Category Archives: Comics
The Boys Begins Today!
We live in a world where Garth Ennis’ The Boys has a live action TV show. And it arrives on the Amazon Prime TV service today! I have such newfound respect for Seth Rogen, who I already loved, who uses his fame and wealth to turn awesome comics into hopefully awesome TV shows!
The Boys was a really good comic, even great at times. I’m excited to see it translated to television. I enjoy Preacher and my hopes are high for The Boys. It’s just a shame it took this long to get made, and Simon Pegg couldn’t play Wee Hughie.
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Behold the New X-Men, Just Like the Old X-Men
The Jonathan Hickman reboot of the X-Men is upon us, with the new line-up of X-Books announced at Comic-Con this past weekend. I’m rather disappointed. I have high hopes for the “Hickboot” and the Powers of X and House of X comics that are going to kick things off, starting this week.
But the reveal of the comics that come after is exactly like every other reveal of new X-Men comics in recent years. I call it the X-Men Assembly Line. It’s where every new relaunch of X-Men comics involves taking a random roster of mutant characters and putting them on random X-based teams.
I guess I was hoping for something new and different this time around. Most of the characters aren’t even getting new costumes.
X-Men
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Synopsis: The X-Men find themselves in a whole new world of possibility…and things have never been better! Jonathan Hickman and superstar artist Leinil Yu reveal the saga of Cyclops and his hand-picked squad of mutant powerhouses!
New Mutants
Writers: Jonathan Hickman and Ed Brisson
Artist: Rod Reis
Synopsis: The classic New Mutants (Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Karma, Magik, and Cypher) get together with a few new friends (Chamber, Mondo) to seek out their missing member and share the good news… a mission that takes them into space alongside the Starjammers!
Excalibur
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Marcus To
Synopsis: Mutantkind has always been special…as has their relationship with the world—or WORLDS—around them. As this new era dawns, a new connection forms between mutants and the magic of the world… and that of Otherworld! Can the new Captain Britain forge a new way through the chaos with her companions Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Rictor…and Apocalypse?!?
Marauders
Writer: Jerry Duggan
Artist: Matteo Lolli
Synopsis: Even in this glorious new dawn, Mutantkind faces hardships and oppression from their human counterparts. Led by Captain Kate Pryde and funded by Emma Frost and the Hellfire Trading Company, Marauders Storm, Pyro, Bishop and Iceman sail the seas of the world to protect those hated and feared!
Fallen Angels
Writer: Bryan Edward Hill
Artist: Szymon Kudranski
Synopsis: Psylocke finds herself in this new world of Mutantkind unsure of her place in it…but when a face from her past returns only to be killed, she seeks help from others who feel similar to get vengeance. Cable and X-23 join Kwannon for a personal mission that could jeopardize all Mutantkind!
X-Force
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Synopsis: X-Force is the CIA of the mutant world—one half intelligence branch, one half special ops. Beast, Jean Grey and Sage on one side, Wolverine, Kid Omega and Domino on the other. In a perfect world, there would be no need for an X-Force. We’re not there… yet.
So my general thoughts are that all of these might be fine. I’m going to give them all a try, because I am hope springs eternal for good X-Men comics. But again, it looks like just a random assortment of mutants tossed onto a random assortment of teams, exactly like every X-Men relaunch of the past decade.
I’m also disappointed that there’s no sign of Leah Williams or the Blob — though we do get Pyro, so my brother should be happy. No word yet if it’s original Pyro or new Pyro.
One good thing we do know about the Hickboot is that all of the various mutants killed in the latest Uncanny X-Men relaunch are coming back to life. We don’t know how, or if it will even be addressed. I hope Hickman doesn’t even bother to explain it and they’re all just alive again.
We’ve been promised that both Multiple Man and Strong Guy will show up in the Hickboot, so hopefully their deaths will indeed be undone. And unless someone says otherwise, I’m going to head canon Multiple Man’s resurrection into that of actual Multiple Man, and not the fake Madrox dupe that was a part of the recent Uncanny X-Men stuff.
