Category Archives: Comics
Review: Punisher #1
A new Punisher series hit the stands this week by fantastic crime-writer Greg Rucka, and it’s an awesome comic that’s light on actual Punisher, but great on atmosphere and future potential. The art is realistic and moody, the story is rich with wickedness and the Punisher comes off as the boogeyman – which is exactly the Punisher I want.
Punisher #1
Though nothing will ever compare to the glorious 11-volume Punisher masterpiece by Garth Ennis.
Still, let’s get to the new issue. We open with a military wedding (or the reception afterwards), with a happy couple and a beautiful bride. Then some violent men with guns interrupt the party, and those men have brought death and destruction with them. The wedding erupts in gunfire, shattered glass and chaos, and soon a lot of people are dead, including the groom. The bride is just hanging on, but only by a thread. The police arrive soon after to investigate.
And it’s here that we’re introduced to probably the true protagonists of this tale: NYPD detectives Walter Bolt and Oscar Clemons. The former is the young, white rookie detective, while the latter is the aged, wise black detective who just happens to look a lot like Morgan Freeman. This is an interesting tactic for the comic, to not focus on the Punisher. Frank Castle is by no means a shy guy. Plenty of comics in the past have had the Punisher at the forefront with internal monologue and everything. Perhaps we’ll still get that as the series continues, but for now we start with Bolt and Clemons. There is no internal monologue, just dialogue.
Clemons and Bolt
The two detectives do some cursory work at the crime scene and trade a little dialogue, establishing that Clemons may be getting too old for this sort of carnage, and that Bolt may still be more than a little wet behind the ears. We learn more than enough to get a handle of the two, so they will make suitable entry characters into the world of the Punisher. Because unlike other bright and colorful superheroes, Frank Castle, the Punisher, lives in the dark, grimy streets of New York City. He’s only a man (with a lot of guns), and he deals with bodies, cops, hard-boiled detectives and violent criminals. And that’s how the Punisher should be. I don’t want the Punisher fighting Doctor Doom or super-villains. He’s first and foremost a street-level vigilante, and that’s how I enjoy him.
A little background in case you’re not familiar with the Punisher. Frank Castle was a soldier in Vietnam who saw first hand the horrors of war, while receiving more than a little military and special ops training. When he returned stateside to his wife and two kids, he was looking forward to an idyllic family life – but that was not to be. While out on a picnic one day, his family was gunned down in a shootout between two rival mobs. Castle and his family had nothing to do with the mobsters, they were just collateral damage in the shootout. But Frank survived. From then on, he has used all of his military training and connections to wage a one-man-war on crime. He’s not out for revenge against those specific mobsters, he’s out to punish any and all criminals who break the law.
He’s the ghost story that mobsters tell their children.
Like this...He's almost spectral, but still human
Moving on, Det. Clemons is ready to interview some of the survivors, but Bolt gets a suspicious text message about a drop spot. We cut to a subway terminal, where a nervous Bolt is sitting on a bench next to an envelope. We catch a glimpse of a suspiciously shadowed man in a black trenchcoat passing through the crowd, and then we get a brief glimpse of an underground bunker armed to the teeth. That envelope contained crime scene photos of the wedding. Looks like Bolt is passing information on to the Punisher.
The next scene is at a bar, where violent men who invaded the wedding are kicking back with a celebratory drink. They’re having fun in the crowded bar. Then the lights go out. Then people start dying. The men pull out their own guns, but they dare not shoot because they’ll only hit each other. They group up, but it doesn’t help. More blood. More bodies. Like a wraith, the Punisher moves through the crowd taking them out one-by-one until only the leader is left. And that’s when we get our first real look at the Punisher in this comic.
Bad. Ass.
Punisher goes to shoot the leader in the head, but he’s out of bullets. So the Punisher lets him live and walks off. Ideally he has something else in mind for this guy.
And that’s it. That’s where the story ends. It’s tragically short. We do get a back-up feature told in the style of a police interrogation/interview. It’s a flashback to how Bolt met the Punisher back when he was a vice cop making drug busts. He and his undercover partner were at the scene of a drug deal, in some sort of courtyard. There were also kids around. Something at the bust goes belly up and it becomes obvious that the bullets are about to fly. Bolt, still young, is scared out of his mind. His partner is in the middle of it, as are the kids. What’s he going to do?
