Throwback Thursday Photo of the Day: Actors and Writers from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Writers' and Actors' Strike)

It's sad that the Writers' and Actors' Strike is still ongoing. However, it's pretty cool to see so many of the actors and writers out there striking and letting the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) know that they want a fair deal and will continue fighting for it. Below is a picture from August of some of the crew, writers and actors (Clark Gregg (also on strike for writing), Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton and Briana Venskus) from the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Photo Credit: Ming-Na Wen (Instagram: mingna_wen)

Comic Book Wednesday: December 30th

We are one day away from saying goodbye to 2020, and since I have no actually picks for this last Comic Book Wednesday, I wanted to know what's something about comics you enjoyed this year?

1. I enjoyed seeing new writers and artists get a chance to work on books and series.

2. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The show aired its seventh and final season this year. Although AoS may have started out a little slow in the first season, I even stopped watching for a few episodes but I returned. And by the end of the season 1, the show had really improved. But it really got better in the second season all the way to the finale season. I know I might have been a little disappointed with the first few episodes of the first season but I'm glad I went back because this little show which is overlooked by some comic book fans turned out to be an amazing series.

3. Getting to watch Wonder Woman 1984 at home during a pandemic. I haven't watched the movie yet, I'm saving it for tomorrow but I'm forever thankful it was released on HBO Max. Because no matter how much I wanted to see this movie there was no way I was going to a theatre to see it.

4. Less comic book/superhero movies. I don't know, it was just nice being able to enjoy the year with only a few movies that were released.

5. Being able to attend virtual comic cons. Since we're in a pandemic, it was understandable that cons were cancelled but instead of getting rid of them altogether many went virtual and were free. Fans were able to see different panels and other special things all from the comfort of home.

Well, my fellow comic book fans, I hope the new year will bring us even more good things in comics.

Fandom Friday: Random Fandom Thoughts #2

It's Friday, what fandom or geek topics are on your mind? Well, I have a few:

- With so many upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows soon to be released, I hope the writers don't forget that Alfonso "Mack" Mackenzie (Henry Simmons) is the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I know anything or anyone connected to or associated with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series tends to get overlooked or ignored by the MCU. But it would be really awesome if Director Mackenzie could make an appearance but if that's not possible then at least mention him in some of the new shows and movies.

Art of the Day: Daisy Johnson

Artwork: Daisy Johnson by otwinkieo

Art of the Day: Melinda May (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Artwork: Melinda May by Arne Ratermanis

Art of the Day: Melinda May (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Artwork: The Cavalry by DandyBee

Agent Melinda May Should Have Her Own Comic Book Series

I can't be the only one who wishes there was an Agent Melinda May comic book series. The executives over at Marvel have been doing a really good job of offering readers a diverse group of books. However, I would be over the moon happy if Marvel suddenly announced that Melinda May would be getting her own comic book series.

If you're unfamiliar with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the TV series features a small group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they try to save the world in various ways. If you have frequently visited this blog then you know this is not my favorite show. Generally, I find it to be hit or miss but May continues to be one of the most interesting aspects of the show and that's due to actress Ming-Na Wen doing an exceptional job with the portrayal of May.

At the start of season one, May although smart and fearless gave off the appearance of having a cold persona but as the show moved along you saw other aspects of her personality. You find out that she's this complex character who is also very caring, compassionate and always there for her team.

Even though Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has shown some of her backstory especially in regards to showing how she acquired her most hated nickname The Calvary. There is so much more to Melinda May which is why she needs her own comic book series. The comic could delve even more into her life including her life prior to becoming a member of Coulson's team. Can you imagine all the missions she has been on and all the things that she has probably seen?

Last year Melinda May did get a special Marvel 50th Anniversary one-shot comic and can be seen in other comics which includes the S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comics but the character needs to shine in her own series. I would happily hand over my money if May had a well-written and illustrated comic book series.

What do you think? Would you be interested in reading about the adventures of Melinda May?

Found Online: A Fun Interview with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Ming-Na Wen

Agent Melinda May continues to be my favorite character from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. I think Ming-Na Wen has done an excellent job showing there's more to Agent May than her cold persona.

Looking to know a little more about Ming-Na Wen and Agent May, here is an interesting interview I found on the TV Show Patrol website. Something cool I found out from reading this, she is currently writing a lifestyle book. It will be interesting see what sort of tips and advice will be included in the book.

