Category Archives: Marvel
Review: X-Factor #243
Now we’ve come to the Polaris issue! I think every character who is leaving X-Factor is getting their own issue in this ‘Breaking Points’ storyline, and now we’ve arrived at the Polaris one. It’s a good issue, revealing new facts in Polaris’ already twisted backstory while providing some nice supporting work by the other characters. But it kind of comes out of nowhere. Was anybody really eager to hear some new convoluted twist to Polaris’ life? And other than hardcore Polaris fans, was anybody really interested in seeing a whole issue dedicated to her problems?
X-Factor #243
Polaris, and to an extent Havok, have been non-characters for so long. It’s nice of writer Peter David to try and make something of them, but I think it’s too little too late, especially considering where they’re going.
Comic rating: 4/5: Good.
This is a solid issue of X-Factor. It’s got some good humor, some great character work and tells a complete story. It also builds on a few ongoing storylines and teases the next issue, which looks to focus on Banshee, though I hope she’s staying in the book. My problem is with Polaris, and I’ll explain more after the jump. She’s such a messed up, blank slate character at this point. How does it help her for PAD to add some crazy new wrinkles to her backstory…unless he thinks he’s smoothing them out. Her character has been through Hell, both mentally and physically, over the past few years. She’s due for a smoothing out. But I don’t know if that is accomplished in this issue.
Still, like I said, it’s a pretty fun issue of X-Factor. The team acts like a group of friends/frenemies just trying to help each other get by. And that’s the real strength of this series.
Cannonball Steps Up Big Time!
This is kind of a minor thing, but apparently the superhero Cannonball is going to join the Avengers in the new Marvel NOW! relaunch!
That’s him in the upper left hand corner
That’s a set of three covers from the new series, by writer Jonathan Hickman. There are a few new characters – as well as every single Avenger from this summer’s big movie – but the important one, to me, is Cannonball. Not that I’m a huge Cannonball fan or anything, I just generally like the idea of minor characters like that stepping up to do something new and bigger than their usual fare.
Plus, I remember back in the 90s when Cannonball ‘graduated’ from X-Force onto the X-Men. That was treated like a really big deal at the time, and I enjoyed him on the team. I miss the days when being on a certain team meant something, as did shifting from one team to the other. Still, perhaps you’ll enjoy the look at the new Avengers lineup. I’m sure it’s going to last…4 months.
Correct Me If I’m Wrong, But Joss Whedon Has Made Some Awesome TV Shows, Right?
So the news is all over the Internet that The Avengers director Joss Whedon is going to helm a TV show based around SHIELD, the super spy organization under the command of Samuel L. Jackson. I think this is awesome news. We all know Whedon as a geek god, and I’ve fairly consistently loved everything he’s ever done; from his Astonishing X-Men comic book series to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog to pretty much all of his TV shows.
Just because Fox completely botched Firefly and audience didn’t pick up on Dollhouse does not lessen their awesomeness. I haven’t had any faith in American TV audiences since Dancing with the Stars became a hit. But that’s being generous – I lost my faith in American TV audiences long before that.
Fortunately, my faith in worldwide movie audiences returned tenfold this summer!
To the the tune of $1.5 billion
Alright, so I don’t have any new details of the show, but in case you get your nerd news from me, here’s a run down: Joss and his frequent collaborator/brother Jed Whedon are going to do the writing, alongside friend Maurissa Tanchareon. Joss may even direct the pilot, though I think he’s going to be more of an overseer than an actual in-charge guy. There’s also the usual smattering of producers and executive producers. But typically I only care about the creative types, and this SHIELD show has some of the best creative types in the business!
And there are so many different ways they could make a SHIELD show.
Including a crossover with ‘How I Met Your Mother’
First off, just make one in the vein of the other Whedon shows – action comedy with some really great drama and ongoing storylines. Or maybe they’ll go total drama…or total comedy. I don’t know, because those fools have yet to call me to consult. I would recommend following their action comedy/great drama route. It’s worked perfectly in the past, and Whedon’s work simply has that voice. Heck, The Avengers itself is a perfect example of his style. Perhaps that’s why I liked the movie so much.
But personally, I think we’ve already seen more than a taste of what a SHIELD TV show will be like. And there’s even more coming on The Avengers DVD when it comes out at the end of September. You all may have missed this over the course of the various Marvel heroes movies…but they’ve kind of been making a ton of mini-SHIELD episodes for fun.
For example, here is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer starring Agent Phil Coulson:
That was particularly awesome.
Or what about The Consultant, set near the end of The Incredible Hulk. Coulson and Agent Jasper Sitwell having a chat in a diner.
