Waiting for more JLU

I am so frustrated that Cartoon Network can't get its act together to show us more Justice League Unlimited. If you're not aware of this, as I wasn't until a few days ago, five more episodes have aired in other places, and are available as torrents for you to download and watch on your computer.

Given CN's history of scheduling my favorite shows directly into cancellation (Transformers, anyone?), I figure this is how I'll be catching JLU from here on out.

Since I certainly wouldn't want to be the one to corrupt you into downloading TV shows from the Internet, a practice that, even though they haven't been played in the US, is still legally questionable, I recommend you do not use the links below to download torrent files for the five newest episodes.

• JLU 5×05 - Flash and Substance
• JLU 5×06 - Dead Reckoning
• JLU 5×07 - Patriot Act
• JLU 5×08 - The Great Brain Robbery
• JLU 5×09 - Grudge Match

Superman

I just received my Alex Ross Superman from DCBS (only $12.50!). When I was looking at it in the box, I was impressed, but now that I have it standing on my desk, I’m actually a little disappointed.

First, I was under the impression that these figures were supposed to be on a larger scale than the regular DC Direct figures, but this one certainly isn’t. Superman stands at exactly 7 inches tall, which is the correct scale according to what I heard (seven as opposed to regular DCD 6 inches), but is perfectly in place with my other DCD figures, particularly the Red Son Superman (who also comes in at seven inches). Maybe I heard wrong on that one in the first place; regardless, I expected this figure to stand above my other DVD figures, and it just doesn’t.

In general, the likeness to Ross’ Superman is great; however, I’m not convinced that this is a good thing when translated into plastic. Superman’s face is so contoured with clefts and lines that he looks a bit like a young Ronald Reagan. It doesn’t look bad, but I think the problem is that in going from Ross’ hyper-realistic style to a mass-produced action figure, something is lost in the translation. As an example, take the eyes: they don’t look real on the figure because they are done with only three paint apps - white, black and blue. To match the hyper-realistic sculpt, more paint apps would have been necessary to impart the detail contained in anyone’s eyes, much less Superman’s. Had this been a mini-statue, I imagine that it would be far more detailed paint-wise, but it would have carried a much heftier price tag.

Paint problems plague the rest of the figure as well. The outside of the ‘S’ emblem is etched into the figure’s chest, one assumes to stop paint run-off from the emblem itself onto the blue uniform. This etching is so deep that it looks like a trench. Furthermore, you can tell that the red paint was laid before the yellow in the emblem, because it shows through quite a bit, particularly inside the S itself.

Now, let’s talk about what’s done right on this figure. All of Superman’s musculature is subtle, as it appears in Ross’ paintings. The details of the uniform are all there, including the sizeable gap between the top of the cape and Superman’s neck (a detail I love in his depiction of the character). The figure stands well on or off its base, and has the now standard ball-jointed shoulders for a little extra posability.

All in all, I’m really upset that the paint details mar what is otherwise a beautiful figure. If you’re a Superman fan, or a fan of Ross’ work, this figure is probably for you, but if you just want a Superman figure, I would look at some of DCD’s other offerings first before buying this one.

As a final note, I didn’t realize until I had the box in my hand that this series of figures isn’t just Justice League, they are actually from the Justice mini-series on shelves now. Confusing.

Serenity TPB Review or You can't Stop the Signal!!

Author: Joss Whedon and Brett Mathews
Artist: Will Conrad
Cover:Will Conrad
Publisher: Dark Horse

I'm not going to draw out this review. Most people that review this book have to let you know how much they loved Firefly and when they first encountered it and blah blah blah. So I'm just going to say I love Firefly and I love Serenity the movie...that's it. So onto the review.

Spoiler Free Review:
Serenity really delivers everything a fan (browncoat) could hope for and expect. It's not the show or the movie, but it's the next best thing. All the characters from the TV series make a return to the Firefly universe to bridge a gap between the TV series and the movie. If you are familiar with the TV series then yes you will love this book. Everyone shows up in this comic; Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Inara, Book, Kaylee, River, Wash and Simon. Hell, even Badger shows up! It's really hard to tell Joss and Brett apart in their writing, both seem to finish each other's sentences...well the characters sentences. The language and dialogue have transferred nicely, and the art doesn't deviate much from what was revealed of the universe on the TV series. Speaking of the artwork, it’s absolutely beautiful; the facial expressions are captured to an almost eerie likeness. The only gripe I have with the art are a couple action sequences. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell what is going on because there is almost too many explosions and bullets being fired.

The story itself is simple. It really feels like episode 15 of the TV series. The group use Shepherd Book as a bit of a distraction while they compete with another gang to rob the city then as they would on the show, the gang wins out, takes off, and lays the blame on Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Some guns get fired, people stabbed and of course our heroes escape on Serenity. Mal then goes to investigate what went wrong and why their supplier of information had stiffed them. Of course the Alliance makes their move as they recruit one of their old operatives that’s got a thing against Mal; my boy has enemies everywhere, to take him out. Now, I don't want to spoil anything else, in case you didn't read the individual issues, but this reads great as a collected work.

