brother grimm

drive-by readings

Fantastic Four #584 (Marvel) "Three Part Two: Congratulations, Mr. Grimm. You're Handsome Again!" Jonathan Hickman Steve Epting Paul Mounts Rus Wooton Alan Davis/Mark Farmer/Javier Rodriguez (cover)

what we learned: this title has been gathering steam and now its clicking on all cylinders, with Jonathan Hickman bringing all the previously-introduced elements slowly to bear. Sue takes charge to be an ambasadress for the Atlantean tribes (Angelina Jolie!), and Reed may be in trouble with the Surfer. for the best part, he also finds a way to revive the 'can we make Ben Grimm human again' record and get away with it, with him and Johnny painting the town red (hey, Stan!), tangling with a retooled Yancy Street Gang (that was a hoot), and having a tender moment with Alicia (aaaawwwww).
oh shit moment: uh ... Galactus?
what's next: always expect the Fantastic. Hickman brings the wow every month. someone also draw up divorce papers for the Richards couple.

hey, me too!

punchout part 2

drive-by readings

Hulk #24 (Marvel) "The Strongest There Is" Jeph Loeb Ed McGuinness Mark Farmer Morry Hollowell Richard Starkings/Comicraft McGuiness/Farmer/Frank D'Armata (cover) Dale Keown (variant cover)

what we learned: the final battle (yeah, right) between the original Hulk and Rulk (hey, they could be like Shake n Bake in Talladega Nights). Banner's masterplan unfolds and knowing he could beat Ross in a fight (laying waste to DC memorials in the process), backs him into a corner of defeat and humiliation. that is of course, until they need him again. that's a mistake that might blow up in their faces.
oh shit moment: great in-your-face artwork from Ed McGuinness. this is how it should end.
what's next: anybody still wondering why Red Hulk would be in Secret Avengers?


Honest Abe: "and what the hell are you two gonna do about this mess you made??"

separate lives

drive-by readings

Avengers Prime #2 (Marvel) Brian Michael Bendis Alan Davis Mark Farmer Javier Rodriguez Chris Eliopoulos

what we learned: the Avengers Big Three are separated - Thor encounters the Enchantress, who believes its his fault that the other realms are in disarray, Tony gets abducted by Fafnir's goons, and Steve, starving for love since being trapped in time, gets seduced by a sexy emphatic elf.
oh shit moment: that's me wondering how this thing fits into the current Thor story arcs where Loki (at the close of Siege) already made a deal with Hela to rent her a piece of Mephisto's land and rechristen it as Hel, which is now i suppose all of these is happening.
what's next: oh, you better run.


what, you forgot this already? Skrull!!!

snaps: Hulk #23

... where everything about the Red Hulk and General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross is revealed. so do you feel like a chump after Jeph Loeb just put you on that rollercoaster ride the last couple of years? do ya??


uhhhh ... that Rolling Stone guy just published your drunken comments, sir.



i guess we know which Friend he didn't like.


seriously?? everyone can just revive everyone now? why is this not being mass-marketed? this spells the death of insurance and big pharma!!!


and here i thought ignorance was bliss.



streaks on his face? i don't even wanna go there.



the Redeemer Armor: because Mysterio and Bob the Uranian just wasn't enough.


Gen. Stanley McChrystal was surprised at the reaction of the Obama Administration.

prime cut

drive-by readings

Avengers Prime #1 (Marvel) Brian Michael Bendis Alan Davis Mark Farmer Javier Rodriguez Chris Eliopoulos

they sure are wringing every dollar they can squeeze out of the Avengers relaunch, aren't they? and from a business point of view, Marvel can't avoid not to. and from the fans' perspective, big name creators + intriguing stories and angles = we will come.

set right in between Siege and the actual relaunch of Steve Rogers' private armies, Avengers Prime tackles the long-awaited question of how to repair the Avengers Big Three's fractured relationships, after multiple storylines since Ragnarok (not Clor) and Avengers Disassembled. though i don't think it can be done within one adventure, this is a good start. wait, i assume this happens even before Tony and Thor talk about bridging that country mile between them. in that sequence, they talk as if Avengers Prime hasn't happened yet (which gets confusing because of scheduling and deadlines). comments, fandom?

