A theme as old as time in fiction is the idea that the deceased tend to be mythologized. That those greats in our history, our memory, if brought down or returned to earth and fully realized would in fact be just as human as the rest of us: flawed and susceptible to failure. That you should never meet your heroes as your expectations will always be too high.
This comic in a way, and I'm not sure was intentional (though I doubt that too as the theme has been consistently touched on and returned to) subverts that idea. It depicts that sometimes the Hero of legend can have been as great as they were made out to be; that sometimes, if given a second chance, that Hero can be both impossibly human and still succeed that pedestal they had been placed on- and, even further, ascend it.
It's a fun idea, and I like how the author here had written the MC and his story. It would have been too easy to make such a character a mary sue, gary sue, or paragon of good and righteous that fell into an obnoxious caricature.
I have a lot more thoughts on this that are hard to express, but I wanted to share how much I appreciate this comic and its character writing. I truly enjoy overpowered MC, and for all that this story is not exceptionally unique or complicated, it's a refreshing read.
Anyway, can't wait until next week to see the continuation of the MC crushing the rival team's hopes and self esteem.
It doesn't quite capture the visuals I had imagined for the scenes when reading the novel, but I do quite like this anyway.
Especially how quick-paced it is (I was worried there would be a long time before we reached William!). Though, I feel like that may actually be what's causing the biggest stand out difference to me. In the novel, you can really feel the weight of Jun's growing popularity, but here, some of the scenes have been joined together and cut short. And in that process, I feel that some of the depth the side characters had has also been lost in the adaptation. The Director of The Shadowman movie had a much greater impression in his introduction; whereas here, he feels more like an afterthought(?).
But well, with any transition, there will be sacrifices made. For all my critiques, I am quite enjoying this. I can't wait to see more of Jun's acting scenes come to life!
I love Theo so much. And omg, I LOVE how the MC is in the midst of a pastoral fantasy; meanwhile, side character talking cat is living an action fantasy thriller. With a tragic (lol) origin story about failed love, the current journey to succeed from being an underdog, the discovery of their paragon mentor (MC), and now the unwittingly being embroiled in a large conspiracy with a Fox Cop on his tail. Hilarious. (ノ≧∇≦)ノ
This escalated so quickly