6A — Monday, April 1, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Ranking Marvel: Part one

JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
Daily Arts Writer

FILM NOTEBOOK

NETFLIX

With “Endgame” just a month 
away, it’s time to look back at 
the most successful cinematic 
experiment of our time — the 
Marvel Cinematic Universe — from 
its billion dollar cinematic heights 
to its most minor TV outings, to see 
how well they tell their stories with 
the means available to them.
44. “Marvel’s Iron Fist”: Season 
1 (2017)
Before its release, “Iron Fist” 
was staring down a whitewashing 
controversy 
and 
the 
weight 
of having to build up to “The 
Defenders,” and it blinked. Hard. 
The characters, with the notable 
exception of Jessica Henwick’s 
Colleen 
Wing, 
are 
largely 
unlikeable and saddled with boring 
storylines, and the fight scenes that 
should have been the lifeblood of 
the series are perhaps the most 
incompetent in the entire MCU. 
Come for the mystical kung-fu, stay 
for the endless board meetings.
43. 
“Marvel’s 
Inhumans”: 
Season 1 (2017)
The first and only season of 
“Inhumans” is the very definition of 
“cheap,” which is doubly surprising 
when you remember that this was 
originally announced as a Phase 
Three film to be released between 
“Infinity War” and “Endgame.” 
Someone at Marvel must have 
realized what a stinker they had 
on their hands, so they slashed the 
budget and exiled it to ABC. This is 
a show that stars alien superheroes 
from the Moon and decides to send 
them to Hawaii for a fish out of 
water story. The only thing worse 
than the writing are the visuals, the 
ugliest in the MCU.
42. 
“Marvel’s 
Runaways”: 
Season 2 (2018)
After a full first season in which 
the titular Runaways never actually 
ran 
away, 
the 
superpowered 
teenagers at the center of the show 
finally escape their evil parents 
and proceed to do nothing but 
argue, keep secrets and argue about 
keeping secrets for an insufferable 
slog of a sophomore season. Other 
shows usually need a full twenty-
plus episode season to reach this 
level 
of 
directionless 
tedium. 
Season two of “Runaways” does it 

in thirteen.
41. “Marvel’s The Punisher”: 
Season 2 (2019)
The second season of “The 
Punisher” has thirteen episodes 
and enough plot to fill half of that. 
The opening salvo is resolutely 
solid with brutal action and another 
wounded performance from Jon 
Bernthal, but the interesting story 
it sets up about far-right extremists 
is quickly abandoned for a return 
to New York City and a protracted 
and predictable game of cat-and-
amnesiac-mouse between Frank 
and Billy Russo.
40. “Iron Man 2” (2010)
The worst film in the MCU is 
one of its earliest, a movie that uses 
most of its runtime to put the pieces 
in place for the rest of the universe 
while 
neglecting 
to 
actually 
develop a story of its own. At any 
given moment there are something 
like three storylines all vying for 
attention, and most of them end in 
anticlimax. Remember Whiplash? 
Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer? 
Tony’s dad leaving him the plans 
for a new element in the layout for 
his off-brand world’s fair? Good, 
because Marvel doesn’t want you 
to.
39. “Marvel’s Runaways”: Season 
1 (2017)
This show is called “Runaways.” 
It is composed of 10 episodes. It 
takes until the final moments of 
the first season for the characters 
to actually run away. At about 
fifty minutes per episode and 
ten episodes per season, that’s 
499 minutes “Runaways” spends 
spinning its wheels when it could be 
using its outstanding cast to adapt 
one of Marvel’s most inventive 
comics. The first few episodes are 
interesting, but after that, it loses 
steam with almost breathtaking 
speed.
38. “Thor: The Dark World” 
(2013)
There’s an argument to be 
made that “The Dark World” is a 
worse movie than “Iron Man 2,” 
but “The Dark World” at least has 
a single central story. So there’s 
that. Otherwise, this is a lot of 
what people who hate the MCU 
hate about the MCU. The villain 
is paper thin, the action is flat and 
the excellent cast is wasted in the 
movie’s desperation to get more 
banter between Thor and Loki.