of course, thanks to Mark Millar, we will have this inevitable scene:


Tony and Steve's relationship (in the modern era, or the last 20 years) was anything except being buddy-buddy. although from my childhood, i do remember them being very best buds at least when they're having their Avengers adventures. we all grow up and their characterizations grew up as well, putting in conflict and disagreements and all those things that feed and make a friendship mature. now a sizable decade or so since Operation: Galactic Storm, Tony and Steve are once again at odds, considering things went into the toilet after Steve's death (in which Tony mourned him and said the whole thing wasn't worth it - but now, that memory's lost in history's dustbins, eh, Matt Fraction?). but then again, its always a rite of renewal - they're still going to work it out like true friends always do.

i don't know if anyone noticed but from the opening scene, Tony acts like a little boy (again) who wants to show off his toys and his smarts, trying to impress Thor that they can rebuild anything. sounds a little immature, don't you think, in the light of the destruction of Asgard around them? is this the same guy who rebooted himself at Extremis 1.0 then was shocked by his douchebaggery during the events that led to Civil War and later?

of course, the next cool scene - and this one is vintage Alan Davis - is Captain Rogers clearing out a roomful of elves.


not seeing one trademark splash page save the opener and closer, it was a pleasant visit nonetheless from old friends Davis and usual collaborator Farmer. although it seems weird that Cap takes a bunch of arrows from the scene, but not a bow? unless he turned into Bullseye all of a sudden?

with the reveal of a surprise villain in the end, keeping up with the theme in the recent Avengers-related titles, fans like me should be in for a treat.

Red Hulk is a redneck!

oh-HO-HO, Jeph Loeb, you did not!!!



so i was partly right. it was a red herring. i had my money on Glenn Talbot somehow.

-----
Hulk #22

snaps: Fantastic Four #575

... where the Mole Man enlists our fearless foursome to help him ... am not really sure what for. there's this underground city that used to be inhabited by the High Evolutionary, and now it's rising up, and whoever stays within its limits becomes super intelligent. so it rises up, the US is in an uproar, and Ben Grimm may just, just maybe, become at par with Reed Richards in the smarts department.

and the cover of course, has no connection whatsoever with the story inside.


oh my, Princess Leia ... you look different.


get out!! he's a geneticist?? i thought he built a chain of hotels!


umm ... weren't you in New York ... where there's no fault line? (apparently there is.)


the best way to beat Galactus as always, is to starve him.


what are the chances that devolved children living miles beneath the earth's surface, speak English?


shut up, Steve Jobs!! Reed Richards had the HomePad even before your iPad was launched!!

who makes Reed Richards shrink???

Johnny Storm is stunned ...

... when he finds out Peter Parker is much more handsome than he is!



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Amazing Spider-Man #590

some cyberspace

sometimes, it gets irritating to read comic-related movie news that weren't written by knowledgeable people. i detest the drooling fanboy type, but i kind of get annoyed by writers who have no background at all. i'd rather write about stuff i know or do some research on it, instead of getting paid to write crap.

According to our source, Fox isn’t waiting around to see how the solo movie performs. ... they’re tossing around story ideas for the almost inevitable Wolverine 2. Word is that the character they’re hoping to use as the villain of Wolverine 2 is someone named Cyber.

someone named Cyber??

i'd smash this palooka's face, if i were Cyber. that and if i wasn't dead. no respect. there's always Wikipedia.



ol' Silas Burr says tell him you're sorry, little man!

back in Wolverine #79-81, Cyber tangled with Wolverine, who's fresh off getting un-adamantiumed by Magneto. it was enjoyable rip-roaring ride, courtesy of he-man Larry "I Want to Write G.I.Joe 'Til I Die" Hama. take note of this Three Stooges-type sequence, as Cyber is distracted by ceremonial cannon fire while going mano-a-mano with the ol' Canucklehead.

adamantium-less Wolverine versus the adamantium/hallucinogen-laced Cyber? no contest. but that doesn't stop Logan from clawing, punching, kicking and burning the Cyber man.

i actually missed the last two-thirds of the battle the first time around; i only finished it years later. i was kinda disappointed that they just managed to imprison him in Muir Island. Cyber would eventually donate (non-consensual, of course) his adamantium to Wolverine (who raises a pint to him annually), and in doing so, would take a long dirtnap. in Mighty Marvel tradition, he's up and about and still making trouble, most recently in Wolverine: Origins.

someone named Cyber?? good grief.


ok, sorry, forgot my meds today.

vet day

a salute to war vets, old and new!