Sounds like a great episode doesn't it? Well, that can be a problem for new readers that buy the book on a lark. It could be confusing since they don't know anything about the series. Although the book does a damn good job of making Mal come across like a bad-ass and who doesn't want their captain of their ship to be a bad-ass!? So I don't think new readers will get the same enjoyment out of this collection. This is more of a payoff to the fans of the show and Joss Whedon's works. I would like to mention that all nine of the covers are included in this TPB; John Cassady, Joe Quesada, Bryan Hitch, Adam Hughes, Leinil Francis Yu, Josh Middleton, JG Jones, Jo Chen, Tim Bradstreet and Sean Phillips. Wish I hadn't bought every cover now. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of the TV series and movie, if you aren't a fan; then go watch the TV series, read the comic and then watch the movie; you won't be disappointed. Damn, I promised not to draw out the review too.

Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Why I still Love Erik Larsen!

Not only has this guy been writing and drawing a monthly title since 1992 (His creator owned Savage Dragon); He is also the head honcho of Image comics, takes on side projects with other companies and has never had a late book come out(with the exception of his six month leave). Larsen is still the man...I've been a huge fan of his since his days on Amazing and the Hulk. But reading this from his One Fans Opinion just cracks me the hell up.

How many times are you guys going to fall for the whole "Spider-Man's getting a new costume that sucks and it's going to replace the old one that rocks" trick? Marvel has been pulling this one off for decades now and every time you guys take the bait-- every time. This is not going to replace the old costume for the long haul. You will not see this costume on Spider-Man in 10, 20, 30 years-- by then he'll be wearing some other shitty costume and you'll be moaning about that.

List of De-powered Mutants

After House of M most mutants lost their powers and unlike Iceman stayed that way. Here is a list of mutants that have been depowered. Most mutants on this list came from a variety of comics and Wizard #172. This might be a bit of a spoiler so just to make sure if you don't want to know, don't click on the link.
Click here to read the list of De-powerd Mutants.

Knuaf and Zircher to the rescue!

Since I am just on a roll of good news. As of issue seven Daniel Knuaf of Carnivale, a damn great show that ended way too early, and Patrick Zircher (Cable and Deadpool) will be the new creative team on Iron man. You know what that means, don't you? We are back to monthly Iron Man adventures. After the hell that Ellis and Granov put us through there is a light at the end of that dark tunnel. I hate to see Zircher leave Cable and Deadpool, my favorite Marvel title, but this book needed some serious help. So enjoy this little piece of artwork teaser from Iron Man issue seven, just enough to get me pumped up.

DC 52 only $2.50!!!

I know, it's pretty messed up that $2.50 is a deal on a comicbook! But, at a time when DC, like Marvel could be charging $2.99 for a very anticipated story, you have to give them props. This series has some great talent at the helm. We are talking: Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid with layouts by Keith Giffen. Hell, even Dan Jurgens (Zero Hour) has an involvement doing a history of the DC universe backup story in each issue. DC is really stressing you pick pick this story up weekly because they will not see a collected edition until the final issue is published in 2007. They are promising the book to be out every week with no delays. If you do the math it's about $130 and about ten bucks a month; believe me I have spent twice as much on really shitty stories ahem ahem Onslaught! With a creative team in this book how can they go wrong? I am really looking foward to this!

Wolverine 38 Review

Author: Daniel Way
Breakdowns: Javier Saltares
Finishes: Mark Texeria
Cover: Kaare Andrews

Not really sure what Marvel and Daniel Way are doing in this Origins and Endings arc. I'm not sure if they are trying to save the entire story for the final installation or if this is the lead up to the Wolverine Origins book. What I am sure of is that this review is going to be quick, because like the past issues in Way's run, nothing has happened. On the art side of things again Mark Texeria delivers what he can, not his fault every panel is boring and drawn out. It's anyone's guess why Texeria needs a breakdown artist; hell the man has carried monthly title books in the past by himself.

Spoil Free Review
So far we have much of the same crap that has happened in the previous issues: Wolvie is looking for answers, but with no resolution. No kidding, there is one whole splash page devoted to Wolvie walking down stairs and another one when he enters the room. This reminds me of the first year of Image titles, there were five pages of nothing but yelling with no dialogue. I appreciate that Way actually takes knowledge that Logan is part of the Avengers and actually uses that towards the end of the story. Everything else in this issue is just more build up.
Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Is Marvel really scared of Interracial marriages?

I would normally leave topics like this alone, but after reading more and more about this marriage I'm just a bit fed up. It all seems to start in February (Black History Month) with Storm #1. Normally I could give a rat's ass who Storm ends up with, she hasn't been one of my favorites in a long time. However, I'm a huge Forge fan and nothing bothers me more than the fact that they dated for a decade and damn nothing happens. Black Panther caches her eyes fighting the Red Ghost and she falls madly in love? Give me a break....I wouldn't mind that much if they had been planning this for years, but they have only devoted five issue in the past years to this build up. This seems more like a forced event then anything. This is not the marriage of Jean and Scott or for that matter Spider-man and Mary Jane. Storm leaving the X-men is so out of character. Are they trying to attract more African American readers? If so, you know there is nothing wrong with interracial marriages. I may be alone here, but I really enjoy Hudlin's run on Black Panther, I think he is a great replacement for Priest, but this event just makes my stomach turn.

