Captain Marvel

I don't usually see films on their release date. I don't actually see many films in the cinema any more (sorry Into the Spiderverse, I'll watch you some day) what with working at least 36 hours a week and looking after a toddler most of the rest of the time. Fortunately me and my husband had some time off both work and parenting when Captain Marvel came out. Yay!

This film is so much fun! The action is good, with the plot trotting along pretty nicely. The characters are strong, especially the way they relate to each other and the way trust is built between the 2 main characters. The story isn't a continuation of a previous MCU film, hopefully making it fairly accessible to those who aren't serious fans. It's about extraordinary things happening to an ordinary person, but an ordinary persopn who worked hard as an air force pilot and who has gone through a lot. It's also about someone whose true potential is always tamped down, and told her emotions are a problem, finally realising that they aren't and she's more than any of her official superiors gave her credit for.

It is sort of an origin story, but not just for the title character, for the MCU. Set in 1995 it takes before all the other MCU films, except Captain America. In terms of Captain Marvel herself, the story inverts a traditional origin story, by showing someone who already has powers, but who also has a lot of questions and whose background needs figuring out. Along the way there's exploration of loyalty, of friendship/found family, of overcoming what you've always been told about yourself in order to become who you truly are.

I really enjoyed the soundtrack. I get that some people might see it as a bit cheesy, but it's rare that I watch a film where I recognise and remember most of the songs from around the time they came out (I mean the 80s has been a pop culture obsession for aaaages, I guess maybe it's the turn of the 90s now?). The soundtrack is used in a lot of fun ways. There's one song, which starts at the same time as a major fight, that had me burst out with joyous laughter.

Also a cat is a pretty big part of the film, and given this is the internet you're probably good with that.

X-Men: Apocalypse

We have been burned by X-Men films in the past (my husband still prefers to pretend Last Stand doesn't exist) and so we restrain our excitement and go without high hopes, which has mostly worked out well. X-Men: Apocalypse has some cool stuff in it, and is reasonable entertainment, but did not blow me away. It's very definitely a sequel, but because the two preceding films didn't mesh well parts were a sequel to one, and parts were a sequel to the other and it didn't feel like it all gelled. The story seemed to rely on knowledge of (and clips from) the previous films, but the X-Men franchise has not been anywhere near as consistent as the MCU for example (though I appreciate it pre-dates it), so too much harking back seems a little foolhardy. Though I guess they got to reuse a few set designs. Plus in many ways things being a bit confusing and not making much sense with what went before is very appropriate to the source material (my husband has explained portions of the Summers family tree to me, several times).

Those characters who were given much to do had reasonable plot lines, although they were often pretty standard and some were downright cliches. Bringing in new/old characters at different ages is hardly a novel trick for X-Men at this point, but it all feels a bit superficial when they haven't sufficiently aged the older new characters. Some new characters were not given much in the way of backstory or motivation, and while everyone can't get equal screen time it seemed like there was a lot of focus on established characters whose backstories are already known to us. Though bizarrely much of this examination of the previous characters didn't really fill the gaps so much as explain to us what we had already seen. Passing the baton is a tricky thing to navigate, but I think there was too much caution in this area, as though the younger/newer characters couldn't be trusted to engage our attention. There were some moments of meta, that were kind of amusing, but also seemed ill-advised and cockier than I feel is deserved. Overall it was fine, but I think they have to do something pretty different or particularly good to impress me at this point.


Spoilery Random Thoughts in list form - this is a thing now.



How much sand and grit and dirt does Psylocke have in her swimming costume? It occurred to me at Auschwitz and I could not stop thinking it in Cairo. It is unhygienic and she must be super itchy.

So that mother and daughter were always going to get fridged so hard. Did they have names? I don't recall. I mean they were obviously going to die so who actually cares? It is kind of tedious. Plus why is Magneto a family man working in a Polish refinery? Sure tell us all about that thing in Washington we already saw, but don't explain what happened between the films by any means. Why did he stop being Magneto, I mean that was the main thing he had any interest in?

Charles is happy and being a professor again after that period of drug abuse and self-pity in the 70s, which has left him curiously unravaged by time. I don't remember why he was sad in the first place to be honest.

Hank is at least pretty consistent, while also looking curiously young. Perhaps he has been experimenting again because if there's one thing this sequence of films has established about Dr Hank McCoy it is that he's very concerned by his looks.

It's cool that Mystique is some kind of icon for mutants. She's had the main surprising and different storyline in this half of the franchise, so good on her.

Are there female teachers at this school? Should two male teachers be wandering into a teenage girl's room at night. I mean I know Prof X is the only one who can help Jean, but shouldn't there be a lady there to chaperone or something?

So how many timelines are there now? I know they don't want me to think this, but tough it happened. I figure there's got to be at least 3 because bits of this tie up with some previous films, but none of it works with all of them. I mean if Kurt, Scott and Jean had all been there before then the events of X2 make no sense, but I don't think this can be in that timeline at all.

Yay, Nightcrawler! I do like Nightcrawler, glad he is there. If people say BAMF online my first instinct is always that they are saying Nightcrawler's teleporting noise, which can be confusing because I know it means something else.

Scott did not irritate me here, it may just be a matter of time but I find I'm never that bothered by Cyclops.

Moira McTaggert is back, yay! She didn't slap Charles when she found out what he had done to her, boo!

Seriously though it has been twenty one years since First Class and ten years since Days of Future Past, so a comment on how Moira's hardly aged a day doesn't cut it, especially as she has no mutant powers to explain it (not that most people's powers do). Stryker also looks pretty similar, and not like that guy with the beard at all. Quicksilver should look properly different, or should have been an actual teenager in the last one. Magneto manages to look a bit tortured, so maybe that helps. It's not like there aren't make-up effects that would do the work.

On a similar point how much older is Havok than Cyclops? Havok was a teen in the 60s and Cyclops is a teen in the 80s, so that's a fair age gap really, even though Havok somehow still looks like he's only a few years/a decade-maybe older than Scott. Their powers don't explain this.

I like that Charles doesn't realise he's lost his hair yet when he battles Apocalypse. From the trailers I thought it would get burned out by Cerebro. I expect that was a surprise, shame we didn't see it.

Quicksilver's sequence was good again, one of the better bits as beefore. His sequences show a lot of invention, which is cool. Why doesn't Quicksilver tell Magneto who he is? It's just kind of left there.

Sophie Turner's version of Jean is good (I'm not always that bothered by Jean as a character either). I quite liked her and thought it was cool that she got some proper fire. Though she can presumably remove Magneto's hat and then mind control him, so she's already better than Prof X.

Jubliee did not get much to do.

Why does Psylocke do anything that she does? I don't really know her at all, but sympathise for all the sand and dirt she'll be washing out of herself for weeks. Other than that I got no feelings about her.

Storm had some stuff to do at first, but then not so much.

Angel/Arcangel didn't have much to do either, and I thought he was supposed to be rich. Now I don't know much about him in this either, so maybe he was. Angel can be well used to show how mutant prejudice can affect someone from a privileged background, but here I guess he was just an American cage-fighter in Germany.

I'm not that bothered about Apocalypse. He is a fairly boring villain all things considered. I don't really understand why he disliked things so much considered the time period he lived through was pretty much when things were invented and popularised by humans.

Oh look, it's Wolverine again, for no real reason, except that he has to be there, I guess.

Captain America: Civil War

I was afraid this could be a bit of a hot mess after Age of Ultron, I mean that had less people involved and was quite overstuffed. I'm pleased to say that my expectations were exceeded. This wasn't as much of a pleasant surprise as Avengers Assemble (mostly because we all feared that'd be dreadful and then  it really wasn't and we didn't even know such a thing could work), but it was in some ways better as a thing because there's more background and complexity for the characters.

