Yearly Archives: 2011
Madrox Update – A Possible Stay of Execution?
Remember last week when Marvel Comics was teasing the possible death of my favorite comic book character, Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man? Well this week the teaser swings back in the other direction, indicating that Madrox may not be dying after all. He may still be around come the new X-Franchise revamp this winter. Clearly Marvel knows a thing or two about marketing. As a comic book geek, I’m on the edge of my seat.
Behold! The X-Factor teaser cover now has 3 distinct hidden characters!
Click to englarge
Could one of those three silhouettes be Multiple Man? Focus on the silhouette on the left. He’d got Madrox’s style of hair, and he’s clearly got some sort of collar, just like Madrox’s signature trench coat. This greatly increases the odds from last week, when Marvel had yet to reveal Strong Guy and that area was just one big blob of black. Back then, in the long long ago, I surmised that maybe there were two characters hidden in Strong Guy’s shadow. Now that there are 3, that gets my hopes up! Behold last week!
See the difference?
As I wrote last time, Marvel is making a big push for the X-Franchise in 2012, everything from Uncanny X-Men to New Mutants to my personal favorite, X-Factor. The teams are going to get new lineups with a bunch of new drama to deal with. Marvel is teasing this big push by releasing the covers for the upcoming issues, only with all the characters blacked out as silhouettes. Then week-by-week, they’re unveiling which characters are hidden in which silhouettes and will be on which team.
I read comics based primarily on the characters. So this teaser strategy is perfect in determining which X-books I’m going to be reading.
Hopefully next week (or the week after) we may find out once and for all if Madrox is making the cut.
That’s the extent of the news, but if you’re interested in comic book stuff, I think I’m going to break this down a little bit more. So we’ve got three characters, one of which has short hair, one of which has a bit longer hair to the ears and one of which has either big hair or is wearing some kind of a hood. I think this means we have two guys and a girl, or a hood.
Let’s break it down:
Who are we missing? Out of the current X-Factor team, the three missing characters are Madrox, Longshot and Darwin (though he’s on sabbatical). They do not yet appear on this cover. Both Madrox and Longshot have similar hair, and could be either one of those two short-haired male characters. Darwin could be wearing a hood. So perhaps nobody dies in November and the team stays exactly the same with the addition of Havok, that blonde guy in the middle with the blue glowy powers.
Remember the 90s? Back in the mid-90s, there was an X-Factor series very similar to the current series. Both were written by Peter David, both were about a mutant team spun-off from the X-Men and both featured the same characters. In fact, Multiple Man and Strong Guy both became popular in the mid-90s X-Factor. Havok was on that team as well, along with Wolfsbane and a few others.
The 90s were X-Treme!
So with Peter David still writing, and Havok joining the team, we’re clearly looking at some kind of 90s reunion sort of series. Comic book fans love references to old stuff, and the 90s X-Factor was incredibly popular. Heck, love for that series is what gave birth to the current X-Factor after all. So Marvel is definitely banking on that. Which means, why kill Multiple Man? Keep him around for the 90s reunion!
Which leads me to believe that the ‘hooded’ figure is actually 90s member Polaris! She’s the chick up there with the green hair. Polaris and Havok have been out having an adventure in space for the past few years. They’re a couple. So it only stands to reason that Polaris would join Havok in X-Factor, as well as add to the 90s reunion.
So I think Polaris is that hooded or big-haired character.
And I’m going to go out on a limb and say Longshot in the character in the middle, with the hair that goes down to his ears.
Or we might just have some random new character add some new blood to the team!
They could all be Madrox! Remember, Multiple Man’s super-power is that he can make duplicates of himself. Walking, talking, thinking duplicates of himself. And the catalyst for Peter David’s recent revival of Multiple Man was that he sent a bunch of duplicates out into the world to learn different things. Then when the main Madrox reabsorbs them, he gains all that knowledge. Perhaps the main Madrox will still die…but then a bunch of duplicates from around the world will return and join the team. That would account for the different hairstyles and the possible hood.
We shall see! I’ll stay on this story all month if I have to!
The Problem with Exes
When I met you ten years ago, I was in love. You were sweet, sexy, clever, fun and you were always willing to do what I wanted to do. I looked past the long, awkward pauses that we had between loading screens, and just enjoyed what we had.
