that's short for Iron Man in Manila! so, forget this poser - being mentioned in a comic is always the real deal!
in this month's The Invincible Iron Man, a bunch of native(?) Philippine superheroes (and a bunch of civilians) fall victim to a bunch of suicide bombers.
being honored in a public ceremony for heroism during a recent tsunami, this kind of event is something that terrorists are always on the lookout for.
and who are these brave kababayans, hereto known forth as the "Triumph Division"? (although at first read, that tells me they produce lingerie)
let us deconstruct. Red Feather sounds like Red Robin ... or maybe Round Robin! either way, it doesn't sound like a native superhero. same goes for the rest:
St. George? i know he's partly an icon of the Catholic crowd, but really? why not St. Lorenzo?
Mighty Mother? what the-? not to sound sexist, but what does she do? keep spewing out babies? if so, that Duggar woman is a mightier mother.
Anitun? do you mean Anito? is that a spiritual deity or the temporal domicile for times sexy?
Fighter One - looks like a Street Fighter reject. i suspect his origin is tied in the game ...
The Wishing Man? looks like death to me. the death wishing man. in other words, suicidal ...
The Great Mongoose? newsflash - the mongoose is not native to the Philippines. as far as i know. unless you mean the mongoose's cousin whose shit becomes coffee, or Operation Mongoose, but that has really nothing to do with the Philippines.
if that's crazy enough for you, hold on to your underpants.
monks? monks?? i'd accept farmers, ... but monks???
that's it. my respect for writer Matt Fraction has been taken down a notch. i don't see the Philippines being mistaken for Myanmar (or Burma to you old schoolers).
i don't mind using real-life situations as references in comic book situations, but geez ... get the facts straight. or at least in the same zip code as straight. this is why i'm not a writer. i'm too lazy to do research. except of the online type, and when trying to be a wiseass.
ah well, who cares about the character names? they're all plot devices to be d-e-s-t-r-o-y-e-d!!!!!
on a side note, it's nice to see Pepper Potts back as Tony's secretary, rather than leading a ragtag team of officially-sanctioned misfits. i thought the whole concept was intriguing then they went and made Pepper a technologically-enhanced mission coordinator. that was nutty. as a matter of fact, it was you who did that, Mr. Fraction.
Tony ... Tony ... Tony ... you know religion can be used for anything. oh, that's right, that's why we drink (i kid, i kid).
and now a final word on (the late) Anitun (and a cameo by Thor!)
"embodiment of the goddess of wind and rain"? wouldn't that be Ororo Munroe/Storm (a.k.a. Mrs. Black Panther)?
with a requisite cliffhanger which will make Monday's list, this issue is typical of comics mentioning the Philippines, getting me all excited, and then lets me down.
in this month's The Invincible Iron Man, a bunch of native(?) Philippine superheroes (and a bunch of civilians) fall victim to a bunch of suicide bombers.
being honored in a public ceremony for heroism during a recent tsunami, this kind of event is something that terrorists are always on the lookout for.
and who are these brave kababayans, hereto known forth as the "Triumph Division"? (although at first read, that tells me they produce lingerie)
let us deconstruct. Red Feather sounds like Red Robin ... or maybe Round Robin! either way, it doesn't sound like a native superhero. same goes for the rest:
St. George? i know he's partly an icon of the Catholic crowd, but really? why not St. Lorenzo?
Mighty Mother? what the-? not to sound sexist, but what does she do? keep spewing out babies? if so, that Duggar woman is a mightier mother.
Anitun? do you mean Anito? is that a spiritual deity or the temporal domicile for times sexy?
Fighter One - looks like a Street Fighter reject. i suspect his origin is tied in the game ...
The Wishing Man? looks like death to me. the death wishing man. in other words, suicidal ...