Bolt doesn’t have to decide. A gloved hand grabs his mouth while the other hand pulls the fire alarm to get the kids out. Then the bullets do start flying, and the Punisher steps out. He pushes Bolt back and draws his weapon, returning fire. The Punisher obliterates these drug dealers, killing them with military-like precision. Bolt’s partner dies, but all the bad guys are dead and the kids are safe. Back at the station, Bolt gets all the credit. It’s hard to tell if he’s willingly taking it, or if everyone just believes it did it all himself because the Punisher didn’t stick around to talk to the cops. Whatever happened, Bolt makes detective and is now in the pocket of the Punisher.
It’s a nice little back story setting up Bolt and the Punisher. Plus it’s much more of an action scene than the massacre in the bar. So we actually get to see the Punisher shooting and doing a damn good job of it. The Punisher is absolutely badass in this entire comic, and that’s important. A lot of superheroes seem to require a softer side, like Spider-Man. Part of the appeal of Spidey is that he’s a regular guy with foibles and problems that he has to balance alongside his superhero life. Not Frank Castle. The Punisher is at his absolute best when he doesn’t have any reservations, doesn’t have any doubt in himself or his mission. He his cold and hard and determined 100% of the way.
When Punisher isn’t the nitty, gritty hard-boiled vigilante, it can get kind of silly.
His classic costume is ludicrous. Even without the white booties.
So consider me sold on this new series. It’s got the perfect amounts of street-level violence and epic Punisher badassery, with a couple of cool detective characters to serve as foils. Greg Rucka is a fantastic author. I know him best from the DC series Gotham Central, which was about the Gotham City Police Department trying to do their jobs in a city where the criminals are homicidal clowns and Batman is expected to solve everything. That series is brilliant, and is a fine indicator that Rucka can handle the same level of characters in the Punisher. The art is by Marco Checchetto, who I’ve never heard of before. But it’s nicely realistic while also haunting. It should be a nice fit.
And one of these days I’ll tell you about the Garth Ennis run on the Punisher. It’s one of the most brilliant and amazing comic book sagas ever written, and I have all 11 volumes on my bookshelf. Here’s a taste of the Punisher’s dialogue and his badassness.
Click to enlarge
Requiem for a Comic Book; the End of Secret Six
A comic book died today.
Possibly the greatest comic book published by DC Comics in the past many years, and it has been cancelled with issue #36. Universally beloved, a critical darling and absolutely perfect page after page after page. There was no greater cast, no greater stories coming out of DC than those from the Secret Six.
Who?
These sons of bitches right here.
God speed, you sons of bitches
Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, Ragdoll, Bane, Jeannette, King Shark, Parademon, Cheshire, Black Alice and Harley Quinn for an issue or two. Yes, that’s a lot more than six, but they changed a few characters here and there. And again, you’re probably asking, ‘Who the Hell are these characters?’ It’s a reasonable question.
Read on, and I will tell you about these warrior poets, these losers among gods.
The concept of the Secret Six is very simple. Writer Gail Simone (who has written nearly every single issue this team has appeared in) created a super-villain team starring some of the lamest, most obscure characters in the DC Universe. She also made up a few, just for kicks. The first team was Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, Ragdoll, Cheshire and Parademon, and they debuted in the mini-series Villains United. That 6-issue story is the single greatest team story I have ever read. There is more heart, character and inter-team camaraderie between these six obscure nobodies than in the entire history of the Justice League, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four or anybody else. We’re talking Firefly levels of character dynamic.
And that is what makes the core of the Secret Six: heart.
The story begins with an Event Comic called Infinite Crisis, and Villains United was one of four separate mini-series that told a prologue to the main Event. Villains United focused on the massive super-villain army that Lex Luthor was building. He already had his power players, like Black Adam, Deathstroke and Talia al Ghul, and he was going about recruiting all the minor villains too. The bigger the army, the better.
Something like this...
The Secret Six are the people who turned Lex Luthor down. They all had their various reasons for doing so, with a strong focus on Catman in the beginning. Up until then, Catman had been a joke villain. Just look at his name. He’d become a punching bag for all the heroes out there. Well in Villains United we learn that Catman put the world behind him and retired to Africa, where he became a lean, mean fighting machine living among the lions on the African Savannah. And he just didn’t want to give that up for Lex Luthor.
