Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Punisher #3
What should have been a vicious fight between the Punisher and lame-o villain Vulture is instead a murky, hard-to-follow shadowfest that I guess ends the only way it could. Sadly, that the entire issue is turned over to this fight scene is a shame because it’s a real dip in quality from what we’ve been reading so far, both in terms of art and storytelling. As I said in my last review, the new Vulture is just a stupid, uninteresting character and nowhere near the Punisher’s weight class.
Punisher #3
But I suppose this issue takes care of that problem – Punisher kills the Vulture!
I sort of predicted that in my last review. If you’re going to throw the Punisher up against real Marvel Universe villains, he’s going to want to kill them. So of course Marvel and writer Greg Rucka threw him a completely disposable nobody to dispatch. Introduced as a Spider-Man villain, the Vulture is so lame he ends up getting jobbed down to the Punisher. Take that, loser! Maybe be more interesting next time.
So yeah, this issue can be summed up in three words: Punisher vs. Vulture. The other ongoing storylines are only given the tiniest of pushes, though not much happens in any of them. We see detectives Bolt and Clemons, but they don’t do much of anything. The Bride has a few scenes that are clearly leading to something bigger, but we’re definitely not there yet.
There are two truly sucky issues with the fight scene: the art is too dark and murky to really follow, and neither of the two combatants say anything. For the third issue in a row, writer Rucka keeps the Punisher silent (except for the final page). He’s just a quiet killing machine. The Vulture, meanwhile, speaks in incomprehensible squawks. So the fight is basically just the Punisher silently stabbing the Vulture while the Vulture makes random squawks about who knows what.
Stabby McStabberson likes to stab
That’s practically the entire fight right there in that picture. The Vulture can fly, so right at the very beginning he picks up the Punisher in his talons from the warehouse and carries him off. The redhead villainous tells her men not to shoot the Vulture, and then they disappear for the rest of the issue. So the fight between the Punisher and the Vulture is in the air, but there’s nothing truly exciting about the fight. Basically it all takes place as an extended grapple, with Punisher getting the upper hand as he clings to the Vulture high above the streets of New York. Presumably he takes his knife and starts stabbing, but as I said, the art is just too dark and murky to really make anything out. It’s just ugly-looking stab followed by the Vulture spewing yellowish spit from his mandibles as he gets stabbed some more.
It’s not an interesting fight. For all the menace that the Vulture was supposed to inspire, he goes down fairly easily. Sure there’s some red thrown into the pictures to indicate blood, but it mostly looks like the Punisher got cut by accident. There’s no fight. There’s just stabbing until the Vulture goes down.
Or DOWWWWWWWNNNNNNN!! If you'd prefer
The issue ends with the Punisher stabbing Vulture through the head – up through the underside of his jaw, no less. But that means the Punisher is falling from their aerial fight! He lands in a dumpster and seems to get through it OK, though he’s all bloody and beat up. Still, he survives the fall without too much of a hassle. Then he utters the only words he’s said in three issues.
“You…help me.”
Who’s he talking to? Why it’s Norah Winters, the reporter who appeared last issue! She was alerted to the aerial fight and then followed Punisher in a cab, eventually making it to his crash site. We’re led to believe that maybe Bolt and Clemons are going to get there first, but nope, it’s Norah. She straight up asks how he was able to survive the fall, so perhaps there’s more to his fall than we realize. Rucka and artist Marco Checchetto also try to get cinematic with the fall. The panels of Punisher falling into the dumpster are intercut with panels of all the other characters. So we’re flashing from one scene to another. If this were a movie, there’d be some cool dramatic music playing. You can sort of see it playing in your head.
Anyway, as for the other characters in the book, detectives Bolt and Clemons are one step behind the Punisher and the bad guys. They arrive at the warehouse, but they’re too late because the Punisher and Vulture are gone. They find Liam’s body with his head blown off. Bolt thinks the Punisher did it, but Clemons disagrees and has already deduced that someone who can fly has already left the scene. Norah Winters takes Clemons’ advice and goes to the salon to get her blonde hair cut short. But she leaves in the middle of it, with her hair only half cut, because of the fight going on. Her appearance at the end seems to indicate a Punisher/Norah team-up for issue #4.