Then we drifted apart, you and I. It wasn’t you, Deus Ex–It was me. I always loved you, but I experienced all you had to give and I wanted more. Flashier, prettier games were out there, and I was young. Foolish.
You were always so good to me, but I left you for younger, fresher games.
Then, this month, you strolled back into my life. You were sleeker and sexier than before, with slick gameplay and brilliant graphics.
I couldn’t help myself. All of the good memories were still lingering in my mind, and I came running back to you.
For awhile, it was good again, Deus Ex. Our love affair began again, and I had fun. Your story, your gameplay (With an actual melee button!!) were among the best I’ve experienced since the first time I left you. Sure, you didn’t have multiplayer, and your voice-acting was a bit wooden, but you were still the deep, introspective, liberal lover I once knew. Sadly, our second love affair ended almost as soon as it began.
You changed, Deus Ex. We both have, I suppose. You got older, grittier, darker. You were deep, to be sure, but this time you were only a shadow of what you were before. Your old theories about the Illuminati, Majestic Six, aliens in America–they were more or less gone, save for callbacks and references here and there. The Illuminati were still a real thing for you, but they didn’t play any sort of active role in your story. I always liked your conspiracies, Deus Ex. They only added to the depth that made you so wonderful.
I still love you,but I think it’s time for us to move on. This was a quick and dirty romp for old time’s sake, really. Incredible as always, but we’ve grown too far apart. It could never have lasted.
If anyone out there is looking for a great single-player RPG-shooter that forces the player to rely more on tact than sheer firepower–a cyberpunk game with an epic storyline and wicked gameplay, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is available. My rating: 4/5. Not as good as it once was, but definitely good enough for a play.
My Favorite Birthday
On this, my 28th birthday, I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane to recall some of my favorite birthdays of the past. Let me first say that I have a terrible memory, especially when it comes to recalling anecdotes of the past. A lot of stuff has just gone fuzzy. So I’ve utterly forgotten some birthdays. There’s also the fact that birthdays have just never been a big deal for me. I’ve never had huge parties. But there are some fun ones that stick in my memory and I thought I’d share.
My favorite birthday party actually didn’t happen on my birthday. It was a Halloween party that I threw to celebrate my birthday, despite the two days being nearly two months apart.
I rarely had friends over to my house when I was a kid. I think I was embarrassed because my house was always really cluttered with junk. I don’t think my parents are hoarders, and it wasn’t garbage or dirty food or anything like that around the house. We just owned stuff and that stuff tended to get piled around the living room, and there was always a lot of paperwork piled up on our dining room table. We weren’t living in filth, we were just living in stuff. Anyone who has ever been to my parents’ house when it was like that knows what I’m talking about.
Anyway, for special occasions we cleaned the living room. So it was cool to have people over. On this particular year, and I don’t remember what age I was turning, my parents agreed to throw me a Halloween party for my birthday. I had to have been at least older than 10, but maybe not yet in high school. Or maybe I was a freshman in high school. Again, I have no idea. Though it was after Beavis and Butthead Do America came out on home video, since we rented that to watch during the party. That feels really teenagery of me.
Off the top of my head, I can remember inviting Shannon David, Marc Paczkowski, I think Timm Burns, Andy Greathouse, Pat Henderson…all my pals from back then who are Facebook friends now. I don’t think I invited any girls. It wasn’t that kind of party. I’m sure there were some other guys there, but I just can’t remember them right now. My brother was probably there.
What’s so memorable about this birthday is that once my friends started showing up, we all of a sudden decided to go trick-or-treating. We were all too old to go normally, and that hadn’t been part of the birthday plan, but we went anyway. It started with just walking to my next door neighbor’s house to get some free candy. Because everybody likes candy at a party.
Then once all my friends had arrived, we decided as a group to walk my entire neighborhood for more candy! We all grabbed whatever masks my family had lying around the house, some from previous Halloweens and some from toys or whatever. I remember Shannon wearing one of those dark, faceless hoods and therefore he was unable to see anything as we walked because it was the dead of night. I don’t remember what mask I wore. So my friends and I grabbed some bags and just went strolling around the neighborhood getting candy even though we were way too old to be out. We didn’t cause any mischief, but we just had a blast shooting the breeze and getting candy. Then we all came home, ate the giant piles of candy and watched Beavis and Butthead Do America.
