great now i feel million times less safe with a deadbolt
Reblogging for the comment
Guys, deadbolts aren’t totally safe. This is just one of several ways I’ve seen them opened (via YouTube videos). If you really want to be safe, consider investing in a flip-latch.
You can pick them up at ACE hardware (or any other hardware store), and you install them on the inside of the door on the doorframe. They flip and lock really tight (you typically have to lean your weight into the door to secure it) and they can’t be opened from the outside as far as I know.
tonyglowheart asked: Yeah, the thing about tumblr is, each person has their own blog, as opposed to forums or twitter, where the space is a general space and comments all accrue there. Even though dashes and threads can seem sort of forum-like, they're actually kind of more like having a direct, but public, conversation specifically with people, as opposed to open discussion to a metaphoric room in general. There are definitely differences in subcultural construction raising from differing formats, and it'll (1/2)
Thanks for the clarifications! It’s honestly a dynamic I’d never considered so I was pretty taken aback, but I think the response was justified given how my comments must have looked. I’m embarrassed to further admit that I didn’t even know about this inbox. I’ve apparently had orphan replies in here, and the app doesn’t tell me what they’re replying from. It’s not super intuitive to me so I’m grateful for the guidance.
Like … honestly though, it doesn’t even matter if Tony is uninverted for the reboot or not. It honestly doesn’t. According to Alonso, the editor in chief of Marvel, inverted Tony IS the real Tony Stark. That’s his actual character. In other words, this is canon characterization now, inverted or not. The inversion doesn’t matter—if Alonso and the writers think this is Tony whether or not he’s inverted.
It’s literally immaterial. Superior Iron Man is now the canon Tony Stark, according to them, and it doesn’t even matter if he’s inverted, since their stance is that this is what he was like all along (and no one, or the barest few, can tell the difference).
I’m just saying.
I never though the words “I miss Matt Fraction’s Iron Man” would come out of my brain - but they have.
*shakes Marvel upside down until the Tony we know and love falls out*
Well of course they said that. Whatever is happening right now has to be “real” and forever or readers won’t buy in. “Ben Reilly IS Spider-Man!” and all that.
This too shall pass, and when it does the character will be no worse off than post Armor Wars Tony, post alcoholism Tony, or post Civil War Tony. Probably better because the inversion is so easy to explain away (“magic!”).
Try to enjoy the book for what it is, AU Tony being bad and ultimately paying for it, then Tony has new wrongs to right when he returns.
Except that that isn’t true. Each of those arcs you mentioned built on prior characterization and changed Tony’s character and how he was portrayed permanently. Those are all formative storylines in how Iron Man was written and portrayed that altered the character and how he was written forever after them. So you’re not exactly making your point here. Tony is still an alcoholic. He’s been repeatedly portrayed as paranoid about his suits to the point of obsession since Armor Wars. Civil War has pretty much defined his character ever since that run. The claim that these storylines somehow didn’t fundamentally alter and build on his character and move him forward into a different place is really strange to me.
On top of that, Tony isn’t coming into this out of strong characterization like, say, Michelinie’s portrayal, or even Warren Ellis’s Extremis. Tony hasn’t been characterized well in the comics since Fraction’s run (which is dubious, characterization wise, at best, though it has excellent moments). Gillen’s run had him half of the way to villainous already, from my perspective, stuck on himself and massively arrogant and deciding things for other people all over the place. Even before Superior Iron Man started, well characterized Tony was a rare beast, and we’re coming up on a reboot—run by these exact same people. So the likelihood that Tony will return after this to being “no worse off” than he was after events that kept his basic character intact is … very very low, since his character wasn’t intact even before this started, and this is just another hit that he’s taken lately in terms of characterization to drag him even further down that path (and again, all of the above storylines did in fact alter his character permanently in terms of writing and character arcs after them—a better example would have been The Crossing, which they literally tried to erase from continuity as much as they could, and probably what we should all hope they do with Superior Iron Man, I know I sure am—and honestly, I would have hoped they never repeated The Crossing just because it was one of their worst story arcs ever). Axis was already full of insults to his character even prior to the incursions, and his characterization there was painful. That’s the chain of characterization he’s going to be returning to after this in the first place, assuming he even gets uninverted any time soon, which is a pretty big assumption when we don’t know their plans.
I didn’t mean that those stories had no impact going forward, or that Tony was suddenly cured of his alcoholism, or was suddenly cool with giving away his armor, or anything like that. Only that they didn’t make him “worse” or preclude an upbeat, MCU-esque portrayal for Tony after the fact.
Obviously our perspectives differ. I’m willing/able to ride out runs I don’t like if it means better runs in the future can use the down times as fodder for stories. That’s how we got Oracle from The Killing Joke. I can look for the silver lining or try to like a book for what it is even if it’s not what I want. You’ve made it clear that just won’t work for you. That’s perfectly valid, but then I think it’s all the more important for you to take these marketing statements with a heaping hunk of salt. They may be worth protest, but I don’t believe they’re worth worry.