37. “The Incredible Hulk” (2008)
“The Incredible Hulk” is the 
redheaded stepchild of the MCU, 
not because it’s the worst movie, 
but 
because 
everyone 
forgets 
about it until Wikipedia reminds 
them of its existence. Edward 
Norton famously butted heads 
with director Louis Leterrier on 
set and would eventually hijack the 
movie to create his own cut, and 
the friction between director and 
star shows in the complete lack of 
humanity in a story that’s supposed 
to be about one man’s struggle to 
retain his humanity.
36. “Marvel’s Agent Carter”: 
Season 2 (2016)
If “Agent Carter” were a Netflix 
show and able to more fully lean 
into its postwar noir trappings, 
it might be something special. 
Instead, it’s another ABC show 
with a ludicrously great star and a 
shiny coat of paint to cover up the 
fact that it’s more of the same sorts 
of stories. Peggy Carter deserves 
better than playing second fiddle to 
“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
35. “Marvel’s Iron Fist”: Season 
2 (2018)
The second season of “Iron Fist” 
is such a dramatic improvement 
on the first that you might 
mistake it for good at first glance. 
Unfortunately, while the pacing is 
better and some of the characters 
are more palatable, others are 
introduced to at least partially 
counteract that, including Alice 
Eve’s Typhoid Mary, who you know 
is evil because she has dissociative 
identity disorder.
34. “Marvel’s Jessica Jones”: 
Season 2 (2018)
So much of the second season 
of “Jessica Jones” is good — Jess’s 
headway in confronting her trauma 
and her relationship with her 
mother are emotional high points 
brought home by Krysten Ritter’s 
winning performance — but the 
rest of the season is an unfocused 
mess of forced drama that follows 
one of the MCU’s high points with 
one of its nadirs.
The journey continues next 
week with some of the MCU’s more 
minor successes. The franchise’s 
first forays into TV are revealed 
and a handful of pleasant if 
forgettable movies show why the 
Marvel formula works even when 
it stumbles.

For those of who may not 
know, Billie Eilish is a teen pop 
icon, but not your typical 17-year-
old pop star. She was 13 when 
she recorded her first viral hit 
“Ocean Eyes” with her brother 
at home. Over the last year, her 
anonymity has evaded her, with 
her Instagram nearing 16 million 
followers and her music gaining 
wider recognition, appearing on 
late night shows and 
movie 
soundtracks. 
At 17 with a billion 
streams, she’s found 
her 
way 
to 
the 
mainstream with the 
release of her debut 
album WHEN WE 
ALL FALL ASLEEP, 
WHERE DO WE GO?.
Eilish 
reaches 
fame at a point where 
teen pop is losing the 
strange, problematic 
sex appeal that’s been associated 
with it since “... Baby One 
More Time.” Given the very 
independent and digital nature of 
her rise, it only makes sense — her 
appeal was never attached to any 
sense of sexiness. She never had 
to adhere to any sort of archetype 
the way stars like Miley Cyrus 
had to. Eilish’s appeal presents 
itself in a sense of realness, how 
much her words feel like those 
of a 17-year-old. She’ll look you 
dead in the eye with a resting 
bitch face in Instagram photos 
and (at least pretend she) won’t 
give a shit if you don’t like her. 
She has approached her celebrity 
differently 
from 
artists 
like 
Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd and 
Odd Future who built their own 
multifaceted universe for fans 
to delve into and obsess over 
through 
merchandise, 
social 
media and song references. Given 
the context, the album is imbued 
in all the teen angst you’d expect 
from a 17-year-old. But don’t 
think that leaves Eilish’s work 
void of any artistic merit.

The music streams by like 
a static, ambient sheet that 
crinkles abruptly. At points, 
there’s 
an 
instrumental 
sameness, one sound carrying a 
song nearly all the way through. 
This isn’t to say the song lacks 
variety, but that there’s a large 
dependency on syncopation. It’s 
a hazy, subtle sound composed 
of sparse 808’s, a vaguely trappy 
beat or twinkly percussion and a 
muffled, mumbly voice. But the 
beat switch-ups are prominent 
and 
unexpected, 
occurring 

sometimes in the middle of a 
song (think more Swimming by 
Mac Miller, less “Sicko Mode”). 
Namely, there’s the latest single 
“bad guy” that quickly turns 
from the playful, blithe sneering 
of a former partner to a dark, 
investment in his loneliness 
expressed in the lyrics as well 
as the beat. There are also 
surprisingly tactful splashes of 
jazz that blend into some of the 
songs to elevate the playful, more 
friendly demeanor behind this 
otherwise solemn and evocative 
album.
The album has its moments 
of playful gusto. It starts with 
introduction “!!!!!!!,” featuring 
slurping noises followed by Eilish 
exclaiming, “I have taken out my 
invisalign!” We are reassured 
that this is indeed a serious 
album by the time we reach the 
second track, though glimmers 
of goofiness shine throughout the 
first half of the project, “all the 
good girls go to hell” ending with 
Eilish humming out the last few 
beats in the song and yelling out, 

