In honor of Kobe "Bean" Bryant

Everything is still surreal. I am still in shock! Kobe Bean Bryant, 41 years of age, too young and still have a lot of things to accomplish, died on a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna "Gigi" Bryant on the morning of January 26, 2020. I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that Kobe had already left us. Though I am not that big of a fan of Kobe, but I truly respected and admired the man who he came to be, and the career that he had in the NBA. At first, I didn't really like Kobe. For me he was a showboat and often times I sided with Shaquille O' Neal in their feud. This could probably be rooted by the fact that I was a huge Michael Jordan fan, and I was that kind of fan who will always protect his legacy and standing in the NBA as the Greatest Of All Time. I don't know why I'm so affected by his death. I followed Jordan mostly during his second three peat championship run as I was too young to understand basketball in his first three peat championship run. But I was a witness to Kobe's NBA Journey. Kobe, made me insecure of Jordan's accomplishments. He was someone who was a pale imitation of Jordan. Here was a young kid who became a three time champion, riding and eventually overcoming the coattails of Shaq, pushing Shaq away and trying to take ownership of the team that Shaq was carrying to multiple championships. When Kobe was embroiled in that "controversial" sexual assault case, I began to further despise the kid. I laughed when his Lakers team languished in the standing and kept on losing. I said then, this Kid will probably be stucked with three championships and forever be attached to the greatness of Shaq who again delivered Miami's first Championship. That consecutive unsuccessful seasons probably lit something in Kobe. And the Black Mamba was born.

For me, to achieve greatness, one must experience great failure. Jordan's multiple playoff losses to the Detroit Pistons was what made his legend grew. The obstacle that he had to overcome to achieve greatness, the Pistons provided it. Those losses made him work harder. And when his hard work paid off, he became invincible. That Invincibility gave him Six championships in eight years. I probably misunderstood Kobe's move to push Shaq away from the Lakers. But as the Kid matured, and as he began to explain the " Mamba Mentality", I began to understood what it meant to be Kobe Bryant. Kobe, could've chosen to rode on the coattails of Shaq and probably won 3 more championships to equal Jordan. But for him, this was the comfort zone that he needed to break. Mamba Mentality is about going out of your "comfort" zone and challenge yourself. He needed to break away from Shaq, either Shaq leaves, or he leaves, he made Dr. Jerry Buss (Lakers owner) choose between them. He wanted that challenge, he embraced that challenge. Mamba Mentality is about pushing yourself to the limits. When he went solo and tried to will the Lakers to another championship, he pushed himself to the breaking point. Pushed his teammates to the breaking point. And the hard work eventually paid off when he won another two championships with the right team behind him. I rooted for Kobe to get those championships because after the fall (and multiple unsuccessful seasons), he began to truly deserve it. When he tore his achilles heel, he defiantly strode to the free throw line and shoot his free throws, perhaps as his personal answer that this injury will not reduce him to being carried off the court. With the Mamba Mentality, he was too proud to be defeated. And even down to the very last game of his NBA career, he went with guns ablazing, scoring 60 points and willed his Lakers team to win a meaningless game (they were already out of the playoffs contention). This was Kobe in a nutshell. Defiant down to the very end, a killer who will take down every challenge along his way.

Most superstars leave the game broke, grasping for the life that comes after basketball, but not Kobe. In fact, his academy award winning animated short Dear Basketball is one achievement that no other athlete has probably done. This plus a multitude of Business ventures that would amount to hundreds of millions of dollars proves that Kobe is not a one trick pony. Mamba Mentality was not limited to the Basketball court. Mamba Mentality has become a way of life for Kobe. And this is something that his fans should remember about Kobe more than anything. In the same way that the philosophy of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do is being espoused by his students and his fans, I believe Mamba Mentality is one that is worth most preserving in the whole breadth of Kobe's legacy to his multitudes of fans. If one considers himself a Kobe fan, then I guess the only way to honor Kobe is by embracing his Mamba Mentality. I hope his wife Vanessa could preserve this, if not one of his fans could make Mamba Mentality a movement, a way of life for the generations to come. Kobe can be larger than life itself, and he can even conquer Death itself if we can help realize the Mamba Mentality as a movement even more than basketball. 

