Friday, April 18, 2008

Heck Yes



My brain just exploded. And from the ruins of that brain, a new brain has emerged.

I'll keep you updated as I hear more.

EDIT: Okay so maybe not everyone feels exactly the same way as I do...



I just found out that the game is only coming out for X-Box 360 and Playstation 3. Damn my DS.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Comic books: Sexist!?

So, I was reading my friend Margot's blog yesterday and she had the nerve to suggest that super-hero comics might be sexist! Say wha?

While I was shocked at first, I soon calmed down and let out a chuckle. "Girls will be girls," I thought to myself. "You know, because of the hormones." I didn't dwell on this thought for long, though. After all, it was Wednesday and that means new comic books. After purchasing my comics (a whole bunch of new stuff and two back issues) I returned home with my stash and decided to get reading. I started with the back issues...

... so the first book I decided to read was Mighty Avengers #10, which promised a tantalizing battle of...

The Sentry vs. The Thing

Just by looking at the cover, I knew I was in for a treat. Here we have the Sentry, right arm thrust back, about to deliver a mighty blow to the Thing. I knew, before even reaching page one, that this fight was going to be ball-to-the-walls. And I was excited. This cover said one thing to me, and that thing was: power.

The muscles ripple along the Sentry's body majestically. You can tell from this image that he is a hero among heroes. Unlike that pansy Ben Grimm.

The next back-issue I picked up was Amazing Spider-Man #551. Again, I knew I was in for a treat when the cover showed a promising battle of...

Spider-man vs. Menace

I mean, how awesome is this cover? Here we have Spider-man, right arm thrust back, about to open a can of whup-ass on Menace, a new villain who, frankly, is kind of lame. He's like the Hobgoblin only gayer because he has long hair. I simply couldn't wait to crack open my copy of this issue and watch that promised punch connect with his big stupid face.

While I had originally been pretty upset about the completely retconned Spider-man, this issue changed my man when I saw, right from the cover, that this wasn't your grandma's Spider-man.

After finishing the back-issues, I moved on to this week's new releases. First up: Salvation Run #6. I must have been good in another life, because I was met with yet another beautiful cover, this one promising...

Joker vs. Lex Luthor

Holy moly, this cover was a treat. Not only do we see Joker, right arm thrust back, about to introduce Lex's jaw to the back of Lex's head, but here, Lex is totally about to respond in kind. Gone is the faggy Lex Luthor who would settle his problems with his intelligence. This is Lex Luthor, unleashed! This cover went above and beyond and delivered a one-two punch of awesomeness (pun intended!!!), ensuring that, oh yes, there will be blood.

With only two comics left, and nearly exhausted from the sheer onslaught of power that my comics were delivering, I turned to the next book in my pile, The Incredible Hercules #116. Here we had the unusual but nonetheless kick-ass battle of...

Ikaris vs. Hercules

And oh my god, the sheer masculinity dripping from this cover. I was so overwhelmed that I went and showed this to my sister, who proceeded to get pregnant by looking at it. Here we have Ikaris, right arm thrust back, and fucking glowing, about to punch Hercules back from whence he came. Hercules is so muscular that his clothes can barely contain him. This comic was so manly that I had to headbutt the pages just to turn them.

I had one comic left, and that was Catwoman #78. This one promised a fight between Catwoman and Cheetah, two feline-based villainesses. I was excited, expecting another all-out slugfest, with Catwoman's right arm thrust back to punch Cheetah so hard she'll have kittens. Instead, what I got was so much better.


One word: Mrrrrrrrooooowwww!

I like this cover because the two characters are kissing and stripping, which is how girls fight. It reminds me of that great poster that's in every dorm room I've ever seen with the two girls making out. Cheetah also has a good costume because the inner lining of her pants are leopard skin and she has leopard skin, so it always looks like you can see her vagina.

Needless to say, after finishing these comics I had to take a shower and then tell my friend Margot about them, but she kept going on and on about - you guessed it! - comic books being sexist!

What a feminazi!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Skrull Watch: You Heard it Here... first-ish?



Issue #1 of Marvel's summer blockbuster of 2008, Secret Invasion, launches soon. A few hours from now, in fact. Basically, the idea is that over the past few years, several Marvel Super-Heroes have been replaced by Skrulls - shape-changing aliens bent on world domination. In Secret Invasion, this sleeper agents will supposedly reveal themselves, and Skrull shit will hit the Earth fan.

