Flash Show Turns Dark

I'm watching the fourth Flash season now, along with the fifth Arrow season. I don't bother with Supergirl or Legends of Tomorrow. I've never been a DC fan. But I have to say the Flash show taking a dark turn makes it an intriguing show to watch.

What I appreciate mostly is that The Flash show not a goofy show like the Marvel movies have become. The Marvel movies and their characters are worse for that goofiness. But the DC shows have not followed suit, to their credit. Flash, particularly, has evolved into quite the dark show. Meaning the events are grim and even scary. It reminds me of the darker Twilight Zone episodes or Outer Limits episodes of some years ago.

It's not really new either. From the beginning the Flash TV show has had some dark episodes. From the Reverse Flash villain, to the Doom villain, to the Savitar villain. The fact that all of these villains were speedsters like the Flash was redundant, and lacked imagination, but the story lines were dark, and not goofy. Which was refreshing. Facing speedsters all the time is along the lines of the kind of villain a hero like Flash should fight. But season after season, especially the first three seasons, made for some questionable storytelling.

In season four we don't see another speedster except for a brief reappearance of Reverse Flash in the crossovers of episode eight. Which is a good thing. And speaking of that crossover thing, fighting Nazis? Sheesh... Talk about recurring villains. We've seen Nazis and Neo-Nazis as villains more times than I can count over the history of Hollywood. But at least the shows weren't goofy. Well, wait a minute. The fact that all the Nazis were shooting blanks from their machineguns was goofy. It was downright comedic. The Nazis were shooting literally thousands of rounds over the four episode crossover and only once did they hit a target....an old man...and it was comical.

But I digress. We see an even darker villain emerge in season four of Flash. A professor with an artificially enhanced IQ. But he also has ALS. Because he's becoming paralyzed, he takes over a younger dude's body. Meaning he transfers his mind into the body of a much younger and healthier man. Which all in all was pretty scary. I'm not into horror, but the darker stories are preferable to the goofy slapstick comedies Marvel's been putting out recently.

My only complaint is why is this "professor" guy so evil? I mean when you wish ill will on others for no reason, that's an evil thing. And this guy is doing that. Killing innocents for no reason? I mean, where is the guy going with this? What are his reasons? He's supposed to be a teacher. And his mind is supposed to be so smart with his enhanced IQ. Whatever. I suppose the show will answer all the questions when it pans out. I'm only on episode nine, so we'll see. I hope.

My point is serious drama beats dumb comedies any day. That's not to say all comedies are dumb. Inspector Clouseau was great. But superheroes, as Inspector Clouseaus, are not great. They're only dumb. And to me, at least, dumb is not funny. And far from great.

Mission Impossible Fallout - Action Packed

Mission Impossible Fallout Poster

Talk about never a boring moment. The new Mission Impossible movie, Fallout, was action packed. And I enjoyed every minute of it. I like action movies, as I'm a writer of action novels, especially my two Killer books, and I'll say Fallout never failed to impress.

Tom Cruise is getting up there in years, but he still pulled off a series of stunts that would make a man in his prime proud. I heard during the course of production he had broken an ankle on one of those stunts and it reminded me of Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West fame. Conrad had insisted on doing his own stunts until the inevitable day came when he got hurt.

So I don't blame actors for using stunt men as fill-ins for the more dangerous scenes. I'm guessing Tom Cruise learned his lesson. But the scenes were seamless and the movie top notch. I have one critique, or one complaint--SPOILER--and it is this: Henry Cavill of Superman fame does not make a good bad guy. Meaning he's not convincing as a bad guy. Meaning, when you see Henry Cavill, you see Superman, the ultimate good guy.

Henry Cavill in MI: Fallout

I'm not suggesting Cavill is typecast as Superman, but I am suggesting Cavill is typecast as a good guy. And that's not a bad thing. After all, in every Tom Cruise movie, Cruise is a good guy. There are other actors like that. Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, and Ben Affleck are good guys in every movie they've been in. Same with Christopher Reeve, the other Superman actor. The list goes on and on. So making Cavill a bad guy in Fallout didn't work for me. But it didn't ruin the movie. The only thing that might have ruined the movie was Cavill's mustache. (Cavill with a mustache? Please, no.)

Another reason I hated seeing Cavill as a bad guy is the fact that if my book, John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu were ever to make it to the big screen, Cavill is my first choice to play the lead role of John Dunn, the white chief of Zululand. I had posted comparable photos of the real Dunn and Cavill, each with a beard, and they are strikingly similar in appearance. Apparently Cavill sports a full  beard much better than a lone mustache. Even if its accompanied with some stubble as shown to the left

But whatever. I don't know if Cruise as the years remaining to make more MI movies. This was, what, the sixth or seventh? That's a pretty successful run of a franchise right there. I suppose he might make one more. Maybe two. And I'm betting they'll both be good.

