MCU: Phase 4 — thoughts and reflections

After Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was released in the theaters, I heard that it was the final movie of the MCU’s Phase 4. Final Phase 4 movie? What?!? How could this possibly be? I’ve defended Phase 4, time and again. And I’ve watched every movie and Disney + streaming series. Back in October 2022, my […]

Agent Carter: Seasons 1 & 2 — a review

I just watched the Marvel Studios series Agent Carter on Disney +. No, this wasn’t my first time watching it. I watched it the first time it aired, way back in 2015 and 2016, and was sad that it was cancelled. It has joined that list of television series that were cancelled too soon, in […]

George Pérez: Losing a Comic Book Legend

I first became familiar with George Pérez’s artwork in the pages of The Avengers comic book. This was the mid to late 1970s, and Pérez would become my favorite Avengers artist until John Byrne took over the penciling duties on the title. When Pérez became a recurring artist on Marvel’s flagship series, Fantastic Four, I […]

Hawkeye: Season 1 — a review (Disney +)

My street cred as a comic book geek is mostly nonexistent. My personal slice of the space/time loaf—the timespan in which I actively purchased and collected comic books—was in the 1970s until the beginning of the ’80s. There was some Silver Age influence, especially on the DC Comics side of the equation where I cut […]

Tiger-Man, Tiger-Man…Does Whatever a Tiger Can? (or: a brief digression about the pursuit of happiness, Steve Ditko, and how memories sometimes resurface without warning)

My personal pursuit of happiness involves several variables, two of the most important being looking forward and looking back. The looking forward component involves the planning for—and anticipation of—future events or activities. This can be special moments, such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays or vacations. Or, it could be the release of an anticipated movie, book […]

What If …?: Season 1 (Disney +) — a review

As soon as I watched the first episode of this series, “What If . . . Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” I knew that I was going to like it. Although the movie Iron Man was the official kickoff of the MCU, it was the first Captain America movie that really set the tone […]

WandaVision: Season 1 (and only?) — a review

The finale of this series aired back at the beginning of March 2021. I was still quarantining with my wife back then, with a lot of extra time on my hands. Still, I never watched an episode of WandaVision the same day it aired, even though I was watching them soon after, perhaps even just […]

What Stan Lee Said (Or: Not a Review of Comic Book Confidential [1988])

Comic Book Confidential is a cool documentary from 1988 about the history of comic books. I recommend it just to see a young Frank Miller with hair. Otherwise, you already know the stuff in this documentary. Superman, EC Comics, Dr. Frederick Wertham, underground comics—nothing really new. But, there are a lot of filmed interviews with […]

S.H.I.E.L.D., by Steranko — a comic book review

This trade paperback collects Strange Tales 151 – 168 & Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1 – 3, 5. All of these individual issues, as you may have guessed from the title, feature the art of Jim Steranko, from the period 1966 through ’68. I never read any of these when I was a kid, […]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 7 — a review

I took a brief hiatus from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after Season 5, which I think of as S.H.I.E.L.D. in Space, or, alternately, as Cracked-Egg Earth with Kree. It ended with what I think was the first live-action appearance of Graviton, who was soundly defeated by Daisy/Quake, which made the Earth future we just lived through […]

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 6 — a review

As should be apparent from the series title, this show has been another comic-book-to-television adaptation. (Although, come to think of it, IMdB lists the series without the “Marvel’s” prefix—maybe I have the title wrong.) In the Marvel comics, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a fictional espionage, special law enforcement, and counter-terrorism agency created by Stan Lee and Jack […]

10-List: Firewater’s Top 10 MCU Movies

After I watched Captain Marvel (great movie: you should check it out), I had completed all of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In point of fact, I had watched every MCU motion picture released to date. That’s a lot of movies, over a lot of years. 23 movies, in fact, over 11 years. […]

Captain Marvel — a review (and a farewell salute to MCU Phase 3)

