The Adventures of Patsy and Remy

After reading the fourth part of X-Men: To Serve and Protect. I really, really want the Immonens to make this an one going series. The chemistry between the characters were great and I really like when Gambit is the voice of reason and the one being flummoxed by someone else and Patsy Walker is the funnest agent of chaos as written by Kathryn Immonen. Add to this Stuart Immonen's awesome artwork and I would by this comic twice a month if they put it out bi-weekly. This was just such a fun and neat story that I would love to see where they could take this pair if given a monthly title (hell, even a mini-series). This story really worked for me and the Immonens really hit this one out of the park.

Another Anniversary

Well, this month Monkey Knife Fight turns 2 and I would like to thank all of you who have come and checked out my little section of the Internets along with the people who have began following me on here and a special thank you to everyone who has left comments for me. You folks make me glad to write this blog as well as proving that even my ramblings have a place on the net. Now that I've thanked everyone, I would like to proclaim that as long as I feel I have something to say I will continue writing Monkey Knife Fight and hopefully I will be better at regularly posting on here. I'm also going to make more of an effort in being less random in my subject matter. I know I have been really lousy in regularly posting in the last year and for that I apologize to all my regular viewers (Hi, mom)and to make up for that I will do my best to post more and be more coherent in my ramblings. When I first started this blog, I figured I'd have enough to say for a few months or that I would maybe be able to think of enough content for maybe a year. Now here we are heading into the toddler stage of Monkey Knife Fight, the blog has learned to walk and now it's all about jamming things into electrical sockets. Hopefully, I've learned something in these last couple of years that will make me a better blogger and Monkey knife fight will continue to grow. Though, before I go I feel I should talk a little about the failed endeavour that was Quarter Bin Reviews. For those of you that don't know, this year I attempted to create another blog. I started it because I wanted to stretch out of my comfort zone of just writing about whatever fool idea comes into my head and actually have a purpose, as well as trying to learn how to write proper reviews. I was only able to do a couple of full reviews before it fizzled out and though I did enjoy writing it. I just ended up not having the free time to read (terrible) old comic books and write up entertaining reviews and they ended up being more retellings of the stories than actual reviews and though, Quarter Bin Reviews ended up crashing and burning. I still have a few other things I may try doing on another blog. but, for now I'm just working on Monkey Knife Fight. I have no clue what the coming year will bring, but I hope I will learn to find the time to post here more often than I have been. Once again a big thank you to everyone who has dropped by and I hope to continue entertaining you for as long as I have an opinion about comics and the worlds they inhabit and of course, to spread the word about the awesomeness that is Jubilation Lee.

Paige and Rahne

So, lately I've been thinking about how awesome it would be if Marvel let me write Marvel Team-Up and who I would team-up (besides the War Machine Gambit team-up I wrote about a few months ago) and one I came up with that I think would be all kinds of awesome is Husk(Paige Guthrie) and Wolfsbane(Rahne Sinclair). Now anyone who has been here before probably already knows how much I love Wolfsbane, as I've written about that love quite a few times here at Monkey Knife Fight. Though, I haven't written as much about how much I dig Husk (mainly because of my made love for her teamate Jubilee) I really dig Sam's sister and have been so happy that she and Jubilee have been getting a bunch of screen time in the X-Men vs. Vampires books(which is an awesome series if you haven't gotten the chance to check it out). Anyways back to the main topic, I think it would be fun to have these two team up. Since, we haven't seen them interact much in the books even though they both are connected to Cannonball in one way or another. I also, like this pairing because any criminal who ran into them would certainly start thinking about a new vocation after tangling with these two, since their powers are pretty freaky. I think that their differing personalities would make for some neat moments throughout the story and they would both get a chance to show off different parts of their personalities we don't often get to see. Plus, it would be neat to have them talk about Cannonball and his goofiness. If you want to know more about what I'd do with this pairing, I guess you'll just have to start petitioning Marvel to let me write Marvel Team-Up.

The Irredeemable X-Men

So, for a while now I've been toying with the idea of making up an X-Men team made up of the mutants that get no respect for the powers and came up with the idea of the Irredeemable X-Men team which consist of:

Iceman - The leader of the team, who's trying to prove to Scott and the others he can lead and that making ice is not just a parlor trick seeing how he can control one the the most abundant of the elements on Earth.

Jubilee - Besides being one of my favs she's got an awesome personality and can control the fourth state of matter (plasma) with her "fireworks".

Husk - Every team needs a big guy and I think she would be a fun one to go with. though she's not made fun of as much as the two above her. She hasn't gotten a lot of face time in the X-Men books (well, other than in the X-Men vs. Vampires books).