Antman and the Wasp movie - Too Goofy

I don't know why the latest trend with the Marvel movies is slapstick comedy. Or an attempt at slapstick comedy. It ruined the last Thor movie. I had posted that Thor's latest movie made him seem like another Inspector Clouseau type of character, instead of the god of thunder.

Well, this latest Antman movie did the same thing. The entire movie was slapstick comedy. It made me think I was watching the Three Stooges. The first Marvel movies, although not perfect, were at least not ridiculous efforts of comedy. They were serious dramas. Which they should be. It was a removal from the tongue-in-cheek movies that Hollywood used to think comic book movies should be. If you'll recall the fist Bat Man and Superman movies were tongue-in-cheek. And bad tongue-in-cheek at that. They were so cheesy that they didn't appeal to the serious comic book fan.

Now that doesn't mean all tongue-in-cheek movies are cheesy. Tongue-in-cheek is one of the hardest genres to make. If you can do it well, it can be a good movie. But the comic book tongue-in-cheek movies were not done well.

Then Hollywood got wise, (which is rare, but it happens,) and made some good comic book movies. The first Marvel movies were pretty good. Now they have regressed and are back to bad humor. If you can put a little humor into a serious drama, that's fine. Even better. But it has to work. This latest Antman movie, as a comedy, like the last Thor movie, didn't work. My sons didn't even like it.

My oldest son was shaking his head saying the movie sucked midway through the movie. I agreed. That's not to say there weren't some good moments in the movie. But overall it was a thumb's down rating. A disappointment. Too bad. Antman is a good character. So is the Wasp. But not in the Hollywood universe. They are cheesy, dumb, and stupid. Like the movie.

Arrow - Same Stories - Flash - Corny Ones.

I'm back to watching Arrow and Flash, and, well, I'm disappointed in the same story lines. Like before, Arrow has a son who he's worried about, and like always, the father-son relationship is strained. The mother was killed, it seems, in the prior season finale, and Oliver Queen, (Green Arrow) has to raise his son as a single father now. But of course, the son is acting like a jerk, and gives little credit to Oliver for his efforts.

Glad my sons aren't like that. It makes for an uninteresting show. You can't help but dislike the character of the son. But whatever. At the same time we have another recurring story line. Once again, Oliver's identity as the Green Arrow has been revealed. And once again he's under investigation by law enforcement for the "crimes" of the Green Arrow. This is so old it's ridiculous. The show has already done this. And it's not interesting to go through it again.

Another reason, besides redundancy, is the fact that everyone recognizes the Green Arrow as a hero. But of course, not the investigators. They always seem to think he's as bad as any street thug, and not the guy who's saved countless lives, and has even saved the entire city multiple times. But does any of that matter? Why, no, he's got to be brought to "justice" for the "crime" of being a good guy.

It's so pathetic, I'm finding myself wondering why the hell am I bothering with this crap. At least Flash isn't rehashing the same story line over again. He's got a new suit which seemed pretty cool with the Tony Stark-like implements that Cisco put in there while Barry was in Limbo. But of course, there's got to be a new baddie who has the power to manipulate the techs in the suit.

Yeah, it's all corny, but at least it's not something they did before on the show, like Arrow. Maybe I'm too old to be watching these shows. My students are watching these shows, and some of them think it's cool that their teacher watches the same shows, so I'll keep it secret that I'm not really enjoying them anymore.

I guess it's true. After about three seasons, shows just seem to run out of stories that made them good in the first place. It happens to almost all shows. I used to love The Blacklist, but it turned into a stupid show. Even Homeland got lousy after season five. At least it had two seasons past it's third that were still tops.

Writers only have so much in them, it seems. Maybe they end up grasping at straws. Maybe they need more collaboration. Maybe they need to think outside the box. Or maybe that's what got them into trouble in the first place. I wonder if the creators are involved. I would think that would be important, meaning the person who created the characters might have the best insight into what should happen to them and how they should respond. Maybe that makes too much sense.

The Vase, Second Chance, and Heart of a Zulu

Since two of my publishers have gone out of business, three of my books are out of print. The Vase, Second Chance, and Heart of a Zulu are no longer available with two exceptions. On Amazon, there are two more books left of Second Chance, and one more book of Heart of a Zulu.

Because of that, the price of Second Chance has skyrocketed. Two hundred forty-nine dollars. That hasn't happened with Heart of a Zulu yet. So if you're inclined to read a true story that takes place in South Africa during the nineteenth century, you'd better jump on that. It's still listed at 14 dollars.

As for Second Chance, well, I don't expect anyone to pay over two hundred bucks for a book. Even if there are only two copies left. I am, after all, trying to find new publishers pretty soon. Unless some collector wants to get the now rare copies of first editions. There are collectors who do that. Usually they are well-to-do people who have the money to spend on thing like that.