Meanwhile, a mysterious figure named Mockingbird recruits these Six to help him disrupt Lex Luthor’s plans. He has leverage on all six of them to get them to work for him, so they do so grudgingly. Catman is the lion-like power fighter with the noble spirit and vicious dark side; Scandal is the daughter of the immortal Vandal Savage and is trying hard to make a name for herself; Ragdoll is the insane and comically loopy son of the original Ragdoll; Deadshot is the expert marksman with a nonchalant and aloof manner; Parademon is a refugee from the extradimensional nightmare planet Apokolips and Cheshire is one of the world’s deadliest assassins with her own secret agenda. The book was a long shot, and I can’t imagine anyone expected it to really work.
But the magic pen of Ms. Simone made it happen.
Famous for her work on Birds of Prey, especially with Barbara Gordon, Gail Simone is probably the most famous female writer in the comic book industry. She’s got a fantastic wit and a sense of character, and she brought it all to bear with the Secret Six. Villains United was an instant hit, though I didn’t read it until after it came out as a trade paperback. I’d heard great things on the Interwebs, so I gave it a look. I haven’t turned away since.
Going their way
Villains United made way for a second mini-series, and eventually an ongoing series launched in September 2008 to much applause. I’m serious when I say that Secret Six is universally beloved. I imagine every comic fan out there will agree that this comic, this cast of characters, is and always has been pure gold. The new series lost none of the heart but upped the adventures. Now they could have more and more stories, with new team members coming and going. Bane joined the team, breathing new life into the villain that was famous in the mid-90s for breaking Batman’s back but never did anything else. Jeanette, a new character, joined the team to add some feminine whiles and more characters came and went. The core was always Catman, Deadshot, Scandal and Ragdoll. They became a pseudo family, characters so obscure that they had no one else but came to cling to one another.
Like the various times they just went out clubbing with each other. Or when the Deadshot, Scandal and Ragdoll broke off from Bane and Jeanette to tag after Catman after he broke into a psychotic rage to track down the men who had kidnapped his infant son. And they were also at each others’ throats more often than not, but rarely was it vicious. It was just business. They were used to pointing knives at each other, they didn’t take it personally. The Secret Six existed in a world of gray mortality. Some were outright villains, some were heroic in nature and they were always sort of wondering where they fit in the great spectrum from superhero to super-villain.
The most recent stories had them going to Hell to both make peace with themselves and to recover some lost teammates.
Merchandising!
But all good things must come to an end. As I’ve written about before, DC is relaunching their entire comic book line in September. For some reason, they decided not to just bring Secret Six over into the relaunch. Hence it has been cancelled with today’s issue, #36. I don’t know what’s going to happen to most of the characters. Since Bane is going to be in The Dark Knight Returns, chances are he’s going to be getting a big push over the next year. Some of them, specifically Deadshot and King Shark, will be appearing in the new Suicide Squad book. I’ll be picking it up because it seems like it might be the spiritual successor of Secret Six.
We shall see.
Fortunately, Gail Simone will still be writing for DC, so hopefully someday she’ll be able to bring everyone back.
So how does the final issue stack up? It’s alright overall, with a couple of great moments. It’s the second half a 2-part story to finish off the series. The team recently returned from Hell, where Bane learned that his soul would go to Hell for his various crimes. However, Bane had always thought himself a noble and honorable person. He lived by a solid moral code.
Batman's back was not as solid
But now that he knows he is going to Hell no matter what he does, Bane has decided that he must truly break Batman to make his life mean anything. He has since learned about emotions and teamwork while with the Six, and he’s decided that breaking Batman’s back was just a physical set-back. To truly break the Batman, one must take out his heart, meaning his sidekicks and allies. So he recruits the Six to help him kill Red Robin, Batgirl, Commissioner Gordon and others. They go along with it because they support Bane.
The issue is littered with flashbacks, giving each character one last moment to shine. Catman and Deadshot have a chance to reflect on the friendship they just can’t acknowledge. Ragdoll just comes out and tells them to suck it up and admit they like hanging out together. Scandal gets one last romantic moment to be with the women she loves, and Jeanette gets to witness that brief happy ending. King Shark gets to eat a guy. Then they all come together for Bane’s plan, ready to support one another one last time.