Now we all know that Coulson probably won’t be available for a SHIELD TV show. But that Jasper Sitwell guy is popping up more and more. He’s also a main character in the new SHIELD mini-sode set to debut on The Avengers DVD. It’s called ‘Item 47’ and is about a young couple who recover one of the alien ray-guns from the end of the film. Sitwell is sent in to deal with them. The full clip isn’t online yet – it was, but they took it down – but here’s a quick clip.
I’ve seen Item 47 in its fullest, and let me tell you, it is awesome! It’s funny, it’s action-packed and Sitwell is amazing. And there’s more than just him on SHIELD. We get a little look at the inner workings of the agency.
So my theory is that Marvel has been preparing their SHIELD television show all along. And now they’re ready to make it a full-time thing.
Dog Logan Set to Return…Again
Does anybody remember Dog Logan, Wolverine’s half-brother? He was in the comic Origin from 2001, when they revealed that Wolverine was really James Howlett, a sickly boy who was born in Canada in the late 19th century. James was the illegitimate son of Mrs. Howlett and the groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. Whereas Dog was Thomas Logan’s actual son. It was a cool twist, believe me. I liked Origin.
Wolverine isn’t the one you think
Well apparently sometime last year…or this year, who knows…Dog returned in the pages of Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine because the two heroes went on some jolly quest through time and managed to bring Dog to the present day. I didn’t read it. The comic was one of those random mini-series that Marvel puts out because having the names Wolverine and Spider-Man on a comic book cover is sure to sell. That Dog returned in that comic, let alone came to the present day, was a fact that seemed to avoid my notice. Apparently he’s since been living out in the wilds of Canada doing research on his half-brother the superhero and headmaster of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
He also likes to cook and eat actual wolverines, because Dog is nothing if not a believer in poetic justice.
His beard appreciates his wit
Well writer Jason Aaron – friend of the site – is going to use Dog in upcoming issues of Wolverine & The X-Men. He said as much in a recent interview with CBR.
On the story side of the coin, Dog Logan should shake up the series in a major way in the wake of its “Avengers Vs. X-Men” crossover tales. The villain was a major player – and major mystery – in Marvel’s successful “Origin” series where it was revealed that Wolverine had a half-brother, but since then the character’s appearances have been few and shrouded in secrecy. Most of that was by Aaron’s design. “I’ve always had plans for Dog, ever since having him pop up in ‘Astonishing Spider-Man And Wolverine,” the writer said. “And I’m really excited about the chance to dig into his character and really figure out what makes this guy tick. He’s one of those deeply-flawed sorts of characters that I love to write. And while he will be coming back into Logan’s life to raise some hell, I want him to seem like much more than just some mustache-twirling bad guy with a grudge against his brother. I think Dog is a pretty tragic figure, so I want him to be a much more complicated villain. But he’s also still a Logan. And Wolverine’s big brother. So I would expect there to be plenty of asskicking going on.”
That should be pretty cool. I always thought Dog had a lot of potential, especially since he wasn’t overused. He hasn’t had any major appearances since Origin, after all – though someone decided that Dog would grow up to be Sabretooth when they made the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That was suspected in Origin, but thankfully Marvel never went that route.
Though how Aaron is going to establish Dog as his own character instead of just another version of Sabretooth/Romulus/Daken/any evil Wolverine ever is anybody’s guess…
I Hate When Comic Book Advertising Goes Negative
Let me ask you a question, both comic book fans and non comic fans alike. The Amazing Spider-Man is about to reach the milestone issue #700 this fall. Would you be more or less inclined to buy the comic if the writer went around telling everyone that you’re going to hate it?
Writer Dan Slott seems to think that we’re going to hate what he does to the character in Amazing Spider-Man #700.
I already kind of hate the cover
This kind of comic book advertising – or hype – annoys me to no end. So why is Slott doing it? Why is Marvel Comics doing it? Why even write the story if you know that fans are going to be angered and upset with you? But then for that matter, what is the balance between keeping your fans happy and entertained vs. writing compelling and interesting stories?
The answer to all of these questions is easy. Anger is an emotion, and as long as they get some emotion out of comic book fans, that’s good writing. Right? Makes sense to me. But why not instead try for the happier emotions like love or delight? Why use Amazing Spider-Man #700 to write a story that you know the fans of the character are going to hate? But I digress.
I’m not trying to say that comic book writers should be afraid to write stories that anger the fans, that they should never push the boundaries and try for something new and different. My problem is with then going ahead and using the potential anger as a selling point.
Here is what Slott said in a recent interview about what he has planned for Amazing Spider-Man #700:
I’m really happy with our 1-2-3 punch of #698, #699 and #700. I think people are not going to forget this one. This story will raise some really strong emotions in Spider-Man fans. It will probably be one of the biggest things I ever do to a Marvel Comics character in my career. I don’t know if people will start making little dart boards of me or not for this one. I’ve said it before, but I’m going into hiding after issue #700 comes out. I’m not looking at message boards. I’m not poking my head up out of that hole, because what happens in issue #700 is big!
