MEDIA CONSIDERED
By Alex Ness
February 10, 2026
COMICS TO SHARE WITH KIDS OF EVERY AGE
I am relatively often asked if there are kid friendly comics, due to the fact that in the legacy eras of comics, they were the target audience. More than previously, comics are perceived by the medium as being different per book, rather than an entire medium being one age group centered. There are both comics aimed at kids, and individual issues that do the same. As animation is aimed at kids during kids blocks of time on various networks, and broadcast channels, the use of heroes and characters found in comics. But it is not the tail wagging the dog, with animation driving comics, it is a case of the present being different than the past. Art Balthazar, Paul Dini, Matt Feazell and Erik Larsen are people I think of, of the people in comics I know of, who seem the most direct connection with said comics for kids. Dini is well known for his animated works, and comic works, for general audiences and beyond. Ant Boy of Matt Feazell makes adults laugh due to the irony of it and kids because it seems silly fun. Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon is usually mature but in that he celebrates fun adventures of a different type, reasonably often. Art Balthazar's Gman made a room full of adults laugh loudly for 10 minutes when his hero dropped a brain in front of a lawn mower. It is fun to be light hearted and free and easy. Seriousness is more rewarding in terms of audience and money. But childhood is a wonder to return to now and then.
FILMS WATCHED: M. Night Shyamalan SPOILER NOTICE...
Addressing plot and film endings, concepts dealt with.
Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady Water, Happening
Because I read a bunch of hateful reviews of M. Night Shyamalan, I chose, when my son was away for a week, to find out if my viewer's mind and heart felt differently. It did but, I am not like most of the other reviewers. Many reviewers are taught in the medium of film what is important, what is necessary, and what elements will reward, and other elements if absent will result in a skewed result. I am simply a fan. I don't deny I have different areas that are related to present reward and absence.
The Sixth Sense was a story which demonstrated how a gimmick can be expertly used. A character turns out to be dead, and he's been speaking to a dead guy, aka, a ghost. It is a shock, but not one that is false and a cheat.
Unbreakable features one major character from the previous film, and he is made to have super powers, and survives an unsurvivable event. He denies being super powered, but in a way, his powers are related to the origins of his own super villain.
Signs is about the fear of new, or unknown communications. It features a series of messages from space, but are they a hoax or are they real? And when aliens come to earth, they are eventually defeated. It is by a plot turn that is unexpected, and perhaps due to the aliens being sensitive or vulnerable to an illogical event.
The Village is about a deeply repressed village, where outsiders are not welcome. Except, while it looks like 1500 AD Massachusetts/New England and populated by the Pilgrims... but it is isn't that. It was a village built 30 years earlier, and is a modern response to grief. That it is such a reveal was not unexpected, but was unconvincing. It was a case of the reveal being less powerful and more relying upon the director's ability to dictate than naturally occurring.
Lady in the Water features an apartment complex swimming pool, the surroundings, and an out of place water nymph, who seeks to go back to her world. The entire film is about such, but also, how there are beings who try to prevent her from reaching her home. It is personal, beautiful, but asks if we all aren't living in our own narrative, with others preventing our escape.
Lastly, the movie Happening is a disaster film, similar to B movies of the 50s, only instead of aliens, space wars, or with human caused disasters, pandemics, mass suicides, and worse. Humans in the lens view are meant to use dialogue that informs the viewer, rather than speak in ways that sound real. The events are introduced and dealt with in a less than "sincere" fashion.
The works as a collective have numerous traits... they are well made, they are perfectly acted, and if not taken as a continuum they would probably receive better grades from others. For me, having no real entry due to my limits on time to invest in movies, I had always avoided these because I don't want to spoil the ideas in a clip without eating the whole. The world too often shares spoilers.
Having now done the whole viewing, I can say that I liked most of the movies, and if I hadn't known that the director/writer/producer M. Night Shyamalan was famous for shock endings, or twisted revelations, I would likely have thought in and of themselves, it was a wow moment. Only in the shadow of the other reviewers ideas and comments do I see how things worked to every movies favor or otherwise. I can say this, I think there were two movies that stood out as having an ending that didn't work as well as others. Signs and the Village were works that asked questions but gave only ok answers. Still, I liked the Village. I liked Signs a good deal less.
As a viewer I became more aware of the things to look for that would let me know what to be ready to experience. And, I should say, I think Shyamalan is a great director. He just happens to be producing his art in an atmosphere of Twitter/IMDB and numerous other immediate response media. His work is not one that is in public when the movie comes out, and then slowly a mass outlook forms. It has made a great deal of money for most of the studios, and surely, you cannot compare his work with B movie directors or people who use big names and special effects to get traffic. In his own way, he utilized his time to make movies with big budgets, with a goal to tell his stories. It isn't really the case that he is hated. His works might receive extreme reactions, but I think, in its own way, that isn't a problem.
ONE GREAT BOOK AND A GAME SYSTEM TO ROLE PLAY WILL DEEPEN IT
CACHALOT
BLUE PLANET
Cachalot by Alan Dean Foster is gloriously good. It speaks of an ocean planet, with sparse humans there only to solve issues and keep thieves and whalers from returning to the practice of whaling. This is a planet humans reserved for the ocean mammals who were nearly made extinct. But something has been destroying sites assigned to measure, and maintain the setting.
Blue Planet came out from Fantasy Flight Games creating a system to role play in the ocean realms. It is a fantasy sci fi work, but, out of all the RPGs, I think it does a better job making playable the unique world. The campaign how to books and unique setting gives many points of entry in the information about mechanics and flavor. Will everyone like it? Most things have fans and non fans, so everyone won't. But it is their loss. When GURPS was allowed to interpret the setting the game system became far better. At least, I'd argue, it was now recognizable as GURPS systems have been applied to a great many worlds/settings, and situations.
It is well known that our surface area upon the planet is nearly fully explored, if not completely so. But our oceans represent a vastly unexplored world. If not a different planet, this setting might be our own planet, if it had not been otherwise stated.
MUSIC
Ambient, Beautiful music.
HOYO MORIYA
LINK TO A POEM I RECENTLY POSTED
My
entire life had questions, and sorrow, answers and hope. This poem is
about my father's redeeming and ending of his life. He chose to help my
wife and I recover from two Ectopic pregnancies and paid for our medical
search to find a way to have children. We did have our child, but my
dad passed before the chance to meet him. That is, my wife's happiness,
my personal redemption, would not have happened, without his choice.
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