Even the content of the book shows this is not the real Tony, and other characters—daredevil, pepper—see that. I still think this is Marvel getting their fill of bad Tony before they return to the core portrayal that you like (as they did with Parker), but perhaps I’m an optimist.
I made my comments with the intent to provide you comfort, not encourage you to be silent. But I suppose “maybe it’s not that bad if you overlook the things you dislike” isn’t very comforting. Sorry that I was unclear.
Well, for one, you seem to be missing that … the upbeat, MCU-esque portrayal for Tony is exactly the thing I don’t want. Every time a character is altered in comics, it provides an opportunity for that to become a mainstream part of their characterization. This happened with Hank Pym and mental illness/hitting Jan, this happened with Barbara and The Killing Joke, it happened with Tony and his alcoholism. The fact that it might not be bad doesn’t strike me as a good reason to ignore it when the whole reason I love the character is that I liked it before and would rather not see it be changed in the manner it has been recently. Especially when characters (like Batman) have in fact been twisted into entirely different shapes before based on darker and grittier characterization. It’s worth talking about, and worth letting Marvel know I don’t appreciate it. Especially when with the influence of the MCU on comics, Marvel continuity is more vulnerable to changes of that particular nature than ever before (see the recent retcon of Wanda and Pietro’s origins).
And my saying I think the people in charge of Marvel right now have their heads up their asses when it comes to Tony’s characterization doesn’t mean I’m not waiting it out? I am waiting for this to end, believe me. I still have a Marvel comics blog, I’m still talking about it, aren’t I? I’m just being very vocal about how very very much I hate Alonso and Taylor’s take on Iron Man while I do it, because, you know, I hate it that much. I’m also not going to pay for the damn book, since you know, I hate it that much and I don’t want to support them or it. I don’t want Tony Stark to become the next time they take a character who is more vulnerable and more emotionally complex and turn him into a dickish arrogant dudebro. This is something they’ve been doing to him for a while, before this book even started, and it’s also visible across their line as a whole. I think you are indeed an optimist to think that Marvel ever intends to return to the core characterization of Tony Stark that I like, since I haven’t seen that characterization in a comic since about 2008. (Peter was also possessed rather than having a fundamental personality change, so it’s not exactly the same thing.) I’m not even hoping for a return to the Tony Stark that I like at this point, because he’s clearly long gone. Honestly, the Big Two are being dragged slowly, kicking and screaming, into accepting that they can’t just sell to their old market anymore, and any time they seem like they’re retrenching and making a big effort to hypermasculinize characters or erase parts of them that wouldn’t fit with that I’m going to be yelling about it, because they’ve repeatedly shown this is something they really, really want to do right now, and their choices in their films have honestly been doing nothing but backing that up.
And also, “just try to enjoy something you vocally hate that makes you actively uncomfortable” is really, really unhelpful advice, especially to give on a post about how much I hate it. I appreciate that you’re concerned for me and trying to help me out here. Like, I honestly am? It would be nice if I could forget how annoyed I am with mostly everything Marvel is doing at the moment, in a sense. But it sounds a lot like “try not to be offended” and “try to enjoy something that’s literally everything you dislike in media and just appreciate it” and also like “just forget that you don’t want anything to do with anything about this book or the thought process that went into it actively offends you!” And I really don’t appreciate the tone that I should just try to sit back and let Marvel sell me whatever they want without being vocal about the fact that I don’t appreciate their attempts.
Also, I realize that you’re not trying to sound like this, but your tone is incredibly condescending—for example, assuming that you know what the core portrayal of Tony Stark I like is when you pretty obviously don’t, especially since you’ve never interacted with me before. You really don’t need to worry about my mental state, and while I do appreciate the compassion, I don’t appreciate the paternalistic tone. I’ll worry about whatever I want to, thanks. I didn’t ask you to comfort me, nor did I want to be comforted about this matter, especially not by encouraging me to try and like exactly what I was complaining about. You don’t get to decide how I process my anger or annoyance about fiction, or what would be a healthy or acceptable way to do so. I am a longtime comics fan, I know exactly how full of shit they are, but I actually don’t appreciate them being full of shit, so I’m trying to let everyone know (believe me, I let them know directly, too) how incredibly little I appreciate the universe they’re trying to sell us right now with their statements. I also just flat out don’t see any reason to give them the benefit of the doubt, and I’d rather assume they’re going to be awful and be proven wrong than hope for the best and have them let me down once again, as they have so very many times before. It’s very obnoxious to reply to someone ranting about something they dislike with “well, have you tried liking it” as if I, as an Iron Man fan, wouldn’t rather be enjoying the Iron Man comic right now. Of course I’ve tried liking it. Honestly.