Marvel has released a pretty cool little trailer for the event which points at some things to consider when trying to guess who may be a Skrull. Namely, that Avengers Tower (home of the Mighty Avengers), Camp Hammond (home of the Avengers Initiative), Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum (home of the New Avengers), and the Baxter Building (home of the Fantastic Four) have all been infiltrated, insinuating that someone on each team is a Skrull.

There have been conspiracies galore as to who may be a Skrull, and I'd like to throw my predictions into the mix. Seeing as how there will hopefully be plenty of Skrull reveals in issue one, which is coming out, as I mentioned, in a few hours, I feel now would be as good a time as any to share. I realize that there's a good chance that each team has multiple Skrull members, but I'm going to go with my top candidates.

Let's start with:

The Skrull in the Mighty Avengers: For a book that's trying to "bring thought balloons back", it hasn't allowed to readers to dig very deep into the characters' minds. If I had to guess, I'd go with either Wonder Man or, even more so, the Wasp, who's an important figure in Marvel history, but hasn't really done much on the team. Black Widow and Spider-Woman would be too obvious, having a history of being double agents (not that obviousness is a dealbreaking reason). The Sentry would have had to be switched sometime after the Sentry storyline of New Avengers (I'm still thinking no). Mrs. Marvel is also very obvious, whereas I'm too happy with Ares' character development (especially in Incredible Herc) to want him to be a Skrull. And I'll be really pissed if it's Iron Man. So yeah, my final verdict is The Wasp.

Certainty: 60%


The Skrull in the Avengers Initiative: The very, very obvious choice is Yellowjacket. After all, he was replaced by a Skrull (Hulkling) at the end of Civil War. Has he learned his lesson since? Bendis had stated quite a while ago that he had never liked Hank Pym. At the same time, however, people were sure Bendis was going to kill him off in Avengers: Disassembled yet he's still around, so you never know. But is this why he kept him around? And if the Wasp is a Skrull, it would make sense that the two would have been turned together, sometime after they decided to go off on their own to France, I would assume. As much as I'd hope to be surprised, I figure not every reveal will be completely shocking, and for this one I'm inclined to go with Yellowjacket.

Certainty: 75%


The Skrull in the New Avengers: Echo. Echo, Echo, Echo. Last week's New Avengers, which had her and Wolverine fighting a Skrull who is trying to take her over, just damned her even more in my eyes. "But Aaron," you might say. "She was the one who killed Electra and revealed her to be Skrull in the first place. What about that?" What about that? Exposing Electra was the moment that totally ripped apart any semblance of trust the Marvel Super-Heroes had built for each other since the end of Civil War. She threw the Super-Heroes in disarray, so that come invasion time, they'd be easy pickings. "And what about the fact that the Skrull tried to replace her last week? It wouldn't have tried if she was already a Skrull." My response to that is that it wasn't trying to replace her. It was putting on a show for Wolverine. If Wolverine hadn't of been there, I'd be inclined to agree, but he was there. It's like he said: "If I was a Skrull... you'd be the one I'd go after. You're the one with the least about a' ties. The least history." I agree. She would be the first target... so why wait until right now?

My opinion? The whole thing was a ploy so that she'd gain Wolverine's trust. I'm guessing she was replaced after being killed by Skrullectra in Japan. The "resurrection" was just a show, by then Echo had been replaced. Everything after that - the fight, the murder of Skrullectra - was planned from the beginning. The only thing nagging at me is that the Skrull report in the trailer wouldn't have reported that replacing her was a "failure". Maybe there's something I'm missing, or maybe the teaser's just a teaser, and not fully canon. Either way, my money is on Echo.

Certainty: 95%


The Skrull in the Fantastic Four: This one's the toughest one for me. The popular vote seems to be with Sue Storm, who could have been abducted after leaving Reed in Civil War. Reed Richards would be cool, but I think that poses way too many problems. I'm going to go with the second-most obvious choice, The Human Torch.

Certainty: Um, about 25%.


And there you have it. I probably won't be proven right/wrong for a while, but remember: you heard it here first-ish.

P.S: If my first two predictions are correct, would you call this a Skrull Fuc- ... nevermind.