Category Archives: Comics
I’m Glad I Wasn’t Drinking Anything When I Found Out the Slingers Were Returning
Because there would have been spit-takes for days!
Holy heck, you guys! The Slingers are returning to Marvel Comics in September! What a neat idea! I’m a Slingers fan from way back in the ’90s, when they were actually around. And I’ve patiently followed the individual characters’ exploits in the decade since their comic was cancelled. Did you know Prodigy was the first superhuman arrested under the Superhuman Registration Act in the first Civil War? Yep!
Anyway, writer Peter David, himself a fan of the 90s, is bringing the Slingers back in the pages of his pro-90s comic, Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider!
According to the issue solicitation, which came out today, there’s someone going around in costume as a new Hornet in Las Vegas (the original died). The Slingers head to Vegas to get to the bottom of it, with Scarlet Spider caught in the middle. How many Slingers are even still around? Prodigy and Ricochet are still active, but is Dusk? I think so…
Anyway, I think it’s super neat that Peter David is going to bring them out of the mothballs for a comic book adventure! I only hope he doesn’t kill them all over the course of the story, or turn them into villains. It still stings what happened to Phil Urich…
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Meet the Cast of Forever Blue, My New Comic Project!
I write comics. That is pretty fun to say. I write this blog, too, but mostly I want to write comic books for a living. I’m not alone in that regard, obviously. There’s a ton of hard-working people out there pushing for this goal with a lot more to show for their efforts. But I’m trying. I’m getting there. For example, my first graphic novel — Gamer Girl & Vixen: Flirty Money — is available now! How’s that for a first effort? I’m excited!
Well I’m not going to rest on that one accomplishment! I’ve got more ideas cooking, and I’m going to share more about one of them today.
Meet the cast of Forever Blue!
Forever Blue is a Firefly meets Power Rangers story about a crew of rainbow-colored cosmic superheroes who failed to save the galaxy. Now it’s 9 years later and one of them, the Blue Foreverteer, is captaining her own smuggling/mercenary crew. She is hired by the team’s former Big Bad to track down her old friends and teammates, kicking off the story.
I’m still working on all the big, flashy marketing stuff, so my premise/tagline isn’t too snappy and energetic yet.
But anyway, this is the first full drawing of some of the main characters. The art is by Gemma Moody, the same artist behind Gamer Girl & Vixen. I like her style and her design skills, so I’ve got her on board working up a lot of character and hopefully spaceship designs for Forever Blue. I also believe she’s taking art commissions, so if you like her style, get in touch!
As for the cast:
The first two characters on the left are Tameron Dackard, the former Forever Blue, and Roth Rivas, the former Forever Red. The rest of the Foreverteers haven’t been designed yet, because they don’t factor into the story until later.
Then we’ve got the present day crew of Dackard’s ship, the Nevermore: Charlotte “Charlie” Somas, the fighter; Pryce Michon, the pilot; Kalina Fall, the medic; and Mungo Ragonese, the mechanic.
The Nevermore is also still in the design stages. Or maybe I’ll just call it “Nevermore”, like Serenity. Haven’t decided yet. I’ve asked Gemma to design something as iconic as a cross between the Millennium Falcon and Serenity, so no trouble there, right?
Anyway, this is a project I’m having a lot of fun working on, even if it’s slow going. Gemma is standing by to help me keep designing story elements, whenever I can afford her. And I hope to have a couple mini-comics done by the end of the year. I’ll share all of that on this blog when I can.
If you’re interested in reading more about Forever Blue, I twice submitted the opening script to the first full issue to The Proving Grounds on ComixTribe.com some months back. You can check out my two entries here and here.
That’s it for now. I’m just excited to share another project I’m working on! And I hope to have more to share soon!
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/17/17
I need to read more DC Comics. There’s no getting around it. This week saw an overflow of Marvel Comics that I read, but I only found time to review one DC Comic. It’s shameful! To say nothing of my apparent inability to read any indie comics. I’m not trying to be a Marvel Zombie! I’m not!
