Category Archives: Avengers

Cool Unused Iron Man Scene

Back when they were making The Avengers, there were apparently some other plans that didn’t make it to the screen. For example, here’s a neat animatic for an alternate Iron Man intro.

This would have been a cool scene in the movie, but what they went with was good too. You can check out a few more of these animatics here, including one with a brief glimpse of the Wasp, because she was in early scripts.

Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/24/13

For the first time in a very long time, DC Comics owns the week! The New 52 comics have been in a downward spiral for me for a long time. But this week, they score a one-two punch of success. For awhile now, I’ve been worried that comics just don’t reach me anymore, that everything is just generic superhero filler, that nobody is trying anymore. But between Batman and Nightwing #23 and Wonder Woman #23, DC shows me twice in one week that somebody still cares. Characters still matter.

There are a lot of good comics this week. Superior Spider-Man puts Phil Urich front and center, so you know I’m happy about that. Avengers and Justice League Dark continue their respective crossovers, though neither one is particularly special. And by popular request, I decided to pick up the latest issue of Thunderbolts to give that another try. Not too shabby. But the week belongs to DC. Wonder Woman easily snatches up another Comic Book of the Week.

Did we know she could go Super Saiyan?

Though Batman and Nightwing (or as it should have been called, Batman and Alfred), isn’t far behind.

Comic Reviews: Avengers #18, Batman and Nightwing #23, Batwoman #23, Justice League Dark #23, Superior Spider-Man #16, Superman Unchained #3, Thunderbolts #14, and Wonder Woman #23.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/17/13

This was a big week for comics. Positively huge! And I’m not just talking about my pull list, which was equally as massive. I mean we’ve got the first issue of Infinity, Marvel’s next Big Event comic. We all know that Age of Ultron stank like rotting socks. So might Jonathan Hickman save the day with a big space and Thanos-themed event? Maybe! But what about the Superior Spider-Man side of things? There’s a two-part Superior Team-Up/Scarlet Spider crossover that’s a real treat. That’s big news.

Not only that, but we’ve got the end of the first big storyline in Thor: God of Thunder, as well as the start of a new storyline in Fearless Defenders. Yep, I decided to pick up Fearless Defenders again! And all of these are just the comics I decided to review this week. There were a ton of good issues I had to leave off due to time and space.

There were a lot of good comics this week, though mostly average to good, I’m afraid. I still think I’m suffering from some kind of comic book burnout. Nothing has really captured my attention in a long while. Everything just seems generally good. Oh well. Maybe it’s just something I ate.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Infinity #1. It wasn’t the best comic I read this week, but it pulls off a successful first issue for a Big Event. Of course, that’s what I said about the first part of Trinity War, and we all know how that’s turning out…

I love the cat Skrull

Comic Reviews: Astro City #3, Fearless Defenders #8, Infinity #1, Justice League of American #7, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #2, Scarlet Spider #20, Thor: God of Thunder #11 and Wolverine and the X-Men #34.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/10/13

Brace yourselves, Phil Urich fans, because the proverbial poop has hit the fan. I can’t be the only Phil fan on the Internet, right? Surely some of you must have read the glorious mid-90s Green Goblin series? Right? Please? Either way, I read it, and this is my blog, so strap in for the start of what will no doubt be a bumpy, two-issue ride. Will Dan Slott kill off one of my favorite characters of all time? Or will Phil Urich somehow do something incredibly amazing that reaffirms my love of all things comic books?

We’ll have to wait and see. This week’s Superior Spider-Man is only Part 1.

And I think that Part 1 deserves Comic Book of the Week, even though it’s up against some stiff competition. The second issue of Superior Foes of Spider-Man is just as good, if not better, than the first, and also features a surprise appearance of one of my other all-time favorite comic book characters. Likewise, we get solid stories from All-New X-Men and Green Lantern. I also decided to try out J. Michael Straciznski’s new series Sidekick, from Image. It’s an alright start, and I’m going to try to keep it in rotation to see where it goes. Even if it represents one of the things I hate most about comic books.

But nothing else this week holds a candle to Boomerang’s imaginary fight with his annoying lawyer.

Lawyers, amiright?

Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #15, Avengers #17, Green Lantern #23, Sidekick #1, Superior Foes of Spider-Man #2, and Superior Spider-Man #15.

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My Top 6 Greatest Comic Books of All Time

I love comic books because, deep down, I wish I was a hero with incredible powers. I wish I could fly around the world. I wish I was more powerful than a speeding locomotive. I wish I could turn invisible and mess with people on the street. I love reading comic books because they are a uniquely perfect way to tell a story, combining prose and pictures into one fun-to-read package. And comics have a creative freedom unmatched by almost any other medium. Movies and TV shows are hampered by budgets, technology, running time and so much more. With comics, the heroes can travel all around the world or into space without awkward green screens of fake-looking CGI. The visual imagination of comics is hampered only by the strain on an artist’s wrist. Comics can do anything, go anywhere and be anyone.

Though they’re mostly about men dressing up in animal costumes

I’ve had a draft of this List of Six waiting in my queue for more than a year now. I’ve been picking at it, rearranging it, deciding what should go where, but I’m dying to share this list with you. I’m always talking about comics, so what are the best comic book stories/series I have ever read? Keep in mind: this is my personal list. This isn’t just the best comic books of all time. This list isn’t going to have Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns on it. I’ve read those comics, and I like those comics, but they aren’t among the best comics I have ever read. No sir. And that probably has a lot to do with my comic book upbringing.

When I was a kid, I read everything from my dad’s comic collection that he left lying around, which were mostly a small smattering of Marvel superhero comics from the 60s. I didn’t get into comics on my own until the mid-90s, when my brother and I started with Spider-Man in the middle of the Clone Saga…which explains why he and I both love the Clone Saga…and my undying love of Phil Urich. We eventually moved on to the X-Men, but it wasn’t until Batman: Hush and Infinite Crisis that I finally started reading DC Comics on a regular basis.  Because of this timeline, I wasn’t around in the 80s for Watchmen to blow my mind. I wasn’t around in the 60s for Spider-Man and Superman to define my world. In fact, almost everything on this list comes from the past 20 years or so, when I really got into comics.

Here are my personal Top 6 Greatest Comic Books of All Time. I would recommend any of these to anyone, comic fans or not.

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