Yeah, yeah. I know. Captain Marvel wasn’t the last movie in Phase 3. It was, however, the last one I watched, this morning. To be perfectly honest with you (and I always am), I delayed watching this movie because I didn’t think I would like it. I’ve never been a fan of Captain Marvel in […]

Spider-Man: Far from Home — a movie review

With this movie in my rearview mirror, only Captain Marvel remains as an obstacle to my completion of Phase 3 of the MCU. As of the day I’m typing this post, I’m not sure where we’ve landed with the Sony vs. Marvel negotiations. I thought Spidey was removed from our MCU continuity, but now I’m […]

Avengers: Endgame — a movie review

I’m a little further along in Phase 3 of the MCU since I wrote my review of Avengers: Infinity War back in April 2019. Since then, I have watched Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Black Panther, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. And, now, of course, Avengers: Endgame. Since I haven’t watched Captain Marvel or […]

Spider-Man: “The City that Never Sleeps” DLC — a video game review

If you’re already a fan of Insomniac Games’ masterful Spider-Man video game for PlayStation 4, I don’t have to sell you the three-part downloadable addon known collectively as “The City that Never Sleeps.” Everything that you liked about the campaign in the main game—it’s in there. The inverse is also probably true. If there […]

Logan — a movie review

This is a review for the 2017 Wolverine movie directed by James Mangold. There’s another Logan, released in 2010, that’s apparently a Christian action/comedy. I’m sure it is a perfectly good film, but it doesn’t have Hugh Jackman or Patrick Stewart in it. Mangold also directed The Wolverine, a movie I haven’t watched yet, as […]

Avengers: Infinity War — a movie review

Confession is good for the soul, they say. I’m still not current on Phase 3 of the MCU. I haven’t watched Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (at least, not all of it) or Black Panther yet (ditto). I plan to cross those off the list this month. I also haven’t watched the two MCU […]

Spider-Man — a video game review (Platinum Trophy #4)

I earned my fourth platinum trophy on the PS4, finishing up Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man video game. I didn’t get the platinum by accident. I had to grind away at the game for a very long time. In the end, in order to earn enough Challenge tokens to buy all of the Spider-Man suits, I had […]

The Gifted: Season 2 — a review

As of the day I’m typing this review, The Gifted, FOX’s entry into the Marvel mutant sweepstakes, has not been renewed for a third season. Whether it gets renewed or not, I’m tapping out after this season. It’s not that this has been a terrible show. It is an okay superhero series, with some […]

Marvel’s The Punisher: Season 2 (and last?) — a review

On the same day I finished watching the second season of Marvel’s The Punisher on Netflix, I also read the (expected) announcement that both this series and Jessica Jones have been cancelled by the streamer. There is already a third season of everyone’s favorite powered alcoholic private eye in the can, to be dropped later […]

Legion: Season 2 — a review

Here’s what it’s like to me. Were you ever forced to read James Joyce in school? I’m thinking Ulysses here. Or any of the other “difficult” reads that high school teachers liked to torture us with. For me, Moby Dick applies, as does Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel. When I had to read these books, […]

Jessica Jones: Season 2 – a review

It really doesn’t seem like two years since the debut of the first season of Netflix’s Jessica Jones. Mostly it’s because I saw Jessica again in last year’s Defenders. I checked my archives to see what I might have said about the first season here on WordPress. The answer? I said nothing. The first […]

Spider-Man: Homecoming – a belated review

I’ve wanted to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming even before it came out in the theaters, back when Spider-Man was just making a cameo appearance in Captain America: Civil War. I almost saw it in the theater, but on the day I intended to see it, my granddaughter Taylee talked me into watching Wonder Woman with […]

Marvel’s Inhumans: Season 1 (And Only?): a review

By now, you know that Marvel’s Inhumans was the most-widely panned MCU project since Netflix’s Iron Fist. Many critics say that it is worse than the maligned Iron Fist project. The audience—those non-professional critics—gave the show a 51% Fresh rating over on Rotten Tomatoes, just slightly better than average. A solid grade of C, […]

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