Sounds like a hoot.
The Bride is told by the doctors that she’ll have a long rehab process, but at the end of the issue she defiantly gets out of bed and tries to walk. That’s the part that’s intercut with the Punisher falling. The Bride gets a few steps before collapsing to her knees.
It may be a small bit of storytelling, but I think it’s clear that the Bride is supposed to be similar to the Punisher. Her family was gunned down as well, and now it’s just her and her military training. She’s clearly going to tough it through her rehab and get back on her feet, seeking vengeance. Previous Punisher writer Garth Ennis wrote a similar story, about a mob princess who lost everything and decided to become like the Punisher. In the end, neither she nor the police detective investigating that story had what it took to truly sink to Frank Castle’s dark, depressing level. I suppose we’ll see what happens with the Bride.
Perhaps the Punisher will get a sidekick?
The Problem with Exes
When I met you ten years ago, I was in love. You were sweet, sexy, clever, fun and you were always willing to do what I wanted to do. I looked past the long, awkward pauses that we had between loading screens, and just enjoyed what we had.
Then we drifted apart, you and I. It wasn’t you, Deus Ex–It was me. I always loved you, but I experienced all you had to give and I wanted more. Flashier, prettier games were out there, and I was young. Foolish.
You were always so good to me, but I left you for younger, fresher games.
Then, this month, you strolled back into my life. You were sleeker and sexier than before, with slick gameplay and brilliant graphics.
I couldn’t help myself. All of the good memories were still lingering in my mind, and I came running back to you.
For awhile, it was good again, Deus Ex. Our love affair began again, and I had fun. Your story, your gameplay (With an actual melee button!!) were among the best I’ve experienced since the first time I left you. Sure, you didn’t have multiplayer, and your voice-acting was a bit wooden, but you were still the deep, introspective, liberal lover I once knew. Sadly, our second love affair ended almost as soon as it began.
You changed, Deus Ex. We both have, I suppose. You got older, grittier, darker. You were deep, to be sure, but this time you were only a shadow of what you were before. Your old theories about the Illuminati, Majestic Six, aliens in America–they were more or less gone, save for callbacks and references here and there. The Illuminati were still a real thing for you, but they didn’t play any sort of active role in your story. I always liked your conspiracies, Deus Ex. They only added to the depth that made you so wonderful.
I still love you,but I think it’s time for us to move on. This was a quick and dirty romp for old time’s sake, really. Incredible as always, but we’ve grown too far apart. It could never have lasted.
If anyone out there is looking for a great single-player RPG-shooter that forces the player to rely more on tact than sheer firepower–a cyberpunk game with an epic storyline and wicked gameplay, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is available. My rating: 4/5. Not as good as it once was, but definitely good enough for a play.
Review: Justice League #1
The future of comic books is here! Or at least that’s what DC Comics would like you to believe. So far, I’m not convinced.
Justice League #1
Today marked the release of Justice League #1, their launching point for a whole line-wide revamp of their most popular characters. This comic has been hyped up the wazoo all Summer long. It’s reportedly had more than 200,000 orders. Justice League was the only comic book that DC put out this week (sort of) in order to ensure that every comic fan worth their collection would get in on the ground floor of their exciting and bombastic new stories!
The comic fails. Not terribly so. But this is a real stumble out of the starting gate.
Justice League #1 feels like one of those extended house ads they staple into the middle of normal comics. Where Superman and/or Green Lantern help some kids wearing Subway brand T-shirts defeat some bad guys with the power of Subway sandwiches. It looks like Green Lantern. It acts like Green Lantern. But it doesn’t feel like Green Lantern.