Wolfsbane - Even though she doesn't get teased too much about her actual powers, I do feel she could be used better with in the X-Men books which tend to focus on her religious views in a way that I think is unfair (Like some of the jokes her X-Factor teammates have thrown her way) and that she would make a good team mom for this rag-tag group.

Cypher - Last but not least the guy who can understand all forms of communication. Granted the new New Mutant book has been treating him better (especially when he pwn'd the team in his first re-appearance). He still doesn't get nearly the respect he should based on his powers. Heck, look how crazy awesome Cassandra Cain was using only one of the techniques available to him.

So, there you have it, the Irredeemable X-Men team. Hopefully someone at Marvel will make this happen and then maybe Joey Q will stop getting so much flack (from people like me) about Spider-MAn's satanic divorce.

Wolverine's Powerful Princesses

While handing out candy this year, me and a friend struck upon the funnest idea for a new X-Men team. While we're still working on a name that doesn't sound pervy. The idea for the team thus far is that for whatever reason (maybe he stole Cyclop's motorcycle one too many times). Wolverine is put in charge of leading a team consisting of; Jubilee, Molly Hayes, Pixie and, Kitty Pryde. Most of this series would consist of various X-Men popping in to make fun of Wolverine. With Colossus occasionally dropping in so that Illyana can visit with her friends and Molly Hayes beating up Wolverine when doesn't pickup the right slurpee flavor or drive her too the mall or whatever. But, mainly just a book written as an excuse for young Molly to pummel Logan on a monthly basis.

Won't People Fear Mutants More, If We Call Ourselves Mutant Hunters?

Lately, I've been on a X-Men: First Class kick and I've just been reading the 3 TPBs that have been published and while being on this Original X-Men jag. I've been wanting to read just about anything with them in it as a team. So, the other day I was reading some stuff online about the original X-Factor book and it got me thinking of the terrible idea it was to create the team as a group of mutant hunters and yeah, I know they were being manipulated by Cameron Hodge. But, still didn't any of the original 5 think that was a terrible idea? Even Beast? Granted he is a super genius scientist who's greatest accomplishment as accidentally turning himself blue. But, still... Heck, even Cyclops should have had an inkling that this was a terrible, terrible idea. granted because of my age I'm not too experienced with the early issues of X-Factor, since, by the time I started reading comics Angel had already gotten his metal wings and Havok was leading the X-Men. I just find it weird that it doesn't seem like any of the original 5 that this was the terrible idea it was until Cameron Hodge and Apocalypse had manipulated them into creating more fear of mutants in the general populous. Of course, the one thing this premise had in its favor is how in general the normal people of the Marvel Universe seem to not like or trust superheroes far more than in the DC universe.

WOW! What a year

Although, the official anniversary of this blog isn't for anther couple of days. I figured I would post about it today. When I first started this blog, i didn't think it would go on for this long especially, since I set a rule for myself to post Monday thru Friday, and although I haven't been able to keep up that amount postings. I'm still enjoying the forum this gives me to talk about comics without watch the eyes of my friends glaze over. I still have no clear no long term plans for Monkey Knife Fight. However, I do plan on posting more than I have in the last few months and to keep this blog going as long as I have something to say about comics and other nerdy pursuits. I have really enjoyed this last year and the positive feedback I have received from writing on here. Hopefully, this year will have a lot less drama and I can stick to an at least semi-regular schedule when it comes to posting. Though, I have dropped the 5 day schedule permanently I will do my best to post more than once or twice a month. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who reads Monkey Knife Fight as well as the bloggers that have linked to me, especially, the guys that run Comics Make No Sense and Random Happenstance, I was a huge fan of their blogs before finally, getting up the courage to start my own and have my little ol' blog on their blog roll, feels me with pride. Thanks to everyone who has read these posts and to everyone who has left a comment and don't worry I will be returning to my mocking of Aquaman shortly (I haven't forgotten about doing so,lol). With all that said. On to a new year of Monkey Knife Fight....

Something New

Every once in a while a ponder why I like the things I like. For instance in music I've come to the conclusion that the most important things in the equating of whether or not I like a song are how good the baselines are and how the beat moves me. A couple days a go I was pondering this question about the comics I read as well. I think the reason I get on these tracks of thought are because my tastes are fairly eclectic. So, I was thinking about what the common themes were in the comics I read and the answer I came up with were mainly fun, adventure, with a good soap opera in place. Which is probably the reason why lately I've been really enjoying reading the old issues of Bat Lash and The Spirit.

