Category Archives: Comics
Duke Thomas’ New Costume! I Don’t Like It
I try not to get all comic book crotchety too much on this blog. That’s not what I’m about. I’m a happy and positive guy! But I am a big stickler for what becomes of Batman’s sidekicks, and man, DC keeps screwing over Duke Thomas.
Revealed yesterday was his new costume as The Signal, the daytime operative of the Bat-Family. It stinks.
He’s Batman, but yellow
It’s basically just a modified version of his already Yellow Batman costume. It’s going to debut in Batman & The Signal, which is either an ongoing or a mini-series. It’s coming out soon.
Basically, to reiterate my point, this whole thing sucks. Duke Thomas earned the right to be the new Robin. Nobody will ever remember or care about The Signal. It’s a dumb superhero name and it’s completely forgettable. Whereas Batman & Robin are iconic the world over. Remember know and care about them.
So why not have Duke Thomas make history and be the first black Robin? Is Damian Wayne really still that important as Robin? Why not have him graduate to a new identity and let Duke be Robin. Let Duke have a part of the legacy!
Let Duke Thomas be remembered!
Also, while I’m at it, why wasn’t Harper Row made Robin? Remember Harper Row? Of course not, because DC sidelined her with the unmemorable Bluebird identity and then got rid of her.
Man, I just want a cool Robin again…
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The 6 Best “Lady” Versions of Male Comic Book Characters
We’re looking at a pretty weird topic today! I don’t think anybody needs to be told that female comic book characters and superheroes haven’t exactly had it easy over the past century. For every Wonder Woman, you’ve got half a dozen heroines who are just derivatives of male heroes. Marvel Comics, especially, doesn’t have many original female characters. Their first big female-led movie is about Captain Marvel, herself a derivative of the original male Captain Marvel.
Like her, but reversed! And based on a dude
I did a previous list trying to draw some attention to this idea by showing how few male derivative heroes there were. And now I’ve seized upon a new topic that seems just as silly! Sometimes, when comic writers want to make a new female character, they just make a female version of a previously male character and attach the word “Lady” in front of it. There are plenty of legitimate “Lady” characters like Lady Shiva or Lady Death.
But sometimes, I guess it’s just easier to do it this way. You’re not going to find any “Lad” male heroes anytime soon. But here are 6 “Lady” characters!
Some Awesome Guy Drew Every Single Character Who Ever Appeared in Uncanny X-Men!
Want to see something awesome? Then check out the artwork of Unnecessarily X-essive! Artist Scott Modrzynski has apparently spent the past few years drawing every single character and alternate costume that ever appeared in the multi-decade Uncanny X-Men. And I do mean every character. Even background characters.
Here are some of my favorites:
This is a masterpiece of Internet X-Menery. Somebody buy this guy a drink or tell him to start working on the Avengers!
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/5/17
Kind of a quiet week for comics this week. There were a lot of good releases, but not many on my normal review pile. In any other situation, this might prompt me to try out some new comics. But nope! I’m a bit too lazy for that!
Instead, we’ve got new and entertaining issues of Batman, Iron Fist and Hawkeye, as well as Unstoppable Wasp, the adorable and awesome Comic Book of the Week!
The feels!
I’m serious, it’s mostly adorable and awesome.
After a great pair of issues focusing on Janet Van Dyne, I kind of want this title changed to The Unstoppable Wasp and the Regular Wasp! Or writer Jeremy Whitley should get a Janet Van Dyne comic!
Comic Reviews: Batman #28, Hawkeye #9, Iron Fist #6 and Unstoppable Wasp #8.
My 6 Favorite Villains Turned Heroes
I talk a lot on here about one of my favorite tropes in fiction: the Heel-to-Face Turn. Or, to drop the wrestling parlance, when a bad guy becomes a good guy. I just dig it for some reason. I like the idea that these villains, albeit bad people who do bad things, are still reasonable people who are capable of more than just playing their villainous role. When the chips are down, or when doing the right thing is on the line, these baddies turn out to be alright folk.
The granddaddy of them all!
For counter example, I don’t particularly like the Joker. I know he’s probably the most popular super-villain in all of comics, and people adore this guy, but I just don’t really like him. I don’t like his straight crazy villainy. There’s little complexity to the character. He’s just crazy and he does crazy things; clever crazy things, sure, but still just crazy things. Count me out.
Give me a morally complex figure who can recognize the error of their ways or recognize the need to do the right thing in a given situation. Join me after the jump for my favorite Heel-to-Face Turns in all of fiction!
Henchman-4-Hire 