the vynsane asylum

Pshaw.

At this point, its more interesting to find Marvel Characters who HAVEN'T died and come back yet.

That list is dwindling and probably much smaller than you think.

In case anyone was wondering, the media leaked the member of the Fantastic Four that dies in issue #587, and it is...

Human Torch................................................

I'm typed extra stuff because if I just typed "Thing" then the spoiler bar would have been short and obvious for those that don't want to know.

Makes sense. If you're rotating, it's his turn.

What's silly is the whole "a member is dead, the team cannot go on!" thing. What's different about this particular week? Did this character die on a Tuesday, and all the dozen or so previous deaths have been on Wednesdays, so it throws off the team and they can't cope?

All the blather on the internet can be broken down into two camps. those that are only reading about it from the media/hype standpoint. And those who have actually been reading the story from the beginning of Hickman's run. One is full of jaded derision and skepticism. The other praises whats been done so far and looks forward to what comes next.

Diabolical wrote:In case anyone was wondering, the media leaked the member of the Fantastic Four that dies in issue #587, and it is...

Human Torch................................................

I'm typed extra stuff because if I just typed "Thing" then the spoiler bar would have been short and obvious for those that don't want to know.

On my phone, the spoiler bar doesn't show up at all.

Well, since it's a new year and Marvel has a new Editor in Chief for the first time in a decade, I figure its time for a Marvel Universe round up. The January 2011 Edition.

Amazing Spidey. Now that Dan Slott has become the sole writer and its reduced from three times a month to just two, I'm actually starting to enjoy the book again. Slott has a light-hearted tone, but still throwing as much action into the mix as possible. In Spidey related comics, Norman Osborn has inspired a cult of Goblin tattooed devotees. Arana has officially become Spider-Girl, and then her father is killed in issue two of her series, instantly turning the entire effort into a big downer. And lastly, Flash Thompson, who lost his legs in combat overseas, is given the Venom Symbiote and is now a U.S. Military asset in a new ongoing by Remender. Remender is the guy Marvel hired to piss on the Punisher. Then shit on the Punisher. The fuck the remains of the shit and urine covered corpse of the Punisher. So we'll see what he does with Venom.

Avengers Four Avengers titles, five if you count Children's Crusade. Which is nine issues of a bi-monthly book. And the rate that Heinberg and Cheun historically pump out issues, that one'll be around until 2013. The main Avengers are fighting The Hood and his new Infinity Gauntlet. Nothing like going back to the well. The New Avengers live in the old mansion and aside from fighting Dr. Strange's old teacher and getting Dr. Voodoo killed, they mostly just eat and bicker. The Secret Avengers is Steve Rogers and a bunch of cast offs who cant hold their own title, like Ant-Man, Beast, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, and War Machine. And Avengers Academy, which is the best of the four in my opinion. Superhuman teens being taught to be heroes so they don't end up as villains. And Hank Pym, Tigra, Quicksilver, Justice, Speedball and the other assorted Avengers actually kinda suck at being role models/teachers. So they'll all end up being villains anyway. Its kinda cool to think the next great Masters of Evil super team will have been trained by the guys whose asses they are kicking.

Black Panther Speaking of characters who got shit and pissed on. Wakanda got invaded by Dr. Doom. T'challa destroyed ALL the vibranium. And now he's slumming it in Hell's Kitchen, without his Panther powers. Which makes him a shitty amateur vigilante wannabe. basically, average citizens keep dying when he gets involved because he sucks now.

Black Widow. Since her origin got retconned and she's now a 90 year old woman with "youth" powers, she's been shacking up with Bucky Cap. Y'know since they're the same age, and both used to kill for the Soviet Union. Makes perfect sense.

Captain America Bucky is the new Cap. The Red Skull is dead (for now) and his daughter is the new Red Skull. Her face got burned off during the big battle when Steve Rogers came back to life. Steve is the new Nick Fury, replacing Norman Osborn, who replaced Tony Stark, who replaced Maria Hill, who replaced Nick Fury when he fucked everything up back in that Secret Wars miniseries way back in 2004. Steve has a gay costume that looks like it was invented in the 60's and still gets to run around supersoldiering, either in Secret Avengers, or in his own miniseries. Just without a Shield. Also, he's got a movie coming out in July, which means a new number #1 relaunch. And a bajillion miniseries and one shots, have of which are already out (so they can be collected by the time the movie hits in convenient TPBs)

Cosmic All the cosmic books got cancelled. Nova and Starlord died during the last big crossover event. Marvel announced two new cosmic titles, then decided to combine them into one title, then made that a four issue miniseries at $5 a pop. So the main tale is about the new badass Annihilators superteam (Quasar, Ronan, Gladiator, BetaRayBill, and SilverSurfer) and the back up feature (which by page count is actually longer than the main feature) is Groot and Rocket Racoon. I expect copious amounts of guest starrage by Inhumans, Skrulls, Kree, Shi'Ar, and probably some Kymellians for good measure.