I didn't take a side (I can be that way sometimes, I haven't picked a side in the British Civil War either despite that my A level history teacher insisted that we would) and I felt that the viewpoints and motivations of most characters were given space and explored. This is nice because it could easily have been more on Cap's side (it's technically his film, and I understand the comic story line has Stark as a right jerk). The story made sense from a character point of view and the tension was built by the knowledge that there was more to the situation and we (or the characters) knew. It was cool that there were a few times when Steve and Tony almost sorted things out, but then something would happen or something would be sent that made it all worse. The action was exciting and interesting, groups of people using their powers and skills for fighting while mostly not wanting to properly hurt anyone else. There was room for surprises despite all the trailer clips and there was variety to the action that's different to what we've seen before. It's nice that Marvel have realised that you don't have to have a city in danger or something in the sky at the climax of a superhero film. A conflict can have tension and impact and be dramatic without trashing buildings and creating loads of collateral damage. I think this is one of my favourite Marvel films.


The Return Of The Random List of Spoilery Thoughts
Again this won't make sense if you haven't seen the film, plus it's probably going to be spoilery for previous Marvel films, so you were warned.



How did the Dean get a job at MIT? Seriously, he could barely run a community college.
Maybe they didn't want me to make this comparison, but they should have put a wig or beard or something on him. I am easily confused by people having different hair, so if I spotted it was the same man they couldn't have been trying hard to hide it.

Ma Stark has a name and a face and a voice!
I've been waiting for this for years! I mean she's only there so Stark can avenge(r)* his mum's death (what else are superhero mothers for?) but at least she's acknowledged as a person after 5 films with Iron Man and 2 films and a TV show featuring Howard Stark.

Maria Stark, about damn time

No! They killed Peggy! How could you! I mean it was obviously coming, but still, sadness. I pulled a sad face at my husband in the cinema. And then the 3rd series of Agent Carter isn't happening. Further sadness!

Sharon does not replace Peggy. At all! Don't try this Marvel. I know she's good at her work and helps Steve loads, but seriously that doesn't mean they've gotta kiss. Is it kissing as a reward? Not that I feel Steve would do such a thing himself, but plot-wise that's how it feels to me. She's been helpful so she gets to kiss Cap, I mean it's a gender-switched version of a trope, but it turns out I still don't like it. The problem is that there's little background or build up to this kiss, just Nat suggesting he ask her out a few years ago before he knew she was surveilling him. Plus the whole Peggy connection makes it feel weirder. Though the MCU has no history of good romances, in fact that's main place where they do badly, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised they've fluffed this. Or maybe it was to counteract the weight of all the Steve/Bucky online shipping, but this opposite-sex chemistry-free kiss does not convince that this pairing is better.

Vision's outfits! My first reaction to Vision was that he was so otherworldly compared to the rest of the characters, now his preppy-looking outfits are totally incongruous.

Vision and Wanda are kinda cute. They're the two most powerful (with Thor and Hulk absent),  but also in many ways the most mysterious. I wonder if things will be going in the same direction as the comics? At least if they do there's some build up here, rather than a seemingly arbitrary decision about which two characters are attracted to each other. Part of me thinks that a version of the Gillon/McKelvie Young Avengers run would be awesome (gay teenagers smooching on the moon!), but in all honesty the backstory/origin of Wanda's kids is all a bit too weird for film.

Spidey is great, really enjoyed him, but I am judging Stark so heavily for involving a child in this. Him not doing that kinda thing was the main thing that made him less of a jerk than Batman.

Ant Man was just happy to be invited, cos it's so cool. Plus he's a bit anti-corporate and anti-Stark, so it makes sense.

No one explains why Hawkeye does what he does, and I'm not that bothered.

Black Panther was very cool and his putting aside of revenge was the most sensible and mature action here.

No Marvel ending, they're doing a different thing, finally. Nothing in sky. No city in peril. Just three people with massive emotion stakes in the situation beating the shit out of each other in a bunker.

Stark shouldn't have had Wanda held, not cool. Why didn't he just ask her to stay put, explain why he wanted her out of the way for a bit. Using Vision that way wasn't great, I guess he still has vestigal butler reflexes. Having done that to Wanda he probably shouldn't have told Cap. Stark's not the best team player and I think he doesn't entirely get that the others aren't his employees. Not that he's treating them that way on purpose, but I think he has limited ways of interacting with people and assuming he's in charge is one of his main social strategies.

Falcon has totally imprinted on Cap. His hatred of Bucky is understandable and hilarious.

It makes sense they had to fight among themselves as Loki's the only compelling villain they've done so far (they're almost as bad at villains as they are at romance) and he's Thor's issue. Plus this works so well because we care for and have history with most of these characters while also wanting to discover more about the newer ones.


*Not sorry.

Superman Vs Batman: Dawn of Justice

Catching up with blogging? Or cunningly waiting until most people have seen the film?

As the main story after the release was that this film wasn't very good I wasn't expecting much going in, and so I was reasonably satisfied with what I got. It wasn't a bad film, it was fine. Of course at the moment it seems as though if something isn't brilliant that means it's terrible automatically, polarised opinions, blah blah blah. Plus I suppose this film came with a lot of baggage and the way studios are trying to chain films together meant that it had more riding on it than whether it entertained people for a couple of hours.

I quite enjoyed Man of Steel when it came out, and felt the version of Superman was continued here successfully. This guy zipping around saving people seemed the same as the guy doing occasional super-powered good deeds while he was travelling. I liked Ben Affleck's performance as an older Batman, one whose seen some stuff and has already got the whole Bat-thing down. I didn't get why people were so freaked out by Batfleck a couple of years ago and I think he did well here even if there were issues. I thought the way the two characters were brought together as men and as superheroes was OK. I thought Lex Luthor was an interesting, modern take on the character, though I'm not sure how off-putting he was meant to be. I think it would have been better if his overall plan hadn't been so weird, bits worked and bits really didn't, though it at least it wasn't yet another weird real estate plot like in previous Superman films. In fact plot-wise some stuff worked and some stuff was just really strange (especially the last act), but I can see the reasons why all of it was there even when it didn't gel. As in the previous film I liked Amy Adam's Lois Lane, though she didn't get lots to do but in an ensemble piece that was to be expected. I really liked Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, she struck me as fun and also as the only character (with the arguable exception of Lex Luthor) who seemed to know what she was doing. She was a bit skinnier than I'd pictured Wonder Woman (but hey, that's Hollywood I guess),  but I suppose the point is that with her powers it's not about size so much.

And now to go into more detail on specifics...

A Random List of Spoilery Thoughts
Spoilers below in case you hadn't guessed, plus a lot of this won't make sense if you haven't seen the film.


It's cool to see that the events of Man of Steel shown from ground level and that there are repercussions for all that violence, though it's taken long enough to show that. I didn't really comment on it here after I watched the previous film, but the fight scenes and destruction were too big and took too long. Nice to see some aftermath. Also cool that Bruce Wayne runs towards the danger.

Why is there a horse in the chaos? After the film my husband said that was a 9/11 reference. Grr.

Why are the people in Bruce Wayne's Metropolis office waiting until he gives them permission (in person?) to leave. There are aliens having a giant fight outside, I think you can run away regardless of what the CEO says. Also who was that older guy? It seemed like he and Bruce had some strong connection that never got explained. Though I might be confused because I thought Bruce was calling him "Dad" initially.

