This is Halloween 5 - The Blade Trilogy

 

Well, it’s about time I talked about the Daywalker. I think I was going to do this years ago because I had the DVD set of the whole trilogy and the Spike TV series. “Had” is the key word because I think someone took it from my collection. I originally was going to talk about Blade: Trinity in the last post, but after watching Blade 2 as well on Hulu, I knew it was time to talk about these movies.

Now, I’m probably a casual fan of Blade at best. I’ve really only been exposed to his movies, that Spike TV series (yes, he had a TV show and it was weird), his guest appearances in cartoons, and a few comics like Mighty Avengers. I haven’t really read any of his solo work, but that should change soon. For those who don’t know, Blade first appeared in 1974 in Tomb of Dracula as a black vampire hunter who wasn’t a half-human/half-vampire hybrid yet. That came in the 90’s where Marvel started to use him more. The first time I saw him was in the 90’s Spider-Man cartoon where Spidey was going up against Morbius.

New World Pictures got the rights to do Blade in the 90’s when Marvel was selling off film rights for money. David Goyer took on the writing duties for all the films. As for Blade himself, Wesley Snipes took up the challenge. Blade was eventually released in 1998 and was well received. I remember seeing this play a lot on TBS back then. Blade 2 came in 2002, and Blade: Trinity was released in 2004. I vaguely remember that the VHS for Blade 2 was jacked up, so I missed out on part of it. As for Blade: Trinity, I think I saw it  on MTSU’s Movie channel or I rented it from the Hollywood Video down the street. I was sad when they closed up. So, how do these three hold up?

Random Thoughts On... Ultimate Spider-Man Post-Bagley through Ultimatum

I’ve been looking at the blog lately, and I just realized that it’s been along time since I’ve talked about any Spider-Man. Yeah, I may have mentioned him in one post or another, but 2018’s still a long time. Right now, the third MCU Spider-Man movie has been released, and… I haven’t seen it. Yeah, I’m that behind on Spider-Man these days. I still haven’t seen Far From Home, though that could be due to not caring about the Wall-Crawler these days and the fact that it ain’t on Disney Plus. I’ve heard good stuff about No Way Home, so I may see it… someday.

Today, I thought I would return to the world of the pretty defunct Ultimate Universe. A few years ago, I went through an adventure of sorts. I reviewed Ultimate Spider-Man from the beginning to Mark Bagley’s departure from the book. I can safely say that it was an awesome run. Last year, I finally decided to see what the rest of the first run of Ultimate Spider-Man looked like. I started the Bendis/Immonen run and pretty much got to Ultimatum, the event that changed the Ultimate Universe for more ill than good. I actually skipped ahead and read more after that event like Hickman’s Ultimate Avengers.

Today, I’ll just be listing my thoughts on this run of issues. The issues will be Ultimate Spider-Man #112-133, Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3, and Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem. Of course, Brian Michael Bendis is the writer of all of these issues. While Stuart Immonen started his run on the book in #111, he ends up doing his first full issue with #112. Immonen’s been all over the place working on characters like Superman, the X-Men, and many others. Wade von Grawbadger joins the crew as the inker for the book. Grawbadger was one of Immonen’s usual inkers and stays on the book during his duration. The Annual was drawn and inked by David LaFuente, the artist that took over after Ultimatum. Mark Bagley returns to draw some pages in the Requiem mini.

Movie Talk - Avengers: Endgame

Well, we’re right on the eve of a new year. Before the year ends, I want to get back to the superhero genre for a minute. I finally re-watched Avengers: Endgame yesterday. I needed something to be playing while I was doing some work in quarantine, and it was time to revisit it. I’ve been kinda mum on Marvel this year here, so why not end it with the conclusion to Infinity War?

Avengers: Endgame was released during April of 2019. It was the long-awaited sequel to Avengers: Infinity War where Thanos basically wrecked the universe. I saw it solo since I knew Liz wasn’t going to sit through 3 hours at a movie theatre. Thankfully, I wasn’t there alone since pretty much everyone was out to see this movie. The theatre was pack to the teeth, and I almost didn’t find a seat. Since I knew that the movies were loosely following the comics, I didn’t know what to expect, but I did end up seeing a couple of spoilers online.