Instead it feels like a rushed, overly thought-out promotional piece. What’s supposed to be the iconic first meeting of Batman and Green Lantern speeds through its dialogue and its team-up, with the two of them trading not-so-snappy banter as they try and fight some random, monstrous-looking villain. But the writer, Geoff Johns, seems to think that the banter is very snappy. That’s why it feels overly thought-out.
Justice League #1 doesn’t feel new or special. It’s just another comic about Batman and Green Lantern.
At least this first issue of Justice League has some cool action, some strong characterization and some fantastic art. When I say this comic fails, I mostly mean that it fails as the kick-off to the new DC Comics Universe. I was looking forward to reading a clean, complication-free introduction to the Justice League kicking ass and taking names. What I got instead was a comic where Batman and Green Lantern hang out and trade forced dialogue about the ‘newness’ of this world. Barely anyone else appears in the comic, despite the cover featuring seven heroes. No sign of Wonder Woman, Aquaman or Flash. And Batman and Green Lantern are an odd – yet obvious – choice to introduce us to the new DC Universe.
This was not what I was expecting and I am disappointed. Though I’ll keep buying, because it looks like they’re going to try and build up to greatness instead of wowing us from the start – which is what they should have done.
Some call it bickering, some call it bantering; I call it forced
Justice League #1 takes place towards the dawn of the superhero age, which occurred ‘5 Years Ago’ in comic book time. None of the heroes have met one another. They don’t know each other’s secret identities. So this first storyline in Justice League is going to let us tag along as they meet each other and start to work together against a greater threat. There are several scenes in this issue where the ‘newness’ of it all is thrown at us. For example, Green Lantern is shocked when he finds out that Batman is just a man in a costume and doesn’t have any bat-powers. The cops are also openly trying to shoot the heroes, placing them firmly on the opposite side of the law for now.
But for all this freshness, no one seems bothered at all that the villain suddenly transforms into a giant, mechanical, alien-looking spider monster. It’s just business as usual.
And that, I think, is my main complaint about this comic, one that is felt in both the writing and the art: this doesn’t feel new.
The costumes, powers and personalities remain the same for Batman and Green Lantern. So what if the cops are shooting at them? That’s not a big enough change. Why couldn’t this comic work as the first meeting between these heroes in the old DC Univers? There’s nothing that makes it feel like it’s this new world with new histories and background. Heck, for Batman and Green Lantern, they don’t even have new histories or background. More on that later. The heroes look and act the same as they always have. They’re fighting a similar villain to what they’ve always fought.
The art reinforces this idea.
Jim Lee is, without a doubt, one of the most popular artists in comic books. His characters are dynamic and detailed, his action scenes are exciting and he draws some pretty awesome Green Lantern ring-constructs. His Batman is one of the reasons I started reading DC comics back in college. I was reading a few Robin issues, and Batman was right in the middle of a big storyline entitled Hush, about a new villain. Jim Lee was drawing every issue for a whole year. The art was beautiful.
Click to enlarge - It's worth it
But that’s the problem, I’m very familiar with Jim Lee’s artwork! As are most comic book fans. So when we draws these supposedly ‘new’ versions of Batman and Green Lantern, they look just like the old versions. Of course it makes perfect sense to put your most popular artist on this very important issue, but all it does is remind us of the old stories. This issue should be making us look to the future, not have us reminiscing about the past. Minor spoiler, the cliffhanger character appears on the cover. Surprise!
So Justice League #1 fails as an introductory issue to both the team and the new DC Universe. We get a nice, if incomplete, introduction to Green Lantern and Batman, but they could very well just be the same characters from the old DC Universe. Nothing in this issue screams new or exciting.
Hopefully issue #2 can make up for some of these shortcomings. The problem is that it won’t come out until October. Between now and then, there are 51 other brand new series coming out. All those new #1 issues, surely some of them are going to be more exciting and memorable than this issue.
Which shouldn’t be the case. Nothing should be bigger or more bombastic than the Justice League. Oh well.