You know what I think we all know how Bruce Wayne became Batman. I think that is a thing with which we are all familiar, you do not need to show us, even if it's a quick flashback. I mean I get that this film is full of this odd dream 'n' vision quality, which I don't object to per se, but there could have been less of this thing we know already. I also get that his mum's name is important, but they could've done that with the name on the grave alone. After my comment about fathers in Man of Steel it's good that mothers have more weight here, admittedly they play a mostly symbolic role, but they're present.

Lex Luthor (I'd totally forgotten his name is Alexander) is clearly supposed to be a massively entitled dick who's a bit manic and socially inept, which works very as a villain concept. Though I feel like the film has not realised how big a dick he is and also wants us to feel admiration of him in some way, which I will not. Of course that could be me reading into things. The way he manipulated stuff to do with people and organisations and power structures was good. Anything to do with him and Kryptonian stuff made no sense at all and was deeply stupid. (It's possible Jesse Eisenberg is a perfectly nice chap but -like with Chris Pine- I've never seen him play a character I didn't want to slap.)

Seeing Lex Luthor and Batman in the same film made me think very strongly that they're really just two sides of the same coin. I know people say Batman should be admired because he did it all himself and he doesn't have super powers, but extreme wealth basically is his super power. Both Wayne and Luthor have looked at the world, seen something they'd like to change/do and used their ridiculous wealth -combined with extra-legal methods- to do as they please regardless of how authority/society views them. This leads to an interesting line of thought about how much they get to judge each other...

This Wondermark strip makes an excellent point in this matter and cracks me up.   Weird car!

Speaking of people judging each other... it seems a bit like Superman can't judge Batman for what he's doing too much. I get that Superman is primarily saving people (oh look there's that saviour imagery from Man of Steel, alright Snyder, we get it - at least there's less this time) and Batman is branding criminals, but neither is exactly official or registered. I understand Batman's motivation more what with Supes destroying a large part of a city and being a terrifyingly powerful alien.

Yay, more Clark! He was kinda missing in previous film, maybe it's because my Superman background comes from The New Adventures, and Smallville to a lesser extent, but I always feel Clark should be as much of the story as Superman. It's so cool that Clark can hear Batman's comms. I'd never considered that before! Superman would be very hard to spy on, I want to see a thing where someone tries. Say what you will for these films they are doing things with Superman's abilities that I've not seen on TV/film before (see also how young Clark adjusts to his hearing and vision powers).

If I hadn't seen someone mention it on Twitter I probably wouldn't even have seen that hip in bed with Bruce Wayne, though it served so little purpose. It's more subtle than most films that demonstrate that a character has sex with random ladies who have nothing to do with the story/the character's life, but I don't think that's required at all and so doing it this subtly is just confusing. My assumption was that this type of thing was also done for eye candy, which it didn't do and that's just added to my confusion.

I like that Batman's older and worn in and experienced. I liked that there are hints to the stuff that's happened before and that he and Alfred have been doing this a while, even though Alfred's obviously a bit dubious about some stuff Bruce does. I do like the traditional posh Alfred (more butlery one feels), but of the recent Alfreds I like Irons better than Caine - I mean Caine's Alfred is nicer, but he just never felt like Alfred to me. (Plus I kept thinking he was about to launch into an explanation of how magic tricks work which Christian Bale didn't need as he and his twin were already obsessively committed and... that's a different film.)
Also my short story My Guardian's Guardian, published in the Guardians Fox Pocket mini-anthology from Fox Spirit Books deals with stuff in this area. I don't normally plug things, maybe you can tell.

As I said above I liked Lois Lane in this film and the last one, but she felt oddly used here. She's kind of bait really and that irritates a bit and I wish she had been able to show more anger at being used as she is. I do think it's cool that she and Supes rescue each other (sort of) and both are shown helping each other out of the water at different points in the film. It seemed at one point like she was going to be a lot more important in the plot and then she didn't get a lot to do.
 
Speaking of which water seems to be an important element/image for Superman in these films, noticed it strongly in Man of Steel too. It's here as well, though less prominent.

What's with the Elseworld scene? I get that it's a wider continuity, but it just made it seem like the film was leading to this really interesting, weird thing that never actually arrived. I've since heard people say that they can't do an end credits scene cos that's Marvel's shtick, which I totally get, but I was largely confused and it just kinda added to the fact that Lois isn't really that important here after all.

Yay, Holly Hunter is doing things and taking no crap and trying to get stuff sorted. No, she got exploded.

Why couldn't Batman and Superman just talk things through like people? I mean there's all this squaring off and fighting, and it wasn't needed. Again I get what Batman was doing more, he was afraid of someone dangerous and powerful, probably a new feeling for him. But why didn't Superman just hover nearby and explain that this terrible guy kidnapped his mother to force a fight, and hey you seem pretty resourceful, maybe you could help with that.

Yay Wonder Woman! When she sees the TV on the plane (do they show news on planes, idk I've never been on the posh bit of a plane) you can just see her thinking she's gonna have to sort out someone elses mess. Then Supes and Bats assume she's with the other and it's like, no dudes this lady is here on her own terms. Plus it's amazing the casual way she says she's dealt with creatures from other worlds before. It's like these guys have no clue how clueless they even are.

She has the best theme music! It is so amazing. When Bruce is looking at her photo there's the thing with the drums and I thought that was pretty cool. Then when she shows up in full outfit, OMG! The drums and the guitars and the awesome! I don't run, but if I did run, I feel like that would be excellent music to run to.

So Doomsday and Lex Luthor's plan, WTF? Nothing in that spaceship made any sense whatsoever, which means much of Lex Luthor's plan doesn't make sense. I get that there needed to be some implacable threat to bring Bats and Supes together, but couldn't they have come up with something that wasn't immensely nonsensical?
Why does splashing some human blood into a pool with a dead Kryptonian General create a big monster?
Why would the human whose blood it is be able to control the monster? That's not how blood works.
Why would Lex even think this is a thing he could do?
I get that the film probably didn't show the timing very well, and maybe he was doing a lot of really thorough research and not just going paddling with a dead alien, but still. Up to that point I'd been impressed with his scheming, but after it I was not on board.

Seems a bit early to do Death of Superman. I'm not that invested in the characters yet, but I suppose it goes back to the weight of subsequent films so I get why it happened. Also it seemed a bit weird that Batman was so sad and acting like they were such good friends, when actually they hated each other up until the end bit, and then they were allies during one fight that seemed like it was about half an hour. Don't start telling people they've got to this and that in the name of your friend when you only knew him for half an hour, ok Batman.

Why did they shave Lex Luthor's head when he was in prison? That's not how prison works. (I feel the timing of him even being in prison was a bit quick, but films often do this sort of thing.) You lose your liberty, but you can keep your hair. I mean if he was joining the army I'd get it; I don't know if that's a real thing in the US Army, but it's a trope I've seen before - and those guys do hate extra hair. If he was shaving his own head or tearing his hair out that'd seem like it made more sense. Maybe being as he's small and white he figured he'd go skinhead for protection, but that's not what we're seeing. I know many famous incarnations of Luthor are bald, but if he wasn't bald from the start I don't see why it happened randomly at the end.
Also, does Batman have Alfred flicking the light switches in the prison? Doesn't seem safe.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Half the internet has been talking about this, but generally politely enough not to be spoilery in public places. I shall try and keep to this admirable trend and will put a spoiler warning before revealing anything outside the trailer.

Like most of people I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy and thought that Marvel and Sean Gunn did an excellent job introducing a little-known ensemble to the Cinematic Universe and broadening it's cosmic side. It also feels like this would be a good starting point for people who have not watched the rest of the Marvel films, as the bulk of it is entirely new.