Not-so-Favorites - 12 Worst Supervillain Costumes in Live-Action

Well, I've gotten to the villains of this part. Oh boy...

1. Doom from Fant4stic

While I could throw all the costumes from that film on here, Doom is the crème of the crop! So, he gets left in the Negative Zone, and his suit melts on him? That sounds fun! Even Doctor Doom from the Tim Story FF films looked better than this, and his costume wasn’t too bad. The whole movie was a trainwreck, and the moment you see Doom’s look in the film, you know we’ve reached the bottom of this… thing!

2. Green Goblin from The Amazing Spider-Man 2

While Green Goblin from the 2002 Spider-Man film looked bad, this version takes the cake. He just looks ugly, and I don’t like calling folk ugly. What they did with the Osborns in that film was weird, so you know the Goblin side was gonna go bad. Maybe I’m just used to a mask for the Osborns, but this looked too off the wall.

Not-so-Favorites - 12 Worst Superhero Comics in Live-Action

Well, now that I’ve praised live-action costumes, it’s time to dog on some! There are some truly bad costumes out there. Production teams tend to look at the costumes in comics and think “I can do better!” Sometimes, that does actually work out. Not everything will work in live-action. Other times, you get the costumes on this list. I got 12 heroes for this one. With all that said, let me first harp on my favorite Superhero’s worst costume:

Favorites - 17 Favorite Superhero Costumes in Live-Action

While I get the interest in talking about some Digimon, some Assassin’s Creed, and the “greatest Batman Story Evar”, I thought I’d go to another subject. We’ve had a lot of good superhero costumes come across the screens for years, haven’t we? You don’t even have to start with Christopher Reeve’s Superman costume either. George Reeves and Kirk Alyn even had some well-rendered suits. Yeah, we’ve gotten some lackluster costumes over the years. I can look at 90’s comic movies, the Arrowverse, Smallville (love the show, but some costumes… eh), and even the MCU for some bad ones. Oh yeah, who remembers Shaq’s costume from Steel? Quite horrid, I say!

So, here are some of my favorite superhero costumes in live-action. Yeah, I’m going all over the board with this one. To even make this harder on me, I’m going to only include one superhero for this list, so no doubles like Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton for Batman. It’s also not in exact order, but I’ll have my favorite superheroes up top. I considered including villains on here, but that’ll wait for now.

Trade Tales! - Astonishing X-Men: Torn

Next up is a return to Joss Whedon’s and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men run. It really has been a while since I looked at the first two trades… a long while. I was always meaning to get to this one, but other things kept getting in the way. I guess this was the right time to do this one since Whedon’s name has been thrown around because of his time on Justice League. No, I won’t be discussing the Snyder Cut here… yet (wink, wink).

Anyway, tonight’s trade is Torn… the title, not the trade itself. It contains Astonishing X-Men #13-18. The creative team was pretty much the same with Whedon doing the story, Cassaday doing the art, Laura Martin doing the colors, and Chris Eliopoulos handling the lettering. Around this time, I remember that the book was starting to be delayed. I know it got worse as time went along. I don’t if it had to do with the process or with things changing for the X-Men at Marvel. This was released around the time Decimation, the era where only 198 mutants were left on Earth. So, what happens when the Hellfire Club “returns?”

Astonishing X-Men: Torn

Writer: Joss Whedon

Artist: John Cassaday

Colors: Laura Martin

Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos

Associate Editors: Nick Lowe and Sean Ryan

Editor: Mike Marts

 

Random Thoughts On... House of X/Powers of X

Other titles for this post were the following:

• Random Thoughts On… Jonathan Hickman having his way with the X-Men Books
• Random Thoughts On… wondering what the crap Jonathan Hickman is doing with the X-Men Books
• Random Thoughts On… Jonathan Hickman returning to Marvel to do some more greatness
• Random Thoughts On… Jonathan Hickman flirting with your mother, your ex, your current spouse, and rebuilding two houses while helming the X-Men books for the foreseeable future

Okay, that last one was a stretch.