However, they are double-crossed by the Penguin, who has called in enough favors that the Justice League, Teen Titans and dozens of other superheroes have converged on the Secret Six’s warehouse hideout. There’s a homeless family living in the abandoned warehouse, so the Six have not only a bargaining chip, but one last moral quandary for them to overcome. Is it OK to just kill those hostages in cold blood? Are they heroic and moral enough to let them go?
What about surrender? Batman, Superman and every other hero worth a damn has gathered against them. Why not just give up and go to prison? They’re bad guys, right? Why fight?
That's why. Honestly, this one panel is just so beautiful. It comes from the same scene in Villains United as that giant army of super-villains I posted up above. Catman, this former joke, reaches deep down within himself in this one breath of a moment and comes out fighting. Poetry, people.
So the Secret Six go out in a blaze of glory! They juice up on Bane’s Venom serum (which Bane has made a point to not use in the entirety of the run. It’s a drug, after all). They fight and hold their own against the superheroes, for a little bit at least. The Huntess gets to narrate the final fight, as all the heroes sort of recognize that this isn’t some ordinary super-villain brawl. The heroes recognize the depth, humanity and family that they’re fighting, but they don’t stop fighting. The Six are quickly defeated to be shipped off to whatever future awaits.
A final epilogue reveals that this was Bane’s plan all along. He needed to free himself from this family unit so that he could become hardcore again – but he couldn’t do it himself. He couldn’t just leave them. So he set up this plan to kill Batman’s allies, got everyone involved and he knew that the Penguin would betray them to the superheroes. He knew they would have to make a final stand.
They fought like warrior poets. They fought like Scotsmen. And they won their honor, if not their comic book.
There’s a New Spider-Man…and He Might Be Kinda Cool, Maybe
The new face behind the Ultimate Spidey mask has been revealed: Miles Morales, a half-black, half-Hispanic superhero. He’ll be taking over for Peter Parker, who was killed by the Green Goblin and the Sinister Six in the recent ‘Death of Spider-Man’ story arc. I’m willing to give Miles a chance, even though I think this entire ‘Death of Spider-Man’ idea is just stupid and should never have been done. Killing Peter Parker at this point in his Ultimate Spider-Man career reeks of a marketing stunt. Especially since the reveal that Peter would die, how he died and the identity of Miles were all spoiled in news stories in USA Today before the actual comics comes out on Wednesday.
But I suppose there is potential in injecting some new blood into the Spider-Man legacy and seeing what can be done.
Miles Morales, our new Ultimate Spider-Man
First of all, let me explain that this isn’t the ‘real’ Spider-Man. The character that debuted in the 1960s is still going strong in Amazing Spider-Man as part of the normal Marvel Universe. We’re talking about the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Back in 2000, Marvel decided to create a new line of books told with a contemporary style. They retold the origins of all their popular characters, putting them in a more modern world and focusing on character. Most of these early books were amazing, especially Ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimates (new name for the Avengers).
The Ultimate Marvel Universe focused on characters first, superheroes second. The likes of Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and more were treated as real people dealing with the realistic problems that come with being a superhero. Peter Parker has to juggle high school along with getting a job and a girlfriend. They were fun, adventurous stories with a strong heart. Readers cared just as much about Peter’s social life, if not more, than they did about Spider-Man fighting super-villains.
One of my all-time favorite Ultimate Spidey scenes involves Peter and his friends sitting around a campfire, when one of them suddenly discovers that she is a mutant and she freaks out and runs away. Some of the friends know that Peter is Spidey, and some don’t, and those that know want to protect his secret identity. But one of those who doesn’t know (or at least they think he doesn’t know) just stands up and says something like, ‘boy, wouldn’t it be great if there was a superhero around who could go comfort our mutant friend, wink wink’. It’s a really powerful and fun moment for all involved, and shows depths and care in crafting these characters.
Credit series creator and author for 160 issues Brian Michael Bendis. He writes very fun dialogue.