He’s joking about having to go into hiding because of how angry the fans will be at him. How is that funny? Why can’t he say something nice about the comic? Even with this big change coming, why not hype it up as something awesome and cool? Why be negative about it? This frustrates me. When I pick up Amazing Spider-Man #700 in a few months, I’m going to be worried and afraid to see what happens. I would prefer to be excited and elated to see what happens.
(And that’s assuming USA Today doesn’t spoil the change a week or a day in advance, like Marvel is wont to do these days.)
The story, for anyone curious, is that longtime Spider-Man arch-nemesis Doctor Octopus is on his death bed. He has only hours left to live, and he’s horrified at how little he’s accomplished with his life. But in those final hours, Doc Ock discovers Spider-Man’s secret identity. What he does with this knowledge is apparently going to anger all of us Spider-Man fans.
Are we sure he can do anything more than just wet himself?
Let me explain my position a bit more. Comic book fans hate change. It’s why all the most popular superheroes remain relatively the same today as they were when they first appeared decades ago. Comic book fans like reading about their favorite heroes doing awesome things. If you change the character or change the things they do, it’s not the same comic anymore. It’s not the same enjoyment.
On the flipside, comic book writers have a job to do. They want to tell new and exciting stories about character that they love just as much as the fans. But if they can’t change or shake up the status quo, the stories are going to get really stale really fast. How many times can Batman fight the Joker before you’re just reading the same story over and over again? Why not let the Joker reap some real, life-altering carnage? Why not let the Joker do something so huge and evil that Batman is forever changed?
A good example of this fans vs. writers conundrum happened only a few years ago in Spider-Man comics, a story called One More Day.
You’re not reaching hard enough!
In 2007, Marvel decided that they needed to make Spider-Man more appealing to younger readers, because that’s just good business. The comic book industry can’t survive on its old, aging fans forever. Kids need to read comic books too. But at the time, Spider-Man was happily married to Mary Jane Watson, and had just revealed to the world that he was secretly Peter Parker. So his identity wasn’t a secret anymore. Marvel’s line of thought was that kids don’t want to read about an old married guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. They want a young, single, happy-go-lucky Spidey! But they couldn’t kill Mary Jane or have them get divorced, because nobody wants to read about Spider-Man the widower or Spider-Man the divorcee.
So Marvel decided to tell a story in which Spider-Man uses black magic to reshape his life.
With Spider-Man’s identity known to the world, his arch enemies send an assassin to kill Peter Parker. But the sniper’s bullet instead shoots Peter’s beloved Aunt May, and her life hangs in the balance. After exhausting all other possibilities to save her, Spider-Man then makes a deal with the Devil in order to save Aunt May’s life. The Devil’s fee is Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage. He wants the soul or essence of marriage between them. They eventually agree to pay this price, and the Devil uses his magic to save Aunt May. He then makes everybody forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. And he changes history so that Peter Parker was late to his wedding day and he and Mary Jane never actually got hitched. In order to maintain two decades worth of stories where they were married, Marvel said that Peter and Mary Jane were only ever in a long term committed relationship.
Spider-Man fans the world over HATED this story. And for good reason.
Because he made a DEAL with the DEVIL!
First of all, people actually liked Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage. It wasn’t like the fans wanted the two of them to break up, the fans were happy with the union. So sacrificing the marriage in the name of sales is just revolting. Second, Peter Parker MADE A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL in order to make this happen. And it wasn’t part of some larger story where this choice came back to haunt him in the end and he regretted the whole thing or learned a lesson. This was a one time thing. Marvel wanted Peter to be single again, so they just thought up the first mystical being who might have the kind of power and magic to make it happen. It didn’t seem to matter to Marvel that Peter Parker as a good and heroic character would be forever tainted by MAKING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL!
I know comic book fans who stopped reading Spider-Man after One More Day, fans who still hold a grudge against Marvel and refuse to go back to Spider-Man comics because of it. I don’t blame them.
And the point I’m trying to make with this example is that comic book fans will hold a grudge and will stop buying your comic if you write a bad story and piss them off.
Still, I want to emphasize that I’m not saying that writers should never anger their fans. It’s an old rule when writing fiction that you hurt the ones you love, especially when it comes to character. If you never change the status quo of the character or hurt them in some way, you’ll never have interesting conflict in your stories. So by all means, Slott can do whatever he wants to Spider-Man in issue #700. Let the fans get mad. Maybe it’ll turn me off reading Amazing Spider-Man for awhile, but I know I always come back eventually.
I’m just saying that if you’re writing a comic book that you know will harm the character and anger the fans, maybe you shouldn’t brag about it.
((P.S. My guess is that Slott is going to kill Mary Jane!))
Henchman-4-Hire