But Marvel delivered both the best and the worst this week. For reasons I wish I had an answer for, the new Hulk series seemed to implode this week, undoing everything that made this series special. Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel kicks off a new story with everything I love about this comic, so I’m rather pleased to award it Comic Book of the Week!
What a perfectly cromulent throw
Secret Empire had a weird little issue this week. The idea that Captain America and HYDRA have completely conquered the United States has shrunk in scope to a race between two super-teams to get pieces of the broken Cosmic Cube. It makes for a fun enough comic as the two teams get treated to a family dinner from Ultron Pym.
Also, Batman has kicked off a rather continuity-heavy, mind-erasing bit of big story at DC. Gotta get caught up on that!
Comic Reviews: Defenders #1, Detective Comics #958, Generation X #3, Hulk #7, Ms. Marvel #19, and X-Men Blue #5.
Strong Guy Speaks!
I am not reading all of the Secret Empire tie-ins, so twice now the Strong Guy Watch has been caught with its pants down! I didn’t know he showed up in the pages of Secret Warriors, and I had no clue he popped into this week’s Secret Empire: United. Ugh. Too many tie-ins!
Fortunately, I’ve got some dedicated readers, and friend-of-the-site josta59 pointed out to me that Guido shows up and actually has speaking lines in United this week! Fantastic!
Good to see him making jokes again
Of course, this blows my leading theory out of the water: that someone at Marvel decided to start putting Strong Guy into the background of X-Men scenes without a word. Now that Guido actually has lines, I’m not sure what to make of any of this…
I’m also glad to see Marrow back to normal and back to business
At least they’re putting him to good use! I can only hope he becomes a regular in one X-Book or another. We’re two years away from the next massive status quo change for the X-Men, so here’s hoping Guido sticks around until then!
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Rictor and Shatterstar Have Grown Big Gay Mustaches
Look, I know LGBT issues can be a sensitive topic for some people, and I totally respect that. I’m pro-LGBT all the way, and as a straight male, I’m probably in no position to comment on this or really stomp my feet about this issue. I just think it’s worth mentioning. In case nobody else on the Internet picks up on this and says something, I just want to put this out there for everybody to see.
The last time we saw Rictor and Shatterstar in an X-Men comic, they came out as a gay couple in the pages of X-Factor. Their first kiss back in 2009 was the first ever on-panel male-to-male kiss in the pages of Marvel Comics. It was a big deal.
Then X-Factor came to an end in 2013 and I don’t think we’ve seen either of them since. Rictor and Shatterstar disappeared into the same comic book limbo that claims most B and C-list mutants.
Until this week! Both heroes make their spectacular return in Secret Warriors #3, set during the whole Secret Empire debacle. And, well…as my headline implies…
First there’s Rictor.
Outshining Quake
And then both of them show up on the final page. You’re going to have zoom in for this one, but it’s as plain as that mustache on both of their faces.
Click to embiggen
Look, anybody and everybody is more than welcome to have whatever kind of facial hair they want. But you cannot tell me that those are not stereotypical big gay mustaches. Those are clearly Freddie Mercury mustaches.
I’m not making any judgement calls here. I’m just throwing it out there that I think it’s a little weird that when two of Marvel Comics’ most popular openly gay men make their long-awaited return to comics, they’re both sporting stereotypically gay facial hair.
Someone somewhere clearly made that active decision.
Also, while we’re here, the Strong Guy Watch continues!
Strong Guy also shows up in Secret Warriors #3, and he is still as silent as the grave.
He’s also apparently wearing a giant, badass chain draped off his belt
He appears in several panels, beyond just this big team shot, but he doesn’t say a word. It’s like whatever edict is putting Strong Guy in these comics also states that he must not utter a word. This is fascinatingly weird.
Also, oddly enough, that was totally Strong Guy reacting when Rictor and Shatterstar had their first kiss! Comics are cyclical!
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Henchman-4-Hire 