Category Archives: Marvel
Good News, Everybody! Stingray Isn’t Dead After All!
I was worried for a minute there. But we can rest easy, folks.
Stingray is probably my all-time favorite Avenger. It’s all in the costume. That is one damn cool superhero costume. And I love his reserve status, this ordinary dude who sometimes helps out the Avengers when it comes to watery stuff. I love that he designed his suit for his job as an oceanographer, and first and foremost, he’s an oceanographer, but will help out as a superhero when necessary.
And should Marvel Comics ever come calling, I have a tight 5 to 6 issue Stingray pitch to offer. Seriously, call me.
He flies through the seas with the greatest of ease
Last month, it appeared that his longtime ally, Namor the Submariner, killed Stingray in Avengers #9, by writer Jason Aaron. I was devastated. It’s been a rough year for me and having my favorite superheroes killed.
The issue opens with a really awesome scene of Stingray fighting Tiger Shark, drawn by David Marquez.
Brothers-in-law
But then a new evil Namor shows up, having once again declared war on the surface world, or some such. When Stingray balks at kissing Namor’s ring, Namor beats him within an inch of his life and orders his war sharks to kill Stingray. It’s pretty brutal.
Namor is dead to me
And that looked to be the end. Stingray is a minor character, and having him killed to kick off some big Namor storyline in Avengers is a perfectly reasonable use of a minor character. That’s what happens to minor characters.
And fans of such minor characters, like me, just have to deal with that fact.
But then the follow up issue, Avengers #10, came out this week. Captain America seems to reassure me personally that everything is OK and the world isn’t as dark and horrible as I’d feared.
Are there two more beautiful words than “damn near”?
Stingray doesn’t actually appear in the new issue, but that comment from Cap is good enough for me! He lives! Stingray lives!
For now…
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My 6 Favorite Comic Characters Created by Stan Lee
Stan “The Man” Lee passed away this week at the age of 95. He had a good, long life, full of imagination and storytelling, two things I hold very near and dear. Not only was he instrumental in revolutionizing the comic book industry — which dominates my life, hopes and dreams — but he’s been enjoying a delightfully fun resurgence in pop culture over the past two decades with his movie cameos.
Stan Lee is a legend. And the best way I can honor him is by geeking out over some of my favorite comic book characters!
1922 – 2018
I never had the pleasure of meeting Stan Lee. I think the most I ever managed was seeing him board an escalator at New York Comic-Con once. That’s good enough for me. I’ve never been one for hero worship, especially with famous people and celebrities. But there’s no denying that Stan Lee created a fictional world that means everything to me, and has inspired me to dedicate my own life to creating awesome fictional worlds. Gotta give the guy props for that.
So join me after the jump for my favorite Stan Lee creations in comics! And please feel free to share your own in the comments!
Why Is Inferno Still a Thing?
In honor of Stan Lee, I’m going to rant a little bit about a concept he had a hand in creating all those awesome decades ago.
Marvel Rising is a new animated franchise starring young and awesome female superheroes kicking butt and being all manner of cool. It stars Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl, among others, and will hopefully find much success.
But why the hell is the character Inferno in the cartoon? In fact, why is Inferno still a thing at all?
The Inhumans are supposed to have crazy unique powers!
For those who don’t know, Inferno is a young, Inhuman male with fire powers. He was introduced to Marvel Comics a few years ago at the head of Marvel’s Inhumans push, when Marvel was trying desperately to make the Inhumans a thing because they didn’t have the movie rights to the X-Men. You remember that, right? There were dozens of Inhumans comics, they had a big crossover with the X-Men and also a really crappy, very poorly received television show.
And right at the heart of it was Inferno, real name Dante Pertuz.
The doll that has drawn my ire
Now, I’ll admit, I haven’t read every single Inferno comic, and maybe he’s this really awesome character and I’m not giving him enough credit. Or maybe I’m completely right, and he’s a worthless, paper-thin nobody with the most basic of fire powers.
Honestly, I think that’s my biggest problem: the fire powers. I had a problem with it when Inferno was first introduced, and I have a problem with it now that he’s starring in a cartoon show.
Why the hell did they give him basic fire powers?! And then an incredibly basic codename to go along with them? Marvel is home of the Human Torch, the definitive fire powers character in all of popular culture. And just look at that name ‘Human Torch’. It’s so unique, and so unlike modern day superhero naming conventions. Nowadays they’d just call a fire character “Torch” or “Inferno”.
If you’re going to launch a cool new animated series devoted to promoting female characters, and you want to add a couple boys, why do you bypass all the awesome teenage male superheroes at Marvel in favor of Inferno? Is there some vestige of creator at Marvel still pushing the Inhumans? Somebody take cartoons away from that person.
If you want to use Inhumans, how about Mosaic? He’s not doing anything right now.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/10/18
If anybody is curious what to get me for Christmas, I will gladly accept an infinite number of official Multiple Man action figures. We now live in a world where they exist, and I need to embrace and celebrate that fact.
Other than that, pretty solid batch of comics this week! Batman, Runaways and X-23 deliver the goods, like usual, but the battle for best comic came down to a delightfully fun Iceman — featuring the first in-canon team up of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends — and the mind-warpingly terrific first issue of Grant Morrison’s The Green Lantern. I gave Comic Book of the Week to GL because it’s just slightly more momentous.
Power pose
Meanwhile, is anybody watching that Titans TV show? I don’t have the DC Streaming Service thing, but I might check it out if anybody has good things to say about Titans. Having a legitimate live action Robin storyline is not something I can pass up.
Comic Reviews: Batman #58, The Green Lantern #1, Iceman #3, Runaways #15 and X-23 #6.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/3/18
What a week for comics. I’m on vacation, so I’m feeling extra lazy. But I still found a couple of OK to good comics to read — and one really bad one! If you were waiting for me to turn on Dan Slott, your time has come!
But we’ve also got the end of Multiple Man (or is it the beginning), and more Heroes in Crisis. Comic Book of the Week goes to West Coast Avengers for another jaunty adventure!
Don’t eat her!
Meanwhile, I stopped reading Jason Aaron’s Avengers awhile ago, so I apparently missed it when he killed Stingray last month, one of my favorite characters and a frequent shout-out dude on this blog. Man. What the freakin’ heck. I just can’t have nice things. We’re still one issue away from finding out if Mimic dies in Extermination.
If that happens, then this year in comics has killed Mimic, Stingray, Phil Urich, possibly Simon Baz and maybe sorta Multiple Man again. This just isn’t my year…
Comic Reviews: Heroes in Crisis #2, Multiple Man #5, Tony Stark – Iron Man #5 and West Coast Avengers #3.
