Here Comes the "Limited Commercial Interruption" - Discussion Topic #2

This will be my last post until next Saturday. I'm enrolled in a Field Ecology class, and the entirety of the class is spending my Spring Break in caves, collecting data. Oh well, it's better than not having enough credit hours to receive an assistantship, and having to pay my own tuition. It is lousy for two reasons though: One, I miss the season finale of The Shield. Two, after consecutive lackluster weeks of comics, I've got at least five titles coming in this week, including X-Factor and Exiles, which are pretty much guaranteed good stuff. So expect my impressions of those on the 25th.

Still, I wanted to leave you with a "project" for the week, so you'll keep visiting until I return. What I'd like is the seven member - or less - roster you would design of any team. It can be a currently operating team, like the Avengers (I know, they're the Not Avengers, just humor me) or JSA. You could be reviving the Defenders or Suicide Squad. You could make an entirely new team (in that case, let us know what kind of a "niche" the team will fill). You can use any member of the team, EVER, from any point in their history, just let us know which version of, for example, Cyclops from the original X-Men, or Grant Morrison "cheats on Jean" Cyclops. Or JLA: Year One Hal Jordan or current Hal Jordan. If you want to designate a creative team as well, go for it. Do this for as many teams as you want, go crazy, organize the entire DC or Marvel Universe.

I'll start, with an X-Men team. This is designed to deal with most problems X-problems. I think they have enough power to deal with the Hellfire Club in battle, or to go espionage-style and gather incriminating evidence on them. After I finished, I realized I had enough people that I wanted on the team, but had no room for, to create two teams of 6 members, each with a more specific purpose. So first, the single team idea:

Wolverine (around Uncanny #220; brown outfit, sometimes leader, protective of teammates)
Rouge (from X-Men in the '90s, before she could use any power she'd ever absorbed)
Nightcrawler (swashbuckling '70s and '80s Kurt Wagner)
Iceman (the Guy Gardner-esque one from Joe Casey and Chuck Austen's stints on Uncanny)
Psylocke (the '90s telepathic ninja one)
Dazzler (I think the '90s version, that was fighting Mojo with Longshot)
Colossus (definitely '70s or '80s Piotr Rasputin. Not "depressed his little snowflake died" Piotr)

Also under consideration: Shadowcat (from Excalibur: smart, self-confident, respected), Longshot (more naive '80s version), Stacy X (hey, it's MY team, I can put her on there if I want), Storm (during her time as sole leader, with or without powers, preferably with), Chamber (from Casey's Uncanny).

As for the "dual teams" rosters, we've got: Storm, Rouge, Iceman, Dazzler, Colossus, Chamber (handles more obvious, public threats, like Sentinels, Brotherhood of Evil), and Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Psylocke, Longshot, Stacy X (for getting at the people that are pulling the strings on the big obvious threats the other team is smashing).

Well, I've exhausted my creativity for the day. I'm off to sit in front of the couch until the Full Metal Alchemist finale comes on. I relinquish the keys to the blog to you kind readers. No wild parties, or at least keep the Hal Jordan-look alike strippers out of my fully stocked bar!

In either scenario, there is one -count it, ONE! - X-book. With two teams especially, you can have enough going on to do at least some six-story arcs, without the need for decompression. Oh yeah, in case you hadn't guessed, House of M never happened, which is how Stacy and Chamber still have their powers (damn Quesada).

Reflections #6 - Annihilation: Prologue

Page 1: Who is the little Tinkerbell sitting on Thanos' shoulder? Thanos and Tinkerbell are incompatible, like Vibe and cool.

Also on Page 1: If Thanos loves Death, and Death is now in the form of a little girl, does Thanos have a Lolita complex? Of course, with him, that's the least of your concerns.

I think Death is trying to convince Thanos to help stop this. . . force (see, I'm still not spoiling it for you, isn't that nice?). See, I believe Thanos is still in love with Death, or at least worships it to an extent. Death knows this, and is taking advantage of the situation, as nigh-omnipitent cosmic being are wont to do with puny mortals. And the way Death phrases things on that first page, well, it's a little disturbing. (Thanos' lines in bold, Death's in italics):

'Something comes. Yes. Something wonderful. Death? I am with him, yes. And? Learn from this one Thanos. This one knows me intimately.'