The film is a lot of fun and uses humour well, mostly creating funny dialogue and moments through character interactions and situations, rather than laughing at them or mocking them. There were other emotional beats that worked very well and had impact without feeling as though the film was purposefully playing with your emotions. Initially I wondered whether the film might not have a bit too much background detail with different groups and their agendas being introduced, but actually after the set-up it works well and you're pulled along for the ride.

SPOILERS

The central characters all work well together, becoming a team and friends almost in spite of themselves. Groot is both terrifying and adorable (even before the bit at the end), and I kinda want to see him fight the Hulk. Rocket is excellent, the humour not being because he's a talking racoon, but because he's a cynical, sarcastic person. And it makes sense that's he's that way when he's the only creature of his kind in existence. Gamora's background could have been fleshed out more as it relates to the central conflict, but she gets some really good scenes and lines and I didn't notice her being used specifically as eye candy.

Drax wasn't put in the trailers much, probably because most of his lines are hilarious but only in context. Having a literal character be everyone's straight man works well. I did feel it was a bit bad when he called Gamora a whore. I see how the joke worked there, but since he doesn't understand metaphor it doesn't make sense he'd call her that (bitch would've made sense, or y'know a non gendered insult). Other than that brief moment though he worked really well, his motivation was pretty standard but he fit well into the weird group dynamic.

Star Lord's backstory is kinda sad and he's grown up as a bit of a space rogue while somehow maintaining a strong vein of childish naivete. He steals and runs with smugglers, but he also believes he can save the day and loyally looks out for his friends. I think my favourite moment was Ronan's face when Star Lord started dancing at him.
Also, although his grandfather was only on screen very briefly, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. That actor normally plays unsympathetic rich guys in things I've seen, but here he seems to be a good normal man. He obviously stood by his daughter, who got pregnant and claimed an alien did it (in the late 70s - early 80s). The loss of her and his young grandson in the same night must have been terrible. If Star Lord ever returns to Earth I hope we see him again. It's a small detail but one that stuck with me.

The soundtrack was good, even though I wasn't familiar with all the songs. I really liked that the soundtrack had such a link to the story and was more than just incidental music. I also loved that the build up to the big battle and the start of the fighting was to Cherrybomb.

The main link with the rest of the MCU is Thanos, the baddie revealed in the after-credits scene of Avengers. There's also the Collector, who appears in the after-credits scene of Thor the Dark World. This shows that all the cosmic craziness is linked to Asgard (the most mythic/magic of all the Marvel franchises), even if it doesn't seem to be part of the Nine Realms. Thanos mostly appears as a terrifying force in the background, his role stepped up from that of Loki's mysterious backer in Avengers. The real antagonist Ronan is not fleshed out much, he has little more backstory than Christopher Eccleston's angry dark elf* in Thor the Dark World, he wants to destroy all the things, for reasons. The trailers and publicity suggested that the main baddie would be Nebula, however she is not particularly well-used in the film and mostly has the role of chief minion. It might have been interesting to explore more about her relationship with adopted-sister Gamora and their messed up family.

The scenes with the Collector signal a bit about where the wider MCU arc is going. My husband has been mentioning Infinity Gems and the Infinity Gauntlet to me since the tesseract appeared in Captain America, here we actually get told outright that these things are linked and that someone at some point is going to have a very powerful shiny glove. 

The only bit that wasn't great was probably the after-credit scene. As this is a franchise starter and separated from the other bits of the MCU it makes sense they didn't drop hints about another franchise (at least I hope they didn't). Still, I think there's sufficient dislike/ignorance of Howard the Duck that including him at the end did them no favours. Bit disappointed by it if I'm honest, I'm used to being amused or intrigued by the after-credit scenes and this one didn't do that.


* Eccleston's Dark Elf King was really just a version of his two dimensional Rider character in The Dark Is Rising (a terrible adaptation of a good fantasy book) except with more makeup and a spaceship instead of a horse.

Thor the Dark World

Thor the Dark World was better than the first Thor film. The characters and world are already established so there's more depth to the story and we get to see bits of the nine realms we didn't get to see before. There are various good character moments and interesting use of the science/magic/alien tech that was introduced but not much explored in the first installment. Thor has developed, he's grown more thoughtful, plus he's less of a fish out of water on Earth. Odin seems pretty much the same, which is kind of a problem. Jane Foster and Darcy seem to be pretty much the same characters, which is no bad thing, especially with Darcy. Jane and Thor's relationship develops, but in pretty much expected ways. Loki is imprisoned for his crimes, but then his unique skills are needed by Thor. Dr Eric Selvig went crazy in the aftermath of the Avengers, but that's no surprise and his sciencing is still important. Also there are dark elves and their leader wants to turn the universe to darkness.

There are two end credit scenes. One halfway through and one at the very end. I personally felt one was better than the other.

Beware, there are spoilers below.

There are some new characters, in the slightly hapless blokes that Jane and Darcy encounter. Ian and Richard are clearly there for comedy purposes, but that works well enough and means that Chris O'Dowd is in a couple of scenes, which is no bad thing. We also see a lot more of Frigga, Thor and Loki's mother, who turns out to be kinda awesome, so its sad that she's killed before we get to see much of what she can do. It is clear that a lot of the illusions and stuff Loki does are things he learned from her, rather than anything to do with being born a frost giant (in fact the whole frost giant thing is never really touched on, it's more about the fact he's adopted).

It's easy to forget how menacing Christopher Eccleston can be, he does a good line in scary bad guys. Of course as Malekith, ruler of the Dark Elves, he looks pretty creepy to begin with and Eccleston's presence backing it up. The premise is that Dark Elves were around before light came to the universe and want things back the way they were, it means there doesn't have to be any character development as far as the villain is concerned (I was reminded of Eccleston playing the Dark Rider in The Dark is Rising - a bad film in which he plays a character with basically the same motivation, but no reason for it). This isn't a bad thing as there's plenty of character development in just about every other part of the film, and of course Loki's position is complicated by not being the antagonist, but not being trusted by the protagonists either.

Loki is less the evil, murdering bastard of the Avengers and more the moody, untrustworthy trickster he started as. What became clear to me is that despite of the lack of genetic link Loki is very much Odin's son, I'm fairly convinced Odin used to be a right bastard, and his gruff, disapproving way with his sons is a real problem. There's tensions between Odin and Thor because Odin, despite his earlier speech to Loki about humanity, is entirely dismissive of Jane Foster as a partner for an Asgardian prince. I reckon Odin might as well allow Thor to have some fun with his human woman, I mean she'll be dead before century passes, but Odin just doesn't want anyone deviating from what he wants. Loki might try to distance himself from his adopted father, but even he points out that he hasn't really done much that Odin wouldn't do, which is fitting given the twist at the end. That is something they will have to explore more in later films.

I liked the scenes in London, partly because (like in Skyfall) the city wasn't glamorised, it had grotty bits and the weather also seemed realistic. I liked the weird gravity/spatial anomalies and how people played with them. That was also something I liked a lot about the big fight at the end. The gravity distortions and random portals had a real impact on the action and were used in ways that made sense and were also comedic. The film balanced its serious bits quite well with the mostly lighthearted tone.

The first end credit scene is clearly a nod to the wider Marvel film plan, and also made Marvel boy (my husband) squeak with excitement as the macguffin of this film is sent to a really dodgy-looking bloke to be guarded - Asgardians lack healthy suspicion it seems. The second shows Thor and Jane properly reunited.

Overall it's a good continuation of the Thor franchise and fits nicely into the overall Marvel film universe.