The first issue of Superman sold for over a million dollars. And that was a ten cent comic book. So you never know. In fifty years, or a hundred years, anything goes.

Agents? I Wonder

Trying to land an agent again. My first effort resulted in finding an agent but that was short-lived. And nothing happened as a result. I went straight to publishers after that, and had some success. The Vase was seemingly the most popular. It was accepted by five publishers. I went with the publisher I thought would be the best, and it was in several ways. They taught me a lot about writing a novel. And I took that knowledge and applied it to all of my novels, and they are all better for it.

Killer of Killers drew a lot of interest as well. Not just from agents but from publishers. Although only one publisher offered a contract, compared with the five contracts offered for The Vase. But that publisher is still kickin'. Two of the publishers who offered contracts for The Vase, and with whom I signed, folded. Thus the rights are reverted to me. Another publisher with whom I signed had internal trouble, including lawsuits by former staff. I chronicled all of it on the blog here, so I don't need to get into it again. It was a frustrating experience

The bottom line I discovered is that people don't really care about you, or your contracts or your money. They only care about themselves. Of course, I knew that already. So it was no surprise. You can't really trust anyone. Not in the publishing business. Not in any business. It's what I teach my sons. As a matter of fact, my youngest son asked me recently what my most important advice to him would be. I said without hesitation 'Don't trust anyone.' I've told him before. Both of my sons. Many times. You just can't trust anyone is this world and it's a shame really.

Which means being an agent is an oxymoron. An agent is supposed to be someone you can trust. But you can't trust anyone. Still I'm seeking an agent. It's the best chance to make the Big Five. And I do want that. So I have no recourse. We'll see how that goes.

For me, it wasn't an agent, but a publisher who became an untrustworthy entity. Here's a lesson I learned and I did apply it the second time. You cannot trust a publisher who doesn't sign his own contract. I chronicled the happenings here on the blog some years ago. And when a later publisher tried to do the same thing to me, I told them that.

Here's the trick. A publisher will send you a contract unsigned by them. A first time author will sign it and send it back, thinking the publisher will then sign it and send you a copy. But that didn't happen. So I learned a lesson. Then when a second publisher did that to me, this time I knew better. I told them that publishers who don't sign their own contracts are publishers who cannot be trusted. I said that. Straight up. So then they got on the ball and signed it and sent it back to me.

See? Lessons learned and applied. But sadly three of the other publishers who offered contracts for The Vase simply folded. So that's another reason I'd prefer the Big Five. They won't fold.

But you take what you can get. When will I give up? Who knows. You keep trying. The Vase, Heart of a Zulu, and Second Chance will find homes again. We'll see which homes. Soon I hope.

Homeland - Done - Okay

All right. I'm finished watching Homeland. Not because I didn't like it anymore. I'm done because I've watched the final episode of the final season. Or at least the final season that had been aired. Is there going to be a season eight? I don't even know. As far as I'm concerned, it's okay if there is. I'll probably watch it if there is. As for the season I just finished? Season seven? It was okay. A bit better than season six at least. Well, the two seasons were really one big season, meaning the story arc covered seasons six and seven.

It was about the first woman president more than anything else. Don't know if the producers and writers of the show expected Hillary to win and made their show a parallel story for that scenario. My guess is they did expect Hillary to win, because everyone did. But whatever. The show was on the decline, and even though it leveled out for season seven, I was not much interested anymore.

And that's because of what they did to Peter Quinn. He was a great character, and like I said before, was half the show. Carrie is able to carry the show by herself, but like I said before, without Quinn the show was only half as good. Which was still good, though. And like I said it ended okay.

That is if it is the end. My guess is there will be a season eight, and will pick up where they left off. With Carrie being returned to America in a prisoner exchange with the Russians. After seven months of imprisonment and no meds for her bipolar condition, she looked like a wretch there at the end. Totally off her rocker. Again, Claire Danes is a fabulous actress. I don't think anyone else could have been better for the part.

So now what? Flash? Arrow? Or another show that's been out for years that I haven't watched? I didn't last more than a couple episodes of Empire, nor did I last for more that two episodes of Westworld. And I ended up hating Counterpart. I absolutely loved Limitless, but it was canceled after one season, so there you go. Not much more in the TV world for me, it seems. Not when the shows I love are canceled. Or they just run out of gas like The Blacklist did.

Maybe I'll go back to writing my own stories. But probably not. I'm still trying to find new homes for The Vase, Heart of a Zulu, and Second Chance. And while I'm doing that I'll be improving the prose for them at the same time. Might as well. A book can always be written better, I've found. So I will keep making them better until they are published again.

At that point I may go back to writing new stories. Or maybe not. But I probably will.