I'm sure by now you see what I mean about disturbing. But there's something else. It's almost like Death is trying to egg Thanos on. Death's talking about its new boyfriend, how close they've gotten, even though Death probably doesn't even really like the new guy, just to get Thanos off his butt and busy winning Death back, or busy killing the new guy. Whichever, really. And I think it makes sense, in a way.

See, the big threat is out to destroy anything that opposes its existence. And the way this thing sees it, all living things are a threat to its life. While this is true in a sense, mainly if they wind up competing for the same resources, but it's still over the top. Irregardless, the Annhilator seems determined to wipe out all life, which would seriously upset the balance. And Thanos should remember what happens when you do that.

Once upon a time, Thanos had the Infinity Gauntlet, six gems that gave him control over the whole universe. First thing he did? Kill half the people in the universe, to prove his love for Death (now there's a guy who got stuff done. None of this dicking around with multiverses and sentient satellites like Alex Luthor). Still, when Galactus, the Stranger, some Celestials, and a whole bunch of others on that power scale showed up to oppose Thanos, Death sided with them. I believe it did so because he was a threat to all existence, and if you destroy everything, then there is no Death, because there's nothing left to die, you follow?

This new threat isn't quite at that level (after all, Thanos defeated the very essence of the universe itself), but it's still more than capable of wiping out life. And I'd say that once again Death is looking at the big picture, because while everything will die, someday, it can't all die at the same time. To prevent this, Death's trying to get someone who can make a difference to do so. Granted it's in a somewhat obtuse and childish manner, but hey, Death has chosen to masquerade as a child, it might as well use their tactics too.

Addendum: I was looking online, and it seems Thanos wanted to wipe out half the life in the universe at Death's request. Which raises the question of why Death betrayed him during "Infinity Gauntlet". Possible explanation #1: Death felt he was letting his ego get in the way, that it was becoming less about the mission and more about him. Possible explanation #2: Since Death never seems to actually speak to anyone, Thanos was guessing at what Death desired, and being sanity-challenged, Thanos figured it wanted half of all life eliminated.

Concerns for the Immediate Future

I've been thinking about One Year Later lately, especially as one of the few DC titles I buy approaches it's first One Year Later issue (that'd be Robin). There's a couple of nice posts I've seen, one as One Year Later approached and the other looking back after the first few weeks

I can appreciate that DC seems to be at least trying something different. But I can't help feeling it's kind of futile. Ultimately, the writers are going to have to not only advance the current plot, but spend copious amounts of time trying to explain why things are so damn different. Like, why is Captain Boomerang on the Outsiders (both why would he join, and why would they let him join)? Why did Robin change his costume? I just can't see fans letting that stuff slide, at least not for long. I already want to know what the hell Tim was thinking.

Personally, I think it would have been more better if over the next twelve months, the writers of the book had done the stories that get the books to where they are now. We could see Boomerang maybe ask to join, and get rejected, but he tries to help anyway, and the team reconsiders whether he can join. And this would be part of their larger continued mission to hit the villains where they live (or whatever it is the Outsiders do).

I'm sure 52 will maybe answer those questions, but what of the people who can't afford 52? Are they doomed to a life of ignorance? And can 52 devote sufficient time to cover what's happened to each title over that year?

Lest I seem horribly negative, I am considering adding Ion (reliant on the first issue not being poorly written or incomprehensible), Secret Six (contingent on Cassandra Cain joining the book) and that Freedom Fighters book (also based on whether the first issue is poor). What this suggests is that, as marionette's post said, this will be great if you hadn't read the title before. If you had been reading the title, and enjoying it? Too bad.

What I Bought 3/15/06

Screw introductions. Four books, spoilers ahead, BEWARE!

Annihilation: Prologue - I wasn't even planning to buy this, but I was trying to skim it, and Ken was trying to get me involved in a conversation about baseball, and I'd already snapped at him once in the five minutes I'd been there, so I figured it'd be best to just buy it and get out before I really made an ass of myself. The saving grace for this book? The nice little entries at the end explaining the Nova Corps, and relative locations of the major space empires, and so on. Because I have no clue what the hell the "Kyln" is or where it is relative to Nova Corps headquarters. I didn't even know the Nova Corps had headquarters.