Endless Nights

The Sandman graphic novels are intended for mature readers and though this post doesn't go into explicit detail there is discussion of events in the collection, including nudity, sex, violence, despair and delirium. Just so you know.

A full list of my Sandman Summer posts and a bit of an introduction is available here.

Sorry if the images in this post look odd, the precise workings of my scanner are a mystery to me at times and some days it's more co-operative than others.

Death: Death and Venice
Artist: P. Craig Russell
A Venetian Duke on an island conducts an elaborate death for himself involving two virgins and an elephant, and a grand party is thrown. A soldier returns to modern day Venice and stops a street vendor from fleecing a tourist. The Duke orders a day of penitence and monks come to hear confessions and scourge everyone on the island, especially the Duke. The soldier remembers a childhood stay in Venice with his Italian relatives, they went out to a ruin-covered island and he met a young woman who was waiting for a gate to open. His cousins found him hours later, he told them he'd been sleeping, may he had been. The Duke announces a magnificent ball and word is sent to Venice and the other islands. The Duke makes a speech to his guests, dressed gloriously in every colour besides black, about the perfect day he has created, untouched by time or death. The soldier takes a vaporetto out to the island he visited as a child and he finds the woman, still waiting, still the same. He kicks down the gate and they enter the ruins. Inside they are no longer ruins, a palace and gardens, and the soldier and the woman step into 23 May 1751, their outfits change to appropriate ones for a masked ball. The woman walks through the party pointing to each person and describing how they die, each dies and crumbles to dust. The Duke is informed about strangers in black and confronts the uninvited pair with a sword and a speech he composed. He levels his sword at the soldier, who cannot understand the speech, the woman steps forward and describes the fate of the Duke and his island. The Duke sees how beautiful Death is, he missed her and takes her hand. The soldier is woken by the water taxi driver, he fell asleep in the ruins and is guided back to the vaporetto and taken back to Venice. Everything seems "thin and unreal". He'll return to his unit and his work, sending people to her. He knows he'll see her one more time.

A story about someone who was able to avoid Death -for a while- and someone who encountered her and couldn't forget. The Duke is so proud that he has been able to create some kind of groundhog day situation, but for everyone on his island, but when he confronts Death he knows he missed her.

The images of modern Venice are grey and bleak for the most part, presumably that's how the soldier sees it. The soldier's remembrance of childhood is done in warmer, sepia-tones, to indicate memory and a happier time. The images of the Duke's perfect day are colourful and bright, it is idealised.

Desire: What I've tasted of Desire
Artist: Milo Manara
A young woman in an Iron Age(ish) village tells about how she did not care for the cocky chief's son. He was skilled in battle, and very popular with the other girls of the village, but despite what her sister claimed she found him too sure of himself. One morning they were both walking in the same direction and they stood close and talked a bit and at the end of walk she knew she wanted to spend her life with that infuriating young man. He never noticed her after that, and was regularly with other village girls, though he seemed to have little interest in them besides the physical. The young woman visits a witch, but she does not want a man whose love she could buy with a potion or from a god or goddess, she wants him to want her as much as she wants him. The witch says that there is one who can help, with golden eyes. The young man goes to the coast to trade, the chief goes to negotiate with people across the river, they kill the chief and return his head. The young woman dresses as a boy and heads for the coast, on the way she meets a person with golden eyes, and is taken somewhere else. This person admires how much the young woman wants and warns that getting what she wants won't make her happy. When she is returned the young woman is at the coast, which is usually three days walk away. She finds her young man and tells him his father is dead and he's now the chief. The walk back to the village and he suggests they lie together, but she refuses. He proposes, but she says he's just doing it to quench his desire and refuses even to kiss him. At the village he becomes chief and he courts her for three moons. He avenges his father's death and offers her the spoils as a wedding present, and she accepts. Their wedding night is worth everything to her. The village girls whisper he'll be back with them soon enough. He leaves for the coast and while he's gone and the men are out hunting wolves strangers arrive. Hospitality is the way of their people and the strangers are taken to the dining hall. The leader puts her husband's head on the table and the woman seems not to notice it. She feeds her guests and entertains them with music and song, and admires them enough that they start to fight over her. She plays with their desire until the village men return and kill the invaders. She lived the rest of her life not wanting anything else, though she married and had children and grew old.

Another story that shows the range in Sandman, the setting is certainly early-medieval or ancient, but yet the story is understandable. This is a woman's personal tale of her desire, not a saga. Desire makes the point that its brother talks about stories, but the plot of every story is somebody wanted something. It's hard to argue with that point.

The art shows the daily lives of the village people, in the background of the story, cooking and hunting and loving. The drawings are detailed and look like paintings. People receive the same detail as backgrounds, their expressions and body language very naturalistic and nuanced.

Dream: The Heart of a Star
Artist: Miguelanxo Prado

A father tells a story to his child, it happened so very long ago and far, far away. Killalla of the Glow travels through space in a bubble to meet her lover's family, it's an unusual situation. Her lover is Dream and they arrive at an enormous place, not world, but a vast collection of palaces and gardens. Their host Mizar greets them, there is a Parliament of Stars, and the Endless have been invited. Dream wants Killalla to meet his favourite sibling, Desire, who is so funny and kind. Dream thanks Desire for Killalla, which confuses her. Desire explains that Dream was lonely and wanted someone, he believes that Desire did him a favour. Killalla is encourage to entertain herself while the business of the Parliament goes on. The important stars are there, plus a clumsy little yellow one called Sol, who means well. Death turns up and bums everyone out by telling them they'll all be hers someday. Killalla encounters Delight, who seems like a happier version of what she'll become. Mizar introduces Killalla to Destruction, who bumbles and suggests that the family were concerned that Dream needed a companion and Desire sorted it. Everyone goes back to the talks and Killalla is approached by Destiny (who was not expected to attend), he tells Killalla that millennia from then it will be decided that the Endless may not love mortals and she'll come up a lot in those discussions. During a party Sol tells Killalla that when his sleeping planets have life he wants them to look like her. Killalla is approached by a green star who seems familiar and friendly, she asks him about the gathering and he explains that her lover isn't king of dreams, he is Dream. He also tells her that the stars present are not representatives of solar systems, they are the stars themselves. He is Sto-Oa, the star of her world. The truth is to much for Killalla, she tries to get away. Sto-Oa follows and kisses her, she's surprised but kisses him back, then Dream turns up. He walks away without a word, Sto-Oa and Killalla are scared and cling to each other. The original Despair points Dream to Desire. Dream tells Desire about the kissing, Desire cheerfully points out that they've gone past that. Dream is angry that Desire is amused and tells it that they are no longer friends. Desire doesn't understand why Dream is so angry over a joke and Destruction points out that he's never much sense of humour. Sol tells Dream he would like inhabitants for his planets once they wake up and welcomes Dream to his system. Dream leaves. It is revealed that the story is being told by Sol, to his sleeping daughter Earth, who looks forward to when she has life on her surface and the Endless will come to her. Sto-Oa and Killalla were happy, but as a mortal she died and he translated her to his centre to burn inside him.

