Comics are awesome.

[Shockwave]

I thought Thunderstrike, War Machine and US Agent were knock offs created by Stan Lee when Marvel tried to financially bend him over and say that he couldn't have any creative control over the original characters.

[138 Scourge]

Nah, not really. USAgent was the "Replacement Cap" from when Steve Rogers was forced to give up being Cap. The government owned the identity or something like that. Anyhow, he'd showed up as a character called "Super-Patriot" a few months before the "Cap No More" story, and wound up wearing the red-white-and blue and making a huge mess of it. Steve, meanwhile, was wearing a red-white-and black suit during this story, so after he regained the Cap suit, John Walker (replacement Cap) took over wearing the red white and black and took the name "USAgent".

War Machine is, of course, James Rhodes, member of Tony's supporting cast that took over as Iron Man in the eighties while Tony was busy being a drunken skid row bum. At some point in the nineties Tony died, and Rhodes took over for him again, only with an "edgier" name and way more guns. Why "War Machine" has stuck around I'll never understand, but he was sort of cool in the movie.

And Thunderstrike...I have no idea. I think it's basically "Thor's power winds up in a mortal man" again, this time as a guy named Eric Masterson, who I think was Thor for awhile, but switched to the new name and amazingly bad costume after the real Thor took over again. So basically, yeah, knockoffs, but I don't think Stan Lee had anything to do with it.

[Dominic]

Shockwave, where did you hear that? I am pretty sure Lee never even wrote those characters, even by the loose standard for writing reserved for him. (Zing!)

US Agent: Captain America gone wrong. He was not evil, merely deeply flawed. Gruenwald made it work without Walker/Agent being a monster. Other writers have been less successful at this.

War Machine: Stark's death was intended to be temporary from the start. It was all but stated when Stark died that he would be back. And, less than a year later, he was back. War Machine had "kewl" appeal, but was written as a more responsible Iron Man. Say what one will about 90s Marvel, but War Machine was a good character and a good idea.

Thunderstrike: I really do not see the hate for this character, given that Thunderstrike incoporated all of the Marvel elements, like "every day guy with problems....and powers".


Bruce Wayne could pull off the "shadowy benefactor" angle. If nothing else, having multiple Batmen increases the effectiveness of the bat-brand by making it harder to guess where and when Batman, (likely seen by the public as only one guy), will next appear.

But, as stated above, it will not stick. And, Morrison will likely do something idiotic and destructive with the idea.

Dom
-ain't picked up comics this week.

[Sparky Prime]

Nope, not a bit. But this is part four of four, so it might be covered elsewhere. This just has how eveyone's memory of Spidey's identity got erased.

Hrm... Decided to look up a plot summery, and yeah they still haven't covered why Peter's new powers disappeared. And apparently Peter saved Aunt May with CPR? After the greatest scientific minds and magic casters in the Marvel Universe couldn't do a thing to help her in OMD, all it took was CPR? Seriously, Quesada shouldn't be allowed to write anymore stories...

Was Ben supposed to take on the "Peter Parker" identity? Because otherwise I couldn't see that lasting very long.

Just as a point of interest... In the "Marvel Comics versus DC Comics" story, Ben Reilly introduced himself as such to Clark Kent, but he said his professional name is Peter Parker.

[Shockwave]

Shockwave, where did you hear that? I am pretty sure Lee never even wrote those characters, even by the loose standard for writing reserved for him. (Zing!)

US Agent: Captain America gone wrong. He was not evil, merely deeply flawed. Gruenwald made it work without Walker/Agent being a monster. Other writers have been less successful at this.

War Machine: Stark's death was intended to be temporary from the start. It was all but stated when Stark died that he would be back. And, less than a year later, he was back. War Machine had "kewl" appeal, but was written as a more responsible Iron Man. Say what one will about 90s Marvel, but War Machine was a good character and a good idea.

Thunderstrike: I really do not see the hate for this character, given that Thunderstrike incoporated all of the Marvel elements, like "every day guy with problems....and powers".


Bruce Wayne could pull off the "shadowy benefactor" angle. If nothing else, having multiple Batmen increases the effectiveness of the bat-brand by making it harder to guess where and when Batman, (likely seen by the public as only one guy), will next appear.