Next up for the month, I thought I would come to the present and get back to the X-Men. It’s been a minute since I’ve talked about Marvel’s “Merry” Mutants. One of these days, I’ll actually watch Dark Phoenix (I got it for my sister for Christmas), but today is not that day. I got two posts planned for them this month. While one is in the more usual mode for the team (psychics and aliens, ‘yo!), this is one that is definitely different for the team and mutants as a whole.

Erik may be wearing white, but that mouth hasn't changed.

During March 2019, Marvel announced that Jonathan Hickman would be returning to Marvel. Hickman’s done quite a bit for the comics industry. He’s done quite a few books for Image Comics like East of West, The Manhattan Projects, and The Nightly News. During his time at Marvel, he did a lot of stuff like working in the Ultimate Universe and having long runs with Fantastic Four and the Avengers. He also helmed events like Infinity and the new Secret Wars. He even helped write a couple of issues of Avengers vs. X-Men.

I pretty much like his runs on Secret Warriors, New Avengers, Avengers, and Secret Wars. Him coming to X-Men definitely made me curious. I tried to get back into the X-Men for a few times over the years, but I never stuck for whatever reason. I mostly stuck around on the recent Uncanny X-Men book, but it just felt like the same old stuff. I know that the X-Men have to protect a world that hates and fears them, but that can get tiring especially when the real world is also looking like that. Suddenly, Hickman comes in promising something new, and it got me interested in what will happen next.

So... what's going on here?

Hickman started his X-Men run with two miniseries: House of X and Powers of X (10). They were released weekly from July 2019 to October 2019. One week, you’d get HOX. The next week, POX would be released. Hickman wrote both books. Both books had different artists. On HOX, we had Pepe Larraz on pencils and inks. For POX, R.B. Silva did the share of pencils and inks while Adriano Di Benedetto helped with additional inks. So, why in the #### did Professor Xavier team up with Magneto and decide to form a sovereign mutant nation?

House of X

HOX pretty much sets the new status quo for the X-Men and mutants in general. To keep it simple (and somewhat spoiler-free), Professor Xavier, Magneto, and Moria McTaggart (it’s a long story) end up forming a sovereign mutant nation on Krakoa. Any and all mutants are invited to live there. The only way to the island is to use these custom-made gateways that are parts of Krakoa. These gateways are all set up all around the world. Some surprising mutants even get an invite to Krakoa. They’ve also even set up imports and exports of pharmaceutical drugs that can help humanity.

And he's back...yeah, I think Scott Summers is a BAMF.

While things seem to be pretty nice for the mutants, the X-Men are still going to do their thing in protecting themselves from enemies of mutants. A new human enemy enters the fray: ORCHIS, a rogue anti-mutant group that’s composed of former members of Marvel organizations. When the X-Men get word that ORCHIS is up to no good in space, Xavier has Cyclops assemble a team to stop the plan they’re hatching. They succeed in their mission, but it comes at a cost…, or so that’s what we’re to believe at first. Let’s just say that death may not be too final.

Xavier and the others also set up their own government with its own rules. We find out personally happens when one breaks one of their three cardinal rules. I’ll just say that it’s Sabertooth. That jackass has to always make trouble for folk, ya know? Anyway, after all the business is settled up and… Cyclops team “returns”, we get to have a little ‘ole rave. Luckily it’s not bland and off-putting like the one from the Matrix Reloaded.

Powers of X

POX shows how the new status quo came about and why it’s ended up being the way it is. We also get three other timelines, and we see how they play into the present day know as X1-Year 10. X0-Year Zero is pretty much the past. It shows Moira and Xavier setting their plan into motion over the years. X2-Year 100 shows a post-apocalyptic future for the X-Men… a usual thing. Machines have taken over Earth, and only a few Mutants are left standing to fight. The final timeline is X3-Year 1000. In this era, humanity has evolved even further with machines while what’s left of the mutants is in a literal zoo. I ain’t going to spoil all of this, but just know that ‘ole Moria is the key in all four timelines.