I think this is my favourite story of the collection. It is by far the oldest story in the series. Humans are a distant dream when the story is being told, and even then the events of the story took place an extremely long time ago. Here are the Endless when they were younger, and often different. In the introduction to this volume Gaiman explains that "it would be several hundred million years before Death would cheer up, and longer than that before Delight became Delirium." This is a story that explains things and is the most linked with the rest of the Sandman series.
Death was moody and made people uncomfortable. Dream and Desire were friends, and this tells of how they stopped being friends. We see the original Despair, for the only time. We see Delight before she changed. It seems that this may have been the first time an Endless fell in love, and it is interesting that the rest of the family noticed Dream's loneliness, though it is unsurprising that Desire meant the whole thing as a joke. I have noticed that Dream surrounds himself with others much more than the rest of his family, his creations and his loves seem to far exceed any connections his siblings have. Destiny reveals that what happens with Killalla informs the prohibition against Endless loving mortals. This prohibition is in place when Dream meets Nada, as told in The Doll's House, and I'm not surprised that the Sun (presumably Sol) is the one who enforces the rule, the stars saw what happened the first time. The fact that Dream keeps falling in love and having these bad ends to relationships suggests that Desire just can't stop baiting him, and Dream never stops falling for it (I'm thinking of Thor and Loki in the Marvel film universe - which have nothing to do with the characters of the same name who appear in Sandman).

The art is detailed here and like the last issue also looks painted. Instead of ordinary life what is seen here is the fantastical, the depths of space and a fabulous palace filled with celestial bodies, literally embodied. Everything is unreal, and yet it is grounded by Killalla who, despite her blue skin and ability to create green light, is an ordinary person and reacts as an ordinary person would, her emotions are drawn with realism, as are those of the other characters.

Despair: Fifteen Portraits of Despair
Artist: Barron Storey, designed by Dave McKean
This comic contains a variety of images, mostly abstract. They relate to the text, but rarely clearly, these are not panels containing action, they are images to be interpreted. There is usually an image that could be Despair on the page, sometimes many. The text sometimes describes Despair, the rest of the time it provides a snapshot into the lives of people she has claimed.
A priest being kicked out of the church after an allegation of molesting a young girl years before.
A girl making a list of things that make her happy can only come up with one thing.
A man on disability somehow takes in a horde of stray cats, then locks them in his trailer, then the police come.
A man who secretly collects things from his lover to make a shrine, he watches his lover on TV and imagines meaning that is not there.
A couple enters a suicide pact, but one of them survives and hears the sirens coming.
A man loses his job, pretends to his family that he is still working, starts robbing houses for money and knows the police are asking about him.
A man who raised all the money he could from everyone he knew to get justice for his daughter, finds the legal system has failed him, and knows it has only just begun.
A woman who seemed to have everything ends it all by the side of the road. In the snow she watches them take her body away and waits for happiness.

This is not a story so much as a series of vignettes. It's all abstract, and though some of the writing is clear there is some that is suggestive and what I've written above is my interpretation of some pages, there are others. I expect there's stuff in this I don't get. There is one page which shows Despair, her hands on her face, over the top of this is a sketch of Desire, like something drawn on a mirror.

The art is full of faces, and often female nudes that are, or could be, Despair. There are many different techniques and types of image used and the only thing that unites all of them is that they are not comfortable. I am not surprised that Dave McKean was involved, as the weirdness of composition in a lot of this is characteristic of him.

Delirium: Going Inside
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
A catatonic girl is cared for by her mother. A man who sees  conspiracies sees a bird die and follows a dog, writing messages of warning on walls. A woman on the street knows that men have babies really, they stole her babies and her womb and now she is full of lizards. A school janitor, whose mission is to chronicle the Sky-boys to stop them from being stuck in hell, leaves his house before completing his 10 pages for the day, normally he would punish himself but he knows he is needed. A talking dog asks how many they've got so far. A man who sees rainbows after opening all his extra eyes. The catatonic girl rises and leaves home. They all go to an abandoned building. Barnabas asks how many they have Dream (formerly Daniel) says they got 4 or 5, which surprises Barnabas. Matthew, Dream's raven, isn't sure that it will work. Barnabas is unimpressed by their rescue squad, but Dream tells him not to judge them by appearances. Barnabas gives the 5 crazy people a pep talk, telling them to go into the bathroom, find the girl who is hurting and bring her back. Matthew, Barnabas and Dream aren't sure if this will work, but none of them could go in there when she's like that and keep their minds intact. It becomes clear the catatonic girl was raped and went inside herself. The woman with lizards inside her has fish come out of her mouth, the fish lead the way. The man who sees rainbows follows the trail of the fish. The Sky-boys lead the janitor on their mission and they all walk through the bathroom. A shark with one blue eye and one green eye swims towards them. They find Delirium, she went a long way inside because she hurted. They bring her back. Barnabas tells her not to do that again. The catatonic girl's mother called the police, thinking her daughter had been taken. Her daughter walked home, and tells her she's let it go.

In comparison to the previous issue the art and words in this one tell a definite, coherent story. Of course the story is told largely from the point of view of 5 insane people, and the text and images change according to their world views. There are fish throughout, Delirium manifested as singing fish in The Kindly Ones, then later turned her guide into a fish. The most coherent scenes are those with Barnabas, Matthew and Dream, the presence of the new Dream showing this takes place after the Sandman series.

The art in changes for each different point of view. There's a lot of sketches, and impressionistic bits, very little realism. The backgrounds are coherent, because all the images are made of impressions that are overlaid by the various delusions that the characters experience. The angel fish swim across most pages, antagonistic at first until Delirium is restored.

Destruction: On the Peninsula
Artist: Glenn Fabry

Rachel has dreams about disasters, massive disasters, sometimes they creep into her day. She needs a change. She is invited by a friend/colleague/contact to a confidential dig in Sardinia, it is something to do until next semester. There's a hill that wasn't there a year ago and they're digging up pennies minted in the future. It's an excavation of the future, which is why it's so secretive. They go across the bay to drink the cheap, local wine. There are a pair of other tourists there, they've been camping nearby since before the dig began - it's Destruction and Delirium. There was a lot of wine and Rachel sleeps with the guy who invited her along, but she thinks of the red-headed guy she saw at the bar. While she's digging the red-headed guy turns up and helps her remove a device from the rock, she asks him to help out. She finds a load of spent bullets, and one that glows blue. Destruction takes it off her and throws it far out to sea, where it explodes, it was still live. One evening Rachel goes to the camp and finds Delirium, who explains that her brother was asked to watch her as a favour to the rest of the family, because she was sick and shouldn't be on her own. She reckons the hill is there because of them, but it's not the future they're digging up, just a future. She tells Rachel she doesn't know her brother's name anymore, but Rachel can call him Joe. Rachel finds "Joe" and they discuss his sister, who probably got her feelings hurt somehow. Helicopters arrive, men in suits take over the dig and try to detain everyone. Rachel says she has info about the dig ready to go online if she doesn't leave and stop it. She sees Destruction and Delirium from the boat, but when she gets to the bar they aren't there. As she sits drinking the hill explodes cleanly in a single flash of light. She returns to her life and dreams of the man who is not called Joe.

This story follows on from the last, they are the only two in this collection that are connected. Rachel's dreams of mass destruction remind me of something in Fables, where plans to destroy humanity are discussed. Destruction minds Delirium after whatever happened to her, it's suggested that she got her feelings hurt and Rachel assumes it a bad romance, though this isn't confirmed and there are no details.

The art is naturalistic and we are back to pictures in panels with clear page layouts and basic illustration of the story. There's a lot of images of characters and their expressions, and these are clear. The colours are bright, and seem almost bold compared to some of the other issues. The backgrounds are detailed, grounding them in the clutter of the modern setting, or the natural spaces surrounding the dig site.

Destiny: Endless Nights
Artist: Frank Quitely
Destiny walks his garden. He walks past the statues of his siblings. He walks past his gallery, which contains drawings of his siblings. There is a description of his book, which holds everything, and people exist in the pages of his book. There are patterns in his book known only to him. There are galaxies and atoms in his book, he sees little difference between them. One day he will lay down his book and what comes next is unwritten. He walks, with his book, and inside his book is the Universe.

