kate

Last year, I provided an afterword for Archaia’s release and updating of Shotaro Ishinomori’s Cyborg 009, drawn by Marcus To, written by FJ DeSanto, and colored by Ian Herring. My copyright was left out of the book, but part of the deal was I kept the rights to the text so I could bring it here and show it to you. If you’re into Ishinomori, this Cyborg 009 dvd set is well worth checking out, too. This text is as it appeared in the hardcover, though I’ve styled the titles and headers differently than they appeared in print.

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ishinomori, innovator

Something as simple as a cursory overview of Shotaro Ishinomori’s career can impress even the most jaded comics fan. He holds the Guinness World Record for “Most Comics Published By One Author,” laid the foundation for two separate popular genres, and blazed several different trails across a wide variety of projects. He had a fuller career than most people dream of, and even fifteen years after his death, his creations are still being revamped, remastered, and revived for all-new audiences. His influence is tough to overstate, and his remarkably fruitful career has resulted in a bibliography that’s a library unto itself.

Ishinomori often worked in a science fiction mode, filling his stories with giant monsters, transforming heroes, and robots big and small. His bombastic sci-fi tales worked magic on his target audience — young children and teens, generally — but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t appeal to adults. The contrary is true, in fact. Ishinomori employed classic hero versus villain tropes and slapstick humor in his work, but made sure to include just enough nuance and depth to make the stories fascinating from an adult point of view, as well. The subtext in his work speaks volumes, and often presents a fascinating point of view. Beyond that, the subtext meshes with the child-friendly material in a remarkably organic way.

Cyborg 009 is a classic example of Ishinomori’s broad appeal. A team of nine humans-turned-cyborgs rebel against Black Ghost, an evil organization bent on doing wrong. They fight other cyborgs and giant robots using special powers and laser guns. Each cyborg has his or her own custom power or specialty. Some are capable of moving at mach speed, while others can breathe flame. The fights are flashy and exactly as exciting as they need to be, but the subtext provides Cyborg 009 with an unexpected amount of depth. That depth makes the conflicts in the series even more resonant and exciting. It hints at a greater context than something that is purely the forces of good battling the forces of evil.

merchants of death

Cyborg 009 begins with a history lesson. Ishinomori quickly summarizes World War II, including the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, before introducing the idea of nuclear proliferation and the Cold War. He then immediately transitions to a meeting of the real villains of the series, creating a direct link between war and our villains. Instead of being a shadowy cabal of evil magicians, scientists, or aliens, the men behind the horrors sweeping over the globe were much more mundane. They were mere arms dealers and warmongers. They put up with the dramatic overtures of the Black Ghost and produce weapons of mass destruction in order to make money hand over fist. The evil of their actions is simply an acceptable side effect of business. It’s collateral damage.

Ishinomori’s use of warmongers as the prime movers of the series is pointed casting considering the atmosphere at the time. Cyborg 009 debuted in 1964. That’s less than 20 years after the end of World War II and the introduction of atomic warfare, 11 years after the end of the Korean War, and square in the middle of rapidly escalating violence in Vietnam. The world was in the process of being carved up by opposing forces, and the business of war was booming. The creation of newer and more lethal weapons allowed war to become a very profitable enterprise. The predations of warmongers partially led to the overwhelming paranoia and fear that permeated the Cold War era, and nuclear panic ensured that everyone knew that the world could end at any moment.

It’s telling that the villains have such a banal motivation, as well. Ishinomori’s villains may employ the classically cartoonish and outlandish tactics that you would expect from an organization with a name like “Black Ghost,” but at their core, they’re simply men who want more than they have and will stop at nothing to get it. They’re greedy, and greed is a very human failing. The human element is what makes Ishinomori’s stories so resonant, even decades after they were first introduced. The villains in Cyborg 009 are human to the core, and it is the very human capacity for unthinkingly callous evil that drives the Black Ghost.

The cyborgs are part of an arms race. In this case, the warmongers want to create new weapons to take advantage of new battlefields, and thereby avoid the peace process. They’re an escalation, another result of the evolution of war. Black Ghost’s plan to turn humans into cyborgs requires the corruption of human beings. Rather than soliciting soldiers or building a volunteer army of cyborgs from scratch, the organization chooses to kidnap innocent humans from a variety of places and walks of life and turn them into cyborgs. The Black Ghost, like war, can and will touch you, no matter how far removed you may think you are from the conflict.

man made machine

The international and diverse cast of Cyborg 009 hammers that home. Our nine cyborg heroes and the cyborg villains they battle are ballerinas and chefs, actors and delinquents, privileged and oppressed, adults and children. They represent us; they represent humanity. The cyborgs are unique, both in power and personality, but they all have a great capacity for good or evil. Like most humans, they simply have to choose between their baser natures and doing good.

The concept of free will is a vital part of the Cyborg 009 story, but Ishinomori explores coercion and the limits of free will, as well. The villainous cyborgs are under the control of evil forces, but still manage to demonstrate genuinely human traits, sometimes even in the midst of battle. Sometimes they’ve been bullied and are lashing out, and other times they repay a kindness as best they can, even if it goes against their programming.

They are human first, even when their human identity has been stripped away. Many of the cyborgs have been altered far past the point where they can be strictly defined as human. Cyborg 0013, for example, is a giant robot, while another is a Western-style mansion. But, no matter what we go through, no matter what horrors, we are still human. We have the capability to not just adapt to our situations, but to overcome them.

the good doctor

Part of what gives us the strength to overcome adversity is our community. We find strength in groups, wisdom from our elders, and motivation from seeing people like us succeeding. In the case of Cyborg 009, Dr. Isaac Gilmore serves as their mentor and engineers their jailbreak. Gilmore served as a scientist in the Black Ghost organization, and shares responsibility for the creation of the cyborgs. He rebelled against his employers, and in doing so, represents another important aspect of the human experience: repentance.

Gilmore, as an agent of the Black Ghost, did wrong. His intentions may have been honorable, but he took part in an experiment that forever ruined the lives of more than a dozen human beings. Many of the advances in science that led to the creation of weapons of mass destruction didn’t come from men and women who wanted to destroy the world. The pursuit of knowledge often comes with a catch, and Gilmore was lucky enough to realize the catch before he progressed too far down a dark path. He chose to stop and repent for his dirty deeds, and that gives him a strength and depth that is vital for the story of Cyborg 009.

Making up for mistakes is an important part of the human experience. It’s a way of exercising control over both yourself and your environment. You refuse to let yourself be defined by your mistakes, you work to make up for those mistakes, and in doing so, you change the world around you. You become the good person that you want to be when you seek forgiveness for your mistakes, and the knowledge that you have the capacity to slip up keeps you on the straight and narrow. You’ve been there before — you don’t want to go back again.

the morally upstanding juvenile delinquent

Joe Shimamura, better known as 009, is another example of a heroic character with rough edges. Originally, he was the son of a Japanese woman and a foreign father. He was considered an outcast, and he suffered for his heritage. He was bullied and teased, and he slipped fairly easily into the life of a delinquent. He didn’t become an outlaw because he wanted easy money, or because he felt like being a delinquent was fun. He was forced into a corner and he adapted.

