Benedict Cumberbatch Just Proved That Marvel Is an Unstoppable Force

There was an unusual amount of pressure on Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The second film after the star-studded Captain America: Civil War to usher in Marvel’s so-called “Phase Three,” Strange placed a lot of expectations on Cumberbatch’s crimson-cloaked shoulders and, as if by magic, he’s exceeding every one of them. Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme has now surpassed every other single Marvel character introduction at the box office. Not bad for someone whose yet to be drafted into the Avengers. If Marvel is planning on slowing down, it won’t be any time soon.

Deadline reports that in only its third week of release, Cumberbatch’s Strange has conjured up $616 million worldwide. That’s certainly more than previous origin stories like The Incredible Hulk ($263M), Captain America: The First Avenger ($371M), Thor ($449M), Ant-Man ($520M) and Iron Man ($585M). (To be fair to Tony Starkâ€"the original, arrogant, goateed geniusâ€"Iron Man was released before the Marvel brand packed such a punch.) At this rate, Doctor Strange could potentially even catch Marvel’s ensemble origin Guardians of the Galaxy ($773,328,629 after 25 weeks) and Fox’s Deadpool ($782,612,155 after 18 weeks).

How did Doctor Strangeâ€"a surreal, spiritual film plagued by early controversy and featuring a superhero that, frankly, was not even that popular with readersâ€"soar to such enviable economic heights? Well, the fact that the scene’s final showdown was set in Hong Kong couldn’t have hurt. There is no Chinese Sanctum in the comics and the splashy battle for Hong Kong was only the latest way a major 2016 studio release pandered to Chinese audiences.

Thus far, Strange has earned $102M of its $411M foreign gross from China, but Cumberbatch has more than Chinese dollars to thank. The reviews for director Scott Derrickson’s first foray into the world of comics were more glowing than even Marvel’s usual thanks, in large part, to some fresh visual flair and an alluring, unconventional performance from Tilda Swinton. Even those suffering from superhero fatigue couldn’t resist her serene, art house charms.

And the bigger-than-expected reception for both Cumberbatch’s Strange and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man means Marvel’s future is looking much more secure than it was even a year ago when Avengers: Age of Ultron failed to dazzle critics. Though no official announcement has been made, conventional comic book wisdom dictates that Stephen Strange, Scott Lang, Chadwick Boseman’s T'Challa, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers have been/will be introduced in order to replace the Avengers line-up we’ve come to know and love. The Avengers team is forever changing in the comics and factors like Robert Downey Jr.’s enormous sticker price and other Avenger actors’ increasingly busy schedules means that the films will likely follow suit.

That means Rudd, Cumberbatch, and the rest have to be at least as popular as Scarlett Johansson and the Chrises Evans and Hemsworth in order for the franchise to survive a changing of the guard. If dollars equal popularity then, well, recent box office wins mean that Marvel has nothing to be worried about.

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The Cover Shoot: Benedict Cumberbatch Bends Minds

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The actor rolls up his sleeve. Photo: Photograph by Jason Bell. Styled by Jessica Diehl.