Free Comic Book Day (Yay!)

I had a really good free comic book day, this year. The funniest part was it was my friend, Kristal who had planned out the day and was super psyched about it (even though she's not into comics). She has young sons and rather than trying to keep comics she would buy for them in decent condition, she takes them to Free Comic Book Day every year and that's their comic book outing. So, with her Husband and kids loaded up in the car. We first went to Mile High Comics, which along with FCBD had a buy one get one free deal going on all of their trades and comics. So, while we were there I picked up the latest issues of Madame Xanadu (since meeting her I've become a big fan of Amy Reeder Hadley), JSA and, The Runaways. I also picked the Showcase collection; Wonder Women vol.1 and The Unknown Soldier vol.1. Then we headed over to I Want More Comics! formerly known as Free Time Comics. Which was even cooler as they had Armando Durruthy and Stan Yan were there selling prints and doing drawings and all that. Which was cool and, I said Hi to Armando while I was there still happy with the Guy Gardner drawing he did for me at Comic Fest. AS for the free comics I picked up; I picked Blackest Night #0 (of course)Gold Digger, Contract (which I had been curious about since the rave reviews it got on Fanboy Radio), Atomic Robo and Love & Capes. So, all in all it was a good day for comics all round.

This looks like a job for a Superheroine

Yesterday, I was thinking about the last couple of issues of JSA, when it dawned on me that something has been missing... Then I realised that thing it had been missing was it's under use of Stargirl. Now granted she has been shown prominently, however she really hasn't been the guiding force she usually is, I don't really blame any of the writers. After all in a team book you have to rotate how you choose ot focus on. Thinking about this got me on to thinking about the Super heroines I dig and what that might mean about my Psyche. Which got me thinking about what I should post and I figured it was time for one of my ever popular lists. So, here as it stands today, are the Super heroines I think are the coolest (and maybe a little insight into what this says about my taste in girls,lol).
And as always these are not listed in any sort of order (other than popping into my head in that order,lol).

Since, I already mentioned her. I'm going to start this list with Stargirl AKA Courtney Whitmore. I thin she is awesome for many of the same reasons I like Jubilee. They both have bubbly, outgoing personalities. Which I could be digging on just on the basis that as a LEO bubbly,outgoing girls are pretty attractive to me. Beyond that I really dig that she has gone from a junior member to a leadership role in the JSA in just a few short years. That is pretty awesome.
I guess that brings us to Jubilee. Ah, Ms. Jubilation Lee. How can you not love this firecracker (no, pun intended). The saddest thing about me love of Jubilee is how when I first became a fan of her she was a few years older than me and now she's roughly 10 years younger than me. From the first time I read about her (the X-Men's Atlantis Attacks Annual)to her staring role in the cartoon and even her cameos in the X-Men movies. Right on,I'm quite pissed about Joey Q's treatment of her from House of M up until and including her return in the New Warriors.
Speaking of Warriors. I could not do a post like this without mentioning the greatest warrior to ever escape Apokolips. That's right I'm talking about Barda Free...Big Barda herself.How can you not love Barda, she's a tough girl with a big loud personality. She is no shrinking violet that's for sure. She can be bombastic or sweet. She's loyal and kind.
Next I think I'll have to mention Zinda before it slips my mind. I'm not going to go to deep into the awesomeness that is Lady Blackhawk. Since, I did a whole post on that not too long ago. I'll just say this... She likes guns,booze and, fighting what's not to love.
I gues that this point I should probably mention my second favorite X-girl. Rogue, what's not to love about a southern belle that can punch through a brick wall. My favorite protrayal Rogue was when she had stolen Ms. Marvel's powers. She's tough as nails yet sensitive and longing to be touched without the consequences of killing another person. Plus she has that southern drawl (and accents are HAWT!).
Moving we come to Soranik Natu Doctor and Green Lantern pulled between her duties and her homeworld. She since her first appearence in the Green Lantern Corps. I have loved the way the writers have protrayed her. She is just plain awesome.
Last but not least is Molly Hayes from the Runaways. She's just so darn cute. Even when she is punching through walls. In a lot of ways she reminds me of my siblings and the daughters of my friends and family.