He never left behind his inner goodness, however. After becoming a cyborg and returning to Tokyo, he comes across an old friend in Shinjuku. The friend is more than willing to bully and rob another person, but 009 rejects that idea. He stops his friend and rebukes him in front of a complete stranger. This kindness is repaid later, when the stranger is revealed to be a rival cyborg in disguise and chooses to spare 009′s life.

009′s graciousness is another sign, and an important one. You always have a choice. If you find yourself between a rock and a hard place and you do something wrong, that doesn’t mean that you’re incapable of doing right. It just means that you made a choice. You can always choose differently, even if it means temporarily alienating a friend to comfort a stranger.

The fact that 009 is the titular character and the window into the Cyborg 009 universe is fascinating. We see the world through 009′s eyes, and as a result, we can’t help but identify with him. 009 and the reader are both new to the world Ishinomori has created, and 009′s experiences color our own experiences with the world.

Many heroes are written as if they were always morally upstanding and have never, ever wavered in their beliefs. It’s a comforting idea to think that there is someone out there who always makes the right decision, but that isn’t realistic. Everyone makes bad decisions and goes through trials and tribulations. 009 is no different from anyone else. The difference is that he’s made the decision to reject the negative choices he made before, and to do right from that point on.

danseuse, soldat, femme

Francoise, unit 003, is innocent and unaffiliated. Where 009 had to fight simply for the right to live life as he wanted before he became a cyborg, 003 spent her time as a ballerina. Her passion was to entertain people, to be a living work of art. In a way her purpose in life was the opposite of what war represents. War devastates communities, destroys livelihoods, and lines the pockets of the men and women who don’t care who they hurt. There are no winners when it comes to war.

Dancing, on the other hand, is meant to enrich our lives. You can experience it on a physical level, as you admire the acrobatics and contortions the dancer performs. You can also experience it on an emotional level, as the movements of the dancer spark feelings within you. Dancing is meant to create appreciation in a viewer, while war only ever creates conflict.

By drafting 003 into their war, the Black Ghost organization is doing exactly what war does: it corrupts innocence. It takes something beautiful — whether that’s dancing or simply living your life as you wish — and dashes it against the rocks. It’s cruel and unfair and 003 is a perfect example of why. She’s a kind and sweet person, nice almost to a fault, and she did absolutely nothing to deserve her fate.

War respects no one. It doesn’t pick and choose whom it affects. It simply happens and we’re left to pick up the pieces. In the case of 003, she was left enhanced by her experience with the Black Ghost, thanks to the addition of high tech communications capabilities, but is left divorced from her previous life. She can’t go back, not without bringing the baggage she now carries with her. War’s touch is indelible. You can move past it, but it sticks with you. You’re forever changed.

cyborg soldier, human heart

One of the most impressive things about Ishinomori’s original Cyborg 009 stories is how resonant and relevant they remain to this day. The world has existed in a state of constant warfare for decades now, if not longer. Skimming the newspaper or Internet shows that armed conflict is a fact of life for many, many people. There are powers beyond our control that wish to divide the Earth up, reasonable people who have been forced into bad situations, and bad people who are eager to take advantage of bad situations. War is here, it is real, and sometimes it’s even right outside our window.

Ishinomori’s cyborgs represent us, but they do more than that. They encourage us. They inspire us. They suggest that someone, somewhere can stand against great evil and not just survive, but succeed. They can make a difference, whether that difference is pushing for nuclear disarmament in real life or battling evil cyborgs in fiction. All it takes is making a choice. The specific choices change as time goes on, but the core idea is incredibly versatile.

The cyborgs are human. Once you understand that, the meaning behind the rest of the series flows like water. Their enemies are war incarnate, men and women who would exploit the Earth for their own gain. After being touched by those enemies, the cyborgs are decidedly different than they were before, but their innate human goodness remains the same. They rage against the injustice they suffered, and they fight to make sure that that injustice is never perpetrated again.

The setting of Cyborg 009 is a world that is constantly on the brink of being destroyed. Governments wage war, shadowy figures finance and enhance those wars, and the only thing stopping humankind from being overrun are the actions of honest and moral human beings who refuse to let the wrong side win. The cyborgs are sacrificing their lives to prevent that exact outcome. There are plenty of reasons to be afraid, but there is a reason to have hope, as well.

Seeding a comic intended for children with these ideas may seem strange at first glance, but Ishinomori pursued his allegory in such a way that the story remains perfectly appropriate for all ages. Ishinomori stops well short of becoming overbearing or preachy. There’s nothing in there that’s inappropriate for children. Ishinomori couches the allegory in familiar ideas: a delinquent with a secret heart of gold, a wizened mentor, and a flashy and bombastic evil organization. It’s only once you scratch the surface that you realize the reason why Cyborg 009 works as well as it does is because it is working with deeper themes than pure “good versus evil” or squeaky-clean generic adventures.

- david brothers, 2013Similar Posts:

• before Watchmen: Shotaro Ishinomori’s Cyborg 009
• Batman RIP: The Stunning Conclusion
• Black History Month ’09 #16: My Country
• Black History Month 16: Pay Homage to the Man of Steel
• T’Challa & Ororo vs The Sexist Racists

Ask A Manager, 12 March 2014:

I was written up at work yesterday due to a single comment that I made. Last week, I was frustrated with a woman employee who failed to meet a deadline on a simple task (not the first time she’s done this) and, while blowing off steam, one of the things I said was that it’s a good thing she is pretty. I did not mean this is in a derogatory way. I was simply frustrated and this woman is not above me in any way; she is entry level. She also did not tell me immediately that I had upset her at all; the next I heard about it was from my manager. I would like to question why formalities were initiated – I feel this was unwarranted for a single, isolated comment and that an apology would have been sufficient. Can I do this? If so, what is the best way to approach it?

Broads, man. Broads. Always getting their snooty little panties in fuckin’ wads over some little piddly shit like reducing their entire human worth to their physical attractiveness, measured on an ever-sliding scale of unattainable perfection according to the arbitrary whims of some fucking dude at work.

Can’t fucking tell anyone they’re barely worth the skirt they’re wearing anymore, all this fucking PC shit about “blah blah blah casual sexism is a demonstrable manifestation of real-world systemic oppression that permeates through all interactions humans have as social beings raised in a culture that privileges certain expressions of heterosexual cisgender masculinity inkity tinkity yarpity blarfity” and “yadda yadda it’s important to maintain a level of professionalism between supervisors and entry-level employees that does not in any way associate the quality of their work with their sex or gender presentation dippity dippity doodah.”