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| Benedict | Cumberbatch | Just | Proved | That | Marvel | Unstoppable | Force | There | unusual | amount | pressure | Doctor | Strange, | Cumberbatch’s | introduction | Cinematic | Universe. | second | film | after | star-studded | Captain | America: | Civil | usher | Marvel’s | so-called | “Phase | Three,” | Strange | placed | expectations | crimson-cloaked | shoulders | and, | magic, | he’s | exceeding | every | them. | Sorcerer | Supreme | surpassed | other | single | character | office. | someone | whose | drafted | into | Avengers. | planning | slowing | down, | won’t | time | soon. Deadline | reports | that | only | third | week | release, | conjured | $616 | million | worldwide. | That’s | certainly | more | than | previous | origin | stories | like | Incredible | Hulk | ($263M), | First | Avenger | ($371M), | Thor | ($449M), | Ant-Man | ($520M) | Iron | ($585M). | fair | Tony | Starkâ€"the | original, | arrogant, | goateed | geniusâ€"Iron | released | before | brand | packed | such | punch.) | this | rate, | could | potentially | even | catch | ensemble | Guardians | Galaxy | ($773,328,629 | weeks) | Fox’s | Deadpool | ($782,612,155 | weeks). How | Strangeâ€"a | surreal, | spiritual | plagued | early | controversy | featuring | superhero | that, | frankly, | popular | with | readersâ€"soar | enviable | economic | heights? | Well, | fact | scene’s | final | showdown | Hong | Kong | couldn’t | have | hurt. | Chinese | Sanctum | comics | splashy | battle | latest | major | 2016 | studio | release | pandered | audiences. Thus | far, | earned | $102M | $411M | foreign | gross | from | China, | dollars | thank. | reviews | director | Scott | Derrickson’s | first | foray | world | were | glowing | usual | thanks, | large | part, | some | fresh | visual | flair | alluring, | unconventional | performance | Tilda | Swinton. | Even | those | suffering | fatigue | resist | serene, | house | charms. And | bigger-than-expected | reception | both | Paul | Rudd’s | means | future | looking | much | secure | year | when | Avengers: | Ultron | failed | dazzle | critics. | Though | official | announcement | been | made, | conventional | comic | book | wisdom | dictates | Stephen | Lang, | Chadwick | Boseman’s | TChalla, | Holland’s | Spider-Man, | Brie | Larson’s | Carol | Danvers | been/will | introduced | order | replace | Avengers | line-up | we’ve | come | know | love. | team | forever | changing | factors | Robert | Downey | Jr.’s | enormous | sticker | price | actors’ | increasingly | busy | schedules | films | will | likely | follow | suit. That | Rudd, | Cumberbatch, | rest | least | Scarlett | Johansson | Chrises | Evans | Hemsworth | franchise | survive | guard. | equal | popularity | then, | well, | recent | office | wins | mean | nothing | worried | about. Full | ScreenPhotos: 1/5 The | Cover | Shoot: | Bends | Minds The | actor | rolls | sleeve. Photo: | Photograph | Jason | Bell. | Styled | Jessica | Diehl. PreviousNext The | sleeve. Photograph | Diehl. HERO | RECLINE Benedict | photographed | Metropolitan | Building | Long | Island | City, | York. Photograph | Diehl. DARK | SIDE A | contemplative | City. Photograph | Diehl. WALKING | LINE Cumberbatch, | beneath | elevated | subway | tracks | Diehl. Photograph | Diehl. |

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Marvel pulls no punches in 2017 with new Iron Fist comic

Don’t let your guard down next year, because there’s a brand new hard-hitting solo series coming for Danny Rand, also known as the immortal Iron Fist. As announced this morning by The Hollywood Reporter, the new series â€" simply titled Iron Fist â€" will be helmed by Ed Brisson, writer of The Violent and the upcoming Bullseye, and veteran artist Mike Perkins, best known recently for his work on Captain America and The Stand.

The first issue will drop in March, and will take heavy inspiration from 2006’s Immortal Iron Fist and from the character’s most recent series Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, which left Danny and the mystical city of K’un Lun in very tenuous positions. Writer Ed Brisson talked to THR about where readers will find them as the new series begins:

“As for where K’un-Lun is and how that affects Danny … That’s going to be a large part of what this first arc is about. K’un-Lun is the source of his powers and now that the city lays in ruins, Danny’s connection is severed. This affects his ability to actually be Iron Fist. His whole identity seems to be slipping away from him and he doesn’t know how to hold onto it.”

This will run concurrently with the current Power Man and Iron Fist buddy book, and is obviously meant to pick up readers that come into shops after their interest is piqued by Marvel and Netflix’s live action Iron Fist series, which is set to release on March 17. But this announcement left many fans wondering what this news meant for Iron Fists, a series by Kaare Andrews and Afu Chan announced back in July. The series was to feature Danny training the next Iron Fist, a young girl named Pei, but there has been no news since. Luckily, Andrews confirmed on Twitter this morning that the series is still coming.

I’m a huge Iron Fist fan, so I will take all the Danny Rand Marvel wants to dish out, and Iron Fist has a top-notch creative team that looks set to build upon the wonderful mythology that has already been established for the character. Does the new series have you ready to punch a dragon in the heart? Check out the awesome first issue cover by Jeff Dekal, then let us know in the comments below.