When I was a kid, my family and I didn’t trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Instead, my siblings and cousins would go to our grandparents’ house, and then we’d be driven through the countryside visiting people and families our family knew. So that party was also the first time I ever just randomly went door-to-door in my own neighborhood. So basically it was just a really fun night with my friends, with a spontaneous amount of trick-or-treating.
I think the year before that Halloween party was one of the only other times I had friends over to my house for my birthday. This party was on my actual birthday, but it wasn’t a party so much as a chance to have people over and to camp outside. My parents bought me this big tent, which was basically just a big outdoor room with mosquito netting for walls. I had a few people over, I remember Marc, Eli Whitcomb, Andy, Pat, and I think my cousin Tyson. And we just hung out in the tent for most of the night. I distinctly remember us talking about girls for awhile. I also remember the feeling of walking out into the middle of the road in the middle of the night. I’d never done it before, and it felt kind of cool. Eventually we all just went inside the house and slept.
The earliest birthday I can remember was probably kindergarten. Back when you had a party and invited everybody in your class. We held the party at Burger King on Grant Avenue. I remember it because we handed out little plastic lunch boxes as treats, and each box had a little Alvin and the Chipmunks figurine inside. Mine was Theodore dressed to go swimming, with an inner tube, a snorkel and big flippers.
I don’t remember any of my birthday parties in high school.
My birthdays in college were not the epic parties I was probably supposed to have, but they were fun. Since my birthday is clearly at the start of the school year, I remember using my birthday Freshman year as an ice-breaker. I remember buying some pizzas and inviting everybody I’d met so far to just come hang out in the lounge on Brew 5. The next year I was living alone in a different dorm from most of my friends, but I again bought some pizzas and invited all my friends to make the trek out to hang in my new dorm lounge. It was a good chance for people to see each other again early Sophomore year. That party ended with a bunch of us taking the pizzas to another dorm, the one we’d been hanging out in so far that year, and I think we played either Connect Four or Jenga. I have pictures somewhere.
By Junior year I had some new friends and I tagged along with them to some house party. A lot of people might remember that I wasn’t much for parties or drinking back in college, but I went out on occasion. It was a fun but unmemorable night. Senior year I turned 21, and I was rooming in a South Campus apartment with my friend Joe Maguire. If I recall correctly, I invited my old high school friend Heather Partzych over to our apartment for a quiet night. Heather attended college at a neighboring school in Syracuse, so we got together now and again during the four years of college. People might also remember that I don’t drink alcohol. I had my first drink on my 21st birthday with Heather and Joe at our apartment, just some coconut flavored rum that Joe had on hand. They made me a mixed drink. I didn’t like it but drank it for their benefit. I don’t remember what else we did that night. Hopefully something fun. Though definitely a low key celebration.
And I think those are the only birthdays I can remember…
Still, memory lane is a fun place to visit.
6 Unsung Patriotic Superheroes
Everybody knows about Captain America. He’s a living legend! Plus he had that big, fancy movie earlier this Summer. But you don’t come here to Henchman-4-Hire to read what you already know. You’re here for greater depth in your comic book knowledge. So in honor of Labor Day, I decided to write up a quick list of 6 America-themed superheroes that you probably never heard of.
Some successful. Some not.
6. Uncle Sam:
Kicking ass for America!
Yes, the actual and literal Uncle Sam come to life. Starring in DC Comics alongside Superman and Wonder Woman, Uncle Sam was even a supporting character in the Justice League. He’s got a whole host of general super-powers, like super strength, speed, agility and the ability to just plain kick ass. His origin is that the Founding Fathers performed an occult ritual to give the ‘Spirit of America’ a physical form. He served as various guises over the years until finally emerging as Uncle Sam in the late 1800s. Nowadays he’s the leader of the Freedom Fighters, a badass team of super spies and secret agent superheroes working for the U.S. Government.
5. Iron Patriot:
Evil in the name of America!
