After years of negotiations and one too many lamentable movies from SONY, Marvel has (temporarily) regained the rights to Spider-Man.
Has Marvel redeemed their most beloved character’s troubled franchise? Listen in to the latest episode of Geek Gab and find out!
Bonus: I review the first episode of Netflix’s original Castlevania animated series. Can writer Warren Ellis display a basic grasp of history, avoid a slew of post-1980 genre tropes, and stop being a poor man’s Alan Moore?
No, he cannot. As a result, Netflix has produced a show less deserving of a review than a public service announcement against STDs. Listen in for the same reason you’ve listened to recordings of the Hindenburg disaster.
For a series that ditches the postmodern tropes in favor of straight up, fast-paced fun, check out my award-winning Soul Cycle.
And don’t forget, my Dragon Award-eligible science fiction novel The Secret Kings, Soul Cycle Book III is now free through my newsletter!
The Dragon Awards are right around the corner. Nominate your favorite works of genre fiction here. It’s free!
So basically it's Anti-Castlevania, about what I figured.
Castlevania is a great property to file the serial numbers off IMO. Not Belmont would make a great pulp hero.
Yes and yes.
Castlevania is the first Vampire Hunter D movie/book with the serial numbers filed off. They just added some Bram Stoker in there.
Mysterious wanderer arrives from out of town with the Powers of Light behind him to fight off a pitch black dark.
It's incredibly pulp.
This miniseries is the antithesis of the original series. The fact that fans are lapping it up mystifies me.
Small sample size – just a forum I hang out at – but I've seen a lot of criticism of it too, including some non-Christians thinking the Christian-bashing is too much.
Tbh I've seen a bit of that from some very liberal folks as well.
Only people not complaining are those who actually think it was like that back then. After all, that's what Hollywood told them it was like!
Speaking of Hollywood, I just saw Spider-Man Homecoming. It's like watching a childhood friend get cancer.
I haven't seen the movie but everything I've read about it just sounds wrong. Spider-Man yearning for acceptance from Iron Man, or any other other superhero, is such an anti-Spider-Man idea.
It's another case of Marvel trying to cram every MCU hero into the Iron Man template when Spidey is much more a hero in the mold of Captain America.
To be fair, Vampire Hunter D predates the first Castlevania game by a few years. Although I'm a huge fan of both franchises.
-Vlad James
"Let's look under th' hood tah see wut dat knock' is all about. Well, ders yer prahblm right der. Ya got a Warren Ellis infestation in the carburator, spreadin' ta th' upholstery an' in yer A/C. Gonna have ta turn dis car inta scrap — no salvagin' it."
SJWs are cancer, no matter what they do or where they go.
Oh, and great Geek Gab, Brian!
Much appreciated. Thanks for listening.
I keep thinking about how they could have done it better. Maybe pulled from Castelvania 2 and had Belmont under geas to bring Dracula back for some reason. It would lend credence to the hatred of the Belmonts, add some depth to any characters who join him, and give us the feel of an ancient enemy manipulating things from behind the scenes.
Taking a page from Castlevania 2 is always a good idea.
As I've been reliably informed by Castlevania fans, Trevor is the Belmont with the least defined personality, which is why they're a-okay with turning him into a crappy character.
Richter and Simon, the most famous Belmonts? Had they been the stars of this there would be problems.
Basically, they chose 3 for a very specific reason, and that was to create a "real" origin story.
So this is the Maleficent, or Wicked, of the Castlevania series. And fans are eating it up.
Well, it's four months later, but I've watched the Castlevania series. All four episodes. It is easily one of the worst, most disrespectful monstrosities I've come across, and spits on everything exciting, adventurous, and even coherent about the franchise.
It's actually very similar to how many Star Wars fans feel about Last Jedi.
-Vlad James
I try to warn people.