Yay! A New Post

Since I haven't done this in awhile, I thought today I'd lay out a couple of things I would do if I was Editor In Chief of Marvel. The first would be that when they show a crowd scene at a nightclub or bar or whatever, somewhere in the background there would be a Madrox dupe. I think this would be a fun idea and a neat little Where's Waldo type gag running through all the Marvel books.
Next I would create a Marvel Team-Up book that each month would focus on a completely different team (I've already listed some of my favorite ideas for one in previous posts) and finally, I would have a series devoted to the misadventures of Wolfsbane and Husk. I really think this would make for an awesome series especially considering both gals' connection to Cannonball.
Oh, something that I would do if I ever got to write a Spider-Man book, every couple of issues I would tease that the next book would be the one where Spidey gets married.

Villains Week: Dr. Doom

Continuing with this weeks theme of awesome villains. I thought today I would talk about my favorite marvel villain...

Dr. Victor Von Doom



That's right Dr.Doom. Right off the bat his has one of the coolest names ever and honestly with the surname of Von Doom did he really have a choice in whether to become a bad guy,I think not. He also has such an awesome character George Lucas had to steal his costume design in order to make Darth Vader the baddest m*****f****r in the galaxy. Of course, he started out as the Fantastic Four's chief villain. Since, then though he has become a pain in the neck for pretty much all of the heroes in the Marvel universe. My favorites stories with him are him fighting Spider-man and the X-Men rather than the FF. Though, I also enjoy his hatred of Dr. Richards (whom he blames for everything including bad weather and the Mets losing). Doom is just plain awesome. From the intonation his given in the books to his misanthropic nature. best of all the guy is a king (which gives him diplomatic immunity, here in the states). He's a sorcerer and a scientist and most of all he is... DOOM!

Love is a many splendored thing

Well, it's that time of the week again. Time when I take a little break from typing things up and go out and try to spend some time in the real world. So, I thought I'd leave this week on a positive note and give you folks a list of my favorite couples in comic books. Not all them are current and some of them may even be out of print at the moment but, it's my list so i get to make the rules and my rule is that these couple can be from any age and any company :P
...And on that lovely note, let's begin. Shall we?

Guy Gardner and Tora Olafsdotter - At the moment this is my favorite couple between them starting over in the current issues of GLC and my re-reading the old JLI books, this couple is tops in my books. Plus I really dig the dynamics of their relationship and how Tora is one of the few people in the DCU that can tell Guy he's being an idiot and he'll actually listen and try to correct it.

Peter Parker and Felicia Harding - I'm not sure why but, of all the girls Pete's been with the Blackcat is my favorite and every time they team up I hope finally this time they'll hookup for the long haul. At the same time though, it totally makes sense to me that she prefers Spidey to Petey (can't blame her for that). Personally, I always felt that her main gripe was that she didn't believe he's really being himself when he's just being Pete and that he was always denying just how funny swinging through New york's skyline really was. Well, that and he tends to whine ALOT as Peter Parker,lol.

The Maxx and Julie Winters - Like alot of folks my age I got turned on to this series by the show on MTV and then went and got the books and every once in awhile I re-read them and in my mind (despite all their flaws like mental illness for one example) this is one of the cutest,sweetest couples in comics.

Scott Summers and Jean Grey - I think they should always end up together.

Jamie Madrox and Theresa Rourke Cassidy - Even though he (or one of his dupes) always finds a way to screw things up. I feel that in the end she will always forgive him and that one day they will live happily ever after together.

Tim Drake and Jubilation Lee - One of if not THE perfect couples in comics, even if they were only a couple during a pretty lame crossover it still counts and I thought it was awesome.

Well, there you have it the list of me favorite comic book couples. I hope you have enjoyed this post and have a great weekend. See you next week =D