But, as stated above, it will not stick. And, Morrison will likely do something idiotic and destructive with the idea.

Dom
-ain't picked up comics this week.

I knew a guy that... well let's just say he was the encyclopedia of comic books. He even did some writing for Marvel at one point, but I think it was limited to having penned some entries for one of the handbooks. He told me that there was a time when Marvel was making huge money on Stan Lee's characters but Lee wasn't seeing any of it and Marvel didn't want to pony up. So Lee got the idea to try to leave Marvel and take the characters with him only to find out that Marvel owned the characters. Apparently this actually went through the courts so the characters in question weren't usable and that's when Lee created the knock off characters. Or maybe Lee lost and then created the knock offs when he was forced to stay with Marvel? I'm sketchy on that last part because it's been years since I've talked to the guy and even longer since he's told me that story.

The guy actually worked at my comic book store for a while. He had so many titles on his pull list that he worked entirely for comics and still owed the shop money.

[138 Scourge]

l

Nope, not a bit. But this is part four of four, so it might be covered elsewhere. This just has how eveyone's memory of Spidey's identity got erased.

Hrm... Decided to look up a plot summery, and yeah they still haven't covered why Peter's new powers disappeared. And apparently Peter saved Aunt May with CPR? After the greatest scientific minds and magic casters in the Marvel Universe couldn't do a thing to help her in OMD, all it took was CPR? Seriously, Quesada shouldn't be allowed to write anymore stories...

Yyyyeah. I mean, I'm pretty pro-Marvel, I'm okay with the new status quo, and I like most of the Spidey stories I've read in it. But even I'll straight up say "One More Day" was a horrible idea and badly executed. The best thing to do with that story would be leave it the hell alone and never mention it again if at all possible. Some writers have had some fun with the "psychic blindspot" thing, making the most of a bad situation, but overall, it should be really be left alone.

But "One Moment in Time", that's just picking at the wound right there. Remind everyone of the universally reviled story where your hero makes a deal with the damn devil, why dontcha?

Of course, as I've probably mentioned before, I'd rather Peter's identity have remained publicly known. I think that worked well for the character. And sure, it would have set up Peter's family and friends for reprisal and whatever, but to paraphrase a quote from the great Kate Power "What, a family with a superhero in it is less safe than a family with a rottweiller?"

Anyway, more comics from Dom!

G.I. Joe: Cobra #7: The origin of the Croc Master! Croc Master's one of Cobra's lesser-used grunts, giant guy with a gimp mask and a bullwhip who uses alligators to provide Cobra's security. I absolutely love this guy. I use him as the perfect example of why Cobra's characters are more interesting than G.I. Joe's. I mean, Joe's security dude is a guy with a dog. This story shows that there's at least a couple other people that love this loon as much as I do, because they took the time to give him a whole origin. The origin itself? Nothing special, abused kid raised on an Everglades gator farm feeds his pop to the gators (and crocs) and then becomes the meanest and craziest eco-terrorist ever, which gains Cobra's attention. It doesn't quite go with his bio, which makes him out to be more of a redneck crackpot than a complete wackaloon, but I'm okay with it, because it's a decent enough story, and it's an entire comic dedicated to Croc Master, which, you know, that's enough for me.

Image United: 0, 1, and 2: Well, it's the founding fathers of Image Comics teaming up to do a big crossover story where each artist draws their own character. I think Dom kicked this my way because I recently said some positive things about Rob Leifeld. Not about his art, mind, that's horrible, but about the guy himself. This is what I get. And look, this is about exactly as you'd expect. Anyone that bought this and expected different had it coming. Also, Al Simmons, the original Spawn? He's now "Omega Spawn" and in charge of hell now. Okay, fine, but now he speaks without contractions in overblown villain 101-speak. I just don't get why that would happen, and it loses some of the effect that you'd get with this guy now being the big villain if he's completely unrecognizable in appearance and tone. But I'm actually putting thought and critique into a book that's deliberately all about being what Image was back in 1992, so who has the problem here?

[andersonh1]

Justice Society of America #44

Very disappointing. This is the first issue with the new creative team of Mark Guggenheim and Scott Kollins, and while the art is pretty good, I feel like I'm reading a book from the worst days of the 90s. Dark, brutal and bloody are not words I'd normally use to describe the adventures of the Justice Society, but that's what we got here.