Moreover, this female didn’t even come straight to you and complain after you expressly implied that her job would be in danger had you not personally found her to be such a hot piece of ass, no, she had the fucking gall to complain to your fucking boss like it’s any of their fucking business what door your knob wants to open, as it were. Now you’re in fucking trouble for just bein’ the honest, forthright appreciator of women’s bodies that you are, which: REVERSE SEXISM!!1!1!!!!!!

You absolutely deserve to know why this woman’s expectation that she not be overtly sexualized in a work environment by higher-up employees is such a big fucking deal—after all, you were only trying to tell her that she’s pretty fucking great in the special and beautiful way that only broads can be great, which is to say the way in which they are great for doin’ it with. You can only be sexist if you mean to be sexist, and you didn’t mean to be sexist because your smart fucking monkey brain magically operates outside of literally every one of the cultural and social norms that serve to perpetuate patriarchy.

You should should bust the fuck into your humorless, boner-killing manager’s office—that way they see that you’re a fucking dude who means fucking business because he is not a fucking patriarchal buttbag RAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR—and demand to know why these “formalities” were introduced when all you were fucking trying to do was tell this n00b that you’d do her a solid—GET IT? HAHAHAHA—if she asked. 

While working on an international music event, the client called to ask if we could make an alteration to one of the headline acts promo materials. 

Me: What’s the issue? Have you changed the act?

Client: No, we just don’t think he looks right on the background.

Me: Do you have another image from his PR guys? 

Client: No, but it’s a simple fix. We want you to make him less black. 

Me: Er, I can’t really do that. He’s a world famous singer and I don’t think he’s going to appreciate us changing the colour of his skin. It might come across as a tad racist too…

Client: But our background is black, and he is black. You need to change his face.

Me: How about I change the background?

Client: That’s totally unacceptable! It will ruin our brand integrity.

“These nuggets look too light, way too white. Make them blacker, we need diversity after all… even in food.”

“Any idea how this logo could be modernized without actually changing it at all?”

brutalfacedphantomhippo:

“Use the Force, Luke.”

It's been a busy first year in the Senate for Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Since she entered the Congress in January 2013, she's become a liberal hero, a frequent YouTube star who turns dull congressional hearings into viral hits. She's pushed the government to lower interest rates on student loans. Protected vets from financial scams. Introduced legislation to protect poor people searching for a job. Called on banks to reveal their donations to think tanks.

Somehow she's also found time to write a 384-page book. Next month Warren will release A Fighting Chance, which, according to the AP, will tell her whole life story, dating back to her early life in Oklahoma to her time setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and her first year in the Senate. Warren will embark on a brief book tour in Massachusetts after the book's publication on April 22.

Warren is already a prolific author, having published eight books before she ever ran for office. But those other writing ventures were an outgrowth of her academic career. Her new book appears purely political, the sort of hagiographic biography politicians pen to position themselves for a future run at higher office. Barack Obama published The Audacity of Hope, at around the same point of his career in the Senate. Mitt Romney wrote No Apology: The Case for American Greatness in 2010 to gear up for his 2012 campaign. Hillary Clinton is set to release a book in June.

Warren has said, time and again, that she has no intention of moving into the White House. "I'm not running for president and I plan to serve out my term," she said at a December press conference. But politicians have a long history of ignoring their previous denials when circumstances change. Barack Obama frequently dismissed the notion that he'd seek the presidency so early in his career, only to ditch those denials and announce a campaign in 2007. It's unlikely that Warren would challenge Clinton should Clinton, as expected, run in 2016. The Massachusetts politician joined her fellow female senators in signing a letter urging Clinton to run for president again. But, should she pass on another bid, Warren could always change her tune.

ALL-NEW X-FACTOR #9
PETER DAVID (W)
CARMINE DI GIANDOMENICO (A)
Cover by KRIS ANKA & JARED FLETCHER
• The team faces unexpected consequences for “saving” a young girl.
• Plus: Gambit does something naughty.

One of the first posts I ever wrote for CSBG was all about context, and specifically, how Marvel’s context was showing when it came to their portrayal of women. Since then I’ve frequently talked about context, but never entirely devoted a post to it again. New Yorker writer Emily Nussbaum’s harsh take on critical darling […]

Written and drawn by Kazuhiro Urata, adapted by Tania Fukuda, translated by Abby Lehrke. My Grandpa’s Stories Can’t Be This Weird, 2014.

Kazuhiro Urata’s My Grandpa’s Stories Can’t Be This Weird, which runs in the free Manga Box app, is dumb. It’s the same kind of dumb that made Akira Toriyama’s Dr Slump one of my favorite comics. It’s aggressively-but-knowingly dumb, a shaggy dog joke with digressions that are actual jokes instead of distractions.

The hook is almost always the same. There’s a boy who just wants to go to sleep, a grandfather hellbent on reading a story to his grandson, and a storybook that is a wacky version of an established story. The kid reacts to each absurd new element with disbelief until the end, when the story kinda-sorta comes together.

There’s just one main joke here, and the fun is seeing how the joke is twisted into a new form with each new strip. Everything about this excerpt makes me laugh, and it’s just the first three pages. There was one a while back where he replaced all the characters in a fairy tale with murderers, good and bad, that has me ready to cry laughing by the end of page one, and the Red Riding Hood story is a new twist on an old joke with several utterly incredible bits.

There are a few other comics that have that one-joke framework that I like. I was an avid reader of Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics for years, and ONE & Yusuke Murata’s One-Punch Man has a surprising number of gags based around one punch. (My favorite is a background gag, a bear that got knocked out in the woods.) My Grandpa’s Stories is more steeped in anti-humor than any of those series, but I’m really into it. Reading it is kind of like waiting for the point where a balloon tips over from inflated to burst.
Similar Posts:

• Staying Wide Awake With Ada Lovelace
• before Watchmen: Akira Toriyama’s Dr Slump
• Fourcast! 41: Fishtalker Showdown
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Q: Why do you think the X-Men didn't find their audience until two decades after they were created? -- @godofthunder851

A: I've got a minor quibble with your timing in this question -- it was more like 12 or 15 years, really -- but you've got an interesting point there. I think most comics readers are well aware of that piece of trivia about how the X-Men were about to get the axe before Giant Size X-Men #1 breathed new life into the franchise and set them on the path of becoming what was probably the single most popular and influential franchise of the '80s and '90s, and that's not really how things usually work. In comics, you tend to either come out of the gate to massive, enduring popularity (like Batman or Spider-Man), come out strong and then fade away for whatever reason (like, sadly, Shazam!), or just sort of flounder in the midcard. It's rare that something sticks around on the edge of being canceled for a solid decade before it finds its footing, and nobody bounced back harder than Marvel's Merry Mutants.

But really, what you're asking here is two separate questions: Why didn't the X-Men take off in 1963, and why did they in 1975? So let's look at the history and see if we can't figure it out.