About Heroes Episode 3

Melanie, Ben, Chris and Dennis join us for our discussion of Marvel's House of M!

About Heroes Episode 3

X-men Deadly Genesis 3 Review

Author: Ed Brubaker
Layouts: Trevor Hairsine
Cover: Marc Silverstri
Finishes: Scott Hanna and Nelson

We are in the midpoint of the series and there are still lots of questions left unanswered. The editors at Marvel have embedded into our heads that the events in this book will shake the X-men’s world up. Well, to sum up real quick how I feel about the series so far: I don’t think its living up to its hype. Hell, its got one of the top writers on it and its still not going anywhere but a state of semi-confusion. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the series, but I don’t love it…like many X-books its just there.

Spoil Free Review
Brubaker seems to know what to do with the characters; he has a nice grasp of the X-universe. With the exception of Nightcrawler’s accent missing (which is usually the first sign of bad writing) Brubaker does a nice job of writing everyone else. There are some nice moments between Scott and Rachel, which has been avoided for a long time. Trevor Hairsine has a track record of not being able to keep up a monthly title; well it is finally starting to show here in issue 3. He is no longer the penciller but just a layoutist(if that is even a word). The artwork looks really rushed…Beast looks more like the wolf man from Howling 3 than Hank McCoy.

What exactly happens in this issue without giving much away? Well Scott and Rachel are still being held captive by the “mystery” villain. We still don’t know much about the mystery villain except that he knows Scott and Xavier and has an interest in Rachel. He is really starting to get on my nerves because all he seems to like to do is hit Scott (which is ok in my book any day) and that is it….he keeps going on and on about the same things he did last issue. Not much happens here, Nightcrawler and Wolverine retrieve something that is supposed to be a big clue to the mysteries surrounding this story. The back up story is finally making sense, even the most dense reader can figure out where this is going…if the can’t well that’s what the Spoiled Review is for.

Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Michael Turner's phobia?

Is it just me? But by looking at this image and past Michael Turner artwork is he just afraid of drawing feet? I thought Rob Liefeld was the only one with that phobia. Anyway this is the variant cover to Civil War#1 which comes out in May. Feet or no feet whose side are you on?

X-men 181 review

Author: Peter Milligan
Penciller: Roger Cruz
Cover Artist: Salvador Larroca
Inker: Victor Olazaba

So I'm going to give this spoil-free review a shot. The cover features Doop from Milligan's X-force and X-tatix run. It looks like he's engulfing good ole depowered Polaris. What does this cover have to do with the book? Who knows the only resemblance of Doop I see in this book is his cousin Daap. Now let's talk about the art; Cruz has been drawing comics for well over 11 years and still cannot choose an art style. His faces change from looking like Joe Madureira to Matt Brooks to Jeffrey Scott Campbell. In some panels it looks like Polaris is about to swallow Havok with that big-ass mouth of hers. Now, what happened in the book?

Well, here is the spoil free review:

Apocalypse talks to an old guy about Cricket, Gambit throws a fit about some guy Mystique is trying to hook Rogue up with, Havok and Polaris have a bitch fest and the Leper Queen and Polaris get sucked up in the air by some green shit named Daap.

Click here to read the review with spoilers.

DC Direct Identity Crisis Series 1 release date

DC Direct announced today that Identity Crisis series 1 figures will be in stores February 15.

We mentioned these figures in our last podcast - Deadshot, Dr. Light and Zatanna all have decent roles in Infinite Crisis, as do Hawkman and Green Arrow to a lesser extent. Also, series 2, which looks nowhere near as nice as series 1, will be in stores a month later, on March 15.

New team on X-men

So According to Wizard 173, the adjectiveless X-men will be getting a new creative team this summer. I'm not a fan of Peter Milligan on Superhero books and his run on X-men has been very forgettable to say the least. Larroca’s pencils are really carrying the book and they haven’t been that great since his first 12 issues of X-treme. So the new team will consist of writer Mike Carey (Lucifer, Ultimate FF/X-Men) and artist Chris Bachalo (Death, Uncanny X-men). I don’ t mind this change now…hell I probably won’t be able to tell the difference.

The part that bothers me the most is that according to Joe Quesada, in an interview with Newsarama, the new team roster will consist of:

• Mystique
• Sabretooth
• Cable
• Rogue
• Cannonball
• Iceman

Hmmm I seem to recall a team somewhere in the past that consisted of Mystique and Sabretooth…and that worked out for the best....but what the Hell? They are going to put Sabretooth on a team!!!! A rapist, a fucking killer, a baby eater, one of Wolverine's greatest foes…. great idea! Then Mystique, who killed Moira Mactaggert (the one time love of Professor X) and has tried to kill the X-men on numerous occasions. What the hell is the editorial staff thinking? Is anyone who works on the X-books required to do some research? Of course I will read it, but I really hope they mention some of this continuity like Cannonball kicking the shit out of Sabretooth for manipulating Tab. Or Rogue confronting Mystique for killing Moira or shacking up with Gambit.