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| Marvel | pulls | punches | 2017 | with | Iron | Fist | comic | Don’t | your | guard | down | next | year | because | there’s | brand | hard | hitting | solo | series | coming | Danny | Rand | also | known | immortal | announced | this | morning | Hollywood | Reporter< | simply | titled | Fist < | em>â€" | will | helmed | Brisson | writer | Violent< | upcoming | Bullseye< | veteran | artist | Mike | Perkins | best | recently | work | Captain | America< | Stand | em>< | p> The | first | issue | drop | March | take | heavy | inspiration | from | 2006’s | Immortal | Fist< | character’s | most | recent | Fist: | Living | Weapon< | which | left | mystical | city | K’un | very tenuous | positions | Writer | talked | about | where | readers | find | them | begins:< | p> “As | that | affects | That’s | going | large | part | what | source | powers | lays | ruins | Danny’s | connection | severed | This | ability | actually | whole | identity | seems | slipping | away | doesn’t | know | hold | onto | ”< | p> This | concurrently | current | Power | buddy | book | obviously | meant | pick | come | into | shops | after | their | interest | piqued | Netflix’s | live | action | release | announcement | many | fans | wondering | news | Fists< | series by | Kaare | Andrews | Chan | back | July | feature | training | young | girl | named | there | been | since | Luckily | confirmed | Twitter | still | p> < | p> I’m | huge | wants | dish | notch | creative | team | looks | build | upon | wonderful | mythology | already | established | character | Does | have | ready | punch | dragon | heart | Check | awesome | cover | Jeff | Dekal | then let | comments | below | p> |

Thank U Very Very Much for Read this News

Marvel pulls no punches in 2017 with new Iron Fist comic

Don’t let your guard down next year, because there’s a brand new hard-hitting solo series coming for Danny Rand, also known as the immortal Iron Fist. As announced this morning by The Hollywood Reporter, the new series â€" simply titled Iron Fist â€" will be helmed by Ed Brisson, writer of The Violent and the upcoming Bullseye, and veteran artist Mike Perkins, best known recently for his work on Captain America and The Stand.

The first issue will drop in March, and will take heavy inspiration from 2006’s Immortal Iron Fist and from the character’s most recent series, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, which left Danny and the mystical city of K’un Lun in very tenuous positions. Writer Ed Brisson talked to THR about where readers will find them as the new series begins:

“As for where K’un-Lun is and how that affects Danny … That’s going to be a large part of what this first arc is about. K’un-Lun is the source of his powers and now that the city lays in ruins, Danny’s connection is severed. This affects his ability to actually be Iron Fist. His whole identity seems to be slipping away from him and he doesn’t know how to hold onto it.”

This will run concurrently with the current Power Man and Iron Fist buddy book, and is obviously meant to pick up readers that come into shops after their interest is piqued by Marvel and Netflix’s live action Iron Fist series, which is set to release on March 17. But this announcement left many fans wondering what this news meant for Iron Fists, a series by Kaare Andrews and Afu Chan announced back in July. The series was to feature Danny training the next Iron Fist, a young girl named Pei, but there has been no news since. Luckily, Andrews confirmed on Twitter this morning that the series is still coming.

I’m a huge Iron Fist fan, so I will take all the Danny Rand Marvel wants to dish out, and Iron Fist has a top-notch creative team that looks set to build upon the wonderful mythology that has already been established for the character. Does the new series have you ready to punch a dragon in the heart? Check out the awesome first issue cover by Jeff Dekal, then let us know in the comments below.

"

| Marvel | pulls | punches | 2017 | with | Iron | Fist | comic | Don’t | your | guard | down | next | year | because | there’s | brand | hard | hitting | solo | series | coming | Danny | Rand | also | known | immortal | announced | this | morning | Hollywood | Reporter< | simply | titled | Fist < | em>â€" | will | helmed | Brisson | writer | Violent< | upcoming | Bullseye< | veteran | artist | Mike | Perkins | best | recently | work | Captain | America< | Stand | em>< | p> The | first | issue | drop | March | take | heavy | inspiration | from | 2006’s | Immortal | Fist< | character’s | most | recent |  Iron | Fist: | Living | Weapon< | which | left | mystical | city | K’un | very tenuous | positions | Writer | talked | about | where | readers | find | them | begins:< | p> “As | that | affects | That’s | going | large | part | what | source | powers | lays | ruins | Danny’s | connection | severed | This | ability | actually | whole | identity | seems | slipping | away | doesn’t | know | hold | onto | ”< | p> This | concurrently | current | Power | buddy | book | obviously | meant | pick | come | into | shops | after | their | interest | piqued | Netflix’s | live | action | release | announcement | many | fans | wondering | news | Fists< | series by | Kaare | Andrews | Chan | back | July | feature | training | young | girl | named | there | been | since | Luckily | confirmed | Twitter | still | p> < | p> I’m | huge | wants | dish | notch | creative | team | looks | build | upon | wonderful | mythology | already | established | character | Does | have | ready | punch | dragon | heart | Check | awesome | cover | Jeff | Dekal | then let | comments | below | p> |