OPINION

This was a pretty great read. When you got me wanting to come to the LCS every week to pick up an issue, you’re doing something right! When I heard Hickman was coming to the X-Men, I already was getting ready for what might come. I didn’t expect this, though. Talk about changing the game for the X-Men and mutants as a whole. That first issue pretty much lets you know that things have changed. You got Magneto in white, Xavier looking even more shady (and kinda dressed up like the Maker, a Marvel villain), Logan laughing with kids, Jean Grey in her old Marvel Girl outfit for some reason, and Cyclops being an ass to the Fantastic Four. It’s awesome!

The X2 timeline was a pretty interesting one.

Hickman does some retconning with this new venture and you can look at Moira McTaggart as the big change. It’s revealed her that she’s a mutant who basically reincarnates into her own body and resets the timeline. You find out that she lived ten lives as herself with the current day being the 10th one. In her issue, you pretty much find out why she’s done all of this for Xavier. With the island, they end up doing some really crazy stuff. The pharmaceuticals is probably the least crazy thing the mutants do here.

At that moment... Xavier learns that Moira is into a lotta things... oh my.

One of the things I really like about it all is how much thought goes into the island itself. It’s not just  another Asteroid M scenario. A lot of thought gets put into how this island will function and operate. A government gets set up, they get imports/exports set up, and they even get some custom laws set up. With their new status quo, they gotta set up some new rules. Another that was pretty cool was Hickman’s info dumps. Anything he couldn’t explain in the story gets thrown into a page of text. Luckily, most of it is actually interesting to read since you get the idea that he’s setting up more for the future there.

The buzz on this image and a couple of other things involving these three has been funny.

Seeing the various timelines was also a treat. It was cool to see how Xavier went around to pretty familiar characters to get the house set up. The X2 timeline was particularly interesting since you not only saw a couple of familiar faces, you also saw combinations of certain characters lumped into one person. We also got one of the funniest and scariest Sentinels in Nimrod. For a robot, That dude was all over the emotional spectrum. The final timeline, X3, was just okay. You really don’t know why we’re here until the last issue. Before that, it’s just some weird stuff involving the Phalanx, the X-Men’s version of the Borg.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the X3 timeline, but the ending makes up for it.

The artwork is pretty good all-around. Larraz did an awesome job with House of X, and Silva did great with Powers of X. There’s really nothing bad thing I can say about the art here. It does what it needs to and then some. We got some new but familiar designs for all the X-Men. For example, we got Logan back in a classic suit, and Magneto looks awesome in white. I also liked how Krakoa looked in general. It’s like a weird organic and technological combination.  The only thing I do think is weird is that Jean’s back in her 70’s costume with the skirt. I wonder if there is a story reason behind that…

Overall, this was cool. The only issues I do have is that it can geta little too wordy at times. Also, that X3 timeline thing could’ve been handled a little better. Even those issues and any small nitpicks don’t hurt the overall story. This was a good start for this new era for X-Men. It helped me, someone who’s had a hard time getting into the X-Men in recent years, stay with an X-Men book. I’m only getting the main X-Men book for now, but that may change. Anyway, I’m off to read some Asimov. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t tick off the really giddy Sentinel.

TV Talk - Marvel's Defenders

Before I get to some good ‘ole Bruceploitation, I thought I’d share my thoughts on something major from Marvel. I was thinking on what I haven’t covered on here involving the martial arts side of Marvel, and then the Defenders popped into my head. It has the Hand, Marvel’s own group of evil ninjas, after all. Yeah, I forgot about the big crossover between the 4 Marvel Netflix shows. There may be a few reasons why, but I’ll get to them later. Also, I may be talking about a Marvel event that uses those characters in a similar fashion called Shadowland on my other blog. That’ll come… eventually.