The new Spider-Man costume
Most recently, Ultimate Spider-Man has been a good a read as ever under Bendis’ pen. Peter’s social life was still the primary focus, and things were looking up since most New Yorkers supported him as a hero. Even notorious skinflint newspaperman J. Jonah Jameson had come around to support Spidey after finding out he was really Peter Parker, and having his life saved by Peter. There was even a fun subplot in which the Human Torch and Iceman, two other teenage heroes, had moved into Aunt May’s home because they had nowhere else to go. Peter had pals to hang out with!
There was even this cute new girl at school who just happened to be one of Spidey’s super-villains – but Peter was going to be nice to her at school. I really wanted to see where that story would go!
But then the people at Marvel decided that Peter Parker had to die.
When the Human Torch (of the normal Marvel Universe) was killed in a storyline earlier this year, that too was covered in USA Today and Marvel got a big bump in comic sales. I don’t have the direct quote, but some marketing guy at Marvel afterwards said they were going to kill a character every quarter because it clearly led to more publicity and sales. Such a statement is insanely stupid. But here we are and Ultimate Peter Parker is dead, and it got covered in USA Today.
Somewhere on the web, Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort explained the following:
Everybody takes a blow to the gut at some point where a story they thought was going left suddenly is going right because someone had a better take on it. But those turns don’t happen against the will of the creators involved. If Brian was absolutely dead set on not killing Ultimate Spider-Man, it wouldn’t have happened, or he wouldn’t have written it. If we were convinced that Ultimate Spider-Man must die and he didn’t want to do it, it would have been Jeph Loeb or Jonathan Hickman or Nick Spencer. But the fact that Brian wrote it should tell you that he got on board with the idea. He came to embrace it. The first moment it came up I’m sure it sent a chill down his spine, but it’s a story. He’s a storyteller sitting there, thinking about it, tossing the ideas around and seeing if it works. And he found a way it worked for him.
Basically, it wasn’t Bendis’ idea to kill Peter Parker, and if Bendis didn’t want to kill him, they’d find somebody else to write it. That’s sort of a punch to the gut for a long-standing creator. Marketing trumps creativity!
So yeah, I think killing Peter Parker was a dumb move. His stories were still very fun to read, he had a lot going on in his life and there were no signs that his end was near when the Secret Six suddenly comes around to kill him.
But this doesn’t mean I won’t give Miles Morales a try. First of all, it will still be written by Bendis. That guy is great. One thing I’ve read about this new Spider-Man is that they’re going to keep a lot of the main themes, especially ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’, they’re just going to try it out in someone else’s world. I think I can get behind that idea. Peter Parker has almost always been Spider-Man, and his supporting cast has always been the same: Aunt May, Mary Jane, Jameson, etc. The world of Spider-Man is a comfortable and familiar world.
Where is the harm in visiting another world? It sounds like they’ll be keeping a lot of the same themes of Spider-Man, but put them in a different environment with new characters and challenges. What does Miles Morales’ family think of him becoming the new Spider-Man? How did he make his costume? How did he get his powers? What does he do with them? How will Jameson and the Daily Bugle react?
I think it could be a very fun series. I’m just upset that it had to happen over Peter Parker’s dead body.
My Sinister 6
Spider-Man has one of the wildest Rogues Galleries in all of comics, literally. Nearly all of them are based off some kind of wild animal. That makes for a nice consistency. And one key component of Spidey’s baddies over the years has been the Sinister Six. Back in 1964, six of Spidey’s greatest villains teamed up to take him on as a group, because none of them could beat him on their own. Essentially they all sat down and someone said, “Gentlemen, we’re going to kill Spider-Man!”
It didn’t work. They lost.
The first Sinister Six was composed of Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Electro, Sandman, Vulture and Kraven the Hunter. That team stayed pretty consistent throughout the years, with a few additions and subtractions here and there. They basically always teamed up to kill Spider-Man, though sometimes also to commit crimes.
Well today I’m going to debut my vision of an even better Sinister Six! The idea of some of the big bad guys teaming up just to kill Spider-Man is passe. Nowadays the Sinister Six should be more working-class, more street-level guys banding together to accomplish something. Kill Spider-Man, sure; but being super criminals should come first.
It should be no surprise that DC Comics’ Secret Six is a big influence on what a villain team should be.
