Category Archives: Comics
Forgotten Characters: Gauntlet and Southpaw
Whatever happened to Gauntlet and Southpaw?
One is a surly, loud-mouthed superhero drill instructor. The other is a rebellious teenage rapscallion. Both are wielders of gigantic, alien fists – but only on one hand each. And together, Gauntlet and Southpaw are one of the most clever ideas comic writer Dan Slott ever came up with.
But where the heck have they been hiding?
The gloves never necessarily look the same
Dan Slott has had a very busy career writing for Marvel Comics, tackling everyone from She-Hulk to the Great Lakes Avengers. Now he’s the head Spider-Man writer, and has been guiding Marvel’s flagship character for years. So with this kind of prominence, how could two of his most interesting characters have disappeared? You’d think the guy would have enough pull to get them added to the Mighty Avengers or the New Warriors or something, right?
The mysteries of Gauntlet and Southpaw need to be revealed! Join me after the jump to learn a bit more.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/9/13
Welcome back to another round of reviews, Henchboys and Henchgirls! We’ve got a pretty standard week of books, though personal favorite Captain Marvel makes a big return after months of being buried in crossovers and tie-ins. Of course, now the comic goes on hiatus for four months, because, as always, we can’t have nice things.
But at least Forever Evil, Green Lantern and Mighty Avengers are all pretty entertaining, and we’ve got the debut of Amazing X-Men #1! No doubt Nightcrawler fans are bursting at the seams to see him come back from the dead. Personally, I’m just wondering why this story needed a whole new superfluous X-Men book.
Comic Book of the Week goes to the pretty great Captain Marvel #17. Don’t stay gone for too long, Carol!
Everybody loves a good butt joke
Comic Reviews: Amazing X-Men #1, Captain Marvel #17, Forever Evil #3, Green Lantern #25 and Mighty Avengers #3.
And So, the Experiment That Was Two X-Forces Comes to a Close
I have long raised a questioning eyebrow to Marvel Comics’ plan over the past year to publish two separate X-Force titles: Uncanny X-Force and Cable and X-Force. Both are about a team of renegade X-Men fighting evil on the fringes of superherodom, and both feature a random assortment of characters, many of whom didn’t necessarily have anything to do with X-Force. It seemed that Marvel was only concerned with wringing as much money out of the brand name as they could.
Well now it seems that grand experiment is coming to an end. Marvel is cancelling both titles and combining only some of the characters into a new adjectiveless X-Force, launching in February.
What went wrong? Who can say. Were the titles selling well? Did Marvel wise up and realize the world doesn’t need two separate X-Force titles? Was nobody enjoying Puck?
These are questions that only those in the know can properly answer, and Marvel isn’t returning my calls. I tried reading both comics but gave up after an issue or two because I just didn’t see the point. On the one hand, they were both made well enough. But I didn’t care about the characters or the plots. That’s on me, not on them.
Well Marvel and USA Today are all manner of excited to tell you about the new series, which will be written by new writer Simon Spurrier, with art by Rock He-Kim. Based on the interview, Spurrier is going to take X-Force back to basics so that they’re simply a black-ops mutant team doing black-ops type things.
“What I’ve taken from those early X-Force episodes is a take-no-prisoners attitude towards action,” Spurrier says. “But I like to think I’ve injected a little post-millennial sophistication, too. “This isn’t a steroidal macho-fest: It’s a slick, nasty, oh-so-grim beast that’ll cut your throat and blow up your headquarters before you even know it’s there.”
Of the more than a dozen characters in Uncanny X-Force and Cable and X-Force, only three are going to make this new team: Cable, Psylocke and Fantomex. Though Spurrier does suggest that other characters will probably pop in from time to time.
Of special note is a new member: Marrow! And since I once proclaimed Marrow my second favorite X-Woman of all time, you better believe I’m going to pick up this book just for her.
On Marrow, Spurrier compared her to Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, and said:
“She’s a fighter too damaged by own experiences to ever really fit in,” Spurrier says. “She’s one of those brilliant characters which the X-books handle so well who can’t rightly be described as a hero or a villain: a product of her own tragedy.”
So because of Marrow, I’ll definitely be buying this book. What does everybody else think?
The 6 Coolest Middle Eastern Superheroes
With the announcement yesterday that Marvel is going to introduce a new Pakistani Ms. Marvel, I started thinking about all of the other Middle Eastern superheroes I’ve seen introduced since 9/11. In an effort to combat the obvious prejudices in this country, both Marvel and DC have taken it upon themselves to diversify their superhero line-ups with characters of Middle Eastern descent. And as great as that is, most of these characters rarely stick around.
The market is never very kind to new characters in general.
Especially if they have weird hands
Still, we can’t forget about them if I keep blabbing about them. So in my own effort to celebrate diversity, I’ve decided to take a look at all Middle Eastern superheroes to pick out the coolest ones. Some you may recognize, some you may have forgotten about and some you may have never known existed. But trust me, they are all cool.
Ms. Marvel to Return as a Teenage Pakistani Muslim Girl
Marvel Comics announced a new Ms. Marvel today: the teenage shape-shifter Kamala Khan. She will star in her own series starting up next year, exploring the life of a teenage Muslim superhero living in New Jersey. I would like to say we live in a world where this sort of announcement would be beloved by all, but we don’t, but to hell with those people. This is awesome news.
She’s also got a good fashion sense
As detailed in an article today in the New York Times, Kamala Khan is a teenage girl growing up in New Jersey who is not only both Muslim and Pakistani, but is also a huge fan of the superheroine Captain Marvel. When Kamala discovers her own super-powers – which include being able to change her shape – Kamala decides to become a hero, and she decides to use Captain Marvel’s old superhero name, Ms. Marvel.
The comic will be written by G. Willow Wilson, herself a convert to Islam, with art by Adrian Alphona. I’m not familiar with either of their work, other than Alphona’s brief run on Runaways. Either way, I’m definitely picking up this series.
“This is not evangelism,” Ms. Wilson said. “It was really important for me to portray Kamala as someone who is struggling with her faith.” The series, Ms. Wilson said, would deal with how familial and religious edicts mesh with super-heroics, which sometimes require rules to be broken.
Sounds good to me! I fully support and look forward to any and all attempts to make a more diverse superhero lineup. Though, of course, it’s not just going to be about growing up as a Muslim-American. Wilson told the Times that she wants to focus on the general experience of growing up a teenager. This one just happens to be Muslim and have super-powers.
Though I’m not sure what’s up with the porcupine with Hulk Hands
Henchman-4-Hire