The eventual full lineup of the new Justice League
That’s my review of the issue, but maybe you’re interested in a little background for any readers who have no idea what I’m talking about. What’s this revamp, you ask? I’m going to assume that you have a passing knowledge of the iconic superheroes: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, etc. They are all from DC Comics, one of the two main comic book companies. Their competitor, Marvel Comics, has Spider-Man, Captain America, and the X-Men in their stable of heroes. Both companies have been publishing comics about these heroes since at least the 60s, sometimes even longer. Batman and Superman have been around since the 30s!
But all those years of stories and all of that continuity add up! Comic fans want their heroes to learn lessons that carry over into the next issues, to grow and change. But new readers might be afraid to pick up a new comic because they think they have to know 30+ years of comic book history to understand what’s going on. Someone new to comics might not want to pick up Superman #662 because they haven’t read the 661 issues that came before.
Both publishers are aware of this problem and take steps to make comics more accessible. Well this Fall, DC Comics is taking an extreme step to make their comics more new reader friendly. They are doing a line-wide reboot of their titles, starting over with new #1 issues and stripping away all that cluttered up continuity. The characters are staying the same, for the most part. Superman will still be Superman. He just won’t have the same baggage that he’s had for the past few decades.
But DC isn’t going for a full clean slate. They’re not starting over from the ground floor. Some characters will have a few minor tweaks, some characters will be rebooted entirely, and some characters won’t change at all. Which brings us back to Batman and Green Lantern and why they are an odd -yet obvious – choice to be the stars of Justice League #1.
Their new 'first' meeting
In part, this reboot is due to low sales. DC has always trailed behind Marvel. DC’s two most popular comics are from the Batman and Green Lantern franchises. So it makes sense that the first issue of this reboot would star their most popular and profitable characters. However, Batman and Green Lantern have not been revamped at all. The stories and characters from before the revamp will be carrying over into the revamp. Nothing is changing. At least nothing major. So I find it odd that they will introduce us to the new DC Universe considering they will remain exactly as they were in the old DC Universe.
At least this new issue gives writer Geoff Johns a chance to flesh out their characterization.
Though their dialogue sucks and feels very forced, Green Lantern is charmingly cocky and Batman is quietly stoic. We can really get at the heart of their personalities, which should be fun as the series continues. Hal is supremely confident in his Green Lantern powers. Whereas Batman doesn’t give a shit about the fancy glowing hero, Batman just wants to get the job done. They’re both tracking a vaguely monstrous villain in Gotham City, one who works for the big bad guy, but we don’t see that super-villain yet.
To set the stage, DC’s revamp involves cramming all of their important continuity down to a 5 year span. In this new DC Universe, superheroes have only been around for five years. They’re fresh and exciting, but people aren’t sure they can trust them just yet.
That's Cyborg on the right, but he isn't a superhero yet
It’s an interesting take on superheroes and the public. Not new, but it could be a good read with such iconic heroes. Supposedly the new Superman is going to be more alien in nature, and he won’t be the beloved hero. We’ll see how that goes.
In the end, I’m excited for the reboot but disappointed in the first issue. But DC has plenty of chances to win me back!
Review: Punisher #2
With the second issue of the new series, writer Greg Rucka continues his tale of the wraith-like, silent Punisher and the investigation into the wedding massacre. Once again our focus is on NYPD detectives Celmons and Bolt, split with the continuing adventures of the killer, who is being stalked by the Punisher. We get a peek at the people behind the massacre (I think), but we’re no closer to discovering why everybody at the wedding had to die. Still, the series is rich, dark and fun to read.
Punisher #2
Until they blow the cliffhanger with a frankly silly new addition to the story!
But more on that later. For now, let’s start with the Punisher. Once again, Rucka gives us a Frank Castle who doesn’t say a word and doesn’t have an inch of internal monologue. Though no longer as spectral, thanks to the art, he still doesn’t say anything. The Punisher goes about his killing in utter silence, and there’s a lot of killing this issue. But I’m already getting tired of the silent act. The supporting characters are good so far, at least the detectives are. But I want to read about Frank Castle, not a bunch of nobodies.