To come into a post and make a) assumptions about my mental state, b) assumptions about what kind of upset I’m feeling and how it might be resolved, and c) assumptions about my experience with comics and what I even want from the character of Tony, all without ever having spoken to me ever before, and then suggest that maybe I could try liking it if I just ignored everything about it I hate on a fundamental level just … isn’t that helpful, no. Just let me rant about it in peace. That’s all I ask. Was my original post the most well thought out thing on the planet? No. Was it reactionary and despairing and also included scare tactics? Yes. I admit that. It was made in a moment of extreme annoyance where I wasn’t feeling very forgiving or hopeful. It was also not an invitation to prove me wrong because I’m sobbing my eyes out over here just waiting for some hope (I’m not). But in future, maybe let people express their fears and doubts without jumping in to tell them that maybe they should just try enjoying the very thing that’s making their current experience so distressing in the first place. It’s also extremely hard to read it as an attempt to do anything other than ask me politely to shut up, since obviously if I did enjoy it, I’d stop ranting about it and criticizing Taylor and Alonso for the things they’ve said.
I realize that this response seems angry, over-opinionated, and probably shrill. I get that. But I don’t appreciate being talked down to by people I don’t know, and I don’t appreciate being told which emotions or responses I have are valid, even or most especially when it’s supposedly for my own good. Seriously, the last thing I want is to be told a million more times why I should just try and enjoy Superior Iron Man. I get enough of that from Alonso himself without anyone else joining the party.
Is that me or did they just pulled you the typical rapist “just be still and enjoy it” line but with motherfucking comic books?
It wasn’t my intention to target the op or tell them how to view or feel about the title, but I do realize that’s kind of exactly what I did. My bad.
Like … honestly though, it doesn’t even matter if Tony is uninverted for the reboot or not. It honestly doesn’t. According to Alonso, the editor in chief of Marvel, inverted Tony IS the real Tony Stark. That’s his actual character. In other words, this is canon characterization now, inverted or not. The inversion doesn’t matter—if Alonso and the writers think this is Tony whether or not he’s inverted.
It’s literally immaterial. Superior Iron Man is now the canon Tony Stark, according to them, and it doesn’t even matter if he’s inverted, since their stance is that this is what he was like all along (and no one, or the barest few, can tell the difference).
I’m just saying.
I never though the words “I miss Matt Fraction’s Iron Man” would come out of my brain - but they have.
*shakes Marvel upside down until the Tony we know and love falls out*
Well of course they said that. Whatever is happening right now has to be “real” and forever or readers won’t buy in. “Ben Reilly IS Spider-Man!” and all that.
This too shall pass, and when it does the character will be no worse off than post Armor Wars Tony, post alcoholism Tony, or post Civil War Tony. Probably better because the inversion is so easy to explain away (“magic!”).
Try to enjoy the book for what it is, AU Tony being bad and ultimately paying for it, then Tony has new wrongs to right when he returns.
Except that that isn’t true. Each of those arcs you mentioned built on prior characterization and changed Tony’s character and how he was portrayed permanently. Those are all formative storylines in how Iron Man was written and portrayed that altered the character and how he was written forever after them. So you’re not exactly making your point here. Tony is still an alcoholic. He’s been repeatedly portrayed as paranoid about his suits to the point of obsession since Armor Wars. Civil War has pretty much defined his character ever since that run. The claim that these storylines somehow didn’t fundamentally alter and build on his character and move him forward into a different place is really strange to me.
On top of that, Tony isn’t coming into this out of strong characterization like, say, Michelinie’s portrayal, or even Warren Ellis’s Extremis. Tony hasn’t been characterized well in the comics since Fraction’s run (which is dubious, characterization wise, at best, though it has excellent moments). Gillen’s run had him half of the way to villainous already, from my perspective, stuck on himself and massively arrogant and deciding things for other people all over the place. Even before Superior Iron Man started, well characterized Tony was a rare beast, and we’re coming up on a reboot—run by these exact same people. So the likelihood that Tony will return after this to being “no worse off” than he was after events that kept his basic character intact is … very very low, since his character wasn’t intact even before this started, and this is just another hit that he’s taken lately in terms of characterization to drag him even further down that path (and again, all of the above storylines did in fact alter his character permanently in terms of writing and character arcs after them—a better example would have been The Crossing, which they literally tried to erase from continuity as much as they could, and probably what we should all hope they do with Superior Iron Man, I know I sure am—and honestly, I would have hoped they never repeated The Crossing just because it was one of their worst story arcs ever). Axis was already full of insults to his character even prior to the incursions, and his characterization there was painful. That’s the chain of characterization he’s going to be returning to after this in the first place, assuming he even gets uninverted any time soon, which is a pretty big assumption when we don’t know their plans.
I didn’t mean that those stories had no impact going forward, or that Tony was suddenly cured of his alcoholism, or was suddenly cool with giving away his armor, or anything like that. Only that they didn’t make him “worse” or preclude an upbeat, MCU-esque portrayal for Tony after the fact.
Obviously our perspectives differ. I’m willing/able to ride out runs I don’t like if it means better runs in the future can use the down times as fodder for stories. That’s how we got Oracle from The Killing Joke. I can look for the silver lining or try to like a book for what it is even if it’s not what I want. You’ve made it clear that just won’t work for you. That’s perfectly valid, but then I think it’s all the more important for you to take these marketing statements with a heaping hunk of salt. They may be worth protest, but I don’t believe they’re worth worry.