Thank You Very Much for Reading this Article

Marvel pulls no punches in 2017 with new Iron Fist comic

Don’t let your guard down next year, because there’s a brand new hard-hitting solo series coming for Danny Rand, also known as the immortal Iron Fist. As announced this morning by The Hollywood Reporter, the new series â€" simply titled Iron Fist â€" will be helmed by Ed Brisson, writer of The Violent and the upcoming Bullseye, and veteran artist Mike Perkins, best known recently for his work on Captain America and The Stand.

The first issue will drop in March, and will take heavy inspiration from 2006’s Immortal Iron Fist and from the character’s most recent series, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, which left Danny and the mystical city of K’un Lun in very tenuous positions. Writer Ed Brisson talked to THR about where readers will find them as the new series begins:

“As for where K’un-Lun is and how that affects Danny … That’s going to be a large part of what this first arc is about. K’un-Lun is the source of his powers and now that the city lays in ruins, Danny’s connection is severed. This affects his ability to actually be Iron Fist. His whole identity seems to be slipping away from him and he doesn’t know how to hold onto it.”

This will run concurrently with the current Power Man and Iron Fist buddy book, and is obviously meant to pick up readers that come into shops after their interest is piqued by Marvel and Netflix’s live action Iron Fist series, which is set to release on March 17. But this announcement left many fans wondering what this news meant for Iron Fists, a series by Kaare Andrews and Afu Chan announced back in July. The series was to feature Danny training the next Iron Fist, a young girl named Pei, but there has been no news since. Luckily, Andrews confirmed on Twitter this morning that the series is still coming.

I’m a huge Iron Fist fan, so I will take all the Danny Rand Marvel wants to dish out, and Iron Fist has a top-notch creative team that looks set to build upon the wonderful mythology that has already been established for the character. Does the new series have you ready to punch a dragon in the heart? Check out the awesome first issue cover by Jeff Dekal, then let us know in the comments below.

"

| Marvel | pulls | punches | 2017 | with | Iron | Fist | comic | Don’t | your | guard | down | next | year | because | there’s | brand | hard | hitting | solo | series | coming | Danny | Rand | also | known | immortal | announced | this | morning | Hollywood | Reporter< | simply | titled | Fist < | em>â€" | will | helmed | Brisson | writer | Violent< | upcoming | Bullseye< | veteran | artist | Mike | Perkins | best | recently | work | Captain | America< | Stand | em>< | p> The | first | issue | drop | March | take | heavy | inspiration | from | 2006’s | Immortal | Fist< | character’s | most | recent |  Iron | Fist: | Living | Weapon< | which | left | mystical | city | K’un | very tenuous | positions | Writer | talked | about | where | readers | find | them | begins:< | p> “As | that | affects | That’s | going | large | part | what | source | powers | lays | ruins | Danny’s | connection | severed | This | ability | actually | whole | identity | seems | slipping | away | doesn’t | know | hold | onto | ”< | p> This | concurrently | current | Power | buddy | book | obviously | meant | pick | come | into | shops | after | their | interest | piqued | Netflix’s | live | action | release | announcement | many | fans | wondering | news | Fists< | series by | Kaare | Andrews | Chan | back | July | feature | training | young | girl | named | there | been | since | Luckily | confirmed | Twitter | still | p> < | p> I’m | huge | wants | dish | notch | creative | team | looks | build | upon | wonderful | mythology | already | established | character | Does | have | ready | punch | dragon | heart | Check | awesome | cover | Jeff | Dekal | then let | comments | below | p> |

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Marvel Brings Back Long Dead SPIDER-MAN Character

Welcome to your mid-week edition of Comics Relief, comics fans! To start our collection of comics news off this week, we have the scoop on a long gone character from Spider-Man’s past that I’m not entirely sure anyone was really clamoring to have back. But they are back anyway, like it or not. Read on for all the details!