Continue reading…

Q: What's the weirdest thing Archie Comics has ever done, and why was it awesome? -- @darkmaple

A: It almost goes without saying at this point, but Archie's marketing strategy over the past few years has been nothing short of brilliant. All the stunts they've been pulling -- and I mean that in the most positive way possible -- have been designed to shake up the public perception of just what Archie Comics are. Most readers, even if they're casual fans of the actual Archie comics, tend to have this mental picture of Riverdale that's built around those eight-page gag strips where Archie has to run back and forth between two dates, and for good reason. That's been the core of the line for the past 70 years, so when they announce something like Lena Dunham dropping by to write a story or an adult-oriented horror comic where Archie's classmates are devouring each other's flesh, it immediately makes people wonder how it's going to work in the peaceful, idyllic world of Archie Comics.

But here's the thing: They've always been weird out there in Riverdale. They're weird as Hell.

Continue reading…

MoCCA Fest is just around the corner—April 5-6—and it’s going to be a pretty great weekend judging by the guest list. After a transitional first year under the Society of Illustrators, it looks like everything is going full speed ahead.

In addition to previously announced guests of honor Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Fiona Staples and Robert Williams, a bevy of international guests will be attending: Marion Fayolle, Joost Swarte, and Brecht Vandenbroucke. PLUS Chip Kidd, Belgian artist Frederic Coché, Drew Friedman, Françoise Mouly, Bill Plympton, Israeli cartoonist Nimrod Reshef, Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomine and MANY MORE such as:

Sam Alden, Gabrielle Bell, Michael DeForge, Kim Deitch, Chuck Forsman, Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher, Miriam Katin, James Kochalka, Peter Kuper and Dash Shaw.

AND:

Nick Abadzis, Alabaster, Pat Aulisio, Josh Bayer, Nick Bertozzi, Box Brown, Scott Campbell, Austin English, Liana Finck, Nicole Georges, Gary Hallgren, Dean Haspiel, Danny Hellman, Sabrina Jones, Tom Kaczynski, Keren Katz, Rob Kirby, Patrick Kyle, Jon Lewis, Jason Little, Alec Longstreth, Keith Mayerson, L. Nichols, Kevin Pyle, Jesse Reklaw, Leslie Stein, Seth Tobocman, Jen Tong, Andrea Tsurumi, Marguerite Van Cook, Lale Westvind, Leah Wishnia and Shannon Wheeler.

The complete guest list is here.
 
Debuts include:

Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge (Fantagraphics),
Over Easy by Mimi Pond (Drawn and Quarterly),
Operation Margerine by Katie Skelly (AdHouse Books),
Neurocomic by Hana Ros and Matteo Farinella (Nobrow),
The Undertaking of Lily Chen by Danica Novgorodoff (First Second),
All Star by Jessie Lonergan (NBM),
Climate Changed by Phillippe Squarzoni (Abrams ComicArts),
World War 3 Illustrated: 1979-2014 (PM Press),
War of Streets and Houses by Sophie Yanow (Uncivilized Books).  

More debuts here.
 
In all there will be 216 exhibitors, encompassing 27 publishers and more than 1,000 individual artists.

Shorter version: bring a full wallet.

More MoCCA coverage — including the week’s full event list, can be found here.

If you have a debut book not listed, email us at comicsbeat at gmail.com.
If you have a debut not listed here,

When Veronica Mars was airing on television, I didn’t watch. Hell, I barely even remember it being on. The mid-Aughts were a difficult period in my life for a variety of reasons, and I missed a lot of great shows that had the misfortune to premiere in my televisual deadzone - Deadwood, Supernatural, The Dresden Files, to name a few. Nowadays, things are a lot less complicated, which means I have a lot more time to pillage the back catalogue of Great Television. And during the month of January 2012, I did just that with Veronica Mars. When I say I watched that show, I mean I binge-watched it. Every bit of spare time was spent with Veronica, Keith, Wallace, and Logan. And when the Kickstarter popped up a few months later, I rushed to become one of those 91,585 backers eager to do anything and everything to bring Neptune back.

[“People say I’m a marshmallow.”]

That being said, my anticipation was rippled with fret and a little bit of dread. Veronica Mars the television show was one of the top moments in television history, a shining beacon of greatness amongst a sea of mediocrity. Veronica was Buffy for the next generation, a tough girl who took no guff and always had a card up her sleeve. Kristen Bell played her perfectly, and imbued her with wit and cunning bravery. Rob Thomas never shied from the darker side of things, and, as in the season one finale, pushed Veronica to the breaking point just to watch her push back. I didn’t want to see that ruined. Would they be able to get all the actors back together? How good could the movie be with a $2 million budget? Would they make it to theatrical distribution or just release a bunch of crappy digital copies? The second and third seasons were exercises in patience testing at best, poorly thought out at worst; did that mean season one was unreplicatable or could lightning strike twice?

Yes. Emphatically, passionately, excitedly YES.

For those going into the movie blind, here’s the skinny: Veronica grew up in Neptune, California, an ocean side town populated by the super rich and the dirt poor, by the exploiters and abusers and their hapless victims. When her best friend is murdered, Veronica’s father, Sheriff Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), accuses the dead girl’s father and is driven from office. Mama Mars takes up the bottle and eventually flees town, leaving Mars the Elder and Mars the Younger to operate their PI firm together. Veronica’s descent from fortune and success eradicates her friendships and puts her at the bottom of the social pecking order. But her keen investigative skills and relentless determination make her the one person her classmates can turn to for help.

Over three seasons, Veronica - with help from her best friend Wallace - handles cases ranging from dog-napping to computer hacking to blackmail to rape to murder. She solves the mystery of Lilly Kane’s murder and the vicious crimes that spiral out from it, and becomes a target of a much bigger case, all while battling incompetent sheriffs, psychotic actors, pedophiles, and frat boys. And when she’s not out playing Encyclopedia Brown, she’s struggling with an epic love story with Logan (Jason Dohring), spanning years and continents, ruined lives, and bloodshed. The show was canceled after low ratings, but, like Firefly, none of us self-ascribed “Marshmallows” ever got over it. And like Firefly, at least we got a movie out of it. (Need more? Here ya go.)

Said movie picks up nine years after Veronica left Neptune. She’s just graduated from law school and is about to be accepted into a prestigious law firm in New York City, where she lives with her fiancé Piz (yes, Piz, *sigh*). Her future is falling perfectly into place, albeit a lot less exciting than what she prefers, when out of the blue she gets a call from Logan Echolls (yes, Logan, *dreamy sigh*). He’s accused of killing his songstress girlfriend Bonnie DeVille (aka Carrie Bishop, formerly played by Leighton Meester), but maintains his innocence. Sheriff Lamb 2.0 (Jerry O’Connell) is as much of an idiot as his younger brother but a heckuva lot more of an asshole, and looks forward to locking Logan up and reveling in the publicity. Piz (Chris Lowell, who is great in Enlisted, by the way) just wants her to go back to NYC to meet his parents and be his rich lawyer wife. Keith wants her to be happy and not make a mistake for the sake of fleeting emotions she can’t undo. Veronica already knows what she wants but isn’t ready to admit it.