1. Lady Octopus: Villainous mastermind and brains of the operation!
She's all hands
It’s true! There’s a Lady Octopus! She is an obscure character (my favorite kind!) who hasn’t been seen much since she debuted in the mid-90s as a part of the Clone Saga. That makes her perfect for revamping into something new and spectacular! Just cut away all the crappy baggage she had back in the day and make her sleek, new and exciting. Get rid of the armored costume and give her something more subtle and a little bit sexy. Keep the Doc Ock arms, but make them more stream-lined and less mechanical. And pink hair is always cool. When she debuted, she was all about Cyberspace, back when the Internet was called the Information Superhighway and nobody really knew what it would become. They can keep the interest in the Internet, just don’t get insane about it. She’d be the new mastermind of the team, the one who brings everyone together for her nefarious schemes!
2. The Spot: Transport and some comic relief.
Make it rain!
My faithful readers first met the Spot on my list of 6 Favorite Comic Book Characters, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that I’d want him for my team. Should I ever get to try my hand at writing a Marvel comic, I have big plans for the Spot. He has the super power of creating portals out of thin air and then using them to transport himself and anything else over great distances. So clearly he’d be great as a teleport-for-hire sort of guy. Saves the team from having to rent a truck, or something. So he’d be great for that. He’s also an amazing visual. The Spot is just fun to look at. A recent appearance made him something of an arrogant comic relief, and I’d keep that while also giving him some of the recent back bone he’s developed.
3. The Rhino: Strong silent type, the muscle.
Run for your life!!
Just look at that picture, read those captions. The Rhino is no longer the big, blundering fool he used to be. There was a story in Amazing Spider-Man not too long ago that had the Rhino retiring from crime because he’d fallen in love. He went to prison, served his time and then got out and married the woman. Then some Rhino wannabe came on the scene with a new mechanical suit and challenged the old Rhino to a fight. Spider-Man stepped in and had a cool scene where he told the old Rhino to go home to his wife, Spidey would handle this new guy because that’s what Spider-Man does. And Rhino listened! It was a brilliant story, really humanizing this long-standing joke character.
Then a few issues later, the bad guys came back into the picture and killed the Rhino’s new wife. He went off the deep end then, becoming the monster you see in the picture above. So now he’s tough, strong and super angry. I’d keep all those things going with Rhino on the Sinister Six.
4. Hobgoblin: Insane, funny wildcard.
Take that, Spider-Man!
Another character from my list of favorites, the Phil Urich Hobgoblin. This choice is mostly fanboyism. I love the character, I want to see more of him and this would be the perfect opportunity. It would give Phil a higher profile. Hobgoblin has a long-standing history with the Sinister Six, so throw him back on the team. He’s wildly crazy, in a fun way, and would be the perfect wildcard (like Charlie Kelly). Marvel is trying to make this Hobgoblin a legitimate character, and I’m all for it!
5. Scorpion: Tough, angry veteran.
And that!
Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, has been around forever. He was even Venom for a few years. But he’s back now as the Scorpion, with a badass costume and a return to glory as a bitter, angry, henchman-for-hire. He was originally a private eye hired by J. Jonah Jameson to get some dirt on Spider-Man. Then JJJ went the extra mile and paid for some Science to turn Gargan into the Scorpion. Gargen’s been half-insane and bitter at JJJ ever since. Plus as a kid, I loved scorpions (still do), so this guy was always one of my favorites. He was never a member of the comic book Sinister Six, but he was on the cartoon show, when they were called the Insidious Six.
One has to assume that FOX Kids in the 90s just didn’t like the word ‘sinister’. They also wouldn’t let Spider-Man punch anybody.
6. The Shocker: Heart of the team, the put-upon every-man just trying to get by.
Not the 'shocker' you're thinking about
The Shocker, Herman Schultz, is the ultimate working-class super-villain; so he’s a real hero of mine. This is a guy who just wants to make a buck. He’s not in this game to be a super-villain or ‘kill Spider-Man’. He’s just a crook doing his thing. And that’s fantastic. I want to write a Shocker solo series. I want more Shocker. Here is a schlub, a working stiff, a guy that readers can really relate to. He was a safe-cracker who invented a pair of gauntlets that release a vibrational frequency that would destroy the safes. But they vibrate so powerfully he also had to design a protective suit for himself. So that’s why he looks like a costume super-villain. His costume actually serves a function!