A quick note on categories

Since the category name "Discussions" generally means the same thing as "Forum", I've changed it to "Rants", which is more along the lines of what that category has become with use. It can't be discussions if no one comments, now can it?

This shouldn't break any bookmarks or anything, but if you encounter any page not found errors as a result, let me know and I'll get them fixed right quick.

Where's the love for RSS?

Why is it that none of the action figure sites I visit have RSS feeds? I visit 5-6 sites every day a couple of times, and only one of them has a feed. Of course, that one feed is from Superhero Times, and it's only there because I put it there when I built that site. They don't even link to it from the homepage anymore, and I'm not sure if the autodiscover code is in the headers (in fact, I'm almost positive it's not, but I'm still to lazy to view source and look).

I bet I know why some sites don't have it - because you can't serve copious amounts of overtly-distracting, slow-to-load banner and panel ads in an RSS feed, and that goes against everything some of the major toy sites stand for. That, and the fact that they're not aware of the technology in the first place.

Please! Tell me where I can get action figure news via an RSS feed! There's got to be a site out there I missed, or that I just don't know about!

How do some people do it?

Can someone please tell me; how the hell Kevin Smith is the #2 hot writer on Wizard's top ten writers list? How can a guy that took a total of four years to wrap up a six issue mini series be considered a hot writer. Who the fuck votes on these things? Kevin Smith and View Askew fan boys? We covered a bit of this in our last podcast; about fans that still support creators like this. I found myself guilty by supporting Whedon on Astonishing X-men, but to be fair the case there was a bit different. Whedon was working on Serenity the comics, wrapping up the movie, overseeing the Angel comics and of course working on AXM. Smith was just working on Spiderman/Black Cat and Jersey Girl.

Could there be something else to this story though? I did something I hadn't done in a while this weekend I went to his blog where he claims he hasn't been paid for any of the Spiderman and Blackcat: The Evil That Men Do books. Now I could understand if in the middle of writing issue 3 he found out Marvel pulled a Pat Lee on his tubby ass, but in his own words he found out a few days ago. I've been a fan of his movies for years, but how is this acceptable? Ahh the beauty of working in comics; I wish I could tell my boss its going to take me three years to finish a small project.

It's Miller Time

So what was the number one book of 2005? All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder according to sales. I could believe that...maybe if it was 1997. Frank Miller gave us some of the best Batman stories ever! Batman: Year One and of course Dark Knight Returns. But its 2006 and we've read Dark Knight Strikes Again. I know this isn't DC's version of the Ultimate books, but who are they kidding? The story isn't that much different for me to enjoy. It takes alot more than: "I'm the Goddamn Batman!" to get me going. Is he supposed to be a hard-ass? I really can't tell the difference. The delay of the book hasn't really been helping my opinion. Word of mouth is that Jim Lee is not even the hold up; that it might be Miller because he is busy with Sin City 2. Wish they had teamed Lee up with Morrison on ASS!!! heh! cause I'm not a Frank Quietly fan. Ohh well, at least it beat House of M for book of the year.

You remember when Gambit was a cool mofo'?

Yes, that’s right; I remember there was a time when Gambit was a cool motherfucker! He was the Han Solo of the X-men universe…he could be trusted to an extent. Always thought to be the traitor in the mansion, he finally proved his worth with the X-men. He was sly, he always had a card up his sleeve (no pun intended) to get out of any situation. There was a time anything he did, was damn cool! The guy made it cool to fight with cards, do you realize how hard that is?!!! He was rumored to be the third Summers brother….and damn did he have a way with the ladies. The lucky bastard stole Rogue’s heart in the end. So what happened to this smooth bastard? Well for starters Jim Lee and Chris Claremont left the X-men, and Scott Lobdell took over.

That’s right, I’m not sure if most of you are aware, but Scott Lobdell is the guy that anally raped the Gambit character. He took the traitor story a bit too far, if anything his final story before he left the X-books was the trial of Gambit. In the story it stated Gambit, in his asshole days, took the marauders to the morlock tunnels, because he owed Sinister some cash or something stupid. This of course contradicts continuity, but that’s another rant. So Gambit was left in Antarctica to pursue his own solo book that lasted 24 issues. Since then he came back to the X-men and hasn’t really been in the spotlight.

So what’s the recent status of Remy Lebeu? Well his adventures now consist of him retrieving a sex tape, going blind and bitching about it for six issues, still bitching about how he can’t touch Rogue and just being in the background, saying stuff like: Good idea Alex! Rogue its’ you I love. Hell, I think he even lost his smooth Cajun accent that use to make even me swoon, and I’m as hetero as they come. He’s gone from getting any piece of ass he wanted to scoring with Mystique. Seriously, who hasn’t had Mystique in the Marvel universe? I think even Slapstick and Speedball DP’d her one time!