What do you all think of this X-Men comic lineup? Any comics you’re particularly interested in? Let me know in the comments!
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/20/19
Happy San Diego Comic-Con Week! Once again, I am not at the big event. Someday I’ll get out there. But for now, I’m sitting home and reading comics — of which there weren’t many, at least not on my reading pile.
Still, I got to read a big, exciting issue of Batman, kicking off the City of Bane. And Matt Fraction has returned to mainstream comics with Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen! That’s a hoot! Comic Book of the Week goes to the final issue of Unstoppable Wasp, which is delightful and a good send-off.
Okay, tiny girl is big now. She’s big now.
Meanwhile, another horrible mini-era of the X-Men has come to an end and I’m glad. I didn’t read Age of X-Man so it’s not really fair to criticize it, but I’m pretty sure it’s widely regarded as inconsequential. And the much ballyhooed Uncanny X-Men relaunch turned into hot garbage pretty quickly. So many characters were ruthlessly murdered, and for what? I don’t even have the energy to do an entire blog post on the fact that they killed Fake Madrox offscreen in this week’s issue. Just ugh. Bring on the Hickboot!
Comic Reviews: Batman #75, Jimmy Olsen #1 and Unstoppable Wasp #10.
Blob Does Not Get Much of an Age of X-Man Send-Off
I didn’t really read Age of X-Man. That’s on me. I’m in no real position to judge it. But I have been closely following the journey of the Blob through the X-Tremists comic, because he’s one of my favorite mutants and he had a pretty incredible story. For the first time in probably decades, if not ever, Blob was given more to do than just be a fat joke and a bully. All credit to writer Leah Williams for that.
But in the final issue, as the Age of X-Man wraps up, Blob doesn’t get much closure to his story.
Speak for yourself, Psylocke
That’s it. That’s the one panel Blob gets. He and Psylocke, his love interest in this story, face the unknown future of returning to the real world, where he’s an asshole villain and she’s a heroic X-Woman.
What’s to become of them? How does the Blob go forward? How does Psylocke go forward? Does this amazing bit of Blob character work only get to exist as a whisper, a short, singular story that doesn’t matter in the long run?
I don’t have answers to any of those questions, because the X-Men as a whole are getting a major relaunch/revamp next week with the big Jonathan Hickman takeover. I’m actually all in favor of whatever Hickman has in store. I wrote two years ago that I wanted the X-Men to get a big slate-clearing relaunch. X-Men comics had become too complicated, and a clean break/new beginning is just what they need.
Of course, it makes sense when you think about my luck with getting what I want from the X-Men. I get to have my big, linewide relaunch…but before Marvel does it, they’re going to give me the sweetest of treats with this Blob storyline, then leave it dangling, never to be finished or explored further.
Yeah, that makes sense. I’m just cursed.
But yeah, maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps the Blob will somehow get a story going forward. With Strong Guy currently dead, maybe I’ll start a Blob Watch…
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The 6 Characters on My Guardians of the Galaxy
It’s that time of year again: San Diego Comic-Con! It’s the biggest pop culture event of the year…and someday I’ll get to go. Personally, I don’t like large crowds, and it would be super expensive, so I haven’t gone yet. But someday I hope to go as a vendor to sell Gamer Girl & Vixen comics. But until then, I’ll continue one of my favorite traditions of the year: fan-casting a superhero roster!
This year we’re going to do the Guardians of the Galaxy!
The current team
I’ve played this game for several years now, fan-casting the likes of the Avengers, Justice League, Fantastic Four, Teen Titans, Sinister Six, X-Men, X-Force, Defenders and the Exiles! A guy can dream!
The Guardians of the Galaxy are a ragtag band of space heroes dedicated to doing good and saving the day in outer space. They’re far more popular in the movies than they are in the comics, but they recently had a comic-based roster shakeup that inspired this list. Obviously the easy answer to this game would be to just use the movie roster for the comic team…but where’s the fun in that?
Join me after the jump for the six spacey heroes I’d have on my Guardians of the Galaxy comic book team! And feel free to share your own fan-casting ideas in the comments!
Henchman-4-Hire 