Anyway, Defenders was the big crossover event that was supposed to bring in characters from Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Heck, it mostly came from bits that tied into Daredevil’s and Iron Fist’s stories. They were building toward their eventual meeting in the same way everything led to the Avengers. We had characters like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage meet each other. We even had Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) be kinda of a link between most of the series. I was sort of psyched for it even though the previous series (Iron Fist Season 1) wasn’t that good. So, what did happen in this 8-episode mini that debuted on August 18^th, 2017?

Defenders takes place a few months after the end of Daredevil’s second season and a month after the end of Iron Fist’s first season. All of the heroes are dealing with their own personal trials. They all end up on a path that brings them together and that path is the Hand. It looks like they’re up to their old tricks again and it looks like the majors heads, led by Alexandria (Sigourney Weaver), are going to do some bad stuff to New York. It’s also revealed that they have a secret weapon: Elektra, Matt’s supposedly dead girlfriend. Will these Defenders be able to stop the nefarious goals of the Hand?

Random Thoughts #52 - "I Can Hear the Rain! All 12 Inches of It!"

Well, it’s been a minute since I’ve been here. I’ve been dealing with work which has been good. I’ve been setting up a new blog on Wordpress (Comic Crossover Central). Then, there’s the fact that my girlfriend’s birthday is around Valentine’s Day. That took a while to plan. Then, there’s just the fact that February (and March) tend to be break periods for me. There’s also the fact that this PS4 contraption’s been taking my time. Either way, I’m back for a bit. So, it’s time to get to some Random Thoughts.

“Space, The Final Frontier!”

Back in February, we went to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville for my girlfriend’s birthday. In all the time I’ve gone to Huntsville to visit family, I’ve never been there. I think the closest I got to it was a job fair that was being held in that vicinity. Anyway, we saw some good sites and got to spend some quality time together learning about the space program. I didn’t take too many pics for some reason, but I did get some nice ones. It was just a good day in general.

“Rain? What Rain?”

"This was fun," I mentally sarcastically said. 

Man, Tennessee’s been getting hit with rain. It’s like God said, “You know, I think I’ll hit y’all with something other than snow this time!” I ain’t complaining too much, but when you’re being reminded of the floods Tennessee had from 2010, it’s a little worrying. While Nashville got hit as usual, most of TN got it hard. I know Giles County especially around Elk River was looking scary. Me and my dad even had to fish out a couple of our tarps from a stream. It was nuts. Maybe we’ll get with that snow in March, but you never know these days.

TV Talk - Iron Fist Season 2

Well, at least the mask made it in one scene.

Well, this month went by quick! I guess that happens when you find yourself on another shift. There were a couple of more things I wanted to touch upon, but Into the Badlands and a possibly crappy Bruce Lee video game will have to wait.  Last for the month is a return to Netflix’s Iron Fist. I have to admit that I wasn’t a fond fan of that first season. It had some good moments, but it and even the series that followed it (The Defenders) left much to be desired. I guess after finishing this season, I won’t have anything to look forward to, and I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not for this show. It probably is for Daredevil and Luke Cage, though. More on my opinion of those cancellations later.

Season 2 of Iron Fist takes place a couple of months later Defenders. With Matt… not in the picture anymore, Danny Rand has taken it upon himself to fight crime as a vigilante. He’s also moved in with Colleen Wing’s dojo to live with her. As for Colleen, she’s given up the fighting for a normal life. Meanwhile, Ward Meachum is trying to get help for himself. What none of them know is that Davos, Danny’s friend from K’un L’un, and Joy Meachum have made an alliance with one another. They both have it out for Danny and plan on making his life hell. Add a Triad gang war, a weird redhead with serious mental issues, and you get a season that is much better than its predecessor.

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - The Master of Kung Fu #100

Next up for the month is a return to the Marvel Universe’s Master of Kung Fu. I’ve already looked at a few things involving Shang-Chi. I thought I’d come back to the guy since I got a random issue from his first series. Word on the street is that there may be a Shang-Chi movie coming one of these days. I don’t know how that’ll pan out, but hopefully that does get some traction. It’d be nice to see some more Marvel kung-fu action since The Immortal Iron Fist Netflix show is gone. More on that next week.

