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Post by berkley on Sept 5, 2021 19:21:19 GMT -5
If villain is an influential billionaire; then villain spends a significant portion of their time being debriefed on how their fortune is faring while engaged in hand-to-hand combat with subordinates employed for just that reason. I was reminded of this one when re-reading a bit of Funeral for a Friend (follow-up to 1992's Death of Superman) and saw Lex Luthor of all people sparing against his karate instructor, Sasha Green. Admittedly, the cheesiness of the idea is sort of Dan Jurgen's style and it makes sense for someone such as The Kingpin who might have to fight Daredevil at a moment's notice, but the idea that these businessmen villains seem to have a step-by-step life goal of: 1. Acquire wealth, 2. Gain respectability, 3. Acquire power, 4. Learn taekwondo is, well, pretty amusing actually. Oh, and along similar lines, is "Obese guy is actually in peak physical condition/all muscle" an overused trope or is it just something which feels like it given the number of times it's been brought up when The Kingpin makes an appearance? It's been used for The Penguin on at least two occasions I can recall (one of which utilized the cliched montage of 'Penguin lifting weights, Penguin doing karate, shirtless Penguin showing off pecs and bulging bi-ceps') but I can't honestly cite more characters who have had this idea applied to them off the top of my head. I don't even think it's implausible : there are lots of people who can be in top shape without having the stereotypical cut physique with 0% body fat and every muscle showing. It all depends on their body type - and in sports, whether they have to cut weight to make a weight class.
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Post by chadwilliam on Sept 5, 2021 20:37:36 GMT -5
If villain is an influential billionaire; then villain spends a significant portion of their time being debriefed on how their fortune is faring while engaged in hand-to-hand combat with subordinates employed for just that reason. I was reminded of this one when re-reading a bit of Funeral for a Friend (follow-up to 1992's Death of Superman) and saw Lex Luthor of all people sparing against his karate instructor, Sasha Green. Admittedly, the cheesiness of the idea is sort of Dan Jurgen's style and it makes sense for someone such as The Kingpin who might have to fight Daredevil at a moment's notice, but the idea that these businessmen villains seem to have a step-by-step life goal of: 1. Acquire wealth, 2. Gain respectability, 3. Acquire power, 4. Learn taekwondo is, well, pretty amusing actually. Oh, and along similar lines, is "Obese guy is actually in peak physical condition/all muscle" an overused trope or is it just something which feels like it given the number of times it's been brought up when The Kingpin makes an appearance? It's been used for The Penguin on at least two occasions I can recall (one of which utilized the cliched montage of 'Penguin lifting weights, Penguin doing karate, shirtless Penguin showing off pecs and bulging bi-ceps') but I can't honestly cite more characters who have had this idea applied to them off the top of my head. I don't even think it's implausible : there are lots of people who can be in top shape without having the stereotypical cut physique with 0% body fat and every muscle showing. It all depends on their body type - and in sports, whether they have to cut weight to make a weight class.
It's not that someone like The Kingpin can't be "in top shape", it's just that the arguments writers use to make this claim tend to be a bit silly. The Kingpin works out and has more muscle than fat makes sense, but when writers claim things like he has less body fat than Bruce Lee and moves just as fast, it feels as if they're trying to compensate for something which doesn't need to be compensated for. "Oh no! I have to write a Kingpin story! But The Kingpin isn't built like Schwarzenegger! Readers are going to find him ridiculous! I know! I'll have him tell us over and over again how he's all muscle while fighting ten ninjas at once!" It would be like having an artist draw beads of sweat on his brow while fighting Daredevil and the editor feeling an need to jump in there with "EDITOR'S NOTE: The sweat on Kingpin's forehead is actually particles of muscle"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 6, 2021 0:26:50 GMT -5
I just came across another one.
“The reading of the will.” To the extent this was ever a thing it hasn’t been in at least a century. There’s some evidence that, in an age when a significant number of people were illiterate that wills were sometimes read aloud. But no state has had such a requirement (if they ever did) in the lifetime of anyone reading this. It’s a bunch of false drama dramatic hooey.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 6, 2021 0:28:20 GMT -5
I’ve known a number of offensive lineman who are both super big and still darn fast.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 6, 2021 3:56:57 GMT -5
How can something so big--move so fast?? Heh. I always wondered if the writers who used this cliche ever saw a boulder rolling down a hill, or footage of an avalanche.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 6, 2021 4:15:13 GMT -5
I just came across another one. “The reading of the will.” To the extent this was ever a thing it hasn’t been in at least a century. There’s some evidence that, in an age when a significant number of people were illiterate that wills were sometimes read aloud. But no state has had such a requirement (if they ever did) in the lifetime of anyone reading this. It’s a bunch of false drama dramatic hooey. I confess I used such a scene in a short story (though at lest it was set in 1946).