Veronica only plans to go home for a few days, which turn into a few more days, then a few more after that. It’s also Neptune High’s ten year high school reunion. A lot has changed in the ensuing years, and not just for Veronica. Piz has somehow gotten more boring, Wallace is now a coach at Neptune High, Mac works for Kane Industries, Logan joined the military - and looks damn good in a uniform - and Weevil has a steady job and a family. But where Veronica goes, trouble follows. Or, perhaps she’s just better than everyone else at sensing its impending arrival. Almost as soon as she lands, chaos ensues and she can either go back to New York and let everyone else pick up the pieces, or stay and fight for those who can’t fight for themselves.

The conceit of the Ten Year Reunion both guarantees we’ll get to see all our favorite recurring characters and introduces key players for the show and movie in a way that doesn’t feel like shoehorning. On the docket are Dick Casablacas (Ryan Hansen), Weevil (Francis Capra), Gia Goodman (Krysten Ritter), Deputy Leo D’Amato (Max Greenfield, who I now only think of as Schmidt), Deputy Sacks (Brandon Hillock), Cliff McCormack (Daran Norris), Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino), and Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill). The central murder mystery isn’t the strongest, but it does its job as best it can. The shortened running time does the mystery no favors, but doesn’t work against it, either. Veronica Mars worked best when it could stretch out a mystery throughout a full season, sprinkling red herrings and Easter eggs to keep the audience on its toes.

The best part about the mystery, as weird as this is to say, isn’t the murder but the underlying sexual assault. Veronica Mars is the only recent bit of film or television I can recall that doesn’t reduce the women to merely being rape victims. Too often, women in media are left to cry in the corner while the men go off and seek retribution, which turns the rape into a plot point for the betterment of the male lead rather than the woman who suffered through it. Veronica Mars women maintain their agency and think of themselves as survivors. They don’t let what was done to them define them or break them. They act and fight back in whatever ways, big or small, they can.

But no one’s really there to find out whodunnit anyway. No, we’re all watching Veronica Mars for Veronica Mars. And Logan. Mostly Veronica. But also mostly Logan. And Keith. And Wallace and Mac. And Dick, oh sweet Zeus, Dick. Veronica could give Sam Winchester a run for his money on “Dick is a dick” jokes (never not funny). The dialogue is as whip-smart and rapid-fire as always. As a teenager, her quips always had a sheen of youthful frivolity to it, but now that she’s older and has survived rape, attempted rape, and multiple attempts on her life, she carries a weight to her. Not a chip on her shoulder, more like a sense of world weariness, of preparing for the worst case scenario. She’s closer to what her father is like, a person who has seen the best and worst in people and who recognizes that even though the bad guys too frequently win, the battle is still worth fighting.

Veronica Mars the movie feels like coming home. It’s so full of callbacks and in-jokes that I can’t imagine what newcomers will think of it. It’s not impenetrable, but much of the dialogue will sail by merely as something clever rather than the reference point it’s meant to be. Hopefully it will inspire them to check out the show and see how it all began. Even if you’re a Kickstarter backer or have downloaded the digital release, I beg of you to see it in theaters. The more seats we fill, the more money they bring in, the more likely there is to be a sequel. Yes, we’re already getting a book series, but we could have so much more. There’s more than enough loose threads left by the film to fill out a movie or season. This is our chance. We did it once with Kickstarter, and we can do it again. Besides, this is the kind of movie that is best seen on the big screen with your friends. Get out there, Marshmallows.

---

Alex Brown is an archivist, research librarian, writer, geeknerdloserweirdo, and all-around pop culture obsessive who watches entirely too much TV. Keep up with her every move on Twitter, or get lost in the rabbit warren of ships and fandoms on her Tumblr.

All the chuunibyou dudes running around Akihabara want to be heroes. Nice umbrella rapier, but it's no scissor blade and we can't let our quest drag on for any longer. 

When you're crawling along the bottom of the social and economic strata like we are, the last thing you turn down is a meal--who knows where the next one will come from? So you can imagine that our bellies did back flips for joy when our bosses sent us to cover the Kill la Kill collaboration cafe at Cure Maid Cafe.

Senketsu will have a fit about my oily blood afterward but Ｉ can't say “No” to a plate of fried mystery meat from Mako-chan's mama. My convenience store-trained taste buds were able to pick out a mixture of shrimp, sardine, octopus, salmon croquette and... shiitake mushroom? Cardboard boxes are my main source of fiber, so I'll take it.

A privilege for the elite! The no-bake Three-Star lemon cheesecake base was topped with a strawberry mousse mini-cake along with blueberries and raspberries. With rich indulgences like this delivered to your door, it's easy to see why Mako and her family wanted to hold onto their prestige.

Cherry pink topped with a staring skull? I must be gazing into Nonon's custom drink. When agitated the soda and strawberry syrup fizzed up like her Goku Uniform hitting the jets in aircraft mode.  

I dedicate this toast to Ragyou-sama! Topped with gold leaf for that extra touch of class and mixed with equal parts danger and beauty, this goblet of fruit juice and liqueurs was as overpoweringly sweet as Ragyou's motherly embrace. The blend of grenadine, blue Curacao and Cointreau went down like NyQuil and would knock you out just as fast. Drop a few of these seductively strong cocktails before bed and you'll go out with smile on your face and no regrets until morning.

The cafe is decorated with design sheets, storyboards and animation stills. Trigger's work looks as good on paper as it does in motion. 

Each item from the collaboration menu comes with one of three randomly assorted postcards. We were lucky enough to snag one of each! And no, I would not like to trade you my Mako-chan. 

On our way out we ducked into the Cospa store on the second floor. If Ryuko can wear Senketsu without feeling embarrassed, then I should be able to wear a shirt of Ryuko wearing Senketsu without feeling embarrassed, right? That reminds me--nearly all of the customers in the cafe were girls. So much for the haters bashing the show for being misogynistic. 

Event dates: March 14th-April 6th 
Address: 3-15-5 Soto Kanda, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
Gee! Store Akiba 6F
Hours: Mon-Thur 11:00-2:00
Fri-Sat 11:00-22:00
Sun 11:00-19:00
Official homepage: http://www.curemaid.jp/

Home Sonico Menu Hits All the Right Notes about a week agoTesagure! Bukatsu Cafe Has Memes on the Menu about 3 weeks ago

If LEGO can have its own movie, so can crayons. At least that's the thinking behind "The Hero of Color City," an animated feature being distributed in the U.S. by Magnolia Pictures, which also distributes the Oscar-nominated short films as well as documentaries like "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" and "Blackfish."