Well, I could go on and on about the Superheroines I love but I feel this is a good stopping point for now and I'm sure I'll be coming back to this subject in the future. But for now here's the list I'm going with

Comic Fest 2009

So, last weekend was Comic Fest here in Denver. I went Friday and Saturday, I would have loved to attend on Sunday as well. But,a previous engagement kept me from going.My friend Carl's welcome back, which had it not been for seeing a bunch of old school friends and eating BBQ and drink moderately priced beer. I totally, would have gone to the last day. Anyways, back to the fest. It was quite fun I got an awesome Guy Gardner sketch from Armando Durruthy and I got a sign and sketch copy of Fool's Gold from Amy Reeder Hadley. Both of them are super nice folks and I hope that get much attention in the world of comic books.Right now, I'm still waiting to get in touch with Karl Christian to get a print of his drawing of Hank Williams from the his Famous Drunks line he did for Modern Drunkard (magazine). Hopefully, I get that print soon. 'cuz I'm a huge Hank Williams (senior) fan. Another thing I did while I was there was to have Mike Baron (Nexus, The Badger) check out and critique some of my stories. He gave me some really helpful advice and a couple helpful hints to get editors to check my stuff out and even told me I'm pretty good at coming up with neat ideas for comic books. So, hopefully I'll improve in the next year I'll be blowing some minds with my awesome comic book writing skillz. LOL

Villains Week: Mr. Sinister

It's hump day, which means we're 3/5 through with villains week here at Monkey Knife Fight. And today we've got a really special villain...

Mr. Sinister



That's right my favorite X-Men villain isn't the moral ambigous Magneto. It's Dr. Nathaniel Essex. First off he has a great look.It's also interesting his obsession with Cyclops and his brood and how long he has been watching the Summers clan and directing the actions. Then there's all the manipulations he's done on Apocaplyse's be half and how he manipulated Gambit. But, most of the reason I like Mr. Sinister is (a) he has a really cool name and (b) He looks really cool. The Diamond shaped gem in his forehead is quite sharp, as a fashion statement.

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!

Villians week: The Joker

Since, I can't think of anything else for this week. I'm gonna spend this week looking at my 5 favorite villains in comic books. Now, just to be clear this won't be a ranking of these five villains. It's just the ones I really dig, in no particular order. We begin with...

The Joker



What's not to love about the clown prince of crime. He is chaos incarnate, as Denny O'Neil has said on many occasions, The Joker is just as likely to kill you because he doesn't like your shoes as he is to give you $1,000 because he doesn't like your shoes. For the Joker all the rules and laws society has created are just one big joke on the poor saps that buy in to them. For me the best none comic interpretation of this character is Mark Hamill's portrayal of The Joker in Batman: TAS. As, good as Heath Ledger was as The Joker in The Dark Knight. I still hear Mark Hamill's voice when I read a comic with The Joker in it. He is the villain that all the other villains hate. Especially, villains like Darkseid and Lex Luthor. He isn't in it for the money or for power. He's in it for the shear fun of it (in his own deranged way). He has no moral compass or shame or sense of desencey. All he wants out of life is to kill Batman, a few Robins and maybe make a couple bucks along the way. which is the reason why he is such a fun villain. I think he's actually a bit funner when he takes on other heroes in the DCU rather than Batman, especially heroes like Superman.

Can't Blog Clown Will Eat Me!

Well, I don't really have much to say today. So, I just thought I'd write up a few remarks on how big comic book movies have gotten over the past few years. Of course, the funniest thing about this phenomenon is how Hollywood has viewed comic books in the past and how us comic book fans knew better. We've know for awhile that if the companies used the right stories and spent enough money to do them right, that comic book movies could be completely awesome. No matter what genre the books were and I think we should all take a little pride in the fact that Hollywood really doesn't know anything. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. It really is only a bad thing when the moguls, producers and, stars think they know something about what people want to watch. Of course, if true Redacted or Stop Loss would have made more than $15(combined). I think one of the many problems throughout the entertainment business (including comics) is when they try to stick with a certain formula because they think that it was that formula that made the project work. when in reality it was the project that worked and the formula was just a way of getting from point A to point B. I also think these industries have a problem with trying to find new and better material rather than doing retreads or figuring out that "winning" formula. I feel they should take more risk and throw more ideas against the wall to see, what sticks. After all Watchmen wasn't a good comic because it was "grim and gritty" it was good because Alan Moore is an insane genius. Well, that's my two cents have a good weekend.

Barda Vs. Diana: A somewhat onesided fight

Getting geared up for the weekend, I thought it would be fun to give y'all a little Thursday Thowdown. Today opponents are Wonder Woman and Big Barda =D
In the Right corner weighing in at 217 with a height of 7 feet.
Big Barda!


And in the left corner weighing in at 165 with a height of 5 feet 11 inches.
Wonder Woman!