Art of the Day: Agent May and Agent Coulson

Artwork: Agents May and Coulson by pungang

Superhero Movie Fatigue, I think I have It

I can't believe that I'm saying this but I'm starting to get bored with Superhero movies (and to some extent TV shows). I love watching the movies and shows and I've always had but lately I'm starting to feel burned out with them. And with even more expected to be out in theaters (and more TV shows) in the approaching years it's hard to think that I may have lost my interest in seeing them. As a huge comic book/superhero fan it seems a little disheartening.

I'm not sure when this started to happen but I believe I have developed some form of Superhero Fatigue. Perhaps my fatigue is from there being too many movies and TV shows. In the past, there were just a few to get excited about but now they seem to be almost massed produced. This is leaving me feeling a little disappointed with the industry.

I didn't even go see Ant-Man or Fantastic Four which is surprising since I actually like those characters. But for some reason I could not muster up any enthusiasm to go see them. My desire to see Deadpool, Batman vs. Superman, and Suicide Squad is close to zero. However, I do have interest in seeing Captain America: Civil War (out next year) and Thor: Ragnarok (out in 2017).

But for TV series, I have no interest in seeing the Jessica Jones series that will be on Netflix. I was bored trying to watch the Daredevil Netflix TV series (and I really like Daredevil, maybe I'll give it a second chance with a rewatch). Gotham was a completely boring mess and I stopped watching that early on and Constantine wasn't any better. Agents of S.H.E.L.D. was another show I stopped watching.

Although, I'm going to be watching Supergirl in the Fall, I'm not super excited about the show especially after seeing that less than stellar trailer that was released earlier this summer. But as I wrote in another post, I am going to give it a chance and watch it with an open mind. However, I'm a little indifferent about Legends of Tomorrow. I don't know if I'll tune in or not but a show I am interested in seeing is the Vixen animated series.

Now my Superhero Fatigue has not extended to my comics, I still enjoy reading them. Maybe I have selective fatigue because I enjoy watching Teen Titans Go!, Agent Carter, Agents of S.M.A.S.H. animated series, Avengers Assemble animated series, and against my early hesitance to watch both iZombie and The Flash they both turned out to be rather enjoyable and even more so after having to endure Arrow's absolutely awful third season. At least the best parts to me of Arrow's third season have been Laurel Lance finally becoming the Black Canary.

Are there too many Superhero Movies and TV shows or am I just burned out? Who knows, maybe by the time some of these movies and TV shows are out my interest and excitement for them will have returned.

Art of the Day: Agent Melinda May (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Artwork: The Calvary by garrypfc

Must See TV: Marvel's Agent Carter

Marvel's Agent Carter is getting a lot of good buzz and not just from us comic book fans. I can not wait to watch this tonight. This show looks like it's going to be a fun spy adventure and it also doesn't look like Peggy is going to be sitting around crying or moping that Cap is gone. She's going to be far too busy for that. So, if Cap is considered the first Avenger, is she then the first Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

I hope this show doesn't disappoint like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Gotham, The Flash, Constantine, and Arrow have. I so want a good comic book based TV show to watch.

 Anyone else planning on watching Mavel's Agent Carter tonight?

TV Round Up: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode #15 Review

Episode #15: "Yes Men"

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

So far, this has been the best episode of the series.

Lady Sif showed up and stole the show. She showed why she is truly a warrior but unfortunately she also showed how uninteresting most of the main cast continue to be. Agents May and Coulson are still the best of the regular cast.

How stupid was Agent Ward not to take a shot (they use non-lethal guns) at Lorelei instead of letting her "enchant" him. He knew what she could do but he had to be Mr. Agent Man and try to stare her down. Boy was he stupid.

I still don't care about Skye and this episode was much better due to her minimal amount of screen time. She continues to be the most useless character on the show. However, I did find the Science Wonder Twins Fitz and Simmons to be rather delightful. It was nice to see Simmons standing up to Coulson because usually she's a little mousy and Fitz was quite funny when he was under Lorelei's spell.

This was a good episode and you can tell the writing, acting and action scenes were stepped up because usually all three are poorly executed. You can tell the action scenes were better arranged just look at the scene where Sif took down those bikers, that was great.

Lorelei wasn't a bad villain but you can tell the actress isn't the best with fight scenes but her acting was good. But honestly she wasn't much of a threat to Sif who really had no trouble defeating her.