Daredevil After the atrocious Shadowland ended, Matt is wandering around New Mexico "soul searching" for like the fiftieth time. That guy waffles more than Village Inn and Denny's combined about being a hero.

Deadpool. The Deadpool explosion is becoming an implosion. Where he used to have like eight books, I think he's down to two, perhaps three. And they all sell poorly.

Doc Strange. Currently hanging out with the New Avengers, but not currently Sorceror Supreme. Ditched the flamboyant cape, tights, and fey blouse and now just rocks it in a black turtleneck and tasteful sportcoat. Also, last I heard was banging NightNurse, but they haven't touched on that in awhile.

Elektra. Not really sure what she's up to. Which is weird because in all of Marvel's generic product tie-in montages, she's usually the female character shown. It's like Spidey, Hulk, Iron Man, Wolverine, Cap, maybe Thing, and then Elektra.

Fantastic Four Johnny Storm died in case you hadn't heard. Except Vegas odds say he's not really dead at all and will triumphantly return in about a year. Reed started a thinktank and nepotistically inducted his kids into it. Valeria, sure, since shes supersmart. But Franklin still picks his nose and eats the boogers. that kid belongs in a thinktank like I belong in the NFL. They also threw Artie and Leech from X-Factor in there, just because they were Franklin's friends back in the day. And one of the Power Pack kids. I guess the other three can shove off, Reed? And the little parapalegic asian kid that hung out with Artie, Leech and Franklin? He's not invited? You fuckin' racist prick. Oh, and Dragon Man. Since he's always been a paragon of out of the box thinking. Also some leftover moloids (y'know the MoleMan's little yellow minions), and a child clone of the Wizard. Okay, all kidding aside, this is probably the best book Marvel has right now.

Ghost Riders Currently guest starring in Wolverine (big surprise there, considering Jason Aaron is writing Wolv and used to write GR before it got canned). Both Johnny Blaze and Dan Ketch are Ghost Riders. They gave Dan a butch scruffy beard and duster to tell them apart. I liked it when one of them had blue flames on his skull, but they're both back to being yellow. Otherwise, not much more than your typical Ghost Riding from those two.

Hercules. Herc has really come to the forefront in recent years. he had his own book. Then had a couple miniseries (well, Amadeus Cho had one of them technically, but it was all a continuation of the same grand story), then he headlined an honest to god Marvel Event, saved all reality, and lost his powers. Now he's getting another ongoing in April. Truthfully, the Herc/Amadeus Cho partnership is one of the better ongoing stories from Marvel recently. You had to bounce around to get it all, but if you can find the Trades in the cheap bins, it wouldn't hurt to give 'em a read.

Heroes for Hire Any character not currently in their own book might turn up in this series. I'm waiting for Ulysses Solomon Archer to get a call from Misty Knight saying "Good evening Hero. Are you for hire?" the fact that Misty is being manipulated by the third rate FF villain the Puppetmaster is bizarre.

Hulk Thunderbolt Ross is Red Hulk. Betty Ross is Red She-Hulk. Rick Jones is the new Abomination. Hulk has two alien sons. One is a big brutie. the other is creepy bald kid with psychic powers or something. And Banner is back to being able to change into badass smart yet jerk Hulk at will. I think. I'm still not reading these, but thats the jist of what I think is going on. And there's a She-Hulks book which is Jen Walters living with/taking care of the Hulk and Thundra's teenage daughter from an alternate future. That one's not that bad. Its tongue in cheek humorous.

Iron Man IM just got legacy numbered back to 500 last month. So it's kinda turning point phase in his career. I know there's another War Machine series coming out, but they've wisely decided to call it Iron Man 2.0. Fractionis writing a keen book here. And Salvador Larocca uses the guy who played Sawyer on LOST to draw Tony Stark's face for the last 33 issues.

Punisher. Frank Castle continues to get ABUSED by Remender.

Thor. Thor is getting rebooted with a new number one in time for his movie. Odin's back from the dead after ten years. Balder just got killed. Loki is a rambunctious teenager car thief. Asgard is still in Oklahoma, and the place is space/time where Asgard used to be is being invaded by some nasty baddies.

Wolverine is in Hell. Fighting the devil. And even though Marvel has like twenty different "devil" characters, Jason Aaron had to come up with a new version because none of those others could convey the seriousness of him having Wolverine's soul trapped in "hell". Whatever. Also, a demon has taken over Wolverine's body while his soul is in "hell" and it's trying to beat X-Men ass. The Silver Samurai got killed and Logan's adopted daughter is going to be the new Silver Samurai. that's my prediction. There's also an X-23 book which has Laura and Gambit fighting Mr. Sinister, and a Dark Wolverine book that has Logan's bisexual mullet/mohawk son doing...whatever. That character is ass so I don't read it and have no idea what he's up to.