Cei-U! I summon the mea culpa!
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Post by Icctrombone on Sept 6, 2021 6:40:38 GMT -5
I just came across another one. “The reading of the will.” To the extent this was ever a thing it hasn’t been in at least a century. There’s some evidence that, in an age when a significant number of people were illiterate that wills were sometimes read aloud. But no state has had such a requirement (if they ever did) in the lifetime of anyone reading this. It’s a bunch of false drama dramatic hooey. You have to admit, that trope has started off many interesting murder mysteries.
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 6, 2021 8:22:09 GMT -5
I just came across another one. “The reading of the will.” To the extent this was ever a thing it hasn’t been in at least a century. There’s some evidence that, in an age when a significant number of people were illiterate that wills were sometimes read aloud. But no state has had such a requirement (if they ever did) in the lifetime of anyone reading this. It’s a bunch of false drama dramatic hooey. Actually, open reading of last wills still happen (with a lawyer) when there is a contested matter (such as changed beneficiaries, etc.). I have personally been involved in two, and it can be a very, very heated situation.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 6, 2021 8:28:36 GMT -5
I just came across another one. “The reading of the will.” To the extent this was ever a thing it hasn’t been in at least a century. There’s some evidence that, in an age when a significant number of people were illiterate that wills were sometimes read aloud. But no state has had such a requirement (if they ever did) in the lifetime of anyone reading this. It’s a bunch of false drama dramatic hooey. Actually, open reading of last wills still happen (with a lawyer) when there is a contested matter (such as changed beneficiaries, etc.). I have personally been involved in two, and it can be a very, very heated situation. The lawyer was padding his time-sheet or the executor requested it because they thought it was supposed to happen. There is no requirement for one in any state and in twenty-two years of practice I’ve never heard of one outside media representations.
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 6, 2021 17:25:20 GMT -5
"To my family, I leave... NOTHING. I'd like to leave LESS than nothing, but, this fool lawyer of mine, he can't figure out any way to do that!"
--WKRP IN CINCINNATI
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Post by chadwilliam on Sept 6, 2021 19:39:33 GMT -5
You know what astounds me? Eight pages in and no one has mentioned...
Dead hero/villain returns to life.
Actually, is it possible that this is no longer being done these days? I remember Marvel going as far as announcing that from here on out, (this would have been about ten years ago, I think) a major hero would die every quarter. Although I haven't read anything new by Marvel or DC in a long time, I do occasionally hear of some new gimmick going on, but 'So and So will die!' doesn't seem to be one of them anymore. Am I just totally out of the loop or have Marvel and DC honestly run out of characters to kill and bring back?
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Post by tartanphantom on Sept 6, 2021 20:48:03 GMT -5
You know what astounds me? Eight pages in and no one has mentioned... Dead hero/villain returns to life. Actually, is it possible that this is no longer being done these days? I remember Marvel going as far as announcing that from here on out, (this would have been about ten years ago, I think) a major hero would die every quarter. Although I haven't read anything new by Marvel or DC in a long time, I do occasionally hear of some new gimmick going on, but 'So and So will die!' doesn't seem to be one of them anymore. Am I just totally out of the loop or have Marvel and DC honestly run out of characters to kill and bring back?
With the rise of the ret-con as a general purpose cop-out from good, imaginative writing, killing off a character is pretty pointless these days... why kill anyone when you can simply write them out via gender- and race-swapping? With a lot of the DC/Marvel books today, it's not about the characters anyway... it's about ham-fisted writer self-inserts of their fee-fees and corporate numbers padding via excessive variant covers. Subtlety is completely lost on these hacks. Gee, can you tell that I far and away prefer independent titles these days?
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 6, 2021 21:06:24 GMT -5
You know what astounds me? Eight pages in and no one has mentioned... Dead hero/villain returns to life. I've never supported the return of dead characters--particularly those with a death that was historic and defined either the character, or title he or she was involved with. So, that means I was not a fan of digging up Bucky, Norman Osborn, Tara Markov (even as a reanimated corpse), and just about any other significant character who had a legitimate death.
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Post by kirby101 on Sept 6, 2021 21:35:19 GMT -5
We used to say there's dead and there's Bucky dead. And then... I hesitate to say Uncle Ben dead now, or did they bring him back too?
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Post by impulse on Sept 7, 2021 7:32:14 GMT -5
I was skeptical of the Bucky coming back story, but in fairness, it really was excellent. They handled it very well.
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