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Spiderman #574

operation talibannihilation

breaking news!

leaked papers from the US Department of Defense show the secret weapon being readied the military to be deployed in Afghanistan and Pakistan in one big sweeping operation this coming fall. with the November presidential elections on the horizon, and the Republican bets having a credibility crisis, it is thought that a resounding and symbolic victory in the war against terror is the last remaining card the conservatives have to play to keep the White House in Republican hands.

the exact price tag of this secret weapon is yet unknown. however, upon the success of the deployment of this weapon, US allies who would like to purchase it would be qualified for employee discounts.


you're next, Ahmadinejad.

drink all the Johnny Walkers you want, Kim Jong-Il.

you have been warned, Putin. Sarah Palin can bomb your house from her place.

-----
from Wolverine vol.1 #85

red tide

Red Hulk slaps Thor around. and even gets to carry his hammer to pound his Asgardian ass.




no need to show Thor getting his punches in, the outcome is the same.

somewhere, somehow, Tony Stark is laughing.

they better explain the whole shebang next issue, or am gonna pummel someone.

-----
Hulk #5
Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuinness/Mark Farmer/Jason Keith/Comicraft

tripping the force magnetic pt. 4

continuing a look back at a '90s classic ... if you can call it that.

Fatal Attractions
Wolverine #75 "Nightmares Persist"
Larry Hama/Adam Kubert/Mark Farmer/Dan Green/Mark Pennington

Larry Hama is best known for his 12-year G.I. Joe run. but he also made a mark with a 7-year stint on Wolverine, where blood tend to spill and characters die, like what you would expect in a military-themed comic. sadly, G.I. Joe was geared toward kids so Cobras and Joes alike would always parachute safely to the ground even after their planes were blown up.

but enough about the Joes. this is a post about Logan, tying in to my reflections on Fatal Attractions, and how this event set him on a different direction, and Hama was there to steer the bike.

with Magneto ripping his adamantium out (wondering why no one thought of doing that prior to this), Logan is now put in a place he hasn't been through before - the loss of one of his two security blankets. the massive trauma he suffers necessitates that the X-Men bring him back to Earth for medical treatment.

i really wonder how his mask stayed on? painted, perhaps?

the hombre's tough, but this was one hell of a painful thing to go through. good thing he has Gambit (of all people) providing Cajun stereotype comedy relief (contrast that with the current state of affairs in X-Men, re Messiah CompleX, where Remy is on the other side and Logan throws down on him).

"piece de gâteau"? wouldn't that be 'morceau de gâteau'? merde!

if the X-Men's Blackbird wasn't space-worthy, how the hell did Bishop get it up there in the first place? Professor Xavier and Jean try to hold Logan and the aircraft together (with Quicksilver providing the speedy manual navigating), but Logan gets worse by the minute.

like i said, his mask was painted on his face

back on terra firma, the late Moira McTaggert and the rest of the X-crew try to guide the aircraft in, dispense medical advice, speculate and panic all at the same time. the only positive thing provided by a Blackbird entering earth orbit on fire is to give some poor kid the chance to make a wish.

"i wish i was a mutant!"

Xavier tries to pull Wolverine away from the light, so to speak, but the pull is too great. the Blackbird runs into nasty weather and is threatening to tear itself apart. only Jean makes the supreme sacrifice of using her telekinesis to hold the parts together at the cost of getting swept out of the hatch. and then in one of most improbable-yet-probable movie-like finishes, Logan wakes up and saves Jean.

we never actually see the Blackbird land on the Westchester grounds. huh.

back on safe soil, Logan starts the healing process. on his first attempt at machismo, he waves off all opinions on his medical health and participates in a solo Danger Room sequence, and is promptly smacked around.

getting hurt only fuels his anger, and when he gets mad, he usually pops his claws. and when he does ...