Today’s issue is The Master of Kung Fu #100.  I don’t remember where I found it at. This double-sized issue was written by Doug Moench. I probably remember Moench more for his Batman work, but he’s done some Marvel stuff as well. The artwork is handled by Gene Day and Mike Zeck. Jim Novak handles the letters and Bob Sharen does the colors. So, what happens in the 100^th issue of Shang-Chi’s book? Flashback time!!! (echoes)

Favorites - Best Superhero Video Games

Soon, I'll be playing this game... 2020 sounds like a good year to start!

Since it is the end of the year and I’m working on setting up a new blog, I thought I’d finally do something with the drafts I got over here. I got some I recently put in and a few that have been drafts for years. It was about time to let these unfinished posts get their light of day. I even got one from like 2010 I haven’t even finished yet! I’ll get to that soon, but right now, I’m going to talk about some games.

Since I’ll be in an Assassin’s Creed binge for a bit, I haven’t gotten a chance to touch the latest Spider-Man game. Yeah, I said it. It sounds quite horrible, doesn’t it? I wasn’t too worried about this game since its publisher, Insomniac, does good stuff. In fact, most superhero games have been pretty good lately. I couldn’t say that years ago, though. I still haven’t gotten a good Superman game yet, but I’m praying for it, dang it! Yeah, folk pray about sport teams, so I might as well pray about something that is pretty inconsequential to life but fun.

Years ago, an idea popped into my head: what are my favorite superhero video games? I know that I have a least played more than ten games based on superheroes. So, here is the list that’ll  cover games from all over the spectrum: old consoles, current-gen consoles,  arcade games, movie tie-ins, and independent stuff as well. I originally was going to only put 8 games on here since I’m not the most varied gamer, but I can thankfully put more on here these days. If they’re good and part of a series, I’m mentioning them too. This also isn’t in any order, but I will put my favorites at the top. First, here are some honorable mentions. These are ones I liked but never got to finish:

• Spider-Man 2 (PS2) – Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Spider-Man 2 is a good game, but I never finished the dang thing. That Mysterio boss battle always messed me up. It did do a lot of things right, though. it served as a good movie tie-in, it had the actors from the movie (Tobey MacGuire wasn’t too good if I remember), and it really made you feel like Spider-Man for the first time. Previous games did what they could, but this one surpassed them with the open-world aspect. Besides, I got a couple of other SM games for the actual list.
• Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2) – I didn’t get to finished this one either, folks. I don’t know what happened. I know I rented it but this was around the time where time was scarce and I had no job. A man’s got to eat! Anyway, while my time with this game was short, this was fun. You got to run around as Hulk and cause a lot of destruction in your way. Heck, it’s in the title.
• Capcom’s Marvel series (PS1, PS3, etc) – Yeah, yeah, I know. While I don’t play many fighting games these days, I got Marvel vs. Capcom 3 around the house somewhere. Unfortunately, I’ve only put in about an hour of gameplay on it. Even though I haven’t finished that one, I still remember some of the others from the arcades and consoles. X-Men: Children of the Atom was a fun one as well Marvel Super Heroes. The one I remember the most and actually beat was X-Men vs: Street Fighter for the PS1. I may need to revisit some of these one day.

Random Thoughts On... Superhero Costumes and The State of Superman's Trunks

Before I get to the main stuff, here are some alternate titles:

• "Random Thoughts On… When Superhero Costumes Change and why Superman’s Trunks Need to Die!!!"
• "Random Thoughts On…  Superhero Costumes and the Coolness of Superman’s Trunks"
• "Random Thoughts On… Superhero Costumes Redesigns and Why Superman Still Has Trunks"
• "Random Thoughts On… Why No one loses their #^$^ over Batman’s Trunks as well as other heroes"
• "Random Thoughts On… When Superhero Costumes Go Wrong!"
• "Random Thoughts On… Yo Momma!"

I was just kidding about that last one. Yes, it’s 2018 and saying “yo momma” will never go out of style.

