A Random Look at a New Show, Weak Villains, and a Lack of Goals
Daily Ramble 40
Today I take a quick look at a new TV show, a couple of comics, and the fact that I neglected to set any gaming goals this month so I’m kinda all over the place. For the TV show, I’m starting to take a look at the new shows that are coming out this Fall and I’ve stumbled across Manifest. With all the TV out there these days I still try to stick to my plan of giving a new show a 3 episode trial. I figure if a show can’t grab me in 3 episodes I’m never gonna like it. So far Manifest is at strike one. As for the comics I took a look at, I split time between DC and Marvel taking my first step into comic reading on DC Universe and continuing with Marvel Unlimited. In DC I started up the Death of Superman storyline and I’m looking forward to reading this story that I’ve only heard about. As for Marvel, I finally read the next issue of Champions and am still enjoying the new team of youngsters. Finally, I bemoan the lack of goal setting for the month of October gaming and try to salvage the last week or so by laying down a target.
Manifest
I watched Manifest season 1 episode 1 the other night and I suppose I’m somewhat interested by the idea and the mystery of what’s going on but I’m not sure this’ll be a show I watch long term. The basic story is that a plane took off from Jamaica to New York and landed 3 hours later in ‘plane time’ but in ‘real world time’, 5 and a half years had passed. Fiancés are married to best friends, wives are in relationships with mysterious strangers, and family members have passed away…its interesting but I’m still not hooked. So far, at least with the first episode, the series seems to be looking more at the changed relationships and the integration of the passengers back into a society that’s dramatically changed in just 5 years, than at the mystery of what happened. And of course the government seems to be involved in some kind of cover up.
For me, this is definitely a show that premieres on the bubble but I’ll give it a couple more episodes to see if it can shake off the lackluster pilot and start to be interesting in a scifi mystery way. Hopefully the writing will improve as well so I’m not annoyed by the weak characters and stereotypical situations. We’ll see…
Follow the Leader into the Underworld
Today I took a look at a couple of comics, one from 1992 and another from 2016 and they were both pretty good. I suppose one commonality I would claim both suffered from though is the lack of a good villain. It could be that I don’t know the background of the Underworlders in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 or the reasoning behind the seemingly random attack from the Atlantean Colony in Champions #4, but neither seems well developed. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed both issues and will continue with the story arcs they’re a part of, but it just seems like the villains were not the focus of the comic.
In DC Comics’ Superman: The Man of Steel #17, by Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, and Dennis Janke, the Clawster riles up the denizens of the underworld to assault the surface world to steal a bunch of weapons for an upcoming war. While it didn’t seem like something that rose to the level of Superman, at least until they started their war, he did get involved because a kid got mixed up with the underworlders and was almost killed. From the looks of things Superman has dealt with these underworlders before and they’ll continue to be involved as events lead up to the Death of Superman event which started with the last page of this issue where we’re introduced to Doomsday’s fist.
In Marvel Comics’ Champions #4 by Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos the Champions are headed home after their last mission when their jet is struck by a missile over the Atlantic Ocean. Fortunately they are able to safely land on the water but when they try to make it to the closest landmass, they’re attacked by a bunch of Atlanteans who take them captive. Regardless of the fact that they haven’t decided on a leader yet, the team is able to work together to escape captivity and make it to the safety of land.
While neither of these issues are the best examples of the titles I enjoyed them and I think the advancement of the characters was well worth the read. Superman demonstrates that he’ll take on the armies of the underworld just to save a kid and the Champions show that even without a clear chain of command they’re able to work together as a team to get things done. Oh, and we got to see Doomsday’s fist.
Entropy Gaming
Wow! After a great month of September where I reached and even exceeded many of my gaming goals I have just floundered in entropy during October. I blame it on a lack of a plan and not writing things down but regardless, I really feel like I’ve been going nowhere in my games this month.
Everquest 2, Secret World Legends, Warcraft, I felt so good at having set and reached goals during September but I couldn’t pull the trigger this month. I think it goes to prove the maxim that if you don’t write down goals they are not likely to be attained. In any case, it’s already the 23rd of October and all I’ve managed to do was to get a TOS Science Officer and a normal STO Tactical Officer advanced to level 3 in Star Trek Online. Hmm, both are just barely outta the tutorial and I probably spent more time tweaking their appearance than moving them forward in the game. At least my Tactical character was able to join up with the MMO Book Club fleet.
Oh well…there are still 7 days left in the month so I’ll try to make some advancement with my STO characters. Hey, if I can reach level 10 at this point, I’ll be happy but then I’m not really sure of the leveling pace of this game. So I suppose my goal in gaming for October will be to attain level 10 in Star Trek Online with a stretch goal of reaching level 20.
Daily Ramble 40: A Random Look at a New Show, Weak Villains, and a Lack of Goals