its finally revealed (and this part is semi-officially credited to noted writer Peter David) that Logan's claws were actually bone, not implants, and the adamantium bond made it the weapons they were. now Logan's healing factor - his other security blanket - has not returned to full efficiency and is struggling to keep up with the wounds, especially the holes opened (ugh) by 'tracting and retracting' (snort) his bone claws.

feeling he's no longer "the best at what he does", Logan embarks on a long strange trip away from his teammates to rediscover himself. at least he still had great penmanship despite the wounds on his wrists.

ol' Canucklehead won't regain his adamantium until 70 issues later (that's more than 5 years). the change actually made him a better character, not the cardboard cutout he was devolving into at that time, and made for some great storylines. like the time he went to bone to adamantium bone with Cyber, or that classic throwdown with Sabretooth in #90. he actually turned feral too, at some point during the next few years, which is a nod to his supposed (but not sanctioned) origin - an evolved wolverine created by the High Evolutionary, the god of all mad scientists.

Larry Hama, bless his wild Japanese heart, wrote some of the best Wolverine stories, and this is a salute.

final stop: backstabbing. kinda.

losing my religion

"Standoff"
Thor vol.2 #58, Iron Man vol.3 #64, Avengers vol.3 #63
Dan Jurgens/Mike Grell/Alan Davis/Robin Riggs/Mark Farmer


this is how the Steve Rogers' death in Civil War could have been prevented, or how to stop World War Hulk. but that's not gonna happen, 'cause some people need to pay mortgages.

quick recap: this story arc revolves around a certain segment of a country's ("Slokovia") population worshipping Thor (who parked Asgard right above Manhattan - i must've missed the NBC special on that one). Slokovia's dictator doesn't condone religious tolerance and whacks the dissenters. Thor hears about it and righteously kicks the Slokovian military's ass. the US, not wanting to agitate Slokovia's bordering country, Latveria (Dr. Doom's little slice of heaven, for those not in the know), wants Iron Man to rein in his fellow Avenger, or else.

here's a foreshadowing how Tony Stark's futuristic mindset becomes a grating pain in the ass for his friends.

i mean, if Thor knew Tony was playing around with his DNA and would clone him one day and sic him against their friends, he'd take Tony's head off right there and then.

i swear, i think a 7-year old is a lot more mature than these superheroes, or even most of the world leaders today.

"that's my American Doll!" "no, it's mine!"

here's something you don't see everyday:

Cap: "this won't look good with the troops, i gotta say something heroic ..."

as Civil War showed, who needs bad guys if your heroes act like this and can beat the pulp out of each other easily?

one powerful scene written up by Mike Grell and beautifully rendered by Alan Davis shows the persuasive power of Steve Rogers.

Tony: "brain? what brain? it does not compute ..."

if Tony wasn't actually going up against Steve in Civil War, maybe Steve could have convinced him otherwise. or maybe not. Tony would have attempted to neutralize Cap as soon as.

even if you don't respect your commanding officer, you RESPECT the Flag Man.

commanding officer: "ahhh ... shit. hello, Gitmo latrine duty ..."

if Thor had been around during Civil War, who would he side with? you can't arrest a God, much less make him register. and with the Hulk trying to stomp everyone into mush, Thor's rumored return to the Marvel Universe is critical.

each issue treats us to at least one spectacular Alan Davis splash page ... this one here's my favorite:

and thou shall not have other Gods before me ... so forget democracy!

Cap's shield gets dented, but a few well-placed hammer blows and the thing's as good as new. eh? wasn't this shield supposed to be indestructible? not so. here's a record of the rare events when the supposedly impossible happened.

all in all, its nothing we've seen before (justice vs. status quo), but nicely woven into Marvel mythos, specifically the friendships between the Big Three. it took just a dented shield for uh, detente to happen, but this event already sowed discord within their ranks. Thor goes nuts and thinks himself as a Savior, reshapes the world in his image, feels guilty, resets the timeline, starts Ragnarok and plays the game until he goes comatose. no, i mean he disappears and until now, he's M.I.A.

so, hell, its about time, dammit!

one annoying thing i hate when artists draw Iron Man is they try to make the mouth of his facemask just like a ... cloth mask. People, that's metal!! as in armor made of metal! this isn't Robert Patrick/T1000. and what about those teeth?? aaargh.

gee, that rant made me almost lose my religion. or my lunch.