Proving that absolutely no one stays dead in comics forever, even characters no one really liked in the first place, Marvel Comics revealed Wednesday as part of their ongoing Spider-Man-centric >Clone Conspiracy storyline that the mastermind villain behind Peter Parker’s current drama is none other than Ben Reilly, the infamous Spider-Clone who also once went by the name the Scarlet Spider.

Dan Slott’s The Clone Conspiracy has had Spider-Man dealing with a medical tech company called New U, which was producing “miracles”, bringing people who were once believed to be fatally sick or gravely wounded back from the brink of death. Peter naturally thought this all too good to be true, and he was right â€" turns out the people “saved” go a wee bit crazy.

But the leader of New U wasn’t Peter’s old nemesis Miles Warren, AKA the Jackal, as he once thought. Turns out it’s none other than Ben Reilly, the Spider-Clone was was once thought to be the real Peter Parker himself. Last time we saw him was 20 years ago, where he literally melted away in front of Peter. But what’s a little disintegration between clones? The new Clone Conspiracy story is only half over, so we’ll see if Ben Reilly sticks around this time. If he does, I hope he gets a better costume and name than “the Scarlet Spider.” [Comic Book]

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Another Marvel event coming soon is >Monsters Unleashed, a five-issue miniseries which hits stores in January, which features Marvel’s heroes fighting off the giant monsters who ruled at the publisher before the era of super-heroes. Now Marvel has released a special behind-the-scenes video detailing the event, and giving fans a sneak peek at the artwork. You can watch the full video above.

Frank Miller is still knee-deep in >Dark Knight III: The Master Race, but it seems he won’t be done with DC Comics once that story has concluded. During a panel featuring Miller at the recent Brazil Comic-Con Experience, the >Sin City creator revealed plans for what he hopes will be his next DC project, saying “I have a fixation by World War II and I’m talking to DC on a project with their heroes at that time.” Could this be the big >DC Rebirth version of the Justice Society of America relaunch that’s been hinted at? Or a Superman story set in WWII? Only time will tell. [CBR]

Aside from the JSA, another missing team from DC’s history that might be making a comeback soon is the Legion of Super-Heroes. Although the team has always had strong ties to the Superman family, they are now being teased by writer Tom King in the pages of >Batman.

In recent issues of Batman, we see Legion founder Saturn Girl is, for some reason, in Arkham Asylum. In an interview, King said “We saw one of the pieces in Batman #9 with Saturn Girl, who was also in DC Universe: Rebirth #1 and plays a role in the story going forward. She’s in Gotham City, and she is in Arkham Asylum… We’ll see what that means both to her and the Legion of Super-Heroes.” [CBR]

Last week, Valiant Comics released a teaser image for their new >X-O Manowar relaunch, and now we have the details on this new series. According to the official description, writer Matt Kindt will begin this new iteration of the character “by separating Aric from his armor and sending him to a far-flung alien planet and continue into a yearlong science-fiction epic split into different arcs.”

Each of these arcs will be drawn by a separate rising star artist, with each artistic interpretation meant to reflect the different stages of Aric’s latest journey. We’ll go  from “Soldier” to “General” to “Emperor” to “Visigoth.”  X-O Manowar #1 is set to hit stores March 22, 2017, and for more info on the new series, be sure to click on the following link: [Entertainment Weekly]

When most people hear the name Jack Kirby, they think of the man who co-created the bulk of the Marvel Universe icons, like The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, etc. And while he did work at DC for a time, and created their vast New Gods mythology, he isn’t known for any significant runs featuring their iconic characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Except once. In 1984, as a tie-in to their >Super Powers toyline, DC produced a series of mini-series featuring the Justice League under the Super Powers banner, and drawn by the legendary Kirby. This is the only time Kirby drew characters like the Flash, Green Lantern or Wonder Woman, and they are all now finally being collected in hardcover format after thirty years. The collection will come out on August 29th for $34.99, and it will collect Super Powers Vol. 1 #1-5, Super Powers Vol. 2 #1-6 and Super Powers Vol. 3 #1-4. [Bleeding Cool]

Brian Michael Bendis’ current crossover epic >Civil War II got an extra issue to wrap up from Marvel, but artist David Marquez is getting some help to wrap this sucker up. Seven additional artists are joining Marquez to complete the delayed final issue.