X-Books. Uncanny. All the mutants have a bioengineered flu. Legacy and New Mutants are having an alternate reality tale called Age of X. Adj-less X-Men still might be fighting vampires. I don't know because that book is stupid. Generation Hope is following Hope as she hooks up with new mutants all over the globe. Not like "hook up", I just mean she is finding them as their powers activate. Thats her power, I think. it's all vague. And X-Factor is Peter David continuing to be clever with his dialogue without much interference from the rest of the X-universe.

So, a thinktank with Leech and Artie, but not Wizkid? The character wasn't interesting, but he was clearly the brains of that bunch. Basically a kid version of Forge in a wheelchair.

anarky wrote:So, a thinktank with Leech and Artie, but not Wizkid? The character wasn't interesting, but he was clearly the brains of that bunch. Basically a kid version of Forge in a wheelchair.

I'd say a healthy mix of Forge and Madison Jeffries AKA Box. And I think he could be made interesting in the right writer's hands. I honestly think his non-inclusion is due to his obscurity.

I had an idea for an X-Men team that had Leech, Artie, Whizkid, Albert, Elsie-Dee, and their "leader" was going to be whatever Hot Big Name X-Man you wanted, but nobody would listen to said "leader". Artie and Leech were going to be older than they are portraying them now (they're still like 8 years old?! They've been around forever.) and Leech had learned to speak decent english. The joke was he'd been around the X-mansion working in the kitchen or doing everybodies laundry or whatever, but had been honing his powers. In addition to turning them on and off, now he could either send them out in a sphere of cancellation or to a lesser extent, aim it at people for short amounts of time. Artie had learned to read/write, so his costume was just a white T-shirt and his dialog would just show up on his chest. Plus as the son of a scientist, he'd be the brains of the outfit. Likewise Whizkid, who would ask Madison Jeffries if he could be the new Box since nobody was using that hero name. Albert would be the in-joke that Wolverine was on too many X-Teams so they got a stand in. Elsie-Dee because obviously that character is spunky and awesome and can blow herself up. And the "leader" just to sell books (like Emma Frost or Rogue or whomever.) but the real leader was Leech, and they would just go out on these wierd random mission and keep getting into trouble and saving the world from AIM and HYDRA and Dr. Doom and whatever. Then come back home and get chastised by Cyclops for not following rules. Then the next issue, they would repeat the whole thing.

But seeing as how every time I write down an idea on these boards, fuckers like Morrison come along and rip them off, I feel leary spitballing ideas like I used to. I'm on to you Morrison!!

I'm surprised no one has made use of Albert in that fashion, at the very least.

Bendis and Maleev on Moon Knight is interesting. Never cared for Moon Knight, but I may give it a try.
I don't understand the point of hiding the creative teams on Daredevil and Punisher.
Its highly unlikely, but I'd love to see Brubaker writing for Frank.

In today's market, where arguably creators are more important than characters, it seems illogical to hide the teams.

Marvel's getting pretty batshit about the #1's lately.

They're holding off to announce the creators at the C2E2 convention in Chicago. Which is good for the convention I guess.

If you look at Marvel's publicity scheme in the digital era, they are actually quite savvy at parceling out info in a constant stream, be it announcements, or teaser images, or QandAs, etc and keeping the online community talking about their product.

This seems to be the best place to put this article/editorial on Venom:
Can Venom Be Fixed?

I can't say there's anything I really disagree on, despite really liking Venom in the 90s (and buying a bunch of the minis). Hindsight is 20/20.

I think the teaming of the symbiote with Flash Thompson is an intriguing story device. Lifting Flash from perpetual supporting player and one-dimensional jock/bully into a headliner in his own mag is a grand notion. Sending him off to Iraq to get his legs blown off was brilliant. It made him relevant and topical and set him up for this series. But I didn't buy the first issue last week. Because of Remender. Between his Punisher fuckbaggery and the latest issue of Uncanny X-Force, I just can't support this guy anymore. But the concept of the new Venom is sound. It tries new things and I'm all for that. I'll hunt it down in the dollar bins in a few months.

FYI, I did a little research when I was making my BIG LIST of all the comics I don't have so I can find obscure gems like oneshots and such in the quarter bins at convention. I did a tally of all of Venom miniseries from the 90s. Basically the guy had about 15 minis that all strung together, each one immediately following the previous series. In essence, he had an ongoing series that lasted about 60 issues. Which is one of the highest issue counts for any villain.

And I still think vyn's idea for the symbiote reuniting with a mortally injured Peter Parker to be absolutely brilliant.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:And I still think vyn's idea for the symbiote reuniting with a mortally injured Peter Parker to be absolutely brilliant.

Dittoed.