Seven McDonald’s franchises in New York owned by Richard Cisneros will pay nearly $500,000 to fast food workers who claimed they were victims of wage theft under a settlement reached by state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, the Huffington Post reports.

More than 1,600 current and former employees will receive payment. The labor bureau “found that cashiers regularly performed off-the-clock work before and after their shifts,” Dave Jamieson writes, doing work without earning any extra income, and were also made to pay for cleaning their own uniforms and didn’t get an extra hour of pay after shifts where they worked 10 hours in a row. All of these practices violate New York State labor laws.

The state also recently won a $1.3 million settlement for workers at Domino’s in New York City who claimed they experienced similar wage theft tactics.

Given how widespread wage theft is among New York City’s fast food businesses, on Tuesday Public Advocate Letitia James announced a proposal to tamp down on these practices, including an anonymous whistleblower hotline for workers, expanding the authority of city agencies to investigate, and urging McDonald’s to amend franchisee agreements so that it can hold them accountable when they violate labor laws.

McDonald’s faces much larger charges of wage theft beyond New York, as workers have brought seven class action lawsuits against the corporate entity as well as some franchisees in three states. They allege they were underpaid when the company made them work off the clock, didn’t pay them overtime, made them pay for their uniforms out of their own pockets, erased hours from their timecards, and denied them breaks for meals and rest.

While many of the lawsuits over wage theft in the fast food industry, such as the one in New York, target franchisees, the class action suits argue that corporate shares liability. The company has defended itself by saying that franchisees operate independently, so it can’t be held accountable for their actions. But workers allege that McDonald’s corporate was directly involved in monitoring labor costs at the store level, leading to the illegal wage tactics.

Wage theft is rampant in the fast food industry, as 84 percent of workers in New York City say they have fallen victim. These complaints have increased 400 percent over the last decade. But the odds are stacked against workers who try to reclaim some of that pay. Even when they prove it, in California for example, 83 percent of workers who actually won a case never actually got their money.

These allegations of wage theft come as fast food workers have been organizing to demand better pay and working conditions. They have gone on a series of strikes across the country to ask for $15 an hour as well as the right to form a union.

The post Seven New York McDonald’s Will Pay Thousands Of Workers In Settlement Over Wage Theft appeared first on ThinkProgress.

as-warm-as-choco:

Cowboy Bebop by Tsunenori Saito (斎藤 恒徳)

Following the three-feature film set released by Toei in 2009, Avex Marketing has started releasing the seven-box Blu-ray set of the Galaxy Express 999 TV anime series. In commemoration of the release, Seibu Railway now runs a wrapping train featuring the anime. It will run through the Tokyo and Saitama areas till April 4.

 

The 113-episode TV series based on Leiji Matsumoto's long-running manga of the same name was aired in Japan from September 14, 1978 to March 26, 1981. The BD set also includes three TV special episodes and six internet animation episodes streamed in 2002. The first set (episode 1-16) and second set (episode 17-33) were already released on March 5. Chekc the DVD/Blu-ray comparison CM on the bottom of this article.

 

Galaxy Express 999 wrapping train (photos via Akiba Souken)

 

 

BD box key visual

 

The content of the set

 

TV-spot

 

via: Akiba Souken

 

© Leiji Matsumoto, SEIBU Railway Co,. LTD.

© Leiji Matsumoto/Toei Animation

bendiswordsforpictures:

5 WAYS TO AVOID BEING DIMINISHED: By Sean Gordon Murphy 
——————————————————————————
There’s a discussion brewing in comics about artists being more diminished as of late—that readers, reviewers, and publishers are focusing too much on writers rather than the artists who draw the book. I agree it’s happening, but I’m not sure it’s worth sounding an alarm over. I never felt diminished, but maybe I’m part of the exception. Maybe it’s because I’m an artist and a writer.

Either way, I do have a few thoughts on what artists can do to pull themselves out from under the rug.

1. DON’T DRAW LIKE A COG.

If you conform to a “house style”, then you’re at higher risk of being treated like an interchangeable cog in the comics machine. Yes, you’re more likely to get consistent work, but you won’t stand out as much. Therefor you’ll be sought after less by big name writers, you’re less likely to make a lasting impression on reviewers and readers, and you’ll have a harder time getting raises (12 others draw like you and for less money).

I also suggests inking yourself if it helps. Pencils get covered up, so the key to retaining more distinct personality in your art is through inks (unless you publish pencils). If you’re not into that, then work with an inker who will help you BOTH stand out, like JRJR and Klaus Janson.

2. DON’T GET OVERSHADOWED BY BATMAN.

I drew Batman/Scarecrow: Year One in 2005, and then things dried up for a while. You think doing Batman means you’ve made it? Wrong. More than likely, Batman is the star. Not you.

Around the same time I did Batman, I wrote and drew a book called Off Road. My sales were much lower (only made about 4K that year), but my art started getting recognized more. Most of the projects I’ve taken since are books that had no history, no fan-base, and no Batman to overshadow me. Joe the Barbarian, American Vampire: SOTF, Punk Rock Jesus and The Wake. And I have two Image books I’ll be working on in 2014 (one with Mark Millar), and they’re both from scratch. I try and pick stuff where the writer and I are the main event, not the characters.

*I admit I’ve found weird success by taking on creator-owned books more than mainstream stuff. It’s a risky path, for sure. Mathematically, more artists have found success by eventually overcoming the Batmen they’re drawing. But things are shifting to creator-owned, and with digital distribution and Kickstarter, this option should be more tempting than ever before. Think about it.

3. FIND BETTER PARTNERS

Currently, I’m drawing The Wake with Scott Snyder. Scott’s a great partner, but it’s not because he’s a top writer at DC. I work with Scott because he’s talented, a hard worker, he takes his job seriously, he’s available for questions, he asks my opinion on the story, and he writes around stuff that I want to draw. He’s also very considerate toward my schedule, my needs, and never does an interview without mentioning me, Matt Hollingsworth, and the other people who work hard on his books.

Some writers don’t want to share. They lord over their books and keep artists away from interviews, contracts, and other business affairs in order to maintain control. Which is totally within their right to do—I’m not judging writers who run their books this way. But if you’re an artists working for a writer like this, and you’re feeling diminished, then find a new writer. And try to do it amicably.

4. AVOID SPORADIC SCHEDULING

Readers need to know where to find you. Rocking Superman for a single issue and doing a mic-drop isn’t enough to get attention. The minute you leave, readers will be like, “who the hell was that?” unless you’re already a name.

The other thing to avoid is double shipping schedules—where a single title is handled by one writer and multiple artists. That’s like trying to get noticed from inside a crowded, revolving door. Yes, you’ll be well paid for your talents. And people might buzz about your art. But it’s better to be on a title where you’re the only artist on a substantial run.