Hopefully the villain they inject into the cliffhanger will at least get the Punisher to speak next issue. If only it wasn’t such a lame villain.
We start off following the killer from the first issue, the goateed guy who gunned down people at the wedding but survived the Punisher’s club massacre at the end of issue #1. This guy is running like hell through the streets of New York, trying to go to ground. But nobody’s willing to put him up. So he just keeps running through the dark, grimy streets of New York City. We’re treated to narration by two people named Stephanie and Christian, who we see a bit later standing on a rooftop with a group of other people. They’re dressed like rich people and are talking about the killer, and how the only reason the Punisher let him live is to track him, which would lead the Punisher to Christian and Stephanie.
And sure enough, that’s exactly what Frank Castle is doing. Though still in the shadows, Punisher is now drawn in such a way that we can clearly see his face. He’s no longer a stealthy ninja, as in the first half of the first issue. You may remember that issue #1 was split into two parts. In the first part, Punisher only appeared in shadow. In the second part, he was in the light. In this issue, all one story, he’s in the light again.
Because of my love of the Garth Ennis Punisher series, in which Frank Castle was a hard man pushing 50 with a lot of years on him, I’m not a fan of this young, handsome Punisher. But it’s not a big deal.
Handsome chap
Stephanie and Christian aren’t worried because they’ve hired someone to take care of the Punisher. We see this person only in shadows for now, and he has claws and glowing red eyes. Someone badass perhaps? Just you wait and see!
We jump to the daytime, with detectives Clemons and Bolt investigating the club massacre that ended the first issue. Oscar “Ozzy” Clemons is the Morgan Freeman guy, and he’s convinced that the Punisher is responsible. The kills are far too clean, far too precise. That’s Special Forces training right there. So now they’ve got the Punisher to deal with, messing up their case. They’ve got a job to do, doesn’t the Punisher understand that?
Speaking of jobs to do, in comes Norah Winters, a reporter for the Daily Bugle and a supporting character from Amazing Spider-Man. Now this was a fun cameo. One aspect of this Punisher series is that it’s firmly set in the Marvel Universe, complete with superheroes and mutants and whatnot. So it’s smart that, instead of making up some random reporter, Rucka just borrows an existing reporter character from Amazing Spider-Man. Norah’s fun and sassy in this issue, and has clearly worked with Clemons before. Unfortunately, their entire conversation is about Norah and we don’t really learn anything new about Clemons or Bolt. It’s an extended explanation into who she is and what she does. Hopefully that means she’ll be making routine appearance in this comic.
Being a newspaper reporter myself, having one as a character is always a hoot.
Young, perky and blonde; what's not to love?
Let’s stop here for a moment and look at that picture I just posted. This is a pet peeve that’s only going to bother someone like me, who is a crime reporter for a newspaper in real life. Just like most jobs, Hollywood and other media tend to exaggerate a reporter’s job. I realize that Norah is supposed to be a sassy and edgy reporter, but she’s all over the place in this issue. I realize she may just be joking with her friend Clemons, but when a homicide detective tells you that you can’t quote him on the details of a murder investigation, you don’t quote him on the details of a murder investigation. You have to maintain sources as a reporter, and to do that you have to maintain their respect. If they tell you something ‘off the record’ and tell you not to quote them, you don’t do it. That tends to piss them off. Bad enough she snuck past the police tape into an active crime scene.
Honestly though, I’m probably just being silly. It’s comics, not real life. And my dinky little city isn’t New York City, so maybe it’s different there. Still, it’s one of those things that will only make someone in my specific circumstance stop and shake his head.