Which leads me to my latest rant. Peter Milligan has a brilliant idea that good guys make awesome villains. It’s worked in the past, hell Archangel was my favorite character for a loooooong time. So along with Sunfire, it seems that Gambit will be one of Apocalypse’s new Horsemen. I thought the traitor storyline was resolved with that Onslaught crap. Damn, my boy needed his moment in the spotlight, but this is a bit ridiculous. What possible reason could Gambit have to side with the big lips himself? To touch Rogue? Ohh come on! Invite Leech in for a threesome; at least you’ll be saving face that way Gambit! Ohh well can’t wait to read this and talk about it in our podcast. You can check out the eight page preview here

All Star Superman #2

I am really enjoying Grant Morrison’s All Star take on Superman, despite the Frank Quitely art, which I have never been a fan of. It’s a fun take on Superman, one that jumps straight into the middle of his mythos quite effectively.

Some quick observations:

• Obviously, All Star Supes doesn’t live in the same universe as All Star Bats. I can’t imagine any version of Superman agreeing with the actions of Bats over in Miller’s title, nor being friends with him.
• Superman has been SO successful at hiding his secret identity all these years that when he reveals it to Lois, she doesn’t believe him? Priceless.
• All Star Supes seems to have a lot more in common with Earth-2 Superman than the one in current continuity. Super-intelligence augmented three times by a stay inside the sun?
• The future-viewer makes an incredible tie-in to DC’s 1,000,000, proving that Grant Morrison is the master at tying strings together.
• I love the white-dwarf star key.
• And finally, of course, maybe Lois’ original suspicions were right – wouldn’t giving her Super powers enable Superman to, ahem, get a little down and dirty, avoiding the whole man of steel, woman of Kleenex issue?

It wouldn’t be the same without the Quitely art, and I appreciate it for that, but it’s not my cup of tea. Would a Grant Morrison/Jim Lee team-up have resulted in as good a title? Probably not, but it’s something to wish for, isn’t it?

About Heroes Episode 2

Infinite Crisis! Pals Chris and Dennis join us for a discussion of what we like, what we don't like, and how it compares to everything else out there from the big two. Get the scoop on IC toys, as well as news about action figures in the pipe from Marvel Legends and DC Direct. Download it for the topic, subscribe for the witty banter!

About Heroes, Episode 2

Marvel Solicitations-April 2006.

Looking through the April solicitations for Marvel I came to the realization that collecting comic books is getting to be a rather expensive hobby for me again. In the late 80’s and right into the early 90’s I was one of those kids that got 50 books a month! How the hell did I afford that? I only buy about 10 books a month now a days and get lots of trades. So anyway all of Marvel’s books will now be $2.99. Damn, you know when I was a kid I remembered the price increase from 60 cents to 65 cents. Those fucking thieves, how dare they charge an extra five cents an issue! Now I really don’t give a crap, this gives me more of a reason to drop monthly books and start getting more trades, which in the end are hella cheaper.
Ohh yeah, of course I have to bitch about something else…. So after issue six of Deadly Genesis, the story will continue into Ed Brudabaker’s Uncanny X-men. Don’t get me wrong I have been enjoying the hell out of his Captain America. But after a six issue stint is this guy really qualified to take over the X-men monthly book? Why the fuck not? It’s not like Marvel has a great track record of giving one of their big hitter books to great writers ahem Scott Lobdell, Joe Kelly and Chuck Austen to name just a few. I wish he was taking over the adjective-less X-men title though, that book really needs some help. Hopefully Claremont will wrap up his stories before he gets shafted off the book again. The poor guy can't get a break, in this day an age there really is no room for stories like his. You can't dangle a sub plot line for more than five issues it seems. I really miss those stories that took 40 issues to resolve, gave me something to look foward to, everything seems rushed now and there is a lack of subplots in stories.

Why Mongul is a loser

Mongul is one of the biggest losers in the DCU. Here are some reasons why.

He was created by Jim Starlin as a DC analogue for Marvel’s Thanos, who was already an analogue for DC’s Darkseid. He’s a copy of a copy of a copy, and as anyone who’s ever made a mix tape knows, by the third generation a copy is just noise.

He has never actually won a conflict with DC heroes. Darkseid wins occasionally.

His best appearance is Alan Moore’s classic Superman story, “For the Man Who Has Everything”, where he essentially served as the delivery mechanism for a hallucinogenic plant. Weather Wizard could have delivered the plant, and the story would have worked just as well.

He blew up Coast City! That’s something, right? Well, I figure that Ron Marz used Mongul, a Superman villain, in a GL story so he could have a throwaway character destroy CC. He had to figure out some way to save Sinestro for the final showdown, and Darkseid was probably otherwise occupied with reorganizing his socks. And who do we get when Darkseid’s unavailable?

Oh, oh! He was in Identity Crisis #1! That was cool, right? Oh, wait, he was just there to break up a conversation with a fight scene. Again, Darkseid probably wanted royalties, and oh, right, things actually have to happen when Darkseid appears.

There are quite a few more reasons why Mongul is a loser, but I’m going to skip straight to my favorite:

Mongul is dead. He was killed by Neron. He was replaced by his son, Mongul. NO ONE NOTICED. ‘Nuff said.

