Category Archives: Comics
Rip-Off City: Overwatch’s Doomfist and Marvel’s The Gauntlet
I don’t know if anybody has made this comparison before, but I spotted it immediately when Blizzard announced their new Overwatch character, Doomfist. A tough, bald black guy with a giant, mechanical right arm? Isn’t that exactly like Marvel Comics character The Gauntlet?
I don’t know what point I’m trying to make here, just pointing out what is clearly an obvious rip-off. I don’t think Blizzard intentionally ripped off the Gauntlet, but the coincidence is really, really odd. The mechanical fist is even on the same arm!
Granted, Gauntlet only existed for a short period of time in the wake of the original Civil War comic. He was created by Dan Slott and was actually part of a really nifty gimmick, where Gauntlet had the right-armed gauntlet, and another Slott character, Southpaw, had the left-armed gauntlet — but they never appeared together! Gauntlet was involved in The Initiative comics, and Southpaw showed up in Slott’s She-Hulk.
I did a Forgotten Characters article on the pair of them. That’s probably how I can remember Gauntlet so well.
Anyway, just wanted to point this out. If anybody knows Dan Slott, somebody tell him and see if he can raise the fuss that I can’t! Or maybe Slott is a big Overwatch fan and is now a Doomfist main because of this.
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They Picked a Bad Name for Duke Thomas
After giving up his Robin gang, during which he was particularly awesome in Scott Snyder’s Batman, Duke Thomas was officially recruited into the Bat-Family in a golden yellow Bat-suit. And for reasons that never really went explained, he did not get a codename to go with his outfit.
Seriously. How does Batman not give Duke a new codename? Aren’t those things necessary in the field? What did they expect Commissioner Gordon to call him?
Welp, DC and Snyder have finally revealed Duke’s name: The Signal.
He’s also going to get his own comic, from Snyder, called Batman: The Signal. Duke’s role is going to be the Batman-of-the-daylight. They’ve done this very concept before with other characters, but now it’s gonna be Duke’s thing. Aaaaaand I don’t like it.
I still like Duke Thomas, for sure! But what kind of superhero name is ‘The Signal’? It suffers from the banality of modern superhero naming conventions.
Nobody ever has the guts to name their new character something like ‘Batman’ anymore. It’s all about trying to be cool and hip, even though superhero comics were built on the backs of heroes with dorky names.
Plus, an argument I’ve made before, nobody is going to remember The Signal. Batman and Robin are the Dynamic Duo. They are household names. Grandmothers have heard of Batman and Robin. Whereas nobody has ever heard of Huntress or Azrael or Batwing or Onyx or The Signal. These hangers-on don’t matter, not in the long run. There will come a time when nobody cares about Duke Thomas anymore. But there will never come a time when nobody cares about Batman and Robin.
Not making Duke into the real Robin is a mistake.
Though I will definitely buy and read Scott Snyder’s Duke Thomas comic!
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/22/17
Man oh man, it’s San Diego Comic Con weekend! So much cool news, so many good trailers, so much to get excited about! But for another year in a row, I’m stuck here in Central New York, about as far from San Francisco as you can get in the continental United States. Someday I’ll be out there.
At least this week was marked with good comics, like Batwoman, Harley Quinn, Power Rangers and the long-awaited second issue of the new Spectacular Spider-Man! All good comics, but Comic Book of the Week goes to Batman #27, as writer Tom King throws us a curveball with the unexpected new origin of Kite Man!
Knock. Knock.
Secret Empire continues to slog along. It’s getting a little long in the tooth at this point, and isn’t as sharp anymore. While The Mighty Thor is still good, but I skipped reviewing the issue again because it’s kind of just killing time. The War Thor is a neat idea, but he hasn’t done much of substance just yet. Still a great comic.
Also, in case you were curious, like me, the first issue of Astonishing X-Men does not yet feature the return of Multiple Man. I’ll let you know when it does! It was a pretty cool X-Men comic though. I like the idea of gathering a bunch of disparaged X-Men to go on an impromptu mission. I’d like it even more if they hadn’t added Old Man freakin’ Logan.
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #26, Batman #27, Batwoman #5, Harley Quinn #24, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #17, Ms. Marvel #20, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #2 and The Wild Storm #6.
The 6 Characters On My Defenders Team
Welcome to San Diego Comic-Con Week! It’s the biggest week in comics, and I’m excited for all the news and trailers and awesomeness bound to arrive this weekend! An expected highlight this year will be The Defenders from Marvel! They’ve got a new comic book, a new action figure line and their Netflix show arrives in one month! I can’t wait!
Only 50% of superheroes wear costumes anymore
As has become a tradition here at Henchman-4-Hire, I like to spend Comic-Con Week playing fantasy superhero draft. Superhero team rosters change all the time. Every new X-Men reboot results in several different team lineups. The Avengers or New Avengers or Champions are always changing! This year, I’m going to pitch you my Defenders lineup. If Marvel hired me to write a Defenders comic, these are the characters I’d put on the team!
In the past, I’ve dreamed up rosters for the Avengers, the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, the Teen Titans, the X-Men, X-Force and the Sinister Six!
One of My Own Personal Comic Book Wishes Just Happened
One of my favorite tropes in all of fiction is Evil Versus Oblivion, wherein a super-villain is a reasonable enough person that they willingly side with the heroes when there’s a bigger, more dangerous threat. Doctor Doom, Magneto and the Kingpin do it a lot, offering aid and resources to heroes when someone like Onslaught comes along and threatens to destroy all existence.
This past week, in the pages of Uncanny Avengers, writer Jim Zub and artist Kim Jacinto (with some assists) brought this trope to life with one of my favorite super-villains, a villain I like especially because he’s a reasonable guy.
The Shocker!
Hey! Secret identity, man, jeez!
SPOILERS for Uncanny Avengers #24 and #25.
I love the Shocker because he’s a working class, ordinary sort of crook who just wants to make some money. He doesn’t have an intense, personal hatred of Spider-Man, he’s not consumed with the desire for revenge against the wall-crawler, and he’s not just crazy and evil. He’s just a guy with some special tools that he uses to try to steal money.
And he was trying to loot the Gold Reserve with another favorite villain of mine, Scorpia, when they’re discovered by Rogue. They’re all in Manhattan during Secret Empire, wherein the evil Captain America has created a Darkforce Dimension bubble around the whole island. Monsters of all shapes and sizes are descending on the island and interrupt the villains’ looting.
Then it’s up to Rogue to convince Shocker and Scorpia to join her in fighting for their lives and stopping the monsters!
I bet’cha Zub was sitting on that one for awhile
This is literally plucked from my dream journal of comic book happenings. The Shocker being used in an Evil Versus Oblivion moment? That is what I want from comics. It’s like Zub reached into my brain and picked the absolute perfect character for this moment.
Granted, Shocker doesn’t go full hero — though while we’re on the topic, I think he’d be a great addition to the Uncanny Avengers. Shocker and Scorpia aren’t big on helping Rogue stop monsters, but they’re still involved.
Spider-Man: Homecoming had nothing on this!
And that’s enough for me. I don’t read Uncanny Avengers and I’m avoiding most Secret Empire tie-ins, but when a writer I like seems to literally read my mind and make my comic book wishes come true, I gotta respect that and buy some new comics!
Nobody respects the codename anymore
Also, I am now totally ‘shipping Shocker and Scorpia. So that’s a thing.
Double also, this almost makes up for Zub killing off Mach X a couple weeks ago. Almost.
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