After 15 years as Infographic Designer and Web Developer, it’s time for me to leave Ringier and the Blick Newsroom behind.
April first, 2024, I will start a new chapter in my professional life as a healthcare Data Manager.
But it wouldn’t be much of a sendoff without some sort of visual representation, would it? That’s why I’ve created this faux comic book cover to commemorate the historic transition.
«The Data Manager»
As it turns out, AI did most of the work. Artificial Intelligence, not AL, that is.
Panel from The Amazing Spider-Man #50, Marvel Comics 1967
My gratitude goes to all my colleagues for sharing countless moments of triumph and struggle, tears and excitement, frustration and joy, insight and challenge, and above all, laughter in my far too many years in the newsroom. I wish you all the best.
Addendum
Probably my last entry on the Blick homepage in my last week: The tried and tested Lottery-Winnings-Calculator:
Who’d have thunk? There is a time after Avengers: Endgame! And it’s a jolly good time!
After all the dust has settled, I must say I’m surprised to see, that even after the ultimative comic-book experience that was Avengers: Endgame, there’s still room for movies of this sort.
Of course, «Spider-Man: Far From Home» plays in a whole different ball-park, even a different league than the superhero-movie that should have ended all superhero-movies (but of course hasn’t).
But that’s a good thing!
Thanos may not have undone 50% of all the life in the universe, but consequently, a reset button has been pushed: It’s as if all the pressure and excitement for «Endgame» has been built up and paid off so handsomely, there’s now room for «smaller» comic book films, not focusing on grandeur, but on storytelling, quality, and most important: fun – well aware that there’s no way to go against the humungous undertaking and experience «Endgame» was.
And I must say, they do an outstanding job at it: «Spider-Man: Far From Home» is one of the best written comic book movies in a while – the way they used a known villain (Jake Gyllenhaal at his best), marketed him as a hero and still got the curve to make the whole story work without seeming dishonest is unparalleled and probably the best thing in an overall very satisfying and entertaining movie that even would have worked without this gimmick.
Even for someone like me, who doesn’t really like the very specific sub-genre of Euro-Trip-Comedies,… it was a bliss to see Spidey, or better Peter Parker, reliving all the stale tropes of the genre put against the background of the aftermath of Tony Stark’s death and the legacy it put upon him, using it as a way to develop his character.
«Spider-Man: Far From Home» is the movie I wouldn’t have had the honesty to ask for after «Endgame».
It’s not the movie a now matured audience wished for, but it’s the movie we deserved after the scarring events in the last two Avengers movies.
Let’s enjoy this refreshing, light-hearted summer-breeze – it will get cold and serious again soon enough with «Joker»…
«Venom» surely isn’t a good movie but I still kinda liked it. It’s not so bad that it’s good but it’s a clumsy, somewhat lovable construction of uninspired storytelling, average visual effects (but pretty production design) and questionable characters saved by only one thing: Tom Hardy in the title roles as Eddie Brock and his alter ego Venom, bromancing the hell out of almost every scene they’re in.
If the rumours are true, a rushed production schedule and a late decision to not make «Venom» rated R might explain this uneven mess of a movie. The end result makes it look as if the creatives decided that if they’re not allowed to do a proper bloody version, let’s make it silly,… like a Buddy Cop movie with a hint of Screwball-Rom-Com sprinkled on top and some superfluous CGI action added for the studio and the uninitiated crowd.
And somehow, that worked for me. Like the «Tom Hardy Show» that was «Bronson» sans a good movie which would only distract and might take the focus off his performance.
I doubt that Sony really knew where they were going with this. But good for them they didn’t try (and fail again) to copy Marvel Studios’ approach and took a different way* – a strange, meandering route without any direction, purpose or destination, but still…
This silly mixed bag helps Tom Hardy’s performance to stand out even more (and somehow makes it even more enjoyable) and presents «Venom» as a strange but funny, rather forgettable, but entertaining stumble of a movie.
*) «Venom’s» mildly amusing second after credit scene – some minutes taken directly from their upcoming animated feature «Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse» – seems to confirm how truly lost they are with their remaining rights to use «Spider-Man», not knowing what the hell to do with them**.
**) At this point, I’ve given up trying to understand which studio has the right to which characters under which circumstances, but I doubt that cramming all the iterations of all the Spider-Men into one movie is the sensible way to go.
Wow, I almost lost my wallet there at the theater! But I wouldn’t have lost the money: The latest cinematic iteration of Spider-Man is well worth its admission price.
It’s got heart, it has humour, it’s got a great cast. And as unbelievable as is sounds, this co-production between Marvel Studios and Sony (who still hold the rights to the movie character, technically, I think) has something the «purer» MCU films had yet to deliver on: A great villain! Michael Keaton is perfect in the role (winged superpersons obviously just seem to be his thing) and his persona «The Vulture» equally satisfies as antagonist as well as a driving storyelement.
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is great, too; but no surprise there. And the suits (as in «the VFX») are fun to explore but interestingly enough not as overwhelming and important as let’s say the «Avengers» movies.
So no, I don’t regret to have worn my Spidey T-Shirt to work today. And yes, in the end, I found my wallet under the seat.
