Category Archives: Comics
Jubilee’s Long, National Vampire Nightmare is Over!
Once upon a time, back when Twilight’s popularity was already waning, Marvel Comics had the stupid idea to revitalize their own vampire characters. They turned characters like Dracula into modern hunks, tried to come up with all new vampire lore, acted like these vampires were going to be a big deal in the Marvel Universe going forward, and basically made fools of themselves. Then they roped the X-Men into this madness.
I”m sorry for making you remember
The only real consequenceof this legitimately stupid story endeavor was that Jubilee was turned into a vampire. She had lost her regular powers on M-Day and was just kind of hanging around for a bit with nothing to do, so Marvel turned her into a vampire.
That stuck around for years afterwards, even as the vampire fad mercifully faded away. Jubilee was a vampire in every comic she showed up in, including random ones like Patsy Walker a.k.a. Hellcat.
You were too good for this world, Patsy Walker a.k.a. Hellcat
Wild stuff, right? And just so, so dumb. What business does Jubilee have being a vampire? It’s not like they really focused much on her even being a vampire. Writers gave her a magical amulet that let her go out during the day and just ignore a bunch of other vampire stuff. It was an albatross around her neck.
Fortunately, using the comic book magic of the Phoenix Force, Jubilee was restored to her old self in the latest issue of Generation X this week.
At least she never gave up the yellow coat
Hooray for that! Normally I’m not a big fan of taking crazy steps to retcon the world back to the status quo, but this is one instance where it was the right choice. Jubilee as a vampire was dumb. Jubilee as Jubilee is great!
Our long national nightmare is over. Praise the Phoenix!
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The Top 6 Ground and Earth-Based Comic Book Characters
Everybody needs a hobby. One of mine is this blog, for which I’ve tried to post every day for more than five years now. That’s pretty impressive. But I think I’m going to peak this year, because this is the year that I summon Blog Captain Planet. It starts with a list on the coolest superheroes with the power to control the ground beneath our feet.
We all know what it is
Coming up with ideas for these Lists of Six every week can be kind of tough. And sometimes I’ll fall back on an easy choice, like a list of superheroes with similar powers. I once did fire, then water and wind…which leaves Earth and heart! Then I will summon Blog Captain Planet!
Join me after the jump for the top six comic book characters who control the dirt!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 1/13/18
It’s that time of year again! I’ve got another cold! If I were a better adult, I’d figure out what might be the root cause of the cold and make better preparations to stop it. But eh, that sounds like a lot of work. I’ll just keep popping cold medicine.
In better news, we’ve got a ton of nifty comics this week! Some of my favorite non-cancelled comics are in this week, like Ms. Marvel and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl! We’ve also got another super cool issue of Mister Miracle. But I’m going to award Comic Book of the Week to the final issue of the Conner/Palmiotti Harley Quinn, even though I don’t think it’s as strong of a finale as it could have been.
So say we all!
Still, I have greatly enjoyed their entire Harley Quinn run, and this is coming from a comic fan who never particularly cared about Harley. I never read her comic until this pair launched her new series during the New 52, and whatever the haters may say, this is always going to be my Harley! Here’s hoping the new team can keep the quality going.
All the best, Amanda and Jimmy!
Comic Reviews: Detective Comics #972, Harley Quinn #34, Mister Miracle #6, Ms. Marvel #26, Runaways #5 and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #28.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 1/6/17
Welcome to the first comic reviews of the new year! I don’t have any real comic book resolutions this year, or any new comics I’m particularly looking forward to. I’m just going to like what I like and read what I want — while making more of my own comics!
Light week for me this week. We’ve got another wonderful Batman issue, and I check back in with Captain America and Iceman. Comic Book of the Week goes to a rather enjoyable issue of Hawkeye, which uses a guest appearance from Hawkeye to great effect.
Trouble ahead?
Anybody read X-Men: Grand Design? It’s a neat little comic that recaps the early days/years of the original X-Men and the various supporting characters. It’s very specific in a lot of fun ways. And it had an extended bit on the Mimic joining the team, so I was happy with that.
Comic Reviews: Batman #28, Captain America #697, Hawkeye #14 and Iceman #9.
They’re Going to Try the Exiles Again!
Marvel is going to release a new Exiles comic this Spring! Good for them! I don’t have high hopes. As always, Blink will be the main character. This time, she’ll work for Nick Fury Sr. and be teamed up with an older, grizzled Kamala Khan, Iron Lad, a little cartoon Wolverine and an as-yet unrevealed other character.
Everybody loves a good leather jacket redesign!
That last character is probably someone from the 616 universe, otherwise why bother keeping their identity a secret?
The comic will be written by Saladin Ahmed, who earned great acclaim with his Black Bolt comic (which I haven’t read yet), with art by Javier Rodriguez, who I loved in the Spider-Woman comic.
“The man once known as Nick Fury is now simply the Unseen, who can only observe Earth from the moon. When a mysterious threat casts its shadow on the multiverse, his job is to recruit champions who can save it. Blink’s goal was once to save the world with the original EXILES, and now, she’ll need the help of Khan, Iron Lad, Wolvie and a mysterious to-be-revealed team member to help her fight an even more sinister evil.”
This has all the makings of a fine comic, I’m sure, but I don’t have a lot of faith. The original Exiles comic is one of my all-time favorites. It was an amazing comic with an amazing cast, and it succeeded because it was built on strong characters instead of just their wild adventures. That thing lasted for more than 100 issues!
But then Marvel tried to reboot it with a second volume in 2009, but that barely lasted any issues. And then Dazzler had a series with a similar concept not too long ago. For some reason, the original was a powerhouse of popular awesome, but every attempt to revive the concept just keeps falling flat. So yeah, I don’t have much faith.
But any comic that has even a chance of using the Mimic is definitely worth a look see.
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Henchman-4-Hire 