This does not seem like a story, so much as a description of what Destiny is and what he does. There are few words and no panels, everything is a full page of art. The picture of humans standing on Destiny's book is diverse, the animal carcass surrounded by flies is detailed. Destiny and his realm are drawn in fine detail -the grain of wood, the stubble on his chin- though the backgrounds fade into a creamy whiteness. It is short and beautiful.

That's all folks. I hope you've enjoyed it. I feel like I've rediscovered a lot and discovered a few things I hadn't noticed/realised before.

Last week: The Wake

The Wake

The Sandman graphic novels are intended for mature readers and though this post doesn't go into explicit detail there is discussion of events in the collection, including death and grief. Just so you know.


Chapter One: Which occurs in the wake of what has gone before
Destiny, Despair, Death, Desire and Delirium receive a message and they gather at the Necropolis Litharge. They are treated respectfully by the ruler who opens the gates to the catacombs. Despair has never done this before. The siblings create an envoy, named Eblis O'Shaughnessy to go down to the room and retrieve the book and cloth, for not even Death can enter. In the Dreaming Cain demands that Dream of the Endless restore his brother, Cain's identity as murderer, as part of a duo, is clearly important to him. Dream recreates Abel, and states that he is no longer Morpheus. Matthew grieves and sulks in Eve's cave, refusing to answer the requests of the new Dream and ignoring Eve's attempts to comfort him. Dream recreates Merv Pumpkinhead. Familiar characters fall asleep: Nuala, Rose Walker, Richard Madoc (CalLiope's captor from Dream Country), Hippolyta Hall, Alexander Burgess, Robert 'Hob' Gadling. Dream tries to recreate Gilbert, but Gilbert declines the offer of life. Titania leaves Faerie, Remiel and Duma leave Hell, Bast gathers power and enters the Dreaming. Humans, gods, fairies and others gather. Hob looks as he did when Dream first met him, and angrily disbelieves his old friend is dead. Alex Burgess is a child again. They are all dreaming, "where else should the wake for the dream lord be held". Towering above the mourners the five giant figures of the remaining family loom.

   "If you bring me back to life, my death will have no meaning."

• Eblis O'Shaughnessy is sent into the catacombs of Litharge to the room found by a young Mistress Veltis in the deeply nested Cerements story in Worlds' End, the font of the Voice is the same
• As she falls asleep Rose Walker is surrounded by books and holding a skull, no doubt the final effects of Zelda, who died in the previous volume
• Lyta is looking in a mirror as she goes to sleep, she is often shown in mirrors, only when she's being Daniel's mother is she not shown in reflection
• As he falls asleep Alex Burgess holds a ring, probably the ring that belonged to Unity, and Rose found and gave to Alex while he was still in a coma

Chapter Two: In Which a Wake is Held
The giant Endless building a huge brick structure. Everyone gathers, including you and the palace staff come down to join the crowd. Dream watches them go, Lucien explains that according to the book of ceremony he cannot attend the wake. Eblish O'Shaughnessy asks Lucien who the lord in white was, and Lucien says he was Dream of the Endless. When asked who, or what, they are mourning Abel explains that the deceased as a point of view. Cain threatens Abel, but Lucien tells him not to kill on that day. Calliope talks about her marriage to Oneiros, the ending of it, and the way he saved her. Matthew is confused by the gathering and distressed to see Merv alive and cheerful. He goes to Dream, who confesses to fear, he is old as time but yet everything is new to him. Nuala sees Cluracan, who denies removing her glamour or telling her a poem. A hooded figure approaches and reveals himself to be Cluracan's nemesis, the one he accidentally created when he visited the Dreaming, it was he that removed Nuala's glamour and inspired her to leave Faerie. Queen Titiania speaks briefly of the Lord Shaper. Dream tells Matthew that when he was still little Daniel he saved the raven from the Corinthian by distracting him. Matthew is still not accepting of the new Dream and asks about his options. Matthew encounters the gatekeepers, include the gryphon, but this gryphon was not resurrected, he is a champion sent from another land. Rose Walker, and her brother Jed, encounter a grim Lyta Hall, Jed tells Rose that she and her husband used to live in his head. Matthew speaks to Lucien and Eve, still figuring things out. Matthew reckons Morpheus let it happen and Lucien insightfully points out that he did more than that. Thessaly describes her relationship with Morpheus and its ending. Matthew encounters the Endless (now in scale with everyone else), Barnabas and Eblis O'Shaughnessy just before the ceremony. Death is wearing red, just for that day.

      "I think... sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die. And, in the end, there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change."

• Two human dreamers talk, they seem to be the people who were serving food at the banquet in Season of Mists
• Dream's former lovers speak of him -Calliope, Thessaly, Titania (whose relationship with him was a source of rumour)- standing near them is a Chinese child, is this Nada in her current form?
• Mad Hettie, who has appeared only once in Sandman, but is in the Death miniseries and (I assume) other DC works, delivers a speech
• Rose Walker joins her brother Jed who is older and looks a lot like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo now (is this a phase younger brothers go through?) Rose doesn't know Carla died
• Lucien is drinking with an old friend who is the Indian gentleman from the sea story in Worlds' End, he was a king and became an immortal
• Clark Kent, Batman and the Martian Manhunter chat, as do three guys in trench coats, one of whom is John Constantine
• Jed tells Rose Lyta and her husband used to live in his head, so Jed (or his dreams) was kinda the gestational environment for the new Dream

Chapter Three: In Which We Wake
More people than can be perceived enter an enormous mausoleum. Eblis O'Shaughnessy takes his part in the ceremony. Destiny speaks, then Bast, then Desire. At the castle Dream strokes the new gryphon and the hippogriff. The hippogriff explains that this Dream is different to the old one already. A traveller approaches and Dream invites him into the kitchens for refreshment. He recognises the traveller as Destruction, who won't go to the ceremony but wanted to offer the new Dream some advice. At the ceremony Despair speaks, so does Wesley Dodds (the original DC Sandman superhero), the angel Duma sheds a tear, and Delirium speaks. Destruction tells his new brother that he could leave, Dream declines but thanks him for all his advice. Destruction says it's best not to tell the others he was there, but suspects they'll meet again. Matthew speaks at the ceremony, and so do many, many others. The mausoleum is a bridge -because this is a dream- and Death, in her red dress, speaks and gives everyone peace and meaning. The bier is on a boat now and travels down a black river. A small Chinese boy throws blue roses into the water and the boat falls off the river and down into a sky where it becomes a huge star. The ceremony over people return, gradually. Lyta appears in the throne room and tells Dream/Daniel that she did everything for him. Dream tells her that he is not Daniel and that she has lost her son forever, he explains that grim fate of the man who murdered the first Despair, says her crime was worse but marks her as under his protection. Matthew tells Dream his family are waiting to meet him and offers to stick around and help for a while. They encounter Alex Burgess as a lost child and send him back to himself. Alex wakes to see Paul who has just returned from a funeral, probably for Jack Holdaway. People wake as the Endless siblings chat about meeting their new brother. Despair reveals how scared she was in the same situation and resolves to be good to this one, though Desire is more grudging. Dream opens the door to meet his siblings. You wake up.

 "You can't kill dreams. Not really."