I grieve of the man now not because of his Basketball prowess. I grieve of the man now because this man is now a Father. A Father who has totally devoted his retirement to his family. The relentless Kobe that we saw on the basketball court, is the same relentless Kobe that we saw around his family. Jordan maybe a basketball god, but Kobe beats him as a family man. I find it such a waste that for Kobe, family life began after his retirement. For the whole of his career, he had devoted his life to Basketball, calling it his Muse, not wasting a single second to achieve and give to the sport that he loves so much. He knows that he couldn't go on forever on the court, and his retirement has bought him precious time to be with his family, to be a dotting hands on Dad to his kids. He gave his most precious time to his family, even exclaiming in one of his interviews that he couldn't even watch Lakers game nowadays because he was too busy catching up with precious family time that he sacrificed for the most of his career. In fact he devotes his time to Gigi, the daughter that he was with on that fateful helicopter ride. His daughter that seems to be following the footsteps of his dad. Oh he was so proud of Gigi. And I could not imagine the scenario and the feeling Kobe had on that fateful day. I just couldn't. 

If in Basketball parlance Jordan was the Basketball god, Kobe was us, plain mortal beings who pushed himself to the limits to achieve the higher plane above other mortals, short of being a god, but ultimately up there but very relatable. Kobe wasn't gifted the NBA. He had to work for it. Thru Mamba Mentality he was able achieve his wildest dreams in his NBA career. I still mourn today for the loss of a great man. Hopefully despite not being a superfan of his, I could honor him by adopting the Mamba Mentality. Rest in Peace Kobe, Mamba Out!   

Crisis on Infinite Earths Review

So the mother lode of all Television Crossovers has finally come to pass. And what a treat for DC and ARROWVERSE fans, to finally get to see all of their beloved live (and animated?) action DC Universe TV (and Movies?) superheroes together in a Five hour epic on the small screen worthy for a big screen release.  While I have to admit that I never really faithfully followed all of the Arrowverse TV series, I never missed any of the annual crossover events since Invasion. And CRISIS on Infinite Earths is definitely one that I wouldn’t miss. CRISIS on Infinite Earths (COIE) was the ARROWVERSE’s producers’ attempt to adapt a highly successful Comic Book mega event that totally reshaped the world of DC Comics for the Modern Age of comics. And I could say it was indeed a very ambitious attempt to do that given that the producers will have to work around on a limited budget that is fit for the small screen. But despite what limited budget that they have, I could fairly say that their attempt was not bad at all. In fact, it totally exceeded my expectations for a TV crossover event. Though I wouldn’t exactly say it was perfect (because I feel as a Superman fan, Brandon Routh’s Superman was underused), but it was pretty damned near perfect especially when that cameo in episode four happened. So I will be breaking down my thoughts below on a per episode basis, and will cap it off with my final thoughts as a Superman fan.

Episode 1: Supergirl

The first episode of the crossover packed so many Easter Eggs as the producers quickly caught the attention of longtime DC Superheroes TV and movie fans by referencing multiple Earths destroyed by the Anti-Matter wave as inhabited by the 1989 Michael Keaton Batman, the campy Batman and Robin Earth of Adam West and Burt Ward, the Earth of the recently released Titans TV series, the Earth X of the Nazi Supergirl the Arrowverse crossover from two years ago, plus the Earth of Supergirl (which is a different Earth from that of Arrow and the Flash). And since this is a Supergirl episode, we get to have Superman and Lois plus their baby having prominent roles in this episode. Lois even had to team up with Canary and Brainiac to visit an alternate future where the Green Arrow operated by his lonesome. This episode established the heroes’ futile attempt to save Supergirl’s Earth, and at the cost of the Green Arrow’s life. For me, Episode 1 felt like your traditional annual Arrowverse crossover but packed in one Episode. It was an epic moment to see the Superheroes making their last stand on Supergirl’s Earth. The episode succeeded in making us fans ask for more as we are treated to an opening bang of an episode filled with great action and character moments. The Death of Green Arrow in just the first episode of the crossover was shocking.