So weird bug ships show up. Between this and Ultimate Extinction what's with the bug ships? Why not ships that look like penguins? The bug ships appear, lay waste to the Kyln, attack Nova Corps, and keep rolling. Meanwhile, Ronan is being arrested, Super-Skrull is infiltrating, Silver Surfer is, um chilling out, and Thanos is just watching all this. Personally I can't see Thanos sitting back and letting the big baddy - who is revealed at the end, but I won't ruin it - wipe out all life. That's Thanos' job. And when the hell did Death become a small, gothic child? She used to be an adult in a purple cloak.

I did not like the art, it felt kind of, well "muddled" is the best word I can use. Is this the same person who drew that Avengers storyline where She-Hulk destroyed a town? I think as far as the other titles for this "event" go, I'm probably going to take it on a case by case basis. If an issue looks good, fine, I'll buy it, if not, well, it's not like this is going to change things in any significant way, just like always. 3 out of 5.

Teen Titans Annual #1 - Look at that cover. Diana's about to castrate Connor isn't she? And has Wonder Girl always had that little star in her navel? It seems so, trashy.

Yet again we flashback to Conner's beatdown from Whiny Superboy, Killer of Unloved Titans. Then Luthor starts monolouging. The Titans barge in, and Luthor mouths off a bit before leaving. So the rest of the team -what's left anyway - heads to Bludhaven. Their rescue efforts are less than coherent. Was this a commentary on Hurricane Katrina relief efforts? The heroes are utterly confused as to who can do what (Metamorpho can't make water), and where people who can make water (Firestorm) are, demonstrating that someone needs to step up and start giving orders. The Society is also there trying to collect Chemo, but the four of them get beat down by Robin and Superman. Tim mouths off to Superman (everybody is really mouthy in this issue), and Superman agrees to play figurehead so everyone will follow the smartest hero present - that'd be our boy Tim - as he gives them marching orders. Hmm, maybe he should have put out that call for heroes in Infinite Crisis #5 instead of Nightwing?

You may notice I've ignored the main crux of this: Cass and Conner's night for luvvvv. Well, what do you want me to say? There was reminiscing, there were laughs. Conner reveals he figured out telescopic vision while moping on the farm. Then he reveals more. Then Cassie does the same. Cue Barry White. And the Kents took it all in stride. 3.5 out of 5.

Ultimate X-Men #68 - Oh bloody hell, they're getting set to kick the Phoenix Saga into full swing. Get to crash positions! I also get the distinct feeling that Jean Grey is messing with a whole bunch of people's minds these days. Nick Fury was acting really weird. Perhaps the new arrival is part of some greater plan the Phoenix has?

I will admit that I don't know the origin for the Phoenix Force in the Marvel Universe. Still, I'm not sure it could be much dorkier than the Ultimate version. Didn't I see this in one of those "Earth X" series? I'm wonder if it means something that Rogue found it so simple that she and Bobby would be back together, while Bobby seemed unsure of where they went from here. It could be some part of whatever's left of Gambit, who seems to be asserting an influence if that "You're such a loser line" is any indication. Or maybe Rogue was supposed to be joking. If so, the artist did a crap job of depicting it.

I can't say I will buy this book next month. I mean it just can't be good when I'm more interested in what appears to be the beginnings of Ultimate X-23 than I am in the storyline approaching. I guess we'll see. 2 out of 5.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6 - Hmm, I think Peter David is still missing that the word "friendly" is in the title.

Pro:A wrestling match between Spider-Man and some masked wrestler, with Jameson donating 1 million dolars to charity? That's alright.
Con:The loser gets unmasked in front of everyone? Not so much.
Pro:Flash Thompson is back rooting on his hero Spider-Man? That's cool.
Con:Flash Thomspon is back to being Peter Parker's personal bully? Eh, not so much.

I preferred a Flash that had grown out of that, had become someone that could confide in Peter, and maybe have Peter confide in him. Peter is sorely lacking in friends who don't dress in stupid costumes. That's been the case to some extent since Howard Mackie moved aside for JMS' "vision". It's really been the case since Paul Jenkins was kicked out, as he was the only one trying to give Peter a personal life. Peter really needs some friends, much like Tim Drake needed some the last year or so in Robin. This appears, at least for right now, to be a missed opporunity. And the Jarvis/Aunt May romance heats up! I'm sure one of this year's Spider-Man annuals will have them consumating it within Edwin Jarvis' broom closet. And now I'm blind.