5. CHECK YOURSELF

Here’s a quick list of complaints that I hear from artists when it comes to feeling diminished, followed by my response. In my opinion, artist who employ these arguments should look again at the reality of the job they signed up for.

"How come we don’t get flown to summit meetings with the writers?"
-Writers plan years ahead with stories. They make blueprints, whereas you’re the architect who’s brought in later. There’s not much point in flying you to a summit meeting so you can sit on your ass for two days going, “Yeah, that would be cool to draw.”

"But I have good ideas on what works in comics. I should be included in summit meetings!"
-You have good ideas? So do they. No offense, but your two-cents isn’t worth the $400 plane ticket, the $60 in food and the $15 of hotel porn.

"It’s a writer’s industry. It’s not fair for artists"
-Artists ran the show in the 90s, and look how that turned out. You want artists in charge? Because I don’t. Somewhere in the middle is best.
-Learn to write. Ever read a comic you thought sucked? Think you can do better? Then do it. Bad books hit the shelves all the time, so there’s no reason why you can’t write one, too. Or work harder and put out a half-decent one.

"How come I don’t do as many interviews?"
-How many books do you draw a month? Just one? And a writer writes 3-4 a month? Then he gets to do 3-4 more times the interviews. Deal with it.

"I don’t sign as many autographs as the writer!" or "How come I don’t get as many questions during panel discussions?"
-Story is in our DNA, art is not. Proof? People can do a great job describing what a movie meant to them—the characters, the plot twists, the surprises, the music, the action, and the ending. Send those same people to an art museum and they get much quieter. Why? Some of them don’t get art. Some of them like it, but don’t know why. Even the ones that loved it can only use limited vocabulary to describe it: neat lines, nice color, good mood, blah blah blah. And that’s totally fine—it took you years to learn about art, so ease up on people that don’t have your education.

Phase 1 calls for story and setting proposals

Another report of a bunch of youtube perverts harassing cosplayers while posing as a legitimate camera crew news outlet has emerged from London Super Comic Con, as reported by a cosplayer known as Lady Noctis. The event is similar to the one that took place at New York Comic Con last fall, with a camera crew asking women in costume to be interviewed and then asking them vulgar and harassing questions.

Now I am back home from the event, I want to provide a full statement to prevent this happening to future event goers. What myself and my fellow cosplayers experienced was horrible. We were treated like pieces of meat, spoken to in an extremely perverse and derogatory manner, and the host of this so called youtube channel proceeded to touch people inappropriately, tried to kiss a lady as she tried to pull away, asked for breast sizes (while awkwardly staring at their chests) and if female cosplayers made their outfits simply to attract men and objectify themselves; and on top of all of this nearly brought one poor lady to tears!

The camera crew went by the name of “Going In Dry Media,” and as with the NYCC crew, they have since removed their website and FB page, although a twitter remains. Lady Noctis continues:

These men were at the convention purely to take advantage of genuine people, by degrading them, humiliating them, and sexually objectifying them. Just because some cosplays show a bit more skin than others, does not give ANYONE an excuse to treat anyone that way. No one, no matter what, should be treated in such a fashion for the sake of “entertainment”.

The Going in Dry people responded in the comments, claiming they were trying a new kind of humor, and removed the video immediately they shot immediately.

We were introducing a new character that plays on awkward comedy and uncomfortable situations. On this occasion it was at the expense of others, which in hindsight was not what we were going for – or indeed what we are about. It is important to state that we were never disrespectful, objectifying or otherwise offensive outside of that character. We attempted to qualify during a pre-interview conversation that the style was alternative and was in the vein of awkward comedy. We did not do a good job of explaining the style of the interview. This was an error.

We are not going to justify what we did or try to defend it. This is still a learning curve for us. In fact, we were learning at the show as the day went on. At your request to delete the footage, we immediately did so – and apologised if any offence was caused. We immediately ceased interviewing people on the first day – and questioned our approach. On the second day we saw members of your group and apologised again. We did several interviews thereafter but in a modified style staying away from anything that could cause offence.

These humorist might learn how to spell “offense” since they are having to use the word a lot. That is the British spelling. With all of their media taken down it’s hard to judge what else they did, but this kind of behavior is inexcusable, but they have been banned from future shows, needless to say.

Just a reminder: Cosplayers are not to be touched, harassed and groped. They are part of nerd culture, and it’s all our jobs to make sure they are afforded the same courtesy as any convention goer.

There are so many sad things about this, including of course, that women fell less safe and welcome in a public place that used to be a safe space for them. The other is that cons will inevitably have to crack down more on camera crews as this kind of thing is happening more and more, and probably some legitimate outlets will be left out as well, but a few bad apples spoil the barrel.

Photo via Lady Noctis’s FB page, Credits: Slave Leia – Kitty KEMS Photography, Harley Quinn – Geek Pride Photography by Matt Geary

saint tail2 by moai87

On this day in 1967, Pirates of the Caribbean debuted at Disneyland in Anaheim. Nearly 50 years later, as part of The Walt Disney Company Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger unveiled creative details including the first-ever Pirates-themed land and a new Pirates of the Caribbean attraction designed for the Shanghai Disney Resort. We wanted you to be among the first to have all the details.

“Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the most iconic attractions in our parks, and we really couldn’t imagine Shanghai Disneyland without Pirates,” said Bob Iger, Disney chairman and CEO. “We wanted to create a one-of-a-kind experience that would appeal to our Chinese guests while remaining true to its Disney heritage.”

For the first time ever, a Disney Park will be home to a Pirates-themed land—Treasure Cove—and an e-ticket attraction called Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Sunken Treasure. The attraction will feature a combination of new technology and innovation to bring guests along a pirate adventure with Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Davy Jones, providing our guests who visit the Shanghai Disneyland Park an experience unlike anything else in the world.

“We are extremely proud of all the work underway to bring the Shanghai Disney Resort to life,” said Tom Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “And we’re excited to re-imagine the iconic world and characters of Pirates for the first time as an entire land that celebrates the creativity, imagination and adventure of both the fan favorite attraction and the popular film franchise.”

The announcement coincides with the completion of key structural work on the Pirates attraction, and marks another exciting milestone in the resort development. Progress continues with construction and Shanghai Disney Resort remains on target to open by the end of 2015.

Shanghai Disneyland’s Treasure Cove Unveiled by Thomas Smith: Originally posted on the Disney Parks Blog

PayPal says that it will update its policies related to crowdfunding, according to this Ars Technica report. The policy change would involve identifying crowdfunding campaigns early on and expediting payment to those that have made their obligations to campaign donors transparent. This decision comes on the heels of PayPal freezing the funds of several high profile crowd-funded projects.

read more

GKIDS announced today that they have entered into a distribution agreement with Studio Ghibli for the North American rights to "The Tale of The Princess Kaguya," the new film by 78-year-old director Isao Takahata.