This scene is awesome, though, because it name drops Phil Urich. Longtime readers of my blog will know that Phil Urich was one of My 6 Favorite Comic Book Characters. His current comics status quo is that he’s a cameraman for the Daily Bugle, who is making some cash and fame by filming himself as the villainous Hobgoblin and selling it to the Daily Bugle. Exactly like Peter Parker did when he took pictures of Spider-Man. So it’s awesome that Phil gets a mention in a Punisher comic. It means Marvel is really pushing him as a character that will stick around. What’s silly, though, is that Phil is being treated like a TV cameraman. They say that Phil is filming Norah doing her reports. I know the Daily Bugle is mostly an online newspaper now in comics, but do they really do more video than newspaper reporting? Norah can easily make the leap from anchorperson to writing reporter? Those are two rather different fields, especially when it’s clear that Norah prefers the writing.
Kind of an odd sort of crossing of wires in terms of what the Daily Bugle is doing these days. Still, woot Phil Urich!
But I digress. Back to the Punisher!
After the extended introduction to Norah, we jump back to the Punisher chasing the goateed killer. His name is Liam, by the way, and he’s found a brothel to hide in. The owner kicks him out on the street, tossing him into the gutter. Oops! Punisher’s right there, right outside! Liam scrambles to his feet and keeps running, while the Punisher decides to pay the brothel a visit. In silent fashion, Punisher lets himself in and starts blowing away the druggies and the gang-bangers – but he doesn’t harm the girls. Punisher doesn’t kill prostitutes, especially ones that are hooked on drugs like these girls. But he does kill the owner, even when the guy tried to take a hostage, and he kills the ‘madame’, who was using drugs to keep the girls in line.
The blood will wash right out, the punishment will last forever!
The art in this scene is clear and easy to follow, if a little scattershot. The panels are not square and gridlike, with a few experimental angles. What works great are the colors. The scenes on the street with Liam are blue and black, while inside the brothel we switch to a fuchsia. The rooms are bathed in fuchsia, and soon blood. The Punisher’s kills are sharp and bloody. One is especially cool when they just show the silhouette of the owner (in fuchsia, not black) and he’s got the detailed, bloody bullet hole in his head. Punisher leaves and the drugged out girls in the brothel are free. I guess.
We jump back to Clemons and Bolt, who have gone to visit the bride in the hospital. She’s practically the only survivor of the wedding massacre, and she’s finally woken up. It’s a quiet, soft scene in which she tries to remember what happened. Then she remembers everything…
A brilliantly silent page
In the end, Liam has made it back to his bosses, though not Christian and Stephanie from earlier, just some other people who were working with Christian and Stephanie. One of them is a pretty redhead named Dove. She kills Liam with a shotgun, and the Punisher watches from afar through the scope of his sniper rifle. Once Liam is dead, Dove turns to look up Punisher’s scope to tell him that she knows he’s there and she’s ready for him.
Enter cliffhanger villain…the new Vulture!
Are you KIDDING ME!??
What is this crap!? This character is a guy named Jimmy Natale, who used to be a mafia ‘cleaner’. But then the mob turned him into a murderous bird monster-man who now wants to get his revenge on mobsters, or something. Sometimes he works for the bad guys. He fought Spider-Man a few times as some kind of vicious freak. He has no connection to the classic Vulture though, nor to the Punisher. He’s just some monstrous new take on the classic villain created during the period when Marvel wanted to give Spider-Man some new villains to fight. But the point I’m trying to make is that this is the lamest, one-note, bottom-dwelling super-villain that they could possibly throw at the Punisher. They build up this hidden, surprise super-villain…and it’s the new Vulture?
What a chump!
I can only hope they needed to find some bargain bin super-villain for the Punisher to kill. For you see, that’s the problem with bringing the Punisher into the normal Marvel Universe. If you want to have him go up against costumed super-villains, he’s going to want to kill those super-villains. That’s why Garth Ennis’ Punisher took place in its own separate world. And why when they brought Punisher back to the Marvel Universe during Civil War, he almost immediately killed Stilt-Man.
R.I.P.
So I guess Marvel’s just throwing out some lame super-villain who, in theory, will be able to put up a fight. The character of the new Vulture is that he’s vicious and monstrous. So it could very well be a brutal battle in issue #3. I’m sure he’ll definitely give the human Frank Castle some problems. He’s just a laaaaaame villain.