Civil War II #8 will now have 32 pages by Marquez with eight additional pages, which are being described as a “special top secret interior sequence”, will be drawn by artists Esad Ribic, Leinil Yu, Adam Kubert, Alan Davis, Mark Bagley, Marco Rudy, and Daniel Acuna. The release date for Civil War II #8 remains set at December 28, an eight-week delay from the originally solicited November 2 release date. [Newsarama]

Images: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / Valiant Comics 

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| Marvel | Brings | Back | Long | Dead | SPIDER-MAN | Character | Welcome | your | week | edition | Comics | Relief< | comics | fans! | start | collection | news | this | have | scoop | long | gone | character | from | Spider | Man’s | past | that | I’m | entirely | sure | anyone | really | clamoring | back | they | anyway | like | Read | details!< | p> < | p> Proving | absolutely | stays | dead | forever | even | characters | liked | first | place | Comics< | revealed | Wednesday | part | their | ongoing | Man< | centric Clone | Conspiracy< | em>< | storyline | mastermind | villain | behind | Peter | Parker’s | current | drama | none | other | than | Reilly | infamous | Clone | also | once | went | name | Scarlet | p> Dan | Slott’s< | em> has | dealing | with | medical | tech | company | called | which | producing | “miracles” | bringing | people | were once | believed | fatally | sick or | gravely | wounded | brink | death | naturally | thought | good | true | right | turns | “saved” | crazy | p> But | leader | wasn’t | Peter’s | nemesis | Miles | Warren | AKA the | Jackal | Turns | it’s | real | Parker | himself | Last | time | years | where | literally | melted | away | front | what’s | little | disintegration | between | clones | story | only | half | over | we’ll | sticks | around | does | hope | gets | better | costume | “the | [Comic | Book< | a>]< | p> [embedded | content]< | p> Another | event | coming | soon | Monsters | Unleashed< | five | issue | miniseries | hits | stores | January | features | Marvel’s | heroes | fighting | giant | monsters | ruled | publisher | before | super | Marvel has | released | special | scenes | video | detailing | giving | fans | sneak | peek | artwork | watch | full | above | strong>< | p> Frank | Miller< | still | knee | deep | Dark | Knight | III: The | Master | Race< | seems | won’t | done | concluded | During | panel | featuring | Miller | recent | Brazil | Comic | Experience | City< | creator revealed | plans | what | hopes | will | next | project | saying | “I | fixation | World | talking | Could | em> Rebirth< | a> version | Justice | Society | America< | relaunch | that’s | been | hinted | Superman< | WWII | Only | tell | [CBR< | p> Aside | another | missing | team | DC’s | history | might | making | comeback | Legion | Super | Heroes< | Although | always | strong | ties | Superman | family | being | teased | writer | King< | pages | Batman< | p> In | issues | founder | Saturn | Girl | some | reason | Arkham | Asylum | interview | King | said | “We | pieces | Universe: | Rebirth< | plays | role | going | forward | She’s | Gotham | City | Asylum… | We’ll | means | both | Heroes | p> Last | Valiant | teaser | image | Manowar< | details | series | According | the official | description | Matt | Kindt< | begin | iteration | “by | separating | Aric | armor | sending | flung | alien | planet | continue | into | yearlong | science | fiction | epic | split | different | arcs | ”< | p> Each | these | drawn | separate | rising | star | artist | each | artistic | interpretation | meant | reflect | stages | Aric’s | latest | journey |  from | “Soldier” | “General” | “Emperor” | “Visigoth | March | 2017 | more | info | click | following | link: | [Entertainment | Weekly< | p> When | most | hear | Jack | Kirby< | think | created | bulk | Universe | icons | Fantastic | Four< | Men< | Thor< | Iron | Hulk< | while | work | vast | Gods< | mythology | isn’t | known | significant | runs | iconic | Batman | Wonder | Woman< | p> Except | 1984 | Powers< | toyline | produced | mini | League | under | banner | legendary | Kirby | This | drew | Flash< | Green | Lantern< | Woman | finally | collected | hardcover | format | after | thirty | come | August | 29th | collect | [Bleeding | Cool< | p> Brian | Michael | Bendis’< | crossover | epic Civil | extra | wrap | David | Marquez< | getting | help | sucker | Seven | additional | artists | joining | Marquez | complete | delayed | final | p> Civil | eight | described | “special | secret | interior | sequence” | Esad | Ribic< | Leinil | Adam | Kubert< | Alan | Davis< | Mark | Bagley< | Marco | Rudy | Daniel | Acuna | release | date | Civil | remains | December | delay | originally | solicited | November | [Newsarama< | p> Images: | Comics < | p> |