So, a random question recently entered my mind: why do folk get so bent out of shape over Superman’s trunks? They also do this over Batman, but I’m focusing on Supes more. Folk were shocked when they were removed for the New 52 and the DCEU. Recently, as of Action Comics #1000, they’re back for some reason. You pretty much have folk on both sides clamoring for the return of the trunks and folk wondering what the heck DC is thinking. So, what is my opinion on the whole #TheTrunksAreBack “controversy”? Do I think Clark should be out and proud with the trunks or should he put them back in the briefs section at the Fortress? Yes, that’ll be my only jab at my favorite superhero’s fashion… I think.

Before I get to that probably quick answer, I thought I’d talk about costumes in general. Now, I’m not some connoisseur on fashion or some even a rank amateur in the subject. I just know what I like and what I don’t like. Also, with fashion, you turn to the left, turn to the right, and hope the Goon Squad doesn’t find you in town. Hopefully, all of this doesn’t come out as the ramblings of a mostly sane man. With all that said, "Beep-beep!"

Random Thoughts On... Marvel's Secret Invasion

If you thought I was done with Not-so-Secret Invasion, guess again! It’s time to see if this event was worth taking up 8 months of real time. I guess I’ll start at the usual place: the beginning. Hopefully, this all makes some sense to the layman.

In the Beginning…

Secret Invasion as a concept was created by the event’s writer, Brian Michael Bendis. At this point, he had been the main event person for Marvel. He had stuff like Avengers Disassembled, Secret War, and House of M under his belt. He also revamped the Avengers into the New Avengers. He even had a small hand in Civil War.  This was when I really came into current comics stuff. I didn’t get much but I paid attention online. Marvel’s Message Boards (and DC’s too) were a help in that regard. That was how I kept up with Civil War and quite a few other books.

Talk about a shock for everyone.

Tales from the $3.99 Bin! - Secret Invasion

Well, it’s about that time of the year again. I’m stuck between what black thing I’ll be wearing Wednesday (got to get plans though), I’m looking at that pesky corn candy, and I’ll probably break out into the "Thriller" dance. I’ll also link that Tim Curry song from The Worst Witch again. That still makes me laugh. Instead of doing something monster-based, I think I’m going to go the sci-fi horror genre. These next two posts will talk about the 2008 Marvel crossover, Secret Invasion. Here, I’ll just be talk about the main series while the other post will be about the event itself.

I was pretty much into Secret Invasion when it first was hinted at in 2007. A lot of stuff had gone on in the Marvel Universe at that point, and I was psyched. I even had the money to keep up with it this time! I got all 8 issues of the crossover and a couple of New Avengers tie-ins. Since then, I really haven’t heard much about this one. Unlike Civil War, this event has kind of been looked over. Now that I’ve reread the main series, I can kind of see why. I’ll get to that later, though. For this and the next post, I decided to go all in on this one. I pulled out the books and perused Marvel Unlimited for all this stuff, so I’m ready!

Brian Michael Bendis wrote the main series. BMB was pretty much the Marvel architect at this point. It’s still weird to see him at DC. Anyway,  Avengers Disassembled, Secret War, and House of M were his babies. Leinil Francis Yu was the penciller. Before this, he was penciling along with Bendis on New Avengers. I also got to mention my favorite Superman origin, Superman: Birthright, since Yu was the artist. Man, even BMB had to get in on Superman. Mark Morales handled the inks and Laura Martin did the colors. So, what happens when the Skrulls’ “secret” invasion ain’t no secret no more?

Secret Invasion

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Pencils: Francis Leinil Francis Yu

Inks: Mark Morales

Colors: Laura Martin

Letters: Chris Eliopoulos

Editor: Tom Breevort

Random Thoughts On... Star Wars: The Dark Empire Trilogy

So, Solo: A Star Wars Story was released this weekend. Some of my favorite movie reviewers (Jeremy Jahns, Chris Stuckmann) didn’t have great things to say about the movie. Since I'm off work for the weekend, I thought I'd take a bite and go see it for myself. It was okay for the most part and surprising in a couple of places. Today’s post isn’t about the nerf-herding pilot with a nice smile, though. It’s time to, once again, jump back into the original Expanded Universe, aka “Legends.” Today, it’s Tom Veitch’s Dark Empire Trilogy.