Should I mention Jameson thought his son was Spider-Man? No Jonah, your son is the one who turns into a werewolf, Aunt May's nephew is the one who dresses in the stupid costume, and swings on webs.

The fight scene wasn't bad. Nice back-and-forth, though I can't tell whether Peter was holding back or not, and I doubt El Muerto is really "the best Logan's ever seen". What, he's never watched himself fight in the mirror? What about Captain America? Or Iron Fist? Shang Chi? And what the heck is the Shroud doing there, besides the obvious answer he had nothing better to do (Note: I'm pretty sure that it's not really the Shroud. Unless it is, and then I totally called it with my ESP, bitches)? 3 out of 5.

Things I Think About #24

Hey, it's my 100th post! Whee! And I'm typing it in the Biology Grad Student Office, because I'm stuck here until 7 o'clock tonight and I'm bored as hell! Uh, Woo-hoo?

Here's the question for the day: When did Alex Luthor capture Nightshade?

I saw her hooked into his Multiverse Maker, as the representative of Earth-4, I think. I can't keep all these Earths straight. When then hell did he catch her? Between making a new Earth, and killing Jade with his Giant Space Appendages, he's been busy. And Superboy-Prime was too busy throwing a hissy fit to do it. And Old Fart Superman probably wouldn't have even been told about it, since he was under the impression that Alex was only bringing back Earth-2, I think.

So when - and how - did this happen? Was it in the Day of Vengeance one-shot? Wouldn't her teammates have had something to say about her abduction? Couldn't Ragman have made passing mention of the disappearance of his fellow Shadowpacter, when he was talking to Mr. Terrific? Arrggghhhh, just how is Alex Luthor doing all this? Is he really Geoff Johns in disguise, showing off his total control of DC by doing whatever he damn well pleases?

Things I Think About #23

I was reading an issue of Wizard, and they were talking with someone from DC about all the lead-ins to Infinite Crisis. Included in this was the fact that the Legion of Superheroes reboot was the result of Superboy-Prime punching the walls of reali. . . I can't even finish that sentence. That has to be the dumbest explanation for anything I've ever read in comic books. Still, it raised this question:

How long has Alex Luthor been manipulating Hal Jordan?

We know that the Red-Headed Step-Luthor used Psycho-Pirate to trick Jean Loring into being Ecpliso's host, so Eclipso could convince the Spectre to destroy all "ordered" magic. Good Lord that's convoluted, and I'm still not sure I buy the Spectre as a big ol' horndog. But how long has Alex been at this?

Did he have something to do with Hal and the Spectre parting ways? Was he the one who directed the Sun-Eater to Earth's sun, forcing Hal to sacrifice his life to reignite it? Did he somehow engineer the destruction of Coast City, which left Hal in a more vulnerable position for Parallax (I never did understand why Superman-Cyborg decided to destroy Coast City instead of Metropolis, Gotham, New York, Central or Keystone City, Washington D.C.)? Was Alex in secret communications with the Big Yellow Locust of Fear, while it was still trapped in the Central Power Battery? And could a being that's been around for billions of years be fooled by Luthor? I suppose so, since he is evidently the most clever and powerful being in existence. Still, where does the meddling end?!

To all this, I can only conclude by saying, "Ugh". And Field Botany is going to kick my ass for the next eight weeks. Ugh squared.

Things I Think About #22

Why should Robin be more like Batman?

I've pretty much accepted that kalinara is right, and DC is trying to make Tim Drake like Batman, thus suggesting Tim's the one that would take over for Bruce Wayne, on the slim chance that someday DC is actually willing to do that. But why would they go that way?

I know Tim is trying his hardest to do what's necessary to be the good partner for Batman, but I thought the whole reason he tried to become Robin in the first place was because he was worried Batman was going off the deep end, and required someone less dark to keep him balanced. If Tim is becoming just like Batman, then HOW IN THE HELL IS HE GOING TO KEEP HIM BALANCED?!

Is he betting that if there's a teenager present Batman will restrain himself? Is he trying reverse psychology, becoming dark to force Bruce to look at who he is, and make appropriate changes when he sees the deep emotional scarring he's inflicting on Tim?

I think I liked it better when Tim was pissed at Batman for giving his secret identity away to Spoiler. He stayed away from him, made his own decisions, did things his own way. Oh well, that train has left the station.