Category Archives: Comics
Forgotten Characters: Excavator
Whatever happened to the fifth member of The Wrecking Crew, the teenage, shovel-wielding Excavator?
Fans of my blog know that I am a huge fan of obscure superheroes. I just can’t help it. Sure, guys like Batman and Spider-Man are awesome, but I’ve been reading comics long enough to develop a list of favorites who aren’t quite headliners. Some of the best comic book characters of all time only made a few appearances, then somehow got lost to comic book limbo, rarely to be seen again. I think my blog is a good place to highlight those guys, with a new feature I’m going to call ‘Forgotten Characters’.
First up is Excavator, who only made one appearance in Runaways #1 (Volume 2).
I want to beating the living shit out of him already
6 Avengers Who Won’t Be In The Movie
Captain America. Thor. Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk. Heroes, champions, Avengers! When the new movie hits in 2012, we are going to get one superhero-packed adventure of pure awesome. I’m not even being hyperbolic. Marvel Studios has done the impossible, creating a whole series of movies to introduce audiences to their characters, then they’ll bring them together to star in the biggest movie yet with The Avengers! Who could have predicted that Iron Man would be such a hit? Or that Thor and Captain America would be so good? Everything is set for the superhero movie to end all superhero movies.
But not all Avengers are cool enough to make the cut.
The dream team
The Avengers comic book has been ongoing since the 60s, and the team we’re getting in next year’s movie is only a small fraction of the different superheroes who have been Avengers in the comics. Sure, guys like Captain America and Iron Man are the backbone of the Avengers. But what about the nobodies you’ve never heard of? What about the grunts and the cannon fodder who at one point in time were part of the team, but won’t be making the cut for the movie?
Well allow me to introduce you to 6 of the lamest superheroes to ever call themselves Avengers, but who aren’t about to grace the silver screen anytime soon.
Review: Teen Titans #3
The new Teen Titans series just isn’t clicking with me. I loved the first issue, but it’s been downhill ever since. The antagonist is hyped beyond credibility and the heroes, though individually fun to read, are saddled with some less than stellar dialogue. Issue #3 continues the downward spiral for a story that’s all over the place, features some fairly odd moments and finally introduces us to every member of the team – though they’re not a team yet. I think part of the problem is that I might be expecting a different sort of comic.
Teen Titans #3
I think I want a serious Teen Titans comic, whereas we’re getting a light and fluffy tale.
Comic rating: 2/5: bad.
Teen Titans is bright, fun and cheerful. The characters are peppy, especially newly introduced Bunker, and they literally seem to be bouncing all over the place and against each other with energy and excitement. But that’s just not clicking with me. I’m not enjoying it. The comic isn’t solidifying into a good story yet. It’s stretched too thin, in my opinion. Writer Scott Lobdell telling a harmless story about harmless characters who are not in any real danger, yet can’t stop talking about what danger they [i]think[/i] they’re in. As I said in my review of issue #2, the antagonist organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E. is just too ridiculous at this point, and the character just can’t stop talking about N.O.W.H.E.R.E.
I think what this book is missing is heart. Where’s Ma-Ti of Captain Planet when you need him? Spoilers to follow.
Booster Gold Might be Coming to TV!
DC superhero extraordinaire, Booster Gold, might just be getting his own TV show on the Syfy Network! At least according to The Hollywood Reporter, which I’m pretty sure is a credible news source. Much more credible than I am, at least. They actually pay their writers. Anyway, development is only at the stage where Syfy has ordered a pilot script. And we all know how well that worked out for the Wonder Woman TV show at NBC. I’ve yet to see that pilot, though I still really want to.
Still, legitimate superheroes getting to the pilot stage is good news as far as I’m concerned.
Booster is pretty thrilled too
According to the article, NBCUniversal, which I guess owns Syfy, ordered the one-hour pilot script from Greg Berlanti, of No Ordinary Family and Green Lantern, and Andrew Kreisberg, of Fringe. So…good? I don’t know, I’m not sure how all this TV business works. Again, the Wonder Woman pilot didn’t get picked up, so who’s to say this one will be any better?
I’m at least hopeful. I’ll try to follow any of the news that comes out about this pilot.
Booster Gold is a failed athlete and deadbeat from the 30th century who travels back in time because he thinks he can be a pretty cool guy in the 21st century. He brings a bunch of futuristic technology with him, which is so far advanced that it seems like super powers to the people of the past. But Booster Gold isn’t interested in saving the day, he wants fame and lucrative endorsement deals. So he becomes a superhero just for the glory.
Frankly, I think that’s a brilliant premise for a TV show superhero.
Slinger Spotted!
I have something of a niche blog. It’s very geek-oriented, with a lot of talk about comic books. There’s a big audience for that on the Internet. But there’s probably a much smaller audience who tune in specifically for my personal take on comics and geekiness. Part of me wants to do a more general type of site, that appeals to a lot of people, but part of me also wants to focus on topics that interest me the most.
Hence this post about a single, tiny appearance of one of the Slingers!
Ricochet has returned to comics as a member of the Avengers Academy, according to a single panel in the latest issue.
He's down in the corner playing tug-of-war
For those of you who don’t know, The Slingers was a very short-lived Marvel comic book in the mid-90s, but it was one of my favorites of all time. It was my favorite comic after the cancellation of the Green Goblin series, and I bought and read every one of Slingers’ dozen or so issues. It was about a team of young heroes using a bunch of discarded Spider-Man identities. Long story. They were Prodigy, Dusk, Hornet and Ricochet, and their comic was just plain fun.
Once The Slingers was cancelled, the characters just faded into comic book limbo, making sporadic appearances here and there. Hornet got killed by Wolverine, Dusk was a victim of the Puppetmaster in the Ms. Marvel comic (now cancelled) and Prodigy actually went on to become a rather important figure in Marvel’s Civil War and the Initiative. He had a starring role in the recent Youth in Revolt tie-in to Fear Itself. So Prodigy is going places. He even appeared in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2!
Ricochet, the ostensible star of The Slingers, had a brief appearance as a member of the Loners, a series that spun out of Runaways, about former 90s teen heroes who were trying to give up the life. I liked the Loners mini-series, and Runaways cameo, even though that was the start of turning Phil Urich into a super-villain. Alas. Anyway, it seems Ricochet is still in costume because he’s randomly been added to the cast of Avengers Academy
For those of you who might be Slingers fans, this is pretty cool news.
Henchman-4-Hire