Spoilers in a figure announcement?

So DC Direct officially announced the Infinite Crisis figures today (due out in September, looong after IC will wrap), and no wonder they hadn't released the Superboy Prime image. The figure is tricked out! If you've not read issue three yet, do not click on the link in the previous sentence. Not that the picture shows anything directly related to issue three, but, but, but, you get a general idea of the character's direction from the figure.

I love it to death. I want to order the whole series except for Mongul, because he is a loser. You can see the official images at Action-Figure.com.

Also announced today was the fourth series of Alex Ross Justice League figures, with a lineup as follows:

• Captain Marvel
• Black Adam
• Hawkman
• Zatanna
• Solomon Grundy

Black Adam, Marvel, and Zatanna are the best of the lot, in my opinion. This is the second Zatanna figure in this costume, but this figure far outshines the original - I'm not, in general, a big fan of Ross' depictions of DC's second-tier superheroines (need anyone be reminded of Ross' Supergirl?), but this one I like, maybe just because of how much I've come to enjoy Zee in these days of Infinite Crisis. Black Adam has the perfect mixture of sinister and regal that makes him such a fun character these days, and Marvel, well, he just looks marvelous.

Grundy, on the other hand, looks particularly zombie-ish, which takes him in a direction I'm not particularly fond of. I like my Grundy from the Superfriends' Legion of Doom, thank you.

I have absolutely nothing to say about the Hawkman figure. Eh.

DC Direct announced a bunch of other items today, including a Supergirl Women of DC bust, but I just wanted to talk about the toys.

Oh yeah, a reminder: Don't buy Superboy Prime for young children! They'll wake up in the night to horrible nightmares of their heroes with hollow, scary eyes!

UPDATE: Holy shit. I just realized where I'd seen that armor before. AH! SPOILERS! Really, really don't click on the link above (or look at the source of the link in this sentence). Wowza!

About Heroes Episode 1

Get to know Omar and me in our first episode of the About Heroes podcast. We talk about our backgrounds and our favorite figures, comics, characters, as well as what we have planned for this site and the future podcasts.

Listen to About Heroes, Episode 1 (51:40)

Proof that the devil does in fact exist!

Yes this is solid proof that devil does exist and Pat Lee has made a deal with him. Can someone please explain to me how a non-talented fuck like Pat Lee still gets gigs? How a man who owes over a million dollars to writers, artists, telephone companies, Diamond, Hasbro and lawyers still gets offered high paying jobs? How a man who has no concept of human anatomy is drawing monthly titles? The devil must exist and he now owns the soul of Pat-I'm still driving a fucking Porsche, so you broke bitches can eat my ass-Lee!

Now, someone had the audacity to team him up with Ron Marz(Green Lantern, Scion) on Cyberforce. I only got a few issues of the original run back in 1992, mainly because Marc Silvestri could draw Pollyana vs. Winnie the Pooh and I would still pick it up. Ok, back to the ranting, who's great idea was it to have Pat Lee pencil this new book? Have they seen the travesty over in Spider-man or Fantastic Four Vs. X-men. There are plenty of good artist right now more suitable for this job that are struggling to get their stuff published let alone land a monthly title.

Newsarama was given an eight page preview, so you can judge for your self. Click here for the preview.

Do you remember 1990? Before Smallville, hell, before Lois and Clark?

I remember this little show that CBS did in the fall called the Flash, that ran up against the Simpsons. Yeah I know, what the hell was CBS thinking? In 1990 I was more of a Marvel guy, so when I saw the 90 minute pilot, I was like there is no way Barry Allen can carry a TV show!!!! Of course I was 12...what the hell did I know. I ended up loving this show, it was sooo ahead of its time and probably up until Smallville my favorite live superhero show. I mean how can anything Howard Chaykin (American Flagg) produced be bad? There is no way!!! And damn if it wasn't released on dvd today! It contains all 21 episodes and the pilot. I highly recommend not just for Flash fans but comic fans as well.

The other other costume!

So I was reading this Other crossover that is going through the Spider-man titles. Mainly because I'm such a David fan. So far its been eh, anywho by the end of the arc, Amazing Spider-man# 529 to be precise, we are supposed to see a new costume. This costume is designed by Tony Stark, so a Spider-armor or something to that effect if you will. So looking through my backissues...I remembered THE CLASSIC SPIDER-ARMOR!!!!!! from Web of Spider-man 100.

I would like to think Tony Stark is more imaginitve than that. Maybe Tony is too busy staying drunk on his three month gap between issues of Iron Man but come on! We all know we want the classic Spider Armor back! Then we can spend an extra two bucks an issue on pretty covers just like this one and then they can make variants. We could all party like its 1993 again! Could the house of ideas, have run out of ideas? Who knows, maybe Spider-man will say: Stick that new costume up your ass Stark and ohh yeah I'm rollin' solo again I quit this mockery of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes! I'm Spider-man bitch... my fucking Spidey-Head Pez dispenser from my movies roll in more dough than this lame ass comic!

Update: Damn, its even worst than I thought! check it.