Episode 2: Batwoman

The funny thing about episode two is that while this is a Batwoman episode, Superman was being prominently featured in this episode. I actually thought that Brandon Routh’s Kingdom Come Superman and Tom Welling’s Smallville would be featured in the Supergirl episode, but both of these come backing Supermen were the highlight of this episode. Even the scene stealing Kevin Conroy (the voice of the Batman animated series) as a depressed, hopeless, and a dark take of Bruce Wayne could not totally shift the focus of this episode in favor of the Batman family because Conroy’s Batman eventually became the villain in the decades old Batman v.s. Superman debate by killing his Earth’s Superman. The epic Superman v.s. Superman showdown of Tyler Hoechlin and Brandon Routh’s Supermen is probably the best sequence in this entire crossover for Superman fans like me. And if you are a longtime Smallville fan, then the poignant Tom Welling’s depowered Clark Kent smacking an annoying Lex Luthor of Supergirl’s Earth with a single depowered punch should serve as a very satisfying ending to a version of Superman who for all his existence yearned to be just being normal. And that Brandon Routh Clark Kent and Brandon Routh Ray Palmer meeting? That was just so priceless. The episode also revealed to us four of the Paragons, namely, Supergirl the Paragon of Hope, Superman the Paragon of Truth, White Canary the Paragon of Destiny, and Batwoman (in lieu of Batman) the Paragon of Courage, who shall serve as the best chance in stopping the Anti-Monitor’s plan to erase all of existence. And oh, the Anti-Monitor is finally shown in all its full glory when he revealed himself to Harbinger. I personally pick Episode 2 as the best of all the episodes, and it is quite obvious why. The only thing that’s keeping me from giving it a perfect score is the absence of Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. They would have been the perfect choice for that Earth-75 Newsflash where Lex manages to kill that Earth’s Superman, and recreating a panel from the comic book where Lois is crying over a dead Superman.   

Episode 3: The Flash

Too much awesome scenes in the previous two episodes that I easily forgot Oliver Queen A.K.A The Green Arrow. Amidst all of those universe shattering, Oliver Queen is resurrected via the Lazarus Pit, this time with an appearance of Jonah Hex as the Pit’s watchman. Though the body is resurrected, Queen’s soul was nowhere to be found. Constantine, Mia, and Diggle seeks the help of Lucifer in trying to find a way to regain Queen’s soul. Which, they could possibly find in the purgatory.  But this is a Flash episode so naturally this is going to give focus on the Flash. This episode finally wrapped up the adventures of the 90’s TV series Flash of John Wesley Shipp in a short but sweet moment. Like in the comic books, a Flash would die in this CRISIS, and it was long been prophesied since the first episode of The Arrowverse Flash that he would die in a CRISIS. But the 90’s Flash took his place, sacrificing his life to destroy the cosmic treadmill that was powering the Anti-Matter cannon. This episode also formally brought Black Lightning to the Arrowverse when his Earth was destroyed by the Anti-Matter wave. We are also treated to a short inspiring speech by Brandon Routh’s Superman, though the adventures done by him and the other heroes happened off-screen. The opening scene of this Episode also brought back the short lived 2000s Birds of Prey T.V. series as headlined by Ashley Scott as the Huntress, as one of the Earths destroyed. The final three Paragons are also revealed in this episode namely, Martian Manhunter as the Paragon of Honor, Ryan Choi as the Paragon of Humanity, and The Flash as the Paragon of Love. When Pariah transported the seven Paragons to the Vanishing Point amidst the destruction of their Earth and the entire heroes with it, I was giddy and excited that Brandon Routh’s Superman would be a part of the Seven Paragons who would make the last stand against the Anti-Monitor. But alas, not all good things would last as the treacherous Lex Luthor erases Superman from existence and put himself in place by putting his name on the book of destiny. I was left disappointed as the Christmas Holiday break came. I was hoping Routh’s Superman would have a bigger role to play in this crossover. But I was still hoping he’d come back by the fourth and fifth episode come New Year 2020.