Star Wars: Dark Empire, a six-issue miniseries, was released by Dark Horse in 1991. It was originally supposed to be released by Marvel, but things didn’t work out. Also, the writer, Tom Veitch, had to work things out with other writers like Timothy Zahn and Kevin J. Anderson because they were also doing things in the Expanded Universe. Its sequel, Dark Empire II, was released in 1994. The final story, Empire’s End, was released a year later. Tom Veitch wrote all three books. The artwork for the first two was provided by Cam Kennedy while Empire’s End had artwork done by Jim Balkie.

For some reason, this image of Luke in the Vader mask has stuck with me for years.

 It was around 2004 or 2005 when I first heard about Dark Empire. I actually found Dark Empire II at MTSU’s library. I was searching for something Star Wars-related and I found it in the young section. A few years later, I again ran into the Dark Empire Trilogy (which collected Dark Empire, Dark Empire II, and Empire’s End) at Pulaski’s public library. I didn’t finish reading it, though. Over the years, I’ve added the first two entries to my collection. Since Marvel has Star Wars now, all of their Expanded Universe series is on Marvel Unlimited. I was able to finally finish off the trilogy there. Since Empire’s End was only two issues, that was easy to do… a little too easy.

Tales From The Trades! - Iron Man: Armor Wars

I know I've said this, but I think Iron Man’s an alright character. Even with the Iron Man movies out there, I just don’t feel drawn to the character of Tony Stark. I even got one of his most important storylines ("Demon in A Bottle") on the shelf and I still haven’t read it yet. Maybe I’ll finally crack it open after this month’s over. Even though I haven’t been the biggest fan of Stark, I thought Matt Fraction’s run (the parts I read anyway) were pretty good. I’ve even liked his moments in certain Marvel events. Plus, there’s that Robert Downey Jr. dude who’s making the waves. Then, there’s this story.

Iron Man: Armor Wars contains Iron Man #225-232. The actual storyline is called “Stark Wars,” but I guess “Armor Wars” just stuck out or something. I found this at McKay’s  years ago and thought I’d finally check it out. David Michelinie and Bob Layton handled the story. Both of these writers had done a lot with Iron Man during the 70’s and 80’s. M.D. Bright handled the breakdowns while Layton handled the finishes in the main story. Barry Winsdor-Smith handles the art for #332. So, what does happen when Tony Stark finds out IM tech has been pilfered? He becomes a bit of a douchebag as usual.

Iron Man: Armor Wars

Writers: David Michelinie and Bob Layton

Pencils: M.D. Bright and Barry Winsdor-Smith (#232)

Inks: Bob Layton

Colors: Bob Sharen, Nel Yomtov, and Barry Winsdor-Smith (#232)

Letters: Janice Chang and Bill Oakley (#232)

Editor: Mark Gruenwald

Movie Talk - Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther

Well, I got two more movies left before I go see Avengers: Infinity War. Since I'm not really into sitting in movie screens today (finally got new glasses), I'll be seeing it this weekend. Anyway, I was able to see Black Panther with my family the weekend it was released. It was pretty cool since we don't do that much. I think the last movie we saw together in theaters was Ghostbusters. What sucks is that I kinda called off a date... hey, I tried to invite her at least, but her job got in the way. Thor: Ragnarok is actually one I didn't see until last weekend at home. I just felt like holding off for this one. So, how were these two vastly different movies?

Movie Talk - Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming

Welcome to part two of this whole MCU review. It's two movies (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man Homecoming) instead of three today. Like with the last batch, I saw these movies in the theatres. Seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming was memorable not because of the movie but because that day was busy in a good way. I drove in rain, I worked at church, I ate at a going away party, I ate again on a date, and then saw the movie. We almost left at the post-credit scene. I was able to re-watch these either on Netflix or the Redbox.