Marvel Figure Factory - blind-buy no more!

When it comes to buying toys, there is little more I hate than "blind-buying" (buying figures packaged so that you can't see which figure is inside). It's not so bad when the blind-buy is a bonus figure, but when it's the only item you're buying, I generally refuse to play the game - if I wanted to have a hobby like that, I'd go back to baseball cards.

So, for all you blind-buy haters like me, RTM has a listing of Marvel Figure Factory mystery codes, so you can tell what figure you're buying before you plunk down the cash, since it is marked on the package itself.

I'm excited to see the list because it includes some of my favorite characters, such as Cyclops and Phoenix in series 2.

Some people just have too much faith!

Get the fuck out of here!!! You mean to tell me Chuck Austen hasn't been writing X-men under the pen name Peter Milligan? That he's actually been working on something else this whole time. Austen at one time was Marvel go-to-boy, so at one time he was writing almost every titlte for Marvel, that is until they figured out the guy was a horrible writer! Really, I'm not exaggerating here, the guy try to make us believe that the devil was Nightcrawler's dad and pretty much everyone's dad as well.

So according to this article found at Newsarama, Austen is doing and American manga with aritist Hiroki Otsuka for Tokyopop. This will be the second time Austen has worked with a Japanese artist (Kia Asamiya had the misfortune of drawing Werewolves kicking the crap out of the elite X-men). Boys of Summer is about baseball players trying to get laid.....damn I'm sold!!!! I'm kind of biased when it comes to manga, I like it to be from the land of the rising sun. However, I may give this a shot, I just remember at one time I liked the War Machine comics Austen did for Marvel's Max line.

I am the X-FACTOR!!!!! or Best Damn Single Issue in 2005!!!

2005 gave us many great moments in comics from the possible betrayal of Emma Frost to Batman telling Superman his ass hasn't inspired anyone since he died. From Blue Beetle getting his brains splattered all over the floor to the triumphant return of Hawkeye.....oh well, forget the last one. To summarize things we had some great moments and we had some eh why the hell am I still reading this shit moments? Then we have the best damn moment in 2005.....which was giving Peter David his X-factor book back.

At a time when Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio and Rob Liefeld were given their own X-books. The underdog book was X-Factor, written by Peter David and illustrated by Larry Stroman(whatever happened to that guy?). It was the early to mid 90's so writers were normaly overshadowed by the artist. I was a huge fan of David's Incredible Hulk run at the time so I knew I was in for a ride when he took over X-Factor. He took B and C list characters at the time and made them fan favorites with just a couple of issues. He did things on that book that most writers would think impossible. He made Quicksilver, who up till X-factor vol.1 92 was one of the biggest dickheads in the Marvel universe, into a likeable character. But, this was not to last, David was forced into doing crossovers and the editors really had too much control of his stories. So he left the book and the infamous Scott Lobdell took over, but that's a different story.

Finally about 10 years later in 2004, David got some of his characters back in a little miniseries called Madrox. Actually it is thanks to Madrox that we are blessed with X-factor. The sales on Madrox were good enough to give David his own monthly title the green light. Now we get to the good stuff. Finally after a couple of delays in December of 2005 we finally got our first issue of X-factor. This unlikely cast has some old faces and some new....really no one wanted these third tier characters.

So what makes X-factor#1 my favorite comic of 2005? Easy...David's love for the characters. He could have easily killed Rictor or Siryn in the first few pages for shock value. Instead he uses all his characters to slowly set the stage for a damn good story. Rahne screaming her head off at Rictor not to jump, because he lost his powers showed the love these characters once shared for each other. M's pompus attitude, Siryn's accent and Rictor's self centered attitude are all here. No one acts out of character, this is what we should recieve out of every writer when they take over a book. Of course the ending really sealed the deal for me; The look on Rictor's face as he is pushed off the building by one of Madrox's dupes was priceless. I am the X-factor! How bad ass is that? The art is superb, Ryan Sook follows the style set by the Madrox miniseries. Its got a dark tone to it, like a film Noir, nice little detective feel to it. If you haven't picked this book up yet go and read it!

Marvel toy license goes to Hasbro, meaing it's been taken from Toy Biz

According to this article on Newsarama, Marvel has granted master toy licensee powers to Hasbro, and has effectively ended its licensing relationship with Toy Biz.

Does this mean no more Marvel Legends? Who knows. Does it mean X-Men Transformers? I hope so.

One interesting thing about this transition is that Hasbro just lost the license for DC action figures not too long ago, in part due to the fall of the Batman lines (remember all those glow-in-the-dark Batman figures? shudder). Now DC seems to have entered a full-on licensing arrangement with Mattel. While Hasbro has never been known for super-articulated figures, if the transition from Marvel Legends to whatever Hasbro has to offer doesn't at least compare to the DC Superheroes line, there are going to be a lot of unhappy fans.

