. I wrote some articles people like. I try to be as honest and straight forward as I can.

I would love to explain to you why hiring a more diverse pool of creators is a very good thing for Marvel and DC’s future success in a broadening international demographic and that it’s more about opening themselves up to skilled creators of all backgrounds not closing doors on people but, based on the language you used, I’m sensing that’s not going to have much effect. Let’s take a different approach-

Stop spending your time trying to figure out the ‘conspiracy’ keeping you from getting work for hire gigs.Do good work. Tell compelling stories. Be a decent human being with empathy and integrity. More opportunities will come from those things than shaking your fist at straw man enemies you think are out to get you.Marvel and DC are hiring based on skill and if you show skills that can’t be denied they would hire you. No one is turning away the next Alan Moore or Stuart Immonen because they’re a straight white male. Honest.

Beyond that, being hired by the “Big Two” doesn’t make you a success. I’ve been hired (and dropped) from projects by both companies at different points in my short comic writing career. Life goes on. The work is the work.

Jeff Smith didn’t need to be anointed by Marvel or DC to create Bone.

Same with Spike Trotman on Templar, Arizona.

Raina Telgemeier on Smile.

Bryan Lee O’ Malley on Scott Pilgrim.

Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore on The Walking Dead.

Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder on Rocket Girl.

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie on Phonogram.

I could name a hundred other great creators who didn’t start with (or have never worked on) superhero comics. If you limit yourself to assuming Marvel and DC are the only game in town you’re missing incredible work and trapping yourself in a fanboy feedback loop of assumptions about what publishers (including Marvel/DC) are looking for.

There are more opportunities for creators now than ever before thanks to the connectivity of the internet. We’re not limited by geography in terms of production or in terms of our characters and stories. That’s true for you, for me, and thousands of creators from different backgrounds, faiths, and orientations.

Your competition is global but the platform is too. Make the most of it.

(Alternately, keep shaking your fist feeling bitter wondering why no one has discovered your “hidden genius.” Your choice.)

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kateordie

I really like this answer although the person asking stopped deserving a response as soon as they used the word “libtard,” so.

benskaggs
instagram.com

Also got spoiled by @boston1987 today with all this goodness just for bringing him some @bluestardonuts. Thanks so much, Dan! (at Comic Con Oregon Convention Center)

benskaggs
instagram.com

Got some beautiful @fatheadwilson colors on this @chrissamnee Nightcrawler sketch! My favorite art team on my favorite character. This is my new prized possession. (at Comic Con Oregon Convention Center)