Even the content of the book shows this is not the real Tony, and other characters—daredevil, pepper—see that. I still think this is Marvel getting their fill of bad Tony before they return to the core portrayal that you like (as they did with Parker), but perhaps I’m an optimist.
I made my comments with the intent to provide you comfort, not encourage you to be silent. But I suppose “maybe it’s not that bad if you overlook the things you dislike” isn’t very comforting. Sorry that I was unclear.
Well, for one, you seem to be missing that … the upbeat, MCU-esque portrayal for Tony is exactly the thing I don’t want. Every time a character is altered in comics, it provides an opportunity for that to become a mainstream part of their characterization. This happened with Hank Pym and mental illness/hitting Jan, this happened with Barbara and The Killing Joke, it happened with Tony and his alcoholism. The fact that it might not be bad doesn’t strike me as a good reason to ignore it when the whole reason I love the character is that I liked it before and would rather not see it be changed in the manner it has been recently. Especially when characters (like Batman) have in fact been twisted into entirely different shapes before based on darker and grittier characterization. It’s worth talking about, and worth letting Marvel know I don’t appreciate it. Especially when with the influence of the MCU on comics, Marvel continuity is more vulnerable to changes of that particular nature than ever before (see the recent retcon of Wanda and Pietro’s origins).
And my saying I think the people in charge of Marvel right now have their heads up their asses when it comes to Tony’s characterization doesn’t mean I’m not waiting it out? I am waiting for this to end, believe me. I still have a Marvel comics blog, I’m still talking about it, aren’t I? I’m just being very vocal about how very very much I hate Alonso and Taylor’s take on Iron Man while I do it, because, you know, I hate it that much. I’m also not going to pay for the damn book, since you know, I hate it that much and I don’t want to support them or it. I don’t want Tony Stark to become the next time they take a character who is more vulnerable and more emotionally complex and turn him into a dickish arrogant dudebro. This is something they’ve been doing to him for a while, before this book even started, and it’s also visible across their line as a whole. I think you are indeed an optimist to think that Marvel ever intends to return to the core characterization of Tony Stark that I like, since I haven’t seen that characterization in a comic since about 2008. (Peter was also possessed rather than having a fundamental personality change, so it’s not exactly the same thing.) I’m not even hoping for a return to the Tony Stark that I like at this point, because he’s clearly long gone. Honestly, the Big Two are being dragged slowly, kicking and screaming, into accepting that they can’t just sell to their old market anymore, and any time they seem like they’re retrenching and making a big effort to hypermasculinize characters or erase parts of them that wouldn’t fit with that I’m going to be yelling about it, because they’ve repeatedly shown this is something they really, really want to do right now, and their choices in their films have honestly been doing nothing but backing that up.
And also, “just try to enjoy something you vocally hate that makes you actively uncomfortable” is really, really unhelpful advice, especially to give on a post about how much I hate it. I appreciate that you’re concerned for me and trying to help me out here. Like, I honestly am? It would be nice if I could forget how annoyed I am with mostly everything Marvel is doing at the moment, in a sense. But it sounds a lot like “try not to be offended” and “try to enjoy something that’s literally everything you dislike in media and just appreciate it” and also like “just forget that you don’t want anything to do with anything about this book or the thought process that went into it actively offends you!” And I really don’t appreciate the tone that I should just try to sit back and let Marvel sell me whatever they want without being vocal about the fact that I don’t appreciate their attempts.
Also, I realize that you’re not trying to sound like this, but your tone is incredibly condescending—for example, assuming that you know what the core portrayal of Tony Stark I like is when you pretty obviously don’t, especially since you’ve never interacted with me before. You really don’t need to worry about my mental state, and while I do appreciate the compassion, I don’t appreciate the paternalistic tone. I’ll worry about whatever I want to, thanks. I didn’t ask you to comfort me, nor did I want to be comforted about this matter, especially not by encouraging me to try and like exactly what I was complaining about. You don’t get to decide how I process my anger or annoyance about fiction, or what would be a healthy or acceptable way to do so. I am a longtime comics fan, I know exactly how full of shit they are, but I actually don’t appreciate them being full of shit, so I’m trying to let everyone know (believe me, I let them know directly, too) how incredibly little I appreciate the universe they’re trying to sell us right now with their statements. I also just flat out don’t see any reason to give them the benefit of the doubt, and I’d rather assume they’re going to be awful and be proven wrong than hope for the best and have them let me down once again, as they have so very many times before. It’s very obnoxious to reply to someone ranting about something they dislike with “well, have you tried liking it” as if I, as an Iron Man fan, wouldn’t rather be enjoying the Iron Man comic right now. Of course I’ve tried liking it. Honestly.