The Wake: An Epilogue Sunday Mourning
White, Englishman Robbie Gadling is taken to a Renaissance Fair by his Black, American girlfriend Guenevere. He is not looking forward to it and moans about how historically inaccurate it all is. Gwen ignores his moodiness and refuses to believe him when he tells her Catherine of Aragorn was black. Despite his grumpiness it's clear he really cares foe Gwen. She tells him a book-binder at the fair wants to meet him because there were a few long-ago Robert Gadlings, one was a book-binder. Robbie talks about how one was a slaver, gets really guilty and apologises about slavery, describing it in terrible detail. Gwen reassures him that he's not responsible and calls him out on his white guilt, she thinks it's crazy he's taking it so personally, and correct guesses she is the first black woman he's dated. Robbie explains that he didn't used to think slavery was so bad until a now-dead friend of his put him right. Gwen comments that he has so many dead friends she first assumed he was gay. Robbie visits the book-binder, and sees a book he made. Feeling morbid he goes to the pub and pays to the waitress to bring him a lot of beer without any fake English accents or pseudo-olde-worlde speak. Whilst drunk he goes into a condemned building and chats with a woman who tells him she is Dream's sister, and he realises is Death. She offers to take him, but he refuses. Gwen finds him asleep after the fair and is amused that he talks as though he was actually there in the past. He falls asleep under a tree while Gwen and her Renaissance Fair friends drink and talk in modern clothes. Hob dreams of Morpheus and a friendly-but-crap pavement artist he once met (Destruction) walking happily into the end of the story. He tells Gwen about it as they drive away.

"Trust me, If Catherine of Aragon had been in Alabama in the 1950's they'd have made her ride in the back of the bus."

Exiles
Master Li, an old man who has advised two emperors, is crossing the desert to the village of Wei, he is to be prefect in the farthest outpost of the Empire. He has been exiled by the Emperor because his son got involved in forbidden magic. On his journey he picks up a small, white kitten, it is foolish as the desert is harsh and there is little enough for him and his groom. On the journey he composes letters in his mind and reminisces. After being blinded by sand he finds himself alone, he encounters his son, who was killed for his studies into the magical art. Master Li berates his son then turns his back on him to follow the white kitten to a tent. In the tent he encounters a lord, who speaks to the kitten and describes the desert as a soft place on the edge of the Dreaming, he claims to be from hundreds of years away from Master Li's time. He gives Master Li a cup of wine he has been dreaming of and asks him about grieving for dead sons. Master Li delivers his thoughts then follows the kitten through the sands, past strange things he does not recognise. After using dream-logic to make a bridge over a chasm he and the kitten approach a familiar tent. Outside is a young lord, he looks like the brother of the previous lord, but he tells Master Li that that was him a long time ago. A group of riders approach the young lord and ask how to leave the desert and what will happen to them, the young lord permits then to leave but provides no explanation. The young lord speaks to Master Li of opening cages, of tools being subtle traps, and he asks Master Li to come to his castle and advise him. Master Li is honoured but will do as he was commanded and go into his exile. The young lord accepts this but tells him that he can send a message via the kitten if he changes his mind. Master Li is woken by the kitten biting his hand, his cry attracts the groom, who had thought him lost.

"Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost."

• Morpheus asks Master Li a hypothetical question that is clearly about his reaction to Orpheus's death, it is not clear at what point in Morpheus's timeline/the series aster Li encounters him
• New Dream tells Master Li about traps, especially those we make ourselves while feigning ignorance  and says he knows he must destroy the emerald one day, he is clearly reluctant, but at least he knows he must do it
• "Tools, of course, can be the subtlest of traps" this is a line from the prologue prose section in The Doll's House, suddenly I wonder if Daniel is narrating that section as there is clearly a narrative voice

The Tempest
In 1610 William Shakespeare writes a play about a shipwreck at home in Stratford, and is questioned by his daughter Judith, who is on the brink of becoming an old maid. His wife Anne has little use for him writing plays and filling Judith's head with silliness while there are chores to be done. It seems that when Anne was Judith's age she got herself pregnant and Will had to marry her, there is something like affection between them despite their differences. He goes to the local inn, where two wet sailors are charging the locals to take a peek at the corpse of an Indian. As he is writing The Tempest, Will is visited by his London friend Ben Jonson, and they discuss writing and religion. Ben has experienced a lot more than Will and believes this makes him a better writer. The discuss the attempt to blow up King and Parliament by a group of misguided Catholics, and together compose a rhyme to mark the bonfire celebrations. Judith is being courted by a local lad Will doesn't much like, and Judith tells him how much she and the family missed him when she was young and he was in London. Going over his old plays Will sees his shadowy patron and explains the practical artifice behind the art of his plays. In winter he speaks to a member of the clergy about what to do if a man were to bargain with dark powers, how might that man save his soul? The answer is to abandon magic and renounce it. One completing the Tempest Will is visited by Dream, their deal is concluded, Will has written 2 plays glorifying dreams at either end of his career. He insists on having a drink in Dream's parlor, and talks of how much of himself he sees in his plays and how he has changed over the years. Drinking in Dream's throne room Will asks what would have happened if he had not struck that bargain, Morpheus says that he would have written less, probably gone to Stratford and become a school master. Will describes watching his own life even as he lived it and using it for material.Morpheus says he wanted a play of graceful ends, of a magician who turns his back on magic. Will wakes, writes the epilogue, and it is done.

"I am Prince of stories Will; but I have no story of my own. Nor shall I ever."

• That quote from Morpheus at the end is clearly what he believes and just as clearly nonsense, or what else have we been reading?

Art
The first 4 issues are pencilled by Michael Zulli and colored by Danny Vozzo, in complete contrast to The Kindly Ones the images are done with a lot of fine detail, subtle and naturalistic colouring and shading. There is a richness to the art, although it does mean that many of the characters who have appeared in previous volumes are harder to recognise being drawn so differently. However this is part of how comics work, different artist's have different styles and so it is the attributes we look for rather than the specific likeness; Lyta's white hair, the superhero's costume, Thor's hammer, Herakles' lionskin - this way of looking at art has been going on a really long time.
The detailed drawing style works well for the funerary issues, where there is formality and ceremony, as well as partying and a huge host of weird beings. The style also works for Sunday Mourning, a far more mundane setting full of humans. What's interesting is that the fineness of the art, and that fact that what we are viewing is a picture same as the other pictures we've seen, makes the Renaissance Fair costumes look as authentic as the scenes in the series that were actually set in the past. We know the Fair is full of fakery, but that fakery isn't shown in the drawings it's in Hob's reaction to it. That's another thing about art, everything in a picture can have the same level of reality, it depends on how the artist shows it.

Exiles is rather beautiful, mostly black and white, ink and paper, with colour having all the more emphasis when it appears. Inked and colored by John J. Muth it has no pencils, that would go against the Eastern aesthetic. It is interesting that here Morpheus' speech is not indicted in it's usual heavy white-on-black word balloon, possibly the only place in the series where this happens. Instead he and Daniel speak in the same font, black-on-white or white-on-black depending on the background colour.

The Tempest is pencilled by Charles Vess, Bryan Talbot, John Ridgway and Michael Zulli, inked by Vess and coloured by Danny Vozzo. Charles Vess is the artist of the previous Shakespeare issue, A Midsummer Night's Dream, which appeared in Dream Country, so it is fitting that he returns. In this issue there are levels of reality, of course the historical sections are real -for all that this is fiction and imagined by Gaiman- or exist in a real time and place, Stratford-upon-Avon in 1610. The sections in Dream's castle are real as far as the series is concerned, and real to Will, but could also be described as a dream (though of course the series teaches us that dreams aren't the same as the not-real). Then there are the scenes from the Tempest, clearly Will's imagination, these panels are done by Vess. These could be said to be the least real, and yet it is clear that Will's work, the products of his imagination, are real to him, perhaps realer than the world he actually occupies.

Last week: The Kindly Ones
Next week: Endless Nights