Fading Glory

Today I thought I'd harsh every one's mellow and add my two cents to the biggest problem affecting the comic book industry today. Namely, readership. Stroytellingwise this maybe a golden age for comics. But, according to sales this may be one of the lowest points in comics. From my own observations the main reason that comics seem unable to add new readers in any significant way are twofold. the first one is distribution because of how the direct market mainly sells comics only to comic book retails unless you know where a comic book shop is you really can't get into reading comics. Now this wouldn't be that big of a problem if there were comic book shops in most neighborhoods, however this is not the case. Personally, since Free Time Comics (in Westminster) closed down and the Mile High Comics(in Thornton) moved, it has been quite hard for me to get my weekly comic book fix and that's without adding in the money woes that have been effecting everything as of late. At school (as I know for my comic book knowledge)I have been asked on quite a few occasion from classmates who really dig the movies based on our four color heroes. These folks regularly say to my that they dig the movies but don't know where to go to find comic books. Of course, when they do I give them the locations of several good comic book shops,and as far as I can tell they rearly go, part of the reason I feel is how intimidating walking into a comic shop could be if you are not already into them.
Which brings us to the other problem of pulling in new readers. Which is mainly editorially mandated strangeness and stories based on dense continuity. Stories like; Civil War and Final Crisis. though stories like these sell big with regular readers they do nothing to bring in new readers. Herein lies the problem. How do you generate bigger sales without adding readers? The quick answer is what the big two have been doing, you play to the base. Of course, the problem with this is that this strategy only works as long as there is a base. Part of the problem is also the variation between the books and the movies. Not to say the comics and movies should have the same continuity but, I could see how it is hard to reconcile the two when someone whom wants to read Spider man comics because they really dig the movie and after finding a comic book shop they get a new issue of Amazing Spider-man and there is no MJ even worse is their expected reaction when they ask someone they know who is into comics why there's no MJ in the book and you a forced to tell them about Brand New Day and it's satanic divorce. I'm sure it hasn't helped when I've been asked about it that the first thing out of my mouth is... UGH! Just like in politics, if you want to be successful in entertainment. You can't simple play to the base. If for no other reason, a base that is not adding anybody new is that humans are mortal and as such if you never adding one new your movement or business will only decline.

Next on the Tonight Show a man who can shoot webs and crawl up walls

Well, I was gonna try to come up with something that didn't include any references to Mr. Miracle today. I'm a bit scared I may become that guy that only blogs about Mr. Miracle and although he is one of my favorite characters I don't want to become pigeonhold by him either. But, I just couldn't resist talking about how of all the comic characters out there the two (at least in my mind) that have the best logic when it comes to their garish costumes are Scott Free and Peter Parker. In Scott's case he got his costume and superhero identity from the original Mr. Miracle who was an escape artist and as such it made sense he would wear such an outragous looking outfit and the same goes for Spidey. In case you don't remember Speider-Man's reason for creating his costume was so he would look cool on TV. Maybe it just me but I buy the idea alot more of people originally coming up with their fanastically splendid costumes. Just so they could look good while performing for an audience than some one like Batman (also a big fav of mine) whom decided that he could strike fear into the hearts of criminals if he outfitted all his toys and accessories with a bat motif and putting bat ears on his cowl. Of course, Batman and Mr. Miracle both abide from the first rule of superhero costumes "capes kick ass". I guess I just like the idea that both Mr. Miracle and Spider-Man started out as performers before they became heroes. To me that's a bit more interesting than the run of the mill, "well, today I got splashed with toxic waste and it gave me superpowers. So, I'm going to become a crime fighter or I have superpowers because I come from a different planet, do you have any bank robbers I can beat up? Well, that's my 2 cents on superheroes and their costumes. Feel free to disagree.

Geek-Cred and how to get it

For some reason this question comes up quite a bit. I think it has to do with my age and that I still like reading comic books (total geek-cred). Well the main reason is the stories comics have a more layered story than alot of the other forms of storytelling, especially movies and TV. Another reason is the characters. One of my favorites is a girl named Rahne (pronouced Rain) Sinclair, who grow up in a strict presbyterien household. Then when she was 14 she discovered she had a mutant power which in abled her to change into a wolf. For years she struggled with her animal and human sides along with her strict christian upbringing which for along made her feel like she was evil because of her powers.In the comics she's gone from someone who was shy and full of self loathing into a women whom is confident and outspoken,while still remaining true to her faith. Another fav of mine is the Maxx,a construction worker who suffers a psychotic break with reality and comes to beleive he must portect a women named Julie from threats that are mostly in his imagination.More than that Julie bonds with him and helps him to see were reality really lies and occassionally he does save her from real danger.Of course his brain does turn would be muggers into super villians,but that's the fun of it all.It's also more than that (but you'll have to read it to find out how much more,or rent the video). I think there is something really cool about using pictures to tell a story,maybe even something primal wrapped around the strands of our DNA. After all cave drawings were basicly one or two frame comics telling the story of great feats. Still there's more something about reading such an amped up version of the human condition. Which is what makes Spider-Man such a great character,sure he has amazing superpowers.But, he still has to worry about paying the rent, will his checks bounce,is he going to be fired all question we all ask ourselves and on top of that he has to stop complete psychopaths from trying to destory his city or kill his loved ones. Some of his best stories are the ones inwhich he must choose between helping someone he loves or saving the city from some napherious plot. Comics also seem better at mixing in humor with meledrama than movies or television.Books are somewhat better at this. There also seems to be something in human nature,where we feel our heroes and villians should have some type of supernatural or superhuman power. From Hercules fighting the giant Cyclopses to King Aurthur and Merlin.I use these examples because besides just stories I think of comic books as a sort of modern day mythology. Who knows maybe in a couple hundred years the people of that time will think of comics in the same quaint way we think of greek or roman mythology or maybe they'll just think of them as crude drawings the way we look at cave drawings or not.Yes, some comics are just plain dumb but what medium doesn't have that problem. Another cool things about comics is it's one of the few American art forms along with jazz,the mystery story and the banjo. I could go on and on but since nobody will probably read this I think here is a good stopping point.