To come into a post and make a) assumptions about my mental state, b) assumptions about what kind of upset I’m feeling and how it might be resolved, and c) assumptions about my experience with comics and what I even want from the character of Tony, all without ever having spoken to me ever before, and then suggest that maybe I could try liking it if I just ignored everything about it I hate on a fundamental level just … isn’t that helpful, no. Just let me rant about it in peace. That’s all I ask. Was my original post the most well thought out thing on the planet? No. Was it reactionary and despairing and also included scare tactics? Yes. I admit that. It was made in a moment of extreme annoyance where I wasn’t feeling very forgiving or hopeful. It was also not an invitation to prove me wrong because I’m sobbing my eyes out over here just waiting for some hope (I’m not). But in future, maybe let people express their fears and doubts without jumping in to tell them that maybe they should just try enjoying the very thing that’s making their current experience so distressing in the first place. It’s also extremely hard to read it as an attempt to do anything other than ask me politely to shut up, since obviously if I did enjoy it, I’d stop ranting about it and criticizing Taylor and Alonso for the things they’ve said.
I realize that this response seems angry, over-opinionated, and probably shrill. I get that. But I don’t appreciate being talked down to by people I don’t know, and I don’t appreciate being told which emotions or responses I have are valid, even or most especially when it’s supposedly for my own good. Seriously, the last thing I want is to be told a million more times why I should just try and enjoy Superior Iron Man. I get enough of that from Alonso himself without anyone else joining the party.
Fair enough. I’m honestly still getting the hang of interacting with tumblr beyond reblogs and likes. I saw something on my dash and commented on it. I didn’t consider the context of stepping into a personal space uninvited and how that would frame my comments as intrusive and presumptuous. I should have know better. My apologies.
Honestly, fair enough. Tumblr is hard enough to navigate tone-wise at the best of times. I appreciate the apology and the understanding of my annoyance (which was mostly about the unsolicited advice as to how I should deal with the book and the assumptions about me personally). I honestly don’t mind people liking SIM that much—it’s more that I want to be left alone to rant about it without having to constantly justify myself, and commenting on other people’s posts comes off as very … challenging, in my experience.
Anyway, no worries, really, and I honestly appreciate the understanding. Sorry to have given you so much grief myself this morning. I know I personally have an extreme hot button when it comes to what I perceive as being condescended to, and I’m sure that affected my responses here. I really appreciate how measured and polite you’ve been in response, especially to my impassioned ranting.
Oh no, there’s no reason for you to apologize. I am in the wrong here.
I’m used to talking comic book stuff in discussion forums, which is a very different context that invites open chatter. Even Twitter allows for more random comment by comparison to tumblr. I wasn’t considering that my comments would be targeted at a specific person (that it wouldn’t be “here’s how I look at it,” but “here’s how you should look at it”) and in their personal space no less and ugh.
Sorry.
I also find the mobile app difficult to navigate, but you’re not tumblr tech support and I’ve wasted enough of your time today. Sorry again and thanks for taking the time to so coherently share your thoughts with me even though I basically attacked you.
Like … honestly though, it doesn’t even matter if Tony is uninverted for the reboot or not. It honestly doesn’t. According to Alonso, the editor in chief of Marvel, inverted Tony IS the real Tony Stark. That’s his actual character. In other words, this is canon characterization now, inverted or not. The inversion doesn’t matter—if Alonso and the writers think this is Tony whether or not he’s inverted.
It’s literally immaterial. Superior Iron Man is now the canon Tony Stark, according to them, and it doesn’t even matter if he’s inverted, since their stance is that this is what he was like all along (and no one, or the barest few, can tell the difference).
I’m just saying.
I never though the words “I miss Matt Fraction’s Iron Man” would come out of my brain - but they have.
*shakes Marvel upside down until the Tony we know and love falls out*
Well of course they said that. Whatever is happening right now has to be “real” and forever or readers won’t buy in. “Ben Reilly IS Spider-Man!” and all that.
This too shall pass, and when it does the character will be no worse off than post Armor Wars Tony, post alcoholism Tony, or post Civil War Tony. Probably better because the inversion is so easy to explain away (“magic!”).
Try to enjoy the book for what it is, AU Tony being bad and ultimately paying for it, then Tony has new wrongs to right when he returns.
Except that that isn’t true. Each of those arcs you mentioned built on prior characterization and changed Tony’s character and how he was portrayed permanently. Those are all formative storylines in how Iron Man was written and portrayed that altered the character and how he was written forever after them. So you’re not exactly making your point here. Tony is still an alcoholic. He’s been repeatedly portrayed as paranoid about his suits to the point of obsession since Armor Wars. Civil War has pretty much defined his character ever since that run. The claim that these storylines somehow didn’t fundamentally alter and build on his character and move him forward into a different place is really strange to me.