Some super-powered terrorist is being held in a CIA secret prison in Afghanistan. He escapes and slaughters everyone guarding him. He heads to America and attacks a city, so the Justice Society heads out to stop him. This nameless, motiveless, unknown plot device of a villain proceeds to trash the group with ease, bloodying everyone up and breaking Alan Scott's neck. In the end, after hours of fighting in which a good chunk of the city is destroyed, Lightning stops him by seriously electrocuting the guy, while Dr. Fate contains him.

Aside from the fact that Alan Scott/Green Lantern was declared the most powerful man on Earth just two issues ago, and here he's taken out in five seconds flat, didn't we just see a team member seriously wounded and near death in the last storyline? And Alan Scott himself has already been nearly killed back during the Johnny Sorrow storyline early in the run of the JSA title, making this feel like a retread idea.

I was pretty turned off by this issue. I'm seriously considering dropping the book if this is what can be expected from Guggenheim.


The Flash #5

Rogues versus the Renegades. The cops from the future keep trying to arrest Barry Allen for a murder he hasn't committed yet, and it turns out that his one new ally is actually behind the whole scheme. The plot continues to entertain, but it really has been stretched out and didn't need five whole issues to get to the point it's reached here. There are some clever touches, such as Mirror Master using the shiny surface of the wingtips on Flash's cowl to hide, and the final page's callback to the last issues of Barry Allen's previous Flash series and the murder trial storyline.

A good issue, but one that will read far better in collected form with the rest of the storyline than it does as a standalone issue. The art is great though, and one of the main reasons that I'm reading the book.

[Onslaught Six]

But, as stated above, it will not stick. And, Morrison will likely do something idiotic and destructive with the idea.

He already is.

[Dominic]

What is Morrison doing? The arc has barely begun, largely for Morrison being sloppy about deadlines.

Hrm... Decided to look up a plot summery, and yeah they still haven't covered why Peter's new powers disappeared. And apparently Peter saved Aunt May with CPR? After the greatest scientific minds and magic casters in the Marvel Universe couldn't do a thing to help her in OMD, all it took was CPR? Seriously, Quesada shouldn't be allowed to write anymore stories...

The implication is that Mephisto warped physics enough for it to work, as per the deal. That makes sense, even if OMD was a terrible idea.


Anderson, DC is probably taking Scott off the board to keep him out of the next big stupid event. (They did the same with John Steward in the 90s, which arguably saved the character.) Based on your summary, the enemy of the day has plenty of motivation, they just have not spelled it out yet.

doesn't quite go with his bio, which makes him out to be more of a redneck crackpot than a complete wackaloon, but I'm okay with it, because it's a decent enough story, and it's an entire comic dedicated to Croc Master, which, you know, that's enough for me.

IDW is not bound by the old character profiles.

Dom

[Dominic]

And....part 2:

The guy actually worked at my comic book store for a while. He had so many titles on his pull list that he worked entirely for comics and still owed the shop money.

I kind of remember this, but it long predates the 90s if memory serves. War Machine et al were attempts by Marvel to update and modernize old characters.

Image United: 0, 1, and 2: Well, it's the founding fathers of Image Comics teaming up to do a big crossover story where each artist draws their own character. I think Dom kicked this my way because I recently said some positive things about Rob Leifeld. Not about his art, mind, that's horrible, but about the guy himself. This is what I get. And look, this is about exactly as you'd expect. Anyone that bought this and expected different had it coming. Also, Al Simmons, the original Spawn? He's now "Omega Spawn" and in charge of hell now. Okay, fine, but now he speaks without contractions in overblown villain 101-speak. I just don't get why that would happen, and it loses some of the effect that you'd get with this guy now being the big villain if he's completely unrecognizable in appearance and tone. But I'm actually putting thought and critique into a book that's deliberately all about being what Image was back in 1992, so who has the problem here?

Joking aside, I give Image huge points for Omega Spawn. The character has been around for ~20 years. Damned right there should be a serious change in the status quo. For all of the flaws that book may have, at least "Spawn" had a linear story that is appreciably different now than when it began. I prefer having a character being damned near unrecognizable after 20 years to having them never ever change, even after "nothing ever being the same again".

Dom
-still not reading Image though.