The Web of Spider-Man

One of my favorite aspects of the Spider-Man concept. Is how his villans come to be in his rogues gallery. Unlike batman's where the villans in his books tend to be people becoming psychologically bent on revenge for some slight against them and Batman stops then and then goes on to the next mugger or master theif or whatever. Now, one of the aspects of Spidey that creates his villans.Is something alot of writers either mis or forget (especially, in the movies). To Peter Parker on of the small joys in his life ( no matter how horrible the get). Is webslinging. There is no greater joy in Peter's life (well,besides perhaps a quiet night at home with the mrs.) is webslinging through the canyons of the New York skyline and usually as he's swinging around and monologueing he notices someone commiting some sort of crime. So,he swoops in makes fun of the mugger, two bit hood, would be world conquerers with severe megomania or whatever. After all he's just enjoying the most fun way to travel webslinging. So,he see someone doing something they shouldn't he swings in and taunts them as jumps around like a squirrel monkey on speed. Well,as you can imagine this pisses the villan off. Take for example Dr.Doom in his appearence in the Spidey books. Dr.Doom (thinking he's a goon because of the stories in the Daily Bugle) tries to recruite Spider-Man into destorying the Fantastic Four. Well,naturally Spidey doesn't go for it. So,then Doom tries to kill him.Spidey jumps on to the wall and begins insulting and taunting Victor Von Doom. Of course this only pisses Vic off even more and be the time he has to flee or face some not so good consquences. He vows he will kill Spider-Man, teases his aunt and kick his dog and tell girls he has a social disease. Dr.Doom is becomes so obsessed with Spidey he actually forgets about his wanting to kill Reed Richards (four like four pages, but,hey for Doom that's along time). This is almost identical to almost all of Spidey's other villans, as well. Honestly if it wasn't for Spidey's constant questioning of the legitamacy of their parentage or making guesses as to the noctural habits of their mothers or imaginative ways in which said mother might fornacate with various objects. He would have a lot less villans and a quite small rogues gallery and this is why I really dig this aspect of Spidey's personality (as written in the Marvel Comics). Plus, it also is a great shorthand to create new villans and threats. Spidey jumps in makes fun of villan.He the beats the tar out of said villan and webs him up on a street light with the note; "TO: The police a gift from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The villan then goes to jail and begins to fester a boiling hatred of Spider-Man (especially because of the way he was caught and the taunts of other inmates for the way he was caught). He finally either escapes or is released from jail (because Spidey is such a prick sometimes happens when someone is in county jail ,not just prison) and voila` new Spidey villan = }

By the power of Grabthar's Hammer

I though it woulld be fun today to make a list of the superheroes with the most useful powers. Just so everyone understands when I say useful I don't mean fighting skills or any of that I mean useful in normal everyday life. So, with that little pre-amble: Away we go.
Jamie Madrox (Multiple Man) - Jamie has what I think would be the most useful power in the world he can create duplicates of himself through kinetic energy. Using his powers you'd finally has time to get everything done.
Bobby Drake (Iceman) - This one would be great for parties or hot days or whatever. Bobby has the ability to create ice from the moisture in the air. This guy would be awesome to have around on margerita night.
Doug Ramsey (Cypher) - He can instantly understand any new language he hears. This power would be like 8 shades of awesome to have.
Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) - He can teleport through dimensions in order to go from one place to another. Using this power he can travel miles in a matter of seconds (he also gets bonus points for having a prehensile tail).
Peter Parker (Spiderman) - He can climb walls and stick to the ceiling and of course, his most useful power for everyday living has got to be his Spidey sense.
Kitty Pryde - She can walk through walls. Do I need to add anythign else?
James Howlett?/Logan (Wolverine) - His actual pwer would be pretty damn useful. Being able to regenerate any damaged body tissue, if for no other reason you could drink and smoke all you want and not have to worry about damaging your liver or lungs.
Hal Jordan/ John Stewart/ Guy Gardner/ Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern) - Having a Green Lantern power ring would make life so easy, that I have no clue why at least one of these guys is not 800 pounds. The ring can project any thing you can imagine and it can make you fly.
Any of the many telepaths in any comic - the ability to know what anyone is thinking, this would be such a handy power.
Warren Worthington III (Angel/Archangel) - The guy has freakin' bird wings!
and an honorible mention goes out to Jubilee her pwers wouldn't be very useful in the real world (much like in the Marvel Universe,lol) but, she would definitely be someone who would make any party kick ass.
Well, there you go the most useful super powers in comics. Agree/ Disagree???