On top of that, Tony isn’t coming into this out of strong characterization like, say, Michelinie’s portrayal, or even Warren Ellis’s Extremis. Tony hasn’t been characterized well in the comics since Fraction’s run (which is dubious, characterization wise, at best, though it has excellent moments). Gillen’s run had him half of the way to villainous already, from my perspective, stuck on himself and massively arrogant and deciding things for other people all over the place. Even before Superior Iron Man started, well characterized Tony was a rare beast, and we’re coming up on a reboot—run by these exact same people. So the likelihood that Tony will return after this to being “no worse off” than he was after events that kept his basic character intact is … very very low, since his character wasn’t intact even before this started, and this is just another hit that he’s taken lately in terms of characterization to drag him even further down that path (and again, all of the above storylines did in fact alter his character permanently in terms of writing and character arcs after them—a better example would have been The Crossing, which they literally tried to erase from continuity as much as they could, and probably what we should all hope they do with Superior Iron Man, I know I sure am—and honestly, I would have hoped they never repeated The Crossing just because it was one of their worst story arcs ever). Axis was already full of insults to his character even prior to the incursions, and his characterization there was painful. That’s the chain of characterization he’s going to be returning to after this in the first place, assuming he even gets uninverted any time soon, which is a pretty big assumption when we don’t know their plans.
I didn’t mean that those stories had no impact going forward, or that Tony was suddenly cured of his alcoholism, or was suddenly cool with giving away his armor, or anything like that. Only that they didn’t make him “worse” or preclude an upbeat, MCU-esque portrayal for Tony after the fact.
Obviously our perspectives differ. I’m willing/able to ride out runs I don’t like if it means better runs in the future can use the down times as fodder for stories. That’s how we got Oracle from The Killing Joke. I can look for the silver lining or try to like a book for what it is even if it’s not what I want. You’ve made it clear that just won’t work for you. That’s perfectly valid, but then I think it’s all the more important for you to take these marketing statements with a heaping hunk of salt. They may be worth protest, but I don’t believe they’re worth worry.
Even the content of the book shows this is not the real Tony, and other characters—daredevil, pepper—see that. I still think this is Marvel getting their fill of bad Tony before they return to the core portrayal that you like (as they did with Parker), but perhaps I’m an optimist.
I made my comments with the intent to provide you comfort, not encourage you to be silent. But I suppose “maybe it’s not that bad if you overlook the things you dislike” isn’t very comforting. Sorry that I was unclear.
Well, for one, you seem to be missing that … the upbeat, MCU-esque portrayal for Tony is exactly the thing I don’t want. Every time a character is altered in comics, it provides an opportunity for that to become a mainstream part of their characterization. This happened with Hank Pym and mental illness/hitting Jan, this happened with Barbara and The Killing Joke, it happened with Tony and his alcoholism. The fact that it might not be bad doesn’t strike me as a good reason to ignore it when the whole reason I love the character is that I liked it before and would rather not see it be changed in the manner it has been recently. Especially when characters (like Batman) have in fact been twisted into entirely different shapes before based on darker and grittier characterization. It’s worth talking about, and worth letting Marvel know I don’t appreciate it. Especially when with the influence of the MCU on comics, Marvel continuity is more vulnerable to changes of that particular nature than ever before (see the recent retcon of Wanda and Pietro’s origins).
And my saying I think the people in charge of Marvel right now have their heads up their asses when it comes to Tony’s characterization doesn’t mean I’m not waiting it out? I am waiting for this to end, believe me. I still have a Marvel comics blog, I’m still talking about it, aren’t I? I’m just being very vocal about how very very much I hate Alonso and Taylor’s take on Iron Man while I do it, because, you know, I hate it that much. I’m also not going to pay for the damn book, since you know, I hate it that much and I don’t want to support them or it. I don’t want Tony Stark to become the next time they take a character who is more vulnerable and more emotionally complex and turn him into a dickish arrogant dudebro. This is something they’ve been doing to him for a while, before this book even started, and it’s also visible across their line as a whole. I think you are indeed an optimist to think that Marvel ever intends to return to the core characterization of Tony Stark that I like, since I haven’t seen that characterization in a comic since about 2008. (Peter was also possessed rather than having a fundamental personality change, so it’s not exactly the same thing.) I’m not even hoping for a return to the Tony Stark that I like at this point, because he’s clearly long gone. Honestly, the Big Two are being dragged slowly, kicking and screaming, into accepting that they can’t just sell to their old market anymore, and any time they seem like they’re retrenching and making a big effort to hypermasculinize characters or erase parts of them that wouldn’t fit with that I’m going to be yelling about it, because they’ve repeatedly shown this is something they really, really want to do right now, and their choices in their films have honestly been doing nothing but backing that up.
And also, “just try to enjoy something you vocally hate that makes you actively uncomfortable” is really, really unhelpful advice, especially to give on a post about how much I hate it. I appreciate that you’re concerned for me and trying to help me out here. Like, I honestly am? It would be nice if I could forget how annoyed I am with mostly everything Marvel is doing at the moment, in a sense. But it sounds a lot like “try not to be offended” and “try to enjoy something that’s literally everything you dislike in media and just appreciate it” and also like “just forget that you don’t want anything to do with anything about this book or the thought process that went into it actively offends you!” And I really don’t appreciate the tone that I should just try to sit back and let Marvel sell me whatever they want without being vocal about the fact that I don’t appreciate their attempts.