Even though I enjoyed this episode, I'm not sure if it's enough to get me back to being a regular viewer again. I knew when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was first announced that the show wasn't going to focus on the superheroes but that's what intrigued me and had me interested in wanting to watch it.

I was looking forward to seeing what was going on behind the scenes of S.H.I.E.L.D.. That's the type of organization that has many secrets and you could imagine all the amazing stories they could create for the show.

However, this show was saddled with poor writing, boring and useless plots and bad acting which had me quickly losing interest.

They did make up for it with this episode but still I'm not sure if it's enough.

It does have me wonder if the ratings might have improved with this episode since last week's episode that had special guest Bill Paxton still didn't bring in the viewers in fact the rating dropped a little more. With this being such an improved episode they can't even capitalize on it because next week ABC will be airing a Marvel movie promotional special.

I'll see if my slightly renewed interest in the show will actually have me watching a new episode when it airs.

For now, I will end with just this: if you don't plan to ever watch any or any more episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. please watch this episode. It's actually worth watching.

Don't Forget to Watch: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Tonight

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on ABC, check local listings for time.

Can you believe it, I'm actually recommending an episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. That's because Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) will be featured on tonight's episode. Hopefully this episode will be good because this show is not the best and expectations are rather high with fans for this episode.

I had stopped watching this show because I had lost interest. However, I did try to give last week's episode a chance but both the writing and the acting continue to be awful. I did see the last few minutes at the end but I wasn't impressed by Lorelei.

I hope Lady Sif's appearance will make this a worthwhile episode. I'll post my review tomorrow. Here's hoping it will be good.

Comic Book News: Comics being Cancelled, Lady Sif and more

It's been a while since I've posted any comic book news so here it goes:

** DC Comics will be canceling six books this April and they are:

- Superman Unchained (issue #9)

- Nightwing (issue #30)

- Suicide Squad (issue #30)

- Teen Titans (issue #30)

- Stormwatch (issue #30)

- Justice League of America (issue #14)


But they also plan on introducing two new series in April:

- Batman Eternal

- Justice League United


I can't say I'm heartbroken to see the new 52 Teen Titans being canceled, it wasn't a very good series. Stormwatch is the only one of the canceled series that I haven't read any of the issues.

** Lady Sif will be featured on an upcoming episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in February for the 15th episode. Jaimie Alexander will be reprising her role for the TV series.

I have lost interest in this show, I have missed the last four episodes but I will be watching the episode with Lady Sif. I think it would be cool if Lady Sif had her own TV series or movie. It would even be cool if they got rid of all the useless and boring agents on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (except Coulson and May) and added Lady Sif to the show.



** Last week, the CW network announced that the have no plan for the Wonder Woman TV series they were creating. For the time being the show has been shelved (most likely indefinitely) instead they plan to focus on creating a Flash series.

They gave the same old line that Wonder Woman is too "tricky" to do which is basically code for we don't think anyone will watch it, so why bother.



** In case anyone has missed it, there is a trailer for the Black Widow and The Punisher animated movie titled Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher. The movie will be released on DVD on March 25th. Here's the trailer:

TV Round Up: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Rating: 1 star

I finally got around to watching all the episodes of The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I can honestly say this show is absolutely awful. The best part of this show is Agent Phil Coulson. Too bad he's surrounded by a useless boring and annoying team. Does anyone actually like those characters? They don't add anything to the show.

This show definitely needs to be overhauled. They need to get rid of everyone (besides Agent Coulson) and get him a better (more interesting) team. And the show needs better writing, each episode is just blah. This is S.H.I.E.L.D., they should be bringing viewers bigger and better stories. Think about all the things that this organization knows about and have seen, bring us those stories.

This was one show I couldn't wait to see but now I wish I hadn't. Agent Phil Coulson deserves a better show than this. So for now I think this show should get 1 star but 5 stars go to Clark Gregg for making Agent Phil Coulson the best there is, despite this horrible show.

Marvel's Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Official Trailer

Why does this show feel like "Torchwood"? When I was watching the trailer I kept wondering when Captain Jack would show up. As excited as I am to see this show, I do wish there was a bit more diversity with the main cast and I don't know if the character that J. August Richards will play, is going to actually be one of the main characters. If this show doesn't get canceled maybe they will add more characters down the line.