New York IV: The cost of doing business.

 

 Starlord: galaxy.  The Avengers: Earth. Spider-Man:  NYC.  And then there's Daredevil, micromanaging the shit out of 10 blocks in midtown Manhattan.

Hell's Kitchen in New York isn't what is used to be.  Two waves of gentrification since the 70s have considerably changed the face of what used to be a haven for crime - ironically, including the introduction of critically recognized dining options.

But that's all different in Daredevil's world.  There, Hell's Kitchen is a disadvantaged neighbourhood desperately in need of his protection from a cabal of organized crime groups, led by Wilson Fisk, the villainous Kingpin  - at least until Daredevil fights him to a standstill and turns him over to the police.

Watching all of that take place in the Daredevil Netflix™ series, I was startled by the graphic nature of the damage suffered by Matt Murdock, the man behind Daredevil's various masks.  For a long time, crimefighting in the Marvel universe was a relatively bloodless prospect,  at least until Wolverine and his adamantium claws entered the scene in the 1975 as one of the new X-Men. When artist Frank Miller also took over the writing for the Daredevil comic book in 1979, he raised the ante in terms of bloodshed.

However, four-colour comic-book violence can only be so realistic - the Netflix™ version much more plausibly presents the consequences of going toe-to-toe with supervillains and their minions on a regular basis.  After all, Daredevil's only powers are his enhanced senses:  to misquote Shakespeare, if you cut him, he bleeds.

Oh, and if you watch a few episodes and find it too be a little too much?  Then I strongly recommend you stay away from the upcoming Punisher series - Frank Castle makes Daredevil look like Hello Kitty by comparison.

- Sid

New York III: Interzone

 

Program a map to display frequency of data exchange, every thousand megabytes a single pixel on a very large screen.  Manhattan and Atlanta burn solid white.  Then they start to pulse, the rate of traffic threatening to overload your simulation.  Your map is about to go nova.  Cool it down.  Up your scale. Each pixel a million megabytes.  At a hundred million megabytes per second, you begin to make out certain blocks in midtown Manhattan...

William Gibson, Neuromancer

- Sid

New York II: Where is Samuel L Jackson when you need him?

Good afternoon, and hello from New York on an unseasonably warm October day.

It would be impossible to list all the science fiction or fantasy stories that are set here.  They occupy the full range from King Kong's appearance on Broadway through the first Godzilla reboot to Cloverfield, and from Doc Savage and The Shadow up to Snake Plissken's Escape From New York to the Avengers.

"I had a date."

"Me too - except mine is taking the picture."

One of my favourites is Steve Roger's awakening at Shield Headquarters, where he realizes that he's being lied to and breaks out of confinement, only to discover himself in a far more disturbing environment than a fake hospital room.  It's a poignant scene - odd how none of the Captain America movies have what you could call a happy ending.

 

By the way, if you've ever wondered, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York City address is 219 West 47th Street, just down the street from the Barrymore Theatre. 

But don't go looking for their name on the list of tenants - we asked about it today and their security people had NO sense of humour.

- Sid