So The Shocker would be the star of my Sinister Six series. He’s the sort of guy you can write about taking the subway, or standing in line for coffee or complaining about making rent for the month. He’s perfect.
And special thanks for friend-of-the-site Alyssa for this list suggestion. If you have a suggestion for my Lists of Six, put it in the comments!
San Diego Comic-Con Wrap-Up
I already wrote about the epic return of Stilt-Man, but I wanted to add a few more exciting developments to come out of the San Diego Comic-Con. It’s the largest pop culture event of the year, with big news in comics, movies and TV. Someday Henchman-4-Hire will have a booth there, or I’ll personally have a booth there. But for now, I enjoy cruising the comic blogosphere and reading up on news from my favorite sites.
Here are some key tidbits, both good and bad.
1. The Return of the Scarlet Spider: At one panel, Marvel released the following teaser image for an upcoming Spider-Man story for the end of the year. No news, just the picture. And it’s a very exciting picture featuring the Scarlet Spider’s iconic hoodie.
Hopefully the comic won't just be Scarlet Spider on fire
Everybody knows about Spider-Man. Well a big story in the 90s Spider-Man comics was the Clone Saga, in which an evil scientist made a clone of Peter Parker who had all of his memories and all of his spider-powers. The clone named himself Ben Reilly, and he adopted his own spider-identity: The Scarlet Spider. Everybody hated the Clone Saga. It started small but it just kept dragging on and on for years. Marvel kept going back and forth over who was the real Peter Parker and who was the clone. Eventually Spider-Man was revealed to be the real deal, and Scarlet Spider was revealed to be the clone – then he died.
Poor guy
I loved the Clone Saga, but then my brother and I came into it at the very end. We weren’t around for the story dragging on and on. Some of our first comics were from the Clone Saga, when we used to go to the comic shops in Syracuse and cruise the back issue bins. Cippy loved Scarlet Spider, and I definitely enjoyed the exploits of Ben Reilly. For a brief period, he filled in as Spider-Man. The Scarlet Spider costume is my absolute favorite alternate Spidey costume.
So the prospect of Scarlet Spider coming back in some way is kind of exciting. He’s appeared in some side comics, but Ben Reilly hasn’t come back from the dead or anything. Another character started using the name, but he has his own costume and his own deal. Having the real deal back, hoodie and all, would be pretty sweet.
2. Incredible Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.: Everything about this is brilliant, from the idea to a title that should have been thought up ages ago. Except that it’s not for me. I hate the idea, it’s just brilliant. I don’t even want ‘S.M.A.S.H.’ to stand for anything. It’s awesome as-is. This is going to be a cartoon show starring the Hulk and all the recent Hulk-esque characters from Marvel.
Crappy image, but such is con-stuff
Over the past few years, the Incredible Hulk cast has ballooned from just Bruce Banner and his jade giant alter ego. There’s Red Hulk She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk, Skaar: Son of the Hulk, another She-Hulk and A-Bomb, who is a Rick Jones that can turn into the Abomination. It’s dumb and I haven’t been reading. I prefer my Hulk to be a loner, where he’s the only Hulk around. Like in the classic TV show. So I don’t know what sort of bull is going to be flying in this cartoon show.
I just love the title.
3. Trailer for the new Airbender cartoon: Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the best cartoon series ever. It’s a three-season story that spans one long tale from beginning to end, about a 12-year-old boy who must embrace his destiny and save the world. It’s not just a kiddie show. You will be hard-pressed to find such an epic tale anywhere else short of books. If you have kids, make them watch Avatar: The Last Airbender. Watch it with them. You will not be disappointed.
That being said, here’s the trailer for the sequel!
4. LEGO has Marvel and DC licenses: Soon we will live in a world with LEGO X-Men, Avengers, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk and Deadpool. It’s a nerd dream come true. All my hopes and dreams from childhood come to life! I already proudly displayed my LEGO Batmobile on my Geek Wall. To have other superhero LEGOS is just giddy fun.
Problem is, aside from Batman and his various vehicles and cave, few other superheroes have actual models to build. So we’ll see what they can come up with. I have faith.
Tiny little bits of awesome
Henchman-4-Hire 