Episode 4: Arrow

The long holiday break kind of slowed down the hype of this crossover and slowly lost its luster. The cliffhanger for Episode 3 provided a very intriguing ending, and Episode four finally told the tale of Mar Novu, The Monitor, and how the Anti-Monitor came to existence. If it took us almost a month to wait for the next episode to come, the heroes’ even took a longer month to be stranded in the vanishing point. The fates would somehow change however when Oliver Queen met Jim Corrigan in the Purgatory. Corrigan, the former vessel of the spiritual being the Spectre, transfers his powers to Oliver Queen, transforming him to become the new Spectre. Oliver with his new powers saves the superheroes from the Vanishing Point, setting up the final showdown with the Monitor at the dawn of time. I think the Episode was saved by the surprise appearance of the DCEU’s Flash. Ezra Miller’s top secret appearance proved to be the highlight of this whole crossover as the TV Universe finally found a way to interact with Zack Snyder’s DCEU movie universe. I didn’t quite enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed Episode 2 and 3. Maybe it’s because Brandon Routh’s Superman never came back to reclaim his place as the Paragon of Truth.  And also, being just a T.V. series, of course it is too much to ask for an Epic final battle that could rival a big screen Superhero movie. But for its standard as a T.V. series episode, the quality of the final battle is still epic in its own way considering the monetary budget concerns.

Episode 5: DC Legends of Tomorrow

So while the heroes won their battle in the dawn of time, it cost them the life of Oliver Queen. The sacrifice of Oliver Queen’s life to restore what is left of the universe showed us the merging of the Arrowverse worlds. Supergirl, The Flash, DC Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning, and Batwoman now shares the same universe. And though the heroes thought that their fight is over, the Anti-Monitor struck again to make his final stand. But the united heroes of Earth Prime were just too strong for the Anti-Monitor to beat. And the aftermath of the battle would birth the Arrowverse’s version of the Justice League (or is it the Superfriends?) in honor of The Green Arrow. Superman, Supergirl, Flash, White Canary, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Martian Manhunter, and Black Lightning is Arrowverse’s big seven. And as a final gift to the DC Comics Live Action Universe fans, we are given a glimpse of the old and new worlds that lived and restored by Oliver’s Death. Namely, the upcoming adventures of Earth 2 Stargirl and the Justice Society of America, Earth 12 the Green Lantern Universe, Earth 19 from the short lived Swamp Thing series, Earth 9 Titans which was restored after being wiped out by the Anti-Matter wave in Episode 1, Earth 21 from the surprisingly successful Doom Patrol TV series, and Earth 96 Brandon Routh Superman which paid homage to the Christopher Reeve movies by reenacting its flying on the Earth’s orbit scene. This particular scene means that Routh’s Superman has finally found his happy ending, with his S Shield restored to its traditional colors in lieu of the Red Black Kingdom Come S Shield. The Reeve/Routh Superman has finally bowed out from the audiences. A fitting scene that reminds us of the Superman movie of both actors.

Final Thoughts:

Overall I think the COIE crossover was a success. It was truly a great fan service to all the fans who love the various DC Universe iterations in both live action and animated form. As a Superman fan, I found the Superman scenes very good, too good in fact to leave me wanting for more. Of course Dean Cain’s appearance would have made everything perfect, but it is not that huge of an issue for me. Also in the midst of the crossover, it was announced that CW has given a go signal for Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman to have his own TV series. This is not a good sign for Henry Cavill fans as this probably means that we won’t be getting any Superman in the big screen. Will Hoechlin’s version do? Well I would have preferred if they instead gave the show to Brandon Routh’s version of Superman. After all, Routh has not been renewed as the Atom in the DC Legends of Tomorrow series. And with the kind of ending his Superman was given in the crossover, for sure there definitely are more stories to tell. But then again I guess one has to move on from a certain iteration of the character if indeed as a fan we want these characters to expand and be more relevant to the times. If I can’t move on from the Brandon/Chris Reeve Superman, then I’m no different from those who didn’t like Henry Cavill’s take on the Man of Steel. But will Hoechlin do? His Superman had always taken a backseat to Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl because it is Supergirl’s show. Now that he has been given his own series, will Hoechlin step up to the plate? Only time will tell.