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“Rectify” Is a Quiet Marvel

> Daniel was convicted of a brutal but ambiguous crime. Now that he’s out of prison, everyone wants clarity. Credit Illustration by Tomer Hanuka In the first episode of “Rectify,” Daniel Holden (Aden Young) is released from death row, and he gives a speech to journalists and protesters gathered outside the prison. Rather than assert his innocence or talk about justice, he offers a zigzagging meditation on the nature of fatalism. “I had convinced myself that kind of optimism served no useful purpose in the world where I existed,” he explains, in an underwater monotone, as the protesters look on, baffled. “Obviously, this radical belief system was flawed and was, ironically, a kind of fantasy itself.” Humbly, as if ending a philosophy seminar, he concludes, “I will seriously need to reconsider my world view.” For three years, “Rectify” has been a small marvel, an eccentric independent drama, filmed in Griffin, Georgia, and airing off the beaten track as well, on Sundance. With its skewed insights into carceral cruelty, “Rectify” took the slot that “The Wire” used to occupy: it’s the smart crime drama whose fans have trouble persuading others to watch, because it sounds too grimâ€"or maybe too good for you. It’s a frustrating dynamic that has haunted other dramas without cowboys or zombiesâ€"“The Leftovers” and “The Americans” come to mindâ€"but “Rectify” ’s reputation for difficulty is misleading. The show’s dreamy pace makes it a satisfying high, like a bourbon-soaked bob down a river on a humid day. It’s a show about the way that time gets distorted; it’s one that distorts time, too. As with many structurally daring series, it’s joyful, because its insides match its outsides. It’s also, more straightforwardly, a gothic mystery about small-town secrets. When Daniel was in his late teens, he was convicted of the rape and murder of his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Hanna. He served nineteen years, most of them in solitary confinement. The crime itself was a foggy, ambiguous incident that involved psychedelic drugs; two boys testified against him, and, under pressure, Daniel confessed. DNA cleared him of the rape but not of the murder, so plenty of localsâ€"and, at times, Daniel himselfâ€"suspect that he did it, because he was found cradling Hanna’s naked corpse, which he’d decorated with flowers. But Daniel’s younger sister, Amantha (Abigail Spencer), never lost faith in his innocence, and she’s been sleeping with the liberal Jewish lawyer she lobbied to work on his behalfâ€"the big-city Reuben to her Norma Rae. Everyone involved wants clarity, now that Amantha’s faith has paid off. No one gets it. The murder case is reopened and leads down alarming paths. Few people want to face the uglier facts, including the knowledge that Daniel was raped in prison, multiple times. While he was on death row, his father died and his mother remarried, so he has two new stepbrothers, Ted, Jr., and Jared, who is still in his teens. In some ways, Daniel is himself an adolescent, prone to self-indulgent, self-destructive whims. In isolated Paulie, Georgia, he’s a distinctly odd figure, a socially awkward autodidact who meditated and read obsessively in his cell. He speaks in an off-kilter, whispery style, making even sympathetic neighbors uncomfortable. His mannered intellectualism marks him as an outsider, queer in several senses, as much as any suspicions of criminal guilt do. The one person who truly gets him is Ted, Jr.,’s wife, Tawney, a sweet born-again Christian who is desperate to save Daniel, and with whom he develops a dangerous chemistry. Their flirtation takes place, however, largely through elevated conversation about Thomas Aquinas and Buddha, forgiveness and humility. And, in fact, a lot of the pleasure of the show is in the dialogue, which favors the stuff that Daniel jokes is not “gallows humor” but “lethal-injection humorâ€"it’s more humane but less funny.” “It felt good to use the telephone that wasn’t smarter than me,” Daniel tells his sister, about a pay phone. His companion on a road trip tells him, “Everything that happens between men and women is written in mud. And butter. And barbecue sauce. Paula Deen said that to me in a dream I had one time.” Ted, Jr.,’s boozy koan: “First you hate it. Then you like it. It’s called beer.” While the talk takes its time, the plot moves fast. The first season covers six days in six episodes, and climaxes in two crimes, one committed by Daniel, one against him; by the fourth and final season, currently airing, only a few months have passed. Several of the best episodes are one-offs, featuring characters we never meet again. In one, Daniel drifts into the orbit of an antique dealer named Lezlie, a Pan-like anarchist, who invites anyone who is not a gentrifying yuppieâ€"the class he regards as ruining Paulieâ€"to party at his ramshackle