Category Archives: Marvel
The Spot is the Greatest Super-Villain of All Time, of All Time
The Internet was invented for videos like the two I’m about to show you. A group called Lumberjack Films has created a two-video proposal to Marvel Comics to give one of my favorite super-villains, The Spot, either his own movie or his own comic series. And they don’t just talk about how cool The Spot is (and he’s very cool), they discovered an incredible use for the Greenman spandex costume. It has to be seen to be believed. Comic book fans, stand up and applaud these fine gentlemen.
And then The Spot himself stops by to explain to Marvel why he is such an awesome comic book character.
This is brilliant! If the Internet handed out awards, I would give these guys all of them! I wish I had genius like this. Lumberjack Films are my new heroes.
Long live The Spot!
The Spot saving us from that menace, Spider-Man
Thanks to Bleeding Cool for the find.
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.
Review: Punisher #5
Much like last issue, Punisher #5 continues the story at a snail’s pace without any real momentous happenings or interactions between the cast. Couple that with an incredible leap of 100 days in time from the last issue, and I’m starting to get bored. Nothing is happening except for a surface-level exploration of the characters. And nothing at all is happening with the Punisher himself. He remains a nearly-mute specter who may or may not be killing criminals.
Punisher #5
When is something going to happen!?
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
Though again, like last issue, I’ll say that it’s a well-constructed comic. The writing is solid and the art is sufficiently moody. The wintery snow effects are amazing. So it’s a well put-together comic, but that doesn’t guarantee a good comic. Nothing happens in this issue. Nothing of significance at least. None of the characters have any breakthroughs. No one has any particularly memorable lines of dialogue. Nobody does anything that will be remembered next issue. Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I’m missing some important subtext or something. But I’m pretty sure that writer Greg Rucka is sacrificing momentum for mood-building.
And that just doesn’t make for a good comic. Not that I’m going to stop reading just yet, but I’m starting to consider dropping the Punisher. We’ll see. Spoilers after the jump.
Stage Five: Acceptance – Review of X-Factor #227
So at long last, it’s time to accept that my favorite comic book character has been killed and there’s nothing I can do about it. But considering he died in this issue, one might ask how I could possibly be expected to review it objectively. That’s a fair question. And my answer is: because I say I can. Simple as that. It’s still a comic book. I still read it. I even enjoyed it.
X-Factor #227
Even if those bastards killed him!
Comic rating: 4/5: Good!
I’m going to spoil the character that was killed after the jump. In fact, I’m going to spoil the whole issue. That’s kind of my thing. A lot of other review sites don’t spoil the books, so good for them. But I’m something of a niche blog, so I’ve got no problem spoiling the stories. I like to think that some people might read my reviews just to get spoiled. I’m fine with that.
Suffice to say, the death in this issue of a prominent member of X-Factor doesn’t really have much at all to do with the story. It’s more like a big cliffhanger to lead us into the next story arc. Frankly, this whole story arc has seemed kind of lackluster. There are way too many members of X-Factor these days, and this issue has a completely unimportant guest star and serves as the introduction of a new villain. So there are a lot of characters to juggle. Peter David does an OK job with the juggling, but no one piece gets enough attention to be really good.
Still, at least my favorite character died in an issue that’s worth reading. Spoilers after the jump.
Stage Four: Depression – X-Factor #227
Oh woe is me.
Are comic books even worth it anymore? They’re just not going to feel the same. I won’t have X-Factor to look forward to every month, at least not my X-Factor. Sure the title will still be coming out, but my favorite character is dead. My favorite superhero has been killed. My favorite fictional character of all time has been mur-diddily-urdlered!
I am infinite sadness.
But cheer up, Sean, you might say. Death is a joke in comic books these days. Everyone from Bucky to Aunt May has come back from the dead, so it’s only a matter of time before your favorite character returns. Heck, he’s already ‘died’ once before and come back. His super power is essentially a get out of ‘dead’ free card.
Some of you might even punch me in the stomach and tell me to ‘grow up’ because it’s just a freakin’ comic book!
And to all of you I’d say, “It’s just not the same.”
Henchman-4-Hire