The bell rings and we are ready for the fight of the century. Big Barda vs. Wonder Woman. The Leader of the Female Furies against the Amazon Princess.
Barda has an obvious size advantage in this one, all though both of them have super strength and near invulnerability. So, this should be a pretty tough match up.
Right off the bat Diana throws her magic lasso at Barda. In mid air Barda grabs the lasso and flings Wonder Woman across the ring. She then pulls on it, but Wonder Woman lets go of the rope and Barda flies backwards into the corner of the ring. Wonder Woman then flies of and begins pounding on her. After a couple of punches Barda is able to grab hold of Diana's wrist and uses it to toss Wonder Woman into the other corner. Barda then begins beating on Diana mercilessly. Finally, after quite a pummelling, Diana is able to free herself from the corner. She walks a couple of steps (towards the center of the ring) and falls down. Ladies and Gentlemen. Wonder Woman is out. Big Barda Is The Winner!! We hope you have enjoyed the fight tonight here at Roulette's Meta-Brawls, where entertainment rules and the audience always wins.

Only Six More Days

Incase you haven't heard (or care) on the 17th volume for of the JLI hardcover comes out. I can barely wait! Right now I'm trying to decide whether I should wait 'til the local comic shop or if I should just pre-order it on amazon. The pros of getting it at the shop is that when I give them my money I will have the book in my hand, however if they don't get it into stock I'm S.O.L. However, If I pre-order it I will get it in the mail soon after it is released but, I will be waiting by my mail box the whole time until it gets there. Man, I really took this series for granted as a kid. Granted, I could only get a fifth of the issues back then so sometimes things seemed off. But,now that I'm re-reading it. I'm loving it more than almost any other book I'm reading right now. The main books I'm really enjoying besides this series Empowered and Green Lantern Corps. Of course, J.M. DeMatteis gets bonus points for writing the episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold starring Guy and G'Nort (The Eyes of Despero). Man, that was such a cool episode. Sure, it had Batman's one punch. But, it also had Guy beating the crap out of Sinestro. In conclusion I can not wait for Volume 4 of Justice League International to come out next week!!!

Just an observation

For whatever reason when I woke up this morning. I started to think about sexism in comics and that made me start thinking about sexism in other mediums, like TV and Films. Now, I don't consider myself a feminist at all. I think everyone has a right to pursue happiness and that results may vary in achieving it and I think everyone should be judge by their skills and achievements. But, I was thinking about this and it struck me that as bad as comics can be when it comes to portraying in a way that most people would consider sexist. They seem to do a lot better at treating women as competitant and skilled people than TV or Movies do. Now, I'm not holding myself up as any type of authority on the matter. This is just an observation I have made. As far as I can tell the types of women that are considered heroic (even the ones that are stereotyped) still seem to be portrated as being stronger and more competent in comics.

A strange thought about Green Lantern history

So, this weekend I had a strange thought. That thought was this considering the history, if Guy Gardner was as self aware as oh let's say Animal Man. Wouldn't Guy dislike John Stewart? After all when Denny O'Neil decided to create John Stewart ('cuz DC needed a black Green Lantern to be relavant,I guess) he had to get Guy out of the way and he accomplished this by having a bus fall on Guy. After this Guy Gardenr was out of comission for about a decade. If I was him I know I'd be irked. Besides, that one could also make the argument that because John was picked to be in the JLU cartoon it took until a new series for Guy Gardner to make his debut in another medium rather than just comics. So,taking all this into account I don't think Guy would like John if he was aware of all of this. But, that's just my two cents.

Guy Loves Ice

So, I was thinking about comics as I'm wont to do and I thought up what I think is a pretty good idea for a comic and that idea is... Guy Loves Ice, starring everyone's favorite Green Lantern...

Guy Gardner

and his sweetheart...

Ice

If I was writing it and I should be because it's my idea,damn it. I would make it about the trials and tribulations of trying to maintain a successful relationship, while being a intergalactic cop dating a superhero and all the complications that brings like your partner dying and being resurrected. For the most part the book would focus on the drama and comedy of modern relationships. With an occasional appearance of a sociopath bent on world or galactic conquest and it would take place in between the stories of the Green Lantern Corp. Mainly it would focus on Guy trying to be the best man he can be for his mate, and while he may slip and fail occasionally, most stories would end with him putting his arms around Tora looking deep into her eyes and saying " Baby, you're the greatest." before kissing her on the mouth. I image this book to be a cross between The Honeymooners (one of the best TV shows ever),Mary Jane loves Spiderman and, Justice League International, with a little dash of Nick and Nora Charles thrown in for good measure.
Well, there's my comic book idea. If you want to contact me Mr. DiDio,I will be waiting by the phone with eyes closed and fingers crossed.