Category Archives: Comics

No Sign of My Favorite Mutants in X-Force, NYX or Phoenix

The X-Men series of comics is going through one of their routine status quo changes — called From the Ashes — and we’re in the period of discovery where Marvel slowly reveals the rosters of the new team books. This is always an anxious time for me, personally, because while I will try all the new comics, my interest in them will depend largely on whether or not any of my favorite mutants appear as a character.

Marvel revealed the details of X-Force, NYX and Phoenix this week, and I’m still plum out of luck.

First up will be X-Force, written by Geoffrey Thorne and drawn by Marcus To.

I do like matching X-uniforms

In this comic, Forge is going to put together the next X-Force squad, comprised of Rachel Summers, Betsy Braddock, Sage, Surge and Tank, who may or may not be a new character. There will also be rotating guest stars, with Deadpool kicking things off. They’re gonna go on all sorts of X-Force-style missions, which is always fun.

Next up is Phoenix, a new Jean Grey comic, written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Alessandro Miracolo.

What’s gonna happen to Mars?

In this comic, Jean Grey has the Phoenix again, and she’s summoned into outer space from an emergency S.O.S. from Nova. That could be fun! Jean Grey and Nova team up to save some lives in outer space? Yeah, alright. No other characters were announced, so I suppose Mimic could be a quiet guest star, but probably not. Jean Grey is just gonna rock out in space for a while.

Lastly we have NYX, the teen hero comic, written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, with art by Francesco Mortarino.

Rent prices are out of control

Taping into the original NYX, but not exactly, this comic will be about some young mutants making their way in the world of New York City. They’ve started with Ms. Marvel and teamed her up with Wolverine, Anole, Prodigy and, randomly, Sophie Cuckoo. I have not come around on Ms. Marvel as a mutant, but she does thrive living in the New York City metro area. So maybe it’ll work? She’s also lead small squads of teen heroes before. So we’ll see.

All of these comics are coming out in July, I think. We’ve still got Storm, Wolverine and X-Factor comics to reveal, but probably until next month. I’m holding out hope that X-Factor is my best shot at some Multiple Man action, but we’ll see.

Hope springs eternal.

————————

6 Brightest Sun-Themed Comic Book Characters

Monday was the total solar eclipse and you best believe I left work to go watch that magic happen! I live in Upstate New York and was in the path of totality! I set up a chair in my friend’s yard and had a good time staring at the sun. It was freaky deaky! And to celebrate, we’re doing a sun-themed superhero list!

The picture I took myself of what I could see through the clouds

There are plenty of superheroes out there with fire and heat-based powers, so I tried to narrow this list down to characters with a specific Sun theme. Maybe they just have fire powers, or maybe they have a ray gun that shoots a blinding flash of sunlight. Either way, they make this list if they a tied to the sun! And one of these days, I’ll have to do a moon list. The moon played a big role in the eclipse too! I’ll get around to it one of these days.

Join me after the jump for the six brightest sun-based comic book characters!

Read the rest of this entry

Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/6/24

It’s April already. Life moves forward unceasingly. We are merely caught up in its wake. But at least we can always count on new comics, like Batman and She-Hulk!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Birds of Prey #8 for another delightful team book issue.

I need the clicks!

Meanwhile, I’ve started playing Evil Genius 2 on the PC, a charming base-builder. It’s got a fun aesthetic, and I do love a good real time strategy-style game like this. Easy to get addicted to as I play along and balance all the things to balance. I’m having fun. And on Monday, I will be in the totality zone of this solar eclipse! So that should be fun!

Comic Reviews: Batman #146, Birds of Prey #8, Sensational She-Hulk #7 and Void Rivals #8.

Read the rest of this entry

My 6 Favorite X-Men Characters

Man oh man, the X-Men are everywhere these days! The new cartoon revival — X-Men ’97 — is going off like gangbusters! Everyone is loving it, myself included! And now the big Krakoa Era is coming to an end, with a From the Ashes relaunch ready to go for the summer! I’m also saving up money for the hopefully soon-to-be-announced X-Mansion LEGO set, but I suppose that’s more niche.

Anyway, to celebrate the X-Men, I thought I’d do a list of my all-time favorite X-Men characters!

Some of the characters are in this group shot!

I’ve done plenty of such lists over the years because it’s super fun to talk about the X-Men, especially obscure ones. I thought about doing a list of characters I’d like to see show up on the new cartoon, or a list of who I would include in my own imagined From the Ashes team lineup. When I realized both of those lists would be pretty similar, I decided to just make it easy on myself and throw together a list of my favorite mutants and X-Men-related characters in comics! This is a list borne from decades of reading X-Men and adjacent comics, and it cane get pretty niche and obscure. That’s on me.

Join me after the jump for my all-time favorite X-Men characters, and feel free to share your own in the comments below!

Read the rest of this entry

Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/30/24

Happy Easter weekend, everybody! I’ll be heading home to see the folks and am hoping for a nice weekend where I finally, at long last, defeat this sinus infection. Thankfully, had a trio of really enjoyable comics this week, including Duke and Power Rangers.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Ultimate Spider-Man #3 because, while all three issues were enjoyable, I found this one to be the most engaging and entertaining.

I always enjoy a heroic Green Goblin

Meanwhile, I’ve started watching Shogun and am enjoying it, after all the rave reviews. And I started playing that new Saints Row game that came out in 2022. It’s…fine. I can definitely see why it crashed and burned, but it suffices as a cheap Grand Theft Auto knock-off for the time being. I really need to finally play God of War: Ragnarok.

Comic Reviews: Duke #4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #118 and Ultimate Spider-Man #3.

Read the rest of this entry