You’re right, that does look like a cross between Iron Man and Captain America. That’s the point. In reality, it’s the Iron Patriot, the ‘heroic’ guise of Norman Osborn! Remember him from the Spider-Man movie? He was the villainous Green Goblin. Norman Osborn is a crazy man, but he’s also a businessman. And in that capacity, Osborn stayed sane long enough for certain government people to start trusting him. Then he was put in charge of the Thunderbolts, a government team of super-villains being used as heroes.
When he helped repel an alien invasion, Norman was seen as such a hero that the American government put him in charge of H.A.M.M.E.R., a new version of S.H.I.E.L.D. He was America’s top cop, and as such, he formed his own team of Avengers, all of whom were secretly villains posing as heroes. Norman took on the identity of the Iron Patriot, repainting some of Iron Man’s old armors. Stark was on the outs with the government at the time, viewed as a bad guy. For a few months, Norman led the ‘Dark’ Avengers on a few heroic missions. They actually helped people, despite being super-villains in disguise.
In the end, though, Norman bit off more than he could chew by leading his Dark Avengers against Thor and Asgard. He was revealed to be the psycho that he was, and got locked up. Though there are hints that he’s soon to be free and troubling the heroes once again.
4. The Spirit of ’76:
Old timey and fun, I suppose
Now that’s an exciting superhero name! He was created in the 70s as a patriotic hero for Marvel Comics, and his history is that William Naslund wanted to do more for the war effort in World War II. So taking Captain America as an inspiration, Naslund became really athletic and created this costumed identity. He served as a member of The Crusaders alongside a bunch of other random heroes. So basically a poor man’s Captain America serving at around the same time.
When Cap was frozen in the Atlantic (like at the end of his movie), the U.S. Government recruited Naslund to replace him. They gave him a costume and a shield, and Naslund was Cap for a few years before being killed by a robot. Comcis, everybody!
3. Mister America:
Possibly the lamest superhero costume ever
There’s a whole line of superheroes in the DC Universe who go by the name of Mister America. The first one, Tex Thompson, actually debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938, the same comic that was the first appearance of Superman! As the costume implies, he’s just a dude in some patriotic-colored clothes who has a whip that fights crime. Thompson went on to become the Americommando during World War II.
That picture is from the modern day Mr. America in the pages of Justice Society of America. Similar to the Justice League, the Justice Society is made up of heroes that debuted before Superman and Batman in the comics timeline. It’s a little bit complicated, but essentially the heroes in the Justice Society are all old men in their 50s and 60s, whereas Superman, Batman and their generation are all in their 20s or 30s. In Justice Society, these old heroes are training and working with the next generation of heroes, composed of descendants of old heroes.
Thompson’s descendant debuted in the first issue of a recent JSA relaunch, only to die in that same issue. Dumbass. Then his FBI partner Jeffrey Graves took up the costume and whip and has had a much more successful superhero career.
2. Isiah Bradley and Patriot:
The black Captain America
Did you know there was a black Captain America? In a somewhat controversial comic released a few years ago called Truth: Red, White and Black, it was revealed that after Steve Rogers was given the super soldier serum, the U.S. Government tried to recreate it and conducted secret, often-fatal experiments on African-Americans. It treated them like lab rats. Something akin to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
The only survivor of the experiments was Isiah Bradley. He was taken overseas during WWII, and using a stolen Cap costume, he stormed the Nazi’s own attempts to recreate the Super Soldier Program. He successfully defeated the bad guys, but got kidnapped and brought before Hitler himself! Eventually Bradley was saved and returned stateside, only to spend nearly 20 years in federal prison on a court marshal. He eventually got pardoned in the 60s and spent the rest of his life at home, since the experiments had failed to recreate the true Super Soldier Serum and instead left Bradley with a deteriorated mind.
But throughout the years, he became a living legend as the ‘black Captain America’, but that legend only seemed to exist in the black community. He was visited by many important black icons. And eventually, Bradley had a grandson named Eli Bradley.
He's like a tiny Captain America!
Eli is the hero known as The Patriot. He’s a member of the Young Avengers. It was a surprise hit series from a few years ago. The idea was silly (kid Avengers?) but the writer hit it out of the park and the Young Avengers became a popular success! They’ve had a few series, since the writer hasn’t exactly been reliable, and they appear now and again in big Marvel stories. Eli was on a short list of young people that the Avengers were keeping track of, and the young version of Iron Man got ahold of the list and put a team together to fight Kang the Conqueror, a time traveling super-villain.