The Great Mongoose? newsflash - the mongoose is not native to the Philippines. as far as i know. unless you mean the mongoose's cousin whose shit becomes coffee, or Operation Mongoose, but that has really nothing to do with the Philippines.
if that's crazy enough for you, hold on to your underpants.
monks? monks?? i'd accept farmers, ... but monks???
that's it. my respect for writer Matt Fraction has been taken down a notch. i don't see the Philippines being mistaken for Myanmar (or Burma to you old schoolers).
i don't mind using real-life situations as references in comic book situations, but geez ... get the facts straight. or at least in the same zip code as straight. this is why i'm not a writer. i'm too lazy to do research. except of the online type, and when trying to be a wiseass.
ah well, who cares about the character names? they're all plot devices to be d-e-s-t-r-o-y-e-d!!!!!
on a side note, it's nice to see Pepper Potts back as Tony's secretary, rather than leading a ragtag team of officially-sanctioned misfits. i thought the whole concept was intriguing then they went and made Pepper a technologically-enhanced mission coordinator. that was nutty. as a matter of fact, it was you who did that, Mr. Fraction.
Tony ... Tony ... Tony ... you know religion can be used for anything. oh, that's right, that's why we drink (i kid, i kid).
and now a final word on (the late) Anitun (and a cameo by Thor!)
"embodiment of the goddess of wind and rain"? wouldn't that be Ororo Munroe/Storm (a.k.a. Mrs. Black Panther)?
with a requisite cliffhanger which will make Monday's list, this issue is typical of comics mentioning the Philippines, getting me all excited, and then lets me down.
-----
The Invincible Iron Man #2
"The Five Nightmares Part 2: Murder, Inc."
Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca, Frank D'Armata, Chris Eliopoulos
3 comments:
where the frack are Darna, Capt. Barbell, and Weng Weng?
i gotcha. i inadvertently forgot this line (too much information running thru my head):
i'd settle for Darna, SuperKat, Zuma, Captain Barbell, and Panday ... hell, even Pac-Man should be there!
wait, since they were all gonna die anyway, let's just put in all these annoying showbiz pseudo-celebrities thinly-disguised as 'superheroes', so we can at least rejoice at something.
yep, i shoulda written that.
http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?p=4772643#post4772643
"Why was the Filipino section of Invincible Iron Man #02 poorly researched?
No proper cultural research nor inspired naming was done concerning the team.
The code names Mongoose and St.George were out of place.
Buddhist monks? In a country predominately Christian, in which the majority are Catholics? I took it in stride since it is a grand Marvel tradition to misrepresent foreign countries within the Marvel universe, until a fellow Filipino reader took up each and every point. As a Filipino I was excited to hear that there was going to be an issue with a pinoy team. Only to discover that they were to be instant canon fodder. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the issue somewhat, but the Filipino section was bordering on the insulting."
Fraction's Answer:
SPOILERS, for people that haven't read the issue,and might want to avoid a small spoiler for IIM #4:
Respectfully, I disagree. It wasn't poorly researched; I promise-- but it was written for a predominantly American comics audience, which resulted in me making some choices for ease-of-reading rather than absolute cultural accuracy. I made that call because I felt if I had to explain and contextualize things for every reader, it would've slowed the story to a halt. Were I writing a Filipino team for a Filipino audience it would have been different.
I know Mongoose aren't indiginous to the Philippines, but they ARE there, and had i time and space to talk about the character, I would've and i think it would've made sense (it's a reference to his kung fu fighting style, but how do you casually bring that up at a ceremony like that?). St. George I disagree with-- as a judeo-christian and catholic icon, I think that's an appropropriate name, especially for the religious makeup of the country.
And as I said elsewhere upthread, I'm introducing the team twice-- read the whole story before you condemn me for creating a team just to kill them off.
I know there's been issue with the use of the faux-Buddhist/Krishna-ish monks in the scene, but as the Philippines is mostly Roman-Catholic, I wanted to pick a visual signifier for a religion and a religous group and its practitioners that, in both countries (the US and the Philippines), indicated a signifigantly small minority. To dress the bombers in a way that immediately suggested a devout religious group, and a somewhat.... not necessarily mysterious, but an exotic one. they were SUPPOSED to a startling and rare group of people, which is exactly what they were.
(this issue saw the first real editorial content note I've ever received: in the inital drafts of the script, the monks were children. the bombers were supposed to be nearly a-religious...)
I talked to a couple Pinoy friends, both here and in the Philippines (at one point even toyed with doing the whole scene in Tagalog) about the characters and the scene and felt comfortable with the way it ran. The mongoose was the one issue that came up and it was one that I chose to make (ultimately, it's a name, and just struck me as-- well, a name. Is "Green Lantern" too American a name? Etc. etc.). The rest I'd argue with similar to how I have here on the basis factual or artistic decisions.
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