The 6 Characters on My X-Men Team

Welcome to Comic-Con Week! The party is rocking down in San Diego, but here I am still shuffling around Central New York. Such is my lot and life, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have some comic book fun! In what’s becoming an annual tradition for Henchman-4-Hire, I’ve decided to spend Comic-Con Week playing one of my favorite games: superhero dream team!

If I was hired to write the X-Men, which characters would I choose for my team? Last year, I did the Justice League, and the year before that it was the Avengers. I’ve also done X-Force, the Fearless Defenders, the Teen Titans and the Sinister Six. But this year, it’s the X-Men!

Maybe you’ve heard of them (and if so, remind Marvel that they exist)

This is a very open-ended proposition, considering how many X-Men teams and squads there have been over the years. Once upon a time, team membership was sacred, but now every single change in writer brings on a new lineup, not to mention all the different X-titles available. There are already dozens of lineups in continuity, so what difference would mine make? Good question! Just trust me when I say it would be an awesome, super fun comic!

Join me after the jump to check out my roster. And please join me in the comments to pick your own! I’d love to hear your ideas.

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Honest Trailers: Iron Man!

Once upon a time, I listed the first Iron Man movie as my second favorite film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And now the folks at Screen Junkies are finally taking a poke at it!

Always good videos from these fellas, though this one was a little weak. Still, good times, good times. Maybe they’re gonna drop a few more as we head into Ant-Man!

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Buncha New DC Comics

DC Comics announced an octet of new comics yesterday, due to come out in October. They are Poison Ivy, Metamorpho, Raven, Metal Men, Katana, Firestorm, Sugar & Spike and Swamp Thing, by a variety of creative teams. The announcement was made at USA Today.

Stop trying to make the Metal Men happen, they’re not going to happen

I’m sorry to say that they’re all mostly uninteresting to me. I think I’ll definitely check out that Poison Ivy series, but the rest of them are not characters I care about. Heck, I prefer the new Element Woman over Metamorpho! Her superhero career was woefully short-lived. And this’ll be the second time DC has tried comics about Katana, Firestorm and Swamp Thing since the start of the New 52. Can’t keep certain characters down, I suppose.

Someday I hope to be in a position where I can pitch character-focused mini-series to a place like DC. I have tons of ideas for the Wonder Twins!

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The Five Stages of Watching a Pixar Movie

Thank you, Only Leigh!

I saw Inside Out the other weekend and it was very good. Not one of Pixar’s best, but still an awesome flick. Unique premise, fun characters, great ending, quality bits of humor and emotion; solid Pixar all around. Of course, considering it came in at #2 behind Jurassic World (which I also saw), probably means that we’re going to get three more highly profitable Cars sequels before we get another really good Pixar movie.

Sigh.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/4/15

Happy Fourth of July, my American readers! I hope you’re all out blowing up a small part of your country today! I’m picnicking with the family and hopefully having a blast. My brother is in town, so he and I can finally have a face-to-face conversation instead of staying in touch via the comments section on my blog.

We’ve got some quality comics this week, especially out of DC. I’m finally buying a regular Superman comic after years ignoring Big Blue. I only wish I could say the same about Bizarro. I had such high hopes for that book. Marvel delivered a cosmic one-two punch with both Darth Vader and Princess Leia, and my humor quota is filled by another great issue of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.

Which easily wins Comic Book of the Week when Squirrel Girl takes on the Avengers!

Always own up to your puns

Though it has some stiff competition from Secret Wars #4, which I reviewed over at Word of the Nerd. Secret Wars might be the best crossover in a while. I’m really enjoying the power and energy of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic on that series.

Comic Reviews: Action Comics #42, Bizarro #2, Darth Vader #7, Princess Leia #5 and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #7.

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