Also, I realize that you’re not trying to sound like this, but your tone is incredibly condescending—for example, assuming that you know what the core portrayal of Tony Stark I like is when you pretty obviously don’t, especially since you’ve never interacted with me before. You really don’t need to worry about my mental state, and while I do appreciate the compassion, I don’t appreciate the paternalistic tone. I’ll worry about whatever I want to, thanks. I didn’t ask you to comfort me, nor did I want to be comforted about this matter, especially not by encouraging me to try and like exactly what I was complaining about. You don’t get to decide how I process my anger or annoyance about fiction, or what would be a healthy or acceptable way to do so. I am a longtime comics fan, I know exactly how full of shit they are, but I actually don’t appreciate them being full of shit, so I’m trying to let everyone know (believe me, I let them know directly, too) how incredibly little I appreciate the universe they’re trying to sell us right now with their statements. I also just flat out don’t see any reason to give them the benefit of the doubt, and I’d rather assume they’re going to be awful and be proven wrong than hope for the best and have them let me down once again, as they have so very many times before. It’s very obnoxious to reply to someone ranting about something they dislike with “well, have you tried liking it” as if I, as an Iron Man fan, wouldn’t rather be enjoying the Iron Man comic right now. Of course I’ve tried liking it. Honestly.
To come into a post and make a) assumptions about my mental state, b) assumptions about what kind of upset I’m feeling and how it might be resolved, and c) assumptions about my experience with comics and what I even want from the character of Tony, all without ever having spoken to me ever before, and then suggest that maybe I could try liking it if I just ignored everything about it I hate on a fundamental level just … isn’t that helpful, no. Just let me rant about it in peace. That’s all I ask. Was my original post the most well thought out thing on the planet? No. Was it reactionary and despairing and also included scare tactics? Yes. I admit that. It was made in a moment of extreme annoyance where I wasn’t feeling very forgiving or hopeful. It was also not an invitation to prove me wrong because I’m sobbing my eyes out over here just waiting for some hope (I’m not). But in future, maybe let people express their fears and doubts without jumping in to tell them that maybe they should just try enjoying the very thing that’s making their current experience so distressing in the first place. It’s also extremely hard to read it as an attempt to do anything other than ask me politely to shut up, since obviously if I did enjoy it, I’d stop ranting about it and criticizing Taylor and Alonso for the things they’ve said.
I realize that this response seems angry, over-opinionated, and probably shrill. I get that. But I don’t appreciate being talked down to by people I don’t know, and I don’t appreciate being told which emotions or responses I have are valid, even or most especially when it’s supposedly for my own good. Seriously, the last thing I want is to be told a million more times why I should just try and enjoy Superior Iron Man. I get enough of that from Alonso himself without anyone else joining the party.
Fair enough. I’m honestly still getting the hang of interacting with tumblr beyond reblogs and likes. I saw something on my dash and commented on it. I didn’t consider the context of stepping into a personal space uninvited and how that would frame my comments as intrusive and presumptuous. I should have know better. My apologies.
Like … honestly though, it doesn’t even matter if Tony is uninverted for the reboot or not. It honestly doesn’t. According to Alonso, the editor in chief of Marvel, inverted Tony IS the real Tony Stark. That’s his actual character. In other words, this is canon characterization now, inverted or not. The inversion doesn’t matter—if Alonso and the writers think this is Tony whether or not he’s inverted.
It’s literally immaterial. Superior Iron Man is now the canon Tony Stark, according to them, and it doesn’t even matter if he’s inverted, since their stance is that this is what he was like all along (and no one, or the barest few, can tell the difference).
I’m just saying.
I never though the words “I miss Matt Fraction’s Iron Man” would come out of my brain - but they have.
*shakes Marvel upside down until the Tony we know and love falls out*
Well of course they said that. Whatever is happening right now has to be “real” and forever or readers won’t buy in. “Ben Reilly IS Spider-Man!” and all that.
This too shall pass, and when it does the character will be no worse off than post Armor Wars Tony, post alcoholism Tony, or post Civil War Tony. Probably better because the inversion is so easy to explain away (“magic!”).
Try to enjoy the book for what it is, AU Tony being bad and ultimately paying for it, then Tony has new wrongs to right when he returns.
Except that that isn’t true. Each of those arcs you mentioned built on prior characterization and changed Tony’s character and how he was portrayed permanently. Those are all formative storylines in how Iron Man was written and portrayed that altered the character and how he was written forever after them. So you’re not exactly making your point here. Tony is still an alcoholic. He’s been repeatedly portrayed as paranoid about his suits to the point of obsession since Armor Wars. Civil War has pretty much defined his character ever since that run. The claim that these storylines somehow didn’t fundamentally alter and build on his character and move him forward into a different place is really strange to me.