DC Direct Infinite Crisis figures and more

How did I miss the announcment of DC Direct's Infinite Crisis figures? I'm guessing they ran in Wizard, and probably haven't been officially announced yet, but regardless, here they are:

• Power Girl
• Alexander Luthor
• Superboy Prime (no image yet)
• OMAC
• Mongul

A wonderful choice for the first set, except for maybe Mongul, who despite factoring in some of the largest events in the DCU, is a loser. I especially like the Power Girl figure, just because she looks so spot-on with the artwork in IC itself.

I found the pictures on Joe Acevedo's DC Direct site, where he has a pictoral checklist of every DC Direct figure (I think). It's a really cool site, with a lot of other content including some customs.

Decompression at its absolute worst

It's bad enough that Iron Man, one of Marvel's biggest heroes, appears more in Amazing Spider-Man than in his own title. It's bad enough that this book, which one assumes is supposed to be monthly¹, is on its fifth issue in nearly a year. It's bad enough that the previous four issues which got us here are so explosively decompressed that really, they've all been lead-up into this issue, without any other purpose I can fathom.

But why, when we've waited months for this, to see the results of Tony's undergoing the extremis process, is half the goddamn book wasted on an origin retelling? 15 of 23 pages are back in that old terrorist/POW camp, 5 of those have no words whatsoever. You want a spoiler-free review of EVERYTHING that actually happens to forward the plot in this issue? Here it is:

Tony stands up and puts on the new, improved armor.

If this book was on an actual monthly schedule, this might not make me so angry. But we've been waiting for this for three months! What's going to happen next month, perhaps "Tony stops in the bathroom before leaving the building"? Or "Tony find the bad guy, look forward to the confrontation two issues from now"?

This is where decompression gets absolutely batshit insane. Oh sure, it's pretty, but you could do the whole book in colored macaroni and I'd pick it up if it got it back to a regular schedule and finally just told a story.

¹ - Yes, according to the indica on page 1, this is a book Marvel publishes MONTHLY.

I gots my memory back!!! Whats the first thing I gots to do? Star in a new monthly series!!!

So after the long lasting effects of House of M (however long it may last) Wolverine remembers everything; his first fight, his first chick he ever banged, his first pair of shoes......maybe not to that extent, but he remembers all. If done right, this could be a great idea, after all some fanboys have been demanding for years, how old Wolverine is? How long has he known Sabretooth? When did the Weapon X project take place? Some of these questions were hinted at in stories like Weapon X by the legendary Barry Windsor Smith, the Shiva Scenerio by Larry Hama and lately Origins by Paul Jenkins.

So now we get Wolverine Origins a new monthly series from Marvel that will be the continuation of a story started in Wolverine(vol.2) #40. According to editor Alex Alonso it will bring Wolvie back to his brown and gold costume and he will embark on a journey to get revenge, deal with some demons, set wrongs right and so forth. So pretty much just more of a revelation about Wolverine's past. So will he finally find out what really happened at the cabin him and Silver Fox had? Will he find out how old he really is? Did he really travel back in time to meet Ernest Hemingway? What memories are nothing more than implants? Why the hell did he turn into an ogre after his body rejected adamnatium(sorry cheapshot I know)?

Which leads to the next question.....Do we really need another Wolverine monthly title? A character who already appears in monthly installments of Uncanny Xmen, Xmen, Astonishing (when its back!), New Avengers and of course his own self titled book, not to name the numerous amount of guest starring he has done over the years or the Ultimate version (who just got his ass handed to him by the Hulk). Well like I said in a previous paragraph...if done right, this could be good. Why the hell not? I mean Batman has over six titles, Superman can carry four plus titles a year, even Marvel's own Spiderman has four own going titles. So is the public ready for another Wolverine title? I guess we will find out in the next coming months.

Now how do I feel about it? I'm a bit oldschool so I miss the days when Wolverine didn't have his own book and you could tell a Wolvie story in X-men. Wolverine is my favorite character of all time. Part of his charm is that he couldn't remember his past. He didn't know when to celebrate his birthday, how long he had been in the wilderness, where his family members where...etc etc. So to me, giving his memory back really destroys a bit of the character. The mystery that sorrounded his life is now gone and we all get to see what really happened? But do I want to? Hell no!!! I want to keep believing that he had a life with Silver Fox, that he really fought in WWII, that he teamed up with Cap to beat up some russians, that he lived in the woods with wolves and every story he ever told (including the Wolverine vol1 25) could be real or could be a false memory. Is there anyway to figure it all out without screwing up continuity and past events? Maybe, if an editor does his homework or if the writer is someone who cares about the character and has followed his steps ever since he first appeared in Hulk 181(yeah not counting the cameo).

The creative team behind this book is writer Daniel Way(Venom, Wolverine) and artist Steve Dillon (Preacher, Punisher, and Nighthawk). Dillon I have been a fan of since Preacher, but I'm not sure how his art will look on Wolverine. Daniel Way has been doing an eh writing job so far in Wolverine. Wolverine has just been tearing stuff up for two issues since he got his memories back and not really doing a good job of telling us what's going on. I don't really think Way has a grasp of continuity, so this really is not striking my interest. I would love to see Hama come back and tackle this. Its really hard not prejudge the book when you really don't even like the premise of it, but I will keep an open mind when I'm reading it.