All-in-all, it’s a good second issue. The story continues along on both fronts, though not very far, I’m afraid. We meet the bride who survived, and we meet the people who were behind Liam and the killers. So the story is moving. Unfortunately, we don’t get to really know anything more about the protagonists. Punisher remains silent, ‘speaking’ only with his guns. He kills and moves on, as the Punisher does. He continues to be badass, but this silent treatment isn’t going to be as much fun if it continues much longer. Detectives Clemons and Bolt are back, but their character development is brushed aside so that we can be introduced to Norah Winters.
While it’ll be fun to have Norah in the book, if she sticks around, we didn’t really get to know anything more about the two detectives, who we know will be the main protagonists. Bolt, especially, was in the background this issue, while he was the main character in the last issue. So while the story may have progressed, the characters did not.
At least the art was once again phenomenal. The right mix of action and gritty, street-level talking heads. I love realistic art in my comics, as opposed to silly superhero fantasy, so I’m enjoying the art. This is definitely a book to keep reading. I’m going to try to keep going with every issue, since I’ve had the luxury of starting with issue #1.
What do you all think? Should I keep reviewing the Punisher?
Game of Thrones is Awesome. There, I said It.
I just finished watched Season 1 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, and I have to say that it more than lived up to the excellent and exciting hype! The show was marvelous, the characters were well-rounded and fun to watch and the cliffhangers for Season 2 were downright brilliant. Amazing, amazing show. I’d thought about doing a full, in-depth review, but I wouldn’t want to spoil anything for anyone else. I’m glad now that I have not read the books because I wouldn’t want any of this spoiled.
Especially that final scene!
Boromir no more!
Like I said, I won’t get into spoilers. But I can talk in general about the show and hopefully you’ll be willing to give it a chance. HBO has created some fantastic shows. Though I’ll admit I’ve never seen a single episode of The Sopranos. Maybe now’s a good time to start. But I saw Carnivale and loved it. Anyway, Game of Thrones is a medieval tale about politics and personality, with a bit of fantasy thrown in for fun. It’s based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, and is really popular, from what I get off the Interwebs. Though I’d never heard of it until the show started.
Let’s start with an overview. If you take my advice and watch this series, you can use this to better understand what you’re looking at. I know I was a little lost, at least in the beginning.
We find ourselves on the continent of Westeros, with our hero, Ned Stark, played excellently by Sean Bean, of the Lord of the Rings. Ned and his family, Clan Stark, rule over the town of Winterfell far in the north. Ned is a decent and honest man, beholden to the law and trying to do right by his people and his children. His wife Cat is noble and loyal, herself from a lording family. Their children are just as good as their father, not a schemer or villain among them. Rob is the eldest, learning well his father’s lessons. Jon Snow is Ned’s bastard son, and Cat can barely stand to be in the same room with him. But Jon is a good man, and one of the stars of the show. Daughter Sansa is princess-like and regal, while youngest daughter Arya is a spitfire who doesn’t like the idea that she’s destined to just be married off and pop out children. Young son Bran is known for being a good climber, and then there are a few younger children who don’t do much.
Arya Stark has enough awesome for all the children. Remember that.
Ned would like nothing more than to take care of his people and prepare for the coming winter. For you see, in Westeros, the seasons aren’t like here in the real world. They’re split between Summers and Winters, both of which can last years on end. And years of harsh, cold, dark Winter can be brutal. Hence Clan Stark’s catch phrase, “Winter is coming.”
Life will always get harder.
Especially when politics come into play.
In the first episode, Ned gets a visit from his old friend King Robert Baratheon. Nearly 20 years ago, Ned, Robert and their allies dethroned The Mad King and took over rule of Westeros. Robert became ruler of all seven kingdoms, but mostly the land split into different towns and castles, each lorded over by the various family Clans. When they deposed The Mad King, Ned, Robert and their allies split power through various arranged marriages.