A sharp decline in the consumption of music in Japan caused overall global growth to slow down in 2013, new figures reveal.

taterpie:

As a person of the vaginal persuasion, I was thrilled by this piece earlier today about what’s wrong with how American sports leagues are marketing to women. Not only do they try to clothe us in pink jerseys, they market Ladies’ Nights as an opportunity to become more pleasing to our men by bringing together diet and beauty tricks with a glimmering of knowledge about the sport. 

I watch sports because I love sports, and because I thrive on the community which surrounds the sports. Don’t define me by how I relate to a man who also likes the sport. My money is my own, and my desire to watch a game is my own as well. Over the past 6 seasons as a Sounders STH, I’ve dropped multiple thousands of dollars on the season tickets, on scarves and jerseys and ID badge zips - and not one of them was pink. I don’t begrudge the pink jerseys to those who want them, but please don’t use those as the sum total of what women really want from the community.

The writer of the piece says much the same, but she also has some great data to back up her opinions. Give it a read. 

This is going to make a lot of people very happy. One of Pixar’s finest is getting a new sequel.

That’s right. Cars 3 is on the way. The studio will also be tossing out Incredibles 2. Don’t know who’s going to care too much about that, except toy store owners.

Okay, maybe I’ve gotten my wires crossed.

In all honesty, I’m excited about any new Pixar film and I’m not going to dismiss a Cars 3 out of hand. It’s not like I don’t enjoy the first two, either. As much as The Incredibles? Okay, no. But enough.

Robert Iger gave word of both sequels during an investor’s conference call this afternoon. He didn’t say who would be directing either picture, but a lot of folk will be assuming Brad Bird will be back for the Incredibles sequel.

Or maybe it will be Teddy Newton…

UPDATE: Iger also said that Brad Bird is working on the film’s story now. I guess it is likely to be him directing, then…?

Anyway, official word of the creatives involved will be along soon, I hope. I’d also expect some release dates, at least temporary ones. [Disney]

Disney And Pixar Announce The Incredibles 2 And Cars 3‏ – UPDATED

Hi. My name’s Rebecca, and I never saw a single episode of Veronica Mars before watching the movie. I knew it was “California noir” with a teenage detective whose actress likes sloths and a guy named Logan and Mathesar from Galaxy Quest and planet puns and something about marshmallows? But for the most part, I went in cold. In a few minutes Jill, a fan of the show (who’s been trying to get me to watch it for months now, and fine, you were right, JILL), will have her own review of the film up. [Edit: Here 'tis! But for now: Tumble down the rabbit hole with a Neptune newbie.

Tl;dr—since watching the movie early Saturday afternoon I've binged the first eleven episodes of the show. It's fair to say I liked it.

There are some VAGUE SPOILERS behind the cut.

In general, Veronica Mars was solid and entertaining, with a unexceptional yet serviceable plot about former teen PI Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) returning to her hometown of Neptune, California to solve one last case when her former friend/boyfriend/adversary/it's complicated Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) gets accused of murder. Don't get me wrong—I don't mean "unexceptional yet serviceable" in any sort of negative sense. I get bombarded with ~*~EPIC~*~ and ~*~PLOT TWIST-FILLED~*~ stories at the movie theater all year round (and on the BBC when Doctor Who is on). And while those can be good, sometimes I just want a small story with interesting, well-developed characters, dammit. That's what the Veronica Mars movie gave me. Even if, like me, you've never seen the show, watching it is by no means a bad way to spend an hour and a half.

I absolutely would have gotten more out of the movie if I'd watched the show, which is about what I expected going in. The first 25 minutes or so felt like I was wallflowering it up at a party full of old friends, enemies, and acquaintances, eavesdropping on their conversations and understanding the basics but feeling no particular emotional attachment to any of the individuals involved. But eventually it got to the point where even though I didn't know these people—didn't get why everyone was gasping at the redhead in the fancy car or have a reason to awwww when Veronica's old high school principal shows up—they were still a pretty cool group of people, and I wouldn't mind embarrassing myself by jumping in to do the Macarena with them. (That happens at other people's parties, right?) The movie is chock full of references, in-jokes, and cameos (is that Mr. Adorable Werewolf from the U.S. Being Human?!), but far from being annoyed at all the things I didn't understand, I just wanted to know more about Neptune and its inhabitants.

One thing that I never quite managed to get in to was the voiceover. Maybe I've read too many screenwriting books slamming the technique for being the prop of lazy writers. I get that it's a stylistic choice for the Veronica Mars movie, a throwback to noir movies, but in my opinion they relied on it too much. It works for a 47-minutes TV episode. Not so much for a 107-minute movie. There are only so many times we need to hear Veronica expounding upon her motivations and inner conflicts. I hate to sound like a Screenwriting 101 instructor, but: Show, don't tell.

I feel like the element that I missed  out on the most from not having watched the show was Veronica's relationships with Piz (Chris Lowell) and Logan, the other two sides of the obligatory teen show love triangle. I imagine that people who watched the show and saw Veronica and Piz's relationship develop might have been invested in how it turns out in the movie, but I couldn't be bothered, because Piz is boring as hell. Is he any more interesting in the show? I know people like him, but just based on what was in the movie I can't understand why. Boy is mayonnaise.

His relationship with Veronica, for me, was the weakest part of the film, because it had that distinct stench of CW-style manufactured melodrama. After years of being a couple in a by all indications happy and trouble-free relationship, Piz gets all ticked that Veronica wants to go back home and help Logan catch his girlfriend's killer instead of sticking around in New York to start her new life and meet his parents. But did he miss the part where there's a killer on the loose, and Veronica's the only one even vaguely interested in catching them? Push back your dinner date with Ma and Pa, boy!

It's a deeper issue than that, of course. They both want different things for their future and maybe care about each other in a different way (am I stepping on the toes of Team Piz here?). But that's something I wanted to see them discuss. What we got instead was the shorthand version: Several scenes of Piz being sad and teary-eyed before eventually [SPOILERS].

Similarly, we know from the “Here’s what you missed on Veronica Mars!” intro that Veronica and Logan used to have a tempestuous relationship. In the movie, however, that drama has been left behind along with early ’00s fashion and teenage hormones. They… get along. But for some reason—maybe just the fact that Logan was in the movie more and got more character development—the history of their relationship felt more real to me, while Veronica/Piz felt like I was getting Cliff’s Notes. I’d feel cheated if, as I said, Piz didn’t make me want to lean back in my creaky theater chair and go to sleep. As it is, I feel kinda bad for fans of his character. To this Veronica Mars newbie, anyway, it looks like he got the short end of the stick.

But the voiceover and the Piz Problem were, for me, relatively minor weak spots. As a whole, I loved the movie. It felt like filmed fanfic, and I mean that in the best possible way: No pretension. No trying too hard for something new and “egdy” and “YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE you have seen this exactly seven hundred thousand times.” Just enjoyment. Just fun. Just intriguing characters bouncing off each other for a while. And if you don’t love them yet, you will.

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