“I cannot do this snowflake!” in a 
mocking voice. An undercurrent 
of anxiety and trepidation creeps 
around the content. “xanny” 
mocks the party anthem but 
ponders the possibility of drug 
use and overdose, asking “what is 
it about them?” Similarly, “all the 
good girls go to hell” is sly in its 
exploration of menace but zones 
in on real world issues like sea 
levels rising and forests burning 
in California.
The second half takes a more 
despondent turn. The tempo is 
noticeably 
slower, 
somber almost ballad 
like at some points. 
Here, 
Eilish 
takes 
on 
more 
personal 
topics, 
the 
music 
bleak, sparse, almost 
detached but emotive 
in lyricism. The fears 
expressed in the first 
half 
are 
revisited 
here, amplified and 
put into perspective. 
“listen before i go” 
is a standout track, a quivering, 
sheer beat echoing in the back 
along with vague sirens and 
chattering following the opening 
line, “Take me to the rooftop.” 
She croons, “Call my friends and 
tell them that I love them / And 
I’ll miss them, but I’m not sorry,” 
helplessly. “ilomilo” is another 
highlight, formerly teased in the 
“bury a friend” music video with 
its danceable intro that slowly 
dwindles to a gloomy, shivering 
percussion.
Despite 
the 
shifts 
and 
nontraditional risks WHEN WE 
ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO 
WE GO? takes, it proves a strong 
debut from Billie Eilish that 
appeals beyond the artist’s brand. 
It operates as a progression 
towards a dispirited end, but 
with elegance and nuance, tying 
the whole craft into one cohesive 
masterpiece. Despite her age and 
the angsty hype surrounding 
Eillish’s celebrity, her first album 
proves that she is a force to be 
reckoned with in the music 
world.

‘When We Fall Asleep’ is a
nuanced debut from Eilish

ALBUM REVIEW

DIANA YASSIN
Daily Arts Writer

“What I’m Listening To” is a new series by The Daily’s Music beat 
in which our staff writers share what they’re playing on repeat with 
readers. It’s a place for writers to plug in, turn up and let the world 
know what truly rocks. 
This week, Blowout Comb by Digable Planets has been bringing 
my consciousness into a higher plane. I’m only being a little 
dramatic when I say you don’t listen to Blowout Comb — you 
experience it.
A diverse range of groovy samples were chopped and 
spliced with lush and lovely live instrumentation to produce a 
groundbreaking jazz-rap record in Blowout Comb. The rap trio 
moved to Brooklyn in the early ’90s with the express purpose 
of joining the hip-hop renaissance; group leader Butterfly 
affectionately called New York “a Mecca for rappers.” And join 
the renaissance they did, crafting a cool, surreal sound that few 
other artists were even dabbling in.
Blowout Comb slipped under the radar when it released in 1994. 
Understandably so — many consider ’94 to be rap’s greatest year 
of all time. Three of hip hop’s most iconic debut albums dropped: 
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik by Outkast, Ready to Die by The 
Notorious B.I.G. and Illmatic by Nas. Common, Scarface, Method 
Man, Beastie Boys, Pete Rock & CL Smooth and Gang Starr all 
came out with classics in the same year. Amid all the competition, 
Digable Planets came out with an iconic signature sound. Blowout 
Comb is a marriage of jazz and hip hop that has proven to be a 
match made in heaven.
I can gush about the jazzy sonics for hours on end, but what 
truly makes this album important is its lyrical themes: it is both 
supremely empowering of the Black community and sincerely 
conscious of the realities they face. Right from the beginning on 

“The May 4th Movement,” following a grandiose trumpet intro, 
Doodlebug and Ladybug reference Illmatic (Nas’s masterpiece 
narrative of drug violence in the Queensbridge projects) and give 
a shout-out to notorious Black Power movement prisoners Mumia 
Abu-Jamal and Sekou Odinga. Including the title, a reference to 
student anti-imperialist protests in China in 1919, there are layers 
of political meaning to pick apart right from the beginning.
Today in hip hop there’s a constant debate about accessibility 
versus substance. On one hand, not everybody always wants 
to absorb some mega-conscious music with layers of lyrical 
complexity. But on the other hand, maybe relaxing to substanceless 
lo-fi beats or partying to the tune of “Gucci Gang” is depleting brain 
cells. Both ends of the argument are holier-than-thou bullshit, but 
for those who play into it that want a little bit of both, there are 
truckloads of music at hand. For a contemporary example, take 
Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. Almost every track on 
the album can be a) blasted from the car while you scream out 
the window, or b) listened to closely to see a poignant cultural 
message about poverty and gang culture. Likewise, almost every 
track on Blowout Comb can a) soothe your soul as you enter the 5th 
dimension, or b) reveal serious tension and contemplation in the 
Black community.
For years, rap critics and music journalists have chosen 
“overtly political” as their favorite buzzword-phrase to describe 
this album, but I think that’s less-than-fitting. The three subtle 
emcees are clearly sending a message, but simultaneously they 
smoothly slide slick stories and meta raps about drug-doing, 
party-having, Brooklyn-living and hip hop-loving. “Overtly 
political” makes it sound like you’re getting slammed with the 
group’s Black nationalist rhetoric and 5-percenter slang, but at 
the end of the day you can get whatever the fuck you want out of 
this album.
This week, I’m listening to Blowout Comb. I think next week 
I’ll re-read “The Autobiography of Malcom X.” It’s the natural 
progression of things.

Listening to Digable Planets, relax

MUSIC: WHAT I’M LISTENING TO

DYLAN YONO
Daily Arts Writer

INTERSCOPE RECORDS

WHEN WE FALL 
ASLEEP, WHERE 
DO WE GO?

Billie Eilish

Interscope Records