On top of that, Tony isn’t coming into this out of strong characterization like, say, Michelinie’s portrayal, or even Warren Ellis’s Extremis. Tony hasn’t been characterized well in the comics since Fraction’s run (which is dubious, characterization wise, at best, though it has excellent moments). Gillen’s run had him half of the way to villainous already, from my perspective, stuck on himself and massively arrogant and deciding things for other people all over the place. Even before Superior Iron Man started, well characterized Tony was a rare beast, and we’re coming up on a reboot—run by these exact same people. So the likelihood that Tony will return after this to being “no worse off” than he was after events that kept his basic character intact is … very very low, since his character wasn’t intact even before this started, and this is just another hit that he’s taken lately in terms of characterization to drag him even further down that path (and again, all of the above storylines did in fact alter his character permanently in terms of writing and character arcs after them—a better example would have been The Crossing, which they literally tried to erase from continuity as much as they could, and probably what we should all hope they do with Superior Iron Man, I know I sure am—and honestly, I would have hoped they never repeated The Crossing just because it was one of their worst story arcs ever). Axis was already full of insults to his character even prior to the incursions, and his characterization there was painful. That’s the chain of characterization he’s going to be returning to after this in the first place, assuming he even gets uninverted any time soon, which is a pretty big assumption when we don’t know their plans.
I didn’t mean that those stories had no impact going forward, or that Tony was suddenly cured of his alcoholism, or was suddenly cool with giving away his armor, or anything like that. Only that they didn’t make him “worse” or preclude an upbeat, MCU-esque portrayal for Tony after the fact.
Obviously our perspectives differ. I’m willing/able to ride out runs I don’t like if it means better runs in the future can use the down times as fodder for stories. That’s how we got Oracle from The Killing Joke. I can look for the silver lining or try to like a book for what it is even if it’s not what I want. You’ve made it clear that just won’t work for you. That’s perfectly valid, but then I think it’s all the more important for you to take these marketing statements with a heaping hunk of salt. They may be worth protest, but I don’t believe they’re worth worry.
Even the content of the book shows this is not the real Tony, and other characters–daredevil, pepper–see that. I still think this is Marvel getting their fill of bad Tony before they return to the core portrayal that you like (as they did with Parker), but perhaps I’m an optimist.
I made my comments with the intent to provide you comfort, not encourage you to be silent. But I suppose “maybe it’s not that bad if you overlook the things you dislike” isn’t very comforting. Sorry that I was unclear.
Like … honestly though, it doesn’t even matter if Tony is uninverted for the reboot or not. It honestly doesn’t. According to Alonso, the editor in chief of Marvel, inverted Tony IS the real Tony Stark. That’s his actual character. In other words, this is canon characterization now, inverted or not. The inversion doesn’t matter—if Alonso and the writers think this is Tony whether or not he’s inverted.
It’s literally immaterial. Superior Iron Man is now the canon Tony Stark, according to them, and it doesn’t even matter if he’s inverted, since their stance is that this is what he was like all along (and no one, or the barest few, can tell the difference).
I’m just saying.
I never though the words “I miss Matt Fraction’s Iron Man” would come out of my brain - but they have.
*shakes Marvel upside down until the Tony we know and love falls out*
Well of course they said that. Whatever is happening right now has to be “real” and forever or readers won’t buy in. “Ben Reilly IS Spider-Man!” and all that.
This too shall pass, and when it does the character will be no worse off than post Armor Wars Tony, post alcoholism Tony, or post Civil War Tony. Probably better because the inversion is so easy to explain away (“magic!”).
Try to enjoy the book for what it is, AU Tony being bad and ultimately paying for it, then Tony has new wrongs to right when he returns.
Katt Williams on Dave Chappelle: “But Dave Chappelle was decapitated in front of us. And until we deal that. Until we deal with the fact that a devout Muslim was accused of being a crackhead. And until we establish the fact that they said he went to Africa to smoke cocaine when we know they don’t have running water and food over there. When they don’t have paved roads over there. You saying he flew past Chicago and Miami and LA and New York and Detroit, you saying he went past Cleveland and Fort Pierce, Florida, and he went past Okeechobee and Oakland, you saying he went all the way to another country where they not eating? You talking about somebody who has a wife and children, five children, and lives on a farm, he doesn’t live here in Hollywood. You saying you convince people that person was an insane crackhead? And he hasn’t been on movies and TV for eight years is that correct? Ok then don’t tell me about what you wanna tell me, I just watched you decapitate him in front of me… Then when he made 500 million dollars, even though his contract said he was supposed to get half of it, they said he made too much for the contract to be valid, so we’ll offer you 10% of what you made. You mean he made 500 million and they offered him 50? Yes. And he said, “what do you think my fans are gonna say? When they find out you offered me 10% of what I made you.” And they said, “your fans will believe that you’re a crazy crackhead by the time you get home. And my nigga got on a flight in LA and by the time he got to Ohio it was so. And eight years later he hasn’t been in a movie or television and is just now trying to do his real comeback in Radio City Music Hall. It’s bees like that sometimes.”
White supremacy is meticulous, and people think shit be happening by coincidence. This has pissed me d fuck off
the piece can be complete and aesthetically pleasing even when there is no projection this is so good and it makes me so happy
The artist’s name is Rashad Alakbarov. He’s from Azerbaijan and works primarily in shadow art. The links will take you to his website should you want to see more.