house. In another, Daniel gets a ride from a stranger and steals some goats. There’s a strong sense in “Rectify” that, when your memory has been rendered spongy and your safety shattered, each event might last forever or be gone in a flash. Perhaps the standout episode is “Donald the Normal,” from Season 2. In it, Daniel finally leaves town. He takes a bus to Atlanta, then puts on nice clothes and goes to a museum to see a beautiful painting that he knows only from a book. Throughout “Rectify,” the claustrophobically close-knit Paulieâ€"where the local waitress sleeps with both Daniel and the politician who framed him, and where Hanna’s brother glares at Daniel’s family in the supermarketâ€"is portrayed as near-enchanted in its isolation. Any mention of a larger Southern city (even from the former Atlantan Amantha, who has a liberal hipster’s condescension for her home town) makes it sound as distant as Mars. At the museum, Daniel is approached by an attractive older woman, played by Frances Fisher. “What do you think?” she asks. “I think I’ve looked at this painting in a book for so long that somehow my brain has trivialized it,” he says. “And as I stand here in front of the real thing I feel, if anything . . . disappointed.” She’s charmed by the alien quality that others find so creepyâ€"his formal speech, his lack of boundaries. She invites him to lunch with her book-club friends. These are sleek, rich city women. He tells them that his name is Donald and that he owns a bookstore in Alabama. This experiment in reinvention falls apart fast. Daniel has cuts on his forehead and cheeks, the remnants of a beating that put him in a coma. And, bright as he is, he can’t improvise a life he never had. He finds himself faking a conversation about a book he hasn’t read, something with a “pitiful” protagonist. “This bread, um, is excellent,” he says, trying to change the subject. “The panini bread?” one of the women asks. “Yes, um, the pallini bread,” he responds. “It’s . . . unusually fresh.” It’s a heartbreaking slip, a class error that locks him out of a whole world. The book-club women get into a conversation about a story that Daniel >has read, Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain,” and which he’s memorized. His lunch companion can’t believe it: “It would be torture to memorize.” No, he explains: it was a calming task, back during “a period in my life when I was having some difficulty dealing with the passing of time in a traditional sense.” Because Wolff’s story deals “with the bending of time,” memorizing it helped him bend time as well. References like this get at the show’s fearlessness in taking art seriously, not merely as a distraction but as a bridge between strangers, a way of reframing the world. Still, it would be an exercise in solipsism without the larger, more grounded ensemble, particularly Daniel’s opposite number, Ted, Jr., who becomes both his bully and his victim. As played by Clayne Crawford, Ted is a strutting, insecure shit-kicker, a high-school tough kid gone to seed. A salesman at the family car dealership, he’s the yuppie type Lezlie disdains, or, at least, he aspires to be: he and Tawney share a McMansion decorated in pastels. When the bank won’t give him a loan for a sketchy scheme involving leasing auto rims to black customers, he mortgages the house, despite Tawney’s resistance. When things fall apart, he gets scary. In another story, Ted might be a cartoon villain: the abusive husband who, at one point, confesses to something so close to date rape that it’s a distinction without a difference. (Crimes on “Rectify” are like that: violence so ordinary that no one reports itâ€"and, when someone does, the justice system makes it worse.) But the show sees Ted’s side, too. Like Daniel, he is a man humiliated by loss of control, with few coping skills when he’s been abandoned. In “Rectify,” anyone who feels something for others, however painful, must be redeemable. In the final season, Tawney and Ted, Jr., go to therapy, heading toward divorce. Daniel, who has been legally “banished” to Nashville, lives at a halfway house and gets an artist girlfriend. The crime is on the verge of being solved. If “Rectify” has a flaw, it’s one that so many humane shows develop in their final stretchâ€"a Tawney-like desire to save everyone, simply because these are characters we’ve loved for years. In one scene, Amantha, recognizing that an old enemy is helping solve the mystery of Hanna’s murder, asks, “Is there anyone left to hate?” Daniel wryly refers to himself as Humpty-Dumpty, but he’s often more like Kimmy Schmidt: he’s strange not because his capacity for wonder has been shut down but because it’s almost too open. As the finale approaches, it’s not the show’s problem that I’ve found myself wanting some ugly to stay ugly. Perhaps I will seriously need to reconsider my world view. >♦ "

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