Westeros - Click to Enlarge
Robert’s wife is Queen Cersei of Clan Lannister, played by Lena Headley, the queen in 300. She’s a cold, scheming woman whose marriage to King Robert was never anything more than a political move. Clan Lannister is the richest and therefore one of the most powerful clans in all the kingdom. They are known for their blonde hair and their catch phrase, “A Lannister always pays his debts.” The main conflict of the show is between the Lannisters and Starks, with King Robert caught in the middle. The Starks are good, honest people, while the Lannisters are cruel and conniving. Guess which one has more luck in the realm of politics, otherwise known as the Game of Thrones?
Queen Cersei has two brothers: the handsome knight Jaime and the wickedly smart dwarf Tyrion, played with extreme brilliance by Peter Dinklage. He is the standout character of the show. Tyrion is smarter than everyone else, and he knows it. Because he’s a dwarf, he’s always been looked down upon, especially by his father, the head of Clan Lannister. So he’s had to work extra hard to get everything in life, made much easier by his wit and his charm. You can never tell who’s side Tyrion is on, but in a good way. He may be a schemer and a Lannister, but you can sort of tell that Tyrion is a good person. So watching his journey through the show is one of the best parts!
Awesomeness squared
At any rate, King Robert has come to visit his old friend Ned Stark because he needs Ned to serve as his right-hand man in the capital, King’s Landing. The old right-hand man died under mysterious circumstances, or so Ned begins to discover once he moves into his new home. The show follows the adventures of Ned and his two daughters as they try to fit in at King’s Landing, while the rest of his family continues to preside over Winterfell. If you love political drama, this is the show for you. There are many schemers and more treachery than you can shake a fist at. There are a lot of surprising twists that I didn’t see coming, and all of the characters seem fully-rounded with depth and opinions. Nobody’s intentions are truly clear, which makes for an exciting show to follow.
Along with the political drama, there are two side-stories that add fantasy and barbarian elements to the show. The first is The Wall, located at the northern most tip of Westeros. The Wall is simply that, a giant, manmade wall that separates the continent from the mysterious and fearsome north, a wintery land where giants and monsters are rumored to dwell. A thousand years ago, the people of Westeros repelled an invasion by the White Walkers, and ever since, the noble brotherhood of the Nightwatch has guarded The Wall. But a thousand years have passed, and the Nightwatch isn’t the proud group it once was. They’re made up of criminals, runaways and only a few true knights.
So what are they going to do when the White Walkers return?
And what’s the kingdom going to do? The White Walkers don’t give a shit about all the petty bickering and politics. There are some really awesome scenes towards the end of the season, when the threat beyond The Wall starts getting more real. Because what does the game of thrones really matter when literal monsters are going to start invading the land?
The barbarian saga comes from across the sea, where the last two children of The Mad King were exiled. Fair-haired Daenerys Targaryen and her conniving brother Viserys long to take back their rightful throne from King Robert, but they’re just two people. So Viserys, a truly evil man, force-marries his sister to Khal Drogo, the barbarian ruler of the horselords. Viserys intends to use the horselord army to go back across the sea and fight King Robert’s armies. But the meek Daenerys quickly takes to barbarian life, and by the end of the season, she’s got a few surprises up her sleeve.
Not the least of which is boobs. There's a lot of nudity in this show
So that’s the show in a nutshell. Again, I highly recommend you watch. They’re already working on Season 2, so you know it’s going to be around for awhile. The politics are great to behold, with some truly surprising twists and turns. The characters are really fun, especially Tyrion the dwarf and Arya the youngest daughter. Even subplots that don’t seem to be very interesting in the beginning, like The Wall and the horselords, turn out to be truly awesome in the end.
There are a lot of characters and a lot of names that one has to try and remember, and it can be difficult at first. But if you pay attention, you’ll get the hang of it. Like any fantasy world, such as Lord of the Rings, it’s not difficult at all to immerse yourself in the goings on of the world. Strange and volatile Westeros may be, but it’s an awesome place to visit.