Eli led the team to victory, though it was later revealed that he didn’t have any super powers. He was actually using a recreational drug that gave people super powers. When his friends found out, they turned their backs on him until he cleaned up. Later, Eli was injured and had to get a blood transfusion from his grandfather Isiah Bradley. The super-powered blood from grandpa finally gave Eli powers for real.
1. U.S. Agent:
100% American Badass!
The man who would be Captain America! Picture the Captain America you know, now imagine him as far more conservative, badass and something of an arrogant jackass. That’s John Walker! He’s a second-rate Captain America, copying him in powers, costume and shield. But he’s stuck around for years, and has served as both an Avenger and a member of Alpha Flight. He’s a legitimate hero, not just some chump joke. Whereas Steve Rogers is more heroic, good-natured and inspirational, John Walker is just a hard-nosed, brutal ass-kicker. I’m a big fan.
Walker debuted in the 80s as a soldier who, after he was discharged, decided to get some super powers. There’s a villain out there called the Power Broker, and he gave Walker super strength, speed and agility. Powers similar to Captain America. Walker became the Super-Patriot to pay off the Power Broker, and then went around challenging Captain America while also doing good for the country. Eventually, Steve Rogers stepped down as Cap because the government wanted to turn him into something of a lapdog. Cap wasn’t about to be used, even by the U.S. Government, so he resigned. The government then scooped up Walker to be the new Captain America. Much like The Spirit of ’76 once served as a fill-in Cap. But then Rogers eventually came back, and Walker switched to being the U.S. Agent.
Eat hot patriotism, motha'fuckers!
He continued to serve the U.S. government, and eventually joined both the Avengers and the West Coast Avengers, who were based on the west coast. Yep. He made a few costume changes now and again, jumping in with different teams and organizations, but most recently he returned to his more well-known red, white and black Cap knock-off costume. He was a member of the good guy Avengers again when Norman Osborn led his assault against Thor and Asgard. During the fight, Walker got his arm and legged ripped off. Most people would retire when that happened.
But not John Walker! He just went ahead and got a robotic arm and leg and became the warden of a super-villain prison!
That's just a flesh wound!
Honorable mentions: There are a ton of random American superheroes. I chose some of the main ones from Marvel and DC comics, and that’s not a full list. There’s still Battlestar, Liberty Belle, Major Victory, S.T.R.I.P.E., American Dream, American Eagle; plus heroes from other comic companies like The Shield, Captain Flag, Yankee Girl, American Maid and many more!
The Underpants Gnomes Strike Again!
I wrote before about Superman losing his red underpants in both the new DC reboot and the movie. Basically, I’m not worried. He’ll look the same to me without the little red underpants. They may be icon for superheroes, but mostly so that people can crack easy jokes about the silliness of superheroes. I can’t stand those easy little jokes. Like, “Robin is gay”. Her da der der der!
Not funny anymore. Please be a little creative in your mocking.
Still, I thought I’d update my last post about the Superman costume. I posted some awesome Avengers pictures earlier, so this time check out this new, close-up shot of the Superman movie costume!
Is that some Kryptonite in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
I’m still liking this new costume. It looks a little weird with all the odd accents and lines, but I understand what they’re going for with this. It’s like I said in the Avengers costume post from earlier today. People want realism in their superhero costumes. People want to see zippers and stuff. It lets them know that the costumes are real, that the characters are real and actually had to get dressed rather than just magically appearing in their costumes.
One of my favorite small scenes in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is when Aragorn is getting dressed in the middle of Two Towers, preparing to defend Helm’s Deep. You see him put on every layer of his outfit, from the chainmail to the green tunic we’ve seen him wearing so far. It made his outfit a real thing to me. It showed that this hero is wrapped up in armor and a carefully chosen outfit. The finished product becomes greater and more powerful because of it.
So I’m happy with weird little lines and armor bits on Superman’s costume. Anything to make it seem more real, instead of the spandex gaudiness of the original Superman movies. Not that those movies were bad, but modern audiences want something else.
Farewell, underpants.
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